liesandarbor

[liesandarbor]

my husband leaned into my ear in the middle of a magnetic fields show to tell me that stephin merritt sounds like big al from country bear jamboree and i can no longer take their music seriously

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two spent swimmers

“the skywalker suicides part i: the case for padme” / the phantom menace DVD commentary / macbeth act i, scene 2 / gregory orr / early concept art of anakin and padme by iain mccraig / “lady macbeth + macbeth” - two-bees-poetry / valerie estelle frankel

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It's my 17 year anniversary on Tumblr 🥳

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working on the saera commission got me thinking abt the ways westerosi fashion might shift over time so I sketched out some concepts... these aren’t particularly historically or regionally accurate and more a combo of things I like to draw and trying to maintain a semi coherent look.

I like the idea of the targaryen fashions being semi nebulous as far as gender presentation and shifting over time toward distinct gender roles as they integrate with westerosi society, until the looks are entirely distinct at the end of their reign. ik that typically fashions would change a lot more significantly over the span of 200+ years, but given that the starks have been holding the north for like 100 million years I think it’s safe to say progress is slow in westeros. i’ve never liked the idea of the 7 kingdoms having distinct fashions after the conquest bc I think it ignores the role imperialism plays in dictating culture, so in my mind these are general guideline silhouettes for the entire realm (although climate would influence fabric types/ layering).

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Maegor was so much of a feminist that he didn’t have a biological father because he wanted to give his mommy 100% of the credit. Maegor loved gay people so much that he married three of them. Maegor named the first female heir in Westeros history and then bequeathed her his weapon of mass destruction after he passed. Maegor literally died trying to destroy reactionary patriarchal religious fundamentalism. And what brought him back? The power of women. Maegor feminist Maegor socialist Maegor reads Judith Butler.

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//

Somewhere, very far off, is a place called District 12, where my mother and sister and friends will have to deal with the fallout from this night. Just a brief hovercraft ride away is an arena where, tomorrow, Peeta and I and the other tributes will face our own form of punishment. But even if all of us meet terrible ends, something happened on that stage tonight that can't be undone. We victors staged our own uprising, and maybe, just maybe, the Capitol won't be able to contain this one.

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Then something unexpected happens. At least, I don’t expect it because I don’t think of District 12 as a place that cares about me. But a shift has occurred since I stepped up to take Prim’s place, and now it seems I have become someone precious. At first one, then another, then almost every member of the crowd touches the three middle fingers of their left hand to their lips and holds it out to me. It is an old and rarely used gesture of our district, occasionally seen at funerals. It means thanks, it means admiration, it means good-bye to someone you love.

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Sandor and Arya at the Inn at the Crossroads, And After by Kiana Shakeraneh

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All of this turbulence wasn't forecasted Apologies from the intercom And I am relieved that I'd left my room tidy They'll think of me kindly When they come for my things

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Sansa as the fair Jonquil, Jeyne as Jonquil's sister, Theon as the Grey King, Rickon as a direwolf, Robb as King Daeron the Young Dragon, Bran as Ser Barristan the Bold, Arya as Nymeria of the Rhoyne, Jon as the ghost of Prince Aemon the Dragonknight.

When the spirit stepped out of the open tomb, pale white and moaning for blood, Sansa ran shrieking for the stairs, and Bran wrapped himself around Robb’s leg, sobbing. Arya stood her ground and gave the spirit a punch. It was only Jon, covered with flour. “You stupid,” she told him, “you scared the baby!” but Jon and Robb just laughed and laughed, and pretty soon Bran and Arya were laughing too.

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The sun was gone, and the sky was full of stars. So many. She leaned her back against a fluted pillar and wondered if her brother was looking at the same stars tonight, wherever he might be. Do you see the white one, Quentyn? That is Nymeria's star, burning bright, and that milky band behind her, those are ten thousand ships. She burned as bright as any man, and so shall I. You will not rob me of my birthright!

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really? a wedding dress…?

prints + merch + ig

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conquerers.

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Lyra Belacqua & her daemon, Pantalaimon. The idea for the daemons was partly inspired in Philip Pullman by Leonardo Da Vinci’s peculiar portrait, Lady with Ermine. As always, thanks to Girls Gone Canon (best literary analysis podcast out there!) for getting me to read HDM :) What a beautiful series of books. More to come!

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As 2019 comes to an end, I’m propelled forward by the sheer force of literary power - and of course, my other host, Eliana - before we ring in the new year with the end of Jon Snow in ASOIAF, the beginning of a new POV, and The Subtle Knife by Phillip Pullman. So, for a preview of tonight’s recap of His Dark Materials S1E5, here’s something you can expect from me:

His Dark Materials: S1E5 THE LOST BOY - or the Curious Case for Tony Makarios

A death worthy of a Scholar. 

The Little Boy Lost

BY WILLIAM BLAKE Father, father, where are you going       O do not walk so fast. Speak father, speak to your little boy       Or else I shall be lost,

The night was dark no father was there       The child was wet with dew. The mire was deep, & the child did weep       And away the vapour flew.

This might be the first episode that held disappointments for me. While cleanly executed without extra fluff, die-hard fans were left with a sour taste in their mouth from Tony Makarios’ exclusion: because this is the thing that deserved the extra fluff.  Tony Makarios represented a class unheard from.  The Gyptians, a marginalized class amongst the vast North (that @lo-lynx​ has related the captured children to the suffering of the Sami people), have been searching for not only all stolen children, but specifically Billy Costa. 

Tony Makarios was more accustomed to sea than land, living off in marsh-like Limehouse off the Thames. He and his mother are described as descended from the Lascar, likely inspired by the Persian lashkar of an Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asian or Arabic militiamen or sailors from the colonial era.  Tony’s mother suffered from alcohol addiction, choosing acedia when he was captured, thinking he ran away due to her negligence.  Tony Makaraios was not afforded the same opportunities as a child living in Oxford or London, but the gut punch arrives when he’s captured by Marisa Coulter while stealing food from a market.

Where Lyra is sought by the Magisterium (with Coulter [illegally] spearheading the search), Tony Makarios finds himself unsearched and alone in Bolvangar - except for a girl named Bridget; his very own Lyra. Bridget advocates for Tony after he is experimented on by the Gobblers, eventually falling victim to their abuse as well. But Bridget, just like Lyra, champion Tony Makarios.  He dies clutching a dried fish, which is eaten by a dog daemon at camp, with Lyra snarling through the funeral, frightening every adult surrounding them to the core.

While Lyra was unable to bring Tony Makarios peace in book one, her journey throughout the Amber Spyglass frees not only Tony’s soul, but the souls of others who may or may not have “mattered” to people in power. 

The problem with the Billy Costa adaptation is the focus being moved from Billy to the pain that his family and the Gyptians feel from his death. Billy’s lines in Season One are “1....2...” and not much else.  

The slow escalation of horror and invasiveness as Lyra heads to Bolvangar is bone-chilling, but the discovery of intercision and Billy Costa feels flimsy in execution.  A second watch put me in the “feels”, but will it be enough to keep us on edge in the war to come? 

Don’t fret - there are tons of positives, but I wanted to get the controversial out of the way first.  The episode was fine, but some of the “because we can” choices have me wary.  Have I just been burned too many times game of thrones before? Are these called trust issues? We have three more episodes to sift through before we can make a judgement call - we’ll see.

Thank you so much if you’re tuning into the podcast - we’re excited for some new Materials in 2020, and you all have been the most supportive listeners we could ever ask for. Cheers! 

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We are right and we should say it

Bro... I just listened to the GGC episode on Jon’s first adwd chapter and they pointed out that the ENTIRE Night’s Watch thinks Jon is The Sluttiest Slut Ever.

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There, it’s been fixed