#COME ON SHELTON

[se-dissimuler]

trying to not be too like. mean to gmp since its not his fault he has a bionic arm but servebots omfg #NOT MY TENNIS

[zketylers]

JOSH HARTNETT + DETECTIVES (and a Sheriff)

HOLLYWOOD HOMICIDE (2003) / THE BLACK DAHLIA (2006) / 30 DAYS OF NIGHT (2007) / I COME WITH THE RAIN (2009)

[holly-mckenzie]

I’m not like any man you’ve met. Oh yeah? What makes you different? You see the world? Of course I do. I’ll make it beautiful for you. For you I’ll change the way it is. With what? [ORPHEUS, holds up guitar] With this!

It’s an old song It’s an old tale from way back when It’s an old song And we’re gonna sing it again and again... It’s a sad song.. It’s a sad tale, it’s a tragedy.

nytw hadestown appreciation  →  The Tragedy of Orpheus

[elitehoe]

MJF got Shelton and Bobby showing that personality everyone said didn't exist lmao

[wilodevertz]

ben shelton and trinity hard launch tears

[bennyaddict]

Wet vs fluffy

Really proud of Ben for fighting too hard and get that spectacular win

[rockpaperscissuhs]

Episode 9 of The Pacific needed to be at least 5-10 mins longer. Here's why...

1.

We needed a scene addressing the massive wedge of tension that grows between Sledge and Snafu

There was already some friction there, w/ Sledge becoming increasingly distant and surly as he slid further toward the deep end. Then, the two of them fall into a screaming match- which, as we know, also leads to Peck's mental breakdown, and Hamm's death.

Then the next day, the two of them find the baby and its family who was killed (probably by them).

Afterwards, Snafu, who's clearly noticed Sledge's changed demeanor, stares at him for literally the rest of the entire scene.

Yet all of this never leads to anything, and it's just left as a loose end.

Who knows, maybe IRL the two men never actually sat down and talked about it. But this is a television show. You aren't supposed to put the main characters through multiple consecutive soul-crushing experiences together and then never have any acknowledgement of it whatsoever between them.

2.

We needed another moment(s) to re-affirm the growth in both Sledge and Snafu’s characters

After all of the emotional turmoil they just went through, there needed to be something to follow up, and to show how it & the events of the episode have changed them. Instead, we just get both of them just staring silently.

But that isn't enough. We're not mind-readers, nor should we have to be.

A few lines of dialogue in that last scene with the two of them in the back of the truck would've gone a long way. Maybe Snafu burying his collection of gold teeth? Or something as simple as the two of them helping an Okinawan refugee pick up something they dropped? (IDK just throwing out ideas here.)

3.

We needed another scene(s), &/or discussion of the final days of the Battle for Okinawa, and afterwards

The show transitions to the final scene by showing Sledge's tally-marks of the days in his journal, indicating that several weeks have passed since the previous scene.

Last we saw, they were on the front lines of the battle and covered in mud, grime, and blood. Now they're clean and fluffy, and watching the ocean while lounging around in the sun.

So clearly a lot has happened and changed for them, but why don't they show us anything, or even have them talk about it?

What about the aftermath from the events of the previous scenes? Or the relief they must've felt after combat ended? What about the dread of an impending invasion of mainland Japan? Or the relief of that invasion being called off? Any or all of these would've been relevant and interesting to include, and could’ve made the episode's story end smoother.

4.

Viewers needed to see some post-credits information (like Band of Brothers did), to inform and help contextualize what they just watched

(CW for mentions of sexual violence, suicide in this section)

For instance:

The horrifically high rate of civilian casualties, including those who were conscripted to fight, forced &/or induced by propaganda to commit mass suicides, etc.

Likewise, the rate of sexual violence against civilians- a large portion of which was done (and covered up) by members of the U.S. military, both during the battle and afterward

The U.S. military had more than twice as many casualties on Okinawa as Guadalcanal and Iwo Jima combined

More mental health issues were reported than from any other battle in the Pacific during WWII

The Japanese civilian casualties of the atomic bombs, which are mentioned in passing at the end of the episode

The U.S. military set up civilian internment camps post-war, where thousands more Okinawans died from starvation and disease

The U.S. occupied of Okinawa for decades, and still have a huge military presence there, despite protests from islanders

TLDR

It's still a good episode. But the ending is rushed and leaves loose ends, which does a disservice to the characters' development and the story overall.

It also needed to provide information to the viewers, both to fill in some gaps of information which deserve to be acknowledged, as well as to contextualize all of the horrors and atrocities they just watched.

[nothinglastsforever222]

"Blake Shelton, wow. Hate him. There's only one question since day one of shooting The Voice that I am ever asked... not on the music, not what was your inspiration behind writing 'She Will Be Loved,' nothing cool. The only question that anyone ever asks me is 'What is Blake like?' And I hate it. Love him though. No, sorry, hate him.”

- Adam Levine 2025

[partygatorresurrection]

how it feels being the only one rooting for ben shelton

[flyingfortress1]

Reading With the Old Breed thoughts Part 5

apparently Sledge and Snafu got a tommy gun sometime before Okinawa.

we don't know how because Sledge doesn't remember how. I need to know if they were supposed to have it as mortarmen?- cause I know Marines had tommy guns- although the BAR I think got favored later and the US stopped producing them in 1944 with the grease gun as a cheaper replacement- so it's not too wild, but there feels like there's a story here, and curse the human memory.

If anyone knows the answer to this question- were they supposed to have it?- I'd love to know.

Anyway- tommy gun-wielding Sledge is canon for all you fanfic writers' mafia aus. Also- Marines used these during the 1920's to stop robberies with these guns which is interesting sidenote.

[dedeinthewild]

friends, let's be real. I don't watch tennis. But ben shelton? oh, ben shelton I watch for sure (sosososo sorry but he's definitely the type of man I would spend my life smiling at)

[sssunflowersmiles]

Not to jinx it but if Ben loses this match, Holger's taking Tokyo....

[deathofaninteriordecorator]

show tempe gang crossover with the morris islanders would actually have been the best episode of bones ever. btw

[fideidefenswhore]

There is a saying that when Anne Boleyn was not the queen, she had greater power than the queen's three years. What do you think?

I think this rather limits the sphere of influence of royal woman (or, as it was for the former period, royal-in-waiting, Anne was a noblewoman, not a royal one, until she became Queen); to, how to put this...the 'domestic'?

Ie, it's known that Henry had mistresses while Anne was Queen, but not queen-in-waiting; I feel like when this is argued that's mainly what the gist of the argument is, she was his ultimate priority and singular love, then they married and the 'chase ran out' and the disillusionment was quick and debasing. And so her influence reduced concurrently.

And...while I find that summary rather specious anyways on whole, for the sake of argument, even if the former part were true, political power is something else. Queen-in-waiting was Anne at "I beseech your grace with all my heart to remember the parson of Honey Lane for my sake shortly", Queen Anne was Anne at seven of her own evangelical clients appointed bishops. After the fall of Wolsey we get "above all, the Lady Anne" re: Henry's councilors from the French ambassador, after Anne becomes Queen we get the contemporary remarks that she has the most influence with the King, beyond any other person, her time in power is referred to as her "reign". Even contemporary remarks after her fall are testament to the influence she had as Queen, "the fall of Queen Anne was like the fall of Lucifer", a parallel to God's most favoured angel being cast down...nobody remarks that it was evident her power had diminished once she married Henry.

Tl;dr, even following the paradigm of loss of love = loss of influence, I don't think...we have that much evidence of the former; the narrative is popular...well, because it's popular, if that makes sense? There's not much of an attempt to understand Henry as his own person, as an individual, particularly when it comes to his relationships with his wives. He was very ostentatious about what he felt for Anne: he "preferred the love of the queen to half his realm", he would "beg alms door to door" before he would forsake her, it's easy to dismiss this all as Henry being glib, knowing the ending, however...I believe he felt and meant these sentiments in the moments he said them, despite that, I think even had the ending been different, these expressions were both to Anne's benefit and detriment, really-- she was regarded as someone whose favour it was important to gain and keep circa as early as 1528, at the latest, all the way through to the end... but because of the common bruit of them, she was also, sometimes solely, blamed for Henry's unpopular decisions.

[listen-to-the-inner-walrus]

Finished Trace Evidence this morning, and that is officially the 7th square - Childhood Favourite - crossed off on my bingo board for @batmanisagatewaydrug's 2025 Book Bingo.

Technically, I was finished a bit ago because I finished Virals by Kathy Reichs a bit ago, but I goddamn adore this series and I just had to reread the entire Virals series.

There are 5 books (Virals, Seizure, Code, Exposure, and Terminal) and 4 short stories (Shock, Shift, Swipe, and Spike) collected within the book Trace Evidence. And there is no way for me to even remotely review this series or just talk about it objectively. Reading it fundamentally changes me as a person as in like, I have a degree in psychology as a result of reading this book.

It was honestly a little revealing for me, rereading this series. Like I did not realise how many of my writing quirks came from the way Kathy Reichs writes, maybe including my love of epistolary storytelling. This book feels like a window into my soul almost. I felt vulnerable reading it at times though other times I was overjoyed, making notes like "hi my beloved" and "chance my boy!"

At its bones, the Virals series is about four kids and their dog solving mysteries. There's a lot of Scooby Doo vibes (another one of my childhood favourite things) like these are The Meddling Kids™ to rival all others (which is kinda the plot of Terminal), but they do commit several more felonies than I remember happening on Scooby Doo. Within our gang - or more accurately, pack - there's Tory (Tory's the grand-niece of Temperance Brennan for anyone who's read Reichs' other books or seen Bones), Shelton, Hiram, Ben and Tory's wolfdog Cooper.

I adore all four of them and almost every other character in the series from clueless dad Kit to a bit confused but got the spirit Whitney to terrible awful Chance to reformed girlboss Madison to definition of shit floats upward Corcoran to the girl Tory definitely doesn't have a crush on Ella to anyone and everyone in the series.

Hiram is my favourite though. At least half of the notes I made and sections I highlighted while reading were about him, including one reading simply "beloved rat man". Hi is hilarious and he would do numbers on Tumblr like this guy wins in the jester off. He'd have a Goncharov poster in his room and would have Opinions™ on the fairy walrus debate. He is one for malicious compliance also, wearing his blazer inside out at school because he's still technically wearing the uniform.

The series has its issues from period-typical misogyny to sometimes being weird in how it talks about Ben being Native American to some forensic science inaccuracies to sometimes creeping toward fatphobia though it falls closer to body neutrality imo. Also it implies telepathy could be gained via epigenetics. It's not perfect, but it's so close to my heart that it's basically entwined in my DNA.

Inma close it with a quote from every book in the series:

"I ran my eyes up 160 feet of crumbling stone, a bleak, solitary spike surrounded by ocean on all sides. Dark and empty, the structure seemed to brood. Resentful at being abandoned? At losing its battle with the elements?

It’s the most depressing thing ever, I thought."

-Virals

"“Then why are you here? Did you break the law?” “Yes. Quite a few.” I held up a hand. “But for a good cause!” Kit’s brow wrinkled in confusion. “But you’ve been grounded all week.”"

-Seizure

"The Gamemaster’s face was granite, but the tic was a giveaway. I could tell he struggled to contain his fury.

“The world is insane,” he hissed. “I just help it dance.”"

-Code

"Without Tory, we three bozos were flying blind. No, worse than that—we couldn’t even locate the airplane."

-Exposure

"No, the anger was at myself. For acting like a spoiled brat. For being incapable of the simple human decency of congratulating two happy people. For bringing the shadow of my mother into their moment. The tears came then. Hot and fast, in a torrent unaccompanied by words. I didn’t want to think about Mom. Then hated myself for it. If I didn’t remember her, who would? I was all she’d had. We were all we’d had. And what had I reduced Mom to? A club to smash my father’s happiness. To batter Whitney, who’d never even met my mother, and had been at Kit’s side since before I’d appeared. Sobbing, I curled into a ball. Shoved my face in a pillow. Coop’s frigid nose pressed against my arm, and I gathered him in, too. He wiggled close, nestling his furry head in my chest. We lay like that until the tears ran dry."

-Terminal

"Shelton stood, handed Tory the padlock. “There.” Shaking his head. “One more B and E for my juvie record. I’ll never be president.” “Pssh.” I flapped a hand. “The Oval Office is perfect for a criminal like you.”"

-Shift, within Trace Evidence

[bennyaddict]

Just found an unusual thing about Ben: he tried serve & volley at EVERY first serve when he played someone at the challenger tour in 2022, to improve his tactical performance and hone his ability to deliver under pressure. When the match went to the third set tiebreaker, he still did this and finally won. Oh I mean…what a decisive boy as always. No matter the result Ben just played his own game until now, that’s why all we describe him as energetic, courageous, dynamic and believe he can achieve something special. This kid is BORN to be special in every aspect.