#I haven't seen my favourite star in two weeks

[clumsy-words-again]

I love clear sunny days and I love soft sunshine-y cloudy days and I love the winter sun days but nights are best when the sky is cloudless so I can speak to the stars

[keepwaitingforyou]

do you have any facts about dylann that are your favourites? could you share them with us? :3

I already answered this question this morning on my other blog but I'll give some more bc why not

there are supposedly hundreds more photos that he took that still haven't been released to the public

he wrote a letter to tucker carlson

apparently he'd leave in the middle of conversations and go listen to music in his car

in his interrogation, he very incorrectly guessed how long he stayed in the church and forgot what month and day of the week it was

when someone would try to quote dylann, they'd have to get every word exactly how he said it, or else he would say that they're wrong

in 2016 he said he'd rather have bernie sanders as the president than donald trump or hillary clinton

he thought his message would get across better if there were only black people on the jury because he thought white people would want to give him the death penalty so they wouldn't seem racist

he got passport photos taken at cvs. i have no clue why.

when he was a kid, whenever he'd go out to eat with his family he'd almost always order spaghetti

there was a map of the world on the wall of his bathroom and a chair right next to the toilet

and here are the facts from my other post since that blog got termed anyway:

- I've never seen anyone bring this up, but in his bank statements it shows that he went to an aquarium in charleston

- Dylann had a friend who died in November 2013, and he left a tribute on his obituary in May 2015

- his favorite photo is the one he took with the slave mannequins at boone hall plantation

- Dylann bought the rhodesia and apartheid south africa patches on his jacket on the same day that he registered the lastrhodesian.com domain in February 2015, but didn't put his manifesto on his website until the day of the shooting

- he seemed to mostly listen to music on cassette tapes, and asked someone on stormfront if they'd be willing to sell cassettes to him

- he's been described by people who have talked with him and saw him after the shooting as "gentle", "childlike", "polite", "mostly passive and submissive in dealing with others", "wary and sensitive"

- at one point he said he wanted to get a job as a retail worker but thought no one would hire him because of the way he looks

- when dylann was in middle school, he saw a band live and then asked his mom if they could stay in their house. his mom's boyfriend at the time allowed it and the band slept in the basement

- when he was a kid he went on vacation with his family to the florida keys, which was the only time his dad was able to remember dylann befriending someone else

- dylann wanted to change his middle name

- some of his other interests before white nationalism were Star Wars, Maple Story, Bionicles, dogs, and dinosaurs

- Dylann is too shy, socially inept, and easily embarrassed to engage in conversation a lot of the time. He speaks softly and usually only gives one or two word answers. When he'd ask the manager at Clark's for a day off of work, he'd "wring his hands in nervousness"

[curioushabitforarivergod]

dark(ish) academia books that I don't see recommended enough

I read a lot, both fiction and non-fiction, and a lot of the stuff I've read over the past 2-3 years has had underlying academic tones. I've tried to include books I've at least enjoyed, although there are a few 3 star ratings. All of these books are ones I haven't really seen mentioned in compiled dark academia lists (mainly because some of them fall outside the general scope and are more ✨vibes✨). Feel free to add more less well-known books. I've included my own blurbs of the books but I've got shit memory and some I read like 2 years ago so yeah

Fiction

"Let us read, and let us dance; these two amusements will never do any harm to the world." Voltaire

To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf

Takes place over 10 years and explores family and the destruction left behind after WWI. It discusses the feminine vs. masculine in art and while it can be a little slow to read (took me close to 3 weeks!) theres some really beautiful passages and also some funny ones as well — the characters spend several chapters at a dinner party convinced everyone hates them and constantly hating other people too.

The Dark is Rising (series) by Susan Cooper

Okay, yes this is a kids book series from the 70s/80s but it explores English, Cornish and Welsh mythology and has really good characters and world-building. Even though chronologically the series goes: Over Sea, Under Stone; The Dark is Rising; Greenwitch; The Grey King; Silver on the Tree, it's best to read The Dark is Rising first and return back to Over Sea, Under Stone. Anyway, I love this series and I read The Dark is Rising every Christmas because it corresponds pretty much with the days and is easy to place and that's kind of what makes it feel very cozy and academic. Also, theres some brief moments of time travel to the past.

The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova

This is a beautiful written masterpiece set across the 20th century featuring plenty of train rides across Europe and vampires. It explores some of the history of Walachia and Dracula, as well as the Ottoman Empire and European politics of the time. It's a hefty read but I loved it because it combines history, dark academia, fantasy and vampires.

Macbeth by William Shakespeare

My favourite of Shakespeare that I've seen so far and honestly murder is so dark academia I don't need to talk any further. Strangely, I don't see this recommended enough.

Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell

This was quite popular a year or two ago, and honestly for good reason. I think it's only really academic because it's linked to Shakespeare and explores the less well-known lives of Shakespeare's family, but it's very good and I thought I'd include it anyway.

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

This one feels really light academia to me, but I think it's mainly because of setting. It's set in this fantastical old and crumbling mansion that goes on forever. It's filled with statues and it floods and only two people live in the world. The story is told entirely through diary entries, but it's so well-written because it defamiliarises the reader entirely. It was a light and easy read for me, which is probably why I'm associating it with light academia rather than dark academia.

The Book of Goose by Yiyun Li

This book kinda mixes chaotic academia and cottagecore academia and is a reflection of girlhood and youth spent in the French countryside in the 50s. There's a toxic relationship between two friends who write a book together before one of them attends prestigious girls' school in England. Also the opening lines are amazing: "You cannot cut an apple with an apple. You cannot cut an orange with an orange. You can, if you have a knife, cut an apple or an orange. Or slice open the underbelly of a fish. Or, if your hands are steady enough and the blade is sharp enough, sever an umbilical cord."

Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh

Another classic! I love Waugh, and Brideshead revisited is amazing and my favourite of what I've read of his. The book is quite homoerotic — explicitly so at times, which is fascinating for something published in 1945 — and deals with romanticisation. It nestles quite snugly between Picture of Dorian Grey and Secret History in terms of a dark academic literary canon.

Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen

This is more gothic than dark academia, but it's also a satire of the gothic genre so I feel like it counts. It's definetly not as well known as some of Austen's other works and feels much more raw, particularly because its her first work (although not published until after her death). It's not my favourite Austen, but I love it all the same, especially because of its commentary on warning the romanticisation of other peoples lives and the gothic/dark academia. Although dark academia wasn't a thing in Austen's day!

Possession by A. S. Byatt

I love the main story but because its so metafictive and explores the relationship between two made-up poets (one of whom is bi and cheats on her gf with the second) from the perspective of modern academics, it can get quite hard to read sometimes. It's also really long, but definitely worth reading.

Non-Fiction

I feel like non-fiction is pretty over-looked when it comes to the academia aesthetic which really says something, given that its… kinda the whole point of academia?? Anyway, I read a lot of history books, but I only put down the ones which I found interesting or easy to read, so they're more popular histories than academic histories. Also; essays.

The Year 1000: What Life Was Like At the Turn of the First Millennium by Robert Lacey

This explores early medieval life in England based on the Julius Work Calendar, an Anglo-Saxon manuscript believed to date to 1020BCE. It's honestly a really light and interesting read and it talks about what everyday life was like, which I think is important in history. It's in a narrative style so it's quite easy to read even if you don't consume history often.

Oh, to Be a Painter! by Virginia Woolf

This is actually a short, published collection of Virginia Woolf essays on art. I read the essays all in one sitting because they're quite short, but if you're into art and art academia, I'd highly recommend. There's also an essay on the cinema which provides some interesting insights into todays world particularly as Woolf was writing at the time when cinema was only just becoming widespread and an industry in its own right.

A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift

This is a satirical essay on attitudes towards the poor and it suggests that poor people might sell their children as food for the rich, highlighting the callousness of the upper classes. It's available free online and very much relevant today, despite being written close to 300 years ago.

The Time Traveller's Guide to Elizabethan England by Ian Mortimer

Very useful if you ever find yourself stuck in the Elizabethan period! It's read as a sort of travel guide but includes plenty on history as well, providing a picture of what England looked like in the late-Tudor period. Also people will think you're a time-traveller if you carry it around, which adds to your intrigue and mystery.

A Memoir of Jane Austen by James Edward Austen-Leigh

If you like Jane Austen and haven't read this memoir, you should. It's written by her nephew, so it's quite biased and it's not amazing in any way, but it provides a lot of context to her life and is a good light-read or coffee table book. Also my copy was pale pink so win.

Thats it folks. Feel free to include your own less well-known book recs that follow dark/light/chaotic, etc. aesthetics! I'd love to compile a huge list and read more outside my comfort zone.

[korn-official]

The Kerrang! Challenge starring Jonathan Davis & Munky!

This weeks contestants are:

Name: Jonathan Davis and James 'Munky' Shaffer

Occupation: Tortured singer and guitar-mangler & Kerrang! stage headliners, KORN!

Specialist Subject: Clowns, blindness, and obscenities.

**

1. What is BSE most commonly known as?

James: "is it a European thing? Oh great."

Jonathan: "Mad Cow's Disease?"

James: "Yessss!!!! Good guess, man!”

Jonathan: "I'm a vegetarian now, and BSE was one of the reasons I stopped eating meat. It freaks me out. I don't want my fucking brains running out my nose."

2.On entering the EEC, how many cigarrettes can you bring with you?

Jonathan: "Oh, man, What the fuck is it? Three?"

James: "Remember being on the boat at Dover, and there were all these guys with cartons? I'm gonna say 30 cartons."

Jonathan: "We'll say five cartons."

Kerrang!: "It's 'chokey' for you, then."

3.How many installments of "Childern of the Corn" have there been?

Jonathan: "Three. The first one's the dopest, the second one was kind of cheesy, and the third one I didn't see. Bet it sucks."

4. Who won the Euro 96 competition?

James: "Nobody in the band's into sports"

Jonathan: "What is Euro 96?"

James: "Just pick one."

Jonathan: "Norway."

5.name Slayer's second album.

James: "There was Reign in Blood, then ...."

Jonathan: "Seasons in the Abyss, maybe.."

James: "We'll say South of Heaven"

Kerrang!: "It was Hell Awaits.”

(The duo scream with the embarrassment of it all.)

Jonathan: "Fuck, I knew that song. Play it backwards and it goes, "Join Us", I liked it."

James: "Sicko.”

6. Name Keanu Reeve's rock band.

James: "I saw them on The David Letterman Show.”

Jonathan: "Er, we’re gonna suck…”

Kerrang!: "not as badly as Dogstar."

7. Who plays Quentin Tarantino's brother in From Dusk Till Dawn?

Jonathan: "Haven't seen it. Bruce Willis?"

James: "Boris Karloff."

8. What was the first single from Bon Jovi's keep the faith album?

James: "Keep the faith, that was it. Oh fuckk, I should have got that wrong. Oh no..."

Jonathan: "You fucking rocker!”

9. What is maize more commonly known as?

Jonathan: "Corn, we use Maize as a dummy name when we do warm-up shows."

10. As a result of losing her royal title, how much money has princess Diana been given?

Jonathan: "Was it 43 million pounds?"

Kerrang!: "No, she's not that important."

Jonathan: "I heard a story that when Diana and Prince Charles went anywhere, people had to build a toilet. Then the toilet seat got sent back to the Royal Family, so no one could ever sit on it. The whole monarchy's fucked."

11. Who directed the Italian horror film "tenebrae"?

Jonathan: "Oh, Fellini?

Kerrang!: "No."

Jonathan: "Fellini is the only italian director we know."

12. What is 15 percent of 400?

James: "Oh, man, mathematics."

Jonathan: "Okay, 10 percent will be 40 bucks, is it 45?"

13. What colour is London's Central tube line?

James: "Lime green.“

Jonathan: "I wasn't down there. so I can't tell you. We suck. How many have we got - two?"

14. Which band's second album is named "Ignition"?

James: "Ah, Offspring."

Jonathan: "They're from Huntington Beach, where we started the band. They're cool, but I'm not into that music at all. Noodles is a really nice guy, although he seems to be full of himself."

15. Who played the photo-journalist in "Apocalypse Now"?

Jonathan: "Dennis Hopper. He is in my favourite movie, 'Blue Velvet'. I wish I could live 'Blue Velvet'."

16. Whereabouts would you find the human tragus?

Jonathan: "That's a hard one…I'd say the face. Fuck, it's the head. Is it a bone? The ear. Morturary College comes in handy again."

17. Which rap band sampled a riff from Slayer's Angel of Death?

James: "Public Enemy, 'She Watch Channel Zero?!'. When we were 18, we used to play that in the recording studio."

18. Name the four horeseman of the apocalypse.

James: "Martin Sheen, Marlon Brando, Dennis Hopper"

Jonathan: "There's the white horse, the brown one..."

19. Which comedian recorded a live album and vidoe called 'no cure for cancer'?

James: "Denis Leary. He's raw, man. He's hosting a new comedy over here, called 'London Underground' or something.”

20. What are the ingredients of a good bloody mary?

James: “Vodka, tomato juice, celery, tabasco, and a dash of pepper."

Jonathan: "Worcester sauce and maybe some long green beans. They're great for a hangover, and on a plane too. I don't know why, but God they're good."

21. What do the opposite sides of a dice total?

Jonathan: "Seven, I know that from shootin craps."

Kerrang!: "Isn't that a tad messy? Boom ching, I thank you."

22. Spell the word enema.

Jonathan: "E-N...There's a 'Y' in it. fuck it. E-N-Y-M-A."

23. if a Londoner said that they were going to "up the apples and pears", what would they mean they are doing?

Jonathan: "Fucking— drinking? We have no clue.“

Kerrang!: "Up the stairs."

Jonathan: "Okay, I've gotta remember that. 'I'm going up the apples and pears, man.'"

24. How many centimeters are there in a foot?

James: "A hundred?"

25. Which is the correct saying: the yolk of an egg is white, or the yolk of an egg are white?

Jonathan: "The yolk of an egg is white, no?"

Kerrang!: "It's yellow.”

James: "Oh, man. that's like 'which is heavier, a pound of rocks or a pound of feathers?'. That is cool."

[boinin]

btw, block #blue lock leaks or #blue lock spoilers if you want to filter out my babbling any time we get a new chapter 🐞

So, first thoughts on this week's leaks?

there's just this panel of Isagi's legs in the air. not a football in sight.

🌈🫡 never change blue lock never change ✊💙

More seriously, it's really wholesome how most of the team pile on to celebrate with the winning duo. KURONA you guys, he doesn't even hesitate!! He's so happy for Isagi

LOOK AT HIM ON ISAGI'S BACK OMG

Guess who I'm going to next...

I can't wait to see this in the official release, but damn... The Emperor is Not Happy. It really reminds me of Isagi's DAMN IT panel from chapter 230—probably on purpose. Kaiser is Michael's ideal after all... but is the novice beginning to surpass the star?

Not pictured in the leaks: Kunigami or Yukimiya's reactions. Hmm... We do get wonderful reaction shots of the two coaches and Ness, as well as a disappointed Ubers. Also no sign of Barou—they're saving that confrontation for next week.

We get some interesting panels of Hiori too. Waiting on the fan translation, but to me it seems like he's going to put off quitting... at least while he's motivated to pursue goals the way he did with Isagi this match.

look how gorgeous and HAPPY he looks here, I'm going to cry 🥹 he deserves the world

But for me, the key excitement came towards the end of the leaks. Because we didn't get just a glimpse of what's going on beyond the Ubers match...

We got the full-ass ending of the Manshine City v Paris X Gen match.

GUESS WHO'S BACK FRIENDS AND FANGIRLS

ITOSHI MOTHERFUCKING RIN IS MAKING HIS RETURN

oh and nagi i guess. whatever

.../s Don't come for me. I love Nagi really, but we've seen plenty of him in his spin off.

I was not expecting to get this level of detail on our favourite edgy emo. Rin is absolutely dominating PXG by the looks of it. Isagi can't rest on his laurels yet.

I was also not expecting our princess to be the sole scorer of this match! On the one hand: COME THROUGH MY STRAWBERRY HAIRED SON! ❤️❤️❤️ I'M SO PROUD OF YOU! I wish they showed more of Chigiri this chapter... but at least they gave us chapter 213.

But still, damn Manshine... get it together.

It could be years until we get the full story behind this match—but Nagi seems to be struggling just as chapter 207 foreshadowed. It's hard to believe he couldn't motivate himself against Rin, who's another established rival of his. Ah well. Maybe he'll redeem himself against Ubers and Barou?

Overall, cracking chapter... and I haven't actually read a word of it yet!

[hyukassubi]

🪡11 | Don’t You Get Homesick?

♡𓂃 Pairing -> (Former) Knight! Huening Kai x Seamstress! Reader

♡𓂃 Synopsis -> Growing up, you never believed in purpose, nor destiny. Simply following the path of life, becoming a royal seamstress didn't at all seem like a bad idea. Only thing is, it wasn't your idea.

Your best friend who just so happens to be the crowned prince knows what it's like to grow up having limited choices, and Prince Kang Taehyun doesn't want the same happening to you. The commander knight, in turn, has other plans for the future. After Huening Kai closes a profound chapter of his life, he seeks refuge from the chaos of his past, opting for a cozier lifestyle instead.

... And it just so seems that those plans wouldn't be fulfilled without you.

♡𓂃 Wc -> 644

It was one of those calmer days today, Wizard Beomgyu caved in his laboratory-turret brewing up another one of his unique antidotes for curing cancer in rabbits, Crowned Prince Taehyun in one of the study rooms in the library reading up royal history or something, you working on an aesthetically pleasing tapestry of your most favourite spot in the palace (aside from your studio/ bedroom)— the garden pond.

You didn’t know where Kai was, but you assumed he was busy, too.

Like you, like Taehyun, like Beomgyu.

Until a figure creeps up from behind you, proving all your assumptions wrong.

Huening Kai.

He walks into your peaceful embroidering session, squatting next to you, staring into the clean surface of the pond, reflection starring right back at him.

“...Hi.” He says.

“Hello.” You say, unfazed. "How's your first time being a knight going?"

“Hmm… It’s very tame, actually. I got notified of a perimeter inspection for the next week and tended to Hazelnut’s lice. Oh, and I had an arm wrestling match with the other knights, too. I won, of course.” Kai doesn’t ramble often. He speaks in pauses, short sentences piled one after the other. But when he does ramble, his words flow out as easily as pulling on decorative ribbon. “How about you?”

“Hm.” You pondered. “The tasks are demanding, deadlines are strict, but nothing I can’t overcome, right?”

Huening Kai smiles, nodding along because he completely believes his… close friend can do anything she sets her mind to.

It is Huening Kai’s turn to ponder over the calm waters of the trickling pond, a small population of swans looming in the distance, the faint scent of lilies salted the air.

"Y/n, I've had this in my mind for quite a while...�� He started. “I would love to visit your family's shops again one day. Like, properly this time. Formally, I suppose, if it’s alright with you and them, of course."

Your thread that had previously needled in and out the fabric three stitches per second froze, impaled into the tummy of an embroidered swan. "Ahh right, I haven't seen them in a while either." You admitted, and why did that not jab at your heart the way it was suppose to?

For the next couple of intangible seconds, all Huening Kai could say was, “Oh… I… think it won’t hurt to go and pay them a little visit? I’ve been interested in their shops for a while now, actually. What I’m trying to say is… your father’s florist looks lovely, your mother’s bakery must be, too. I just.” Momentarily, Huening Kai held his breath. “It wouldn’t be that bad of an idea to take the day off and meet them? For a while? If that’s okay-?”

"Honestly, with where my life is going right now, I don't think I have time to even visit my parents every so often. Sorry to turn your offer down, though, perhaps sometime in the future?"

You didn’t mean to.

You didn’t mean to cut him off, his words off.

But the air was so thick, so unbearable, it would be awkward trying to fill up the air with a flunked makeshift apology now. Your hands did not move, the thread did not sew itself.

It was just you and Kai and Kai and you and this unfinished tapestry in your hands and the thick, unbearable air between you two.

All Kai can do was stare, and he didn’t know why it felt like he was looking into you from miles away.

He muttered, voice raw and clear, "Don't you get homesick?"

You shrugged. "Not really."

You apologized to Huening Kai later on.

He smiled away, bashful, understanding that that was just a social hiccup.

You agreed with him and kept things that way.

A social hiccup.

Yeah, that’s all it really was.

Was it not?

Previous | Masterlist | Next

♡𓂃Tags: @sweetheartsaku @imcringebutimfree @i-like-to-read-at-4am @pengningie @marloree @stormy1408 @blossommi @flaminghotyourmom

Reblog & review if you like my work !!

[becausegoodheroesdeservekidneys]

I'm off to fringe for a few days soon, do you have any recommendations on who to see this year?

I have no idea of what kind of comedy you like, but I do have a few! Although if you ask me in a week I may have more, as my husband will have had chance to see more and rec them to me; I'll be going up later in the month. But I have seen some in preview and heard great things about others.

Steffan Alun: Free Stand-Up Will Blow Your Mind. 11.45am, Just the Tonic at the Mash House.

Very good show this year, and when I saw it in final preview a woman in front of me very literally cried with laughter at one point, and had to take her glasses off to dry her face. It's about approaching middle age and wondering if you're a role model, and it's his usual style: very anecdotal, lil bit moral and political, very optimistic, and very Welsh. Owing to some Fringe Bollocks he's not in a great time slot, so every audience member is very appreciated this year, because it's a fantastic show that deserves more coverage than it's going to get (why do we even HAVE morning time slots...)

Josh Elton: Mountain Jew. 13.45, Brewdog

Another one I've seen in preview! Josh is a Welsh Jewish comedian and his show this year is about labels, and the benefits and drawbacks of them (eventually examining his own). It's charming and irreverent and makes good points while being hilarious.

Cerys Bradley: Not Overthinking Things 2019. 15.30, the Alcove at Laughing Horse @ Bar 50

A Tumblr darling, if only Tumblr kept up with comedy outside of famous TV comedians. Cerys is NB and autistic and had one of my favourite shows last year - it was about how they joined a women's rugby team and had to navigate being unfit, socially awkward, and trans. It was amazing. According to Steff, this year's show is even better, so it's first on my own list to watch when I get the chance. (Also Cerys is an absolute delight on a personal level. This is rare in a comedian. I mean, so is everyone else on this list, but eh.)

Jake Baker: Alone Together. 17.30, Just the Tonic at the Caves.

Another I saw in preview and Very Enjoyed! Gently political but charmingly whimsical and extremely funny, and I saw a relatively early preview so it'll be even better now. Jake has a really lovely stage presence, kind of sweet and slightly shy, which means you feel at ease but are therefore floored all the more when the bigger hooks come. Really good show.

Priya Hall: Grandmother's Daughter. 16.20, Monkey Barrel 2.

God, I remember when Priya did her fifth ever gig. At the end the MC, pro Welsh comic Matt Rees, got up to see her off the stage, and once she'd sat down he went "So...was that really your fifth gig?" And when she said yes, he said "Because... I don't know if anyone has told you yet, but... it's considered courtesy among comedians if, when you're starting out, you remember to be shit for a while."

We knew she'd be going places, is what I'm saying

Anyway, she's doing her debut! And I believe it's about her quest with her girlfriend to become parents, while talking about the role her Indian grandmother played in her Welsh family. I haven't seen it yet but I intend to.

Sooz Kempner: Y2K Woman. 15.45, Underbelly, Bristo Square

They've all been free or pay what you want so far, but this is the first of two ticketed shows in the Big Four that I'll flag up. £11 a standard ticket, £10 a concession, but with the Big Four keep an eye on the specials board - plus they often do two for one offers on tickets on Mondays and Tuesdays, so see if her show is included in that.

It's about late 90s/early 00s nostalgia, and also the fact that she's starring in a really interesting Doctor Who mixed media spin off project atm that hardcore Doctor Who fans hate and are furious about for reasons of being boring nerds with zero fun.

Alice Fraser: Twist. 20.30, Underbelly, Bristo Square

Honest to God the woman is just. A master. A maestro. A goddess of comedy. She could read the phone book and you'd be in hysterics, plus rolling around on the floor. You could receive news that every single person you'd ever met and liked had all been accidentally jettisoned into space in a freak accident involving a Tesla crashing into a SpaceX rocket, and you'd still laugh yourself sick at her show. She's breathtaking. Go and see her.

[brotherdusk]

it's time again for my favourite genre of post: tumblr user bee brotherdusk theorises wildly during the Foundation midseason!

on the menu this time is Poly and Constant's Imperial Vacation From Hell, or "oh god, I just wanted to make sure one of my favourite guys was going to be okay, but somehow I ended up sending over two dozen increasingly frantic messages to the discord while everyone else was asleep, pepe silvia-style"

(today I learned that grandpa joe shows up when you type "pepe silvia" into the gif search. deserved)

I'm gonna stick this under a readmore as it gets pretty long and image heavy, and potentially contains big spoilers for upcoming episodes, and I know some people want to watch the show completely unspoiled. all theories are based on official promotional videos already released by apple. no leaks or insider book knowledge here!

so I sort of stumbled into this theory in three stages, and I'm going to stick to that template as I talk through my analysis here, starting with:

Part 1 - I'm Genre Aware Now And Everything Hurts

let's be real, nobody saw Hari's (apparent) death coming in the last episode. death is far less of a concern in this show than in others, as the narrative all but guarantees the long-term survival of its core characters. Hari (apparently) dying so quickly after having his body restored was a massive shock, and jolted us out of the complacency that the show had lulled us into.

when the title and description of next week's episode dropped, fan concern quickly turned to Poly, who @gaal-dornick and @aquitainequeen noted has started to exhibit the classic symptoms of Tragic Mentor Figure Disease:

also, there's, y'know, The Guillotine Situation as shown in Trailer 1:

Poly's death seemed so likely that I was beginning to dread the coming episodes, but something was nagging at me; I had a vague memory of seeing a trailer where he was on Terminus and in a situation that we haven't yet seen him in. maybe he does survive his brush with Brother Day, then? I started rewatching all of the trailers, teasers, and character spotlight videos that Apple released in the run-up to season two, and came across something way wilder than I'd expected:

Part 2 - Star Bridge 2: Council Boogaloo

I found another camera shot of Poly and Constant's apparent execution in the Brother Dawn character spotlight video - note the pillars in front of the crowd, the flags in the back, and Dawn, Sareth, Demerzel, Dusk, and Rue standing on the platform behind Day and the prisoners.

note also the onlookers in the maroon robes, who are also visible in the guillotine closeup I posted above...

...hey, it's the Galactic Council as seen in 2.06, with their GILF-y leader at the front in both scenes!

remember how terrified Cleon XII was of their judgement in the season one finale? we still don't know what their exact deal is, but they're clearly big cheeses politically if XII of all people is afraid of them:

here's yet another angle of the execution from Trailer 2 - same setup, same arrangement of Empire on the podium:

let's see what happens in that shot, will we? ..... oh

... did an explosion just go off in the heart of Trantor and potentially take out the entire galaxy's government in one go???? (I mean, Empire are probably fine with their auras and nanobots and backups, but I'm not feeling too good about the Council's chances right now...)

wait - the pulse and shape that appear on the horizon bear a striking resemblance to the new Foundation whisper ships - especially Poly and Constant's ship, Spirit Rising, which is currently in the hands of Hober Mallow...

why did he take their ship, again?

holy fucking shit Hari Seldon you insane rat bastard (admiring, horrified, impressed). what have you DONE. a blade in case the religious hand of friendship doesn't work out, you say??

(sidenote: this was literally the Anacreon plan for the Invictus in the first season - the scale of the destruction would have been magnitudes worse due to the Invictus' size, but same concept)

honestly, I kind of hope the entire Council perishes in the Mallowpocalypse, if only because it would make this exchange in 2.06 deliciously ironic:

the worst detectives in the world finally found their shared braincell and made a deduction! I'm proud of them!

also, Glawen literally saw this coming in 2.04 and Bel brushed him off. ¯_(ツ)_/¯ sad!

regarding casualties - I think this shot from Trailer 1 is the aftermath of the blast. Day was standing much closer to the explosion than the rest of Empire and Dominion, and so would have taken more damage, aura or not. I also see Sareth, Rue (?), and Dawn - jury's out on whether being dead is the latest item added to Dusk's rapidly expanding list of problems?

a direct attack on Trantor would also explain why Day goes on a personal tour of the Outer Reach and ends up on Terminus, screaming for an audience with Hari Seldon (Trailer 1 again):

and hey, Poly's right behind him! he's Empire's best chance of getting a personal audience with the Prophet, after all. Poly also pops up in Day's character spotlight video, in what I'm guessing is the execution scene again, judging from the collar and the guard restraining him. it might even be the aftermath of the blast, since the shot is pretty chaotic and dusty looking. what's got him so upset?

... and it was at this moment that I realised that while Poly is present in the later Terminus scenes with Day, Brother Constant is not, and I started to worry that I'd been focusing on the wrong person the whole time, leading to...

Part 3 - What About Constant?

oh no. the question of Constant's safety has been hanging over both Poly and the viewer since 2.02. oh no

I thought I might have caught a glimpse of her in the Teaser 1 video - being restrained in the background as Day does his infamously-giffed-to-hell Big Steppy on Hober's throat - but I still wanted more concrete proof of her wellbeing.

and finally I found her in the Pillars of Foundation video, alive and well, but -

HER NECK!! HER NECK!!!

if Constant's life is just barely saved by Hober showing up in the nick of time to prevent her decapitation by an insane tyrant I will literally never be normal again. romance. that's romance. (also incredibly shitty of Vault!Hari to take her blind faith and turn her into a pawn for the Empire to slaughter, but I guess that's expected behaviour from him by now.)

... I was literally about to hit post on this theory, but I just realised; that scene in Teaser 1 where Day is facing down a bishop's claw... we all assumed he was being attacked by a wild beast in the Outer Reach - but what if he's lying in the ruins of the podium on Trantor, and the bishop's claw is a freed Beki going on a rampage? god I hope this happens. imagine being Emperor of the Galaxy, about to perform some casual executions before dinner, and suddenly you're flat on your ass with a Hell Dinosaur about to bite your face off. incredible scenes

and that's all I've got! TLDR; Hari knew that the emperors and Galactic Council would become increasingly paranoid and aggressive as the Empire contracted, and would jump at the chance to publicly end an attempted religious takeover by the "barbarian" Outer Reach. That mass gathering at the execution would be the perfect time to strike with a whisper ship, a technology which the Empire has no idea even exists. This enrages Day into visiting Terminus to deal with the Foundation in person, and potentially destabilises the Empire further if the Council have been wiped out. Empire's structure and dignity are decimated without a single shot being fired - and if there is going to be an eventual, physical war, the Foundation is now in a much better position to fight it.

again, this is just me making a theory and connecting everything together with red string etc etc. I haven't attempted to explain everything, such as the Spacers' or Riose's involvement, and have doubtless got some details wrong - but I'm really excited by how things are connecting and can't wait for next week's episode :}

[ilkkawhat]

tagged by @room-665 and @judyalvqrez, thank you both!💜💜💜💜

last song: Children of the Elder God by Old Gods of Asgard--in full. After that I was skipping through songs as I pulled into my neighborhood and driveway lol. honestly still seems like AW soundtrack music is like, the one thing I never skip since I got into it last November.

favourite color: Purple!

currently reading: House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski, have been for a while lol I gotta get back on it. My mom got a bit of a kick out of seeing me moving the book around and flipping to the back and such 😂

currently watching: Series wise, nothing really since I finished Sorjonen...I've been just kinda watching a lot of youtube videos or movies. Been thinking about getting back into Only Murders in the Building (I watched the first two seasons I think? Maybe the 3rd? See I just gotta start over lol) and then watching Poromafia for my next Ilkka series (beyond just skimming), and I'm probably gonna start Interview With a Vampire sooner or later cause it's all over my dash EDIT: FUCK i forgot I'm watching Star Trek Enterprise! very slowly, I watch it while I chill downstairs with my dog when my parents go out shopping (he's got bad separation anxiety and is not allowed to go up the stairs anymore for his safety so I just go to him)

last movie: Rewatched Hell House 2 in full, started watching Butterfly Kisses last night but couldn't stay up to finish it. Trying to get in the mood for spooky season and last year I got really into the found footage sub-genre.

sweet, spicy or savory: Savory...not good with spicy (lol says a woman who works with chipotle peppers. We mill dehydrated pods and it was so strong the other day I legit threw up on my way out) but on a mild level I'm okay with it. Do like sweet stuff but I do have limits with it.

relationship status: Single, probably always gonna be that way and that's fine lol. But if I happen to meet someone maybe I won't be as much of a coward as I have been with other potential relationships I could have had...it also sucks cause I can't say I'm surrounded with the most pleasant relationships (my parents especially)

current obsession: Primarily Alan Wake, secondary Ilkka Villi and really just the Remedy Verse as a whole--I think work's just beating me down too much to enjoy really anything right now but god do I just crave for the atmosphere and aesthetic of Alan Wake 2 right now

tea or coffee: Coffee though I'm not against tea at all and will admit I haven't drank as much coffee as I used to, I stopped during one summer cause it was too hot and I think I may have lost my idk taste? tolerance? for black coffee but I do get iced french vanilla coffee from mcdonalds like once a week lol. (really I just drink a lot of celsius for my daily caffiene fix)

the last thing i googled: Rune Factory 5 cause I saw it's on sale on the Nintendo e-shop and I'm debating getting it even though I have tons of other games I should be playing and let's be real, I'm just gonna continue playing Alan Wake 2 for the tenth time tomorrow instead of even playing the recently bought Star Wars Outlaws 😂😂 but RF5 is like, 20 bucks and that's the cheapest I've ever seen it so it can't hurt just to get it in the library and maybe start it later

breaking the tag chain but if anybody wants to do this, go for it and say I tagged you

[measurelessdreamer]

I've seen many posts about people missing how common asks used to be so I have been trying to send about an ask a week. Now I send this ask first anytime I follow someone as I really don't want to bother anyone, so I'd love to know if you enjoy receiving asks and if so what kind of asks. Not having energy for asks or being comfortable with them is perfectly okay.

The categories I have in my ask notebook that I file under are in colour. Please feel free to make your response as long as you want or private (the asker cannot directly respond to private responses).

Self, Job/Work: please let me know what you are comfortable with from eh idk just ask it to nothing personal at all.

Baggishield/Tolkien, Dragon Age, Johnlock/Sherlock, ineffable spouses, other fandom: Please let me know what fandoms. I think my main fandoms and ships are Bagginshield/The Hobbit, Sherlock/Johnlock, Dragon Age Inquisition, {Pippin/Faramir Merry/Eowyn}/The Lord of the Rings and I dip my toes in a few that I currently can't remember but ships I don't engage with the canon of at all are: Good Omens but only for Crowley/Azirapheal, Stranger Things but only for Steve/Eddie , The Witcher but only for Geralt/Jaskier, and Ladybug and Cat Noir but only for Adrinette .

OC's, art/drawing, their writing, blog specific only

Story snippets ideas and prompts: Do you like receiving them?

Pets: I'd love to know all about them

Garden and Hobbies: What type of gardening and/or hobbies?

Like being tagged in things: If so what kinds of things?

*Asks are sent for fun, no pressure to answer.

Oh, hi! Thanks for the message! I honestly didn't know that asks are no longer as common as they used to be. I've never been a good candidate to receive them since I don't have so many followers (I always thought you needed at least 500 to get asks lol) and I'm not much of a creator. I usually just reblog stuff that makes me happy and occasionally (like once in three years) I share a fic I wrote here so I never had high hopes which is why I was very surprised when I received this ask and it made me so happy! Seriously, you're so cool for doing this, especially when people don't expect it at all. Even though it's through social media, it requires a bit of coming out of your personal bubble and putting yourself out there and I rarely do that in my life no matter how safe the space is. So it's really cool and thank you. I received probably like 2 asks aside from this one in my whole life, but yeah, I enjoy it a lot. ^^

As for what kind of asks...

Self, Job/Work: I'm good with sharing some stuff as long as it's not something that hits too close to home, but I would probably say that's the case. Asking about how I'm doing in general and what I do and what I enjoy about it is probably fine.

Fandoms: Asks about fandoms would most definitely be my favourite. I always enjoy ranting about stuff I love with other like-minded people. I love Bagginshield, The Hobbit, LOTR (Faramir especially), Ted Lasso (and particularly royjamie), Star Wars (obikin is very close to my heart), The Walking Dead (rickyl is the goat ship of that fandom for me), and probably my favourite otps are superbat (superman/batman) and spirk (kirk/spock) so I enjoy these fandoms too. Fandoms where I have no ships but I enjoy them all the same are Mass Effect (only the original trilogy) and The Witcher (the games, I only read two books so far sadly, I ship geraskier from the show but I don't like the show otherwise). All these things are something I enjoy talking about. ^^ I also like Johnlock/Sherlock and I played the Dragon Age trilogy (but I enjoyed Origins the most and aside from the Cullen romance and meeting Alistair and Morrigan in Inquisition, I didn't enjoy that game very much).

I write fanfics sometimes. I haven't written many and it usually takes me a lot of time to finish anything, but I enjoy it. I'm happy to talk about my writing any day even if it frustrates me to no end.

Story snippets ideas and prompts: Not sure about this. I think receiving them is nice, but I wouldn't be able to do anything about them aside from talking and speculating about them. I'm not very good at writing something from a prompt, so probably no story would come of it, but if it's only discussion people seek, then I'm happy to provide! And if it turns out to be very interesting, then I'm all for taking it further!

Pets: I have lots. I'm happy to talk about them any time.

Garden and Hobbies: Not much of a garden person, I'm afraid, but I enjoy nature more than anything. I live in a very Shire-like country, which is the best thing when I want to let my imagination roam. I enjoy running (but I started only recently so I'm rubbish), reading (fantasy and romance especially), learning French, playing video games, hiking, watching movies and tv shows, and I recently started to learn how to play the Irish tin whistle.

I like being tagged in things, sure! Something funny or heartwarming is usually the best, but I love posts with random facts which are super elaborate and interesting. It can't have anything to do with politics, though, tumblr is my escapist haven. :D

I think I answered everything to the best of my ability. Sorry that it's so long! Thank you again for sending the ask! I hope you have an amazing day!

[gay-jesus-probably]

So like, last night I stumbled upon your discussions of why a lot of TOTK’s whole… everything is messed up, and it had me thinking about it so much I had troubled sleeping afterwards. So uh, thanks for that lol (/lh). In all seriousness, your takes on how imperialist Hyrule is in this game, how much less like unique cultures the various towns feel like, Ganondorf being both completely flat and also seemingly not meant to be, and how weird it is that Zelda is back in power really put into words a lot of thoughts that had been nagging at me as I’ve been playing. Like, the amount to which the writing has suffered from BOTW is staggering when you actually lay out the problems. Out of curiosity, do you have any idea what the fuck happened? Like did the writing team change? The game had so much potential, as seen by the numerous fan theories/AUs etc. So what went wrong?

Honestly? I have no idea. I'm not usually that big on behind the scenes stuff anyways, and I'll be real here, I went into this game pretty much 100% blind - I didn't even watch any of the trailers, I knew NOTHING about TOTK except from a few details I absorbed from hearing other people talk about online (basically, I knew Ganondorf was going to show up as a talking corpse, Link would lose an arm, and the Master Sword would get rekt).

I rarely buy games as soon as they come out anyways tbh; I can only think of three games that I've actually gone out of my way to get as soon as possible after their release, and that was the 3DS remakes of Superstar Saga and Bowsers Inside Story (two of my favourite games ever, and Superstar Saga having literally been my first RPG), and I picked up the Mario 3D All Stars collection on launch day as a favour to my older sibling (who was stuck at work), and got one for myself in the process. The only reason I bought TOTK like a week after its release was because one of our dogs was literally days away from having a puppy, and so I knew that the next few weeks of my life would be entirely dedicated to keeping the other two dogs busy, assisting mom with the newborn puppy, and just generally being on call to provide literally anything mom needed as soon as she needed it. Which meant a lot of sitting around waiting to be required, and I'd need something to do that I could easily pause at a moments notice. So... new video game seemed a good way to fill the hang time.

And it was a good call, like I said, I've been having loads of fun with this game. There's a reason I've almost got 300 hours of gameplay, and it's not (just) because I haven't had anything better to do in between taking care of dog stuff (though that number is somewhat inflated due to me leaving it open and paused for hours at a time while busy with dog stuff). It's just that the story is a fucking mess.

As for what happened with the story... I have no idea. I've seen some people suggest that they might have been planning something a little more ambitious, and then technical limitations forced them to walk it back, so the story had to be hastily reworked to match. And I've heard that the abilities in TOTK were just ideas they had for BOTW that they couldn't fit in, which honestly I can see - the abilities are cool and all, but let's be real here, they aren't nearly as distinct as the BOTW runes. Magnesis, Cryonis, Stasis and Remote Bombs were unique powers with different uses in different areas; now the powerset is just Recall, Get Around Slightly Faster, Ultrahand, Ultrahand But In Your Inventory, and Ultrahand But Faster. But I don't know if that's actually the case.

But honestly, I really don't know why the writing is so awful. To be fair, some of it is definitely just the English translation team shitting the bed - like come on, they didn't need to have Sidon and Yona repeatedly exchange the exact same line about how he's scared she'll die like Mipha. They could have at least changed the fucking wording to make it sound more natural. And I know that other translation teams managed to inject some more nuance into the story - the French translation actually managed to call Rauru on his imperialist bullshit! For the throne room scene, they had Ganon refer to Rauru with 'vous', the formal form of 'you', but Rauru refers to Ganon with 'tu', the informal form of 'you'. 'Tu' is for use in casual settings or between friends, and if someone is using 'vous' for you, referring to them with 'tu' is a MASSIVE insult; it's very condescending, and implies that you have literally no respect for that person whatsoever, but they should continue treating you as a figure of great authority. To sort of translate that into an English equivalent, it'd be like if Ganon walked into that scene using formal language and referring to Rauru as a fellow King, and Rauru responded by treating Ganon like a small, dumb child. Hugely insulting. Also the vous/tu disparity has a History with French colonialism, so that adds some implications as to what Hyrule's really doing with their 'allies'. And in the scene where Ganon takes the secret stone, the French translation has him say Rauru tried to force him to submit, which is an outright accusation of imperialism (as opposed to the English saying Rauru wanted to control Ganon, which suggests the problem was Rauru thinking he could find a peaceful solution instead of just executing a foreign leader for thought crimes)

So the english translation definitely had the room to put some more nuance into things if the team had wanted to; honestly I kind of wish I knew Japanese so I could compare it to the original script and see if any of the problems I've been bitching about were part of the script from the start, or if the English translators were just particularly bad. But Nintendo is a very conservative company, and Japan is a very conservative country with a serious nationalism problem, so I kind of doubt it, especially since the game portrays Hyrule pretty much the exact same way that Japan is portrayed in propaganda justifying their own imperialism. That... does not suggest the English team went apeshit. That suggests that the awful shit was in the script from the start, and the English team was just totally on board with it.

As for the writing teams... I mean, to be fair it's been like seven years, of course the writing team isn't the exact same as BOTW. But honestly, the main issue is just that they've recycled a lot of old problems from the Zelda games, and somehow stripped them of what little nuance they had before. Like, Ganondorf trying to take over Hyrule because Evil has been an issue since Ocarina of Time (which this game was clearly heavily pulling from), but even though OoT never told us he had a deeper motive, the worldbuilding still showed exactly why he would have such an issue with Hyrule. We knew there had been a bloody civil war only about a decade before Ganon's takeover, we knew that the Gerudo were treated with disdain by Hyrule, and we saw that Hyrule's alliances with the Gorons and Zora were pretty flimsy, and neither race felt like Hyrule actually gave a damn about them. But most importantly of all, OoT gave us the Shadow Temple, a horrific prison meant to inflict unspeakable torture on its captives... all on orders from the Hylian royal family. Hyrule's hands were never clean. We weren't supposed to side with Ganon in OoT, but we were shown a long list of reasons for why he was so pissed off.

Someone else said that TOTK feels like a retelling of OoT that's just pro-Hyrule propaganda, and that's a pretty good summary. I don't know what the fuck Nintendo was thinking, but honestly it kind of seems like they're trying to stick to the formula of Zelda games at all costs, while also making the entire game just a huge 'gotcha' to all the fans that have spent the last 25 years seeing Ganondorf as a sympathetic character with depth and reasonable motivations. I find it ironic that they decided to include the Wind Waker boomerang and shield in the game, considering that the whole game feels like an attempt to get everyone to forget Wind Waker ever happened. That's still the most human we've ever gotten to see Ganondorf - he didn't have many lines in that game, but the ones he did have mattered. At the end of the day, WW Ganondorf wanted to have a better life for his people, and he knew Hyrule would never let that happen. But now apparently Ganon just wants to dropkick puppies into woodchippers, and he doesn't give the slightest hint of a fuck about trying to wipe out the Gerudo people entirely by attacking them with an endless sandstorm plus zombie apocalypse. His only character trait is Evil.

If I want to get really cynical for a minute here, I think it's basically just a cash grab. If your game prompts a moral debate, then it can offend people, which means they won't want to give you money for it. But if it's a simple black and white conflict with no nuance, the fans will love all the right characters in the right way, and everyone will love hyrule and want to see more of it! It's like the fucking MCU; they're not willing to tell a fresh story, or make any serious commentary. They just want something safe and formulaic that has been statistically proven to make money. Fucking cowards.

[giggles-and-freckles]

Tag Game To Better Know You

I have been tagged in so many things by so many of you lovely people in the midst of my sorta-hiatus and I would break the internet if I tried to catch up...but I like this one because it feels like a good little re-intro into the Tumblr world. :-)

What book are you currently reading?

The Writing Revolution...I can't in good conscience recommend it unless you also happen to find yourself as a teacher trying to capture teenagers' imaginations and get them to produce complete sentences! Hahahaha. Miserable toil.

What’s your favourite movie you saw in theatres this year?

Ooh, this one's easy--The Little Mermaid!! I have seen it with my family twice and then with my friends once. (I felt a little freer to lust after Prince Eric when my husband and two children weren't sitting there with me...)

What do you usually wear?

These days, some form of athleisure. During the school year, I've been told my teacher style is "Jessica Day if she didn't care so much" and...that about sums it up.

How tall are you?

5′5″ AND A HALF (alternatively: taller than @stolen-pen-name23 which is all that truly matters in this world)

What’s your star sign? Do you share a birthday with a celebrity or a historical event?

Cancer...I think? Malala Yousafzai and Henry David Thoreau!

Do you go by your name or a nickname?

Most folks IRL call me Abigail. It's just my brothers, husband, and you guys who call me Abi!

Did you grow up to become what you wanted to be when you were a child?

Absolutely not. I wanted to be a lawyer my entire life. My undergrad was pre-law and then life had other plans for me and now I'm teaching 8th grade American History. And LOVING IT. I start grad school in the fall and I'll be getting my Principal's Certification with that, so I suppose I'm in this education world for the long haul.

Are you in a relationship? If not, who is your crush if you have one?

I am tragically married. Sorry to all interested parties!

What’s something you’re good at vs. something you’re bad at?

I'm fairly good with piano and singing. I'm terrible at cooking.

Dogs or cats?

Dogs forever and ever!

If you draw/write, or create in any way, what’s your favourite picture/favourite line/favourite etc. from something you created this year?

Oh my. I haven't written as much as I'd like to this year (although I'm hoping to post something before the weekend!!) so I'm choosing to interpret this as the last 12 months. Maybe this bit from walking by her side, talking by her side, have pity?

He holds out his hand, wondering if she’ll bare touching him. “Goodbye, Leia.”

She is not a girl of gentleness—this, he can tell. But she accepts the hand like she’s afraid to shatter it. “Goodbye.”

“Saying my name won’t hurt you, you know,” he says, refusing to be the first to let go.

“Remind me?”

He rolls his eyes. “Anakin Skywalker.”

“Skywalker, you said?” she echoes, and lets their hands fall between them. She opens the door and smiles teasingly at him, tilting her head. “Interesting. That was my father’s name.”

What’s something you’d like to create content for?

I think I'm forever stuck in my prequels hell!

What’s something you’re currently obsessed with?

Ur mom. Okay...sorry. Ahem. I've been sewing more lately. I used ot dabble in high school, but I'm finding more motivation to make things for my toddler than I did to make things for myself.

What’s something you were excited about that turned out to be disappointing this year?

The weather recently! It was supposed to rain the past couple weeks and we've not gotten much more than a few minutes of sprinkling. I looooove rainy days, so that's bummed me out quite a bit.

What’s a hidden talent of yours?

I'm excellent at whistling. It's completely useless, but I'll get compared to a Disney princess occasionally, so I guess that's something.

Are you religious?

Yes. My faith is very important to me, but it's *my* faith, so I don't feel the need to bring it up with strangers unless asked about it. (Crazy concept, right?)

What’s something you wish to have at this moment?

A cuppa tea...so I think I'll go put the kettle on byeeeee

No pressure tags: @pandora15 @stolen-pen-name23 @tessiete @ilonga @kckenobi & anyone who wants to join in the fun!

[danielle-dna]

19 - Great Expectations

Despite barely scraping enough UCAS points to get me to university and having the honor of being the first person in my family to go to university, I still felt like an absolute faliure.

It dawned on me that I will never be a doctor. I will never be anything I wanted as a kid. A rock star, fashion designer, actress... all of those were young girls wishes. Sometimes life happens and things don't go according to plan. Sometimes we lose people close to us but sometimes we meet people who change us for the better.

Still, I couldn't help but notice that my inner child often cried and mourned the person I could've been. If only I had both parents. Maybe then my mum wouldn't be so overworked and she could actually afford to send me to guitar lessons when I was younger. If only I had more money and an easier job. Maybe then I could afford to spend more time studying and actually get to the prestige course I wanted. If only I was pretty. Maybe then I wouldn't get bullied as a kid and I wouldn't carry all this emotional baggage with me.

This was hard for me to process. But I knew I couldn't share any of this with Simon. The man has seen horrors and death. What do I have that is worth mentioning?

My mum and I finally moved to our new, smaller and cheaper flat. It was modern and fairly spacious, but nonetheless it was a studio, meaning I wouldn't have my own room anymore. And I would have to share the bed with my mum. Again.

After unpacking what seemed like a bloody warehouse, I finally, FINALLY managed to decently organise everything. Despite knowing that mum WILL re organise everything when she returns from her two week placement, I was satisfied with my progress.

I looked at some of my empty sketchbooks and art supplies that I haven't touched in months, maybe over a year. Why did I stop?

I guess I got too exhausted and depressed about everything, that way didn't have any inspiration, let alone willpower to draw anything. Looking at the empty room that has become my habitat, I picked up my phone and invited Simon to a little "housewarming party".

-

An hour and a half later, Simon and I were already doing my favourite kind of yoga position: masked man bridge pose. Well, I was doing the bridge, he was doing the rest. Honestly, I had no idea how could he still have so much stamina.

"Simon, fucks sake, take it easy, this is a new bed." Replying with nothing but a smirk, he grabbed my butt and picked up the pace.

This went on for another hour, during which, I also took the lead sometimes and demonstrated what kind of fanfictions I have been reading as a teen.

After we were both kind of tired, we just laid on the bed, naked, embracing each other. Simon was kissing my cheeks and caressing my back. "You hungry, love?"

I couldn't help but smile at him. "A little, maybe. Just had the dessert." Giving me another kiss, he stood up, butt naked, and started going through my fridge. "Bloody hell, you ever have any food?"

"Sometimes, check the freezer, there may be a frozen pizza."

Thank fuck there was, or else we would have to go out and actually TALK to people.

It is my firm belief that frozen food, especially pizza is humanity's greatest achievement. After dinner, we both laid in the bed, touching each other and talking about our lives. Simon even told me a few funny stories from deployment. I was happy to see both sides of him. He was so much more than just a stoic lieutenant.

And then his very large friend demanded attention again. I was more than happy to give it. Whilst I was in the middle of a very passionate blowjob, I head EDM bass coming from the upstairs flat. I was surprised, since most of my neighbours were very quiet, reserved and peaceful. "You are so good at this, love. You wanna keep going?"

I nodded with my very full mouth and kept going. Then I had enough and pushed Simon back to the bed, took his mask and put it on me. This seemed to turn him on even more. Throwing him a condom, I waited patiently so he could put it on. When he was finished, I pounced on him and rode him like it was a competition.

But there was just one...tiny...tiny...problem. The fucking music wouldn't let me concentrate. In sheer frustration I took off his mask, got off of his hips and silently yelled in the pillow.

"I'm sorry, Simon, I can't focus. I fucking can't." With that he stood up and banged on the ceiling a few times. Nothing.

"You can report them to the landlord tomorrow. Wanna keep going'?"

With a facefull of sheer annoyance I nodded and spread my legs.

[tilbageidanmark]

Movies I watched this week (#182):

3 tap-dancing Bojangles-related musicals:

🍿 The Band Wagon is maybe not the "very best" of Vincente Minnelli's musicals, but some of its numbers are classics (It introduced the tune 'That's Entertainment' and the opening dance with a real-life, black shoe-shine man was unique.) But all this melted away at exactly mid-point, when Fred Astaire first falls for Cyd Charisse, as they take a stroll through Central Park, and start dancing together in the dark - that scene was transcendental. Even the Steve Martin and Gilda Radner Joke recreation 30 years later was nice...

Bojangles didn't appear in this movie, but his name 'Bill Robinson' kept being compared to 'Bill Shakespeare' throughout. (Screenshots Above).

🍿 Besides 'Carmen Jones', I haven't seen many of the so-called 'Race Films' before, 'Segregated Cinema' produced to black audiences, with an all-black cast. Stormy Weather is one, a plot-less musical starring the wonderful Lena Horne, Bojangles, Cab Calloway, The Nicholas Brothers, Fats Waller and 'Play it again, Sam' Dooley Wilson...

(Of the many versions of ‘Stormy Weather’, my favourite is by Ben Webster).

🍿 First watch: That's Entertainment! is a terrific compilation film, released by MGM in 1974 to celebrate the studio's 50's anniversary. It includes highlights from about 100 song and dance numbers performed by MGM enormous stable of stars and appearances by many, many of the stars from these 50 years. Since I'm getting more and more into musicals, I watched it with a giant smile on my face. 9/10.

2 (actually 3) sequels were released later, and I'm going to watch them as well. I'm also going to visit the movies of some of the famous performers (Esther Williams!) I haven't seen before.

Note; Fred Astaire is by now one of my all-time favorite actors, bar none. He has 50 screen credits on IMDb, and I've only seen about 15 of them, but I'm going to plough through the rest.

🍿

Something’s Got to Give (1962) is Marilyn Monroe's very last film, and the only one showing her butt-gloriously-naked. It's a remake of the 1940 Cary Grant screwball comedy 'My favorite wife'. It was made by George Cukor, with Dean Martin and Cyd Charisse. But it's mostly remembered because it was unfinished, due to Marilyn Monroe's death.

🍿

Finally, Miyazaki's last film The boy and the heron became available. Auto-biographical, philosophical, full of pathos and whimsy, it is not the best Ghibli, but it's important as the (surely) last film from Miyazaki.

It tells of a conflicted war-time world and the flight of fancy of an orphan boy looking for his mother. Waruwaru creatures replace the Sooth-spirits from the previous films.

🍿

Another Japanese romance film, Haru from 1996. A young man and a young woman meet via the first generation online chats, two years before 'You've got mail'. Like a boring Éric Rohmer, I couldn't get into it, and quit after 30 minutes. (^ ─ ^)

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Re-watch: I've been bored with much mediocrity, so I had to go back to Tati’s debut feature, the masterpiece Jour de fête (The original 1949 B&W version). Magical joy and simple physical comedy of the purest type (Fighting a bee! Raising a flag post!). I can't remember the last film with so many spontaneous belly laughs one after the other. And the innocent, idealized rusticity of a French village as it may, or may have not, have existed 100 years ago, with geese in the alleys, goat on a string, hay, rooster crows, and friendly pubs. 💯 score on Rotten Tomatoes. 10/10. ♻️. Extra: How Tati Directs Beautiful Comedy, an interesting YouTube essay from ‘This Beautiful Fraud’.

🍿

2 by Pixar’s Kelsey Mann:

🍿 I loved the first ‘Inside Out’ and saw it many times, with Adora, and, later, without. I was excited to wait for the new Inside out 2. But it’s clearly a product of lesser qualities. The 13 year-old hockey-loving Reily enter “Puberty”. This is depicted with genuine fondness, and is a joy to behold. But the manufactured world of her inner thoughts, which worked before, when they were few and clearly defined, is now muddled, loud and artificial. It suffers from being a sequel, a financial construct which rarely works. 4/10.

🍿 His first short, Party central (2013) was a Monster University appendage, a zero-calories suck-fest. 1/10.

🍿

2 by French Guillaume Canet, both with François Cluzet:

🍿  "User name: Concert. Password: Olympia."

My 3rd or 4th re-watch of the tense nail-biter Tell no one. A modern slow-built Hitchockian thriller about an innocent doctor accused in the murder of his wife. The director, good-looking actor Guillaume Canet, decided for some reason to play the role of the sadistic rapist

The first time I saw it, I awarded it 7/10. But now I give it a 9/10. The final explanation ties the many twists too tightly and nicely together perhaps, but It's still a terrific 'Guilty Pleasure'. Highly recommended! ♻️.

🍿  His Little white lies is an ensemble drama, a bit like 'The big Chill', with many current French stars: François Cluzet, Marion Cotillard, Benoît Magimel, Jean Dujardin... A group of about 15 close friends deal with small personal problems, after one of them, the 'Glue' that held them together, is gravely injured in an accident. In the opening of the film, he rides his bike drunk in the empty streets of Paris, and a van suddenly crashes into him (All in one shot, just like the beginning of Erin Brockovich.)

It's semi-interesting, meandering drama, especially as they spend leisure time on 'les grandes vacances' at a beach house, boating, eating fresh oysters, playing the guitar, and enjoying the pretty locales. But at 2.5 hours long, it lost its focus halfway in. 3/10.

🍿  

Sean Penn is a decent director. He's also driven to get involved with large-scale disasters around the world, in Sudan, Haiti, New Orleans after Katrina, Etc. Superpower is the 4th of his 8 movies directed by him that I've seen. It's a semi-personal documentary about the war in Ukraine and the special relationship he managed to develop with Volodymyr Zelensky (He interviewed him on the day before the invasion, and again on the night of the invasion). It's not too insightful, but he did put himself at harm's way to make it. This war is too tragic and historically-significant to be ignored.

(I was going to follow that up with the other doc., '20 Days in Mariupol', but didn't).

🍿 '

“The muzzle of the Luger looked like the mouth of the Second Street tunnel, but I didn’t move.”

Raymond Chandler's Los Angeles is a 1988 documentary, narrated by Richard Widmark. It tells of a fascinating British writer living in a mythical and dark city. And specifically about the 'The Clifton bombing' affair of 1938. Corruption at City Hall and crooked Police Force, the real-life morbid inspiration to the much sunnier 'Chinatown'. But the doc. itself is not very good.

How come nobody ever made a movie about the gambling ships out in the water outside long beach and Santa Monica, f. ex. 'The Rex'?

🍿

A random Vimeo short, Caroline, was not what I expected from the poster! A mother to 3 small kids, is under a lot of stress, and leaves them in a parked car while she goes of for a quick job interview. It's so raw, and tense, and harrowing, it's really hard to sit through. Amazingly realistic, I don't ever want to see it again. Celine Held, the director, who also plays the mother, is a force to be reckoned with. 9/10. [*Female Director*]

🍿

2 silent Buster Keaton 2-reelers:

🍿 The Paleface (1922) is filled with very out-dated racial trops. Villainous oil barons are murdering Indians with impunity, stealing the deed to their land, and banishing them from said lands. The 'Redfaces' are bumbling, scalping 'savages' who burn palefaces at the stake. There's even a nod to good ol' asbestos. But there are some outrageously daring stunts here, as he falls a few times from great heights.

🍿 Obviously, Keaton was not a golfer. He tried, but soon found himself in prison, mistaken for Convict 13 (2020), and sentenced to be hanged.

🍿

Throw-back to the Adora Art project:  

Buster Keaton Adora.

Adora in Los Angeles.

Inside out Adora.

🍿  

(My complete movie list is here).

[rose-bookblood]

When the Stars Alight appreciation week — Day 4

When the Stars Alight is @aninkwellofnectar's debut novel, first in the Essence of the Equinox series.

I didn't want to post around Christmas because I could practically hear crickets on my dash, but now that it seems to have revived a little, I can continue with WTSA appreciation week.

Day 4: Parallels to other media or your own work

I've compared WTSA to The Vampire Diaries TV show a billion times by now, so this is the perfect chance for a deep dive.

Of course, the most surface-level parallel is the love triangle between two brothers who are in love with the same woman, which is probably the one thing you've heard of about TVD even if you haven't seen a single episode. The Laila-Darius-Dominus triangle instantly struck me as the more mature and tragic version of that, one that commits to the brothers being monsters. It feels like the author saw the dynamic in TVD and went the "what if" route with her novel, a route I immensely enjoyed. Don't get me wrong, I like the path TVD chooses, it makes more sense for the genre and target audience, but we've all felt that curiosity to know what would've happened if the story had taken a different turn.

Something that, for me, emphasizes the connection to the TVD love triangle is that Laila herself reminds me of a better version of Elena. Darius and Dominus do remind me of Damon and Stefan too, but the line here is blurred. Laila, though, has some of Elena's core characteristics, not just surface-level similarities. In the show, what defines Elena is her compassion... Too bad I've never bought that. Elena's kindness feels very performative and, in turn, what strikes me about her are her manipulative tendencies. In turn, Laila is genuinely compassionate and righteous, always trying to change the world for the better, while also often being manipulative — which is one of my favourite aspects of her character. Laila is both who TVD thinks Elena is and what she could've been if the writers had committed to her flaws, instead of sweeping them under the rug.

Another parallel is how much Laila and Darius remind me of Caroline and Klaus's relationship. While on the surface Laila and Darius parallel Elena and Damon, at a deeper analysis I feel like they have more of Caroline and Klaus in them, both the characters themselves and the relationship proper. This will come as a surprise to absolutely no one, especially not the author, who feeds me with Klaroline quotes over Laila and Darius reels.

Laila and Caroline are both smart but naïve, young immortals, contrasting with Darius and Klaus, who are also immortal, but have already lived for centuries. They offer a counterpart with much more experience and a darkness to them as well (I couldn't go a whole post without mentioning the dark/light theme). Darius reminds me in particular of early days Klaus, during the few episodes he appears in in season 2: the very mysterious, ruthless, charming version we see in Katherine's flashbacks.

Speaking of Laila, even though her story isn't finished, I can see her going on a path of emancipation and empowerment like Caroline. Laila is already a princess, but she's very much subjected to her mother's control. I'm excited to watch her stepping out from under Amira's thumb and fully realise herself.

The last comparison I can make is way less interesting and deep, but the effects of chaos magic and, therefore, Mortesian demons' true faces remind me of TVD vampires: fangs, change in eye colour, blackened veins especially. I don't know if it was a conscious decision on the author's part, but the way vampires look in TVD has always been a cool aesthetic choice in my opinion, so I couldn't not appreciate it.

[justsomeoneintoomanyfandoms]

Hello, hello! I hope you’re doing well and are having a nice end to your week. May I request a matchup for Trigun (any media would be grand) and Attack on Titan?

Pronouns: she/her

Sexuality: straight

Zodiac/MBTI: Leo, INFJ

Appearance: long wavy auburn hair and my eyes are more of a honey brown. I always wear round glasses. I'm pale with freckles on my cheeks and nose. 5’9, more of an hourglass shape and have a bit of muscle

Personality: I love having me time, but enjoy being with those close to me from time to time. I get lost in thought fairly easily. I love discussing topics that revolve around things that are an enigma. It’s not as important for me to have others agree with me as it is to explore the unknown with them. Since I’m reserved, I take a long time to open up to others. I’ve been told that I come off as intimidating, but this is entirely unintentional and am instead quite gentle. I’m adventurous and have completed a dream of mine – living/working in a country that doesn’t speak my native language. I actively search for things to be thankful for. Every now and then, I like listening to the branches being rustled by the wind and being able to gaze up at the moon and stars shining brightly, which remind me that there's a lot of beauty in the world and I'm glad to experience it. I am happiest when seeking out information/reason.

Likes and Dislikes: I like demonology, biology, genealogy, reading, Victorian history, singing, practicing languages, and exploring my surroundings. A large portion of what I read/watch relate to the occult. I dislike storms, horses (I admire them from afar but getting up close and personal... nonononono), large bodies of water, and people who always turn disagreements into arguments.

Hobbies: Writing horror stories, reading, listening to music, watching horror movies. Animated movies are for sure a guilty pleasure of mine. Coco is 10/10 for a good cry.

Thank you and have a lovely day/night!! ~('w'~)

Hi! Thank you for your request; you're the first person to request Trigun and I'm so excited to write for it! So far, I only write for Trigun Stampede as I haven't seen/read anything else from the Trigun universe. I hope you like your matchups!

In Trigun Stampede, I match you with...

I think you and Wolfwood are similar in many ways. You’re both more on the reserved side, especially when compared to people like Vash, but once you both find you can trust the other and open up, you would have a strong relationship.

Loves finding isolated places where you can go to stargaze together. He doesn’t claim to know much about the stars, but he loves spending time with you.

Wolfwood loves running his fingers over your freckles. He just finds it relaxing.

Loves listening to you talk about demonology and horror stories you’ve written. He knows a bit about that sort of thing because of his field of work so he can usually keep up with what you’re saying.

Speaking of your writing, Wolfwood would be honoured if you let him read your work. He might not praise it out loud but you can be sure he likes anything you write because he can feel your passion coming through the page.

I see Wolfwood as someone who knows a few different languages. He’d like to compare languages to see if there are any you both speak. If so, he’ll often slip into it when you’re out so no one else knows what he’s saying.

He sees it as a secret shared between just the two of you.

In Attack on Titan, I match you with...

Armin is your study buddy for everything. Biology? For sure! Languages? Absolutely! History? That’s his favourite subject!

Loves exploring with you. It doesn’t matter whether it’s exploring the city or hiking through nature, he just likes finding new places and spending quality time with you.

Somehow knows all the best places to go to listen to the wind and stargaze. He’s got some instinct for knowing where they are and remembering so he can take you to them.

While he’s not a huge fan of horror (both due to his personality, and circumstances), Armin can appreciate your fondness of it. Just don’t ask him to watch any horror movies with you. Otherwise he won’t be able to sleep.

Please let him read your stories! He loves anything written, but when it’s something you’ve written? He just can’t stop talking about his favourite parts!

Armin’s probably the best person to have conversations with, especially about enigmas. He’s got so many thoughts on so many different topics that you’ll always find he has a comment to make.

He really values your thoughts and opinions as well though. He’s a good listener and he always wants you to feel heard.