#No because the (not literal) whiplash I got years ago when I was like

[the-halfling-prince]

Love looking up the actresses who starred in American Girl movies back when they made those and seeing what they've been in since then.

Felicity? Yeah she starred in The Fault in Our Stars and the Divergent movies apparently.

Kit? Yeah Abigail Breslin has been in a million things because, well, it's Abigail Breslin but uh she's one of the main people in the Zombieland movies

Samantha? Can't remember anything recently but she was Leslie in Bridge to Terabithia.

Melody? She's been in so many things like Black-ish and the new Proud Family. Really making a name for herself and all that.

Grace? Olivia Rodrigo.

[livwritesstuff]

At forty-five years old, there’s one day out of the entire calendar year that Eddie dreads like none other.

It’s not his birthday, surprising as that is, and it’s not tax day either (though only because Steve, the angel that he is, elected to take charge of their insane finances ages ago so Eddie doesn't even think about it).

No, it's parent-teacher conference day at his children's school.

Eddie wants to have a strong word with whoever's idea it was to have every meeting take place in a single day. Maybe that shit works for the freaks with only one kid, but he and Steve have three hellraisers in the elementary school, so for them it usually goes like this:

Kid 1: Please help us figure out why she is inciting riots on the playground

Kid 2: Your child is taking up class time getting into complex moral debates with the teacher’s aid

Kid 3: She's a pleasure to have in class — that being said, does she ever talk?

– all within the span of 45 minutes.

Kind of whiplash-y, in Eddie's opinion.

Steve is totally in his element for that shit though. He’s good at distinguishing between when their kid is the problem (which is……..often) and when it’s a reflection of something bigger, and when that's the case, he gets to tap into the snarky, mean-girl side of him that doesn’t come out all that often anymore..

Steve, to Hazel's teacher: I don’t know what to tell you. Hazel makes all kinds of noise at home. We’ll talk to her, but maybe this also warrants a conversation about what’s going on in the classroom that’s making her feel like she can’t when she’s here.

It's sexy as all hell in Eddie’s opinion, or so he attempts to communicate to his husband the literal second they're out of the school when he tries to shove him bodily into the backseat of their car without extracting his hands from Steve’s back pockets.

Steve, managing to push Eddie off him for half a second: Dude – no fucking chance are we having car sex in the parking lot of our daughters’ elementary school. You’re crazy.

Eddie: *pauses to think about the layout of their town*

Eddie: Bet there’s no one in the lot for the cemetery.

Steve: No.

Steve: We can’t get cursed today. I’ve got shit to do.

Eddie: What about the hiking trails?

Steve:

Steve: Yeah, okay.

[blushweddinggowns]

Part 2 to this!

Eddie had never considered himself to be a lucky person. Could anyone really blame him? For one thing, he was eaten alive last year. And that wasn’t even counting the fact that he had been a twenty-year old, drug-dealing highschooler before he was sent to literal hell. All after witnessing multiple horrifying homicides. 

But now that he had Steve Harrington on top of him, shoving his tongue down his throat like his life depended on it, he felt like the luckiest man in the world. 

Part of him still couldn’t believe that it was happening at all. He had been fully prepared to just play the part of the pining best friend and suffer through his unrequited crush. He even convinced himself that it would slowly disappear after he got off the high of seeing Steve all bloody and gorgeous in an alternate reality.

But it didn’t. It just got worse and worse. Eddie’s crush just bloomed into a full-blown love. Because Steve Harrington was nothing like he expected. Eddie had never experienced this much whiplash when getting to know someone before. Steve went from highschool bully, to a monster fighting badass, and landed on an adorable, snarky goofball who Eddie basically wanted to spend the rest of his life with. 

It had felt like such a long shot when he asked the question. The question that had been haunting him for months, but Eddie couldn’t help but ask. Not after everything he’d seen. At first he thought it was all in his head, just his overactive imagination trying to convince him he wasn’t alone in his feelings. 

But then he started noticing things. Like how Steve was always available to him, even when he had better options open. It was around the third time he witnessed Steve tell a pretty girl, “Sorry, I have plans tonight,” for him to raise a brow. Because the only plans he ever had was doing stupid shit with him. 

It was when he actually rejected Nancy in favor of getting high and listening to music in Eddie’s room that he got optimistically suspicious. It made him pay more attention, the little voice inside his head was getting louder and louder, that told him, maybe, just maybe, Eddie wasn’t the only one in love here. 

So Eddie let himself get a little bolder, terrified all the while but determined to figure out what was going on here. 

It was small things at first, touches that he would let linger. A hand on Steve’s waist when they puttered around the kitchen together, always giving him a little squeeze before he let go. Brushing his bangs out of his face, his hand curling around his ear before pulling away. Resting his head in Steve’s lap when they were sprawled out on the couch, talking about nothing and everything for hours. 

He didn’t miss the way Steve’s cheeks would redden at every touch, or the sweet little smile put on when he thought Eddie wasn’t looking. It made him feel emboldened, and terribly hopeful. 

So he let himself do more, obvious things that were not normal between two male platonic best friends. He waited until night, because despite what Steve said Eddie was not a brave man. At least then if Steve rejected the hell out of him, he’d never have to see his face. 

In theory it should have been easy. They shared a bed almost every night anyway, Eddie always making easy excuses to explain away why Steve didn’t need to go home. 

It was too late, it was cold outside, the trailer was closer to his work anyway, he could still be high from a hit he took two hours ago, Eddie wasn’t above a single excuse. And Steve never complained, he’d just nod along, agreeing to whatever stupid thing Eddie could think of for the night. 

They slept back to back, trying to hold onto some semblance of normal between them. And Eddie would be lying if he said the thought of breaking it didn’t scare the hell out of him, but that didn’t stop him from draping an arm over Steve’s waist one night. He had pulled him against his chest, heart on the verge of exploding as he waited for Steve’s reaction. 

He hadn’t expected him to turn over in his arms, and Eddie had been almost sure that he was doing it to ask him what the fuck he was doing. But Steve just sighed, all relaxed and happy as he snuggled into his chest, wrapping his own arm around Eddie’s waist.  They woke up tangled together, happy and restful. 

They never talked about it, but every night when Eddie opened up his arms, Steve went right into them. And God did Eddie love it, he loved him. And the idea that there was any chance he could be with him and he wasn’t taking it, was killing him. So he took a shot, and asked the question that had been plaguing him for months. 

And it fucking worked. Here he was, vindicated and rewarded with the most handsome, funny, kind boyfriend to ever live. In all honesty, not that much changed between them, considering how they were basically dating back when they considered themselves “friends”. But now there was the added bonus of being able to kiss the living hell out of him whenever he wanted. And the fact that Steve had apparently been holding out on him, because overnight he became the clingest cuddler Eddie had ever had the pleasure of knowing. 

Whether that be hugs from behind, arms draped around his neck in bed, or Steve clambering up into Eddie’s lap whenever the opprunintuity arose. And it was so fucking cute it made Eddie feel like he could die from happiness. And when he returned the favor, Steve would just melt. A hand on his thigh while they drove, an arm around his waist at friendly get togethers, any small touch was enough to make Steve a blushing, gooey mess. 

The whole thing was amazing and Eddie had never been happier. 

There was just one problem. 

For the life of him, Eddie couldn’t stop making him cry. 

The first time, he understood. It had been a bit of a dick move on his end, to force Steve to admit his feelings because Eddie was too chicken-shit to do it himself. He should have thought about that and he'd apologized more than once for the way he handled the whole thing, even if Steve insisted it was more than fine. He just…never wanted to be the cause of that sad, dejected face ever again. 

But then he did it again, completely accidentally. It had been a lazy Sunday morning, the both of them deciding to sleep in until someone from the outside world forced them out of bed. Eddie woke up first, blinking into the late morning light. Steve was draped across his chest, still sound asleep and only slightly drooling on him.

Eddie ran a hand through his tousled hair, completely lovestruck. The small movement was enough to have Steve shift against him, mumbling about it being too early to wake up. But Eddie was already trailing his hands down his back, more than ready to tickle him awake if need be. And it worked, it always worked, because the next thing he knew Steve was batting his hands away, a tired laugh escaping as he finally opened his eyes. 

He groaned as he blinked into the light, pouting up at Eddie as he rubbed his eyes, “You’re lucky you’re pretty Munson. Or I would have kicked you out of bed by now.”

Eddie grinned, wrapping his arms around him a little tighter, “You’d kick me out of my own bed? That’s cold Stevie.”

“My bed now. A consequence of being with me,” Steve laughed, snuggling closer, “It’s in the contract.”

The snarky comment on his tongue died the second Eddie looked down at him. Steve just looked so…relaxed. Unfairly handsome and happy to be there, tracing patterns along Eddie’s bare chest. He was struck with the realization that he wanted this for the rest of his life. Just Steve, with his bed-head and sleepy smile. Eddie had to look away, staring up at the ceiling as he was suddenly overwhelemed by just how much he loved this guy. 

The words were out of his mouth before he could stop them, embarrassingly earnest, “I think you’re the love of my life.”

Steve was quiet, but he could feel him nodding along as he traced Eddie’s collarbone. For a second, Eddie thought he just hadn’t heard him, and was doing that thing when he pretended like he did. He was a few seconds away from teasingly calling him out for it when he heard it. A soft sniffle, accompanied by a wet feeling, dripping onto him. 

Eddie glanced down, eyes widening at the sight of Steve wiping his tears away, trying and failing to be quiet about it. 

Eddie sat up, slightly panicked as he dragged Steve up with him, “Steve? Baby, what’s wrong? Was it what I said?”

Steve let out a wet laugh, “Not at all. I-fuck, Eddie I think you’re mine too. I swear this hasn’t happened before.”

Eddie was too worried to show how ecstatic that confession made him feel. He held Steve’s face in his hands, wiping away a few tears with his thumbs, “But you’re okay?”

“I’m fine, I swear.” Steve sighed, leaning into the touch, “I’m just being a fucking weirdo.”

“My weirdo.” Eddie corrected before kissing him, the salty taste of his tears be damned. Eddie reasoned that he was probably just overwhelmed, which was normal, considering how Eddie was speedrunning the pace of their relationship. It was a fluke, and that was fine.

But then it happened again. 

It had been a completely normal day, no fights with anyone, no problems at the video store or with any of Eddie’s clients. They were watching a movie on the couch, Eddie’s head resting in Steve’s lap as Fame rolled on in the background. Steve was braiding his hair, absentminded as they commented on the muscial, both agreeing that Robin had really oversold it. 

Though Eddie was a sucker for the New York based movies. He used to dream about running away there when he was a teenager. Working and playing in dingy bars until he was magically discovered and skyrockerted into stardom. But now, at the ripe old age of twenty one, he was much more interested in going wherever Steve would follow. 

He watched the screen, mind wandering as he asked,  “Where would you want to go when we leave Hawkins?”

The hands in his hair paused for a split second before Steve answered, “W-what do you mean?”

“When the kids graduate,” Eddie continued, missing the stutter in Steve’s voice, “We won’t really have any reason to stay here right? It’s probably about time that Wayne got the bachelor pad back anyway.” 

“You…you want to live with me?”

Eddie let out a small laugh, rolling his eyes, “Babe, I don’t know if you’re aware but we kind of already live together.”

He watched the screen, someone whose name he forgot was starting another monolouge, “New York is a bit much, but Indianapolis could probably work. Somewhere with some options, y’know?”

Steve cleared his throat above him, fingers still working in his hair, “Y-yeah. Sounds good.”

Eddie smiled, pleased as he went back to trying to follow the plot. Then he felt something wet hit his cheek. He scrunched his nose up, confused as he shifted to look up at Steve, heart jumping when he realized what was happening. 

“Holy shit, don’t look at me for a minute.” Steve groaned, covering his face with his hands, failing to hide his sniveling, “Seriously, just ignore me.”

Eddie sat up, ignoring Steve’s protests as he pried his hands from his face, “What’s wrong?”

“N-nothing!” Steve insisted, avoiding Eddie’s eyes, “I swear, I don’t know what the hell is wrong with me.”

“Sweetheart, if moving in together is too much to talk about that’s fine-”

“No!” Steve interrupted, voice loud in the small space between them, “I-I mean, that’s not the problem. Of course I want to live with you.”

“I don’t want to pressure you-”

“You’re not,” Steve insisted, grabbing Eddie's hands. He squeezed them, warm and comforting, “Whatever is wrong with me has nothing to do with you, or us. I swear.”

Eddie nodded, even if the worry didn’t fully leave his head. He couldn’t help it, because it just kept happening. Eddie was averaging on making Steve tear up at least once a month and everytime he would insist he was fine. That it wasn’t Eddie’s fault, he was just being a freak. 

It’s not like Eddie minded. In fact he kind of liked comforting him. And it didn’t help that Steve was fucking adorable when he cried. With his scrunched up nose and pretty wet eyes, Eddie was more than happy to be the one to kiss his tears away.  

He just wished he could figure out why it was happening, because despite what Steve said, he knew that he was the cause. It only happened when they were alone together, usually right after Eddie said or did something particularly mushy. He just wanted to know what he was doing wrong. 

It was starting to keep him up at night, and as embarrassing as it was, Eddie was having anxiety nightmares about Steve leaving him for someone who wasn’t making him weep on a semi-regular basis. 

Eddie blinked into the night, waking up from another one of those stupid dreams. He blindly reached over for Steve, his hand hitting the empty mattress with a thud. Eddie groaned, assuming he was in the bathroom, but knowing there was no way he was getting back to sleep without having him next to him. 

Eddie stood, deciding to get some water while he waited for him to come back. He stepped out of his room into the dark hall, cocking his head at the odd scene in front of him. The phone cord was stretched from the kitchen to the bathroom, peeking out through the half cracked door.  

Eddie stopped infront of it, curious as he made out what Steve was whispering through the phone, "Robin, if I cry in front of him one more time I'm going to have to change my name and flee the country."

Eddie snorted behind his hand, quiet enough to not be heard. He leaned in a little closer, fully aware that he should just turn around and not be an eavesdropping dick, but…if he could just find out why Steve kept crying, maybe he could actually do something to stop it. 

"I'm not telling him. I'm lucky I haven't scared him off yet as it is."

Eddie frowned, confused. That didn’t make sense, there was nothing Steve could do to scare him off, not after everything they had been through. Didn’t he know that? 

Steve sighed into the phone, sad and resigned, "I just…I don’t know how much more I can fall in love with him. When he ends it…it's going to fucking kill me."

Eddie could feel his heart stop in his chest. Where the hell did that come from? Sometimes Eddie spent half of his day just day-dreaming about their future, and here Steve was, thinking that he was going to end the best thing that ever happened to him?

"I know, I know. Maybe you're right. I love you too, I'll see you tomorrow."

Eddie backed away from the door, still feeling vaguely ill at what he’d heard. He slipped into bed, pretending to still be asleep when Steve eventually followed. He was back in bed for maybe five seconds before Eddie was reaching for him, tucking him tightly into his arms, like he could cuddle the doubts out of him. 

Eddie could barely sleep that night, mind-racing on what he could do to make Steve realize that he wasn’t going anywhere. It made sense, in the grand scheme of things. Steve’s parents were total shit heads who had no appreciation for the wonderful son they had. The only other person he’d fallen in love with besides Eddie ended up cheating on him, right after drunkenly declaring the fact that she never loved him back. 

And that wasn’t even mentioning his “best friends” who dropped him the second he decided to stop acting like a dick in highschool. Now that he was thinking about it, Eddie was kicking himself for not putting the pieces together sooner. 

Of course Steve would be worried about that. But Eddie wasn’t like them, he’d never be like them. In his head, the only way this relationship was ending was if Steve dumped him, not the other way around. 

If Eddie was extra clingy that morning, Steve didn’t complain. Even if he was making it a bitch for him to get ready for work. Eddie was still draped all over him by the time he was trying to get out the door, laughing at his antics all the while. 

“Someone’s needy today, huh?” Steve chuckled, prying Eddie’s arms away from his neck, “I’ll be back before you know it.”

“That’s not soon enough,” Eddie whined, going as far as to follow him to the car. He kissed him goodbye through the window, not giving a single shit who saw them. Not when it made Steve blush and beam at him. He waved at him as he drove away, a plan already forming in his head as he started his day. 

If Steve had fears, Eddie would just love them right out of him. No reason to make a big deal out of anything, not when Steve was already so embarrassed about the whole thing. He would play it cool, and slowly but surely alleviate all of the anxieties. 

That was the plan, but the plan went straight out the window that same night. Basically the second he laid eyes on him after stepping through the front door. Steve wasn’t even doing anything. Just sitting on the couch, lazily watching TV. But then he noticed him, gave him that bright smile, and the floodgates just opened.

“I love you.” Eddie blurted out, making his way towards him, “Like I really fucking love you.”

Steve cocked his head, confused but still happy to see him. He shuffled over for Eddie to sit next to him, “I love you too?”

Eddie shook his head, “I mean I love everything about you Steve. Everything.” 

Steve stared at him, surprise still painted on his face, but Eddie just kept going, aware on some level, that he probably sounded slightly unhinged, but he didn’t care. He needed Steve to understand, “I love how much you care about everyone. I love how you take care of me, and how you let me take care of you. I love how your hair sticks up in every direction in the morning, and how you get pouty whenever you wake up. I love it when you’re bitchy and you make fun of my music. I love it when you get too excited and scream at the TV over basketball. I love the little blush you get whenever I call you pretty. I love all of it, and I want it for the rest of my life. ”

Steve laughed, quiet and nervous as he looked away, ‘What the hell are you even talking about?”

But Eddie wasn’t having that. He grasped his face, tilting his chin up to force them eye to eye. The tears were already starting to form, but Eddie wasn’t worried. He knew what they meant this time, “I’m talking about how you’re the only person I’ll ever want. I’m talking about how I want a life with you Steve. You and no one else.”

The tears were really falling now, and Steve was looking at him like he ripped his heart out, versus perfusing his undying love, “You…you shouldn’t say shit like that Eddie. You don’t know how things will change later on.”

Eddie shook his head, steadfast, “I’ll never not want you. I’m serious Steve. You’re it for me.”

They stared at eachother, Steve searching his face as Eddie kissed his tear-stained cheeks, “I want to believe you.”

“It’s okay that you don’t yet,” Eddie murmured, “I’ll just spend the rest of my life proving it to you.”

Steve let out a weak laugh, pulling away from his hands to hide his face into the crook of Eddie’s neck, his self-proclaimed safe space, “You promise?”

Eddie kissed the top of his head, “I swear.”

It didn’t happen overnight, but it did happen. Their days together became months, months became years. Eddie never went a day without reminding him how much he was loved, Steve stopped waiting for the day that Eddie was going to leave, and slowly but surely, the tears stopped with it. 

It was ten years to that day, ten amazing years with the love of his life, when Eddie found him in their kitchen, making coffee and yawning while he absentmindely stared out the window, just as adorable at thirty-one as he was at twenty. 

He wrapped his arms around his waist from behind, kissing at his neck with a pleased hum, “You believe me now?”

Steve sighed, sleepy and happy as he leaned back into him, “Yeah, I think I do.”

[the-dumpster-fire-of-life]

I GOT THIS FUNNY IDEA

2023 bill × pregnant reader

Ok so imagine they are doing those ig lives bill and Tom are in the living room while reader is also on the live but in her room and let's say reader is on those bouncy ball just rocking it and the ball pops and she falls on camera LMAO bill's and the rest of the bands reaction

(I love this sm so I hope you enjoy!)

Bill Kaulitz

He was leaving you to your own devices for ten goddamn minutes

It was so normal and he and you were answering fans until he just heard a pop

He looked into the camera and off to Tom so confused before he saw you literally disappeared

"Schatz? Where did you go?"

He just sees Georg dying and Gustav trying to explain through his giggles

Gustav finally got out you fell but he made it sound so much worse than it actually was

Bill got up so fast it was like he got whiplash and he left his phone

Tom actually saw the ball pop and you slowly going to the floor so he was also laughing

He followed Bill with his camera to find you on the floor

Bill was so concerned and helped you up

He was making sure you and the kid were okay while asking questions on how you fell

It wasn't so bad but you scared him

Tom Kaulitz

He's your best friend so obviously he's laughing

He was just messing with filters and answering questions on the live

A question finally turned to you and Tom was making fun of you and suddenly he heard a pop

You slowly went to the floor and Tom just saw you leaving the camera view as the ball lost its air

"(Name)? I didn't hurt your feelings that bad, get back here."

He's so confused as you never come back before he finally realized you feel when Gustav said so

He's laughing his ass off and following Bill with his camera on

He finds you on your back and is just recording the whole time and answering comments

He puts a filter on you

No doubt about it as he's smiling behind the camera

"She still can't keep her balance, you would think falling off stage would have her learn but no-"

Throw something at him

Georg Listing

He is one to just stare at you for a minute when you fell

He can't do anything just watch as you're falling to the floor on the live

I mean he's not there so he thought to tell Bill but the look on your face when it popped

He laughed so hard he couldn't breath

He didn't want to be mean but he just had to

It reminded him of when you fell off stage when you guys bumped into each other

You had the same exact look even years later

He's concerned obviously and trying to tell Bill through his laughs

He just can't until Gustav finally gets it out

He laughs even more when they find you just laying there on your back like you're contemplating life

He can't stand it even when Tom puts a unflattering filter on you

Once he recovered he is asking if you're okay

He's never letting you live it down

Gustav Schäfer

He is also concerned

Especially because you're pregnant so he'd asking if the babies okay

He keeps asking over and over until he gets confirmation

Suggests a check up to make sure to ease his own nerves but ultimately nodded as you're okay

He did laugh though

Not as hard as Georg though just little laughs

He doesn't want you to think he's cruel

He's making small jokes but cant help it

Especially when it's compared to when you fell off stage a while ago

He acts like a kid who can't help but giggle at the jokes

Especially when Tom puts a filter on you

"You're such an asshole."

That's his words as he is covering his mouth and giggling

He called you later on to actually ask if you're okay and if you're hurt

He's more concerned as time goes on and just wants to make sure you're okay

But expect little jokes though

It's been his nature

[literary-illuminati]

Book Review 32 – Weavers, Scribes and Kings: A New History of the Ancient Near East by Amanda Podany

This was my second real (published by a university press, has ~100 pages of citations and bibliography at the back) history book I’ve read this year. Which I think probably explains why it took me about as long to read as the other 7 books this month put together. Which is the opposite of a complaint, just to be absolutely clear. I’ve kind of missed chewing through a history book that would double as a decent self-defence aid in a pinch.

The title explains the book well enough – this is a broad survey history of the ancient near east. Specifically, it’s a history of civilizations that recorded their records and correspondences and stories in cuneiform on clay tablets. So the narrative begins with Uruk in Sumeria, follows it through the spread of city-states throughout Mesopotamia, expands its view to include Syria, the Levant and regions of Anatolia (and to a much lesser extent Egypt) and the western Iranian plateau in the late bronze age, and keeps that frame through the iron age until reaching the Achaemenid conquests and the decline of cuneiform in favour of writing in Aramaic on paper or parchment.

Part of that is just arbitrary because you need to pick some outer borders of what your book is about, but it’s also a fact that writing everything down on (often baked, either purposefully or because they got caught in a fire) clay tablets was a truly incredible gift to future historians. Paper and parchment and cloths decays away over the course of a historical eyeblink, whereas we still have legal contracts and bureaucratic records from literally four thousand years ago that were recorded on fired clay. Combined with some incredible archaeological luck, and we can see stretches of late bronze age history in higher definition than very nearly anything until, like, the Early Modern Period.

The necessary condition of that is obviously that these cuneiform-writing civilizations actually wrote enough down for written records to really let us understand their societies. Which did very over time, and is definitely overwhelmingly biased towards the great institutions and upper classes, but actually does seem to have been true! Podany all but dedicated the book Mesopotamia’s scribal class, and they got everywhere. And the change over time in just what’s written about - the spread of written records and letters from temples and palaces to the private homes, the spread in literacy from an arcane art only trained scribes would understand to something every halfway prominent merchant would be expected to grasp the basics of for record-keeping – is illuminating enough about how these societies evolved on its own.

Aside from all the waxing poetic about clay tablets, the book does try quite hard to be an approachable historical survey. To that end, basically every chapter is split into a few different sections, each pocket biographies of individuals (or, occasionally, pieces of architecture) that we have enough visibility of to make them a useful entry point to illustrating some broader aspect or society or important process they lived through. The vast majority of them aren’t great kings or conquerors, either – scribes, merchants, weavers, farmers, priestesses, and even the occasional slave get pride of place. On balance, the book tries to be a social history, getting across how people actually lived (or Podany’s best guess of it, though she’s quite explicit about what the actual evidence we have for every given biography is and when she’s speculating) is favoured over the exact sequence of battles and kings.

I’ve mentioned it before, but prior to reading this my only real familiarity with the ancient Near East (and specifically with the development of pristine states in Mesopotamia) was from Scott’s Against the Grain. Which adds a slight sense of whiplash to the entire first third or so of this book, honestly; as opposed to Scott, Podany actually seems sympathetic to the position that civilization was a good idea. Part of that is just that she takes the actual emergence of the first city-states as a given (instead of something approaching original sin), but the book very clearly portrays the growth of a literary culture, monumental architecture, specialized labour, grand and impressive rituals and festivals, institutionalized long-distance trade, and so on as interesting and impressive things worth studying and appreciating. It’s a book about a project of state-based urban-agrarian civilization, as told through its archaeological remnants and literary corpus, and as a whole it portrays that project as admirable and sympathetic. The book doesn’t brush over slavery or warfare, but they’re not especially focused on, either. Famine and plague actually are pretty much brushed over or at least portrayed as irregular calamities. A lot of the book’s wordcount is spent sketching out lives that seem at least slightly familiar to a modern reader, and making the Mesopotamian world seem like a place you could live a happy life in. Quite a contrast to Scott’s constellation of slave societies held together by brute force and exemplary terror, forever raiding the hinterland to abduct new workers to make up the losses from constant disease outbreaks and always on the verge of collapse.

Well, that’s all only mostly true. Podany’s sympathies for pristine states and bronze age empires does not extend to the iron-age Assyrian Empire. Her disdain for their whole imperial project is pretty clear through those chapters, and from her telling they (especially during what’s called the Neo-Assyrian Empire) were responsible for a lot of the brutal innovations that are now such core parts of imperialism. The mass deportation of conquered populations to settle and work other provinces, using exemplary terror to cow subjects, and royal legitimacy established nearly entirely through glorious victories in warfare and exulting in the same. (Along with less objectionable but still important practices like appointing regional governors from the centre.)

The book makes a real point of keeping a balance between men and women in who it focuses on. This is, I get the feeling, kind of just a matter of wanting to show off that we have a historical record that actually includes women in it as more than accessories and footnotes to men for this period (unlike, say, Classical Athens), But Podany’s clearly made a secondary goal of the book to try and push back on the whole image of a primordial and unchanging ultra-patriarchal order across all of history. So there’s a lot of attention paid to how the role of women in public life changed over time, and the sort of political and economic power elite women could wield. Which was actually quite a bit, as it turned out! Obviously nowhere in the ancient world was anything like a feminist utopia (and as a general trend, seems to have grown more patriarchal over time), but compared to a lot of periods I know more about, the available space for women in public life is quite a bit larger; on the upper extreme, queens and priestesses managed and controlled massive estates in their own right, and on the lower we’ve got plenty of bureaucratic records showing women in various prestigious or managerial roles. Always paid significantly less than men doing the same of course, but still a far sight from being totally cloistered or official ideologies saying women are soulless or incapable of rational thought!

Speaking of priestesses – Podany goes into great detail trying to describe Mesopotamian religion and the place religion had in the ancient near east. Which again changes over time – in the early dynastic period the great temples seem to have been the core organizing institutions of economic and social life, but two thousand years latter they were still rich and important, but relatively speaking much less central – but is basically always incredibly important. The endowment of high priestesses and the creation of some public work then given over as the property of an important gods were common themes of year names across the region’s kingdoms, and by all accounts pretty key legitimizing activities. The idea that the gods would sanctify oaths and punish anyone who broke them was likewise a pretty core part of Mesopotamian systems of justice. The book’s a bit vague on how the actual theology and practice of religion over time, but there’s plenty of lovely, evocative descriptions of rituals and festivals, and of the architecture of temples and design of the statue-avatars that were considered to be literal bodies of the divine.

The book’s also very interested in forms of government – both day to day systems of contracts and justice and land allocation, and the high politics of royal courts and governance. Though there’s unsurprisingly quite a bit more available on the latter than the former. Still, it’s pretty fascinating to the degree that the whole ‘absolute tyrant bronze age god-king’ was...well, not not a thing, but very much an occasional aberration. The growth of centralized royal authority was a real trend over a lot of the period, but especially in the beginning arrangements that seem pretty close to what we’d call a constitutional monarchy, with power shared with councils of notables, really do seem to have predominated. Special shouout to Ashur, which before it became a militaristic empire in the late Bronze Age was actually a prosperous trading city where the king was in large part a ritual/religious figure and the balance of executive power seems to have been held by an official who was elected by the city’s merchant class for annual terms.

I’ve done a poor job getting it across in this review, but the book does an amazing job really confronting you with the sheer depth of history – bronze age kingdoms and city-states were the dominant political institutions of the near-east for millennia. The period covered by the book is literally nearly as long as the period between the end of the book and the present. It’s enough to give you a sense of vertigo.

Anyway, absolutely incredible book, that I’m very happy to have read. Now I need to go find a decent one on Achaemenid Persia.

[nyanashima]

Satan headcanons because he’s babygirl and I think about him a lot

Satan is VERY expressive when he’s reading, almost to a comical extent. It started when he was little, and his brothers thought it was cute at the time, so nobody’s said anything. To this day, it’s very common to see him furrowing his brow or saying “No. No, actually, fuck you,” out loud at a book. He’s just too invested to hide what he’s thinking.

Because he’s so well-read on… literally everything about cats, he points out every single inaccuracy in the movies he and his brothers watch. By now, everybody can predict when he’s about to tell them that cats can’t actually have milk, etc.

Satan ABSOLUTELY has a fursona and no one can tell me otherwise. He's not super active in the community though, he just likes to think about it. He found out about the furry fandom through Levi, who jokingly drew him as a cat, and has been enamoured ever since. Sometimes Levi will gift him art of his fursona as a private birthday present. Nobody can know.

Satan occasionally boxes with Beel. It’s a good way to deal with anger and stay healthy at the same time, so why not?

I’m like 50% sure he canonically plays visual novels? He is at least aware of Danganronpa, whether through Levi or discovering it on his own.

This man is DYING to recite Shakespeare/Molière/etc. Give him the opportunity and he will give a spirited reenactment of whatever he’s reciting. It’s not to show off, he’s just passionate. Given that he’s usually composed (compared to everyone else, anyway), he also likes getting to be more animated once in a while.

This guy is so full of autism

Every now and then he goes shopping with Asmo to find clothes that work with his sensory issues.

He doesn’t really stim around others, primarily because he’s never seen anyone else do it before. Talk to him about it; encourage it; if you yourself do it, stim around him. Soon enough, you’ll see his happy hands.

Ever notice that in events, he’ll sometimes use words that seem out-of-character for him? (I still remember the whiplash I got when he said “yo” a few months ago.) He’s still figuring out who he is, and speech patterns are part of it. He’ll adopt words/phrases from books or his brothers for a short time to see what he likes and what he doesn’t. 

Introduce him to My Immortal and similar fanfics. He’ll hate them at first and tell you to get out of his room, but eventually he’ll crack and come to like them. He loves going back and forth, both of you reading to each other and doing silly voices for the dialogue.

Satan 100% has moments of thirteen-year-old snark. He got his ass handed to him for making the “blah blah blah” hand signal to mock Lucifer while Asmo was getting chewed out. Doesn’t regret a thing

More of an imagine than a headcanon, but hear me out. Young Satan got a cat plushie that he loved to DEATH. Like, he took it everywhere with him for decades. Now imagine him going to his big brother Levi, nearly in tears, asking him to fix it after the leg fell off.

Levi panics and is like, “Oh it’s okay!! I’ll fix it, don’t worry,” and gets out his sewing kit. Satan starts to calm down as he watches the plushie get patched up. Levi nervously hands it back when he’s done, and can’t help but feel soft when his baby brother smiles and thanks him

Also think about Satan still having that plushie after all this time, and occasionally knocking on Levi’s door to awkwardly ask him to fix it again

Levi can’t help but smile a little

[starkjoy]

it’s insane how disappointed i am with this season… like i don’t even know how to deal w this lmao. i just feel like i’m being gaslit into believing all the stuff i previously thought about tomshiv’s dynamic and even tomgreg’s (in terms of the nero/sporus subtext) isn’t true. it’s a weird decision on the writers’ parts.

the whiplash is so odd to me that i can’t help but wonder if they’re intentionally misleading us for some late-in-the-game twist. that’s probably delusion though—simplest explanation is that they changed their mind or it’s shitty writing. seems to be a trend with hbo final seasons. let’s see how it all ends before we make any final decisions, though.

unlike failed internet darling mlm ships of the past, tomgreg isn’t a case of fandom creating a narrative and setting themselves up for disappointment—the writers intentionally implanted homoeroticism into their plotline. the actors knowingly played around with it. jesse literally called them homoerotic a few weeks ago. it’s really sad to think succession may fall prey to every other queerbait-adjacent (adjacent for now since the season isn’t over) curse, leaning into the queer undertones until they’ve written themselves into a gay corner with the internet convinced something is gonna happen, only to backtrack and pretend the vibes were never there at all. it’s too early to say if that’s the case here, but it certainly feels that way at the moment. i mean, what else are we supposed to think when the writers go from nero and sporus gay marriage as the through line of season 3, to disgusting brothers hetero sex tour comedic relief background noise with tomshiv redemption front end center? am I supposed to be enjoying this?

all that being said, on a positive note im glad we’ve seen how much closer tom and greg have gotten as partners, and that they’re scheming together and on the same page. i’m glad they’ve had at least one interaction each episode. i’m glad greg seems much more into tom than previous seasons, quelling any unrequited friendship accusations. i’m glad we got insane homoerotic undertones in episode 1, even if they’ve dropped off since then. but where we’re sadly lacking is depth—what was once the hallmark of tomgreg’s deeper connection in contrast to tomshiv’s emotional constipation. now greg makes sexual quips while tom rolls his eyes…end scene. and again. it was funny and cute at first, but now it’s getting boring. don’t they deserve a more interesting arc in the final season after years of build up? why are we subject to tomshiv rehashing the same shit we’ve seen for 3 seasons instead?

also, one of the most compelling arcs of season 3 was tom’s vengeance, especially because we saw it play out from his perspective. outside of his plane convo with greg, tom’s pov has all but been erased. even the tomshiv moments are from the lens of shiv’s experience. and as much as we may sympathize with shiv’s heartbreak over his betrayal and her dad’s death, it feels almost wrong that the show is trying to make me feel bad for her? we saw how awful she was to tom for three seasons, we saw from tom’s perspective how much she hurt him. i don’t feel bad for shiv on the tom front at all, the fact that she kept his baby feels wildly out of character, and frankly it’s a little insulting the amount of time the final season is spending trying to convince the audience otherwise.

hey, maybe my feelings will change in a few days. maybe the final episodes will change all of our minds. i’ll always have some hope for tomgreg, but right now it’s not looking promising given the treatment they’ve received so far. anyone with any positivity to share hit me up because I could use it!!

[i-am-baechu]

Chapter Twelve: The One About Exes

Summary: “Did you just ask me if I sell coffee in a fucking coffee shop?” And with that, Taehyung was smitten by the Barista in the crazy flower sweater vest. Friendships will form but most importantly Taehyung will finally meet his soulmate. 

•——————•°•✿•°•——————•°•✿•°•———•

Genre: Idol au, strangers to lovers au, barista reader!, slow burn (friends with benefits to lovers kind of), semi-short storyish format, friendships, romance, angst, comedy, and smut

Main pairing: Idol! Taehyung x Barista! Reader 

Side ships: Hoseok x OC 

Warnings: Explicit language, smut, mature themes, homophobia, smoking cigarettes, drugs, and alcohol usage

⇜ Masterlist ⇝

•——————•°•✿•°•——————•°•✿•°•———•

Taehyung went back to her hotel room and closed the door. He leaned against the door with his eyes closed trying to figure out his thoughts. He shook his head and went towards his bed with his shoulders slumped down. He sat on the bed and took his phone out, pure annoyance came through. He answered the phone and shook his head, “What do you want?” 

“Is that how you're going to talk to me?” 

“Aria, hurry the fuck up. What do you want? 

“I just wanted to see how you were doing...” 

Taehyung rolled his eyes and looked at his wall with a blank expression, “Why do you care? You cheated on me and left me.” 

“I just saw that tweet that you had a partner...is that true?”

“That’s none of your business.” 

“That means yes...Taehyung-”

“I have to go.” Taehyung ended the call and let out a loud frustrated sigh in his quiet room. The main question that came to his mind was, how did Aria get his number? It’s been years since they talked and obviously, he has changed his number. How did she get his number? He got up from his bed and decided to do what Y/N told him to do, talk to Yoongi. 

He went to Yoongi’s room and gently knocked on the door. He waited in the hallway and this time he felt nervous. He would always go to Yoongi for advice about music or just life in general but this was different. This involved Y/N and Namjoon, his brother liking the girl of his dreams. On top of this, his ex-girlfriend has his number and he doesn’t know why she has it or how she got it. He hated having all these questions in his life because he really didn’t want the answers. 

Yoongi opened the door with a raised eyebrow and looked at Taehyung with a confused look, “I thought you would be sleeping.”

“No...I needed to talk to you about things.” 

“Okay? Come in, I hope it’s not serious.”

Taehyung didn’t answer and took a step inside his room with nerves building up in his chest. He sat on the couch but his eyes didn’t leave the floor. Yoongi saw this and his face turned into worry, he had a feeling about what this conversation was going to be about. He sat across from him and sighed, “What’s wrong?”

“Tell me the truth...the truth about Aria.” 

“What are-”

“She called me. Why does she have my number?” 

Yoongi sighed and leaned back into the couch, wanting to be sucked up, “She called you? When?”

“Literally a couple of mins ago...hyung can you just tell me the truth.” 

Yoongi sighed and rubbed his knee in a nervous manner, “What do you know about your break up?” 

Taehyung looked at him with a confused look and furrowed eyebrows, “She cheated on him and I broke up with her.” 

“Okay...that’s not true.”

“What? Hyung you and Namjoon-” 

“Aria wanted us to tell you that.”

The whiplash that he had at that moment, “Namjoon would always talk shit about her though.” 

“She told us to do that...” 

“Hyung tell me what happened.” 

Yoongi and Namjoon were confused as to why Aria wanted to talk to them. Aria was a nice girl and it seemed like she really liked Taehyung, that's all they wanted for him. Aria has been around them before but she only talked to Taehyung, which isn’t a bad thing. Jin thought it was rude but Namjoon would tell him that she’s still young and is probably shy. Yesterday night, Aria texted Yoongi and Namjoon saying that she had something important to tell them. 

They entered the cafe to see Aria playing with her food with a blank expression. They glance at each other before making their way into the cafe, “Aria?” 

She looked up from her food and gave them a small smile, “Good morning...”

The two sat down at the table and just felt awkward. It was obvious she had something to say but she was nervous to say it. Yoongi sighed and cracked his neck, “Are you going to tell us what’s wrong?” 

Aria nodded her head and sighed, “Can you make it seem like I’m cheating on Taehyung.”

Namjoon's eyes widened at this and let out a humorless chuckle, “What?”

Yoongi glared at her and shook his head, “What the fuck are you playing at?”

“I-I’m not playing a game...Taehyung was talking about our future and how much he wants me to be there for him as he gets famous...I can’t do that.”

Yoongi shook his head and leaned forward towards her, “You want us to hurt him because you can’t talk to him.” 

“If he thinks I cheated on him then he would want nothing to do with me-”

“Even if you didn’t cheat on him, this whole plan is crazy.” 

She rolled her eyes and sighed, “You wouldn’t understand.”

“Good, I don’t want to.” 

“Can you just do it for me? Jin-young said he would help me.”

Namjoon’s eyes widened at this, “His best friend!?” 

She nodded her head and took a sip of her tea, “I care for Taehyung...it's just...he wants so much for the future. I’m barely figuring out what I want to do. Once I do that, I’ll talk to him about it. He’s very understanding.” 

Yoongi shook his head at this, “He’s understanding but that’s asking too much from him.” 

“Please....”

Namjoon sighed and nodded his head, “Fine...”

Taehyung looked at him with a shocked face and leaned back into the couch, “I-I don’t know what to say.” 

“We thought if she left you alone then you would be better because honestly, she was crazy...When we said we didn’t want to do it anymore she threatened to release pictures of you guys and we didn’t know what to do. We went forward with everything because she was threatening you but she was also threatening Namjoon.” 

“How?”

“She was going to release information about his sister.”

Taehyung ran his fingers through his hair harshly, “You guys lied to me...what the fuck?” 

“I-I’m sorry we did that to you.” z

“How does she have my number now?” 

“Namjoon...”

Taehyung nodded his head and stood from the couch as Yoongi watched carefully. He walked towards the door and before he opened it, he turned around, “I was going to ask for advice about something but honestly I don’t want to talk to you today or the rest of the week. See you tomorrow at the soundcheck.” 

He left the room before Yoongi could say anything and slammed the door shut. He leaned against the door and looked at the ceiling, What the fuck did I do to deserve this? 

Extended Ending: 

“You have everything Y/N?” She looked up at Nikki who was on her bed scrolling away on her phone. She closed her luggage and nodded her head, “I packed everything I need. Do you think Tae will be surprised to see me?” 

Nikki rolled her eyes and nodded her head “Of course he will be. That man is in love with you.”

Y/N’s eyes widened at this and a smile appeared, “You think he loves me?” 

“I’m not blind. Apparently, you are.”

“Shut the fuck up and answer my question.” 

“Yes, I do think he loves you and I think you love him too~.” 

She glanced down at her luggage and nodded her head, “I do love him...Oh my god. I love him!”

In Japan

“Namjoon, remember you said you were going to help me. I want to talk to him soon, let me see him.” 

[agentzedbooks]

So it’s Christmas Eve, and if you’re one of my followers, or used to be before I got nuked, you’re probably looking at a whole pile of anxiety facing your family. I’m... half lucky, in that my Dad’s side of the tribe are just really cool people and accept me without batting an eye.

So, a tale of two Christmases.

I came out to my mother’s side, and they immediately started mocking me and treating me even more like shit than they used to. It was absolutely horrible. This was a long time ago, but to give you an idea, my grandparents on that side are full MAGA redcaps now, and it changed their lives not one fucking iota. Cruel people. They made me cry, because they usually do, and I literally hate them. I get it now, why my Mom was so messed up and why my Dad married her, to rescue her from these monsters in human skin. But there’s a reason she drank until her brain didn’t work right, and had health problems too myriad to go into here.

Emotionally, it was ripping off a band aid. Or, no, I guess more like when you’re waxing and yank out some deep-rooted hair in a sensitive spot. And then someone pours alcohol and lemon juice on it. And then calls you a dyke like that’s your name. Repeatedly.

I came out to my father’s side, and my Uncle said: “Oh, yeah, You know, that makes sense. Want some egg nog?”

And I cried, because they actually loved me and accepted me before I even accepted myself. This emotional whiplash left me a total emotional wreck. But a few years ago, some of my cousins came out, and it was the same thing.

So if you’re facing a difficult get-together with your family, I understand. I understand the terror in your belly, the work it takes to pull your courage together, and the absolute horror show of it going wrong. You’ll probably cry, either way. I did. But one was tears of agony, and the other tears of relief, gratitude, and love. I still remember my older cousin, coming in late, seeing me wiping tears, and he immediately asked me what was wrong. He and his then-girlfriend, now-wife sat on each side of me and supplied tissues and comfort.

Since then, I only go to one Christmas, and I have not regretted cutting those ties one bit.

Wow, this was hard for me to write.

Wiping tears right now.

Ok, moral of the story: A lot of you are gonna have a tough time. Some of you are risking a lot, not just emotionally, to come out to your parents, aunts and uncles, grandparents, and yes, my dears, you’re gonna cry. It’s ok. Maybe you’re skipping Christmas entirely because it’s safer for you, and I understand that, too.

Be brave. Be strong. I love you, even though we’re not family at all, and I know what you’re going through.

Whatever your choice, you are loved, and accepted.

Have some egg nog.

[thegeminisage]

i'm 'tell me what it was like in 2014' anon and can i just say. i am so honored by the time and care you put into that answer. WOW. it was such a delight to read and kind of vicariously experience. i'm 18 now so i was 9 when winter soldier came out, needless to say it was not really on my radar. But i've always been interested in those kind of golden tumblr age fandoms (doing destiel from 2020-2022 was like. the best experience of my lifeeee) and even like in middle school i was scrolling through pinterest screenshots of avengers incorrect quotes etc. that creative generativeness and collective celebration seems like. such a utopia honestly. what you described, and the cultural context of it being the mid 2010s and how media and politics and the internet wereback then seems so perfectly aligned. i'm happy you got to experience something so special! re: not easily conquered. i read it a few years ago just because of how renowned it was and. well you KNOW. and anyway the crazy fucking whiplash i got from realizing the supernatural blogger i followed later was EMILY??. the fandom's interest in history and culture is also especially beautiful to me. i will literally never see the winged victory the same way again. ik people always say fics written 2012-2015 have crack in them but stucky was on another level. people were doing literal highbrow analysis and art..that banana fic. i have i love you like rlb saved on my notes app from like 2018 when i was in middle school. the dedication and like crazy amount of work that went into the fandom is just out of this world to me. like i'd give my soul to be there honestly.. you just dont get things like that anymore. again thank you so so much for your wonderful long answer, and like honestly. if i ever pursue some project on fandom history i might ask to interview you or sth. but anyway, suffice it to say: i really really wish i could have gotten to see it first hand, but thank goodness i can still go back and read fic and look at fanart and. thank you it's been long long time by helen forrest. and i''m so glad people who were active online then are still on tumblr to talk about it all

hi sorry it took me a minute to reply i was doing accursed ten year rewatch of Movie. i have an extended reply.

you should listen to this...someone sent this to my friend and it unlocked memories i didn't knew i had

much like rlb, which was insane of you to remember, because i sure didn't. dropped that on the groupchat earlier and got to gleefully watch the horror of memories unlocked unfold on their faces

also so true about destiel tumblr. sustained madness. i romanticized stucky tumblr a little in my answer bc of nostalgia like i wasn't also making mortal enemies at the same time (i sometimes spot the urls of people who made me mad back then and have a ratatouille flashback) i was making those lifelong friends BUT you're not missing anything major bc the destiel madness FAR exceeded the stucky madness. there was just so much more mania to it.

when i was in high school i had the enduring desire to have been born in the 60s so i could be a hippie full time. i thought their clothes and anti-establishment attitudes were groovy. i feel like this is you about mid-2010s tumblr and i absolutely love that for you.

that said, you may not get movies like cap2 anymore but you will certainly get fandoms like it...i recently got into trek and reading spockanalia and all their vintage fic from the 60s and 70s and 80s and seeing in some ways how spock shock is so similar to destiel madness (and THEY didn't even have the internet) has taught me that the girlies gender neutral have been out here and primed to go insane from day one and that as long as there are mentally ill teens and 20-somethings who like media there will always be people who go insane about the media. they will grow into the 30-somethings and 40-somethings and higher that write the good fic and sell the smutty fanzines under the tables at cons. there will never be another tos or cap2 or nov 5 but certainly there will always be SOMETHING to go joyfully nuts about on the internet. the tricky part is just finding ur people

[absolutebl]

Hello, live the work you do here. I especially like to read your trash watch alongs. I am following unforgotten night through your posts only.

It's just been months since I got into bl. But I remember watching one a couple of years ago and I dnf it . I don't remember what it's name was. If you could help me with the title, I'd like to revisit it and see what has changed with my new perspective and experience with BL.

It was thai. It was a restaurant setting. The seme was a chef and the uke was probably in school or college and maybe part-time working at the restaurant. That's all I remember.

oh I love a challenge. The Magic Spreadsheet of Doom is always easier to activate when you have setting.

However I don't think I need it, since restaurants are my favorite. I think you're thinking of 2021′s Bite Me. And apart from the food, it was really very much NOT good.

However in case I am wrong here are all (I think) of: 

Thailands’s R&B (restaurant & beverage) BLs

I Am Your King 2 2019 3/10 Youtube - Early love triangle about a cafe boy caught between two brothers, mostly not good because the wrong brother wins. Has no connection to the original I Am Your King. 

Love Area 2022 (2 parts) 3/10 GaGa - It wasn't as boring as Bite Me, but it wasn’t actually good, either. This started out as Thailand tackles love triangles pulp style, but in part 2 lockdown changed everything. Valen & Kaitoon dropped some great kisses but traded off crazy hair and makeup in a scene-by-scene whiplash that was clearly pickups done months after lockdown, and the second lead vanished. It was... surreal. Side dishes jumped up screen time but tackled mental health... badly. A fantastic new queer side character was randomly introduced, June, who was the best thing to happen to BL linguistics in 2022 but had nothing to do with the rest of the cast, show, or plot. What a mess. In the end, I didn’t know what I was watching, and neither did it.

Love Next Door 2 2014 4/10 movie GaGa - One of Thailand’s early very high heat pieces, it’s odd, but sexy I guess? Also some unexpectedly decent queer rep. (Part one is the same lead character early on in his life discovering he is gay with the sex worker next door but not really relevant to this story.) 

Evening Cafe 2021 5/10 YouTube - Cafe setting with no heat and no kisses (almost Chinese in this regard), but a decent lead pair, about a boy who works in a cafe and the new employee who has a crush on him. That’s it, whole story.

Love Advisor 2021 6/10 microfilm YouTube - Set in a cafe but not about cafe workers, this is an actor’s piece, more like a one act stage performance about friends to lovers and miscommunication.

Bite Me 2021 6/10 Viki - Thailand gave us Korean style slowly simmering ultra soft and sweet BL only at a Thai length so the pacing was… not good. Slower than molasses and full of insane subtext, long gazes, missing dialogue, abrupt mood swings, and one very pretty kiss. It curdled around episode 8, the sauce split, and there was no saving it. It did have some of the best food porn I’ve seen in my life, and i watch cooking shows. It was beautiful, the leads were decent, it should have right up my alley, and yet… it left me with a feeling of disaffected ennui - bland and boring and unsatisfying. 11 courses of tasty tasty pacing issues. 

What Zabb Man! 2022 8/10 YouTube - Star Hunter's WZM was better than we had any right to expect, with decent pacing and a foodie theme threaded through the narrative as both love language and plot driver. Basically CEO falls in love with a street vendor’s food, recruits him to work in his hotel, falls in love with him, and that’s the beginning. Class struggles! Kitchen drama! Papaya pounding (not a euphemism)! Chef poaching (not literally)! Spicy scenes (yes both kinds)! It’s all so delicious. 

La Cuisine 2022 710 GaGa - A sweet and somewhat pure show, and like the Thai desserts it features, perhaps requires too much patience for a layperson. Because of the pacing and the focus on a bad girl character, I did dock it. But if you like stuff in the Oxygen vein, then this show is for you, and far better than most Thai BL pulps. That said, I suspect that I enjoyed it more than many would. Full review. 

Coffee Melody (Pavel my love) 2022 airing right now on Viki

So far only the pulps have tackled foodie romances for Thailand, I’d love to see GMMTV do one. 

Perhaps that’s what Moonlight Chicken will be? 

The other places that do a lot in and around the food industry are Korea (Jealousy is My Guest, One Last Order, My Sweet Dear, The Tasty Florida, Ocean Likes Me, To My Star). They tend to have been rated better in general than the Thai ones, sadly. 

(source)

[shakapuffin]

^Alert Two Hour Season 1 Finale: 1x09 “Brianna” and 1x10 “Max” Promo

Alert 1x08 “Craig” Review

here are my thoughts on this weeks episode, spoilers ahead so if u haven’t watched, i’d scroll😁:

- okay so i was actually excited in the beginning and even until the middle! it was good… and i was confused why i was on the edge of my seat to see what happened next, it’s not normal for this show (sorry to say) THEN what the hell happened? it just lost ALL momentum, keith’s mystery was done, and the case came back! bruh, i was actually excited! now i’m disappointed, like really disappointed. my hopes were high tho lol.

- honestly, i didn’t really pay too much attention to the case, i know that’s probs not good but ya know what i was way more interested in keith and that whole mess! but i will say, i do like how mike got a chance in the line light this episode. i’m more interested in mike than C or Kemi, sorry to say. but i think it was interesting and it did flip halfway thru the episode but i also knew that was going to happen. like they already dropped the hint that mikes father betrayed him or something and then that guy that was his second father betrayed him (haha can u tell i really only paid attention to the keith mystery?)

- finally the family had a meeting, with everyone in the same room; jason, nikki, sidney and keith! i like the conflict! finally jason is realizing that might not be his kid. anyways, the whole build up to get the bone structure/dna back was literally annoying. like how the hell did C get this job? he’s eating gummy worms and not doing his freaking job! like dude you’ve had this skeleton for so long!! he should’ve gotten it done weeks ago! C just annoyed me this episode, he really wasn’t helpful except for finding out that the skeleton wasn’t keith.

- ya it’s maybe a bit crazy that jason just completely flipped his lid and physically attacked keith but honestly if someone random was pretending to be your son, ya there would be a pretty intense reaction! but honestly i like the drama and conflict so i liked that scene. i thought scott was great in that scene (there were glimpses of his father when jason was losing it, it was crazy how quickly my brain flashed to james caan).

- i still don’t really believe that keith is actually keith. but i have a weird feeling that the show is just gonna run with it, that mystery is solved and now for the finale they’ll venture into his kidnapping. like they hyped up the whole season for it to not be keith and then they do this. it would’ve been way better and a longer storyline (if there’s a season 2?) if they have him not be keith and have jason, nikki and sidney either accept him or not. it would bring more conflict and intersting storylines! maybe they’ll still do that but idk… it can’t just be happy ending because if they’re planning for a second season, what are they gonna don’t for their B and C storylines? not gonna lie, this season felt like a miniseries or something with only 1 season.

- sidney flipped way too quickly from not believing him to accepting keith. that was way too quick! it was like whiplash! maybe she’s faking? idk. if that’s real then that’s really really bad writing. no person could/would ever just flip that quickly to believe someone that they thought was an imposter every other episode this season.

- also u really expect us to believe there was another body in the lake the same age, same build, same basically everything as 12 year old keith? like really? come on!! it was too coincidental. and if they except us to just accept it, that’s bad writing.

- i hated the ending! it was stupid. i mean ya it was a good way for all of the storylines for the episode to come to a close but besides that… it was just weird. i’ve learned just to stop questioning kemi’s techniques. that just might be me idk.

- overall, i was lowkey disappointed. scott was good this episode (esp in those emotional scenes), im def bias, and i am sad for the show to end- not because of the storylines or show but literally just for scott, i have really enjoyed seeing scott on my screen every week. i thought dania was fine, whatever, i’ll keep saying it but she just has to stop calling everyone baby. i liked ryan broussard (mike)! i thought graham verchere (keith) was really good, he gets some hate but i like him! i liked fivel stewart (sidney), she’s great, but really how can they really pass her off as a high schooler? petey gibson (C) was fine. Adeola role (kemi) was good, i like her, just not her character too much!

- for the finale next week, im not getting my hopes up. also of course nikki gets freaking kidnapped! like of course! they really had to end it with someone, most notably the leader, getting kidnapped from the missing persons unit. i just want one episode to focus on keith and that whole situation. most procedurals have at least one episode that doesn’t have a case, ya it’s only a 10 episode season, but still! just put some time aside for the plot that people actually want to know about and maybe their ratings and viewers will go up!

anyways i’ve ranted long enough. i’ve probably forgot some stuff but let me know what u guys think! i luv hearing your thoughts and different opinions! i’m definitely gonna miss scott on my screen! see u next week for the two hour finale!

[edgyandoverzealous]

Show Log: Ninjago Masters of Spinjitzu Pt.2

If you don't know the drill these are my thoughts opinions and reactions during my first watch through of Ninjago Masters of Spinjitzu. I made one of these a couple of days ago and I'm back with so many more thoughts. Also spoilers, duh, for up to the episode listed below, and please no spoilers! We good? Good.

Season 2 Episode 14:

• I told you I'd riot. Grab your pitchforks my boy has lost his whimsy. I'm damn near certain at this point.

• Lloyd Garmadon loves his dad and genuinely believed that he'd break through to him, and he did, for a moment, but then his dad, who Lloyd believed to be all powerful, failed to fully break through.

•The pain in Lloyd's eyes (shut up shut up shut up, I know they're Legos) as the Overlord took control again and told Lloyd his father was gone. The way the line was delivered to be saw raw and wrong as Lloyd got overwhelmed and lost consciousness.

• The way he limped over to the shoreline immediately after waking up and how serious he's gotten. I just-- why must you torture my boy, he's just a kid.

• Give him one parent but take away another I think the fuck not. (I'm conflicted more on Lloyd's mama later) Give my boy his dad back, please.

• I think the only reason they aged Lloyd up was so that much pressure and stress wasn't portrayed on a literal elementary school aged kid. But guess what, and say it with me, 14/15 year olds are still just kids and should not be put in life changing and traumatizing scenarios.

• Additionally, destiny was talked about like a deity this episode, if "destiny" has a form as the Overlord did this episode I will give a swift kick to the groin for my boy Lloyd because what the ever loving fuck? The baby, the boy, my boy.

• Also Nya. My blorbo, my babygirl, my favorite girl. They turned her evil??? They turned her evil.

• SHE WAS THE ONLY ONE WHO DIDN'T FALL OFF THE CLIFF. Not cool. Not fucking cool.

• But she called after both Jay and Kai as they fell which is very important to me. It shows that she cares about both of them when in other media the "damsel in distress" might only call after her love interest, a lame trope imo.

• She then got kidnapped and fed pure darkness. Like what the hell? Not my Nya, not my girl. The boys are fucked, truly, they lost their girl. The one that makes them tech and upgrades their shit with better combat skills shown canonically, they're so screwed.

• I'm fairly certain she could've kicked their asses but whatever invincible soldiers with their invincibleness and Nya without any super weapons or tech.

• She said goodbye forever but istg if Jay and Kai don't rescue her and find a way to bring her back I'm gonna send a strongly worded email to Ninjago productions and explain why they single handedly ruined their show.

• Because brilliant, beautiful Nya has on multiple occasions carried the entirety of the Ninjago Masters and they would collapse without her. Additionally I believe good written women in what is primarily a show written for boys is incredibly important because it portrays women as complex and strong people which they fucking are.

• Also Jay's character writing is giving me whiplash (more on that later) but I think he's back to normal now?

• Nya got kidnapped and he lost his shit as any good boyfriend would do. They kiss but haven't put a label on it and Nya means the world to him and it shows in the show consistently. Very nice, I appreciate.

• I feel like Kai's reaction should've been a little stronger after they all fell into the sea, because him screaming Nya's name and then acting calm and rational was, ngl, kinda weird kinda suspect.

• but then again no one believes in Nya more than Kai. Kai knows his sister and that she is stronger than most of the team and smarter than most of them too.

• That being said it feels likely that he felt a need to stay strong and focused so they didn't all fall apart as well which with my interpretation forgives the initial reaction.

Season 2 episode 6 - 13:

• Lloyd's mom dropped him off as a baby to the Darkley's Boarding School for Bad Boys. As a baby. I was right. His attachment style is anxious avoidant. It's plain as day when he interacts with his mom.

• At least she's back now and supportive as she appears to love her son. Hopefully she's not evil and doesn't betray him. I don't think she is so far she's pretty motherly and seems to have a thing for Wu.

• She's a homie hopper. Likes both brothers.

• It's not cool how she said she chose the wrong brother though because Lloyd wouldn't have been born is what I got from that, my own mommy issues peeking through I presume. But Lloyd is such a good boy, legitimately, so he deserves appreciation.

• Also I'm pretty sure Lloyd doesn't get what's going on between Wu and his mom because when he asked her "So how'd you meet him" she replied with "Who, Wu?" And he went "what? no. My dad.😐"

• This proves, to me, that his mind is not at a teenager level of development yet as his body is. That or he has no exposure to romantic situations and therefore doesn't know the social cues. Yet again, my boy didn't deserve this and also he's just like me fr fr?

•Zane's dad is alive!!! Woohoo!! And he's adorable an adorable inventor.

• And the sanest insane person I have ever seen. I mean mans went I'm not a fighter and then proceeded to fly the blimp into Garmadon's face. I love him.

• Also his story reminds me of the Greek myth of Icarus and Icarus' dad. Because he was locked in a tower gaurded by a monster and told to invent in order to see his son again.

• I am in love with Zane's dad. Literally like 💍🧎

• He's so, y'know smart and loving and shit. He's also ambitious, patient and slightly insane so my type.

• If there are more parallels I'll cry. *death glaring at Zane* please don't fly too close to the sun I will be annihilated on spot.

• Cole is so comfortable with his dancing now, not him moonwalking and singing over enemies after he got his weapon back he's so silly.

•Just a little guy who likes to sing, dance, and beat up bad guys.

• Why did they turn Jay's idiot meter up so high?

• Like my mans was fully just dumb dumb baby there for a bit there. "I don't pack clean undies. Like my mommy advices cause real men only wear one :P."

• Like bbg. No. Nya deserves better, you have to keep using that brain you goofy goober, you can't just lose you braincells because she likes you---- *sudden self-realization* oh no...

• Additionally his cowardice seems to be heightened. Which understandable the boys are going through the wringer in terms of stressful situations. Which once again say it with me, teenagers are still kids, and you should not chuck them into dangerous, traumatizing, experiences. You will cause psychological issues for the rest of their lives. Woo.

• Also Jay's parents are so real for telling him he's not allowed to save Ninjago unless he eats his veggies. 🫡🫡��

• god this is unhinged and I sound like a 27 year old dad, I'm 18 wtf?

• Nya my beloved builds so much cool surprises and shit and Jay is always so pumped for them <333 I love them.

[buttercupsfrocks]

Greetings, tumblr. I warn you this isn't going to be much of a post for a whole raft of reasons:-

It's hotter than Satan's buttcrack outside and, consequently, inside my un-airconditioned first floor flat.

It's impossible for me to look soigné or remotely put together when I'm a sweaty, irritable mess.

There is a British Gas engineer currently boring holes in the outside walls of my flat with the aim of relocating my gas meter. The same thing is going on in my downstairs neighbours' flat. We have no say in this noisy, intrusive, cat-terrorising folderol. They've been threatening to do it for four years and we are literally the last house in the last street to be done. 'twas ever thus.

I had in fact written about two thirds of this original post and saved it as a draft. Tumblr since appears to have eaten that draft and washed it down with a nice Chianti. I have since lost the will to live.

My hair, as you can see, looked like crap when I took these pics.

The reason my hair looks like shite is because twelve days ago I had a cataract in my right eye removed and getting one's 'do done is not recommended for a couple of weeks after surgery.

Prior to surgery I had to take out my right contact lens and affect an eye-patch for a couple of weeks. I did not look piratical. Mainly because the size and positioning of my ears made the elastic intolerable after twenty minutes tops. Instead I had to make do with a Moorfields eyeshield stuffed with tissues and stuck to my face with Micropore. In 40ºC.

I'm hoping to get the left eye sorted late September/early October. A few weeks after that I'll find out whether I'll still need to wear contact lenses for distance and what prescription my new readers will be.

So, yeah, cataracts. Only partial but rubbish genetics on my paternal grandmother's side have resulted in those and an official diagnosis of Pathological Myopia along with a squint I didn't even know I had. The cataract/next-best-thing-to-blind double whammy has been causing me double vision and a blind spot in my right eye for years and the situation was becoming critical. I'd also experienced occular migraines during lockdown, though I think they were down to stress. But, in short, my eyesight was a shitshow and I'd gotten whiplash from the conflicting advice I've received by eye specialists the length and breadth of London. I'm relieved to say Moorfields cataract department got the last word. Thus far I'm optimistic. Three weeks ago I couldn't read the numbers on buses unless I was physically boarding one. Now I could probably see them from space.

But back to the main content of the post. Identically-cut Monki frock, gingham edition. Thus far they've offered this design in black, beige, light blue, orange, and lilac gingham. But there's a reason why the emerald green variation called to my heart.

Between the ages of 4 and 9 I attended a tiny private co-educational school. Admittedly this was many years ago but even then it was quaint and anachronistic. It was run by three sisters called Fowle and I had an elocution teacher who was older than God's dog and still wore long skirts and a bonnet. On Mondays we had to march, in single file, around the room we took dance classes in, in freshly whitened plimsoles to the strains of what later became the theme music to Monty Python's Flying Circus; this mysterious custom was known as Drill. We walked to the Headmistress's home for lunch every day, which was cooked by the kinder of her two sisters. That's how small the school was. It was also attended by kids of every conceivable nationality and ethnicity, and after it closed in the early 70s, the building subsequently became one of Erin Pizzey's shelters for women fleeing somestic violence.

As a sprog my summer school uniform featured a green gingham dress, which I always rather liked. But – get this – the size of the gingham squares increased proportionally with the age and height of the wearer. So, while my dresses had teeny tiny squares on them, the "seniors" had big ones on theirs. By the time I was of high school age and attending a different institution, sixth formers were no longer required to wear uniform, but as soon as I clocked this dress the exotic allure of achieving Big Green Square Status came rushing back and I knew I had to claim it.

Stay weird, tumblr. (And hydrated).

[calliopecalling]

QOTS Rewatch - 5x04 - La Situacion

This episode isn't quite as hard for me to rewatch as 5x03 is, something about the scale of Teresa's moral failings isn't quite as severe as last episode, but it feels somehow out of place in the rest of the season and it's taken me a year to really figure out how to make sense of Teresa's character journey such that this episode actually makes sense to me. When you read my original debrief after watching live you can see I was clearly like ... wtf was that? What is going on with Teresa and what are they doing with her character? I've made sense of a lot of it now (and kind of processed it ad nauseam in my gifset reblog tags) but this is still in my opinion perhaps the weakest episode of the season.

I don't have a WHOLE lot to add to that original debrief, honestly. I think I captured it all pretty well and I'm still not entirely sure what the queenpin takeaway was. I know I keep saying that it would've made more sense for her journey to just be towards this chillier, stonier, inaccessible white queen rather than going down this snappy, brittle path. It is really hard to see her like this and it feels very out of character for someone who through all the trauma she's been through has always maintained an outer calm. Obviously the trauma has really kept piling on and she has a lot more to lose now than she did five seasons ago (and more people relying on her) so that's how I explain it to myself--her irritability and stress and all that. But it still feels jarring and uncomfortable. And since they never truly address it or have her apologize for it, it feels like a loose end.

I mean look: James was super irritable and gruff and snappy with her, too (I'm thinking about late season 2 especially), and I wish he'd apologized to her for it because she truly didn't deserve it. She wasn't doing anything to him back then that he wasn't doing to her here, which was stepping slightly out of line to challenge him. But James got his full redemption arc. James got all of season 3 to prove to her (and to us) that he loved her. More than anything. And that he'd literally die for her. He never apologized to her for his behavior towards her in late season 2 but it wasn't all that necessary story-wise because it was so obvious that he'd changed. She'd changed him. And he knew that and felt it deeply.

But there wasn't time in this short season for the full reverse arc to take place so we have to fill in a lot of those gaps on our own and assume it's meant to be understood this way. It all does happen eventually, in 5x07 on, and the more I've watched this season the more I do see it that way. It just doesn't really have a lot of time to truly settle that she's had this realization and it's changed her. I mean in some ways Teresa doesn't have to go through a full character transformation because she always was this person of integrity and heart. She's just here on the brink of losing it and then she luckily springs back from the edge.

A few other miscellaneous thoughts that I'm too disorganized to try to capture in a cogent way:

I do appreciate that this season humanizes Teresa to James. That he has to take her off the pedestal he's put her on and see her in all her flawed glory. How weird does it make me that I almost want to write a fic about some big retirement processing sessions where their trust issues flare up bc of the ways they've both treated each other unfairly in the past? Lol. Is that a fic genre?

Can we talk about the FBI plot for just a second and how they introduced it and wrapped it up within the span of a single episode? Whew, whiplash. They could've played that out a little bit longer as she continued expanding.

Speaking of the FBI, I realized on this rewatch that Lucien was way more deeply to blame in so much of the BS this episode than is really clear when you're just watching casually. He's the one that tipped off the FBI to her in the first place. It continues to piss me off how the havoc other people wreak becomes HER problem that SHE has to fix and somehow held accountable for.

And just in general: WHY are women held to SUCH FREAKING DOUBLE STANDARDS AT ALL TIMES???????

Just saying.

[sentientdroids]

Fic Author Self Rec

When you get this, reply with your favourite five fics that you’ve written, then pass on to at least five other writers. Let’s spread the self-love.

i was tagged by my darling @pchberrytea ❤️ throwing tags at some of the most talented people i know @jld-az @shallow-gravy @lilin-writes @ejunkiet @tiesthatbind1899

-

1. Comply [Marvel Cinematic Universe]

In her, some part of him recognizes itself.

Or, in which SHIELD is reformed and not dissolved, and Bucky feels the weight of his wounds. A story told in vignettes.

MYY FKN BABY my current hyperfixation the air that i breathe. like all my most precious ideas, this one came to me in a dream and shortly after, wrecked my life and stole my sanity. literally don’t care if this is only ever for me bc i adore the story and the characters and their relationships to each other. the chapters are short and i’ll probably always worry that it’s a bad thing but i also feel that the medium suits the particular story i’m trying to tell and anyway i have Bucky Barnes brain rot and it’s terminal

2. Visage [The Mandalorian]

The way Mandalorians appreciate beauty is...subtle. Quiet and reverent.

This is the way.

eyyyy i just wanted Din Djarin to be soft and yearning and it’s completely self-indulgent

3. Cruel World [Fallout 4]

Danse and Nora's relationship fell apart years ago, but when they both end up in the Commonwealth waging war against the Institute, their paths cross again.

Time can't heal everything but they'll always have a soft spot for each other.

listen…..reading it now it’s kinda hot garbage LMAO i’m really tempted to rewrite it but it’s never gonna not be one of my faves because it was my first fic and the thing about me is i’m a sentimental ass bitch and also i’m in love with Nora <3 it made me so many friends and i grew tremendously while writing it and i think about it all the time. the story that got me through college has a special place in my heart.

4. Whiplash [Red Dead Redemption II]

Arthur Morgan meets a lone outlaw, a wanted woman, and his pursuit of her isn’t purely a matter of money.

i proved a lot to myself with this one. i made a character much different than what came naturally to me and it’s finished (!!) and damn. got a lot of seratonin from Maggie thank uuuu outlaws for life

5. Gaps in the Armor [Fallout 4]

She strikes when he isn’t ready, like any worthy adversary. She’s formidable, beautiful, and she knows how to shoot through the gaps in his armor.

this one is also impressive simply by virtue of it actually having been completed. i did wanna take it another direction at one point and draw it out more but i wanna do that with everything so what’s new y’know. i do actually like this one still mostly and it’s some of the only smut i’ve shared and even if it ain’t much it was a big step!today i can proudly say i’m unapologetically horny on main, even if i still keep my smut locked away where it can’t see the light of day.