#OK BUT AN ICONIC DECADE NO ONE CAN SAY OTHERWISE

[olderthannetfic]

https://www.tumblr.com/olderthannetfic/730572795212398592/what-is-up-with-all-the-trans-men-on-this-hellsite?source=share

As a trans man, I might have some insight into this one. I'm a lot older than the standard uwu sparkle anti, but I was in my mid twenties for the first wave of weirdness about trans boys on Tumblr about a decade ago, so I was just too old for it then, and I saw a lot of guys my age and a little younger get swept up in it.

OTNF rightly points out that young trans men are a particularily vulnerable demographic. This is part of it, but we're also a demographic that doesn't sit comfortably with our identites (gender identities or otherwise) and are told by everyone (on every side) that we are Doing It Wrong, that our existence harms others, and that we must be this specific way to be good people.

I'm sure you've seen the "trans men are better than real cis men" rhetoric. It's meant to be inclusive and to reassure us that we're not bad people just because of our gender, but it also denies us our entire gender identity.

So basically, you've got a bunch of young guys, most of whom were socialised like girls and learned to never be too assertive, many of whom are straight up suffering from dysphoria and stress, being told by people both within and outside of their communities that the are Wrong and Bad and Harmful just for existing. It makes sense that a lot of them would would find a movement based on moral posturing that will accept them if they perform correctly and will use their real name and pronouns. That's what Antis are; they say "use this vocabulary, send hate mail to that person, put these terms in your DNI, don't be caught reading that story", and, unlike other groups that police people's tastes and performance that hard, they're not overtly hostile to trans identities. So you can spout the right rhetoric, use the right tumblr icon, and they will actually accept you (on the surface, for a time, but we're talking about young and desperate people who aren't looking at the long game).

Helping them harass those badwrong horrible NOTP shippers or aces or middle aged women or some random artist who got caught drawing the wrong age gap or whoever is the fashionable target will prove that you aren't a horrible monster for being a man, you're moral and upright and correct.

And yes a lot of it is internalised misandry (that word has a lot of dumb baggage, but how else can I describe a boy who hates himself for being a boy?), or self-loathing born of dysphoria and just plain having to live in a world that's hostile to trans people.

Being an anti is a way out. It's a way to manufacture acceptence. And they're too young and too hurt to realise that that acceptance is as temporary and hostile as the people who accept them only if they pretend to be girls; the antis will turn on them the moment they start acting a little too manly or if they're caught liking the wrong ship.

(I've seen something similar happen to young cis queer guys and trans girls, too, but it isn't as pronounced since being raised as a boy means you probably already learned that standing up for yourself is ok sometimes)

--

I'm sure it also doesn't help that tumblr is absolutely full of BL/slash fandom. There's certainly plenty of gender diversity in these spaces, but it's inescapable that the majority of participants are women. So for a young, insecure guy trying to assert that he is a guy, it's easy to fall prey to "Waaaah, I need to reclaim my hobby for me!" gatekeepy nonsense.

Sure, it's going to be turned on nbs even harder than on cis women and will be used to misgender other trans men in the end and misogyny isn't cool anyway, but that's not what your average traumatized young fool is thinking when they first join up. They're thinking "I hurt."

TBH, though, probably the largest component is that all of us—all of us—have a mental image of a default human for a given context. It's rarely a trans man. And so anything a trans man does stands out and is A Thing Trans Men Do.

This is true even if you are trans. It is true even if you are not a transphobic dickhead. Unlearning the 'why girls are bad at math' xkcd strip is extraordinarily hard because recognizing patterns and having mental defaults is just how human brains work.

There are shittons of cis women who become antis, but they're just not notable in the same way.

Are trans men more vulnerable to becoming antis? It's possible, and the reasons you outlined above are likely why. I think it's an interesting question to discuss if we are specifically discussing why the trans men who do become antis do so.

But we don't actually have any hard facts to support that they are more prone to it than anybody else. My guess would be that vulnerable people are more likely to become antis, so any cis woman with a strong source of vulnerability like a shittastic home life is similarly vulnerable to a young trans man with no support network, but who knows.

Maybe only 5% of trans men on tumblr are antis and 50% of cis women. Maybe it's 90% of trans men and 20% of cis women. Maybe it's 1% and 1% and they're just all very loud.

We have no data. We just don't know.

And we will never be able to trust our own brains on this until trans vs. cis is such a nonissue that we don't even notice it.

[fangirlmedstudentblog]

Top 10 Female Characters

Thanks for tagging @solana-ceae was free today for a bit so you caught me at a nice time and it's pretty interesting and also so painful to keep it to 10, because i have probably 10 for each type media i read or watch lol. These are in no particular order and might come back someday to elaborate on some of these choices

if anyone wants to do it consider yourseves tagged

1. Elizabeth Bennett from Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Elizabeth Bennett, is a character so beloved to me, that even after almost a decade of having read the novel, P&P remains one of my most favourite novels of all time. It was my first romance novel ever and also was my introduction to the works of Jane Austen and romance novels in general. It's also the reason i have such a fondness for regency era romance novels. I love all of her iterations in the myriad of iterations of Pride and Prejudice adaptations we've seen over the years, though i will confess my favourites are the from book (ofc), the 1995 bbc mini series (the better adaptation of P&P novel), the 2005 movie and from the web series, the Lizzie Bennett diaries, a really beautiful awesome web series that is fully available on youtube and i think is a must watch for any fans of P&P.

Elizabeth is such a beautiful vivacious woman, who was courageous, fearless enough to not settle for anything but what she wanted, and a little prideful and she is a wonderful example of how one can be unfairly prejudiced against someone because of an erroneous first impression and also not someone behaving towards you like you expected. And i loved it as a kid, still do almost a decade later, but in a lot different way than i did as a kid.

2. Hermione Granger from the Harry Potter series

As much as jkr's comments and my growing age seeing the pitfalls of the harry potter series made me like the actual series a lot less, but Hermione Granger still reigns supreme as my favourite character from the series (followed by Draco Malfoy, Harry Potter and the book version of Ginny Weasley, yes the book version specifically).

Hermione Granger is and will remain one of my biggest inspirations in life. She was the first character i saw that was so like me when i read it as a kid, and she made me feel ok being one of the smart girls. She's smart as heck, empathetic to the plights of others, believes in justice even when she gets made fun of for it, and totally vicious when crossed. Like it wasn't really shown in the movies, but book Hermione was low key unhinged when she was crossed and i love that for her. She's not perfect, and i love that about her.

I really wish we had her perspective on the shenanigans of the series because it would be so fascinating honestly. And honestly if i had to criticize (one) thing about her was her decision to get together with Ron at the end. It was plain and boring and for those who like her with him great for you, i don't.

3. Arya Stark from Game of Thrones/A Song of Ice and Fire series

She's so persevering and so determined to attain her goals, i love that for her. She's gone through a lot in her tiny life, but she's never let it beat her down ever, she always stands back up and takes names.

I hated what they did to her character in the last 2 seasons of the show (actually i point blank absolutely detest the last season of Game of thrones period so yeah) but before that i loved what she was doing, and everything.

"What do you say to the god of death? Not Today"

100/10 line. Absolute banger. Very quotable. Very inspiring. Fight me if you think otherwise

4. Fa Mulan, Mulan disney movies

An absolute icon, childhood and adult inspiration to live as i want and to have the strength to do what's right and being yourself no matter what.

Also the 1998 movie has some of my favourite movie songs EVER.

Also Bisexual legend Shang ftw

5. Annalise and Erika, The Princess and the Pauper

Yes some of my favourite characters are from a barbie movie, what about it?

Love them both, 100/10 top barbie movie (along with The 12 Dancing princesses) both provided so many lessons to young me and even now are a source of comfort. Also The Princess and the Pauper has one of the best barbie movie songs, the best villian songs and i have each and every song from this movie memorised.

6. Geet from Jab We Met

She's such a comfort character now, and honestly it's hard for me to explain why i love geet so much in anything less than what is an essay lmao.

Jab We Met is honestly one of bollywood's best rom coms ever. Such a feel good story, a banger soundtrack album and the absolute sparkling chemistry between Shahid and Kareena.

She's such a bright, bubbly, vivacious character, full of life and enthusiasm you can help but be charmed by her and her iconic line "Main apni favourite hun (I am my own favourite)" is such a lovely self love line. Even when things in her life didn't work out the way she wanted it to, she soldiered on, and made the best of her situation. Her romance with aditya is so nice and so balanced man i absolutely love jab we met.

If you haven't watched Jab We Met, this is a sign that you should!! I THINK it's one of those movies even those who don't watch bollywood will enjoy.

7. Kaori Makimura from City Hunter manga and anime

She's also another comfort character whom i relate to and looking back, was also one of my first female crushes in any media lol.

She's so unapologetic to be herself, is sometimes insecure about stuff, some of which that i highly relate to, as a woman who was never into the overtly cutesy femme get up ever since i was a kid. She also grows so much as the series progresses and her partnership with Ryo is so complex and yet so simple at the same time. I love how she appreciates Ryo, the very flawed man he is, knowing he's deeply flawed but loving him anyways. And actually it's manga english translation took SO FUCKING LONG to finish istg it was a slow burn from hell. And even though the romance wasn't shown as much, the love and respect Ryo and Kaori had for each other is one of my favourite things in media.

8. Elle Woods from Legally Blonde

She's such a beautiful character who shows that it's fine to be your feminine self even if the environment around you doesn't like that. Legally Blonde is one of my comfort movies and Elle Woods is absolutely the major reason for it.

She's confident in herself and her feminity, a go getter, really intelligent and also still being kind and empathetic towards others. I really think if I'd seen this movie (and the show suits) when i was younger, there was a high chance i would've been a lawyer instead of a doctor that i am right now lmao. She's such an inspiration.

"What? like it's hard?" Absolutely banger line. This is poetic cinema at its peak.

9. Aria Roscente from The Villianess Turns the Hourglass

One of my favourites in the villianess isekai genre of manhwa. A trailblazer, an icon, an absolute legend and a trendsetter.

Aria is such a strong woman. She's also highly intelligent, but also willing to work hard for her goals. While the plot may seem contrived to give her all the things going right, she also never fails to take advantage of all the opportunities that she sees and i love her for it. (The actual villian in this manhwa is such an icon, many wish to be mielle, but you truly can't be mielle)

Aria is my favourite even if she also does a lot of gaslight, gatekeep, girlboss and she will do it in STYLE and pizazz.

10. Hashimoto from Kieta Hatsukoi

She's the best girl, and honestly she's one of the best parts of Kieta Hatsukoi . She so sweet and encouraging of aoki and she's so cute, absolutely love her.

Honorable mentions:

- Tara Elias/Yeonwoo from I'll Save this Damned Family (manhwa)

- Florentia Lombardi from I Shall Master this Family (manhwa)

- Ink from Bad Buddy (thai series)

- Kate Beckett from Castle (series)

- Fujisaki from Cherry Magic (manga and japanese Live action)

- Kim Yu-Na Semantic Error (more in the korean live action adaptation, but also in the manhwa)

- Miranda Priestly from The Devil Wears Prada (movie)

- Donna Sheridan from Mamma Mia 2008 (movie, acted by Meryl Streep)

- Cersei Lannister from Game of Thrones/A Song of Ice and Fire series

- Daenyrys Targaryen from Game of Thrones/A Song of Ice and Fire series

- Anne Elliot from Persuasion by Jane Austen

[pure-jeff-ward]

Ok, I have questions to make. I have been reading a few questions here by some anonymous lately, I would like your truest opinion. Why is it soo bad what other people posts in their IG account related to Jeff , is it some kind of a crime what they're doing there ? Have they done something bad, by tagging him in their posts, just because they feel inspired by editingtheir photos and mentioning him ? I'm just curious, I mean, it's something different to see, not everything the same as most people do, it gets kinda repetive. I don't know, but I think people should respect of what they do. Because for now, those people haven't disrespected Jeff nothing at all. If it would, he would have opened his mouth and said it to them, don't you think? And i believe the reason why Jeff has only selected posts in his tagging side, think... maybe it's because he get tons of tags about him and he just pick what he likes, that's it. Just giving my 2 cents here. Thank you, and you do have a wonderful blog, congrats. 😉

hi there anon, first of all I want to say thank you for your side of things related to this discussion we've been having about Jeff's instagram page and his tagged posts and the fan pages dedicated to him too. I've always been of the mindset that everyone should have a chance to voice their thoughts and feel safe enough to share their opinions over here; and I hope whoever chooses to reply to this post will be respectful of your ideas, because I do see your point in all of this.

And I do agree, nothing has been inappropriate or in any shape of form disrespectful either - trust me, I may not have gone to look myself, but I have heard of a loooot more.... *ahem* let's say... problematic things from different fandoms that happen on IG in regards to celebs getting tagged in certain pictures and posts, which definitely is not what's happening here at all! I don't believe that expressing one's creativity and sharing it with others and even tagging Jeff is a crime, we all have the freedom to make art and put it out in the world, photo-edits and otherwise, when they're mindful of his life and pictures that he shares with us. In fact, I do think that there's a wonderful sense of community that he could very well know about which shows him that he has so many fans who love him and adore him and celebrate his works - fandom is very important to actors and actresses and all other artists so everything you say lines up.

If anything, the "issue" - forgive me for wording it that way, it's the first thing I thought of - is seemingly with tagging Ashley in posts when her account has been made private; again, every person here has their own interpretation of whether it's good or bad, right or wrong, uncomfortable or not. Her profile used to be open to everyone and now that it's not, perhaps she did so in order to reclaim a sense of privacy; she isn't part of the celebrity world, she's the family member of someone who is and I would think in that sense, there could be no harm in tagging her when the posts are respectful and appropriate, but... I can understand why someone else would think the opposite.

In the end, I would say that my personal opinion is that the line between celebs and fans has been known to blur on occasion, not specifically with Jeff Ward mind you, this is a more generalized observation of fandom culture I've witnessed over the last decade or so - there's two sides to everything, we've got the fans who simply just want to meet their favorites at a convention, speak to them and tell them how their lives have been changed because of their impact through their work, get a photograph and/or autograph and share something that they've made. Or even just tag them on IG if they can't reach a physical appearance, because social media has made that connection possible.

On the other side though, there has been and will always be fans who sit behind a computer screen and sometimes a grey icon (not targeting anyone again, anonymous is an option on my blog to let you all have your privacy, so please don't misunderstand that I mean you or any of my anons here, I love getting asks, even if I don't know who they're from, it's actually fun to imagine and hope there's a dozen or more of you out there who talk to me!) and sometimes even off anon, they spout hateful comments and make remarks about people's looks and fashion style and whatnot.

So... as long as we're mindful of the boundaries between celebrities, their families, their friends and us fans, keep everything clean and respectable and appropriate and healthy then... I think we're good :)

I do appreciate hearing from you dear anon! I hope I covered everything you had questions about and if not, feel free to send a follow-up or ask me something else! apologies for this getting a bit long :p I am all for positive discussions and debates with everyone who follows me because it goes to show that we all care about Jeff in our own way and that's what unites us, differences and similarities alike!

[beardedmrbean]

WASHINGTON (AP) — IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel has a message for high-wealth tax cheats who are wrongly deducting private jet travel and otherwise shorting the government on their taxes: Pay your fair share so “others aren’t shouldering the burden of funding our government."

He also has a thought for ordinary taxpayers putting off the inevitable with less than a month left in tax-filing season: “Get it done.” (And double-check your work.)

Werfel, who will hit the one-year mark at the helm of the IRS in April, said in a wide-ranging interview with The Associated Press that the agency will expand its pursuit of high-wealth tax dodgers with new initiatives in the coming months and is using tools like artificial intelligence to ferret out abuses and taking the fight to sophisticated scammers.

That doesn’t mean the IRS has undergone a complete image makeover. There’s still plenty of criticism to go around, including from Republican lawmakers who accuse the agency of heavy-handed overreach.

“We’re kind of like the NFL referee — when we get the call right or wrong, we get booed, and we’re OK with that,” Werfel said.

But efforts to crack down on high-wealth tax cheats are starting to bite, he says, and that should mean more money coming in to fund the government.

“It's having an impact,” Werfel said. Large corporate filers and others are “taking notice that the IRS is ramping up our scrutiny, and I think that will inevitably result in more compliance" — and revenue.

Werfel is promising taxpayers better service this year as he works to repair the agency's image as an outdated and maligned tax collector. But it's a tall order for a federal agency that even he has referred to as “iconically unpopular” with the American public.

“We have some myth-busting to do,” Werfel said, referring to alarmist and inaccurate Republican claims that the agency plans to hire 87,000 armed agents ready to harass middle-income earners.

”We are not," he said. “We are hiring phone assisters armed only with phone headsets. We’re hiring accountants armed only with calculators.”

Werfel took over an agency that was understaffed and drowning in unprocessed tax returns after decades of underfunding.

Shortly before he arrived, the IRS received an $80 billion infusion under the Democrats' Inflation Reduction Act passed in 2022. But Republicans have been chipping away at that money.

Last year’s debt ceiling and budget cuts deal between Republicans and the White House resulted in $1.4 billion rescinded from the agency and a separate agreement to take $20 billion from the IRS over the next two years and divert those funds to other programs. And this past January, a debt ceiling deal meant to avoid a government shutdown frontloaded the full $20 billion cut to this year.

Werfel has been in a race against time to show how improvements to the agency can benefit taxpayers. He said agency priorities include customer service improvements like answering the phones faster and making sure the rich “pay their fair share."

The agency also is piloting a program for people to file their taxes directly to the agency without the help — or cost — of private commercial software.

Werfel said more than 50,000 people in 12 states have started using the new Direct File system to complete their taxes. The free online tool is available for people with very simple W-2s and who claim a standard deduction for their federal income taxes.

The Direct File rollout has drawn some consternation from commercial software firms like Intuit, as well as Republicans who argue there are free filing programs that already exist.

But so far, Werfel says, “people are telling us that they found it to be quick and easy, and everyone certainly loves that it’s free. And their No. 1 question is: Are we going to have this again next year?"

Werfel sounds optimistic, but he's not ready to give an answer yet on the program's future.

Overall, Werfel says, the agency has added “more tools to IRS.gov in the last two years than in the previous 20” to make tax-filing easier. Wait times for answering phone calls are at two minutes or less.

Werfel sat for an interview in an auditorium at the IRS headquarters in Washington, where he said sustained funding is critical to make up for past shortcomings. He said IRS workers are "passionate about helping taxpayers. And when we don’t have the funding to provide them the tools or the training, they’re upset because they can’t do enough to help the taxpayers.”

Major new initiatives in recent months have included an aggressive pursuit of high-wealth earners who don't pay their full tax obligations, such as people who improperly deduct personal flights on corporate jets and those who just don't file at all.

The private jets, in particular, are a place where “many corporations are sloppy with their bookkeeping,” he said. Werfel said the agency's crackdown there "sets the tone for the American people” that everyone has to pay what's due.

Werfel said the agency also has put new focus on "being accessible, answering the phones, keeping our walking centers open and updating our website so that people can do things more with the IRS without ever leaving their smartphone or their tablet."

Even so, he allows, the agency still isn’t technologically where it needs to be.

There is still an operating pay phone located in the hallway at the IRS building.

[obeymematches]

🛒📺🌧 Thank you for doing these, For Simeon and Mammon. (I know we have a canon for getting caught in the rain with Simeon, but need more of that fluff~)

hiii, sure!! thank you for sending in a request <333

yes, don't we all love soaking in the rain sometimes...

emoji asks [clearing my inbox, not taking these anymore]

Mammon:

🛒 - Doing groceries with him

The way there & back is filled with casual conversation, nothing too deep but at least you have fun. On the way if he sees another store has something on sale he'll insist you check it out because you get 3 items for the price of 2 which is honestly the deal of the century

Needless to say you will end up forgetting some grocery store items you needed even though he has a list on his phone

If he can't find something he just doesn't get it and that's all, you can always say the store was out of sugar, I mean doesn't it happen sometimes-

Unless he must find it otherwise he'll be damned, or needs it for himself / you, maybe a new flavor of energy drink dropped or something. In that case he'll insist you visit several other stores until you find the one

📺 - Movie night with him

He is always ready with nachos or popcorn or whatever you like the most tbh

Can and will ditch work if it collides with your usual movie night (unless he really really needs the money)

He likes fantasy like HP so you'll have to watch a marathon sometimes, but in general he is OK with other genres as well besides. Horror. which he obviously watches if you insist... from behind his palms

Doesn't pause the movie if he has something to say about it & he has lots of comments.

Cuddles you if you want that, especially if it's a romantic movie or there is a romantic scene. Otherwise he still sits close to you, like maybe not next to you though because he wouldn't want to be too obvious if you are not dating... like you sit on the couch & he sits on the floor near you. i mean he has more place for his many snacks there

🌧️ - Getting caught in the rain with you

Not too happy about it but what can you do, really. though it does feel like you two are in a movie, so what do they do during these scenes?

Maybe you find yourself in this situation because his plan worked, don't tell me it's not on purpose

oh yeah right they kiss, probably

When you kiss you can feel his lips are getting so cold, you start too worry about him

If you start playing you might fall into a puddle & just take in the moment. How stupid this is rlly but you are so in love also

He lets you under his jacket if you didn't bring your own & then you run

At home he wants to shower with you & it's up to you if you reject him or not.

You watch a movie as you warm up after your adventure. He isn't really concerned about the health of any of you, not until you start sneezing-

Simeon:

🛒 - Doing groceries with him

He is very conscientious when it comes to shopping. Doesn't want to spend more than he needs to.

I think he always gets the items which are on sale to save money. Like if you have 5 different brands of milk he gets the cheapest on the market

Gets so many veggies and fruits, you spend most of your time there & speedrun the rest of the trip.

He knows exactly where everything is though so just follow him

If it's a hypermarket he gets so lost though so in that case do the opposite sdfg

📺 - Movie night with him

Movie nights are chill with Simeon; he is open to almost any genre, though he does not appreciate if there is an adult scene included-

I think movies with a message can really get to him but he also likes the classic ones which remain iconic through the decades

If he has something to say he pauses the movie like a good buddy should

Doesn't like popcorn or any of the other junk food options. Why do u think u spent soooo much time at the veggie & fruit aisles of the store just now-

Generally he enjoys getting to spend time with you & gaining new experiences & forming the way you think together. Might or might not make references of the movies you watched together

🌧️ - Getting caught in the rain with you

As we know, it is more likely to happen than you think - he is not prepared with a spare umbrella (which is reasonable), in fact he might have forgotten to bring any

He doesn't like to rush home but if the rain is cold you might as well do that as he is highkey concerned you might get sick

If it's a rather warm rain & it isn't pouring you can just take it slow & kiss on the way home

Though he still makes sure you are properly warmed up afterwards. Insist on you having a shower, a hot drink, and a big blanket fit for two.

[shepard-ram]

Anonymous asked

To celebrate this month's pride and to be mild vengeance he's one of my favourite au's from the discord the yandere mcc au hope you enjoy the friend trio oc's.

You had no idea how your dear avian friend Alfie had won the sweepstake and gain those tickets to the mcc charity masquerade but hey standing here now with your friends in very fancy looking clothing and masks (thanks to Xanders want to show up all the rich attendants with the clothes he had made,you had never seen such determination in his eight eyes) having the time of your lives. You were only going to see these people once after all you could have some fun at their expense right, at least that was your thought as The Badboyhalo who was taller than even Erma (which was impressive considering she was an enderian) stammered out an excuse as he left blush covering the entirety of his face, you could hear your friends chuckle as they watched you lay the charm down thick sending each and everyone who was coming your way running back to their little rich people group stammering and blushing, ok only stammering in the case of Dream since he had a mask that covering entirety of his face like on all his public appearances.

Wilbur was having the time of his life at this party, he had thought it would be yet another boring charity event where he, his friends and family showed up looked nice for the cameras and donated a little to the cause of the day like every other even he's gone to these last few years but no some unknown human was providing no end of entertainment,how had he not met you sooner surely he must have met the charming socialite at some other event but he couldn't have after all he would have remembered a group consisting of a human, arachnid, avian and a enderian a group like that is not something you see every day was this the first event your group had gone to? You guys were certainly bold using the noxcrews masquerade as your debutante but a glance at Noxites amused grin showed that your boldness was paying off.

As Dream rejoined them his mind was drawn back to the game they had started against you, after Bad had returned face red and lovesick expression on his face they had decided to see if anyone would be immune to the humans charm or if anyone can make the human flustered but no one had succeeded and now even Dream had lost like everyone else, the stammer in his voice and constant glances back in their direction showing that he had fallen as well. The last chance they had against the human with the silver tongue was Techno surely the seven foot tall piglin hybrid wearing a literal boar skull as his mask would be their limit or he would remain as unflappable as always and resist the humans charm it took some convincing on his part but soon his brother was making his way towards them, unfortunately it had all been for naught as the human just cranes their neck to look techno in the eyes before long his brother came back face crimson and with a smile that threatened to split his face into. Rather than feel disappointed that they had lost he just felt even more amused when it was made rather apparent that the human would have more than a few admirers visiting them once they figured out who they were himself and his brother included, the masquerade was almost over all that was left was the raffle.

You had completed forgotten about the raffle so caught up in your little game, you didn't need to enter since entry was automatic for guests such as your group these prizes though were absolutely exorbitant even the "disappointing" prizes were worth more than your shared apartment and the price of rent for at least a decade. None of your group won any of the prizes which was ok Alfie probably used all of your groups luck just winning the tickets. You just waiting for the winner of the mcc team prize to be announced then you would all go home to your shared apartment and sleep in the nest that Alfie and Xander made for you all, you were brought out of your sleepy train of thought when you heard Noxites voice declaring that a the winner was the human next to the arachnid, avian and enderian...WHAT!? How had you gotten the only prize that couldn't be sold, oh prime you were going to see these people again, you didn't even need to look you could just feel their eyes drilling into you. This was very very bad, you made sure that your group left as soon as possible running as soon as you guys were out of sight of any potential masquerade goers. Once you guys were back in your shared tiny one bedroom apartment, you later it out flat that you guys were going to have to keep up the rich person act otherwise things could go south rather than the expected reaction of dread like you were feeling, Xander simply went over to his little crafts closet and declared that he vowed to bring the noxcrews costume designers to shame, Erma rushed off saying she was going to find the perfect codenames for you all since this would be a covert operation leaving only Alfie to wrap a wing around you and try and comfort you saying that at least you had left a good impression with them all right? It was official you were the only person in his apartment with even a little bit of common sense. Deciding to calm yourself down by reading your news feed didn't help as you saw news articles with quotes from the other mcc participants stating that the "golden geese" would come dead last and to not expect anything from the rag-tag group besides a bunch of unprepared socialites that would likely forfeit because it would be to hard for them. You could just feel the dread give way to pure rage at the idea of people laughing at your friends, oh you would make sure your all prepared, more than prepared you would be more than willing to knock them down a ladder or two as they say "pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall".

We haven't even gotten into the yandere yet this is just the prologue. Not going to lie got the names for the of friends from a random name generator they have existed for a while but I never gave them names but the names they have now fit them I think. Lastly as light said yes you were absolutely correct but you didn't have to out our little trio.

Ender-anon

----------------

WOOO One of the most iconic sagas from the discord has arrived for all to see! I love the origins trio so much and I hope y'all enjoy this because trust me- Ender has alot more to share

[365days365movies]

March 8, 2021: The Thief of Bagdad (Review)

FREE!!! FREE!!! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAA!

Y’know, I forgot to mention my soft spot for genies at the head of this review, but I may as well do that now. Alongside Aladdin and that one Christina Aguilera song that was EVERYWHERE at some point in my childhood, my mom stepped in once again with one of her favorite childhood shows, the theme song of which is running through my head before I even type its name.

Like Bewitched, the 1960s sitcom I Dream of Jeannie was a massive hit at the time, and is still a remnant of the classic era of sitcoms, during that weird time period in the ‘60s when magic and the supernatural found its way into television. For the record, I’ll really have to bring up The Addams Family one of these days, because that was ANOTHER one.

Anyway, this movie definitely gave an interesting version of your classic genie, because OH BOY, I really like Rex Ingram’s take as a more violent and genuinely kind of evil Djinn, which is fitting with a lot of myths and legends about Djinn. They’re monkey’s-paw-mischievous, and they’re not to be trifled with.

Also, I meant what I said about wanting a One Thousand and One Nights cinematic universe, because that would be SIIIIIIICK. I mean that, it’d be awesome, and I’m here for it. Apparently, Harryhausen made a Sinbad movie, so it’s not unheard of! Just saying, it should happen.

But enough of all that! What did I think of this movie as a whole? Well, if you’d like to check out the Recap first, it’s here and here. Be my guest! As for the Review, keep reading!

Review

Cast and Acting: 8/10

Honestly, outside of the stereotypical over-acting of the decade, I actually have no issues with the acting! Sabu is great, Rex Ingram is a lot of fuckin’ fun, John Justin and June Duprez weren’t bad, and Conrad Veidt was actually quite the interesting villain! So, why isn’t this a 10/10? Well...it’s for an ENTIRELY UNFAIR REASON, giving the time period, but...yeah, it’s real weird to have nearly all of these by white actors. I KNOW, I KNOW, it literally couldn’t be helped, but...guuuuuh, it was SO distracting for the entire film, and I couldn’t get over it at any point. Extremely unfair, I know. And I know that Sabu was actually Indian, which is considerably too far east, but...I mean, at least they made an attempt. Same for Rex, who was African-American. And, uh...yeah...he did technically play a slave...so, there’s that. BUT THAT’S MOSTLY BESIDE THE POINT. I won’t demonize this movie for being a product of its times; I think that’s a problem that we have with media.

...Although, to be honest, I do genuinely hate Gone with the Wind, so I might be playing the role of the hypocrite there.

Plot and Writing: 9/10

Eh, maybe the temple stuff was filler, but it was still neat. And otherwise, I think the plot was pretty tight, to be honest. Same goes for the writing, even though it’s a bit corny sometimes. But, hey, it’s the time period when the film was made, and I don’t decry The Wizard of Oz for that, so I’ll extend the same courtesy to this one. The writers are Lajos Bíró and Miles Malleson, the latter of whom played the Sultan who loved toys! Neat! 

Directing and Cinematography: 10/10

Lot of close shots in this one, which is a hallmark of the Golden Age of Hollywood and cinema. The direction here was primarily done by three guys:  Michael Powell, Ludwig Berger and Tim Whelan. And while Berger and Whelan made a good number of films in their career, Powell would become the most prolific, making Black Narcissus, The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, and  Peeping Tom, to name a few of his more well-known films. Anyway, the direction in this film is...I mean, it’s genuinely great. Seriously, it’s actually pretty brilliant sometimes.

Production and Art Design: 9/10

And goddamn, SPEAKING of brilliant, this production design is TOP GODDAMN NOTCH. It’s honestly, a gorgeous film, from the color to the sets, from the costumes to that one automaton that I ended up putting as the GIF up above, this is some iconic design. The only reason it isn’t a 10 is because some of the costume and makeup design was mildly inconsistent, SPECIFICALLY in terms of the Djinn. Yeah, I couldn’t tell if he was or wasn’t supposed to be blue, and his makeup wasn’t fantastic. Also, there’s a point when Abu’s hanging on to a COMPLETELY fake ear, but...eh, that’s fine. Anyway, I do really love this movie’s style. Also, GODDAMN, the effects! But I’ll save that for...

Music and Editing: 9/10

YEAAAAAAAAAAH BABY! For 1940, the effects in this film are absolutely FANTASTIC. Like, look at that, man! Not gonna lie, I’m not entirely sure how they even DID that shot, and it’s been EIGHTY-ONE YEARS!!! I really like the effects of this movie. Editing by Charles Crichton is also pretty great, although there’s some weird choices made here and there (the first meeting of Ahmad and the Princess comes to mind). As for the music, Miklós Rózsa fills the soundtrack with what may be stereotypical Middle-Eastern music, but still iconic. You can directly hear the inspiration for Aladdin’s soundtrack all throughout this film (which is mildly distracting, not gonna lie).

90%. Hell yeah, it’s a classic.

This was great! A movie that I’ll recommend to people who like Aladdin, and are looking for more of the same type of story. This one really was a diamond in the rough.

...That was a RIDICULOUSLY corny line, my sincere apologies, goddamn.

OK, so, anyway, what’s next? The Thief of Bagdad was a British movie, so let’s stay in Europe for a bit. How about, I dunno...France?

March  9, 2021: Orpheus (1950)

[radramblog]

5 RNG’d Songs

After being burned out yesterday I spent a lot of today relaxing and doing shit for myself because yknow its Sunday and all that and now it’s 10:55 PM 11:05 PM and I haven’t written shit so time to do that.

I’m gonna hit shuffle on my spotify Liked Songs 5 times and discuss what comes up. Linkin Park Pt.2 tomorrow.

(Remember when this was just a music blog? Good times.)

1. Robot Rock- Daft Punk (Human After All)

…fuck, I keep forgetting to take this off the list. Ok, this one’s a freebie, I’m not counting it for shit. I like Daft Punk a fair bit, and French house music in general if I’m honest, but Robot Rock is a repetitive mess that goes for 2 minutes longer than is justifiable. Its just the same line, over and over again, and it gets really obnoxious eventually. Human After All is far from their best work.

1.(again) Prequel to the Sequel- Between the Buried and Me (Colors)

Oh now we’re talking. Colors is an album that I spent a while hunting for on CD, being one of those really fun ones where everything blends together like one big song, such that on a first listen you aren’t going to be able to tell where the tracks begin and end (PttS’s ending is more obvious than most, but I digress). Prequel to the Sequel is the 6th of the 8 tracks on the album, clocking in at 8:37 making it the 4th longest song on the album. Prog Metal be like that.

Most of the track is the fun proggy metal stuff I love from albums like these, developing new lines and having moments that come out of nowhere but are extremely satisfying- those piano notes at ~4:50 are so fucking good. Shortly following this is one of the points on Colors where everything cuts back and we’re suddenly listening to a different genre- one of the previous tracks has a deadass hoedown breakdown and in Prequel’s case it’s a little polka-y accordian bit. Moments like this add levity and a breather from the otherwise intense onslaught of riffs and percussion the album gives, and are easy to appreciate as a result. Prequel follows it with what is in my opinion the best section of the album, where everything suddenly builds back up again as the vocals hit their most desperate note, crashing down into the most intense part of the song so far. It’s a really great time, and I think on its back Prequel manages to snatch the title of favourite song on the album for me from the former head, White Walls, the album’s closer.

2.       Powerless- Linkin Park (Living Things)

fuck off ill get to you soon enough

2. (again) Land of Confusion- Disturbed (Ten Thousand Fists)

Eh. It’s been a long time since I listened to this, actually, having entered my list as I went through some metal bands I’d heard of when I was a wee babo trying to find workout music. It took embarrassingly long for me to find out it was a cover, with the Genesis version being probably better. Genesis is just a better band than Disturbed, and I would be hard-pressed to call myself a fan of either.

Out of curiosity, I checked the top listened to songs on Spotify for Disturbed, and this doesn’t even make the top 5, which I didn’t expect to be honest. Also, how the hell is their Sound of Silence cover ahead of Down with the Sickness? One is their iconic song, one is an overdone piece of shit. Ah well, Stricken is better anyway.

(also the music video is the least subtle thing I have ever seen)

3. Serious- Stuck in the Sound (Billy Believe)

I mean, I’ve been looking for an excuse to talk about these guys, I guess. Stuck in the Sound is a French rock band (that sings in English) somewhat known for their really cool music videos- while Serious is mostly silly, the animated videos for Let’s Go and Alright are excellent, and Badroom’s is fucking hilarious.

Serious is probably my favourite song from the band’s 2019 album, Billy Believe, and is a loose, fun song with a friendly vibe. It’s a great example of the somewhat odd accent of the vocalist- I don’t know what part of France he’s from to be honest, but its not a bad thing- and while I’d argue it isn’t representative of the band as a whole it’s still a pretty great track. Despite it’s name, it is not very serious.

 4. Skyscraper- Touché Amore (Stage Four)

Well, I was thinking about doing a full runthrough of this album at some point, but sure, skip to the end why don’t we. Stage Four is an excellent, heartwrenching album about the band’s singer coming to terms with his mother’s death from cancer, told largely through a lot of brutal screamo vocals that aren’t probably as harsh as that sounds- it’s more frustrated than angry, you know. Skyscraper is the closer to the album, representing the passage away from the fourth stage (geddit) of grief and onto the final stage, acceptance. The screaming is replaced by almost spoken word verses, and a simple chorus sung by not the same bloke as the rest of it- save for an almost ethereal repetition of the lyrics at the song’s climax. The line (you lived there, under the lights) is such a simple thing, but its one of those wistful memories you get when dealing with loss, and the way that can make you feel is conveyed by the weight of these lyrics. I’ve been fortunate enough to have not had to deal with losing a direct family member like this yet, so I can’t possibly know what it’s like, but this song represents the point in that process that you hope to get to eventually.

One of the previous songs on the album (I think New Halloween?) ends with a line referring to a final voice message left from the singer’s late mother that he hasn’t had the courage to listen to. Fittingly, Skyscraper ends with this voicemail playing. It’s such a mundane little message, but it makes for a really meaningful little moment.

 5. Black Fingernails, Red Wine- Eskimo Joe (Black Fingernails, Red Wine)

Shoutout to that one time a mate of mine was like “Hey what’s that song called where the lyrics go black fingernails red wine?”. To be fair, I didn’t know the song at the time.

Eskimo Joe is one of the more popular bands out of Perth, so I’ve gotta give them some home team love, though they’ve been less prolific in the last decade as they were back in the 00s. BFRW, their 2006 album, is pretty clearly their most popular, and I’d argue the title track is the best song on the album. It’s this oddly melancholy little alt rock tune backed by some lovely percussion and piano lines. Unfortunately for this ramble its one of those tunes where I don’t have an awful lot to say about it, I just like it. Oops. Randomness has its drawbacks. I went to go watch the music video for the first time to have something else to talk about but it’s like, kinda boring? I like how it just cuts out at the end though.

[jobethdalloway]

ok so

the older I get the more I come to really hate New Year’s Eve/Day because the extensive introspective how-far-have-you-come in the year/decade is really not good for my anxiety BUT

I did want to say, wow, my life has changed a lot this decade! Tumblr can be a very messy place and it’s not all perfect, but I’m grateful for the little fandom community I found that helped me through some truly troubling/confusing times. 

In 2010, I thought you could just be gay/straight. So I thought I must be straight, in part because I still felt attraction to some men and because I thought that was what I Was Supposed To Be So How Could I Be Anything Else? This decade I learned the “you can be gay or straight only and guess which one is acceptable?” mentality was, for lack of a better word, flawed.  I learned to find myself in the middle. I found labels and groups and communities (offline, not just here) to find myself in. But a lot of you from the Rizzles days really helped me sound things out and talked me through so many questions and self-discoveries. Some people anonymously pestered and questioned me, which was not helpful. Some people developed friendships and answered my stupid questions and helped me figure myself out. You shared your gifts of drawing, writing, giffing, editing, and vulnerability. You were kind enough to read some of my rambles, fics or otherwise. 

Thank you for giving me a place to grow and ask hard questions about myself/ the world around me. I know so many of you by only your url’s and icons, but you’ve helped change my life all the same. Thank you!

[tisthenightofthewitch]

Ghost frontman Tobias Forge on the band’s 5th album, songwriting and what’s to come

In less than a decade, enigmatic rock band Ghost has earned a Grammy, released four albums, two EPs, a live album and its latest double-single, Seven Inches of Satanic Panic, but it has built and continuously expanded upon a deep backstory about the band members themselves — the “Nameless Ghouls.”

Each album cycle welcomes a brand new ringleader/singer, each portrayed by frontman Tobias Forge, who is the founder and sole songwriter of the band. The mythos of Ghost is now massively popular among many of its diehard fans.

Now that the Swedish group has wrapped the final North American leg of its highly extensive Ultimate Tour Named Death tour, they’re gearing up to put out their fifth album — a “heavy” one that Forge promises will be “seminal” in Ghost’s timeline.

So does that mean fans should expect to see a new frontman in the near future? Very likely, but not for a little while. For now, Forge, 38, still portrays Cardinal Copia, a charismatic and theatrical character who adds a tinge of humour to Ghost’s explosive two-hour set.

The Cardinal claimed the throne after the “death” of Forge’s Papa Emeritus III character in 2018. He was the first to break the tradition of Pope singers in the Ghost timeline, and it seems his run will soon come to an end. Or will it? We don’t actually know.

What we do know is that next March, the “Final Gig Named Death” is set to take place in Mexico City. It will wrap the heavy promotional cycle for the band’s latest album, Prequelle (2018) — which kicked off in 2018 with the Pale Tour Named Death.

Prequelle launched the Swedes into mainstream success with its first single, Rats, which spent seven weeks on top of the rock charts. The album also included the unexpected disco-inspired smash-hit, Dance Macabre

Ahead of the band’s show in Hamilton, Ont., on Oct. 17, Forge/Cardinal Copia spoke with Global News about Ghost’s newest singles, their live spectacle, progress on the upcoming fifth album, and why he doesn’t like to record with heavy metal producers.

Global News: You’ve outdone yourself on the Ultimate Tour Named Death with not only the beautiful stage setup, but the extensive setlist and detailed choreography. It’s very humorous too, yet you still want more. Is it even possible for you to top the current show?

Tobias Forge: I’m certain, yeah. [Laughs] But it’s hard to say that without sounding like I’m soiling the one that we’re currently doing. [Laughs] I am fairly certain that a lot of the things that I have in mind right now, I will be orchestrating about a year from now. It will definitely be a vast and advanced version of what we’re already doing. You have to remember that the even though the show we’re doing right now is our most accomplished one so far, it started with us playing in theatres, and now we’re playing arenas… so the stage setup is still in its Frankenstein phase, meaning that we’re still working with the smaller production we had from first year of this tour. Right now, it’s like we’re repairing an old house, whereas next time we can start something fresh.

Similar to the production jump that Iron Maiden took from the World Piece Tour to the World Slavery Tour in the ’80s then? [Earlier on, Forge reminisced on touring with the band, which he called one of his “old heroes.”]

TF: That would be a very good analogy for it actually. [Laughs] I compare it a lot to what bands like Iron Maiden and Metallica have done and continue to do. They’ve always done it right, and so will we. Next time we can start from scratch with a production that is purpose-built for our album and tour, whereas this is more of a mixture between the stuff that we did on the last album cycle, too. It’s just extended, right? We’ll build the set from the ground-up.

Did you always know that Ghost would become such a theatrical band?

TF: I definitely always had a picture of there being a stage show, but 10 years ago, I had no idea it was going to be as [vivid] as it is now.

Are we going to be introduced to Ghost’s new frontman at what you’re calling the “Final Gig Named Death” next March? Will we meet Papa Emeritus IV? Or is it possible that Cardinal Copia might live on?

TF: Well, it’s the last show of this touring cycle, so something will definitely happen. I just can’t tell you anything about it. [Laughs] But this tour has been really incredible, it’s just time for us to do something new. As much as I love being here in Canada, I think we picked a great time (and place) to end this tour. I genuinely love being on the road. I love playing the show, and ultimately, I’m feeling very good about the band this year — who are so extremely fluid.

Overall, everything is working out really well for us, but now it’s like ‘OK, so the restaurant is just running now?’ [Laughs] You start thinking about the next one. It’s just not enough. You go, “I feel like I’ve pretty much done my thing here…” Except of course for coming in and making the infamous carbonara every night; going through the old ancient recipe, you know? [Laughs] My mind is always thinking forward though, and I’m already thinking about the next time we’re coming back here.

You actually paid homage to one of Canada’s greatest songwriters recently, Leonard Cohen. What prompted your decision to cover something as iconic as Avalanche for your latest album, Prequelle?

TF: I think it was the one song that right off the bat just felt most Ghost-like.  It would feel weird to cover Take This Waltz or something like that. It just doesn’t fit our script. It isn’t actually my favourite Leonard Cohen song. Intuitively, I’d probably choose one of his prettier songs, but Avalanche felt very Ghost-like.

What about the future of Ghost? With such a busy schedule have you even had time to think about a plan of attack for the fifth album?

TF: Oh, I think about that a lot. Currently, we’re in the planning stages of it all, which means that I’m hamstering all my material as we figure out scheduling and who’s actually going to be producing it. I’m working very hard on it right now, and as much as I often contest ideas by thinking about what I should and shouldn’t do, I know it’s easier to define that just by looking at your previous experiences.

So for example, our last four records. Having said all of that, overall, I have a fairly good idea of where I’m going with this one. I want to create a record that lives up to my lifelong dream of being able to kick-off a touring cycle in arenas, so by that logic, this album needs to be by a band that starts touring cycles in arenas. You know? You just can’t f**k around with that. You really need to be on your absolute top game.

Is Seven Inches of Satanic Panic a taste of what’s to come for this album?

TF: It’s not a taste of the new record, no. Those songs are like a side note of Ghost — still fitting in the universe, I think — but they’re definitely not close to what I have in mind. [Laughs] The new record will be more in line with the previous four, in the sense that it will feel like part of the whole story. Whereas that of the singles and cover EPs, which are a little bit more tongue-in-cheek. [Laughs] There’s a dichotomy between a lot of the things that we do though, like for example, the records and the live show.The records are like the script, or Bible, they’re not meant to feel humouristic. Whereas in our live show, we present the ideas in a humorous way. Not in a sense where we are mocking our bible or story, but in the same way that a church might go through rituals with children. Where people are giggling a little because they think it’s silly. “A-ha.” Everybody knows it’s a little stupid, but for some reason, it feels purposeful, because your kid is being baptized or whatever. [Laughs] So that’s that’s what I’m shooting for. I don’t want the records to be too fun or silly, I want them to convey a message and have a clear meaning.

Your lyrics contain such unique concepts and qualities too. Do you write Ghost’s albums all by yourself? After all, this band is your project.

TF: Usually. But what I’ve learned and cultivated a liking to do in the last few years, is collaborating with outsiders. I’ve always been accused of — especially in my own bands — not being able to work well in a team. People have said I’m just overall bad at teamwork, and that was the fact for a long time. But when I made Meliora, I did so together with a producer named Klas Åhlund — who is both a producer and a songwriter. And that’s when it dawned on me that I can work really well with people, but I need to choose who I work with. It’s like … I like kissing people, but I just want to choose who I kiss. [Laughs]I’ve been in bands where there’s always someone, or some people, who just f**king crowbar themselves into the process, and that does not work for me at all. That’s unfortunately when I become like a dictator. Whereas if I choose to work with someone, I’m actually quite flexible. Like working with any professional songwriter, you need to establish a little bit of a vibe together. [Laughs] We need to be aiming for a very similar thing. That person needs to have some sort of … hard-on for rock music, or for what we do in Ghost, otherwise, it might be hard if it’s someone who works against that.

Do you find that collaborating helps with the songwriting, then?

TF: Oh yes. You can make incredible progress in your songwriting that way, because all of a sudden you have this person who’s not at all locked into the traps of being in your band; someone who is not the bass player that suddenly wants a bass solo or the drummer who wants to make the album very drummy. If I find those collaborators, it’s like a catalyst for me to write more, write better and ultimately, step up because I want to impress that other person.

In one or two days, I’ll come up with a skeleton of a song and go, “This is my idea, this is the chorus, but I don’t really have a pre-chorus yet. What do you hear? What do you think?” And then once I hear someone else tinkering with it … I become a little bit like a husband who agreed to a wife-swap. In this case, the song would be my partner, and when I see someone else [kissing] her, I’m like, “No! Let me do this.” Then you go and you do it properly, because it wakes you up. [Laughs] It’s really all about just having to impress someone else. If I don’t make the changes right then and there, then the idea is just gonna drift away. It’s a perfect way for me to write, because it really brings me to life.

You produced Opus Eponymous by yourself, and since then you’ve worked with a completely different producer for each of Ghost’s albums, including Dave Grohl. Do you just not want to do the same thing twice, or are you ultimately trying to find the perfect collaborator?

TF: I believe that there are exceptions to all rules of course, and I believe that a good team truly is a good team. But I also believe that it’s very healthy to make sure that you don’t get stuck in your comfort zone, because it can become too comfortable. I’ve had that in the past with at least a couple of my previous producers, where we’re almost too good of friends; we’ve actually hung out so much, that we’re buddies now. And there’s nothing wrong with that, but it doesn’t always allow for further growth, which is exactly what I want to do. In this case, I have to make our fifth record. I want it to be a seminal record for us. That’s why the process right now is to find that perfectly balanced producer that is gonna make sure that we’re making a rock record — it needs to be a heavy record — but it needs to be someone who understands the factor of, “This needs to be relevant, now.”

Ghost is unique for a metal band in the sense that you don’t often work with metal producers. Is there a reason for that?

TF: I’m sure people in the heavy metal sphere might have noticed that too. … And there’s a reason for that: metal producers are very purpose-driven. They do a fantastic job and they know exactly what they’re going for. They’re experts in doing exactly that. And I have nothing against it, but that’s not what I’m trying to do. So I need to be fully aware and completely awake in trying to find the right producer for Ghost in that moment.

Klas was perfect for me. His whole professional life, he has been writing pop music and playing in Teddybears and writing records for Robyn and Ellie Goulding. You have all these different artists and this huge variety, but he started off playing prog music. He was a guitar virtuoso playing Yngwie Malmsteen/Ritchie Blackmore-type stuff. So when I came and talked with him about making a rock record, he was just like, “Yes, I’ve wanted to do that for such a long time.” It was perfect for both of us, because we were able to talk about all the common denominators. We could reference things from Euro Disco all the way to Slayer just to explain a simple idea. Whereas if you end up with the typical metal producer, they might say, “Slayer, of course. But everything else you mentioned is just ‘ordinary music.'”

I’m not saying that every heavy metal producer is like that, I just feel like metal today, as opposed to 1975, is such a defined genre, that people our age and younger have lived their entire lives knowing exactly what heavy metal is. But people who were around when they made Back in Black didn’t really know what that was. There’s so many rules now. It’s too refined. The whole culture breathes a little bit of a puritan-like conservatism. In order to make new records, I think sometimes you need to try not to think too much about all of these rules.

GLOBALNEWS.CA

[princessanneftw]

The Crown's Erin Doherty on playing Princess Anne – the voice, the hair and the style

By Caroline Leaper, Senior Fashion Editor for Stella Magazine.

As she joins acting royalty for the new series of the hit TV show, the actress discusses her transformation into a princess and just how long it takes to create THAT ’do

Erin Doherty is explaining how much fun it is to pretend to be very, very posh when you’re not. In the lead-up to playing Princess Anne in the new season of the hit Netflix drama The Crown, she says that she spent days practising her best royal voice in mundane scenarios, and offers to order a smoothie at the café we’ve met in ‘as Anne’, by way of demonstration.

‘Anne’s accent, and the whole family’s accent, is so weird,’ she laughs, snapping back into her own south London dialect. ‘It’s alien to me, I’ve never heard anyone else talk like that. My natural voice is the opposite. I watched YouTube videos and would practise when ordering a coffee, or speaking to people I didn’t know. The reactions were brilliant; I’m looking casual with this crazy posh voice coming out of me.’ Indeed, today she looks quite unroyal in her Breton top, khaki trousers and Birkenstocks.

Playing the Princess Royal is Erin’s first major television role. The 27-year-old from Crawley had a small part in the BBC adaptation of Les Misérables this year, and appeared in an episode of Call the Midwife back in 2017, but has otherwise stuck to the stage, graduating from Bristol Old Vic Theatre School to The Young Vic and The Old Vic, after being hailed a rising star of her generation. She is palpably excited about being in The Crown, and refreshingly honest about how she’s ‘winging it’ on one of the most anticipated TV shows of the year. She does, I should say now, deliver an incredibly convincing Anne. When casting director Nina Gold told her she had got the part, she celebrated by having a curry.

The Crown season three will span more than a decade, from 1964 to 1977, warranting an all-new cast to play the ageing royals. 
Olivia Colman picks up from Claire Foy as Queen Elizabeth, Tobias Menzies follows Matt Smith’s Duke of Edinburgh and Helena Bonham Carter takes over from Vanessa Kirby as Princess Margaret. We’ve reached the years when the Queen’s children are coming of age; Erin’s Anne is in her late teens when we meet her, and is full of fantastically feisty opinions about being ‘launched’ as an adult in the Royal family.

We all know the plot, or so we think, as The Crown is based on real events. But the brilliance of the show is that we don’t know which bits of history creator Peter Morgan will zoom in on. Season three might cover the time when, in 1974, Ian Ball attempted to abduct Anne and hold her to ransom for £3 million. (‘Not bloody likely,’ she famously said to her kidnapper, and her father Prince Philip quipped, ‘She would have given him a hell of a time in captivity...’). We might get to see Erin in bridal attire, as Anne’s first wedding to Captain Mark Phillips took place in 1973.

Erin is tight-lipped about which events do and do not make the cut. ‘You know what happens to Anne,’ she says. ‘It’s not hard to guess. But Peter makes these people so fascinating because of the way he focuses on stories which might not have been the headlines everyone remembers.’

Anne’s story, Erin says, was largely unknown to her before she began researching ahead of her audition. ‘Princess Anne, honestly, didn’t mean anything to me,’ she explains. ‘Like a lot of people who grow up in Britain, I think, [the Royal family was] always just there. My family watched the Queen’s speech at Christmas, but other than that, you feel a bit removed from it. I had to research her and then I realised, wow, this woman is awesome. I fell in love with her.’

Anne’s reputation as the reluctant, truculent royal, who was more interested in riding horses than wearing ballgowns and playing the part, has come good of late. Where once the tabloid press dubbed her ‘rude’, ‘dowdy’ and ‘austere’, her dependability, cracking wit and commitment to public duty now see her celebrated as the most hard-working royal each year (she completed 180 days of engagements in 2018, 20 more than Prince Charles). And her never-wavering signature style suddenly chimes with the fashion industry’s new drive for more sustainable shopping. ‘At 69, Princess Anne’s country-chic look and penchant for rewearing couldn’t be more on trend,’ a fellow fashion editor of this newspaper wrote back in August.

Erin discovered pretty quickly that her new ‘family’ is full of eccentric, fun and 
complex characters. In one of her first scenes, she is sitting around a television with the Queen and Princess Margaret for tea, cigarettes and whisky, to watch Royal Family, the famously ill-fated 1969 BBC documentary (the reception to it was so bad that it was banished after airing, with the press suggesting director Richard Cawston’s fly-on-the-wall approach had ‘cheapened’ the monarchy). In real life, of course, that meant cosying up with her new co-stars, a cast of national treasures and Oscar-winners.

‘Scenes like that were surreal, but everyone was so normal on set,’ Erin says. ‘Seeing someone like Helena be so calm and cool has been a gift. What makes it weird is that I then go home to my houseshare and my housemates are like, “Your job is insane, did you see Olivia Colman today?” I obviously can’t tell her that they love her in Fleabag every day, that would be weird. And ultimately I’m trying to be like her daughter and build this relationship up with her, so the main goal for me is to forget about the fact that she is Olivia Colman. My dad is the worst for it, he took a flight and texted me, “I’ve just seen Olivia Colman doing the BA safety advert – tell her she’s great in it.”’

As well as the voice, the other thing to get right when becoming Anne was the hair. Today, Erin’s hair is soft, straight and centre-parted. She says it takes a lot of work to mould it into the Princess Royal’s trademark style each day.

‘The hair takes a solid hour and a half,’ she laughs. ‘Most of that time is spent backcombing and setting it with hairspray. Sometimes if it’s not poofy enough, we have to use a sponge doughnut underneath to hold it up more. I’m no wiser as to how she actually does hers. It must be pretty solid, as she doesn’t change it much.’

In Anne’s youth, Erin points out, the Princess typically only set half of her head, leaving some hair down and smooth at the back. For season four, though, which started filming this month, Erin is expecting to double her time in the hair chair, as Anne switches to her mainstay full halo. ‘It takes even more time if she’s wearing any sort of a hat,’ she groans. ‘I brace myself if it’s a hat day.’

Costume was crucial to Anne’s character. This season of The Crown will revisit the Princess’s fashion heyday in the ’60s and ’70s, when she wore sharp checked suiting and chic flares, and was photographed by Norman Parkinson in the era’s Pucci-esque saturated floral prints. Costume designer Amy Roberts recreates some of Anne’s most memorable outfits – many of which would still look relevant and stylish today.

‘She was so on-trend in the 1960s and ’70s. She figured out her style at that age and she has stuck with it ever since,’ says Erin. ‘I created a Pinterest board of her outfits and I saw this amazing thing of Anne throughout the years, reusing her gowns, sometimes rocking it again 20 years later. I love that about her. She must not get rid of anything.

‘My favourite outfit, though,’ she continues, ‘is the one in the first scene you’ll see from me. The idea is that her parents have just pulled her away from riding and she’s 
angry and stressy, so I’m wearing riding boots and stomping around.’

Erin understood that, of all the looks, this would likely be the one that the Princess Royal herself would favour too. ‘So often she’s in these amazing ballgowns, but you can tell that this would be her preference,’ she says. ‘It just feels more like her. Because of her sporting side, I don’t think she gets enough credit as a style icon. You meet some people who remember that she was fashionable, but a lot are like, nope, she’s just horses.’

Ah, the horses. For Olympic athlete and European eventing champion Anne, riding has been a passion since childhood. For Erin, it was a case of all the equestrian gear and no idea.

‘I’d never been horse riding before filming this, it was the first time I’d ever put on jodhpurs,’ she admits. ‘After my initial meeting with the casting team, my agent rang and was like, “Are you OK with horses?” The part was still in the balance, so I said, “Yeah, of course I am.” As soon as I put the phone down I thought 
I can’t believe I’ve just said that. It’s notorious that actors will say they can do something and learn how later, isn’t it? I was petrified. Luckily I had 
a bit of time, so it’s sorted now and I can ride.’

Horses may not have been on the agenda for Erin growing up, but football was. ‘I was pretty good – I was scouted to play for Chelsea,’ she says. ‘I really hated school, so I lived for the weekends; I’d play football on a Sunday morning, and then in the afternoon I would go to stage school. When I was about 14, the schedule was getting so intense that my dad said I needed to choose one. I still do my keepy-uppies in the garden. I’d love it if someone remade Bend It Like Beckham – I’d be totally prepared for that part.’

Erin is one of three children (she has an older sister and a younger brother), and her mother, a retired medical practice administrator, and father, who works in airline operations, split up when she was four and now, respectively, live in Guildford and Folkestone. She’s living in south-east London in a houseshare with strangers who have become friends, and who work in entirely different fields. She grew up, she says, happily hanging around in Croydon wearing a tracksuit. ‘That was our best town to go to with your friends.’

When The Crown was first released, the original cast found themselves famous around the world. Appetite for the show is especially high in the US where, as Erin points out, ‘they flip for the royals.

‘It exploded for the last cast didn’t it?’ she considers. ‘They’re all pretty high-profile now. It’s mental what could happen, but I’m really not prepared for it and I also don’t think it’s healthy to expect it. Imagine thinking your world is going to change then nothing happens, that would be heartbreaking. I don’t think people would really recognise me in the street anyway, I look quite different when I’m not made-up with the hair.’

Claire Foy and Vanessa Kirby, particularly, benefited from the magazine covers and fashion status that came with the territory, as designers from Erdem to 
Gucci vied to dress them on the red carpet.

‘I’ve never really done a red-carpet event,’ Erin says. ‘I was speaking to my publicist and I think we’re going to get a stylist to help. Honestly, these conversations are so alien to me. It’s actually more intimidating to do these things where you have to be yourself. I can get very anxious and I’m more of an introvert if I’m not acting, so the simpler these things are and the less I have to think about what I look like, the better.’

Her photo shoot with Stella is the first that she’s done, an experience that she enjoyed, she says, because she was able to treat it like playing a role.

In her own life, comfort takes priority. ‘My style is pretty androgynous,’ she says, ‘I’m all about not abiding by gender norms, not because I have any particular view of myself that way, but I like messing things around and trying different things. I’ve always been sporty and I’m drawn to clothes that are baggy. What I hope is that you’ll still be able to see me [even when I’m dressed up on the red carpet] and I’ll look back and think this whole experience was amazing and fun, not a surreal period of my life that I didn’t really live in.’

It will be surreal, probably. But Erin seems to have put in the work to ensure that her portrayal isn’t a caricature, and she has got under the skin of one of the nation’s famously-hardy senior royals. She did weeks of research, listened to the historians on set, nailed that voice and even investigated Anne’s Chinese zodiac sign, just in case it gave a crumb of insight to work with. ‘Anne’s a metal tiger,’ she confirms.

Talented, funny, hard-working and, crucially, not at all starstruck by the royals. It is, likely, exactly what the Princess Royal herself would want from the person deemed tough enough to play her.

[theodcra-blog]

✱  kim  doyeon.  she  /  her.  cis  female.  —  i  know  that  theodora  “  theo  ”  jung  is  one  of  the  roses.  which  makes  sense  because  the  twenty  year  old’s  parents  are  hollywood  royalty  known  for  producing  and  recording  multi-platinum  awarded  albums.  rumors  say  that  they  are  the  quixotic  of   the   group  ,  but  who  knows  if  that’s true.  +  plucking  petals  off  of  daisies  in  the  name  of  a  crush  ,  steeping  teabags  for  too  long  ,  the  scent  of  perfume  left  behind  on  a  pillowcase.

                   hello  !  im  xan  and  im  late  as  usual  but  alas  ...  😔  im  22  ,  from  the  est  timezone  (  even  though  my  sleeping  schedule  …  does  not  reflect  that  sjbdwjkbdjdw  )  &  i  go  by  she  /  her  pronouns  !  i  truly  ...  never  know  what  im  doing  with  intros  they  just  turn  out  long  &  messy  aha  ... are  u  ready  ?  *jungkook vc*  let’s  get  it  !  😋

━  ˙ ˖  ☆     QUICK STATS  !

full name: theodora marie jung.

nickname(s): theo, teddy, dora (  but only by bullies 😠 ).

zodiac: libra sun, aqua moon ( click ! ) 

sexuality: bisexual.

occupation: singer / songwriter, model. 

birthplace: los angeles, california.

current residence: wherever this rp is taking place aha x

━  ˙ ˖  ☆     BACKSTORY ! ( tw: sexual themes )

so her parent’s story was actually a pretty big scandal in the 90′s ! basically theo’s mom was the pretty famous front woman of a band ( think stevie nicks in fleetwood mac ) who was long engaged to the guitarist of that same band....until one day it was announced she was quitting the group and starting her solo career, leaving her fiance, and signing to a new label.....which was run by theo’s father, a young up & coming producer taking over the family business. not even three months later theo’s mom releases her first solo album, produced and co-written by theo’s father, basically detailing this years long affair the two had been having... in a series of really catchy, moving, and wildly successful songs. 

the public went crazy over the drama, especially when rumors started circulating ( through detailed analysis of the lyrics to all of theo’s mom’s solo songs ) that the well known band had actually been quite toxic. basically it was enough to convince media outlets and fans alike to forgive theo’s parents for being cheaters and breaking up the band JSDBWBDJWBD. by the time theo was born in the last year of the iconic decade that launched both her parents into stardom, everyone couldn’t be happier the two stars were getting the happy life they deserved <3

so here comes baby theo.....and the world kind of just immediately labels her as america’s sweetheart. her mom had some minor health issues which just meant it would be safer to not have anymore kids after theo, so not only was she this little angel to the public, she was also her parent’s little miracle baby ! lets just say she had some big shoes to fill bc of all the expectations ..

luckily no one had to worry abt her being a demon child JSBDJWDWJ because she turned out to be a very sweet kid ! she was a HUGE daydreamer since she spent a lot of time alone growing up </3 her mom had retired from singing and was now helping theo’s dad run the label, and the two of them were always busy looking for new talent to sign. she didn’t have any siblings and although she had a really attentive nanny it just .. wasn’t the same ?? so to #Cope JSBDWBSBDJW theo was always creating these super elaborate little fantasy worlds. it wasn’t uncommon for u to find her deeply engrossed playing barbies alone like she had scripts and everything 

by the time she was a preteen her parents were both really pressuring theo into thinking about a singing career, so wanting to please them ( and knowing that it was something she was kinda into anyway ) theo said ok sure ! and that’s where.....things start to take a turn. since she was so young she had this very very clean, innocent, cute image ( think disney stars ) & most of the music she was making was used for kids shows or movies. she didn’t really mind it so much but she noticed that her creative process wasn’t really valued ? or taken very seriously by her parents, because in their eyes like that’s their kid you know she’s still young, she’s always had her head in the clouds, they just really didn’t think it was a big deal if they took control. 

so theo put up with it, but the years kept going by, she kept getting older, and nothing was really changing. she still had a squeaky clean image, little say in the type of music she was making, but on the outside everything looked great. the public loved her, she was a role model for kids ( even though she was a teenager now ), it was all perfect.....until it wasn’t. when she was 16, she had a scandal akin to the vanessa hudgen’s nude photo leak, except it wasn’t as explicit ( not a nude, just a suggestive pic ) and it was way way worse considering theo was a minor. 

legal action was immediately taken by her parents, but once something’s out there you can’t really stop it from circulating, so the photos existed, just not on any official media sites. it was traumatizing for theo having her privacy breached like that, especially because instead of talking about how disgusting it was that someone would leak those photos when she was just a teen, gossip sites & fans alike were too busy talking about how her image was ruined. since she’d had such a clean, innocent reputation, people kinda forgot that... she was an actual person going through life growing up, and that she wasn’t perfect. 

theo, being the optimist she is, was like hey you know what? this is my chance to stop making music i dont love. after what was probably her first truly honest convo with her parents, they agreed she should be free to figure herself and her art out. so for the remainder of her teenage years theo fell off the face of the music world....

only to pop back up in the modeling one ! like most celebrities, social media had a big say in this. since reputation wasn’t something theo had going for her anymore, what she did have was a hell of a following still and two famous parents ( not to mention ... shes tall JSBDJWBDWJ ) she did maybe one runway show before deciding she hated that. tbh she hated any modeling that felt too constricting, which is why she never ended up doing anything for big names & mostly does stuff for foreign brands & magazines. 

she liked how much aesthetics had to do with modeling, and to some extent being a part of shoots satisfied that creative itch she had, but music was always her first love. theo really wanted to go back and revisit it, but she was scared the public’s reaction wouldn’t be what she hoped /: 

so following in her mother’s footsteps, theo’s re entrance into the music scene was an ep ( 100% written, produced, edited, you name it, by her ) she released on the eve of her 18th bday basically explaining everything she went through with art. it was only four songs + an interlude, which would become the most talked about part of the whole thing because it was snippets of various reporters talking about that photo leak.

the public had mixed feelings ! unlike with what happened with her parents, not everyone was ready to “forgive” theo. and since she hadn’t done any promo for her music, or for her career as an artist independent from her parent’s famous label, it wasn’t like she was making crazy money and getting all this recognition. but !! she was insanely insanely happy, and that’s when she realized making music wasn’t something she did for other people, just something she liked to share, so what did it really matter if she could be more famous if she was an artist under her parent’s label ? 

cue present day theo, model & singer, although the labels are pretty loose. although her music is getting way more recognition than it did three years ago, she’s still trying to do things independently from her parents, and she still has yet to become a chanel ambassador or anything crazy SDWBKWKFW. because of that she’s kind of garnered this new reputation for herself as one of those celebs that don’t really feel like celebs, like maybe she’s just like u except let’s be real she’s rich and her experiences are NOT universal even if her cute insta pic talking about ~her feelings~ in the caption makes u think they are

━  ˙ ˖  ☆     PERSONALITY + TIDBITS !

not even gonna lie to u guys....she is baby. i dont mean that in a uwu shes 20 but im gonna weirdly make her act like a child way im not a freak shes just baby ! like i mentioned earlier theo was a HUGE daydreamer growing up, and tbh she still is except now that’s she’s older her overactive imagination can kinda get her into trouble. a good example of that is the fact that since she’s so keen to see the silver linings in life and the bright sides, she can neglect the bad sides of people and situations so things still fit into her romanticized vision /: this was the cause for many heartbreaks in theo’s life, and she’s still guilty of doing this although she’s trying to work on it !

very much the kind of person to treat everyone like a friend ( that means strangers too ) until you prove you should be treated otherwise. it takes a lot for her to not fuck with you, so if she doesn’t like you then you probably did something to deserve it /: she’s always had a curious personality as well so it’s really easy for her to connect with people just because she’s constantly fascinated by what she doesn’t know about a person. sometimes it can make ppl uncomfortable just how casually she can have a deep convo, but she just never had that filter where she has to know you for 5 years before she opens up about her trauma </3 you know how when bp’s rose and red velvet’s joy had dinner for the first time rose made joy cry bc she was talking abt her family and stuff ? JSDBWBDW theo is rose ... she’s out there sharing trauma deepening that bond day 1 of knowing you baby !  🤧

despite all that she’s still kind of maintained this elusive air to her? it’s not like she does it on purpose, or like no one knows the real her, it’s more like just when you’ve learned one new thing about her you realize there’s that many more things you don’t know. it also doesn’t help the fact that she’s constantly romanticizing everything, most of all herself, so she’s really crafted this “dream girl” persona without fully realizing it. im not exaggerating when i say john green wants what she has </3 

a lot of times people see her as naive, not because she often sees the good in people or anything like that ( although she does ), but because she has this overwhelming sureness that everything works out in the end. to be fair though, for her, things usually do. call it good karma, luck, whatever you want, but the fact of the matter is even when it looks like there’s no way a situation can turn out well for her, somehow it does. it’s a healthy combination of money, privilege, and a charming personality but to theo it’s proof that she’s right.

naturally.....as an air sign JSBDJWBJWBD she’s a huge flirt ! the media’s always linking her to someone because she really makes it seem like she’s dating half of hollywood when the reality is she’s just being friendly. when she actually likes someone it kind of turns into a huge deal like she gets infatuated with her crushes, swears she’s in love — and then poof. one day she wakes up & realizes she’s kinda over it ... until the next person comes along of course <3

hates conflict and confrontation.....and i mean HATES it to the point where she doesn’t even confront stuff within herself ( i.e. “negative” feelings like sadness ) until one day it all bubbles over and she’s having a legit breakdown and dying her hair red. 

yes, that’s exactly what happened last year, although if you ask theo about it she’ll just be like aha what do you mean i just wanted red hair luv x 

pictures like these ( click ! ) of theo when she'd be walking around LA in her school uniform used to go viral on twitter. 

desperately wishes she was the type of singer ppl would throw their bras at on stage when the reality is she’s out there making some chill bedroom pop kind of stuff so rip that dream </33333 

knows how to play the piano and the guitar, but keeps joking one day she’s gonna make an album and only use her recorder as the instrumentals.

has a white british longhair kitty named zoe.

is 100% that bitch that can only drink sweet drinks & fruity cocktails and u know what she’s valid for it ! 

if she wasn’t famous she’d be making slime. legit running a slime making insta, those were her guilty pleasure & shes so mad they aren’t that popular anymore JSBDJWBDJW

u know that post that’s like “i hate making tea i always feel so bad about throwing away the tea bag i feel like i should just eat it” ? thats theo 

━  ˙ ˖  ☆     WANTED CONNECTIONS !

BEST FRIENDS: a power duo the public either loves or hates, ride or dies, that 1 person theo would drop everything for no matter what.....yeah 🥺 they’d be the person she’s closest to & vice versa !   

CHILDHOOD / FAMILY FRIENDS: their famous parents were friends, so it’s only natural they wanted their kids to be friends too. just imagine the stories ..... the memories .... maybe they got along really well and are still friends today ! or maybe theo pushed your muse off of the swings ( she claims it was an accident ) and your muse never forgot and to this day they’re sworn enemies.....</3 or less dramatic......they just drifted apart and now it’s like hey we used to be so close aha thats awkward let me just smile at you and walk away ....

LIKE SIBLINGS: someone who sees theo as a sister, and who theo considers her unofficial sibling. most likely she’s gonna bother the shit out of this person as siblings do but they really mean a lot to her because it’s the family she never had /: 

CONFIDANTS: the one person theo keeps finding herself talking about the things she usally keeps inside with. i think it’d be funny if both of them find it weird to do things like go out to lunch or shop together because that’s not what they’re used to !

ACQUAINTANCES: friends who are only really friends when both of them are wasted or friends who only comment heart eye emojis and fire sign emojis under each others insta posts but don’t actually talk much for whatever reason

FRIENDS THAT DATED: maybe things just ended amiably between them, or maybe it’s like an “everyone told us we should date so we tried it and boy was that the weirdest thing we ever did” situation. either way the outcome is they’e still friends <3

CAHOOTS: what is this u may ask ? someone theo can be in cahoots with. she has a dumb idea that no one else is likely to say yes to? she goes to ur muse. ur muse has an idea no one in their right mind would say yes to? they go to theo. these two are in cahoots !  

BAD INFLUENCE: although that america’s sweetheart reputation is gone, overall theo is still seen as a “good girl” by the public. she’s not one to be in a lot of scandals so i think it’d be really fun if your muse is corrupting that ( whether they’re doing it on purpose or not ) and whenever theo’s with them she just somehow always manages to end up in trouble. 

THE BIG EX: theo’s first real relationship, and first real heartbreak. everyone before them had been an infatuation, but your muse was the real deal. maybe the media ruined it, or they ruined it themselves by being too scared of their feelings to stick around, or maybe one of them was willing to try but the other wasn’t. either way it ended badly, and whether those feelings are resolved or not....thats a secret i’ll never tell x

SUMMER FLINGS: give me past & current ( or maybe even recurring ) summer flings where they both know it’s temporary but boy is it fun while it lasts. google their names together and you’ll find paparazzi snapshots on the backs of vespas, on million dollar yachts, holding hands in museums or sunbathing on the beach but by the time fall comes creeping in the romance is over. 

HOOKUPS: friends with benefits and it’s not awkward between them, friends with benefits and it’s super weird between them because they may be crossing over into real feeling territory, one night stands / hookups that were huge mistakes, one night stands or hookups that were or are being kept secret from the rest of the roses for whatever reason, someone who leads theo on but never gets serious about her, or someone she leads on but she never gets serious about, her go-to hookup on a night out when she’s partying, etc. 

WILL THEY WON’T THEY: a friendship that always teeters on the line of something romantic ! maybe they’re both oblivious to the chemistry / tension or maybe they’re aware of it because they get jealous when they hear about the other being with someone else… maybe they refuse to do anything about it because they don’t want to complicate things or maybe they purposefully cross lines when they feel that jealousy…..could be more angsty or it could be more wholesome depending on which way it goes 😈

ARTIST TO ARTIST: i don’t think .... we have any other singers / ppl in the music industry but i could for sure be wrong JSBDSJBDJWD but ! i still would love to have people theo’s worked with before. maybe if your muses has been acting since they were little, theo could have mingled with them back when she was doing music for kids shows & movies. maybe your muse is a model and theo and them have done shoots together before. maybe theo’s written a current song for a movie / tv show your muse was a part of. maybe your muse is a model and theo asked them to feature on the cover of one of her albums. maybe she hired your muse to act in the music video of one of her songs ! maybe your muse can also sing even though that’s not their main thing and theo’s asked them to feature on a song with her. there are soooo many possibilities that could be lots of fun <33

MISC: “we used to party together all the time until that one thing happen that neither of us talk about and now we don’t do that anymore”, someone who took care of drunk theo once and ever since then she’s taken that as an open invitation to knock on your muse’s door at 3 am completely wasted, “we tried to date but the paparazzi caught us on a date and we were too scared / sick of the public eye so we never got far”, flirty friends who say no i’d never sleep with you haha…unless you’re down?, your muse was theo’s first time OR theo was your muse’s first time, stereotypical happy go lucky and grumpy relationship where the grumpy muse pretends not to enjoy the other’s presence, enemies but it can’t be anything petty it would have to be pretty serious so if u want that drama.... 

that’s the end i promise it’s finally over 😭😭😭 i truly just ramble & ramble im really so sorry abt that JSDJWBDJWBDJWBDJW i tried to include as much info as possible to make plotting a little easier for all of us so lets pray this works </3 u can come message me on discord to plot @ seulgi ily ʕ´• ᴥ•̥`ʔ#8172 so give this a like if u wanna .... do that ahahahaha x 

[borisbubbles]

Eurovision 2010s: 02 & 01

It’s here.When you’re reading this I’ll be safely tucked away on a vacay, but let me say, it’s been an intense two months. 408 write-ups, 408 desperate famewhore, 408 beautiful people (and Boggie.). 406 have been ranked and now it is time to reveal whom I think the best entry of them all is.So let us start with the runner-up, the also-ran the entry that ALMOST could’ve made it, but didn’t. 

02. Iveta Mukuchyan - “LoveWave” Armenia 2016

All-time ranking: #12 

Hey, it’s me. Look,

I know it might sound strange but suddenly I’m not the same I used be

it’s like I’ve stepped out of space and time and ~Come Alive~

When she touched us, the world went silent. Calm before the stormed reached us. The art in motion set off all sirens. She took over our heartbeat - beat - beat

IT’S TAKING OVER ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

God I should just stop quoting “LoveWave” but it’s stronger than myself. SHE SHOOK MY LIFE LIKE AN EARTHQUAKE YOUR FAVES COULD NE-E-VER HAVE! It, too, is a stunning masterpiece, a masterclass in seduction, an example of how everyone should tackle avant garde. Completely original- ok lmfao that isn’t true, the Aminata influence is pretty obvious here. However, unlike most other copycats, Iveta understood that imitation is best served as a form of flattery: in other words she took on a great formula and made it even better. If Aminata was the “Love Injection”, the Iveta is the “Fierceness Injection”.

or more like a LOVEwave

SPREADING LOVEWAVES AND MY HEART GOES BOOM-BA-BA-DOOM-WO-OH-OH. 

At the relatively small cost of a lesser vocal performance Iveta brought us a more unfiltered, more realistic, more intense exploration of what love actually does to somebody and the result is supereffective. 

“LoveWave” is edgy and dynamic beyond my wildest expectations. It absolutely shatters me from start to finish. It’s a thrilling rollercoaster that never slows down and the second you believe you’ve figured out this meandering song’s musical formula, there’s yet a new twist around the corner. Its layers unfold slowly, gracefully, beautifully like the budding rose. There is only one entry that can compete with it in terms of its innovativeness and that’s the winner of this ranking. 

ARMENIA

A country of high risk/high reward entries. Armenia isn’t always good, and they are in fact very often terrible. However, the moments when they are good are moments of undisputed slayage. The persistent coin flip of the Armenian selection is a very exciting ride and I always look forward to seeing what they have on offer, provided they can fix their staging problems. 

________________________________________________________________

and now the moment you’ve all been waiting for: the WINNER is none other than: 

01. Lena - “Taken by a stranger” Germany 2011

All-time ranking: #04

Let us start by noting that Lena is DEFENDING HER TITLE, and what a defence it is. 😍 I shan’t get ahead of myself, but know that 2011 Lena blows 2010 Lena completely out of the water. Gone are the days of constipated adorkability. This beautiful introverted cygnet finally transformed into a graceful, confidence black swan. 

Okay so... as it turns out, my bitching about German women and 2011 entries was only foreshadowing for the inevitable: my favourite song in this decade is the German entry from my least favourite year of the 2010s.  😂

Of course, the fact this daring and amazing entry was sent by a country which usually doesn’t do daring, in a year which otherwise doesn’t do amazing only further enhances the spice, but there actually a more rational reason for me ranking Lena first:  “Taken by a stranger” marks the first time, the first true time an avant garde entry was taken seriously in modern Eurovision. 

Remember what I said about the original source always being the best? We are here. “Avant-Garde Eurovision” is Lena City and we’re all living in it. Before “Taken by a stranger” novelty entries were either greeted with mockery (Silvia Night, Pas de deux, Divine, Visionary dream) or as flukes, anomalies within the system (Sanomi, Dancing Lasha Tumbai). Critics saw them as shallow gimmicks and little more.  

“Taken by a stranger” reinvented the way people look at experimental music and did it with great style. Lena proved that weird can be accessible, that quirky can be high-quality and that artistic can be enjoyed. She proved that ‘different’ has a place in Eurovision.

She also proved that giant condoms make perfect dancing costumes:

 Without Lena, we have no precedent for “LoveWave” or “Love Injected” or “Rhythm inside” or “Midnight Gold” or “Skeletons”. Without Lena laying the groundwork and being greeted with praise, some of the greastest, most innovative entries in Eurovision may have been brushed off like “Telemóveis” and “The Social Network Song” were.

Now, I understand that “Euphoria” arguably set the same precedent as “Taken by a stranger” did and that’s definitely a valid point. However two counterpoints: One: Loreen came after Lena and therefore only expanded on the foundation that Lena already had established the year before.  Two: I love “Euphoria” but each time anyone in my vicinity praises it for being unique, a masterpiece, ... a great... song I just *yawn* instantly becooome *yawn* soooo tiiiiiiired, :snore:. “Taken by a stranger” is the true unsung hero that shaped the contest in what it is today, and remember, unlike Dina Garipova I always reach out to those who need it the most.

However, that’s the theoretical backstory behind  “Stranger” winning my ranking, what about the practice? What about the live? Does it hold up to the placement I gave her?

The answer is a resounding YES. “Taken by a stranger” is a shining example of an excellent, near-flawless perfomance: Lena takes the microphone with mad confidence, gets absorbed by her song’s dark, psychedelic energy and delivers an A+ singing and miming effort. Her soul-piercing stares into the camera are chilling beyond the bones.

The story told here is immersive (the quirky beat), credible (Lena’s faces), humorous (dancing condoms) and entertaining (all of the above), all at once. It unfolds like a neo-noir audiobook. I can only think of a handful other entries that hit a similarly wide spectrum of great eurovision qualities with the same killer accuracy as Lena did, all of which (lovewave, euphoria, love injected, city lights, etc)  made it deep into the ranking.

Over the years, I’ve patiently waited to see if anyone could replace Lena as my favourite of the decade. Over the years many came close, but never were great enough to dethrone her. The act which came the closest was indeed Loreen, but with “Statements”, not “Euphoria” and we all know how that journey ended. Perhaps its for the better. In her two iconic stints Lena proved that both chartable hits AND avant garde novelties can be worthy Eurovision entries, paving the way for Eurovision’s renaissance into a contest everyone takes seriously again, which makes her, in my humble opinion, one of the most, if not the most, important people to ever participate in the Eurovision Song Contest. 

ALL HAIL THE DOWAGER EMPRESS OF THE 2010S:

Germany is the ultimate hit-or-miss nation. There isn’t a single country in the history of Eurovision that has ranked as often in my bottom 5 or top 5 as Germany has (T10/B10 for the semifinal era). I always either love or hate their entries (with the exception of Jamie-Lee). At the same time however, I am often frustrated by them. Their penchant to make the WRONG decisions out of a severely misguided sense of “tolle Klasse” is what causes them to often select utter garbage and it irks me because they are capable of undisputed greatness. Lena is the quintessential example of Germany at their peak and I both look forward and dread what the upcoming decade will provide. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ That concludes my ranking, I hope you’ve enjoyed it. 🤗 Since I started this endeavour my follower count almost doubled to 225-ish and BorisBubbles received 800 individual page views per day, roughly 20K per month. THANK you for all the support and for coming back to me. It means a lot and keeps me motivated to gladly return with more ranking material on the 1st of April 2020, when I hope we can kickstart the 2020s in great style. 

If you want to see the full list, free to consult the overall list on IMGUR or delve into the archives 

In the meantime, take care and we’ll hopefully see each other in April! 😘 Love, Boris. 

[anti-marxistcult]

the first half of the 90s was good, not as great as as the 80s though, the 90s had political correctness creeping into it already

the schools dumbed the kids down (common core), the entertainment was chock full of globalist propaganda and environmentalist propaganda, nihilism and collectivist propaganda, pumping them up to be like “saviors of the world” activists, they were spoiled and had the best of everything available to them #daycaregeneration  everyone gets a trophy

they got more organized once the internet rolled out, they used Rules for Radicals to bullying and deceive their way up the social ladder

true, back in the mid 90s when i was at school the boys would welcome me to talk with them when they found out i liked tv shows, movies and video games. the only problem both men and women core fans have is the activists hijacking our entertainment as their fucking woke soap box, changing iconic established characters personalities and characteristics (gender, race, sexuality), make new characters and stop erasing what came before. the sjws are the ones with hatred with their anti-beauty, anti-straight, anti-gender norms, anti-white agenda and using minorities as shields, identity politics is divisive and bigotry. the activists use it and political correctness to enforce it, it is like their blasphemy law for their new age religion

i know, original arts though i like, at least they did something original. fan arts are shit tho, they make everyone look like children in adult bodies and hyper feminize, and it is creepy like they have a pedo fetish that they vent into their arts

same style is correct, a hive mind will fall into ideological lockstep and they copy each other because they see who gets the praise and figure that is the to ensure they get it too by copying the popular style, it is all about that sweet dopamine

their ideology marxism is all about attacking the natural human species hierarchy, undermining and conditioning people into what serves the cunts controlling the agenda, how do you enslave humanity? you make them hate what they naturally are and convince them to demand the weak and lazy get special treatment while the majority are suppressed and that their strengths are deemed bad while their weaknesses are glorified and promoted. 1984 = freedom is slavery, beauty is ugly, truth is lies, weakness is strength etc

of course they do, they are narcissists and they are mediocre, they have both inferiority and superiority complexes, they feel inferior to the normal majority, they build up themselves in their own minds to the point they feel they are superior and should have all the power and control

that has been obvious or decades, they view it as a weakness, so they promote it onto boys and men as their way of weakening men, and it works, feminine men are very weak; male feminists and these estrogen hyped guys will target children and women because they see them as weaker (biologically and realistically that is true in the physical sense which is why they stalk women and target the kids to groom them and other stuff i dont want to say)

the latter part is true, the first part is only half true, there is more than just landwhales in their movement. landwhales are a symptom of their ideology

they hate what is natural and hate what they cant control, so they are working to psychologically via their ideology and politics and social pressure people to reject biological reality

well their problem (and it is their problem) is they need to stop projecting themselves onto everything, that is a trait of narcissism, and stop thinking that the world needs to stop and revolve itself around these self centered fucksticks

 it is grotesque

they’re projecting their entire fucked up anti world view onto everything

yes but more than that, they have created their ideology to be a combination of a lot of things, i think that is why they constantly check each other with purity tests 

sjws embracing their inner nazis that is what it is

they hate everything, they eat each other because that hateful thirst needs to be sated constantly to fill that bottomless void inside them due to their ideology

they bashed my fave female anime character fr 20 years, she was flawed which they hyped up and exaggerated, she developed and changed more than the other characters - which they purposely ignore, her crime is in their mind she was feminine and loved the male lead and was religious. bit oh the sjws will love mary sues like Ray and Captain Wahman wooden Brie Larson.

SJWs make themselves miserable and blame society for it. SJWs are the only ones to blame for their own misery, if they stop rejecting reality, beauty and truth, they are like some retard in the hot desert dying of thirst that refuses to drink a bottle of water because it was made by western civilization company. -__-

that is the feminazis spite at work, gotta stick it to the “straight male gaze”, check the hypocrisy that they sexually objectify men but because these marxist fucks think that is pandering to homoerotica then it is totes ok

thats is just because they view facts as hate xD oh the irony of a marxist activists calling other people “haters”, marxists hate the human race

they are in ideological lockstep and keep repackaging the same shitty ideas

you can tell the sjws on youtube because they are posers

they ant create, only destroy, so they pressure those can create to pander to them otherwise they attack them with the usual labels and tactics

[scoutception]

Megami Tensei review: The Demon’s Souls to SMT

Shin Megami Tensei is one of the largest JRPG franchises to ever exist, spinning off into several branches such as Demon Summoner, Devil Survivor, and, of course, Persona. It regularly deconstructs the conflict of order vs chaos, the idea of using dangerous creatures as minions in combat, and just how ideal attempting to forge your own, separate path could actually end up. It's also usually extremely difficult and depressing, and God regularly being a jerk makes it unsurprising that it took about 2 decades for the franchise to actually gain a presence outside of Japan. While they’re regularly localized nowadays, many games still remain very obscure, including entire series branches. As someone who plays way more games from series he likes than he should, I’m going back to the very, very beginning of the entire franchise, before even the original Shin Megami Tensei: to the original Megami Tensei, or, more specifically, the SNES remake of Megami Tensei 1 and 2, made after the original SMT released.

Story

As inventive as SMT is, some of its main concepts weren’t of Atlus’ own invention. The original Megami Tensei was actually based on a (rather obscure) trilogy of Japanese novels, Digital Devil Story. The trilogy follows Akemi Nakajima, the reincarnation of Izanagi who invents a program that can summon demons, and Yumiko Shirasagi, his love interest and the reincarnation of Izanami, and their struggles against the demons that are unleashed the human world as a result, such as Loki, Set, and even Lucifer himself. The novels were about as depressing as many of the SMT games, with the ending of the third novel especially being about as bad as some of the worst endings throughout the games, and, as mentioned, invented many of the iconic SMT concepts, such as the COMP, using demons as minions, even the large presence of specific demons such as Cerberus and Lucifer. In fact, Megami Tensei (apparently) means goddess resurrection, referring to Izanami and Yumiko.

Quite a lot of information about a game that barely even has a story. Megami Tensei 1 was actually developed before the third novel was actually released, and thus has its own separate, and incompatible, story, though the development team seems to have at least known the general concept to it. The story is about a demonic palace that rises over the the tomb of Izanami, ruled by Lucifer, who has captured Izanami and plans to conquer the human world with the demonic legions within the palace, including a resurrected Loki and Set. Thus, Nakajima and Yumiko enter the palace to defeat Lucifer. That, about covers all the plot the game has to offer, though the ending contains a few hints of something greater I shall address in my review of the sequel.

Gameplay

Megami Tensei 1 is a dungeon craweler, and a rather revolutionary one at that. You progress through the various different areas of the palace, fighting off the various demons within and defeating Lucifer’s lieutenants, the Minotaur, Medusa, Loki, Hecate, and Set, before fighting Lucifer himself. What made this game stand out was its demon recruitment system. Normally, Nakajima and Yumiko are the only party members you have. Nakajima is physically based, though he also possesses the COMP, used to analyze enemies and summon recruited demons, while Yumiko is magically based, and has decent spell variety, including one that opens a mini map and one that returns you to your last used save point. However, while they may perform at least decently through the actual labyrinths, they have no chance of taking out the bosses on their own. Instead, Nakajima is allowed to converse with the demons they encounter and attempt to convince them to join their cause. Unfortunately, the demons, rather sensibly, aren’t exactly eager to join, and thus you have to work to get them on your side.

Demon conversations in SMT are known to be rather unpredictable and even frustrating to go through, but MT1′s system is rather simple, for better or worse. There’s 4 main options: make an offer, persuade, soothe, and intimidate. Making the demons an offer is the most consistent choice; they’ll ask for money or an item, and if you fulfill their request, they may join you. However, demons aren’t nice people. They make may multiple demands of you, and, even if you give them everything they want, they have a chance of just ditching you instead of joining. That’s why the soothe option exists. It allows you to try various calming actions, such as lowering your weapons or smiling. These have a random chance to either work, making the demon more likely to actually live up to its promise, or fail, in which case nothing changes. If you’re not in the mood for giving your stuff away, or are decently more powerful than the demon, you can instead try to intimidate them into joining. If you succeed, they join right there and then, but if you fail, they immediately attack you. As for persuade, to be frank, I’ve never noticed a difference from trying it. The demons will give various reactions to it, ranging from doubting you to mulling over whether or not to accept, though they will not actually join from persuasion alone. Once a demon joins you, Nakajima can summon in through the COMP, at the cost of some of your money, with stronger demons costing more money to summon. However, demons require a substance called magnetite to physically exist, within the human world, which translates to a certain amount of your magnetite, acquired from defeating demons or random treasure chests, being drained for every step you take in the labyrinths while having demons summoned, which increased based on both the strength of said demons and the amount of then you currently have summoned. Once magnetite runs out, the demons instead begin to lose health.

The main other wrinkle in your demon summoning adventures is that demons cannot actually become stronger on their own. While there’s plenty of decent demons throughout each area, the main method for building your party is by fusing demons at the Cathedral of Shadows, sacrificing two of them for a (usually) stronger one. The downside to this is that, unlike some later SMTs, there’s no demon compendium to keep track of or even resummon previous demons you’ve had, which is especially bad, as the combinations needed are very specific, due to the lack of elementals. While you can analyze the demons you encounter, after a certain amount of them, earlier entries get deleted. The last thing to mention regarding the demons is that they are divided into three moral alignments, evil, neutral, and good (the law, chaos, and neutral alignment system is not present in Megami Tensei 1 and 2). Evil demons are completely unrecruitable, either due to lack of sentience/means of communication, or simply due to them being malicious. Compared to the unrecruitable demons in SMT1, it’s much easier to tell which are and aren’t recruitable, as the only ones that even pretend to be open to conversation specifically ask to speak to you, sending you into a panic if you accept. Neutral demons are the recruitable randomly encountered ones, and good demons are obtainable through fusion, though they make up for it by having most of the most powerful demons in the game.

As for the rest of the gameplay, there’s some... questionable elements to it. Most SMTs are out for your blood, and this is no exception. Whether it be extremely limited healing items that only drop from demons, which demons may even ask for, to the actual combat system, which can feature up to 8 of a demon during random encounters, which your party members just swing at randomly, to mechanic with the bosses where, with the exception of the Minotaur, whose gimmick is just beating you up about as well as SMT4′s version of him, all of the bosses possess an extremely powerful ability, like Lucifer fully healing, which makes them extremely difficult, or, in the case of Hecate, flat out unfightable, as she just likes being invisible. This forces you to scrounge the areas for a special item that seals off their broken abilities and makes them reasonable. While it is an interesting idea to encourage exploration, it can be frustrating, especially with how large some of the later areas are.

Sound & Graphics

The graphics are about on par with the original Shin Megami Tensei, by which I mean not very good. The NPCs you encounter aren’t very detailed, and the battle and spell animations are pretty limited. The best looking part are the demons themselves, but even they don’t look great, at least partially because this game did not actually have Kazuma Kaneko, the main demon artist for the franchise, working on it. Thus, most demons look very different to their later designs, and not really for the better, especially Lucifer himself.

As for the sound, it gets the job done. Sound effects are nothing notable, and the music is, ok. There’s some decent, if ummemorable, tunes during area exploration, but any music having to do with battles is pretty dull.

Conclusion

Overall, I would have to say this game is not recommended. The lack of story, only adequate sound and graphics, and frustrating gameplay elements, including some things I didn’t even mention, like the rotting sea of flames that forces you to go through a lot of damage tiles until you get some protection, make the game feel very outdated and even dull. I did have some fun with it, and it was a very important game that set the foundations for one of the most interesting game franchises out there, but overall, that’s just what it is, the foundations.

If you actually read through all of this, thank you very much. This is the first written review I’ve done of a game, so I’m open to criticism. Otherwise, I’ll be back, with the much more interesting sequel, Megami Tensei 2.

-Scout

[buzzworddotie]

The 8th Amendment Referendum in Ireland

And how history is being rewritten one step at a time

It's been a long time coming but on May 25th 2018 the people of Ireland were asked if they would like to amend the Constitution to decriminalise abortion in Ireland.

What's it all about?

Up until now, an Irish women who seeked out an abortion for personal reasons or medical ones was a criminal under Irish law. A woman would have to either travel to the UK or attempt to dangerously take abortion pills acquired illegally at home under zero medical supervision.

Or the alternative, for years, decades, Ireland and the stronghold held over her by the Catholic Church, would force girls and women into homes to have the baby. Often these babies wound up dead, buried away, hidden. Bones have been found in septic tanks.

Girls and women were treated brutally.

Secret pregnancies were also a thing, who knows how many women and girls suffered in silence?

Right up until May 25th 2018.

That's when we finally got to be heard.

Enough is Enough

I can't take a single piece of credit for getting this vote to happen but there are countless women who can. Women who have been banging on doors, demanding bodily autonomy, demanding rights, demanding choice. Finally the demand was heard, finally the government agreed to allow the people to make a decision.

The Campaigns

As soon as the vote was announced, I knew this was not going to be a particularly nice campaign. That's putting it lightly. In 2015 Ireland held the Marriage Referendum. An opportunity to change the Constitution to recognise and allow same sex marriage in Ireland. It passed, of course, but the campaign was filled with some uneducated, hateful rhetoric fuelled by the Catholic Church. Regardless of how much they wanted to deny it, hardcore religious groups and their followers were against that law with vigor and venom.

And I knew that hate would amplify for this one. I already knew what way I wanted to vote, I didn't need anyone to convince me either way, much like the Marriage Ref. But unlike then when I did tune into radio debates and absorbed the arguments, this time I made the conscious decision to avoid it as much as possible.

Marketing

Despite that it was tough to avoid, every pole, every surface available was covered with Yes and No posters. The Yes posters usually said something like "Yes for choice" "Together for Yes" or a simple "Repeal"...

Murals went up by artists like Maser, badges were made, Repeal jumpers and through the help of crowd sourcing the Yes campaign managed to gain more support for their message.

Our message.

On the No side there were an abundance of posters, I have seen images of feotus in the womb telling me babies will be murdered. Billboards across towns, rural and otherwise.

The whole thing turned into a massive marketing campaign. To a degree, on both sides. Paid ads on social media, Google and streaming services, posters... So... Many... Posters.

Social media attacks, hashags... I just didn't want to hear it. I know burying your head in the sand isn't a solution but I personally don't believe that an issue as important as this should boil down to who has the most money to promote a post or buy a billboard.

One thing I will say is that, at least where I have travelled, there was far more "No" campaign imagery than "Yes". Those were the ones with the billboards, the video ads that interrupted my viewing and I had to wonder, where was all this money coming from?

In the end Google and Facebook to the best of my knowledge pulled paid advertising on their platforms but there were other means.

Attacks on People, places and things

Another side of the campaign was the inevitable attacks. Digital rows blazed up as the concept of reasoned debate flew out the window. Some of the words I have witnessed being used against women on social media were beyond appalling, disgusting, shameful.

Were there bot accounts? Yes, there were. It doesn't take too much probing to see that and that minor exercise in investigation proved that really the "No" side was in the minority. It was clear but you could never be certain.

And by no means would I ever suggest the "Yes" side were entirely innocent, I just didn't catch the trolling by them.

"No" campaigners also attacked places, apparently in one constituency very graphic posters were hung very close to a school, causing uproar.

They also stood outside maternity hospitals.

Let me reiterate that, MATERNITY HOSPITALS.

They stood outside them holding graphic posters, other establishments too, but that one made me sick to my stomach.

Then on the stunning Benbulben, in my home county, a place I adore, they stuck a massive "NO" sign. For some reason this triggered me. Using the landscape of this country, which throughout history has been defined with feminine pronouns, to announce that women's rights were not of value was disgusting.

Photo: https://garethwray.com/product/classiebawn-benbulben-sligos-iconic-duo/

Not more disgusting than standing outside a hospital or plastering graphic and insensitive imagery around a school but a different kind of insult. As if they were claiming this land shared their voice.

What was even weirder was the fact the people who did it were practically a parody of themselves, announcing on radio that the men had put up the sign as the women made them tea and sanwiches.

This had to be a joke, right?

It's not funny

Truthfully though, this issue wasn't a joke, not to me or to anyone involved. This vote could actually be the difference between life and death for so many women.

By night, reports were coming out saying that the turnout to vote had been exceptional, people had been travelling back home from all around the country to take part.

Many popular Irish female voices had been so loud in their messages to push this cause, many Irish men got involved too stressing the importance of men getting behind women, taking a stand with them, recognising this is their issue too. Women should not be alone in this.

Soon we began to hear the results from the Exit Polls. First the Irish Times showing a landslide in favour of Repealing. It was something like 68% in favour, an insane number.

RTE Uses Us

The "main" Irish broadcaster, the state owned one, decided to announce their Exit Polls on what I think is supposed to be a late night chat show, The Late Late Show.

I found this disgusting and I didn't watch, because I never watch, because it's utter fucking drivel. But what RTE did was decide to use this campaign for their own ratings gain. They knew people would tune in and so they decided to, as far as I know, discuss how "Toxic Masculinity is a Myth", very fucking timely decision lads. As well as this they had some gobshite on NATIONAL TV talking about how she speaks to fairies.

Because heaven forbid we take a step forward as a nation.

Now, I don't know at what stage they announced the results but I do know that it wasn't before any of that other shite. Again, that was a calculated move and they will point to those viewing figures to justify the ridiculous wages that we fund for that show and it's (wooden) presenter. I'll pause that one right there.

History is Rewritten

In a move that has the potential to shock anyone not clued into who most modern Irish people actually are, the "Yes" side achieved a mammoth victory with over 1.4 million people deciding to Vote Yes, over 66% of voters.

And the 8th Amendment has been Repealed. I am so proud of all of us.

Photo: Maser, https://deandublin.ie/events/maser-exhibition/

What Now?

So where do we go from here?

I can never shake a Bell X1 lyric from my head in times like this. Fitting, given they are an Irish band:

"...History is written by the winners. And I want my say."

If we want to continue to create an Ireland that is just, inclusive, fair and reasonable we have to keep banding together and becoming the winners. The people on the reasoned side do not always need to feel like they are being walked all over.

That's how things have felt for so long, I won't even say in the past because it is still happening. This moment was monumental and something that, just like the Marriage Referendum, should be really allowed to sink into the minds of every single person who voted, the real power of what was achieved this day is epic.

We didn't just pop an X next to a box. We have literally changed the Constitution of this nation twice. We have asked to please get a chance to update this nation to reflect who we are and not to be bound to the decisions of the past, which maybe were the right decisions back then or maybe the alternative was too alternative. We had to crawl for a while, but we started to walk and now we have the chance to run.

I don't want our interest in matters like this to start and stop with things that are so clearly emotive. There is so much more to do to keep pushing forward.

And the further we move ahead the more resistance will be out against us but we can't turn a blind eye.

OK the 8th is Repealed, what can we put in place now to ensure any womelan who require ls a clinic is not harassed with hate on entry and exit as is the case in other countries?

And there are more issues outside of this.

We need to really strive to separate Church from state, the stranglehold the Church has over schools is poisonous. There are laws that exist that people are not even aware of, did you know that if you work as a teacher in one of the many, many Church affiliated schools and you do something outside of the Catholic ethos like sleep with someone outside of marraige, they can fire you?! Can you believe this shit!?

Then there are the other social issues including housing, homelessness, classism which are still very active and we need to fight back against those structures too.

We have to keep saying when enough is enough.

We have to keep looking out for each other, from all walks of life.

Sure, An Taoisach gave some really character defining moments during this debate but he and his party need to be just as active in helping people out elsewhere. Maybe it won't get them as much PR but it should and if they make the best decisions it will.

Simon Harris has been charming people during these debates. Is that enough? Is that all it takes? He is Minister for Health of a system that is simply disasterous. A system where hospitals are under funded, where women are being improperly diagnosed with ceverical cancer, where patients are left on trolleys, where I don't know if my own father is getting the best treatment he can be getting right now because I simply do not trust the HSE.

The rich are getting richer, you can barely afford a basic, single bedroom roof over your head. People, families are homeless. Maybe the few are doing well but I'd argue the majority are struggling still.

Prospects are few and far between.

Really heinous crimes have been committed, some very recently, against women and girls. A lot of them. These are issues too that need to be examined, there is an underlying problem to this that needs to be addressed.

Mental Health needs to be treated as a real issue with real, available and affordable treatment. People should be able to get counselling or therapy as easily as they can get the flu shot.

That barely scratches the surface.

Yes, we achieved something outstanding and worth celebrating but this should be the fire in our belly to ignite us to realise we can do so much more.

We don't have to sit back and take our lot. We need to keep demanding better from our leaders and our services from the extreme examples to the basics of decent roads, schools and water.

The water in my own home been undrinkable for nearly 6 months that we are aware of. And it could have been longer.

Honestly the Irish rail service Iarnrod Eireann's slogan sums us up perfectly, "We're not there yet. But we're getting there."

This country is moving forward but we can't stop demanding true equality, for everyone.

A chairde, comhghairdeas, rinneamar stair le chéile. Ligeann an treocht seo a choinneáil.

Is féidir linn é a dhéanamh.