#The taming of the shrew - Part 5

[harmonictechnicality]

Eddie’s Memory Log: Day 2-5

part 1 here | part 3 here | part 4 here | part 5 here | part 6 here

(ao3 link here)

There’s chewed up bits of food splattered violently all over the hospital lunch tray.

“Are you trying to feed me or torture me, Harrington?” Eddie wipes his mouth with the back of his arm.

Eddie still remembers Steve’s name.

“Kung Pao Chicken.” Steve over enunciates each syllable. 

“My memory is fucked - not my speech, asshole.” 

“Your attitude is fucked worse than your memory is.” Steve grumbles. “You asked for this yesterday, remember?”

Eddie chooses not to answer verbally and instead, shoves the tray away from his bedside.

Eddie doesn’t remember asking for Kung Pao Chicken yesterday. If that weren’t already obvious.

He dramatically chugs down a styrofoam cup of water. “Seriously, my tongue feels like it’s been assaulted.”

Nah, his fucking behavior today is all very reminiscent of that Shakespeare play - Steve only read the cliff notes for it during his junior year English class. Taming of the Shrew? Take a wild fucking guess who is the shrew right now…

Steve spoons a bite of his food into his mouth without throwing a tantrum. “Maybe your taste buds changed.”

“Maybe you’re wasting your time.” Eddie snaps back. “Maybe you should leave.”

Steve is  not in the mood for this. Not today. Robin is still borrowing his car and he didn’t get a window seat on the bus, so his Patience has clocked out early. Not even in the goddamn building anymore.

“Fine.” He gets up, packing up his meal that he can’t even enjoy. Look, Steve’s not asking for a candlelit dinner by any means. But changing the weather forecast - dramatically pouring food out of his mouth in that way? Munson is a goddamn piece of work (Pollocks probably, considering the mess).

That reminds him:

Eddie remembers how to be dramatic. Theatrics must be in his bloodstream or some shit.

“Are you leaving or what?” Eddie is flipping through the tv channels, not even looking at Steve.

“I swear on your stupid little board game, you better be an angel tomorrow.” Steve scolds, gathering all of his things underneath his arm.

“What was that?”

“You heard me.” Steve points a finger at him. “Your memory is fucked, not your ears.”

“Your tongue is fucked for having such shitty taste in food.”

“Nice comeback.”

“And you shouldn’t come back at all.” Eddie hits an imaginary cymbal at the end of his lame joke. At least there’s humor in his damaged mind. Too bad it’s at Steve’s expense.

Eddie remembers how to tell jokes again. Mean jokes. (tbd on the rest of his humor though)

Steve isn’t planning on saying goodbye, but he remembers the kids. They’ll whine him into an early grave if he doesn’t return to Hawkins with a little more insight on Eddie’s memory levels. So he decides to ask one more question before leaving:

“Hey. Munson.”

Eddie flips the volume down on the tv, and looks at Steve. “What now?”

Still remembers his own last name.

“When’s your birthday?” Steve asks again. He already asked this yesterday, but it’s worth a shot.

Eddie looks out the window, closes his eyes for a few seconds. For the first time today, his expression goes serene. All the frustration lines on his face relax. Ease up. 

He opens his eyes and answers calmly.

“January 10th.”

Interesting.

Eddie knows his birthday.

Memory log: Day 3

Steve should consider a career as a psychic or some shit. Maybe he absorbed all of Eddie’s memory skills unintentionally or maybe his little DnD threat was worth the added bitchiness. Whatever it is, Eddie is actually tolerable today.

“That’s the least vomit-inducing shade of yellow you’ve ever worn, Harrington.” Which isn’t exactly a ‘hello, it’s nice to see you,’ but Steve will take it because - 

Eddie still remembers Steve’s name.

“So you remember me wearing yellow?” Steve clicks his pen excessively. “Seems pretty advanced.”

Eddie turns the tv off today. Woah. “Last week, yeah. Wanted to join PETA just so I’d have a good excuse to throw fake blood all over it.”

Okay yeah, still mean - but also, his memory isn’t so shabby either:

Eddie remembers Steve’s yellow sweater he wore last Tuesday!? That seems impressive.

Eddie knows who the fuck PETA is (Steve makes a mental note to tell Robin about that one cause holy shit)

Eddie is making snort-worthy jokes today. (Are they still at Steve’s expense? Hell yeah, but who the fuck cares? There’s goddamn chunks of memory in his cynical comedy.)

Steve stays for the entirety of visiting hours. Eddie doesn’t ask him to leave - not once. They mock shitty soap operas on tv and theorize that all of the actors are actually rejected pornstars.

Steve likes This Eddie.

Steve hopes this version of Eddie is still here tomorrow.

“Did you think I’d forget?” Eddie asks slyly while Steve heads for the door.

“Forget what?” Steve isn’t following at all. 

“The Chinese takeout.” Eddie says sort of irritated. “Kung Pao Chicken, remember?”

Oh. Steve does remember. Eddie does not.

Eddie doesn’t remember redecorating the hospital bed with his chewed up food.

His face suddenly drops at Steve’s change in posture. “What?”

“I did bring it.” Steve hates this. “Yesterday.”

“Oh.”

“Do you remember yesterday at all?”

Eddie whispers into his palm. “I remember you.”

“Right.” Steve’s chest gets tighter at his answer though.

While it’s encouraging that Eddie knows who Steve is everyday, and is comfortable dragging his style through the mud (or fake blood) - this puts such a damper on their good day. Steve can already see Eddie reaching for the tissue box, ready to soak his disappointment into off-brand snot rags. He can’t let the day end like this. No fucking way.

“Hey.” Steve knocks his knuckles over the wall, grabbing Eddie’s attention. “We’ll try again tomorrow, yeah?”

Eddie bunches up the unused tissue in his hand. “Whatever.”

“Take a good look at this non-vomit-inducing sweater.” Steve teases gently. “Don’t forget it.” He does a goofy twirl, and wiggles his ass while he turns around just to see if Eddie will laugh.

He doesn’t, but it seems like he’s trying incredibly hard not to. Always a good sign that ass-shaking is still humorous even after inter-dimensional brain trauma.

“Never said it was non-vomit-inducing.” Eddie retorts after fighting back his amusement. “I said it was the least vomit-inducing.”

“Ugh.” Steve rolls his eyes, gives Eddie a small wave as he heads out the door.

He can still hear Eddie trying to get the last word as he leaves:

“Maybe you’re the one that needs a brain scan, Harrington!”

At least it was a better day.

Memory Log: Day 4

Well so much for the Better Day. Somehow, Eddie’s attitude is now reaching Mister fucking Hyde levels today. He’s the bad dude, right? The Jekyll guy is a doctor, which must make him the chill one… ya know, medicine and shit. And seriously, doesn’t Eddie need to be on some more medications anyways? If Steve were smarter, he’d write the fucking prescription himself.

Whatever, Eddie is Hyde and that Shakespearean shrew lady all chopped up and tossed together today. He’s slinging insults like softballs and snarling his bruised upper lip every time Steve utters a single sentence. Steve is reconsidering his comment about not taking money from sophomores, cause this is bullshit.

“What sexually transmitted disease brings you to the hospital today, Harrington?” Eddie asks rhetorically. And annoyingly.

He remembers he strongly dislikes Steve Harrington, that’s for damn sure.

But… he still remembers Steve’s name so that’s a plus.

And wait -

“Hold on. Did you just make a Steve is a Hometown Slut joke?” Steve is way too excited about the prospects of Eddie remembering his promiscuous past.

Eddie tilts his head to the side. “Hometown Slut would be a good band name, actually.”

“Focus, Munson.” 

“Uh, I guess?” Eddie reaches for his pudding cup. Huh. Maybe he’s sick of jello. “Why are you about to piss your pants over that?”

Steve flips to the first day of notes when Eddie didn’t remember jackshit about Steve in high school. He looks back up at Eddie. “Because that means you remember at least something about high school.”

Eddie shrugs. “I failed a lot of shit. It’s probably because there’s just way too much high school to remember. Something was bound to stick.”

Eddie remembers flunking Senior year.

And even though Eddie is living up to his satanic stereotype with his behavior today, Steve is beyond excited that memories are coming back. He just has to ask one more thing before leaving:

“Do you remember what color sweater I wore yesterday?”

Eddie examines Steve for a very long time. Hoping to spark the correct answer, Steve twirls again. Wiggles his ass. Gives a big, goofy smile.

“You’re weird.” Eddie looks away. Looks down.

Steve exhales loudly.

Eddie doesn’t remember Steve's least vomit-inducing yellow sweater.

Memory Log: Day 5

After Dustin analyzes Steve’s daily entries, they hypothesize that Eddie is struggling the most with short term memories (since he never quite remembers one day prior to the current day). It appears that some of his long term memories are gradually returning, so perhaps a little coaxing will speed those along.

“Well well well, if it isn’t -”

“Catch, Hyde!” Steve tosses a crushed velvety bag into Eddie’s lap.

Eddie pokes at the bag. “Hyde?”

“It’s either Hyde or Katherina.” Steve finally asked Robin the name of that bitchy character from the Taming of the Shrew. “But if you’re gonna play nice today, I’ll just call you Eddie.”

That solicits an audible gasp from him.

He must remember that Steve never calls him by his first name.

“Your references and gifts confuse me.”

“Maybe if you just open the bag, it‘ll un-confuse your sloshy brain.”

He dumps the jangly items onto his side table. 

It’s slow - the smile that forms over Eddie’s face. It’s the first time Steve has seen Eddie smile with teeth since that night in the Upside Down. One of his teeth on the bottom row is chipped, but it doesn’t even matter. He’s smiling wide enough to show all of his teeth and that’s the fucking win for today. Everything else is just a bonus. Sprinkles and candles and confetti and party hats.

After so much loss, they needed this win.

“So?” Steve wants words now. Needs smiles and words combined. “See something you like?”

“My dice collection.” Eddie says it like the lyrics to a hymn. As if these geometric blobs are his religion and he’s praising their existence at the altar of his hospital tray.

“Do you remember what kind of dice?” Steve had Dustin give him some key definitions on this fantasy shit. Not for his knowledge, of course - for Eddie. Duh.

“D20s.” He answers fast.

Steve nods, walks over and tries to pick one up. Eddie slaps his hand away quickly. “Get your Grease Lightning fingers away from my children.”

Okay. Well.

Eddie remembers his dice/children (and what they’re called)

Eddie remembers Grease? (Of all the movies Steve thought this guy would reference… Grease? Is it the leather? Hm.)

“Do you…” Steve is nervous for this question because he desperately wants Eddie to get this right. “Do you remember the name of the game you play with these?”

For a second, Eddie’s face drops the same way it did yesterday when he couldn’t remember the color of Steve’s sweater. But the dropped corners of his lips begin to twist into a devilish smirk.

“My dearest Stevie boy,” Eddie’s voice is dripping in that poisonous tree sap kind of way. “Dungeons and Dragons isn’t just a game. It’s a fucking worldwide phenomenon.”

Holy shit. Within those three sentences, Eddie almost sounded like Name Brand Eddie Munson again. The tone he always used with the meatheads at Hawkins High - that tone is back. The eyebrows that inch along his forehead like witchy caterpillars - those eyebrows are back. It’s just three sentences, sure. But it was Eddie rising from his gurney of a grave in many other ways.

Eddie remembers how to use his snarky tone of voice.

Eddie remembers how to make his eyebrows dance around on his face.

Eddie remembers *Dungeons and Dragons*

Steve is so excited, he doesn’t know what to do with his hands? What do hands normally do when they’re excited? Clap? Stay at his side? Flap around? Fuck, he has no goddamn clue, so he just decides to give Eddie a thumbs-up with one hand and ruffle his knotted hair with the other hand. 

Multitask the shit out of his excitement.

Eddie laughs along with him now, still admiring his collection. Not even bothering to stop Steve from his hair ruffling thingy. Huh… why is Steve still ruffling Eddie’s hair in the first place?

Okay. He finally stops himself. Has to pull his own wrist away but he stops.

“Guessing it was good day, Munson?” Steve wonders curiously, still watching Eddie roll the dice around in his palm.

Eddie nods. Multiple times. “Good day, Harrington. Good day.”

A prickly sensation hits Steve as Eddie says good day. A sensation that suggests to Steve that he wants Eddie to have more than just Good Days. Steve wants Eddie to have Great Days. Steve wants to give Eddie great days and present them to him in tiny velvet bags.

That’s definitely a turnpike of a thought.

He did this on purpose too. Dustin is coming on Sunday, which means Eddie will remember this moment. He’ll remember the dice and the Good Day. That’s part of Steve’s plan apparently. He’s making plans like that now. Strange.

“It’s funny.” Steve is pondering over his own discoveries, but also Eddie’s faulty memory patterns.

“What is?”

“You have the hardest time remembering the events from the day before…” Steve pauses to reflect. “But you always remember me.”

Eddie drops the dice out of his hands. He doesn’t look at Steve though, he just freezes up. His bangs have grown out quite a bit, but Steve thinks that Eddie’s face is redder than it was just a second ago.

Eddie remembers how to blush.

And Steve is going to milk that reaction completely. “You always remember that I’ll be here the next day. Isn’t that funny?”

Eddie kind of choke-answers him. “Funny sure yeah ha ha.”

Eddie remembers how to feel flustered as all fuck.

“Well,” Steve lifts up - still as smug and devious as ever. “I’ll let you have some alone time to catch up with your children. I’m sure you have lots of adventures to plan together.”

“Right.” Eddie finally sweeps his bangs back, watching Steve head for the door. “Does that mean I’ll see you tomorrow?”

“God willing.” Steve is sort of itching to ruffle Eddie’s hair again, but he doesn’t. “I’ll see ya tomorrow.”

Eddie waves and starts cleaning up his collection, swiping them back into their bag.

“Yellow.” Eddie mumbles very quietly. Almost inaudible.

Steve stops. “What?”

“Your sweater.” Eddie explains anxiously. “The tacky burnable one. It was yellow.”

Eddie remembers Steve's sweater again.

And Steve couldn’t be happier about that. Now he’s the one smiling with all of his teeth. The bonus type of smile on a day full of wins.

“It sure was, Eds.”

[dresshistorynerd]

Ranking Men's Costumes in Period Dramas - Part II: The Good

Part I: The Bad

This is the second part to my ranking of men's costumes in Renaissance period dramas. I selected 10 shows and films which I think have great costuming for the female characters and ranked them according to their costumes for male characters. I have noticed that even when women's costuming is great, men's costuming might be absolutely dog shit. And that's very much what we saw in the first part, where I ranked the five worst entries. For some reason shows and movies are afraid to put men, especially the characters who are supposed to be cool, manly and hot, into historical costumes. And I'm not even asking for historical accuracy, I just don't want my male characters living in the actual 1500s in basically modern leather jackets and pants. Like I don't watch period dramas for vaguely historically inspired modern fashion, I watch it for the historical setting, which costumes help create. This time we will be looking some rare gems that actually imo have really good costuming even for the male characters. For the five best entries, we'll go from worst to best.

5. Eizabeth R (1971)

Elizabeth R is incredibly committed to historical accuracy in it's outfits, especially for queen Elizabeth herself, many of her costumes being directly recreated from her portraits. It covers the whole reign of Elizabeth, so this commitment is especially admirable as the timeline is more than 40 years, including a stark shift in fashion from less structured and more toned down Tudor fashion to the extremes of the highly structured Elizabethan fashion. It's not perfect, The hair is not always great and like many others they fail at French hoods, though they are not upward pointing or pseudo crowns detached from the hood, so could be much worse.

The men's costumes are also very good. They are faithful to history, they wear stockings, very short trunk hose, ruffs and even have some structuring in their doublets and jerkins. However, the reason this is not higher is that the men's costumes especially, but also many other costumes beside Elizabeth's are looking a little sloppy. There's some structure yes, but the men's silhouettes are just not bold enough and they end up looking a little costumy. Even the codpieces are shrunk so small I'm not even sure if they are the half the time. Cowardice. Here's two Robert Dudley's costumes and an actual portrait of him. I think the second costume is probably an attempt at recreation of that portrait, but it's just kinda halfway there.

4. Taming of the Shrew (1967)

This film is set in Renaissance Italy, the women's costumes fit well to 1520s-30s. They are honestly really great and cohesive. My only gripe is that their bodices have a very 1960s shape and the make-up is a little distractingly modern. But the costuming is not attempting to recreate historical accuracy, rather they took the historical silhouette and basic elements and crafted a very over the top but cohesive look. I honestly love these very much.

An interesting choice is made with the men's costuming, especially the main male lead, whose costume is based much more on the Renaissance German men's fashion of that period. His costumes resemble the over the top fashion of the German Landsknecht (first image below). In Italy (second image below) the doublets were also very voluminous and quite colourful but not to that extent as by the Landsknecht and literally no one, not even the other Germans, rocked that slashed style as hard.

This is not really criticism though. In fact I respect that choice a lot. His costumes are certainly not historically accurate, but they do fit the bombastic aesthetics of the overall costuming, they are loud, large and not afraid to fuck around. This man oozes sex-appeal much more than any character with some modern plain black pants and leather jacket. This is how you costume a Renaissance man who fucks.

3. Tulip Fever (2017)

I am stretching the definition or Renaissance here a bit, I admit. This movie is set during the 1630s tulip mania, by which point the remnants of Renaissance fashion had already been left to the previous decade. However, I do think most of the movies and tv set in Baroque era also struggle with the men's costumes. Though not as much, because black was fashionable for everyone, the cod piece was gone, trunk hose were replaced by more palatable Venetian hose, fashion was much more stripped down from embellishments, leather was not uncommon in jerkins and appeared even in doublets and hose and the Hollywoods beloved boots became as actual fashion items. The men's silhouette in this period is very silly in my opinion and people seem to agree because it's usually skipped in costuming, but overall the period seems to fit modern masculinity standards much more easily than Renaissance era.

But I just really wanted to include this because the costuming is absolutely stunning. I have not watched the movie and probably never will because the post production was an absolute mess and it apparently came out as just a bad movie, which is a shame, but the costumes are so good. The ruffs are perfectly crispy. The buttons are dense and look just right. The shoes, both boots and otherwise are exactly right. The fabrics are honestly perfect. The silhouettes are just as goofy as they are supposed to be. And the women too have perfect silhouettes. All the details are just simply perfect. You rarely find costuming this meticulously created with historical details and great construction.

Honestly these top three could all be the best one. This final order was decided purely on which costumes i like more. And while I love the women's fashion of this period, I think the men's fashion is kinda stupid and boring, so I don't like these costumes on aesthetic level as much as the top two.

2. Romeo and Juliet (1968)

This movie is a perfect counterpart to the movie with the worst men's costuming which I talked about in the first post, Rosaline. They are both set in Italy around very end of 15th century and retell Romeo and Juliet. Both have very good costuming for female characters but obviously I think differ greatly in the male character costuming department. Romeo and Juliet costuming takes some artistic liberties to create a heightened reality quite similar to Taming of the Shrew costuming, but follows history much more closely. The colors are bright, the hose are tight, the giorneas are voluminous, the sleeves are long and massive and the cod pieces are prominent. Even the hair is perfect, even for women, they even use hairnets. I imagine the hair was quite easy to get right as hairstyles in 60s and 70s were basically lifted directly from 1400s Italian hairstyles. The men are even wearing appropriate hats??? Amazing.

The costuming perfectly captures the era, but they still clearly had fun with the costumes too. Honestly even though I appreciate the meticulously recreated historically accurate costuming, like in Tulip Fever, I tend to like more costuming that does take some artistic liberties to create a distinct look and atmosphere for the movie or tv show. There's some small things they don't get quite right, like having standard lacing instead of ladder lacing, metal eyelets (which would become a thing as late as in 1830s) and most egregiously Juliet in one scene has this very dumb supportive undergarment without even shift under it (first picture below)?? The outer garments were supportive during this era, there was no such thing as supportive undergarment. Shift was the only undergarment. But I will forgive these errors because the costuming is overall so fun and gorgeous. And they did get some details so so right, like look at Romeo's arming doublet (second picture below)! It has Lombardian sleeves!! This was a very specific style of arming doublet for this era and place. However those errors does prevent it from taking the first place. Which leads us to...

1. Orlando (1992)

This movie has Tilda Swinton in flamboyant Elizabethan men's clothing. That's all.

Okay, I that is all that needs to be said, but I will say more. This movie spans centuries and shows excellent costumes from several different periods, but I will focus on the Elizabethan costumes only for the sake of this post. The costuming is not super historically accurate in all the detailing, and clearly not trying to be, but it is always impeccable. Even while it takes artistic liberties and the story has an immortality fantastical element it still captures the men's fashion's silhouette much better than any other movie or tv show I know of set in this period. It does that better than the "we recreated these portraits" Elizabeth R. But what really makes this the best in my humble opinion, is that the movie is not afraid of the effeminate and emasculated modern perception of Renaissance men's fashion, no, it leans into it. The thole story is very much about gender and gender fuckery. Tilda Swinton plays the titular Orlando who is a cis man in Elizabethan era, becomes inexplicably immortal and later inexplicably turns into a woman for the rest of their several centuries. He is the embodiment of "I'm not sure if they are a butch or a twink" and as a bisexual I can only be grateful. But in all seriousness I think the costuming and the casting (queen Elizabeth is also played by a male actor) are so perfectly utilized to highlight the arbitrary construction of gender without needing to say it explicitly.

Conclusion

I have some closing thoughts. I took on this task as a way to show a point, which is that for some reason in Renaissance shows and film especially men's costuming is piss-poor, even when women's costuming is great. Male characters tend to have very bad costuming in Medieval media too, though this is also an issue for female characters. I don't think I have ever seen a Medieval show or movie with truly excellent costuming for anyone. In Renaissance media the issue is clearly not lack of skill or knowledge, they choose to do so. My thesis was that the producers think that the Renaissance men's fashion is too effeminate and too unsexy for the hot male very heterosexual lead, who the mostly female audience are supposed fawn over like the female characters. I still think it's very true.

Though there's an interesting trend I only noticed while doing this ranking; every entry (except the least bad) in the worst five list are from 21th century, and every entry (except Tulip Fever which is a little bit cheating anyway) in this best five list are from 20th century. I have some theories on why it turned out this way. First is that the studios have become increasingly more concerned with growing profits so they don't take risks and they put pressure on movies and tv shows to be as broadly appealing as possible. This means they can't just make period dramas for the core audience of period dramas, aka mostly women who are history nerds, so they pander to the modern sensibilities in costuming and not to the people who love to see actual historical costuming. Secondly, I think this might also tie to the broader conservative backlash against loosening of gender roles and broader queer acceptance. Among the core audiences of period dramas there are two distinct groups, queer nerds and conservative/centrist women, who don't want politics in their media, which is why they love historical stories because obviously queerness wasn't invented yet and people of colour didn't exist yet (they were and did). (They are not always this extreme, but you get the point.) As men wearing dresses has become a culture war issue, I think the studio executives are afraid that anything not masculine enough in modern standards might cause the more conservative audiences to turn on them. Even if they knew about the queer nerds, they wouldn't care about them.

This bears repeating: cowards.

As a thank you for reading all the way to the end I will leave you with the image of Tilda Swinton in mid 1600s men's clothing. You are welcome.

Part I: The Bad

[macbooth]

i realise i never actually posted my shakespeare gay sex powerpoint here so i’m gonna share the rankings thumbsupemoji

here’s how much each shakespeare play would get improved by gay sex but WITHOUT the explanations. 

10/10 (the winners)

- love’s labour’s lost - romeo and juliet - a midsummer night’s dream - hamlet - twelfth night - troilus and cressida - coriolanus - the tempest

9/10

- henry vi part 3 - the merchant of venice - julius caesar - pericles, prince of tyre

8/10

- titus andronicus - comedy of errors  - henry iv part 1

7/10

- the taming of the shrew - richard ii (this is only because i saw a boring production once. im sure its actually great gay) - henry iv part 2 - henry v - king lear - antony and cleopatra - cymbeline

6/10

- henry vi part 2 - richard iii - king john - macbeth

5/10

- the merry wives of windsor - as you like it - henry viii

4/10 

- henry vi part 1

3/10

- the two gentlemen of verona - othello (im standing by this one <3)

1/10 (there are no 2/10s)

- measure for measure - the winter’s tale

0/10

- the two noble kinsmen

-8/10

- all’s well that ends well

and an honourable mention to the much ado about nothing rank:

i am open for questions. godspeed

[ae-neon]

I find it incredible how a crack ship like rhysta has more traits in common than the two canon ships f/eysand and n/essian

I think I can understand why fans of those ships like them but I also think sjm's writing is so weak I can't get over how shallow the canon ships end up being.

The potential is there but she always fails to fully develop the individual halves so the whole just ends up looking like 60% [aesthetics + 5 quotes/scenes] and 40% [fanon or lost potential]

I won't talk about Nessian because I cannot stand the fundamental Taming of the Shrew dynamic behind the ship. It was never gonna gonna get me.

So let's talk F.eysand (in a surprisingly more positive light than I thought)

Like I said in another post, Rhysand being the younger sibling would have made F.eysand make so much more sense to me and given me something to root my understanding in.

One of my favourite moments of character clarity is Rhysand telling Feyre it was her defiance reminding him of Cassian that made him fall in love.

That speaks volumes. It tells us about him and his admiration for this downtrodden bastard boy who stole his clothes. It tells us a part of Rhysand feels helpless despite his power so he really appreciates powerless people who overcome that to be brave anyways.

But then it's retconned to him feeling Feyre was his mate even before she set foot in Prythian and I just... Like oh, nvm then, it's just an immaterial magical bond that doesn't care about who each person is that ties them together

And let's say you're a reader who really cares about mates and the bond, then the "like calls to like" nature of Prythians magic also makes rhysta and feyssian logical pairs with their own unique dynamics that would have been interesting to read

Also idk sjm just can't do enemies to lovers in my opinion. One party (the young woman) always feels like a victim whose healing is centred on becoming a suitable partner for the mmc instead of genuinely working through their trauma

I mean Feyre goes from nightmares of UtM to being in that same outfit in the CoN (also under a mountain) and is simultaneously dissociating and but also okay and even empowered?? These things happen at best 3 months apart like ☹️ she's just a kid, it's actually gross

The argument for rhysta here is that Nesta has no UtM trauma, would not have been manipulated into playing sex pet even if she agreed to go to the CoN, would have some leverage because the IC needed her cooperation to reach the queens. It's not a complete dismantling of the set up but it feels less idk icky??

Like had Feyre been given more agency I could accept more, that's why I really think Frost and Starlight should have been a novella about Nesta going to the Continent and the next book in the series should have been Feyre with the Valkyrie plot so she can reestablish herself outside of being Riceball's plus one

I could go into smaller details but I think this is the general view of my issues. Also I don't really like Hades and Persephone, Good Girl Bad Boy vibes so there's that

[poppletonink]

10 Things I Hate About You Review

★★★★★ - 5 stars

"But mostly I hate the way I don't hate you. Not even close, not even a little bit, not even at all."

Katarina Stratford does not conform to everyone else's ideas of teenage normalcy: she doesn't wear things based on what's trendy, she likes indie rock music and feminist novels and most importantly, Katarina Stratford does not want to date. On the other hand, her sister, Bianca does want to date. After their father decides that Bianca can only date when Kat does, a boy named Cameron (who has a crush on Bianca) comes up with a plan to pay someone to date Kat.

I love the characters in this film so very much. Kat is a feminist icon who I've idolised ever since I first watched this masterpiece. Bianca annoyed me at first but the whole punching Joey in the face thing was very cathartic for me, so she increased her placement in my favourite character ranks. Patrick Verona is amazing, and all of the Kats in the world know that not falling for him is a very trying task. Cameron, on the other hand, is the complete opposite of Patrick and yet he's extremely sweet and endearing - a hopeless romantic at heart (and a definite James Potter variant for sure).

It is safe to say that generally speaking feminism and rom-coms do not go hand-in-hand skipping down a flowery hill (what with most rom-coms being Chick Flicks, a controversial genre in the eyes of feminists everywhere). However, 10 Things I Hate About You manages to meld together these two assumedly opposing topics into an amazing masterpiece. It discusses a horrible idea formulated within society - that idea being that a woman cannot be in a relationship with a man, whilst retaining her status as a feminist. The irony of it is that feminism is about equality and yet we put this boundary between men and women, both of whom can be classified as feminists, and say 'No, you cannot date and wish for equal rights.' That's what is so wonderful about 10 Things I Hate About You: Kat Stratford is a feminist icon in her own right (what with her love of Sylvia Plath and riot grrrl bands, and her blatant "Well I suppose being male and an asshole makes you worthy of our time" comment) and yet she is also the star of a rom-com. She's a feminist who simultaneously "gets the guy".

Aside from the amazing characters and the amazing feminist representation of 10 Things, one of the best things about it is its music. Music plays such a big part in 10 Things, from it playing to represent the character's emotions to Kat wanting to start a band. The soundtrack overall is amazing, with riot-grrrl bands galore and Joan Jett as the queen of rock 'n' roll. Without a doubt my favourite musical moment of 10 Things is Heath Ledger singing "Can't Take My Eyes Off You"- it's one of the most romantic moments and an important part of Kat and Patrick's journey.

In case it could not be gathered from my prior statements, this modern, feminist adaptation of Shakespeare's Taming Of The Shrew is one of my favourite films of all time - on par with the likes of Dead Poet's Society and Clueless. It's wonderfully witty, romantic and heartwarming, and furiously feminist all in one - and if that does not convince you to watch it, then I don't really know what will.

[ladyartichokie]

I will need to rewatch 10 things I hate about you because I haven’t seen it since I was in a heath ledger kick cuz I saw the dark knight for the first time. Anyway! Thank you for answering. You said you’re not a movie person…top five favorite books!?!?!

I'm pretty sure I quote 10TIHAY at least once a day. Every single line is quotable. It's also part of the reason why I'm planning on writing my senior thesis on Taming of the Shrew.

Nooooo, the movie question was nice because it's easy 😭

I'm going to make this into top 5 series because a lot of books in series blend together for me

Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson. My favorite series of all-time, specifically the first three books but the second era is good too

Anne of Green Gables series. I actually don't like the first book that much (comparatively), but I adore this whole series. I could probably explain Anne of the Island scene-for-scene without looking back at the book

Little Women

Grishaverse, specifically the Six of Crows Duology and the King of Scars duology. The Shadow and Bone trilogy was not for me.

The Way of Kings series, SPECIFICALLY Words of Radiances, which is (in my humble opinion) the perfect book

[mandoreviews]

📽️ 10 Things I Hate about You (1999)

This is one of my favorite movies. I don’t even know how many times I’ve seen it, but it never gets old. It’s based on a Shakespeare play (The Taming of the Shrew) which is probably why all the characters are so interesting and relatable. Shakespeare’s themes are so universal and timeless, and I think this movie is too. I’ve loved this movie from the first time I saw it.

Sex/nudity: 5/10 (drawings of breasts and penises, off-screen flashing, kissing, many innuendoes, nicknames for male parts, talk of teen pregnancy)

Language: 3/10 (mostly mild but there is quite a bit)

Violence: 2/10 (a couple fights)

Overall rating: 9/10

[withasideofshakespeare]

Part 1: Graphs for Tumblr's Favorite Shakespeare Play

In celebration of getting 69 (nice) responses on my Google Form (see below if you'd like to add your opinion), I will be sharing the first round of graphs!

Comedies: Much Ado is in the lead!

Much Ado is the clear winner so far with 53% of the vote (that's 35 votes!) Coming in second place is Twelfth Night with 14 votes; for bronze, we've got Midsummer with 8 votes.

The "robber's" pick for best commentary is... "It's like a drag show but with plot." (Twelfth Night) Tragedies: Hamlet is winning!

Hamlet has a nearly Much Ado-sized lead with 34 votes! Coming in second is Macbeth with 18 votes (including mine)! Third place goes to another one of the four "great tragedies", Othello, with 5 votes.

Best commentary: "I could write an entire book on why I love hamlet. In fact I am writing a book on why I love hamlet." (Hamlet)

Histories: Richard III has a narrow lead!

Richard III is winning with 14 votes, just one more than Richard II with 13! Henry V (and the St. Crispin's Day speech in all its glory) is catching up with 9 votes.

Best commentary: "i saw a version of it where they brough a 10 foot penis on stage. they rolled henry out on a giant golden toilet, wanking, it was amazing," (Henry VIII) (I feel like I need more info on that one...)

Second best commentary goes to the multiple responses that say something along the lines of "Hotspur is gay"

Romances: The Tempest takes the lead!

The Tempest is winning by a large margin with 29 votes! The Winter's Tale takes more than a quarter of the remaining votes with 16 and Cymbeline takes a distant third place with just 4 votes.

Best commentary: "most unfortunate genre"

OVERALL FAVORITE PLAY: Hamlet

Best commentary (the duality of man): "I have no regrets." and "I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry"

Rather than an image description, I'll list off the data here: FIRST PLACE: Hamlet: 18 votes SECOND PLACE: Much Ado About Nothing: 13 votes THIRD PLACE: Macbeth: 9 votes More under the cut (and some bonus content!)

7 people decided to forgo their $100 reward rather than choose a favorite Twelfth Night: 6 votes Midsummer Night's Dream and Othello: 2 votes each The Merchant of Venice, Romeo and Juliet, King Lear, Antony and Cleopatra, Coriolanus, Richard II, 1 Henry IV, 3 Henry VI, Richard III, Winter's Tale, and the Tempest: 1 vote each Bonus: Tumblr's LEAST favorite plays (no votes in any category): Comedies: -Measure for Measure -All's Well That Ends Well -Troilus and Cressida -Taming of the Shrew Tragedies: -Timon of Athens Histories: -1 Henry VI -2 Henry VI

[amysubmits]

You mentioned that when you brought up the D/s relationship to your husband, you sent him articles about it. Do you remember where you found those articles? My husband and I have been married 14 years, and together 19. We had a very limited sex life in the past due to sexual trauma I had from my previous relationship. I always had very bad feelings towards sex and viewed it as something that just hurt and the sooner it’s over the better and you just have to get him off to be done.

It wasn’t until I started reading erotica novels about BDSM that I even changed my view on sex and had my first orgasm…3 years after being married (5 years after I first had sex). Now I have a much healthier relationship with sex and I can have multiple orgasms, multiple ways.

My husband is very Alpha and amazing at making sure I’m taken care of and he prioritizes me and my safety. We’ve always sort of had that D/s dynamic. But I really want to go deeper into it. He’s open to discussing it. I just don’t know where to start other than the stereotypical stuff you see everywhere. I almost wish we had someone that could guide us and I don’t know how to bring it up to him that he needs a much better understanding of it just from having no familiarity of how in depth the dynamic is. The thing I’m mostly drawn to is the psychological aspect of it and when the Dom knows what the sub needs and demands it, regardless if the sub is aware what he’s doing. Thank you for all your posts and putting everything out there for people wanting to expand from a long term vanilla relationship to a new D/s relationship!

Hi there!

I'm so sorry that you've had the traumatic sexual experiences that have made it harder for you to find your way with your sexuality - but it's so cool that you've managed to do so now! Mine was a bit different from yours it sounds like, but it took me a while to figure out my sexuality due to trauma as well.

As far as what I shared with CD when I was first sharing the concept with him...

I came across the idea of domestic discipline (aka DD) before we knew about 'regular' D/s. It took a while before I realized that DD is basically a form of D/s. There's often a lot more D/s content out there than there is DD, so being limited to just knowing to search for DD made it especially tough. But anyway, the articles that I found early on where all on DD sites. There was some DD site that had a forum that was most of what I used as a reference from what I recall, and that site has since shut down. It was already really inactive by the time I was finding it like 10 years ago. But another that I can recall looks like it's still up. That is

I also recall a blog that was called A Shrew Tamed but I can't seem to find that. I think it may have been a Wordpress or blogspot blog?

That's what I recall starting with, anyway. While I gained a lot of info from those sources, I remember feeling frustrated that I couldn't find anything that was "spot on" for what I wanted. There are plenty of non-sexist DD people out there, but DD does bring in the sexist people more than regular D/s does, so there's a lot of sexism that can get mixed into most of the content I was finding early on... and that was always really offputting to me, but at the time it was the closest I could find to what I wanted. So I'd just share stuff with Cd but then point out the parts that I disagreed with or whatever. And he sometimes had additional parts that he disagreed with. So we had to kinda patch together our own path using some ideas from others but then crafting the rest based on our own ethics and needs and so on. Which I thought was kind of 'wrong' at the time, but I'm so glad we did that rather than feeling like we had to copy some guidelines from someone else that weren't right for us.

It took a ton of talking to get started, and that was pretty uncomfortable for me at the time as my communication skills were pretty bad and I had a lot of shame wrapped up in all of this so it was hard to talk about. But, to do D/s safely, I really had to get to a place where I could talk about it pretty in depth and openly so in hindsight, I'm glad that we did push ourselves to do all that talking. It was needed. Some of what we had to explore in depth were what both of us were wanting to feel about different aspects of D/s, what things we thought would give us those feelings and what things we thought would definitely NOT give us those feelings. And then once we started, we talked about what we were doing all the time in the beginning. CD wanted to know how everything he did felt to me, and we tried to keep adjusting if anything didn't feel good or right.

It's great that you know that a big part of what you're looking for is for your partner to know your needs and to prioritize them. Most likely, making it possible for him to know your needs in different situations will require you to share your needs with him a lot for a long time so that he can learn the patterns of what you need. And I know that sucks because a lot of times when we want someone to know our needs, part of what feels good is them 'just knowing' without us asking or telling, but realistically, our partners can usually only learn our needs in extreme detail like that, if a lot of communication happens early on.

It sometimes feels like CD 'reads my mind' and 'just knows' things - but that's almost always because at some point in the past, we openly discussed that need in some way or another. It also helps that he is very observant of my behavior and reactions to things, so he notices if I have a positive or negative reaction to something that happens or is said, and he tries to catalog that for future use. But that alone wouldn't be enough for him to know my needs most of the time.

I wish I had some specific article to point you to that would be exactly what you want, but I don't know of one. I do know that there's lots of great content here on tumblr that you could maybe use to send to your partner with commentary about what sounds good about it and what doesn't sound so good about it, the way I did with those early articles years go. I have a tag on my blog #vanilla to D/s that I use to tag any content I write or reblog that I think would be of interest to people transitioning from vanilla to D/s. @cherishedproperty has some of the best d/s content on tumblr in my opinion. Off the top of my head, I believe @tinybitsubby and @cybister015 are two more blogs you can follow for vanilla to D/s experience. And there are lots of others that are just good D/s examples even if they aren't vanilla to D/s. I tag most reblogs with #other writers if you want to browse that to see other blogs I've reblogged from and check out their content.

Hope this helps! If you have any additional questions come up feel free to reach out again. Best of luck to you guys. :)

[mirambles]

Tere Bin in 45 minutes (Part 1)

Tere Bin is the latest hit Pakistani drama that is currently airing and driving fans to a frenzy. 34 episodes (c35 mins each) so far and this is the most ‘masala’ entertainer you will see. It started off well, but the creators are now dragging it to cash in on the popularity of the leads. The story, characters don’t make sense anymore and logic is non existent. Yet, despite all its pitfalls and failings, I still want you all to watch Wahaj Ali essay Murtasim Khan with all his swag, charisma and style; but I’m also aware that I stand the risk of losing my friendships for making you all watch this dumpster fire. You get my Catch 22 - so here is my summary of Tere Bin in 45mins to spare you the misery of sitting through the entire drama.

The plot:

Tere Bin is the classic taming of the shrew plot + Pak drama plot of cousins being forced to marry (why, why, why 🙄)

Murtasim : The sole heir to the rich feudal family ruling many villages. Hot headed , egoistic and enshrined in the customs and traditions that he has to abide by.

Meerab : His uncle’s daughter who aspires to be a lawyer. More hot headed than Murtasim. She is angry with her birth father and Murtasim’s family for a valid reason (Wikipedia has the whole plot).

The scenes to watch:

These are the best scenes in chronological order that have got me wasting my time on this disaster of a show 😂 but trust me when I say these are the good parts.

1. The scene which made me sit up and notice Wahaj, especially how expressive his eyes were. He realises the pain Meerab is going through. Beautifully shot with a lovely Sufi song in the backdrop.

Marriage happens, but Meerab puts in place a no touch contract till I consent and Murtasim agrees. For all his domineering personality, he does respect her feelings knowing how she has married against her will. But he is slowly falling for her, loves her feisty spirit and is clearly smitten by her beauty.

Rest of the scenes are post marriage where he is turning all soft, flirtatious and romantic with her.

2. Teasing her over ghosts in the villa:

3. Tum mujhe apnao, Sab tumhare ho jayenge

4. Keh bhi nahi sakta aur seh bhi nahi sakta

5. Just being a tease while forgiving her despite her making him eat fish after knowing he is allergic to it (what even 🙄)

Part 2 continues in next post, cause Tumblr won’t allow me more then ten links per post.

[tazzy-ace]

Twenty questions for fic writers

Tagged by @dual-domination Thanks!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

13. Not a lot by many folks standards but it still surprises me when I realize it's that many. In my brain I feel likes it's only been a handful of fics

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

74,551

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Mostly DMBJ, aka Grave Robber's Chronicles, with some Guardian mixed in

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Easy to be with you at 66 kudos, this one is actually my first fic I posted for a Taiwanese drama that I really love. Means a lot that it received so much love from that little fandom

Not a Hissy Kitten at 63 kudos, a very fun Liu Sang focused fic. Loved the vibes with this one

Sanctuary of Company at 28 kudos, soft Gen fic for Detective L. Very sweet and comforting

That Mystery Date at 28 kudos, aka my first contribution to the rarepair hell of weilanxie. Couldn't be happier jsksjs

A New feeling of Safety at 26 kudos, the Shen Wei goes on a tomb adventure with Wu Xie fic. Lots of fun

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Definitely. Sometimes my brain goes offline for a while and I don't respond for a month+ jskjd but I like responding to comments

6. What is a fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

I don't think any of the fics I've posted really have angst-y endings. At least rn. One of my wips has an angst filled ending for the ending but I haven't gotten there. But it's meant to be part of a longer series that would eventually have some comfort when it's all over

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

A tough choice. I think I'm torn between the found family comfort in Safe with Family or the just pure domestic fluff of My Shelter.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Nope. I've been lucky.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Yup. It usually ends up pretty emotion focused and intimate. Sex scenes as a character study type deal jsksjs

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

Oh yeah. Most of my published fics are at this point. The craziest would have to be one that no longer sees the light of day from back during my Wattpad days. A crossover of Supernatural and ... wait for it, drumroll ... Taming of the Shrew jsksjs. Aka what I got up to writing in a composition note book during high school in English class

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I'm aware of.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Nope.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Sorta? Me and Hyde have cowritten in the same shared universe before, building off each other's works for a 2luo universe. It's super fun. We'll probably end up doing some proper co-writing eventually

14. What's your all-time favorite ship?

Of all time, hands down Leverage ot3 of Parker x Eliot x Hardison. Adore them so so much

15. What's a wip you want to finish, but doubt you ever will?

I have doubts about finishing my Kunlun x Wu Xie fic set while Wu Xie is in college. My brain favors the shorter standalone fics that link together/are in a connected universe over writing longer form stuff so my goal with that fic of long chapters and 3 fics in the series to tell the story that's in my brain definitely feels like a daunting task.

16. What are your writing strengths?

The vibes? Jsksj but for real, yeah just feeling my way with characters and trusting how I know them to carry me through the story as I'm writing.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Attention span? I follow the passion and vibes when I'm writing so that it stays a fun and less stressful thing, so sometimes things get left on the back burner for a while. Haven't admitted defeat totally for any fics yet, but yeah. It's a challenge.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

Hmmm mixed feelings in fics in general. It can be an interesting device to use in stories. I don't think I'd ever do it in my fics. I'd probably just add after dialogue if it's in another language that the character perspective closest to knows, or just add narration that another character says something in another language.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Ooo another fic that no longer sees the light of day from my time on Wattpad. A major crossover fic with kids of various marvel characters and also Sherlock. Fun little thing. Jsksj I guess crossovers have always been in my blood.

20. Favorite fic you've written?

Parts of me I have been Neglecting Its subject matter means a ton to me and the fic I find myself going back to the most. Shen Wei discovering how to accept and love himself while realizing his love for others isn't as limited as he was always lead to believe.

Not sure who all has been tagged in this so apologies for anyone that's already done this but I'll go ahead and tag @theflagscene @fixaidea @meluci-fer

[vakhiyamusings]

I Need To Do What?! - Part 5

Part 5 - A Dance and a Kiss

Hijiri’s POV:

It was a slow day at the convenience store. Hijiri wondered why he continued to work at this little dump of a shop. It had been months since he decided to sample the commoner lifestyle and subsequently grown to like said life. 

Like was obviously a strong word. 

He would say he was curious about this simplistic life.

One where people toiled hard to earn wages for their basic day to day survival. They didn’t have enough saved in the bank to afford themselves some leisure. What were their ancestors doing in the past? Did they not have any idea of how to save wealth? Didn’t money accumulate after years of work and proper investments?

Hijiri was not averse to work however. 

He just preferred to balance work with leisure. One should always pamper oneself in order to maintain one’s well being and radiance.

He didn’t have much pity for those who made poor life choices or bad business decisions. 

You reap what you sow. 

Hijiri made sure his finances were properly invested and taken care of, the moment his father revealed his trust fund to him.

Regardless of his growing financial situation, he continued to find appreciation for this menial task of ringing up a bill. 

The person who convinced him to try this job was the curious redhead next to him.

Anzu was so down to earth and she had no qualms about calling him out on his bullshit. She was also never affected by his dazzling beauty, a fact which Hijiri never understood at all. 

Women and on the rare occasion, men, flocked to him in droves, waiting till he bequeathed them with his splendor. Only those people who didn’t find him attractive tended to have no reaction.

Hijiri was certain that Anzu found him attractive but it was her stubbornness to not give into that feeling of adoration that was frustrating. Hijiri noticed her blush whenever he got too close to her or flirted with her. She seemed to transmutate her conflicted feelings into annoyance and anger.

A true pity, honestly.

What he wouldn’t do to witness her under his thrall? 

He eyed the lava haired maiden who had a wicked temper to match her hair. She was exceptionally quiet and lost in thought today. It didn’t seem right. Hijiri was incredibly annoyed by her downtrodden demeanor. His attempts to needle her into arguments fell short today and he didn’t like it.

He wanted to have her attention. How could she simply ignore his presence as though he were nothing more than a pesky housefly?

The girl was incredibly stubborn like a damn mule and resisted all forms of romantic overtures. How did one go about taming such a shrew?

Hijiri still recalled vividly his last attempt at dating her. Transforming a girl into Cinderella and having her date a prince was literally the dream of countless women in the world. How it did not work on this commoner, he would never understand!

Hijiri wondered what type of guy could hold her interest. She was obsessed with video games, so it would probably have to be a nerdy gamer. Hijiri wasn’t that big of a gamer. He found them tiresome and childish. 

Looking at the friends she had with her, they were all the good puppy dog type of followers. Her harem (if one could call a bunch of guys that were always around her that) was lacking in diversity. They were all simply too much in awe of her to actually provoke interest of any kind. They didn’t challenge her.

Hijiri could be the necessary bad boy to kindle her interest and hold her attention.

Bad boys never asked.

They took what they wanted with no apologies.

But he had to be subtle about it. The object of his interest was a little too keen and caught on quickly to any odd behavior.

He walked over to where Anzu was leaning against the window, watching people on the sidewalk and plucked the broom from her grasp.

“Wha-”

“Let’s go. Our shift is over.”

“What? Hijiri?” Anzu blinked slowly glancing at the clock.

“No, it’s not. We still have 30 minutes left!”

Hijiri pulled out the pair of keys he had with him. The store manager trusted Hijiri to close up and do as he saw fit on most days. As long as he got a cash register full of cash, he didn’t care what they did. 

Ignoring her protests, he closed up rather swiftly and ushered her into the car. He rounded around to the other side while giving Tsuchiya instructions on where to go.

“Hijiri, where are you taking me? I need to go home!” Anzu protested, while trying to unlock the side of her door. It wouldn’t work since the child lock was on.

“I have an important job tonight and require your assistance,” he stated simply.

“Then why didn’t you ask me beforehand, you jerk!” she growled. Hijiri hid his smirk. He was finally getting a reaction from her.

“You always turn me down. I still haven’t recovered from the moment you plucked my heart and stomped on it till it shattered into a million pieces and fluttered away into the wind,” he proclaimed with a dramatic arm raised to his forehead.

“Huh? When did that happen?” 

He ignored her question.

“Furthermore, you owe me for that and a lot more. This is merely a repayment of I’m owed,” he declared with a flourish.

Anzu appeared gobsmacked and then began to mutter insults under her breath. She couldn’t refute that his help was indispensable when dealing with that stalker scenario. Hijiri was wondering if he was being too underhanded here, but nothing would’ve swayed this seething maiden of fury beside him.

“Where are you taking me?” she bit out.

“Costume change,” he replied with a flourish as they stopped in front of his favorite boutique.

It took an hour to primp Anzu. Her squeals of protests and squawks of outrage were fun to listen to. When she came out, Hijiri gasped. 

Anzu wore a floor length black dress with a slit that went all the way up till her thigh. Her lips were Ruby red and her hair was a tamed to frame her face. She looked beautiful! But judging by the murderous look in her eyes, Hijiri refrained from commenting.

“Perfect. We won’t look too out of place when meeting with my father’s business associates,” he replied, tugging her by the elbow. There was no way the girl would accept his hand. 

“Business associates? Are you sure I’m the right person to be there with you tonight? Why couldn’t you find any other girl who could probably fit in better than me?” Anzu’s voice became rather high pitched as she started to panic. 

Hijiri smirked and tossed his flaxen hair in front of her.

“True, but none of them are interesting enough. They fawn all over me and it has become rather tiresome lately,” he complained as he led her back to the limo.

“So I’m just here for your amusement!” she cried, looking irritated. Her ire painted her cheeks red. It was extremely endearing. Not that he would ever tell her so.

Hijiri cleared his throat.

“Besides, this event is kind of informal,” he replied vaguely.

Anzu tried to pepper him with more questions that he deftly redirected. Once she realized she wouldn’t get far, she became quiet.

Hijiri wasn’t exactly lying about the meeting. He was planning on meeting up with his old friends from the private school he used to attend tonight. They were all sons of his father’s business associates and his father encouraged him to maintain a good working relationship with them. 

The next generation of business partners decided to meet up every other week at their favorite club, flirt with girls and just have a good time.

He wondered how the guys would react to Anzu. While the others tended to bring their girlfriends and weekly flings to these events, Hijiri never did so. It was going to be interesting to say the least.

When the limousine stopped in front of Club Rizzo, Anzu’s eyes widened into big saucers. Hijiri glanced at the club wondering how Anzu might perceive this venue.

It was a typical 5 star hotel with a fountain in the front and a few palm trees around it. The valet service was acceptable as they opened the door and welcomed them warmly.

Hijiri held out his hand and hid his grin when Anzu accepted it. She was now clinging onto his arm and Hijiri simply adored it. If he’d known she would have been intimidated by his simple club, he would’ve brought her here much earlier.

“Hijiri, if anything goes wrong, don’t blame me for it. This is so not my scene!” she hissed into his ear. 

Hijiri chuckled and pulled them to a stop.

He cupped her cheek, smiling at her.

“Just relax and be yourself. It will be enjoyable,” he said.

Anzu let out a shaky breath and nodded. She appeared to be gearing herself up to go to battle.

Hijiri was amused by it all.

This was going to be fun!

——————————————————-

It was most definitely not fun.

Interesting, if one squinted at it in a particular way, but it was far more troublesome than he’d ever expected.

Hijiri had changed a lot after dealing with commoners on a daily basis. He hadn’t noticed till he came to visit his old acquaintances with Anzu by his side.

Tatami, the son of a large shipping company and one of his closest friends got off on the wrong foot with Anzu almost immediately. It started off with a simple greeting and his usual appraisal of any girl they saw. He always found it funny to rate the women at the bar and decided Anzu would fair a solid 8.5 and would probably score more if she smiled and blushed. Anzu turned beet red at that and splashed water on his face, calling him a disgusting pig.

Hijiri actually found himself agreeing with her assessment. He never cared much about Tatami’s behavior before but he did not like the way he spoke to Anzu.

The rest of the gang was both amused and annoyed by the sudden appearance of a lively redhead. Tatami vacated the scene but not before he ordered Hijiri to keep his bitch on a tighter leash. Hijiri merely rolled his eyes and told him that his ‘girlfriend’ was being kind tonight and that Tatami better apologize to Anzu if he wanted to continue their partnership. Tatami cursed him and walked away.

Hijiri knew that he would soon come crawling back with his tail tucked between his legs soon enough. Hijiri’s assistance was rather valuable. 

Hijiri turned back to Anzu and saw her look freaked out.

“Hijiri,” she gasped.

“I’m so sorry!”

Hijiri frowned at her words. Why was she apologizing?

“No, I’m actually not sorry for yelling at him but I am truly sorry for messing up your business deal with him. Your father is going to be so upset! I, uh, if you, er, do I need to talk to him? A-apologize?” she asked in a pained voice. Her expression wavered between guilt and disgust, making  Hijiri laugh.

Anzu appeared offended at his response.

“No, no, it’s fine. It’s about time Tatami got put in his place,” Hijiri replied with a smirk.

Anzu continued to worry her bottom lip so Hijiri placed his finger to tug on the swell of her lower lip.

“Why don’t we dance?” he asked, tugging her along with him without waiting for a response.

Anzu protested but was quite compliant in his arms. He led her along to the music, which she actually followed quite well. He noticed her trying to hide her blush when he twirled her around. It was quite endearing.

“I will never forget this moment. You blush so prettily, my little rose. So beautiful but also so dangerous,” he whispered in her ear.

Anzu’s breath hitched and he heard her sniff. Hijiri frowned wondering why the compliment made her cry.

“Would your life be better off if you’d never met me?” she asked quietly.

“No, of course not. Why would you even ask such a thing?” he inquired, confused by the line of questioning.

Anzu shrugged but didn’t say anything more.

“My father sent me to your school because he wanted me to learn about the commoner lifestyle. It never held much interest to me till you barged your way in and showed me the best parts of your way of life. It is actually charming in its own way. I would never admit this fact in front of my father, but I will confess to you. You changed my outlook on life. On the value of work and hard earned cash. I would never trade my indulgences for your simple way of life but it helps me appreciate my own a lot more,” he said. Hijiri wondered where all these thoughts came from. He supposed he had been thinking about them for awhile and it all just effused out of him. 

Anzu’s eyes shone with unshed tears. He smiled gently and cupped her cheek. Slowly he moved forward and captured those captivating red petals between his lips in a sweet kiss.

He vowed to himself that he would never forget the look of his sweet rose after their kiss. It would forever be scorched in his memory, the soft glow of her cheeks and the warm simmer of her amber gaze brimming with a million emotions.

[worfianism]

Okay friends webseries are an underappreciated form of entertainment and now that I've finally watched Headless by Shipwrecked (which seriously watch it and go and watch their other stuff too because its so good!!) I feel like putting together a list of my favourite webserieses. I am so sorry im not good at summaries and explaining why people should watch something but just trust me these are worth trying!

So without further do, in no particular order:

1. Headless: A Sleepy Hollow Story - Shipwrecked

A modern adaptation based on the characters from the Sleepy Hollow Legend. What if Ichabod Crane's new roommate was the Headless horseman?

2. Edgar Allen Poe's Murder Mystery Dinner Party - Shipwrecked

I rewatch this series on a semi regular basis because its just that great. What if awkward gothic fiction author Edgar Allen Poe and his ghost housemate hosted a dinner party for some author friends?

3. Kissing in the Rain - Shipwrecked

It follows two sets of actors who keep ending up as romantic leads in different projects over time and the development of their respective relationships over their careers.

4. Two Housemates - Sean Joseph Young

Literally what it says in the title. Two rather odd people, both in the arts end up as housemates and it explores their growing friendship and the development of their relationship.

5. Jules and Monty - Jules and Monty TUTV

Romeo and Juliet modern adaptation. Actually made me love R+J when I was an adamant R+J hater

6. The New Adventures of Peter + Wendy - EpicRobot & Kyle Walters

Peter Pan modern adaptation.

7. The Lizzie Bennet Diaries & associated series - Pemberley Digital

One of the original superstars of the webseries genre, my first foray into it, The Lizzie Bennet Diaries. Possibly one of the best, most nuanced adaptations of Pride and Prejudice I've ever come across.

8. Emma Approved - Pemberley Digital

An Emma adaptation, again modern and brilliantly done.

9. Nothing Much to Do + Lovely Little Losers - The Candle Wasters

My very very favourite of Shakespeare's plays gets a cute high school modern au. Nothing Much to Do is based on Much Ado about Nothing. Lovely Little Losers is alluding to Love's Labours Lost (which some scholars argue is part of the same story universe as Much Ado) and acts as a sequel to NMTD

10. The Cate Morland Chronicles

A modern adaptation of Northanger Abbey

11. Classic Alice

A lit student tries to live like the characters in classic novels to improve her writing and gain more life experiences

12. Call me Katie

A modern, high school au of Taming of the Shrew

Special Mentions (these are technically plays but they also make good webserieses!)

Spies are Forever + The Solve It Squad - Tin Can Bros

[ae-neon]

The Rhys x Nesta aesthetic. I had a theory that Rhys actually loved Nesta and saw her more equal than Feyre.

Hello anon

I love that aesthetic and the recent by @/edgarallanhoesposts "Academic Rivals to Lovers" was so chef's kiss.

In the context of canon: Not many people like this pairing for obvious reasons and I don't blame them at all. But once I thought about it, it just seemed like the best way to play out that story.

I joked that sjm literally tried to recreate the Cullens with her inner circle but the similarities are a little glaring at times.

(People love to say Nesta is Rosalie but Mor fits just as well. My Nesta/Mor = Venus/Aphrodite Theory post is floating around somewhere. Mor with Cassian and Azriel with Elain, an almost perfect Cullen dupe)

Except for one

The mind reader and the natural shield.

This was the best part of Bella and Edwards dynamic. It's key to a healthy slow burn and especially to natural character and relationship development.

Other blogs (mainly @/bookishfeylin) have pointed out Feyre's bad communication skills before (and have great Feyre content) which is probably why Feysand went so "smoothly" : Feyre didn't have to grow as a person anymore, she just had to have Rhysand affirm her and guide her thoughts. He basically tells her she's never wrong and shapes this weirdly narcissistic side to her personality.

These "selfish" traits might have existed in small pieces before but one of the biggest points of book 1 was Feyre realising she's wrong about Tamlin, about Prythian and even about Nesta.

To be clear I used "grow as a person" rather than develop as a character because she does change. It's just not a very good change. Which is fine if that's what the story is about or what the narrative means to do but we know SJM thought she was cookin

She was not. And it started with the fact that Feyre was literally not meant for Rhysand until sjm decided to switch teams in the last 5 minutes. And no amount of retconning could overcome that key thing. Otherwise Feyre would have had Nesta's power. But she can't because then book 1 doesn't work at all.

I'm not saying Nesta was meant for Rhysand.

I personally think she was meant for Lucien and that a lot of Lucien's character went to Rhys rather than Cassian.

Book 2 and 3 Rhysand and book 1 Lucien both have the gentleman bastard things going for them. They both have complicated and tragic family backstories.

Hell, Lucien literally has the physical scar to show his rebellion against Amarantha while Rhysand has the emotional scars.

But I digress:

But it is interesting that in book 1 she is introduced with the key factor of a steel mind able to block Fae abilities and he's introduced as a mind reader and manipulator.

As SJM herself plagiarized "Like calls to Like?" Or Whatever

This power isn't an Archeron trait. It's exclusively a Nesta thing. And it's never actually explained.

Again, I'm not saying they were ever gonna be romantic partners - maybe Nesta was supposed to play a key role in defeating Rhysand (a la KoH) if he had remained the villain ???? Who knows.

But I do know that I find the idea of Nesta and Rhys pretty compelling because not only is Nesta sharp and clever and unflinchingly stubborn (plus literally raised to fit in somewhere dangerous like the CoN without being made to act like sex slave) - she also counters the one thing that makes Rhysand really dangerous, forces him to always step it up and gets a rile out of him.

She isn't just his equal.

Given time to understand and control her power, she's easily much more powerful. And that's how you even out a dynamic from "victim to lover" to "enemies/rivals to lovers"

Which is why sjm trying to Tame the Shrew with Cassian was never gonna work.

[filmf4tty]

10 Things I Hate About You • 1999

A modernization of William Shakespeare's comedy The Taming of the Shrew, retold in a late-1990s American high school setting, The film follows new student Cameron James who is smitten with Bianca Stratford and attempts to get bad boy Patrick Verona to date her antisocial sister Kat in order to get around her father's strict rules on dating.

Review

Dialogue/writing: 5/5

Although some parts were a little cliche, I felt it really added to the story. They did a really good job of referencing the original Shakespeare play and the actors did an amazing job at bringing the characters to life.

Story: 5/5

It’s Shakespeare, what else can I really say hahaha. Again I love the way it’s modernised and the poem Kat reads at the end will always make me cry :’)

Music:3/5

A lot of the songs matched the highschool girl vibe of the movie but there wasn’t any memorable scenes that music played a big part in.

Cinematography:4/5

It’s a pretty basic movie in terms of cinematography but there were some beautiful shots, such as Kat and Patrick when they were both covered in paint.

Overall Score:17/20

I love this movie, some parts were a little tacky but I think it’s still a beautiful time capsule of 90’s/early 2000s style and culture. As well as a beautiful reference to Shakespeare and his work.

[shaxqueer]

the official @shaxqueer list of "shakespeare i've done"

*updated 5/6/24*

All's Well That Ends Well

Antony and Cleopatra: saw a performance that friends were in, which was cool because nobody does this play

As You Like It: saw a performance that a friend was in, would love to be in one day!

Comedy of Errors

Coriolanus: I really really want to direct/act in it (thanks @lungthief). only read it so far though

Cymbeline: no, but had vague plans to direct it before the pandemic

Hamlet: Holy moly yes. 2019-2020 Claudius/Ghost/asst. director; 2021 Rosencrantz/Marcellus; 2023 Ophelia; 2024 fight choreographer. Plus ones that didn't get off the ground (2021 Player Queen; 2020 Fortinbras/Marcellus).

Henry IV, Part 1: A personal fave, but only read (once with @socialshakespeare!). Prince Hal is my dream role.

Henry IV, Part 2

Henry V: Saw friends perform

Henry VI, Part 1: Watched as part of Hollow Crown, read as part of Rose Rage

Henry VI, Part 2: ditto

Henry VI, Part 3: ditto

Henry VIII

Julius Caesar: Another fave. Will be fight choreographing this summer (2024).

King John: I played a character who played Constance and Arthur in a different show, does that count? I don't think anyone's gonna put on King John anytime soon...

King Lear: Was going to be involved in a Lear-adjacent show as Goneril and fight choreo, but it was cancelled

Love's Labour's Lost

Macbeth: Directed/performed an audio adaptation (2020, Malcolm/Banquo/Lady Macduff), acted in another (2022, Malcolm/Lady Macduff), and acting/fight choreo again (2023, Duncan/Lady Macduff). Plans are to fight choreo again (October 2024).

Measure for Measure: My problematic fave that I want to direct/act one day.

The Merry Wives of Windsor: Acted/adapted (2022, Mistress Ford/Slender)

A Midsummer Night's Dream: Acted/co-directed (2019, Titania/Hippolyta). Doing fight choreo in 2024.

Much Ado About Nothing: Did fight choreo in 2023, acting in 2024 (Don Pedro/Verges + other tracks)

Othello: Only read.

Pericles

Richard II: If you ask me what my favorite Shakespeare play is, unprompted, this is what I'll say. One day I'll direct/act in it. One day.

Richard III: One pandemic reading that never materialized (2020, Anne), and one audio drama that thankfully did (2024, Anne again).

Romeo and Juliet: I have the dubious honor of having played Gregory, Sampson, and Abraham... all at once (2018, different show). 2023 Nurse/Montague.

Taming of the Shrew: Alas, no. The 2024 production I was going to fight choreo was cancelled.

The Tempest: Did a virtual pandemic reading. But one day...

Timon of Athens: I wish.

Titus Andronicus

Troilus and Cressida: Underrated.

Twelfth Night: My first Shakespeare ever (2016? Captain and Priest). 2022 Sebastian, and currently (2024) Andrew + other tracks

Two Gentlemen of Verona: Another bucket list item.

A Winter's Tale

MISC. CLASSICAL THEATER + ADJACENT:

Emma (2023, Harriet)

Cyrano de Bergerac (2016, Cavalier 1/Cadet 1)

Doctor Faustus (planned to direct 2023, hopefully directing in 2024/25)

Edward II (have you ever read a play that sucked so much that you fell in love with it?)

On ne badine pas avec l'amour: performed IN FRENCH (2022, Camille)

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (2017, ensemble)

Le Misanthrope (I have a dream to direct it with a female lead)

No Exit (2020, Inez)

A Christmas Carol (2021, Belle)

Emilia (2021, Lord Howard)