#alexander ludwig one shot

[ofwolfandmuses]

Is that [ALEXANDER LUDWIG]? No, that’s [YRIC]. The [28] year old [OMEGA] [CIS-MALE] is a [HUNTER] in the [FENRIR] pack. If you ask their friends, they’re known to be [CONFIDENT] & [OUTGOING], but they urge you to be cautious, because they’re also known to be [BULL-HEADED] & [RESTLESS]. Their friends also say that they’re into [BODY WORSHIP, WRESTLING, PUBLIC SEX] but don’t even think about trying [SCAT, GORE] with them.

BASIC INFORMATION;

Name: Yric

Nicknames: Bastard, None - give him some?

Age: Twenty-Eight

Secondary Gender: Omega

Occupation: Hunter in the Fenrir pack

APPEARANCE;  

Height: 6′2

Weight: 226 pounds

Build: Athletic, Muscular

Hair Color: Blond

Eye Color: Blue

Shaved/Trimmed/Natural: Light coating of hair on his chest

Wolf Color: Solid White

Wolf Size/Build: Average size, slim build

SEX;

Kinks: Body Worship, Wrestling, Public Sex, Flip-Fucking, Breeding, Musk/Sweat, Power Bottoming, Dominating, Submitting, Service Topping, Praise, Humiliation/Degradation (Light), Daddy-Play, Open To Others

Anti-Kinks: Vore, Gore, Age-Play, Feminization

BIOGRAPHY;

When Yric came into this world, crying out as a small infant, he was only given one name – no last name, as he was the product of an affair his dame had had on her mate. His father was a nobleman, one that managed to charm his way under his mother’s dress and squirted him into her belly, and her mate had been furious. How dare she cheat on him, how dare she ridicule the Radulfr name and humiliate him? While he doted on his eldest son, he treated the bastard with great disdain and just saw him as a stain on his family legacy. It didn’t help, either, that the boy had been a scrawny runt for most of his youth, making it all the more obvious that Yric wasn’t his – given that all of the Radulfr’s he had sired were thick, muscular, strong – but Yric took it in stride as his dame always told him that he was still worthy, no matter what his step-father said.

Still, though, he was always treated poorly by his step-father and given very little – often thrown the scraps of food and the hand-me-down clothes – but Yric never let it show that it got to him. Instead he looked up to his older brothers, never holding it against them that their father treated him like filth while he doted on them and raised them to be the best Radulfr wolf they could be. And Aurelio was the one he idolized the most, almost imagining being just like him when he got older so that one day, his step-father wouldn’t hate him as he did now.

But then Aurelio became an Omega, and the shame that came down on the family seemed to increase ten fold and while Aurelio was mistreated, any respect Yric had gotten from his step-father was gone in an instant and he was treated even worse than before. That he was a disgrace, a runt, an abomination that he should’ve killed the first chance he got – but because he couldn’t prove that he wasn’t his, he had to give him a roof over his head and food in his belly – and that the only reason he was allowed to live was because despite her being a whore, he still loved his dame.

The words were definitely hard to hear, but Yric knew that he could prove he was worthy. He knew that he was going to make his dame proud, and he’d do what he could to make his step-father proud too. Of course, when he presented as an Omega, too, that only added fuel to the fire but he was determined to prove that he was still capable of whatever it was he wanted. And because he was still small, at least in terms of build as he had shot up to over six feet tall in a manner of a year, he knew that it would only benefit his speed and make him an absolutely lethal hunting machine.

And it did. He quickly became known as a fierce hunter, and if any Alpha wanted to make a quip of his skills because he was an Omega? He was quick to fight them, using the fight training he learned from his step-father and brothers, and in time, they began to see that he wasn’t a pushover despite his scrawny stature. And when Aurelio took him under his wing, training him even further and pushing him harder than he ever had been pushed before? He started to build more and more muscle until he looked like he actually possessed the Radulfr name.

Of course, he didn’t, and though he looked more like a member of the man’s family, his step-father wanted nothing to do with him and he had set out to arrange a mating for him with a wolf from another pack. At first he had been a bit skeptical, given that the wolf in question was one that was hardly social and didn’t seem capable of cracking a smile – until one evening when he found himself in need of getting a wound from a buck cleaned and stitched together that he found himself seeing the softer side of the Alpha. That the wolf was someone that put a hundred and ten percent into his work, wanting everyone to be at their healthiest, and as the alpha began to spend more time with him, Yric began to think that maybe being mated to him wouldn’t be so bad.

Eventually the two of them did wind up mating, though Yric wouldn’t say he’s in love with the guy. Don’t get him wrong, he absolutely liked the guy and enjoyed being around him – when he wasn’t his sullen, standoffish self or pressuring him to have children – but the two of them still didn’t know one another that well because there were so many walls around the Alpha that it was taking longer than normal to reach his heart. It was nice, though, to live in a cabin with just one wolf instead of a whole pack of them, and the sex with the Alpha was great, but part of him wondered… was he going to be stuck in a loveless marriage?

And if so, would he grow to resent any children that his mate would have, just as his step-father did of him? Every time he looked at the pup that his mate was raising, after the untimely death of its dame and its sire rejecting it, he couldn’t help but wonder these things but he shoved it down because he knew there was no way he was going to ostracize a child that wasn’t his. At least… he hoped so.

[ijustwant2write]

ijustwant2write Vikings Masterlist:

Cast Imagines:

I Ship It-Alex Hogh Andersen x Reader

Sickly Love-Alex Hogh Andersen x Reader

Drama On Set-Marco Ilso x Reader

Rumours-Alexander Ludwig

Ivar Ragnarsson:

It Wasn’t You / Part 2

A Short Temper

Too Close

Lost In Love

A Typical Love Story

Obsessed

The Benefits of Friendship

A Modern Day Family-Bjorn Ironside x Reader x Ivar Ragnarsson

A Perfect Match

All Because of a Tantrum (Sigurd x Reader x Ivar)

Hvitserk Ragnarsson:

You Must Decide-Ubbe Ragnarsson x Hvitserk Ragnarsson x Sigurd Ragnarsson x Reader

Just Confess

I Don’t Need Your Help / Part 2

I Am One Of You / Part 2 / Part 3

An Unforeseen Future / Part 2 / Part 3

Certain Affairs

Rest Beside Me

Ubbe Ragnarsson:

Gentle Viking

You Must Decide-Ubbe Ragnarsson x Hvitserk Ragnarsson x Sigurd Ragnarsson x Reader

You’re Both Mine-Bjorn Ironside x Reader x Ubbe Ragnarsson

A Real Farmer

You Look At Me Differently Series:

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Sigurd Ragnarsson:

You Must Decide-Ubbe Ragnarsson x Hvitserk Ragnarsson x Sigurd Ragnarsson x Reader

All Because of a Tantrum (Sigurd x Reader x Ivar)

Bjorn Ironside:

Useless Excuses

You’re Both Mine-Bjorn Ironside x Reader x Ubbe Ragnarsson

Trapped-Bjorn Ironside x Reader x Halfdan The Black

A Modern Day Family-Bjorn Ironside x Reader x Ivar Ragnarsson

A Missing Piece

Ragnar Lothbrok:

Friends Till The End

The Funny Foreigners

A Strange Bond

Halfdan The Black:

Trapped-Bjorn Ironside x Reader x Halfdan The Black

Vague Memories

Just Be Gentle

Dark Things

I Am Not Small

I’ll Be There To Save You

The Quiet One Series:

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Harald Finehair:

The Carpenter

Margrethe:

Sticking Together

[imperial-russia]

Here is a list of books you might want to read if you are interested in the Romanov dynasty and the country and society they goverened. I have read some, I own most and some may be of warying quality and reliability. Some include periods before and after the Russian Empire. Some could be fitted into more than one cathegory. A few are not available in English.I will try to update this list from time to time as I find new books or new books become published. Enjoy!

Diaries and correspondence of the Romanovs

The Memoirs of Catherine the Great

Love and Conquest: Personal Correspondence of Catherine the Great and Prince Grigory Potemkin

Chere Annette: Letters from St. Petersburg, 1820-1828: The Correspondence of the Empress Maria Feodorovna to Her Daughter the Grand Duchess Anna Pavlovna

A Lifelong Passion: Nicholas and Alexandra: Their Own Story

Romanov Family Yearbook: On This Date in Their Own Words

The Letters of Tsar Nicholas and Empress Marie

The Correspondence Of The Empress Alexandra Of Russia With Ernst Ludwig And Eleonore, Grand Duke And Duchess Of Hesse

The Complete Wartime Correspondence of Tsar Nicholas II and the Empress Alexandra: April 1914-March 1917

In the Steps of the Romanovs: Final Two Years of the Last Russian Imperial Family (1916-1918)

The Last Diary of Tsaritsa Alexandra

The Diary of Olga Romanov: Royal Witness to the Russian Revolution

Journal of a Russian Grand Duchess: Complete Annotated 1913 Diary of Olga Romanov, Eldest Daughter of the Last Tsar

Tatiana Romanov, Daughter of the Last Tsar: Diaries and Letters, 1913–1918

Maria Romanov: Third Daughter of the Last Tsar, Diaries and Letters, 1908–1918

1913 Diary of Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna: Complete Tercentennial Journal of the Third Daughter of the Last Tsar

Maria and Anastasia: The Youngest Romanov Grand Duchesses In Their Own Words

Correspondence of the Russian Grand Duchesses: Letters of the Daughters of the Last Tsar

Michael Romanov: Brother of the Last Tsar Diaries and Letters, 1916-1918

Diaries and correspondence of other people

Russian journal of Lady Londonderry, 1836-37

Letters from Russia

The Diaries of Sofia Tolstoy

Letters from St Petersburg: A Siamese Prince at the Court of the Last Tsar

The Romanovs Under House Arrest: From the 1917 Diary of a Palace Priest

Private Diary of Mathilde Kschessinska

A Countess in Limbo: Diaries in War & Revolution; Russia 1914-1920, France 1939-1947

Memoirs by the Romanovs

Once a Grand Duke

Always a Grand Duke

25 Chapters of My Life

Education of a Princess

A Princess in Exile

A Romanov Diary: The Autobiography of H.I.& R.H. Grand Duchess George

My life in Russia's service--then and now

Memories In The Marble Palace

Memoirs by other people

The Memoirs of Princess Dashkova

Lost Splendor

Memories of the Russian Court

My Mission to Russia and Other Diplomatic Memories

An Ambassador's Memoirs

The Real Tsaritsa

Thirteen Years at the Russian Court

The False Anastasia

Six Years at the Russian Court

Before the Storm

The Life and Tragedy of Alexandra Feodorovna Empress of Russia

Left Behind

At the Court of the Last Tsar

Memories of Russia 1916-1919

The Emperor Nicholas II: As I Knew Him

The Sokolov Investigation of the Alleged Murder of the Russian Imperial Family

The Russia That I Loved

Dancing in Petersburg: The Memoirs of Kschessinska

On the Estate: Memoirs of a Russian Lady before the Revolution

Theater Street

The Other Russia: The Experience of Exile

Russia Through Women's Eyes: Autobiographies from Tsarist Russia

The Fall of the Romanovs: Political Dreams and Personal Struggles in a Time of Revolution

Tommorow Will Come

Fanny Lear: Love and Scandal in Tsarist Russia

The Coronation of Tsar Nicholas II

Days of the Russian Revolution: Memoirs from the right, 1905-1917

The House by the Dvina: A Russian Childhood

Under Three Tsars

Last days at Tsarskoe Selo

Last Years of the Court at Tsarskoe Selo

The Real Romanovs

Biographies of the Romanovs and general topics concerning them

The Romanovs: Autocrats of All the Russias

The Romanovs: 1613-1918

The Romanovs

The Romanovs: Ruling Russia 1613-1917

Secret Lives of the Tsars: Three Centuries of Autocracy, Debauchery, Betrayal, Murder, and Madness from Romanov Russia

The Tragic Dynasty: A History of the Romanovs

The Family Romanov: Murder, Rebellion, and the Fall of Imperial Russia

Romanov Autumn: Stories from the Last Century of Imperial Russia

The Romanovs, 1818–1959: Alexander II of Russia and His Family

Alexis, Tsar of all the Russias

Sophia: Regent of Russia, 1657-1704

Peter the Great: His Life and World

Peter the Great

Terrible Tsarinas: Five Russian Women in Power

Elizabeth and Catherine: Empresses of All the Russias

Catherine the Great

Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman

Catherine the Great & Potemkin: the imperial love affair

Catherine the Great: Love, Sex, and Power

Great Catherine: The Life of Catherine the Great, Empress of Russia

The Empress of Art: Catherine the Great and the Transformation of Russia

Alexander I: The Tsar Who Defeated Napoleon

Alexander I: Tsar of War and Peace

Alexander of Russia: Napoleon's Conqueror

Nicholas I and Official Nationality in Russia 1825 - 1855

Nicholas I: Emperor and Autocrat of All the Russias

Becoming a Romanov. Grand Duchess Elena of Russia and her World

Alexander II: The Last Great Tsar

Katia: Wife Before God

Alexander III: His Life and Reign

Little Mother of Russia: A Biography of the Empress Marie Feodorovna

Nicholas II: Emperor of All the Russias

Nicholas II: Last of the Tsars

The Last of the Tsars : Nicholas II and the Russian Revolution

The Last Tsar: The Life and Death of Nicholas II

King, Kaiser, Tsar: Three Royal Cousins Who Led The World To War

A Gathered Radiance: The Life of Alexandra Romanov, Russia's Last Empress

The Last Empress: The Life and Times of Alexandra Feodorovna, Tsarina of Russia

Alexandra

Alexandra: The Last Tsarina

Nicholas and Alexandra

Alix and Nicky: The Passion of the Last Tsar and Tsarina

The Last Tsar & Tsarina

The Four Graces: Queen Victoria's Hessian Granddaughters

The Imperial Tea Party: Family, Politics and Betrayal: the Ill-Fated British and Russian Royal Alliance

From Splendor to Revolution: The Romanov Women, 1847-1928

Born to Rule: Five Reigning Consorts, Granddaughters of Queen Victoria

Queen Victoria and The Romanovs: Sixty Years of Mutual Distrust

Queen Victoria's Matchmaking: The Royal Marriages that Shaped Europe

Imperial Requiem: Four Royal Women and the Fall of the Age of Empires

The Romanov Royal Martyrs: What Silence Could Not Conceal

The Romanovs: Family of Faith and Charity

The Romanovs: The Final Chapter

The Last Days of the Romanovs: Tragedy at Ekaterinburg

The Fate of the Romanovs

The Murder of the Romanovs

The House of Special Purpose

The Murder of the Tsar

Alexei: Russia's Last Imperial Heir: A Chronicle of Tragedy

A Guarded Secret : Tsar Nicholas II, Tsarina Alexandra and Tsarevich Alexei's Hemophilia

The Romanov Sisters: The Lost Lives of the Daughters of Nicholas and Alexandra

The Grand Dukes

The Grand Dukes - Sons And Grandsons Of Russia's Tsars

The Other Grand Dukes: Sons and Grandsons of Russia's Grand Dukes

White Crow: The Life and Times of the Grand Duke Nicholas Mikhailovich Romanov, 1859-1919

The Grand Duchesses: Daughters & Granddaughters of Russia's Tsars

Once a Grand Duchess: Xenia, Sister of Nicholas II

Michael and Natasha: The Life and Love of Michael II, the Last of the Romanov Tsars

The Last Grand Duchess: Her Imperial Highness Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna

Olga Romanov: Russia's Last Grand Duchess

Ella: Princess, Saint and Martyr

Elizabeth, Grand Duchess of Russia

Grand Duchess Elizabeth of Russia: New Martyr of the Communist Yoke

Grand Duchess Marie Pavlovna

Princess Victoria Melita

A Fatal Passion: The Story of the Uncrowned Last Empress of Russia

Gilded Prism: The Konstantinovichi Grand Dukes & The Last Years Of The Romanov Dynasty

Death of a Romanov Prince

A Poet Among the Romanovs: Prince Vladimir Paley

Princesses on the Wards: Royal Women in Nursing through Wars and Revolutions

The Romanovs: The Way It Was

Behind the Veil at the Russian Court

The Flight of the Romanovs: A Family Saga

Russia and Europe: Dynastic Ties

Biographies of other people

The Tsar's Doctor: The Life and Times of Sir James Wylie

The Romanovs & Mr Gibbes: The Story of the Englishman Who Taught the Children of the Last Tsar

An Englishman in the Court of the Tsar: The Spiritual Journey of Charles Syndney Gibbes

The Forgotten Tutor: John Epps and the Romanovs

The Rasputin File

Rasputin: The Untold Story

Rasputin: Rascal Master

Rasputin: The Biography

Rasputin: a Short Life

The Murder of Grigorii Rasputin: A Conspiracy That Brought Down the Russian Empire

The Man Who Killed Rasputin: Prince Felix Youssoupov and the Murder That Helped Bring Down the Russian Empire

The Princess of Siberia

Angel of Vengeance: The Girl Who Shot the Governor of St. Petersburg and Sparked the Age of Assassination

Imperial Dancer: Mathilde Kschessinska and the Romanovs

Diaghilev: A Life

Nijinsky: A Life of Genius and Madness

The Russian Album

Russian Blood

Tolstoy: A Russian Life

The Pearl: A True Tale of Forbidden Love in Catherine the Great's Russia

Katya and the Prince of Siam

The Defiant Life of Vera Figner: Surviving the Russian Revolution

Pushkin: A Biography

Photoalbums, cofee-table books

The Camera and the Tsars: The Romanov Family in Photographs

The Romanov Family Album

Tsar: The Lost World of Nicholas and Alexandra

The Romanovs: Love, Power and Tragedy

The Regalia of the Russian Empire

The Sunset of the Romanov Dynasty

The Summer Palaces of the Romanovs: Treasures from Tsarskoye Selo

Royal Russia: The Private Albums of the Russian Imperial Family

Russia: Art, Royalty and the Romanovs

Nicholas II: The Last Tsar

Nicholas and Alexandra: The Family Albums

The Last Tsar

Romanovs Revisited

The Private World of the Last Tsar: In the Photographs and Notes of General Count Alexander Grabbe

The Jewel Album of Tsar Nicholas II: A Collection of Private Photographs of the Russian Imperial Family

Anastasia's Album

Lost Tales: Stories for the Tsar's Children

The Last Courts of Europe: Royal Family Album 1860-1914

Dear Ellen (Royal Europe Through the Photo Albums of Grand Duchess Helen Vladimirovna of Russia)

Royal Gatherings (Who is in the Picture? Volume 1: 1859-1914)

Jewels of the Tsars: The Romanovs and Imperial Russia

Jewels from Imperial St. Petersburg

Postcards from the Russian Revolution

Before the Revolution: A View of Russia Under the Last Czar

Twilight of the Romanovs: A Photographic Odyssey Across Imperial Russia

The Romanov Legacy: The Palaces of St. Petersburg

Moscow: Splendours of the Romanovs

Fabergé, Lost and Found: The Recently Discovered Jewelry Designs from the St. Petersburg Archives

Art of Fabergé

Faberge: Treasures of Imperial Russia

Artistic Luxury: Fabergé, Tiffany, Lalique

Russian Imperial Style

A Smolny Album: Glimpses into Life at the Imperial Educational Society of Noble Maidens

Konstantin Makovsky: The Tsar’s Painter in America and Paris

Anna Pavlova: Twentieth Century Ballerina

Tamara Karsavina: Diaghilev's Ballerina

General history and specific events

Russian Chronicles

Russia's First Civil War: The Time of Troubles and the Founding of the Romanov Dynasty

The Court of Russia in the Nineteenth Century; Volume 1

The Court of Russia in the Nineteenth Century; Volume 2

The Crimean War: A History

Internal Colonization: Russia's Imperial Experience

The Conquest of a Continent: Siberia and the Russians

Red Fortress: History and Illusion in the Kremlin

Sunlight at Midnight: St. Petersburg and the Rise of Modern Russia

St Petersburg: Three Centuries of Murderous Desire

The Shadow of the Winter Palace: Russia's Drift to Revolution 1825-1917

Society and lifestyle

Land of the Firebird: The Beauty of Old Russia

Serfdom, Society, and the Arts in Imperial Russia: The Pleasure and the Power

Lord and Peasant in Russia from the Ninth to the Nineteenth Century

A Bride for the Tsar: Bride-Shows and Marriage Politics in Early Modern Russia

Origins of the Russian Intelligentsia: The Eighteenth-Century Nobility

The Icon and the Axe: An Interpretive History of Russian Culture

The Court of the Last Tsar: Pomp, Power and Pageantry in the Reign of Nicholas II

Scenarios of Power: Myth and Ceremony in Russian Monarchy, Vol. 1

Scenarios of Power: Myth and Ceremony in Russian Monarchy, Vol. 2

Pavlovsk : The Life of a Russian Palace

Entertaining Tsarist Russia: Tales, Songs, Plays, Movies, Jokes, Ads, and Images from Russian Urban Life, 1779-1917

A Social History of the Russian Empire, 1650-1825

Slavophile Empire: Imperial Russia's Illiberal Path

Russia at Play

Women In Russian History: From The Tenth To The Twentieth Century

St. Petersburg: A Cultural History

Russian Peasant Women

Romanov Riches: Russian Writers and Artists Under the Tsars

The Magical Chorus: A History of Russian Culture from Tolstoy to Solzhenitsyn

Family in Imperial Russia

Village Life in Late Tsarist Russia

Imperial Crimea: Estates, Enchantments and the Last of the Romanovs

Russia on the Eve of Modernity: Popular Religion and Traditional Culture Under the Last Tsars

The Martha-Mary Convent: and Rule of St. Elizabeth the New Martyr

The Way of a Pilgrim

Icon and Devotion: Sacred Spaces in Imperial Russia

Natasha's Dance: A Cultural History of Russia

Valse Des Fleurs: A Day in St. Petersburg in 1868

Murder Most Russian: True Crime and Punishment in Late Imperial Russia

What Life Was Like in the Time of War and Peace: Imperial Russia, AD 1696-1917

When Miss Emmie Was in Russia: English Governesses Before, During and After the October Revolution

From Cradle to Crown: British Nannies and Governesses at the World's Royal Courts

What Became Peters Dream: Court Culture in the Reign of Nicholas II

Faberge's Eggs: The Extraordinary Story of the Masterpieces That Outlived an Empire

Beauty in Exile: The Artists, Models, and Nobility who Fled the Russian Revolution and Influenced the World of Fashion

Revolution and its general aftermath

Spies and Commissars: The Early Years of the Russian Revolution

A People's Tragedy: The Russian Revolution: 1891-1924

Interpreting the Russian Revolution: The Language and Symbols of 1917

The Russian Court at Sea: The Voyage of HMS Marlborough

Former People: The Final Days of the Russian Aristocracy

The Downfall of Russia

Doomsday 1917: The Destruction of Russia's Ruling Class

Caught in the Revolution: Petrograd, Russia, 1917

To Free the Romanovs: Royal Kinship and Betrayal in Europe 1917-1919

The Race to Save the Romanovs: The Truth Behind the Secret Plans to Rescue Russia's Imperial Family

Students, Love, Cheka and Death

Red Victory: A History of the Russian Civil War, 1918-1921

Conspirator: Lenin in Exile

Hidden Treasures of the Romanovs

Romanoff Gold: The Lost Fortunes of the Tsars

Russia Abroad: Prague and the Russian Diaspora, 1918–1938

Bread of Exile

The Many Deaths of Tsar Nicholas II: Relics, Remains and the Romanovs

Saving The Tsars' Palaces

Catalogues

Kejserinde Dagmar

Nicholas And Alexandra: The Last Tsar And Tsarina

Russian Splendor: Sumptuous Fashions of the Russian Court

At The Russian Court: Palace And Protocol In The 19th Century

History of Russian Costume from the Eleventh to the Twentieth Century

Collections of the Romanovs: European Arts from the State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg

Magnificence of the Tsars: Ceremonial Men's Dress of the Russian Imperial Court, 1721-1917

Conspiracy and pretenders

Imperial Legend: The Mysterious Disappearance of Tsar Alexander I

The File on the Tsar

The Escape of Alexei, Son of Tsar Nicholas II: What Happened the Night the Romanov Family Was Executed

The Romanov Conspiracies

I am Anastasia; The Autobiography of the Grand Duchess of Russia.

The Resurrection of the Romanovs: Anastasia, Anna Anderson, and the World's Greatest Royal Mystery

A Romanov Fantasy: Life at the Court of Anna Anderson

The Secret Plot to Save the Tsar: The Truth Behind the Romanov Mystery

The Quest for Anastasia: Solving the Mystery of the Lost Romanovs

[jbreenr]

Let Me Be Your Whiskey

Pairing: Bucky Barnes × Reader

Summary: After a failed mission, you hide in the quietest place you know and Bucky finds you there to comfort you.

Word count: 3k

Warning: Poorly written smut (+18 only, please), unprotected sex (don't do that, kids. be responsible), injuries, death of a minor character, alcohol consumption. And I think that's it.

A/N: I am re-posting this because it marked error every time I clicked read more so, I'm sorry. If you interacted with the previous post, did you have the same issue? Lmk please. As always, lack of vocabulary and grammatical mistakes abound. *apologizes in español*

Inspired by Let Me Be Your Whiskey –Alexander Ludwig.

ᴺᵒᵗ ᵐʸ ᵍⁱᶠ ᶜʳᵉᵈⁱᵗˢ ᵗᵒ ᵗʰᵉ ᶜʳᵉᵃᵗᵒʳ

Brttttt, brttttttt. Echoed the sound of a machine gun. 

“Y/N!” Walter, one of your partners for the mission called for you. 

You knew that assisting The Avengers on taking down one of the biggest Hydra bases was going to be difficult. You knew there were going to be complications. But nothing like this. Not of this magnitude.

They were waiting for you. Already shooting the second you were visible through the woods. Your unit barely made it inside the building. Scratches and bullet gallings didn't stop you from entering and keep fighting. The adrenaline obtained from said welcoming, running through your veins like gasoline.

Too concentrated on knocking out a Hydra agent, you didn't see the one wearing a different uniform. Big error, given the two blowtorches secured to his forearms.

Fire came from them in big flames. Oranges and yellows were all you could see as you took cover behind a wall. Three of your teammates were defeated in a second due to the lack of barrier between them and the hostil.

“Y/N, help!” He called again. Agony and desperation, leaving his mouth as his skin burned. “Help!”

Glancing at the bleeding wound in your arm, you mentally recapitulated how many bullets you had left. Only one. One shot to save him. 

Getting out of your hiding, you prepared to pull the trigger, but it was too late. 

Blam! The agent shot first.

Walter's hand fell, his eyes slowly lost brightness and his body stopped crawling in your direction. He was dead.

Bip, bip, bip. The sound of the microwave snapped you back to the present.

You took out the instant coffee you made and blew over the mud, trying to cool the liquid a little bit. 

Outside, the sky was tearing apart, the slight rain that made you close the windows half an hour ago had turned into an angry storm. Thunders and lightning that could easily be mistaken for Thor's sorrow if you didn't know him personally. 

The crackling in the fireplace usually calmed you, your warm blanket and the fluffy cushion always made you fall asleep on the couch. But today was not the case. 

Images from the mission kept appearing in your head, the thought that you could have done more, drowning you in the deepest seas of gloominess. 

Taking a sip of your hot drink, you sat on the carpet and focused on the flames trying to grow. The reflection of the fire, dancing in your pupils as the sight of them dragged you back to that memory.

The roaring of a motorcycle and the flash of light peeking through the window made you turn to the front door. Three knocks on the dark wood said that you were no longer alone.

Bucky Barnes stood soaked and preoccupied in the entrance of the cabin. Leather jacket, dripping as well as his hair, and a wet paper bag stuck to a whiskey bottle rested on his hand. 

“Thought you needed something strong.” He shook the bottle, splashing water to the sides as he did so. “May I?” 

Moving aside, you let him in.

It was not a secret that the former Winter Soldier and you were close to one another. Being one of the few people that didn't treat him like a threat or a martir, he learned to trust you, to like you. 

Sparring seasons and lessons imparted by him to your unit of S.H.I.E.L.D agents formed a great friendship. Which was the reason you accepted to go to that mission in the first place. 

They needed backup and the new recruits needed the experience so you signed up, formed a group and boarded the quinjet with two experienced agents and two newbies. Now, you were thinking that you should have said no to Bucky’s favour.

He went directly to the kitchen, opening cabinets looking for the glasses. When he finally found them, he took two and walked to the small living room of the cabin only to find you in the same spot you were when he came in.

The squeaky sound of his boots stopped when he stepped on the carpet, where he sat and went to open the bottle, silently inviting you to join him, which you did.

With both glasses filled, he took off his jacket and tossed it to the other side of the room.

“How did you find me?” You asked as he handed you a glass.

“You once mentioned that as a kid your parents used to take you to a cabin to spend the weekend. That you felt at peace whenever you smelt the lavender of the plant outside your room on the second floor.” He smiled at you so sweetly that having not known him, it could have felt like pity. “Figured you could use a friend.”

“I settle for the alcohol.”

He was silent for a second. The only sound he produced was when he poured more whiskey on his glass.

“Fine by me.” And he drank again.

None of you said anything after that for at least thirty minutes. A quiet agreement that you both accepted as the only way to cope with the situation. Your interactions, reduced to him filling your glass every now and then. 

“I can still listen to his voice calling my name.” You said as a single tear rolled down your cheek. He turned to see you in the face. “If only I would've been faster…” 

“There's no way on Earth it was your fault. You know that, right?” 

“But…” 

“'But' nothing.” He left his glass on the side table, next to the almost empty bottle. “If something, it’s on me that you are in this current position.” With his flesh hand, he brushed the tear off your face and caressed your cheekbone with his thumb. “I’m sorry.”

In his eyes you could see that he meant it, even though you knew it was not his fault either, you could detect a glint of sadness in the blue of his irises. And it was not only your own reflection in them.

The tremble of your lower lip had him looking down. You licked it to prevent that from happening again, not wanting to start crying for real in front of him. You didn’t want to show weakness, though you knew there was no use now.

“You don’t have to feel sorry.” Placing your hand on top of his, you closed your eyes. “You are warm.” You said as a cold shiver ran down your body to your toes.

His other hand was placed on the other side of your face, almost contradicting your statement. Metal, slowly warming against your skin.

“And you're hurt.” His hand went to your shoulder, where he tapped the sleeve of your ripped suit. You didn't even consider changing when you arrived. “Let me see. You don't want it to get infected.”

Since the only way to get a clean view of the wound was by taking off the uniform, you found yourself reluctant to do it at first but eventually gave up, knowing fully well that you were in good hands. 

After unzipping the thigh piece of cloth practically glued to your skin a few inches, you lowered the side of the uniform as Bucky looked for the first aid kit. 

When he was back, he saw you sitting in the arm of the couch, uncomfortably covering your left boob with a hand. 

“It ain’t practical to wear a bra under this thing.” You answered his unspoken question.

“I didn't say anything.” He raised his hands in defense as he looked to the ceiling as if it was the most interesting thing in the universe, making you giggle. 

“No, you didn't.” 

He sat in front of you in the arm of the other couch, soaked a piece of cotton with alcohol and warned you that it was going to hurt. You only told him to go ahead before the hissed shit you let out. 

Biting your tongue, you let him bind you up, suppressing the need of telling him that it wasn't necessary since it was just a superficial wound.

As he rolled the bandage around your arm, you took the opportunity to contemplate his features; the frown on his forehead he had every time he concentrated too hard on something, his perfectly shaped furrowed brows, his long eyelashes batting with every blink, his white teeth biting on his lower lip as he tried to secure the band thigh enough without hurting you.

Finishing his task, he analyzed his work proudly and then looked up at you. “What?” He asked curiously. The small grin on his face, fading as he saw your seriousness.

“Thank you.”

To say that your words caught him with his guard down, was an understatement.

“What for?”

“For being here.” It was such a simple answer, such a simple motive that meant the world to you in that exact moment. Knowing that you could count on him in situations like that one… well, it had you on the verge of tears again.

He left the roll of gauze aside slowly and turned back to you, closer this time.

There was something in his eyes you couldn’t quite decipher. A spark of comprehension, or maybe complicity you bet he only had with you. You lost sight of it when he gazed down to your lips.

“Always.” The way he said it, the amount of emotions transmitted through those six letters, sinking in your throat, obligating you to swallow hard.

“Buck, I--”

He interrupted you. His lips coming in contact with yours in a slow dance. You didn’t respond immediately, but he was in no rush. Having you not broken apart, Bucky waited for you to react and when you did, he thanked whoever was above because it was better than anything he had ever imagined.

Falling for you was the best thing that ever happened to Bucky. His nightmares turned into dreams about you two, the abrupt wakings in the middle of the night were replaced by the nice arm stretching one does in the morning still half asleep, and the reality of only having Steve by his side, was discarded as soon as you smiled in his direction. If only he could repay you for everything you had done for him…

His  fingers brushed your hair back, tangling in the messy locks. The unexpected, unintentional tug made you moan in his mouth.

“Let me. Help you. Forget.” He said in between kisses. His vibranium hand, going up and down your healthy arm.

Your lack of answer and loss of contact between your and his lips concerned him. The idea that you regretted reciprocating the kiss, had him holding his breath.

Opening his eyes, he saw you already looking at him. Glassy eyes and a thigh, trembling smile, allowing him to do it. 

The hand that was covering you, fell. Your fingers, blindly looking for the zipper to lower it.

He stopped you. Moving your hand to the side, replacing it with his own. You brought all your concentration on the sound of the zipper opening to keep your breath from hitching as it went lowen and lower.

When the suit was fully open, and your belly button was visible, Bucky helped you stand up. With extreme delicacy, he took it off little by little, drinking every inch of you he got to see as he got rid of the piece of cloth.

Bucky was on his knees, not only metaphorically. Looking up at you, mesmerized. His hands, roaming around your body from your ankles to your waist, from your ribs to the back of your thighs.

Soft kisses traveled up your stomach and between your breasts, passing from your clavicle to your pulse point, where he stopped for a second to stick out his tongue and lick his way up to your earlobe. His teeth grazed there and you shut your eyes. Your hands, holding onto his elbows and going down to the hem of his shirt to take it off. When it was gone, he kicked his boots out of the way and unfastened his belt, with your assistance, his jeans were gone in a second.

Both your shadows moved down on the couch as did you, kneeling on the carpet.

Bucky helped you lay down on it, making sure your head rested on the cushion and positioned between your legs.

He kissed you again. Hungrily, passionately. It was as if he was trying to suck the air out of your lungs, as if he was determined to make you think about him and only him.

You put your arms around him, fingers playing with his hair, making him groan.

He rubbed his still clothed hardness against you. Both moaned at the contact and he did it again, friction clouding your mind, doing its job, distracting you from the real world.

You didn't know when or how he took off his boxers. It was until the head of his cook brushed against your clit that you realized.

You cracked your fingers, a sign that you were nervous, Bucky knew.

“We don’t have to do this.” He rubbed his nose with yours in a reassurance gesture.

“Shhh.” You placed a finger on his lips. “Just… make me forget.”

And he entered you, unhurriedly shoving inside, making you feel every inch of him stretching you out.

He held his weight with his left hand while the other caressed your face with the back of his fingers. Another tear fell, cutting off his movements. Too scared of having hurt you, he stood still halfway through.

“Please, Bucky.” Hearing his name said like that from your lips was a dream. It was the only thing he wanted to listen to from then on. Especially since it meant that he was not the cause of your ache. It was an inner pain crushing your heart that he knew he needed to get rid of.

And the only way he found effective enough in that cabin was to resume his movements.

When he bottomed out he didn't waste more time, dragging out of you almost completely, only to slide back in. He felt in heaven, like he had died and avoided hell, skipping the purgatory. God, how much he loved you.

The gentle pace did not last long, though. Soon Bucky found out that he couldn't contain any longer, and he increased both the speed and the power of his pushes.

Short but fast thrusts had your breath hitching. The soft sounds falling from your lips, barely audible above the pouring rain. Bucky's grunts, ran down your spine and settled in your belly, tightening the knot forming in your stomach.

The thin layer of sweat in Bucky's body helped the fire glistening his skin. A warm and comforting vision you couldn't take your eyes from. His silhouette shone with a unique light, a view way more beautiful than a sunset.

His grasp on your hip grew stronger as he hid his face in the crook of your neck. Digging your nails on his back, you went further to his ass, forcing his hips down, making him go deeper.

The outlines of two shadows found on the soft material of the couch, reflected by the fire, morphed into one as he understood the message and held you up by your lower back, bringing your bodies together until no air passed in between, finding a new angle to do as you pleased.

Neither you nor Bucky wanted the moment to come to an end, to have the spell broken and go back to the unfair reality, to postpone the inevitable, though you knew it was imminent.

You directed his face to yours one more time, conveying everything you wanted to say to him in a breathtaking kiss. He kissed you back, devouring the taste of your lips as if they were his favourite candy, savouring your gasps like they were water and he, a starved man.

His assault faltered, his thrusts became erratic and his arm gave up a little, letting a bit more of his weight fall on top of you. He was close and by the way you were thighing around him, he figured you were, too.

Doubling his efforts, he concentrated on making you cum first, reminding himself that _this_ was for you and only for you. You shut your eyes, getting lost in the pleasure, running in circles in a maze of sensations you had never felt before as you exploded. 

Your back arched and your mouth fell open, a silent scream coming out as your walls clenched, milking him dry, forcing his release.

Panting, he gave you one last peck and drew out of you, laying on your left and bringing you closer to him, keeping you safe from the cold you suddenly felt by being apart from his warmth. Sneaking your hand under his arm, you made sure he would spend the rest of the night with you, that he’d stay until the morning light. Not that he were to move an inch if you didn’t want him to. God, how much you loved him.

His paused, calm breathing and the soft snores he let out were the only things, apart from the rain hitting the roof and the crackle of the fire still burning in the chimney, audible in the cabin. 

You ran your fingers through his hair, brushing it, lulling him to sleep. 

Laying down on the carpet, hugging him and letting him hug you, feeling in your chest the passive beating of his heart, you felt grateful. Grateful that he was there with you, that he made you feel less alone. 

You knew that he couldn't make the guilt you were feeling disappear, that he couldn't stop the storm taking place outside, but you were grateful because he helped you kill the pain at least for a while.

[palmtreepalmtree]

Alright, no one asked for this and I don’t even know why I’m doing this.  Maybe cause I forgot to let the butter come to room temperature and my cookie-baking motivation is low, I don’t fucking know, but here we have a master post of...

The Men of Netflix Christmas Movies 2020

I started drafting this post thinking I’d do some sort of Top 5 or something, but then it turns out that most casting agents think women want a guy who is handsome but not so handsome as to be unapproachable or something.  Like we’re afraid we’ll get cut on a too-strong jaw or some shit.  Half of the rom com guys on this year’s movie list are too goofy to really drool over.  So you get the Top 4, I guess, mostly cause I’m done writing now.  Whatever.

1. Nick Sagar of The Princess Switch and The Princess Switch: Switched Again

One of the highlights of the first movie is a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it shot of shirtless Nick.  For an alleged baker, the dude is obviously not sampling much of the goods.  Certified fresh single daddy-o.

Would I like to sample the goods?  Yes, yes I would.

2. Sam Palladio also of The Princess Switch and The Princess Switch: Switched Again

Really appreciate all of the tight sweaters this dude wears in the most recent movie.  Thank you costumers!  Would rather watch him in this cheesy shit than that asshole prince in The Crown.  Make believe prince > real life jerk-off prince.  

*chin hands* 

Whatcha thinking about, Sam?

3. Josh Swickard of A California Christmas

Listen, this movie is so whatever I didn’t even feel like reviewing it.  But there’s a scene that was almost impossible to screenshot where he’s wearing these painted on jeans and has a little accident with an outdoor hose... and I’m just gonna tell you that you’ll find it around the 16:40 mark.

4. Alexander Ludwig of Operation Christmas Drop

I love a man in uniform but somehow this movie manages to make this rugged dude look as dangerous as a slice of white bread.  Spare yourself the time of watching this overly earnest and not very romantic American military PR campaign posing as a Christmas movie and just enjoy some pinterest scrolling of his more alluring shots.

Brrrr it’s cold!  Let’s start a fire together, Alex.  

BETTER CASTING NETFLIX!

And that’s it cause I’m scraping the bottom of the barrel.  Fuck, do I need to go bake cookies now?  *sigh*

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 9.1

1145 – The main altar of Lund Cathedral, at the time seat of the archiepiscopal see of all the Nordic countries, is consecrated. 1173 ��� The widow Stamira sacrifices herself in order to raise the siege of Ancona by the forces of Emperor Frederick Barbarossa. 1355 – King Tvrtko I of Bosnia writes In castro nostro Vizoka vocatum from the Old town of Visoki. 1420 – A 9.4 MS-strong earthquake shakes Chile's Atacama Region causing tsunamis in Chile as well as Hawaii and Japan. 1449 – Tumu Crisis: The Mongols capture the Emperor of China. 1529 – The Spanish fort of Sancti Spiritu, the first one built in modern Argentina, is destroyed by natives. 1532 – Lady Anne Boleyn is made Marquess of Pembroke by her fiancé, King Henry VIII of England. 1604 – Adi Granth, now known as Guru Granth Sahib, the holy scripture of Sikhs, was first installed at Harmandir Sahib. 1644 – Battle of Tippermuir: James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose defeats the Earl of Wemyss's Covenanters, reviving the Royalist cause. 1715 – At the age of five, Louis XV becomes king of France in succession to his great-grandfather, King Louis XIV. 1763 – Catherine II of Russia endorses Ivan Betskoy's plans for a Foundling Home in Moscow. 1772 – The Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa is founded in San Luis Obispo, California. 1774 – Massachusetts Bay colonists rise up in the bloodless Powder Alarm. 1804 – Juno, one of the largest asteroids in the Main Belt, is discovered by the German astronomer Karl Ludwig Harding. 1831 – The Order of St. Gregory the Great is established by Pope Gregory XVI of the Vatican State to recognize high support for the Vatican or for the Pope, by a man or a woman, and not necessarily a Roman Catholic. 1836 – Narcissa Whitman, one of the first English-speaking white women to settle west of the Rocky Mountains, arrives at Walla Walla, Washington. 1838 – Saint Andrew's Scots School, the oldest school of British origin in South America, is established. 1862 – American Civil War: Battle of Chantilly: Confederate Army troops defeat a group of retreating Union Army troops in Chantilly, Virginia. 1864 – American Civil War: The Confederate Army General John Bell Hood orders the evacuation of Atlanta, ending a four-month siege by General William Tecumseh Sherman. 1870 – Franco-Prussian War: The Battle of Sedan is fought, resulting in a decisive Prussian victory. 1873 – Cetshwayo ascends to the throne as king of the Zulu nation following the death of his father Mpande. 1878 – Emma Nutt becomes the world's first female telephone operator when she is recruited by Alexander Graham Bell to the Boston Telephone Dispatch Company. 1880 – The army of Mohammad Ayub Khan is routed by the British at the Battle of Kandahar, ending the Second Anglo-Afghan War. 1894 – Over 400 people die in the Great Hinckley Fire, a forest fire in Hinckley, Minnesota. 1897 – The Tremont Street Subway in Boston opens, becoming the first underground rapid transit system in North America. 1905 – Alberta and Saskatchewan join the Canadian confederation. 1906 – The International Federation of Intellectual Property Attorneys is established. 1911 – The armored cruiser Georgios Averof is commissioned into the Greek Navy. It now serves as a museum ship. 1914 – St. Petersburg, Russia, changes its name to Petrograd. 1914 – The last known passenger pigeon, a female named Martha, dies in captivity in the Cincinnati Zoo. 1920 – The Fountain of Time opens as a tribute to the 100 years of peace between the United States and Great Britain following the Treaty of Ghent. 1923 – The Great Kantō earthquake devastates Tokyo and Yokohama, killing about 105,000 people. 1928 – Ahmet Zogu declares Albania to be a monarchy and proclaims himself king. 1934 – The first Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer animated cartoon, The Discontented Canary, is released to movie theatres. 1939 – World War II: Nazi Germany and Slovakia invade Poland, beginning the European phase of World War II. 1939 – General George C. Marshall becomes Chief of Staff of the United States Army. 1939 – The Wound Badge for Wehrmacht, SS, Kriegsmarine, and Luftwaffe soldiers is instituted. The final version of the Iron Cross is also instituted on this date. 1939 – Switzerland mobilizes its forces and the Swiss Parliament elects Henri Guisan to head the Swiss Armed Forces (an event that can happen only during war or mobilization). 1939 – Adolf Hitler signs an order to begin the systematic euthanasia of mentally ill and disabled people. 1941 – The Holocaust: The Nazis execute 2,500 Jews by shooting in Ostroh, Ukraine. 1951 – The United States, Australia and New Zealand sign a mutual defense pact, called the ANZUS Treaty. 1952 – The Old Man and the Sea, the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Ernest Hemingway, is first published. 1958 – Iceland expands its fishing zone, putting it into conflict with the United Kingdom, beginning the Cod Wars. 1961 – The Eritrean War of Independence officially begins with the shooting of Ethiopian police by Hamid Idris Awate. 1961 – The first conference of the Non-Aligned Countries is held in Belgrade, Yugoslavia. 1967 – The Khmer–Chinese Friendship Association is banned in Cambodia. 1967 – Six-Day War: The Khartoum Resolution is issued at the Arab Summit, and eight countries adopt the "three 'no's against Israel". 1969 – A coup in Libya brings Muammar Gaddafi to power. 1969 – Trần Thiện Khiêm becomes Prime Minister of South Vietnam under President Nguyễn Văn Thiệu. 1970 – Palestinian guerrillas attack the motorcade of King Hussein of Jordan in a failed assassination attempt. 1972 – In Reykjavík, Iceland, American Bobby Fischer beats Russian Boris Spassky to become the world chess champion. 1974 – The SR-71 Blackbird sets (and holds) the record for flying from New York to London in the time of one hour, 54 minutes and 56.4 seconds at a speed of 1,435.587 miles per hour (2,310.353 km/h). 1979 – The American space probe Pioneer 11 becomes the first spacecraft to visit Saturn when it passes the planet at a distance of 21,000 kilometres (13,000 mi). 1980 – Major General Chun Doo-hwan becomes President of South Korea, following the resignation of Choi Kyu-hah. 1981 – A coup d'état in the Central African Republic overthrows President David Dacko. 1982 – The United States Air Force Space Command is founded. 1983 – Cold War: Korean Air Lines Flight 007 is shot down by a Soviet Union jet fighter when the commercial aircraft enters Soviet airspace, killing all 269 on board, including Congressman Lawrence McDonald. 1985 – A joint American–French expedition locates the wreckage of the RMS Titanic. 1991 – Uzbekistan declares independence from the Soviet Union. 2004 – The Beslan school siege begins when armed terrorists take schoolchildren and school staff hostage in North Ossetia, Russia; by the end of the siege, three days later, more than 385 people are dead (including hostages, other civilians, security personnel and terrorists).

[tema-makes-art-sometimes]

4, 7?

4. favorite thing to draw

ooo thats an easy one, character designs and flowers. specifically outfits I love outfits.

7. show us a WIP

Ive had a 2pame x 1p germano au floating in the back of my mind with antagonist italy and vampires floating around in my mind so have a shot from it with Alexander and Ludwig

[tvmoviechristmas]

Operation Christmas Drop (Netflix, 2020)

Time to lay your Christmas cards on the table, Captain.

Starring: Kat Graham, Alexander Ludwig, Virginia Madsen, Aaron Douglas

Plot Synopsis: Congressional aide Erica forgoes family Christmas to travel at her boss's behest. At a beachside Air Force base, she clashes with Capt. Andrew Jantz, who knows her assignment is finding reasons to defund the facility. (x)

In My Humble Opinion: It’s only a matter of time before I unleash my annual “I hate how many holiday movies are just blatant military propaganda” rant. I know that it’s coming, and my loyal readers know it’s coming. It’s one of my least favorite aspects of the genre and Hollywood in general.

It’s not like Operation Christmas Drop isn’t a prime example of military propaganda either. It’s basically one long PSA about how wonderful the military is because they distribute humanitarian aid at Christmas as a training mission. Only mean, ambitious Congresswomen with no hearts would want to shut them down! It’s a really egregious example of the trend.

However, Netflix is incredibly savvy and release their Christmas movies at 3 AM on workdays. So I am working on about 3 hours of sleep right now, and my brain is in an ASMR state of “this is all making me uneasy, do not ask me to articulate  why it makes me uneasy very well, but it is.” If I was a normal person or a reviewer who watched this on a screener at a normal hour and had a brain that was fully functioning, I might be in rant mode. I’m not there yet though today. I have barely gotten the sleep out of my eyes. So I’ll wait on that rant until the next military movie comes along. My apologies.

Outside of the military aspect (and there’s really not much outside of it), Operation Christmas Drop is boring. It’s a lot of like “we can have fun at the holidays in the tropics! Who needs snow!” There’s long montages where Colbie Caillat sings while they snorkel and lots of nice overhead shots of beaches. It’s like watching a nice screensaver. It was not helpful in the waking me up to face the morning. If anything it made me want to go back to sleep. So I guess for those of you who don’t mind military Christmas movies you will find it nicely boring, for those of you hate military Christmas movies you will find it infuriatingly boring.

If you are me, you are going to try to go nap now because there will be time to be more coherently angry and bored about the genre later. Made-for-TV Christmas movie season is only just beginning after all. 

Watch If:  You lost you Boston accent during college, if you are a true epicurean when it comes to holiday meals or if you like to sort stuff during your free time.

Skip If:  You are not a fan of snorkeling during Easter, if you would use a military vehicle for personal use or if you don’t think it’s okay for pilots to have big egos just because they are pilots.

Final Rating: ★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆

If you like this blog, please consider donating to my Kofi page! You can also donate money to kbange@gmail.com through either Venmo or CashApp. Thank you!

[lisinfleur]

Girlll.... Hiii !!! I've been binging on your amazing blog for days now.. And still you got content going on.... I adore you babe... So I stopped here to tell you that you are amazing and deserve everything in the world... Like you go queen... Amazing one shots amazing head cannons... Amazing everything....!. 😘 😘 😘 😘 😘 😘 😘 💜💜💜💜💜 Also can I be tagged in all your works babe?... * chef's kiss *

Sure thing, babe!

Welcome to my tag lists! You’re being added to the following lists:

General Content – For posts with Vikings Characters and cast in general (Ragnarssons not included)

Ragnarssons In – For the reactions with the sons of Ragnar Lothbrok.

Talk Show – For the posts with questions and answers to my characters (Valhalla Panel included)

Alexander – For the posts related to Alexander Ludwig and his characters.

Jordan – For the posts related to Jordan Patrick Smith and his characters.

Marco – For the posts related to Marco Ilsø and his characters.

David – For the posts related to David Lindström and his characters.

Alex – For the posts related to Alex Høgh Andersen and his characters.

Loki – For the posts related to Tom Hiddlestone’s character on Marvel MCU, Loki.

To warrant you’ll be tagged, please observe the topics below and the updates where I’ll inform news about the tagging process. You can also take a look at my Masterlist and Original Content Masterlist for a catch-up!

If something is wrong and you’re not being notified, please send me an ask and I’ll try to solve the problem! Keep in mind that if you do not notify me there is a problem going on, I won’t be able to help you, ok?

If you want, you can check on my secondary pages for my publications (including original and exclusive ones)!

Thank you for your love!!

Where you can find me and my work:

Patreon Page (support)

Ko-fi Page  (support)

AO3 (inactive)

Wattpad (under construction) 

Facebook  (under construction) 

Instagram (edits and images)

Important things to know:

If your name is tagged at my posts, but you aren’t receiving the notifications: First, check if the setting for “Allow this blog to appear in search results” is turned off for your blog and turn it back on. User mention relies on Tumblr’s users’ search, and disallowing all searches for the blog includes opting to be out of this search, so, unmarkable. Second, check on my page if there is a little lightning picture beside the little man at the right upper corner of your screen (next to the following button). If the little lightning is not there, click on "Receive Notifications" to allow Tumblr to send you my notifications whenever I post something! And third, you can send me an ask informing about the problem and I’ll contact you so we can solve your problem together!

If your blog is a secondary blog: I won’t be able to find you at the user search, so please send me an ask with your main blog so I can tag you and you can receive notifications! Don’t worry, your ID will be preserved!

If you change your ID: Whenever the text after “@” changes on your blog, you have to resend your ask to be tagged on my lists, cause sometimes the Tumblr doesn’t make the bound of your new ID with your old ID and then I just become unable to tag you. So please, if you change your ID, do not forget to inform me of the changes!

Whenever a new tag list is open: Only the patrons will be automatically included so, stay tuned to my posts about the tag lists and if you want to be added in the newest ones, send me a new ask and I will include you in the lists of your preference. Or become a patron!

If your blog is tagged as NSFW for the Tumblr new politics: I will probably be unable to tag you since I can't find you through the search base. However, send me your ask anyway and we’ll find a way to contact you whenever a new post of your tag lists is released!

[aion-rsa]

Vikings Season 6 Part Two Review (Spoiler-Free)

https://ift.tt/38xWVjR

This Vikings season 6 part two review is based on all 10 episodes and contains no spoilers.

Vikings has always been Ragnar Lothbrok’s (Travis Fimmel) story. First, we witnessed the rise of the man himself from farmer to visionary to earl to king to legend. Post-Ragnar, the show became an exploration of how Ragnar’s legend suffused and inhabited his sons, and the consequences of its interpretation upon enemies, frenemies, kith, kin and Kings the world over. And, now, the saga comes to an end with the second half of Vikings swansong sixth season, ten episodes that drip with all the blood, battles, tears, seers, fears, and philosophy you’ve come to expect from the History Channel’s flagship show (though this season will premiere on Amazon).    

It’s tough to write a spoiler-free review of a show like Vikings, especially here at the show’s conclusion where it won’t be surprising to learn that the blood flows like wine. Who lives, who dies? Who returns, who stays away? Even acknowledging the presence or absence of a surprise within a certain context could constitute a massive spoiler. As a consequence, much of this review will read like the ravings of the show’s very own seer, a web of insinuations and mystical mumbo jumbo designed only to make sense once the prophecy has been made flesh. 

Early in the season, Gunnhild (Ragga Ragnars) remarks: “Perhaps the Golden Age of the Vikings is gone.” This is a perfect distillation of the thematic ground covered by this half season. Here we have the fall of an empire, the erosion and sometimes amputation of the old ways, and the savage geo-surgery of a flailing world in flux. Absolute power corrupts absolutely; only the truly mad would seek to be king. The battle between paganism and Christianity, always at the forefront of the series, reaches its culmination here, and the episodes are awash with rich religious imagery and symbolism. There is also an answer, of sorts, to the question of which of Ragnar’s sons best embodies and encapsulates his legacy. Each of them carries a chunk of their father distilled within them: Ivar (Alex Høgh Andersen), his wrath, his thirst to conquer; Bjorn (Alexander Ludwig), his galvanizing spirit, his authority, his legend; Hvitserk (Marco Ilsø) , his pain, confusion and predilection for self-destruction; and Ubbe (Jordan Patrick Smith), his sense of adventure, his vision. Series creator and showrunner Michael Hirst knows that you come to these final episodes laden with ideas and expectations surrounding this philosophical set-to, and does a sterling job subverting or confirming them. His skill is in making the surprising seem inevitable, and the inevitable seem surprising.

Most of the Vikings’ world is bathed in blue and grey, an endless twilight of death and despair. Within these grim parameters the direction and cinematography never fails to evoke the beautiful, misty emptiness of the world: the howling of the wind on desolate hills; silence, smooth and dark, stretching towards the pale horizon. There are lots of sweeping aerial shots, which cast you, the audience, as Gods looking down on the action from above. The emotional distance this creates, especially above battlefields, reinforces the absurdity and futility of the bloodshed, something we’ve been encouraged to feel in every season, but never moreso than now. 

The season is front-loaded with some thrilling sequences (including a suitably chilling use of CGI), and at least one moment that will make the hairs stand up on your neck, and hot tears fall from your eyes. The mechanisms of plot necessarily predominate in the early episodes, as machination piles upon machination, twist upon turn, and the pieces of the tragedies and double-dealings to come are moved into place upon fate’s great chess-board: a broken Bjorn has tough choices to consider following his people’s defeat at the hands of the Rus; Ubbe embarks on a westward quest in search of the promised land; Ivar and Hvitserk continue their uneasy alliance with each other within the fraught principality of the maladjusted, half-mad Oleg (Danila Koslovsky). 

An accusation often leveled at Vikings is that it became a lesser show once divorced from Ragnar’s immediate orbit; that when he died, so too did the interest of many of the audience, who never quite took to his sons with the same level of enthusiasm. I can understand the hole that Ragnar’s exit left in the hearts of fans. He was a compelling, larger-than-life character, channeled with great charisma and presence by Travis Fimmel. But although this series is ostensibly about Ragnar, the story is also far, far bigger than him, a point this final season doesn’t fail to ram home. In fact, it’s the whole point.  Besides, the performances of Alexander Ludwig, Jordan Patrick Smith, Marco Ilsø, and Alex Høgh Andersen have always been uniformly excellent, generating more than enough presence, individually and collectively, to carry the show in Ragnar’s name. 

If there is a mote of truth in the accusation it’s probably attributable, in part at least, to the challenges of satisfying such a sprawling ensemble. One of the beneficial things about the show having shed so many characters over the past few seasons is that the sons now have proper time to grow, develop and, ultimately, crystallize. In particular Hvitserk, who was always the sketchiest and most ill-defined of the brothers, finally coalesces into something greater than the sum of his parts. Even his unhealthy attachment to Ivar begins to make sense, and comes to play an instrumental part in much of what makes the final stretch work so well. 

Ivar himself has always been a joy to watch – surely one of the greatest small-screen monsters – but occasionally he could be one-note, albeit largely thanks to his predilection for painting himself into a corner and then having to fight his way out again. Ivar’s relationship with, and to, the young Rus heir Igor (Oran Glynn O’Donovan) helps to humanize him, allowing him to recreate the better aspects of his own relationship with Ragnar, this time sans grand, King-busting plan. Ivar even demonstrates, from time to time, something approaching humility, which can’t be easy for a self-proclaimed God. Plus there’s a moment between Ivar and Katia (Alicia Agneson) that’ll have you punching the air in triumph, and then thinking strangely of yourself for having fist pumped such a thing. 

Read more

TV

Why Vikings Is Ending

By Michael Ahr

Once the heavy gears of plot have cranked into place, the season dips into ennui, as characters drift, break down and take stock. This can make the season a slog to get through, especially if you’re binge-watching; like mainlining misery directly into your blood-stream. Even knowing that this was undoubtedly a deliberate structural choice – to make you feel the characters’ helplessness, heartache, angst and boredom; to understand what drives them to do what they do when Gods and men fall silent – you’re unlikely to emerge from the middle-to-end section brimming with vim and good cheer. Here, another central question is tackled: is there any escape from the seemingly endless cycle of death, destruction and revenge in which Viking society finds itself mired? What hope have Ragnar’s sons of escape when Ragnar himself, the most vocal advocate for a new way of doing things, ultimately perpetuated the cycle by posthumously siccing his sons on his enemies? 

The final act makes everything worthwhile. Think of the middle act like purgatory before Heaven (or should that be Valhalla)? While not every storyline feels like it has an equal place and weight in the pay-off – the latter sections in Kattegat, especially, feel perfunctory and will probably struggle to elicit much interest – most of the series’ overarching narrative and thematic threads come together perfectly in the end, giving a deeply satisfying sense of simultaneous closure and open-endedness.   

There are many surface similarities between Vikings and Game of Thrones, in terms of their stock-in-trade themes, settings, cast-counts, body-counts and bundles of R-rated violence. Where they differ significantly is in Vikings sticking the landing, and not just with the final episode – which is beautiful, elegiac and haunting – but over and throughout the whole final half of the season (give or take a few minor missteps).

Game of Thrones’ once stellar reputation will perhaps forever be sullied by an ending, and a final season that many felt was flat, rushed and cack-handed. This is not the fate that will befall Vikings, which, although it never attained critical, commercial or pop-culture success on anything like the same scale as Game of Thrones, now joins the pantheon of shows whose exemplary endings have cemented their legacies. Vikings can hold its head high among such luminaries as Rectify, The Affair, The Deuce, The Wire, The Sopranos (divisive as its ending proved), The Shield and Breaking Bad (pre El Camino, at least), having offered up a finale that is so resonant, dream-like, and profound that it serves retroactively to render all of the good things about the series better, and wash away any and all misgivings and doubts. It’s a gorgeous ending that will stick in your soul for a long time.

Bon voyage, Vikings. It’s been emotional.   

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

The post Vikings Season 6 Part Two Review (Spoiler-Free) appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/3aPIISv

[bluewatsons]

Michael A. Peters, Wittgenstein and the ethics of suicide: Homosexuality and Jewish self-hatred in fin de siècle Vienna, 51 Edu Phil & Theory 981 (2019)

If suicide is allowed, then everything is allowed. If anything is not allowed, then suicide is not allowed. This throws a light on the nature of ethics, for suicide is, so to speak, the elementary sin. And when one investigates it is like investigating mercury vapours in order to investigate the nature of vapours. —Wittgenstein, L. Notebooks 1914–1916, Tr. G.E.M. Anscombe. Harper: New York, 1961, p. 91

Introduction

One of Ludwig Wittgenstein’s cousins and three of his four brothers committed suicide. Hans committed suicide most likely throwing himself from a boat in Chesapeake Bay in May 1902, having run away from home. Rudi committed suicide in a Berlin bar, administering himself cyanide poisoning in 1904, most probably because of homosexuality that he referred to as ‘perverted disposition’ in a suicide note. Kurt shot himself in 1918 at the end of the war when his troops deserted en masse.

The profound influences upon young Ludwig were the physicist Ludwig Boltzmann who committed suicide in 1906 and Otto Weininger, author of Sex and Character, who committed suicide in 1903. For the most part, these suicides were committed before Ludwig had turned 15. Young Ludwig was also profoundly influenced by Schopenhauer who he read while still at school. Schopenhauer denied that suicide was immoral and instead saw it as the last supreme act of freedom and assertion of the will in ending one’s life. In ‘On Suicide’ in Studies in Pessimism, Schopenhauer writes that none of the Jewish religions ‘look upon suicide as a crime’. Yet, these religious thinkers:

tell us that suicide is the greatest piece of cowardice; that only a madman could be guilty of it; and other insipidities of the same kind; or else they make the nonsensical remark that suicide is wrong; when it is quite obvious that there is nothing in the world to which every mail has a more unassailable title than to his own life and person.1 https://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/s/schopenhauer/arthur/pessimism/chapter3.html

Schopenhauer remarks ‘the inmost kernel of Christianity is the truth that suffering – the Cross – is the real end and object of life. Hence Christianity condemns suicide as thwarting this end ... ’ As Jacquette (2000) notes, despite his profound pessimism Schopenhauer rejects suicide ‘as an unworthy affirmation of the will to life by those who seek to escape rather than seek nondiscursive knowledge of Will in suffering’ (p. 43). Young Ludwig while of Jewish origins was baptised a Catholic. It is well known that Wittgenstein loses his faith while still at school.

Wittgenstein entertained thoughts of suicide from his early teenage years throughout his life. This suicidal ideation came to the fore even more intensely, if we are to judge from his letters to Paul Englemann, during the years he spent as an elementary school teacher in the mountain villages of Austria. In the period 1919 when he trained as a teacher until 1926 when he abruptly resigned after hitting a boy who fell unconscious as a result, Wittgenstein suffered intense bouts of depression (Peters, 2017).

This essay is devoted to the question: in view of his suffering and the Jewish cult of suicide in fin de siecle Vienna why did Wittgenstein not take his own life? I investigate this question focusing on Wittgenstein’s sources of suffering around what I call his ‘double identity crisis’ caused by his homosexuality and his Jewish self-hatred.

Identity crisis; suicide in Vienna

Under the heading ‘Suicide Squad’ Jim Holt (2009) reviewing Alexander Waugh’s The House of Wittgenstein: A Family at War begins rather sensationally with the following:

“A tense and peculiar family, the Oedipuses,” a wag once observed. Well, when it comes to dysfunction, the Wittgensteins of Vienna could give the Oedipuses a run for their money. The tyrannical family patriarch was Karl Wittgenstein (1847-1913), a steel, banking and arms magnate. He and his timorous wife, Leopoldine, brought nine children into the world. Of the five boys, three certainly or probably committed suicide and two were plagued by suicidal impulses throughout their lives. Of the three daughters who survived into adulthood, two got married; both husbands ended up insane and one died by his own hand. Even by the morbid standards of late Hapsburg Vienna these are impressive numbers. But tense and peculiar as the Wittgensteins were, the family also had a strain of genius. Of the two sons who didn’t kill themselves, one, Paul (1887-1961), managed to become an internationally celebrated concert pianist despite the loss of his right arm in World War I. The other, Ludwig (1889-1951), was the greatest philosopher of the 20th century. https://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/01/books/review/Holt-t.html

At the end of World War I, troops under the command of Wittgenstein’s second oldest brother, Kurt, rebelled against his orders, and Kurt became the third brother to commit suicide. This is how Waugh describes the suicide of Rudi, a 22-year-old chemistry student at the Berlin Academy:

At 9.45 on the evening of May 2, 1904, Rudi walked into a restaurant-bar on Berlin’s Brandenburgstrasse, ordered two glasses of milk and some food, which he ate in a state of noticeable agitation. When he had finished, he asked the waiter to send a bottle of mineral water to the pianist with instructions for him to play the popular Thomas Koschat number, Verlassen, verlassen, verlassen bin ich. As the music wafted across the room, Rudolf took from his pocket a sachet of clear crystal compound and dissolved the contents into one of his glasses of milk. The effects of potassium cyanide when ingested are instant and agonising: a tightening of the chest, a terrible burning sensation in the throat, immediate discoloration of the skin, nausea, coughing and convulsions. Within two minutes Rudolf was slumped back on his chair unconscious. The landlord sent customers out in search of doctors. Three of them arrived, but too late for their ministrations to take effect. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/3559463/The-Wittgensteins-Viennese-whirl.html

His father forbade any mention of Rudolf in the Wittgenstein household, a decision that caused a rift between parents and children. Johannes ‘Hans’ the eldest son had died in a canoe- ing incident in America. As Waugh (2010: 29) writes: ‘the most likely scenario is that he did indeed commit suicide somewhere outside Austria, that the family had prior intimations, or direct warnings, of his suicidal intent, and that the spur that induced them to declare openly that he had taken his life was the very public death in Vienna, on October 4, 1903, of a 23-year-old philosopher called Otto Weininger. Weininger’s suicide caused a significant stir in Viennese society. The newspapers ran pages of commentary about him, and his reputation rose from that of obscure controversialist to national celebrity in a matter of days. All the Wittgensteins read his book.’

Weininger (1903/2005) had a profound influence on Wittgenstein through his notorious Sex and Character that he wrote and published in 1903. The book argues that all people are fundamentally bisexual and all individuals are composed of a mixture - the male aspect is active, productive, conscious and moral/logical, while the female aspect is passive, unproductive, unconscious, amoral and alogical. While emancipation is only possible for ‘masculine women’ it is the duty of the male to strive to become, a genius forging sexuality for the abstract love of God in which he can find himself. He was a Jewish convert to Christianity, and Weininger analysed Jewishness in terms of feminine qualities, later used by the Nazis. Weininger was a tormented soul who became a cult figure influencing a wide range of people. His genius was acknowledged by ‘Ford Maddox Ford, James Joyce, Franz Kafka, Karl Kraus, Charlotte Perkins- Gilman, Gertrude Stein, and August Strindberg’ as well as William Carlos Williams, Freud and Hitler (Stern & Szabados, 2004). He was a deep misogynist, an anti-Semite and self-loather (Rider, 2013). He also deeply influenced Wittgenstein, who writes:

I think there is some truth in my idea that I am really only reproductive in my thinking. I think I have never invented a line of thinking but that it was always provided for me by someone else & I have done no more than passionately take it up for my work of clarification. That is how Boltzmann Hertz Schopenhauer Frege, Russell, Kraus, Loos Weininger Spengler, Sraffa have influenced me. (CV, 16)

Engaging the work of Otto Weininger (1880–1903), one of the most widely discussed authors of fin-de-siece Vienna, can help illuminate this sense of a ‘crisis of the subject’ and its relation- ship to the world that informed so much of Vienna’s cultural production and debate at the time. Of all the books Wittgenstein read in his adolescence Weininger’s Sex and Character has the greatest influence (Monk 1990, p. 25). Achinger (2013, p. 121) reads Weininger through the lens of Critical Theory to suggest ‘viewing “the Woman” and “the Jew” as outward projections of different, but related contradictions within the constitution of the modern subject itself.’ She goes on to argue:

More specifically, “Woman” comes to embody the threat to the (masculine) bourgeois individual emanating from its own embodied existence, from “nature” and libidinal impulses. “The Jew,” on the other hand, comes to stand for historical developments of modern society that make themselves more keenly felt towards the end of the nineteenth century and threaten to undermine the very forms of individuality and independence that had previously been produced by this society. Such a reading of Geschlecht und Charakter not only can help illuminate the crisis of the bourgeois individual at the turn of the twentieth century, but also could contribute to ongoing discussions on why modern society, although based on seemingly universalist conceptions of subjectivity, continues to produce difference and exclusion along the lines of gender and race.

Certainly, such a critical interpretation coheres with the reading of a ‘double identity crisis’ facing the younger Wittgenstein growing up in fin d’siecle Vienna.  Le Rider (1990) argues ‘The crisis of the individual, experienced as an identity crisis, is at the heart of all questions we find in literature and the humane sciences’ (p. 1) and remarks that ‘Viennese modernism can be interpreted as an anticipation of certain important ‘postmodern’ themes’ (p. 6). He has in mind, for instance, the way in which Wittgenstein’s philosophy of language ‘deconstructs the subject as author and judge of his own semantic intentions’ (p. 28). He remarks in terms of the crisis of identity how Wittgenstein, ‘like all assimilated Jewish intellectuals, found his Jewish identity a problem’ and the problem of his Jewish identity was coupled with a crisis of sexual identity, when at least at some periods of his life he sought refuge from his homosexual tendencies in a kind of Tolstoyan asceticism (p. 295). He suggests:

Wittgenstein, who ... looked back nostalgically on a well-ordered world where everyone had his place, found modernity uncultured because it had lost its power to integrate, and left individuals in a state of confusion. The only ones who can keep their balance and personal creativity are those whom Nietzsche calls the strong men, that is the most moderate, who need neither convictions nor religion, who are able not only to endure, but to accept a fair amount of chance and absurdity, and are capable of thinking in a broadly disillusioned and negative way without feeling either diminished or discouraged. (p. 296)

He argues that the consequences of this double crisis of identity, much more than is commonly accepted, are intimately tied up with the fundamentals of his thought and with a number of his intellectual preoccupations: his interest in Weininger and in psychoanalysis, his mystical tendencies, but also his reflections on genius, on the self, and on ethics^ı (p. 296). The importance that Le Rider(1993) places upon Nietzsche as part of the cultural fabric of Viennese modernism exericised upon a young Wittgenstein is borne out by other scholars of fin-de-siecle Vienna.

There is a kind of Wittgensteinian hagiography that for years has prevented the investigation of these questions which is of itself an interesting question in the anthropology of philosophy, especially that form of analysis that insists on a sharp separation between the man and the work. This line of argument suggests that the realm of ideas properly belongs to that of the mind that can be discussed dispassionately and in a technical way that pays attention to the space of arguments and the structure of argumentation; while the realm of biography belongs to that of the body, to the temporal dimension of existence emphasising its finitude. Thus, the mind-body dualism lives on and also prevents the influence of arguments and observations of psychobiography on philosophy per se.

Viennese Modernism has attracted much scholarly and public interest in recent decades, in part because some of the most enduring works of art, literature, and philosophy produced in Vienna around the turn of the last century question key concepts of liberalism and Enlightenment – such as the notions of progress, of the coherent and rational subject, and of a stable and unproblematic relationship between subject and world in which language is nothing but a neutral and transparent mediator – in ways that seem to prefigure contemporary debates. There are many stories of Jewish artists and philosophers who wrestled with identity issues in a hostile social and intellectual environment of Vienna sometimes internalising aspects of anti- Semitic ideology that no doubt propelled many to seek a new Christianised identity to help mask the transition. How Gustav Mahler, a Bohemian-Jewish artist of genius, responds to the challenges of a German culture that he has appropriated completely but into which he is never fully accepted is the subject of Niekerk’s (2013) Reading Mahler: German Culture and Jewish Identity in Fin-de-Siecle Vienna. Mahler was a frequent visitor to the Wittgenstein mansion when Wittgenstein was a boy. Mahler’s own artistic endeavours are determined by the complex responses to Goethe, the Romantics, Wagner, and, above all, Nietzsche and to rewrite German Romanticism at a time when German cultural history was dominated by Wagner’s anti-Semitic views. Another example is Fritz Waerndorfer who wanted to ‘His House for an Art Lover’ to ‘establish himself as an important participant in the Viennese avant-garde scene but also to promote a new artistic agenda’ and wished ‘to establish a new identity for himself as an assimilated Jew through the modernist redesign’ (Shapira, 2006).

Jewish self-hatred and homosexuality

The question of Jewish self-hatred has been an enduring issue for many years. Paul Reitter (2009: 359), author of The Anti-Journalist: Karl Kraus and Jewish Self-Fashioning in Fin-de-Siecle Europe (2008) indicates

The tendency not to lean too heavily on anyone else’s theory of Jewish self-hatred has no doubt helped a fairly small discussion produce a wide range of interpretive strategies: social psychological (Lewin), psychoanalytic (Gay), psycho-historical (Liebenberg), intellectual historical (Hallie), “topological” (Gilman), and cultural historical (Edelman and Volker).

He refers to Gilman’s (1986) Jewish Self-Hatred that ‘it is only natural, that where some measure of integration is a desideratum, and there is also bigotry in the ‘majority culture’, minority self-loathing will occur’ (Reitter, 2009: 360). He argues Gilman, like W.E. B. Du Bois before him, attempts to explain how ‘German Jews came to ‘accept’ and ‘internalize’ a distorted, decidedly negative image of their own group.’ Du Bois, as Reitter (2009: 360) reports, writes: ‘But the facing of so vast a prejudice could not but bring the inevitable self-questioning, self-disparagement, and lowering of ideals which ever accompany repression and breed in an atmosphere of contempt and hate’ (cited in Reiter, 2009). He quotes from Endelman, who as he remarks is an eminent historian of European Jewry:

Self-hating Jews were converts, secessionists, and radical assimilationists who, not content with disaffiliation from the community, felt compelled to articulate how far they had travelled from their origins by echoing anti-Semitic views, by proclaiming their distaste for those from whom they wished to dissociate them- selves. What set them apart from other radical assimilationists was that, having cut their ties, they were unable to move on and forget their Jewishness. (cited in Reitter, 2009: 366).

Reitter (2009) wants to retrace the evolution of the term ‘Jewish self-hatred’ as a more polite concept than ‘Jewish antisemitism’ with redemptive possibilities. The question is complex and the hypothesis that Jews who harboured such a negative self-image and possessed such a strong desire to be accepted in a society that was covertly and residually hostile to Jews’ might be true but it risks becoming ‘a rhetorical weapon to critics of assimilation’, as Janik (2013 Janich (2013, p.143) suggests in a review of Rietter. He refers to David Sorkin and Steven Beller, who ‘have provided us with accounts of how vigorous Jewish criticism of Jewish life, Socratic self-criticism, was part and parcel of a self-consciously Jewish ‘enlightenment’ (haskalah) from the time of Moses Mendelssohn.’

Wittgenstein’s Jewish self-loathing is a complex affair. David Stern (2001: 237) asks:

Did Ludwig Wittgenstein consider himself a Jew? Should we? Wittgenstein repeatedly wrote about Jews and Judaism in the 1930s (Wittgenstein 1980/1998, 1997) and the biographical studies of Wittgenstein by Brian McGuinness (1988), Ray Monk (1990), and Szabados (1992, 1995, 1997, 1999) make it clear that this writing about Jewishness was a way in which he thought about the kind of person he was and the nature of his philosophical work.

He answers his own question by reference to Brian McGuinness’ Young Ludwig (1889-1921) – ‘First, Wittgenstein did, on occasion, speak of himself as a Jew’ especially in relation to Weininger’s writings on Jewish character in a series of now famous remarks made in the 1930s recorded in Culture and Value. Second, ‘Wittgenstein did, on occasion, deny his Jewishness, and this was a charged matter for him’ (p. 239), in particular in his confessions to family and friends in 1936 and 1937 when he refers to his misrepresentation of his Jewish ancestry. Stern later comments: ‘Is there a connection between Wittgenstein’s writing on Jews and his philosophy? What did he mean when he spoke of himself as a “Jewish thinker” in 1931?’ (p. 265) and concludes

Wittgenstein’s problematic Jewishness is as much a product of our problematic concerns as his. There is no doubt that Wittgenstein was of Jewish descent; it is equally clear that he was not a practicing Jew. Insofar as he thought of himself as Jewish, he did so in terms of the anti-Semitic prejudices of his time (p. 269).

Wittgenstein’s sexuality also caused him much anguish and led to bouts of homosexual self- loathing. In Austria and the United Kingdom homosexuality was still outlawed and considered not only a crime but also a psychiatric treatable condition. There were many risks associated with homosexuality and even with writing about in as late as the 1970s. William W. Bartley III (1973) published his book on Wittgenstein that included references to Wittgenstein being gay, much to the dismay of the philosophical establishment that tried to ban such discussion and to deny that there was any link at all between his work and his sexuality and the feelings it generated. Barley made a few off-hand remarks about Wittgenstein’s promiscuous homosexuality while he was training to be a teacher in Vienna. The evidence for this claim has never been established (Monk, 2018).

Wittgenstein had relationships with David Pinsent in 1912, with Francis Skinner in the 1930s and Ben Richards in the late 1940s. The first was purely Platonic or unconsummated and it is unclear to what extent the other two relationships involved physical expressions of love. It has been a major problem in Wittgenstein studies to address and analyse his sexuality and homo- sexuality as though somehow Wittgenstein’s sexual feelings tainted the ascetic moral ideal that had been built around him as a philosopher. It is interesting the extent to which perspectives have changed – not only societal values and the embrace of gay and transsexual rights but also the legitimacy of sexual autobiography in relation to questions of philosophy. The fact that Michel Foucault was gay by contrast is considered strongly to influence his outlook and his work, and he is celebrated because of it. It was a very significant part of his work in his genealogical studies of the history of sexuality and coloured his view of women’s sexuality. For Wittgenstein, a generation older, the societal reaction was quite vicious and Wittgenstein agonised over his sexuality, without ever addressing it, even though there was an underground acceptance of homosexuality at Cambridge.

There is little doubt of Wittgenstein’s homosexuality or its importance in understanding the man. The more difficult question is the effects of his homosexuality on his philosophy and on his relationships when he was a teacher. Psychoanalytically, much could be made of this personal secrecy and the need to preserve confessional material from prying eyes that might be very damaging. The question is fundamental yet there is no extant work that risks analysis in relation to Wittgenstein to my knowledge. Sex and language as a particular focus of a wider debate on the issue of gender and language now seems almost commonplace. Wittgenstein may have taken some relief from Freud’s analysis of the bisexual nature of human beings where everyone is attracted to both sexes yet Freud’s determinism in ascribing biological and psycho- logical factors on the basis of deep libidinal sexual drives making it difficult to change would have raised questions for Wittgenstein at the point he was trying to change.

Gay male culture began to flourish in the late nineteenth century in 1920s Vienna (sodomy was still an imprisonable offence) and sexologists like Krafft-Ebing and Freud had begun to codify homosexual identity and to see it as a ‘perversion’. There were still very strong taboos in place when Wittgenstein was a teacher. It was not until the 1970s after the ‘Gay Holocaust’ that gay and lesbian activism saw a resurgence. Had Wittgenstein’s homosexuality been known at this time it would almost certainly would have led to his vilification. This anti-gay environment in general society and in teaching forced Wittgenstein’s sexual identity ruminations underground. Derek Jarman’s (1993) witty depiction of the gay ‘Wittgenstein’ is a path-breaking dramatic analysis of Wittgenstein’s opening up as a gay man.2

Wittgenstein on suicide

‘The Ethics of Suicide Digital Archive’ is an exhaustive work accompanying the book prepared by the philosopher Margaret Pabst Battin from the University of Utah3 that begins:

Is suicide wrong, always wrong, or profoundly morally wrong? Or is it almost always wrong but excusable in a few cases? Or is it sometimes morally permissible? Is it not intrinsically wrong at all, though perhaps often imprudent? Is it sick? Is it a matter of mental illness? Is it a private or a social act? Is it something the family, community, or society should always try to prevent, or could ever expect of a person? Could it sometimes be a “noble duty”? Or is it solely a personal matter, perhaps a matter of right based in individual liberties, or even a fundamental human right? https://ethicsofsuicide.lib.utah.edu/introduction/

The Digital Archive acts as comprehensive sourcebook, providing a collection of primary texts on the ethics of suicide in both the Western and non-Western traditions, with an archive based on Wittgenstein’s Notebooks 1914–16 and Letters. The introduction to these texts is prefaced by a note on Wittgenstein’s feelings about suicide during the years 1912–13 when how spent time with David Hume Pinsent, a friend, collaborator and Plantonic lover of Wittgenstein.

Wittgenstein friend and collaborator David Hume Pinsent, with whom he traveled on holidays together, describes Wittgenstein’s frequent thoughts of suicide at numerous places in his own diary. In Pinsent’s entry for June 1, 1912, he notes that Wittgenstein told him that he had suffered from terrific loneliness for the past nine years, that he had thought of suicide then, and that he felt ashamed of never daring to kill himself; according to Pinsent, Wittgenstein thought that he had had “a hint that he was de trop in this world.” In his entry for September 4, 1913, when they were traveling in Norway, Pinsent describes Wittgenstein as “really in an awful neurotic state: this evening he blamed himself violently and expressed the most piteous disgust with himself ... it is obvious he is quite incapable of helping these fits. I only hope that an out of doors life here will make him better: at present it is no exaggeration to say he is as bad–(in that nervous sensibility)–as people like Beethoven were. He even talks of having at times contemplated suicide.” In his entry for September 25, 1913, Pinsent reports that “This evening we got talking together about suicide–not that Ludwig was depressed or anything of the sort–he was quite cheerful all today. But he told me that all his life there had hardly been a day, in which he had not at one time or other thought of suicide as a possibility. He was really surprised when I said I never thought of suicide like that–and that given the chance I would not mind living my life so far–over again! He would not for anything.” (Italics in origin, https://ethicsofsuicide.lib.utah.edu/selections/wittgenstein/).

Pinsent (1891–918) was a descendent of Hume who gained a first class honours at Cambridge University in mathematics. Wittgenstein had only arrived at Cambridge to talk with Russell about whether he should take up philosophy in October 1911. During the Christmas vacation Wittgenstein comes to the end of a deep depression. He meets David Pinsent in Russell’s rooms and they quickly became friends, taking tea together, attending concerts, and making music. Within a month of meeting Wittgenstein proposed to Pinsent that they go on holiday together to Iceland in September 1912. They took a second holiday together at the same time in 1913 and were to meet in August 1914 before WWI intervened. As Preston (2018) has reported Wittgenstein received letters which he described as ‘sensuous’. Their relationship was fated when on May 8 1918 Pinsent is killed in an air accident while flying a de Havilland bi-plane. Preston writes:

In the immediate aftermath of Pinsent’s death, Wittgenstein was depressed to the point of planning to kill himself somewhere in the mountains in Austria. But at a railway station near Salzburg he bumped into his uncle Paul, who found him in a state of anguish, but saved him from the suicide he was planning. Wittgenstein kept in contact with Pinsent’s family at least until mid-1919, and probably beyond that. https://theconversation.com/how-ludwig-wittgensteins-secret-boyfriend-helped-deliver-the-philosophers-seminal-work-96557

Pinsent supported Wittgenstein and admired him. It seems clear that Wittgenstein was in love with Pinsent. He dedicated the Tractatus to him when it was published in 1921. Many of the reports on Wittgenstein’s depressed and suicidal state of mind during this period come from Wittgenstein’s letters and Pinsent’s diary.4

It is during this period that Wittgenstein (1961) comes to a resolution about suicide when he writes in what we know as the Notebooks 1914–1916

If suicide is allowed then everything is allowed. If anything is not allowed then suicide is not allowed. This throws a light on the nature of ethics, for suicide is, so to speak, the elementary sin. And when one investigates it it is like investigating mercury vapours in order to investigate the nature of vapours.

For Wittgenstein suicide is the paradigmatic case for ethics and while he seems to have entertained suicide as an idea from when he was a boy he steadfastly refuses to give into his despair. Suicide is an evasion of life and God’s will demands that we should come to terms with the facts as a moral task despite the sheer enormity of it and the difficulties of confronting one’s own nature. To his friend Paul Englemann (‘Mr E’ who edits the Letters) on May 30, 1920 he expresses how desperate he has become:

I feel like completely emptying myself again; I have had a most miserable time lately. Of course, only as a result of my own baseness and rottenness. I have continually thought of taking my own life, and the idea still haunts me sometimes. I have sunk to the lowest point.

And writing again to Mr E. he confesses that he is sinking more deeply into depression, that he is contemplating suicide but cannot will himself to take his own life:

I am beyond any outside help. – In fact I am in a state of mind that is terrible to me. I have been through it several times before: it is the state of not being able to get over a particular fact.... I know that to kill oneself is always a dirty thing to do. Surely one cannot will one’s own destruction, and anybody who has visualized what is in practice involved in the act of suicide knows that suicide is always a rushing of one’s own defenses. But nothing is worse than to be forced to take oneself by surprise.

One wonders about the state of mind of a man suffering from continual torment and living daily with the threat of suicide and his capacity to teach children under such circumstances. He writes to Keynes in October 18, 1925 just before the so-called Haibauer incident (hitting the boy):

I have resolved to remain a teacher as long as I feel that the difficulties I am experiencing might be doing me some good. When you have a toothache, the pain from the toothache is reduced by putting a hot water bottle to your face. But that works only as long as the heat hurts your face. I will throw away the bottle as soon as I notice that it no longer provides that special pain that does my character good.

Suicide could not be the answer for Wittgenstein. He had decided to learn to live with it as a test of his moral character. Paul Engelmann (1974) in a brief memoir writes:

Wittgenstein experienced the world as filled with ‘vile’ and ‘disgusting’ people, not exempting himself. He told David Pinsent, the close companion of his prewar years in Cambridge, that he felt he had ‘no right to live in an antipathetic world ... where he perpetually finds himself feeling contempt for others, and irritating others by his nervous temperament without some justification for that contempt etc. such as being a really great man and having done really great work.’ He began to think of suicide at the age of 10 or 11; a decade or so later he told Pinsent he ‘felt ashamed of never daring to kill himself,’ and in 1918 we find him ‘on his way to commit suicide somewhere.’ ....Though Wittgenstein eventually died of natural causes, he was clearly a tormented figure. His search for decency and honesty not only led him to give his entire fortune away but often took the form of browbeating others ... .

In The Myth of Sisyphus Albert Camus (1942/1997) declares ‘There is but one truly serious philosophical problem and that is suicide’ (Il n’y a qu’un probl eme philosophique vraiment s erieux: c’est le suicide), a very similar definitive statement by Wittgenstein some forty years earlier: ‘Suicide is the elementary sin’. According to Schopenhauer, moral freedom – the highest ethical aim – is to be obtained only by a denial of the will to live. ‘When life is so burdensome, death has become for man a sought-after refuge’. Schopenhauer affirmed: ‘They tell us that suicide is the greatest act of cowardice... that suicide is wrong; when it is quite obvious that there is nothing in the world to which every man has a more unassailable title than to his own life and person’. Schopenhauer has a significant influence on Wittgenstein, especially in his the early period. Schroeder (2012, p. 367) notes that Schopenhauer influences his early thinking on ethics and the meaning of life:

His 1916 Notebook (NB 71–91) and the final pages of the Tractatus contain a number of echoes of Schopenhauer. Like him he describes aesthetic contemplation using Spinoza’s expression “sub specie aeterni[tatis]”; he repeats Schopenhauer’s criticism of the categorical imperative: that every imperative calls forth the question “And what if I do not do it?” (TLP 6.422); he also agrees with Schopenhauer (and Kant) that the good action should not be motivated by its consequences (TLP 6.422); like Schopenhauer he thinks that science cannot answer questions of value; like him he places “the solution of the riddle of life” outside space and time (TLP 6.4312), and like him he thinks that “what is higher” cannot ultimately be expressed in words. (TLP 6.432, 6.522)

Schroeder (2012) suggests that of greater philosophical importance are Schopenhauer’s thoughts on idealism and especially ‘world as idea’ (p. 368) and the notion that ‘the subject is ... a presupposition of [the world’s] existence’ (NB 79: 2.8.16) and the attendant idea that the metaphysical subject ‘cannot be encountered in experience’ but ‘must be identified with its experiences’ (p. 369). Wittgenstein came to identify both solipsism and idealism as errors, on the basis of early thinking for the private language argument. It seems the case that Schopenhauer did influence the early Wittgenstein’s thinking on suicide but this thought did not remain with him. Schroeder (2012, p. 380) writes:

As a young man, in times of crisis, trying to formulate his ethics and attitude towards life, he remembered and adopted various thoughts from Schopenhauer, some of which he tacked on to his logical-philosophical treatise; but they have very little to do with his philosophical achievements. His real debt to Schopenhauer lies elsewhere. For one thing, the young Wittgenstein was persuaded by Schopenhauer’s idealism (minus its transcendental side), and that proved extremely fruitful for his own thinking all through his life.

In ‘Wittgenstein, Schopenhauer and the metaphysics of suicide’ Modesto Gomez (2018) suggests,

the problems that Wittgenstein raised and the views that he emphatically endorsed are in keeping with his overarching transcendental conception of the metaphysical I, the fundamental character of ethics (NB, p. 79), the meaning of life, and the I as “the bearer of ethics” (NB, p. 80), as it is extensively advanced in the Notebooks 1914-1916 and tersely expressed in the Tractatus. Far from demanding further development, what Wittgenstein’s views on suicide would require is an appropriate background. Such considerations naturally stemmed from the core of the metaphysical picture that permeates Wittgenstein’s early writings. This picture is, in its essentials, Schopenhauer’s metaphysics of the Will (p. 299).

I think this is correct and there is no doubt that Schopenhauer was decisive in Wittgenstein’s early view of suicide but, at the same time, this ought not to detract from the biographical and autobiographical in explaining Wittgenstein ethics of suicide. Here, it is difficult to deny that Wittgenstein’s own experiences did not have an effect on his existential philosophy.

Notes

Schopenhauer writes that suicide is accounted a crime in England which is “followed by an ignominious burial and the seizure of the man’s property” and most often occasions a verdict of insanity.

http://www.openculture.com/2013/03/iwittgensteini_watch_derek_jarmans_tribute_to_the_philosopher_featuring_tilda_swinton_1993.html

https://ethicsofsuicide.lib.utah.edu/

http://www.wittgensteinchronology.com/6.html

References

Achinger, C. (2013). Allegories of destruction: “Woman” and “the Jew” in Otto Weininger’s sex and character. The Germanic Review, 88(2),121–149. 2013

Camus, A. (1942). The myth of Sisyphus (O’Brien, Justin, Trans.). London: Penguin Group. (First published by Gallimard)

Engelmann, Paul (1974) Letters From Ludwig Wittgenstein. With A Memoir. New York, Horizon.

Gilman, Sander (1986) Jewish Self-Hatred: Anti-Semitism and the Hidden Language of the Jews. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP

Jacquette, D. (2000). Schopenhauer on the ethics of suicide. Continental Philosophy Review, 33(1),43–58.

Janik, Alan (2013) On the Origins of Jewish Self-Hatred by Paul Reitter (review) HYPERLINK "https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/181" Shofar: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Jewish Studies, HYPERLINK "https://muse.jhu.edu/issue/29179" Volume 32, Number 1, Fall 2013, pp. 142-145.

Jamison, K. R. (2000). Night falls fast: Understanding suicide. New York: Vintage.

Le Rider, J. (1990). ‘Between modernism and postmodernism: The Viennese identity crisis’ (R. Manheim, trans.). In E. Timms & R. Robertson (eds.) Vienna 1900: from Altenberg to Wittgenstein, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. Le Rider, J. (1993). Modernity and the crises of identity: Culture and society in Fin-de-Si ecle Vienna (R. Morris, trans.).  Cambridge: Polity Press.

Le Rider, J. (2013). Otto Weininger: A Misogynist, anti-Semite, and Self-loather as Wagnerite. Wagnerspectrum, 9 (1),2013, 89–93.

McGuinness, B. (1988). Wittgenstein: A life. Young Ludwig (1889–1921). Los Angeles: University of California Press.

Modesto Gomez, A. (2018). Wittgenstein, Schopenhauer and the metaphysics of suicide. Rev. Filos., Aurora, Curitiba, 30(49), 299–321.

Monk, R. (1990). Ludwig Wittgenstein: The duty of genius. London: Jonathan Cape.

Monk, R. (2018). Bartley’s Wittgenstein and the coded remarks. In: Flowers, F. A., III (ed. and preface); Ground, Ian (ed. and preface); Portraits of Wittgenstein (pp.129–134). London; Bloomsbury Academic; 2018. (xiii, 489 pp.)

Niekerk, C. (2013). Reading Mahler: German culture and Jewish identity in Fin-de-Siecle Vienna. (Studies in German literature, linguistics and culture) Rochester, NY: Camden House.

Peters, M A. (2017). Les proc es et l’enseignement de Wittgenstein, et la « figure de l’enfant » romantique chez Cavell. A contrario, 25(2), 13-37. https://www.cairn.info/revue-a-contrario-2017-2-page-13.htm.

Preston, John (2018) How Ludwig Wittgenstein’s secret boyfriend helped deliver the philosopher’s seminal work, https://theconversation.com/how-ludwig-wittgensteins-secret-boyfriend-helped-deliver-the-philosophers- seminal-work-96557

Reitter, P. (2009). The Jewish self-hatred octopus. The German Quarterly, 82(3),356–372. 82.3 (Summer)

Schroeder, S. (2012). Schopenhauer’s influence on Wittgenstein, pp.367–384. In Ed. Bart Vandenabeele, A Companion to Schopenhauer, Oxford, Blackwell.

Shapira, E. (2006). Modernism and Jewish identity in early twentieth-century Vienna: Fritz Waerndorfer and his house for an art lover. Studies in the Decorative Arts, 13(2), 52–92. Vol. No. SPRING-SUMMER (2006).

Stern, D. (2001). Was Wittgenstein a Jew? In J. Klagge (Ed.), Wittgenstein: Biography and philosophy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Stern, David and Szabados, Bela, (eds.) (2004). Wittgenstein reads Weininger, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 206pp., $24.99 (pbk), ISBN 0521532604

Szabados, B. (1992). Autobiography after Wittgenstein. The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, 50(1), 1–12.

Szabados, B. (1995). Autobiography and philosophy: Variations on a theme of Wittgenstein. Metaphilosophy, 26(1/2), 63–80.

Szabados, B. (1997). Wittgenstein’s women: The philosophical significance of Wittgenstein’s misogyny. Journal of Philosophical Research, 22, 483–508.

Szabados, B. (1999). Was Wittgenstein an anti-Semite? The significance of AntiSemitism for Wittgenstein’s philosophy. Canadian Journal of Philosophy, 29(1), 1–28.

Weininger (1903/2005) Sex and Character. An Investigation of Fundamental Principles Otto Weininger, edited by Daniel Steuer and Laura Marcus, translated by Ladislaus Lob, Bloomington, Indiana University Press.

Waugh, Alexander (2010) The House of Wittgenstein: A Family at War. New York, Anchor.

Wittgenstein, L. (1980). Culture and value, edited by G. H. von Wright in collaboration with H. Nyman , trans. P. Winch, Oxford, Basil Blackwell.

Wittgenstein, L. (1980/1998). Culture and value. First published as Vennischte Bemerkungen, German text only, G. H. von Wright & Heikki Nyman (ed.). Frankfurt: Suhrkamp, 1977: Amended 2nd ed., traps. P. Winch. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1980; rev. 2nd ed., German text only, edited by G. H. von Wright and Heikki Nyman, with revisions by Alois Pichler. Frankfurt: Suhrkamp, 1994, rev. 2nd ed., new traps. P. Winch. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1998. (References will give the pagination for the 1980 and 1998 editions of the book; translations are taken from the 1998 edition.)

Wittgenstein, L. (1997). Denkbewegungen: Tagebiicher 1930–1932 1936–1937 (MS 183) ed. Use Somavilla. Innsbruck, Austria: Haymon Verlag.

[kanye--westeros]

Bad Boys For Life Review

“Ride Together. Die Together.”

To be completely honest with you, I wasn’t really looking forward to this movie. I had fond enough memories of the first two movies but they were never movies that would ever land on my favorites list. Plus, it’s been 17 years since the last Bad Boys movie. You can fit an entire Gen-X youth in the gap between Bad Boys II and Bad Boys For Life, and in most cases that’s a sign for concern. Leaving that much space between sequels allows for both the social landscape and the culture of filmmaking to shift entirely, and the Micheal Bay helmed series didn’t seem like the type of franchise to evolve with the times. So you can imagine my pleasant surprise when Bad Boys For Life managed to rekindle what made the first 2 hits while bringing the franchise into the future organically.

The movie wisely follows a real life time line and picks up 17 years after Bad Boys II on the eve of Mike & Marcus’ 25 year anniversary with the force. Marcus’ daughter’s just had a child which has him considering hanging up the badge to be a full time grandfather - much to Mike’s chagrin - but before they can argue about it Mike gets shot in an assassination attempt. As some old ghosts from Mike’s past turn up for revenge; the Bad Boys are forced to try and turn back the inevitable tide of time and ride once more. Will & Martin have their act down to a science at this point and despite over a decade of distance, they’re able to recapture that lightning in the bottle with ease. Along for the ride is “AMMO”, a new police task force of sexy 20-somethings lead by Mike’s old flame and current police lieutenant; Rita (played by Mexican actress Paola Núñez). These whippersnappers represent the future (not just for law enforcement but most likely the franchise at large) and thankfully they’re legitimately refreshing additions to the cast that I’d love to see more of in the future (Alexander Ludwig & Charles Melton especially stand out). On the other side of things Kate del Castillo and Jacob Scipio make for intriguing foils for the protagonists; with Jacob especially giving a star-making performance. Behind the camera Belgian film duo Adil El Arbi & Bilall Fallah make one hell of an impression in their American debut. They do a fantastic job emulating Michael Bay’s explosive style while also integrating some new age flair to the proceedings. Together with their cinematographer, Robrecht Heyvaert, they crafted quite possibly the best action set pieces in the series; especially towards the third act of the film where they get truly creative with the camera.

The movie’s not without its’ flaws of course. Despite the subject matter being a bit heavier than usual, most of the exploration is disappointingly surface level; Marcus’ character arc ends up not really going anywhere and Vanessa Hudgens’ character unfortunately wasn’t given as much defining character traits as her teammates. There are other nitpicks that I could volley but I’d rather focus on the positive here. Ultimately Bad Boys For Life turned out to be a genuinely propulsive & fun ride in a month where movies generally go to die. You can now put Bad Boys For Life in the same conversation as Tron Legacy & Mad Max: Fury Road as long gestating sequels to iconic properties that not only stick the landing, but improve the franchise. Never thought I’d say this...but bring on Bad Boys 4!

Rating: 3.5/5

[ijustwant2write]

Rumours-Alexander Ludwig x Reader

Summary: requested by anonymous: 'Could you possibly do something for Alexander Ludwig? Y/N is his girlfriend, they’ve been together for a while but the media is trashing/making up rumors and it’s taking a toll on the relationship. The ending could be on the sweeter side.'

Characters: Alexander Ludwig x Reader

Meanings: (Y/N)=Your name

Warnings: Verbal abuse, arguments but lots of fluff!

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

“And that’s a wrap for today, well done guys!” the director shouted out, some people clapping as others cheered. 

I smiled as Alexander walked towards me, still in his Bjorn getup. I couldn’t deny the fact that he was sexy in his costume, especially when acting this brutish character. He leaned down to kiss me, but I giggled and backed away, not wanting to get any fake blood on my face.

“First you wash up, then I’ll give you a kiss.” I stated, still trying to avoid his arms grabbing me.

“You’ve been on set all day, and not once have I been able to even talk to you, let alone kiss you. Come on, don’t I deserve one kiss?”

I shook my head, crossing my arms over my chest. He pretended to frown, looking angrier with his costume on. We stared at each other for a few seconds before bursting out laughing. I took his hand and dragged him to his trailer, wanting to get home as soon as possible.

We hadn’t seen each other for months due to his filming and my work. Luckily I was due some time off and he was coming to the end of filming for Vikings, and our schedules finally worked together. I had decided not to tell him that I was visiting, wanting to surprise him. However, because I was so nervous and paranoid, the paparazzi had snapped me running down the street with my suitcase (due to the fact that I was running late for my plane), following me for the rest of the day; they wrote headlines about me running off to see my secret lover, or fleeing from the relationship without a word. As soon as I got off the plane, my phone was blowing up with messages and missed calls, voicemails from Alexander wondering where I was going. He didn’t believe the headlines, he never did, but the way they made the pictures look made it seem like I was in some sort of trouble. 

And this wasn’t the first time it happened, for some reason there were never any nice news about us, it was always a scandal with them. I knew that I shouldn’t let it get to me, that this was what I signed up for when I got into a relationship with Alexander. He had never doubted me, and I him whenever these stories came out, but after so many stories coming out, it’s hard to ignore it, and ideas start coming into your head, it gets very tiring.

“(Y/N)!” I heard Marco’s voice call out as Alexander entered his trailer.

“Marco!” I squealed, hugging him as he approached me.

“Oh, so he gets a hug but I don’t.” Alexander teased.

“Well if you go inside and get cleaned up, you’ll get one.” I grinned back, winking at him as he smiled and closed the door.

“It’s good to have you back. Alexander really need it too.” Marco said.

“Yeah, some of the others mentioned his mood dipping. I didn’t realise how much I needed this too. It’s always so long we’re away from each other.”

“We’ve all missed you too you know.”

“And I’ve missed you all! Feels nice to have everyone back together again, even if it is whilst you’re still working.”

Marco and I kept on talking as Alexander got changed. I had started dating Alexander when he was halfway through his first season of filming, meaning that I had grown close with the other cast members. All of them were welcoming when I first met them, and over the years they became a second family. As we kept chatting away, the weather got colder, and I had only a small jacket on me. Being the close friends we were, Marco and I huddled up, laughing as we looked like weirdos as we talked so closely to each other.

“What are you two doing?” Alexander chuckled as he saw me and Marco sharing his coat.

“We got cold.” I shivered.

“Why didn’t you just come inside?”

“That would have made more sense.”

Marco laughed.“We were having our bonding time! Anyway, I suppose I best leave you two alone, don’t really want to be third wheeling.”

“Aw, you’ll never be a third wheel-”

“Yes, he is. Sorry Marco, gotta get going.”

“I understand. I’ll see you both tomorrow, OK?”

We said our goodbyes before Alexander practically ran away with me. I could tell that he had been frustrated that we hadn’t spent enough time together, and I completely agreed with him. We weren’t wasting any time right now, because we never knew when we could have this much time together again.

Waking up the next morning, I immediately felt excitement as I remembered that Alexander had the day off. As I rolled over in bed to hug him, I was met with an empty space. Glancing at the clock, I didn’t find it unusual, seeing as it was ten o’clock. I got up and went to the kitchen, wondering where he could be. Smiling when I spotted him at the breakfast bar, I sneaked up behind him, wrapping my arms around his torso, kissing his cheek too.

“Morning. What are we up to today? I know we haven’t planned anything but we could still go out.” I asked, waiting for him to answer but he remained quiet.“Babe, you alright?”

I peaked over his shoulder, seeing that his focus was on his phone.

“They’ve done it again.” he muttered.

“What?”

“Those pieces of shit, why do they always do this?” 

I took his phone from him, worried when I saw the angry look on his face. He was looking at a news article, the title ‘Secret Love Affair?’, a picture of me and Marco huddled together. We were sharing his coat, obviously our faces were close, and it made us look somewhat romantic how they had photographed us. As I read the small article, it kept spinning lies about how I was cheating on Alexander right in front of his face, how devious I was, how sneaky I could be. I started tearing up, placing his phone back on the bar.

“You don’t believe it, do you?” I squeaked out.

“Of course not!” he snapped back.

“I don’t understand why they keep doing this. Why do they want to target us?”

“Because they’ve got nothing better to do.”

I heard my phone vibrate, notifying me of a text. What I hadn’t realised was that I had multiple texts and notifications from my social medias. There were so many mean comments coming my way, calling me the worst names in the book.

‘She’s a whore!’

‘Why can’t Alex see that’s she’s using him?’

‘Wouldn’t be surprised if she’s slept with the whole cast.’

Then came the texts from friends. Some were concerned, knowing that this was complete bullshit; those who I thought were friends had other things to say.

‘This again (Y/N), really?’

‘I believed you before, why would they keep writing this about you though?’

‘Does Alexander know? When are you going to stop doing this, he doesn’t deserve it!’

I couldn’t help but burst into tears. It was all too much, and happening far too often. The world saw me as this evil, manipulating bitch that didn’t care about anyone but herself; I didn’t even have a chance to prove them wrong! It was starting to effect my friendships and more importantly my health. I found myself constantly paranoid of the paparazzi, always checking what I was wearing, how my expression was whilst I was walking, who I spoke to, and so forth. It was draining, and a simple trip to see my boyfriend should be relaxing. Yet here I was, crying my eyes out over a stupid, lying story. 

“I-I need to leave.” I sobbed.

“Leave? Why would you leave?”

“I don’t deserve this Alex! Why am I being targeted when I’ve never done anything wrong?! I love you, and I would never do anything to hurt you. So why is this happening?”

“This effects me too! I can’t be in the media like this, this effects my work.” 

My eyes widened at his statement.“What about our relationship? People think I’m a stone cold hearted bitch who’s using you and you’re worried about your career?”

“Yes, because I’ve worked hard to get where I am, I can’t let it crumble just because a news article decides to write utter lies about us.”

“About me, they don’t once mention you, and when they do, it’s pitying you for even being with me!” I shouted, getting riled up that he wasn’t supporting me.

“I don’t get why you’re shouting at me, I haven’t done anything!”

“You’re not supporting me-”

“What do you want me to do? I can’t get rid of this.”

“Just forget it then!” I screamed before retreating back to our room, slamming the door in the process.

I cried silently on the bed, not wanting Alexander to hear me and come check on me. I couldn’t fathom the words he just said to me. Why was he angry at me? He knew that I would never do anything like that to hurt him, it was an impossible idea for me. Why people cheated in the first place shocked me, it was heartbreaking. If you didn’t love someone anymore, why would you put them through anymore pain? And with people doubting my intentions, I could feel the sadness building and building. Nothing would make me happier in that moment than having Alexander hold me close and comfort me. 

I had stopped crying, staring into space for what seemed like forever. There was no motivation for me to move. It gave me time to think over everything. Would it be easier, better for us to part ways? I loved him with all my heart, but was all this pain worth it?

Alexander slowly opened the door, standing there for a few seconds. He closed it after him, coming to lie down beside me. My eyes lowered, looking down at my hands. Alexander’s hand took mine, rubbing his thumb over the back of it.

“I’m sorry.” I whispered.

“No, I’m sorry.” he said back, his voice raspy. He must have been crying too.

“I understand that your career is important. I shouldn’t have made it about me.”

“It is about you though. I thought about what you said, how it made you feel. If someone was repeatedly spreading horrible lies about me, I would feel pretty shit too. I called my manager, said that something needed to be done about it. They’re thinking it over, they also think it’s awful what they’ve done.”

“Thank you. I’m sorry for bringing this on you-”

“You haven’t done anything.” he cupped my cheek, making me look at him.“You’re my girl, and I won’t let anything like that happen to you again. Just know that I’ve had so many messages from our friends, angry about what’s happened. They were worried cause you weren’t answering your phone.”

“I turned it off. Couldn’t stand to see another message.”

“That’s understandable. I managed to get another day off tomorrow, I thought we’ll stay in today, and show those paps what an amazing relationship we have.”

I grinned, pulling him in for a long kiss.“I love you.”

He kissed me again, holding me close, like he would never let go.“I love you too.”

[deathstroyed-a]

     they say,    college is the best time of your life.    it’s full of freedom and independence,   a chance to   really    make something of yourself.    every year,   over two thousand students are enrolled at      ARCADIA PREP  to fulfil their dreams.    be it creative,   practical or even just to live the college life.  Arcadia Prep caters to all sorts of people from all over the globe,   with a whole list of extracurricular activities and community involvement.

The college is slap bang in the middle of Arcadia Bay,   a quaint yet lively town that accommodates for it’s students needs via jobs and activities. Businesses are always looking for new staff and are always willing to give those in need of the extra money to experience to broaden their horizons .   From coffee shops, grocery markets and bars,  to youth centers,  tattoo parlors and old people’s homes.  

Of course,   students will be students.   Parties and heartbreak are always on the agenda here at Arcadia Prep,  with your extra shot of drama and tears to add to the mix. Dorms are full to the brim with friends, enemies and lovers.   Our dorms are mixed via gender as we believe in equality and respect.   We trust our students to behave and make their own decisions.

Like what you’re hearing?   Enroll at Arcadia Prep today and you won’t regret a thing !

Rules :

This is a first come first served group verse

Be respectful and include everyone

No duplicate faceclaims or characters

Aimed at The 100 fandom but other fandoms may apply

This is for fun so have fun!

All major plots to be run past me ( aka iisms )

There will be a discord group. Your details will not be shared with anyone else

Be respectful of ships / friendships / enemies. I do not want people using their muse to attack others.

I will name your muse’s place of work, unless you have any ideas

Reservations up to 24 hours.

Any questions, just ask.

Application:   ( send here or here )

mun name:

mun age:

muse name:

muse age:

muse faceclaim:

subject studied:

muse job / name of work ( if any / eg: The Polaris):

discord drop

Students:

Clarke Griffin  is twenty years old and studies art & art history.   She works as a  waitress at The Ice Nation Smoothie Bar. She looks a lot like Eliza Taylor    ↠   @deathstroyed​

Bellamy Blake is twenty-six years old and is a student history professor.  He works as a bartender at The Polaris. He looks a lot like Bob Morley    ↠   @graunteina​

Matthias Bishop is twenty years old and studies within the medical field.  He works at  TONDC Tattoos. He looks a lot like Dominic Sherwood   ↠   @survivoers

Echo is twenty-two years old and studies cyber secruity and history. She works as a bartender at The Polaris. She looks a lot like Tasya Teles   ↠   @azgedaspy

Maya Vie is twenty-one and studies Art, History and Medical Science.  She works as an intern at Mount Weather Hospital.   She looks a lot like Eve Harlow   ↠   @revielutionary

Octavia Blake is nineteen years old and studies foreign language and history. She works as a waitress at Trikru Coffee Shop.  She looks a lot like Marie Avgeropoulos   ↠   @oktavea

Harper Mcintyre is twenty years old and studies business. She works as the manager at Eligius Clothing. She looks a lot like Chelsey Reist.    ↠    @bttershot

Finn Collins is twenty one years old and studies environmental science. He works at Sanctum Grocery Store.  He looks a lot like Thomas McDonnel.     ↠    @bonfierhearts .

Harlowe Knightley is twenty years old and studies forensic psychology.  She looks a lot like Pheobe Tonkin.   ↠    @lethaele

Reserved:

Wells Jaha

Nova  - Alexander Ludwig

Manon Lee - Vaness Morgan

[imgoldielikehawn]

Goldies Viking Master List

My full and complete Vikings Master List if its not here.. i didnt write it LOL Enjoy Loves! 

Headcannons 

Vikings Cast As Horror Movie Stereotypes 

Ragnar 

Rollo

Bjorn

Ubbe 

Sigurd 

Hvitserk 

Ivar 

Vikings Cast As Aaliyah Songs 

Ragnar 

Rollo

Bjorn

Ubbe

Hvitserk 

Ivar 

Vikings Cast As Band Members From the 60′s-90′s

Ragnar 

Rollo

Bishop Heahmund 

Bjorn 

Ubbe 

Sigurd 

Hvitserk 

Ivar 

Vikings Cast & Their Zodiac Signs

Ragnar 

Bjorn 

Ubbe 

Ivar

The Vikings Cast AS Popular Horror Movie Killers 

Ragnar 

Bjorn 

Ivar

Ubbe 

Hvitserk

Imagines

Daddy Says  Travis fimmel x reader NSFW

Marco x Alex as roomates  Comedy 

  Imagine being the wife of Heathen King Ivar The Boneless, little does he know he’s married a heathen as well  ( Ivar x Reader) 18+ Mature Themes

Imagine Your Five Year Marriage Ending Over Another Woman ( Alex Hogh x Reader) Angst

 Imagine Ubbes Face The First Time You don’t want to have sex

Imagine Ubbe Coming Home from a long trip  (Ubbe x Reader) 18+ Mature Content

Imagine you get a Message From Your Boyfriend While he Is on Set ( Vikings Cast x Reader) Fluff

 Imagine Fighting With Your Viking Man ( Vikings Cast x Reader) Angst 

One Shots

Back Stage Pass  ( Travis Fimmel x Reader) 18+ Mature

Castles Made Of Sand (Hippie Hvitserk x Hippie Reader) 18+ Mature

Musical Seduction  ( Modern Bjorn x Reader) Fluff

No Sleep For The Heartbroken ( Vikings Cast x Reader)

 Nothing To Talk About ( Alex Hogh x Reader) Fluff

 Three Years And Counting ( Modern Bjorn Ironside x Reader) Pure Fluff

Five Years And Counting ( Modern Bjorn x  WOC ) Pure Fluff

 Happy Birthday Alex! ( Alex Hogh x Jordan P Smith x Reader) 18+ Mature Themes

 Teenage Fever (Ivar x Reader) Angst

 Too Good ( Ivar x Reader) Angst

 Take Care ( Alex Hogh x Reader) Angst

 Best I Ever Had ( Alex Hogh x Reader)  Angst

 Find Your Love ( Alex Hogh x Reader)  Angst

 One Dance (Jordan Patrick Smith x Reader) 18+ Mature Themes 

 Trust Issues ( Alexander Ludwig x Reader) 18+ Mature Themes

 Girls Love Beyonce ( Marco IIslo x Reader) 18+ Mature Themes

 Close  ( Bjorn x Reader)  18+ Mature Themes

Boss (Ubbe x Reader) 18+ Mature Themes

 Study (Jordan Patrick Smithx Reader) 18+ Mature Themes

Ride (Ivar x WOC ) 18+ Mature Themes

 You Have No Idea (Ivar x Plus Size Reader) 18+ Mature Themes

 Who (Ivar x Reader) 18+ Mature Themes

 Lonely ( Modern Ivar x Reader) 18+ Mature Themes

  An Evening With The Devil ( Dom Vampire Heahmund x WOC) 18+

Series

They Will See You Now ( Bishop Heahmund x Ivar x Reader) 18 + Mature

 Part 1  Part 2   Part 3   Part 4     ( Ongoing) 

Run Away (Ubbe x Reader) 18+ Mature Themes

 Prologue   Part 1  Part 2  Part 3  Part 4  Part 5     Part  6  Part 7 (Ongoing)

 Lethal Lovers  (Ivar X WOC )18+ Mature Themes

 Part 1  Part 2  Part 3  Part 4  Part 5  (Ongoing) 

Jail ( Modern Lawyer Bjorn x Inmate Reader x Astrid ) 18+ Mature Content

Part 1   Part 2  Part  3   Part 4   Part 5

 Hate= Love (Bjorn x WoC) 18+ Mature Themes

 Part 1  Part 2  Part 3  Part 4  Part 5  (Complete)

 What Winter Brings ( Bjorn x Woc) 18+ Mature Themes

 Part 1  Part 2  Part 3   Part 4  (Complete)

 Choices

 ALex Hogh Andersen x Reader 18+ Mature Themes

 Part 1  Part 2  Part 3 

Ragnar Lothbrok x Reader 18+ Mature Themes

Part 1  Part 2 

Collab Fics 

Those Among Us  ( Vikings Cast Greek Mythology AU) With @laketaj24

Part 1    Part  3     Part   5 

What Happens In Dublin  ( Vikings Cast x OFC`s) 18+ Mature Content  @laketaj24 @courtrae89 @grungyblonde

Part 1        Part 6     The Hangover Part 2        Hells Bells 

Queen`s Of Odin`s Eye ( Vikings Cast  Sons Of Anarchy AU) 

 Part 4     Part 8       Part 12 (A)     Part 12 ( B)         Part 16     Part  19   Part 22

Part 32     Part 37     Part  41  Part 42    Part 46

Jax & Brii Snippet 

All Works of fiction are inspired by the History Channels Vikings! Please do not repost and take credit! Enjoy 

[aikainkauna]

Behind the scenes of The Thief of Bagdad. These had no captions, but I’ll try my best from what I remember seeing/reading before.

1. The Basra harbour scene, filmed on a tributary of the Thames in the spring of 1939.

2. Alexander Korda with Mary Morris, setting up the Silver Maid scene.

3. Sabu with the giant mechanical djinni’s foot being shot in front of bluescreen (one of the very first times the technique had been used in cinema).

4.-6. Sabu and Rex Ingram hanging around on set. I’m not 100% about the identity of the guy they’re studying the book with (for instance, William Cameron Menzies and Ludwig Berger look similar in some shots). In the following pictures, ISTR Rex was teaching Sabu about his passions: photography/filming and boxing.

7. Sabu checking out how his songs turned out in the recording studio.

8. Stand-ins for the main cast.

9. I *think* that’s one of the research ladies Sabu’s talking to here, or a dialogue supervisor. Sadly, no caption, and I’ve never seen this one before.

10. Sabu’s really excited. Ludwig Berger (or maybe William Cameron Menzies, I’m not sure) isn’t.

All are from this auction here.