#all i want to do is talk about my silly little swedish show but i feel like the dumbest most pretentious fool when i say | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

alexiabae · 9 months

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ONE DAY; fridolina rolfö x fem!reader

Summary: frido calls y/n after the semifinal match against spain.

Warnings: sad frido, fluff. short.

Note: English is not my first language.

Frido bites her bottom lip, sitting far away from her national teammates. She unblocked her phone and saw a lot of missed calls from her family, friends and Y/N.

She leaned her back on the wall, hearing the distant quiet chat between some of them. The blonde pressed the button to start a FaceTime call. She wants to forget everything that happened right now and talk with her favourite person.

"Hii, love." Y/N's face approached after a few seconds. She was giving her a sad smile, her eyes looking red, accentuating her colour eyes.

"I'm the only one who loses. What is your excuse?" Frido asked in a raspy voice, a tiny smile decorating her lips.

Y/N shakes her head, chuckling softly. "Well, my excuse is seeing you cry." She confessed, shrugging.

The blonde bites a little too hard on her lower lip, holding her own tears for this confession. Something really hard to do when she cried recently.

"Sorry..." Frido muttered, closing her eyes briefly and inevitably a tear rolled for her left cheek.

"You don't have to apologize, mi amor. You have the right to cry and feel sad." Y/N said firm in a soft voice.

Frido gives her one of her famous smiles, showing all her teeth, this time adorned by her tears. "I told you how much I love you?" She asked, watching between her blurred vision how Y/N shakes her head slowly.

"Something I heard..." Y/N giggles. "Frido... I know you are disappointed," Y/N started to say, looking at her with a serious but soft look. Frido swallows, nodding with her head briefly. "You were hopeful and I'm not gonna lie... I was too. I don't care if I am from Spain or not. You know what I think about Spain in this tournament..." Y/N bites her bottom lip, not wanting to let out any tears right now. "Just remember this encounter and make a promise to come back and do it until the final. Because I know you can. Sweden can do it." Y/N finished, clearing her throat to swallow the lump formed there.

A sob escapes from Frido's lips, hiding with a hand her eyes, letting all the tears out. "I p-promise you t-that." She stammered, wiping her tears with the palm of her hand that covered her eyes before.

"I know. You won the League's title, nationals cups, you just won the champions league... Do you think that you can't win the euro or the world cup? Because I'm sure if it's not the two, some of them could be." Y/N reassured her, smiling widely when Frido chuckled.

"We can be like Irene..." Frido trailed off, a silly smile playing on her lips. She saw how her girlfriend frowned, confused. "With a toddler around us." She clarified, enjoying the new colour on Y/N's cheeks.

"Do you not have enough with your young teammates?" Y/N whispered, making Frido laugh.

Frido shakes her head, still smiling. She stopped crying at this point. "Nop."

"What about Lucy?" This makes her laugh more. "She's like a child."

"I know." Frido said between laughs. "I'm not saying that it needed to happen. But, I see myself with you and a little you." The blonde admitted, shrugging.

"Well, I prefer a little Frido." Y/N admitted too, a new shape of red decorating her cheeks.

The Swedish blonde smirked. "I like these new propositions."

"I'm in love with an idiot." Y/N muttered, earning the laugh from the striker. Then, the Spanish looks up.

It's when Frido pays attention to where Y/N is. Well, she didn't know where she was, and Frido is trying to figure it out.

"Where are you? I don't recognise it." Frido asked, curiously.

Y/N looks down again, looking briefly at her sides. "I'm going to my mom's." Y/N lied, trying not to show her surroundings. "I need to hang up now. I will call you in a few minutes." She announced.

"Okay...?" Frido said, a little confused. "If you don't call in said time, I will." She said, making Y/N laughs this time.

The Spanish hung up and walked into the tunnel, accompanied by Pernille. "She is so in love." The Danish woman hummed, smirking mischievously.

"Shut up. You are too." Y/N muttered, looking down.

"From your girlfriend?" Pernille asked, smugly.

"No! Y-You understand me." Y/N stammered, hitting Pernille's arm, making her laugh.

"Yes, but I love teasing you." The forward admitted, approaching the door they were searching. "I'm going to text Magda." She said, grabbing her phone.

Y/N waited by her side, watching the people walk up and down the tunnel. For her luck, the Spanish girls are in their changing room, celebrating the pass to the final.

The door opening behind her, gained her attention. Magda opened it, her face displaying all what she was feeling in that moment, but a tiny smile grew up when she saw Y/N.

"Nice to see you again, kiddo." Magda said in a raspy voice, wrapping an arm around Y/N's shoulder and hugging her.

Y/N rolled her eyes, hugging her too. "You are older than me for only three years"

"Whatever you said, kiddo." Magda said, separating from the hug and pecking Pernille's lips.

"You two are insoportable." Y/N muttered, crossing her arms.

The couple turned to look at her with teasing smirks and smugly expressions while they were still hugging.

"Let's go inside." Magda said, taking off her arms from Pernille and grabbing her hand, she gets inside, Y/N following.

Y/N saw how devastated the girls are. Some of them are sitting together, giving each other encouragement words, others just comforting each other and others are alone. She saw how Hanna raised her head and crossed her gaze with hers, a look of surprise decorating her features.

"Hello." Y/N greeted, waving with her hand.

"Hey..." Hanna greeted her, still shocked. "Sorry, I'm in shock. I'm not waiting for you at this moment." She laughed nervously. Then, the blonde wrapped her arms around her neck. Y/N wrapped her arms around her too, giving a soft pat on her back.

"I believe in this team." Y/N simply said. She gave her an apologetic smile when they separated, wiping Hanna's tears.

"She is over there." Hanna muttered, indicating with a move of her head in the direction.

Y/N thanked her and kissed her forehead, walking slowly towards the young Swedish said. She saw Frido sitting on a bench, both elbows leaning on her knees, her face hiding by her hands. She walked towards her and sat down, watching her.

Frido noticed someone sitting next to her, but she doesn't pay too much attention, she just keeps trying to focus on another thing while she waits for Y/N to call her. Her knee bounced a little.

Y/N passed her tongue to her lips, a funny expression on her eyes. "You know... It's a little rude for you to not show interest in the person who sits down next to you."

The blonde blinked a few times while raising her head to look at the new voice. "W-What are you d-doing here?" Frido asked, looking astonished.

The Spanish shrugged and soon a squeal escaped from her mouth because Frido lifted her from her seat to her lap and proceeded to hug her, hiding her head on Y/N's neck and wrapping her arms around her torso.

"You don't answered me." Frido said in a muffled voice.

"I came to surprise you. I don't tell you because when I landed here, you started to play. So I contacted P and Magda and we agreed that P would come for me at the airport." Y/N explained.

"I missed you." The Swedish whispered, kissing her neck and raising her head, she was met by Y/N's gaze.

"Me too." Y/N muttered, looking at how Frido's blue eyes lit up. When the blonde travels her gaze towards Y/N's lips, the other decides to not lose time and break the little space.

It was slow, a chaste kiss. Y/N putting on her hands on Frido's cheeks and when it intensifies, a groan escapes from their mouths.

"Please, the public affection that you two are showing kept it in private!" Magda exclaims with clear intentions to tease her friends.

Frido without saying anything, stood up, making Y/N to wrap her legs on her waist and without breaking the kiss, the blonde walked to an empty cubicle. Some whistles were heard by her teammates.

"I'm not going to have sex with you, here." Y/N murmured on her lips, pecking it a few times.

"I can wait until we are alone." Frido said, smiling by Y/N's kisses on her face. She leaned Y/N's back on the door when she closed it.

"How are you?" Y/N asked, caressing Frido's cheeks with her thumbs.

"I will be better." Frido muttered, closing her eyes and enjoying Y/N's touch.

Y/N pecked her nose, seeing how the player scrunched her nose.

"I like that jersey, by the way." Y/N commented, leaning her head aside with a lipped smile.

Frido looks down to see her new jersey. "Forget about it. The only colour you would see me in red is when I wear a barça jersey. Yellow always."

"Is maroon. Not red." Y/N hummed, laughing when she saw how Frido rolled her eyes.

"Whatever, you understand me." Frido shut her kissing her again.

"Couple, we need to go now." Pernille interrupted them from the other side.

"Would you come with me to Sweden?" Frido asked, ignoring the warning by her friend.

Y/N nods. "Yes, but only a week. Later I need to come back to Barcelona."

Frido pouted. "No! You will stay with me until I come back to Barcelona." She stubbornly said, frowning.

"They are ignoring me." They heard how Pernille commented to someone. Y/N bits a laugh when she sees how Frido groans softly.

Y/N, still with her hands on her face, bring it towards her and give her a long kiss. "Definitely later we will search our first child." Frido comments, laughing hard for Y/N's reaction.

#woso x reader #woso #woso imagine #fridolina rolfö #fridolina rolfö x reader #fridolina rolfö imagine

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polyklok · 1 year

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Attention Metalocalypse fans

Do you miss Dethklok? Just want a tiny bit more?

I’m not sure how many people are aware, but I’d thought I’d spread the word anyway-

There were DVD special clips of unscripted Dethklok interviews, some tv extras, other little tidbits and it’s extremely important to me that they are seen and HEARD

First of all, there’s a classic of Dethklok listing bands for over 20 minutes. It’s so dumb but nothing has made me smile so stupidly like this has. They all hype eachother up, Toki goes sicko, it fucking rules.

There’s also Skwisgaar teaching us how to play guitar. If you’re into silly degradation by a bimbo Swedish guitar god, this is probably for you. He also…sells us a guitar?

You obviously got Nathan Explosion reading Shakespeare (not really) and then he does it some more! (Not really)

Dethklok just…watching NASCAR. (Part of the reason why I think Murderface is from the deep south) Maybe that’s not classy enough for you; not enough Zazz? That’s alright, they also visit IKEA!

(A non-video one, which is surprising) Revolver interviews Nathan Explosion, in which this goth himbo realizes he doesn’t remember being borne

Okay, so I’m editing this bit by bit and this lovely person posted another non-video Dethklok interview, this time with Toki and Murderface reviewing music!

Eddie Riggs roadies for Dethklok. Reminder to all the Jack Black was/is a large fan of Metalocalypse! Also, they summon death (may or may not be related, I’m unsure)

Charles gettin drunk with the band! (This one might’ve been in the show…I don’t remember)

Murderface goes to the opera and talks awkwardly on the phone for too long. Like, way too long. Seriously.

Pickles goes on a trip. It’s wonderful to just hear him ramble honestly.

Don’t like Murderface? First of all, how fucking dare you. Secondly, you can listen to Charles Offdensen on the phone instead! Maybe they’re talking to each other!

Toki vs Skwisgaar staredown, courtesy of @doomstar because I forgot it! Skwisgaar, honey, your homosketuality is showing.

Dick Knubbler interviews Murderface and Toki over the song ‘Takin’ it easy’ (a classic)

Murderface plays wheelchair bound, “I wish my grandma was dead.”

Pickles the drummer is drunk is public. That’s the whole thing.

You can listen to Facebones selling you Dethklok references or even Facebones giving a special Mordhaus tour!

Facebones listing types of klokateers? Sure! How’s about Facebones (also the scientists) explains moshing? Not your cuppa tea? That’s ok, you can listen to Facebones…names… places…

A memorial for the dead klokateers, very emotional. Also Inside Mordhaus; The Klokateer story, which sorta gives us a small view into the true intensity of the job.

SoundGarden’s ‘black rain’, which pretty heavily includes Dethklok in the music video. It’s actually a very cool reference.

Dethklok gets in tune, where they just struggle with their instruments for a bit…yeah

A ‘fact or fiction’ interview that’s actually pretty recent, all things considered.

This extras compilation video, while it does include a lot of the stuff already on this list, it also has other stuff that I can find individually or some random interviews. If you have some time, I’d give it a looksie!

There’s also short ‘interview’ clips. Dethklok talking about;

Politics

Education

Family

Insects (I particularly like this one because pickles forces the rest of the band into a closet so he can have alone time)

Women

Fans

Disasters

Food

And the future

It’s just nice to get a little extra content, ya know?

#metalocalypse #dethklok #pickles the drummer #skwisgaar skwigelf #nathan explosion #william murderface #toki wartooth #adult swim

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theflyingfeeling · 1 year

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☀️ "it's always sunny in Stockholm" ☀️

aka a concert report from Fryshuset Klubben, Stockholm, 1.3.2023

Travelling to our final destination (Stockholm city centre) did not go without hassle (wrong gate at the airport, delays with the commuter train to the city centre, trouble figuring out the venue etc., BC would've been proud!) but everything did work out eventually and we were in good spirits! 🥰

Speaking of the venue, I think none of us would've foreseen that listening to that one song in 2021 would lead us to hang out in the backyard of some random school in Stockholm, but that's where we were, and had good laughs there too :') <3

The venue was small intimate and not full, which to us in the audience was great (it wasn't cramped nor too hot), although for BC's sake I would've hoped there would've been a little bigger turn-up (especially considering at least half of the audience were Finnish fans 😂). They didn't seem to mind though; the show was as 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 as their shows always are

But before I talk about the show, I must once more advertise the support act! Not gonna lie, I had a minor heart attack when hours before the gig, BC posted an IG story starting with the words "due to an illness...", because them cancelling the gig would've been just the cherry on the top of the day we had had already, but it thankfully was Eyes Wide Open that had had to cancel at last minute. A band called Those Without was asked to fill in and boy am I thankful for the universe for this!! 😭🙏 They were so damn good!! I remember listening to their first song and going "huh! this ain't that bad actually" and wondering if it's just that one song, but no, all the other ones they played were great as well, which made me so happy 💖 It was a little funny when the band came on though; they just walked to the stage very unceremoniously and we weren't quite sure whether they were still doing the preperations until they started playing 😂 The singer was cute af, the bassist sang a bit, they were so chill and SO GRATEFUL to be there and just kept thanking BC for this opportunity and us the audience for being so nice to them, and all I wanted to scream was "no, thank YOU!!" because they really made my little punk pop/rock heart burst with love 🥺 If you're into early Mayday Parade / The Maine / Yellowcard -esque stuff, definitely check them out!

Blind Channel was Blind Channel, meaning they were wonderful amazing brilliant and it was great seeing them again 💞 We were ~4th row, there were a few tall people directly in front of us but at least I ended up having a great view to the stage in the end. The stage was high enough and close enough to the audience for me to be able to see their tattoos in detail and I remember admiring Joel's heart tattoo and Olli's three swords (god bless the inventor of sleeveless shirts eh? 🥵)

Random moments I remember include Olli falling asleep/zoning out during Autopsy (he didn't look up at the "HEY!!" part, or maybe he just forgot 😂 (I have video proof lol)) and Joel doing the tiniest snake dance during Snake (it looked like he wasn't going to do it, but then he couldn't help himself, I hope someone captured this 🥺🙏) + the moments in the videos I've posted

They're all so gorgeous but Olli 😩😩😩😩😩 he's so fucking beautiful I have a scheduled meltdown about it on a normal day, but during the show it's just 💦💦💦💦💦💦 all the time 💀 he trousers he was wearing were so tight cool and the sleeveless shirt had me by the pussy swooning 🫠

Flatline is awesome live, including the silly dance, even if in the audience you can't do it as "big" as you're supposed to. No bruise on my left tiddy though, I guess it takes more than one concert for one to appear, so BC should maybe consider wearing some padding on their chests for that 😆👀

After the gig we had an "after party" in a rock bar somewhere in Stockholm (not sure which district). I think here it's relevant to mention that in the queue there was this nice Swedish metal dude standing behind us and probably unwillingly listening to us as we were speaking a merry mix of English and Finnish, and eventually he started chatting with us and ended up joining us inside the venue and even showing us the way to one of his favourite bars when we asked for recs and he also came in for a few drinks with us despite having work the next day (he had also been at the venue the day before to see Sleeping With Sirens and was still wearing the same makeup from that gig 😂👌)

At the same bar there was also Henrik from Amaranthe (who none of us would've recognized if the Swedish metal dude hadn't started fangirling about him 😂)

All in all I had such a fun time on this 24-hour trip and I'm so happy I decided to go. Some of you know how stressed out I was about it; I'm so thankful to anyone who had to listen to me rant my heart out about it. I'm happy to tell you that the experience I had was totally worth it <3

Thank you so incerdibly much to all you guys who were with me at any point of this trip, it wouldn't have been the same without you (you all know who you are <3). Sorry if I was obnoxious or laughed too loudly, but I had such a shit weekend behind me and I was just so happy to get to see my favourite band and to hang out with all of you lovely people that I couldn't contain my excitement. Being there really meant so much to me, because this band and the community we have built around it truly is one of the few lights at the end of the never-ending tunnel I often get lost in. I know this sounds silly and I'm probably being selfish but it made me so sad when BC said they won't be doing that many shows in Finland this summer. Yes, I completely understand that they're aiming for an international career and I'm fully supporting their plans to take over the world (I'm not one of those Finnish fans), and yes, I am aware that as a Finnish fan I'm immensely priviledged as it is and that I've had many more opportunities to see them than most fans living elsewhere have had. This may sound pathetic (or at least I feel pathetic about it), but I really don't have much else going on for me other than BC and everything related to it (nothing that gives me as much serotonin, that is), and if I don't get to see them next summer... I don't know what I'll do. Summers are a bit difficult for me for a variety of reasons, and last summer with all the BC shows was such a blessing, a wonderful distraction from my sad life and the fact that I'm nowhere near where I want to be, and I'm not sure if I can handle another lonely, grey summer and feeling like a failure every waking moment after having experienced all the fun last summer 💔

...so I guess I'm going on a road-trip around Europe next summer 🤔 Who's with me? 😌

#blind channel #the quote in the title © thisisntaparty 💛😌#please keep your eyes on niko on that video 😘#gifs coming up later maybe?#sorry not sorry for adding concert videos to my emotinal ramblings lol this is how i roll #ok to reblog though! 💗#gig reports by theflyingfeeling #my concert

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alexskarsgardnet · 4 years

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New Interview & Photo Shoot! Alex photographed by Johan Sandberg and interviewed by Timothy Small for L’Uomo Vogue (October 2020)!

Alexander Skarsgård: the photo shoot and interview for L'Uomo

BY TIMOTHY SMALL, JOHAN SANDBERG 25 SEPTEMBER 2020

Alexander Skarsgård is a really, really nice man. A Swede through and through, Alexander, or Alex, is a very down-to-earth gentleman who could definitely act as more of a big shot, considering he is also one of the most interesting actors in Hollywood right now, a town that, in true Swedish style, he once defined as “kind of silly”. After getting his first big break as the lead in David Simon's excellent Iraq War mini-series for HBO, Generation Kill, Skarsgård exploded in our collective imaginations as Eric Northman in True Blood, while also acting for Lars von Trier in the wonderful Melancholia.

Since then, he has been a very buff Tarzan in The Legend of Tarzan, a mute bartender in future Berlin in Mute, a very dark killer in Hold the Dark, and a hilarious Canadian Prime Minister in Long Shot, as well as giving an Emmy- and Golden Globe-winning turn in HBO's Big Little Lies. The self-defined “restless” 43-year-old is set to star in The Northman, Robert Eggers's highly anticipated third film, a “Viking revenge story” that Skarsgård himself was crucial in bringing to production – and, by all accounts, it seems like it could have all the right pieces to become a future cult classic. It certainly has that kind of hype.

L'Uomo Vogue: The Northman is such an interesting project. I know it's important to you. It's also part of a growing resurgence of interest in the Viking era and Norse mythology and that sort of epic Scandinavian adventure. How did it all begin?

Alex: It all started seven or eight years ago. As a Swede living in America, I realised there was a certain level of fascination with the Viking era and Viking culture – and this was before any of the Viking shows that have since happened. It made me realise that there basically had never been a real great epic Viking movie made, and I thought that that's what I wanted to do.

LV: So how did the project kick off?

Alex: I started having conversations with a studio back then, trying to crack the best story. All I knew at the time is that I wanted to make a big Viking movie. We had a couple of potential different starting points: we had a story about two brothers, and then one about the Viking travels down to Constantinople with the Viking siege of the city. We were looking for the right story, but I never really felt we were there. I knew the scope I wanted it to exist in. But what was the story?

LV: And that's when you met Robert Eggers.

Alex: Yes, like three or four years ago. We met about something else. I can't remember how, but we started talking about Vikings. And he was, like me, a huge fan of Viking culture and of that historical era, and I immediately felt he would be the perfect guy to direct this movie. And then we found an author and poet in Iceland, Sjón, who came onboard to write the screenplay – and they did a fantastic job, just cracking the story and the essence of it.

LV: Sounds great.

Alex: It's a real adventure movie, but it's much more. It taps into the culture, and the mysticism of the Vikings, it becomes more intimate and more personal. I didn't want it to be a generic “swords-and-sandals” movie. Robert is one of the best filmmakers out there. And the whole process is so much more gratifying than when you're quote-unquote “just an actor”. It's been truly extraordinary.

LV: But then you had to halt production.

Alex: Yeah. I was in Belfast, Northern Ireland, three months into prep on The Northman about seven days away from principal photography. Just gearing up, you know, getting ready to start a very long, very intense shoot -- a shoot that we were scheduled to wrap in July – and that's when the virus hit.

LV: What did you do then?

Alex: I normally live in New York, while my family lives in Stockholm. When the first wave came, I was on the fence: nobody really knew how long it would be, or what precisely was going on. So we shut down production for six weeks. The idea was to then see what would happen. I basically moved to Stockholm for four months.

LV: How do you feel about this forced break from work?

Alex: I had not been home for this long in... more than 20 years. It was strange. We were in a bubble; we were all healthy and safe. In a lot of ways, I had moments when I felt being surrounded by my loving family, feeling safe and loved, and taking a break from work, but then also feeling very guilty because I was, for the lack of a better term, being spared.

LV: In the past, you've described yourself as being a nomad. Did you miss Sweden and the North?

Alex: I realised how much I have been missing it. I go to Sweden regularly, but usually only for three or four days, maybe a week, tops. My father and two of my brothers are actors, so we're used to never being in the same city. We all travel all over the world. Maybe we'd get back together for Christmas. And I can really say that I had missed spring in Sweden.

LV: Do you think we will change the way movies are produced?

Alex: We're going to have to figure out how to shoot movies with dozens of crew members and hundreds of extras while still respecting social distancing rules. It's an unprecedented situation and everyone is scrambling to figure out the best approach. My brother was one of the first people who worked in our industry during the pandemic. He shot a movie in Iceland in the middle of the lockdown. The way they solved it is they split the crew into colour sections. So, hair and make-up had yellow armbands and the camera department had blue, and they had a “Corona appointee” on set who would call out, “Now blue go in!” and then “Blue, out! And yellow, in!” And then they would all do their job in turns. It was very military-like. Productions are already complicated, so we'll just have to add another layer.

LV: How did you become an ambassador to the Clarks brand?

Alex: To me, authenticity is very important. I don't want to endorse products I don't genuinely like. That's why I was excited when Clarks reached out. I've been wearing Desert Boots for 25 years. Also, I like to travel a lot. I like to explore new cities by foot. I want to be able to walk around comfortably in a classic, iconic shoe. I travel from movie set to movie set, and I often live out of a suitcase. And this teaches you to be frugal. Whatever fits in that suitcase, that's all I can bring.

LV: Is that the Swede in you?

Alex: Maybe. But we consume way too many things in this society. Also, you give things more meaning when you live with them, and when you go on adventures with them. Like, these are my boots. I've been places with them. And when they fall apart, I'll buy a new pair. If you have the right stuff to begin with, you don't need more.

LV: Going back to The Northman, that really sounds like a dream project.

Alex: It is. It will be a rollercoaster ride. I can't wait to get back to Northern Ireland and get back to the production. It's also a very physically demanding project, so I have been training for, well, since a few months before production stopped.

LV: In a way, getting into a role, getting on a movie set, acting through it, the whole process of making a movie is a bit like a little adventure. You have to prep, you have to travel, often with people you don't know, and you have to push boundaries.

Alex: Absolutely! A huge part of the appeal of this profession is you get to travel, and you meet amazing, interesting people from all over. And the uncertainty, you know? What was it, 12 years ago, I was in New York, and I'd never heard of Generation Kill. And then two days later I was on a plane to the Kalahari Desert to be out there for seven months to shoot the series. And I'll never forget the feeling, sitting on that plane, thinking, “Two days ago I didn't even know about this project, and here I am on my way to Southern Africa to spend seven months in the desert with 200 strangers.” It's very exciting.

LV: What a feeling that must be!

Alex: And every single job is like that. Every movie is different. Your part, the tone, the energy, the people – it's always different. And for someone like myself, who has that kind of wanderlust, who's always looking on the horizon, it's very attractive to never know just what the next adventure might be.

October 14, 2020: Updated with the full interview courtesy of our friends at the ASkarsLibrary (x).

Fashion credits:

Photographs by Johan Sandberg Styling by Martin Persson Grooming Karin Westerlund @ Lundlund Hair Amanda Lund @ Lundlund Stylist’s assistant Isabelle Larsson Digital Daniel Lindgren Production Madeleine Mårtensson and Olle Öman @ Lundlund

Read the full interview by Timothy Small and see the photo shoot by Johan Sandberg in the October issue of L'Uomo, on newsstands from September 22nd.

Sources/Thanks: Interview: Timothy Small for L’Uomo Vogue (x), Photos: Johan Sandberg for L’Uomo Vogue (x), artlistparis.com (x) via artlistparisnewyork instagram (x), luomovogue instagram (x) & atomomanagement.com (x) via atomomanagement instagram (x), our caps from artlistparisnewyork’s September 23, 2020 insta story (x, x)

#Alexander Skarsgard #alexander skarsgård

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grittyreadsfic · 3 years

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hello my friends, one singular person asked for this weeks ago so i’m here with my most unhinged rec list yet: tk and nolan.

now, this one was hard to reign in, so i really didn’t. this pairing had maybe 230 fics in the tag when i first started reading hockey fic, and it’s now over 900, and i’ve read far too many of them, and that makes it so hard to parse it down. so i just...didn't!

so with that said, please enjoy so you want to get into tknp: a beginners guide to a classic case of idiots to lovers

i told myself that i couldn’t rec an author’s entire body of work but then i remembered this is my blog and i do what i want, so i did some consolidating. here’s a list of the quintessential authors for this pairing, you can start at any of their profiles and pick any of their fics at random, and it’ll be one of the best ones for the pairing, hands down.

therainbowsedge: i’d start with the summer camp fic, or the sex toys one, as both beautifully capture the true idiots to lovers nature of this pairing, but just top tier writing all around

manybumblebees: the wedding fic is so tender and port stanley is a classic, but literally pick any single fic and you’ll have a perfect tknp fic. i’m not kidding

jamesvanriemsdick: their tknp fics in their series are some of the hidden gems of this pairing (the tk heartbeat fic makes me LOSE it) but the delaware fic or the seattle fic…..there’s really something for every mood

catchascatchcan: start with era of gods because i could write literal essays on how it’s some of the best fantasy worldbuilding i’ve ever read, but then just read everything else on their account, including non tknp fics. you won’t regret it

hackysack: ao3 user hackysack has written one of two timeloop fics that i absolutely adore, and i thought about just calling that one out in particular, but all of their work deserves the attention

canary: nothing to prove was the first tknp fic i ever read and i was immediately hooked. all of their fics are a good starting place for the pairing, and just really give you a feeling for the pairing

and now, for the fic recs!

to be, despite it all by smudgedfreckles

summary: or, nolan patrick’s gender thesis, by travis konecny.

why i love it: there’s not a lot ofo nonbinary characters in media, even in fic, but this fic’s treatment of nolan and their path to figuring out their gender just feels so real and made me feel so seen. tk’s characterization is also just top notch, and it’s just a super sweet story about two people who love each other

last ones standing by makeit_takeit

summary: If you’re committed to finding your future spouse, reads the last line of the ad, and are ready to look at yourself and your love life in a whole new way, apply now.

At the bottom of the ad there’s a link, and Travis finds his finger hovering over the screen, lip still caught between his teeth.

“I mean,” he says very reasonably, speaking out loud to his empty apartment like some sort of possibly-crazy person, “just applying doesn’t mean anything. Maybe I just fill it out, and see what happens. It’s not like I’m really gonna get picked to be on TV, come on.”

He snorts out loud, just to show his apartment he hasn’t lost his grip on reality or anything; he fully understands how ludicrous that would be.

Then he clicks the link anyway, because yolo or whatever.

why i love it: what part of a married at first sight fic doesn’t make you want to immediately dive right in? the concept is fun, the execution is absolutely flawless, and it captures their dynamic so well while letting it develop naturally

motivation by connectknee

summary: Kevin knows when to back off, the article said. He knows just when to shut up and leave Patty alone, something Travis has never known how to do.

why i love it: the thing i love about this pairing is that tk is loud and in your face, and nolan’s more reserved, a little quieter, a little harder to read. this fic does a really great job of exploring how tk could feel like maybe he’s just a bit too much and is one of my favorites in terms of miscommunication

a tenderness grows by rusesdeguerre

summary: Nolan wouldn’t say that landing a job as the Philadelphia Flyers’ psychotic and probably clinically insane mascot was a childhood dream of his. Maybe tangentially: playing pond hockey in –30°C weather and pretending to be Sidney Crosby is practically a rite of passage when you grow up in Manitoba. That, and experiencing the distinct displeasure that is thousands of mosquitoes sucking your blood out when your father drags you on a father-son camping trip into the backwoods of the northern Canadian Prairies.

why i love it: this was the first fic i recced on this blog, and i stand by that decision. a fic where nolan is not only not a hockey player, but is in fact the person in the gritty suit? absolutely perfect, and so charming from start to finish

meet me at my window by springsteen

summary: Travis has lived in Philadelphia for a few years now, long enough to know there isn’t a major city in America where superheroes don’t destroy an entire city block trying to save humanity or whatever. He can deal with all the super-shit, but Travis did not sign up for getting woken up from a deep sleep because some fucker’s trying to break in through his window.

(5 times the super-villain known as "The Cat" breaks into Travis's apartment, plus 1 time Travis invites him in.)

why i love it: there’s a lot of things to love here, but the concept is just absolutely one of my all time favorite aus ever. it’s fun and charming and the perfect glimpse into a world where heroes and villains exist, and what it’s like just to be a run of the mill kind of guy existing in it. tk and nolan’s back and forth in this make it so engaging, and it’s such a top tier fic

body’s in trouble by cloudsandpassingevents

summary: “Oh, sorry,” someone says. “Didn’t know anyone else was here.”

Nolan freezes, then turns around very slowly. When he looks up, Nicklas fucking Backstrom is standing behind him in a hoodie and baggy sweats, holding the biggest bag of Swedish Fish Nolan’s ever seen in his life in one hand.

“Uh,” Nolan says around the pop tart between his teeth. “Yeah.”

What the fuck, his brain helpfully supplies.

why i love it: from nolan’s inner voice, to the way the author explores all the dynamics within the team, to the way they write the unexpected but actually, it kind of makes sense friendship between nolan and backstrom, is just absolutely fantastic. there’s a lot of moments that circle back and build on each other in a way that really just makes it super compelling

rhizomatic foundations by lighthousetowers

summary: Twenty days after he moves in with Kevin Hayes, twenty days – three months, five months, depending on how you look at it – after not talking to TK, TK shows up at the front door with a plant the size of a basketball in his hands.

TK grins. "Patty, meet Reginald." He lifts up the plant. "Reggie, meet Patty. He's going to be your new - caretaker."

"What the fuck," says Nolan, not moving a single muscle.

Or: That Nolan can hear the plant talk might as well just happen.

why i love it: this is probably my favorite magical realism fic just about ever. it’s fun and charming and a little weird, but in the best possible way. there’s such a wonderful narrative in it, and lighthousetowers always has such beautiful writing, and it really shines in this one. the dialogue and nolan’s characterization are also part of what set it apart for me as one of the best tknp fics

in the dark of any town by mengetpegged

summary: If the voice has an accent at all, it’s a flat prairie Canadian, with none of G’s French-Canadian softness at the edges. But mostly, the accent is just ‘pissed off,’ which TK believes is a default setting for ghosts.

“Who are you?” TK asks, and he doesn’t like how strained his voice sounds, doesn’t like the tinge of anxiety tinting the rise of his question. He tries to regulate his breaths—in through his nose, hold, out through his mouth—but it feels like he’s not getting enough oxygen, which makes him panic even more.

“Someone with a fucking migraine, dickhead,” the voice says. “So keep the lights off and shut the hell up.”

(or: Nolan Patrick, Hotel X Ghost)

why i love it: i’m usually not super into ghost fics, both the spooky kind and the nonspooky kind, but this one is a rare exception. it’s charming and fun and tender and it’s got some of, in my opinion, the best characterization of tk and nolan in any fic. the way the author writes their dynamic and their dialogue is just unmatched

lets_make_this_moment_a_crime.mp3 by honeydripping

summary: Travis meets Nolan at a Midtown show in 2002 when he punches Nolan in the face. He can’t help it, “Like A Movie” just goes off.

But he does feel guilty about it.

TK and Patty work at a bakery together. They go to punk shows to pass the time.

why i love it: idk if anyone asked for an early 2000s emo/punk/alt au but wow! i sure am glad it exists! really the vibes of this fic, as silly as that sounds, are absolutely unmatched. i love the structure with the music, the development of their relationship, and just everything about how the author wrote the setting (there’s this whole thing with tattoos in it that makes me feel absolutely insane)

you’re ripped at every edge by you’re a masterpiece by conformityissuicide

summary: “Ugh, look, this yoga teacher has it out for me, man. And I can’t go back there without at least having some of the basics down. I’ve got to win this battle.”

“Yoga isn’t really something you win at,” Hartsy starts.

Travis cuts him off, “You can win at anything if you try hard enough.”

+++

OR that time Nolan's a grumpy yoga teacher and Travis realizes he wants to bone him and prove him wrong about Travis' non-existent yoga abilities.

why i love it: listen, if you want tknp, at least one of them has to be an idiot, and this tk absolutely captures the obliviousness i love to see in him in fic. it’s such a great characterization of them both and such a great concept (and even better execution)

you form a terror pack (and i’m aware of that) by dalmatienne

summary: “Can I help you?” TK snarks, both eyebrows hiked up in a way that has earned her many elbow checks to the ribs.

The chick looks down her nose, long thick eyelashes fluttering. Red-bitten lips part to blow a florid pink bubble and TK can smell the chemical sweetness when it pops.

“Yeah,” she says in this monotonous voice that seems almost at odds with her bubble gum and neon skates. She jams her stopper into TK’s thigh again, literally inches away from where it’d really hurt. “Tie ‘em.”

why i love it: to be honest, i generally don’t read rule 63 within hrpf, but this one is just absolutely knocks it out of the park. the concept (i fuckin’ love roller derby), the characterization of nolan, the pacing, the rituals, the tone of the entire fic, it’s just all around a perfect read from start to finish

thrills and grills by bitter_leaf

summary: Travis can’t even begin to wonder what he did in a previous life to incur the wrath of this fucking cook. Travis thinks he’s a nice person, doesn’t conduct himself in any way that could be considered particularly dickish, and unless this guy has some sort of issue with hockey bros or people from the boonies, he’s not sure how he started shit without even knowing.

Patty has a vendetta. Travis just wants to eat his eggs in peace.

why i love it: honestly this is the enemies to lovers fic i’ve been waiting for. i remember seeing the reddit post when it first went viral and thinking it would make such a great fic premise, so stumbling across this one was just so wonderful. super engaging and fun and so hilarious to read!

nothing but room for you by fightingfuries

summary: When his agent tells him he’s going to be traded to the Devils, Nolan isn't sure how he feels about it. Might be easier if he was going somewhere farther away, like California or fucking Florida. Somewhere sun-soaked and foreign. Someplace so different from Philadelphia that he can forget he ever played for the Flyers, forget everything that happened there.

Or Nolan fucks up, gets traded, gets his shit together and falls in love. Not necessarily in that order.

why i love it: i cannot stress to you how much i love trade fics, and this one is one of my absolute favorites. the trade to the devils-so close to philly, still, but there’s more to distance than physical miles-was such an excellent choice and the split timeline adds so much to the narrative, and the emotions are real and messy and complicated in the best way

a couple of runaways (i’m glad you stayed) by overturnedgoal

summary: The person in the video he’s watching is super annoying. Some obnoxious holier than thou granola type who keeps talking about their environmental impact as if they aren’t driving a gas guzzler around, but the basic idea of living in a van, driving around wherever, camping all the time, just going hiking and swimming and seeing the whole country? It sounds pretty dope, honestly.

why i love it: i like to watch tours and conversions of vans/buses into tiny homes as a self soothing method, and this fic has the same impact that watching those do. it’s such a fun concept, and it’s so fuckin’ soft, and the dialouge between tk and nolan is just *chef’s kiss*

all candor and style in the crook of your smile by p3trichor

summary: It’s a photo of Nolan on his knees with someones’ fingers in his mouth, lips slick with spit. Travis flicks by it almost too fast and he’s only got seconds to decide if he wants to screenshot it, if he wants to just give up the ghost right then and there. Except Travis’s phone freezes momentarily and then the group refreshes, sidcros87, Bert59 and 14 others took a screenshot!

It’s gone before Travis even has time to process it and he already wasted his replay of the day on a stupid video of a stupid fish that Hayes caught.

Can you send me that screenshot Travis texts Bertuzzi before he can overthink it, his dick already stirring in his sweats. Tuzzi sends back the cry-laughing emoji and then the screenshot before Travis can be too annoyed at him.

Or, Nolan is being weird about Travis's break-up and TK is maybe not straight.

why i love it: i genuinely don’t think i have words for the amount i love this fic. it took me forever to actually read, but it’s absolutely one of my favorite fics, and it’s an absolutely riot to read. carter’s meddling and the presence of tyler bertuzzi both make it extra fun, in my humble opinion

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dailytomlinson · 4 years

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A bathroom figures significantly in the origin stories of at least two classic One Direction songs. The first will be familiar to any fan: Songwriter and producer Savan Kotecha was sitting on the toilet in a London hotel room, when he heard his wife say, “I feel so ugly today.” The words that popped into his head would shape the chorus of One Direction’s unforgettable 2011 debut, “What Makes You Beautiful.”

The second takes place a few years later. Another hotel room in England — this one in Manchester — where songwriters and producers Julian Bunetta and John Ryan were throwing back Cucumber Collins cocktails and tinkering with a beat. Liam Payne was there, too. At one point, Liam got up to use the bathroom and when he re-emerged, he was singing a melody. They taped it immediately. Most of it was mumbled — a temporary placeholder — but there was one phrase: “Better than words…” A few hours later, on the bus to another city, another show — Bunetta and Ryan can’t remember where — Payne asked, maybe having a laugh, what if the rest of the song was just lyrics from other songs?

“Songs in general, you’re just sort of waiting for an idea to bonk you on the head,” Ryan says from a Los Angeles studio with Bunetta. “And if you’re sort of winking at it, laughing at it — we were probably joking, what if [the next line was] ‘More than a feeling’? Well, that would actually be tight!”

“Better Than Words,” closed One Direction’s third album, Midnight Memories. It was never a single, but became a fan-favorite live show staple. It’s a mid-tempo headbanger that captures the essence of what One Direction is, and always was: One of the great rock and roll bands of the 21st century.

July 23rd marks One Direction’s 10th anniversary, the day Simon Cowell told Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, Liam Payne and Louis Tomlinson that they would progress on The X Factor as a group. Between that date and their last live performance (so far, one can hope) on December 31st, 2015, they released five albums, toured the world four times — twice playing stadiums — and left a trove of Top 10 hits for a devoted global fan base that came to life at the moment social media was re-defining the contours of fandom.

It’d been a decade since the heyday of ‘N Sync and Backstreet Boys, and the churn of generations demanded a new boy band. One Direction’s songs were great and their charisma and chemistry undeniable, but what made them stick was a sound unlike anything else in pop — rooted in guitar rock at a time when that couldn’t have been more passé.

Kotecha, who met 1D on The X Factor and shepherded them through their first few years, is a devoted student of boy band history. He first witnessed their power back in the Eighties when New Kids on the Block helped his older sister through her teens. The common thread linking all great boy bands, from New Kids to BSB, he says, is, “When they’d break, they’d come out of nowhere, sounding like nothing that’s on the radio.”

In 2010, Kotecha remembers, “everybody was doing this sort of Rihanna dance pop.” But that just wasn’t a sound One Direction could pull off (the Wanted only did it once); and famously, they didn’t even dance. Instead, the reference points for 1D went all the way back to the source of contemporary boy bands.

“Me and Simon would talk about how [One Direction] was Beatles-esque, Monkees-esque,” Kotecha continues. “They had such big personalities. I felt like a kid again when I was around them. And I felt like the only music you could really do that with is fun, pop-y guitar songs. It would come out of left field and become something owned by the fans.”

“The guitar riff had to be so simple that my friend’s 15-year-old daughter could play it and put a cover to YouTube,” says Carl Falk

To craft that sound on 1D’s first two albums, Up All Night and Take Me Home, Kotecha worked mostly with Swedish songwriters-producers Carl Falk and Rami Yacoub. They’d all studied at the Max Martin/Cheiron Studios school of pop craftsmanship, and Falk says they were confident they could crack the boy band code once more with songs that recalled BSB and ‘N Sync, but replaced the dated synths and pianos with guitars.

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The greatest thing popular music can do is make someone else think, “I can do that,” and One Direction’s music was designed with that intent. “The guitar riff had to be so simple that my friend’s 15-year-old daughter could play it and put a cover to YouTube,” Falk says. “If you listen to ‘What Makes You Beautiful’ or ‘One Thing,’ they have two-finger guitar riffs that everyone who can play a bit of guitar can learn. That was all on purpose.”

One Direction famously finished third on The X Factor, but Cowell immediately signed them to his label, Syco Music. They’d gone through one round of artist development boot camp on the show, and another followed on an X Factor live tour in spring 2011. They’d developed an onstage confidence, but the studio presented a new challenge. “We had to create who should do what in One Direction,” Falk says. To solve the puzzle the band’s five voices presented, they chose the kitchen sink method and everyone tried everything.

“They were searching for themselves,” Falk adds. “It was like, Harry, let’s just record him; he’s not afraid of anything. Liam’s the perfect song starter, and then you put Zayn on top with this high falsetto. Louis found his voice when we did ‘Change Your Mind.’ It was a long trial for everyone to find their strengths and weaknesses, but that was also the fun part.” Falk also gave Niall some of his first real guitar lessons; there’s video of them performing “One Thing” together, still blessedly up on YouTube.

“What Makes You Beautiful” was released September 11th, 2011 in the U.K. and debuted at Number One on the singles chart there — though the video had dropped a month prior. While One Direction’s immediate success in the U.K. and other parts of Europe wasn’t guaranteed, the home field odds were favorable. European markets have historically been kinder to boy bands than the U.S.; ‘N Sync and Backstreet Boys found huge success abroad before they conquered home. To that end, neither Kotecha nor Falk were sure 1D would break in the U.S. Falk even says of conceiving the band’s sound, “We didn’t want it to sound too American, because this was not meant — for us, at least — to work in America. This was gonna work in the U.K. and maybe outside the U.K.”

Stoking anticipation for “What Makes You Beautiful” by releasing the video on YouTube before the single dropped, preceded the strategy Columbia Records (the band’s U.S. label) adopted for Up All Night. Between its November 2011 arrival in the U.K. and its U.S. release in March 2012, Columbia eschewed traditional radio strategies and built hype on social media. One Direction had been extremely online since their X Factor days, engaging with fans and spending their downtime making silly videos to share. One goofy tune, made with Kotecha, called “Vas Happenin’ Boys?” was an early viral hit.

“They instinctively had this — and it might just be a generational thing — they just knew how to speak to their fans,” Kotecha says. “And they did that by being themselves. That was a unique thing about these boys: When the cameras turned on, they didn’t change who they were.”

Social media was flooded with One Direction contests and petitions to bring the band to fans’ towns. Radio stations were inundated with calls to play “What Makes You Beautiful” long before it was even available. When it did finally arrive, Kotecha (who was in Sweden at the time) remembers staying up all night to watch it climb the iTunes chart with each refresh.

Take Me Home, was recorded primarily in Stockholm and London during and after their first world tour. The success of Up All Night had attracted an array of top songwriting talent — Ed Sheeran even penned two hopeless romantic sad lad tunes, “Little Things” and “Over Again” — but Kotecha, Falk and Yacoub grabbed the reins, collaborating on six of the album’s 13 tracks. In charting their course, Kotecha returned to his boy band history: “My theory was, you give them a similar sound on album two, and album three is when you start moving on.”

Still, there was the inherent pressure of the second album to contend with. The label wanted a “What Makes You Beautiful, Part 2,” and evidence that the 1D phenomenon wasn’t slowing down appeared outside the window of the Stockholm studio: so many fans, the street had to be shut down. Kotecha even remembers seeing police officers with missing person photos, combing through the girls camped outside, looking for teens to return to their parents.

At this pivotal moment, One Direction made it clear that they wanted a greater say in their artistic future. Kotecha admits he was wary at first, but the band was determined. To help manage the workload, Kotecha had brought in two young songwriters, Kristoffer Fogelmark and Albin Nedler, who’d arrived with a handful of ideas, including a chorus for a booming power ballad called “Last First Kiss.”

“We thought, while we’re busy recording vocals, whoever’s not busy can go write songs with these two guys, and then we’ll help shape them as much as we can,” Kotecha says. “And to our pleasant surprise, the songs were pretty damn good.”

At this pivotal moment, too, songwriters Julian Bunetta and John Ryan also met the band. Friends from the Berklee College of Music, Bunetta and Ryan had moved out to L.A. and cut a few tracks, but still had no hits to their name. They entered the Syco orbit after scoring work on the U.S. version of The X Factor, and were asked if they wanted to try writing a song for Take Me Home. “I was like, yeah definitely,” Bunetta says. “They sold five million albums? Hell yeah, I want to make some money.”

Working with Jamie Scott, who’d written two songs on Up All Night (“More Than This” and “Stole My Heart”), Bunetta and Ryan wrote “C’mon, C’mon” — a blinding hit of young love that rips down a dance pop speedway through a comically oversized wall of Marshall stacks. It earned them a trip to London. Bunetta admits to thinking the whole 1D thing was “a quick little fad” ahead of their first meeting with the band, but their charms were overwhelming. Everyone hit it off immediately.

“Niall showed me his ass,” Bunetta remembers of the day they recorded, “They Don’t Know About Us,” one of five songs they produced for Take Me Home (two are on the deluxe edition). “The first vocal take, he went in to sing, did a take, I was looking down at the computer screen and was like, ‘On this line, can you sing it this way?’ And I looked over and he was mooning me. I was like, ‘I love this guy!’”

Take Me Home dropped November 9th, just nine days short of Up All Night’s first anniversary. With only seven weeks left in 2012, it became the fourth best-selling album of the year globally, moving 4.4 million copies, per the IFPI; it fell short of Adele’s 21, Taylor Swift’s Red and 1D’s own Up All Night, which had several extra months to sell 4.5 million copies.

Kotecha, Falk and Yacoub’s tracks anchored the album. Songs like “Kiss You,” “Heart Attack” and “Live While We’re Young” were pristine pop rock that One Direction delivered with full delirium, vulnerability and possibility — the essence of the teen — in voices increasingly capable of navigating all the little nuances of that spectrum. And the songs 1D helped write (“Last First Kiss,” “Back for You” and “Summer Love”) remain among the LP’s best.

“You saw that they caught the bug and were really good at it,” Kotecha says of their songwriting. “And moving forward, you got the impression that that was the way for them.”

Like clockwork, the wheels began to churn for album three right after Take Me Home dropped. But unlike those first two records, carving out dedicated studio time for LP3 was going to be difficult — on February 23rd, 2013, One Direction would launch a world tour in London, the first of 123 concerts they’d play that year. They’d have to write and record on the road, and for Kotecha and Falk — both of whom had just had kids — that just wasn’t possible.

But it was also time for a creative shift. Even Kotecha knew that from his boy band history: album three is, after all, when you start moving on. One Direction was ready, too. Kotecha credits Louis, the oldest member of the group, for “shepherding them into adulthood, away from the very pop-y stuff of the first two albums. He was leading the charge to make sure that they had a more mature sound. And at the time, being in it, it was a little difficult for me, Rami and Carl to grasp — but hindsight, that was the right thing to do.”

“For three years, this was our schedule,” Bunetta says. “We did X Factor October, November, December. Took off January. February, flew to London. We’d gather ideas with the band, come up with sounds, hang out. Then back to L.A. for March, produce some stuff, then go out on the road with them in April. Get vocals, write a song or two, come back for May, work on the vocals, and produce the songs we wrote on the road. Back to London in June-ish. Back here for July, produce it up. Go back on tour in August, get last bits of vocals, mix in September, back to X Factor in October, album out in November, January off, start it all over again.”

That cycle began in early 2013 when Bunetta and Ryan flew to London for a session that lasted just over a week, but yielded the bulk of Midnight Memories. With songwriters Jamie Scott, Wayne Hector and Ed Drewett they wrote “Best Song Ever” and “You and I,” and, with One Direction, “Diana” and “Midnight Memories.” Bunetta and Ryan’s initial rapport with the band strengthened — they were a few years older, but as Bunetta jokes, “We act like we’re 19 all the time anyway.” Years ago, Bunetta posted an audio clip documenting the creation of “Midnight Memories” — the place-holder chorus was a full-throated, perfectly harmonized, “I love KFC!”

For the most part, Bunetta, Ryan and 1D doubled down on the rock sound their predecessors had forged, but there was one outlier from that week. A stunning bit of post-Mumford festival folk buoyed by a new kind of lyrical and vocal maturity called “Story of My Life.”

“This was a make or break moment for them,” Bunetta says. “They needed to grow up, or they were gonna go away — and they wanted to grow up. To get to the level they got to, you need more than just your fan base. That song extended far beyond their fan base and made people really pay attention.”

Production on Midnight Memories continued on the road, where, like so many bands before them, One Direction unlocked a new dimension to their music. Tour engineer Alex Oriet made it possible, Ryan says, building makeshift vocal booths in hotel rooms by flipping beds up against the walls. Writing and recording was crammed in whenever — 20 minutes before a show, or right after another two-hour performance.

“It preserved the excitement of the moment,” Bunetta says. “We were just there, doing it, marinating in it at all times. You’re capturing moments instead of trying to recreate them. A lot of times we’d write a song, sing it in the hotel, produce it, then fly back out to have them re-sing it — and so many times the demo vocals were better. They hadn’t memorized it yet. They were still in the mood. There was a performance there that you couldn’t recreate.”

Midnight Memories arrived, per usual, in November 2013. And, per usual, it was a smash. The following year, 1D brought their songs to the environment they always deserved — stadiums around the world — and amid the biggest shows of their career, they worked on their aptly-titled fourth album Four. The 123 concerts 1D had played the year before had strengthened their combined vocal prowess in a way that opened up an array of new possibilities.

“We could use their voices on Four to make something sound more exciting and bigger, rather than having to add too many guitars, synths or drums,” Ryan says.

“They were so much more dynamic and subtle, too,” Bunetta adds. “I don’t think they could’ve pulled off a song like ‘Night Changes’ two albums prior; or the nuance to sing soft and emotionally on ‘Fireproof.’ It takes a lot of experience to deliver a restrained vocal that way.”

“A lot of the songs were double,” Bunetta says, “like somebody might be singing about their girlfriend, but there was another meaning that applied to the group as well.”

Musically, Four was 1D’s most expansive album yet — from the sky-high piano rock of “Steal My Girl” to the tender, tasteful groove of “Fireproof” — and it had the emotional range to match. Now in their early twenties, songs like “Where Do Broken Hearts Go,” “No Control,” “Fool’s Gold” and “Clouds” redrew the dramas and euphorias of adolescence with the new weight, wit and wanton winks of impending adulthood. One Direction wasn’t growing up normally in any sense of the word, but they were becoming songwriters capable of drawing out the most relatable elements from their extraordinary circumstances — like on “Change Your Ticket,” where the turbulent love affairs of young jet-setters are distilled to the universal pang of a long goodbye. There were real relationships inspiring these stories, but now that One Direction was four years into being the biggest band on the planet, it was natural that the relationships within the band would make it into the music as well.

“I think that on Four,” Bunetta says with a slight pause, “there were some tensions going on. A lot of the songs were double — like somebody might be singing about their girlfriend, but there was another meaning that applied to the group as well.”

He continues: “It’s tough going through that age, having to spread your wings with so many eyeballs on you, so much money and no break. It was tough for them to carve out their individual manhood, space and point of view, while learning how to communicate with each other. Even more than relationship things that were going on, that was the bigger blanket that was in there every day, seeping into the songs.”

Bunetta remembers Zayn playing him “Pillowtalk” and a few other songs for the first time through a three a.m. fog of cigarette smoke in a hotel room in Japan.

“Fucking amazing,” he says. “They were fucking awesome. I know creatively he wasn’t getting what he needed from the way that the albums were being made on the road. He wanted to lock himself in the studio and take his time, be methodical. And that just wasn’t possible.”

A month or so later, and 16 shows into One Direction’s “On the Road Again” tour, Zayn left the band. Bunetta and Ryan agree it wasn’t out of the blue: “He was frustrated and wanted to do things outside of the band,” Bunetta says. “It’s a lot for a young kid, all those shows. We’d been with them for a bunch of years at this point — it was a matter of when. You just hoped that it would wait until the last album.”

Still, Bunetta compares the loss to having a finger lopped off, and he acknowledges that Harry, Niall, Liam and Louis struggled to find their bearings as One Direction continued with their stadium tour and next album, Made in the A.M. Just as band tensions bubbled beneath the songs on Four, Zayn’s departure left an imprint on Made in the A.M. Not with any overt malice, but a song like “Drag Me Down,” Bunetta says, reflects the effort to bounce back. Even Niall pushing his voice to the limits of his range on that song wouldn’t have been necessary if Zayn and his trusty falsetto were available.

But Made in the A.M. wasn’t beholden to this shake-up. Bunetta and Ryan cite “Olivia” as a defining track, one that captures just how far One Direction had come as songwriters: They’d written it in 45 minutes, after wasting a whole day trying to write something far worse.

“When you start as a songwriter, you write a bunch of shitty songs, you get better and you keep getting better,” Ryan says. “But then you can get finicky and you’re like, ‘Maybe I have to get smart with this lyric.’ By Made in the A.M. … they were coming into their own in the sense of picking up a guitar, messing around and feeling something, rather than being like, ‘How do I put this puzzle together?’”

After Zayn’s departure, Bunetta and Ryan said it became clear that Made in the A.M. would be One Direction’s last album before some break of indeterminate length. The album boasts the palpable tug of the end, but to One Direction’s credit, that finality is balanced by a strong sense of forever. It’s literally the last sentiment they leave their fans on album-closer “History,” singing, “Baby don’t you know, baby don’t you know/We can live forever.”

In a way, Made in the A.M. is about One Direction as an entity. Not one that belonged to the group, but to everyone they spent five years making music for. Four years since their hiatus and 10 years since their formation, the fans remain One Direction’s defining legacy. Even as all five members have settled into solo careers, Ryan notes that baseless rumors of any kind of reunion — even a meager Zoom call — can still set the internet on fire. The old songs remain potent, too: Carl Falk says his nine-year-old son has taken to making TikToks to 1D tracks.

“Most of them weren’t necessarily musicians before this happened, but they loved music, and they found a love of creating, writing and playing,” Kotecha says

There are plenty of metrics to quantify One Direction’s reach, success and influence. The hard numbers — album sales and concert stubs — are staggering on their own, but the ineffable is always more fun. One Direction was such a good band that a fan, half-jokingly, but then kinda seriously, started a GoFundMe to buy out their contract and grant them full artistic freedom. One Direction was such a good band that songwriters like Kotecha and Falk — who would go on to make hits with Ariana Grande, the Weeknd and Nicki Minaj — still think about the songs they could’ve made with them. One Direction was such a good band that Mitski covered “Fireproof.”

But maybe it all comes down to the most ineffable thing of all: Chance. Kotecha compares success on talent shows like The X Factor to waking up one morning and being super cut — but now, to keep that figure, you have to work out at a 10, without having done the gradual work to reach that level. That’s the downfall for so many acts, but One Direction was not only able, but willing, to put in the work.

“They’re one of the only acts from those types of shows that managed to do it for such a long time,” Kotecha says. “Five years is a long time for a massive pop star to go nonstop. I know it was tiring, but they were fantastic sports about it. They appreciated and understood the opportunity they had — and, as you can see, they haven’t really stopped since. Most of them weren’t necessarily musicians before this happened, but they loved music, and they found a love of creating, writing and playing. To have these boys — that had been sort of randomly picked — to also have that? It will never be repeated.”

#rolling stone #ROLLING STONE SAID ROCK BAN SO ITS A ROCK B AND PERIDOT #220720 #10years1d #one direction

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stylesnews · 4 years

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“The guitar riff had to be so simple that my friend’s 15-year-old daughter could play it and put a cover to YouTube,” says Carl Falk

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“You saw that they caught the bug and were really good at it,” Kotecha says of their songwriting. “And moving forward, you got the impression that that was the way for them.”

“We could use their voices on Four to make something sound more exciting and bigger, rather than having to add too many guitars, synths or drums,” Ryan says.

“A lot of the songs were double,” Bunetta says, “like somebody might be singing about their girlfriend, but there was another meaning that applied to the group as well.”

Bunetta remembers Zayn playing him “Pillowtalk” and a few other songs for the first time through a three a.m. fog of cigarette smoke in a hotel room in Japan.

“Most of them weren’t necessarily musicians before this happened, but they loved music, and they found a love of creating, writing and playing,” Kotecha says

#rollingstone #july20 #10years1d

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jockrightsnow · 4 years

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omg I would love to hear you talk more about your tags on that last post—how you research syntax/speech patterns for non-native English speakers’ dialogue. this is something I struggle with a lot in writing fic (esp writing Russian players!) and I’d love some advice on how to get better at it.

god this got long! i just care about this! i will put under a cut for the 99% who will be like u little pedantic bitch.

so my answer is probably not AS helpful for Russian players because i have not written at any length with Russian characters and their language is SO different, so i find it is trickier! but the process is likely the same. i am not an expert at this by any means (only know/have taught spanish <--> english), but i do think it gives you more believable voices and also tends to help you understand the perspective. some people are better at english than others! some are less good! some have been in english classes for a while, some haven’t! there’s variation! you don’t have to do this to write well, but i think about it.

some things i think about:

1. sentence structure/syntax--more than vocabulary, sentence structure is the thing that gives most english language learners trouble and tends to give them away. in order to figure out common mistakes along these lines, it is helpful to look up how sentences are typically structured in someone’s native language. very often, people learning english will rely on those structures. this is actually why swedish is very easy to learn for english speakers--the sentence structure is most often subj, verb, object. but there are tricks: in complex declarative sentences, the verb will always be second, even if there is an adverb or object in the first position instead of the subject, in sentences with subordinate clauses, the independent clause inverts verb and subject. stuff like that does tend to give a sentence a different feel, and it absolutely very commonly almost-always sticks with someone. it’s foundational to how people construct their thoughts, it can be hard to change.

2. pronunciation--i don’t love to see heavy dialect written phonetically and i think many people don’t, but there are ways to consider it and certain ways to write it well. certain languages have different stresses or tone ranges or pitches, which can give off a certain Vibe if you’re used to english, which is on the more expressive end of the scale in tone and pitch (obviously i don’t think that’s better, but it is different and it does affect how people hear a speaker’s voice). certain sounds straight-up do not exist in other languages, certain letters are always pronounced a different way. it leads to predictable mispronunciation. for this, resources like this are very interesting.

3. actual cultural language differences! this is in part about what turns of phrase are common, what’s the cultural (or often, can be regional) “cat who got the cream”-type idioms, what is colloquial that you don’t realize is colloquial, etc, but it can also be about how you talk about concepts on a larger scale.

the recent sidney crosby engaged fiasco is a good example of this--in russian, “girlfriend/boyfriend” has a very casual connotation, so for longer-term relationships, a russian person might say “fiancee” instead. there are certain languages where you talk about love using different words if a relationship is more casual. these are fun, i think, because i do think that kind of thing can be meaningful.

there was some book or study i read about how maybe the way we learn language impacts how we think. i think parts of it were debunked (eg not having a word for something like ‘crush’ doesn’t mean you don’t feel it, that’s silly), but parts of it are certainly true, right? like, if you have a different way of talking about spatial awareness or time, your ability to translate those concepts will be affected because your thoughts are often structured along those lines.

4. vocabulary--less important than you’d think, but still interesting to think about what words someone would have learned. i expect hockey players to know virtually every hockey-related word in english, and even in the KHL, there is some coaching done in english because plenty of non-russian players play there and never learn the language (it is very hard). pretty much everywhere, you’re going to know the english words for many hockey-related terms. but you might not know other complex words, because you might not ever have a reason to or a context where you would’ve learned it or been corrected on it.

i often have to examine or cross-examine spanish speakers, and you actually don’t want to correct every single thing they say--you only want to correct things which might lead to a misunderstanding, because you don’t want to seem pedantic to a judge or condescending to a witness.

this is also true in a lot of social settings. so i do see some things which tend to go uncorrected because they don’t lead to any wrongness. for example, videoS plural in Swedish is video klipp. it’s the same, it’s really the same. but i notice sometimes that plural S is dropped by Swedish speakers or a word like “klipp” that’s so similar in meaning and context to the english word will come it. there’s one video where petey says ‘eller’ instead of ‘or’--it’s close, it’s a word that doesn’t matter, you wouldn’t correct it, it’s normal, you get the point. there are plenty of words that are so similar they might just have a different inflection, or which are entirely the same in different languages. these will not get corrected in daily conversation for the most part.

but there are also false cognates which you DO need to correct (eg in spanish embarazada = pregnant, i do need to correct it every single time because it has a huge impact on proceedings if someone’s pregnant) and being aware of those is also helpful!

there are also some crutch words which differ from person to person (this is also true for native english speakers). when people use those and in what way can be important. there are certain things a specific person gets wrong only when nervous or not thinking or whatever (i personally find the “person realizes they’ve been speaking in a different language while having sex because it was so good” trope. exhausting, to say the least. but it is true that in higher-stress moments, someone might not have the capacity or desire to do internal translation, or might feel frustrated by it.)

i really do think all of this is Very interesting, and mostly my advice on doing it for languages you don’t know is:

1) be thoughtful about stuff, be believable. contrary to what it seems like from this whole dissertation, not every sentence needs to have errors in it, especially for people who are Growing/Learning/Actually Very Good at english. don’t be condescending about it. being at an intermediate stage in english learning might make someone choose a simpler sentence that’s still correct. it might lead to an actual relevant misunderstanding or tonal shift. it might not. it might enhance someone’s understanding of a situation! it’s not all about just fucking shit up--it’s a hard thing to learn another language. you gotta respect people who are doing it!

2) hear people talk, preferably the people in question if available but doesn’t have to be (for characters i care about less, i will often wholesale map a sentence and then copy the structure exactly. i did this for pasta because i didn’t care about actually figuring out so much about him emotionally--i just listened to his ep of sp*ttin ch*clets as i wrote and copied several sentence structures exactly with my own Content and then, as you may be able to tell, gave up on that venture to movie-montage the rest because i am Lazy.)

it’s interesting to hear someone talk both in their native language and in english--you get a feel for the tone and pitch differences, and also i love to see native language interviews because i tend to think they’re more reflective of someone’s actual thought processes when they’re not trying to come up with words or modifying their sentences to be simpler. petey’s swedish interviews, for ex, are far more reflective and eloquent and funny. but again, he is getting better very quickly, in part because swedish and english are more similar than they appear. progress is often slower for russians, because there’s a lot more ground between the two languages and a whole diff alphabet and also strong cultural affinity to where a good number of russians living in america almost exclusively hang out with other russians living in america. (see ex alex ovechkin, nikita zadorov--both have very russian-heavy social circles if Instant Gram is to be believed)

3) actually look up stuff like “common english mistakes for [x group]”--there are plenty of good language learning resources which will show you the mistakes people tend to make, the pronunciation errors, things like that. these are invaluable.

4) google translate stuff if you’re going to have a touching language-teaching moment. once read something where someone was contemplating how to say something, which they wouldn’t have done in reality, because how you say it was Exactly the same in the person’s native language. i also think it’s fun to read google-translated articles and see which things jump out at me as Weirdly translated, because those are often things which are going to be different! but that’s not gospel, it’s something you can look into. sometimes google translate is just bad.

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sophieakatz · 3 years

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Thursday Thoughts: My Top Ten Muppets

Listeners of NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour recently cast their votes to rank the best Muppets – an impossible decision, really. And yet, once the top ten list was read aloud on the podcast, I found myself completely unsurprised. It’s a list that made sense, a list of safe bets. It’s also an incredibly Muppet Show-heavy list, even though the competition was open to Muppets of all properties, including Sesame Street and my beloved Dark Crystal. The full top 25 list, available here, reveals that a few Sesame Street Muppets ranked in the teens, but still. We all know the top ten is where it’s at, and this top ten was neither creative nor representative. It struck me as a list of popular Muppets, not a list of the best Muppets. Most of my favorites weren’t on that list at all!

So, here’s my take on the ten best Muppets – and because I don’t believe in objective Muppet rankings, I want YOU to reblog this post and tell me your favorites!

10. Swedish Chef

The Chef came in ninth on NPR’s rankings, and I gotta be honest, I’m on the same page with them on this one. Maybe it’s the fact that when he comes onscreen, there’s no way to predict how the sketch will end. Maybe it’s the bizarreness of human fingers on Muppet arms – and knowing that those arms indicate a frankly superhuman feat of teamwork going on under the table. Maybe it’s just the Popcorn video, which always brightens my mood. Whatever it is, the Swedish Chef is definitely tenth best.

9. Fozzie Bear

I like Fozzie. He’s an underdog, never giving up in his pursuit of fame and audience acclaim. And even though his whole shtick is that he can’t succeed – Statler and Waldorf always get bigger laughs during his bits – he objectively has succeeded, because he’s still around and making us laugh after all these years.

What puts Fozzie in the top ten for me, though, is that I genuinely find his jokes funny. Honestly. I really do. So maybe Fozzie Bear sketches don’t really work for me, but Fozzie Bear himself does.

8. Rosita

I mentioned my disappointment before in the “official” ranking’s lack of Sesame Street characters. Sure, the cast of The Muppet Show has had a notable cultural impact, but it would be a disservice to Muppetkind if we ignored the impact of their friends on Sesame Street.

I could never forget Rosita. She’s not the most popular Muppet; she’s never had a super catchy song or a roll-on-the-floor-laughing one-liner to rival the others’ success. But her “Spanish Word of the Day” segments have a permanent spot in my memory. She’s sweet, she’s sincere, and she’s an excellent friend to her more famous fellow Muppets. (And as a bilingual Muppet, she’s really hecking important – there’s an episode where she deals with some kids making fun of her accent, and it’s equal parts heartbreaking and heartwarming!)

7. Rowlf

While other Muppets have one-note personalities – see number 10 on this list above, and number 5 below – there’s also Muppets like Rowlf. He’s not an “Anything Muppet,” by any means – he’s a character in his own right – but Rowlf is a dog who rises to any occasion. He sits at the piano to bring both beautiful classical pieces and hilarious parodies to life, and it’s all music to my ears. He can be the Straight Man to more chaotic Muppets’ antics, but just one clip of “Veterinarian’s Hospital” proves that he’s got enough silliness in him to take center stage.

And all the while, no matter what role he’s playing, he’s still that chill dog I adore – calm and adorable, with that round black nose, those big fluffy paws, and those floppy ears just begging to be scratched.

6. Deethra

As much as I love the original Dark Crystal film, the Netflix prequel series Age of Resistance has one big thing going for it: its characters. The protagonists of this show draw me in and make me care, quickly and continually. And best among them all is Deet. Deethra the Gelfling – small and beautiful, kind and powerful. She cares wholeheartedly about the world around her, and that care begets a wisdom that balances out her naivete in fascinating ways.

Muppets are so often silly, and we love them for it. But Deet embodies the Muppets’ potential to tell a serious story, a potential we would be remiss to ignore.

5. Animal

Oh my god, Animal. If you want to talk about the sheer silliness of Muppets, you need to talk about Animal. There’s just no way around it. He’s loud – in both sound and color scheme. And he’s absolutely bonkers. I know every drummer has an Animal in them, and it’s likely that all humans do. We’re just not all comfortable with letting him out to play.

That’s what’s so great about watching Animal do his thing. He has no inhibitions; he is freedom, he is chaos. And he lets me feel a little freer by association.

4. Hup

I talked a bit about underdogs in the Fozzie Bear section above. There’s an essay to be written about the Muppet as underdog; it’s an essential Muppet quality. Muppets are characters you logically wouldn’t expect to succeed, but they persevere, nonetheless.

Hup is the underdog of Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance. He’s the Podling who wants to be a paladin. Dear god he’s adorable, dear god he’s funny, and dear god do you root for him (and his spoon) to save the day! Of all the characters in this show, he feels the most Muppety – and that’s why he’s higher on the list than Deet. He’s still a serious character in a serious story (when he cries… my goodness), but he’s got that classic Muppet spirit to him.

3. Elmo

You know, I just don’t get why Elmo gets such a bad rap. Is it that people think he’s annoying? Sure, he is! Muppets are objectively annoying characters – they all are. Yes, even the one you’re thinking of right now. But I fricking love Elmo. He’s joyful, he’s spirited, and he’s exploring the world around him in that carefree way only a child can – and he brings you along on that adventure! “Elmo’s World” is your world. “Elmo’s Song” is your song. Elmo’s laugh is fricking infectious. And yeah, I’m probably biased by nostalgia (my dad’s Elmo impression cracks me up to this day), but Elmo is a darn good Muppet and he deserves our respect and admiration.

2. SkekSil

On a completely different note… let’s talk about the Chamberlain. There aren’t really that many Muppet villains. There are plenty of Muppet henchmen, providing comic relief for a human actor who isn’t supposed to be seen as that much of a threat anyway. The Skeksis of Dark Crystal are a notable exception, and SkekSil, better known as the Chamberlain, stands out among them. He is evil and he is smart. I hate him, and at the same time, I am fascinated by him. He knows what he wants and how to get it, even though he’s nowhere near as strong as the other Skeksis. He is, in his own way, an underdog. He believes in himself, and he wields that confidence as a weapon, calmly explaining to his enemies why they should do what he wants. You just can’t look away. He’s an amazing character, embodying the dark side of Muppethood.

1. Cookie Monster

When my mom first shared that episode of Pop Culture Happy Hour with me, in which the hosts talked about their favorite Muppets, I first thought, “How could you decide?” And then Stephen Thompson said his favorite was Cookie Monster, and I shouted “YES!!!” out loud. Because he’s right – Cookie’s the best.

Cookie Monster is eternally funny, whether you’re five or fifty-five. Everything that comes out of his mouth is pure gold (“Why me not get royalties?”) He’s got the best songs – not only the classic “C is for Cookie,” but also “Me Want It (But Me Wait),” “Me Am What Me Am,” and the “Healthy Foods” rap. All the stuff I love about other Muppets on this list – the unpredictability, the ability to fit into any role a sketch requires, the lack of inhibitions, the confidence, the chaos, the unexpected moments of wisdom – he’s got it all. He’s irreplaceable, he’s lovable, and he’s the top of my Top Ten Muppets list.

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hlupdate · 4 years

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The second takes place a few years later: Another hotel room in England — this one in Manchester — where songwriters and producers Julian Bunetta and John Ryan were throwing back Cucumber Collins cocktails and tinkering with a beat. Liam Payne was there, too. At one point, Payne got up to use the bathroom, and when he re-emerged, he was singing a melody. They taped it immediately. Most of it was mumbled — a temporary placeholder — but there was one phrase: “Better than words …” A few hours later, on the bus to another city, another show — Bunetta and Ryan can’t remember where — Payne asked, maybe having a laugh, “What if the rest of the song was just lyrics from other songs?”

“Songs in general, you’re just sort of waiting for an idea to bonk you on the head,” Ryan says from a Los Angeles studio, with Bunetta. “And if you’re sort of winking at it, laughing at it — we were probably joking, ‘What if [the next line was] “More than a feeling”? Well, that would actually be tight!’”

“Better Than Words,” closed One Direction’s third album, Midnight Memories. It was never a single, but became a fan-favorite live-show staple. It’s a midtempo headbanger that captures the essence of what One Direction is, and always was: One of the great rock & roll bands of the 21st century.

July 23rd marks One Direction’s 10th anniversary, the day Simon Cowell told Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, Liam Payne, and Louis Tomlinson that they would progress on The X Factor as a group. Between that date and their last live performance (so far, one can hope) on December 31st, 2015, they released five albums, toured the world four times — twice playing stadiums — and left a trove of Top 10 hits for a devoted global fan base that came to life at the moment social media was redefining the contours of fandom.

It’d been a decade since the heyday of ‘NSync and Backstreet Boys, and the churn of generations demanded a new boy band. One Direction’s songs were great and their charisma and chemistry undeniable, but what made them stick was a sound unlike anything else in pop — rooted in guitar rock at a time when that couldn’t have been more passé.

Kotecha, who met 1D on The X Factor and shepherded them through their first few years, is a devoted student of the history of boy bands. He first witnessed their power back in the Eighties, when New Kids on the Block helped his older sister through her teens. The common thread linking all great boy bands, from New Kids to BSB, he says, is, “When they’d break, they’d come out of nowhere, sounding like nothing that’s on the radio.”

In 2010, Kotecha remembers, “everybody was doing this sort of Rihanna dance pop.” But that just wasn’t a sound One Direction could pull off (the Wanted did it only once); and famously, they didn’t even dance. Instead, the reference points for 1D went all the way back to the source of contemporary boy bands.

“Me and Simon would talk about how [One Direction] was Beatlesque, Monkees-esque,” Kotecha continues. “They had such big personalities. I felt like a kid again when I was around them. And I felt like the only music you could really do that with is fun, poppy guitar songs. It would come out of left field and become something owned by the fans.”

To craft that sound on 1D’s first two albums, Up All Night and Take Me Home, Kotecha worked mostly with Swedish songwriters-producers Carl Falk and Rami Yacoub. They’d all studied at the Max Martin/Cheiron Studios school of pop craftsmanship, and Falk says they were confident they could crack the boy-band code once more with songs that recalled BSB and ‘NSync, but replaced the dated synths and pianos with guitars.

“You saw that they caught the bug and were really good at it,” Kotecha says of their songwriting. “And moving forward, you got the impression that that was the way for them.”

“We could use their voices on Four to make something sound more exciting and bigger, rather than having to add too many guitars, synths or drums,” Ryan says.

Bunetta remembers Zayn playing him “Pillowtalk” and a few other songs for the first time through a three a.m. fog of cigarette smoke in a hotel room in Japan.

#harry styles #louis tomlinson #one direction #1d ten #220720

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wundrbagel · 3 years

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HOT BAGEL TAKE FAM

I remember a while ago seeing a post about how if Sonic and Pippi Longstocking met that it would lead to some cool adventures. And the more I thought about how those two having adventures together the more I realized how similar in character both Pippi and Sonic are!

I figured since I don't have much to do today and I love talking about my favourite franchises why not I dive deep into why these two are similar! I'm mostly going to stick to games when it comes to Sonic. As for Pippi I will stick to the books and the Swedish movies (As those are the most closest to the books since the scrip was made by the author). I don't do stuff like this often so if there are things that could've been explained better I'm sorry. :(

1. Their dislike for Injustice

If it isn't obvious, in just about every Sonic game, Sonic fights off Dr. Eggman and many other kinds of villains because they want to conquer the world in one way or another. This means the world Sonic enjoys to run around and adventure in is in danger along with it's people and animals. Sonic is not one to stand down and will take on these evil forces no matter what.

Even though Pippi hasn't done large scale things like Saving the world like Sonic does, she still isn't one for letting anyone abuse others or animals. When a man is upset with his horse and decides to beat it with a whip constantly, Pippi steps in and tossed the man around a few times before threatening to destroy his outfit if he ever beat his horse again. Another instance being when Pippi noticed a boy named, Willy being picked on by some bullies. She tossed the lead bully into a tree which scared off the rest of the bullies. Then Pippi warned them if they ever picked on Willy they would have to go through her.

2. They Follow Their Own Rules

I would have to say Sonic and The Black Knight is one of my favorite examples as to Sonic showing that he lives by his own rules and even if others may see it being wrong, like the round table knights who follow their evil king, Sonic doesn't care. He doesn't even care if he's not considered a hero for slaying King Arthur. If he himself personally thinks something just isn't right then he's going to fix his way. That being taking out the round table knights, defeating the underworld knights, freeing the (ugly) townspeople, and eventually defeating Merlina. Speaking of Merlina. When Merlina is getting the upper hand with the fight and Gawain tells Sonic to run away because it's noy about Chivalry anymore, Sonic tells Gawain it never had anything to do with Chivalry. He just had to do what he had to do. This meaning Sonic wasn't going in this whole adventure because he HAD to but he went on this adventure because it's the right thing to do in his mind.

He even has a moment with Gawain about how "Isn't there more to a knight than serving a king?". Sonic doesn't like being held down by any master. He runs as freely as the wind that blows. Giving him the title, Knight of the Wind.

Pippi has always been see as rowdy to many adults and that she needs to be put in a orphanage. But Pippi has lived her life as a pirate that does as she pleases. While she may seem weird, wear large shoes, has patchy clothing, and keeps a horse on her porch. She would never change who she is. She likes to live her life her way and will not let others like Ms. Priscilla, who wants her in a orphanage, to ruin that. Even when she's told that she can't live alone in Villa Villa Kula by herself, she'll still do it anyways because to be in a orphanage will mean she'd lose her right to do as she wants, adventuring and having fun. And also keeping her monkey and horse. The many times the police has tried to capture her in both the books and movies, they are often twarted by Pippi's whit and super human abilities.

Fun is something Pippi enjoys the most above all. She loves to bring her friends, Tommy and Annika on various silly games like flying an air balloon and even running away from home. Often times Tommy and Annika do not believe Pippi can do such things but Pippi believes she'll always come out on top and to never give up even when others don't think it's possible. And if she couldn't do it the first time then surely she needs to practice.

Just like Sonic, Pippi cannot stand if authority gets their own way. While Pippi did not fight a underworld knights, she did take on a town of pirates. They abused a child named, Marco for dropping their drinks he needed to serve to them. Pippi stepped in and tossed two pirates out the window and hung the tavern owner on a wall to watch. Eventually at the end, Pippi gave Marco some gold coins so he can run away.

3. Doesn't like to show sadness in front of their friends

At the ending of SA2 after Shadow sacrificed his life to protect the planet Maria loved, Sonic and Friends are now in the ARK full of emotions. After Sonic has given Shadow's ring to Rouge, he goes to another spot in the room to think about Shadow. That is until Amy goes to check on him and see if he's alright. Sonic then shrugs it off yo show he's happy yo go back home to the planet that is as cool and blue as he is. Sonic is then the last to leave the room and with that he gives one last goodbye to Shadow.

While Pippi was out playing with Tommy, Annika, and their class, she found a dead baby bird. She wished if she had the power to she would bring it back to life. Pippi began to cry until Tommy and Annika pointed it out. That's when Pippi insisted that she wasn't crying and that her face wasn't red. She even tried to change the topic by bringing up another tall tale of her's. Pippi then tried to play it cool that she wouldn't cry for a "little scrap of a bird". Once she heard that the rest of the class was looking for her to continue the game, she quickly placed the bird on soft bed of moss before continuing her game.

I just wanted to bring up that in Pippi on the Run, she jumped out of a speeding car to grab the sleeping bag that fell out, ran back to the car, and hopped right in. I'm not saying she's as fast as Sonic but I would love to see those two have a run or something. I'm just saying!

Anyway, now there are probably more similarities but these are the ones I could think up the most easily. And obviously Sonic and Pippi aren't one to one similar as Pippi is definitely more child-like than Sonic is. Anywho I hope both Sonic and Pippi lovers enjoyed this as much as I did. And if you have more to add that would be great too!

#sonic the hedgehog #pippi longstocking #hot take

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sveasauvageon · 4 years

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HSWW ROUND I STORY

I never gave it a neat title, oops. Svea Year I + Pre-Seventh Year Midsummer Celebrations {HSWW}

─═Featured HSWW/Polyvore Era not-mein oc’s═─

Eloise Avery | @.themadmonarchist

(also mentioned Lord and Lady Avery, but they don't appear)

Syn Lothbrok | @.ghostpastey

Hvitty Lothbrok | @.ghostpastey

Entire Lothbrok Family (too many to name individually)

Damien Greaves | @.natasha-maree13

Tyler Lee | @.maybones (lol, I originally typed @minahbones)

Minah Kwon Delacroix | @.maybones

Tara Lee (I couldn't leave out Little T from this nutty dance) | @.maybones

Theo Nott | @.themadmonarchist

Moses Park Jr | @.koby

Lyra Greaves | @.natasha-maree13

Oberon Greaves | @.natasha-maree13

Henry Clark | @.lady-stoneheart

Xander Carlyle (I think I've been listing him as clark all this time, whoops) | @.lady-stoneheart

Sungjae Lee | @.chrissykinz

Loralei Expura | @.thespian-at-large

Lyrae Mino | @.skyfalll

──════𝑺𝑻𝑶𝑹𝒀════──

Up in the northwest quarters of the Sauvageon Estate, Svea was braiding her young sister's hair with little bells and complex knots. Khalessi style? Yes, obviously. The show is garbage, but is visually stunning. Also the music. Back to point, as the elder heir wove in the little bells, Lili enthusiastically recounted her first year at Koldovstoretz; her classes, teachers, friends, and her first Russian Quidditch game where they play on entire uprooted trees instead of brooms (A/N: true fact, look it up on the wikia).

Her ardor and excitement made Svea nostalgic of her own first year. Her letter had arrived at the Prince Manor in Cornwall, where she had been staying for a year. The darkest year in her life she may add. The arrival of the letter was nothing special or shocking, there certainly wasn't any doubt about her having magic after she had set the manor on fire. Though, she did note a mild expression of relief on her grandfather's face, presumably he was pleased she'd be out of his house soon. And she was pleased about that too, the Prince Manor was dark, dreary, and drab, and they refused to allow Aunt Brigitta to remodel it after the fire. Svea never understood why they insisted it be restored as it was, the poor interiors were what she called "discount gothic", it was nothing like the true majesty of actual gothic architecture.

Anyway, decidedly pleased her time with the Prince's was nearing its end, Svea was positively beaming when she went to King's Cross Station on September the first. She was accompanied by her aunt and step-mother, the later of whom had apparated to London the day before, much to the displeasure of Svea's mother, who also accompanied them to King's Cross. Svea questioned her mother's instructions of walking into a wall, part of her believing that it may just be some kind of trick to humiliate the "foreigners", as she so often called Svea and her paternal family. However, the Prince simply huffed in annoyance, glaring at the odd silvery-gold colour Iliana had died the little girl's hair, before briskly walking through the wall first herself, with Svea, Iliana, and Brigitta quickly following thereafter.

Svea had barely a moment to admire the victorian vibe of the station before her mother pulled her aside. "Richelle, ensure that you're sorted into Slytherin, and try not to do anything to disgrace the Prince name." she commanded, disappearing with a loud crack before Svea could retort. Sighing to herself, she made a mental note to send a howler reminding her mother that her name is Svea Sauvageon, not Richelle Prince, before reuniting with her aunt and step-mother, who were overseeing the loading of her luggage.

She spotted Eloise Avery looking out a window on the train, but she was looking in another direction and didn't notice Svea, not that she wanted to catch her attention when her grandparents were around. If they were around that is, one short playdate and tales of admiration from her own grandfather was enough to cement a cold and unloving image in Svea's head. She shuddered at the memory, she was grateful beyond word that her grandparents were nothing like that. Well, her Sauvageon grandparents. It's a safe bet that all Grandfather Marcius aspires to be is a slightly less rich and more grumbling version of the "great and powerful" Lady Avery.

Pushing those thoughts to the back of her mind, Svea hugged Iliana and Aunt Brigitta goodbye, promising to write and look after herself, before quickly boarding the train to find an empty compartment to save for herself, Syn, and Hvitty. The Lothbroks were amongst their closest wizarding friends in Scandinavia and practically family to Svea, she was pleased beyond measure to have her best friend at this far away school too. She'd always been fairly independent, but having familiar faces at Hogwarts would be a great comfort too, and endless fun. No one knows how to enjoy things like a Lothbrok. Okay, like Syn. No one knows how to party like Syn. Even at 11, she was more fun and energetic than anyone you could think of.

She waited by the window until she spotted them getting on, before rushing to the corridor to call them over. The subsequent assault (as she would put it, they might just call it a hug) nearly took Svea's head off. Grinning at being reunited, they chatted throughout the train ride, and purchased ridiculous amounts of British Wizarding Treats when the Trolley lady stopped by. They also met some other first years as well, some of whom, Svea noted, were less than pleased to be in such a rowdy compartment.

Once they neared the school (or as Svea's alarms warned her they were), she changed into her school robes, dragging along Syn to do the same who complained that they were "nowhere near there yet". However, exactly as her alarm warned her, they were at Hogsmeade station within 30 minutes. ("hah! Told you so Tamsyn", she screamed internally and definitely not with every fibre of her being). Seperating from the others, Svea, Syn, and Hvitty disembarked from the train together, where they and the other first years were greeted by a staff member from Hogwarts who led them to a number of boats. Grabbing a boat upfront, they were joined by Henry Clark, whom they had met on the train and whom Syn had immediately given the nickname "Hank", which he seemed to vehemently dislike. Once they had all boarded, the boat seemed to propel themselves as they all sailed across the vast lake. The Black Lake, she recalled it was called. Her cousin Viggo often talked about visiting it one day.

"Vig told me that there's a colony of merpeople living in the lake." Svea excitedly mentioned to Syn and Hvitty as they crossed, gazing down into the murky water to try to spot one.

"Fishman would know." replied Syn, joining Svea to look over the edge of the boat.

"He's not a Fishman."

"As always, you're right." said Syn, nodding solemnly before adding, "He's a half-fishman."

"Well, you're not wrong there," Svea conceded.

Syn grinned triumphantly as Svea dipped her fingers into the water. It was cold, just as Vig told her it would be, but it wasn't as cold as the water in Lake Mälaren.

Despite having been raised in marble coated mansions, even Svea was awestruck when they neared Hogwarts Castle. Whilst Sauvageon Slott was certainly brighter, the large stone structure was absolutely stunning, and far more inviting than her father and family's descriptions of Durmstrang. As much as she loathed her mother's family, she was glad just this once at their persistence of doing things the "English" way. The little boats they were in soon passed through an ivy curtain and carried them along a dark tunnel, which seemed to run beneath the castle itself, and eventually docked by some rocks at what seemed to be an underground harbour of sorts.

Once all the students were out of the boats they were led to a small room (the Chamber of Reception, she later learned it was called), where they were greeted by a tall, red haired woman. She introduced herself as Professor Hester Weasley, Deputy Headmistress. She ushered them into the Great Hall and began reading their names out one by one in alphabetical order. Once called, they were to sit on a stool facing the other students and had a dingy old hat placed on their head which would announce what house they're to join after thinking about it for a bit. It might be a magic, talking, singing hat, but the whole process seemed unnecessarily drawn out and somewhat silly to Svea. She was fairly certain it was thought up by someone forest crazy (Swedish phrase, equivalent to "raging mad").

Svea's was amongst the last few names to be called. Hvitty went off to Gryffindor, and Syn to Hufflepuff. Eloise went to Slytherin, whilst Hank (*wink-wink* @.ghostpastey) went to Gryffindor. She noted that the hat had barely gotten within a foot of Damien Greaves' head before it screamed Slytherin. When the Headmistress finally said her name, Svea tottered up to the little stool, starving by that point and eager to get on with dinner and classes in the morning.

"Impatient, aren't we?" said a voice in her head once the hat was on, 'causing Svea to nearly jump out of her skin. She didn't realize it was talking during those minutes in-between the hat being worn and shouting the student's house.

"I'm hungry," she replied, well, thought, once she had brought her spikes down (Swedish phrase effectively meaning to "chill" -shrug emoji- Sweden is weird, also, awesome). "Any recommendations on what's good?"

The hat chucked in her ear, mind's ear. "Try the steak and yorkshire pudding," her mouth began watering at steak, she needed it now. "I'll try to be quick then. Swedish I see, muggle friends, oh dear, the ministry won't be happy about that breach of secrecy," the hat muttered as it rummaged through her mind.

Svea shrugged. "Not my ministry. Can you hurry it up, I don't really care, but I would prefer not Slytherin."

"Not Slytherin, eh? And why is that?"

"To infuriate my mother."

"But I see you also have the desire to be in Slytherin to outshine her and your grandfather, quite petty, no?"

"Yes, but I am only 10."

"Then would you prefer to be petty? I see great things for you in Ravenclaw, where those of wit and learning find their own kind. You have a great thirst for knowledge."

Svea shrugged again. "Whatever magic hat, isn't it your job to figure that out?"

The sorting hat sighed. "SLYTHERIN!" it shouted aloud, applause erupting on the table to her far right. The hat was barely off her head before she practically bounded over. She was so hungry and there were only a handful of students left to be sorted before she could finally eat. She ended up next to a third year and the speedily sorted boy from earlier.

"Svea," she said, introducing herself with a smile as another students sorting began.

"Damien," he gruffly replied.

"You shouldn't look so murderous, you're 11." She chided, impatiently tapping her foot whilst the last children were finally being sorted.

Damien rolled his eyes. "What if I am one?"

"Then you shouldn't be broadcasting that desire to everyone. Isn’t a killer best served if their intentions are secretive?" before he could retort, however, Svea's attention turned elsewhere. Specifically, their table. "OH YES! FINALLY FOOD! Hey, can you grab me some steak please!" she asked of the boy in front of them. "I'm Svea, by the way. You want one too Damien?"

"I can get it myself, thanks," muttered the British boy, looking quite irritated.

"Seyong Lee, but you can call me Tyler." answered the other one, placing a steak on Svea's plate as well as Damien's.

Once the feast was over (the hat was right about that Steak and Yorkshire Pudding), the Headmistress said a few words, mostly about forbidden places, Svea could feel none of those warnings making it into Syn's ears, and led the school in a rendition of the school song. She noticed some seven years really giving the song their all, and nearly toppled over with laughter. After the song finally ended, Svea and the other first year Slytherins were instructed to follow one of their House Prefects. Svea couldn't remember their name, but recalled them being one of those English Scared 28 people. They followed the prefect back out to the Entrance Hall, and through a door on the right, were led down to the dungeons. When they reached a bare stretch of stonewall, the prefect uttered a phrase and it revealed a passageway which led to the Slytherin common room. The password that month, if she recalled correctly, was "cantankerus".

Svea was less in love with the common room than most of her fellow first years, it was nice enough, but rather dark and dreary, much like the Prince Manor she noted. It had similar colourings of dark shades of green and serpentine décor everywhere (if it were up to her, she'd decorate it with dragons). She did, however, adore the large glass windows, and the water behind it, rushing up to it in excitement when a large squid went swishing by. The prefect explained that they were under the Black Lake and sometimes they saw creatures more interesting than the Giant Squid swim by the windows.

The first night would've ended without incident, but her future bestie just had to be dramatic and get into a physical fight with a seventh year.

"Well, that was dramatic," she commented once the seventh year fell to the floor. "Anyway, where's our stuff and where do we sleep?" Looking back, it was probably impressive that an 11 year old could easily defeat a 17 year old, but meh. She was tired, and she really needed her phone. How can you expect someone to sleep without the honey smooth voices of Eurovision performers?

The year went by quite quickly. Her hair only remained valyrian silver for about a month, before reverting back to her natural gold, and as expected, she ended all her classes with top marks. She enjoyed History of Magic and Potions the most in her first year. Whilst mostly a positive year, she did make some pureblood fervent enemies, but she is not going allow such idioticy to stand in her house. Slytherins are intelligent and cunning, not backwards morons. She recalled Syn dropping out of the sky at point to defend her from a pureblood's oh so hurtful words. But as they say, sticks and stones may break my bones, but words from an idiot do nothing. It was also the first year she celebrated her birthday without her biological family (not including either of the Princes'), she did, however, still have Syn and Hvitty, and a whole new bunch of friends.

Speaking of said friends, time to pull out of memory lane and jump back into the present. With Lili's hair done, and hers' also, once again, done up in Khalessi style (also dyed silver again, she would've dyed Lili's hair too, but the little Swede-Ruski said no), anyway, with their hair finally done, the two siblings went down into the courtyard. The entire Sauvageon estate was decorated in greenery as they were celebrating Midsummer, and before the traditional Sauvageon ball in the evening, they had invited a bunch of friends (mainly Svea's and some of Lili's new friends) to participate in the traditional maypole dance. The Lothbroks, of course, always came along, Norway celebrated Midsummer too, though with a bonfire instead of dancing around a maypole, so weird (that's sarcastic, Sweden is obvs the weirdo here). Minah, and Eloise, and Damien, of course, came along, well, the latter two of whom had to be somewhat dragged along, Eloise on the excuse of "observing" the activities of "lesser" beings. And where went M and E, always came T and T, aka Tyler and Theo or as Svea called the three of them, very much without their permission, zaldrīzes raqiror (translation: dragon friends). Moses and Lyrae had also come, and so had Henry, of course, what kind of awful girlfriend would forget to invite her "paramour" (as Svea preferred labelling him). Numerous adorable siblings had come along as well, Xander Carlyle (who would like to clarify he's Henry's cousin, not brother), Tara Lee, forever shipping Minah with the wrong person; it’s Minah and Tyler forever, not Minah and Sungjae (sorry buddy), whom, by the way, was also invited and showed up. Even Lyra and Oberon Greaves had come along, though they were decidedly less comfortable around Svea and Damien. Also somewhat uncomfortable was Loralei Expura, but as Svea explained, in Sweden, you just eat good food, hold hands, and dance in a circle around a weird pole for some reason.

---Post-credit scene with the zaldrīzes raqiror---

Theo: *leaning up against a tree* I'm not doing that.

Tyler: come on, it looks fun.

Theo: I don't remember asking for your opinion.

Tyler: you're lucky to have been graced with it.

Svea: *suddenly apparates to where they are* Just shut up and hold hands already, you're killing the vibe!

#hsww #writing #story #mine #contest entry #Svea Sauvageon

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therangersmistress · 5 years

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My first go at this thing called writing.

Ok, so, I’ve been reading fanfiction for probably too long considering my age (what can you do?) and I’ve finally decided to try writing my own. I apologise if it’s terrible, but I really enjoyed this. I could’ve written more, and it ends kind of abruptly I know, but I’m dead tired and kind of anxious to get this out there before I keep going with it. Let me know what you think, and if anyone wants to send me asks, please do! :-)

Characters: Bill Skarsgård/Female Reader

---

You hadn’t planned on coming. Your main concern when the invitation arrived had been more how much time had managed to pass without you realising than anything else. Ten years. Ten whole years since you graduated, since you left this town for good, left him. And now you’d somehow been roped into going home, all for a little high school reunion. Who even goes to those anymore? Well, you supposed, apparently fools like you.

When you were younger, you’d had this silly notion that one day, when you’d see everyone again, you’d be that woman.

The beautiful woman, with the amazing career and committed partner–the one you see in films. But that wasn’t your reality. Sure, you had a decent job. Your boss was a bit of a dick and the hours could prove tedious but it was something, and it put a cosy roof over your head. You had friends, family you loved, you’d grown into yourself. No longer were you the gangly, coltish looking girl in too-short trousers, a fact of which the men in your life were aware. You just couldn’t help the nagging feeling that something was missing, nor could you admit to the small part of you that whispered it was him.

As you trudged hesitantly up the path to your alma mater, the redbrick entrance looming over you like a warning, all you could do was curse your friend for forcing you into this.

It had taken some heavy bribery, and not a small amount of guilt tripping, but eventually you’d caved when faced with the sad, concerned-eyes of your closest friend. It was a look you’d been getting a lot lately.

Supposedly this trip would be good for you, bring closure. Yet you weren’t so sure. As you stopped at the foot of the entrance’ steps, you closed your eyes, letting out a deep puff of air. This was it. This was the moment you’d been waiting for. The gnawing pit of anxiety you’d felt in the months since you received your invite was almost worse than the sudden realisation that you couldn’t breathe. Why couldn’t you breathe! It wasn’t like he would even come to this. No, surely not. Not with who he is now. And the rest in there, well, it’s not that you particularly disliked them, although sure there are a few arseholes you’d rather not see again, it’s just that you’d tried so hard to put this town behind you after everything that had happened, to move on, that being here felt like rubbing salt into your already deep wounds.

You also really didn’t want to see Paulina fucking Engberg’s smug face say “I told-you-so”.

You were jolted out of your impending hysteria by the sound of partygoers. Looking around, you realised the noise had come from inside. Going off of the full carpark, the night air otherwise still and quiet, you assumed you must be the last person to arrive.

“Fuck. I’m late. OK... Stop stalling. You can do this. I’m almost certain he won’t be in there but even if he is, you can fucking do this.”

You took one last moment of peace before the mayhem, straightening out your midi dress, before glaring at the garish blue and yellow banner ahead and marching inside.

Welcome back indeed.

The first thing you noticed was the music.

Why is it that every DJ at every prom, wedding, and apparently high school reunion, plays the same god-awful pop music?

Hovering by the doors to the gym, you glanced around as subtly as you could for any familiar faces, namely one in particular. With your third pan around the room you decided it was all clear and made a swift beeline for the drinks table. You weren’t above accepting help where given, and this kind of night called for it. With a hefty swig of champagne in you, and a careful eye on the crowd, you ambled over to the main table, spotting a stack of labels and pens placed out. Scribbling down your name, you couldn’t quite swallow the chuckle at the irony of having to remind people who you are, at an event that’s sole purpose is to reminisce in shared memories.

Sighing, you resigned yourself to at least attempting conversation with someone, deciding to stick it out for a couple of hours out of courtesy and then getting the hell out of here. You had a lovely bed awaiting you in a hotel downtown after all, and you figured you’d treat yourself to some room service and perhaps a drink or two more as a reward for showing.

After several intensely awkward introductions with old classmates and teachers, you had the uncomfortable realisation that almost everyone here had a plus one but you. You knew you should have brought someone, but after the third friend had denied availability you’d decided that perhaps it would be best to come alone anyway, just in case he did show. Better to keep that train wreck from as fewer eyes as possible.

As the person before you (Megan was it? No Maxine. Perhaps these name tags were good for something) finished their long boasting account of their marriage and how many children they had (“Oh do you want to see a picture? Here. Aren’t they so sweet? You know we always thought you and...”), you could stomach it no longer.

Whipping out your phone (thank god for dresses with pockets), you excused yourself, claiming you needed to make a call, then bolted towards the back door–but not before snatching two flutes of champagne from a startled waiter. Just the quiet of the closed hallway was enough to calm you somewhat as you breathed deeply in and out.

Feeling more relaxed, you decided to head home, your fluffy down comforter calling you, when from the corner of your eye you spotted an old display case shucked up against the wall. Curious, you found a collection of framed photos from across the years. Placing your drinks to the side, you leaned in for a closer look. Basketball, volleyball, football, it was all there. And at the very back, one you hadn’t seen in years. In the middle of a group of boys, he stood. Impossibly tall, impossibly beautiful, even then. With his floppy hair and his big earnest eyes, not to mention that smile, he was the picture of youth. And he was yours.

Not anymore, you thought.

So focused on your reminiscing, you didn’t notice until you caught those same eyes in the reflective glass, that you were no longer alone. Your breath caught in your chest, as you choked out the name you hadn’t spoken aloud in years.

“Bill?”

“I thought I’d find you somewhere around here.”

He leaned down towards you, his breath ghosting over your ear forcing you to shudder.

You stumbled around, heart racing, almost smacking right into his chest before he caught you, his large warm hand stretched over your shoulder. “Woah, easy there”, he chuckled.

God, you forgot what his presence did to you.

You weren’t a hugely tall woman by any means, but it was still a rare occurrence that a man could truly make you feel small. And did he get even more attractive?

As your eyes drifted from his slicked back hair to his sharp angular jaw, his slightly receding hairline that reminded you fondly of his father, you thought he might’ve. The years had certainly done him well, even the faint lines pinching the corner of his eyes suited him.

“Bill”, his name the only thing you seemed capable of saying.

Your mind felt like it had dropped through your throat and into your stomach. It was like being parched, like missing something for so long that when it’s right there in front of you again, you can’t believe it.

“Hello sweetheart. It’s been awhile.”

Some awful sound halfway between a scoff and a snort found its way out of your mouth before you could stop it. Blushing, you tried to recover from your mortification.

“Just a bit, yeah.”

“How’ve you been?” he asked, as he stared at you as intensely as he did ten years ago.

Bill had this way of making you feel like you were the only thing that mattered when he looked at you. It was those Swedish values of his, or maybe just those huge bug eyes you used to tease him for.

“Umm”, you stumbled nervously. You’d prepared yourself mentally for this moment, knowing it was a possibility, yet everything you’d thought you would say had left you.

“I’ve been good thanks, works been good, everything’s umm good. And you?”

Oh god. What the fuck was wrong with you?

“Everything’s good here too”, he said with no little amount of amusement at your loss for words. It had never been a problem when you were younger. If you remembered right, it was quite the opposite, Bill finding many a creative way to silence your constant talking.

Great, so not the time to think about that perfect, fucking full mouth of his.

Ripping your mind back to the present, you realised you’d been staring precisely where your thoughts were for some time now, Bill’s expression far too warm and kind for your comfort.

He had no right to look at you like that. Not after all this time.

Realising he still had his hand on you, thumb softly rubbing your upper arm, you staggered away, searching for those cursed drinks of yours.

Sculling down the rest of the champagne, back faced to him, you scrambled for something to say.

“So, I hear the acting is going well?”

Bill, still so modest, looked down, “it is, thank you. I’ve just finished filming actually, so I’m happy to be home for a bit.”

He paused. “Are you here for long?”

As you went to deny, you couldn’t help but be shocked by the hope you could see in his eyes, hesitant as it was.

You didn’t want to think too much on it, hope was a dangerous thing after all, but you’d be lying if you said you weren’t curious. That treacherous part of you that had held onto his memory all these years roared in agreement. It was getting harder and harder to quieten it these days and this just might break your resolve.

“I’m not sure yet, I hadn’t planned to stay past tonight, but I suppose it could be nice to see the town again.”

Smiling, he walked over to you, every step giving you a better look at his tall frame. Broad shoulders, tapered waist, legs for absolute days. That suit must cost a fucking fortune, you thought.

He snatched the second glass from the table, gulping it down, his Adam’s apple throbbing so enticingly, you wanted to suck your own mark onto it. Licking a drop of champagne off the corner of his lip, he smirked, “I’m so glad”.

Shit, you thought. You don’t know if this is the closure she meant.

---

Awesome people I’d kill to have read this:

@lihikainanea

@dreamtherapy

@ill-skillsgard

@skrsgardspams

@elisabethwise

@bae-roman

@inkblotgalaxies

#sigh #Adam's apples though #stay tuned for smutty goodness #bill skarsgard drabbles #right place wrong time #part one

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soulbutterlanguages · 4 years

Text

See Chicago on the Budget of a Poor College Student !

Chicago is absolutely beautiful if you know where to go! And there’s plenty more to see than just The Bean. I moved here for school a year and a half ago, and I still have much more to explore in this amazing city.

I’ve written up a little guide for anyone interested in visiting Chicago on their next trip. This guide is also based off of ‘El’ (train) stops.

Totally free things both downtown and north.

- Maggie Daley Park is just a two minute walk from the always mentioned Bean (which is actually meant to be a cloud) and as an adult, I’ve never felt like more of a kid again. It’s a fantastic date spot, or if you’re just feeling silly, take a stroll over the bridge and find yourself on a pirate ship.

-Navy Pier disclaimer; Navy Pier is a tourist trap, but it is also beautiful. Totally free to just stroll across, but the attractions come at a heavy price. Worth seeing once.

- ChristkindlMarkt no doubt you’ve already heard of this, but during the winter months, Chicago hosts three different German Christmas Markets scattered across the city that are rival only Europe’s Christmas Markets.

-Lincoln Park Zoo/Conservatory I ADORE the conservatory! They have a whole room of Orchids and more or less any plant you can imagine (including the Sensitive Plant that curls up when you touch it) it’s very cute and I love spending time there. Also pretty close if you want to get away from the crowds is a beautiful little Lily Park across the street. Really nice to sit and read by and the ducks are 11/10.

-Chinatown! Blocks and blocks of asian culture!! There is hardly any English seen or even spoken it’s so cool to see (but you can certainly get by). If you’re a K-Pop fan, there are at least three stores dedicated to K-Pop merch to peruse.

-Boystown! Pride flags everywhere, drag shows, comedy shows, LGBTQ+ facts literally posted on street corners. It’s so much fun. You will pass sex shops that aren’t afraid to tell you what they’re all about if you’re traveling with children, just know that.

-Bookstores (depending on who you ask) are free to look around in! We have some really amazing bookstores both new and used, so do your research if you’re interested.

-Little Vietnam! There’s a whole stretch of road where there is nearly no English a block or two away from the Red Line Argyle stop. Really amazing food and shops. There’s also a whole bunch of other cool things in this area too.

-Big Ass Starbucks ! I’m not a fan of Starbucks, but this one is super cool. I highly recommend if you stumble across it, to take a look. There’s a bar on the top floor.

-Red Line Roulette a great little game we like to play where we close our eyes and point to a random stop on the red line (usually north of Roosevelt) and get off there and see what we can find. This works with most lines, we just live on the red line and therefore use it the most.

Nearly free things

-Museums! Most places have pretty nice student discounts, or even free student tickets. Some museums are pricier than others but totally worth it! You can see some of your favorite paintings at the Art Institute, or learn about your favorite American authors down the street at the lesser known American Writers Museum. There is a variety of science museums as well to check out. My favorite is the Chicago History Museum, where you can learn about gangsters and the packing industry and hundreds of fascinating other things.

-Cultural Centers! As you can imagine, Chicago is incredibly diverse! Chicago is home to the National Museum of Mexican Art, as well as the DANK Haus, and even the Swedish American Museum.

-Jenni’s Ice Cream! I don’t want to set the bar too high on this one but once you try it, ice cream will never be the same.

-Music Box Theater! Beautiful little theater, sort of off the beaten path, with all sorts of obscure movies playing at all times.

-DIY Music Scene!!!! This is truly amazing. One thing I’ve noticed in my time living here, is that apparently when people are moving out of their apartments, the tradition is to clear out all furniture and have local rock bands play. Some of the best nights of my life happened in a room of twenty people trying to dance in a kitchen. If you’re interested check out bands like Ex Okays, Spacebones, and Engine Summer. Usually they’ll charge something like $3-9 for a show, but you have to find them.

-Go on an architecture tour! Chicago history is really fascinating! Learn about it!

Here’s a list of restaurants that are great

Nutella cafe (worth going once if you like Nutella)

Stan’s Donut’s

Anne Sather’s

Here’s some more

General tips ~

-ditch the car. Even if you’re an amazing driver, it’ll only cause stress and you’ll find yourself spending more time getting to places than being there. Plus we have a really amazing public transport system!

-similarly, don’t be afraid of the public transport system! You might occasionally stroll into a car that smells like pee or have someone come up and talk to you. Be polite and they’ll leave you alone. As a short woman who likes to be out late, I have never really felt unsafe in my time here. That being said, be cautious. If it’s after 10pm, have at least another person traveling on the bus or train with you.

- you don’t need to lock your zippers or wear your bag on your front. In fact, you might even be targeted more. Once I accidentally rode three stops on the El with my back pack totally open, and I got to my destination and nothing was missing. On the other hand, I had a friend have his phone stolen on the CTA (the train) but only because the man said “please let me borrow your phone, I have to call my daughter.” so my friend stupidly handed it to him to which the man responded “this is mine now.” I shouldn’t have to say this, but don’t hand your stuff to people you don’t know.

-for god’s sake check the weather before you come ! Weather here is really temporal. The joke is; if you don’t like the weather now, wait five minutes.

-Uber instead of taxi if you can’t take the El Taxi costs a lot more money

- Know when the El shuts down. I think only the Red Line runs 24/7 so have a plan.

-Have evening plans before the evening comes. Surprisingly, things close pretty early in the day, so know what you want to do

There you go! If you have any questions message me! Or feel free to add on. The list is really endless, this is just what I could think of off the top of my head.

#travel #chicago #chicago travel #vacation

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