#book roundup 2019

[muffinlance]

State of the Muffin Report 2023-24

Happy belated birthday to my fanfics! Little Zuko turned six back in March. <3 

Behold, my annual roundup stats, because you can get fanfic from the math teacher but you can’t get the math out of the fanfic:

[id: Screenshot of an excel spreadsheet showing my 2023-24 word counts. Important info is that over six stories, I wrote 104k words, for a monthly average of 8.6k and a daily of 284 words. End id.]

Fanfic:

After not touching the birthday fic itself since 2019, Little Zuko v the World is finally finished! Woooo.

Otherwise, a slow-but-steady sort of year on the fanfic front.

Serious Face Writing & RL:

Li’s Friends has now raised $4,206.21 USD for wildlife charity, not counting gift matches. <3

Finished the second book in my original fic series, Fox’s Tongue; The Skin Stealer’s Son officially launched yesterday! (Affiliate link, so that if you happen to buy it, Amazon pays me extra money for the privilege.)

I also created a secondary tiny human, and she is a DELIGHT. She was last seen a half hour ago crawling after her brother like a particularly aggressive tripod, Hop on Pop in one hand, and slap-screaming at it until he read it to her. My children. <3

Year Six (2024-25) Goals

Fanfic: 

Gonna finish the new case of Dark Night in Ba Sing Se. Gonna finish it so good. (This is a donation fic for the winner of my Fandom Trumps Hate charity auction and is therefore due by the end of the year, so woo artificial timelines! Ah external motivations, how I missed you from my school days.)

I’m incredibly excited for Blindsiding Badgermoles, and have that same lovely external motivation in the form of my sensitivity reader, so planning to focus on that this year.

Finish the current book of Towards the Sun. We’re currently on the final field trip, so that should be very doable. —I say, using the exact same wording for the third year in a row. Honestly this one’s less a goal than a joke to see how many years it’s actually going to take me. And hey, I’ve been making progress! We now have the delight that is Lady Jun! Third year’s the charm?

Serious Face Writing & RL: 

Get a solid start on Fox’s Tongue Book Three, Face of the Wolf King.

Get out large print editions of the first two books.

Continue raising children.

Special thanks this year goes to First and Secondborn, who blessed me with the ability to still manage over 100k in a year, which is way more than I anticipated at this time last year.

Cheers,

MuffinLance

[rivalsforlife]

Ace Attorney News Roundup

Very behind on several of these, but news doesn't always cross over from twitter to tumblr, so I thought I'd recap some things here:

AAI 15th Anniversary

First: today marks the 15th anniversary of Ace Attorney Investigations! Tatsuro Iwamoto, the art director for AAI, made a celebratory sketch of Kay to commemorate the occasion (link to tweet):

Iwamoto has also been drawing fanart of minor characters throughout the ace attorney trilogy on his twitter page. These include: April May, Dee Vasquez, Yanni Yogi (and Polly), Richard Wellington, Turner Grey, Moe the Clown, Max Galactica, Oldbag (alien mode), Matt Engarde, Doug Swallow, Luke Atmey (and Mask☆DeMasque), Viola Cadaverini, Valerie Hawthorne, Lisa Basil, and Glen Elg. Technically these aren't official art, but it's always good to have more art of obscurer characters!

The Great Ace Attorney Hit A Million Copies

Some big news: The Great Ace Attorney's 2021 port hit a million copies sold, making it the second ace attorney game to hit Capcom's platinum titles list, the first being the Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney Trilogy from 2019! This comes just under 3 years since the release of the duology in July 2021. In comparison, the original AA trilogy hit a million copies in December 2020, shortly under two years since the release of the game in February 2019.

The update to the platinum titles sales shows that Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy has reached 3.3 million copies sold, which means that it has sold over a million copies in less than a year! (My last post that had information on sales, where I said the trilogy had sold 2.3 million, was in September 2023.) It also makes it the 30th highest selling title for Capcom, which I think is pretty impressive considering giants like Resident Evil, Monster Hunter, and Street Fighter are making up the majority of the top 30.

So, the AA trilogy made its first million in approximately 22 months, but now it has sold a million over the last 8 months. I don't know anything about game sales and so this next part is just speculation, but I wouldn't expect it to be very common for games to sell more years out from their release compared to at release? I think that's really saying something about the long-term staying power of this series, and its increasing popularity over the last few years despite not having any new releases (aside from ports - and porting the series to all platforms probably has something to do with the popularity.)

The AA Twitter Is Very Active Right Now

Here are a couple of bullet points with no relation to each other:

-The official ace attorney twitter has been VERY active, particularly the last week. They've been doing the same "weekly book club" for each case that they did for the Great Ace Attorney duology, but that wrapped up last week and now it's just been memes, at least one a day. In most of my time following this account over the last uhh six years, they mostly ramp up marketing around new releases but are kinda silent the rest of the time, with the occasional meme, but definitely not at this frequency.

-Summer Game Fest is next week.

That probably means nothing, as it has every other time I thought we might get some big ace attorney news, but I think it's worth noting.

So, lots of stuff happened this week! Thanks for reading.

[boozles]

Boozle's Top Ten Movies 2023

So, this was another list in my 2023 review that was super difficult to put together. According to my Letterboxd 2023 list, I watched 178 new movies this year. (Looking at all the dramas and movies I've watched, I honestly do not know where I found the time to consume so much content?! Working from home has its plus side, I guess?)

So, it's been a bit difficult to narrow my list of favourites down, but this is what I ended up with...

(i) Barabarian (2022, Dir. Zch Cregger) This film was NOTHING like what I thought it was going to be. Split into three tales that merge together to tell the story of one house and it's history, this movie managed to surprise me and be unpredictable at each turn.

(ii) The Outlaws (2017, Dir. Kang Yun-sung) This is the first movie in The Roundup series (the fourth movie is due out in 2024) and I have to say this is my favourite Korean action franchise. Ma Dong Seok is perfect, and the action sequences are mind blowing. It has the perfect balance of crime, action and comedy, and is a definite recommendation if you're looking for a good Asian crime movie.

(iii) Evil Dead Rise (2023, Dir. Lee Cronin) I absolutely love the Evil Dead franchise, and I had initially been a little wary at this sequel due to the fact they were taking the deadite insanity into an apartment block instead of the usual little cottage in the woods. I am so glad I was wrong, because this movie was probably the best horror to come out of 2023. The cast were amazing (Morgan Davies was a stand out) and it managed to feel like an Evil Dead film but with a fresh perspective.

(iv) Dark Harvest (2023, Dir. David Slade) Okay, I couldn't find a gif from the movie so y'all will have to make do with this still image. Now, I fully expected Dark Harvest to be a lame b-movie with terrible effects and a lame storyline, but I thoroughly enjoyed it! It managed to keep me captivated, and it was extremely aesthetically pleasing. I'd love a sequel with Emily returning to town.

(v) Five Nights at Freddy's (2023, Dir. Emma Tammi) Gosh, I was so happy when I enjoyed this! I am a huge FNAF fan (though for a while I kept it on the downlow due to Cawthon's support of Trump/the Republican party) and I adore the lore, as wild and complicated as it is. The movie really managed to keep me captivated, and kept me guessing, whilst still staying true to the original canon. I cannot wait for the second installment.

(vi) Guns Akimbo (2019, Dir. Jason Lei Howden) This was a wild and fantastic film. I love watching Daniel Radcliffe get further and further away from the HP movies and prove that he's a great actor. Also, I just love Samara Weaving.

(vii) The Meg 2: The Trench (2023, Ben Wheatley) Yeah, I'm surprised to see this on my list, too. This movie was just so much fun. That's all. The effects were great, the acting was pretty good, and I just like watching sharks take out humans. IF YOU DON'T WANT EATEN BY A SEA CREATURE, STAY OUT OF THE SEA.

(viii) Ichi the Killer (2001, Dir. Takashi Miike) I don't know why it took me over 20 years to finally watch this classic, but I ended up thoroughly enjoying it! The acting was insane, the story was batshit crazy, and the effects were fantastic. I'd expect nothing less from Takashi Miike, tbh.

(ix) Salo, or 120 Days of Sodom (1975, Dir. Pier Paolo Pasolini) Okay, hear me out - was this one of my favourite movies of the year? No, it really wasn't. However, it's the movie that has probably left the biggest scar on my mental psyche of the year, therefore I had to include it. I've been fascinated by Marquis De Sade ever since I saw Quills years ago, but I never watched this movie because I knew it would do something to my brain. If you've seen the movie (or even read the book), I'm sure you understand what I mean when I saw one chapter in particular REALLY fucked me up to the point I couldn't eat chocolate for quite some time afterwards, and I struggle to not throw up when cleaning my cat's litter box these days. It takes a lot for a movie to scar me in a way that makes it pop into my mind every now and then, and this movie did that. However, I'd like to add that the point of the film isn't just to shock, but I am terrible at witing coherent analysis. If you haven't seen this movie, I would suggest doing a little research before watching, just to make sure you can handle it; it is full of triggers that I don't even want to mention because I'll probably get blacklisted. But yes. Whilst it may not be a favourite of the year, it sure left a huge impact on me.

(x) Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022, Dir. Daniel Scheinert, Daniel Kwan) I think everyone loves this movie, but I was surprised at how much I loved it! The whole message of the movie is just so brutal and honest, and whilst I know that it's probably people of Asian heritage that can relate to it the most, I feel like we all can find something in the relationships that we can relate to. The cast were fantastic and I'm so glad to see Ke Huy Quan on screen again! Heartwarming, sad, and absolutely hilarious.

Honorary Mentions: (i) Midnight (2021, Dir. Kwon Oh-seung) (ii) Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum (2018, Dir. Jung Bum-shik) (iii) Glass Onion (2022, Dir. Rian Johnson) (iv) The Night House (2020, Dir. David Bruckner) (v) I Saw the Devil (2010, Dir. Kim Jee-woon)

[truetgirl]

Relevant to my recent falling in love with the X-Men all over again, today's pride headcanon is:

Emma Frost, AKA the White Queen, who is 1000% bi.

So the pictures cover my main points of interest already, if I'm honest. Emma has, of course, been deeply involved with Scott in the past. Honestly their relationship does a lot for both of their characterizations, with good ole' paragon Scott Summers seeing a grayer perspective through her eyes, and ever-pragmatic Emma finding that she's come to really care about the team and their dream, in spite of herself.

Then there's Kitty (who has finally been confirmed as queer in canon, hence her absence from this headcanon roundup), where, after years of incredibly antagonistic energy towards each other, they become close as can be durring the 2019 Marauders run. Those pages are kinda a matched set, but I have dozens more that I adore of their relationship in this book. Emma has never been one to feel shame or uncertainty in who she is, and that absolutely extends to her affection for those she holds dear. I would not consider it an exaggeration to say that I have never seen her so obviously affectionate and happy as she is with Kitty in Marauders except for Scott in previous titles.

Lastly, and this one's equally sincere and sarcastic: you think Emma Frost would ever limit herself, like some kinda fucking peasant?

[redgoldsparks]

March Reading and Reviews by Maia Kobabe

I post my reviews throughout the month on Storygraph and Goodreads, and do roundups here and on patreon. Four of the books I read this month were for the Trans Right Readathon, which I participated in from Mar 20-27 and donated money to the Transgender Law Center. Reviews below the cut: 

The Swifts: A Dictionary of Scoundrels by Beth Lincoln (Dutton Books for Young Readers) A whimsical, witty debut middle grade murder mystery full of word play and puns. The Swifts are an ancient English family with many quirky rituals- one of them is the tradition of naming every new child by opening the dictionary and pointing out a word thought to determine their character; another is the massive family reunion they host every ten years when Swifts from around the world gather at the family manor, a decaying three story mansion, to try and find a massive treasure hoard hidden by an ancestor. Shenanigan Swift, youngest of three sisters who still actively live in the house, is determined that during this upcoming reunion she will be the one to find the treasure once and for all. But almost immediately, fights behind to erupt between the contentious Swifts, and a scream in the hallway leads to the discovery of a body at the bottom of the stairs, and then a deadly Scrabble duel, and then a bloody accident in the library... before she knows it, Shenanigan is searching not for a treasure hoard but for a murderer. This book includes nonbinary, trans, and queer characters and an overall message of being true to one's self despite societal and familiar pressures and expectations. An excellent read for anyone who enjoys a good all-ages tale.

Queen of the Tiles by Hannah Alkaf read by Catherine Ho (Salaam books/Simon Schuster Books for Young Readers) Najwa's world centered around her charismatic, beautiful, popular best friend Trina and their shared passion for competitive Scrabble. Then Trina collapsed and died during a tournament, and Najwa was thrown into the confusion of depression and grief. Finally, a year later, Najwa feels able to return to her first Scrabble tournament since the death of her friend. She wants to win in Trina's memory and earn her old title, Queen of the Tiles. But then someone starts posting on the dead girl's instagram account, taunting messages that hint that the death was a murder, and that the players might even now be in danger. Najwa does her best to unravel the events of a year before, navigating gaps in her own memory, and a tangle of the envy, hatred, admiration and love the Scrabble community had for Trina. This is an engaging, diverse, complex mystery that kept me guessing until the very end. Full of wordplay and etymology trivia.

The Anthropocene Reviewed written and read by John Green (Dutton) I started listening to the podcast of The Anthropocene Reviewed years ago- maybe late 2019 or early 2020? For me these essays are colored with the bittersweet poignancy of the early covid period, and indeed the book references covid, collective health, and vaccines regularly in essays on small pox and more. I had planned to re-listen to the whole book, but I ended up missing the lovely sound editing of the podcast version so I only ended up listening to the last 25% to hear all of the essays which were exclusive to the book ("Winter Mix" to the end). This book is my favorite of John Green's work to date, and I'd recommend it even if you've bounced off his novels. 

Terry Pratchet: A Life in Footnotes: The Official Biography by Rob Wilkins (Doubleday) I've read 30+ of Terry Pratchett's 50+ books, but I didn't know very much about his life before reading this biography. I never had the pleasure of hearing him speak at a convention, or of seeing him at a signing, despite the extensive amount of touring he did from the mid-90s to the 2010s. This extensive biography was written by his long time assistant, friend, and collaborator Rob Wilkins, a huge Pratchett fan who went from working on organizing the UK Discworld conventions to working for Pratchett's agent to working for the author himself. It's funny and conversational, full of footnotes and silly asides, not unlike a Pratchett book in that regard. It takes nearly 90 pages to get through Pratchett's high school years; though to be fair, Pratchett published his first two short stories, bought his first typewriter, and attended his first few sci-fi conventions before he was out of high school. He was a tremendously dedicated worker, often writing two or more books a year once he quit his journalism and PR jobs to begin writing full time. This book is primarily about his creative work and extensive hobbies (gardening, beekeeping, raising goats and ducks, astronomy, silver-casting, brewing mead, building home electronics, playing computer games, forging his own sword) but skates lightly over his interpersonal relationships outside of professional collaborations. I did not leave it with a good sense of how his only daughter might have felt about having such a workaholic as a father, but I did leave it with a better sense of what fed and nourished his astonishing imagination, and the successes and stumbling blocks he met along the way. 

Roaming by Jillian Tamaki and Mariko Tamaki (Drawn and Quarterly) Zoe and Dani, high school best friends now in their first year of college at two distant and different schools, reunite for a spring break in New York City in 2009. They have five days to cram in as much sight seeing and bonding as they can. But Dani brought one of her classmates, Fiona, and this third person injects an intense new energy into the dynamic. Dani wants to visit all of the biggest tourist attractions. Zoe wants to have some adult experiences she's never had before. And Fiona? Initially she wanted to ditch the other two, but then she decides Zoe is more interesting that the people she was going to meet up with, especially after Fiona manages to buy some weed from the desk manager at their hostel and Zoe turns out to have a fake ID. This is a smart, beautifully drawn story about the painful period between being a teen and becoming an adult, the growing pains of an old friendship, the addictive pull of a new crush, the struggle to figure out who you are and want to be against the backdrop of a foreign city. Fans of previous Tamaki collaborations will love this one as well. I was lucky enough to get my hands on an advanced reader copy; preorder it now or look for it in stores in September 2023. 

Team Trash: A Time Traveler’s Guide to Sustainability by Kate Wheeler and Trent Huntington (Holiday House) A short, easy to read book on historical sustainability and recycling efforts for young readers. Two kids, Charlie and Oliver, are paired together for a science project and end up accidentally taking a time-traveling car made out of trash back in time to Pompeii, ancient Japan, early America, and more, to learn how people in different eras have handled their garbage. A fun, informative introduction to the topic for kids which includes with an example of how to contact legislators. Forthcoming in June 2023! 

Babel: An Arcane History by RF Kuang (HarperCollins) I read this for my book club, and we won't be holding our discussion of it until late April, so I might come back after that with more thoughts. For now, I'll say there were aspects of this book which I really enjoyed (the focus on the damage caused by colonization, the diverse cast, the unique magic system, the Oxford setting) but also multiple ways it felt bogged down by it's own length and some of the plot decisions. I'm normally a huge fan of a quirky or educational footnote (see: Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell) but in the second half I felt like the footnotes were bleeding the tension out of the action and really taking away from my reading enjoyment. I wanted more from several of the lead characters emotional arcs. I wanted the plot turns of the second half to come sooner. I wanted some of the multiple main character deaths to be given a bit more space to breath. Still, I'm glad I read this and I think it's a very thought provoking book, maybe more so because it's so far from perfect. 

Victories Greater Than Death by Charlie Jane Anders, read by Hynden Walch (Tor Teen) Tina has known since she was a kid that her destiny lies beyond Earth. From the outside, she looks like a regular high schooler, someone who loves her friends, has a passionate sense of right and wrong, and never passes by an opportunity to stand up to a bully or a corrupt local business owner. But in her chest is a star beacon which will someday activate and call an alien spaceship to pick her up and return the memories of her previous life. Tina is the clone of a famous and beloved space general from the Royal Fleet and she can't WAIT to get to the business of saving people for real. But when Tina's ship and future come for her, she learns that battles are messy and fighting comes with causalities. This is the first book of a trilogy, which asks the questions: what are acceptable losses when fighting for a greater good? How far will you go to save your friends? How about a girl you just met, but are already half in love with? This series is fairly light in the realism and sci-fi world building departments, and cares about its characters maybe more than its plot, but its delightfully queer, trans, and full of heart. 

Come Tumbling Down written and read by Seanan McGuire (Tor dot com) The stories that center on Jack, Jill, and the Moors continue to be some of the strongest installments in this series. In this one, Jack reappears at the school for Wayward Children- in her twin sister's body. She needs help, and she needs it fast, and despite the sign outside the school which reads "No Quests", a group of Eleanor West's students once again step through a magical door to save a world not their own. 

Lakelore by Anna-Marie McLemore  It's been a while since I read a novel all in one day! I picked this up for the Trans Rights Readathon (running on all bookish social media near you from March 20-27 2023) and I absolutely loved it. The two main characters, Bastian and Lore, are both nonbinary, both Mexican-American, and both neurodivergent. Bastian lives by the shore of a lake, the source of many myths, but only Bastian seems to be able to access the liminal, magical space beneath its surface. Until they meet Lore, who can also see the way the waves lift off the shore to become a path. But Bastian and Lore both end up pouring things into the lake they're unwilling to face- bad memories, traumas, and the hateful whispers of cruel classmates. The lake can only hold so much, and soon these painful things start flooding the shores, into the streets and homes of the teens. The only way to quiet the waters is to face what they've tried to drown. This a fast, engaging read and one of the best books about living with ADHD and dyslexia I've ever encountered. It makes me want to seek out more stories with this kind of representation, and this kind of emotional, visual language! 

Self Made Boys by Anna-Marie McLemore  Another book I finished all in one day for the Trans Right Readathon (March 20-27 2023!) This Gatsy retelling casts Nick Carraway as Nicolás Caraveo, a 17-year-old trans boy from Wisconsin. He wants to move to New York not for the glamour but because he has a head for numbers and wants to make money working on Walls Street to support his parents and establish himself as a man. His cousin Daisy finds him a cottage in West Egg, but when he reunions with Daisy he's shocked to realize she's passing as white and lying about her past to her sort-of fiancé, Tom, a man who pretends at tolerance while exhibiting casual racism. Then Nick meets his other neighbor, the infamous Jay Gatsby, who throws outrageous and extravagant parties but is more similar to Nick than most people can see. This retelling adds an insurance investigation about a missing $350,000 pearl necklace; a visit to an underground gay club; and cast full of queer characters, all trying to make some kind of safety or place for themselves in the world. I'd love to see this version added to school reading lists along side the original!

Prophet by Sin Blance and Helen Macdonald (Grove Press) At the start of this military thriller, set in 2010, a sergeant dies in a mysterious fire on a US base in the UK. Around the base, dozens of objects appear ranging from familiar, nostalgic childhood toys, to a full American style diner in the middle of an empty field. A pair of unique agents are called in to investigate these circumstances: reserved, rule following Colonel Adam Rubenstein, and chaotic Sunil Rao, unranked, pulled from rehab after an overdose attempt. Rao as the ability to spot fakes and forgeries at a glance, and also to tell when anyone is lying. Except Adam. Adam is the only person who confounds Rao's power, and the only one who can manage his unpredictable moods and whims. This unlikely team chase the threads of the mystery back to Colorado, into an experimental government lab, where they find a bizarre substance effecting people's psyches to produce physical objects linked to memory. Everyone seems to react to it in the same way... except Rao and Adam. The book is a little over long, but full of witty dialogue, very original, and the plot intrigue is underpinned by the emotional tension between the two leads, who are pulled together by curiosity, attraction, and increasingly, by real feelings. There were a few missed opportunities that I think could have ramped up the romantic stakes even farther, but still, I loved that a cautious queer romance formed the emotional core of the story.

Surpassing Certainty: What My Twenties Taught Me written and read by Janet Mock This candid, conversational memoir is read by the author in the audiobook and I really loved hearing it literally in her voice. Mock begins the book writing of being a freshman in college in her native Hawaii, of working briefly in a strip club as a dancer, of meeting the man who she would marry and live with on and off through her twenties, of following her academic ambition and writing skills to Rhode Island and then New York City, of friendships, boyfriends, heart breaks and career breaks. Mock pursued the goal of becoming a culture magazine editor with remarkable clear-eyed practicality and worked her way into higher and higher positions even as a recent grad. Along the way she gained confidence in herself, her place in the world, and her unique voice as a trans woman of color. She went from living stealth to deciding she wanted to share her story calmly and compassionately with the world. 

[jariten]

September + October 2022 roundup!!

There just wasn’t that much happening each of these months, at least that I personally found super noteworthy, so why not splice them together!

First off: I got my first order from Glacier Bay Books! Very happy with what I got (Saving Glaeolia 3 for a slow month). Def one I’d recommend is Dream Another Dream by Shinnosuke Saika. This compiles 3 stories centred around loss and loneliness all from their Sleepy Child series, not included is the story Tonio that you can get separately. Will definitely be coming back for more! Drawn & Quarterly also released another manhwa! Yeong-Shin Ma’s Artist. Moms is already a graphic novel I think everyone should read so I was nervous about how Artist would live up to it and it didn’t disappoint. Once again we’re giving a compelling story of friendship turned rivalries, the weight of living under capitalism, and unbearable jealousy. But unlike Moms and its sympathetic main cast, Artist gives us the worst people you know serving great human drama. You can get the all-in-one english edition from Drawn & Quarterly or read it in korean on Kakao

2022 has finally made me a believer in Yuri manga, I’ve been harsh in the past anymore but that’s not me anymore I finally #respect yuri and lesbian manga bc finally the adult romances in the english market is starting to match the high school ones. She Loves To Cook and She Loves To Eat by Sakaomi Yuzaki is a slow blossoming romance between two women and their love of food with all the excitement of making friends and having a crush as an adult. A live action drama based on the series is also premiering on Nov 29th on NHK!  After a 3 year wait... it finally appeared... the second and final (for now) volume of The Poe Clan by Moto Hagio is finally out and this milestone work in manga history is finally 100% accessible in english. After reading Volume 1 and A Drunken Dream (both of which got reprinted this year!) back to back in 2019 I became a true Hagio believer. I think I’ve read the series twice over now and I’m just always amazed by how thanks to the historical setting it feels so timeless to me. Its her most popular and accessible work for a reason. Since the fantagraphics edition compile the stories in the order they were serialized volume 2 contains the latter part of the serialization where the art was a bit more consistent across chapters and there’s a few more recurring characters. I was going to list my favorite chapters but looking at them again... I can’t really pick. Just know that you’re in for a treat. 

Gradually making progress on the scanning but there’s still a lot to catch up on so unfortunately the return of the queue is not happening anytime soon. Once again thank you for your patience and see you soon!

[rwrbmovie]

RE: casting

Quotes from interviews on #RWRBMovie about the casting process

This post will be updated as content is released

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Last updated: August 9

From Vanity Fair

Then there was the matter of finding his leads, roles that have been fancast since the book’s 2019 release. For Henry, a man born to privilege and often spiteful of that fact, López sought someone who would “protect” the character. “Without realizing it, Nick taught me that I was in search of someone who would take care of Henry,” he says. “It felt very safe putting Henry into Nick’s hands.” As for Alex, the rowdier of the two, it was about casting an actor who could “transform himself” over the film’s two-hour run time. “Taylor’s a little more like Alex than Nick is like Henry. But Taylor is not as much of a human cannonball as Alex is,” López says. “And to watch Taylor in the audition process become that reckless and energetic creature was actually really, really fun.” Now, he says, “I genuinely cannot imagine any other two actors other than these two playing these parts.”

From People

Of Perez and Galitzine, López, 46, says, "They each embody their characters so perfectly while also working effortlessly as a team." "Nick brings a tremendous amount of vulnerability and dignity to Henry, and Taylor turned himself into a human cannonball in order to bring Alex to life."

From Deadline

Casting was something “perfectly within my purview as a director. … I know the rules, don’t worry,” López assured. He spent five months “auditioning hundreds of actors” searching for his two leads. “I kept seeing them, then I’d go to other people. Then I’d go back to them. It was also important for me to see as many actors as possible … especially for the role of Alex. “You don’t get many opportunities to cast a lead role in a studio film with a Latin actor, so I wanted to make sure that I saw everyone that I possibly could, mostly from the United States and throughout Latin America and Mexico,” the director and writer now relocated from New York to London told me. “I saw hundreds of guys for this role, which was heartening actually. It was Taylor, once I met Taylor. Then it was putting them together in a chemistry read and praying that they had chemistry.”

From What to Watch

I think there’s a point at which, once a project starts to actually get some forward momentum, then it starts to become a lot easier to convince people to be in the movie, and by the time we got Uma, I was like ‘great, who else wants to join the fun wagon?!’ Stephen took no convincing whatsoever, that was such a happy thing for me, because I thought ‘well, there’s a very slim chance he’s going to say yes to this’, you know, I’m sure he’s busy, I’m sure he’s not going to want to do it, it’s too perfect, and then he said yes straight away, and I felt so happy."  "And then Sharon, I honestly was just like — when I knew I get to cast a fictional UK prime minister, I was like ‘well, let’s go for the most hopeful version of what we’d love to see in a prime minister’, and when they asked me to think about it, I was like ‘oh! Sharon D Clarke — ask her if she’d come in and do a day for us’. It’s the same thing with Sharon as with Uma, the first thing I said for each of the President and the Prime Minister was ‘would you vote for that actor to actually do that job?’ I can’t vote in the UK, but if I could, I would vote for Sharon!"

From Tatler

The character was originally supposed to be a queen – 'Queen Mary' is the head of the family in McQuiston's book – yet none of the grand dames were interested when casting calls went out. 'I think, at that stage of Her Majesty's life, none of the Dame Judi Denches, Helen Mirrens and Julie Andrewses of the world wanted to do something like that,' says López. Fry, however, jumped at the chance. 'He said yes right away,' says López, pausing to laugh. 'Of course, he is friends with His Majesty. I never asked him what he thought the King might think of Stephen playing a fictional British king.' Perhaps Fry's friendship with the monarch is why he was so well-versed in decorum and royal protocol. 'He didn't even have to be told,' says López. 'He just rattled it off. He was like, "Can I say this instead, Matthew?" I was like, "Yes, fine, you're Stephen Fry, you can do whatever you want."

From TV Times

López says he was delighted to not only get Hollywood star Uma Thurman to play President Ellen Claremont, but also to persuade Stephen Fry to portray the British king! 'It was really important to create a lot of daylight between the fictional royal family in the movie and the actual royals - they aren't the Windsors, ours are completely made up,' says Matthew, 46. 'But when Stephen walked on set in that double-breasted suit, I think everyone in the cast and crew stood to attention!'

From PinkNews

Due to the ongoing Hollywood strike, neither actor is able to promote or discuss the film, but López describes, Galitzine as more “robust, less fragile” than Henry, while Perez is quieter, “a lot less rambunctious” than his character. But it all still worked. “I couldn’t have asked for better or more different actors than the ones that I got,” López raves. “I felt Henry was this very fragile thing, and I placed him inside Nick’s hands, and Nick cared for him throughout the process. Taylor really turned himself into a human cannonball in order to become Alex.”

From Observer

So much pressure [to get casting right] that I actually told the producers that I wouldn’t make the film if we didn’t find the right Alex. It wasn’t enough to find the almost right Alex. I had to find the perfect Alex. I think that Taylor is pretty much anybody’s idea of a perfect Alex Claremont Diaz. We saw quite literally hundreds and hundreds of young actors for the role of Alex alone, over the course of about five months. I spent Christmas 2021 looking at audition tapes. Then I met Taylor, first from his audition tape, and then on a series of Zooms I did with him, auditioning him once while I had a really bad case of COVID. He kept reemerging. He wouldn’t be denied. It became very undeniable that it was going to be Taylor. 

We were running the casting process simultaneously. The cast is pretty much split between Americans and Brits, so the first decision I made was a British casting director for the British roles and an American casting director for the American roles. Bit of a divide and conquer. So they were they were happening simultaneously. Nick was very much in the mix around the same time that Taylor became in the mix.  I had photos of all candidates up on a big wall. You want to pair them up and you look at the pictures together, which is the most rudimentary form of a chemistry read. Nick and Taylor visually made sense to me right on the big board. Once we got them on a Zoom together, they were undeniable. It was incredibly important that we find the right people and I wasn’t at all certain we would. Once we found two leads who were stunningly perfect, not just individually but together, I knew we had a movie and it was only up to me to screw it up, which I hope I didn’t.

From OutSFL

I adore her [Uma Thurman]. She was so very happy to be in this movie, which was so wonderful. She really understood Ellen. She and I had so many wonderful conversations about her before production. I involved her in a lot of costume design decisions. She was really wanting to understand this woman holistically. That scene was just so beautiful. By the time we shot it, she and Taylor had really bonded, and they had shot a lot of scenes together at that point. It was the loveliest, warmest environment on set. I mean, it was a very lovely, warm environment on set every day, but that day you can just see in that scene the genuine affection that these two actors have for one another. It was real.

I've always been such a fan of his [Stephen Fry] and really admired him greatly. We had had some sort of communication through other people over the years because he had seen “The Inheritance” in London. He got word to me, through our producers, how much he loved it. I had been working at one point on another film that I thought I was going to make, and when he found out that I was working on it, he was like. “I’d really love to be a small part in it if you have anything.” But I never talked to him and never met him. When this role came around [laughs], we thought, “Let's see if he really means what he says!” He jumped at it! It didn't take long at all for him to say, “Yes.” That was fun. Just to watch him and work with him is just a great thrill and a pleasure. It was for everybody. Everybody was really excited the day that he came on set.

From The Fresno Bee

“We spent about five months casting this film and looking at hundreds and hundreds of actors for these parts,” said López. When López first met Chicago native Zakhar Pérez and British actor Galitzine, “they both really, really stood out very quickly as real possibilities.” That chemistry sparked when the two met via Zoom for a script reading. “It took a long time to find them, but it was very obvious that they were our guys.”

From Windy City Times

Taylor is just a dream. He's a special person and a wonderful performer. He understood Alex implicitly. He's very different than Alex, and is shy. There's a sweetness to Taylor. He could turn himself into a human cannonball. I love that guy, and there is something about him that is so warm. It is hard to take your eyes off of him. - Matthew López

Uma came in so prepared and so eager to be there. She was happy to be a part of it and we just had the best time with her. It was a very happy set and that is thanks to Uma in many ways, too. She worked with one of the best dialect coaches in the business and she came to me with that. It was so much fun. - Matthew López

She's [Rachel Hilson] the greatest, and so much fun to work with. She had a very specific idea about who Nora was, and we got to play around with the character. She's a special talent. - Matthew López

[tellthemeerkatsitsfine]

Does anyone want a Chortle... a... does anyone... yeah, I'm not going to do a Chortle headlines roundup this week, looking at that mess of a front page. It appears that shit is going down on the front page of Chorte at the moment, and the more serious sides of that shit do not need another person who did not actually witness any events commenting on them, so I'm going to sidestep those and . I guess no one needs that. Fucking hell it looks like some things are fucked up, but I'm going to sidestep the serious ones and just post the more amusing gossipy type of the shit that is going down:

The main thing I have to say about this and the related stories is: Did people not know that the Pythons all fucking hate each other? I thought we all understood that the Pythons hate each other, but we were all just refraining from saying so because they hadn't technically quite come right out and straight-up said it, and I guess you're not supposed to make assumptions about relationships of people you don't know, even if the conclusion of "They fucking hate each other and are barely disguising that for the media" seems fairly obvious. You know, like with Lee and Herring.

I remember watching one of the 18,000 Python documentaries when I was probably about 12 years old, so over twenty years ago, and being struck by how hard they all seemed to be trying to not say they fucking hated each other. All the talking heads were just various Pythons talking shit about various other Pythons, and throwing in the occasional "but of course, you get conflicts like that with so many big personalities trying to work together, we respect each other really" and not sounding like they meant the last bit at all. They sounded like they just threw it in for diplomacy's sake, because they wanted to be as honest as they could about how annoying they found the rest of them but didn't want the news headlines to be "Pythons fucking hate each other", so they threw in the thing about respect.

That's what I thought when I saw a documentary when I was about twelve. When I was about thirty, I read Monty Python Speaks, a book that was first published in 2004 and updated in 2019. It's an absolutely fascinating read, I highly recommend it to anyone who's interested in a history of Monty Python. The author did significant research, bringing in quotes from all the Pythons who were still around when it was first written (Cleese, Palin, the Terries), plus Graham Chapman's partner to give what he knew of that side of the story. Plus interviews with Carol Cleveland, and a bunch of people who managed the Pythons and otherwise worked with them, and it's a detailed story of all the years they worked together, plus the history of who came before/influenced them and how they came together, as well as what they did after splitting up. A very good book, and I learned a lot from it, but one of the things I learned is that the impression I had as a kid was right. All those guys sounded like guys who were asked how they felt about people they hated, and tried to give an answer that wouldn't cause a "Pythons all fucking hate each other" headline, so they didn't quite overtly stay that, but still got in lots of little digs.*

(*With the exception of Michael Palin and Terry Jones, who seemed to have a lovely friendship and I hope they were very happy together right up to the end. Also, by all accounts - and that book gave a lot of different accounts - the thing about Michael Palin being the nicest guy in a cutthroat world is true.)

Anyway, I sort of thought most fans made the same assumptions that I did, which is why I'm surprised to see some people treating it as news that the surviving ones are now feuding on Twitter like a bunch of teenagers. It would probably be good if they all just went away except Michael Palin could have a minor role in a new Armando Iannucci film every few years, that would be nice.

(Okay I do have one thing to say about the other more serious shit going down on the front page of Chortle, the shit that does not need anyone else weighing in on it if they didn't actually witness the event, it's that I've literally heard three different Jewish comedians in the past two weeks speak in support of Palestine, because there is nothing inherently Jewish about being anti-Palestine and therefore there is nothing inherently anti-Semitic about attacking someone for being anti-Palestine. And if you do equate "person with anti-Palestinian views" with "Jewish person", then maybe you're the one who's anti-Semitic. And that remains true regardless of what any one comedian might have done on any one night and whether it was right, which I don't know because I wasn't there. Okay I'm done now.)

[jennilah]

Happy NYE! Every year I enjoy taking a moment to write a somewhat lengthy roundup of my year, good and bad. Its a moment for me to reflect and summarize & expand on things that in hindsight ended up being bigger moments than it felt at the time

like always, I dont want anyone to feel like you have to compare your successes to mine. I simply enjoy being an open book. I like reading other people's personal posts too ♥

This year was incredible for me. This was the year of taking back my life after covid took the last two years. Vaccinated & approaching things as safely as possible according to health guidelines, I was able to do things again, and boy what good things they were!

First off, this was the first full calendar year that I've spent in the new apartment. I swear, this accounts for at least a third of my happiness this year. I can't believe I've already lived here for over a year now, it feels like I just moved in yesterday, and yet I can't believe I dealt with my old apartment for as long as I did. Even thinking about how much that place sucked ass ruins my mood, no wonder my mental health was TANKING when I had to work from home there.

New apartment, new me. This place is incredible and I really feel like I can breathe and live how I want to. Working from home is actually nice instead of unbearable (I now work in a hybrid system, home for a few days and in-office for a few days, since I like aspects of both equally.)

First things first, right away in January I got my first VR headset and I absolutely love it to pieces. That opened up a whole new hobby for me, going into VR and exploring and making whole ass new friends in VRchat. I just think it's so fucking rad and I am so glad i bought the headset.

I then joined a new private art community (lmao that sounds so nefarious. I promise it isnt. I just get to have 1 secret, okay?) that has been so fun and really uplifted my mood at the start of the year, and it continues to be very fun! I am so glad I joined!!!

In fact, that very community helped a lot when it came to silencing my two-year-long streak of "Hell Brain", what I affectionately call the daily swirling anxious thoughts in my head that constantly echo when I dont have a special interest to occupy my daydreams. (Reminder: I am autistic! I am using the term in the autistic sense. By this point, i hadn't had a special interest/hyperfocus in years and I was having a really hard time silencing the Hell Brain on my own.)

It wasnt a perfect solution but it helped a lot, at least. It also drew me even closer to an already-close friend! bonding, yay! and I have met some really cool new people in that community too, who I really hope to keep connecting with!!

I also started to get real about my physical health, trying to eat healthier and exercise more.

Then, the summer of a lifetime began.

(First of all, I saw so many fucking movies. I love going to the movies, and I ate well this year!!! so many amazing films came out.)

I had my first salary negotiation with my bosses, and it went so well that they even asked the higher-ups for more money than I asked for. Because they were super cool, and I guess they wanted to make it very clear how much they appreciate me too. They have already made it extremely clear already how much they value my opinions and skillset, but translating that appreciation to $$ was certainly a bonus.

Then, my fucking god, Top Gun: Maverick finally came out and it has felt like a dream ever since. I couldn't believe- I still can't believe the reception it has gotten. My head is in the clouds. I'm floating. I'm every happy feeling, okay? I wonder if I will ever work on something like that again, that becomes such a worldwide phenomena like this. Completely utterly blown-away. I saw the movie 3 times in theaters myself, so I cant say I'm too shocked. I loved it too!!! I am so proud and just... amazed.

Shortly after, I got to fly home and see my family again for the first time since 2019. I made the most of it. It was one of the most fun trips home I ever had. It was even more fun that I got to see Top Gun with my parents, and I got to finally talk about it with people. It was also fun being home in the summer, hanging out outside, pool parties, BBQ... perfection. I love the vibes of summer nights.

I came back to Montreal refreshed, and then Con Season started up. Comic/Anime cons are probably my favorite events ever, and I was very sad not being able to go to any in the last two years. So it felt amazing to go back again (and buy a lotttt of nerdy stuff lmao)

I even went to a virtual convention in VR! lmao. it was super cool though!

I went to a Woodkid concert for the first time. It was incredible. It also felt like a dream. A+, would go again. Absolutely love his music.

My cousin visited me here in Montreal! That was so much fun. She's the closest thing to a sister to me, and we hadn't hung out just the two of us alone since we were kids. We went to Osheaga, my first music festival, and that whole experience was incredibly fun. It was great hanging out with her and catching up and everything, and I am so glad we got to go to the festival together.

She also helped me try weed for the first time LOL

She taught me how to properly use a bong. I have since switched to a dry-herb vaporizer, but indeed this is a new sort of hobby thing that has slotted into my life this year as well.

It has actually been quite lovely for tackling my aforementioned Hell Brain and anxiety, and also just for funsies.

Then, Prey came out, and I consider it another absolute win. Two movies I worked on that came out in the same year, that have both been critical and fan successes??!!! I am so, so happy. Will lightning strike like that again next year? We will just have to see!

Then there was a really fun street food festival that I thoroughly enjoyed for hours and hours on end. And Splatoon 3 came out, which I also enjoyed for hours and hours on end.

I definitely heavily mourned summer ending, because as you can tell, I was having a lot of fun cramming in events before the weather could turn.

But, like, that's kind of okay because I had no idea that my two year long streak of not having a special interest was about to change VERY suddenly lmao

This October I worked up the courage to really dive into slasher films, like I tried doing last year. (Last year I only really worked up the courage to watch the first Halloween, lol)

and, well, oops. you know what happened next.

(In case it isnt clear: they took hold of my brain and have been squeezing the juices out every day since october. meaning: I FINALLY have a new special interest! It's not something I choose, it's not something I plan, it just happens. and while sometimes fandom drama can wear me down, I am ultimately at my happiest when I have an active special interest. It gives me something to fill my brain, it gives me something that I am excited to draw, I have so much fun talking to other fans and enjoying memes, I discover new music, old music has new meaning again for new characters.... I missed this feeling so much. It feels so good it makes my chest feel tight, like I have butterflies in my stomach. I never know how long it will last, but it's not going away soon thats for sure)

So, I've obviously been having a lot of fun with my new blorbos and my new hobbies. Sometimes I smoke a little weed while rewatching Friday the 13th films, it's so much fun haha

Then, late November, I was accepted into the Visual Effects Society. That is more of a personal badge of honor. It's something I've been wanting to do since college, so as soon as I hit the required 5 years of industry experience I applied. I got in! I am excited to check out some of the more exclusive membership perks and events, but for the most part I am just proud of the achievement. I remember when 5 years felt like a lifetime to wait to apply.

I have been working on some more extremely cool things at work that I can't wait to share. Unfortunately I am waiting for a whopping three films to come out with a trailer. Cmon, hollywood!! You're killing me!!!!! I am so excited for those movies to come out, it's eating me alive not being able to say anything.

At least the Transformers: Rise of the Beasts trailer is out. That was a fun 'un. (But I want the trailers for the other things too!!!!)

And to round off the year, I just got back to MTL after finally spending Christmas at home with my family for the first time since 2019. That felt really special. I got to see everyone in the summer, yes, but our traditional family christmas get-together is what I look forward to every year and I was so glad to be able to do it again.

And there you have it. A much, much, much happier year than the last two.

My new year's resolution is to keep going with the physical health habits and to not fall off the wagon. It's also to keep living my life and go to more events to make next year feel just as full and eventful as this one was. Hang out with my friends more. Watch more of my silly little movies.

I'd also love to try to plan a trip outside of montreal, maybe to Toronto or something. I want to go on a real vacation trip alone again (or with friends.) I think that would be really fun!

[batmanisagatewaydrug]

reading update

hello lovers, it's once again time to blather at you about my bookish pursuits. last month was a weird and paltry hodgepodge; this month I feel I can safely say I've gotten my proverbial groove back. I suspect next month will be very largely shaped by book recommendations I picked up from various workshops this weekend at a MBLGTACC, but I suppose we'll have to wait until the end of November to see.

in the meantime, what have I been reading?

Belly of the Beast: The Politics of Anti-Fatness as Anti-Blackness (Da'Shaun L. Harrison, 2021) - a small book that hits like lightning. Harrison draws heavily on Sabrina Strings' excellent Fearing the Black Body and expands in even more radical directions, examining the ways in which anti-fatness and anti-Blackness collude to demonize Black masculine folks in particular. the way Harrison talks about the concept of health is particularly shattering, as they underline the ways in which modern American concepts of health have been shaped by ideas that exclude Black bodies inherently. I actually thought of Harrison a lot this weekend while I was listening to Imani Barbarin speaking, because she made a similar point in connection to queerness, talking about how enslaved people running away from plantations was considered a manifestation of mental unwellness in much the same way that queer expressions of gender and sexuality have been. I love digging up these seemingly ubiquitous ideas and finding new angles at which to poke at and complicate them, and Harrison is phenomenal at facilitating that.

Jade War (Fonda Lee, 2019) - and now for something completely different: the second installment of Fonda Lee's door-stopping Green Bone Saga. holy FUCK these books rule; I'm never NOT having a blast reading them. Jade War builds on the conflicts established in Jade City and expand them to a more international level, jetting the surviving members of the Kaul family off to new countries to grapple with the cultural impact of their magical, ability-enhancing jade across the world. there were a couple of moments in this book that had me genuinely gasping out loud, mainly because Lee's ability to balance the tension of day to day politics and business with sudden eruptions of brutality and danger is absolutely unmatched. I'm really excited to see the Kaul family starting to raise the next generation, and I can't wait to see how the family's fate keeps unfolding in Jade Legacy.

One Day We'll All Be Dead and None of This Will Matter (Scaachi Koul, 2017) - I've been a fan of Koul's journalism for years - she's mean and she's funny and she's always right - but I have Tajja Isen to thank for getting me to finally read her essay collection. you may recall Isen's own collection, Some of My Best Friends, from last month's roundup; in the chapter critiquing the demands placed on essay writers of color, she highlights Koul as one of the best writers working. and I have to agree; when she gets personal Koul writes with a kind of hysterical melancholy about nearly everything - about her immigrant parents, particularly her prickly father; about her older white boyfriend; about the ways in which her body marked her as different growing up in a white Canadian neighborhood. Koul's chapter reflecting on her cousin's exhausting traditional Indian wedding was painful and sweet and will, I think, do something to anyone who regards their family's traditions with an equal mix of huge love and a deep desire to depart. I hope Koul's got another essay collection in her, because I would love to crawl in her brain and live in her thoughts on the pandemic for a bit.

The Sandman: Dream Country (Neil Gaiman et al, 1991) - okay, so, we've gotten to the bit where (in my extremely humble opinion) the Sandman actually starts getting really good. the stories collected in Dream Country particularly rule because they're not really about Morpheus at all; he (or, sometimes, his sister Death) are just Around, a small part in other people's stories unfolding around them. I often say that I think a lot of the best Batman stories barely have any Batman, and that also applies here; it's an especially pleasant breather before Season of Mists starts really getting the Plot rolling. the Sandman is, of course, a story about stories, capable of holding almost any kind of story you can imagine, so it's fun to watch Gaiman kick back and get weird for a bit.

A Prayer for the Crown-Shy (Becky Chambers, 2022) - having been feeling a bit depressed of late I decided to make a conscious effort to lighten up my reading a bit, and our queer sci-fi solarpunk queen Becky Chambers had my back as always. A Prayer for the Crown-Shy is the second installation in the Monk and Robot series of novellas, and follows our titular monk and robot as they descend from the wilderness where they met and begin introducing the robot, Mosscap, into a human society that has gone generations without seeing any robots. what ensues is a gentle story about travel, belonging, and what it means to be a person who's part of the world, what we contribute and what we owe to one another. I read this book in a day and cradled it like a mug of hot chocolate the whole time, feeling warm and cozy long after the last page.

The Sandman: Season of Mists (Neil Gaiman et al, 1992) - friends, this is one of my favorite plots in the entire series: our boy Morpheus gets clowned into going to Hell to free his ex girlfriend, only to find that Lucifer is calling it a day and shutting Hell down - and leaving Morpheus with the key. what ensues is the world's worst dinner party as figures from all across creation and mythology descend on Morpheus' house to try to threaten or tempt him into giving them the key, all while he's already in the middle of a depressive episode and really doesn't want to be doing any of this. absolutely delicious, 10/10 from me. I'm happy every time Morpheus is having a terrible horrible no good very bad day.

How to Read Now (Elaine Castillo, 2022) - the thing about this book is that it rules and makes me want to read everything Elaine Castillo has ever written, because she's insightful and mean and funny and furiously, deeply principled in how she writes. her book feels like an excellent companion to Some of My Best Friends (I really owe Tajja Isen this month) in how it really probes into the expectations placed on marginalized writers to be Marginalized above all else in their writing, the way publishers and readers alike focus on marginalized writers as tools of education and social betterment rather than just, you know, artists creating art. she has some CHOICE words about the severe limitations of analyzing writing purely through the lens of Good Representation (spoilers: it sucks) that made me cheer out loud. in a very weird and unpleasant cultural moment of anti-intellectualism and a buckwild aversion to literacy you need to read How to Read Now literally right now.

Harley Quinn: The Animated Series: The Eat. Bang! Kill. Tour (Tee Franklin and Max Sarin, 2022) - the thing about this six issue series is that it's, like, impossible to read it without the vile online harassment Tee Franklin faced for writing the series weighing heavily in my mind. she caught the usual bullshit you'd expect from exactly the kind of people you'd expect who were angry that a queer disabled Black woman was writing queer characters with a diverse supporting cast, which is annoying but typical, but then there was the brigade of picrew pride flag icons flinging wild accusations of lesbophobia at Franklin for everything from pointing out that the Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy she's writing aren't lesbians (that's pretty obvious if you've ever even casually watched the show this series spins off from) to making Ivy "emotionally abusive" (see: writing conflict that's more than addressed and resolved by the series' end). that harassment campaign is also, I suspect, strongly motivated by Franklin's status as a disabled queer Black woman, wrapped up in social justice terminology to make it palatable to the picrew icons, and it casts a long shadow across this series. which is like... fine, by the way. it's just fine. it makes some nice callbacks to the show (which I really like, despite my usual no tv policies) without ever quite managing to hit quite the same tone; it's a little too saccharine in ham-fisted in some places for me, and later issues are reliant on thought bubbles in a way that I find grating for no particular reason. but on the flipside it establishes that Harley and Ivy are immediately starting their relationship by fucking on, like, every available surface, which I love for them! I actually think it's great and cool when queer artists get to make stuff that's kind of mid for huge corporations; god knows straight white men have been getting away with it for decades. so what if the plot could have used some tighter editing? that's true of literally every comic series I've ever read. I'll be reading Franklin's Harley Quinn follow-up, Legion of Bats, just as soon as I can get my hands on it, partially out of spite, and I personally hope DC keeps her on the payroll for a million years.

Our Wives Under the Sea (Julia Armfield, 2022) - oh, what a novel! short and sharp and aching, romantic in the most painful way imaginable. alternating chapters are narrated by Miri, whose wife has just returned from a submarine voyage gone wrong acting nothing like herself, and Leah, the aforementioned wife. Miri narrates the present, in which she is exhausted and exasperated by the unknowable woman who's come back seemingly in Leah's place, while Leah's chapters explain what went wrong on the submarine with the chill of steadily increasing dread. it's about love and devotion and also the fucked up things that happen in the darkest part of the ocean; what's not to love?

[doctorhelena]

Doctorhelena’s 2022 Fanfic/Fanart Roundup

It’s that time of year again! Here is my annual fanfic/fanart roundup. (And here are the 2018,  2019, 2020, and 2021 versions!)

This year I posted:

7 different stories (including two drabble collections), with a total of 49,901 words 

10 different pieces of fanart!

and 4 Action Figure Adventures, which are - also some content I created. 😂

Fanfic:

1. All I Want For Christmas (Peggy Carter / Steve Rogers) - 22649 words Perhaps this was what settling down looked like, to them.

2. Caps out of The Bag (Peggy Carter / Steve Rogers) - 9277 words Captain America and Captain Carter have been successfully hiding their romantic relationship for just over a year. Until today.

3. Comfort and Joy: The Lost Chapter (Peggy Carter / Steve Rogers) - 6042 words Chapter 9.5: In Which A Scandal is Averted and a Mission Prepared For

4. Between the Acres of the Rye (Peggy Carter / Steve Rogers) - 5606 words “Hey, Barnes stole a jeep! Come on, Steve, let's go! You, too, Carter.”

5. A Stutter in Time, chapter 15 (Peggy Carter / Steve Rogers) - 4327 words (in this chapter) 1945 Peggy Carter appears in Tony Stark’s lab, and immediately throws a wrench into everything.

6. "I’ve Got the Shield. You’ve Got the Sword" (A Collection of PeggyNat Drabbles) (Peggy Carter / Natasha Romanoff) - 1000 words PeggyNat drabbles written for the Wednesday 100 Drabble challenge on Tumblr.

7. One Hundred Words to Say "I Love You" (A Collection of Steggy Drabbles) (Peggy Carter / Steve Rogers) - 1000 words Steggy drabbles written for the Wednesday 100 Drabble Challenge on Tumblr.

Fanart:

1. Battle of the Blades (Steggy) A figure skating AU (and fic preview!)

2. “Howard, I’m going to kill you for making me wear this bloody hat.” (Peggy Carter) A celebration of Peggy’s 101st (or possibly 103rd) birthday

3. “I assure you, Private, this is not what it looks like.” (Steggy) Peggy and Steve “getting office supplies” during the war.

4. “I spent three years in the mud of the European Theatre… the Eastern Front, the Western Front, and everything in between." (Steggy, Howling Commandos) A quiet moment around the campfire.

5. Washington DC SSR Chief Peggy Carter, her mysterious husband Grant, and their possible spy baby Jane. (Steggy) A family portrait (and fic illustration!)

6. What If… Captain Carter Had Met Bernard Stark? (Peggy Carter, Natasha Romanoff, Edwin Jarvis, Bernard The Flamingo) “Bernard in accounting was asking about you.”

7.  “Peggy donned a floppy brimmed hat trimmed with red ribbon, candy-apple colored sunglasses and a new two-piece bathing suit decorated with cherries.” (Peggy Carter, off-screen Steggy) Peggy and her toddler daughter looking fabulous on the beach (a fic illustration!)

8. “I could finish this a lot faster if I didn’t keep getting kicked.” (Steggy) Steve, a very pregnant Peggy, and a Halloween art project.

9. Captain Carter and the Christmas Alligator (Peggy Carter) A Little Golden Book written and illustrated by Steve Rogers (a fic illustration!)

9. Cozy Christmas Eve (Steggy) Peggy and Steve enjoy some much-deserved Christmas Eve downtime.

Action Figure Adventures:

1. “I can do this all day.” (Steggy)

2.  “So, any plans for Saturday night?” (PeggyNat)

3.  “Public displays of affection make people very uncomfortable.” (PeggyNat)

4.  “I’ve got the shield. You’ve got the sword.” (PeggyNat)

(Yeah, I don’t know what these are. Basically, playing with Barbies out loud, I guess. 😂)

[abwwia]

Painter and engraver Mariette Lydis, c.1930

Mariette Lydis (1887–1970) was an Austrian-Argentine painter. Lydis was born in Vienna, Austria on August 24, 1887, under the name Marietta Ronsperger.

She was the third child of Jewish merchants, and the sister of Edith Ronsperger, creator of Opera books who later died by suicide...

At the end of the 30s she escaped Paris and the ensuing Nazi roundup of Jews to be briefly in England and from 1940 in Argentina.

From 1940 until her death in 1970 she lived in Argentina, with her partner Erica Marx.

Lydis lived openly as bisexual.

She is best known for her book illustrations and paintings. Mariette died on April 26, 1970, and rests in the Recoleta Cemetery in Buenos Aires.

LEGACY

Mariette Lydis operated a workshop where she trained future artists including Estela Pereda.

Her work was included in the 2019 exhibition City Of Women: Female artists in Vienna from 1900 to 1938 at the Austrian Gallery Belvedere (Österreichische Galerie Belvedere). via Wikipedia

#womensart #MarietteLydis #MariettaRonsperger #PalianShow #HerStory #AustrianArtists

[marveltrumpshate]

June 2023 MTH fills

Check out the June 2023 fills below and don’t forget that MTH event team applications are due today if you’re interested in joining us!

The best way to see all the fills that have been shared with us is our monthly roundups tag or our #MTH-fills channel on our Discord, but you can also view them through the following methods:

Our Tumblr tags: 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022

Our AO3 collections: 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 (only has works posted to AO3)

Completed works tag list

To find specific content, use our completed works tag lists above which includes instructions on how to search for a particular character, gen or romantic relationship, universe, and fanwork type.

GEN/PLATONIC RELATIONSHIPS

LOKI & THOR

Lynds/@gold-from-straw - “Brother” (MCU post-Thor fic where Thor finds out Loki is alive and both brothers heal together) for @penguinofthewaddles

STEVEN GRANT & JAKE LOCKLEY & MARC SPECTOR

TweetStweet - “All Together Now” (MCU Steven & Jake & Marc slice-of-life brotherly bonding fic) for Catgirl

SHIPS

BUCKY BARNES/BROCK RUMLOW

illogicalkat - “When you see me like this” (Beauty and the Beast Bucky/Rumlow AU fic) for Mech

BUCKY BARNES/LOKI

Laily/@lailyn - “All The Plans We Didn't Make” (MCU Bucky/Loki fic where Loki becomes pregnant after comforting Bucky) for @mischievousdope

BUCKY BARNES/PEPPER POTTS/STEVE ROGERS/TONY STARK

RoseRose/@tehroserose - “Hearth” (MCU Bucky/Pepper/Steve/Tony poem about Pepper keeping home safe while Steve, Bucky, and Tony are out adventuring) for @abrighterdarkness

BUCKY BARNES/STEVE ROGERS

tipsy-kitty - Podfic of “The Winter Stallion,” a Steve/Bucky AU fic where prince Steve reunites with his long lost knight Bucky who has been transformed into a warhorse due to a curse by fancyh for @liquidlightz (MTH 2021)

CAROL DANVERS/MARIA RAMBEAU

emilywithoutY/@between-a-ship-and-a-hard-place - “make a home between the stars (and call it a universe)” (MCU Carol/Maria fic where Carol returns to and leaves the Rambeaus over the years) for @bugsandcoffee

CLINT BARTON/PHIL COULSON

@nolanfa​ - Art of MCU Phil patching up Clint for @spagbol99​

ERIK LEHNSHERR/CHARLES XAVIER

@flightinflame - “A Matter of Minds” (X-Men movieverse Charles/Erik fic with humor, angst, and some miscommunication) for Yenny2206

FOGGY NELSON/WADE WILSON

@eurydia - Art of MCU Wade in uniform and Foggy kissing on a rooftop in the city at night for @missmoochy

KORATH/RONAN

velociraptorerin/@velociraptorerin-art - "Dark Asters” (painting of MCU Ronan and Korath gazing softly at each other) for @pocketcosmic (also on Tumblr) (MTH 2021)

PIETRO MAXIMOFF/KURT WAGNER

@flightinflame - “Catch You” (X-Men movieverse Pietro/Kurt A/B/O getting together AU fic) for @kalika999 (MTH 2021)

STEVE ROGERS/TONY STARK

@iam93percentstardust - “Ours” (Bucky/Steve/Tony A/B/O AU fic where omega Tony is in a loveless marriage with Obie and alpha soldiers Bucky and Steve are interested in him) for capsgirl1990

@hollyandvice - “fill the new shape” (Steve/Tony non-powered AU fic where the two reunite after breaking up) for lokicorey - “the bridges before us” (Steve/Tony CA:CW fic where Steve regrets his choices and is unsure he can be forgiven) for @bthehufflepuff208 - “to catch a wolf” (MCU married Steve/Tony fic where Steve is brainwashed by HYDRA and Tony works to find a cure) for @betheflame

RurouniHime/@thegertie - “...and that has made all the difference” (canon-divergent post-IW Steve/Tony reconciliation fic where Steve tries to go on a road trip after the Snap and ends up at Tony's doorstep instead) for Destina (MTH 2019)

@stevetonyedits - “Somebody to You” (fluffy AA & MCU Steve/Tony fanvid set to “Somebody to You” by The Vamps) (also on AO3, Tumblr, and Twitter) for @ishipallthings (MTH 2021)

@superdecibels - Art of Tony reading a book to baby Peter and Steve holding a box of packing peanuts from @festiveferret's Steve/Tony fic, "Peanuts 2," for @t0nystark1er 

[hullomoon]

hullomoon’s 2022 works: part four

it’s the end of the year, which means it’s time for a work round-up!  this year i really tipped into being podfic heavy (and more multifandom!). if you haven’t yet, check out my 2019 roundup, 2020 roundup, and 2021 roundup! all works are ordered in chronological posting order.

part one | part two | part three | part four | part five | part six | part seven | part eight

[podfic] what could i do (but follow your love) | Check Please! | nurseydex | Mature | 02:48:25

It starts, for Derek at least, in the front seat of his car.

He’s not sure where it starts for Dex, but it had to have started somewhere. Derek assumes it’s been a long time coming for Dex.

Why else would Dex lean across the console to press a kiss to Derek’s mouth, like it’s the easiest thing in the world to do?

[podfic] Eternity | the adventure zone | lup & taako; blupjeans | 03:45

A glimpse of Lup’s time spent in the Umbrastaff.

[Filk] Cake by the Ocean | our flag means death | gen | multivoice | 03:38

A filk about a great party

a flan recipe | original work | mature | 04:32

a sultry/dramatic reading of a flan recipe

[Podfic] Mayhem: The Chitauri Invasion | mcu and allstate ‘mayhem’ commericals | multivoice | 16:29

Audio Commercials: Just imagine what insurance would have to cover in the MCU. Then imagine Mayhem trying to sell it to you.

[Filk] We Don’t Talk About Lucius | our flag means death | gen | multivoice | 03:49

A new crew member thinks they have a stowaway. The crew of the Revenge let him know what’s up.

Hello! - A Filk about Blanket Permission | multivoice | 02:58

This is a filk about requesting authors post a blanket permission statement, set to the tune of Hello! from Book of Mormon.

[Noun] Never Says [Verb] | multifandom | multivoice | 16:00

A series of madlib style stories.

slow and sure | Schitt’s Creek | Twyla & David | ~1k | 6:12

David and Twyla bond over painting

through the airwaves | Schitt’s Creek | Alexis/Twyla | multivoice | mature | 22:57

This is kind of a departure for me, the author wrote in the opening notes. I don’t usually write shippy stuff for Charlotte, but the other day I thought, what better way than fic to explore wanting to hook up with a guy but not being able to go through it because you’re maybe interested in your friend, instead? Maybe that’s TMI 😌

 “Ooh,” Alexis says to herself, intrigued. Her earbuds are in within minutes, and soon the podfic starts to play.

When Alexis lands in Schitt's Creek, she turns to fanfiction and podfic to get through it. She just never expects to hear Twyla reading fic...

[infinitelytheheartexpands]

since i am at home and have access to my yearbooks, it is now time for the roundup of “some of my favorite quotes from people’s yearbook signatures”, a non-exhaustive list:

2010-11 (3rd grade):

-“have a great summer savvanah”—kid in my class who spelled my name wrong lmao

2011-12 (4th grade):

-“your the most legendary person i have ever met”—one of my besties to this day

2012-13 (5th grade):

-“when the world looks down on you, give them 5 and a half reasons to look up at you. you are brilliant. you are a good person. never lose that. never stop dominating.” —one of the then-high school juniors for some reason (i got signatures and messages from SEVERAL juniors and seniors that year for some reason lmao)

-“too bad”—a kid in my class

*could not find 2013-14 :(*

2014-15 (7th grade):

-“stay cool and rock on with those dance moves and work on skating”—another kid who was in our production of xanadu, where i successfully campaigned with the director to not make everyone rollerskate because some of us (myself included) could not rollerskate

-“the cat whiskers come from within”—a girl in the grade below me with whom i am still buddies

-“you are the smartest person i know and don’t let anyone take that away from you”—my now IRL best friend, the first year after he moved to our school, and this was even though at the time we were in the middle of an INTENSE academic rivalry that put a damper on our friendship for a while

2015-16 (8th grade):

-every single kid who wrote HAGS!!! (have a great summer) because it’s funny <3

-“you have been happy when i have been sad so uh…thanks for always cheering me up with just a smile”—a kid in the grade below me

-“savannah, it is really fun having you in the class and i hope we got the party started for you every english class!”—the same kid who spelled my name wrong in 3rd grade; every day at the start of english class i’d say “let’s get this party started!”

2016-17 (9th grade):

-“…you’ll have to come check in and draw me more memes!”—my 9th grade history teacher, context being that she pitted all the kids in my grade against each other in a year-long history meme war and i, being a dumbass, did not know how to make memes online using generators and shit, so i HAND DREW all of my memes on her board and she would take pictures for my entries (for the record: i did not win)

-“this is a good yearbook. you are a good person. have a good summer.”—one of my guy friends in my class

-“we’re gonna need you in quiz bowl. also how is this handwriting.”—another guy in my class; the reference to the handwriting was because we had to proofread each other’s handwritten essay drafts in english class and i straight up could not read like half of his and he got PISSED as a result

2017-18 (10th grade):

-“dear savannah, have a great summer! read lots of books and eat lots of food because those things make you happy and happiness is great.”—one of my friends in my class, also that is sound advice

-“*sine graph* there, i sined it.”—my precalculus teacher

-“i am ‘cosining’ it.”—the same kid who wrote the handwriting comment the previous year; written directly under the previous signature

-“savannah, mashed potatoes…”—the bestie who wrote the “legendary” comment in 4th grade; the whole message was much longer but we had an inside joke going about how i’m super-picky about my mashed potatoes lol

2018-19 (11th grade):

-“you are just the sweetest little ol’ thang”—one of my friends in my class

-“thanks for making this a great year. you’ve always been so nice to me. never forget that no matter what, you have a good heart, don’t forget that!”—one of the seniors that year; we were in all the musicals and choir together for a few years

-“stay frosty! your joy for life is special, don’t ever let anyone diminish it. change the world.”—a beloved history teacher who moved away after that school year

*no signatures for 2019-20 because COVID :(*

[otherpplnation]

931. Juliet Escoria

Juliet Escoria is the author of the story collection You Are the Snake, available from Soft Skull Press.

Escoria is the author of the novel Juliet the Maniac (Melville House, May 2019), which was named a "best of" book by Nylon, Elle, Buzzfeed, and others, and was shortlisted for the VCU Cabell First Novelist Prize. She also wrote the poetry collection Witch Hunt (Lazy Fascist Press, 2016) and the story collection Black Cloud (CCM/Emily Books, 2014), which were both listed in various best of the year roundups. Her writing can be found in places like Prelude, VICE, The Fader, BOMB, and the New York Times, and has been translated into many languages. She was born in Australia, raised in San Diego, and currently lives in West Virginia, where she teaches English at a community college.

***

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