#claimed to have interviewed people who had seen them as in they didn’t actually have any evidence

[cinematicbookworm]

Man the average right leaning person really is just the most gullable people like shit some times I forget how stupid some people can be and then they open their mouths and start talking about aliens and demons on planes after watching some video online of some lady going crazy on a plane talking bout a passenger being not real like the woman was probably haveing a mental break and y’all are really out here talking bout demonic fucking possession of the person who is being screamed at by someone clearly having a break from reality shits crazy

[ellsarchive]

Ken Sato HC’s (extremely random) *.• (sfw)

Writing this instead of part two of starcrossed 😭

Calls you “doll.” It started off sarcastic, like when he was teasing you or something of the sort. It soon became an unironic part of his vocabulary, now a common name between you two.

Speaking of pet names, also calls you “baby.”

PDA guy, but lowkey. Like an arm around you or a hand on your lower back, subtle claims and displays to show you off.

(Someone else said this and it was too true not to repeat) He bites. Whether that means nibbling your skin playfully or sinking his teeth into you is up to your interpretation.

Sometimes he leans down to hear you better, to kiss you, etc. and his dog tags hang in your face.

Refers to you as “my girl” in interviews and when telling people about you

Takes a long time for him to feel like he can show emotion around you. It took countless reassurances and a lot of love, but strangely enough, he finds comfort in knowing you’ve seen that side of him. You saw it and still stayed.

The type to dance with you in the living room to disgustingly sappy music (even when your laughter is much louder than the song)

Listener.

Unless he has something important, you will never catch this man in something other than sweats or his baseball uniform.

Knows he’s attractive, but doesn’t try too hard to seem so. He knows certain things he does are attractive and he does them, but doesn’t try to make them attractive, you know?

The cocky act isn’t ENTIRELY a front. Of course it’s mostly a show for the fans, but he’s a sarcastic man at heart.

No minute goes by that he doesn’t have a snarky comment

Except for when he’s with you.

He’s nicer when he’s with you.

Low spice tolerance (America did its number on him)

Likes to watch projections of his old life with you, pointing out little details and meanings behind things that couldn’t be seen. He loves teaching you about who he was before you.

So clingy when he’s tired. If you try to get out of bed it feels like you have chains holding you in your place. His determination is almost terrifying. Also much less sarcastic, his most sincere words have been spoken when he’s half asleep.

Speaking of which, the first time he told you he loved you was when you were cuddled up, falling asleep. He let it slip without realizing, his eyes shutting the moment he said it. His last memory of that night is your faint voice saying “I love you” as his dreams took over.

Will DESTROY a carton of milk in the middle of the night if he’s thirsty (he usually only uses it for cereal)

Likes to binge TV shows with you when he gets the chance. What’s a better way to spend a rainy day than to be lazy and escape from this world with the person he loves most?

Had a dog growing up

Nothing is safe from the heinous amounts of soy sauce he puts on his food. One bite would kill a Victorian child

Was actually really nervous about being in a committed relationship. Luckily, you being his saviour, helped him every step of the way. He’s changed so many ways since meeting you, one of them being the absence of the walls he had built.

Puts a hand on the back of your neck when he hugs you

Car guy (as hinted by his collection of cars in the movie)

Sometimes falls asleep on your chest, body in between your legs, and wakes up having no idea where he is.

Wishes he had more pictures of you, but always forgets to take them.

Always wins his games when you come to them. Seeing you in the stands is the highlight of the game, not the win.

MEAN side eye. Could kill a man with ts

Is 100% sure that he’ll never love another the way he loves you. He’s certain.

Thinks of you when he sees corny romance movies

Was genuinely surprised when you first told him you loved him (when he was awake this time). When he realized how real it all was, he was confused. He didn’t know someone could see all the bad parts of him and still really, really love him.

Once he got over the doubt, he was proud.

Felt pathetic when he first realized how much he loved you. The way he couldn’t get you out of his head was unfamiliar, and your effect on him was so much more than anyone else has had. It frustrated him to no end.

Loves trying new food places with you

Sometimes jumps a little when he sees you out of the corner of his eye, someone else in his house so often still new to him.

Doesn’t cry easily

Cried while watching titanic with his mom when he was little

[billskeis]

im begging make more fluffs anout tom like jealous and sum or idk PLSSSS

ᡣ𐭩 tom is jelly and silly

laughs and cheers filled the room as the five of you attempted to complete the challenges of the game show. partnered with bill, you were tasked to do silly little activities such as cup pong (with water ahem) or darts.

yours and bill’s chemistry were insane!

although not officially apart of the band, you were known to be a close friend of theirs from their childhood. you met the four of them while they were still known as devilish and have been with them ever since.

it never came to mind that you wanted to date any of the members, especially tom.

oh how he was always constantly flirting with you behind closed doors, that being the both of you knew how paparazzi is and how crazy their female fanbase was. it was just too risky to do anything.

not only that but, you just didn’t really like him like that, or you believed so.

you and bill cheered as you successfully completed the task once again, on a winning streak against tom, gustav and georg. gustav and georg moped and whined claiming that the two of you ‘cheated the system,’ but tom was standing there, farther away from the two of them crossing his arms and staring at you.

bill pulled you into a hug which you excitingly reciprocated the embrace, jumping around in joy at how the two of you were just that good during the game show. you got along with bill so well, he was so sweet and pure.

“okay, and now a question for you bill,” the interviewer flipped the postcards to reveal the next question. tokio hotel was scheduled for a talkshow the day after to which you, obviously attended. however not in the interview, you were on the sidelines near the back of the stage, where people still had the ability to see you.

full attention is on the interviewer and bill while the rest of the room remains quiet, “i’m sure we’ve all seen the gameshow yesterday where it featured one of your close friends, y/n, is there something going on between you two? i mean—you seemed awfully close!”

it’s true, ever since that night the media couldn’t get enough of it, it begun trending the night of and the internet is going crazy about it. you begun to get tons of hate, but a good portion of the fandom supported it even though it wasn’t true. it humoured the two of you as you made jokes but really thinking nothing of it. you were friends is all.

everybody giggled and bill just smiled brightly, bringing the mic to his mouth, “nono, nothing’s going on me and—” “yeah actually it’s nothing so can we move on?” the mic was stolen in the middle of bill talking by no other than tom. he started intently at the interviewer to hopefully transition to the next new question wishing to divert to any other topic than this.

whispers filled the room, what was this outburst about? you had so many questions in mind you had nowhere to begin with.

the interview ended and bill was able to ease up the tension and awkwardness that had risen after tom’s intervene. he however had absolutely nothing to say and as soon as everybody said their goodbyes he left the stage without saying anything.

running, you skip towards tom who beelined for the washroom, grabbing his arm, “tom?”

he turned, looking angry almost, but his expression softened upon seeing you. thank god it was you and nobody else or he would’ve lost his shit.

“oh, hey, sorry you had to see that.” he rubbed the back of his neck with his arm, staring off into the distance, you moved your arm that was once on his shoulder to his hand, he intertwines his fingers with yours and swings your arm around playfully.

“is something wrong? you know you didn’t have to do that i don’t care what people say about me—” “but i do! okay?? i do, and it’s pissing me off that the rumours are..” he quiets down, looking at the floor.

you lean down to level your head with his gaze, what’s wrong with him why won’t he finish his sentence? “the rumours are what tom?” “about you and bill!” your eyes widen, this could mean one of so many things and you didn’t know what.

he now grabs your opposite hand and holds both of them, he straightens up his body to be fully directed towards you, looking at you with expectation and need. “i like you, y/n, and seeing you and bill that night drove me NUTS!! this is not how i wanted to confess..”

he holds his breath and waits for your reaction, your mouth was agape, body frozen. THE tom kaulitz likes you!?

“why?” you ask, “why do you like me?” “i-i don’t know! i just do, it feels right, y’know?” he brings one of your hands to his chest to feel his heartbeat. and man, when i tell you the pace it was going was FAST oh it was fast.

you feel your face heat up a bit, this whole confessions thing was new to you and tom was your first. all you could do was smile at him.

“so?” he asks, “so?” you repeat after him, “can we go out?” “like the five of us?” “oh my god y/n no just the two of us please i never get any time with you! “hmmm i don’t knowww me and bill were planning to hang out later,” “y/n! you’re making me crazy!” “so did your flirting!” “saying that you liked it?” “shut up tom!” he uses your hands to pull your body closer to him, hugging you and swaying you side to side.

if this was a start to a new romance, to which you, ahem, did not EVER have, it sure as hell felt good.

“finally! i couldn’t stand to hear him talk about her anymore! like cmon now we couldn’t even fully finish practice with him bringing her up!” georg complains and gustav agrees nodding, “aww don’t be like that i think it’s cute! my little brother who’s so promiscuous finally found the one!” “but you’re younger..” gustav chimed in, “shut up gustav.”

[chaifootsteps]

You talked about a Biscuits Braxby interview with stolas and I can’t forget about it now

Imagine the first one is him crying about his arranged marriage, bitch wife, mean dad, woe is me but he found true love and Via didn’t understand she was so cruel and brainwashed by her mom, and the audience all cries for him. When asked about the grimoire lending he laughs like it was a consensual misunderstanding but he smoothed things over, after all he gifted him a crystal, Blitzø just finds love hard that’s all. He enjoyed it. As for Octavia, it was all a misunderstanding as well, stolas might even laugh it off as her teen hormones at it again! He just wishes we could know how sorry he is.

Interview 2 goes very differently. Braxby starts asking where he first met Blitzø and fell for him, and she doesn’t mean the party. She means the circus. How old was he when he was taken to the palace? Did his mother know he was taken away? How much did Paimon pay for him? Is stolas and his dad used to purchasing imps for company, even children? How could he be friendless all these years if that’s the case. It gets bigger, Braxby starts revealing to us that stolas has a terrible relationship to his siblings, who are somehow all close with each other. That’s odd isn’t it? She says Stella throws balls and has friends yet stolas has never spoken to another member of the court in a friendly way, only his servant imps? Of course the abuse the servants endured by him gets out. And it’s not just Stella. It’s worse than even we have seen. He performed experiments on them. Stolas demands to know who exposed this only to be none other than Octavia who took videos. (Running out of text here but) Everything starts rolling, what stolas really did at LooLoo land pretending to be in danger and flirting in front of via

BB: “you told your seventeen year old daughter ‘people want our money and our bodies did you not? Quite the fatherly message to your child, that people want her body. Furthermore, you said being part of the Goetia family is valuable. I’m talking now. despite knowing you are a targeted figure, you refuse to order qualified legions whose job is protecting you and your family, to demand three impoverished imps, who you entice with money, to do it? Then you act surprised that you’re a target later down the line just to reprimand this singular imp for not being your sole and only bodyguard. Here’s what I think. It’s not about you feeling unsafe, friendless, or loveless, it’s always this one imp. Who you coerce with money. As your child companion, and 25 years later as your prostitute, now as your bodyguard. You don’t see a pattern here? Despite knowing how valuable Goetia status is, by your own words, you claim to not understand the class dynamic, the power dynamic? Do you only engage in the company of imps and refuse to socialise with your peers and blame it on a woman, of course—because you enjoy having power over others? Has there ever been an imp in your life who you haven’t ordered around?”

Shed go into how manipulative and vile LooLoo land was, how stolas will not hire security but force the same imp he’s coercing into sex to be his guard despite his protest, Loona having to chase after via while stolas watched Blitzø on a stage he pushed him onto. Stolas possessing humans once before to locate imp and the book but somehow not being able to find via by himself? Well—stolas says—of course he actually knew where she was but—-he was desperate! Blitzø wouldn’t answer his texts! He was angry he wouldn’t play along! He just took the opportunity for a little day out! He felt bad but Blitzø ordered Loona to find her so it was okay! His life revolved around via isn’t he allowed to be with the partner of his choosing for a day? And Braxby asks stolas if this is the same Loona Blitzø had to get a hellbies shot for while stolas was pretending to be in danger and relying on Blitzø yet again.

I imagine Blitzø as the Princess Carolyn here. Octavia as a Sarah Lynn. Suddenly Blitzø is feeling like he’s wearing clown makeup and a red nose all over again. After the interview stolas says Blitzø has to save him, but Blitzø says he needs to get back to his daughter.

Viv, please do this scene. I had a blast writing it.

Absolutely do not let Viv do this scene. She'd forget all about the second interview and the point of Biscuits Braxby and just have her kiss Stolas's ass for 20 minutes.

[tellthemeerkatsitsfine]

I would like to clarify a point that I repeatedly made in the 12,000-word biography of Andy Zaltzman I wrote the other week, when I claimed he does not have comedic chemistry with any people who are not John Oliver. Andy Zaltzman can go back and forth with people quite happily, it just tends to be full of awkward pauses and buried in contrived economic analogies. If you don't mind that, the banter is, as they say, electric. For example, this from the Bugle livestream that just finished and was absolutely enormous fun.

Nish Kumar: Sometimes, people like me, who are [Narendra] Modi skeptics are described by BJP fans as HINOs. That’s an acronym meaning Hindu in Name Only. And I would describe them as Cultists Understanding Nothing Theological. What a pack of fucking Cultists Understanding Nothing Theological. Yeah, that’s right, [Producer] Chris, I found a way around you bleeping the word cunt! Andy Zaltzman: That’s why you are a Comedian of Unbelievable Natural Talent, Nish. Sorry, I must stop reading The Telegraph. Nish Kumar: You can’t get involved in acronym wars with Zaltzman, it’s like challenging Federer to tennis. It’s a fool’s errand. Andy Zaltzman: Well, you mention this striking inequality in India. And it’s not really for us, particularly white Brits, to judge how our former imperial – partners? Is that the term we’re using now? – but the economic choice India is making in this current era – it’s like when you meet a naked man, and you give him a thousand pounds to go away and smarten himself up. And he goes away, and he spends twenty pounds on quite a nice tie, and nine hundred and eighty pounds on a haircut. And he comes back looking quite pleased with himself. And sure, it’s a very nice tie, he could wear it to pretty much any social occasion. He could wear it to work, he could wear it to a job interview, he could probably wear it to family occasions. Fine, good tie, money well spent. And it is unquestionably the most sensational haircut you have ever seen. But, those are some conversationally-distracting testicles. So that’s how I would explain the Indian economy. Alice, did you vote in the Indian elections? Alice Fraser: First of all, I like the idea that there are any testicles that wouldn’t be conversationally distracting. The premise of your joke implies some bland, inoffensive testicles. [break for technical difficulties with Alice Fraser’s live linkup] Audience: Fuck you [Producer] Chris! Nish Kumar: While we are waiting, Andy – the bland, inoffensive testicles was the name of your and John’s first double act, wasn’t it?

They ended on a pun run, this one themed around historic world leaders, and that was a big one. It contained the line: “My mate got into antiques, he tried to make a living selling antiques. He bought this table, but the legs of the table were really rough, and he needed to smooth them off. So he went to the hardware store to buy something to smooth them off. But also, he needed something to go in his fireplace, in case he decided he didn’t like the table and he wanted to burn it. So he wrote down a shopping list for the hardware store, he wrote down: a leg sander, the grate [Alexander the Great].”

And that's it, that's the show. That's Andy Zaltzman humour, everyone. Laboured analogies about the economy, swearing via acronyms, an extended monologue chock-full of puns about historical figures (the Alexander the Great one was just one of many in the pun run), technological incompetence/general failures of slick production (to be fair the internet lag was not Andy's fault, but various other issues were), and every once in a while they still take a shot at John Oliver. That's the entirety of his repertoire summarized in one post, there was actually no need for me to write a 12,000-word biography. Everyone sure is going to have fun watching Taskmaster this fall!

Seriously though, I had so much fun watching that shambolic livestream, I so hope they do one again soon.

[mermaidsirennikita]

Have you ever shared your thoughts on the romance in Killers of the Flower Moon?

There was a viral tweet a few days ago discussing how the emphasis on the marriage was borne out of Scorsese learning that Ernest insisted until his dying that that he really loved her, and Mollie’s real-life descendants also telling him they too believe that they were truly in love.

I went into a bit of a rabbit hole reading interviews with the cast and the IRL descendants and it was so disturbing and tragic (like Ernest really did learn to speak Osage, which was apparently highly unusual for white spouses). It’s also interesting to me that neither of Mollie’s sister had children with their white husbands, but she had three with Ernest. Like theirs was sincere relationship, and not one primarily because of mutual convenience. (Yet he also named his youngest daughter after her aunt, who he helped murder.)

I’ve seen pushback to the romantic relationship in the movie (“that’s not love,” “love isn’t abuse”), which is understandable, but also IMO a bit simple and naive/childish? I guess it kind of depends on whether one thinks love is inherently good, which I don’t think it is.

Anyway, I thought the film’s depiction of Mollie/Ernest was fascinating and devastating. I thought Lily and Leo had fantastic chemistry too.

I think Ernest did love her (or believed that he did), yet his love was worthless because it didn’t protect her or make him do the right thing. I thought Scorsese was basically asserting that love actually cannot “redeem” anyone or overcome evil/greed/bigotry.

I agree with your assessment on Scorsese's intent with that relationship, for sure, and I think that there is an understandable desire to categorize feelings and relationships into one thing or the other. When it comes from the Osage today (not that there's a universal "Osage take" on this movie, but I've seen a couple Osage critics go "that was not a relationship with any love in it"), I think that's a large part of healing, and I get where it comes from, and I respect it. I think that there is sometimes a need, not a universal need, when you have experienced trauma and abuse, to put certain feelings into boxes. It's self-protective. And I speak from experience, right? I've been processing emotional abuse from someone I loved for years, and it has only been fairly recently that I've been able to unravel the relationship in a way that isn't "this person must not have loved me because otherwise how could he treat me that way".

When it comes from random twitcrits, I think it's more indicative of not only that, but some larger issues that we're dealing with societally. I think we often try to "science-ify" or pathologize feelings in a way that we really can't. Because if we can say "this person did this thing, that means they're incapable of love", "abusive behavior of any kind means that person does not ever love you", "this disorder means this person can't love", it's easier to feel like we're capable of safeguarding ourselves from threats. If we can identify it, we can protect ourselves, and when someone does X, Y, and Z, we can identify them as a wholly malevolent force and predict their behavior and prescribe behaviors in terms of how to react to them.

Personally? I think it's a lot more complicated than that. In terms of Ernest and Mollie in particular, a lot of what people who have a more personal understanding of that situation seem to say, as you've pointed out, they appear to have been in love. Now, I don't think anyone can know what was going on for Mollie except Mollie, and Ernest obviously had reason to claim he was in love with her whether or not he was. Their descendants cannot look at it clear-eyed. All of his behavior could have many motivations.

The thing is, though, that it's absolutely possible to love someone be horrible to them. HORRIBLE. Because humans are capable of being many things at once, and compartmentalization is SO real. To me, it seems impossible to say that every abusive individual, even every monstrous individual, carried no love ever for people... even the people they hurt. And it also seems to assume a lot about what we can divine about people without living in their minds.

I also think that it challenges us on several fronts. First off--we can think someone is absolutely evil and that, in a world where the law can be trusted, would deserve a fate like death (to be clear: I'm anti-death penalty, but I understand the desire to punish certain people to that extent)... But how much does it shake our sense of morality and our justness when we admit that those people are capable of love? I mean, it doesn't for me, but I think it does for many. You want to be able to say "there is nothing good in this person" because it's just easier to accept. It is much, much more horrifying to think "this person is evil and also can love" versus "this person is evil". To be evil is human, but the way our societal morality is structured makes many feel otherwise; but nobody would argue that to love is human. So acknowledging that someone can love in any way humanizes these evil individuals in a way that is DEEPLY uncomfortable.

Because, as you said, it does separate this idea of love from goodness. Love is not inherently good, it's not inherently healthy, and it's not inherently ENOUGH. Someone can genuinely love you. But why does them loving you automatically mean that they love you MORE than their greed, MORE than their desire to destroy, MORE than their wrath? There's nothing in the bylaws of love that says so. That's just a romantic concept we've put onto all types of love, imo.

ALSO: perhaps scarier is the idea that someone can love and can also murder, and abuse, and do heinous things. So how can we identify a dangerous person? If someone like Ernest really loved Mollie, then someone like your dad could also be capable of murder. Someone like your husband could be capable of abuse. It's kind of a terrifying thing to think of, because I think that a lot of people like to live in this world of "Well, that would never happen to me/I would recognize the signs". Not always out of a sense of superiority, but because it feels SAFER and more comforting to think that you would pick up on these aberrant behaviors, desires, whatever.

I always think about what my mom used to say to me--"I am 99.9999999999% sure that X person would never do X thing, but you have to leave that sliver of space for them doing it". And you DO. Because if you don't, then if that thing happens, you may not catch it. That incredible, bulletproof confidence? Leads to scenarios in which you fail to recognize or even live in denial of what's going on around you.

So.... we're left to live with that sliver of ambiguity. And humans often do not like ambiguity. You live in the ambiguity that technically, someone can betray everything you think you know about them; and you live in the ambiguity that someone that hurt you horribly could also have had genuine love for you, and it wasn't healthy, and it wasn't good, and it wasn't ENOUGH, but it was there. I've lived in that second thing, and it is hard. And I've also been the person who would swear 100% that I could trust someone, only to be proven wrong.

This doesn't mean that you can't love and trust and believe in people. It just means that life is really about BELIEVING in people, and not ever knowing 100% where their mind is, what the future holds, what they'll do. I think that now more than ever, that makes people feel so unstable.

This is all very theoretical and long-winded, but yeah. I think that is what Scorsese was trying to get across. That love can exist in bad relationships and horrible people, and it's not always redemptive, and it's not always enough, and it cannot stand up to the kind of avarice and bigotry that we saw in Killers. And isn't that horrifying? Isn't it scary?

[justforbooks]

A life in quotes: Ismail Kadare

Ismail Kadare, the Albanian writer who explored Balkan history and culture in poetry and fiction, has died aged 88. Here are some of the most memorable quotes from interviews he gave throughout his life

On totalitarianism

The hell of communism, like every other hell, was smothering in the worst sense of the term. But literature transformed that into a life force, a force which helped you survive and hold your head up and win out over dictatorship.

In a country of that kind, the first thing for a writer is the most important one, the most substantial one, it is: do not take the regime seriously. You are a writer, you are going to have a much richer life than they have, you are in some sense or another eternal by comparison with those kinds of people, and in the last analysis you don’t need to bother about them very much.

On Enver Hoxha, Albanian ruler from 1944 until his death in 1985

When Hoxha broke with the Soviet Union in 1962, he was ready to turn to Europe, but he was rejected, so he made an absurd short-lived alliance with China. When that went wrong he built thousands of anti-nuclear pillboxes, which he knew were useless, but he wanted to create a fear-psychosis. Albania suffered longer than any other eastern European country.

Hoxha fancied himself an intellectual and poet who had been to the Sorbonne, and he didn’t want to be seen as an enemy of writers. Of course, he could have killed me in a ‘car crash’, or by ‘suicide’, as he did many others.

On being described as a political writer

I am of the opinion that I am not a political writer, and, moreover, that as far as true literature is concerned, there actually are no political writers. I think that my writing is no more political than ancient Greek theatre. I would have become the writer I am in any political regime.

I have never claimed to be a ‘dissident’ in the proper meaning of the term. Open opposition to Hoxha’s regime, like open opposition to Stalin during Stalin’s reign in Russia, was simply impossible. Dissidence was a position no one could occupy, even for a few days, without facing the firing squad. On the other hand, my books themselves constitute a very obvious form of resistance to the regime.

On international success

On the one hand it secured protection for me in relation to the regime, on the other hand I was constantly under observation. What excited suspicion was ‘why does the western bourgeoisie hold a writer from a Stalinist country in high esteem?’

On the Albanian language

For me as a writer, Albanian is simply an extraordinary means of expression – rich, malleable, adaptable.

On books

I hated the Soviet books, full of sunshine, working in the fields, the joyous spring, the summer full of hope. The first time I heard the words ‘hope’ and ‘hard work’, they made me yawn.

The founding father of Albanian literature is the 19th-century writer Naim Frashëri. Without having the greatness of Dante or Shakespeare, he is nonetheless the founder, the emblematic character. He wrote long epic poems, as well as lyrical poetry, to awaken the national consciousness of Albania. After him came Gjergj Fishta. We can say that these two are the giants of Albanian literature, the ones that children study at school. Later came other poets and writers who produced perhaps better works than those two, but they don’t occupy the same place in the nation’s memory.

On censorship

In the early 60s, life in Albania was pleasant and well organised. A writer would not have known he should not write about the falsification of history.

For a writer, personal freedom is not so important. It is not individual freedom that guarantees the greatness of literature, otherwise writers in democratic countries would be superior to all others. Some of the greatest writers wrote under dictatorship – Shakespeare, Cervantes. The great universal literature has always had a tragic relation with freedom. The Greeks renounced absolute freedom and imposed order on chaotic mythology, like a tyrant. In the west, the problem is not freedom. There are other servitudes – lack of talent, thousands of mediocre books published every year.

I have created a body of literary work during the time of two diametrically opposed political systems: a tyranny that lasted for 35 years (1955-1990), and 20 years of liberty. In both cases, the thing that could destroy literature is the same: self-censorship.

On contemporary literature

They say that contemporary literature is very dynamic because it is influenced by the cinema, the television, the speed of communication. But the opposite is true! If you compare the texts of the Greek antiquity with today’s literature, you’ll notice that the classics operated in a far larger terrain, painted on a much broader canvas, and had an infinitely greater dimension.

All this noise about innovations, new genres, is idle. There is real literature and then there is the rest.

On being a writer

I don’t work for more than two hours a day.

Writing is neither a happy nor an unhappy occupation – it is something in-between. It is almost a second life.

I am so grateful for literature, because it gives me the chance to overcome the impossible.

Daily inspiration. Discover more photos at Just for Books…?

[bracketsoffear]

The Thistle Men (Alice Isn't Dead) "The Thistlemen are humanoid serial killers wandering the back roads of the United States. From Episode one they are described as filthy, filthy clothes, hands, dirty fingernails that are an unhealthy, translucent yellow, matching the rest of their bodies. The Thistlemen all have ill-fitting skin, and are remarked upon several times to smell earthy and rotten, like spoiled fruit turning to soil. When hurt, their bodies don’t bleed correctly. When she breaks into their town, the narrator Keisha speaks of the mealy yellow fat that falls from their wounds.

Their town is another thing. Hidden within a US Air Force base, it is a perversion of a normal town, not only because of who it houses, but because of the sick oily sheet covering it. Everything looks sticky to the touch. The location of the town remarks upon corruption within the US government, covering up monsters that are allowed to roam freely and even creating a haven for them to thrive in. This is also seen in how the police will ignore the presence of Thistlemen, treating them without hostility. The fact that the Thistlemen are able to continue terrorizing people as they like, with the knowledge and even approval of the government is deeply chilling.

The Thistlemen are capable of teleporting places in their strange way. Infiltrating places and spreading their destruction about, it’s an almost vermin-like quality, but so much more dangerous. Keisha is tormented by the presence of one in her truck, but every time she checks nothing is inside, save for her cargo. This happens in her house as well, and at a live show event, where the narrative tells of a group of people dedicated to fighting Thistlemen, only for to realize who was lurking in the corners. The event was destroyed from the inside of what was meant to be a safe location. Perhaps it had always been a trap, festering with monsters just under the surface.

Finally, the fact that the Thistlemen chose this path for themselves. They used to be ordinary people, perhaps predisposed to violence, but as they years wore on, they changed. Any semblance of morality they held rotted away as they fell into bigotry and hatred and mistrust. It was a slow descent, with the not-yet-Thistlemen recognizing as their skin sagged and bodies rotted, but they didn’t care. By the time they would kill their first victim, the transformation was complete."

SCP-049: The Plague Doctor (SCP) "SCP-049 is a plague doctor who appears human at first, put isn’t. Yeah that mask they wear? Yeah, that’s not a mask. That’s just their face (check their wiki page, there’s a really cool photo of their bone structure). It is implied that they came into existence during The Black Plague era of humanity. They have one goal in life - to eradicate “The Pestilence”, a disease that only they know the existence of, that only they can sense or detect in any way. They have a cure that only they know and can administer - going so far as calling themselves the cure itself. While this might on the surface detract from them being a Corruption Avatar, it’s actually quite the opposite because… the people they claim are sick show absolutely NO signs of illness. They are perfectly healthy people. And the cure isn’t really a cure. Their touch literally kills people and turns them into zombies, which makes them less of the cure they claim to be, and more of a patient zero. If you haven’t read their article, I implore you check it out, it’s not too long of a read, has some awesome photos to aid with world building, and even has some PHENOMENAL voice acting to go with the interview transcripts."

[house-of-kolchek]

Okay buddy. I need a snippet of Leong. Please 🤣🤣🤣

Ohhohohohohoho

Get ready friends because it’s actually not at all what you’re thinking:

—

You grimaced at the security footage, watching as a figure missing too many limbs tackled a man in a dark suit jacket. Through the grainy footage, it was still easy to spot a sharp gleam in the attackers eyes, and the splotches of red and rot that decorated its face.

“When was this?”

“Yesterday evening,” Bailey replied, her eyes still trained on the screen. “Mr. Bidel was brought into the station after a call from his wife claimed he was threatening her with a knife. Four hours later… this.”

You sighed, glancing back to the screen as the video looped again, replaying the officer’s untimely death over again. No matter how long you’d been doing this, it still sent a wave of grief and sickness through you.

“So clearly it’s some sort of virus,” you started. It was obvious in the rotted flesh, the visceral, hungry attacks, so much like every other BOW you’d encountered before. “But who’s got their hands on it this time?”

Bailey turned to the computer screen, clicking the mouse a few times and projecting varied articles and photographs up to the large display screen. Your eyes flashers over the photo of a suburban neighbourhood. A factory. The words NEW RC plastered on a large sign.

“All directions point towards an Umbrella Copycat.”

Your heart felt like it was in your throat. You hadn’t been there in the initial Raccoon City incident. The fall of the first Umbrella. But you didn’t need to - you’d heard the stories, it was the literal reason you had this job. So this couldn’t be a coincidence - finding the RC initials and the word “Umbrella” within the same sentence. But…

“How did no one see this before?” you demanded. “It’s so obvious! Like - you see those initials right?” Wasn’t it the departments entire job to watch out for this kind of thing? Prevent those horrors from ever occurring again?

“Because this is likely one of the most secluded townships in the United States. It’s literally underground. It was sheer luck that the Bidels were on vacation when this occurred, and the processing went through a “public” station record system.” She sighed between the words, reaching to massage her temples. There was a strange sort of defeat from her posture, something you hadn’t seen before. It didn’t sit right with you.

“So what’s the plan then?”

Bailey met your gaze. There was something still unsaid there, something you found yourself suddenly afraid to hear.

“Mrs. Bidel hasn’t been heard from since the incident,” she sighed. “Her husband worked at the factory, and her interview indicated that they weren’t planning on returning home. We’re incredibly low on intel, but underground sources have managed an in. You’re going undercover as the Bidel’s… successor. You’re going to gather intel so we can put a lid on this before it erupts.”

Ohhhhhh there was a lot in those few sentences. Undercover. In the suburbs. Cut off from the rest of the country, to gain information about a nameless company that turns people into zombies and makes them disappear.

Sometimes you wondered why you kept this job.

“Something on your face tells me that’s not all,” you groaned, leaning back into your chair as she fixed you with a concerning sympathetic look. She shook her head, and suddenly your heart was in your throat again.

“The neighbourhood seems to maintain a particular… niche.” She trailed off, her nose scrunching with distaste. Another picture fluttered past the screen. A collection of happy looking couples, in full PDA mode all cuddled together with big smiles.

Oh god.

“You’re going in with a partner, to play the roles and properly fit in.”

When she didn’t continue, you cleared your throat.

“Who’s the partner?”

After a moment, she let out a long breath, uttering two words that struck an intimidated sort of fear into your heart.

“Leon Kennedy.”

[doll-elvis]

It's kind of difficult to discern what's true about E and what isn't, because so much of what's been written about him directly conflicts with other things. So it's hard to keep track of what's really true and what's just rumor that got twisted and blown out of proportion.

Me personally, I tend to not trust Lamar, Nash or the Stanleys, because they've all been proven to at best, not have the best memory of things, or at worst be outright liars for money.

I agree completely and throughout my journey of reading about Elvis I’ve learned to not take anything as truth until I have cross referenced between books/interviews and it’s been confirmed by multiple people or at least coincides with behavior that Elvis usually exhibited

** I also highly highly recommend elvislibrary (who is on Instagram and has the biggest elvis book collection I’ve ever seen😫) as well as elvisinfonet for books reviews, whenever I start a new book I usually check out their reviews beforehand as they give great insight to whether the book is credible or not

I have discovered that literally anyone who has breathed the same oxygen as Elvis has come out and shared a story or written a book about him. This man was even more exploited after his death than while he was living and it just angers me. Everyone who knew him has made money off of him in some way and I realized that people will say anything if they think it is a story that will sell

And “Baby let’s play house” by Alanna Nash was actually the first Elvis book I ever read, and foolishly, I believed every story in it, no matter how outrageous it was. Then I started to do a little basic research and I realized she has allowed so many fabricated stories in her book and has given a platform to several people who aren’t credible

Like the whole relationship with Tura Santana never happened and Elvis never even met her even though she claims he proposed, yet Alanna Nash shared her story. And Elvis did not publicly dry hump the fake dog Nipper on stage like she claims, he just wiggled 😭 And Nash uses Byron Raphael as a source, who she co-wrote a playboy article with in 2008, when it’s been confirmed that he never actually worked for Elvis and only very briefly worked for the Colonel (and the playboy article is full of the most blatant lies ever, I cannot believe this woman is regarded as a credible biographer 🤧!!!)

As you said, I’m very wary of Lamar Fike also, he tends to over-exaggerate things and I found his perception of events to be a whole lot different from others when they are describing the same stories

As for the Stanleys, Dee is literally one of the nastiest people you will ever learn about in the Presley circle and it truly disgusts me that Elvis treated her and her sons so kindly (even though he didn’t like her) and she repaid him by going to a tabloid magazine and telling a made up story to make money

What’s most disgusting is that she made up lies about two people she never even met (Gladys Presley and Nick Adams) and only used people who had already passed away as sources for her book like saying that Vernon Presley, Minnie Mae (Elvis’ grandmother) and Alberta (former maid), all knew that Elvis was in a s*xual relationship with his mother. Obviously all these people weren’t here to say otherwise and that is why she wrote the book (I hate that woman so muchhh that I’m getting mad just typing this 💀)

Ricky and David I’m not too crazy about either but I give them a little bit of respect for calling out their mother and saying her book was full of lies

Honestly the only Stanley books worth reading are by Billy Stanley and I really loved his two books “The faith of Elvis” and “Elvis: My Brother”, I found his insight really unique and I really really appreciated his honesty (if y’all didn’t know Elvis had a brief affair with Billy’s 18 year old wife named Annie, and it was a mess 😭!!!)

If y’all want to be entertained Dee Stanley went on the Geraldo talk show in the 90s alongside Joe Esposito and J.D Sumner to talk about the whole Gladys story and they absolutely drag her 😫 J.D lowkey wanted to slap her and I don’t blame him at all

unfortunately some of the audience believes her about Gladys so that was frustrating to watch but other than that, Dee gets absolutely humiliated 😃

[sbrown82]

I wonder how The Stones children feel about they’re parents doing drugs, having sex with multiple people, having to have multiple stepmoms, or reading a book about how they were pretty much unwanted. I feel bad for Jade Jagger, Marlon Richards, all of Ronnie’s kids, Nicholas Dunbar and Brian’s kids. They have to continuously hear about how their parents were on drugs. Like Anita was on bad drugs with all 3 of her children, I wonder how they felt being around that. Or someone like Jade how both parents not really being there for her and then judging her for being just like them. Or Karis having to see her mom struggle most of her childhood while her dad didn’t even want to claim her. Or Brian’s children who probably only seen him on tv or in magazines because he didn’t really come around for them. Or Nicholas who’s mother was on terrible drugs and was sent to his grandma after his mom tried to commit suicide, it’s a lot to swallow.

Many of the Rolling Stones children have talked about this, specifically Jade Jagger, Marlon Richards, and Brian Jones' children. I mean, that couldn't have been easy, which is why some of them either acted out when they were young or completely stayed away from the spotlight. Keith Richards and Anita Pallenberg's son Marlon said his parents were both reckless and very heavy drug addicts. In fact, Anita did heroin while pregnant with her daughter Angela and even gave birth to her in a rehab clinic, and Keith once fell asleep at the while and crashed his car with his son in the back seat. One of their children even died at 10 weeks old from SIDS while in her care. Keith's mom had enough and took their daughter Angela to live with her and said Anita was a bad mom.

And yes, Jade always talks about how her parents were never really around and how she was treated like a mascot instead of their daughter. Mick was always on tour or doing whatever with whoever, while her mother Bianca was a "socialite" who partied at nightclubs or would travel for days leaving her daughter alone with nannies. Her childhood wasn't very pleasant as she had to fit into their lifestyles, which is probably why she acted out a lot. She did drugs, was kicked out of school, and even dabbled in "soft porn". Paparazzi even caught her having sex on a nude beach in Europe. She's a hot ass mess!!

Karis is the total opposite! Her mother, Marsha Hunt, was a real hands-on parent who took her everywhere with her, provided her with a great education (even though she couldn't afford it), and kept her out of the limelight - probably a main reason why she doesn't do any interviews or cares about celebrity culture. I don't think I've ever even heard her mention her father before. The asshole didn't claim her until she was 12 years old. TWELVE!!!!! That's a loooooong time to deny your fucking kid. It's unbelievable that she wants anything to do with him. And even though she grew up poor and on food stamps, she had an extremely normal upbringing as opposed to all her siblings who are now "professional Jaggers". You never hear about her in the news, but can you blame her? After the way the media treated her mother back in the day, I wouldn't care either. She's very strait-laced and a real class act.

Brian Jones was probably the worst of them. By the time that fool was 19, he already had 3 children by 3 different baby mamas and didn't take care of any of them. Not one! That was his M.O.: he would date some teenaged girl (And I mean young, like 16/17 years old), knock her up, then abandon her and the baby, at times leaving them to starve. His third baby mama, Pat Andrews, even outed him about his behavior in 1965:

A few of his other baby mamas actually gave the children up for adoption because they couldn't raise them on their own. But that had to be painful for all his children. They all lost a father they never knew, they didn't even know they had siblings growing up until they met each other in their late 20s and 30s. Another one of Brian's sons actually spoke about him and this pattern of treating the mothers of his children with such disregard:

Also, Nicholas Dunbar is not Mick Jagger's son, even tho the skinny mf spent more time with him when he was a baby than his own damn child Karis. Ain't that a bitch?!

[silmarillisms]

The rumors of that kiss started because the "leaker" on the FoF discord claim made a list of spoilers, which included the kiss, and claimed to have ALL the episodes. They even said multiple people had the episodes. Someone on tumblr actually asked for screenshots of the footage and the person who raged about it on here couldn't provide them. They instead only provided a screenshot of the list, where other leaks were blacked out.

Whenever there are rumored leaks, people don't hesitate to put it out all there. There was a time between 2017-2019 where someone actually had leaks posted full summaries on reddit of unreleased movies and episodes, including GOT finale, which all turned out to be real.

These rumors seem kind of fake and baity but I could also be wrong.

INTERESTING.

It does sound a little baity but now that you retell the story, I think I remember the part about the GOT finale. I didn’t realize it was all the same source. If it is true, I’ll be very interested to see the context.

I don’t think, personally, that they’ve built enough chemistry between the characters to make it convincing - even unrequited and only on Elrond’s side. I don’t think I’ve seen the interviews where the actor discusses Elrond’s feelings for Galadriel. Does he say that they’re romantic? If so, I wonder if they intend to use him as an interest instead or Celebrimbor?

I could totally be misreading but I’ve read their relationship in the show as being almost siblingish. Now that doesn’t mean all that much - they’re not actually (closely) related and I ship Maedhros/Fingon, so…

All the same, I’m very interested in this possibility. We’ll know soon enough!

[summerlinenss]

Jemaine's only statement so far on the whole thing with Charlyne makes me think he (and the other exec producers/creators) has no idea what they claim happened or their abuse claims are all exaggerated at best. I also don't think Jemaine's being callous in that brief comment and he did say he's glad it wasn't just brushed aside. I think either that's all he's allowed to say or he possibly (and likely) thinks they left due to stress and pain after the accident. I don't think he has any idea what they've been trying to claim since. I don't remember seeing any actual evidence Charlyne even officially reported the alleged abuse but I could be wrong. They have actual evidence the injury happened and was reported and treated but did they post any actual evidence about the alleged abuse or just say they reported it?

jemaine’s comment (+ the rest of his interview) for those who want to read it:

i’m not entirely sure what their official complaint on set was. from what i gathered, they had to collect worker’s comp for an injury and then went to HR to report a costar was allegedly physically and emotionally abusing them, which paramount and other sources have all said led to a full-scale investigation that couldn’t verify the claims. but i think some of the details about their alleged mistreatment and abuse and especially the fact that they were apparently being specifically targeted/discriminated against all seem to have just come out of nowhere.

as others have said, i don’t doubt HR was difficult and possibly even tried to persuade them to drop the allegations. but it’s their literal job to investigate these kinds of things and i don’t see any reason why they would lie about that (especially when it’s been verified by multiple other people) when they know it would only create more problems for their company. like, ten years ago? sure. but people are not afraid to call this shit out anymore, even if it ruins their career.

i am glad he addressed it. i’ve already seen people acting annoyed and saying it was a cop-out or whatever. and yeah, it’s an extremely safe way of talking about it, but he’s not being coy or arrogant. he’s not an idiot. i genuinely don’t believe he’d be so flippant about the situation if he had any reason to believe their claims were all true or that he or anyone on set did anything wrong. and he does seem truly remorseful that it didn’t work out and that there was any sort of harm in the first place. there’s really only so much he’s allowed to say about the whole thing (especially if the investigation is still ongoing or if they’re under NDAs) and i think he handled it well.

[thisisyourprincipalspeaking]

i will counter that slightly by saying that if they (the married couple) want it to not be our business, then they should act like it. not all publications can be stopped but it has been obvious over the past year that the happy couple is more than willing to share their lives. they just want to be able to control what and how we see it.//

I understand what you are saying but do disagree slightly. What have they willingly shared. Two videos montages early last year and a handful of pap walks. No real deals have come out of the wedding ceremonies nor have they given any interviews about their relationship/life barring the small snippet Chris said in his infamous GQ interview last year. They have not been papped since VF. So they may have controlled a few pap outings but that’s it. I suppose you could say AB is sharing her life via her friends IG stories but her friends are allow to live their lives and if it includes her it includes her and if certain blogs didn’t follow everyone randomly involved with AB no one would know or care.

To me the entitlement that a lot of former fans or fans feel they need is amazing. Yes Chris has overshared during his career and fans loved it. They followed his friends when they were public to get another they could and then turned on them when they went private and this started.

The over investment in this is a whole thing is another level from finding hotels in Bath, to a house in VT which originally was claimed was rented only for someone to come back 4/5 months later to say it’s his. Why are you even still looking. To the over analysis of every photo, action, the conspiracy theories,the flight tracking,stalking,the you are a plant,paid by teams,screaming in CaPs,the calling normal people liars who post a photo with them.

Imagine what would have happened if people just went oh look Chris is another HW cliché dating a younger woman and ignored it the fandom would not be where it is today - in a mess that was created in part by people who decided they had the right to know what was happening in an actor’s life. 

you and i agree much more than we don't, nonnie. because actually the only variation in my line of thinking is that the things they have chosen to share has been within their control, therefore what and how it's released is also within their control. they knew well in advance how their content would be treated and took advantage of that. it's also no coincidence that a majority of their content drops happened at the same time as career announcements for them. their schedule came in handy during the strikes, too. 😏

i feel confident that if there's something a celebrity wants to keep private about their lives, they are more than capable of doing so. you can't stop all gossip, that's impossible. but it can be curtailed.

what i think is more interesting is what we haven't seen. but maybe that's just me lol

[twdmusicboxmystery]

Maybe Emily doesn't know all of the details??

@boofy777:

I know over the years TD has wondered about EK’s game face, etc, and how she seems awkward in interviews  whenever TD or a return of Beth is mentioned.  Maybe she really doesn’t know???

I am bringing this up because there is a precedent for this in the Fast and Furious Franchise, which is a huge blockbuster with many followers.  In the 4th film, the character of Letty Ortiz, a main character and the romantic partner of Dominic Turetto, also a bad boy sort like Daryl, is killed in a fiery explosion.  We even see a funeral service and a grave for Letty.

Michelle Rodriguez, the actress who plays Letty, found out of Letty’s impending return from the dead WHEN SHE WENT TO THE MOVIES TO WATCH THE 5TH INSTALLMANT AND SAW HER IMAGE IN A CODA SCENE AFTER THE CREDITS ROLLED.  In true soap opera fashion, Letty had been whisked away to work for another international crime syndicate, secretly hospitalized, and also awoke later with amnesia.

Michelle Rodriguez also WAS NOT INFORMED OF ANY STORY LINES ETC UNTIL SHE ARRIVED ON SET FOR FILMING OF THE 6TH FILM.  She had no clue.

I have often wondered if this is the case with EMILY - she knows a return is very possible but no story lines or a time frame has been specifically shared.  It would make sense, because it would be difficult to keep things under wraps for so long. The fewer people that know and the less they do know, the better.

Anyway, thanks for reading and I just wanted to share this since I think after nearly ten years, anything is possible. :)

@twdmusicboxmystery​:

I get why you would think that, and it’s a valid possibility. 

But for me, I’ve just seen too much evidence that she knows and has known since at least the beginning of S5, as have most of the other major players. 

It’s not something we can prove, of course. But we have evidence that Gimple told her before filming for S5 even began, when he talked to her about where they were going with her character. 

We also have evidence, based on what he said in interviews, that Andy (Andrew Lincoln) knew all about it and her return. He was careful not to actually SAY that, of course. But it was implied.

And we’ve proven beyond doubt that what happened at Grady was planned at least one season before in S4, so they didn’t just decide to kill her off at the last second, which is what she and the writers claimed. True, that doesn’t prove that Emily herself knew, but it proves that they are lying about things. So what else are they lying about? And taken together with everything else, it doesn’t seem likely to me that Emily doesn’t know.

There’s also the fact that Emily hasn’t taken any major roles since leaving the show. The ones she’s done have all been tiny, minor rolls for ABC pilots. I have an entire list of posts about this HERE. 

And we know that ABC and AMC are sort of “sister companies.” That’s really not the correct term, but it’s the easiest way to describe it. They share actors and those under contract to one can work for the other. We’ve seen multiple TWD actors go back and forth this way, many of them returning to work in the TWDU after working on ABC shows. (Lauren Cohen, Michael Cudlitz, Sydney Park, etc). Emily has done the first part where she’s done ABC pilots. We just haven’t seen her actual return to the TWDU yet.

I could go on and on, but I’ll stop there. Like I said, taken as a whole, I just see too much evidence that Emily knows exactly what’s going on. The best we could say is that, especially if the timeline has been pushed back, which I’m sure it has (Covid, if nothing else) then she might not have known the exact dates for WHEN it would happen, but I think she always knew for sure that it eventually would. She was just waiting on a call from Gimple, and working on her music with a few small acting gigs on the side in the meantime.

I really hope when all is said and done, and she’s back, they just come out and explain exactly what happened, what was planned, how it changed, etc., so that we can know for sure. I’m not convinced they’ll do that, but a girl can hope, right?

Thanks so much for your thoughts, Dear! Xoxo!  🍁 🍂 💞

[beatledumpster]

Blur interview - 'Nothingness Generation' (1991) translated from French.

Or: how Damon is full of seemingly contradictory theories that sound very interesting but also mostly unintelligible to me for lack of context.

Thanks to the Damon Albarn Unofficial Archive (x)

Nothingness generation

Everything is there in the name, Blur, meaning: hazy, confused. Hazy like this music that feeds on itself, kaleidoscopic view of a thirty-year-old disco. Confused like this talk, chattier when it comes to selling oneself to an English press that is hungry for cardboard sensationalism. Hazy and confused like this lost generation, shouting as loud as it can its total lack of message and beliefs, disoriented and yet rotten with certainties. The children of disorder.

I don’t know anyone in the world who has never dreamed of becoming a pop star. There’s nothing more outrageous in the world than a pop star. I for one would keep changing heroes, one day I wanted to be Albert Camus, Arthur Lee the next... We wanted to look like them. Graham, our guitar player, collects heroes. He’s fascinated by those sixties blokes that went mad, Syd Barrett or Arthur Lee… Bowie too, he was the 1970s champion, but today he’s completely unnecessary. Pop culture is, more than ever, an intrinsic element of our generation. We grew up imitating it whereas back in the day, the people and the culture would grow together. We came when everything was over already. All our ideas, we stole from videos, records, photos from pop culture. We have no other reference point that precedes it, this culture encompasses us totally. In the sixties, people could refer to events that predated pop culture. Well, we have nothing but this crazy religion. We are only nourished by pop culture but at least, we have understood it. This is what makes us more necessary than any other band. We can see this result inside us, therefore we can celebrate our own futility… Every band feeds on this tureen of spiralling debris anyway.

Why, under these conditions, are you still fascinated by pop stars?

My definition of a pop star is very different from what others may mean. I like their childishness, their futility. I find it extremely difficult to explain why I do certain things rather than others, I’m incapable of justifying myself, of making a case. I can’t even claim that I’ve wanted to be a pop star from childhood, because actually, I didn’t want to become anything (silence)… Everything happened without me knowing. I’ve been carried along, as everyone has in my generation.

Still, I have rarely seen a young band as professional and organized as you. You don’t seem like you were carried along, on the contrary you look like you’ve been working hard.

We have the advantage of being more intelligent than the other bands. But we hadn’t planned anything, I’m simply incapable of it. I just waited… At school, the future didn’t look particularly bright. It was the early 1980s, the CND was telling us that we were in mortal danger. Many people have forgotten this, but the CND was a huge influence on a whole generation of teenagers. We all thought that the planet’s days were numbered, that we were going to get blown up any day now. We never thought about our future because we were sure we wouldn’t have one. Twenty years from now, once our generation rules the world, the difference will be enormous. We are very nihilistic, empty-headed… We have no ambition, no motivation. At a time where we should have been terribly excited about life, we were frightened by this ominous cloud hanging over our heads. It was even worse than the last world war because then, at least, people were united by patriotism, you had to stick together, they were dreaming of a better world that was yet to be built. We were born in this better world only to be told that it was going to disappear very fast… So no-one cared about their neighbour or their future. Nothing really interested us, we didn’t see anything clearly or articulately. We merely floated, vaguely moving forward. We are, on a global scale, the vague generation.

Did life in a small provincial town heighten this feeling of oppression and powerlessness?

I never felt trapped in Colchester, because I knew I was going to leave one day. It was just terribly frustrating, London was on our minds, we had to go there to do something. We didn’t know what it would be, but we had to do it together. We made a deal with Graham: the first one that would manage to get in the music business would have to find ways to involve the other. And in the end, we did everything together: forming the band, getting signed, going away… There, I felt totally isolated. But it was more or less by choice. I’d walk down the street and feel like I was playing in a movie… My life has always been very cinematic, another result of pop culture. The boundary between reality and imagination was getting increasingly blurred, and everything got mixed up. Unlike Graham, I’ve always been a loudmouth, and had a lot of self-confidence. I couldn’t stand the apathy of everyone in our town, but I could clearly notice it in myself. But I allowed myself to express the reasons behind it, to explain why we are in this state, hoping that (silence)… This generation passively accepts having to go to the office every morning, whereas our elders were quite happy to go. There was a spirituality in their lives that completely vanished. To them, work was an honourable activity, there was no need for all those accesories that keep us going. However, before I got to this point, I’ve tried plenty of terrible jobs, but I just can’t think with numbers, I’m totally dyslexic. That closed the doors to 99% of jobs on earth for me.

This generation seems much more open to the rest of the world than the previous ones: young people travel a lot more, they realize that there’s more than just England. It shows everywhere: clothes, behaviour, even the way they drive…

(Laughs)... People are finally starting to understand that you can’t shut yourself off from the rest of the world any longer. England has lost its spirit, its identity, which is a good thing in itself. The English have too many hang-ups and taboos. They’ve been told that they’re a great nation too much. We think we are living off the inheritance of colonialism and there’s nothing left in the coffers… But don’t expect me to insult my country. The time has come for my compatriots to care a bit more about Europe. Because next year, we won’t have a choice… Do you know where this English fear of Europe comes from? People think they’ll have to learn foreign languages.

Your generation is also the first one to have not received any influence from punk.

At the time this was going on, I was more interested in dolls or Action Joe than in the Sex Pistols. The only possible influence is through bands: we are influenced by bands influenced by punk. But all this punk ‘fuck off’ attitude, this complete rejection, I find old-fashioned, very passé. Bands nowadays are much more scandalous than they were. We are more outrageous than all the bands of 1977, more dangerous and subversive. Because with us, nothing is on display. To me, punks are as ridiculous today as hippies were to them.

EMPTY WORDS FOR EMPTY PEOPLE

I feel responsible for the first time in my life. I have to be careful about every move I make, every word I say, because some people are listening… I’ve always considered Top of The Pops to be something very important. You have dozens of millions of people watching you, and if you’re clever, you can have a lot of fun with it, go right to the edge of censorship. I definitely don’t want to be The Cure or The Smiths, it’s too easy to tell the teens what they’re expecting from you. I don’t want to limit myself like them and become all pompous and preachy. I shit on preachers and piety.

Most of your contemporaries – Ride, Charlatans, Happy Mondays – seem unable to articulate any political opinion, as if society was totally foreign to you.

Wait… The Happy Mondays don’t have anything to do with our generation. They’re at least ten years older than us and that’s a huge gap. Ride is probably the only band whose attitude is similar to ours. Although they are much more romantic than us. I also feel close to World Of Twist. I’ve never spoken to them, but I feel like we have things in common, even though I find them too mannered (silence)… I don’t think bands are allowed to be interested in politics. All that we can offer is empty words for empty people in an empty world. If you're concerned with politics, it's bound to be to the detriment of other topics. I prefer to look at other issues, like my ties to the cosmos. It's much more interesting than right and left. I don't want to talk about the poll-tax, I prefer to be a non-person on that kind of subject. I pay my taxes because they are necessary. Whether the government is Conservative or Labour will make absolutely no difference to my day-to-day life. All the infrastructure will remain the same, so I don't want to be interested in changes that wouldn't affect me in the slightest. I'm not interested in the outside.

No-one, especially a band in your position, can live in total isolation like this.

We do. We live in a cuckoo’s nest, very far away. And it’s not even the drugs that get us there. Our world is coherent, but apart. I know that deep down, I have a talent for public speaking. But I don’t want to use it for politics, I don’t want to mix with society. I refuse to lecture those who are listening to us, no one is asking politicians who their favourite bands are.

A few months ago, you posed shirtless for Melody Maker. How much of that was narcissism, and how much of it was a joke?

It was just to tease the girls, both sexual and ironic. Only Alex, the bass player, was a flirt at school. As for me, being manly was never a major preoccupation. I've always felt equivocal, somewhere in between... None of us are macho.

Yet your posters have often pitted you against feminists.

Graham has always wanted to sleep with feminists, he loves being dominated. We are horrible perverts. As for narcissism, I can’t deny it. Our job is the best job for narcissists.

ALL GOOD-LOOKING

Ever since ‘There's no other way’ became a hit, not a day has gone by without us giving an interview or doing a photo shoot. Thirty days of non-stop interrogation... Everything sped up for us, but for months, I really felt that it was taking forever.

Even ten years ago, this rise you found so slow would have seemed very short. Bands had to wait for years to reach this stage.

It all comes from record companies. They’ve changed, they know how to manufacture hits, they learnt the rules of the game. What they want is quick money, push a band to the top, get as much as they can from it and then murder it when it’s not profitable any more. They have this power over life and death. So you have to be very careful not to let yourself be smothered, to keep enough space to grow. Because it’s so great to be so famous after only two singles, you can be tempted to play the game and close your eyes. But we care too much about our music to let it slip away, we want to stay here for a few more years.

Your music has evolved very rapidly within a year. What caused this accelerated maturation?

The sound became more sophisticated, because I didn’t want to be trapped by any particular style. I didn’t want Blur to be just another noisy band. Everything comes from the way we record: in the studio, we give a lot of importance to details that disappear as soon as we get on stage. Live, all that's left is a bass, drums and guitars... You don't have to worry about embellishments or space. On the record, it's necessary to be more complicated, otherwise our songs would sound hollow. On stage, we don't need to fill the space, the energy makes up for it.

Your reputation comes mainly from this energy. Aren't you afraid of becoming trapped by it, of being nothing more than stage actors?

Fortunately, we are still capable of playing bad concerts. I could never fake the energy… But I do feel completely trapped by what people are starting to expect from us. This energy has become our brand image, it’s alarming.

Aren’t you afraid that show business is going to suck you in and devour you?

For this album, we had to play along with show-business and accept all the offers. But for the next album, we're going to take a step back. It's become necessary for us to go back to our music, to recharge our batteries... The problem with this business is that it ends up ruining my health. I'm constantly drained, I can't sleep and my throat hurts terribly. But we were lucky enough to get drugs and alcohol out of our system before we became successful. We could be high all the time, it would be so easy. Everything's free, everything's at our fingertips, but I'm not interested in that any more. Drugs are already out of fashion, it's no longer cool to get high.

Do you fear a backlash from the press?

It will be inevitable, but I can’t worry about that, I know it won’t depend on us. All we can do is make a good second album. But I know that won't be enough.

Were you prepared for such success?

We hadn't planned for everything. Certain aspects of my life weren't ready. I didn't expect to have to work so hard. It's difficult: we want to stand firm on our positions, but meanwhile we have to devote a lot of time to the people that revolve around us. It's become an art in itself, you have to juggle and modulate all the time. And we never rehearsed for this role, we had to improvise. But the success itself, I was waiting for it, I was sure it would come one day. If you're convinced you're good, if you're sure that you're right, you don't doubt yourself.

How could you have such confidence in your music?

It's to the point, it's full of very simple references... What's more, we're all good-looking, full of energy, we've got good taste... We're everything a band should be. We're very fond of Blur and we've put a lot of ourselves into the band over the last two years. I wanted this band but... One thing you need to know about us is that we don't have a clear idea of what we're about, I can't tell you why I wanted this band so badly. The generation before us had very clear ideas, those people had ideas, they had ambition... And then, one day, all their ideas were tried, all the roads were built. Eventually, after climbing, they ended up stuck at the top. And we are their children.

Success usually comes with pressure. Has it brought you together, do you feel more united, or defensive?

You have to defend yourself every day. Otherwise, all our lives would be splashed across the press and certain aspects of mine would not be very glorious, printed in a newspaper. There are limits to this giving of yourself, people offer themselves all over the place, they end up as caricatures of themselves. We've always tended to withdraw into ourselves, we've always been a gang. A gang that decided one day to make music. When faced with difficult situations, we form a unit and become a hideous monster that devours our opponents.

Are you a gang with a lot of enemies?

A lot of people are jealous of us, we attract that kind of feeling. They think we're too perfect: we play music that's both loud and melodic, we write good songs, we're consistent, we're good-looking and we're successful... In England, people don't like that. Here, we don't like people who get their way. I can't stand that mentality, people are much less jealous on the continent. And yet, I wouldn't want to be anything other than English.

Can the enemy sometimes be within the group?

(Laughs)... We yell at each other a lot, but tensions mostly arise when there are people around us, when our girlfriends are with us. But otherwise, when it's just the four of us, the group is really stable and united. We talk to each other a lot, we can make things right when one of us is causing problems... "OK, now shut the fuck up, asshole" (smiles)... And then, we have a drummer, he absorbs all the tension, he's the one who takes all the blows. One of us has to pay the bill.

After just two singles, you find yourselves on the cover of every British magazine, acclaimed and adored. Don't you feel you've been overrated?

(Laughs)... We've been ridiculously overrated. Anyway, I'd rather be overestimated than underestimated. It's not a problem, we know how to be honest with ourselves. We know what our role on earth is. In fifteen years’ time, people will remember us as a whole. To them, Blur will represent the nineties.