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thekingofwinterblog · 7 months

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Franken Stein - Anime Vs Manga - Foils

As I've noted before, one of the more facinating things about comparing the later Soul Eater Anime vs the later Manga part is seeing and comparing the ways characters and themes follow similar lines, sometimes with wildly different outcomes, or quality of execution.

And one of the more interesting examples of this is how each incarnation handles Dr Franken Stein's descent into madness, and ultimately rejecting the abyss in it's own ways.

Both rely heavily on foils and contrasts, with the Anime using Stein's lovelife by contrasting his feelings for Marie Mjolnir with his deeply unhealthy attraction to Medusa, while the Manga uses the character of Justin Law to showcase why Stein ultimately rejected total madness.

Both have the same themes, but uses wildly different means to tell their story.

The anime's biggest difference here is that it actually has Stein fall to madness, while in the manga despite all temptations, and just how close he dances at the endge he never falls in.

This by it's very nature changes Stein's story to one of recovery, rather than temptation.

Because Anime Stein gives in, and the anime is not shy about illustrating just what a terrible choice doing so is.

The anime is also different in that it very much builds upon already established character and storylines in order to tell it's tale.

The anime takes the plotpoint of Crona betraying Stein to Medusa, and uses it as a springboard to further both Marie and Crona's characters as they deal with the aftermath of that choice.

This ultimately would likely not have happened if Crona had not fallen back into obeying Medusa again, and so Thematically, Crona's fate and redepmtion is tied to Stein's.

And while Crona is deeply, deeply regretful, Marie loves Stein and so deeply, deeply angry at both Crona and Medusa, while also wanting to reacue Stein.

However, this is just one side of the story, because Stein's actual fall is also rooted in the other character motivation that this direction uses to tell this tale.

And that is Medusa and her genuine, and toxic attraction to Stein.

Stein and Medusa ultimately are very similar people, both love taking things apary, both love chaos, and both are brilliant minds.

Their attraction to each others qualities are genuine... But that is all it is. Attraction. There is no love involved here, as neither actually cares about the other as a person.

These two only compliments the other in that they bring out the absolute worst aspects about the other. It is a relationship built on perverse attraction to their love for destrution and hedonism, very much a mirrior to Maka and Crona, who ends up being very important to this section of the story.

It is also a relationship built upon being the easy road. Whereas all the healthy relationships in the series are built around having to take the hard road with your loved ones, even when it hurts, medusa represents Stein just giving in to his madness, to jump off the abyss because he sees something destructive, tempting and interesting there.

Medusa additionally takes this a step into even further depravity by adding body possession into the mix, adding a third party into this mess, one withouth any capacity for concent... Which is made even worse by the fact that the person in question is a child.

Watching medusa and how much joy she takes in having twisted Stein to her will, it is crystal clear that she not only understands just how fucked up this entire thing is, but she REVELS in it.

It is frankly one of the most disturbing things in shonen anime and manga fiction period, and though thankfully it does not go all the way to the logical and disguisting endpoint, it still leaves the viewer both disguisted, disturbed and impressed just how EVIL Medusa really is.

And on the opposite end of the spectrum, we have Marie Mjolnir.

Whereas Medusa represents everything wrong about Stein's personality, Marie represents the opposite.

She represents Stein's caring side, his loyalty to his side and students, the man who was brave enough to stand alone against Medusa to buy his students time.

Hers and Stein's relationahip was one of genuine love, and understanding, not simply built on nothing but attraction and shared similarities.

Quite the the opposite, Stein and Marie could not be more different... And yet they love each other anyway.

I'll also note that the Anime portrays Marie and Stein's relationship in a different light than the manga does. In the manga, the entire point is to hammer in just how unlikely that these two people could ever fall for the other, while the Anime has the same premise but focuses on something else, namely how well this fits into Soul Eater's themes of different people coming together despite all their many, many differences.

When Stein ultimately makes the choice to go back to Marie, it doesnt feel like it's an unlikely choice, but instead one feels that it's the right one. It feels natural, that these two souls that fell away from each other once more found the other.

They are different people... But so what? They both have the bravery to gice this another shot, because they care about each other.

Also, just a bit of speculation on my part, but we never actually learn how Marie lost her eye in the phsyical world, but it shows up here, when she and Stein reaffirm their bond. That augfests to me that Marie probably lost the eye in circumstances that in some way meant something deep and profound between these two, given how important it seems to Stein.

If so, and especially if her losing it was Stein's fault in the first place, and mayhaps the reason they broke up, would add even more weight to her choice to gice this another go, forgiving him for his mistakes which deeply hurt her personally.

But again, this is total speculation.

Ultimately the Anime take on Stein is one that is defined by this contrast, the parallels and mirrors of Medusa and Marie, and Stein's ultimate choices between them.

Meanwhile, the Manga's foils is not between two differen people close to Stein, but instead about Stein himself as a mirror and foil to Justin Law.

Now let me be blunt. Justin Law is a very boring villain. There is very little compelling about him directly... But there is something compelling about the contrast between him and Stein.

Justin fell to madness because despite his rigid adherence to justice, honor and being a good person, he completely, and totally rejected any and all human bonds, with the only ones he made being made by complete accident, and ultimately he, in his madness, rejected even these.

He had no one to support him or draw strength from in his time of need, and so he fell to madness.

Meanwhile, Stein, despite being far, far more naturally inclined and much closer to madness from the get go, ultimately does not jump over the edge in the Manga... And the reason for that is his relationship with Marie Mjolner.

Ultimately Stein despite all his flaws devotes himself to Marie and helping her avenge her dead ex boyfriend.

And ultimately these two end up reconnecting their love just the anime, even to the degree that they get much further along in their reknit relationship than their manga counterparts.

However there are some massive differences between the two adaptions in this regard.

While the anime plays them getting back together again as a natural thing, the Manga instead plays up just how unbelievable and insane it is that these two somehow managed to reknit their relationahip, to the point where Marie actually protests that Stein is not her boyfriend, even as she is pregnant with his child.

I do actually like this take too... But I do prefer the Anime version, in large part because we actually get to see The critical turning point between Marie and stein, while the manga has their lighting the old flame happen offscreen.

It also helps that while the thematic differences between stein and Law are solid, Law is not a particularily interesting character, nor do him and Law have a deep connection.

Medusa is, and does have that connection. She is a delightfully EVIL and TWISTED villain, and her relationship with Stein makes the climax of Stain's arc, if much less of a spectacle, a much more emotional and thematically satisfying affair.

And thats even withouth factoring in the fact that this fight's outcome is actually about Crona, Maka and Medusa. Stein's fall and recovery is technically the sideplot, buy damn if it's not a great one.

#soul eater anime #soul eater #medusa gorgon #dr franken stein #meta #marie mjolnir #justin law #maka albarn #crona gorgon #old flame #toxic relationship #toxic love

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man-down-in-hatchet-town · 2 months

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So I Spied Another Day...

You know it was a good show when you can’t decide whether your heart is so full from all the love and joy, or so empty because it's over.

Really do buckle up, because this is a long one.

So the show went a little like this. They played the Spies pro-shoot on a giant movie screen, but any time a song started, the audio changed to the instrumental track, the video typically faded to simple background graphics, and the cast came out to perform the number live in concert style. There were also a series of audience participation prompts up on the movie screen, such as standing to deliver a line in unison, giving Lauren a standing ovation for the Pay Attention! Reprise, enthusiastically booing Dr. Baron von Nazi and the still infuriatingly catchy Not So Bad (for anyone who’s curious, in addition to encouraging boos and yelled disagreements with von Nazi, they also cut the audience participation bit from the song).

The energy in the room was so electric and full of joy and warmth. People shouted out iconic lines, went wild for everyone’s entrances, and absolutely lost their damn minds over Curtwen at pretty much every opportunity. And the cast were clearly having just as much fun. Doing This has always been my favorite, and there was something so sweet about them singing it again all these years later. We finally got Joey performing Spies Are Forever (Evil Reprise) again and it was just as chilling and beautiful as you’d expect. And One Step Ahead was just on a whole new level. I don’t want to give anything away, but the details in that performance were INCREDIBLE.

It was simply so special seeing most of the original gang come back while also bringing some new friends along. Shout out to Mariah for coming out at the top of the show so ready to play, setting the tone for the whole evening. Shout out to James for putting his comedy chops on full display (LET JAMES BE FUNNY MORE) and dancing the hell out of One More Shot (another favorite number). And shoutout to Carlos Alazraqui (taking over the roles of Sergio and Vladimir Poopin) and Tommy Link for coming into this crazy part of our world with such enthusiasm and silliness. Brian deserves a medal for agreeing to once again play the most cringe-worthy character in all of Pulp-StarCanWrecked history, and for sounding so fucking good while doing it. Tessa was having a blast in full unhinged glory and I gladly worship at her altar. Lauren is maybe the funniest person alive and deserved her standing ovation, prompted or not. Seeing Joe Walker perform live has been Item Number One on my fandom bucket list since I moved to LA a couple of years ago, and I still can’t quite believe I managed it. I’d wondered if he’d be rusty, but honestly he sounded great; it was like no time had passed. Mary Kate still has one of my all-time favorite voices and her Tatiana remains forever engaging. Joey showed up dressed to slay as a gay evil genius Bond-movie supervillain and proceeded to thoroughly deliver on that promise. And Curt… every time I watch Spies I am increasingly blown away by what he does with this arrogant, broken mess of a character. He clearly loves Agent Mega as much as any of us, and to see a performance refined and powered by such clear and thoughtful passion is just a huge treat.

(And while he wasn’t in the cast, I can’t not mention Corey. Between his roles as director and co-writer, so much of what Spies is comes directly from him and we don’t appreciate that nearly enough. And shout out to Esther Fallick for her wonderful work as Susan and the Informant. She might not have been there in person, but her incredible performance was with us the whole time.)

I know this is preaching to the choir, but Spies Are Forever really is such a special show. It’s a story about recovery, and devastating as it can be, I think there’s also something deeply healing about it at its core. For one thing, I know it played a huge role in mending my relationship with my asexuality. I will forever be grateful to it for existing, to TCB, Talkfine, and the original cast for creating it, and to those same people for maintaining its legacy with the amount of love and care it deserves. It was a privilege to be in the room as so many people came to celebrate this miraculous little musical. There were a couple of minor tech glitches (I wonder if they’ll even include the “big one”—the projector jumping over most of the staircase scene before getting fixed—in the digital ticket version), but nothing that could even begin to damper the magic of the night.

We all know that spies never die (except for Owen and the Informant, oops). And at times like this concert, I think this special little show with its short run in 2016 will prove to be just as immortal.

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matttgirlies · 30 days

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Matt & Me🎀

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a story heavily based on Priscilla Presley’s Book “Elvis & Me” based in the 1950’s - 1970’s.

fem! reader x singer! matt

disclaimer!! - in no way am i saying matt would ever support or do these kind of things, for the sake of the book certain unethical things do happen at times.

warnings - mentions of an affair

y/nn = your nickname for any confusion🩷

Chapter 20

In my diary entry dated April 5, I wrote, “The baby’s getting more beautiful as each day goes by. Dr. Turman said she’s healthy and progressing well. Matt went with me to the pediatrician, waiting outside in the car. He also accompanied me to the obstetrician. He’s insisting I keep up with my regular checkups taking care of both of us like a doting father.

“But I’ve been lonely for him since the baby’s birth; he is still withdrawn. It’s been two months and he still hasn’t touched me. I’m getting concerned.”

The following day, I wrote, “I asked Matt if anything was wrong, if he’s lost his desire for me. I saw this made him a little uncomfortable. He told me he wants to make sure my system’s back to normal—that he doesn’t want to hurt me. That made me feel a little better.

“We brought Charlotte to our room, put her in the middle of the bed with us. She’s such a good baby—we can’t believe she’s ours.”

Matt and I started getting back into our regular routine. Since the baby was born, we were spending more time at Graceland, eventually moving all the horses back to the original stables, James selling much of the equipment and, later, the Circle G itself.

Matt accepted fatherhood with a great deal of joy, but the fact that I was a mother had a disquieting effect on him. I didn’t understand at the time, but later on I would learn more about men who are very close to their own mothers. I am no purveyor of Freudian theory. I believe when a man comes into the world, his first unconditional love is his mother. She cuddles him, gives him warmth, the breast for nourishment, and everything he needs to exist. None of those feelings has a sexual connotation. Later, when his own wife becomes a mother, this bank of memories is ripped open and his passion may dissipate.

When Matt’s mother was alive they had been unusually close. Matt even told her about his amatory adventures, and many nights when she was ill, he would sleep in her room with her. All the girls he took out seriously had to fulfill Mary Lou’s requirements of the ideal woman. And as with me, Matt then put the girl on a pedestal, “saving her” until the time was sacred and right. He had his wild times, his flings, but any girl he came home to he had to respect.

Now I was a mother and he was uncertain how to treat me. He had mentioned before we were married that he had never been able to make love to a woman who’d had a child. But throughout my pregnancy—until the last six weeks—we had made love passionately. He’d been very careful each time, afraid that he might hurt the baby or me, but he was always loving and sensitive to my needs. Now months had passed.

On April 20 I wrote in my diary: “I embarrassed myself last night. I wore a black negligee, laid as close to Matt as I could while he read. I guess it was because, I knew what I wanted and was making it obvious. I kissed his hand, then each finger, then his neck and face. But I waited too long. His sleeping pills had taken effect. Another lonely night.”

Finally, months later Matt made love to me. Before we made love, he told me I was a young mother now, that being the mother of his child is very special. But I wrote in my diary, “I am beginning to doubt my own sexuality as a woman. My physical and emotional needs were unfulfilled.”

We returned to Los Angeles, where Matt was filming Live a Little, Love a Little. He started getting into his old habits again. Frustrated, I started searching for dance classes to enroll in. I looked through the local Yellow Pages until one class caught my attention, a school for jazz and ballet not far from home.

The studio was small and unpretentious; the owner, Mark, was an extremely attractive and dynamic man of forty-five. He was an excellent dancer and a fine teacher, and by the time I left that afternoon, I had enrolled for private lessons.

Still too shy to dance in front of a group, I wanted to wait until I was sure I could keep up with the other dancers before taking a class. I began taking private lessons three times a week. Mark’s personal interest and attention were flattering, and I was soon doing lifts and jumps, things I’d never thought I could accomplish.

He said I had the potential to be a good dancer, and he pushed me to the limit. Out of frustration and pain I would want to quit. Demanding that I continue, he told me I was building character and forced me to repeat the same routine until it was nearly perfected. This made me realize that I could go further than I’d ever dreamed.

He believed in me, and I was accomplishing something. For the first time I was creating, feeling good about myself, and I couldn’t wait to get to class each day.

Mark was charismatic and I was particularly vulnerable. In lieu of a passionate marriage, dance was becoming my life; I was obsessed with it, taking all my frustrations and feelings into the studio. I found myself thinking about Mark even when I was home. I had only seen him a few times in my life and yet I was unable to get him out of my mind. I rationalized, telling myself it was because he was always there for me. He seemed to understand me, while the man I truly loved was involved in his own world. I began to relax, enjoying myself almost against my will. It had been a while since I’d spent some time with a man who validated my abilities and appreciated spending time with me alone. It was also the first time I was not competing for my own identity. This was a high I had not experienced recently. I had a brief affair and decided to end it.

I came out of it realizing I needed much more out of my relationship with Matt. Matt and I decided to get away to Hawaii.

This was the first time we’d gone on holiday, and I was hoping that it would be a second honeymoon, that my experience with Mark would be forgotten. We took along Charlotte, her nurse, Nate, Amber, Patsy and her husband, Gee Gee, Steven and his wife Nora, and Charlie. We checked into the Ilikai Hotel on Waikiki, but soon found that Matt couldn’t go to the beach without attracting a crowd. We decided to rent a house on a private beach and spent the rest of our vacation there.

We had a great time, and Matt and I were like two kids again, away from the pressures and the filming—and away from Mark, to whom my attention would occasionally wander.

It was there that we met Tom Jones, and Matt became very fond of him. He had always enjoyed Tom’s vocal style, especially in “Green, Green Grass of Home,” which Matt had first heard while traveling from L.A. to Boston. He’d called me when they’d stopped in Arizona, encouraging me to get the record.

Tom Jones and Matt enjoyed an instant rapport. After an appearance at the Ilikai, Tom invited us to his suite, along with our group. Within minutes the champagne exploded and the party was on. We laughed, drank, joked, drank some more (lots more), jammed—and reeled back to the Ilikai at dawn. Matt had had such a good time he personally invited Tom and his group to join us the next day at our beach house. A friendship was born, a friendship of mutual respect and admiration.

One of Matt’s outstanding attributes was his conviction that there was room for anyone with talent in the entertainment field. In my experience, only a few stars are this generous. Greed, insecurity, jealousy, ego usually keep celebrities from supporting one another.

Matt could spot talent instantly. In Las Vegas, we regularly took in lounge acts featuring various up-and-coming artists, and if Matt liked the show, he patronized the club, encouraging the entertainers to pursue their careers, infusing them with confidence and enthusiasm.

Some of his favorites were Ike and Tina Turner, Gary Puckett and the Union Gap, dancers Tybe and Bracia, and old-timers Fats Domino and the Ink Spots, all talented people deserving acknowledgment in their craft.

One night we visited Barbra Streisand backstage at the International Hotel, now the Hilton. It was a classic Streisand performance and Matt, after a few too many Bloody Marys, wanted to tell Barbra his impressions. We were ushered backstage to her dressing room and Matt’s first words upon meeting her were: “What did you ever see in Elliott Gould? I never could stand him.”

In typical Streisandese she retorted, “Whaddya mean? He’s the fah-tha of my child!”—leaving Matt speechless.

Matt had some other very special favorites—Arthur Prysock, John Gary, opera star Robert Merrill, Brook Benton, Roy Orbison, and Charles Boyer’s recording “Where Has Love Gone?”

He couldn’t abide singers who were, in his words, “all technique and no emotional feeling” and in this category he firmly placed Mel Torme and Robert Goulet. They were both responsible for two television sets being blown away with a.357 Magnum.

Matt’s five-year contract with MGM was up in 1968 and he was finally free to move on to new challenges. Even Colonel admitted that Matt’s career needed a shot in the arm. NBC made him an offer to do his own television special, with newcomer Steve Binder directing. There was no initial format, but the idea was tempting and the money was right. The fact that there was no script—that it was an “open development”—made Colonel hesitant to agree. Colonel demanded more control than that, but Matt wanted to meet Steve, make sure that they could get along, speak the same language.

It had been years since Matt had appeared on TV and he was nervous. To his surprise, Steve was much younger than he had anticipated, extremely perceptive, and soft-spoken, a startling contrast to the studio heads he’d worked with, men much older, with hardened, preconceived opinions on how Matt should be packaged and sold. For the first time in years he felt creative. Steve Binder gained Matt’s trust and had the sensitivity to let Matt just be Matt. Steve observed, took mental notes, learned Matt’s ways, discovered what made his star comfortable and what got him uptight.

During their meetings Steve sensed Matt’s fear that he hadn’t been before a live audience in years but he noticed that Matt came alive backstage in the dressing room jamming with the musicians.

Each day he grew more confident and excited about his new project, taking pride once again in his appearance, watching his weight, following his diet, and working closely with the show’s costume designer, Bill Belew, creating a look we hadn’t seen him sport in years—the black leather suit.

I was surprised when he said, “Sattnin, I feel a little silly in that outfit. You think it’s okay?”

Matt knew this special was a big step in his career. He could not fail. For two straight months he worked harder than on all his movies combined. It was the most important event in his life.

During this time I was discovering whole new worlds of music—Segovia; Blood, Sweat and Tears; Tchaikovsky; Santana; Mason Williams; Ravel; Sergio Mendes; Herb Alpert—and I was anxious to share my new enthusiasms, music and dance, with my husband. I wanted to bring energy to our relationship in the hope of strengthening our marriage. Discussions at the dinner table now included Leonard Bernstein and Carlos Montoya, but they held no appeal for Matt; the TV special was consuming all his thoughts.

He was away much of the time, and when we did see each other our level of communication was strictly superficial. Each absorbed in our own separate pursuits, we had little in common except our daughter. My approach with him was delicate: I was aware of the distance growing between us. But because of his preoccupation with the special, I realized that the last thing he needed from me was a statement that I feared we were drifting apart.

In his absence, I was taking care of Charlotte in addition to attending dance classes in the morning, ballet in the early evening, and two jazz classes at night, lasting often until one in the morning. I was now studying with a new dance instructor, who was using me to give demonstrations for the evening classes. Many of the students were professional dancers. I had diligently worked my way into the company, rehearsing four hours every day to master new steps, constantly pushing myself to new limits, and eventually I was to take a place in the dance company, anonymously performing shows on weekends at colleges in the L.A. area.

Matt’s Singer TV special was a huge success, the highest-rated special of the year, and his finale, “If I Can Dream,” was his first million-sell-ing record in years. We sat around the TV watching the show, nervously anticipating the response. Matt was quiet and tense through the whole program, but as soon as the calls started, we all knew he had a new triumph. He hadn’t lost his touch. He was still the King of Rock and Roll.

It was a blessing for both of us. The hours I devoted to dance released him from the strain of my dependence. My new interest didn’t pose a threat in the sense that taking up a profession would have. I was still there to tend to his needs, as he wanted his wife to be, while also creating my own world, no longer intimidated by the magnitude of his. I was growing, learning, and expanding as an individual.

This new freedom nearly came to an abrupt end when a newcomer to the clan decided to take it upon himself to investigate my comings and goings. He reported to Matt that I was seen coming out of a dance studio at a late hour and did Matt want him to carry it any further. Matt’s unpredictability in dealing with certain crises in life could be astounding.

Logically, such a volatile man would explode. Instead, he made no accusations. His only comment was, “Little One, there are some people who are insinuating you’ve been seen coming out of a dance studio at late hours.”

“It’s true. You know I’m part of the company. It’s not just me leaving. That’s the time we break.”

I pleaded with him to tell me who was starting trouble. All he would say was, “Let’s put it this way: He’s new and he’s treading on dangerous ground. If he knows what’s good for him, he better keep the fuck to his own business.”

After the success of his special, Matt devoted several weeks to a recording session, and again he was highly motivated. For the first time in fourteen years, he’d been persuaded to record in Memphis, at the American Sound Studios, a black company where major artists, including Aretha Franklin, had recorded their most recent hits. The studio musicians were young and Matt had a great rapport with them. More importantly, he made great music with them.

He’d be at the studio singing until the early-morning hours and then return the next evening, full of energy and ready to start again. His voice was in top form and his excitement was infectious. Each cut was more terrific than the one before. We’d listen to the songs over and over, Matt yelling, “All right, listen to that sound,” or “Goddamn, play it again.”

Colonel stayed away from this session. Matt was the artist, and he was on a roll. He ended up recording so many songs, it took RCA a year and a half to release them all, including hits like “In the Ghetto,” “Kentucky Rain,” and “Suspicious Minds.”

Watching Matt sing with confidence again, honing each word in his own style, filled us all with pride. What a contrast to sessions in the past that had been filled with anger, frustration, and disappointment, resulting in late arrivals or, on occasion, no-shows.

At one point he looked over at me, smiled, then casually started singing “From a Jack to a King.” He knew it was a favorite of mine. Later he sang “Do You Know Who I Am?” As I listened to the words, I couldn’t help but relate to them.

After four years of lackluster songs, he was back on the charts again, and RCA could no longer complain about him. They’d been threatening the Colonel that if Matt didn’t have a recording session soon, they were going to rerelease some of his old songs.

One success led to another. Since his TV special, he was eager to begin performing in front of a live audience again, to prove to everyone that he hadn’t lost his touch. Looking for the best source of immediate income, the Colonel made a deal with the nearly completed Las Vegas International for Matt to headline there for a month, at a salary of half a million dollars.

Vegas was the challenge he needed to demonstrate that he could still captivate a live audience. This was what he loved most and did best. But it was a major challenge.

He hadn’t made any real demands on his voice in years and now was locked into two shows a night for twenty-eight days straight. Anxious, he wondered whether he was up to the strain, whether he’d draw sellout crowds, whether he would be able to hold an audience for a full two hours. He wanted this new act to be accepted, feeling he now had more than his rock-and-roll gyrations to offer.

Not only was this a crucial time in his career, but there was the additional pressure of the unprecedented fee and the fact that Las Vegas was the only city where he’d bombed, thirteen years earlier, in 1956.

He wasn’t the kind of person who’d come out and say, “I’m scared.” Instead I’d see it in his actions, his left leg shaking, and his foot tapping. He held in his fears and emotions until at times he would explode, tearing into anyone who happened to be around. At dinner one evening Matt said that he was concerned about his hairstyle, and I mentioned I’d seen a billboard of Ricky Nelson on Sunset Boulevard. His hair was long with a slight wave, and I thought it was extremely appealing. I innocently suggested that Matt take a look at it. “Are you goddamn crazy?” he shouted. “After all these years, Ricky Nelson, Fabian, that whole group have more or less followed in my footsteps, and now I’m supposed to copy them? You’ve gotta be out of your mind, woman.”

He left the dinner table in a rage. He had always been hailed as an original and now he was afraid that in Vegas even that wouldn’t be enough. I knew I had injured his ego and for that I apologized.

In preparing his show for the International, Matt pulled out all the stops. He was in top form—on a natural high quite independent of pills. He was more trim and physically fit than he’d ever been.

Excerpt from: "Elvis and Me" by Priscilla Beaulieu Presley. Scribd. This material may be protected by copyright.

a/n - these next few chapters will be a little slower paced sorry!!🎀

#matthew sturn #matt stuniolo fanfic #matthew sturniolo #matt sturniolo #chris sturniolo #christopher sturniolo #sturniolo edit #sturniolo fanfic #sturniolo imagine #sturniolo smut #sturniolo triplets #sturniolo x reader #nick sturniolo #Spotify

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birdybirdnerd · 11 months

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People say the Universe is a vast, uncaring thing.

They are wrong.

The Universe cares so much.

Every being has a story to tell. Even objects, mere inanimate things, have their stories. Stories are told in the lines of someone's face, in the river delta that opens to the ocean. In the gradual graying of hair, the fading of cloth, the erosion of stone and flesh into the softness of age. The world tells a story in every tree and snowflake and smile and fallen tear, and that story is one of heartbreak, of fortitude, of perseverance -

And of joy.

When a raging hurricane floods a neighborhood, the Universe cries alongside every person displaced. When a child is conceived against all odds, the Universe rejoices with the soon-to-be parents. When injustices are met upon the downtrodden, the Universe curses those with boots upon throats just as fiercely, and when those trodden upon rise back up with fire singing in their blood, the Universe fights back, too.

The Universe loves, and loves, and loves.

But not everyone feels that love. Some people say it is uncaring, it is dark. That the only love to be felt is that of each other.

Some people... dont even say that.

And so, the Universe heard them, and reached back.

She has taken many forms. She tends towards ones that are softer, kinder; forms that ease the minds of the beings she meets, that make them feel comforted, that make them feel loved. Because that is her purpose: to care for those that no longer believe in a caring Universe. To show them that, actually, there is more out there for them, there is happiness and love and joy all waiting for them. All that and more.

She has taken many professions over time, to ease her way; medicine woman, shaman, doctor. Therapist, more often in modern times. Always, positions that bring to her the people that need her most; the damaged, the despairing, the lost.

She helps them, encourages them, loves them.

Shows them, that there is joy for them out there, if they only need the tools to look.

This woman, this piece of the Universe loving them, loving herself, loving you, eventually grew beyond her initial existence. She had taken many names over time, in many tongues, but found herself drawn to patterns as she became less All and more Her. Names that invoked comfort, invited happiness. Maybe, names that seemed a little on the nose for her purpose, but who's to say the Universe doesnt have a sense of humor?

So when she became less All and more Her, and when the Universe realized that hoarding this piece if itself, this radiant beacon of hope and light, was cruel, and decided to let her go-

She chose a final name for herself, and held it close as the parting gift her Universe gave to her:

Joy.

Her work done here, in this Universe that finally knew Love, Joy moved on. To other Universes in need of help. To other Stories in need of direction. To other people in need of advice.

In need of some joy.

Things change, and hardness and misery follow some like heavy stormclouds. They believe the Universe doesnt care, but they are wrong.

The Universe cares. It cares so much.

#personal #my writing #dr mary joy #can toy tell taz balance affected my brain a lot when i was young

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birdy-bird-art · 11 months

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Doctor Mary Joy, here to help you.

I have had this character for (checks ff.net) SEVEN YEARS. Ever since Unexpected Meeting (I would link where it's posted on AO3 if it weren't still down), where she helped Bobby and a severely depressed Saint Dane deal with their shit. She is very near and dear to my heart, and I can't believe it's taken this long for me to actually draw her.

I tossed her up on ArtFight for shits and giggles, but that required spoiling a bit of an important detail about her that... well, never really comes up in stories she pops up in- the most recent of which, being Somewhere Else, where she has begun the process of helping Stanley and the Narrator with their own shit.

If you're curious, why not take a look?

And if you like what I do, why not buy me a Ko-Fi?

#original #real stuff #original characters #original character #dr mary joy

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teaspoonnebula · 1 year

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Big List of My Sherlock Holmes Fanfics & Pastiches!

Yes I made silly covers for them on Canva, shhh.

Sci-Fi and Speculative Fiction:

The World Awry Series

Sherlock Holmes must track down an old enemy in a new time. Reuniting with his beloved Boswell over a span of 140 years seems impossible... but perhaps it is simply highly improbable. (My 'Sherlock Holmes time travels to the 21st century' series)

41,681 words total, rated Teen, explores Holmes being aroace, and frames his relationship with Watson as platonic/queerplatonic.

The Time Enough Series

Watson has one of those 'spontaneous time travel' diseases causing him to live his life out of order, which explains many of the inconsistencies in his narratives.

16,838 words total, rated General, explores bisexual Watson having romantic relationships with Mary and Holmes at different points in his life.

What Sleeps Within

Creating an artificial intelligence is difficult. Resurrecting the dead, however, is easy. A cyberpunk future where robots can be powered by human souls.

5,203 words, Teen Rated, Gen.

Watson is a Time Lord

Lovingly intricate series of crossover stories between the Granada series and Doctor Who, although I've been reliably informed that you don't need to be familair with Doctor Who to enjoy them. A collaboration with @jeremys-come-to-bed-eyes and @fruitviking

Hiatus Stories:

A series exploring the gap in the Canon between The Final Problem and The Empty House.

Kingdom of Tea - Sickness strikes the plantations of Terai. Victor Trevor is called to the deathbed of his tea-taster, a reclusive Frenchman called Pierre Laurent, to dictate his final letter… to a man named Dr John Watson. 3,212, Gen

Sinful Lips to the Ghostly Dead - When a family friend is troubled by the activities of a shady spiritualist medium, Watson attempts to summon everything Holmes taught him to solve the mystery. It seems he's not the only one trying to 'channel' the mind of the Great Detective... could the spirit of Sherlock Holmes be trying to make contact? 4,483 words, Gen.

His Brother - Watson and Mycroft are united by a shared grief, and later, a shared joy. 4654 words, Gen

The First Case - Six months after the death of Sherlock Holmes at the Reichenbach Falls, Dr Watson is reluctantly called into action to cover the practice of a country doctor. He hopes it will be a way to ease back into the humdrum rigmarole of a general practitioner, but instead he finds himself embroiled in the kind of strange case which would have delighted his dearly departed friend.

Retirement Stories:

Golden Visions, Are Ye Flown? - Something seems to be wrong with Sherlock Holmes, and Watson will use every ounce of his knowledge, skill, loving and caring to find a way to make him better again. 11125 words, queerplatonic 'getting together/making a commitment' story.

#acd fanfic #fanfiction #sherlock holmes fanfiction #acd holmes #sherlock holmes #fanfic #ao3 fanfic

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ewanmitchellcrumbs · 11 months

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TL;DR: I am massively over sharing, but not going anywhere. This will be long, but I am enjoying the freedom that openness is affording me. TW: baby loss.

You might remember a couple of weeks ago I mentioned I thought I had norovirus or food poisoning, it turns out it was the onset of a miscarriage. I didn’t know I was pregnant, but once the vomiting, etc. had passed I felt a heaviness in my lower abdomen, coupled with heavy bleeding. I wasn’t due on yet and something just didn’t feel right. Max drove me to A&E and in the four hours it took for me to be seen, I’d passed most of it on the waiting room floor.

I don’t want kids and, owing to fertility issues, I can’t carry to full term anyway. I didn’t feel like I had a right to grieve, to be sad over something I didn’t want, so I didn’t tell anyone. The only person that knew was Max.

Over the last couple of weeks I’ve shut myself off from everyone and been unbearable to be around. I tell Max to leave me alone when he tries to talk to me. We tried to go on a lunch date together last weekend and ended up going home early because we both felt miserable. He bought me flowers - he always does when I am sad - and they usually always cheer me up. I hated these flowers. They felt like they served as a reminder of my lack of control, a reward for something I hadn’t earned. When they died and I could finally throw them away I felt relieved.

I’ve poured myself into fandom, hoping for a distraction. You may have noticed my last two Aemond fics were angsty ones (Anhedonia and Careless Words) - I think that was my way of attempting to release whatever it was that I’d bottled up.

Then the drama started - I defended a friend and for 48 hours I was publicly torn apart on another user’s page. Old issues were dragged into it and once more resurfaced. It’s hit me a lot harder than it usually would because I just don’t have the capacity to deal with it.

But it did give me the shove I finally needed to open up and talk about what has happened to me. I’ve talked through my feelings with Max, we went on a cinema date together and it was nice, so nice. We told each other we’d missed each other.

It’s like a weight has been lifted, and has given me some much needed clarity on the situation here in fandom. I am not prepared to walk away from fandom, I adore writing too much. However, I can admit that both parties involved in what has transpired over the last few days, weeks, months, have acted appallingly. I hold my hands up to the part I have played and I apologise. I will be better, do better.

With that in mind, I will be Marie Kondo-ing my space and removing anyone that does not bring me joy. I suggest you all do the same. Don’t follow people out of obligation, don’t be nice publicly then slander them in private. If you don’t like me, don’t follow me. I want nothing in my little corner of the web that I don’t enjoy. I don’t want to put out anything that has the potential to sour people’s fandom experience or make it a toxic experience for them.

I can’t be best buddies with everyone, but I refuse to be anyone’s enemy either. I will choose to be kind, because over the last couple of weeks I have not been kind to myself or others. And it has fucking sucked. No more.

I don’t want anyone’s sympathy, so please spare me. I just wanted to be fully transparent. It’s nice not to bottle this up anymore.

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satorusplayplace · 1 year

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— General Guidelines to Rules

☆ I write one-shots, headshots, maybe a mini series, and it’s a multi-fandom blog :)

☆ this blog is STRICTLY SFW. please respect that, i’m a minor and will not be writing any nsfw. i will write angst, comfort, fluffy, anything but nsfw!

Interactions —

☆ please don’t be weird! i’m a minor (again!!)

☆ please be respectful! i will not get to every request and may not answer your request!

☆ my chat is open for requests/ideas and just to chat just put a name to urself (doesn’t have to be ur actual name!)

— AVAILABLE FANDOMS!

☆ jujutsu kaisen; gojo satoru, itadori yuuji, fushiguro megumi, fushiguro toji, nanami kento, kugisaki nobara, geto suguru, ryomen sukuna, inumaki toge, okkotsu yuta (maybe more? + up to date with manga)

☆ blue lock; isagi yoichi, nagi seishiro, bachira meguru, kunigami rensuke, chigiri hyoma, mikage reo, itoshi rin, barou shoei + more (i've only watched the anime!)

☆ soul eater; dr. stein, spirits, soul, maka, death the kid, justin law, marie, crona, medusa, asura, that spider women i forget what’s her name LOLOL, tsubaki, black star + more (watched anime)

☆ demon slayer; uzui tengen, tomioka giyuu, akaza (yes the demon), shinazugawa sanemi (read the manga!)

COMING SOON… (maybe.)

☆ chainsaw man

☆ hunter x hunter

☆ my hero academia (?)

☆ chainsaw man

☆ naruto

REQUESTS —

☆ please be specific!! it's hard to do a request when you're not being specific enough!

☆ i mostly write fem!reader. so please be specific with what reader you want! i do not write ships so do not ask for them.

☆ i do not take requests that include really specific details - i want to be able to make y/n neutral as possible but you can ask for like a "sunshine type of person y/n"! something like that. (exception being chubby!reader)

(note: it will take me a while to get to your request or i will not respond. this is only for my fun and whenever i'm bored and want to write something that brings me joy instead of making a presentation or writing another four-page essay.)

i am comfortable writing;

☆ SFW

☆ Angst

☆ and something that's like a romance trope (enemies to lovers) but make it SFW!

i am NOT comfortable writing;

☆ incest

☆ nsfw

☆ pedophilia

☆ religious themes

☆ furries and anything else above.

—

☆ note: I do not prompt any violence/manipulative toxic behavior. this is fictional! any request for those topics i'm not okay with above, will be removed and i have the right to not write your request.

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dalekofchaos · 11 months

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Gunnverse Batman fancast

Fancast for James Gunn’s DCU/Batman!

DCEU recast

Burtonverse Recast

90′s Justice League

Reevesverse Batman

Superman

Wonder Woman

The Flash

Green Lantern

Aquaman

Justice League

Green Arrow

Teen Titans

Suicide Squad

Justice League Dark

Batman Beyond

The Dark Knight Returns

Telltale’s Batman

Injustice

Legion Of Doom

Birds Of Prey

Jensen Ackles as Batman/Bruce Wayne

Peter Capaldi as Alfred Pennyworth

Jon Hamm as Thomas Wayne

Lena Headley as Martha Wayne

Courtney B. Vance as Lucius Fox

Laura Dern as Dr Leslie Thompkins

Bryan Cranston as James Gordon

David Harbour as Harvey Bullock

Stephanie Beatriz as Renee Montoya

Bill Hader as Jack Ryder/The Creeper

Jodie Comer as Vicki Vale

Jesús Castro as Nightwing/Dick Grayson

Kiera Allen as Oracle/Barbara Gordon

Dacre Montgomery as Red Hood/Jason Todd

Noah Schnapp as Red Robin/Tim Drake

Kristen Stewart as Batwoman/Kate Kane

Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Huntress/Helena Bertinelli

Riley Lai Nelet as Batgirl/Cassandra Cain

Mckenna Grace as Spoiler/Stephanie Brown

Izaac Wang as Robin/Damian Wayne

John Boyega as Batwing/Luke Fox

Caleb McLaughlin as Duke Thomas/The Signal

Alexander Ludwig as Azrael/Jean Paul Valley

Michael B Jordan as Azrael/Michael Lane

Ana De Armas as Catwoman/Selina Kyle

Brian Cox as Commissioner Gillian Loeb

Sam Witwer as Captain Howard Brandon

Michael Weatherly as Detective Arnold Flass

Robert De Niro as Carmine Falcone

Gina Mantegna as Sofia Falcone

David Dastmalchian as Alberto Falcone

James Carpinello as Mario Falcone

Al Pacino as Sal Maroni

John Goodman as Rupert Thorne

Michael Imperioli as Anthony Zucco

Willem Dafoe as The Joker

Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn

David Tennant as The Riddler/Edward Nygma

Alfred Molina as The Penguin/Oswald Chesterfield Cobblepot

Oscar Isaac as Two-Face/Harvey Dent

Giancarlo Esposito as Mr Freeze/Victor Fries

Viggo Mortensen as Black Mask/Roman Sionis

Jane Levy as Andrea Beaumont/The Phantasm

Adam Driver as Scarecrow/Jonathan Crane

Kevin Grevioux as Killer Croc

Laz Alonso as Bane

Doug Jones as Man-Bat/Kirk Langstrom

Peter Stormare as Clayface/Basil Karlo

Toby Jones as Mad Hatter/Jervis Tetch

John Lithgow as The Ventriloquist/Arnold Wesker

Natalie Dormer as The Ventriloquist II/Peyton Riley

Dohmnall Gleeson as Hush/Thomas Elliot

Raul Esparza as Hugo Strange

Anya Taylor-Joy as Poison Ivy

Pedro Pascal as Deadshot/Floyd Lawton

Frank Grillo as Deathstroke/Slade Wilson

Finn Wittrock as Talon/William Cobb

Karl Urban as Owlman/Thomas Wayne Jr

Stephen Fry as Professor Pyg

Stephen Lang as David Cain

Daniel Radcliffe as Anarky

Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as Cluemaster

Keanu Reeves as Prometheus

Ming-Na Wen as Lady Shiva

Ghassan Massoud as Ra’s Al Ghul

Nadine Njeim as Talia Al Ghul

Yasmine Al Massri as Nyssa Al Ghul

Michael Fassbender as Dr Simon Hurt

Kat Graham as Jezebel Jet/Black Glove

Christian Bale as The Batman Who Laughs

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mylittledarkag3 · 4 months

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How many have you read out of the hundred?

Me: 64/100

Reblog & share your results

1. "Pride and Prejudice" by Jane Austen

2. "Crime and Punishment" by Fyodor Dostoevsky

3. "To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee

4. "1984" by George Orwell

5. "Great Expectations" by Charles Dickens

6. "One Hundred Years of Solitude" by Gabriel García Márquez

7. "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Brontë

8. "The Catcher in the Rye" by J.D. Salinger

9. "War and Peace" by Leo Tolstoy

10. "The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald

11. "Moby-Dick" by Herman Melville

12. "The Odyssey" by Homer

13. "Wuthering Heights" by Emily Brontë

14. "Anna Karenina" by Leo Tolstoy

15. "The Brothers Karamazov" by Fyodor Dostoevsky

16. "The Iliad" by Homer

17. "Frankenstein" by Mary Shelley

18. "Les Misérables" by Victor Hugo

19. "Don Quixote" by Miguel de Cervantes

20. "Middlemarch" by George Eliot

21. "The Picture of Dorian Gray" by Oscar Wilde

22. "The Scarlet Letter" by Nathaniel Hawthorne

23. "Dracula" by Bram Stoker

24. "Sense and Sensibility" by Jane Austen

25. "The Hunchback of Notre-Dame" by Victor Hugo

26. "The War of the Worlds" by H.G. Wells

27. "The Grapes of Wrath" by John Steinbeck

28. "The Canterbury Tales" by Geoffrey Chaucer

29. "The Portrait of a Lady" by Henry James

30. "The Jungle Book" by Rudyard Kipling

31. "Siddhartha" by Hermann Hesse

32. "The Divine Comedy" by Dante Alighieri

33. "A Tale of Two Cities" by Charles Dickens

34. "The Trial" by Franz Kafka

35. "Mansfield Park" by Jane Austen

36. "The Three Musketeers" by Alexandre Dumas

37. "Fahrenheit 451" by Ray Bradbury

38. "Gulliver's Travels" by Jonathan Swift

39. "The Sound and the Fury" by William Faulkner

40. "Emma" by Jane Austen

41. "Robinson Crusoe" by Daniel Defoe

42. "Tess of the d'Urbervilles" by Thomas Hardy

43. "The Republic" by Plato

44. "Heart of Darkness" by Joseph Conrad

45. "The Hound of the Baskervilles" by Arthur Conan Doyle

46. "The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde" by Robert Louis Stevenson

47. "The Prince" by Niccolò Machiavelli

48. "The Metamorphosis" by Franz Kafka

49. "The Old Man and the Sea" by Ernest Hemingway

50. "Bleak House" by Charles Dickens

51. "Gone with the Wind" by Margaret Mitchell

52. "The Plague" by Albert Camus

53. "The Joy Luck Club" by Amy Tan

54. "The Master and Margarita" by Mikhail Bulgakov

55. "The Red and the Black" by Stendhal

56. "The Sun Also Rises" by Ernest Hemingway

57. "The Fountainhead" by Ayn Rand

58. "The Bell Jar" by Sylvia Plath

59. "The Idiot" by Fyodor Dostoevsky

60. "The Book Thief" by Markus Zusak

61. "The Return of Sherlock Holmes" by Arthur Conan Doyle

62. "The Woman in White" by Wilkie Collins

63. "Things Fall Apart" by Chinua Achebe

64. "Treasure Island" by Robert Louis Stevenson

65. "Ulysses" by James Joyce

66. "Uncle Tom's Cabin" by Harriet Beecher Stowe

67. "Vanity Fair" by William Makepeace Thackeray

68. "Waiting for Godot" by Samuel Beckett

69. "Walden Two" by B.F. Skinner

70. "Watership Down" by Richard Adams

71. "White Fang" by Jack London

72. "Wide Sargasso Sea" by Jean Rhys

73. "Winnie-the-Pooh" by A.A. Milne

74. "Wise Blood" by Flannery O'Connor

75. "Woman in the Nineteenth Century" by Margaret Fuller

76. "Women in Love" by D.H. Lawrence

77. "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" by Robert M. Pirsig

78. "The Aeneid" by Virgil

79. "The Age of Innocence" by Edith Wharton

80. "The Alchemist" by Paulo Coelho

81. "The Art of War" by Sun Tzu

82. "The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin" by Benjamin Franklin

83. "The Awakening" by Kate Chopin

84. "The Big Sleep" by Raymond Chandler

85. "The Bluest Eye" by Toni Morrison

86. "The Caine Mutiny" by Herman Wouk

87. "The Cherry Orchard" by Anton Chekhov

88. "The Chosen" by Chaim Potok

89. "The Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens

90. "The City of Ember" by Jeanne DuPrau

91. "The Clue in the Crumbling Wall" by Carolyn Keene

92. "The Code of the Woosters" by P.G. Wodehouse

93. "The Color Purple" by Alice Walker

94. "The Count of Monte Cristo" by Alexandre Dumas

95. "The Crucible" by Arthur Miller

96. "The Crying of Lot 49" by Thomas Pynchon

97. "The Da Vinci Code" by Dan Brown

98. "The Death of Ivan Ilyich" by Leo Tolstoy

99. "The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire" by Edward Gibbon

100. "The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood" by Rebecca Wells

#book #booklr #books #classical literature #classic academia #penguin clothbound classics #classical books #english literature #listing #that's bloody #william shakespeare #shakespeare #anne frank #the odyssey #the divine comedy #french #literature

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