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thesportssoundoff · 4 years

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Lists ‘N Stuff: 90s Heavyweights

I've been watching a lot of boxing. A lot. Too much even. Originally it started out of my desire to catch up on fights I had missed after I dipped out on boxing in the late 90s before getting back into the sport around 2007 or so. It eventually delved into a deep dive on what basically amounts to the last 20-30 years in combat sports. Given my love of things like lists, I figured I'd do one. After watching way too many fights in the HW division, I wanted to rank my top 10 HWs of the 90s. Considered by many to be the glory days of heavyweight boxing, the 90s were host to many insane heavyweight fights and some of our more legendary characters. Who was the best? Well...

Honorable Mentions:

Donovan "Razor" Ruddock- Given that he started his career in 1982, it's at least somewhat honorable that Ruddock was still having competitive heavyweight fights with elite guys well into 1995 or so. Ruddock was the sort of guy who mastered the art of AAAA. He wasn't good enough to be MLB but he would casually crush the AAA competition.

Chris Byrd- Seriously! Chris Byrd wasn't always the flashiest or the coolest of the heavyweights but credit where it's due, Byrd was pretty solid in the 90s. He beat some decent dudes like Ross Purity, Lionel Butler and Bert Cooper. Watching Byrd, you could pretty much always tell he was destined to be one of those guys that boxing fans were never going to accept no matter what. Got smelted by ike Ibeabuchi.

Buster Douglas- The most famous one hit wonder in all of boxing. Douglas KOing Mike Tyson will always make him historic but in truth, his 90s weren't too hot. He beat Tyson, got smelted by Holyfield, fought a bunch of cans, took time off and then came back to get smelted by Lou Saverese. Not a good run.

Axel Schulz- Just one of those ultra tough under the radar European heavyweights. Fought Foreman, Moorer and Wlad Klitschko in the 90s and gave both Foreman and Moorer a scare. Was always more of a spoiler-y opponent than anything else.

Herbie Hide- I mean Herbie Hide was a two time WBO heavyweight champ although both times he took any semblance of a step up in competition, he was violently smacked back down to Earth. Wins over Tony Tucker and Michael Bentt don't overcome dominant losses to Vitali Klitschko and Riddick Bowe.

1- Lennox Lewis Record in the 90s (Jan 1st 1990 to December 31st 1999)- 29-1-1 Record in title fights- 8-1-1 Record against other fighters on the list- 3-1-1

Most people have Holyfield above Lennox Lewis in a "Best HWs of the 90s!" poll but I've got Lewis ahead of Holyfield. Let's start with Lewis on his own before we compare the two. Lennox Lewis' 90's resume features your usual HW fare of dudes you'd know like Frank Bruno (he's all over this list), Andrew Golota, Tony Tucker, Ray Mercer, Razor Ruddock, Shannon Briggs and Henry Akinwande. On this Top 10 list? Lewis has wins over Tommy Morrison, Evander Holyfield and Oliver McCall. He does have a loss vs Oliver McCall but he was able to eventually get that one back down the line. It's also worth pointing out that outside of Ray Mercer and Holyfield, Lennox Lewis finished all of those guys. His resume looks even spiffier if you consider that he was robbed in the first Holyfield fight (I had it 8 rounds to 4 easily) and so he could be 4-1 vs 3-1-1 against guys on the list. Hell if you want to take it a step further, you could argue he forced Riddick Bowe to take an L before he even got in the ring. Of course who knows if Lewis' resume looks differently if he doesn't get the nod against Ray Mercer in a tough fight. So what necessarily puts Lewis above Holyfield? Simple! He beat Holyfield! Could've beaten him twice if judges did their jobs. The best HW of the 90s was a British dude (By way of Canada and Jamaica).

2- Evander Holyfield Record in the 90s (Jan 1st 1990 to December 31st 1999)- 12-4-1 Record in title fights- 8-3-1 Record against other fighters on the list- 5-4-1

I feel like the most impressive part of Evander Holyfield's resume in the 90s is that at one point during this era, Holyfield fought six straight title fights and was scheduled for twelve round fights seven fights in a row. At one point Holyfield fought four of the guys on this list in a span of five years including two rematches (against Tyson and Lewis). Evander's resume is the stuff of boxing legend and in the 90s, long before he became a parody of himself, Holyfield was insanely good. Wins over Mike Tyson, Riddick Bowe, Michael Moorer and George Foreman is more than good enough to earn a guy a top 3 spot. Even his losses are for the most part insanely good as we're talking about Riddick Bowe, Michael Moorer (in a fight where I do buy the theory that Holyfield was hurt) and Lennox Lewis. Throw in genuinely good tough dudes like Bert Cooper, Ray Mercer and James Stewart and it's hard to find a flaw in the resume of Holyfield. I guess it's maybe a little bit filler heavy with dudes like Bobby Czyz (go to youtube and watch the weirdness that is this fight) or Vaughan Bean? Whatever. Holyfield fights may not have all been action packed but he's got wins galore, big fights galore and a genuine spot at the top of this list.

3- Mike Tyson Record in the 90s (Jan 1st 1990 to December 31st 1999)- 9-3 Record in title fights- 2-3 Record against other fighters on the list- 0-3

In wrestling, one of the inside jokes is that the theme maketh the man. Have a good entrance? Good entrance song? You're golden! Tyson is proof in boxing that the aura maketh man. Tyson's 90s were....kind of bad in theory. He kicked off the 90s getting smelted by Buster Douglas in the biggest boxing upset ever and then ended the 90s almost getting DQ'd for knocking out Orlin Norris a few seconds after the first round ended. In between that? Tyson lost four years of his career to a rape conviction and beat up on good but not great fighters. Jimmy Stewart, Bruce Seldon and Razor Ruddock were good tough guys but not anybody you'd write home about. I believe in his documentary, Tyson admitted he barely trained after his prison sentence and just skirted by guys due to basically just being Mike Tyson. You could see him vs Frank Bruno and just tell the spark was gone even if he was still so good. In a way that's a testament to what Tyson was but also what he could've been. Outside of the Douglas upset, The Evander Holyfield fights didn't end Tyson's relevancy but it pretty much closed the door on Tyson's reign as a top heavyweight. Even so, it's Mike Tyson. Of course he's in the top 3.

4- George Foreman Record in the 90s (Jan 1st 1990 to December 31st 1999)- 12-3 Record in title fights- 4-3 Record against other fighters on the list- 1-2

It'd take a whole bushel of effort to discuss George Foreman's history in a paragraph. Just knew he was awesome in the 70s, took some time off and came back fatter and awesome-er than ever. Foreman is like Stone Cold Steve Austin who was told in WCW that he was unmarketable and then when allowed to truly be himself in greener pastures he flourished as a talker and an attraction. Foreman began his comeback at 325 lbs as a way to make some money and in time he eventually put himself into position to fight for the HW title on three different occasions. He came up short vs Morrison and Holyfield before pulling off a historic rabbit out the hat KO over Michael Moorer to become the oldest heavyweight champion ever. In summation? Foreman's 90s are...strange. It's easy to make a case that Foreman could've lost fights against James Stewart (I had it for George) and Axel Schulz (I had it for Schulz)---but it's also easy to argue that Foreman should've gotten the nod over Shannon Briggs as well (arguably the worst robbery of the zillion fights I watched during this quarantine) and he was basically re-retired by boxing politics. Foreman wasn't the guy he was in his athletic prime but he was extra durable, always powerful and smarter than in year's past. He didn't have a lot of flashy wins in the 90s but we're talking about a guy who won the HW title in his 40s and beat enough top competition to be well suited for a top 5 spot.

5- Riddick Bowe Record in the 90s (Jan 1st 1990 to December 31st 1999)- 26-1 Record in title fights- 6-1 Record against other fighters on the list- 2-1

Riddick Bowe has been the most fascinating watch of this entire series. When I worked a night shift at a hotel in New York, one of the ways I'd pass the time was to watch old boxing fights on a portable DVD player I had. One of the fights I'd cycle through repeatedly was Bowe-Holyfield II and for a large period of time, my extent of my Bowe knowledge was that fight and the two Legendary Nights documentaries on Bowe-Golota and Bowe-Holyfield. Getting to finally sit down and sink my teeth in the resume of Riddick Bowe is something else. If you remove Bowe's fights vs Golota and Holyfield, you're left with a relatively paltry resume of nothingness but with tantalizing skills that make you wonder how good Bowe could've been. Watch Bowe run through the likes of Herbie Hide, Bert Cooper, Jorge Luis Gonazles and Pierre Coetzer and then wonder how Bowe would've done had he taken fights against Lennox Lewis (Bowe threw a belt in the garbage to avoid a Lewis fight) or Ray Mercer (Bowe vs Mercer was in the works about six different times with both guys turning down the fight at various spots) or Mike Tyson (it's believed Bowe vs Tyson was on the table once in 1991 and then once again in 1995) or George Foreman (Bowe vs Foreman was considered a possibility had Foreman beat Morrison) or Bowe vs Michael Moorer (after Moorer beat Holyfield). Bowe's resume is spiffy but the ducking, the weirdness and the weight gain that held him back all left for a faded image in hindsight. Shit I think Bowe's the only fighter on this list who was thrice involved in melees and brawls! Anyways the trilogy with Holyfield and Bowe vs Golota 1 and 2 are some of the best HW fights you'll see and well worthy of your time. On Earth 2, Andrew Golota twice beat Riddick Bowe and on Earth 3, Bowe's the HW GOAT after beating Lennox Lewis, George Foreman and Michael Moorer on top of the Holyfield fights. We live on Earth 1 unfortunately where Bowe's just #5 on the top HWs of the 90s.

6- Michael Moorer Record in the 90s (Jan 1st 1990 to December 31st 1999)- 21-2 Record in title fights- 5-2 Record against other fighters on the list- 1-2

I'll go to my grave believing that Michael Moorer is a victim of boxing's "When the legend becomes fact, print the legend" methodology. Michael Moorer was a dominant light heavyweight who skipped a weight class and jumped all the way up to heavyweight where he beat the likes of Bert Cooper, Axel Schulz, James Stewart (who had only lost at the time to Evander Holyfield and Mike Tyson) and Evander Holyfield. Moorer's heart and toughness are on full display in the Bert Cooper fight which is one of the best fights in any weight class during the 90s. Moore's legacy is defined by the George Foreman fight and an HBO documentary where we got to see Teddy Atlas yelling at him all the time. Moorer deserves better.

7- Oliver McCall Record in the 90s (Jan 1st 1990 to December 31st 1999)- 22-4 Record in title fights- 2-2 Record against other fighters on the list- 1-1

At first I wanted to leave Oliver McCall off this list entirely but his resume is low key impressive. Watching McCall fights on youtube, he just seems like the ultimate nuisance of a spoiler. He'd look disinterested in a fight then uncork a right hand and it'd be all over. He was the ultimate tough fight spoiler guy and if you need some evidence of that then consider that McCall took the undefeated records of Oleg Maskaev, Lennox Lewis and Bruce Seldon. He was twice a champion of one of the big four sanctioning bodies and his Lennox Lewis upside is pretty damn historic (and so is the rematch for all the more reasons). Throw in a win over a faded Larry Holmes and McCall absolutely has a worthy spot on the top 10. Imagine how much more spiffy this record would be if McCall hadn't basically taken off 3/4ths of the fight vs Frank Bruno.

8- Tommy Morrison Record in the 90s (Jan 1st 1990 to December 31st 1999)- 25-3-1 Record in title fights- 2-2 Record against other fighters on the list- 1-1

Watching Tommy Morrison's career in hindsight is something I'd recommend all heavyweight boxing fans do. I have no comparison for him in modern times. TheAntiCool has used the term "glass cannon" before and Morrison is probably the best example of that I've ever seen. He's super fast, super explosive, he hits really hard and was one of boxings better finishers. The downside is that he had no semblance of head movement and was not exactly blessed with David Tua's tank-esque chops and steely chin. He was dropped by guys like Razor Ruddock, Carl "The Truth" Williams and Ross Purrity not to mention obliterated by Michael Bentt and Ray Mercer. His competition is the perfect 90s mix of tomato cans and all time greats and to the credit of Morrison, he fought two of the guys in the top 5 of the 90s. He also had some of the wildest heavyweights fights of the 90s; from his mammoth brawl with Razor Ruddock to his wars with Mercer, Purrity, Williams and Joe Hipp. Morrison sums up the 90s pretty well; he never was as good as his fanboys claim but never as bad as his detractors proclaim. Also Morrison is basically Andrei Arlovski since at one point in three different fights, opposing trainers kept telling their fighters that he cannot get out of the way of any right hand.

9- David Tua Record in the 90s (Jan 1st 1990 to December 31st 1999)- 35-1 Record in title fights- 0-1 Record against other fighters on the list- 0-1

David Tua as a kid was a mythical figure. A Samoan Mike Tyson with insane power who was blasting people out in a round and leaving nothing remaining in his wake. In truth, I think the better comparison for David Tua is actually Tommy Morrison. Both guys were blessed with absurd gifts from God, both were known for their tremendous hooks and both were surprisingly limited which capped their upside in a tremendous division. Tua had his fair share of fights where he was losing until he won so to speak (Hasim Rahman) or was in close before he pulled it out at the end (Jeff Wooden and David Izon). Tua was fun and deserves his spot in the top 10 but the legend was never quite the fact.

10- Ike Ibeabuchi Record in the 90s (Jan 1st 1990 to December 31st 1999)- 20-0 Record in title fights- 1-0 Record against other fighters on the list- 1-0

Watching some of Ike's fights on youtube are spooky difficult to sit through. Ike Ibeabuchi the FIGHTER was a human tank, an immovable mountain of violence. He was a dude who would just push through dudes crudely and violently with little care for what came back his way. Ibeabuchi was just a mack truck of violence with wins over then undefeated guys such as David Tua and Chris Byrd. Ibeabuchi the fighter was a tremendous display but the reason he never made it farther than #10 is that Ibeabuchi outside of the ring was....well...a problem. Ibeabuchi was desperately in need of help as a victim of undiagnosed bipolar disorder and committed some truly heinous atrocities in his life. From odd behavior such as threatening HBO executives with a knife or having people refer to him as "The President" at all times to scary behavior such as a suicide attempt that left a young man wheelchair bound. Ike Ibeabuchi would never fight again after starching future HW champ Chris Byrd in fight rounds in 1999 and would spend 20 years in jail for attempted sexual assault among a litany of other issues. I often say "People are complicated" and Ibeabuchi is one of the bigger examples of that. Ike Ibeabuchi is a case of "What If?" in more ways than one.

#boxing #90s #hws #lewis #tyson #holyfield #mccall #douglas #ibeabuchi #ruddock #forexmoney

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artificialqueens · 5 years

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and i want you (kameron/aquaria/blair) - chapter 2 - sheep

an: aah thank u guys so so much for the positive comments so far!! i tried rly hard to make this chapter fluffy but it’s not my strong suit so i hope i did okay ^^

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Blair doesn’t know why she tortures herself with cold coffee in the wintertime. Maybe she’s a caffeine addict, maybe she’s a masochist, but she’s grateful regardless when her favorite barista lays a whipped cream loaded iced cappuccino next to her mountain of homework.

“Thank you, Kal,” she calls after the girl, shuffling her papers so she doesn’t spill anything on them. She’s already handed in one coffee stained history essay, she doesn’t need any more.

Next to the messily written, barely finished essay lies a literal stack of chemistry work. Beside it, a math review booklet. She’s half hidden behind all the respective notebooks and binders, tucked in the corner of the small cafe, fingernails a translucent blue with chill. Her natural habitat: camouflaged, studying. She gulps down two thirds of the coffee without really looking, shivers, and continues to write.

The days have only gotten colder, midterms are slowly getting closer, and Blair’s workload hasn’t gotten any lighter. She thanks whatever entity is watching over her that she only has three exams this year. Between gruelling evening fast-food shifts, and struggling to keep her grades afloat, Blair is exhausted. Each day is a blur and fog of homework and “How may I help you this evening?” Lonely is the only emotion she’s been able to register for a long time now, and it’s starting to feel like she’s hollowed out. Just a thin, hollow thing that could snap with the slightest touch.

Homework doesn’t seem to matter anymore. She’s bleary, lethargic, and the warmth of the cafe is finally starting to seep into her small, cold frame. She pushes her coffee away, and sighs, leaning back against the wall. She rests her head in her hand, and suddenly keeping her eyes open feels like the most arduous task she’s ever been give. She blinks once, twice, and her eyelids slowly begin to flutter.

A cup suddenly appears in front of her, and Blair startles back to awareness, peering through her wall of textbooks to see who laid it there. She blinks the remaining sleepiness from her eyes, and they go wide when she sees Kameron standing there. Her wet hair is pulled back into a ponytail, and the logo on her duffle bag tells Blair she’s just come from the sports centre a few minutes down the road. She’s got that same worried look in her eyes, but her smile is soft and gentle.

“Hey,” she murmurs, deep voice sending a different kind of shiver through Blair’s spine. “You alright?”

For a moment, Blair thinks that she could tell the truth, but the thought only lasts a second, and when she opens her mouth it’s the same two words. “I’m fine,” she breathes. “Just tired.”

Kameron nods slowly, and Blair hears the ghost of a “Yeah,” slip from her lips before they both look away.

She takes a breath, and tries. “How are y-you?” Her own voice sounds unfamiliar.

Kameron smiles as if she were excited about the question and Blair’s heart swells. “I’m good, I just finished working out.” Blair tries not to let her imagination stray, but her plan of focusing on Kameron’s hushed, even voice doesn’t end up helping. “Your name’s Blair, right? I, uhm, I bought you a hot chocolate.”

“Oh,” Blair squeaks, and she flinches upwards when Kameron pushes the drink forward so it touches her fingers. It’s warm, and Blair grabs it with both hands before she can stop herself. “Thank you.” She blinks up at Kameron, a small smile dancing on her lips

“Yeah, no problem,” Kameron hums, her voice the sweetest candy Blair has ever heard. “It’ll warm you up on your way home.” Their eyes meet again. Kameron steps just a little closer, and leans down. “You should probably go get some rest.”

Blair wants to melt under her gaze, and she finds herself nodding despite the pile of work beneath her. With languid movements, she gathers her papers and books and slides them all into her bag neatly. When she’s finished, she rises on her still shaky legs, and slings the heavy bag over one shoulder, rubbing one of her eyes with her free hand.

Kameron’s phone buzzes, and Blair startles awake again, turning towards her. “My name is Kameron, by the way, and Aquaria says hi,” the girl introduces herself as if Blair didn’t already know who she was. She blushes at the realization that Kameron had texted Aquaria something about her.

“H-Hello,” she stammers, trying not to let her excitement show. Kameron chuckles, a gruff but lovely sound, and Blair’s blush deepens. “Sorry,” she says instinctively, “I mean- I- Tell her I said hello…”

Oh, how Blair longs to hide her face in her sleeves and bolt.

Kameron touches her shoulder, featherlight, and takes a step towards the door. “C’mon,” she smiles, “I can walk you home, If you want.”

And so they walk together through the cold and fog, Blair’s gloveless hands kept warm by the still steaming hot chocolate. They settle into calm, sporadic conversation, and Blair is comforted by the company, becoming more and more at ease as their stroll continues. She hasn’t spoken to anyone, really spoken to anyone, in ages. Some of the invisible ten-ton weight on her shoulders lifts. Eventually, they come upon Blair’s apartment, and she whispers her grateful goodbye under the blurry yellow street lights.

“Th-Th-Thanks again for the hot chocolate,” her teeth chatter above her stuttering, but when Kameron touches her shoulder again heat blooms through her chest.

“It’s okay,” Kameron’s freckles look so beautiful with snow in her hair, and Blair can’t help but drink in the sight, even if just for a moment. “I’ll see you tomorrow, yeah?”

Something bright bubbles in Blair’s chest, and this time she does nothing to hide it. “Y-Yeah,” she sighs happily, basking in the unexpected warmth of the snow and glow. “Safe trip back.”

She turns away slowly, not wanting this absolute dream to end, but slowly shuffles up to her apartment nonetheless. She slips inside, places her hot chocolate on the kitchen counter, and buries her face in her hands.

She’s fucking giddy.

“Okay,” she breathes, attempting to calm herself down, but her phone sounds off and when she sees the notification her heart leaps into her throat. “I can help you w/ your hw tomorrow,” it reads, and Blair doesn’t know whether to feel grateful, or guilty that she still hasn’t sent anything past a greeting to Aquaria.

Her fingers fumble to type out a reply, and the only thought on her mind is “please.”

In the morning, Blair drifts through the hallways and waits for third period study hall, leg bouncing with anxiety under her desk. When the bell finally rings, she ducks through the taller students and dashes to her classroom. Her chest is tight, but it’s not unpleasant, and she tries to tell herself that she’s just excited to finish some chemistry work.

She’s the first in the room, as usual, and she all but falls into her usual seat in the back corner. Her inhales are shaky, and her eyes flicker towards the door every time some students trickle in. She’s in the middle of trying to take a deep breath when she spots them, and the giddiness begins anew.

Kameron’s face lights up and Aquaria practically skips towards her. They’re holding hands, and Blair gives them a small wave.

“Bonjour,” Aquaria greets, and god, Blair could implode. She twirls that purple pen in her slim fingers and takes the seat in front of Blair, while Kameron sits beside her.

“Did you sleep well?” Kameron asks, and Blair thinks she might be a little too mesmerized by it.

“Yeah,” she answers, raising her eyebrows. For the first time in a while, it’s not a lie. After climbing into bed, sated from hot cocoa and warm feelings, she slept like an absolute log.

Aquaria drums her fingers on Blair’s desk, her eyes gleaming not unlike a cat’s. “Good,” she says, “let’s get started on that chemistry. I want to do something easy today.”

Blair blinks and Kameron groans, “Babe,” from beside her. Aquaria gives Kameron a puzzled look, and Blair just pulls out her stack of papers, stifling a grin.

Aquaria is terrible at explaining things, it turns out. She stumbles and mumbles, and always ends up just writing out the steps of the problems on Blair’s scrap paper; breezing through them. Occasionally, her tongue pokes out from between her lips as she concentrates, and Blair catches Kameron staring fondly as she struggles not to do the same.

After she’s worked through a decent few sheets, Blair pauses to stretch, and Aquaria whips out her phone. Blair isn’t at all surprised when she immediately opens instagram. It’s kind of cute, actually. She tries not to peek too much at the colorful makeup and fashion posts that scroll by.

Kameron puts her phone down, and when Blair glances over the girl gives her a shy smile. “Hey, what are you doing for lunch?” she tilts her head to the side and some stray red hair falls over her face. Aquaria looks over to them with those curious cat eyes of hers, and Blair shrinks with the attention.

“I’m not doing anything,” she shrugs, hoping she doesn’t sound as pathetic as she feels. The two share a look, some sort of secret conversation, and then Aquaria speaks.

“I’ll tell the girls we have other business to attend to.” She jumps back to her phone, and Kameron laughs aloud. “What?”

Her smile when she answers is art across her face and Blair continues to watch the exchange, enraptured. “Why are you such a savage, sweets?”

Aquaria gasps, seemingly very offended by the accusation. “I’m not being savage, it’s the truth.” She crosses her arms, and honest to god pouts when Kameron continues to laugh, even whining when Blair gives in and starts to chuckle to. Words don’t seem to be Aquaria’s strong suit, but it’s endearing in an odd way. “You’re so mean to me,” complains Aquaria, huffing in frustration and blowing strands of her silky black hair around in process.

Kameron stands then, stepping over to smooth out her girlfriend’s hair. Blair feels like she’s intruding on an intimate moment, something small but entirely theirs, until someone singsongs a little ways away. “Ooh, look at the lovebirds,” the girl laughs, and Aquaria sticks her tongue out at her.

“Shut up, Vanessa, let me be gay in peace.”

“But you’re gonna kill poor blondie over there, she looks like a fucken’ tomato,” Vanessa exclaims, and Blair’s face explodes further into a blush than it already apparently is. Her shoulders spike as Aquaria and Kameron both turn to her. Aquaria meets her eyes for a second, and stares like she’s set eyes on a delicious canary, before glancing away and giving the look to Kameron instead.

“Chemistry time, then, Blair.” Aquaria spins the purple pen in her hand again, while Kameron and Blair both avoid eye contact, flustered.

Blair tries to ignore Vanessa when she laughs again, and heaves a sigh of relief when the lunch bell rings.

#rpdr fanfiction #blair st clair #aquaria #kameron michaels #aquaria x blair x kameron #fluff #lesbian au #and i want you #sheep #s10 #poly #high school au #rare pair

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thevoilinauttheory · 5 years

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Very long (though positive) thoughts on ShBs so far [that nobody asked for or wanted but here it is]

Below the cut are 5.0 and 5.01 spoilers! Enter at your own risk! Very, very long. There’s so much I’ve wanted to talk about that I haven’t been able to.

So let me just start out with how much I absolutely fucking *love* this expac. I cannot stop talking about it, or trying to get my friends into XIV just to play it so I can scream about it.

Everything about it is just so fucking wonderful. The character development, the music, the art, the story! I was absolutely floored!

And because of that, I have fallen down into Emet-Selch hell - his character was just so well played, so wonderfully developed. Every moment that I thought I hated him, they came back and hit me so hard in the feels that I want to double over and cry just thinking about it - they made me absolutely love him, sympathize with him.

You get to see all of your comrades grow as people - Thancred dealing with his regrets with Minfilia, putting aside his feelings and his past to help Ryne grow. Urianger shows so much more emotion (that’s not to say he wasn’t emotional before, they just never touched much on it - nor did the hood or goggle do any good in determining his emotions [likely on purpose]), but you can now see on his face the pain of lying to his friends that he promised never to do again. Y’shtola, whom has always been a character I loved, gave me conflicted feelings. She distanced herself from those she knew, and with the WoL/D’s coming, has to force herself to open up again - growing an attachment to those around her in Slitherbough. You can tell just how much she doesn’t want to leave them, but knows she has to. That sassy attitude only got sassier in this expac. And don’t get me started on my children. Alphinaud has grown so much since we’ve first started our adventure with him; he’s become self-aware, he strives to make the same different the WoL/D made on The Source in Kholusia; he makes mistakes and admits to them - he’s also grown more fucking savage with his wit.(See: “What you need is a mirror, not a painting.” Quote made towards Vauthry.) And Alisaie, gods, Alisaie’s EN voice actor gave me chills. Every heartbreaking moment, you could hear it. I shred tears just from her tone of voice alone in some scenes. She’s just as fiery, times ten - acting before thinking as always. Her stand against Emet-Selch was both expected and unexpected. She grew attached to the land and its peoples - possibly offering even more emotion for it than anyone else. She’s just so full of emotion at all times, you can see it building up throughout the story - just welling up and bursting when she knows that her dear friend is about to turn into the things she’s sought to kill. After what she witnessed with Tesleen and everything that the Inn stands for, the thought of someone even closer to her feeling the pain of turning into a monster just absolutely breaks her.

And let’s not forget the “new” characters we learn about. The Exarch - we all knew who he was, but the lengths he had gone through, just to see to the WoL/D’s safety is so heartwarming. And the care he has for the people in the Crystarium. I was absolutely sobbing after the Innocence fight, what with the emotional music and his words (until Emet ruined it with a fuckin gun, like come on man, tryin’ to have a touching moment here). Ryne is the Minfilia we always wanted. Don’t get me wrong - I understand the roles Minfilia played before, but her story was so... underwhelming. She had a lot of potential to be a stunning character, to be the ally that we grew to trust and love. But SE didn’t give us any room to do so before she died. Ryne, however, is such a sweet child (my newest daughter, if anyone hurts her I will fucking murder everyone). She suffers through depression, anxiety, feelings of the inadequacy of walking in the Oracle’s shadow - she’s never had a life with choices, and Thancred’s attitude while traveling with her only serves to fuel the doubt more. Until she travels with you more, and she knows what she has to do. She becomes so focused, so fully intent with drive and passion to save what’s left of her home. You see the drive they had meant to give Minfilia in ARR, the personality she was supposed to have; and it gives you a deeper feeling for not only what Minfilia had gone through - but both Ryne and Thancred as well; especially in the Eden storyline, when she does her all to give back to the land. Hhhhhh and not to mention Lyna, my god. I was afraid she was just going to be a character that makes you want for more but they never give it to you. I was afraid they wouldn’t build her character, then just kill her off. But I was so wrong, happily so! She got the character building she needed - the pain in her voice when she talks about her lost comrades, when she’s injured to hells and back and still crawls to see to all of their needs. Her history with the Exarch, how she met him and how he practically adopted her. And still alive! I want to see more of her in the future, and learn more about her drive and passion.

And last but not least, the development of the WoL/D themselves. Learning of their shattered lives scattered across worlds; finally showing that sense of weakness as they carry a burden no one else can. They show fear when they talk to Ardbert, “What if I do become the monster”, “what happens then”, “I’m a danger to everyone”. (On top of being even snarkier and more tired of people’s shit than before). They grow so much as a character, even if you already have their character planned out! To give our characters so much emotion and doubt and anger, to let them rest, to let them cry, to let the pray and hope and wish for change. I just can’t get over it.

The music has been... so, so good to me. I am absolutely living for it. I want a CD out *now*. I’ve been planning the same songs on repeat, because I can’t get them out of my head. Full Fathom Five, the city of Amaurot’s theme, and Mortal Instants - I cannot live without these songs and I do not know how I had before. Tomorrow and Tomorrow is so emotional and powerful. Shadowbringers and Hades’s second theme, hhhhhhhh and The Twinning’s theme, A Long Fall! I just. orz. I can’t explain just how much I love these songs.

The dungeons and story gave me so much lore that I’ve always needed, particularly around Emet-Selch, the Ascians, and Amaurot. These themes are actually what prompted me to write shit and I barely write at all. I can’t get over all of it - and god, if only I could go through the entire story again for the first time.

In summary: As I started Shadowbringers, the expansion was about on par with Heavensward for me (do not get me started on all the themes and tropes that made HW my favorite)... until Mt. Gulg and the Innocence fight. After that, the story hit so hard, it ended up easily surpassing Heavensward and is not my current favorite expansion so far.

#ooc #5.0 spoilers #5.01 spoilers #shadowbringers spoilers #ffxiv spoilers #very long rant

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lindoig7 · 4 years

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Saturday-Tuesday, 17-20 October

Saturday

Another night of fairly consistent rain. It started just as we were turning in and kept up until we were getting up this morning. We are parked under a big elm tree and everything has been coated with its big soggy seed clusters ever since we arrived. They form a soft blanket on everything and it clings! I have picked off hundreds of clumps of it from the car, but the awning also needs attention as does the whole roof of the van. And when it rains, we hear two distinct sounds on the roof: the rain pitter-pattering gently on the roof and the big drops that collect in the seed clusters in the tree and ping loudly on the roof when they fall.

The rain eased off during the morning so I went birding for about 45 minutes and saw 31 species – the best count I have had since about our second day here when I think I saw 43 species in 3-4 hours. And one special thing I saw today was a Grey Goshawk (light morph). We saw a dark morph in Queensland some 14 years ago, but this was a good sighting for me. I watched a couple of Magpies dive-bombing the top of a big tree across the river so knew they were trying to scare something away – so looked closely with my binoculars and saw the magnificent Goshawk just before it took off and flew quite low right over me with one Maggie in hot pursuit.

I also had a go at the HWS. There seems to be two different problems – electrical and gas/air issues. I suspect the ‘repairs’ resulted in some electrical modifications and one of the terminals seems suss. I have improved the connection and it is working again OK at present, but it still burns unevenly and periodically fades to the point where it blows out and has to restart itself. We can cope fairly easily at present, but will need to get it fully resolved before we head into much more remote areas.

We spent the rest of the day inside the van. We had intended going for a walk, but we had another exciting thunderstorm in the early afternoon and then it rained for the rest of the day. We donned our raincoats and went outside during a lull in the rain to try to clean some of the elm seeds off the awning. We rigged up a second hose and washed most of it off – and within half an hour, it was raining again and more clumps of seeds were falling on to our nice clean awning. They clump into big gluggy, ultra-soggy lumps that stick to everything and are hard to remove.

We had a delightful hour and a half on the phone with our kids - a really lovely special time that we hope they enjoyed as much as we did.

Sunday

We had a slow start to the day today. It rained most of the night again and we had a leisurely brekky. I cooked bacon and eggs under the awning and we just lazed around for an hour or so until it’s was time for a Zoom AGM for our LAC Club - the Inner Melbourne one (we are members of three). That lasted almost an hour with a bit of socialising at the end. We hadn’t seen any of these people since New Year’s Day and it was fun to just chat with them for a few minutes.

Heather cut some sangers and we went for a drive. We went a few clicks down the highway to Newmerella, then cut south to Corringle. We did a short walk over the dunes to the beach and then went on to the estuary, another walk almost immediately across the Snowy River from Marlo. I did a 20-minute bird survey and will post it tomorrow. (National Bird Week officially starts tomorrow and I usually do about 20 or 30 surveys during the week and post them on the Birds in Backyards app so that will be my first for this year. It is interesting that although it doesn’t start until tomorrow, more than 7000 surveys, listing 230,000 birds, have already been submitted.)

We ate our lunch out there then wound our way back past the lake to the Snowy again and followed that back to Orbost. But we never stopped there. We kept going a few kilometres up the Bonang Road and turned off to Young’s Creek. We parked at the Picnic Area and did a walk to the Waterfall. It was quite impressive with a lot of water flowing down the creek, but we never went swimming!!!! We then started walking on a side track that took you to the base of the Falls, but thinking of the climb back up again, we wimped out halfway down. We did see lots of flowers though, including plenty of orchids. The voracious mosquitos were fierce there. Despite smothering ourselves with repellent and covering up every spare/square inch of skin, I still got a few bites. They bite right through our clothing.

We were going to do one of the other walks that started from the same place but it was closed - in fact all the other walks were closed due to fire damage.

We retraced our steps (actually, it was our wheel-tracks) and went on to another area where there was an old reservoir. It wasn’t huge, but we walked to the weir (a kilometre or so) surrounded by birdsong, but mainly invisible birds. I was able to identify about 7 species there, but there were numerous other calls from birds that I simply couldn’t recognise.

Getting out of the area was more difficult than expected. We took a few wrong turnings, but my brilliant navigator enlisted the aid of her Maps.me app and we finally found our way back to the Bonang Road, a few kms north of where we left it a few hours earlier. It was an interesting drive over very rough roads and we had to engage our low ratio 4WD for the first time this trip to get through some deep muddy water and exceptionally rough patches before we got back to the bitumen.

We had carried a big rubbish bag full of recycling with us all day, but jettisoned that at the Information Centre before reaching home. They had suggested that it was the best way to recycle anything in Orbost so we have taken advantage of their offer to use their bin a couple of times.

Monday

Despite it being a (technical) home day, it was really enjoyable. We went for a longish local walk in the morning along the side of the Snowy River as far as we could go from here and then cut up into town to get a couple of things. En route, we found a fascinating display of art and history at the Orbost Cultural Centre.

They have quite a few large painted panels in the big outdoor under-floor area that walk you through a lot of the pre- and post-colonial period, but there are also three others with an audio history of the region since long before the age of the dinosaurs. It was quite engaging without being overly indigenous in character and while looking at it (and watching some equally fascinating birds over the fence - a Grey Butcherbird and a family of Grey Shrike-thrushes) we fell into conversation with two of the artists who were also running the Centre. It is closed of course, but they are looking forward to reopening soon and one of them invited us back next Monday for a private tour. The other one was a young indigenous woman and she told us about a few interesting places to go to around the area so we will explore them too. After our negligible shopping excursion, we walked to the other end of town and down to the Sensory Garden. It was lovely! There were quite a few birds that provided an audio experience – as did the frogs – and there were heaps of trees and flowers to look at as well as several to touch and feel. There were herbs and other plants to smell and even some interesting leaves and vegetables to taste – we brought some herbs and rainbow shard silver-beet home to add to our meals too. It was really interesting and occupied us for about an hour just exploring.

In the afternoon, I went birding and did 5 surveys around the area that I will post as part of my contribution to BIBY - Birds In BackYards as part of Bird Week.

After dinner, we decided to watch a movie rather than another episode of Justified but it was so pathetically dated, we turned it off and got Justified anyway.

Tuesday

A great day today. We followed the advice we got at the Cultural Centre yesterday and drove the Murrungowar Forest Road. It starts about 20 km from Orbost and is a 30.2, 32, 34 or 38 km route (depending on which sign or brochure you read) estimated to take 2 hours – of course, we took nearly 5.

Before we left, we had to arrange some new scripts for all the drugs we take and due to circumstances, that took well over an hour with multiple phone calls and a longish email, even though we had to order it online. No problem, but it was nearly 11.30 before we started our day’s drive.

There were eleven ‘stops’ along the way with lots of interesting information about the forest, the trees, and the logging operations over the past 100 years or so and there was also the the opportunity to do a few walks along the way. The main walk was closed (and maybe the second main one too, but the sign was a bit inconclusive so we did that one anyway). There were side roads criss-crossing everywhere as well as numerous rivers and streams with narrow bridges. We got out and undertook short explorations several times, mainly looking at plants and flowers, but we also walked to a couple of waterfalls, and along a creek or two. Most of the area was burned out in the bushfires, but logging is still going on – maybe salvaging the timber that won’t survive the fires – so we had to drive carefully in places where log-trucks and other heavy equipment was still working. It was a really interesting drive and we probably learned a fair bit about forestry, but it was sad to see so much fire carnage throughout the whole area.

When we got back to the Princes Highway, we went directly to Go (did not pass Gaol) and started the whole drive again. We wanted to find the Rocky River Crossing that we had been told about at the Cultural Centre as a wonderful place to visit – and the Rocky River Road turned off about 10 km along the Murrungowar Road. Alas, we never found it due to the plethora or roads, tracks, confusing signage and so on, but we may well go back to look for it again.

Along this road, there was a really big crossing over the Brodribb River and we walked around that area and saw numerous Gippsland Water Monitors – lizards about half a metre or more long. I photographed one on the first day we were in Orbost (and posted the pic to the blog) but these guys were obviously camera shy and just ran away and hid from us.

We got home early enough for an extended Happy Hour – and being still quite warm, we enjoyed having it outside for the first time this trip. That was the last of our bubbles so we now need an urgent shopping trip to replenish our supply.

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ask-svt-hearteu · 7 years

Text

college! Minghao

requested by anon: “could you write a college au of minghao please? if you do, tsym (and please include a reader in it, i’m sorry if it’s too much to ask for)”

Admin note: I wrote and rewrote this and researched and rewrote and deleted and wrote this again so many times, it's not funny (ok maybe a little). I'm sorry if this wasn't any good, I legit had such a tough time with this one, well anyway, I hope you enjoy!

Minghao is a Performance Music Major

particularly with a dance focus

when he's not sitting around in some rehearsal room in the music building practicing his vocals or reviewing for the next postmodernism in dance exam

he can usually be found with the other music majors

usually sitting in the outside picnic area of campus

or running through some of the choreos created for the next final project out on the lawn with Soonyoung, Jun, and Chan

with Joshua (vocal performance major) playing guitar

or with Jihoon telling Mingyu to stop blaring rap long enough for him to finish composing

which causes Mingyu and Vernon (contemporary production majors) to both defend Drake as a musical artist

and that Jihoon should stop composing his boring classically arranged piece

which Jihoon says he can't because he's a freaking music theory and composition major and it's due soon

while the rest are debating the musical merits of the latest pop sensation and whether or not the hook is repeated over and over

"'Despacito' has the same chord progressions throughout" "Ok no, there's a modulation in the bridge..." "DEEESSPAAACITOO"

and Minghao's music major friends may seem a bit like a mess

but they're all really close friends

they host recitals every winter and spring

the whole music and drama department

and Minghao is always one of the front performers especially from the dance program

though someone should give him more vocal lines in the shows, why can't the professors realize his vocals are amazing and that he never gets enough lines smfh

Minghao's best classes outside of his major are those relating to liberal arts

especially lit and psychology

the only two courses you shared with him since they were mandatory for graduation

you both have talked before, but mostly just the universal complaining and groaning over homework assignments that characterize every college student ever

since your major was in media studies, his in performance arts

it was understandable that you didn't really get a chance to get to know Minghao, since students with the same majors normally spend a lot of time with people from their own departments

but that's how you always saw Minghao

since the media studies classes were in the humanities and social science building

which is a little past the music building

his group of music majors is always sitting on the lawn in between

and you've noticed little things Minghao does

like how he always opens the doors for the instrumentalists carrying in cases in the morning

or the way he acts like he's done with his friends 100% but then ends up buying them breakfast and making sure they eat

and while it seems as though Minghao is always rehearsing for one thing or another

you sometimes see him skating down the campus on his skateboard or reading in the library

stuff not even assigned to him by your lit professor

joined by Jun, Wonwoo, and Joshua, or other random music majors

they sort of claimed the back corner of the library

one day your lit professor decides it's been too quiet and boring

time to assign a huge project that could potentially make or break your grade

because college professors like torturing students as hobbies

and better yet, it's a partner research essay and visual presentation

which works for you because whoever your partner is, you can just borrow some equipment from the media productions classroom to get the visual presentation part done

and as the teacher starts reading off names

all you can think about is how you hope you don't get stuck with someone who won't do their work

the professor calls out Utopia by Thomas More

the one book on the list you really wanted

and then "Minghao, y/n."

jumping up and silently thanking the heavens for giving you such an easy book to work with

so many freaking things you could talk about, you're so excited

you almost forgot that you had a partner as you go up to collect the book and the directions

Minghao walks up to you quietly

"So when do you want to meet to work on the essay and visual presentation?"

"Oh uh, we can do tomorrow at the student café if you want." you tell him

"Alright."

the two of you meet the next day and split the work evenly in half before

"I have a postmodernism in dance exam tomorrow so I'll take-off first."

"That's fine, we have a whole month, we can chill." you said smiling

Minghao returned the smile and turned around to leave when

"Here, call me if you need help with your half, I'll finish my half of the essay by the end of the week, so we can begin the visual presentation."

he hands you his number and you just nod and assure him he can just leave

with Minghao off to study, you decide to go work on your half in the library

the library is usually open quite late anyway

you start researching the ways More wrote his socio-political satire

but with the amount of sleep you've been getting, you fall asleep on top of your laptop

and sure, the library isn’t for napping

but screw it, you’re running on 3 hours of sleep in the last two days, what else can you do?

Minghao walks into the library a little while later, looking for a global dance history book when he sees you sleeping on your laptop

hair cascading over the table as you breathe slowly in and out

he smiles unconsciously

he had noticed this before

but you’re really pretty

while the closest interactions you've both had together were the random jokes Wonwoo would tell you and Minghao in psych

he knew you were a really nice person, since you and the video production team would always film the shows and performances he did with the rest of his department

he had even seen some of your short student films, the ones that he could only describe as art from someone who must really love what they do

and seeing you calmly napping was cute

so he goes to the nearest vending machine impulsively and buys a can of coffee before he puts it behind your laptop that you’re using as a pillow

“What are you doing Minghao?” Jun says giving Minghao a sly smile while coming up behind him

“Nothing.” he laughs

“Doesn’t look like nothing.” Jun smirks

“We have a project for lit, she's my partner.” he said shrugging his shoulders while looking down at you

“Does she always sleep here?”

“Not sure.”

Jun nods his head slowly, an understanding look on his face

“Yea you like her, imma call it now.”

“Yah!” Minghao says punching Jun’s arm

“Hey I called it so remember this moment in the future and thank me later.”

Minghao shakes his head

“Well, Wonwoo and I are ready to go, let’s get something to drink.”

when you wake up and shut your laptop you see the can of coffee sitting in front of your closed laptop, with a post-it note

"Keep up the hard work partner! Fighting! -Minghao" you read

you laugh and take the can with you

over the next few weeks, you and Minghao work together on the lit project

and when it's done and you both get an A-

you both celebrate with ice cream from the student café

he’s cute

and funny too

he makes you laugh quite a bit by trying poorly to imitate the lit professor

the two of you kept texting about random hw assignments even after the project was over about anything like movies you wanted to see or concerts that were nearby

you got to know more about his dream to be a performer

he was so passionate about it

they way he talked about performing was the same way you felt about filming in media studies

each a form of art, but each a way to express it in your own style

by the time the winter showcase comes along, your professor assigns you to camera 3 on stage for the show

and you text Minghao

"Hey, break a leg at the concert :)"

"Breaking appendages would actually be a bad thing XD" he texts you back

"You know what I meant!"

"Yea haha, are you coming to watch?" your heart skips a beat a little reading his message

you watch as your phone shows that "Minghao is typing" message a few times before it stops

"I mean you don't have to if you don't want to"

"I'm filming so of course I'll be there ;)" you text back

"Oh ok lol"

you laughed at his short response

when you go to the performance hall the night before opening night to set up the audio systems with some of the other video production crew

you see Minghao and one of his friends running through a choreography

you stare at him amazed, the choreo included them dancing with a white ribbon connecting the two of them, which should have gotten tangled countless times but didn't

you didn't really want to intrude on the rehearsal, so you leave him a can of coffee with a post-it note on it by the stage

“I believe I owe you a coffee, don't forget to rest, I believe in you, fighting!-y/n :)”

Minghao is internally screaming at how cute you are when he reads it

“JUST ASK HER OUT ALREADY AND STOP BOTHERING ME.”

Jun's trying to work on the choreo and practically yells at Minghao who’s told the guys the story for like the fifth time

"Ok but isn't she so cute? 'don't forget to rest, I believe in you'"

"Minghao, I called this remember?" Jun say laughing

Minghao smacks him on the arm again

so Minghao decides to finally gather up the courage

with you sitting in the desk next to him in lit

your knees inches away from each other

“Hey y/n wanna grab a dinner after the show or something?”

“Depends.” you say heart beat steadily increasing

“On what?” Minghao says trying to keep his cool

“On whether it’s a date or not.” you want to scream at yourself, where did this courage come from?!?!

“And if it is?” he smiles

“I’d be happy to.”

and when you're filming the show that night, Minghao catches your eyes while waiting in the wings on stage left

and shoots you a wink

which nearly causes you to drop your camera

and you see him getting smacked by Jun

after the show, he brings you backstage

"Got the gardening club to get me these" he says handing you a small bunch of white carnations

"Aw they're beautiful."

"I ended up doing a lot of research on the significance of flowers thanks to a lit project, white carnations mean sweet and lovely." he smiles shyly

"They also mean pure love." you say smiling

"Yea, well... they're just flowers to celebrate a show well-done." he coughs blushing

"Let's go for dinner, shall we?"

when all the other music majors found out

it was chaos

"HONESTLY Y/N DO YOU KNOW HOW MANY MUSIC MAJORS HAVE ATTACKED ME TODAY WITH QUESTIONS?" your friend from the media production course asked you

"It's like some celebrity is dating you or something from this response!" she says shaking her head

and whenever you walk to the humanities building

Minghao bounds up and takes your hand

in front of both the departments

so you have the music majors screaming at Minghao

and the media studies majors cheering you on

it's a mess

but Minghao just shrugs it off and wraps an arm around you

"Want to grab a coffee before lit?"

"Sure" you laugh

and he holds your hand as you both make your way to the student café

and the both of you lay on the lawn after sipping your lattes

hands intertwined staring up at the clouds in the sky

"Look, they look like white carnations." you smile and point up at a cluster of clouds

just enjoying the light breeze of a spring day

when he pulls you closer until you're laying on his arm

and kisses your forehead

"Sweet and lovely just like you."

MASTERLIST

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hardblazesong · 7 years

Text

On Acting Continued...

Going to start this post with a bit of mea culpa, so, hang in there for the actual points of the post. I am learning not to say, “I’m going to post today on this thing”. While it is always my intention to post the day I say this, other things get in the way or the writing muse decides she’s had enough and goes elsewhere for a bit. So, I am going back to “soonish”.

This topic has been discussed a lot, and the DMs have been many, and the Anons a few and I do want to try to rebuild the lengthy post I lost, so it will be a long ramble. I won’t be putting it under a cut, so apologies for that as well. STOP READING NOW IF YOU THINK BRANDO WAS A BETTER ACTOR THAN OLIVIER, you’ll save us both a bunch of agita.

Now the obligatory notices:

1) I do not know Sam Heughan personally, this is an opinion piece, not a biographical piece, know the difference. I am a fan, although I would not be considered in the hardiest of camps for this.

2)I have not spent my working life as an Actor. I have been paid to do it. I have been a performer since I was four years old, and am currently 53. I have studied, at the college level, the art of Acting and Directing, as it was my minor, off and on for many years. I have studied Actors all my life, see prior posts. I started as an English/Theater major, swapped to Education/Theater and then the last few years swapped to History/Political Science/Theater. I am still working on these degrees. I took my first college course at 20 and my last one at 51. I don’t plan on ever stopping.

3)I have done more directing and technical work than Acting, although as previously stated, I come from a multi-generational family of actors and performers. 90 percent of this work from my family has been on the stage in productions or performance pieces. The other 10 percent has involved film, radio productions and teaching.

4)I am not a Psychiatrist or Psychologist and don’t play one on TV. I have made a rather extensive study of this topic as well. For this piece, it is only necessary to know that I consider myself an Ambivert and a Pragmatic Jungian. I would IN NO WAY be considered a Behavioralist, and mostly consider Behavioralism the bane of modern society’s existence. Actions do speak louder than words though, so be aware for future reference, that when I speak of the dichotomy of Sam’s words to his actions, this is what I mean.

Definitions from Google, highlighted and truncated by me:

Ambivert: noun ~ a person whose personality has a balance of extrovert and introvert features.

Acting: noun ~ the art or occupation of performing in plays, movies, or television productions

synonyms: dramatics, stagecraft, the performing arts

informal: treading the boards, “the theory and practice of acting”

adjective ~ temporarily doing the duties of another person

synonyms: temporary, interim, caretaker

I had originally put a long wiki paragraph on acting styles here, but here’s the link instead:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_acting_techniques

The original post I commented on with highlighting and edits by the author:

smithsassenach Deactivated

Sam Heughan’s thoughts on acting and becoming your character:

“I don’t know if anyone knows if they’re ever any good… You just say the words and the words kind of affect you, the actor, if you’re open to it and I think I just really relished that role and threw myself into it and sort of realized that that’s what you need to do and I guess, that’s, yeah — that’s what I do now.”

“I think every job I do, I sort of look for the challenge in. I mean, that’s why we do this job. It’s not, you know, obviously not for the money or for the fame, it’s for, I guess finding out more about yourself. You find out what your limitations are and what you can get away with on stage, or not, as the case may be.” [X]

“I have no interest in the celebrity side or people knowing who I am, to be perfectly honest,” he says, seated in a darkened pub in a hotel here.

“I think it’s more about the characters you tell. And you can hide behind them.

… it feels very odd to have to be yourself.

I’d much rather be someone different and ‘Outlander’ is wonderful… But it happens with each character. You take on board their life to live like they do. I think that’s the joy of it, being other people.” [X]

Finally, some Anon Comments:

"All fans of SH need to read this and really think about what he says here. REALLY think about it. It’s very telling." Hi, would love to know your take on this. One thing about his words though - He said he was not into fame, but for the past year, he's been playing the HW fame game. Maybe he did change over time? If he really was what he said about himself, I'd assume that he would stay with the theater instead of trying so hard to get into HW. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I've reached the point where I really don't believe anything that Sam or Cait say in interviews. Not interested in fame? Please pull my other leg, it plays Jingle Bells! Odd choice then for Sam to have a supposed GF who seems primarily interested in fame and is not concerned that her behaviour is negatively impacting Sam's image with an intelligent audiences! And what about the pre-arranged pap walk with matching tshirts (a la Hiddleswift!)?

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Why did I think they were telling? Along with any other number of quotes and interviews with Sam the insecurity here is glaring, revealing and touching. Sam’s said a lot over the years about acting and his process, of more interest to me is when he talks about watching people. The BEST Actors are OBSERVERS first and foremost. I am not a fan of “Method” acting, in the main I believe in “Classical” and “Meisner” and somewhat in “Practical Aesthetics” color me “Adler” I guess.

Acting is an insecure business all the way around when you are getting started. Will they like my performance? Am I good enough? Am I serving the Author, the Production, the Cast, the Craft with all I can? What if they don’t? What if I’m not? What if I forget everything I was ever taught or my lines? What if I never get another job? The greatest actors feel these things at a core level, but they tend to grow out of the worst of it. There comes a point when they can master their own insecurities and know that their work has value. I don’t think he’s there yet.

Unfortunately, plaudits can have a negative effect as well. Egos can become omnipresent, uncontrollable, and layered on top of all that simmering insecurity. If you are surrounded by people who are telling you that you are the greatest thing since white bread, and have a massive fanbase saying very similar things, well, I feel for you. I really do. I sincerely hope you have people to keep you grounded, and that they aren’t just on speed dial. He’s 37, he’s been doing this a long time, and I think had very good training at the Conservatoire.

He’s not a child, and, thus far, he hasn’t gone off the rails in any truly damaging way. I do think he is a bit immature for his age and while he admits to being a “Yes Man” I don’t really think he is. I think, as an ambivert, not an introvert, he is conflicted in his own nature, and it takes time to come to grips with that. It also takes suffering through what life really hands you or you make occur. Has he gone HW? Partly, but you would too.

You really don’t get many chances in this lifetime to make your dreams come true. He’s living his. He’s balanced his work with his charity endeavors and while I think he has had some very bad advisors over the years, and needs to replace several of them, I don’t know that I think he is mature enough to see that. Intelligent enough yes, but I am talking emotional maturity here. That does appear to be lacking at times.

Acting is TEMPORARY. You don’t find yourself when you are pretending to be someone else. You may find things in common, you may use those things to build your character, but they are NOT you. You must learn to shed the characterization and be in your own skin daily. Who are YOU? When you aren’t pretending? When you aren’t hiding behind the façade? When you are in the public eye, how much do you reveal, and why?

It’s no easy road he’s traveling, and if you think it is, you don’t really understand what I am trying to say here. Actors are by no means the only people who fill their lives with extraneous crap to try to come to terms with the truth of themselves and life. They do live for the show though, the show is all, and it must go on. Fame and Fortune, while not the core needs, are most certainly present in their minds AT ALL TIMES, if only as a niggling little voice. Most actors aren’t going to say, “I want to be Famous”, but they do. Trust me, they do. Then the lucky few who do become known, well they have to deal with that.

Only time is going to tell how long he can sustain his career in film, but I think it’s safe to say, he will never totally abandon the boards. It’s in his blood now, almost as deep as that workout addiction. By the way, Olivier stressed the need for an Actor to be physically fit long before it came into fashion.

Enough, or I won’t have anything to say in the recaps I plan on doing when S3 has finished its’ first run. Feel free to keep commenting to me, asking and DMing about these topics.

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luckyomikujis · 5 years

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finally had my first bowl of ramen since i’ve been in japan!! took me forever, but this place right next to campus was delicious!! they even have unlimited free rice!! i’ll definitely be back to try different toppings next time or even the ¥200 donburi they have

11/7/2019 - Thursday

woke up around 6:11am and knew that i had to be productive, so i quickly went to the kitchen to cook the chicken before it went bad and get brekkie ready

ate brekkie, received my tattoo design and confirmed for saturday!! SO EXCITED!! made my to do list and got ready for class

ft’ed val for a little before class :)

went to kanji, took a quiz and reviewed for the midterm next week

went straight to the library after kanji class and started the art history reading; not too interesting and got through most of it and then got hungry

went back to the dorm to eat some lunch; just had some of the chicken and dicked around for a little bit before going to my next class

went to contemp. korean issues a little early, did some kanji review, then class started

went back to the dorm after class, took a nap, and did some hw

litto yuki-chan asked if i wanted to grab dinner and we went to budou ramen on waseda dori

ate rather fast, talked about zeta formals and his trip to LA

stopped by 7-11 on way back to dorm to get some ice cream and then went back to my dorm and ft’ed val

ft’ed, did some more hw/review, talked, and just relaxed

got tired of hw and just wasted some time on the internet, called val as her alarm to wake up

now i sleep

it was actually a rather relaxing day! i really need to go to the gym, especially since i’m getting my tattoo on saturday and i won’t be able to gym for a while POOPS but that’s alright it’ll give me time to just focus on my eating and loving my body without having to worry so much about seeing exercise as punishment for what i’m eating. the ramen was delicious!! they use tonkatsu broth, so the broth is really thick! but the proportion of noodle to broth was PERFECT!!! it was a good amount and i’m glad litto and i got there before the long line :o

today was a 4🍜/5🍜

where i ate:

Budouka - 〒162-0045 Tokyo, Shinjuku City, Babashitacho, 62, 白馬ビル

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uniformbravo · 7 years

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today was my special oc day, right, may 16th and everything, and i have that whole yearly silan portrait deal going on

except this could not be a more academically inconvenient time for may 16th to happen lmao i have like a thousand school things going on and any reasonable person would be like “well guess i’ll just have to postpone the festivities in the interest of prioritizing my schoolwork” but Fuck it am i Right

art project that im around 70% done with due tomorrow

museum paper i’ve barely started planning for due thursday

history essay i half-read the prompt for also due thursday

apparently registration for next semester started this week, they don’t usually do it this early & it’s fucking me up

my art teacher approached me about some student art show they’re having on campus asking if i wanted to submit anything & i said i’ll think about it; that deadline is sometime during this week, no idea which day, can’t be bothered to check (could’ve been today tbh)

literally Everything is happening this week and i absolutely should be devoting every waking moment to trying to keep up with it all but instead i went “nope i’m taking the day off it’s Silan Day i need to draw my son” (tho to be fair i did spend the 2 hours between classes today working on the art project so that’s something at least)

also yea um just the fact that i even had classes today?? i’m kind of baffled that this is the first time this has happened tbh bc i started this yearly portrait-drawing tradition in 2014 and i’ve been in school all that time so why don’t i remember being this busy all those other times, i literally lost half of my day today attending class and didn’t start on the actual drawing until like 4 pm (it’s supposed to be like an all-day thing)

aaaanyway i did not manage to finish the portrait today (i wasn’t expecting to) but i got a good start on it and i like where it’s going, enough to be interested in picking it up again later so that’s good?? i’m gonna be semi-responsible and spend the next 2-3 days getting all my schoolwork done lol

because ok i’m not 100% irresponsible alright!! i know i made it seem that way but i didn’t just carelessly throw all my homework out the window so i could draw my ocs all day, i knew beforehand that this week was going to be a shit show! my Actual Plan was to get all or at least the majority of these assignments done over this past weekend, but it turned out to be a Big depression weekend and i couldn’t even bring myself to Think about homework, not even the art hw, so the only thing i managed to finish was this little reading response for art history, which i only did yesterday after the weekend was technically over

so yea h idk my plans kind of fell through bc of that disaster, but i still consider today’s actions justified ok:

since im getting p close to finishing the art project i can probably just finish it in class tomorrow & it’ll be fine, like it’s due at the beginning of class but i’m sure if i give it in before i leave it’ll count

i will devote literally all of tomorrow to completing the museum paper, i wrote another one exactly like it last semester for the same teacher so i know exactly what to do and it should be fairly easy I Got This

history teacher is extremely lenient with late work, last essay i busted my ass to get it done in time and then the next day he was like “ya if u don’t have it today just get it to me whenever u can it’s fine” so i will pray 2 the Lord that he says those same exact words thursday morning and i will have all weekend to write the fuckening thing (*also prays that The Depression won’t foil my plans this time*)

and then registration & the art show are fuckin Whatever, super far down on my priority list i Guess (aka no capacity 2 deal with more things rn lol!)

after all those things are handled i will finally let myself get back to the silan portrait, my son, my charming boy, im so proud of him, tearing apart my life in this crucial time to give him life what a treasure

anyway it’s 2am goodnight

#retag later #talkin bout stuff #school /#ok i didn't even talk about the difficulties i was having with this shit portrait in the first place #it took me like 4 hrs to get into the drawing groove so i basically hated the drawing for the first 4 hrs i was on/off working on it #then photoshop & my tablet were like teaming up against me to give me these weird & annoying errors/glitches i've never had before #& then my laptop randomly shut off (2nd time in the last month or so) while i was working??#thankfully i save often and didn't really lose anything (i lost some shit i already hated and probably would've erased anyway)#and the computer restart fixed the other issues i was having w/ ps & my tablet so win/win i guess?#but still like jesus christ i think...... somehow..... the universe was trying to teach me a lesson abt neglecting my 75 hw assignments.....#just maybe..............

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