#give katherine howard the world

[kingofspadescos]

Astarion x Reader - All You Wanna Do

Warnings - ANGST WITH GOOD ENDING

TW - Trauma, Sexual trauma mention

ALMOST MADE MYSELF CRY FROM THIS-

So in Six we all know Katherine Howard's (the pink one) song right? '

'All You Wanna Do'

And it goes through her lovers but how they only used her for her body?

Tell me that isn't Astarion.

Imagine after escaping Cazador (or at some point) he tries to get back out into the dating pool. He just wanted something, anything to make the numb feeling go away. And he thought he found it, but every day he'd wake up to an empty bed and every time he could feel more and more of himself break. Its an endless vicous cycle that he tries desperstly to break but fails inevitably.

He gives up, slinking back to the shadows and watching from afar.

But then one day when he slips out at night to visit a midnight market he accidently bumps into someone.

And it just so happens to be you.

He tilts his head when you smile up at him

"Sorry, sir, apprantly the skill of walking has alluded me" you said.

He's dumbfounded, a snarky remark at the tip of his tongue but unable to make it past his lips. How could it? You were truly breathtaking, the moonlight reflecting off your skin in a way he could only describe as ethereal.

And the way you looked at him, oh gods your eyes had him reeling. There was no hunger in them, no want, no lust, just embarrassment and genuine kindness, something he was not used to being the target of.

He could handle pure mindless need, but this? Such a sweet innocent little thing like you? Oh, no, he couldn't handle that. Not when you looked at him like he actually mattered in the world.

He barely managed out a stangled 'its fine' before dashing back to his dwelling...where he proceeded to lock himself away for days.

What else was he supposed to do? His heart was beating to another rhythm, a time that only meant heartbreak, anger, and self loathing. He couldn't handle it, not again.

But then, after a few days, a knock sounded at his door, and with caution he had opened it to find you there, holding his blade.

"Hi! You dropped this at the market a few days ago" you said "I asked around about you so I could find you, which was tremendously easy, apprantly there is only one known vampire around here."

And there that smile was again and those same eyes that had him crumbling.

"Thank you" he had coughed out, gently grabbing the blade. He wanted you out, far away from him as possible, just so he could function normally. But then your fingers accidently brushed his and he was almost done for.

Panic, excitement, fear, and hope came down on him in waves as he looked into your eyes again. He barely manged to stop himself from taking a step back as if the adoration and happiness that were captured in your eyes had physically pushed him.

"Well I should probably get going" you said turning to walk, and a new panic rose in his chest, the fear of never seeing you again.

"Wait!" He said too quickly for his own liking "come in for some tea, won't you? It's the least I could do to repay you."

From there you two go closer and closer, spending as much time together as possible. Each second he spent with you he felt his heart reach out towards you as if to embrace you and never let go.

But the fear was still there, the fear that he would get to close and you would leave him, just like everyone else.

However, the day came when you confessed. A new dagger in one hand and a rose in the other you looked up at him with those eyes. The same eyes he had yet to act normal about and told him you liked him and wanted him to be yours and you to be his.

The cold hand of panic that crippled his heart made an appearance, twisting the fear into his body and causing his knees to buckle. God's, he felt so stupid, felt so vulnerable and useless, but then a warmth surrounded him.

Your embrace.

You held him, arms tightly woven around his body keeping him secure to you.

"You can say no, you can tell me no" you had whispered, and he almost jumped at the out "but if you're willing to let me hold your heart ill shall cherish it til' the sun no longer shines and even then I shall create my own."

You had him in tears, hands clutching at you in desperation and head burying into your neck.

The rest of the night was spent with assurance and love, you guiding him through a simple kiss that led to nothing more.

And in the morning when he awoke, he cried again when he saw you curled into his side, hand clutching his with the intent of never letting go.

[tvb0y]

It's No secret i'm a theater kid, I'm a annoying, weird, queer theater kid. And as a theater kid, I love to sing every musical song in my tiny little bean brain. And in honor of my end-of-the-year theater showcase tonight, I give you; The Rise Boys Musical Headcannons! ( Because in my world they are all theater nerds )

Gay Kid ( Leo )

Ride The Cyclone: There is no way My guy has NOT Listened or watched this Musical ( If you haven't; Go watch it on youtube. ) He Is A Noel kinnie ( Probably? Idk. ) And His Favorite Songs are Noel's Lament and What The World Needs ( To Which He has choreographed both.)

Mean Girls: Not only does he LOVE The Og Mean Girls; He Loves The Musical As Well. He Jams to the whole playlist at 2:AM. His Favorite songs are Sexy, Revenge Party, And Stupid With Love. And He always blasts Stupid With Love Whenever he gets a little gay crush on a guy he saw for 5 seconds.

Dear Evan Hansen: The Musical My guy listens to whenever he gets depressed :( . His Favorite Songs Are obviously Sincerely, Me. And Waving Through A Window.

A.U.T.I.S.M. ( Donnie. )

Hamilton: The Ultimate Nerd Musical, For The Ultimate Nerd. This Guy Has Been singing this soundtrack 'Non-Stop' ( Get It? ) Ever Since it went on Broadway. Favorite song's are pretty basic though. ( Non-Stop And Satisfied.) But Still Good.

Beetlejuice: HFIJBNHJJNJKFJN BEST MUSICAL EVER!!- Anyways, This Is the Ultimate Musical For Me And Donnie. He Is a Beetlejuice Kinnie. Favorite songs are Say My Name And That Beautiful Sound.

Heathers: I'm Saying it right here; Donnie Is a JD Stan. Favorite Songs are Freeze Your Brain and Lifeboat.

Teddy Bear. ( Raph. )

Anastasia: He Loves The Book, The Movie, And the Musical. Favorite song is Paris Holds the Key ( To Your Heart.) He Be Working Out To this Shit.

The Greatest Showman ( Yes It's A Musical ): I Used to LOVE This Movie, Raph Secretly watches this movie every night before he goes to bed. Favorite Songs are Obviously A Million Dreams and The Other Side.

DR FEELINGS!! ( Mikey )

Six: Katherine Howard Stan!!! This Is How Donnie got him to learn history Lol. Favorite Song Is All You Wanna Do

Percy Jackson Musical: He Loves The Books, And The Series, So Of course He loves the Musical! D.O.A And The Campfire Song are his top picks <3

Matilda: I actually watched a off-broadway Version Of This- Again, He Read the book so He likes The Musical. He says all the songs are his favorite.

That's all I got Lol, Sorry That It looks Rushed, It Is. I didn't have enough time to go into depth for all of them, enjoy!

[musicalcastingideas]

Succession The Musical Hypothetical Casting

I’m doing this in one shot and off the top of my head, so I will be missing characters, I do also welcome suggestions.

Logan Roy: Patrick Page

Is this the obvious first choice? Yes. Is it the correct one? Also yes.

Kendall Roy: Lucas Steele

Kendall is just Anatole if he didn’t have a close relationship with his sister.

Roman Roy: Brandon Uranowitz

He played a nice neurotic freak in Falsettos, let's see him play an evil neurotic freak.

Shiv Roy: Eden Espinoza

I'll be honest, if I was genuinely casting a Succession musical as a real casting director, I would look for a more unknown performer to play Shiv, because I firmly believe that Shiv Roy should be an alto part, heavy in the lower range (like basically a tenor). Shiv's plot revolves around trying to push past her gender to be taken seriously, and I think having her being an alto who stays in her lower register would really highlight how hard she's trying to be taken seriously. That said, I would not at all be disappointed to have Eden Espinoza in the part. She's insanely talented, and I would love to see her interpretation of Shiv.

Connor Roy: Josh Groban

So there's a clip of The Opera from "Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812" where the ensemble sings "Pierre, the cuckold, sits at home", and then Pierre pops up saying "No, I am enjoying myself at home this evening" while giving a sad little thumbs up, while his wife is off banging another man? That's the energy I want for my Connor Roy.

Tom Wambsgans: Brian D'Arcy James

Is he maybe a little old for the part? Sure. But age onstage is fucky, and Brian D’Arcy James would absolutely kill it as the combination ass-kisser and ruthless bastard that is Tom Wambsgans. Also he gives Minnesota.

Greg Hirsch: George Salazar

I kinda don’t feel like I have to explain this one.

Gerri: Bernadette Peters

Icons playing icons.

Frank: Mandy Patinkin

Sunday In The Park With George reunion!

Willa Ferreyra: Samantha Pauly

I rewatched her All You Wanna Do again last night (and cried again) and when I thought about Willa, that popped into my head. (Not in the sense that I think Willa is a victim like Katherine Howard, she’s a consenting sex worker, more the fact that in the succession world, women, like Willa, are only valued for their sexuality.) Anyway, Sam Pauly also just kills every part she’s in so…

Stewy Hosseini: Tony Yazbek

He’s played Billy Flynn on Broadway, so he’s good at being a smarmy yet charming asshole (I say this with love, I love both Stewy and Billy Flynn)

Lukas Matsson: Aaron Tiveit

He’s hot but can also be scary.

Hard Cuts/ Impossible:

Edward Herrman as Karl

Would he be fun in the role? Yes. Is he dead, and therefore incapable of doing it? Also yes.

Daniel Radcliffe as Roman

Barrett Wilbert Weed as Shiv

Mandy Patinkin as Logan

[amyzaaiman-blog]

On Grief & The Hard Time That People Are Giving Jackie Howard:

I just have to say that I lost my mom 3 years ago & have no relationship with my father, so I'm essentially an orphan. I feel like I shouldn't have to say this, but everyone grieves differently. You don't know how you're going to respond until you're in that situation, so don't judge so hastily. My mom was the closest person in the world to me (besides my husband, who has been an amazing support) & losing her turned me into a complete mess. I didn't leave the house for about a year (that's not an exaggeration), I picked up about 17kgs and then proceeded to vomit everyday for the next year and lost all of the weight again. My hair fell out in clumps. I couldn't sleep. My period stopped for about 1.5 years. I did things I would NEVER have done beforehand, such as seeking escapism like smoking weed everyday. I couldn't function properly or work. I had permanent brain fog. Other people have different ways of responding to this type of situation. I was in such a confused, repressed haze for so long that I only feel as if I'm properly processing her passing now. For the first time in 3 years, I'm finally experiencing anger (which is one of the key phases of bereavement). You just never know.

If you read the book, it's clear that Jackie initially does have a very intense, emotional response after her family dies - she falls apart. She doesn't get out of bed for like a month. Then, one day, as a way of distracting herself & making her family proud, she gets out of bed & focuses solely on getting into Princeton. While they don't show all of this backstory in the show, it's very obvious to me that she's bottling up all of her emotions. Her worst nightmare is to be pitied. And honestly, as she says in the show, no one knows what to say to you in such circumstances. Everything sounds awkward/disingenuous/well-meaning but misplaced/alienating.

I'm really not surprised that she shies away from the deep connection that she has with Cole (who, let's be honest, is a fuckboy at the beginning of the show but who she clearly has a unique & immediate attachment to). She's so vulnerable that she latches onto the "safe" brother who makes her feel relatively normal again. He offers comfort & stability, which is exactly what you need when you feel lost, alone & untethered. She can't afford to be hurt again & that's what Cole represents/threatens - especially because of the way he treats other girls. When Cole asks her why she's with Alex, she doesn't say it's because she likes Alex more, but rather cites Cole's behaviour towards other women.

These boys are also forms of distraction from her grief. And to add to the mix, she's only 15 years old. What hormonal teenager hasn't been confused or made stupid, rash decisions that they regret? I'm 33 years old and I'm still making mistakes and cringing from things I said & did a month ago, a day ago, an hour ago. It's really obvious that her attraction to Cole continues percolating throughout the show until he does something so meaningful/thoughtful that she can't ignore her feelings any longer. And what he does for her is especially touching because it's so inherently related to her loss & the absence of her family. Throughout the show, Cole is the only one she really opens up to about her family; how much she misses them & her home. He understands her in a way that others don't because she won't let them in in the same way. He truly sees her. They challenge each other. And while these are beautiful parts about falling in love, they can also be extremely frightening because there's nowhere to hide.

I don't even blame the parents for not noticing what is truly going on (although I think Katherine has an idea). Teenagers are renowned for being secretive (not to mention that the adults are also dealing with much of their own stress). I actually really like the scenes that she has with Katherine. I think that they have an understanding. Katherine is still getting to know Jackie & there's no way that she'll ever come close to replacing her mother. It just doesn't work like that. People aren't interchangeable.

It's also important to note that Jackie's whole shtick & manner of coping is to have a veneer of being "fine". I think that she's worried that if she shatters the illusion, she'll just fall apart again. She's barely holding it together. Particularly at the start of the show, she's just going through the motions & existing. The messy but loving (albeit not in the very, very beginning) environment of the Walter household is what's keeping her afloat. By the end (she even says this), she finally feels like she belongs. She has meaningful relationships with the whole Walter family & extended clan, & the reason that she leaves is because she knows how royally she's fucked up. She's overwhelmed & scared - fearful of her own roiling emotions & how she's exacerbated the rift between Alex & Cole.

Yes, you could call her hypocritical because Cole "stealing" Paige (She's not an object, so let's check that language. She is a person & has agency) is one of the main things that Jackie repeatedly holds against him (& uses as an excuse for keeping him at a distance). But she definitely realises this, which is why she runs away. She knows that she's acted against her own morals.

This is a very long post, but my ultimate point is that people should have a little more compassion. Grief is not a linear process & life is not simply black & white - there are vast shades of grey in between. People can make "bad" choices & redeem themselves. Are we meant to define people by one ill-thought-out/passion-based/heat-of-the-moment decision that they made as a teenager when they were severely traumatised? I think that forgiveness is a better option & that people should be allowed to grow, change & learn from their mistakes. Season 2 is still on its way, remember?

[kaelio]

Howard Allen Frances O'Brien (Anne Rice) is in the center of this photograph depicting children using the Children's Department in the Main Library at Lee Circle in 1953. Photograph by the Times-Picayune/New Orleans States

Born on October 4, 1941 in New Orleans, Anne Rice (born Howard Allen Frances O'Brien was the second of four daughters of Irish Catholic parents, Howard O'Brien and Katherine "Kay" Allen O'Brien. Her father, a Naval veteran of World War II and lifelong resident of New Orleans, worked as a Personnel Executive for the U.S. Postal Service and authored one novel, The Impulsive Imp, which was published posthumously. [...] Rice spent most of her childhood and teenage years in New Orleans, the city that forms the backdrop against which many of her works are set.

Her early years were marked by coping with the family's poverty and her mother's alcoholism. She and her family lived in the rented home of her maternal grandmother, Alice Allen (known as "Mamma Allen") at 2301 St. Charles Avenue in the Irish Channel, which Rice says was widely considered a "Catholic Ghetto". Allen, who began working as a domestic shortly after separating from her alcoholic husband, was an important early influence in Rice's life, keeping the family and household together as Rice's mother sank deeper into alcoholism. Allen died in 1949, but the O'Briens remained in her home until 1956, when they moved to 2524 St. Charles Avenue, a former rectory, convent, and school owned by the parish, to be closer to both the church and support for Katherine's addiction.

As a young child, Rice studied at St. Alphonsus School, which was previously attended by her father. About her unusual given name, Rice said: "Well, my birth name is Howard Allen because apparently my mother thought it was a good idea to name me Howard. My father's name was Howard, she wanted to name me after Howard, and she thought it was a very interesting thing to do. She was a bit of a Bohemian, a bit of mad woman, a bit of a genius, and a great deal of a great teacher. And she had the idea that naming a woman Howard was going to give that woman an unusual advantage in the world."

[...]

When Rice was fifteen years old [note: fourteen], her mother died as a result of her alcoholism. Soon afterward, she and her sisters were placed by their father in St. Joseph's Academy. Rice described St. Joseph's as "something out of Jane Eyre ... a dilapidated, awful, medieval type of place. I really hated it and wanted to leave. I felt betrayed by my father."

In November 1957, Rice's father married Dorothy Van Bever.  In 1958, when Rice was sixteen, her father moved the family to north Texas, purchasing their first home in Richardson. Rice first met her future husband, Stan Rice, in a journalism class while they were both students at Richardson High School.

[x]

[smacksmash]

Fox has renewed its dramas “Accused” and “Alert: Missing Persons Unit” for sophomore seasons, to air in 2023-24, Fox Entertainment’s president of scripted programming, Michael Thorn announced on Thursday.

Hailing from Howard Gordon, “Accused” opened on a season high note as television’s highest-rated drama debut in two years. In its Jan. 22 premiere, the show registered a 2.5 Live + 35 Day rating and 14.6 multi-platform viewers. To date, the show averages 7.5 million multi-platform viewers, up +126% from its Live + Same Day delivery. “Accused” is based on the BBC’s BAFTA-winning series of the same name.

“With ‘Accused,’ Howard Gordon has taken the crime anthology to new heights and acclaim, featuring an all-star roster of directors and talent headlining gripping episodes that entertain viewers with a provocative, fresh take on many of the most relevant, timely issues of our day,” said Thorn in a statement.

In its Jan. 8 debut, “Alert” recorded 8.5 million multi-platform viewers, a lift of 112% from Live +Same Day figures. Its 6.7 million multi-platform first season average also represents an increase of 154% from Live + Same day numbers. Scott Caan, Dania Ramirez, Adeola Role and Ryan Broussard star in the series, which comes from co-creators and executive producers John Eisendrath and Jamie Foxx.

“Scott, Dania, John and Jamie have done an incredible job launching Alert and bringing its story into heart-pounding focus, giving us an emotionally intense procedural drama that’s primed for even more success as Carla takes the day-to-day reins, continuing the great work we’ve seen this season.”

In addition to the news, Carla Kettner (“The Blacklist,” “Bones”) will join the series for Season 2 and serve as showrunner. Both “Accused” and “Alert” are co-produced by Sony Pictures Television and Fox Entertainment. Their pick-ups follow Fox’s recent renewal of “The Cleaning Lady” for a third season.

“We are excited to continue our long partnership with Fox to bring more Accused and Alert to audiences around the world,” said Katherine Pope, president of Sony Pictures Television. “It’s wonderful to see these timely, poignant stories resonating with viewers, and we want to congratulate the writers, producers, cast and crew on their success. We are incredibly proud of their collective work and look forward to seeing where these series go next!”

[fugamalefica]

I just want to go back in time, give Katherine Howard a hug, and protect her from the world.

[academy13]

I swear to god I’m going to write a Superman movie where Lois is a little bit Katherine Hepburn or Barbara Stanwyck or really any leading lady of a Howard Hawks movie, and Clark is some where between Jimmy Stewart and Humphry Bogart, because that feels right to me. Flavor of screwball comedy, because you cannot give me two reporters and not have me immediately jump to certified iconic Howard Hawks film ‘His Girl Friday’. Its a screwball and its set in a news room, obviously I’m going to draw some ideas from it (one of those things being the pace of the news room, and certainly how everyone talks). 

The superohero stuff will be there of course, but it won’t be the predominate part of the plot, because I just want a movie where the leads are doing their goddamned jobs and they wind up saving the world because they figure out the bad guy’s plot, or at least enough of it to warrant Shit Going Down on their terms (also do I want Lois and Clark using their respective strengths in the fight, YES. Lois may not have superpowers, but she’s smart, she knows how to fight, she will protect her people and her city. She’s just as much a leader, she just has a different approach) and the whole thing that seems to keep being forgotten by most comic book movies these days... ANYONE CAN BE A SUPERHERO. Its not the spandex or the powers, its doing the right thing against all odds. 

[darkmaga-retard]

"My God, what was I going to do about the me that was buried beneath all that, the me that I was stuck with, that was real?" ~ Lauren Bacall

Karen Hunt aka KH Mezek

Aug 25, 2024

I always loved Lauren Bacall. She seemed a lot realer than so many other actors. But as it turns out, she suffered from the same problem as everyone else.

“I was transformed from a nothing to a combination of Garbo, Dietrich, Mae West, Katharine Hepburn. I was everything Howard Hawks had always wanted. My name would be on everyone’s lips all over the country, my words would be immortal—my God, what was I going to do about the me that was buried beneath all that, the me that I was stuck with, that was real? How could I live up to all that—how could anyone?”

Transformed from a “nothing”. Isn’t this what so many people fear? Being a nothing. Living and dying without recognition, without anything to show that you were here. Having children to carry on your legacy is not part of this longing. This is a completely selfish desire. And those in power know very well how to exploit it.

Katherine Hepburn was plucked out of obscurity by someone powerful and given the ability to live beyond the end of her physical existence. But the price for her transformation was to bury her real self.

Billions of people want what she was given. But 99.9% of the masses will never have someone powerful to help them. So, the powerful figured out a way to fool everyone into thinking they can achieve this kind of immortality, too. Through the metaverse. I think the metaverse is the best term, since it simply means “a virtual-reality space in which users can interact with a computer-generated environment and other users.”

This is where we are pushed to live now. Especially, it is where our children are being captured. Anyone can be transformed there. Anyone can bury their real selves under layers upon layers of a new, fake self that they have been promised will give them relevance in a brave new world.

How did these tech gods convince us that we were so worthless, that the real world was beyond saving (they are convincing us of this now), that we gladly buried it all under fakery that is fast becoming realer to us than reality?

Remember Imane Khelif? Check out this Vogue cover.

[anisethefiaadmin]

In the entire history of England all the way up to the year 1801—which means this is also the entire history of the British Empire to that point—guess how many women got a divorce. Don’t cheat and google it, just guess. Give up?

One.

How is this possible when divorce itself was legalized in the year 1700?? In one hundred years, why did only ONE woman get a divorce? Well, that’s what this history post is about!

Today, divorce is clearly a lot more common than it used to be. Among all Americans 18 years of age or older, whether they have been married or not, 25 percent have gone through a legal marital split. 15 percent of adult women in the United States are divorced or separated today, compared with less than one percent in 1920. I’ve been divorced, and it’s safe to bet that some of you have, too. The percentage is a little lower in Britain, but it really shot up once no-fault divorce became a thing there in 2022 (yes, it took all that time.)

But that was clearly not always the historical case. We’re only going to discuss the situation in England, and later, in Britain, or this post would need to be a book. There were never uniform rules for divorce all over the world or even in the western world. For instance, northern Europe had an option for divorce after the Reformation, and divorce in the U.S. followed very different rules after 1776. If we look at Tudor times in England, there was no divorce as we would think of today (or even as people would have thought of it a hundred years later.) The option simply didn’t exist. Couples could formally separate, but for both people involved to be free to part ways and remarry, the only way to go was annulment. The Church had to agree that the marriage in question never should have happened in the first place.

Henry VIII broke from Rome because he couldn’t get an annulment for his marriage to Katherine of Aragon from the Pope, but he did get one very easily when he wanted to discard Anna of Cleves in favor of Catherine Howard. In the year 1700, divorce finally became possible in England. However, miserable couples still faced a lot of barriers. The only way to divorce was to get a special Act of Parliament, which the person who wanted the divorce had to pay for. As you’ve probably guessed, not many people did this. Over the next one hundred and fifty-seven years, there were three hundred and fourteen extremely expensive divorces. And as you may have figured out, almost all of these were brought by husbands. There were exactly four cases in which the wife, not the husband, filed for divorce. But the more I learned about this, the more I found myself fascinated by the fact that those four cases did exist. It wasn’t completely impossible for women to get a divorce during those 157 years. It was just extremely unlikely, to the point where they represented basically one percent of all divorces. So who were these women, and especially, who was that first case in 1801, and how did she do it? How did she manage to pull off something so very unprecedented? Next week, I’ll answer that question, andwe’ll learn about the weird and fascinating story of the very first woman to ever get a legal divorce in England: Jane Campbell. And it actually WILL be posted in Wednesday! :P

[hydr0logicoutlook]

How many books did you read this year? not sure, I didn't keep track until like october unfortunately. But 70+

Did you reread anything? What? I reread Lirael/Sabriel/Abhorsen by Garth Nix which I've read like 4 or 5 times. my favorite YA fantasy of all time

What were your top five books of the year? Top 17 in no particular order:

The Book of Form and Emptiness by Ruth Ozeki Care Work by Leah Lakshmi Piepnzna-Samarasinha The Dawn of Everything by David Graeber and David Wengrow Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl by Andrea Lawlor Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner Briefly, a Delicious Life by Nell Stevens The Electricity of Every Living Thing by Katherine May The Membranes by Chi Ta-wei All This Could Be Different by Sarah Thankam Matthews Sterling Karat Gold by Isabel Waidner Old Enough by Haley Jakobson Chlorine by Jade Song The Centre by Ayesha Manazir Siddiqi The World Cannot Give by Tara Isabella Burton Our Share of Night by Mariana Enriquez Extremely Online by Taylor Lorenz Love by Toni Morrison

Did you discover any new authors that you love this year? Yes I read two books by Ruth Ozeki and loved both. I also got more into David Graeber, I read Debt and Bullshit Jobs at the end of last year and really enjoyed The Dawn of Everything this year.

What genre did you read the most of? Hard to say since again I didn't keep track of everything and I haven't used goodreads in a couple years lol bc its owned by amazon but I would say leftist/leftist leaning nonfiction, contemporary fiction written by women and queer people, and fantasy/magical realism.

Was there anything you meant to read, but never got to? So much lol. But the oldest books on my tbr are No Touching by Ketty Rouf, Nature is a Human Right by Ellen Miles, Overtime by Will Stronge and Kyle Lewis, Ecrits by Jacques Lacan, and New Animal by Ella Baxter

Did you meet any of your reading goals? Which ones? Did not have any but I read way more than I have since I was in high school so I'm so happy about that!

Did you get into any new genres? I hadn't read a lot of magical realism (non heavy fantasy) that I'd really enjoyed before.

What was your favorite new release of the year? The World Cannot Give by Tara Isabella Burton, Our Share of Night by Mariana Enriquez, or All This Could Be Different by Sarah Thankam Matthews

What was your favorite book that has been out for a while, but you just now read? Geek Love by Katherine Dunn I think was the oldest book I read this year that I really liked. Or People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn is also a strong contender. Or Illness as Metaphor and AIDS and Its Metaphors by Susan Sontag. Or Love by Toni Morrison.

Any books that disappointed you? While I really enjoyed Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin and I would recommend it, I do think it has been somewhat overhyped and failed to live up to my expectations in some respects. I also did not enjoy Venco by Cherie Dimaline as much as I wanted to, given the premise is like a perfect intersection of things I enjoy in books. Try Her Majesty's Royal Coven by Juno Dawson instead, or the Left-Handed Booksellers of London by Garth Nix for similar vibes but way more enjoyable.

What were your least favorite books of the year? I usually DNF books I don't like so hard to say for sure. Milk Fed by Melissa Broder was really not my vibe. I wasn't really surprised because I couldn't stand her previous book about the mermaid(?) but I did like her So Sad Today stuff. I also liked Norwegian Wood exactly as much as I was expecting to, which was, not very much. I've also decided I don't really enjoy reading short story collections.

What books do you want to finish before the year is over? I am currently reading My Tiny Life by Julian Dibbel and Fossil Capital by Andreas Malm, both of which are very dense and I have kind of been sloughing through. Both are super interesting though so hopefully I finish them by the end of the month instead of just reading fiction which I read way faster.

Did you read any books that were nominated for or won awards this year (Booker, Women’s Prize, National Book Award, Pulitzer, Hugo, etc.)? What did you think of them? I just looked at the lists for all the awards listed here and literally the only book I read was Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldor which was nominated for best novel at this years Hugo awards LOL. I added some other ones to my tbr though. I thought it was fun but nothing incredible! I'll read the sequels (my standard of quality for fantasy is a lot lower than other genres lol)

What is the most over-hyped book you read this year? Def Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin even though it WAS really good!

Did any books surprise you with how good they were? Yes I was not expecting to enjoy Pageboy by Elliot Page as much as I did! Really well done celebrity memoir. Also I was worried that Extremely Online by Taylor Lorenz would just be about stuff I already knew but it was actually super interesting and went down a bunch of rabbit holes I didn't know a ton about and had great analysis.

How many books did you buy? Way too many. But mostly very cheap on Thriftbooks!

Did you use your library? Oh boy, you wouldn't even believe.

What was your most anticipated release? Did it meet your expectations? I was very excited for README.txt by Chelsea Manning and it did not disappoint (yes it came out in 2022 but I took a second to get to it okay). I also had The Free People's Village by Sim Kern on hold way before it came out and I really enjoyed it!

Did you participate in or watch any booklr, booktube, or book twitter drama? no lmao. i watched a couple youtube videos about tiktok book drama and it was the stupidest shit ive ever seen

What’s the longest book you read? Probably Our Share of Night by Mariana Enriquez. I did listen to it on audio which is the only way I am really able to get through books that long. The longest book I read with my eyes was probably The Book of Form and Emptiness by Ruth Ozeki.

What’s the fastest time it took you to read a book? This is a silly question bc I read some pretty short books. Several books under two hundred pages only took me a few hours.

Did you DNF anything? Why? so much stuff i can't even explain

What reading goals do you have for next year? Keep reading at the pace I am now! and hopefully keep track of the books this time, but not feel pressured to share about books im reading if I don't want to

[byneddiedingo]

Joaquin Phoenix in Inherent Vice (Paul Thomas Anderson, 2014)

Cast: Joaquin Phoenix, Josh Brolin, Owen Wilson, Katherine Waterston, Reese Witherspoon, Benicio del Toro, Jena Malone, Joanna Newsom, Martin Short. Screenplay: Paul Thomas Anderson, based on a novel by Thomas Pynchon. Cinematography: Robert Elswit. Production design: David Crank. Film editing: Leslie Jones. Music: Jonny Greenwood.

I haven't read the Thomas Pynchon novel on which Anderson's film is based, but I've read enough Pynchon to know that his work is founded on a kind of literary playfulness for which there's no cinematic equivalent or even substitute. What Anderson gives us is a kind of loosey-goosey spoof of the private eye genre that works as well as it does because of brilliant casting. Joaquin Phoenix is perfect as Doc Sportello, the perpetually stoned P.I. who is trying to figure out what's going on with his ex-girlfriend Shasta Fay Hepworth (Katherine Waterston) while butting heads with a police detective, "Bigfoot" Bjornsen (Josh Brolin). The time is the 1970s, with Nixon as president and Reagan as California governor, and Anderson milks the period paranoia about drugs and law and order for all it's worth. The plot is as murky as a Raymond Chandler novel, which links the movie with two distinguished predecessors, The Big Sleep (Howard Hawks, 1946) and The Long Goodbye (Robert Altman, 1973), which really were based on Chandler novels. Inherent Vice isn't as good as either of those films: It's a little too long and a little too caught up in the cleverness of its spoofery. But there's always something or someone -- the cast includes Benicio Del Toro, Owen Wilson, Reese Witherspoon, and Martin Short, among others -- to watch. Brolin is a hoot as Bigfoot: With his crew cut and perpetually clenched jaw he looks for all the world like Dick Tracy -- or maybe Al Capp's parody of Dick Tracy, Fearless Fosdick.

[nix-needs-coffee]

Destiny - Ch. 2

Our new friend has a name! Not everyone agrees on it.

Ch 1.

AO3 Link

“Nebula.”

“Neverla?”

“Nebula.”

“Netherlands?”

“Nebula.”

“Networker?”

“Nebula.”

Anne sighed, frustrated, and dropped down onto the bed, undignified and heavy. The frame creaked dangerously at the sudden weight of her. She lifted the kitten up above her head and let her hone her hunting skills by batting just out of reach of nose with her ineffectual paws. “Why would you curse this sweet little face with such an awful name?” She questioned before making soft kissing noises.

“What is so awful about it? All of the flecks of color along her back look like star constellations,,” Katherine defended her choice, indignant. She leaned over to try and take Nebula out of Anne’s hands, but Anne rolled just out of reach.

“Constellations don’t make up a nebula, you nerd,” Anne laughed before letting out a yelp as the kitten hooked a claw in her septum piercing. She let the cat drop to the bed, shielding her face from continuing, relentless attacks until she could sit upright again.

Nebula leapt over her, running to Katherine and climbing up her shirt to play with one of her dangling star earrings. “See! She approves. Don’t you sweetheart?” She giggled holding Nebula up to her shoulder to reach the earring without having to shred the material of her shirt just to keep balanced.

“What about the ‘K’ behind her ear? Like, I still don’t see it but you did. Shouldn’t her name start with a ‘K’?” Anne’s eyes were watering from the tug on her nose ring. She dabbed at it with a gentle fingertip to check for bleeding, finding none.

A soft knock at the door made all three inhabitants of the room jump.

“It’s just me,” Parr called. She waited until she received consent this time before carefully slipping inside and closing the door quietly behind her. Her face lit up as she scooped the kitten into her arms. “Hello, my darling!” She murmured into her soft fur. Her tone was higher-pitched than either Katherine or Anne had ever heard from Parr before. The girls exchanged bemused glances behind Parr’s back at how easily she had been won over by the kitten’s charms.

“Does she have a name yet?”

“Knightly. Like Kiera but less swashbuckly,” Anne interjected.

Katherine rolled her eyes ostentatiously. “It’s Nebula.”

“Oh, Nebula,” Parr tested it out, dropping kisses between her ears as she scratched under her chin, repeating the name a few more times. “I think it suits her,” she beamed as the cat twisted around so that she could nip at her fingers. “Have you given any more thought to how you are going to break the news to Jane?”

Katherine shifted uncomfortably before getting off the edge of her bed to tidy up the toys scattered across her floor. She gave Parr a weak shake of her head, acknowledging the fact that she had no idea how she was going to go about confessing her discretions.

Anne flopped indelicately back onto the mattress, pulling the pillow to cover her mouth as she groaned and then tossing the pillow at Katherine’s vulnerable form as she was bent over to pick up a plush mouse.

The pillow missed its mark, rather than harmlessly bouncing off of Katherine, it ricocheted off of a floor lamp. All three women froze as the lamp tilted perilously towards one side before Katherine came to her senses. She lunged forward to right it, tripping on her desk chair sending it clattering to one side, and crashing into the desk with her hip. Her hands caught the pole just as it was nearing the floor.

Before she could set the lamp back on its base, her door flew open. “God, Kat, are you alright? I thought you were going to come through the wall,” Cleves walked into the room and helped Katherine set her chair back on its legs and had a look around the room.

Nebula, terrified by the noise, took advantage of the opportunity for freedom and tore out into the hallway, running as far from the commotion as she could. Anne took up the chase, clumsily crashing into the wall across from Katherine’s door before taking off down the hallway to retrieve the kitten.

“What the hell was that?” Cleves shouted, catching only a blur of motion before Anne bumbled out of the room. She turned to Katherine for answers when Parr ignored her question and followed Anne through the door.

Katherine refused to meet her eyes, biting her lip as she went around her room picking up odds and ends and shoving them into drawers and under the bed.

“That,” Anne announced loudly as she stepped back into the room, “Was Kneecaps.”

“Nebula.”

“Whatever.” Anne held the squirming kitten up for Cleves to see. “She’s the love of Katherine’s life and her dirty little secret, and if you squeal I will personally end you.” She stared Cleves down, almost daring her to try her.

Cleves reached a tentative hand out to scratch the nervous kitten’s head. “Nebula, huh?” She turned to smile at Katherine. A small reassurance that she would not be the one responsible for divulging the information to anyone else in the house. “Just make sure I’m not home when Jane finds out, yeah?”

[the10amongstthese3s]

“When the Queens' discover that one of them has a secret tattoo, it sparks an idea in one particularly chaotic member of the group.”

https://archiveofourown.org/works/22194487

I’ve been writing a lot of angst recently, so here’s some fluffy drabble that I’ve abandoned (and returned to) a million times over the past week or so 🦆

[inamindfarfaraway]

Edward VI’s song that I wrote for @arty-e’s SIX: The Kids. This is a sad one. Well, they’re all sad, but… God. We know so little about who Edward was inside and how he felt about things because of how young he was and how eclipsed his own thoughts and wishes were by everyone who had more control over his life than he ever did. He was surrounded by manipulators, yet extremely isolated. And it all just breaks my heart. I knew this song was gonna be Pain when I hit upon it being directed toward Henry, like his mother’s. It can therefore reveal his love for and pride in his father, unmet need for his validation and love and even (speculative, but I think plausible and certainly understandable) resentment that he was left to be king and to suffer so much. I mean, Elizabeth was right there, Protestant and everything. But Henry wanted a son, so he brought Edward into the world… and the world wasn’t kind to him. I imagine he must have felt the huge pressure of everyone’s expectation and anticipation and hope and conflicting selfish interests; the weight of the religious and familial turmoil Henry put others including Mary and Elizabeth, who Edward loved, through in order to have him; very keenly. And then he hardly got to make a dent in history. That’ll give you some issues.

Like Elizabeth, Edward recognized and did his best to live up to the Tudor ideal of a ruler: stoic, composed, steadfast, imperious and seemingly transcending human emotion. His own private diary consists of detached, factual accounts of events, not divulging into personal feelings even on matters such as Mary refusing to convert or his uncles getting beheaded. He deduced the role people want him to play/would like him if he played and plays it. So his modern persona is based on the archetype of the outwardly crowd-pleasing, charismatic, confident teenage popstar thrust into fame by adults planning to cash in on them, similar to Katherine Howard’s SIX portrayal, only the male version. There are more frequent stage directions here than in the others because I have recently seen SIX: The Musical for the first time(!!!) and really noticed how complex and dynamic the lighting was, changing with every shift in tone.

Lady Jane Grey’s song.

Mary I’s song.

Elizabeth I’s song.

Intro song ideas.

[tellthemeerkatsitsfine]

Saw Katherine Ryan live tonight. It was a great show for which my girlfriend got us tickets, and date night featuring Katherine Ryan is the best kind of date night. It was so cool to see her in person; I’ve now seen six live Britcom shows in the last five months, and the novelty of that first moment they walk out and you say “Oh shit they’re just there, made of flesh and displacing air and things” has very much not worn off. She was funny and charming and engaging and fast on her feet and lovely.

There was also some political stuff that didn’t completely shock me to hear Katherine Ryan going in that direction, given a few of the things she’s said before, but it did take a few parts of Katherine Ryan’s framework for seeing/discussing the world that I’ve been trying to gloss over, and bring them to the forefront in a way that forces me to integrate them into my perception of her. Sort of like when last year, Russell Howard actually brought Jordan Peterson on his show, ending my ability to pretend I hadn’t heard the occasional throwaway comments he’d made before then about how maybe we should listen to guys like that sometimes. I mean, obviously it wasn’t as bad as that, because Katherine Ryan didn’t bring Jordan Fucking Peterson on stage with her, or anything close to that. Just said a few things a little more clearly and openly than before.

I still love Katherine Ryan, and Russell Howard for that matter; I would argue it’s a good argument against the existence of “cancel culture” and “If you say one wrong thing then people will blacklist you forever” that my very progressive lesbian girlfriend and I have had dates to the live shows of both Katherine Ryan and Russell Howard this year, despite them saying some stuff that I really wish they hadn’t said. Things that... if they hadn’t said those things, it would be so much easier to just purely easily like them without having to think about how to justify and reconcile that with my politics. Why can’t people make it easy?

I have many mixed feelings that require some reconciling and justifying, it led to quite an interesting and nuanced conversation with my girlfriend on the car ride home, and I’ll try to come up with something intelligent to say about it on this blog, but honestly, not tonight. Because tonight I am wired from all the excitement and it was a really good show and I’m still excited about that and I’m just going to bask in the excitement about seeing Katherine Ryan as a real life human being saying funny things.

(And seriously, I want to be clear that this reminds me of the Russell Howard thing a bit in the type of situation but not in degree, that it definitely wasn’t as bad as that, and I want to be careful to say so if I’m going to talk about it, because I don’t want to equate Russell Howard actually giving air time to and expressing great admiration for Jordan Peterson, with Katherine Ryan saying she rolls her eyes and ignores it when she hears her husband listen to Jordan Peterson. Because too many double standards exist where we’ll condemn a woman for tolerating something in the periphery of her life when we’d forgive a man for openly embracing that same thing, and to be clear I do “forgive” them both in that I like them and still watch their comedy. And see, I’m trying to keep this post quick and simple but I’m already getting into having caveat this and acknowledge its complexity because I want to make sure I say only what I mean, and God damn it, why can’t they just make it easy?)