#idk i handle change very poorly as you can see LOL

[dulcewrites]

you will hopefully watch hotd s2 and tell us ur thoughts my liege 🙂‍↕️

Ok so i was thinking about how to answer this because like… I’m not going to watch the full thing 💀. I only watched a couple of the episodes in entirety. I would say the only, and I truly mean only, good thing that’s come out of the rampant leak culture within this fandom is that I didn’t have to waste my time on a show that would not live up to my expectations. Which is wild because while I was excited for s2, my expectations were low.

I think my largest problem with hotd is not the changes or the plot points themselves, but how we get there. So I’ll just give you a couple of thoughts I had by character (gonna lump some together bc how storylines went):

Rhaena, Baela, Corlys, and Rhaenys: I’m lumping them together bc that’s essentially what the show does. Now this may be a #controversial opinion but the Velaryons gave Rhaenyra’s cheerleaders in f&b so I’m not surprised that’s their role in the show. That being said, the writing is just meh? Baela not advocating for Rhaena to get the Driftwood throne after Corlys offers it to her is a strange choice. The “I am fire and blood” line from her was corny (she is her grandmother’s child lol) and just weird considering she is ALSO salt and sea because of her mom??? She was fostered by her grandmother on Driftmark?? It just goes back to this idea that everyone needs to prop up Rhaenyra. And how Rhaenyra’s plight is most important. Bc why cant Baela and Rhaena advocate for themselves while advocating for Rhaenyra.

Rhaenys had her moments but the way the writers clearly use her as a sounding board is heavy handed. Her death fell flat for me bc honestly idc. The writers handled Corlys affair poorly. But at the same time Rhaenys being a “he knows where home is” lady makes sense for her lmao. Rhaena possibly claiming a dragon is just all around a dumb choice.

Daemon and Alys: Harrenhal did the heavy lifting. I appreciate them leaning into the magic and mystery around it. It is one of the through lines that made sense and was carried out. That being said, and I’m fine with people calling me bias for this, but Daemon is simply not very interesting to me. That whole thing was at its most interesting when Rhaenyra was yelling at him.

I like the story they have began for Alys. It would have been very easy to do the seductive, evil witch thing. I like that she’s yeah off kilter but also very grounded and normal. That being said, I don’t trust them with her 🤷🏽‍♀️

Jace: I appreciate them finally acknowledging how Jace feels about parentage. He sees how fragile the lines of legitimacy are and he’s scared. I think it sets a good parallel between Rhaenyra and Viserys as parents. She is putting her children, at least Jace and Joffrey, in the same position Viserys put her in. Despite enjoying the choices, there isn’t that special something there. Idk… but that could be said about the whole season.

Rhaenyra: I… honestly don’t know what to say about her lmao. I feel like she always gets taken to a point where she can be really fascinating… then they immediately reign her back in fear she will come off “unlikeable”. Which is crazy bc it’s been established that the gp, regardless of what is actually happening, will side with Rhaenyra, so why not have some fun with her. I often walk away not knowing what kind of character or person they want Rhaenyra to be.

Whew ok now let’s get into the messy part

Criston: Easily had some of the best/consistent writing not only for team green but the whole show. But people are hellbent on hating him so much of it just goes unnoticed. The only ire I have with Criston storyline is alicole. Not them together in a vacuum (I said before i see the beauty in both alicole and rhaenicent, though both are better when things are left unsaid), but more not knowing how they got together. The hard cut to them having sex as two repressed people leaves much to be desired.

Helaena: Ummm ???? Much like how Rhaenys is just a sounding board for the writer to hammer us over the head with, Helaena’s dreams get used at the whims of the plot. Because how did Helaena go from speaking in riddles that even she doesn’t seem fully understand to knowing exactly what they mean? Either that was just something made up so she could get a dig in against Aemond (not good), used to absolve daemon (not good), retroactive try to fix problems created by GOT (yawn) or she’s always known what her dreams meant and just decided not to make them understandable (NOT GOOD!!).

She barely grieves Jaehaerys pass the funeral (that could be said for a lot of dead characters) on screen. I thought the “they killed the boy” line was weird. Why not just say his name 💀💀💀. Alicent calls him the boy too like ???? Also we are supposed to believe the bug girl doesn’t want to ride her dragon….

I think the bright spot of her storyline has been the bond between her and Alicent.

Aegon: another #controveral opinion maybe but whenever people are like poor Aegon, I just think of that clip from Big Little Lies where Madeline is like “I don’t give a fuck about homeless people!” 😭 (I swear it makes sense in context). It’s sort of the same problem for me that I had with Jace. The arc is fine, set up well especially compared to others but like… eh 🤷🏽‍♀️.

Aemond: I did like they leaned into Aemond, in public, making it seem like he meant to kill Luke. But in private clearly having guilt over it. I think it was the best choice they could make. Just knowing how insecure Aemond is, it would make no sense for him to admit to not having full control over Vhagar in that moment. It’s strange to me that people thought his resentment towards Aegon came out of nowhere. I don’t think any of the point Aemond had made about Alicent and the war were wrong but I think the sudden aggressive nature towards Helaena was weird. Like bffr

Alicent: well… where do we begin lmao. I already touched on why I didn’t care for the alicole thing. Let’s just address the elephant in the room that this whole “Alicent is free” bs isn’t real bc she’s still under the subjugation of a Targaryen - this time it’s just Rhaenyra So that’s supposed to make it better in some people’s eyes. I’m sorry but even as someone who has gone on record to say that I think the change they made to Rhaenicent was the best, I can’t just let poor execution slide. I don’t even think Alicent having little legion to Aemond or Aegon comes out of nowhere. She has constantly, to a fault, reaffirmed her trust in Rhaenyra. What I don’t like is the writers first saying that Alicent needs to be humbled… as opposed to what? The super confident Alicent that’s always winning??? Then painting her coming to Rhaenyra as her choosing herself or some sort of liberation. Ok then why can’t she say one mean word about the man that abused her? Why is it that she can see through Otto, the man who pimped her out. But not Viserys, the man who happily went along with it. Why does Rhaenyra get have a moment where she realizes much her desire towards daemon was envy for what daemon represented. Or realizing he is a tool in her subjugation. But Alicent continues to insists that Viserys was a good man, father, husband, and king… all things that aren’t true.

People will be like “well she’s an abuse victim of course she would feel that way.” But if the narrative continues to tell us one thing, it is clear the writers actually think that. By those rules, they don’t see Alicent as a victim. And there lies the issue in how they write her.

There are plenty of other people who have expressed the problems with Alicent’s writing better than I have but this is just my thoughts.

[batsforbadones]

Dear Batsforbadones,

I wanted to thank you for your writing of Billy Lenz.

As cute as OOC fluff can be, I just love it when there's writers who stick to the more canonical version of characters, and aren't afraid to write them as the deranged assholes they are. You made Billy rather sarcastic, condescending, and rather calculative while still maintaining is mental instability and rather animalistic insanity. The way you even write his dialogue is so great, as it oozes this capturing, but psychotic asshole vibe of "You're a dumb slut, but I'm gonna fuck and kill you now". With that, you're not afraid to unleash the more unpopular, and controversial side of Billy character, and that's the fact that he's pretty much a sexual predator, and absolutely wouldn't mind crossing lines to get "what he wants". People tend to baby Billy as some "ADHD" poster child of Gen Z "quirkiness", but you don't seem to infantilize him at all. You give him a personality outside of the "lol random xD" trope that many people seem to like projecting onto such characters. Like a gust of cold wind, your writing is rather refreshing.

Once again, I gotta thank you for writing Billy in a way that makes me smile whenever I see a new fic with him being released. I wish you well!

This comment means so much to me. you've given me a very in depth analysis, and I feel the urge to give you an explanation- a thought process as to why I'm so- mean when I write my slashers. because i do try to be. I also enjoy the fluff and the 'awwww, cute they'd hold my hand in a barn after killing someone' thing, but I am intentionally mean when I write, at least i try to be.

so, if you're willing to, hold out with me. It may not be worth much, but I'm- so glad my writing does what I intended it to. TW - DISCUSSIONS OF SA

fun fact about me- I got my fanfictional start in the creepypasta fandom on wattpad c.2012. If any of you got pipelined into being a horror movie watcher, you know how I got here, but basically, OOC content is- insanely popular in the creepypasta fandom because of how little substance there is to a lot of the root characters. Most of the source material has this very- passionate, but over all lacking development vibe so you'll get these really mediocre concepts handled very poorly. so you end up with things like jeff the killer, whose very clearly written by some 14 year old boy who listened to marilyn manson's cover of sweet dreams are made of these and it changed him for life (me too), or you get some bastardized form of someones passion found footage project- this isnt to say I wasn't also in that boat, but it was to say that I was kind of thrust into this very romanticized, and understandably less morbid view of these characters very early on. I responded to fear with sexuality, and that is an incredibly unfortunate boat to find yourself in so early on in your internet life, but fuck it we ball-

so basically, theres a character who is incredibly similar to Billy Lenz in the creepypasta fandom, and if you were there, you know exactly what I'm about to do because i've been sitting on this for almost two years now-

The way Billy Lenz is often written, is the way Ticci Toby was written. And Ticci Toby was my favourite creepypasta (i am using creepypasta as a fandom term, and not an actual iteration of the website. i mean the pantheon, because this differentiation is important to some people ((theres a lot of creative elitism in the creepypasta community)))

Ticci Toby is a slenderman proxy oc described as neurotic, bipolar, delusional, unstable, and with an unmaskable type of tourettes to where he garners the name he would later use as his moniker (all as written by a deviantart user c.2010, so take a lot of the sensitivity with a grain of salt)-

and my god, did the creepypasta fandom infantilize him. i did too. he was, for all intent and purposes, my baby girl. and I was like- idk fucking 10 and being into true crime and not flinching was cool so I was dick riding this man and eyeless jack like it was my job. and a couple of notable things about how they would treat him would be a bizarre obsession with waffles, Hollywood tourettes, if you were really ballsy, you'd make him hypersexual, and constantly trying to anime grope the reader, and he was just- all around considered to be the comedic relief character when paired with our other collection of 'the killers'. get its, its funny because its 2012 and we all think a severe social disorder is the peak of comedy.

and he wasnt well written, i would argue this is an actual infliction of what he was written to be (creepypasta oc rights drama aside), but later down the line when I got older i had this faint realization where its just like- no. he wouldnt-- do that. And not that it matters, you can literally do whatever you want with these characters, death to the author shit, but I was put off by it, almost? like, i look back on my old preconceptions of these characters and im like, morbidly inspired by my own childhood innocence when interacting with him. like- oh wow. i really wouldve just walked into the woods with a man with a hatchet if he was hot enough. oh wow.

once again, i too love to read ooc fluff and smut and stuff where these men aren't sexual predators and arent abusers, and i care for funny giggle billy, dont get me wrong, but I'm not- aroused by him much. i feel like, an emotional fondness, but im not- attracted to him.

and this isnt to say i dont think everyone isnt aware of how we are writing about fucking fictional murderers. we all watched the movies, we all got horny when he came out. we're all aware- and i know for some people it comes from a place of personal comfort that the boogey man treats them with care. its not my place to ruin someones comfort character. it never will be.

but, i genuinely struggle to make myself dissociate enough from these characters to believe they would care about consent. Most if not all slashers are founded on the grounds of the male, predatory gaze. the woman is the victim. the man is the victimizer. they're often literally metaphored with actual prey/predator situations. anyone killing women in mass is doing it because they hate women, and likely wouldnt have a problem raping said women. this is a fact i cannot remove myself from, both meta and not.

and i find a weird comfort in knowing they will always be- just that.

i feel that way about billy lenz a l o t. he, verbatim, threatens to rape the entire sorority house and then kill them. Its only by 70's movie censorship that I'm sure we didn't have a violent and grotesque assault scene from him. Billy Lenz is, at his core, a sexual predator. The little canonical input we get from him is- of him being a sexual predator. I'm not going into his phone calls, but basically- him being a rapist is, so incredibly core because we get... what? 7 minutes of dialogue with him? and not a SINGLE full body shot of him moving? We get a blood shot eye and?? what?? like i cant just remove him from the rape. theres nothing left of him. i'd be ticci tobying him again. and its not that i dont feel right doing that. not everyone should be like, forced to think about rape all the time- like, if you want a funny, sexy, evil guy, do it. I'd read it and giggle and kick my feet. if billy is your favourite character because you read him as autistic and gender, do it. but my billy- exists on those grounds. And so does my Jed. and my Stu. and my brahms- and so on so fourth.

sorry for the rant i'm just- so so passionate about like, this topic. and this is so fucking sweet to me. it means the world, really. thank you so much. im always in a billy lenz mood and plan to do some stuff for him soon. Thank you thank you thank you <3

[goldentigerfestival]

god what I wouldn't give for Namco to just reboot Crestoria. not this crossover-less manga that skipped half the story and altered major aspects of its own original cast. the story the way it was, with legacy characters deeply intertwined with the plot to the point that they were handled just like original characters.

I don't hate the manga but I'm very aggravated with it. I keep seeing people mention it's doing poorly and like... yeah??? this is taking a vague concept from the game that players loved the story and cast of and mashing it into a speedrun of "how many scenes from different chapters can we stick into a single manga chapter/manga arc". at first, I understood needing to remove crossover stuff for an original manga... but now it's at the point where they've completely changed whole storylines for its own original cast.

if any of y'all have seen some of my tags on my Cresty reblogs, you know I'm as stupid and just as silly a girl as one can get about Vicious. I'd have to say he's probably in a tie as my second place favorite overall character in the franchise.

so idk, watching the game turn into this empty shell of what I loved is hella painful lol. I want the game back with the full cast, legacy characters included, and I want to know all their roles and how they'd continue to be incorporated into the story. so many plots got left behind. Milla and Kasque, Milla and Velvet, Lloyd's group, Stahn and Leon, Barbatos, Yuri, Emil, Julius, Cless and Kanata, Asch... and that's obviously not everything but yeah (some of them I could argue never legitimately needed to show up again due to having their plot relevance completed more or less but could show up again just as Kanata's friends like Reid and Veigue).

I mean of course I'd love to play the game again for what it was, but it's the story and characters (legacy included) that kept me going even when the gameplay started to stagnate (which was probably a cost issue if I had to guess). the voice acting and music had a big part in it too.

there's no particular direction for this post; I just needed to vent about my frustrations with Crestoria's fate LOL. at this point if the already not great manga fails, they probably really will give up on it because it's "failed" twice (and to my knowledge it's entirely not the player base's fault it failed and in part had to do with JP players no longer funding the game after a huge refund scandal). I don't think they'd want to make a console game or anime out of it at that point or turn the game back on.

see, like, if they turned the game back on (if they even still had the code for it idk how that works with online service games shutting down), I wouldn't even mind entirely if they'd deleted player data (which at this point I imagine they would have). like I'd be bummed but... I'd go through it all again and wait for content I already knew if it meant new stuff was coming after. YEAH THAT'S HOW DESPERATE I AM.

anyway putting vicious crestoria in a gacha game was a sin and you can take that as a pun or not but it rly was a sin of them to put smth that great (also not a pun but it can be) and amazing in the confines of a gacha game that they ended up pulling the plug on after a year and a half anyway.

salt for dinner, folks!

my problem is that i love cresty too much and now im hurtin' for it.

[leyyvi]

you ever go through a period in your life where everything is just changing so much and you dont really adjust well to change but you also dont want things to stay the way they are but you also get kinda sad bc even if things were shitty there were still some things that were comforting but those things just arent as comforting anymore but you dont know what can comfort you now so you’re desperately trying to hold onto what was while also hoping for something new and its jusgdfhgntjkdgrgfwelrkgjflkhjg AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

[cant-think-of-anything]

I think part of the reason that there’s such a dissonance between what kind of character Matthew is ~supposed~ to have and what kind of poor traits shine through, especially in his treatment of Alastair, is not just because of CC’s poor handling of alcoholism (and, in my opinion, mental health issues and depression) but also because: Our first introduction to these characters happened a long ways before some major changes to TLH.

Namely… Alastair and Cordelia were basically white in CC’s original planning. There’s just no way around that. Their flower cards, where they’re not just whitewashed but purely white, prove that (and they STILL haven’t been updated, by the way.)

Also, Alastair’s hair: in CoG it was dyed blond, and CC wrote it off implicitly as a racism thing when she decided he was Persian (which I guess happened after the short story where we met Alastair and before TLH) , which would have been fine it if it was an arc written better. Except, I don’t think she realized that it would make Matthew’s comments about Alastair inherently and obviously racist, being a white author. And I doubt that it will be dealt with and named or even acknowledged outright in the final TLH installment.

Kind of the same thing with Cordelia. I’m not saying POC can’t have like red hair because obviously POC don’t come in a prepackaged set of five or six traits that are all configured randomly, but something has always rubbed me the wrong way about the way that CC writes the majority of her POC and especially WOC as exotic. I mean, Kamala as a character is to me a special favorite (even though CC did her dirty and didn’t do a good job portraying her character or intersectional identity) but I rolled my eyes so hard when she had lighter brown or “amber” eyes in canon or officially commissioned art. With Cordelia, I know CC once said she uses henna to redden her hair which is great for her, and I guess I have less of a bone to pick with that because it’s semi(?) realistic, but still. Also the fact that so much of her description as a beautiful person comes from her hair. Again that’s cool, and women of color should be loved wholly including being loved for the parts of them that they freely change (such as Cordelia’s hair) but… the proportion of the fixation on her hair as what makes her lovely rubs me the wrong way sometimes. I feel like it’s sometimes an out from CC making the ~scandalous~ decision that a woman of color can be beautiful because of the traits she is born with. Idk it’s just for me I had this long standing repulsion towards my colorings and my facial structure and white girls would tell me I was whiny about it and then I finally began to piece together things like “Eurocentric beauty standards.”

Going on a tangent slightly, but something else that bothered me was when Anna insulted Cordelia after buying her those dresses and everyone kinda treating it as a compliment? And just cause Cordelia, a fictional teenager, didn’t get mad about it doesn’t mean readers of color can’t see the underlying racism behind “Cordelia looks MUCH better in these dresses which are SUITED for her skin tone.”

I think that narrative could have been handled much better: if it was Cordelia picking out her own clothes as an act of maturity and self-realization and ownership, if Cordelia herself said (in a different way lol) “Damn right I can wear lavender ruffles if I want to and crimp my hair but I’m not going to let white fashion prevent me from outshining everyone because dark skinned women INVENTED jewel tones.” And I think some people will argue that Cordelia’s context makes this too self aware of a development but I would say that it would have been a powerful part of her development outside of her relationships, especially considering that she’s supposed to be a main protagonist. Full arcs for the win baby!

But even aside from all that what bothered me about Anna’s dresses was the fact that it was a white woman showing the “truth” or the “right way” or “saving” a woman of color, a trope which I don’t think CC intended but committed nonetheless. I think from a white author POV the thinking was “Anna is such a free bohemian who lives true to herself and she’s going to help Cordelia become that way too,” which irks me because I feel like that just worked against CC in terms of POC rep and also because that same ideology is used in an attempt to make Anna’s treatment of Kamala justified even though Anna as an out person, with racial and economic privilege and the support of an extensive and powerful family network, pressured and tormented Kamala into coming out.

I have a lot of thoughts on that relationship, mainly: it shouldn’t have been dragged out this long because from the beginning, Every Exquisite Thing, it was clear they were looking for different things. And if CC had left it at that and let them go on their separate ways after a week of knowing each other that would have been fine: Kamala can’t do an out and proud relationship and Anna doesn’t want secrecy, so they’ll develop on their own. And then later Kamala’s pursuit of Anna in the actual TLH books was I think meant to be a thing about “the lengths you’ll go for true love” but it felt forced. Honestly… It just feels icky. like this woman of color is just so hung up on this white woman who abuses her repeatedly and can’t handle her own misogyny and internalizations. And I hate that because both had such awesome potential! To me it’s less that I dislike Anna ( I’d need a whole other post to explain that) and more that I dislike CC for wanting so bad to claim sapphic rep but not wanting to put in the effort to portray it effectively- and pretty much all that entails is writing the relationship without acting like it exists in a pseudo-vacuum where the history and realities of interracial relationships and queerphobia don’t exist in the way we obviously recognize and experience.

And characters like Cordelia and Alastair are amazing and have so much potential; I think the true origin of the problems with their portrayal is that they weren’t really intended as POC or even queer representation in the first place. I don’t know if Cassie would have taken a different approach to her characterization had she known Alastair would be a brown gay man when she first introduced him, but I hope it would have at least made her more conscientious of the inherent application of colonialism and racism in her storytelling from that point onward.

I want to finally add that I’m not saying any portrayal of racism is bad. I’m saying that the racism in the story is not part of a conscious framework that critiques racism appropriately. I think CC wrote the beginnings of the narrative, decided she was going to develop the diversity point content, and then either didn’t look back at the older content to analyze it and the other (white characters) through a new lens of race and outsiderness and queer personhood, or she looked at it and didn’t know what to do with it, or looked at it and didn’t care.

Sorry this got so long! Thanks for listening.

- A.

I feel like CC handled everything poorly in regards to characters who had a lot of potential.

The fact that Cordelia and Alastair are both originally white and it's so obvious in the way every bit of racism is handled by the characters. Matthew's comments in CLS are very important and they should've been handled with the same severity that Alastair's words were. CC changing the characters to POC was a big decision and when she did so she should've went back and actually read her own material. I can assure you that it will not be handled in CHOT, my expectations for CC recognizing the importance and gravity in the words she writes regarding racism or any of her "implied racism" bullshit have gone to the ground.

Because while golden eyes are obviously so easy to write when discussing discrimination obviously racism is out of the question /j

THAT'S EXACTLY IT, women of color in these books are so pathetically rare that on the rare occurrence that she does write them they should all be given these features that aren't as common in POC and written as more beautiful because of those features. I read CHOG after I became more appreciative of my ethnic features but if I had read this a year or so ago? Or even if I had read it after just feeling insecure in general? It would've been awful. The implication is that the lighter features in POC are the most beautiful, with Cordelia's red hair being put on a higher pedestal than her dark eyes and Kamala's eyes being focused on more than her hair (because I literally went back and counted the numbers to prove it and it's exactly what happens.)

I'm sure Cordelia's hair is stunning, but it's the way that when she's described (or more accurately being sexualized) it is just her hair and body that is shown, not the color of her skin or the color of her eyes.

God the pastel thing pisses me off so much. It's not even that Anna tells Cordelia that she would look better in darker colors it's that she says it suits her skin tone. Implying that anyone with brown skin should be barred from wearing pastels. And Kamala? In the few times she is described, she's wearing dark colors or champagne gold, never light blue or purple or pink WHICH HONESTLY SUITS HER PERSONALITY. It's also the way that the dresses Anna sent her are described to be more revealing- it's weird. Anna barely knew her when she started dictating everything that Cordelia could put on her body.

“Damn right I can wear lavender ruffles if I want to and crimp my hair but I’m not going to let white fashion prevent me from outshining everyone because dark skinned women INVENTED jewel tones.”

I literally would have loved that. It recognizes that she doesn't need to follow these "rules" on what to wear but still shows her choosing what she wants to wear without making all the darker skinned readers feel like they can't wear a certain color.

I think what some people fail to realize is that these books are also aimed at upper elementary and middle school and a middle schooler with dark skin reading something like that? In a book with characters they love? It's going to be so harmful

Someone else mentioned that CC said Kamanna's relationship was complicated because Kamala didn't defend Anna: Defend her FROM WHAT? Literally what is there to threaten Anna?

These books are filled with tokenism and then praised for it. The idea of Kamala X Anna has so much potential but they're portrayed in such a toxic way. Throughout the last through books Kamala puts herself through so much guilt and regret and turmoil just for Anna to literally use her, blame her, and cast her aside. And it's so fucking annoying because it pushes this idea that this woman of color who was terrified and in an extremely vulnerable position is in the wrong for choosing her safety and presents them as guilty and shameful for doing such a thing.

I would disagree, the portrayal of racism is bad, because it is used at random points in the story and never brought up again, if you interduce racism take it seriously it's not the kind of thing you're meant to half-ass in a book thousands of people will read

I agree on everything else though, so much of these books are incredibly harmful and they are presented to a young audience so it's overall just a gross situation

Thank you for the ask though! I loved answering this, if you ever have anything else you're more than welcome to come back <3

[mermaidsirennikita]

I'm so exhausted by people who shame others for reading authors like Lisa Kleypas because apparently we're okay with dub-con in her books but not okay with dub-con in Julia Quinn's books. Like, I hate to break it to those people, but we're not reading books specifically for the dub-con, it's just that Lisa Kleypas has better sex scenes in general and better plot

I'll be real--if you have a very *broad* definition of dubious consent, it's kind of impossible to read any historical romance that was published 10-20 years ago or more without encountering it. Or romance in general, I guess.

Like, I remember hearing that the first kiss in The Hating Game was changed for the movie because Josh kissing Lucy in the elevator without explicitly asking first was dubious consent... I'm honestly not sure if I'd put that under dubious consent. Maybe it would be up to interpretation in real life, for sure; but if we're discussing the FICTIONAL parameters of dubcon as a trope, then idk.

If that's your definition of dubcon, then sure. Lisa Kleypas writes a lot of dubcon--and I'd never say that the one scene in It Happened One Autumn isn't dubcon or shit, even noncon by the strictest definition. But not all dubcon and noncon in fiction is created the same.

The scene in The Duke and I is poorly handled on an emotional level, and it occurs between two people who have a shaky romance to begin with. The connection isn't very deep. The writing doesn't really suck you in. The entire scene itself is not sexy, and I can't tell if she meant it to be titillating as in "I shouldn't like this" or outright gross and repellant. Either way, why WOULD I enjoy that scene? Whereas dubcon and even noncon can intentionally be written by the author to be titillating or intriguing, and I can't blame a reader for responding in that sense.

But yeah honestly, even when Lisa is writing scenes I don't agree with, she turns out a better book (most of the time) than JQ for me. That's why I enjoy them more. They are hotter. The characters are more intriguing. The relationships are more surprising. It's that simple. I don't love every Kleypas book I've read--there are a few I disliked or found boring. But the ones I like or love are generally way better.

Edit: ohhhh I see what this ask was about lol. Give that no mind.

[aceofshitposts]

I saw that you like CATS the musical. What are your thoughts on the movie?

AAAAH AHHAHA oh man oh boy y'all should BUCKLE IN cuz it's a ride

my simple thoughts? it's entertaining if only because it butchered the stage show so badly in an attempt to idk modernize it? Well, modernization is one part of it I think. The other part I'll go into below lol. I don't necessarily hate some of the more modern renditions of the songs (mostly the ensemble sets like Jellicle Song for Jellicle Cats) but then others are just... so poorly done it's insulting.

I've said this at the end of this whole rant too but I'm gonna put it up here in case people don't (justifiably) wanna see me go on and on about it:

The movie wasn't made for fans of the musical. It was made to make money and I believe they choose, at least partially, to do that through making it the weirdest and worst possible adaptation they could so that people would want to go see the train wreck. Which, really, worked! It was all people could talk about for a good while so like... Goal achieved, I guess.

A MUCH MORE COMPREHENSIVE ANALYSIS UNDER THE CUT cuz i don't wanna. flood your dash with... this

ALRIGHT SO. Most of my friends know I'm actually a huge fan of new adaptations of things. I love remakes (provided the people making it are coming at it with some form of heart and not just... cash grabbing which is more often the case) I love seeing other peoples interpretations of characters, or changing settings. It's one of the reasons I like American comics so much, getting to see different writers takes is fascinating.

I think musical movies can be wonderful ways to introduce people to a stage show that might have been unavailable to them otherwise! Chicago, for example, is one of the BEST musical to movie adaptations in my opinion. It kept the heart of the show, it's funny and the song numbers are done really well.

There are of course other famous examples, such as Grease or Bye Bye Birdie. Hairspray was also a wonderful take. These are simply off the top of my head, there are of course more.

CATS in particular has a history. If you go through my CATS tag you may see a few posts from @catsnonreplica which posts photos from non broadway productions of CATS! It's a fascinating read and I love, love, love looking at the other interpretations of the characters! CATS is a musical full of fun and wonderful characters if you take the time to see past the ridiculousness haha and the Korean and Japanese runs of CATS especially have some of my favourites.

How does this relate to the movie, I hear you say well. As you might has noticed the movie's interpretations of the characters is........ lackluster at best and downright uncanny valley at best.

CATS is, at its core, a ridiculous thing. I will fully admit that! But it's fun, it's entertaining and if you pay a little attention you can actually get the plot. (Honestly I don't understand when people complain it has no plot but that's a whole other rant for another day)

The movie was... obsessed with this idea of like... semi realism? Like obviously, as a fan, I think they should have leaned into the over the top character designs but instead we got...w ell:

Bombalurina:

Demeter left and Bomba right. Demeter was actually cut! From the movie which is. upsetting lmao.

Macavity is one of the worst offenders for me:

Macavity was... I wish I could know what the hell they were thinking there cuz it's even in his song? Ginger cat??? THAT IS NOT... A GINGER CAT...... but I digress. I would show more examples but I think you get the point.

So. We've butchered the characters appearances. Okay that's fine but what about their personalities?

ALSO BUTCHERED.

There's... there's a lot to unpack here. Just for context: the Jellicle Ball happens once a year and the Jellicle leader chooses a single cat to be reborn into a new life. In the stage play all the cats who are nominated for this honour are on the older side (Jenny-Any-Dots, Bustopher Jones, Skimbleshanks, Gus The Theatre Cat, and eventually Grizzabella) AND are always nominated by another cat. Not themself, unlike the movie where they all seem to nominate themselves.

Jenny-Any-Dots went from a doting grandmother figure who's celebrated for her selfless volunteering and tireless work into a conceited, vain younger cat who is obsessed with fame.

It's an incredibly strange dichotomy. I don't doubt some of it isn't the result of the uh people playing the characters honestly. I do think some of them did the best they could! I don't really blame Jason Derulo, for example, for Tugger. And honestly, Tugger was probably closest to his stage version (while being a trouble maker, he's shown to show Deuteronomy an immense amount of respect)

Speaking of Tugger! This will bring us to one of the biggest grievances with the movie and that is how they handled Mr Mistoffelees.

So... Ugh. So. We have Victoria as the pov character, which imo is like whatever in the grand scheme of things, and then we have Misto who they have decided will be get live interest cuz... Of course. Misto is shown throughout the musical to be awkward, unsure of himself and well. Really, kinda incompetent. Which is Wild cuz in the stage show he might be aloof but he's fairly confident in his powers.

So, Old Deuts gets kidnapped. In the stage show Tugger is the one to bring Misto forward! It's really quite sweet, imo, and I'm showing myself as a Tuggoffelees shipper here, but again Tugger is previously shown to be pretty conceited but then here he is boosting and hyping up Misto to bring Deuteronomy back. My friends and I have lovingly dubbed this the boyfriend hype song.

SOMEHOW. The movie manages to make this, easily, the MOST BORING number in the whole thing. Which, again, WILD. Misto awkwardly stumbles through his whole song, which again is... Boasting of his supreme magical powers which movie Misto clearly. Does not have or believe to have. The song, to me, feels super awkward and unnecessarily drawn out in the movie which sucks cuz it's one of my favourites in the show.

The declawing (heh) of Mr Mistoffelees actually reminds me strongly of how they changed Gaston in the live action Beauty and the Beast movie. He's gone from a beloved figure in the animated movie to someone so disliked in the town that Le Fou has to pay people off to say nice things about him. It's just. Wild character choices were made!!

Skimbleshanks the Railway Cat is probably my favourite in movie non ensemble number. It feels the most... Genuine? Compared to the other nomination songs.

Other problems include but are not limited to:

The inconsistent size scale of the CATS which throws me off constantly.

The weirdly overt sexual overtones added to MANY of the songs (Jenny and Bustopher being the worst)

This is just a personal gripe and opinion but I don't like that they used the UK version of Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer. The American version is both better known and tbh way more fun. Teazer's giggle? Adds ten years to my life every time.

Victoria's added solo song, Beautiful Ghosts, while I like the song as a song it doesn't fit the style of message of the musical. In the movie she's singing directly to Grizzabella who's being an outcast for years that she should be grateful she even has memories of being part of the tribe?? What?? But I know they had to add an original song to be able to be nominated for awards in like the Grammys n shit (which is why all musical movies will have an original song, fun fact!!) kinda funny they went to the effort though considering........... I don't think anyone could have genuinely believed CATS 2019 was gonna win anything but golden rhaspberries.

Movie Mr Mistoffelees has made repeated appearances as my sleep paralysis demon

The various cut characters, shout outs to Jemima, Demeter and Jellylorum especially

Bombalurina being a henchman to Macavity rubs me the wrong way

God I've written... So much. You probably get it by now haha. Like I said at the beginning, I try to go into any adaptation with an open mind but... Let's be honest, this movie wasn't marketed to people who are fans of the musical.

It was marketed, and made, to make money. And they choose to do that through, I think, intentionally making the worst possible version ever. Bad press is still press and the more outrageous people said the movie was the more people wanted to go see exactly what kind of train wreck it was.

Which is a disservice to the stage show, honestly, and all the people who've worked on it over the years.

But what can we do, right?

And besides all that, I do... Still own the movie version and I do still rewatch it on occasion. It is entertaining even if it's in a train wreck kind of way. I usually end up watching the 1998 version, then 2019 and then various tour runs that are on YouTube. (I highly recommend the 2016 tour, it's very good)

So in conclusion. It's fun (?) to watch. I enjoy picking things apart and doing analysis (if you couldn't tell!) so like... I don't hate it?

It did what it set out to do, I guess, and I can't fault it for that but. It's not a fair metre with which to judge the stage show imo. But I know it's not everyone's cup of tea, haha.

Jazz hands. I'm more than happy to elaborate or just chat about CATS if anyone wants! I grew up listening to the Broadway CD since I was a toddler so it's been! A very long standing obsession haha. Probably the only other thing on par with CATS is my obsession with Jurassic Park which I've also been a fan of since I was 3 (but that's a whole story in and of itself)

[curiousscientistkae]

im going to get on a soap box a bit lol. Again, I hate I have to do this but some people can’t grasp others have different opinions this is just me venting. It’s tagged as it should be, under the cut, and I am not here to like go after anyone. Only say how i feel and maybe get others to at least understand a different side. You dont not have to read this and if you disagree with me, just ignore this post, block it, block me. I DON’T WANT TO ARGUE I just want to fuckin vent and express how I feel

anyway idk I am just very tired rn with how much the internet eats up c//a and like puts it on a pedestal. I can rant about how I don’t feel like it should have it or how it was poorly written or how it COULD have been great but falls short. But what I want to talk about is

how fuckin tiring it is to see it all the time when it is fucking triggering. Yes, I block the tags on like tumblr. I am happy i follow people who like tag that and if something gets untagged i block the post or maybe unfollow the person. If i am in the tags and see it somehow or someone it the icon, I block. I do it for my own sake

but so many other sites are not like that. Fuck joining discord servers now I am a bit on edge cause lol I don’t know who will have that as an icon and if they do I will block. or if people start to talk about it, I have to think to myself “will I be thought of as a ‘villain’ for asking to spoiler it or not talk about c/a at all” because yes a lot of people will respect me and my trigger but I have see SO many people disrespect people hurt by s/pop and c//a. So many times have people put us down or say we are not abuse victims or don’t understand it when MANY of us have been abused. When many of us see ourselves in Adora or wanted Catra to get better and saw us in her also. I cannot speak for everyone but so many of us wanted this to work out one way or another and all we got was a trigger and being bullied and harassed and told our abuse isn’t real (or we are racist or X-phobic when many of us are poc or queer)

there is just like no escaping c/a and it SUCKS as someone who is triggered by it. It sucks on sites where blocking is not as good as it is here, I have to play russian roulette. Fuck on youtube ill be watching a video and BAM a random c//a clip. It so fuckin tiring

and i loved s/pop. I relate to Adora so much so and that is why it hurts so much. ive been abused, I have been in toxic relationships, and I wanted good things for Adora and yet, now I got a trigger because s/pop was so poorly handled.

again I am not here to attack anyone, if you find comfort in c//a I am not here to change your mind. The fact of the matter is so many people got hurt by this. That there is another side to the story and we have been left in the dust. And it  just is tiring to be now walking on eggshells because you say one bad thing (which guess what you are allowed! to criticize shows you like! its how we learn from mistakes and get better!!!) and then you have a horde of people attacking you and saying your trauma, your experiences as a queer person or abused person or person of color is not valid at all.

it just fuckin sucks man

[shorkbrian]

ASKS

Hello again, asks are compiled under the cut. Please block the tag #shorkbrian answers a lot of asks# If you’d prefer not to see these types of posts from me. If I haven’t answered your ask, it’s because I’m saving it for a thirst, drabble, or fic.

I don’t ignore asks, but sometimes getting around to them overwhelms me lol. pls accept my apologies lol k here we go

I am very glad, I legit was so scared that it was too long and that it’d be disappointing bc the smut wasn’t super IN YOUR FACE yknow? But man am I glad to hear that.

I’m looking directly @ you

Someone noticed omg!!!  A lot of times I just put whatever song I played on repeat while writing that fit, but I have a *yandere* playlist that I listen to and it gets me going. Ty for noticing!!!

I’ve considered opening them permanently but I just... idek. I’d have to start deleting or ignoring the requests I don’t vibe with and Idk how to handle that lol. But thanks for the well wishes, hope your next few months treat you well friend!

Watermelon sugar why

Srsly you’re sweet but just wait until I start to really get going with all my nasty kinks okay, then you’ll be rethinking this strategy hunty lol!

I literally stalk @.vermiliren and @.kazooli and @.seita lol. Maybe when I get my blog more cleaned up, I’ll create a list of creators that I enjoy, along with fic recs. For now, here’s a link to my AO3 bookmarks which I read one like almost every single night bc I’m a horny gremlin.

I am the shark king. Sharks are my thing bro u don’t even know. I love them so much, they're dumb and big and beautiful and yeah I wish I was a mermaid who got to swim with them. Also I changed it bc I’m trying to make my blog more *professional* and all that so I can start being taken seriously askjakjdf

Compliments suck, if I'm being down and out honest. This does not bother me at all, I’m just unsure how to respond. I think I would prefer no comments, but I’m trying really really hard to just say “thank you!” and move on before I get uncomfortable. Having to fight with someone about how I perceive my self worth is exhausting, and especially so for the poor person that was just trying to say something nice and be nice to me. 

They do make me quite uncomfortable my dear lad/lassie/lasso. Say what you wish in the tags tho ! I don’t really reply to those, so there’s no pressure on me to have to say something back. I do however, see all the tags ppl use and some of them make me laugh so hard cause they’re so spot on, and it makes my day. like “Mark me down as scared AND horny” and “Bakugou better be able to bench 165 cause imma throw my fatass in his mf lap” and it kills me.

I SCEREAMED AKDHGSYDGASJSD this is the only format I'll be taking asks in now, no compliments just a yes/no answer to if my works help u cum god bless

you used the /gen!!!!! IDK what these are called but the /S and /gen and /J save my life!!!!

Frick you’ve figured me out, I do try to put like a nail-in-the-coffin sentence at the end. A lot of times it never works right, but I cannot for the life of my figure out how to end a single post ever. If anyone knows hmu pls ty

(Also ps I checked out ur blog cause yans are my jam and it is very much Not garbage!!)

That’s very kind of you, but pls don’t stay up past midnight it’s bad for ur Brian you’ll make bad decisions bro trust me all of my stuff is written after midnight

You will lafff..... but I will tell anyways..... I was prescribed a “life coach” after I got out of the hospital, which was really just a poorly disguised softcore “make sure u don’t yeet urself” type of thing. He had me write down things I liked about myself, and when I returned the sheet of paper still blank, he wrote stuff down for me. Like five sentences of “My hair and skin are unique and special” “I like animals and enjoy being kind to them” “I am worthy of respect” etc etc. and I had to look in a mirror twice a day and say those sentences to help “boost my self worth”. It sucked so bad dude, and I like got upset about it every time it came up, until finally my therapist was like “... this aint doin this sad bitch no good” and my parents got designated for yeet watch instead.

I know, logically, that (the majority of) people are not purposefully taking time out of their day to make me feel bad. They're trying to be encouraging and loving, and I appreciate it so much. But like... what do I say? If I say thanks, it’s almost like acknowledging what they're saying as true, and I can’t live with myself thinking I’m more than I am. I’m sorry you’ve had experiences that make compliments difficult for you also, I understand bro and I hope that your future holds healing and peace for you. 

Hopefully I won’t vent as much anymore lol, I’ll try to do that on my sideblog where I reblog really trigger-y memes akjdafhkjf. But thank you for your kind words bro, they’re appreciated and put in a nice lil jar.

Ah dw! This doesn’t sound like a jab. I think all of us r so sad n depressed and feel unworthy of love, so the fantasy of a Yan coming and forcing it on us and not leaving even when we lash out is just..... so attractive my heads gonna explode

me, thinking about kiri at any given moment like:

I have the next Hybrid! Kiri fic like lined up, but I’m so demotivated be I was SO CLOSE to finishing, and then wiped my computer like an IDITO

Waso, I’m taking horseback riding lessons bc my mom went:

and my grandpa told me that one of his horses was named Awaso and I immediately thot of u fun fact. But you’re so very kind, and I enjoy seeing you in my inbox. I’m never tired of u homie. You are loved and important, and it’s not an illusion. Even random strangers on the internet can feel soft towards you bro, and dats me, I’m the random stranger that likes u.

So I took Russian for a year, my dear friend, because I wanted to see if the language myth of “Russian is the hardest, Korean is the easiest” was true. I would say yes. So instead of like translating this and typing out a coherent response, I’ve resorted to google translate I’m so sorry but Виктор мог плюнуть мне в глаз, и я бы поблагодарил его. Also, the way Vitya is written in cryllic makes my heart swell it looks so cozy idek what I mean by that but it does? I treasure you man, hope to see you around in the new year and maybe??? we be good friends

Can any year be good when Kirishima Eijirou doesn’t exist?

cryface;;sad.jpg

I just imagine anyone who comes across my stuff, sitting at their computer shocked and slightly horrified, maybe turned on like

Daddy Aizawa makes me

Wait!! I have something to aid your troubles!!

ur welcome now u can be horny whenever you’d like 

pls every time we talk about Kirishima I have to act surprised like 

LISTEN BBYGORL I have had therapist Suga in the works since *checks notes* November. I am excited for it yeahhhhhh but sadly, I don’t think I will be continuing piano teacher Suga. The story is petered out in my mind, idk where it would go. Therapist sugarbird tho? We have some thots about this. Coming soon to theaters near you

[surveys-at-your-service]

Survey #307

“you lie so much, you believe yourself”

How long has it been since you kissed someone? Like, two years or so. What level are you on Farmville? Never played it. What are you looking forward to in the next year? I hope Covid just withers away, dammit. I truly, truly hope this vaccine is effective. And that people start wearing their GODDAMN masks. Do you use a lot of emoticons? Not really nowadays. Would you ever climb a mountain? No. Even if my legs were capable of handling that, I'd be too afraid of an avalanche. Colons or equal signs for your smiley face’s eyes? Colons. When was the last time you swam in a lake? A looooong time ago. If you could have anything right now, what would you want? It'd be great to chill at Sara's house honestly, I miss that. What’s your relationship status? Single and I think finally starting to truly accept I need to be right now. I wouldn't want to date myself in my current position, so I shouldn't expect anyone else to. When was the last time someone asked you your age? On my birthday when I mentioned in group therapy that I was trying to make it an especially good day about myself. When was the last time you danced? Very, very poorly with Sara years ago lmao. Has anyone ever tried to physically fight you? Someone snatched my arm and yanked me down to look her in the eyes in HS because she was a jealous bitch back then telling lies, but idk if her intention was to actually try to start a physical fight. Are you avoiding someone? No. What’s your favorite primary color? Red. What do you have pierced? Just my ears and bottom lip now. :/ I want morrrreeee. I'm forever tilted that so many of my piercings closed when I was hospitalized. What is your favorite dog breed? I find pugs to be very cute, but I do not support their breeding whatsoever so would never buy one. Besides them, I have a definite bias towards beagles. In your honest opinion, what is the scariest sea creature you know? Fucking Christ, giant squids. Terrifying. Do you believe there is just one love for everyone, or…? No. There are way, way, WAY too many people on this planet for that. What natural disaster scares you the most? Tornados. What outrageous career could you see yourself wanting to do? Define an "outrageous" career... but I can't visualize myself doing anything very unordinary. In what way would you want to help change the world? I truly hope I can make some considerable amount of contributions to natural conservation and animal education. When driving down the road looking for an address do you turn the radio low? I don't drive, but I know I would, considering I can't concentrate on driving if the radio is on anyway. What do you think of when you look at the stars? How little I and my problems really are. It gives me perspective. If you could say ONE THING to the president, what would it be? Well, Biden just got into office, so I can't really say yet. We'll see what he does. What Disney princess are you most like? Personality wise, I mean. Uh. I'unno. Maybe Snow White because animals? haha Do you believe in astrology? Not in the slightest. Do you look into people’s eyes when you talk to them? I try to, anyway, but I tend to find it very uncomfortable, and I never know if I'm offering too little or too much. So I have trouble maintaining it, especially with people I don't know. You can have one of the following two things: trust or love. Pick one. Trust. What do you think is the most important thing in this life is? Hm, that's a deep one. Perhaps the understanding that you are just as important as the next person and that we should work as one to make this one life that we know of worthwhile. Make the world better than when you entered it. What is your favorite shade of blue? Pastel blue. I just like pastels in general. When's the last time you bought something just because? I don't buy things "just because." If I actually have money to spend, I use it with motivation behind it. What Ozzy lyric describes you best? WHOA NOW HUNNY you are asking the WRONG person because I can just about name his entire discography so there are waaaay too many song lyrics to dig through and pick one for myself. Probably something from "Dreamer," after a short moment's consideration. When was the last time you went for a walk without a specific destination in mind? Not since Sara and I walked down the path near her house. We didn't plan on when we would turn around to go back. Do you daydream? Only all the time. What was your last daydream about? Ha, thanks to that other question, visiting Sara again. It'd be nice, but yeah, financial limitations and corona. Ever won the lottery? Bitch I wish. What was the most important decision you made that screwed up your life the most? Ugh... I'd say putting all my self-worth, happiness, and source of peace into one person was pretty big but also fucking stupid. What is love really about? Don't ask a romantic this and expect a non-essay, haha. But to keep it as short as possible, it's about mutual care, the desire to grow together, trust, openness, the peace to be vulnerable with the other... It's about a lot. It's such a deep, beautiful feeling. What's the most you ever made in a year? lol Do you have an online diary? Only through surveys, really. What's the biggest pot you've won in poker? I haven't played poker since I was a kiddo, so idr. What Metallica lyric most describes your life? Who wrote this and knows my favorite bands????? Like damn. There's a good handful of the sadder songs I relate to; I did some brief digging through ones I know I relate to, and perhaps the one I feel closest is within "The Unforgiven II": "The door is locked now, but it's open if you're true. If you can understand the me, then I can understand the you." Aaaand now I'm gonna go binge Metallica 'cuz it's been too long, thanks. How many concerts have you been to? Just one. :/ Which one was your favorite? I've only seen Alice Cooper, and it was great. What's the most illegal thing you've done? Pirated stuff, oops. Ever get busted by the cops? What for? No. How many pairs of rollerblades do/did you own? I doubt I have any anymore. Ever wear out a CD? What was it? Ahaha... There is some scratching on my mom's copy of Ozzmosis thanks to me playing it so much on my old CD player. Ever have a tornado in your town? Well my city is pretty damn big, so yes, in some spots. I don't think my immediate proximity has ever seen one, though. If you HAD to pick ONE song to listen to for the rest of your life, and that would be the only song you ever heard, what would it be? I would absolutely need something motivating if that was the case, so most likely "Life Won't Wait" by Ozzy Osbourne. That song touches me so deeply and gives me the courage to do what I can to tackle life and try not to waste it. I know, I'm doing a great job at that. Ever heard of Shinedown? Hell yeah; I was actually listening to them in the car earlier. What does your lawn furniture consist of? We have nothing out there. Ever live off of canned soup and ramen noodles for weeks at a time? Er, no. But when I got my tongue pierced, I had to survive off of popsicles and... I somehow forgot the main thing I ate???? How?????? But anyway it was something that didn't involve much or any chewing, either. I actually lost a little bit of weight in that week or so because eating solids was impossible, and I didn't enjoy "eating" liquids either. That piercing (snake eyes, btw) was soooo so cute tho. I really wish it hadn't started to damage my teeth, or else I'd still have it. What musical group/artist do you love, but hide from other people? I used to be kinda embarrassed by artists like Melanie Martinez when you compare her music to my adoration of metal, but at my age now, I don't give a damn. I like what I like and won't hide it. What is the first meal you remember eating? ... Does anyone actually remember this??? What's in your keepsake box/scrapbook? Good God, a lot. I haven't looked in it in a very, very long time though. It brings a usually painful nostalgia. What did you score on your SATs? I don't even remember if I took them. I THINK I took the ACT instead? I don't even know the difference. When was the last time you saw a rainbow? Hm. Been a while. It's not like I'm out of the house a lot, especially nowadays with quarantine. What colors is your lava lamp? I wish I had a lava lamp, they're rad and really relaxing. What's the strangest thing you've ever hung on the wall? Nothing, really. Can you name every place you've ever had sex? I mean I can but I'm not going to. What's the most important thing you ever lost and never found again? My favorite childhood cat Charcoal. He was an outdoor and intact male, so it was very normal for him to eventually vanish to rove. Please keep your cats indoors. What forms of birth control have you used? The pill and, uh, having "barriers." How many webpages have you created, and can you still find them all? I made Wetpaint sites for my two RP mobs back in the day, but the site has since been completely revised, so no, they don't exist anymore. I checked outta curiosity I think last year. How many people are in your family portrait? We don't even have a proper family portrait. Ever punched a wall? No. When's the last time you really lost your temper? In some argument with Mom I don't remember. Ever thought you (or a girlfriend) were pregnant, but it was a false alarm? I had massive anxiety over it once, but it was irrational and even I knew that. Not that anxiety cares. If 97 is yes, were you glad or sad? I was very glad when my period came lmao. What was the last conversation you had with someone before they died? When I saw my grandma for the last time, I just let her know that I loved her and that she was so, so strong, and she was. No one could believe how long she warded death off when she finally stopped chemo. What do your drinking glasses look like? We have some more unique cups and mugs, but the majority of them are just plain, slightly angular glasses, some short, some tall. How many bottles/containers are in your medicine cabinet? Oh wow, a lot. We're covered for most potential problems. How many funerals have you been to? Uhhh I think one. Maybe even none, just wakes. What was the last bug you killed and what did you use? An ant, I think? I just used my fingers. How many computers in your household? There are three laptops, but no desktop computers. Ever help to solve a crime? There was one occasion years ago when our neighbor's window was busted overnight and cops came to us to ask for any evidence we might have had, but we didn't have any. Idk what came of it. Ever get pulled over by the cops and get away without a ticket? I've never been pulled over. What was your first legal alcoholic drink? I think it was a margarita, but possibly a daquiri. Ever get published by one of those poetry groups? I fucking wish. I've tried, but to no avail. What's the furthest distance you've moved? Not very far at all. Just to the neighboring town. How many friends from high school/college do you still talk to? Only a few now and then. Girt is the only one I have real conversations with, though. What's the most expensive things your parents ever bought you? Probably the laptop I have right now, but idk. I've never asked how much things they've bought me cost, it seems rude somehow. What's the most expensive thing you've bought? The upcoming revamp of my tattoo. Deposit was $100, and then it's probably going to be another $300-400. I can't afford it all myself; as my birthday gift, Mom is helping me pay for it, but I've got most of it covered thanks to Christmas and birthday money. How many times did you intentionally start to commit suicide? Start to do it? Well, I was trying to run for sharp objects to do it twice, but on each occasion, someone held me back 'cuz they knew I was about to do something rash, so I didn't get very far, thankfully. The only time I fully went through with an attempt was my OD. Ever spent the night in the "loony bin?" How fucking disrespectful to call it that, but whatever. If you put all the instances together, I've been in psych hospitals for around a couple months, maybe more. What is your favorite cover song? Disturbed's cover of "Sound of Silence" is absolutely unbeatable. I'd just about call it a cold hard fact. What's your inspiration? Other's success stories, music, art in general, etc. What's the longest relationship you've been in? Over 3 1/2 years. Did you ever drop out of school? I dropped out of college three times, yikes. Three times is enough; even if I think I want to, I'm never going back. That is just way too much money to keep throwing down the drain, and there's clearly a pattern. Ever raise a child that wasn't your own for more than 3 months? I've never raised a kid period. Strangest medical procedure ever performed on you? Look up what a pilonidal cyst is and know I had one surgically removed. Pretty strange and uncomf. Song that has changed your attitude recently? None, really. What's something that you say a lot to be mean? ... Why would I try to be mean??? Who told you they loved you last? Me mum. Ever had a pet frog? Not technically, no, but as kids, my sister, neighbor, and I saved hundreds, maybe thousands of tadpole eggs from a ditch that was inevitably going to dry out. We transferred them all to a kiddie pool and let them grow naturally, hopping out and into the world whenever they were ready. I wouldn't call them "pets." Your worst enemy? IT'S NO SURPRIIIISE TO MEEEE I AAAAMMM MY OWN WORST ENEMYYYYY Do you believe in karma? No, but I wish it was a thing. What was the last hurtful thing you said to someone? I'm not sure. I certainly try to avoid doing so. Do you love someone enough you'd die for them? There's multiple people. The last song you listened to? I wasn't joking when I said I was gonna go on a Metallica spree, haha. "Of Wolf and Man" is on rn. Your most favorite memory as a kid? Too many, man. If you had the choice to work or not, would you work? Yes. I need something to do that benefits others in one way or another. Ever TRULY wanted to kill someone? I can't say for sure, if I'm being totally transparent. When I found out about Jason's gf after me, I can say with certainty I wanted her dead beyond dead, but I don't know if I wanted to kill her, per se. Just to clarify, no, I don't wish any negativity upon her now. I was certifiably insane before and certainly don't think I am anymore, so... Marvel or DC? I don't care. Do you watch anime subbed or dubbed? Both. I prefer dubbed, BUT only if the voice acting isn't insufferable. I like dubbed just because for me, it's very distracting to have to keep looking down at subtitles. How often do you exercise? I don't... I'm still waiting for Mom to move into her actual room versus the living room couch so I can do WiiFit with some privacy. I'm too uncomfortable to exercise in front of anyone. What is your favorite book series? Warriors will forever have a very special place in my heart. What is your favorite OTP? I will probably ship Rhett and Link for my entire life. Their friendship is truly incredible and so so SOOOOOOO cute. Who is your favorite Harry Potter character? I've never seen the series, actually.

[atimefordragons]

IN THE NAME OF THE MOON, I SHALL PUNISH YOU! || EHS

☾♔; May 19, 2020 ☾♔; 2:19am ☾♔; sotd: Man of the World (Takanashi Yasuharu) ☾♔; cotd: Kuruma ☾♔; Elite Highschool ☾♔; Audition

𝐓𝐢𝐭𝐥𝐞: Sailor Moon, the Champion of Justice!

𝐀 𝐋𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐑𝐚𝐦𝐛𝐥𝐞 (𝐌𝐚𝐲 𝟐𝟑, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟎): Finally done, I'm soz for taking so long! I've just been Narutoing. He's my boy, dattebayo!  

☆──════ ⋆ ☽ ⋆ ☾ ⋆ ════──☆

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐁𝐀𝐒𝐈𝐂𝐒

➤TITLE: S̶p̶o̶r̶t̶y̶ ̶S̶p̶i̶c̶e̶  The Sports Star ➤OC NAME: Katarina Văduva ➤AGE: 16   ➤BIRTHPLACE: Brăila, Romania ➤BIRTHDAY: December 31 ➤FACE CLAIM: Bruna Marquezine ➤USERNAME: @.dracarysbitch

𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐎𝐍𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐓𝐘

➤LIKES: football (soccer, not the american one), eurovision (obvs), tennis, volleyball, basketball, ice hockey, figure skating, anime, manga (loves shoujo, but would rather die than admit it), a song of ice and fire (of course), russian literature (tolstoy is a fav ofc), winter, blizards, snowstorms, fresh snow, sweet foods, video games (dragon age, assassin's creed, the witcher, until dawn, pokemon), sailor moon, pink, blue, stitch, disney (sleeping beauty is her fave, even though she doesn't really match her personality, it's more that her parents gave her away for her safety, and Kat used to imagine it was the same for herself when she was a kid), space, faberge eggs, sanrio (her favourites are Kuromi and Pandausa)

➤DISLIKES: sasuke uchiha (fucking bitch), supercilious people, the lodge (lol, grow up you fucking losers), shows that go on forever and never end (please, please just end), shows that have shit endings, game of thrones (fucking dumbfucks), americans, right-wing politics (it's so stupid, just grow a heart), religion (what a scam), being alone (either physically or with her thoughts, let's bury that shit), losing, being wrong, having to concede any ground on any matter whatsoever, not knowing things

➤HOBBIES: anything that is physical (fucking jocks, amirite?), she's loves going for jogs (can't relate - secretly naruto runs during night time jogs 'cause no one can see her being lame), and playing streetball, etc. watching anime, reading manga, ranting on the interwebs about her shows and books (in general she avoids the bigger internet drama 'cause it's stupid, but sometimes you gotta put a bitch in their place, 'CAUSE DAENERYS IS THE PRINCE THAT WAS PROMISED, FUCK YOU!), watching reruns of pro-games (can't relate, so boring)  

➤STRENGTHS: determined, perseverant (is that even a word?), passionate, relentless, protective, observant, straightforward (usually ends up insulting people though, so it's more of a weakness tbh), goal-oriented, independent, self-reliant, has enough self-awareness to not go off on weeb/otaku interests in front of most people, but if it's like a "smart" anime, she'll discuss it (like Death Note, she's not gonna fucking admit to still loving Naruto at this age, shut up), diligent, loyal, a bad bitch (lol, not so much, but she likes being perceived as a strong girl who can and will stab you with her stiletto. the image only lasts for a few seconds, she more just comes off as rude).

➤WEAKNESSES: stubborn, very blunt, which tends to come off as brash and rude, though she's not always intending to be mean, despite that rude, blunt nature, she's also a bit tsundere, and struggles admitting her to deeper feelings. Gets flustered when complimented (outside of sports, there she's fine 'cause I'm the best bitches, or so she says), and she just can't admit it when she needs someone, whether it be a friend or romantic interest, especially if it's a romantic interest, 'cause she's also of the mind of who needs a boyfriend when there's food? while she's observant when it comes to changes in people's behaviour, she in general lacks the capacity to act well on her observations, and is awkward when trying to comfort someone or cheer them up. When it comes to her own feels, part from rage, annoyance, or "Jock Mode", she can barely admit to them, let alone discuss them with other. Speaking of "Jock Mode", she is competitive AF, somewhat dismissive (this usually only comes out in games, but she tends to ignore weaker opponents in search of stronger ones who pose a challenge). Also tends to display some arrogance in the sports she's most talented it, particularly volleyball. It's not quite a personality flaw, but she's weak for loving parents, or just a loving family in general (in life and when watching movies, it makes her fucking cry every time, which really puts a damper on her tough girl image, it's not usually a visible one, but she can't hide the longing in her face when she watches a parent and their child being a normal, happy family). Definitely has tunnel-vision, once she has a goal in sight, that's all she sees. Can even be paired down to dumb things, like C-grade trashy alien movies. She tends to notice only the aliens and revel in their destruction, while ignoring everything else, including the plot. Has plenty of issues; abandonment, trust, ptsd - none of which she is dealing with. She's just ignoring it and hopes it goes away once she becomes a cool, reliable adult™️ (lol, good luck that, adult life is a lie).

𝐁𝐈𝐎

➤SHORT BIO: Katarina is half-Brazillian, half-Russian, though she is under the assumption that she is Romanian, she is biological the daughter of Vasily Raevsky, a Russian Oligarch, and Xuxa Amalia Reis Moreno, a Brazilian businesswoman and all round bad bitch. For reasons unknown to her, Katarina was in effect abandoned at birth and placed in a Romanian orphanage in Brăila, which is also presumed to be her birthplace. Her birth certificate lists both parents as unknown, the orphanage named her. Having no parents or known family, and raised in an orphanage has given Kat many self-reliant skills, and allows her to live independently, but it has also left her with a deep sense of loneliness (not to mention PTSD 'cause Romanian Orphan life is a nightmare). She recognizes that much of her yearning is still childish fantasy, and often covers up that desire with her brash nature or jock hobbies.

Growing up in the orphanage was... not easy. The Brăila Home for Children was not the best, to say the least. Though it could've been worse (*shudders at the case of the Sighetu Marmației institution for disabled children* - do better Romania, oh my god). The orphanage was under and poorly staffed. They would often neglect and abuse the children, one year shaving every childs head so they all looked the same, and often chaining rowdy children to their beds. During Katarina's time, many of her fellow orphans died from minor illness or injuries such as cataracts or anemia, which were treated poorly or simply ignored, and a number also starved to death. Because of this, Katarina has a habit of hoarding food, and keeping snacks under her pillow. She also has difficulty sharing, and despises headboards that are railed(? the ones with gaps, idk what to call them).

When she was around eleven, the orphanage received ample anonymous donations, leading to much improvement, and the arrival of a new Director, Ileana Cojocaru, who, over time, earned the trust of Kat and her fellow orphans, and became something of a surrogate mother. Ileana did a nearly complete staff overturn (fun side note, some of the staff, especially those who harmed Kat have gone missing in the past few years, coincidence? no), as well as hiring accomplished childcare professionals from all over the world to help the children. It was Ileana who sparked Kat's, or rather Rina as Ileana called her,  interest in sports, though Ileana was more into football herself, she encourage Kat to explore whatever she wanted, though particularly team sports so that Kat could foster dependent relations. Kat herself particularly enjoyed volleyball, joining a little league team and winning a number of competitions. Due to her skill both in setting and spiking, she usually plays in the Opposite Hitter position.

Katarina entered EHS in Highschool, on what she assumed to be the Elite's scholarship program, arranged by Ileana, who even said as such, though in truth, her entry and tuition are all being handled by an anonymous benefactor. This fact was revealed to Kat last summer after Ileana died (of p̶l̶o̶t̶ ̶d̶i̶s̶e̶a̶s̶e̶ cancer), whose lawyer was put in charge of the bank accounts meant to pay for all of Kat's needs. The lawyer refused to divulge whom the anonymous benefactor is, citing a non-disclosure clause, though the need to discover who has given Kat a whole new mission in life.

➤FAMILY: On Katarina's part, she doesn't believe she has one, though she does consider Ileana to be her family, and has grown to care somewhat about her fellow orphans from the Brăila Home, while growing up they were rivals struggling to survive. Ileana's death devastated her, and she's dealing with it by straight up ignoring it. Lol, I'm not sad, my eyes are just glistening with the ghosts of my past.

Biologically, despite her complete lack of knowledge of it, Kat comes from rather a rather illustrious family. Her mother, Xuxa Amalia Reis Moreno, is a Brazilian Businesswoman, herself the daughter of a self-made millionaire, Xuxa is expanded the Moreno parent company, MC Inc., an oil and mineral company in origin, into numerous side ventures, owning and operating businesses ranging from restaurants to magazines and clothing lines. Her father meanwhile, Vasily Raevsky, is of the (former) noble House of Raevsky, now oligarchs in modern-day Russia, who virtually control Russia's diamond and precious stone industry, currently owning controlling shares of ALROSA, the largest diamond mining company in Russia, and accounting for 95% of the countries diamond production, as well as 27% of the global diamond extraction, and the House of Fabergé, which they purchased after the fall of the Soviet Union. If she remained in the care of either of her parents, her name would technically be Katarina Vasilyevna Moreno Raevskaya, which is a fun and utterly useless fact.

Her parents met at a rich people conference (idk, Davos or some shit like that) and engaged in a short lived affair. Her father was already married and could not accept her, and her mother had no interest in being a mother at all, let alone a single one, leading to them choosing to give her up in Romania, an arbitrary choice that fucked her up, lol.

Via her father, she has an elder brother, Viktor Vasilyevich Raevsky, who is in fact her anonymous benefactor. Viktor discovered her existence after Vasily had an accident and was close to death, so he confessed his sins and what not. Viktor eventually tracked her down and sought to improve her life. Though he wants to bring her into the family, he doesn't for the sake of his mother who cannot deal with the affair, though she refuses to divorce Vasily for appearances sake.

𝐄𝐗𝐓𝐑𝐀

➤MOODBOARD: https://tinyurl.com/y8a2gjy8 ➤SCHOOL WARDROBE/AESTHETICS: https://tinyurl.com/ycodubrb ➤PLAYLIST: https://tinyurl.com/y6wwmp74

➤TOP 3 CHARACTER PICKS: the Sports Star, the Princess, The Rebel(de) <-- lol, see what I did there? I'm so funny.

[bewaretheundead91]

I think it's important for people to get their flowers while they can see them. That being said, I've been following you for many years. You're amazing, beautiful, talented and I've had a bit of a crush on you to be honest especially when you cut your hair. Back then this would've been anonymous while saying this but at this age I don't care. Also the update was great! Not expecting any reciprocation, I'm a virgo lol. I understand.

Haha don’t worry. I honestly say a lot about Virgos, but lets be honest we are all more than our Sun signs. We are a combination of our entire birth chart. I mean I’m an Aries Sun and Moon which I know I have a temper and I would be a lot to handle. Most people don’t care for Aries. Also I’m a scorpio rising with a Gemini Venus. I have a very temperamental flaky chart. It’s hard for me to like someone...and that’s because I’m a gemini Venus. Geminis change their mind a lot and well I change my mind a lot when it comes to liking someone. But honestly. Everyone is different no matter what their sign is. So I can’t just say “all virgos are bad” I just know that I but heads with most if not all virgos I know. But I also was best friends with a virgo sun for more than 10 years and the friendship ended poorly. But that is just based on what I’ve experience and experiences change.

And thank you! I sort of gave up on my Brett fics when I sort of well...lost interest in men? If that makes sense It’s weird, but I wasn’t into it. But things change. I do enjoy writing my Devenford prep series because like I said many years ago I have a special place in my heart for Brett Talbot even if he was a side character...the fannon universe I created of him in my fics has put him in this special place. It’s just therapeutic writing about him and him caring for Y/N. I started the Devenford Prep series in a bad place in my life mental health wise and having Brett there taking care of Y/N and even distracting her was sort of way to cope and to distract and in a way for me to be taken care of. I hope that showed in that fic. I want Brett and Y/N to end up together, but wherever I feel like things should go they will.

I want to cut my hair again. I’ve grown it out and well I haven’t been able to cut it. Idk I also just like letting it do it’s own thing as well.

Thank you for this sweet message! And I do remember you haha!

[migleefulmoments]

“Precious little d. Either embarrrssed about talking about sex or it had been quite some time, and if it had been a long time, that seems quite inconsistent with the PR story that was starting to ramp up as this was not long before confirmation day and the I’m a straight man with a gf tour.” Gawd is she serious lols. Darren loves a naughty pun so why would be embarrassed to talk about sex. And seeing as Abby has probably never had sex she should probs keeps quiet.

Darren embarrassed to talk about sex? HE WROTE “ME AND MY DICK”!!!!!! He has a bar called Tramp Stamp Grannies which serves drinks called boob soup...there is no way in hell he was embarrassed.  Like who the hell is she thinking about when she says that? Herself? Kurt with his “because of the layers” conversation? Certainly not Darren Criss.  

The clip is here (X) so you don't have to watch the entire episode.

He says ‘who me” and takes a heart beat to answer - Kathy makes another joke and he says “IDK...IDK, yesterday?” to which Kathy says “because I would think playing a gay guy but being a hot straight guy, you must get a ton of pussy” and he says “Well I mean, well I mean, I don’t want to embarrass Lily...” In fact Darren says “yeah, yeah” while Kathy is saying this.  He wasn’t silent and trembling in the corner while Lily saved him.  IDK what video you were watching.  Kathy wasn’t outing him she was making a joke about how much pussy he gets being straight and hot but playing a gay guy. How do the ccers get everything so wrong? Oh right- they cut the clip, slow it down, make a gif which Abbys calls 

““Little bonus:”

Keep reading some high-end nonsense-I commented on some of the nonsense but I only made the comments regarding this video “bold”. 

Anonymous asked:

For some reason KGriffin has been on my mind today. Her infamous interview asking D about vaginal sex. Dude looked like he was going to come out of his skin. Another thing as close as C is with her I’ve seen a lot of pics with him at her house at parties without the boyfriend.

Oh you mean this classic moment? An interview just a few short months after the woman he had been betrothed to since birth moved to LA and you’d think the answer would be frequent and all time and not something that would completely fluster him. So much so that L/ily had to step in and save him.(Yes, because everyone wants to say “frequently and all the time” about their girlfriend who just moved to town. Classy. Lily didn’t “step in and save him”. You should have watched the video again before you write about it.)

You can always see his brain spinning, thinking “can I say 3 years ago before I became Co/lfersexual? Oh wait my beard lives here now. Surely if it were real it would be all the time. Should I just refer to the last time I had sex with C? They don’t need to know there was no vagina involved…..” (Yes, that is exactly what a sane person would think in the heartbeat it takes him to answer. Watch the video again- NOT THE GIF...your fantasy has changed the facts-you sound like Trump “he ran int other tunnel and died crying and screaming and whimpering like a dog”)  

He was so obviously struggling and thankfully L/ily, an openly gay woman, made it into a joke to spare him. (what joke does L/ily tell that saves him? I’m curious because when I watch the video that part must be mute) 

Precious little d. Either embarrrssed about talking about sex or it had been quite some time, and if it had been a long time, that seems quite inconsistent with the PR story that was starting to ramp up as this was not long before confirmation day and the I’m a straight man with a gf tour. (But look at that, it IS consistent with YOUR story of a fragile but powerful gay man who realized he loved his costar the moment they met but woefully that love is forbidden for reasons that make no sense whatsoever but involve Ryan Murphy and a contract, a contract he signed with wide-eyed innocence at 23. He just wanted to share his talents with the world and the lure of fame dazzled him but he soon found out he signed the deal with the devil. It’s the story of a man who chose the wrong beard and is still paying for that a decade later just as he still pays for signing that contract as a naive 23 yo. A man who, as you say “likes cock”, but it stuck spending most of his time with his “wife”, a woman he detests. This fragile but strong man who wrote “me and My Dick” and mimicked masturbation while standing in front of the paparazzi pen on a red carpet is   is TERRIFIED of talking about sex...duh!)

*****************************************************************************************

rougedraconteur asked:

Just want to say that I could not be happier about most of the Halloween costumes and parties this year. But, I do think it needs to be said that Kathy and Chris were friends before this. By this interview with D, she and Chris had been pals for years. I know she was on Glee, as a judge of one of their many competitions. And she also held a fake marriage ceremony with him on stage somewhere, with Chris as her groom. She’s like Jane, a mom sub. C was on K’s show, then D, same as Jane’s.

And yes, Kathy knew. She always has, same as Jane. They are insiders, people to be trusted with the truth. She just loves to put people on the spot, even those she cares about. All of these folks on the show that day, knew the truth, whatever it was at that time.(She’s his mother figure? but his mother was alive when this was shot. I love how they “know” this stuff-everyone know but nobody thought to help Darren or stop working with Ryan Murphy out of solidarity and support- hell even Darren didn’t support Darren by icing Ryan Murphy out of his life. Also nobody has leaked on bit of information ...ever...in 10 years. That impressive AF. )

***********************************************************************

This Halloween was like Christmas, it was fabulous and no matter what they try, they cannot undo it.  And I am confident D&C were fully aware of what was happening on Thursday night with the pictures. They have been playing this game for years, they know how not to be in the background of photos. They wanted those pics circulated.(more confirmation bias)  So my question is, why now and who allowed those pics to be published?  We all know the content is generally very controlled.  And I would imagine EP has full control over the pics that are released from his party, I always question his involvement and well he was responsible for the only formal pic to date of CC, albeit a group photo.

C killed Halloween with his 2 costume choices. They were amazing. And I love that both he and D wee in drag last Saturday.  

As for M/iarren, while the costumes themselves were not that great (kind of cheap and poorly executed though D as a dalmatian was adorable). I would say she spent more time and effort on the pics with her “squad’), i loved both of them. The villain and the victim. And in both cases, the D character won.  And costume one was a blatant nod to C and his amazing books. Proving she is obsessed with us and what we say and trying to one up C.

Sad for her, she lost Halloween this year and CC triumphed and caused an absolute riot (a riot caused by Chris, Darren, Will and Mia speaking together at a party.. it has come to this#SAD!).  

On K/athy thanks for the insight. I guess i cannot imagine asking such a direct question if I knew the truth. I guess what she failed to realize is that D is a terrible liar, especially back then. (why would Kathy, a great friend to Chris, do something so painful and difficult for Darren in front of a video camera let alone on a comedy show.  Outing someone is a serious matter and not something concussive a rapid-fire comedy show.  Your theory makes no sense whatsoever). His face told a million stories and none of them were of a straight man with a gf that just moves across the country to be with him (yes Abby, his face gave him away because his words sure as hell didn’t, never have and never will. It’s absurd but you continue to believe you know his truth based solely on facial expresses-which you have proven you cannot read accurately-, t-shirt graphics, song lyrics and Instagram “likes” but sadly, that is where we are at).  

No doubt both L/ily and JTF knew.  I think JTF has actually been a role model to D.  And he and JM have been, from what i can see, really amazing to both our guys.(Vomit- random gay men in Hollywood are not “supporting Darren” through his 10 years of closeting, denial and marriage to a women-they have their own lives.) And L/ily would never have jumped in that way if she thought for one second that d was capable of handling it himself (Oh FFS, Darren made the joke about him and Lily having vaginal sex, Lily didn’t jump in, she cracked up and after he milked the joke for all he could get out of it- then she made a joke riffed off his. Your fantasy has overtaken the truth once again. Luckily we have video proof). But since D could not muster an answer, she answered for him and then he was able to collect himself and go with the joke. (that isn’t true at all-it’s a complete a lie).

Intereting side note, when that video originally aired, i still believed the PR story and I remember thinking about how odd his answer was and how uncomfortable he was. And i wasn’t looking for anything as I didn’t think there was a reason for him to lie.  

I love this interview. And example of something team shit would dream about if only d could answer convincingly and instead it completely shined a light on the fact that D is queer and prefers the company of men, at least at that point in his life (Not making a statement on his past and sexuality) (OMG really? You're not? All you do is make statements about his sexuality. Let’s pretend you are right with this theory- For all the help that Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Ricky Martin, Ryan Murphy, and all the other gay men in Hollywood are providing ccDarren, this video showing how team shit failed again was broadcast 6 1/2 years ago (3/13) and Darren is still saying he’s straight, he’s still not spending time with Chris -well of course except the Halloween moment caught on the camera-they still lead entirely different lives and Darren married Mia sooo I’m not sure how they are team “shit”. Sounds like “team perfect” since everything is going their way.  They even got Darren to cuddle Mia for a photo as “punishment” for that little moment with Chris...Team Shit for the Win....again!) 

[phylumhearts]

unfinished draft (rare truffle cafe)

the almost-complete first chapter of that coffee shop au I started literal years ago. kinda want to rewrite it completely if I go back to that project so here’s what I’ve got.

1.3k, aeleus/dilan

Aeleus had never planned to become a regular at the Rare Truffle Cafe. By now it was just a habit - he'd always slipped easily into routines - but buying drinks on the go had always seemed wasteful. As much as he loved the nebula nectar latte, he kept coming back for something else: the barista. He’d been spending 350 munny several times a week for a “thank you, here’s your drink” from a handsome man.

It was a familiar disappointment, walking in to see the tiny blonde girl behind the counter. Sweet as she was, she wasn’t who he was hoping to see.

“Good afternoon, Aeleus.” 

“Naminé.” She’d memorized his name and order some time ago, and he thought it only fair to return the gesture.

“The usual?”

“I’ll try the special.” He placed his ceramic travel cup on the counter, along with exact change.

“One bijou bean frappe. Soy milk?” 

“Still no almond?” he asked, knowing the answer. She shook her head.

“Sorry.” 

“Soy, then.” He nodded once before heading to his favourite seat beside the window. It was a quiet day, so he’d barely scanned the headlines in the day-old newspaper before Naminé was calling him to pick up his drink.

“Thank you.” Grabbing his cup, he started turning to leave before Naminé stopped him with an outstretched finger.

“Dilan is picking up a delivery right now. When they get back, it will be time for their break. Why don’t you take a seat?” Aeleus’ expression didn't change, but his ears flushed pink with embarrassment. What did she mean? Was he really that obvious? 

“I-” Naminé silenced him with a wave of her hand. 

“You wanted to talk to them, right?” she smiled, eyes closed. “Now’s your chance. Just sit in the booth closest to the back. You’ll be ok, I promise.” Stunned, he shuffled to the booth and sat down hard. Who was this girl? A mind reader? He stared long and hard at the drink in his hand before taking a sip. 

After a few minutes fiddling with his latest tangle puzzle and wondering if he should pace himself with his drink, Aeleus’ wait was over. A bell jingled cheerfully as a large figure nudged the door open with their hip. A broad shoulder hefted several sacks of coffee while a sculpted arm kept an uncertain grip on two stacked milk crates. 

“Naminé, some assistance please.” Their voice was deep and smooth, if a little strained.

“You don't need to carry it all at once, you know,” chided Naminé, hurrying to relieve Dilan of a crate. She struggled a little under the weight as Dilan effortlessly shrugged the remaining crate into a more secure position.

“I prefer to make a single trip.” They strode toward the counter, and Aeleus tried not to ogle them too blatantly as they walked past his booth. Naminé followed, flashing Aeleus a grin.

After the thumps and clatters of shelves being restocked faded, a terse conversation drifted out from behind the counter.

“No, Dilan, it's your break now. I can handle it alone for another twenty minutes. Don't worry about it.” There was a grumbled response, but it became apparent that Namine’s will had won out when Dilan appeared in Aeleus’ view.

“I hope you don't mind if I sit here.” It wasn't a request, but they waited for Aeleus to nod before sliding into the free side of the booth. They deftly plugged their phone into an outlet hidden under the table, then started picking at a small container of stir-fry. Every part of them stood up to close inspection - golden-brown skin just as flawless up close, facial hair just as perfectly shaped, braids just as smooth and silky. Even their fingernails were flawless, long and painted a glossy black. Aeleus ran a hand over his own hair, suddenly very aware of the way it stuck out at the back. He struggled for a conversation starter - when would he get another chance like this? - but came up blank. He needed to calm down and think. He took a gulp of his drink.

“Nrgh.” Aeleus clutched at the sudden stab of pain in his head. Dilan glanced up, eyebrow raised. “Brainfreeze,” said Aeleus, wincing. Dilan snorted.

“That’s all those frappés are good for.” 

“Not a fan?” Aeleus’ brain still ached, but he refused to let a conversation slip through his fingers now.

Dilan made a noncommittal noise. “Can't speak poorly of my own products on the clock.” They rolled their eyes.

“You're on break,” said Aeleus, trying to sound convincing, “and Naminé made this one.” 

“Hah.” Dilan dropped their air of customer service politeness. “Fine. Those drinks are nothing but the whimsy of a narcissistic simpleton.” Aeleus blinked at the sudden venom, but they carried on unabated, as if they’d been waiting too long for an opportunity to vent. “They’re a waste of good coffee and of my time. [ADD SOMETHING IN HERE?] Really, customers notwithstanding, all the issues in this place are her fault,” they spat, eyes narrowing. Aeleus raised an eyebrow.

“You don't mean Naminé?”

“Of course not. She’s a veritable ball of sunshine.” Dilan’s tone did not soften. “No, it's that pink-haired layabout of a manager that's the problem. She struts in, rearranges the furniture, makes up some absurd special then we don't see her again for a month. I can only assume she's doing the books correctly because the tax office haven't called in, but I've never seen any evidence of her actually doing work.”

“Leaving the work to you?”

“Mm. More than once now I've been saddled with a trainee to teach with no warning, let alone compensation. It's absurd.”

“Not your dream job, then,” commented Aeleus.

“Far from it. But even a menial day job is worth doing well.”

“What would you rather do?”

“I play oboe. I plan to make a career of it.” Dilan stared at Aeleus, jaw tense, ready for dismissal or ridicule. 

“Oboe…” Aeleus scoured his memory for information beyond probably a musical instrument. “That’s a little like a clarinet?”

Dilan rolled their eyes, but visibly relaxed. “They are superficially similar, yes, but the reed - the part that truly defines the sound - is very different. The clarinet is easy to pick up, if difficult to master, while it can be a challenge for an oboe novice to make any pleasing sound at all. It’s a woefully underappreciated instrument.” Aeleus nodded thoughtfully, but Dilan trailed off. He slurped his frappe, racking his brain for something to keep the conversation going, trying not to stare too much at the possibly celestial being eating snow peas at the other side of the table. How did talking work, again?

“So what about you?” 

“Me?” 

“You’ve listened to all my griping, but I haven’t heard anything about you. What do you do?” Their features twisted into a wry smile.

“Oh. I work at a club.” When someone offers information about themself, it's appropriate to give similar information about yourself in return. That’s how talking works. “I prefer to be behind the bar, but they mostly put me at the door - I can’t imagine why.” Dilan’s smile softened, and Aeleus’ heart leapt into his throat. 

“I see. That would be why you get decaf in the mornings - you’re on your way home to sleep?”

“You noticed that?” “It’s unusual.” Their expression was neutral again. 

[HHHHH MORE CONVERSATION PROBABLY IDK]

Dilan glanced at their phone and raised their eyebrows. 

“I should get back to work. Thanks for the company.” They gathered their possessions and started sliding out of the booth.

“Before you go,” interrupted Aeleus, “Namine uses singular they pronouns for you. Is that your general preference?” Dilan blinked, frozen half-standing at the end of the booth.

“Er- yes, it is.” They straightened up, clearing their throat. “Yourself?”

“He/him is fine. Have a good afternoon.” 

Dilan nodded once then hastily disappeared behind the counter. 

[how 2 end chapter??]

Aeleus sat at the booth for a long time. 

[Note: Probably should work in them telling each other their names somewhere lol]

[lampsofcuties]

Sorry my theme is shite lmao, thank u for the ask! (Also cause u seem to like HS a lot i will do both that and my current fandom)

😑 (HS) A really popular one that im kinda indifferent to is JohnDave, I like the ship but it isnt really something i look for. (RWBY) Im kinda indifferent to seamonkeys even tho i do ship it, i am just not into it right now even tho i love those good bois.

✌️(HS) Now this one is tough because as my description suggests i am a multishipper thru and thru so i ship pretty much every homestuck ship. I guess I could count Grimdorks in this cause tho i do ship it sometimes, its very conditional. (RWBY) Same problem here buuuuuut i guess we can throw in Lancaster here cause i do think its cute but not my cuppa.

💚 (HS) MMMM GUILTY PLEASURE SHIP IS CROFEF IDK Y DONT @ ME LMAO (RWBY) secretly ship yang♠️neo NOT TO BE A FUCKINNNN HOMESTUCK BUT thats some good shit

💘 (HS) GamSol, EriAra, DirkJane, i could go on... (RWBY) Hmmm, not sure about this one, Probably Bumblemeleon, mostly cause i dont think people think about ilia and yang interactions enough yet lol

👀 (HS) maaaan ive seen em all at this point but like i guess i am curious about legit any ship from the hiveswap friendsims cause i havent played any lmaooo (RWBY) i guess i am cutious about any ships that dont center around the main cast cause ive pretty much explored all those ships, maybe like whats glynda up to ya kno?

💖 (HS) TERIDAN, MOTHERFUCKER, ITS SUCH A GOOD SHIP, go spam @vantasarcastic about it, we love teridan so much lmao. (RWBY) LADYBUG IS SO UNDERRATED, THAT SHIP IS SO HECKIN CUTE.

💢 (HS) Honestly? In my experience Karezi is almost always simplified or misrepresented, even by fuckin hussie his goddamn self, who wrote about it a while ago and completely misread his own two characters lmao i have no idea what he was thinking. Karezi is always seen as this “low hanging fruit” type of ship, the “main guy character falls for quirky girl character” trope. And although it definitely started out that way, by the end of the comic (besides the lack of interaction after [s] game over) the characters grew and changed and their relationship would have also had it been explored more in the story. NOT TO START MYSELF ON A RANT HERE BUT: the retjohn and “you dont need him” was not the “end of karezi” it was just poorly handled and because hussie has clear favorites in his own story and was out to write mindfuckery, not an exploration of characters and their motivations. APPARENTLY. ANYWAY. (RWBY) Whiterose. As my favorite (non-polyamourous) ship, i CONSTANTLY see whiterose misunderstood and mischaracterized and honestly its super painful cause i fuckin love both of those characters and it pains me to see some people just not get like any of it. I saw a post recently that described the misunderstanding as people taking the ship and shoving it into the “genki girl/tsundere” category, which is exactly what i hate most: simplifying characters into their most base concepts, and then literally stopping there. Makes me ANGERY.

[archivistsrock]

The Boys in the Band, pt. 2: The Performance

Someone asked for a spoilery review, so I’m going to go into detail here. Maybe a mix of review, plot, and specific cute/hot things that happen during the show. I don’t really consider anything in the show to be “spoilery”, but if you’re planning on seeing this and just love surprises and not knowing anything about what’s to come...don’t read this, I guess. ;) [eta: Okay, so it seems like it’s mostly plot overview with random other observations sprinkled in. I’m not good at this! Also, I go into much more detail about the first half...it’s funnier, has more Matt, and I just peetered out]

Also, read on if you want deets on just how much Matt we see during the shower scene… :P

The general plot of the play is that Michael (Jim Parsons) is holding a birthday party for his friend Harold (Zachary Quinto). The entire play takes place in Michael’s apartment. There is an upstairs (bedroom and bathroom) and a downstairs (living room, mostly). If your seats are really close to the front of the stage, there will be some parts of the upstairs that will be blocked from your view. But they’ve cleverly placed mirrors on the ceiling, so what you can’t see straight-on, you can see in reflections. It’s not a problem at all. I was in the second row and was really worried I’d be too close and have obstructed sightlines, but I LOVED IT. You’re so close to the actors; it’s pretty amazing. I wouldn’t change my seats if given the chance. I think if I was able to see it again, I’d like to have a mezzanine seat. But I wouldn’t give up my up-close seat for the world. It was awesome. For...reasons...if you’re near the front, I think being left of center is better than to the right. Just as a tip, if you haven’t bought tickets yet.

Donald (Matt Bomer) is Michael’s best friend from college. He moved out of the city because he couldn’t handle all the people and stresses of city life. Donald is depressed. Loves to read. Likes to chill on the sidelines and just watch other people. He’s very caring. I totally dig Donald. He’s...a janitor? and works hard, but also has issues with failure that he attributes to his parents. He equates failure with receiving love. He’s known he was gay since forever. He drives into the city each weekend to see his therapist and visit Michael. He knows the other men that are invited to the party, but he isn’t in their friend group. He knows them bc he knows Michael, iykwim. He and Harold don’t seem to particularly like each other. Maybe bc they’re both best friends of Michael so there’s some competition/protectiveness?? idk. Haven’t thought about it enough.

Michael lives beyond his means. He’s also pretty depressed and has issues with being gay. I mean, that’s a huge theme of the play. How these guys deal with living in a time and place where society clearly doesn’t support or approve of homosexuality. As many of the actors have said in interviews, it’s interesting to see the play and notice how much things have changed, but also how many things in the play still resonate today. Oh, I guess it’s important to point out that it takes place in 1968.

The play starts with Michael in his apartment getting ready for the party. His doorbell rings and Donald enters. ::raucous applause:: The next 15 minutes (I’m really bad with time, so don’t take too much stock in that) is Michael and Donald talking with one another about their parents, lives, etc. General banter of friends. Donald notices that Michael is not drinking alcohol and hasn’t been for the last few weeks. He can tell because Michael gets mean when he’s drunk (keep this in mind). Michael says his therapist encouraged him to lay off drinking bc it’s obviously becoming a problem for him.

It’s been a long day and Donald needs a shower. ::extremely raucous applause:: So Matt strips down to his undies and walks around a bit. Lays on a bed. Adjusts himself. Lots of this is only seen through the mirrors on the ceiling. Not sure about people in the mezzanine? They might be able to just see him laying there, idk. Then he wanders to the shower and strips...ALL THE WAY DOWN to shower. So yes. Not only do we see Matt’s ass, but we see his dick, too. Where I was sitting, I only saw it in reflections, but still. HEY THERE, MATT’S DICK! :P Whether or not other people in different seats see more or less of him, I’m not sure. This is why I say that the left is better than the right. The shower is on the right side of the stage, and there’s a sink/pedestal in front of the shower. So I think some people’s view of Matt in the shower is blocked by the sink? I was at enough of an angle where it wasn’t a problem. People were literally gasping. LOLOL.  The theater was definitely a-twitter. Lol. [random aside that I saw Angels in America during this trip, and in that play Lee Pace gets naked and just walks around the stage in the buff, so I guess it was my week for seeing ass and penis on stage? Lol]

Then he gets out and puts on a towel and walks around in that for a while, which is nice. Then he goes into the bedroom and changes and you can see him in his undies briefly (lol pun) again. So anyway, THAT HAPPENS. Lol

While Matt is showering and getting ready, Michael’s phone rings. It’s his old college roommate, Alan (Brian Hutchison) who’s having a breakdown of some sort and wants to come over and talk to Michael. The problem? Alan is straight (or is he??) and “square” and doesn’t know that Michael is gay.  Which is a problem bc a bunch of gay men are about to descend on Michael’s apt. Michael tells him to quickly come over with the hope that he will arrive and leave before too many people show up (lol right).  But honestly, who’s listening to Michael at this point bc OMG MATT IS NAKED. Seriously, I think I just stared at Matt for 95% of the show regardless of who was talking. Lol. It helped that I read the play beforehand and watched the movie so I knew what was going on.  ;)

So Michael tells Donald that Alan is coming over and warns him that Alan doesn’t know he’s gay so don’t act gay. Donald is mildly offended and has a funny line about sitting with his legs spread and talking in a deep register. Lol. But anyway, Jim and Matt are great together and you can really see their friendship (well, Michael and Donald’s friendship). They’re very funny together. The doorbell rings and we all think it’s going to be Alan, but it’s the first of the party guests – Larry (Andrew Rannells), Hank (Tuc Watkins), and Emory (Robin de Jesus). Hank and Larry are a couple (with issues). Emory is unapologetically flamboyant. He is hilarious. So Hank was married (he’s in the process of getting divorced) and has 2 kids. He’s the most stereotypically masculine of the group. He’s bi, “with a definite  lean in one direction” (hint: not chicks). He’s a math teacher. The oldest of the group. He’s dating Larry, who’s a bit of a man-whore (and a commercial artist). Larry doesn’t believe in monogamy, and this makes Hank sad. So this is a running issue between the two throughout the night. Andrew is hilarious in the play. He has GREAT facial expressions and reactions.

So Michael introduces everyone and it’s a bit awkward between Larry and Donald. Clearly, they have some sort of history (spoiler alert that’s pretty obvious: They “know” each other because they fucked in the baths once, but never spoke to one another. Yes, they enjoyed their fuck). Throughout the night, Larry is continuously coming on to Donald. Leaning into his space, stroking his arm, etc. It’s pretty great.

Doorbell rings again. Michael warns everyone about Alan and to PLEASE ACT STRAIGHT. Cue lots of hilarity with Emory who is just not into pretending to be butch. So he opens the door...and it’s not Alan. It’s Bernard (Michael B. Washington). Bernard is black (relevant to later parts of the play). He works at the library (a bookstore? Can’t recall which now). Anyway, he knows Donald bc he’s always supplying Donald with books. Lots of comments on how Donald reads a shit-ton. Bernard is besties with Emory.

More hilarity and banter ensues. There is a song and dance number (Donald does not participate, but Matt looks cute standing there and he does cute mini hand/arm motions). While they’re all dancing and being silly, the doorbell rings, but no one hears it but Hank, who goes to open the door and...it’s Alan. So he walks in on all the guys doing a choreographed dance. AWKWARD. Michael is all...”Uh...we’re just being silly!” haha. Yeah. More introductions. Emory is Emory and is pissing Michael off with his refusal to stop being camp. Alan takes to Hank because he’s the most traditionally masculine. Hank and Alan talk about their kids and Larry is getting increasingly pissed bc Hank is hiding the fact that he’s gay and with Larry (although they’re all—poorly-- hiding the fact that they’re gay). Michael goes upstairs to speak with Alan and what his breakdown/problem is.

So the action shifts to upstairs, but we can still see everyone downstairs. So they’re all acting like they’re at the party and are fake talking, etc. This is when Larry really gets into Donald’s space. He’s pissed at Hank because Hank are Alan were being all chummy. So he’s taking it out on Hank by being extra flirty with Donald. Donald isn’t really..opposed?...to it, but he’s maybe a little confused and awkward about it bc...hello?!? Hank is here? What even...? lol.

So upstairs, Alan decides he doesn’t want to talk about his issue and instead talks about how attractive Hank is. Lol. He also likes Donald. Alan’s been downing drinks (Donald is kind of the unofficial drink maker) and he’s drunk. Then he gets all homophobic and says shitty things about Emory. Michael gets a little pissed and goes downstairs while Alan stays upstairs in the bathroom.

Downstairs, the doorbell rings. Michael answers it, expecting it to be Harold (the birthday boy who is clearly very late). It’s a young studly guy dressed as a cowboy (Charlie Carver) who sings Happy Birthday to Michael and kisses him. Oops! Wrong guy! Cowboy is Emory’s gift to Harold. Harold was supposed to answer the door. But cowboy is early (you’re supposed to show up at midnight bc you’re a midnight cowboy!) and Harold is late, so...yeah. Didn’t work out. Then Alan comes downstairs and thinks Cowboy is Harold. Emory says, “No, he’s FOR Harold.” Alan is increasingly hostile and Emory is done with the fucking charades. Emory makes a comment about Alan’s wife, and Alan goes fucking berserk and starts punching Emory while calling him a bunch of gay slurs. Alan is pulled off Emory who is bleeding. Chaos is breaking out. The doorbell rings. Donald answers it and in walks Harold (Zach).

Harold is quite the character. He used to be a professional ice skater. He describes himself as an “ugly, pockmarked Jew fairy”.  He’s high. He’s very sardonic. He looks around and it’s like...WTF is happening? Lol. Alan is passed out on the floor. Emory has blood all over his face. Cowboy sings happy birthday to Harold, kisses him, then Harold reads the card tied to him and starts laughing hysterically.  (this technically ends the first act in the play, but there’s no intermission or anything so the action keeps going)

[Note Larry leaning into Donald’s space in the background]

Bernard and Emory go upstairs to clean up. Up until this point, the play has been really really funny. The general tone is pretty light and humorous. At this point, the tone starts to change dramatically. At some point, I don’t remember exactly when, this change is made blatantly clear by the lights going dim, and all the action on stage freezes, aside from Michael. He heads to the bar and pours and downs a drink. Remember what Donald said about Michael when he’s drunk? MEAN. So this marks the turning point. Light go back up, action resumes. [I’m not sure what I think about them doing it this way, but it hammers the point home that Michael is now drinking and things are about to get dark, so eh. Whatever. ] Michael gets increasingly asshole-ish. You really start to hate Michael.

Alan declares he’s going to puke, so Hank leads him upstairs to the bathroom. Michael and Harold exchange barbs. You really start to wonder why they’re friends. Every time Michael takes a drink, Harold proclaims, “Turning!” Like Donald, he knows alcohol turns Michael into an asshole. Michael is getting drunker and meaner and Harold is not one to just put up with things.  If something gets dished out, he’ll deal it right back ten-fold. But while brutally honest, he’s not being as downright cruel as Michael, who even starts throwing racist remarks at Bernard and cruel comments to Emory (which really horrifies Donald).

Alan comes downstairs and proclaims his intention to leave, and bizarrely announces that Hank should leave with him. This leads to the announcement that Hank and Larry and lovers, and basically the charade is up and hey! We’re all gay; and btw, we think you are too, Alan. Michael won’t let anyone leave and invents a “party game” for them all to play. Basically, you have to call someone that you’ve truly loved. You get different amounts of points for various things – if someone answers, you say who you are, you get the person on the line that you want to speak with, you tell them you love them. A total of 10 possible points. Donald and Harold are immediately like, YEAH NO. Not playing. So Bernard and Emory both call people. Does not turn out particularly well. I literally cried for Bernard. Michael B. Washington does a phenomenal job.

Hank and Larry have it out again, but they end up calling each other, saying they love each other, and going upstairs to have sex in Michael’s bedroom.

Michael starts harassing Alan and telling him he should call their other college roommate, Justin, that Michael is convinced Alan was in love with. He’s in total asshole mode. Alan dials a number and ends up telling the person he loves them. Michael grabs the phone assuming it’s Justin..it’s not. It’s his wife.

Alan leaves. The mood of the party has degenerated into a total morose atmosphere. Harold just goes off on Michael with a huge truth bomb about how self-loathing Michael is and how badly he doesn’t want to be gay, but guess what? You’re gay and you’ll always be gay. He then takes off with Cowboy. Emory and Bernard (who is super drunk by this point) then leave, and Michael has a breakdown. He basically starts hyperventilating and is comforted by Donald. He pulls himself together and leaves to go to a midnight mass. Donald stays behind to read a bit, after assuring Michael that he’ll be back next weekend. The play ends with Donald reading and the silhouette of Hank and Larry making love upstairs in bed.

So yeah, I was much more brief when it came to the second half, in part bc it’s not as much “fun.” It’s much more dramatic. Very good, but not as fun to retell, and as far as Matt goes, aside from the end scene, he kind of disappears in the second half. I mean, he’s physically present and had lines, but there is definitely more focus on the other characters. He kinda just hangs in the periphery watching everything go down. And silently flirting with Larry lol.

All the characters do a stellar job. Charlie Carver/The Cowboy has the smallest role. He’s basically a big dummy, and provides some comic relief with his idiocy and innocence.  Tuc (Hank) does a great job, but his role isn’t as humorous or flashy as the others. Michael B. Washington is great as Bernard, and I was really feeling for him at the end. He has a great monologue that delves into race and slurs. He and Emory have a touching moment. Robin de Jesus is hilarious as Emory. Jim does a good job as insecure Michael. Apparently, he wears special shoes during the show because of his broken foot. I would not have known anything was wrong with his foot. He’s pretty spry walking around that stage. He does a good job playing a mean asshole. Lol. Andrew has hilarious reactions and facial expressions. Zach is hilarious as Harold. Very sarcastic and kind of deadpan? He has a very interesting way of speaking. Harold is super weird, and Zach does a super job. He comes in late in the play, but has an integral part once he arrives. And I love Donald. His role is definitely not as flashy as some of the others, but I feel you really get to know and like Donald.

You laugh A LOT during the first half of the show. You still have funny moments in the second half, but it is also more shocking and dramatic. Pretty thought provoking. And thinking about the time period that this play takes place in (1968) and how tough it was to be out (or not out) at that time, and looking on stage at the all gay cast...it’s a pretty special feeling. They look like they probably have a blast on stage every night.

I happened to be there on Zach’s actual birthday, which was funny because it’s his character’s birthday in the play. When Matt opens the door and it’s Zach standing there, the first line Donald says is, “HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Harold.” He said it VERY pointedly and I was like !!!!!!!! So that was special. Oh! A Matt insta post:

If you aren’t going to be able to see it, you can watch the original movie. Obviously, it’s not as cool as seeing your faves in the role, but the original play, movie, and the revival are all very faithful to each other. Same dialogue and everything. The movie does add a few scenes at the beginning outside of Michael’s apartment, and some of the movie takes place outside on a balcony instead of all inside, but those are very minor details. I think they cut out a few lines of dialogue in the revival so they could cut down on the time, but offhand I don’t recall what they cut out. I’ll have to read the play again. So you’ll hear all the stuff that happens and all the funny lines and stuff that they say in the play. Then you can envision Matt in the role of Donald. I like Matt’s portrayal of Donald better than the original actor’s, but OBVIOUSLY I am biased. lol