#it was monty python several years before monty python

[diamondzart]

Something about a universal solution to problems by chewing off a friend's finger

Redraw of a frame from “Help!” (1965). I watched this movie two days ago and my concept of absolute cinema was turned upside down and brought to its knees. I recommend it to everyone, it feels like my brains were put in a meat grinder, 12/10 experience.

[manicpixiefelix]

at the other end of the leash

{ One-Shot for head, heart, hand. }

@vannyangelxoxo asked: can you write Felix beating someone’s ass for reader? Summary: You convince Felix to go with you to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in one of the last weeks of Summer before you begin your first year at Oxford University. While out on the town during the Festival, Felix finds himself enchanted with one of the performers, an avant-guarde acrobat named Magnus. The perfect night quickly goes south, however, as Felix discovers someone trying to take advantage of you, and he immediately steps in. Of course.

Need to Know: They/Them. Explicitly NB Reader. FWB!Reader/Felix. Reader is from a well off family but has pretty much been adopted by the Cattons. Set at the end of Summer before Felix and Reader start their first year of university at Oxford. Established Bi Felix.

Warnings: heavy themes; reader is slipped a roofie at a club and a stranger attempts to take them home, and it's heavily implied that he plans to assault them. felix gets there in time, which leads to the second warning of VIOLENCE. felix beats that motherfucker to a bloody mess. it doesn't get super gorey/explicit but there is a lot of blood. also there is discussions of nudity, non explicit sex, and recreational drug use in the club.

A/N: 6053 words. well, would you look at that. another request that got outrageously out of hand. this is also a personal homage to Edinbugh Fringe Festival, my beloved, my home for 6 weeks of the year. id also like to state that it's a wonderful place to be; the roofie plot is 100% fictionalised. the rest of it is a pastiche of real things that i have actually experienced. i cannot stress enough the raw animal attraction of a man named magnus who can and will flirt with anyone and everyone while getting drinks after his shows, who performs several times a week with his dick out, wearing eyeliner, heavily tattooed, who smokes and has pretty eyes. that's all i have to say about that.

TAGLIST IN COMMENTS!! // TAGLIST ALWAYS OPEN ! (just message or comment to be added)

----

"Come on Fi, it's the last weeks of Summer before we start uni," you'd been rather desperately imploring, as if Felix had ever known how to refuse you when you actually wanted something, "you know Monty Python started there before they were even Monty Python," you told him knowingly, which was certainly interesting, though not particularly relevant. Finally you sighed, splaying yourself out over the sofa you'd been sitting, looking up at him from as he entered the room. Now you were spread out foolishly, childishly, looking up at him with imploring eyes, "Fi we've spent a month lazing around the house and I know your parents have no other events planned before we go back, except for the party on the second last night; we'll be back before then, I promise! I want to spend time watching strange show, meeting people I'd never imagine, and drinking cocktails named after famous poets from rustic bars!"

It had been your suggestion to go to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival for a few days, and despite the exhaustingly long train ride and the hotel prices that would probably cripple anyone less well off than you - Felix had agreed. Of course he'd agreed; you sounded so hopeful.

Which is how you'd found yourself in an underground club on a Friday night, dancefloor packed with more bodies than sense, and a twenty minute line for drinks. Tonight he'd been feeling especially bold, forgoing a jacket altogether, spending time in the mirror with you before heading out to see the show you'd chosen for the evening - a compelling one-man show about being gay in Australia, in a less compelling, cramped venue. So now here he was, in one of his more fetching dark, silk, button-down t-shirts, eyeliner on his waterline, mascara even though he claimed to not need it, a touch of glitter by his temples, and his favourite brown lipstick that he'd agonised over.

Not long after you'd come out, you'd tried wearing eyeliner with the male, private school uniform - I can- I should be allowed to do whatever I want, right? - and the minute after Felix had gotten out of suspension for smacking a kid who called you a slur, he went out and bought his own eyeliner. His collection had only grown from there. It really was a shame that people seemed to think it was reserved for femininity. Well, as it turned out, people who weren't part of things like Fringe Festivals.

Felix fit right in tonight.

It's a little thrilling; these people, in neon underwear and wigs and makeup that would forever outshine his own efforts, they look at him differently. Drugs passed around him - oh darling, would you like some? But once he'd ask what they were and the kind soul goes to check, they're pulled away by some other shiny thing to focus on. Always too close, tits out with nipple pasties being sweated off, he's sure he saw someone's dick out on the dance floor, the most beautiful, feminine, sculpted faces on the hairiest male bodies sporting only a gold speedo. Confusing and foreign and everyone smiling at him.

Felix wasn't quite sure where you'd gotten too, especially not since he'd found himself caught in the blue-eyed gaze of a stocky punk with a face tattoo and carefully loose hair pulled back into a low bun. Nose piercings and ears with stretched holes that Felix could see all the way through, black silicone bordering the void almost like it was intended to match the black makeup around his eyes, though it looks worn, half sweated through. Still, Felix can't help but be enchanted by the way it made his blue eyes peak so brightly through. Felix didn't think he had much of a type when it came to guys, but he'd always found something very charming about dark hair and blue, mischievous eyes.

"Magnus," he'd introduced himself as with much confidence and yelling over the music, and when Felix introduced himself, asked if he was here for the festival, Magnus smiles wider. Felix thinks very distinctly of biting. "Actually here blowing off steam after a show," a performer then, "part of an avant guarde acrobatics troupe," a very flexible performer.

"How... long have you been doing that?"

"About three years now," Magnus squints into the distance as he tried to recall, "since I was nineteen."

"Oh," Felix brightens up, adding without thinking, "I'm nineteen." And immediately hangs his head with embarrassment. Thankfully, instead of calling him a kid - despite only being twenty-two; everyone in their twenties seemed to like calling him a baby, even if they'd turned twenty yesterday - and laughs.

"Oh thank god," he claps Felix on the shoulder, "because I was definitely going to ask."

"It's a pub," Felix points out, as if no-one underage has ever snuck into a pub ever. Magnus gives him a sidelong smile.

"With no security in sight, mate," he snorted. Felix had noticed that drugs were being passed around like candy, but he hadn't really considered it beyond that. Magnus, however, points to a couple that have been grinding on each other on a bar stool several feet away, "he's been fucking her like that for the past fifteen minutes." Felix's brows shot up.

"Really?!" He gasped; Magnus grinned like the Cheshire cat, mentioning in a far too offhand way that they were also friends of his, "should we move?"

"It's the furthest you're going to be from some kind of sex act unless you want to go outside," he gave a loud, pleased sigh at the environment, seeming entirely at home. Felix is struck with the immediate and vivid image of Magnus in his beautiful leather jacket pressing him up against this very wall, hand slipping beneath the waistband of Felix's pants; the freedom of everyone seeing and nobody caring and -

"What's avant guarde about it-" Felix clears his throat awkwardly, "the acrobatics, I mean, if I may ask?" Felix tries to remain polite while he knows he's blushing all over. All he hopes is that this man beside him that he's just met can't tell how loudly he's thinking holy shit have I met someone who could throw me around the room with ease? Is that something I want? He's never really thought about it before -

"You ever seen three people stand on each other's shoulders all at once in the full monty?" As if that's a real question Felix is supposed to have a real answer to, but Magnus stood just a little taller, just a little prouder, "I'm the lad at the bottom, holding us all secure, cock out for the world to see." What a fucking mental image.

Magnus also informs Felix that the tattoo on his face, the delicate dagger, has its match somewhere else on his body. It's with a staggering amount of confidence that immediately flusters Felix that Magnus tells him he can either buy a ticket to the show, or buy him a drink if he'd like to see it. He's pretty sure he's never been so directly and effectively hit on before in his entire life. Yes, counting the trips you, he, Farleigh, and Venetia took to France that Summer in high school.

Standing in line, thinking about beautiful, punk, acrobat Magnus and what Felix can only assume is his tattooed cock, it takes him a long while to realise that he's nearing the bar and has been staring at some guy's drinks for a full minute. Something colourful and fizzing, something with vodka he's pretty sure. It takes another moment to register something falling into one of the drinks from between the man's fingers as he goes to take them away -

"Hey!" It could have been an accident, it could have been nothing, but Felix wouldn't be able to forgive himself if it wasn't, "dude, hey!" He tries to snatch at the guy's denim jacket, but he slips into the crowd. Trying to jam himself up to the bar, despite everyone else's annoyance, he tries to tell the bartender, but the man's already disappeared too far.

Vaguely distressed, but mostly dejected, he steps back to his place, and waiting another few long moments for his turn at the bar. Even as his gaze roams the crowd for the potential bastard, he can't seem to see him. But he looses track of his thoughts on the matter when he gets back to Magnus, leaning against the wall with half a cigarette tucked behind his ear, and those gorgeous blue eyes drinking in Felix as he approaches.

"Was almost worried I'd lost you there," he slings an arm around Felix's waist, drawing him in close, accepting the drink with a grin, and all Felix can think about is how warm he is, how he smells sweet and like rich herbs and smoke. He asks what Felix does, and Felix tries his very best not to sound as young as he suddenly feels -

"Remains to be seen," he leans into speak into Magnus's ear, musting the confidence he knows he usually has in spades, wrapping his own arm around Magnus's shoulders, "about to start at Oxford in a few days -"

"Oxford!" Felix isn't sure if Magnus is teasing him or not. He's also not sure that he minds, he kind of wants the man to keep looking at him- keep smiling at him like that.

He's so enraptured by the company he's found for himself that it almost startles him when you come stumbling out of the crowd, off of the dance floor, beaming and sweating, holding a half-finished drink.

"Fi, there you are- oh my, hi, hello!" You're already giving Magnus a million watt smile, clearly quite drunk. Felix catches you with his free hand, having finished his own drink not too long ago.

"Hello, sweetheart," Magnus greets you warmly, but with an unmistakable hint of reservation, gaze momentarily flicking between yourself and Felix, trying to reassess the situation in the blink of an eye. You don't seem to notice that, however, simply standing a little taller, subtly preening at the pet name.

"Y/N is my best mate," Felix leans in close to Magnus to explain, voice fond in his ear, "the reason I'm here at all." And there's that smile again, all warm and amused and Magnus' eyes shining in a way that makes Felix want to let him do terrible, unspeakable things to him.

"Lucky for us both then, that you have such a darling friend."

Performers are a different fucking breed of people, Felix can't help but think to himself, even as Magnus turns - arm never leaving it's place around Felix - to properly introduce himself to you. He thinks it again watching Magnus charm you just as easily, even if he wasn't trying to outright hit on you the way he had been with Felix.

"I was just- I was just-" you stumble over your words, taking another sip of your drink - something colourful and fizzing, vodka something, you'd said with an offhand frown, a lovely guy I've been dancing with bought it for me - while you take Magnus' offered free hand to steady yourself, "I was thinking of heading back to the hotel pretty shortly, I'm a bit -" you make a vague hand gesture. Before you can even finish the sentiment, however, the next song begins and you light up. Finishing your drink, you grab Felix's free hand with your own, tugging them both towards the dance floor, begging them for one dance.

"How could I say no to a face like that?" Magnus teases, letting himself be dragged onto the dancefloor, Felix adding with a fond smile.

"Trust me, I wouldn't know."

Glad for the company, you gleefully let loose amongst the crush of bodies, and there's something both endearing, and endlessly attractive, about how happy Magnus seems to match your energy. The three of you jumping around to The Sex Pistols, Magnus shouting along with all of the lyrics and seemingly impressed that you and Felix at the very least seem to know some of them.

After the song, however, you seem to slip back into the crowd on the dancefloor, as if once more transfixed by the lights and movement and heat of the night. Magnus, however, leans in and asks if Felix smokes.

Outside it's far easier to breathe. It's cooler too. Still, Magnus pulls off his leather jacket, ties it around his hips, leaving him in a tight, white t-shirt. Felix has known in a roundabout way that he wasn't straight for quite some time, but damn did reminders like this not feel like being hit by a truck. Covered in tattoos and with the kind of arms and shoulders the Greeks could model statues of gods from, Felix knows he's staring but quite literally does not know how to stop.

Except then Magnus is pulling out an actual, metal cigarette deck, offering it to Felix for him to take one, and Felix is pretty sure this is the coolest person he's ever met in his life.

"I love these," Magnus takes Felix's hand in his free one, clicking the cigarette deck closed and sliding it smoothly back into his pocket, "these are cute," he's looking at the silly, little collection of stars tattooed on his hand. They look like nothing compared to the ink all over Magnus, but he seems genuine in his interest.

"Surprise gift for my sister," Felix hears himself say, cigarette between his lips as he fumbles in his pockets for a lighter.

"For your sister?"

"Well it was a surprise to me too," Felix chuckles at the memory, "Y/N and I organised for me and Venetia to get matching tattoos of her choice for her birthday."

"You... didn't know?" Magnus snorts, dropping Felix's hand to take the half-cigarette out from behind his ear, holding it out for Felix to light.

"Well I'm not opposed, I've got a couple of tattoos - nothing like yours," he grins, and Magnus's gaze meets his, flashing with that same amusement and attraction as in the club that had so captivated Felix in the first place, "but I'm kind of surprised that that's what Y/N gifted her?"

"Did your sister not like it?"

"No, that's the thing, I've actually never seen Ven react like that to a gift before," Felix muses; smiling at the memory, "of course she was a menace about it at first; I was worried she'd been given too much power," he snorted, tipping his head to look at Magnus, only to see those blue eyes gazing back, as if hanging on Felix's every word, "do you know how close I came to having a tramp stamp?"

"As if you wouldn't look fantastic with a tramp stamp," Magnus snorted.

However before the story can even be finished, the door to the club opens and both turn at the sound of your voice.

"No, I need some water first -" you sound very wrong. The person beside you, a man who looks vaguely familiar, though Felix is sure it's not his face, is setting almost too brisk of a pace.

"Come on, there's water back at my place, remember?"

"I need to go back to the hotel," you tried to insist, "and water- 'm gonna throw up in the taxi."

"You'll be fine, I promise, I've got you." The man's hailing at taxi, while you're swaying on your feet, looking even more out of it than you had when they'd last seen you.

Felix is moving on instinct, without hesitation, without even thinking.

"The fuck are you doing?" His voice raises, and the man turns right as a taxi is pulling up, looking at Felix with blatant irritation, not appearing to be intimidated in the slightest.

"Back off man, my friend isn't feeling well-" the bastard lies through his teeth, even as you of course recognise Felix, and take his arm, mumbling that you felt sick, "see?" He actually tries to pry you away from Felix, "I'm taking care of them, no need to worry -" but Felix puts his hand on yours, secure. Just as well, since you start to list and lean and lose your balance.

"Fi," you mutter weakly, pitifully, "help."

And that's when Felix realises what he recognises about the man; the jacket that slipped through his fingers at the bar. The man he'd seen dose your drink, as it turned out.

Felix has never seen red in his life the way he has in this moment.

Fury simmers white-hot just beneath his skin, though he keeps himself calm and collected as he gently walks you over to the wall of the club, easing you into a sitting position. All the while the bastard that was with you is berating him, saying you just needed to get somewhere to lie down. Magnus, however, seems to understand what's happening, and sits himself down beside you at the wall, quietly asking one of the many onlooker to go inside and grab some water for you.

"Fine, sit 'em on the filthy fucking pavement in the middle of the city instead of letting them lie down in a bed to sleep it off; you feel good? You feel like a hero for not letting me take my friend home -?"

There is an audible crack when Felix's fist makes impact with the bastard's nose. He knows once his adrenaline wears off it's going to hurt like a motherfucker, but it's worth it. More blood splatters across them both than Felix was anticipating from his wonky uppercut, but he doesn't care. The man half recovers, unsteady, but he gets a hit on Felix's cheeks with a fist full of rings, but he seems almost disorientated. Felix goes for the throat this time, satisfaction being the sound of the man choking on his gurgle of pain.

Felix isn't quite sure what it was that sent the bastard crashing to the ground, but he does know that he's tearing through that man's coat pockets like a feral beast before he finds the bottle of pills like the one he saw fall into your drink.

It's like the entire world stops for this one second.

His knuckles ache, covered in blood that isn't his own, clutching the same roofies that were now coursing through your blood, making you weak and vulnerable and prey to bastards like this. His head spins, fury spitting in his veins, blood singing to tear this man apart. There were on lookers, a gasping crowd, but for some reason no bouncer in sight, no-one stopping this.

And you, sitting against the wall of the pub, tucked up against Magnus who had a protective arm around you and was looking at the man beneath you with something cold in his eyes. His other hand was balancing a glass of water on his leg next to you, for you, but you didn't move, just looked at your hands, helpless. Magnus's cold gaze slides to meet Felix's, and there's something approving in his eyes. He gives the faintest nod.

Felix kind of blacks out after that.

The next thing he remembers is being shoved into a taxi rather frantically, hearing Magnus shout - well get him on his side so he doesn't choke on his blood before the ambulance arrives. You're already in, leaning against the window seat, gazing vacantly out of it. Felix gently touches your shoulder once the door shuts behind him- fuck that seems like a lot of blood? When did that happen? You make a vague hum of acknowledgement, so Felix shuffles over to the middle seat and coaxes you to rest against him.

"Fi?"

"Of course," he cradles you against him.

"Fi," your voice is weak, he can hear you beginning to sniffle. Your words come out awkwardly, slurred terribly, "feels wrong, c'nt.. m've."

"I know, I'm sorry," Felix feels the tears in his own eyes, "you'll be okay, I'm here, you'll be okay." He can't believe he let this happen. The front door opens, and Magnus's voice greets the driver.

"Sorry about the state of them in the back -"

"'s Friday, laddie," the terribly aged, terribly Scottish taxi driver says blithely, "where shall I be takin' yas?"

Magnus looks over the back to you both, expression concerned, but genuine, and asks for the address of your hotel. Felix takes a moment to compose himself, but finally gives it, and the drive commences in silence.

It seems only natural for Magnus to also get out once you've all arrived, easily sliding into step with Felix as they both wrapped one of your arms around their shoulders and helped get you back through the hotel and up to your room.

"Thank you, Magnus," Felix says softly as he fishes the key from his pocket, "I'm so sorry about how the night turned out." Magnus actually laughed at that, and Felix opened the door.

"Felix, if the context weren't so dramatically, disgustingly awful, this would be the most fun night I've had all Fringe." And you all shuffle inside, Felix guiding you all towards the bedroom to lay you down, "nice room by the way," Magnus looks around as he passes through, "who's cock did you have to suck to afford it in the middle of the Fringe?"

"I..." Felix hesitates, "don't know if that's a first meeting kind of question."

"Well played, Oxford boy," Magnus says, but there's no malice behind the nickname, "I have my theories, though." Part of Felix is glad Magnus is there, to help lighten the load, lighten the mood, even a little.

They lay you gently on the bed, and Felix is just glad that you seemed to finally have fully passed out. He can't begin to imagine the horrors that were going on inside your head. Then it's just the two of them. And the built in wardrobe across the room with it's floor to ceiling mirror.

And all that blood on Felix.

"I look the fucking American Psycho," it's fucking horrific! What did he do? Magnus, sitting on the end of the bed with one knee crossed over the other gives an amused smile.

"You actually kind of do."

"It's not good!" Felix approaches the mirror like he's in a damn horror movie, scrubbing at his cheeks with little success, but with a surprising amount of sharp pain, "the fuck did I do? Is this all his?" Magnus, in the mirror, is looking at him curiously, "Magnus, seriously, the fuck did I do?"

"You were fucking beautiful, Felix," Magnus says, sounding almost awed. Felix stopped; there was nothing flirty, nothing about it that wasn't genuine. Wait holy shit, Felix realises, are these fucking butterflies in his chest? Now of all times?

Then, in the next moment, Magnus blinks, clearing his throat loudly, like he hadn't meant to say that. For the first time all night he looks genuinely flustered, dropping his gaze.

"You hospitalised a fucking rapist, is what you did," he said matter-of-factly with a nod - he'd nodded before, it's the last thing Felix really remembers - "proved your point to everyone there finding those fucking pills; that was a good move. I mean, I had to explain what the fuck was happening to our little audience while I was dragging you off him - didn't think you wanted to kill him."

"Thanks," Felix says weakly. Then, softly, looking down at his shaking hands, "should I go to the police?"

"For doing a public service?" Magnus snorts, shaking his head, "no, there's at least a dozen girls who will attest to him acting threatening, and to Y/N's behaviour - who was thankfully taken away by an actual kind friend - and that he admitted in a fit of rage to spiking the drinks. He'll be the one in jail if anything." It's so... easy. So nonchalant.

When Felix asks, confusion, disbelief, innocence in his voice, Magnus just smiles like the easiest thing in the world, and says he's an actor, it's his job.

"You don't have to be doing all of this," Felix covers the room in a few short steps, knowing he'll never have the words to thank this stranger for all he's done tonight.

"Are you kidding me? I'm going to be telling this story for the rest of my life," Magnus grins brightly, and his eyes shine just like that had hours ago, before everything went to hell. He leans in conspiratorially, "you broke his fucking ribs."

"I think I broke more than his ribs," Felix says with a tentatively proud smile. Magnus nodded in absolute agreement. Then, after a moment.

"Have a shower, Felix," he said, "I'm going to go downstairs to the petrol station, see what they have there, and be back in a bit; is it okay with you if I crash on the sofa -?"

"You don't have to do all this, seriously, it's late, please go home," Felix implores, taking Magnus's face in his hands. Magnus, however, looks at him like he's a fool.

"I'm going to make sure you're both okay," he pets Felix's hand on his cheek, smiling so sincerely, "and besides, if I'm down getting stuff, that way you can have a shower and know I'm not using that time to be a creep towards Y/N while you're busy."

After a moment of deliberation, Felix pulls Magnus in to press several kisses to his forehead, calling him an absolute Godsend, while Magnus laughs to hide how flustered it makes him.

The shower is where the adrenaline really starts to wear off and the ache of the fight sets into his muscles and bones. The mirror mists over and the droplets still cling where he wipes his hand over. His knuckles are bruised, as is his face, scratches and split lip and gashes where the rings had punctures his cheek. The makeup and eyeliner that he didn't think to properly remove before his shower probably makes it look a little worse than it is.

There's scratches on his throat, his collar, shallower on his chest where the bastard had tried to get him through his shirt while he was trapped beneath Felix on the ground. Scratches up his arms as the man fought a losing battle.

He takes one of the makeup wipes from the pack and cleans up his face as best he can as the first step. It helps, but not by a lot. Back in the bedroom, once he's dry, he searches his suitcase for pyjamas, getting himself dressed.

In there, there is a long few moments where he watches you sleep, watches the steady rise and fall of your breathing and sees the dried tear tracks on your cheeks.

"Fi, help."

God, he's tearing up at the memory. He should have stopped that cunt at the bar when he'd had the chance, when he first saw it happen. Never in his life has he heard you sound genuinely weak until tonight; his hands shake.

Before he gets you cleaned up, however, he feels like he needs to check... Magnus really didn't have to come back. Yeah, sure, he said he would, but if he got tired, if he needed to call it a night, Felix would not blame him in the slightest. He really was surprisingly lovely, and part of Felix would probably regret not getting his number, but it was understandable -

Magnus is sitting cross-legged in the hall, across from his door, eating a slice of white bread from a grocery bag by his side. In his other hand, he's texting.

"Give us a second, just letting the troupe know I'm fine."

Felix blinks at him. Felix waits. Magnus's thumb works the digits of the Nokia he's focusing on, before he must hit send, satisfied. Then, tucking the phone back into one of the inner pockets of his jacket, he looks up, eyes still that same, bright blue. He looks genuinely pleased to see Felix. Felix, for his part, is genuinely pleased to see him too. Surprised as well, if he was being honest, but pleased.

"You look much better," Magnus comments, and pushes himself to his feet. Bag looped in his arm, Felix sees it's a few basic supplies, bread, maybe some spread, something he can't identify, and something bright red. He offers to pay; Magnus tries to shrug it off, but Felix finally gives a self deprecating smile, gesturing around to the rather luxury hotel room they were in. Magnus gives himself a moment to take it all in again, and finally sighs, smiles, gives in.

He does, however, insist on making them both food.

Grilled cheese; all he could find on short notice since it was getting to the early hours of the morning. Felix watches for a few long moments, the way Magnus moves around the kitchenette with practiced ease, like a man used to these spaces, to life on the road. Felix finds he enjoys just watching Magnus; perhaps this is how people have often felt about him. Magnus doesn't watch him, he feels rather free.

"Do you want to take off your makeup," Felix pipes up just as Magnus reaches for the stove. Magnus freezes, "if you're staying, and being so kind as to make me food, the least I can offer is for you to make yourself comfortable."

"Should have suspected you'd be a good host," Magnus grins over his shoulder, and gently puts the pan down, leaving the stove off for the time being. So Felix directs him to the bathroom and tells him to take all the time he needs, and himself heads to the bedroom. Fishing his wallet from the jeans he'd discarded for the night, he pulls out two fifty pound notes. It's far more than the contents of the grocery bag, but Felix definitely doesn't care. It's so little for how kind he's been.

Opening the bedroom door, however, and he almost runs into Magnus, startling the both of them. Even with the remnants of his makeup still clinging around his eyes, the faintest traces of stubborn eyeliner and mascara, he looks fresh-faced and beautiful. Startled, both by the abruptness, and the fact that he might be even more taken with this man without his makeup on, all Felix can do is hold out the money. Magnus seems to thaw first, chuckles, shakes his head, and calls Felix incredibly generous. Unsurprisingly, Felix insists that it's not generous, it's simply fair compensation for his kindness.

After a moment, Magnus peers around Felix, asking how you were. Felix finally relaxes, assures him that for now you're fine. Magnus's expression is understanding, but still very knowing, as his gaze flicks between Felix and you.

"You take care of them, I'll take care of food," he insists gently. Before Felix can even ask how Magnus knew what that he still wanted to make sure you were comfortable, Magnus pats his chest fondly, "you beat a man half to death for them, I assume you want them to sleep in comfort."

Yeah. Fair. Good assessment of the night, and of Felix.

So Felix smiles, thanks him, and trusts him in the kitchen.

Felix treats you with such reverence in these moments, wiping off your makeup with such care, changing you into your pyjamas while he made sure there were no bruises, no scratches, no sign of this bastard anywhere on you. But no, thankfully not. He could have killed that bastard. Sounds like he almost did.

You frown in your sleep. Felix's heart hurts. But there's nothing more to be done for now.

Magnus is humming softly in the kitchen, a gentle sound amid the comforting sizzle of butter in a pan. Felix watches from the doorway for a long moment, the gentle, neutral expression, the focus on the food, the way he's retied his hair to catch all the hair that had so casually been hanging around his face back at the bar. There's something else different about him, however, and it's not the lack of leather jacket or makeup, it's something Felix can't put his finger on for a good few moments.

"Did you get shorter?"

Magnus stops humming. His gaze slides to Felix out of the corner of his eyes, expression unreadable. Then his gaze drops to the ground, and Felix follows; Magnus is wearing Christmas socks on the cold tiles. After a beat, Felix puts two and two together, and Magnus gives a vaguely sheepish laugh the minute he stalks around the kitchen island to the door. There's a pair of gigantic, black boots sitting primly by the door.

The absurdity of this, on top of everything else, finally has Felix laughing, collapsing against the kitchen island, face in his hands, as Magnus cackles quietly by the stove.

"What even is this night?" Felix groans through his fingers.

"One to remember," Magnus responds sagely as he served the first of the grilled cheeses onto a waiting plate, "the good parts, at least, and the good in the bad," immediately he puts another blob of butter in the pan, "and when you look back, you won't see the rage or the fear," he puts the second set of bread and cheese in the pan before picking up the plate with the first, finished dish, "you'll simply recall the love that inspired it all."

"You're so wise," Felix sighs fingers curling down so he could rest his chin on his fists, glad for the man he'd met by chance just a few hours before, "how'd you get so wise doing backflips in your birthday suit, Magnus?" He can feel himself growing tired, finally, as a yawn hits him, "is that something I should try?" Magnus laughs once again, putting the plate of food in front of Felix. He settles across from him, mirroring with his chin on his hand over the kitchen island.

"I take chances on people who intrigue me."

Somehow this terrible night has come full circle; you're comfortable and safe, there's nothing to worry about, and Felix desperately wants to kiss this damn acrobat who's in his hotel room making him grilled cheese at three in the morning.

"Magnus?"

"Yes, Felix," he murmurs back, smiling softly.

"Is that why you're still here, being so... lovely?"

But there's something in Magnus's eyes that dims at the question, just a little. Taking a deep, hesitant breath, his smile turns a touch awkward as he pushes off of the counter to check on the stove. Felix follows him with his eyes, confused, unsure of what he could have said that was wrong.

"I suppose that could be the short answer," Magnus offers, idly. Felix is quiet, crosses his arms on the bench and sinks down to rest his head there, almost childishly, waiting, "don't know if this is a first-meeting discussion either." Magnus finally comes to, though his tone is thankfully lighter.

Silence. Slowly, Felix sits himself back up and starts on the grilled cheese in front of him, quietly thanking Magnus who once again assures him it's no trouble. They sit and eat in silence together; it's not awkward, but Felix is growing more tired with each moment that passes.

"I'm five-seven," Magnus offers without prompting, halfway through the impromptu meal. Felix snorts so hard he starts almost choking on a lump of cheese. Magnus claps him on the back, snickering to himself. Felix, while trying to blink away the way his eyes are watering, peers over to the boots by the door once more, "six inch platforms."

"Fucking hell, how do you walk around in them?" Felix says between thankfully clearing coughs, "you don't perform in them, do you?"

"Fuck no," Magnus grins, "it's not that hard -"

"They'd make me near about seven foot!" Felix crows.

"Maybe next time you can try them on."

Next time.

Even as Magnus spends the next half hour tending to Felix's wounds, advising on how to take care of his muscles, Felix can't stop grinning to himself. Then Magnus says it again, wearing a grin of his own;

"I'm not kidding, I'm going to make sure you're taking care of yourself next time I see you."

"You promise?" Felix wears a wide, goofy grin, clearly giddy at the prospect, enough so that Magnus can't help but finally pull him in for a kiss.

"Promise, Felix."

[tomorrowusa]

Predictions for seats in Parliament in the UK election

Although it's almost universally assumed that the Conservative Party will lose bigtime in the general election, the forecasts for number of seats in the House of Commons are more varied than one would expect. Survation predicts 470 seats for Labour while Britain Elects (at The New Statesman) predicts a mere 418 seats for them.

So I created this chart to compare predictions from five sources. In the right column are the number of seats for each party at end of the previous Parliament in May. If the image below is too small, try this direct link.

Sources...

The Guardian Electoral Calculus Nowcast Britain Elects (The New Statesman) Survation

326 seats out of the total 650 are needed for a majority. The numbers in the Nowcast prediction add up to just 649 because they aren't counting the Speaker who does not vote.

Polls close at 10:00 PM BST which is 2100 GMT. To determine when that is in your local time, click here.

According to this election night timeline at The Guardian, results from the 650 constituencies will start flooding in around 3:00 AM BST. Though some interesting results may be announced as early as a couple of hours before then.

What time will we know who won? Hour-by-hour guide to election night

Some constituencies which I'll be paying particular attention to tonight...

Richmond and Northallerton – Rishi Sunak's seat. The odds are (slightly) that he will keep his seat though it's far from certain. One of his challengers is a candidate who goes by the name Count Binface.

Godalming and Ash – Jeremy Hunt, the Conservative Chancellor of the Exchequer, who is said to be in serious danger of losing his seat.

Chingford and Woodford Green - Iain Duncan Smith, leader of the Conservative Party for a few years in the 2000s.

North East Somerset and Hanham – Jacob Rees-Mogg, a particularly annoying Tory grandee who would be lucky to get voted back to the House.

South West Norfolk – Liz Truss, Rishi Sunak's immediate predecessor whose time in Number 10 was famously outlasted by a head of lettuce.

Clacton – Nigel Farage, head of the far right Reform Party and infamous Brexit fanatic. Because Farage seems to be leading there, Clacton may be the only constituency where it's possible to justify voting Tory — just to block him.

Holborn and St Pancras – Sir Keir Starmer, the next Labour prime minister. Should be an easy win for him there.

Kingston and Surbiton – Sir Ed Davey, head of the Liberal Democrats. If the Lib Dems have a particularly good evening then it's within the realm of possibility that they could replace the Conservatives as the official opposition.

So why should you take an interest in this election? If you're reading posts in this blog then you are likely a political nerd. Also, UK elections are interesting and fun. Monty Python devoted several sketches to UK election scenarios.

But frankly, unless Putin is overthrown in a coup or a major hurricane strikes Mar-a-Lago, this will be the best political news of the month. So savor every minute of coverage of it.

There should be live coverage at the BBC here. ITV News and other reputable UK news providers may also offer live coverage. One source to avoid is GB News which is roughly the Fox News of the UK. *shudders*

[theretirementstory]

22/12/2024. Bonjour et bienvenue, after the start of another type of treatment I am back in my own home.

The treatment is not new and there are three possible outcomes but positivity has helped me thus far, so I will look to results 1 and 2 which give me the best chance. After all life is for living and in the words of Monty Python “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life”.

I was allowed to come home on Thursday and future treatments will be administered at the hospital in Troyes, saving me a six hour round trip to Paris on a weekly basis. Thank goodness for that. So the next treatment is Xmas Eve and as the treatment is not affecting taste or causing nausea, I laid in the hospital bed writing out my Xmas menu. I asked my friend if she could find a butcher who would prepare a chicken crown (which she did), so it’s chicken, stuffing, roast potatoes, roast parsnips and I would like some sprouts and turnip. Yesterday sprouts and turnip were sold out (so one of my personal shoppers told me).

The picture above is of the gorgeous centrepiece that Claudine, a friend from tricot, bought for me. She wanted to deliver it personally on Friday night, but I had had to go to the hospital in Troyes to collect medications that can only be obtained from a hospital pharmacy. As I wasn’t home she left it on my kitchen windowsill. What a wonderful surprise, it brought a tear to my eye!

Yesterday, I had two personal shoppers, one arrived with my food around lunchtime and the other mid afternoon, goodness I am spoilt. Anie also brought me a beautiful bouquet of flowers (not from her garden this time). I am wondering if I will have room on the dining table to eat my Xmas meal 😂.

I have had Christmas cards to open and a festive puzzle book arrived to keep me occupied. Apparently, I can expect a knock at my door or a ring of the bell this morning.

I thought I would throw in a couple of “Christmassy” songs this week. The first is “I Believe In Father Christmas” by Greg Lake, released in 1977. The second is “A Merry Jingle” by The Greedies, released in 1979. Especially for Jackie to get her “fix” of Phil Lynott just before Christmas 😉.

As I have heard mention, on several occasions, stressful periods, holidays, Christmas etc are times when people start to feel ill. They are so looking forward to time off work when BAM! some lurgy hits them and they feel dreadful. This is the case with “The Solicitor”, he has been feeling “run down” (as my Mum used to say). On Friday he really felt unwell but he only has to work half a day on Monday and then hopefully he will rest up. “The Recovery Coordinator” works in a building with recycled air, so after a few “gulps” of fresh air in the morning it’s just recycled air until she leaves work in the evening. As a result, anyone with coughs, sniffles etc these germs are easily spread. There have been lots of staff off work ill but it’s the germs they leave behind which cause others to become sick.

Yesterday, “The Photographer” went paintballing with one of the football teams he has been photographing. Apparently, after a shower, he then went out for lunch with friends. I haven’t heard but I do hope that he enjoyed the lunch. I did hear that he enjoyed the paintballing.

I don’t know what “The Jetsetter” has been up to. Perhaps yesterday was a day with family or picking up last minute presents. I do know that they are moving home mid January so maybe it was a clearing out day. I am sure I will find out in due course.

I have had tablets, breakfast and am just having a little relax before I go back upstairs with some items and then then come back down to try to fix my printer. Why is it that when you are busy everything seems to go wrong. Last evening I lost wifi, I know I had been pushing this button and that button but hadn’t realised I could just push a button to turn off wifi leaving just tv and landline (only had the box over 7 years)! I rang my neighbour, who came round, but was less technically minded than me! Anyway, after deciding to leave it for an hour, I couldn’t wait, so pushed this button and wow we had lift off🚀.

Hopefully, today will be more relaxing. I am going to make a cooked lunch. Take the chicken crown from the freezer so that it can be cooked tomorrow. I will find that easier than stressing on Wednesday trying to get everything cooked on time. Obviously Tuesday is out of the question with having to go to the hospital.

It’s raining at the moment (good for the garden) and we can expect thunder. The wind is strong and it’s rather cold out there, 6c feeling like -4c 😱. Now I think I have just heard the dustbin blow over, so I guess I should put my coat on and go and pick it up.

Just before I go, what a lovely surprise it was to see my Christmas Rose flowering and standing proudly on my return from hospital. I am sad that the second plant was “strimmed” by the gardener a few months ago. I keep checking to see if there are any signs of shoots coming through, but sadly, no sign of any yet. I will just have to accept the beauty of this one plant and pray that the other will eventually return.

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas.

Bon dimanche.

[rabbitcruiser]

Lumberjack Day

Dress up as a lumberjack, eat a hearty meal, and honor the venerable, crucial, and often dangerous profession of lumberjacking with a thanks to lumberjacks.

“Oh, I’m a lumberjack and I’m okay….” Monty Python famously sang this ridiculously silly Lumberjack Song, and singing a rendition of this would certainly be appropriate as part of the celebration of Lumberjack Day!

History of Lumberjack Day

Lumberjacks have been an interesting part of human history for many years, felling trees for use in building houses and structures as well as for making paper and other helpful uses. And while this profession was certainly around long before, the specific term “lumberjack” actually comes from Canada where it can be traced back to a letter written in the year 1831. Other terms, such as “wood cutter” or the more modern “logger” are also appropriate for the people who do this type of work.

The history of Lumberjack Day can be traced back to the mid-2000s when Marianne Ways and Colleen AF Venable decided it was time to honor this esteemed profession. Venable herself worked as a lumberjack at one point, although she has admitted that the original idea for the day was conceived as an excuse to go out and eat pancakes and waffles with friends!

Lumberjack Day has caught on in more recent years and is now celebrated by many folks, especially in Canada and the United States.

How to Celebrate Lumberjack Day

Have a load of fun and celebrate the ruggedness of this profession on Lumberjack Day! Check out some of these ideas for making plans and observing the day:

Dress Like a Lumberjack

One delightful and simple way to get on board with celebrating National Lumberjack Day might be to take a page out of their fashion book. Dress for the outdoors and chopping down trees by donning some jeans or work pants and a pair of sturdy boots, then top them off with a perfect plaid flannel shirt. Even more fun, add a fake beard and a beanie cap for the perfect look. In certain workplaces, carrying a real axe might be going a bit too far, but a fake one from a costume shop might be kind of fun!

Go Out for Pancakes and Waffles

Since the motivation of the original founder of Lumberjack Day was to go out with friends to eat mountainous piles of pancakes and waffles, it seems like the right way to celebrate this day even now. Head on over to a favorite breakfast-all-day restaurant and enjoy a stack or two with yummy Canadian maple syrup!

Host a Lumberjack Day Party

Anyone who wants to join in on the fun of Lumberjack Day can organize a party for friends and family where the idea is for everyone to dress up in the cliché lumberjack style of plaid shirts, boots, suspenders, and beards. Provide snacks and treats with a wood cutter theme, such as pretzels (that resemble cut wood), fresh broccoli stems (that look like little trees), and cheese puffs (or campfire flames). Don’t forget to dress the table in a red plaid flannel tablecloth!

For entertainment, the group can certainly watch some Monty Python episodes, particularly the ninth episode of the BBC show, Monty Python’s Flying Circus, which features The Lumberjack Song. Other ideas for how to enjoy a party for the day might be to do a little online research and learn about lumberjack jargon, jokes, drinks, and recipes.

Attend Some Lumberjack Day Festivities

Several different communities in the United States have events and even full weekends that celebrate the fun and festivities of the lumberjack. Lumberjack Day is the ideal time to make plans to visit one, or several, of these community events. From Orofino, Idaho to Stillwater, Minnesota, and all the way over to West Point, California, the celebration of lumberjacks is worth pursuing whether near or far.

Parades, contests, entertainment, live music, flower shows and so much more can be found in communities celebrating Lumberjack Days. And the best celebrations will, of course, include access to an all-you-can-eat pancake breakfast!

Source

[mcrmadness]

001 About Richy and Igor

002 About Igor specifically (wanna hear your thoughts about him in depth :D)

003 about Monty Python characters? if it's even possible?

(I would gladly hear you on 001 about FuB, but as I'm being absolutely too much, I can understand that you don't do it. It's extra content :D)

((Also, you are free to answer to this ask for only one ask and do the others on separate posts for more clarity !))

I reblogged this ask game before reading any of the questions, and after receiving your ask, I read them and now I have to say that my questions are probably gonna be very, VERY underwhelming ::D So don't get too excited, cos I don't think I'm able to give you the type of answers you might be interested in reading :D But I'll try anyway, but know that you're been warned: boredom alert!!!

001 | Richy & Igor

when I started shipping it if I did: Must have been in 2009 when I found out about die ärzte for the first time. I watched every video I could find, including Richy Guitar. At first I didn't really care about the film, and I wasn't exactly shipping R/I but more of obsessing with the clips because of my new Bela/Farin obsession. I got way more into the ship only during the past 2 or 3 years, when I also started writing fanfiction about them, and then it evolved into drawing doodles and comics too.

my thoughts: Uh, what can I say? Head empty, no thoughts. My brain keeps hyperfixating on this ship for no good reason.

What makes me happy about them: Nothing.

What makes me sad about them: Nothing.

things done in fanfic that annoys me: Anything that doesn't align with my own headcanons or is too far away from the actual canon.

things I look for in fanfic: Nothing. Because it doesn't exist, so I have already given up.

Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other: No one else.

My happily ever after for them: Idk.

who is the big spoon/little spoon: Idk.

what is their favorite non-sexual activity: Canon? Music. My headcanons? Fast food.

---

002 | Igor

How I feel about this character: Idk.

All the people I ship romantically with this character & My non-romantic OTP for this character: I honestly don't know if it's romantic or queerplatonic or just platonic, but I only ship him with Richard.

My unpopular opinion about this character: I have none. I don't think there are even popular opinions about this character out there.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon: I wish to know where does he live. I keep thinking about that caravan inside the abandoned factory, and I keep headcanoning it as Igor's residence but I wish I knew whose place that actually was (the other option is Hans, but yeah, it's never revealed in the film).

my OTP: Richy/Igor lol

my cross over ship: None.

a headcanon fact: He's head over heels for Richard whether that be platonic or not.

---

003 | send me 5 characters and I will rank them in order of preference

You asked about Monty Python characters. I guess it is possible, but just very very difficult because there are not that many reoccuring characters, and the Flying Circus show ran for 4 seasons and there are several films, so the character count could be in hundreds tbh. Often the skits are also more about the joke and topic and less about characters, even when they're often given names. But as I'm writing this, I can feel a potential list cooking inside my head so, here we go!

The Gumbys. My favourite quote comes from these skits: "My brain hurts!" I can't find that as a gif now, but they are these extremely, extremely stupid characters who shout every line of theirs cos they are so dumb. Here's the Brain Specialist skit where that quote is from too :D

2. The Hell's Grannies. This is just the funniest shit ever and I absolutely love the graffiti they paint as a graffiti and which goes: "Make tea, not love." Here's a link to a video on youtube.

3. Anne Elk (Miss). I just keep rewatching this skit over and over again cos it's so stupid, and the characters just interact with each other in such a funny way, and Graham's character's reactions to Anne Elk are so funny :D

4. Pontius Pilate in Life of Brian. Ok this movie is full of extremely funny characters, and I would like to mention a handful of others, such as the deaf and stupid character and his companion who's stuttering the whole time; and also that man in the pit who hadn't talked at all until Brian accidentally jumped on his foot. But I still have to give this place for Michael Palin's Pontius Pilate just for that Biggus Dickus scene cos it's probably the funniest movie scene I have ever seen. Palin often had the funniest characters, and it's even funnier when you know that the extras and other actors didn't know about his lines so if I'm correct, all of those laughters were genuine reactions to Palin's acting, and he also was so close to losing it at one point :D

5. And you know what? I just HAVE TO link here the French Taunting scene from Monty Python & the Holy Grail, just for you XD "Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries!" kills me every time.

+ And you get an extra just because you're French, this skit and their accents in this sometimes live rent free in my head :D

THANK YOU so much for the ask btw! I decided to skip the 001 about FUB cos my answers would have not been much different from the RG one, apart from real people not having a canon, and me not really having any headcanons for them for that same reason. So, it would have not really added anything, or would have been even less than what I now got for the answers for R/I.

Funnily enough, I got way more out of Monty Python. It just shows how I don't get attached to characters really, but live for and from humour, and anything that's funny af to me, I like and makes me happy.

[go-go-devil]

@silenthillmutual tagged me to list 8 tv shows in order to get to know me better!

I'll fully admit that I actually don't watch tv shows that much anymore, but I will say there's just enough that I have greatly enjoyed and have greatly impacted me

Bojack Horseman - The crown jewel of emotionally-intense adult animated shows (and a massive win for furry media 🐴). May very well be my favorite show if I was ever forced to pick, although there's one other that's tied for that spot...

Twin Peaks - My other favorite show, and definitely my fav live action program I've ever seen. The first two seasons especially create such an immaculate atmosphere of dreams and nightmares precariously balancing themselves in the realms of our reality. The Return I'm still trying to process, but I will say episode 8 makes the entirely revival's existence absolutely worth it

Spongebob Squarepants (Seasons 1-3) - My nostalgia for these seasons doesn't lie, this show truly used to be something special and far more comedicly and even emotionally intelligent than most kids cartoons made before or since.

Monty Python's Flying Circus - Another nostalgic classic for me, even if I was perhaps too young to be watching this show as a wee 8-year-old. Some of the skits haven't aged too well, as to be expected with any comedy show from the 70's, but the ones that have are truly some of the funniest shit on the planet to me XD

Moral Orel - Before Bojack, this was the adult animated show that broke me in the best possible ways. I used to have a tradition of rewatching both parts of "Nature" followed by all of Season 3 on the days leading up to Christmas, which I should perhaps bring back again...

The Twilight Zone (Original Series) - My family and I decided to dedicate several years to watching every episode of this classic piece of television, and it was such a fun experience! It's crazy how such an old show can still have so many stories that remain relevant today

Serial Experiments Lain - Probably my favorite anime tv series. Honestly reminds me a lot of Twin Peaks in how it presents its plot and characters, yet still has such a distinct vibe that hits me just right as someone who remembers the last years of freedom in the Internet before capitalism co-modified it all :')

Avatar: The Last Airbender - Believe it or not, I've only ever watched the entire series all the way through once (not counting the many reruns of episodes I ate up when we still had cable). I will certainly marathon it again at some point, but even still that childhood run-through of this beautifully written show was still enough for me to consider it one of the best I've ever seen!

I'll go ahead and tag @nightwere-mojo @pinkiepiebones @illusionaryneil and @spectrazone. Hopefully these picks taught y'all a little more about me and my tastes ;)

[tellthemeerkatsitsfine]

It’s that anniversary. Exactly five years ago that they first announced lockdowns. And I’m in the same spot that I was in five years ago. The same spot literally – not figuratively. Lots has changed, figuratively. But physically, I’m back at my grandparents’ house on the East Coast, where I was when the first lockdown got announced. In 2020, I’d meant to come here just for a short visit, and ended up staying for several months, due to travel being unsafe.

I often say that my current Britcom obsession started in the first lockdown. I say “current” because my dad did raise me on old British sitcoms (Yes Minister, Fawlty Towers, Monty Python, Blackadder, Ripping Yarns, Fry and Laurie, Mr. Bean, mainly) when I was a kid, and The Thick of It has been my favourite show since it came out, I’ve been listening to The News Quiz/Now Show since 2009, I grew up hearing old Goon Show episodes and Beyond the Fringe sketches on my dad’s CDs in the car, Britcom as a whole was not new to me in 2020. But March 2020 was when I first watched Taskmaster, and then became so deeply obsessed with seeing more of all those people, that I ended up where I am now. I remember, when I watched s01e01 of Taskmaster for the first time, in March 2020, I thought it was odd/interesting to see so many unfamiliar faces in a British comedy show. This whole “Britcom” thing that I think I know about, because I grew up watching every episode of Fawlty Towers over and over until I’d memorized every single line… could it be that there have been new comedians with British accents since then, and I don’t know about them?

Who the fuck were all these other people? Walking around as though they were British comedians, when I already knew about British comedians, they were people named Peter Cook and Armando Iannucci, and it had never occurred to me to find out if there might be any more recent ones. Even though I was regularly listening to The News Quiz, and liked a lot of the more recent people on there, but it had somehow never occurred to me to wonder what else those people might do. God, was I ever in for a shock when I got to season 5, and learned that apparently Nish Kumar’s an idiot in real life.

Anyway. I often say that my current Britcom obsession came out during lockdown, which I think implies that it came about because of lockdown. But it didn’t. It stumbled upon Taskmaster about five days before lockdowns were announced. Became utterly obsessed, but knew I wouldn’t be able to watch it all, because I was on a short vacation at my grandparents’ house on the East Coast, before having to get home in time to go coach the national championships, and then start working on the post-season plan, and that doesn’t leave me a lot of time for media consumption (also I guess I had a job and had gone back to college at the time, but those were both online, didn’t take up much time). But that first episode intrigued me. I was confused and left cold until Romesh walked straight into the room and immediately threw the watermelon on the floor. At that point, I laughed so hard that my mother and grandmother, who were on the other side of this house, called out to me to see if I was okay. I said I was fine. And I knew I had to see everything that every person involved in this had ever done.

So I thought I’d see if I could make time in my schedule to get into this show. A couple of days later, I went out for dinner with my family for my mother’s birthday, which was March 12. We drove 30 minutes to the nearest town, and went to a nice restaurant, and celebrated. During dinner, the talk turned to all the news of how this new virus might ruin all our lives. Listening to that talk made me anxious, so I went outside to walk by the ocean until my family was done with that depressing conversation, and we could go back to the house.

The next day, March 13, they announced lockdowns across the board. The national championships, which I’d needed to get home and coach, got canceled. The provincial borders got closed, so my mother and I could no longer drive home that weekend, and ended up staying an extra eight weeks. The fucking world ended, and that felt like too big a thing for me to process at the time, but what I could process was – well, at least I’ll have time to watch that new show Taskmaster now. So I didn’t discover Taskmaster because of lockdown. But lockdown is the reason why it was able to take over my life, first with watching the rest of that show, then with watching every single episode of several other long-running panel shows (WILTY, 8 Out of 10 Cats, Catsdown, Mock the Week, QI, Buzzcocks from Amstell era onward, Big Fat Quizzes) because I wanted to see more of all those people, also watching a whole lot of more recent British sitcoms and shorter-running panel shows, then eventually finding my way to radio/podcasts, becoming obsessed with The Bugle, decided I’d better get into this Kitson guy that all my favourite comedians venerate, and finding that I actually enjoy stand-up a lot more than comedy TV shows, and now I’m here. Also I started a blog, in August 2020, because I became genuinely worried that I’d come out of the pandemic with no friends left, if I kept annoying my friends with infodumping about Britcom, instead of finding people on the internet who actually care about it (I mean, I did end up coming out of the pandemic with far fewer friends than I had when I started, but that was for other reasons, such as I quit our sport because everyone else spent their lockdowns getting super into Joe Rogan/Jordan Peterson instead of getting into Britcom like I did, also I turned 30 and apparently everyone stops having friends after that anyway).

Anyway. It’s interesting to be back in this house, on the 5-year anniversary. Today is March 12, my mother’s birthday again, five years later. She’s back home this time, I called her a couple of times today and sent her lots of pictures and wished her a happy birthday. I’m staying in the same bedroom where I stayed in March 2020, where I first watched Taskmaster and Romesh threw the watermelon on the floor and my mother had to check and make sure I was all right because I laughed so hard that I sounded like I was dying.

This trip is very different from that one. It’s just my dad and I here, this time. My grandparents aren’t here anymore, because they moved into a care home a couple of years ago. But we’ve not sold their house yet, because my parents are trying to work out whether they can massively rearrange all their financial plans in order to keep this amazing house in the family. A house where I’ve had the enormous privilege to visit once or twice a year since I was a small child, out in a rural East Coast community right on the ocean, which my grandparents had built back in 1992, when I was 2 years old.

My mom’s not on this trip, because she had to stay home and take care of things, so I had to wish her a happy birthday a lot over the phone. The house is different, obviously, without my grandparents living here. I’m a different person. John Prine died. That’s weirdly still something I remember, from early in the pandemic, as the moment when I felt like the world was really ending. COVID wasn’t some abstract thing. It killed a legend.

A good friend of mine died in 2021. Sean Lock died a few months later, not all that long after I'd finished watching every single episode of 8 Out of 10 Cats and Catsdown. I mourned Sean Lock as though I'd lost a close friend, partly because spending so many months locked inside watching him on TV for hundreds of hours at a time made me feel that parasocial false sense of knowing him, but mainly because I hadn't processed my real-life friend's death and that seemed like a more possible way to confront the concept.

I’m sitting here, in the TV room, at midnight between March 12 and March 13, my dad’s gone to bed, the house is big and eerie and empty. We’re only here for five days this time, because I have to get home by next week, to go back to work (I work in a school now, which is off this week for March break, that’s why I could come here). I mean, I assume so. The last time I was in this house on March 12, I thought I had to be home from stuff too. Then nationals got cancelled. I assume my work next week won’t get cancelled, though. You have to operate under assumptions like that, or you can’t get through life.

My base assumptions have changed in the last five years. Before the first lockdown, I had this basic sense that the world will probably fundamentally go on. That the stories on the news of events big enough to make someone’s life drastically different than it was before – those are things that happen to other people. I have the enormous privilege of living in a stable society, and society will keep being there. That’s what I thought, pre-2020. It’s hard to remember, now, how it felt to think that way. One way the pandemic affected my anxiety is I don’t have that basic trust in the longevity of society anymore. It’s hard for me to invest in things the way I used to, because I don’t expect anything to last.

And I do realize it’s tiresome for someone as privileged as I am to say “something bad happened in my life and now I don’t trust that everything will be fine anymore”. When a massive number of people in the world have spent their whole lives in war zones, or in regions that are constantly politically/socially unstable, living with famine or colonization or environmental disaster or all those things from which I’ve been insulated by sheer chance. I got to spend the first 29 years of my life thinking the society around me would probably remain basically stable – that’s pretty lucky.

[straycatboogie]

2025/03/01 English

BGM: Hiroshi Takano - ベステン ダンク

I worked early today. This morning, as usual, I joined the daily Zoom meeting. Today's theme was the special Japanese lunchboxes we usually eat on a train, which are called "Ekiben [駅弁]". As I've written, I rarely travel anywhere. So, I couldn't join in and enjoy the discussion at first. However, one participant guided me to talk more. The topic went to several Japanese sake, and I talked about how I've quit alcohol for about 10 years, then the other participants seemed to be impressed by my story. I've gotten really thankful for them.

After that, from 10 a.m., I started today's work. Before that, I saw the timeline of a LINE group, in which I always discuss philosophical topics with my friends. Then, a member posted about an interesting TV program about hikikomori. They said that it was about how a local town had tried to salvage hikikomori from their hell-like solitude to commit to society again. It even said that now there are no hikikomori in the town. It sounded to be a really brilliant one, so I decided to check it out.

I have never lived as hikikomori, so I need to imagine how they struggle with their terrible loneliness. Once, after graduating from a university, I spent half a year doing nothing special. Neither any job nor on any trial process of educating myself (I can't remember whether we already had the concept of "NEET"). In that LINE group, I posted about these things.

After today's work, I watched the NHK program. It said that someone had started caring so many hikikomori in the town, because at that period (in the beginning of 2000s) they had existed in the town certainly. So, she tried to create a workplace for them to let they commit to society again and also help them with their job hunting. Before I enjoyed this program, I wouldn't have believed that this kind of magical trial could exist. However, I have learned that, in that local town, they (yes, all of the residents) have achieved this brilliant work.

After that, I read the book I had read a halfway (Kazumi Saeki's "Norge"), and thought that eventually I have been attracted to this sort of novels which try to enlighten our life's bright side, even though basically life can bite our mentality so terribly (so-called "slice of life"). Oh, it sounds like "Monty Python".

[culttvblog]

Inside Victor Lewis-Smith: Introduction

I see that it has been some time since I wrote about my occasional worry that the supply of old, interesting TV will run out. It wouldn't necessarily affect this blog, because I would quite happily start all over again, blogging about the same stuff for a second time, but the worry that I will eventually have seen everything I want to, comes back now and then. However I've been finding more interesting stuff down the back of the internet for several years now because a lot was uploaded during lockdown and sadly Network DVD went out of business so are no longer around to defend their copyright. I think the long-term loss of Network will be greater to the cult TV fan than the chance find of some pirated copy of a show on YouTube.

Periodically my searches find real gems and this is one of them: to my delight I had somehow managed never even to have heard of this show. This is one of those posts where I'm going to advise you right now that it would be a better investment of your life to stop reading this blog and go and watch this show on YouTube at once. There are six episodes on YouTube, which according to Wikipedia is the complete show, but IMDb says there was a second series making it up to ten episodes, and I don't know which is right.*

Still here? OK, I'll give it the hard sell and start by telling you that you might have heard of programmes made by this show's creator, Victor Lewis-Smith. He tended to be something of a shock journalist and programme maker, so please don't be put off if you've seen any of his other output and found it distasteful. This show is completely different and you don't get dross on this blog.

The premise is that Lewis-Smith himself is in a coma following an accident in the Frank Bough Memorial Zip Injury Wing at St Reith's Hospital for Distressed Broadcasters. If you let this idea sink in, I know you will all readily see that this is a TV programme about TV, and Lewis-Smith is actually fed TV as part of his recovery before he starts regurgitating his TV memories. You may of course say that this ia about as meta as you could wish to get, but it isn't a load of poncey stuff about Theory. If I tell you that this show is actually as if this blog were a TV show, I think you'll get the general idea.

Also in common with this blog, the programmes shown to him are played in through his life support. And we all know that old TV is the staff of life. AFter he starts playing the programmes back, the BBC decide to use him as a free transmitter, even though the programmes are twisted by his strange sense of humour. I have to say that this show is one of the ones which has literally had me laughing out loud. If you like Monty Python, I think you would like this show, and everyone reading this likes Monty Python, surely? The British Comedy Guide describes it as part sitcom and part sketch show. This show is wild and I can't believe I had never heard of it.

It was broadcast between November and December 1993, and the episodes are named after TV show: The Money Programme, Nationwide, The Saint, The Baron, Danger Man, and Tomorrow's World.

My only criticism is that there is an ongoing thread of a taxi journey through his body, which I think is less successful. The commentary after Lewis-Smith's death commented that he didn't really break through to a major TV audience, and I think going by this show it's simply that this is top-notch television but definitely wouldn't have had popular appeal.

My favourite bit is in the second episode in a running sketch where he prank calls someone, when he rings up the Monopolies Commission to say that it's wrong they should have a monopoly on monopolies commissions and he wants to set up another one. And don't miss the Eurovision Atrocity Contest.

*I am heavily dependent on the Wikipedia and IMDb pages for this show, because my head is still spinning from the weirdness.

This blog is mirrored at

culttvblog.tumblr.com/archive (from September 2023) and culttvblog.substack.com (from January 2023 and where you can subscribe by email)

Archives from 2013 to September 2023 may be found at culttvblog.blogspot.com and there is an index to the tags used on the Tumblr version at https://www.tumblr.com/culttvblog/729194158177370112/this-blog

[theprojectorguy]

Q's Dark Side Of the Moon a Mind Blowing Video Interpretation of Pink Fl...

Pink Floyd released Dark Side of the Moon 50 years ago.After Half a Century, 'The Dark Side of the Moon' Still Reverberates. Pink Floyd's enduring blockbuster merged grandeur and malaise. Very much a product of its era, it became one of the best-selling albums of all time. Glum, ponderous songs about madness, mortality and greed, punctuated with tense instrumentals. Though the lush textures and spacious arrangements of Dark Side of the Moon make it sound like a purely “studio” project, the band actually aired out all of the songs in concert — in the exact same sequence that they would appear on the album — more than a year before the album’s official release. The band premiered Dark Side of the Moon: A Piece for Assorted Lunatics (as it was provisionally known at the time) at the Brighton Dome on January 20th, 1972; and though it was inadvertently cut short that night by what Waters called “severe mechanical and electric horror,” the band went on to perform the song cycle in its entirety in during the rest of their 1972 live dates, further refining the songs (and the transitions between them) as they went. The band would eventually record all 10 of the album’s songs onto the same reel of 16-track master tape at Abbey Road, an unusual approach that nonetheless paid considerable artistic dividends. 10  THINGS YOU PROBALY DIDNT KNOW ABOUT THE DARK SIDE OF THE MOON 1. Dark Side of the Moon was the first Pink Floyd album to feature Roger Waters as its sole lyricist. 2. The album was very nearly called Eclipse3. Floyd fans were first treated to Dark Side of the Moon in concert more than a year before the album was actually released.4. The original live arrangement of “On the Run” bore little resemblance to the electronic freakout on the record5. “Money” was influenced by Booker T and the MGs.6. Paul McCartney’s contributions to the album were deleted – but the Beatles made a surprise appearance on the record.7. “Us and Them” was a reject from the Zabriskie Point soundtrack.8. An image of the Silver Surfer was originally considered for the album’s cover.9. Dark Side of the Moon was the first Pink Floyd album to break into the US Top 40.10. Proceeds from the album helped fund Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

[loremonster]

So the other night I remember reading a post bemoaning how disability in fantasy fiction gets romanticised rather than represented by characters in the story getting their disability rendered moot by some superpower or another. And I agree, that sucks. There's nothing nice or uplifting about chronic pain, for example. It's just... Hurting. All the time. In a way that quietly steals your energy, focus, relaxation, and your sleep at the worst of times. I've read my fair share of fiction that makes me quote Monty Python aloud "I got better", more sarcastically with every encounter.

But I do have a few recommendations from my Young Adult Fantasy Fiction Faves.

Garth Nix was easily my favorite author when I was in middle school and inhaling 2 books a week. For disabled representation, I'd like to recommend Keys To The Kingdom, a 7 book series that starts with a 13 year old boy with severe asthma who is Dying by the end of the first chapter because his asshole gym teacher forced him to run outdoors in early spring.

Because yeah, one stubborn asshole in authority can Fucking Kill You.

Fantasy shinanigans save his life, but not in a I Got Better way. It's complicated, and is part of the building conflict through the series that I won't spoil here. Most I will say is keep an eye out for the theme of Aurthur Losing His Humanity as he sheds things he Thought Was Weighing Him Down.

For a more Neurodivergant kick in the feels, I shall point you to The Seventh Tower. Once again our protagonist is a young boy; nearing 15 and due to circumstances beyond his control has found himself the Head Of His Family when his father is missing and his mother takes so fucking ill shes bedridden in a Fantasy ICU. Bonus points, if he fails to meet his society's expectations for a Head Of House, his failure will send his entire family down the heirarchy into the Literal Fucking Slave Class That Serves The Castle This Society Lives In.

Oh, did I mention this one is Post Apocalyptic Fantasy Fiction? Because shit was broke before our protagonist was even born... Who is exceptionally Driven but is painfully average at most assessments he could take to Prove Himself and meet his society's expectations of him. He's painfully shy and doesn't excel at conversation, but has a quick and strategic mind; taking in new information and applying it faster than those around him.

And when push comes to shove, he disregards the hierarchy he lives within and goes Straight To The Top, where the guardsmen are playing a card game he's familiar with and convinces them to Let Him See The Empress if he can beat one of them in a match.

It's never Said, but I think our protagonist is autistic, folks. The moment he saw the card game and suddenly snapped into Info Dump mode... I got The Vibe, y'know?

Anyway, I won't spoil the outcome of the Beastmaker match ;3 That would be rude.

[fearsmagazine]

EXORCISTIC: THE ROCK MUSICAL - Review

DATES: October 8th thru October 23rd, 2023 COMPANY: HRS Productions and Orgasmico Theatre THEATER: The Box, 189 Chrystie St, New York, NY 10002 ACTORS: Emma Hunton, Brian Logan Dales, Leigh Wolf, Jesse Merlin, Marissa Jaret Winokur, Nick Bredosky, Kim Dalton, Mitchell Gerrard Johnson, Gabby Sanalitro, Tyler Olshanksky and Lindsay Heather Pearce. CREW: Book, Lyrics, & Music - Michael Shaw Fisher; Directors - Chadd McMillan & Alli Miller-Fisher; Musical Director/Arrangements - Michael Teoli; Choreographer - Camal Pugh; Costume Designer/Lighting Designer - Chadd McMillan; Prop Designer - Kelly Stavert; Sound Designer - Thomas Queyja

SYNOPSIS: EXORCISTIC: The Rock Musical is a parody within a parody. Inspired by the 1973 movie, it is the story of a movie star whose daughter becomes possessed and is helped by priests who try to save her. The audience watches a struggling theater company at work as they develop the production on its way to Broadway. By the second act their lead, Emma Hunton, has taken “method acting” a step too far and is replaced with a Broadway star. However, things go awry as Emma returns and everything goes to hell.The production is packed with nineteen musical numbers, offering a rock take on show tunes, as the cast runs amok through the venue like the Marx Brothers meets the Animaniacs.

REVIEW: The unauthorized parody of The Exorcist was “Best Musical Winner” of the Hollywood Fringe Festival 2013 and returns ten years later to celebrate the 50th Anniversary. It comes to New York fresh from their sold-out run at The Three Clubs in Los Angeles.

This wickedly delightful parody spews its wit over a variety of themes and a period that ranges from the 70’s to present day. They don’t simply break down the fourth wall, they take over the entire performance space, in some instances on the audience’s tables and into their laps. To say it is intimate and in your face would be putting it mildly. The production is a hybrid of theater, cabarete, sketch comedy and slapstick that felt like Frank Oz’s cinematic adaptation of “Little Shop of Horrors” on acid. The jokes fly fast and furious, there is something for everyone, leaving the audience little time to recover in between. It is no wonder that there is an intermission, permitting the performers and audience time to catch their breath.

This is a fabulous ensemble cast. They move through the material and dance numbers with surgical precision of wittiness, moving about the space with a fluidity that feels like a classic Warner Bros. cartoon. Their voices belt out showtune rock ballads with clarity and mastery that transcends the cast recording, which I would recommend giving a listen to before seeing the performance - HERE, music and lyrics sounding like “Twisted Sister” meets “Monty Python,” with a big “Parental Advisory” needing to be slapped on something here. Emma Hunton’s performance is a tour de force, and I believe she has the most physical role in the show. She goes through numerous vocal changes that must wreak havoc on her voice by the end of the night, she belts out several power rock songs, and does a variety of gymnastic maneuvers, including one in the second act that is a la “Cirque du Soleil.” Actress Gabby Sanalitro is an utter delight as she seems to be possessed by the ghost of the neighborhood as she simultaneously channels the spirits of Fyvush Finkel/Zero Mostel and Lenny Bruce. The entire cast maintains an infectious high level of energy that leaves one wondering if it is wrong to feel this good by the end of the show.

The production designs and props are perfect for the jokes, sublime, yet minimalistic. The lighting was perfect in enhancing the performances and accentuating the jokes. There were times I wondered how they might achieve a certain scene and loved the execution with simple and clever props and designs. The costume designs were suited to the controlled chaos of the performance, clearly not Broadway costumes, but delightful touches to the tone and atmosphere of the moment.

EXORCISTIC: THE ROCK MUSICAL is a wickedly delightful treat perfect for the Halloween season. Having recently come away disappointed by the new Exorcist film, this take on the bawdy irreverent send up of the material left made for an excellent evening of theater. This big blasphemous, bodacious rowdy rock musical parody is not for the faint of heart, so be prepared to get your demon exorcized and your evening rocked.

Each night there will be a different special guest performer who will be played by: Marissa Rosen (For the Girls, Water for Elephants, Modern Love) Nick Cearly (The Skivvies, You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown) Jillian Schiralli (CATS, now that’s what i call 90s) Gerard Canonico (Almost Famous, The Dude Ranch) Jordan Donica (Camelot, RENT, Hamilton) Jamie Cepero (SMASH, The Function) and more!

The Box, located at 189 Chrystie St (look for the velvet rope and the gentleman in the tux or you’ll miss it), with the doors opening at 6:30 pm (full bar on site to get you into the spirit of the evening) and the show starting promptly at 7:30 pm. Tickets can be purchased HERE.

Review By: Joseph B Mauceri

[stevestonbike]

Went to see a Bike Race!

The Gastown Grandprix was last night. It is a cool event. They celebrated 50 years. It started the year I graduated High School. Damn!

It occurs in one of the oldest parts of Vancouver. It was the old waterfront and has a "colorful" history. There are many old brick buildings which is why it survived several massive fires over the years. The roads are paved with bricks though most have been replaced with modern concrete pavers as opposed to the old school fired bricks. So a bike race is on 1.3 km of bumpy roads.

There were several events. A youth event with A and B girls and boys. They all went at once spaced at the start a few seconds. Rapidly they became one big bunch. One kid was tiny easily half the size of some of the kids, and looked awkward on his bike. Everyone in the crowd thought he would quit after a few laps. He did not. He fell behind but kept going. By the end the crowd was cheering him on as if he was going to win. In a way he did.

'The men's and women's event are unique in that they have identical prize purses. The winner get $12,000.00. No surprise it pulls a lot of riders from not around here. The women's winner was from Los Angeles in the USA. Historically it was a major event in the professional North American cycling calendar. Covid blew it into oblivion for a few years.

Gastown has gone through two phases of gentrification. Many of the shops and bistros went under in the plague. New ones have popped up. My wife and I walked the whole loop and fully half the course was packed with bistros, coffee shops, artisanal this and that and more than a few tourist trap souvenir places. There are more places to eat and drink than I could count. We spent most of the last event watching from a small Italian Cafe enjoying some wine and pizza.

Thing about bike races is even in Crit races (this was a crit race) there is not much to see. Every so often a blur of bright colors and the sound of angry bees blows by you. I eventually found that the event was being streamed live(ish) and we watched it on my phone while sipping wine. There was a few second delay as the group would blow by us a short while before the image from a nearby camera. It did give you the excitement, and you knew who was ahead.

The women's race was tactical where they sped up and slowed down. Someone would race ahead only to get caught then they look at each other. There were some amazing athletes racing. Olympic gold medal speed skaters and even a woman who WON the Paris Roubaix Femmes. Not shabby at all. A team from LA worked hard to bring the win to their leader.

The men's race was 40 laps of the 1.3km course and they went fast the whole time. Usually strung out in a long line. The same LA team for Men tried the same thing, but another guy pipped them at the line. That's racing.

The awards were cool. Big Cheques and a trophy and bubbly wine. They even found the ORIGINAL winners of the men's and women's race to come out a present the prizes. Err yes geezers, but about my age oh dear.

There were a couple of VIP spaces. Well groomed men and women toddling about with wine and canapes pointedly not watching the racing.

They had two cars one in front and one behind the group. The lead one was to warn and clear the way of people crossing the course. The follower was to pull riders who fell too far behind. Both were Porches. One was electric (in front) the other was not. It was a tight course and they had to go fast, so of course.

The crowd made noise and I even brought my cow bell to contribute. A few hawkers were selling those and when one came up behind me and rang away his handful in my ear I turned around and returned the favor saying; "I already got one!" in my best Monty python voice.

It was a fun evening.

Years ago they had a thing called super week where they had three or four crit races a hill climb, and a fairly big road race in the area. Visitors could come and do a bunch of events. They still call it Super Week, but they need to revive those other events too. Maybe next year.

[thepercy6andtheradicalsabbatical]

Valencia to Barcelona- The day started with various adults going on runs as well as a successful frisbee recovery mission by Nali Man, Buggy and Oli who entered the middle school and found that the gym teacher had found and locked up the frisbee in his office. We then took the metro back to the train station and hopped on a train to Barcelona (with brief excitement when Becca’s backpack got caught in the gates of the metro on her trying to pass through). The Barcelona train was nice as we had all seats together and we arrived at Barcelona Sants then metroed to our latest aribnb. This turned out to be one of our tightest squeezes yet but definitely on a cool location and with plenty of fixins in the kitchen. We dropped bags then headed to explore las Ramblas, but first Matt wanted us to check out a Guadi-designed apartment block called casa Battlo. On emerging from the metro we noticed an official FC Barca store so decided to purchase a few items to help them remain solvent and maybe be able to re-sign Messi. After that we walked a few blocks to check out casa Battlo and then headed to stroll Las Ramblas (with children briefly trying unsuccessfully to feed pigeons out of their hands in a roundabout like lots of adults were doing … maybe pigeons don’t like kids?). We strolled Las Ramblas from one end to the other, from the Barca lamppost drinking fountain to the Columbus statue. It was a little less crowded than Matt remembered from 20 years previous, but still plenty touristy. We then walked through the Barri Gotic in search of a park/playground for kiddos to play in but only found very tiny little kid ones, so we headed back to Las Ramblas area to find food for dinner. En route, some kids had to go to the bathroom so we ducked into a McDonalds. We saw signs everywhere stating restrooms for customers only so decided to buy a drink and Matt was very excited to discover when doing so that he could order an on tap beer from McDonalds (the give it to you in a classic McDonalds waxy paper cup, wasn’t too bad either)! We decided to grab an assortment of to go food from Mercat St Josep which was maybe the most colorful and varied market yet (though Matt felt swindled that he got some fresh sqeuezed juice in the first shop right by the entrance for 4 euros only to find that deeper in the market they had the same thing for 2.5 euros…rookie/tourist mistake!). We feasted on empanadas, tapas, jamon, sandwiches and ice cream then headed up the montjuic funicular to explore around a bit. Matt was hoping to check out the diving pools from the 1992 olympics but was disappointed that they were closed, so we walked around in the big park for a bit and checked out a castle (complete with children’s Monty Python reenactments) and some sunset views of the port before catching a bus/metro home. On the bus we got to see the main olympic stadium and several other cool buildings in the Montjuic area.

[rabbitcruiser]

Lumberjack Day

Dress up as a lumberjack, eat a hearty meal, and honor the venerable, crucial, and often dangerous profession of lumberjacking with a thanks to lumberjacks.

“Oh, I’m a lumberjack and I’m okay….” Monty Python famously sang this ridiculously silly Lumberjack Song, and singing a rendition of this would certainly be appropriate as part of the celebration of Lumberjack Day!

History of Lumberjack Day

Lumberjacks have been an interesting part of human history for many years, felling trees for use in building houses and structures as well as for making paper and other helpful uses. And while this profession was certainly around long before, the specific term “lumberjack” actually comes from Canada where it can be traced back to a letter written in the year 1831. Other terms, such as “wood cutter” or the more modern “logger” are also appropriate for the people who do this type of work.

The history of Lumberjack Day can be traced back to the mid-2000s when Marianne Ways and Colleen AF Venable decided it was time to honor this esteemed profession. Venable herself worked as a lumberjack at one point, although she has admitted that the original idea for the day was conceived as an excuse to go out and eat pancakes and waffles with friends!

Lumberjack Day has caught on in more recent years and is now celebrated by many folks, especially in Canada and the United States.

How to Celebrate Lumberjack Day

Have a load of fun and celebrate the ruggedness of this profession on Lumberjack Day! Check out some of these ideas for making plans and observing the day:

Dress Like a Lumberjack

One delightful and simple way to get on board with celebrating National Lumberjack Day might be to take a page out of their fashion book. Dress for the outdoors and chopping down trees by donning some jeans or work pants and a pair of sturdy boots, then top them off with a perfect plaid flannel shirt. Even more fun, add a fake beard and a beanie cap for the perfect look. In certain workplaces, carrying a real axe might be going a bit too far, but a fake one from a costume shop might be kind of fun!

Go Out for Pancakes and Waffles

Since the motivation of the original founder of Lumberjack Day was to go out with friends to eat mountainous piles of pancakes and waffles, it seems like the right way to celebrate this day even now. Head on over to a favorite breakfast-all-day restaurant and enjoy a stack or two with yummy Canadian maple syrup!

Host a Lumberjack Day Party

Anyone who wants to join in on the fun of Lumberjack Day can organize a party for friends and family where the idea is for everyone to dress up in the cliché lumberjack style of plaid shirts, boots, suspenders, and beards. Provide snacks and treats with a wood cutter theme, such as pretzels (that resemble cut wood), fresh broccoli stems (that look like little trees), and cheese puffs (or campfire flames). Don’t forget to dress the table in a red plaid flannel tablecloth!

For entertainment, the group can certainly watch some Monty Python episodes, particularly the ninth episode of the BBC show, Monty Python’s Flying Circus, which features The Lumberjack Song. Other ideas for how to enjoy a party for the day might be to do a little online research and learn about lumberjack jargon, jokes, drinks, and recipes.

Attend Some Lumberjack Day Festivities

Several different communities in the United States have events and even full weekends that celebrate the fun and festivities of the lumberjack. Lumberjack Day is the ideal time to make plans to visit one, or several, of these community events. From Orofino, Idaho to Stillwater, Minnesota, and all the way over to West Point, California, the celebration of lumberjacks is worth pursuing whether near or far.

Parades, contests, entertainment, live music, flower shows and so much more can be found in communities celebrating Lumberjack Days. And the best celebrations will, of course, include access to an all-you-can-eat pancake breakfast!

Source