#marrowbone would include

[fearcrowz]

What is Grave like?

Grave is a bit of a jerk. Cocky in situations but if things turn sour he is quick to be the coward. He doesn't mind being used as a weapon, as he can make his edges sharper than any knife including his maw, and would normally enjoy the bloodshed of it all. But again, if it is something that is a massive threat, I wouldn't put it past him to try and get out of Nim's hand given the chance to go hop and hide somewhere. This would reasonably make Nim and Marrowbone very angry at him but he can take the earful later, he is an artifact that could break and he doesn't wanna deal with Sevel putting him back together cuz that would be equally more painful.

[separatedway]

You should be fine.

"Should be," she agrees, "It's going to be a rocky road for me. My soon-to-be ex-employer is one of the clingy types, and I don't just mean being a stickler for the contract."

The more jobs she took for Simmons, the more it was clear that he was infatuated with her to the point of his favors becoming interference. Dangerous, in her line of work. But...

"His connections won't make it easy to cut and run. I'm going to have to lay low here and recover, lead him on a bit before I go back to the States. And I do have to go back to the States for a few things... But I'll manage."

Ada sips more of her coffee, letting the warmth soothe her as Hunk commented on his attack by his own unit on landing. She quirks her brow, but is unsurprised.

"I may have a few clues for you," she says, with her usual indirect coyness, "You remember that campaign slogan a few years back? 'Allman is for Every Man'? You know he has a son in Umbrella's upper management Stateside?"

Another sip of coffee.

"Umbrella donated a lot to his campaign. They have their moles in the military, sure, but my employer and several of his conspirators also had people in Umbrella, and everyone in Umbrella's management has stakes in their home field. The moment William reached out, he- or, more specifically, G, became the marrowbone that everyone sent their starved hounds to get."

And USS responded only to the top executives. Problem being all the top executives were already out to get each other.

"You're a smart man. You can do with that what you will. I know your mind was already made up, and your team's too."

Truthfully, it would benefit her to have more chaos in Umbrella. It meant a distraction long enough to cause a stir to make chasing her not worthwhile.

Ada retrieves a sweet almond-stuffed roll for herself, thinking a little more on her options.

"... Hm. These are good," she says, taking another almond pastry, then indicates the "Consider that a gift, for being so understanding in my time of mourning."

Hunk didn't have to let her go. He'd figured out very quickly that she wasn't just a researcher, or just the chief researcher's girlfriend. But she wasn't infected, either. And maybe, she was genuine in that regard.

Her persona, usually, was very convincing. But the act had started to fool herself a little too, something she found disconcerting. She had technically succeeded her mission. She got results. She should have been able to wipe clean and move forward for the next job. So why did she still have the picture of John and her? Why did she go out of her way for Leon?

Ada didn't have answers, and underneath her joke about mourning, something was actually bothering her. What was she feeling?

"I do have something else that might interest you," she says, shoving aside unknowns in her conscience, "It would be very valuable to lots of people on the black market, including some of my new associates... but I like you, so I'll offer you first bid. If you're interested, I can take you back to where I'm staying."

"Company's shit the bed. Have to wonder what the plan is. If there is one."

There isn't always a plan. Sometimes, folly is just folly, and things collapse. There was no such thing as a perfect system for anything, business or otherwise. They both knew that. They existed in between the cracks of a deeply imperfect space. Hunk pulls a bit of pastry off of its wrapper and pops it into his mouth to chew in tiny pieces. Neither of them should be moving too much.

"Mmhm. I'm leaving. Have plans."

A possible timetable came to him the more he listened to Raul and saw the state of things. The Company did what he needed it to, and his loyalty was unquestioned. As far as he was considered, after Loire? Umbrella was already dead. They could afford to keep the lights on for a few more years, but they couldn't afford personnel like him much longer. Like Delta it would be easier to kill them.

It was the best time to leave.

Ada slides over her cassette and he took it, fishing in the many pockets of his jacket for the tape deck he'd been using to pass the time in and out of being bedbound. He slides the headphones over his head, pressing the soft foam cap against his ear on low volume.

"Command we are destroying hundreds of your precious BOWs-.... What the FUCK.... We NEED EVACUATION-.... YOU MUST BE OUT OF YOUR MIND- WE'RE NOT NEGOTIATING WITH YOU..."

The tape goes on. Vector's distinct voice, distorted, peaks through all of it.

"Finish the mission yourself, consider our contract with you terminated....

- we're going to gut Umbrella from the inside out."

Static. Hunk slid the headphones to his neck, picking more of the pastry to eat and sipping his own coffee.

"Shouldn't have stabbed us in the back. Thanks. I'll handle it. You should be fine."

More coffee.

"We were attacked on landing here by USS. They wanted G. Whoever paid them off had a lot of money."

[ariana-maryse]

Being Jack Marrowbone’s Tough S/O With a Soft Side Would Include:

(For anon)

Jack adoring when you take up for him, but loving when you take up for his family even more. Especially if you beat him to the punch.

Laying outside to watch the stars together either after everyone’s gone to bed, or where you can’t be seen. You have a reputation to uphold, after all.

Jack being both amused and impressed when you go hard at someone; whether that be physically or verbally.

Both Jack and Jane reminding you that they’re there for you, even if you don’t want to hear it at the time. After all, you’re part of the family so they’d all be very involved.

Jack loving to discover new things that show your soft side; hobbies or interests that give him a peak into your internal fluff. 

You catching Billy repeating things you’d said or mimicking things you’d done. Jack wouldn’t tease him, but he’d mention the similarities. 

Jack always being able to tell when you need to let out some stress and running a bath for you or whatever helps you relax most. 

You knowing when Jack needs you to take the reigns because he’s getting overwhelmed when dealing with a situation or person. 

[rustbeltjessie]

My favorite type of zine is the ‘perzine,’ which is a portmanteau of ‘personal zine.’ Perzines can include any type of content, but rather than just being a zine of, say, recipes or photographs or poems, that content is interspersed with stories and musings from the author’s own life. Other times, the author uses traditional fanzine ‘tropes’ to write about their own lives and feelings—for example: they write a film review that’s really about watching said film as a child, or they review non-traditional things like jobs they’ve had or shoes they’ve worn. And, many times, all the content is just straight-up personal essay or memoir, woven together around a theme or a particular span of time. I like perzines because one of my favorite things about zines is the chance to get inside the head of the creator(s), to walk around in their high-top Chucks or Dr. Martens boots. And because, since zines are DIY ventures without institutional approval or corporate funding, anyone can tell their stories in zine-form—and often times, the stories you find there are by people who would not otherwise be represented in more mainstream publications.

Certain zines have had as much impact on me and my writing as any mainstream or canonical work of literature I’ve ever read. There are zines I have read so often their covers have fallen off and their pages have torn. There are things I’ve read in zines that have etched themselves into my very marrowbones.

—Jessie Lynn McMains, from “International Zine Month” (July 2021)

[mossrotts]

thoughts on some recent horrors i've watched (some with friends and some alone), each one will have the title bolded if you want to skip to any you're interested in/want opinions on. Includes The Deep House, Marrowbone, Spell, Candyman, They/Them, and X:

The Deep House (2021): Overall, lackluster in a lot of areas, particularly the writing. I don't feel like every plot has to be or have something never seen before to be interesting, but something about The Deep House's plot was so bland and reused. Acting and cinematography itself, though not phenomenal, were forgettable. Characters, eh. All pretty milquetoast, with the exception of the setting. The setting was something I don't think I've seen before (to the point that I had to look up how it was filmed) and had a lot of innate potential of horror and I admire the attempt to blend survival tension with supernatural horror!

You have your usual self focused male partner who can't put down a camera for some reason and his more sensitive female partner, who is the main character. He likes urban exploring and even though he doesn't believe in the supernatural, likes that the creepy ups his viewership. He's heard of a super secluded ghost town in France that was flooded and is now at the bottom of a lake which he's going to explore, despite the fact that our MC doesn't seem as comfortable or experienced with scuba diving. They get there, find out that the lake is now a tourist spot and everything below is basically rubble, but of course a creepy guide says oh i know of a place that's super secluded and with a perfectly preserved house at another part of the lake. so the guide takes them there and the rest and majority of the movie then takes place underwater, inside a house where everything is lit by eerie lighting and floats as though each object were a ghost in itself.

Even though the plot's meh from that point, it's neat to know that a lot of the movie was filmed in a studio in Belgium that specializes in underwater scenes (it's been a bit since i read about this now, but i think i saw that it's the largest water set in the world?) and that they couldn't just leave the house underwater or it'd be ruined so they'd have to painstakingly lower rooms of the house underwater then remove it. There was also a lot of technical issues with the equipment to the point that one of the directors noted that it felt like learning how to film for the first time again. Also, to achieve some of the greenish tinge to the water they'd do things like mix mashed brussel sprouts up in it. I just liked that tidbit.

Would I recommend watching it? I don't know. I watched this one alone and would love to talk about it with someone, especially to see if they have same or differing opinions about the plot. But I really do think it was bland there. Visually though? Very interesting. Loved the setting a lot and would love to see something more done with it. I think I could only recommend it on that; that the setting is unique and it's fascinating to watch and try to figure out how they set it up.

--

Marrowbone (2017): I really liked this one, but also it has a lot of things that I personally enjoy that have nothing to do with like, technical skill or conception or anything like that. It's also a movie pretty short on scary moments (though the few moments it has them it builds the tension beautifully!) which I feel like some horror fans might not enjoy, but i feel like that fits the very gothic theme of it. It brings to mind American gothics like Nathaniel Hawthorne's work or We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson, or similarities to more modern gothics like The Orphanage (2007) (which I just found out this moment, apparently the screenwriter for the Orphanage wrote and directed Marrowbone, so that makes sense!). And idk, there's a different vibe to me of these examples than like, other types of horror, cause it feels like they showcase that Tragedy and Sorrow can be a type of horror just as much as the more physical things that scare us. And maybe...the ghost haunting the house was just us and our expectations that we drag behind us like a corpse.

Anyway, it's about a family that runs away from what is a presumably an awful and abusive father and begin living in the mother's now rundown childhood home. Unfortunately, she gets sick and she dies she asks the eldest child to keep him and his siblings together and to stay hidden until he comes of age so that way they're not separated (or, though not stated, forced to confront their father). Easier said than done, of course, as after their mother's death they become accosted by a lawyer, haunted by a ghost, haunted by something their abusive father did (and perhaps something they did to get away from him), and isolated from their family's one friend as they try to stay secret.

I feel like I'm a little tired of 'twists' in movies done in a way where the movie is trying so hard to keep it a secret from the audience, and this has some of those, but this focuses a lot on empathy (between the family and their friend in the movie, but between us and the family externally) and other themes and such that it doesn't feel like all their eggs were put in the basket of 'oooh there's a twist!', so it doesn't bug me as much.

And overall, it's just a sad sad film. like, beautiful! and i really liked the ending! and oh my god there was actual sympathy towards a marginalized group that is usually demonized in horror films!!!! but oh god it's sad as a heads up.

Would I recommend it? I would! But even if it's one of my favs and I'm looking forward to watching it again, I don't think think it'll be everyone's favorite. Still a great watch though. Wonderful pacing, fantastic acting, visually appealing (if you're into those 'core' aesthetic things, it's like a cottagecore horror, it's fun), and definitely worth at least one viewing. Also, if you are one of the people who have enjoyed one of the medias I brought up before (i.e. We Have Always Lived in the Castle [i haven't watched the movie yet, so I'm comparing this to the short story] or the Orphanage) you'll probably like this one.

--

Spell (2020): Interesting movie! This one I feel was very similar to Stephen King's Misery in that it focuses on someone trapped by someone else and the extents someone might go to to keep someone captive. (Though I remember disliking the protag of Misery and I liked Spell's protag quite a bit.) Also I found out after thinking of this comparison that there's a prop in Spell that's a direct reference to Misery. That's fun. There were some things that I really enjoyed (some gore scenes that made me actively gasp, there's an asshole father that even if the protag notes taught him some things is not forgiven) and some things I didn't (other characters feel like they had a strong fleshed out start, but then were later pushed aside and made into 2D cutouts in favor of being what's at stake rather than characters that could make their own decisions. they got very damsel-in-distressed.) Would I recommend it? Yeah, I think! Might have a few cliches and might not be the most deep plot, but it's got great tension throughout and makes for a great popcorn movie. Also has a wide cast of color which is refreshing to see.

-- Candyman (2021): So I have not seen the original Candyman (or sequels before this one). Those I was watching with haven't seen those. I'm familiar with a good portion of Clive Barker's writing, but that's about it. This was kind of a 'movie roulette' and we just ended up playing it, but oh my god? It was a visually beautiful movie that felt like a love letter to Barker and presumably the old Candyman and has directly made me want to check out the older films. Really cool use of visual effects, great pacing and acting, and again just a visual delight. Also, I felt like did a great balance of like... not entirely blaming the slasher for being a slasher (especially if part of a minority group) but still having the slasher be scary. I've been playing a lot of Dead by Daylight and it's something I feel like they try to do in their killer backstories and just... fall short on it pretty often (as well as other horror movies, original Carrie comes to mind where she's both victim and killer but it feels like the balance isn't kept between the two), so it's nice to see how well it was done here.

Movie focuses a lot on the main character, an artist, who starts investigating the Candyman for an art installation but gets pulled in too deep. There were so many poignant themes inter-playing with each other, but I especially liked the ideas of viewpoints (particularly that of a consumer, and how the consumer's viewpoint can change with things outside the thing they're consuming [like finding a piece of art more valuable if they think the artist was suffering outside of it])/if and how tragedy or sensational violence affects that. Would I recommend it? Yes! Absolutely! Particularly if you have an appreciation for slasher films or have enjoyed Jordan Peele's writing elsewhere, but I think there's something for any horror fan. Probably the highest general recommendation I have on here (though that would possibly change if I knew a person's specific interests in horror/what they're looking for). So much going on, but still a tight film with that.

-- They/Them: Hoo boy. We looked up reviews of this film after watching out of curiosity and it was bizarre what straight people thought or expected out of it. I don't know if there was a trailer somewhere that made it seem like this would be more 'comedic', but it seemed like a lot of people thought these gay kids were not funny enough. Which is a bizarre review to constantly see on a horror film. But anyway, follows a few main characters as they are sent to a Christian conversion camp (a legal thing still in many states here✌️) but particularly Jordan, a nonbinary young adult (also a nice thing about this movie: a lot of the 'kids' are college age and it doesn't focus on like sexy or particularly horrific scenes or anything on the younger characters who are there but in the background!) who is immediately faced with the decision to go to the girls' cabin or the boys'. The main counselor tells them to go to the boys' and if it doesn't feel right they'll try something new from there (though this shows the counselor's assumptions that they're ftm and his attempts to misgender them later). The movie then goes on through horrific tactics of conversion (to the point that I was often reminded of Midsommar due to those tactics often being shared with cults) of love bombing, isolation, confusion, control, etc. (There's also possibly the most terrifying scene I've seen in awhile which mimics movies like Friday the 13th and Psycho but in a direct contrast of those, it's of the horror of being outed without your permission.) And it's kind of a wild mix of the horrors bigotry and conversion practices that are real... and the sudden appearance of a not realistic slasher killer who seems to be picking off the counselors. But is that coincidence? Are the kids next? Is the killer one of them? Is it an avenging angel?? I do have some complaints; one is something I mentioned with Marrowbone. I don't particularly like when a movie goes too far to keep a twist secret from its audience. There's a couple of 'red herring' moments that feel like they don't make sense when the killer is revealed. Like it's not implausible, it's just like... why would that person say that? And even though I liked the pacing, writing, and acting for the most part, visually there was nothing particularly of note. Not bad! Just... also not memorable. And lastly, even though we have a cast of characters who are mostly queer, there's some things in representation that I would have liked differently. All the characters are extremely thin/muscular and the one fat character is a background character; complex cause I appreciate younger characters weren't in sexual scenes as mentioned before... but also she doesn't even have a line. Not a single one. Also there's a character who has some things that might be coded as neurodivergent and it's... not in a good way. Would I recommend it? Even despite my complaints, yes! It's the first time I've seen a non-indie film with not only a nonbinary character, but they are the lead. And a really cool character in general! And even though the outing scene I mentioned is horrific, it was amazing to have the trope of someone hiding something (often being queer in some way) being absolutely flipped. There's ways it could be improved, but I hope that supporting this movie gives more movies like it an opportunity to do so in the future. --

X: Another... interesting film? I think I liked it? The plot is that a group of folks go to make a pornographic film in the late 70s in Texas. Due to the taboo nature of this, they rent out a boarding house from an older couple isolated out in the country. (The old couple being in a main house the group going to a guest house nearby on the property)There's tension in the group as sexuality is discussed and explored while they film and try to keep it secret from the old couple (the man seeing firearm happy and his wife senile), but also with the strangeness building until a bloodbath happens. Lots of really unique shots that are both retro and new and even if i'm still trying to figure out if I LIKED it, it was still very interesting to see! It was also a very self-prophesying film in which one of them would explain the porno they were filming in the movie and it would also refer to the horror we were watching. And oh my god, so much foreshadowing. I think there was foreshadowing for each character that died and in really fun not-over-the-top ways. Things I didn't like: There was some racism that felt unnecessary from one dude we already knew was bad and racist towards the only black character of the main group. And I feel like there's a trend that isn't a new thing whatsoever, but it seems like it's happened more often lately where people are like 'oh, it's not cool to have the horror be someone with a mental illness? that's fine. we'll use old people. old people are creepy and scary.' and it's like!! that's still not ok, especially when it feels so prevalent. i feel like this movie isn't as bad as others in that there was more examination of like, the changing of time and 'i was you and you will be me' rather than just young vs. old, but it still wasn't great.

Would I recommend it? A hard.... maybe. I think it depends on how into horror you are. Really interesting to watch and examine if you're very into it. It has a lot of gorey gore if that's something you like in horror! Very unique shots and scenes that are interesting to contemplate and compare to other horrors. I think overall it's a pretty clever movie! But if you aren't looking for those things I don't know if you'd find it enjoyable. (Also, the history of X rated films is pretty interesting! From the trivia section for X on imdb: "The title of the films refers to the X rating used by the MPAA from 1968 to 1990, which indicated that a film was only suitable for an audience aged 16 or older. The idea behind the rating was that, unlike the other certificates, X would not be trademarked, and would allow filmmakers to release their film in theaters without needing to submit it to the MPAA for an age certificate. Notable films that were originally released with an X rating include A Clockwork Orange (1971), Fritz the Cat (1972), Last Tango in Paris (1972), Midnight Cowboy (1969), and Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song (1971). In the '70s, the porn industry would end up exploiting the X rating's lack of a trademark by releasing pornos in theaters with that same rating. Eventually, X became more associated with porn, and more and more theaters started refusing to show films with an X rating, forcing non-pornographic films to be censored to receive an R rating. In 1990, the MPAA discontinued the X rating and replaced it with NC-17. Unlike X, NC-17 was trademarked and could not be self-applied, but it still meant that most theaters would not show films with the rating, resulting in censorship, once again.")

[s1ater]

dating jack marrowbone would include.

summary 📣: dating jack marrowbone would include

warning/s 🚫: n/a atm

slater’s note 🗯: there’s no jack marrowbone fics/imagines on here and it makes me sad!! so i decided to write something myself to put my mind to rest

➪ he’s very protective of you

➪ and always wants to have a hand on you when you’re around, which sounds weird but he low key has separation anxiety and wants to at least hold your hand

➪ cheek and forehead kisses

➪ dancing

➪ i absolutely adore this idea and it would be something like a quiet night with the record player playing in the background to fill the silence and he’ll just stand up and offer his hand to you

➪ you’ll stand and it’ll just be a silent, peaceful dance with his hand wrapped around your waist while the other holds yours gently

➪ he would hum along to the song quietly, causing his chest to vibrate against yours in a calming way

➪ you absolutely adored sam and would hold him tightly anytime you’d see him before it all went down

➪ jane was like your best friend and you could tell her anything

➪ she’s the one who got you and jack set up together

➪ billy would try to teach you how to fish before jack took over

➪ he’d always ask you whether or not if you liked jack before the two of you started dating and you’d shamelessly say “yes”

➪ when he has nightmares, you’d comfort him

➪ he always wants to keep you safe but sometimes he lacks to realize he’s the one that needs saving

➪ he tries to put on a big front to try to protect the people he loves and never wants them to see his breaking points

➪ you always try to help him but he wants to think he doesn’t need any and pushes you away

➪ “jack, please just let me help you, please.”

➪ “i don’t need your help, i’m fine.”

��� but whenever he has little anxiety attacks, you try to catch them in the beginning by squeezing his hand tightly, even pressing kisses on the back of his hands

➪ he’s very sweet though and gentle with you

➪ he likes running his finger tips along your bare skin

➪ like dipping his finger down along your hip bones, stomach, cheek

➪ he absolutely adores you

➪ he reads to you at times, such as like before the two of you go to bed or just sitting out on the porch swing

➪ nature hikes

➪ walking along the beach without your guys’ shoes while holding each other’s hands, swinging back and forth

➪ he likes brushing your hair out of your face so he can see your eyes better

➪ he loves touching your face, dragging his thumb along your cheekbones and jaw

➪ he preps your face with kisses

➪ whenever your sad he holds you tightly with his hands wrapped around your waist, pressing kisses in the crook of your neck while he whispers sweet things in your ear about how much he loves you

➪ he’ll pick flowers in the field out back behind the marrowbone house for you

➪ he’ll write nice notes whenever he’s out when you get home

➪ “i think of you always and forever. i saw these flowers today and they compare nothing to your beauty. see you soon love x”

➪ he has the prettiest laugh and you just melt every time it rings through your ears

➪ attempted to braid his short strands of hair and sticking small flowers throughout it

➪ he loves you in sundresses, he thinks you absolutely glow more then you usually do

➪ he likes the way it flows around you body as you dance around mindlessly

➪ “you look stunning, love.”

➪ the two of you talk about marriage a lot and he says things mindlessly like:

➪ “i’m going to marry you someday, dovey.”

➪ “i’ll make you mrs. marrowbone.”

➪ being absolutely in love with each other

masterlist

taglist 🗞:

hi cowboy, join the taglist

[that-thing-that-feeling]

Do you think Charlie has lost a little interest in playing Jonathan's character ?

Like depending on his other roles and also he said in an interview he is generally attracted to more challenging and dark roles, and Jonathan in first season was an anguish filled lonely being misunderstood kinda vibes but since season 2 his character has been sidelined, and the potential we see in Jonathan's story arc wasn't well portrayed by DB. So maybe along the way he has also lost a little bit interest in playing this character with what so many fans finding his storyline/character boring.

And also he is not much included in Netflix functions or comic cons. Also his is the only character not added on the tudum website. He wasn't invited to late night, etc can also add to the factor of him being not that vocal about his character being sidelined and not getting enough screen time.

I just hope DB would do justice by his character in season 5,he would get more screen time and a good arc.

And if it is not, atleast he wouldn't be burdened by playing a character (since 5th is the last season) that the show's own creators are sidelining when at first in season 1 he was one of the main character.

I hope Charlie gets more roles that he likes, where his acting skills will be more recognized and his potential wouldn't be wasted in.

Idk if he’s lost interest, but I think he must not love that he’s given very little to do and it’s not challenging. There are a lot of reasons he always says he’s nostalgic for s1 and the innocence of it, but one has to be he actually had a role in it.

Like if you watch him in As You Are (his best role imo), scenes in Marrowbone, or Will in No Future or Kurt in Soulmates, do you really think he’s challenged by the 15 mins of screentime or whatever in ST, in which they just don’t give him a lot to do as an actor? Its clear he’s grateful for ST, but he knows he’s been sidelined even though he answered that very diplomatically in that British GQ interview. But It’s frustrating to watch as a fan at least, bc it totally feels like they waste Charlie’s talent.

I’d also love to see him given more to do in s5 (altho who can count on it) and get more roles that use him and give him a chance to shine and do his thing.

[pensivetense]

A List Of (Mostly TMA) Fic Recs Sorted By Vibe

Not an exhaustive list by any means, just a few favourites that caught my fancy. I shortened many of the summaries for space.

I’m going to pin this here and update it as I go.

Also, I’m pensivetense on ao3

MELANCHOLY VIBES

for when you want to feel comfortably muted

(sad but not utterly bleak endings here)

Hope, Etc. (Dickenson, et al.) by yellow_caballero

Jonathan Sims, six months after the Unknowing, wakes to find himself without a daemon - without humanity, without a soul. It’s a cursed half-life, but existence as a shell without a heart isn’t so bad: between solving the mystery of a persistent illusion cast over his friends and some light pseudo-cannibalism, a life as a monster is better than no life at all. At least, it would be, if it wasn’t for the fucking Owl.

A freaking. Amazing. Daemon au. Ties the lore of Dust with TMA lore very satisfyingly, but is mostly about Jon navigating what it means to be human, or, in the absence of that, a person, and doesn’t require prior knowledge of His Dark Materials. Cannot recommend highly enough.

after one long season of waiting by nuinuijiaojiao

Annabelle is not used to having nice things. or, Annabelle heads to Upton House, muses a little, and gets some well-deserved rest

I love survivalist Annabelle and also the concept of the Web as kind of a horrible Patron, actually.

i love you. I want us both to eat well. by SmallishWormMasterOfTheUniverse

At the safehouse with Martin, Jon decides it's time to quit statements once and for all. The Eye disagrees. Martin just needs Jon to be okay. It's quite possible that nobody is going to get what they want.

Scottish Safehouse Era, Jon and Martin coping with their respective Entities... really, really good.

the friend by doomcountry

He always greets a new spider when he meets it. It’s instinct, born in childhood, the same way he instinctively counts magpies, or flicks salt over his left shoulder. A little harmless superstition. A bit of politesse.

A great Martin character study with eldritch spider horror included. The imagery regularly haunts me (in a good way).

autumn’s rare gift by bee_bro

Annually, the two meet, renewing the binding ritual where it had all started. The procedure simple: a waltz.

Singlehandedly made me ship Gertrude/Agnes so there’s that. It’s so bittersweet and bee_bro’s writing is, as always, incredibly poetic. (I’d recommend everything they write, actually.)

smile, you’re trending by Goodluckdetective

During an encounter with another Avatar of the Eye, Jon faces his past, Martin takes a turn at playing Kill Bill and Basira has a second look at the monster she’s determined to see. For three people associated with the Eye, they could all use some perspective.

Features an original Eye Avatar character who’s a YouTube personality; she is infuriating and inspired and genuinely frightening and I cannot say enough good things.

Humility by The_Lionheart

have you no idea that you're in deep?/i've dreamt about you nearly every night this week,/how many secrets can you keep?

An OC centric story but don’t let that put you off, it’s amazing. Very heavily focused around Jonah Magnus and the other Avatars as they change through the years. Also, I’d die for the OC.

oh, for one sweet second without the eye series by faedemon

Beholding does not like in the way humans do, but it likes its Archivist all the same.

I’m just so fond of the way this is done stylistically. I have a great weakness for dialogue only/dialogue heavy writing, not to mention all of the wonderful character beats and interplay of humanity/inhumanity for Jon and Melanie.

Rewind by WhyNotFly

It takes eight days of forced confinement for Jon to start hallucinating. [...] It’s Martin, though, that his exhausted brain conjures, because of course it’s Martin. After all this time, of course it’s Martin.

Jon willingly allows himself to be confined rather than hunting for statements, and examines his relationship with Martin.

for a firmament series by supaslim

There is beauty in destruction. There is art in becoming. In which Jon becomes the Archive, and the Archive becomes Jon.

Part two posted this morning and uhhh. Good. Also if you’re here for weird eldritch body horror (I am), this one’s for you.

ONES THAT JUST HURT

for when you want to feel sad

(somewhat bleaker endings here/everyone is NOT okay)

Feste by yellow_caballero

If asked, Martin would say that he became the shadow director of the Magnus Institute by accident. But nobody ever asked, and nobody ever cared, and it was in this way that Martin stopped lying to himself. Or: break free, Martin. All you have to lose are your chains. And your sanity.

Oh, this one totally didn’t go the way I expected it to. A study in isolation. Could go into the category above, as the ending is not bleak, but the tone of the whole is somewhat more depressing than most there.

Ghosts of Love by RavenXavier

Nothing made Martin more grounded in the world than yearning for Jonathan Sims.

Lonely!Martin that really captures a sort of visceral ache. Hurts me and yet I keep rereading.

i do desire (we may be better strangers) by godbewithyouihavedone

For ages, it only knew how to worship, taking human bodies and living off the fear of those who remembered. It never knew love until it became Jonathan Sims. Now it must fight against every instinct to save Martin Blackwood. Archivist Sasha, Not!Jon/Martin, and the worst kind of Fake Dating AU.

Oh, this one just made me sad. The poor not!them, which is something I never thought I’d say.

Apple Of Your Eye by fakeCRfan

In which the Eye is fond of Martin. Perhaps a little too fond for comfort.

Somehow manages to be both sweet and horrifying—the characterisation of the Eye is incredible. ‘The Eye loves Martin’ is a scenario that’s so utterly doomed to failure and yet the writing is packed with so much pathos that I just want them all to be happy. A fantastic use of themes of agency and choice, and the single best use of Beholding as a source of horror I’ve read.

The Last Press by copperbadge

Jon Sims is awake, and has begun preparations for the Rite of the Watcher's Crown. Peter Lukas, who woke him, would be content to rule at his side. Martin is very upset about all of this, and the Lukases aren't thrilled with it either.

I really can’t say anything without spoiling the end and it’s so good. An alternate take on the Watcher’s Crown. Not a pairing that I ever thought would work for me, but this made it work.

watch the blood evaporate by 75hearts

It starts, like so many things in Jon’s life have started, with a nagging itch of curiosity. Jonathan Sims uses his healing abilities throughout s4. Read the tags.

Dear God please read the tags. But this is some high quality pain if it’s for you.

the lighthouse series by low_fi

Peter Lukas is a lighthouse keeper. One evening, he gets a call from a cryptic overseer tasked with monitoring his work.

This is such a vivid and yet subtle story—from the setting to the emotions portrayed, it creeps up on you slowly. The ending was like the gentlest possible gut-punch. The sequel just completed, and yeah, just as wonderful. This one is very much LonelyEyes but I listed it here because it is just exquisitely painful.

SATISFYINGLY HOPEFUL VIBES

for when you want to feel cozy

Clutching Daffodils by Gemi

Martin has always liked the idea of love at first sight. It’s such a romantic idea, the whole thing of it. Seeing someone and instantly feeling that strange, twisting feeling deep inside that every single media likes to obsess over. Of knowing you are in love within the day, petals falling from your mouth and warmth filling your chest as love burrows deep, vines twisting through your lungs. He always liked the idea of it. And then Jonathan Sims starts working at the Magnus Institute.

Somehow manages to be lighter and fluffier than most hanahaki fare, despite the setting. I’ve reread this one a lot.

the least he could do by Prim_the_Amazing

Martin should in fact not pick this man, specifically because of how attracted he is to him. It would be the responsible thing to do. Except he’s already following him. And he’s hungry.

Fluffy vampire au which everyone’s probably already read, but was too good not to mention.

rather interesting by bee_bro

Jonah Magnus realizes that, for some reason, when he comes in contact with weed, Elias Bouchard's consciousness will come into his life banging pots and pans.

Oh boy. So these are all favourite fics but this one is a favourite amongst favourites. The way Jonah is characterised (i.e. incredibly sensitive to scrutiny) is my favourite depiction of him, and the slow-burn between him and Elias is far sweeter than it has any right to be. Also, it’s hilarious.

The Magnus Records series by ErinsWorks

In a world parallel to that of the Archives and the Institute, a supernatural sanctuary stands against a cruel and uncaring world: A world of bureaucracy and tyranny, of murder and carnage, of loneliness and surveillence, of plague and death. But in this world of fear and misery, 14 entities born of the hopes of the world have emerged. And one of them has made their home here, at The Magnus Sanctuary. Perhaps, the employees within may lead happier lives than their counterparts did in the Archives.

This is just so goddamn pure. The author writes a really imaginative, fleshed-out alternate world and alternate Entities with engaging, well-written short statements. All of the character voices are absolutely on point, and it’s overall absurdly hopeful without ever feeling overly saccharine. I love this series so much, you guys, you don’t even know. I want to print it out and paste it on my wall. I love it.

HARD APOCALYPSE

for when you want to feel dark and angsty (and eldritch)

Most of these are shorts/oneshots because it’s just that kind of genre, y’know?

Ashes to Ashes by marrowbones

A conversation at the end of the world.

Oliver Banks is one of those minor characters that I am overly attached to. Love him here.

Employee Benefits by equals_eleven_thirds

The Magnus Institute offered some normal employee benefits: a pension plan, holidays, travel subsidies, free lunch on the last Friday of each month. Rosie makes it work.

This manages to hit that perfect sweet spot of satisfying and hilarious. Rosie gets to torment Elias, as she well deserves.

a rose by any other name by Duck_Life

Part of Jon blooms in Jared Hopworth’s garden.

This one was sad and honestly too gentle to really belong in this category, but I love it.

Eye to Eye by Dribbledscribbles

In which Jonah Magnus attempts a post-apocalyptic pep talk.

Unreliable narrator at its finest, and the implications are suitably horrific.

commensalis by doomcountry

The tower is endlessly, impossibly tall, but Jon’s work is taller.

If you’re here for the eldritch imagery, then this has some of the best.

SOFT APOCALYPSE

for when you want to feel gently triumphant

apocalypse how series by sunshine_states

Humanity adjusts. The Entities have Regrets.

Some nice vignettes set in a kinder apocalypse.

ceylon series by Sciosa

The one in which Jonathan Sims decides that no, actually, he isn't going to let the world just end.

I include this only for the sake on completeness, as everyone has no doubt already read it.

rituals by doomcountry

Martin is the first person to knock on the Archivist's door since it arrived, fully, into its little waiting temple. The Archivist saw him coming from down the hall, but decides to feign interest when the knob turns, and Martin—still a little bit smaller, a little more translucent than before—stands uncertainly just outside the room.

This one’s a little less focused on the world at large and more on JonMartin specifically.

we raise it up by savrenim

Jonathan Sims reads a book and saves the world; although maybe the real salvation is the friends he makes along the way; (although perhaps the world itself and the darkness that exists behind it isn't quite as out to get everyone as it seems).

More ‘soft revolution’ than ‘soft apocalypse’, but has the same vibe. A time travel fix-it. Incomplete but worth it if this is a mood that appeals to you.

Scarred Ground by DictionaryWrites

“You see," Elias said softly, "people always have this idea that only living things can be scarred - and they're right, of course. But a building is a living thing, Martin. And the ground can be scarred, too." "I don't have any scars," Martin said. "Yes, you do," Elias said. "You just need the right light to see them.”

Falls somewhere between ‘Apocalypse’ and ‘Soft Apocalyse’ but I’m putting it here because I feel like it. Also technically a LonelyEyes fic. I found it hard to follow at first but it’s worth sticking with; things will eventually begin to make sense and come together.

LONELYEYES

for when you want to feel lonelyeyes

marrying anguish with one last wish by procrastinatingbookworm

In which Elias isn't Orpheus, and Peter isn't Eurydice, but Elias brings Peter home anyway.

Lives in my head rent free forever. My favourite lonelyeyes fic.

ouroboros by Wildehack

“You know,” Jonah says, a muscle in his calf quivering agreeably where it’s slung over Mordechai’s shoulder, “it’s really quite--fortunate--that I don’t care for you at all.”

Oh, this one hurts in the best possible way. The endless cycle of their relationship, the way it comes full-circle... yeah, good. Actually, no, this one might be my favourite. It’s a tie.

Breaking all the Rules by Thedupshadove

Elias proposes a somewhat...unusual wager.

Soft lonelyeyes? In my recs? It’s more likely than you think. Short, sweet, and... sweet.

Threefold by Sprinkledeath

Peter Lukas breaks three rules.

I’m just a slut for mythology allusions I guess.

Luck Be A Lady Tonight by prodigy

In 2014, Elias Bouchard takes a rare trip outside of his comfort zone. Peter Lukas wastes a bunch of money. You'd be surprised how many things can go wrong for two beings of cosmic power.

I love the sense of the history of them you get while reading this.

love is just a word (the idea seems absurd) by kaneklutz

"Something's wrong. It's stopped hurting" An avatar of the Lonely and an avatar of the Beholding walk into a bar relationship. It was bound to blow up in their faces.

Short, sweet, painful. Excellent exploration of their priorities.

Victor by penguistifical

elias tries something with his powers that he hasn't attempted before

The one where Elias tries to raise the dead. Not incredibly LonelyEyes centric but that’s still the pairing.

Simon Says by penguistifical

“Peter asked me to drop by and have a word with you, and, so, here I am.” Simon chuckles at Elias’s disbelieving stare. “Well, he asked in his own way. He’s not a complicated man, you know. He either comes from your arms looking like a stroked cat that’s been given a dish of cream or looking like he’s been in that toy boat of his out in an unexpected storm. He was far angrier than normal, so I daresay you weren’t cream today.”

I mean personally I’d just go ahead and rec all of penguistifical’s LonelyEyes fics but this is a standout for me.

AROMANTIC AND ASPEC MOODS

for when you want to feel Seen

The Aro Archives series by WhyNotFly

These are all just really really good. From Aro!Peter to two different aro-spec versions of the Scottish Safehouse to a long and beautiful aro hanahaki fic, this series is uniformly wonderful. The two Scottish Safehouse ones (Torn Edges and Murky Water) are my comfort fics.

and now all fear gives way by j_quadrifons

Before he can think it through, he murmurs, "Is that what it feels like? Being in love?" Martin's hand stills in his hair and Jon's stomach drops.

This one just. Wow yeah this is how it be. Another absolute comfort fic of mine.

Sweet As Roses by Prim_the_Amazing

Jon takes Martin by the shoulders, leans up on the tips of his toes, and kisses him.

I’m going to be honest—I didn’t know where to put this one. But it ended up here because the real standout of this fic for me is the portrayal of Sasha, and especially her portrayal as an aro character. So I’m putting it here. Mind the content warnings with this one!

HUMOUR

for when you want to feel delight

The Torment of Sebastian Skinner by Urbenmyth

After the Eye's victory, the statement givers are trapped in their horror stories, living them over and over again. Naturally, this works out better for some then for others.

Premise? Delightful. Execution? Fantastic. I read this one to cheer myself up when I’m sad.

Unlucky by VolxdoSioda

Jon’s dice betray him

Short, sweet DnD au, and the reason I cannot get DM!Elias out of my head now.

Voracious by beetl

A bird hits the window. Jon experiences The Flesh's thrall.

“Dead Dove: Do Not Eat” but make it literal.

The Stupid Endings by Urbenmyth

There are a lot of very deeply thought out and creative AUs on this site. These aren't among them. These ones are how the story could have ended, if Jonny Sims was a dumbass.

These are just uniformly hilarious, I cannot recommend them highly enough.

PODCAST CROSSOVERS

for when you want to make one of those “if I had a nickel for every time...” posts

The Sabbatical by morelikeassassin

Nicholas Waters is in need of an all-knowing eldritch entity beyond the confines of human imagining to help with his latest ritual. He'll have to settle for Jonathan Sims, who happens to have nothing better to do.

Crossover with Archive 81 (s3, specifically). Both fun and bittersweet.

The City And Its Sorrows by cuttooth

“What makes you think your friend is in Eskew?” David asks. He feels he can risk the scrutiny of the city that far. “I read that this is a place people end up when they get lost,” says the man. “This is a place people end up,” David agrees./The Archivist comes to Eskew.

Contemplative piece, and I love the way it presents David’s relationship with Eskew, the way he finds it horrible and hates it and yet belongs to it, is almost proud in the way he shows to to Jon. Great little vignette of two people oppressed by eldritch powers, intersecting.

Hiatus by bibliocratic

My name is Jonathan Sims, and I am in Eskew. (Jon gets lost in a Spiral city. It is not as easy as escaping.)

This one is far more focused on Jon than David, and is honestly more Eskew-weird than Spiral-weird. In the best way. Told in Eskew episode style, and is very good.

Sweet Music by Shella688

Eskew has a music to it, if you know how to listen. The percussion beat of thousands of footsteps, the melody in the squealing of the trains overhead. Today, the music of Eskew comes in the form of nine musicians, playing outside my office. My name is David Ward, and I am in Eskew.

Not TMA, but since a lot of Mechs fans go here—this one’s a Mechs/Eskew crossover. Short and simple, mostly David Ward centric, just a little well-written one shot I had to mention because I enjoyed it but it doesn’t have much traffic. Nice portrayal of the Mechs from an outsider’s perspective, and how genuinely strange and frightening they’d come across (especially if you’re already being haunted by and eldritch city). If you like Eskew-style storytelling, check it out!

NOT TMA

...but good enough that I physically cannot make a recs list without including them. Here!

[maisulli]

short story collection / update 03.

e y e l e s s   l i a,  a short story.

or rather, an enchanted dark fable. 

Today’s writing update is for a story I have been working on during the last few days while juggling between school work. It was an escape from reality and truly a wonderful experience to see my character (Lia) come to life on her own terms. This one is even dearer to my heart (yes I know I say that about all of them but can you blame me?!), it fascinates me how much I think about the story on a daily basis, I even daydream and space out sometimes while making notes mentally about how the story will unfold. As always, this story will also be published later on in my collection of short stories so I hope you understand I cannot share everything in its entirety! without further delay, enjoy ♡ 

vignette i. / “the awakening”

“The girl’s village sent her to the isolated hut on the outskirts of their land, where a widowed man awaited a new wife. As they saw the last of her bare footprints recovered by tempered snow, the old townsfolk washed their hands from sin and tended back to the unrelenting burden of their own lives. Their hushing echoed throughout their ice breath and the vile venom spreads beneath black soil — marking a girl’s bare feet ahead. 

The girl, when she arrived, stood with a hand resting firmly on the handle of the man’s door. She could not look at the man’s features when he opened nor admire the inside of his home, for she was born blind. Eyeless Lia, the folk used to call her — a name fit for an orphan ruined by a turn of fate.”

The scene above establishes the premise of the story, I wanted to make the reader feel this sort of folks tale/winter bite feeling when reading the beginning of my story. I feel really pleased with how it turned out and I can’t wait for your opinions on it. Fun fact: the theme and idea for this story came to me in a dream, it felt like my own fate telling me to write it!

vignette ii. / blood right

“Each night, she prepared the heartiest meals — garlic oiled pheasant, deer liver adorned with buttered truffles, and rich wine crushed from fermented berries. She wanted him fat, enough fat that she could smell the tartness of his repugnant skin, fatter than anything ever lived. And when he finished eating, it was her turn to take the resting bones and sharpen her own pleasures. Her jaw dripping with saliva as each tooth is carved to her exquisite taste, keen and honed to kill for her sake.”

The scene above portrays the fight that Lia has in her bones, in her blood. She decides to take her fate into her own hands, even though it is a cruel fate, she will make it to her advantage. This story also contains elements of magic realism, so you could say she becomes a creature of her own (spoiler alert!!)

vignette iii. / “the fate you were born into”

“Perhaps, she hoped, for a kind man, but knew better when she felt the weight of his hand crushing her wrist as he made her follow behind. Lia (for now that the girl had a name) was led by the repulsive force of the man into a make-shift mount of straw.”

“She held on to hope, even when the world felt like a cruel marrowbone thrown at her teeth.”

The scene above shows the overwhelming hand of fate crushing Lia’s hope, plunging her already dark world into empty void. But she is strong, strong enough to change her predestined fate.

vignette iv. / a helping hand 

“A day finally rises and she has nails searing and knife-like essence, the girl feels as if a god betrothed her rage and molded her to his unforgiving image.”

The scene above is hard to explain but without giving out spoilers, it describes the transformation Lia is currently having being turned into a creature.

vignette v. / sacrament

“Though he cried and struggled, she teared and tore apart and rejoiced with newfound purity. Lia lets her own being washed, the lake slowly seeping and freezing each drop of her vital ichor.

 She has never felt clarity until this moment, when death is so close to her door but feels like a swain’s embrace.”

- - - *bonus ♡ (two special add-ons ^^) 

first! the mood board for the story.

second!  (the sort of epigraph you have to read before the story)

i absolutely love including missing fragments for the reader to interpret the meaning on their own.

Ahhh leaving the best for the end! The final scene above (before the bonus) represents the liberation of one’s soul, when you are completely cut from the mortal world and wish to depart to the spirits’ nether land.

And that’s all for this starlight writing update! This is a story that is very precious to me so I hope you enjoyed it and got to see the beauty of each moment. I would love to also read your tags when you reblog so don’t forget to like and reblog with sweet words! 

With love, 

Kelly

taglist (send a dm to be added or reblog in the tags that you want to be added!) : @chloeswords @alicewestwater @shaelinwrites @yanittawrites @bitterwitchwrites @jennawritesstories​ 

[aion-rsa]

Streaming on Plex: Best Movies and TV Shows You Can Watch for FREE in September

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This article is sponsored by Plex. You can download the Free Plex App now by clicking here!

There’s an overwhelming amount of new movies and TV shows hitting streaming services this fall. If you’re starving for new content, it’s set to be a fantastic time, but if your wallet is starving for funds, it can be pretty stressful. With studios and content providers spreading their libraries out across so many different streaming services, keeping up with all of your favorites can get expensive. Thankfully, Plex TV is here to keep you entertained without breaking the bank.

Plex is a globally available one-stop-shop streaming media service offering thousands of free movies and TV shows and hundreds of free-to-stream live TV channels, from the biggest names in entertainment, including Metro Goldwyn Mayer (MGM), Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution, Lionsgate, Legendary, AMC, A+E, Crackle, and Reuters. Plex is the only streaming service that lets users manage their personal media alongside a continuously growing library of free third-party entertainment spanning all genres, interests, and mediums including podcasts, music, and more. With a highly customizable interface and smart recommendations based on the media you enjoy, Plex brings its users the best media experience on the planet from any device, anywhere.

Plex releases brand new and beloved titles to its platform monthly and we’ll be here to help you identify the cream of the crop. View Plex TV now for the best free entertainment streaming and check back each month for Den of Geek Critics’ picks!

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DEN OF GEEK CRITICS’ PICKS

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

They’re the world’s most fearsome fightin’ team. They’re heroes in a half-shell and they’re green. I mean, what more do we need to say? 2014’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is no Citizen Kane, but comic book movie fans flock to it like the four titular turtles to pizza. The film knows exactly what it is, providing cheesy one-liners, silly action, and unpretentious fun. Throwing in Will Arnett as a sidekick for April O’Neil was an inspired choice that paid dividends in laughs and whoever tapped Tony Shaloub to voice Splinter should get a pay raise. Produced by Nickelodeon Pictures, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles wasn’t only the highest grossing film in the series, but also the highest grossing Nickelodeon film of all-time. This reboot of the classic ninja team helped spawn further films, new TV series, and a renewed interest in one of the most beloved comic book properties ever. Cowabunga, dude!

Noah

This isn’t your Sunday School’s Noah. Darren Aronofsky’s adaptation of the story of the biblical figure Noah is an awe-inspiring epic that takes the bones of the famous story and infuses themes about environmentalism, self-doubt, and yes, faith. Pulling liberally from texts like the Book of Enoch, the film has far more action than just leading animals onto a boat and a storm. Shot by Matthew Libatique, the movie looks absolutely gorgeous and at times can be genuinely breath-taking, but it’s not just about the visuals. Russell Crowe stuns in the title role, but the entire ensemble is great, including a post-Potter Emma Watson and a ferocious Ray Winstone. No one expected Noah to be more akin to a thought-provoking art house film than a straight-forward epic, but that’s the sort of genius you get from Aronofsky, one of the most exciting and inventive filmmakers working today. 

Shine a Light

Even if we hadn’t just lost the immortal, suave Charlie Watts, the heartbeat of rock and roll’s longest institution, The Rolling Stones, we’d still be recommending Martin Scorsese’s Shine a Light. Capturing the legendary band during their A Bigger Bang Tour in 2006, Scorsese spends a lot of the time rightfully focusing on Watts. With the camera fixated on Watts, you witness his unflappability; the way that he can make such raucous playing look so effortless. You also catch the man’s unique, jazz-influenced technique, like how he rarely hits the center of his snare, or how he changes his grip whenever he hits a cymbal. Even in their old age, the Stones are still one of the tightest, most electrifying live acts, and Shine a Light puts you right on stage with them as they barrel through one of the deepest catalogs in recorded music. It’s simply a masterful concert film.

The Virgin Suicides

Sofia Coppola likely has to deal with accusations about nepotism to this day, but anyone who saw her directorial debut The Virgin Suicides knows that Francis’ daughter would have made it as a filmmaker even without her famous last name. This haunting adaptation of Jeffrey Eugenides’ novel of the same name taps into the melancholy of childhood, the dreamlike haze of memory, and the mystery that lurks inside suburban homes. Coppola expertly captures the pull that an ethereal group of sisters have on the imaginative group of boys that pine for them in a way that is relatable for anyone that had an unrequited crush in high school. As a coming-of-age movie, it is one of a kind. As an exploration of trauma and grief, it is crushingly effective. The original score by the band Air only adds to its hypnagogic vibe. 

Rock ‘n’ Roll High School

Punk rock music and Roger Corman pictures are some of the core tenants that Den of Geek was founded on, so of course we’re going to recommend 1979’s Rock ‘n’ Roll High School, which features possibly the coolest band of all-time, The Ramones. Let our resident punk rock movie expert Jim Knipfel break it down for you:

“After producing so many dozens of teen rebellion films over the years, Corman finally hit the pinnacle, the ultimate teen rebellion picture, with the cartoon antics ratcheted up more than a few notches. There are so many bad jokes flying around, so many visual gags and film references packed into every scene, so many overwrought teen film clichés pushed way past absurd, it’s a film that demands multiple viewings. Even if “Riff Randall, rock ’n’ roller” (P.J. Soles) doesn’t look much like any punk chick I ever knew, I’m perfectly willing to accept it. And in historical terms, it really was this film more than the 4 albums they had out at the time that spread the word about The Ramones to mainstream America, and that’s worth something. Old as I am I still get a thrill every time the students and the Ramones blow up Vince Lombardi High, and anyone who doesn’t must be wrong in the head somehow.”

New on Plex in September:  

1000 Times Good Night 

13 

13 Assassins 

The Accidental Husband 

All Good Things 

Assassination of a High School President 

Awake 

Bent 

Bordertown 

Brain Dead 

Cold Mountain  

The Descent 

The Descent Part 2  

Even Money 

Fear City 

First Snow 

Freedom Writers  

Gray Matters  

The Jesus Rolls 

Johnny Was  

Keys to Tulsa  

The Legend of Bagger Vance  

Mad Money 

Marrowbone 

Murder on the Orient Express 

The Ninth Gate 

Nothing but the Truth  

Ordinary People 

Rememory  

Rock ‘n’ Roll High School  

Sanctuary  

Shine a Light  

Soul Survivors  

Taboo  

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles  

The TV Set  

The Virgin Suicides  

What Doesn’t Kill You  

Winter Passing  

World Trade Center  

Catch before it leaves in September: 

31 

Absolution  

Accident Man  

Aeon Flux 

After.Life 

Angel of Death 

Answer Man 

The Bang Bang Club 

Battle Royale 

Blood and Bone 

The Broken 

Cashmere Mafia  

Child 44 

Cleaner 

Cold Comes the Night 

Coming Soon 

The Connection 

Conspiracy  

The Cookout  

Critical Condition  

Dark Crimes  

The Death and Life of Bobby Z 

Death Proof 

Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star 

Downhill Racer 

Dragged Across Concrete  

The Dresser  

The Duel 

Dummy 

Flight of Fury 

Flirting with Disaster  

The Foreigner  

Goat  

Gutshot Straight  

Halloween III: Season of the Witch  

The Hard Corps  

Hesher  

High Right 

Honeymoon  

The Hunt 

I Saw the Devil 

In the Mix 

Jason and the Argonauts 

Jeff, Who Lives at Home 

Jiri Dreams of Sushi  

Joe 

Journey to the West  

Kill ‘Em All 

A Kind of Murder 

The Kite Runner 

Lake Placid 2 

Lake Placid 3 

Last Resort 

The Lazarus Project 

Misconduct 

Mr. Church 

Mutant Chronicles 

Mythica: The Godslayer 

Mythica: The Iron Clown  

Never Back Down: No Surrender 

News Radio  

Noah 

Ong Bak: The Thai Warrior  

Ong Bak: The Beginning  

The Order 

Out for a Kill 

The Outcasts  

Phantoms 

Pistol Whipped 

The Protector 

Pulse (2001) 

Reprisal  

Return to the Blue Lagoon 

The River Murders  

The Romantics 

Second in Command 

Shadow Man 

Shattered  

The Shepherd 

Southside with You 

Space Station 76 

Square Pegs 

Standoff 

Starship Troopers 2: Hero of the Federation  

Starship Troopers 3: Marauder 

Steel Dawn 

Substitute  

The Super  

SWAT: Under Siege 

The Terminal  

The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada  

Touchy Feely  

Trollhunter 

UFO 

Universal Solider: Day of Reckoning  

Vamps  

Vicky Cristina Barcelona  

Walking Tall: Lone Justice 

Warlock 

What Planet are You From?  

World’s Fastest Indian 

World’s Greatest Dad  

The Yellow Handkerchief  

Still streaming on Plex: 

2:22 

2 Days in New York 

21 Jump Street  

22 Bullets  

24 Hours to Live  

3rd Rock from the Sun 

6 Bullets  

99 Homes 

A Little Bit of Heaven 

A Walk in the Woods 

The Air I Breathe  

Alan Partridge 

ALF  

Alone in the Dark 

Amelie 

American Pastoral  

And Soon the Darkness 

Andromeda  

Are You Here 

Arthur and the Invisibles  

Awake 

Battle in Seattle 

Bernie 

Better Watch Out 

Black Death  

Blade of the Immortal 

Blitz 

The Brass Teapot 

Bronson 

The Brothers Bloom 

The Burning Plain 

But I’m a Cheerleader 

Cake  

Candy  

Catch .44 

Cell  

The Choice 

Clerks II 

Coherence  

The Collector  

Colonia  

Congo  

Cooties 

The Core 

The Cotton Club 

Crossing Lines  

Croupier  

Cube  

Cube 2 

Cube Zero 

Cyrano de Bergerac  

Death and the Maiden 

The Deep Blue Sea 

Deep Red 

Derailed 

Detachment 

The Devil’s Rejects  

Diary of the Dead 

District B13 

DOA: Dead or Alive 

Dr. T and the Women  

Eden Lake 

The Edge of Love  

The post Streaming on Plex: Best Movies and TV Shows You Can Watch for FREE in September appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/3DV4bW5

[stayingtxgether]

❝ OPEN ✎ Starter ❞

    It was always his fault. And Billy knew that. But he also couldn’t stop himself. Not when he was the one being cooped up at home when Jack could just run around free doing whatever the hell he pleased. Screw the rules. The very rules Jack had set in place.

    “Sam!” Another shout into nothing, walking the few miles into town. Billy couldn’t believe the little one to make it out this far. But he’d already checked every place else close by the Marrowbone Home. The Rock, the lake. Of course he’d gone to them. Those had been the first. Then off to Allie’s, hoping Sam had wandered to the house visible from their own - but she wasn’t home. Billy knew how obsessed his brother was with the map he and Jane had made to follow Jack to and from town. And that was his last desperate chance.

    He’d already promised Jane he’d make sure to bring her little one home. Why would he not? When his own outburst had been the cause of Sam’s running off. Billy wouldn’t be coming back without him. Not unless Sam found the way on his own. Though Billy doubted that. If the little guy had been upset and determined enough to run off in the first place, there was a small chance he’d want to come back. Even if it grew dark and he got cold and hungry.

    Billy was nearing the center of town now. He’d passed the sign marking the town’s vague boundary line a while back. Yet, still no sign of the little one. “SAM-” nearly at the top of his voice. Not quite angry. But definitely frustrated. Frustrated the three of them had been careless enough to let it happen. “Shit.” this one is muttered, under the breath with a huff. “Where are you?” a heavy question into open air. One that didn’t deserve a reply. Billy almost didn’t blame Sam at this point. Not with everything they all had to deal with for so long. The little one included in that, since the day he’d been brought to the world.

    He usually hated coming out the far; on those days when Jack wasn’t well enough and they absolutely needed to go in town for supplies. Usually Billy withdrew back, more than aware how out of place he looked; the worn trousers or overalls, an undershirt or not. And dare he speak to anyone, the thick English accent only one of many traits that set is family apart. He’s standing in the empty road now, wondering how far into the small town he’d have to go before something, anything, came up to let him know of Sam’s whereabouts.

[skrltwtch]

The Cat

Prompt: The most wanted woman in town has announced that she’ll only marry the one who can open her front door with the key around her cat’s neck. Many men try to hunt the cat down, chase and trap it, but to no avail. The cat is simply too quick, smart and clever, and always finds a way to evade and avoid them. You are the first one to figure out the obvious: Do not chase the cat. The cat is befriendable. Get the cat to trust you, to genuinely enjoy your company, and you can hang out with the cat. You may eventually be allowed to touch the cat. The cat will freely let you take the key.

Secondary plot twist: The woman is a shapeshifter. She is the cat. (Source of prompt in link at bottom of post.)

Word count: 1,840 words

Author's note: This is more of a little tale starring George as the lead and you as the mysterious woman, as opposed to a story about George MacKay the Actor. I kind of had Jack Marrowbone's look — and nothing else about him in that movie — in mind while writing this.

∘₊✧──────✧₊∘

‘Let’s play a game! I will grant my hand in marriage to the person who succeeds in taking this key off my cat’s neck and unlocking my front door with it. Oh, won’t that be such fun?’

Only she can pull off such a stunt. She has put the village under some kind of spell, and I am one of its victims. One of the more prudent ones, at least, in the sense that I know well enough that I’ll never be able to win her heart. She has an entire village of men to choose from, most more remarkable than I in looks and/or calibre. I am but a simple baker of average frame with blonde locks that wishes for no kinship with a comb and blue eyes that gleam with neither transcendental allure nor immense potential; unless she were an ardent consumer of bread and pastries, I have nothing to offer her. I simply admire her from afar, pine for a connection that is real only in my wildest dreams.

No one quite knows what it is about her that sees a constant line of suitors supplanting her shadow whenever she comes into the village. That is to say, she isn’t not beautiful, neither is she not gracious. She keeps to herself mostly in her quaint cottage on the edge of the village. Her isolation and magnetism have made her the subject of many a fevered whisper: she is a witch, an enchantress, a nymph. Despite what one may think, the women of the village don’t resent her for the effect she has on their eligible male compatriots. The wedded men remain capable of remembering their vows in her presence. In that vein, her paramours are on equal standing: single, virile men who want to have the unhaveable.

Her game has sent the men into a frenzy. It’s amusing to see adult males chase after a cat, one just as unassuming as its owner. They hunt it, as if it were game. They harass it, as if it were a nuisance, an obstacle to their perceived prize. They seek to capture it with elaborate traps. They line the fishmonger’s pockets with gold for her finest catch of the day. It’s all for naught. The cat is, they’ll never admit to themselves, smarter than them. The days pass. She continues to wander around the village without a ring on her finger. The cat continues to taunt the men with its presence, parading the key around its chest like a gibe at their failures. It’s curious that they are never seen together.

Me? I don’t try. I’m not presuming myself to be above this endeavour. I do slip into reveries about emerging victorious every now and then. But see, the other men had never grown up with cats. The thing with cats is, you don’t try. You don’t try to get it to do what you want. You don’t hound a cat. And, as with all living things, you certainly don’t antagonise it. So, I bide my time.

That day soon arrives. As a customer leaves, the cat makes a mad dash into the bakery, maintaining the balance of two beings inside. It glides over the counter, its tail a hair’s breadth away from toppling the display of sourdough bread, and seeks refuge behind some boxes. Shortly after, Edward, its tormentor for today, it seems, enters and calls for the cat. Edward is a cheesemaker, with whom I interact solely out of business necessity. Our families go back a long way, our trades intertwined with one another’s. I do so long for someone else to assume the mantle from Edward.

‘Where is it? I saw it come in here,’ he says.

‘It’s behind here with me,’ I say, ‘but I’ll be damned if you dare make a scene on my premises.’

‘I can respect that.’ His response takes me aback. It seems I am not a contender, much less a threat, in this game of cat and mouse. Edward’s never been one to mince his words. ‘That cat will have to leave eventually, and when it does, it’ll be mine.’

‘Good luck, Edward. Goodbye.’

‘Goodbye, George. Thank you for having the good sense not to participate in what would be a futile endeavour for you.’

There it is.

I wave at him. He doesn’t reciprocate. It doesn’t matter: watching his outline fade into the distance and out of my sight for another day will never not be the highlight of our interactions.

I feel a warm presence weaving in and out between my legs. I kneel down to meet the cat’s gaze, two yellow diamonds set onto a doll-like face coated in pure onyx. I have wondered on occasion if some of the men’s malice toward it arises from the mere virtue of its colour. How preposterous, I imagine them thinking, that something as divine as she should possess such a vile creature. I offer it my finger. It gives it a tentative sniff. Two. Then it turns its head so that my finger is on its cheek, and it starts rubbing it. Its eyes are closed in contentment; its throat rumbles with soft purrs.

‘Did Edward hurt you?’

‘Meow.’ A once-over confirms it.

‘Are you hungry?’

‘Meow.’

I take that as a yes. No one has ever answered otherwise to this question while surrounded by MacKay creations. I grab a pumpernickel bagel from the counter, tear off a chunk, and lay it at its feet. As it eats, a metallic glint almost blinds me. The key. It calls to me. What’ll happen if I reach for it? What’ll I prove to Edward, who is patrolling the street outside, waiting for the chance to resume his reign of terror? No. I won’t. I don’t.

I speak to turn my attention from the small sheet of metal that’s turned the village upside down: ‘Are you having fun being the centre of attention? She must be relishing the peace, not having men fawn over her for the first time in a while. Is that why she hasn’t been visiting lately? I don’t fault her. It must be exhausting,’ I say, as I continue to ply it with bits of bagel.

It looks up at me, and it sizes me up and down. Its head cocks at what it’s registered in its mind’s eye. Of course. How rude of me. ‘I’m George,’ I say.

It rubs its head against my outstretched hand.

‘Nice kitty.’ I give it the rest of the bagel and lead it to the back door, through which it can avoid that scoundrel Edward and find safe passage home. ‘You can bring it back for her. Your mistress. Then maybe you can let me know if she liked it.’ I smile wistfully. ‘We’ve never actually met.’

‘Meow,’ it promises, then runs off.

Over time, more and more people quit the quest — Edward included. The unhaveable isn’t as appealing when it becomes haveable at the expense of hard work at best and deep gashes at worst. Her increased bouts of absence, too, seem to have made people’s hearts become less fonder, as if her glamour is wearing off. In contrast, the cat and I grow closer. We bond in my bakery. Then it stops coming to visit. I worry over whether it’s because someone else has succeeded. I work up the courage to go to her house. Seeing the cat play in her garden, the key still around its neck, fills me with relief, and I pick up from where I left off here in the grace of her garden. Oddly, she is never around when the cat’s there.

I make it special baked goods no one else has or will have access to and tell it to keep some for its mistress. I never find out whether she likes what I bake, but the cat definitely does. I tell the cat about myself in the hopes it’ll tell its mistress about me. I play with it using toys I buy from Christopher the merchant; he is happily married and has never shown interest in her. The men who gave up have spurned me for not taking the key when I’ve had ‘so many’ chances. They talk among themselves. I know what they say about me.

The truth is, I don’t know what’ll happen if I do take it. The cat and I have befriended each other. Will it think lesser of me for taking the key? Will I think I was befriending it under false pretences? It’s silly, I know, to care this much about what a cat thinks. But I suppose the cat is an extension of her. I feel so close to meeting the woman I’ve adored for the longest time, the woman who I knew in my gut from the moment I laid eyes on her is my soulmate. Sometimes I sneak glances into the house to see if she’s there, watching this. The cat redirects my attention to it when it catches me doing this, and I’m all the happier for it.

‘You’re lucky,’ I say to the cat. ‘You get to be with her while she doesn’t know I exist. I’ve loved her since I first saw her in the village. It’s foolish to feel like this about someone you don’t know, doesn’t it? But I know she’s kind and patient and has a good soul, and I know my heart flutters every time I see her.’

The cat jumps onto my lap. Its yellow gaze burns into me. It’s right. I don’t know what I was thinking, pouring my heart out to a cat. ‘You just want rubs,’ I say, and I’m happy to oblige.

It turns itself over, exposing its belly to me. I feel … honoured. In all our time spent together, this is the first time it’s done so. I slowly reach for its belly. When there is no sign I’ll lose my livelihood from what I’m about to do, I stroke it generously, fervently.

Then it uses its paws to nudge my hand toward the key.

I stop. ‘Are you … sure?’

‘Meow.’

I repeat my question. My hand has found itself an inch away from the key.

‘Meow.’

If it says so.

I undo the chain the key is on.

Suddenly, I am blinded by a white light, and — the air starts to smell of roses. It is a familiar aroma. I don’t need to use my sight to know why that is. But I don’t understand.

‘Hello, George.’

Before I can answer, I find myself in the kind of embrace reserved for lovers. My lips press up against hers, and I feel my world fall away in bliss. The warmth of her skin is unlike anything I ever felt. It’s magic. Pure magic. And now I understand.

‘We will have the rest of our lives to know each other better, love,’ she says, smiling, her eyes shining yellow under the sunlight. ‘Now, would you like to come in?’

[ariana-maryse]

Update!

I’m adding Marrowbone to the fandom list!

Absolutely no one asked for this, but I’ve gotta.

Also, I’ve been moved to an earlier shift at work so hopefully I can get through more requests quickly.

[heathsbitch]

Fandom List

This is a list of all the Fandoms I write for. If you want an imagine from a fandom that isn't listed below, DM me and maybe I'll be able to write something for you. I'll write boy x girl and girl x girl. No ships because that's not what I'm about. I'm sorry, but I won't be writing in a males perspective purely because I wouldn't know if it was accurate and I would be able to write better from a female’s POV. Also, I can write for the actor of a character if that's what you want.

I will be writing smut so if you're not comfortable with that kind of thing then please skip over that imagine. There will be a list of warning at the beginning of each chapter and in the title so you will know which ones to skip. All smut will be marked with * in the title.

*Please specify if you would like an imagine about the on-screen version of the character or the book version.

TV SHOWS

Game of Thrones

House of the Dragon

Wednesday (2022)

Vikings

Shadow and Bone* (also includes the Six of Crows series)

American Horror Story

Narcos

Teen Wolf

Criminal Minds

Hemlock Grove

Stranger Things

Shameless (US)

Gotham (only the Valeska twins)

Peaky Blinders

Animal Kingdom

The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina

13 Reasons Why

Sherlock

Brooklyn Nine-Nine

Merlin

Bad Education

Sex Education

My Babysitter’s a Vampire

MOVIES

Star Wars (in particular the prequels, but I write for any SW characters!)

Marvel (MCU and non-MCU)

The Dark Knight Trilogy

Wonder Woman

Inception

Dunkirk

1917

Captain Fantastic

True History of The Kelly Gang

Marrowbone

Ophelia

Here Are The Young Men*

10 Things I Hate About You

Call Me By Your Name

The King 

Harry Potter*

Fantastic Beasts

IT (2017 cast)

The Maze Runner*

The Hunger Games*

Divergent*

Percy Jackson*

Kingsman

Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children*

Kong: Skull Island

Descendants 1, 2, 3

The Chronicles of Narnia

SPORTS

F1/F2/F3 Drivers (Check out my side-blog, mickssbitch,  for more information and writings for these).

[phoorn]

A real programmer

They say a real programmer is lazy. They hate doing things so much they spend weeks writing tools that will save them minutes. Of course, sometimes they write tools that will save lots of people centuries.

What I’m getting at is I wrote a script today. It tells you the word count of each chapter in your story.

I say “chapter”, but really I mean –

What do you call it, when you, you know:

“Blah, blah, blah”, said Percy.

Little he know, the fool, that that blah was the last blah he would every blah.

On the following Tuesday I packed up my jimjams and set out into the Wild.

You don’t call that a chapter. I’ll die before I call it a scene (I’m not a director, and I don’t secretly wish I was one).

Well, anyway, my script counts up those. I wrote it in C. Would you like to C?

#include <err.h> #include "../wc/wc.h" #include "../cat/cat.h" #include "../split/split.h" int main (int argc, char **argv) { if (argc < 2) errx (1, "usage: %s file", *argv); char *buf; int ret = cat_paths_into_buf (&buf, (const char *[]) {argv[1]}, 1, 0); size_t n_bufs; char **bufs = split (buf, strchr (buf, '\0'), (char *[]) {"##"}, 1, &n_bufs, 1); struct wc wc; each (buf, &bufs[1], n_bufs - 1) { wc = wc_str (*buf); printf ("%zu: %zu\n", buf - bufs + 1 - 1, wc.words); } }

I’ll tell you some interesting things about this program.

1!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (each)

I like to use a macro to loop over arrays. In C, traditionally you do

for (int i = 0; i < /\* eg \*/ 100; i++) { /\* eg \*/ printf ("%d\n", the_thing[i]) }; }

And I think that’s more universally useful. I think if you were going to have just one kind of for loop, that would be it. But I like the other kind, the kind you get in Bash and no doubt Python and all the rest: “for THING in THINGS”.

The each macro lets me do that. Actually I can do that without a macro, and did for a long time.

for (struct thing *thing = things; thing < things + n_things; thing++) { (*thing).whatever = "joy"; }

But that’s pretty painful to write because it makes your eyes bleed.

2!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I include the header files “wc.h”, “cat.h” and “split.h”. These are libs I’ve written. split.h is straightforward: split a string. cat and wc, though, might be interesting to talk about.

C’s a bad language to write little scripts like this in, or so, I feel, people believe. But I say screw you.

What makes C bad as scripting language is the standard library. It doesn’t have convenient functions. As an example there no function simply split a string. There’s strtok. It’s not really the same. There’s no join, launch_emacs, no nothin. There’s actually no dynamic array struct-plus-function. Maybe because no one would agree on the best way to do it?

The program I pasted: would it really be that much shorter in Python? I say NO! Not that much shorter. Not when you have libs like wc, cat. But you have to write those yourself.

You can use big general-purpose libraries like glib and maybe one day I will. I’ve never liked the idea of linking to such a big binary just to write programs like the one I. But I think that’s empty prejudice. Most scripts you write yourself in Bash are personal. I mean, they run on your machine, and glib (or whatever) is on your machine.

My wc and cat libs are based, you’ll know if you’re in the know, on Unix commands: wc (wordcount) and cat (concatenate – it reads in files, outputs them to the screen).

I’ve thought for a long time I’d love to see GNU’s Coreutils designed as C libraries. The commands would be frontends for those libraries. Because, like I say, the pain in C isn’t the language, it’s the low-level nature of its standard library.

Even other libraries are obnoxiously low-level. There’s a commonly-used library, PCRE (Perl-Compatible Regular Expressions). It’s very clever, well made, has loads of functions.

But it doesn’t have a “match” function! I swear, I’ve looked. There’s no function you can call to just figure out if a bit of text matches a pattern. Instead you’re expected to compile a regex, then execute it, checking for errors along the way. It about six lines for something that in in other languages is simply “==” or “=~”.

So, of course, the first thing you do when faced with that is wrap it in your own function, regmatch and forget about all the rest.

What else do I have to complain about?

Nothing. What a disgrace.

That was a pretty incoherent blog post, but I’ve overdone it on the coffee / energy drinks and have a headache.

Oh

I suppose I should say something about the story. I’ll tell you I’ve come up with a name: The Long, Thin Tail of God. I’ll also spurt out here the names I considered. Fast content, ker-splat, paste it in.

Home

Lonely

Marrowbone War

Burane Massacre

Big Rock on a Beach

Big House on the Hill

The Whore of Black Lake

To Jump on My Bed

Jumping At Every Sound

An Archaeologist

A Spy

It Wasn’t Sheer Bliss

Ice-cold home

As If I Was A Stranger

Xunotic

Xunophillia

Xunophobia

Because You’re not worthy, Soraen

Right in the Centre of Town

Yes, I Would Have Said

Keep the Fire Burning

Eternal Flame

What a Lot of Work it Must Take

The Burané Massacre.

The Ape-People

The Monkey God

The Strange Tale of the Long, Thin Tail

The Long, Thin tail – that’s a nice pun.

The Long, Thin Tail of God

I went with the Tail one for a very practical reason: the story is, in the end, about this monkey god, Xu. And there’s bugger all about him in story until near the end. I kind of liked that. I like stories that surprise me. I don’t have strong opinions about how stories should be.

But I know if I don’t drop heavy hints about the God before he’s mentioned at the end, people will say, “Huh? Where did he come from?”

He came from your mama! Now shut up and just enjoy the damn story!

[that-thing-that-feeling]

I was thinking about the whole Charlie’s agent thing, and I was wondering if because he dropped his London agent and evidently hasn’t gotten a new one, if it meant his agent at Gersh or at Brillstein was taking over international work in addition to American work. So I did some research: one of Brillstein’s clients is Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Quicksilver in Avengers). He’s English, and he still takes English roles even though both of his agents are based in Los Angeles (the other one is WME). So I bet that’s what Charlie did, although I don’t exactly understand why he chose to do that during quarantine. Maybe it takes time to change so he did it when he knew he wouldn’t be working at all in England? Idk.

Maybe some can get some international but to take Aaron Taylor-Johnson as an example, looks like he has three big name WME agents, including ones that have big British actors (Millie, Pattinson, Tom Holland, Hiddleston, etc), whereas Charlie has only one agent at Gersh with not a lot of British actors. Could depend not so much on manager but agency/agent. And it also looks like the little British projects Aaron has done lately are directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson and he also just has a lot more acting credits/roles than Charlie which would make it easier for him to get roles in general. But the norm for British actors is still having a combo team (look at Joe and Harris in TSP2, George Mackay, Josh O’Connor, Alex Lawther, Fionn Whitehead, Dean Charles Chapman, Asa Butterfield, Pattinson, Tom Burke, Hiddleston, Cumberbatch, just to take a few Brit male actors examples). It just seems like it’s the norm and better to have both because one advantage British actors have is being able to work in both British and American productions (wonder also which helps more with other international projects like marrowbone etc).

But the other weird thing about it is Charlie seems to want to be in British projects since he went for and got a big BBC miniseries even tho it’s not happening and got the souvenir 2. But maybe it’s that it takes a bit to change as you’re saying and either that his Brit agent stopped being an agent or wasn’t as helpful anymore (but Tom was once good enough to get him that screen daily British stars of tomorrow thing back in 2015.) But you’d sorta think if he was getting a new British agent that would have already happened or would happen before the souvenir 2 releases since that’s likely to be seen by the British film/tv industry even tho a small part so could lead to more British roles? It’s baffling he doesn’t have a British agent anymore; idgi.