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watermelonlovershigh · 2 years

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Maybe them discussing being attracted to someone? Or like a gossip-y thing where they talk about what celebrities they have crushes on or whatever. Or three some fantasies. Or like Harry with a bi flag at a show or something.

💖💜💙

AN: thank you anon for the wonderful ideas. i incorporated a few into this little blurb and i hope you like it.

This story contains: mild smut, mentions of boobs, mentions of sub/dom relationships, fluff, not much dialogue

{ boyfriend!harry - softrry - bi!reader - have been dating for over a year }

word count: 796

What it's like being with Harry as a bisexual women.

You told Harry you were bisexual about six months into dating and it's been the most liberating feeling ever since. Where before you were cautious about what you said around him so you didn't accidently out yourself, now you can share your thoughts freely.

Though you knew he'd support you, it's still a scary thing to come out to someone you love so dearly.

When you and Harry are watching a film together on his couch, you'll blurt out, "Fuck, her tits are nice." in reference to the actress on the screen.

Harry will try and act offended by replying with something like, "Hey..."

And you'll say back, "What? There's no denying her boobs are gorgeous."

Harry will laugh and retort, "Alright, her tits are very pretty but I'd rather not think about another woman's breasts will I have the best pair right beside me." Referring to your boobs that he loves so much.

He's also been the most supportive partner as well. At least in one part of every concert he'll find a way to hold up the bi flag. Of course he still holds up the rainbow flag which represents all labels under the queer umbrella, but just something about him holding the bisexual flag makes you so happy.

And his fans most likely know why he's so adamant about holding the bi flag because you have now mentioned publicly you're bisexual. Though some still speculate if it's Harry's way of giving clues to his own sexuality when he's stated himself he'd rather go unlabeled. Not really feeling either straight or gay or anything in between.

Not just on stage is he supportive though. This year he took you to your first pride parade. He never had a reason to go before dating you because his sexuality is quite complicated and it never seemed fitting enough to go. But now, you give him a reason to go. To go to a parade where all lgbtqia is welcome.

Harry dressed in more general rainbow clothes so no one got the wrong idea about his personal identity while you dressed in the bisexual colors. But he did wave the bisexual flag with you, up and down the streets at the pride parade in LA.

Not only do you share your attractiveness to beautiful women parts and have a very supportive boyfriend, you also talk about your past relationships. More so you though because Harry would rather forget all of his. Now that you're out to Harry, you share the differences you notice being in a relationship with a guy verses when you dated a women.

The biggest difference for you personally is being dominant with men and submissive with women. You don't know what it is but when your ex girlfriends would call you "baby girl" and push and tug you around during sex, you became mush. Now being with Harry, you have this urge to take control and watch him be all helpless during sex. Which Harry has no problem with because he's always been secretly submissive.

A non sexual difference you can spot is the way the bed smells after a nights sleep. When you shared a bed with your ex girlfriend, the bed would smell of flowers and her apple scented shampoo. With Harry, his bed in the mornings smells more musky and dare you say, manly. Both have their pros and cons but you will say the more manly scent turns you on easier.

Lastly, you try and act all confident in your bisexuality but reality is, you still have insecurities and fears. So you'll often ask Harry, "You promise you don't get scared I'll leave you for a women?"

And Harry will reply, "Why on earth would I need that fear? Is there somethin' I need to know?" That last part is said in a joking tone.

You'll shake your head no and then respond with, "No, it's just, people online keep saying you should be scared I'll leave you for a women and..... and I want you to know you don't have to worry. My attraction to women has nothing to do with my attraction and love for you. Straight people still know they like the opposite gender while being with the opposite gender so it's no different than me knowing I like the same gender while being with the opposite gender."

Harry leans down and whispers near your mouth, "I know, m'love. I know you love me and I've never doubted that for a second. I love that you embrace your sexuality and don't shy away from expressing your feelings when it correlates to your sexuality. Makes me love you even more if I'm honest." Then leans in an inch or two to fully connect his lips with yours.

(PLEASE REBLOG BECAUSE WRITING IS NOT EASY AND IT’S FREE SO JUST DO IT)

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______________

My Masterlist Masterpost

#harry styles #harry styles blurb #bi!reader #bisexual!reader #bisexual!reader fan fic #harry x reader #bisexual #harry styles fluff #harry styles smut #anons request #harry styles fan fiction

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gooseprotocol · 8 days

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Spice Girls interviewed by Kathy Acker in 1997 for the Guardian Weekend edition.

All Girls Together by Kathy Acker

The Spice Girls are the biggest, brashest girlie group ever to have hit the British mainstream. Kathy Acker is an avant-garde American writer and academic. They met up in New York to swap notes – on boys, girls, politics. And what they really, really want.

Fifty-second street. West Side, New York City. Hell’s Kitchen – one of those areas into which no one would once have walked unless loaded. Guns or drugs or both. But now it has been gentrified: the beautiful people have won. A man in middle-aged-rocker uniform, tight black jeans and nondescript T-shirt, lets Nigel, the photographer, and me through the studio doorway then a chipmunk-sort-of-guy in shorts, with a Buddha tattooed on one of his arms, greets us warmly. This is Muff, the band’s publicity officer. We’re about to meet the Girls … They are here to rehearse for an appearance on Saturday Night Live. Not only is this their first live TV performance, it’s also the first time they’ll be playing with what Mel C calls a “real band”. If the Girls are to have any longevity in the music industry, they will have to break into the American market and for this they will need the American media. Both the Girls and their record company believe that their appearance here tonight might do the trick.

There is a refusal among America’s music critics to take the Spice Girls seriously. The Rolling Stone review of Spice, their first album, refers to them as “attractive young things ... brought together by a manager with a marketing concept”. The main complaint, or explanation for disregard, is that they are a “manufactured band”. What can this mean in a society of McDonald’s, Coca-Cola and En Vogue? However, an email from a Spice fan mentions that, even though he loves the girls, he detects a “couple of stereotypes surrounding women in the band’s general image. The brunette is the woman every man wants to date. Perfect for an adventure on a midnight train, or to hire as your mistress-secretary. The blonde is the woman you take home to mother, whereas the redhead is the wild woman, the woman-with-lots-of-evil-powers.” So who are these Girls? And how political is their notorious “Girl Power”? Even though I have seen many of their videos and photos, as soon as I’m in front of these women, I am struck by how they look far more remarkable than I had expected, even though Mel C is trying not to look as lovely as she is. I had intended to say something else, but instead I find myself asking them: “If paradise existed, what would it look like?” Geri speaks first, and she is, I think, reprimanding me for being idealistic. “Money makes the world what it is today,” she says, almost before I have time to think about my sudden outburst, “a world infested with evil. All sorts of wars are going on at the moment. Everyone’s kind of bickering, wanting to better themselves because their next-door neighbour’s got a better lawn. That kind of thing.” “Greed,” Victoria adds. Mel C: “Instead of trying to be better than someone else, you have to try to better yourself.” In a few minutes, they are explaining to me that the Spice Girls is a type of paradise, Spice Girls is a lifestyle. “It’s community.” That’s Geri again. She and Mel B – one in a funky, antique Hawaiian shirt, the other in diaphanous yellow bell-bottoms and top – do most of the talking. Mel C, in her gym clothes, is the quietest. Geri: “We’re a community in which each one of us shines individually, without making any of the others feel insecure. We liberate each other. A community should be liberating. Nelson Mandela said that you know when someone is brilliant when having that person next to you makes you feel good.”

‘The Spicey life vibey thing’ ... The Spice Girls film the Euro 96 theme song video. Photograph: Dave Hogan/Getty Images

“Not envious,” adds her cohort, Mel B. These are the two baddest Girls. At least on the surface. I suspect otherwise. “It inspires you.” Geri again. “That is what life’s about. People should be inspiring.” I can’t keep up with these Girls. My generation, spoon-fed Marx and Hegel, thought we could change the world by altering what was out there – the political and economic configurations, all that seemed to make history. Emotions and personal – especially sexual – relationships were for girls, because girls were unimportant. Feminism changed this landscape in England, the advent of Margaret Thatcher, sad to say, changed it more. The individual self became more important than the world. To my generation, this signals the rise of selfishness for the generation of the Spice Girls, self-consideration and self-analysis are political. When the Spices say, “We’re five completely separate people,” they’re talking politically. “Like when you’re in a relationship,” Mel B takes over, “and you’re in love, you feel you’re only you when you’re with that person, so when you leave that person, you think ‘I’m not me’. That’s so wrong. It’s downhill from then on, in yourself spiritually and in your whole environment. In this band, it’s different. Each of us is just the way we are, and each of us respects that.”

“As Melanie says,” adds Geri, “each of us wants to be her own person and, without snatching anyone else’s energy, bring something creative and new and individual to the group. We’re proof this is happening. When the Spice Girls first started as a unit, we respected the qualities we found in each other that we didn’t have in ourselves. It was like, ‘Wow! That’s the Spicey life vibey thing, isn’t it?’”

Geri turns even more paradoxical: “Normally, when you get fans of groups, they want to act like you, they copy what you’re wearing, for instance. Whereas our fans, they might have pigtails and they might wear sweatclothes, but they are so individual, it’s unbelievable. When you speak to them, they’ve got so much balls! It’s like we’ve collected a whole group of our people together! It’s really, really mad. I can remember someone coming up to us and going, ‘Do you know what? I’ve just finished with my boyfriend! And you’ve given me the incentive to go ‘Fuck this!’” At this, the Spices cheer. Giving up any hope of narrative continuity, I ask the girls if they want boys. “Some of us are in relationships.” Mel B. “I live with my boyfriend. For three years now, yeah.” I tell them that I’ve never been good at balancing sexual love and work. “Of course you can. It doesn’t make me a lesser person to be in a relationship makes me a better person. Because I can still go out and . . . flirting is natural.” I’m listening to Mel B, but all I can think, at the moment, is how beautiful she is. “I can stay out all night and come in when I want. Your whole life doesn’t have to change just because you’re with somebody else.”

What man could handle all this? ... The Spice Girls at the 1997 Cannes film festival. Photograph: Bertrand Guay/AFP/Getty Images

“It depends on the individual,” says Geri. “I think whoever we would chose to be with should respect the way we are... and our job as well...” Mel B. “The way we are together. None of us would be interested in a man that wanted to dominate, wanted to pull you down, and wanted you to do what he wanted you to do.” I wonder what man could handle all this.

“If one of us was to go out with a dweeb of a man,” says Mel B, “he would probably feel threatened by the five of us. Because we do share things about our relationships, so it’s like a gang. Like a gang, but we’re not. We can have relationships, but they have to be on a completely different level.” Emma talks only about her mother, and Mel C is very quiet. What hides, I wonder, behind that face, which appears more delicate and intense than in her photos? Victoria, I learn later, is upset about an ex-boyfriend’s betrayal of her confidence – throughout our discussion she looks slightly upset. Several times she says that, above all, she wants privacy. Perhaps paradise is not as simple as it seems. I know that, to find out more about these Girls, I must change the subject, but instead, I just blurt out: “Let’s stop talking about boys!” “Yeah,” agree the Girls.

Do they think the Spice Girls will go on forever? And if not, what will they do after it ends? What do you really want to do? “We talked about that the other day, didn’t we?” Geri, sitting on the floor, turns around to the three girls sprawled on a black sofa. Emma, in a white from-the-Sixties dress, perches on a high chair. Their hair has been done, their faces powdered, and they’re ready for the photo.

Spice Girls: Say You’ll Be There - video

“I want to own restaurants,” Victoria takes the lead. She wears a skin-tight designer outfit, perfectly positioned Wonderbra and heels seemingly too high to walk on. Unlike the other girls, she never lets her mask break open.

“The entrepreneur,” remarks Mel B fondly. “Restaurants and art,” Victoria continues. “I’ve always liked art. Ever since I was...” She pauses. “And I’d like a nice big house, and to fill it with, you know...” “Sculptures!” Mel B. “Nude men.” That’s Mel C. All the girls are laughing. Victoria admits – and her emotions finally start to show – that’s she’s always fancied doing art. A few years ago, she and Geri were going to return to college, but they didn’t have the time. Now the others are teasing her about her shoes. I like these girls. I like being with them. “I don’t know what I want to do.” Mel C. The Spices who haven’t yet said anything are now talking. “At the moment I am completely into what I’m doing, and I find it hard to think, right now, what I want to do later on.” Mel B. “I want a big family, like the Waltons,” Emma admits. “I like taking care of people, I love kids.”

“You can look after mine.” Mel C.

Everyone’s saying something. Victoria wants to live with her sister, and maybe her brother Emma’s thinking of her mother. I’m beginning to realise how different from each other the Girls are. Mel C says she likes living alone, but wishes she were geographically closer to her family.

“Me and Geri,” pipes up Mel B, who’s rarely silent for more than a minute, “come from up north. It’s like living in a little community, isn’t it? And moving down into London, it’s like moving into the big wild world. I don’t even know my next-door neighbour, do you?”

“No,” answers Mel C. I like these girls. They’re home girls. “I’d be in a cult, or join a naturist camp or something, and just live there, like back in the Sixties in the hippy days,” Mel B is gesticulating, “where everything’s just One Love, everything’s free, and there are no set rules, where nobody judges you...” Geri tells me that she is a jack-of-all-trades. After speculating whether she might do her own TV show, or go into films, write a movie script, she announces that her model is Sylvester Stallone.

I think of Brigitte Nielsen. “I’ll tell you why.” He couldn’t get a part in Hollywood, she explains, so he wrote, directed and produced Rambo himself. “I just think that’s what it takes I always love it when the underdog comes through.”

The Girls have been in showbusiness for years. Emma started when she was three. All of the others were professional by the age of 17 or 18. I’m beginning to understand why these Girls have been picked, consciously or unconsciously, by their generation to represent that generation. Especially, but not only, the female sector. In a society still dominated by class and sexism, very few of those not born to rule, women especially, are able to make choices about their own work and lifestyle. Very few know freedom. None of the Spices, not even Victoria, was born privileged nor, as they themselves note, are they traditional beauties. Christine, a student of mine, watching them on Saturday Night Live, remarked to me: “They’re not even slick dancers or exceptional singers! They’re just the girl-next-door!”

And they are they’re just girls as more than one of them remarked to me, “We never really had a chance until this happened!” They’re the girls never heard from before this in England look, there are lots of them ones who’ve known Thatcherite, post-Thatcherite society and nothing else, and now, thanks to the glory and the strangeness of British rock-pop society, they’ve found a voice. Listen to the voices of those who didn’t go to Oxford or Cambridge, or even to Sussex or to art school...

Geri: “I didn’t really know that much, you know, history, but I knew about the suffragettes. They fought. It wasn’t that long ago. They died to get a vote. The women’s vote. Bloody ass-fucking mad, do you know what I mean? You remember that and you think, fucking hell. But to get back to what Victoria was saying about us, that we never got anywhere, you know, the underdog thing. This is why I feel so passionate. We’ve been told, time and time again, you’re not pretty enough, you’re too fat, you’re too thin...” All the Spice Girls are now roaring. “...You’re not tall enough, you’re not white, you’re not black. What I passionately feel is that it is so wrong to have to fit into a role or a mould in order to succeed. What I think is fan-fucking-tastic about us now is that we are not perfect and we have made a big success of ourselves. I’m swelling with pride.” But you are babes. They all protest. “We were all individually beaten down... Collectively, we’ve got something going,” says Geri. “Individually, I don’t think we’d be that great.”

“There’s a chemistry that runs through us and gives us... where I’m bad at something, Melanie’s good, or Geri’s good at something at which the rest of us are bad,” says Victoria. Look, I say, I’m feeling stranger and stranger about these politics based on individualism. There are lots of girls who have the same backgrounds as they do, right? “Right.”

So what is holding those girls down? Keeping them from doing what they really want to do? They start to discuss this. I can hardly make out who’s saying what in the ensuing commotion. I hear “society and conditioning”; another one, Emma perhaps, is talking about being in showbiz, receiving job rejection after job rejection she’s saying how strong you have to be to keep bouncing back. Geri mentions Freud, then states that parents’ beliefs often hold back a child, parents and then the child’s reception in her school. “When you go and see a careers officer,” ponders Mel C, “and you sit down and say, ‘I want to be a spaceman’, instead of responding ‘Go study astrophysics’, they go, ‘Yeah, but what do you really want to do?’ That is so wrong. I think there should be a class in – what do you call it? – self-motivation. Self-motivation classes, self-esteem classes.”

I still feel that a bit of economic realism is missing here, but I can’t get a word in edgewise. Not in all the girl excitement. These females are angry.

“I think it all goes back to everyone wanting to feel that they’re part of an ongoing society,” Geri tries to analyse. “The humdrum nine-to-five, you know what it’s like... What do you do when you leave school? You go and get a job to have money to pay off the mortgage, you get a flat and have a nice boyfriend, pay off your bills, you go to work with your briefcase and your suit, and that’s it. That’s people’s normal, everyday thing, isn’t it? And if you branch out from that, it’s... well, ‘What does she think she’s doing?’ It’s going against the grain a bit – which not many people do. It’s not even going against the grain it’s just clinging on to the bit you want to do and thinking I’m going to do it, who cares?” The Girls, including Geri, tell me that they’ve got an American philosophy, an American dream. “But me,” says Mel B, “before I was in the band, I thought I’d like to be a preacher. I still do. Something like that. They’ve actually got this place in London which is called Speaker’s Corner. You get up on your stand there you can speak about anything. I’d like to speak about people, the emotional or mental blocks people have, especially regarding other people, things like that. That’s what the tattoo on my stomach means, ‘Spirit, Heart and Mind’, because that’s what fuels me – communication fuels me. You learn about yourself, about other people and life in general, through communication.” She says that’s she’s been writing since she was 11, writing everything down, “why the world is this shape, what would happen if everyone on earth died...”

“Stoned questions...” murmurs another Spice. “I’d love to go back to the Sixties,” Emma says in her clear voice. “I’d love that. I wouldn’t wear headbands though.” What about some of the politics of the Sixties, I ask. Malcolm X? The fight against racism? “The other day I watched The Killing Fields.” Now Geri’s doing the talking. “That was in the Sixties, Vietnam. I think it’s very healthy that there’s an element of that today. Through the media today we can see people demonstrating for human rights. In Cambodia, on the other side of the world. I think it’s brilliant when you see people standing up, when they have a voice, it kicks the system, a little bit, into touch.”

Spice Girls: Spice up Your Life - video

But what about in England today? I mention that in the US, racism is still a big issue.

Mel B and Geri start talking about racism. Geri tells me that she’s learned about racial prejudice from Mel B, who says, “The thing I find really bizarre about America and England ... You say that the racism thing is worse in America, yet if you look at television here [in NYC], they’re really scrupulous about making sure, for instance, that they have a black family in an advert. On the adverts in England, you wouldn’t find that.” Suddenly all the Spices are talking among themselves. I can’t understand anything. Then we’re on the subject of Madonna, of people who have inspired us, and Geri starts speaking about Margaret Thatcher. Why she admires her. “But we won’t go down there!” “Don’t go down there!” advise the Girls.

“We won’t go down there, but...” and Geri, who never seems to listen to reason, begins. She says that when politicians discuss the economy, they’re just talking about shifting money from one spot to another, and someone always suffers. This is the same distrust of government that so many Americans, both on the right and left – and especially among lower and working-class people – are feeling and articulating.

Mel C says softly, “We talked about suffragettes and getting the vote to women, and all that. But a lot of women don’t vote a lot of our generation doesn’t vote. I don’t. I don’t feel I should because I don’t know anything about politics ...”

“That was what I was going to say,” adds Emma. They blame the lack of political education in schools. Whether they like or dislike Margaret Thatcher or Tony Blair, they distrust both the political industry and the related media. “Intellectual people chatting in bathrooms,” comments Mel B. “We are society,” exclaims Geri, “so really ...”

“... We should be running it,” Mel B finishes the statement.

“I’d like to run it for a day,” says Victoria, looking directly at me.

“But Victoria, who’s going to let you do such a job?” Geri reminds her. “The only way to go is growth,” says Mel B. “I think everyone’s turned a bit to the spiritual life.”

“You know,” interjects Victoria, “if you believe in evolution, we only use 20% of our brain ... if that. So it’s natural that we can evolve to the next level. We’ve got to, really.”

“Nowadays, people do sit down and ask themselves ‘Why am I doing this?’” Mel B continues. “They question themselves and what they’ve got around them. I know I do it, and you find your own little mission. And you fucking go for it. A lot more people are like that now.” Do they all feel like that? There’s a general quiet, then a “Yeah” all around me. I ask the Spices to describe themselves. For a moment, they’re lost for words. Victoria: “I love what I’m doing. I’m with my five best friends, and I’ve seen some great countries. I’m happy, I’m very happy. I care a lot about my family. Regarding my personality, I’m private. There are things for me to know and no one else to find out.” She hesitates. “I just accept the way I am. You have to make the most of it, make the best of yourself. I’m a bit of a fretter. If I’m going to do something, I want to do it properly. I want to do the best I can. I’m a perfectionist.”

Emma: “Me, I’m definitely a bit of a brat. I worry about what other people are feeling, that sort of thing.”

Geri: “I have quite an active mind. Quite eccentric, really. A conversationalist. I believe in fate in a big way, a very big way.” Mel B: “I’m always asking inward questions about things. I live off the vibes, I do, that people give me. If I don’t like someone then I won’t speak to them, even though something might be coming out of their mouth that I should listen to. I like to think I’m a bit of a free spirit. I don’t run by any rule book. I live on the edge a little bit. I always think, well, at least I’ll die happy today rather than worrying about it tomorrow.”

Mel C: “I’m very regimented. I really enjoy my own company, although I love being with other people.”

I’m watching the Spice Girls perform Wannabe on Saturday Night Live, but not seeing them. In my mind, I’m seeing England. When I returned there in July last year, lad culture was in full swing. Loaded was running what had once been a relatively intellectual magazine culture. Feminism, especially female intellectuals, had become extinct. “Where have all the women gone to?” I asked. Then came a twist named the Spice Girls. The Spices, though they deny it, are babes – the blonde, the redhead, the dark sultry fashion model – and they’re more. They both are and represent a voice that has too long been repressed. The voices, not really the voice, of young women and, just as important, of women not from the educated classes. It isn’t only the lads sitting behind babe culture, bless them, who think that babes or beautiful lower and lower-middle class girls are dumb. It’s also educated women who look down on girls like the Spice Girls, who think that because, for instance, girls like the Spice Girls take their clothes off, there can’t be anything “up there”.

The Spice Girls are having their cake and eating it. They have the popularity and the popular ear that an intellectual, certainly a female intellectual, almost never has in this society, and, what’s more, they have found themselves, perhaps by fluke, in the position of social and political articulation. It little matters now how the Spice Girls started – if they were a “manufactured band”.

What does this have to do with feminism? When I lived in England in the Eighties, a multitude of women, diverse and all intellectual, were continually heard from – people such as Michele Roberts, Jeanette Winterson, Sara Maitland, Jacqueline Rose, Melissa Benn. Is it also possible that the English feminism of the Eighties might have shared certain problems with the American feminism of the Seventies? English feminism, as I remember it back then, was anti-sex. And like their American counterparts, the English feminists were intellectuals, from the educated classes. There lurked the problem of elitism, and thus class.

I am speculating, but, perhaps due to Margaret Thatcher – though it is hard to attribute anything decent to her – a populist change has taken place in England. The Spice Girls, and girls like them, and the girls who like them, resemble their American counterparts in two ways: they are sexually curious, certainly pro-sex, and they do not feel that they are stupid or that they should not be heard because they did not attend the right universities. If any of this speculation is valid, then it is up to feminism to grow, to take on what the Spice Girls, and women like them, are saying, and to do what feminism has always done in England, to keep on transforming society as society is best transformed, with lightness and in joy.

#spice girls #kathy acker #spice up your life

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bananaofswifts · 2 years

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Taylor Swift review, Arizona: On the first night of her Eras tour, Swift seems as liberated as she’s ever been.

5 STARS - By Kelsey Barnes

When Taylor Swift released her second album, Fearless, back in 2008, she was a bright-eyed singer-songwriter hoping to make it big in Nashville. Fifteen years later, it’s evident that she’s made it big everywhere. “I don’t know how it gets better than this,” the 33-year-old sings to a stadium of 70,000 people. Every last one of them shares the sentiment.

The five years since Swift’s last tour have been among her most prolific. She’s made four additions to her “family” of albums: 2019’s Lover, 2020’s Folklore and Evermore, and 2022’s Midnights. At the same time, she’s been busy re-recording her first six albums as part of her plan to reclaim the master recordings, following a very public battle with her former record label.

Her “Eras Tour” was designed as a journey through that staggering back catalogue of 10 albums, from her earlier country twang on her self-titled debut to the shift to synth-pop on 1989, then to the subdued folk and alt-rock of Folklore and Evermore. Throughout the opening night of the tour, it frequently feels as though the audience is being caught up with Swift’s past, present and future. In the 44-song setlist that spans three hours and 15 minutes, she shows why the “era” concept is so integral to who she is. Each chapter marks a specific shift in her artistry.

There’s a palpable elation at the State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. Costumes are emblazoned with hand-painted lyrics; faces are bright with glitter; hands are covered in Swift’s lucky number 13. The fans I speak to say the concert feels like “coming home”. Swift herself admits to feeling a little overwhelmed: “I’ll be trying to keep it together all night.”

Plenty of Swift’s biggest hits make it onto the setlist, of course, but there are surprises, too. Like the fact that she opens on “Miss Americana and the Heartbreak Prince”, the hazy synth-driven track from Lover, inspired by Swift’s political disillusionment. On it, she cast herself as a high school student dealing with bullies as an allegory for the right-wing gaining power in the US, and the heartbreak and despair that came with it. Deeper album cuts appear in the form of “Illicit Affairs”, the haunting track on which Swift battles her inner emotions, and a striking acoustic version of “Mirrorball”, which she dedicates to her fans. Later, they get the chance to scream-sing along to some of her most cutting lyrics on “Vigilante S***” (“I don’t dress for women/ I don’t dress for men/ Lately I’ve been dressing for revenge”).

Each era transition is marked by both a costume and set change. “Look What You Made Me Do”, the 2017 single that heralded her return after a lengthy hiatus, sees different versions of Swift inside glass boxes: a nod to a time when she grappled to reconcile her sense of self with her public image. For songs from the autumnal, insular Folklore and Evermore, the stage is overtaken by trees and a cosy, moss-covered cabin. At one point, the stage is bare aside from a long wooden table that she arranges for two people. It’s sparse and cold, reflecting the stark sound of “tolerate it”, where she pleads for another person’s attention.

It’s telling that Swift closes on “Karma”, a tongue-in-cheek nod to how she ultimately rose above the tabloid headlines, feuds and rivalries that once circled her like vultures. Dressed in a shimmering fringed jacket, joining in with her troupe of dancers, she seems as liberated as she’s ever been. “Ask me why so many fade/ but I’m still here,” she sings. The answer is right there for all to see.

#taylor swift #the eras tour #the eras tour review

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inmyhorrorsera · 1 year

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S5E7 "Hybrid Creatures" thoughts

That's it. Those are my thoughts.

Kinda...

I'm kinda used to the writers putting Nadja in situations and see what it sticks, but (un)holy shit its so obvious that they don't know what to do with her character. What we do in the shadows learn how to write women challenge.

I don't know if the Guide even appeared. My stream stopped a couple times and I have to refresh so maybe I missed her (if not see previous point because it also applies to her).

LOVED Nadja's kitty hair buns, love to see that at least the hair and costume department still cares about her.

The line about burning the school made me roll my eyes, not only because that story doesn't make sense with what we learned about her childhood, but also because I can FEEL when tv shows throw lines with the specific expectations of them being gifed, become memes, etc.

I know it's stupid to discuss about the ethics of Laszlo's experiments on the dick and balls show but in this episode I was all 😬😬😬 about it. Like, I don't give a shit if it was done with comedy purposes, animal experimentation is one of the subjects I will never find remotely funny or make jokes with, specially if we start thinking... How much consent Guillermo gave for Laszlo to straight up play with his DNA in this way? He has nothing to say about it except for a confused frown or looking panicky at the sight of the creatures?? More important, if Nandor did this exact same thing the past season and created the hybrids with a Djinn wish or whatever, how would the fandom have reacted??? (spoiler: waaay more angered than when everybody's fave Laszlo does it).

The work of puppetry and digital effects was good as always, nothing bad to say about the team behind the cameras that puts all their hard work and craft on this, sadly, mid storyline.

Despite how little I care about mAd ScIenTiSt Lazslo plot, the moment when Guillermo believes he won't help him anymore was truly heartbreaking just by looking at his face. You can see he really has all his hopes in Laszlo finding a 'cure'.

I wish the whole thing about Guillermo being incapable of killing the hybrids hit me harder (as if we didn't saw him luring innocent teenagers so they can get killed in the literal pilot).

Sorry but that lady character didn't work for me and the "Helen the Magic Johnson" joke was unfunny and kinda old :/ i wonder if half of the wwdits fandom even got the reference (also lmao shameless product placement, you can tell they needed the money to pay for the cgi used on the creatures).

Colin was like his season 1 self. I bet the wwdits reddit ate up that shit.

See also: Laszlo calling Guillermo 'Gizmo' again. Hated it.

Colin becoming the stereotypical 'cool' white liberal teacher was hilarious specially when he said the cliché "history is written by the oppressors" line because that's where the parody becomes too obvious. This is the guy whose dna results on s1 were "100% white" after all. AND YET some people here are still celebrating and repeating it as this 'so true bestie 😔✊' moment without realizing the show's laughing at you, not with you. But hey, this is the we don't get satire even if it bites on our ass site. Imagine fans celebrating when Kendall Succession shouted "fuck the patriarchy!" in front of the paparazzi for being a #feminist. That's how wooosh the moment went over some of y'alls heads.

Nandor and Colin at the museum felt a little tackled on, but at least Nandor annoyance at his personal items being displayed was fun.

And Colin being friendly (dare I say…sweet?) with him at the end again gave me a happy smile. I'll never guessed this season was all about the Colin and Nandor (Condor??) era but I'm all for it.

Biggest Mild laugh of the night: Nandor mannequin having male and female lovers on the display, the dude is wearing Calvin Kleins!

I can't say much about Guillermo leaving the hybrids at the senior home because it's a overused ending for wwdits at this point. Seriously, when this show doesn't know how to end an episode they always do the same shit: Leave the characters that are a problem in a different place. It happened with: Topher at the zombie sweatshop, Jim the vampire as the volleyball coach in Tucson, familiar Benji in a different city/state (forgot where), The Baron and the Sire in the countryside, Derek working at Sean's MLM, Freddie!Marwa in the Uk. They have done this ending 👏🏼lots 👏🏼 of 👏🏼 times👏🏼already!!

Having a wank?! The setup and payoff for this joke really worked.

Next episode seems interesting.

Anyway, I am once again asking for the Djinn...

#of course i found a way to sneak character of all time Kendall Roy in my conversations #what we do in the shadows #wwdits #wwdits spoilers #wwdits thoughts

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dankusner · 2 months

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Katy Perry Is Stuck in 2016

We used to know who Katy Perry was.

A good Christian girl gone wild, shooting whipped cream out of a candy-cane bustier, cruising in her Jeep, and getting freaky on the weekend.

A beach babe in search of good times and cheap thrills.

Over a decade ago, in the aftermath of the Great Recession, Perry satisfied our national appetite for youth, frivolity, and hedonism.

She represented pop music as a sweet escape, producing some of the best, most era-defining songs of the 21st century.

Teenage Dream, her smash 2010 album, tied Michael Jackson for most No. 1 singles; half of its tracks went Top 10.

If called forth at karaoke, basically everyone can sing, verbatim, “Last Friday Night,” “Firework,” and “Teenage Dream.”

Who is Katy Perry now?

A recently retired American Idol judge, the wife of movie star Orlando Bloom, a new mom, the designer of a whimsical shoe line stocked at Macys.

She’s a proud liberal who wears “PERSIST” armbands to the Grammys and remains committed to empowerment politics even though its integration into her music — “purposeful pop,” as she has branded it — precipitated her plunge.

Most of all, she’s a 2010s relic, a faded pop star frantically attempting to clamber back to relevance, only to be thwarted by her inability to tell up from down.

Did you know she released an album during the pandemic?

Probably not.

Well, Katy’s back, and everything about the rollout for her new album, 143, reeks of desperation.

Bidding for lowest-common-denominator gay fandom, she’s busied herself resharing tweets calling her “mother”;

she enlisted YouTube-controversy machine Trisha Paytas to react to her album.

At Paris Couture Week, she dragged a 500-foot-long train emblazoned with lyrics for the album’s lead single, “Woman’s World.”

She’s so pro-woman, in fact, she rehired Dr. Luke, the embattled producer behind some of her biggest hits, whom she had ceased working with following allegations that he sexually assaulted Kesha, once her friend. (Dr. Luke denied the allegations and countersued for defamation; he and Kesha settled their long-running legal battle last year.

“I never drugged or assaulted her and would never do that to anyone,” he wrote in a statement last month.)

What’s going on?

Each 143 teaser has told a different story.

At first, it seemed like the California Gurl was going Bushwick, based on an initial promo photo of Katy as an Arca-style femmebot in a white bikini top and giant robo-legs.

But, a few weeks later, 143’s cover art dropped, and she is now some kind of woo-woo mermaid teleporting into another dimension.

“SLEEP TIGHT FOR TOMORROW THE PORTAL OPENS,” she tweeted. (143, for smartphone-natives, is ‘I love you’ typed on a pager.)

She’s been dodging the press — and fans pressing her on why she’s working with Dr. Luke — while previewing songs directly on Instagram Live.

What the streams reveal: vacant lyrics, ill-advised guests, very obvious samples — an album that will almost certainly flop.

As confirmation, today we have “Woman’s World,” a paint-by-numbers pump-up anthem about how girls are geniuses, saints, blessings sent from heaven.

“She’s a sister/She’s a mother,” Perry sings, as if those are the only two identities she can think of.

“Open your eyes, just look around and you’ll discover.”

In the music video, Perry dresses up as Rosie the Riveter, boobs bouncing in a stars-and-stripes bikini; she shows off a vibrator — not the most subtle product placement — and douses herself in “Whiskey for Women.”

A crashing anvil indicates that it might be satire, but then we are back to bedazzled vagina ornaments.

At the end, Perry hangs off a helicopter, brandishing a ring light stolen from a TikToker that’s miraculously transformed into the female gender symbol.

What?

Perry is like Barbie in Barbie Land, stuck in a la-di-dah dimension in which Hillary Clinton is still the Democratic presidential nominee, “Male Tears” mugs make bank on Etsy, and the most transgressive thing a celebrity can do is sing “Fight Song.”

(Coincidentally, as if bat-signaled by murmurs of a new female presidential candidate, Rachel Platten announced a new album this week.)

In an interview with Zane Lowe, Perry guessed people recognize her mostly for “songs with a message, songs that are captions on T-shirts and stuff,” betraying a fundamental misunderstanding of her appeal.

She’s always been at her weakest when she comments on capital-S society, as in her “wake-up sheeple” manifesto “Chained to the Rhythm.”

What people want from Katy Perry is fantasy, escapism. In the end, “Woman’s World” comes off so forgettable, so cringe, that it overshadows the blatant hypocrisy of having an alleged predator produce it.

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underachievers-please-try-harder · 1 year

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Review // Birdy - EartH Theatre - 23 August 2023

Appeared in the Evening Standard. Read online.

A full 12 years on from her debut single, the prevailing narrative of Birdy as a folk-pop prodigy is in desperate need of an update. Now 27, the Hampshire singer-songwriter born Jasmine van den Bogaerde not only released her fifth studio album last week, but with it she stepped away from the stripped-back sound that has already earned her upwards of five billion streams.

Billed as a “liberated leap into the unknown”, Portraits sees Birdy swapping the intimate, Laurel Canyon-stylings of her last LP for 80s-inspired sophisti-pop, featuring some of the biggest choruses of her career. Indeed, at last night’s intimate launch party in Dalston she told fans, “The last album was emotionally intense and this time I just wanted to make something we could dance to.”

Set opener Ruins I proved a challenge in that respect, its stately rhythm eliciting a slow sway at best from the sell-out audience. Recent single Raincatchers was more successful, powered by staccato synth stabs eerily reminiscent of the strings propelling Cloudbusting. Kate Bush’s influence extended to the night’s visuals too, which largely foregrounded stark, black and white footage of Birdy in silhouette, swaying impressionistically.

Helping bring her dry-iced drenched musical vision to life was a four-piece band featuring three multi-instrumentalists. Birdy herself moved quietly between two banks of synths, seemingly oblivious to the evening’s oppressive heat in her black, rhinestone-studded catsuit. Her largely impassive performance suited the innate iciness of the Eighties aesthetic, while the walls of synths only served to emphasise the rich, deep timbre of her voice.

Unsurprisingly, it was that velvety coo that remained the focal point throughout. It proved particularly spellbinding on I Wish I Was A Shooting Star, a cello-embellished, Weyes Blood-esque epic that she introduced as her favourite track on the album. For Heartbreaker she used a loop pedal to layer live vocals, quickly conjuring a choir of exquisite vocal harmonies.

Concluding with a rapturously-received one-two of debut single Skinny Love and 2013-smash Wings, there was no question that fans still prize Birdy’s early output above Portrait’s more dramatic direction. But who knows, give them another decade and they may well have formed similarly unshakable emotional connections to songs from this era. By that point Birdy will have moved on, of course, because if performances like last night’s prove anything it’s that, artistically, this industry veteran is fully committed to forging forward.

#music #tearsheets #tearsheet #live review #live reviews #live #review #reviews #evening standard #the evening standard

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jadeazora · 3 years

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Remember how LGPE was accurately leaked weeks before it was officially announced? I remember we had so many rumors about new game taking place in Kanto (reboot/remake, no one knew).

I wasn't a fan of the idea, but taking the RR endgame of Ultra into account, I kept playing with the idea of the mystery Kanto game focusing on you being from the Kanto Giovanni took over, since the "worlds where the villains won" idea had a lot of potential, and I think Giovanni's plans would have been the easiest to work with and form a what-could-happen-after scenario with.

The idea was you happen to break TR/RR's enforced curfew one night tho Blue (searching for his missing grandfather) bails you out and gives you your starter (which he bred from his own, tho you find that out later.)

He's the new leader of a Rebellion comprised of Misty, Brock, Erika, and various civilians around the region, which you also join. (Later major additions are Blaine, who had stepped down from his role as a Gym Leader due to his shame at having been a TR/RR scientist/role in the creation of Mewtwo, and Janine, who is frustrated at her father for allowing TR/RR to occupy their city and acting as muscle for them.) Your goal in the story would be to liberate Kanto's cities from TR/RR, which would have fallen under the control of the HGSS admins, Sabrina (implied to have a thing for Giovanni), Surge (signed on since Gym battles didn't thrill him anymore), and Koga (wanted to protect his daughter), as they were initially villains in the manga, and I always loved the idea of more villainous Gym Leaders aside from just Giovanni.

I kind of imagine the roster being:

Viridian City: Archer, is still fought last

Pewter: Proton

Cerulean: Petrel

Vermilion: Surge (he's taken to working off the SS Anne rather than his Gym)

Celadon: Ariana

Fuchsia: Koga, where Janine joins up you after saving you from him (He later abandons TR altogether when Janine leaves to go fight them with you, realizing how much of a coward he was, tho it's some time later you learn this.) More on the saving thing, you are captured and dragged into his Gym by some more Elite members (I imagine a middle spot between the regular grunts and the Executives, kinda like we get with Flare's admins), and he is forced to use Poison Gas on you in order to get rid of you, and that's where Janine comes in, using her Ariados to restrain everyone and drag you out of danger.

Cinnabar: Blaine, tho he's stepped down in shame over his role in Mewtwo's creation

Saffron: Sabrina, tho she operates out of Silph Co.

Fought more like Proton > Petrel > Surge > Koga (Janine steals his badge and gives it to you) > Ariana (Celadon being one of the biggest holdouts) > Sabrina (Saffron being the actual biggest one, this would also be where Koga joins you) > Archer. Blaine doesn't have a proper Gym Battle, but he gives you a badge when you help him free the Legendary Birds from TR's control, which would happen between Ariana's and Sabrina's battles.

The Sevii Islands would have played a role as TR's last holdout once they're chased off the mainland, and the E4 members are being held there with the exception of Lorelei, who had managed to escape (popsicled Petrel and some grunts, who had been sent to capture her), and who you'd assist in rescuing the other League members.

This would be around the time where RR's Giovanni would return for one final boss battle against Team Rocket, his defeat finally fully liberating the region. (You then go fight the reinstated E4 and are crowned Champion, with Blue giving you your first battle as Champ a la Kukui, and is proud of you for how far you've come as a trainer.)

#pokemon lets go #pokemon lgpe #team rocket #team rainbow rocket #rainbow rocket #boss giovanni #rival blue #pokemon let's go

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zedecksiew · 3 years

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Kriegsmesser

When I received Kriegsmesser in the mail I finally googled "kriegsmesser", and found out it meant "war knife". Which makes sense; Gregor Vuga's ZineQuest 2021 project is a tribute to "roleplaying games named after medieval weapons".

I love Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay's piss-renaissance Old World setting. I tend to pick up WFRP-a-likes sight unseen:

Warlock (quality);

Small But Vicious Dog (yesss);

Zweihander (which I have come to hate); etc.

Anyway: I backed Kriegsmesser without really knowing anything about it. So Kriegsmesser surprised me.

Kriegsmesser grew out of a Troika! cutting. Its 36 backgrounds are compatible with that system: each come with a couple of lines of description; a list of skills and possessions; an a visual cameo cropped from actual 16th-Century woodcut art.

Cohesive and competently flavourful. My favourite is the Labourer, who always starts with "an empty pine box":

"You've spent your life breaking your back, working hard for other people's profit. You have nothing to show for it but a spectre of the future."

(The obligatory ratcatcher-analogue , called the Vermin Snatcher, is here -- check that box!)

Kriegsmesser also comes with its own ruleset. Hits all the notes it needs to, with lots of orientation and advice for how to run a game -- but ultimately super-simple, mechanically:

Roll d6s equal to the value in a relevant skill, look at the highest result. 6 means you get what you want; 5 or 4 means you get what you want, at a cost.

It's not quite a dice pool, since only the highest result matters. No opposed tests.

Kriegsmesser intends to have this base mechanic handle fights, too. The combat rules - with armour, toughness and weapon values -- are nested in an optional section.

For a WFRP-a-like, this feels like a purposeful departure.

Many of WFRP's most celebrated adventures are celebrated for bits that their underlying ruleset does little to support: the investigative structure of "Shadows Over Bogenhafen"; the complicated timetable of "Rough Night At Three Feathers".

Ludwig von Wittgenstein never needed a statblock to be memorable.

Not to say that lethal, hyper-detailed fights isn't super Warhammer-y. (Kriegsmesser includes an injury table, broken down by body-part -- check that box!)

But here it feels like Gregor is saying: "I'm not Games Workshop and Roleplay isn't an ancillary of Warhammer Fantasy Battle; we can evoke grim-and-perilous-ness even if we fork away from heavy combat rules."

It has become ritual for me to read my partner Sharon to sleep.

Sometimes I read her RPG things. The other night, after I read her Kriegsmesser's introduction --

" The Empire wages an eternal war against Chaos. Its priests preach of Chaos as an intrusion, something unnatural ... These men see Chaos in anything that does not buttress their rule. They call it disorder, anarchy, corruption. They say that to rebel against their order is to rebel against god and nature. That the current arrangement is natural, rather than artificial.

" Meanwhile, the common people look to the Empire to deliver the justice that they were promised and they find none. They look to the Empire and do not see themselves reflected in it. They look around at what they were taught was right and good and see only misery.

" Their world begins to unravel. Chaos comes to reside in every heart and mind sound enough to look at the world and conclude it is broken. "

-- Sharon remarked: "Nice one."

The RPG things I read her generally leave Sharon lukewarm. She has enjoyed a couple -- but, yeah: for many of these books, text isn't their strong point.

Kriegsmesser is the only time I can recall Sharon praising the writing of an RPG book without my prompting.

Nice one.

That introduction surprised me. It underlines Kriegsmesser's biggest departure from its WFRP-a-like pedigree: how it characterises Chaos.

Corruption, a mainstay of most grim-dark-y games, is made an optional rule, like combat. Explaining this, Gregor writes:

" Kriegsmesser partially subverts or deconstructs the traditional conceit of Warhammer where the characters are threatened by the forces of Chaos. In this game it is the player characters who are the agents of 'Chaos': they are likely to become the 'rats' under the streets, and the wild 'beast-men' in the woods bringing civilisation down. It's the Empire and its nobles and priests that are corrupt ... "

Describing the Empire, Gregor writes:

" The Empire encompasses the world yet is terrified of the without. It enforces itself with steel and fire yet considers itself benevolent. It consumes the labour of others with bottomless hunger yet calls its subalterns lazy, or wasteful, or greedy. "

Holy shit this is the first time I've seen the word "subaltern" in an RPG thing, I think?

I love this.

Rant incoming:

With every passing decade Warhammer abridges its Moorcockian roots more and more; nowadays it is "Order = Good" and "Chaos = Evulz", pretty much.

Gone are the days when chaos berserkers are implied to grant safe passage to the helpless (because Khorne is as much a god of martial honour as he is a god of bloodletting); Or that the succor of Papa Nurgle is a genuine comfort to the downtrodden; Or that Tzeentch could unironically embody the principle of hope, of change for the better.

As Chaos is distilled into unequivocal villainy, Order goons get painted as Good Guys by default --

Giving rise to Warhammer's contemporary problem, wherein fans are no longer able to recognise satire.

When I was introduced to 40K, it seemed pretty clear that the Imperium was a Brazil-esque absurdist-fascist bureaucratic state: planets are exterminatus-ed due to clerical error; the way it stamps out rebellions is the reason why rebellions begin in the first place.

Tragi-comic grimdarkness. That was the point.

Nowadays that tone has shifted -- and you're more likely than not going to encounter a 40K fan who argues that the Imperium's evils are a justified necessity, to prevent worse wrongs.

We went from:

"Space Nazis because insane dumbass fuckery, also chainswords vroom vroom rule of badass!"

To:

"Space Nazis because it makes sense actually, and also chainswords make sense because [insert convoluted rationalisation here]."

Even Fantasy Flight's Black Crusade line, which ostensibly offers a look at 40K from the perspective of Chaos, never truly commits to its conceit.

With prep you could play a heroic band of mutant freedom fighters, resisting the tyranny of the Evil Imperium --

But I don't remember Black Crusade giving that kind of campaign any actual support. Its supplements service the relatively more conventional "You can play villains!" angle; the Screaming Vortex is a squarely Daemons-vs-Daemons setting.

This tonal drift culminates, in my mind, with Age of Sigmar, Games Workshop's heroic-fantasy replacement of the old WFRP / WHFB setting.

Here's the framing narrative for AoS's recently-launched Third Edition. Let's see whether I've got things right:

A highly professionalised, technologically-superior tip-of-the-spear fighting force (the Stormcast Eternals);

Backed by an imperialist military-industrial complex (Azyrheim);

"Liberating" rich new territories (Ghur) for exploitation by a civilised settler culture (Settlers of Sig-- I mean, Free Cities);

Justified because the locals are irredeemable heathens (Chaos and Kruleboyz).

I mean, that's a sweet-ass Warhammer setting. It's contemporary, laser-guided lampoon. Except it is played totally straight.

In AoS, a literal crusade is justified as the moral good.

I think Kriegsmesser surprised me because its framing of Chaos -- as a promise, as the light of hope shining through cracks of a broken world --

It feels so fucking right.

Yes: its a subaltern deconstruction of the conventional moral universe of Warhammer -- but it is a take that is also already implied / all but supported in the various depictions of the setting: from WFRP to the modified title-crawl of Black Crusade.

I'm annoyed I didn't think of it, myself. Damn you, Gregor!

And I'm annoyed that more Warhammer fans aren't thinking it, also.

lmagine if Kriegsmesser's perspective stood on equal standing as the GW orthodoxy. Imagine if, instead of simplifying stuff into "Order = Good" and "Chaos = Evulz", GW did a Gregor Vuga.

You'd have a Rashomon-ed Warhammer, where villainy depends on perspective:

You are fearful villagers, huddled around your priest, muttering prayers against the wild braying coming from the trees beyond your gates.

You are Aqshyian tribeswomen, defying the thunder warrior towering over you, the foreigner demanding you bow to his foreign god.

You are a Tzeentchian revolutionary cell, desperately trying to disrupt a Inquisitor's transmissions so your home planet isn't destroyed by fascist orbital fire.

Get Kriegsmesser HERE.

+++

( Image sources: https://theenemywithinremixed.wordpress.com/2021/05/21/thoughts-on-the-4e-death-on-the-reik/ https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/59-brazil https://www.deviantart.com/faroldjo/art/Warhammer-40k-Black-Crusade-273596035 https://www.warhammer-community.com/2021/06/09/fancy-a-new-life-bringing-order-to-the-mortal-realms-join-a-dawnbringer-crusade-today/ https://www.nme.com/blogs/the-movies-blog/team-america-15-anniversary-south-park-2558750 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Palestinian_children_and_Israeli_wall.jpg )

#reviews #kriegsmesser #gregor vuga #warhammer #writing #rants #overthinking #rpgs #wfrp

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chickawah23 · 3 years

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Honestly as a songwriter myself, the grammy thing is my biggest disappointment for Taylor, and I can't look past it. I've always loved her because she really did carry the torch for artists' rights and everything, but it hurt my soullll when she kept pushing how her beard was the main one who initiated the idea for such classics like Betty (oh btw i'm a female musician/songwriter. So the giving credit to the beard is so 💔). I remember I was in this nationwide songwriting thing with the most established artists in my country (they selected just a couple of amateur songwriters out of thousands of applicants to coach and jumpstart careers, was luckily one of the chosen ones 😅). There was a night where we had to perform an original song for everyone. After performing, a co-songwriter in the audience came up to me to tell me that "I thought you'll be just like Taylor Swift, but you did great".. I was so irritated because why is he using Taylor as an insult??? Am I supposed to be offended?? Taylor's a legend b*tch! Then I realized how people still continuously misunderstand her craft and genius. I've always defended her to anyone, especially her songwriting integrity and artistry. But the grammy-gate honestly, I still can't believe Taylor did that, and for what? Why push the narrative that only because of a man is she able to do certain things... like folklore, outing herself as a "liberal", when you know these achievements are because of you yourself. It really felt like she discredited her "don't let other people take credit for the work you've done yourself" when she herself gave an aoty to an underserving beard. Whether people believe he's a beard or not (if they believe they're real, it's even worse because that's nepotism), it looks bad either way. And I'll be a forever fan of hers, but I will not deny the shadiness of the grammy thing. And quite honestly, I've lost some degree of respect for that shadiness.

That would’ve ticked me off too if some said that. But as you and many others have said to me tonight. She has made it so hard to defend her. It literally felt like a total and complete undoing of everything that came during the tail end of rep into Lover.

I think going to her British beau for information regarding American politics was the most laughable. The undeserving credits was the most frustrating. It definitely trivializes the work she’s done on those two albums to an extent. Like she didn’t even care about the work so why should we kind of energy.

But It’s so awesome that you’ve been receiving such great accolades for your songwriting, anon! Don’t give any undeserving person credit ever!

#anons #taylor the swift collector of male perspectives

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addictedtostorytelling · 3 years

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Hello, I am a big fan of your analyses! Being francophone the translation can be approximate. I would have liked your analysis on the dynamics (relationship...) between the team members (Catherine, Warrick, Nick, Sara and Greg) with Grissom. You’ve already referred to "that Greg would be kind of Grissom and Sara’s kid, and Warrick considers Grissom "like a father, 9X01" but I have more trouble with someone like Nick. Thank you

hi, anon!

thank you for your kind words! i'm glad you enjoy my stuff.

analysis after the "keep reading," if you're interested.

we'll just take everyone one at a time, okay?

catherine

if we use the "family" analog, catherine is essentially grissom's "work wife" (a point humorously acknowledged by the show itself in episode 04x06 "jackpot").

catherine and grissom have known each other since the mid-1980s. in addition to being the supervisor and assistant supervisor for the graveyard shift, they are also frequent field partners. they have a great deal of working history between them and also maintain a social relationship outside of their work.

other than sara, catherine is grissom's best friend, as is evidenced by the fact that they socialize outside of work (see catherine coming over to grissom's condo to drink screwdrivers with him in episode 02x15 "burden of proof"), are familiar with each other's personal lives* (see catherine's comments in episode 01x04 "pledging mr. johnson" which insinuate that grissom knew about eddie's cheating before she did), support each other in times of trouble (see catherine showing up to the hospital to wish grissom good luck before his surgery in episode 03x23 "inside the box"), have a playful rapport between them (see their back-and-forth banter in episode 03x19 "a night at the movies"), are comfortable showing vulnerability to each other (see grissom telling catherine about his father's death in episode 06x10 "still life" and catherine collapsing sobbing into grissom's arms after keppler is shot in episode 07x15 "law of gravity"), know each other incredibly well (see catherine anticipating that grissom will forget about her deadline and working around him in episode 01x20 "sounds of silence"), etc.

* of course, grissom does keep the biggest part of his personal life—i.e., that he and sara are a couple—a secret from catherine for many years, so while they are certainly socially intimate, they do also still have a degree of separation between them.

while both catherine's ex-husband eddie and some fans believe there is a romantic/sexual element to their relationship, i firmly believe that there isn't and never has been. to my mind, theirs is a truly platonic dynamic, based in mutual respect and a willingness to be frank with each other.

though they're two very different people—a socially-savvy, streetwise, politic, sexually-liberated single mother on the one hand; and an asocial, academic, impolitic, demisexual bookworm on the other—they care about each other deeply and have each other's backs.

many times over the course of the series, we see that grissom is willing to take catherine's advice, both with regards to professional matters (see, for example, how he listens to her when she tells him he needs to go home and get some rest so he can have fresh eyes during the events of episode 04x12 "butterflied") and personal ones (see, for example, when he heeds her advice to make nice with sara during the events of episode 02x15 "burden of proof"). he also literally trusts her with his life (see episode 01x23 "strip strangler").

while they do sometimes butt heads regarding certain issues and in particular grissom’s quirks do occasionally drive catherine up a wall, they also generally have a good working rapport and help balance each other out as leaders/partners. catherine alerts grissom to his social and political blind spots and reminds him to consider the human element in their cases, while grissom tempers catherine's zealousness and encourages her to maintain objectivity, even in situations where she has personal feelings about or interest in a case.

ultimately, grissom believes in catherine very strongly and recognizes her strength and leadership potential, which is why he feels comfortable leaving the team in her hands upon his retirement from the lab (see episode 09x10 "one to go"); after so many years of her being his right hand, he has total confidence in her abilities.

warrick

see here.

nick

as is the case with grissom and warrick, grissom and nick also have a very father-son relationship.

their dynamic is generally a warm one, with genuine adoration coming from both sides. while grissom loves teaching nick and pushing him to be the best criminalist he can be, nick loves learning from grissom, which is why when grissom finally leaves the lab in episode 09x10 "one to go," he calls nick the best student he ever had.

their big thing, especially early on, is that nick craves grissom's approval.

as nick himself explains in episode 01x22 "evaluation day," part of the reason he got a job at the lvpd under grissom is because he wanted to be told by someone he considered "the best" that he was the best ("you know why i took this job? honestly? i wanted to pack heat, walk under the yellow tape, be the man, but mostly because i want you to think i'm a good csi").

for this reason, much more so than with either warrick or sara, nick will bend over backwards in order to please grissom, following his orders unquestioningly—as nick remarks to sara during episode 04x07 "invisible evidence," "i don't care if you're working on the hottest case of your career: if your supervisor tells you to leave a scene to go wash his car, you do it”—and trying to model himself after him in order to win his praise.

of course, since grissom and nick are two very different people/criminalists, nick isn't always successful in trying to earn grissom's approval and/or be grissom 2.0. for as much as he wants to please and emulate grissom, it never comes naturally to him to be as emotionally aloof as grissom is from his cases; he always wears his heart on his sleeve, always gets invested, always cares too much. he can never ignore the human element in the way grissom sometimes insists that he ought to.

for these reasons, he and grissom occasionally come into conflict, particularly over the first several years of the show (see, for example, grissom chewing nick out about his involvement with kristy hopkins in episode 01x11 “i-15 murders”).

the real turning point in their relationship comes in episode 04x11 “eleven angry jurors," when nick finally asserts to grissom that he is ready to be his own man and approach criminalistics in his own way, with his feelings intact ("so what? you know, i'm always getting criticized for empathizing with the victims and their families, but that's who i am. that's how i do my job. and as far as the promotion goes, it's all good, man. i can live without it. i'm not you").

perhaps paradoxically, it is only when nick stops craving grissom's approval that he fully and completely earns it, winning grissom's respect and his recommendation for the key position promotion.

from then on, grissom is much more permissive of "nick being nick," and nick is much more confident in himself.

of course, even once they achieve this equilibrium in their mentor-mentee relationship, the "father-son" aspect of their dynamic remains intact.

nowhere is it more on display than during the events of episodes 05x24 and 05x25 "grave danger" pts. i and ii, where we see grissom agonize over nick's kidnapping as if nick were his own son and even call nick by the same affectionate nickname that nick's own biological father uses for him ("pancho").

it's clear both in these episodes and throughout the series that grissom loves nick deeply—that he has high expectations of him, is proud of him when he succeeds, cares about him on a personal level, and wants to see him grow and become the best version of himself.

nick obviously reciprocates the adoration, looking up to grissom as a role model, seeking his counsel, showing him respect, and trying to do right by him/their team/and the lab.

sara

of course, sara is grissom's actual wife—the love of his life, his best friend, his source, his motivation, his soulmate.

i've written upwards of 400 metas and analyses on grissom and sara's relationship, which to my mind is one of the richest, deepest, most complex, and beautiful dynamics in fiction.

to summarize it succinctly here would be too difficult, so instead i'll direct you to my archive and specifically to my gsr shipper's guides posts, which go over all of the ups, downs, ins, and outs of gsr in detail.

greg

like warrick and nick, greg also has a father-son relationship with grissom, albeit one of a distinct flavor.

to quote from this post,

particularly during the early seasons, grissom struggles with greg just because greg’s brain works so differently than his does.

while they both are possessed of genius-level intelligence, one of grissom’s great gifts is hyperfocus, whereas greg is very much a multitasker, who not only is able to work on many projects at once but actually needs to do so in order to be stimulated enough to finish anything.

greg needs to have music blaring and be working on some sort of elaborate but totally superfluous presentation for his data and be cooking up a prank on nick and warrick and flirting with sara at the same time he’s running five different dna tests in order to function at the top of his game, but grissom, who tends to work best when he’s locked in a room by himself, nose down in his experiment, with nobody around him and nothing to bother him, looks at that chaos and assumes that greg is distracting himself.

though he knows greg is both smart and capable, he’s always at least a little bit exasperated by his behavior and wonders if he could be more productive if he just buckled down and focused.

of course, eventually, i think grissom realizes that part of the reason why greg needs all of those distractions is because greg isn’t being challenged enough in his current role as a lab tech.

thankfully, grissom arrives at this conclusion at around the same time greg starts showing interest in transitioning into fieldwork, so he is able to address the problem not long after he really puts his finger on what it is.

greg becoming a field mouse changes his and grissom’s dynamic for the better.

while grissom still never fully understands greg’s squirrelliness, he finds that once the kid is being properly stimulated, he’s far less “all over the place” and easier to take.

being in the field gives greg an outlet for his excess energy and intellectually challenges him, which means he has less of a need to create diversions for himself outside of his work. operating outside of the lab and having to deal with unique situations and people on the fly helps him to find new capabilities within himself, and he really grows up quickly, impressing grissom in the process.

that’s not to say that grissom never rolls his eyes at greg’s antics going forward, but it is to say that he does become very proud of him in time—which is something that we see particularly surrounding the demetrius james case in s7.

though grissom is oftentimes hard on greg, it's clear that he cares for him (as he does his "other boys"), as we see in episodes like 03x23 "inside the box," where he reassures him when his hands are shaking, and 07x04 "fannysmackin'," where he visits him in the hospital and expresses pride in him for his heroic actions at the crime scene.

meanwhile, for greg's part, for as much as he does occasionally goof off, he also does, in his own way, crave grissom's approval (much like nick does) and want to do right by him/the lab. he's happy when grissom shows faith in him and when he's included on the team, shining when he's given opportunities to put his unique brand of creative forensics to the test.

anyway.

that's what i've got.

thanks for the question! please feel welcome to send another any time.

#answered #anon #asks: csi #**#my meta #meta: csi #meta: grissom #team graveyard #let's talk shop #csiverse

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bananaofswifts · 2 years

Text

5 STARS

By Kelsey Barnes

#taylor swift #the eras tour review #the eras tour

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beardedmrbean · 2 years

Text

MSNBC's biggest star announced this month she will be only doing her show one day a week. What some hope will be the liberal network's next standout is still officially representing the president of the United States.

It's a strange time at MSNBC, which is undergoing something of an identity crisis in the Biden era.

Rachel Maddow, by far MSNBC's highest-rated host and a mainstay of its primetime lineup for over a decade, will only appear on Mondays beginning this month, while Jen Psaki, reportedly set to join the streaming platform Peacock as a host and also appear across MSNBC programs as a commentator, still remains President Biden's White House press secretary and occasionally spars with future colleagues.

RACHEL MADDOW ANNOUNCES SHE'S ROLLING BACK MSNBC SHOW, WILL HOST ONLY MONDAY NIGHTS STARTING IN MAY

Maddow made the announcement in April after returning from a hiatus dating back to January, only months after reportedly re-upping with the network for an eye-popping $30 million per year.

In her absence, MSNBC still billed it the "The Rachel Maddow Show" but with fill-in hosts, such as Ali Velshi and Ayman Mohyeldin.

Maddow’s decision to cut her show appearances to one day a week comes after her lowest-rated month in the demo since November 2015. From April 4 to 8, she had her worst-rated week since 2016, averaging about 1.3 million viewers. "The Rachel Maddow Show" averaged 2.7 million viewers during the same dates in 2021 when she hosted each night, and she averaged 2 million nightly viewers during January 2022 before she stepped aside.

"You see the existential importance of a single person on all of prime time when she's not there," an MSNBC insider told Fox News Digital.

RACHEL MADDOW ON HIATUS LEAVES MSNBC ‘LOST AT SEA,’ CRITICS SAY

Another MSNBC insider said Maddow essentially calling the shots "shows what kind of a powerful voice she is."

"She's incredibly captivating as a broadcaster," they said. "She's Michael Jordan. I think she's the best in the the business right now."

Imagine the Chicago Bulls paying Jordan to sit out four out of every five games, though.

"Rachel Maddow hosting one day a week … is almost like her not hosting at all – no matter what MSNBC tries to spin, her show is gone for good," Fourth Watch media newsletter editor Steve Krakauer told Fox News Digital. "Cable news is all about consistency, and habits – MSNBC will now have to rely on a new host to form a relationship with viewers at 9 p.m."

Who that will be is a 30-million-dollar question for MSNBC; fans have frequently floated rabidly anti-GOP host Nicolle Wallace – a reliable Democratic booster and a big Jen Psaki fan – as a possibility for the time slot. She, along with Maddow and far-left host Joy Reid anchor MSNBC's special political news coverage, and Maddow will continue to appear for such broadcasts along with her Monday nights in primetime.

CNN media reporter Oliver Darcy said the effort to use fill-in hosts to hold Maddow's ratings had not proven successful.

"It really hasn't worked out well for MSNBC," Darcy said of Maddow's absences last month on CNN+. "It's going to take a while for a new host to also build a relationship … This is a big problem for them."

REPORTER TELLS POLITICO THEY'RE AFRAID TO BATTLE PSAKI: ‘MAKES YOU LOOK LIKE AN A--HOLE’

NBCUniversal News Group chairman Cesar Conde, who started the gig in May 2020, is the high-powered executive who paid Maddow and oversees NBC News, MSNBC and CNBC. A former high-level employee of NBC News who is familiar with the company’s inner workings told Fox News Digital last month when Maddow announced her reduced workload that he should be held responsible.

"Cesar Conde should be fired for the embarrassing Maddow deal alone where she’s paid eight figures to barely work while MSNBC ratings crater," the former NBC News staffer said.

Psaki's plans to join the liberal network have excited its base of viewers; the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee even sent a fundraising email off the news. Meanwhile, Psaki's continued interactions with NBC News reporters when she's set to be one of their de facto co-workers has raised eyebrows among some media watchdogs.

Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism professor of professional practice Bill Grueskin believes Psaki should have been more transparent weeks ago.

"Psaki should have either delayed negotiating with networks until her resignation was in place, or she should have been upfront about the negotiations once they started," Grueskin told Fox News Digital. "Now, of course, we know that she's bound for MSNBC, and viewers can take that into account when they see her these days in the White House press room or later in front of a studio camera."

During April 1's press briefing, NBC News chief White House correspondent Kristen Welker, a future colleague of Psaki's, pressed her, "Given the reports ... how can you continue to be an effective briefer if you do in fact have plans to join a media outlet?"

PSAKI GRILLED OVER CONDUCTING JOB NEGOTIATIONS WITH MSNBC WHILE SERVING AS PRESS SECRETARY

"Well, I have nothing, again, to announce about any conversations or any future plans," Psaki reiterated before vowing that whenever she leaves the White House she will first be spending time with her family.

Welker continued grilling her, asking "how is it ethical to have these conversations with media outlets while you continue to have a job standing behind that podium?" Psaki pointed to the "stringent ethical and legal requirements" she insisted she has abided by regarding her future plans.

On April 20, during a panel moderated by NBC's Kelly O'Donnell on "The Modern Presidency," O'Donnell addressed the elephant in the room and asked Psaki if she could share anything about her future plans, citing reports she was set to join MSNBC.

"I have no personal knowledge about any of that," O'Donnell told the audience. "Is there anything you can tell us about your future?"

"Not yet," Psaki said. "Nothing at this point to announce, but at some point, there will be another person in this job."

"Well I want to push you to make news, but I don't want to push you out the door," O'Donnell said.

But while CNN reported that NBC News staffers are annoyed that Conde would bring Psaki into the fold when she’s still working as Biden’s mouthpiece, the former high-level staffer called the whole ordeal "silly."

RATINGS WOES, MADDOW ARRANGEMENT PUT SPOTLIGHT ON CORPORATE SIBLINGS NBC NEWS, MSNBC: ‘NOTHING BUT FAILURE'

"Whoever is leaking that just wants to let people know NBC News is supposedly independent," the ex-employee said.

Another MSNBC insider told Fox News Digital, however, that there have been tensions between NBC's White House unit and MSNBC in the past over the latter's progressive content, putting the former in an "uncomfortable" position. They said that's cooled of late as MSNBC's dayside programming as become more news-heavy, as opposed to its staunchly liberal content that begins at 4 p.m. each day with Nicolle Wallace's "Deadline: White House."

Psaki's dalliance with MSNBC and its reputation for defending the Biden administration was fodder for comic Trevor Noah at last weekend's White House Correspondents Dinner.

Addressing Psaki, he said, "Right now your job is to make the Biden administration look good at all costs. Now that you’re at MSNBC … hmm, actually, you’ll be fine."

Watchdogs aren't impressed with how Psaki is handling the situation, however.

"It's absurd that she's essentially holding two jobs at once – working for the White House while she's an MSNBC-host-in-waiting. She needs to leave the White House immediately and stop the charade," Krakauer said.

University of North Carolina journalism professor Lois Boynton, a fellow at the Parr Center for Ethics, is aware that jumping from the press secretary gig to a news role isn’t anything new, but Psaki’s situation differs from her predecessors because she’s still fielding questions in the James S. Brady Briefing Room on a regular basis and will soon be offering her opinion for the partisan network.

"While most political-to-news transitions are to analyst roles, it appears Psaki will be a host for what NBC News president Noah Oppenheim referred to as MSNBC’s ‘perspective programming side;’ that is, opinion programs," Boynton told Fox News Digital.

Boynton noted that ethics codes for the Public Relations Society of America and Radio Television Digital News Association both address concerns about real, potential and perceived conflicts of interest.

"Bottom line: avoid these conflicts and disclose any that materialize," Boynton said. "The perceptions that can emerge are valid. Will her current employer fear she might favor reporters with scoops in what is presumed to be her next job destination? Will MSNBC reporters ask softball questions since she’s possibly a peer-to-be? And, ultimately, how will public trust in the news be affected?"

Boynton feels it's "evident that some NBC News journalists fear this conflict will rub off" on them as a sister network of MSNBC, which they believe may "further harm their own reputation and trustworthiness."

"There could be further guilt by association if the public presumes this to be another piece of evidence that media generally can’t be trusted," Boynton said. "A shift from press secretary to an MSNBC role, in and of itself, isn’t inherently unethical. It’s knowing Psaki is expected to shift into a role with MSNBC before she has left her present position that results in a conflict of interest. As they say, timing is everything."

#nunyas news #msnbc and cnn are sunk it would seem

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fellulahh · 4 years

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Since that one anon now I can totally picture Diavolo as Superman and MC as Lois Lane. Or maybe even Diavolo as Superman, MC as Wonder Woman, and Lucifer as Batman 😂😂

Just because I love dressing up, I’m going to turn this into HCs!🤣

MC dresses up as Wonder Woman for Halloween

Lucifer:

- if it weren’t for the fact that Lucifer was Diavolo’s right hand man and that the Prince was hosting the Halloween party, there’s no way he would have wanted to leave the house after seeing MC wearing that

- he’d want to lick his lips and tut to her, “my bedroom. now.”

- but of course they have to attend because of Diavolo.

- Lucifer can’t keep his eyes off MC, he’s smirking the ENTIRE night

- when they finally arrive home and they make their way up to the bedroom for a more intimate moment, Lucifer orders MC to keep her outfit on while he fucks her

Mammon:

- “THAT’S MY FUCKIN’ WOMAN!” He grins from ear to ear as MC walks down the stairs in her outfit. Mammon is her biggest fan - he rushes to her side and gives her a cheeky kiss as soon as she reaches the bottom

- Mammon’s basically panting, he’s 100% putty in MC’s hands. She could ask him to do anything in that moment and he’d submit

- he can’t stop looking at her body. How on earth could he be so lucky to call MC his girlfriend?!

- his high spirits are easily ruined though when one of the other brothers compliment her appearance

- he basically snaps and tells them to keep their “eyes to themselves!”

- when he finds out her outfits comes with a lasso (or as he sees it, a whip), he gets super excited

Levi:

- forget TSL, Wonder Woman is now his favourite franchise

- his head practically explodes when he sees MC in her outfit for the first time, he effectively fan girls over her. His eyes are bulging out of his skull and he’s unable to utter any words because he’s too busy gawking at her. He forgets for a moment that MC’s his girlfriend and not some anime character he’s fantasising over

- for a split moment - with the way he is treating her like a goddess - MC actually feels like the real Wonder Woman

- he gets all flustered and excited because he is the one escorting MC to the party! It’s a rare evening where he’s not the one feeling envious - it’s everybody else

Satan:

- there’s no way MC can think she can get away with wearing such an empowering outfit without getting lots of attention from Satan

- MC would actually be the one melting under his affections - he’d spend most of the night whispering sweet seductions in her ear; all about how alluring she is

- he loves seeing how liberated MC is, she’s never seemed so confident until she’s dressed as her favourite fictional character. Satan admires her a lot for it

- when he finds out the costume is rented, he offers to outright buy it because there’s no way he was willing for her to return it

- MC dressed as Wonder Woman does things to him

Asmo:

- yes yes YES

- Asmo absolutely LOVES seeing MC in this outfit. He’s in love with every single detail and tells her straight to her face “I don’t know who Wonder Woman is but she’d be QUAKING if she saw you right now”

- his hands are all over MC for the rest of the night; not that she minds. He’s never felt lust so strong in his life before

- he gets incredibly excited by her costume and insists that next time they dress up, they do a couples costume together!

- you can bet his Devilgram is FULL of pictures of MC that night, showing off what a goddess of a girlfriend he has

Beel:

- Oop! Beel’s blushing. He has a hard time containing his excitement; in some ways he actually gets a little flustered

- even though he’s this huge, strong demon, seeing MC in her outfit looking nothing but powerful leaves him feeling weak at the knees

- he has no problem with how revealing her costume is, however he does worry that other demons will be staring at her hungrily throughout the night so Beel’s always around to keep a close eye on anybody

- he’s happy to be the one to escort the goddess of a human around the Halloween party

- when they return home and start kissing in bed she says ‘wait let me take this off’ and he casually continues kissing her and mumbles “no.”

Belphie:

- he feels a mixture of emotions when he first sees MC. At first he’s like ‘oh wow’ as he admires how amazing she looks but then after realising all of the other brothers stare too he gets a little anxious

- Belphie doesn’t want MC to know they he feels nervous so he doesn’t say anything, he just makes sure to always be around her

- but when he’s not worrying, he’s just gawping at her completely mesmerised. He’ll have a small smile on his face

- he has an incredibly hard time hiding his excitement. How was he supposed to compose himself when MC’s there looking like that?

#obey me #obey me shall we date

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wefoundloveunderthelight · 4 years

Text

Stacy’s Favorite Completed Captain Swan AU Fics

I have mentioned before that reading Captain Swan fics has kept me going through this pandemic and has lightened my mood through the election. I thought I would take a moment to mention some of my favorite completed AU fics.

I have to really thank all the lovely fic writers on this list for continuing to write about this beautiful couple long after the show has left the air. As a former Glee Fanfiction writer, I know the struggle of getting in the chapters, waiting for comments, and hoping with that sick feeling in your gut that people will like it. These writers are very lovely and have created great stories that I have loved reading!

I will work on my WIP list later on but wanted to start with my favorites that are completed stories!

Completed Modern AU

These Nights Never Seem To Go To Plan

Author: stophookingatmeswan

Summary: When Emma Swan meets Killian Jones, he's a mix of sass, sex and hot mess. As their lives start to intertwine professionally, they're drawn together personally but their pasts keep getting in the way. A Captain Swan Police AU.

Completed: 2016-12-089

Chapters: 21

An Inconceivable Secret

Author: itssarahndipity

Summary: Ten years after giving away her illegitimate son, Emma Swan feels unexpectedly ready to be a mother. Little does she know she’ll soon meet her chosen sperm donor and quite possibly fall in love with him. Of course, why bother telling him she’s pregnant with his child? That would complicate things, surely…

Completed: 2018-10-03

Chapters: 21

your case or mine

Author: miamoretti

Summary: Detective Emma Swan is one of Boston Homicide's finest. Killian Jones is head of the FBI team who swoops in to take jurisdiction when multiple homicides sharing similarities with her current case pop up out of state. But they'll have to learn to work together to lure out their killer when they're required to go undercover. As a married couple. CS Cops/Undercover/Fake Marriage AU.

Completed: 2020-08-15

Chapters: 30

your wonder under summer skies

Author: LetItRaines

Summary: Summer in Storybrooke, Maine means one thing for its residents: tourist season. This year, for Emma Swan and Killian Jones, it means relationships ending and friendships changing all the while they attempt to figure out just what their relationship is. It’s somewhere straddling the line between friends and lovers, and there’s no guarantee of a soft landing if they fall into new territory.

Completed: 2020-06-04

Chapters: 18

The Naked Truth

Author: brooke2broch

Summary: Captain Swan AU. Emma Swan, investigative reporter for the Globe, has arrived in Storybrooke, Maine, in the middle of a heat wave to do an undercover exposé on small town political corruption. The temperature gets even hotter when she meets the dashing mayor — and subject of her story — Killian Jones. When his political rival Regina Mills sets Emma to the task of finding the truth, she unwittingly puts her in the path of something darker and more dangerous than anyone ever expected. Although Emma has been in sticky situations before, something about this town, her newfound friends, and the confounding mayor have her edgy. Because for once in her life, Emma may have found something worth staying for.

Completed: 2020-11-27

Chapters: 23

With You I Have Everything

Author: OnceuponaSwan

Summary: Emma Swan is looking to start over with her son Henry. Boston seemed as good of a place as any to escape her ex-boyfriend. After receiving an officer job at the Boston PD, she feels drawn to the police chief, Killian Jones. Both too stubborn and broken, they embark on a romance that can only get trickier as the secret gets out.

Completed: 2017-09-18

Chapters: 17

The Convenient Groom

Author: searchingwardrobes

Summary: Killian Jones just happens to be there when Emma Swan gets the phone call that changes everything: her fiance is leaving her at the altar. The thing is, it also could mean the end of her career. Convenient that Killian has nothing better to do that day. Convenient that he’s secretly in love with her. Not that Emma has to know that.

Completed: 2020-01-18

Chapters: 14

Dark Gray

Author: colormyheartred

Summary: Killian Jones operates a lighthouse in the middle of nowhere, preferring a life of isolation, until one day a woman and a baby wash up on his little island and change his life forever.

Completed: 2020-10-01

Chapters: 18

Devastation and Healing

Author: Jrob64

Summary: Sergeant Killian Jones has had more than his share of tragedy in his life. When he’s injured in an IED explosion, he’s assigned to a physical therapist named Emma Swan. While she tries to help him heal physically, can they help each other heal emotionally?

Completed: 2020-08-28

Chapters: 24

Catch Me If You Can

Author: LetItRaines

Summary: 298 days. That’s how long Killian Jones was away from a baseball field. It’s less than a year, only part of a season for him, but it might as well have lasted a decade as he alternated between physical therapy and spending an excessive amount of time sitting on his couch.

But then he came back and won the World Series.

It’s something no one saw coming, and it’s certainly not something anyone who knows about his arm would predict. Now it’s a new season with new possibilities, and anything could happen. On-field reporter Emma Swan will be there to cover it all even if she is not his biggest fan right now.

Asking her out live on-air will do that.

Completed: 2020-01-29

Chapters: 40

Completed AU

A change in the wind

Author:

nowforruin

Summary: As Emma’s twenty-eighth birthday approaches and Henry becomes more and more distant, Regina decides trusting in her wicked abilities will no longer do – Emma Swan must be stopped from ever reaching Storybrooke. Lucky for her, a certain pirate would do just about anything for revenge. AU, Captain Swan.

Completed: 2015-04-12

Chapters: 24

Strangeness and Charm

Author: bluestoplights

Summary: Killian Jones is a pirate captain down on his luck after a falling out with the Evil Queen. Emma Swan just found out she is the Savior. Their shared goals bring them on an epic quest to liberate the kingdom once and for all. It's a lot easier said than done.

Completed: 2016-07-28

Chapters: 24

The Princess and the Pirate

Author: riddler42

Summary: When the notorious Captain Hook returns to the seas of Misthaven, Emma Swan - personal bounty hunter of Queen Snow and Prince Charming - takes it upon herself to hunt him down. She soon discovers, however, that she's not the only one. They must work together to escape their mutual enemies, but can they learn to trust one another before it's too late?

Completed: 2015-06-28

Chapters: 22

Their Way By Moonlight

Author: profdanglais

Summary: A new curse has fallen on Storybrooke and this time Emma is trapped inside it, deliberately separated from Henry and anyone else who might help her break it. But what no one knows –including her own cursed self– is that she and Killian have the ability to share their dreams, and are working together in secret to find a way to break the curse and rescue the town from a new and dangerous foe.

Completed: 2019-02-05

Chapters: 20

Walk With Me (I Think We'll Find A Way)

Author: Elizabeethan

Summary: Killian Jones travels across realms to find Emma and Henry in New York after receiving an anonymous message about a new curse. When he finally tracks her down, he makes a bold move and greets her at her front door, but before he can even attempt to convince her to come back to Storybrooke with him, he’s met with a surprise that will change his life.

Completed: 2020-11-07

Chapters: 9

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