#or you do like Jonny and develop your character and your narrative in a way that implies stuff about your relationship with that character

[thedreadvampy]

I don't want to respond to this directly in a reblog bc it doesn't really have to do with the content of the rest of the post (which is great, by the way! I'm really happy that things are going well on an artistic side and your work is lovely!) but this aside has me feeling some kind of way.

I don't think it's a fair characterisation to say the mechanisms 'misinterpreted' the universe of Doctor Carmilla, because it isn't really the same universe. The continuity between Doctor Carmilla & The Mechanisms and The Mechanisms as a standalone band seems to me to really be legacy only, and to the degree that Carmilla is mentioned in-universe it's an acknowledgement of the band's origins, not an attempt to write a Carmilla story. Seems to me like it wouldn't be appropriate for the Mechanisms to write stories about Doctor Carmilla and the universe Maki developed in her absence, nor would it be fair to pretend Maki never existed or that Carmilla wasn't deeply involved in the foundations of the Mechanisms universe.

like if you approach the Mechanisms and Doctor Carmilla as one unified story led by Maki then sure, it comes across like the Mechanisms misinterpreted ideas and dropped threads. But that's...not what it is? They're two separate stories with a common root. Maki hasn't been involved in writing with the Mechanisms since 2011 and the band finished in 2020 - in almost a decade with different people writing, a good number of whom weren't even involved with the Doctor Carmilla era of the Mechanisms, yeah, it isn't the same entity and I don't think that the Mechs have ever acted like it's meant to be? Doctor Carmilla is Doctor Carmilla and the Mechanisms are the Mechanisms and they exist in separate universes with some crossover points - that seems to me to be the best approach?

Like, it would be valid to say that the Mechanisms misinterpreted Carmilla's universe and character if they had ever written stories about Carmilla or about the ideas Maki had for her story. but they.... haven't? ever really done that? They've written stories featuring Carmilla, which is really kind of an acknowledgement that the band started with Maki, but only really in apocrypha or performing songs developed with Maki as far as I can tell? and beyond that when they've introduced new characters or story elements they've avoided going back over ground that would mean reinvolving Carmilla without Maki's input. bc from what I've seen they're pretty careful about not writing stories About Other People's Characters without getting substantial input and signoff from those people.

I don't really know the precise circumstances in which Doctor Carmilla and the Mechanisms became two separate entities - that's a wee bit before my time - but my impression was that nobody pushed anybody out or was cut out, that it was all pretty amicable, and that the Mechanisms wanted to perform more and Maki was going in more of a solo direction so they went on performing separately. I have no idea if that's a correct impression (and I'm happy to be corrected if not) but either way it's not abandoning a character to carry on without them when the person who played them is no longer involved, and it's not misinterpreting or abandoning an idea to build your own thing on the foundation it's set. I like both the universe Maki's made for Doctor Carmilla and the universe the Mechanisms made for their stories, they don't need to be in competition and there doesn't need to be One True Correct Canon, especially since Maki has continued making really great work on Doctor Carmilla's story without the Mechanisms. They can and should just be separate entities, that's allowed.

(and this isn't a go at you, btw, this is just like I've heard this take a few times and it seems like a pretty uncharitable interpretation of how creativity works. The Mechanisms are allowed creative ownership over their own universe - they were working with Doctor Carmilla for under a year and they've been developing stories together for the better part of a decade and it seems like a pretty unfair approach to all involved to cast that as a shadow of Doctor Carmilla's universe as if the only way you're allowed to keep using the same band name is if you follow exactly the preordained narrative of someone who hasn't been part of the band for years. Doctor Carmilla as a story and a character has certainly changed and developed over time, musically and narratively, and that's good! That's as it should be! so I don't know why the Mechanisms' narrative universe not being the same as it was when they were ...And The Mechanisms is sometimes framed as a bastardisation of Maki's work rather than like. an evolution and development of their own creative voice and stories)

Like. Assuming that we agree that it's good that the Mechanisms existed post separating from Carmilla and went on to make new music and write new stories, how would that do this in a way that wasn't a 'misinterpretation' and/or 'abandonment' of Carmilla's story? Either you have to try and tell Carmilla's story, which would be inevitably a 'misinterpretation' because. They're different people. And it would be pretty inappropriate to try and tell the same story as Maki wanted to tell without her and potentially have two versions of the same story competing. Or you do what the Mechs did in practise, and largely leave Carmilla's story and the surrounding universe for its creator to play with and go ahead and make your own thing with its own universe and rules that won't impact on the story they obviously want to build for their own character and world. You can characterise that as 'abandonment' but I'm not sure what the better option is then, other than just Nobody Who Has Ever Made Anything Involving Doctor Carmilla Can Ever Do Anything With The Characters They Made For That. like. It seems like the only alternative to keep creating with those characters (which, again, people developed as onstage personas for themselves) that couldn't be called a misinterpretation or an abandonment of Maki's original vision is like, to only ever do anything with Maki in charge, which is a pretty big limitation to put on a band, especially if I'm right in my understanding that they parted ways because Maki wanted to take a different approach to her work that didn't heavily involve the Mechanisms, so would she even have had the time, capacity or interest to lead on a whole other project alongside her own work back in 2011? When people have this take that the Mechanisms were somehow disrespectful of Maki's story by not just telling Maki's story and instead making their own thing, I just have to ask like what exactly is the alternative version where the Mechanisms make their own creative work with their own creative voice in a way that isn't either reinterpreting or moving away from the Doctor Carmilla story?????

[polystyrenequeen]

Alright, I am curious. Why is Jonny Cade queercoded and what queer subtext was there in their relationship with Ponyboys? 👀

TW: mentions of abuse, violence, death, murder

also spoilers for the outsiders!! (i mean it is a 60 year old book, but still)

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OOH OKAY OKAY

(In all honesty, I could probably do a whole essay on this, but I'll keep it brief-ish.)

Bit of background on The Outsiders: It's a book written in the early 60s that focuses on the class divide between the rich Socs (Socials) and the working-class greasers (like, "hoods", criminals), or rather the people within each of those groups who don't feel like they fit into the binary.

Ponyboy is the protagonist of the novel. He and Johnny are both greasers and part of a gang with a few others, including Ponyboy's two older brothers and three other boys.

Let's start with Johnny. Johnny is extremely queer-coded in his own right. He's described early on as timid, shy, weak and maybe a little feminine. He's seen as the gang's "pet" and the youngest, despite being sixteen to Ponyboy's fourteen. His friends are very fond and protective of him. A lot of this behaviour comes from his trauma, being abused by his parents as well as beaten nearly to death by a Soc named Bob. However, it also falls into an archetype of stereotypical queer characters. Writing male characters in this way is a way of subtly telling an audience that they are queer. This probably wasn't done intentionally, but should be kept in mind.

Johnny's character development involves him becoming more masculine, almost. The final important act he does in the book is save children from a burning building. Ponyboy comments on the fact that he seemed braver, louder etc in that moment, all traits associated with masculinity, which is 1) a strange reaction to the situation, especially for Johnny, and 2) exactly the kind of narrative standpoint one would take to show that femininity (or queerness) is bad.

Now for Ponyboy - his queer-coding is more subtle at times, and a little different. He isn't timid or shy or scared or feminine like Johnny. (However, he does once say that he "didn't care too much for girls yet", but that his brother said he would grow out of it. This is particularly strange, considering he is fourteen already.) Early on, it's established that he feels like an outsider within his own group. He doesn't really feel like a greaser, or act like one. He likes things that greasers don't like. He watches movies, he reads, he likes to see the sunset. He considers himself different, or "other", and he feels as if he can't talk about it. His friends just wouldn't get it.

A large part of the book, in my opinion, is Ponyboy finding other "outsiders", like Cherry and Johnny. (Cherry being a Soc while Johnny is another greaser.) All three of them talked once, while at a drive-in, Ponyboy finding a particular connection with Cherry despite her not being the only girl there. They all have the same sense of feeling “other”, and not being able to talk about it for fear of being judged.

Now for Johnny and Ponyboy’s relationship, which...oh boy. Some of it is just scenes like this, which feel very queer, outright:

“‘Guess I look okay now, huh, Johnny?’

He was studying me. ‘You know, you look an awful lot like Sodapop, the way you’ve got your hair and everything. I mean, except your eyes are green.’

‘They ain’t green, they’re gray,’ I said, reddening. ‘And I look about as much like Soda as you do.’ I got to my feet. ‘He’s good-looking.’

‘Shoot,’ Johnny said with a grin, ‘you are, too.’”

Not to mention the whole chapter they spend literally just acting like a domestic gay couple while they’re on the run, just the two of them, from the police. There’s also this conversation they have while watching the sunrise in this chapter (which I’ll talk more about later once I get to the symbolism), in which they talk about being outsiders. Here are a few quotes from that:

“‘You know,’ Johnny said slowly, ‘I never noticed colors and clouds and stuff until you kept reminding me about them. It seems like they were never there before.’”

“‘Well, Soda kinda looks like your mother did, but he acts just exactly like your father. And Darry is the spittin' image of your father, but he ain't wild and laughing all the time like he was. He acts like your mother. And you [Ponyboy] don't act like either one.’”

“‘You [Johnny] ain't like any of the gang. I mean, I couldn't tell Two-Bit or Steve or even Darry about the sunrise and clouds and stuff. I couldn't even remember that poem around them. I mean, they just don't dig. Just you and Sodapop. And maybe Cherry Valance.’

Johnny shrugged. ‘Yeah,’ he said with a sigh. ‘I guess we're different.’

‘Shoot,’ I said, blowing a perfect smoke ring, ‘maybe they are.’”

(Honestly, can my whole argument just be that one quote? “I guess we’re different.” // “Shoot. Maybe they are.” Queer stuff, huh?)

Later in the book, when Johnny is in the hospital, Ponyboy stresses again and again that he can’t think about him dying, that he can’t fathom a life without him. Everyone in the group is fond of Johnny, but Ponyboy acts like Johnny’s death would destroy him.

When Johnny is dying, he asks to see Ponyboy. His last words are to Ponyboy, despite Dally also being in the room. One of the other last things he does is write a letter to Ponyboy.

Johnny is also the first person Ponyboy runs to when his older brother hits him early in the book.

When Johnny dies, Ponyboy falls into denial, pretending and convincing himself that Johnny isn’t dead, because he couldn’t handle the grief. He says the reason that he doesn’t go insane with it, like Dally does, is because Johnny isn’t the only thing he loves.

This isn’t nearly all of it, but this post is already long as fuck, and I want to talk about some of the metaphors and symbols too.

Symbol #1: The hair

The is a more obvious one, as the author clearly intended it to be a metaphor, although probably not for something queer. When Johnny and Ponyboy go on the run after Johnny killed a Soc in self-defence, the two of them have to cut off their hair. This is obviously a big deal to them, especially Ponyboy, because they’re proud of their hair - it’s a symbol of the greasers, of rebellion, and it’s one of the last things they have that tie them with their gang back in the city. However, having Johnny and Ponyboy specifically cut off their hair feels like more of a symbol of them severing their ties to the greasers. They feel like outsiders within their own group already, and this is a way of showing that they’re leaving it behind, or starting to. (Shedding symbols of comphet, you know.)

Symbol #2: Sunrises and sunsets

Johnny, Cherry and Ponyboy, three characters who are outsiders within their own community, all spend time watching sunrises or sunsets. It’s one of the things that Ponyboy and Cherry bond over and talk about. Johnny and Ponyboy also watch a sunrise while they’re on the run. It’s a small thing that unites the three of them and becomes almost a symbol of their “otherness”, and thus, queercoding enters the chat. Also, the sunrise that Ponyboy and Johnny watch can symbolise the “beginning” of their relationship, as they start to see each other in a different light. 

Symbol #3: Gone with the Wind

When Johnny and Ponyboy are on the run, Ponyboy buys the book Gone with the Wind from a corner store. They read it together. The book is an idealised story of the southern, free, country life. Johnny makes comments about how the men in the book are charming and gallant and he admires them. The book symbolises both what Ponyboy and Johnny wish they could be, like happy and free and rich (and straight and masculine), and what they are, or what they’re starting to find with each other while in the countryside. When Johnny is in the hospital, he asks for a copy of the book to read. It’s one of his last requests. In my opinion, he asked for it both to remember Ponyboy and to escape to a reality where he wasn’t young and dying, to one where he was still with Ponyboy on the run, or one like in the book where none of this happened at all. The book is integral to their relationship.

Symbol #4: The poem

When Ponyboy and Johnny are watching the sunrise in the church, Ponyboy recites a poem by Robert Frost:

Nature’s first green is gold,

Her hardest hue to hold,

Her early leaf’s a flower,

But only so an hour.

Then leaf subsides to leaf,

And Eden sank to grief.

So dawn goes down to day.

Nothing gold can stay.

At the time, the two of them both say that they don’t understand the poem. When Johnny dies later in the book, his last words to Ponyboy are to “stay gold”. In the letter he wrote for Ponyboy, which Ponyboy reads later, he says that he now understands the poem.

“I’ve been thinking about it, and that poem, that guy that wrote it, he meant you’re gold when you’re a kid, like green. When you’re a kid, everything’s new, dawn. It’s just when you get used to everything that it’s day. Like the way you dig sunsets, Pony. That’s gold. Keep that way, it’s a good way to be.”

Oh boy, there’s a lot to say about this poem.

First of all, the poem symbolises what Ponyboy gave Johnny - a new outlook on life. A lens with which to see more beautiful things. Johnny said that he hadn’t really appreciated sunsets or clouds before Ponyboy pointed them out to him.

Secondly, the meaning of the poem. When you consider Johnny’s interpretation, also taking into account what sunsets and sunrises etc. mean in this book, it’s possible that the “gold” phase is Ponyboy’s acceptance of himself. Ponyboy loves Johnny. He knows he’s different, and while he doesn’t shout it from the rooftops, he’s happy with it in his own way. He finds other people like him, queer, like Cherry and Johnny.

However, the poem’s whole meaning is that nothing gold can stay. That’s the message we’re left with, even with Johnny’s insistence of “staying gold”. It could honestly be referring to an array of things - perhaps Johnny himself, or life in general (given the amount of death in this book), or youth. Obviously, this whole post is about the queer undertones in the outsiders, so one could argue that it’s about a queer youth experience, especially in the past - finding someone like you, someone you love, but it not lasting forever, and it being especially difficult to find again, given the circumstances.

In the end, Johnny dies, but he leaves Ponyboy with all the things that remind him of him - sunsets, sunrises, Gone with the Wind, stargazing. And ultimately, I think that’s the “gold” that the book is referring to.

[thevoidcannotbefilled]

Web!Martin.... Oh boy. Gonna shake the hornet’s nest with this one, but I’ve spent like three days on this editing and re-editing, and I’m finally satisfied with my kind of an essay at this point. 

So, here’s a deep dive as to why I think Web!Martin has merits. (Scroll to the bottom of my essay for my TLDR). 

Introduction

First, to get some stuff out of the way:

Do I think Martin is a sleeper agent? Do I think that he has been manipulating Jon this entire time or even in just season 5 for the games of the Web? Do I think he's a bunch of spiders in a Martin suit? Do I think he's regards the Mother as his Mother and accepts that he is her Son? Is Martn actively Webby? 

No. Absolutely not. None of the above. The Martin we know is the Martin we began with, just with a bunch of trauma and has gained the ability to set his boundaries.

I find the idea of sleeper agent Martin or something similar to be very counterintuitive to the overall narrative. Not only is TMA about choices, and to have Martin be a sleeper agent would be to deny all of Martin's choices this season in particular, but it doesn't really lead to much. At best it's a gotcha and a surprise at worst it's making literally every interaction between Jon and Martin, with Martin himself, and so on mean nothing for the sake of one twist and make it sad. It's not fun in long term, and so at the end of the day, I trust Jonny and Alex as writers more than that. (Plus we already did the "person is replaced" thing).

Does Martin being a manipulator actively mean that he is a Web avatar?

Short answer, no. 

Long answer, I made a post awhile back, and while it was for fandom things, I think it applies well here. What power you choose to align yourself with isn’t necessarily something you’d fully commit to. It is just, if you were an avatar and willing to hurt others for your own gain, what would you find yourself most aligned with.  What I mean by that, just because Martin lies and manipulates doesn’t mean that he is Web, however, manipulation is a tool does fit well with the Web, and if he were to choose to align himself to that, I think he could be Webby. However, he is not necessarily a Web avatar because he has no motivation to hurt people. 

That being said I do think Martin would be a good fit for the Web if he wanted to be, and I think there will be a point in the narrative that there is a potential that he could become one, even if he does not necessarily choose to be in the end. 

Let’s talk about it.

Evidence

I think the best way to describe Web!Martin on my end is this: if Martin had an inclination to be an avatar, he would be the Web because everything from his aesthetics to his skillsets line up with the Web, but he does not have any reason to be Webby and in fact, at the very least as of MAG169, should actively be against the Web’s goals. 

But that doesn’t mean his connection to the Web hasn’t been heavily foreshadowed or built up. Not all of these are of the same level, I admit that, so I’m just gonna bold the ones that are the most important.  These aren’t in any particular order. 

-For season 1 subtext, said he liked spiders In This First Appearance MAG22, in MAG38 Jon says that Martin gives them lectures on the importance of spiders for the environment, and MAG39, “it’s just that whatever web these statements have caught you in, well, I’m there too.” 

-IN MAG79, his poem has a line in it that goes, “"the threads of people walking, living, loving" which is very Web-like. 

-During the Web statement he read in season 3, he said “that wasn’t so bad, actually!” (MAG110) when he finished after showing open disdain for the others he read. The only other statement he didn’t think was bad to read was the Lonely one (MAG108), a power he canonical has ties to. 

-The only person in the show so far of the main cast that has had direct contact with Annabelle Cane. The only other people that have had contact with her are her victims (Creature Feature, MAG110) or her people she used as tools (Web Development, MAG123). 

-Let himself be guided to put the tapes on top of the coffin when the tapes, which have shown a direct association with both the Web and the Eye. 

- Martin’s “lo-fi charm” and “retro-aesthetic” (various) versus Annabelle “She dressed like a vintage clothing store exploded on her” (MAG69)

-Uses lying and manipulation as his main tactic against people and is acknowledged that manipulation is a skillset of his. By Jonah mostly, but he was able to successfully manipulate both Peter and Jonah. 

-In MAG117, he said "I’m not afraid for me, though. Isn’t that weird? I mean, it’s not like I’m going to be safe, like my plan’s not dangerous, but it’s, it’s mine. This last couple of years, I’ve always been running, always hiding, caught in someone else’s trap, but, but now it’s my trap, and, well, I think it’ll work. I know, I know it’s not exactly intricate, but it felt good weaving my own little web." and he then added after it with "oh good lord is Martin becoming some sort of spider person', no, Jon, just an expression.” 

-Martin having a bad relationship with his mother versus Mother of Puppets.

-The Web and the Desolation actively dislike one another (MAG139), and fire is Martin’s most hated pain (MAG169). 

-Martin is the primary investigator in Recluse (MAG59), Arachnophobia (MAG16), and was the one to find and give the Cracked Foundation (MAG114) to Jon. All of which are Web statements. 

-The delivery of the table and the lighter were technically both given to Martin since he was the one who talked to Breekon and Hope. 

-Martin was the first one to mention the Web lighter in season 5 in MAG162. 

What Does This Mean

Now I will admit none of these things on their own mean Web!Martin. They’re something you might describe a Web!avatar yes, but not Martin on his own (like I said just because Martin can be a manipulator doesn’t mean he is a Web avatar).

In fact, with elements like Martin finding fire his least favorite pain, I adore the meta on Martin’s trauma about giving himself up for other people led to him disliking fire and the lack of care from his mother, also leading to that. It is an excellent metaphor that fits incredibly well with his character. That being said, these factors can coexist. Martin disliking fire can both be a metaphor for his own self-destruction for the sake of others and be hints toward Web!Martin. 

HOWEVER, that all being said, even if these moments on their own don’t mean Web!Martin proof, I find it a bit unreasonable to entirely dismiss all of this either. There are too many coincidences lining up with the Web to not be intentional. It could be a red herring of course, but if it is a red herring.....well, Jonny put a hella of a lot of effort into making the Web!Martin red herring considering how much of his little details align so well with the small and big details of the Web. 

But assuming that this info does align together in all its Webiness... does this mean Web!Martin? 

Again, at the moment, I don’t think Martin is actively Webby. 

At his heart, Martin wants to do two things: 1) Protect Jon and 2) Protect as many other innocents he can in the process. 

As ironic as it is: "I want to find out what's going on. I want to save Jon. I want everyone to be fine and, you know what? If we were all happy that wouldn't actually be the end of the world” and “I want them to be safe. I need him to be okay” are basically the sum of Martin’s motivations from here to now. Martin wants a happy ending. And he’ll use whatever tools he can to do that. 

So asking questions from dangerous people like Simon Fairchild? For the protection of the world from what he thought was from the Extinction.

Burning up statements and burning up the cabin? The Desolation would like that, if it wasn’t for the fact he does so to decrease the fear in the world. 

And manipulating others? Peter? Jonah? Both of these weren’t to cause fear. They were at their heart to help others. 

Using the tools that the powers use does not mean you’re of that power. Martin’s most effective tool is to manipulate others bc they underestimate him or they trust him to do what needs to be done. People tend to have a single view of him. That doesn’t mean he doesn’t have other tactics, but with both Peter and Elias, it’s clear he knows how to use others’ egos against them. 

Season 5 and Web!Martin

This ALL being said...... Season 5 is a lot about the nature of power (what to do with it and what it means to use it) and what you can do in inherently toxic systems. We just learned that killing its leaders does nothing when the system itself is built to actively hurt others. That smiting doesn’t actively make things better. The Web is actively doing something at the moment and possibly with the Distortion as well that will probably hurt Jon and Martin. 

But..... 

I’m worried about the possibility that the Web can promise a world with a happy ending like Martin always wanted and with no other options within the world, Martin chooses to let himself become a tool for the Web. Now to make this clear: Does Web!Martin give a happy ending or even a better world? No. Absolutely not. Can the Web possibly promise to give him the power to get a happy ending? Depends on if Martin will believe it.

If Web!Martin is a thing, it would be in doing so What He Thinks would be in both of their best interests and most importantly as his lowest point and final resort. That he stops believing that they have power to change the world on their own. When he believes he has no power left and all he can do to make the world better is to go to the one source that always seems to understand what’s going on. Because as of yet, he doesn’t have the motivations to be a Web avatar, but we’re slowly creeping into territory where he might think it is necessary to be one. 

(We already had best case scenario where the Web asks Martin to join him and Martin says no. He could say no again, of course, but I don’t know if the Web will be as understanding of his reluctance in time). 

For me, Web!Martin is on the same level of tragedy as Jon being the Archivist. Yes, there would be choices, but Martin would have been actively been manipulated by the Web just as much as Jon would be hurt by the Eye, even if it’s for entirely different reasons. He would be used as a tool in a greater game. Jon wants to be a good person. Martin wants to have a happy ending. We already know Jon’s desire to help the people around him has gotten him multiple marks. I can definitely see a world where Martin’s desire for a happy ending is used against him by the Web. 

I can see a world where Martin lies to Jon because he thinks that’s what’s best for the two of them. I can see a world where he doesn’t lie to Jon but still accepts the power of the Web anyway despite Jon not thinking it’s a good idea. I don’t think either HAVE happened yet. We aren’t at that point, but... 

Whatever the case, whatever plan the Web may have it highly involves one Mister Blackwood and his Archivist. And for the Web’s plans, Martin plays a key part of in it. 

Other Theories and How Web Martin Plays Into It

So, do I think that’s where the plot will end? With Web!Martin betraying Jon bc he thinks it will be best? Not really. I think a lot of the point will also be that while Martin fits the Web well, his inherent desire for a better world makes it so he’s not an avatar. It’s the same points I made before: aesthetically, Martin fits the Web well and could be a good avatar in association, but he doesn’t WANT to hurt innocents. And ultimately, no matter his potential goals, Martin loves and cares for the world and especially for Jon. There could be a mistake in there made by Martin, where the Web has his clutches in him, but I don’t see a world where that is his ultimate conclusion. 

I’ve also seen a theory where Martin uses Webby shenanigans to his advantage against Annabelle Cane. Where the manipulator becomes the manipulated and the tragedy is the sacrifice of himself for the sake of a happy ending he’ll never see. 

I’m interested in seeing if Jonah making Martin the backup Archivist goes anywhere, especially with the uncertain connection between the tapes, the Eye, the Web, and the Archivist. Does this have anything to do with why Martin felt like he had to listen to Jon? Does this have anything to do with how he slapped Jon out of a statement? Could both of these elements also have something to do with the Web? 

I’m also very intrigued on what Web Development was doing when they have something called a “story-spinner” and yet when the story-spinner was described it sounded almost exactly like an Archivist, but instead when you give a story, the spinner killed someone. Could the story-spinner have anything to do with the previous back-up Archivist? Could they just be entirely separate things? 

Who knows what it all means? I don’t. That’s why I’m not discounting anything, especially with something that has so much set-up and subtext as Web!Martin. Whether Web!Martin means full avatar or not isn’t clear to me, but I’m taking any and all potential red-tape moments and running with them. If it means being pulled by a red-herring, so be it, but I won’t dismiss anything until proven otherwise. As long as Martin wants to do good and have a happy ending, I don’t think the Web can fully get him at least not in the ways that count. But I won’t stop investigating the narrative on what these elements could lead up to. 

Conclusion 

This post was made in frustration. I admit that. There is a distaste for Web!Martin that has been approaching the fandom that I don’t entirely understand. I’m not saying you have to like it, heck I admit, I could be entirely wrong. I also agree it’s a bit annoying that every interaction that Martin and Jon have come up under scrutiny for Martin potentially being Webby by the fandom. That’s why I started this post as I did because I don’t find the narrative of “Martin Is The Evil Bad Guy Manipulating Jon From The Beginning” all that compelling and wanted to put that to rest early. 

I do, though, find it frustrating dismissing all elements of Web!Martin because of this. At the end of the day, I find there are too many elements in the text to entirely dismiss it and an outright rejection of Web!Martin can potentially lead to dissatisfaction with the narrative. I make this post as an explanation and exploration of my thoughts, and a way to show why so many fans like the Web!Martin theory. Take it or leave it, it’s fine, but I wanted to gather all my thoughts clearly in one place rather than in a bunch of snippy posts. I hope I’ve done that well enough. 

TLDR: Web!Martin for me is a potential, a threat, and a possibility, but not something I think is actively happening at the moment. Martin would make a good fit for an avatar if he wanted to be, but at the moment, has no motivation to do so. However, with the ever decreasing options to save the end of the world, I can see a situation where Web!Martin is a thing that he actively thinks could save it. 

That being said, Martin is inherently a character that wants to do GOOD in the world, and as long as that’s the case, even if that motivation is used against him, I don’t think he will be proven wrong that the world can be good and he has the power to make it so, or at the very least, I don’t think his journey will end on a dower note, even if it is a tragic one. The tragedy will be in the cost of saving the world or something similar, and whether or not Web!Martin is the case, I don’t think that will change. That being said, there are many potential theories on what could happen, and I don’t want to miss any of them, Web or not. This post has been made in somewhat defense as to why people like Web!Martin and continue to theorize about it, but also in reassurance that even if we do get Web!Martin that it doesn’t mean a destruction of Martin’s character.

[lesbiansamruby]

just curious, what /were/ your issues with the tma finale? i'd love to hear ur thoughts on it

oh man how long do you have? under the cut if you understandably don’t want to hear me complain abt tma

i had issues with pretty much the entirety of season five that just kind of culminated in the finale. in my opinion season five doesn’t.. feel like a continuation of the first 160 episodes. or rather, it doesn’t build on anything and instead exists in this weird stasis where none of the characters have actual arcs and have turned into bizarre fanon versions of themselves. it cuts out all of the ensemble cast except for jon and martin, divvies up the fears into neat domains despite the literal point of mag 160 being that the distinctions between them were man made, and is for some reason stripped of any nuance in favor of transparent one to one allegories about capitalism week after week. not to mention just. abandoning all of jon’s internal conflict about being an avatar and his own choices in that right after he ends the world in an eldritch ritual. if the eye opens was the culmination of the building mystery of four seasons, where everything from the statements finally comes together, season five needed to be something different post reveal and honestly i think it needed to move away from the statement format which had already served its narrative purpose. also, there should have been more elias.

but as far as the finale itself goes, i think first of all it’s not a tragedy and instead is a continuation of the halfhearted attempts to placate jm fans. the framing of the moral problem is absurd. like, jon is right. it is the wrong thing to do to let the fears out to haunt countless dimensions just so they specifically can live. it is baffling to me that everyone else shrugging and saying they just hope the rest of existence can figure it out is the objectively good thing to do. the first five minutes where jon goes out on his own and is about to burn the world down in order to save countless other dimensions is good. it’s an actual return to his primary conflict with the eye and being an avatar and it would be genuinely tragic to have him finally actively choose the eye but make that choice to save others. in order to stop the fears once and for all and prevent anyone else from undergoing the things he’s gone through. having him flip on that immediately when martin walks in is ridiculous, first of all, and incredibly selfish but not framed that way. jon and martin both throughout the season talk about not putting one another before the world.. and then they.. put each other before the world in the finale. jonny seems to want to frame this as a tragedy because they both die, but characters dying does not a tragedy make! it’s very upsetting to me actually that jon finally gets to make a choice himself after four seasons of manipulation and has that choice taken away from him. it refocuses the entire show away from questions of humanity and monsterhood onto a romance that hasn’t actually been developed at all and should have been a supporting element to the actual themes that were there all along. 

i’ve talked a lot more about this in my tma tag on main @scottsummertime if you’re interested in a slightly more coherent version of this but tldr its not a tragedy, MAG160 is the true ending, and jm is annoying god bless <3

[neraiutsuze]

jonmartin

AWW YISS. from this askbox meme.

Ship It

What made you ship it? i am Not Immune to the inherent romanticism of dramatic rescues. nobutsrsly i don’t know that there was one moment where it was like a lightbulb of Oh, I Ship This Now. i remember really liking their dynamic whenever it showed up in s1-s3, but being so used to queerbaiting that when Jon woke up from his coma and was like I’M OVER MY SELF-EXPLORATION ABOUT THIS WHERE IS MY MARTIN WHOM I LOVE SO DEARLY i was like .....am i being punked? what happened? where did this come from? i love it but this cannot be what it sounds like right? and then we hit what jonny called the ‘let’s gouge out our eyes and make out’ scene and i was like holy shit they’re doing it???? so like. it was a journey that was both very fast and very slow.

What are your favourite things about the ship? i love how tied up in both of their character development it is!!! i love that it is a relationship that at its core is good for both of them, and that their relationship with each other has been so integral in them growing as people and finding themselves. i love that you cannot separate their development out from the ship, while at the same time having them both still be distinct and whole characters outside of it. i love that the relationship isn’t an extra that’s tacked on but is so fundamental to the narrative.

Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship? i love that they’re a realistic portrayal of a couple that genuinely love each other through a traumatic time that they’re both struggling with in different, even contradictory ways. So often in fiction, relationships aren’t allowed to be both messy and loving, and characters who get together - the ones that are allowed to be together in the narrative, rather that just getting their Big Damn Kiss at the end of the movie or whatever - kind of...lose their flaws or sharp edges when it comes to The Ship and get subsumed into it a bit. I love that all the conflict they have arises organically from how their character flaws interact with the incredibly stressful situations they’re put in. Like. I’m guilty of just wanting uncomplicated happy endings, but I want them to still feel faithful to the characters as people, and no matter what Jon and Martin really do. It’s hard to listen to, but it’s also so affirming - they’re human, they’re flawed, they fuck up with each other, but by god they love each other and they’re trying, and that’s just. so important to me. It’s so good.

[bubonickitten]

i'm so happy you got into tma!! i've always enjoyed seeing you write meta posts for dragon age, so seeing you write meta for tma is such a treat! thank you for your words! i hope you have a lovely day :)

Thanks!! it’s been awhile since I’ve written meta for anything, I forgot how much I liked it. Once I realized how emotionally invested I was getting in the characters, I should’ve known I’d end up having to make a dedicated TMA meta tag. 

And not to be dramatic of anything, but TMA really is a masterpiece of horror imo. I like horror, but it’s always a minefield because so much of horror really does (sometimes unintentionally, sometimes not) employ some really awful racist, ableist, etc. tropes, or rely on sexual violence or hate violence as a narrative device without making any critical commentary on those subjects. So sometimes there’s a horror story that has a neat premise, but then it’s so saturated with unnecessary and harmful tropes that I just end up feeling alienated and frustrated. 

Even a lot of supernatural horror falls back on Lovecraft, and a lot of people don’t realize how racist and xenophobic his works really are. admittedly, there are some cool, more recent transformative works that reappropriate Lovecraft into something new (e.g. some stuff in the New Weird genre), but sometimes people just grab the aesthetic without knowing its roots. And I get it, it’s a cool aesthetic, I love monsters and tentacles and things that slumber in the deep and the dark -- it just ends up being bad when people aren’t conscious of what Lovecraft was actually saying. which, I know, is how tropes work sometimes -- creators reuse tropes because they’re so salient in fiction, but sometimes the roots are really horrible and we just don’t know the history, and horror is a genre that is really susceptible to that. 

Getting off topic -- what I mean is, I really think Jonny Sims is a brilliant writer and this is one of my favorite horror stories I’ve come across. He’s a master at character development and foreshadowing. I’m on my third time listening through and there’s just so much detail that I didn’t notice on my first listen, so many thematic elements and parallels and keywords that he snuck in from the very first few episodes that become so important later. It starts out as having a horror anthology vibe, with really brilliant short stories embedded in a larger framework, but then you realize that every single one of those stories is connected to the larger metaplot. 

I joke about Jonathan Archivist Sims and his conspiracy corkboard thinking, but I’m really sitting here listening with my own conspiracy corkboard during each episode -- sometimes reading too far into things, sometimes not, but damn is it enjoyable to try to pick apart the web (so to speak). 

I think it’s incredible how well Jonny Sims manages to pull all those strings together. It’s partly because he had the whole plot mapped out before they even recorded episode one, but it’s impressive to me, because I always have trouble following through on a story -- I’m not good at being decisive or consistent with my writing, I’m always changing my mind and losing the threads of what I was originally trying to do, and honestly most of the time I don’t have an end in mind anyway, so I end up giving up on things too early. 

One of the other things I appreciate is just... how compassionate Jonny is when writing his characters. One of my biggest complaints about Dragon Age was always that I felt like certain characters weren’t written with real compassion and weren’t given a chance to grow and so much of their potential was wasted. Jonny Sims, otoh, puts his characters in some dark, painful situations, which can be heartwrenching and anxiety-inducing to listen to (especially when it’s characters I relate to), but he also allows them to grow and change throughout the story, and that adds to their complexity. Even the characters I hate, I can still wrap my head around their motives. Without giving away too many spoilers for anyone who hasn’t listened and wants to eventually, the Big Bad is repulsive in every way but his motives are so realistic and emblematic of real world horrors like imperialism, Machiavellianism, totalitarianism, and a willingness to abuse, manipulate, groom, and oppress others for self-profit. 

Jonny Sims manages to utilize common fears, horrors, and phobias to present some really clever and thoroughly unsettling short stories. Even the ones that explore a fear that I don’t personally have make my skin crawl -- he’s just that good at descriptive imagery and conveying psychological horror. And a lot of the episodes also have social commentary (which is a hallmark of good fantasy, sci-fi, and horror for me) -- sometimes it’s subtle, but then sometimes he comes out with these episodes that knock the wind out of you. Especially the most recent episodes. He comes right out of the gate sometimes with a treatise on war or institutional violence or xenophobia and it’s... well, it’s powerful. 

And, god, I could write forever about how this story deals with the question of what it means to be human in the most horrific of circumstances -- what choices we make, what we are versus what we do, whether we grow or stagnate, the importance of human connection and trust and love even (and especially) when the world seems against you. The potential for character studies is... oof, I want to write an entire essay.

You know those books that are like, “The Philosophy of [Fiction Story]”? Oh, I am so tempted to write a full essay on the philosophical concepts presented in TMA. Especially existentialism, lmao. “What use is a philosophy minor?” people asked. Apparently the answer is, “Spend time during quarantine writing a treatise on existential philosophy in a horror-tragedy podcast I binged within a week and now can’t shut up about, because it’s been nine years since I had a philosophy class and I forgot how much I enjoyed pointlessly navel gazing about the nature of existence.”

I’ll shut up now. TL;DR if anyone wants to ramble at me about TMA, chances are I’ll be excited to respond. I’m having trouble focusing on creative writing right now, and I think my hype over this podcast might be helping me with writer’s block a little bit. 

[themillionairesclub]

PATRICK KYLE!

Artist and RISOmaster Patrick Kyle has been self publishing so many zines that one can lose track of them. Thanks to Patrick that most of them are numbered. “Distance Mover”, “New Comics” and “Special Friend” were and are ongoing series that came out as beautifully RISO-printed books. Patrick has two books out with Torontos finest publisher Koyama Press. „Distance Mover“ and „Don’t Come in Here“.

We love Patricks work and are so happy that he’s coming all the way from Canada to show his drawings and sell his zines and books at The Millionaires Club! Patrick is showing his work at Hopfe (Kolonnadenstrasse), March 24th-26th, Opening reception: March 24th, 7pm Also him and Gina Wynbrandt will be live on Kubshow @ Radio Blau, March 25th, 8 pm On Sunday, March 26th, 3 pm there will be an Artist Talk with Patrick and Gina in their exhibition.

Toronto seems to be a paradise for Cartoonists with the great annual comic festival TCAF, the publisher Koyama Press and The Beguiling, a legendary comic book shop. Can you tell us a bit about the local comic scene? I might not necessarily call it a paradise - Toronto is a fairly expensive city to live in and as cartoonists, artists, illustrators etc, we're normally living off limited resources. That being said, there are a lot of avenues here in which to exhibit and sell your work here and there's great support for comic launches and other events from institutions like The Beguiling and Koyama Press. Weird Things (a gallery and antique shop operated by Jonny Peterson) has been great in showcasing a lot of weirdo artists and cartoon inspired work over the last few years.

You’re still self publishing a lot besides being published by Koyama Press. What are the benefits of printing your own books for you? I'm incredibly thankful to be working with Koyama Press - having the support of a publisher with the resources to make larger print runs and access to distributors is really amazing and It's been very beneficial for me in reaching a broader audience. Book making has been part of my practice since the start. I love doing it and I like being able to make small books with short print runs that are only available directly from me.

„Don‘t come in here“ is quite long compared to your zines. How did you work out the rhythm of that narration? How did you compose the scenes with each other? It wasn't a huge jump from working on zines because the whole book is comprised of short vignettes. I had an overarching narrative in mind when I started but I was able to play around with it a lot and move pieces of the story around as I went in order to find the right rhythm.  

There are some really funny movements depicted in „Don’t come in here“. Which role does animation play in your work? Don't Come in Here is (maybe) the first thing I've done that has this sort of cinematic/animation like approach. I don't necessarily think that comics should be storyboard-like or should be easily translatable into animation. Comics are really a different medium and cartoonist should be eager to capitalize on these differences. My other books (Black Mass + Distance Mover) have no traditional panels - the information is sort of just laid out of the page and the reader has to figure out how to follow it as they go. I had a lot of fun making comics this way, but that approach prevented me from having any cinematic-type pacing or any drawn out sequences.

Are you working a lot on the single drawings of your characters or is it rather a one-shot? I'm not sure what you mean by this. Do you mean do I do a lot of character design work before hand? Figuring out what the characters look like ahead of time? I don't really do that - I just start working and the characters just are whatever they are.

Which (Comic)Artists do you cherish? Too many to consider, but heres a few off the top of my head: Phillip Guston, Mark Beyer, Brian Chippendale, Barbara Rossi + All of my friends and peers in Toronto.

Your ongoing series ‚Special Friend‘ is about a friendship ( maybe a dependency?) between two characters named Babylon and Durgie. Can you describe the character of their relationship? Will they ever find satisfaction and peace? Special Friend has a pretty simple concept - one of the characters is bad (Babylon) and the other one is good (Durgie). Neither of them is really inherently good or bad, though Babylon often states that he is 'Mean' and he often pretends that he doesn't like Durgie or doesn't know him. His scheming and mischievous behaviour are usually only to attract Durgie, whom Babylon secretly reveres. Durgie is always optimistic and loves Babylon, though because Babylon has such internalized dislike of himself, he doesn't believe that Durgie loves him and goes to great length to impress him, which sometimes tires Durgie out. I think they complete satisfaction and peace in their disfunction - without it there wouldn't be a comic to make!

Do you have a script for the dialogues? No - I always just make it up as I go. Occasionally I'll make a mistake or change dialogue and you can see where I've scribbled a word out. They come together in under 5 minutes usually.

The world most of your characters live in is charmingly chaotic, it makes me think of a dismembered user manual tenderly put back together. How do you create these landscapes and rooms? Also (but that might go too far): Is this reflecting your view on the world in any way? I honestly think this style has developed from a lack of ability - I avoided drawing backgrounds in my early comics because really didn't feel confident doing it. I would just leave a lot of white space and/or draw a bunch of weird esoteric objects around to fill space. I obviously feel a lot more confident depicting backgrounds and spaces now - but I think that floating-in-the-void approach has evolved into something that is characteristic of my style.

How does a Kyle-(work)day look like? It's always varied - this week I'm just relaxing and putting mail orders together. I just finished work on my next book for Koyama Press, and that schedule day-to-day was more hectic. Since the beginning of January I was drawing about two pages a day in order to finish the book on time. That varied as well thought - other obligations come up; you never know when someone will want to hire you for an illustration, and I'm also teaching twice a week at OCADU here in Toronto. I have to be pretty vigilant in how I use my time. I'm looking forward to starting something new in the next week or so that I'll debut at TCAF.

Thank you, Patrick! See you soon in Leipzig!! more work by Patrick: http://www.patrickkyle.com https://www.instagram.com/patrick.kyle/?hl=de https://twitter.com/_patrickkyle

[captaingardening100-blog]

THIS WEEK: Winter Words Festival at Pitlochry

New Post has been published on https://gardenguideto.com/awesome/this-week-winter-words-festival-at-pitlochry/

THIS WEEK: Winter Words Festival at Pitlochry

Pitlochry Festival Theatre has an amazing array of demonstrates for this year’s Winter Words Festival from 14 – 17 February :P TAGEND

Thursday, 14 February

Mary Miers and Christina Noble: Journey To A Highland Estate

Enter the wonderful world of the Highland Estate with two fascinating writers. Mary Miers will introduce some of the most dramatic and little-known homes in the romantic north of Scotland, with some specially commissioned images, many from the world famous Country Life picture archive. Christina Noble will focus on one estate- Ardkinglas, a 45,000 -acre estate at the head of Loch Fyne- now famous for its Oyster Bar. She’ll tell the story of the estate, based on personal memories, letters and household diaries- from her great-grandfather buying the estate in 1905, to the community Ardkinglas has become today, looking at a Highland estate in the modern world and asking what is it for?

10. 00 am- 11.00 am | PS8. 50

Ken Cox: Adventures In Woodland Gardening

Festival favourite, Ken Cox returns to Winter Words with a talk on Woodland Gardening, detailing how to landscape with Rhododendrons, Magnolias and Camellias. With plenty of gorgeous images, Ken will take audiences through the history and evolution of the woodland gardening style, from Japan and China, to Europe and around the world. Plus insights and advice on intend, management and restoring woodland gardens. Ken is a third generation woodland gardener at Glendoick, Scotland, a nurseryman and writer of 11 volumes on Scottish gardens, gardening and rhododendrons.

11. 30 am- 12.30 pm | PS8. 50

Chris Townsend: Strolling The Spine Of Scotland Literary Lunch

Chris Townsend, passionate hillwalker and backpacker, is currently Hillwalking Ambassador for the British Mountaineering Council. Here he turns his attention to the spine of Scotland,’ The Watershed’ which operates between the Atlantic and the North Sea, covering 1200 km and describes his walk along the line where fallen rainfall operates either west to the Atlantic or east to the North Sea, showing us some of the stunning images he’s taken along the way. But this tale isn’t simply a travelogue, instead Chris will reflect on nature and history, conservation and rewilding, land use and literature, and change in a time of limitless possibilities for both better and worse.

12. 45 pm- 2.15 pm | PS24. 50 includes a two course lunch and coffee or tea.

Gary Sutherland: Walk This Way

Gary Sutherland is not your typical nature writer. He lived on the doorstep of the West Highland Way for many years, dismissing it, until one day he started to walk- and walking and walk. Gary tells how mounds dedicated him the heebiejeebies, and woods frightened him. Add to that his deep aversion to most forms of wildlife. Then, one day, he decided to tackle the West Highland Way … and the Great Glen Way … and the Speyside Way. This is a tale- with images- of fortitude, cows, resilience, feral goats, ambition, Belgians, ludicrous ridges, cataclysmic quagmires and creepy messages spelt out in pine cones!

3. 00 pm- 4.00 pm | PS8. 50

Donald S Murray and John MacLeod: Remembering The Iolaire Disaster

In 1918, more than 200 men succumbed when His Majesty’s Admiralty Yacht, Iolaire sank, just outside Stornoway Harbour. It was one of the worst shipping catastrophes in British history. The 100 th anniversary of the Iolaire disaster is a time to remember, and we’re doing just that in this event. Donald S. Murray will discuss his fictional account of the tragedy, As The Women Lay Dreaming, while John MacLeod brings us a factual story from the day that so many Scottish hearts were violated. Join us for what will surely be a moving and fascinating discussion.

4. 30 pm- 5.30 pm | PS8. 50

Liz Lochhead with Steve Kettley: Something Old, Something New

A selection of favourites, old and new, from fifty( ouch !) years of bittersweet, polemical, comical, in-character monologues, theatre pieces and performance poems by the former National Poet of Scotland and recipient of the Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry, Liz Lochhead. Plus bluesy, soulful and playful saxophone stuff from musician, composer and occasional performer, Steve Kettley of long-standing quartet, Steve Kettley’s Odd Times, whose varied career includes work touring the UK and with residencies in New York and Baltimore.

7. 30 pm- 9.00 pm | PS12. 50

Friday, 15 February

Donald S Murray and Robin A Crawford: Discovering The Story Of Peat

Peat. The Dark Stuff. Art historian, Robin A Crawford delves Into The Peatlands of the Outer Hebrides over the course of the year, explaining how they have been created and examining how peat has been used from the Bronze Age onwards plus many other aspects, including the wildlife and folklore relating to these lonely, watery places. Playwright-poet, Donald S. Murray’s talk extends from Lewis and the Highlands to the Netherlands and Australia, unpicking how this landscape affected him and the ways that humans have represented the moor in literature, art and folktale. Together their conversation is a fascinating discourse on this most Scottish of materials.

10. 00 am- 11.00 am | PS8. 50

Andy Howard: The Secret Life Of The Mountain Hare

Andy Howard is a wildlife photographer, ecologist, and expert on the mountain hare. “Usually shy, always charming, they can run like the wind and their presence is an indicator of a healthy environment, where predators and prey live their lives in a constantly changing balance.” In this event Andy will take the audience on a journey with this ultimate survivor, accompanied by his own stunning images.

11. 30 am- 12.30 pm | PS8. 50

Polly Pullar: A Richness Of Martens Literary Lunch

Polly Pullar is a novelist, photographer and field naturalist. She has a particular passion for wildlife, the countryside and in particular remote the sectors of the Highlands and Islands.

Join Polly for a fascinating insight into the story of the Humphreys family and their pine martens, a much misconstrue animal, and a passionate portrait of one of Scotland’s richest habitats- the oakwoods of Scotland’s Atlantic seaboard. Polly’s previous Winter Words appearances ought to have festival highlightings- knowledgeable and packed with energy!

12. 45 pm- 2.15 pm | PS24. 50 includes a two course lunch and coffee or tea.

Alex Boyd: Images Of St. Kilda- The Silent Islands

Alex Boyd’s photographs of the ever-mysterious St. Kilda archipelago depict the beauty of the islands, but he also captures the modern signs of military presence- jarring with the empty landscape: the inter-relationship between heritage, myth and Britain’s ongoing role on the world stage as a major weapons producer.

Alex will take you on the journey across the largest isle of Hirta, from the hills above Village Bay, or in the valley of Gleann Mor beyond, pointing out the structures both ancient and modern built by the St. Kildans themselves.

3. 00 pm- 4.00 pm | PS8. 50

Christopher Baker: J.M.W. Turner, A Life In Watercolour

J.M.W. Turner( 1775 -1 851) was perhaps the most prolific, innovative and one of the best-loved of all British artists. His outstanding watercolours were bequeathed to the National Gallery of Scotland in 1899 by the distinguished collector, Henry Vaughan, and are one of the most popular features of its collection. Join Christopher Baker, Director of the Portrait Gallery, for an illustrated talk that will provide a remarkable overview of many of the most important aspects of Turner’s Career.

4. 30 pm- 5.30 pm | PS8. 50

Doddie Weir: His Name’5 Doddie

Scottish rugby legend, George Wilson Weir is better known to the world as Doddie. Winning 61 caps, he was a fan-favourite of the Scottish crowd, before retiring in 2004. Then, in 2017, Doddie announced he had motor neurone disease. There is currently no remedy, and most patients diagnosed with this illness die within three years of developing symptoms. His foundation, My Name’5 Doddie, is creating money to help find treatments and a remedy. Come along to this special evening and hear Doddie, along with his ghost writer, Stewart Weir, talk on this funny, moving and fascinating uncover of Doddie’s career and life.

6. 00 pm- 7.00 pm | PS10. 00

Prof Dame Sue Black& Dr Richard Shepherd: The Truth About Life And Death

Professor Sue Black is known the world over for her work as a forensic anthropologist and anatomist. From uncovering war crimes in Kosovo to identifying bodies in the Indian Ocean tsunami, she’s returned bodies to their loved ones, often years after they disappeared.

Dr Shepherd takes nothing for granted in the pursuit of truth. Each post-mortem is a detective narrative in its own- and Shepherd has performed over 23,000 of them and involved in some of the most high-profile cases of recent times.

How do these extraordinary people was also able to separate work and the rest of their life- and what happens when those lines blur? Sue and Richard will discuss this and some of the extraordinary instances they’ve covered in their long careers. Q& A conference and book-signing.

7. 30 pm- 9.00 pm | PS14. 50

Saturday, 16 February

Jonny Muir: The Mountains Are Calling

Jonny is a successful hill and fell runner. In an exhilarating story of runners who go to high places, he explores the history and culture of the athletic, and meets the legends who are venerated for their extraordinary endurance. Discovering the insatiable lure of the hills led Jonny to the supreme test of mountain operate: Ramsay’s Round- a daunting 60 -mile circuit of twenty-three mountains, climbing the equivalent height of Mount Everest and culminating on Ben Nevis, to be completed within twenty-four hours. Did he manage it? Find out in Jonny’s talk- illustrated with some of the incredible photo as well as maps contained within his book.

10. 00 am- 11.00 am | PS8. 50

Hamish Brown: East Of West, West Of East

Hamish Brown is a legendary climber, traveller and author. Here he tells the story of his remarkable family, caught in Japan at the outbreak of the Second World War in the Pacific. With letters, journal extracts , notes from his mothers, and his own recollections, he brings the epoch to life: is not merely the dying days of the British Empire, but the terrible reality of the intrusion of Singapore into which they escaped. In 2015, Hamish Brown was awarded an Outdoor Novelist and Photographers Guild, Lifetime Achievement Award for outstanding contribution to outdoor writing and photography.

11. 30 am- 12.30 pm | PS8. 50

Rosemary Goring: Scotland: Her Story Literary Lunch

Scotland’s history has been told many times, but never exclusively by its girls. Rosemary takes a unique view on dramatic national events, as well as ordinary life, as experienced by women down the centuries. From the saintly but severe medieval Queen Margaret, via Nan Shepherd and Muriel Spark, to today’s First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, Rosemary encompasses females from all stations and notoriety and brings to life the half of history that has for too long been hidden or ignored.

12. 45 pm- 2.15 pm | PS24. 50 includes a two course lunch and coffee or tea.

Penny Junor: All The Queen’s Corgis

The Queen has had corgis by her side ever since she was seven years old and persuaded her parent to buy one for the family. The dogs are the Queen’s constant companions and Jenny’s book discloses the scraps and scrapings in which the dogs have been involved.

Daughter of Sir John Junor and school-mate of Princess Anne, journalist, TV presenter and popular novelist, Penny Junor is maybe best known for her royal biographies, originating with Diana: Princess of Wales, earning her the label of’ royal expert’. This is a fascinating and affectionate look at the Queen and her most faithful companions on what really attains our much-loved and longest reigning monarch truly light up.

3. 00 pm- 4.00 pm | PS8. 50

Gabriella Bennett: Coorie In, The Scottish Way

Coorie, or cosagach in Gaelic, is the Scottish version of hygge- a recently popularised Danish word, meaning to create a warm ambiance and enjoy the good things in life with good people. Gabriella Bennett has travelled Scotland speaking to people whose love of coorie shows in their homes, ingenuity and approach to a life lived well. Join Gabriella as she explores what coorie is and how it has helped nurture the astonishing creativity for which Scotland is famed, despite an often harsh and unforgiving climate.

4. 30 pm- 5.30 pm | PS8. 50

Richard Holloway: Waiting For The Last Bus

Get together with one of the most important and beloved religious leaders of our time as he widens an invitation to reconsider life’s greatest mystery. Now in his ninth decade, former Bishop of Edinburgh, Richard Holloway presents a positive, meditative and profound exploration of the many important lessons we can learn from death: facing up to the limitations of our bodies as they falter, reflecting on our fails, and forgiving ourselves and others.

A reviewer and writer for the press, including The Times, The Guardian and The Scotsman, Richard is a frequent presenter on radio and television and is well known for his support of progressive causes, questioning and addressing complex ethical issues in the areas of sexuality, drugs and bioethics.

6. 00 pm- 7.00 pm | PS10. 00

Neil Oliver: The Story Of The British Isles In 100 Places

Archaeologist, historian, conservationist, writer and broadcaster, Neil Oliver is best known as presenter of the BBC documentary series, Coast. This event is his personal account of what induces these islands so special, told through places which have borne witness to the unfolding of our history. Cradling astonishing beauty, the human narrative here is a million years old, but the tolerant, easy-going peace we’ve enjoyed has been hard won. We’ve made and known the best and worst of days. We have been hero and villain and all else in between.

Beginning with humankind’s earliest ancestors, he takes us via Romans and Vikings, the flowering of religion, civil war, industrial revolution and two world wars. From windswept headlands to battlefields- each is a place where the spirit of the past seems to linger. “I have chosen what I consider to be the most characteristic features of the face I have grown up to know and love … in this present climate of public anxiety, disagreement and uncertainty about the future, I think it is timely to seem again at the past, the histories of this place from its earliest times.”

7. 30 pm- 8.30 pm | PS14. 50

Sunday, 17 February

David Ross: Highland Herald

From 1988 to 2017 David was the Highland Correspondent of The Herald. His patch stretched from the Mull of Kintyre in the south to the Shetland island of Unst in the north; from St. Kilda in the west, to the whisky country of Speyside in the east. David helped the first community land buyout in modern times in Assynt, covered the anti-toll campaign on the Skye Bridge, together with the efforts to save Gaelic and protect ferry services. Join David reflecting on the issues affecting the Highlands and Islands during his time of coverage.

10. 00 am- 11.00 am | PS8. 50

James Crawford: Scotland From The Sky

Accompanying the BBC documentary series, novelist and broadcaster James Crawford’s talk will be based on his lavishly represented volume which draws on the vast collecting of aerial photography held in the Historic Environment Scotland repositories. Opening an extraordinary window into our past this is the remarkable story of a nation from above, showing how our great cities have dramatically altered with the ebb and flow of history, while whole communities have faded in the name of progress. James reveals how aerial imagery can unearth gems from the ancient past, and secrets interred right beneath our feet. Come along to get a glorious bird’s-eye opinion of this story of Scotland, from the sky!

11. 30 am- 12.30 pm | PS8. 50

Christopher Fleet: Scotland: Defending The Nation Literary Lunch

Scotland has had an important military history over the last five centuries. 16 th century conflict with England, Jacobite insurrections in the 18 th century, two world wars, as well as the Cold War, all resulted in significant cartographic activity. Christopher Fleet, Senior Map Curator in the National Library of Scotland will explore this rich legacy through rare maps, some reproduced in book sort for the first time. These maps tell particular tales about both attacking and defending the country: castles, reconnaissance mapping, battle schemes, military roads, mines, adversary maps, unrealised proposals and projected schemes.

12. 45 pm- 2.15 pm | PS24. 50 includes a two course lunch and coffee or tea.

Kaye Adams and Nadia Sawalha: Disaster Chef

Are your family rude about your cook? Do you think cake-bakers come from another planet? Disaster Chef is borne out of MasterChef-winner, Nadia Sawalha’s annoyance with Kaye Adams’ kitchen mishaps. It is a recipe volume for the culinary-challenged to be able to dish up delicious maggot fast. Best friends and television services and facilities presenters Nadia and Kaye are well-known for the ITV daytime show, Loose Women. Nadia rose to fame as Annie Palmer in EastEnders, and Disaster Chef is her sixth cookbook. Kaye, meanwhile, is a highly respected journalist and broadcaster, for ITV and STV and BBC Radio Scotland. Join Nadia and Kaye as they chat about quick and simple recipes, and how not to be a Disaster Chef!

3. 00 pm- 4.00 pm | PS10. 00

Denise Mina and Lin Anderson with James Crawford: Bloody Scotland

In Bloody Scotland twelve of Scotland’s best crime-writers use the sinister side of the country’s build heritage in tales by turns, gripping, chilling and redemptive- exploring the potential of Scotland’s iconic sites. Join writer and broadcaster James Crawford as he talks to two of the twelve: Denise Mina- win of the Short Story Dagger for her story in this collecting, the 2017 McIlvanney Prize and Theakstons Old Peculiar Crime Novel of the Year Award( twice !); and Lin Anderson, best known as creator of the forensic scientist Rhona MacLeod series of crime thriller fictions, and her part in founding the Bloody Scotland crime-writing celebration itself. From murder in an Iron Age broch, to a dark psychological thriller set at Edinburgh Castle, uncover the intimate- and deadly- connections between people and places, as James guides you on a dangerous journey into the dark darkness of our nation’s houses- where passion, ferocity, longing and death collide!

4. 30 pm- 5.30 pm | PS8. 50

Peter Cairns: SCOTLAND: A Rewilding Journey

Not so long ago vibrant, wild forest stretched across much of Scotland. Beavers and cranes were at home in extensive wetlands. Salmon and trout filled the rivers. Lynx, wolf and wild boar roamed wooded glades. Today, it’s easy to be seduced by the raw beauty of the Scottish landscape, but it is sadly an ecological darknes of its former self.

It doesn’t have to be this way. Join conservation photographer Peter Cairns, who results the call for a new vision of a wilder Scotland, where woodlands abundant with life are regenerating, rivers lined with alder and willow operate freely, injury peatlands are revitalised and oceans support the great whales: a place where nature works as it should, wildlife prospers and crucially, where people prosper.

6. 00 pm- 7.00 pm | PS8. 50

Read more: glasgowtheatreblog.com

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Vuelta a Espana: How Simon Yates learned from bitter Giro d

Vuelta a Espana: How Simon Yates learned from bitter Giro d

Vuelta a Espana: How Simon Yates learned from bitter Giro d

Simon Yates picked himself up from disappointment in the Giro d’Italia to win his first Grand Tour in Madrid

There are familiar semantic havens when sport brings failure rather than success.

We’ll be stronger for this loss. You learn more from defeat than victory. This is all part of the journey.

Most of the time they ring hollow. If you’re stronger for a loss, why not try to lose all the time? Why should failing to overcome problems teach you more than successfully working out the solutions? A journey can be enlightening yet it must also reach its final destination.

Sometimes they are more than cliche. Simon Yates’ victory at the Vuelta a Espana has been buttressed by the strength of his Michelton-Scott team and eased by the absence of some star names and the troubled form of others. But more than anything else, it has come from experience, and not just the happy kind.

Yates came within two days of winning the Giro d’Italia in May. He held the race’s pink jersey – the maglia rosa – for 13 days, won three stages and rode with consistent panache.

You couldn’t miss him, all the way to the 19th stage where suddenly you couldn’t see him.

As Chris Froome launched his famous solo attack on the Colle delle Finestre, Yates imploded, losing 38 minutes on the day and tumbling from first on the general classification to 17th.

A victory of attrition – not spectacular assaults

Simon Yates joined the elite names of his sport by winning the Vuelta

In Spain, he rode with the grizzled caution of a connoisseur. When he first took the leader’s red jersey he was happy to soon cede it. As he has won it back he has done it not with spectacular assaults but with attrition and restraint.

At least once a day, he says, his team sport director Matt White has told him to ease off the throttle. He has listened every time.

Yates’ tactics at the Giro were in part dictated by his rivals and by the parcours.

Up against Froome and Tom Dumoulin and with a long time trial in the final week, he felt forced to hunt every bonus second he could find before then.

His expectations shifted too; he had begun the race as support for team-mate Esteban Chaves, only for their divergent form on the road to lead to a rapid reassessment.

The Vuelta has been different. Froome and Dumoulin are absent, spent from their exploits at the Giro and Tour. Geraint Thomas is recovering from his own glorious graduation. Richie Porte, Vincenzo Nibali and Mikel Landa have all been brought low by injury.

But Yates is different too. The Giro is unpredictable, a race that throws fireworks at you, the maverick brother of the more controllable, corporate Tour. Yates rode it in character, attacking from close in, attacking from distance; chasing a team-mate, doing it solo. Dancing on the pedals, climbing with an easy grace and explosive acceleration.

He rode the Vuelta the way Alastair Cook approached his Test innings, the way Jordan Spieth won his debut Masters: with calculation, with restraint, with an eye on the long-term. The cruel three-week examination of a Grand Tour demands consistency as much as flair.

One-off displays of verve are fine. The battle-hardened ability to see off multiple attacks and rivals and conditions takes longer to learn.

‘The Yates brothers stood out from very early on’

Adam Yates (left) rode in the shadow of brother Simon (right) in this year’s Vuelta

Yates has soaked all those lessons up, just as he did after winning the white jersey for the best young rider at the Tour de France a year ago, in becoming world champion in the points race on the track in 2013, after finishing second at the Paris-Nice stage race earlier this year.

But the 26-year-old, like his twin brother Adam, has always been quick to absorb the education of the road.

“The first time I saw them they were 12, these two tiny little lads, and your first thought was, blimey, what are these two doing coming out with adults?” remembers Nick Hall, chairman of Bury Clarion cycling club.

“You soon realised why. That first ride was only 30 miles or so. At that stage they obviously lacked a bit of stamina, but even then you could tell they were two very talented lads.

“Talking to them, even at that age, you asked them what they wanted to do and they would say ‘professional bike rider’. Other lads of the same age were playing football in the park and wanted to be Premier League footballers. For the Yates it was all cycling.

“They would sprint to the next lamppost and sprint against each other. In a friendly manner, but that competitive edge was always there between them. When they were in serious races they would race each other, but on training rides they were very competitive.

“When they started racing at Manchester velodrome, that made a massive difference to them. And they stood out among their peers there. They progressed to outdoor races and once again they stood out from very early on.”

It’s quite some trinity

Geraint Thomas (left), Simon Yates(second left) and Chris Froome (right) during the 2017 Tour de France

Only twice before has one country made a clean sweep of all three Grand Tours in the same season: in 1964, when Frenchman Jacques Anquetil won the Tour and Giro and his compatriot Raymond Poulidor the Vuelta, and then in 2008 when Spain’s Alberto Contador took the Giro and Vuelta and Carlos Sastre the Tour.

Never before have three different men from the same nation each won one apiece. And then came this golden year for British cycling in an era that had already brought unprecedented success: Froome charging late to snatch the Giro, Thomas indomitable across three weeks in France, Yates completing the hat-trick in Madrid.

It is quite some trinity. The Yates twins have previously been compared to triathlon’s Brownlee brothers, two other similarly flinty siblings from across the Pennines in Leeds.

While both sets of brothers share a fierce competitiveness, the dynamics are subtly different. Alistair Brownlee is two years Jonny’s senior and when the two have raced together in the Olympics he has come out on top both times.

There are only five minutes between Simon and Adam, the two taking different routes into elite cycling until both joined the Australian team that was then Orica-GreenEdge, and there has been little between them in terms of their palmares, at least until this week.

Totally at ease with pressure of competition

Simon Yates shakes the hand of home favourite and main rival Alejandro Valverde before the start of the 19th stage of the Vuelta a Espana

Both are more comfortable in the saddle than in front of a microphone. Both are totally at ease with the pressures of competition. Simon, throughout the past three weeks, has seldom appeared jittery.

“Simon and Adam take it all in their stride,” says Nick Hall. “Even when they first turned professional, they raced against the top riders like Alberto Contador and Chris Froome like they were racing in a local club ride.

“Although they respected them, they were never overawed by them. They were always comfortable in that environment.

“They’re both very chilled out. That comes from their mum and dad, John and Sue, although their parents can never watch them racing on TV in the same room. One has to go in the front room, the other in the back. They get too tense.”

Vuelta win should make Simon a star

There is no fluking a Grand Tour. To win one, as with a tennis Grand Slam or golf major, requires repeated excellence. There can be no lucky long-range goal to nick it against the odds.

That should make the older Yates a star. He will be more of a marked man from now on. Teams will devise tactics to neutralise his strengths. His improvised moves will be watched with care.

But just as he has developed across the four months from the Giro to now, so he should improve again.

The disappointments of the final few days in Italy were not the defining narrative in his year. The Vuelta triumph may only be the start of the rest of his career.

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