#pallis — wardrobe.

[temeryte]

NEW CHARACTER ALERT — Introducing Pallis, from Forgive Durden's Razia's Shadow. Pallis is the Crown Prince of the Dark, son to King Orionis and brother to Adakias. He is a study on The Resenter, The Dutiful Son, Forced into Evil, and more.  His face claim is Jonathan Rhys-Meyers and he is currently a secondary muse. Feel free to learn more about him on my Carrd.

[quarterprioritymidnight]

[downs1de]

ADAKIAS: TAG DROP.

[chloeunitfive]

Barnsley Hospice Retail Hub:

We can arrange collection of larger items – in good condition – from the local area. Monday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., you may drop off donations and shop at the Retail Hub. They provide free parking for our customers, and you can drive your car up to the shutters to make donating as simple as possible. They take men's and women's clothing, as well as children's clothing, toys, books, and trinkets. As well as bigger objects such as furniture and functional electricals. Please contact ahead for furniture donations so that they can confirm their availability. Their committed team of workers and volunteers comb through each bag of contributions and categorise them for labelling. These are then sold or recycled, creating revenue for the hospice while also benefiting the environment! At the hub, they promote sustainability, so nothing goes to waste! Any donations that cannot be sold are recycled, frayed, or given to other local charity. Donating stuff and purchasing secondhand are excellent ways to help the environment and your local community. Encourage sustainability at the hub to ensure that nothing goes to waste! Items are then displayed on our shop floor or on our online selling platforms such as eBay and Vinted. These sales play a huge part in supporting the services we provide for the people of Barnsley, and helping us to raise the £3.5 million we need to raise each year.

Did you know that buying second-hand clothes reduces your carbon waste by 80%? (Source: American Apparel & Footwear Association)

The Retail Hub isn’t just about supporting Barnsley Hospice, we also champion shopping sustainably and adding more pre-loved outfits to your wardrobe.  We get some fabulous rare and vintage finds in our donations, so you can look stylish whilst doing your bit for the planet!

Asked Questions:

Where are you located?

We are located on the Fall Bank Industrial Estate, Dodworth, opposite KDA. Our postcode is S75 3LS.

When can I drop off donations?

You can drop off donations throughout our opening hours – Monday to Saturday between 9 am and 4 pm. We do ask that you refrain from leaving items outside the hub when we are closed as they are likely to get damaged and we are unable to sell them.

Do you accept electricals?

We do accept most electrical items in working condition. There are a few exceptions to the electrical items you can donate, such as printers, which we cannot accept. If you are unsure whether we can accept your donation, please do not hesitate to give us a call on 01226 240 908.

Do you accept furniture?

For all furniture items – small or large- we ask that you please give us a call on 01226 240 908 and send us a photo before donating to the hub via our Facebook page. This helps us establish what we have room for and whether it is in saleable condition, which means we don’t have to turn anyone away when they arrive with their items!

Please note, all soft furnishings must come with the fire retardant label intact. Due to limited space in our warehouse, we may have to decline furniture items – we hope you understand.

Do you accept broken items?

Please refrain from bringing broken items to the hub. Disposing of these items comes at a cost to us, which means less money goes toward funding the specialist palliative care Barnsley Hospice provides. The only exception to this is clothes that can be ragged, which we are happy to recycle.

Do you have accessible facilities at the hub?

We are accessible to wheelchair users with a ramped access and an accessible toilet is available.

Social media:

Reference:

[ambersunit5]

Barnsley hospice encourage sustainability here at the hub, so nothing goes to waste! Any donations they can’t sell are either recycled, ragged or donated to other local charities. Donating items and shopping pre-loved is a great way to do your bit for the planet and your local community. They accept menswear, ladieswear, children’s clothes, toys, books and bric-a-brac. As well as larger items like furniture and working electricals.Items are then displayed on the shop floor or on their online selling platforms such as eBay and Vinted. These sales play a huge part in supporting the services they provide for the people of Barnsley, and helping them to raise the £3.5 million they need to raise each year. Did you know that buying second-hand clothes reduces your carbon waste by 80%? (Source: American Apparel & Footwear Association).The Retail Hub isn’t just about supporting Barnsley Hospice, they also champion shopping sustainably and adding more pre-loved outfits to your wardrobe. They get some fabulous rare and vintage finds in their donations, so you can look stylish whilst doing your bit for the planet!

Barnsley Hospice. (n.d.). Barnsley Hospice. [online] Available at: https://www.barnsleyhospice.org/. ‌

They are a charity providing specialist palliative and end of life care to local people living with a life-limiting illness and those close to them. These conditions include cancer, heart and lung diseases and neurological diseases such as motor neurone disease and Parkinson’s disease.

Their care strives to improve the quality of life for patients and their families by providing pain and symptom relief; practical, emotional, spiritual and social support; counselling and bereavement support services.

The hospice is not just a building – it is a way of caring for people. With their support, patients are able to benefit from the best possible care throughout their illness and at the end of their life.

Their services are provided by a specialist team of healthcare professionals and support staff, and the charity is run by a dedicated board of trustees, management team, staff and volunteers committed to supporting the hospice and the services it provides for the Barnsley community. Their fundraising team is there to help our supporters generate the vital income we need to keep our charity going.

Adults living with a progressive, life-limiting illness registered with a Barnsley GP are eligible to be referred to Barnsley Hospice. Referrals may be made by GPs, NHS and social care professionals and dedicated hospital and community-based palliative care teams.

Their care is free for patients and their families but not free to provide. Barnsley Hospice receives a £1.7 million grant from the Barnsley NHS Clinical Commissioning Group each year, but as a charity, they also need to raise £3.5 million in additional funding to sustain services. They rely on individual, community and corporate donations, legacies, grants and fundraising.

Although they receive an annual NHS grant of £1.7 million towards our costs, they still need to raise £3.5 million every year to fund our services for the people of Barnsley. This money is raised by the fundraising of individuals, groups, schools, businesses and other community organisations from across the borough. Further funds are raised via their Retail Hub charity shop at Dodworth in Barnsley. And finally, a calendar of fundraising events such as their annual Golf Day, fun days, dinners and sponsored events, raise money for the hospice. The dedicated sponsorship of their corporate supporters is a key source of income which enables them to run our fundraising events.

[drapedivaa]

Rock Your Ethnic Saree with These Drape Divaa Accessories

 Drape Divaa features high-quality trending accessories that go perfectly with the saree. The brand also features a range of saree essentials like saree hangers, saree covers, saree pins and pegs, and more. Explore their extensive range today!

The wedding season is back with a bang, and so is the time to get out those dazzling silk sarees and rock at the next event. The versatile clothing piece, the saree, has a glamour of its own! However, its overall look is incomplete without the complementing accessories and stylish blouses. 

 When one plans to wear a saree, multiple essentials and accessories come to mind. It can be overwhelming, but with brands like Drape Divaa, rocking your ethnic saree at the next wedding or party has become very easy and requires just a few clicks. Here are ways how you can elevate your ethnic saree look with Drape Divaa accessories this wedding day season!

 5 Must-have things in your wardrobe this wedding season

First things first: The Blouse

 The first thing on your list when you plan to wear a saree is a blouse. Whether you want to adorn the matching plain old Saree Blouse that comes with your saree or create a quirky look with some designer blouses is all up to you. That said, if you like colourful contrast blouses with stylish sleeves, Drape Divaa is the right place for you. Explore a range of designer saree blouses that go well with zari sarees or even that floral organza silk saree you want to wear.

Drape Divaa features a range of hosiery blouses with stylish neck and sleeve designs. These are perfect for day and night weddings. The blouses come in all sizes and colours, making them suitable for daily wear as well.

 No look is complete without the Jewellery!

Jewellery is another prominent part of adorning a saree. The right jewellery uplifts the overall look and creates your unique style statement. Some essential accessories involve earrings, necklaces, kamabarbands, anklets, and headbands. So if you want to create that ethnic look, browse the temple jewellery online from Drape Divaa featuring all the above accessories. These jewellery pieces are made of high-quality materials and are available in extensive design varieties. 

 The tiny pandora’s box: The Clutch

A clutch bag is another must-have accessory to complete your saree look. These little designer purses hold your essentials like your phone. What more? One can use these clutches with sarees and even with dresses, making them perfect for every occasion. Drape Divaa’s clutch collection involves plain bold silver to dazzling cocktail clutches in multiple designs. These clutches are available in different colours and come with a detachable strap for multi-purpose usage.

 Add a touch of glamour to your saree with a Saree Collar

Saree collars are another glam accessory to elevate your look. These trending pieces help elevate the look of a plain blouse. One can also adorn them to create a heavy neckline and uplift your saree look. These collars also eliminate the need for heavy necklaces and offer the freedom to upscale or tone down the look per one’s wish. Drape Divaa features enticing saree collars adorned with delicate threadwork and unique designs. These are perfect with a net or organza sarees with plain designs.

 Accentuate those curves with a Saree Belt

A saree belt is another interesting addition if you wish to adorn a saree belt with your typical silk saree. These belts help you hold the pally and also help highlight your curves. Drape Divaa provides metallic and zardozi belts perfect for all your sarees.

 Final thoughts

The above guide will help create a glamorous saree look for the upcoming wedding season. Mix and match these accessories with your sarees depending on the morning function or evening sundowner party. These five pieces will help you elevate your look and create everlasting memories. 

[oflgtfol]

so yeah im back to drawing razia stuff lol i designed ahrima's face but like. because they're angels, i kinda wanna go the Biblically Accurate Angel route? so all the angels i wanna go fucking WILD for

.. but i think, after ahrima fucks Everything up, i feel like he'd be. made into a normal human then. which explains how he has human offspring for act 2 yknow...... so thats where my like, Actual Face design comes in

but im strugglign so badly with the angel part and i kinda wanna post them both side to side so. welp

[galina-ulanova]

Margherita Palli’s costume designs for Balanchine’s The Nutcracker (La Scala Ballet, 2018)

[hilaryduffwardrobe]

WHERE: Picks Up Mike From St John's Health Centre In Santa Monica

WHEN: February 2, 2013

Rachel Pally Long Full Skirt - Sold Out

[fremedon]

Brickclub 3.5.1, “Marius in Penury,” and 3.5.2, “Marius in Poverty”

We gloss over several years in these next two chapters: years in which Marius, through difficulty and very hard work, becomes self-sufficient--remarkably so.

This is not a good thing for Marius.

(Everything here is riffing off the discussion @everyonewasabird started in his writeup, so go read that first, it’s quite good.)

The language in which Hugo extols the beneficial effects of poverty for Marius is so much like some of the worst contemporary bootstraps rhetoric that it’s very easy to miss the places where that praise turns ironic. But look at this, from the end of the first long paragraph of 3.5.1, detailing the hunger, evictions, and social embarrassment and humiliation Marius endures:

Awesome and terrible test from which the weak emerge degenerate, the strong emerge sublime. Crucible into which fate casts a man whenever it wants a villain or a demigod.

Marius is becoming a Great Man.

In this book, that’s a terrible thing to be. (And it says something about how radical a message that still is that I miss it almost every time it comes up.)

Hugo continues,

For many great feats are performed in small struggles. There are dogged deeds of valour, overlooked, that hold out step by step in the darkness against the fatal onslaught of destitution and depravity. Noble and mysterious triumphs that no eye sees, no renown honours, no fanfare salutes.

Life, adversity, isolation, abandonment, poverty are battlefields that have their heroes, the obscure sometimes greater than the illustrious. 

This is Cambronne at Waterloo; this is the barricade; this is Fantine’s descent, and the narrator means every word here--but between this and the villains or demigods of fate’s crucible, there’s a contrast it’s easy to miss. These aren’t the struggles of great men; they’re the struggles of good men--of people. Being a demigod isn’t a goal in this book. Enjolras starts as one and his endgame is becoming more human and more vulnerable.

And the next paragraph:

In such a way are steadfast and rare natures created. Almost always a stepmother, poverty is sometimes a mother. Deprivation begets strength of soul and of mind. Hardship is the wetnurse of pride. Adversity is a good milk for the noble in spirit.

Marius was offered the chance, two chapters ago, to take the Republic as his mother. And he took the other choice--here, poverty; there, glory and war. Being a great man; pulling himself up by his bootstraps; going it alone, without accepting help or charity. To lend money to his friends from time to time, but never accept anything but Courfeyrac’s old green coat. It’s as much a mistake for him here as for Madeleine in M-s-M.

And to compound it--hat tip to @pilferingapples--he cloisters himself, going out at night so his clothing looks black, and pulling away from social connections to maintain his pride in a way that is also reminiscent of Valjean, in another of the book’s inversions:

Some formality of expression or behaviour that in any other situation would have seemed to him polite, now seemed to him servile, and he bridled at it. He venerated nothing, not wanting to back down. There was in his face a kind of austere flush. He was shy even to the point of rudeness.

In other words, he feels his position of social inequality so keenly that routine social kindnesses or friendly give-and-take would feel like charity on others’ part or scraping on his own, so he avoids them. It’s the opposite of Valjean’s habit, of eating those abasements and feeling proud to the point of hubris of how much of them he can swallow, but it has the same result--both men end up almost completely atomized and alone.

The horrific thing is that Marius probably thinks he’s taking Combeferre’s advice. What could be greater than to be a Great Man? To be free, Combeferre says. And, welp--

He had suffered everything in the way of privation. He had done everything except contract debts. He said in his own favour that he had never owed anyone a sou. To him, a debt was the beginning of slavery. He even told himself that a creditor is worse than a master, for the master is master only of your person whereas a creditor is master of your dignity and can give it a beating.

Hugo goes out of his way to distinguish Marius’s ideas from the narrator’s here, and that’s often a flag that the character has gotten something wrong. Marius isn’t entirely wrong here--for Fantine, debt was the beginning of slavery. He has, correctly, sensed and avoided a pitfall that we have seen swallow Fantine--consumer debt, debts of the sort that Thenardier has fled so thoroughly that Marius can’t track him down in three years of searching (more on that in a moment), would have been a terrible thing for him.

But Fantine didn’t have friends offering her a loan or a place to sleep. Mutual aid isn’t debt--and Marius gets this on some level, because he’s willing to be the source of the rotating ten francs the Amis trade back and forth. He lends Courfeyrac sixty francs once, and he doesn’t think less of Courfeyrac for taking it! But he’s not willing to accept it.

And accepting help, being vulnerable to people who matter to him, is the quest he should have taken. Having been brought up by Gillenormand, it’s not something he knows how to do. But that’s a lot harder and scarier than isolating himself and learning to live on one mutton chop for three days--and, Bonapartist as he is, he’s determined to do everything himself.

And then there’s his debt to Thenardier. “It was the only debt the colonel had left him, and Marius felt honour-bound to repay it.” This debt is his entire patrimony. If human interconnectedness isn’t a matter of debts--if this debt doesn’t need to be discharged--then his father has left him nothing tangible. And that’s also a hard and scary idea, and not one he’s ready for.

(And now we’re back to Marius’s internalization of that word ingrate. I have no doubt that Gillenormand played the patriarch and drummed into Marius’s head constantly how much Marius owed him.)

This got hugely long, so just a couple more short observations:

Marius’s food budget (365 francs/year), when he gets to a low but stable income, is more than ten times his rent (30 francs/year). He pays 36 francs--20% more than his rent--to the concierge for some basic housekeeping and shopping. One of the privations we are told he endures before he achieves this stability is “sweeping his own landing.”

Marius is having his mail sent to Courfeyrac’s address, which presumably is how Aunt Gillenormand keeps tracking him down. I would love to read a fic about Courfeyrac’s occasional conversations with Aunt G.

“While all this was going on he qualified as a lawyer.” Which, for someone with no connections and no professional wardrobe, opens precisely zero doors--he continues to support himself on the basic literacy that’s part of his class inheritance and his self-taught language skills.

“This Rousseau restaurant, where so few bottles of wine and so many pitchers of water were emptied, was palliative rather than restorative.” Nice. Restaurant, meaning ‘restorative,’ was originally the beverage one drank in a restaurateur’s establishment, as one drinks coffee at a café--an expensive, highly concentrated bone broth, which was a health food craze in the 1760s and 1770s. (I am currently reading Rebecca Spang’s The Invention of the Restaurant: Paris and Modern Gastronomic Culture. Highly recommended.)

[temeryte]

NEW CHARACTER ALERT — Introducing King Orionis, an original character set in the universe of Razia's Shadow by Forgive Durden. Orionis is the King of the Dark and father of Adakias and Pallis, and is a study on Tragic Backstories, Fractured Family Dynamics, The Weight of Duty, and more.  His face claim is Clive Standen and he is currently a secondary muse. Feel free to learn more about him on my Carrd.

[ooc-miqojak]

multiples of five for character of ur choosing

(this is the netherwing-dragonflight/legendary-renegade-stance main lmao)

Hey there! (I'll admit it took me a minute for the ask to click, lol - but multiples of 5 it is! This might get long...)

I do have a ton of alts, but I'll really just be looking at Lily, and the AU-pally-version of her I brought in from the Shadowlands.

Character Development “Hard Mode” Meme

5. On an average day, what can be found in your character’s pockets?

A battered, silver filigreed cigarette case with an inscription on the inside that reads 'Once crew, always crew' - it also holds several black-papered cigarettes, though there's likely always a few missing, depending on the time of day and how many she's had already...

A lighter, naturally.

A flask

potentially drugs of various sorts

knives??

(Pally!Lily...IDK. Nothing, really. She only needs the Light, and herself. No idea what she'd carry otherwise.)

10. Does your character feel more comfortable with more clothing, or with less clothing?

I feel like these days, less is more in Lily's mind - but it depends on the kind of image you're trying to project, really. She may dress up nice in clothes that cover her almost entirely, when she's trying to project the idea of a proper noblewoman/hide her weird fel-tattoos, or wear very little when she's out partying and just being her half-demon self - there's lots of tight leather in her wardrobe now. But she's not the demure woman she used to be. Alternate Lil, the one that's still a pally...she prefers to remain clothed. Eyes off. She doesn't have the time or patience for roving eyes.

(More below the cut, because this is a lot of questions! Long post!)

15. Is your character preoccupied with money or material possession? Why or why not?

Hm. Yes and no? After the fall of Quel'thalas, most people lost everything. Many noble houses fell, never to rise from the ashes - and hers was almost one of those. It hung on by a thread, a mere shadow of its former self, and she caught a lot of shit for not being a proper noblewoman and prioritizing the care of those who depend upon their nobility - so these days most of her crime results in her funneling those funds back into the people who rely on the Whitedawn estate. She also likes any archaeological studies to do with ancient Elven culture, and hoards little trinkets she finds from those digs, but in the end she's not really that fixated on gold...it's just a means to an end. It just so happens to make the world go round - in the end, it's about power, not money, for a woman who lacked agency in so much of her past. It's her turn to have power, now.

20. In what ways does your character compare themselves to others? Do they do this for the sake of self-validation, or self-criticism?

Ah, a long-standing issue for her! For Fel!Lily, anyways. She was abused in a lot of ways, early on, and ended up as a people-pleaser. Always trying to be what others wanted out of her - always comparing, and trying to be 'better'. These days, that isn't the reason she might compare herself - she's tainted by fel, and it's pretty obvious, and it's almost impossible not to look at normal elves and then look at yourself with these obvious marking and protrusions and whatnot, and compare yourself. She's tried to make this less about self-criticism (she's struggled with dysphoria since long before she had horns, and those didn't help) - and more about self-validation, however. If she's stuck like this? May as well embrace it. Love who you are, and find what's strong, and beautiful about it. It's a work in progress. (Pally!Lily has a different backstory, a bit, that culminated in a much more confident young woman who really doesn't care to compare herself to others. What's the point? She's good at what she does, and she is true to herself, and that's what matters.)

25. How quick is your character to suspect someone else? Does this change if they are close with that person?

Fel!Lily is paranoid, anymore - and frankly, that paranoia probably spikes if she is close with that person, because all the betrayal in her life has come from people who claimed to care. All the hurt in her life is from being told one thing, while the people closest to her did another; always being the one on the outside, looking in. She doesn't trust anyone, really - people are in it for themselves, and so she will be, too. Pally!Lily... well, if you're sus, you're sus. She's not paranoid, but she's a pretty staunch Paladin in the Light, so... if you give her reason to suspect you, she will.

30. What does your character find repulsive or disgusting?

Uh...anything most normal people find disgusting? Also orcs. Her racism has toned down a lot over the years, and with getting to know some trolls and whatnot, but... orcs burned her home, and she will never forget that. Plus, Durotar is hotter than hell, and I imagine a city that's as hot as it must be in Orgrimmar, and is full of half-clothed, sweaty orcs/goblins/trolls, doesn't smell the best (mmm, the smell of fresh mojo in the morning). Other than that...pretty much anything any typical person IRL would find gross - gross smells, disgusting surroundings, etc. No one wants to be around filth, really.

35. How does your character behave around people they like?

No idea, frankly! I haven't RPd her in many years, and she's not at all like who she used to be. Until I have someone she likes to hang out with...IDK. What little I played her off and on in recent years...she was just a supportive friend. Who then got blown off. Again. By another friend who claimed to care, but the instant someone she was romantically interested in showed up, she'd disappear on Lily again (nor did she like accountability, and Lily is all about that now - no more push-over Lily). So... she may well be distant for quite a while, given that it feels like, to her, that people just get close so they can see how much it hurts when they fuck her over. I imagine she's just as loyal as she's ever been, though, if you are patient enough to make that connection. Pally!Lily hasn't been RPd yet! I dunno about her, really. She seems a bit dry, and like she might take time to connect emotionally, and open up.

40. How does your character treat people in service jobs?

With respect!

45. What does your character believe will happen to them after they die? Does this belief scare them?

Well, the Shadowlands exists and tells people exactly what will happen to them when they die - and the whole premise of Pally!Lily is that Fel!Lily found her in Bastion and was like...yo, you deserve a second chance - the one I never got. But as for Fel!Lily? She's A) Not sure she can die, given that she's as much demon as elf, so who's to say she wouldn't just come back? That stuff is up in the air anymore. And B) If she does die, and it doesn't send her to the Nether to re-coalesce, she'll probably end up in Revendreth, she figures. (I love a little Indy film called 'Devil's Carnival', and she used to be the epitome of the girl in that film who was sent to hell for... what seems to be 'willful naivete'; always making the wrong choice, and willfully trusting people she knows will hurt her. In a way, this is like her own personal hell - she became what she hated most, by virtue of putting her faith in people she knew wouldn't, ultimately, care about her more than they cared about themselves.) Does it scare her? Well...I think the not-knowing is what worries her. She's not afraid, so much as...just concerned? She's a freak. Who knows what happens to her, when a freak dies? Pally!Lily already died and went to Bastion, so she has a good idea of what death means for her... though she was one of those who struggled to want to let go of who she used to be, so she was glad to get to slip away from death, during all the commotion. Maybe it'll be different next time! Or maybe she'll be more at peace with death, after getting a second chance, and be ready for Bastion, by then.

[downs1de]

PALLIS: TAG DROP.

[ryanccoleman]

"Summerland”: Review

“There is a place for escapism with an ethical backbone. More than ever, we need to be able to relax under the spell of fantasists we can trust not to poison us with irony or distort history to suit their ideology.“

Summerland is British dramatist and theater director Jessica Swale’s film directorial debut. It tells the story of Alice Lamb (Gemma Arterton), a misanthropic young folklorist who is forced to care for a child evacuated from London in advance of the Nazi blitz. The film opens and closes on the great Dame Penelope Wilton as older Alice in the 1970s, and flashes of the character’s memories of being an Oxford girl in the ‘20s run through the middle, but Summerland is primarily a sort of wartime conversion narrative. Alice’s nature, scarred over by love lost and gone bitter, is gradually healed by the slow emergence of maternal love for the bright-eyed and innocent child, Frank, played with preternatural nuance by newcomer Lucas Bond.

When Frank is dropped at the doorstep of Alice’s romantically isolated cliffside cottage on the outskirts of a town in East Sussex, he finds her in a bitter and recalcitrant state. For their first dinner she hands him an uncooked potato, raw ham, and a whole egg. “You don’t expect me to cook it for you? There’s the stove,” she points, and walks back to her life’s great pursuit—her writing. She spends her days laced into a rigid routine of researching and composing “academic theses, not stories,” as she corrects a prying town elder (Tom Courtenay), that use science to debunk narrative folkloric explanations for strange natural phenomena.

Her life is solitary, studious, and mercilessly subjected to the strictest self-imposed routine. The war’s sudden imposition, via Frank, on that routine brings with it other, more upbraiding interruptions. His inadvertent puncturing of the hermetic seal on her life stirs up vivid flashbacks of a time when she was, like him, looking toward the future with innocent hope. In that time, her twenties in the ‘20s, she met Gugu Mbatha-Raw’s Vera at a spring concert at Oxford. The spark was immediate, the chemistry undeniable. So began the hushed and rapturous affair whose sudden break has cast a long, withering shadow over Alice’s life. It is out from under this burden that Frank’s childlike curiosity and unquestioning faith in the goodness of other people begins to pull Alice.

Alice’s emotional flowering begins to dovetail with the subject of her latest inquiry—the Summerland myth. In the film, what Alice calls Summerland is actually Fata Morgana, or centuries-old mariner’s yarns of floating islands materializing inexplicably on the horizon, thought of as conjurings of the wicked sorceress of Arthurian lore, Morgan Le Fay. In reality, Summerland is a term created by theosophists in the 19th century to refer to a concept similar to heaven in ancient pagan cosmologies. Swale has simply nested the one within the visual of the other. Called variously The Otherworld, The Shining Land, and the Land of the Young by Celts, Summerland is “a land of eternal summer, with grassy fields and sweet flowing rivers,” like “Earth before the advent of humans,” writes popular witchsplainer Scott Cunningham. He could well be describing the pastoral, soft and sunlit setting of Swale’s film—the southeast English coast, shot gloriously on location.

If it’s possible to resist Summerland’s principal hook, namely, Swale’s ability to tell an intricately plotted, politically engaged, at times bleak story in a way that feels as sublime, escapist, and low stakes as the folklore its heroine is investigating, then the locations which provide backdrop for it all prove irresistible. It’s simply impossible to look at Gemma Arterton with no makeup on, hair free and flowing down her back, clad in a warm wardrobe of rustic, earth-toned skirts and cardigans, scrawling something about wildflowers in her leatherbound notebook, emblazoned against the operatic white chalk cliffs being continually washed by the sparkling sapphire sea and not feel instantly soothed, regardless of what else is going on, in her life or yours.

Landscape is then not just backdrop, it is central to the film’s most potent attribute—its palliative effect on the weary and discontented viewer’s soul. Cunningham’s evocation of Summerland, as an oasis suspended in time, above and parallel to the conflicted world, where all pain is temporarily abolished, extends beyond how the film looks to how it feels, landing at this particular moment.

Like the floating islands that give it its name, Summerland hovers above real life without ever quite touching down. In the moments the film’s dramatic conflicts threaten to break through the amniotic stasis of its sun-drenched cinematography, romantic thematic pursuits, and effervescent dialogue, Swale vanishes the stakes. Only one line is spoken about what would have been the multiply illicit nature of Arterton and Mbatha-Raw’s relationship, for instance. “They think we should burn in hell,” Alice has to explain to Frank, who in all his totemic, childlike innocence, has managed somehow to avoid homophobic social inculcation. Never mind the fact that their relationship, in addition to being same sex, was cross racial. What would it have been like for Vera, as a woman-loving Black woman, to navigate a white ethno-nationalist empire during a time when homosexuality (though lesbianism was never targeted explicitly in the laws) was punishable by exile, hard labor, and even imprisonment? We can only imagine, because that’s not Summerland’s game.

Summerland isn’t a dirge-like, finger-wagging history lesson like The Imitation Game. Nor is it bright, confectionary, period-set escapism like Autumn de Wilde’s recent adaptation of Emma. It’s somewhere in between, more akin to Jonathan Levine’s Long Shot, which embraces contemporary cultural politics without really getting into them. The result is a kind of guilt-free indulgence in classical Hollywood narrative constructs, made possible not by inverting or deconstructing them, but by simply updating who gets to negotiate their terms. This sounds like criticism but I for one am fully on board. Long Shot was one of my favorite movies of last year, and Summerland is one of my favorite movies this year so far. There is a place for escapism with an ethical backbone. More than ever, we need to be able to relax under the spell of fantasists we can trust not to poison us with irony or distort history to suit their ideology. Spoiler alert, but Summerland has a happy ending. Would you expect that from a period film with an interracial lesbian couple at its center? You wouldn’t, but wouldn’t you like to?

copyright © 2020 Ryan Christopher Coleman

[grunge-mermaid]

grunge rewatches Doctor Who pt 2

01x06 "Dalek"

2012

they had such high hopes for 2012

that classic Cyberman head is nice

seriously, one of my favourite things about Doctor Who is that the classic series had an entirely digital theme and the new Who theme is performed by an orchestra

what on earth are those American accents

and there it is, the first appearance of a Dalek in New Who

I am giddy

I got kinda tired of the Daleks and Cybermen by the 11th doctor (why power ranger Daleks???) but nothing beats the first appearance of a Dalek

oof Christopher Eccleston's micro expressions in this scene are *chef's kiss*

I've gotten so used to Americans censoring "god damn it" that I forgot you could say it on British television

I'm gonna be completely honest: I don't actually know what a pepper pot is because I have only ever heard the term in relation to Daleks. but I'm guessing it's a pepper mill

"we discovered the cure for the common cold but we're not gonna sell it because we'll make more money selling palliatives" is just American capitalism in a nutshell

(if you're offended by how other countries portray yours in media, maybe you should look at how your country portrays itself to international audiences)

henchman: "what are you gonna do, sucker me to death?" Dalek: "yep, thanks for the suggestion!"

mocking the Dalek because you think it can't do stairs? STOP GIVING THE EVIL PEPPER POT IDEAS FOR HOW TO KILL YOU

I know Rose's constantly visible bra straps are intentional because she's supposed to be Super Realistic Human Woman and all that, but every time I see them, I want to yell at the wardrobe department for not doing their job properly (even though they did actually do their job properly)

the pronunciation of "Goddard" and "helipad" really betray the fake American accents

haven't even made it a full episode before getting distracted by garashir fanfic whoops

01x07 "The Long Game"

Bad Wolf Channel

only Jack Harkness could evolve into a giant face with the ability to get pregnant

Simon Pegg!

"ladies, gentlemen, multisex, undecided, or robot"

did they get these extras to just walk in off the street in their own clothes?

I think this is the first thing I ever saw Simon Pegg in?

that railing is supposed to be cold as ice why are you touching it with your bare hands?

Adam, you absolute piece of overcooked broccoli

Tamsin Greig!

it's amazing how so many details of this show live rent free in my head 14 years later

*looks up the actor who played Adam* ohhhhhh noooooooo

01x08 "Father's Day"

Big Dramatic Plot Point happens and I'm over giggling at garashir fanfic referencing Doctor Who. traditional earth ballad, indeed.

wait...are the Reapers here to infect the wound or to sterilize it? you're contradicting yourself, Doctor

sorry I'm really distracted by fanfic and this isn't really one of the better episodes

also it means a shorter post so maybe I shouldn't be sorry?

oh ffs the next episode is more zombies

01x09 "The Empty Child"/ 01x10 "The Doctor Dances"

it's mauve

red's camp

John Smith!

Psychic paper!

Rose is a trekkie!

oh fuck no

the only thing worse than zombies is zombie children

ok normal non-evil non-zombie children in general are also worse than zombies

those...are not the lyrics she's singing, Crave captioner person

are those even lyrics in that song?

I hate air raid sirens

you know what's really fun? when your local RCAF base decides to test the air raid sirens mere months after 9/11 without informing residents because social media didn't exist

yeah

I don't ever need to hear that sound again

Captain Jack: equal opportunity horndog

will forever do a double take at Glenn Miller when there's a village(?) just outside my hometown called Glen Miller

part 2!

do not like the gas mask POV it's making me dizzy

oh this was a Steven Moffat 2-parter?

he was much better as just a writer than a show runner

but why am I not surprised Moffat created Jack Harkness

Bananas are good

(I mean they're actually gross tho)

who looks a screwdriver and thinks 'ooh this could be a little more sonic'?

do we ever find out what happened to Jack's missing memories?

really not a fan of Moffat's recurring "motherhood is the most important role a woman can have" bullshit

(I'm assuming he wrote the Narnia Christmas special but he was still show runner at that time so I can still blame him for the misogyny)

ok that's way too cheesy an ending

I am not interested in another slitheen episode. Boom Town will have to wait for the next round.

[thtdamfangirl4]

thanks @pretend-im-normal for this set of questions!

i shall start with a christmas ask game (yes i know it’s january 28th) created by none other than archie’s husband

1. Their favorite Christmas tradition

I think for Archie it has to be baking christmas cookies. He loves doing it even if it’s just him, but especially doing it with the people he loves. He takes the decorating process way too seriously (this may or may not be inspired by my real life) and all the bois pitch in and reginald’s are always disturbing but annoyingly delicious and dorian’s are always a little goth and octavius’s are fabulous and archie keeps telling him that louboutins are not a christmas item but octavius insists that since he asked for them for christmas they should count, and archie loves him so he lets it slide. Eustace very carefully decorates and does his best and every time you eat one you can tell it’s full of love. Jasper wants everything to be as colorful as possible and he covers them in sprinkles. And nathaniel, lovely nathaniel, can’t decorate for shit but he just has fun with it and laughs the whole time and that makes archie’s chest feel tight for reasons he can’t explain until later. And then Archie and Nate finally start dating and during their first Christmas, aside from the bois cookie night, they do one of their own and Archie shows Nate how to decorate the way he does and Nate can’t quite get there but he’s following each direction with fervor and they look pretty good and he’s so proud of himself and Archie sneaks mistletoe into the kitchen and kisses him and now they do it every year, and every year Nate gets a little better. And eventually they have kids and they join the tradition (even the annual cookie decorating night with the bois), and Cam is fantastic at cookie decorating and Ben eats the dough and Archie swats him teasingly with a wooden spoon every time and Evie mixes icing colors cause she’s great at art and Nate washes dishes and makes a valiant effort and they dance around the kitchen and sing christmas music playing from Archie’s phone and he smiles the whole time and every year, he pulls out the mistletoe and kisses his husband and the kids go from thinking it’s cute to thinking it’s gross and embarrassing and all the way back to thinking it’s adorable when they’re old enough and one year Evie snaps a picture of it and it’s on the Christmas card the next year. Christmas is his favorite time of the year, and cookie days just feel like this magic untouchable place where he’s with his family and doing what he loves and to him, it is Christmas personified.

2. Their favorite Christmas song

It’s very hard to narrow down, so I’ll give a top three: All I Want for Christmas Is You by Mariah Carey, Last Christmas by Wham!, and Mary Did You Know by Pentatonix.

3. Their least favorite Christmas song

This will not come as a shock, because well... I’m Archie. It’s Michael Buble’s version of Santa Baby. He loves most of Michael’s Christmas music, but in his words, Michael Buble “needs to man up and be willing to fuck Santa or don’t bother singing the song.” He just made it weird by having it be Santa Buddy and Santa Pally. And Archie loves this song. He tweets Michael Buble about it every Christmas, begging him to erase it from existence.

4. Their general feelings about Christmas

Archie goes feral for Christmas. He loves everything about it. Fun, family, love, festivity, good music, good food, an excuse to bake 24/7, baby Jesus, buying presents, getting presents. Archie prides himself on being the Christmas Bitch. He’s especially fantastic at gift-giving.

5. Their favorite Christmas treat

Octavius’s homemade pizelles dipped in spiked hot chocolate.

6. The best gift they ever received

When Evie is like 20, she gives him a scrapbook for Christmas. It’s filled with pictures of Archie, Nathaniel, the kids, and the other bois over the years. Every page has Taylor Swift lyrics that relate to the images and stories, as well as messages she’s written and cute captions. In addition to pictures, there’s little mementos like ticket stubs or receipts or notes she’s collected from her dad and her aunts and uncles and scattered throughout the book are cutout lines from a printed out version of the poem he wrote for his and Nathaniel’s anniversary. Archie cries for like 3 hours.

7. The worst gift they ever received

One year, Jessica gets him in the PTA secret santa, and she gets him a few workout shirts and an expensive bottle of red wine. He’s so offended. To an outsider, this may seem like a nice gift, but it’s very clear that she got him the shirt because she disapproves of his crop tops. And she knows full well that he doesn’t really like red wine. He’s a white wine bitch. She knows. It’s been discussed.

8. The best gift they ever gave

He likes to joke that the best gift he’s ever given is the supplementary bundle of “free sex” coupons he gave to Nathaniel their first Christmas together (he also got him a fluffy bathrobe, a playlist of songs that remind him of nate, an anthology of queer writing and letters from historical figures, and a trip to color me mine, don’t worry). But the real best gift he ever gave was years later, when they’ve been married for 5 years. He surprises Nathaniel with a trip to New York, where he’s also gotten them tickets to a revival of Hamilton, they go on a tour of diner breakfasts, and then have a shopping and spa day. And then he has them get dressed up but Nathaniel doesn’t know why and after they go to a fancy dinner, he takes Nathaniel to the Woolworth building on Broadway (where the ball scene from Enchanted takes place), and the whole place has been rented out there’s the actual singer from the movie and they slow dance in the romantic lighting to So Close (their wedding song) and it’s endlessly romantic and both of them are crying a lot little.

9. The worst gift they ever gave

No. Archie has never given a bad gift in his life.

10. How they decorate their house

dude. DECK THE FUCKING HALLS. There are two trees. One is picture perfect and looks straight out of a hallmark movie, and the other one is covered in popcorn strings and tacky ornaments from movies and shows and homemade ones by the kids and Ben always puts too much tinsel on it and Cam eats the candy canes so it’s a little wonky and that one is not-so-secretly Archie’s favorite. Beautiful wreaths on the doors and windows outside. Beautiful real-looking garland and berries and red ribbon and little bells decorate the banisters and staircases. There are lights everywhere. Christmas paintings. Outside is decked the fuck out in lights of all colors, he loves the icicles, no blow ups, but he does get a moving reindeer made of lights, and it’s a whole winter wonderland. Lots of seasonal scented candles. White lights on the mantle. Always a fire burning in the fireplace. A beautiful handmade and well-lit nativity scene. Cinnamon scented pinecones everywhere. Santa, reindeer, and snowman figures are in a lot of places. He puts mistletoe above every doorway, molding, entryway, high cabinet, or anywhere he can hang it because the man loves love and he wants as many excuses as he can get to kiss his husband.

11. Their favorite Christmas memory

On Evie’s first Christmas, she gets all fussy and cries a lot while they’re at Octavius and Dorian’s for Christmas Eve and so they go home early and they put her to bed but it’s only like 8pm. So they have their own end to the night and it’s just them in their pajamas, watching The Holiday and Love Actually while drinking tea and they just cuddle up under a blanket. Archie gives Nate forehead kisses and they fall asleep curled up on the couch halfway through The Year Without a Santa Claus. And he wakes up and Nate isn’t there anymore and he finds him holding Evie in her rocking chair humming Christmas songs to her and he just watches from the doorway until Nate finally looks up and smiles at him. And then they get everything ready cause everyone they know is coming to their house for Christmas and Evie wears an adorable Christmas onesie and they all open presents but. Those like 12 hours. Cuddling with Nathaniel and watching christmas romcoms and waking up to see his husband rocking their beautiful baby daughter to christmas songs. Yeah. That one’s his favorite.

12. Their least favorite Christmas memory

When he was like 12 (back in the regency days) he got sick on Christmas and couldn’t go to any of the events or parties and he hated it. But other than that,,, there’s a reason Christmas is his favorite time of year. It’s magic for him.

13. if/Where they travel for the holidays

Nah. He always stays home. He’s the Christmas Hostess With The Mostest. Always home for Christmas. He, Nathaniel, and the kids do go to Disney World for the week before/including New Year’s one year though.

14. Who they spend the holidays with

Obviously: Nathaniel, Octavius, Dorian, Reginald, Jasper, Eustace, Tyler, (and eventually) Evie, Ben, and Cam, and Eustace and Tyler’s kids. Gigi, Chloe, Jackie, and Liza, switch off every year whether they’re with family or the bois. Lynn and Suzanne always come to Christmas Eve and stop by on Christmas day before going to see their families. Every once in a while, Reginald brings a Doug who had nowhere else to go.

15. All of their Christmas traditions (not just their favorite XD)

jesus. well some have been listed. Cookies, decorating, hanging mistletoe fucking everywhere. he starts listening to Christmas music on November 1st. Snowball fight with the whole crew. Snowman contest with the whole crew. Getting drunk and watching Hallmark/Netflix Christmas movies. Making cinnamon rolls for christmas morning. wearing an entire christmas wardrobe in the month of december. Christmas treats at the bakery. Looking hot at Nathaniel’s work Christmas party. Wrapping presents for weeks after the kids go to bed. Making the world’s best hot cocoa. Bugging Octavius for his pizelle recipe (he won’t give it up). tweeting one direction and begging them to reunite for a Christmas album. Rewatching all the holiday seasons of the Great British Bake Off. Making roast for Christmas dinner. Making mulled wine at some point. Game day with the crew the day after Christmas. Writing Nate a poem every Christmas they’re usually really bad . eating one candy cane per season out of obligation and then going back to his hatred of mint. buying a million seasonal items at Bath and Body Works. watching It’s a Wonderful Life with Nathaniel on Christmas Eve Eve. Dressing his kids in christmas pajamas. That’s all I can think of for now.

okay i’m finally done this took me almost two hours oh my god. happy frat boi-ing.