#roundup 2020

[marveltrumpshate]

May 2024 MTH fills

The best way to see all the fills that have been shared with us is our monthly roundups tag or our #MTH-fills channel on our Discord, but you can also view them through the following methods:

Our Tumblr tags: 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023

Our AO3 collection (only has works posted to AO3; see "subcollections" for specific auction years)

Completed works tag list

To find specific content, use our completed works tag lists above which includes instructions on how to search for a particular character, gen or romantic relationship, universe, and fanwork type. 

SOLO CHARACTERS

Carol Danvers

@kerravonsen - Carol Danvers jewelry set composed of a red, blue, and gold chainmaille necklace, bracelet and earrings for @illogicalkat

@secondalto - Cross-stitch piece of Carol Danvers in her uniform with her helmet on, with her symbol in the background for kourtain

Erik Lehnsherr

Sayah1112/ @sayahs-corner - Two shirts with Magneto's helmet on it and one shirt with a triceratops for @v-thinks-on

Natasha Romanov

@messypeaches - My Little Pony Natasha with red hair and her Black Widow outfit for logan97

GEN/PLATONIC RELATIONSHIPS

Clint Barton & Phil Coulson & Natasha Romanov

@uofmdragon - "Building the Family" (Batfam!Clint & Phil & Nat fic where Clint meets runaways Clint and Nat) for @oper1895 and stillcentre

SHIPS

Bucky Barnes/Steve Rogers

@darter-blue - "A Good Tart" (Steve/Bucky Great British Bake Off fusion fic) for @kalika999 (MTH 2021)

@kinstein-art - Two illustrations of Steve and Bucky kissing from "History of American Capitalism," a football player Bucky/history major Steve college AU fic by and for @zenaidamacrouras1 (MTH 2022)

lou2 - Beta service for "Private Dancer, Public Shame," a non-powered Steve/Bucky AU fic for @buckybarnesdeservestobehappy (MTH 2022) (posted in March 2023) - Beta service for "What Comes on the Stage," a historical Western arranged marriage Steve/Bucky AU fic for buckybarnesdeservestobehappy (MTH 2022) (posted in March 2023)

Bucky Barnes/Steve Rogers/Tony Stark

swtalmnd/ @amysnotdeadyet - "Corner" (Bucky/Steve/Tony AU fic where Steve and Bucky making breakfast and discussing being in a relationship together with Tony) for @saganarojanaolt and newtypeshadow (MTH 2022)

swtalmnd/ amysnotdeadyet - "Starter" (Bucky/Steve/Tony AU domestic brunch fic) for saganarojanaolt and newtypeshadow (MTH 2022)

Bucky Barnes/Tony Stark

Dogsled & @summerpipedream - "My Hero" (three-page 616 comic where Tony rescues Bucky from the rubble after an explosion at the Sokovian embassy) for @massivespacewren (MTH 2022)

Clint Barton/Phil Coulson

ArielT and NickiB - "Hawkeye and the Hermit" (Clint/Coulson AU fic where SHIELD agent Clint meets a reclusive Phil after an op gone bad) for oper1895

Matt Murdock/Foggy Nelson

@pomegranate-belle - "Before I Knew That I Had Begun" (Matt/Foggy Pride and Prejudice fusion fic) for Mooch (posted in November) (MTH 2022) - "One Man's Trash" (Matt/Foggy AU fic where vigilante Matt is rescued by garbageman Foggy who's involved with the mob he's investigating) for RoseLover (posted in February) (MTH 2022)

Steve Rogers/Tony Stark

@ashes0909 - "A Date with Death" (telepath Steve/vampire Tony True Blood AU fic where they investigate a string of vampiric murders) for thewaywerust (MTH 2020)

RoseRose/ @tehroserose - "Sonnet 2012" (Steve/Tony sonnet where Steve and Tony don't get along at first, and then Steve realizes Tony's better qualities) for @wilmakins

[fibula-rasa]

Favorite New-to-Me Films

January ’24

READ on BELOW the JUMP!

(listed in order of collage above, L to R)

Eleven P.M. (1928)

[letterboxd | imdb | kanopy]

Synopsis: Sundaisy, a violinist, tries to fulfill a friend’s dying request to ensure his son is raised away from the criminal element of the city. Unfortunately, Sundaisy is duped by a phony priest, and the boy grows into a low-level crime boss. After a series of misfortunes spurred on by the boy over the course of decades, Sundaisy’s family is nearly ruined. However, Sundaisy’s will for vengeance leads to supernatural consequences. All this is couched in a frame story of a man trying to meet an 11 p.m. deadline.

This is easily my favorite first-time viewing of the month. The synopsis above admittedly does not capture the mystical/transcendental attitude that Eleven P.M. reflects. This is the only film Detroit-based Richard Maurice ever directed, but it displays sophisticated ideas about film storytelling, using an array of devices in inventive ways. It’s always a treat to be reminded of how creative and exciting independent filmmaking can be in America. If you want to check this one out, I advise you to keep an open mind and not approach it with an overly literal, nitpicky mindset. Let Richard Maurice take you on this ride and I don’t think you’ll regret it!

I watched this on the Pioneers of African-American Cinema box set, which I can’t recommend highly enough. The films are outstandingly curated and contextualized and the set showcases an often-overlooked but indispensable part of American cultural history. A lot of the films are also available on streaming through kanopy, which you may be able to access with your library card if you live in the US.

---

Lea on Rollerskates / Lea sui pattini (1912)

[letterboxd | imdb]

Synopsis: Lea isn’t allowed by her parents to go rollerskating with a friend, so she decides to skate in her own bedroom. She proceeds to wreak havoc in the home before an accidental self-defenestration sets her free to wreak havoc at the roller rink instead.

A jam-packed, stunt-heavy bit of nonsense led by Lea Giunchi. I’ve watched quite a few of her films now and I’ve learned this is pretty standard for her. I love each and every pratfall.

---

Two Girls are in Love with Foolshead / Le due innamorate di Cretinetti (1911)

[letterboxd | imdb]

Synopsis: Cretinetti is dating two girls at the same time. The girls decide to duel, but Cretinetti is the one who loses… repeatedly.

I’ve finally gotten around to watching more Andre Deed films and this one was a highlight for January. I don’t know who the skinny woman is, but she and Valentina Frascaroli are great together.

---

X (2022)

[letterboxd | imdb]

Synopsis: A crew of filmmakers leave Houston, TX for the country in order to film a farm-themed porn. The producer of course did not disclose the nature of their stay to the elderly property owners. Said owners have ulterior motives in renting their cabin and respond violently to the group.

Appreciative of all of Ti West’s work, and X has so much going on and so much to say that I originally typed out two full pages (single spaced) on it before I knew it. I won’t be sharing those two pages because I think there are a few points on the approach to gore in recent horror movies that I need to mull over more. For now though, I’ll just say, I didn’t enjoy X at all, but I deeply appreciate what Ti West is putting out there. I probably won’t watch it again and I’m going to be sure my stomach is prepared for whenever I get around to Pearl (2022).

---

The Hayseed (1919)

[letterboxd | imdb | Silent Comedy Watch Party]

Synopsis: Fatty wants to marry Molly, but so does the sheriff. Buster tries to keep the general store in working order while the sheriff plots against Fatty.

Luke the dog is one of my top 5 movie dogs of all time. I’ve never made an official list, but I know in my heart that Luke is at the top. Also, I adore how many modern professional wrestling moves you end up seeing in Fatty/Buster collaborations! In this instance, note the dance sequence with the lady who gets swung around wildly.

---

The Ghost Ship (1943)

[letterboxd | imdb]

Synopsis: Tom Merriam, a young officer, reports for his first commission on a long haul trip on the Altair. The captain has a bit of a strange vibe, but the newbie likes him, at first. As crewmen perish under the captain’s leadership, and the captain’s lectures take on a more sinister tone, Tom knows he needs to act to save the remaining crew and the ship. 

Checked this out as I was on a Val Lewton kick not knowing much about it beforehand. I did not expect it to be a movie about fascism done in microcosm. So, if you were looking for a movie about ghosts or a Flying Dutchman, this ain’t it. Its off-beat structure amped up the tension, though the denouement was a little too pat. Cinematography was fantastic, as you might expect from Nicholas Musuraca. I hope Sir Lancelot got two checks for how much his singing contributes to the movie. Richard Dix is such a skilled actor in everything I’ve seen him in, but he is pitch-perfectly terrifying in this movie.

---

Miss Pinkerton (1932)

[letterboxd | imdb]

Synopsis: A nurse who’s bored with hospital work gets assigned to an old woman who’s ailing after a big shock: finding the dead body of her nephew. The detective on the case asks the nurse to gather reconnaissance for him at the house and she gets all the excitement she can stomach as a result.

Miss Pinkerton is a pre-code gem I somehow have never seen before, despite my devotion to Joan Blondell. The plot and characters are interesting, the cinematography (done by Barney McGill) and staging of the film is very dynamic and Joan Blondell brings so much to Miss Pinkerton with her signature effervescent sass. It’s also just over an hour long, so it would make a great watch for one of those evenings where you’re indecisive but want to find something compelling but compact.

---

Phil-for-Short (1919)

[letterboxd | imdb]

Synopsis: Damophilia “Phil” Illington is a free-spirited tomboy brought up by a Greek-professor father and his right-hand man, Pat. Her lack of lady-like decorum raises the ire of two town elders, who are also the local killjoys. When her father passes away, one of the elders abuses his position of power to force her into a conservatorship. Phil disguises herself as a boy and hightails it with Pat. While on the lam, Phil makes the acquaintance of a young woman-hating Greek professor. Through a set of misadventures, Phil and the Professor end up married, but it takes quite a bit of work after the marriage for them to find happiness with one another.

Great characters and performances and I enjoyed marriage not being treated as the resolution or an end point to the story. It’s also very endearing to see such a pervasively queer story about a man and a woman getting together.

---

The Mystic (1925)

[letterboxd | imdb]

Synopsis: A con artist enlists the help of Hungarian travelling carnival performers to enact a phony medium scheme against the hoi polloi of New York City.

Tod Browning is a sure-bet filmmaker for me and The Mystic was no exception. Highlights for me were: the execution of the seance sequences, Erte’s gorgeous costumes for Aileen Pringle, and an ending that I hoped would happen but assumed wouldn’t!

---

There Ain’t No Santa Claus (1926)

[letterboxd | imdb | Silent Comedy Watch Party]

Synopsis: When Christmas rolls around, Charley doesn’t have enough money to both pay the rent and buy his wife a present. He uses his $80 to buy her a watch, instead of the rent, and his nasty landlord/next-door-neighbor steals the watch. Christmas Day turns into a free for all, when both Charley and his landlord dress as Santa and plan to enter via their respective chimneys for their respective children. 

Well-paced, great comeuppance, and very well-executed gags. Additionally, Charley Chase looks absolutely outrageous in his Santa wig and he knew it!

---

This one didn’t make it into the collage, but it’s still on the list:

Little Moritz Runs Away With Rosalie / Little Moritz enlève Rosalie (1911)

[letterboxd | imdb]

Synopsis: Little Moritz loves Rosalie and wishes to marry her, but her father objects. So, of course Rosalie and Mortiz run away together in his funky little flivver, but dad and the family dog give chase.

Most of this short is the chase sequence and it’s very well executed. Sarah Duhamel is so cute and so is her family dog. The location shooting is nicely done (was this shot in Nice?) This charming poster captures the vibe of the short perfectly:

---

In January we were hit with a nasty winter storm and, while we were relatively lucky in my neighborhood, we were without internet for a third of the month. So, we ended up relying on our home video collection, which accounts for five of the films above and me re-watching two seasons of Soap and Fritz Lang’s Niebelungenlied (1924). 

Despite the holdup, I continued my “Lost, but Not Forgotten” series with The Dancer of the Nile (1923) and started a limited spin-off series, “How’d They Do That?” about special effects and stunts in the silent era. 

I also made themed gif & still sets for: Miss Pinkerton, Dementia (1955), and A Christmas Carol (1971).

Here’s to a less eventful February! And, as always, if you’re interested in any of these films, but have specific content warning needs, feel free to ask me.

[giggle-me-this]

[ LOXLEY’S BIRTHDAY PARTY DISCORD ROUNDUP ]

Where: Borgin & Burkes, Knockturn Alley  Who: Linden, Xiomara, Tierney, Nate When: 02 August 2020

@linden-flint

@xiomarawinters

@tierney-smudgling

Draped across the couch, Linden had their chin propped up against their hand as their elbow rested against the arm of the chair, eyes squinting in playful annoyance. “Make one more bone joke, I dare you. Or at least make it funny this time.”

Xiomara watched, amused as the wix who'd given Linden that awful pick-up like about where he'll put his bone walked away, rolling his eyes and muttering about wasted time. She sipped her sparkling water and wrinkled her nose, looking down in her cup. "Poor guy. Should let him down more gently next time. Watch him, he'll try her next." Xi indicated to the wix, who was leaning on a wall, cocking his head at another witch. "You waiting for someone or something?”

"Me." Tierney swanned onto the couch in an instant, back pillowed against Linden's stomach. She also sipped on sparkling water, albeit with much more joy than this blonde interloper. "Macaroni cheese still isn't ready, Linden. Who're you?”

Linden rolled their eyes at the news of food (or lack thereof), and reached around to grab T’s drink. “Oh, you don’t know who this is?” Linden asked with a smirk and scoff of a laugh, “Oh this is going to be fucking great.” They took a mouthful of water and then grimaced to find out it was sparkling. Gross.

Xi raised her brows, looking between the two. She sipped her drink. Shit, had it really been so long away from society that people forgot who she was? "Xi, nice to meet you. I'm here with Nate but he's off... somewhere." She shrugged and then looked the newcomer up and down, "Linden you have a friend! That must be so exciting for you.”

"Tierney." Tierney's eyes lit up, and she offered her freed hand out to shake, businesslike. The mention of Nate by name was the detail she'd needed to put a few pieces together. Tierney had personally filed that contract in duplicate. Hell! thought Tierney. Xi was totally boned. Linden would shit if they knew.

Tierney? Xi's eyes widened, reaching out to take the other's hand to shake. "Smudgling," she assumed, giving a knowing hum.

Tierney parried Xi's once-over by cutting her eyes to Linden's insouciant sprawl. "Oh, I know who she is, Linden," Tierney said, cheerfully. "If only by name and reputation.”

Tierney held onto Xi's hand for a second too long, turning their locked wrists over to get a clear eyeful of the skin on the back of Xi's hand. When she swept her thumb over it, the skin wavered, shimmering like a battered shield charm. Ha! So Xi'd broken the Pinnock contract already, had she? The cover-up charm was a nice temporary fix, but Xiomara would have to have glamour squirting day and night out of every orifice to keep a Smudgling-made Word as Bond sigil covered for long.

The journalist in Xi purred with contentment, and she was about to launch into a line of questioning about the notoriously exclusive security company when Linden launched into their bullshit.

Linden’s brow tugged to an arch as they watched the eyeball play between the two girls before Tierney’s gaze fell back to themselves. Humming, Linden nodded, “Darling Xiomara certainly has a reputation that precedes her; isn’t that right, Xi?” They managed to find some way to lean against Tierney and look over at Xi with the sole intent to be patronising in their eagerness to listen, and it just so involved finding a strand of dark black hair, twirling it about their index finger and tugging on it absentmindedly.

Xi let her hand drop, rolling her eyes and sipping her drink. She tousled her hair, raising her brows with a 'what's one to do?' kind of shrug at the mention of her reputation—before Linden mentioned the Ministry: “…Also, I heard you had a nice little Ministry visit recently... care to share? Or would you rather T here talk about just how much of your reputation she knows about first?”

Linden's family store was uncomfortably close to the alley Mathis had... Greeted Xi in, far too close to the Burkes’ shop where she'd been arrested. It rattled her.

Ruma, who was standing in the hall, met her gaze. Xi swallowed, hand clenching around her plastic cup as she finished the last of it. "Well, you know me. Anything to chase a story. Speaking of—” her gaze shifted back to Tierney. "I'd love to pick your brain sometime. Document your family's triumphant return after that.. unfortunate incident years ago. Must've been so embarrassing! A security company having a break-in," Then to Linden, "And I bet you've got plenty to say about increased auror presence in Knockturn Alley. Tell me, are all those raids bad for business? But I suppose dark wizards wouldn't really care about your illegal trading—and that's who you mostly supply, right?”

"My family? But that's old news…” Tierney said, sidestepping casually so that she blocked Xi's eyeline to Linden. Sometimes it pissed Linden off when Tierney got all caveman and protective like that, but other times—it really, really didn't. Linden was weird like that. “…Like your social life, I've heard. Not out much anymore, are you.”

“Ugh—I take back every time I’ve ever claimed I would drink anything—this is inexcusable…” Nate said as he walked into the living room, staring into a plastic red cup as if it had personally insulted him. “…I assume you’re ready to get the fuck out of—?” He stopped abruptly as he actually looked up and noticed who Xiomara was shaking hands with.

Sharp little Tierney Smudgling looked a good bit older than Nate remembered, but he still recognized her instantaneously. Pages and pages of contracts with the suffocatingly airtight clauses dangled beneath the Smudgling insignia like a baby over a well, bright red blood pressed in unsightly smears across those goddamn sigils—hundreds of them, thousands.

Nate’s molars ground together inside his mouth as years of associated memories flashed through his mind and he stared at Tierney-fucking-Smudgling. Of course, of course that’s what this was; of course Nate’s father, that evil fucking cunt would have no qualms about using a Smudgling Word As Bond on his own fucking son. It was honestly laughable how it had taken Nate so long to piece it together.

And yet, remarkably, being face-to-face with someone who was a mere several degrees removed from Nate’s father himself, caused some dormant instincts to twitch within him and rise to the surface, like some wretched creature that had been kicked into submission and had since lied in wait—the ghost of the old Nathaniel Pinnock of Giggle Water, Inc., rising from the ashes where Nate had tried to snuff it out.

Nate stepped into his old persona like a well-worn pair of shoes, striding cooly to Xiomara’s side and looking down on Tierney to say, impassively and just loud enough to be overheard, “Smudgling. Been a while. Xi, why don’t you go find Ruma and tell her we’re ready to go?”

Nathaniel Pinnock was taller than Tierney remembered. He got way too close, in the way men did when they expected you to back down. She could see straight up his nose.

Fat chance she’d be intimidated by a gangly has-been holding a red plastic cup. “I’m a Smudgling-Gunne, not that anyone ever seems to remember that,” she sighed, with some degree of resignation. The music was louder than her protest. Still, she protested.

“I was under the impression your people preferred it that way,” Nate replied, wry and pointed.

Because the Pinnocks had been in business with Smudgling Security for a long time, and the tedious act of whoring themselves out to the media, shoving their children’s names and faces down the public’s throat often enough that there was eventually no option but to become society darlings, sainted or scrutinized for so much as fucking sneezing—was a Pinnock family endeavor, alone. Clients of Smudgling valued the way the company handled sensitive matters with discretion—a practice that was seemingly maintained with the family’s internal affairs, too. Nate was old enough to remember when the incident at Smudgling Security transpired; what was told in confidence to clients, versus the obviously tailored story that was printed in the papers. Even more details that were likely kept from both, that only the Smudglings themselves were privy to.

No, Nate didn’t think what Tierney Smudgling-Gunne wanted was the infamy that he had. But she wasn’t a child anymore, either—she wanted the seat at the table that she’d inconveniently inherited to be recognized, she wanted to be respected as a player in the game. Nate looked at the way she held herself tall, chin up, unapologetic and full of youthful arrogance that hadn’t yet been strained by the burden of adulthood or scarred by bearing witness to harsh realities that would surely come for Tierney Smudgling-Gunne, the heir of the Smudgling legacy, in time. Nate wondered if that’s what Harriet would have looked like, if Nate had failed to survive their birth as he had been so close to doing—as it often felt like he was meant to—and it had instead been Harriet alone left to ascend as the prodigal heir to the empire, instead of him. It would have suited Harriet, Nate thought as he saw his sister’s likeness, the ghost of a life that could have been, reflected in Tierney Smudgling-Gunne.

And then, when it was just Nate and Tierney standing toe to toe like pieces on a Wizard’s Chess board, he hissed, “Look, whatever game he’s got your people playing—leave Xiomara out of it. She’s not the one who broke the agreement. I did.”

“Come on, we were just getting to know each other. Don’t be pissed at me. I didn’t break your contract. Or write it.” Tierney shrugged. “I just filed it. Most of those are just copy-and-tweak jobs, but yours had loads of batshit creative language in it.”

“Yes, well—my father is nothing if not creative when it comes to punishing his own…” Nate deflected, in a tone that was both indifferently bleak and unnervingly blithe, as was expected as part of the Nathaniel Pinnock Brand.

“Why in hell would you sign that? This will be ugly for you.”

“If you’re so familiar with these sorts of agreements, then I assume you’ll know all about how Pinnocks are fond of using leverage to…force the hand, that signs the contract.” As if he’d really had any choice, at the time—the luxury of reading through the fine print, of actually considering the consequences of signing that fucking thing when Xiomara was being dangled dangerously right in front of his face.

“You really are in the shit, aren’t you?” Tierney muttered.

Nate glanced over at Xi as she chatted with Ruma and he felt a swell of anger, of bitterness at what had been done to them, flare up within him, and the sigil on his hand seared orange in response. Sure, it was manageable now—kind of embarrassing to be literally branded as a fuck-up in a physical, and not just symbolic sense; but Nate was gone from High Society and it was just a stupid marking, so who cared? Plenty of people got far more humiliating things inked permanently to their skin when they were wasted, anyway.

Unless Tierney was delivering him a warning, and not just a taunt. How far was Nate’s father willing to go, to control him? How ugly were things going to get for him, for Xi, if Hamilton Pinnock III didn’t get what he wanted? 

Nate frowned, and kept his voice low when he said, with a tone that was distinctly less of a performative drawl, less for show, “Hypothetically speaking, what sort of…persuasion would it take for you to—remind me, of the specifics of those ‘creative’ terms, again?”

Tierney tossed her bob in a way she thought probably looked aloof and grown up. “I’m not saying this to make you feel bad, Nate: there’s not much you have to persuade me with at the moment. Your social capital’s all dried up.”

In truth, she hardly needed any more encouragement. All her memories were of seeing him at a distance, across rooms and years. He’d seemed even taller, actually, when she was small and the world towered over her. Now he was right here before her. It made her laugh, in the way she had to clench her abdomen to suppress or she’d never stop, and that was enough.

Nate shrugged at the insult with indifference, the thought of engaging in a verbal Showing of Arms with a teenager—the ones he’d sought out for fun when he was a pompous little asshole at Tierney’s age—holding so little appeal to Nate at the moment that he just felt tired thinking about it. He felt Xiomara’s eyes on him, again, and he glanced her way in time to see her mouth at him pointedly, ‘what the fuck?’ and then jerk her head in the direction of the door to say, ‘let’s fucking GO.’

Well, this seemed like a waste of time, anyway, Nate thought as he made to give a curt have a nice fucking life to Tierney Smudgling-Gunne.

But then she did something totally weird and unexpected, and offered him a cordial gesture. Ugh, it was almost fucking friendly…

Tierney took a tiny, prim sip of her sparkling water, and then threw Nate his lifeline with all the grace of tossing a losing duelist a wink after a match. I did it. I did it when you couldn’t. “But hey! It might not be that way forever. One day you’ll get back on your feet, champ, and I might need a friend. A hedge friend. How about we say—you owe me a favor?” She held out her pinkie.

Nate stared at the pinky she proffered—a pinky, seriously?—with unveiled suspicion, waiting for her to drop into the gotcha! part of this charade. But she just stood there, hand out, waiting.

Nate had to admit that he was mildly impressed, that someone of Tierney’s age and social status even knew what a hedge witch was. And something about the sheer audacity that glimmered boldly in her eyes, the irony of the heir to Smudgling Security—known across the world for crafting brass-bound magical contracts—offering to pinky swear him her tentative alliance…it made Nate smirk with genuine amusement, getting under his skin in a way that was truly rare. It reminded him, again, of Harriet.

“You are nothing like I expected you to be, Tierney…” Nate said, feeling absurd as he reached out the pinky of the hand that did not bear the Smudgling Sigil, and fleetingly touched the end of it to Tierney’s before dropping his hand back down.

He took one more sip of his drink, made a face, rolled his shoulders. Then said offhandedly, “So do you have like…a business card, then, or something? A fucking—cell phone number, I guess?” He made yet another averse facial expression as the words left his tongue.

“Yes, I have a fucking phone number,” Tierney imitated, taking gleefully great pains to botch Nate’s accent. She unholstered her wand and spelled her digits onto the side of his cup with a flourish, snorting at his pinched and pitiful expression. 

“There you go, grandpa. Call me!” As she turned away she rolled her eyes at Linden, all Christ what a fuckin gobshite!, and they fell back together on the sofa with smirks and barely suppressed snickers, looking like the world’s most horrid, insipid schoolgirls gearing up to burst into mean laughter and take the piss once you were out of earshot. Which—they were!

[yvesdot]

Just found an old list from 2020 of my 'albums of the year' and I don't believe I ever posted it, so I'm uploading this now and backdating it. Albums that made up 2020's listening for me-- and surprisingly, the leaked 1-800-SHE-IS-MC song dump didn't make it... Album titles in alt text!

[festivalists]

[potofsoup]

Happy 10th year of me doing this dorky comic! Hope people don't mind the fact that I haven't really dabbled in Cap stuff for a few years, except for my weird yearly July 4th ritual. On AO3 here, and tumblr tag here. (2022 was about Dobbs, 2020 was about seeing the stars, 2019 was about building new systems, 2018 was about voting, 2017 was about immigration.)

@histrionic-dragon tagged me yesterday and posted a bunch of cool links of ways to help: https://histrionic-dragon.tumblr.com/post/721837010124488704/almost-captain-americas-birthday

Rail workers paid sick leave: https://www.ibew.org/media-center/Articles/23Daily/2306/230620_IBEWandPaid

Lots of posts out there on the 2023 Minnesota legislative session, but here's the OG tumblr roundup post.

California is trying to divest its two largest pension funds from fossil fuels, but apparently today they decided to table it until next year. :/ I guess more meetings are needed! (productive ones, not ones that could have been an email.)

[itsc]

2022 SVSSS gouache postcard paintings! I only painted 2 other SV pieces before last year so I don't think I bothered to make a roundup for 2020/2021.

[rivalsforlife]

Ace Attorney News Roundup

Very behind on several of these, but news doesn't always cross over from twitter to tumblr, so I thought I'd recap some things here:

AAI 15th Anniversary

First: today marks the 15th anniversary of Ace Attorney Investigations! Tatsuro Iwamoto, the art director for AAI, made a celebratory sketch of Kay to commemorate the occasion (link to tweet):

Iwamoto has also been drawing fanart of minor characters throughout the ace attorney trilogy on his twitter page. These include: April May, Dee Vasquez, Yanni Yogi (and Polly), Richard Wellington, Turner Grey, Moe the Clown, Max Galactica, Oldbag (alien mode), Matt Engarde, Doug Swallow, Luke Atmey (and Mask☆DeMasque), Viola Cadaverini, Valerie Hawthorne, Lisa Basil, and Glen Elg. Technically these aren't official art, but it's always good to have more art of obscurer characters!

The Great Ace Attorney Hit A Million Copies

Some big news: The Great Ace Attorney's 2021 port hit a million copies sold, making it the second ace attorney game to hit Capcom's platinum titles list, the first being the Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney Trilogy from 2019! This comes just under 3 years since the release of the duology in July 2021. In comparison, the original AA trilogy hit a million copies in December 2020, shortly under two years since the release of the game in February 2019.

The update to the platinum titles sales shows that Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy has reached 3.3 million copies sold, which means that it has sold over a million copies in less than a year! (My last post that had information on sales, where I said the trilogy had sold 2.3 million, was in September 2023.) It also makes it the 30th highest selling title for Capcom, which I think is pretty impressive considering giants like Resident Evil, Monster Hunter, and Street Fighter are making up the majority of the top 30.

So, the AA trilogy made its first million in approximately 22 months, but now it has sold a million over the last 8 months. I don't know anything about game sales and so this next part is just speculation, but I wouldn't expect it to be very common for games to sell more years out from their release compared to at release? I think that's really saying something about the long-term staying power of this series, and its increasing popularity over the last few years despite not having any new releases (aside from ports - and porting the series to all platforms probably has something to do with the popularity.)

The AA Twitter Is Very Active Right Now

Here are a couple of bullet points with no relation to each other:

-The official ace attorney twitter has been VERY active, particularly the last week. They've been doing the same "weekly book club" for each case that they did for the Great Ace Attorney duology, but that wrapped up last week and now it's just been memes, at least one a day. In most of my time following this account over the last uhh six years, they mostly ramp up marketing around new releases but are kinda silent the rest of the time, with the occasional meme, but definitely not at this frequency.

-Summer Game Fest is next week.

That probably means nothing, as it has every other time I thought we might get some big ace attorney news, but I think it's worth noting.

So, lots of stuff happened this week! Thanks for reading.

[hedgiwithapen]

DAMMIT HEDGI DAY 2024!

Prompts are now OPEN

What is Dammit Hedgi Day?

Dammit Hedgi Day, the 25th of September, marks the 9th anniversary of the first "Dammit Hedgi" tag on one of my angst fics. Every September I accept [angsty, typically] prompts for three weeks, and then post a massive amount of oneshots and ficlets. Prompt fills range from 200-2000 words, and as the Poll dictates, will start being posted on September 25th

What Fandoms can be prompted for?

Dammit Hedgi Day started with the Flash and DCTV, but has grown! Previous years have seen ficlets for: The Flash (up to mid season 6? I make no promises after that) Supergirl (season 1) Legends of tomorrow (first 2 seasons) Stargirl (all three seasons) Leverage+ Leverage Redemption Blue Beetle (2023) Into the Spiderverse (ish) My Adventures With Superman Young Justice Big Hero 6 Avatar the Last Airbender The Librarians Books of Bayern and assorted original RPG character content That said, I'm not strictly limited to these! I've started watching Stargate SG1, and will accept prompts based on that UP TO MID SEASON 4. Do NOT ask me about things beyond the end of s4, I'm trying to be unspoiled. If you've seen me talk positively about a media, you can ask for it, essentially. I may not fill everything, but I'll try.

What kinds of prompts?

Originally an ANGST fest, it can get a bit more broad especially in recent years. Ideally: send me a fandom/ two characters and a line of dialog like one from a promptlist below OR fandom/ characters and a vague concept-- "Sokka in a time loop" is vague! "Leverage, Daemon au for the Big Bang job" is vague. "Stargirl, Rick and Cindy: "I'm never going to trust you" " is vague. Two full paragraphs that detail who says the line and everyone's feelings on the matter and the outcome is not vague. If you're not sure if something is too detailed, you can always send it in and see, though. Crossovers welcome. DHD is a smut-free zone, and it’s my day so  I will write about characters with my viewpoints so prompt with caution if you like a character I do not :)  You may attempt to rig your prompts for fluff but do not count on it. Do not expect shipping, this is a genfic event. A few ships may slip through at my discretion, y'all know who I Like. You can send me a couple characters and an angst prompt from a list like  this one or This one,  Or this ….or  if there’s a whump post out there that grabs at you, you can use that. If we've talked about an AU, you can prompt that! If I've made a post like " hey neat concept for [show]:...." you can ask for some of that! If there was a prompt from past years you liked and want More Of? (roundups for 2020 , 2021, 2022, 2023) hell yeah! Canon suffering!! Aus make everything worse!! Missing moments, what-ifs, alternate perspectives! As always, everything will be tagged with Dammit Hedgi Day and Dammit Hedgi Day 2024 for blocking the tag purposes.

[kiwiana-writes]

WIP Wednesday

Don't forget, Fandom Trumps Hate bidding is OPEN NOW and closes at 8pm EST on March 9th! Details of my offerings are here, and a roundup of all the RWRB offers can be found here.

Thanks @onthewaytosomewhere for the tag! Having a very weird relationship with my words at the moment, so skipping ahead to a fun part to hopefully shake something loose, even if it is a bit clunky.

Alex wakes slowly, awareness coming back to him by degrees. He feels suspiciously well-rested, no sign of the twinge behind his temples that he’s grown used to over the last few years, an unavoidable consequence of late night emails and early morning phone calls. He’s almost unbearably warm, weighted down by the blankets tucked up under his nose and the arm— —there’s an arm wrapped around his waist.  There should definitely not be an arm wrapped around his waist. Alex clearly remembers going to sleep last night, clad in sweatpants and an almost-threadbare Claremont 2020 t-shirt, the last of the adrenaline finally gone from his system, and very, very alone. He turns carefully, mentally running through the security protocols he went through when he was first elected to Congress and wondering if any of them covered ‘someone breaks into your house and cuddles you, for some fucking reason’, only to find himself staring at the last face he would ever have expected to see. He rears back, realising as he half-falls out of the bed that he’s very, very naked, and yanks the cover off the bed to wrap around his waist as he does his level best to stave off a panic attack. “You’re far too awake for a Sunday morning.” Prince fucking Henry, of all people, stretches slowly, as though it’s completely normal for him to be in—well, not Alex’s bed, actually, now he’s taking the chance to look around the room, his gaze landing everywhere except the nemesis-turned-distance-acquaintance who is, based on the glimpse Alex got as he was fucking around with the bedding, equally naked. “Come back to bed, love.”

Tagging @affectionatelyrs @agame-writes @anincompletelist @celeritas2997 @cha-melodius @clottedcreamfudge @cricketnationrise @cultofsappho @dumbpeachjuice @firenati0n @getmehighonmagic @happiness-of-the-pursuit @heybuddy-drabbles @hgejfmw-hgejhsf @indestructibleheart @indomitable-love @inexplicablymine @junebugclaremontdiaz @leaves-of-laurelin @littlemisskittentoes @lizzie-bennetdarcy @magicandarchery @matherines @myheartalivewrites @ninzied @nocoastposts @notspecialbabe @orchidscript @rmd-writes @sherryvalli @ships-to-sail @smc-27 @sparklepocalypse @ssmtskw @stereopticons @three-drink-amy @tintagel-or-cockleshells @welcometololaland @whimsymanaged and, as always, anyone who wants to play! (If you take the open tag please tag me so I can see!!)

[marveltrumpshate]

August 2024 MTH fills

The best way to see all the fills that have been shared with us is our monthly roundups tag or our #MTH-fills channel on our Discord, but you can also view them through the following methods:

Our Tumblr tags: 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023

Our AO3 collection (only has works posted to AO3; see "subcollections" for specific auction years)

Completed works tag list

To find specific content, use our completed works tag lists above which includes instructions on how to search for a particular character, gen or romantic relationship, universe, and fanwork type. 

SOLO CHARACTERS

Matt Murdock

thelonebamf/@amazing-spiderling - Art of Matt in court with his new "perro-legal," Cinnamoroll for @gimmesomeguac (MTH 2022)

Steve Rogers

E_Greer/@pawpawholler - Captain America shield stickers with queer pride colors plus one featuring Sarah and young Steve for @alwaysabrighterdarkness

Tony Stark

@klecrone - Watercolor painting of winner's cat as Iron Man for @tehroserose

GEN/PLATONIC RELATIONSHIPS

Bucky Barnes & Clint Barton

oper_1895/@oper1895 - "New Opportunities" (AU drabble where warlord Tony encourages soldier Bucky to talk to archer Clint) for @schildmehdchen

SHIPS

Bucky Barnes/Steve Rogers

oh_i_swear/@oh-i-swear-writes - "Acting the Part" (omega teacher Steve/alpha actor Bucky fake relationship A/B/O AU fic) for britbrit99

Bucky Barnes/Steve Rogers/Tony Stark

swtalmnd/@amysnotdeadyet - "Diagnostics" (Bucky/Steve/Tony AU fic where Bucky and Tony discuss getting into a relationship with Steve) for @saganarojanaolt and newtypeshadow (MTH 2022) - "Signals" (Bucky/Steve/Tony AU fic where Bucky thinks what he has is enough) for saganarojanaolt and newtypeshadow (MTH 2022)

Bucky Barnes/Steve Rogers/Natasha Romanov/Sam Wilson

Writer_Lethogica/@thatmexisaurusrex - "A Witch and His Familiars" (Bucky/Steve/Natasha/Sam fantasy AU fic where witch Sam meets Bucky, Nat, and Steve who become his familiars) for @zepysgirl

Bucky Barnes/Natasha Romanov/Sam Wilson

Yavannie/@heyitsyav - Art of Bucky, Nat, and Sam chilling on a boat for @rubickk7 (MTH 2022)

Bucky Barnes/Tony Stark

@illogicalkat - "And it feels like I was with you, but what did we do and where have we gone?" (616 Bucky/Tony fic where AI Tony made a promise to Bucky but doesn't remember it when he becomes corporeal) for @massivespacewren (MTH 2022)

Clint Barton/Phil Coulson/Natasha Romanov

E_Greer - "Freedom's Just Another Word" (Clint/Phil/Nat indentured contract AU fic) for @oper1895 and stillcentre

Jack Rollins/Brock Rumlow

Lai (@laidraws) - Art of merman Brock Rumlow offering lighthouse keeper Jack Rollins a necklace during a rainstorm for @kalika999

Nixie DeAngel/@nixies-creations - "Will You Be My One Day, Baby?" (lawyer Jack Rollins/bar owner Brock Rumlow AU ficlet and accompanying aesthetic) for kalika999 (MTH 2022)

@ruquas - "Skulls & Bones" (monster hunter Jack Rollins/Brock Rumlow AU fic where Jack gets bitten by a werewolf) for kalika999

Loki/Stephen Strange

@nova-of-avalonia - "To Heal a God" (MCU Loki/Stephen Strange fic where Loki starts losing his magic and gets sicker when he uses it) for @lailyn (MTH 2020)

Steve Rogers/Tony Stark

Dodo/@dodomedic - "Tsum prince and his pea" (A/B/O tsum Steve/Tony AU fic where prince Steve and wizard apprentice Tony try to find the perfect bed for nesting) for @starksnack

Eriot/@latelierderiot - NSFW rotoscope of a fully clothed Steve kissing Tony, who's wearing a red thong, and pushing down and touching his thigh for @sabrecmc (MTH 2022)

Nixie DeAngel/nixies-creations - "I'll Just Be Moments Away" (post-Endgame Steve/Tony ficlet about the night before Morgan goes to college and accompanying aesthetic) for @gottalovev (MTH 2022) - "Wait Just A Minute" (Steve/Tony frenemy princes AU ficlet and accompanying aesthetic) for gottalovev (MTH 2022)

@oluka - "The One That Got Away" (616 Steve/Tony fic where Steve pursues Tony romantically and Tony is impersonated by a Skrull) for @magicasen (MTH 2020) (posted in March 2024)

@starksnack - "spilt milk" (Steve/Tony married couple A/B/O AU PWP fic where Steve and Tony have sex after shopping for a baby stroller) for @t0nystark1er (MTH 2020)

[fibula-rasa]

Favorite New-to-me Films—March ‘24

(listed in order pictured above, L to R)

READ on BELOW the JUMP!

Forbidden Fruit (1921)

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C.B. DeMille and Jeanie MacPherson’s second swing at this modernized Cinderella story about overcoming a bad husband, now with eye-popping fantasy sequences designed by Natacha Rambova. [Gif sets incoming!]

Mary Maddock (Agnes Ayres) does seamstress work and takes in laundry to support her layabout, no-goodnik husband. Her wealthy clients (Kathlyn Williams & Theodore Roberts) hatch a scheme to use a social event to settle a business deal with handsome young entrepreneur Nelson Rogers (Forrest Stanley). Mary accepts the job to keep Rogers occupied, with the unintended consequence of the two falling in love. When Mary’s husband makes a surprise appearance, the jig is up. But, after her husband’s chicanery has deadly consequences, Mary and Rogers are free to live happily ever after. CW: a pet bird is killed.

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The Woman King (2022)

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Giving an epic treatment to fitting subject matter, Gina Prince-Bythewood, Maria Bello, and Dana Stevens tell the story of the Agojie, a real-life group of warriors from the kingdom of Dahomey in West Africa, and General Nanisca (Viola Davis), a fictional leader of the warriors. The Woman King has a creative approach to history, to which a lot of critical attention has been paid—it’s certainly worth seeking education on relevant historical topics. 

That said, it was a gutsy and risky proposition to tell a story tied into the Transatlantic slave trade focused entirely on the West African and Portuguese side for an American (and English speaking) audience. Also, as an avid fan of Xena: Warrior Princess and the Eddas/sagas of Iceland and Scandinavia, I appreciated the filmmakers taking a legendary approach to this location and time period. In its deliberately extra-historical engagement with history, The Woman King also brought to mind for me Senegalese filmmaker Ousmane Sembène‘s Ceddo (1971), which I highly recommend. (Obviously the films have wildly different tones/styles tho!) 

As you might imagine from the description, heavy CWs for violence (including SA), blood, and slavery.

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Why Change Your Wife? (1920)

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A month ago, I wouldn’t have believed you if you told me that I’d be putting not one but two DeMille movies on my new-to-me favorites list! I initially watched them as reference for the cosplay I mentioned in the last monthly round-up post, but ended up enjoying both! Often there are elements of DeMille’s films that hamper my ability to enjoy them fully, whether it’s goofy class politics (hello Saturday Night), racist depictions (hi The Woman God Forgot, which I also watched for the first time this past month), or that I simply rarely enjoy christian bible epics. 

That’s not to say Why Change Your Wife? is somehow perfect—it features pretty sexist attitudes. But, having learned a little bit about DeMille’s unconventional marriage, I see it less of a story of wives failing and more of a story about how two people who have a solid partnership can lose themselves when they lose each other. Here I’m referring to the first part of the film, before Swanson’s Beth and Meighan’s Robert get divorced. Beth isn’t being true to herself when she’s on her mental-improvement kick—there are sufficient details thrown in that show that she and Robert have drifted apart and she’s responding to it by morphing into a maiden aunt type. The film could’ve made Robert’s role in their marriage’s demise a little more overt, but I do think DeMille and screenwriters Olga Printzlau, Sada Cowan, and William DeMille must have been concerned about the American public’s response to a story that normalizes divorce in 1920. For context, we didn’t have no-fault divorce here in the US until the 1970s.

Anyway, why should you watch it? Gloria Swanson and Bebe Daniels offer fun and energetic characterizations as the two Mrs. Gordons, and they share a pretty wild fight scene. The costumes by Natacha Rambova are funky and interesting. The film features an absolutely adorable dog too! (If anyone recognizes the dog please LMK!) [Gif sets for this film are also on the way!]

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Intohimon vallassa (1947)

[letterboxd | imdb | ELONET]

Teuvo Tulio don’t miss. 

The heir to the biggest farm in the county, Aino (Regina Linnanheimo), is forced into an arranged marriage, but the man she really loves, Olavi (Kullervo Kalske), sticks around and becomes the town blacksmith. Years pass and Aino’s husband becomes an alcoholic and an abuser. Olavi keeps his distance as Aino’s marriage implodes in a particularly disturbing fashion. CW: domestic abuse, alcoholism, implied death of dog

---

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem (2023)

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Look at me watching more than one movie this year that was made in this century! Anyways, I’ve been a turtle fan as long as I can remember (photographic evidence below) and I love that the comics have been re-adapted so well in the last 15 or so years for younger generations. (The 2012 show is very cute btw, worth checking out especially if you have kids.)

This take features a unique and kinetic animation style with an accessible story touching on what makes someone an outcast and how both adults and kids can navigate that. Mutant Mayhem features probably my new favorite depictions of April and of Splinter. Also, even though the non-turtle characters are almost all celebrity voice actors, the voice acting quality is very high.

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Montana Moon (1930)

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Sweet romantic story with comedic elements about a millionaire’s willful daughter (Joan Crawford) who, fleeing an awkward situation on a train ride with her family, runs into a cowboy (Johnny Mack Brown). The two quickly fall in love and are married, but the newlyweds face challenges when the differences in their lifestyles come into sharp relief. I love Crawford’s costuming and styling in this and her performance elevates the material. There are extended sequences with classic country-western music tho, so if that grates on you, you might want to take a pass on this one.

---

Leda – The Fantastic Adventure of Yohko (1985)

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Yoko Asagiri is a young girl struggling to confess her feelings to the boy she likes. She decides to confess via a song she composed herself, but the song turns out to be a key to another world. Yoko teams up with a talking dog and a tiny warrior girl with a giant robot to fight the villainous Zell, who wants to use Yoko’s song to conquer her world. The animation and designs are top-notch as is the music. I personally enjoyed all of the Oz vibes suffused throughout the OVA.

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Tomatos Another Day (1934)

[letterboxd | imdb | Eastman House]

Also known as “It Never Happened,” this is ostensibly a short film about a woman carrying on an affair and said affair being discovered by her husband. What Tomatos Another Day actually is is a send up of early talkies conceived and executed by independent filmmaker James Sibley Watson Jr. and collaborator Alec Wilder. If you’ve been around my blog for a while, you probably already know that I love Watson’s Fall of the House of Usher (1928) [Gifs/Stills]. However, I haven’t seen much else of his work! Thankfully, Eastman House has preserved and digitized a couple of his films and I plan on watching more soon. The link above has the short film with an introduction and outtakes!

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Past Lives (2023)

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Past Lives is a quiet but emotionally-rich love story by Celine Song that spans decades but also a single eventful week. I loved the way that the story was structured and how much the film relied on thoughtful pauses to communicate complicated emotions. The actors, Greta Lee, Teo Yoo, and John Magaro, all put in great work here. If you haven’t seen it yet, but plan to watch it, prepare to cry a bit.

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The Mind Reader (1933)

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Warren William plays a carny with a different gimmick for every town in the midwest. When the Depression affects his take, he and his cohorts, Frank (Alan Jenkins) and Sam (Clarence Muse), come up with a new scheme: fortune telling. As Chandra the Great, the crew start to rake it in, but when Chandra falls for an upright citizen (Constance Cummings), the scheme and their freedom is put in jeopardy.

I’m not accustomed to William playing this particular brand of sleazebag, but he really kills it as Chandra/Chandler/Munro. I appreciated how creative and adventurous the cinematography and editing is—not an especially common trait for pre-code films. I also made some still sets for the film!

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Honorable Mention: Hard to Handle (1933) [letterboxd | imdb]

This film gets honorable mention because while I didn’t think it was particularly good, a few call outs are deserved. The bad: the plot was unnecessarily convoluted and the recurring sequences with fat people were iffy at best. The better: Ruth Donnelly shines as the comedically base mother of Mary Brian and she even gets to do a bit of physical comedy. Donnelly, Brian, and Cagney have a nice chemistry together throughout. In terms of costuming, the matching outfits of Brian and Donnelly are funny, but made funnier by the sheer quantity of mother-daughter ensembles they wear. The neutral: the film is packed with topical Depression-era references: notably Florida investment swindles and trends like dance marathons and the grapefruit diet. All-in-all, the filmmakers could have done less and achieved more.

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The only big post I completed this month was a massive undertaking: Lost, but Not Forgotten: Omar Khayyam / A Lover’s Oath and a timeline for the film’s production and release.

Otherwise, I made themed gif and still sets from:

Torture Garden (1967)

The Marriage Circle (1924)

Le Altre (1969)

The Mind Reader (1933)

As for April, the cosplay I mentioned should be up very soon. If I have the time, both Lost, but Not Forgotten and How’d They Do That should have new installments posted and I have a few movies/shows on my themed gif/still agenda.

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☕Appreciate my work? Buy me a coffee! ☕

[corviiids]

a roundup of fanfiction that i rook have written in 2024 as of the end-ish of september

because i feel like ive been blocked for a few years now and this year i've had more output and creative energy which is nice :]

fandom: death note

i watched death note for the first time in february 2024. (all these fics contain spoilers for death note if you would care to join me in experiencing death note for the first time in 2024)

chatoyant (5.8k, oneshot, rated T)

lawlight, fake dating but not as you know it. L and light start dating, mutually aware that it's a ploy to catch kira, then light loses his memories in yotsuba arc and thinks it's a real relationship.

telltale (3.8k, oneshot, rated T)

lawlight, unreality, ghosts, dubious soulmateship in the most derogatory way. after L dies, light begins to have disturbing dreams about being in a romantic relationship with him.

they both die at the end (10.3k, oneshot, rated T)

lawlight, au based on the book of the same name by adam silvera. everyone receives a phone call on the day they're going to die. L and light are two strangers who spend their last day together.

the thirty-second hour (5.4k, oneshot, rated T)

lawlight, truth spell. light gets his memories back and finds that every day for a random four-hour period, he is unable to lie.

fandom: persona 5

some of these contain p5 / p5r spoilers!

the gray-eyed monster (12.3k, oneshot, rated G)

akeshu, fake dating, no powers au. ann proposes a grand scheme to weasel goro's secret crush out of him: get ren to pretend to date him in order to make goro's crush jealous. this has no consequences. fic i started in 2019 and finished this year to procrastinate teaching myself commercial law for a training unit.

faith trust and pixie dust (8k, oneshot, rated G)

akeshu, phantom thieves gen, chatfic, silly but loving misunderstandings. the thieves are worried about ren and goro's relationship and decide to conduct a Secret Investigation about it. sumi, increasingly anxious, tries to bridge the gap.

as you like it (77.2k, ongoing longfic, rated T)

akeshu, gen, au where akechi has a palace, not p5r compliant but borrows elements. after the engine room, the phantom thieves realise that akechi is alive when the metanav hits on his name by chance. ren leads the thieves through Akechi's Theatre while flashing back to all the time he's spent with akechi over the past year, wondering how well he ever truly knew him, while reflecting on his own choices as a phantom thief. fic started in 2020, i've updated it three times this year which is a christmas miracle.

wip list

many. dont look at me

[redgoldsparks]

August Reading and Reviews by Maia Kobabe

I post my reviews throughout the month on Storygraph and Goodreads, and do roundups here and on patreon. Reviews below the cut.

Heavyweight: A Family Story of Holocaust, Empire and Memory by Solomon J Brager After listening to this excellent interview with the author on the Gender Reveal podcast, I was very excited to pick up Solomon Brager's hefty nonfiction comic about family history, Jewish identity, the Holocaust, and empire. This is an incredibly well researched and thoughtful book. The author grew up with outsized family stories of a Jewish boxing champion great-grandfather from Essen who punched Nazis, and a great-grandmother who carried her children across countries and mountains to escape to the US. But these stories became much more complicated when the author started digging for receipts. One factor is the immense financial privilege of the family which already had bank accounts and significant savings in New York. Another factor is the layers of violence and empire that build up the power of the countries fighting on both sides of WWII. The author's quest to research the family story is a major thread in the story itself and I am absolutely awed by the amount of work that went into uncovering and shaping this story.

My Dearest Patrolman vol 1 by Niyama As a delinquent teen, Shin was mentored and protected by a friendly patrolman, Seiji. Having one supportive adult in his life completely turned Shin's life around and he also decided to become a patrolman. Years later, Shin and Seiji meet again, and Shin decides to confess the feelings he's been nursing for a decade. Lighthearted dating hijinks ensue! Strikes a nice balance between silly, sweet, and spicy.

Go For It, Nakamura! by Syundei An extremely silly and cute high school rom-com. Shy Nakamura has a massive crush on his classmate Hirose. Despite the fact that they see each other every day, Nakamura has never introduced himself. What will it take to get him to finally speak up and try to befriend his crush??

Something Not Nothing by Sarah Leavitt In 2020, Sarah Leavitt's partner of more than 20 years, Domino, died with medical assistance after years of severe chronic pain and a rapid decline at the end of her life. Leavitt, a cartoonist and writer, tried to make sense of this decision through comics and abstract watercolor paintings. The result is a gorgeous, heart wrenching, deeply human meditation on love and loss. There were pages that lifted my spirits and pages that pierced me to my core. I sobbed through the majority of reading it, but couldn't put it down. Leavitt's mapmaking of the landscape of grief is a gift to us all.

Assassin's Fate by Robin Hobb read by Elliot Hill What can I even say about this, the final novel of a 16 book fantasy series, which I have been reading and re-reading now for twenty years, other than holy shit??? I can't believe I've reached the end of Fitz's journey at last. This book is SO long (nearly 1000 pages) and much of it is brutal to read; characters we love are beaten, abused, tortured, and left in pretty hopeless situations for much of the novel. I think Hobb's insistence on revisiting almost every single character from the Rain Wilds and Live Ship sub-series expanded the first third of the book more than needed; had I been editing it, it would have been shorter. And yet! And yet! I was riveted by this too-long book, devouring it in big gulps, scream-texting about it to several friends who were reading the series along with me. The ending hit SO HARD. Its PERFECT, TERRIBLE, WRETCHED, one of the cruelest endings for several beloved characters and while also giving them a kind of grace and eternity I did not see coming, but should have. This book fulfills the themes of the entire series so well, completing repeated patterns, showing cycles that ripple through three generations, while also leaving a door open for the future that I'm already daydreaming about. Literally how did Robin Hobb come up with all of this. Its flawed but its perfect. I am in awe.

BL Metamorphosis vol 1 by Kaori Tsurutani translated by Jocelyne Allen An older woman picks up a BL manga by chance at a bookstore and discovers a new fandom late in life. She ends up befriending a shy high school girl who works at the bookstore and also loves BL, but has no one to talk to about it. This is such a freaking cute premise and I love the loose sketchy art style!

BL Metamorphosis vol 2 by Kaori Tsurutani translated by Jocelyne Allen Unlikely friends Urara, a shy high schooler, and Ichinoi, a widowed calligraphy teacher, bonded over their love of a BL manga series. Now they're heading to a doujinshi event to try and meet their favorite author. This brought me right back to my early days of visiting cons and meeting authors for the first time!

BL Metamorphosis vol 3 by Kaori Tsurutani translated by Jocelyne Allen Urara has been reading and loving BL manga years, but it takes a push from her older friend Ichinoi before Urara considers the idea of possibly drawing her own. Can she find the time to write and draw a story around her cram school schedule? This series PERFECTLY captures the BL reader to BL writer pipeline, I'm so charmed.

BL Metamorphosis vol 4 by Kaori Tsurutani translated by Jocelyne Allen Urara applies for a table at a comics festival, so now she has a deadline for her first original comic. Can she get it done in time? Ichinoi is there to cheer lead and support in every way she can (finding a printer, sewing a table cloth, agreeing to work the table, packing their lunches) but only Urara can get the comic done. This book contained one of my very favorite exchanges of the whole series, when Ichinoi asked "Is it fun to draw manga?" and Urara responded honestly, "No. It's hard to look at my own art for so long. But it feels like I'm doing what I should be doing."

BL Metamorphosis vol 5 by Kaori Tsurutani translated by Jocelyne Allen Urara and Ichinoi struggle through a long, slow day of trying to sell an original comic at their first ever comic event. Unbeknownst to them, their favorite author is there as an attendee. This book felt like one of the most relatable portrayals of the early days of a comics career I've ever seen. I'm obsessed with this series and definitely want to watch the live action movie adaptation!

The Spear Cuts Through Water by Simon Jimenez This complex fantasy novel weaves together a multi-strand narrative of violence, love, and the end of empire in an original world of old gods and talking animals. In the main thread, two warriors carry the corpse of an almost-dead goddess across the country in a five day dash from the mountains to the sea. The goddess was once the Moon, torn out of the sky by her own desire for immortality. Her children became the despotic Moon Throne, a cruel dynasty which has repressed and punished the people and elements. The Moon Thrones' heirs, three brothers with extraordinary powers, chase the warriors and hunger for the last dregs of the fallen Moon's power. In another thread, an unnamed protagonist watches this drama unfold as a play being performed in a dreamy underwater sleep realm, while recalling the stories their lola told of the old country before the war. This novel is often compared with NK Jemisin's The Fifth Season in terms of scope, literary prose, and ambition and I can see why. This novel employs some very creative and unusual writing choices that make it more rewarding to read in print than to experience in audio. I had a content warning for gore and cannibalism going in, so I was prepared for the violence of the middle section. I really enjoyed this novel and I can tell I'll be thinking about it for a long time.

Horse by Geraldine Brooks read by James Fouhey, Lisa Flanagan, Graham Halstead, Katherine Littrell, Michael Obiora This book follows multiple different story lines, some of which captured me much more than others. In Kentucky in 1850, an enslaved black boy watches a new thoroughbred racing colt's birth and begins a lifelong relationship with the horse, who will go on to be one of the most well-known champions in the history of American horse racing. In New York City in the 1950s, a gallery owner known for her modern tastes falls for an equestrian portrait of the great Kentucky race horse, Lexington. And in 2019, in Washington DC, a Nigerian-American art history student and a Smithsonian scientist dig into the mystery of an unlabelled horse skeleton in the museum's collection- and its possible connection with several paintings by a Civil War era equestrian artist. I admired the amount of research that went into this novel, and the way the paintings of Lexington tied the different timelines together. However, I really struggled with how the interior emotional lives of several of the Black male characters in this book were portrayed by this author. When Jarret, the enslaved Black groom, is separated from Lexington and forced into plantation labor temporarily, Brooks writes of him gaining a depth of spirit and understanding for the human condition from this experience. This felt deeply weird to read from a white author! I'm not really the right reader to say whether Brooks did a good job or not, but it put me on edge. When the final climatic moment of the novel read like a heavy-handed lesson in how Black men are still at risk of police violence even in 2019, I wondered who exactly that point was supposed to be for, and if Brooks is the one who needed to make it. So, I felt very mixed as I finished this book. There's a lot to admire craft-wise, and I can understand why so many readers were impressed by it. But I honestly I don't recommend it, unless you want to read it in a book club setting and have a nuanced discussion about what works and what doesn't in this novel.

The Summer Book by Tove Jansson A young girl named Sophie spends her summers on an island of the coast of Finland with her very present grandmother and her rather absent father. Each chapter tells of an incident experienced through the eyes of the very young and the very old- the growth of mosses and wildflowers on the island stones; boxes and bottles of flotsam and jetsam washing to shore; a great storm; an adventure in trespassing; an unexpected visitor; a night spent outside sleeping in a tent. Without much of an overarching plot this book is still a moving picture of living very close to and in tune with the seasons and elements in a very specific part of the world. It's brief and open ended but I really enjoyed it!

Delicious in Dungeon vol 14 by Ryoko Kui As the smoke clears after the explosive ending of the previous penultimate volume, our heroes gather themselves, check on the survivors, and set out on the most collaborative challenge: cooking and eating an entire chimera body. This is a satisfying and in some ways gentler ending than I expected from this series, but I really enjoyed it!

Notes from an Island by Tove Jansson and Tuulikki Pietilä translated by Thomas Teal  In the autumn of 1963, Tove Jansson, her partner Tuulikki 'Tooti' Pietilä, and their taciturn friend Brunström set about trying to finish a small cabin on a tiny Finnish island before the onset of winter (and possible legal delays of building permits). Tove and Tooti spent their summers on the island for the next 3o years. This book contains excerpts of journal and introspective writing on the nature of the island, the sea, the changeable weather, the futility of human efforts to shift the natural environment. These writings are paired with delicate prints Tooti made of water, stones, and ocean views. I read this directly after The Summer Book and after listening to a short biography of Jansson- this made a good companion to those other texts, but might have been a bit spare on its own.

[truetalesteam]

True Tales of the Illuminati needs YOUR help to fund a third season!

Big news! We just launched our indiegogo to crowdfund the third season of our show, True Tales of the Illuminati.

True Tales is our full-cast audio comedy about conspiracies gone wrong, where a group of illuminati goons bounce haplessly throughout history snatching defeat from the jaws of other, weirder defeats.

In our first season (which you can listen to here or on your podcatcher of choice) , our gang of Illuminauts failed to keep the pyramids a secret. In the second, they failed to fake the moon landing so hard that they had to actually land on the moon. In the third, Beck and the gang will be going up against their toughest foe yet - the Enlightenment.

That’s right, reason IS the font of goodness, and it’s back to the 18th century to deal with the likes of Denis Diderot, Johanne Weishaupt, and Wolfgang Goethe. Can they match their scintillating wit? Create an objective test of intellectual acumen? Kiss?

We've been acclaimed by the AV Club on their Podmass roundup and made it to the finalists in the 2020 and 2022 Audioverse awards.

We've also had the following very kind words said about us:

"True Tales of the Illuminati is the wackiest, most ridiculous fun. Get swept away into a witty, space-time spanning rollercoaster ride of Looney Tunes hijinks and cartoonish comedy. It reminds me of my favourite audio fiction comedies, from Victoriocity and Wooden Overcoats to Oblivity and The Amelia Project. If you want your ears full of laugh out loud audio mayhem, please help bring this project to life!"

Ella Watts, BBC Studios, Doctor Who Redacted

"One of the funniest scripted podcasts out there, with brilliant characters and a wildly imaginative world. We need more!"

Tom Crowley, Wooden Overcoats, Victoriocity, Crowley Time with me, Tom Crowley

"True Tales is a fantastic, hilarious workplace satire, perfect for the post-truth era."

Henry Galley, Less is Morgue co-creator

Pretty good, right? If you're intrigued, if you like the show, if you want to help us make more, please head over to our indiegogo and drop us a few dollars. If you drop us more than a few, we even have rewards, like early access, stickers, pins, and more!

Oh, and did we mention that we're releasing 15-30 minute standalone minisodes as we hit our funding goals? The first one is already out for your enjoyment here, and we’ll be releasing new ones for every $3k raised. If we hit our $9000 goal, we'll drop a minisode by very special guest writer and performer, Tom Crowley! That’s right, the one from the pull quote! Tom’s one of our favorite writers and performers and he’s given us an incredible minisode, so as you can imagine, we really want to share it with you. So help us do just that!

Making this show is a labor of love, but we also need to pay our actors, our sound designer and rent studio space to make this as great as we can. Thank you so much if you decide to be a part of that. If you decide to donate, head on over to truetalesteam.com/crowdfund. We hope to see you there.

Illuminati, Ollominoto, The True Tales Team

[darkmaga-retard]

I am unable to cross-post this article:

(100) Weaponisation of the Food and Water Supplies (substack.com)

Worth a read, here’s the opening paragraphs:

“One aspect of the unfolding Omniwar is the weaponisation of the food and water supplies. In some respects, this has been going on for a long time, but since 2020 there have been some new and troubling developments.

What van Hamelen (2022) calls the Great Poisoning has been taking place for decades, e.g. through:

·        high-fructose corn syrup commonly used in processed foods and soft drinks (Nur Bulbul et al., 2024);

·        widely used additives such as the sweetener aspartame, which was recently classified as “possibly carcinogenic to humans” (WHO, 2023);

·        the presence of glyphosate, used in Roundup weedkiller and labelled as a “probable human carcinogen” by the International Agency for Research on Cancer in 2015, in 80% of urine samples taken from U.S. children and adults (Gillam, 2022);

·        inorganic micro- and nanosized contaminants in food that are non-biodegradable, toxic, and without nutritional value (Gatti et al., 2009); and

·        fluoride in the drinking water of certain jurisdictions, which has “potential to cause major adverse human health problems” (Peckham & Awofoso, 2014).

Rising obesity and sickness levels in Western societies almost certainly have something to do with this gradual poisoning of the population.

Since 2020, however, food has been weaponized in new ways. There is a war against farmers, e.g. through the “European Green Deal,” which places extreme regulations on farmers, forcing many out of business (Vanheuckelom, 2023; van Hamelen, 2023).