#ship: Rich/Boston

[britneyshakespeare]

barnes and noble has been raising the prices of everything and further pushing for their premium membership option (which they raised the price of by 60 percent this year!) and then when they have big sales events, they're less than what they used to be.

last year at this time you could get one of their leather-bound book annex tomes for $12.50 (without a member discount) because of the 50 percent off all hardcover sales. but they raised the price of those tomes from 25 bucks to 30, and they decreased the sale from 50 percent off all hardcovers to 1/3rd off. so that same book that was $12.50 at last year's end-of-year sale is now 20 bucks. and that's supposed to be savings enough to induce me to walk into one of their stores this week?

i'm sorry but b&n has just gotten so greedy, even though their business has only been doing better and better in previous years. they do not have to be raising prices like they have been, and they can damn well afford to have the same savings events they used to. if you went to one of those hardcover sales a year or two ago, even if you lived in a less populated area like i do, you had never seen a b&n so busy in your life. things were flying off the shelves. they WERE making bank.

and as a company they've only been growing and growing (as much as the publishing industry has been, in recent years). but there are so many other ways to buy books. CHEAPER ways to buy books. MORE SUSTAINABLE ways to buy books. and since books and booksellers are doing really well right now, i don't see why barnes and noble is getting so greedy when they don't have to be. i dont like new shiny books that much. people buy books for the content, ultimately. sometimes we as consumers might make the choice that a new shiny book is worth paying a bit more for, but not that much. barnes and noble has just been demanding more and more of their customers' money for less and less benefit.

[fatehbaz]

Americans [...] would sip the rich cocoa as a hot drink. Cocoa made its way to North America on the same ships that transported rum and sugar from the Caribbean and South America [...] and was heavily reliant on the labor of enslaved Africans throughout the diaspora. [...] [B]y the early 1700s, Boston, Newport, New York and Philadelphia were processing cocoa into chocolate to export and to sell domestically. Chocolate was popular in the coffeehouse culture and was processed for sale and consumption by enslaved laborers in the North. Farther south, in Virginia, cocoa was becoming [...] so popular that it is estimated that approximately one-third of Virginia’s elite was consuming cocoa in some form or another. For the wealthy, this treat was sipped multiple times a week; for others it was out of reach. [...]

The art of chocolate-making – roasting beans, grinding pods onto a stone over a small flame – was a labor-intensive task. An enslaved cook would have had to roast the cocoa beans on the open hearth, shell them by hand, grind the nibs on a heated chocolate stone, and then scrape the raw cocoa, add milk or water, cinnamon, nutmeg or vanilla, and serve it piping hot.

---

One of the first chocolatiers in the Colonies was an enslaved cook named Caesar.

Born in 1732, Caesar was the chef at Stratford Hall, the home of the Lees of Virginia, and in his kitchen sat one of only three chocolate stones in the Colony. The other two were located at the governor’s palace and at the Carter family estate, belonging to one of the wealthiest families in Virginia. Caesar was responsible for cooking multiple meals a day for the Lees and any free person who came to visit. [...]

---

The work was oppressive in the plantation kitchens at Christmas time. [...]

[T]hose working in the big house kitchen and as domestic laborers were expected to work around the clock to ensure a perfect holiday for the white family. The biggest task at hand was to cook and serve Christmas dinner, and chocolate was a favorite addition to the three-course formal dinner. [...] Oyster stew, meat pies, roasted pheasant, puddings, roasted suckling pig and Virginia ham are some of the many dishes that would be served in just one course. The night would finish with the sipping of chocolate: toasted, ground and spiced [...] and served in sipping-cups made specifically for drinking chocolate. [...]

---

Decades before the two well-known enslaved chefs, Monticello’s James Hemings and George Washington’s Chef Hercules, [...] Caesar was running one of the Colonies’ most prestigious kitchens inside of Stratford Hall, and making chocolate for the Lees and their guests. [...] [H]is son, Caesar Jr., lived nearby and was the postillion [...].

The stress of cooking the most important dinner of the year was combined with the fear of what was to come on Jan. 1. New Year’s Day was commonly known as heartbreak day, when enslaved folks would be sold to pay off debts or rented out to a different plantation. Jan. 1 represented an impending doom, and the separation of families and loved ones. [...] Caesar disappeared from the records by the end of the 18th century. By 1800, his son Caesar Jr. was still owned by the Lees, but as that year ended, Christmas came and went, and Caesar Jr. was put up for collateral by Henry Lee for payment of his debts.

---

The world Caesar lived in was one fueled by the Columbian Exchange, which was built from enslaved labor [...]: pineapples, Madeira wine, port, champagne, coffee, sugar and cocoa beans. These items traveled from plantation to dining room via the Atlantic trade, and were central to securing the reputation of Virginia’s plantation elite. The more exotic and delicious the food, the more domestic fame one would reap. Having cocoa delivered directly to your home, and having a chocolatier in the kitchen, were exceptional. It was through Caesar’s culinary arts that Stratford Hall became well-known throughout Colonial Virginia as a culinary destination.

---

All text above by: Kelley Fanto Deetz. “Oppression in the kitchen, delight in the dining room: The story of Caesar, an enslaved chef and chocolatier in Colonial Virginia.” The Conversation. 21 December 2020. [Bold emphasis and some paragraph breaks/contractions added by me.]

[respectthepetty]

I think Mark is like… a vampire or something, does he ever sleep?

He is on every GMMTV SHOW!! I just keep thinking of that clip of him in school president when am he says “ I’m playing the vicar, the father and every other character” (or something like that! I forget!

so……. Would you like to Rate the shows Mark has been in? 👀

Anon, I cannot rate the shows Mark has been in because if Mark is in them, they have to be good, but I will rank them based on how much I loved Mark in them because I think he is beautiful AND talented (which is why this badminton world champion is on my list of GMMTV's best actors).

Ranked - Mark Pakin's Series

Honorable Mention - Cooking Crush - Dynamite

I think Aungpao is doing a great job as Dynamite in Cooking Crush, but I can't help but think what it would have been to see Mark in that role as originally intended. It sucks that Mark is overbooked, which I'm assuming was the reason he couldn't commit to Cooking Crush since he was filming Last Twilight, but it's a good problem to have for such a talented man, so I hope he continues to stay booked and blessing me with his face on my screen each and every year.

#8 - High School Frenemy - Chatjen

This show was barely announced, so it's possible it might not even make it to air, but that's not why it's last. The show is a remake of a Korean series, and word on the street is the original was not gay, like at all, which is wild since the entire pilot trailer for the Thai version seemed very homosexual to me! There was a rooftop and everything! But it also looks like our boy is about to be bullied, and I'm not here for it. Therefore, LAST!

#7 - Bad Buddy - Chang

Mark played in Bad Buddy? Notice that is a question and not a statement because, although I don't remember a lot of Bad Buddy because we have beef, I truly only remember Drake and Jimmy as friends since I wanted them to be a couple (Korn x Wai ghost ship!). I wasn't aware of either Marc or Mark playing Pat and Pran's friends. Mark was there when Pat got shot. Mark was there when they told Pran that Pat got shot. He is in the photo outside of the hospital room because Pat got shot, and I still am like, "Was Mark really in the show?"! I even had to look up what his character's name was on MDL. I still don't believe he was in it. I don't care what Our Skyy said. This is the Mandela Effect.

#6 - I Promised You the Moon - Mek

I do remember Mark in I Promised You the Moon, so this ranking is purely because I'm petty and got beef with this series, specifically Teh, which means Mark has to suffer too. Mark played Mek who was Teh's roommate. After Teh FUCKED UP, Mek was nice to him when he really didn't have to be because Teh was being an ASSHOLE to him, but that's why I loved Mek. He could've thrown hands with Teh in that room, but instead gave Teh some tough love by telling him his crying was annoying, and he needed to get it together. Then, he invited Teh to go eat with him. He still could've smacked Teh though and cemented this as Mark's number one role.

#5 - Last Twilight - Night

The only reason this is ranked this low is because I haven't had enough of him in the show. He is not the lead. He is a supporting character (AS USUAL, GMMTV!), so I can't expect him on my screen every single second, but I need far more of him in the last quarter of this series. Also, the show is setting up Night to be the cause of Day's accident, but it's too late for me to feel bad about any of this. I needed to know that information by episode three. Now we are over halfway done, Mork and Day are fulfilling the gay agenda, Phojai is about to get a rich husband, and Night is going to inherit a beautiful family, so let bygones be bygones, and GIVE MARK A LEADING ROLE ALREADY!

#4 - Only Friends - Nick

If I was really petty, this wouldn't have even been on the list because Nick should have been so much worse. He recorded Boston and Top having sex. He told Mew about Boston's non-consensual sex tape. He lied to Boston. And yet . . . I wanted him to do more! Nick could have blackmailed Top. Nick could've ruined Mew's life. Nick could've hurt Ray via Sand! Nick could've been a baddie, but instead he was a saddie. Mark finally got to kiss a homie, but at what cost? I feel Mark could've done so much more in this role. Honestly, all the actors could have, but they were held back, so here Nick sits in the middle. Not good. Not bad. Just average.

#3 - My School President - Thiu

This 'fit alone deserves our recognition because Mark was playing a high schooler yet looking too fine in this top. He needed to put that hotness away around those children. But in regards to his character, as you mentioned in the ask, he was EVERYTHING! He was trying to keep the student council solid since Tinn was too busy crushing on Gun. He was playing matchmaker. He was dating Por all season, and this is not up for debate. He was a director for the band's music video and was basically their manager. Homie was doing it all and still had time to look fine. What a guy!

#2 - Moonlight Chicken - Saleng

I wrote an ode to Saleng being my Thai primo. He lived for the chisme and was the biggest shit starter in the family, yet Li Meng called him first after the accident, and he was right there when their community mother passed away. Aof, who is behind Moonlight Chicken and Last Twilight, really let all the characters shine in this series, but Mark did amazing with the little amount of screen time he had, which gives me hope that his Last Twilight character will rise in the rankings as that series comes to a close. This role was so good that I was torn between this and the one I ultimately selected as number one, but honestly, both roles could be number one depending on my mood. Do I want family-oriented fun times Saleng or do I want . . .

#1 - The Warp Effect - Jedi

The entire cast of The Warp Effect was elite status. Every character was great. Every storyline was good. Every discussion about sex was outstanding. But Mark as Jedi lives rent free in my head, specifically the scene where after working out, he fucks his girlfriend from behind over the kitchen counter! Then, he experiences pain because he has a STI! This leads to an entire education about open relationships, sexual health, communication, and trans healthcare since his girlfriend is trans. Jojo was the screenwriter and director for both Only Friends and The Warp Effect, so I like that both of Mark's sexier roles are due to Jojo's vision, and I hope Mark gets to work again with either Aof or Jojo because Mark is at his best when he is allowed to play an adult man who knows what he wants and how to get it.

And believe me, he could get it.

[ltwilliammowett]

The Hancock off Lahaina, Maui, 1791, by Mark Myers (1945-)

The Boston brigantine Hancock is shown surrounded by native craft as she comes to anchor at the island of Maui in Hawaii on her voyage to the Pacific Northwest in 1791. The view shows the ship off West Maui near Lahaina with the island of Kahoolawe in the right background. Based on the topography of the West Maui Mountains and the perspective of Kahoolawe, the area depicted is near Olowalu, an anchorage just slightly east of Lahaina.

Hancock was typical of the American fur-trading vessels active in establishing the early trade routes linking the Pacific Northwest, Hawaii and China. These early trading voyages would later help to justify America's claims to sovereignty over these areas. The Hancock sailed from Boston under the command of her owner Samuel Crowell in November 1790 bound for the rich seal and otter hunting grounds in the Pacific Northwest. En route, after first stopping at Staten Island to take seals before proceeding around Cape Horn, she arrived in Hawaiian waters during the spring or early summer of 1791. This arrival is depicted in the present work. During this visit a plan by local natives and beachcombing ex-mariners to capture the Hancock was discovered and thwarted by her crew. Hancock then sailed north and east, arriving off the Queen Charlotte Islands on July 14, 1791.

There she joined company with the brigantine Hope, also out of Boston, owned by Thomas H. Perkins and under the command of Joseph Ingraham. In August, 1791 Hancock encountered Captain Robert Gray and Columbia Rediviva at Masset Sound on Graham Island in the northern part of the Queen Charlotte Islands. In October Hancock was back in Hawaiian waters, again in company with Captain Ingraham and Hope. Both ships were bound for Canton with a cargo of seal and otter pelts. It is not known if Hancock and Hope proceeded to China together, but both were at Canton in early 1792.

After successfully marketing her cargo in Canton, Hancock departed China on April 26, 1792 sailing with Hope and the small sealing schooner Grace. They arrived back in the Queen Charlotte Islands on July 3. George Vancouver, on board Discovery, reported encountering Hancock at Nootka Sound in May, 1793. Further data regarding this voyage has not been uncovered. However, it is likely Hancock sailed again to Canton in the winter of 1793 before returning home to Boston via the Cape of Good Hope.

[historia-vitae-magistras]

Christmas fic please?

☺️

The Blue Hour This is somewhat of a sequel to my other 18th-century fics 'When the Heart is Full the Tongue Will Speak" and "The Prison Ship," but it also stands alone. Valley Forge was arguably the worst winter of the war. Alfred's having a bad time. Matt tries to help. He has something for Alfred. This was supposed to be longer, but I had to say fuck it and put it in the queue, or it wasn't happening, so I'm so sorry for inflicting it on you. Apple pie reference is from the HC that Alfred's pie recipe comes from a nice Pennsylvania Quaker lady who took him in in the late 17th century when he was little after the Massachusetts witch crazes. This isn't a happy fic, but it is deeply loving. Also on ao3

Valley Forge, Christmas 1777

Alfred’s legs didn’t feel quite real as he approached the clearing. It was silent here. No animals. No people, either. Even the last chickadees, so faithful through the winter, had disappeared behind him as the previous winter sun faded from a depressing grey to pitch dark. He was a bit numb and more paranoid as he rounded a copse of trees and found himself staring at a pristine clearing. He recognized this house, grey stone with a heavy slate roof. There was no glass in the windows, but cheery, flickering firelight escaped through whatever slight cracks there were in the shutters. He hefted his rifle, bayonet attached, closer and approached, wary. The forest held its breath, and the fire crackling became louder as he approached. There was smoke from the chimney but no shadows of movement inside. He gripped his rifle. He should go home to his haphazard tar paper and log shack, but it was dark now, and Valley Forge was 30 miles behind.

He pushed open the door with a bang, rifle to his shoulder, and heard a surprised shout. A figure twisted, axe in hand, poised to hook it into Alfred’s neck and remove an arm at the shoulder like a branch from a trunk. Then, a note of laughter, and he was embraced.

Warmth hit him. First, Matt’s entire body was warm, and his clothes were fire-toasty. Then the smell of roasting meat floated, so solid it was almost visible, into his senses. Then, dizziness. Dizziness struck like a blow to the head. Alfred might have passed out on the floor if Matt hadn’t already had his arms around him.

Matt squeezed with more strength than Alfred had ever known his baby brother to have. The rifle was tugged from his hands, and he was suddenly sitting, sodden clothes and boots pulled off, feet stretched towards the fire. He might have vomited if he wasn’t so hallowed out. Matt was gone for only a moment, but Alfred grabbed a hold of him as soon as he was back.

“Have you changed your mind?” He grasped Matt’s sleeve with a shaking hand. “Did you come to your senses?”

“Have you?” Matt said, derisive even as he pressed a mug into Alfred’s hands. “Drink that, and the world will stop spinning.”

“Matthew---” He didn’t let go of Matt’s sleeve. “You haven’t come to—.”

“Bend the knee?” Matthew’s eyes flashed, and Alfred was all too aware of the axe on his belt and the rifle against the wall. “No. I’m not.”

“What are you doing here then?” He let Matt go and sipped on the contents of the mug—broth, salty and rich beyond belief. Matt was right. The world did stop spinning.

“It’s Christmas.”

“Is it?”

“It is,” Matt said with a watery smile. “I take it you got my note.”

“Pie at sundown,” Alfred recalled. “I got it. I could hardly believed you remembered that.”

“First apple pie you ever made me. I’ll remember it til the sun goes dark.” Matt was before him with a blanket and a stack of clothes. “Finish drinking that, put these on and then we’ll talk.”

They were his own clothes, what he’d left in the chest of drawers in Boston after he’d slipped his guards and disappeared across the border and into Quebec. He wanted to toss them back. They were the clothes of a crown subject, a boy with a British boot on his neck. Not the free man he wanted to be. That he was, but he hadn’t had a fresh shirt since his baby brother had dragged his corpse out of his shallow grave on the Hudson. He could wash it as often as he liked, but the linen was still wearing thin. His former things were practically new, the linen fresh and clean, the wool still warm. Alfred ran a hand over the fabric, still so chilled he hardly considered his pride as Matt turned away to tend to the bird slowly roasting over the fire and dressed. He glanced over his shoulder when Alfred slipped the shirt over his head. There hadn’t been a mirror to look at himself in months, and he didn’t want to. He knew his ribs were stark; he could feel them. Matt looked that kind of devastated that, if he hadn’t turned away, might have made Alfred cry.

“Have you had a decent meal since I saw you?” He didn’t look over his shoulder again until the shirt was over his head, and he’d buttoned the blue waistcoat over his chest. Everything was so ill-fitting now.

Alfred ignored him. “Does Father know you’re here?”

Matthew snorted. “It’s Christmas; he’s so deep into the officer’s nog when I left he won’t realize I’ve gone unless I’m not there for epiphany morning with tea going. So I shot a turkey and pissed off south to find you. Looks like its a good thing I did too.”

“I’m fine.” Alfred scowled. “There’s a camp of thousands of men 2 miles from here with nothing but rice and vinegar for Christmas dinner. Next to them, I’m all right.”

“I’m sorry,” Matt said, and it damn well looked like he meant it, narrow shoulders bowed as he sat heavily onto one of the overturned logs he obviously meant to use as a kitchen chair for the occasion.

“You could feed a lot of people if you stayed. You’re a good hunter.”

“Don’t,” Matt said. “We’ve had this conversation. Look at you. You know I wouldn’t survive another war like this. You’re kissed by God himself and you look like death.”

“It’s not so bad.”

“Rice and vinegar, eh? Yeah well. Try some turkey and see if it compares.”

“Why do you keep coming to see me if you won’t pick a side, Matt? You’re committing treason and you know it.”

“You’re my brother.”

His shrug was simple, unemotional. The sky was up, the Earth was down, the snow was cold, and Matt would haul and shoot a turkey and walk four days just to sneak him a decent meal. He teared up. Maybe it was the cold, the deprivation or just how much he missed home and heart and heart. Throat working, shoulders shaking even if he wasn’t crying, he grabbed Matt by the shoulders and squeezed for a third time, kissing him on the forehead about a dozen times and just feeling something so desperately affectionate he had to ride it out like dizziness.

“I missed you.” He said.

“You too.” Matt had clamped himself around Alfred, playing as if he just held on; he wouldn’t feel how much weight he’d dropped since summer. After a long moment, he made Alfred sit on one of the logs and tossed the rucksack while he struck flint and steel and put tinder to kindling. “Have you been sick? You look terrible,”

“Everyone is.” He said. There was no point in hiding it. “You know what it’s like. A moving army is a healthy army. A camped army is a sick army.”

“Why do you think I like the woods so much? I could run from the British as easily as from the typhus.”

“Yeah, well, they’re my people. I can’t leave them.”

“Do you have scurvy yet?”

“Gettering there.” He poked his tongue at his teeth. He had all of them, but he was always so tired. It couldn’t be far away.

Matt pivoted and took an orange in each hand, shoving them at Alfred. “Father... he’s in the habit of buying two.”

“I can’t take these!”

“Think of them as reparations.”

“Won’t you get scurvy?’

“I get lime juice twice a day. Just take anything you want out of my pack and eat it. Take the rest tomorrow. I’ll get a rabbit on my way back if I get hungry.”

“Why do you have to go back?”

“Stop asking me that. Pick something for me to make out of what’s in there, all right? Anything you want tonight, and you can take the rest tomorrow.”

“I want you to stay.”

Matt leaned against the wall by the hearth, arms crossed. “And I don’t want to die. So stop asking. That’s the agreement. Stay alive. Not stay with you.”

“You should be my right hand. It should be me and you against the world.”

“You’re the one fighting with the world, Alfred. I already have. I lost. Pick a vegetable, eat an orange, have some wine and stop trying to sentence me to death because you’re lonely again.”

He was tearing up, and so was Alfred. They looked away from each other, and Alfred went to the pack.

He opened food like he had once opened pewter inkwells at the apothecaries, looking for the blue ink he liked better than the quickly fading walnut; there were cranberries, potatoes, apples, stalks of celery, onions, cabbage, carrots, mushrooms, honey cakes, tea, coffee, a jug of wassail and a smaller bottle of Madeira. Smaller quantities of sugar, flour, oats, rice, raisins and rye. There were more of his clothes that he hadn’t taken when he’d fled Boston nearly two years prior. And under all that, a length of blue cloth with shining brass buttons. 

“Mattie.... What is that coat?” 

His brother froze. He’d been dragging his knife down the side of the roasted bird and onto a rough-hewn platter. For one long moment, Alfred thought he might burst into tears. 

“It’s for you.” He said. 

“Whe did you get it?” 

“General Montcalm.” He said. “It was too big so I hid it under the floorboards. Thought I’d wear it too the victory parade someday. It’s... it’s your colour now, isn’t it?”

“It— Yeah it is.” 

“I hope its luckier for you than it was for me.” He said quietly. “I hope Lord Bonnefoy is better to you too.”

“Mattie.” Alfred said quietly. 

Matt was standing there, eyes shut against tears, until he looked up at Alfred with those same big, hopeful eyes he’d always had before all this. Full of all the softness and warmth of Canada that may not have existed elsewhere that winter. Words stuck in his throat, and suddenly, so homesick he wanted to burst, Alfred opened his arms. Matt gave up on carving the bird, put down the plate, and allowed Alfred to pull him in again. If Matt had grown, it was only a little, and Alfred could still easily rest his cheek on Matt’s crown, which he did for a long moment.

“Thank you.” He said. 

“It was meant for you,” Matt replied. “You’re... tall and capable like that. It will fit you, even when you fill it out again.” 

“You’ll grow.” Alfred said. “Someday. And then we'll be fine."

Someday. 

[nterini]

The Leftover Kids in ONLY FRIENDS

A character analysis of Boston and Ray Ep. 6

This episode reveals a bit more about Boston’s character, and while it doesn’t justify his actions (because your past doesn’t have to justify all your present decisions, especially in fictional characters) we’re able to better understand his impulse to “humble” others when it seems to him like they’re finding their own way.

We learn that Boston’s mother remarried, and flew to another continent to start her new life. And while I don’t want to make assumptions, something about Boston’s politician father (who calls him only to speak about his campaign and winning over young people) encouraging his son’s impulses to toy with the emotions and bodies of others may have had something to do with it. Boston, time and time again tells Nick that the potential of the public finding his sex tapes (with other men) would be a burden to his father’s career. We don’t know if Boston has come out to his father, but the ultimatum that Boston must graduate or be sent back to New York to live with his mom shows his father’s willingness to get rid of a son that may not fit his public image. Boston is a talented photographer and someone in the demographic he wants to target; why so eager to send him away.

In the next scene, while comforting our favorite crazy lovesick puppy, he tells Nick, that the reason he doesn’t make lasting relationships is because he knows he has to leave anyway (and some more be about how he’d be a better photographer abroad). Maybe it’s because of the pressure he feels from his father, but Boston believes that there’s no place for him permanently anywhere. No one has chosen him for an “unconditional forever love” and no ever one will. He’s had no power over that. If my assumption that Boston’s father already knows of his son’s sexuality, and is slowly freezing him out and that Boston knows this already, Boston’s view of his future in Thailand, one that will always be queer, must be bleak. His own father, a popular candidate elect, does not want him. This loss of control triggers him. We see Boston seek control of potential rejection in the way he pursues his flings. He prefers Nick over all his other flings because he’s confident that Nick will always choose him no matter what selfish things he says. He’s envious of Mew who’s constantly chosen and pure, of the perfect Top who rejected him and has his life together, and of Ray and Sands budding relationship. He believes he’ll be left alone again, so he sabotages externally against anyone’s progress.

It’s what makes his scenes with Ray that much more interesting. Because Ray is just like him, except he sabotages internally. 

We were introduced to Ray’s family background a few episodes back, and the toll it took on him emotionally, physically, and mentally. His mother was a young and talented actress who married rich, and whose light was dimmed in that marriage. And whether it was resentment over her lost career, Post-partum depression and an uncaring husband, or just a worsening addiction that was left untreated, she died alone drowning herself in alcohol. We know that Ray did not receive much affection from his mother and that his father was just as neglectful. Ray has learned to use money to buy emotions, companionship and intimacy. Unfortunately, he seems to be following in both his parents footsteps. 

There is a theory going around that Boston has had a secret unrequited crush on Ray. And while I don’t think there’s a lot of evidence that supports this ship, it’s a plausible theory. However, the way he constantly goes back to Nick when he needs comfort and conversations, other than just straight sex, says the opposite. I think a better conclusion would be that Boston finds comfort in Ray’s lack of growth and misfortune. After all, they’re very similar. Leftover, abandoned, rich kids that were never chosen. I don’t even think he had any ill intention against Mew when he slept with Top or even with Ray. I think deep down he’s secretly comforted by seeing Ray heartbroken. It makes sense that he was triggered when he saw that Ray might have found someone to help him come out of that misery. He doesn’t provoke Mew or Top the way he does Ray. Maybe it’s because Ray doesn’t see how similar they are. Maybe it’s because Top and Mew see right through him. 

Mew’s role in their friendship is also really interesting 🤔. Ep. 7 might give us inside Mew’s thoughts and actions. Is Mew manipulating his rich friends to get his dream career and partner or is it all all a grand plan to help heal the lives of the people he cares about most.

Overall, I love how real the show feels. The discussions of drugs in Thailand’s queer community, of privilege and class struggle, it all feels incredibly genuine. It’s hot and steamy and we’ll written. Like we CAN have all of these things at once! The growth that I see in BL/Queer (the slash is necessary) content gives me hope. Please give the lesbians (AprilNamchueam) more screen time plsssssssss 😩.

(Please excuse any typos and errors.)

[allycat75]

So, you really are doubling down on this ASP thing aren't you, Boston Dumb Fuck (some final thoughts for a shameful day; for you, in case you are that oblivious now that you have capitulated to the dark side).

(Oh, and for any of his minions out there trolling, I fully entreat you to bubble this up to your stubborn, anxious overlord because he could do some real damage to the world, not just himself)

The negative, and 100 percent correct, comments for the Antisemitism in Schools discussion wasn't enough for you? Try to bury it all you want- the internet (and screenshots) are forever and people know. Not even when Secretary Cardona lamented the normalization of hating Jews, while you were awkwardly flaunting your poison band, tying you to the Nazi wifey, thus making you a perpetrator of this very normalization, did you not get the hint you are not welcomed in this space?

You know you can't have it both ways, right? You can't be the Political Avenger and also be "married" to a racist, antisemetic, fat-shaming, arrogant, selfish xenophob. Your balls aren't nearly strong enough to stratle that fence! Is this so much of a vanity project you are willing to forgo your "egoic narrative", wasting important people's precious time, who are trying to keep the ship we call democracy from sinking, while you look for a pat on the back for rearranging the deck chairs. You know, for someone who is very conscious of odors, you reek of rich white male Privlege. I can smell it through the Bluetooth connection and God does it stink! Didn't know being tone deaf also made you nose blind 🤷‍♀️.

Are you really going to tackle the big problems that young voters care, or should care, about head on? Are young voters even going to pay attention to what you have to offer? And who are you going to get to speak to your baby website, run by dilatants and clout chasers? I am sure you could get some blowhards like Rafael "Ted" Cruz, Matt "the Frat" Gaetz, and your old friend "Uncle" Tim Scott, but anyone with anything worth speaking to is not going to want to degrade themselves for liars like you. By the way, you may want to get used to the feeling, BDF, because if you don't make some MAJOR changes to your life soon, I sense this is how your dating life will be, too, once the divorce is finalized.

I hope your mama is still proud, because most everyone else is ashamed or embarrassed for you. You don't need to use the website as your personal barometer to tell you that.

PS- Don't make some corny joke tomorrow with the high schoolers about you being old. This isn't about you, and they weren't the ones who decided to "marry" someone 16 years their junior, who looks 26 years their junior and is sucking the life and soul out of you, making you look like you have aged about 10 years since the two kinda, sorta ceremonies. People Magazine's Most Pathetic Man of the Year! Yes, teach the young people how to make good decisions for their future, jackass!

[sarahhillips]

Hey I’m Toasted Watching Libertys Kids. Here are my comments

Boston Tea Party

First I’m so happy that every episode is available on YouTube! That makes things so much easier.

The theme song has NO RIGHT to hit this hard. Why isn’t this our national anthem? 🥹

For real though, the premise of this show overall has potential for an Outlander quality show for us big kids.

The opening montage? Cinema.

Walter Cronkite as Ben Franklin is A+ casting because his name ends in kite.

I love how Sarah’s so calm even though she’s trapped in a stormy ship. Maybe it’s because she’s hyper focused when she’s writing. I was on a cruise once and panicked when the ship got to swayey for me.

I love how Sarah adores her father. Leaving London for a new land unsupervised as a teenage girl sounds wild.

Moses is done with James already

Moses doesn’t end up having kids because he basically already had kids and said that’s enough for me.

“It’s addressed to Moses! You look like James!”😆 He’s so cute.

THAT TRANSITION

Omg it’s the beer guy. Beer overthrew tea.

It’s pretty hardcore that they have a picture of the redcoats murdering them hanging on the tavern wall.

Imagine walking out to the deck of a ship to see strange and unfamiliar land. Also where is the captain??? Why is she the only person on the ship when they break in to it?

The sons of liberty look like they’re going to coachella.

“Mom? How did you and dad meet?” “I hit him with a pillow stuffed with books and insulted his grammar.”

When she cute but conservative af

“You’re Sarah Phillips!?”

“Dr. Franklin sent YOU?”

Why didn’t Moses go below deck first?

Bro straight up tore her locket off on purpose. He always wanted to do that to a woman.

Moses calling them big ugly hogs 😂😂

If James and Henri stink that bad, poor Sarah must have been suffocating under that blanket.

Omg Sarah we don’t just ask people if they’re slaves.

Ok real talk though, how many of you have been to an African American history museum with a slave ship hallway? Because that was horrific.

Phylis Wheatley should have written the Declaration, not Jefferson.

Sarah dropping the mic more than Hamilton tbh

Sarahs doing pretty well for a rich girl sleeping in a barn for the first time

Bro that is not sanity, throw that fish away

Look at all the wigs!

OMG you guys the tea party is totes Bens fault. Ben looks so done with them.

The Intolerable Acts

Dear mom, this is not the airbnb that I wanted

“English Henri!” “I’m counting the English!”

WIGS! WIGS!?

Ben literally said suck my dick at Parliament.

James not noticing the redcoats in the barn for five minutes

The redcoats act like Karens.

Sarah don’t have time for your shit James

That captain is such a piece of shit. Henris backstory is lowkey fucked up.

I’d like to have more of a backstory on James’ parents.

*heavenly music*

He just put Sarah on the spot like that and she outwitted him beautifully.

When a man gives you his outerwear, he’s at your service forever.

Dear mom I’m finally in the right airbnb

Bro just straight up gave up his ring so she could have a locket omg 🥺

[1dastroficfest]

Round 2 is officially finished! Thank you to all our amazing authors and everyone who's supported them! It's been a pleasure to bring the astro fest back for another round, not only to explore different parts of all the wonderful mystics in the world, also to see how people interpret them differently. We learned so much in just a few months and we hope this is a collective feeling. Thank you thank you thank you. We intend to do a round 3 next year, again with different themes. Stay tuned, the sun travels fast through the signs.

Under the cut are all our round 2 fics, please check them out! 🌙🪐☀️

Lullaby Garden by rockstarlwt28 / @rockstarlwt28 Harry/Louis, 29k, prompt: the Moon Tarot reader Louis Tomlinson and fortune teller Harry Styles, better known as the Tomlinson's, are the proud owners of a children's home, Lullaby Garden; in the heart of the hilly town of Scarborough. With eight children to keep them on their toes, the pair aren't short of good-hearted family fun.

I Don't Have A Choice (But I'd Still Choose You) by Wishingforloushair / @wishingforloushair Harry/Louis, 31k, prompt: Pluto Louis Tomlinson is the captain of The Dagger, a pirate ship so wicked his reputation as the Spectre precedes him into every quay, dock, and tavern. When a mysterious package arrives for him seemingly giving him the last pieces of the puzzle to find the treasure of the mythical Nymphaea Islands, he sets the ship on a course to find riches that amount to more than the grains of sand on every beach. The men discover a stowaway on the ship, and to Louis' utter shock the man is Lord Styles, the man who broke Louis' heart years earlier and drove him out to sea in the first place. Loyalties are tested as the past comes back to haunt Louis in a way he couldn't imagine.

we don't fight fair by HelloLovers13 / @hellolovers13 Harry/Louis, 2k, prompt: Mars “What, you think I'll just roll over for you now?” The smirk on Louis’ face was almost devilish. “Yes,” He breathed against Harry’s lips, cocky and sure, like it was a fact of life. It sent all kinds of shivers through Harry. God, but he wanted to. Wanted Louis to have him right against this wall, let everyone see how he fell apart under him. But not tonight. Harry fixed his posture, standing up straighter and trying to get himself under control. “I don't think so, omega.” Or: Nothing like a little chase to start off Louis' heat.

Catching A Partner by berzerkshires / @berzerkshires Harry/Louis, 24k, prompt: Uranus This documentary follows the story of two people who fell in love in the last place you'd expect. Louis is a detective at the Boston Police Department investigating a trail of recent murders. Harry is the latest victim who survived an attempted murder and is sent to live at a safe house with Detective Tomlinson as the killer is still at large. This is their story.

It's Only Sunny Cause The Planet's Dying by LetTheMusicMoveYou / @letthemusicmoveyou28 Harry/Louis, 13k, prompt: Sappho The man leans back in his chair and looks down at the tarot cards in front of him. “Wow, that was really impressive. How long did it take you to memorize all this bullshit?” He raises a brow and that challenging look is back on his face, but he’s not even bothering to mask it this time. It makes Louis’ blood run cold. “I beg your pardon?” The man chuckles, but there’s no humor in it. “If you take a peek in my wallet that you just stole, you’ll see there’s a detective’s badge in there. Why don’t you come on down to the police station with me and you can explain your methods to me there?” (Or the one where Louis is a thief and a con-artist who’s used to getting what he wants, using any means necessary. And Harry is is the straight-laced detective who might just be tired of always doing the right thing).

a little party never hurt no one by Kikiberoski16 / @larrysballetslippers Harry/Louis, 3k, prompt: Eros “I did! But now you only want them to be your personal toys. So you get more men to touch you!” Louis pointed at Vang, the one who always wanted to be close to Harry. Harry threw his arms up. “Maybe because I do enjoy their attention, Louis! Maybe I like having them around.” “If you like their attention so much, maybe they should replace me completely.” Or, Louis wouldn't call himself a possessive boyfriend, but can't stand it when the mates touch Harry.

The Heart's Home by homosociallyyours / @homosociallyyours Harry/Louis, 10k, prompt: Chiron Louis is alone in the world, working long hours at a restaurant job that barely pays his bills, when he's roped into helping his bosses with a scheme. All he has to do is guard the special catch they've brought in, the one that they expect will bring them unbelievable wealth. But there's a problem: the creature they've caught is definitely half human, with the heart and soul of a human and the voice of an angel. Louis knows immediately that he can't let this mer-squid, Harry, become a wealthy person's dinner. As they spend more time together, growing ever closer, Louis realizes that he's got to find a way to get Harry back to his home-- the sea --even if the thought of losing him hurts and doing it means risking everything.

Make Me Your Aphrodite by LiveLaughLoveLarry / @loveislarryislove Harry/Louis, Zayn/Liam, Niall/Shawn, 16k, prompt: Venus “I just – I don’t know." Harry sighs. "I go on so many dates, and they’re all just… nothing. The guys are boring, or they’re terrible in bed, or there’s just no chemistry. It’s just so frustrating. Enough to make a girl want to give up on men altogether.” “I mean, I did give up on men, like a decade ago,” Louis says, laughing. “Have you tried dating girls?” It’s meant as a joke, but Harry looks thoughtful. “Maybe I should,” she says. “I’ve considered it, but never actually tried – I mean, goodness knows it can’t be any worse than some of the guys I’ve gone out with.” Louis blinks. “Wait, do you – are you serious?” “Why not?” Harry says, pulling out her phone. “I’ll change my Tinder settings right now, look.” She taps the screen a few times, navigating through the pages. “If it doesn’t pan out, then oh well, I’ve had some nice conversations with some nice girls – not the worst thing. Maybe we can even be friends. And if it does…” She smiles. “Well. You know.”

(Gimme a Solution and) Watch Me Run With It by lululawrence / @lululawrence Harry/Louis, 21k, prompt: Vesta This second, this minute, this hour, this day... hell, this week the trend was for Harry to feel overwhelmed. He was having a hard time not drowning in all of the responsibilities he had heaped upon himself and it had exhausted him. Beyond that, really. He had gotten to the point where he didn't even remember why he used to be so focused on getting back on stage every night. Fine. Maybe this trend had been going on for even longer than a week. It might have even been months. Harry is getting dangerously close to his breaking point, and that is when things start to change, starting with a favorite childhood sweet a member of the touring crew leaves for him in his dressing room.

Daylight by ReynaLovegood2 / @reynalovegood2 Harry/Louis, 18k, prompt: the Sun The change in Harry’s behaviour was subtle for the most part, Louis decided. More eye-contact, more upright posture, and the casual ease with which he handled his words and his fingers—a lot of it could be chalked up to late-adolescence induced confidence. He was a teenager after all. Surely they were all still finding themselves and growing into amazing, mature adults with every passing day. And then school started. ~ Or Louis opened up to Harry more than usual when he's in London and it causes Harry to act different. He expects Louis be vulnerable all the time, and Louis has to choose between shutting away his best friend or letting people assume they're romantically involved.

lost in the silver sea by you_explode / @nobodymoves Harry/Louis, 42k, prompt: Echo Non-AU. From MSG 2012 to MSG 2018; or, Harry and Louis keep having their voices silenced, and they keep finding ways to speak.

Thanks again! See you next round! ✨

[hay1ock]

Happy fucking birthday, indeed. Only Friends Episode 6 was absolutely insane. And I loved it.

So, what did we learn from this episode? That’s right, don’t get LASIK.

Like, if Mew hadn’t agreed, Top wouldn’t have bumped into Sand, wouldn’t have pissed off Sand, who then wouldn’t have… etc etc.

But lucky for us they did, because this episode was hella entertaining.

What follows is nonsense, my descent into insanity as I ramble myself in circles, go off at many a tangent and fail to keep my thoughts in any sort of order 😵‍💫

So, Top and Mew. Just when I actually started to like them as a couple shit hits the fan. Them by the pool just hanging around discussing Mew’s mums was the first time I felt as if I could get on board their relationship. I mentioned before how their scenes always left me feeling anxious. There was always this push and pull, a sense of doom, and, I don’t know if sleazy is the right word, maybe, I don’t know, but they left me feeling a little bit icky - I think it was the giving up drugs for sexual favours scene that really got me.

The main problem with the relationship for me has always been Top, and to be honest, his interactions with others this episode still left me uneasy and ready to jump back off the TopMew ship. The way he acts makes me feel like he’s treating Mew like a possession, I talked about it in previous episodes but I felt it again here, both in his conversation with Sand and then during Ray’s confrontation and how he wrapped his arm around Mew as if in ownership, that he’d ‘won’ a prize. He certainly plays up to what you’d think a rich hotel owner’s asshole son should be at times.

Now I can’t decide if Mew is just as bad in terms of being control driven - he has his list, which I don’t think there’s anything wrong with. I mean a non-drug user would probably rank kinda high on my list too. Top is definitely changing himself but it feels like there’s always something Top gets out of it. Giving up drugs = sexual activity, No sleeping around = a relationship and eventually Mew’s virginity. I don’t know. I mean they’re not exactly big asks of anyone looking to be in a 2 person, exclusive relationship. Top is just overtly possessive, at least to me as the audience and I guess to Ray at times. BUT THEN, he can be incredibly sweet around Mew like the notebook of drawings was a really lovely and personal present, and the way he was looking after Mew after his LASIK… it’s just… there’s something about him that irks me, even trying to forget the additional stuff we know about him and Boston, he makes me uneasy.

And now that ending scene between these two we have THE reveal and the lead up to it. I thought it was absolutely brilliant the way Mew seduced Top and lulled him into this vulnerable state to then bring out the recording. Book was great as Mew here. You can feel his building frustration, at first to get Top to tell the truth, then how he started thinking it was a plan to make a fool of him, to him feeling he isn’t good enough for someone like Top - the supposed top-tier.

But, Top? I can not believe he was still trying to hide the truth about his recent encounter with Boston, at first only referring to the fact they had hooked up before ever knowing Mew. I genuinely believe he loves Mew, maybe he thought he could salvage things by not confessing. Despite my feelings about Top I do have some sympathy for him. He fucked up, he told Boston it had been a mistake. I do feel like he was trying to be a better person since then. I don’t know what would have happened if he’d confessed sooner. I’m still annoyed at him for wrongly getting on his high horse over Ray and Mew, and instead of talking to Mew somehow saw a kind of ‘revenge’ sex as the appropriate reaction, but yeah, I’m a little bit sympathetic. A little. I don’t know how things will go from here on. Can there be a future for them? And how will Top cope with his sleep issues if he’s back to being alone?

Next up Nick. Well he finally got himself a photo. Probably because it was from a day out not a post-sex selfie. There wasn’t much story-wise that was just about him, but he certainly had his moments with Boston. In isolation, not gonna lie, they’re kind of good together like the scene on the pier. That moment though with Gap showing up. The hypocrisy from Boston about videoing people without consent, literally moments after Nick had just called him out for recording Ray and Mew, and also outing Ray loving Mew…💀

Despite what Boston and his dad discussed in front of Nick, he seems to keep falling for Boston’s sweet words and intimate touches. Nick’s no angel, but I feel really bad for him. He just keeps getting pulled back in. I don’t know if he still had any intention to use the recording with Boston’s focus seeming to be solely on him at the moment. He had been getting Boston’s undivided attention, or at least Nick and we assume so. I don’t think it’ll take Boston too long to get to the bottom of things when Top tells him about Mew having the evidence, especially considering Top knows that Nick knows about him and Boston hooking up, and saw Nick and Sand together at the apartments, throw in Boston knowing about Ray and Sand, that Ray confronted him, and then his outburst alluding to it in the bar, and the chain is complete. It’s going to hurt.

And so onto Boston. Was nice to get to know a bit more about him and his dad, well I say nice, but Boston definitely had a ‘look’ on his face when his dad kind of brushed off his love of photography (almost made me feel for him lol - no but it must be hard to have something you love poo-pooed), and it did feel like he was trying to make his dad ‘proud’ of the fact he’s playing the field and not settling down. I guess I understand (Understand Boston? What am I saying lol) where he’s coming from in terms of not getting attached to anyone if his intentions are to go to New York, which I think for arty, photography stuff would probably be a good fit. But, the way his words work on Nick and some of the moments he shares with him, I do wonder if deep down he would like something more significant than a bunch of fwbs and fuck buddies. He’s jealous his friends are moving on. Maybe not Mew so much as he had his ‘innocent’ virgin status, but from Ray’s speech it sure sounded like Boston told him a lot about his conquests, whether that was to rub them in Ray’s face for some reason, or he thought he had himself a ‘slutty brother in arms’? Who knows.

When Ray came to confront Boston, Boston sure managed to turn that conversation around quickly. He’d been casting glances at Ray all day as Ray seemed continually over everything going on within the friends group. When they clashed again he was able to twist things and make Ray doubt himself. And while I’m sure deep down Ray would love to be Mew’s knight in shining armour and them ride off into the sunset in love, I’m pretty sure he knows that will never happen. But Boston poked at him, put that doubt in his mind at how his intentions would be viewed - that he would be accused of doing it to get Mew, that he would be as ‘evil’ and be the one destroying Mew’s happiness. Boston is definitely clever with words. I’m looking forward to seeing him kicked into the pool next episode.

And now for Sand and Ray. Sand really showed he has a greyer side to the straightforward, work hard for everything guy we’d gotten used to the last few episodes. Top really got to him, lauding over him that he’d ‘changed’ and got himself his new man, the fact he could get anyone he wanted, ie Sand’s ex. I can’t imagine a guy stealing your lover and in no more than 3 months (based on what we know of Top’s longest relationship) he’s already moved on from that person… I’d be furious and wondering what the hell was the point of all the heartbreak? Honestly, having seen the trailer, breaking his phone to get his hands on Boston and Top’s audio was no where on my list of reasons for Sand stamping on his phone lol. But that was a pretty smart idea. Not sure what Nick noticed on his phone afterwards, maybe the lack of a phone call, or something to do with the method Sand sent himself the audio file. But I don’t think it’ll take him too much to figure out what Sand did when he learns of what’s gone on beyond Ray’s outburst.

I’m sure Sand thought it was an amazing idea handing the file over to Ray. He certainly lit the fuse on the powder keg that is Ray. Him saying about how great it is Mew has Ray at his side? - manipulation skill unlocked lol. I don’t know what he thought would happen or if there was anything more to it than getting back at Top but I’d like to think he wasn’t trying to get back at Ray for liking Mew by making him the bad guy. At the very least, it seemed Ray getting on that mic and making a huge scene was not quite how he’d seen it going.

Going back to Sand meeting with Ray. I felt so bad for Ray. It really felt as if he’d turned up with hopes he and Sand could maybe have a conversation about Mew, maybe even about the two of them. Instead, he was shut down not once but twice more by Sand saying he was fine with Ray liking Mew, echoing the same sentiments Sand had shared on the night things kicked off with Boston that it’s ‘nothing to do with him’.

Was it just me who thought Ray wrapping his hand around the cue ball was damn hot? 🫠 Honestly, the choice of fingers he wears his rings on too, I just… ahem. Anyway, what was I saying? Yeah, him grabbing the ball and basically telling Sand to get to the point was seriously a moment. I’m not 100% sure how he felt about Sand’s words after that, whether he felt as manipulated as Sand’s little side-eye suggested he was being, but clearly at the end of the evening Ray was absolutely done with everybody at that party. And to be fair, I kind of agree. (Also, I’m going to assume Sand renamed the file to Top & Boston - as much as I’d like to assume he knows Boston’s moans cos I’m a NeoKhao getting out the friendzone even just once enthusiast. I’d give him assuming the other voice is Top as Sand said it concerns Mew lol)

And so, we reach the party. The awkward conversation at the table had me like 💀Cheum has always been vocal in her praise of Top - I think I said on episode one about how Top had probably been viewed as this top tier prize to win/be fucked by, and Mew had likely been a breath of fresh air - honestly, I felt a bit bad for April the way Cheum was so besotted with the awesomeness that is Top lol, and then we shift to thanking God Boston, and then apparently forgetting Ray existed for a moment as she got excited everybody was paired off with someone. Even Boston. Also, this friends group need to have better nicknames for each other, what with Ray the Burden and now Boston the Heartless Slut. I know people call each other all sorts when they’re friends, even seemingly offensive names, but sometimes people need to read the room lol. It seems anything but playful banter at times. Following being forgotten, we then have April pointing out Ray is in fact single. I was sat here thinking, please stop poking at him. It was only adding to the tension and left me wondering at what point Ray would actually snap. Even without the added knowledge of Boston and Top, if I was Ray I’d have been seriously considering if it was time to find some new friends, preferable ones that enjoyed activities away from places that serve alcohol. Because no sooner has Ray been pointed out to be a loveless loser, we have Mew opening their conversation in the bathroom by asking if he’s drunk already.

I know Mew cares about Ray, asks him to stop drinking and doing drugs, and there’s only so much Mew or anyone else can do if Ray isn’t ready to help himself or accept help from others, but I don’t know, people expect him to be drunk, to be a burden, and I just feel like there comes a point where Ray, or anybody else, would just give up and act as expected.

(Possibly triggering stuff ahead as I refer back to episode 4)

Focusing on the conversation between them. It felt very ‘final’ and echoed a similar weight to it as the scene of Ray in the bathtub. The thanking him for being his friend, the hug. It might not have been so much the same thoughts right then as we’d had at the start of episode 4, but I think he probably believed somewhat in what Boston had said, he would be the bad guy, people would only view his intentions through the lens of him loving Mew and trying to split up Top and Mew, and in turn Ray loses Mew completely. So it really did feel like a goodbye. I don’t know if Mew got those vibes too, like he felt uneasy and that’s why he insisted Ray shouldn’t drive home, that he was worried about him, but for me there was this heaviness surrounding Ray.

We now know that Ray changed his mind and told Mew the truth about Top and Boston. He knew Mew might not like it and see his intentions in a bad light, but I’m glad he went through with it in the end. As he said later, no one else was saying a damn thing. I see people hung up on Ray being jealous, but I feel above everything else it is about Mew’s, and only Mew’s, happiness. When it comes down to it he’d rather tell him and risk being the villain, so long as Mew is okay. And so we shift to Ray taking the mic. I interpret him doing this out of a mix of things - frustration that even well into the night (despite Mew’s noticeable shift in mood when we catch sight of him again) everybody was singing and dancing as if everything was perfect, and to me, I feel like he was mad Mew hadn’t acted, not mad at Mew though, mad for Mew. That the person he cherishes the most seemed to have let Top and Boston’s behaviour slide, seemed to be accepting it when in Ray’s eyes he deserves so much more. And so fueled with alcohol, disappointed in almost everyone, he hit self destruct on each and every one of his relationships.

I enjoyed Khaotung’s performance and delivery. It hurt to see Ray that way, that look after being hit by the only person he considered to have shown him any care, and as he scanned the crowd, saw how everyone was looking at him. I feel like Mew punched him for a few reasons. Sure he might have had a plan for Top, he also seems someone to like order, have control and Ray was taking that from him, but I also like to think he was trying to stop Ray from going too far, snap him out of his tirade. If he got into an actual fight with someone like Top whose family are rich and the fact Top hates Ray, I could see Top pressing charges. I feel like Mew was in part saving Ray from himself and from saying or doing anything that he couldn’t take back, or might reap serious consequences.

I do, however, support Ray calling out everyone’s bullshit (plus it’s a tv show so it’s damn entertaining lol), even Sand. Their relationship started as a transaction and all he’s heard from Sand recently is they are nothing to each other. The moment outside by the car, I feel that if Sand hadn’t yet again denied they were anything to each other, Ray may well have stayed. Instead, his expression drops and he pushes him away, calls him a whore. Sand had ‘whored’ out his time, that’s how they had started, and Ray maybe assumes that’s all they had ever been. So, having burdened his friends once more, severed his connections to them, I don’t think Ray cared what happened to him after getting in that car and driving away. Luckily Sand did, motivated by caring for Ray, for anyone that could be caught in the fallout, and of course by his own guilt for putting Ray on this path in the first place.

I can’t wait for the next episode.

Oh my goodness. If you read all of that you’re a real trooper lol. I swear I start these the night of the episode and yet I’m still adding extra ramblings all through the week lol. I do enjoy it though. It’s kind of therapeutic to just get it all out. Stress relief 😆

Previous ramblings.

Episode 5 | Episode 4 | Episode 3 | Episode 2 | Episode 1

[thewayuarent]

Can I hear your thoughts about Sand/Boeing potentially getting together? I’m so so scared they would do it and also I don’t understand why Sand would fall for it? Seems very out of character for him

Hello, thanks for asking. I didn’t have that much thoughts about it cause I’m still thinking about everything happened in ep 10, but I’ll try my best.

The first thing is: while I’m totally competent in separating actors from characters, that’s definitely my weak spot. I need my First and Mond scene, I’m not joking. I don’t care how, when or where, I’m eat this ship up and be happy. So I’m not totally objective with this one.

Honestly, I don’t think that what worries people - I may be wrong with you, anon, then I’m sorry - is SandBoeing getting back together. I think what worries people is the possibility of Sand having sex with someone who is not Ray. And my question is: why? Now let’s talk about possible scenarios I can come up with.

Scenario 1: SandRay are on a bad terms when Boeing makes his move. If that’s the case, than Sand can totally fall into this shit. It’s questionable for me why he would chose his ex who left him for other guy, but we don’t know how SandBoeing were as a couple and maybe Sand has still some feelings left and in a moment of weakness and with right words (and Boeing is very good with his words) he can fall for it without thinking twice. They’ll have sex, Sand will decide it was a mistake, they’ll move on, it’s all cool.

Scenario 2: SandRay are together as a monogamous couple and totally happy. Than this scene will last like for 15 seconds: Sand will be like “No thanks bro, I have my rich hot mentally unstable man and it’s the whole package, 10/10, don’t need you”. And than I’ll get my FirstMond in a flashback.

Scenario 3: SandRay are in a good terms but still playing their stupid game of “We’re friends who constantly have sex and totally in love with each other but we’re not in a relationship”. Sounds like them tbh. In this scenario, why is it out of character for Sand to sleep with Boeing? It’s not like he promised Ray anything and it’s not like Sand has that “purity culture” mentality to start with. He is young sexually active guy who is very much into casual sex, it was clear since the beginning. It may be something about him having enough self-respect to sleep with his ex, but like, he’s not always good with self-respect thing when feelings are on a picture.

Boeing says in preview something like “I know you’re seeing someone” - but I, for example, didn’t know that. I know that Sand and Ray are in love with each other and have sex with each other, and says cheesy stuff like “I’ll be addicted to you for the rest of my life full-time” but nothing implies that they are boyfriends. Or that they are exclusive. Nothing in this show implies they are exclusive to be clear.

We know they have sex constantly since episode 2, but we don’t know if they have sex with other people. We just assume that cause for most people monogamy is way more comfortable.

We know Ray doesn’t like to see Sand with other people, but it’s less about sex and more about fear that Sand will move on from him. It’s about “I want to be you first choice”, it’s about “I want you to be always with me”, not about “You can’t fuck other people sometimes”. We know that Sand was jealous of RayMew thing, but not because of sex, but because of Ray loving someone else. Top and Mew have this monogamy problem, Nick had this problem with Boston, but Sand and Ray never were about that. Their relationship conflicts are not based of just sleeping with someone else, not once.

So them being monogamous is an assumption based on the idea of one true way of romantic love. But it’s not like that. Them sleeping with other people doesn’t make their love to each other lesser. It’s not about that at all.

And we all know Sand and Boeing whatever it’s gonna be is not about them being in a relationship again. They won’t, it’s no time for that in two episodes. So the worst case scenario is that they will have sex. And what’s that scary about it? Sand won’t betray Ray doing that based on any scenario except second one (and again if that’s the case than no SandBoeing). Ray may be hurt seeing Sand moving on - not having sex with someone, but choosing someone else to love - and it’ll be painful for him, I get it, but we all know Sand won’t move on from him for long. They can’t leave each other alone, they will get back together.

Even if show won’t go for endgame (but I think it will), they’ll end up being alone, not with someone else, there is no chance gmm will risk that much. So, Boeing is an obstacle, nothing more than that.

I don’t know if any of that make you feel better, but that’s my view on the situation. I don’t personally care about the sex stuff that much, but I understand it can be frustrating for a lot of people. And there is nothing to do with that, only try to get over our personal biases. But we don’t know what’s gonna happen and how it will be introduced, so my point is just not to worry about it that much and wait for next episode to see.

[thebreakfastgenie]

Hi :3 If you're still doing the character ask game, may I request 4, 5, 19, 24, & 25 for Charles? Thank <3

Hello! I am still doing them!

4. If you could put this character in any other media, be it a book, a movie, anything, what would you put them in?

Hmmm I don't know!! I would put him in Boston Legal as a client involved in a lawsuit over something ridiculous just because DOS's humor would have been perfect on that show.

5. What's the first song that comes to mind when you think about them?

Where's the Orchestra by Billy Joel. This was my most inspired song choice. It's all about getting to this point in your life where you've achieved something and thinking "this is it?" and the metaphor it uses is an orchestra. To quote the man himself, "life isn't a musical, it's a Greek tragedy." (No I do not think Billy Joel was okay when he wrote this song, it was the last song he wrote for an album that he said he felt as if he'd died when he finished it.) Where's the orchestra? Dead, perhaps? Charles's whole goodbye dinner speech in GFA just tracks to this song so well.

19. How about a relationship they have in canon that you don't like?

If I could delete the Charles/Margaret ship tease from season 6 I would. I wouldn't hate it so much if they had ship tease in season 7 after she got divorced. But most of it happens when she's a newlywed and her marriage isn't even on the rocks yet and it just makes absolutely no sense for her after she made such a big deal about breaking up with Frank and staying faithful to Donald! I still don't think I'd ever ship them, but it wouldn't be such a hard no for me if it was handled differently in the show. It felt like they only wrote Charles flirting with her because Frank did, but she'd dumped Frank a whole season before! Some of their later scenes as friends make me understand why people ship them, but I never will because season 6 just poisoned me against it forever.

24. What other character from another fandom of yours that reminds you of them?

This is not a fandom I'm in per se and it's kind of a limited resemblance but it makes me crazy: in Downton Abbey, Sybil works as a nurse during WWI, and after the war she feels increasingly alienated from her noble family's way of life. She just can't pretend the rich people nonsense matters anymore. And from what we see of Charles in GFA, I think that's going to happen to him. He's exposed to so many things and forced to connect with so many people from different backgrounds, he can't just go back to how he was before. There are also some Charles elements to Josh Lyman, who is not nearly as wealthy but also a high-achiever Harvard legacy from a privileged background who lost a sibling as a child.

25. What was your first impression of this character? How about now?

I didn't like him at first! I mean, I like characters who suck, so I liked him because he was well-acted and funny, but I wasn't invested in him emotionally. I was like wow he's an asshole. I don't always like character who suck right away, either, because if I'm deep in a show I'm thinking about how likable they are, and my love of well-crafted characters who I would loathe as people comes later. Anyway after a couple of seasons suddenly I cared about Charles and I still do! He's a rich asshole who's a caring person deep down to me. I'm not super interested in soft squishy Charles, I like him to kind of suck but have a heart of gold. I haven't been engaging with a lot of Charles stuff because I've been oriented toward the Gelbart seasons more, but because of that when I do see Charles stuff I get to remember how fun he is! I have a soft spot for poor little rich boy characters.

[fatehbaz]

As early as 1700, Samuel Sewall, the renowned Boston judge and diarist, connected “the two most dominant moral questions of that moment: the rapid rise of the slave trade and the support of global piracy” in many American colonies [...]. In the course of the eighteenth century, [...] [there was a] semantic shift in the [literary] trope of piracy in the Atlantic context, turning its [...] connotations from exploration and adventure to slavery and exploitation. [...] [A] large share of Atlantic seafaring took place in the service of the circum-Atlantic slave trade, serving European empire-building in the Americas. [...] Ships have been cast as important sites of struggle and as symbols of escape in [...] Black Atlantic consciousness, from Olaudah Equiano’s Interesting Narrative (1789) and Richard Hildreth’s The Slave: or Memoir of Archy Moore (1836 [...]) to nineteenth century Atlantic abolitionist literature such as Frederick Douglass’s My Bondage and My Freedom (1855) or Martin Delany’s Blake (1859-1862). [...] Black and white abolitionists across the Atlantic world were imagining a different social order revolving around issues of resistance, liberty, (human) property, and (il)legality [...].

---

Using black pirates as figures of resistance [...], Maxwell Philip’s novel Emmanuel Appadocca (1854) emphasizes the nexus of insatiable material desire and its conditions of production: slavery. [...] [T]he consumption of commodities produced by slave labor itself was delegitimized [...]. Philip, a Trinidadian [and "illegitimate" "colored" child] [...], published Emmanuel Appadocca as a protest against slavery in the United States [following the Fugitive Slave laws of 1850.]. [...] [The novel places] at its center [...] a heroic non-white pirate and intellectual [...] [whose] pirate ship [...] [is] significantly named The Black Schooner [...]. One of the central discourses in [the book] is that of legitimacy, of rights and lawfulness, of both slavery and piracy [...]. About midway into the book, Appadocca gives a [...] speech in which he argues that colonialism itself is a piratical system:

If I am guilty of piracy, you, too [are] [...] guilty of the very same crime. ... [T]he whole of the civilized world turns, exists, and grows enormous on the licensed system of robbing and thieving, which you seem to criminate so much ... The people which a convenient position ... first consolidated, developed, and enriched, ... sends forth its numerous and powerful ships to scour the seas, the penetrate into unknown regions, where discovering new and rich countries, they, in the name of civilization, first open an intercourse with the peaceful and contented inhabitants, next contrive to provoke a quarrel, which always terminates in a war that leaves them the conquerors and possessors of the land. ... [T]he straggling [...] portions of a certain race [...] are chosen. The coasts of the country on which nature has placed them, are immediately lined with ships of acquisitive voyagers, who kidnap and tear them away [...].

In this [...], slavery appears as a direct consequence of the colonial venture encompassing the entire “civilized world,” and “powerful ships” - the narrator refers to the slavers here - are this world’s empire builders. [...] Piracy, for Philip, signifies a just rebellion, a private, legitimate [resistance] against colonial exploiters and economic inequality - he repeatedly invokes their solidarity as misfortunate outcasts [...].

---

All text above by: Alexandra Ganser. “Cultural Constructions of Piracy During the Crisis Over Slavery.” A chapter from Crisis and Legitimacy in the Atlantic American Narratives of Piracy: 1678-1865. Published 2020. [Bold emphasis and some paragraph breaks/contractions added by me.]

[jessicalprice]

you got your known Minoans and your unknown Minoans (part two)

(reposted, with edits, from Twitter)

(part one on Tumblr)

So, in Part One of this, I talked about the “Minoan” Boston Goddess statue and how she’s probably a forgery, and a little bit about how explicit Victorian archaeologists were that they wanted Minoan civilization to be a European civilization that was just as old and sophisticated as civilizations from Asia and the Near East.

Anyway, the Boston Goddess, Greek Gibson girl, delicate but dapper pre-Danaan dame... 

She has no provenience. (I learned a thing: provenance is art, provenience is archaeology.) That is, she is without archaeological context. We don't know where she was found.

All those ecstatic articles about her are pretty cagey about where she actually came from. Caskey carefully says, allowing passive voice to do a lot of work, "according to information believed to be reliable, it came from Crete," and everyone else seems to have just run with that. 

His successor as curator, Cornelius C. Vermuele III, who sounds like a walking Stiff Upper Lip, claims that the statue arrived via "a Greek-speaking Boston lady returning from the American School of Classical Studies in Athens," (natch, because she wouldn't have been the sort of lady to just vacation there).

Anyway, this Greek-speaking but safely Bostonian lady happened to befriend some Cretan immigrants in steerage--so enlightened--and they showed her the Boston Goddess--in fragments at the time--in a tin and she was like, HUP HUP MY DEAR SWARTHY FOLK YOU MUST TAKE THIS TO THE MFA.

And of course that was how it found its way into its proper home in a Boston museum--which of course purchased it for a "fair price"--and not with Greeks traveling in steerage.

No one at the museum could name this beneficient Boston lady who guided the figurine there, of course.

So then, another museum employee, Cyrus Aston Rollins Sanborn, who sounds like a walking handlebar moustache, tells the same story except now it's a male archaeologist befriending a lone Greek man in steerage. Everyone agrees on the "steerage" part, though, so that's something. Her fragments were maybe in a cigar box, maybe in a cigarette tin (the museum still has some fragments too small to be used in the restoration in a comely soap box), but I digress.

There weren't any ships sailing from Piraeus to Boston during the specified period, but it would be low-brow of us to concern ourself with things like facts about where one of the most important archaeological discoveries about the CRADLE OF EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION came from.

Anyway, I promised you I'd bag on Arthur Evans so let's do that: 

Arthur Evans went to Crete looking or evidence of prehistoric European writing systems because he couldn't stand the fact that Middle Easterners invented our alphabet. (No, I mean, Mysteries of the Snake Goddess literally says: “he was hoping to prove early Europeans were no less literate than ancient Egyptians and Mesopotamians.”)

Speaking of Crete, it was having a bit of a day back around the turn of the last century.

Until 1898, the Ottoman Empire ruled it 

Until 1913, it was a protectorate of the Great Powers 

After 1913, it was part of the Hellenic Republic of Greece

But they all agreed on one thing:  STOP LOOTING THE PLACE AND CARTING OFF ALL ITS STUFF.

So unless something was a "duplicate" or insignificant, you had to turn it over to the authorities. But Arthur Evans was a Britisher, by golly, and wasn't going to be told what he could and couldn't do while hunting proof that Europe had always been just as sophisticated as Africa, Asia, and the Middle East.

He'd already robbed tombs at Trier, skulls from Dubrovnik, and antiquities from Psychro, Trapeza, and Karphi. He knew that the archaeological importance of objects is deeply linked to their context, but considered rules about unauthorized digging "frivolous.” And he felt bad for collectors, rich people being stymied by all those rules--so, well, those rules would just have to be broken, even if that resulted in a "permanent injury to science."

In 1908, a Cretan customs agent caught him smuggling stuff he'd looted out of Crete. Rather than give it back, he tossed the package into the harbor. 

He also got the customs agent fired.

In Part Three: this fine upstanding gentleman excavates the palace at Knossos, misplaced cats, fantasy worldbuilding, and Isadora Duncan being insufferable.

[ltwilliammowett]

Privateers

Privateers were legalised warships that were issued with a letter of marque by their principal, which authorised them to attack and plunder enemy ships in times of war. These ships were usually outfitted by a syndicate of merchants or other private financiers who invested capital in the hope of substantial profits. Although the government that placed such orders usually received a percentage of the profits, the actual benefits went beyond these monies. The privateers not only disrupted the flow of goods and supplies to enemy ports, but essentially provided the Crown with fighting ships that cost no more than a piece of parchment and a willing crew. This practice can be traced back to 1273, when Edward I of England used privateers against the French.

The celebrated English privateer squadron known as the 'Royal Family' engaging enemy ships during the War of the Austrian Succession. Commanded by Captain James Talbot, the squadron initially consisted of three armed ships, the 500-ton 30-gun flagship Prince Frederick, the 300-ton 20-gun Duke (Captain Morecock) and the much smaller Prince George, by Charles Brooking 1723-1759 (x)

Once a plunder was boarded, the general rules of plunder determined how the ship was to be plundered. Anything above the main deck was considered fair game for the ship's company and as such was unaccountable to those who had financed and equipped the expedition. Needless to say, this system could easily be abused, as sailors often secured items from the hold that they later found on the main deck. The booty itself was usually divided into ship plunder and cabin plunder, the former being fair game for the crew, while the latter was reserved for the captain of the privateer ship. He usually came out ahead, including the all-important nautical charts and navigational information about enemy waters. Many a captain accused of crossing the fine line between privateer and pirate saved his skin by presenting such documents to a grateful, indulgent monarch.

As soon as a ship was captured, it was seized and, depending on the circumstances, disposed of. The ship could be sailed to the privateer's home port and there placed in the hands of eager merchants - a good choice if it was particularly rich or captured near the end of the voyage - or it could be stripped of its cargo and all other valuables and sunk or set free, depending on the whim of the privateer. Another alternative was to prepare the ship so that it could serve as a privateer herself.

Two privateer vessels (Pride of Baltimore - left and Lynx -right), reenact a battle of the War of 1812 in Boston Harbor during Boston Navy Week 2012 (x)

In the remote colonies, goods were usually so scarce that the local merchants (even in hostile ports) would not think of buying the privateers' goods, even if they knew they had probably been stolen by their countrymen. The last resort was to call at the nearest friendly port and sell the ship. This was not appreciated, because the goods and the ship itself had to be presented to the prize court before they could be legally sold, but now and then they were written off as a loss.

However, it should also be borne in mind that privateers were often on the verge of legality, because as soon as the war situation changed, their status also became illegal. Therefore, it was often difficult to know exactly what was going on, and some of them quickly found themselves in the realm of piracy and could then be demoted from a celebrated privateer to an outlaw pirate and punished accordingly.

[volkdesk]

A personal post:

I retired recently as an Operations Specialist first class in the U.S. Coast Guard. I worked in command center helping to coordinate missions such as Search and Rescue for thirteen years.

So, I retire from the U.S. Coast Guard just as one of the biggest search and rescue cases in modern history unfolds and is being coordinated by my old unit in Boston… just as I’m saying goodbye to that life. I’ve had a lot of questions so I’ll just post what I know from my walk of life here:

1. This case is remarkably difficult. It’s a small object with five people on board that is underwater, and it (possibly) sank into a debris field of the most infamous wreak in maritime history. So it’s a needle in a stack of needles.

2. The search area is massive because nothing is known of what happened to the sub because all the command ship knew was it lost contact with them. The sub could be on the surface, it could be floating just below the surface, it could be on the bottom of the ocean amid wreckage.

3. Time is critical. There’s a finite window of life support, and that’s so damn difficult. The USCG, they excel at multi platform coordination, and that’s what is happening in Boston. And we used to train on this, a lot, scenarios and mock ups, full dry runs so we’d stay fresh, because there’s always unforeseen complications to any case.

4. Decency. I understand the irony of some rich people paying money to endanger themselves over the most famous wreck where rich people died from what amounted to a lot of hubris. But that’s as far as I’ll go. These are human beings who are possibly going through hell right now. Surrounded by crushing, pitch black and freezing water and knowing these may be their last moments.

Literal hell.

So to see people making memes about this truly upsets me. Beyond words.

5. The search isn’t over. I speak from experience that the USCG has a propensity to “what if” itself to death. And we did but for good cause. If we could imagine a scenario that someone, somehow, was in danger on the water, we would launch and exhaust ourselves with the search. And sometimes that paid off, that’s why we did it. Yes it was frustrating, but not as bad as the guilt of not launching and someone dying on our watch. As long as USCG personnel can figure out scenarios, the search will keep going.

Hope in a rescue can keep people alive. It’s one of the core tenants of search and rescue.

…

So, people, don’t spread stupid memes making fun of this case. Please read comprehensive articles written by or with experts and stay informed. And have hope, because in the end, that’s all we as the public can and should do.