#sounds of assembly

[audreythebookworm]

[fuckyeahgoodomens]

The Assembly sees a cast of thirty-five interviewers who are autistic, neurodivergent or learning disabled, question an A-list celebrity for one extraordinary TV interview.

In this half-hour special, it's multi-award-winning actor and director, Michael Sheen, who is to face the grilling of a lifetime from the unique collective. No subject is out of bounds, no question is off the table.

On subjects as diverse as ex-girlfriends and on-screen kisses, to the OBE he gave back or his favourite motorway, how will the Good Omens star fare as The Assembly bring their unique approach to the celebrity interview?

The Assembly cast is a diverse cast ranging in age from eighteen to seventy-seven, amongst the group are musicians, artists, writers and students. Each will take their own approach in their attempt to get to the truth of Michael Sheen like nobody before has- whether that’s finding out his favourite sandwich filling or how he felt when his daughter was born.

The format is an adaptation of French show Les Rencontres Du Papotin, which saw the likes of Emmanuel Macron and Camille Cotin (Call My Agent) face the neurodivergent journalists of the Papotin. Gone was the flattery of the usual celeb fare – in its place, a mix of mischievous prodding, leftfield quizzing and profound exchanges. The superstars left completely off guard: actors asked about a driving ban or the death of a parent, the President asked if it’s really the behaviour of a role model to marry one’s teacher.

The show comes from Michelle Singer and Stu Richards' Rockerdale Studios, creators of mischievous content which seeks to put disabled agency at its heart. Stu is also known for co-creating and writing the BBC Three comedy, Jerk, and Rockerdale are most known for Channel 4’s Mission: Accessible.

Rockerdale Studios has worked closely with the BBC’s Creative Diversity Team, to ensure every element of the series works for and with autistic and neurodivergent voices.

The Assembly is a half-hour special to celebrate Autism Acceptance Week. Expect profound revelation, glorious chaos, and a lot of laughs.

The Assembly airs Friday 5 April, 10:40pm on BBC One and iPlayer

Interview with Michael Sheen

What made you say yes to being a part of The Assembly?

I said yes to being a part of The Assembly because it was just such an extraordinary and interesting idea. Then reading about the original French series, it just sounded so extraordinary, different and potentially a very revealing way to approach the tried and tested interview process, but obviously it is a lot more than just being an interview. The interview part of it is just one aspect of the project and I think there is still a lot of confusion, ignorance and fear around people with any kind of difference. I think being able to be involved in a project like this could maybe break down some of those barriers.

How is this different from any other TV show you’ve been a part of?

It’s very much unfiltered and that’s really exciting and quite nerve wracking for that reason! So much on TV is sort of smoothed out and filtered and made safe and this, certainly in the making of it, felt very not that! All the better and more refreshing for it too. I know a lot of work is put into the research and preparation for a show like this, but in terms of the actual questions being asked and the experience that you have in all being together when you’re filming, it feels very unpredictable in a really good way and really lead by the people taking part, which is terrific.

How did you feel going into filming?

Well I didn’t really have anything to go on, so I was excited. Sometimes when I’m going to be interviewed, I know what the interview is going to be about, I have a vague idea of the questions that will come up, I know the sort of things that I need to get across about what I’m there to talk about. But with this, I really had no idea what I was going to be asked, so I had to be prepared for everything and anything, there was a kind of freedom in that I suppose. Because of the unfiltered nature of what was going to happen and not being able to anticipate what might be asked, it was a little nerve wracking yes, but I was mainly just very excited!

Did your experience differ from what you were expecting and if so how?

Well I didn’t know what to expect really, so it’s not that it wasn’t what I was expecting because you can’t expect anything! There's no way you can expect anything because you just don’t know what’s going to happen, and because it is so unfiltered and unpredictable in terms of what might happen, where things might go, how people might be feeling on the day. For all the difficult questions that got asked at times, it just felt very loving and joyful and that everyone was very happy and excited to be there even though people were nervous or had anxiety at different times. There was a genuine feeling of community and I felt very welcomed into that community and ready to play so to speak, and you have to be ready to play. I felt very safe and looked after and it was just really, very funny as well – there was lots of laughter and wonderful things that people asked, responded to and performed, I mean I wasn’t expecting all of that, that was just wonderful! So many moments that I’ll never forget.

How does this compare to any other interview you’ve experienced?

It’s so unfiltered! The closest thing I can say is The One Show, where you go on to talk about one thing and then they ask you about everything else that’s going on on the show, so you get a question about your favourite bus route, then they ask you about otters! There’s an extraordinary pinball effect of questions and that’s the closest I could describe, but The Assembly is that x100. It really is extraordinary and that’s very unlike any other interview I’ve done really, usually everything is meant to follow on logically and have a kind of smoothness and polish to it, and this is just really raw and unfiltered and uncensored and I love that, I thought that was wonderful.

What can viewers expect from the show?

I imagine it will be very funny and I think quite moving. I was quite moved at times by seeing how much people had to struggle to overcome certain things they were dealing with in order to ask questions at times. That was uplifting. I think it will be different, it will be thought provoking I hope, and challenging in certain ways; challenging certain kinds of myths and stereotypes I think and ultimately just really entertaining and fun and joyful. I can’t really remember what I said, so I don’t know what people will learn about me... but it’s not about me, it’s about that fantastic group of people, but I certainly got a huge amount out of it too and I hope an audience will as well.

[jvpiterstears]

this has to be the shittiest storyboard on all of earth.

tap tap… tap tap…

[trashcanwithsprinkles]

Would that mean Ajax has an unusually vested interest in the other nations after everything in Liyue is sorted? Like- keeping an eye on the Gunnhilder clan, or the Ragvindr’s? Would he have a vested interest in seeing the Dawn Winery form and thrive? Would he keep an eye out for news from Inazuma about the Kamisatos, Kaedehara clan, and how the Yokai are doing? There’s a lot of funky things Ajax could be tracking and or meddling with and I love that for him

oh absolutely. ajax would find a way to build himself a little news chain just to keep up on Blorbo Release Dates and accidentally install the greatest intelligence gathering network in teyvat

and like- nobody would realize at first since it'd happen so slowly, but by one point some couple of centuries down the line guizhong would be like- sorry, how do you know this? and ajax would just cassually drop that ah yes [instert someone's name here] told him and guizhong and morax would sit there like. who- who's that and ajax would drop the whole oh y'know i made some friends, i got some people to pass me some info back, usual stuff and guizhong would stare bc ajax is just casually revealing he has created a both open-secret yet completely unknown network of entirely random individuals who just- pass gossip along, and it all eventually goes back to ajax. most of that network is made up of volchiy travelers who pick up info on the coasts and directly report back to him.

[masquenoire]

Hey everybody, sorry to have been so quiet lately! Nothing too horrible going on, I assure you but between cleaning an entire house from top to bottom, starting overnight shifts early, setting up a biiiig snake vivarium and getting a new baby to love and care for, it didn't leave much time for writing but now things are settling down! Officially starting overnights tonight and not... you know, Tuesday, but things are as good as they are busy! Hoping to start somewhere tomorrow inbox-wise after a GOOD sleep now that the nerve-wracking part of installing a gigantic vivarium is done for now!

[vertigoartgore]

The Avengers n°291 house ad (1988) by John Buscema and Tom Palmer.

[cheeseknives]

I offer you: The Stig nendoroid, it may or may not try to attack you if you can't put it together on the first try

[faaun]

i love my friends but i swear their house is at least somewhat haunted and while i do not consider myself superstitious or spiritual at all i'm gonna take the general route of "pretend it didnt happen/dont react to the creepy noises until they stop" approach

[waitingforsecretsouls]

I'll always maintain that (Crown Prince!) Fëanáro gave his sons names befitting Princes and future Kings of the Ñoldor, as (King!) Finwë himself did for his sons. They're basically dynastic names and given how his sons are Princes and it's the schema he and his half-brothers were named for as well, it's difficult for me to see anything wrong with that. These people are royalty afterall, which means they're figures of public and to a certain extent political life by matter of birth.

It always seemed to me that father-names are the official names used for the political sphere (honestly something like titles almost), at least among the Finwëans (not least because their fathers tend to be the members of the royal family while their mothers marry in). Something I feel supported by the announcement of it in an official ceremony (Essecarmë), and which makes the contrast between the Fëanorians general tendency to prefer their mother-name and their half-brothers/cousins general preference for father-names very interesting (Obviously you can argue that it's simple personal preference or speculate about parental relationships (such as is canonically the case in at the least Fëanáro's case, though it's also still partly a political statement in its own right), but the point of this post is to go a little more political).

The Fëanorians are heirs to Finwë as the Elder House, but alone out of their wider family they're not primarily or even tangentially associated with one of the royal residencies. Rather, they spend their time travelling Aman to its outermost edges, and when not busy with exploration, are guests in Aulë or Oromë's Halls. They do not seem to have been involved in "politics" at all, prior to the Unrest, much less established in Tirion. In light of the abovementioned hypothesis regarding father-names political associations, the primary use of their mother-names serves to contribute to this air of an already rather casual conduct and presentation (see also Maitimo's comparatively 'casual' epessë (compared to eg. Artanis' or Gil-Galad's) in use specifically among close family, or the Ambarussa's nicknames (Given how they're not described as epessë) of 'First- and Second-Russa', which is not even mentioning the Fëanorians shortened father-names which could be considered potential 'nicknames' as well and even if not certainly imply a certain disregard for formality).

I'd argue that their unique status as not only descendants from someone confirmed to be neither royalty nor nobility nor associated with Tirion in any particular way in Nerdanel (which is not to claim that all Ñoldor of Tirion were career-politicians as a matter of course), but also the general fact of a less official and courtly daily environment and social contacts, e.g. seen in both Fëanáro's and Maitimo's notably close relationship to Nerdanels father Mahtan, both via kinship but moreso shared close relations with Aulë (with whom the Sons of Fëanáro additionally likely would have had closer contact growing up than Finwë, given aforementioned shared close association with Aulë and his halls yet Fëanáro explicitly not associated with Tirion as residency and noted to be living apart from the Finwë and Indis family unit even prior to founding his own family-branch) would have played an additional role in the development of their more informal manner (not that I see them as incapable of courtly manners, mind you (+ given Fëanáro's 'let them sa-si' comment were weaned on linguistic discourse at the very least, so no slouches in the academic department as well (Carnistir becoming economist prime in Beleriand as just one of the more concrete examples)) , they just canonically are very frank and to the point. Something I can see working favourable in the establishment of their many cross-cultural alliances in Beleriand).

I also think Nerdanel's lack of royal status might have played a role in keeping the mother-names she gave comparatively simple for the most part, making reference to their appearance and disposition (or, in Makalaurë's and the Ambarussa's case, prophetic insight, but even in the latter only because Fëanáro insisted on giving them separate names rather than just 'Ambarussa') in a less pompous or high-brow manner (compared to the mother-names given by noble-born Indis or of equally royal lineage Eärwen to their eldest in particular, Obviously this is more of a general tendecy, as we e.g. also get a prophetic name in Aikanáro, but I stand by Nerdanel keeping it notably simple by comparison).

The Ñolofinwëans in contrast are associated primarily with Tirion via Ñolofinwë, who, unlike Arafinwë, isn't mentioned to have had close contacts and frequent visits to Alqualondë, or primarily travel like Fëanáro and sons. Lack of additional crafts also leaves his later political plotting as only point of reference we get on his potential activities prior, making him a likely career-politician (which coheres with his better PR-management choices in the eventual feud and his kingly ambitions). Ñolofinwë married Anairë, who is most likely a Ñoldor of Tirion, given the lack of additional information on her (that mostly tends to get reserved for noteworthy deviations from "the norm", see also descriptions of hair-colour, where only deviations from the standart dark brown get explicit descriptions, or even regarding Finwëan wives, e.g. Indis, aside from the circumstances of her marriage, most noted for being a Vanyar and Eärwen a Falmari, Nerdanel for falling outside the beauty norms expected of the wife of a prince). Given that we do not get her children's mother-names, it's impossible to tell whether she added similarly ambitious/declaratory touches into them as Indis seemingly did for her sons.

The only child of Ñolofinwë singled out of the bunch during life in pre-Unchaining of Melkor Valinor is their daughter Írissë, for often going hunting in the forests with the sons of Fëanáro (to the point the narration sees fit to clarify that no romance was involved). While undoubtedly a free and adventurous spirit, the likely fact that she lived life in Aman primarily in Tirion would also add a neat layer to her readiness to accompany Turukáno (and eventually return) to Gondolin, the Tirion replica par exellence. While less overtly ambitious than her brothers or father I still propose that she was more comfortable in or at the very least used to the more formal environment of politics and appearances than often credited to her. Leaving its history of development aside, the fact that her father-name has a sindarized form (Íreth) which does not correspond to her Sindarin name actual in use (Aredhel) the argument can be made that her father-name wouldn't have been her preferred Quenya name, but rather her afaik unknown mother-name.

Given that we get no additional information on their whereabouts, it therefore also seems likely her brothers would have primarily been active in Tirion, and indeed later emerge as some of their fathers chief political supporters, Findecáno as primary Ñolofinwëan leader in the first half of the exile, and in Turukano's case commanding an eventual large following in his own right (thus fitting the pattern of favouring their more politically loaded names due to primary involvement in said social sphere).

The Arafinwëans are interesting, due to echoing Ñolo- and Arafinwë, descending from two royal lines, in their case both Nõldor (Arafinwë) and Falmari (Eärwen), yet firmly self-identifying as Ñoldor. Which I'd argue their deliberate use of father-name over mother-name signifies or at the least in effect serves to enhance, in addition to general royal gravitas. Given Melkor's warning to Ñolo- and Arafinwë that:

"Beware! Small love has the proud son of Míriel ever had for the children of Indis. Now he has become great, and he has his father in his hand. It will not be long before he drives you forth from Túna!"

, it also seems like, despite his distance from the family feud and marriage into the Falmari of Alqualondë, in whose company he often shared ("[...]he often sought peace among the Teleri, whose language he learned"), Arafinwë and his family still primarily resided in Tirion rather than Alqualondë. We later also see that at least Findaráto and Artanis out of their siblings harbour grand political ambitions such as ruling their own realms in Middle-Earth (mentioned as their motive for participating in the exile), while of Artanis we furthermore get told of a steep and ambitious participation in Ñoldorin academia (As for Arafinwë, given how Eärwen gave his own mother-name (Ingoldo) to their son Findaráto, it feels safe to say it wasn't the one her husband was primarily using. But in his case I'd even argue that his mother-name was the more explicit political statement, so there was no escaping the drama. As eventually happens, with ruling over the remnants of the Ñoldor-in-Aman. Though, funnily enough, it's Arafinwë rather than Findaráto for whom one can argue for a prophetic rather than strictly political nature of said name, even if I myself do not consider it as such).

Basically, I think that keeping in mind the more official nature of the Finwëan father-names adds fun potential additional layers to the world-building and characters in question.

[latetothegames]

[beauty-proof]

Goebbels would be so proud of y'all.

[seagull-energy]

Because I'm apparently on a roll with finishing art today have this drawing of Hawkeye and Songbird from Avengers Assemble :)

These two are such a rare ship that there are literally no fics shipping them on ao3. Across any marvel canon. XD However their arc and dynamic in AA is incredibly cute so I'm here to champion them

Also guys I love AA stony as much as the rest of you but we really need some more variety in this fandom. Everyone in the show is so great and they deserve more love

[musicwithoutborders]

Assemble Head In Sunburst Sound, The Slumbering Ones I When Sweet Sleep Returned, 2009

[veethesnake]

For the @stevetonygames Team Past square Poker Face challenge Resolutions (word count).

Words: 511

Universe: AA

Warnings: vampires, k*dnapp*ng, mentions of t*rture

We’ve got your man

Steve’s hands were cuffed rightly and bound to the table in front of him. He was alone in a dark room, but he had already found out that escaping won’t be easy. The table appeared to be regular metal, but the ropes securing his hands didn’t budge a millimeter. It had to be Vibranium. How had the Red Skull gotten his hands on Vibranium?

He contemplated throwing his head against the table to try and break it as much as he needed to flee with the handcuffs still on, when the door opened. Red Skull came in, and with him - Dracula. Oh, how wonderful.

“See, see”, the vampire whistled. Steve blinked, and suddenly Dracula was right by his side, sniffing his neck. He kept still, not moving his head an inch. So easily wouldn’t they get a reaction out of him. “It really is him”, Dracula declared.

“Of course it is him”, MODOK snarled, and with his arrival the small room felt incredibly cramped. There was definitely no way out now.

“So, Captain”, Red Skull started, “what is it gonna take for you to give us the information we need?”

Steve kept his face emotionless. “I won’t give you anything. You don’t need to try.”

“Oh really?”, Red Skull sounded amused. Not a good sign. “I am sure we can find something, don’t worry, Captain.”

MODOK… snickered. A strange sound from a being like him. “Oh yes, like having Iron Man in a cell right on this ship.” F*ck. Tony. Steve felt his emotionless mask slip for a second.

“You stupid robot!”, Red Skull shouted, “that kind of information is something you keep for much later, when it really stings!”

Dracula was coming closer again, staring right into Steve’s eyes. “Don’t worry, Red Skull. It has hit him more than he might make you believe.”

Red Skull turned towards Steve. “It is true. We have your man, so you better drop that uncaring facade and start speaking, if you’d like to see him again with all of his limbs still in place.”

“You’re bluffing”, Steve claimed, even though he really had no idea whether they were telling the truth or manipulating him.

“Am I? I guess you’ll find out eventually.” Red Skull turned towards Dracula. “I’m sure even a man with multiple health issues doesn’t need all his blood that desperately. Maybe you can visit our prisoner for a little afternoon snack.”

Steve’s heart was racing. This was the perfect moment for Tony to break through the wall, repulsors ready to blast, and say something like “miss me?” or “am I interrupting your playdate?”. But there was nothing. What if they did have him?

“Now now, that might not have been a bad strategy after all.” Red Skull leaned down so they were face to face. “Look at you, all emotionally distraught, the strong Captain America suddenly gone.” He turned around. “Bring in the tools. It’s worth a try, now that he is vulnerable.”

[funkily]

traffic scott is not human . i dont know what he is but hes not human

[mariocki]

New Scotland Yard: Perfect in Every Way (1.9, LWT, 1972)

"You come here and you tell me my... dear man is dead. Your friend is dead, a good man - a good man, that's what they always tell me - you come here and you say he's dead, and, and 'Who did it? Oh, we must find out who did it, we're all good policemen!'... You're ruthless. Like he was."

"You don't mean that."

"Oh, he was a good man, wasn't he? Well, that's just what he wasn't. He was never allowed to be, he was a policeman! A perfect officer of the law, morning, afternoon, evening and night. Sometimes he wouldn't speak to me for weeks, we - we lived a terrible, terrible life."