#the George version is just them being gay as usual

[skamenglishsubs]

Subtext and Culture, Young Royals, Season 3, Episode 5

Episode 5 starts sometime after August dropped the bombshell about Erik at the end of last episode, and Wilhelm decides for some reason to visit the party palace, in order to make himself feel extra shit? I don't know what's going on here.

Blink and you miss it: Hey, that's one of the clown masks they used for Wilhelm's initiation back in season 1.

Blink and you miss it: Henry and Valter are doing a class presentation on rhetorical analysis, and for some reason they chose former US president George W. Bush as their subject, which is pretty hilarious given that he was a notoriously bad public speaker.

Blink and you miss it: Instead of asking Wilhelm, who is sitting right next to Simon, how he's feeling, he writes the question in his notebook and slides it over.

Subtext: Gotta keep up that facade and bottle all the negative feelings inside!

Lost in translation: Vincent uses the word "nyanländ", "newly arrived", which is the current politically correct way of saying immigrant.

Subtext: ...but in typical bully fashion he asks the target of the racist "joke" if it was funny, and Marwan obviously lies about it as to not upset Vincent.

Subtext: Felice tries to play it off as no big deal, but she actually wants this opportunity to spend time with Sara without her other friends, in order to rebuild the friendship.

Subtext: Sara is right to be suspicious of her dad, because he is a lot more energetic than usual, and excuses his behaviour by him simply being in a good mood. It's probably his new medication that kicked in, though.

Subtext: Speaking of having a hard time showing weakness, that's exactly what Wilhelm's been struggling with by not telling Simon how upset he is about having learned that Erik took part in the gay porn initiation.

Subtext: So the whole subplot of the past four episodes was that the school locked up all the phones, and Wilhelm joined the little strike to get them back, pissing Simon off in the meantime, and now that they have their phones back he's not picking up when Simon is calling him? Not cool.

Culture: The choir is practising "En vänlig grönskas rika dräkt", a Swedish hymnal with text from 1889, but this version of the melody is from the 1930's and composed by Waldemar Åhlén. It's a very well-known summer song that pretty much every Swedish schoolkid has sung at some end-of-schoolyear summer assembly.

Cinematography: We're in the cursed music room, and this time the lighting is harsh and sharp, Wilhelm is in stark contrast to the rest of the room, there's no soft golden light smoothing things out, so we're gonna have an argument!

Subtext: Yeah, no, Wilhelm, sweetie, that's projection, that's what you are thinking about your brother. Simon isn't doing anything wrong here, he's just concerned about you being a moody asshole.

Cinematography: To illustrate how the relationship is going south, the music room which used to be full of instruments, is just getting emptier and emptier, and Simon is left standing alone at the piano.

Subtext: No, he's not feeling ok, and no, he's not interested in making up with Sara right now, because he's still angry at her.

Subtext: There are different kinds of homophobia, for example, there are people who talk loudly about how accepting they are of The Gays, but who react negatively when someone close to them comes out, because they were only fine with it at a distance. And then there are people who are ignorantly homophobic in general, but who turn out to be supportive of anyone close to them who comes out, because they know that that person isn't like The Other Gays. Shitty, but less shitty than the first group, and I think that's how Erik would have reacted had he known about Wilhelm.

Culture: In Sweden, you do the practical driving test in a car provided by the testing centre to make it fair and equal for everyone. These cars all have a red sticker saying they're for driving tests.

Subtext: Micke is failing exactly how he described it in an earlier episode. He's on new medication, it made him feel good and like he was in control, so he thought he could take just one beer with his friends.

Subtext: No, it fits horribly, and you can clearly see that it was on sale and that the price tag is still on it. But this is what Linda can afford.

Lost in translation: Simon actually says "jag vet", "I know", when Sara tells him that their dad let her down and that she is sad and upset about it.

Subtext: Unlike Simon who got a cheap suit on sale, Wilhelm just has his perfectly tailored suit delivered to him by his bodyguards.

Subtext: Last episode Wilhelm picked a sport charity or something that he doesn't actually care about, because he thought it would best fit the narrative the royal court is going for. So now his internal homophobia is screaming at him to remove the nail polish, because it doesn't fit that image.

I don't know what this is: This has got to be an editing goof? This sequence of events doesn't work. Everyone else is up and about, preparing the third year's dinner with the teachers and they're even cooking the food with a chef, but it's early morning and Wilhelm is still sleeping in? Anyway, the whole thing is yet another example of how the school teaches hierarchy. As a younger student you service the older students, and when it's your turn to graduate, someone younger will service you.

Throwback: Aww, Simon made Wilhelm a sandwich, just like Wilhelm made one for Simon a bunch of times in previous seasons.

Culture: Man, early summer in Sweden is beautiful, isn't it? This was shot at Åkeshofs Slott in Stockholm, and if you do a 180 turn on that path, you'll see the subway station Åkeshov, and if you go through the tunnel under the road and then up to your right, you'll end up at a sports centre where I went twice a week as a kid for fencing training!

This tumblr is now about French school fencing! Doublé! Riposte!

Subtext: Time and time again the show has shown us how much August loves this shit, and that he wasn't lying when he said he knew everyone, because clearly he does!

Subtext: And to show how much Wilhelm dislikes this shit, he is so stiff when talking to the invited kids who are actually benefitting from his charity foundation, while August just immediately jokes around with them and is much more comfortable.

Culture: I've seen how a lot of fans think that the flower Wilhelm is wearing is a green carnation, which is a symbol for being gay, popularized by Oscar Wilde. I don't think so, that's not a thing in Sweden as far as I know. Instead, I think it's an alternate version of a Majblomma, which is an actual Swedish charity thing, where you can buy these plastic lapel flowers from schoolkids to show your support around this time of year.

Subtext: Even though Simon is there, he's being shoved to the back, because his presence doesn't fit the narrative. If Wilhelm instead had chosen to start some kind of LGBT charity, Simon would have had a much more prominent role. Oh, and poison or not, that Princess Cake looks delicious!

Subtext: Farima is expertly letting August down, who of course pretends that he's not the least bit disappointed at being excluded from having dinner at the royal palace.

Blink and you miss it: IT'S LISA! HI LISA!

Culture: Kalle Stropp och Grodan Boll are two characters from a radio show for kids from the 1940's, but they've also been featured in books, comic books, a live action movie, and animated cartoons. It's about the two titular characters, a cricket and a frog, and their adventures. The last movie was made in the 1990's though, so I'm not so sure kids these days knows who these characters are. Personally, I can't hear this song without hearing their silly character voices.

Subtext: The Queen is still keeping up appearances and lying through her teeth about how she's actually feeling.

Culture: In real world Sweden, Victoriadagen is celebrated in mid July when Crown Princess Victoria has her birthday, she hands out a sports award, there's a concert, some charity stuff, and you can sort of meet the royals or sing her happy birthday or something.

Subtext: August is repeating the excuse Farima used on him as to why he didn't attend the birthday dinner.

Blink and you miss it: That's a Rolex Oyster Perpetual GMT-Master II. It's only about $10,000 and change.

Subtext: Simon, sweetie, I don't think the royals have any clue as to what "the usual" means when you're describing how regular people celebrate birthdays.

Culture: Simon actually says Laserdome, which is a company in Sweden that has been running laser tag arenas since the 1990's. I had no idea they still existed!

Culture: They're singing Lambo, a drinking song for students. It's a challenge song, so while the rest of the table sings, the target has to finish their glass, correctly sing the response lines, and turn the glass upside down over their head. If you fail, like August does in this scene, you have to do a penalty round and chug another glass.

Subtext: ...before her parents heaped all of their family's expectations on her. But maybe if Felice can break free she could pursue her actual dreams?

Throwback: Remember the scene in S1E3 when Simon is practising the Hillerska song in the music room?

Subtext: Queenie, sweetie, you're not looking Wilhelm in the eyes, you're not engaging in the discussion, and the only thing you do is to talk about Erik every chance you get. No wonder Wilhelm has had enough and explodes at his parents.

Blink and you miss it: Vincent won the "Daddy pays" award. Pappa betalar.

Subtext: In this context the award just means that he's the image of a bad boy, a player. But throughout the season, August has been struggling with whether or not he's actually a bad person, which is why he's not exactly happy with the award.

Cinematography: Fuck me that's a pretty shot of a typical summer sunset. In late May in the Stockholm area, sunset happens at around 9:30 in the evenings.

Subtext: One more explanation for August's body dysmorphia is that he got bullied for being weak and scrawny when he first started at Hillerska, so he decided to start working out more.

Blink and you miss it: The reason Fredrika is outside and happens to see Sara and August kiss, is because she's trying to sneak away the bottle of wine she stole earlier from the kitchen.

Subtext: And the reason Felice looks upset when Fredrika tells her what she saw is because she truly thought Sara was over August, and that's a condition of them reconciling.

Blink and you miss it: Wilhelm plays the first few notes of the original Hillerska song.

Subtext: And to cap off this terrible no-good horrible cliffhanger episode, Simon breaks up with Wilhelm by repeating the words his mom said to him earlier in the episode.

[m1ssunderstanding]

Get Back Rewatch 55 Years On: Day 17

George is so sweet to put so much effort into helping Ringo write his song and to not ask for any kind of writing credit. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you, right? But also, I’d do that for Ringo too if I were him. Ringo deserves it for everything he’s given to that band and the little credit he’s received. 

“What am I playing, Richie?” “You’ll be on drooms.” If the Beatles know how to do one thing, it’s be cute. 

John, stop talking about Paul’s strong arms, you're embarrassing yourself. 

I do have to just include this here. From my Get Back book. I never heard, “was it sexually oriented?” on the nagra reels, but apparently that’s what Peter Jackson’s cleaned-up version gave him, and again, he was like, “hmm. Too gay.” 

He’s known Heather for how long? Less than a year, right? But if somebody had showed me just this footage and told me he’d raised her from a newborn, I would not blink an eye. That kind of tired but fond interaction is exactly how a dad plays with his kid. And she’s climbing all over him and bossing him around like he’s never not been in her life. It’s beautiful. 

And John, with his “are you going to eat them?” is the perfect sort of bad-example favorite uncle. The kind that would check her out of school when she’s older and go get her ears pierced when her dad had said she was too young. 

Sorry, I promise I’m not just going to be thirsting over dad Paul this whole time. I have to just make one thing clear, and this is the only thing I’ll say on the subject and then I’m done. If a man is a 3 and a good dad, he’s a 10. Paul was already an 11, so I’m literally just done-for. Okay, I’ll shut up. 

John and Paul doing their usual thing, only paying attention to each other. Talking about an Elvis gospel ending for Let it Be. George, smirking, stands up: and we’ll all kneel as you do it. If John had said it, Paul would be in stitches. But George said it, and he might as well have never opened his mouth for all the notice he gets. And it’s honestly heartbreaking, if you can take your eyes off of the insanity of John and Paul’s weird eye-contact, to watch George’s face go from excited at his own wit and hopeful for a laugh to just completely downcast. Twelve years of that. Twelve years. 

Ringo, you’re an absolute saint. He’s being so sweet to Heather, even letting her mess with his symbols, and then Paul has the audacity to tell him to “keep it lighter.” Like. Paul. Do you think that maybe the fact that he’s got a five-year-old over there “helping” him might have anything to do with how the drums are coming out? Just a thought. Anyone else would at least have something to say about it. Ringo just sort of nods along but he looks SO tired.

TFW you’re inspiring the next generation of women to be loud and free and take up space.

“Dig it” is actually insane to me. I know I’m crazy, but remember those twin dreams they had about buried treasure when they first met? “If you want it, you can dig it up.” ???

When George and Paul just jump into harmonizing together when they’re talking about The Long and Winding Road arrangement? Their voices are like magic together. I wish they would’ve had George sing that part in the final thing, actually.  

[faultlessspills]

Hi comrades, welcome to another episode of Hot Takes Powered by Vibes and Circumstantial Speculation. Today, I present the following theory for your consideration:

For quite a while I’ve operated under the assumption that Paul McCartney’s evasive public stance on the more intimate details of his relationship with John Lennon is an act of personal restraint; a choice motivated by grief, fear (?), and a desire to preserve the legacy of the Beatles. But lately, I have spent entirely too much time hovering around a different possibility.

Okay, here we go, more beneath the cut:

Since 1968 (relevant) The Beatles have operated under Apple Corps Ltd., a formal legal and financial partnership. It is standard practice for such entities (especially involving high-profile individuals with intertwined public and private identities) to include non-disclosure clauses governing sensitive matters. (A similar agreement would likely pre-date Apple, BUT one signed under Apple Corps would best represent its current iteration.) Such matters may encompass:

Financial disputes

Intellectual property

Interpersonal conflicts

Personal relationships and reputational risks

While there is no public record of such a clause, the absence of such documentation does not preclude its existence. NDAs tend to be broad, deliberately ambiguous, and sealed by design.

If the aforementioned clause does exist, it would likely legally prevent Paul (or anyone else involved) from speaking openly about certain aspects of his history with John without unanimous consent from all parties or their estates.

So let’s talk about John. It goes without saying that John Lennon was a man who was ready and willing to blur boundaries: between sincerity and irony, affection and antagonism, truth and performance, blah blah blah. When discussing sexuality (and his relationship with Paul), his tone frequently tip-toes right along those lines:

Q: How do you like not having any privacy? Paul: We do have some, you know. John: We just had some. We just had some before, didn't we, Paul? You tell them. —San Francisco Press Conference, August 1964 PLAYBOY: “Seriously, is there more homosexuality in England than elsewhere?” JOHN: “Are you saying there’s more over here than in America?” PLAYBOY: “We’re just asking.” GEORGE: “It’s just that they’ve got crewcuts in America. You can’t spot ’em.” PAUL: “There’s probably a million more queers in America than in England. England may have its scandals… like Profumo and all… but at least they’re heterosexual.” JOHN: “Still, we do have more than our share of queers, don’t you think?” —Playboy interview, February 1965 Q: It is trendy to be bisexual and you are always ‘keeping up with the Joneses,’ haven’t you ever…There was talk about you and PAUL… A: Oh, I thought it was about me and Brian Epstein… anyway I’m saving all the juice for my own version of THE REAL FAB FOUR BEATLES STORY etc… —Interview/Interview With By/On John Lennon And/Or Dr. Winston O’Boogie, 1974 JOHN: "I was trying to put it 'round that I was gay, you know—I thought that would throw them off... dancing at all the gay clubs in Los Angeles, flirting with the boys... but it never got off the ground." Q: "I think I've only heard that lately about Paul." JOHN: "Oh, I've had him, he's no good." —Hit Parader, December 1975

These remarks are usually written off as John being a silly goose, though it seems pretty obvious that they’re rather pointed comments cloaked in an amusing disguise. But in the context of John’s pattern of contradictory public statements, they definitely complicate any easy reading of intent. And there are just…so many examples of John kind of pushing the limit.

The most significant example that comes to mind is that one radio interview from the Apple trip (!) to New York in 1968 (17:37) John is PEEVED that he isn’t allowed to speak freely about something, and Paul really wants him to shut up.

In my theoretical universe, it’s likely this Apple-specific NDA would’ve been very a fresh wound at the time. And the vibes on this trip, and 1968 in general, were just so weird. So to me, it’s not a stretch to imagine a John in crisis, tired of hiding and lying and of whatever else, who is fucking pissed at everyone (namely Paul) because he’s still contractually obligated to keep quiet about something after he might’ve begun to imagine a way out when the Sexual Offences Act of 1967 was passed the previous summer. Meanwhile, Paul is like, “No no, we’ve got to keep up appearances, it’s for our own good.” I just KNOW that resentment would grow legs and run, and we’ve all seen what comes next for them.

Anyway, fast forward ~13 years and counting, this narrative is further complicated by the posthumous control Yoko Ono wields over John’s legacy. Yoko’s public image is deeply invested in the myth of JohnandYoko; a competing narrative (one in which John’s primary emotional or romantic bond had been with Paul) would radically disrupt the mythos she’s curated for decades. Disclosing such a relationship could:

Undermine the Lennon/Ono romantic ideal

Recast Ono as a gatekeeper of selective history

Potentially devalue the branding and cultural capital of the Lennon estate

If a confidentiality clause exists, as executor of the Lennon Estate, Yoko would have the legal power to enforce it. And she would have a significant motive to do so.

That being said, it is worth noting that Yoko has publicly acknowledged John’s…sexual curiosity:

“John and I had a big talk about it, saying, basically, all of us must be bisexual. And we were sort of in a situation of thinking that we’re not [bisexual] because of society. So we are hiding the other side of ourselves, which is less acceptable… I think he had a desire to [sleep with men], but I think he was too inhibited,’ Ono said, before clarifying. “No, not inhibited. He said, ‘I don’t mind if there’s an incredibly attractive guy.’ It’s very difficult: they would have to be not just physically attractive, but mentally very advanced too. And you can’t find people like that.” —The Daily Beast, 2015 

This bit isn’t super well-developed, but it is interesting to me how recently this interview was published— a whole 35 years after John’s death. I do wonder if this is Yoko covering her bases to account for the eventuality of full disclosure.

In regard to business dealings with Yoko, Paul has made some interesting comments. They’re pretty vague, which is to be expected, but worth reviewing:

“I think it might have been, in fact I’m sure it would have been different if John had been alive to have his say. Strangely enough, I think there wouldn’t have been quite as many compromises. But because John is not around to give his opinion, we had to err on the side of compromise.” —Club Sandwich, November 1995

“When John died, the business stuff became a lot more complicated. There were people who had different ideas about how to carry on the Beatles’ name and legacy. It wasn’t always easy to find common ground.” —The Guardian, 2019

“There’s been a few times where… you know, it’s like a family business, but there’s different opinions. And sometimes it’s difficult to get all the family to agree. And that’s what happened with Yoko and me. We’ve got our different takes on how to do things, and sometimes that causes a bit of tension.” — The Howard Stern Show, 2021

Okay, now let’s pivot in full to our friend Paul. I simply cannot continue on without mentioning his use of sexual innuendo in interviews. Banana milkshakes in Paris, a pound of sausages, as much condensed milk as he’d like, etc. And, please for the love of god, how many times can the man bring up the fact that he shared a bed with John (a lot)? He NEEDS us all to know that they slept in the same bed, lol. And while John was always and obviously a freak, Paul simply did not start making these little comments until after John’s death.

Beyond that, in the absence of open disclosure, Paul’s lyrics may offer the most emotionally honest window into what he can’t say elsewhere, and they often carry thematic resonance suggesting unresolved or concealed emotional history.

Consider:

“No Words” — often interpreted as Paul’s emotional inability to express his love, but I wonder if it could also allude to a silence that is contractually obligated

“Secret Friend” — suggests hidden, unnamed intimacy

“One of These Days” — not avoidance, but deference; someday, perhaps when circumstances allow, the speaker will be able to say something he currently can’t

“The Lovers That Never Were” — mourning a romance that was, perhaps, never permitted to be acknowledged publicly

“Friends to Go” — a speaker in a position of waiting: not just for time to pass, but for the conditions to change. Only once others have gone can whatever relationship be acknowledged.

None of this is representative of average grief or nostalgia (though I’m certain there is plenty of both). It’s very carefully coded. And we can’t talk about Paul’s post-Beatles work in this context without mentioning that there are just…sooo, so many examples in Paul’s lyrics that clearly allude to something that is definitely not immovable heterosexuality.

All of this is to say that I have A Theory and not much more. But, I posit that, if John and Paul had a romantic and/or sexual relationship, then Paul’s eternal evasiveness isn’t just personal, but legal.

We saw plenty of obvious emotional overflow from John, but in classic Paul fashion, his emotional residue spills into rambling monologues, lyrics, and coy innuendo, and into everything that isn’t said. I can so easily imagine Paul acting in favor of this confidentiality clause for years and not thinking anything of it but then John dies and he’s stuck with his choices and his regret. But how could he have known :-(

This theory doesn’t require any grand conspiracy, just an abundantly common business clause. And mayyyyybe that clause is the only thing standing between the public and a love story that never got to be told.

[jestbee]

Fic Graveyard Tag

So @scoops404 asked me to list the fics in my "fic Graveyard" aka the fics in my google docs that I started but will probably not continue, and I decided to make it a tag for all my writer friends to do. List all the fics you started writing but probably won't continue and then tag some friends to do the same: For my version of this I've only included fics where I have over a couple thousand words because I have lots of docs with like 200/300 words in and that would be a really long list. Honourable mentions at the end! Working title/doc title: From whence you came Premise: Fae!George and Knight!Dream dsmp fic Pairing: dnf with side karlnap Word count: 7,602 Reason you stopped writing it: I'm not really a fantasy writer I just got the idea in my head and wrote a bunch of it. The karlnap dynamic in this of like himbo sapnap and mage!karl lives in my head rent free though

Working title/doc title: Shiny Things/You Earned It Premise: Sugar Baby AU Pairing: dnf Word count: 2,627 Reason you stopped writing it: I struggled with the initial way in to this as I didn't want to do it entirely AU but they both have a lot of their own money irl and although George likes when ppl pay for things the initial way into the arrangement didn't work for me. It kept coming out a bit more findom. I have extensive notes on it though and I may return to something similar at some point

Working title/doc title: the porn star au that Dream asked for Premise: They're porn stars, Dream is faceless and does amateur solo stuff on OnlyFans but is really successful, George does studio movies and is popular in his own right. Dream wants to transition to movie work for the money and requests to work with George, but no one is actually sure if he's gay or just gay for pay. This was based on Dream's tweet about "in an alternate universe I'm a gay porn star are still get cancelled for queerbaiting" or whatever it was he said. Anyway, every time I read my notes for this I love it a bit more Pairing: dnf Word count: 2,749 Reason you stopped writing it: Honestly, I liked the premise so much I worried about not doing it justice and now I get scared every time I try

Working title/doc title: Tricksy Dreamon times Premise: dsmp fic where DreamXD keep taunting George in the wake of Dream being locked in prison but then Dream escapes and shows up on George's doorstep all traumatised and in need of care. Essentially just some angsty hurt/comfort Pairing: dnf Word count: 4,327 Reason you stopped writing it: Again, I'm not really a fantasy writer or dsmp writer, my friend Charlotte just loved some fics like this and so I wanted to write her one but it's not really in my wheelhouse and so I'll leave her to read the actual good ones

Working title/doc title: the royalty au dream wants but that I didn't think I'd ever write Premise: George is a rebellious prince sleeping with a knight called Dream he doesn't really get along with but then he becomes King unexpectedly due to the death of his father and is faced with the perils of trying to govern a country. He's expected to marry the prince of a nearby kingdom in order to solidify their alliance, but he just can't seem to shake Dream, who has some very strong opinions about how George could be running things instead Pairing: dnf Word count: 1,804 Reason you stopped writing it: Again, not really my usual kind of thing. I'm a contemporary romance write - I don't know why I keep starting these things

Honourable mentions (fics that are a couple hundred words): Werewolf!Dream au - again, not my thing Spanking fic - There are already so many good ones and anything I could have put in this will probably be in a future longer fic of mine Living like you said - a fic with the summary "As YouTube falls apart, Dream and George fall together" about them contemplating quitting while getting together - idk why I gave this up except I didn't have a clear outline for it How to deal with alpha roommates - I so badly want to write more Beta!George like in my fic That's How We Play It (please read, it's my baby) and I started with a premise but again didn't have a clear outline, just a desire for Beta!George fake snf for the bet - what it says on the tin, really. abandoned because I lost enthusiasm for it (Sapnap probably pissed me off that day) Fertitlity stuff - occasionally I start fic to exorcise some personal demons and this was an mpreg one where they faced fertility issues and then split up only to get back together later on but then - well, my own life happened and it made this a bit impossible to continue. This is just the DNF, if you wanna see the Phan list, let me know!! I'm tagging: @scoops404 @czargasm @alittledizzy to do this too fi they want but also if they don't that's cool too :)

[jonboudposts]

Xmas 2023: Dead Culture Reigns

Christmas is progressing as I write this with nothing but inevitability. Too much money has been spent. Too much alcohol drunk. Too many people eating too much. Even more people not eating enough. Far too many sleeping in the streets. Looking around the media at least, it seems like nothing truly ever changes; just as many wish it to be. Christmas is a child fantasy orchestrated by adults who refuse to grow up, preyed upon by those who only wish to make money from the process.

This is a time of inviability; finely tuned to reduce surprises. Although for the first time in a long time, the music charts were a battle ground for the coveted Xmas Number 1 Slot; fought out between two songs that are forty years old and one that is thirty years old. All of which beats the Simon Cowell annual stitch up for sure, but has no other culturally worthwhile feature.

There are new Christmas songs, but no one hears them because radio does not do it’s job of presenting new music for people to decide themselves if they like it or not. The creative powers behind Last Christmas and Fairytale of New York are both gone now. George Michael it seems was beaten down by a music business that wanted him in a box, to be taken out at their whim to make money doing the same album over and over. He had other ideas. Shane MacGowan was also someone judged by the same industry, not least for daring to give us songs about injustice, the vile actions of the British state in Ireland, the working class history of standing up to power, or just the humanity of those rejected by society and left in the streets. Few obituaries discussed his politics. Some mentioned his support for a free Ireland; none that I have seen mentioned his support for a free Palestine.

Now the same powers just want us to download or stream or however you do it; the same songs because no one is allowed to make new ones, unless of course they sound like autotuned versions of the old ones.

But no, I must be dreaming. There are no other options, only what has come before can be repeated – from shit music to failed economic programmes. There can be nothing new, ever. There can never be any genuine progress.

TV was just as empty. All the usual Christmas specials of yesterday (and the day before; and the day before that) were on again. If you missed them, you could catch them on streaming, or another satellite channel that exists purely to make you believe no culture has existed since the late 1970s. The figures came out Boxing Day stating that the King’s speech had got millions of views or plays or however they grade it now. The most popular programmes were Doctor Who and Strictly Come Dancing – ‘no surprises there’ said the BBC commentator; you got that right mate.

Meanwhile, Channel 4, former bastion of all things alternative, gave us all the usual animation features they play every year and on Boxing Day had a double bill of The Great Escape, followed by Raiders of the Lost Ark. Beware that bleeding edge. Rather more seriously, their ‘alternative’ Christmas speech was from Stephen Fry, wearing his Jewish badge for a day and trying to make out he feels unsafe in a Britain that has large-scale demonstrations against the genocide being carried out by Israel against Palestinians (but, you know, Stephen and David Baddiel are the real victims here right?). He was once on a Channel 4 special for the gay community; now he advocates for extremists like Jordan Peterson, who has spent much of his career targeting trans people, who suffer vast levels of hate crime on a regular basis.

Netflix gave us a special from the only type of comedian that gets air time any more; unfunny rich cunts preoccupied with making themselves victims, pretending to be edgy telling the same jokes that would have filled the worst clubs of the 1970s, while claiming they are being cancelled everywhere.

The message is clear; we the establishment and their useful tools have made great efforts to shut down society to any alternative to what we like. The fact this has lead to a near-total shut down of culture does not matter; we are in control. Who wants anything new anyway?

Shallow. Empty. Pointless. Repetitive.

The project has finally taken hold and now it seems we cannot produce anything new. The uniqueness that once sprung forth from streets and towns has been beaten out of us. What do you expect really from a society that prises the middle class followers for their lack of talent and makes sure we all have to consume it daily. Those who never try to step out of their lane and more importantly, shut down the lanes to real creatives, are the only people rewarded. The working class need to understand that Britain can never allow another Beatles, Gang of Four, The Fall or The Pogues. There cannot be another Grime scene. Nothing that shows the raw power of working class creativity and for sure, we cannot allow anything to succeed that is born of the multiculturalism we have spent so much time and effort decrying.

Britain is dead. It is specifically culturally dead because we are incapable of producing anything new. We all know why, it has ben gone over so many times. This is the cultural outlet to fascism. The mythic past and how much better it is than the present is really just a tool to further cancel the future.

The establishment needs to be relieved of their power. The slate should be wiped clean and we can start over, with the priority given to working class creativity because this is always where the best stuff comes from. End the hegemonic control exercised by the worst people imaginable, who go from giving us nothing to live for culturally to justifying the mass murder of a people who make them feel uncomfortable. We must refuse to be a part of this any more. It is no longer just about crap TV and music; it is about power and who can imagine a better tomorrow – and how much they are allowed to.

[variousqueerthings]

OKAY SO first things first:

Nathan-Stewart Jarrett: an actor that I first saw back when Misfits was a thing who was so severely under-served by that show and ever since has become one of my favourites to keep an eye on. And yes, he's amazing here, of course he is. I'm also always interested in seeing which actors navigate queer narratives in various ways, and NSJ has been in quite a few interesting projects along these lines, including History Boys (the West End debut -- which, I haven't seen the play version of, and his character isn't gay himself, but those themes are there), Candyman, Generation, Benjamin, and of course Angels of America (I recommend all of these) -- bottom line is, he's played a number of queer men from different walks of life, in very interesting stories, and it's cool to add this movie to the list. I think the way he goes across genres and interacts with queerness in them makes him quite an underrated artist in the context of queer cinema, my guy is out there giving bountifully

George Mackay: I -- despite myself (because I'd prefer to think of artists on their own merits) -- often think of GM as the rich man's Eddie Redmayne. ER wishes he could GM level of performance. you probably know him from Pride, and you're going "ah yeah, your random white boy," and it's like, yeah, he is that, but Pride excepted, I've usually seen him playing across type, and he's very good at that. the other movie I'd want to highlight is True History Of The Kelly Gang, which is suuuch an interesting piece of Cinema that's got some of my favourite lighting choices of all time and really straddles the line of queer-as-presentation-as-queer-adjacent-narrative-as-queer-history. also recommend Captain Fantastic as a movie that has queer-adjacent feeling to it

these two as the main cast is perfect choice. that is all [insert a spiel here about actors I feel do an "acceptable amount" of queer narrative in order to get the accolades and/or a career jump, but aren't actually interested in queer culture and abandon those stories when it's not beneficial to them -- these two are not actors like that. I don't know if they're queer themselves and it's none of my business, but certainly they are doing great work in queer storytelling spaces]

THAT IS ALL!

now for the movie:

it's stressful

OOOH do I enjoy a movie that is fucked up and focuses on queer themes, this movie was tailored for me

this is one of those movies where you sit there going "there will be no resolution" and then there isn't and you're stewing in it forever and ever the end

no, but there's a lot going on here that would take an essay to unpack, but I'm not gonna do that, I'm just going to acknowledge the way this movie plays with power-dynamics. Jules is not only gay and femme, but also Black, and is pretty consistently surrounded by mostly white characters (that have speaking roles) outside of a couple of crowd scenes (I think most notably in the dessing room), not just in relation to going undercover with the man who hate-crimed him, but in his daily life as well, and while at the bath house. there are other Black characters in the background (I'd have to rewatch the bath house scene, but I think outside of the bottom in the corner there were noticeably mostly white men in that space), but I did notice that his biggest interaction was when he was pretending to be straight and dancing with a Black woman that he didn't know, so there seems to be a definite deliberate compartmentalisation of parts of him, that is made much much worse by the hate crime

the film doesn't lean into exploring race, but I do think a lot of it is the visual imagery anyway -- that is, it also doesn't "talk about" the complexities of being a closeted gay man in a hypermasculine environment, the complexities of the main character's trauma, the complexities of gay men's environments generally, etc. it's more about depicting masks/drag than analysing it in the text. what I do think is interesting is its title in all this

"femme" is also a word that's never said in the film proper, and I'm interested in the ways it puts this at the core of the conflict and relationship. the main character is hate crimed for being visibly femme, but not along the axis of being visibly femme and Black? (I confess here I had to cut the sound for about 5 or so seconds, because I was in need of putting a slight buffer up between me and the scene, so if I am wrong about this, let me know)

meanwhile the relationship is not just between a femme bottom (who's been hatecrimed) and a masc top (who did the hatecriming), the former is Black and the latter is white. I do feel like this is very intentional, it's meant to just sit inside you while you're watching, but there is a question of whether something could have been expressed out loud at some point -- whether it would have fit with what this narrative wanted to do or if the creators are happy to just let things... fester

(festering seems like the right word for the main character's way of dealing with trauma in this movie)

but yeah, so femme is always On your mind because of the title, and I think it's interesting that that is the title, it makes you zero in on the catalyst of the violence and on the power dynamics and ideas around visibility/invisibility between feminine queers and masculine queers in I'd say majority cis men's environments, and you just know as you're going into their relationship proper that at some point Jules is going to start ordering Preston about and that Preston has secretly been wanting that the entire time

I did like that Jules still bottomed in that scene, they didn't start creating false equivalences around bottoming = subbing = femme, and vice versa. Jules is in control of that moment

cutting up the hoodie to make it a crop top and using it in drag was really the fucking Moment for me. the Drama. the Subtext. the Analysis just about the hoodie that I'm not going to do here

so let us! get into the ending!

no happy endings, just cycles, Jules sitting on his bed in the cropped hoodie with blood on it, holding the same-but-quality hoodie that Preston gifted him in his hands, looking like he's going to hug it, before we cut to credits

this movie takes a trope (bully is secretly gay and into the victim) and blows it up large and goes "and where does this end?"

it doesn't try to wrap it up (never thought it would) but there's still some niggling Something there, that is partially my wondering where it could have gone next if this were "the real world" and partially wishing it actually had like. 3-5mins more runtime to it, because I actually think it could have driven the knife in (to the audience) even more

by that I mean I feel kind of like I don't know where Jules is by the point he stumbles into the dressing room, because we leave Jules right as Aphrodite's set is about to start, and she was... putting her trauma into a public space, but through the medium of drag, so it's not Jules, it's Aphrodite (and there was a line earlier relating to how Aphrodite felt more real than Jules I think it was?) so there could have been a fascinating moment where Jules thinking he could do this through the voice of Aphrodite is deeply affected. there's a disconnect for me from that moment going into Preston's POV (which is fine to an extent, we -- like Jules -- understand that Preston's life isn't easy either and we've seen now that he's Caught Feelings, but he is not the main character I mainly came to see doing fucked up shit), and then cutting away from the set as he walks away from it

Jules-as-Aphrodite is hurting herself onstage, and I kind of wish that we'd returned to that focus, because that's what has been happening over and over in this film, is "100 ways not to deal with your traumatic hate-crime how deep can this pit go?" and that felt like the culmination for me, even moreso than the fight at the end. yes, that triggered Preston, but girl is triggering herself just as badly, and for longer. the theme of trauma as a scab that one can keep picking on is That Bit Onstage. that's my only reeaaal structural thing, is that some of that ending felt rushed when I think it could have taken its time. there may be more to it than that, but that's the gist. BUT the final image really works for me

the cycle of violence at the beginning to violence at the end is very interesting. Jules is hurt again, but has managed to damage Preston, but perhaps didn't actually... want that in the end, and the pursuit of it hurt him worse (and yeah, I like revenge stories that show the cost of revenge), and what do you do about the fact that you did pity this person, but you still couldn't quite stop yourself, and violator-to-victim feels a lot more complicated now

(I have some complicated feelings about whether I would say Preston was victimised by Jules, or just personally hurt, although there is a potential Thing where Jules wasn't just The Relationship He Thought They Had Which May Or May Not Have Been A Lie, but an introduction to a queer community that he's clearly never had -- that being said, this man has beaten up at least one queer person, he has some Soul searching he needs to do, but the fact that it's a character drama more than a And What Did We Learn From This Kids is what makes it interesting -- Preston is not a good man, but Jules may still feel deeply affected by having caused him pain, even as Preston was the architect of his own ultimate emotional destruction)

in the end, lots of questions. about how femmes exist as visible targets in the world, about the complicated nature of queerness-to-oppressor that isn't just a neat line, about the intersection of race within that, about how reaction to trauma by wanting revenge is a way to forever exist within that trauma, about desire being something one can't control necessarily, and about the different roles we have to play in our given settings

CONCLUSION: the last point especially embodied by Jules who moves from femme to masc as demanded, whose Blackness is read differently depending on the code switching, who is a literal drag artist, who is an incredible reader of situations and can take advantage of that to his own ends (again, I think this is a way that his being Black is very deliberate -- there's an air of hyper-vigilance in most scenes he's in), who generally just... I could spend a million years with this character, because he's very proactive in a lot of scenes he's in, and that's the strongest thing to me about this movie. it's not "just" a reaction to trauma, it's a character who sets in motion the various plot moments by making very active, interesting, often self-destructive decisions. I am so into explorations of queerness that utilise the idea of transformation as power, and Jules moves through the world with so much of that transformational ability.

Jules is a trickster god and eternally watchable

"[...] then we came to realise that drag is the key word of the whole film. Whenever we were writing the characters, or even discussing the characters with the actors on set, we would always talk about ‘What is this character's drag?’"

Ultimately also this is a film that works so well for me, because it got that casting right. I think if it had been any of those glossy prestige actors I'd have switched off to what it was trying to say (this has happened to me increasingly with big fancy films that try to play in the sandboxes of the marginalised and the maligned and in genre-fiction). it needed to be on the tight focus that it had, with character actors and queer makers

noir for queers is such a juicy under-explored area, and this film definitely scratched the itch I had for it

fuckit, watching femme

[mk-tozier]

Welcome Newcomers!

I am redoing this for many reasons!

Hello newcomers, i am Kai. I use they/them pronouns. I am pansexual and genderqueer

if you are anti-lgbtq, racist or ableist get off my tumblr.

I will not write anything discriminatory

I write imagines, headcannons, smut and reblog various posts. I do take requests but it varies between being open and closed, make sure to check my bio to know whether my requests are opened or not. Usually I only close requests to catch up.

You can always send a scenario in just to talk about or maybe you just wanna talk abt your day, whether requests are open or closed I will always take these and I will always respond!!

I’ve decided that I will open requests for a month or two and then close them and take a month or two to catch up on those requests.

So there will be a fic every 1-2 months.

I will not write certain things if they make me uncomfortable. i write for the characters in the list below but you can of course, request a character. If i feel uncomfortable with this scenario or character, or do not know that character i will not write the request.

You can request platonic x readers or sibling x readers, ect

please read everything so you know the requirements and what i write for.

I am always updating this list so make sure to check for changes!

FANDOMS/CHARACTERS I WRITE FOR

CELEBRITIES

Colby brock

pete davidson

DOAWK

Rodrick Heffley

IT

Richie tozier

Bill denbrough

Stanley uris

Beverly marsh

CRIMINAL MINDS

Penelope Garcia

Derek morgan

Agent Hotchner

Spencer Reid

COBRA KAI

Miguel

Hawk

STRANGER THINGS

Mike wheeler

Dustin Henderson

Max Mayfield

Steve Harrington

Robin Buckley

Will byers

JULIE AND THE PHANTOMS

Luke

Flynn

Julie

Reggie

HARRY POTTER

Draco Malfoy

Fred weasley

George Weasley

Hermione Granger

ONE DAY AT A TIME

Alex Alvarez

Elena Alvarez

SHAMELESS

Carl Gallagher

Lip Gallagher (i personally dont like Lip but I’ll write for him)

Fiona Gallagher

Ian Gallagher (i will not write ANY smut for Ian)

Mickey Gallagher (i wont write ANY smut for mickey + platonic only)

MY HERO ACADEMIA

Katsuki Bakugou

Izuku Midoria

Denkt Kaminari

Eijiro Kirishima

Shoto Todoroki

Kyouka Jirou

Mina Ashido

‘DEATH NOTE

Light Yagami

BIRDS OF PREY

Harley Quinn

Black Canary

Huntress

BLUE EXORCIST

Rin Okumura

Shima Renzo

Kirigakure Shura

MY BABYSITTERS A VAMPIRE

rory

benny weir

ethan morgan

sarah

erica

FEAR STREET

young ziggy

young nick

josh

deena

MCU

Tony stark

Peter Parker (toms version sorry lol)

Black widow/Natasha

Thor

Pietro

Wanda

REQUESTS:

I write angst, blurbs, fluff and smut

please give me a fandom, character, whether you want it to be an imagine.small Drabble. headcannon or smut and basic plotline, details you may want added

i.e “hi I’d like to request a IT imagine with Richie where he gets mad at the reader for getting a boyfriend“

i try to make my imagines for everyone so i wont be doing certain details like eye color, hair color, race, ect

all though you can request a fic where The reader has a certain body type and the focus of the fic is that

i.e “hey I wanna request a shameless smut with Carl where the reader is insecure about their body because they are on the heavier side and have stretch marks and carl helps them feel better about themselves?”

i will not be writing for a particular race because i am white and i would feel uncomfortable writing as a certain race because i have not experienced their experiences nor am i that race and fully informed with certain cultures. I feel as if itd be out of my place to write as a certain race knowing i am not that race.

I don’t write mlm. I am not mlm and do not know how to write these experiences. and I definitely will not write ANY mlm smut whatsoever.

All though i will write wlw and nblw smut. As i am afab/nonbinary

I will write bi!characterxreaders for characters such as Ian Gallagher but i will not write smuts for those characters. I dont feel comfortable writing smut for a character who is originally gay and its stated in the show/movie that the character is in fact gay. Especially if that character is male.

SMUTS/NSFW HEADCANNONS:

i will not write the following

ageplay

blood kinks

piss or shit

incest

rape/non-consent

heavy beating/spanking

animal Kinks

anything furry related

anal play

mlm/amab

piss kinks

any fetishes

if you wanna request something that is not on either list then request it and i will let you know if I’m uncomfortable with writing it or not

what i will write

degrading

praising

quirk related smuts (i.e denki uses his quirk on you during the smut)

wlw/afab

light bondage

light spanking

teasing

edging

overstimulation

CNC (consented-non-consent)

oral

Requirements for smut:

tell me fandom, character, basic plot line/what you want, tell me any specific details you may want, smut with plot or no plot

[bunk12bear]

This isn't goodbye it's see you later

Harry's year! Muggleborn!  reader comes to the shop to say goodbye because she's going on the run after she's expelled from Hogwarts when the death eaters take over

Author's note so I requested this prompt from @a-constant-gay-panic and decided that I liked it's so much that I do my own version you can find there's here https://a-constant-gay-panic.tumblr.com/post/683626287770812416/goodbyes.

Note that this is my very first time writing and X reader so if things are janky that's why. I've gone beyond the parameters of my post a little and made the reader Ravenclaw quidditch captain and gave her a little sister I tried to leave a lot of other things up for interpretation.

Your entire body was shaking, your heart was racing and your lungs felt tight in your chest. You had known that Dumbledore's death two months earlier would mean bad things for the war but  never imagined they would get so bad so quickly.

You and your friends had just spent nearly an hour crying together; That morning an owl had arrived but instead of the expected supply list it carried two near-identical letters informing you that you and your little sister had been expelled from Hogwarts for being muggle-borns, and were now expected to come to the ministry to be tried for stealing magic of all things.

Poor (sisters name), this was supposed to be her first year, she had been so excited to discover that she was also a witch and now she might not ever be able to go to Hogwarts or even perform magic at all.

With your friends back at their homes and all of your letters to your teammates sent out you aperated to Diagon Alley.

You had been friends with Fred and George for five years now, they deserved to be told in person.

You were especially nervous to tell Fred  you weren't going to lie. You had always been firmly just friends but over the last couple of months things have felt different somehow between you two, you squashed that thought down, now was not the time for Romance.

You walk into the shop one hand still crushing the corner of the letters the other griped tightly around the blue and bronze Captain's badge you would never get to use. 

In moment of luck  Twins were in the front of the store. 

Fred greeted you with his usual enthusiasm ``Hey Birdy thought you'd stop by and" whatever joke he was  about to make was interrupted as George, ever the more empathetic of the two, shook his twin's  shoulder and jerked his chin at the paper in your hand.

Fred's face drops when he sees your facial expression and the way your hands are shaking, "Y/N? What's wrong?"

Tears began to sip down your cheeks and your chest felt even tighter: you try to explain through your blubbering but finally decide to just hand them the letter. 

As the twins read the color drained from both of their faces and their eyes went wide.

George gasped "Oh, Y/N. I'm so sorry.  Is there anything we can do?  You know we  could probably forge documents and pretend you're our cousin."

You shook your head "No, no I couldn't ask you take that kind of risk for me"

Fred, for his part, hadn't uttered a sound; he was uncharacteristically deadly serious and almost perfectly still with only his eyes moving from you to the letter and back again over and over.

George shook his brother's shoulder again this time  more gently.

"What, what are you going to do?" Fred asked, seeming dazed.

"I, I don't know"you said " go on the run I guess, try to at least get (sisters name) out of the country. They sure as shit aren't getting their hands on our wands"

"George is right, you know! we can figure something out, we can hide you!"

You sighed, stupid Noble gryffindors, "No. I'm not going to let you do that. Your family is already in enough Danger what with being blood traitors and your brother being Harry Potter's best friend. I am not going to let you put yourself in more danger from me and that's final, do you understand me"

The twins responded at the same time

 

"Please Birdy"(fred)

"Seriously (Y/N) we don't mind"( George)

"No!" You said firmly.

It was George's resolve that crumbled first, seemingly realizing that he wouldn't change your mind, "fine I don't like this,but fine. You come to say goodbye before you leave though, ok?"

You nod "Of course." You turned to Fred giving him a sad  smile and said his name gently.

"Fine, but seriously you better say goodbye"

"Good I should go figure things out, I'll make sure to stop by before I leave."

One week later

This was it , you were set to go into hiding just after your new traveling companion got off her shift at the apothecary. You had lucked out tremendously. An older muggle-born witch had overheard your conversation with your boss at flourish and blotts, informing him of the situation and pulled you aside explaining that she had an enchanted tent and other camping supplies and had already taken a couple of younger muggle-borns under her wing. She had invited you and (sisters name) to join her and, not being in any position to refuse you had agreed.

Now, here you stood in front of the shop, tugging hard at the straps of your magically expanded backpack, preparing to say goodbye to two of your closest friends, perhaps forever.

You walk through the doors and this time neither twin attempts to greet you with a joke.

They see how you're dressed 

and seem to know. 

George turns to Verity telling her that they need to talk to their friend for a bit and then both twins usher you to a quieter corner of the shop.

"So I guess this is goodbye," Fred says, his voice solemn.

"Yeah I guess so" you reply

There's an extended pause

Listen Fred and I were talking and '' George pulls out a parcel loosely wrapped in what seems to be butcher paper.

You stare at the package raising an eyebrow and looking up at the twins quizzically  "You got me a present?… Odd timing but okay."

"No, no" George replies, " it's a bunch of our defensive products, we know you and you're not going to go down without a fight, we thought this would help" 

You find yourself almost speechless," How much do I owe you?"

Fred makes an attempt at flashing his characteristic impish grin, "Nothing, consider it our don't die discount!" He laughs at his own joke for a second before becoming deadly, uncharacteristically serious again. It could be your imagination but you swear he's avoiding looking at your eyes.

George fake coughs and mutters something about helping customers.

You and Fred watch George leave and the air is immediately filled with that weird tension that has kept happening between you this summer.

"I um," he says suddenly changing facial expressions as if an idea just popped into his head, "Hey how about we take a quick walk around the shop, you know For Old Times Sake," You think you can manage that so you smile at him and the two of you begin to walk around the store, God you're going to miss this place.

You could have sworn you felt Fred's hand brush up against yours but tried to shrug it off as an accident when he stops suddenly in a tucked-away corner of the shop with no customers.

He turns to face you placing a hand on your forearm, "Listen Birdy, please be careful. I can't, I can't lose you", I? He had used I, not we? Well that was odd.

You cock your head to the side, "What?"

"Listen (Y/N) I know this is spectacularly bad timing but I just...  Can I kiss you?"

"What?" you ask again

"Can I kiss you?"

Merlin's beard! Fred Weasley was asking to kiss you! you surge up on your toes before you even really know what you're doing and press your lips to his.

Fred freezes for a minute before beginning to kiss you back. 

By the time you're done you're both breathless and your heart is racing. 

Fred flashes you a genuine grin, so Birdy am I a better kisser than(ex-boyfriend's name)?"

" I'm sorry Weasley, did you just ask about my ex-boyfriend after we just got done having a we might not see each other ever again snog?"

"Just kidding." 

" You're ridiculous," you say and laugh affectionately "You ARE a better kisser than him though"

"Good," Fred says and begins to kiss you again.

You pull back, you don't want to stop kissing him but you do. you have to be at the location you agreed to meet in 10 minutes and you have to have time to apparate home grab (sister's name) and all her stuff and apparate back.

"Listen, I need to go now. We can figure all of this out if we see each other again"

Fred grabs your hands, "when we see each other again."

"Yeah okay when we see each other again, hopefully  that will be soon"

" Hopefully" he replies and captures your lips and one last Quick kiss. And with that you turn and walk out of the store into your uncertain future. 

bonus

George watched as Y/N walked out of the shop with a Smile and a quick wave to Verity. You knew something was up between Fred and the pretty Ravenclaw( quidditch position) or at least that Fred fancied her, even if he wouldn't admit it to anyone else but George. 

" sorry to leave you alone again but I got to go grab something from the back okay? Verity smiled, nodded professionally and continued on with her work without a hitch. She was an excellent employee. He reminded himself again to buy the man who recommended a bottle of fire whiskey.

He slipped into a deserted back corner of the store where he thought Fred might be.

The suspicions were proven correct when he saw his twin leaning lightly against a display staring at where Y/N had just left.

 

Normally he'd crack a joke about Y/N letting Fred down easy but at the moment it seemed inappropriate.

" Hey Freddy, how you feeling?

Fred sigh and smiled unconvincingly, " never better"

[slitherbop]

Thinking about Papa G...

I Like Him, here’s a post where I ramble about him and the theories I have about his past and future. This is the most open I’ve ever been about my thoughts on a hyperfixation have fun everybody Warning for spoilers

Hi I’m looking after my cats right now and had thoughts about Papa G on private while having a nosebleed and thought I’d write it out more on here since I haven’t seen anyone else point out some of these things and I have an evil brain that makes me want to think about Papa G because I love him he’s my favourite character right now, the more I think about Papa G the cooler he becomes and it’s true that I Do rotate him in my mind

Train of thought started with I was thinking about my OCs and thought what if Papa G had OCs, he’s an artist and has lived long what if he has just so many ideas for characters and stories that he’s accumulated over the years. Then now with his powers he could use his clones to help work on his stories and then he makes some sorta abstract and mysterious comic, like multiple comics and stuff and only shows it to Kid because he lives in the middle of nowhere and doesn’t really care about stuff like audience or publication he’s just living in some artistic bliss.

I think it’s cool that Papa G uses his clones to help with making his yard art but imagine having to wrangle multiples of yourself to create a narrative together. They’re all You but also Not You, think back to his character short where he’s making plans for a construction and makes a clone that instantly comes up with a different idea than him, so it must be wild having different versions of yourself that aren’t all on the same page as you (also in the short they like have different demeanours about them, shout out to silly balloon Papa G)

If Papa G let a clone of his live long enough they could become a completely different person. Different experiences and perspectives create a different version of Papa G. That idea is kinda scary to me especially if it were taken Long Term like a separate Papa G living separate from everyone. And I could see that happening in the show it’s just weird enough to happen. We had a Papa G be super traumatized, what if he let that clone exist longer.

Anyway you know how in that photograph in Mo’s Oasis that’s from around the 70’s that shows Papa G in the background looking Exactly how he does now... I really think time travel is going to be introduced in this, it could totally be the power of one of the thirteen stones and this show is wild enough to do it and is planned up to season 3. So I think what if some Papa G clones were left behind in the past. At this point I’d imagine that Papa G’s powers would be developed enough that his clones could live on without him (the team IS going to be understanding their powers more and gain new abilities, this could be one of Papa G’s.) SO what if those Papa Gs were scattered throughout time having to live out their lives. Imagine living the rest of your life in a different time and place knowing you’re just a clone and that you shouldn’t even exist :[ Papa G sadstuck (I’m sad at this thought)

ANYWAY I imagined a scenario in which one of the Papa G clones in the past contacts the Real Papa G in the timeline and tells him about the stones of power and THAT’S why Papa G said “if I had a nickel for every time I heard that I’d have a dime” to Kid who told him about the stones, hearing it the first time from himself. AND also WHY Papa G instantly knew how to use his powers. Plus also knew to trust Chuck (this ones a stretch I’m just being Gay here) this is where my initial thoughts ended

BUT NOW I HAVE MORE THOUGHTS!!! What if the reason why Papa G’s track record is “Surprisingly” long is because Well Papa G DID do some f*cked up things but also had the addition of some other Papa Gs stuck in the past to really muddle things up for his record as well. That’d be wild and could totally see happening, man. Man I love Papa G there is really no other character who is just a bundle of sunshine but have something Unknown and perhaps messed up implied about him, I want to know how much he has angered the government and want to know why he’s living out in the middle of nowhere with so few people to even know him. He’s just a silly old man.

Also this is because I never really venture out into looking into various media but he’s also the only character I know where their whole thing is creating clones of themselves and is actually given a focus into how f*cked up it is that he has to see himself die all the time and be numb to it, or clones doing things that his original self wouldn’t do and be traumatized by it. I know it’s WAHA funny gags but I think it’s interesting, it makes him a more interesting character to me. I like him I like that his name is George like me and is also an artist all he needs is to be trans gay and cree, alsoalso Green is my favourite colour and I love orange as well I like that he’s an old man in the middle of nowhere That’s The God Dam Dream

I don’t know if I have any more theories at the moment this turned into me gushing about a character who isn’t really too important but I like him ;_; thank you for reading once again I never usually talk at all but I like to when it’s about my favourite thing. I’m going to do things now goodbye

[monkberries]

Basically, one day Brian gave George a lift home but on the way stopped at his childhood home to give him a tour & explain what The Beatles could have beyond their council homes. Brian's brother shows up & blows his top at the sight of him being alone with a cute boy. There was shouting & door slamming. Brian was so upset he was shaking. He was all flustered & rushed away with George. The rest of the drive was uncomfortable & silent but 1/2

eventually George spoke up: It wasn’t clear to George what had occurred. The whole baffling incident seemed to have come out of - and to - nothing, and George, who had never seen Brian look so debased, couldn’t think of anything to say. Finally, he broke the awkward silence. ‘Clive’s younger than you, isn’t he?’ George wondered. Brian, seized with self-loathing, could only nod. 'Well, he shouldn’t talk to you like that.’" 2/3

(sorry this was longer than I thought it'd be). In another version George says: "He shouldn’t have said those things to you, Brian. After all, he is younger than you." He told this story to Bob Wooler in a very innocent way. You can find the whole direct quotes through Bob Spitz and Bob Wooler but that's the jist of it! 3/3

Aw, man, I love this story. George is such a sweetheart. It must have been incredibly uncomfortable for George, who was still quite young and green, to see someone in a position of power over him brought down so low. Like seeing your teacher cry or something. I think he responded in exactly the right understated way, even if he maybe didn’t quite understand what had happened or why. Supportive and sure of himself and perfectly dismissive of Clive’s awfulness. It must have been a great comfort and relief to Brian to know that George didn’t think any less of him because of his family’s treatment.

It reminds me of a story from, I think around the same time, when John and Paul were with one of John’s old friends, and told him that Brian was managing them now. The friend said, oh, which one of you does he fancy then? Brian wasn’t even there, but John and Paul must have told him about it because two days later he had a letter from Brian basically saying, take it back or I’ll take you to court. And after he apologized, Paul went to him and said never ever contact any of us again, see ya.

Both stories demonstrate how, even though they’d only known each other for a short time, and Brian was a totally different class and age and temperament from the boys, they were instantly loyal to him. They knew and didn’t care that he was gay and they would protect him and defend him, both to his face and behind his back. I reblogged an interview with John earlier today where he talked about Brian, and he said (exaggerating as he usually did) that any manager they’d had before Brian only lasted a week before they kicked him to the curb. Brian must have been something really special to both be able to control those boys and earn their undying, absolute loyalty so quickly and thoroughly. Even Paul, who supposedly had more personal problems with Brian than the others did, defended him, did the dirty work of dismissing John’s friend from their inner circle forever.

I just love their relationships with him. Fascinating and lovely.

[busterkeatonfanfic]

Chapter 26

The sun had set long ago and they were all crowded around a card table in Louise Brooks apartment, the radio playing “Side by Side” by the Paul Whiteman Orchestra. Sipping a glass of bourbon, Louise was humming merrily along, but Nelly’s lips were set in concentration. She wasn’t a good bridge player by any measure, but the important thing was that she was getting better. They were in no danger of hitting a grand slam, but Buster thought they might be able to get a small slam out of the game. Keeping his eyes on their cards, he tilted his whiskey glass to his lips, emptying it. 

“Top you off?” said Louise.

Buster looked at Nelly, who raised an eyebrow. “Not tonight,” he said, and saw Nelly’s shoulders relax. He kissed her behind the ear and saw her cheeks redden in the lamplight.

George laid down a seven of clubs, Buster threw in a five of clubs, Louise put in a four of diamonds, and Nelly swept the trick for them with a six of diamonds. George had a good poker face. Louise’s was skilled simply by virtue of the fact that she was usually in a good humor whether her hand was bad or good. Nelly needed to work on hers. She straightened her expression as if hearing his thoughts. 

He’d been living a double life for years now, but with Nelly in the picture, it had lately become a triple life. Buster One was the gay host always ready for sport, drink, and good company. The quiet man left in the gay fellow’s wake was Buster Two, who never forgot that Lady Luck would decide someday to be done with him, and maybe soon. Buster Three was content to spend afternoons and evenings with his girl in her small apartment where she watched him work out gags for Snap Shots and sat patiently as he gave her bridge lessons. She found him pleasing in bed, and never complained that the only dance floor he led her across was her living-room carpet and their only orchestra the tabletop phonograph he’d bought her. As February gave way to March, his routine of visiting her apartment two or three days a week for a couple hours at a time seldom changed. Twice he’d taken her for a drive into the Valley, although that was always risky in case someone recognized his car as he left town and got to wondering about the girl in the passenger seat. Last weekend they’d had their first bridge game with George and Louise, the first time anyone else had seen them together. Nelly had had the time of her life. 

Buster Three couldn’t help wanting more, though. He longed to take her to a picture or have her on his arm during a premiere or benefit, dressed to the nines. He imagined her warming his bed at night, swimming laps in his pool in the morning, and playing bridge games in the billiards room on weekday afternoons. He was finding out that a mistress was a funny thing that way. The more you got of her, the more you wanted.

He stroked her back as she looked over at his hand, deciding which card to play next. They could take at least five more tricks by his count, which would put them at eight. Whether Nelly would spot them was the question. They were playing for a nickel a point. He’d wanted to do quarters, but Nelly had complained about how bad she was and insisted on a lower bet, so he let her have her way. 

It was now getting close to ten o’clock. He knew they’d have to wrap the game up in the next half hour if he wanted to be home by midnight. It was the first time he’d stayed out so late with Nelly and not told Natalie where he was going.

“Just Molly and me,” Louise sang in a soft, idle voice, examining her cards. “And baby makes three. We’re happy in my blue heaven.”

Nelly yawned and he rubbed her back. “Don’t worry, I’ll get you home soon, sweetheart,” he said in her ear. 

Nelly responded with a smile and he was gratified to watch her discard a three of diamonds in the next moment. He was pretty sure he could take the trick with a Jack of diamonds if neither George nor Louise played the Queen.

They left the apartment at a quarter to eleven, many nickels richer. Louise kissed Nelly goodbye on both cheeks. It made Buster happy to see the girls get along so well.

“How’d I do tonight?” said Nelly, as they walked through the darkness toward his Lincoln town car, holding hands. 

“You’ll be able to play pro soon at the rate you’re going.”

She squeezed his hand. “Don’t tease.”

“Well okay, but we can start playing for quarters any day now.”

“Maybe dimes,” she said, laughing. “Maybe.” Another big yawn hit her. 

“Don't fall asleep yet, you hear? I have things in mind for you.”

“What kind of things?” she said. From her flirtatious tone, he had a pretty good idea that she already knew.

“Let me take you home and I’ll show you.”

Though she was falling asleep on her feet by the time he parked on Genesee Avenue, she allowed him to walk her inside, persuade her onto the couch, and lift up her skirts. That gave her a second wind and she joined in the excursion with enthusiasm. When they were done and he’d buttoned his trousers back up, he watched her wander around the apartment in nothing but her garter belt and stockings, getting ready for bed. Apart from the nudie show, which he enjoyed tremendously, he found he’d missed watching her take down her hair and return from the washroom wearing it in braids, her cheeks shining from scrubbing her face. Tonight the routine was the same except that she was in the buff. He grinned, looking forward to having something to think about on Monday morning when the tedious conversations about Snap Shots resumed with the M-G-M brass and his surplus writers.

After Nelly had brushed her teeth, he followed her into her bedroom and watched her get into underthings and a pink sleeveless nightgown with ivory lace at the bodice. 

“Sticking around to tell me a bedtime story?” she said, giving him an impudent smile. 

He swatted her derrière in rebuke as she climbed into bed and drew the covers over her. “Sure. What’ll it be?” He sat on the side of the bed. 

“I don’t care. Surprise me.”

“Once upon a time Charles Lindbergh flew over the Atlantic to find the prettiest girl in the world.”

Nelly giggled. “Oh, is that what his flights are about?”

“He gets to England. Nothing worth seeing. Same story in France and Italy and Indonesia.”

“Indonesia’s not in Europe.” Nelly was laughing, but her eyes had also closed. 

“Who’s telling this story?” he said, tapping her shoulder. “So he gets back in the airplane, flies all the way across the Atlantic again. Gets to New York. All the dames he sees look like dogs practically. Well, he gets back into the airplane again and he commences to visit every state he can, Pennsylvania, Florida, Mississippi, Tennessee. You name it, he visits it. It’s no good. He never saw such ugly girls. Any how, he’s running low on fuel for his airplane and he decides to make a stop in Chicago.”

“Mmm,” said Nelly. Her lids were beginning to twitch. 

“While he’s there he goes and sees the sights. He takes an elevator up to the very top of the Tribune Tower. Guess who he meets on the top, top floor?”

Nelly sighed. 

“Miss Nelly Foster, that’s who. That’s how he found the prettiest girl in the world.” He leaned over and kissed her forehead. She gave a vague smile at the caress, but otherwise was out like a light. “G’night, sweetheart.”

He collected his jacket and locked her front door with the key she’d given him, which was in his pocket more often than not these days. It was half past midnight by the time he made it home. He half-expected Nate to be waiting in the sitting room or at the foot of the stone staircase demanding to know where he’d been, but the house was silent and dimly lit; he stubbed his toe on his way to the kitchen to see what Caruthers had left in the refrigerator.

Standing in the kitchen eating cold roast and cold cooked carrots from a priceless bone china plate a few minutes later, he was back to being Buster Two, bewildered that this could be his life. Buster wasn’t half bad at Shakespeare. The problem was that Nelly could barely recite her lines without laughing over his sober-faced version of Olivia, who spoke in a high, breathy voice. “Stay,” he would say, “I prithee, tell me what thou thinkest of me,” and clutch his hands in front of his heart so earnestly she would be in stitches. 

“That you do think you are not what you are,” she’d answer, giggling. 

She had a feeling he was trying to cut her up on purpose, but the straight face never faltered. After a half hour of practicing, Nelly called it a day. She would just have to learn the lines on her own. Buster seemed content to set aside the little green Arden Shakespeare edition of Twelfth Night. He drew his legs onto the sofa and put his head in her lap. She ran her hand through his thick dark hair as he closed his eyes. “You’re burning the candle again, Olivia.”

“Hmmph,” he said.

“Auditions are next Monday night. If I get the part, you’ll have plenty of time to help me rehearse my lines, I guess. The play doesn’t open ‘til the second week of June.”

Buster opened his eyes. “About that.” His brows were pinched.

“What?” she said.

“I’m leaving for New York on the seventh,” he said with a grim expression. 

“Oh.” She’d known in an abstract way that Snap Shots took place in New York, but somehow she’d failed to imagine that Buster might shoot on location. Knowing now how he had traveled in order to film Our Hospitality, The General, and Steamboat, it was a conclusion she should have come to. “How long will you be gone?”

Buster sighed. “July. If I’m lucky.”

“How long have you known?” she said, wondering why he had waited to bring it up to her. 

“Awhile. Before we started going together. Guess I just thought the day’d never get here.”

“I’ll miss you,” she said frankly, as she combed her fingers through his hair. 

“I know,” said Buster. “I’ve been thinking about how to get around it. Maybe I’ll send for you at the halfway point or something. You ever been to New York?”

“Not once,” she said. She briefly considered the practicalities of traveling all the way across the country while trying to keep her job at United Artists and, if her tryout with the Los Angeles Players Company was successful, star in a play at the same time. She was also thinking of his wife, who would doubtless accompany him. Buster, always so honest and hopeful when he built castles in the air, plainly had not thought of this.

“Well, I got some good news, anyway. That was the bad news. Wanna hear it?” He looked up at her so earnestly that she couldn’t resist bending her head to kiss his mouth. 

“Of course.

“I just rented a place just outside the M-G-M lot. A bungalow. Figured it’d save me some time going home every day. Plus you could stay the night. I got it all worked out.”

“Oh?” It sounded risky, but her stomach fluttered at the idea. 

“Sure. I’ll pick you up and take you there after dark. We get up before the sun comes up and no one’s the wiser. I can get you over to United Artists in the  morning.”

The scheme was more than a little hairbrained, but to Buster’s credit it worked. For two weeks before he left for New York, Nelly spent Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday evenings at the bungalow. It was actually a double bungalow with separate entrances, the other half belonging to Edward Sedgwick, Buster’s new director, who used it as an office during business hours. Sedgwick’s half was always dark by the time Buster ushered Nelly through the door after nightfall, though. Buster’s side of the bungalow was a combination dressing room and gymnasium. The dressing room occupied the first room and contained a stove, refrigerator, and worktop so Caruthers could whip up meals. Like Sedgwick, he too was always gone by early evening, but left a hot dinner for two ready, never asking (or so Buster said) why he was cooking for two. The second room held weight equipment, a rowing machine, a punching bag, and other exercise equipment. Nelly had learned a few weeks back that Buster’s splendid physique was not the result of pratfalls, but of dedicated training. Off the gymnasium there was a small washroom, and at the back of the house a little bedroom with a double bed, a nightstand, and a chair. It was here that Nelly would fall asleep next to Buster, waking up more often than not in his arms.

The alarm clock would ring at a rude five a.m. and Buster would reach over her to silence it. Sometimes they would make love. Other times, Buster would fall back asleep and Nelly would watch him, letting him seize a few extra minutes before reluctantly shaking him awake again. Although he had every outward appearance of boundless energy when he was around her, she could tell in the droop of his eyes and the redness that occasionally invaded them that he was always tired. It was no wonder. There were bridge games with Louise and George Marshall, often stretching until midnight, and when there weren’t bridge games, he was practicing songs on the ukulele while she studied her lines, having recently gotten the part of Maria in Twelfth Night. In spare minutes, he’d tell her about baseball games, meetings with the M-G-M bigwigs, and lunches with other stars. He didn’t seem to have a second of his day that wasn’t filled. 

One subject he didn’t discuss was his wife and children. It was as if that part of his life didn’t exist, though Nelly knew that he must spend time with them. At first, she hadn’t wanted to know about Natalie because it would have curdled her with guilt to think that she was monopolizing another woman’s husband. Now she didn’t want to know because her feelings for Buster had strengthened. She could almost convince herself that if she didn’t acknowledge that other part of his life, the fairytale that was their time together could stay in place forever.

And it was like a fairytale, even the ordinary parts, like Buster stumbling out of bed so he could go into the front room and make coffee. She loved his sleep-mussed hair and bare feet, the bleary way he groped for his pack of cigarettes and lit the first one of the day, how he would shrug on a dressing gown over his underthings—if he was even wearing underthings, which was never a guarantee when they were sharing a bed. While he was thus occupied, she would get dressed for the day and throw on a dab of lipstick and a quick brush of mascara. As the coffee percolated and Buster dressed, she’d make breakfast, either wheat cakes with eggs or steak and eggs. They always kept the curtains drawn, and if any early-morning peddler knocked on the door to attempt to sell Buster vegetables, soap, and any other number of commodities, she would creep to the back door and leave Buster to turn them down.

Despite their precautions, spending the night at the bungalow still felt dangerous. Nelly knew it would take only one pair of unfriendly eyes to spot them and the jig would be up. Buster, she thought, was much too casual on this point and she always made him double-check that none of his neighbors were peeping out of their homes as she hurried into his car between six and six-fifteen-a.m., depending on how long she’d let him sleep or whether carnal matters had preoccupied them for an extra ten minutes. Even so, it was hard to stay nervous with his cheery attitude. He had only to throw her one of his beautiful smiles, upper teeth straight and gleaming, and she would be set at her ease again.

Notes: Is this chapter too sentimental? Be honest. 

I should warn you that because life is hectic right now for me, I’ll probably go down to an every-other-week update. I was away this weekend and got to working on Chapter 26 when I returned, only to discover I needed to add just two sentences to it. -_- Sorry for the delay.  There are some anachronisms here and there will be in the future. Louise Brooks wasn’t in the States at this time. I think I did get the timing on the bungalow right, though. The opening part of the second part of this chapter takes place around March 24th.

[marvella15]

Astaire & Rogers Rewatch Part 7: Shall We Dance

• Something I didn’t consciously realize about this film until reading Hannah Hyam’s book is that Astaire and Rogers don’t dance together until nearly an hour in. That hasn’t happened since Gay Divorcee. What was anyone thinking??

• Shall We Dance suffers from a lot of extra crap that it didn’t need, such as extraneous characters, far too many interruptions in the Astaire and Rogers relationship, and a bunch of weirdness like life-sized dolls, life-like masks, and backbending ballerinas. The film also has a lot of wasted potential, including a great score and songs by George and Ira Gershwin. 

The Gershwins were already well acquainted with Astaire and Rogers. The duo had first met when she was starring in the brothers’ show, Girl Crazy, and Astaire was brought in to help with choreography. Rogers was close friends with George and even dated him. Astaire had known the brothers prior, having starred in a few of their shows with his sister, Adele. 

• Our characters/actors: Peter “Petrov” Peters (Fred Astaire), Linda Keene (Ginger Rogers), Jeffrey Baird (Edward Everett Horton), Arthur Miller (Jerome Cowan)

• Around the time I was first really into classic Hollywood films, including these ones, my family and I adopted a new dog. I annoyed my parents to no end by suggesting we name him Peter P. Peters. Don’t know why I latched onto that name but I did. 

• Even in the massive portrait of Petrov, you can see Astaire has his fingers curled in rather than fully extended.

• Astaire’s ballet attire lets us once again see just how skinny he is. 

• Always loved how Peter does a little tap at the rhythmic sound of his name and birthplace: Pete Peters, Philadelphia PA.

• Rogers’ cardigan with all of its baubles is truly awful looking. It will only be out done by a terrible floral dress she wears later. 

• I do however like that she shoves her handsy stage partner into a fountain. Why are men constantly the worst?

• “And why must there always be a kiss at the second-act curtain?” is YET ANOTHER example of these films trolling us. Not once up until this point has any act of an Astaire/Rogers outing included a kiss between them. 

• Linda’s disinterest in even meeting Petrov is based on the assumption that he’s a “simpering toe dancer.” While that’s incorrect, she’s not wrong that he is indeed another man who has seen a picture of her and wants to tell her he can’t live without her. So she gets partial credit. 

• If Peter wasn’t totally smitten before, Linda’s jab, “It’s just a game little American boys play” gets him. 

• As a mixed race number, “Slap That Bass” is incredibly unusual for the era. Astaire was a great admirer of African-American dancers and was strongly influenced by Bill Robinson and John W. Bubbles. I love the blend of all of the voices in this song. 

• The dance portion of “Slap That Bass” gives Astaire a chance to show off more of his innovative mind and choreography. He dances in time with the sounds of the ship’s engine and compels the camera to follow him across and up the vast set. The dance is also special in that we have behind the scenes footage of Astaire rehearsing, thanks to a home video shot by George Gershwin. 

• Peter making Jeffrey believe the boat is rocking may seem a bit unbelievable but having been on a large ship myself, sometimes you don’t realize it’s rocking until you see other passengers weaving or a giant chandelier swaying. 

• I usually skip most if not all of Jeffrey and Arthur’s scenes together. They slow down this film soooo much.

• Like in all of their films, songs are sometimes heard in the background before the actual musical number they appear in. But because this film is scored by the Gershwins, there’s an array of shorter pieces of music that are all their own, such as the whimsical score heard while Rogers and then Rogers with Astaire are walking her dog.

• The dog Peter borrows to give himself an excuse to talk to Linda hits his bark cue perfectly and looks extremely happy about it. 

• I would love to know what exactly Astaire and Rogers are talking about while walking her dog. Maybe they were given lines that were then not recorded or maybe it’s improv. But it seems very natural. 

Rogers did say that Astaire was a wonderful conversationalist and was adept at talking while dancing, something she noted most men couldn’t manage. 

• Wow do I love it when Rogers gets to be extra sassy

Peter: “Isn’t it wonderful being here tonight like this? Still on the same boat together.”

Linda: “Oh, I seldom change boats in mid-ocean.”

• “Beginner’s Luck” is such a charming, fast song that Astaire delivers wonderfully. He hardly seems to take a breath. 

A jazzed up version of “Beginner’s Luck” is the song Peter tried to dance to in Paris but the record kept getting stuck. 

• Something this movie fails at is letting Linda and Peter’s relationship continue to progress before throwing more obstacles in their way. We know from the gossip of the ship’s staff that they have been spending a lot of time together. When we see them, they are having a relaxing evening that’s incredibly domestic: sitting side by side on the deck while she knits and he smokes. Wouldn’t it have been nice to see more of this part of their relationship? 

• Why on earth did Peter think sending Jeffrey to fix the false baby rumors was the right decision? Jeffrey can’t handle a single thing. 

• Infuriated at the rumors that she’s married to Peter and pregnant with their baby, Linda tries to call him. “Operator! Get me Mr. Petrov. What? Don’t you dare congratulate me!”

• The theme of this movie is supposed to be the blend of dancing and music styles. Peter’s ballet and Linda’s jazz styles are one example, George Gershwin’s varied score, which switches from jazz to waltz to foxtrot to classical, etc, is another. But it’s a fairly weak concept that doesn’t quite land and reportedly, neither Astaire or Ira Gershwin was wild about it. 

• I love the new version of “Slap That Bass” that plays as Peter and Jeffrey enter the rooftop club. 

• When Rogers sings “They All Laughed,” she is singing to an off-screen Cary Grant, her friend and sometimes date who was visiting the set at the time. 

She is also wearing a dress with a horrible pattern. It’s supposed to be floral but it always makes me think of amoebas. Maybe it looked better in color?

• Astaire clearly has fun during the part where Peter hams it up a bit with his ballet next to Linda’s tapping. 

• In some ways, “They All Laughed” is reminiscent of “Isn’t it a Lovely Day.” They’re testing each other, trading glancing as they see whether the other can keep up with the increasingly complex steps. Until now, Linda didn’t know Peter could dance this way so her surprise and amusement unfolds slowly as the routine progresses. But he has been grinning since the start because he’s hoping to win her back through this dance.

• This is another duet where it takes a long time before they touch. The first physical contact is just her executing a series of spins with the help of his fingers. And it’s during this part that Rogers finally breaks into a wide smile.  

• When he spins her up onto the piano the first time, she happily waits for him to retrieve her. And when he spins her into a seated position and upright again a few times don’t miss how he looks at her with a wry, slightly mischievous smile. 

• The Linda doll is so creepy and not lifelike. Who was fooled by this?

Also, Arthur is terrible. Jeffrey is terrible too but he’s an idiot so I’m more willing to let it slide. 

• Peter walking out of Linda’s bedroom in the morning in his robe right in front of her fiancé while she is in her negligee is pretty funny. 

• Peter and Linda’s nice day out is just further proof that this movie should’ve spent more time on the two of them together rather than breaking them up every few minutes. 

• “Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off” is a fun song, though Astaire gets most of the good words imo. However, Rogers does do an extra affectation to some of her lyrics and that makes them funnier. 

At one point when she’s singing, he turns to her and for just a moment his face goes soft in that way it does sometimes when he looks at her. 

• Some film historians have labeled this dance as not that great when compared to other Astaire and Rogers numbers. But I’ve always found it very enjoyable and innovative. While Gene Kelly probably takes the gold medal for dancing on skates in It’s Always Fair Weather, Astaire and Rogers did it first, did it well, and deserve some extra credit for a duet on skates rather than a solo. 

Rogers also deserves some extra credit since the idea to dance on skates was supposedly hers. And probably deserves even more credit for doing this dance on skates while also in heels. 

• For some reason I really enjoy that they perform this number in their hats and street clothes. It’s so informal and feels like something you do on a fun date. 

• Throughout this dance, Peter continues to be the playful one, as he’s been in their interactions in the film, and Linda is the more serious one who needs to be coaxed into having fun. Maybe this is why Astaire frequently glances at her and even spends long seconds watching her at different parts as they move into the next series of steps. Rogers is more reserved in her expressions but whenever they are face to face, she appears happiest. 

A few times she looks triumphant, leading me to wonder if they or she had finally nailed a section that was giving them or her trouble. 

• Can’t say for certain but I swear she almost falls when they do the backwards steps. She just baaaarely snags his hand in time. 

They had to film this dance something like 150 times so I imagine there was more than one time where at least one of them did indeed fall. 

• The circular dance they do leading up to the end is based on a dance Astaire and his sister made famous in their time on the stage. 

• Apparently the grassy bank they tumble onto wasn’t padded so those fake grimaces of pain aren’t that fake. Their exchange after the tumble feels very much like married banter to me:

Peter: “Yes, it was my idea.”

Linda: “Have you any more of them?”

Peter, exaggerating: “No.”

• They’re such a good match:

Linda: “Peter, you’ve got to marry me.”

Peter: “Why, Linda, this is so sudden.”

• Oh 1930s Hays Code humor. The cop who overhears their conversation thinks she’s pregnant and pressuring the father of the baby into marrying her. Hurr hurr hurr.

• Heh:

Linda: “I beg your pardon but what are grounds for divorce in this state?”

Clerk: “Marriage.”

• It will never make sense to me that a dance was not planned in this film for “They Can’t Take That Away From Me.” It’s a truly lovely song. I know Astaire and Rogers will dance to it more than ten years later in The Barkleys of Broadway but it’s just not the same. 

It’s also a good reminder in the film that Peter has legitimate feelings for Linda and she does for him but they’re far more conflicted. Though he must sense he’s hooked her in a bit since he becomes very aloof once they return to the hotel in the stupid hope of making her want him more? Idk, men are dumb. 

• “They Can’t Take That Away From Me” carries special poignancy because it became a form of consolation to Ira Gershwin after his brother suddenly died two months after this film was released. 

• Oh Linda’s face when she walks in to see Peter with the loathsome Lady Tarrington is so sad and crestfallen. Ever thought you and your crush were finally on the same page only to find them canoodling with someone else? 

Although, she could’ve knocked first instead of just walking straight into his room…

• The ballet portion of the finale is weird and unappealing in every way. Harriet Hoctor was known for the backbend dance she does in this film. Maybe it was something spectacular in 1937?? but it doesn’t hold up. 

One thing I’ll say about Astaire’s duet with Hoctor, it’s a great chance to see him in a romantic duet with someone other than Rogers and notice how different he acts. No secret smile, no lingering looks, no whispered words, no soft expressions. 

• “Shall We Dance” is another upbeat song that deserves more than being featured in the remaining few minutes of the film. Their dance is far too short but wonderful all the same. Her delight when he finds her always makes me smile. She also executes some impressive full length lunges that I couldn’t do at this moment much less in a dress and heels in the middle of a dance number. 

For a few seconds, his fingers press into the exposed dip of her spine in yet another example of Victorian hotness. 

• And so we finish film number 7. Shall We Dance underperformed at the box office and wasn’t a critical darling. Everyone, the actors included, started to feel the magic was coming to an end. Coming up next is a film I pretty much never rewatch: Carefree. 

[popculturebuffet]

Amphibia Reviews: The Shut-In

More Halloween Havoc, whoop woop! The Plantars return just in time for Halloween! It’s Shut-In in Wartwood, their version of halloween, but less of a focus on getting candy and more on getting suplies to protect yourselve and barricade yourself in so the moon dosen’t turn you into a monster. I remain not suprised. To pass the time our heroes tell some true spooky stories and Polly tries to find one they weren’t around for.  Phone-Mo: Anne and humanized versions of Polly, Maddie, and Toady watch a cursed video and soon disappear by one. Nothing ominous about that! Dead End: A young Hop Pop serves as Chauffer for a mysterious man played by george takei and death seems to follow them at every stop. Oh myyyyyyyy.  Skin Deep: Sprig and Ivy go to fetch a lost ball and end up running into the skin stealing seamstress. Arson naturally insues..  It’s Terror Time again, with full recap and spoilers, under the cut. 

Whelp, no dancing around it this airing order is weird. And look airing shit in a weird way has been disney’s past time since the 90′s, Darkwing Duck’s airing order is a waking nightmare, and this very show had all of season 1 air within the span of a month and a week in order to get it on disney plus by launch, star vs had it’s last season burned off in three months, and Ducktales pre-covid flip flopped from airing week to week to just one for some reason and then no others for months. Consitency is not their strong suit is what i’m saying and it’s not new.  And yes I get these holiday special episodes are mecurial: their built specifically to slot in wherever without really upsetting continuity: The Casagrandes recently aired their first season 2 episode before even finishing season 1, so this isn’t just a disney thing, while speaking of disney things ducktales had it’s first proper halloweeen episode air the week before a spring break set episode, with a christmas episode set to air next month. What i’m saying is I get these things sometimes don’t air in production order, but it’s less excuable on Disney’s part here when it’d take airing exactly one episode for this not to be a tad jarring. Not enough that it spoils the episode nor does the episode effect the ongoing story or continuity in any way, so it’s not TERRIBLE but it smacks of lazy incompetence on Disney’s part and I wish they’d do better already. 

Okay that rant out of the way we can dive right in! It’s the annual Shut-In in Wartwood! Basically their verison of halloween but instead of a fun spooky holiday, it’s the annual tradition of getting various things from the neighbors to help stay indoors during the blue moon, which in wartwood turns whoever views into a monster. Because of course their halloween is a fight for suvival. Also theirs pumpkins everywhere with their versions of jack o lanterns being fear gourds which.. okay. Point is instead of candy the kids trick or treating has turned up rusty nails, a hatchet, a first aid kit and anne, winning the night, a flamethrower! On one hand it’s neat these exist in wartwood via fire breathing slugs. On the other I do worry about Anne accidently burning everyone and everything down so please take that from her. 

The Plantars then lock themselves in. To stave off bordeom, Shut-In tradition is to go around the fire and tell each other creepy true stories that happened to them. Polly tries going first but just has the Inn story from last season which they were all there for.. thought hat dosen’t make complete sense as they werent’ awake for all of it and shoudl’ve just let her tell her side of things. But eh it sets up polly’s plot so fair enough. Luckily anne has one. So we get our first tale of terror Terror Tales of the Park/Treehouse of Horror III Styles...

Phone-Mo 

Anne’s story is very clearly made up, though no one really calls her on it and it DOES add elemnts from the domino II story from last season so fair enough.  Rather than use her real friends, which is fair enough since she just sadly had to say goodbye to Marcy and probably isn’t handeling the guilt well and Sasha you know.. tried to stab her a few months back then tried sacrifcing herself for Anne’s own well being. Point is thnking about them is a loaaded issue right now so instead she dreams up human versions of Sprig, Polly, with a bucket on her foot for a shot which is a nice visual gag, as is how we meet them, along with Maddie and for some weird reason Toady. I mean I do get Ivy is in our third story, so fair enough, but they could’ve used.. anyone else. Wally would’ve made more sense honestly and he’s also an adult but he’s also you know Anne’s friend and not some town asshole she vaugley knows. It’s just weird. That said I do love the human designs for everyone and they clearly put a lot of work in knowing the fans would like them, with little touches like Polly having pink hair, sprig having his normal haircut he does under the hat but not covered up and toady’s phone having a little keychain of his amphibia version. Also while they all have diffrent names including Anne I won’t be using them on the grounds that I don’t wanna. 

Anne and the plantars are watching a funny internet video when Toady and Maddie offer to show them one that’s apparently cursed and makes whoever watched it disappear. Sprig talks Anne out of it and keeps her from watching anyway but Polly’s naturally all in. ON the way to class, once sprig is gone, anne ends up watching it and liking it anyway because she has no self control and freely admits it.  Naturally given this is a halloween episode, the others start disapearing, with Maddie coming to anne with support after Toady vanishes which again is just.. weird. It’s just weird to hear anyone car about wether toady lives or dies. It keeps throwing me off. Anne reasssures her but sure enough the second anne’s gone Maddie’s phone eats her alive. Still nice to see her again. Regular Maddie should get a hoodie. Also anne apparently eats the corners of her sandwitch so she dosen’t have to share. Clever girl.  Back at home where Anne continues to mock whoever it is told her she can’t write stories as she makes a gila monster and a flamingo make out, where are they I must hurt them, when Sprig calls panicked that polly is missing and admits i’ts a good thing they ddin’t watch the video.. yeah about that. Sprig is of course freaked, and soon the video pops on anne’s phone and soon the weird cat thing inside comes to life and then turns deadly.. also it turns out it eats the host then forces them to be int he background of the video, which was hinted at earlier with one guy having been in there for 35 years.. despite having a smartphone. Well this is anne’s story I don’t think she knows those didn’t exist once. 

Luckily Anne figures out how to beat it.. in the most hilarious way possible. by disliking it, since liking and commeting linked it to her, she weakens it before finishing it with a rude comment. It’s.. i’ts purespun comedy gold. This frees everyone else and they leave along with sprig.. but eggs are left behind. Dun dun dun.  Final Thoughts on Phone Mo:

First off .. I have no idea what FOMO means so the title left me as lost at first at the plantars... oh okay it’s fear of missing out.. should’ve remebered that from brooklyn nine nine and amy’s legendadrily bad case of it. Aw well a decent story, if the weakest of the three. It does have an incredibly funny conclusion, neat human designs, and an intresting setting given while school stories are common, usually we don’t get that here so it’s a nice break from the norm. But compared to the genuinely chilling with a funny and odd climax next two, it’s just okay. Not bad, but not quite as good.  Back in the present, Polly once again tries this time with children of the spore, once again being shot down though that being said hop pop’s line of “I was responsible for that one” was given a great delvery by charlie addler. Also Anne missed Wally’s birthday and he’s sad. oh Wally. Though i’m sure she’ll make it up to him.. at least he’s back home. So anyways speaking of HOp Pop, it’s his turn for a story...

Dead End:  And it’s a story from Hop Pop’s Youth! Given we’ve never SEEN hop pop beyond his present day and only heard the ocasional scrap, it’s REALLY nice to hear. It dosen’t tell us a ton more granted, but we at least see what he looked like, get to hear charlie adler use a slightly less aged voice for him and get to see him with a luxrious golden mane of johnny bravo hair, which is as hilaroius and glorious as it sounds. 

Back in those days Hop Pop was a coachman. He still had the farm, but given how tight things are now it’s not a stretch to assume he could always use some extra coppers to keep his family we never get to know about besides the grandkids fed. He also prides himself on honest work, not taking payment till the rides finished and the customer is satisfied which is INCREIDBLY risky, but I do kinda get it both for Hopidah’s sense of honor and because it seems clear he mostly does it in town by the fact all his stops this ep are within wartwood or close enough, so clearly it’s mostly people he knows personally.  This time though the rider is the well dressed, crimson red Mr. Littlepot, played by George Takei. Best known for Star Trek, being out and proud and since coming out after years and years in the closet, using his celebrity to help promote gay rights and other good stuff. He’s also known for saying ohhhh myyy and this clip from futurama. 

I got a lot of respect for the guy, He was even in archie comics once after Kevin Keller was introduced. So it’s nice to see him doing some voice work and he kills it here.. pun intended but more on that in a sec. Littlepot has some simple rule: keep driving no matter what hapepned where he was.. and given both places he ends up have someone dying, once by a horrifying looking snake, it’s clear somethings up. IT also nicely builds the tension as hop pop tries to steady himself, but is clearly cracking as he realizes his client might be murdering people he knows.. and he could be next. As Hopidiah KNOWS each person Littlepot visits and it nicely ratches up the tension. But turns out he’s not a killer.. he’s simplyd eath himself come to collect those already about to die. 

It’s a nice twist: The genuine trappings of the guy make you think h’es some form of the devil, the crimson skin, yellow eyes and cultured demanor.. it’s only as he goes you start to realize what the man actually is and even then he easily could still be frog satan. But no he’s just the frog reaper and defends himself to Hop Pop when confronted: He’s just doing his job, just like Hopidiah, getting people where they need to be. Unforutnately for Hop Pop his final stop is the farm.. though thankfully for him he hasnt come for Hopidiah.. just his hair. Yeah it’s a nice comedic twist on an otherwise chiling and well done story that what the devil came to take is his hair.. which he starts wearing hilariously. So Hop Pop lives but sobs, and Anne points out it was pretty fucked up. 

Final Thoughts for Dead End:  Not much to say. This one was dripping with atmosphere, Takei was utterly awesome and need to do more voice work, and the comedic ending twist was really damn funny. Top notch. 

Polly tries again, gets shut down again and is now really understandably frustrated at not having a story. Naturally given the other plantars have gone though, Sprig does. And he dosen’t have at itle at first until one cuts him off ....

Skin Deep:

Ivy’s Back! 

Yeah I was genuinely worried the return ep would break up either her and sprig or hop pop and silvia.. and while the second one remains a horrifying sword of damocles over my head, Sprig and Ivy are fine and Ivy gets a nice spotlight episode here. It was a pleasant surprise to get some fresh info since i’tll be months till we find out anything else.  So the young couple are playing bugball down at the old courts, when a couple of guys they were up to no good, started making trouble in the neghborhood. Sprig got in one little fight and Hop Pop got scared he said “your moving with your auntie and uncle to bell air”. He begged and pleaded day after day but Hop Pop packed his suit case and sent him on his way. He gave him a kiss and then he gave him a ticket Sprig put his walkman on and thought he might as well kick it. First class yo this ain’t bad, drinking orange juice out of a champagne glass. Is this what the people of bel air live like, yo, this might be alirght!   He whistled for a cab and when it came near the liscene plate said fresh and it had dice in the mirror, if anything he could say that this cab was rare but he thought man forget it yo holmes to bell air. He pulled up to the cab about 7 or 8 and yelled to the cabbie yo holmes smell ya later. He looked at his kingdom and he was finally there to sit on his throne as the fresh prince of bell air. 

So then Will walked into the mansion and wait.. wrong show.. so the young couple are playing bugball when they loose their ball, and it goes off into the creepy part of the woods. Ivy also looses her hat and is self concious about her hair. Looks fine to sprig but she’d rather not. Aww she’s insecure. But the two head off with Sprig getting more and more nervous, as Ivy details a legend about the area of the seamstress, a mysterious recluse who steals your skin! Naturally Sprig is nettled while Ivy says it’s fine and does what anyone would do upon finding out the ball went into a creepy abandoned shack in a world where it’s clear murderers are pretty common: kick down the door! It’s the perfect crime. 

Naturally Sprig gets more unernved, finding a set of needles and thread, which gets a great gag as Ivy points out that’s nto that uncommon.. but the giant pile of skin they find sure is!

Oh.. it gets worse me. Sprig finds the ball. and the Seamstress who has a horrifying patchwork of skins on her and wants to add theirs.. the kids are naturally spooked and prepare to flee but she wants their skin and grabs ivy! Thankfully she breaks free and Sprig busts some off.. OH GOD.. and it turns out she’s a glass frog! .. turns out theres a kind of frog that has translucent skin.

But yeah obvoiusly the show takes it a step further, and her skin is entirely see through. Poor girl. Ivy sympathizes shows off her hair.. then puts her hat over the Seamstress’ eyes and tells sprig now, and sprig starts a fire, and the two start to escape when he grabs Ivy’s leg!

Thankfully Ivy breaks free and the two leave her to die. Sprig compliments ivy’s hair, ivy gets him a smooch it’s all adorable and they defintely murdered someone who defintely murdered a lot of people. Horay!

Naturally the rest of the family is freaked out by this with Anne wanting to know if ivy being bitten means sh’es infected and Hop Pop wanting to know if one of her skins was his friend fred he hasn’t seen in a while. Sprig then spooks them by having ivy show up, complete with a burlap frog skin.. maybe. She could’ve been lying. We dunno. Ivy heads home to risk her life for a good gag, depsite the fact her boyfriend’s house is right there and her mom and grandmom clearly had to sign off on this shenanigan given the night. But this life risking prank naturally risks some life as Polly has ran off to look at the moon to get her own story. The rest of hte family runs after her only tfind it did.. ntohing. She’s apparently fine just fine and they assure her the fear they felt thinking she might become some kind of monster was scarier than any story and the rest of them head home with polly following.. after transofrming. Turns out the moon DOES make you into monsters but she’s fine with it. She’s got her legs now! Everyone screams understandably, Anne finally realizes this isn’t quite a holiday the end. 

Final Thoughts on Skin Game and the special as a whole: Easily my faviorite, partly for shipping reasons as I do like Ivy and Sprig together, and partly because it really let Ivy have a roll OTHER than sprig’s love intrest. Sure she still smooched his cheek and their clearly still together, but she got to be proactive, badass and hilariously impulsive and trollish. It was a nice change of pace and the story itslef was the best of the bunch to me becuase of that, though Dead End was really close.  Overall this was a nice treat, a good anthology with lots of fright and humor and a nice wraparound story arc with polly, as well as some nice call backs to previous episodes. An utterly excellent halloween special i’ll probably be revisiting every year and another slam dunk from disney this year. The airing snaufu really dosen’t hurt it any and in the future this one will likely be after Return to Wartwood on D+ anyway so no harm done. Great all around. If you liked this review follow me for more amphibia whenever it comes back, ducktales reviews every monday, and loud house reviews every saturday or sunday depending. And until next time stay safe, stay spooky and happy halloween!

[lupismaris]

Favourite books, and favourite TV shows!

Thank you!!! Now allow me to scream while I try and pick a couple for each I guess??? Oh lord uhm-

Favorite books is gonna have mostly oldies on it cause I am desperately trying to figure out where to start with new books? So this is gonna sound pretentious probably I'm sorry lol (I am eager and open to any new recs)

Hound of the Baskervilles / homes canon- my favorite book is probably HOB and I go back to the holmes canon a lot as my comfort series. Holmes was one of the first characters I ever related to on a deep level growing up and so it's like a security blanket. I also love how it's able to be analyzed by the queer community in so many ways.

Master and Commander / several of the Aubrey-Maturin novels- I have been working my way through the series this year as a new quarantine hobby/coping mechanism and I genuinely enjoy them so much. I love the nautical backdrop and just how balls to the wall wild things get during the books. They're also much funnier than I remember them being when I was a teenager reading them, so I'm gonna put them on the list.

Lady in the Lake and The Long Goodbye by Raymond Chandler- shhhhh don't look at me I have a slight weakness for pulp noir detectives

Folklore and the Sea by Horace Beck- I love love love this anthology of sea myths, traditions, and folklore from around the world it's one of the most thoroughly put together collections and I can't get enough of it.

The Three Musketeers by Dumas- I had to read the tiny abridged version as a kid for French class and ended up reading the whole book instead much to my teacher's dismay. Gotta love a bunch of himbos being dramatic and homoerotic. Dumas is also just, one of my favorite ppl I got to cry at his tomb last year in Paris and it was great.

Gay New York by George Chauncey- basically a history book on gay male culture in NYC from 1890-1940, it is one of my favorite historical nonfiction books to read through. It sugar coats absolutely nothing so there's moments that are hard to stomach but it's equally joyous and unapologetic in its discussion of gay life, tradition, and love. I'm hoping to get my hands on "when Brooklyn was Queer" as a follow up.

Tv shows!

Black Sails- I mean [gestures at the whole show] yeah

Wynonna Earp - I am so behind on this one but it is just such good americana monster mayhem with a byronic female lead and lots of wonderfully developed characters. They took a historical legend and built something phenomenal on it, rather than just going the usual route of machismo nonsense.

Bbc The Musketeers- SACCARINE HIMBO GOODNESS with a heavy dose of found family tropes and one of the most fun adaptations tbh the casting was A+++ across the board (capaldi as richelieu was just -chefs kiss-) and while I could nitpick I won't because it never tried to be bigger or more impressive than it was and it's just a damn good time. Also gender envy 101 for me I swear.

In the Flesh- I don't like zombie media, I've never cared about zombie media, but this show fucking killed me. It's probably the only zombie related things I will watch because my god the premise and the philosophy of it is just phenomenal on every level.

Derry Girls- I don't want much comedies these days but my gods does derry girls do my heart good.

Jeremy Brett' Sherlock Holmes- again, my security blanket of a tv show but also one of the best adaptations I've ever seen. I could probably recite every episode but it's just wonderful.

[explosionshark]

Thanks for recommending Gideon the Ninth! It was so good! Do you have a book rec tag I could check out? :)

honestly i should, huh? i’ve read more books than probably ever before this year and i’ve talked about ‘em intermittently, but not with a consistent tag. i’ll recommend some right now, though, with a healthy dose of recency bias!

sf/f

the priory of the orange tree by samantha shannon - a truly epic fantasy novel with one of the most beautiful, satisfying f/f romances i’ve ever read. the novel takes account nearly everything i hate about fantasy as a genre (overwhelmingly straight, white, and male centric, bland medieval European settings, tired tropes) and subverts them. incredible world-building, diverse fantasy cultures, really cool arthrurian legend influence. one of my favorite books i’ve ever read tbh.

gideon the ninth by tamsyn muir - which you’ve read, obviously, but for posterity’s sake i’m keeping it here! sci-fi + murder mystery + gothic horror. genuinely funny while still having a super strong emotional core and more than enough gnarly necromantic to satisfy the horror nerd in me. makes use of some of my favorite tropes in fiction, namely the slowburn childhood enemies to reluctant allies to friends to ??? progression between gideon and harrow. absolutely frothing at the mouth for a sequel.

the broken earth trilogy by nk jemisin - really the first book that helped me realize i don’t hate fantasy, i just hate the mainstream ‘medieval europe but with magic’ version of fantasy that dominates the genre. EXTREMELY cool worldbuilding. i’ve definitely described it as like, a GOOD version of what the mage-vs-templar conflict in dragon age could have been, with a storyline particularly reminiscent of “what if someone got Anders right?”

this is how you lose the time war by amal el-mohtar and max gladstone - i’m not usually big on epistolary novels, but this one really worked for me. spy vs spy but it’s gay and takes place between time traveling agents of two opposing sides of a war. the letter writing format really plays to el-mohtar’s strengths as a poet, the unfolding love story is weird and beautiful. it’s a really quick read, too, if you’re short on time or attention.

empress of forever  by max gladstone - i just finished this one this week! if you’re in the mood for a space opera, look no further. imagine if steve jobs was an asian lesbian and also like not a shitty person. this is where you start with vivian liao. you get the classic putting-the-band-together arc with beings from all across the universe, your romances and enemies-turned-friends and uneasy alliances all over the place. really satisfying character development and some extremely cool twists along the way. it’s just a fun good time.

the luminous dead by caitlin starling - this one rides the line of horror so it’s closest to that part of the list. it reminds me of the most inventive low budget horror/sci-fi films i’ve loved in the best way possible because it makes use of the barest narrative resources. it’s a book that takes place in one primary setting, featuring interactions between two characters that only meet each other face-to-face for the briefest period. the tension between the two characters is the most compelling part of the story, with competing and increasingly unreliable narratives and an eerie backdrop to ratchet things up even higher. the author described it as “queer trust kink” at one point which is, uh, super apt actually and totally my jam. the relationship at the center of the book is complicated to say the least, outright combative at points, but super compelling. plus there’s lost of gnarly sci-fi spelunking if you like stories about people wandering around in caves.

horror

the ballad of black tom by victor lavalle - we all agree that while lovecraft introduced/popularized some cool elements into horror and kind of defined what cosmic horror would come to mean, he was a racist sack of shit. which is why my favorite type of ‘lovecraftian horror’ is the type that openly challenges his abhorrent views. the ballad of black tom is a retelling of the horror at redhook that flips the narrative by centering the action around a black protagonist. 

lovecraft country by matt ruff - more of what i just described. again, lovecraftian themes centered around black protagonists. this one’s especially cool because it’s a series of interconnected short stories following related characters. it’s getting a tv adaptation i believe, but the book is definitely not to be missed

rolling in the deep / into the drowning deep by mira grant - mermaids are real and they’re the ultimate deep sea predators! that’s really the whole premise. if for some reason that’s not enough for you, let me add this: diverse cast, a romance between a bi woman who’s not afraid to use the word and an autistic lesbian, really cool speculative science tangents about mermaid biology and myth. 

the haunting of hill house by shirley jackson - it’s halloween month so i’m thinking about hill house again. one of the greatest american ghost stories ever written. especially worth the read if you follow it up w the 1964 film adaptation (the haunting) and then the 2018 netflix series.

the hunger by alma katsu - i’ve always been fascinated by the donner party even though we now know the popular narrative is largely falsehoods. still, this highly fictionalized version of events scratched an itch for me and ended up surprising me with its resistance from the most expected and toxic racist tropes associated with donner party myth.

wounds / north american lake monsters by nathan ballingrud - nathan ballingrud is my favorite horror writer of all time. one of my favorite writers period regardless of genre. in ballingrud’s work the horror is right in front of you. you can look directly at it, it’s right there. but what permeates it, what draws your attention instead, what makes it hurt is the brutally honest emotional core of everything surrounding the horror. the human tragedy that’s’ reflected by the more fantastic horror elements is the heart of his work. it’s always deeply, profoundly moving for me. both of these collections are technically short stories, but they’re in the horror section of the recs because delineations are totally arbitrary and made solely at my discretion. 

short stories

her body and other parties by carmen maria machado - tbh i almost put this in w horror but there’s enough weird fiction here for me to be willing to straddle the line. it was really refreshing to read horror that centered queer women’s perspectives. the stories in this collection are really diverse and super powerful. there’s an incredible weird fiction piece that’s like prompt-based law and order svu micro fiction (go with me here) that ends up going to some incredible places. there’s the husband stitch, a story that devastated me in ways i’m still unraveling. the final story reminded me of a more contemporary haunting of hill house in the best way possible. machado is a writer i’m really excited about.

vampires in the lemon grove by karen russell - my friend zach recommended this to me when we were swapping book recs earlier this year and i went wild for it! mostly weird fiction, but i’m not really interested in getting hung up on genres. i don’t know what to say about this really other than i really loved it and it got me excited about reading in a way i haven’t been in a while. 

the tenth of december by george saunders - i really like saunders’ work and i feel like the tenth of december is a great place to start reading him. quirky without being cloying, weird without being unrelatable.

misc

the seven husbands of evelyn hugo by taylor jenkins reid - there’s something really compelling to me about the glamour of old hollywood. this story is framed as a young journalist interviewing a famously reclusive former starlet at the end of her life. the story of how evelyn hugo goes from being the dirt-poor daughter of cuban immigrants to one of the biggest names in hollywood to an old woman facing the end of her life alone is by turns beautiful, inspiring, infuriating and desperately sad. by far the heart of the book is in evelyn finally coming out as bisexual, detailing her decades-long on/off relationship with celia st. james, another actress. evelyn’s life was turbulent, fraught with abuse and the kind of exploitation you can expect from the hollywood machine, but the story is compelling and engaging and i loved reading it.

smoke gets in your eyes by caitlin doughty - a memoir by caitlin doughty, the woman behind the popular ‘ask a mortician’ youtube series. it was a super insightful look into the american death industry and its many flaws as well as an interesting, often moving look at the human relationship with death through the eyes of someone touched by it early and deeply.

love and rockets by los bros hernandez (jaime and gilbert and mario) - this was a big alt comic in the 80s with some series within running on and off through the present. i’m not current, but this book was so important for me as a kid. in particular the locas series, which centered around two queer latina girls coming up in the punk scene in a fictional california town. the beginning starts of a little sci-fi-ish but over time becomes more concerned with slice-of-life personal dramas. 

[therucrap]

The RuCrap: Season 13 episode 2!

Holler at me I know you know me! Holler at me I know you know me! Episode 2 of the RuCrap has arrived! Once again please help out a writer in the pandemic by sharing & following! Enjoy!

We crawl back into RuPaul’s tangled web of elimination fuckery where we left off in Porkchop’s Loading Deck with the dejected Denali, Tamisha Iman, Joey Jay, Rosé, Kahmora Hall, Utica, and Elliott with 2 T’s who must now begrudgingly vote to put one of these complete strangers out of her misery! It’s a tie between wide-eyed carpool mom Elliott and neon sock puppet Utica and Ru bellows over the PA like the evil middle school principal that she is to inform her pupils that they must now vote between the two super-losers. Ultimately Elliott with 2 T’s becomes Elliott with 2 eliminations and it’s the final heartless slap of a drawn out and unreasonably brutal elimination even for Lord Ru’s medieval standards but we’re 13 years into this big gay carnival of trauma and Stockholm Syndrome is in full effect so let’s quickly move on, sympathize with our captors, and for God’s sake never return to Porkchop’s haunted She Shed ever again!

It’s day 2 and our previous winners GottMik, Lala Ri, Symone, Olivia Lux, Kandy Muse, and Tina Burner burst into the Werk Room none the wiser of the fate of the fallen and are greeted by Ru who wastes no time shaking things up by announcing that a new queen will be joining them and before the girls can even process... in walks Elliott with two T’s! Yes that’s right! After a full episode of push and pull with the drag poltergeist our poor Carol Anne is spit back into the competition covered in ectoplasm, her weary eyes now holding the unfathomable secrets of the other side, and once again we’ve taken the scenic route on one of RuPaul’s notorious twists that brought us right back to square one! But what would this winding shaggy dog joke of a premiere wrench be without our evil mastermind shoe-horning in a sappy life lesson? Ru momentarily softens to take us down memory lane and celebrate first-eliminated queens who went on to become superstars and explains that the moral of the fairy tale is “Don’t let anyone make you feel like a loser” which is ironic coming straight from the diabolical puppet master who determined Elliott a loser last week and then sent her to a small storage crate backstage to be called a loser two more times by her fellow competitors. It’s like Mike Tyson popping into Evander Holyfield’s dressing room after their fight to tell him that he could learn a thing or two about not feeling like he just had his ear bitten off. I haven’t been this confused by the manipulative rationale of an egomaniac since Shangela tried to justify going on vacation to Puerto Vallarta in a pandemic to sell $10 scented hand sanitizers in hotel lobbies. Ru tells our newly revamped winner’s circle to prepare to hit the runway to showcase a ladylike daytime look and a whorish campy nighttime look and like that they’re off!

Our models gussy up at the makeup stations and resident shit-stirrers Re-Tina George and Kandy Weiners greet Elliott with folded arms, bizarrely speculating about her intentions in returning (um... because RuPaul told her to?) and calling her “Elliott the Spy” (oh Golly) as if they aren’t all just prey in RuPaul’s Most Dangerous Game. Lest we forget that Elliott has cheated death twice already and instead of letting their poking rile her up she plays on Kandy’s paranoia. When Kandy expresses her excitement in finally being a Ru girl like her sisters, Elliott bluntly notes that historically queens related to past contestants haven’t faired well in the competition. Instantly frustrated by this valid counter-point, Kandy grumbles under her breath at the audacity of someone challenging her advanced wit and bless us all because a rivalry has begun!

We head to the blackbox runway for America’s Next Top Trauma where Ty-Ru Banks, Jan-chelle Dicken-sage, and Nigel Matthews are perched awaiting this year’s installment of the world’s tiniest fashion show which serves as much of a OMG-Yas-Queen showcase of fashion excellence as it does an ominous warning of what fashion storylines we’ll be bludgeoned over the head with. The trends this season are Olivia Lux’s Polly Pocket purses and whether we like it or not Tina the Heat Miser is going to is going to be dressed in a combination of orange, red, and yellow until every last VH1 viewer has fully gotten the pun in her name, taste be damned. As for the rest of our fashion darlings — GottMik and Symone are unpredictable couture shape-shifters who ace the showcase, confident Kandy shows that audacity is her strong suit, Elliott does decently but plays it safe, and Lala borders on mall fashion show.

Ru informs the queens they’ll be penning verses for and performing her catchphrase conduit Condragulations. Professional dancer Elliott proves her worth by stepping forward to save an otherwise unproductive rehearsal but things grind to a halt when it’s time to choreograph GottMik’s verse which begins “GottMik - was born a girl baby!” Mik (who later clarifies that she/her/hers pronouns are to be used in the drag context and he/him/his otherwise) instantly freezes and tells us in confessional that she hasn’t told her transition story to the group and didn’t consider the fact that this proclamation would be blaring loudly on the runway before she had the chance. The moment is clearly visceral for the usually unshakable Mik but the preoccupied group is mostly unaware and is more concerned as to why the now distracted Mik is unable to learn the routine.

It’s challenge day and the queens begin painting! Mik comes out as trans to a comforting Olivia while camera hogs Kandy and Tina continue to go full Red Scare on Elliott who they believe was sent back into the competition to spy on them... whatever that could possibly mean. When the topic turns to the competition almost everyone identifies the already well-established Mik as their biggest threat and I would have to agree.

We hit the Main Stage where director/ choreographer Jamal Sims joins the judges in an outfit that suggests he also moonlights as a matador. Condragulations goes off mostly without a snag and Lala, Tina, Kandy, and Elliott deliver the most confident verses, Olivia steals the fashion spotlight once again, and Kandy fumbles the choreography. The runway theme is Lamé You Stay and the judges favor Mik, Olivia, Symone, and Tina but still praise Lala, Kandy, and Elliott for an overall impressive week and Ru announces that Olivia and Symone are the top two and no one is in the bottom. They deliver synchronized, playful versions of Break My Heart by Dula Peep but it’s Symone who snatches the $5,000 tip making her our first big winner of the season!

That brings us to the end once again with a full cast but that can only mean one thing... poltergeist is getting that much hungrier! Next week our exiled queens from Pork Chop Island will return for their own premiere! Share the RuCrap if you enjoy and I’ll see you on the other side of the TV, Carol Anne!