#the show that rewrote television

[emeraldcitynerdfighter]

10 years ago, TV shows that were cancelled after 2, 12-to-23-episode seasons due to poor writing/production/audience reception.

Now they're cancelled despite raking in awards (from multiple organizations) for writing/production/acting/representation, have large & devoted fanbases (that are doing most of the promotion of the show), are the highest-viewed show on a network/streaming platform, only air for 6 or 8 episodes per season. And they're cancelled more than once, if not also wiped from the face of the earth.

Make it make sense.

[astranauticus]

btw now that ive gotten set me free out of my system womxnly by jolin tsai has become my new cpop translation white whale like not because the song itself is that impossible to translate but because i cannot think of any way for me to make a post about that song without getting completely sidetracked into a deranged rant about chinese pop culture's unceasing efforts to try and act as if that song's message about overcoming adversity and discrimination can be applicable to everyone and that it is not, in fact, explicitly a song about homophobic/transphobic violence

[theaviatorthatcouldnotfly]

honestly was season 2 even real. simon got told that he has daddy issues. we saw wille hold a gun to his cousins head. literal sixteen year olds were allowed to shoot guns for fun while being supervised by a guy who literally just turned eighteen. there was a fuckass ball where everyone dressed as 18th century nobles. wille got to kiss simon in a nobleman fit while simon’s rebound was literally twenty feet away. simon rewrote the school song to become a love song and truly thought he was being slick about it. sara briefly ventured into the world of pyromania. for some reason wille has a picture of august shirtless with yellow devil horns drawn on him. the rowing team engaged in a Very Serious rowing competition that was So Very Serious to the point that it was digital and not even on a lake. simon had a devastating argument with his ex while wearing nothing but a beyblade towel. the monarchy was shaking in its boots because simon did some karaoke. we learned that forest ridge has its own fucking song that everyone knows the words to?? wille came out to the entirety of sweden through a television broadcast. like what even was that did we all just have a mass hallucination because no way this is a real show

[corvidcrossbow]

~•♡•~ Total Eclipse Of The Heart

➳ Summary: You take Daryl to watch the 2017 solar eclipse (Daryl x GN!Reader)

➳ Setting: Southern Virginia, August 21st, 2017 (in the 6 year timeskip in season 9)

➳ Word count: 1.6k

➳ C/W: Nothing

➳ A/N: Simple thing cuz I hated Leah watching something as special as the eclipse w/ Daryl in the show cuz I DO NOT LIKE her ass so I rewrote it cuz I believe there's few things more bonding than watching an eclipse with someone. Whippin out the dad music reference on this one. (I am working on reqs! I just have training for my job which my boss very reassuringly dubbed “bootcamp” and health shit is beating my ass I need to call like 3 specialty clinics again um 🗿)

“Ya ever gon’ tell me where we goin'?”

“Nope. Almost there,” You replied, a cheeky grin on your face as you swiveled your head back to glance at Daryl who sat behind you on his motorcycle. You'd dragged him out of his guilt-ridden solitude in the forest and demanded he get on, saying you needed to show him something and would not be taking ‘nah’ for an answer. You'd been driving southwest for nearly two hours now, headed towards something specific.

Daryl had little sense of the date, having spent nearly the last 3 ½ years out in the woods, wrapped up in his search for Rick. You stayed with him from time to time, Carol checking in as well, but he was too stubborn to go home with either of you no matter how many times you urged it. Even if he knew the day, you weren't sure he'd even know why it was special.

You, however, had been tracking the calendar and lunar cycles, and kept one specific date and pattern in your mind for the last 7 years; August 21st, 2017. You remembered ages ago, reading on science forums and listening to programs on the television, that today, the paths of the moon and the sun would perfectly align and grace a total solar eclipse across the entirety of the United States.

Your lives were such shit in so many ways: flesh eating, rotting corpses snarling after you at every second, run in after run in with malicious and corrupt people and groups, the lack of food, water, shelter and security, so many people gone – and that didn't include everything from before the dead reawoke. And with Daryl unadmittably depressed after the bridge, you would've done anything to show him there were other things in life to focus on. To live for.

So you left Alexandria early in the morning, found Daryl's camp, and forced him to join you. At first he'd thought something godawful had once again disturbed the communities, so bad you couldn’t tell him. But when you started driving the opposite direction, he grew confused and repeatedly asked what was going on, yet you never gave him an answer. Still, he trusted it was important – trusted you – and let you lead him.

❥-》》—————➣

You pulled off the side of the road, powering down the engine and putting up the kickstand, sliding off and stepping to walk into the forest. You'd gone further down into Virginia, knowing that was closer to totality. It wouldn't be complete, but the distance made a difference. “Alright, c'mon.”

Daryl grabbed your wrist, tugging you back and catching your attention, his eyebrows narrowed. “Really? Tha hell's s’all this? Ya haul me'ah hundred miles away tah walk in tha damn forest?”

“Ya spend all your time in a forest anyway, Dixon.” His expression hardered a little, and you sighed. “Please just follow me. I promise you, it's worth it.”

He looked over the features of your face, judging the sentiment they conveyed, and after a moment let you go. You were already here, no point in going back now. As you spun back around, he begrudgingly trailed after you.

You scanned the environment as you went, stopping near an opening in the canopy of trees that gave view to the sky. You could tell by the slanting of shadows and the slightly abnormal shape of light above you that the process had already begun, all that was left was to observe. So you set your bag down and sat, motioning for Daryl to as well.

“Thi'sa picnic or sum?” He questioned, grunting a little as he unsurely slung his belongings off his shoulder to the ground and did the same, settling beside you.

“Could be, I do have some food.” He didn't seem amused. “But no, not a picnic. You know what the day is? Any idea why it's meaningful?”

“Ts'summer, kno’ tha’. M'ah supposed tah kno’?”

“Maybe, I don't expect you to. Here.” You twisted and opened your bag, reaching for a welding mask you'd brought along and passed it to him. “Look at the sun.”

The archer eyed the facial shield, then you, but listened and held it to his face before shifting his gaze up. He squinted, taking sight of the arc carving that ate into the historically circular form of the burning celestial body. And you explained; “It's August 21st… 2017.”

He had to think for a bit. “Tha eclipse?” He lowered the mask and peered back at you. Memories lodged deep in the layers of his mind sparked; learning about eclipses way back in highschool and hearing his teacher mention it, then the annular one in ‘94 and seeing pictures plastered all over the news where they discussed the future.

“Yeah, thought we should see it. It'll look better down here, not perfect, but still… and the lens on that is dark enough it shouldn't hurt our eyes,” You answered, taking your own look before laying back and using your bag as a pillow. It wasn't particularly comfortable, but that's roughly the last thing you cared about right now.

He couldn't help but just stare for a minute, studying how nonchalant you were about everything. How you'd so easily removed him from his rut when so many other attempts had failed, even with his cluelessness around your intentions – like some larger force took hold and finally willed him to break his destructive routine.

Daryl sprawled out next to you on the forest floor, trading the welding shield back and forth over the course of the next half hour, as well as a piece of paper to see the casted geometry. You both watched as more and more of the sun was etched away, taking mental images each time and comparing the new form to the old. It was mostly quiet, lost in similar awe but varying thoughts. You inched closer every time it was his turn, assuming he noticed but didn't point it out.

“Y'know… total solar eclipses are meant to be when the deities and energies fuse, just as the paths do. A window for opportunities and transformation… time for change,” You commented, recalling all people said about the symbolism of such an event. He gave an ‘Mm’, just so you knew he'd heard you, but paid more attention to the progression in the ethers.

The world around you began to rapidly darken, a sliver of orange glow visible in the makeshift glasses. Knowing it was close, you slid your left palm into his right, weaving fingers together, and he returned the hold, still remaining absorbed in the view.

The moon crossed over the sun – at least as best it would from your vantage point; golden rays illuminating around solid black. As Daryl's eyes locked on the sky, taking it all in, yours locked on him, choosing to watch him over a potentially once in a lifetime occurrence. He lowered the mask to briefly see it fully, now reaching for the sheet.

He looked at peace, maybe for the first time in his life: the constant storm of thoughts that persistently clouded his mind finally parting, even if for just a small moment. You witnessed the glitter of genuine emotion return to his blue's, something you'd feared was so long abandoned it may have been forgotten. Rich browns of his wavy hair glowed iridescent auburns when shimmers of sunlight peeked through the leaves, perfectly complementing everything about his being.

You knew you each needed that change.

“I love you.”

He took a second, making sure the sound of your voice was real and not crafted by his own imagination. His head turned, somewhat staggered to find your eyes already meeting his. It was impossible to rip away, your visions warping together as you seemed to merge, entranced by the little crescents that reflected on each other's irises. His free hand ditched the paper and reached over as he partly rolled to his side.

“For a long time.”

In fluid movements, Daryl's calloused fingers smoothed across the delicate skin on your cheek, leaning in and bringing you to him in a longing kiss. You didn't entirely expect it, although you didn't expect anything in particular at all, too unsure of how he'd react. But you pushed back against him, deepening the kiss and paying no thought to anything beside how it felt to finally overlap with him – till he broke away.

“I love ya too,” He mused, accent thickening in the confession. When you opened your mouth to continue, he shut you up with another peck and angled your face straight above. “Watch. M'not bein’ tha reason ya miss this.”

Words could wait, but the eclipse would not. So you obliged, cuddling closer to him and squeezing his hand as birds and insects sung in a concerned ensemble triggered by the daylight's disappearance.

The tranquility was eerie, a sensation mostly left in the rubble of society and replaced by prevalent chaos. You wondered if the feeling was shared elsewhere; at home with everyone in Alexandria, with survivors across the entire rest of the country. Maybe those who didn't know thought the holy spirit was returning to rescue your raptured souls. Did the walkers pause to look too? Everything so out of the ordinary it caught their attention?

But none of that mattered to you, because you had it here. And you basked in it with the one person you'd always hoped you would've.

©corvidcrossbow 2024. I do not give permission for my works to be copied, modified or adapted to other platforms. My work may be translated only if asked and with proof of given consent.

[perfumejamal]

friendly competition (m.l + h.l)

pairing: bf!mark lee x f!reader x haechan, (a bit of mark x haechan )

genre: smut w barely any plot !

warnings: slight mxm and mxf, blowjobs, spitting, gagging, oral, creampie, threesomes, haechan is dirtyyy, can this count as cheating? idk, i didn’t mention protection BUT stay safe y’all, mark is the bf and haechan is his bsf

a/n: hi yall… this was originally written as an aot fanfic but i rewrote it to be a mark and haechan fic instead! this is based off an audio i’ve heard, you can listen go it here(wear headphones)! hope you guys enjoy!!

+ special tag: @isseoisseo

your boyfriend was the cutest guy ever. you met him at a random party your friend had dragged you to. usually you didn’t go further than maybe a hook up, but mark was different. he was a sweetheart, and you couldn’t let such a good guy get away.

after being together for a few weeks, you realized just how close he was to his best friend and roommate, haechan. it didn’t bother you, but sometimes it’d make you feel awkward. there’d be times when you were trying to be alone with him, but somehow haechan would always be there. you thought of talking to mark about it, but went against it. instead you started bringing your best friend along as well, to lessen the awkwardness.

this weekend however, was different. she was on her way to a family gathering, and you couldn’t do anything to stop it. so here you are in your boyfriend’s apartment, with his boyfriend.

the three of you sat in the dimly lit room, illuminated by the flat screen television in their spacious living room. you snuggled up close to each other on one end, while haechan sat on the other end. you guys were watching a random movie on netflix, girls trip.

you had never watched it but it was very entertaining. the three of you had your eyes glued to the screen. you looked over at haechan who occasionally glanced towards you and mark.

you quickly looked back at the large screen when they started talking about blowjobs. one of the girls in the movie started performing a blowjob on a banana using a grapefruit.

you weren’t shy to sex scenes in movies or shows, but this one made you blush slightly. you knew it made mark feel some type of way as well since he kept shifting in his spot.

you smirked at him, “don’t you think i give the best blowjobs?” you whispered to him forgetting haechan was also next to you guys. mark nods immediately, his cheeks turning red. as you continued teasing him haechan started giggling.

you roll your eyes, “what’s so funny, haechan?” you weren’t actually mad, but you were confused as to what he was laughing about.

“oh nothing,” he chuckles.

“you think it’s funny that i give the best blowjobs?” you ask looking over to him.

“i do think it’s funny,” he starts. “well, i think it’s funny because i’m very, very confident in my oral sex skills.” you roll your eyes again. “not just on women,” he adds making your boyfriend’s ears perk up in anticipation.

“i’m more skilled than you,” you flash him your sweet smile.

“is that right?” haechan asks, a smile plastered across his face. he turned to mark, who was red and in shock at your argument. “does she?” he asks. “does she give the best blowjobs?” he asks once more, making sure to specify what his question was.

haechan continues to laugh, knowing that mark will say yes… if he’s smart. mark let out a low whisper of an answer, “yes she does,”

“see i win,” you stick up your middle finger to haechan earning an amused look from him.

“hm, i don’t know. i bet i can give a better blowjob than you,” he started again. “i just get the feeling,” he laughs. “i’m sure you’re good, i just know i can do better. how about we test it out?”

you give him a questioning look, “what are you trying to say?”

“i mean, your boyfriend knows how you suck him off. how about we let him judge, let me suck him off,” haechan says without budging and your jaw drops. he wants to suck mark’s dick?

you never thought about haechan wanting to do that to your boyfriend, but maybe that’s why he’s so close to him? or maybe he’s just very competitive… like you.

mark is very intrigued seeing this scene playing out in front of him. “oh you’re so on, lee.” you shifted your attention over to mark, “is this okay with you babe?”

marks burries his face into his hands in embarrassment. “y-yes,”

haechan gets up from his side of the couch, quickly scurrying towards mark. dropping down to his knees stopping right in front of his lap.

“be ready to lose, y/n.” haechan says with a smirk on his face, soft hair held back in a messy bun.

you scoff, “yeah sure,” kneeling next to haechan giving him enough space to get to work.

haechan chuckles again before pulling at the hem of your boyfriend’s sweatpants. your boyfriend’s dick seemed to already be hardening, i mean how could it not with such a beautiful sight. his best friend and girlfriend kneeling between his legs, competing to see who could do him better.

mark’s dick sprung up hitting his abdomen and he let out a sweet moan. haechan placed his pretty hands around it, “i knew you had a pretty dick, but damn is this a hot sight.” he said, making your boyfriend whimper. precum leaking from his rosy tip, seeing this just made you even more turned on than before.

haechan put his mouth around the tip, swirling his tongue around it. “fuck,” mark let out a dragged out moan. the whimpers your boyfriend kept letting out just worked haechan up even more, causing him to take him into his mouth whole, inch by inch.

your fingers traveled down between your legs, sneaking into your pajama shorts. your boyfriend’s moans always drive you to the edge.

haechan noticed and moaned into mark’s dick, the vibrations making him go crazy. haechan kept bobbing his head up and down mark’s length, spreading all his saliva on it making a mess. he let mark’s tip rest on the back of his throat. he used his hand to fondle with his balls, making mark’s head throw back and eyes roll.

haechan slipped mark’s cock out of his mouth and used his hands to continue with the pleasure. “i hope you’re taking notes, y/n,” he said as he continued to stroke mark but was making eye contact with you.

you were opening your mouth to reply with a rebuttal, but your body betrayed you and you let out a loud moan. “fuck, shut up, haechan.”

he smiled to you before turning back to put his mouth around mark’s pretty cock, gagging to add to the pleasure. he knew mark was about to come undone, like never before. “you gonna come for me, mark?” he asks batting his eyelashes up at mark.

“mhm, fuck, fuck, haechan you’re doing me so fu-fucking good, shit,” haechan smiled at the praise coming from his best friend’s mouth.

“i want that fucking come down my throat,” haechan said as he stroked his dick faster, before lowering his head once again. he keep moaning mhm’s down mark’s dick. “i can feel you getting close,”

“you like that? like when i suck your dick and play with your balls?” mark cried out broken moan as haechan fiddled with his sensitive balls, “f-fuck haechan, fuck!” mark thrusted his dick into haechan’s mouth, making him gag around it. he came, mark came hard. his moans were echoing around the who apartment. his thrusts slowed down as he spilled into haechan’s mouth.

haechan took every single last drop into his mouth, moaned as he stroked for every last bit of it. swallowing it with a smile on his face, sticking out his tongue to show he rid of it all.

haechan chuckled as he looked at both of you, mark’s head thrown aback with a fucked out look, and you sat there surprised at his skills. “what’s the matter y/n? cat got your tongue?”

“i’ve never seen mark like this after my blowjobs,” you looked at mark then haechan when you said this. noticing that his shorts has wet patches and his dick imprinting against the soft fabric. “hae, you got hard?”

mark chuckled from the couch still mind blown at what just happened. “how could i not be? this shit was hot.”

your face flushed, and crawled over to eren. your hands playing with his waistband. “hae, lemme test out my skills on you, yeah?” you asked looking up to meet his eyes. he nodded nervously eyes looking up at mark then down to your own.

you got into all fours, lowering your head to his lap taking off his shorts and underwear. leaving him only with a white t-shirt, that exposed his soft muscles.

your hands worked their way around his hard cock, spitting on it, mixing his precum with it to make it easier for your hands to work around it. he was giving you filthy looks as a moan escapes his pretty mouth.

mark got up from the couch and walked behind you. lowering down to your ass which was in the air, moving side to side as you bobbed your head along haechan’s length.

mark’s veiny hands worked around your ass, delivering a sharp smack on your cheek making you choke on haechan’s dick. mark chuckled at your reaction as his hands moved between your legs, using the slick of your folds to rub up against you.

you were moaning against haechan’s making his hands travel to your cheek, wiping the tears falling from your watery eyes. “fuck, y/n, if you keep making that face,” haechan started. “you gonna make me fuck your pretty face,”

mark looked over to haechan as his fingers entered your tight cunt, “i think she want you to, haechan, her pussy is tightening around me.”

haechan chuckled, “y/n is that true? you want me to fuck your pretty face, huh?” you nodded your head eagerly, and haechan wasted no time to start thrusting into your face roughly.

“fuck, y/n,” mark and haechan both let out loud moans. mark slid his dick into your pussy, you swallowed him whole.

mark’s hands held onto your hips and he bucked his own into yours. “shit, i’m close y/n,” haechan moaned his voice breaking out from the immense pleasure. not only because of your mouth, but the fact that your boyfriend is fucking you while you’re sucking him off is making lightheaded.

a few more thrusts from haechan and he was spilling into your mouth, his cum dripping out the sides of your mouth and your eyes watering. “swallow it all, y/n.” mark said and haechan slowly slid his dick from your mouth and you complied, swallowing it all.

haechan stroked your cheeks telling you to open your mouth and show him, and you stuck out your tongue showing you did as mark told. “fuck, good girl.”

mark sat back down on the floor, pulling you to sit on top of him. now you’re riding him, while haechan watches it. this sight making him almost come undone again. haechan hands sneaked down to your clit and started rubbing circles to make you cum. his lips met yours and he placed a sloppy kiss on your numb lips. this made your boyfriend come and he spilled into your tight cunt, moaning loudly as he did so.

haechan pulled away from you, a trail of saliva following as his mouth headed to mark’s. he placed a sloppy kiss on mark as you threw you head back, feeling haechan’s cock growing inside of you as his cum felt warm against your insides.

“wanna fuck her? fuck my cum back into her,” mark said the last part as a demand, not a question. you whimpered at the thought and haechan pulled you towards him. laying you on your back.

the cum was starting to ooze out your pussy, making both boys hard again. fuck, this was gonna be a long night.

mark’s eyes were lost in lust, they sparkled as he saw his best friend’s dick enter your cunt. amazed as to how quick you swallow him whole. you were a blabbering mess, “a-ah please, h-hae! youre f-fucking me so…”

haechan’s thrusts were sloppy and fast. like he was in heat. he fucked you like his life depended on it, and mark’s attack to your sensitive clit didn’t make it any easier. “youre so fucking good, taking him like a slut,” mark chuckled.

he walked behind haechan and wrapped his arms around him. making you moan out as your boyfriend grabbed his jaw, turning haechan’s face to meet his own and making out with him.

haechan’s thrusts continued, sloppy and fast making your head spin. mark’s hands worked down haechan’s abs and stopped at your clit once again, going in circles. “a-h mar-rk, haechan fuck!” you cried out as they continued to make out.

haechan spilled into your pussy, his cum getting fucked into your cunt along with mark’s. his dick slid out and he moaned as the cum started oozing out.

mark’s face met your dripping cunt, “i wanna taste you on her haechan,” his tongue licked along your core and cried out at the change in temperature. he licked your pussy clean of haechan’s cum. haechan lowered down next to him they both licked at your core like they were thirsty.

“pl-please, ‘s too much!” you cried and they laughed. you felt like you’re gonna explode any time now.

once they finished cleaning you up they got up from they previous position. mark placed a kiss on your swollen lips, “you were great for us baby,” and you nodded as your eyes were closing from your tired, fucked out state.

[ineffable-rohese]

Happy anniversary to the 6 hours of television that completely rewrote my brain. Since then, I've:

Written about 100,000 words of fiction, when I hadn't written any in about 15 years

Realized that I both really need to be creative to be fulfilled, and that I'm actually a pretty good writer

Connected with fandom and remembered how joyous and brilliant it can be for the first time in 20+ years

Made actual plans to fly across a continent to meet up with fellow fans-turned-friends, because I'm a goddamn adult with vacation time now

Allowed myself to be caught up in the ludicrous ups and downs this fandom has had over the past year, which has definitely had its extremely painful moments, but it's genuinely good for me to experience emotional engagement again.

Good Omens had been a joy and a comfort in my life for nearly 25 years, since a wise college roommate shoved the book into my hands and said I needed to read it. Season 1 of the show literally got me through the hardest day of my life, after which I spent a couple of years just surviving. Season 2 found the little sparks of actual life that had been coming back, that I had been frantically blowing on to no avail, and like a bellows, fanned them up into a full blaze.

I'm so grateful to be here, and so grateful to everyone who has made "here" a wonderful, welcoming place.

[oldshowbiz]

"Minsky was the name epitomizing burlesque, which stood for vulgarity and tastelessness. Although in my opinion, Mr. Minsky got an undeserved rap. Some burlesque sketches, tested and perfected through thousands of performances, actually influenced much of television comedy, including Your Show of Shows. We rewrote some classic burlesque sketches, lifted others verbatim."

- comedy writer Mel Tolkin

[mikami]

Apologies if this has been asked before but would you regard the anime as a weak adaptation, considering how much vital stuff is just cut out and not explored as much as the manga and with all the extra/changed themes and subtext?

I find it interesting how for some reason it is just considered the definitive version of DN for so many people that it's just common opinion that everything after the timeskip is trash and Mello and Near are bad characters when like ... just read the manga it is objectively better (aside from the music made for the show)

HMMM, tough question.

It's no secret that I don't really find the anime worth discussing when it comes to meta of the series, but I'll also freely acknowledge that "writing super in-depth essays about it" is not actually what most people want out of the stories they read or watch.

I think a successful adaptation needs to properly translate the story to a new medium while also making it engaging to watch in that medium.

In that sense, I think the first arc of the Death Note anime is a very good adaptation!

Death Note is a super text-heavy series and in the face of that, the anime made the right call to cut basically every dialogue in half. The anime is still wordy but it's watchable, and the directing and music manage to make 'people sitting in rooms and rambling' really entertaining. I think condensing the story that way was the biggest challenge in adapting Death Note for television and the first arc did it perfectly. The mystery and think-along aspect is preserved, but it's streamlined for easier watching. It works!

Episode 25 is... a big change and one that I personally hate, but I do see why they rewrote L's character to be more sentimental. They felt they had to evoke more emotions than just 'shock' and they went hard on it in a way that people clearly liked.

It makes manga!L and anime!L vastly different characters, but I'll let it fly under 'adaptational differences'....

The second arc is a bad adaptation.

The streamlining in the first arc is masterfully done so you can still follow along with the logic. The second arc is cut to pieces so thoroughly that there is no way for the viewer to follow character's reasoning - thus cutting out the biggest appeal to Death Note as a whole show.

Everything feels dumb and sudden in the second arc of the anime! Because it is! IT'S SO DUMB IN THE ANIME...

It feels like the anime staff expected from the get-go that the second arc wouldn't be popular without L, thus they allotted less time for it. And then by allotting less time for it, they set it up to fail in a self-fulfilling prophecy. That's just my speculation though...

[consistentlycasuallycombusting]

TW/ SH/DV/manipulation

The Johnny Depp vs. Amber Heard thing is really saddening because it turns out if you actually go back and read through the original court documents it’s really clear he abused her. He was decades older than her, he initiated contact first, he made her and several of her loved ones dependent on him through property, he was an addict, he had a history of violence, none of his exes like him, he was very misogynistic. Like if you read 2011 therapy notes of hers online it’s easy to see that she really did have the “I can fix him mindset” and if you listen to the ORIGINAL recordings in context like the SH one or one where she says that he has more of a responsibility during fights it’s clear she’s trying to be reasonable and is terrified. Then later even the therapist HE hired for HER so by his own worlds she could be controlled admits she was trying to reason with him and that he gets violent when drinking, he hits her, etc. The fact that in the defamation case she couldn’t have her own therapy notes, it was in an impossible spot, and his team tried to diagnose her with histrionics which is debatable as a real disorder after a few hours of questioning is just insane. That whole thing was such a shit show. And the courts ruled with amber when the whole thing wasn’t televised for public bias, he broke the NDA first and she said that she was a public figure representing abuse. The one sentence she gave a) wasn’t false legally she was a victim and b) was nearly as awful as the statement Johnny gave to her. Even the scene where they try to act like she cheated charities so gross because we have correspondence saying she’ll get the charities the money after the cases, and was paying them out over a number of years, her getting sued prevented that, the fact that that was turned on her is sickening, and that Johnny rewrote his own case of childhood abuse for the cameras. Or that 2/3rds of his witnesses had been or were on his payroll. Ridiculous, a lot of it misconstrued it online so please research on your own if you do have more interest, whichever side your on

[justforbooks]

Dickey Betts

Guitarist, singer and founding member of the Allman Brothers Band best known for writing their 1973 hit Ramblin’ Man

Dickey Betts, who has died aged 80, was a founder member of the Allman Brothers Band, one of the most influential US “southern rock” groups of the 1970s. The hard-living outfit blazed out of Jacksonville, Florida, in 1969 with a mix of rock, blues, country and jazz that defined the genre, also influencing artists such as Lynyrd Skynyrd, ZZ Top, the Black Crowes and Kid Rock. They scored several platinum and gold albums and were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

Although the six-piece band was ostensibly led by the blond- haired Allman brothers, Duane and Gregg (guitar and keyboards/vocals respectively), as joint lead guitarist, singer and main songwriter Betts played a crucial role. A larger than life character with his cowboy hats, long moustache and gunslinger good looks, Betts wrote many of the band’s best loved songs, including Jessica, Blue Sky and the 1973 US No 2 smash Ramblin’ Man, inspired by life on the road.

The signature duelling of Betts’s and Duane Allman’s lead guitars rewrote the rule book of how twin guitarists play together - previously one had played lead and the other rhythm. The band’s huge fanbase included President Jimmy Carter, and in 2020 Betts even received the rare accolade of a mention in a Bob Dylan song, when Murder Most Foul contained the line “Play Oscar Peterson, play Stan Getz/Play Blue Sky, play Dickey Betts.”

He was also the inspiration for the rock star character played by Billy Crudup in the former rock journalist Cameron Crowe’s film Almost Famous (2000), the director having been drawn to Betts’s aura of “possible danger and playful recklessness behind his eyes”.

Betts was born in West Palm Beach, Florida, one of the three children of Harold, a carpenter, and his wife, Sarah (nee Brinson), who wrote poetry and played the cornet in a Salvation Army band. Although his father was also a keen fiddler, Dickey’s first instrument was the ukelele, which he started playing aged five, later graduating to the mandolin and the banjo.

He was at West Gate elementary school when he wrote his first song, Seven Years With Pamela, about his sister. He then attended various West Palm Beach schools until seventh grade, dropping out of high school when he was 16, by which time his pursuits included carpentry, hunting and listening to the Grand Ole Opry on the family radio.

Hearing Chuck Berry’s Maybellene in his mid-teens prompted another switch of instrument, as he “started realising that girls like guitars”. He dropped out of high school aged 16 to tour the US with a travelling circus in his first band, the Swinging Saints, but was playing in Second Coming with the bassist Berry Oakley when Duane Allman invited both men to join his new group.

The lineup was completed by the drummer Butch Trucks and – unusually in white-dominated 60s southern rock - a black second drummer, James Lee Johnson, who had previously played with Otis Redding and Percy Sledge.

Although sales of their first two albums were sluggish, Duane Allman’s appearance on Eric Clapton’s 1970 album Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs – which included the classic hit Layla – boosted the heavy-touring Allman Brothers Band’s rising profile. Their 1971 live album At Fillmore East sold 1m copies.

After Duane Allman and Oakley were killed in motorcycle accidents in 1971 and 1972 respectively, Betts led a rejigged lineup. The 1973 album Brothers and Sisters – featuring Ramblin’ Man and the instrumental Jessica, later the theme to the television motoring show Top Gear – topped the US charts for five weeks, while 1975’s Win, Lose Or Draw went into the Top five. By then the band were succumbing to a familiar music industry cocktail of success, drugs, alcohol and feuding.

Betts and Gregg Allman both made solo albums, before Betts felt betrayed when the latter testified against the band’s road manager in a 1976 drugs case and refused to work with him again. Nevertheless, they regrouped in 1978, splitting again in 1982.

A second comeback in 1989 proved more enduring, although in 2000 Betts was fired over his drinking. That third spell in the band had been dogged by alcohol and drug abuse, lawsuits and arrests, and in 1996 he was charged with aggravated domestic assault after pointing a handgun at his fifth wife, Donna (nee Stearns), whom he had married in 1989. The charges were dropped after Betts agreed to enter rehab.

In his later years he returned with his own Dickey Betts Band and played in the band Great Southern with his son Duane. True to his ramblin’ man credentials, he remained on the road to the last, even after brain surgery following a 2018 fall at home, and he released live albums well into his 70s.

He is survived by Donna and his children, Kimberly, Christy, Jessica and Duane.

🔔 Forrest Richard Betts, musician, singer and songwriter, born 12 December 1943; died 18 April 2024

Daily inspiration. Discover more photos at Just for Books…?

[saintmeghanmarkle]

Netflix is seriously considering doing a series like "The Crown" on Harry. by u/hammer1956

Netflix is seriously considering doing a series like "The Crown" on Harry. Neil Sean says:Netflix is coming to the end of The Crown. The company behind The Crown haven't ruled out delving into Prince Harry's book Spare. They don't need his permission, it's in the public domain.According to that well placed source they are looking at it seriously because whether Harry and Megan get on board themselves they don't need them.They've got that story and as we saw in the crown they clearly have no respect for Harry because of the way they've portrayed him as this sort of sniveling snitch of a brother to his elder brother the Prince of Wales.The bottom line is they don't care. People will find fascinating the stuff in the Army, the meeting of Meghan. The book is yet to be bought by any major studio or television drama, but as we saw with Peter Morgan before he literally delved into any facet of royal life and rewrote his in a form that he felt was sort of palatable to a worldwide audience and that's a similar thing now that he could do.Or Netflix could commission someone to do it with Harry and there's simply nothing he could do. They don't have to call it spare they don't even need to call him Prince Harry. They can call it Harry's story that's how show business works. Harry signed on with Netflix and they didn't get their money's worth and now they're plundering and wondering exactly how will they get their money back and Harry could have literally given them the script to work with. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5z0_OQYZ18 post link: https://ift.tt/DECdbt6 author: hammer1956 submitted: December 27, 2023 at 08:57AM via SaintMeghanMarkle on Reddit

[romnianistan]

this is truly one of the best scenes of ABC's LOST (2004-2010). the acting. the way mib!locke says "it's the door to the hatch, where you and i first met" with such tenderness (why????), their character dynamic, the way ben's theme starts playing as he explains one of the most compelling plot point of season 3, the way this season has been rewriting the book of job and this is now all culminating in that one sentence spoken by mib!locke: "despite your loyal service to this island, you got cancer. you had to watch your own daughter gunned down right in front of you. and your reward for those sacrifices? you were banished. and you did all this in the name of a man you didn't even met. so the question is, ben, why wouldn't you want to quit jacob?"

now i know we all make fun of LOST for being so catholic, and rightly so, because it didn't need to be that catholic. however the way they rewrote a whole book from the bible and this provided one of the best storylines in the history of television is truly a masterpiece. the original story of Job is that of a man who is healthy, wealthy, has a loving wife, loving children, who is loved by God and knows he is loved by God. his love for God doesn't vanish once all of this is taken away from him. Ben's story is the exact opposite of that. maybe the difference lies in the very different background of those two characters. Ben didn't come from money or from a loving family. All he managed to get - his daughter Alex, his standing as the leader of the Others - he got them by sacrificing all that he knew. He killed his dad and committed a genocide against his own people to get them. I think Ben has a sense of entitlement that goes deeper than Job's. I think Ben felt entitled to rewards because he did sacrifice way more than Job ever did to get all he got. I think Ben is a much more realistic character than Job on that front. Ben is a 21st century man, who thinks he is entitled to other people's respect, and especially so to women's respect (see how he treats Alex and Juliet as if they were his property, manipulating them, sequestering them, emotionally abusing them).

now for an aside: i love that in a TV show about authority and how your childhood, and esp your relation to your parents shape who you become as an adult, Benjamin is the one set to kill Jacob when, in the Bible, Benjamin is Jacob's (youngest) son

lost season 5 i wish i knew how to quit you...

[believerindaydreams]

@lurking-latinist

"The Town That Was Mad" is a Dylan Thomas play about a small village in Wales that's put on trial by the outside world for being completely insane, in rather the same vein as "Trial of a Time Lord"; only the basic joke is that all the nice, cruel, silly, sinning human people in it are sane and it's the entire rest of the world, trying to dictate absolute standards of What Is Correct Behaviour, that's mad really.

It also doesn't exist; the play rewrote itself over the course of his life into "Under Milkwood", where the village is tucked in a safe, cosy corner of a mythical Wales, and nobody's ever questioned their right to exist, and they're allowed to just be. To live their lives. To be happy, without having to agonizingly justify their right to existence any longer.

That the narrator of the story, who starts off in TTWM trying to justify this town's existence by telling its story, and ends by being able to live and breathe in Under Milkwood, is identifable with Dylan is an axiom, because the play had an explicit narrator and he played it.

And Rusty's from Swansea, same as Dylan, so he knows perfectly well what's he's doing when he's invoking this very particular notion of a world gone mad, and a narrative that's rewriting itself to be kinder as it goes along, and a Doctor who begins with his story he thought was settled only to find that he's started rewriting it himself, and who ends by finally internalising the notion, after sixty years, that he's allowed to stop justifying his existence and just- be. Have human urges. Drink orange squash. Be looked after. Be happy.

So it's the sort of story you'd come up with, if you're Welsh, and you're grieving, and you also happen to be in charge of a science fiction television show that explicitly gives you the power to rewrite narratives within the internal logic of the show.

It's a story about stories.

It's a story about hiraeth.

It's a story about this meddler who upsets settled narratives; and I've been dealing with the same thing because I've spent this autumn here, trying to write a novel about somebody else entirely, and this fucker with the initials DT barged in and started rewriting it to be kinder without bothering to ask my permission.

The village in Milkwood has a reversed name, the forward version of which is an amusing swear.

And if you reverse Dylan Thomas' initials-

well-

bet you five pound that somebody with the initials RTD has thought up this joke long since.

[techza]

The house is quiet when Phil enters. At this time Techno is usually making dinner. Today he's in his study, hunched over in front of the computer screen and rubbing his temples.

In front of him lies an empty word document. Phil grimaces.

"Hey." Phil hovers near the door. "You good?"

"I saved it." His voice is muffled between his hands. "It crashed."

It's a takeout day, then.

Techno joins him on the couch a few hours later. Phil sits on usual his side, scrolling through endless channels of trash television. Techno all but flops down beside him, scooting closer to lay his head on Phil's lap.

"Get some more work done?" Phil hands Techno a slice of pizza.

"Wouldn't say it "more"." Techno bites the tip before taking it out of Phil's hold. "I rewrote more or less the same of what I had before, so I guess that's somethin'." Phil ends his channel hopping to grab a piece for himself.

"How was your day?" Techno asks, shooing Steve's curious snout away with his spare hand.

" 'Bout the same as yours." Phil shrugs, gently scratching Techno's scalp. Techno makes a soft sound, leaning into the touch. "Don't really wanna think about it."

They continue eating in silence, with only the sound of dramatic music and angry an angry landlord complaining about the sorry state of his house filling the room. The dogs eventually get tired of begging and move away, at which point Rosie jumps on the couch to try her luck. She sniffs at Techno's hand searching for cheese, and when she's denied it, she lies down on his stomach.

"This show sucks." Techno grumbles, scratching behind Rosie's ear. Phil chuckles.

"It's awful. Bluey time?"

"Bluey time."

[hannibal-film-school]

What is cinematography? Hannibal edition

We know Hannibal often gets cited for its beautiful cinematography. But what does that mean, exactly?

If we talk about the cinematography of an episode, we're talking about the decisions that went into making each shot and scene and episode look just right. It's helpful to remember that at its most basic level, film (or television) is just about using some sort of camera equipment to photograph light. And when you do that, there are a ton of variables affecting the way that recorded light is going to look when you play it back.

Hannibal gets it.

Cinematography means: "We've got these amazing actors performing this great story in this scenic location, now how do we light and photograph all this stuff so that it looks exactly the way we want?"

And this is super important, because of course, the way a scene or shot looks is going to deeply affect what it makes us think and feel.

Elements of cinematography:

Lighting

Types of cameras and lenses, and how you use them

Shot distance (how close you place the camera for each shot)

Shot composition (figuring out where to place everything in each shot, including actors)

Use of color, brightness, shadow, contrast (very important in a "dark" show like this)

Camera movement

Camera angles

Depth of focus (do we want to clearly see everything that's in the shot? or do we want to have things in focus and others out of focus? should the focus change during the shot or stay the same?)

So really, when we say that a show has beautiful cinematography, we more or less mean that the way it's shot is beautiful, striking, evocative. We can tell that someone didn't just throw on some basic flat network procedural lighting and shoot from all the conventional angles. They put thought and style into it.

What does a cinematographer actually do?

The cinematographer is also called the director of photography (DP). They work closely with the director, workshopping their vision with them. They're in charge of both the camera crew and the lighting crew, deciding what they should do to make every scene look exactly the way it should. They read the script ahead of time, and they visit sets and locations before shooting to plan how they're going to tackle the look of each scene.

Director of photography might sound like kind of a secondary position, but not really! It's incredibly important. Hannibal had the same cinematographer, James Hawkinson, working on almost every single episode. This isn't always the case in television, so I think we're very lucky that he was such a consistent part of the artistic process.

Hawkinson dropping that DP wisdom in the season 2 DVD extras.

Check out this interview, in which Bryan Fuller explains how when he saw Hawkinson's cinematography in action, he changed his whole approach to writing the series:

Hawkinson’s cinematography helped elevate the network show into one of the most visually exciting series ever produced for any platform. [...] Bryan Fuller and his staff had written five episodes that tried to toe the tricky line between Thomas Harris’ Hannibal Lecter novels and the structured storytelling of a network investigative procedural. “I remember leaving the edit session where we’d seen the first cut [of the pilot] and I was like, ‘We’re doing the wrong show,” said Fuller in an interview with IndieWire. “When I saw David Slade and Jim Hawkinson’s work, and really understood the artful piece that they were able to conjure for what we had, I threw out the scripts.” 

I mean, this says a lot, right? Fuller is saying that he completely rewrote the beginning of the first season, in part because Hawkinson's photography on the pilot made him realize they had the chance to reach for something deeper, something more artistic than he'd thought possible.

Gorgeous moody lighting and photography from the very first episode.

With new directors working on the show from week to week, and Hawkinson needing to work closely with each of them, it became part of his job to make sure they were on the right wavelength with show's vision. He talked in this interview about how he would sometimes need to "check" guest directors if their ideas didn't quite fit the Hannibal style:

There's times where I've been asked to do shots that I didn't feel were the show. And as the director of photography, keeping the aesthetics consistent from director to director, I have to protect and justify the aesthetics of the show. So that's kind of a torch that I kind of just bear, whatever director comes in. [...] Say someone has a vision of a dead person and I'll be asked by a guest director to put smoke and backlight. And I'll argue that ... as soon as you do it becomes hokey and it becomes a B-movie and it's cliché. So the horror in Hannibal is more based in some sort of reality. Yes it's heightened but ... there's nothing fantastical about it.

We can see here that Hawkinson knew the visual language of Hannibal inside and out, and he played a key part in keeping it so consistent and distinctive. The show became known for its evocative color palette, thoughtful shot compositions, and use of light and shadow -- all elements of cinematography. And as Hawkinson said, it was always important that the violence and death at the center of the show was photographed artistically, emotionally... even beautifully.

A horror image becomes moving and mysterious through cinematography.

Imagine how different this shot could have felt with a different quality of light. Or if we were looking from a different angle, or distance. Cinematography is all about making sure those elements are perfectly positioned, as much as possible, so that we see the show just the way its creative team hoped we would.

[the-eclectic-wonderer]

another anecdote she gave "I'm first and foremost, very candidly and obviously, a Bea Arthur fan. I was a fan of hers from the theater in New York. I took her very seriously as an actress and I was aware of her performances outside of television, and I was- I was just an acolyte. I just thought she was wonderful, and because she was a dark, tall, beautiful-- and an intelligent, forceful woman who really broke down just every ceiling in the world - there was nobody like her in show business who wasn't the butt of the joke. instead she MADE the jokes and the big moments. as a woman who wasn't considered traditionally attractive or traditionally feminine, to get that kind of respect and admiration and attention it - it made it possible for you to possibly believe that there could be a place for you in the business when she broke down doors. So I was always interested in what she was doing." she read for a daughter part but told her friend "this is totally generic, I can't do these lines. this isn't Bea" and he said "just do it like Bea would" so she went in and did it like Bea and they called her next day and said they were writing something special for her. "I worked very hard on studying her and internalizing her as much I could." "I wanted it very badly, because you know when you're a fan of somebody and you just-- it meant so much to me because I was such a fan of hers. That I got to be in her presence. I got to sit next to her when we were getting out makeup done and talk to her about her career."

Anon I could just about kiss you honestly. This is a goldmine.

I'm so far removed from traditional beauty standards that the idea Bea could be considered unattractive is so foreign to me, even in Golden Girls. I see her like Lynnie describes here -- tall, dark, beautiful, intelligent, forceful; I can't help but admire her!! But Lynnie's absolutely right -- I get to see her in that way because she herself broke all the ceilings that stood before her. It's easy to say that she was a legend, but anecdotes like this really make you appreciate just how revolutionary she was, how much she changed the game. We're truly lucky to live in a time and place where we get to admire her work!!

And Lynnie is incredible too -- the fact that she read the lines and immediately clocked them as something that wouldn't fit Bea? And then she read them as Bea anyway? And she did it so well that they rewrote the part of young!Dorothy specifically for her?? Honestly, let me give a special shout-out to Dorothy as a character because she's just so awesome she was especially written for two incredible actresses -- but apart from that, wow. The sheer talent! The love and diligence she put in this part! I'm in awe!!

I am so happy she got to work with Bea and interact with her. She sounds like she has a true (and very relatable!!) devotion for her and I really don't think they could have picked anyone better for the part of young!Dorothy. What a champ.