#turner home entertainment

[joethetoonfanandoutcast]

False Rudolph VHS spines

Here are some false edited versions of the Rudolph movie VHS spines if they were released by Sony, Fox, Universal and Warner/Turner.

[reminiscingtonight]

Call Ups

Millie Turner x Reader

Word Count: 1k

[WOSO Masterlist]

It’s quiet when she gets home.

Millie hadn’t wanted to go out. But a combination of her sudden lack of necessities and your pestering had her driving to the nearby store minutes after she returned home from London. You hadn’t even let her in the house, simply scooping her bag off her shoulder before ushering her out. Millie would have been more offended if she hadn’t really needed to take the trip. Leave it to the girls to finish up the last of her shampoo after the game today, leaving Millie scrambling to replenish her stash before driving out to St. George’s in two day’s time.

The call up took her off guard. Leah obviously sat out the match against United earlier today, but Millie hadn’t known the severity of her injury or the caution that would be exuded until Sarina called when the bus was already on the way back to Manchester.

Millie’s nose twitches, the familiar smell of her favorite meal wafting towards her. She toes off her shoes, taking a pit stop to throw the bottle into her bag before making her way towards the dining room. 

The entire time Millie’s expecting you to jump out a corner, congratulate her, kiss her, or really anything at all. But the house is suspiciously quiet and you’re nowhere to be seen. 

When she rounds the corner, however, it’s a whole different story.

She doesn’t even get to take two steps into the dining room. 

“Congratulations!”

You’re beaming, smiling cheek to cheek, party hat sat slightly askew on your head. In your hand is a tiny cupcake, a crudely frosted football drawn on top. Behind you Millie can see the full course meal you’ve prepared for her, everything so thoughtful and pure down to the candles on the table and the roses set in the middle.

It’s clear you’ve been preparing this since Millie texted you about her sudden call up. 

You always do your best to attend her games, but it’s beyond ridiculous for her to expect you to drop everything to travel three hours just to watch her play. She didn’t even entertain the idea, sweetly kissing away the frown on your face when you had tried to work out the logistics of rushing after your morning shift to the game last night when you guys were in bed. It took a bit of convincing, but you finally agreed to just watching her on the TV this afternoon. 

There’s no mistaking the warm feeling that spreads in her chest at the effort you’ve gone through to make her call up special.

“You’re a goof. You didn’t have to do this.” Millie plucks the cupcake out of your hand, swiping her finger through the frosting to get a tiny taste of the sugar. 

You roll your eyes, ignoring the urge to tell her off for being so unsanitary. “It’s not every day your superstar girlfriend gets called up to represent the country’s football team.”

“I’m probably not even going to play. I’m only going because they need someone to replace Leah.”

“Don’t say that,” you scold. 

When Millie continues to avoid your eyes you sigh. Taking a step closer to her, you take the cupcake right out of her hands, placing it down on the table before pulling Millie’s face between both of your hands. 

“You are an exceptional football player.”

“I’m not that good.”

“Repeat after me.”

Millie pulls a face.

“Repeat after me,” you say again, raising an eyebrow up in challenge.

It’s clear that she’s not getting out of this until she does as you say. You can be stubborn when you put your mind to something. Millie sighs. “Fine.”

It’s cute the way your face instantly lights up when she agrees. 

“You are an exceptional football player. You’ve worked hard. You deserve this call up.”

Millie flushes red, mouth awkwardly flattening at your words of praise.

“Millie,” you huff. “Say it.”

“I’m an exceptional football player,” she mutters, avoiding all eye contact. Millie winces when you poke her cheek when she fails to continue. 

“I’ve worked hard.”

“And?” you prompt, turning Millie to face you again when she attempts to get out of your grip.

She sighs, knowing you’re not going to give up until she does as you ask. “I deserve this call up.”

“Yes you do.” Grinning, you reward her by pecking lightly at her lips. 

Millie can’t help but smile when you pull away. You always seem to have this sort of effect on her.

“My girlfriend’s a kickass football player who’s going to wow everyone at camp. You’re going to show Sarina exactly why you deserve to be called up every international break.”

“Stop,” Millie whines, blushing again at your compliments. 

You wave away her embarrassment, simply ushering her into her seat instead. 

It isn’t until later that night, after the meal has been finished, after you’ve properly congratulated your girlfriend that you give her your second surprise. 

You’re busy getting comfortable in Millie’s arms when you suddenly raise your head. 

Millie instantly notices the mischievous glint in your eyes. 

“Babe, I’m a professional athlete and all that but I don’t think I could go for another round.”

You roll your eyes, taking advantage of her exposed skin to pinch at her side. Millie squirms but she can’t quite break out of your hold.

“Get your head out of the gutter, Turner.”

“I can tell you’re scheming!” she defends.

“If by scheming you mean graciously changing my flights, then you’d be correct.”

Millie blinks, mouth suddenly running dry. “You… what?”

The two of you had planned to go somewhere nice and sunny over the international break, making use of her time off during the season. Obviously that was no longer going to happen with her set to wear the Lionesses crest in the coming days. But you couldn’t possibly mean…

You give her a sly smirk. “I heard Spain’s nice this time of year. And I do happen to have the next two weeks off.”

You’re not able to stop the squeal that escapes your mouth when Millie engulfs you in the tightest hug she can give.

[writingsofwesteros]

Callum Turner as Baelon, except he is the only child of Daemon and Rhea. Daemon has ignored his son his whole life, never wishing to know anything about him until the time comes to find an army for Rhaenyra. He goes to Runestone before Harrenhal to see his son, and as he flies close to the castle he sees a giant dragon flying above. His wife had said Baelon had a dragon, but nothing had ever been heard about it - the dragon is much bigger than Caraxes and almost as large as Vhagar. Daemon realises he’ll have to play nice to get his son on his side now, for they desperately need a dragon of this size.

Daemon waits in the great hall of Runestone for his son to appear. He’s taking in the decorations lazily and watching the servants file in when he hears a childish squeal from the hall. It’s not a moment later that a small boy with silver Targaryen hair runs into the hall, giggling as he runs towards Baelon’s chair, little limbs climbing up to take a firm seat. He can’t be more than three, and he looks every inch the Targaryen. Daemon watches bewildered as the servants begin to giggle at the boy, until his eyes fall on the figure running through the door. A woman rushes towards the boy, dark long hair flowing loosely to her shapely hips. The prince can’t look away from the woman, never having seen beauty like hers before. He’d always been attracted to Valyrian women, but now, he feels his cock stir at the sight of her creamy skin and big doe eyes, her features reminiscent of fairytales. She crouches down at the foot of the chair, talking softly to the boy. Daemon can hear her gentle voice if he strains,

“Aenar, you know we will have a guest today. You want to be good for your father - don’t you?”

The little boy - Aenar- nods at the woman Daemon presumes is his mother, and soon reaches his arms out to be picked up. She smiles as she lifts the boy into her arms and Daemon has to restrain himself. She looks like the mother herself, a figure for worship and devotion. He watches as the golden gown she wears flattens out and a large swell appears from under her gown, the girl heavily pregnant. It makes sense to him why she took so long to reach the boy now.

Daemon grins as the woman finally lays her eyes on him, his eyes looking at her appreciatively. She’s stunned and begins apologising to him, only for him to approach her cockily. He smirks as she tries to curtsy though her belly does not allow it, and offers her a hand to help her up. Just as he begins to ask her name, Daemon hears the doors to the hall open.

“Hmm, hello father,” Baelon states monotonously, his eyes staring boredly at the man in his home. He moves over to the woman and the boy in her arms, placing a hand on her lower back possessively. “I see you’ve met my family.”

Daemon can only chuckle to himself - of course he found his son’s wife attractive. At least she will provide entertainment whilst he deals with his bore of a son.

!!!!!!!!

Daemon is just delicious !!

Aenar is just watching this interaction with a fist full of his mother's hair before snuggling into her neck out of boredom. His little face does light up at the sight of his father and he tries to wiggle out of his mother's embrace; but has no such luck.

Baelon pressed a soft kiss to his wife's jaw before those bright eyes of his locked onto Daemon. "It did not take you long to visit now that war is brewing..." The Prince left the accusation hanging even if he had long stopped caring for his father's approval or attention

[dark-vader28]

Movies

alex turner x reader

synopsis: alex is in love with you, boo. enjoy.

warnings: swearing, maybe a little angsty?

a/n: this was made at 3 in the morning and probably poorly proofread, fair warning

————————————————————————————

You and Alex were friends, sure, but you were those type of friends. The ones that anyone with a pair of eyes could see were in love with each other. But, like all melodrama TV and cliché romantic chick flicks, you both were oblivious. And your friends, rather than try and point it out, let you two waste your time dancing around one another. Which was fine (and entertaining), for a while, since neither of you dared to make a move. What’s more, you and Alex went on what anyone else would call dates, but you guys wouldn’t dare call it that. You went to diners, and movies, and parks all the time. Hell, Alex even took you to dinner, alone, when he turned 18 as a celebration. And if that wasn’t enough, the two of you held hands walking home, both of you claiming it was because “your hands were cold”, but you both knew that wasn’t the reason.

After finally working up the courage to actually do something, Alex planned a whole evening for the two of you. He heard you talking to one of your other friends about a movie that just came out in theaters. So, naturally, about 5 minutes later he was planning a date. A real date. But he wasn’t gonna tell you it was a real date until he had everything perfect.

The two of you went out for dinner at a restaurant near the theater. Sounds like your typical dinner and movie date which you somehow failed to pick up on. Alex couldn’t tell if he was relieved or beyond irritated that you hadn’t figured it out if yet. Not to mention, it was one of your favourite restaurants.

During the movie, Alex seemed to watch you about as much as he watched the screen. He always stole glances at you, some more subtle than others. He was still collecting his courage, bracing himself for when he’d actually tell you how he felt later in the night. Unfortunately, that had kept him on edge, which was something you did notice. So, for the entirety of the movie, you both kept your arms on the armrest, shoulders pressed against each other. Your idea, not his, but he was extremely grateful and also terrifyingly nervous from the gesture.

The two of you laughed and talked about the movie as you walked out of the theater room like you always did, stepping out of the silence so you could be as loud as you wanted. Your jokes seemed to ease his nervousness for the moment but as the two of you approached the exit, his nerves doubled. He had originally told you that it was just gonna be dinner and a movie, but he had other plans. Now he’d have to work up the courage to actually ask you to accompany him on those plans.

When the two of you stepped out of the theater, Alex’s heart dropped. It was raining. Fuck, it was raining. He let out a heavy sigh and a groan, slumping his shoulders as the ran pattered on the ground. This was the exact opposite of what he planned.

You, however, lit up when you saw it was raining. When a quiet laugh fell from your lips as you stepped out into the rain, Alex’s grumpy demeanor almost faded. Almost. But the realization that everything he had planned had now gone to shit had completely ruined his mood.

You stepped into the mostly empty parking lot, letting the rain fall onto you. Your hair and clothes were staring to become damp but you hardly cared. You didn’t care about anything, really, until you saw that frown on Alex’s face as he stood off by the theater, away from the rain.

“What’s wrong, Aly?” you called out to him, staying out in the rain. He was used to the nickname you gave him, but it still made butterflies form in his stomach like some schoolgirl with a crush. And the nickname is exactly what had him reluctantly walking over to you, letting the rain fall onto him now as he made his way towards you.

“It’s raining,” he stated grumpily, nearly pouting like a toddler who didn’t get their way. It was a little amusing but you decided to push past it and try to lift his spirits.

“It’s not that bad. It’s not a far walk back to my house,” you started to sympathize, hoping to ease that look of irritation in his eyes. He was quick to cut you off, speaking over you, which was rare.

“It’s not about the walk,” he quickly said, speaking faster than he normally did. “I had this all planned out perfectly,” he mumbled, seeming like he was talking to himself. He put his head down, his eyes fluttering shut, like he was trying to shut down.

“Had what planned out?” you asked curiously, your interest piqued. As far as you knew, this was just supposed to be a movie date (a friendly date, of course).

Alex threw his hand up in an annoyed gesture before rubbing his brow, trying to calm down. “I was gonna take you to the perfect spot, watch the stupid stars with you, make the perfect moment and finally tell you.” It didn’t seem like he was talking to you. His eyes were shut, his brow furrowed, his expression showing clear signs of frustration. But, despite his demeanor, your heart fluttered at his words. He was gonna do all that for you?

Before you could get a word in, he was complaining again, turning his head away from you as he shook his head with annoyance. “God, of course this had to happen. Of course it had to fucking rain.”

“Alex,” you quickly intervened, stopping him before he beat himself up anymore. “What were you gonna tell me?” you asked, stepping into his line of vision to bring his attention back to you and away from his thoughts. Alex sighed, taking one look in your eyes before the words came tumbling from his lips.

“I like you,” he blurted out, his voice rushed and even a bit desperate. But those words were enough to send your heart rate skyrocketing. You weren’t blind. In the back of your mind you had always assumed it there was something between the two of you, but the reality and the truth felt like a wave of emotions washed over you.

“Alex,” you sighed, your gaze softening to a level of affection and outright longing. But you didn’t get a chance to say anything else before he was speaking again.

“I was gonna tell you how I can’t imagine a future where you’re not in it. How it simultaneously feels easier and harder to breathe around you, because you’re the only one that calms me down but you’re the only one that makes my heart stop, just from the mere sight of you.” He was rambling now. Well, slowly rambling, like he was struggling for all the right words to finally convey what he felt. “It feels like I’m one of those toys you have to wind up. Every time you leave, I stop. But every time you return, you wind me up again. And it’s a continuous notion, the same repeating pattern. And I’m so far down the rabbit hole of my love for you that I don’t see the light anymore. There’s no way out, and I’m forced to just accept that I don’t want anyone but you.”

You didn’t know if the world stopped or if that was your heart stopping. It felt harder to breathe, like you had just gotten the wind knocked out of you. Your eyes searched his, trying to read his expression to see if this was some sort of cruel joke but all you saw was an unfathomable amount of love and sincerity. And pain. Like it hurt for him to tell you all this.

You were speechless. You opened your mouth, hoping the words were come out, but you shut it again when all you did was stammer for a moment. Your eyes darted around, trying to remind yourself of your surroundings but it felt like everything was fading into the background and all that mattered was him. The rain against your skin, soaking your clothes and hair seemed to fade and any sound other than his voice was nearly nonexistent.

“You’ve ruined me, love,” Alex spoke quietly, drawing your attention back to him. “I can’t think of another without imagining you instead. I can’t even walk down the street without passing by somewhere that reminds me of you, and it’s all I think about.” He sighed, rubbing his eye as a way of trying to calm himself. When he opened his eyes and met your gaze again, that’s when you finally saw the glassy look in his eyes, realizing he was close to tears. That instantly made your eyes burn.

“I tried to get over this. I did,” he went on, his voice a bit more choked up at first, an obvious sign of his tears. “Because I’d rather at least have you in my life as a friend than not have you at all. But, God, love, you’ve completely taken up my mind. You own half my heart. Fuck, you probably own it all.”

You wanted to stop him and finally tell him that you felt the same, but all the words were caught in your throat. Your mind went blank and the only thing that filled your head was his words. They repeated on loop in your mind, echoing as if they were tormenting you, in the best and worst way possible.

The problem is, if you didn’t shut him up, he was gonna keep talking.

“I wanted this to be perfect.” He sighed in defeat, looking around aimlessly at the nearly vacant parking lot of the theater. He bit his bottom lip for a moment, staring at the pavement. You knew that look. He was close to breaking. “I took you to that restaurant I knew you liked, I know you like the movies and I heard you talking about going to see that one, and I remember you liked looking at the stars, and you like flowers, and I knew the perfect spot for all that, and I-”

“Alex,” you interjected, trying to speak over him but he interrupted you before you could continue.

“’M sorry, love,” he murmured, his eyes fluttering shut as he kept his head down. You didn’t know if it was tears or the rain but water ran down his cheeks, a few drops on his eyelashes. “But you have me whipped. It feels like I need you more than air. You’re all I think about, all I talk about. The mere idea of getting to see you has me more awake than any shot of espresso could make me. You’re like-”

Whatever words he wanted to say died on his tongue when your lips pressed against his. His whole body tensed, his mind going into overdrive. He had dreamt of his moment a million times, and he had created the perfect image of this moment with the two of you under the stars, just as he thought you wanted. But here you were, under a cloudy sky with rain cascading down on the both of you. Your clothes were nearly soaked now, stuck against your skin, but that all felt insignificant.

He couldn’t come to his senses, completely frozen from the feeling of your lips on his. When you pulled away, his mind went blank for a brief moment before swarming with thoughts and realization. He opened his mouth, planning on blurting out one of the million questions in his mind. But he shut his mouth as quickly as he had opened it, deciding all his questions were meaningless because you had answered them all with your kiss.

Once his mind finally caught up, he drew you back in, his hands gently cradling your face as he brought his lips to yours again. Everything else faded away because this was all that mattered… you were all that mattered to him.

[hannahssimblr]

“She’s so cute,” Jen says, watching Evie crouched by the pond in St. Stephen’s Green. She is breaking up the last third of her ice cream cone and feeding it to the ducks.

Experiencing Dublin through her eyes has been the most entertaining part of the day, because when we’re with her, following her from shop to shop as she announces she’s found a soap or candle she can’t get at home or stops to watch a street performer sing the same roster of songs he does every single weekend, the city doesn’t seem like such an awful place. 

Now we’re taking a break. We’ve had lunch at a burger restaurant set up to look like an American diner, wandered through the science museum touching all of the exhibits, and made her try the sea salt flavour at our favourite ice cream parlour. She liked it, which means that she has objectively good taste, and evidently, so do the ducks.

“Look at her! They love her, she has a way with them.”

“Are you supposed to feed ice cream cones to ducks? Doesn’t it make them explode or something?”

“God, you’re not supposed to feed them anything these days, are you?” She grins at Evie, enamoured, “It’s so hard for me to get my head around the fact that she’s friends with someone like Kelly. How does something like that happen to a person?”

“Same as how someone like me is friends with someone like you. People just get trapped.”

She snorts, “Am I the victim or are you?” 

Evie tries to pet the smooth head of the duck that waddles closest to her, and then squeals as it lunges to peck a piece of wafer right out of her hand. I smile. “What do you think about her and Liam?”

“They seem cute, I’m happy that, like, something is happening for him in that department.”

“Hm. I don’t think she likes him.”

Jen glances at me, “Did you get some delicious piece of gossip about this while I was in the gift shop?”

“No, not really, I just have a feeling.”

“Probably projection then. I don’t think you want Liam to be happy.”

I scoff. She is ridiculous sometimes, “As if I care if Liam is happy or not, that has nothing to do with me. I was just sharing a point of view that I have.”

“Ah, I get it!”

I squint, “What do you get?”

“You want her for yourself.”

“What? No. Shut up with that stuff. First Claire and now… they're literally just random girls to me.”

“Look at that pretty face though, you're so weak for cute features,” Evie gets to her feet and wipes her hands as the ducks scavenge for crumbs in the dirt around her.

“She’s not what I go for. She’s too… she’s a bit weird,” I flinch with guilt as Changing-Room-Fitzy in my head slaps me on the back. See, lads? Turner agrees. Complete oddball, right man? I don’t answer him. 

“Wow, okay.”

She’s coming back toward us now, “Do you guys have any more food on you? The ducks have me tortured over there asking for it. They might start pecking me to death if I don't provide for them.”

Jen digs in her bag for a little bag of almonds, “There you go, chick,” and as Evie goes back to the birds and begins doling out the nuts, Jen shakes her head at me, “You should learn to be nicer about people,” she says “This whole dickhead attitude thing is getting real boring.”

Beginning // Prev // Next

[slavghoul]

Big news for Ghost this week, with the release of their brand new EP of covers, Phantomime, this Friday May 19th, and two days later, the launch of an eight-date French tour. Frontman Tobias Forge tells us more about the creation of this record, as well as his future projects and the few unforeseen events that have come his way...

I guess you must be very busy with the promotion of Ghost these last few days here in Paris, but have you planned any time for yourself, like a vinyl shopping session for example?

Yes, I have, but it's really just a hobby for me: whenever I go somewhere I go to record shops, it's kind of my own relaxation. As far as promotion goes, these few days are indeed quite productive with a busy schedule, but it's actually quite nice to sit here, watching what's going on around me, at least it's more pleasant than doing a day of interviews locked up in four walls. I'm more of a stimulus kind of person, so when I have a phone call with someone I play Playstation at the same time, so I can concentrate on something while I'm talking. My whole life has always been a bit like that, listening to a record at home with the TV on.

You're releasing an EP of five covers on which you cover Television, The Stranglers, Genesis, Iron Maiden and even Tina Turner. How do you choose the songs for the covers on your EPs? Are they songs that meant a lot to you, that you listened to a lot when you were young, or are you looking for lyrics or a theme corresponding to the Ghost universe with references to religion for example?

It's a little bit of all of that at the same time! But the main criterion, what counts the most for me, is really the lyrics. From the rhymes used to the existential, philosophical or biblical themes. Of course, we could have fun covering "Disco Inferno" and try to put our own spin on it, but I think we need to be able to add a little something to it. I actually like to take songs that are written in a different way to my own, so I'm always trying to find songs that I couldn't have written myself. If I opened a restaurant tomorrow, I would have to find different dishes to enrich and diversify my menu. It's also a way for me to learn, to experiment. Besides, the exercise of reworking is always interesting, and sometimes it works, other times it doesn't.

Does this mean that you have considered other covers than these five titles?

Yes, I did. And the covers that didn't work just don't appear on this record! My original idea was to do a whole album of covers. And I had to take half of the songs off, because five of them didn't really fit with what we wanted to do with them, or they didn't sound like they were finished.

For example, I recorded a Rush track, but I felt I wasn't adding anything to the song. Not to say that other bands are flawed, but I just think that Rush's music is too perfect. There is nothing to improve, nothing to emphasize or accentuate, no nuance to add this or that contrast to. I felt like I was playing Rush just like a lot of teenage boys do, and nothing more. I'm not implying that girls don't like Rush, of course, but you know, there's that old joke that Rush is a teenage boys band. In any case, I felt that my version was going to be a bit too redundant to the original song.

Then there were other songs that made it to the quarter finals, if I may say so [laughs], that we dropped because there was too much to improve on, or the overall quality was not good. I can have a really good idea on paper, and then listen to the piece and think it doesn't work very well, or it's not entertaining enough.

How did the recording of the EP go?

The demos of all these covers were made at the same time as the recording of Impera. The producer of the album told us that he didn't want to deal with covers. That's fine, and it's true that it doesn't pay to do covers. We had just come out of the Impera recording session and we were exhausted. It was very hard, after all it's often said that the fifth album is particularly difficult. We had quite a lot of ambitions for this record, it took a lot of time and energy, and when it was finished, my engineer Martin and I went back to the studio, with the idea of recording another album.

But once we'd recorded those demos, I realised that there were some things that weren't quite right and that we had to take out. We kept those five songs. Five rock songs, full stop. Keeping things simple, easy, and even for the recording: it was good to remember that not everything is as difficult as the album we just finished. This EP is ultimately something spontaneous, simple, and having the demos already made it easier for us. Anyway, I had a lot of fun making it, from the recording to the mix, the atmosphere was quite happy.

You can feel this on the EP, this lightness and a feeling of fluidity. Without it being too basic, because there is a serious work on the arrangements and the atmospheres, which sound very Ghost by the way.

I'm glad to hear that, because that's exactly what I was looking for: to convey that lightness without the final product sounding half-baked, if I can say that! What I mean is that when you go into the studio for an album, you're 110%, whereas for an EP, with only covers, it's normal to be 100%. But I didn't want the difference to be felt between the two, like between the first Star Wars and the 1978 Star Wars Christmas Special! [Laughs]

It's been a year to the day since the Impera album was released. How do you look back on this fifth album, which marked a turning point in Ghost's rise?

In a way I feel relief, because this album has fulfilled its mission, the one it was supposed to fulfill. I don't want to fool the fans into thinking that it's all about magic and believing in it and so on. You have to be pragmatic and think about the results you got with the album. Of course, with every new album you are convinced that it is the best, but after the release you have to see what it does on stage. It's only by seeing how well that performance worked that you can tell if that album is good or not, in the end. Today, one year after the release, I can say that Impera holds up well. What has distorted our perception a little bit is what happened on the side.

You mean what happened with "Mary On A Cross", a track released on a 2-track EP in 2019 but which went viral last year on TikTok?

Yeah, when it came out, it kind of messed up our album cycle. It wasn't a problem per se, but it's just that we didn't plan for it at all, it kind of got in the way. And the label panicked and said "What are we going to do?!" I told them we weren't going to do anything. It was already out of our control, already naturally present on TikTok, what could we do? As we didn't want to damage the Impera promo, but we didn't want to lose the song "Mary On A Cross" either, we did the bare minimum, but our priority was really to get back to what we wanted to do as soon as possible at that point, which was to focus on our Impera. And then, from a pragmatic and slightly cynical point of view, we didn't want our historical fans to think that we were going to stop everything to please these newcomers who discovered the band via TikTok.

As far as Impera is concerned, I only realised today that it was an anniversary. Looking back, I can see that the cycle that started with this album, from its release to the tours, has been one of the most important in the history of Ghost, and that's really great. Now we're preparing for the next tour, which will start at your place [the Re-Imperatour kicks off this Sunday, May 21st in Rouen], and there are future projects that we're trying to work on. It's been a year since the record came out, but really it's been two years since the recording, and now it's time to move on to the next thing... things will start moving in the autumn, I hope.

Are you talking about the sixth Ghost album?

Yes, that famous sixth album, as difficult to make as the fifth! I've already started working on it, and after the tours this year it will be time to go into the studio for that.

So for me, the goal is to manage all these things at the same time without losing sight of these goals and next steps. So of course I'm happy that there are lots of new fans coming through TikTok. And I also welcome those who don't like the TikTok track but discover the rest of our discography and join us. But the most important thing is really to stay on our trajectory, and not to stray from the path we've set for ourselves. We have to make sure that we don't forget our mission, just because someone says they like fucking gnocchi better when we serve sushi. [Laughs]

What you're saying here is a bit like what you were telling us earlier, when you were talking about your care in planning things and having a vision for the band.

Exactly, it's very important for me. Being an artist is not just about aesthetics, it's about many other things. I've always been interested in the holistic approach, in this more global vision of things. To use the image of the restaurant business that I used earlier: I like to cook, but I also like books, people, interior design. In fact it's a collection of many things, and they're all important, almost in equal measure. Some rock or pop artists, or even actors, have been able to break through almost by accident, but that's not usually how it works. You have to work a lot, but above all you have to make a lot of decisions yourself, otherwise others will make them for you, and it will be done in an unthinking way, without a long term vision. It's impossible for me, as a control freak, to consider that! [Laughs]

[turnertable]

tolerate it

Alex Turner x Reader (am era !)

written by: me, first time doing angst

requested by: @bellaturner <3

music for the fic: tolerate it by Taylor Swift

word count: 1.9k

warnings: angsty, sad, slight sexual references and pushing about

The future looked bleak for them but for Alex, it had never been more bright. He had recently cut his hair short, Y/N hated it. He claimed it was for the new album but all she could see was her teenage love fading away before her eyes. Their love was something the tabloids had praised from the dancefloor days. "The High School Sweethearts of Sheffield" plastered on the front page of newspaper after paper, her face started to come out of print in the last year.

Y/N found herself perched on yet another stool out of the frame of the newest photoshoot of her boyfriend, scrolling her phone aimlessly and barely noticing Alex's next move. If those ridiculous rockabilly sunglasses left his face, Y/N might have taken interest but at Alex's rate, they had likely been surgically screwed to his nose bridge.

He posed relentlessly and attempted to look over at Y/N, realizing she had no idea what was even happening. Once that was clear, Alex huffed and rolled his eyes beneath the shades, remaining focused on the shoot because he couldn't care less about her opinion at this moment. He was Alex Turner: the acquitted persona of rock and roll in Britain; Olympic opener and soon to be Glastonbury sensation yet again.

----------------------------------------------------------

The shoot concluded in due time and Y/N mumbled to herself, "Thank fucking god." as she threw my phone into her bag and stood up. Alex read her lips and huffed slightly with frustration, as he thanked the photographer and went to leave. They met at the door and he nodded at her wordlessly, not wanting to talk to her til they had a minute to discuss her annoyance. She led them out and they stood at the cub by the door of the studio: Alex immediately got his cigarettes out and offered her one,

"Fuck off with that." Y/N scolded him viciously, "It doesn't make you cool." Alex sighed and pulled out his lighter, a silver Zippo with the band's initials carved into it.

"You used t'smoke, me luv. 'member at The Leadmill when you'd pass em owt to anyone?" Alex reflected as he lit the cigarette. Y/N noticed his accent slip at the use of "the" and looked down.

"I was a kid, Al. We found them around Jamie's that one weekend." She muttered in response to try to entertain his idea, not wanting to see that version of her Alex relay nostalgia to her.

He smiled slightly with an exhale as he looked over, "Oh yeh, he still talks about tha, tha knows. Still got ya tho.." He tried to cheer her up because he did love her endlessly but he knew this was a lot for her to process.

----------------------------------------------------------

The last few months had been frequent fights and sex to make up for it all, where Alex would promise nothing had changed and it would be ok until the next designer jacket would come home and rinse repeat. No amount of money could fix it either for Y/N. Yes, it was nice to be personally styled for an awards show but where Alex would come home and laugh all night with her being himself again, the persona never dropped nowadays.

Y/N nodded and went on her phone to call the taxi, letting Alex finish the cigarette in silence as she stepped away and only demonstrated the metaphoric distance between them. She spoke quietly and got the taxi booked, forcing herself not to think of Sheffield, circa 2005. Sitting on the curbside, her lips never leaving Alex's the whole way home. Drunk and giggling at the way the city looked at night from the taxi window. He'd carry her home as she kicked her legs with excitement to be in bed with him yet again. However here she stood with a smartphone and a man she no longer recognised as the love of her life.

As the taxi pulled up, Y/N opened her own door and got in, finally looking over at her boyfriend as she spoke to the taxi driver promptly, desperately wanting to be in solitude. She looked at him with a neutral look of almost curiosity, searching for any and if so, some glimmer of hope in him and love that would last. No dice. Alex looked over and offered her his hand to hold, a common quirk of his. Y/N took it and looked out the window, the tears pricking at her eyes as the taxi pulled off. A solemn silence hung over them like a ghost in the passenger seat the whole journey home. It could be dealt with at the house, like usual.

----------------------------------------------------------

As the taxi rounded the corner by the house, Alex thanked the driver and nodded at Y/N to say, "in we go." Y/N offered the taxi driver a thank you as well and stepped out of the car, letting Alex open the door and not even attempting to get her keys from her bag. Alex unlocked the door and kicked off his shoes, leaving Y/N to shut it and lean on the wall of the hallway.

"What the fuck is up nah?" Alex started the argument, making Y/N prick up. He finished the conflict but it was unusual for him to bring up an issue without prompt. Alex stood arms crossed at the silence before removing his glasses and rubbing his temple. "Just tell me, please Y/N."

"Why did I have to come to that?" Y/N met his tone and removed her own shoes. "That's the third this week…" She continued and reminded him of how much this weighed on her schedule.

"Well excuse meh for bein successful suddenleh, didn't seem t'bother you when I were 19…" Alex retorted to push her buttons yet again with the memories of their relationship. He tried to walk off to go get a drink, he'd been drinking a lot more frequently since the fighting started. While Alex could hold his drink, it was a new habit he had picked up with the look.

"Yeah well my teenage boyfriend with spots had some fucking intellect not to just lap at anyone who offers him a moment in the spotlight!" Y/N raised her voice and rolled her eyes, trying to stop him from drinking, "I swear if I see you drinking again for another night…" she continued in the cold tone.

"Oh fuck off, 'm 27 now and so are you, act it." He said sternly and lightly pushed her out of his way. "I'll do what I wan, babe" He stormed off to the kitchen to get a glass and the bottle of whiskey on the side, half empty from how often he had been consuming it.

Y/N followed in a huff and tried to keep fighting him, "You really wanna talk about acting, Alexander? What the fuck are you wearing?" She scanned his body and outfit of a leather jacket and tight blue jeans, making Alex smirk slightly as he knew what to do.

"Jeans, you like em babeh?" He tried to give her the eyes that said "you want me really" and stood over her to offer her an embrace. "Can get me out of em if you're nice to meh…" He chuckled softly and held her lower back where he was met with a scoff and a push.

"Get off me, James Dean. Tell me when Alex is back…" She went to sit at the table, making Alex huff and turn back to his drink with annoyance.

"You make me fucking drink…" He mumbled to himself quietly enough for her to miss it. "I'm not gonna be tha kid anymore, you do realize tha, reyt?" He announced as he poured the whiskey and recapped the bottle. "I hate who I were, a spotteh teenager with a squeaky voice on stickeh stages an people throwing shit at meh." He turned to her and finally admitted.

"I fell in love with that kid, Alex." Y/N let the truth slip too, "and I still do love him, ok?" he continued as she looked down sadly, sniffling at the words. "My Alex is gone, he was my home, my safety and you're just this husk of who he was. You're everything we mocked in bars while I waited to hear the same 10 songs every night." Her voice trembled at it all as she looked up at him where all his anger had turned to sympathy yet again.

"But babeh…you could make new memories with new Alex." He heard himself and mentally cursed at his words but persisted on: "We could 'ave a famileh and get married and the band will onleh get more famous and you'll reap t'benefits wiv us.." He tried to reassure her as he leaned down to get her level. "We could be happy again one day, me love. This is just a rough patch…"

----------------------------------------------------------

Y/N listened intently and her face soured at the idea that the band was involved with the future of them. She thought and chose her words carefully as she knew the band's importance to him, especially with him bringing it up here.

"Alex, it's not been a rough patch for you though, has it? The tears started welling up in her eyes, continuing through the melancholy. "You'll be ok, babe. I just won't be. My boy is gone and maybe that's the problem. I'm just not happy anymore…"

His face dropped and his chest went tight when he heard her claims, "You're n-not 'appy? As in wiv me or??" His voice shook as he spoke quietly, staring at her with torment. "I can get ya someone to talk ta, I promise babeh please…" He begged at her feet practically.

Y/N shook her head and looked down, "I'm so sorry, Alex…I love you so much but this version of you, I'm not in love with him. Please just make me proud…" She gasped between sobs and watched the tears roll down her chest. Alex's eyes began to water at the realization of the situation, the blunt actuality of her saying that to his face. How long has she been thinking of telling him?

"Are ya sayin what I think you're sayin?" Alex mumbled as he wiped his nose slightly. Y/N simply nodded and he sighed to himself, "Well shit, tha's about 10 years of me life gone. Is there anythin I can do at all to change yer mind?" He pleaded incessantly through his tears. "I love you, Y/N. Please…"

Y/N sat up straight and held his face softly, kissing his head, "It's ok Alex, we're just different people, darling…" She wiped her eyes and smiled gently at him. "I love you too, Al."

The knife stuck in and twisted at the nickname, it was hers from the moment she muttered it at 17 when they met. Alex's eyes were full of sadness but he nodded and tried to smile, "I understand and I respect yer decision but you do realize t' next album is gonna be so bloodeh sad nah…" He managed a laugh that Y/N echoed.

"Oh yeah, I want sad proses about me now…" She cupped his face and delivered the last kiss, "if that boy ever wants to come back to see me again, he's more than welcome…" She said softly and wiped his eyes with a smile. He nodded and smiled back.

"I think this might be t' soppiest breakup ever…" Alex hums, stands up to get his drink and reaching for another glass before turning to her,

"One for the road?"

[professorllayton]

my rating of the current list of callum turner projects I've seen is

GLUE. I love u so much murder horsegirl show I literally love u so dearly. will be doing a rewatch soon and if in the near future they for some reason decide to find and delete all archives of this show and then edit the show and release it w another actor's face superimposed on callum's body well. i would still watch it. highly recommend.

emma 2020 <33333 just an absolute favie of mine I saw this around the time it came out and I was not turnerpilled at all I had no idea he was in but . I think he does frank churchill very well despite like having 3 lines for some reason . my kind of terrible little pookie bear. darling adaption of one of my favie jane austens. not bc it is also my namesake.

masters of the air. I think we all by now know where I stand w this fucking show. jesus christ. jesus fucking christ truly. have issues w the writing decisions definitely and the script sometimes sucks but JOHN BUCKY EGAAAAANNNNNNNN u will always be famous to meeeeeeeeeeeeeeee I LOOOVEEEE UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

mobile homes 😘. kind of a sad ass movie it made my heart hurt badly ill be real. thought it was quite good tho and I liked how deranged callum was in it . he was very silly at times and it seemed like he had a lot of fun . abusive little freak demon of a man tho that he played . :[

the last letter from your lover. sweet and kind of darling movie but ultimately it was just ok and I think the writing and cinematography was not great. he was very charming in it tho would 100% also cheat on my wretched husband w him and have a sad and upsetting decades long affair w him.

victor frankenstein. frankly an embarrassing movie. truly. like he had 3 lines total in it and was a COOOOP. AUGH. not even james mcavoy could save this movie from being bad tho abt halfway thru he was the only reason I was still watching. just goofily bad in a way that is neither fun nor entertaining.

The Only Living Boy In New York. all I can say abt this movie is it truly was one of the worst movies ive ever fucking seen. he kind of ganseyed it up a bit w the living in a shitty flat while rich and wearing glasses all the time. only way in which he ganseyed tho there is nothing else comparable. sorry

[jadeylovesmarvelxo]

This is just a lil story that has been nagging at me for days to be written :) I may post a longer more fleshed out version eventually ❤️

Smut, 18+ minors go away, fwb who fall in love ;) the usual.

Not canon because my fanfics refuse to entertain the fact that Eddie is dead. Kay?

🌸

This thing between you and Eddie had started a few weeks ago, when he gave you a lift home after your so-called boyfriend (now dumped) abandoned you in a storm for Jenny Turner.

"Hey, you need a ride?" you looked up and saw Eddie Munson in his van, the window rolled down as he peered at you worriedly.

The wind was howling and you were freezing, you couldn't believe David had been such a jerk and just left you in this storm, all because Jenny flashed him a dimpled smile and batted her eyes.

Or it was just the fact that he was a huge jerk.

You were beyond angry at him and accepted the ride because it would piss David off and you wanted to get home.

Eddie walked you from his van to your front door making sure that you were going inside safely.

That's when you kissed him and one thing lead to another and you had minblowing sex that lasted for hours.

Thank god your parents were away because Eddie could make you scream...

It was a one-off you both told each other as you dressed quickly that morning, ignoring the love bites between your thighs and on your breasts or your faint nail marks on his back.

You didn't think that you'd end up in the back of Eddies van the next day, on your knees as you sucked him off, his hand fisted in your hair and grunts of pleasure emitting from him and his big brown eyes wide and full of awe.

"You're incredible baby, so good" He groans and comes hard, his cheeks flushed, smile firmly on his face.

It was all you could think about was feeling him deep inside you again, the way his body fit perfectly against yours.

Eddie's lips between your thighs were heavenly, you were so lost in the pleasure that you could happily stay there forever.

Eddie pleased you in ways you never thought could be possible, you fit together so perfectly.

The sex was off the scale in terms of how amazing it was and you found you liked being with Eddie, waking up in his arms in the morning after the nights you shared.

Hooking up with him happened again and again and before you knew it you were staying at his more and more often.

Some nights you wouldn't have sex, just listen to him as he strategised campaigns for dnd or he would read to you, making up funny voices for different characters or play the guitar for you.

With him, you could just relax and be yourself without having to impress anybody or trying to be someone you just weren't.

At school you gravitated towards each other, he would find any excuse to be near you, you both would find excuses to exchange secret touches.

A caress on the back, fingers touching for a few seconds. Your gazes would constantly find each other and when they did it was like no one was around.

Just you two.

He would hold doors open for you, let you pass him in the hallways or cafeteria with a dramatic flourish that always made you smile.

Your friends would ask why he was hanging around you and giggle that the freak had a crush.

You told them to shut up and not call him a freak and honestly you were so smitten with Eddie you didn't give a shit what they thought.

Eddie could also make you laugh like no one else.

It didn't take you long to realize that you had fallen in love for the first time. You were just nervous to say anything in case Eddie didn't feel the same way.

Little did you know Eddie was having the same worries, his brain going a mile a minute.

He loved you. Truly fallen in love for the first time and it was exhilarating and terrifying. He hadn't felt this way about any woman before.

The truth was he had started to say it when you would fall asleep, falling into a deep sleep where you would cuddle into his chest

He would brush the hair away from your forehead, pepper your head with soft kisses and whisper I love you very, very softly. Almost impercetible.

Maybe one day he would work up the courage to tell you properly.

❤️🌸

[sinsiriuslyemo]

Title: Firsts Between Friends

Pairing: Sirius Black/Remus Lupin, James Potter/Lily Evans (background)

Rating: NC17 (for language, smut, underage drinking, recreational drug use, references to child abuse)

Summary: It's the Marauders' last year at Hogwarts; James and Lily are finally going out, leaving Peter, Sirius and Remus to entertain themselves when they go out on dates. Sirius couldn't be happier for them, but it's left him with plenty of time to think about something he's been able to ignore up until now. As a result, he's had a lot on his mind lately, and Remus has noticed.

Notes: written as a companion piece to an upcoming story, Sirius Black and the Daughter of the Mountain King, but this can be read as a standalone.

Warnings: some vague references to child abuse, this takes place in their seventh year

CH 1

Returning to Hogwarts was almost bittersweet now that it was their last time doing so. There were moments when Sirius wished he had a time turner to go back to first year and do it all over again, and others when the prospect of his future seemed like his greatest adventure just waiting to be taken. And best of all, in his opinion, was that he would have his best friends by his side. Regardless of what was happening outside the castle walls, nothing could shake the bonds they’d built over the last six years.

   It was the first weekend of term, and while he'd had images of the four of them doing something grand for their first Friday night back, he hadn't counted on Lily finally agreeing to go out with James. Sirius had almost asked him to reschedule. It was the first Friday night of their seventh year for Merlin's sake! Surely Lily would understand that it was only right that they begin the term with a bang! But as Sirius watched his friend rummaging through his school trunk, muttering to himself about needing tonight to go well, he hadn't the heart to ask. 

   He, Remus and Peter watched on from their respective beds and played a laidback game of muggle catch with a ball Remus had brought from home. Apparently, his mother had recently introduced his father to a muggle game called tennis, which had resulted in numerous green and white balls being left scattered about in their home. 

   "I just want to look good for her," James said, tossing a shirt over his shoulder.

   Sirius arched a brow as he looked over at Remus, tossing the tennis ball to him. "You might want to make sense of that hair then," he teased with a smirk.

   "Oh piss off, Padfoot, I'm serious," James replied, holding a different shirt up in front of him.

   He looked back at James and said, "I don't think she'll care what you look like, mate." 

   "She'll just be happy to be spending time with you," Remus added, throwing the ball to Peter.

   Wormtail said, "She's probably just as nervous as you are." 

   "Yeah, it'll be fine as soon as you get to Honeydukes." Catching the ball that Peter had thrown, Sirius shifted his gaze between his other two friends. "Now we just have to decide what we're going to make of our evening, gents." He threw the ball to Remus, who caught it in one hand.

   "Just as long as it doesn't involve skinny dipping in the Black Lake again," said the werewolf, rolling his eyes. 

   "I second that," Peter replied, catching the ball that was thrown to him. "Jacqueline nearly took me corey off the last time."

   "As I recall, Peter, that was the most action you got all year," Sirius teased.

   "Sod off, will ye, Black," Peter replied, putting a little extra heat into his throw to Sirius.

   "Ooh," Sirius chuckled as he caught it. "It's too bloody cold for a swim anyway."

   "We could always go to Zonko's and see about getting another Frog Spawn Soap to put in the first year bathroom," Remus suggested.

   Peter groaned. "That sounds boring."

   "Well then, Wormtail, what do you suggest?" Remus asked, throwing him the ball.

   "Let's nick some firewhiskey and go down to the Shrieking Shack." He threw the ball to Sirius, who looked rather impressed by the suggestion.

   "I’m up for it," he said, looking at Remus before asking as he threw the ball. "What say you, Moony?"

   "I can't encourage that, I'm a prefect! Anyway, where would we find a bottle?"

   "Slughorn always keeps one in his office," Peter answered. 

   "If you gits get snagged trying to filch Slughorn's liquor, you'll be in detention for a month," James said as he stood holding up two different shirts, turning to face them. "Which one?" he asked, putting one in front of him, then the other.

   Sirius looked at both shirts, grimacing at the multi-colored jumper in his friend's right hand before he pointed to the red button down in his left. "That one. And while we're on the subject, you should burn that ghastly jumper. It's giving me nausea just looking at it."

   "This coming from the man whose wardrobe is made up entirely of jeans and t-shirts just to piss off his family from afar?" James quipped with a slight smirk as he pulled the approved shirt on.

   "Don't forget his precious leather jacket," Remus said as he caught the ball Sirius threw to him.

   "I like the jacket," Peter mused.

   "Thank you, Peter, at least someone in this dormitory has good taste," Sirius said, grinning at his friend as he caught the ball next.

   "'Good taste' is a bit of an overstatement, don't you think?" Remus teased.

   Before Sirius could give a cheeky response, James said, "Right, how do I look?"

   "Like a proper lady," Peter teased, earning a round of laughs from the other two friends.

   James rolled his eyes and began to unbutton his shirt, which prompted Sirius to stand after he caught the ball from Peter.

   "Oi, don't listen to this prat, he's just taking the mickey. You look good," he said as he put his hands on Jame's shoulders, one still holding the ball. "Evans won't know what to do with herself. She'll be wondering what took her so long to realize what a handsome bloke you are." He blindly threw the ball to Remus as James smiled at him thankfully.

   "She turned me down so many times, I'm afraid she'll take one look and change her mind."

   "Don't be daft, she fancies you," Sirius answered with a one-sided-shrug. "Now go and show her a good time."

   "Just be sure to use a johnny," Peter chimed.

   "Oi! Don't talk about her like that," James replied, whipping around to glare at Peter, who held his hands up in mock surrender.

   "Apologies, mate. I were only foolin'," Wormtail replied, throwing the ball to Sirius, who caught it over Jame's shoulder.

   "Bloody wanker," he mumbled before addressing James again. "You'll be fine, alright?"

   "Don't worry so much, James," Remus said from his bed. Sirius tossed him the ball, which he caught before adding, "Just be yourself."

   "Maybe a less pratty version of yourself," Sirius teased.

   James took a deep breath and let it out in a huff, his cheeks ballooning as a result. "Alright. You guys are right. I just need to relax and be myself."

   "That's the spirit," Sirius said, clapping him on the shoulder. He caught the ball when Peter tossed it to him and immediately threw it to Remus.

   "I'll meet you at the shack after. Wish me luck," James said, earning a choir of 'good luck' as he left the dorms to wait for Lily in the common room.

   Sirius rolled his eyes half-heartedly and picked up his leather jacket, putting it on. "Well? How are we going to get old Slughorn's firewhiskey then?"

   Peter caught the ball, his hand dropping to his lap as the three of them pondered on the question. With Slughorn's office on the sixth floor, they couldn't exactly use the window. 

   Unless…

   "The three point drop," Sirius suggested.

   "Who's going to distract him?" Remus asked.

   Sirius caught the ball that Peter threw, grinning at Remus. "You, of course. You're the prefect."

   Remus rolled his eyes and caught the tennis ball, setting it on his night table as he sighed, "Of course." He stood and grabbed his own jumper, followed the other two out of their room, and down the staircase to the common room. "He'll be trying to cut the conversation short," he warned.

   "You'll have to make the drop in under two minutes, Wormtail," Sirius replied.

   "I can do that."

   "Are you sure? We were nearly found out the last time," Remus said.

   "Sure, I'm sure!" 

   "You know where it is, don't you?" Sirius asked, glancing over his shoulder. Peter was just as much their friend as any one of them, but there were times where he could be a right twit.

   Sirius could practically hear the eye roll as Peter answered, "The top shelf, next to the fireplace. I can do this, don't worry."

   A couple of fifth year girls smiled at Sirius as they walked through the common room. Out of pure habit, he winked in their direction as he, Remus and Peter walked by, smiling at the giggles that erupted behind them as he led his friends out of Gryffindor Tower.

   When they reached the staircase, they split up, Sirius continued down to the entrance hall and out the front doors to wait below Slughorn's window, while Remus and Wormtail, now in his rat form, went up to the sixth floor. Slughorn wasn't one to socialize much except for with his star students, Wormtail would have to sneak past Remus and the professor, transform into his human form, and quickly toss the bottle out the window, then transform back into a rat and sneak past them once more. It was a risk seeing as how Peter had only just learned to transform without a wand… again, but if they could at least secure the firewhiskey it might be worth the detention if they got caught. 

   Tilting his ear up to the half-opened window, Sirius smirked at the sound of Slughorn answering his door, and his and Remus' muffled voices. He looked around to be sure there was no one in the vicinity and pulled his wand out in anticipation, ready to shrink the bottle so that he could easily hide it in his jacket until they reached the Shack. 

   "Mr. Black?" 

   He turned abruptly to face McGonagall, instinctively, placing his hands behind his back. He nonverbally cast a levitation spell when he heard the sound of sloshing liquid above them, something he had only recently perfected. He just hoped it would hold until he could get rid of McGonagall.

   "Good evening, Professor."

   "It isn’t very often I see you without your friends."

   "Oh, I was just enjoying the crisp evening air, admiring the sunset." It sometimes amazed even him how quickly he could think on his feet, even while he concentrated on keeping a bottle of firewhiskey from coming down behind him.

   McGonagall arched a suspicious brow. "Alone?"

   "James is on a date," he answered, quickly adding, "Remus and Peter should be along shortly." 

   She looked a bit skeptical, but nodded slowly. "I expect you'll be back inside by curfew."

   "Mhm," he hummed behind a closed-lip smile. 

   They would likely be spending the night in the Shack. He would have to remember to tell the others that they needed to be in for breakfast in the morning. As soon as she walked into the castle he set his sights on the bottle and let it fall. He slowed its momentum to catch it, shrunk it, and slipped it into his jacket.

   A few minutes later, his co-conspirators walked out the castle, and the three went to the Whomping Willow, where Wormtail pushed the knot for them to sneak under it. 

   "I should get first sip!" Peter declared as they came through the entry hole into the shack minutes later. 

   Remus waved his wand at the fireplace, lighting it. 

   "I took the most risk," Peter continued as he plopped down onto the chaise closest to the fire.

   Not bloody likely, Sirius thought as he rolled his eyes and handed the bottle over anyway, bringing it back to normal size with a point of his wand. He didn't really care who drank first, so long as he could get drunk. With James more focused on Lily ever since the end of last year, it had left Sirius alone with his own thoughts much more often, and they were nothing but chaos as of late. In that time, certain feelings had begun to arise in him, and he wasn't entirely sure what to do with them. Distractions certainly helped, and firewhiskey was a wonderful distraction indeed.

   Sinking into the sofa, he peeled off his jacket and draped it over the back before he waved his wand to put a record in the player.

   "Please, no more Elvis," Remus groaned when he saw the record floating above the turntable. "I still have nightmares from third year."

   Sirius couldn't help the barking belly laugh that escaped as Peter passed the bottle to Remus. "Put on whatever you like then, Moony. We've got all night."

   They had been spending more and more time at the Shrieking Shack ever since beginning their sixth year, which Sirius didn't mind in the slightest. At first he thought Remus might have preferred not to, especially considering the reason they had access to it in the first place, but surprisingly, Remus had been wanting to associate the shack with more than just his monthly transformation. From what he’d told them, having better memories in the Shack helped keep the wolf a bit calmer on the nights when they weren’t roaming around the Forbidden Forest. Plus, it gave them a break in their normal routine.

   "What do you guys think of Sybill Trewlawny?" Peter asked.

   Sirius furrowed his brows. "Who?" 

   "The Ravenclaw who's friends with Emma Vanity's little sister." Remus said.

   "Right. She's alright. A bit strange maybe," Sirius added. "But sweet." He took a swig from the bottle, relishing the burn that slid down his throat and bloomed in his chest before he passed it to Peter. "Wasn't her great-great grandmother that famous Seerer?"

   Of course, Remus was the one to answer. "Cassandra Trelawney."

  "That's the one," Sirius replied.

   Peter simply shrugged. "I've been thinking about asking her on a date."

   "She's a fourth year, what could you possibly have in common with a fourth year?" Remus asked.

   "I dunno, but I think she's rather fit," Peter said.

   Sirius arched a brow as the blonde took a sip from the bottle. He somehow doubted that a bird like Sybill Trelawny would give a prat like Peter the time of day. He didn't know the girl, but she seemed rather captivated by her Divination studies as of late. She could often be found under the tree by the Black Lake with her tarot cards, offering students readings during breaks, and didn't seem particularly interested in romance. Or much of anything else that he ever noticed.

   "Do let us know how that goes, Wormtail," he said with a smirk.

   "You think I should?" Peter asked Remus, handing over the firewhiskey.

   Remus sighed. "I wouldn't find anything in common with a fourth year, but if you fancy her, Peter, I say go for it."

   Peter smiled and leaned back on the chaise, apparently satisfied with the answer.

   "I heard Mary fancies you," Sirus said, gently nudging Remus, whose cheeks flushed a deep pink. Sirius thought it looked rather adorable on him. "You should talk to her."

   Remus shook his head. "She's been rather jumpy since what happened to her."

   "Shame really, what Mulciber did," Peter chimed.

   "Lily said she's been doing much better this year. She seems much more comfortable around people in general," Sirius said as he took a swig and handed the bottle off.

   "Well, that's good to hear," Remus said. "I just don't think I'm good for her."

   "Why the bloody hell not?" Sirius asked.

   "Because, Padfoot, eventually she would start to wonder where I keep disappearing to every full moon. And once she knows, she won't want anything to do with me. Not to mention that she might even take initiative to tell others about my… condition."

   "I reckon, given what she's been through, she might understand," Peter offered. He gave the bottle to Remus after sneaking an extra sip.

   "I can't believe I'm saying this, but I agree with Peter," Sirius replied. "She doesn't seem like the type of bird to let that bother her."

   Remus waved him off. "Maybe not, and I am happy to hear she's doing better. But I'm not terribly interested in Mary MacDonald anyhow."

   For a few moments, the only sound was Genesis coming from the gramophone in the corner of the room while they passed the bottle of firewhisky around to each other. Remus shifted his feet and for whatever reason that drew Sirius' attention to the veins in his hand. He found himself captivated by the way one of them raised between the knuckles of Remus' middle and ring fingers, and curled toward the last knuckle, only to disappear further up the back of his hand. 

   "How do you think it's going with James and Lily?" Peter asked, holding back a burp.

   Meeting eyes with Remus, Sirius quipped, "I suppose if he has boils when he gets here we'll know," with a laugh.

   Remus joined in the laughter, followed quickly by Peter, the former replying, "You don't think he'll try to bring her here after, do you?"

   "Merlin, I hope not," Sirius mumbled. "I like Evans, but she can be quite finicky about following the rules."

   "I think she’s brilliant," Peter said into the bottle before sneaking another drink.

   "You would," Sirius quipped.

   "Piss off, Black."

   For the next couple of hours, they drank and laughed, throwing out a few more theories about how James' date was going. At some point, Sirius found himself noticing how slender and long Remus' fingers were when they grazed against his while they passed the bottle between them. He knew Remus was more keen to drum on his bed, but he imagined if Remus ever wanted to take up another instrument, he certainly had the fingers for the piano.

   After sneaking one too many extra sips, Peter tipped over, his face landing on the chaise cushions. Remus and Sirius held back laughter as the former swiped the bottle from their passed out friend. 

   "Lightweight he is," Sirius mumbled as Remus took a drink. "So what's this about you thinking you're no good?"

   "What do you mean?"

   "Earlier, when we were talking about Mary, you said you don't think you're good for her," Sirius replied, taking the bottle when it was offered. 

   "That doesn't mean —"

   "Which is what you've said about every girl that's ever taken an interest," Sirius said. 

   Remus took a deep breath, one hand running through his hair. "As much as I would love to have a normal life; date, shag… bloody hell, even kissing, I can't. What if I can't control the wolf? What if I end up killing someone? Blimey, I nearly did kill someone two years ago."

   Frowning to himself, Sirius shook his head and mumbled, "That wasn't your fault," before he took a swig from the bottle. 

   Remus had been more than generous in forgiving him for that stupid prank he had pulled in their fifth year, if it could even be called a prank at all. Sirius had never imagined that Snivellus would actually listen to a bloody thing he had to say. Still, he couldn't help but feel as though he had inadvertently betrayed one of his best friends just to get one over on the greasy git. Not always thinking things through had always been a glaring flaw of his, and it was something he seemed to continue to struggle with more often than he'd liked. He was lucky Remus started speaking to him again, let alone continued being his friend.

   "That doesn't change that I almost killed Severus… and Prongs," Remus replied. "I can't take the risk. Besides, I don't want anyone else to know about my illness. It was hard enough telling you three, I can't imagine having to tell a girl that I fancy why I disappear once a month. Even if I did date someone who was understanding about it, being with me would make them just as much of an outcast as my kind is. How could I ask that of someone?"

   Sirius stared at him for a moment as he drank again from the bottle and processed what Remus said. He couldn't think of anyone else as selfless or caring as his friend, so it was difficult to hear him think so little about his potential happiness. He was the type of bloke most fathers would be happy to see their daughters with; kind, respectful, hard-working, and brilliant. 

   "Don't you think people should be able to make that decision for themselves?" he asked, holding out the bottle.

   "Not if that means I have to risk telling them my secret," Remus answered.

   Sirius conceded that as a fair point, but then something else stuck out about his friend's confession, "Did I hear right? You've never even kissed anyone?"

   Remus' cheeks flushed with red again, growing a deeper shade by the second as he avoided eye contact and barely shook his head. "From what I've gathered, kissing always seems to lead to something else."

   "It doesn't have to," Sirius said, his eyes faced forward. He was trying so hard not to stare at the delectable color of his friend's skin, especially now that he was wondering how it might taste. "Sometimes kissing is just fun."

   As confident as he always was around girls, Sirius had begun to notice other facets of his sexuality emerging, which didn't make him feel quite as confident. It seemed that he woke up one morning and had started to notice boys as well. Deep down, he knew that he had always been interested in boys — tall boys, short boys, light boys, dark boys, it didn't seem to matter — but it had been much easier to ignore when he had his three best friends to come up with new pranks with. Now that they were older, however, and coming to an end in their Hogwarts journey, there was less prank planning to keep his mind occupied, especially now that James and Lily were dating, giving the dormant parts of his subconscious the space to thrive. Of course, he wasn't sure what to do with this newly-flourishing interest nor did he even know how he would go about exploring it. He knew he wasn't gay, he still liked girls… he just also seemed to possibly like boys, and he didn't quite know what to do with that information.

   "Still," Remus answered, snapping him back to their conversation. "If you enjoy it with someone, you're likely to do it again, and eventually it will lead to more."

   Despite himself, Sirius looked up, his eyes immediately  finding Remus' pouty lips, and his heart fluttered. He blinked and averted his eyes, licking his own lips as he brought the bottle up for another sip. "There's got to be some work around."

   "I doubt it. Unless I fell in love with another werewolf I suppose," Remus replied, using his wand to switch out the record. "But that's already so rare, I doubt it'll happen. Sex Pistols?"

   Sirius cut his eyes to Remus. "What?" 

   "Is it alright if I put on The Sex Pistols record?" Remus asked again.

   "Oh, right. Sure," Sirius answered, leaning his head back against the sofa. Why was he now thinking about snogging one of his best friends? "What if it was someone who already knew about you being a werewolf?" 

   Remus arched a brow at him. "Apart from my parents, the three of you and Dumbledore are the only ones who know about my condition. Well, and Severus, I suppose."

   "Please don't try to snog him," Sirius replied, hoping the levity would lighten the mood, and also take his mind off of imagining how Moony's lips would feel against his. "Or Dumbledore for that matter. Actually, you know, if you did snog Dumbledore, that might help us avoid any future detentions."

   "Bloody prat," Remus said, taking a moment before he passed the bottle back to his friend. "So… are you going to tell me what's been going on with you or are we still trying to avoid it by talking about me?"

   Sirius shrugged as he took a swig from the bottle and swallowed, handing it back. He was already feeling a strong buzz, but maybe if he got himself too drunk to speak, he could just pass out. "I don't know what you mean."

   "You've been rather quiet the last couple of weeks. More reserved than usual."

   His fingers began to play with a loose thread on his jeans as he gave another shrug. He hadn't told a soul about his attraction to other boys, not even his three closest friends, mostly because he didn't want to have to deal with Peter taking the piss out of him for it. He knew Remus and James wouldn't, and the latter would reign Peter in straight away. And normally Sirius couldn't care less what others thought of him save for comparing him to his family, but this was somehow different. It felt fragile. Special, like if he allowed anyone to make light of it, it might break him. He didn't know how to even begin unpacking it all.

   "Come on, Sirius," Remus said beside him, setting it down on the coffee table. He turned slightly, bringing his knee up on the sofa. "I know we fool around much of the time, but you know you can trust me. I can tell there's something going on with you. I want to help, but I can't if I don't know what it is."  

   Casting a quick glance to Peter, who had just turned over onto his side with a brief snore, Sirius swallowed and looked back at Remus. "I'm not even sure how to begin to be quite honest. It's just something I think I've been feeling for a long time, but only just began to notice more a short while ago. I'm still trying to understand what it means."

   He was grateful that Remus didn't press, but rather pulled his leg closer to the back of the sofa so that he was facing him fully, and waited patiently.

   "Seems… I like witches," Sirius started to say, earning a soft chuckle from Remus just before he added, "and wizards. Well…" He couldn't exactly be sure because he'd hadn't yet acted on it, but then wasn't the fact that he did indeed plan to act on it enough? "I think I might."

   Remus let out a breath as a smile started to form on his lips and said, "Well I'm glad it isn't something more serious."

   With furrowed brows, he flickered his eyes to Remus. "It is serious, you tosspot!"

   "I just meant that I thought it was something to do with your family or something that was a matter of life and death or —"

   "Bloody hell, Remus, you and your dramatics, honestly," Sirius said, rolling his eyes.

   "With what's been happening outside of Hogwarts, can you blame me?" Remus asked. "Did you hear that a number of fifth year Slytherins have already taken the dark mark?"

   "I think that's just a rumor," Sirius replied, though the suggestion had brought a panic in the pit of his stomach when he thought about Regulus, who had been avoiding him more and more as of late it seemed.

   "Well, is there someone you fancy in particular?" 

   Sirius smirked to himself, silently thankful that Remus hadn't continued talking about the Slytherin rumor, though the topic he chose instead wasn't exactly an easy one either. "No, not in particular. I've just been," he tried to find the proper words and settled on, "noticing things."

   "Such as?"

   Sirius tilted his head and said, "Dirk Cresswell's neck and how I think about biting it." Remus widened his eyes in his peripheral vision, which prompted him to look back and add, "Not hard, just a playful little nip. And Davey Gudgeon's lips, Gideon Prewett's eyes." The corner of his lips formed another smirk as he dropped his head onto the back of the sofa, and added, "Oh Remus, the dirty thoughts I've had about looking into those eyes."

   The deep red returned to Remus' cheeks as he subtly shifted in his seat. Sirius couldn't help but admire the color.

   "How cute you look when you blush," he said as though it were another observation on his list. His lips itched again to feel those of his friend when the color spread down to Moony's neck. His eyes fell on Remus' pulse point, visibly throbbing as if begging him to taste it. Wetting his lips, Sirius said breathily, "Remus," and waited until his friend looked back at him before he asked in a whisper, "What if I gave you your first kiss?"

   Each second that passed was marked by a thick, sharp thump that grew in his chest and reverberated in his ears. He couldn't believe he'd just had the stones to ask his friend such a question when he didn't even know whether Remus was attracted to boys as well. Without much of a second thought, Sirius had risked their friendship, and it was too late to take it back. Why couldn't he just learn to think through things first?

Read the rest here!

[joethetoonfanandoutcast]

Santa Claus is Comin' to Town fanmade VHS spines

Here are fan-edited VHS spines of Santa Claus is Comin' to Town if they were released by Sony, Warner/Turner, Fox, and Universal.

[audreyhepburninblackandwhite]

Audrey Hepburn's cover story for Illustrated's 2 June 1951 issue.

Carefree, off and on duty.

Audrey — The Other Hepburn

Photography by Joseph McKeown Story by Charles Hammlett

After four years of theatres, cabarets, and films, a young dancer takes a day off from career building

The Sphinx of Hollywood, otherwise Katharine Hepburn, actress and movie performer, recently spent a few days in this country wrapped in rain and  mystery, and wearing an old pair of eye-catching, publicity-snatching slacks. As one of the country’s legends, Miss Hepburn has earned the right to flinch at the rustle of a reporter’s notebook, or to duck at the sound of a photographer’s footfall.

Even as pressmen determinedly pounded the Hepburn beat, a few miles away at Ealing Studios another Hepburn was quietly performing in front of the camera—as yet blissfully unaware of the hysterical mobs and frustrated fanatics who often make the lives of Hepburns, Stanwycks, Gables, or Turners unendurable.

This other Hepburn was Audrey—Britain’s answer to every filmgoer’s hungry dreams. Twenty-two, brainy, beautiful, tantalizing, and talented, she is a girl of simple tastes to travel to Ealing by Underground from Marble Arch, takes Sunday afternoon strolls in Hyde Park, and stops to listen to the geniuses of Orator’s Corner.

Restful spirit at Rottingdean . . .

Over a gate for home . . .

She rides on buses or browses in the Charing Cross Road bookshops. Visits to cinemas and theatres are still fun for her. Given a day off, she will rush to the coast and join countless other holidaymakers. Audrey Hepburn is also a hard and fast worker. Just over two years ago, Jack Hylton selected her from 2,000 other girls to dance in High Button Shoes. After this “break,” Audrey tripped into the chorus of Sauce Tartare. There she caugh the eye of producer Cecil Landeaus sufficiently to be given a solo part in his sequel Sauce Piquante. This, in turn, caught the attention of the theatre critics and the public.

Among the regulars who went to see Audrey’s performance was film producer Mario Zampi. He went fourteen times. Like many pretty showgirls, Audrey had frequently been told she ought to be in films. Zampi not only said it, he gave her a small part in Alastair Sim’s Laughter in Paradise. Other “meatier” parts followed in The Lavender Hill Mob and Young Wives’ Tale. She obtained a contract with Associated British Pictures and a leading part in Ealing’s The Secret People—before her first three pictures were released. During the next few months, filmgoers will be able to make up their own minds about Audrey. They will see a lithe, dark-hair, large-eyed girl who slightly resembles Jean Simmons. Unlike Jean, however, Audrey has a cosmopolitan and somber background.

Secret performances for members of Dutch Resistance were some of Audrey’s experiences during the war. Now, at twenty-two, she takes the part of a refugee dancer in the film The Secret People.

A mixture of Scots, Belgian, and Dutch, she was in Belgium at the outbreak of war. After the Belgian capitulation, the family moved to Arnhem. Their house there was shelled during the airborne landing.

It was at Arnhem that she made her first public appearance as an entertainer. Black, or secret, concerts were given in private houses by performers who had refused to join the German sponsored “Chamber of Culture.” Audrey, then fifteen, was invited to appear at one of these concerts. Her mother helped her to make costumes from old curtains and chair covers. Later, conditions became so bad that cothes and jewellery were sold to provide food for the family.

Looked at from the Mayfair flat where she now lives with her mother, these days seem unreal. Though she entered show business as a dancer, Audrey is rapidly developing as an actress. Unusually tall for films—she is 5'7"—she has passed the stage where producers can brush her off by telling her she is “too lofty for camera work.” A girl with her potential star value can be as tall as a giraffe and still get by.

Audrey Hepburn could gracefully occupy a star’s chair in Britain’s studios. She might even attract some of the international attention now lavished on “Katie” Hepburn, and enable that much harassed star to pursue her life far from the madding crowd.

[nonsensical-pixels]

i am finally done with that redbud bay lot i've been working on for (checks note) a week and two days! it's the mayor, donald turner's, mansion that he shares with his wife and twin kids. don't be fooled, saffron's the real one who made the fortune that financed this ginormous home.

there's 4.5 bedrooms, even more bathrooms, and a massive garage! i tried to decorate the downstairs more opulently so that don and saffron can entertain any important guests downstairs.

Exterior

front entrance, playground & barbeque area, sitting area, gardening area

Interior

living area, saffron's office, garage & work area, dining & worship area, master bedroom, master bath, twins' bedroom, donald's office

Floorplans

it is... massive

i was actually hoping to upload this lot since it's one of the few that's completely clean, but...

yeah in case anyone was wondering what the average lot i make contains...

[seeksstaronmewni]

7 years have passed since Samurai Jack got back to the past...

Highlights of events regarding Genndy Tartakovsky and the like during this time include the following:

Genndy in interviews talked about the importance of visual storytelling (including an obvious disliking for "This is me"-type openings in animated movies), reducing dialogue in the script for a sexual animated comedy called Fixed (produced by New Line Cinema, Sony Pictures Animation, and Renegade Animation), and the viewpoint that "Character design informs posing, and it all works together."

Samurai Jack has the Checkered Past lineup on [adult swim] joined, airing on Fridays (soon to be Thursdays) at 6:00 PM... technically like around 5:59 PM, due to other Checkered Past shows having end credits time-compressed. Cartoon Network's social media accounts promoted this with a clip from EPISODE XCVIII, which is the second post they made regarding specifically Season 5 since their first one, in which they used Mao Mao x Samurai Jack fan art to promote Samurai Jack: Battle Through Time... which is now deleted due to Warner Bros. Discovery purging Mao Mao: Heroes of Pure Heart in an effort to save $3 billion.

Speaking of WBD's animation purge: Cartoon Network Studios' building is now abandoned as the crew was forced to relocate to a new building joining Warner Bros. Animation with affiliate CNS as another cost-cutting move. The Cartoon Network logo on the building was originally moved to the new building, but it was soon sold off letter by letter.

As if things couldn't grow worse; after MGM (on the home entertainment level, still an affiliate with Warner Bros. Home Entertainment/Studio Distribution Services) turned 100, Primal Screen, the studio behind much of Cartoon Network's branding including the Powerhouse era, announced that they were to shut down (likely due to financial issues - thanks a lot Warner Bros. Discovery). Buck's Pastel / Prism / Split-Screen branding is by far the cheapest, blandest, and ugliest one CN ever used, and the negative consequences of Discovery on Turner & WB make this era of CN truly the worse, with little sign of any improvement in their branding and their programming.

Unicorn: Warriors Eternal got the ACME Night marathons and airings it was promised to have, but that is unlikely to happen again since Cartoon Network stopped at 5PM with the debut of Checkered Past, causing ACME Night to be part of [as] as well (that may be just technical laziness on Discovery's part - they're already forcing Turner channels to use Discovery's rating & closed captioned screenbugs). Any future airing of Unicorn on TV, if any, so far will remain with the [adult swim] label, even on ACME Night (even though it was supposed to be for CN).

Relative to samurai in general; the Looney Tunes Cartoons episode "Yosemite Samurai" made its TV debut on Cartoon Network, though airing minutes earlier than the 9:30 AM schedule due to longer episode lengths.

Teen Titans GO! celebrated the 100th anniversary of Warner Bros. in October 2024 (was planned for September but was pushed in part due to revisions), and apparently "JACK, SAMURAI" was on the list! Dexter and Dee Dee, along with The Powerpuff Girls (in altered versions of the 2016 models), made cameos as well.

Tara Strong (a Zionist Jew and the voice of Ashi as well as Ilana Lunis) became controversial due to posts she made and liked speaking against the attacks against Jews by the Hamas, a terrorist group in Palestine. I may suffer from flack over this, but I honestly doubt that she is ultimately racist with the people of Palestine in general - just speaking against a terrorist group in Palestine killing people of her own race. May be that we're just too woke about racism?

The Powerpuff Girls Season 10 (the Hanna-Barbera Studios Europe revival; I personally count the 2016 "reboot" as Seasons 7-9 for a number of reasons) is still in production with people from Titmouse on the crew.

Dexter's Laboratory: The Complete Series DVD is set to release in June 2024... featuring the long overdue official US DVD release of Dexter's Laboratory: Ego Trip! There was a planned US DVD release long ago.

Warner Bros. may be 101 years old now (impressive considering that Discovery put them at over 60% risk of bankruptcy by December 2023), but they're not finished with celebrating their 100th anniversary; a screening of various WB (and affiliate-owned) shorts including Cartoon Network episodes like Dexter's Laboratory and the Steven Universe pilot "The Time Thing" (on which Genndy was the timing director) was announced for Annecy 2024.

Relative to a block that Samurai Jack used to rerun on; [adult swim] announced another nostalgic block: Toonami Rewind! This is so far exclusive to anime.

Personally, Cartoon Network entering into the Pastel era was bad enough, but Discovery exercising more control of WB affiliate Turner Broadcasting System pretty much killed CN for me (regardless of the many older shows airing on special occasions that weren't rerun on the network in years and even decades). I still remain faithful to a fair extent to CN, but, as you can see, there's a lot about the animation industry that's crumbling.

I'll add more to this post if I find anything else that happened.

Highlights of Year Passing 1

Highlights of Year Passing 2

Highlights of Year Passing 3

Highlights of Year Passing 4

Highlights of Year Passing 5 (incomplete; I know)

Highlights of Year Passing 6 (also incomplete)

[paigemathews]

I’m sick and it sucks, so have some headcanons about how Charmed characters react when they’re sick!

Prue Halliwell - will not quit working unless she is actively dying, and even then. She’ll take meds and soup when Piper shoves it at her, but will not actually rest. When someone else is sick though, she is hardcore bossing them to go back to bed and quit getting up. She’s an absolute hypocrite.

Piper Halliwell - initially, she’ll try to ignore it and keep going until someone tells her to rest. As soon as someone else has it under control, she will be happily retire to her bed and be a (mostly) model patient. The key is someone else actually has to have it under control because otherwise Mom Mode activates and she has to do something (as Phoebe and Paige discovered when they burnt dinner and had Piper cooking while she coughed every other breath). When anyone else is sick, however, she is The nurse. Soups, popsicles, hair pets, the whole nine yards.

Phoebe Halliwell - look, Pheebs was the youngest for a long time. She is absolutely whining the entire time and making it known that everything about being sick sucks. She is not trying to be annoying, but like. It sucks and it has to be known. When other people are sick, she like. tries? But Piper made homemade chicken noodle soup and Phoebe dumped some Campbell’s in a bowl, so. She’s great at the entertaining you while sick though, she has all of the movies to watch and gossip to catch you up on.

Paige Matthews - at first glance, you’d think she’s like Phoebe with the being terrible at being sick thing. And she is! But she tends to isolate herself more and hole up in a corner of her bed because it’s been a while since there’s been someone who could take care of her. Eventually, she starts learning how to let other people take care of her but it Is a Journey. On the flip side, she kinda just. left others alone when they were sick, but after having Piper take care of her when she was sick, she left meals on Piper’s nightstand with things like orange juice. She’s still not great at being comforting with the person though.

Leo Wyatt - in theory, a perfect patient. In practice, “I’m a doctor, I know what I’m doing.” Which? For other people? Sure, Leo’s a great caretaker. When it’s himself though? Baby, lie down please. The only one who can really wrangle him is Piper, mostly bc she doesn’t feel bad yelling at him to go back to bed. He isn’t trying to be a bad patient, but he spent like sixty years never getting sick and now he’s been brought down by the cold four-year-old Melinda’s class spread. (Piper teases him one time “Betcha regret becoming mortal now, huh?” And Leo, with a fever and has already thrown up once today, looks at her with adoring eyes and says, “To be with you? Never.”)

Andy Trudeau - a lot like Prue in that he hates resting. He’ll be working on a case while Darryl makes pointed comments about rest and sick days and not getting your partner sick. Eventually, however, he’ll actually take the sick day and rest (always in-between cases or when it’s time to go into field though). He’s a great caretaker though, not the superhuman type like Piper but just. good.

Darryl Morris - finally, someone who is a good patient! He’ll take the sick day and go home to his family. If it’s more than a few days though, he starts getting bored and will start going over case files. He always sheepishly puts them back once Sheila catches him and just gives him a deadpan look. He just hates the boredom part of being sick where you can’t really do anything. He’s a good caretaker though, but you will be getting your soup and gatorade at random times due to whenever he comes in.

Cole Turner - this man’s first cold was when he was over a century and he made it v clear that he thought he was cursed. Once they figured out that he just had a cold, Piper nearly did curse him. The mighty Belthazor brought down low by a couple of germs. It’d almost be funny if he didn’t nearly exhaust even Leo’s near limitless patience. On the flipside, he.... also has no idea how to caretake but he does try! He goes a little overboard tho and just provides unnecessarily dramatic solutions. (If things had went differently, he probably would have kidnapped a nurse to wait on Phoebe hand and foot during Queen of the Underworld arc while Phoebe went, what? no, I don’t need- COLE!)

Henry Mitchell - he denies that he’s sick and basically powers through it. Like Paige, he didn’t have anyone to care for him when he was sick but I also headcanon that he was. a bit worse off than Paige (who had Glen and his family and the mentioned exactly once Aunt Julie and Uncle Dave to turn to if she needed it, even if she wouldn’t choose to) so he didn’t really have much of a choice. He gets even grumpier when he’s sick though. Eventually, he also learns how to take it easy and let others care for him but he. struggles with it a lot. On the flipside, he’s a surprisingly good caretaker. It’s because he just does what he wishes he had someone there to do for him, which leads him pretty well. (I am also now imaging Henry with a sick teenage parolee and like. It’s cute. I can’t provide specifics but it’s really cute.)

Coop Halliwell - okay, based on how I indicated that Whitelighters and demons can’t get sick, I don’t think that I can make an argument for Cupids getting sick. So he doesn’t get sick, I guess. (Lucky him! Can’t relate.) He’s a really good caretaker though, especially with the comforting side. He’ll sing the girls to sleep and make toast and be really freaking sweet that no one can even be snarky about how he doesn’t get sick. (Piper tries once when she and the kids are sick while Leo is at some Magic School thing but then Coop and Phoebe come by and Phoebe is entertaining the kids while Coop makes lunch and cleans up the house so that Piper doesn’t have to worry about it and like. this is really good chicken noodle soup so she can’t say much.)

Chris Halliwell - literally, no one finds out that he’s sick unless he fucking passes out because he’s a dumbass who lived in a world where sickness was weakness and weakness meant dying so he just hides it until he physically can’t anymore. No one has a good time when this happens. It takes... awhile. for them to get through to him that he can tell them when he’s sick and they’ll help. He still doesn’t really like it and still struggles to share that info, but. it starts getting a little better and then he dies and it doesn’t matter anymore. Similarly, his response to others being sick is rooted in his time. He doesn’t particularly know how to handle it in the past, so he just. lets the others take over while he keeps a watch over the Manor, in case anyone tries anything while someone is down sick.

Billie Jenkins - she’s the type of person to insist that she won’t get sick and is brought down in the next chapter. She hates it and she grumbles but besides the whining, she’s actually a decent patient. She’ll take her meds and eat the soup and lie in bed, but just. lots of complaining. On the flip side, she’s. not exactly a stellar caretaker. She’s like twenty years old; they’re not exactly known for their caretaking ability and Billie is a lot of things, but a Mom Friend™ she is not.

[astrangetorpedo]

CATHERINE MARKS: BOYGENIUS, MANCHESTER ORCHESTRA, AND FINDING EMOTIONAL FREEDOM

by Daniel Gumble | 4/22/24

Award-winning producer Catherine Marks sits down with Headliner to reflect on a whirlwind start to 2024, the magic that went into boygenius’s the record, and how her enduring relationship with Manchester Orchestra has taught her the importance of unlocking true “emotional freedom”in the studio…

“It’s been a crazy start to the year,” Catherine Marks exhales as she joins us via Zoom from her London home on a bright, early-Spring morning in late March. “I keep thinking it’s September or something.” In reality, it’s a month to the day until the 2024 MPG Awards ceremony, which will see Marks fighting on three fronts for a trio of highly coveted gongs. This year she’s up for Producer of the Year (an award she won in 2018) and Mix Engineer of the Year, while the record by indie rock ‘supergroup’ boygenuis, produced by Marks, is shortlisted for Album of the Year. Taking place on April 25th at The Troxy in London, the night will provide the Australian-born, London-based producer a rare moment to reflect on what has been one of the busiest and most fruitful spells of her career so far.

In the first quarter of 2024, she’s been hopping between continents to work across a number of new records, while also squeezing in a visit to the Grammys and the Resonator Awards, where her work on the widely lauded the record was deservedly recognised. At the Grammys, boygenius won Best Alternative Music Album, as well as Best Rock Performance and Best Rock Song for Not Strong Enough, while the band themselves presented Marks with the Powerhouse Award at The Resonator Awards in recognition of her work on the album. “I definitely felt like I was invited to the cool kids’ party by accident,” she laughs.

As those who have spent time with Marks will attest, she is excellent company. In conversation she is entertaining, thoughtful, and insightful, not to mention generous with her time, as evidenced by her almost apologetic disclaimer at the start of our conversation that she is battling through illness to talk to us. Still, she’s happy to speak at length about the year she’s had and what’s been keeping her busy in the first quarter of 2024.

“I started an album at the end of December with a band called Divorce and the day after we finished, I flew to LA, and the Resonator Awards were the day after that,” she says. “It was this intense period, and I don’t feel like I’ve really taken stock of that week in LA and meeting all those amazing people. And having already done a full album, it’s crazy! “It’s been a real whirlwind.”

The recognition Marks has received not just in the US but around the world for her work with boygenius certainly appears to have shifted the dial on her career. She was already a highly sought after, multi-award-winning producer and engineer, having cut her teeth with studio icons Flood and Alan Moulder and cultivating a client list that includes, to name a few, the likes of Foals, Alanis Morissette, Wolf Alice, Frank Turner, The Big Moon, and Manchester Orchestra, with whom she has become a regular collaborator.

We were both holding back tears… it was one of those magic moments.

However, when three of indie rock’s most celebrated songwriters, Phoebe Bridgers, Julien Baker, and Lucy Dacus decided to join forced under the boygenius moniker, few could have predicted the extent of acclaim and success their debut album the record would achieve. Their self-titled 2018 EP was met with critical acclaim, but offered little indication that their first full-length release five years later would go on to top multiple charts, scoop a raft of awards, and make the upper reaches of countless 2023 album of the year lists.

The iconography of the trio also elevated the record beyond the realm of the side project. From the album artwork, through to their already legendary take on Nirvana’s 1994 Rolling Stone magazine cover, which saw the band kitted out in pin-striped business suits, everything about the project felt synonymous with a bona fide band, rather than something that existed on the periphery of each member’s full-time solo career.

“They wanted me to mix their first EP, but the timings didn’t work out, as I was working with Manchester Orchestra,” Marks explains, recalling the origins of her relationship with the group. “And they reached out to me because of my work with Manchester Orchestra. There was a lot of mutual love and respect for those guys. But I had a meeting with them via Zoom and that was the first time we’d seen each other’s faces, and that was when we spoke about making an album together.”

While the ‘supergroup’ concept that shrouds the boygenius project is something that Bridgers, Baker, and Dacus were acutely aware of, Marks says that there was no discussion of the matter in the studio. As she puts it, the sessions were very much akin to recording a band, as opposed to three solo artists coming together.

“I don’t think that the ‘supergroup’ aspect was ever a real consideration, as they are all just really great friends and love each other very much,” Marks affirms. “As far as songwriting is concerned, they had written individually but had also gone away to work on them together before we started making the album. They treated it very much like a band where three people were bringing songs in, and they were critiquing each other’s music and lyrics. There was a lot of collaboration.”

Despite the collaborative spirit that fuelled the sessions, the task of weaving a cohesive whole from three distinct creative voices was one that hung heavily on Marks’s shoulders.

“We all knew it had to be a cohesive album,” she states. “That was something that was on my mind, but I don’t think it was ever articulated. Somehow the aesthetic of the album feels really consistent, yet each of their individual identities still shines through. It weighed heavily on my mind, but through the power of magic it turned out to be a cohesive record [laughs]. A lot of the other collaborators and musicians that worked on the album also helped to create this consistent sonic thread that runs all the way through it.

“We spent the first three- or four-days doing pre-production and working out how wanted everything to feel, so we were collectively conscious of making sure there was a flow to the album,” she continues, describing how they set the tone for the sessions. “We had a ‘wall of dreams’ that we would throw ideas at and we would write down particular influences and then see if there were other songs that fitted that aesthetic. There were relationships and interconnections between each song. That’s something I do on other records too. But they were so militant I don’t think they would have let anything veer off track.”

They were the toughest customers I’d worked with. I underestimated the challenge.

When reflecting on the most memorable moments shared between herself and the band (“there are too many to mention”), Marks is reminded of an especially poignant moment shared with Dacus when working on one of the album’s many highlights, We’re In Love.

“Lucy and I arrived the night before everyone else to start work on the album, and she played me this song,” says Marks. “There wasn’t really a structure to it, but there was this stunning, gorgeous melody that I was so moved by. Throughout the course of the time we were at the studio she carried on working at it. I had been saying I think it absolutely needs to be on the album, but it doesn’t feel finished yet. So, she worked really hard at it and performed it for me, and I thought it was beautiful.

“Anyway, on the day that we ended up recording it, it was still light outside and it was just her and I in the studio, and she played it just on the acoustic guitar in the control room. I had a couple of mics set up, and there was this beautiful light streaming in, and you can sort of hear at the end she chokes up, as I did. We were both holding back tears… it was just one of those magic moments. It was all about the performance, not recording the guitar and then adding the vocals over the top. She just put everything into this performance, and it was magical. That’s a really strong memory. But there were so many of those moments.”

As to whether or not the sessions offered any indication as to the rapturous response the record would be met with upon release, Marks takes a moment to consider her answer.

“I mean [pauses] it’s been next level,” she says. “I knew it would be significant. There are moments when you think back and get butterflies, like, I’m really a part of something special here. So, there is a kind of instinctive but intangible knowledge that you’re working on something special. And they are incredible characters. They are three of the best songwriters that exist today, so something had to go right!”

In looking back at the process of making the record and the spotlight it has drawn towards Marks and her oeuvre, our conversation gravitates toward some of the other records that have moved the needle on her career.

“Every record feels like that,” she states. “One of the most significant moments was engineering the Foals record (Holy Fire, 2013) with Flood and Alan Moulder. I was known within the industry from assisting in studios, but the success of that record put me on a lot of people’s radars. It was the next step from engineering into production on a commercial level.

“And there have been moments like working on Wolf Alice’s first EP (Moaning Lisa Smile, 2014), The Big Moon’s first record (Love In The 4th Dimension, 2017). And all the work I’ve done with Manchester Orchestra. I love working with them, and it seems like every band I work with LOVES Manchester Orchestra. My relationship and work with them has allowed me to learn so much and has enabled me to work with so many other artists.”

Marks’s work with Manchester Orchestra has undoubtedly been one of the defining features of her career. After producing the US rock outfit’s fifth album A Black Mile To The Surface (2017), she has become a regular and much loved collaborator, yet the harmonious relationship that has flourished between band and producer since was initially born from more tempestuous circumstances.

“On the first record we made together we were really at loggerheads,” she reveals. “They were the toughest customers I’d ever worked with. I underestimated how much of a challenge it would be. It was their fifth record, and I thought they’ll be very well versed in the process of making album, and it’ll just be really enjoyable and different to a lot of the first album projects I’d been working on. But I was really wrong, because they were putting so much pressure on themselves to make it the best album, they’d ever made, otherwise they were going to stop what they were doing. I didn’t anticipate that. Also, they are really polite, so it took about two weeks to get to the bottom of what needed to be done, and that really opened the floodgates.

“The way we communicate is so much freer now, which means it’s more about the creativity and the collaboration rather than the psychology. There are no minds games or personality challenges, we just accept each other for who we are and want to make amazing music.”

As we bid our farewells and allow Marks to return to nursing herself back to health before another imminent trip to LA to produce the new Rise Against album in April and another Manchester Orchestra record starting in May, she is keen to point out that those early moments of friction can not only yield positive results but can be essential in unlocking a project’s potential.

“I actually encourage that kind of discourse in the studio,” she signs off. “I want people to feel free to be however they want to be in order to express themselves. There should be chemistry and conversation. And those little tussles you have can reaffirm what you believe in. Obviously, I wouldn’t encourage aggression, but frustration and anger can be a part of that, and there is something exciting about that level of emotional freedom.”

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