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denimbex1986 · 4 months

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'“When I was young, I was so sure of myself,” the Doctor tells Donna Noble early in the third and final Doctor Who 60th Anniversary Special. “I made a terrible mistake.” That bit of exposition catches up viewers who never got the chance to watch the lost First Doctor serial “The Celestial Toymaker,” in which Michael Gough played the Toymaker, the bad guy of “The Giggle,” now played by Neil Patrick Harris. However, it also captures the theme of the episode, in which the Toymaker’s control over reality and the weight of constant running finally catches up to the Doctor and forces him to admit how little he knows.

From the COVID-era satire of the world destroying itself in pursuit of individual truth to the weariness with which the Doctor tells Noble that he was “so certain” about his past actions, “The Giggle” stands as a warning against over-relying on one’s own judgment.

And yet, that same episode left viewers with a delicious, irresistible question: whose manicured hand was that?

After the Fourteenth Doctor (David Tennant) and the Fifteenth Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) defeat the Toymaker at his own game, thanks to the heretofore mythical Bigeneration, a manicured hand enters the frame and snatches the last remnant of the Toymaker, his golden tooth, while the good guys are distracted.

Why is the tooth so important? Who is the One Who Waits? Whose hand was that? We’re not so certain about the answers to those questions, but we do have a few educated guesses.

Why Is the Gold Tooth Important?

Among the many boasts the Toymaker offers is the story of the Master, the Doctor’s arch-enemy from Gallifrey. The Toymaker recalls a dying Master coming to him and begging him to play one last game in a desperate attempt to survive. “When he lost, I sealed him for all eternity inside my gold tooth,” the Toymaker sneers before an extreme close-up on the tooth accentuates the moment.

It should come as no surprise that the Master would be involved in the recent specials, given his role in causing the regeneration cycle that led to the Fourteenth Doctor. As seen in “The Power of the Doctor,” the Thirteenth Doctor (Jodie Whittaker) regenerates after a battle with the Master (Sacha Dhawan). The Master appeared to have died as well in the episode, but that’s happened before — the Master is, after all, another Time Lord and can also regenerate.

However, the gold tooth trap presents a new twist on the Master, another indication of the Toymaker’s power. That said, the fact that someone took the time to steal the tooth after the Toymaker’s death indicates that someone is likely interested in freeing the Master, a weapon against the Doctor that some larger force wishes to use when they are ready…

Who Is the One Who Waits?

And who is that larger force? The Toymaker gives us a small hint while staring down the Doctor before a game, listing his many defeated opponents.

“There’s only player I dared not face,” he says with menace. “The one who waits.” But when the Doctor presses him for more information, the Toymaker only responds, “That’s someone else’s game.” The line seems to echo Beep the Meep’s own sinister warning about the impending arrival of his “boss,” who the Doctor will presumably meet in series 14. Gatwa’s Fifteenth Doctor will have to deal with the one who waits, the figure so scary that even the Toymaker had to run and hide from it.

Now, this One Who Waits could certainly be a new character designed by returning showrunner Russell T Davies. A number of interesting characters debuted during Davies’s first tenure on the series, including the Ood and the Beast from “The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit,” the invisible creatures from “Midnight,” the Weeping Angels from “Blink,” and… uh, the Slitheen.

However, as demonstrated by his decision to bring back the bad guy from a mostly lost First Doctor (William Hartnell) adventure for “The Giggle,” Davies also loves to revive a forgotten bad guy. One interesting possibility would be the War Chief, a Gallifreyan totalitarian introduced in the second Doctor’s last adventure, “The War Games.” The shrewd leader of the War Lords, the War Chief has appeared in non-canonical books, but has not been back on TV since the late ’60s. And since his introduction, the War Chief has been connected to the Master. In fact, it’s long been debated whether the War Chief is actually a regeneration of the Doctor’s greatest rival, so it would make a bit of sense that he’d be interested in freeing the Master as part of a new plan to take down the Doctor.

The return of Melanie Bush (Bonnie Langford) could also point to a villain from the Sixth Doctor’s (Colin Baker) time, namely the 1986 serial “The Mysterious Planet.” From his first appearance, the Sixth Doctor struggled with darker, more cowardly instincts. In “The Mysterious Planet,” viewers learn that those instincts manifest in the form of the Valeyard, a devious figure who represents the Doctor’s dark side. According to the Master, the Valeyard springs from “somewhere between [the Doctor’s] twelfth and final incarnation.” Thus, as the Doctor hurled toward his later incarnations in NuWho, the Valeyard’s return was a popular fan theory, with some hoping that Matt Smith, John Hurt, or Timothy Dalton would be playing the character.

Of course, all that has changed now that the Doctor was given a new set of regenerations in “The Time of the Doctor” and even more so with the revelation in “The Timeless Children” that the Doctor does not come from Gallifrey and thus has no limit on her regenerations. Given the emphasis on multiple Doctors since Davies’s return, and several references to Chris Chibnall’s run in the recent specials, it feels like the perfect time to bring back the Valeyard in a new, even more terrifying form. Of course, we Whovians have been saying stuff like that since Christopher Eccleston regenerated at the end of the reboot season.

So, Whose Hand Picked Up the Gold Tooth?

In place of wild speculation, let’s take a look at what we do know. After the two Doctors forced the Toymaker into a box, Kate Lethbridge-Stewart (Jemma Redgrave) quickly set to giving UNIT orders on disposing of the box. At the same time, the pants-less Fifteenth Doctor and the shoeless Fourteenth Doctor left with Donna to sort out the mysteries of Bigeneration. In short, we saw everyone doing something when the hand reached out to grab the tooth.

Still, that doesn’t rule out any of the people we know were at Avengers TowerUNIT headquarters. At the risk of missing the point at the end of “The Star Beast,” the hand certainly presents female and thus draws attention to the women at the Doctor’s side.

“The Giggle” did show Lethbridge-Stewart succumbing to the Toymaker’s madness, and while she seemed to snap out of it quickly, an element may remain and drive her to take the tooth. Some fans on Twitter have even taken to pointing out her red nail polish, the same kind as the mystery hand, although that seems a bit too obvious, doesn’t it?

Mel did show up in “The Power of the Doctor,” but we still don’t know much about her whereabouts since leaving the Seventh Doctor (Sylvester McCoy) with Sabalom Glitz (Tony Selby). Mel tells the Doctor that Glitz died after tripping on a whiskey bottle, but given the many lies and tricks we saw him tell when he was alive, there’s no reason to trust that apparent demise. Did Mel pick up a few tricks of her own? What if a Zingo is something far worse than just a thing to get a lift off of?

And how about Shirley Bingham (Ruth Madeley)? In her few appearances, she’s shown to be much more than she appears. Does she have some interest in the Master?

While any of these might be fun, the more likely culprit is one of the actors cast for series 14. One of the big names added to the cast is Jinkx Monsoon, a star of RuPaul’s Drag Race. Although we don’t yet know who Monsoon will play, we have seen the costume she’ll be wearing, and the black painted nails don’t quite line up with the red nail polish shown in “The Giggle.”

Meanwhile, Obi Wan Kenobi and Game of Thrones alum Indira Varma has been cast as a character called “The Duchess.” We know even less about the Duchess than we do Monsoon’s character, as we haven’t even seen a costume yet. However, with a name as a title, she could very well be another renegade Time Lord like the Master or the War Chief, which would explain her interest in the tooth.

Of course, the most obvious culprit would be Missy, the female incarnation of the Master played by Michelle Gomez, who famously wore red nail polish during her run as the villain. Although she has since regenerated into Sacha Dhawan, the Master has teamed up with past incarnations before, as when Missy joined forces with John Simm’s version.

And then there’s the least likely, but most exciting theory: the hand belongs to the Rani. For readers who have not spent too much time on Doctor Who message boards, the Rani is another renegade Time Lord, introduced in 1985’s “The Mark of the Rani “and played by Kate O’Mara. The Rani went up against the Sixth and Seventh Doctors, and against multiple Doctors in the 1993 Children in Need special “Dimensions in Time,” the villain’s last onscreen appearance. We’ve honestly lost count of all the times fans theorized the Rani was surely about to return in the NuWho era. It’s basically a joke at this point within the fandom: each time Doctor Who teases a new female villain, you have to immediately shout “It’s the Rani!” Up to you whether you want to actually believe that or not.

So, has the Rani’s time finally come? Is the Valeyard back to frighten fans? Or is it just a regular ol’ hand and we’re all reading too much into it?

Honestly, we’re not sure. And that’s a good thing.'

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thewingedwolf · 1 year

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why Bran is my favorite reason 29383:

When the Reeds show up, he asks Luwin if they really eat frogs and insects. When Luwin says yes, Bran (who, as a reminder, is not even in the double digits yet) supposes it must be because they don’t have sheep and cattle. Then, Bran decides they need a special treat and sends them several meat based dishes that are sheep or beef, so they can give it a try. Jojen and Meera are clearly tickled by this too.

He’s such a sweet boy, who remembers his courtesies, but I love how often he will use food as a way to reach out to people he’s not sitting next to. To not give into the childish impulse to be grossed out by eating habits he doesn’t understand, and instead make the educated connection they eat what’s native to their area. And he sends Hodor and Old Nan food to show them he loves them - and he sends shitty vegetables to the Freys because he hates them lmao.

#u kno that scene in the crown where elizabeth is shocked that philip has a favorite child and he says it’s anne no hesitation #that’s how i am with bran aksjdj yes i do have a favorite child yes it is bran #c: you better run for cover when the pup grows up #bran stark #a song of ice and fire #rani liveblogs asoiaf #i say this bc i was an annoying eater as a child and i think it’s so cute that bran is like ‘oh that makes sense they live in a swamp’

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lamentofspring · 3 months

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all of us strangers (2023), adam & harry / portrait of a boy with grief, wale ayinla / sonnet of the wreath of roses, federico garcia lorca / an oresteia, anne carson / dancing with ghosts, hania rani & patrick wilson / every poem is a child of love, marina tsvetaeva / meditation: my grief, the sun, sanna wani

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hotvintagepoll · 11 days

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Propaganda

Deborah Kerr (Bonjour Tristesse, An Affair to Remember, The King and I)— For several decades she held the record for most Oscar nominations without a win (6 in total), and she was a prolific leading lady throughout the 40s and 50s. She's best known today for the romance An Affair to Remember with Cary Grant, and as the governess in The King and I. Many people have this erroneous perception of her as extremely prim, proper, and virginal, but this could not be further from the truth. When she first came to Hollywood under MGM she was typecast into boring decorative roles, but broke sexual boundaries for herself and Hollywood generally in From Here to Eternity, when she made out (horizontally!) with Burt Lancaster (on top of him!) in the famous Beach Scene. She went on to play many sexually conflicted women, a character type that would define most of her post- Eternity work. She continued to break Hays Code boundaries with Tea and Sympathy, which addresses homosexuality/homophobia head-on, and even did a topless scene in The Gypsy Moths 1969!! One of the only classic stars to do so. She deserves a more nuanced and frankly a hotter legacy than she currently has!!!

Devika Rani (Achhut Kanya)—She was grandniece of Rabindranath Tagore (laureate). She was sent to boarding school in England at age nine and grew up there. After completing her schooling, she joined the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) and the Royal Academy of Music to study acting and music, at a time when aristocratic women did not enter showbiz. She studied filmmaking in Berlin. It is well known that she underwent training at the UFA Studios in the art and technique of acting under Eric Pommer, and other aspects of film production including costume and set designing and make-up, under eminent directors like GW Pabst, Fritz Lang, Emil Jannings and Josef von Sternberg. She is also reported to have worked with Marlene Dietrich. She had a multi-faceted personality and took on many responsibilities of film production at Bombay Talkies, a studio that she co-founded with Himanshu Rai in Mumbai in 1934. She often took care of hair and make up, supervised set design and editing, scouted for new talent and mentored them. She was the face of Bombay Talkies, and also the reason behind the political and financial backing the studio received, at a time when even women from red light districts refused to work as actresses. She was the first recipient of the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, when it was instituted in 1970.

This is round 3 of the tournament. All other polls in this bracket can be found here. Please reblog with further support of your beloved hot sexy vintage woman.

[additional propaganda submitted under the cut.]

Deborah Kerr:

I think she was one of my first crushes before I realised I was bi in The King and I when I watched it as a kid honestly. The kissing scene in From Here to Eternity is iconic for a reason. Actually tried to learn the accents for the characters she was playing if they weren't English which is more than pretty much anyone else was doing then. Played very restrained characters who frequently seemed to be desperate not to be so restrained. Did horror movies without venturing into hagsploitation tropes. Gave Marni Nixon the credit she deserved for her share of the singing in The King and I.

Anne Larsen is a peak late 1950s bisexual with big MILF energy. Have you seen the behind the scenes pics of her wearing a suit?? Have you????? Vote Deb as Anne Larsen.

Nominated for an Oscar six (6) times and never won, but besides her having actual talent (hot), and besides her looking Like That (very hot, also beautiful), she was always playing women who are, like, crazy repressed. Which makes it fun and easy for me to read these characters as queer. Icon!!!! You know what's hot? Playing ambiguously gay in vintage Hollywood.

Her face and talent and body, yes, ofc, duh. But also!!! Her HANDS!!!! I may be but a simple lesbian, but she is the best hactor (hand actor) that ever lived and that's HOT! For propriety's sake I feel I must redact a large portion of my commentary on this subject. Anyway. She's hot in her most famous roles (mentioned above), and also some of her sexiest hacting is on display in An Affair to Remember (her hand on the bannister when Cary Grant kisses her off-screen??? HELLO???), Tea and Sympathy (when she's trying to persuade Tom not to go out and she keeps flexing her hands like she wants to reach out to him but can't??? ALLY BEHAVIOR! WE STAN!), and The Innocents (which opens and closes with extended shots of her hands bc director Jack Clayton was also an ally and he did that for ME). Much of her appeal also lies in the fact that she often played deeply repressed characters and you know what's hot? When those uptight characters finally unravel. It's sexy. It's cathartic. It's erotic. Plus, she's beautiful to look at in both black & white and technicolor, and the more of her films you see, the more you can't help but fall in love!

Literally is in thee most famously sexy scene of all time (or maybe just during the hays code era which is what we're talking about HELLO), which is the beach scene with Burt Lancaster in from here to eternity. To quote a tumblr post of a screen capture of a tweet of a video of joy behar on the view: "y'know, there used to be movies where they were kissing on the beach... From Here to Eternity. They're kissing-- Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr are Kissing on the Beach and then the WAVES crash!! You know exactly what they did!"

She might have a reputation of being chaste and virginal or whatever, but we all know it's the quiet ones who are certifiable FREAKS

Devika Rani:

Achhut Kanya (1936) is the only one of hers I've seen but hot DAMN

#devika rani #deborah kerr #hotvintagepoll #fuck that old woman #ladies 3

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luv-doritos · 7 months

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If every doctor had a news coverage abt them

IN THE NEWS TODAY :

-Teachers get kidnapped ; old homeless man suspected.

- Excentric self-proclaimed doctor and scottish boyfriend cause mischief with Yetis in London Underground ; Futurist female friend and her photograph girlfriend still at their search.

-Old fancy man defeats bearded leader with karate and military intervention.

-Beloved bohemian scientist falls off of a tower ; Thinks Dr.Sullivan is an imbecile, and develops affection for peculiar robotic pet dog. Journalist Sarah-Jane Smith refuses to cover the news.

-Cricket-like Father of four takes on adventures into space ; unfortunately becomes father of three as the fourth sacrifices himself.

-Arrogant blonde man with horrible fashion choices fights the Matrix with american woman and redhead woman ; gets defeated by "The Rani".

-Goofy but manipulative spoon-player unofficially adopts troubled teenage girl who masters explosives.

-Young man goes back between the 19th and the 20th century to find hot girls and guys to fuck.

-Bald man saves people around time and space and cheats on blonde woman with Sherlock Holmes.

-Adored silly man ruins redhead woman's marriage ; still revered by thousands.

-Knockoff of the adored silly man forgets how to interact with humans and has a complicated romance with woman called River Pond.

-Old emo teenager accused of murder ; says the victim was 'dead already'.

-Silly blonde woman who has midlife crisis at age 20 has pakistani lesbian lover ; denies.

-Adored silly man resurrects from death ; is Jesus ?

I'M YOUR ANCHOR ANNE KERR, THIS IS TODAY'S NEWS AND WTF ?!?

#doctor who #1st doctor #2nd doctor #3rd doctor #4th doctor #5th doctor #6th doctor #7th doctor #8th doctor #9th doctor #10th doctor #11th doctor #12th doctor #13th doctor #14th doctor #the news

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bookjonsadaily · 13 days

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if you want to be added as a mod leave an ask!!

welcome to book jonsa daily, a blog born out of the insanity of @atopvisenyashill and the boredom of @nepobabyeurydice hooray! we track the tags bookjonsadaily and book jonsa

icon and header made by rani (aka visenyashill), fancasts are lucas jade zumann in anne with an e and rachel hurd wood in perfume.

while it’s inevitable there will be some sophie!sansa and kit!jon stuff, this is a tumblr dedicated to book jonsa only!!! no ramsay plot line, no jon at hardhome nonsense, just george’s canon!!

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monkeey-booy · 2 months

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So here is my take on coral island npc’s surnames! If you have a better idea, feel free to tell meeeeee <3

Luke, Bree, Walter Duckorns (found it on reddit, i believe it’s their official surname)

Pablo, Rafael, Antonio Sanchez

Nina Kluo (took it from the same reddit)

Leah, Randy Barnes (same)

Ling Jiang (reddit saved me)

Betty, Frank, Aaliyah, Noah, Erika Juma (thank you reddit)

Surya Widjojo (reddit is very useful)

Valentina Sanchez-Sinclair

Alice, Suki Sinclair

Dinda, Joko, Archie Oldfield

Kira, Jack, Kenny Shepherd

Mark Atkinson

Anne, Paul, Zoe Woods

Emily, Sam Moore

Eleanor, Sunny, Oliver Wilson (Sunny took Eleanor’s surname where they got married)

Jim, Theo, Lily Ryouno

Wataru, Wakuu Uchiumi

Scott Irwin

Millie Holland

Yuri Del Rosario (since she’s from a surrounding island, i headcanon her from the Philippines, correct me if i got that wrong)

Macy Gray

Raj Rani

Eva Fox

Charles O’Connor

Zarah Qamar

Chaem Hale

Emma, Dippa Monet

Ben Oswald

I used my insomnia and nervous breakdown to make this x) i also wrote a long list of idea to develop my farmer lmao be ready for some lore and doodles

#coral island #coral island headcanons #ramblings #i can’t tag all the npc #so here is a few #coral island rafael #coral island theo #coral island alice #coral island scott #coral island millie #coral island yuri #and that’s it

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paginate54 · 6 months

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Dave Lewis, LZ chronicler, on Robert's performance of Stairway. From Led Zeppelin Celebration Days FB page:

Some personal thoughts on this performance of Stairway To Heaven...

There was something profoundly moving watching the YouTube footage of Robert Plant performing Stairway To Heaven at the Andy Taylor concert.

This was the first live public airing of the song since the Led Zeppelin 02 Reunion on December 10 2007.

Before I delve in to this subject, Robert’s entire appearance was captivating. Thank you delivered with much emotion, Black Dog hammed up brilliantly and the version of Season of the Witch segueing into a reprise of Black Dog lyrics and Buffalo Springfield’s For What it’s Worth – as in the LA Forum 1970 Blueberry Hill bootleg.

Incidentally, bassist on the night Guy Pratt noted that he has now performed Black Dog with both Robert and Jimmy Page – he was part of the touring band on the Coverdale Page Japan visit in late 1993. The band line up on the night consisted of the aforementioned Guy, former Reef guitarist Kenwyn House (wearing a dragon patterned shirt shades of Jimmy perhaps), Rod Stewart’s drummer David Palmer, Andy Taylor plus Andy Taylor’s son Andy J Taylor on guitar, singer Anne Rani and musician Dino Jelusick on keyboard and backing vocals.

So back to Stairway To Heaven...

We have all had a journey with this song over the years. Mine commenced on April 4 1971 when I heard it on my radio listening to Led Zeppelin’s BBC In Concert performance on Radio One’s John Peel show. I’d heard Jimmy in an interview describing how it had come together in various sections building to a climax. Sure enough this tentative version did just that.

I first saw it performed live on Sunday November 21 1971 at the Empire Pool Wembley – an extraordinary night. It was of course one of the stand out tracks on their just released fourth album.

It went to attain legendary status – the most played record on American radio and from 1975 the rightful finale to every Led Zeppelin live performance.

Like many of their songs the arrangement was often toyed with, not least by the singer who over time added many an ad - lib to the lyrics. As it was performed on every Led Zep show, this enabled the song to retain a freshness.

The first ad-lib I recall was when he inserted the line ''you are the children of the sun'' during the version to be heard on the classic bootleg Going To California from their performance in Berkeley on September 14 1971. From 1973 onwards 'Does anybody remember laughter?‘’ was an expected insert after the line ‘’and the forest will echo with laughter.’’

By 1975, Robert had changed the line ‘’your stairway’’ to ‘’our stairway’’ adding the line ‘’that’s all we got.’’ As I witnessed in awe from the side of the stage during their 1980 Over Europe performances , Robert added ‘’I keep chopin’ and changin'’’ as they led into the climax.

Post Zep, Robert has sang Stairway To Heaven’’ it a mere four times – at Live Aid in 1985, the Atlantic 40th anniversary show in 1988, a sweet truncated version with Jimmy Page in a TV studio in Japan in 1994 and at the Led Zeppelin O2 tribute concert for Ahmet Ertegun where he proclaimed after the song ‘’Ahmet we did it!’’

Well now he has done it again….

The obvious question is why now and why on this occasion?

There’s no doubt it was a special occasion being a concert staged by the ex - Duran Duran guitarist Andy Taylor. Andy has had serious cancer health issues and staged this concert in aid of Cancer Awareness Trust.

As well as performing on the night, Robert donated his personal gold disc of Led Zeppelin IV for the auction –as he put it ''our not so difficult fourth album.'' A part of this was featured on the video stream and it had clocked an initial £50,000 bid.“I love this music and I still love it now very much although I get a bit coy and shy when I have to go near it because it was such a long time ago,” he said.

In an interview with Led Zep News guitarist Kenwyn House revealed that Robert Plant chose to perform Stairway To Heaven after a wealthy donor agreed to donate a six-figure sum to charity if he did so.

So, a special occasion deems a special song for a very worthy cause.

It says everything for Robert’s ease with the Zep legacy, that he could perform this once millstone around his neck with such dignity.

As we know Stairway To Heaven became much maligned and a victim of much parody – and let’s not mention that farcical version by a disgraced not so all round entertainer.

Although he was quick to decry it in the immediate post Zep years, I happen to think Robert is rightly proud of the song, as he is the whole Zep legacy.

Who can forget his tearful reaction to the Wilson sisters and Jason’s performance at the Kennedy Honours in 2012?

So, with none of the pressure of performing it on a big stage and at a pressurised Zep related occasion, he was able to slot it in at this charity event with little fuss.

It worked majestically….

With an ad- hoc line up with few rehearsals, the arrangement was always going to be more loose than tight. That mattered little, as his vocal phrasing was absolutely spot on and what a joy it was to hear him sing this song with a calm control. Some subtle backing vocals aided the tranquil mood.

Here’s the thing – Robert Plant sang it as though he really meant it – confident in his skin at revisiting a major part of his past. Looking good with the mic off held in that familiar pose we know so well.

I wonder what was going through his mind? I know for me it prompted so many precious memories.

There were no ad-libs this time in what was out a fairly straight rendering – the guitar solo was neat and compact and they were back in for the grand finale. Here, Robert slowed things down and the key with it avoiding any strained vocals and he even sang the last section ‘’To be a rock and not to roll’’ for a second time – making it a unique arrangement. He did retain the ''our Stairway'' sentiment.

It was also unique for being the only time he has performed Stairway To Heaven without Jimmy Page...

The final ‘’and she’s buying’’ line was delivered with a delicate finesse – watching it prompted some instant flashbacks.

Momentarily I was back at Earls Court as the mirrorballs spun above them, back in that field just outside Stevenage when they came back to reclaim their crown (''so many people who've helped us over the years - no more people more important than yourselves who who came here on a blind date -this is for you all of yer'') and at home in 1985 watching the TV as the camera panned out to 90,00 watching them re group in Philadelphia for Live Aid.

I also thought about all the much missed friends and Zep comrades who are no longer around to enjoy this special moment...

All that was enough to prompt a huge lump in my throat and a tear in my eye.

Then Robert really sealed it.

Firstly he dedicated the performance to Andy:

“I know that in this contemporary age of digital stuff there’s every likelihood that other people will see that,” he said, facing Taylor. “So if they do, I offer it up to you and your success and to the whole deal that has happened here today and the future of it all.

And also so it’s not just that, I offer it up to Led Zeppelin, wherever they are”

Andy Taylor replied ‘’God bless ‘em there’s a lot of drummers in the sky we love.’’

Let's ponder on that statement...

''I offer this up to Led Zeppelin wherever they are''

It felt like he was giving the song back to his former bandmates and back to his audience – To the privileged few who were lucky enough to witness this special occasion and beyond that to countless fans like me and you.

Deep in the heart of the Cotswold's on an October Saturday evening Robert reclaimed a major part of his history and ours.

It’s likely he may never ever sing Stairway To Heaven this song again and if he doesn’t, it’s had a suitably poignant send off.

There was none of the pressure of the previous post Led Zep performances. It happened for a great cause and for a great fellow Midlands based musician.

I am aiming to be up in the Midlands in a few days’ time for the Saving Grace featuring Suzi Dian gig at the Birmingham Symphony Hall.

I am eagerly looking forward to it, not least after witnessing the YouTube video of this Andy Taylor tribute. For at 75 he is singing so brilliantly and his enjoyment as to where he is at in these advancing years is both inspiring and infectious.

Knowing that Robert Plant is at one with Led Zeppelin’s most famous song makes it all just a little bit more comforting.

As the song states ‘’If you listen very hard the tune will come to you at last’’

I’m still listening to Robert Plant intensely – as are countless others…

Dave Lewis - October 27 2023

youtube

#Stairway to Heaven 2023 #Robert Plant Stairway to Heaven #Led Zeppelin #I've changed my opinion a bit but still seems some personal connection may have ended #Youtube

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drleevezan · 2 months

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And now, having finished All Of Classic Who (with the exception of Dimensions in Time and the TV Movie, which are next on the list), some random lists, most of which are of little interest to anyone but myself:

Favorite Doctors: Hartnell, Troughton, Davison, McCoy.

Favorite companions: Susan, Ian, Barbara, Vicki, Steven, Jamie, Zoe, Jo, Leela, Romana, Nyssa, Tegan, Turlough, Ace.

Top five serials of each Doctor: (roughly, because it's difficult to choose)

An Unearthly Child, The Edge of Destruction, The Web Planet, The Gunfighters, The Time Meddler

The Faceless Ones, The Enemy of the World, The Mind Robber, The Web of Fear, The War Games

Doctor Who and the Silurians, The Ambassadors of Death, Inferno, The Three Doctors, The Curse of Peladon

The Brain of Morbius, The Horror of Fang Rock, The Ribos Operation, Warrior's Gate, The Keeper of Traken

Snakedance, Terminus, Enlightenment, Frontios, The Caves of Androzani

The Mark of the Rani, Revelation of the Daleks, The Mysterious Planet, Mindwarp, The Ultimate Foe

Delta and the Bannermen, Remembrance of the Daleks, Battlefield, Ghost Light, Curse of Fenric

Least favorite stories: Destiny of the Daleks, Four to Doomsday, The Sea Devils, The Ark in Space, The Dominators, The Tomb of the Cybermen, The Two Doctors, Warriors of the Deep, The Talons of Weng-Chiang

Seasons with the highest overall story quality: Season 7, Season 13, Season 18, Season 20, Seasons 25 & 26

Best regeneration story: The War Games

Best post-regeneration story: Power of the Daleks

Best companion departures: Ian, Barbara, Jamie, Zoe, Jo, Sarah Jane, Romana, Nyssa, Tegan, Turlough

Random one-off characters whom I particularly liked: The Commandant (The Faceless Ones), Anne Travers (The Web of Fear), The Karkus (The Mind Robber), Isobel (The Invasion), Milo Clancey (The Space Pirates), Jennifer and Carstairs (The War Games), Hal the Archer (The Time Warrior), everyone in The Ribos Operation (The Ribos Operation), Professor Emilia Rumford (The Stones of Blood), the DJ (Revelation of the Daleks), Goronwy (Delta and the Bannermen), Lady Peinforte (Silver Nemesis), Mags (The Greatest Show in the Galaxy), Bambera, Ancelyn, and Shou Yuing (Battlefield)

List of particularly effective moments/images that come to mind:

The extended disorientating first dematerilisation of the TARDIS in An Unearthly Child

The white void in The Mind Robber.

The end of the doomed universe in Inferno.

The 'Binro was right' scene, and Graff Vynda-K unraveling after he accidentally kills his second-in-command and imagining that he's leading a military charge as he runs away and explodes in The Ribos Operation.

The Tharils' world in Warrior's Gate.

The statue garden in The Keeper of Traken, the Master's poisonous influence at the heart of the otherwise-beautiful world, and the story's happy ending being subverted as he re-emerges at the end.

The Doctor and the Master rushing to stop the accidentally-unleashed entropy wave in the latter part of Logopolis as it destroys half the universe.

The first episode of Terminus as it builds in tension from the skull materialising behind Nyssa at the beginning to the final revelation of their location at the end.

All of the setting and set design in Enlightenment.

The dialogue-free scene of Omega returning to the universe in Arc of Infinity and stumbling dazedly throughout Amsterdam and watching a puppet show before he begins to disintegrate.

The ending of Mindwarp as the structure of the story is sent off the rails by the Time Lords pulling the Doctor out of time before the climax and sending Yrcanos to assassinate Peri within their visually-warped time-bubble.

The ending of Ace's arc in Curse of Fenric as she dives into the sea and emerges having confronted her lingering fears from her old life, as well as her earlier fight with the Doctor and the idea of her confronting her mixed feelings about her mother through meeting and loving her as a baby.

The Doctor confronting and rejecting the survival-of-the-fittest worldview in Survival, and the show's final scene as Ace declares the TARDIS her home and the Doctor makes his speech.

Random lines that are eternally stuck in my head for some reason:

"People keep giving me guns, and do I wish they wouldn't!" (The Gunfighters)

"Hey, who's that? He looks smashing!" (The Macra Terror)

"Plastic cups!" (The Faceless Ones)

"We all follow his adventures in the strip sections of the hourly telepress." (The Mind Robber)

"I'm not one of your stuffy Norman nobles. I like a bit of rough fun!" (The Time Warrior)

"Praise the company!"; "The money to be paid from your private purse." "Argh!" "You spoke?" "Merely a cry of gladness at being so honoured." (The Sun Makers)

"Tell Dexeter we've come Full Circle™" (Full Circle)

"I've never seen such a State of Decay™" (State of Decay)

"There's only one place in the universe a Terileptil can acquire such scarring. The tinclavic mines on Raaga." (The Visitation)

"This is Terminus, where all the lazars come to die. We're on a leper ship! We're all going to die!" (Terminus)

"Deaths unaccountable."; "He said the earth was hungry." (Frontios)

"One of the best, my friend, was that time by the fountain." (The Twin Dilemma)

"It was not a true syllogism, Tandrell. It contained only the major and minor premise." (The Mysterious Planet)

"Hey, that's the property of Uncle Sam!" "Where is he, your Uncle Sam?" (Delta and the Bannermen)

#doctor who #rambling

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battyaboutbooksreviews · 2 months

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🗞️📖 Bookish News - February Edition

🦇 Extra, extra. Read all about it! 📖 Good evening, bookish bats! A lot happened in the publishing industry this month, but here are a few highlights you may have missed! Check below the cut for details.

Adaptations: 🗞️ Chloé Zhao will direct a film adaptation of Hamnet (Maggie O'Farrell) starring Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal 📖 HBO is adapting Dark Places (Gillian Flynn) as a limited series. Flynn will serve as co-creator, writer, and co-showrunner 🗞️ FX has ordered a limited series adaptation of Say Nothing (Patrick Radden Keefe), directed by Michael Lennox 📖 Taika Waititi will direct an adaptation of Klara and the Sun (Kazuo Ishiguro), potentially starring Amy Adams and Jenna Ortega 🗞️ The Terror will base season 3 on The Devil in Silver (Victor LaValle) 📖 The Man in My Basement (Walter Mosley), directed by Nadia Latif, will star Anna Diop, Corey Hawkins, and Willem Dafoe 🗞️ Dark Matter (Blake Crouch) has a trailer 📖 America Ferrera's feature directorial debut for I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter (Erika Sánchez) is in development 🗞️ The adaptation of Turtles All the Way Down (John Green) will stream on MAX this year 📖 Hook’s Daughter: The Pirate Princess Chronicles (R. V. Bowman) is getting a live-action adaptation 🗞️ Interview with the Vampire (based on Anne Rice's novel) is getting a second season 📖 Percy Jackson and the Olympians is getting a second season 🗞️ Seven Days in June (Tia Williams) is being adapted for Prime Video 📖 The adaptation of A Gentleman in Moscow, (Amor Towles) will star Ewan McGregor 🗞️ The Color Purple movie musical will stream on MAX (Feb. 16) 📖 Hulu’s adaptation of A Court of Thorns and Roses was axed 🗞️ The Alex Van Helsing YA books are being adapted for a television series 📖 Ryan Reynolds and Paramount are working on an adaptation of Starter Villain (John Scalzi) 🗞️ A Short History of Nearly Everything (Bill Bryson) will be adapted as an animated TV series 📖 The trailer for the film adaptation of Wicked is up 🗞️ Netflix renewed Survival of the Thickest for season 2 📖 The cast for Marvel’s Fantastic Four has been announced (July 25, 2025) 🗞️ The trailer for the new X-Men animated series is up (Mar. 20) 📖 The Oscar-nominated animated film Nimona is now available to watch for free on YouTube! 🗞️ Reese Witherspoon is producing a film adaptation of Romantic Comedy (Curtis Sittenfeld) 📖 Photos are up for the adaptation of A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder (Holly Jackson)

Cover Reveals: 🗞️ When Haru Was Here - Dustin Thao (Sept. 3) 📖 Trick or Treat on Scary Street - Lance Bass (July 23) 🗞️ The Bletchley Riddle - Ruta Sepetys and Steve Sheinkin (Oct. 8) 📖 The Rules of Royalty - Cale Dietrich (Dec. 10) 🗞️ Colored Television - Danzy Senna (July 30) 📖 Bits and Pieces: My Mother, My Brother, and Me - Whoopie Goldberg (May 7) 🗞️ House of Bone and Rain - Gabino Iglesias (Aug. 6) 📖 Rani Choudhury Must Die - Adiba Jaigirdar (Nov. 12) 🗞️ Night Owls - A.R. Vishny (Sept. 17) 📖 The Dixon Rule - Elle Kennedy (May 14) 🗞️ A Bánh Mì for Two - Trinity Nguyen (Aug. 27) 📖 The Hitchcock Hotel - Stephanie Wrobel (Sept. 24) 🗞️ In Want of a Suspect - Tirzah Price (Nov. 12) 📖 Memorials - Richard Chizmar (Oct. 22) 🗞️ The Empusium - Olga Tokarczuk (Sept. 24) 📖 Unsinkable Cayenne - Jessica Vitalis (Oct. 29) 🗞️ Cue the Sun! - Emily Nussbaum (June 25) 📖 We're Alone - Edwidge Danticat (Sept. 3) 🗞️ The Sherlock Society - James Ponti (Sept. 3) 📖 The Enchanted Hacienda by J.C. Cervantes (May 21) 🗞️ The Baby-sitters Club: Kristy and the Walking Disaster - Ellen T. Crenshaw (Sept.) 📖 The Baby-sitters Litter Sister: Karen’s Grandmothers - DK Yingst (Oct.) 🗞️ The Millicent Quibb School of Etiquette for Young Ladies of Mad Science - Kate McKinnon (Oct. 1) 📖 The Life Impossible - Matt Haig (Sept. 3) 🗞️ Ruin Road - Lamar Giles (Sept.) 📖 Yours Truly by Katie Shepard (Sept. 3) 🗞️ Wishbone - Justine Pucella Winan (Sep. 17) 📖 Haunt Your Heart Out - Amber Roberts (Oct. 8) 🗞️ The Dividing Sky - Jill Tew (Oct. 8) 📖 Heir - Sabaa Tahir (Oct. 1) 🗞️ Beautiful Dreamers - Minrose Gwin (Aug. 27) 📖 We Solve Murders - Richard Osman (Fall) 🗞️ Till the Last Beat of My Heart - Louangie Bou-Montes (Sept. 10) 📖 Aisle Nine by Ian X (Sept. 24) 🗞️ Warrior of Legend - Kendare Blake (Sept. 17) 📖 The Ancient’s Game - Loni Crittenden (Oct. 29) 🗞️ The Witch of Wol Sin Lake - Lega Jeong (Oct. 29)

Upcoming Releases: 🗞️ Tiny Reparations Books has secured North American rights to two new books by National Book Award–longlisted author LaToya Watkins. The first book, The Book of Chuck, will be published in spring 2026. 📖 Tia Williams has sold North American rights to two new novels to Grand Central. 🗞️ LeVar Burton is releasing two new books

Other News: 🗞️ The Dylan Thomas Prize 2024 longlist is up 📖 The finalists for the 2024 National Book Critics Circle Awards were announced 🗞️ The finalists for the 2024 Audie Awards were announced 📖 Pulitzer-winning author N. Scott Momaday passed away (first Native American author to win a Pulitzer) 🗞️ OCLC has filed a lawsuit against the shadow library search engine Anna’s Archive for allegedly stealing 2.2 TB of data from WorldCat 📖 The St. Paul Public Library launched a laser-eyed loon library card 🗞️ Writers Against the War on Gaza have written an open letter to PEN/America to release an official statement about the “225 poets, playwrights, journalists, scholars, and novelists killed in Gaza” by Israeli forces 📖 Andy Weir released a series of “lost” journal entries from Mark Watney to celebrate The Martian’s 10th anniversary 🗞️ Amazon removed multiple titles about King Charles’ recent cancer diagnoses amid concerns that they were written by AI 📖 This year’s winners and finalists of the Cybils Awards were announced 🗞️ Delacorte is launching a new YA romance imprint

#books #books to read #book adaptation #book news #book publishing #publishing #book covers #batty about books #battyaboutbooks

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companion-showdown-dot-org · 1 year

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Almost/Could have been Contestant List

Who would you like to have seen become a companion?

Rules for further suggestions:

Must have met the Doctor

I know Jago and Litefoot are popular but I am not including anyone from Talons as a matter of principle

Not someone you could already call a companion (some exceptions may be made on a case by case basis)

Not necessary, but ideally someone who would have said yes in the right circumstances

There's no other restrictions on the kinds of characters to include, just anyone you wanted to come on further adventures in the TARDIS

Current List under the cut (there will be a group stage if necessary to bring this down to an appropriate number ie a power of 2, so do not worry about suggesting more)

60s

Jenny (The Dalek Invasion of Earth)

Bret Vyon (The Daleks Master Plan)

Anne (The Massacre)

Sam Briggs (The Faceless Ones)

Isobel (The Invasion)

Astrid Ferrier (Enemy of the World)

70s

Miss Hawthorne (The Daemons)

Bellal (Death to the Daleks)

Lish Toos (The Robots of Death)

D84 (Robots of Death)

Rodan (The Invasion of Time)

Duggan (City of Death)

80s

Todd (Kinda)

Richard Mace (The Visitation)

Will Chandler (The Awakening)

Chela (Snakedance)

Norna (Frontis)

Janet (Terror of the Vervoids)

The DJ (Revelation of the Daleks)

Ray (Delta and the Bannermen)

Mags (The Greatest Show in the Galaxy)

Shou Yuing (Battlefield)

Sabalom Glitz (Various)

Ruby Duvall

RTD

Jabe (The End of the World)

Harriet Jones (Aliens of London / World War Three

Lynda (Bad Wolf / The Parting of the Ways)

Mrs Moore (Rise of the Cybermen / The Age of Steel)

Jake (Rise of the Cybermen / The Age of Steel & Army of Ghosts / Doomsday)

Sally Sparrow (Blink)

Timothy (Human Nature / The Family of Blood (could have his name wrong))

Joan Redfern (Human Nature / The Family of Blood)

Professor Yana (Utopia)

Chan Tho (Utopia)

Tom (The Last of the Time Lords / The Sound of Drums)

Astrid Peth (Voyage of the Damned)

Alonzo (Voyage of the Damned)

Ross (The Sontaran Stratagem / The Poison Sky)

Jenny (The Doctor’s Daughter)

Hath Peck (The Doctor’s Daughter)

Rosita (The Next Doctor)

Lady Christina de Souza (Planet of the Dead)

Adelaide Brooke (The Waters of Mars)

Moffat

Nasreen Chaudry (The Hungry Earth / Cold Blood)

Craig Owens (The Lodger & Closing Time)

Kazran (A Christmas Carol)

Abigail (A Christmas Carol)

Canton Everette Deleware III (Day of the Moon)

Rita (The God Complex)

Lorna (A Good Man Goes to War)

Madge Arwell (The Doctor the Widow and the Wardrobe)

Brian Williams (Dinosaurs on a Spaceship)

John Riddell (Dinosaurs on a Spaceship)

Nefertiti

Petronella Osgood (Various)

Kate Stewart (Various)

Madame Vastra (Various – The Paternoster Gang)

Jenny (Various – The Paternoster Gang)

Strax (Various – The Paternoster Gang)

Journey Blue (Into the Dalek)

Psi (Time Heist)

Saibra (Time Heist)

Perkins (Mummy on the Orient Express)

Courtney Woods (Kill the Moon)

Rigsy (Flatline & Face the Raven)

Maebh (In the Forest of the Night)

Shona (Last Christmas)

Cass (Under the Lake / Before the Flood)

Me (The Girl Who Died / The Woman Who Lived & various)

Missy (Various)

Heather (Pilot & The Doctor Falls)

Erica (Pyramid at the End of the World)

Danny Pink

Chibnall

Bel (Flux)

Vinder (Flux)

Claire (Flux)

Jericho (Flux)

Spinoffs

Luke Smith (The Sarah-Jane Adventures)

Clyde Langer (The Sarah-Jane Adventures)

Rani Chandra (The Sarah-Jane Adventures)

Gwen Cooper (Torchwood)

Ianto Jones (Torchwood)

Tosh Sato (Torchwood)

#future tournament ideas #contestant list #almost/could have been

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meerawrites · 10 months

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Mermaids, Pirates, Vampire(ates) & queers...

Tagged by: I earnestly don’t remember, I sincerely apologize, but if they see this, thank you. 💞

Tagging: @theworldneedsocean, @queerstion, @mjjune & @how-absurd23rd (if you want).

Link.

plugging this because it’s about historical fiction and pirates.

Presenting: Anne Bonny (fictionalized because there’s so little information on morally questionable, probably bi, definitely cross dressing, pirate war crime commiter), Sylvia (a vampirate), Mastani (a pirate), Louise/Louis (a pirate) & Doria my mermaid.

Because they’re by me they’re all bi but they’re very different individuals. More info below.

Anne Bonny: I’ll just let you make up your own mind about her.