#Geniuses in France

[youcantdateosmosisjones]

I like to think that Gortash and Durge started out with a very manipulative relationship (we've all seen the letters to Franc, Gortash is a slimy business man). Like- they both seek each other out due to the mutual benefits to each of their causes, they each try to steer the other into their own plots, and then somewhere in there they actually start to... like being around each other?

They're both geniuses, as evidence with the absolute plot, and atp Gortash is like "omg... you really are an equal to me. You're cool. I like you- genuinely" and then they start making out sloppy style. Durge is kind of the same here, but is obviously dealing with some religious guilt as the 'chosen one'. But fuck dad, they go through with the plot anyways (which was ultimately their undoing, just as they feared. maybe if gortash hadn't come along this would have never happened)

tldr; the 'bad boy' phase isn't worth anything you think it is

#bg3 durge #the dark urge #enver gortash #durgetash #gortash x durge #bg3 #baldur's gate 3

[deadpresidents]

2023's Best Books

I meant to do this a few days ago so there was more time before the holidays, but here's a quick list of the best books that I read that were released in 2023. Obviously, I didn't read every book that came out this year, and I'm only listing the best books I read that were actually released in the 2023 calendar year.

In my opinion, the two very best books released in 2023 were An Ordinary Man: The Surprising Life and Historic Presidency of Gerald R. Ford by Richard Norton Smith (BOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO), and True West: Sam Shepard's Life, Work, and Times by Robert Greenfield (BOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO).

(The rest of this list is in no particular order)

President Garfield: From Radical to Unifier C.W. Goodyear (BOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO)

The World: A Family History of Humanity Simon Sebag Montefiore (BOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO)

France On Trial: The Case of Marshal Pétain Julian Jackson (BOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO)

The Last Island: Discovery, Defiance, and the Most Elusive Tribe on Earth Adam Goodheart (BOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO)

Emperor of Rome: Ruling the Ancient Roman World Mary Beard (BOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO)

City of Echoes: A New History of Rome, Its Popes, and Its People Jessica Wärnberg (BOOK | KINDLE)

We Are Your Soldiers: How Gamal Abdel Nasser Remade the Arab World Alex Rowell (BOOK | KINDLE)

Edison's Ghosts: The Untold Weirdness of History's Greatest Geniuses Katie Spalding (BOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO)

Waco Rising: David Koresh, the FBI, and the Birth of America's Modern Militias Kevin Cook (BOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO)

The Summer of 1876: Outlaws, Lawmen, and Legends in the Season That Defined the American West Chris Wimmer (BOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO)

King: A Life Jonathan Eig (BOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO)

LBJ's America: The Life and Legacies of Lyndon Baines Johnson Edited by Mark Atwood Lawrence and Mark K. Updegrove (BOOK | KINDLE)

Who Believes Is Not Alone: My Life Beside Benedict XVI Georg Gänswein with Saverio Gaeta (BOOK | KINDLE)

Eighteen Days in October: The Yom Kippur War and How It Created the Modern Middle East Uri Kaufman (BOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO)

The Rough Rider and the Professor: Theodore Roosevelt, Henry Cabot Lodge, and the Friendship That Changed American History Laurence Jurdem (BOOK | KINDLE)

White House Wild Child: How Alice Roosevelt Broke All the Rules and Won the Heart of America Shelley Fraser Mickle (BOOK | KINDLE)

Romney: A Reckoning McKay Coppins (BOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO)

Founding Partisans: Hamilton, Madison, Jefferson, Adams and the Brawling Birth of American Politics H.W. Brands (BOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO)

The Earth Transformed: An Untold History Peter Frankopan (BOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO)

LeBron Jeff Benedict (BOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO)

Ringmaster: Vince McMahon and the Unmaking of America Abraham Riesman (BOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO)

The Fight of His Life: Inside Joe Biden's White House Chris Whipple (BOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO)

#Books #Book Suggestions #Book Recommendations #Best Books of 2023 #Best of 2023 #An Ordinary Man #President Ford #Richard Norton Smith #True West #Sam Shepard #Robert Greenfield #President Garfield #C.W. Goodyear #The World #Simon Sebag Montefiore #France On Trial #Marshal Pétain #Julian Jackson #The Last Island #Adam Goodheart #Emperor of Rome #Mary Beard #City of Echoes #Jessica Wärnberg #We Are Your Soldiers #Gamel Abdel Nasser #Alex Rowell #Edison's Ghosts #Katie Spalding #Waco Rising

[dolphin1812]

Laigle! 

"I should hope so," Laigle replied, "for my coat and I live comfortably together. It has assumed all my wrinkles, does not hurt me anywhere, has moulded itself on my deformities, and is complacent to all my movements, and I only feel its presence because it keeps me warm. Old coats and old friends are the same thing."

He’s so funny!

But Grantaire’s behavior is concerning. It’s nice that he immediately joined his friends, but his drinking doesn’t seem healthy. He drinks instead of eating, and it’s not a good sign that two bottles are added to the table as soon as he appears (when one was considered enough for Joly and Bossuet). 

I’m not going to cover Grantaire’s ramble in too much depth because I really only caught a few things (“featherless biped”), but:

“among men there must be geniuses, and among events revolutions”

It’s notable that Grantaire seems to believe in the “great man” version of history, which contributes to his idealization of Enjolras and his struggle to contribute. He envisions his friends (and mostly Enjolras) as “great men,” rather than the regular people they actually are, and thus sees them as doomed to die tragically or to succeed gloriously (he leans towards the former here because he’s sad). Having a low opinion of himself, he thinks he can’t contribute because he isn’t “great,” when in reality, the strength of Les Amis and similar groups is that they mobilize and connect many ordinary people who want change!

And poor Joly with his cold!

"It's raiding," said Joly; "I have sworn to go through fire but dot through water, and I do dot wish to bake by cold worse."

Such a funny line! Joly’s willing to face cannonfire, but not getting even more sick.

Grantaire complains that Enjolras didn’t fetch him, but it makes sense? Enjolras has no reason to think Grantaire will come, and Joly really is sick (and is also usually with Bossuet, so any message that reaches one will reach the other). And as nice as this line is:

“Grantaire had led Joly and Bossuet to wine, and Bossuet and Joly had brought Grantaire back to joy.”

Grantaire’s behavior in this chapter is really worrying. It’s morning and Joly’s already trying to keep him from drinking more, because while he’s not dangerously drunk yet, he could get there if he continues. And he’s very depressed, too. When he says “his funeral,” it could have two meanings: the funeral Enjolras is attending, or Enjolras’ funeral. He really believes all his friends are going to die. Bossuet and Joly are aware of that possibility, too - it’s why Joly references “go[ing] through fire” and why they speak seriously about the funeral - but they have hope, too, seeing it as a continuation of 1830. To them, there's a chance of a disaster, but also a chance to claim their rights and improve the state of France.

#les mis letters #lm 4.12.2 #bossuet #I love bossuet so much #joly #and him too #grantaire #they're so funny

[cinemaocd]

Jenny's ongoing list of films watched 2024

January

RRR (2023)*

Peter's Friends (1992)*

The Lady Eve (1941)

How to Get a Head in Advertising (1988)*

High Fidelity (2000)

Frieda (1947)*

Oh...Rosalinda! (1955)

The Quick and the Dead (1995)*

The Barefoot Contessa (1954)*

The Life and Death of Col. Blimp (1943) Commentary Track (2012)*

Rhubarb (1951)*

The Birds (1963)*

House of Yes (1997)*

Cassandra Cat (1963)*

Foreign Correspondent (1940)

The Long Goodbye (1973)

Night of the Comet (1984)

The Day the Earth Caught Fire (1961)*

For Me and My Gal (1942)*

The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)

The Small, Back Room (1949)

House of Games (1987)

Water (1985)*

The Ballad of John and Yoko (2023)*

The Meaning of Life (1983)

Track 29 (1988)*

*New to me

Thoughts on the New to Me films:

New Year's Eve we watched RRR, a lot of fun, energetic, bright and action-packed. I enjoyed the way that little attention was given to the British characters. They were straight up villains in ill fitting ahistorical costumes, kind of like the way Indian/Asian characters are treated in Western films most of the time...$$$

New Year's Day we watched Peter's Friends, a drama/comedy from the early 90s starring all of the famous Cambridge Footlights. Big Chill-ish film set in a country house over the Christmas holidays. $$$

How to Get a Head in Advertising was weird and also really good. Had a similar vibe to Withnail and I (possibly because of Richard E. Grant, but also possibly the mixture of the surreal with the realistic). Quite stage-y in some ways but clever and savage in it's satire of life in the 80s. $$$

Frieda: Oh I loved this! Weird World War II melodrama about a German girl marrying a British boy and all the trouble it causes with his complex family situation. Such a stellar cast including the late, great Glynnis Johns. $$$$

The Quick and the Dead: I set my expectations quite low for this and was pleasantly surprised. I liked Sam Raimi's comic book-y take on gunfighters and esp. loved Sharon Stone's character. We love to see a female action hero with no love interest. A nice twist on the Man with no Name trope. Excellent cast as well with Russell Crowe, Gene Hackman, Roy Scheider and Woody Stroud in his final film. $$$

The Barefoot Contessa: Joseph Mankewitcz is one of the geniuses of old Hollywood but this ain't it, chief. Just kind of all of the place melodrama that makes no sense and relies too much on Ava Gardner looking amazing in technicolor in the South of France. A bit of a commentary on Grace Kelly who a few years earlier married minor royalty on the Riviera. Even Rossano Brazzi can't save this mess for me. $

Rhubarb: Two genres I usually kind of hate (family-friendly animal centered film, sports film) combined into one and it's actually a lot of fun. Ray Milland and a bunch of classic character actors as the baseball team (also Leonard Nemoy has a tiny part as a mobster) in this slight/ predictable romp. $$

The Birds: Woah, shit this was good. I should have known. Amazing tension created and Hitchcock just sells the surreal horror with lots of rear projection...so. much. rear. projection. $$$

House of Yes: How about House of NOPE. Ugh what a mess this was. Some good performances and intriguing story, but it was very stagey and I don't know why the 90s couldn't make a story about adult children and their parents without reducing everyone to cliches and stereotypes but this and Six Degrees of Separation are definitely guilty of that, but the latter is just a better film. $

Cassandra Cat: Takes a long time to get to the cat which given that this was a family film from the 60s might be a problem for some viewers, expecting a more cat-centric movie. Interesting riff on fairy tales from the Czech New Wave. Beautiful Demy-esque technicolor and settings make this 60s nonsense fly by. $$

The Day the Earth Caught Fire: 60s nuclear panic disaster film that really just shows the earth as it is now in the throws of global warming. Yikes. Thoughtfully written and well acted by a bunch of folks I'd never heard of. $$

For Me and My Gal: Directed by Busby Berkley and starring Gene Kelly and Judy Garland and set in the 1920s on the Vaudeville circuit, I was expecting a lot more fun, dancing, color, costumes etc. This is actually more of a black and white war time melodrama with some music shoved into it and the dancing is very rudimentary. (I think this is probably because Garland esp. at this stage wasn't in the same league with Gene Kelly and I think it would have been too noticable...). Filmed at the entry of America into WW2 this was quite a deliberate propaganda piece. $$

TLADOCB Commentary: I've watched this movie 20 times at least but the commentary really made me think about a bunch of things differently. Can't say I recommend unless you are fanatic though as it's obviously pieced together from interviews Michael Powell and Martin Scorcese $$

Water (1985): If you smoke the exact right strain of sativa and ignore some of the more dated aspects of this 80s comedy, that reads as if Local Hero were a Cheech and Chong film--this is a total classic. Irreverent Michael Caine just straight up breaking character the minute he turns into a guerilla fighter in the jungle and being far too competent and cool, and then snapping back to sweetly shy, inept British Civil Servant, finding he actually loves his hated backwater post (the invent Casara part Caribbean, part Devon Jurassic Coast) while having to actually do his job. Political satire and fully both barrels to Maggie Thatcher and Reagan. Good on em. Filmed in St. Lucia, the movie has a zany heart and little taste, hoovering up vast quantities of competent TV players from my youth: Herman Munster and Reginald Perrin to name but two. Awkward love story and some uneven acting from Valerie Perrin and Brenda Vaccaro. I enjoyed myself, heartily, anyway. $$$

The Ballad of John and Yoko: Technically a video essay with amazing production values (the licensing alone was epic) dragging together disparate topics around the central theme of women being blamed for bad things happening to infantalized male geniuses. Is it the most coherent argument? No. Does it absolutely tap into many unexpressed or implied ideas that have been floating around since me too? Absolutely. $$

Track 29: This was some of the worst casting I've ever seen in a film. When I think of Texas nurse who is into trains and spanking, I don't automatically think of comedian Sandra Bernhardt. When I think of an actress of that era who was old enough to play Gary Oldman's mother, I don't think of Theresa Russell who is the same age as Oldman and looked every bit as young as he did in the film. Maybe that was the point? I'm not sure. The story was weird, like a Southern Gothic melodrama/black comedy ala Flannery O'Connor, but there was something off about the whole thing.

#Jenny's Film Odyssey #all credit to @dweemeister #January film Odyssey

[pureanonofficial]

LES MIS LETTERS IN ADAPTATION - Louis Philippe, LM 4.1.3 (Les Miserables 1972)

The son of a father to whom history will accord certain attenuating circumstances, but also as worthy of esteem as that father had been of blame; possessing all private virtues and many public virtues; careful of his health, of his fortune, of his person, of his affairs, knowing the value of a minute and not always the value of a year; sober, serene, peaceable, patient; a good man and a good prince; sleeping with his wife, and having in his palace lackeys charged with the duty of showing the conjugal bed to the bourgeois, an ostentation of the regular sleeping-apartment which had become useful after the former illegitimate displays of the elder branch; knowing all the languages of Europe, and, what is more rare, all the languages of all interests, and speaking them; an admirable representative of the “middle class,” but outstripping it, and in every way greater than it; possessing excellent sense, while appreciating the blood from which he had sprung, counting most of all on his intrinsic worth, and, on the question of his race, very particular, declaring himself Orleans and not Bourbon; thoroughly the first Prince of the Blood Royal while he was still only a Serene Highness, but a frank bourgeois from the day he became king; diffuse in public, concise in private; reputed, but not proved to be a miser; at bottom, one of those economists who are readily prodigal at their own fancy or duty; lettered, but not very sensitive to letters; a gentleman, but not a chevalier; simple, calm, and strong; adored by his family and his household; a fascinating talker, an undeceived statesman, inwardly cold, dominated by immediate interest, always governing at the shortest range, incapable of rancor and of gratitude, making use without mercy of superiority on mediocrity, clever in getting parliamentary majorities to put in the wrong those mysterious unanimities which mutter dully under thrones; unreserved, sometimes imprudent in his lack of reserve, but with marvellous address in that imprudence; fertile in expedients, in countenances, in masks; making France fear Europe and Europe France!

Incontestably fond of his country, but preferring his family; assuming more domination than authority and more authority than dignity, a disposition which has this unfortunate property, that as it turns everything to success, it admits of ruse and does not absolutely repudiate baseness, but which has this valuable side, that it preserves politics from violent shocks, the state from fractures, and society from catastrophes; minute, correct, vigilant, attentive, sagacious, indefatigable; contradicting himself at times and giving himself the lie; bold against Austria at Ancona, obstinate against England in Spain, bombarding Antwerp, and paying off Pritchard; singing the Marseillaise with conviction, inaccessible to despondency, to lassitude, to the taste for the beautiful and the ideal, to daring generosity, to Utopia, to chimæras, to wrath, to vanity, to fear; possessing all the forms of personal intrepidity; a general at Valmy; a soldier at Jemappes; attacked eight times by regicides and always smiling. Brave as a grenadier, courageous as a thinker; uneasy only in the face of the chances of a European shaking up, and unfitted for great political adventures; always ready to risk his life, never his work; disguising his will in influence, in order that he might be obeyed as an intelligence rather than as a king; endowed with observation and not with divination; not very attentive to minds, but knowing men, that is to say requiring to see in order to judge; prompt and penetrating good sense, practical wisdom, easy speech, prodigious memory; drawing incessantly on this memory, his only point of resemblance with Cæsar, Alexander, and Napoleon; knowing deeds, facts, details, dates, proper names, ignorant of tendencies, passions, the diverse geniuses of the crowd, the interior aspirations, the hidden and obscure uprisings of souls, in a word, all that can be designated as the invisible currents of consciences; accepted by the surface, but little in accord with France lower down; extricating himself by dint of tact; governing too much and not enough; his own first minister; excellent at creating out of the pettiness of realities an obstacle to the immensity of ideas; mingling a genuine creative faculty of civilization, of order and organization, an indescribable spirit of proceedings and chicanery, the founder and lawyer of a dynasty; having something of Charlemagne and something of an attorney; in short, a lofty and original figure, a prince who understood how to create authority in spite of the uneasiness of France, and power in spite of the jealousy of Europe.

#Les Mis #Les Miserables #Les Mis Letters #Les Mis Letters in Adaptation #Louis-Philippe #pureanonedits #lesmiserablesedit #lesmisedit #lesmiserables1972edit #LM 9.1.3 #TUMBLR WOULDN'T LET ME POST THIS WITHOUT THE BREAK LMAO #long post

[pinturas-sgm-aviacion]

1944 05 Göring's Envy - Colin Parker

DH MOSQUITO FB Mk VI Wing Commander Robert Wilson Iredale, 464 Squadron RAAF. SB-F LR334. Navigator F/Lt J Mcaul. Aircraft SB-A MM402, Sqd Ldr WRC Sogden. No. 464 Squadron RAAF was a RAAF bomber squadron during World War II. Formed in 1942 in the United Kingdom with personnel from Australia, Britain, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa and the Netherlands, the squadron served in the light bomber role, undertaking operations over France and the Low Countries, from bases in England. It also flew night fighter missions. Later, following D-Day, the squadron moved to France where it was used to interdict German transports and infrastructure. It further engaged in several low-level precision raids against Gestapo targets in France and Denmark. The squadron was disbanded in September 1945, following the conclusion of the war. Göring himself had strong views about the Mosquito, lecturing a group of German aircraft manufacturers in 1943 that:

“In 1940 I could at least fly as far as Glasgow in most of my aircraft, but not now! It makes me furious when I see the Mosquito. I turn green and yellow with envy. The British, who can afford aluminium better than we can, knock together a beautiful wooden aircraft that every piano factory over there is building, and they give it a speed which they have now increased yet again. What do you make of that? There is nothing the British do not have. They have the geniuses and we have the nincompoops. After the war is over I'm going to buy a British radio set - then at least I'll own something that has always worked”.

#De Havilland Mosquito

[nightlessblade]

❝ …who the hell are you again?❞ Kashimo has a deadpan expression, putting a hand to his face almost as if thinking deeply for a moment.

❝ Oh! You're the old man that speaks a lot. I'm rather bored at the moment, I command you to unleash your knowledge right away. ❞ He isn't requesting, he's very much demanding...

The Gojo of the Heien Era...is a brat. It was almost annoying, seeing another genius at work. But at the same time all geniuses were too heavily reliant on their curse techniques.

Still, he doesn't want to die.

"If you order coffee in France, its called expresso but if you order in Italy you call it espresso."

#ic #go to europe and become a european problem is what he's saying

[cet9955]

PART 2

My Shot LAURENS Ooh, Who are you? MULLIGAN Ooh, Who are you? LAFAYETTE Ooh, Who are you? MULLIGAN/LAFAYETTE/LAURENS Ooh, who is this kid? What’s he gonna do? HAMILTON I am not throwing away my shot! I am not throwing away my shot! Hey yo, I’m just like my country, I’m young, scrappy and hungry, and I’m not throwing away my shot! I’m ‘a get a scholarship to King’s College. I prob’ly shouldn’t brag, but dag, I amaze and astonish. The problem is I got a lot of brains but no polish. I gotta holler just to be heard. With every word, I drop knowledge! I’m a diamond in the rough, a shiny piece of coal tryin’ to reach my goal. My power of speech: unimpeachable. Only nineteen but my mind is older. These New York City streets get colder, I shoulder ev’ry burden, ev’ry disadvantage I have learned to manage, I don’t have a gun to brandish, I walk these streets famished. The plan is to fan this spark into a flame. But damn, it’s getting dark, so let me spell out the name, I am the— HAMILTON/LAFAYETTE/MULLIGAN/LAURENS A-l-e-x-a-n-d e-r—we are—meant to be… HAMILTON A colony that runs independently. Meanwhile, Britain keeps shittin’ on us endlessly. Essentially, they tax us relentlessly, then King George turns around, runs a spending spree. He ain’t ever gonna set his descendants free, so there will be a revolution in this century. Enter me! 9 LAFAYETTE/MULLIGAN/LAURENS (He says in parentheses) HAMILTON Don’t be shocked when your hist’ry book mentions me. I will lay down my life if it sets us free. Eventually, you’ll see my ascendancy, HAMILTON And I am not throwing away my shot. I am not throwing away my shot. Hey yo, I’m just like my country, I’m young, scrappy and hungry and I’m not throwing away my shot. LAURENS My shot! My shot! And I’m not throwing away my shot. HAMILTON/MULLIGAN/LAURENS/LAFAYETTE I am not throwing away my shot. I am not throwing away my shot. Hey yo, I’m just like my country, I’m young, scrappy and hungry and I’m not throwing away my shot. It’s time to take a shot! LAFAYETTE I dream of life without a monarchy. The unrest in France will lead to ‘onarchy? ‘Onarchy? How you say, how you say, ‘anarchy?’ When I fight, I make the other side panicky. With my— HAMILTON/LAURENS/LAFAYETTE/MULLIGAN Shot! MULLIGAN Yo, I’m a tailor’s apprentice, and I got y’all knuckleheads in loco parentis. I’m joining the rebellion cuz I know it’s my chance to socially advance, instead of sewin’ some pants! I’m gonna take a— HAMILTON/LAURENS/LAFAYETTE/MULLIGAN Shot! 10 LAURENS But we’ll never be truly free until those in bondage have the same rights as you and me, you and I. Do or die. Wait till I sally in on a stallion with the first black battalion have another— HAMILTON/LAURENS/LAFAYETTE/MULLIGAN Shot! BURR Geniuses, lower your voices. You keep out of trouble and you double your choices. I’m with you, but the situation is fraught. You’ve got to be carefully taught: If you talk, you’re gonna get shot! HAMILTON Burr, check what we got. Mister Lafayette, hard rock like Lancelot, I think your pants look hot, Laurens, I like you a lot. Let’s hatch a plot blacker than the kettle callin’ the pot… What are the odds the gods would put us all in one spot, poppin’ a squat on conventional wisdom, like it or not, a bunch of revolutionary manumission abolitionists? Give me a position, show me where the ammunition is! Oh, am I talkin’ too loud? Sometimes I get over excited, shoot off at the mouth. I never had a group of friends before, I promise that I’ll make y’all proud. LAURENS Let’s get this guy in front of a crowd. HAMILTON/LAURENS/LAFAYETTE/MULLIGAN/ENSEMBLE I am not throwing away my shot. I am not throwing away my shot. Hey yo, I’m just like my country, I’m young, scrappy and hungry and I’m not throwing away my shot. I am not throwing away my shot.

holy fuck this is a rlly long song

It really is

:3

[spotsupstuff]

Love...

He tastes the word on his lips, awkwardly wrangles his hands in his lap. He's got to figure out if he's in love. What exactly love is at all.

A little bit of a ridiculous thing to do. Six Ear admits the possible futility of his efforts straight from the beginning. After all, it's been ages since humanity came to be- it is older than him, should be wiser...- and they still haven't got love figured out.

For humanity, it was easier to take a walk on Mars, see the blue polar lights of Jupiter and realize the unavoidable loneliness of space.

Humanity, despite being millennias old, wouldn't be able to say why some of it defends Pluto's status as a planet to this day. Why do they grieve after exploration machines that were always fated to break apart one day, or why do they adore the stars enough to keep staring upwards at them in the night despite how painful the reminder of their loneliness is.

("Is love supposed to hurt? Is it meant to be painful?? …I should know it better than I do now, in that case.")

If modern scientists don't have love charted, how is he supposed to do it? If the ancient scholars of his own home country or the ancient thinkers of Greece or even the geniuses of far away new lands that fell prey to greedy conquests never found a solution to the inevitable feeling... What is he meant to do here?

("Giving up would be easier than this philosophical session." As always.)

Six Ear thinks upon the places he's visisted over his stupidly long life. How love was somehow always the same. No matter how startling the differences of cultures compared to his own were, he always could count on companionship being... somehow the same.

Sure, there had been different traditions of showing it, approaching it, but to kiss and cuddle and hold and lean your head against the forehead of another... Whether platonic or romantic, it was love. Togetherness is an unshakable, unchanging concept everyone seems to desire, sometimes even blindly.

"Love is warm and welcoming- it is safety." The poets say across the continent in unison. Love smells like blooming flowers or warm earthly tea, maybe like rainy evenings or easy mornings. It feels softer than silk and more freeing than wet clay underneath the fingertips of a creative mind. It's fierce, it's strong, it's overwhelming, it is infinite when done right. The thing is equal, it is fair. A shape of an idea of a hand in another.

He wonders... if he has a chance at a fair love..

With a quiet groan of frustration, he falls backwards into the old covers of his bed, rubbing at his eyes. He knows all these descriptions of it, he's read about the nitty gritty details of the chemicals at play, he looked through his collection of books and DVDs and cassettes and vinyls and newspapers...

But still he doesn't quite remember what it feels like. Isn't so sure how to identify whether it is true or not.

One thing he knows. Love, based only on physical attraction, on science, isn't what he exactly wants here.

Six Ear has experienced that kind of love the most. "Falling in love" with someone for their looks, their status, their possessions. He did that countless times. People and other monsters did that to him right back, too. Empty kisses in the bedroom with faked sighs and untreated lovebites that only stung were the norm to him. They made him sick.

To love a body doesn't necessarily guarantee loving the soul, the heart, the mind.

There have been instances where he thought he was in real love before, though.

With the waitress in France that smiled at him with tired eyes as she delivered his coffee at the end of her shift, when he bought a beer or two or more for a guy in Russia for the weekend so they could get drunk off their asses together. He chased after some yelling and laughing fools with a bucket of water in Czechoslovakia on Easter- how a girl shunned away the prickly feelings and bile building in his throat when he sat in the hall of a Christian church built on top of graves of pagan gods he never heard about before.

He held a longing gaze with someone in Vietnam while they danced. He cuddled to someone in Nepal who helped him clean his own gravestone, helped him retrace the characters of his name with a chisel. Disguised for a human, he took a silly photo for a person in front of Taj Mahal to show them he was doing fine- something he would normally hate doing, but for them it felt okay. He learnt the Arabic script at first just so he could send letters to someone he thought he could spend his trust on, to surprise them with the new knowledge of his.

Couldn't ever really tell if what he felt was just a pang of hoping or something genuine. Life never seemed too keen on letting him find that one out.

Letting his arms fall to the sides of his head, he stares between the pipes of his ceiling with a sad frown.

The only one he was certain he felt proper and real romantic love to was... Well, she refused him back then. He held onto his adoration of her, though, the genuine feeling was so strong and unique compared to all the piled up chaos of thoughts that he selfishly needed it to ground himself. He kept on loving her even when she was gone and he held onto it with his teeth even when she came back different- cold and distant, even when she tried to be gentle it was terrifyingly empty. Like a black hole, her lack of emotional warmth sapped away his own.

For the sin of loving a dead thing, he suffered. And now she's gone and he worries that his ability to love passed away alongside her.

It's as if the moment she slipped through his fingers so did his sense of direction. So his knowledge of himself, of such an important feeling. Her dress still haunts his closet, teasing him with its presence, laughing at him for not being to let go of something that hurt him so fucking badly.

Choking on air, Six Ear hastily sits up again, trying to get a grip on himself. To catch himself before he could fall again into grief, into the spinning thoughts about how much he misses her, how much he wishes he had the choice to relapse into the sweetness of her low turquoise light.

He wants to have with Táng what he used to have with her. Back when the two of them were still pure. The elevated happiness from over three millennia ago that makes the current broken him feel so damnably lost. He needs the simplicity, the ability to just feel at home somewhere, with someone.

The white bone spirit is his only point of reference. She's the only one who ever made him feel warm just by her smile, just by her making the choice to sit with him.

So, through the sheer agony, for both himself and Táng and what they possibly could have, he decides to cut out the good of his relationship with her with surgical precision. So he could possibly figure out how to love right, this time with logic rather than instinct. What it feels like. Because he isn’t certain he can backtrack on what he used to be.

Hopefully his ramshackle sorry excuse of effort to love right will ultimately be enough for the scholar. Six Ear wants to do this right. He wants to be enough for someone.

Dammit, he will do his best.

#lmk #inkypages #skullplum #at least mentions of their past together #lmk macaque #fruit twins au #my writing

[unchataparis]

A Review of Jubilation

The opening of Jubilation is the kind of 'filler' that I missed in the recent seasons. Sure, it could be argued that they contribute nothing to the plot, but these kind of scenes are essential for building a character’s personality without being overtly verbose or cluttered. A scene of Marinette running in what appears to be early morning builds her reputation for capability, athleticism, and self-discipline. Her track suit also pronounces her as a practical person, but with a penchant for pink and an eye for style.

Her outfit is pretty cute. Pink hoodie, black shorts, phone handily strapped to biceps. Very Marinette-esque.

Marinette still smiling when looking at Gabriel, her favourite designer. Not knowing that he’s the case of all her problems.

Seeing the Alliance advertisement play out on the billboard is so cool. It gives the feeling that these are actually people living their life, seeing campaigns across their city and exercising; rather than being two-dimensional characters on a TV screen. Very human moments.

Is there a reason why the writers made this girl look almost exactly like Marinette? I feel like that would be important.

Look at the graffiti in the back. There’s LB, someone’s very passionate about their mother, and a Keith Haring man with Ladybug patterns?

Marinette actively uses her moped now. That’s good. The events of Chére Famille wasn't just an one-off, it had impacts on Marinette and on the narrative.

Out of curiosity, I did some research on driving laws in France, and Marinette can legally ride her moped. She’s definitely above fourteen.

New set design!

Very pretty new set. An art shop!

So this is how people are using their Alliance rings. Lila was right. Gabriel and Tomoe are geniuses, if, along with their nefarious purposes, they still managed to craft a compact form of technology that could completely revolutionise how people live their day-to-day life. Think of how children, the disable, and elderly could really benefit from this.

Socqueline does both tae kwon do and gymnastics. Those are very Ladybug activities. She certainly have the specs to be a mock-vigilante.

The average adult walks 4-5 thousand steps a day, most often even less. What kind of marathoning activities is Socqueline getting up to to rack up fifty thousand? And it's apparently not even noon yet. Girl was vigilanting as Ladybug by running around the city on foot.

I cannot stress the ethical violations pertaining of Adrien’s digitalised form. It’s a cartoon, but that is the real image of an in-universe child being undressed and redressed like a doll. Gabriel, what are you doing? That’s your son.

Marinette, please don’t blurt out Adrien’s life story and deepest fears to a random person, even if that random person happens to be an old friend.

Dr Anne-Jeanne Théoxanne du Bocquale has such a specific name, design, and fixation. She’s bound to show up as an important character and not just as a side-gag repeatedly. 

Marinette leaves with Socqueline’s ring on her finger. That’s going to bode well. Gabriel is likely hoping that Ladybug and Chat Noir will wear the Alliance rings, and their erratic physical activity or some other suspicious trigger will alert him of their identities.

Man is going through it.

Monsieur Damoclès really does look like an owl. Did they plan that into his character design, planning to debut him as the Owl all the back pre-Season 1?

His avatar is Emilie. That is such a creepy and neat detail. Emilie’s model definitely isn’t publicly available. One has to wonder how Gabriel got Emilie’s features. Lila and Adrien he scanned, but Emilie? He took her measurements in her coffin/bed? Or was Emilie’s image already available pre-coma due to her vocation as an actress?

Firstly, Socqueline attends Claude Monet High School. That’s so pretty. Secondly, Socqueline won the Grand Prix gymnastics championship three years in a row?? Which Grand Prix? The global tournament one? In that case, I’ll start believing Socqueline is Ladybug too. 

Also, called it. Ladybug’s erratic circle around Paris was noticed, immediately.

The Alliance rings also allow Monarque to be able to search for a perfect victim rather than waiting for their emotions to reach him! That is good! Monarque is really thinking in this season. These rings, not that Ladybug and Chat Noir knows are their enemy yet, is slowly pushing them into a corner. If either one of the decide to don one of these things, pretty soon it’ll be game over. Would Tikki and Plagg be able to sense the faint traces of Monarque in these rings should either Marinette or Adrien get them? Probably not.

And, boom, here we see that the power of the Miraculous themselves can be remotely transferred over the Alliance rings, no physical Monarque gifting ceremony necessary. These rings, if used properly, is going to win Monarque this battle.

Socqueline is clever.

Marinette thinks the reason why Grand Duc believes Socqueline to be Ladybug is because Socqueline cosplayed as her too many times. Marinette isn’t going to find out the truth of the Alliance rings for some time.

He’s so calm accepting this loss. Monarque has definitely matured. This classier attitude is more befitting of a terrifying villain. Someone who stays calm no matter how bad the situation is for them always send a chill down the protagonist and audience’s spine, because it feels like you’re being played no matter how the battle turns out. The protagonist could win, but they would still be thinking "but what if I only played into their hands?" Sephiroth from Final Fantasy VII is a good example of this type of villain. RIP Cloud’s mental psyche.

??? Dude, are you okay?

Both of them.

The citizens are viewing them from this angle because there’s not enough models to fill a crowd.

This is actually hilarious, this actually made me laugh.

So that’s what the Lucky Charm is for.

lmao.

Alewife.

"They ask me why I’m bringing" 🎶🎶 "A baby into battle. That’s really irresponsible, and getting them rattled."

That is the most horrifying child I’ver ever seen. We’ve seen baby models in Miraculous before (August), so clearly this is meant to emulate a doll. Paints the youthfulness of Chat Noir and Ladybug’s natures.

It gets funnier.

This Cadeau is both of their deepest desires, so they both want to end up together. It must be traumatic, to have years worth of good memories and fake living ripped from under oneself in a moment. And the famous umbrella theme is playing!

And their tears form into the rain!

Yes!! Adrien manages to control his own emotions for once, without being aided by Ladybug or stopped at the last moment by some other interruption.

From both of their expression, I’m guessing they both remember the dream?

This is animal cruelty. Kwami cruelty.

Since the Kwami regains their powers from the nourishment of the food they eat, wouldn’t it benefit Gabriel to dish out some five-star treats? This is just unnecessary cruelty at this point. Maybe Gabriel is giving them slop to keep the Kwami purposely weak. Enough to charge up a new Champion, but not enough to start getting ideas.

"You’re already amazing, even without the suit." Yeah, girl. You won the gymnastics Grand Prix three years in a row. That’s a near impossible accomplishments. You’re practically superhuman.

Marinette gets gifted an Alliance ring, which must be expensive, and she rejects it immediately. Either she doesn’t like the fact that Adrien’s image is being handed out like free candy to every Dick, Tom, and Harry in Paris, or she’s getting vibes from it. 

And Marinette explains the reasoning herself a second later! Good call, even if Gabriel isn’t the evil force behind the Alliance rings, physical data get sent back to the parent company all the time, for device optimisation or just archiving. Some random employee would realise, sooner or later, that the device which belongs to a certain person with unexplainable supernatural feats keep unleashing those feats in the same time and place Ladybug is active.

Lila appears once at the end of the episode, not even in person, just as her avatar. Yet, her image is at the centre of the endcard, violently salient with her all-white clothings amid an aureate background. There’s also a pronounced moment between her and Sabine. Foreshadowing that Sabine is going to be manipulated by Lila this season? Or that Lila’s scheming will hit the Dupain-Cheng family harder than ever this season?

And we get our second post-end card scene. Has these happened before? I don’t think so. It’s a good scene. Chat Noir and Ladybug are professionals, pondering the more life-threatening aspect of today’s queries first. The personal questions come after. But Ladybug is stout to deny that any of the dream – the wedding, babies, happily ever after – has anything to do with her true desires.

Monsieur Damoclès is the first true Akumatised villain this season, and he makes the debut with grandeur, sporting a new name, look, and brand new Miraculous power. He actually got pretty close to gaining Ladybug’s Miraculous too, which highlights the efficiency of this season’s Akumatised villains and Monarque’s better planning. Having the convenience of the Alliance rings and the versatility of the Kwami’s powers is going to force Ladybug and Chat Noir to edges they haven’t been before. In a way, Ladybug and Chat Noir barely won the battle. Grand Duc didn’t even fight back at the end. He seemed to be accepting that he has lost, and rather than continue futilely, decided to give it up and let Monarque try another day. Wonderful episode, makes me quite excited for more. How will other Champion fare against Ladybug and Chat Noir when they have new Miraculous powers on their side? Imagine Sapotis with Mirage, or Startrain with Voyage. Armed with the same abilities that defeated them in the first place.

#miraculous #season 5 #jubilation #marinette dupain-cheng #ladybug #socqueline #chat noir #grand duc #monarque #review

[knockyasocksoff2022]

More Than You Know \\ soukoku

Chapter I: Nakahara VS Mori

POV: Chuuya

(2,552 words)

(A/N: For this context, Dazai's surname is Mori so Chuuya calls him Mori and calls Ougai, Mori-san.)

I'm the only one here and the courtyard is still quiet, the only sounds are the birds chirping, the creaking of the gate, and the swishing of the trees that hide Kafka Academy from the gritty rest of Yokohama.

I like it this way, here I can actually study, which I suppose is the point of my enrollment here, at any rate, it's better than home. I know Kuoyou tries her best but ever since our parents died in a lab accident, and my brother ran off to France, it's been hard. 

Kuoyou is in university and works as a secretary at Yokohama Port Corporation, and I studied my ass off for this scholarship.

My head flicks up from my maths textbook when I hear the gate opening. It piques my interest until I recognise the car. I curse myself for letting myself get distracted on this particularly difficult problem. Still, I can't look away. The car is a limousine, pretty standard for the types of kids here, but this car has the Mori family crest on the grill. 

Mori Ougai is the CEO of Yokohama Port Corporation, his son Mori Osamu goes here and we have all our classes together. Unfortunately for me, he's an annoying little shit. But, fortunately for me, he's usually only here just before the bell rings.

He steps out of the car, says something to the driver, and then to my horror starts marching right up to me, swinging his hips like some kind of model. Rich, spoilt brat!

When he reaches me he glances down at my textbook and then says "The answer to that one is 3,459."

I should be used to it by now but I'm not, "What!"

"You were close though."

His words snap me out of my shock, how dare he patronise me? "Don't tell me the answer, then I won't learn!" It feels stupid after I've said it.

"I'm just telling you the answer, not telling you how to get to it. Besides, even if I did, it's not like the teacher checks the textbooks anyway." he looks genuinely confused at why I would actually want to do more work and it makes me want to punch him.

"Well, some of us actually care if people think we're lazy and spoilt. You know, some of us aren't born arrogant geniuses, and I actually want to learn. Go flirt with the garbage bin, or whatever it is that makes you late every day."

I expect him to tease me back but instead, he sits down beside me and stares at the maths book. "Yes, you're a very passionate dedicated student, and person in general, so willing to try everything and do it with all of your heart, it's what makes you so admirable."

I can tell he's talking to me but his words don't make a shred of sense, "What the hell!? Stop that, are you high?"

He only laughs, "No, I'm flirting with garbage, just like you told me to."

I can feel the heat rising in my chest and my blood pulsing in my ears, my capabilities of rational thought disappearing as the anger takes over "Oh, really? Ya' know what? . . ."

The punch lands squarely on his left eye and he falls to the ground, not dramatically, he just falls with an empty-sounding thud, I expect him to spring up but he just stays there, after a few seconds he's still motionless.

As I walk away I realise it's the first time I've really hit him like that, with all of my power, and intention to hurt. I mean I've hit him loads of times before but this feels different, for one thing, he didn't hit back, even if just to play the victim. Shit! I wonder if he'll tell. I've always been so careful with my temper, of course, this bastard is the one who made me mess up. I could get kicked out and lose my scholarship for this.

I look around, but nobody's there yet, except the driver. I wonder distantly why he didn't leave, but more importantly, if he'll report this to Mori-san.

Pushing down all of my pride in favour of saving my reputation, I plaster the best sad expression on my face that I possibly can and walk back towards the boy on the ground.

He's still on the ground and completely still, should I say something? I hate that I'm actually worried about this when I should be worried about the beating Kuoyou's gonna give me for this. But what if I actually hurt him, I'll definitely lose my scholarship for this.

Panic starts to rise in my chest, and I fight to maintain my usual teasing tone, "Come on you lazy bastard, get up."

He makes no move, I nudge him with my foot, and try to bait him into getting back up and arguing with me, "Did I knock you down that easily? Wow, so it was really this easy huh? I should've done this a long time ago."

Finally, he stirs. I expect him to make some big announcement about how hearing my annoying voice brought him back from the dead but instead, he just mumbles something into the quiet morning air. 

Because I know the driver is watching I extend my hand, and to my surprise he actually takes it. I bring him to his feet and he lets go of me immediately, probably disgusted to be touching someone who doesn't live in the fanciest part of the city.

He walks away, not towards the school, but back to the car. Is he ditching? Just because I punched him? Whatever, what do I care?

I watch nervously as the driver says something to him, looking at me like I'm a bomb that could go off at any second. I would make a crack about how I didn't know rich people spoke to their help but I can't afford to make this any worse. Mori answers the driver and gets back into the car. 

It pulls out of the gate the same way as it came in, and then he's gone.

After he's gone the worry settles in my chest. Of course, he left, he's probably going to tell his dad that I 'mortally wounded' him, and then they'll sue the hell out of us. 

I try to go back to my maths to distract myself but I can't focus so I just stare off into space.

—

Eventually a hand waves in front of my face, for a second I think it's one of the Mori family's goons come to arrest me but then I realise that the hand is covered in bandages.

"Wha-"

It's Mori. He must have scraped his hand when he fell, but I didn't see any scrapes so he's probably faking for attention. "Hey, Chibi! Did you finally figure it out?"

"Figure what out?" it comes out in the aggressive tone I usually use with him but I try to soften it on the slim chance he's still making up his mind and hasn't told on me yet. His fringe is over his face, particularly his left eye, my punch definitely left a bruise.

"The maths problem, of course. I'd offer to help you, but you seem to be in a handsy mood this morning and I'm afraid I'm not really looking for that right now." The way he phrases it makes it sound like I did something . . . sexual.

"It wasn't fucking "handsy" I fucking punched you, you perv!" So much for being gentle, "And I don't need your fucking help!"

"Suit yourself." He shrugs in the way he does that says 'Whatever, I'm so superior anyways.' and walks back toward the school.

The bell rings and I grab my maths book and head to my locker.

-

When I arrive in the English classroom Mori is already there, in the seat next to mine. Well, we don't have assigned seats but I always sit there, and he knows it.

"What d-" I remember I'm supposed to be sucking up, for the sake of my scholarship. My tongue burns with all the words I want to throw at him right now but instead, I say, "Do you need something?" with as little aggression as I can possibly manage.

He looks at me for a long moment and then blinks, "You may speak normally, Nakahara-san." The sudden formality is clearly him mocking me but it sounds right on him, fitting, like this is how someone like him should talk, not throwing kid-ish insults every chance he gets. I've never heard him talk like this before, almost like he's pulling rank on me, but not like he usually does, shoving me and calling me a dog. At the same time, the elegance sounds weird coming from him, despite his aristocratic status, the words are like a suit that doesn't quite fit. I'm used to him teasing me like a child, and it makes me realise how stiff it must sound coming from me. That was probably his intention.

It's true it would seem hella suspicious if I all of a sudden started being sweet to him, I'll have to try to find a balance. "Well, what do you want?"

"Nothing, I'm just sitting here, we still have free seating you know."

I take a breath not trusting myself to forcefully relocate him to another seat by throwing him across the room. "Yeah well, just don't bother me okay?"

He gasps dramatically, throwing a hand over his chest, "Of course not!"

The relief is immediate, to be honest it was actually kinda creepy hearing him talk like some fancy businessman.

-

English goes well, and true to his word Osamu doesn't bother me once, not even to correct the mistakes I'm sure I must be making. It's relaxing.

But, as soon as I step out of the classroom door, he's beside me. "You didn't make nearly as many mistakes as usual, Nakahara-san, have you been studying more?"

I can tell he's still teasing me about being stiff earlier. "No, It's because you weren't bothering me the entire class. If you keep this up I'll kick your ass out of that top spot!" I almost regret saying that, god forbid I give him more incentive to pester me. As if anyone could ever touch his ranking.

"As if, Chibi can't even reach that high." he echoes my thoughts and I can't help but laugh just because it's so true that I can even forgive the height jab. I shake my head and head to my locker.

The next class is maths, just before I enter the room someone catches my shoulder. I turn. It's a tall blond boy with glasses, he holds a green notebook with the word "Ideals" written neatly on the cover in fancy script. I think his name is Kumiya or something like that.

He looks concerned and whispers as he speaks, "What did you say to Mori-san in the corridor, he looked like he'd just seen a ghost?"

"Huh, what'd ya mean?"

"I have English with you and right after you walked away he looked like he might faint."

The boy's words confuse me, and I have seriously no idea what I could've said to shock him so much. "He must have realised he forgot to turn his oven off or something."

Shaking off the strange encounter I head into the class

In maths, we do have assignment seats, and Mori's is right next to mine. It's hell. He's always holding his stupid IQ over my head.

When the professor releases us to do work he does his work with ease, finishing before me and the rest of the class. But that's not enough, no, then he turns to me and scans my paper.

He frowns, "You're still doing it wrong. I can help you if you like."

"No, I don't need your help."

"But, you clearly don't know how to do it?"

"You think I don't know that you smug asshole!"

"Well, if you know you're not doing it correctly then, why–"

The argument goes on until the work timer goes off, scaring the ever-loving shit out of me and making me fall out of my seat. I mutter a curse. And gather my worksheets, releasing rather belatedly that most of them are less than half done.

To my horror the teacher is walking down rows, he isn't collecting the paper but I see that he's checking it, I take out my maths book and pretend to be consulting the text. I glance over and see that Mori has his book out too and is dutifully "checking his work". Of course, he's done nothing wrong.

Professor Tsushimura approaches us and looks disapprovingly down at my mostly blank papers.

"Is there a reason, Nakahara-san, that your work has gone undone?"

I look over at Mori, the smug bastard. 

"Yes sir actually, Mori-san wouldn't stop bothering me. He repeatedly took my materials and refused to return them."

At this accusation, Mori looks up but directs his gaze back down before the professor notices.

"Ah, I see. Well, seeing as you're such a hard worker Nakahara-san I'll let you off with a warning, and I'll be moving your seat, come see me when you get to class tomorrow for your new seating assignment. And Mori-san," the boy looks up looking innocent, "while I did not witness your transgressions myself I'm sure you will be fine with another person next to you and cleaning the blackboard and desks during your free period today."

"Of course, professor." Mori just nods making no effort to deny my mostly false claims. I'll admit I expected him to come after me and the fact that he didn't startles me and leaves an almost uneasy feeling in my stomach. He must be planning his revenge. I hope that maybe he just wanted to suck up, but I know that isn't true.

The professor nods, pats me on the and heads back to his desk, dismissing the class just as the bell rings.

I cram the worksheets hurriedly into my bag and head off to the library to complete them.

By the end of the free hour, the concept starts to make sense. I think I'll be able to finish them at home.

The next class is Science.

I sit next to Mori in this class too, it's because we have M and N surnames and the seating chart is alphabetised. When I sit down Mori looks away. 

He doesn't look at me for the rest of science.

I ignore his eerie silence as best as I can and focus on my worksheet. The work is easy because we have a substitute teacher (Some old guy with a monocle) so I finish quickly. I want to work on my maths a bit more but when I finish I find myself turning to look at Mori. He's on his phone, playing one of those mindless candy-crush-type games. 

Soon my maths is abandoned as I watch him engrossed in something on his phone, he almost looks like a normal kid.

Before I know it the bell is ringing and I curse myself once again allowing Mori to distract me.

-

In History the same thing happens, it's kind of creeping me out and I know whatever he must have planned is going to make my life hell.

But by Physical Education, our last class of the day nothing has happened.

Maybe he just decided to stop wasting his time on a peasant or something but either way, I'll keep my guard up.

#More Than You Know // soukoku #bungou stray dogs #bungo stray dogs #bsd #soukoku #dazai osamu #nakahara chuuya #soukoku angst #soukoku fanfiction #soukoku fic

[hotshoeagain]

Vernet / Holmes

A lovely person left a comment (on a recent fic) about the Vernet cottage. That reminds me: we don’t know if Holmes frères would actually have access to a family home somewhere in France -- but we do know, canonically, that Sherlock’s grandmother was French and was the sister of a real-life French painter: Emile Jean Horace Vernet. 

Why did Doyle choose a real artist for the Holmes’ supposed grandmother? Dunno, but it’s a lovely idea to give the family of geniuses an inherited artistic flair which they never can wholly suppress. 

more info about Emile here

#Sherlock Holmes #ACD canon #the French grandmother #the French artist #Emile Jean Horace Vernet #commented Sep 16 2022

[homebody-nobody]

What Jiara moment are you most excited for to see in season 3? Either from what we’ve seen in the teaser/trailer/promo or something we’ve not seen but you hope to see? I CANNOT wait to have them back on my screen soon!!

OH this is such a good question!! I LOVE the half-a-clip we got from Netflix France (bless you, social media manager for Netflix FR, bless you for not understanding how feral we become over crumbs) and I was talking to @largedenominationsplease and another of our friends about how it looks like JJ is turning to kiss her on the cheek in that clip (!!!!!) and I was saying...

what if we get an accidental kiss

(a moment in which I will cease to exist.) I know the likelihood is probably near 0, but i ADORE the accidental!kiss trope and it is not taken advantage of enough, imo. But like, can you IMAGINE?? like, they go to separate, and JJ goes to kiss her cheek, and she turns to say something at the same time, and they kiss!! and then Kie like, stumbles away from him, and JJ is frozen, and then bright red, and then he just starts babbling and apologizing and Kie goes

'no!'

'no?'

'no it's --it's okay.'

'it's okay?'

'yeah.'

and then they just .... ~don't talk about it~ like the geniuses they are.

Anyway, bit of a ramble, but that's my dream moment!! Ofc I'm also excited for the hug from the stills, and there's a shot of JJ in the trailer where he has a machete leveled at some guys throat (?? boy what is that about), and if we get JJ just screaming 'WHERE IS SHE??' I will, in fact, combust. Thanks so much for coming into my askbox, I live for interaction!!

#anon #answered #obx #obx s3

[shakespereansonnet]

•● ME CONHEÇA MELHOR ●•

• GET TO KNOW ME BETTER •

☆ Cor favorita: Verde escuro ou vermelho escuro, a não ser que seja para roupas, então eu opto por cores mais discretas que combinam com tudo

Favorite color: dark green or dark red, that is, unless it comes to clothing pieces, which I prefer to acquire in more discreet tones that tend to match everything else

☆ A música do momento: Hit it, da Miss Li

Favorite song at the moment: Hit it, by Miss Li

☆ Última música que você ouviu: Jane B., da Jane Birkin

Last song you've listened to: Jane B., by Jane Birkin

☆ Última pesquisa do google: Por que o nervo frênico recebe esse nome? (Mesmo nas férias o meu cérebro faz perguntas aleatórias pra mim)

Last question Googled: why does the vague nerve receive that name? (Despite my being on vacation my brain still comes up with random inquiries such as this one)

☆ A viagem dos seus sonhos: França, Itália e Grécia

Dream trip: France, Italy, and Greece

☆ Qualquer coisa que você gostaria de comprar: eu morreria por uma bolsa Kelly

One thing you'd like to buy: I would die for a Kelly bag

☆ Um filme favorito: Cleo de 5 a 7, um filme profundo com uma trilha sonora maravilhosa pelo Michel Legrand

One of tour favorite movies: Cleo from 5 to 7, a very deep movie with an astonishing soundtrack by Michel Legrand

☆ Uma série que queira assistir: Suits, eu assisti dois episódios ano passado, mas abandonei para assistir Versailles

A show you'd like to watch: Suits, I watched two episodes last year but decided to pick up Versailles instead

☆ Um famoso: Louis XVI, eu tenho certeza que nós teriamos sido melhores amigos para sempre se tivessemos nos conhecido. Menção honrosa: Albert Camus, esse homem é um dos maiores gênios da literatura mundial.

A famous person: Louis XVI, I am positive that we'd have been great friends — if not something else which dare not say — had we met. Honourable mention: Albert Camus, that man is one of the biggest geniuses of literature on a global scale.

☆ Sua obsessão atual: Succession

Current obsession: Succession, you'd better believe I have Lto the OG on repeat

Obrigada @beadickel por ter me marcado! Vou marcar a @andromeda-station e qualquer outra pessoa que queira participar.

#galerie de ma vie

[severalowls]

God I haven't been to France in probably like 8 years we used to go almost every year when I was a kid and go camping and I'd inevitably make friends with some kids from like Denmark or something who spoke english because they were linguistic geniuses by UK standards, and then never see them again in my life. And have good bread.

#and then play with the bread and be accused of francophobia 20 years later on tumblr.com #the other almost annual spot was a weekend on holy island #but eventually the price of the cottage the whole family stayed in priced us out #same happened in the west of scotland where we went for a few years #was a wee laundry cottage on an old noble estate #and i made great friends w the girl who lived in the old carriage house #and then the laundry got sold and the manor turned into a luxury hotel or something #still not sure what was up with that like... barn slash community hall we played in #hell maybe it used to be a workers chapel or something there was like a whole village of service buildings #for the manor which was empty at the time #anyway sorry im talking to myself about things literally nobody cares about #because i am 90 years old and that is my right xoxo

[fantomcomics]

What’s Out This Week? 6/22

Happy Juneteenth AND Father’s Day!

The Muscle Girl Next Girl  Vol 1 -  Amesuke Ano

A boy-meets-ripped-girl love story! College student Daria isn't a big guy; he's thin and kinda scrawny, and he's a little self-conscious about it. When he bumps into Rubi-san, a totally cut lady who can haul massive logs around, he thinks she's the epitome of macho coolness. And it's more than just admiration or even envy's immediately smitten by her! Watch slight Daria chase after the buff and sexy Rubi in this charming modern love story.

Nook #1 -  Caleb Thusat, Marcelo Biott & Martha Webby

Fleeing the oppression of WWII Germany, Avery and her parents move to a remote town on the border of France only to discover their new is haunted by a dark past and a cat named Nook. Swept up into a deadly cycle of violence, Avery will come to both fear and love her fuzzy new friend as the dark and twisted history of her new home is revealed.

Our Colors GN -  Gengoroh Tagame and Anne Ishii

Set in contemporary suburban Japan, Our Colors is the story of Sora Itoda, a sixteen-year-old aspiring painter who experiences his world in synesthetic hues of blues and reds and is governed by the emotional turbulence of being a teenager. He wants to live honestly as a young gay man in high school, but that is still not acceptable in Japanese society. His world changes forever when he meets Mr. Amamiya, a middle-aged gentleman who is the owner and proprietor of a local coffee shop and is completely, unapologetically out as a gay man. A mentorship and platonic friendship ensues as Sora comes out to him and agrees to paint a mural in the shop, and Mr. Amamiya counsels Sora about how to deal with who he is. But it won't be easy.

Clementine Book One - Tillie Walden

Clementine is back on the road, looking to put her traumatic past behind her and forge new path all her own. But when she comes across an Amish teenager named Amos with his head in the clouds, the unlikely pair journeys North to an abandoned ski resort in Vermont, where they meet up with a small group of teenagers attempting to build a new, walker-free settlement.

As friendship, rivalry, and romance begin to blossom amongst the group, the harsh winter soon reveals that the biggest threat to their survival...might be each other.  

Dirty Pictures: How Rebels Invented Comix -  Brian Doherty

In Dirty Pictures: How an Underground Network of Nerds, Feminists, Misfits, Geniuses, Bikers, Potheads, Printers, Intellectuals, and Art School Rebels Revolutionized Art and Invented Comix, author and journalist Brian Doherty tells the wild history of the outlaw, outsider, and sometimes illegal world of Underground Comix. With a narrative that weaves together the stories of Harvey Kurtzman, R. Crumb, Trina Robbins, Spain Rodriguez, and Art Spiegelman, among many others, Doherty details, in the first complete narrative history of this movement, the local scenes that sprang up in the 1960s and '70s in New York City, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Cleveland, and Chicago, and provides insight into the rivalries, ideological battles, and conflicts that flourished.

The Lonesome Hunters #1 (of 4) -  Tyler Crook

An old and out-of-practice monster hunter in hiding crosses paths with a young girl that forces him to confront these chaotic creatures. As the beasts invade their tenement, they set off on a supernatural road trip to stop these ancient evils in a story that explores the ways that youth informs adulthood and how early traumas can haunt us of in old age.

Samurai Sonja #1 - Jordan Clark, Pasquale Qualano & Lucio Parrillo

The Sengoku period of Japan: A time of near-constant civil war. Sonja, daughter of a slain samurai, is eager to prove herself worthy of her family's glorious history. But in a desperate moment, Sonja will make an awful deal with a dreaded sea goddess: She will be gifted magical armor and weapons capable of slaying mythical beasts! But if she falls in battle, her bloodline will be erased, her family's name no more.

Until I Find My Husband GN -  Ryousuke Nanasaki & Yoshi Tsukizuki

From school crushes to awkward dating sites to finding a community, this collection of stories recounts the author's "firsts" as a young gay man searching for love. Dating isn't ever easy, but that goes doubly so for Ryousuke, whose journey is full of unrequited love and many speed bumps. But perseverance and time heals all wounds, even those of the heart. This moving memoir by gay activist Ryousuke Nanasaki, following his historic life story, was originally released in Japan in a novel of collected essays and in a beautiful manga adaptation; now both will be available in English for the first time.

The Illusion Witch Book One - Ruben Romero & Andrea Errico

The Illusion Witch tells the story of Aadya Locke a world-famous illusionist traumatized by the loss of her father and son, she has become cold and disconnected from reality. Transported into Saari a fantasy world filled with magic and danger, Aadya is paired with a talking Quoll, A warrior, his son, and a powerful mage. Hunted by The Three a wraith with monstrous intentions, Aadya will face her inner demons while battling real-life monsters in her attempt to save herself,  and Saari.

Whatcha scooping up this week, Fantomites?

#WOTW #What's Out This Week? #comic #comics #comic book #comic books #Illusion Witch #Until I Find My Husband #Samurai Sonja #The Lonesome Hunters #Dirty Pictures: How Rebels Made Comix #Clementine #Our Colors #The Muscle Girl Next Door