#You know I have seen David quite a few times by now - but I'm pretty sure this was the first time I saw him wearing his own glasses!

[tyttetardis]

Macbeth Q&A 18th Jan 2024 Part 1

Was lucky enough to get a ticket for the Member's Event at the Donmar Warehouse that took place on the 18th...with the price of the patronages I sure never thought I'd have gotten the chance, but luckily, they also let in some non-members 🥹❤️

The brilliant performance of Macbeth was followed by a very quick cleaning of the stage - thought for sure it would've taken them longer to remove the blood than like 5 minutes - followed by a lovely, little Q&A session.

The Q&A was led by Craig Gilbert (Literary manager) who talked to Annie Grace and Alasdair Macrae (Musicians and part of the acting ensemble) as well as Cush Jumbo and David Tennant.

Anyway, just gonna write down some of the stuff they talked about :) sorry if it's a bit messy! Might be spoilery if haven't seen it yet but is going to!

To begin with Craig remarked that he didn't think he'd ever seen that many people staying behind for a Q&A before (While I was just wondering why some people even left!? Stressful!).

David introduced himself with "My real name is David "Thane of Paisely" Tennant - while Cush introduced herself with "I´m Cush Jumbo - there's only one of me".

First question was Craig asking them what it was that brought them to the Donmar to do Macbeth - to which David pretty much just replied that 1. It's the Donmar! 2. It's Macbeth! One of the greatest plays of all time in an amazingly intimate space - and that the theatre is famous for its quality of work. So he found it quite hard to think of a reason not to do it!

Cush said she'd worked there before and loves the theatre, how it's so intimate but also a great workspace. Followed by her saying she said yes because David asked her. She talked about how important it was for this play to do it together with the right actor playing opposite you.

David says Max Webster asked him about a year ago if he wanted to do the play - he gave him the dates - and since there weren't any obstacles in the way, David didn't have any excuse not to do it.

He then said that he had slightly avoided Macbeth - there sorta being the assumption that if you're Scottish and has done some Shakespeare plays before you have to do Macbeth. Which he joked was a bit odd since it's not like every Italian has to play Romeo. Then he mentioned that Macbeth is probably a bit more of a jock than he is - that it seemed more like a part for big, burly actors.

Max had laid out his initial ideas to David, a lot of which are in the final production, and David thought he seemed lovely, bright and clever and inventive plus it being the Donmar Warehouse! To which joked that he had last worked there 20 years ago - when he was 8 years old! "It's just one of those spaces" - friendly and epic at the same time where it's such a pleasure to be on the stage.

When Craig asked his next question concerning the sound of the play someone asked him to speak louder as she couldn't hear them - to which David joked that they've gotten so used to whispering. But also said sorry, and that they would!

Alasdair explained a bit about the process of the binaural sound - bit I find it a bit difficult to decipher it all correctly, sorry. He did say that a interesting part of it is that it allows them a controlled environment where they can put all the musicians (and even the bagpipes!) behind the soundproof box so "Poor David and Cush" doesn't have to shout over all the racket.

Craig asked David and Cush what their reaction was when they heard about the concept of the binaural soundscape - to which David replied that it didn't quite exist when they first came onboard - Cush joking they were tricked into it. Then she talked about her and David going on a workshop with Max to get a feeling of how it would all work - and get a sense of how it would sound to the audience, as this was one of the few times, they got to hear that side of it. Their experience of the play being completely different to the experience the audience has.

Cush said they can hear some of the sound - like she can hear some of the animal sounds and David can hear some of the stuff from the glass box - but most of their cues and information comes from timing with each other. She said they won't be able to ever hear what the audience hears - to which David joked "We're busy".

It felt like mixing medias - as it all went quite against their natural stagecraft instinct - but Cush found that in the long run it made things very interesting - like they don't have to worry about getting something whispered to each other - as the audience will hear it anyway.

David said the odd thing is that they don't really know what the experience truly is like. He mentioned that to the sides of the stage there's a speaker for them where they will get any cues that they need to hear. Like they can hear the witches - but they can't hear where they are "positioned" - so they have to learn how to place themselves to fit with what the audience hears. They don't hear everything, though. And the audio they hear is quite quiet, so it doesn't disturb what comes through the headphones.

He thinks it's been exciting - that it's a bit like a mix between film and theatre. It's happening live - but it's also like post-production is happening between them and the audience as it's going on. They just have to trust that the audience is hearing what they are supposed to for it all to make sense.

Cush said she thinks in 10 - 20 years, as these technologies has developed, doing theatre like this will feel a lot more normal - not that they will do it ALL the time, but that they will be doing it - whereas now it's still like an experiment. What Cush really like about the concept is that if was done in a much bigger theatre - then people in the cheapest seats would be able to have an experience much more similar to those in the most expensive seats - they'd be a lot more immersed into the action.

David then talks about how it feels extremely counterintuitive to not go on stage and speak loud enough that the people in the back row can also hear you. And usually, if they can't hear you, you aren't doing your job right! But then it felt very liberating. He loves it.

Cush then talked about how it felt odd waiting in the wings for a cue you can't hear - where you traditionally wait backstage and you can hear your cues, you can hear the rythm and know when it's your turn - so it was quite disconcerting to hear silence. So it's basically down to them now knowing the show and each other's timings - like if David is standing at a certain point, she knows how long she has before she needs to say/do something. So you have to watch each other more closely and really focus on what the others are doing.

David asked the musicians if they can hear everything inside the box, to which Annie replied that they get everything except some extra bits in the soundscape. But they can hear the actors on stage. Annie said it's actually a bit of a mystery to all of them what the audience actually experiences - how the big pictures actually look like - they just have to trust that it's there "Is it there?!".

Someone asked if they had had any adverse reactions from audiences to having to wear the headphones. Quite a bit of laughter all around :P then David said "There's the odd person" and something about if someone hadn't gotten the memo before turning up...but not sure how he ended the line. Then once again says that yes, there's the odd person who doesn't like it and that's fair enough.

The same audience member then said he could see the advantage of it in a big theatre where the distance is big, but not in a small place like the Donmar - to which David very quickly, rather passionately replied that it's not about projection, it's about being able to do things you wouldn't normally be able to do live - where they can speak so quietly that they can't even hear each other when standing next to each other. So even in such a small place, people wouldn't be able to hear that. It's about creating a different play - which isn't to everyone's taste and that's fair enough. But for a play that's been done a hundred and seven million times he thinks it's very valid to try and find a new way into the play - even if it's not for everyone.

Part 2

#David Tennant #Macbeth #Donmar warehouse #Cush Jumbo #I messed up this recording sooooo bad #I didn't see people pull out their phones to record it so I didn't dare do that either... #and man did I get a shitty recording out of it :( #and the audio ain't great either...Craig was sitting the furthest from me and didn't have a mic so can be a bit difficult to hear at times #Cush was sitting the closest to me (not that close - I was still in second row!) and David was sitting next to her #while I didn't have a perfect frontal view - the angle I was at did mean that I still got a perfect view of David's adorable smiles <3 #and all his other lovely facial expressions as he often looked to Cush when she was talking and replied to her... #which made it FEEL like he was looking in my direction *sigh* #and he looked so good with his comfy cardigan - skin tight jeans - and his glasses! #You know I have seen David quite a few times by now - but I'm pretty sure this was the first time I saw him wearing his own glasses! #I desperately wish I had managed to capture some pictures or a video---because OMG! He was so lovely <3 #Oh didn't know there was a text limit...or that I had written this much...guess I'm continuing in a part 2

[greatcheshire]

hey, how'd you learn how to do your makeup? i'm kind of a novice over here

Hey!! So I learned via a lot of methods - tips from friends, videos, googling. It's hard for me to remember a lot of my sources over the years. That being said, I'm going to try to link the ones I know help the most.

The Pretty Fix - this channel hasn't updated in a while but has a lot of tutorials designed to be trans-inclusive and beginner friendly. It's a great resource for just starting out and for understanding a lot of basic techniques and things to keep in mind without it being overwhelming or throwing too many product types at you.

How to Apply Eyeshadow PERFECTLY (beginner friendly hacks) by AlexandrasGirlyTalk - This video is short and simple and yet probably the most effective one I've seen when it comes to breaking down eyeshadow. I still haven't fully 100% mastered doing eyeshadow, but I feel a lot more confident with it after watching this a few times.

Dude, eyeliner changes your whole face by Alexandra Anele - Another good technique and theory video that helps a lot when trying to figure out eyeliner, which IMO is the hardest part of trying to do eye make up and something I'm only starting to feel good with as of this year

NEW Updated 2021 E-Girl Makeup Tutorial! by hannah owo - This one might seem silly at first glance because, y'know, E-girl, but honestly this is one of the most helpful makeup tutorials I've found and has drastically affected how I've done my makeup. What makes this one so good and helpful IMO is that unlike a lot of other makeup tutorials you can find, this one uses a lot of drugstore and bargain brands (at one point it recommends using a Crayola marker to create freckles) and shows the ways one can make a super elaborate look using a surprisingly small amount of products.

FACE BASICS: Hide Facial Hair (using Makeup!) Part 2: Makeup by David K Davey - I don't really do a lot of this anymore (I used to go way overboard on covering that area early in transition lol) but for those worried about beard shadow or discoloration in that area, this helps teach how to be cover that up and the colour theory behind it. Mastering this can be a godsend.

Those are the main links I can think of right now! For someone still getting in, my best advice is to get the basic tools you'll need - primer, concealer, foundation, eyeliner, mascara, blush - as well as a sponge or brush kit and play around with them, using tutorials and googling every time you think you come into an issue. Then you can start looking at more advanced things like contours and eye shadows, and the good thing about eye shadows is that most palettes have a bunch of videos online of people doing various looks and tutorials with them, meaning if you find yourself stuck, you're almost always guaranteed to find something you can use as a reference.

Makeup is hard and I still don't feel like I have a perfect understanding of it, but it can be quite fun once you find a set up you like and start getting comfortable enough to experiment with new looks and products! I hope this could help at all and I wish you the best of luck going forward!

#trans #lgbtq #make up #anon

[dduane]

Hi there! I'm not sure if this is something you've talked about before in another post, but I just finished the first draft of my first novel, and I was wondering if you could talk about what your experience was like getting your first novel edited and published. I have this story that I'm excited about but no idea what to do with it now that I've reached "The End," do you have any advice on what my next step ought to be towards eventually getting it published? Thanks in advance!

First of all: thanks for asking. ...And now I have to warn you that I am possibly one of the worst possible people to ask about what their first novel's publication looked like... as it was completely atypical.

Not that that's going to stop me, mind you. (And you know what? I'm inserting a cut here, because this goes on a bit. Warning: contains [calculated] dissing by old friends, pulp non-fiction, unexpurgated language, unexpected awards nominations, and advice that's worth just what you're paying for it.)

What happened with me and my first book goes like this:...

In the late 1970s I was starting to burn out on psychiatric nursing, and was offered a job as assistant to the novelist and Star Trek ["The Trouble with Tribbles"] writer David Gerrold. I took it happily, as I was in a place in my life where I really needed some kind of change. The work with David was part-time; I also occasionally did special duty nursing shifts to help make ends meet.

Now during this period, I was writing for my own amusement (as I'd been doing all my life from about age eight onward). Right then I was working on a project I'd been tinkering with from my late high school years right through college, nursing school, and my first couple/few years of practice as an RN. This was the background worldbuilding for a vaguely Tolkienesque, somewhere-between-late-Medieval-and-early Renaissance fantasy scenario featuring a couple of moderately unusual magic systems, a sexually diverse culture, and a pair of "These Two Idiots"-style protagonists with complex interleaving problems.

While I was working for David, I had a lot of opportunity to observe, close up, what the life and workflow of a career writer looked like. Slowly, over a year or so, the realization crept up on me that what David was doing, I could do too. And it was at this point that I finally admitted to him that I thought I might want to write as well.

David's (as I later discovered, extremely calculated) eyeroll could probably have been seen from space. "Oy, not another one," he moaned. After which I went away from the abortive conversation pretty much resolved never to speak to him about this again... but also with a single thought filling my brain: You fucking supercilious sonofabitch, I'm going to show you that I'm not just another one.

...I'll never be able to thank him enough for that. Fury can be so motivating. :)

In the aftermath I got busy pulling together my background material with much more focused intent, and beating the most significant parts of it into something that started looking like a plot. It came together with surprising speed and unnerving insistence—one of the very few times in my career when a project, once begun, has simply flung me into the writing chair and insisted that it was the most important thing in my life and needed handling now. And when in the fullness of time David went on vacation, leaving me to house-sit at his place in LA, I immediately started using his very early computer to transcribe my novel's so-far-only-handwritten draft material.

I took what I thought was considerable care to cover my tracks... but not quite enough. On his return from vacation, when he was putting out the trash, David found some of my discarded draft pages, read them, and confronted me (with a certain amount of friendly teasing) about what had been going on. Then he said to me, "What I've seen of this thing doesn't look too bad. Let me see it when you're finished, and if it looks good enough, I'll ask one of my publishers if they want to take a look at it."

So that's what happened. I finished my first draft and a polish of it in about six weeks, and passed it to David. He read it and immediately handed it on to his editors at Dell, who were just starting a fantasy line for which they needed product. Two weeks later, they said they liked the novel and made an offer, which I accepted. Not a vast amount, but respectable enough. So there it was, my first sale: this book. Which then got me nominated two years running for the Astounding Award, and opened the door for the sale and publication of So You Want To Be A Wizard, as well as my earliest Star Trek work and my entry into the animation world.

I remember very little about the editing process, except that it was painless. What was not exactly painless was the book's cover, about which...well, the less said here the better. But the book came out to generally good reviews. So, with this series of events behind it, you can see why as regards first-publication stories, I'm a first-class outlier and should definitely not be counted. (Also to be avoided by new writers if at all possible: the experience of having half their strongly-selling first novel's initial print run pulped in the warehouse* because it was taking up room needed by a new book by a world-famous novelist.) (Whom I have long since forgiven, since it wasn't his fault, and...well, what can you do? Shit happens.)

...Anyway, that's more than enough about me. Now let's talk about you.

My first advice about what to do with the novel you've just finished? Stick it in a drawer (literally or figuratively speaking, whichever suits your case better) and don't look at it for at least a month. Two would be better. You can spend those two months thinking about your next moves... because you need to give those some consideration before you do anything else.

The question that you first need to answer is going to at least partially shape what you do next. And it's this:

Are you seriously considering making a career out of writing?

It's not that it can't be done! Of course it can. But it won't be easy... not at all. Anyone who tells you it will is either just outright lying through their teeth, or trying to sell you something. ...Or both.

Be honest with yourself as you consider this. If you aren't, you may be letting yourself in for considerable pain over a prolonged period... and I'd sooner you were spared that, if you can be. In particular, be clear about the difference between the statements "I want to write" and "I want to be a writer." Often enough people like the sound of the lifestyle and what they see as going with it—the signings, the book tours (physical or virtual), the interviews, the best-seller lists—without any real concept of the grueling, day-to-day, weekends-are-for-other-people, why-am-I-making-less-than-minimum-wage-most-of-the-time labor that underpins it.

If you simply want to write and be published—without the concept of a career necessarily being involved, or the lovely shimmering dreamlike vision of Giving Up The Day Job—you now have work pathways available to you that would've been unimaginable in the previous century. Self-publishing makes it possible for you to get your work in front of many, many eyes without necessarily having to submit yourself to the specific set of trials that go with achieving the initial stages of an intended career. Selfpubbing still has significant unique challenges of its own, of course, which have to be evaluated so that you can tell (as the commercials say) if they're right for you.

But if you're thinking of a career in what's usually being referred to these days as "traditional publishing", then you face a number of challenges that don't necessarily come with the self-publishing end of things. In particular: many publishing houses no longer consider manuscripts that come to them un-agented. So you're going to need to find an agent who's willing to represent your work... and this is a task that no longer looks anything like what it did when I found mine. (Or rather, when he found me, having been recommended to me by one of my editors. I've been with him for even longer than I've been with @petermorwood... and that's saying something. But this is yet another way in which my career's been wildly atypical.)

There is so much that could be said about this subject alone—the business of researching agencies to see which one seems like a good fit for you, the art of writing the perfect query letter to get their attention focused on a given book, and so much more—that I could hardly begin to even skim the surface of it here. There are whole websites devoted to shopping for agents, not to mention how to pitch yourself and your work to a given literary agency.

Let me leave this whole subject here for the moment. We can come back to it another time, because right now you need to be thinking this through. ...This I'll say, however. For the past six to nine months I've been pulling together links to various online resources that can be beneficial to new writers just getting started. These will be available as posts over at the FicFoundry.com site that I'm going to be bringing online before summer. I'm hoping to build that into kind of a compendium site or clearing house for online resources on this subject. We'll see how it goes.

Meanwhile, thanks for inquiring about this. You're standing at the first branching of what I'm hoping will be, for you at least, a fascinating variant of the Choose Your Own Adventure genre. :)

More on this later.

("Wait. Did she just call us idiots??")

*Now that we live in the era of just-in-time warehousing, this is something that fortunately doesn't happen much any more... as far as I know. But once upon a time, if somebody's new best-seller was going to the warehouse in its many thousands of copies, and your relatively-less-well-selling book was taking up space that could be used by the other author's "more valuable"/higher-priced titles, your books (5-10K of them, in my case) were simply thrown into a machine and turned into papery mush. And these go on your sales record as "unsold copies". (sigh) Some discussion of this phenomenon can be found over here.

#advice #writing advice #career stories

[ilottthepilot]

Cant remember for the life of me if youve already discussed this but I need to know your opinon on Callum (there aren't even rumours so pulling this out of my ass) going back to Indy to race for prema? Or do you reckon he'll stay in WEC?

Heyy, I haven't really discussed it on here I think, but I have been thinking a LOT about it.

Edit: adding a cut here because it really was more than i expected to write😭

What I ideally want, is that he gets a full time Mclaren Indycar seat. While I love prema and I'm super excited for them to come to Indycar, I would oviously prefer to see him at an established team, close to the top. I think Callum has also said at the beginning of the year that he is happy in WEC and he would only consider coming back to Indycar if it's with a top team (i don't think he said it this emphatically but that was the sentiment). Now, obviously Prema could be an exception here, because they have history together and he at some level knows what he can expect from the team. Also, importantly, they are already quite an established and serious operation (Alexander Rossi called prema basically an f1 team in one of his recent podcast episodes).

At the same time, there are definitely arguments for staying in WEC. I think hypercar drivers can get paid quite well?? (I think i read that in some Indycar article a few months ago. If anyone knows more about that PLEASE let me know. I have been googling a bit about hypercar salaries but Ican find nothing. I'm pretty sure the other endurance categories have mainly pay drivers but idk about hypercar.) Anyways, if he's getting a nice salary in WEC, switching back to Indycar is also a financial question. I know Mclaren would have no trouble paying him decently, but I have no idea where Prema will stand on the pay driver front. I can also imagine that living in Europe and not Indianapolis is a bonus for him.

It's also important to note that he has only had two WEC races with Jota so far. They seem pretty competitive with that first podium, but i imagine their performance at Le Mans for example will be a big factor in if he wants to stay.

All in all, i think if Mclaren offers him a drive, he will definitely come back to indy. For that to happen thogh the options are

a) they add a 4th car (idk if that works with the number of engines? But i have seen it discussed in the past)

b) David gets replaced. I mean, the rumor is that that could happen soon with all the complications surrounding his recovery. If that happens, i assume Théo will take the seat because i'm pretty sure that Callum's WEC contract is airtight and Jota won't let him fuck off to Indycar whenever he wants. There are a lot of clashes later in the season. What David loding his seat would mean for next year is anyone's guess.

c) Alex gets replaced. Remember when Prema said they want an "Indycar veteran" and young talent they developed in their cars? I don't know what they define as a "veteran", but I picture someone over 30? I think he could be an option for them, because he is good, but he doesn't seem as tightly tied to his team as most of the other older top drivers seem to be. I think Prema has enough clout internationally that they wouldn't just take anyone. Additionally, he has spoken super positively about Prema on his podcast.

If Mclaren isn't an option, I honestly have no idea if he would pick WEC or Prema. I do think Prema is probably in contact with him because he seems like such an obvious choice. I also always get the feeling that WEC is something a top level driver can always come back to, simply because there are so many seats. Obviously, a lot of people want that Jota seat, and there is no guarantee of getting one as good again, but I think there is more of a tendency in single seaters to forget about drivers once they miss a season or two. F1 is the worst with this, I don't think it's nearly as bad in Indy, but his career is still losing momentum. I think if he wants another try at Indy, he should probably give it a go sooner, rather than later.

Now what do I want? I would love to see Callum in Indycar again. Both WEC and Indycar aren't available on free TV here, so it's much more of a concious effort for me to seek out some link to watch a race, than it is to turn on F1/F2/FE/Motogp etc. Indycar interests me enough that i do regularly go out of my way to find a way to watch it. The thing with WEC is that I already spend way too much time most weekends thinking of motorsports. I really can't find the time to tune into an endurance race throughout the day. I know I don't have to watch all of it, but I simply am not invested enough for this to appeal to me. What I am doing now is simply refreshing the live timing like once an hour while I go about my day, to check in on how callum and mick are doing. So from my perspective, Indycar, which I sometimes watch anyway, would be way more convenient😅

About Prema specifically, I have to say I have been watching so many Prema youtube videos recently, wishing that they made them to this extent while Callum was there. If he does end up there, I will be obsessed and use every bit of delusion to manifest some wins.

Wow, you asked for an opinion, sorry for writing a whole ass essay😭

TLDR: i have no idea what will happen, i want callum to come back to indycar but mainly i want him at a good team

#and now he's testing for formula e?? #and about the hypothetical sch*lott pairing at prema... i won't speak on it. i refuse to jinx even the tiniest possibility of this happenin #i would simply become too obsessed #bitches will try to manifest things one second and the next moment be afraid of jinxing things by saying them... it's me i'm bitches #i do have MANY thoughts about wanting mick in indycar tho if anyone wants to hear them #contemplations

[anawrites3]

Love your Royal AU! Do you have an idea for what kind of consort ruler Dick would be? And what do Slade's men think about him?

Thank you!! 💕

Even as a consort Dick will do everything he can to help the people he rules over. He always had the people of Gotham in his mind and heart, and now that he lives in Defiance it still hasn't changed - he just cares about more people now.

As the king's consort, Dick is meant to accompany Slade in all meetings, even the most important ones, but no one really expected him to do anything there. Everyone thought that he would just sit at Slade's side like a 'pretty thing from a foreign country he is'. What a surprise it was when Dick just started giving solutions to the council's problems, his voice quiet but firm. The first time it happened, his hands were twisted in the material of his clothes and he kept glancing at Slade, nervous if he should be really speaking but unable to stay quiet when he has a way to help them out.

With time, as he understands that Slade doesnt mind him speaking up - on the contrary, Slade is at times even impressed by him - he gets more confident and even comes up with ideas of his own on how to help out their people more.

As for Slade's men, they absolutely adore him. At first they were keeping their eye on Dick all the time because he was from the enemy's country and they didn't know much about him overall. But the longer Dick lived in Defiance with Slade, the more they got to know him and the more they grew fond of him.

At first everyone thought that Dick would be cold and mean to them because they all know how proper and cold nobles from Gotham can be but Dick is nothing like that. No, he always stops in the hallways to greet them properly and talks to them all the time, always with a smile.

Wintergreen got protective of him very quickly too! Slade is really annoyed by it all (but it's more because he's just jealous 🤭)

A really short scene for this;;

/ / /

Dick was on his way to have dinner with his husband, already a few minutes late, when the man walked out from around the corner.

"Sir Isherwood!" Dick called out excitedly. His cloak pooled around his feet as he walked over to the man with a smile, his maids rushing after him. "I haven't seen you in so long! How are you today?"

"Your Majesty." David bowed with a small smile. "It's been quite some time indeed. I'm well, I was just on my way to the library."

"Ah, I see. Are you going there for business or pleasure?"

"Business this time I'm afraid, Your Majesty." The man hummed and Dick nodded sympathetically.

"Is there anything I could help you with?" he asked.

"Thank you, but it's just a minor research this time. It won't take me long and I'm sure you have much more important matters to attend to than looking through a few papers with me."

"Well, if you're sure." Dick smiled. "Perhaps I'll see you later then. I was planning to visit the library after dinner so maybe we'll meet there."

Isherwood opened his lips to answer when another voice spoke up from the end of the hall, "Ah, sir Isherwood. So you're the reason my husband is late for dinner."

"Your Majesty." Dick straightened immediately and inclined his head in a bow.

Slade walked over to them with a teasing smirk on his lips. "I was beginning to fear you got lost on your way to the dining room, Richard."

"Oh, I'm sure His Majesty is already very familiar with our castle's layout." Wintergreen, who stood on the king's side, teased Dick with a warm smile.

Slade’s smile widened a bit at the implication, at the same time as blush began to cover Dick’s cheeks. It wasn’t his fault he got lost once or twice when he first moved to Defiance’s castle! It was so much different than his home back in Gotham and so no one could blame him for the time when he walked into the wrong room while searching for the gardens.

“I am now.” he assured, looking down in embarrassment. “And I apologize for making you wait, Your Majesty.”

“It’s no problem at all.” Slade hummed. His fingers wrapped gently around Dick’s hand. "I was-"

"Oh, and pardon me for saying this,” Wintergreen spoke up again, before Slade could say anything more. “but you happen to be late for dinner quite some times yourself, Your Majesty."

"Yes thank you, Billy, that was very helpful." Slade replied drily.

"Always happy to serve."

Dick hid his smile behind the palm of his hand.

"I apologize as well, my king." Isherwood bowed with a smile on his own. "I was just exchanging pleasantries with His Majesty. It wasn't my intention to take so much of his time."

"No need to apologize." Slade dismissed with a wave of his hand. "You didn't do anything wrong. Richard, why don't you go ahead now? I'll join you in a minute."

"As you wish, Your Majesty." Dick nodded swiftly, before glancing at the men beside them. "Sir Isherwood, sir Wintergreen."

"Your Majesty." The knights answered in union and bowed.

Slade stepped closer to Dick and pressed his lips to his husband's wrist. Dick gasped softly at the gesture and the moment Slade let go of him, he hurried away with red cheeks. They all looked after him until he disappeared behind the corner.

"How come he talks to you all happily like that but still gets shy and stiff whenever I'm around?" Slade heaved a sigh and pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. "We've been married for quite some time now."

"Well..." Billy started with a pointed look. "I can name a few reasons why he gets withdrawn with you-"

"That won't be necessary, Billy." Slade gritted out through clenched teeth, making the man smile.

"Maybe His Majesty is still getting used to our customs." Isherwood offered helpfully. "You know that Gotham people aren't as open with showing affection as we are."

"Or maybe it's just because-"

"Alright, Wintergreen, get out. I don't want to see you right now."

"Your Majesty-"

"Out. Go help Isherwood with his research."

"Alright, alright."

/ / /

((I don't like how this turned out very much fkdkdjdj but you get the gist, Dick talks with Slade's men all the time but still is overwhelmed with Slade’s presence and Slade is jealous. Also, Billy loves teasing Slade about it))

Masterlist of the au

#my reply #anon #sladick royal au #sladick #dickstroke #my writing #this was meant to have no story #but uhhhh #it happened?? #this is happening like... quite a lot time after the previous part #its when dick is still wary and still warming up slowly to everything and everyone

[dont-tell-my-mom-im-here]

So as some of you may know I went to watch Macbeth this saturday and I now finally have the time to write a proper review so here we go!

Before I start I'm going to be honest and say that I don't know shit about theater or Shakespeare and I am subjective because I love David Tennant lol. The play was in the Donmar Warehouse, which is a very tiny theater (I'm not quite sure how many seats there are but it couldn't have been more than a hundred, correct me if wrong), which is great, because you're really close to stage and the actors. The backstage isn't right behind the stage, so actors had to pass by the seats to leave. This also means that if you are sitting at the end of the row, actors pass just a few inches from you. I was sitting at the last seat of the 3rd row, and David Tennant passed right by me like 3 times, it was great :). Because the stage is literally just a small white block, there wasn't a lot of decor, but I didn't really mind that. The costumes were also pretty minimal (I absolutely loved lady Macbeth's dress), but still looked regal. I usually don't love simple costumes in theater (this might just be because of all the very mediocre plays I went to with school over the years, because there is a pretty cheap theater in my city, which my high school loves to send us to for at least one very pretentious and long play per year), but these had like the right vibe, you know? It might also just be for the best because let's be honest, Shakespearian clothes, although pretty in theory, can sometimes look a bit silly in a modern setting and I would have had to laugh if David Tennant was having a breakdown in pantaloons (I genuinly don't know if pantaloons are from the right era please don't kill me I have no knowledge of historical clothing except for tiaras because I watch someone on tiktok talk about tiaras. I also once read a fic that was supposed to be smut but was like 95% describing the regency clothes that were being removed. You do, however, get the idea.) I had seen a post about the blood only being used at evening performances or something, or maybe I remember it wrong, but that wasn't the case, because I went to an afternoon play, and peope were enthousiastically bleeding out on stage. All the actors were great, I had no idea what they were saying because English isn't my first language, and I can't always understand it (without subtitles because I can't hear shit and accents are difficult), let alone ye olde English, but I could understand what was going on by their faces and intonation, so that was convenient. Also I read the Wikipedia summary beforehand because I have self knowledge.

So I thought it was very good and also I almost got stabbed because the room was small and the swords long but if I have to die I would like it to be because I got stabbed by David Tennant during Macbeth so that's fine. I hope everyone who's yet to see it has fun! Congrats to everyone who made it through this long ass text, I apologize, I literally cannot stick to the point. I hope you enjoyed the detour through my high school theater story lol

#david tennant #macbeth #david tennant macbeth #donmar warehouse #donmar macbeth #review #shakespeare

[gallifreyshawkeye]

Intro for anyone new, Hiya/Update for anyone from "yon olden days"

The tldr: my kids have brought new joy into old fandom and old hobbies and my older kiddo has asked me to finish the series PROPERLY and make Alec Hardy not sad anymore (😆) and to write Tentoo whump (child, you have NO idea what beast you have unleashed!).

So I have found myself coming back to this blog thanks to my kids after a hiatus of several years due to (partly) said kids taking up an increasing part of life, as they should, on top of everything else. BUT, they are now late elementary and early middle school age and I decided a few months ago it was time to properly introduce Doctor Who to them as a show to watch. So we started properly with Rose and Nine and they were hooked harder than I could have ever hoped. They chose to watch nothing else until they had binged ALL thirteen seasons in about only four months! It was amazing!

It was also really cool to watch it again from as fresh and unbiased a perspective as I think I'm ever going to get. 11 and 9y/o's aren't influenced by other fandom perspectives, I refused to give them any spoilers along the way, and the whole experience was overall just such an unexpectedly refreshing and renewing one I can't put it into words. It's also been fascinating to get their takes. Here are a few:

- Ten is both their favorite Doctor, but Twelve isn't far behind at all, and my 9y/o son has them at almost a tie. In fact, when I asked each of them which Doctor they would want me to write a fanfic about, my son picked Twelve.

- They both haaaaaaaated the hand waving-ness of Moffatt's grand story arc conclusions: the Doctor being brought back by Amy simply remembering him, the soppy/cheesy way Clara got the Time Lords to give Eleven more regenerations, the entirety of Amy's pregnancy, and for that matter River having regenerations simply by being conceived in the TARDIS they never bought into. You should have seen the skeptical looks on their faces when they heard that line given as an explanation! It was quite priceless! And like I said, I gave no spoilers, no personal opinion ahead of time, nothing. I deliberately let them simply watch the show for what it is.

- They both liked Bill and Nardol way more than Clara

- Both were super confused by the the absolute mess of character arc in Chibnall's era. Not so much for the Doctor, they thought she was ok, just kinda bland, but the Master. They were in complete agreement that nothing he did made any sense whatsoever.

- They were in disbelieving shock and over the moon when David Tennant showed back up as Fourteen when Thirteen regenerated, and they were FURIOUS that they were going to have to wait six whole months before the specials came out 😆

As an added bonus, my 11y/o also has become quite the David Tennant fan. They were so devastated when Ten regenerated, they immediately wanted to watch something else DT was in, so in the process of listing things off, I mentioned MAAN as something him and Catherine Tate did together that was non-angsty and even after emphasizing that it was Shakespeare, they still chose to watch it (not that I was complaining! ;) ). They were literally sliding off the couch with laughter at the absolute comedic perfection that is DT and Catherine Tate in MAAN, and it's been all things David Tennant ever since! I got lots of things thrown at me during the course of Broadchurch because of, and I quote, "His stupid sad eyes and his stupid face!" and I have been ordered to write a proper ending that makes him properly happy. So maybe I'll have to dust off the epilogue fic I'd been writing all that time ago and finish it off for good.

Meanwhile, Doctor Who has been rewatched from the beginning nearly all the way through again and is pretty much the only show my son currently chooses to watch besides his favorite Minecraft YouTuber (Grian, for anyone interested and who knows that realm of things).

So it's been in the process of both my children falling into these fandoms as much on their own as it is possible for children their age to do so, that I have found myself back here. It started because I was looking up some of the whump gifsets I made of Ten in the episode 42 to show my 11y/o, and partly as a confession of sorts to them of how deep into the fandom I used to be.

And then the specials came out and there was Fourteen's beautiful face and big sad eyes (yes my 11y/o has a phenomenal point!), and now I've also found myself relistening to all the Eighth Doctor audios, and idk, whatever the combination of reasons I've found a new joy in it all.

And it's all combined to make me feel like I can write again, like something's been freed or been unlocked. I can imagine scenes and character arcs and come up with new characters and revel in meta minutia that will never explicitly make it onto the page but is vital for plot consistency.

I feel like I found part of myself again.

#personal #texty post #yes I will post new fic when it's done #but I'm properly plotting first this time so it might be a hot minute

[delurkr]

More Little Hope models 🤩

This post has been in my drafts for a long time lol but HariboStixx on deviantart posted a bunch of extracted LH models! I come bearing some pics and commentary but go look at the rest of them because there's quite a few.

YOUNG VINCE MY BELOVED. I love him and his corduroy coat. You can get a hint of the western style seams on the front, and now I see that's a denim jacket under the coat instead of a shirt. I LOVE. Unfortunately his pants and shoes are just the ones from his funeral outfit (which is clearly a duplicate of Anthony's funeral outfit, a true fashion faux pas) so unfortunately that doesn't say what he was "really" wearing.

Passerby seems to be wearing a suit under that coat. And btw only recently did I come across a playthrough bright enough to notice that his coat has a belt that's undone and dangling at the sides. I really want to know about him and what he was doing on that night 😂 Also his pants are a good 20 years out of date but we love him in spite of it (or maybe because of it).

About time we get a full view of Wyman lol. Lookit all those snazzy buttons 😁 (They must catch on things all the time.)

Is Taylor's watchband red in the game? I don't think so but if it is it's a nice nod to Tanya's red bracelet.

David was executed because he's been flaunting his collarbones in public. Tsk tsk, David. Cloth hose though instead of the other guys' knitted ones, fun detail.

Joseph's top layer thing looks like it was a pretty fancy garment at one point. There's a lot of (faded?) detailing down the front and around the armholes, which would have to be done by hand and that's a lot of effort for something a farmer will be bumming around in. And something was ripped out of the armholes (which shows better in the game), maybe sleeves that wore out before the rest of the garment and didn't get replaced. I don't know much about clothing in this era but anyway it's such a deliberate design choice. I love Joseph's outfit and I wish the devs would post his model so we can get closeups of the proper textures on it.

I need help. Is Abraham's outfit actually blue in the game? Obviously some of the colors aren't accurately represented here but other extracts I've seen of his model are blue. It just kind of looks brown in the game to me.

DENNIS DENNIS DENNIS

Anne with red hair again. Honestly the more I look at it in-game with enough brightness it looks like a shade of red there too. I'm slowly starting to consider that Anne's hair may be red enough to be related to the fact that they adopted a red-haired kid 🤔

Lastly, vehicles. Words cannot express. How much I LOVE the Clarke's station wagon. Just, them, in that car. (Imagine road trips.) Anyway I finally have a clear enough view of it so... yes, I tried to find a real-world make, and, just like Vince's car, I don't think it exists. The lights and grills are never comparable, but ignoring the structure the vibe works for a good chunk of the 1960s, which means I get to imagine at least some of the Clarke kids learning to drive in it 😊

#i still would love for the devs to post all the character models 🥺 #every single one #with closeups because i want to be sure about the correct hair colors and materials the clothing is made out of and stuff #i adore seeing more of the clarke car here though #reference #character models #vince barnes #passerby #judge wyman #taylor little hope #david milton #joseph lambert #abraham alastor #dennis clarke #anne clarke #the dark pictures anthology #little hope

[ingravinoveritas]

WOW AL does not miss a single thing! Good Omens 2 news date just came out and she’s already posting pictures of her promoting the show using a water bottle with the name on it. Also, GT. PLEASE PLEASE go look on her story RIGHT fucking now because she actually said that people have dmed her saying that she’s burning food on purpose for instagram content and she talks about it!! ALSO, radio silence from Anna for a while now and she decides to break the news with promo for Good Omens. I truly truly truly hope this isn’t some way relating to her being in the show. SO MUCH HAPPENING AMY PLEASE TALK ABOUT IT

Hi, Anons! I did indeed see all of the posts that you have mentioned, so yes, quite a lot going on today. I'm going to divide this response into two parts, first starting with the GO 2-themed Insta stories. Let's get the visuals up so we can discuss:

I know there's been some content over the past week or so that I haven't gotten to talk about--AL posting that terrible picture of her and Michael on May 1st barely an hour after Georgia had posted a new picture of David; a few days after that, Georgia posting a picture with Birdie and AL immediately following it with a picture of her and Mabli; and the weird pictures Georgia posted of David looking pissed off/annoyed after the RSC event--so I do apologize for falling behind a bit. But obviously this is all relevant to today's events, so here we go.

First of all, it seems pretty clear that these posts were planned and coordinated ahead of time. The water bottles, the sunglasses, even the striped shirts all seem deliberate and purposeful (one of my followers even suggested the black/white contrast may have been done to reflect Aziraphale vs. Crowley). The word "opportunistic" comes to mind, as well as marveling at (to quote @daziechane) AL telling people to stay hydrated "when she's the thirsty one."

But I think what you said is very interesting, Anon #2, in that Michael and David (and Ty/Peter) are not promoting the show, while Georgia and AL are. This certainly could speak to them not being it (which I hope is the case), as well as them showing off their 'consolation prizes,' so to speak. I particularly got that vibe from AL's post--a very "Look what I have that you don't" bragging sort of vibe, which I also usually get from her pictures with Michael--but mainly what it feels like to me is that Michael and David are busy having actual careers and don't need to constantly remind us how they feel about GO, whereas Georgia and AL are still trying to prove something.

It just feels desperate, and in AL's case, a bit stupid, as she didn't even mirror her camera when taking the picture, so the words on the bottle are backwards, and if this is meant to be PR/promotion, why wouldn't you be sure the writing is legible? Also, I'm not sure what Georgia is doing to the bottle, but I think we can safely say that David has less of a gag reflex than she does:

So, now let's go on to part 2 of this answer, which is regarding the videos Georgia posted about burning food. For those who haven't seen the video, you can watch it here:

I think it's worth noting that prior to the videos, she posted yet another picture of burnt food, so it seems as if the picture was just an excuse to post the subsequent videos.

I'm glad to know that other people have been calling her out for this, though. And the excuses she gave in the video seemed like exactly that--excuses for the fact that she is self-involved and can't be bothered to check on the food she is cooking. It also seems incredibly hypocritical to me that Georgia has previously reposted an Insta story about the cost of living crisis in the UK and the absurdity of spending money on the Coronation while people are going hungry, while having no problem wasting food herself.

Ultimately, my takeaway from the videos is that Georgia has and will continue to do whatever she has to for the sake of content, regardless of how hypocritical or tone deaf it comes across. But it seems clear that others have noticed what we all have, and I'm hoping that the willingness of folks to call her out will maybe--maybe--make her think twice before posting such content again. I'm not entirely hopeful, but, well...you never know.

As for Georgia/AL having Tumblr and seeing what we say, I honestly am not sure, though I tend to doubt it. My guess is that people are calling Georgia out on Instagram, where she can readily see it, and that's what spurred this response. (I'm 94% sure though that Michael did visit my blog once like four years ago when he was still heavily into the fandom, and that he sent me this Anon in response to a het fic I wrote about him.)

But Georgia and AL would have us believe they're too busy/too important to be caring what fans say, so if for some reason they have nothing better to do than wander over to Tumblr to read what people are saying, my take is that none of us can control what they do--we can only control what we do. And I'm not going to alter my blog or the honest conversations I try to facilitate on it just on the minuscule off-chance that one of them might be lurking.

So those are my thoughts on the events of today. Notable developments all, yet none of them hold a candle to the news of the GO 2 release date, and the wonderful new promo poster. It'll certainly be interesting to see where things go from here on out...

#anonymous #reply post #good omens #michael sheen #welsh seduction machine #david tennant #soft scottish hipster gigolo #georgia tennant #'there's wine in mine' because the press tour is impending #and soon the media will be back to shipping Michael and David #and not paying attention to her #at least she didn't use the 'CookingWithGeorgia' hashtag today #sigh #anna lundberg #discourse

[tellthemeerkatsitsfine]

Somewhat recently, the 1995 BBC New Comedy Awards appeared on YouTube, and I wrote a post in which I highlighted the main points that occurred to me as I watched it. Well guess what, everyone? Guess what? It happened in other years, and the 1999 ones are also on YouTube now:

I’ve seen this particular year for this particular award talked about before. I’ve seen David O’Doherty and Josie Long talk about this running joke about who beat who for comedy awards in 1999. Because in that year they were both finalists in awards geared toward new comics – So You Think You’re Funny, and the BBC New Comedy Awards. David O’Doherty won the former, and Josie Long won the latter, and I’ve seen them both amusingly hold their victories over each other twenty years later in ironic Tweets about it and things like that. So it’s very cool that I actually get to see the show in which one of those things happened, this being the one that was won by Josie Long. A version of Josie Long who would have been quite young, as I know she started stand-up as a teenager and these awards are only open to people who haven't been doing stand-up long (at least, not long enough to have achieved much).

So, here are some thoughts I have while watching:

- Host is Bob Monkhouse, who opens with his famous “They laughed at me when I told them I wanted to be a comedian, well they’re not laughing now” line. Looking very slick in his suit and tie, and comes out with a few slick one-liner jokes, interspersed as he explains the premise of the night. All done in a really professional way, full of humour but little irony.

It’s now a cliché that comedians will come out trying to look cooly causal in jeans and a t-shirt or whatever, I’ve heard people say it’s hard to stand out because “guys in t-shirts noticing things” are a dime a dozen in comedy, including on TV. But in my frenzy last year of reading all that Chocolate Milk Gang stuff, articles and interviews and anything I could find about that certain “new type of comic” emerging in the 00s, it struck me how much this was described as a novelty. That what made those people special was that they were not like their predecessors who wore suits and were slick and professional, they were nerds in t-shirts. Bob Monkhouse’s whole demanour does seem to highlight how much that really was relatively new at the time.

Not completely new, obviously. I think Bob Monkhouse represents the other extreme, not to mention an even older generation than the one that immediately preceded the Chocolate Milk Gang. Obviously not every pre-2000 comedian was Bob Monkhouse. Lots of them wore casual or just different clothes and were offbeat or whatever in their style. The CMG didn’t invent a previously unheard of way to do things, they just really committed to a direction that wasn’t so common back then. Took the type of thing that some people from the original "alternative comedy" thing might have been doing as rebellion, and made it the norm, and now it still is. If someone wants to stand out from the crowd today, they’ll have to dress in a suit and tie like Bob Monkhouse and tell a bunch of one-liners with practised professionalism.

At least, that's what I think. I don't really quite know enough to know what I'm actually talking about, but I'm interested in trying to work out what all those things mean, and seeing the way this is run looks like a pretty clear example of "Oh, that's the exact thing all those Chocolate Milk Gang articles are describing when the say they 'The CMG isn't this, they're different from the previous generations'." It's not just the clothes, either. I haven't seen Lee Mack wear many suits, but he's in that earlier style. It's the one-liner thing, the way that specific comedy style used to be in fashion and isn't as much anymore, but not just that (there are still lots of one-liner comedians too). It's the way that when Lee Mack's hosting something, he's smooth and professional and works a joke into every line. I don't know. I don't really know enough to know what I'm talking about.

- Judges: Richard Wilson (actor who’s familiar to me but I don’t know from where), Rhona Cameron (comedian whom I don’t know much about, which is odd considering that I’m quite familiar with pretty much all the other people in the category called “British lesbian comedian from that generation”), Peter Kay (probably don’t need to say more about him), Meera Syal (person in Goodness Gracious Me), and Patrick Kielty (guy I know a bit for, I don’t know, just being Patrick Kielty, he comes up when I’m clicking through YouTube recommendations of stand-up clips).

- Then there are various established (by 1999) comedians offering advice to younger ones. French and Saunders are mildly amusing about it. That guy named Arthur Smith. Harry Enfield looking unrecognizably young

- Evidence that in the 90s, there were definitely some comedians who weren’t just in a suit and tie all the time:

- Phil Kay looking, again, so young I would not have recognized him without the name at the bottom:

- Baby Ardal O’Hanlon:

- Baby Reeves and Mortimer:

- Second comedian on is a guy from Swansea who does a joke that I swear I’ve heard Rhod Gilbert do, about Terry Wogan and Pudsey the Bear. I’m pretty sure Rhod would have been starting comedy around this general time, so probably would have overlapped with this guy on the Welsh comedy circuit. Okay, who stole the joke from who?

- Three comedians in, all guys I’ve never heard of, but one thing that strikes me is the quality of this show is a fair bit better than the other one I’ve seen, from 1995. All three of these comedians have been decent, I can’t say the same for most of the 1995 finalists. I wonder if it’s a fluke, or if comedy was just getting bigger so fast in the late 90s that the bar for entry into the profession was raised significantly in four years.

- Oh my God! Baby Mel and Sue!!

I'd seen Baby Mel before (she turned up sometimes in French and Saunders things from that era, and I think was in The Vicar of Dibley), but Sue from that age doesn't look as familiar, even though I think she was in those French and Saunders things too. Maybe she wasn't in them as much as Mel was. Anyway... fucking hell. I'm having two separate reactions here. One is my usual reaction of: Oh that's adorable, look at the young versions of the comedians who are now less young and more famous! The other is a slightly less usual reaction of: You know how I sometimes had trouble focusing on Taskmaster season 15 because Mae Martin was so incredibly attractive? Well... that image of Sue Perkins is reminding me that this issue might crop up in season 16 as well.

- “And our next performer was lucky enough to get [words of wisdom] from her mom, who said, ‘Have a go, Jo.’ She’s doing her A-levels in her hometown of Orpington in Kent. Hoping to be top of the class, here she is: Josie Long!”

- I don’t know what I was expecting, I really don’t. I knew Josie Long would be a teenager at this point, since that’s the age she started comedy. I didn’t know what she’d look like as a teenager, but I was curious to see.

...Whatever I was expecting, it wasn't blond hair and a shirt that says "Keep Away From Boys".

Amazing, Josie. Amazing.

- Okay, I’m definitely going to cut that Josie Long video out and stick it in a different post, but for now I will say: That was fucking good. It was very good, for her age. Obviously with a teenage comedian there’s “good” and then “good for their age”, and I think Josie Long was legitimately both. Not, like, as good as she is now or anything. But good enough here to be better than just “good for a teenager”. To be honest, I think better than Kitson’s set from around the same age a few years earlier.

She had jokes. Classic, funny jokes, of the type that people on message boards several years later accused her of not having. She had them at 17! You can see that set was really carefully written and carefully rehearsed, which fits with the image of Josie Long as the overachieving student, would have practised the hell out of that before getting her chance to appear on TV. She also did a bit about drawing a tattoo on her stomach, which she did again in her 2008 Edinburgh show, as an actual adult.

...Surprisingly violently-themed set, overall. A fair bit of gruesome imagery in it. All quite funny, I see why she won. I really enjoyed that.

- Guy after Josie Long makes me think there is a correlation between wearing suits on stage and being all smoothly delivered one-liners. Also possibly a correlation between that and being shit (maybe not all of them are shit, but that guy definitely was).

- “Here’s a Dublin-based children’s book author who loves to hear the sound of laughter and know that he’s the cause. The brilliant David O’Doherty.” Wait, really? By 1999? I knew DO’D has written some children’s books by now, and I knew he did it early in his career. I think he’s said he did his first Edinburgh show in 2000, it went quite badly so the next year he just traveled and did other stuff and I think he wrote a children’s book then, then came back to Edinburgh in 2002 and it went better so he stuck with comedy. But I didn’t know he’s written a kid’s book by 1999.

Also, there may actually be something to be said for professionalism, because Bob Monkhouse pronounced his last name closer to correctly than most people do, I'm pretty sure. Definitely didn't put a C in there, the way a lot of British TV presenters do (I'm still not 100% sure on the exact correct pronunciation, but I know it's not "O-Dock-er-ty").

- Fucking adorable. Look at his little face.

- In case anyone was concerned about the lack of plastic keyboard in that previous screenshot, don’t worry, he has it with him:

He did a song that... I mean, it's probably fine that that song never made it onto any of his albums. And neither did any of the material from that set. Probably fine. There are little flashes of the David O'Doherty I recognize in this video, and a lot of flashes of something else that he was apparently trying to be at the time. He talks about kind of starting over as of Edinburgh 2002 when he worked with people he liked and figured out what he wanted to be and pretty much scrapped the few things he'd tried but disliked until that time... and yeah, that might be for the best. I'm definitely cutting out this video and putting it in a separate post too, though.

- They keep switching to the established comedians giving advice via videos between the finalists’ sets – here’s another new addition to those videos after DO’D’s set:

- Then they have a proper, non-comedy band come out, they’re legitimately very good at music. What the hell? What are they getting proper bands for? Bring back Bill Bailey.

- Then they intersperse shots of the judges talking about each finalist, with a quick clip of that finalist saying something about their own performance. Clearly, they were all just asked backstage to say something into the camera about what they were about to do, and all the others so far have made some kind of joke about the situation. Josie Long, meanwhile, went completely sincere, talking about just trying to get in the right state of mind and enjoy it and not be anxious. She always gives off the energy of the overachieving student, but it’s really coming out here, when she actually was a student.

- When commenting on her performance, almost every judge, including Rhona Cameron, focused their comments on how she was the only woman there, and she broke what you might expect from a woman (didn’t just talk about being a woman or whatever), and there’s a bit of a sense of “well that’s better than I’d expect from a woman”. Except – to his credit, and I wouldn’t have expected to say that – Peter Kay. Doesn’t necessarily mean much, obviously the TV version is just taking a couple of seconds from each judge, maybe it just happened to grab the gender-focused stuff from everyone else and cut Peter Kay off before he said “At least she didn’t bring up her period.” But still, that rather impressed me, that he commented purely on the originality of her surreal style (talking purely about her comedy style shouldn't be impressive, but it was compared to what everyone else said).

Am I hypocritical for complaining that they brought up Josie Long's gender, when I brought up how hot Sue Perkins is earlier in this post? That's a question I briefly asked myself, but the answer is no, because they're judging a comedy competition and I'm writing a Tumblr post.

- Rhona Cameron said she thought David O’Doherty was the best one, which I guess makes sense because he won a different new comedy competition that year with presumably the same material, so I guess something in it was worthy of a win. Though I have to say… she’s wrong. She’s just wrong, Josie was better. David O’Doherty is brilliant, and has been for at least 20 years. But this video proves I’m not sure he’s been brilliant for a full 25 years.

There were flashes of something good in his set, though. He had some creative and original (certainly original for the time, I think) ideas. You could see he could be good. But no, Rhona, he was not the best one.

- After all the deliberation, the judges declare that Colin Ward (the guy who went on after Josie Long, did a bunch of one-liners, and I specifically said he was shit) and David O’Doherty were the two runners up, and they struggled to pick a winner among those two and the winner. They might have been wrong to put Colin Ward up there with those other two, but I'd say history judged him correctly, as he's the only one of the three I haven't heard of.

- Genuinely fucking adorable, Josie Long after they've announced she's won:

She stops to celebrate briefly with DO'D before walking out on stage, also adorable. On both sides.

- Wow. And I thought Julian Barratt was not happy to receive his hug from Boothby Gaffoe when he won his competition in 1995. Josie Long has set a new bar for how much a winner of this competition does not want to have their hug from the host:

“Are they baby comedians, little tiny baby comedians? Oh, I love those little new ones. Little tiny new ones, they’re so sweet. They’re only about that big. You can hold them on your hand like that. Then they get bigger, bigger, bigger, and suddenly they’re Jack Dee!” – Dawn French, at the end

How fucking dare you, Dawn French? Don't you ever compare the likes of Josie Long and David O'Doherty to Jack Dee again. They've just done these impressive performances, they do not deserve to be insulted in this way.

...Okay, I've enjoyed this so much, I want to say more about it, accompanied by video clips of certain parts, but I really have to go to work, so posting this now but will come back with the cut-out clips soon. This was a lot of fun, I'm so glad I got to see it.

[adultswim2021]

Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job #39: “Tennis” | April 13, 2009 - 12:30AM | S04E10

The final 4:3 episode of Awesome Show! This is maybe one of the weaker episodes of the season, which is quite a shame. Shoulda ended the season on Cinco Bros, my men. 

Spagett shills for Cigarette Juice, which features all the nicotine buzz you crave in the form of a canned beverage. It’s also got what appear ot be flecks of tobacco in it. This is one of those bits they do where the gross visuals do the heavy lifting, but I genuinely find this one pretty effective. “GOOD NEWS: CIGARETTE JUICE” is the jingle, and it actually is very catchy. It’s a weirdly believable slogan.

I also like the bit where Spagett is on the phone complaining to a manager or somebody that they refuse to give him a towel after dumping juice all over him. Him being an occasional cigar-user is fun, I love that for him. SPECIAL NOTE: one can hear a snippet of Children of the Sun by Robert Lueben, used memorably in the video of Tim & Eric playing with their pets from Nite Live.

Another sketch features Glen Tennis, making the title of the episode a double entendre. What a treat. I like this one too. Glen Tennis’s movie stars Grum, as seen in the Anniversary episode. He made a computer animated movie about the first Thanksgiving that is only slightly more inaccurate than what American schools teach kids. Grum mistaking the natives for “clowns” is hilarious, and the shot of him menacingly eating maize is very funny/memorable. I also appreciate the bit about the proprietary video system required to view the movie. It’s a good one!

There’s a sketch in here where two divorced-looking men sloppily eat wings and then it becomes a music video where Tim sings a sorrowful song about how he misses his wife. I don’t think this one’s bad, but it just misses the mark for me. A noble effort, I guess. I vaguely remember when press for season three was underway, one of the articles used a photo from this shoot. Tim and Eric episodes are like Guided by Voices albums, where sometimes a song recorded years prior makes its way onto the track listing. I don’t hate it, just don’t like it that much. 

The rest of the episode is dedicated to the wraparound: Tim and Eric are in a million-dollar Tennis match with one another. Tim can’t even serve the ball and loses point after point, so Eric offers to call it off. Tim refuses, and then miraculously starts to pull it out. At the last minute, he fucks up big time. Eric wins, and he’s a poor sportsman. Not only does he gloat about besting his friend, he also smacks him in the head with his racket, twice. 

This wraparound has some funny moments, but it’s kinda unfocused. I dislike them focusing on Tim’s double take when Eric mispronounces his own name. They should know better than to do that, come on. They do that kind of spoon-feeding “what-the?” style humor so infrequently that it sticks out the few times they do indulge. This is one of those times. There’s also a Mel Brooksian gag where they are very obviously replaced by doubles (Are these the Flight of the Concords guys? I think they might be?? They are supposedly in this and I'm guessing that's them).

This episode inexplicably features The Lonely Island boys and Fred Armisen, who just show up to root along at the sidelines of the Tennis court. The episode ends with David Liebe Hart clumsily delivering the line: “My best friend just got hit in the head by his best friend. Don’t you have any FEELINGS for him?”. Now that (a weird guy talking) I like.

MAIL BAG

GREAT stuff about the last Xavier episode we covered:

Ah damnesia vu! I also love this episode, in a lot of ways I kind of consider it the unofficial pilot episode to Off The Air just cause of how much DNA it shares with it. Weird, trippy, sometimes scary clips, all in different styles strung together seamlessly into one thing through video editing, starting on a cold open of some random video that gets bookended at the end of the episode which plays a moving song over the credits. I'm sure I'm describing it horribly but that's the gist of it.

This makes sense to me! I respect it!

I do have a lot of trivia on it, though: they made a page for the contest which was released on the adult swim website, and as part of the contest they released some of the actual 3d models used in the show. It's on archive DOT org if you dig hard enough, having the actual files used in a show always kinda fascinated me, to my knowledge It's the only show I know of that did something like this officially without it being a leak or a 3 second flash file on some animator's website.

I was most curious about what the contest actually looked like on a practical level, but didn't even know how to begin to look for that stuff. I had no memory of the contest at all. I guess I wasn't paying close enough attention.

The first clip, by grant of "3GI", he ended up doing something kinda similar in 2018 with the movie Shrek: "Shrek Retold", a bunch of animators redid different scenes. David Libre Hart & Michael Cusack (2 [AS] people) are in it, It got like 10 million views and a bunch of articles written about it. youtube DOT com/watch?v=pM70TROZQsI

You know, I looked at his page and saw the Shrek Retold thing and didn't even give a thought to click on that stuff. I had no idea that was such a big thing.

You already covered shmorky so I'll just point out he did a few bumpers for Adult Swim (including this famous one youtube DOT com/watch?v=0oBx7Jg4m-o) and link this other video he did, it's one of the most unintentional bits of cringe comedy ever made (that's his real voice btw) youtube DOT com/watch?v=F-4jZzfoEz8

I vaguely knew about the "THIS IS FINE" connection at one point, but I forgot about that. holy moly, dark stuff in that second video. I'm writing this in haste but I can't wait to make myself feel weird by watching that entire thing. THAT VOICE! I NEVER KNEW

The video towards the end where Xavier eats his own fingers was done by Devin Flynn, who created "Y'all so stupid" for superdelxue and did misc. Shorts on Wonder Showzen and Off the Air. I think all the submissions are on the DVD in full (could be wrong about this). I found a reddit post talking about the contest that links to archived versions of the pages & models. (reddit DOT com/r/adultswim/comments/70brc8/xavier_renegade_angel_3d_models_rediscovered/?rdt=40391)

I sorta suspected that was Devin Flynn, hell yeah. I just checked and the DVD actually has submissions that DIDN'T get picked! I should watch them, probably, but I'm not gonna for this blog. I'm going to do it for fun and not tell anyone about it.

One final thing: on your post all the links after the first one link to the ketchup video lmao

I'm not going to check because you're obviously trolling me and they probably all work fine! How dare you.

But, also, thank you for your service, you did a better write-up than I did. YOU FUCKERS SOUND BETTER THAN ME TONIGHT

#adult swim #adultswim2021 #tim and eric awesome show great job

[thompsborn]

Which cast do you picture in the Homeward Bound universe? Id assumed it was tom holland’s peter because harley doesn’t exist in the other spidermen’s movies but I also know you’re a Garfield-Spidey fan and that Harry Osborn and Gwen haven’t been MCU’d—just out of curiosity!!

okay hi this is the first of my current EIGHT unanswered hb asks omg. i'm !!!!! actually shaking with excitement about the fact that i'm about to get to ramble SO MUCH about hb holy shit. okay. okay.

so, obviously harley is based off ty simpkins, but i kind of?? like i mean, yes ty literally plays harley lmao, but also i picture him SLIGHTLY differently in my head. like how he looks in endgame i feel is a different vibe than how ty looks irl. i don't know if that makes any sense at all but i can't explain it, it's just like. he looks like ty but to the left. that's harley in my head. i cannot describe it any other way.

hb peter is 100% tom's peter because homeward bound is 100% canon compliant up to no way home (except for some headcanons such as peter having an uncle ben but uncle ben dying when peter was still really little in order to not fuck with the spidey home trilogy being peter's origin story - there are some other headcanons too that i can't remember off the top of my head, but i tried to make all of them align with mcu as much as possible as to not fuck with canon)

for harry and gwen it's not a spoiler for the most part except for one thing is kinda spoilery but not really? it reveals something about one of their characters that has not been established in the fic yet so just to be safe i'm gonna tag this w the spoiler tag and put it under the cut

okay so i'll start with harry

so there's a lot of variations with harry - sometimes he has brown hair, sometimes reddish hair, usually blue eyes, though i love the idea of him having green eyes because. i mean. duh.

i didn't really think of fan casts for him specifically in hb, i haven't really gone in depth with his appearance in any of the chapters, but @alwaysonlineau made the actor from love, simon, nick robinson, the icon for harry's account and now i kind of can't picture anyone else lmao. nick has hazel eyes which can look greenish at times so i'm here for it. also i loved his acting in jurassic world and in love, simon so i think he could pull off harry pretty damn well.

here's the picture of nick robinson that @alwaysonlineau used that i REALLY love because it definitely has harry energy to me:

also i love that nick was in jurassic world with ty lmao. the ages are off obviously, nick is 28 and literally played ty's older brother in that movie, but for the sake of a fan cast i think nick when he was early 20's looks very Harry Osborn to me. at least he feels very fitting for fanon harry.

if someone were to actually play harry in the mcu i don't know if he'd feel super fitting, i've seen people mention harrison osterfield for mcu harry which i could see. i also looked through a list of harry fan casts and david mazouz looks harry like to me a bit. charlie heaton was also listed which idk if he could pull harry off but looks-wise i could kind of see. asher angel. i know timothee chalamet's name has been tossed around a bunch and i mean i think he could do it but he doesn't look like harry to me lmao. they'd have to make his appearance work for it.

maybe charlie rowe, who i also saw listed as a fan cast. asa butterfield was on that list as well and i could see the mcu going that route too. but in homeward bound, i pretty much just envision nick.

as for gwen stacy!

so, i thought this before @alwaysonlineau came back, and i know i'm not the only one because i've seen quite a few posts on here and other sites saying the same thing, especially after across the spider-verse came out and gwen had the trans flag and coloring and such, but i really think that hunter schafer would be an INCREDIBLE gwen.

it hasn't been mentioned in the fic yet (mostly because i didn't think of this until i was already like halfway through the fic and then i didn't officially decide on it until across the spider-verse came out) but gwen is trans in homeward bound. it's gonna be made explicitly clear as soon as i can figure out a fitting reason for why it wouldn't have been mentioned so far - it feels as though, since the fic is peter's pov and he's never mentioned it, it should be that gwen hasn't told him so he doesn't know, which means finding out is going to have to be a thing. not like a huge thing but it's going to have to become a scene of some kind that establishes the fact that she's trans and then also addresses why she didn't tell him/any of them.

i haven't decided on how yet - it might be a super casual thing where she just never thought to mention it because it's just a part of who she is and she doesn't feel the need to tell people because she doesn't think it really matters (and also hunter schafer has stated that she passes as a cis woman i remember seeing an interview after euphoria season one where she was talking about it and how like yeah it's great to have trans inclusion and representation in euphoria but also she knows that she's white and passing and that's probably a big part of why she got the role, which basically i'm mentioning because if hunter were to play gwen then gwen would also be able to pass very easily as a cis woman as well). i might make it a bigger thing, like maybe she experienced something (some kind of transphobia) in the past that made her very wary about telling people and then by the time she wanted to tell them it had been a long time so she didn't know how, etc. etc. etc.

i'm queer but like i'm a cis lesbian not trans or nonbinary or anything, i do have multiple trans friends and i've seen a lot of posts and art and such about different lives and experiences trans people have had but i'm still cis, so if anyone who isn't cis has any input on what they'd like to see, please let me know. i don't want to approach the topic with a lack of sensitivity and i want to have trans rep in hb but if people want it to be a casual thing then that's what i'll do, if people want there to be more to her backstory then i'll do that instead.

but yeah, basically i can REALLY picture hunter as gwen, like some of her acting in euphoria i feel has some potential gwen energy to it (specific scenes, some displays of emotion that i could see gwen having, etc) but also this picture of hunter feels VERY gwen to me:

also also, obviously zendaya is rue in euphoria so her and hunter are friends and have great chemistry together and as a gwemj lover that means a lot to me pdfjg

another possibility i could see is emma meyers, aka enid from wednesday. i think she's a great acctress and could encompass gwen's energy pretty well too, but my first pick would be hunter!

long answer short:

in homeward bound, i picture harry to look like nick robinson and i picture gwen to look like hunter schafer.

#homeward bound fic #homeward bound fic spoilers

[coronerandundersheriff]

A new chapter of "Afterlife"

Changes have advantages AND disadvantages…

"Greetings and all my love, Dorian. See you then."

David ended the call and grinned over at Cassandra and Chris, who were also smiling.

It was a beautiful, mild Sunday morning and up here in the penthouse it was quiet and comfortable. 

"I hope you don't mind too much, but my cousin is visiting soon and may be staying a few days." Trevelyan opined, taking a sip of orange juice. 

"Always the man speaks in riddles, Chris. I'm telling you, he's a walking mystery... hahahaha" The pretty woman giggled and winked. 

"You do have some relatives around the globe, most of whom we only know by hearsay. Do we get to know the name too?" Cassandra asked, amused. 

David loved to see her laugh. His beloved friend was doing so much better, and the nightly sleeping problem with cuddly bear Chris had also been wonderfully solved, as no one was disturbed by their nightly arrangement in David's bedroom. 

Although he had told his therapist he wanted to ask Cassandra to marry him as soon as possible, David had not yet found the courage. But perhaps now was the time!

Eric Trevelyan was a quiet but active man. He had founded a small company. They helped people to help themselves. Eric was mostly on the road and you didn't really know where his actual residence was, because he was just often everywhere and nowhere. So he had announced on short notice that he would like to stop by while he was passing through. 

David was happy, he had not seen his cousin for ages. If he thought about it correctly... yes, the last time was at his mother's funeral....

His cousin was a little younger than himself, about Cassandra's age, so they would definitely get along great, they had met briefly back then, though the occasion wasn't the nicest. 

Cassandra smelled so good this morning. 

She was a beautiful and lovely person, she was smart, fair, romantic, well-read, a swell mom, a top cop... and of course a woman.

David wondered if he should just "give her a try"? Would she even want to sleep with him? If not, the second question would probably be answered as well... or maybe not... David would marry her anyway, even if he didn't get intimate with her. 

It was hard, so damn hard. They had been close friends for so many years, she had always accepted him for who he was: moody, gay, secretive, drunk... he always remained her buddy David. But still, they had never talked about sex. He'd never asked about Chris' father, and she'd never asked about all the guys he'd slept with. And Dorian? They talked about him often, but their secret love affair was never an issue. David never brought it up again and Cassandra didn't ask.

So, should he ask her to marry him first or to have sex with him? 

David chuckled out of embarrassment and shook his head. 

"A million dollars, which of course I don't have, for your thoughts, Trevelyan. Hehehe..." Grinned Pentaghast. 

David blushed, "Better not, pahaha!"

"Men! You can't with them and you can't without them! Haha...!" 

Cassandra was such a trooper. David loved her more than anything. But would that be enough? Would that be enough for her? Would that be enough for HIM? Sleeping next to her and Chris didn't bother him. But sometimes there was a feeling, a desire... he didn't want to think about it. 

And how might Cassandra feel about it?

"Cass, darling? What is your type of man, anyway? I know I asked you that question eons ago and we found out then, we have the same tastes...I know I know...but...preferences change sometimes. Life shapes you, doesn't it?" David burst out. He didn't know how he felt about bringing up such a topic at breakfast.

Cassandra looked openly into his purple-blue eyes and studied him for quite a while without answering. 

Uh-oh!

Chris squealed happily in his chair and ate his cereal. Cassandra was still gazing silently into Trevelyan's face. 

Suddenly she broke the silence, "Hmm... good question, indeed! Men. Me and men. Tall, short, blonde, brunette, stupid, smart, thin, fat..." Cassandra started to laugh. 

"I'm serious, Cass." David asked meekly. 

"I haven't been in love much in my life. But when I have been, it hasn't worked out every time. That's all I'll say about that."

Trevelyan nodded in agreement but remained silent. He understood that it was as difficult for her to talk about this subject as it was for him. 

So it would remain difficult to ask her to marry him....

▪︎▪︎▪︎

"Super cool to see you again Cassandra. David told me a lot of information about you. I guess I know more than you'd like, a bummer to have a cop for a buddy?! Hahaha, I'm just kidding." 

Eric had shown up after breakfast, or rather, it was just before noon. He had just come from Thailand and had umpteen bags with him, but everything was quickly stowed in the guest room.

David was cooking so he let Cass, Chris and Eric have fun together. With one ear he listened to the conversation.

"I know a few things about you too, don't forget I'm a deputy as well and of course I am a mom - Exhibit A is sitting over there in the corner, playing!" Triumphantly,  Cassandra looked proudly in her son's direction. 

"Kids are wonderful. I haven't managed to settle down enough to procreate. Women don't go for globetrotters. Maybe it's the Trevelyan gene though? Hahaha..." 

Eric laughed heartily, then glanced briefly over at his cousin at the stove.

"I see. And I guess it's true, you Trevelyan's are tough nuts. You're hard to get a hold of. Pretty but nimble as fish in water, but whoever catches you won't let you go again! Hihihihi!" Pentaghast's voice was like velvet, heavy and soft at the same time. 

Had David heard correctly? "...pretty" and "...won't let go"???

Oh well, Cassandra was surely in a good mood and just charming as ever!

"Oh thank you! Nobody has called me pretty for a long time. I can only return that compliment!" 

Eric was such a charmer!

David had to grin. He was so glad that Cassandra and Eric hit it off right away. It was so darn good to have people around. To see smiling, friendly faces. 

David couldn't help but think of Dorian and how they still kept in touch. Dorian had a few days off and had gone to a ski lodge with colleagues and as always, the first or last calls applied to him. David knew their friendship would last for the rest of their lives. What more does a person need?

Had David possibly finally come to terms with it, or was he about to accept that Dorian would never return? 

David had given Dorian a small package as a farewell present, with the request to open it only if he definitely wanted to come back. Dorian apparently had not opened it, or rather, had never felt the urge to return to him. Which answered quite a lot of questions and dashed hopes. It had been ages since they had seen each other, Dorian had been so busy with his PhD and this project. But he had done it, he had his title, a solid secure place where he could thrive and grow, he had decoded the human genome with his team, he had accomplished just about all of life's goals. What did he need now Texas and the old noses from his past? 

Dorian had told David there was a young doctor on the team, a real bright guy, charming and good-looking. Dorian didn't sound enamored, but intrigued when he spoke of this colleague. David always listened silently and revelling when Dorian told.

Suddenly David shook, somehow his chest tightened. 

Blood rushed to his head, rushing in his ears.

Wait a minute wait a minute!!!

What did he really want now?

David wanted to be happy in life, his best years were spent with.... 

David wanted to start a family and he had already proposed to one person, namely....

David wanted to live lustfully again and become sensual, he dreamed almost daily of...

Like a flash of lightning, it hissed behind his eyes.

He dropped the wooden spoon and then everything went black....

(OC Eric Trevelyan by @pookydraws )

#dragon age inquisition #modern au #afterlife #triad #cassandra pentaghast #chris pentaghast #eric trevelyan #dorian pavus #david trevelyan #pavelyan #my writings #pookydraws

[tokiro07]

Cipher Academy ch.41 thoughts

[You Have Chosen...Wisely]

Danny, you're doing...what I believe and hope to be a good job for the most part, but dude, what the hell? Is Yonakiuguisu's sister's name "Invicious" or "Amvicious"? As far as I can find, you don't have a twitter like David Evelyn, which would be really helpful for putting out statements to acknowledge things like that

God, this really is Medaka Box all over again...I still see people calling the nurse Aoiki instead of Aoki!

Last week, I didn't make any definitive statement on which choice that Iroha would make, but I did suggest that if he chose the dancer over his friend, he'd do it because that's what the friend would do. I was close, but not quite right: he chose the dancer because he wouldn't be able to face his friend if he'd abandoned someone else, and only wants to see his friend after achieving his dream of ending all wars

This is pretty typical shonen stuff, and definitely a Nisio move (see: Hitoyoshi not marrying Medaka for ten years until he proved he was her equal), but man it's a narrative choice that I eat up. That sort of conviction is always something that makes characters easy to get invested in since it gives more weight to their goals, and it provides a lot of opportunity for drama, like the two of them having a chance reunion before that time or otherwise being forced together at a low point for Iroha

It also helps recontextualize Iroha's original statement that he wants to end all wars. Originally, I thought it was something he just said to appease Oboro, or maybe that he was inspired by Kogoe, but now I'm thinking that Am/Invicious is actually the one who inspired him. What she said or did doesn't really matter right now, but whatever it was, I think that's what's shaped all of Iroha's actions up to this point. Protecting Kogoe, choosing not to use the Glasses Weapon, picking Kasuri during the Casse-Tete Quartet, all of that could well be an attempt to emulate [X]vicious, and our meeting her will make many of the pieces of Iroha's character fall into place (the rest of course will be put in place by meeting his dad)

Also, she's definitely First Girl. The Childhood Friend. The gold standard by which all other girls in the Cipher Acadaharem will be judged. Or they're too close for that to even be an option, who knows, but I'm willing to bet that at least Anonymity or Kasuri are gonna get competitive

Speaking of Anonymity, I'm sad to see that she's not in the starting lineup, but she's gotten so much shine lately that I can't complain. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, after all, so it's going to be fun to see her return, especially since I'm more than willing to bet that it'll be as a member of Class F's team to capitalize on that plot point

I also love that Hanagoromo is the one to join from Class E; she's easily been the one from that class with the most presence, both in that she's reappeared a number of times (seen when Iroha recruited Yugata to the Trilemma and during the Trilemma itself), AND was hiding during every major story beat prior to her introduction. Her gimmick is super fun, her sniper imagery is inventive, and gosh darnit, she's just really pretty. I think she's my 4th cutest (Anonymity, Yosaimura, Yugata), but that's subject to change

I enjoyed Oboro's deference to Kasuri before joining the team too, it's a nice little callback to their shared introductory story. That's all I really have to say on the subject for now, but I might revisit it later

It looks like we're going to be entering the metaverse next week, but honestly I won't be surprised if Nisio finds a way to stall for a few more chapters. We're so close to the 1-year anniversary, and that seems like a milestone he'd want to time a little better. Either he's going to stall, or he's going to use the anniversary for something specific within the metaverse. Since we don't know yet what the metaverse is going to be like, I can't really hazard a guess on how it will alter the dynamic of the story, but it really does feel a lot like how it felt waiting to get to the Grand Line in One Piece. It's only the starting line, but it feels like a huge payoff in and of itself

#cipher academy #fouryearsandananime #4y1a reviews

[alltimefail-sims]

random question but erwin gives Lana stan vibes and same lolz but then i wondered what music your characters from strangerville story all listen to?

First off I am so happy to answer this question for you!! Thank you for asking! I love love love music and love this question!

That being said, before I begin I want you to know that I'm so sorry to burst a personal headcanon you've made about my version of Erwin Pries...but he has probably never heard a Lana Del Rey song in his entire life lmfao (I'm assuming that's who you're talking about). But Erwin is an EA premade, so if your Erwin is a Lana Del Rey stan I love that for you and that's valid!!! My Erwin just isn't haha (but his sister Maggie would like her music!) Anyway!!!

Very long response below the cut! ↓

Erwin mostly listens to older music: he loves music from the 60s, 70s, and 80s and listens to everything on vinyl or cassette (he is very passionate about the preservation of physical media, he is the Paranoid ass king after all). His favorites are Fleetwood Mac, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Queen, David Bowie, Abba, Neil Diamond, Jim Croce, Billy Joel, John Denver, James Taylor, Elton John, The Mamas and Papas, Johnny Cash, and so on. He also has a not-so-secret love for musicals and claims that the Jesus Christ Superstar soundtrack is one of the best pieces of composition to ever exist (he also likes Godspell, Rent, Xanadu, and many more) Get him drunk enough and he will talk about how Mamma Mia is "Literally a transcendent work of art with whimsy and heartbreak and joy and a tender ass storyline at the heart that quite literally fucks so hard. Fucking Meryl Streep. Fuck!" Direct quote. That man hardly listens to anything post-1990, with the exception of "Queen Florence Welch" (Florence and the Machine).

Zoe appreciates all kinds of music, but has a deep love for the soul music that she heard around the house growing up. She likes music with feeling and depth, and the lyrics are most important to her but if the song isn't deep, it better have a good beat that she can dance to! Her personal favorite artists include Otis Reading, Stevie Wonder, Sam Cooke, Dionne Warwick, Beyoncé, Alicia Keys, Rhianna, Lauryn Hill, The Temptations, Roberta Flack, Janelle Monáe, Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, and so on!

Beckett's looks deceive him because he loves pop music. He is listening to the current hits, think Billboard 100s exclusively lol. He might have listened to a few rock or rap songs to get "pumped up" back in his football days, but for the most part he is always listening to pop - he even likes boybands, but won't willingly admit that lmao. He's a Swiftie through and through, and he will fight for her honor on any Twitter thread or in-person discussion. He also has a love for 90s and early 2000s country artists like Shania Twain, Alison Krauss, Lee Ann Womack, and The Dixie Chicks (now The Chicks) because of cleanin' and cookin' Sundays with his momma <3

Junia doesn't care about music that much! She doesn't have any favorite artists, she's never even bought a CD and probably couldn't tell you 5 bands or artists off the top of her head. She's one of those people who will listen to anything that "has a good beat" while she's working out, and it doesn't even have to have words. She's listening to music more for background noise as opposed to being passionate about it or seeking it out.

Anwar listens to alternative music mostly! Bands like the 1975, The Strokes, Paramore, The Clash, Fall Out Boy, Arctic Monkeys, The Black Keys, The Neighborhood, and so on. He definitely went through a pop-punk, Hot Topic, combo of emo and scene phase in his teen years in the 2000s. (Iykyk, if you don't... look it up lmao. It was a time to be alive.) If they could play at Warped Tour, he listens to them lmao. But he's cool with most pop or radio music, he's not like a music snob or anything.

Tashia listens to pretty much everything, but she also loves metal music. Idk if you've seen the Pixar/Disney movie "Monster's University" but there's a scene in there where the mom of one of the main characters drops them off at Monsters Inc. and she's like "I'll just be listening to my tunes until you get back" in like the sweetest voice and then as she's rolling up the windows you can hear metal music blasting through the speakers and she's just like... calmly vibing like she's listening to elevator music or smooth jazz lmfao. It's very funny. That's how I imagine Tashia's music taste to be and it concerns everyone around her <3

#Started with Erwin because that was who made you think of this question <3 #Thank you for this ask!! Sorry I rambled I looooove talking about their music taste haha #I am something of a music lover myself #strangerville outtakes #erwin pries #zoe tate #beckett roswell #junia cahill #anwar nabih #tashia moore #my ocs #atfs ask #anon #gif warning

[zeenimf]

Music tags!

I got a couple music related tags the past few days so I thought I'd combine them all into this post! First we're combining the 10 song ask from @vcaudley with the soundtrack tag from @ink-flavored intooo 10 soundtrack songs! I already have made three soundtracks before, as well as for all my other wips so I'll be mostly picking from there. I'll keep this limited to Phei of the Wind because that's the project I'm trying to finish right now. It's getting pretty long AND there's a second tag game below the cut so that's why I've added that cut. I've also added some lyrics from each ! If they have lyrics that is, and translated the non-english ones. I hope you find some new music to love <3

Tin Can Ride - Gregory and the Hawk

This list will feature a lot of songs about people being out of place and I feel like this song slots in nicely. It's soft yet hides a certain sorrow behind that sweet demeanor. If it weren't so nigh, time you'd be screaming out If it weren't your kid, you would give into doubt But these days you're trying to quit, like those smiles that he fooled you with

Lost - scntfc

This one is from the soundtrack to the game Oxenfree, where a character hears this play. It's the sound of their mother, singing them to bed as they search for them. Phei features a similar journey where she searches for her mother she knows to be gone, but she can't help but try. Regardless, just listening to it makes me cry too so...

Surely Someday - Fukuharu Miho

I think this song is just hauntingly beautiful, both the lyrics and the way it's presented. It's once again, about meeting someone out of reach. Seeing a pattern here?

Faults I deemed correct it was you who made me realise that what is right can shine through too

ekki hugsa - Ólafur Arnalds

The title translates to 'don't think' and that's a lesson I've taken so much from. It's not specifically related to the novel (although perhaps it is), but it is mostly how it taught me to just go for it. Don't think too much about what could happen, what others may think and so forth. Just write from the heart and all will be well.

We'll be Gone - Douwe Bow

Another one of my favourites. Shit I'm getting emotional just writing about them. ANYWAY. The harmonies combined with the lyrics are just breathtaking. I won't go into too much detail as to why it fits so well, you'll figure that one out eventually when you read it~!

Say goodbye little darling to the darkness When we go we can leave the light on 'Cause tonight, the night will be harmless And tomorrow when they find us we'll be gone

jikan ga nai - Kirinji

This one slots in nicely next to ekki hugsa. It's a song about how life is too short to limit yourself to anything. Even though scalians live quite long lives, and Phei is the youngest of them all she has to live for herself. Luckily cloudbreak provides exactly that opportunity.

It look like I've lost sight of the important things Let me tell you about everything I've seen

Starman - David Bowie

There isn't much difference between an alien holding secrets of the cosmos and a little bird whose people have been forgotten is there? Also everyone needs more David Bowie in their lives.

There's a starman waiting in the sky He'd like to come and meet us But he think he'll blow ours minds

King and Lionheart - Of Monsters and Men

If you haven't heard the arrangment they made for their concert at Vatnagarðar you have to stop what you're doing and listen. It's just magical. Songs like this (and also Starman and We'll be Gone) are songs that made me pick up the guitar as an instrument so they'll always be special to me. The lyrics match really quite well to the state of the world in Phei of the Wind. Lots of ghosts that have been haunting under the ocean and coming up.

Howling ghosts, they reappear In mountains that are stacked with fear But you're a king and I'm a lionheart And as the world comes to an end I'll be here to hold your hand 'Cause you're my king and I'm your lionheart

Árbakkinn - Ólafur Arnalds and Einar Georg Einarsson

Two Ólafur songs on my posts? Who would have thought. The poem read at the beginning is written by a very kind man who lived in same town as I did when I lived in Iceland, and is an ode to a nearby creek. The way the piece builds up is magnificent, and the way it links nature to the human heart is quite central to the meaning of it all in Phei of the Wind.

From ancient fire Sound from the ground I hear the noise In my heart

inochi no namae - Hisaishi Jō

To finish it off I'd like to add Hirohashi Makiko's arrangment of the song from Miyazaki's Spirited Away. If there is one piano composition that catches the bright and light yet slightly melancholic sense of Phei of the Wind, this is it. Perfection, really.

And then as promised, the other tag game from @jasperygrace to link one piece to every main character! Luckily the story only really has three, so the post won't get too much longer. Picking just one was hard but I'm happy with my choices ^^

Phei Sageblossom Voyager - Birdy

If the wind is on my side I might leave tonight I hate to disappoint you, but I've always been this way And I know you need me here, but I know that I won't stay

Aspen Oceaan - Racoon

An ocean to flee into Never having to be jealous Love to clear your heart An ocean, how great would it be

Noahk a life - Ōnuki Taeko & Sakamoto Ryūichi

Let's only protect the things I don't want to let go.

And that was all! If you've made it this far you have my heart <33 And please do one of these tags yourself! I'd love to talk about the music related to your projects either through a mention or a dm, so please tag me if you do!!