#and in that way he IS the everyman~! or the closest to it | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

disruptivevoib · 2 months

Note

I fell asleep immediately after I asked you about Vis, but if you’re ever still in the mood…

Pleasspleasepleaseplease talk about Ennui I’d love to hear about him- I’m very (not) normal about your guys /pos

-🛩️

Ennui is DOOMED BY THE NARRATIVE. He's the Mind as the Heart and though he doesn't know it, its why he has such a deep struggle and disconnection with his emotions. They cause him more pain than he considers it worth.

Ramble under the cut!

But. I guess before that notion, Ennui is someone who is stubborn, a bit petty and initially very argumentative. Something as their loop comes to an end, phases out of him in respect for Viscera's dislike of conflict over communication.

Ennui does try to stab Judge occasionally. Judge is physically far stronger though and thusly makes it a point to usually turn that back on Ennui.

Ennui is very creative though. He has an affinity for organized charts, the piano and acrylic painting. However the emotions that come with being Heart are overwhelming and uncomfortable to him. He thinks of himself as fairly useless for a set of emotions if he cannot control them.

Which comes to his...allegory for self sabotage and ultimately, harm. In a way. In which Ennui tears or cuts off the strings of emotion that come from his source, which is the little jaggedly shaped blue heart he has.

Like any Mind, his reasoning and his motives are... All he is going to listen to. So, if to fix this malfunction of his ability to control himself he has to render his emotions useless, he will do that.

And typically, even after he is finished fighting with Judge, he continues this behavior. Its a high point of tension between them because Judge and Viscera both explain to him in numerous ways that this is not an answer, and that they can help him learn to manage the overwhelming feed.

Ennui never listens. And thus his name meaning dissatisfaction is only ever apt. He is insatiably searching for a fix on his own. Independently. And it is worse for him because Mind, Judge, does not do this. Ofc Judge has his own issues. Mainly anger and social avoidance or communicative avoidance but. He isn't so flawed that he has to do this. Ennui is envious of that, deeply.

Eventually, he tears away at himself so much there is nothing left. Typically a loop can end before it gets to that point but occasionally, and especially should Astray choose to remember, he becomes desperately apathetic and numb. Only then, is he actually scared or capable of accepting his mistakes or faults. Only after he has fundamentally screwed himself over. And hurt his Soul and Mind in the process. Their overall well being.

Which pushes him to keep what little emotion he has left over. His source stutters in its stunted state, always longing to be what it was and more than it can be now. It makes him try more, and though he doesn't believe he'll ever be or do enough to make up for it, Ennui persists on.

Of course.. this. Need to make it up to them comes from his envy of Judge and respect for Viscera. He's failed himself and the parts of himself that tried to help every step of the way.

Neither of them is cruel or unkind. Judge is harsh, and has certainly fed into certain beliefs Ennui has, but he still considers Ennui his closest friends. And furthermore is proud of him for continuing to try and coming out the otherside..not unscathed, but as alright as he could've been.

Vis and Judge both hold their own guilt over the inability to ever prevent Ennui's behavior. Viscera more so in the fact that despite remembering every loop, nothing has ever worked to stop Ennui. But he cherishes his Heart for who he still is. Which is very driven and very charismatic too.

Ennui post everything is far more easy going. He tries to be a bit of an everyman and is.. very good at making friends with pretty lonely or stand-offish folks like himself. More so in the chatroom rp. But, suppose he does run the day to day life for them too. Vis and Judge are a bit too, guess, invested in being in their own head to do that? More invested in the Psyche ig. Mental maintenance.

#voidthoughts #asks #swap au #ennui swap au #judge swap au #viscera swap au #:)#theres an alternative version of them where Vis hops universes for a second and when he comes back they've all swapped back #and.. ennui there is.#entirely void of anything.#sort of..#renamed himself ego though so the loathing is clearly still in there.

15 notes · View notes

sobeautifullyobsessed · 9 months

Text

When in doubt, go back to the source material; it's Tolkien for heaven's sake He wasn't focused on shipping the Fellowship. He was channeling his experiences during World War I into an epic tale of the battle between Good and Evil--while showing how an EveryMan (in fact, multiple EveryMans) played pivitol roles in victory. As Galadriel assured Frodo:

Even the smallest person can change the course of the future.

In LotR, Tolkien was reminding Readers that home and hearth, family and farm and village, are worth the terrible price that many throughout human history have had to pay to protect them.

And in Frodo's ending, he was showing us that such struggles may change us forever, but they must be fought for the sake of those we love. Tolkien lost two of his closest friends in WW I, and he and a third friend were forever changed, forever scarred in that way. Sometimes, the posts I see here seem to have lost sight of the actual story the Author was telling.

#The Lord of the Rings #JRR Tolkien #World War I #WW I #LotR #TLofR #Lord of the Rings #ship and let ship #of course!#but please remember that Tolkien was writing something so.much.more. than that #I can't help it; some days it bothers me how so much on this website is reduced to shipping

39 notes · View notes

artist-issues · 1 year

Text

I think ZR id very carefully written so that you can borderline ship Sam with Runner 5 OR simply let Sam be like a brother to Five. Listening to most of the story beats, it could really go either way. They do it really strategically. Sam lost both his girlfriend AND his sibling early on in the apocalypse, so Five can replace either depending on the player's preference.

HOWEVER

It is so interesting to go back and listen to A Voice in the Dark from s1.

Because I think you can argue that however Sam and Five are bonded, it happens in that Mission.

Sam is forever the character in the zombie apocalypse who still finds joy in the little things, and holds out hope even when everybody else gives up. But in A Voice in the Dark, when it looks like Five is gone, he has that whole super depressing voice clip where he says, "nobody stays sane through all this, Five," and goes on to muse about how "maybe next time I see you, I'll have to shoot you in the head."

And he's literally about to walk out and give up on Five making it back, and FIGURATIVELY about to turn a corner into being a less hopeful character. You get the sense that after seeing Alice zombified and killed recently, and after losing "another good runner," and spending the whole dark night alone thinking about how he lost his family, Sam Yao is about to drop the hopefulness and turn more cynical.

But then Five makes it back!

And he's back to being normal, ever-hopeful, ever-funny, sunshiny and caring radio operator. Whereas he COULD have turned out more like any other cynical survivor in the series.

So basically what I'm saying is, it's really well written, because not only can Five fill the shoes of the people closest to Sam whom he's lost, but Five can also represent the indestructible hope Sam always has. And in turn, while Five is out there running around facing impossible odds, there's always someone representing the everyman, the innocent and worthwhile, on the other end of the comms like an anchor.

In conclusion an exercise app has no right to be written as well as this one is 🤷‍♀️

#Zombies Run!#ZR #Zombies #run #sixtostart #sam Yao #runner five #5am #Sam #Five #ZRs1 #Season 1 #A Voice in the Dark

73 notes · View notes

ri47 · 10 months

Text

design sketch for Administrator Biltruf

While none on the Seneschal board can be considered truly gentle by the standards of an everyman, Tyrus is perhaps the closest example available. Even so, there is only so much blood one's heart can bleed while rising to the rank of a first-degree Seneschal.

As the sole scion of the Biltruf family, he was raised strictly. Although he loathed his father for the way he was treated, he found himself begrudgingly grateful for it. At the age of twelve, Tyrus' father passed, and so he received a seat on the board, complete with the full responsibilities of being administrator to the Biltruf Group.

While he never brought them to head, It was strongly suspected that Tyrus carried sympathies for reformists within the KHU. If one put stock in more uncharitable rumours, connections could be inferred between the Tyrus-headed Biltruf Group and several insurgent sects that participated directly in the Endless Night Uprisings.

But those were just rumours. In his capacity as the Biltruf Group's administrator, he showed an unwavering dedication to the task at hand, regardless of what (or who) might be at stake. To his business partners among the other Seneschals, there could be no doubt that his path to the top had been paved with the bones of acceptable sacrifices.

Hardened as his resolve might have been — learned to the cruelties of the world as he was — Tyrus could never bring himself to let go of the dream of a better world. A kinder one, where the ends would never again have to justify such means.

In his later years, he was plagued by the inescapable suspicion that he'd held on too tightly, strangling that dream once and for all.

#VesalBlood #art #design #Diesem Fernen Traum

20 notes · View notes

pancake-breakfast · 11 months

Text

I've been neglecting Tumblr as a whole this weekend as I burn through costume-making, but I think I can keep up with Trigun Book Club!

Archive

Trigun Volume 1: Covers + 1-3, 3 Detailed Thoughts, 4, 4 DT, 5-6, 5-6 + DT, 6 DT, 7-8, 9-10

Trigun Volume 2: Covers + Extras, 1, 1 Supplemental Research, 2-4

Stream-of-consciousness thoughts for Trigun Vol. 2, Chapters 5-6 below.

Chapter 5: Murder Café

CW: Sexual assault, human trafficking

This title sounds like a place I'd either really want to eat at or never want to eat at.

It's interesting to see what they did and didn't keep of the city design in Stampede.

Even yandere emo boys have to eat sometimes.

The heck? Is this woman barefoot?? Why would anyone be barefoot out there??? Oh. Oh, shit. Are we gonna get into that aspect of the story already???

Yyyyup. Well, dang. These men chose the wrong bar to stumble into. I know a few things about yandere emo boys and there's a thing or two they're a bit sensitive about....

If your SO ever, EVER slaps you to the floor while screaming at you for looking at someone else, even if it's not in public, get help and get out of there. I realize these guys aren't these women's significant anything, but that's not the point. Or maybe it is. They are the kind of people who would treat another human being this way. They are not people who love these women.

Dude. This shit is blaming Legato for being too pretty and making these women feel bad that they'll never have a handsome man like him while bragging about assaulting them in the same breath. WTH???

Everyone else in the bar wants to take these guys down, but they're big and powerful and intimidating, making it pretty impossible for the average person.

Ok, but this panel of chibi Legato just... chewing away. At this rate I'm gonna add him to my collection. And then shove him in a box and throw him in the bottom of the sea.

I wonder if this guy meant to hit Legato's fork or if it was just a lucky shot. Also, what kind of grip does this man have that he was able to keep ahold of his fork while it was shot in two?!?!

Huh, he was going to let them go about their business, confident they'd get theirs. But they done overstepped now.

He says it like a command, as if they have any control over the matter once he's in play.

Nice and traumatic for all involved. Good... good....

I'm impressed these guys are standing their ground after that display. We're gonna assume they're so scared that whatever sense they had has left their stupid heads.

Current favorite angry Legato face:

Just in case being kidnapped and raped by slavers wasn't already the most traumatic thing to happen to these women....

Honestly, it's good and important to see this bit of humanity from Legato, even if it makes for a much more muddy morality in the story overall. Maybe particularly because it makes for a much more muddy morality overall.

Dude, for his arm to be at this angle, he's gotta have CLAMP-in-their-Tsubasa-Chronicle-xxxHolic-era proportions.

I wonder how Vash would have handled this situation had he been there instead. Surely Vash isn't unaware that this sort of stuff happens in this world....

Chapter 6: A Gathering of Demons

CW: Human trafficking

So much sand....

I love how, in this story, our primary windows into the world are Milly and Meryl. Like, they're characters in their own right, but they're also the closest thing we have to an Everyman through which we interact with the story.

Yeah, Vash is probably on hyper-alert for now because of the Gung-Ho Guns. Constantly concerned about the safety of everyone around him.

That reminds me, I should retrieve my tea from the kitchen. (It's jasmine, if you're curious.)

GoshDARNIT, Legato! You're not supposed to be flattered and happy when people announce they're gonna hunt you!

He's just a silly, happy boy.

Heh. Foreshadowing.

YUS YUS YUS MY BOI WOLFWOOD IS HEEEEEEERE!!!

Soooo many things I could say here and I will say none of them. Instead, let's all just appreciate how much the bus driver here looks like a hippie straight from 1960's Berkeley.

I'm impressed they managed to get that thing on the roof of the van.

LOL, Wolfwood's response to people calling him out for being a frumpy, shady guy....

Awww, cute Vash face!

I love everything about their meeting here.

It's interesting that WW quickly notes how much Vash fits the description on his posters when Monev was quick to say Vash looked nothing like the description of him.

I do like the introduction '98 gave them, though, with Vash inventing a crazy name for himself and then Milly casually dropping the whole "Vash the Stampede" bit.

Vash looks very unsure of WW here. Resigned, but unsure.

The slavers are gonna try to do what to whom? Hahahahahahaha GL

Speak of the devil....

Who the hell is he talking to??

Yeah, this wasn't gonna end well for them....

THE PORTABLE CONFESSIONAL!!! Gods, I hope this thing shows up in Stampede. It's the dumbest thing, but it's also beautiful. Especially the way WW just SHOVES it on people's heads.

WW's introduction is great. Is he a genuine sweetheart or is he a conman? Both??

WW can't not melt at kids, can he?

Dude, they've been hanging out for... what, a few hours? And already WW is reading Vash like a book.

This pose looks... uncomfortable.

Hahahahahaha, he's stuck in it.

Gods, that's a freaking MOUNTAIN of bodies. He should compare it with the one Erwin Smith has.

Ok, I kind of love how Legato handles these guys. He's like, "Oh, so you want to make a profit selling people? How about I kill half of you so you can make a profit off the organs of people you might actually give a shit about? Get fucked, scumbag."

Oh. THAT'S where the chapter title comes from. Hi, everyone!

#gonna make two posts due to length today #trigunbookclub #trigun manga #volume 2 #pancake analysis

13 notes · View notes

aeterna-auroral-avenger · 1 year

Note

Okay, so I'm very new to this blog and don't know your story about Ant-Man. AKA, how did you "find him" (ex: by following MCU movies or randomly hearing the movie from somewhere else)? What made you like him so much? Why is he important to you? Do you relate in many ways? Tell me everything. (That sounds so pushy lmao but I really am curious!)

😂 You’re fine, Anon. You’re fine I promise. First of all, welcome to my mess of a blog! Glad you’re here. I think you’re actually the first person in a long time if not ever to ask me these questions, but I’m very happy to share.

So I’ve been a big fan of Marvel ever since the first Iron Man came out. Once I watched that one, well I was hooked. Little did I know just how vast the MCU would become and how deeply involved I would be over time.

But honestly, Ant-Man slipped under my radar until I went to watch Civil War in theaters. Scott Lang made his debut into my life, and I was like *points at screen* “That’s Paul Rudd since when was he in the MCU?” I mean, I’m a fan of his, but not enough to follow everything he’s in. I watched the fight scene and watched what Scott could do. And I was intrigued.

But what really got me if I’m being honest was this.

Like this is legit how I would react too. I’d be nervous and excited and I’d get my words mixed up which happens often and I’d just be so star struck and like “Wow this is awesome!” That was so relatable that I was like “I wanna know who this guy is.”

As soon as I got home, I rented Ant-Man on my laptop, and it was hook line and sinker. I didn’t have a chance.

Scott is more like the Everyman. He’s just a regular guy trying to do what’s right, and he makes mistakes and tries to fix them and this whole superhero gig just kinda fell into his lap. He’s intelligent and kind and funny and loyal and protective over his family, especially his daughter. He doesn’t take himself seriously, but he’s such a good asset to any group and often overlooked. Much like how I overlooked him until Civil War. But I’ve looked for him ever since.

And honestly, I just see a lot of me in him. I’ve had Marvel fans I’m friends with confirm it lol. We played a game once of who are you in the MCU where the closest match in personality wins. I said I was Scott Lang, and I won the game. I have other favorites, sure, but, you know, no one else just resonates with me more. In this fandom or in any other I’m in. It’s hard to explain, but I’ve never fit more with a character before, and it’s really nice for me to have Scott.

So there’s the story. I don’t know if that’s what you were looking for or hoping for, but yeah, there it is. In my head, Scott and I are like 🤞🏻 and thick as thieves, I mean burglars lol.

#tb responds #you got (anon) mail #scott lang #ant man #story time #my thoughts #how tb found scotty #and the rest is history #especially for those who have found my #ask scott lang whatever #blog

9 notes · View notes

swissmissficrecs · 2 years

Note

Hey! I was wondering if you have some fics related to acting! I just can't stop thinking about it!

Reply: Assuming you mean like acting on stage, film, and television, not just impersonating someone for a case. If so, here's a mix of Actor AU, reality TV and RPF.

Anchor Point by trickybonmot (49K, Explicit, Johnlock) The world tunes in nightly for Sherlock, the ultimate in reality TV: Sherlock Holmes, a real person with a legendary name, unknowingly lives out his life in a staged setting contrived by his brother. Things get complicated when a retired army doctor joins the show to play the part of Sherlock’s closest friend.

Curtain Rising by tiger_in_the_flightdeck (62K, E, Johnlock) A disgraced television star is the target of a series of death threats just after a theatre production’s adaptation of The Sound of Music is announced with her as the lead. The suspect list is a mile long and growing, Rosie Watson is in the spotlight, and Sherlock might be getting too fond of his time on stage to focus on the case. With opening night approaching, can he and John figure out who wants their client dead before her final curtain rises?

Elementary, Actually by blueink3 (26K, Explicit, Johnlock) Just back from the war, 26-year-old John Watson is looking for a job. Luckily, his old buddy Mike Stamford has one in mind: “Mike, you did not tell me this was a porno.”

Fading Stars and Black Holes by lurikko (19K, M, Johnlock) Sherlock Holmes, known from movies A Scandal in Belgravia and Don’t Make Me Choose, comes back to acting after two years. He’s starring in a romantic comedy about two men who move in together for practical reasons and stumble into a surprising friendship. The only problem is that his co-star is John Watson, a man whom he hasn’t seen since he left their shared flat two years ago, leaving John only a note.

Forever 1895 by alexxphoenix42 (23K, E, Freebatch, Johnlock) [RPF] Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman are working hard at both filming the Sherlock special, and keeping all its secrets under wraps. Somehow along the way, they stumble onto new developments that need to be kept just as private.

In His Image by daasgrrl (26K, E, Johnlock, John/Benedict) [RPF] In which a rather different John Watson returns to London, runs into an old friend, and meets someone new. As usual. When the subject of Sherlock comes up, things start getting complicated.

John Watson, Bachelor by Rayonea (188K, E, Johnlock, Others) This season, John Watson is the Bachelor. [Note: This fic was deleted. The link leads to a PDF version that someone saved and put on Google Docs. Download and save it yourself, it may disappear at any time.]

Method Act by splix (136K, E, Johnlock, Freebatch, Others) [RPF] Something very strange keeps happening at 7:35 PM.

Performance in a Leading Role by MadLori (156K, E, Johnlock) Sherlock Holmes is an Oscar winner in the midst of a career slump. John Watson is an Everyman actor trapped in the rom-com ghetto. When they are cast as a gay couple in a new independent drama, will they surprise each other? Will their on-screen romance make its way into the real world?

Sherwood by Jlocked, The_Lady_of_Purpletown (70K, E, Johnlock, John/Mary, Sheriarty) John is happily married, but after some vague fantasies he has started questioning his sexuality. In his search for answers, he is helped by an old friend from medical school, who introduces him to the work of the unusual actor H. Sherwood.

Take Two by raina_at (29K, E, Johnlock) Six years ago, Sherlock Holmes, then a promising young actor, broke John Watson's heart. When the production John is working on needs a new lead actor two weeks before press night, they turn to Sherlock to save it. Working together after six years won't be a problem. After all, both of them are professionals. And both of them have moved on. Or at least they think they have.

The A.G.R.A. Complex by SilentAuror (91K, E, Freebatch, Johnlock) [RPF] Martin Freeman wakes from a brief coma during which he dreamed the entire Sherlock series. As he recovers from his brain injuries, he has trouble distinguishing between reality and the Sherlock universe in his dream. This impacts his relationships with both Amanda, whom he cannot stop seeing as A.G.R.A., and his friend and sometime colleague Benedict, who is Sherlock to his John.

The Baker Street Nativity by SwissMiss (99K, E, Johnlock) Fusion between Sherlock (BBC) and Nativity! (2009 movie starring Martin Freeman). Sherlock is a primary school teacher and John is assigned to be his classroom assistant. Together, they are charged with putting on the school's Nativity play. What could possibly go wrong?

The Game (of Love) by hum_hum_humbug (15K, T, Johnlock) When Sherlock had asked John to go undercover in The Bachelor, John knew that nothing good could come of it. He was right. Sort of.

The Mole by ChrisCalledMeSweetie (18K, Teen, Johnlock) Ten strangers — Sherlock Holmes, John Watson, Martha Hudson, Molly Hooper, Jim Moriarty, Greg Lestrade, Sally Donovan, Philip Anderson, Mary Morstan, and Irene Adler — must work as a team to win money on a reality TV show hosted by Mycroft Holmes. The twist? One of them is a mole, hired by the producers to sabotage the game.

The Short Tragic Death of John Watson by Calais_Reno (49K, M, Johnlock) Thirteen years ago, Sherlock starred in a television series about an alien boy stranded on Earth. Now Molly has written a reunion episode and he's expected to join his old costars. Having had some success since playing a teenage alien, Sherlock is reluctant to reprise the role. And there's another problem no one wants to discuss: John Watson, who played his best friend, is dead.

To the Sticking Place by blueink3 (122K, E, Johnlock) Renowned Shakespearean actor Sherlock Holmes has finally burned all of his bridges in the theatre industry save for his constant director, Greg Lestrade. John Watson has made a name for himself in the musical theatre circuit, but age and injury are working against him. Can they reinvent themselves for an all-male Macbeth without killing one another?

Totus Mundus Agit Histrionem by mistyzeo (42K, E, Johnlock) January, 1881: a despondent army doctor is offered a ticket to a Shakespeare play, and is instantly captivated by the fellow playing the Danish prince himself. Then there is a murder. Then they fall in love.

#request #rec list #au

45 notes · View notes

inevitably-johnlocked · 2 years

Note

ALSO!! Hello again! do you have any fics of the sherlock characters watching the show? im a complete sucker for those kind of fics!

Hey Lovely!!

Ahhh, hmm. I don’t think I have EXACTLY what you’re looking for, but the closest I can come to is this one:

Anchor Point by trickybonmot (E, 49,856 w., 80 Ch. || Truman Show AU || Psychological Drama, Suspense, Slow Burn, Dark Characters / Fic, Alternating First/Third Person, Protective John, Anxious/Worried Sherlock, Tender Moments, Love Confessions, Hand/Blow Jobs, Cuddling, Jealous John, First Kiss/Time) – The world tunes in nightly for Sherlock, the ultimate in reality TV: Sherlock Holmes, a real person with a legendary name, unknowingly lives out his life in a staged setting contrived by his brother. Things get complicated when a retired army doctor joins the show to play the part of Sherlock's closest friend. This fic borrows its concept from the 1998 film, the Truman Show. However, you don't need to have any knowledge of the movie to enjoy this story.

They’re all characters in a show about Sherlock’s life, essentially.

And these ones have them IN a TV show:

The Newlywed Game: Johnlock Edition by patternofdefiance (E, 9,020 w., 7 Ch. || Fake Relationship, Fake Marriage, Friends to Lovers, Humour, Romance, Smut, Case Fic, Self-Esteem Issues) – John and Sherlock pretend to be married in order to be contestants in a Newlywed Game. Of course it’s for a case. Of course it doesn’t stay that way. Part 8 of I Blame Tumblr

Bakers with Benefits by Raina_at (E, 88,130 w., 14 Ch. || Great British Bake Off AU || Strangers to Lovers, Switchlock, Friends with Benefits, Mentions of Alcoholism / Past Drug Use, Banter, Flirting, Fluff, Light Angst, Semi-Public Sex, Past Sherlock/Victor, Mutual Pining, POV Sherlock, Obsessive Sherlock, John’s Bum) – Sherlock Holmes has a successful YouTube baking channel, but what he really wants is his own bakery. When an old friend sends him a call for the very first Great British Bake Off, he seizes the opportunity to finally win a sponsor for his bakery. Here's the plan: Win Bake Off, get the bakery, don't fall in love with the handsome Army doctor at the neighbouring station. Easy.

Performance In a Leading Role by Mad_Lori (E, 156,714 w., 21 Ch. || PODFIC AVAILABLE || Hollywood / Actor AU, Secret Relationship, Falling in Love, Slow Burn, Romance, Coming Out, Fluff and Angst, Pining) – Sherlock Holmes is an Oscar winner in the midst of a career slump. John Watson is an Everyman actor trapped in the rom-com ghetto. When they are cast as a gay couple in a new independent drama, will they surprise each other? Will their on-screen romance make its way into the real world? Part 1 of Performance in a Leading Role

Mise en Place by azriona (M, 161,004 w., 28 Ch. || Restaurant (Kitchen Nightmares) AU || Sherlock is Gordon Ramsay / Celebrity Sherlock, Restauranteur John, Harry Plays Prominent Role, Alternating POV, Mutual Pining, Cranky Sherlock, Bed Sharing, Slow Burn) – John Watson had no intentions of taking over the family business, but when he returns from Afghanistan, battered and bruised, and discovers that his sister Harry has run their restaurant into the ground, he doesn't have much choice. There's only one thing that can save the Empire from closing for good – the celebrity star of the BBC series Restaurant Reconstructed, Chef Sherlock Holmes. Part 1 of Mise en Place

You might also enjoy these lists:

Game / Reality Show AU (Comm Recs)

Disney-esque Fics

Moulin Rouge AU

TV, Movies, and Books AU (Fantasy Pt. 2)

Baking (MFL’s) [there’s a few GBBO-themed fics on here]

AND finally, I have a link to the webarchived copy of John Watson, Bachelor, which is a “Bachelor” AU. I haven’t read it, but I hear it’s great :)

Aside from these ones, anyone know of anything more related to what Lovley’s looking for?

#steph replies #fourth wall fics #help steph find fics #johnlock fic reqs #tv show au

19 notes · View notes

ankle-beez · 2 years

Note

How do you personally feel about the previous incarnations of Leo?

The thing about Leo is that with every incarnation he was a slight variation of the everyman sibling. He was just ok. The closest thing we got to a fully-fledged version of Leo prior to Rise was the 2012 series, where they fleshed him out and made him a huge dorky fanboy of the in-universe Star Trek cartoon, to the point where in early episodes of the 2012 show he modeled his leadership skills after it, which was a pretty cute way to round out his character

#angel.post

14 notes · View notes

goblins-riddles-or-frocks · 2 years

Note

Genya, Zoya, Seras, Walter, Anderson, Elizabeth (Black Butler) for the character bingo

Genya:

I love her! I did not enjoy her with David though? And I’m still just really iffy on the torture and disfigurement plot point.

Zoya:

Zoya my beloved 💖💖 Unfortunately I think she was fairly unevenly written. I really liked her in the OG trilogy but I think KoS kind of just shoved her into the role of an Alina 2.0?

Also, personally as a mixed MENA and South Asian person, I find the way Bardugo handled her ethnicity off putting. Five books in we learn she’s actually a WOC, then in the sixth book it’s like TO BE CLEAR she’s high key white passing. Meanwhile all the official art has her be very visibly brown? Like idk it just feels a little slimy to get credit for the rep while trying to keep the character as white as possible.

Seras:

So she’s a character that really grew on me? I was annoyed with how she was handled in the OVA but idk I like her a lot!

It frustrates me a lot that despite being the everyman perspective we never see her really grappling with anything? Like she finds out that the government is a sham; that vampires not only exist but that she’s been kidnapped and turned into one; and even later on that perhaps she didn’t need to be turned because Alucard is so fucking OP he could have easily just saved her and kept her human. Seras never really reacts to anything. And that used to drive me insane but I’m okay with it at this point lol. What does exist of her characterization is very interesting though.

Walter:

Walter is so interesting!! WHY did he do the thing?? We’ll never know! I have so many opinions on it! Just so much to talk about but also fuck him lol

Anderson:

Faith driven characters like Anderson are just endlessly fascinating to me. I get the impression that he would have been perfectly happy to just dedicate his life to raising kids at the orphanage? And yet…

Also forever losing it at how he decides to go full suicidal plant monster, and wishes to have never felt emotions at all, after killing Maxwell. That was his son 😭

Idk I just think he’s very tragic! And his perspective is verrry fascinating to me.

Lizzie:

She’s awesome! Gets way too much hate in the fandom, and is honestly too sidelined by the story as well. Her turmoil over realizing that Ciel had been lying to her all along instantly made her 200% more interesting to me. And I’m like disappointed but not surprised that people latched onto her realizing— in horror— that she probably wouldn’t have been as happy to know that The Nameless Twin had survived vs Real!Ciel who was her fiancé to like paint her as an evil character lmfao. Like obviously you’re going to grieve the person you’re closest to more? And o!Ciel has lied to her so fucking much, of course she’s mistrustful of and angry at him! That was a pretty grave betrayal guys!

Send me a character and I’ll do a bingo board for them!

#character bingo #hellsing #grishaverse #black butler #all the bendy punctuations #ask games #i ramble sometimes

4 notes · View notes

seph7 · 2 months

Text

The Overlooked Hotel, having found a spare room for Stephen Tobolowsky, now welcomes another deserving guest, the late, great JT Walsh. You know, that really talented guy from that thing you really like.

JT Walsh, in many ways the definitive supporting character actor, passed away suddenly in 1998. He succumbed to a heart attack at the relatively tender age of 54, but left behind a quite astonishingly varied and accomplished body of work, despite never being nominated for anything other than a Primetime Emmy and a couple of SAG cast awards. If nothing else, this amply demonstrates that far too often, real talent goes unrewarded and although (of course) not every0ne can be lavished with awards and in any given year the same performance is likely to hoover up every award going, the fact that Walsh never received an Oscar, Golden Globe or SAG award (or even a solo nomination) is a glaring omission. He certainly invested the time, energy and talent. Consider the evidence:-

To much greater success (and more universal acclaim) than the similarly themed Dead Poets Society, Good Morning Vietnam managed to anchor Robin Williams’ freewheeling improvisation to an important and affecting story and a thoroughly appealing and sympathetic protagonist. For JT Walsh there was, as was so often the case, the relatively thankless role of the stick-in-the-mud, the uptight superior standing in the way of freedom, comedy and truth. The butt of several of Robin Williams’ more biting digs (“in more dire need of a blow job than any white man in history”), Walsh’s Sergeant Major Dickerson manages to kick back against the insults and insubordination with ferocity and genuine impact, elevating what might have otherwise been a one-dimensional role (spoiling Williams’ fun) to something much more meaningful and memorable. Quite the polar opposite of Cronauer, Dickerson believes in what he is doing and sees no place for flippancy or casualness amidst the carnage he is witnessing. As General Taylor rightly notes, Dickerson is mean rather than crazy, but it is to Walsh’s enduring credit that Dickerson is fully-formed as a character, acting consistently and aggressively whilst finally succeeding in running Cronauer out of town. As his actions ultimately lead to his own relocation, the look of bewilderment on his face lingers with us. A real sense of “but what did I do wrong?” amidst the lunacy of Vietnam.

JT Walsh has never really been a leading actor. His skills are more subtle than that and he has tended to excel by going toe to toe with better known (though often less accomplished) stars in ancillary scenes in ensemble films. A case in point would be Backdraft, Ron Howard’s under-rated fire-fighter film, wherein Walsh plays a corrupt politician whose decisions are presenting grave consequences for Chicago’s firemen. He comes across as predictably sleazy and compromised in his few scenes and although the pyrotechnics are on display in the film’s many exhilarating fire-fighting sequences, there is a memorable heft to Walsh’s scenes with (amongst others) Kurt Russell, Billy Baldwin and Robert De Niro. A Few Good Men represents another case in point. All of the kudos went to Jack Nicholson’s grand-standing General and his protestations of inability to truth-handle, but JT Walsh’s turn was, while less conspicuous, all the more affecting for its sense of moral conflict. In Red Rock West we see Walsh in full-on rage mode, squaring off against Nic Cage. A phenomenal sense of danger leaching through the pores of an actor who often plays stiff characters.

Breakdown was perhaps the closest Walsh came to a lead role, although of course the lead credit was Kurt Russell’s exasperated and desperate everyman. Breakdown seems to rarely attract as much attention as it warrants, but it is an intelligent and invigorating film, with Walsh’s antagonist providing the perfect degree of ambiguity against Russell’s tireless search for his wife and the truth regarding her disappearance. Although we’ve seen menace and villainy from Walsh plenty of times, when he blankly tells the State Trooper, “I’ve never seen this man before in my life”, we genuinely believe him and it gives the film its effectiveness. A more obvious and less subtle actor in the role and the game would have been blown.

Outbreak is a peculiar film with interesting casting choices all over the place. Dustin Hoffman seems ill-suited as the protagonist, but his skill as an actor wins through. Donald Sutherland is suitably slippery and Morgan Freeman slots in alongside him as his more conflicted, less self-assured colleague. JT Walsh crops up in a scene where a final decision is being made as to whether to completely destroy the town carrying the (now air-borne) virus in order to eradicate it and despite it being tempting to go with histrionics and over-acting, Walsh instead delivers a fierce, but contained speech, keen to ensure that when the fall-out arrives from the President’s unenviable decision, no-one is left hung out to dry and also, wanting to raise the issue of constitutionality, an important and worthwhile exploration amidst the carnage taking place in Cedar Creek, CA.

[yframe url=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJ6zQZ9GGTY’]

What more can we say? In Walsh’s case, plenty. Ace turns in The Negotiator (another slippery bureaucrat, yet imbued with a personality), Miracle on 34th Street (a more conventional villain, but again toned perfectly in the circumstances), The Last Seduction (if there is any genre that he seems most effortlessly suited to, it would be neo-noir – see also Red Rock West), Misery and The Grifters. There is an ambiguity about his best characters, which one cannot help but feel would not be there if the roles had been left to less accomplished actors. As variously noted above, Walsh consistently steers clear of cliché and predictability, bringing life and depth where it is needed. With 74 acting credits to his name, it seems wholly unfair that he has not received one single award, but perhaps with much of his best work lining up against more obvious, “award-friendly” competition it was destined to be thus. It is difficult to think of another contemporary character actor who can be relied on to fill these sorts of roles to such great effect. A great loss to the film industry and a worthy resident of The Overlooked Hotel.

#j.t. walsh #jt walsh #underrated actors

1 note · View note

ntriani · 3 months

Text

Fever dreams: the nearly man of Euro 2016 For the past month, Nick Triani has lived every moment of Euro 2016 in a fever dream of football nirvana. For the past month, Nick Triani has lived every moment of Euro 2016 in a fever dream of football nirvana.

The Fan I have to resign myself to defeat. Not a personal defeat you understand. This is far more primitive than that. More tribal. Over the last four weeks of rollercoaster rides, I’ve used my Facebook feed as a journal to document my match day concerns, predictions and general comments on Euro 2016. My rarely seen bravado is often found in all its brazen arrogance on this feed. My confidence oozes forth until the crash comes – and yes this year it did come – a double implosion. One was a ‘caught with your pants down’ realization that football may never again reign over the Queen‘s closest domain, at least not at an international level. The other exit was more respectable, and due to low expectation, almost taken as a victory in defeat. Supporting two teams at a major football event such as this is not so good for the old fingernails.

What I do notice when something like the Euros is on, is a new level of stereotyping – and not just within the broader media. Friends via social media suggest Italiansare all cheats. Some other proclaim that Italy are also so defensive and anti-football. They don’t recognize the art of a Bonucci or a Chiellini. These defenders even have Renaissance names for crying out loud. Of course, all English fans are beered up hooligans, and so this goes on. But the casual stereotyping doesn’t just affect me. Control is slightly lost and people choose their sides. In a country like Finland this means the approach tends to be from a neutral perspective. But still, temperatures rise.

The Italian coach Antonio Conte was the star of this competition. Animated to extremes, you’d want some of what he’s on. Often more interesting than the football on display (Italy vs Sweden?), Conte supplied the box office off camera too, with a series of interviews that showed his way with words could only be described as poetic and philosophical. Compare this to earnest Roy Hodgson, a laymen on the highest salary, trying to convince us that his lieutenant Wayne Rooney is the new Andrea Pirlo (surely Pirlo has never been more insulted). Hodgson’s ordinary, resigned demeanor offers enough reason why a team of talented players, let alone a nation, could never entertain the notion of England winning the bloody competition.

But since Conte (and Italy) left the competition, it all fell a bit flat for me (of course, I’m biased). The Icelandic defeat by France just confirmed it. Yes, Wales kept me dreaming of the underdog for a bit longer. On a managerial level, Didier Deschamps anyone? The everyman Chris Coleman? Or how about Joachim Löwand his amazing scratch and sniff testicles? Conte is in a class of his own in the personality stakes. With his perma-tanned sidekick, brother Gianluca, you could easily imagine these two fronting an Italian Bon Jovi tribute act. There was something of the spandex variety going on. The Football I’ve watched a lot of the games – perhaps 80%. That’s a lot of football. What differentiates the experience is how my own mind and body behave when watching say England and Italy, compared to anyone else. When ‘my’ teams are playing, I become tense, unavailable, rude, a coil ready to unleash a stream of expletive bile into this known universe. There is confidence of course, but that threat of the ultimate disappointment, that crushing inevitability of knowing this unreasonable feeling, this taking part and being a part of, could end any moment – it’s actually impossible to put into words.

The England team were half of the Tottenham team this year (the club team I’ve supported all my life), so I had extra interest in how England got on. Eric Dierbecame my new god. After his no-nonsense season with Spurs, a man-crush ensued. Falling ill against Iceland was his only serious blot on a very blotchy English landscape. Harry Kane was a disaster. As were all England’s strikers if we’re honest. Kane got the brunt of the striker hate, once England got eliminated. Hodgson couldn’t accommodate a system that could release the considerable goal threat Kane, Daniel Sturridge and James Vardy posses. Raheem Sterling, along with Jack Wilshere (and to a lesser degree Jordan Henderson) should have stayed in England, so out of form and unfit these players proved to be. Hodgson stuck by his talisman Wayne Rooney, who often looked off the pace. The English media fawned at Rooney’s early midfield exploits, but he was average at best, as were England. Hodgson displayed much loyalty at this tournament, it was misplaced and cost him his job. The new, incoming England coach has the bones of a good squad. Some tactics of any form should bring better form and signs of progress.

But Euro 2016 didn’t only involve England’s self-subscribed Brexit. Zlatan said farewell: vulnerable, slow and humbled. Cristiano Ronaldo was strangely stiff (till Hungary) and then finally firing against Wales. Gareth Bale was a giant at times, but then uninvolved. Paul Pogba showed flashes. Thomas Muller was there in bodily form but in reality he was a real life ghost of his former self. Wayne Rooney played in midfield (ahem). Andrés Iniesta, still a class act, found himself surrounded by average, non motivated servants. The galactico football superstar has generally had a bad Euros, exemplified by Ronaldo’s injury in the final. None of these super footballers capturing the imagination like the Iceland team or even the showmanship of Conte. Of course there were exceptions: early tournament it was Dimitri Payet, then Antoine Griezmann came to life and has been the player at this Euros. Griezmann, like a dynamo whose duracell battery spluttered into life mid-tournament, has simply wanted it more than anyone else. France to me have not quite seemed the real deal. Their run to the final has in reality meant the French overturned Albania, Romania, Iceland, Republic Of Ireland, drew with Switzerland and then rather fortuitously beat their first real test – Germany. It was an enthralling semi-final, where the French were outplayed for large parts. But in this new football landscape, the French understood the new rules perfectly despite an overall lack of conviction. On the other hand, any team that can make the ‘looks like he’s treading water’ Olivier Giroud come across as an amazing, speedy goal scorer deserves some respect. The Euros has prescribed a new form of football entertainment that surely reflects the worldwide game at these times. This has been a tournament dominated by teamwork and pragmatic application. Very few goal fests or easy wins were clocked up – instead we viewed many tight and tense affairs, where the overall standard and technique on display has been more than competent. From Albania to Hungary, Poland to Iceland and Wales, these teams all played a very disciplined game. Tactically versed. Play deep, counter attack with genuine speed. Possession was for the ancients. This made most games close. Moments of explosiveness – Ronaldo’s in air backheel, Luka Modric‘s bullet voley, Emanuele Giaccherini‘s amazing first touch against Belgium, Griezmann in general. Then there was England and Russia, two teams without a plan A or B. Slovakia came close to matching their depths. Note to the English media: there are no easy games anymore in international football. The defeat to Iceland was not humiliating. It was just the natural order of things.

Mothman Prophecies Someone left the lights on all night and the moths came to roost. There was a ‘day of the locusts’ type of dread surrounding the final. Ronaldo, felled by Payet rather innocuously, left the field injured after 20 odd minutes. There were tears. If the football didn’t quite ignite, surreal qualities certainly did. France, after a positive opening 10 minutes, stuttered and spluttered. Portugal lost their star, but their formation looked more solid. Ronaldo’s injury left the contest pretty redundant for 90 minutes. But Portugal came alive in extra-time whilst France floundered in a tired heap. Again, Portugal recalled the virtue of patience, whilst Pepe, much to a general annoyance, was excellent here. Eder, the player unable to score for and unwanted by Swansea, struck a glorious winner. The final was a disappointment. But this tournament did much for France after a dark period of national history. In the end, the tears turned to smiles as Ronaldo got one over on his biggest rival by lifting an international trophy.

Highs Highlights were many: Zaza memes lead the way. Ronaldo’s preening self-love and over the top poses, mic throwing, Iceland blasting behaviour was fun. Conte’s expression. Pogba’s confidence and a pretty good standard of no-fuss refereeing – apart from that penalty! Hodgson resigns. That Robson-Kanu goal. Pelle’s hair. The self-obsessed tika-taka fanboys retreating further into their caves. The Icelandic chant ringing round stadiums. The great atmosphere that even translated to jubilance through my laptop headset. The fans, as always.

Lows Gianluigi Buffon‘s tears and Joe Hart‘s tunnel swearing and slow dives. The camera angles for offside decisions – plus the overhead camera shot for a third of the Germany vs Italy match. The reemergence of hooliganism, English and Russian fans running amok in France. There was much comment suggesting England fans were blameless. The taunting of refugee children by some of those English fans will stay with me for a long time. And despite not having those expectations, Italy getting such a tough route to the final despite topping their group: Spain, Germany and it would have been France. FFS, how did that happen? England disappointing again, the promise of youthful exuberance wasted. Harry Kane’s soul was lost at the Euros. And somewhere, with that loss, my own mortality swings into the frame. At fifty years of age, how many of these tournaments do I have in me? Five or six with some luck maybe? It’s too little. That makes me sad.

Team Of the Tournament Lloris Chester Bonucci Chiellini Bale Ramsey Modric Kante Payet Ronaldo Griezmann

Subs: Buffon, Walker, Dier, Pepe, Di Rossi, Williams, Pogba, Lukaku, Konchinsky, Iniesta, Renato Sanches

Games of the Tournament: Italy 2-0 Belgium, Czech Republic 2-2 Croatia, Croatia 2-1 Spain, Hungary 3-3 Portugal, Switzerland 1-1 Poland, Italy 2-0 Spain, England 1-2 Iceland, Poland 1-1 Portugal (first half), Wales 2-1 Belgium, Germany 1-1 Italy (penalty shoot out only), Germany 0-2 France.

Goal of the TournamentRonaldo back heel vs Hungary

Player of the Tournament: Antoine Griezmann.

#EURO 2016 #FOOTBALL #OQM #essay #sport

0 notes

flotsam-gazette · 1 year

Text

For Everyman

MUSIC Review BY JANET MASLIN // NOVEMBER 22, 1973

For inwardly panoramic songwriting of an apocalyptic bent, Jackson Browne’s second album is rivaled only by his first (the second one wins), and Jackson himself is rivaled by nobody. His work is a unique fusion of West Coast casualness and East Coast paranoia, easygoing slang and painstaking precision, child’s-eye romanticizing and adult’s-eye acceptance. He can expand explicit experience until it takes on the added dimension of an overview, or he can philosophize with such intimacy that every generality becomes a private truth.

Either way, his songs hang suspended in an extraordinary twilight zone between reality and myth.

For Everyman further establishes Jackson as a purebred Seventies intelligence, though it also includes some of his precocious late Sixties material. He is the first major songwriter to have emerged with the knowledge that the battles Bob Dylan depicted a decade ago are either over or too ambiguous to be worth fighting any more.

But unlike most older writers, he is not yet ready to retreat into merely mining the realm of private problems for subject matter. He has internalized the remains of those larger struggles and still dares to hope for solutions.

Nevertheless, he has progressed beyond the proselytizing stage, as the stunningly eloquent title cut carefully indicates.

“For Everyman” is a more thoughtful, less impetuous reworking of “Rock Me on the Water”; both songs provide visions of the apocalypse, but this time the image is significantly altered “Rock Me” was a fiery youthful fantasy shot through with contempt (“Oh, people, look around you . . . “), dreams of escape (“While your walls are burnin’, your towers are turnin’/I’m gonna leave you here, and try to get down to the sea somehow”), and nervous premonitions that escape might be just one more illusion (“Everyone must have some thought — That’s gonna pull them through somehow”).

“For Everyman” presents the crisis in gentler terms (“Everybody I talk to is ready to leave. With the light of the morning . . . ” and offers an impassioned disc aner of special wisdom (“I’m not trying to tell you that I’ve seen the plan/Turn and walk away if you think I am”). Most notably, the renegade spirit who once dreamed of being bathed by “the sisters of the sun” while everything around him went up in flames is now ready to be left behind on the eve of the exodus — “holding sand,” weighing “all my fine dreams, well thought-out schemes to gain the Motherland,” and realizing that this time patience may make more sense than flight.

The daydreamer who waits to discover in himself the essence of “Everyman” is curiously suspended in time. He sits just shy of maturity, and will not progress until the object of his search takes clearer shape. Yet his childhood is over, however much he may long for “that place in the sun/Where a sweet child is still dancing.” Jackson himself seems equally divided between teacher and searcher, mock-adult and mock-child, and one of his finest songs toys with the irony of his trying to play both roles at once.

In his best rocker, “Ready Or Not,” he assumes one guise after another; the song sounds like the album’s most sardonic fantasy, though it’s actually the closest he comes to detailing a true story. His girl is pregnant, and he narrates the tale most comfortably by playing naive: “Someone’s gonna have to explain it to me. I don’t know what it means.” He met the mother-to-be in a bar, “doing my very best Bogart,” affecting sophistication. But after an initial show of bravado he’s suddenly helpless again, posing (as in “Jamaica Say You Will”) as passive, irresponsible, a child: “Next thing I remember she was all moved in, and I was buying her a washing machine.”

Even when he asks the song’s key question, the innocence is a sham: “Take a look in my eyes and tell me, brother/If I look like I’m ready . . .?” Why is he asking? The “not” of the title becomes all the more emphatic for remaining unspoken, despite the song’s somewhat forced happy ending. (When Jackson performs it in concert, he turns the “rock & roll bad man” of the last line into a “rock & roll asshole,” seemingly as uncomfortable with his tough-guy role as he is with any of the others.)

“Ready Or Not”‘s final resolution rings a little false because it disrupts the pattern of descent that figures into Jackson’s other songs. Most of his melodies build up their energy at the start of each line, wear down by line’s end, then regroup and try again, once he’s caught his breath. His lyrics often follow a similar scheme, starting off with something reasonably definite and then floating off into troublesome ambiguities.

“The Times You’ve Come,” the album’s sweetly erotic heartbreaker, takes the pattern of descent even further, exploring it on both spiritual and sexual levels. The title verb takes on progressively more sexual meaning, building up to a wonderfully evocative chorus (sung with Bonnie Raitt), then trailing off into post-orgasmic reverie.Meanwhile, the song begins with a relatively matter-of-fact assessment of the risks entailed in a relationship (“we’ve lost as much as we have won”), then falls further and further away from the concrete.

The final verse offers up a sense of sexual security, pauses, and then proceeds to undermine the calm with an ominous note to which the spirit has descended while the body was preoccupied:

“Now we’re lying here, so safe in the ruins of our pleasure/ Laughter marks the place where we have fallen/ And our lives are near, so it wouldn’t occur to us to wonder/ Is this the past or the future that is calling?”

For all the pessimism those lines imply, For Everyman also develops a faith in the writer’s own ability to check his fall. Although the title cut rejects relatively traditional means of uplift (“that strong but gentle Father’s hand”), in “Our Lady of the Well” he creates his own secular sacrament, once again placing faith in the ritual and restorative powers of water, which lent such mystical resonance to his last album. Back of the bus, Bob Heinlein.

Despite themes that bind many of its songs together, For Everyman is essentially a collection rather than an album, most of the songs are so complete that they resist Jackson’s attempts to run them together (although “Sing My Songs to Me” is an exception, a longish fragment that serves to introduce the daydream spirit of the title cut).

So not everything fits smoothly, although even the jarring moments work in a positive way. The early songs, for instance, serve as fascinating keys to why Jackson — who was good to begin with — has gotten so much better.

“These Days” is an elegantly composed exercise in sulky defensiveness, “Colors of the Sun” an oversimplified, childish indictment. Each is too single-minded to measure up to his current level of complexity, but their presence underscores the strength of his mature synthesis by demonstrating the emotional purity of its components.

“Take It Easy,” the one song here that is not entirely Jackson’s own — it was Glen Frey, of the Eagles, who was standing on a corner in Winslow, Arizona — is the only cut whose melody actually outshines its lyrics. Jackson can usually turn street talk around to his own advantage, restoring cliches to their original meanings and arriving at an amazingly loose form of expression. (Sometimes he makes up phrases so natural they sound like street cliches the first time you hear them.) But the glibness gets out of hand in parts of “Take It Easy,” and even more so in “Redneck Friend,” which sounds like too deliberate an attempt to create a single by someone whose art, even at its most casual, remains too complex for strictly AM audiences. Still, “Redneck Friend” inadvertently offers up a line that’s a concise, albeit conservative, estimation of the whole album’s merits: “Eleven on a scale of ten.”

Jackson’s musicianship still lags behind his extraordinary abilities as a poet.

Although his melodies blend beautifully with the mood and cadence of his lyrics, both tunes and arrangements seem shaped around the words. But the best arrangements here are effective on a startlingly deep level. “For Everyman” begins and ends with a low rumble from Russ Kunkel, then bursts out into a high-spirited release that mirrors the spirit of the song’s resolution, simultaneously joyful and cautious. “Colors of the Sun” has an eerie, dirge-like quality that creates just enough tension to offset the song’s more grandiose moments.

Even the more conventional arrangements work wonderfully well, with most of the spark coming from David Lindley, the guitar/fiddle jack-of-all-strings who also functions as Jackson’s house wizard. The album has no official producer (Jackson thinks that’s an unnecessary function, says the whole thing just “trickled out”), but most of it sounds like a brilliant, if understated, composite of the author’s fluid downward progressions and Lindley’s euphoric whimsy.

His singing has greatly improved since the last album, showing off a new expressiveness in his more soulful moments (particularly “These Times You’ve Come”) and hitting the high notes with much more confidence and energy than before. He still doesn’t write for his own voice, though; either that, or he sometimes can’t play (especially piano) in whatever key he would sing best in. He often couples descending verses with choruses that shoot upward, and while the split evokes both a waking-dreaming polarity and an attempt to check downward drifting, it also forces him into the sort of low notes he can only mumble.

But every last note here, singable or otherwise, has a special resonance. Jackson’s concerns, even more than his..

0 notes

balillee · 2 years

Text

there's this mancunian guy on tiktok doing god's work rn.

so apparently in manchester this company called 3gs which is a private 'environmental enforcement' company doing the rounds and pissing everyone off and tricking the public. what that exactly means is that they're basically just the cigarette police - you throw a cigarette butt on the floor, and they'll come up to you, lecture you, and give you a fine of £120, and they'll follow you and lie to your face until you stop and will employ scare tactics to try and make you pay the fine.

here's some kickers:

so this private company will lie to you and tell you that it acts on behalf of manchester city council, or is affiliated with them. it is not. only £20 of the paid fine will end up in the pockets of the council, the rest is profits for the company, so the more people the cigarette police interrogate for fines, the more money they make. kind of like how hermes delivery drivers are deliberately shit because they don't get paid an hourly wage but instead get paid by the delivery, and need to get through them all as quick as possible to make a paycheck.

and obviously littering is wrong, but it would be much easier to not litter if, say, perhaps the full £120 of that fine would end up in the pockets of the city council to perhaps put out designated smoking areas in the public with places to dispose of used cigarettes, cig packets, baccy pouches, rolling papers and filters, or installing new public bins on roads with ashtrays.

so what this guy is doing, is that everytime he sees the cigarette police about to fine someone, he jumps in, records the 'environmental enforcer', informs the civilian in question of the person working for a private company and not the council and that they're about to be fined, and what he does is he continuously exposes them, and safely tells the civilian that they can follow him into the closest shop or restaurant because the enforcers can't follow you into a building.

what's even more mental is that it's not just 'defensible' things like cigs either, in one video they were having a go at someone for feeding the birds because they considered it littering, as if birds don't have a tendency to try and fight each other for the single slice of bread you've thrown their way and fly off into the sunset with it.

tldr: they're profiting off of lying to people by paying minimal amounts of an expensive fine to the city council. they are profiting off of pretending to give a fuck about the environment after switching up from being toxic waste workers because getting fine money off of the everyman is more profitable for them. THEY ARE USING ENVIRONMENTAL ACTIVISM TO MAKE MONEY!!!!

1 note · View note