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ptolomeia · 3 years

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Rhymes With I Love You

Summary: Thomas realizes he is deeply in love with his friend Janus. Luckily for him, it turns out Janus loves him back.

Pairing: Thomas/Janus

Rating: T

Tags: Human Au, Fluff, Mutual Pining

Words: 1802

Read it on AO3

It was the laugh that undid him. Loud, unrestrained, belly laughter. Tears in the corners of his eyes and little sounds that Janus would never admit were snorts escaping. Janus unabashedly, dorkily, loudly happy, for all the world, but most importantly, for Thomas to see.

Thomas knew then and there that, not only did he love Janus, he’d loved him for a while. He didn’t think the words “I love you so much” would have come so close to falling out of his mouth like an armed, friendship destroying bomb if he hadn’t been in love for a while.

And could anyone really blame him? This was Janus he was talking about. Brilliant, beautiful, eloquent, funny, sharp—Thomas could go on all day. And had. The less said about the contents of the margins of his notes (kept carefully tucked away whenever there was a change of seeing Janus) these days, the better.

But more than any of those things (and they were great things!) Janus was kind. You’d never guess, when you first met him, but under all that snark and swagger, Janus was one of the most considerate people Thomas had ever met. He was always willing to go a little out of his way to help, and he never forgot to make Thomas a cup of tea when he made himself one.

Yes, Thomas was deeply and irrevocably in love with Janus, and had been for who knew how long. There were only two problems with this.

The first one wasn’t so bad; Janus didn’t love him back. Which was fair, honestly. Thomas was an anxious mess of a human being, barely able to keep on top of his master’s work. Thomas might be able to listen to Janus talk for hours about the philosophers he loved and studied and analyzed, but it’s not like Thomas had ever been able to really get any of it. Why wouldn’t Janus want someone who was his intellectual equal? Someone who could at least appear to be as put together as Janus was?

So yeah, Janus didn’t love him back, but that really wasn’t the real problem. Thomas was happy just being Janus’s friend, spending time with him just as he always had. No, it was the second problem that was the real problem.

You think a man who’d spend over two decades in the closet would be better at hiding things, but nope. Apparently he’d used up all his secret keeping abilities in those years because now, every time he saw Janus, every time Janus made a quip, or smirked, or breathed, Thomas was overcome with the desire to tell Janus about his unreciprocated feelings.

In retrospect, letting Janus serve him wine when Janus had come over for dinner had been a bad idea.

He hadn’t actually said “Janus, I love you, please pass the salt”, but it was a close run thing.

No, it wasn’t until after supper and another glass of wine was finished and cleaned up from, after Janus had made them both a cup of tea and was sitting with Thomas on his small, busted up couch in his small, student apartment, talking in depth about the idiocy of some famous philosopher, as Thomas watched Janus’s elegant hands so eloquently illustrate what Janus was saying, that the words he’d barely managed to keep behind clenched teeth for the past few weeks fell out into the world.

“I’m in love with you.”

Janus froze. Thomas froze. Oh shit. He wanted to believe he hadn’t actually said that, but Janus’s entirely unreadable expression said otherwise.

“What?” Janus hissed, his eyes searching Thomas’s face.

“Oh God,” Thomas said, reaching up to rub the back of his neck. Too late to pretend he hadn’t said anything and they could ignore it. Now he just had to try for damage control and hope he hadn’t managed to destroy his friendship with Janus completely. “I’m sorry, Janus—I don’t know why I said that. No, I mean, I do, but I know you don’t return my feelings—which is totally fine! I just hope we can—”

“I hate tea,” Janus interrupted Thomas’s frantic and pathetic attempt to explain.

“What?” It was Thomas’s turn to say.

“I hate tea,” Janus said, putting down the mug of tea he made himself, and leaning towards Thomas. “I always have. I’ve spent years trying to find a blend I could stand—you have no idea how many samplers I’ve gone through—before realizing no such blend existed and stopped bothering. Black, Green, White, Pu’er, Herbal, Rooibos, Oolong, Chai—I’ve tried them all to no avail. It doesn’t matter how long I steep them, or if I use the right temperature of water. It doesn’t matter how I try to doctor it with milk or sugar or lemon or honey. Wine, Coffee, plain water, even milk are more to my taste than tea. Hell, I’d rather drink beer.”

“But—But that’s ridiculous!” Thomas managed, unable to reconcile the words coming out of Janus’s mouth with the hundreds of mugs of tea he’d seen his friend drink. “You’re literally drinking tea right now! You made it yourself 20 minutes ago! I was right there watching you! Besides, I’ve seen you drink hundreds of cups of tea over the years and never seen you even touch a beer. I swear, every other time we’re at one of our places you say you were thinking of making yourself some tea and would I… like… some…” Thomas felt his eyes widen. No, that couldn’t be it… could it?

“Yes,” Janus said, leaning further forward, eyes bright and intense and overwhelming. “Very early on after meeting you, Thomas—After falling so deeply in love with you I knew I’d never be able to find my way out if I ever wanted to, not that I ever have—I realized you are the most stubborn person on the face of the planet when it comes to letting other people take care of you. You once mentioned that you find a cup of tea soothing, but later, when I wanted to make just you one, you absolutely refused to let me. So, even if I couldn’t stand the stuff, the simplest way for me to offer you the comfort I so desperately wanted to give you was to learn to choke down the stuff myself. I may hate tea, Thomas. But you don’t.”

“Why?”

“Because as someone once said ‘how can I help rhymes with I love you’ and I didn’t think you’d let me say either. Thomas, I would drink a thousand mugs of tea to see that soft, relieved smile of yours when I make you one when you’re stressed. I love you, Thomas. I have loved you for years.”

“But… but why?” Thomas asked, knowing he was repeating himself, but way too overwhelmed to do anything else. Janus loved him?

“Why?” Janus said, head jerking back. “Thomas, I knew you had issues knowing your own worth but—” Janus bit back his words and narrowed his eyes before starting again. “While the fact that you are physically stunning is what first attracted me to you, it’s not the reason I love you.” Breathing. Thomas had to remember that breathing was a thing. “No, I fell in love with you for other things. First of all, that brilliant mind of yours. Not only can you retain and easily access the truly astounding number of facts and how they relate to each other than you need for your engineering work, you have an astonishing way of coming sideways at a problem and developing an elegant solution no one else would imagine. There’s also the fact that you’re hilarious. I don’t think anyone has ever made me laugh as hard or as often as you have. But most importantly, Thomas, the real reason I fell so inescapably in love with you is that you are kind. You look at a world filled with casual cruelty and callousness, where injustice runs rampant and stupid rules let people day for no reason at all—and you say ‘Yes. All this is true. And I will do what I can to change that. I will be kind’. And you are. And you make the world a better place for it. Thomas, I’d have to be an idiot not to fall in love with you.”

And Janus was no idiot.

“You really love me?” Thomas asked, not quite able to believe it.

“I lie about many things, Thomas. You already know that about me. But I would not, will not, lie about this.” There was more honest vulnerability and emotion in Janus’s eyes than Thomas had ever seen there, and if possible, Thomas fell even deeper. Not that it mattered, because apparently Janus had been waiting to catch him all along. “I love you, Thomas Sanders. And I cannot possibly express how happy I am to hear you love me too.”

Janus loved him. Janus loved him.

Janus had also lied to him, but Thomas had known Janus’s flaws when he’d fallen in love, and had fallen anyway. And now that he knew what Janus was willing to do to make him happy?

“At some point,” Thomas said breathlessly (he seemed to have lost his breath somewhere deep in Janus’s eyes), “At some point we’re going to have to talk about the fact that apparently you’ve been lying to me.”

“Agreed,” Janus said, quick and so certain that Thomas didn’t doubt for a second that they would.

“But until then,” Thomas managed. “Until then, can I kiss yo—”

He didn’t manage to finish the sentence before Janus’s lips were pressed against his own.

“My love,” Janus said with a faint, almost disbelieving reverence, pulling back just far enough to look into Thomas’s eyes. “We can do whatever you want.”

“Whatever we want,” Thomas corrected gently, reaching up to lovingly cup Janus’s cheek. “From here on out, we both tell each other what we actually want, instead of dancing around it, okay?”

“In that case,” Janus more purred than said, turning his face slightly to press a kiss against the pad of Thomas’s thumb, while never taking his eyes of Thomas’s face, “I would very much like to kiss you again.”

Thomas swallowed. Thomas swallowed again. “Agreed,” he just managed to say.

With a soft laugh—a laugh Thomas thought he loved just as much as the belly laugh that made him realize the truth—Janus leaved back in and kissed him again.

Later, they would talk with each other about all the things they still needed to. Later, they would be honest and communicate and build something that let both of them feel heard and loved. But that could wait til morning. For now, there were better things to do.

#Sanders sides #sanders sides fic #thomceit #Janus sanders #me and my fic #fluff #mutual pining

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gravelgirty · 3 years

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Hi could you talk more about caves what you said on that post is really interesting

Sure thing!

First of all, it was an amazing cave I worked in. You never forget that. I'll pick one of my favorite topics,

the FALLOUT SHELTER AGGRAVATION TAX.

Clears throat.

Limestone caves are literally stone libraries in the geologic record of the world. Twice a year the airflow would change and then you'd smell smoke from decrepit old torches dating as far back as 1812. People made saltpeter in these caves, they were natural mines for things that went boom, and one of those 'requirements' meant airflow so you wouldn't suddenly and embarrassingly, drop dead of too much Underground. This is why the coal miners were eternally bemused and asking us questions like airflow. Sometimes you gotta canary. Sometimes you are the canary. This often led to predictable questions that was these old gents trying to be polite, but what they really wanted to know was,

'why the hell are you being paid $10 a trip plus tips to walk us 1.1 miles underground up to 3 times a day and no one has a mortgage gun aimed at your head?'

To which I would say, 'it wasn't quite that bad. If no one shows up at all we get paid $10.' ...Dear Saint Barbara, Chango, and the Gods of Deep Mystery, the things we tell ourselves. $10 a day. Crap. Thank goodness I had Granny's House, dad was paying the property tax, the water was on a well, and garbage was less that $20 a month. A shame we can't afford a TV, but hey, we can stay busy digging up that quarter-acre garden that will keep us fed plus the road kill Deer in the fall.

But the conditions that created saltpeter (I'll go into depth on that later if people are interested) also convinced some weird-ass people in Washington DC that caves were the perfect place to do a DR STRANGELOVE and people could go hide out in the caves, free of...well, nothing, really, because radiation = straight lines +caves, air, irradiated air and water, and everything goes down into the caves...

Look. It made people feel safe, ok? And it wasn't the worst decision the Pentagon ever made, considering they were telling the scientists working with HOT RADIOACTIVE MATTER to stay safe by sticking the stuff on a long pole so they wouldn't have to touch it.

Everybody knows about the bomb shelter President Kennedy was prepared to run to with his family in case of Cold War. It was in the Greenbrier Resort in White Sulphur Springs (I prefer to think of it as the HIDDEN FIGURES birthplace). FYI everybody who lived here knew where it was. There are only so many power stations one measly little resort that cries that it can't afford to pay for its own water bill can keep.

[insert sniffle boohoo sobbing of the pro-confederates who run that place and while I can't be there for you, try to imagine the joy I am stockpiling for the day when we have another traitorous uprising and this time, the resort doesn't get a GO PASS GO by dangerous romantics and is finally burned to the ground.]

Anyway, the important people like the President, his family, his Secret Service, his staff, cook, maid-in-waiting, bootblack and et al got to go bunker down in the luxurious bomb shelter at the resort, which probably wouldn't be very resort-y after a certain point of Castro going, 'fuck you, you whippersnapper Irish Dog' or Khrushchev throwing a little more than his shoe around. I'm not convinced it was that great of a place to hide, really. I mean...they have lightning rods on the trees over there, and believe it or not, cavers in that country have been hit by lightning while underground. Because. Lightning. If it can bake entire acres of potatoes in the field, two subterranean surveyors with metal measuring tape haven't got a prayer.

I want you to know that I can't at this point go into detail (space restrictions) on the importance of all these caves to Union Sympathizers, slaves on the Underground Railroad, and the Far-Righter MAGAS called Confederates. Trust me when I say, if you didn't know where these caves were, you had absolutely no right to know.

In Appalachia, limestone caves were listed on properties and handed down because of their value. Thomas Jefferson made a point of making sure there were lots of caves to provide nitre for the Gunpowder Committee. I don't know if landowners had to pay taxes for having saltpeter caves (probably), but when the Cold War came around, they definitely and cheerfully sold the access rights to the government because...it was the government. I am not in the least bit joking when I tell you there are people over there who are still pissed off over George Washington's Whiskey Rebellion.

If you really want to get into the psyche of Appalachians, go read up every scene Terry Pratchett ever wrote about Lancre in his Discworld books. Just give them more libraries and a LOT of coffee stations.

Oh, dear. I forgot all about the owling and the Prohibition.

Owling = the practice of moving your herds of cattle from one ridge to the next to avoid a higher payment when the taxman came a-calling.

Prohibition = The Second Oldest Profession.

These days, many of the Fallout Shelter caves are being used for...modern needs. Meth labs, if you're a sensationalist, but if you aren't, bear in mind that hiding out stolen cattle and horses still requires big places out in the middle of nowhere. But when Mr. Gov't Man came around and offered cash for the access rights to grand-daddy's old saltpetre cave? Goodness gracious, we know we aren't supposed to take people's money from them because that's a sin, but...taxes...you know how it is... (most of the mountain folk had no real quarrel with Kennedy despite his heathen dog Catholicism because it wasn't his fault he was brought up Catholic, but when it came to the government...well, it was the principle of the thing).

In short order papers were drawn, and shelters were built and good god, they were ugly. Clapboard shantytowns, I swear. They were stockpiles whacked together with off-brand plank and tenpenny nails for where the selected few could bunker up in the cozy, damp, dripping, chilly, dusty, sneezy, probably-warm-from-stray-radiation environs. I have no idea who the Pentagon hated enough that they would send them to these caves. They had a bottleneck opening for easy defense, yes, but there was no defense against puking yourself to death or accidentally taking off your own skin with your uniform at the end of your shift.

YOU THINK I"M KIDDING?? YOU THINK IT IS A COINCIDENCE THAT CLASSIC DR WHO SHOWS DALEK HISTORY IN AN OLD STONE QUARRY? WELCOME ABOARD!

A fallout shelter's stockpile generally consisted of

*High-quality medical equipment, even though some of that stuff had a shelf life of three minutes.

*Radio Equipment. Which was probably a real belly laugh to the folks running the NARO satellite dishes up in Green Bank, because families in the most rural portion of WV (Pocahontas County) spent their evenings parsing Latin and teaching the young lads and lasses the wonders of shortwave and how to rig up your own crystals in case you needed to jackleg your own.

*Food. God. Awful. Food. It was designed to keep you alive, but you can't say anything more charitable about it. Honestly, I'm surprised nobody tried to corner a government contract on dehydrated water.

*Water. Potable water for drinking, but, I should say, I couldn't find any means with which you could make a potable distillery. Or, how much of this potable water was going to be used to rehydrate the ghastly awfulness of the dehydrated food, or the canned goods that included stuff the military couldn't wait to forget. Go ask your grandparents how much canned horse Circa WWII they ate while they served, m'kay?

*Candy. High energy, easily digestible candy. Flavor optional, at the discretion of the same government that made the WWII Chocolate Bar.

*The containers themselves. Yep, they counted. They were heavy metal barrels and tough buckets or small drums, plus the amazingly dense metal and plastic containers for medical kits, candy, and misc. I'm not sure if they had a requirement other than impervious, waterproof, and on sale. In fact, the smaller drums/buckets were supposed to be lined with the plastic used to wrap the other goods, and convert into a toilet.

Cold War comes and goes. I'm sure what happened next is shocking:

1) medical supplies goes missing in the dead of night.

2) Electronics follows. That probably makes the electricians feel good, because...what good would they have done in the wet, dust-filled atmosphere of the caves?

3) Candy. Candy, did you say? I don't remember seeing any candy..?

4) The gradual disappearance of the food rations is mysteriously in proportion to camping trips multitasking with double-dog-dares. Who needs a frat pledge if Freckles here has never been introduced to the joys of Dehydrated Ketchup?

5) If you think the backyard blacksmiths are making forges with tire rims, do you think metal containers stand a chance?

This leaves the barrels of water, but who would want to drink that stuff? It's been sitting around for how long? Ew. And the boards for those shelters...cripes.

This inadvertently makes up a tiny little side bonus for the hard-working tour guide. Because these shelters are usually ridiculously close to the entrance of the tour caves. You have to take your tour group in stages, see, and once they finish gasping and wheezing their way through the first 300 steps, you have to take their minds off how miserable they are and pause at the shelter with your flashlight, and describe this little chapter of history. By this time the bats are hanging off the boards (your chance to remind them of the exorbitant federal fines for hurting these little mosquito-hunters), the occasional lost salamander, and the beginnings of the Dreaded Cave Cricket (ten minutes with these little monsters and you'll never think pink is an effete color ever again).

And the mold. There are patches of mold the guides have been watching for YEARS. Some of them have even bothered to look them up, because...tourists. They love to stump the guides and use it as an excuse for not tipping you because you haven't taken a Master's in The Encompassing Topic of Karst Everything and are clearly a dumbass, hah-hah I'll spend my money in the overpriced gift shop, peasant.

But no, folks. If you ask them one more damn time if they're sure all the candy and drugs are gone...we're too tired to take your bleeping bleep bleep tip anyway.

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bobbyshaddoe80 · 3 years

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Liberated Audio Reviews

Blake's 7 - The Liberator Chronicles Vol. 6

RELEASED OCTOBER 2013

Recorded on: 2, 10 and 30 October and 13 December 2012

Recorded at: Moat Studios

Review By Robert L. Torres

Incentive by Peter Anghelides

'The Liberator crew are recovering from a Galactic War and searching for their lost members Blake and Jenna. But it’s a search that leads them into terrible danger…'

Because this story marks the return of Steven Pacey to the role of Del Tarrant, I think it is best that I get my views on the character out of my system before getting to the rest of the review.

Honestly.... Out of the main characters that have come and gone on the show during its four season run, there are two that I do not count as my favorites.

The first is Soolin, largely due to how bland and one note the character was compared to the character she was brought on to replace in Series D... Cally.

The other character is Del Tarrant, and I shall endeavor to explain why I dislike him despite Steven Pacey's fine performance.

From the first moment he appeared on the show, there was something about him that just rubbed me the wrong way. For years I knew it was the character himself that seemed like the problem... But I could never work out why.

This story finally brought to light why I disliked Tarrant's character. He was a young, cocky, hot shot with loyalties only to himself... Basically a less charming and less endearing version of Star Lord. He was impatient, brash, and only seemed to be throwing in his lot with the resistance for no other reason than for fame and glory.

In addition, Tarrant seemed to go out of his way to get under everyone's skin (or rather just Avon's), and always bristled under Avon's command.

I understand that with Gareth Thomas having left the series, they needed to create a new character to go up against Avon on the decision making, much in the same way Avon used to butt heads with Blake. Except the dynamic between Avon and Tarrant, from what I remember, was different and far more antagonistic than it was between Blake and Avon. Avon was an Alpha dog, but Tarrant was also an Alpha dog. This is probably why most of their disagreements, from what I remember, tended to come across like dick wagging contests.

It has been a while since I saw the series proper, but there are only two things of any significance regarding Tarrant that I remember. The first was the Series C episode 'Death Watch', which I think involved his twin brother Deeta. The other was the episode 'Sand' from Series D, which involved him and Servalan being trapped on a planet together... Having conjugal relations.

While the character of Del Tarrant isn't my favorite, Anghelides does a pretty good job of at least attempting to shed a bit of light on his character. This is accomplished by focusing on his desperate desire to stand out from the crowd and make a name for himself on par with the legendary Blake and Jenna.

The story begins not long after Tarrant and Dayna have officially joined the crew. During their latest attempt to locate Blake and Jenna, Tarrant and Avon are captured and interrogated while strapped to an electro-shock lie detector. This dual focused narrative split is in itself a pretty interesting dig at unreliable narratives, especially given that both Tarrant and Avon receive electro shocks whenever they aren't being completely truthful in their recollections.

By the way, kudos to Adrian Lukis for his exquisite portrayal of Interrogator Bracheeni. The scenes that featured him interacting with Tarrant and Avon were actually some of the best parts of the story. The revelation of who and what Bracheeni is added a great deal to the narrative, especially in providing an explanation as to why the Liberator crew had to abandon the search for Blake and Jenna.

All things considered, it is nice to get an actual in-universe explanation as opposed to what actually happened: the plot thread being dropped without explanation, forcing viewers to accept the fact that Blake and Jenna weren't coming back... Ever.

While there are some interesting ideas and set ups featured in the story, the narrated recollections are not really that engaging. In addition, my problem with this story is the same problem I had with Volume Three's 'Armageddon Storm'. Its a narrated story that should have been done as a full cast audio.

Final Score: 6 out of 10 Plasma Bolts

As it stands, this story does its job of filling an hour and retroactively provides answers to lingering questions, thus making it essential. However, this is marred by being an uneven story that is only half engaging.

Jenna's Story by Steve Lyons

'Jenna's story is finally told - from her escape from the Liberator during the Galactic War, to her determination to continue the fight against the Federation alone… with the odds stacked against her.'

When Big Finish Productions obtained the rights to produce new stories set within Series A through C of Blake's 7, this not only opened up story avenues to provide greater focus stories for many of its characters, but also an opportunity to fill in a couple of gaps in the narrative.

While 'Incentive' was an uneven story, it still managed to do what the show itself was unable or unwilling to do at the time: explain why the Liberator crew abandoned their search for Blake and Jenna.

Answering lingering questions seems to be this boxset's central theme as the next two stories are focused on what happened to the characters that literally jumped ship at the end of Series B, Jenna and Blake.

According to dialogue spoken by Cally in early Series C, it was always assumed that Jenna was with Blake when they abandoned ship during the Galactic War. It was also naturally assumed that Jenna had been with Blake the whole time during Series C and D.

Turns out that wasn't the case at all... Which actually works to the benefit of this story and the next.

Here, Jenna recounts how she spent her time surviving and fighting during the events of Series C and leading into Series D. It provides Sally Knyvette with great material and also serves as a reminder of what made me, personally, fall out of love with the series during Series D... Particularly with the way the series ended.

Let me be clear, as much I personally didn't like not having Blake and Jenna around on the show anymore, Steve Lyons managed to craft an exceptional Jenna-centric story that absolutely had to be told. This story, as well as the next one, managed to do a much better job implementing the central themes of what was meant to be on display during Series C and particularly during Series D: how the crusade that Blake started with hope and optimism slowly but surely devolved into cynicism, suspicion, self-interest and ultimately self-destruction.

This is highlighted well during Jenna's dealings with Correll, played by John Banks, and his disrespectfully dismissive attitude towards people with 'noble causes', his derogatory disbelief in 'heroes', as well as his overriding, self-serving self-interest.

Kudos to Banks for portraying someone that's basically an unlikeable, selfish jerk without becoming despicable.

The crux and climax of the story is based on a line of dialogue Blake tells Tarrant during the series finale regarding Jenna's ultimate fate. While the moment itself is thrilling and well executed, I had hoped that it was a lie as part of Blake's test or something. Still, what was crafted here is suitably tragic as it showcases the depths of Jenna's devotion, and even her love, for Blake.

The ultimate tragedy being that, in the end, she never did get to tell Blake how she felt about him... and how much he meant to her.

Final Score: 10 out of 10 Plasma Bolts

A superbly satisfying sendoff and sublime swansong for Sally's Stannis!

Blake's Story by Mark Wright and Cavan Scott

'Blake's story is finally told - from his escape from the Liberator during the Galactic War, to his new life as a troubled, scarred man on a distant rebel world…'

Before getting into the review, I have to state that while I understand the reasons why Gareth Thomas and Sally Knyvette left the show at the end of Series B, it is my opinion that the show lost quite a bit of its inherent identity once Blake and Jenna were gone.

While many contend that promoting the late Paul Darrow to lead actor was the creative booster shot the show needed, there is a reason the show was still called Blake's 7 and not Avon's 7.

No matter who is given the spotlight and focus, Blake's presence is still very embedded within the show's DNA. Despite his absence, Blake's influence is still keenly felt by those that inhabit this fictional universe... Both directly and indirectly.

While the storytelling avenues may have opened up for the rest of the cast, the audience would still inevitably wonder, 'Where the hell is Blake? When is he coming back?' Largely because the audience was still interested in seeing Blake's story continue.

Both Gareth Thomas and Chris Boucher no doubt understood this to be absolutely true. As long as the Roj Blake character remained alive, but missing from a show that bared his character's name, then Gareth Thomas would not have been able to truly move forward in his career.

Which is why its no surprise that the most memorable moment in the entire series came about at Thomas' insistence.

But this isn't about how Blake's story ends... Its about the circumstances Blake experienced during Series C and D that led to his ultimate fate on Gauda Prime. And I am pleased to say that Wright and Scott do an excellent job filling in the blanks of Blake's journey.

From landing on the planet Epheron in his escape pod, to attempting to reunite with the Liberator (which includes Blake visiting the planet Shorlan post-Armageddon Storm), to being captured, tortured and accused of treachery by the Resistance (thus explaining the scar over his eye he displayed in the series finale), its all presented here brilliantly. I also appreciate how engaging these moments are, and aren't treated as plot points to check off.

The late Gareth Thomas really did a great job with this material, displaying the same charisma and intensity he had shown throughout his tenure on the show, which is doubly unfortunate that he had opted out after Series B.

The framing device utilized for Blake recounting events is brilliant, and the twist reveal is actually rather clever... If a little unsurprising. However, it serves the narrative well as it goes to the heart of the tragic and ironic inevitability that lies ahead for Blake, particularly in his connection to Avon.

Despite their disagreements and opposing ideals... And no matter how often Avon secretly wished to be rid of Blake... They still needed each other.

It often reminds me of why the Doctor chooses to travel with companions, the companions keep the Doctor grounded and keep the Doctor from going too far for the sake of selfish self interest and so on.

While neither one would ever admit it, Blake and Avon had the ability to keep each other in check. And even though Blake said at the end of 'Star One' and even near the end of this story that he always trusted Avon... Its only with the benefit of hindsight do we question whether or not that trust was warranted.

Final Score: 10 out of 10 Plasma Bolts

A truly satisfying sendoff for the original star of the show.

Final score for Volume 6 of the Liberator Chronicles, in its entirety, is 8 out of 10 Plasma Bolts.

This is an essential set of stories for longtime fans. Even though there are six more boxsets of stories left in the range, if the Liberator Chronicles audio range ended here, it would have ended on a major high note.

As an aside, while the next six boxsets have produced some outstanding stories, I personally feel that both 'Jenna's Story' and 'Blake's Story' should have been the stories utilized as the finale for the Liberator Chronicles range overall.

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

Questions or comments:

Email - [email protected]

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#big finish productions #blake's 7 #audiobook #reviews #audio dramas

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laufire · 4 years

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In depth fandom ask: the last fandom you joined bc I can't remember it now

Well, I guess the last fandom I’ve properly joined --making a few edits, starting yet-another-WIP etc.-- is Black Sails, so. Plus I want to talk about it a little, spoiler-free, in case you decide to watch it ^-^ (I’ll leave that to the s3 post I need to finish...).

Top 5 favourite characters: Max is my number one, without a doubt, and of the rest of my faves Silver has an edge... but the remaining positions are a tough fight between Flint, Jack, Madi and Miranda, and I honestly can’t choose DD:

Other characters you like: Mr. Scott, Anne, Idelle, the Maroon Queen, Billy, Eme, Abigail... This show has a lot of great characters tbh.

Least favourite characters: I still loathe Peter Ashe with every fiber of my being. Alfred Hamilton is obviously The Worst(TM). And though it hasn’t grown into hate (yet), I don’t like Woodes Rogers one bit ¬¬

Otps: Flint/Miranda, and the combos in Flint/Madi/Silver and Anne/Jack/Max (in no particular order at the moment because I just HAVE TONS OF FEELS ABOUT THEM ALL).

Notps: I don’t have strong NOPE feelings towards anything, but I’m not into Eleanor/Max (which is a dynamic I actually really like BUT that I’m glad it doesn’t return to shippiness LOL); Eleanor/Rogers (I might be indifferent towards Eleanor most of the time but I haaaaaate Rogers for her. RUN GIRL), Flint/Vane (booooooooring).

Favourite friendships: Max & Silver (THE duo I swear), Jack & Max, Flint & Silver, Idelle & Max (I might not have said so before but I guess I like a little conflict LMFAO), Billy & Flint (NOT a friendship, but their relationship absolutely cracks me up I swear. “Who’s Billy?” XDDD).

Favourite family: Madi’s family, which is all I can say without getting spoilery. I just. *lies down on the floor overcome with emotions* xDD

Favourite episodes: the problem with binge-watching (okay, I’ve taken s3 more slowly but) is that they all kinda blur together LOL. Hmm. The season finales are all *chefs kiss* so far (sometimes in a very painful way... I’m looking at you s2. Though the ominous Flint/Silver moments in the s3 were A LOT too); any in which I get to see Max & Silver scheming together ofc. And the first handful of eps in s3 were particularly enjoyable to me because I was drowning in PURE ANGST and Flint & Silver feels xDD (I can’t NOT believe the fandom seems to call one of those “the shark date” asñldfjasdfñl).

Favourite season/book/movie: oof. I honestly can’t pick; s1 is probably the “least” because the others include better moments for some of my secondary faves, and because there’s a plot that’s really hard to watch... BUT it has things on it I adore to pieces too. s1-2 doesn’t have Madi (major drawback xD), and s3 is after one of my faves’ death... but frankly they’re all neck and neck so far.

Favourite quotes: “I am ruined over you” always comes to mind DD: “Liked is just as good as feared”; Max combo with Eleanor about sand (typing that down made me think of Anidala LMFAO. The scene itself is very different though! xD) in the s1 finale; “in another time, in another place, they would call me a queen”; “this ends when I grant them my forgiveness, not the other way around”, Mr. Scott’s “No. Only YOU.”... honestly, this show’s dialogue is just too good(TM), I could just quote it all back xD. And of course, I HAVE to mention “WHO’S BILLY”. It’s the law.

Best musical moment: the score is perfection all around, but given that I never skip the intro just to listen and watch it... yeah, the intro xD

Moment that made you fangirl/boy the hardest: well, I *might* have lost it the moment CAPTAIN FLINT COMES OUT TO LONG JOHN SILVER OVER A BONFIRE, IDK XDD

When it really disappointed you: the fact that I won’t get to see a fully fleshed out Mr. Scott-Silver dynamic is MAJORLY disappointing, let me tell you. That Flint’s actor didn’t somehow get his mother (aka Maggie Smith aka Professor McGonagall aka Lady Violet) on the show too ¬¬. LOL.

Saddest moment: character’s deaths of two of the characters listed on “top 5”/“others you like” xD.

Most well done character death: the hanging in 3x09 was well done and served its purpose.

Favourite guest star: for a value of “guest star”... I’m going with Idelle.

Favourite cast member: Jessica Parker Kennedy is the one that I know and love for other projects she’s done.

Character you wish was still alive: THE ONE WE TRAGICALLY LOST IN 2x09.

One thing you hope really happens: I’m cheating because I know there’s some of that in s4, but I want to watch more Flint/Madi interactions pls.

Most shocking twist: well, I wasn’t spoiled for Mr. Scott’s plot in s3 so I was (pleasantly) surprised by that xD

When did you start watching/reading?: a little over two weeks ago; I watched (devoured) s1-s2 and 3x01-3x04 in a few days because I wanted to meet Madi, and then I tragically had to slow down :(((

Best animal/creature: I will always love Treasure Islands’ parrot that Silver named after Flint LMFAO.

Favourite location: Nassau aka Max’s ~domain xD. And Miranda’s house.

Trope you wish they would stop using: noooooone. I love the tropes this show reuses LMFAO. Romantic Betrayals(TM), triumvirates, “good things happen in the dark/away from civilization”, the power of narratives, social climbing and revolt... bring them oooooon.

One thing this show/book/film does better than others: quite a few xD. But one that really stands out to me is the dialogue; both the ~deep and sorrowful type (there were so many quotes where I had to take a break to freak out properly lol), and the humorous ones.

Funniest moments: I know I’m repeating myself, but I recently rewatched the pilot to edit some scenes and I keep remember the WHO’S BILLY one xDD (which I maintain it was Flint trolling him. He could give Abigail a rundown of Billy’s whole life story AND he shamelessly checked him out that one time. Flint knows who Billy is, he’s just an asshole xD). Really, all the scenes between Billy and Flint in that episode are comedic gold lmfao. Billy’s “oh dear I fucked up” expression when he tells Flint the crew has started to think him weak and Flint looks half a second away from murdering him right there, his WTF face at Flint’s antics with the stolen page... Gold, seriously.

Couple you would like to see: I meannnnnn. I would’ve been very happy if the show had decided to go with Flint/Madi/Silver, for one. Bonus if Miranda could’ve been included. Or just explicit Flint/Silver in poly arrangements (THEY ARE IN LOVE, IT’S JUST ~COMPLICATED XD).

Actor/Actress you want to join the cast: MAGGIE SMITH DAMMIT.

Favourite outfit: literally everything Max wears in s3. Eleanor’s s1-s2 outfits were things I’d love to wear too. Flint’s ~dramatic coat. Miranda’s collection of supposedly-puritan-but-showing-the-goods dresses xDD (and ofc her London clothes), Jack’s clothes (he’s Nassau’s fashion icon lbr).

Favourite item: the books!! Especially when Flint gave Miranda “La Galatea” as a gift (given that sometimes he reminds me of my OC Latoya, you might understand the freakout I had when he gave the other member of my OTP a book titled like that xDD).

Do you own anything related to this show/book/film?: no, but I kinda want to. I did have a Treasure Planet computer game I tragically can’t find... it was about collecting money in increasingly difficult scenarios LOL. And I probably have more pirate-y/Treasure Island theme stuff. I had a long pirate phase xD

What house/team/group/friendship group/family/race etc would you be in?: Max’s because I like being on the winning team, thanks xD (though I do ~align more with Flint and Madi’s lbr...).

Most boring plotline: Eleanor and Vane’s ~romance is not at all badly written... but the fact that I find both of them boring kinda ruins the whole thing because I always wish that time went to someone else xD. Also, Blackbeard. Meh.

Most laughably bad moment: n/a.

Best flashback/flashfoward if any: the London flashback where Miranda goes to Flint’s house unannounced to take him to an art gallery, she finds him half-naked and he gets all awkward about it lmao. And then they hook up in the carriage :DDD

Most layered character: we get to explore Flint and Silver the most. Silver’s development in particular is something that never ceases to impress me ngl.

Most one dimensional character: except the one-note characters I wouldn’t really call anyone completely one-dimensional, tbh. Though I do think the fandom attributes more complexity to Thomas than it’s seen in canon? Like, I like what I see; I think he’s functional, he works well, and he adds wonderfully to Flint’s (and Miranda’s) story, but I don’t see him as a full character in his own right. Which is perfectly fine for the narrative so far, but I fear it might fall apart for me at the very end.

Scariest moment: I never know what to say in this... I mean, I guess Flint killing a man with his bare hands in the pilot Like That was scary xD. I understand why Silver freaked out LOL.

Grossest moment: any of Max’s interactions with Vane tbh. Stay away from her ¬¬

Best looking male: Flint has that ruggedly handsome thing going on for him, if you’re into that (and sometimes I do appreciate his ~aesthetics... very sad he shaved his head in s3 though. Like, I get you did it for the Angst, honey, and trust me, I Feel U, but still). I feel like I might be forgetting someone, but seriously, none of the dudes in this show so far do anything for me LOL. I can honestly say I love them for their personalities xDD

Best looking female: I have a weakness for Max, but Miranda, Madi, Anne, the Maroon Queen, Idelle, Eme... all of them are gorgeous in their own way. This show is good for sapphic women’s enjoyment in that sense xDD.

Who you’re crushing on (if any): I could crush on any of the women mentioned above tbh.

Favourite cast moment: I have literally only seen this post about an interview where Flint’s actor says he’s too old to party with The Youth of the cast and just wants to chill on the weekend... with bonus Max and Eleanor’s actress talking about how Vane’s once climbed the side of a building up AND back down. I’m with you, Toby Stephens, you don’t need those shenanigans xDD

Favourite transportation: the Walrus, for sentimental reasons LOL. I liked stolen Spanish warship too.

Most beautiful scene (scenery/shot wise): lots of good ones, though I think my fave might be the one of Miranda sitting by the window in London. Or the one of Charles Town burning down, I liked that :))) (I remember thinking “Flint better go full Daenerys on them”. And he did! It was nice xD).

Unanswered question/continuity issue/plot error that bugs you: n/a, so far.

Best promo: n/a.

At what point did you fall in love with this show/book: I liked it from the word go, but the moment that TRULY cemented it for me was in 1x03, with Max making a decision that I... frankly didn’t expect. It made things worse for her in the short-term, the storyline itself was difficult and disturbing to watch and I still have some mixed feelings about it. But what it said about her as a character and how her journey goes after that... I was in awe of her, and of the show.

#missbrunettebarbie #replies #my thoughts #black sails #black sails thoughts #talking to the void #bsmax #miranda barlow #james flint #john silver #flintmiranda #silverflintmadi #silverflint #silvermadi #billy x flint #bsmadi #i think those are the most prominent ones #thanks for the ask :D

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thelowlysatsuma · 5 years

Note

Ramble in whatever form you choose. I won’t be able to be active all the time so if you want to be able to do it whenever you want I’d say text posts but I’ll also try to occasionally ask you about them so there’s some variety

!!! okay! well i think i’ll choose a couple from the list that i haven’t made many posts about before (aka no ts or go) and ramble on here!

oof under the cut bc idk how long this will get

steven universe

oh hon don’t even get me STARTED on su like that shit? that shit is so good? okay first of all i love the cast so much? gosh they’re just all so sweet and cool and sometimes they collab w/ thomas sanders and i love rebecca sugar and im gonna cry they’re so sweet im so soft

okay SECONDLY the show itself oof

okay okay im just? god im so soft?? like the music is so good, i can (and do) watch it w/ my parents, GOD do i wanna cosplay pearl’s new outfit (and rainbow 2.0, if i can pull it off), im in love with the concept and all the fusions and the story and the worldbuilding and god, this made me realize my utter love and adoration of COLOURS like they’re so PRETTY im in LOVE oh my gOD and just

god it has such a good message and such a good plot and such good characters i wanna be steven’s friend i wanna be all of their friends oh man i just can’t wait until my baby cousins are old enough for me to show this to them because i’m going to enjoy that experience so much

ducktales

oh jfc where the fuck do i even start with ducktales okay david tennant as scrooge mcduck makes my fucking life literally he’sthe best goddamn charaacter in the show – well, best besides the triplets (my BOYS), webby (!!! my KID), f e n t o n (god i love that nerd), mark beaks (what an asshole), mrs beakley (i wanna be her when i grow up), launchpad (!!! he!!), and so many others??? this is like serious every character in the show erasure but hot damn duck tales says gay rights and it does so in style (oh yeah also i love lena della donald oh webby’s new friend whose name i forget uhhh herules oh the inventor guy fenton’s boss that dipshit love him uhhh gandra dee who’s voiced by jameela jamil if im not mistaken??????) and yeah it’s a hilarious show but it’s also just a really good one for me to watch whenever i start to like. feel empty inside?? but then like i’ll put on ducktales and i’ll feel better

gravity falls

this show. this show RUINED ME. i started watching it like four years late (aka last year lmao) but GOD, im so in love with it. def another one i wanna show my cousins.

like?? just??? the ciphers and mysteries appeal so much to me and my love of mystery and crime novels, the characters are all amazing, alex hirsch himself is just such a g?? and like. it’s so good. it hurts me so much but then it’s all okay in the end and it’s just. it’s so good.

yeah i sobbed my eyes out when i watched that series finale.

camp camp, which somehow i forgot on my other list

god, is this show hilarious. like, fuck is it funny. it’s so good. it’s so fucking good. i was a little shocked when i saw the first episode but i’m so into it now, and i’m so attatched to all the characters bc they’re just dumbasses trying their best (or worst, in a few cases) and i love them for it. that’s peak fool energy right there and it speaks to me

orphan black

okay okay okay veering now into a much darker type of television, orphan black is??? phenominal???

okay so my best friend @fuck-me-gently-with-a-slurpee got me into it when i was like 14 or 15 i think and i honestly cannot thank her enough because this show is incredible. the plot’s super engaging, i literally cannot say anything about it without giving away spoilers, and the main character has quite possibly the best actor i’ve ever seen playing her

like. you think thomas sanders is good? he ain’t got SHIT on tatianna maslany

mythbusters

you guys. you guys. mythbusters was my childhood. like seriously, i watched that show religiously.

it’s what first got me into science, and it’s what kept me interested in explosions. it’s light and funny and ridiculous and scientifically accurate in the dumbest ways possible. i swear to god the main cast nearly dies once an episode

these guys are my idols. like, i seriously cannot overstate how much i love the mythbusters. adam and jamie, tori, kari, and grant.

when i was a kid, i wanted to be a mythbuster when i grew up, and god damnit, i still do. they mean that much to me

bill nye

fun fact! i actually had no fuckin clue who bill nye was until seventh grade, when i had to watch an episode of his show for homework because i missed a day of class. it was the episode on static electricity, and i remember sitting at my dining room table in the dim winter afternoon light, squinting at my computer, and thinking “what the FUCK am i WATCHING?”

needless to say, i’ve seen more since then, but that initial what the fuckery is still present and i love it.

not only is bill nye the science guy a flippin fantstic show, but bill nye himself? the coolest guy alive. god, i love him. what a g.

various comedians including but not limited to john mulaney,john oliver, and hasan minhaj

okay, as a gay, i am legally required to love john mulaney, but seriously that guy is so. fuckin. funny that i can’t help myself. his timing is priceless, the way he moves onstage is hysterical, just. god i love his stuff.

literally his comedic timing and style is half the reason people find me funny. i just phrase my sentences the way he would because, you know, i’m good at stealing things, and people laugh, and i go “hey. that actually worked”. and then i keep doing it

next, john oliver. okay, so while i don’t watch his show religiously, i do watch it when my parents do every now and again, and fuck is his stuff funny. like. just. shit.

finally, hasan minhaj’s patriot act is just. one of my favourite current events comedy shows out there. it’s in a similar vein to john oliver’s stuff, just more international, and shit, is he good at what he does. i lvoe it.

hoodwinked the movie (i am dead serious)

okay, while i haven’t seen it in over four years, this is still my favourite movie of all time. it also has one of my favourite villain songs of all times, and some of the best character exchanges just. ever. especially with wolf and twitchy

...god, i love twitchy. also the goat. i’m probably gonna be the goat when i grow up, let’s be honest

one day at a time

i just.

there’s so much to say about odaat. like. it’s so funny. it makes me nearly cry every episode (and makes my mother actually cry every episode). the characters, god, the characters

like. alex is such a cute dumb kid (who’s smarter than he looks), penelope is so salty constantly and i love her but she’s genuinely so cool and such a good mom and i cry??? elena is so amazing like god she’s such a fuckin nerd but she’s also so salty (takes after her mom) and is literally the best????

and then there’s abuelita, whom i adore. like, god, rita moreno is SO cool and SUCH a great actress and has SUCH an amazing sense of comedic timing and GOD, i LOVE HER

can’t forget about syd and doc berkowitz, which like. okay first off the good doc. just. god i love the doc. he’s so sweet and such a genuinely good dude and he’s a bit of a coward at heart but that’s okay because he genuinely cares and does his best and god he’s just such an amazing character im !!!!! and then syd is such a dork and i love them and elena and god, it made me so happy to see not only an actual enby character on a big sitcom, but also just?? like??? it’s not forced but it’s still there??? like there’s one episode where one of the plots is just syd and elena trying to figure out what elena should call them, since neither of them are comfy using “girlfriend” for syd since they’re not a girl, and they finally agree on “significant other” and schneider imMEDIATELY says “dont you mean, SYDnificant other?” and then they use that for the REST OF THE SHOW IT”S SO CUTE OKAY

and finally, schneider. he might be my favourite character in the entire show (which is a damn hard list to pick from!!!), but he’s just. he’s so sweet, he and penelope have one of the absolute best male/female friendships i’ve ever seen (which! never! turns! romantic! ever!!!), he’s actually got surprising depths but he’s also like such a nice goofball that when they get revealed, it hurts, and he’s just this canadian dumbass (heyyyyy repreSENT) with the worst goddamn canadian accent sometimes and he’s a hipster and The Dumb Friend and the weird uncle all rolled into one and GOD, i love him so much

the good place and brooklyn 99

okay, i love these two both so, so much, but i’m lumping them together because a) they’re both mike schur shows with a similar sense of humour, that say gay rights, and with characters who’d definitely love each other if they met and b) my hand is getting tired from all this typing but i still have so much love to go around!!!!

okay so so SO! they’re both so good. they’re so fucking funny and amazing and i was immediately hooked on both of their pilots. their characters are all so genuine and flawed and fucking hysterical to watch, and the ships and friendships are all so amazing and pure and good and soft and they have their problems and they WORK THEM OUT HEALTHILY AND IT MAKES ME SO HAPPY OKAY!!!

god, i literally cannot overstate how much i adore these two shows. mike schur, you’re a wonderful, wonderful dude. thank you so much

many musicals (top faves include BOM, hamilton, legally blonde, chicago, matilda, and more!)

i’m putting the musicals together because while i do adore each and every one of them individually, i also just have great big deep-seated love of the art of musical theatre itself in general, ya feel?

like, as someone who’s been both performing and viewing them from a very young age, the sheer sense of utter joy they bring is almost unparalleled

not to be That Bitch who quotes musicals, but “and that hop in our hearts as the overture starts lets us know how lucky we are” might be the closest i’ve ever gotten to finding words to fit the feeling when the lights go down and the show begins. it’s simply phenomenal

the others series by anne bishop

okay, OKAY, if you haven’t read this series (first book called written in red – they have terrible titles but god, they’re worth it), then what are you doing with your life? like, not only is there the perfect logicality au to them (just sayin’), but god, it’s such an incredible series

the worldbbuilding is so cool and the characters are all great and god the ships are the damn hill i die on it’s got literally such a good “sort of enemies mostly just dislike each other to reluctant acquaintances to friends to lovers” ship and it deals with some serious issues rlly well and it’s got baby puppies!!!

like, they’re wolf puppies, but still, they are b a b e y

and finally (for now, at least), the mysterious benedict society, by trenton lee stewart

this book series was my childhood. i mean, there are so many other books i could be talking about right now that i utterly adore (the artemis fowl series springs to mind), but gosh, MBS just brings me such absolute joy to read that i just had to have it on here.

i’m not thinking straight at this point in the evening, but i just wanna say that i will never, not ever forget about reynie. about kate. about sticky. about constance. about rhonda and number two and milligan and miss perumal and my absolute son sq pedalian and, of course, i will never, never forget about mr benedict

it’s bright, and it’s bittersweet, and it’s beautiful.

and it’s good. simply, utterly, wonderfully good.

thank you for the ask, anon.

thank you.

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scotianostra · 5 years

Photo

On December 28th 1879 the Tay Bridge disaster occurred.

The first Tay Rail Bridge collapsed while a train was passing over it from Wormit to Dundee, killing all aboard.

The fall of the Tay Bridge was a terrible blow to the self-confidence of Scottish engineering. Calculations for the bridge had failed to take into account the fierce wind speeds which could be reached in the Firth of Tay. sub-standard materials had also been used in key parts of the construction.

On the night of 28 December 1879, the bridge came down in a storm. All on board the Dundee-bound train on the bridge at the time were killed - a total of 75 persons, not 300, which was the erroneous total telegraphed out of Dundee in the first hours of the disaster. One of the first with the news in Edinburgh was the Courant. Its information came down the wire from Dundee via Perth. This is what they published.....

We have this morning to record one of the most dreadful disasters that have ever occurred in this country, through the falling of part of the Tay Bridge, and the sweeping away of a passenger train, involving great loss of life. The first intimation of the catastrophe which reached Edinburgh was a telegram received at the Waverley Station about eleven o'clock last night, stating that some of the high girders of the Tay Bridge had been blown down, and expressing a fear that they had carried with them the 4.15 p.m. passenger train from Edinburgh, due at Dundee at 7.10.

A special train was at once prepared, and it started about half-past twelve for the scene of the disaster, with Mr Walker, the manager; Mr McLaren, passenger superintendent; Sir Thomas Bouch, C.E. [the engineer who built the bridge]; and Mr Bell, engineer. Owing to the bad state of the telegraph wired, little or no information regarding the disaster was received till a late hour this morning.

Our Dundee correspondent telegraphs this morning:-

Yesterday afternoon Dundee was visited by one of the most fearful hurricanes which has ever been experienced, and has been accompanied with unparalleled destruction of property, the large centre portion of the Tay Bridge having been blown down during a fearful blast, and it is also feared that the passenger train from the south, which was seen entering on the bridge at the Newport side a few minutes before the accident, and which has not since been heard of, has, with its passengers, been carried away with the fallen girders, and with these now lies in the bed of the river. From the time the gale began it continued to increase in fury until it became a perfect hurricane from the south-south-west. The property in the western suburbs and the Tay Bridge were exposed to the full fury of the blast. The streets, especially in the West End, were literally covered with debris of chimney-cans and slates which had been blown from the roofs of houses. Every moment the slates might have been seen flying off the roofs, whirling in the air and then falling in the street below in pieces. The danger to foot-passengers was exceedingly great, and many persons narrowly escaped from being struck by the toppling masses of masonry which formed the chimneys, or by the falling slates and chimney-cans. Palings and walls in a great many places have been demolished. Trees have been uprooted, and the shrubbery in gardens terribly destroyed. Indeed, so dreadful was the gale about seven o'clock that very few people were to be seen on the streets, and those who were then seen, and who had to walk against the wind, found it almost impossible to make headway. Each one appeared to be in terror of being injured by the missiles carried about in the air by the gale from the roofs of the houses, and appeared only anxious about getting home. About half-past seven the rumour spread that a large part of the Tay Bridge had been blown down, and that a passenger train crossing at the time had fallen into the river with the structure. As this rumour passed from mouth to mouth, it was thought so incredible that very few believed it. The bridge, since its completion, has withstood many a terrific blast, and remarks were made to the effect that it could hardly be possible that such a structure, in whose stability against both tide and wind its engineers and constructors had always had the most decided confidence, could have been demolished. The news conveyed by rumour, however, was so appalling and so startling that although it was generally received with reservation, everyone who heard it made off at once, almost with bated breath to the Magdalen Yard Point, and to the Tay Bridge Station, with the view of ascertaining what foundation there was for it. In the course of a very short time the persons in quest of information could be counted by hundreds. At the Tay Bridge Station, however, the officials were unable to give any information, beyond the fact that since a few minutes after seven o'clock communication between the signal cabins at each end of the bridge had been cut off. From the station enquiries proceeded by the Perth Road and the Esplanade to the Magdalen Yard Point, where the signal cabin is situated, in order to pick up whatever particle of information could be obtained. A good many persons entered the cabin box and enquired at the signalman as to the extent of the supposed calamity, but he could throw no further light on what was a very painful mystery. The railway officials, who had naturally become alarmed, especially since they were aware that there was no communication with the south end of the bridge, resolved to satisfy themselves whether the superstructure was safe or not. Accordingly Mr Roberts, superintendent of the locomotive department, determined to go along the bridge. This he did at considerable risk, for the force of the hurricane was such that at times he was almost completely lifted off his feet, and was in great danger of being blown into the river; but urged by the anxiety within his breast to learn in what condition the bridge was, fear for the time being comparatively banished, and he with considerable courage and daring continued the prosecution of his dangerous task. Having walked along the bridge as far as he could, he then crawled on his hands and knees as far as the point where the high girders begin. Here his course was arrested; horror stricken, he found that the rumour in circulation was too true, the whole of the thirteen girders, each 245 feet in width and 250 tons in weight, and which, as it were, had formed a tunnel in the middle of the bridge, were gone and nothing remained but the bare iron piers which had supported them. Mr Smith, the stationmaster, also made a similar journey along the bridge from the other end, and found that what Mr Roberts reported as to the destruction of the middle of the bridge was absolutely true.

Four o'clock a.m.

A message just received estimates the number of passengers in the fated train at not less than 200. The man in the signal cabin at the north end of the bridge states that at about ten minutes past seven the Edinburgh train was signalled as having entered on the bridge at the south end, and that, in signalling a reply a moment or two afterwards, no communication with the south end was found to exist.

About an hour after the catastrophe had happened, several gentlemen, who reside at the West End of Dundee, and others who had been walking along the Perth Road at points commanding a view of the bridge, proceeded to the Tay Bridge station, and reported to Mr Smith the stationmaster, what they had seen of the calamity. Their testimony concurred us to the time at which the fearful accident had occurred. The evening was very clear, a full moon shedding bright light over all the town, and clearly revealing the outline of the Tay Bridge.

4.30 a.m.

Mr Walker, manager of the North British Railway, telegraphing from Leuchars, at four o'clock this morning, has communicated the following to the newspapers: - 'From reports made to us here of the terrible calamity at the Tay Bridge, it appears that several of the large girders of the bridge, along with the last train from Edinburgh, were precipitated into the river about half-past seven last night. There were, I deeply deplore to say, nearly 300 passengers, besides company's servants in the train, all of whom are believed to have perished. The cause of the accident has not yet been ascertained.'

The train was timed to arrive at the bridge at 7.08 p.m., and was signalled at 7.14, only six minutes behind time. Accounts are contradictory as to whether the bridge had given way before the arrival of the train, or whether it had succumbed under the combined pressure of the engine and carriages and the hurricane. There can be no doubt, however, as to the fate of the train and its human freight, however many or few were in it.

The centre portion of the bridge was constructed on piers of greater strength than those which supported the parts of the bridge nearer the land on either side. Here it was necessary to provide stronger columns to support the weight of the superincumbent girders, which at the navigable portion of the river have a span of 245 feet, and weigh 190 tons each. The cylinders employed for the bridge were made round, and on them were deposited great masses of brickwork up to high-water mark. From this point each pier was composed of six iron columns, constructed in 10 feet lengths, and of a proportionate thickness. Thirteen pieces of this kind carried the bridge over the navigable channel of the river, which on an average is about 45 feet in depth.

During a violent gale in February 1877, while the bridge was in process of construction, two of the largest girders, which had been raised to the top of the piers prepared for them, but had not been put in their places, were blown down from the hanging gear. About the same part the bridge has now given way under the strain of the elements, and led to a disaster the terrible magnitude of which it is impossible at the present moment to estimate.

As we have said, the water in the centre is over forty feet deep, the height of the bridge is eighty-eight feet above, and nothing is conceivable but that the train and its passengers must be lying in the bed of the Tay.

As the news did not reach Edinburgh till very late, there was of course little excitement in the city. Some of those who did hear the news would not credit it, and seeing that only private messages were received, conviction was not then forced upon any save those who were known to have friends in the train. These, by enquiries at the Waverley Station, learned that two railway officials at the Dundee station, anxious about the train, attempted to cross over the bridge, but they were driven back by a deluge of water which was escaping from the pipes employed to convey the water supply of Newport across the bridge.

Edinburgh Courant, 29 December 1879.

Of course some of the details have been proven to be incorrect since that first report, and an inquiry held that the fall of the bridge was occasioned by the insufficiency of the cross-bracings and fastenings to sustain the force of the gale on the night. If found there must have been weak points in the structure, this is true and although the designer the noted railway engineer Thomas Bouch was initially held responsible in the years that have fallen since the disaster he has been exonerated, to an extent, the main reason that contributed to the collapse has been put down to bad quality steel, the company making it cut corners to save money, having said that neither Bouch nor the contractor appeared to have regularly visited the on-site foundry where iron from the previous half-built bridge was recycled. The bridge failed because of defects in its manufacture. This meant it did not reach the standards of wind resistance intended by the designer.

#Scotland #disaster

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the-master-cylinder · 4 years

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The Arkansas native was discovered at the age of 17 by James Bridges, the talented screenwriter of Colossus: The Forbin Project (1970) who had gone on to establish a substantial directing career before his death two years ago. “He had come to Arkansas to shoot an autobiographical piece, but he didn’t have his leading lady,” recalls Blount. “He certainly did not intend to cast her out of Arkansas; they were still trying to find an actress in Hollywood. I literally sat on the doorstep in his motel for days until he would agree to see me it was the only way they could get rid of me.”

The film was titled (9/30/55) September 30, 1955 (1977), the date of the death of James Dean, whose career had had a tremendous impact on Bridges. Despite its realistic tone, the film was Blount’s first brush with the genre, due to a quirk of her character, “a girl from the wrong side of the tracks who thought she was Vampira. When James Dean died, she did not know what to do, so she got herself dressed up as Vampira, because she knew Dean hung out with her. It’s so poignant, so pitiful, to see these kids try to make sense out of the death of this gigantic persona.”

Unfortunately, the film never found its audience. “Universal didn’t know what to do with it: they gave it one of those quickie releases. It’s brilliant, but it was way ahead of its time; I’ve heard some people call it the BREAKFAST CLUB of its era, because it was a cast of unknowns who went on to do very well: Dennis Quaid, Richard Thomas, Dennis Christopher.”

After the location work, the actress moved West to shoot the interiors. “Coming to Hollywood caught me by surprise,” she recounts. “I had left high school real young, because I planned on graduating (college) by the time I was eighteen, and I never really intended to move to Hollywood. Most kids in that part of the country who want to become actors go to New York, which is where I thought I would go. But I had an opportunity to meet people, so I came out here and eventually made it my home.”

Blount’s second feature was Dead & Buried (1981) written and produced by Ron Shusett and directed by Gary Sherman. “In my opinion, it was one of the better horror films ever made, structurally,” claims the actress. “Every red herring pays off. It’s not a gory movie; it’s a horror movie. I played a reanimated person-essentially, a Barbie doll. I was young and cute enough at the time to pull it off.”

“My experience of making horror films is that they’re very difficult and painful. You scream a lot and end up scantily clad in a cold environment constantly,” she explains. “For instance, in DEAD AND BURIED, we had a shot of me nude in the water, off the coast of Mendocino, below freezing. We decided that we would not show breasts, so I had pasties on. I got serious hypothermia, got back where it was warm, and yanked the pasties off-along with all this skin that was attached. And they couldn’t even use the footage because I was blue and my teeth were chattering too bad. We had to reshoot that out in Malibu.

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The film that brought the actress the most attention was An Officer and a Gentleman (1982) a fact she regards somewhat ambivalently. “It gave me an opportunity that so few actors get, to be in a movie that broke box office records, that’s been seen by damn near every person on the face of the Earth,” she reflects. “I was lucky to get that, and I have a kind of love/hate relationship with the movie now, because I’ve been associated with it for so long. When I read something in a magazine about Richard Gere or Debra Winger, it will say AN OFFICER AND A GENTLEMAN next to it; it’s like nobody can shake this movie. It became my middle name: ‘Lisa Blount.’ For the longest time, my goal was that I just wanted a different middle name; I wanted somebody to associate me with something else. I really don’t feel that way anymore; I just think in time people will forget. But if it was not for that movie, I would not have done the other twenty that I had a shot at because of the success of that one, so generally I’m grateful.”

What Waits Below (1984)is an uneven Sandy Frank production about a joint scientific-military expedition that unearths a lost Lemurian civilization in the depths of a bottomless cavern. Fortunately, the film is helped by a talented cast, including Blount, Robert Powell (Ken Russell’s TOMMY), and Richard Johnson (THE HAUNTING). Director Don Sharp is well remembered for Hammer’s KISS OF THE VAMPIRE (1962, a.k.a. KISS OF EVIL), but like many of his later efforts, this fails to fulfill his early promise.

The filming involved another behind-the-scenes horror story, although in this case Blount was not one of the unfortunate victims of the misadventure. “We were down about three miles deep in a cave,” the actress recalls. “We would go into the caverns before dawn, stay there all day, and come out at night, so we never saw the sunlight, except for Sunday. At one point, I was captured and tied up on a little rise inside the cavern. All the extras, as the Lemurians, were out in front of me, and I watched all these people just start silently falling over, fainting, as this wave of carbon monoxide came at them. All hell broke loose. We had little golf carts for transportation, and it was an immediate emergency situation of getting out, but these carts didn’t go that fast. We had very sick people, and it was a matter of determining who got in the first car out-youngest ones first. It was just total chaos. There were sixty people who went to the hospital. I was fortunate; I may have gotten some of it, but it didn’t bother me. As far as I know, nobody was permanently injured. It was just one of those technical problems where the generator running everything backed up and started shooting fumes back into the cave. We had to shut down for a few days because of that, but we got through it.”

Her role in Radioactive Dreams (1985), film which she terms “pure fun.” The low-budget effort is one of many from director Albert Pyun. “I loved this movie,” the actress proclaims. “Now I think this was a good film that did not get its day but that was a blast.”

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Filming still had its share of pain, but in this case it was part of the characterization. “I had to play a woman disguised as a man who later reveals herself to be a woman,” she says. “I worked out and thought I was in good shape. Then I went to costuming, and they gave me a jacket with fake muscles. My skinny little muscles were not quite what they had in mind, so there ! was sweating to death in a 50 pound jacket. But we had a good time on that. They gave me this machine gun that was actually in production-at one time, the L.A.P.D. had considered it. But it kicked too much; it was unpredictable. The special effects people got hold of one, so I got to use it to wipe out about forty people. There was one of those long dolly moves, and because of the way the shot was designed, it just did not look right to put it against my shoulder, so I had to do it free-handed, straight out, and this thing kicked so bad that most people would pull the trigger and go flying fifty feet backwards! I worked and worked with it till I got it to where I could shoot and it looked good. I loved that stuff. It’s not what you call one of your finer points of method acting, but that’s what acting really comes down to so often: learning how to use a prop. I’ve done a lot of stuff with quns, and I go to an annual celebrity shoot now. It’s kind of a hobby for me; it actually came out of working with guns in movies and then saying, ‘Hell, I better learn this shit for real.’ It just looks better if you know what you’re doing. I’m really good with car work, too. I’m challenged by ‘You’re going to fly over this embankment and hit this mark.’ If I can do it, I’ll do it: if I can’t, I let the stuntman. I guess there’s just this macho side of me, but I get a kick out of it.”

Next up was a piece of exploitation cinema from Italian director Ruggero Deodato, who has managed to earn a certain cult status from films with charming titles like CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST. In Cut and Run (1985), Blount co-starred with perennial villain Richard Lynch, who played a charismatic Jim Jones-type character operating a cocaine ring deep in the jungle. Location filming in Venezuela “was without a doubt the roughest thing that ever happened to me,” according to the actress. “I swam in the river, not by choice but because I had to in the movie, with electric eels and piranha. I got my hand sliced up with rusty nails, jumping in and out of canoes, and got stung by things that god only knows what they were. But it was fun, and I survived it.”

What the actress almost did not survive was the monsoon season. “We were shooting out in the middle of the Amazon, in this little place where they could land a plane, and we overshot one day. The monsoon was coming, and we were going to spend the night there with no food and no shelter. We had two planes, and one pilot-he was a local said, ‘I can fly out of this; if anybody wants to come with me, I’ve got three seats.” hopped in, and we were tossed around in the air like a piece of paper. It was just amazing the force of nature There was absolutely no doubt that we were going to be dying. We ended up making an emergency landing in a village of hammock-makers, and these people were so wonderful. They were natives who did the best they could to take care of us until the next day, when we were rescued.”

Stormin’ Home (1986) Gil Gerard Lisa Blount Original TV Promo Photo

“My other horror story of a horror film was working for John Carpenter on Prince of Darkness (1987),” she continues, referring to the director’s underrated horror effort which restated the old Good vs Evil theme in science-fiction jargon. “I jump through a mirror and save the world from the Devil at the end of the movie. Well, the way it was shot was in a swimming pool, covered with a piece of plexiglass, and the camera was looking straight down as I was reaching toward safety. This involved learning to scuba dive. Since it was only the bottom of a pool, nobody saw much need to give me much instruction, so in the shallow end ! learned how to breathe, and they weighted me down with 40 pounds so I would not float. It was all done with light cues, because they put ink in the water, so it was dark down there. They would flash a light; I would take away my equipment, do my scream, blow all the air out of my lungs, then pick up the diving mask and walk out. What they failed to tell me is you should always blow into your mask before inhaling, because water goes into the air line. So I inhaled water straight into my lungs. I couldn’t float to the top, because it was covered with plexiglass. There was a diver down there, and he came to guide me to the shallow end. I couldn’t tell him I was drowning, because it was pitch black. He was walking me slowly out

of the pool, while I was fighting the urge to inhale. The only thing I could do was kick him as hard as I could to get him out of my way so I could scramble out on my own. I puked and coughed water for days. And in the movie the shot is just four seconds of nothing particularly outstanding, and you just go, ‘Well, I guess it was worth it.’ Nowadays, when I see good stunt work, boy, do I appreciate it!”

Along with Catherine Mary Stewart, Blount was one of the acting ensemble playing passengers aboard Nightflyers (1987), a sort of “PSYCHO in a Spaceship” story, with a visual look inspired by ALIEN. The script was based on the excellent novella by George R. R. Martin, but the $3.5-million film didn’t do justice to its source. “That was fun,” says Blount. “It wasn’t a great movie, but I thought it ended up looking good. My problem was it was just a formula script; the actors did everything they could with it, but you just need a good script.”

If drowning and asphyxiation were her other film horrors, in this case the treachery of portraying an airless zero gravity environment proved to be the greatest difficulty. “Flying hurts a lot,” she says. “You’re rigged up forever, and they can’t let you down, so you get little welts. I mean like, ‘It’s bleeding-now can I come down?’ They had us in these space suits with the bubblehead and tubes. Well, whoever built these things forgot we actually had to live in them. The tube was solid, so the only way you could breathe was to lift up the visor, grab some air, then flip it down. So you do your scene and hope you don’t faint before you get your dialogue out, then lift it up to breathe again. So it was not the best way to work.”

Blount’s filmography runs the gamut from box office blockbuster to cult flick. One of the more obscure examples of the latter is Femme Fatale (1991). “I got to play the most wonderful character,” she enthuses, “a lesbian bad filmmaker who considered herself quite the artist. It’s a great cast: Billy Zane is brilliant in it, and Lisa Zane is great. She had to play this character with eight different multiple personalities, and I was her jealous lover. I was chasing her down, trying to still make bad movies, and clobbering the wrong people. It was a hilarious black comedy with a real kind of gruesome edge to it. That was really the take we ended up going with in the whole movie, and it was a good thing. Done any other way it just would have been too stupid, but when everybody doing the movie is in on the joke, you could get it, with your tongue in your cheek. So that’s the way we did it, and it was so much fun. I was there for a number of screenings for the sci-fi community, and people went nuts over this thing.”

Don Murray and Lisa Blount in Sons and Daughters (1991)

In an episode of HBO’s THE HITCHHIKER (Deadly Nightmares, One Last Prayer) series, Blount played a rock singer with a split personality. “She was in touch with who she really was, and she had this rock-n-roll persona. At one point, she divides and becomes in the physical world two people, so we got to do some of that split-screen stuff, where I yell at myself a lot. I was really disappointed in my performance, because I’d never done it before, and it was very difficult to get the timing right. People have done that in movies very often, and boy I’m really amazed when I see somebody do that well, because I tried it and it’s harder than it looks. There are no special courses in split-screen acting, but there should be.”

Blount’s favorite work is not in a horror movie but in the Hallmark Hall of Fame television production, An American Story (TV Movie 1992). “As much as I enjoyed doing the horror stuff, this was an opportunity to really get down to business,” she explains. “For me, it was very serious. Hallmark does wonderful projects, and this was a subject that had never really been done before. It was about a very small Southern community, where the men are trying to re-integrate into the society, post World War II, and their families are trying to deal with it. It’s very multidimensional, and it took a lot of time for me to find the character: 1 worried myself sick over it; I wanted to do the women justice who had actually gone through these experiences. I didn’t have anything to call upon but my own imagination. Everybody involved gave their all, and it was so well received. I got such glowing reviews, like never before. It was just overwhelming. I think I’m most proud of that.”

Blount’s most recent genre performance, in the Castle Rock adaptation of Needful Things (1993), went almost unseen, due to post-production editing. “Any Stephen King fan would know that Cora Rusk is an integral character in the novel; in the script she was also integral, so I went to Canada and froze my butt off for three months. Cora’s fantasy was Elvis Presley. She goes to the shop and buys a bust of Elvis, comes home and communicates. We did not do any flashbacks to Graceland or anything; it was all done with me in the bed, with Elvis just talking and singing. Then Mr. Gaunt (Max von Sydow) calls, and tells her that he can make Elvis do more than sing. She will do anything for this, so she is given her Devil’s deed and gets what she wants; then she goes crazy. I had a scene with J.P. Walsh that was absolutely wonderful-I was sitting in a bar, having a conversation, completely out of my mind. They gave me all my material on a videocassette: I’m running around in a see-through negligee in the dead of winter with little booties like house slippers, this tacky old coat, Elvis shades, and kind of a Priscilla Presley hairdo from the ’60s.

One Last Prayer

“Because there are so many characters, it was a bit overwritten and perhaps a bit overshot—the director’s first cut was over three hours,” Blount continues. “It finally got down to Castle Rock saying to Frazer Heston, ‘You can either cut it down, or we won’t release it.’ He called me up and said he did everything possible to keep Cora in. But when it came time to edit, it was a lot easier to take out Cora , because I had so little contact with the other characters-my work was with Elvis in bed. I was very disappointed. There is certainly no blame to be put on anybody, but it hurt, because you like to have your work seen.”

More recently, Blount played the murder victim in a horrific true life story, a television movie called Murder Between Friends (1994). “It was interesting because I have never come across anything like this after all these years of acting,” she recounts. “The filmmakers had in their possession documents from the court. For example, they knew where the murder weapon, a baseball bat, was in the room; they knew there was a bloody handprint on one wall. There were no witnesses to what actually occurred, so the actors had to block out the scene and go through the motions that would have to happen for the bat to end up there and for her to still be alive to crawl over and put the hand print on the wall at this particular place. Going through that was at first sort of technical, but there came a moment that was not so technical for me at all. It was so real to me that this had occurred to a human being.

We were very aware all the way through that these were real people, it was not a fictional situation, and we gave it all due respect. But to be on the floor. crawling-even though the bat was rubber, it still hurts when it hits you—and to have this man towering over me going through the motions of bludgeoning me was one of the most hideous experiences. I just got sick. It was like the line of reality had been crossed.”

Despite her numerous genre appearances, Blount has managed to avoid being typecast as a horror movie scream queen, amassing an impressive number of mainstream credits. After 9/30/55, she worked with Dennis Quaid twice more, in Flesh and Bone (1993), with James Caan and Meg Foster, and in Great Balls of Fire! (1989), the story of Jerry Lee Lewis. (“I played his mother-in-law, which was funny, because he’s a number of years older than I am. This was in fact pretty much the situation in reality.”) She also appeared with Rutger Hauer (BLADE RUNNER) in Blind Fury (1989), a take-off on the well loved Japanese Zatoichi series, about a blind samurai swordsman. The actress played “a cocktail waitress who got hoodwinked and dragged along into this situation. She could not figure out whose side she was on for the longest time, but in the end she goes for the right side. It was fun, and Rutger’s great. That’s a well-made movie, directed by Philip Noyce. I think it’s the only film I think he’s done that wasn’t a huge success.”

Blind Fury (1989)

Of her work in the genre, she concludes, “Adventure movies and horror movies—I’ve done a lot of both-turn out to be physically demanding in ways that you don’t realize when you see the final product. You know, I thank God for stunt people. I am athletic, and when I felt it was necessary—when I felt the shot would suffer by allowing the stunt person to do it would do it myself. Those days are long since gone. From now on, I’ll do what I have to, but I’ll give these people work and let them do it. I would not trade those experiences for anything but I would not do it again. Once you get to a certain point in chronological age, as well as having done as many of them as I have, the fun wears off.”

Blount was found dead in her home in Little Rock, Arkansas by her mother on October 27, 2010. The coroner told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette that Blount appeared to have died two days earlier. No foul play was suspected, according to the Pulaski County coroner.

Although the coroner did not release an official cause of death, Blount’s mother told RadarOnline.com that her daughter had suffered from idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP), in which low levels of platelets keep blood from clotting and lead to bleeding and bruising. “I think that might have been part of the problem when she passed away because when I found her she had a purple look on her neck that looked like blood on the surface”.

SELECTED FILMOGRAPHY 1977 September 30, 1955 1979 The Swap 1981 Dead & Buried Girl on the Beach/Lisa 1982 An Officer and a Gentleman 1984 What Waits Below 1985 Radioactive Dreams 1985 Cut and Run 1985 Cease Fire 1987 Nightflyers 1987 Prince of Darkness 1988 South of Reno 1989 Out Cold 1989 Great Balls of Fire! 1989 Blind Fury 1991 Femme Fatale 1993 Needful Things Cora Rusk 1994 Stalked Janie 1994 Judicial Consent 1996 Box of Moon Light 1999 If… Dog… Rabbit… 2002 A.K.A. Birdseye Vicky Sharpless 2005 Chrystal Chrystal 2007 Randy and the Mob

CREDITS/REFERENCES/SOURCES/BIBLIOGRAPHY Imagi-Movies v02n03

Lisa Blount: Short Life, Short Career The Arkansas native was discovered at the age of 17 by James Bridges, the talented screenwriter of…

#BABES

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backroomblogs · 7 years

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Kyrie Irving is now a Boston Celtic - Matt

It seems like this whole transaction happened in a matter of minutes. The move was rumored, twitter erupted for only a couple of hours with multiple potential deals tweeted out by both credible and many non-credible users, and then it happened. Kyrie Irving was traded to the Boston Celtics in return for Isaiah Thomas, Jae Crowder, Ante Zizic, and the 2018 Brooklyn Nets pick (Unprotected). I have mixed emotions about what the Celtics gave up in this move, but overall I definitely think it was the right move.

The primary part of this trade that I am down, as I’m sure is relatable to many others, is seeing IT go. Isaiah Thomas was so good for the city of Boston and the Celtics organization, surely more than he will be given credit for. Not only was he our best scorer in his two full years with the team (25.5 PPG), an ignitor for our offense, a better passer than given credit for, as well as living to the nickname ‘King of the Fourth’; He embodied what it means to be a Boston athlete. He didn’t take harshly to the bright lights, obnoxious fans, media scrutiny and everything else that makes it difficult for some athletes to play here. Instead, he embraced it all. Being the 60th pick in his draft and being one of the smallest players in the entire league he was used to playing with a chip on his shoulder. Every time he took the court for the Celtics, he went out and played with such intensity that it was easy to single him out as one of the leaders of the club. He took it to the basket as if he was 8 inches taller than he was and hand problem finishing it off. At any given time, he could go on a scoring burst where he would shoot lights out, stopping on a dime and shooting it with such confidence that it definitely resonated with his teammates. He would dive for loose balls, get hacked and hammered any time he had the ball, and a lot of the time draw the opposing teams best defender. Most of all, he was a man of confidence on and off the court, that cared about the fans and the city of Boston. He understood what the importance of hoisting banners is in this city and he showed consistently that he was driven on helping us raise another one. Everything Isaiah did I am infinitely grateful for as a fan, and the Cavaliers are beyond lucky to have a guy like him on their roster.

Zizic could possibly develop into a fine rebounder in the league, and maybe even a decent all around big, but I don’t think his ceiling was all that high. So really, other than the fact that losing him decreases our big depth (the Celtics most glaring issue going into next year) I’m not in any sort of dismay seeing him go. Crowder, on the other hand was a solid player, and one offer better defenders. A solid addition for the Cavs, but not somebody that I am too sad to see go either. He is young, but so aren’t the other two young men (Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum) that play his position, as well as the 2 and 4, but Both are very capable of playing the 3. I see more promise in the both of them than I do in Crowder, and obviously, so didn’t Danny Ainge, who seems like he had been willing to deal him for a while now. Not only do we have young depth that can help out at that position, we also grabbed another wing to fully takeover the starting SF role, Gordon Hayward. That was the icing on the cake as far as demonstrating that Jae Crowder’s days were numbered in Boston. What he did was definitely appreciated, but he simply wasn’t someone who the Celtics should have been hesitant to pass on, so I like that move. The 2018 Brooklyn pick may even be more valuable to the Cavs than IT in the long run, depending how this year as well as next summer goes. Brooklyn should definitely be one of the teams at the pit of the NBA next year which is something that our conference foes will look forward to this year. However, while next years draft seems to be stocked with some talent, I really don’t think that it will match this years high level aptitude of this years crop of players. The Celtics have a lot to work with in terms of draft picks, so shipping off what is most likely the best of your remaining picks to help piece together wealth of other great young talent and a potential championship core, seems like it is most certainly the right move to me.

What we got in return for this heap of players and a probable top 5 pick next year, is Kyrie Irving. A 25 year old 4x all star, former Rookie of the year, and 2016 NBA Champion. He is a bonafide superstar already, a proven offensive juggernaut. Again he is only 25 years old. With the addition of Kyrie after we already landed Gordon Hayward, the Celtics have precisely what the consistently lacked last year; multiple people that are creating their own shot. Irving is honestly probably better than any other person in this league at that already. He had his best scoring year yet last year in his early career (25.2), and he put up these numbers while playing alongside Lebron James. Now I am fully aware that on the court, there is literally almost no better person to play with than Lebron James, who is excellent at creating buckets forms teammates. However, Lebron was absolutely more of the point guard for that team, in terms of controlling tempo and reading the floor. Here in Boston, he will have many more chances to be that guy, and expand his game beyond being just a tenacious scorer. Although he is not a bad passer by any means, actually to the contrary he is very efficient in that part of his game, being able to read the floor at the start of almost every possession will help him reach his true potential as a passer and floor general. Being the offensive’s best option for putting the ball in the basket, while also being the teams true point guard I feel will really benefit him because it isn’t like he has to change his game, but he will almost automatically enhance it. He has made a name for himself as the league’s premier scoring point guard, and he is still improving in that facet. His time in Boston will only make him better in all parts of his game, most importantly like the ones he isn’t nearly as proficient in, and I am speaking almost entirely about his defensive play. Honestly, I feel like most of his struggles at that end of the court are a matter of effort. Hopefully his role as the leader of this team will make him want to take on what any true leader should, being a force at both ends of the court. Due to the size difference between the two, he is already an upgrade from IT, who struggled mightily at that end of the court when being forced to go against the leagues much bigger and talented athletes. Kyrie isn’t a liability at that end of court when he chooses to actually defend his opposition, so I’m not too worried about that although it could be a concern. Nonetheless, he is a supreme talent, and I am very excited to watch him lead this team come the fall. Trading away multiple key members of your roster is always risky, but when the return is pure talent, that has proven that they have what it takes come playoff time, and aren’t afraid to close games out for their teams, which he has already done on the biggest stage, it is much easier to have confidence in the move.

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