#anyone who sees this post will know that it was based off an article about his assassination lmfao

[orcelito]

What do you guys do when you've had Some Alcohol? Do you:

1: Joke around with friends?

2: Sob uncontrollably into your cat's belly?

3: Generate a fake link for a Japanese news website, going so far as to look up popular Japanese news sources & visiting the cite in both English and Japanese to see what differences there are in the urls, & ultimately settling on a sort of hybrid between the two with a fake number tacked onto the end that you then test & get sent to essentially a 404 page for this website (a good thing, i don't want to put a real article in this thing)?

Well. You can guess which one I've done.

#speculation nation #discacc shit #putting it there bc this is for that lmao #like i only had a lil n it's basically worn off but i am very sleepytired #but idfk i just felt like doing the thing. ive been planning on doing this in this first scene since i posted the last chapter #i need a news website & it's the kind of thing that wouldnt have the cheeky bit.ly thing ive done before #so! fake url. that i just have to make look as reasonably realistic as possible for immersion reasons #but also doesnt actually lead to anything bc people Will click on it #an interesting thing with looking at japanese news websites rn. well Y'all have definitely heard the Big News There #so i took an article about shinzo abe's assassination and changed up the numbers a little bit so it's a dead link #so this article (which i will not share what it is rn bc that is To Be Learned whenever i post the chapter) #anyone who sees this post will know that it was based off an article about his assassination lmfao #but yea so Basically im just doing my normal bs level of Extra for Immersion reasons #but im laughing at myself bc friday night drinkin & spending that time watching critical role then generating a fake japanese news article #for the purpose of use in my fic. Yup. #alcohol ment/

[whocaresstillthelouvre]

Five More Games

Batter Up Chapter 3

Pairing: Baseball player Joel Miller x Female Reader Rating: Explicit. 18+ (Minors DNI) Summary: You haven't seen your boyfriend in over two weeks, your longing for Joel interrupts a FaceTime session. Warnings: smut, baseball talk, FaceTime mutual masturbation, pining, softness, Joel cum's all over his stomach Words: 3,000 A/N: These two have previously appeared together in 18 Seasons and Golden Corral. I wanted to write something super self indulgent to celebrate the month anniversary of posting my first fic Golden Walkway on here. I also want to shout out two people who helped me in this whole writing process. @ohheypedrito for being my steadfast fellow obsessor and idea bouncer offer and @justagalwhowrites for her very sweet response when I asked for words of advice that ultimately made me take the big step to hitting post.

Masterlist Playlist

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Joel has internally struggled this season:  unhappy with his new team, unhappy with his new city, unhappy with the game he loved. Unfamiliar fans, unfamiliar apartment, unfamiliar restaurants, unfamiliar grocery store. The only familiar thing for Joel is you, taking the train down to the city whenever you can, staying in his aforementioned unfamiliar apartment making it seem more like home. You of course knew you couldn’t go to any of his games and openly root for him, but you were happy to watch the game on his couch in his new home, welcoming him back with a hug, smelling the sweat of the game still on him… Joel always far too impatient to shower at the stadium, too excited to get back to you. 

The two of you stuck together living a secret nobody knew about, the two of you never admitting the love you had for each other was growing into something loud enough that soon everybody would hear. What would your dad think? What would Joel’s old teammates think? What would his agent think? What would your coworkers think? What would Sarah think? 

For eight months you and Joel have done this alone, the only people privy to your relationship is whomever might look over at him placing his hand on your thigh at a restaurant, a couple of close friends of yours, and maybe the doorman of Joel’s apartment building delivering packages addressed to you. No, you didn’t want to live in this lie, but to stay with Joel and know him like you do, all of the struggles were worth it.

When he got off the call letting him know that the Philadelphia Liberties signed him to a one year deal, Joel didn’t call his daughter, he didn’t call his brother… he called you. Playing in Philly meant he would only be an hour and a half train ride away. How many more times could you make empty excuses as to why you needed to fly back home to Texas? He knew the toll it was taking on you personally and professionally, he couldn’t give you up, but he also couldn’t live with himself always seeing how tired you were as you stepped out of the airport and into his car. 

The worst part of all of this… Joel was having one of the best seasons of his career. Articles and reporters all repeating over and over how at his age he was having a banner year. Joel loved a challenge and he loved to take his frustrations to the field, playing harder and more focused than ever. 

He wanted to share his accomplishments with you, publicly. He wanted to see you as a part of the wives and girlfriends group, knowing how much you’d stick out against all of the preened and fancy clothed wives, never understanding why they dressed up the way they did to watch a ball game in the Summer heat. He wanted to see you cheering louder than anyone else as he rounded the bases after hitting a home run. He wanted his teammates to tease him for having a picture of you taped up in his locker. He wanted to see you waiting for him in the tunnel after the game wearing his jersey. He wanted to be able to call you his to anyone who’d listen. 

He hadn’t had a serious girlfriend in almost twenty years. Once Sarah’s mom left, he gave up dating and significant others to focus on the game and being a dad. Maybe there was just never anybody worth it, but you? You were worth it, and he hated that he couldn’t show everyone how much he loved you. 

——

“Next week’s the All Star Game, you still able to head home?” Joel asks as he watches you change into one of his old Capitals shirts you took as a sleep shirt. 

He loves FaceTime. For years he rolled his eyes at the idea of having to look at who’s he’s talking to… until he learned he can watch you go through your nightly routine in your bedroom. Now he gets to watch you apply your face lotion, feeling a bit like a voyeur looking in on your world from your MacBook screen. He especially likes FaceTime when you angle the laptop on the bed to show him your body as you make yourself cum while chanting his name and how much you miss him. 

“Yeah, so far so good. Can’t believe we’re doing this, especially seeing as you’re in the actual game and we’re letting everybody know the night before. What happens if it’s not good and it affects your g—” 

“I’ll be fine no matter what. It has to be done, I don’t know how many times I can tell Sarah my agent is texting. I think she knows something’s up, she’s too smart, she knows I don’t have friends,” he sighs. “How do you think your parents are gonna take it?”

“I think my mom will be cool with it, she always liked you, especially because of Sarah. My dad? I don’t know, I think he’ll be fine but I also think he’ll have a lot of reservations about us and how it’ll look once everyone finds out. He’s going to drop some business words and worry how it might end up as tabloid fodder amongst baseball people, and I fully understand his issues.” You get into your bed, moving the computer to lay next to you, Joel’s face and broad shoulders taking up most of the screen, it’s such a pitiful replacement to having his warm body next to you. “I don’t know, I wish we could just not do this but be able to do everything like normal people.” 

“There’s nothing normal about this, I’m in a hotel room in Seattle and I just got done eating $45 grilled chicken and brown rice from room service. You just closed your blinds with a remote in your apartment with a view of Central Park. We’re not a normal couple sweetheart,” Joel gives you his reassuring smile, his dimple pressing into his skin, you wish you could touch it. God, you miss him.

“I know, I just wish things could be more simple.” 

“I know baby, me too,” his smile faltering as he hears the longing in your voice. 

“I think I just really miss you… it’s been almost two weeks.”

“It has, we’ll be together soon. Just have to wait six more days.”

“Five more games,” you whisper. 

The two of you always finding it easier to break it down in games. Only 45 innings.  Only five trips for Joel to step on the team bus and head to the ballpark. Only five games worth of you checking your phone for updates.

“Five more games,” Joel’s voice dropping. “You able to watch tomorrow?”

“Don’t think so,” you try not to let the disappointment in your voice show as much as it does. “I have that dinner with the group in from Toronto. I’m hoping I’ll be home around 9, and the game starts at 4 there… I guess I might be able to see maybe the last couple of innings.”

“Mm, pretty sure I’m just DHing tomorrow, so should be in for the whole game.”

“Save your home run for the last inning please.” 

“‘Course,” he smirks. “I’ll swing for the fences.” 

“Joel—“ you whisper out.

“Yeah sweetheart?”

“I wish you were here right now.”

“Me too, your bed’s always so comfortable. Sick of these hotel beds.”

You bring the neck of Joel’s shirt up to your nose and inhale. “Your shirt no longer smells like you, I need a new one.” 

“I’ll have one for you next time baby. I won’t take this one off.” 

“You can take it off now.”

“Yeah? Why do you want me to take it off?” Joel’s eyes get darker. 

“I want to look at you while I touch myself, so take it off.”

“Love how bossy you get.”

“Preaching to the choir.”

“Very funny,” he leans forward, pushing his laptop farther down the desk to give you a better view and removes his shirt. 

The two of you are well versed in the proper set up to have this type of experience over FaceTime. No bright lamp behind you because your body will be blown out by the light. Make sure you angle the screen the right way at the right distance so you can still see each other’s faces and bodies. Joel usually chooses to stay on the couch or in an office chair when he’s in a hotel room, allowing him to sit up and jerk himself off while he can still watch you. You always place your laptop on his side of your bed, laying diagonally across it so he can watch you touch your pussy while staring at the screen. 

You love seeing him shirtless, the way his body fills out in all of the most broad and right places. His shoulders are so wide and muscular, connecting to his toned and strong arms, his muscles never being overbearing and huge, just the perfect size and super capable of hitting a ball over 250 feet. The smattering of hair across his chest trailing down his stomach to the waistband of his shorts. His stomach, you’re obsessed with his stomach, it’s so soft, your favorite feeling on earth is laying your head against it. The perfect amount of softness filling out his athletic midsection. Joel’s body perfectly encompasses him, soft and rugged, broad and safe. 

“You’re staring again sweetheart,” Joel’s voice blinks you out of your daze as you ogle the square of him on your screen. 

“Sorry, I just really like looking at you.”

“I know, and I like looking at you.” Joel leans back, placing one of his arms behind the couch, his other hand resting against his thigh. “Now, let me really see you. Take m’shirt off.” 

You nod and move your laptop to its customary location so Joel can see all of you. You take his shirt off leaving you bare for his eyes to roam across your body from over two thousand miles away.

“You’re so fucking gorgeous, wish I could rub my hands all over your soft skin. Wish I could smell your hair, wish I could taste your skin. Miss you so fucking much.”

“What would you do to me if you were here?” Your voice barely above a whisper, your body aching for his touch.

“I’d rub my tongue up and down your neck,” you move your fingers to your neck and begin to trail them across it copying Joel’s words. You close your eyes and pretend instead of hearing Joel’s voice coming from a tinny set of computer speakers you’re hearing him from across the bed before he touches you. 

“I’d move my mouth down to take one of your nipples into my mouth.” Your hand grazes down your body to one of your breasts, grabbing your nipple and pulling at it. 

“Fuck baby, yes, grab your other tit, play with ‘em,” you open your eyes at the gruffness of Joel’s voice. His hand is still behind the couch, the other has moved from his thigh to cup his half hard cock through his shorts. 

You begin to push and pull your tits apart and together, rubbing your nipples as you stare back at Joel holding eye contact through the computer.

“Looks like your pussy is drooling all over your sheets, lemme see how wet you are.”  

Your hand goes down in between your legs, you pet yourself making sure to bite your lip, something you know Joel likes as you touch yourself. A groan spills out of Joel’s mouth as he watches you bring your soaked hand up, spreading your fingers to show him how your wetness stretches across your digits. He angles himself up to pull his shorts down, his cock standing hard and solid, you can’t take your eyes off of it as his hand wraps around his length. He begins to stroke himself, as you put your hand back to play with yourself. 

“Wish you could smear yourself all over me and watch me jerk off, wish you would spit in my hand—,” Joel spits in his hand, “so I could fuck my hand until I cum all over your pretty face.” 

Your back arches as you watch Joel lick a bit of spit up from his bottom lip, his eyebrows wrinkled in concentration as he smears the spit all over his shaft and begins pumping. 

“You’re so pretty, god I miss you. I miss feeling your body pressed against me, I miss sucking your tits, I miss fucking you.” You can’t stop staring at the screen, your fingers paused and resting on your clit. He’s beautiful, the way his muscles in his arms tense as he strokes himself, the way he snarls as he twists his fist around the head, the way he can’t stop staring at you through his laptop screen. “You miss me babygirl?”

He knows what his words do to you, he knows that if he can’t touch you he can at least talk you through it. He’s so thoughtful, not stopping at anything to make you happy, to think about you, to care for you. You hate that you aren’t even close enough to be in the same time zone.

“Yes,” you whisper, if you were any louder you might just start to cry. “So much.”

“I know, I know, fuck,” Joel stops jerking himself off, “I know,” blinking the lust out of his eyes, his big brown concerned eyes planted on his screen. “You okay?”

You didn’t want to do this, you wanted to get off with your boyfriend, shut your laptop lid, and go to sleep. Now? Now you miss him so much you’re naked with your hand still in between your legs and sniffling away tears alone in your bed.

“I am, yeah, I will be. I’m sorry, it just really hit me how long it’s been and I guess I’m just nervous about everything we have to do. I don’t want to lose you…” and at those words and the fear that gets planted inside your heart, you pull your fingers away from your cunt.

“We’re going to figure it out sweetheart. M’not losing you.” Joel follows you and unwraps his hand from around himself. “It has been long, but we’ll have almost a week together next week.”

“Five games?”

“Five games.” The softness of his voice and the reassuring smile he gives makes your stomach twist.

“I’m sorry.” An apology, you’re almost embarrassed by your juvenility, missing your boyfriend so much you almost started to cry.

“Baby, you don’t have to apologize, believe me, I understand.”

“Did you still want to…”

“I’m only happy doing what you want to, sweetheart.”

“I want to show you how much I miss you.” Your hand snakes up your body to start petting the area between your breasts, the place where Joel always like to nuzzle his face in and smell your skin.

“Fuck, okay sweetheart.”

“Five more games until I can feel you inside me.”

“Jesus, getting right back to the point, aren’t we?” He smirks, his eyes follow as you snake your hand down to back in between your legs.

“I’m efficient,” you bend your knee to give Joel a better look as you begin to rub circles along your clit.

“Fuck sweetheart, you look so fucking good,” he groans, wrapping his hand back around his cock. “Fuck yourself with your fingers baby, pretend it’s me.” 

You moan as you stick two fingers in, slowly pushing them in and out, ignoring how poor of a substitute they are for Joel’s cock. 

“Good girl, look at you. My pretty baby, I love you so much.”

His eyes soften as he watches you get lost in fucking yourself. You love how you can tell just how much he loves you by his big, brown eyes, even on your small laptop screen they shine bright. 

“I love you,” you whimper as you reach your other hand down to begin rubbing your clit. Your fingers working overtime inside you and on your clit causing your orgasm to build. 

“Love you baby, so much. Love watching you do this for me,” he grunts as he fucks his fist faster.

“Baaaby,” you breathe out, your heart beginning to rapidly beat, the swirls around your clit quickening. You’re a quivering mess on your bed, staring into your computer screen as you feel your orgasm show. 

“Oh, you’re close, can see it pretty girl, you gonna cum for me? M’gonna cum for you,” he grits out as you watch the hand against his thigh tighten its grip against his skin. He’s close, his jaw going slack, his tongue resting in between his lips, his brows furrowing deeper. It’s a sight you’ve seen so many times now, most of your FaceTime sessions ending like this.

“Cum for me,” you whisper as you orgasm, your pussy squeezes your fingers, your clit pulses against your finger, you fight the urge to shut your eyes because you need to watch Joel as he begins to spurt thick ropes of cum all over his stomach. You love how he looks, biting out swears totally blissed out, his cum pooling against the plush skin of his stomach. 

He swears as he grabs his shirt and cleans himself up, you smile as you watch him, feeling like you’re spying on your own boyfriend. You love FaceTime.

“You’re smilin’ quite big,” he chuckles as he tosses his shirt next to him, and pulls his shorts back up. 

“I like to watch you, that’s all, you’re so handsome.”

“Handsome, hm?”

“Yep, always thought it, and now I get to look at you whenever I want to.”

“Lucky you, huh?”

“Lucky me. Only five more games until I see my handsome boyfriend.”

“Five more games.”

#pedro pascal #joel miller #joel miller fanfiction #joel miller x you #joel miller x reader #pedro pascal character fanfiction #joel miller/reader #baseball au #baseball fan fic #pedro pascal fanfiction #tlou au #baseball #baseball joel #batter up

[kingkatsuki]

I DONT/HAVENT WATCHED LOVE ISLAND SO THIS IS JUST BASED ON SIMILAR SHOWS but this is love island/no quirk AU

But maybe the producer keep pushing bakugou and you apart with challenges and rigged votes for drama and to make you two both fool around with other people, but both you and bakugou start shutting down interest in any other people.

Then the public get bored and vote bakugou off, leaving you in the house. Bakugou does one or two interviews about the experience but is vague in his interest in you, just saying he wishes you the best and yeah he thought the two of you had chemistry in the villa.

Cut to a week or two later when you get voted out and the paparazzi are ready to watch you get off the plane home, only to be surprised when you stop in shock at something a couple meters in front of you before leaving your bag behind as you run into a man’s arms. Photographers are already clicking away as you jump up, swinging your arms around the mystery man’s neck, and they catch the moment that your movement makes his hat fall off, pictures capturing the moment bakugou’s hat flies off onto the ground and his blonde hair is revealed. They especially get the moment you rip off his face mask, it falling to the ground, and reveal his bright smile, mirroring yours before you both lean in for a desperate kiss. They continue taking pictures until after bakugou has put you back down and gone back to get your bag before taking your hand and walking you out of the airport.

10+ years later there’s an article like You Won’t Believe What These Love Island Contestants Are Doing Now! and no one is still together. Some are married to other people, some are doing normal jobs, some are still trying to stay in the limelight. And then there’s Bakugou and you, saved till last on the list. The article has put a beautiful picture from your wedding, followed by a smiling picture of the 4 of you, you 2 and your 2 kids, maybe even a picture of you two smiling sweetly down at one of your pregnancy bumps. You two are the only ones still together, only posting occasionally to a shared public account to fans who still think of you two after all these years, but every picture shares the same loving energy, your smiles, even bakugou’s crooked ones, beaming through the pictures

When a new girl comes in to the villa you already know what’s going to happen, your eyes meet Bakugou’s across the garden and you can just tell he’s thinking the exact same thing.

A recoupling.

You’re not worried about Bakugou, why would you be? Prettier girls than you have come into the villa and had their sights set on him, but he’s proved time and time again that he’s loyal to you and you alone. Coming back from Casa Amor without anyone else hanging off his arm solidified the fact that there’s no one else for you in this show. If he goes home, you’d walk out too— because he’s it for you.

Of course Bakugou feels the exact same way. When he sees this new pretty blonde practically skipping into the villa with her heels clicking against the hardwood floor he knows it’s supposed to be another test, a challenge sent in to split up the “power couple”. And he almost feels sorry for her, really. Knowing that most women would kill to make it to the final and have a chance at winning the prize money, and maybe find love at the same time. But this new girl? She probably won’t even last the week.

“You okay?” Bakugou bumps his knee against yours as you sit on one of the sofas away from everyone else.

“M’fine.” You smile back, taking a sip from your glass.

You can already see her making eyes at Bakugou from where she is talking to Denki, his arms waving animatedly as he almost sloshes his drink all over the short sparkly dress she’s wearing. He’s grafting, but she’s clearly not paying attention as you watch her begin to make her way across the grass towards you.

“She’s gonna pull you,” You smile into your glass as he lays a large palm on your thigh to squeeze it reassuringly.

“I hate that fuckin’ rule,” He mutters beneath his breath, hoping the mics won’t pick up on it.

It’s a rule that you have to go for a chat no matter who asks, even if you don’t want to. Yet another way for them to stir up drama and make good television you supposed, although it seemed more like a waste of time for everyone. Especially when Bakugou wasn’t interested.

“Hey, Bakugou,” She smiles directly at him, as if you’re not even sitting beside him, “Can I pull you for a quick chat?”

“Sure,” He nods, but you feel his fingers tighten against your thigh as he exhales softly.

“I’ll go, you can sit here.” You smile back, offering to get up to give them both the space as you make your leave.

Turning towards you as he reaches up to place a palm behind your neck, his thumb brushing your jawline as he pulls you into a sultry kiss. The poor girl still standing there silently as his tongue swipes against your flavoured lip gloss, collecting it against his own lips as he pulls away with a grin.

“I’ll be there in a sec.” He breathes before letting you go, his eyes focused on the sway of your ass as you walk towards the rest of the group.

You both called it, that same night there’s a recoupling. And of course the new girl gets to pick first.

There are gasps all around as she practically sings Bakugou’s name, explaining her choice came down to the time she’d spent with people inside the villa (even though Denki had been practically attached to her hip), and the connection she “felt” she had with him.

Bakugou almost doesn’t walk towards her as he stands in shock, Kirishima’s hand pressing him forward by the small of his back is what it takes for him to go and sit beside her.

You end up paired with Denki, a friendship couple used to ensure you don’t end up going home tonight. A close call when so far everyone else is in a couple already. Bakugou could practically kiss Denki himself for saving you as he bounds over to you when the recoupling is over. Cupping your face and asking if you’re okay.

It’s a shock when it comes down to a public vote for the most popular couples a few days later and you’re voted in the top with Denki, even though you’re in a friendship couple. And it’s even more of a shock when Bakugou and the new girl are voted in the bottom. Your heart thudding against your ribcage as you wait to find out who’s going home, and it ends up being Bakugou—

You can’t believe it, the tears stream down your face as you deadpan that you’re going home too. What’s the point in staying when he’s not here? But Bakugou doesn’t let you quit, not when it could be the summer of your lifetime, and you could win the prize money. You’re bawling that there’s no one else in here for you, and you don’t even want to try if he’s not here. But he convinces you to stay.

But it’s not the same without him, barely a week passes before there’s another recoupling and you end up alone. The guys that had been sent in nothing compared to Bakugou, so why would you even try? You should’ve just left with him that day, because your heart wasn’t in it.

And now you’d probably messed up your one chance at love, because there was no way Bakugou would be watching you trying to crack on with other guys while he’s back at home alone.

So imagine your surprise when you step off the plane into an almost deserted airport after flying in during the early hours of the morning, to see Bakugou standing there waiting for you. The few paparazzi that are there snapping away as they capture the kiss— he doesn’t even want to let go of you, burying his face in your neck as he breathes you in.

“I fuckin’ missed you, woman.”

“It’s your fault,” You tease, “You made me stay in there.”

“Ain’t never lettin’ you go again.”

It’s the way he takes your bag in one hand as he wraps his arm around you, shielding you from the flashing cameras as he takes you out of the airport. And every news station is trying to be the first to get an interview with you both when you’re out of the villa, excited to see that you’re still together and it wasn’t just for show. The internet is going insane because Bakugou should’ve never been voted out in the first place, and there are so many cute screenshots and memes of you both from the villa.

And then you’re still together 10+ down the line, and Bakugou still can’t believe he found the love of his life in a trashy dating show that he didn’t even want to go on.

#I’m so obsessed with EVERYTHING you wrote #honestly 100000/10 #so so so good #love island bakugou

[p-redux]

Weekly Summary October 20, 2023

Hi peeps, lots of stuff happened this week, so I'm going to do my weekly summary instead of individual posts or answering individual Asks. This is a LONG one, so grab a drink, and dive right in for: Ringgate, Sam and the City, and Sam and open letter and follow up statement. Also, starting tomorrow, I'll be off for the weekend, my man surprised me with a trip away to the beach before the weather starts to cool down.

Anyhooo, let's start off with something light. #ringgate. For different reasons some fans get verklempt when Sam wears jewelry, and panties definitely get twisted or wet, depending on who you are, when Sam dons RINGS. Sam wore the 2 rings he's been wearing lately during his appearance on Jimmy Fallon a few days ago. Sidenote: Samshine is EXTRA Samshiny is in this pic. Say what you want about him, but the man is BEAUTIFUL 👇

So, of course, Extreme Shippers are convinced Sam is "finally" wearing his wedding rings because he's married to Cait. Um, one small problem, Caitriona Mary Balfe is already married to Tony McGill. Some Non-Shippers get excited to see him wear rings because maybe it makes them think of when Sam WILL get married. There is something about a man wearing rings. I find it sexy as well. But, alas, these rings are on the right hand and Scottish people wear wedding rings on the left hand. Also, Sam's definitely NOT married to anyone since we've seen him linked to several women lately.

For the people who had doubts the copper looking ring is an Oura ring, it definitely is. Here is what the two rings most likely are. The silver one I'm told by some of the Team is 👇

And here is the Oura ring he's wearing, most likely in Rose Gold. It's basically a ring with a computer in it to keep track of physical stuff, the way a fitbit or Apple watch does. Seems EXACTLY like something Sam would wear 👇 So, let's put #ringgate to rest now, please.

On to WHERE in New York had Sam been hiding. Everyone thought he had left and that his recent appearance on Jimmy Fallon had been taped earlier, until we saw THIS fan pic with him. 👇

My New York sources said he had not been seen at his usual hotel The Crosby. I'm putting out the name now just because EVERYONE knows that's where he stays in New York. He used to stay at The Bowery Hotel, but the last few years it's been The Crosby. None of the usual pic and autograph hounds got pics with him, so we assumed he wasn't staying there. All those hounds have contacts at the different hotels and restaurants frequented by celebs, so they would have been alerted to Sam staying there. Soooooo, if he wasn't at The Crosby, BUT he was in New York, THEN the possibilities are. He's aware too many fans know he stays at The Crosby, so he's switched hotels. Or he decided to rent an Airbnb instead. Or he stayed with friends. Or he does have a lady friend in New York, like some think, and he stayed with her. Who knows...but I'm sure we will find out...

Onto more serious matters. I'll preface this by saying I have made it a policy on my blog to NOT talk about anything political and to also not talk about any world events happening, which are upsetting. This blog is my escape from real life. So, I want to continue on that path. But I'm making an exception this time because based on the DMs an Anon Asks I'm getting there is some confusion as to why Sam posted this message on his social media. I just want to give people some clarity on it. And them move on. So, Sam posted this. 👇

It was in response to Sam and other mostly UK celebrities signing an open letter asking Israel to cease fire on Gaza, and explicitly claiming Pro-Palestine sentiments. If you click below, you will find an article on it and then keep scrolling down and you can read the actual letter. That's the letter Sam signed. A few days later, he clarified his feelings and regretted signing it because it doesn't represent fully what he meant. 👇

Here's the thing the history of Israel/Palestine is LONG and COMPLICATED. And most people haven't done enough research to know it fully. Most people go by sound bytes they see as they scroll social media. Or they give in to confirmation bias based on their political party, nationality, ethnicity, religion, affiliations etc.

I'm not going to get into the specifics because all of the information is easily accessible if anyone TAKES THE TIME TO RESEARCH AND READ THE HISTORY, both of Israel and Palestine...with an OPEN MIND.

The reason Sam got himself in trouble with signing the open letter and then the subsequent damage control message is that he didn't take the time to do his research. In extremely simplistic terms: Most of the UK, and in fact, most of Europe has traditionally been Pro-Palestine (except for European Jews, of course). The U.S. has traditionally been Pro-Israel and are allies. Up until recently that is. Due to the divisiveness in the US since the Trump era, Conservatives (Republicans) in the country became even more Pro-Israel, which then meant Liberals (Democrats) had to be the opposite. The rhetoric that Israel was the oppressor and Palestine was the oppressed grew louder. You had to pick one or the other. You couldn't take a step back and look at the history of the Jews being oppressed pretty much since Moses kept trying to get back to The Promised Land aka modern day Israel and Palestine. Or the Palestinians also being oppressed and their lands shrinking year by year.

The Jews have always been fucked over throughout history. And the Palestinians have always been fucked over, but especially since 1948 when modern day Israel was created. So, then, TERROR GROUP, Hamas decides, we're gonna fuck you over, Israel, REALLY BADLY, and engaged in some of the worst atrocities in recent times. No matter what anyone's beliefs are, when you saw what Hamas did (I'm not going to write the details because it's a horror show we all already know about) EVERYONE in the world should have said "Not today, Satan, not today," and DENOUNCED their savagery.

Hamas is NOT the Palestinian people, Hamas' ONLY goal is to terrorize and destroy. First the Jews, then their allies. Look up in the sky if you're in the US, one day a missile will be coming your way if they aren't stopped. After Hamas committed their savagery, Israel, understandably attacked back. They defended themselves from TERRORISTS trying to literally annihilate them. That was NOT the time to chant Free Palestine or write Free Palestine open letters. Just like after the murder of George Floyd, the Black Lives Matter movement came to the forefront in the US, but you had people countering "All Lives Matter!" Yes, all lives matter, but RIGHT NOW we're focusing on Black Lives, ya dopes. Breast Cancer awareness month. But what about Lung Cancer, Colon Cancer, they're important too?! Yes, but JFC, FOCUS people. Should Palestine be free from Israeli occupation, should they have more land? OF COURSE. But when the world SAW what Hamas did to HUMAN BEINGS, regardless of nationality or religion, the ONLY thing that should have been chanted is "DESTROY HAMAS." Hamas fucked things up for Palestinians, not just Israelis. And because of Hamas' actions, now Palestine is getting destroyed by Israel. And then Hamas will counter attack. And it will go on and on. There should be NO sides. There should only be ONE side, the HUMAN side.

So, when celebs seemingly "pick" a side, especially without considering the repercussions, they will get pushback. I love Sam and he's a good man, but he missed the mark on this one. Not through malice, but rather, naivete and ignorance. By cosigning that letter he didn't realize he wasn't simply signing a Pro-Palestine letter, he was simultaneously signing an Anti-Israel letter, Anti-Jews letter. And the reality is he alienated his Jewish fans, his more US conservative fans, his more centrist fans, assorted other fans...and I'm just going to state facts...he forgot WHO runs Hollywood, has always run Hollywood, and will always run Hollywood, including people who run Starz, as well as WHO are some of his agents, and publicists, hence the "better late than never" damage control quasi apology.

If you're wondering about MY stance: I feel badly for the Palestinian people and I feel badly for the Israeli people. There, that wasn't so hard to say, right? You CAN be Pro-Palestine AND Pro-Israel aka Pro-Humans. In the end, ALL HUMANS want the SAME basic things: food, clean water, shelter, safety and peace for their loved ones. To pick sides is to say that one set of people is more important than the other. And that can't be true. It isn't true. I pick the Human Side. Simple as that.

*big long sigh* Okay, peeps, you can leave comments, but I'm not going to answer them because I'm TIRED now. Also any hate comments, antiSemitic or antiPalestineMuslim comments and they will be deleted, and you will be blocked.

I'll check in later today. And then I'll be off until Sunday evening. Of course, still feel free to DM me and send Asks. I'll answer when I can.

Peace, people, PEACE.

#samheughan #sam heughan #palestine #israel #open letter #uk #us #ringgate #ring gate #newyork #new york #Sam and the City #oura ring

[nightgoodomens]

do you really believe that they are poly? what I see looks more like david and Michael are the couple. d&gt look staged, calculated. like there's effort to include her as something other than his ex. sorry Anna, but you look like the 'date' the studio set up.

I don’t think it’s like that tbf. It’s very difficult to tell what the exact arrangement is and we will never know, let’s be honest. Below I’m going a little bit into my thoughts regarding GT/DT based on the stuff I’ve learned recently here so please don’t read if it makes you uncomfortable. I know it’s a sensitive subject and frankly I’m unsure of a lot myself when it comes to them so it’s mostly wondering really and trying to look at a few facts.

I can’t make my mind up regarding GT. I will always acknowledge the nice stuff she does but I can’t ignore the questionable things either. Ironically this should technically make me fairly objective I guess...

GT and DT are a weird mix. GT put a lot of work into creating a brand out of their marriage over the years and when you read about how it all began it makes sense why because there was a lot of dirt to cover. There is also the issue of her whole thing being DT because she didn’t accomplish anything on her own no matter how much money DT has put into everything she has ever tried over the years and it’s still going on (I just wish I didn’t need to suffer from that - sorry but she really can’t act). But creating a brand out of their marriage, a whole perfect image, is her biggest accomplishment. Girl should have went into PR.

Do I feel pure love out of their relationship? Not exactly. He often appears irritated. Her posts are usually focused on showing that she scored him and eg when she had him take a pic of them with her lying behind him with her holding his award and writing “mine”… really? That’s how you celebrate your man’s accomplishment? Especially compared to how much he was beaming with his boyfriend that night and how MS celebrated him… It was a harsh difference. More recently DT did BAFTAs and it’s her looking at camera with him on the side “Look the cool guy is into me! This is about me!”. I just… eh not my style. Gives me the cringe. Gives me an attitude of a woman who’s jealous of her man’s accomplishments when her only one is scoring him and she wants to show off to young fans and make it about her every time. Why it’s never purely about him? Im not even going into the PR kiss and articles.

It’s sad really.

I don’t know how much *real* love there is between them and how much an arrangement that worked out for them for many years. So I guess fondness has grown too? Acceptance? Maybe actual love developed? Everyone screams “kids” but it’s really not that difficult to make them, just in case anyone wonders. Especially when alcohol is involved which she let everyone know herself.

Maybe it did develop into true love. I don’t see it but that doesn’t mean I’m right. Maybe it’s a mix of PR and love.

Her job did change recently with DT changing the arrangement though because MS is now involved. The rumour is that their marriage has always been open which doesn’t surprise me, especially since she wasn’t seemingly against MS/DT since the beginning but I do wonder how it feels when it’s not just fucking around and actual genuine love that develops between the man you perhaps never had the real deal with and now he found it with someone else.

I don’t think she’s going anywhere. She’d never support MS/DT if that was the case. So that’s where the poly idea is coming from - it’s DT and GT and separately DT and MS. Nothing else. I think it was once more of a marriage plus a romance on the side but now it’s two “marriages” hence the change in narrative since December.

Those are my thoughts and guesses. Maybe I’m completely wrong. I really don’t know. The one thing I know though is that things are never as pure as a celebrity is trying to force you to believe and a lot of work has been put into creating a brand out of GT/DT.

And that’s always for a reason.

#NightGoodOmens talks PR

[anonil88]

Imma only say this here but its kinda interesting seeing the uswnt and fans go insane over this divorce. But maybe its cause US womens soccer's fanbase is very white but I have always felt really uncomfortable with how those two adopted two black babies without being involved in the black community at all or showing support in more than a "black square on ig" way beforehand. Its just something thats never not gonna be a concern for me as a black person knowing that soccer is a very white space in the US both on and off the field but definitely as you rise in the ranks of acclaim. Also ashlyn has been in her extravagant hey mommas era for a minute with those grillz. They also got two kids so quickly and it kinda seemed very these children are "solidifying our marriage" based on their posts, which isn't a great way to do things. Esp since Ashlyn was in her where is my purpose in this sport and now I'm injured so who am ias a person without this to then jump to oh we have kids. Which for anyone can be a lot but if you have a history with some struggles its rougher. (I do wish she'd gone the esport and in-game fifa commentator route.)

Anyways relationships are just as messy as people and sometimes they end in flames. Other times they end amicably and still the divorce is not pretty at all because the grief is painful. Sometimes people do fall in love with other people or dynamics change that mean a relationship no longer works and it cannot always be fixed. As a fan of them both I'm wishing everyone the best and hoping those kids grow up with several loving parents. Because that's the important thing is that they know their parents love them and always will even when they one day find an article online about their momma being a ho and their other momma in her revenge era.

But hey just my thoughts.

#ashlyn harris #ali krieger #uswnt

[qqueenofhades]

I keep thinking about the ask you answered a little while ago about people wanting a leftist version of Trump is so scarily true it's unsettling. People keep demanding he "do something" about abortion and gun violence but when anyone is like.... he can't, he doesn't have the votes to, they're like "he's the President he said he would do something why hasn't he done something" and it's like ???? what part of this are you not understanding if he doesn't have the votes he doesn't have the votes. Do they want like an EO or something? I'm just not sure what they expect him to do.

And it's also so fucking annoying to see them go after the Dems at every turn while letting the Republicans off the hook completely and not expecting shit from them. You may just want Biden to write them all off and govern like the GOP doesn't exist but he can't.....exactly do that. That's not how our system works. I wonder if they're just sorely misinformed from how rife Twitter is with complete bullshit or if they understand reality but are just saying this stuff for the outrage clicks.

Honestly, as I've said before, I'm not sure? I think it's a combination of willful ignorance and a desire not to learn anything, ever, that might challenge their deeply felt moral superiority. Just the other day, I had someone in my notes who, while otherwise agreeing with most of what I was saying, also insisted that Biden was "anti-trans." And like. The president who, while VP, famously came out for LGBTQ marriage before his boss, who specifically highlighted the violence suffered by trans women of color in his campaign platform, got the Violence Against Women Act reauthorized and passed with strong new protections especially for trans and gnc/queer victims, has issued statements on Transgender Day of Remembrance, made sure to repeatedly insist to trans Americans that they belong and their lives are valid, etc. etc., is definitely anti-trans, dontcha know?

However, I happen to know that recently, the Washington Post wrote a bad and misleading article about the Biden administration supposedly joining Republican state AGs to prevent trans girls from playing in women's sports. It was picked up by a big liberal account on Twitter and amplified as "a betrayal of everything the Biden administration has stood for since day 1" (which, you'll notice, implicitly agrees that the Biden administration HAS strongly supported trans rights). Then a few days later, the account holder actually read the policy, agreed that it wasn't what was being proposed and the WaPo had done a hatchet job on reporting it, and admitted that no, the Biden administration actually hadn't done a 180 on supporting trans rights. But if all you have is one Twitter account incorrectly reporting on a bad and misleading WaPo article, which is like... layers on layers of deliberately distorted and extremely out-of-context information, and you use that to decide that BIDEN IS ANTI-TRANS, it just. Doesn't make sense. And even if in the extremely likely event that Biden and/or his administration have missed some of the ideological benchmarks arbitrarily assigned to Demonstrate Absolute Purity On This Issue, like. HAVE YOU GUYS SEEN WHAT THE REPUBLICANS ARE DOING??! HAVE YOU?!?!??!?!?!

I don't know if that is where that particular person got the idea or not, but it demonstrates how the left-wing online misinformation ecosystem works, and which is in some ways is extremely similar to the right-wing online misinformation ecosystem. It doesn't matter if the only piece of "evidence" supporting your belief is a single Tweet written by someone who hasn't read the actual policy based on a bad piece of reporting, that evidence is now to be preferred against every single empirical example to the contrary because it's "the real truth" (translation: it confirms what you already want to believe). That is the example that you will whip out every time someone tries to argue with you to the contrary, and you will never accept anything that contradicts and/or disproves it, because that's what you want to believe and now you will. You technically know that there is information out there which doesn't agree with your position, but it is the "wrong information" and therefore cannot be incorporated into your belief system. You likewise refuse to acknowledge any complexities, any other branches of government (once again, I am begging people to acknowledge both SCOTUS and how catastrophically it was fucked by allowing Trump to fill three seats), or anything other than insisting on the impossible and getting mad when it doesn't get done. Which doesn't sound very productive and/or useful to me, but hey. OUTRAGE. OUTRAAAAAAGE.

#anonymous #ask #politics for ts

[girl4music]

I’ve had enough of people referring to ‘Xena: Warrior Princess’ as queerbaiting and claiming that the creators of the show were committing it so I’ve gone on an extensive Google search and pulled up this AftenEllen article written all the way back in 2008 and I’m transcribing the full thing right here because if people don’t want to voluntarily do their research when they make their insulting claims then I’ll provide the source for them and force them to read it because I refuse to allow them to disrespect the creators/cast/crew like this in making their completely off-base assumptions about a TV show that I’ve been watching since I was 5 years old.

This is an interview with the creators/cast/crew of ‘Xena: Warrior Princess’ where they express their opinion on what they think would happen with the lesbian subtext between Xena and Gabrielle if the show was made for today. It’s why many of us don’t want a remake or reboot or revival of it of any kind.

Do not ever come for ‘Xena: Warrior Princess’ and the incredible people that either made the show or were involved in the making of it around me. You have absolutely no chance in winning the argument!

[Viewers never had to look too hard to find the lesbian subtext in Xena: Warrior Princess, but that’s still what it was: subtext. And while lesbian fans in the 1990s might not have had any choice but to settle for that, would things be different if the show were being made – or remade – today? When I attended the Xena convention in Burbank, Calif., at the end of January, I asked the show’s creators, producers, writers and stars if the world is ready for an openly lesbian relationship between Xena and Gabrielle.

“To me it was main text,” said Renee O’Connor, who played Gabrielle, in an exclusive interview with AfterEllen.com. “And even if it was subtext, it was very clear that we were together. They are so in love with each other, they love each other so dearly; there’s no way you can say that’s not true. Anyone can see that from watching the show.”

I asked her if she thought that relationship could be openly acknowledged if the series were being made today. “I don’t know,” O’Connor answered. “Maybe there’s a little bit more hint of acceptance today. Maybe, maybe not. You can only put it up and see what would happen. I guess we could do anything, just get it out there and see how it affects people.”

In a lot of ways, Xena flew under the radar during the ’90s. Viewers who didn’t perceive (or didn’t like) the lesbian subtext could see it simply as a story about heroic friends righting wrongs and battling villians. If the show were being produced in today’s post—L Word television landscape, it’s hard to believe that audiences would be quite as oblivious.

But O’Connor doesn’t think that a more overt presentation of Xena and Gabrielle’s relationship would have changed the moral heart of the series. That’s because she sees those two things – the love between Xena and Gabrielle and the series’ focus on the fight against evil – as inextricably combined.

“If we were just starting Xena right now, I know what the relationship of the two characters is,” O’Connor said. “So even though we wouldn’t blatantly talk about all the issues involved, because I don’t think that’s what the show is about, it’s still about defeating oppressors and wanting to do the right thing for the world. And that comes down to these people and how they love each other.”

Lucy Lawless, who played Xena, isn’t sure how acknowledging a romantic relationship between the two women would affect the show’s reception if it were being made today, but it could have changed the way audiences perceived it in the past.

“There might have been more general discussion about whether the characters were lesbian or not out in the mainstream,” Lawless said. “In the 1990s, when this was all new, people like Ellen [DeGeneres] and k.d. lang and all these people who are out were blazing a trail. And you might hope that it’d be done long ago. But in a lot of the world, it’s still incredibly painful to come out, even today.”

Then she laughed. “But let’s have a go. Let’s do it. Why don’t we make a Xena movie? Just tell a bloody good story and let the fires and torpedoes be damned.”

A Xena movie doesn’t seem any more likely today than it did a year ago, but I asked Lawless if she thought the sexual relationship between Xena and Gabrielle might be brought more into the forefront if a movie were made.

“I think that’s a good question for Rob,” she said, referring to Rob Tapert, the series’ co-creator and her husband. “I know he’s been thinking about this for a long time, mulling it over in the back of his mind. He’s got a great feeling of where the world’s at and what he can make that’s progressive and gutsy and still have it be financially successful.”

Backstage at the convention, Tapert considered the possibility of a more openly queer Xena and Gabrielle. “It’s a tricky question,” he said, “because if Xena were being made today, well, there’s two different Xenas. There is the one [in which] people could read between the lines, and that played to one audience.

“Then there’s one that played to kids, or that played to 9—17-year-olds. And they didn’t understand the subtext, nor did they get it. So like the finest of Disney films, that plays to all audiences; that was a balance we tried to find. Making it today, I don’t know what would happen.”

He called series co-creator, producer and writer R.J. Stewart over to ask his opinion. “Could there be more commitment to the subtext?” Stewart said. “Well, I think if it was a cable show, absolutely. But if it was the same kind of broader market, I think you have to be more inclusive. But yes, absolutely, I think that a cable version of it could work that way.”

What if a film were made today, based on the series? That would be a different proposition, Stewart said. “When you make a movie you always try to stay pretty close to the original in feeling.” Then he laughed. “Now, if you could just get Oxygen to order some episodes …”

However much fans might wish for another season of their favorite show, not even out lesbian Xena producer and writer Liz Friedman (pictured left, and currently a producer on Fox’s House) thinks it would come back as an ancient Greek action-adventure version of The L Word.

“As much as I would love to see it – and I’m speaking as somebody who watches The L Word obsessively – there was something really wonderful and romantic about the relationship between Xena and Gabrielle,” she told AfterEllen.com. “And I think it’s actually easier to have romance without sex. You don’t then get into issues about ‘Will this relationship last?’ There was never – well, until they started killing each other’s children – the question of a breakup.”

I asked if she thought that times had changed enough that a series could now be made with two legendary female heroes shown unambiguously as romantic partners.

“If you look at the lesbian relationships that are on TV now, it’s either niche-market stuff like The L Word, or it’s Cashmere Mafia that gets you all excited because there’s a kiss in the pilot, and then by Episode 3 she’s hitting on boys again,” Friedman said. “Certainly in a single-lead action show we’re not ready for an openly gay heroine yet. Well, I think we’re ready for it. I don’t think the networks are going to let us do it.”

Then she laughed. “Look, obviously I’m biased. I loved the show the way it was, so it’s like, don’t talk about messing with my Xena. It worked pretty well, thanks very much. … If I were doing the Xena movie I would try to get there to be a kiss, but there are plenty of ways that you can do that without changing what the relationship is.”

That raises the question of just how much would have to change in order to bring the subtext into the forefront.

It’s undeniable that there are some scenes – and even whole episodes – where it’s hard to make sense of what happens without believing that Xena and Gabrielle are at least a little bit more than friends. Most of the time, these moments occur in the more humorous episodes, but as series writer Steven Sears told AfterEllen.com, “We didn’t cross the line completely but … these are two women who live together, travel together, had domestic duties together, die for each other, fought for each other, continually say how much they loved each other, but no. They’re not in a loving relationship.”

Steven Sears talking with Christie Keith

He shook his head. “Excuse me?”

Writer Katherine Fugate (currently executive producer of Army Wives) sees it much the same way. She is the author of “When Fates Collide,” widely considered one of the most subtext-friendly – and romantic – episodes in the entire series.

Katherine Fugate

Set in an alternate universe where Xena’s old enemy, Julius Caesar, has imprisoned the Fates and used their loom to undo the events that led up to his assassination, “When Fates Collide” is about the inevitability of both destiny and love.

In Caesar’s new reality, Xena is his empress. A famous Greek playwright named Gabrielle comes to present her latest work to the Romans, and in the greatest romantic tradition, she and Xena are struck with what can only be called love at first sight.

They gaze at each other across crowded rooms. Xena casts tortured glances at Gabrielle when she is called away by her husband. They stare longingly at each other from their balconies in the moonlight. Xena gives her life to save Gabrielle, and Gabrielle risks destroying the entire world to save Xena’s.

Caesar calls Gabrielle Xena’s “girlfriend,” and his violent jealousy would make absolutely no sense if Xena and Gabrielle weren’t being depicted as lovers.

And, in fact, that’s just how they were being depicted. Fugate appeared at this year’s convention and spoke with AfterEllen.com backstage. “The paradigm in my episode was that they find each other in any lifetime and they were meant to be, no matter what body they were in or what gender they were,” she said. “These souls were entwined somehow. And that, to me, almost has more a spiritual connotation than a sexual one, although I personally believe that they were lovers and had a committed relationship.”

She added: “I think we touched people, and it was multifaceted with all the spiritual components as well as the love. But the love was so intense, and ‘We’ll find each other in any lifetime,’ I think, is profound. I don’t know many shows that say that, period, heterosexual or homosexual.”

Given that, it’s surprising there wasn’t a kiss in the episode, something that had been played with both teasingly and tenderly (if briefly) in earlier episodes.

“There was a kiss written in which was more definitive, and it’s in the script that they sell here [at the convention],” said Fugate. “So my intention was actually to push that envelope, and I was really supported by Rob and R.J. and everyone. But ultimately they pulled it, because they wanted to maintain it for the finale.”

The finale is, of course, a sore spot for Xena fans; mention of it during R.J. Stewart’s appearance triggered the only boos of the convention weekend. He took them in stride, defending his decision to kill Xena at the series’ end, but there’s no question it took the shine off the climactic kiss the two women shared in “A Friend in Need.”

Fugate, who announced at the convention that Renee O’Connor will play a lesbian on Army Wives later this year, is optimistic about the possibility that a show about two female heroes who are openly lovers could be made today.

“This may sound like a writer’s answer, but I think anything works if it’s well-written,” she said. “If you have respect for the subject and if you can find a universal theme, anything will work.”

She said she feels that doing that would be easier today than it was in the ’90s. “We probably couldn’t push the envelope as much then as we could now,” she said.

“The subtext issue gets asked a lot; I think everyone here has been asked about it. And I think that’s because it obviously touches people, and we had an opportunity to dignify these relationships. And everyone felt it did that. I think both the lead actors have come forward and said this is how they view their characters and how they played them. We did what we could.”

If they did what they could in the ’90s, what could they do now? Sears said he’s thought a lot about that question, and he’s not optimistic. “As far as the marketing mind is concerned and the studios,” he explained, “if a movie came out they would play with it, they would toy with it, they would try to appeal to the male heterosexual audience, because in their minds that’s who’s attracted to these kinds of films, these action films. They don’t want to turn those people off.”

Then Sears pointed out the dark side of main text. “The horrible thing that might be done is that they would then say, let’s go completely commercial with this thing,” he said. “They would have the characters kiss, have the characters imply that they had a sexual encounter, and then have them realize, well, that was just an experiment. Now let’s go back to men. That’s the worst possible thing that could happen. But it’s also one of the most possible things that marketing could do.”

In light of those fears, a dozen intimate moments in the hot tub, soulful glances and fireside nights spent in each other’s arms don’t seem so bad. And neither do Renee O’Connor’s final thoughts on how Xena might best be made today.

“I always wanted people to look at it as unconditional love,” she said, “especially people from the conservative side who didn’t want to see anything like that. Just watch the show, and see what you want to see. I still think that today that would be the best way to put the series on.”]

SOURCE: https://afterellen.com/bringing-out-the-warrior-princess/

#xena warrior princess #xena and gabrielle #xabrielle #bringing out the warrior princess #if xena were made today #afterellen #queerbaiting #eradicating the claims of queerbaiting once and for all #renee o'connor #lucy lawless #rob tapert #r.j. stewart #liz friedman #steven l. sears #katherine fugate #wlw representation

[cluelessbees]

through the whole time I’ve been following you I’ve never once seen you say anything about Palestine before. Since the news broke about Hamas killing Israelis, rightfully so you’ve shared posts etc about it all and it seems like posting about st/byler is the last thing you wanna think about rn. Which is fine! But lately its just seeming like you’re doing it to prove to everyone how smart and informed/outraged you are about the conflict and how dare anyone talk about anything else… in one of your recent reposts you tagged that all the Palestinians that have died in the 75 years shouldn’t be forgotten (they shouldn’t! What’s been done is awful) and fuck anyone who doesn’t wanna read about it bc it makes them feel bad. I would be more willing to agree with you on the things you say/repost if I’d seen you post about it before… but you haven’t. I’ve never seen you talk about Palestine before on your byler based acc (bc you’re here to talk abt byler!) but suddenly it’s like you’re some social justice warrior who can’t bare to talk about byler bc the Israel/Palestine conflict has been brought to attention again on social media. Others who have reposted things have still posted abt things they like in between bc they know the small things they share won’t make a big difference but they want to show they still care whereas yours seems performative at this point.

I'm going to stay as calm as possible here.

Go unfollow me if you don't want to see anything about Palestine. That's it. Point blank. I don't need your validation or your follow or whatever.

Just because I've never talked about the issue before online doesn't mean it isn't an important issue to me. I'm an Arab. I hear news about this every week. I grew up hearing about Palestinians being kicked out of their homes, being bombed, being killed. Every Ramadan I read articles of Palestinians being beaten and killed for praying in Masjid Al-Aqsa.

I have friends who are Palestinians refugees, who can't even return to Palestine. I have a teacher that left my highschool to go back to Gaza to be with her mom. And I have no fucking idea if she's alive right now.

This is everyday for me. And I was so used to the world not caring. Up until a few years ago saying you were pro-Palestine would lead to so much hate.

But the world is talking about it now. And I will not stay silent. I will not let misinformation spread. I will not let Israel destroy Palestine's image. I will not let anyone forget about their lives. They were people. They are my people. They are my friends, my teachers, my family.

Go fuck yourself if you think this is me being performative or me showing off my knowledge. Do you fucking know why I have this knowledge???? Why I know so much?? I grew up with this.

I'm literally an Arab. I can't believe I have to fucking say this so many times. I'm not white or whatever. This is literally all I can think about right now. The Arab community (which I'm a part of) in my university are setting up donations, wearing the Palestinian Kuffeyah in solidarity, talking about this whenever and however we can. This is what it means to be Arab. We are not going to shut up about it.

I am watching my region enter a war. I literally live in the Middle East. I am watching people online call my people terrorists, barbaric, subhuman, animals. What do you expect me to do? Watch and pretend that I'm white or some shit?

OH and because you're thinking I'm just now caring

Here's fucking screenshots of my chats with friends.

Just because I've never talked about it here before doesn't mean I've never cared about the issue. You don't know me stop acting like you do.

Fuck everyone who thinks this way. I don't care if you support or follow my account. I will talk about Palestine until my dying breathe. My love for Palestine is ingrained in my DNA. It is the fabric of my soul.

It's free Palestine, until Palestine is fucking free.

#palestine #I literally don't care #hate me all you want #I'm an Arab before I'm a fucking account for a ship

[majaloveschris]

I have a question. Does anyone know if the Portuguese media is obsessed with this relationship?

Because I know in my country, if a home grown relatively unknown television actress (I’m not saying that as a jab it just is what it is) married a huge international attractive star our media/tabloids would be absolutely obsessed with it. I don’t think they would write about anything else. Especially in the early stages and if they were here on and off.

It just seems that outside of People mag in the US, truely no one seems to care which surprises me. I know that hypothetically if he had married another star on his level, like a Scarlett, Emily Blunt, Margot Robbie… (obviously all massively hypothetically) the media circus would be absolutely ridiculous and non stop. But I still expected there to be more interest than what there is.

I don't know. I'd assume there were Portuguese articles about them being together and married, but obsessed? I don't know; maybe someone from Portugal can help us out here.

I guess we can say something similar happened to Barbara Palvin; however, not to be biased, I think she is more well-known in the US than her, based on her popularity, and she's had a lot of work there too. I remember seeing Hungarian articles about their relationship, and to be honest, when they were married, they were all over the internet and on every social media site in Hungary. So yeah, I think we can say it was a big deal here, but again, I think she is more well-known in the US, and I think she is more well-known in Hungary than Alba in Portugal.

I think him getting married would've been a bigger thing if there weren't so many weird things about this whole relationship, and for a long time, a lot of people thought it was PR. This whole wedding thing obviously changed a lot of things, but I guess if fans were more happy for him and more supportive, it would've made a bigger buzz. I think her and her friends' past and behavior ruined a lot of things. In the world of celebrity news and gossip, there is always something new; only someone's fans care enough about it to talk and post about it for days and weeks. Just as Taylor said, "The world moves on; another day, another drama." Most of those people who would've spread the word and made this whole wedding thing a big deal are gone. That one year of guessing what's going on, then the other year of guessing whether it's real or not, and those things came out about her too... All of these things ruined the fandom, or at least a big part of it, and I think these are the reasons why it wasn't that big of a deal. Or why it's not that big of a deal anymore.

For most people, it doesn't matter whether it's PR or real at this point. He is being associated with them, and that's it. It's too messy, and most people don't want to deal with it anymore.

#majaloveschris #chris and alba wedding #barbara and dylan wedding #cevans-love

[lifewithchronicpain]

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved a controversial genetic test that uses a patient’s DNA to assess whether they are at risk of developing opioid use disorder (OUD). Although the test is only intended for patients with short-term acute pain who have not used opioids before, there is concern about the test’s accuracy and whether it will be used “off-label” to assess addiction risk in chronic pain patients – who could potentially lose access to opioids as a result. In approving the AvertD test, the FDA stipulated that it only be available by prescription to patients who consent to its use and have no prior history of using an oral opioid for pain relief.

The test is administered by a provider swabbing the cheek of a patient to collect a DNA sample, which will then be tested in a laboratory to see if the patient has 15 genetic markers that puts them at elevated risk of OUD. According to the FDA, the test will help patients “make better informed decisions” about using opioids, such as a patient facing surgery who wants to know what analgesic to use for post-operative pain...

“I’m sure it would be used for anyone who may be considered for opioid therapy,” says Lynn Webster, MD, a pain management expert and Senior Fellow at the Center for U.S. Policy. “I am all for gathering more data to help clinicians make better decisions, but we must exercise caution with such tests. Otherwise, the test may be over-read or misinterpreted. Some patients may be deprived of access to an opioid if they test positive or there can be a false sense of harmlessness from opioids if the test is negative. “I am most concerned that providers will see the results as binary. Either a patient will or won’t develop OUD, depending on the result. That would be a big mistake. Any such device or test must be used along with other clinical and personal information to help mitigate harm from using, or being denied, opioids.”

In 2022, an FDA advisory committee voted 11-2 against recommending an earlier version of AvertD, primarily because of concerns about false-negative and false-positive results. An observational study found the test was about 80% accurate in detecting genes associated with OUD. "I believe 100% of the risk associated with this test is with false positives and false negatives -- both people being untreated or poorly treated because somehow it came back as a positive result, or being given inappropriate treatment because it said negative," said Timothy Ness, MD, an anesthesiologist and Professor Emeritus at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, who voted no. (Read full article at link)

Yeah I don't like it. I can see how it would be useful for patients to decide, but with the way opioids are controlled I can totally see people being denied necessary pain relief based on this test.

#disability #chronic pain #ableism #spoonies #opioids #OUD test #addiction #opioid use disorder #article

[aemiron-main]

reading more of the creel newspaper articles: the creels’ gardener and groundsperson, the exorcism (and The Exorcist) and martin brenner’s possible priest cosplay

SO! I’ve been digging into the articles about the Creel murders more lately, and am slowly doing my best to write down the contents of all of them/figure out what they say, and although I’m not completely finished yet, I found something very interesting: the Creel family had a gardener and a groundsperson.  The two seem to be two separate people based on how the gardener is introduced in the article (as wanting to remain anonymous) and how the gardener is introduced after the groundsperson has already been referred to.  Both of them have one thing in common, though: they were both interviewed by the Weekly Watcher, and both had things to say about the Creels and the murders. There’s also some interesting points about the priest that showed up to do an exorcism at the Creel house. Let’s get into it. 

First of all, I know that these screenshots are going to seem extra illegible/low quality which may bring into question what they say/if I read them wrong, but just know that I’m actually basing my reading off of staring at the scene on netflix on my phone which has higher quality than google chrome, but I can’t screenshot it. So, as a result, the screenshots in this post are lower quality than what I was actually reading.  Here’s the full page:

And here’s the first section that I want to focus on. the first legible section that mentions the groundsperson (theres a previous paragraph that seems to mention him, but so far, I can’t make any words out except for “groundsperson” from that section): 

“But the exorcism failed, says Creel’s former groundsperson. He claims this so-called "vengeful demon" was too powerful, resisting the priest's demands to depart the home. He insists that it was this very attempt to (interfere?) which angered the spirit."

Later on in this same article, we're introduced to the Creels’ gardener:

“The family’s former gardener (who wished to remain anonymous) who was a witness at the Creel trial, testified that Victor was certain the house was haunted by a (????)”

And again, the gardener and the groundsperson seem to be separate people based on how the gardener is introduced as wanting to remain anonymous, whereas the groundsperson is already refererd to prior to this introduction (such as introduction for the groundsperson likely exists in the first two paragraphs of the article, which are illegible for me so far). 

Both of them were aware of the idea that Victor believed that the house was haunted, and the groundsperson was even aware of the exorcism happening, and was likely present for it based on how he describes specifics such as the priest demanding that the demon leave the Creel house and that the failed exorcism seems to have angered the demon. The gardener wasn’t just somebody randomly interviewed by the Weekly Watcher- they clearly knew enough to be called as a witness for Victor’s trial, and although they don’t seem to mention the exorcism, they do mention that Victor was certain that the house was haunted. 

Does anyone else find it extremely weird that the groundsperson was aware of the exorcism, and possibly even PRESENT for it, and yet Victor himself makes no mention of this exorcism, and Henry makes no mention of it, and it appears in neither of their flashback sequences?  And it’s not that the exorcism was irrelevant and therefore Victor didn’t mention it, because the groundsperson claims that it was the exorcism that angered the spirit, and when we consider the section that Robin’s readig aloud (which we can’t see on the screen), Robin says that VICTOR HIMSELF also believed that the failed exorcism was what angered the demon AND led to the murders. So, it wasn’t just the groundsperson’s speculation/personal belief- Victor believed it too. However, the groundsperson just mentions that the exorcism angered the spirit and doesn’t directly tie it to the murders, whereas Victor outright says that the demon being angered by the exorcism is what caused the murders. 

And yes, I’m basically certain that both the groundsperson AND Victor believed that the exorcism angered the demon and that it’s not just the groundsperson saying what he thinks Victor believed, because Robin is reading a different part of the article (the part that talks about what Victor believed rather than the part talking about what the groundsperson said), and the groundsperson also made no mention of the missing eyes/of the murders, whereas again, Victor makes that direct connection between the demon being angered by the exorcism vs the murders occurring. 

So, the groundsperson seems to believe that the spirit was angered by the failed exorcism- what made the groundsperson believe this? Did he see the murders and think “oh yeah, that was done by the spirit, the spirit must have gotten pissed off by that failed exorcism,” or, did he see something happen the day/night of the exorcism that led him to believe that the spirit was angered? I’m leaning towards the latter, as the groundsperson doesn’t mention the murders specifically, but DOES talk about the exorcism angering the spirit- and how would the groundsperson know that the spirit was angry *as a result of the exorcism* unless something happened the night of the exorcism/during the exorcism that made it seem like a spirit was angry. 

That’s the sort of detail that Victor SHOULD have brought up when speaking to Nancy and Robin, because it’s a key detail in terms of “why the murders happened,” (at least from Victor’s POV), and would also therefore be a key detail in preventing more murders, which is EXACTLY what Robin and Nancy were asking about. And yet, Victor does not mention it verbally, nor do we see it in the 1959 flashback scenes that play during his retelling. Henry also nevers mentions it verbally during his 1979 retelling to El, and no such scene plays during the 1959 flashback scenes with Nancy in Henry’s mindscape.

And I have to wonder- Henry talks about Martin Brenner as if he’s seen him before, he hasn’t just HEARD of him, it’s set up so that we see Henry waking up and recognizing Brenner before Brenner says anything.  What if the “priest,” was Brenner, trying to take Henry away? Or, at the very least, coming to try and see Henry and try to study him/see if he actually had powers, especially since Henry would likely resist if Virginia tried to take him to any sort of doctor, hence the need for a.) for Brenner to come to them and b.) for Brenner to be disguised as something other than a doctor. Especially since Victor WAS a caring father, and Henry trying to resist when Virginia was taking him to the doctor would have gotten his attention.  It wouldn’t be the first time that a Hawkins Lab employee pretended to be someone they’re not- Connie Frazier pretended to be both a social services worker AND a science teacher, complete with fake pamphlets, I don’t think it would be a stretch to slap Brenner into a robe and have him yell at the air/stare creepily at Henry. 

Like, cmon, they made fake pamphlets SOLELY for the purpose of locating Mike, Lucas, and Dustin (and El, as a result of finding those three), so when it comes to actually getting their hands on someone like Henry? The first kid with powers? Putting Brenner into a priest costume is NOT a stretch at all, imo.

So, Brenner shows up, says something weird to Henry/Henry realizes that Brenner isn’t who he says he is (isn’t a priest)/that Brenner knows about his powers, Henry panics, messes with the lights, which, to Victor and the groundsperson, would seem like the work of a demon. Was Brenner trying to “fix,” Henry under the guise of an exorcism? Trying to provoke Henry so that he could witness Henry’s powers/”exorcise” him? 

And in terms of why Victor would believe that Henry was possessed, that’s something I’m working on another post about that should be up today, but long story short, I think that  he would have valid reason to believe this based on Henry’s drawing of the “shadow monster,” which could easily be mistaken for a demon. And even if Victor didn’t think Henry was fully possessed, which he very well may not have, he definitely knew that Henry knew something was wrong/up with the house (”Henry, my boy, he was a sensitive child, and I could see he felt something was wrong.”), and so, I would bet that Henry’s demon drawing was still what triggered the call to the exorcist, even if Victor didn’t think Henry was fully possessed, he likely thought that the demon was bothering Henry in some way, as he knew that Henry felt something was wrong.  It’s also worth keeping in mind that Robin namedrops “The Exorcist” during the scene where Robin and Nancy are at the library reading this exact Weekly Watcher article. 

There’s a lot more that I want to dig into regarding the ST-Exorcist parallels, specifically with the Creels, but for now, take a look at the similarities between Brenner and Father Lankester Merrin- hell, “FATHER,” vs “PAPA”??

I know Brenner would have looked younger in 1959, but just in terms of inspiration for his older look, the parallels are definitely there imo. And interestingly enough, the actor who plays Father Lankester Merrin, Max von Sydow, was ALSO younger than he appears (43 at the time of filming), and makeup/prosthetics were used to age him. I don’t think the lab necessarily put prosthetics on Brenner, but it tracks with how Brenner’s older version is paralleled to Father Merrin despite Brenner being younger in 1959. 

 I really don’t think it’s a stretch for the “weird older guy who later makes children call him “papa,” and preaches at them” to agree/plan to show up to a house and be called “father,” and preach at people. 

There’s also a second priest in The Exorcist- Father Damien Karras, and the duo of Father Lankester Merrin and Father Damien Karras is rather similar to the duo of “Papa” Martin Brenner and Doctor Sam Owens. 

Brenner being the priest and trying to possibly take Henry away would also explain a.) how Henry knew that Virginia was trying to have him taken away by Brenner, and b.) why Victor believes that the murders were connected to the failed exorcism- because Henry talks about how he had to “break free,” after he realized that Virginia was going to have him sent away, and if he realized that she was trying to have him sent away on the day of the exorcism (because Brenner showed up and either tried to subtly take him or was examining him and knew he had powers etc), then that ties the exorcism to being the reason for the murders, which is what Victor asserts. 

And at the end of the day, whether Brenner was playing priest or not, one thing is for certain: we are missing SO MUCH with the Creels. We are absolutely not getting the full story here. It’s extremely strange that neither Victor nor Henry makes any mention of the failed exorcism, and that Henry never mentions how he knew that Virginia was planning to have him sent away.  It’s also worth keeping in mind that it’s very VERY likely that both Victor and Henry’s memories have been altered. Victor’s memories being messed with is confirmed in another newspaper article, and Henry’s memories are full of an absolute ton of holes and inconsistencies.  Here’s the parts from the Indianapolis Gazette article that confirms that Victor’s memories have been messed with (something I also partially talked about in this post). 

“The bodies were discovered early Sunday morning after Creel was found wandering aimlessly along the side of Highway 49, south of Hawkins.”

  Not only is the lab in the south part of Hawkins, but drugging/electrocuting people and messing with their memory and then dropping them off is exactly what the lab does- they did it with Hopper in season 1, although they dropped him off at his trailer, not on the side of the road. I talked about this in the post that I linked too, but it seems like they likely took Victor to the lab (when he was arrested by the state troopers, the same state troopers who were working with the lab in S1 regaring Will’s fake body), messed with his mind, and let him loose OR he escaped, one of the two. Again, as mentioned by that linked post, the bodies were found by local cops (not state troopers) Sunday morning when they picked Victor up and returned him to his home.  As well:

“Creel at first told authorities he knew nothing about the things found at his home. He is described as 5 feet (?) inches tall, weight about (?) pounds, with light skin, light brown hair, and “appearing slight and unable to perform basic motor functions”- a condition likely brought upon as a result of psychological consequences of committing the murders, says head psychiatrist at Pennhurst Asylum, Alexis McMurray.”

That sounds extremely similar to Terry, although more like a temporary version of what happened to her (which would make sense, because Brenner seemed to be dialling the electric shocks up extra high for Terry, so perhaps, doing the same thing at a lower voltage for Victor would cause the same effects but only termporarily.), the lack of basic motor functions, the missing memories, and like I’m going to talk about in this next part, Victor is also described as “breaking his silence,” which sounds quite a lot like how Terry is generally silent except for a few phrases. 

We also have this part: 

“Roane County Disct. Atty Parker Jones said today that Creel had broken his silence that he “might of,” killed the victims, and admitted to being present when the victims died.”

So, Victor initially had no memory of what happened. He later seems to have regained parts of his memory, as he later says that he WAS present when his family died (when we see him holding Henry’s body), but is still confused, as he also says that he “might” have killed them, despite the general certainness that a demon killed them that he shows in all other scenes/interviews. This indicates to me, that Victor was genuinely confused, saying that he “might,” have killed them, and seems to have even forgotten about the demon briefly- which would track with him forgetting about the exorcism, and getting some of his memories/demon-related memories back (the ones he mentions when talking to Robin and Nancy), but not all of them (the exorcism). It really does sound like his memories were messed with by the lab.  Why not fry Victor’s brain entirely, though? Why would the lab let him loose without doing what they did to Terry?  Because they needed him to take the blame, they needed him to seem insane, they needed his story to be confusing and patchy, if he had NO memories at all, that would be more difficult/more difficult to convict him as being insane. But patchy, confused memories, where his story changes repeatedly and he starts slowly talking about demons? That’s exactly the sort of thing needed to deem him insane and hand down his sentence, which would have been EXACTLY what the lab wanted in order to keep suspicion away from them, and manipulate the public’s perception of the murders, just like what Murray talks about the government and lab doing in S2. 

Long story short: we are definitely missing parts of the Creel story, and this all, once again, has Hawkins Lab written all over it- I won’t be surprised if we get a flashback to Brenner in a priest outfit in S5. 

#stranger things #henry creel #creel family #st analysis #st newspapers #creel newspapers #creel murders #martin brenner ref #victor creel #st hawkins lab

[lilithadomania]

Where would the twisted wonderland locations be in real world?

Has this post been done before..? I don't know.

Now, let's get the easier things out of the way.

Scalding sands are obviously somewhere in Arabic country. In the Wikipedia for Aladdin, it states that it is a middle Eastern tale.. The clothes seem similar to that of an Arabic country. Turquoise colour is however, often used in over here turkey, but... Turkey is not an Arabic country.. It is stated that Jasmine's clothes were inspired by South Asian clothing... In the wiki it states that Agrabah was also inspired by ottoman empire, the silk city's camel bazaar seems similar to that of an bazaar over here. Hm.. I think that it might be based off of Afghanistan, it isn't fun fitting at all, and I'm just throwing it off there, but it is definitely somewhere similar to there and ottoman empire.

City of flowers is, without a doubt, based off of France. Noble bell college is based off of the Notre-Dame de Paris, more specifically, île de la Cité, an island in the Seine River(this part was taken straight out of the Wikipedia article for Notre-dame de Paris). There isn't much more to say about it, as it was rather easy to find out about it.

Queendom of roses is probably based off of United Kingdom, as the original novel it is based off of was written in england(believe me I will have to do this. A lot.), in November of 1865. From what I was able to see in the manga, the architecture seems to be more modern, along with the clothes as well. That would make anyone from there... British, take that how you will.

Now.. Onto the trickier parts.

Sunset savana, it obviously takes place in.. A savanas. Savanas seem to be most common in northern Australia and probably in Africa, looking at the cards in the Japanese server, the clothes for the sunset savana seems to be resembling that of traditional African clothes, but I might be wrong on this I'm sorry, but I strongly believe that is the case! I am not too sure on the exact country though, probably somewhere similar to Nigeria as the clothes seem to be similar.

Coral Sea, I.. Genuinely don't know. I can't even track anything down aside from going with where the original tale of the little mermaid was written, which is probably Denmark? So... Danish fish mafia???? I don't know??? Azul's name means blue in Spanish and Portuguese, and Floyd means grey and grey-haired in Welsh???? I don't know, I'm confused now.

Shaftlands, it is.. Probably based off of either Germany or somewhere that speaks English, since Cater's last name is english and jack is either english or French, however, if I go off of where Snow White is written from, it's Germany, and the most memorable character from there is vil, who's last name is "schöenheit" which means beauty in German, so... It's probably based from Germany.

•harvest town is... Also in shaftlands, it's probably based off of a town in Germany, I don't know. Epel's last name, felmier, means farmer in Romanian and such, his first name epel sounds similar to the German word for apple, apfel.

Island of woe, another tone.. Where I just don't know. It is definitely based off of Greece for sure, as Idia's name means reserved, private and such, meanwhile his last name comes from the Latin word shroud, which is the name for a cloth that is used to cover over the face of the dead. Ortho means unharmed, safe and such, and plus, the name of the S.T.Y.X is probably based off of the Styx river in the Greek mythology that connects the earth to the underworld.

Briar valley, now.. Another one that is hard to settle for, however, if we go off with how daisomnia looks, it's probably somewhere in Gothic Victorian time, since daisomnia looks like a Gothic Victorian castle, going off of cars and such aren't used in Briar valley, it makes me fully believe that it is mostly based off of the Victorian era. The names... Malleus is the name of a well knows witchcraft, and his last name is, according to the fandom wiki, is deprived off of the words dragon or devil in Romanian and such. Gothic Victorian architecture seems to be most popular in Europe, we don't know much about the Briar valley sadly, but sleeping beauty the fairytale was originally written in.. French.

The final matches, this is all speculations on my part and this was for fun!

City of flowers-france

Queendom of roses-united kingdom

Sunset savana-africa, Nigeria

Coral sea-i... I don't know...

Scalding sands-an Arabic country/probably somewhere in South Asia, possibly Afghanistan

Shaftlands-germany

Island of woe-greece

Briar valley-france/possibly Romania, somewhere in Europe.

#admin's rambling #dragon's rambling #twisted wonderland #pomefiore #daisomnia #heartslabyul #ignihyde #savanaclaw #scarabia #octavinelle #floyd leech #jade leech #lilia vanrouge #malleus draconia #vil schoenheit #epel felmier #leona kingscholar #ruggie bucchi #jack howl #riddle rosehearts #cater diamond #kalim al asim #jamil viper #sebek zigvolt #silver #azul ashengrotto #deuce spade #ace trappola #rook hunt #idia shroud

[sea-jello]

every single little detail they managed to fit into bmc

yeah there are SO MANY details in this show and its driving me crazy so im gonna amass everything into posts

ik many of these are well known or obvious or whatever but im doing it so anyone who didnt know about any of these could easily learn it all in one go without having to scour the internet or rewind and watch the background in every single scene yk (also i noticed so many of these myself and im kinda proud and its a way for me to get it all out)

i’m also going to be using @/thesquirrelqueer's be more chill archive which is amazing and frankly scary so go give em some love

edit i changed my mind halfway through this cause thats gonna take me forever so if you want to see all the visual details go check that out. its like thats the artists reference and this is the writers reference i think all the little quirks showcase their personality quite well

im gonna start all the way from the beginning so FIRST UP is 2river's "More Than Survive" (album+show, specifically the one 35 minute 👢)

im telling you its LONG so prepare yourself for that. maybe pull up the video to watch side by side so yk what im talking about (the video on yt is "this isnt be more chill" because its NOT be more chill) tiny warning for very mild nsfw mentions cause its bmc

from the first "c-c-c-cmon" up to "and now of course its time to hit the road" theres a sound that sounds like a mouse clicking to the beat in the background. i thought this was to reflect the show when jeremy stops clicking at his laptop at the line "and now of course its time to hit the road" to gets up and put his pants on, but during "but that really isnt such a change/if im not feeling weird or super strange" you can still hear the clicks. maybe its there just for repetitions sake cause it breaks off at "which means ill be uncomfortable all day" and resumes for those two lines, then you dont hear it again. you can hear this one very clearly if you watched the show, but its a little fainter in the album (i figured it out from the album lmao go me)

during the bus scene in the show when everyones going to their places, jeremy almost crashes into rich and you can hear his voice hitch

christine watches this interaction before "sitting down" on the bus to read

i think brooke is asleep during the bus ride, and gets woken up when the bus jerks forward

jake nearly drops his phone too (again this is all based on the 35 minute video on yt. im sure small things change every show, but this is all we got so im picking this one apart)

jeremy keeps smoothing his hair behind his right ear with his palm, probably a nervous gesture. he does it when they "get off the bus"

during the ensembles (i dont think thats the right word but it just makes it easier for me you know who im talking about) "c-c-c-cmon", michael loses his signal on his phone when they get to school, hence the "cmon"

chloe impatiently gestures to brooke to "cmon" and follow her (yk)

jenna waves to christine. christine puts her book down and waves back, then again just watches jenna and then people

rich messes with jenna and she goes to hit him

after the "c-c-c-cmon"s rich jumps out from backstage and hits jeremy in the nuts you can hear jeremys faint noise of pain

in the little dance break jake and jenna are dancing on opposite sides of the stage, then wave at each other (im pretty sure). jeremy looks back and forth between them while they dance and mistakenly waves to jenna when they spin around (just watch it youll know what i mean)

when chloe, brooke and jenna are gossiping, up to jakes "its a good thing i rock at pool" the "rich set a fire" tune plays in the background (something something gossip rumors) chloe is holding a textbook with the earth on it, so science or something probably. there’s a magazine article page that says “what cheating does to [i can’t see what it says]”, which i’m assuming is a reference to jake?? she also have page cutouts of hair products, straighteners, etc, and i think a picture of either taylor swift or brooke i really can’t tell 💀💀when rich writes on jeremys backpack, he pulls him up by the collar to say "youre dead", then pushes him (jeremy pushes his hair back again) into mr reyes' path where hes walking to put up the play sign up sheet. (side note gerards voice cracked on 'dont touch me tall ass" so it sounds like hes having a tantrum and will connolly looks like a meerkat and i love them both)

when jake says "its a good thing i rock at pool" chloe and brooke hide behind a pillar and listen in, then chloe does a sort of "i told you so" gesture. during the whole "i navigate the dangerous hall" scene, brooke chases after chloe as she storms off upset. rich messes with jenna again and she chases him offstage, then mr reyes follows (im pretty sure he pinched her ass) i dunno if this is a coincidence but christine runs after them offstage too. christine and jenna friendship w

jeremy genuinely sounds so excited when he realized it was a sign up sheet and i wholeheartedly believe he wanted to join the play even before christine, she was just the final push

when the ensemble comes back out before the "christiiiiiiiiine" mr reyes comes out dragging rich by the ear while jenna smugly walks behind them (read back to him pinching her ass). rich flips him off after he lets go. jake walks past chloe without looking up from his phone and chloe does a 180 to chase after him. forgot to mention michael has his hood on and bops to his music in the background of all the ensemble scenes but yk its pretty well known

oh god class scene here we go. rich and jake make the 👌👈 sign at michael. rich very aggressively shoves his WHOLE HAND into the circle and opens his hand. jenna raises her hand and mr reyes brushes her off in favor of trying and failing to get jake to stop, so he moves on to rich. he puts a hand on richs arm and sorta makes the "wtf" gesture. rich makes the "sorry about that" motion with his hand still around his wrist which is kinda funny to me (just watch it i cant even describe it) jake turns to talk to brooke, who was previously talking to chloe. jenna waves to christine again. also christine seemed really shy every time jenna waves at her, and never waves first. idk if this is a coincidence but chloe flips her hair back and brooke mirrors it right after. there’s a poster for an anime club on the bulletin board with the sign up sheet

MICHAEL

jeremys fucking bops to his intro i love him

really quick when michael goes "and were almost at the end of this song" and does his dance jeremy bops along with him. NOW if we stretch a bit and say this actually happened then that means jeremy knew what song he was listening to/where hes at based on him dancing to it earlier they know each other so well they are best friends and possibly boyfriends in this essay i will

jeremy flops his head to the side on the beat and with michaels "how was class" slap hes so dramatic

i think i might be tripping but right after "i hate this school" and during the tore it up and flushed it thing michael in the bathroom plays very very faintly in the bg. IM NOT TRIPPING in the album mitb plays during the humanity stopped evolving thing up to "better time in history to be a loser". and THEN from "so own it" up to the christine jingle THE PANTS SONG PLAYS. you can just barely hear it in the boot too

during the first "canigula" michael waves in front of jeremys face and he kicks at him

before jeremys sign up verse michael takes his lunch tray and jerks his head towards the sheet in a "go on" motion and then ofc pushes him towards it HES SUPPORTIVE OF HIM HELLO this furthers my belief of jeremy being a secret theatre kid. jeremy looks back at him on "who cares if people think im lame" like hes reassuring himself can you hear my heart

when rich shouts "GAAAY" mr reyes points and goes after him

when they all come out to dance, jeremy first mistakenly waves to chloe when she waves at jenna, then rich when he goes to dap jake up, then tries to wave at michael but he spins away while presumably listening to his music. christine just watches chloe and brooke talk again

when they all start slowly standing up at the "go"s jeremy looks so confused

also when he jumps off the chair that is PEAK meerkat moment. then he lands and just stands there for like a solid 3 seconds its so funny to me

LORD almighty we're done that took weeks okay uhh please tell me if i should do EVERYTHING everything like broadway off broadway australia cause lord knows im the ceo of bmc australia rn also i dont want to sound pretentious but please reblog cause i spent so much time and effort on this useless fucking post 😭😭 but whatever i had fun

#WOW i am so normal about this fucking show #also a while ago i learned fucking joe iconis is in fact on tumblr so mr joe iconis if you see this hello you have a very nice musical #shoutout to thesquirrelqueer for giving me permission to use the archive even though i ended up not using it #like i said thats the artists reference and this is the writers reference #watching the background gives you a lot of insight into the characters #i tried to seperate them into sections i hope its not too hard to read #im heavy tagging this idc im not spending so long on this for it to flop #bmc #be more chill #be more chill musical #bmc two river #be more chill two rivers #jeremy heere #michael mell #rich goranski #brooke lohst #chloe valentine #jenna rolan #jake dillinger #christine canigula #bmc jeremy #jeremy bmc #michael bmc #bmc michael #rich bmc #bmc rich #bmc brooke #bmc chloe #bmc jenna #bmc jake

[ilgaksu]

i'm finally in enough of a bad mood today to take it out on something by breaking my long-held promise never to write fandom meta on disability again so HEY LET'S GO.

so, go read this post first (spoilers for fullmetal alchemist, but the thesis of the post is that respect for bodily autonomy is a sign of love, even when in most modern media it's disregarded as a sign of it, especially in medical contexts. it's so eloquently and beautifully put that it's a great jumping off point.)

okay, so: did anybody else get given this kind of dilemma in early critical thinking studies at school? the example we got given is this: your wife is dying and needs a medical treatment to save her life, but the medical treatment directly contravenes her lifelong religious or spiritual beliefs. should you do it?

honestly, i think a lot about how the husband in those articles and examples is framed as some kind of unspeakable monster if he upholds her beliefs and lets her life be lived in continuous honour of those beliefs, knowing she will die in alignment with them but that she will die. he's always a monster if he does that, or backwards, or unscientific, or uncaring - as opposed to, depending on how you frame it, and you can frame it so many ways, the one person in that room truly on his wife's side, and having to make the worst decision anyone can make. and how the only compassionate thing is to have no judgement and instead pray like hell that you're never personally standing there by someone's hospital bed having to make the kind of decision like that, with a time limit on life and death, and having to war with your own wants over the explicit known desires of the person you love.

and the medical staff are trained to save someone's life at all costs. that is their remit. but what about yours?

what if it's life and death, but they're conscious? what if the person is entirely cognisant, and conscious, and able to make their own medical decisions, and is, despite their medical situation, currently able to physically live alone without support? what if they aren't, but medical autonomy and human dignity is based not on the necessities of physical support, but in the inviolable right to self-determine your own medical decisions for as long as you can? and how often are those necessities perceived as demands? what if we show, often, more respect for the dead and their burial wishes than for their final medical wishes when alive? what if we have to acknowledge that us doing that is out of love and fear and more love? that we're the person standing at that hospital bed, and we prayed like hell but it happened to us and to someone we love anyway, and now we're having to choose but what we actually want is more time and we'd do anything on our end to ensure it?

why is it easier, in that moment, to empathise with the person standing at the end of the hospital bed, and not the person in it? is it because we're far more likely, statistically, to be the former and be able to communicate our feelings on it after the event, compared to the person in it, who may pass away? is it because we're a society so afraid of death that we're afraid to meaningfully debate on what it means to die on our own terms?

what if the person shuts you down and refuses to engage on the topic, beyond being very clear about what they want? what if it's no longer up for discussion, but you have, you believe, options left that they aren't seeing or agreeing to? what if you know they won't consent to it if you ask honestly and ahead of time? do you then have the right to show up and demand it of them? do you have the right of intervention, if you know it's a decision they've already made, because you feel the decision is wrong? do you have the right to tell other people their private medical information without their consent to gain that help? do you have a right to any of it? do you have the right to override someone's autonomy like that?

what if you are their partner? what choice is you showing up for them, and what choice is you just bargaining for more time, at any cost? even if it feels like they aren't even showing up for themselves anymore?

anyway heihua movie is solely about a tentacle monster in a cave, nothing else to see here

#if xiao hua had shown up at my house to inform me he'd told all my old friends about my medical information #and surprised me in doing that #and then expected me to run into the jungle gratefully after him #i would simply have driven his fancy jeep into the river and made sure i made it out so i could watch it drift downstream #meta #monster of the abyss #heihua movie #dmbj

[writingonleaves]

Hi I don't know if you've seen the video of Jack and that girl skating tonight yet but it got me thinking. Could you possibly talk about how fans react to Nico and Clementine if that makes sense? How do they find out? unless these are all spoilers of course🙏🏼 Love your stuff!

hi! yes i did see that video which i think is very cute tbh so good for him! please fix his hair babe and drop the link to the jeans they were cute. i really do appreciate this question for a multitude of reasons so thank you actually for asking so i can indulge myself haha

so i've actually thought about this a lot, as someone who is myself a fan and has been a part of many different fandoms (hockey is by Far not my first. i was on one direction tumblr back in the day and am convinced it prepared me for Everything). i always find it interesting as someone who's a Part of one but doesn't always engage if that makes sense.

my point is, below is how i think it would go (no big spoilers), and it's based off of hope, my experiences with what i (and im sure a lot of you guys) have seen and being realistic.

so Clem's instagram is private. that's important. and in my world, i don't think she ever goes public, even when getting together with nico and getting married (this is a spoiler but not really...you think im not gonna make them stay together? please).

okay so we've seen how people start assuming things based on who the guys follow on ig, right? so nico follows clem a few weeks after meeting her, but no one really cares. because people have done their basic research and anyone who's followed the hughes for a few years know that clem is a hughes and a family friend. its the same energy as jack following nina on ig. no one blinks an eye.

they start dating april 2024, and no one is really thinking anything. nina does follow her in the summer, which raises a few eyebrows, but nothing crazy.

clem does a semi hard launch on her ig over the summer, but again, she's private and none of her friends are snitches, so no one in the general public knows anything

we don't really know (or at least i don't) how nico is when he's a relationship because i don't believe he's been in one the general public knows about since going pro (again, could be wrong, but this is all based off my own knowledge). for example, trevor just did a hard story launch, jack did a semi one with a post when he was with sienna, etc etc.

saying that, i think speculation really starts when nicole (jesper's gf) starts following clem on ig sometime in late summer 2024 or right before the season starts. we know nico and jesper are close enough to travel in the off season together, so that's big. people start noticing that other devs players like timo and jesper start following her. blaring siren horns. that's pretty much confirmation

the hockey fights cancer article is released in the 2024-2025 season, so peopele are like oh damn nico bagged himself a beautiful, smart doctor?? good for him. move aside buddy. that kind of stuff.

hard launch on nico's end? this instagram post. they've been dating for a bit over a year already at this point. everyone goes nuts as they do

and then i imagine it's kinda like, generally good? obviously you're gonna have some crazies being weird, but people Love that narrative of clem growing up with the hughes and now dating nico

she's not as public facing as other significant others in the league, but i imagine behind closed doors she eventually does embrace the role of being the captain's girlfriend (which i hope to write about at some point). i picture something like her and nico helping out a family financially receiving treatment in the hospital when finding out they're devils fans. very behind closed doors, but extremely sweet and thoughtful. one of the kids she's treating is a huge jack fan? immediate signed jersey and tickets to the next devils game. that kind of stuff.

bc clementine knows how important all of this is. and shes always known.

and then its the typical stuff. she's spotted at games, during playoffs with the iconic wag jackets, family skates, christmas parties, various ig stories from the hugheses, nico, nicole, etc etc.

in terms of games, yes she does join the family and friends boxes once in awhile, but she absolutely LOVES being in the action. so most of the time, she's out sitting with fans. it's great. she's shotgunned many a beer with fans. devs fans adore her bc she really is one of them and doesn’t shy away from that. many say a captain + their SO represent the organization. she and nico do it perfectly.

i hope this answer was what you were looking for. this was so long winded and i apologize for that, but i did want to think out my answer because i think it's important and fun to think about!! thank you so so much for asking❤️

#sweet anons #k replies #the blue au