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scotianostra · 7 months

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Happy 90th Birthday Scottish actor David McCallum.

Born as David Keith McCallum, Jr on this day 19933 in Maryhill, Glasgow, the second of two sons of Dorothy Dorman, a cellist, and orchestral violinist David McCallum Sr. When he was three, his family moved to London for his father to play as concertmaster in the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Early in the Second World War, he was evacuated back to Scotland, where he lived with his mother at Gartocharn by Loch Lomond.

McCallum won a scholarship to University College School, a boys' independent school in Hampstead, London, where, encouraged by his parents to prepare for a career in music, he played the oboe.In 1946 he began doing boy voices for the BBC radio repertory company. Also involved in local amateur drama, at age 17, he appeared as Oberon in an open-air production of A Midsummer Night's Dream with the Play and Pageant Union. He left school at age 18 and was conscripted, joining the 3rd Battalion the Middlesex Regiment, which was seconded to the Royal West African Frontier Force.In March 1954 he was promoted to Lieutenant. After leaving the army he attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (also in London), where Joan Collins was a classmate.

David McCallum’s acting career has spanned six decades; however, these days he is best known for his starring role on the police procedural NCIS as medical examiner as Dr. Donald “Ducky” Mallard. I first really remember McCallum for his role in another US show, The Invisible Man which ran for 13 episodes in the 70's. McCallum by then was a veteran of many TV and Film roles, starting in the 50's including Our Mutual Friend and The Eustace Diamonds, in the 60's he was in several ITV Playhouse shows before moving across the Atlantic to take roles in The Outer Limits and his big break as Illya Kuryakin in several incantations of The Man from Uncle.

His most notable films were The Greatest Story Ever Told as

Judas Iscariot and of course Ashley-Pitt 'Dispersal' in The Great Escape.

As well as the aforementioned Invisible Man in the 70's he took time to pop back over to our shores to star in two quality series, as Flt. Lt. Simon Carter in Colditz and Alan Breck Stewart in an adaption of Robert Louis Stevenson's, Kidnapped.

The 80's saw him team up with the lovely Joanna Lumley in Sapphire & Steel and several guest roles in the likes of The A Team, Hart to Hart and Murder, She Wrote as well as a one off reprise of Illya in the TV movie The Return of the Man from U.N.C.L.E.: The Fifteen Years Later Affair.

The 90's saw David in Cluedo and Trainer on our TV screens over here and American science-fiction series VR-5 in the states..

During the last 20 years or so he has been in the kids TV show, Ben 10: Omniverse as the voice of Professor Paradox and of course Donald Horatio "Ducky" Mallard in over 350 episodes of the popular NCIS.

David has been married twice. He married his first wife Jill Ireland in 1957. They met on the set of the movie Hell Drivers. Together, they had two sons and a daughter, Paul, Jason and Valentine, with Jason being the only one who was adopted. In 1963, David introduced Jill to his co-star on The Great Escape, Charles Bronson, and she left David and married Charles in 1968. In 1967, David married Katherine Carpenter and they have two children together, a son Peter and a daughter, Sophie. He and Katherine currently live in New York.

In NCIS since 2018, Ducky, played by McCallum, has appeared in fewer episodes. avid McCallum explained that appearing in fewer episodes will allow him to see more of his family, which includes his wife, children, six grandsons, and their cat, Nickie. According to IMDB he has chalked up an amazing 457 appearances in the show, morethan anyother character in the series.

#scotland #scottish #actor #television #cinema #happy birthday #NCIS #ducky mallard

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solradguy · 7 months

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Do you ever get caught up in the immensity of the Guilty Gear fandom that used to exist? Not that it was particularly large, but it felt different.

Around 20 deadlinks in and I start to feel like I’m walking in an abandoned city of skyscrapers when I’m barely medieval. Where did they all go? Did they used to be a nation?

I do... Last night I spent 3 hours going through just Livejournal links and blog archives, not even Dreamwidth or Geocities webrings, and it was like that. Some of the core people went off to college/post-college jobs, like Ed Chang. Most of the original GG fandom left, I think, because they would be in their 40s now. Isn't that crazy to think about?

Some LJ profiles had birthyears that were like 1980, 1982. They would've been in their teens or early 20s at the peak of Sol/Ky discourse circa 2004. Wonder what they would think knowing people like you and I have been sifting through those old posts haha

It is sad how much is gone too though... I used to be in the Doctor Who fandom with a big interest on the pre-reboot stuff (so media before the 8th Doctor's movie in the mid '90s) and it was insane anytime any of the fan media from that popped up. Doctor Who cosplay photos from 1970 will change a man. Sitting there, wondering what those teens-now-retirement-age-adults are up to. How much of their original fandom is gone... Some Classic Who episodes/media only survived because dedicated fans recorded it and kept it safe. The BBC wrote over or threw out original episode reels from the '60s and '70s. Their GG Vastedge... It can be recovered, but it will never be whole again.

I wish there was less petty arguing in fandoms. It makes it hard to want to record what's happening in the moment. In 2043—20 years from now—how much of what we're talking about and making now will be archived? How much of it do people feel should be archived? I think it's all important, honestly. Fandoms are such a uniquely human experience and Guilty Gear's is fascinating for how closely it's managed to close the gap between its Japanese and English-speaking communities, and for the large amount of LGBT people in it.

Tumblr, Livejournal, Dreamwidth, Twitter, and Neocities are not permanent things. If you love something, make copies of it and copies of those copies. Rehost things, keep records. Think about the city of dead links and deleted Tinypic image hosts. Some of the GG stuff we have now only exists because the original poster 22 years ago kept copies in two places.

#asks #existentialism cw #Sorry this got heavy as hell lol Going through LJ last night got to me a bit tbh

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life-in-the-garden · 4 months

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A Spell Bottle for Big Al

This spell is dedicated to my boyfriend @mikk1n, who introduced me to the world of Walking with Dinosaurs and its various sub-series. The BBC walked with dinosaurs so that Prehistoric Planet could run.

outdated illustration of an allosaurus from Dinosaur National Monument, by the United States' National Park Service

Anyway...

This spell calls upon the power of the Allosaurus jimmadseni specimen identified as MOR 693—however, this fossilized creature is more commonly known as “Big Al” thanks to an imagining of his life’s story being told via a BBC television program in the year 2000. (The Ballad of Big Al was a Christmas special for the popular Walking with Dinosaurs series, and it can be watched legally on the Internet Archive—part one is here and part two is here).

Big Al’s bones currently live in the Geological Museum of the University of Wyoming in the United States (see his exhibit here), but when re-watching his story with my boyfriend late at night I was struck by the depiction of his life. Although I’m not happy with a multitude of the narrative choices that the writers made—my ire is primarily directed at the massive time skips of multiple years and the overall rushed brevity of the story—what really stuck with me was how realistic it felt.

Now, I’m not talking about the depictions of the dinosaurs or the quality of the practical and special effects; science and technology have marched steadily onward since the year 2000, and what we know now puts our prehistoric knowledge from 20+ years ago to shame. That can’t be helped. What I’m really saying is that so much of Big Al’s depicted life was spent searching for food, failing to acquire it, and ultimately dying of starvation… because of a broken toe. Yes, he was an apex predator of his era, but the show is very careful to point out how much his life teetered on the knife’s edge of his physical prowess as a predator—although he healed from a variety of injuries and illnesses throughout his less than a decade of life, ultimately Big Al was brought down by a broken bone that developed a fatal infection and rendered him unable to hunt.

While Big Al failed to reached adulthood, that doesn’t mean you have to do the same thing. This spell is designed to create part of the spirit of Big Al into an animal ally (if you’re not from an indigenous culture that incorporate usage of totems or spirit animals, please don’t use those terms) to aid you in your own efforts toward continuing to survive whatever troubles currently plague you.

Method

Now, the sky’s the limit for what you can ask Big Al’s spirit for help with. However, my own witchy intuition (aka UPG) says that an allosaurus isn’t going to understand a school/university assignment well enough to be able to help you with it. Their knowledge predates algebra. On the other hand, I’m sure theropod dinosaurs (Big Al among them) were incredibly smart in much the same way modern corvids are, so your own UPG might differ on this point…

In other words, make this spell your own! What follows is just one way that you can request aid from the spirit of Big Al; this one is designed for (since Big Al died with an infected fracture) remembering to take your pills.

You will potentially need…

1 empty pill bottle

Pebbles, beads, or crystals of some kind that are small enough to fit inside the pill bottle

Sealing wax (your choice of color) or liquid glue

writing supplies OR 1 carnivorous dinosaur toy, ideally a small & cheap one

Instructions, such as they are…

(This is the boring part.) Put the containers for the pills you plan to consume in a place where they are prominent enough that they won’t blend into the background. If you have a lot of different pills to take and want help remembering the instructions for them, keep a piece of paper nearby (or make a note on your phone) with notes for what pills you are supposed to take at what time + any additional helpful information.

Cleanse the empty pill bottle, the pebbles/beads/crystals, and (if using) the dinosaur toy. You can cleanse with whatever method seems best to you—personally, my favorite method is via candlelight.

(This is the less boring part.) If using the dinosaur toy, have the toy preside over your pill bottle(s) that actually have pills in them. This toy is the embodiment of your animal ally. You can set this up on your altar if you use an altar + want to keep your pills there, but it’s not necessary. If not using the toy, use the writing supplies to draw a picture of a carnivorous, bipedal dinosaur on a piece of paper—this will go under your cleansed (and soon to be filled) pill bottle as the embodiment of your animal ally.

Put some pebbles, crystals, and/or beads into the empty and cleansed pill bottle.* Put the cap on and shake it a few times—or more than a few times, if that’s what feels right to you. If you enjoy verbal incantations, you can say one here; it can be as complex as a full-length sonnet in iambic pentameter, or it can be as simple as “amen” or “so mote it be” or what have you.

* Note: as weird as it sounds, I don’t really care about crystal correspondences in my personal practice; they are just pretty rocks to me. Therefore, I’m not going to tell you what crystals work well in this spell. Follow your intuition!

Once you’re satisfied with the pill bottle, seal it with wax or glue and keep it in a place where it’s hard to ignore. Ideally, this place will be right next to the dinosaur toy, or if you’re not using the toy then atop the piece of paper with your hand-drawn dinosaur. Shake the pill bottle full of pebbles, crystals, and/or beads every time you need to take your meds; for me, the rattling sound is part of the ritual and helps me remember to go over to the medicine cabinet and take my pills with breakfast.

And that's it! I hope Big Al and this spell inspire you in some way. If you have helpful medication of any kind, please remember to take it!

If you enjoyed this spell, please consider tossing some spare change toward my ko-fi. As a poor university student with an abusive home life, every little bit helps me get a few centimeters closer to moving out + pay for food and veterinary expenses for my cat.

#witchcraft #witchblr #witches of tumblr #magic #haven's original spells #spell bottle #pop culture witchcraft #pop culture magic #dinosaur #the ballad of big al #cw animal death

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beardedmrbean · 7 months

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A blackmail scam is using instant loan apps to entrap and humiliate people across India and other countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. At least 60 Indians have killed themselves after being abused and threatened. A BBC undercover investigation has exposed those profiting from this deadly scam in India and China.

Astha Sinhaa woke up to her aunt's panicked voice on the phone. "Don't let your mother leave the house."

Half-asleep, the 17-year-old was terrified to find her mum Bhoomi Sinhaa in the next room, sobbing and frantic.

Here was her funny and fearless mother, a respected Mumbai-based property lawyer, a widow raising her daughter alone, reduced to a frenzied mess.

"She was breaking apart," Astha says. A panicked Bhoomi started telling her where all the important documents and contacts were, and seemed desperate to get out of the door.

Astha knew she had to stop her. "Don't let her out of your sight," her aunt had told her. "Because she will end her life."

Astha knew her mother had been getting some weird calls and that she owed somebody money, but she had no idea that Bhoomi was reeling from months of harassment and psychological torture.

She had fallen victim to a global scam with tentacles in at least 14 countries that uses shame and blackmail to make a profit - destroying lives in the process.

The business model is brutal but simple. There are many apps that promise hassle-free loans in minutes. Not all of them are predatory. But many - once downloaded - harvest your contacts, photos and ID cards, and use that information later to extort you. When customers don't repay on time - and sometimes even when they do - they share this information with a call centre where young agents of the gig economy, armed with laptops and phones are trained to harass and humiliate people into repayment.

At the end of 2021, Bhoomi had borrowed about 47,000 rupees ($565; £463) from several loan apps while she waited for some work expenses to come through. The money arrived almost immediately but with a big chunk deducted in charges. Seven days later she was due to repay but her expenses still hadn't been paid, so she borrowed from another app and then another. The debt and interest spiralled until she owed about two million rupees ($24,000; £19,655).

Soon the recovery agents started calling. They quickly turned nasty, slamming Bhoomi with insults and abuse. Even when she had paid, they claimed she was lying. They called up to 200 times a day. They knew where she lived, they said, and sent her pictures of a dead body as a warning.

As the abuse escalated they threatened to message all of the 486 contacts in her phone telling them she was a thief and a whore. When they threatened to tarnish her daughter's reputation too, Bhoomi could no longer sleep.

She borrowed from friends, family and more and more apps - 69 in total. At night, she prayed the morning would never come. But without fail at 07:00, her phone would start pinging and buzzing incessantly.

Eventually, Bhoomi had managed to pay back all of the money, but one app in particular - Asan Loan - wouldn't stop calling. Exhausted, she couldn't concentrate at work and started having panic attacks.

One day a colleague called her over to his desk and showed her something on his phone - a naked, pornographic picture of her.

The photo had been crudely photoshopped, Bhoomi's head stuck on someone else's body, but it filled her with disgust and shame. She collapsed by her colleague's desk. It had been sent by Asan Loan to every contact in her phone book. That was when Bhoomi thought of killing herself.

We've seen evidence of scams like this run by various companies all over the world. But in India alone, the BBC has found at least 60 people have killed themselves after being harassed by loan apps.

Most were in their 20s and 30s - a fireman, an award-winning musician, a young mum and dad leaving behind their three- and five-year-old daughters, a grandfather and grandson who got involved in loan apps together. Four were just teenagers.

Most victims are too ashamed to speak about the scam, and the perpetrators have remained, for the most part, anonymous and invisible. After looking for an insider for months, the BBC managed to track down a young man who had worked as a debt recovery agent for call centres working for multiple loan apps.

Rohan - not his real name - told us he had been troubled by the abuse he had witnessed. Many customers cried, some threatened to kill themselves, he said. "It would haunt me all night." He agreed to help the BBC expose the scam.

He applied for a job in two different call centres - Majesty Legal Services and Callflex Corporation - and spent weeks filming undercover.

His videos captured young agents harassing clients. "Behave or I will smash you," one woman says, swearing. She accuses the customer of incest and, when he hangs up, she starts laughing. Another suggests the client should prostitute his mother to repay the loan.

Rohan recorded over 100 incidents of harassment and abuse, capturing this systematic extortion on camera for the first time.

The worst abuse he witnessed took place at Callflex Corporation, just outside Delhi. Here, agents routinely used obscene language to humiliate and threaten customers. These were not rogue agents going off-script - they were supervised and directed by managers at the call centre, including one called Vishal Chaurasia.

Rohan gained Chaurasia's trust, and together with a journalist posing as an investor, arranged a meeting at which they asked him to explain exactly how the scam works.

When a customer takes out a loan, he explained, they give the app access to the contacts on their phone. Callflex Corporation is hired to recover the money - and if the customer misses a payment the company starts hassling them, and then their contacts. His staff can say anything, Chaurasia told them, as long as they get a repayment.

"The customer then pays because of the shame," he said. "You'll find at least one person in his contact list who can destroy his life."

We approached Chaurasia directly but he did not want to comment. Callflex Corporation did not respond to our efforts to contact them.

One of the many lives destroyed was Kirni Mounika's.

The 24-year-old civil servant was the brains of her family, the only student at her school to get a government job, a doting sister to her three brothers. Her father, a successful farmer, was ready to support her to do a masters in Australia.

The Monday she took her own life, three years ago, she had hopped on her scooter to go to work as usual.

"She was all smiles," her father, Kirni Bhoopani, says.

It was only when police reviewed Mounika's phone and bank statements that they found out she had borrowed from 55 different loan apps. It started with a loan of 10,000 rupees ($120; £100) and spiralled to more than 30 times that. By the time she decided to kill herself, she had paid back more than 300,000 rupees ($3,600; £2,960).

Police say the apps harassed her with calls and vulgar messages - and had started messaging her contacts.

Mounika's room is now a makeshift shrine. Her government ID card hangs by the door, the bag her mum packed for a wedding still lying there.

The thing that upsets her father the most is that she hadn't told him what was going on. "We could have easily arranged the money," he says, wiping tears from his eyes.

He's furious at the people who did this.

As he was taking his daughter's body home from the hospital her phone rang and he answered to an obscenity-laden rant. "They told us she has to pay," he says. "We told them she was dead."

He wondered who these monsters could be.

Hari - not his real name - worked at a call centre doing recovery for one of the apps Mounika had borrowed from. The pay was good but by the time Mounika died he was already feeling uneasy about what he was part of.

Although he claims not to have made abusive calls himself - he says he was in the team that made initial polite calls - he told us managers instructed staff to abuse and threaten people.

The agents would send messages to a victim's contacts, painting the victim as a fraud and a thief.

"Everyone has a reputation to maintain in front of their family. No-one is going to spoil that reputation for the measly sum of 5,000 rupees," he says.

Once a payment had been made the system would ping "Success!" and they would move on to the next client.

When clients started threatening to take their own lives nobody took it seriously - then the suicides started happening. The staff called their boss, Parshuram Takve, to ask if they should stop.

The following day Takve appeared in the office. He was angry. "He said, 'Do what you're told and make recoveries,'" Hari says. So they did.

A few months later, Mounika was dead.

Takve was ruthless. But he wasn't running this operation alone. Sometimes, Hari says, the software interface would switch to Chinese without warning.

Takve was married to a Chinese woman called Liang Tian Tian. Together, they had set up the loan recovery business, Jiyaliang, in Pune, where Hari worked.

In December 2020, Takve and Liang were arrested by police investigating a case of harassment and released on bail a few months later.

In April 2022 they were charged with extortion, intimidation and abetment of suicide. By the end of the year they were on the run.

We couldn't track down Takve. But when we investigated the apps Jiyaliang worked for, it led us to a Chinese businessman called Li Xiang.

He has no online presence, but we found a phone number linked to one of his employees and, posing as investors, set up a meeting with Li.

With his face shoved uncomfortably close to the camera, he bragged about his businesses in India.

"We are still operating now, just not letting Indians know we are a Chinese company," he said.

Back in 2021, two of Li's companies had been raided by Indian police investigating harassment by loan apps. Their bank accounts had been frozen.

"You need to understand that because we aim to recover our investment quickly, we certainly don't pay local taxes, and the interest rates we offer violate local laws," he says.

Li told us his company has its own loan apps in India, Mexico and Colombia. He claimed to be an industry leader in risk control and debt collection services in South East Asia, and is now expanding across Latin America and Africa - with more than 3,000 staff in Pakistan, Bangladesh and India ready to provide "post-loan services".

Then he explained what his company does to recover loans.

"If you don't repay, we may add you on WhatsApp, and on the third day, we will call and message you on WhatsApp at the same time, and call your contacts. Then, on the fourth day, if your contacts don't pay, we have specific detailed procedures.

"We access his call records and capture a lot of his information. Basically, it's like he's naked in front of us."

Bhoomi Sinha could handle the harassment, the threats, the abuse and the exhaustion - but not the shame of being linked to that pornographic image.

"That message actually stripped me naked in front of the entire world," she says. "I lost my self-respect, my morality, my dignity, everything in a second."

It was shared with lawyers, architects, government officials, elderly relatives and friends of her parents - people who would never look at her in the same way again.

"It has tarnished the core of me, like if you join a broken glass, there will still be cracks on it," she says.

She has been ostracised by neighbours in the community she has lived in for 40 years.

"As of today, I have no friends. It's just me I guess," she says with a sad chuckle.

Some of her family still don't speak to her. And she constantly wonders whether the men she works with are picturing her naked.

The morning that her daughter Astha found her she was at her lowest ebb. But it was also the moment she decided to fight back. "I don't want to die like this," she decided.

She filed a police report but has heard nothing since. All she could do was change her number and get rid of her sim card - and when Astha started receiving calls her daughter destroyed hers too. She told friends, family and colleagues to ignore the calls and messages and, eventually, they all but stopped.

Bhoomi found support in her sisters, her boss and an online community of others abused by loan apps. But mostly, she found strength in her daughter.

"I must have done something good to be given a daughter like this," she says. "If she hadn't stood by me then I would have been one of the many people who've killed themselves because of loan apps."

We put the allegations in this report to Asan Loan - and also, through contacts, to Liang Tian Tian and Parshuram Takve, who are in hiding. Neither the company nor the couple responded.

When asked for comment, Li Xiang told the BBC that he and his companies comply with all local laws and regulations, have never run predatory loan apps, have ceased collaboration with Jiyaliang, the loan recovery company run by Liang Tian Tian and Parshuram Takve, and do not collect or use customers' contact information.

He said his loan recovery call centres adhere to strict standards and he denied profiting from the suffering of ordinary Indians.

Majesty Legal Services deny using customers' contacts to recover loans. They told us their agents are instructed to avoid abusive or threatening calls, and any violation of the company's policies results in dismissal.

#nunyas news #there's likely a fairly simple way to scam the scammers

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topsyturvy-turtely · 1 year

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Fluffbruary with turtely

(missed days edition)

Day 20

[day 19] [day 21]

prompts: will be listed at the A/N at the end (to not spoil my own story)

fandom: BBC Sherlock

will be uploaded to "That Stuff Called Fluff" on Ao3!

♥︎♡♥︎♡♥︎♡♥︎♡♥︎♡♥︎♡♥︎♡♥︎♡♥︎♡♥︎♡♥︎♡♥︎♡

John was (almost) certain Sherlock wouldn't figure it out. Not because he wasn't smart enough (of course he was - it was hardly an unsolvable riddle), but because he wouldn't pay enough attention to it. So when John started with his little game at the first evening (he would give his hints only at evenings - to get some routine into it, to distinguish between his hints and his every day utterances), it was something unsuspicious, something Sherlock should be used to by now.

"You are fantastic", he said on Monday (at Scotland Yard, after his flatmate had deduced the murderer's motive in less than ten minutes). But still Sherlock gave him a side glance (which was slightly unbelieving) and started smiling (just a bit) when he saw John's big honest eyes.

Tuesday evening (when they sat across each other in their armchairs) John blurted, "You know, when you solved Greg's cold case the other day. That- you are..." John cleared his throat (awkwardly). "...amazing. Is all." Sherlock looked up, studied his face for a (-n intense) second and nodded. And then it (the intensity) was over.

John decided his hints needed to be more distinguished from his usual declarations (compliments). He wasn't sure why he had decided that: he was going to be sublte (but maybe he wanted to be busted?). This time (on Wednesday) he was not gonna say anything however. He grabbed a newspaper and a pen and circled four letters in the crossword puzzle. Ⓥariant, Ⓘllinois, Ⓟi. Then (hesitantly at first, determined at last) ⓊFO. He placed the newspaper beside him. He noticed Sherlock standing next to him at some point (tea mug in his hand) scanning the newspaper (for just a few seconds too long) then catching John's eyes. The doctor raised his eyebrows innocently. (He was being obvious wasn't he?) And they never exchanged a word about it.

When Sherlock wanted to leave their flat late Thursday afternoon to get cigarette patches (John had refused to get them for him), he was only wearing a dressing gown. John looked at him, mouth wide open. "Are you going like this?"

"I don't see why not.", the detective (manchild) replied.

"You truly are one-of-a-kind." (Fine, it might have been a compliment packed in an insult but John needed to be more subtle). Sherlock said, "You should know that by now.", and left (in dressing gown and dress shoes).

Friday night they walked home side by side (from a dinner, that would probably count as a date if they would want that), arms brushing (not so) accidentally. Sherlock looked up to the sky, at all those stars above them. "It's ravishing, isn't it?", he asked. And John stared at him with disbelief (love) in his eyes. Then he took the opportunity and whispered so quitely Sherlock (almost) couldn't hear, "So are you."

On Saturday they solved a case together (Anderson had sarcastically called them 'dream team'). And when they got home, already fallen into their respective armchairs, suddenly Sherlock started laughing loudly (unapologetically). And John (couldn't help but) join(ed). Getting more and more giggly every time Sherlock laughed (snorted with laughter). "You are intoxicating", John said when they have calmed down a bit. And together they exploded into another laughing fit.

On Sunday Sherlock had cooked something for them (it wasn't all that great, to be honest). And John (teasingly) grinned at him. "You are such a talented cook, Sherlock." And his flatmate grinned right back at him.

They ate their dinner together - in (comfortable) silence. Well, John tried to, Sherlock busied himself sorting his food ingredients next to each other by their colors and sizes. Then he dropped his fork suddenly (making a loud noise). "I figured it out."

John just raised his eyebrows at Sherlock. "What exactly are you talking about?"

"Your... your game. Your riddle. Whatever you wanna call it."

John (didn't know what to say or do so he just) continued looking at Sherlock.

"You were spelling a word. Each evening a new compliment, each somehow describing... personality traits."

John still didn't say anything so the genius continued, "Fantastic, amazing, VIP, one-of-a-kind, ravishing, intoxicating, talented. You were spelling favorite to me. Packed in a riddle."

John smiled at him. "Nice deduction, Sherlock."

Sherlock waved away his (additional) compliment. "Favorite... favorite... favorite WHAT, John?"

"Your genius brain hasn't figured it out yet?", John countered. "A four words sentence. The most important one was the riddle itself. Two were included in every presentation of a hint. Fourth needs to be filled by conclusion."

Knitted eyebrows soothed. "You are..."

John nodded. "The two words provided in the hints..."

Sherlock's eyes widened, "My... favorite?", he asked incredulously. "I am your favorite?"

"You are my favorite.", John nodded, a soft, loving smile on his face. He crossed a boundary he had never dared to cross before and reached his hand out to take Sherlock's in his.

"That- that's...", Sherlock rarely fought for words but John had an effect on him, that made him discover new things about himself every day. He glared at their hands, seemingly decided to focus on words instead, and whipped his gaze up, "What was the E gonna stand for?"

John looked at the floor, before he took a deep breath and stared directly into Sherlock's eyes. "Evermore. You are my favorite for evermore, Sherlock." He squeezed his hand three times (which means 'I love you') and Sherlock forgot how to speak, but squeezed John's hand three times back, because he knew it means 'I love you' and he did (undeniably) love John, too.

♥︎♡♥︎♡♥︎♡♥︎♡♥︎♡♥︎♡♥︎♡♥︎♡♥︎♡♥︎♡♥︎♡♥︎♡

A/N: prompts: favourite | reveal | lounge by @fluffbruary <3

YES to feedback! 💚🐢💚🐢

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nialls-gorgeous-colors · 3 months

Text

Shawn Mendes and Niall Horan Timeline

Year 2018

JAN 2018 NIALL’S ‘HAPPY BIRTHDAY SHAWN’ PICTURE AND SHAWN’S PICTURE OF THEM AT THE AMAS ARE, RESPECTIVELY, THEIR MOST LIKED POSTS ON IG FOR 2017

Jan 25 2018 Shawn talks about The Collab on The Voice: We’re really good friends and I mean, we hang out all the time. And we’re always like, ‘we should write a song’ and then we’re planning on writing a song, and we just end up hanging out. Always. (He said something similar back in Nov before the AMAs.)

Mar 2018

Fans, uh:

Mar 25 Shawn talks The Collab on The Weekend Countdown: My favorite thing about Niall is his sense of humor. He has this hilarious, Irish sense of humor that really cracks me up… How soon until there’s a collab? I have no idea. He’s always on tour when I’m writing, and he’s always writing when I’m on tour. So, one day. Hopefully.

MAY 2018

May 13 Shawn talks about performing at the O2: I mean performing the O2 was obviously just a complete dream of mine –and lucky enough to be able to do 2 nights there. A lot of people who I really love came and saw the show. Niall Horan, who’s a good friend of mine, came and watched me, and that was you know, a very special moment to me.

May 17 Shawn asks the audience at his Apple Music show to send Niall well wishes: Everybody watching online, if you could just tweet at Niall ‘feel better’ that would be really sweet.

Apple does, Niall replies:

May 24 Shawn talking about his most liked IG pic: This next photo is one of my favorite photos. Not because I’m sitting with Niall, because in the background, my A&R from Island Records, Ziggy, is there and he just looks so blow away by something and I have no idea… Also, the girl in between is making a hilarious face. That’s an awesome photo. I think this is like my most liked photo on Instagram, actually.

MAY 27 THE BIGGEST WEEKEND

Shawn and Niall do an interview together for BBC – FINALLY.

Transcribed in full here. Highlights include (via DailyNiall):

Bonus: we know, Nick

JUNE 2018

Jun 4 Niall does an interview with Fitzy & Wippa:

Sarah: Hey Niall, over the weekend… I was watching this thing on Instagram, and it was you and Shawn Mendes. Are you two just a little bit into each other? It was coming across as that you’re kind of obsessed.

Niall: Definitely not. They kept asking us questions that would make us answer it like that. Kind of like with [unintelligible], everyone thinks they’ve got a thing going on. Nah, we’re good mates. Just sat us down and interviewed us.

Sarah: I did hear you say that he plays you demos of his music before he takes it public. Was that true, or was that a lie?

Niall: No, that’s true, yeah. What’s wrong with that?

Sarah: Nothing! I just thought it’s amazing. We’re such big Shawn Mendes fans here. It was nice to see.

Interviewer: And are you brutally honest with him? If there’s a song you don’t like, or you think he could change? Do you tell him, or are you always like ‘mate, dude, this is amazing’?

Niall: Well, he’s on a bit of a roll at the minute. There’s nothing really…

Interviewer: He’s a very talented man. Have you ever thought of doing a song with Shawn? Have you guys actually put lyrics together, or music together?

Niall: No, we haven’t. We get asked about it a lot, to be fair… It’s kind of like –when we’re in the same place at the same time. Like, the other day we were in LA and a group – me and him and a group of our mates, we went to watch a U2 gig. We didn’t like – when we’re together, when we’re in the same city we don’t like sit in the studio together. Which we probably should get around to, but for the most part we just hang out together, to be honest.

Jun 7 Niall talks about Shawn during soundcheck:

and during #AskLateLateShawn: “if you had to create a boy band, who would you pick to be in it with you?” James and Shawn pick Jimi Hendrix, Harry Styles, Niall, and Elvis.

AUGUST 2018

Aug 20 At the VMAs Shawn is asked: What do you think about Niall Horan and Hailee?

Shawn: Niall and Hailee? They’re two of my favorite people in the whole world. Niall is one of my greatest friends. Hailee is one of the first people – you know, when she first started out, I was one of the first people she worked with in music. And I love them both. I thought this was common knowledge? I guess it was common knowledge for me, I’m close friends with them both.

NOVEMBER 2018

Nov 12 Shawn’s voice can be heard in the background of Niall’s InstaStory

NOV 17 SHAWN POSTS PICTURES OF HIM AND NIALL AT 40LOVE TO SNAPCHAT, INSTAGRAM, AND INSTASTORY: PICTURE, VIDEO (PUT THAT TONGUE AWAY HORAN)

DECEMBER 2018

Dec 4 Shawn talks about Niall during an interview with ET Canada.

Interviewer: You recently posted a photo with Niall Horan. And everytime you guys post a photo, fans are like ‘oh they must we working together.’

Shawn: We’re not. Not yet. We will though. You know what, we started really seriously talking about it that night. 100 percent going to happen. Niall and I talk about this pretty much every time we see each other. The truth is that we’re just really, really good friends and we always really enjoy just hanging out. And sometimes you don’t get a lot of time to hang out, so that’s what we want to do, but we’ll get in.

Dec 7 Niall tweets Shawn about his Grammy nom

Dec 8 Shawn talks with B96 about his Grammy nominations. When told to choose between charcoal, a karaoke machine, and a Bentley for Camilla, Niall (“we chose Niall for you…”) and Taylor, Shawn says: Niall’s getting the charcoal – 100 percent, immediately… Niall definitely gets the charcoal. That’s what’s most important here.

Int: I love it, that was so easy.

Shawn: Oh yeah, no, two bags of charcoal.

Int: Why was that so easy for you to say?

Shawn: It’s what he deserves! No I’m kidding. I really am kidding. I love Niall. He actually tweeted out the nicest thing he’s ever said to me ever about the Grammys, he’s just like really proud of me and tweeted it out. Yeah, he’s a good friend of mine, that’s why I’m bugging him.

Dec 14

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foxes-that-run · 4 months

Text

2012 Haylor timeline

Timeline Tag, or years 2011, [...] 2013, 2014, [...], 2023 and 2024.

3 - 26 January - Up all Night UK tour dates

3 January - Harry's answer to are you single is inaudible, the band answers for him on Nova, this happens again on the 13th with another station.

6 January - Harry said to RRMB he has a few days off before his birthday and will spend it at home with his family.

12 January - Taylor seen for first time in the year in Nashville. When asked if they are single Harry said "I'm Harry!! and I'm Hi!... then whispers single". This interview looks to be 12th Jan. After this, Liam starts answering this question for the whole band with variations of "Louis and I have GFs the others are up for grabs" so Harry doesn't have to, that keeps up for most of the year.

youtube

? January - Scott Borchetta said he thought the album (Red) was done in January "During Speak Now, when I went to (label head) Scott Borchetta and said, 'The album's finished,' he said, 'No, it's not -- you need to keep writing.' With Red, he came to me in January and said, 'I think the album's finished.' This time, I said, 'No, it's not -- I need to keep writing." Taylor is encouraged to work with other producers and hires Max Martin.

20 January - Taylor's Vogue cover, KK Your kitchen or mine tweet. Attends Sundance in Utah, with Ethel Kennedy at Ethel's invitation. Not seen for 3 days then in London.

21 - 26 January - Taylor "holidays" in London, first seen 23rd hotel no engagements, she she had spend months there the last year. Papped walking alone in the Zoo and with Swans at the Princess Diana memorial on days One Direction had shows. Papped alone in London, 26 January in London. Zayn says to Mark Michaels Show that they have a week off after LA.

22-26 January One Direction UK shows.

27 January - One Direction leave London for LA to film iCarly. Taylor also returns LA on the same day. Harry tweets that he 'didn't dump' Caroline, he never said they were more than friends. Niall says Harry was playing guitar (9)

1 February - One direction seen at LA Airport on Harry's 18th Birthday. Harry gets first tattoo (star) Taylor in LA. Whole band at Tesco on 2nd, wearing the same clothes as LAX.

1 - 7 February - Taylor MIA for a week. Band have the week off, Louis seen with Eleanor, Niall at BBC, but Harry MIA. To RMBD Harry say they are all virgins, they laugh. He says honestly. Louis says he went to Ibiza for a night on a break “2 weeks ago”.

7 February - Taylor first seen in LA.

9 February - Harry celebrates his birthday with his parents in London, a week after they were at LAX.

12 February - Taylor performs Mean at Grammy's in LA and sings "One day I'll be singing this at the Grammy's"

February - Taylor writes Holy Ground and works with Jeff Bhasker, because she likes what he did with Fun (Jack) Jeff is later one of Harry’s main solo collaborators.

20 February - 1D on Eurostar train from part before Brit awards, Harry tweets photos of the band sleeping

24 February - 10 March: One Direction supported Big Time Rush in their US dates. Reports parts of the crowd left when 1D finished. Harry sheepishly agrees with the Edge NZ that he's available to Kiwi girls when they come there soon. 🤦‍♂️

25 February - reports Harry moved out of 1D flat, soon on market

26 February - One Direction in Toronto. On 17 August 2022 Harry told a crowd (2.30) he met Jeff Azoff in Toronto 2012, likely around this show.

2 - 18 March - Speak Now, last tour dates in Australia and NZ.

17 March - Taylor plays Eyes Open 3 days early in Auckland. She releases the re-record on 17 March 2023.

2 March - Lover Journal March 2, 2012, Perth, says she wrote "nothing new" on the plane, mentions 'a case of you' and getting older, Knowing everything at 18 and nothing at 22. (she was 22, Harry was 18)

8 March 1D asked in Nashville if their sad TS not there. The 4 other boys all turn their heads sharply when they hear her name and Harry who jokingly hits his knee. They clearly had not only met, but the band knew Harry and Taylor were connected.

12 March - One Direction on Today show, 1D have week off in NYC

19 March - Taylor back in LA from Australia

20 March - WMYB goes #1 in US, first UK group to do so. Liam, Niall and Harry in NY, go to NY Nick's game. Louis with Eleanor. Harry later says was returning a rental bike when he heard #1.

24 - 27 March - 1D in Dallas, Montreal, appearances interviews

29 March - One Direction arrive in LA for KCA

29-30 March - Kids Choice Award Rehearsals, Zayn tweets "If the love is real it will rise above all else ! :) x"

31 March - first seen same place at Kids Choice Awards. A source close to Taylor later said to Vanity Fair he had chased her for a year, that would indicate they met in London in March 2011.

4 April - Morgan Spurlock tweets photo of harry in bed in Ben's Attic while filming This is Us

8 April - Taylor and One Direction stay at the Bowery Hotel in NYC

11 April - one direction is asked who will leave the band first. (3:38) Louis says Adam. The interviewer thinks they are being silly, I think they are speaking in code, Zayn looks annoyed, they’ve called Harry Susan (Boyle) since the dolls, is Adam (Lambert - Zayn?) Liam adds Andrew (Garfield - Louis?) or David (Beckham - Liam?) after, Louis adds or Susan Boyle (Harry). Later interviews have lines of “no one will leave” & “we’re stronger together” they also have names that rhyme with their names Harry/Barry. It’s an example the boys were salty with each other in interviews.

youtube

12 April - Harry asked if has been texting Taylor in Australia and is unprepared. He is taken aback and pauses before saying “we met in America and she’s very nice” (1:27)

13 April - Taylor writes 'Come back... be here' and Message in a Bottle.

13 - 22 April Up All Night Australia and NZ dates

23 April - Harry pictured kissing a girl in New Zealand, Taylor instagram story with infidelities song. Harry said in a NZ interview his fatal flaw was girls (11 mins).

23 April - Taylor wrote with Max Martin and Shellback. Max Martin discusses their first meeting in this interview (52:30 Mins) "Our first day was in Conway Studios. I was quite nervous, quite nervous. A guy from Maroon 5 shows up…" He tells the story about WANGBT. Trouble started as a sad piano ballad, in the Red Listening party it was started 'almost 6 months before'.

21-25 April Taylor wrote treacherous making Red. Then 24 April we are never getting back together. Taylor writes Babe. Honestly writing these songs if they met 3 weeks earlier would be unhinged.

27 April - Harry buys a £100k Audi A8.

May - Harry seen with Emily Atack in the UK (But I can't find a date?) the break up was announced a few days after Harry go to the US. In 2013 she confirmed they had a brief non BF/GF fling

20 May - Harry arrives LA, disappears, reemerges on 27th. Everything has changed and Run is written with Ed, Hi and A tattoo's. I love you by Alex and Sierra hints it was 20th. "Can I stay Tattoo" He was later asked about the A and said "Oh.. it's for me mum" and Louis shouts "no it's not! It's for a mystery blonde". Again unhinged behavior if they met 5 weeks earlier.

22 May - 1 July - Up all night US Tour dates

29 May - both wrote Gary Lightbody, This is the Last time (Taylor) and Something Great (Harry).

6 June Taylor says to New Orleans Magazine: “These days, I’ve been trying to classify my thoughts into two categories: “Things I can change” and “Things I can’t.” It seems to help me sort through what to really stress about. But there I go again, over-planning and over-organizing my over-thinking!

10 June -June 10, 2012, LA Lover Journal 'Trouble' & 22. Corporate event refers to Walmart, it’s the interview where a guy jokes about not knowing who she is. Taylor writes about loving song writing, and "God I've been having such a beautiful life lately. I can't believe it. It's like there's magic in the air". She said she had Friday off, went hiking and planned 'our' trip for 4th July.

12 June - Harry told YRV he was listening to the Fun Album (Jack Antonoff)

15 June - Won't stop till we surrender Tattoo on anniversary of Taylor having the arm lyrics, the St Paul show Harry was Mia in a break for, remeeting up with the band in LA. Taylor had a lover journal that date. Something so unexpected and amazing happened recently... I’ve become blissfully happy with my life.

16 June - the Ex'pression Session, (21:30) a fan suggested Ed propose to Harry, Ed responded "Nah, he's taken", someone joked 'by Lous' and Ed laughed innit. Ed had just written everything has changed and Run with Taylor about Harry, he was well aware of Harry and Taylor's relationship. 1D at six flags

17 June - 1D and Taylor in California. Someone tweets Taylor saying they saw her getting froyo.

18 - 21 June - Neither Harry or Taylor seen, Liam and Niall do a twitcam, Louis seen with Eleanor in LA, Zayn seen leaving LA at airport. Liam later says 1D had a week off to record and played Simon the album. After this Harry kissed the heart area of his arm, cried in a radio station after the band said he is unlucky in love and Taylor dated Connor.

22 June - Harry says in an interview that every day they perform every day and fly at night. Coughing and wearing paper plane. Record Radio Disney when Harry kisses arm where Heart will be

youtube

23 June - One Direction in Dallas, interview where The band say Harry is the best wing man and has the least skills with ladies, Harry set Eleanor and Louis up. Harry wipes his eye. Liam calls him a lonely old man and Harry looks sad. Harry is over the interview and at first doesn’t answer then says “I want” is his favorite song on the album (about a girl who wants material things but he wants love) and that Use somebody by Kings of Leon is his favorite by other artists (about wanting someone to cuddle on tour) On the same day there is an interview where he moves to the heart tattoo area when a fan asks about a wild theory about beanie wearing.

26 June - Liam says they just had a week off touring to record Take Me Home and that SC had just heard it. He said they did not have much longer to record it. Louis also says it in interviews. 1D Bert Show interview where Harry says he dropped someone off when he got his license. On the same day Harry appears to be crying, in Atlanta.

1 July - end of 1D Up all night Tour, One Direction return to UK

4-8 July - Taylor meets Connor at 4th July party (CK Timeline)

9 July - Harry seen with Caggie Dunlop in London

13 July - (13+7) Taylor played 7 songs from her new album including We are Never Getting Back Together in London 'playback event'. Harry was seen in Holmes Chapel the day after, neither seen for 5 days before.

25 July - Taylor and Connor have pizza

27 July - "I Can't Change" Tattoo

28 July - Harry seen with Una Healy at a wedding

28 - 30 July - Taylor and Connor go sailing

31 July - 1D in recording studio in London

1 August - Harry buys Hampstead Health House. Niall told an interviewer they has spend 4-5 weeks recording flat out then have 10 days off, Harry spends them in London house hunting.

12 August - 1D play Olympics closing ceremony London, Taylor and Connor Cape Cod.

13 August - Taylor bought Hyannis Port house, seen w/Connor

14 August - Taylor google plus hangout for red where she unveiled the cover. Said she was working on Red hidden messages now. Premiers WANGBT and jokes it’s a love song to her ex-boyfriend. Harry gets a childhood tattoo and a personal (17 Black, artist, Kevin Black, described him as having a sadness about him and referred to lou Teasdale and her BF and said he had 'a bit of a bad vibe' from them) and the padlock (Ed) Talk of half sleeve.

16 - 18 August - Connor and Taylor in Nashville.

17 August - Taylor kissed Connor, cape cod

18 August - Taylor asked to leave Connors aunt's wedding, Taylor later said it was a misunderstanding to Rolling Stone.

19 August - Taylor visited Connors mums grave with him and played volleyball. Not seen with Connor again.

20 August - Harry seen at Radio 1 to talk about the BBC Teen Awards with Nick Grimshaw. Harry hadn't been seen for 5 days and told a story about driving to London the day before.

21 August - Harry's friend Tom Atkin (Lou Teasdale's boyfriend) did the Never Gonna Dance tattoo on Harry's leg. A photo of him doing it was run in the Mirror.

23 August - 1D film Live While We're Young, 17 Black and the birdcage can be seen. Harry keeps ankles covered.

"Late August" - Taylor does the Rolling Stone cover interview for October where she crashes her car twice and shows the interviewer her Nashville Apartment with Koi Pond, birdcage and Wonderland vibes.

31 August - Harry leaves Nick Grimshaw radio show late at night in London then disappears till LA on the 4th. Taylors Rolling Stone shoot in NY, jacket is later in the London scene of End Game MV.

3 September - Taylor in LA

4 September - 1D at VMA rehearsals also LA.

5 September - Harry and Taylor hang out at VMAs rehearsals and get sushi in group.

6 September - Harry smiles introducing her song on VMAs, Zayn whispers 'Taylor Swift' in Harry's ear when asked celebrity crush.

8 September - Gemma's name in Hebrew in LA

9 September - Birdcage, drama mask and SMCL tattoo

12 September - Harry sings Never gonna dance again with Grimmy on his last night show and is really shy and doesn’t sing, Grimmy says “you have the lyrics to this song tattooed on your body you choose it”

15 September - Harry, Niall, Louis and Eleanor at James Corden's wedding in Leeds

17 September - Harry at London fashion week . Louis On Twitter: “Hows this , Larry is the biggest load of bullshit I've ever heard. I'm happy why can't you accept that.”

21 September - Taylor in Las Vegas for iHeartRadio then MIA till London 28th, 1D in London

23 September - audio of 'Zayn' giving girls instructions to hotel room and being impatient, uses Harry's name.

24 September - Harry tells Nick Grimshaw first of 3 days filming tour screens on Grimmy first morning show. Neither love or heart tattoo in the tour screens.

25 September - Harry gets Love Banner Tattoo (covered by the left sparrow in Nov). Presumed Heart also. and is in the IKYWT video. It’s not in the tour screens but is in the chart show interview.

26 September Harry's heart tattoo can be seen, either not filled or still healing. Seen in lots of interviews. Niall told Grimmy they has a press day this day. Also seen in Entertainment on demand that day too (first date they use it is 27th).

28 September - 1D in pre-taped interview chatty man. Taylor Marie Claire UK November shoot video in London mia previous 6 days. Friday night, the rest of the band posts and seen on weekend, but HS & TS silent and MIA.

29 September - Taylor has a sony all access fan event to talk about WANGBT in Nashville

30 September - Taylor films Begin Again MV in Paris. Harry posts Paris photo a week later, but he is in Ireland when posted.

4 October - Reporter wins undisclosed damages after being called her a cougar in media for kissing Harry on the cheek due to the level of online bullying and harassment.

5 October - Taylor and Harry in London for BBC1, Harry tweets about paper airplanes. Taylor wearing Harrys shirt. Both appear on Nick Grimshaw (28m) nick asks Harry if he’d met Taylor then says old swiftie about 13 times and plays a bit of her interview. Harry choose Paris as the last track. Taylor tells Jonathan Ross she has a good looking boyfriend. Harry plays wangbt on radio

7 October - both Harry and Taylor at kids choice awards London. Taylor plays Red live for the first time, rather than any of Red's singles (WANGBT and Begin Again were new, IKYWT was the next single)

12 October - H Ireland filming Late Late asked if TS asked them to dinner and they said 'you take this Harry', also said he also said he got things I change tattoos. Harry got Things I can / things I can't tattoo's, later covered Can with bible (Jan 14) and Can't with Eagle (Dec 15). Drama because 1D media list of banned questions immediately before Zayn interview. Interviewer ends interview immediately and airs it.

youtube

13 October -they go to Ed’s show in London. Ed shares a tour diary on 1 Jan with a video of him laughing with Harry at (1:20) (they are referencing this Australian Project Interview, which is talking about Australian Sunrise.) Taylor can be heard laughing off screen. Ed got Red tattoo in the video also.

14 October - Taylor performs on X-factor UK

15 October - Taylor back in LA. Little Things MV shot 15-16 Oct, Kiss You is also directed by Vaughan Arnell and likely shot this week with Harry's heart and love banner tattoos. Kiss You filmed at Elstree Studios in North London, Little thing studio unknown.

17 October - October 17, 2012, LA Lover Journal - This Love Lyrics, also performed Eyes Open at VH1 Storytellers event. Harry posts pink and blue heart tattoo photo, LDN, NY & LA tattoos. Harry lists Taylor as celebrity crush to seventeen

18 October - One Direction in London Studio.

22 October - Red released, official Connor BUA. Taylor on CityTV in Canada, the interviewer comments on Justin Bieber's tattoos in a leading way which Taylor avoids. Asked again about fans getting tattoos and says tattoos are a huge commitment 3 times (11:30).

31 October - Harry seen in London wearing Paper Plane

4 November Harry says to cosmopolitan he’s seeing someone who is ambitious and it’s difficult if the papers picture him with someone

6 November - Taylor arrives in London no paper plane. Harry tweeted if I could fly 6 November 2015.

7 November - Both perform at Radio 1 Teen Choice Awards. Taylor wears Paper plane.

10 November - Taylor in Paris says her favorite song today is treacherous because love can be really dangerous but it’s worth it.

12 November - wearing airplane necklaces, Harry flys separate to 1D to see Taylor and watches her X-factor rehearsal. Taylor met Jack Antonoff. Harry got Swallow Tattoos to cover love banner & showed on Ellen.

14 November harry writes something great with jackknife lee

15 November - Taylor performs X-Factor US and Harry watches and carries her over his shoulder.

17 and 18 November - I knew you were trouble MV filmed in California (love already covered)

2 December - Central Park

3 December - 1D MSG, Dancing in NY no shoes

7 December - Jingle Ball, Taylor kisses Harry before going on stage, he dances and hugs her dad. He flys in her plane to London not with 1D. Photos of her feet with his mum.

9 December - both return to London on Taylor's private jet. 1D Jingle Ball. Harry and Taylor holiday in the UK together until December 15th when Taylor leaves for France.

10 December - Video of them kissing backstage at Z100 Jingle Bell Ball. Pap video with all the 1D boys and Gfs that ends with 5 Haylor coming/going from hotels

12 December - they go to the Lakes District for her birthday

18 December - Taylor goes with Harry to get ship Tattoo. He is seen with Andrea and Taylor at their LA house

21 December - Ski trip, snowmobile accident

26 December - article Harry sent Taylor a singagram of a country version of WMYB for Christmas

30 December - Keep Driving: "Passports in Footwells" Harry leaves his passport in his mum's car and misses his flight to NY for:

31 December - NYE Kiss, insane crowd, kiss in lift of hotel

Continue to 2013

#haylor #Youtube #haylor timeline #2012

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thecryptidbard · 1 year

Text

Cbs ghosts prediction (and therefore I guess potential spoilers??) under the cut

Okay so my wild theory for who killed Alberta is that it was (at least partly!) Thomas Woodstone.

Like we know some long-held secret of Hetty’s is gonna come to light in the next few episodes, we know we’re gonna find out who killed Alberta, in the trailer released for the tail end of the season we even get a glimpse of Hetty as a ghost in the midst of a big event that, based on the 20s-era costumes, is likely the night of Alberta’s murder. Hetty has adamantly said Alberta wasn’t murdered but just died of a heart attack on multiple occasions, suggesting she has a vested interest in the truth remaining hidden. The writers have also followed a trend of putting Hetty B-plots with Alberta A-plots (Alberta’s Fan, The Podcast, Alberta’s Descendant) which means that when big clues are revealed related to the murder, Hetty is almost never present (with the notable exception of the letter discovery), meaning we don’t get to see if she reacts to new reveals in a way that would suggest she already knew the information—for the most part she's kept fairly separate from the murder investigation. If Hetty knew who the killer was, why would she hide it for a hundred years…unless it was one of her own descendants who did it or was in some way involved.

Thomas is the only immediate relative of Hetty’s that we’ve seen; also, there’s the fact that his name starts with ‘T’ (I know, so does Alberta’s sister’s name, Theresa—but the show seems to be setting her up as a red herring way more than the actual killer imo). I’ll be honest, I don’t exactly know how to do the math on this one when we have no idea of the year for the flashback he’s in, and we also don’t know how old he was when Hetty died (or even exactly what year she died). But if he was still a child when Hetty died, as she implies in The Family Business, and we assume she died in the 80s or 90s, then he could reasonably be in his 40s-50s and the current owner of Woodstone mansion the night of Alberta’s murder. This would also put a whole new dimension on Hetty’s statement that she watched “generations of Woodstones make mistakes in this house”, and to the flashback we see of Thomas where he struggles with uncertainty over whether a particular girl is “the one”.

In less concrete evidence (as though any of this is “concrete” lol)—cbs ghosts continues to use the occasional bbc ghosts plot point; Hetty is based off Fanny, and I think this could be their spin on Fanny discovering her husband having an affair with a man, a discover that led to her husband killing her. In this version, Hetty’s son is in a secret relationship with Earl, and it’s Alberta who gets killed, with Hetty the only one who knows the truth.

We also know that the reveal of this secret will test one of Hetty’s “most enduring friendships”; depending on Hetty’s reason for keeping the secret, this theory could mean the friendship tested is either Alberta (because Hetty hid the truth about her murder for so long) OR Isaac (if she kept it secret because she wanted to hide her son’s involvement with another man). The phrasing of “most enduring friendships” makes me feel it’s slightly more likely to be Isaac, especially considering they were officially deemed besties in A Date to Remember.

I could be way, WAY off base, of course…admittedly, this theory doesn’t really account for the fact that Earl does go on to date Theresa, nor does it explain Hetty’s seemingly enthusiastic reaction to the discovery of the letter in The Liquor License. Still, my money’s on Thomas having something to do with the murder, and that being what Hetty has kept secret for so long.

#cbs ghosts #I’m most likely WILDLY off base but the thought occurred and I couldn’t get rid of it #realistically I may be looking WAY too deeply into the character motivations and intentionality of a sitcom #but half the fun of a murder mystery plot is coming up with completely unhinged theories anyway #so just gonna view this as my own personal Pepe Silvia #long post #cbs ghosts spoilers #potentially? I guess? Altho I think that’s giving myself way too much credit #who killed alberta #there's been SO much more about parenthood throughout this season too which would kinda fit

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littlemuoi · 1 year

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Royals were ‘very nervous’ about Miss Piggy at Coronation Concert by India McTaggart (May 8th 2023)

The Duke of Edinburgh has admitted many in the Royal Box were “very nervous” about Miss Piggy following her cameo appearance at the Coronation Concert.

The King's youngest brother said that he and the rest of the box invitees thought the Muppets character might turn up to sit in the empty seat behind him, joking that everyone was “much more concerned” about that than anything else.

In the end, only Kermit the Frog popped in to visit the newly crowned King and Queen in the Royal Box, towards the end of the star-studded event.

The Duke added that he thought the Coronation ceremony went “very well” and that, despite it being shorter than 1953, nothing was “missing” from it.

He made the remarks while at a Guide Dogs puppy training class with the Duchess of Edinburgh in Reading for the Big Help Out initiative.

The Royal couple joined volunteers and staff for an interactive training class that focused on teaching the puppies skills to help on their journey to becoming guide dogs.

While talking to the volunteers after the class, the Duke was asked about how he thought his brother’s historic crowning ceremony went.

“It all went very well and even if it was shorter than the last one, I don’t think anyone could have possibly spotted anything that was missing, so that’s nice,” he said.

“I couldn’t actually see what happened in the procession because the trouble of being part of it is that you don’t see it - we need to catch up and watch it,” he added.

The conversation then turned to the concert that was held at Windsor Castle on Sunday night, which was marked with a surprise cameo appearance from the Muppets characters Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy.

'Everyone around us got very nervous'

The Duke gave a disapproving look at the mention of the characters, but said: “We were much more concerned about Miss Piggy turning up in the Royal Box.

“There was an empty seat behind me and we didn’t know who it was, we thought they just didn’t turn up, but then we suddenly thought it could be her and once we started that rumour, everyone around us got very nervous,” he laughed.

Kermit the Frog pops up in the Royal Box beside the Duke of Edinburgh - but there was relief as his on-and-off partner, the rambunctious Miss Piggy, did not join him CREDIT: BBC/PA

He also added that it was the fourth coronation to be rained on, saying it was therefore “quite appropriate that we managed to continue that tradition”.

The Duchess, meanwhile, said the Coronation weekend had been “absolutely extraordinary”.

The couple spent the afternoon training and playing with the selection of puppies and dogs at the charity’s centre in Reading, Berkshire.

The Duchess has been patron of Guide Dogs since July 2021, succeeding Princess Alexandra, who held the position for over 60 years.

She has been a longtime campaigner for people who suffer from sight loss and has been Global Ambassador for the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness for nearly 20 years.

The Duchess told the volunteers that their service in raising the puppies before they went on to become trained guide dogs had “purpose in it all the time” and that she can “never get over” what the dogs go on to be able to do.

She also hailed the vital work the volunteers were doing by raising the puppies, saying it is no small feat to “put your trust in an animal to see you safely across the road”.

“You’re providing the opportunity for someone else to have not only a companion, but to have another set of hands and to lead an independent life,” she added.

'They were brilliant - but Sophie was better'

The Duke and Duchess attended the charity’s taster session on Monday as part of the Big Help Out volunteering scheme, which was devised as part of the King’s Coronation to raise awareness of volunteering and its benefits.

Guide Dogs is one of thousands of charities opening their doors on the bank holiday with a series of taster sessions that they hope will inspire a new generation of volunteers across the country.

The puppies are raised with the volunteers for 14 to 16 months and then they go on to get trained to become guide dogs, eventually getting paired with an owner.

Among the many different roles needed, Guide Dogs is appealing for volunteer fosterers to come forward who will provide loving homes for guide dogs in training, such as the ones the Duke and Duchess met during their visit.

Speaking about the couple’s own dog, a Beagle, the Duchess said she had a “somewhat limited” understanding of instructions and added that “she spends all day migrating from one dog bed to another”.

The Duke piped in, saying their dog was “the dopiest dog I know” and “untrainable”.

Fran Tayor, 75, a retired financial manager from Theale, Berkshire, said after the event that she thought the Duchess was better at handling the guide dogs than the Duke.

The Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh (centre) with staff as they visit a puppy class in Reading CREDIT: PAUL GROVER/ARP

The mother-of-two said: “They’ve both got dogs themselves and they were brilliant with them, but Sophie was better.”

Fran’s dog, Lucy, is a four-month old labrador and golden retriever cross-breed. The puppy strained on her lead to reach for a snack as the Duchess walked her and joked: “She’s perfectly under control.”

Mark Gurney and his wife Lynn also took part in the event as volunteer fosterers, saying the Duke and Duchess were “so relaxed and wonderful”.

Mr Gurney, a retired firefighter, said: “We talked about raising the pup and the complexities of it and how really rewarding it is to give something back.

“The Duke and Duchess were really receptive and easy to talk to.”

Tom Wright, the chief executive of Guide Dogs, said the Duchess has been a “great patron and supporter of our work,” adding that she is “very engaged” with the charity.

Guide Dogs Chairman Jamie Hambro said: “We are honoured to mark this very special weekend and such an important initiative – The Big Help Out - with our patron, the Duchess of Edinburgh, and the Duke.

“We are grateful for them taking part in today’s session to raise awareness of volunteering and its benefits, and of course for all our volunteers who continue to support us. Without them, we wouldn’t be able to reach and support as many people with sight loss as we do.”

#brf #royal anecdote #lmao ed #he’s a kermit fan for sure #and my man described their dog as the dopiest #hilarious #prince edward #duke of edinburgh #duchess of edinburgh #ed #soph #royal otp

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cecilyacat · 3 months

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BBC Big Read List

Many years ago, I first started tallying the books from the BBC Big Read list, seeing how my reading and interests correllate. I don't take it as the "one truth" on which books are worth reading or "good", I just find it interesting which ones I agree with. Let's go!

Out of the BBC's "The Big Read" list from 2005, which ones did you read, plan to read or started to read, but didn't finish? The ones I read are fat, the ones I still want to read are in italics, the ones I started but didn't finish are crossed out and all the other ones I have either never heard of before or never wanted to read them.

1. The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien 2. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen 3. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman 4. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams 5. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, JK Rowling 6. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee 7. Winnie the Pooh, AA Milne 8. Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell 9. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, CS Lewis 10. Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë 11. Catch-22, Joseph Heller 12. Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë (and I thought it was horrible. But I wanted to finish it!) 13. Birdsong, Sebastian Faulks 14. Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier 15. The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger 16. The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame 17. Great Expectations, Charles Dickens 18. Little Women, Louisa May Alcott 19. Captain Corelli's Mandolin, Louis de Bernieres 20. War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy 21. Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell 22. Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone, JK Rowling 23. Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets, JK Rowling 24. Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban, JK Rowling 25. The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien 26. Tess Of The D'Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy 27. Middlemarch, George Eliot 28. A Prayer For Owen Meany, John Irving 29. The Grapes Of Wrath, John Steinbeck 30. Alice's Adventures In Wonderland, Lewis Carroll 31. The Story Of Tracy Beaker, Jacqueline Wilson 32. One Hundred Years Of Solitude, Gabriel García Márquez 33. The Pillars Of The Earth, Ken Follett 34. David Copperfield, Charles Dickens 35. Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl 36. Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson 37. A Town Like Alice, Nevil Shute 38. Persuasion, Jane Austen 39. Dune, Frank Herbert 40. Emma, Jane Austen 41. Anne Of Green Gables, LM Montgomery 42. Watership Down, Richard Adams 43. The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald 44. The Count Of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas 45. Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh 46. Animal Farm, George Orwell 47. A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens 48. Far From The Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy 49. Goodnight Mister Tom, Michelle Magorian 50. The Shell Seekers, Rosamunde Pilcher

51. The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett (and I love it) 52. Of Mice And Men, John Steinbeck (didn't finish it in school but want to try again) 53. The Stand, Stephen King 54. Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy 55. A Suitable Boy, Vikram Seth 56. The BFG, Roald Dahl 57. Swallows And Amazons, Arthur Ransome 58. Black Beauty, Anna Sewell 59. Artemis Fowl, Eoin Colfer 60. Crime And Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky 61. Noughts And Crosses, Malorie Blackman 62. Memoirs Of A Geisha, Arthur Golden 63. A Tale Of Two Cities, Charles Dickens 64. The Thorn Birds, Colleen McCollough 65. Mort, Terry Pratchett 66. The Magic Faraway Tree, Enid Blyton 67. The Magus, John Fowles 68. Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman 69. Guards! Guards!, Terry Pratchett 70. Lord Of The Flies, William Golding 71. Perfume, Patrick Süskind 72. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, Robert Tressell 73. Night Watch, Terry Pratchett 74. Matilda, Roald Dahl 75. Bridget Jones's Diary, Helen Fielding 76. The Secret History, Donna Tartt 77. The Woman In White, Wilkie Collins 78. Ulysses, James Joyce 79. Bleak House, Charles Dickens 80. Double Act, Jacqueline Wilson 81. The Twits, Roald Dahl 82. I Capture The Castle, Dodie Smith 83. Holes, Louis Sachar 84. Gormenghast, Mervyn Peake 85. The God Of Small Things, Arundhati Roy 86. Vicky Angel, Jacqueline Wilson 87. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley 88. Cold Comfort Farm, Stella Gibbons 89. Magician, Raymond E Feist 90. On The Road, Jack Kerouac 91. The Godfather, Mario Puzo 92. The Clan Of The Cave Bear, Jean M Auel 93. The Colour Of Magic, Terry Pratchett 94. The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho 95. Katherine, Anya Seton 96. Kane And Abel, Jeffrey Archer 97. Love In The Time Of Cholera, Gabriel García Márquez 98. Girls In Love, Jacqueline Wilson 99. The Princess Diaries, Meg Cabot 100. Midnight's Children, Salman Rushdie

101. Three Men In A Boat, Jerome K. Jerome 102.Small Gods, Terry Pratchett 103. The Beach, Alex Garland 104. Dracula, Bram Stoker 105. Point Blanc, Anthony Horowitz 106. The Pickwick Papers, Charles Dickens 107. Stormbreaker, Anthony Horowitz 108. The Wasp Factory, Iain Banks 109. The Day Of The Jackal, Frederick Forsyth 110. The Illustrated Mum, Jacqueline Wilson 111. Jude The Obscure, Thomas Hardy 112. The Secret Diary Of Adrian Mole Aged 13¾, Sue Townsend 113. The Cruel Sea, Nicholas Monsarrat 114. Les Misérables, Victor Hugo 115. The Mayor Of Casterbridge, Thomas Hardy 116. The Dare Game, Jacqueline Wilson 117. Bad Girls, Jacqueline Wilson 118. The Picture Of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde 119. Shogun, James Clavell 120. The Day Of The Triffids, John Wyndham 121. Lola Rose, Jacqueline Wilson 122. Vanity Fair, William Makepeace Thackeray 123. The Forsyte Saga, John Galsworthy 124. House Of Leaves, Mark Z. Danielewski 125. The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver 126. Reaper Man, Terry Pratchett 127. Angus, Thongs And Full-Frontal Snogging, Louise Rennison 128. The Hound Of The Baskervilles, Arthur Conan Doyle 129. Possession, A. S. Byatt 130. The Master And Margarita, Mikhail Bulgakov 131. The Handmaid's Tale, Margaret Atwood 132. Danny The Champion Of The World, Roald Dahl 133. East Of Eden, John Steinbeck 134. George's Marvellous Medicine, Roald Dahl 135. Wyrd Sisters, Terry Pratchett 136. The Color Purple, Alice Walker 137. Hogfather, Terry Pratchett 138. The Thirty-Nine Steps, John Buchan 139. Girls In Tears, Jacqueline Wilson 140. Sleepovers, Jacqueline Wilson 141. All Quiet On The Western Front, Erich Maria Remarque 142. Behind The Scenes At The Museum, Kate Atkinson 143. High Fidelity, Nick Hornby 144. It, Stephen King 145. James And The Giant Peach, Roald Dahl 146. The Green Mile, Stephen King 147. Papillon, Henri Charriere 148. Men At Arms, Terry Pratchett 149. Master And Commander, Patrick O'Brian 150. Skeleton Key, Anthony Horowitz

151. Soul Music, Terry Pratchett 152. Thief Of Time, Terry Pratchett 153. The Fifth Elephant, Terry Pratchett 154. Atonement, Ian McEwan 155. Secrets, Jacqueline Wilson 156. The Silver Sword, Ian Serraillier 157. One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, Ken Kesey 158. Heart Of Darkness, Joseph Conrad 159. Kim, Rudyard Kipling 160. Cross Stitch, Diana Gabaldon 161. Moby Dick, Herman Melville 162. River God, Wilbur Smith 163. Sunset Song, Lewis Grassic Gibbon 164. The Shipping News, Annie Proulx 165. The World According To Garp, John Irving 166. Lorna Doone, R. D. Blackmore 167. Girls Out Late, Jacqueline Wilson 168. The Far Pavilions, M. M. Kaye 169. The Witches, Roald Dahl 170. Charlotte's Web, E. B. White 171. Frankenstein, Mary Shelley (I've read excepts for uni) 172. They Used To Play On Grass, Terry Venables and Gordon Williams 173. The Old Man And The Sea, Ernest Hemingway 174. The Name Of The Rose, Umberto Eco 175. Sophie's World, Jostein Gaarder 176. Dustbin Baby, Jacqueline Wilson 177. Fantastic Mr Fox, Roald Dahl 178. Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov 179. Jonathan Livingstone Seagull, Richard Bach 180. The Little Prince, Antoine De Saint-Exupery 181. The Suitcase Kid, Jacqueline Wilson 182. Oliver Twist, Charles Dickens 183. The Power Of One, Bryce Courtenay 184. Silas Marner, George Eliot 185. American Psycho, Bret Easton Ellis 186. The Diary Of A Nobody, George and Weedon Grossmith 187. Trainspotting, Irvine Welsh (I stopped after the toilet-scene. Too disgusting) 188. Goosebumps, R. L. Stine 189. Heidi, Johanna Spyri 190. Sons And Lovers, D. H. LawrenceLife of Lawrence 191. The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Milan Kundera 192. Man And Boy, Tony Parsons 193. The Truth, Terry Pratchett 194. The War Of The Worlds, H. G. Wells 195. The Horse Whisperer, Nicholas Evans 196. A Fine Balance, Rohinton Mistry 197. Witches Abroad, Terry Pratchett 198. The Once And Future King, T. H. White 199. The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Eric Carle 200. Flowers In The Attic, Virginia Andrews

Read: 57 Want to read: 60

Some of the books to read I know very little about except the title and that they're classics, some others I know a lot about (and I even have "Men at Arms" on my TBR pile for when the mood strikes me next). I like reading classics once in a while, but especially older ones I can't read too often, I need to be in the right mood for that style of writing.

The last time I updated this was in 2015 and I had read 44 and wanted to read 72 - so 15 books in 9 years xD Like I said, it's not a challenge or a goal to read all of them, just a convenient way of keeping track of which classics I want to read eventually.

#my actual life #bbc big read #books

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msmargaretmurry · 9 months

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11, 18, 20 please?

11. Link your three favorite fics right now.

augh okay so, i have not been reading a ton of fic this summer? i've been in a big books mood. i have like 50 hockey fics open in tabs that i will very likely be injecting directly into my brain the moment grad school kills the part of me that can read books for pleasure. i share this because i assume the people want hockey fic recs but tragically i don't really have any i haven't linked before, so this these are some old non-hockey favorites that i've very recently revisted for reasons.

By Small and Small by luxover — band of brothers, babe/roe, teen, 43k, constantly returning to this fic to bask in how masterfully done the modern au is in a fandom where i usually hate modern aus!

And like the cycle of the year, we begin again by katherynefromphilly — bbc merlin, arthur/merlin, mature, 207k, the ending to that godforsaken tv show that we deserved, once every 2–3 years i go into a fugue state and reread this whole thing and apparently that is where i am right now 🥴

Hunger by Helenish — the bear, carmy/richie, mature, 3.3k, obviously after s2 of the bear i had to reread!!

18. Do you title your fics before, during, or after the writing process? How do you come up with titles?

usually during the writing process, but sometimes after i have a draft, and sometimes when i have opened the ao3 new work page to post. for short fics it's usually just a lyric or quote that i think kinda encapulates the theme of the fic (a time-honored fanfic tradition). for longer fics, i usually have an idea of what kind of vibe i want the title to have long before i'm done writing, so workshopping title ideas becomes a fun little procrastination activity for when i should be writing but am not writing. with tnno, i knew all along that the title would be tnno; with haw, i didn't title it until i had the ao3 posting page open — both of those have titles that are references within the fics themselves as opposed to references to outside things (although "the next next one" is obviously also stolen from the hockey media). i don't know whomst among my tumblr friends has read any of my non-hockey stuff but "come and make the hymns of you" is a walt whitman reference and one of my favorite titles i've used. "the very best of" is a reference to career retrospective albums (e.g. "the very best of fleetwood mac").

20. Have you noticed any patterns in your fics? Words/expressions that appear a lot, themes, common settings, etc?

oh yes very much so, haha. my characters love to have important conversations in the kitchen or in the middle of the night or in the kitchen in the middle of the night. i love metaphors, i love symbolism. there's always gonna be some fuckin symbolism. weather metaphors. themes-wise, my characters are constantly learning to trust themselves and trust the people who love them. they're always convincing themselves that they're content with what they have while actively drowning in yearning. i KNOW i have words/expressions that appear a lot but i'm kind of blanking right now. probably like, the physical sensations of emotion. tightness in the chest and lumps in the throat and turning stomachs all that 😂

#ask #writing meme

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letsgethaunted · 13 days

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The Deepest Dive on the Jeffrey Epstein Conspiracy, Part 2 Photodump

Episode 177: The Deepest Dive on The Jeffrey Epstein Conspiracy, PART 2 *IS LIVE*! Image 01: In the summer of 2022, Ghislane Maxwell was sentenced to 20 years in a federal prison for sex trafficking minors to Jeffrey Epstein. Image 02: Ghislane’s father, Robert Maxwell, was a war hero turned publishing tycoon. Robert was rumored to be a super spy, using his publishing companies as a network to garner intelligence. Image 03: Only a few months after being accused of outing the identity of an anonymous Israeli whistleblower, Robert was found floating naked and dead in the sea. Upon his death, it was revealed that Robert’s companies were in over 1 billion dollars of debt. Although Robert’s death was ruled a “heart attack combined with drowning,” the explanation never sat well with the public. Image 04: In quite possibly the hardest book ever forged, authors Gordon Thomas and Martin Dillion allege that Robert was a super spy who sold intelligence mining software to every agency on the globe. Image 05: When this infamous photo of 17 year old Virginia with Prince Andrew’s arm wrapped around her waist went public, The Duke of York claimed the image was a fake. Later, the image was found to be real by the FBI. Image 06-07: In an interview with the BBC, Prince Andrew denied ever having been with Virginia the night she claimed they had sex. Image 08: After Prince Andrew’s claim he was “too big” for bathtub sex did not quiet the rumors, Ghislane’s family published a photo of 2 people wearing masks in a bathtub to “clear his name.” Image 09: Ghislane staged photos of her in public reading a book at IN-N-OUT in Los Angeles. The photos were released to the public through her PR team. Ghislane had not been photographed in public since 2016. Image 10: The book Ghislane staged her photos with. Coincidentally, Ghislane’s 2 sisters were the developers behind software that aids “anti terrorism” efforts by law enforcement in the United States. What do you guys think? Is Prince Andrew evil or just dumb? Is Ghislane a spy? Is the FBI full of Haunties now?

#Let's Get Haunted #the deepest dive on the jeffrey epstein conspiracy part 2 #Jeffrey Epstein #Ghislane Maxwell #Robert Maxwell #Israeli whistleblower #Instagram

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alightbuthappypen · 5 months

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twenty questions for fic writers

As a treat entirely for me I get to do a meme. I wasn't tagged and I won't tag anyone but invite anyone who wants to do it to treat yourself too!

How many works do you have on AO3?

33, though 3 of those are posted anonymously (2 RPF that I'm not wholly comfortable having attached to my name anymore, 1 based around a Problematic Trope that I'm too chicken to own up to)

That's like an average of just under 2 fics per year I've been posting to Ao3, ha.

But I probably have about 20 wips for CQL alone, you know how it is

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

92,993 apparently.

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Pretty monogamous at any given time - obviously CQL right now, though I did slip out that cathartic Good Omens thing earlier this year.

Previous big hitters (by my standards) were Dragon Age and The Musketeers (BBC version, yes I know)

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

From Now On (陈情令 | The Untamed (TV) (1,013)

The Look You Give (陈情令 | The Untamed (TV) (995)

Retrospect (陈情令 | The Untamed (TV) (552)

In the Quiet It Will Grow (陈情令 | The Untamed (TV) (507)

A natural liking (Good Omens - Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett, Good Omens (TV) (487)

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I go through phases...I think it's polite to, and I do try, but also when I comment on a fic I don't actually expect a response from the author (though it's always nice!) so I don't angst about it. I obviously LOVE comments, it's not for lack of caring.

When I don't respond it's always because I end up overthinking what I should say, like does "thank you! <3" ten times in row look insincere.

Sometimes I go on a reply binge and start responding to really old comments, and that probably looks weirder.

6. What is a fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

I think I gravitate towards bittersweet or melancholy endings generally, though not usually real downers. Stories that take place within an angsty point of canon are good for this, like

A Promise (X-Men: First Class)

A Kind of Cruel (BBC Musketeers)

Probably angstiest of all is the very short For the wounded (Dragon Age: Inquisition) which is set in a Bad End post-canon.

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

I feel like "happy endings" suggest some kind of narrative arc and most of my finished fics are too oneshotty to really have that. But I'd say my fluffiest, most angst-free are probably:

Safe Keeping (Dragon Age: Inquisition)

Nights Bright Days (Good Omens)

A natural liking (Good Omens)

In the Quiet It Will Grow (The Untamed)

8. Do you get hate on fics?

I don't think I've ever got a hateful comment? If I have I've repressed it. I've had a couple that I wasn't sure what to make of, or which I felt misinterpreted what the story was about, but nothing mean.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

DO I. Smutty oneshots my beloved.

In terms of like, sex acts, pretty vanilla, though I think some of my favoured tropes could be considered Problematic (a bit of dubcon, Cloud Recesses arc smut). Whatever it is, it has to be extremely emotional. If the participants aren't experiencing heightened emotions of some kind and having them described in long introspective paragraphs it's not me.

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

No, my tastes are deeply boring and I have zero interest in crossovers or most AUs.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not to my knowledge.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

In the Quiet It Will Grow was translated into Brazilian Portuguese with permission, though I didn't realise it was going on wattpad and didn't think to ask (it's fine, but I do prefer the Ao3 "inspired by" function). A bit random, but still, flattering.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

No, I kind of like the idea but I think I'm too precious about the process and have too specific an idea of what the final piece should be.

I do love the collaborative storytelling of D&D, but prose is a whole different matter.

14. What's your all-time favorite ship?

Surely it's whichever one you're into at the time of asking? So obviously right now it's wangxian taking up most of my brainspace, but really most of the serious ships I've had I still have affection for. But wangxian is the only ship I've done both art and fic for, and overall feels like the deepest cut.

15. What's a wip you want to finish, but doubt you ever will?

SO many unpublished wips, but Against your will is one of my two published wips and for that reason I would like to see it finished, but unless I get back in and refamiliarise myself with the canon again I don't think it'll happen.

Also I have all these other wangxian wips that are like...look at them, they're everywhere, spilling out of my pockets, strewn across the floor of every room

16. What are your writing strengths?

My method is usually to overwrite then trim back to the bare bones so I think my finished prose usually feels quite..."clean", and to the point. That might not count as a strength to everyone though!

In terms of things I most commonly get good comments about: characterisation, emotion, and clear description of action (people can easily picture what's happening)

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Dialogue, maybe? I hope it doesn't feel weak in the finished story but it's definitely the thing I find hardest - I'm very conscious of dialogue feeling right for a character and it's usually the part I rewrite the most.

Also actually sitting down and drafting stories in the first place. Obviously.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

I mean, I don't speak any other languages and dialogue is hard enough so god, no, unless it's a word or expression that is used by the characters canonically.

I don't mind it in fic as a reader but if I'm having to copy-paste paragraphs into google translate just to figure out what's going on I'm probably not going to persevere.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Oh, you mean the Buffy self insert fics I hand wrote in a notebook 14-year-old me kept under their pillow.

20. Favorite fic you've written?

This is hard because...I'm pretty happy with most fic I've published. I can definitely see flaws but overall if I've finished something and stuck it online I like it, and I've reread every one at least once (I am my own target audience).

Secondly, I think my favourite fic is usually the one or ones I'm in the process of writing. I'm always trying to improve and like to think the next one I finish will be the best I've done (unrealistic I know).

That said,

Keep Burning (Dragon Age: Inquisition) is a fic I'm still really proud of. It's far from perfect and I remember it being a tough experience to write but it came out mostly how I wanted in the end. It still feels like one of the most emotionally...honest things I finished. Also I know it made people cry, and I don't know if anything else I've written has done that.

Also There Grew Between is probably the CQL fic I'm most satisfied with, I just think the pacing and structure work really well and it's the one fic I wish got more love because I like so much how it came out.

#meme #writing

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beardedmrbean · 5 months

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Gangland shootings and bombings that have plagued Sweden's biggest cities have spread to quieter suburbs and towns, shattering its reputation as a safe and peaceful nation.

Half an hour north of central Stockholm, Upplands-Bro features lakeside boat clubs, copper-red wooden villas and apartments flanked by pine and spruce trees.

But a 14-year-old boy was found dead in a forest here in August, and since January there have been several shootings and bombings targeting houses and apartments.

"It's awful. We've [been] woken up by explosions in the neighbourhood and it's scary," says 42-year-old Anna Petterson, who lives in Bro and has three children. "It's very much something that we're aware of, and we talk about a lot, and are afraid of."

Sweden has been a European hotspot for gang-related shootings and bombings for several years. But recently the violence has shifted beyond low-income, vulnerable urban areas and police say one reason is that gang members are increasingly targeting rivals' relatives.

Detectives suspect some of the latest violence has been organised by criminal leaders based in other countries, including Turkey and Serbia.

More than 50 people have been killed in shootings so far in 2023, and there have been more than 140 explosions. Last year, more than 60 people died in gun violence, the highest number on record.

"What started out as gun violence between young gangs looking to defend their territory has turned into a vicious circle of firearms trafficking and gun violence," explains Nils Duquet, a firearms researcher based at the Flemish Peace Institute in Brussels.

"Gangs have also matured and are no longer just the street criminals, but are often connected to higher-level criminals as well."

Innocent bystanders are also among the dead.

In September, a 70-year-old man and another man aged 20 were killed in a pub shooting in Sandviken in central Sweden, and a newly graduated teacher, 24, died in an explosion just outside the university city of Uppsala.

Soon afterwards Sweden's Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson gave a rare national address admitting that "no other country in Europe" was experiencing this sort of situation, and promising tougher penalties for deadly violence.

Evin Cetin, an author and lawyer who has represented teenage shooting victims and suspects, says boys as young as 13 or 14 are being recruited by gangs, often through social media promises of money and designer clothes.

"Children are using their own bags not to carry books, but they carry the drug markets in Sweden on their own shoulders," she tells the BBC on a visit to Upplands-Bro, part of a nationwide schools tour to more than a dozen areas affected by gang crime.

Others are trying to tackle the problem by organising street patrols in areas affected by drugs and violence.

"That we're out and go around chatting with our kids and young people - it increases safety," says Libaane Warsame, during a night walk in Jarva, northern Stockholm, on a wet, windy Friday night.

Jarva looks like a lot of Swedish suburbs, with well-maintained apartment blocks, a few shops, and a nearby forest. The main difference is that it is more multicultural than many neighbourhoods, and it has Stockholm's highest unemployment rate.

Mr Warsame began patrolling the streets after his 19-year-old son - who police say was not in a gang - was killed in a shooting in December 2020.

"It's hard for [young people] to sit at home for hours without any income, any work. So they go out and stand around and there's a big risk that they will be recruited."

He also runs an organisation that supports families who have lost loved ones in deadly violence.

This year there have not been any fatal shootings in Jarva, but many locals say they remain on edge.

"I haven't been outside so late… because I don't want to make my mum worried," says Gizem Kuzucu, 17.

She often spends her evenings studying at Framtidens Hus, a youth centre, and says none of her friends have been in trouble with the law. But she has been exposed to crime on social media.

"I've seen a lot of videos on TikTok [in which] people are, like, talking about crime. They are like saying 'follow me on Instagram, I'm gonna post like a rapper that got killed'."

Another teenager at the youth centre, Libaan, says he grew up around older criminals and "did commit a few crimes" when he was younger.

"Kids here, they are really, really mean to each other…they don't know how to speak about their emotions, so what they do instead is that they lash out," says the 18-year-old.

Swedish police do not currently map gang members' nationalities, but research for the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention in 2021 showed young people born in Sweden to two parents from abroad were overrepresented as suspects in murder cases and robberies.

The right-wing coalition government, elected in September 2022, believes the rise in gang violence in recent years is directly connected to Sweden's earlier immigration policies. Until 2016, it had one of the most generous asylum laws in Europe.

"We can now see that 'outsideship' and lack of integration, in combination with trade of narcotics and organised crime is creating this very, very toxic mixture," Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom told the BBC in September.

The government wants to make it harder for immigrants from outside the European Union to get social benefits, and to make preschool compulsory for children with two foreign parents in some areas, in order to improve Swedish-language skills.

Earlier this year, it became an offence to recruit children to participate in criminal activities. Stop-and-search zones are set to be introduced in early 2024 and ministers want to double prison sentences for offences including gun crimes and explosions.

The BBC was not granted a government interview to discuss these plans, despite multiple requests.

At the state-funded Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention, researcher Klara Hradilova-Selin believes tackling gang crime "should have been a more important issue earlier" for previous coalitions on both the right and left of the political spectrum.

"There are colleagues of mine who were actually warning like decades ago [about] this kind of development of growing marginalisation in the deprived areas."

Worries about how gang conflicts are impacting the country's international image are also growing. "Sweden has always been viewed as an extremely safe country. Maybe one of the top safe countries in the world. And this image is falling apart," says Hradilova-Selin.

According to a recent survey for the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce, eight out of 10 Swedish companies questioned believe it will get harder to attract foreign talent, investment and visitors due to the ongoing violence.

At Framtidens Hus youth centre, teenagers are being offered the chance to drive, dance and make podcasts. Former criminal Libaan says he would like a job that involves writing, or helping others, but he believes his future is also dependent on how he is treated by other Swedes.

"I don't feel included in the culture even though I'm born here. They kind of see me as this ghetto kid who has no future."

#nunyas news #overton window #has shifted in europe #a bunch of europe at least

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