#but the title is what sold it which is hilarious to me

[its-time-to-write]

ch. 5 - hustling for the good life

table of contents

your boots beneath my bed

You, on the other hand, had done your proper research. Watched his highlights on Lust Conquers All and everything. You want to know what exactly your stupid brain is doing, thinking someone like that is cute or (retch) boyfriend material but who gives a shit because you’re probably not going to see him again. 

You’re out of the hotel and in some tiny little cottage just outside of London. No paps, no PR agents or what-fucking-ever, just you, Natalie, and loads of fresh air. She finds you in the yard one morning, plucking a tune on a guitar and humming.

“That’s new,” she grins. “Gonna have a new single out soon?”

You raise a shoulder. “I don’t know. Maybe. Might just keep this one to myself.”

Natalie says hmm then turns on her heel to go back inside. 

“Oh,” she says after a few steps, “you should at least send it to him. He might like it.”

“It’s not about anyone!” you call after her rapidly retreating figure. 

“Sure!” she yells back. You flip her off and she says, “I saw that!”

—

Natalie’s booked some coffee shop concert for you, so you’re a little preoccupied with sound checks and meeting your temp band and promising to drink a latte as soon as you’re done singing because fuck sleeping.

It’s sold out which isn’t hard because the place is small, but it’s fun to sit on a stool and sing into a small microphone and be able to talk and joke like you’re the small-town artist you began as.

The crowd goes crazy when you strum the first few notes of Mango, as they sing along to the whole thing. You finish the set and begin thank everyone for coming when you see an oddly familiar face in the very back of the room. You’re not even sure how you caught it because again, it’s crowded, but there it is. He’s with some other people who you’re pretty sure are part of AFC Richmond, but you don’t care about that now.

You pause in the middle of your goodbye and say, “You know what, I’m actually going to play one more song. It’s a rough draft right now, so be nice to me. The working title is Poolside, and you guys are the first to hear it.”

You begin to pluck the repeating melody that’s been playing on repeat in your brain and start the first verse.

I know it’s a bad idea

And I can’t have you anyway

But you’re like a tiny bit of sunshine

I can’t seem to chase away

It’s terrifying and vulnerable in a way you’ve never been before. You’ve played songs for boys before, but never like this. 

You were in a hotel room with Austin one night after one of his movie premiers and just giggling about how stupid it all was. 

“I already have our breakup song,” you’d said, hopping down from the table. “Wanna hear it?”

Austin thought that was hilarious so he said, “Obviously,” so you grabbed your guitar from your room and strapped it on. 

“Alright,” you said while strumming a bouncy tune, “this one’s a little more line-dancey than my usuals. So.”

Austin had tapped his foot while you sang, “A long time ago/in a land not so far away/we met in a bar/and you fucking said ‘hey.’”

It was silly as you both bounced around the room singing about your impending split. Neither of you cared because it wasn’t real, and you had recorded him singing a harmony on your phone. 

You snuck it into the actual track months later, too faint for anyone to actually notice. 

But that was the closest you’d ever been to directly singing someone their song. It was different with Mango because it wasn’t romantic. 

And now it’s different with Jamie, because you’re singing about how dumb it is that you keep thinking about him asking if you were ok at that dumb fucking party. 

You end the song to thunderous applause, and you’re pretty sure bootlegs are going to end up on YouTube within the hour. You don’t care. All you can think of is slipping to the back of the café to claim that latte then sneaking out the back. 

“Nice one, girl,” Natalie remarks as she hands you a cup. “The label’s gonna love that.”

You smile. “They don’t care. I make them too much money for them to care.”

She rolls her eyes and opens her mouth to speak but just stops. 

“Hello? Earth to Nat?” you say, waving a hand in front of her face. 

“Hey,” says a voice from behind.

You spin around. It’s Jamie. 

And god, he looks fucking fit in trackies, Gucci slides, and a neon orange shirt. 

You can feel Natalie sneaking away behind you, and for once, you’re glad to be alone. 

“Hey,” you reply. “How’d you get in here?”

Jamie smiles. “Keeley. She can talk her way into anything.”

You nod, still holding your latte. “Well, usually we have a strict policy about fans who try to come talk to me unannounced, but I guess for you, I’ll let it slide.”

Oh god, are you fucking flirting?

Jamie smirks. “Babe, I ain’t any old fan. Probably number one.”

You raise an eyebrow. “Uh huh. Right. And when did you decide you could call me babe?”

Jamie takes a step closer. “Right about the time Keeley convinced me to ask you out.”

You almost drop your coffee. 

All you can say is a weak, “Oh.”

“She would love to,” Natalie pipes up from behind a stack of coffee beans. “I’ll get you her number and you can set it up.”

Jamie’s looking at you expectantly, and you suppose he probably wants your consent, not just Natalie’s. 

You nod and say, “Sure,” with the same lack of conviction the oh held. Jamie’s expression ripples for a moment, but then he’s grinning and saying “Mint,” before saluting Natalie and exiting the way he came. 

“What the fuck, Natalie,” you say. Your bones feel like jelly. “I can’t go out with him.”

“Yes you can,” she tells you. “And you are. It’s settled.”

Oh fuck. 

—

He texts you the next morning.

hey it’s Jamie :)

I can’t be seen with you, you write back before you chicken out. The press would have a field day. I’m not looking for something public, so if you’re only in this to gain popularity, you’re out of luck. 

It’s a little harsh, but you’re going to be open about this.

no worries, he says. paps r fuckgn annoying. we can do smthg small. 

Turns out something small means sneaking into a restaurant where Jamie’s been going for ages. It has a small room in the back with windows you can see out of, but no one can see in.

“John’s been getting me back here for ages,” he says. “Haven’t had an issue with the press yet.”

It’s all so normal, the way he pulls out your chair and tells you what he likes to order. The way he’s making you laugh and asking you questions about your life, not the ones about your music, but the kind that are actually about you. 

The server comes around with a bottle, and asks, “Wine?”

Jamie looks to you and you shake your head, barely suppressing a grimace.

“All good here, mate,” he says.

“Not a drinker?” he asks once the man is gone. 

You hesitate. You’re about to cross into point-of-no-return territory. 

“I- I don’t know, I can’t really smell it without thinking of my family. They’re all…”

Jamie nods. “I get it. Like me dad. Prick’ll be sober when he’s dead.”

“Yeah,” you say slowly. “Yeah, never had a family event without someone fighting. My mom’s the first one to get out, because she’s the youngest. She saw all that shit and decided it wasn’t for her. She went away to college, met my dad, and never looked back. Course, my uncles started showing up once I got famous. And my aunt, too. She’s probably the worst of all of them. She actually broke into my first apartment asking for money. She smashed a bottle and cut up my face pretty bad… I was nineteen and still trying to figure out my music career and stuff. I still have a scar on eyebrow from it. But, I wasn’t so famous that it ended up on the internet, so…”

You trail off again. Jamie’s looking at you all thoughtful. You’re not sure when he started holding your hand across the table, but there it is. It’s warm and calloused, and he doesn’t seem to care that yours is sweaty.

“My dad’s the same way,” he says softly. “Showed up a month back at a match. Fucking prick. But… can’t seem to cut him off, y’know? He’s fuckin’… family or some shit.”

“Hah,” you say, “That’s what Margarita’s about.”

Jamie’s silent for a moment. “Thought it was about how you really fucking liked limes,” he says finally.

That gets a laugh from you. “I do actually really fucking like limes. But enough about me. How’d you get into football?”

By the end of the night, you’re properly smitten. This boy knows how to flirt, knows all the right compliments and ways to brush his hand against yours or brush a stray strand of hair out of your face. 

This is bad, you think as his lips touch yours. This is very, very bad.

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#jamie tartt x reader #jamie tartt fanfiction #jamie tartt imagine #jamie tartt x y/n #jamie tartt x you #jamie tartt #ted lasso

[the-furthest-city-light]

Question just for funzies I do not ship them, but do you ship mishanks?😂

I’ve just seen a variety of people who shipped zolu, ship also those two together. (Your fics are the ones that really sold zolu for me tho so thank you 🙏)

Shanks is one of the few characters I ship with basically all his major ships. Benn Beckman? I'm a sucker for the captain/first mate dynamics obviously. Buggy? Childhood not-so-unrequited lovers. Tragic. Gorgeous. Actually hilarious how pathetic they both are.

Mihawk and Shanks are interesting to me as individual characters so far with a potentially really interesting history. I really like the interactions we've gotten with them in canon. I like the theory that Shanks used to be Mihawk's only real rival for the title of "greatest swordsman" until Shanks lost his arm (which tbh just makes Zoro's willingness to cut his own feet off even funnier if true). It's not something that's really been explored in canon or elaborated on but they clearly have some kind of history there. Mihawk met Shanks's boy and booked it to whatever island he was hiding out on (in the new world??? How???) Immediately. It's an interesting reaction if nothing else.

Also, spoilers for egghead and Wano flashbacks below the cut.

My personal pet theory is that mihawk may be the one who inspired Shanks to get back into piracy in the first place. Mihawk was at Roger's execution and witnessed the birth of the great pirate Era. We know from the flashbacks that this invention inspired despair in Shanks, and he took a break from piracy for a while after.

We don't know what got him back into pirating, but imo, Mihawk seems like a likely option. Shanks never really saw Buggy as a rival (which isn't to say Shanks doesn't like or respect buggy, just that he never saw himself in competition with him the way it seems Buggy did with him). Mihawk calling Shanks out on his apathy when he clearly cares so much about the world and Roger's legacy (and whatever it was that had him crying when Roger and Co. Returned from Laughtale) would be a really interesting situation to witness Shanks in, and it would actually kind of mirror both Mihawk's initial meeting with Zoro ("don't despair kid, you've got a ways to go before you should think about giving up") and Shanks' role in Luffy's life as someone who inspired him to go to sea in the first place.

A lot of this is speculation obviously and I'll be interested to see how Oda characterizes Shanks and Mihawk's relationship and/or past going forward. But I can see something like this making for a really interesting foundation for a romantic relationship. We just don't have a ton of context!

#mishanks #i think i talked myself into shipping it tbh #they're fun though #sword boyfriends playing with...swords #is this old man yaoi? #shanks is like mid-30s #oh you know what #this too is yuri

[mishkakagehishka]

Honestly the joke with the new Barbie movie is the fact that its core message is just such a lukewarm take. It could be boiled down to "Women sometimes face hardships because they are women and men hold power over them. Sad emoji." and yet this was enough to majorly piss people (men) off. Which would be absolutely hilarious if it weren't just so sad.

Like, we have two problems here. One is that man = default. Men are so used to everything catering to them, that they honestly saw a movie titled BARBIE directed by a woman, starring a woman as the titular character, a movie adaptation based around dolls famous for marketing to women, a doll line whose pathetic male-bodied doll was always treated as an accessory sold separately to the female-bodied Barbies, who was always "the boyfriend of Barbie". But because it's a movie, movies are expected to cater to men, right? Because it's cinematography, because it's for adult, mature, refined (male) audiences, it should cater to them, right? And all the pink and all the "he's just Ken" and all the most girliest marketing this movie sent out did not manage to make them think "Hey, I think this movie is for women". No, instead, they said, "Why didn't this movie about a doll line for girls cater to me, an adult man, enough?" You saw it with movies like Star Wars (the one that introduced Rey idk i don't follow sw) and Captain Marvel, but I could even excuse it there. Because it's cool space samurais and it's comic book superheroes - media traditionally marketed to men. Sure, I could see them getting all hormonal and hysterical about a girl?!?!?!?!?@?@?!??@ in THEIR manly men doing manly men things movie?!?!?!?!?!?! and she's NOT just a love interest or damsel in distress or someone's tragic backstory?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!??!? whadda hell. But Barbie... Barbie? Are girls not even allowed Barbie anymore? What I'm saying is, the first problem is that men are so used to being catered to, that a movie that doesn't even act like it's catering to them got them so upset, because how dare everything not keep them in mind? Right.

As I very cleverly inserted the topic above, female characters in cinema are so often shown as one of three things: a love interest, a damsel in distress, someone's tragic backstory. That's all you got. Oftentimes, movies will critically miss female characters At All (lord of the rings lol), and this is something normal and realistic. In Barbie, first thing you notice is that every major character is a woman. Barbie, Sasha, Sasha's mom (forgot her name, but she IS named, this is important), the many other Barbies who carry the plot in the climax, and so on. Background characters in Barbie Land (why didn't they name is Barbie World...)? Also women. There is a lack of men in this movie, and it hurts their egos soooo bad it's honestly beyond pathetic. Who are your male characters? A handful of Kens. The main Ken is the only one who has some sort of impact on the plot. Allen is comedic relief. The Mattel board guys are comedic relief. Sasha's dad (who i'm pretty sure is unnamed) shows up for two scenes. As comedic relief. They're all irrelevant save for beach Ken.

The second problem is just how absolutely lukewarm the feminism in the Barbie movie is, and despite that, men are treating it like it said women should start castrating men for looking at them wrong. I've seen posts on here talk about it - Barbie also says "the patriarchy hurts men, too" unironically. Could you hold men's hands any more? (In this way, even Barbie is a movie that actually did cater to men. That actually did try to speak to them, too. Because Ken's growth is almost given a bigger spotlight than Barbie's, but whatevs). Barbie's take was that men still oppress women, but just hide it better. That's it. That's enough to anger men worldwide, apparently.

It was just so simple and so stupid in its simplicity. Barbie World is ruled by the Barbies (women). Every night is girls' night. Ken's feelings are hurt because the girl he likes doesn't like him back (a male character whose entire character revolves around the female character he likes - how bout that!). Barbie gets all fucky-wucky and has to go to the real world. She feels objectified and unsafe because men keep leering at her (omg guys did you know... women........ get harassed sometimes😱). Ken feels respected for the first time in his life. Shenanigans happen, Ken goes back, Barbie stays and then goes back. Ken invented the patriarchy in Barbie World. Everything sucks !!! The Barbies take advantage of the fact that men get jealous and possessive over women to distract them so they can reinstate the matriarchy. Barbie goes "um but wait, we were mean... let's be equal :)" etc etc. Tongue in cheek "Kens will have as much power as women in the real world do :)" line. The end.

Sasha? Let's talk about Sasha. Sasha is the Gen Z. You know this because she uses buzzwords. She is, like, the opposite end of the feminism. Or something, she's a bit more radical. She hates Barbie bc of the body image problems, she calls her a fascist and a bimbo, she tells her dad he's doing cultural appropriation by learning Spanish, and she's also shown as a hypocrite because she calls Barbie a nutjob before very quickly correcting herself to say something that sounds more, quotation marks, politically correct. (I think it was "reality-challenged", i wanna emphasise that this really is buzzwords). What I'm saying is, a character that has more radical views than "we should all just get along" is shown as bad for having such views. Its core message is not just lukewarm, it is actively saying, "Don't be radical like lil ol' Sasha, bc that's her character flaw! Let's all get along!".

And this, one movie that flipped the script on them while still keeping up a semblance of catering to men and going "oh, but we're not like those fun-hating women who actually want to be free from the patriarchy, we just want equality", hurt them bad enough that they're writing think pieces about how Barbie is killing traditional values and making women stray. You show men the most castrated and marketable form of quasi-feminism, and they still fight it kicking and screaming.

I don't know where I was going with this. I have no conclusion. Barbie made me laugh a lot, I enjoyed it. The feminism message was somehow both hamfisted and very much limited to "let's acknowledge the daily lives of women". Ken had an entire growth arc about learning to be his own person instead of only Barbie's pursedog (when do you see a female character get that growth...). And it still made men angry. There have been breakups over this movie. You know what I mean? It's all just so meaningless to try and get them to understand.

#shoutout to the men who liked it and understood the message obligatory not all men or whatever

[spockandawe]

So! Binderary! I don't recall how much I said on here, but I sent out a couple packages to a couple authors after that all wrapped up. Some fun trivia about me is that I am shy to a hilariously useless degree, and by the end of all these packages, I was too embarrassed(???) to double check if old addresses were still good. And in one case, it wasn't! I remade the books, naturally, because that's completely my mistake and also the typesetting was done, and with books quarto and smaller, material costs go way down. And now this package is safely delivered to the correct hands, and I can share!

These are the books where I hadn't posted photos of then originals yet, because titling spoilers, and the design choices are a pure repeat, so I'm not going to be redundant about things. Just imagine these books x2 in my records, and you'll have it right! We've got a fun smattering of mdzs fics here, first two remakes of Ameliarating's work that I did WAY back when, but I'm much better at small books now, so I had to give them the luxury treatment!

Check out Restoration for some yi city reincarnation fun, and lover to your nightmare for some sexy xuexiao delirious sickfic! That one has always appealed to me from a design perspective, really capturing that delirium tag in the binding of the story. These two books were what SOLD me on the use of low contrast titling choices this year, which was a whole lot of fun. And then in addition, I also bound A Wiser Fool, which is more xuexiao, but in a setting Xue Yang is blind and Xiao Xingchen is not. I don't remember if the tags there are first place I read the phrase 'xue yang's feather-light conscience', but it's sure stuck with me ever since! And I am so pleased with that pairing of the quiet purples and pinks in the cover fabric, foil, and endpapers.

After that, we've got some veliseraptor fic that I had never tackled before. I say this is a collection of mdzs fics, but really, the most specific throughline here is Xue Yang 😂 First of all, on a narrow road, which is 34k of fabulous songxuexiao amnesia road trip romance. I've had this cover fabric for years without knowing where to use it, but it just felt right here, especially with subdued titling on top. And then we have this world is gonna break your heart, which is Xue Yang/Jiang Yanli, and look I swear just give it a look, it's so compelling and works SO well! I bound that in faux suede (my beloved) and titled it with black foil for a nice lush effect, and it's hard to see with the reflections, but that t character in the title has branching roots extending underneath it, which felt like such a fun touch for a story about demonicn cultivation. And for both these books, I was able to break into a stash of chiyogami paper I bought to experiment with, bringing in some flowers and metallics for a nice bit of maximalist polish that I thought played well with the covers without overwhelming them. Less is more is never a philosophy that clicked with me, haha

#crafts #bookbinding #binderary #technically

[kamreadsandrecs]

Title: The Apothecary Diaries Light Novel, Vol. 1

Author: Natsu Hyuuga, Kevin Steinbach (trans.)

Illustrator: Touko Shino

Genre/s: historical, mystery

Content/Trigger Warnings: implied pedophilia by a character no longer present in the series, kidnapping, being sold into indentured servitude, death, suicide, physical and emotional abuse

Summary (from publisher's website): In the East is a land ruled by an emperor, whose consorts and serving women live in a sprawling complex known as the hougong, the rear palace. Maomao, an unassuming girl raised in an unassuming town by her apothecary father, never imagined the rear palace would have anything to do with her—until she was kidnapped and sold into service there. Though she looks ordinary, Maomao has a quick wit, a sharp mind, and an extensive knowledge of medicine. That’s her secret, until she encounters a resident of the palace at least as perceptive as she is: the head eunuch, Jinshi. He sees through Maomao’s façade and makes her a lady-in-waiting to none other than the Emperor’s favorite consort… so she can taste the lady’s food for poison! At her lady’s side, Maomao starts to learn about everything that goes on in the rear palace—not all of it seemly. Can she ever lead a quiet life, or will her powers of deduction and insatiable curiosity bring her ever more adventures, and ever more dangers?

Buy Here: https://j-novel.club/series/the-apothecary-diaries

Spoiler-Free Review: Oh but this was a delight! The way I think of this is that Maomao is kind of like Sherlock Holmes, except she’s stuck in a period intrigue drama set in the rear palace of the Chinese imperial court and has to negotiate all the etiquette and conspiracies in THAT particular setting while also solving mysteries. Which, given all the conspiring, there are actually plenty of.

While the mysteries are pretty interesting, what REALLY hooked me was reading about Maomao interacting with the consorts and their ladies-in-waiting. The way Maomao views herself (low-ranked servant/food taster/apothecary) stands in direct contrast to the way the REST of the inhabitants of the rear palace view her (poor unfortunate waif), and there’s plenty of hilarious moments where Maomao does or says something that makes the other rear palace residents react in a certain way, and she does NOT for the life of her understand WHY. It’s not that she can’t READ people, because she CAN; she just doesn’t seem the least bit interested in anything that might necessarily apply to HER. On one hand there’s a pretty good reason for that: she firmly believes no one would care about her because she’s so low in the overall hierarchy that she doesn’t think anyone would care about her welfare. On the other hand, she’s just the type of person who’s not easily impressed by anyone. She knows how to act in front of her social betters, but that’s just manners; she doesn’t go out of her way to impress anyone because, in her opinion, it’s a waste of time.

What this means is that Maomao has some entertaining, and often outright HILARIOUS, interactions with the other residents of the rear palace. There is a moment in the novel where some ladies-in-waiting concoct a tragic backstory for Maomao that Maomao finds annoying - not only because it gets the facts of her life wrong, but also because it prevents her from working as much as she used to. Despite that, though, she tends to let it slide because the privileges she gains from the misunderstanding allow her to do OTHER things that are more aligned with her preferences. There’s a lot of “It is what it is, I should just make the most of it” to Maomao’s outlook in life, which is juxtaposed against her intense curiosity and willingness to go to any lengths to find the answer to any question she might have.

And then there is Jinshi: the beautiful eunuch who is constantly giving Maomao migraines. At first he’s an almost adversarial character, but that’s only because the reader first sees him through Maomao’s THOROUGHLY unimpressed eyes. It becomes clear later on that Jinshi isn’t all that he seems to be on the surface - something that Maomao figures out herself later on, though that doesn’t lessen her annoyance at him. It’s also through Maomao’s interactions with Jinshi and his assistant Gaoshun that the reader gets a sense of something brewing in the palace - something that goes beyond the games and intrigues of the imperial consorts and their ladies. Still, it’s clear his and Maomao’s dynamic is something to keep an eye on, and it’s easy to see why they’re popular as a ship in the manga and anime fandoms.

Overall, this is a very quick and entertaining read. Maomao’s an absolutely endearing character, both because she is extraordinary and extraordinarily flawed. The way she interacts with the characters around her and navigates rear palace politics often make for hilarious moments, but they make for some pretty interesting mysteries for Maomao to solve as well. It’s interesting to see where Maomao’s curiosity will take her, and what mysteries she will unravel - not just in the rear palace, but perhaps in the Imperial court itself.

Rating: five rare herbs

#book review #book reviews #the apothecary diaries vol. 1 #the apothecary diaries series #natsu hyuuga #touko shino #historical #mystery #light novels #books

[emblazons]

Do you actually think The Duffers are just 'doing a bit' after today's tweet? The fact that they acknowledge there is something to people forgetting Will's birthday seems pretty legit to me.

I'm gonna keep it real with you anon—considering what I've seen the Duffers say about the entirety of Will's "forgotten birthday" concerns in interviews, I'm not sold on very many theories about Birthdaygate.

I know a lot of you are birthdaygate truthers, so a cut for your sake lol.

The first thing that got me about it was the fact that the entirety of the "theory" was built on a single second clip from a recording of El's bullying at Roller Rink—which stands in comparison to a single line Joyce says two seasons earlier.

Now, even knowing how much The Duffers care about details, these two things (in light of the fact that this fact has no other baring anywhere in the narrative) doesn't really strike me as "we are trying to tell you something in the subtext / minutiae," though I could be wrong...which I would accept, if it weren't for what The Duffers have said about it when questioned repeatedly.

When addressing "Birthdaygate," this is what they've said about it (and in Variety, one of the largest media outlets in the U.S. no less) after admitting that one of their "super fans" in connection with Netflix (lovingly) reminded them that they didn't get it right...and them apologizing for the mistake doesn't track AT ALL with their ongoing record of correcting even the smaller news outlets and fans lying/misleading people about their scripts, recuts, narrative news, projects or even little details.

Like? That doesn't really read as "we're hiding a plot point from you" for me...and even actors who have been asked about it say the same.

Even so...it was these lines by Matt that truly convinced me them forgetting was an accident, because Matt (as THE resident "the writing matters / it it doesn't make narrative sense don't do it" truther) saying this actually makes the most sense of all.

Like? Matt says that forgetting Will's birthday and treating it as the show did doesn't make any narrative sense, and they know it! Which is why them acknowledging the mistake in a humorous way (and even lowkey implying they might mention it in S5 because of how sad it is / how hilarious it is that they forgot such a thing)—

—sounds a hell of a lot more "on brand" than a conspiracy theory about a birthday to me...even with the lost episode title card.

Now. I could be wrong, and I absolutely willing to be wrong should Will's birthday be a core detail to the mysteries of S5. But for now, does most (if not all of the evidence) make it seem like this was a small mistake that has blown into something huge and hilarious in the fandom?

all signs point to yes. 🤷🏽‍♀️

#LIKE. I AM WILLING TO BE WRONG ABOUT THEM JUST FORGETTING AND NOW JOKING ABOUT IT #but I don't think I am lmao #I do hope they make it an inside joke in S5 though. that would be amazing lmfao #will byers #duffer brothers #st interviews #birthdaygate #asks

[redshoes-blues]

I just know tomorrow’s Bad Batch episodes are going to hurt and probably break me lol. I say this every week but I’m scareddd! Final predictions before I go to bed?

We’ll probably find out who Clone X-2 is in the identity crisis episode, though I think the title could be a double-meaning that also refers to Omega being (probably) force sensitive and learning more about what that’s means for her futur. The identity crisis could also refer to Wolffe and his place in the Empire/questioning his place there? But yeah. Probably Clone X-2’s reveal. I hope because I’m sick of theorizing every week about who it is. I want answers!

As for who the mystery clone is, it’s clearly someone important/known, otherwise they wouldn’t make a big deal out of the who question.

Most likely? Cody, probably. He went AWOL, after all, and it would be angsty. I keep thinking of how Rex in Rebels says Cody’s name when he’s having a panic attack, and wondering why he’d say his name. I always thought maybe he watched Cody die. But I’d love to be wrong and have Cody actually be AWOL and on his way to find Obi-Wan.

Could be Tech, who I think most people seem to be theorizing. I’m not very sold on that one just based on how he died, but it could be him! I mean, Echo and Gregor both blew up. I’d need a good explanation of how he survived, though. I’ve also wondered if it could also be a Crosshair clone, which is based purely on the sniping skills lmao.

Craziest options? I’m kind of hoping for something shocking…like Dogma. Or some other clone whose face would be recognizable right away. One of my brothers suggested Mace Windu, which is completely hilarious, and maybe even crazier than me secretly hoping that they’ve brought Fives back from the dead.

I feel like the reveal will be at the end of the first episode and it’ll be a classic cliffhanger leading into the second episode, which will probably be when all hell breaks loose. Cue the attack on Pabu or some other angsty situation that we’ll be left on the edge about until next week.

Also. I swear to god, if they give Echo a bunch of development in one of these episodes only to kill him off in a couple weeks like they did with Tech, I’m gonna lose it even though I can smell his death from a mile away.

Yeah. I’m scared!

Also, since I watch this show with my brothers, I have to wait to watch it until they’re home from school so…that’s going to be absolute torture. Wish me luck! 😭

#I hope I get to check something off on my bingo sheet. I haven’t since like the third episode. very tragic #the bad batch #tbb predictions

[omegawhiskers]

Full Gear 2023

Bloody Hell, bruv!

Full Gear injected a new aspect to the main event storyline during the pre-show. MJF got a beatdown post match from Austin and Colten Gunn, who injured Max's knee with a chair. MJF was taken away by ambulance, but Adam Cole promised he would not let Jay White walk away with the title tonight.

I really didn't like this part of the story. Firstly, I find it ridiculous that Tony Khan would allow Cole to take his best friends place in the main event. Cole is not cleared to compete. This is total incompetence on Khan's part. Secondly, since when do you drop a title to your opponent if you can't defend it? This is nonsensical.

The first match we got was the six man tag. Sting, Darby Allin and Adam Copeland came out with face paint while wearing Copeland style jackets. Darby took a chokeslam from inside the ring, over the top rope and out on to the apron. It looked like Darby died, while we were told he has to climb mount Everest the next day. There was something awful, yet hilarious at the same time about this. Darby, Nick Wayne and Luchasaurus did most of the work. Sting actually played things nice and safe. Christian never had contact with Copeland and Flair no sold a low blow after a minute. After the match, Darby grabbed a microphone and told the crowd to cheer for Sting or he was going to be the shit outta everyone. This was a great opening bout.

Orange Cassidy beat Jon Moxley, but he had to give it everything he had. I think it took five or so Orange Punches to take Moxley down. I like what they did with Orange during this feud and it made his victory felt earned. Matches like these make the International Title prestigious.

Toni Storm was quite whimsical in her match against Hikaru Shida. Her mannerisms were entertaining to watch. Storm picked up the win which wasn't at all that surprising as she's super over. Even tough Storm is the heel, the crowd were still behind her. Shida’s reign wasn’t booked so great. She had matches, but there was nothing beyond that. This was a decent match, but I wasn’t a big fan of the sliver tray spot as you really had to suspend your belief that the ref did not see it.

Who was that child with LFI? Did they abduct him? Anyway, this ladder match was a little slow to get started, but once it picked up steam, it delivered some great spots, especially from Brodie King who was the MVP of the match. I was quite surprised when the match came to an end as I thought 10 or 15 minutes had past, but it went just over 20 minutes. Due to eight wrestlers being involved, not everyone can get time to shine unfortunately. I thought Ricky Starks got lost in the shuffle. While this won't go down as a classic ladder match, I still think it was good for a match that was only announced this past Friday.

So, Julia Hart misted Skye Blue, who in return misted Hart as an act of revenge, but, in this triple treat match, Blue wanted to shake hands with Hart so they could continue to team up on Kris Statlander. Julia denied her. This part of the match made zero sense to me. Why would Blue want to shake hands with Julia? Why would Julia not take the help? Besides that part, I really enjoyed this match. Blue’s presentation was great. I liked that she dumped the baseball cap for a crown. Statlander came off looking like a beast (the german suplexes were great). As I mentioned, I think creative failed Statlander. They didn't give us any development to her character as a champion, yet, Blue and Hart have both transformed. I’m glad Julia got the win. She's been killing it for a while now, and deserves the spotlight.

Will Ospreay is All Elite. Ospreay was like ‘’YO BRUV, SHUT THE FUCK UP AND LET ME FINISH MY TIME IN NEW JAPAN FIRST, BRUV.’’ Clam down, Will, we respect contracts around here.

The Texas Deathmatch is a match I won't forget anytime soon. This hardcore violent. It didn't take long before Adam Page had a staple gun and was using it on Swerve. It's was quite gruesome when Swerve’s blood was gushing down his face and Page decided to staple his kids drawing to Swerves cheek. When I thought things couldn't go any further, it did. At one point, Hangman started dripping Swerves blood into his mouth before spitting it into the air like HHH with water. These men used barbed wire in horrible ways. I was pretty sure Page's face was going to be ripped off when some wire got caught in his face and Swerve continued to pull at it. Brian Cage got involved near the end, and I couldn't help but think where is Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks? You can argue that Matt and Nick are heels, but Omega sat this out with Cage's involvement? Besides Cage, I think this is an instant classic. I loved how personal this feud was. And I loved the violent payoff to it.

I was pretty tired by the time it came to The Golden Jets vs. The Young Bucks. While I was watching, my brain had checked out. At some point I started to wake up and I got into this tag match. The Bucks working on Chris Jericho's arm, giving the low blow and having a tantrum post match were all highlights. I'm glad The Young Bucks lost because I think they need a fire to ignite further heel antics.

Cole, with crutches and all, gets into the ring to face Jay White. Before the match can begin, MJF returns to the arena driving an ambulance. Did he steal that ambulance? Max can barely stand when he arrives and White takes full advantage. Even when Max gets any offensive, it results in him collapsing to the mat in pain. I'm thinking there is no way MJF is winning without the help of Cole. There was a moment when Cole was going to hit White with ROH Tag Team title, but it so feeble, it looked like he past it to him. Later, Cole would pass the Dynamite Diamond Ring to his brochacho that would lead to his victory. The issue I had with the wonky knee angle is, it was worked on too much. Less would have been more. By the end of the match, I was shocked that MJF was not stretchered off after the win.

Full Gear was a pretty good PPV. I didn't think it delivered any bad matches. The negatives laid in the build up to the event and I didn't think the injured knee of MJF was warranted. We also got no appearance from The Devil which was disappointing.

#aew full gear #full gear #professional wrestling #aew mjf #aew #swerve strickland #wrestling #hangman adam page #will ospreay #adam copeland #adam cole #skye blue #kris statlander #julia hart #jon moxley #hikaru shida

[notsuchasecret]

20 Q's for Fic Writers

I don't think @oloreandil meant to tag me but I'm doing it anyway!

1 - How many works do you have on ao3?

215. I had a huge head start when I did one ficlet a day in 2015, but not all 365 of those made it onto Ao3 (and a few of them were chapters added to other fics.

2 - What's your total ao3 word count?

1,022,445. I'm so sad I didn't even notice when I went over a million on there! But upon checking it looks like it was during my posting for the HQ Monsterlovers Big Bang, so that's not surprising.

3 - What fandoms do you write for?

I mainly write for Haikyuu!!, but I started with Free!. I've also written for the MCU once or twice and VLD once, but I think there's only one of those ones on Ao3.

4 - What are your top five fics by kudos?

Fool's Gold, Curiosity Killed the Cat (and Satisfaction Brought it Back) , both of which surprised me, Growing Old in Mediocrity, which I seriously thought would be number one, Those Who Wander, and Brave.

5 - Do you respond to comments?

Honestly, no. I feel bad about it and I hate it, but I don't do it. I get so anxious that I'm going to somehow offend someone, or about what I'm going to say, and just. Ugh.

6 - What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Four Christmases That Totally Sucked (And One That Kind of Didn't) is the only fic I have left up that's just straight angst. I have a lot of hurt/comfort, but pretty much everything I write has a happy ending in one form or another. There is one other fic that exists only if you know where to find it here on tumblr that I deleted all the links to because I got literal death threats over the sad ending and I'm not playing that game with y'all.

7 - What is the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

This one depends on your definition of happy ending. Like I said pretty much all of my fics have a happy ending because of who I am as a person, but some of them require more work to get to than others. the best revenge (you are a life well lived) is by far the one that fits this question the best. Not only did the characters have to work hard for that happy ending, but I did too. To this day when I'm feeling trapped in a PTSD spiral, I can often point at that fic to remind myself that there is a way out, and that there is a life beyond the lowest point. Those few of you who know just how much I was going through leading up to posting this fic, including the night of posting it, y'all know exactly how much that means to me.

8 - Do you get hate on fics?

I have, but not in a long time. The thing is, I'm kind of an oblivious moron, sitting happily in my little corner of the sandbox and making the blorbos kiss. I do know there had been hate about me that I never even noticed, but the only hate I actually saw was back in 2015, so I'm glad about that.

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

I have been told I write the fluffiest smut on the face of the planet, which is hilarious considering that most of what I write is also pretty kinky. I've been in the sex industry in one form or another for a few years now, mostly on the retail side, and I know some crazy shit, and it's kind of a special interest now. So erotica and smut are my bread and butter, but even when there are chains and whips and chastity devices, there's also a lot of love and aftercare and fluffy, schmoopy, cuddly grossness.

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

Crossovers just kind of... pop out of me. None of them are crazy imo... most of them are Haikyuu!! and Free!, though I'm pretty sure there have been some knb kids as well.

11 - Have you ever had a fic stolen?

It was the funniest thing, my longest fic, the one I'm most proud of, was snatched and put up on Amazon for sale. It was a huge thing, so I wasn't the only author scraped, but let me tell you seeing my gay anime magic au fanfiction sold as an actual book with no changes to even the title or the description or character names still gives me a bit of a giggle.

12 - What's the longest you've spent working on one fic? And the shortest?

the best revenge objectively shouldn't have taken me over two years to write, but when you factor in all the life shit that happened to produce that fic, yes it should have. Prior to that, I spent 10 months or so writing The Anatomy of an Eternity and I'm so proud of how it turned out and have spent the last, oh god, six years chasing that high.

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

One time a co-written fic just fell out of @ezzydean and I like an egg we didn't realize we were laying. Just. Plop! Ezzy re-formatted our chat log into jagged pieces and Feathers on the windowsill and to this day I don't know how it happened.

14 - What's your all-time favorite ship? From all fandoms?

I feel like it's unfair to say SakuAtsu considering I have posted exactly one (1) fic of them, but y'all have no idea how badly these to assholes have taken over my life. I had to give them their own section in my 4thewords writing organization. I hate them so much someone stop them.

15 - What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

There's a running joke that's not actually a joke about "the fanfic I will never publish". It's currently over 100k long and I doubt it'll ever see the light of day. I would also like to finish How Many Crows Does it Take to Screw In a Lightbulb but I don't know if I can finish it as is or if I need to tear it down and start all over since the timeskip.

16 - What are your writing strengths?

I've been told my characterization is gold, and I'm not discounting that. I think that I'm also just really good at Putting Dudes Into Situations. Since I am, as mentioned, sitting in a sandbox and making the blorbos kiss, that's really what writing fic is to me. I just wanna see what happens to these characters if I stick them in different combinations. I wanna see if they maintain the same basic form when they're not playing volleyball, but are instead navigating the faerie court, or in a magic college, or sailing on pirate ships. How much does environment change who we are and how much is it intrinsic to ourselves?

17 - What are your writing weaknesses?

Shiny Object Syndrome. I see a fun new AU and I have to physically restrain myself from chasing it down a rabbit hole and ignoring the sixteen other projects I have going on.

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

Since I'm an Anglophone I don't know how much of a leg I have to stand on in this question. That said, I do believe there are certain things that can't be expressed outside of their native language. That said, I don't think it's my place as a white USAmerican to try and tell stories about what it's like to be xyz other race/culture/experience that I simply don't have access to. I do use Japanese terms in-prose for certain things. Genkan and Engawa are the most prominent things I can think of, since most English-speaking cultures don't really have equivalents in our own homes. Lines of dialog in other cultures are an interesting thing that I tend to avoid specifically because I don't know how to do it well in most of the languages that would make sense for what I'm writing (I speak enough Spanish to pass for a precocious pre-schooler, and I have a decent amount of Latin and Irish under my belt, but none of those really have a chance to come up in what I write, unfortunately).

19 - First fandom you wrote for?

Free!. The very first ficlet posted on this tumblr account was written January 1, 2015, and it was the very first piece of fanfic I ever wrote. Because I'm insane like that.

20 - Favourite fic you've written?

I love most of my children equally. That said, the best revenge (you are a life well lived), The Anatomy of an Eternity, and Rowan Berries, Iron, and Other School Supplies all have a very special place in my heart.

I'm not gonna tag anyone directly but if anyone does it from seeing this, please tag me so I can read!

#Life of a Ro

[arthurdrakoni]

Silly Old Bear is a delightful adaptation of the original Winnie the Pooh stories from A.A. Milne. It is great for both the young and the young at heart. This is my review.

I am a lifelong fan of Winnie the Pooh. I grew up with the Disney cartoons, and watched the video tapes constantly. Well, when I wasn’t watching Thomas the Tank Engine or The Tales of Beatrix Potter, of course. Though I’ve gotten older, there’s still very much a special place in my heart for Winnie the Pooh. So, naturally, I leapt at the opportunity to Silly Old Bear. 

Edward J. Bear, known to his friends as Winnie the Pooh, lives in a house in the forest. He has many friends, such as Piglet, Rabbit, Owl, Eeyore, and of course Christopher Robin. There’s lots of adventures to be had for a bear of very little brain. Pooh and friends will learn many lessons, and have many laughs, during their (mis)adventures. So, why not journey into the forest, and send some time with everyone’s favorite silly old bear? 

One fine and blustery day on Twitter, I saw a tweet. It was one of those “these people you follow also follow this” sort of tweets. It was promoting an upcoming audio drama called Silly Old Bear. It was to be an adaptation of the original Winnie the Pooh stories by A.A. Milne. It was created by @saucymincks, who has created several other audio dramas, such as @seenandnotheardpod. There was only a trailer available, but I decided to give it a listen. It was love at first sound. The gentle, calming, whimsical music perfectly capture the spirit of Winnie the Pooh. That theme music always manages to put a smile on my face whenever I hear it. And then there was the actor who played the titular silly old bear. Ashley Hunt was obviously not copying the Disney version of Pooh, but my goodness, did he ever nail Pooh’s character. The entire trailer was less than a minute long, but I was sold. I eagerly awaited launch day. 

The voice actors don’t attempt to copy the voice actors from the Disney cartoons. I suspect that this is done deliberately. That way, it helps to give Silly Old Bear its own unique identity. Well, that, and Disney’s legal team probably wouldn’t like it if Silly Old Bear sounded too similar to the Disney cartoons. The casting in Silly Old Bear also returns Winnie the Pooh to its British roots. The Disney cartoons used American voice actors, which has lead to the misconception that Winnie the Pooh is of American origin. To the contrary, it is quite British. In fact, A.A. Milne was considered one of Britain’s finest satirists and playwrights before he wrote Winnie the Pooh. 

The cast of Silly Old Bear is a veritable who’s who of British audio drama voice actors.  We have among many others, Sarah Golding as the narrator, Felix Trench as Rabbit, and Karim Kronfli as Owl. 

Our title character is voiced by Ashley Hunt. He does an absolutely fantastic job of capturing Pooh’s child-like innocence and optimism. Piglet is voiced by Sophs Hughes, who uses they/them pronouns. They nailed Piglet’s nervous and perpetually paranoid demeanor. Their performance as Piglet was one of my absolute favorites of the entire cast. It was equal parts cute and hilarious. 

And of course I must give praise Ethan Hunt, son of Ashley Hunt, as Roo. What can I say? He is just utterly adorable. I see a very bright voice acting future for young Ethan.

Silly Old Bear fills me with warm and fuzzy feelings, and always manages to put a smile on my face. It is an absolute joy from start to finish. It is an excellent audio drama for both the young and the young at heart. You certainly won’t want to miss it if you’re a lifelong Winnie the Pooh fan. 

Have you listened to Silly Old Bear?  If so, what did you think?

Link to the full review on my blog: https://drakoniandgriffalco.blogspot.com/2022/11/the-audio-file-silly-old-bear.html?m=1

#review #audio drama #audio fiction #Silly Old Bear #winnie the pooh #a.a. milne #caroline mincks #public domain #audio drama review #audio drama podcast #audio drama recs #fiction podcast #podcast reviews #podcasts #podcast #children’s fiction #kids #kids fiction #Silly Old Bear Podcast #Pooh Bear #Pooh #Realm #Realm Media #Realm Podcasts

[ponderosa121]

Yuletide 2022 Recs

Usually I manage to rec before reveals, but the end of 2022 was a scramble. I still have a couple fandoms to read in, but here are some of my favs from Andor, the Black Phone, Breakfast Club, Collateral, Cowboy Bebop, Die Hard, Gattaca, The Good Place, Midsommer, Oceans 8 & 11, Prey, Scream, She-Hulk, Only Murders in the Building, and The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent.

Starting, as always, with the wonderful gifts that I received!

Prey (2022) - Clever Runner by keerawa - Gen - 2.2k - POV of the Predator as it recognizes and appreciates Naru's skills. This has such a wonderful non-human POV that makes the canon so much richer!

Collateral (2004) - One Mistake Away by bluspirits - Max/Vincent - 1.2k - A delicious little PWP/TWT that highlights the differences between them and how murky each of their motives are. I love this movie so much, and this slides really well into the canon.

Andor - The Entire Yuletide Collection - I'm straight up recommending all four fics. They're all engaging in different ways and I enjoyed them all greatly. (If you can only read one though, I'd suggest salvage by quadrille, it's Maarva POV and an achingly beautiful character study.)

The Black Phone - pricking the garter by skazka - Gen. - 1.6k - Holy crap, this fic. It's a pre-canon character study of the Grabber that is so deeply darkly clever and, as another commenter called it "casually insidious". If you don't know what the title is referencing, do as I did, and look it up after you read the fic.

The Breakfast Club - a good place to hide by dreamerfound - Bender/Brian - 3k - A lovely moving in together fic that feels wonderfully effortless.

Cowboy Bebop (tv) - Cupid Cakewalk by virusq - Spike & Jet - 2.5k - Fake marriage hijinks? I'm sold. A super fun read with all the banter that makes their odd-couple relationship a delight.

Cowboy Bebop (tv) - Midnight at Jet's Bebop Cafe by Elasmo - Spike/Jet pre-relationship. - 1.6k - An AU that's a bit more canon divergent than anything, so felt perfectly in-character and one of those fics which I could so very easily picture every scene in my head!

Die Hard 4 - When I'm Like This by eleanor_lavish - John/Matt - 7.5k - I'll never get sick of this ship and all the ways people write them getting together post-canon. This one's a lovely PTSD recovery fic with bedsharing.

Gattaca - Ulysses and Ozymandias in the Labyrinth by Serenade - Vincent/Jerome - 1.3k - Perfect for canon, and just beautifully melancholy.

The Good Place - Where No One Knows Your Name by tjs_whatnot - Gen - 1.7k - The summary of "An infinite Jeremy Bearimys later, Janet moves on" hooked me immediately, and it's a wonderful character piece for Janet.

Midsommer - Hasaeti by joy_shines - Dani/Pelle - 3.4k - This fic really stuck with me. On the surface it's ritual sex with light femdom, but along with being richly written, it pulls off a really masterful shift in maintaining the right voice and feel for the character/canon as Dani's character evolves.

Ocean's 11 (&8) - The Entire Yuletide Collection - Again, going to cheat by recommending them all, but there are three quick fun reads in the set!

Scream - Let Me Die This Little Death by GotTheSilver - Billy/Stu - 3.1k - Oh gosh, this fic was very good. Some heavy dubious consent, but an excellent take on the power dynamics and fucked up deliciousness of this pair.

She-Hulk (TV) - I Heard That by Angie13 - 1.6k - Jen/Matt - A quick read with a hilarious premise: what if Matt can hear Jen breaking the fourth wall. Super fun!

Only Murders in the Building - Portrait of the Artist by Jubileen - Mabel/Theo, gen - 3.7k - A really lovely post S2 fic that's part character study and part developing relationship. I found it to be a perfect blend of melancholy and humor and emotional resonance.

The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent - Nick and Javi Make (Another) Movie by millepertuis - Nicolas Cage/Javi Gutierrez - 5.6k - Okay, besides the fics I received as gifts, this might be my top rec. It's so clever and so fun to read. If you've seen the movie, please read and enjoy this story which could (and should) be the sequel

#yuletide #yuletide 2022 #fic recs #andor #die hard #oceans 11 #scream #collateral #cowboy bebop #the breakfast club

[rhxpleys]

a ramble on rhea's reign

i have been ruminating on rhea's booking recently, but recent events on raw, plus a bit of news from fightful, has really got me thinking and well. i think rhea's reign is going to be LONG.

totally incoherent thoughts are below lol

so. she has been sparsley used in a wrestling capacity--especially post backlash--falling primarily into a manager role, which for people like me who really love to see her wrestle, is annoying as hell... but i digress. her insistent interference with dom's matches in particular works in a narrative capacity--because it ultimately shows that dom cannot get a win without her. she is frequently involved in the mens side of things by proxy of being apart of TJD, and whilst it was fun for a while, people are really starting to get annoyed by it--myself included. but ultimately, it keeps her name in people's mouths and she is on tv every single week. the numbers she pulls on social media are excellent, she gets great crowd reactions, has some of the best selling merch--like, the girl is ooooover.

(i do wish that they would pull the trigger on some intergender stuff with her--because rhea has been vocal about wanting to make history--and she has experience with it from RCW... but anyway.)

i have wondered, for a while, what the deal was here? but given some recent bits of info from fightful it's becoming a bit clearer. it seems that rhea is minimising her time spent in the women's division so that the scene outside of the title can flourish--and that seems pretty obvious now that becky/zoey/trish, is The women's story on Raw. The women's tag stuff on RAW has especially gotten a lot more time recently... and i would say that a lot of that is to do with rhea happily taking the backseat and only really being invloved with TJD stuff.

She is seemingly unconcerned with is going on with her own creative which is fairly honourable (also, A Choice imo)... and given how much Rhea is liked backstage, how often other women want to work with her, how often she is put over by other talent, how that comment about her allowing her opponents to get more offense in would-be squashes, how often she appears all over RAW? Yeah, doesn't surprise me how she has opted for this atm--she's too fucking nice, and tbh, a consumate professional. (during the royal rumble, rhea bumped and sold like a maniac for every woman who got in the ring...... it is really a wonder she's in the position she is? nope) BUT... does it piss me off that she is being used in this way? oh yeah. but after becky ripped her a new one the other evening in a delicious promo, i don't envision it being like this for much longer (i hope). becky (theoretically) getting into her head about being a 'main event sidepiece', and how she isn't worthy of the title, and then in a promo from the week prior she gets sort-of put down by raquel... like, my goodness, finally, a bit of set-up for some stuff down the line? crazy.

rhea, the "dominant" champion actually having to prove herself to would be competitors is an interesting narrative, given that she is THE division heel? fun, her character work in TJD has been great--lets do more. ...and then rhea, despite being the champ, is not being treated as the main-eventer in her own faction--and i think bringing up a bit of bitterness on her end would be a good idea.

(and oh my god... when she or dom eventually turn on one another? sgdhjjddjdjddk) people are blaming this on her knee and saying that she should be stripped of the title (LOL)... which i think is kind of hilarious and disingenuous given that nattie has been deadlifted into a riptide all over the house show circuit, and that she can just casually pick up damian's big ass. you cannot do that shit if your knee is absolutely fucked. girl has been working with these injuries since she was a teen by the looks of it, and well, it hasn't stopped her yet.

but ultimately... i think this is going to be a slow burn reign. and given that we are three months in and rhea has done nothing but piss people off, it can only improve. they're not throwing the women's roster at her to beatdown, because who is she going to wrestle for the next 'x' amount of months if everyone is already beaten. they're only lightly teasing her feuds with raquel and becky, and they're reaaaaaally dragging out this nattie feud. competitors need to be built, and RAW, despite what certain IWC members say, has plenty of women who can go toe-to-toe with rhea--and best believe, rhea can--AND WILL--go out of her way to make her smaller opponents look credible.

Candice, Indi, Zoey, Piper, Tegan, will all make great opponents, but there needs to be some investment in them, and we have actually seen this with Zoey in particular. Becky and Raquel (and maybe Trish) are currently the big two (three)... but i am also hoping for Beth Phoenix to turn up again--and that is a match that Rhea is on record wanting quite badly.

(i am also expecting some roster jiggery at some stage because the Smackdown side is absolutely crammed with all the upper-card gals...)

anyway, they aren't firing on all cylinders yet--because this is going to be a long reign imo. they aren't exhausting all the feuds right off the bat, because there is a real risk of burnout if it all goes a bit too fast.

right, that's all i got. this is too fucking long already.

#rhea ripley #wwe #kt_text

[quinntamsin]

Standing on her hand she felt her balancing on the top of the tower as she watched the bedraggled procession below. On Grove 1, the Human Shop, a suit wearing man with a bubbled helmet and turnip shaped hair wandered below. Among him wandered a blowfish-man and a woman. Both wore thick iron collars around their necks with chains leading to the mans hand. His ridiculous suit and hair declared him one of the World Nobles. A guttural growl erupted from her throat as she felt the fur erupt all over her skin. Light white fur covered in black dappling. And it required all of her strength to not  unleash her Devil Fruit. --- Hey guys, to fight away my depression I decided to delve back into One Piece, and Holy Shit, I finally made it through Saobody! So clarify unlike before I will not be doing a Saga wide plot review, instead I'm going to write out my thoughts on the arcs I watch as I recharge further from this past summers assortment of shows. Yes, I will be doing Andor, but it will be a bit for me to work up to it! Now, going straight into Saobody the reappearance of Hatchin was a nice touch. Camie while kind of ditzy was such a damn lovable character! Papagu as a sort of foolish rasta hat wearing sartfish only took the cake. This series is all about the high level absurdism that is in this series. We go from just a wandering lost Mermaid to flying motorcycle fish. But I digress. As the team leaves Thriller Bark they find themselves right at the wall of rock that is the Redline. A massive line of mountains (as best as we can describe it) that encircle the entirety of the world. It is the Redline and the strange Grand Line Ocean which split the One Piece world into the Four Blues. So seeing it in person outside of Reverse Mountain is pretty amazing. Now switching back to Camie, her lead up with the Macro Gang and the Flying Fish Riders was more slapstick than actual fight. Learning that a lowly shitty gangster had his life ruined by a bad art piece of Sanji is pretty hilarious in a way. But what took the cake of this mini-arc was Luffy defeating Duval with just a glance. A great lead in to Haki (which was see earlier in the series with Skypeia and the meet up between Shanks and Whitebeard). We get an idea of how these folks wanted to kidnap Camie as a get-rich-quick scheme. But as we pop in Saobody we get a really taste of the horror of the World Nobles. A man, Devil Dias, escapes only to die as his collar explodes. Later said World Nobles appear and shoot the man because dared to run away and demand to see his family again. What is truly horrific about this scene is how no one moves to heavily Dias. They all ignore him and shudder in terror knowing that the Nobles can enslave them on the spot without question. In this world, the World Government, treats its ultra-rich bubble helmet suit wearing Nobles as "Gods". They're even called "Celestial Dragons", a pretty apt allegory for the uber rich. Any billionaire in this day and age could easily be any one of the Rosewards. When Camie is kidnapped I was horrified as the auction scene became the next focus. Even with Handsome Duval (yes I'm using this title sarcastically) and his crew offering some light humor, there's nothing light about it. So, we get everyone but the Monster Trio in to save Camie and as the slaves are sold she finally almost has a chance to be saved. Nami has a plan! Using every single ounce of treasure from their last big score they'll save her. Too bad that one of the fucking Dragons decides to just bid on her with 500 million! This scene raises the despair of this particular arc, and as all hell breaks lose Luffy and the rest of his top fighters storm the hall only to raise the stakes. Hatchin jumps in and ends up getting shot in only what can be described as a blatant racist show of the terrible humans of One Piece! Seeing Luffy punch Charlos Roseward into the ground was damn satisfying just as it was for someone to land on his shitty father. And when all seems lost a literal fucking legend pops up to save them all! Yeah, this Arc really just as dramatic as any other. Back on topic, what we see here is a pretty lengthy combat scene where the Strawhats are driven to the brink. It's only a matter of time before they break! In this island archipelago of wondrous bubbles and massive mangroves, the very amusement park is just a trap for traffickers. Now, almost immediately after Rayleigh dismisses everyone in a singular moment we get just a singular reprieve. With an episode Admiral Kizaru appears along with the Pacifista. As the Strawhats try to run they are picked off one by one. Each of the Kuma cyborg clones easily takes out members of the Worst Generation as they wield the light of the Pika Pika no Mi. This sudden change from quiet to the increasing despair of the end of this arc was bone chilling. Watching Kizaru stand over both Zoro and later Sanji ready to kill them as, damn. We almost get a sense of triumph just before the Pacifistas are told to step aside by the real Kuma. As he uses his Paw Paw powers to sent the Strawhats away we see Luffy losing it bit by bit. Every bit of safety and support he's built for years is being carved away. No matter how good the Strawhats think they are, they cannot defeat a fucking admiral. Conclusion This Arc is a start up for the Summit War, a story about how you can't always win. That the Bad Guys can and will outthink the hero and that yes, you an't save everyone. I know the end of this story, but I want to experience first hand so I wrote this as a separate piece for my thoughts on the Saga. I plan on doing Amazon Lily and Impel Down soon, but for now this is all the energy I have in me! Hottakes:

The Rosey Riders sans Flying FIsh Riders are a ridiculous crew. I adore them.

Kizaru is a fucking genocidal asshole only matched by Akainu

I like how they really pushed how dangerous Haki is in this especially with Sentomarou using it to hurt Luffy.

Elon Musk is a fucking Celestial Dragon.

This Arc makes me hate the World Government More.

I hardcore ship Sanji and Zoro now for some damn reason, probably because I read a Trans Sanji story!

Nami is amazing, I loved how she's mastering her weather powers.

Sanji firing away in futile attempts against Kizaru just made me want to sob as he wanted to defend his friends.

The scene where Luffy recalled his hardest memories with his crew made me cry so damn hard.

#mugiwraa #strawhat pirates #strawhat crew #one piece #one piece anime #monkey d. luffy #luffy #boa hancock #kuja #amazon lily arc #anime #animanga #manga #lgbt #lgbtqia #lesbian #gay #bisexual #transgender #queer #intersex #ace #asexual #trans

[agentnico]

Shrinking - Season 1 (2023) Review

“What kind of a person hugs and tells!?” is a great line! I get that out of context this quote means nothing to the passive reader, however within the moment and Harrison Ford’s delivery of that line is pure hilarious perfection. If you’re intrigued, it’s the more reason to watch this show!

Plot: A grieving therapist starts to break the rules by telling his clients exactly what he thinks. Jimmy has lost his wife and wants to try a new approach to his loss, but it is unclear how this will help others.

Amongst Apple TV+ aim of dominating the streaming realm, we have been given the pleasure of receiving a new comedy drama series from the writers of Ted Lasso. That’s it - stop there. You sold me this one. As for anyone who hasn’t seen Ted Lasso, it is probably the one main reason to subscribe to the Apple streaming platform. Ted Lasso may just feature the most outright positive set of characters to ever grace television screens. Especially the titular Ted, played charmingly by Jason Sudeikis, offers compassion, humility and decency, even in the face of insults and abuse. His unshakeable good mood could have been an irritating trait in the wrong hands, but Sudeikis gave the character an endearing quality which lifted viewers' spirits. And the surrounding cast around him is for the most part delightfully lovely. Except for Nate. I mean f*** that guy, am I right?? So the writers set out to repeat the magic with the new series titled Shrinking. Does it have the cult status set out by its older football-themed brother? Well...

What Shrinking reminds me of is those early 2000s Judd Apatow comedies, that always featured one outlandish (commonly raunchy) plot point however within that were a set of immature characters who have some growing up to do, featuring earnest themes about love, relationships, friendship and family. With Shrinking there isn’t much raunchiness, however it is very much a show about flawed characters who have some growing up to do. Jason Segel, who previously appeared in a few aforementioned Judd Apatow films, leads the cast here as the grief ridden therapist who has lost his way in life after losing his wife. His growth is as obvious as apples on trees - he needs to let go of the past and learn to appreciate the good things surrounding him in the present. His daughter on the other hand needs to learn that her dad is so much better and supportive than she makes him out to be. And so on forth with the rest of the characters. 

I would say Shrinking is nowhere as remarkable nor memorable as Ted Lasso, however what works in this show’s favour is that it is an easy watch. All the characters are super likeable and watchable, you get plenty of solid humour as well as enough dramatic heft too. Jason Segel as always looks like a lost beat down dog, but that’s weirdly his most appealing charm. If you’ve liked Segel in How I Met Your Mother or Forgetting Sarah Marshall, he’s the same Segel of guy here who’s constantly having a midlife crisis and can never amusingly do anything right without frustrating someone. Harrison Ford gets to stretch out his comedic chops here and receives some of the script’s funniest lines, delivered wonderfully by his regular grizzly grunt-filled voice. Jessica Williams also brings a lot of fast paced energy and excitement to her role, and then I also wanted to give a shout out to Ted McGinley. He plays Segel’s neighbour’s husband, and he’s not in the show much, but whenever he did, he’d always be this overly positive happy go lucky bean. Just so happy and delightful. Love that guy.

In terms of problems, I’d say the show suffers a little from an identity crisis. It’s pitched as a story where a therapist begins to break rules and starts telling his clients exactly what he thinks and telling them what they need to do. And for the first couple of episodes that is somewhat present, but after than this concept if for the most part completely dropped, whereas I wish there could have been more done with it. Additionally, there are certain characters here that are blatantly unlikeable, and I don’t think the show realises this. For example, Ford’s character is suffering from a developing Parkinson’s disease. So he begins reconnecting with his daughter, however she is an outright despicable self centred human being who is absolutely horrible to her dad. Yet the show tries to justify the daughter’s actions by seemingly making it seem like Ford deserves all the berating and neglect from her. Same goes for Segel’s daughter - at times she was annoying too. Basically, it seems like Shrinking makes it seem like all daughters are terrible, which seems a tad perplexing. 

Overall I enjoyed this new Apple TV+ comedy series. I’ve heard they’ve already greenlit a second season, which I am perfectly okay with as it’s a perfectly apt sitcom that one can tune in to on a weekly basis for 30 minutes of giggles. It doesn’t break any new ground, but it’s an easy watch, and sometimes an easy watch is exactly what ones needs.

Overall score: 7/10

#shrinking #apple tv+ #apple tv #shrinking series #shrinking season 1 #shrinking series review #2023 #streaming #jason segel #harrison ford #brett goldstein #bill lawrence #comedy #drama #therapy #tv series #jessica williams #luke tennie #michael urie #lukita maxwell #christa miller #ted mcginley #heidi gardner #ethics #sitcom comedy #shrinking season 1 review #shrinking review

[emchovy]

WHAT I READ IN OCTOBER/NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2022:

A three-for-one, because the holidays made me so busy I didn't get much reading done at all. There's a lot of manga on here, and two different tie-in novels, which I think means I'm doing really great and more people will want to talk to me then ever before. (That's a self-deprecating joke, but also maybe Warhammer guys are friendly....It's unlikely, but you never know!)

Anyway, don't have synopses for all of these, but hopefully you can glean from the titles and my description alone if you'd be interested.

MANGA/COMICS:

Afterschool Charisma by Kumiko Suekane

The only reason I got this manga was because it literally has the exact same premise as Clone High, and I thought that was like, really funny. And it was. Definitely going for more weird estoricism and like, internally evalution of what it means to be a clone that Clone High, but fun, nontheless. Warning for insane bluntness when it comes to historical characters chosen, though.

Chainsaw Man Vol. 1-3 by Tatsuki Fujimoto

The roommate and I started watching Chainsaw Man, and loved it, and then I started getting the manga. I didn't read it as voraciously as my brother (@sillymanders) did, but I still really enjoy it. However, honestly I think if someone's gonna like this one, they're already reading it.

Transformers: Shattered Glass by Danny Lore

I love Shattered Glass as a concept, the same way I love the Mirror Universe in Star Trek. Something about a universe where morality is flip-flopped really tickles my brain. This, as what I believe is the first not "Botcon Exclusive" Shattered Glass thing was pretty good. Megatron and Starscream were the best, and Soundwave was really great, in his appearance.

Phantom of the Idol Vol. 3 by Hijiki Isoflavone

Phantom of the Idol is the best lowkey comedy I've read since Azumanga Daioh. Will everyone agree with that? No. But I love it. I've enjoyed every expansion to the cast, and the really well-mixed drama and comedy.

Yagi the Bookshop Goat by Fumi Furukawa

This was a BL featuring boys with animal ears. It was honestly pretty boring, and if I haven't sold it to HPB yet, I'm going to!

Tokyo Alien Vol. 1 by NAOE

Mmmm yummy yum I love my delicious trash. This is a shounen? Manga about a dude who joins an organization fighting aliens with his hot (male) classmate. It's not great, but I love it.

Can't Stop Cursing You Vol. 2 and 3

I've talked about this one. A pretty fun detective manga, with some decent jokes. I like it quite a bit.

NOVELS/LIGHT NOVELS:

The Case Files of Jeweler Richard Vol. 1 by Nanako Tsujimura and Utako Yukihiro

This is a pretty fun light novel about a jeweler and his hapless assistant. I enjoy it, quite a bit.

S: A Love Bite by Soki Aido

Oh, weird yaoi novels from Half Price Books, I just can't quit you. The level of drama in these is pretty fun.

Warhammer: The Daemon's Curse by Dan Abnett and Mike Lee

This book was hilarious. Every Warhammer Dark Elf is like, cartoonishly evil, in a really fun way. These books make an interesting contrast with the Drizzt novels.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: The Way of the Warrior by Diane Carey

Normally I don't read the ones of these that are episode-related, but I really liked this one. Garak gets a really interesting PoV in here, and his opinions on Worf are FASCINATING.

Anyway, there's my wrap-up! I really enjoyed doing these posts all of last year, so I'm definitely gonna continue them. My goal is to get better about summarizing the books, I think.

#em reads #em noise

[antiphon]

all right the good fight 6x03 liveblog-all-in-one-post let's go

@florrickandassociates does not like the title conceit for this season. I think "the end of x" as a title for each episode (after the first one, "the beginning of the end") is kind of fun actually.

carmen watching bad reality tv doesn't even remotely faze me. not just because I've seen it before, just because of what I know about who watches reality tv

how but HOW is this gun in like a. gun shoebox. I don't mean a gun box I mean the box has a picture of the gun on the side of it. like a shoebox for like tennis shoes. is this how guns are sold? I'm not gun people this might be normal.

Lester tipped her doorman to get in, which (in addition to the large room we see her in) means Carmen has not only moved but moved up. where I live, I doubt there's a doorman in the entire city. the idea of having a doorman is absurdly fancy to me, a person who has worked as an adult in (a) food service and (b) libraries

he tells her what to wear, in case we were wondering whether he was still sleazy (we weren't bc he just bribed his way into her building)

he's saying he hates socializing and this is cute because they are the same. "I would so much rather be sitting at home listening to old radio serials." she would rather be sitting at home doing yoga and watching bad reality tv! by "cute" I mean "this show is overtly telling us that Lester is Carmen's future if he has anything to say about it."

so she asks him how he got into this, but it's not her route.

"Liz and Diane are lawyers. You're the law." this is a silly line.

this guy doesn't like the biden administration, which might be a statement about diane.

LESTER GETS ARRESTED. that's a delight actually. I mean I hate cops but for them to come after him specifically is hilarious. because he was just like "oh it's the people like you and me that nobody notices."

cool scene change. is diane hallucinating a shirtless painter or not, who cares. in the real world people who work have shirts.

she asks about his florist which is great because another thing I associate with being very rich is having cut flowers at all times. if I were rich I would never be without cut flowers. for diane to comment appreciatively but like it's something she could have extremely tracks.

she says not seeing enough of the beauty in the world is "the curse of the progressive." maybe it's the curse of people who like to consider themselves progressive but are actually rich-ass lawyers who can't separate their sense of self from institutions

she's barefoot again

she asks if she can argue in court like this (still high). HE DOESN'T SEE WHY NOT LMAO. to high diane the impediment is that she's not currently angry. again with the...........

he give sher homework to stop doomscrolling. florals for spring? groundbreaking.

Ri'Chard is dressed a lot like Adrian in court - striped suit, white shirt, tie and pocket square matching. No vest, which Adrian did often go in for, and obviously there's a finite number of ways men are allowed to dress in court. And his glasses are more red than the purple/fucsia of his tie/pocket square. He and Liz are both here. But since my tgf liveblog is mostly a fashion blog, the clothes are most important and must be mentioned.

Liz talks about their historical hiring practices over decades. which is fair but seems less salient (she doesn't bring in any stats about the race of hires elsewhere, and more importantly she doesn't talk about the credentials of her client vs the person hired)

Sex. Food. Music. Cross-examination. I get that cross being the surprise is the point but how boring.

They've put Diane in their fake outside!!!!!!!!!!! with a fake protest below her!!!!!!!! leave this to people with actual vfx budgets.

she seems to click a notification about the protests, yet we don't learn anything about the purpose of the protests, just a bunch of bad headlines. she remembers she's supposed to stop doomscrolling. she sees marisa rolling her eyes in a meeting. it is wildly unprofessional except that marissa is a meeting for her dad's legal team, so actually, fair.

marissa: if you stop following news etc, "how are you going to keep track of these protests?" marissa no one is keeping track of them. they're there every day. not a single person on this show has talked about why. something @florrickandassociates said made me realize this is like when this show thought people having people yell over each other was political commentary. the substance of the speech is irrelevant; they're concerned with its tone. a protest is a protest is a protest, in the eyes of the good fight. (it would not be hard for them to tell us why people were protesting while demonstrating characters' disapproval for the whole concept of protesting.)

Lester says Carmen is his "good luck charm" and is mad that he won't defent him and defend his boss for the same crime at the same time lmao

the guy funding the football suit is like everythign in football has a racial dimension, which strikes me, a person who knows nothing about football, as straighforwardly true.

guy has her gun fuck him but again. shoebox????

big boss wants her to use lester as a scapegoat. he doesn't like that term and cites the source of the term scapegoat. she refuses him by first name. he is unimpressed.

these credits are a third of the way in. the gun pointing at charmaine bingwa's name is a little, well, pointed now lol

high diane is just associated with a constantly-increasing number of flowers huh. one. the ones in the office. the ones at a market.

the guy prosecuting carmen's client's case is at reddick??? he was her professor and he encouraged his students to use their opponents' personal lives against him and well.....carmen heard everything he said about his life in his lectures.

they're all following marissa's instructions not to tell diane the news and acting like marissa is the boss of them

we're back to deepfakeland

.......have we ever seen diane and carmen together

they really had carmen say "I'm serving two masters"

this makes obvious that carmen is putting herself in actual danger while they're all scared of protesters who have said they won't be dangerous for another month plus

the judge also draws a line from lester to carmen. obviously I got that diane stepping in for lester protected carmen in practical terms from ben-baruch (she steps in on a major client's case), but I guess I hadn't remembered that meant diane was protecting carmen thematically

ri'chard has a different tie and pocket square. the light makes it hard to tell exactly how the pocket square looks

liz sees a football goy and knows him and now we are football people

carmen is genuinely jarred by ben-baruch in the elevator, unless she's a very good actor. but she's very together again in court. she tells ben-baruch that putting lester on the stand will be the best way to harm their case. he is very good at not provably lying lmao

ok so there's the fact that the judge also likes jack benny and then there's the fact that lester's niece is pirating jack benny for him, which is absolutely going to be used to sneak malware to him and the judge who wants him to send the files along. here on antiphon dot tumblr dot com we are Pro Piracy but the piracy is going to be used against them (then the judge is going to get mad and that will benefit lester)

football funder (distinct from football guy) wants them to prove racial discrimination, not do the best for their ostensible actual client. jay thinks he wants to make it cheaper to buy the team. liz is like "we represent our client." ri'chard is like "this guy is paying us." liz is like "ok" but she's making a face like "not ok"

carmen's backup plan against ben-baruch is oscar rivi lmaooooo

a big explosion. again I am so bored by this show's conception of these protests because they are...meaningless. they are not for anything. sustaining protest over a season of tv's worth of time is hard. people have to be there! actual people with jobs and families and obligations! we have absolutely no idea why they're there. how they're able to manage it. who they're connected to that they can produce explosions of this size. but also...the show isn't interested in that? the characters aren't interested and don't know? like did they just take "oh people showed up for weeks in summer of 2020" and forget that in addition to the inciting incident(s) and the previous protests that laid groundwork there was also a pandemic that left people with free time? it doesn't surprise me for this show to be most interested in the fact of disruption, but it does bore me.

#the good fight #tgf liveblog