Tumgik
#personalities that clashes a lot but they still managed to work together so beautifully and it was what made them so good imo
dudeandduchess · 3 years
Note
"I'm so in love with him/her, I don't know what to do" for Giyuu maybe pretty please with Kyo sprinkles on top. Because two emotionally constipated idiots would definitely flounder 😂
Here you go, Biz! Also, big yes to the Kyō sprinkles 😛🤤
***
Giyuu x F!S/O: Moonlit Confessions (Fluff, Modern AU, SFW Scenario)
Note: This will be a little self-indulgent. But I’ll leave the name spaces as (Y/n) and (K/w) for Kyō’s wife’s name.
“How am I even supposed to tell him that?” (Y/n)’s voice was loud with disbelief and a twinge of panic, knowing full well that a few people had already turned their heads to look right at her. Still, she couldn’t care less about what they thought— and even garnered even more stares when she looped an arm through her best friend’s own.
The materials of their kimonos clashed beautifully; a silky burgundy against an equally beautiful hue of blue— which (Y/n) had worn just to get the chance to earn a compliment from her lover.
It wasn’t that her lover— the usually stoic Water Hashira, Tomioka Giyuu— didn’t like her; but his lack of compliments only stemmed from his tendency to always get flustered when he was with her.
And to make things worse for their situation, (Y/n) pretty much simmered down to the same flustered and stuttering reaction whenever he was near. Especially when she caught a glimpse of those pretty blue eyes of his.
Their friends— the Flame Hashira, Kyōjurō, and his wife (K/w)— didn’t even know just how they managed to go on dates when they couldn’t even go without acting like lovesick teenagers in front of the other.
And that was how Giyuu and (Y/n) had found themselves walking with their respective confidantes, before they were set to meet for the festival. Albeit, it was Kyōjurō’s idea to invite Giyuu on a walk before they met up with their respective lovers.
On (Y/n)’s side, she was so busy panicking about her impending confession that she couldn’t keep her mouth shut. Not even (K/w) buying snacks for her had worked, as she only took a small bite before pushing it onto the other woman.
“I can’t just tell him that I love him. He might not return my feelings!”
At that, (K/w) shook her head, before leaning in and flicking her best friend’s forehead. “Kyōjurō tells me that Tomioka-san loves you a lot. And that Kyō saw him smiling when he overheard Kyō telling that story of when you two went out on a date with us.”
“It’s your husband, he could have been making that up to get a kiss from you.”
Instead of getting offended, however, (K/w) only shrugged before smiling right at (Y/n). “Kyōjurō was right when he said that Tomioka-san was going to ask you out for tea, after he met you at our wedding.”
“That was one time, (K/w)!”
The Flame Hashira’s wife merely quirked an eyebrow at that, before changing the topic. “So, where are you and Tomioka-san going later tonight? Seeing the sights? Eating at the stalls? Maybe… kissing behind the abandoned shrine?”
“Gods no. We aren’t you and your walking libido of a husband,” (Y/n) snarked back, which only served to make her snort at the new unsavory name that she could call the Flame Hashira. After all, she had earned the right to tease (bully) him after he had married her best friend. “We’re just going for a walk and then watching the fireworks, and then we’re going home.”
“How boring,” (K/w) teased good naturedly, before turning her gaze straight ahead and subtly making a beeline towards the head of blond and red hair that she saw. “Let’s go by that takoyaki stand, I have to get Kyōjurō some. He’ll be hungry later.”
“You love him too much.”
“Just like how you love Tomioka-san?”
“I don-… shut up.”
***
Meanwhile on Giyuu’s side of things: he was barely reigning in the urge to knock Rengoku out and make a run for it. He was fed up with consistently being badgered by the other man, especially when it concerned his relationship with (Y/n).
“Do you like her? Or do you love her? I’m asking for a friend.” The Flame Hashira had to know, or else his wife would be upset with him. And he didn’t want that, at all. Happy wife, happy life— that was his belief.
That and if he came back empty-handed, then she wouldn’t make that dessert she’d made that he really loved. He didn’t even know what it was, so he couldn’t very well ask Senjurō to make it.
So, pestering Giyuu it was.
“That’s private.” The Water Hashira answered flatly, before picking up his pace— only to groan audibly when Rengoku had easily managed to catch up to him.
“Just tell me, Tomioka! We’re practically best friends since (Y/n)-chan’s my wife’s best friend. Best friends in law!”
Giyuu didn’t know which pit of hell Rengoku had gotten that idea from, but he bit his tongue to keep himself from saying anything mean to his fellow Hashira. It hadn’t ended very well, what with the blond only getting more annoying.
“Tomioka, tell me!” Then came the worst thing Giyuu could think of: physical touch. Rengoku began poking his arm, with every chorus of ‘tell me’.
Even while he walked, the other Hashira kept up with his pace— even if he had already dashed ahead.
He didn’t even know where he was going anymore, just that he was extremely annoyed at his company. He could have been with (Y/n) already, but Rengoku had asked for his help on buying his wife a present.
Now that Giyuu thought about it, the most he had done earlier was look at the lavish pair of earrings that the Flame Hashira had dropped a serious amount of money on.
It was only then that he figured that he was being toyed with. And he was pissed. His time had been completely wasted— when he could have been with (Y/n) earlier.
“Tell me, Tomioka!” Kyōjurō piped out once more, before going to poke the other Hashira’s arm once more.
However, before the blond’s finger even made contact with Giyuu’s haori, his hand was immediately slapped away. “I’m in love with her! I’m so in love with her, and I don’t know what to do, Rengoku! Does that satisfy you!?”
Red-tinted irises widened a fraction of an inch for a second, before they darted over to a spot behind Giyuu. And the latter didn’t even need to look to know who was there, as Rengoku looked like that he was the cat that got the cream— a lovestruck cat at that.
“There’s my gorgeous wife! Come here and hug me, my love!” Kyōjurō had almost all but forgotten Giyuu in front of him, as he stepped around the other man so he could open his arms for his wife.
(K/w) didn’t fail him, catching on to what he wanted to happen, and dragging a reluctant (Y/n) closer to a speechless Giyuu. Not even digging her heels into the ground kept (Y/n) anchored in place— and she could only watch in wide-eyed horror with her heart pounding so hard in her chest, as Giyuu got closer and closer to her.
Until she was standing right in front of him, with (K/w) and Kyōjurō slowly inching away from them while entangled in their hug.
“We have to… uh… start kissing behind that shrine!” Came the Flame Hashira’s excuse for leaving, which had his wife slapping his arm before biting her bottom lip to keep herself from bursting out in laughter.
Both (Y/n) and Giyuu didn’t even know how much time had passed with them standing on a relatively unpopulated part of the path, not even having the courage to look up at each other and reveal just how red both of their cheeks were.
And it was so filled with a tense silence that even Giyuu couldn’t take it. He had faced countless demons before, yet none of those compared to confessing his love for the one person in his life whom had made him happy.
The one person whom had made him forget all of the painful things in his past, and erased all of his fears for the future.
(Y/n) was so special to him that he couldn’t even begin to describe how much his feelings amounted to; all that he knew was that she was everything he could ever want in life— and all he saw was him and her growing old together in the future.
He was sure that he wanted to be her everything, just as he was sure that she deserved more than a shy and borderline cowardly confession.
So, after taking a deep breath, he finally looked up at her without the commotion that the Rengokus brought with them; only to feel his heart leap up to his throat at how breathtakingly beautiful she looked in her kimono— which was the same shade as his eyes.
Giyuu couldn’t help but want to melt on the spot, yet he fought the stiffness in his legs and began to close the distance between them. Until he was standing right in front of her, with his hands gingerly reaching out and wrapping around her own.
And he was glad that he wasn’t the only one who was nervous, because he felt just how cold and shaky (Y/n)’s hands were.
Slowly, he began to caress her knuckles with the pads of his thumbs— all in an effort to get some warmth into those clammy hands of hers.
However, just when he thought that he had fully taken her ethereal beauty in, the moment she looked straight at him took his breath away; since those eyes of hers looked positively beautiful, especially with the way that the moonlight reflected off of them.
“I love you… anata.”
258 notes · View notes
geekyfox2 · 3 years
Text
JSE Renaissance Day 4 - Artist’s/Writer’s Day
I may be late to this but SHHH!!! I’m most active in the art and writing side of Tumblr (mostly art because I get super busy aaaa) so I wanted to dump a truck-load of love on some people! There is no escape. <3
Time taken to write this because I suck at typing my thoughts: 2 hours
.
@anxiousghostie -  - I love your art (and you /p)! It is honestly just gorgeous to look at, with such beautiful shading that blends like watercolour. It’s just so soft and friendly if that makes sense! Plus, the detail is just impeccable, and I just adore your Marvin’s design - it’s so unique, and I can spot him instantly. Plus, you’re so fun to be friends with, so cool and nice. :’)
@inspiredrawaw -  I know you’re not a JSE artist anymore but SSHHHHH!!! I still love you (/p) and your work >:| I just love how you draw and watching it happen. You make colours pop without them being too harsh, and you think of such great concepts for OCs and egos. Your character designs, poses, OCs and basically everything inspire me so much, and I think you’re so awesome.
@cherry-angrynoodle - HAVE I EXPRESSED HOW ADORABLE YOUR ART IS BEFORE??? /s You just know how to make everything so sweet and adorable, especially Alien Birb JJ. The eyes just hold Love, and it makes me CRY while staring for 2 hours. But your other art style is also amazing. It makes me feel warm when I look at it, even if you’re using a cool colour palette. Both art styles remind me of book illustrations. ^^
@glass-trash-bab -  Dude, I can and will gush about your art and AUs any day of the week; you cannot stop me. First off, your art. It’s so great. I love how you pose characters; they’re so fluid and fit the expressions so well (also meme-able. You’re good at memes.) None of your drawings are ever stiff, they’re full of life and fun, and it brings me a lot of happiness. Plus the characters. They’re honestly just a joy to look at and read about, and I could read through an hour-long post about them, no joke
@leobashi -  Your work is so fantastic, and it inspires me so much. I love the character designs (strawberry finch Chase, my beloved), their assigned AUs, each ship that goes along with them and just how much passion I see. Your art style has a certain gentleness to it? The colours are so pleasing and never clash together, plus I love the sketchy line art. No matter how angsty, it looks great. I hope you get to do great things and do what you want in life because you deserve it. :)
@10ths-writing-corner -  I know I always gush about your writing, and I hope it doesn’t annoy you, but I love it! Sometimes it’s difficult for me to read because an irrational part of me gets worried it isn’t “safe” (it’s weird, but it’s just how my brain works!), but your writing never makes me feel like that. Even though it is angsty as all hell, I’ll always come back and reread. It just flows so beautifully, and the way you manage to tell stories just boggles my mind. I love seeing the stories of your AUs, the personalities and ideas of your egos, and what you create! You deserve any and all love you receive.
@asrisartarena -  I just want to say thank you to you. I know you’re no longer here with us, and I hope you rest easy. You were the first creator that made me say, “wow, you really go one step further to bring these characters to life”, and it amazed me to see how fearless you were to make your own headcanons when the community was still new in the “ego-phase”, and Tumblr was far more active. I dropped out of drawing egos for the fear that I’d be hated for straying too far from “canon”, and it was you that inspired me to come back and not care about that, even though you were no longer here when it happened. I believe you were the true pioneer of Marvelsepticeye (not the first, of course, but you certainly brought it to the light, at least for me), and I loved your Robbie especially. Thank you for being the reason I met so many wonderful people, found something that dragged me out of a dark place, and was brave enough to create what I wanted. <3
.
I think that is everyone. I hope people don’t mind the tags! I love you all /p ^^
36 notes · View notes
norgestan · 3 years
Note
crisana, norandro, jorgeva and amira x dani
ha, anon just wanted all the canon couples. fair enough!
CRISANA:
Tumblr media
see, skam s3 is my favorite season of all time, but it has never been because of the love story. isak's story hits in a lot of sensitive places for me, and isak was also the first main character i encountered that was my age. i have a really special connection to him for that reason. on the other hand... i enjoy evak for what it is, but i never saw a future for their relationship after the season ended. in a lot of ways, isak's season ended just as their relationship started, a trope that i've never liked because how am i supposed to think that they will last? how am i supposed to know how they will work as a couple? it's just, ugh.
i had similar thoughts about crisana when i watched s2, except that the love confession scene and cris as a character made it even harder to get into the couple. moreover, the way people brush other characters' roles and presence on other seasons because they're so caught up on cris and joana is like... blegh. like it makes me forget that they're actually a well-written couple at times. because imo, og they never did anything really interesting with evak once they got together. but eskam........ oh, dear eskam.
there's something so beautiful about thinking of all the girls, the teenagers that will grow up watching a relationship like theirs on popular media. their entire subplot (??? can i even call it that) in s4 is proof of how GREAT of a relationship they turned out to be. like, i just wanna SCREAM thinking about it because, how is it possible that eskam saw evak and said "we're gonna make this SO good and we'll take our time and then tie it up in an incredibly satisfying and emotional way" and then did exactly that!!!!!! the way they respect each other, communicate, genuinely try to get to each other without dumb miscommunication. the way they understand each other and lift each other up! the way joana knew how to recognize cris' intelligence when everyone was telling her she's dumb, the way cris knows how to make joana feel worth it and show her affection in such a selfless, loving way. their last scene on joana's pov in s4 was the first time i cried during that season, just because it was all wrapped up so beautifully. because eskam understood that although the appeal of their relationship comes from the soulmate status of every evak couple, they had to also put in serious work to make it all work and they also managed to get that across with grounded drama, and also a hopeful message for people struggling with mental disorders. like AAAAAAAAAAAAA god what a great couple they are. maybe i'm too much of an eskam bootlicker but they're genuinely the best evak there is. i'll die on this hill. i'm so happy young wlw get to watch them as a guideline of what they should expect of a relationship.
NORANDRO: already done :)
JORGEVA:
Tumblr media
i mean... it's eskam's fault, without a doubt. i love what eskam did with them in s1: the change of pacing, the way they created jorge, the little story changes to make it more nuanced, i think come together in a pretty satisfying way to show a teenage romance with no real support to last for more than a while. i don’t think eskam fully got the gist of what jonas was supposed to be, but it’s for the better if we think of the message in season 1. for that reason, jorge is like the one jonas who i really wouldn’t mind coming back to his eva. so why don’t i like them?
the answer is simply that i don’t enjoy their trope and i don’t think eskam made a real case of eva and jorge getting back together. they work well as friends, sure, and it’s clear as day that jorge still has feelings for eva, sure. but like, what tells me that they’re just ready to go all in again? eva goes through a really great arc and i would definitely agree she’s in a good place to be in a relationship again, but we know NOTHING about jorge’s journey. he’s just, silently pining on eva and that’s it. i do think it’s sweet and the hints of their lost romance throughout the show are wholesome, but there’s just nothing more to it. jorge and eva work AMAZINGLY as friends! i don’t see why they should push a romantic endgame for them. in my head, eva kissing jorge at that party was just a mesh of the excitement of a new era, the nostalgia of ending highschool, the high of being on this place with someone she really cares about, stuff like that, but it just ends there, and it’s great that way. nothing about eva’s character really led to her aching to be in a relationship again, and for me it feels right to end things with her being single and surrounded by great friends.
MAYBE if eskam had devoted some time showing us their progress and romantic potential instead of trying to convince us that kasim was a real, compelling character. maybe. lol.
DAMIRA:
Tumblr media
(god, i don’t know how long this will be LOL)
i have. so many thought about this fucking pairing. let’s see what we can do LOL. the thing about damira is that i don’t think it’s a pairing that eskam had in mind when they laid out the first two seasons. the little hints of a friendship/childhood crush that happened during cris’ season really got the fandom and they quickly became the most popular non-canon ship in the show, so that’s where i think eskam said “okay, let’s run with this”. but it’s just...... meh. like i can tell that relationships like crisana were carefully crafted (well implemented in nora’s season, greatly wrapped up in amira’s season) but i cannot say the same for dani and amira. it’s almost like virihugo, where they just started giving each other Eyes on the middle of season 3, out of NOWHERE. it just feels forced to me and so i never really felt anything for the couple in question... like, for starters, i think nora and miquel were WAY more shippable than those two, strictly talking about their setup.
if you ever saw any of my posts during s4 then you should know how i actually feel about how they developed their romance (check my anti damira tag for more?) and i don’t wanna go through all those specific points again... but damira is not only an infuriating romance, but also a bad pairing in a narrative setting. like, damira clearly exists to answer amira’s questions about how would the future of a romance with a white guy would be, right? does she get an answer? no she fucking doesn’t, their final clip is like “after all these weeks, we still have no idea so we’re gonna cut things short, go back to our initial dynamic, and wait to see if amira any of us change our minds <3″. so like, even in that sense damira is a HUGE waste of time, and just like everything that happens to amira during her season it has no lasting impacts on her character or her settings.
and personally, i love couples where they’re both equal, and communicate at last, and both make great efforts to change so the relationship can flourish. this is why i offer so much praise to norandro and crisana, where in the first couple both character go through tremendous character growth and work through their problems individually before getting together, and in the second couple they show them clashing and fighting just to display their resolutions and show how willing they are to actually talk to each other and keep their relationship stable. dani and amira, on the other hand.... blegh. eskam wants me to think dani is a knight in shining armor for liking amira but that’s all he ever does. he doesn’t defend her in front of his friends, he doesn’t make efforts to get to know her and her world, he doesn’t communicate his real feelings to her, and the one time he did he humiliated her in public. like, idk, like, even MIQUEL explicitly defended nora when his roommates berated her for not drinking alcohol LOL.
at the end of the day the problem with damira is that it completely misses the point of yousana and its target audience. making yousef a white guy is not necessarily a bad choice if you implement it well (which eskam didn’t do btw), but you have to take into account that sana’s season exists to make a primarily white christian-raised audience relate and stand up for the muslim characters in the show. when the lazier partner of the main couple who makes zero efforts to work on the relationship happens to be white, it just means people will be sympathetic of him, and nor amira - and that’s exactly what happened in the show. people either thought amira was being too harsh by laying conditions for dani before they even began dating and making sure he respected her boundaries, or just wanted all the drama to go away soon so amira could kiss dani by the end of the season. so like, yeah. terrible stuff.
i would’ve liked damira’s impact on the season and amira’s journey a lot more if it had been about a one sided childhood crush from amira’s part. i thought their friendship was charming up to s3, and i simply hate that dani is literally in no way an older brother figure for the girl squad, since it’s a dynamic that’s lacking in the show and it would be a nice way to make dani be some sort of non-creepy eskild for the girl squad (but noooo, his only interactions w the gs are hooking up with eva and dating amira. smh). it would’ve been fun to have amira intimately dealing with those feelings just to learn a lesson by the end of it, at the time that she also falls for her muslim love interest - which is actually the isak/jonas/even dynamic when you think about it, also something that eskam didn’t really do with cris’ season. but also, all of this would mean that eskam had to do the good writing thing for s4, which they kinda forgot to do throughout the entirety of the season so, yeah.
14 notes · View notes
Text
Today I started thinking about what thecorteztwins’ Alt-Marauders would be like as cats, because that’s a good use of my time.  Imagining the fursonas of comic book characters.  And I don’t mean characters from the musical, I mean actual house cats.  So I typed it up and now you all have to look at it.  Breeds are based either on the character’s appearance or their personality (ex. Shinobi is Siamese because they are very vocal and demand attention, Sebastian as Maine Coon because they are big and furry).
Sebastian:
Tumblr media
(This one looked sufficiently grumpy)
A mixed breed, but most prominently Maine Coon – he is big and hairy, with a long, thick coat, brown, grey and black tabby. Indoor-outdoor cat.  Was born a stray, but spent many years as a factory cat, fed and cared for by employees because he kept the plant free of mice and rats.  After the plant closed down, he wandered around, at one point siring Shinobi.  His “owner” (not that Sebastian could ever be “owned” by anyone), began leaving out bowls for food for him, and eventually he deigned to venture inside the house.  After all, it was warm and dry, free from predators, and had lots of soft places to sleep.  Although he was willing to come inside, he was not willing to stay inside – a very independent cat, Sebastian insists on coming and going as he pleases. He roams outside and will sometimes disappear for two or three days at a time, but always returns.  Unbeknownst to his owner, he actually has a few different houses that consider him to be “their” cat, as he will show up to eat whatever food they leave out.  (Why attach himself to just one house when he gets food from several?  It’s only logical).  He’s not a very playful, vocal or affectionate cat.  He won’t attack at random, but anyone picking him up, or petting him the wrong way will get bitten or clawed.  If he is in an extremely mellow, sleepy mood, he may allow his owner to scratch his head and under his chin.  He likes to believe that he dominates the house when he’s inside, but that’s actually Haven.  At most, Sebastian just smacks down St. John and Shinobi when they get too rowdy.  Madelyne will stand up to him, and he leaves Haven and Claudine alone.  He has a favorite chair, ornate, expensive, and beautifully upholstered, and will plant himself right in the middle of it when he is inside.  He is a ruthless and efficient hunter, although he doesn’t really need to do it.  He spends most of his time wandering through the house and neighborhood like a king surveying his territory.  Outside he mates with any female cat he runs across, inside Haven won’t let him touch Maddie or Claudine, so he just perches on his chair silently judging everyone.          
St. John: 
Tumblr media
Mixed breed, short-haired orange tabby, scrawny with long legs and big ears. Originally a stray, spent some time “working” as a ship’s cat before eventually being adopted.  Boisterous and energetic, an indoor-outdoor cat that needs lots of activity to be content.  Shreds curtains, climbs the Christmas tree, knocks things off shelves (accidentally), loudly bounds around the house at 3 AM, jumps up on the TV stand to bat at the screen when someone plays a video game.  Most likely to be featured in a viral Youtube video missing a jump or crashing into the wall.  Too loud, clumsy and impatient to be a good hunter, but will proudly bring home “trophies” when he actually manages to catch something.  He and Shinobi routinely chase each other around the house, play-fight, and sleep curled up together.  Sometimes clashes with Sebastian, and the two will have to be separated.  Also clashes with neighborhood cats, and will eventually get locked-in at night to avoid that.  Not much of a “lap-cat,” and doesn’t care to be picked up, but enjoys being petted, and will voluntarily snuggle up to his owner on the couch.  (Don’t touch his belly, though.  That is a trap).  Will nip and bat at hands, but is mostly play-biting, and will only bring the claws out if he is really frightened.  Very friendly and curious, will come right up to strangers, and will follow his owner through the house and poke his nose into whatever they are doing.  Even the bathroom is not safe, he’ll hop right into the shower.  A very chatty cat, not as demanding as Shinobi, but he’ll meow back whenever a human speaks to him, and purrs like a motorboat.  Likes to sleep in patches of sunlight wherever he finds them.  
 Madelyne: 
Tumblr media
Mixed breed, a short-haired calico, the smallest of the group.  Had a comfortable life with a family, but was callously abandoned during a move.  Went through several bad experiences as a stray, which left her skittish and unfriendly. Like Sebastian, the owner had to lure her in from outside with food, and it took even longer in Madelyne’s case – for several weeks she would bolt at the sight of people.  Slowly, very slowly, the owner got her to warm up to them, and eventually she began venturing inside the house.  It took even longer to for her to concede to being petted without lashing out and running away.  However, once she began to feel safe and regain her sense of trust, she proved to be a very affectionate and loving cat.  The owner still tries to avoid picking her up (unless absolutely necessary) or startling her, but she will willingly crawl into their lap.  She dislikes strangers, and will generally hide whenever anyone else is at the house, but may eventually come out if the new person is there for several days.  She especially likes hanging out in card board boxes or underneath tables, where she can watch everything but still feel secure.  She also clashed with the other cats when she first arrived, especially St. John and Shinobi, who were too boisterous for her.  But she quickly realized that they were not going to hurt her (even faster than she did with the human), and she now regularly plays with them.  As her confidence grows, she can be adventurous as St. John, but not nearly as much of a dumbass.  She is much more graceful, and manages to run around without crashing into things or knocking things over.  She enjoys roaming around the house with Claudine, and cuddling up to Haven, and even manages to get along with Sebastian.  She is the only cat besides Haven that can get away with smacking Sebastian around. She is fierce, but also extremely loving.  Sometimes at night she will wander around in the dark meowing in a kind of mournful wail, as if she is looking for something that she lost.  But if the owner calls her name, she will run back to join them. Although originally indoor-outdoor, she ventures outside much less than she used to, and tends to stay close to the house.  She’s found a safe, happy place where she is loved, so why would she want to go anywhere else?            
 Shinobi:
Tumblr media
His mother was a purebred Siamese, and his looks resemble her the most – long, slender and elegant, with cream and brown coloring.  Was raised in a rich household, and was given every luxury, but his owners saw their cats as essentially decorations and status symbols, so he wasn’t given much affection.  Eventually given up for adoption because his demands for attention became inconvenient.  He is the absolute diva of the household, and he is loud.  Mostly likely to lay across the owner’s keyboard, book, puzzle, video-game controller, etc.  When not given sufficient attention, he will deliberately knock things off tables and shelves, jump up on the TV stand and block the view, meow at the top of his lungs. Constantly underfoot, but wails like a banshee if he gets stepped on.  Indoor cat only, he tried going out through the cat door one hot summer day, and immediately fled back inside, for air conditioning, soft cushions to lie on, and his cat-fountain water dish.  He doesn’t hunt – why bother when food comes so easily?  He only accepts the best in toys, food and treats.  Extremely affectionate, he will lay across any available lap, and cuddle up to the owner while sleeping (or lay across their face). He is eager to be petted anywhere, and will only protest if the person doing the petting is too rough or awkward.  He rarely bites or claws people, he just meows or runs away if upset, usually pausing to look back at the offending party like, “How could you?”  He usually hides from strangers initially, letting St. John be the friendly welcoming committee, but once he sees that it is safe, he will come out and flop down at people’s feet, expecting them to lavish affection on him.  Tries to follow St. John around the house at night, but sometimes gets “stuck” in high places or gets lost in the maze of furniture, and will wail until he is rescued.  Shamelessly steals food off his owner’s plate.  Once nearly drowned getting his head caught in a glass of water.  Will never sleep on the floor – only couches, beds, cushions, and his luxury cat bed.
Claudine:
Tumblr media
Mixed breed, pure white short-hair.  Indoor-outdoor. Was used in unscrupulous medical experiments, but managed to escape out an open window.  Much like Madelyne and Sebastian, she had to be lured in with food, and eventually comes to see the owner’s house as a safe place. She doesn’t really lash out the same way Madelyne does, but she doesn’t become very affectionate either.  She will endure petting by the owner, and will simply walk away when she loses patience, rather than biting or scratching (but she will scratch if threatened).  Very mysterious, she frequently disappears for hours on end, but reappears very quickly when food is served.  The owner has never been able to find her hiding spots, but it seems like she is never very far away.  She wanders silently around the house at night, like a ghost or a shaft of moonlight.  She is a much better hunter than St. John, as she is patient and quiet.  She only clashes with the other cats if they get too aggressive, but is otherwise indifferent to them.  She seems to enjoy Haven and Maddie’s presence, and will sometimes walk around with Maddie or sleep curled up next to her.  She doesn’t tolerate strangers at all, and will make herself invisible when anyone else is at the house.  When feeling comfortable, she likes to sit at the top of the stairs and observe everything happening around her.  At her most affectionate, she might jump up onto the bed while the owner is sleeping, and curl up at the foot.  
Haven:
Tumblr media
A purebred Ragdoll, she is huge and extremely fluffy, with a brown and white fur pattern.  Was a pampered show cat for many years, but was given away for adoption after her retirement (after she was no longer useful to her owners, in other words).  Strictly indoor.  As with many Ragdolls, her personality is extremely relaxed, affectionate and calm. Although St. John, Shinobi and Madelyne can all be very affectionate, Haven is the most patient.  She easily puts up with toddlers and small children pulling her tail and lugging her around (generally just going limp in their arms).  She never bites or scratches – at most she will cry out and run away if someone hurts her. A lap cat, she will lay on her owner for hours, purring contentedly, but also never seems to get jealous or upset when put aside.  She does not loudly demand attention, she will just quietly snuggle up to the owner or any other person in the house whenever possible.  She gets along extremely well with all the other cats, and was the first one that Madelyne accepted.  Although never violent, she is the undisputed matriarch of the household.  She will hold down and groom any other cat, even Sebastian, who will growl softly as he puts up with it.  Her grooming is often a way of breaking up fights, or settling down the wilder cats like Madelyne and St. John.  When she’s not cuddling with people, she sits curled up and stares into space, looking oddly wise and serene.  Her favorite spot is a back windowsill where she can see out into the backyard, and the other cats tend to keep it clear for her.  She enjoys watching the birds, but never seems interested in harming them.  She doesn’t hunt at all, and will treat any small rodent that enters the house like her own kitten.
Special bonus: Fabian Cat-tez. 
Tumblr media
All of Shinobi and St. John’s bad characteristics, combined and amplified.  He’s always on the wrong side of every door, but doesn’t have any of the Rum Tum Tugger’s swagger, and only wishes he could rule the neighborhood like Sebastian.  Whenever he does something stupid, he will stalk away and angrily start grooming himself, pretending nothing happened.  In fact, he spends more time grooming himself than any of the other cats in the household.  Big floofy orange tabby.
Btw, I realize that it’s generally better for cats to be kept indoors, both to protect them from danger and protect local wildlife from their murder sprees.  But I couldn’t imagine some of the Alt-Marauders as indoor cats.  Let’s just assume the owner is trying to transition them all inside.              
13 notes · View notes
nutellaninja0001 · 5 years
Note
Hey again, Nutella! I loved your analysis of the lack of Jonsa in the trailer—you’re right, withholding that info will definitely increase the potential for a great Jonsa twist! Is it bad that I kind of want Jon to be deposed just so that we can have a “War of Three Queens”? I’ve been toying with this idea since S6, and if it ever happened I would actually scream—like what a crazy way to see all the badass/scary ladies who have climbed up through the seasons go absolutely ham on each other!!!
Hello, 8011!
First I’d like to say thank you! And I am so glad that you liked it ☺️
To start off, it’s not bad at all. Jon has been a main character since we first met him and he was part of the main 3 as the big baddies of the season.
Tumblr media
(Photo not mine)
Jon is a King in his own right but unfortunately last season we didn’t get to see much of how his leadership skills compare to those of the fellow rulers whom he spent most of the season with. Daenerys and Cersei and I think that’s because for the most part, not only was he stuck as a prisoner on a mission of his own, we already know how Jon is as a ruler. We’ve seen him in action as Lord Commander of the NW so we have martial that we can use to see the differences between him and these two queens.
I actually wanna talk a bit about how amazing it would be to see these 3 queens in action and opposing each other.
But there was a 3rd queen added in season 7 who’s leadership skills contrasted drastically with Cersei and Daenerys way of ruling. Sansa’s skills as a ruler blossomed quite beautifully once Jon left her in charge of Winterfell/The North. It left me even more excited for her upcoming storyline once shit really hits the fan. She’s a queen all but in name and her ideologies are nearly poler opposites to the women who claim themselves as queens.
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
(Gifs not mine. If you see yours and want it either removed or credited, please let me know)
Sansa is managing to get those around her sticking together and working together. She even tells LF that she knows the Northmen are eager to go home and she’s trying her best to hold them down for when the real fight begans. Meanwhile, we have Cersei who finds herself completely alone by the end of season 7. And Daenerys who had the potential to bring more to her cause but due to her arrogance only led to thousands of deaths that could have been crucial in the war against the NK.
Sansa is the only 1 out of the 3 who’s power comes from trust, respect, and love of her people. Daenerys and Cersei only gain their following from fear.
Tumblr media
(GIF not mine)
Tumblr media Tumblr media
All 3 women know of the threat of the NK and his undead army. Both Cersei and Daenerys have seen it for themselves and still, they let power be their number one priority. Cersei refusing to aid in the war and if Daenerys didn’t get the faux ceasefire from Cersei, who knows if Jon would have been able to convince her North. Meanwhile, Sansa only has the words of Jon and she acknowledges and even defends the threat it poses to them all to LF. Even if she doesn’t particularly agree with Jon, even if she thinks there are more than one threat to their safety, Sansa is willing to put her trust and believe something she’s never even seen for herself. Now I know, she does trust Jon and has more reason to. But the point is Cersei and Dany have seen it and they still won’t give up on the Iron Throne.
Tumblr media Tumblr media
(GIF not mine)
Tumblr media
(GIF not mine)
Both Cersei and Daenerys yearn for power. They have actively sought it out while Sansa takes it up when power is given to her. But she never sought power for power. And when Bran comes home her first thought is to give her position as Lord of Winterfell to Bran as the next heir. I think in a lot of ways Sansa parallels how Robb and Jon handled power when given to them. They don’t do it for themselves but for their home/duty/loved ones. That’s what makes them so different in so many important aspects of a ruler.
We also have to dilemma with the food. While queens like Daenerys burned the food, and Cersei’s main priority was keeping the Iron Throne all season long, Sansa was storing and prepping for winter. One of the only characters who was actually getting real shit done that went beyond political ambitions.
All 3 have different ideologies and it would be interesting seeing how all 3 would interact with each other. Something I believe Sansa will do next season with both Cersei and Daenerys. I also think the fruit of their labor will be shown with the food supply. Cersei has her gold, no food. Daenerys had her field of fire, no food. And Sansa will be the only one who’s people will not starve.
These women have each come so far. In season 5 alone they were at their lowest and by the end of season 6 they found themselves above their struggles and out on top again. These women are survivors each fighting for something they believe in. Whether that is actually a good thing for them later on is something else entirely. They each have qualities that could make for great rulers and the potential is there. But if their talents are not applied, and personal demons get in the way, I’d love to see how these women clash and when it comes down to the nitty gritty, who’s the queen best for rebuilding the kingdoms and its people after the NK. We already had the war of the Five Kings, bring on the war of the 3 queens!
Thanks for the ask!
64 notes · View notes
eorzeasntm · 5 years
Photo
Tumblr media
ENTM Tumblr Cycle 11
Round 7:  Action Movie
Hi everyone!  I’m busy preparing the new ENTM website, but that kind of work doesn’t stop a cycle in progress!  
Last week, I asked our models to go out and film a scene from an Action Movie - to get me a visible opponent and give me the coolest, most epic pose they could come up with to match it.  Our models set things on fire, got revenge on their foes from Boss Monster, and even re-enacted an old samurai drama.  But the model who put together the best action movie last week was:
Kota Tumet
Congratulations!  The decision to use the cinema frame was a smart choice, and by narrowing it down you gave this shot an excellent panoramic feel.  The judges liked the colors and lighting effects, as if you are seconds from everything behind you exploding.  Great job!
Our judges this week was the original host and founder of ENTM, Rongi Pongi.  
There is ONE MORE ROUND to go in ENTM Tumblr Cycle 11.  For those not on our Discord, next week will be our final cycle that uses Tumblr as a platform.  Tumblr Cycle will instead return next fall on our website, rebranded as ENTM Classic Cycle, with an integrated blog post, image galleries, and polls instead of using third party platforms.  ENTM Instagram Cycle will continue to be hosted on IG, of course, and YouTube cycle isn’t going anywhere either.  But the decision to move to a bigger blog means More Cycles!  More models!  More hosts!  Overall, much more ENTM!
Stay tuned for an announcement regarding our launch party in May!
For the models (and everyone else), please continue along for critiques from our judges.
Judge Terrini
Luma: You have managed to capture yourself beautifully here. Your colors pop, your pose is fun, and the lighting makes things exciting. The explosion zeroing in on your opponent makes this shot seem tense and it's captured at a delicate time where it's still prominent and doesn't completely obscure your opponent. The framing and pose makes it hard to tell if you are attacking or running away in shear terror. A wonderful shot, but a bit more cause and effect in the posing would enhance the scene. 
Ni'ko: It doesn't really come as a surprise that you love the pink and purple Mindflayer, Ni'ko, and the framing here his brilliant with the opposing sides in direct opposition and the action frozen with dynamic interaction. The only annoying factor is that the bowstring is running through your chest. 
Peaceful: A lovely dynamic action pose you have here, and the setting and costume choices are all appropriately thematic. However, the biggest trouble is the light of your skill turns much too bright against your outfit and it matters all the more with the black and white filter not allowing color to shine through at all. It might have been a bit more bearable if the shot was in color, but I think the color of your robe being so bright and white would still be an issue. Also, with the framing, I feel the upper left corner of the picture feels empty since the angle promotes looking between the bottom right and lower left. Adjusting the angle to be less from the ground and more even might help frame the buildings better, or using the cinematic movie strips would help contain the empty corners more. 
Yomu: This shot really grips me and makes me think of a simple shepherd picking up a spear to defend his flock from a giant predator. The fact that all the sheep are grazing peacefully in the bottom third, the threatening beast is in the middle third and you are aiming to strike in the top third makes this lovely pecking order that just adds to the intesity of this picture. My only disappointment is the black sheep's snout is cut off, but that's a nitpick for the sake of nitpicking, I honestly think you couldn't have arranged a better shot.
Judge Wulf
Adam! That’s a lot of fire! And it doesn’t look like you have much on, I hope you don’t get burned! I very much love the initial reaction I get from this picture: it’s very out of the box and surprised me! After that though, I find myself a bit...confused. Everything is pretty muddled, honestly, and I feel the fire is a major culprit due to this. I must admit, I am having a hard time seeing your enemy and even you to an extent. I’m very proud of you for taking a risk, but I’m not quite sure how well it paid off here. As a takeaway for this week, make sure your visibility is Priority Number 1! Even if this week didn’t do it for me, I know you’ve got some serious creativity, keep going!
Haila: I really love the shine that this shot gives, it almost has a sort of dreamlike feel to it! My eyes follow to the staff-crossing between you and Shiva, and that’s a really nice touch! Here are my notes for this week: while the opinion on back shots is mixed, I don’t think it was the best option for you this week. Since I can’t really see your face, and there’s only mostly the side of your body visible, a majority of my attention goes straight to Shiva.
Yojimbo: Ifrit is always a classic when it comes to fight scenes, I’ve noticed, and I think you’ve really taken the trope and made it your own! My favorite part of the picture is the cut line across Ifrit’s face, that has to hurt! It provides a nice line of sight to see both where you are and where the line of action is going. Here’s my note this week: you are very far away from us! I’ll admit being this far zoomed out from the action makes me as a viewer feel a little left out. It also doesn’t allow us to see you: who should be the star of the shot! I can tell you’re starting to explore outside of your comfort zone, though, so keep it up!
Yomu: PROTECT THE SHEEP! Seriously though I’d like to start off my saying that including the flock in this picture adds a level of story that for sure wouldn’t have been there without it, and for that I’m very proud of you for adding in that little detail. You’ve got a nice line of action here with each of your key players all looking in the right direction: Ratholos is looking at the sheep, and you’re looking at Ratholos.  My eyes can either go up or down the picture and it feels nice to look at and tells a cohesive story. As is the nature with jump actions and some back shots, though; you are very hard to see. Yes, you are fighting a big dragon here but remember: you are the star, and how can you be if the viewer can’t even see your head? I feel like this picture in profile would have added that level of visibility to get around this, but from this angle I lose a bit of you in that regard. Awesome job this week, though, and keep your storytelling skills up!
Kota: This is the kind of shot I expect to see either right before and explosion, or before the logo flashes across the screen. I get a sense of punctuation here, this is either a major beat or straight up the end of something big, and the black bars really accent that with a widescreen view. This is a nitpick, for sure, but my eye keeps being drawn to the light behind the boss on the left side; it’s very bright. This is probably due to the filter used and also a necessary sacrifice for the image as a whole, but just something to watch out for. Good job this week!
Judge Nadede
Bria Rirsa:  This is pretty nice shot from you this week. The expression that I see with your eyes are what one would expect to see when two swords are clashing together.The lighting within your image is nicely done. What I do find myself wishing is that you had chosen a background that perhaps felt more menacing or went with the outfits that are being worn. If/when you are trying to tell a story through the use of images, just ask yourself “do my surroundings work well with the story I’m portraying?” Another thing that does detract from your image is we have a furry little friend photobombing the lower right part of your image and what looks like might be a slight tear/clipping in the back of the other person’s outfit. It is sometimes the smallest of details that can detract from image, especially if it appears out of place. Overall good work.
Haila Wetyios:  While I feel that this is a pretty shot from you, for some reason I feel as if though you are playing it safe. The image itself is done nicely with the lighting and the composition. You even managed to get a nice image of Shiva as well. To me, though,  it does not say “action movie” much at all. I find myself wishing that there was more going on within your shot. To me, this appears as if you’re having a conversation someone and perhaps making some form of pact with them. I want to challenge you to play with your shots more. I’d like to see more of a variety from you than what you tend to go for… where your back is facing the viewer or giving us a ¾ back shot and an image that is vertical. There has been a very few times where it has been the opposite but I’d rather be surprised at what is different than seeing something the same, if that makes any sense to you. Like I said, this is a nice shot but it is too safe for me. I do look forward to seeing what you come up with for next week.
Ni’ko Shae:  The scared little kitty isn’t so scared of the mean old monsters anymore! Heck it even appears that the monsters are not too thrilled with the blinding light the tip of your arrow is making. The angle of the bow and arrow and the direction of your face helps lead the eye to the monsters and how the monsters are looking back up and you brings the viewer’s eye back around. The lighting in your image is also nice done and I am glad that neither you nor the mobs blend into the background. It was kind of bold for you to use the same dungeon from an earlier shot for a different theme, but put the two together and they tell a story that works. Overall I think you’re doing a fairly good job and looking to see what you will do next week.
Peaceful Ursa: Out of all the images I have see from you this cycle, this one I really do like and has become a favorite of mine this week. It appears that you are taking feedback and putting what is said to use, and it shows in this image. I am happy that you paid tribute to the old black and white samurai movies. I do wish that you had used the cinematic border. I think it would have made an even bigger impact with your image. The lighting in your image is almost spot on even though just a bit more on your face could have helped. The fog in the background also helps with the mood of the scene and helps separate the mountains in the background with what is in the foreground. Having your image at an angle helps give your shot a more dramatic scene as well as help helping guide the viewer’s eyes around. Overall nicely done and good job on improving each week.
Judge Ona
Adam: If “epic fire battle scene” was a thing, Adam, this image would be the definition.  There’s smoke and flames and a two people battling it out right in the middle of it all. But where all those things are epic, I don’t really understand what is going on. Are you being shot? Are you dodging the fire? Also, I am finding it very hard to see which enemy you are fighting. I hate to say it, but the effect is too strong, and I feel that I have lost Adam in the mix.
Things that I would work on, changing the viewpoint of the image. If you brought the enemy closer to the front, or yourself, and created a depth of field from the placement of yourself and the enemy it would have created a more dynamic image overall. Additionally, if you placed yourself farther from the camera point, we could have seen your face more.
Things that I love about this image, the glamour fits and I love the feeling of movement from you Adam. I wish I knew what was causing that movement though. I also love your use of the same effect through image, just be careful in the future that the effect doesn’t overtake the shot, and leave the viewer seeing more flame than Adam.
Bria: I don’t know how you managed to get the swords to stop so they were notched like this, but its an awesome screenie! I definitely feel the battle that is happening and the struggle that you and this unnamed assailant are having!
I am left wondering why you chose this location? To me, it doesn’t feel like it was chosen on purpose, and it doesn’t do much to add to the story. Likewise, it feels very constricted with the object in the background. With so much cut off I can’t tell if it is a ship, a landing platform, or something else. Finally, your minion is just chilling in the tall grass by your feet. I have a feeling they would have ran away if a fight were happening.
Things I love about this image: Your glam is beautiful. You kept two main colors, the black and dark red brown. I also love the use of this sword to create the notched effect with the other blade. I also like how you positioned the image so that you are facing the camera, but engaged with the enemy. I would make sure that you are paying attention to the entire scene and positioning of your weapon so that it doesn’t restrict so much of your face.
Luma: What a strong image this week Luma! That explosion is so powerful and definitely fits the definition of epic! I really love how you have put the judge’s critiques to use and grown. This week definitely shows that!
While this image is your strongest yet, please continue to be mindful of things such as cutting off limbs and other body parts, and the physics of your clothing. I know it’s a lapel on your jacket, but this angle puts it directly across your face, and it detracts from your expression.
Things I love about this image: Your glam. You are so very steam-punk-esque and it works with battling a big robot! I also love the lack of saturation in the colors of the image. The yellows and reds of the explosion are bright enough to make the viewer take notice, but that single whiteish flare brings the viewers eye back to yourself. I also love the use of the depth of field here, creating more focus on yourself and blurring the enemy in the back just enough to keep the focus on yourself. Just make sure your WHOLE self can be appreciated and include all limbs.
Kota: By the Twelve this is a gorgeous image! This long frame, and the use of purple tones throughout has created an epic steam-punk image for this round. It is a strong and well-crafted shot!
In looking over the image, I struggle to find much that could be improved upon. Even though everything shines with that beautiful purple sheen, your character has movement and sharpness to her that brings the eye back to her. I do wish I could see your whole body, and possibly a mask that we could see your eyes may have played to this stance more.
Things I love about this image: The color palette, especially since it creates a feel for the whole image. The glam goes perfectly with this type of boss and definitely plays into an epic movie battle. The lighting is spot on and is perfectly placed. The position of your body to the screen and the use of this frame are also very strong for this week’s theme. Overall, there really isn’t much I can say other than, Well done this week!!!
Judge Rongi
Haila: I knew this was Haila’s image before evening scrolling down enough to see her. Very signature Haila. Shiva is looking down at you, and the crossing of the staves shows some interesting interaction, so the viewer is looking back and forth and in between. The balance between you two is done really well, and the fade from white to dark blue not only in the background but also the two characters is beautiful. 
 Peaceful Ursa: I love the black and white old movie style of this shot. And this famous battle scene that everyone knows is really done well. I love the wisps of smoke we can still see that seem to be rising from the ground after you slid across it. The weakest part of this image is that I can barely see any faces, but everything is else is great. 
Adam: I am not really sure what I am looking at in this image. I can’t tell if the fire is coming from you or the monster, what monster that is, or what your pose is. I think having everything a little bit more defined in the image through use of a different angle maybe would have been a stronger choice for this image.
Bria: I would have loved for this image to be twisted back behind the male model just a few inches more so we were looking over his shoulder and into your snarling face. The look between you all and the crossing of the swords is great. My only question is why this background choice? This shot would have been perfect in a fiery or purple-aether area. 
Luma: I love how your character is riding the explosion and saying Yea!! As the boss explodes. Very movie scene feel to this shot. The straight lines coming out of the boss do make my eyes go back to him each time instead of you, but its still a strong enough image. 
Ni’ko: This is a strong image. Great balance for all creatures involved. The lines bring my eyes all over the image, and since everyone is looking at you I am still brought back to you at the end of the day. The only part of the image that needed the tiniest tweak is that your character is looking perfectly right instead of inward, so while all the mobs are looking at you, you are looking past them. Still, very strong.
Kota: A Scene straight from a movie. It looks more like you and Alexander are a team then battling though, and that little explosion on his leg doesn’t scream action packed like the other shots do this week, but you do look awesome firing a shot and then looking back at us like “I’m gonna need a bigger gun” haha. I’d have gone all out with explosions to make this an even stronger image. Great colors. 
Yojimbo: We’ve had Ifrit rounds in the past, so not only are you competing with all your fellow Cycle 11 models but also the memories of 2 past cycles. I really like that you have the camera in position so that we see the outer ring of fire and then the rest in the background, but I wish you had been closer to the camera because you are too small and far away. The right half of the image is entirely dead space. I’d have cut all that out and zoomed in more on you. 
 Yomu: Those little innocent sheep don’t even look scared as the dragon swoop in from above. Haha. Your shot this week has a great story with it, and is balanced well. Some judges don’t lie back shots, and others do, and I am one that does – but in this case not only is this a backshot, but we can’t even see your head! So I do wonder if there had been another way to at least the back of your head some how.
2 notes · View notes
easyfoodnetwork · 3 years
Text
How to Bring This Portland Restaurant’s Colorful Outdoor Oasis to Your Home
Tumblr media
The fun of dining at Gado Gado isn’t just in the menu. It’s also in its signature playful spirit.
While restaurants around the United States are figuring out how to shift their business to adapt to a new culinary landscape, some teams are having more success making it work. In Portland, Oregon, Thomas and Mariah Pisha-Duffly, the owners of the hit Indonesian restaurant, Gado Gado, have not only figured out how to operate in a socially distanced manner that continues to draw customers (even inspiring them to open a second spot called Oma’s Takeaway), but they’ve managed to maintain the restaurant’s signature playful spirit along the way.
The fun of dining at Gado Gado is apparent in the amped-up flavors of its menu, which draws on Thomas’s Indonesian-Chinese heritage for dishes like Sumatran-style spicy beef rendang (served with coconut rice and a green chile tomatillo sambal), ayam lawar (a shredded chicken and coconut salad with galangal dressing), or a pandan jelly dessert. But it’s the restaurant’s thoughtful Peranakan-inspired design accents mixed in with some psychedelic vintage finds that truly make it an experience. Even now with a closed dining room, the Pisha-Dufflys have brought some of the restaurant’s bold design scheme to its two outdoor patios.
“When we were designing the restaurant, it felt like a really great opportunity to communicate ourselves through design,” says Mariah Pisha-Duffly. “There were a lot of spaces opening up around us that were extremely beautiful but minimal, and we wanted to go the opposite way and do something maximal and full of pattern.” When reimagining the dining room for the outdoors, the duo continued the theme with mismatched rugs, oilcloth tablecloths, and other delightful personal touches, all while trying to keep costs low.
Below, Mariah Pisha-Duffly explains how they made Gado Gado into a colorful outdoor oasis, and how to bring the Gado Gado brand of power-clashing onto your patio or into your home.
Remix your old stuff with new purpose
Tumblr media
The black light poster works as decor and a way to communicate instructions for social distancing.
“When we started to rethink the patio for the year of COVID, it felt like working with what we had, and being really resourceful was necessary,” says Pisha-Duffly. “The bathrooms inside Gado Gado are filled with themed ’70s fantasy art. We brought this black light poster outside, and we made little word bubbles on it to let people know where to find their takeout. It didn’t used to be that you needed all these instructions for customers, but you do now, and we wanted to make it beautiful and fun.”
Shop it: Black light posters
Whether you place them in the bathroom or the bedroom, ’70s-style black light posters give the space a trippy element.
Add bold personal touches
Tumblr media
Design features like this gallery wall and custom-designed wallpaper had to remain inside.
Tumblr media
“Thomas’s family is Chinese, but his grandmother lived in Indonesia, Singapore, and Malaysia, before coming to the U.S. You see a lot of Peranakan design throughout Southeast Asia — full of patterns, tiles, and intricate carvings. Inside, we have a big portrait of his grandmother painted on the wall by artist Kate Blairstone (she also did our amazing wallpaper with shellfish and birds) and a mask that my grandparents got while living in Indonesia. Whenever you collect something it tells the stories of who you are and what you like, and getting the opportunity to put that in the restaurant was really special.”
Shop it: Patterned wallpaper and paintings
Blairstone has made dozens of custom wall accents that speak to each individual owner’s story. Whether you fancy a version with oysters, flowers, or carrots, she’s available to make works on request that speak to one’s story. You can also find wallpaper with similar motifs on Etsy.
Don’t be afraid to mix and match
Tumblr media
Plates and bowls come in various vintage patterns.
Tumblr media
“Once I knew we were going to open Gado Gado, I could finally get all this thrift store stuff that I’ve wanted to buy for forever. I would go to Goodwill three or four days a week, just collecting things.”
Shop it now: Power-clashing vintage plates
Part of what makes dining at Gado Gado special is that none of the plates and glassware match, which means each time you dine there it might be a little different. The cornucopia of palettes somehow never feels like too much, but rather, it functions almost like a sewn-together quilt that uses a kaleidoscope of fabrics that come together beautifully. Vintage, granny-esque floral plates are given an exhilarating new life here.
Serve your drinks in ice cream sundae cups
Tumblr media
Now that it’s colder, slushie cocktails aren’t on offer. Instead, Gado Gado serves cocktails like this one, the Honey Honey, in sundae glasses.
“This summer we were doing a lot of slushy cocktails made with things like freshly juiced turmeric and ginger, tamarind, coconut, lime, and tequila. We like to add fun garnishes to them, too.”
Shop it now: Old-fashioned ice cream sundae cups
These clear glass tumblers are usually the vessels for heaping scoops of strawberry ice cream with a fudge swirl, whipped cream, and sprinkles, but they are equally useful for spicing up an after-work drink. Add a fun garnish to complete the effect.
Have fun with lights
Tumblr media
Gado Gado’s disco takeout tent is no more, but string lights still provide some whimsy.
“Initially we were doing takeout and delivery that was extremely no contact and figuring ways to make the experience personal and hospitable within the framework. We had a takeout tent with disco balls, flashing lights, and fake mangosteens — things that still communicated fun and warmth without physical contact. Someone called it a “block party for one.” And it’s true, we love rainbow lights, to the point that we have a giant fruit bowl full of LED remotes because at this point we own so many rainbow light set-ups.”
Shop it: Party lights
Bring the party back home with these funky light options. “For lighting we like to go really cheesy,” Pisha-Duffly says.
Incorporate more pattern with plants
“We worked with this great company called Appetite that brought us plants such as palms, yucca trees, succulents, and ginseng plants. They have fabric buckets, and when they stopped by they were like, ‘What color palette [are you] thinking of for the bases?’ and we were laughing, like, ‘Nothing is off the table, our restaurant is a rainbow.’”
Shop it now: Fabric planters
Make your table restaurant-worthy
Tumblr media
Oilcloth is practical and has the added benefit of being in keeping with Gado Gado’s colorful style.
“Oilcloth is so cool. It’s durable and it’s fairly inexpensive — we have versions with golden floral prints, orange, and a sort of blue and red floral thing happening.”
Shop it now: Oil cloth prints
As Eater has documented in the past, oilcloth is a popular choice for many restaurants, and you can bring it into your own space. Even the messiest of eaters won’t have trouble cleaning them, and the more tablecloth options you have, the more backdrops for taking Instagram-worthy food photos.
Bring rugs outdoors
Tumblr media
“Having all the rugs outside was a fun way to create a sense of comfort that’s super affordable.”
Shop it now: Outdoor rugs
Rugs don’t only have to stay inside. These versions can bear the brunt of rainy Portland weather, bringing a little bit of sunshine as they do.
Emma Orlow is a writer for Eater, Grub Street, T: The New York Times Style Magazine, and Bon Appétit (among others), where she covers the intersection of the food and design worlds. Celeste Noche is a Portland-based photographer.
from Eater - All https://ift.tt/2HOsFrz https://ift.tt/2HSfKF6
Tumblr media
The fun of dining at Gado Gado isn’t just in the menu. It’s also in its signature playful spirit.
While restaurants around the United States are figuring out how to shift their business to adapt to a new culinary landscape, some teams are having more success making it work. In Portland, Oregon, Thomas and Mariah Pisha-Duffly, the owners of the hit Indonesian restaurant, Gado Gado, have not only figured out how to operate in a socially distanced manner that continues to draw customers (even inspiring them to open a second spot called Oma’s Takeaway), but they’ve managed to maintain the restaurant’s signature playful spirit along the way.
The fun of dining at Gado Gado is apparent in the amped-up flavors of its menu, which draws on Thomas’s Indonesian-Chinese heritage for dishes like Sumatran-style spicy beef rendang (served with coconut rice and a green chile tomatillo sambal), ayam lawar (a shredded chicken and coconut salad with galangal dressing), or a pandan jelly dessert. But it’s the restaurant’s thoughtful Peranakan-inspired design accents mixed in with some psychedelic vintage finds that truly make it an experience. Even now with a closed dining room, the Pisha-Dufflys have brought some of the restaurant’s bold design scheme to its two outdoor patios.
“When we were designing the restaurant, it felt like a really great opportunity to communicate ourselves through design,” says Mariah Pisha-Duffly. “There were a lot of spaces opening up around us that were extremely beautiful but minimal, and we wanted to go the opposite way and do something maximal and full of pattern.” When reimagining the dining room for the outdoors, the duo continued the theme with mismatched rugs, oilcloth tablecloths, and other delightful personal touches, all while trying to keep costs low.
Below, Mariah Pisha-Duffly explains how they made Gado Gado into a colorful outdoor oasis, and how to bring the Gado Gado brand of power-clashing onto your patio or into your home.
Remix your old stuff with new purpose
Tumblr media
The black light poster works as decor and a way to communicate instructions for social distancing.
“When we started to rethink the patio for the year of COVID, it felt like working with what we had, and being really resourceful was necessary,” says Pisha-Duffly. “The bathrooms inside Gado Gado are filled with themed ’70s fantasy art. We brought this black light poster outside, and we made little word bubbles on it to let people know where to find their takeout. It didn’t used to be that you needed all these instructions for customers, but you do now, and we wanted to make it beautiful and fun.”
Shop it: Black light posters
Whether you place them in the bathroom or the bedroom, ’70s-style black light posters give the space a trippy element.
Add bold personal touches
Tumblr media
Design features like this gallery wall and custom-designed wallpaper had to remain inside.
Tumblr media
“Thomas’s family is Chinese, but his grandmother lived in Indonesia, Singapore, and Malaysia, before coming to the U.S. You see a lot of Peranakan design throughout Southeast Asia — full of patterns, tiles, and intricate carvings. Inside, we have a big portrait of his grandmother painted on the wall by artist Kate Blairstone (she also did our amazing wallpaper with shellfish and birds) and a mask that my grandparents got while living in Indonesia. Whenever you collect something it tells the stories of who you are and what you like, and getting the opportunity to put that in the restaurant was really special.”
Shop it: Patterned wallpaper and paintings
Blairstone has made dozens of custom wall accents that speak to each individual owner’s story. Whether you fancy a version with oysters, flowers, or carrots, she’s available to make works on request that speak to one’s story. You can also find wallpaper with similar motifs on Etsy.
Don’t be afraid to mix and match
Tumblr media
Plates and bowls come in various vintage patterns.
Tumblr media
“Once I knew we were going to open Gado Gado, I could finally get all this thrift store stuff that I’ve wanted to buy for forever. I would go to Goodwill three or four days a week, just collecting things.”
Shop it now: Power-clashing vintage plates
Part of what makes dining at Gado Gado special is that none of the plates and glassware match, which means each time you dine there it might be a little different. The cornucopia of palettes somehow never feels like too much, but rather, it functions almost like a sewn-together quilt that uses a kaleidoscope of fabrics that come together beautifully. Vintage, granny-esque floral plates are given an exhilarating new life here.
Serve your drinks in ice cream sundae cups
Tumblr media
Now that it’s colder, slushie cocktails aren’t on offer. Instead, Gado Gado serves cocktails like this one, the Honey Honey, in sundae glasses.
“This summer we were doing a lot of slushy cocktails made with things like freshly juiced turmeric and ginger, tamarind, coconut, lime, and tequila. We like to add fun garnishes to them, too.”
Shop it now: Old-fashioned ice cream sundae cups
These clear glass tumblers are usually the vessels for heaping scoops of strawberry ice cream with a fudge swirl, whipped cream, and sprinkles, but they are equally useful for spicing up an after-work drink. Add a fun garnish to complete the effect.
Have fun with lights
Tumblr media
Gado Gado’s disco takeout tent is no more, but string lights still provide some whimsy.
“Initially we were doing takeout and delivery that was extremely no contact and figuring ways to make the experience personal and hospitable within the framework. We had a takeout tent with disco balls, flashing lights, and fake mangosteens — things that still communicated fun and warmth without physical contact. Someone called it a “block party for one.” And it’s true, we love rainbow lights, to the point that we have a giant fruit bowl full of LED remotes because at this point we own so many rainbow light set-ups.”
Shop it: Party lights
Bring the party back home with these funky light options. “For lighting we like to go really cheesy,” Pisha-Duffly says.
Incorporate more pattern with plants
“We worked with this great company called Appetite that brought us plants such as palms, yucca trees, succulents, and ginseng plants. They have fabric buckets, and when they stopped by they were like, ‘What color palette [are you] thinking of for the bases?’ and we were laughing, like, ‘Nothing is off the table, our restaurant is a rainbow.’”
Shop it now: Fabric planters
Make your table restaurant-worthy
Tumblr media
Oilcloth is practical and has the added benefit of being in keeping with Gado Gado’s colorful style.
“Oilcloth is so cool. It’s durable and it’s fairly inexpensive — we have versions with golden floral prints, orange, and a sort of blue and red floral thing happening.”
Shop it now: Oil cloth prints
As Eater has documented in the past, oilcloth is a popular choice for many restaurants, and you can bring it into your own space. Even the messiest of eaters won’t have trouble cleaning them, and the more tablecloth options you have, the more backdrops for taking Instagram-worthy food photos.
Bring rugs outdoors
Tumblr media
“Having all the rugs outside was a fun way to create a sense of comfort that’s super affordable.”
Shop it now: Outdoor rugs
Rugs don’t only have to stay inside. These versions can bear the brunt of rainy Portland weather, bringing a little bit of sunshine as they do.
Emma Orlow is a writer for Eater, Grub Street, T: The New York Times Style Magazine, and Bon Appétit (among others), where she covers the intersection of the food and design worlds. Celeste Noche is a Portland-based photographer.
from Eater - All https://ift.tt/2HOsFrz via Blogger https://ift.tt/3jJ4lVl
0 notes
Note
UH tell me everything about the star wars au immediately
So this is the OTHER Star Wars AU.  It was the second variant I came up with and,while it ruins fewer childhoods (this is the one with Prince Cesare of Alderaan and Lucrezia as the first of a new Jedi Order), I feel like it’s much truer to the characters.  Plus Lucrezia still gets a lightsaber.  This time with 2x the Dark Side!  It’s been a million years because HA I forgot this was done and I didn’t want to work on it anymore.
Cesare, no last name because slaves don’thave them, is a very small boy on Tatooine when a pair of Jedi Masters and theirpadawans show up with a child-queen. Cesare is only nine, but nine is already nearly an adult among the slavequarters, and he brings the whole lot of them back to his mother before theycan get in trouble.  Queen Bonadeo isshy.  She doesn’t matter in thisstory.  One of the padawans, a fiercewoman named Sforza, is almost through with her training, but the other is apretty girl like a shaft of sunlight, just a little younger than Cesare.  The Jedi, Padawan Sforza’s Master and MasterFarnese, want Cesare to come with them, to be trained as one of them, and hegoes for the sake of the golden-haired girl who promises a better life.
When they return to the Core, they aregreeted by a man just beginning to pass middle age, steel-grey hair and asteady, trustworthy voice, who is very interested in Cesare.  Cesare has never been interesting to anyonebefore.  It is incredible.  The man introduces himself as Senator Borgia,and tells Cesare to keep in contact. Cesare does.
Padawan Sforza becomes Cesare’s Master afterher own Master is murdered.  She andMaster Farnese could not be more different—Caterina, which Cesare is forbiddento call her, is fierce and military, while Giulia is gentle and fluid anddiplomatic—but their opposing styles are beautifully complementary, and theyare often put on missions together. Cesare comes to know the golden girl as Lucrezia, and they are best friends, as like as two halves of acoin, and as they grow up, they train together, fight together, live together,until the entire Temple speaks of them in a single breath, as Cesare-and-Lucrezia.  
Lucrezia is the only one who knows about howoften Cesare and Master Sforza clash, about the times that they shout at eachother until Cesare is screaming and Master Sforza is all but glowing withrage.  If Cesare cannot control hisemotions, cannot master this lightsaber form, cannot do this simple Forcetrick, cannot be a Jedi, Caterinashouts, then what did her master die for? Lucrezia is furious—she is shakingwith it, she has never been so angry in her entire life.  She destroysGiulia in a sparring match and is advanced to her Knighthood trials at sixteen,the youngest Knight in living memory. And living memory stretches back quite far, with Master Innocent beingseveral centuries old.
That’s not quite true.  One other person knows.  Senator Borgia.  Hedoes not think Cesare is a failure, hedoes not think Cesare was an ill investment, he thinks Cesare is bright and clever and strong and full ofpotential.  Cesare tells him everything.
Despite Master Sforza’s endless criticism,Cesare is right on Lucrezia’s heels, earning his Knighthood at eighteen, aprodigious rise through the ranks for anyone and downright unheard of forsomeone who started training at nine.  Hestares down the same Masters who tried to cast him out nine years before, andthis time it is not Cesare who looks away first.
The two of them, two orphans with no lastnames, are turned loose on the universe when the galaxy goes to civil war.  They are each handed a regiment of clonedsoldiers and told to keep the Republic safe, and Cesare-and-Lucrezia turntogether toward the stars.
The clones are identical, or they’re supposedto be, but life has its influences, little quirks of the worlds they’ve servedon.  The commander of Lucrezia’sbattalion, the 212th, is darker than any of them with sun exposureand never quite manages to shake it off. He is soft-spoken but efficient, with a mind for espionage that clickswell with Lucrezia’s talent for negotiations—both of the genuinely diplomaticbent and the more violent variety. Lucrezia fights with a joy and brilliant ferocity that makes somethingin Cesare’s chest ache, and he thinks that her commander, the one the clonescall Paolo, agrees with him.
The commander of Cesare’s 501st isnot sun-darkened at all, but an encounter with a chemical bath has turned hishair from the clone-standard black to a rusty red-brown-yellow, and he wearsscruff on his chin and jaw.  He is akiller, born to it and made for it and thriving on it, and Cesare could—andhas—put his lightsaber to the man’s throat without seeing a single flinch.  No one knows where he got his nickname ofMicheletto, but he did.  The popularstory is that it’s the name of the first man he killed, and that he liked it somuch he kept it.  Cesare doesn’t give adamn, honestly, as long as Micheletto continues to be brutally, ruthlesslyefficient in everything he does.
Cesare knows that Lucrezia is sleeping withPaolo.  He is happy that she ishappy.  He is so bitterly angry it makesbile rise in his throat.  He pinsMicheletto under him with the Force and kisses him until there is someone’sblood on their lips and Cesare cannot hear Master Sforza’s voice in his headanymore—let go of attachment, attachmentleads to the Dark Side, be a Jedi, be worth what you cost.  Micheletto, loyal, fearless, lethalMicheletto, does not stop him.  He doesnot stop him again, and again, and again.
It does not cure the wanting under Cesare’s ribs, no matter how many times he falls intobed with his commander.  He is guiltilyrelieved when Paolo dies in battle, saving Lucrezia’s life.
This is the first thing in his life thatCesare has not readily, gladly told Chancellor Borgia.  
Chancellor Borgia finds out, eventually.  Not about Micheletto.  Plenty of things happen among the military,it would be easy for Cesare to write that off. No, Chancellor Borgia finds out about Lucrezia.
Here is how it happens.  It begins, as these things so often do, witha fight.  Lucrezia is captured, andCesare feels her vanish from the Force. Not dead, he realizes after nearly destroying the nearest bank ofcomputers, merely muffled—Force-blocking instruments are rare, but theyexist.  This, whatever it is that isblocking Cesare’s link to his—to Lucrezia, will not exist for much longer.
Cesare takes Micheletto and a handful of hisbest soldiers and cuts his way through to the heart of a Separatiststronghold.  They leave a trail of bloodbehind them.  Cesare finds Lucrezia.
Cesare also finds Giovanni Sforza, theForce-neutral brother of his old Master. He is…a casualty of the situation. But Cesare leaves with Lucrezia safe at his side and therefore does notgive a damn about the Separatist fuck who kidnapped her to leverage the Jedi.
Lucrezia slips silently into Cesare’squarters that night and sits down on the end of his bed, twisting her handstogether as he sits up and rests a hand on her shoulder.  The quiet stretches, until Cesare thinks hecan hear her heart beating in time with his, and then it breaks all at once asshe twists around, sinuous as wind, to slide into his lap.  She twists her hands into his hair and hesettles his hands on her hips and she kisses him, and presses him down onto hisbed, and Lucrezia is warm and alive and here and it is the best thing that hasever happened to Cesare.
Micheletto knows.  He still does not stop Cesare when Cesareends up in his quarters, tips his head in concession, and moreover he does notchange his treatment of Lucrezia—Micheletto might not allow Lucrezia to holdher ‘saber to Cesare’s throat, but he wouldn’t stop her from doing it tohim.  Cesare thinks some of the rest oftheir respective battalions are aware, but they would rather die than betraytheir generals, to a man.
It makes them overconfident.
Because, you see, Caterina Sforza knows howher brother died.  It makes its way toher, and for all her insistence on the dangers of attachment…she can’t bear thenews.  
But she doesn’t set out to kill them.  She wants to ruin them first.
Cesare doesn’t know how she gets thepictures.  They’re from one of their fewdays off, in a hotel on some remote jungle moon, taken through a window.  Lucrezia’s head is tipped back, Cesare’s lipspressed to her neck with his arms around her bare waist.  It’s an intensely private moment, but moreimportantly, it is two of the most famous Jedi generals in the galaxy, havingan affair.  The Jedi are supposed to beabove these failings of the flesh.  Theonly way this could feasibly get worse is if they were related—and, Cesareadmits to himself, he has no idea who his father was, and Lucrezia was afoundling.  For all they know, they couldbe.
Caterina Sforza sends them one of thepictures with a demand that Cesare meet her, in person, or face theconsequences.
Cesare goes alone.  It is, he thinks numbly, fitting that thismeeting take place on Tatooine, among the slave quarters and dunes that made uphis life for nine years.  He rememberslittle of their meeting.  He remembersthe yellow rage that rose through him when she mocked that they would takeLucrezia away from him, that he would prove he was never really worth the timeand blood put into him.  He remembers thehumming of his lightsaber between his palms and how quickly her voice cut off.  He remembers the fury of the battle, and thesearing pain of losing his left arm at the shoulder, and the tacky feeling ofher blood on his hands—and then there’s nothing, for hours.  
Micheletto came to find him, Cesare laterdiscovers, and carried him—alone—back to Lucrezia.  Caterina Sforza, Master of the Jedi Order,vanishes without trace, and five shiny new ‘troopers are lost in the samebattle that officially costs Cesare his arm. Micheletto’s lie is ironclad, bound in blood, and Lucrezia kisses theknuckles of Cesare’s black and silver prosthetic, unflinching as he cradles hercheek.
Cesare and Lucrezia carry on.  For a year, it’s almost like they were neverfound out.  They kiss and Lucrezia leavesnail marks on his shoulders and Cesare leaves handprints on her hips andMicheletto serves them with the same undying devotion as ever.
That doesn’t destroy the records.  The holonet is forever, et cetera, et cetera,but it lets them grow comfortable, confident, complacent.
“Cesare,” Chancellor Borgia says in a deep,resonant voice, reaching out to touch Cesare’s dark curls with something likesadness.  Cesare swallows and looks down,waiting for the lash of disappointment—bea Jedi.  “Why didn’t you feel youcould tell me, my boy?  You know how Icare for you and Lucrezia, like you’re my own children.”
“I—It’s not suitable for Jedi to haveattachments,” Cesare says, hating the way his voice cracks over the firstword.  
“But you would do anything to keep Lucreziasafe and happy, wouldn’t you?” Chancellor Borgia asks, and the right answer isobvious and true and right there on Cesare’s tongue.
“Yes,”Cesare breathes.
“And me?”
“Of course, Chancellor,” Cesare says, andit’s so honest it makes his skin prickle. Chancellor Borgia smiles.
He never thinks to ask how Senator Borgiafound out.
The nightmares, Lucrezia’s blood spilled outover the sand and Micheletto’s hand limp with his blaster tossed aside andLucrezia’s long lovely hair no longer sunlight, only a dead thing on theground, start not long after.  Cesarestruggles to manage them, to control the universe and protect them, and whenChancellor Borgia casually suggests other ways to use the Force that mightserve better, Cesare takes hold with both hands.  How can he do otherwise?  He can’t let Lucrezia’s light be taken fromthe galaxy—it would make every star seem dim and cold.  He’ll do anything.  And Chancellor Borgia is a good man, withtheir best interests in mind, loyal to the Republic.  Cesare trusts him.
When Chancellor Borgia turns out to be DarthSixtus, the Sith Lord that Master Innocent has had the Jedi hunting acrossstarfields and planetary systems, Cesare runs.  The name Chancellor Borgia—Darth Sixtus,would-be-Emperor Sixtus—called him pounds in his ears and in his blood to thebeat of his heart.  Vader, Vader, Vader, Vader. Each beat sounds more like my boy.
Lucrezia finds him on the furthest planet hecould find, Mustafar, and he sits huddled on a rock bridge like he did whenthey were young, one leg pulled up and his arms wrapped around it.
They don’t fight.  Cesare murmurs his discoveries to Lucrezia asshe kneels beside him, her hair billowing in the hot updrafts from the riverbelow.  Her hand smooths a circle betweenhis shoulder blades.
“He’s been teaching me the Dark Side of theForce,” Cesare says, slow, and waits for the punch of disgust.  It doesn’t come.  “It’s been—it worked,” he says, desperately waiting for Lucrezia to tell himright from wrong.  He catches her handsand she lets him, looking into his eyes, her face solemn and almostchildlike.  “What do I do?”
Lucrezia’s hands tighten hard aroundhis.  “I will be with you,” she says, lowand fierce.  “Cesare, Vader,whoever.  We will be together.”
“My dreams tell me you’re going to die if Idon’t do this,” Cesare whispers.
Lucrezia kisses the knuckles of hismechanical hand, then his matching skin-and-bone one, the brush of her lipslike a benediction.  “I’m not going todie,” she says, getting a hard look in her eye. “And neither are you.”
29 notes · View notes
chemicalperfume · 7 years
Text
Ruriiro no Toki (Moon Troupe 2017)
Tumblr media
I saw the play on 5/6 in Umeda Theater Drama City, and it happened to be a very memorable show full of firsts: first solo lead for Miyaruri, first solo heroine for Umi, first show as a member of Tsukigumi for Reiko, and first live zuka small theater show for me. :’D It was also my first time seeing a live show by a troupe other than yuki or hoshi (i have my favourites and also the luck for my trips to coincide specifically with my favourites, apparently). I wasn’t planning on seeing it at first, but I am very glad I managed to. Plot summary for Act 1 (to not spoil it completely since the show is getting a dvd release) and my thoughts under the cut:
Plot:
Peniless actors, Simon and Jacques sneak into Chateau de Chambord -rumored former residence of the now long-missing Count de St. Germain- with the intention of searching for valuables to steal and ease their poverty situation. By chance, they find a hidden door leading to a secret room filled with treasures and a little box that contains a mysterious sphere of lapis lazuli -the Philosopher’s Stone. Over the room also hangs a portrait of the Count, which to their astonishment, looks exactly like Simon. In on them walks Theodore, the Count’s now elderly valet who was loyally waiting for his disappeared master’s return for over 60 years. He greets Simon as the Count de St.Germain, and Simon plays along to save the both of them from getting arrested for thieves. The two young men see this unexpected situation as an opportunity to rise up in society and live the good life among the aristocracy they’ve always dreamed of. Simon puts his acting skills to work and assumes the identity of the immortal and wondrous alchemist, the Count de St. Germain, making a triumphant return to the court of Versailles, enchanting everyone with his stories and his predictions with the Philosopher’s Stone. Jacques poses as his valet, Theodore, at his side. Marie Antoinette consults St. Germain about an ominous, recurring dream she’s been having, but he comforts her about its possible meaning. In Versailles, corruption and opulence reign, while the country’s finances are in a terrible state. The King and Queen are way too influenced by their close courtiers to pay attention to Minister of Finance Necker’s warnings about growing dissatisfaction and miserable living conditions among the populace. Maximilien Robespierre and his comrades are riling up the people to revolt. One day, Simon and Jacques’ old travelling troupe is brought to the Petit Trianon to perform in front of the Queen and her entourage. The two of them are stunned to see their old pals in Versailles, and quickly excuse themselves for the day to avoid being recognized. Marie Antoinette is impressed by the star performer of the troupe, Ademar, and offers her a position in the Royal Dance Troupe*. Ademar is a young woman of humble background who resents the aristocracy and Marie Antoinette as its symbol, because of the state they have brought France into which led to her parents’ death. However, she gives in to the peer pressure and half-heartedly accepts the Queen’s proposal. The clash between the aristocracy and Necker’s prudent warnings lead to his dismissal. In a corner of the palace, Count Province urges the King to send the military in Paris to suppress the brewing unrest that has spread all over following this dismissal. The King is ultimately convinced. Jacques and Ademar happen to overhear this conversation. Ademar’s hatred for the aristocracy only grows. She spots Jacques listening in too and finally finds out what happend to him and Simon. Jacques, disgusted that the aristocracy is willing to do such a thing to their own people, people like him and his friends, decides to adandon the court and tips off Robespierre about the imminent military action. Jacques tells Simon about the plan and urges him to leave this life behind, but Simon is too absorbed into the identity of the Count de St. Germain and refuses. The two friends part for the first time, as times are changing and France is moving closer to the brink of the French Revolution.
Overall: This show exceeded any expectations I had going in, which made me very happy since they happened to gather 99% of all my favourite Tsuki people (including brand new, shiny, fresh off the transfer oven, Reiko). It is not to say it was flawless. Harada-sensei could have given it a more concrete, less vague/open ending imo, and some characterisation fell short (see below for more on that), but it is an extrmely solid show, with stunning and at the same time somehow simple visuals, and AMAZING music, oh my god, can this soundtrack be on iTunes right now. I found myself immediately absorbed in the world of this play, was completely floored by the intermission, and even the aforementioned issues withstanding, left the theatre quite fascinated. One of Harada’s best originals, I dare say. When the show was announced I assumed the director would go for a fictionalised Count of St.Germain, going for an excuse to make Miyaruri a libertine in 18th century France. Which, lbr, would also make a great premise for a show, but I’m glad I was wrong, because the “we have no idea who/what the Count was, Simon just happens to look like him and runs with it” device was clever, and added extra mystery to the premise. Miya and Reiko, although acting together for the first time, make a fine brotp, and there are many layers to both of their characters, but mostly in the relationship between them. The whole play was very much about identity and relationships between people, and how relationships between people change in different contexts. I do wish the whole thing between the main 3 leads, in particular, actually went somewhere, but as i saw it, there is a lot of food for thought behind every layer in this play, every decision, and lots of room for the audience to deduce and fill in the blanks for themselves (occasionally *too* much room...), which is something that often counts as a plus in my book. On the technical side, the costumes were very elaborate and the set included a huge spiralling and rotating staircase which stood for more than just being a convenient, impressive-looking set piece. I also especially loved the secret door/panel set with the huge lizard on it. The (remotely controlled!) light sphere that served as the Philospher’s Stone was another very contextually important, plot-relevant prop, in a show where light usage was very cleverly handled.
Miya Rurika as Simon It feels almost unreal that this woman is getting her first solo lead show only now, at ken-15 (!), never having experienced a Bow lead, but Miyaruri somehow was not as firmly tracked as, and in the way of other, younger, way more pushed people her entire career, so here we are. 2 years ago, I plain couldn’t imagine her leading a troupe. She’d proved me wrong recently in Manon and King Arthur, now she got to directly melt my face off. Simon was a great role for her. She pulled off the long, curly wig like she was born with it, and performed her character and all his stages of growth and change with incredible heart and skill. She made the process of positive travelling actor Simon taking on the identity of the Count and almost losing himself completely in this newfound position of luxury, power, but above all being needed, flow inevitably, magnetically, beautifully. At one point, after he and Jacques disappear, Ademar laments the new lead actor’s terrible line delivery and points out Simon would have done it better. Later in the play Simon recites that same line, and I felt the difference to my very core. Her acting was solid, her dancing was fluid and expressive, her singing envelopped the hall, her chemistry with other characters was palpable. This woman has earned her top feathers. Hopefully she’ll get them some day.
Tsukishiro Kanato as Jacques For those who have spend less than 5″ on my blog, I am currently a Yukigumi girl over anything else in this life, and I am not even going to lie here, this being our precious Royal Dimples’ first show in her new home, is at least 50% of why I wanted to see it in the first place. I was happy to see she was fine. Reiko was a very good combi with Miya and blended in with tsukigumi very well. I felt she’d substantially leveled up compared to Maximilian or Aoshi, which is exactly what she needs and a big part behind this transfer as well, I am guessing. Jacques starts out joined at the hip with Simon, his loyal BFF4E, his trusted sidekick in life, but where Simon becomes the Count, rather than impersonate him, Jacques never loses his pragmatic view on things, never losing sight of his commoner roots, and in the long run choosing what he always knew, instead of the facade he came to know. Their fallout is both inevitable and bitter, and Jacques goes through several stages of character development, which Reiko handled great. While I adore her, I believe there is still tons of room for her to grow, especially in the acting department, and in this show she convinced me she is currently undergoing this process, taking steps to get there. The carefree Jacques of Act 1 who provided (unexpectedly!) many a comedic moment with his pal, is miles away from Jacques the Jacobin of Act 2, and there is even more after that. Unexpectedly #2, for someone this impossibly pretty, she has quite the stout, manly otokoyaku aura on stage, which personally took me by extremely pleasant surprise. In the finale she got to lead the musumeyaku, being lethal and illegal with her winks while doing so. Take care of this one for us, Tsukigumi!
Umino Mitsuki as Ademar Little-known fact about me, probably: Umichan is one of my most favourite people in the entire company right now, and I was THRILLED when the news she landed this role dropped. She makes a breathtaking team with Miya and Reiko, and she is an angel on stage. I could hardly breathe during her ballet scene, she was every bit a flower fairy. Her singing has noticeably leveled up, and she acted out Ademar’s strife and strong character with passion. The only issue lies not with her, but with Harada-sensei, who admittedly gave her little to work with. Harada is known for being kinda hit or miss and mostly miss with how he writes musumeyaku parts (especially lead musumeyaku parts), and I am very sad to say, that looking back at it, I can’t help feeling he kind of dropped the ball with Ademar too. On the one hand, I found it refreshing to be reminded that a lead musumeyaku doesn’t need to be romantically linked to someone to exist as the main female character in the story. Nor does she need to be nice and forgiving and inhumanly sweet. Ademar is largely driven by negative feelings: revenge for her parents, disgust for the pampered aristocracy who lives in a fishbowl and drives most of the country to live in misery. I also can’t say she was shafted for stage time, and she had without a doubt her standout singing and dancing numbers. Her duedan with Miya in the finale was heart-stoppingly beautiful, they complement each other visually to the nth degree. On the other hand though, the more I sit on it, the more I realise she is not very plot-relevant after all, especially in Act 2, most of all at the very end. We know little about her besides the very basics, and we also see much less of her than the other 2 main guys to figure her out more, and by the end this lack of depth becomes noticeable. “Okay chem, but this is just a 2h-long show, with a finale, there’s time limits and stuff” you’ll tell me, but I really don’t see how they couldn’t have spent 2 minutes of exposition/reminiscing or a short flashback scene to flesh out Ademar’s bond to the other two guys a little more. It is what it is though, and I am still happy for Umi getting this lead. Fingers crossed she gets many many more in the future!
Shirayuki Sachika as Marie Antoinette ALL OF THE ABOVE SAID, this show gets full marks for non-tracked senior onnayaku usage, for this very role. We’ve seen 50 Marie Antoinettes in recent years, but Sachika made the part not seem overdone to death and back, what kind of brilliant, award-worthy achievement. Her Antoinette was poised, majestic, adult, and somehow very human, very realistic. Closer to a real-life queen of the time, rather than a fictionalised image of one, she absolutely murdered the part, and made me once again realise how valuable and at the same time criminally underused seasoned onnayaku are. To be perfectly honest, Sachika’s Antoinette felt more like the main female character of the play than Ademar. She had probably an almost equal amount of stage time,  influences every single character, and very clearly affects Simon, who develops feelings for her (romantic? respect? affection? protectiveness? it’s up to interpretation, but they’re definitely there). She is a symbol in the play and at the same time very much a human being, and Sachika brought out both aspects as if she was born into this position, living it her entire life. I immediately saw why (Sakihi) Miyu respects and looks up to her so much, I saw a lot of her influence in Miyu’s acting here. We need more substantial roles like this one for senior onnayaku, learn y’all.
Uzuki Hayate as Robespierre Toshi seems to be getting good treatment lately, and that is awesome, because she is so talented, and has a very commanding aura on stage, she only deserves the best treatment. Robespierre was technically the sanbante otokoyaku role, which doesn’t say all that much in this play since everyone under the 4 roles i just talked about, didn’t get *too* much to do, but it was still a very decent role, and she still did an excellent job of it, leading the ensemble numbers and the revolution and stuff. She also got to lead the otokoyaku number in the finale, and wear a sparkly jacket, GET IT, Toshi. Special mention to the her hidden second role: she opens the play as Theodore, the -original- Count’s now elderly valet, and she was so good at it, I did not even recognize her.
Kizuki Yuuma as Necker Mayupon gets her own paragraph, because this is me and my blog, and I am never subtle with my bias okay. She rocked her ‘stache, was probably the one person not here for St.Germain’s fancy nonsense, and she also had!! a SOLO!! on the staircase!! Not Roi Arthur levels of yay, but still good in my book. Her stage presence remains double that of her experience years, and it’s stunning to behold. ♡
Other people: Kouzuki Ruu was Louis XVI, and considering she was Necker in 1789, it must have been an interesting experience for her to play both sides. She was elegant and also funny in her “inspecting” St.Germain up close bit. Takasumi Hayato was quite slimy as Count Province, the King’s brother. Her voice tone and body language oozed “I wouldn’t spit on a peasant if they were on fire” at all times. Kagetsu Miyako was a very spunky Countess Polignac, and she delivered perfectly to my very high expectations of her (she’s a delight to watch and i low-key love her). Hibiki Reona was ...there as the head of the travelling troupe, but honestly the part was tiny anyway. Harune Aki was unfortunately completely wasted in the general court ladies group, even if she had most of the lines that didn’t go to Nacchan. Yumena Rune was adorable as Philippo, the kinda useless troupe guy that had to replace Simon as the main lead. Kanoha Toki had barely 3 lines, in the troupe members ensemble. Hayaki Yuuto, Tsukasa Ren, and Kashiro Aoi (♡) were Robespierre’s 3 bros, mostly following him around, discussing revolution stuff with him and almost had the same stage time as him. They did a fine job for their part, altho I felt Tsucchii was overacting. Extra shoutout to all the babies who were St.Germain’s “shadows” and brought on the kurotenshi realness, down to the silver wigs.
Very much looking forward to the dvd release so I can revisit this beautiful play!
42 notes · View notes
vampire-core · 7 years
Note
/post/161320161315 every single Fucking cmnc character. every single one. trust me dude (if u want!!!)
fucken hell yeah hyperfixation time
FRANCES
A: what I think realistically
tbh frances seems like the type of person where playin the piano is like. a coping mechanism for her?? like if shes stressed/angry/havin a Bad Time she either
a: plays a Sad Tune to angst
b: plays something AGGRESSIVE to get her anger out
c, a rare option: plays smth happy to take her mind off it
bc she seems like the person to Wallow in her own sadness tbh im guessin c is Rare but
B: what I think is fucking hilarious
frances wears horribly fucking clashing colors like. bright neon orange and the ugliest brown-green mixed and goes out like that in sunglasses
C: what is heart-crushing and awful but fun to inflict on friends
frances didnt have a good home and she got with junior to get Out of it and then he turned out to be a piece of shit and her life just spiraled Down
D: what would never work with canon but the canon is shit so I believe it anyway
shes an agender lesbian with three gfs
HENRY
A: what I think realistically
tbh henry totally seems like hed learn to bake for nancy like. i know hes in-canon a horrible cook but like. imagine this sweetie taking secret baking lessons for like Forever and then he surprises nancy on her bday with like. a rlly nice homemade cake and they cry together :’)
B: what I think is fucking hilarious
henry is a clumsy-ass Shit so he breaks things like 384723897423894x and once he managed to break a vase nancy Really liked and she walked in on him Coated in glue and just. “what are you doing” “no nothing what nothing is broken” “henry the vases shards and glue are both everywhere” “everything is fine nancy”
also nancy being at the store and henry seeing a spider and screaming on the counter until she got home
C: what is heart-crushing and awful but fun to inflict on friends
henry living with the eternal guilt over taking the “wrong” choice even though there was no good choice because he either stayed in a place where no issues were being worked out or he left :^)
D: what would never work with canon but the canon is shit so I believe it anyway
hes a trans bABY AND I LOVE HIM SO FUCKIN MUCH
NANCY
A: what I think realistically
tbh i can imagine her bein in a book club but being the Shy One who never talks during meetings
also i can imagine her learning to paint and Loving It and showing henry the paintings which show what her world is like and hes like “:00!!!”
B: what I think is fucking hilarious
NANCY SPRITING AROUND IN HIGH HEELS TRYING TO CRUSH A SPIDER WHILE SHE AND HENRY BOTH FUCKING SOB BECAUSE SHE CANT MANAGE TO KILL THE SPIDER
C: what is heart-crushing and awful but fun to inflict on friends
nancy living with crushing guilt and abandonment issues but hiding it because she doesnt want to bother henry and she keeps randomly crying :)))
D: what would never work with canon but the canon is shit so I believe it anyway
shes genderfluid as FUCK and has a gf
BONUS: JUNIOR
A: what I think realistically
tbh this dude is fuckin Shitty and hes def the type of dude to have like 3 gfs at once but not an open relationship just straight-up cheating
B: what I think is fucking hilarious
in a modern au junior discovers furry culture and refuses to wear anything but a pigeon fursuit for three years straight
C: what is heart-crushing and awful but fun to inflict on friends
he left frances with more trauma than she mayb had :))))
D: what would never work with canon but the canon is shit so I believe it anyway
hes a fuckin furry. let him be a FURRY MAKE HENRY BUFF AGAIN I THINK YOU MEAN MAKE JUNIOR A PIGEON AGAIN
BONUS: PATTY
A: what I think realistically
she has a Huge family and sends all of them christmas cards, and she only has one great-niece who cares enough to reply and visit and stuff and sometimes the neice brings her kids and patty fuckin loves kids and spoils em like a grandchild
also she sends christmas cards to her neighbors and invites them over for dinner weekly
B: what I think is fucking hilarious
she sews and she once had an awful neighbor who was a total bitch so she bought this cheap-ass shirt, fixed it up in a day, but it looked new and beautifully made and the neighbor felt so bad and patty just. >:3c dont be a bitch
the neighbor got to keep the gift tho and was Nicer and patty was :3c
C: what is heart-crushing and awful but fun to inflict on friends
she feels SO BAD that she didnt notice henry and nancy being missing sooner bc she ALWAYS wanted to be friends w them both and she loved em to bits
D: what would never work with canon but the canon is shit so I believe it anyway
shes a trans lesbian and has a long-time wife :3c
KENNITH (this ones just gonna be kin shit but shhhh ;))) )
A: what I think realistically
if its not a school day and hes home alone kennith 100000% will Not change out of his pajamas and will yell at you for wearing shoes in his room dont fuckin touch him with your nasty-ass feet stephamie
B: what I think is fucking hilarious
KENNITH GETS SUPER DRUNK AND STARTS FORGETTING THINGS HE JUST DID AND GETTING REALLY FUCKING CONFUSED AS STEPH LAUGHS HER ASS OFF THREE FEET AWAY (based on my own experiences)
C: what is heart-crushing and awful but fun to inflict on friends
kennith has an ed he doesnt know how to deal with and doesnt even think is that Bad so hes just suffering :’))) can relate buddy
D: what would never work with canon but the canon is shit so I believe it anyway
hes trans you cowards and in a qpp with steph
STEPH
A: what I think realistically
steph is Rlly skilled at punching and taught kennith how to punch but also if u rub her back she will Deactivate in .2 seconds so even if she acts tough she has a fuckin self-destruct button and its her back
B: what I think is fucking hilarious
STEPH AND KENNITH MAKING DIRECT EYE CONTACT AS THEY COME UP WITH INCREASINGLY BAD ALTERNATE TITLES FOR A PENIS
C: what is heart-crushing and awful but fun to inflict on friends
steph tends to put on a Happy Face bc she thinks kenniths problems are worse than hers, so she has no help and no clue how to deal with them and just gets worse and worse :’))
D: what would never work with canon but the canon is shit so I believe it anyway
shes a fuckin lesbian in a qpp with kennith you cowards and shes genderfluid
GREG
A: what I think realistically
this man has fuckin Depression my lads and anxiety and tends to self-medicate with weed even tho he Knows its prob not the best option but i mean. hes a retail worker can he afford meds? no
B: what I think is fucking hilarious
if you do Anything greg will probably stay apathetic, and he can say most things with a straight face. he enjoys making completely filthy jokes with an unwavering neutral expression and watching people crumble
C: what is heart-crushing and awful but fun to inflict on friends
……………tbh hed prob think he couldve done More to help kennith after he Died but never did so i can imagine hed feel. kinda guilty sdkjfhsdkf maybe my kin ass is just hopeful
D: what would never work with canon but the canon is shit so I believe it anyway
let him have two moms you cowards (also him and kennith are boyfs dont make the rules my kin ass is GAY)
BONUS: JENNY
A: what I think realistically
….tbh they seem like the type of person who always has a sketchpad and paints a lot and is just Super artsy
B: what I think is fucking hilarious
jenny and kennith lock eyes and they can instantly feel the hatred kennith emits bc t h a t s  h i s  f p  but also they can tell he wants steph to be happy and they can SEE the STRUGGLE on his FACE and he looks kind of like an angry chihuahua
C: what is heart-crushing and awful but fun to inflict on friends
…..tbh i dont have anything for them
D: what would never work with canon but the canon is shit so I believe it anyway
let them be a nonbinary lesbian who draws their gf constantly
BRI (aka kin ass two: electric bogaloo :3c)
A: what I think realistically
tbh they seem like the type of person to have a cat. in my canon it was an orange cat named sherbet B3c they love that cat to Death and show it to avery on video calls
B: what I think is fucking hilarious
bri says “rawr XD” out loud and accidentally says that to a teacher, who stands there for .3 seconds and kind of just goes with it
C: what is heart-crushing and awful but fun to inflict on friends
they dont actually die and have to live with their gf bein dead :’)
D: what would never work with canon but the canon is shit so I believe it anyway
they live and also so does avery and theyre happy fuck you
AVERY
A: what I think realistically
tbh she seems like the type of person to have a wide friend group but only be “close” close with like. 1-2 people??? and like she loves all of her friends but she cant maintain that many close friends
B: what I think is fucking hilarious
she once laughed so hard she snorted soda out of her nose during a video call
C: what is heart-crushing and awful but fun to inflict on friends
her last thought is of bri :’)
D: what would never work with canon but the canon is shit so I believe it anyway
SHE AND BRI ARE  H A P P Y AND ALIVE
SPOI
A: what I think realistically
they seem the type of person to like???? fuckin rag on shows while watching them, ie shout at the screen, point out plot holes etc and then say “wtf i loved it” at the end
also they throw popcorn at the screen during the movies
B: what I think is fucking hilarious
they hide under nancys table and let out a vicious shriek whenever nancy accidentally kicks them
C: what is heart-crushing and awful but fun to inflict on friends
they cause Endless Suffering and dont even care like they cant sympathize or manage to be Decent and like. they LAUGH at it and its like??? a s s h o l e
(and i have like No Empathy but i can still manage to be a nice person so?? no excuse there)
D: what would never work with canon but the canon is shit so I believe it anyway
theyre the one stealing nancys bobbins >:00
3 notes · View notes
juliehamill · 7 years
Text
15 minutes with Richard Boon, inventor of indie, manager of Buzzcocks and production manager at Rough Trade
Tumblr media
I wear a tie to meet Richard Boon.  Firstly, he always wore ties in the punk/indie era, and, secondly, because, I’m not worthy.  This person, who is so enormously significant in the history of punk, indie and Rough Trade, never shouts about his contribution.  You might see him every now and then in a documentary, or rarely on a panel, but these days he prefers to work happily and quietly in Stoke Newington, as a librarian.  
Mr Boon is a sharp-dresser from his Crombie coat right down to his quirky white socks, and he talks in a very considered, knowledgeable and professor-like fashion, with lots… of… important… pauses.  He reminds me of a lecturer, someone who is used to being listened to; one who is steeped in literature. In fact, it’s only his one black earring that nods to a clue from his past: that a younger radical, riotous pioneer lives inside him, one that speeded through punk with the Buzzcocks, exploded the world of indie music, shaped a career at Rough Trade, and, most goldenly, made Smiths records.
For him, a real involvement in music all started after the second Sex Pistols gig in Manchester, 1976, where groups of artistic individuals hung around town wondering what to do next.  Some of them were at university, some on the dole, some still at school; but all were drawn to doing something in music because of what they had just witnessed.  In amongst the different ‘factions’ were Howard Trafford, Linder Sterling, Steven Morrissey and Richard Boon.
Impelled by the rush of the Sex Pistols, Mr Boon’s immediate next step was to book them for his own student union bar at Reading, where they played to a small student crowd.  His equally impassioned pal, Howard, formed Buzzcocks and changed his name to Devoto. They made an EP Spiral Scratch.  Frustrated that the music industry was dominated by large corporates, DIY-Richard came up with his own independent label, New Hormones, fell into the role of band manager, found a way to custom press the EP through the back door of Polydor, and took orders from record shops on his home phone.   Spiral Scratch was born, as the first, self released record in history, and thus, Richard Boon invented indie.
A few years later, in the early eighties, Steven Morrissey approached him to ask what he could do with his songs.  Richard explained that as his label was on its last legs, Morrissey should approach Rough Trade distribution.  Shortly afterwards, Richard joined the Rough Trade label team as production manager, and worked with The Smiths throughout their entire career.
He is an accomplished chef and would prepare a red pepper soup starter if Morrissey came for dinner (plus ‘pud’). He is most animated and smiley when he talks about his family, especially his wife, Deborah, of thirty years, to whom, I’d say, he owes everything.
Tumblr media
J:  Please say your full name.
R:  I don’t use the first name.  Hello I’m Richard Boon!  Richard is the middle name.  My first name is James.
J:  Why don’t you use ‘James’?
R:  Because I never have.  Ever since I was a very small child.  My father was called James and after christening me my mum thought, ‘there’s going to be some confusion ahead’, so I’ve always been Richard.  Sometimes shortened, but not by me to Rich.  Rick!
J:  Do people call you ‘Boon’ or ‘Boonie’?
R:  When I was little I used to get called, ‘Boonie’.  
J:  Can you describe yourself in a sentence?
R:  Hmm.  I didn’t come to counseling… this has just thrown me.
J:  Morrissey described you in Autobiography as a ‘whirlpool of words’.
R:  I did read that, yes.  Lovely.  Some people describe me as the person that started independent music, some people describe me as the world’s coolest librarian.  Do you want to know how much I weigh and how tall I am?
J: Yes of course!  Who gave you the name ‘the world’s coolest librarian’?
R:  The Stoke Newington Literary Festival. With whom I’m deeply involved and have an annual event called Juke Box Fury for music writers to talk about the tune that they allege inspired them to write and then the panel decide if it’s hit or miss.  It’s just a joke, and I badly channel David Jacobs, as if you didn’t know, you were there, on my panel!    
J:  Yes, it was brilliant.  Except for that one scary woman in the audience who got a bit angry.
R:  Ah.  She has an argumentative history over decades with one of your co-panellists, but we won’t go there.
J: Growing up, what music were you interested in?
R: My brother and I used to pool our pocket money for Beatles EP’s.  It was better value than the single. He was seven or eight years older than I was and he started buying albums.  The first album he bought was Reach Out by The Four Tops, which is a peerless record.  It’s just got everything you want and it’s beautifully sequenced.  Apart from the title track!  Brilliant record.  My father played piano and then he bought a stereo and we just used to listen to the reel-to-reel tape recorder and tape Pick of the Pops.  With Fluff - Alan Freeman.  Music has always been around me. My brother used to buy Melody Maker and I was buying The NME.  There were only two record stores:  Boots and downstairs at Valances white goods shop.  
J:  Where did you grow up?
R:  I grew up in Leeds.  I went to Leeds Grammar School and it was a direct grant so that I could get in.  Like a scholarship bursary kind of thing so even poor kids can get in.  When I was a teenager I used to hang out with Howard Trafford, my friend, who became Devoto, and we we’d go to the gigs in Leeds Town Hall together.  There wasn’t much happening so we just started talking to a bass player called Dave and a clarinet player called Charlie.  We used to meet up and try to write songs together and tape them. After this I went to Reading University.
J:  When did you move to Manchester?
R:  After graduation at Reading in 1976, a lot of my art school cohort went to London, but I went to Manchester to help Howard and Peter, who were determined to make a band.
J:  Do you remember much about the music scene Manchester before The Smiths got started?
R: In Manchester at that time there was a really small and rebellious group of people, like a village within a village or a city within a city… Hamlet!  Everybody knew one another but there were factions.  People got involved from the consequences of the Pistols playing the Lesser Free Trade Hall.  People were doing fanzines too.  There was a loose connected identity.  When it came to Morrissey everybody knew he was going to be something.  He was waiting in the wings for his moment.
J:  How did you first meet Morrissey?
R:  I knew him from that crowd.  We were all kind of a gang in the town but we wanted more bands to start up and get a sense of community going.  We used to hang out in the Virgin store and read Melody Maker and read adverts like ‘I’m Rick and I’m looking for a drummer’. This was in 1976.  John Maher spotted that Rick ad and I, and possibly Pete Shelley, went to the Portland Hotel with Rick, is it ‘Elby’? who brought his friend, Steven.  That’s when we first met.  He was very shy and retiring.
J:  What was he wearing, what did he look like?
R: He hadn’t got… let’s just say you could call him ‘Steven’ then.  He hadn’t got his look together.
J:  You mentioned there that, ‘Everybody knew that he was going to be something.’  How could you tell?
R:  Generally, he was just so engaging and witty.  As things began to develop in Manchester he was always kind of around and paying attention to what was going on and wanting to get involved. He sent me a cassette which is just ‘Steven singing’.  It was ‘Reel Around The Fountain’ and a version of a Bessie Smith song called ‘Wake Up Johnny’. On the tape he said, ‘It’s a very quiet recording because my mum is in the next room!’  He had even written two books when he was on the dole. He was a quiet figure waiting to become a big figure.
J:  Do you still have the tape?
R:  Well I may have but I don’t know where it is!  The house is full of stuff!  Another one lost in history!  I’ve got boxes in the cellar.  It might be in there. As if I could ever find it!
J:  How old were you then?
R:  I was twenty-three and Morrissey was eighteen.  For a long period we were friends.  We began as a casual connection and then we became acquaintances and then friends.  Through all that after-effect of The Sex Pistols playing Manchester and Buzzcocks playing there was this whole group of people who would meet.  It was through that group that Morrissey met Linder.  We were all at the second Sex Pistols gig.  It was after that people started to talk to one another about what to do next.
Tumblr media
J:  How did you become Buzzcocks manager?
R:  I lived in a shared house with Howard Devoto.  We had a landline! I just fell into booking a rehearsal space, hustling for gigs, hiring the van to get to the gig and it just turned into Buzzcocks management, although these days I prefer ‘mis-management.’  
J:  Tell me about Spiral Scratch.
After the Pistols’ Anarchy tour - where as far as we were concerned punk kind of stopped and became a cliché/cartoon - Howard was thinking about going back to college.  We wanted to document a moment, and this moment became Buzzcocks Spiral Scratch and it was just a thing to do.  We borrowed money from friends and family just to make it happen.  An early form of Kickstarter without the advantages.  Anyway that became a completely separate thing somehow. Howard wanted to leave, Pete wanted to continue.  We hustled for more gigs and bits of music business.  A&R interest started to come along, especially after The Clash’s White Riot tour.  John Maher was only sixteen - just left school - and I had to check it all with his dad, who’d ask me, ‘Is there going to be any money in this for him?’
Tumblr media
J:  Is that how your record label, New Hormones happened?
R:  Yes, in a way.  There was no real infrastructure for independent labels then. Rough Trade began some distribution which became The Cartel, but the independent label support just wasn’t there, we had to develop it. We wanted to support people around us too, hence Linder’s design of the ‘Orgasm Addict’ cover.  Then she started dabbling with music.  She’s another person who was doing something but didn’t know what it was going to work out as, a bit of music, a bit of performance art, collages.  Young people were trying to explore a direction by 1977.  
Tumblr media
J: Why the name, ‘New Hormones’?
R:  I think it was Howard that chose it.  There was a discovery around that time in 1976 of a ‘new hormone’ – I can’t remember it’s name, something scientific.  It just sounded, like, yeah!  Pretty cool.
J: How did you just decide, right, let’s press records on this label?  How did you go about it?
R:  We wanted a souvenir of what we had done during 1976.  It was just research.  I found that pressing plants had spare capacity and would take small amounts to keep the presses running. Polydor had a little department that did custom pressing, so having found that out, they recommended a sleeve printer and it all just worked.  Records always seem to be magical things.  They appeared in an occult fashion in the racks.  It is actually interesting to think about, ‘How did they get there?’
With Spiral Scratch it was mail order with an address and a phone number.  Jon Webster at Virgin Records in Lever Street took some.  Record store managers had autonomy then.  It wasn’t just central buying.  Then he told his mates in the other stores, ‘Try a box of twenty five and see what happens!’ And then it happened.  The phone started ringing.  And generously, all the press reviews gave the address.  And the phone number leaked out.  It was the phone number of mine and Howard’s house!  
Geoff Travis had just recently started the Rough Trade shop and he was like, ‘I’ll take fifty.’  Two days later it was, ‘Can I have two hundred more?’  It just ‘spiraled’ out control!  It stimulated and inspired other people to make their own records. Desperate Bicycles formed just to make a record.  ‘Spiral Scratch’ had recording information on it.  Desperate Bicycles moved that on a bit further. New Hormones was demystifying something that seemed mysterious.
J:  Did you ever want to be in the band?
R:  No I just wanted to help.  I was signing on.  They formed the band.  
J:  Where does the name come from?
R:  The name comes from our mythical lost weekend with The Sex Pistols.  We picked up a copy of Time Out then which had a review about a girl group and the headline for the feature was, ‘IT’S THE BUZZ, COCKS!’ about a TV series, ‘Rock Follies, about a girl band featuring Julie Covington. It all goes back to that.
J:  What happened on the lost weekend?
R: We’d read Neil Spencer’s NME review of the Pistols at The Marquee and were equally enthused and intrigued. Pete hired a car from Bolton student’s union.  Howard and Peter McNeish (later Shelley) and I went off in February 1976, to ‘Sex’ to find Malcolm McLaren, who told us the Pistols were playing that weekend at High Wycombe and Welwyn Garden City.  Howard, Peter and I got in the car and we drove straight to the venue.  The Sex Pistols were really intrigued that we had come so far. They were opening for Screaming Lord Sutch on one of the nights.  
Tumblr media
Pete Shelley is great on this memory – he has a Rolodex in his head.  It was a student audience. All we did that weekend was gig on the Friday, back to Reading to stay, then back for the Pistols Saturday night, then back home, buzzing with ideas.  The weekend wasn’t lost, it was found.  
J:  Do you remember much about the gigs?
R:  The Sex Pistols were ramshackle.  It was Johnny, he was extraordinary.  He didn’t give a toss about anything.  He was obviously speeding.  It was hot clothes, fast drugs.  Johnny seemed to hate the audience.  He was provocative and he dismissed us.  But that didn’t matter.  The first night a bunch of lads sat just under the stage making ‘Rubbish!’ gestures to their pals at the back.  Johnny ran along and tousled their hair!  They ran forward, picked him up and threw him on the floor.  Neil Stephenson who was their loosely termed road manager joined in… and the band kept playing in the background.  It was like a cartoon scrum in Tom and Jerry.  Eventually Johnny crawled out from underneath and scrambled back on stage.  He went:
‘WELL!  THAT WAS NO FUN!’
…which was the tune they were playing.  I’ve never seen anything like it.  It was shocking, extraordinary, exciting.
J:  Have you seen anything like it since?
R:  Anything with that power? Patti Smith at Manchester Apollo doing James Brown’s ‘It’s a Man’s Man’s World.’  She nailed it!  She came right to the front of the stage and that closeness and immediacy, that strength. She had a knock out moment. Whatever year it was.  She actually did fall off the stage somewhere and hurt her neck.  In my experience it’s rare to see that magic moment.  Gifted performers.
J:  Did you book the Sex Pistols for Reading Uni?
R: Yes, it was part of me being an ‘art student’!  Did mainly black and white ‘things’.  I had a very sympathetic tutor and once I’d seen the Sex Pistols I was determined to get them to play.  The art department had a little club subsidised by the student union and I persuaded them, ‘We have to get this band!’  There was an annual event called Art Exchange.  I wanted this band – they were really cheap!
Tumblr media
[I find this ticket online and ask Richard about it: ‘I think this is fake - we just took money on the door - and it wasn’t in the Students Union; rather in a painting studio in the Art Department; there was no ‘ROCK DISCO’ – as if! Support was a performance artist, one of The Kipper Kids’].
I did all the flyering and stuff and of course as happened then, only about twenty people came.  My tutor was very sympathetic when it came to my finals and included the gig booking and promotion as work I’d done.  I graduated with a 2:1.  Tutor Tom said, ‘The external examiners will want more evidence of drawing ability.’ I got an A1 piece of paper and pencil and just drew vertical lines as close together as I could, for about eight hours.  He said, ‘I think that’s enough drawing ability!’  I was just doing black and white things, I wasn’t really doing drawings, as such.
J:  Did you hang out with the band?
R:  I remember having to get them out of the bar just to go on stage.  Johnny liked Red Stripe.  He was my favourite Sex Pistol.  It went:  Johnny, Glen, Paul, Steve. Malcolm was always difficult.  But we didn’t really talk to them.  Malcolm McLaren dominated the conversation.  He’d be giving out his manifesto, like he had this tape loop, over and over again.  The band didn’t really socialise much.  
On the Anarchy Tour in Manchester we went to Tommy Ducks which was a legendary pub.  It had ladies underwear across the ceiling and Johnny tried to pull it down.  That week Johnny, Joe Strummer and Pete Shelley had all gone blonde.  They were stood at the bar talking about hair products. ‘What colour did you use?’  
J:  Did you ever see the Pistols with Sid?
R:  I saw them twice with Sid.  They had become the caricature of themselves that the media set them up to become.  Really. It wasn’t fun and it didn’t have the magic.
Tumblr media
J:  How did you come to work at Rough Trade?
R:  Two things happened within weeks of each other.  My label, New Hormones was rapidly failing. It never had any money.  I had got some records out by a group called Dislocation Dance. I couldn’t do any more.  They had some new tracks that I sent to Geoff Travis.  I used to send promo cassettes and biogs to Pete Walmsley who did licencing.  I had put out a single called ‘Rosemary’ which got picked up in Europe.  
Geoff didn’t get back to me for a month and a half and then he said, ‘oh I like this can you arrange a meeting?  Then, possibly just a bit later, Morrissey, Johnny and Joe Moss pitched up in my office with a tape of ‘Hand In Glove’ and ‘Handsome Devil’, which I loved!  They were like, ‘Can you do anything?’ and I said, ‘Well I can’t do anything.  What do you want to do?’ and they said, ‘Well we just want to put it out.  Maybe we’ll do it ourselves.’  I said, ‘If you want to do it yourselves, I’ll put you in touch with Simon Edwards, who is in Rough Trade Distribution if that’s what you want to do.’  Versions of this story vary, but I phoned Simon and put him onto Joe Moss.  I set up the meeting.  Johnny went. They stayed at Matt Johnson’s.  Anyway that’s the famous story:  Simon took the tape and said, ‘No, this is worth more than a DIY release.  Geoff needs to hear it.’  
Geoff was always in meetings.  Rough Trade was famous for meetings. Everybody was in a meeting.  Later there was a meeting room but in Bleinheim Crescent you just couldn’t get hold of people.  ‘Just say I’m in a meeting!’ There were an awful lot of meetings. Johnny just came around and waited until Geoff came out of his meetings and said, ‘Simon says you’ve got to hear this NOW!’ and he made an impact.  Rough Trade said it would do a one-off single on the label and Scott Piering would do the promotion.  Peel and Kid Jensen sessions were happening almost every other week, as a result.  Mike Hinc was the booking agent and started getting them gigs and then bigger gigs.  
I went down with Dislocation Dance and had a meeting with Geoff, and I said, ‘Why did it take you a month and a half to hear about this?’ and he was like, ‘I’m just so busy!  I can’t keep up with stuff! Actually I think I’m going to America for two months and I might need someone here.  Would you cover?’ So I thought, yes, because everything I’m doing in Manchester has run out of steam and my wife and I were getting tired of a commuting relationship because she was in London already at the BBC.  The stars were in the right place.  Geoff ended up not going to America.
Rough Trade had a wonderful, endless, financial crisis. I moved into the Production Manager job. It was a very hectic summer in 1983, given the amount of interest in The Smiths which just bounced:  more gigs, more records, more media.  Everybody at the label side was like, ‘Let’s do more! Build a relationship long term!’  
This was the principle of all the early indies:  4AD, Rough Trade, Mute, Factory, they all used to have principles.  To have a hit act to subsidise what they wanted to do.  Daniel Miller of Mute had Depeche Mode, Factory had Joy Division and Ivo had the Cocteau Twins.  Rough Trade had tried to do that with Scritti Politti, but it cost an awful lot and there were a lot of resources put into trying make Green a popstar.  The money was all sloshing around A Joy Division album would have paid the debts for a Depeche Mode album.
It kind of worked, but for Rough Trade Scritti didn’t deliver in the same way as the other label-groups had, and Rough Trade was looking for someone to build on.  As soon as ‘This Charming Man’ came out it was a given, it was going to be The Smiths.
Tumblr media
J:  What was the production manager’s job, day to day, at Rough Trade?
R:  Get the tapes to the mastering room.  Get the white labels.  Make sure everybody’s happy.  Commission designers.  Get the sleeve proofs.  Make sure everybody’s happy.  Start phoning people up.  See how many thousands are needed.  A lot of Rough Trade’s business was only a couple of thousand.  Then get the sleeves printed.  Try to manage all the ingredients.  Juggle.  If you get a sleeve proof and that colour isn’t working… artists had a lot of control over the look and design.
Morrissey was always great.  He would send photocopies of images he wanted and eventually we gave him a Pantone colour book and he could say ‘I want background pantone 132…’ Morrissey always knew what he wanted. He had a great sense of palette. Usually his things were fairly manageable. Things got complicated after Hatful of Hollow!  As the Smiths built, it got ridiculous.  ‘I want a hundred and fifty thousand gatefold sleeves, by last week!’
Actually, There was one problem with the inner sleeve to Hatful of Hollow.  It had been mastered, the artwork was done, the lyrics were in order, it had all been done. I had already started printing the inner bags and Morrissey phoned and said, ‘Change the running order.’  Ha ha!  I was like, ‘Stop printing those!’  But 30,000 had been printed already.  He was like, ‘No.  I want them in the right order.’  We had 30,000 inner bags to deal with.  Rough Trade Germany’s production was behind ours so they got 30,000 inner sleeves with the lyrics in the wrong order!  Collectors items! I don’t know which way round it had been before the current listing. But that was an awkward moment and generally, personally, Morrissey and I didn’t have awkward moments.  
J:  You seemed to do a lot of jobs.  Were you working for the label side or the distribution side?
R:  I worked for the label, initially.  I started at Rough Trade in 1983 when it was in one of its regularly-occurring financial crisis.  Everyone was like, ‘We can’t go on like this!  We need an admin!’  So we found, probably through the Cricket Team, ‘The White Swans’ – not a Rough Trade cricket team, just people who worked at Rough Trade who were members of a cricket team - this guy Richard Powell who had turned around a Watchmakers in Clerkenwell.  There was a series of meetings with him and he tidied up the mess.  I’m sure the accounts department did their best but there were no clear lines of demarcation.  It became this incredible structure where the wholesale department had a board that would meet about their issues.  Then someone on the distribution board, then someone on the record company board, then the main board, they had meetings and the money just became a trough.
If the phone rang at Rough Trade we had two answers, ‘I’ll just find them’, or, ‘They’re in a meeting.’  Take a message!  There was finally a switchboard but the receptionist would eternally say, ‘So and so is on the phone’ and we’d shout ‘I’m in a meeting!’
Then I moved to Rough Trade Distribution.  Distribution had been publishing a magazine called ‘The Catalogue’ which was a funny mix of trade and consumer content.  It was losing money.  Editor Brenda Kelly and Pete O’Fowler were setting up a production company Snub TV.  Brenda was getting ready to leave and I was asked to take over the Catalogue and ‘turn it around’.  So I switched from working for the label to working for distribution.  Then I turned it round by offering consumer incentives like flexidiscs!  I must find a copy of the magazine!  We had longer features – a lead feature every month and if you were on the cover there was the interview.  It made us put in more consumer focused content other than trade news or new releases. Nick Kent reviewed ‘Rank’.  I’ll see if I have that.  He loved The Smiths.  There was a track from Rank, it was a flexi disc, with Morrissey writing on the back.  I can get you one of those if you haven’t got it.  If I can find them I’ve got a box, perhaps, somewhere.  
J:  That would be amazing, thank you.  What was Geoff’s involvement?
R: He’d probably listen to a test pressing.  He wasn’t interested in the artwork - I was - I enjoyed that aspect.  When we found Caryn Gough - through Malcolm Garrett - who had a studio and did graphics, we had someone who could look at Morrissey’s doodles and photocopies and turn them into what he wanted. Caryn was slightly rockabilly.  She had the jeans and the chain.  Caryn and Morrissey just hit it off.  It was a joy to witness.  Talking on the same wavelength. Caryn and Morrissey were good because he thought well, if I send this picture and the pantone number to her then she does it, and he’d say, ‘That’s just what I want!’  
J:  So at the label, The Smiths became the priority?
R:  Yes, around the label The Smiths became the priority.  Loads of attention was focused on it. The Raincoats had an album to deliver, but they kind of got slightly overlooked.  They were a great band.  It was a great year for music, 1983. Until The Smiths stabilised the whole operation, money was leaking everywhere in Rough Trade.  There was no fiscal control.  It was slack.   
This was also just before we were moving out of Blenheim Crescent to Collier Street in Kings Cross.  There was a huge amount to do and there was only a couple of narrow corridors. All the corridors were just filling with boxes and boxes and boxes of records of the debut album.  Just before the move, all those corridors were empty! Now there was a warehouse storage space that was full of boxes and boxes.
J:  Tell me about the band at that time.
R:  Johnny and Morrissey were really driven and had a clear sense of purpose.  They knew exactly what they wanted.  They shared a vision.  It was those two that pushed it forward.  The other two were the rhythm section, nice as they were.  For Johnny and Morrissey it really wasn’t about work. It was their passion.  For the rhythm section it was work.  They referred to it as work.  I felt that Andy and Mike were slightly overwhelmed when The Smiths took off. It was very fast.  They weren’t ready for it in the way that Johnny and Morrissey were.  This was like their dream come true.  No-one was really ready for it but Morrissey and Johnny had dreamt of it for a really long time.  
We didn’t get any arguments from the band.  Morrissey and Johnny could be awkward, deliberately so, sometimes.  Johnny was overloaded and Morrissey was beautifully whimsical and could change his mind. But everybody was younger.  Some of it is really about age.
I wish they had made more videos.  I don’t know why they didn’t. The Derek Jarman work fitted a sort of camp sensibility with a slight radical edge, that worked well.
J:  It was an exciting time to be a Smiths fan when those Jarman films came out.
R:  A pretty boy on London Bridge!
J:  I liked the hand in ‘Panic’.
R:  It was all Super 8.  It was shown all over the place.  In arthouses, on TV.  I don’t know why it took that long for them to make videos.  Those were brilliant!
Tumblr media
J:  Did you go to a lot of gigs?
 R:  Yes.  I went to a lot of Smiths gigs.  When they did ‘This Charming Man’ on Top Of The Pops the crew that Morrissey liked were all there. Me, Geoff, Scott Piering, Martha Defoe. We were all there saying ‘Yes! Yes!’ That was a magic moment.  It was incredible.  We were in the wings, off camera where we could watch.  It was really exciting.  We just watched them soar!  
 I always enjoyed the band in smaller venues.  I do remember London Palladium.  It was one of Morrissey’s greatest desires to do the London Palladium.  They brought on Pete Burns for the encore.  It was exciting to see bands that you’re involved in move forward from an audience of twenty people to having an audience of two hundred to having an audience of two thousand.  I’m going to use that word I hate – it’s the ‘journey’.  Ha ha!
J:  Tell me your recollection of the ‘I Don’t Owe You Anything’ moment at the Hacienda.  
R:  We all went up to the Hacienda because it was on my birthday – July the sixth.  Don’t forget to send me a card!  It was very nice that Morrissey acknowledged my birthday. The Rough Trade workforce was there – and some old Manchester people.  It felt like a homecoming gig.  It was a very different night from when The Hacienda had only twenty people in it. It was my thirtieth birthday. Then he went into ‘I Don’t Owe You Anything’, which, was kind of cheeky, I thought.  It was playful. I liked it.  I was like everybody’s favourite neighbour, that’s what Morrissey said.
J: I get the impression that you and Morrissey had a good rapport.
R:  Yes, we had a good rapport.  I could banter with him and James Maker.  It was just banter, and a bit of polari!  James wore beads and high heels.  Johnny wore beads too.  I think it was the influence of sixties girl groups. It was subversive.  It was never any surprise to me that Morrissey became the front man of probably the most subversive group of the time.
J:  Have you read Autobiography?
R:  I’ve read Morrissey’s book, yes. I really enjoyed the stories of his upbringing - very evocative.  I came out of it very well!  Me and Morrissey both did, ha ha!
Tumblr media
The only bit I read of Johnny’s was in my local bookshop and he had written something inaccurate about somebody else – and it was me! It was the bit about The Smiths tape with Matt Johnson.  But it was me!
J:  Do you follow Morrissey’s solo work?
R:  Yes.  The last time I saw him was at the Albert Hall for You Are The Quarry with my daughter.  We were in a box with Boz Boorer’s family.  Linder was there in the next box.  We went backstage.  Morrissey went up to Rachel, my daughter and said, ‘You’re supposed to be a baby!’  It was Rachel’s first big concert.  We got smuggled in.  Listed by Mike Hinc. I haven’t seen Johnny for a really long time.
J:  What is it about The Smiths that makes them so enduring?
R:  It’s the songs, really.  They stand the test of time.  I saw Buzzcocks at the Roundhouse two weeks ago and that was kids of all ages - including their grandparents.  It all goes back to the songs.  What I always find funny about Morrissey is that football terrace mob; how he excited Millwall fans.  Holding banners that they love him.  It goes back to the songs.  
Tumblr media
J:  If Morrissey walked in here right now and said, ‘All right, Richard?’ what would you say?
R:  Oh. That’s wicked.  I’d say, ‘All right, Morrissey?’  Or maybe I would call him ‘Steven’.  I called him that before he was Morrissey.  Steven. I might say,
‘This isn’t the Morrissey that I used to know.’  Ha ha! I’d also possibly give him a man hug and say ‘It’s about time you made another record.’  Hang on, I’m not sure about the hugging thing.
J:  You weren’t big huggers in the eighties?
R:  No. I’ve never hugged Morrissey.  I need a badge that says that.  Wait - maybe it should be, ‘Morrissey never hugged me.’  
J:  There’s still time.
R:  Oh, stop it!
J:  If Morrissey was coming to your house, what snacks would you put out for him?  
R:  In the name of God!  Right. Avocado dip.  Or hummus.  
J:  Do you make that avocado dip yourself?
R:  Yes. Quite often.  Everybody gets this question?
J:  Yes.
R:  Okay. Dips.  Starters. That’s just nibbles you see.  Dips.  Followed by… Now you’re really asking what I like cooking.  Roasted red pepper soup.  Main: I’ve recently been doing a lot of stuff with celeriac, so something around celeriac, but I’m not sure what.  And then… I suppose you want pud, don’t you?
J:  If you’re giving it.
R:  Honestly! Oh I think, an ice cream.  You want flavour? Ridiculous! For Christmas every year I make Christmas pudding ice cream.  Basically vanilla ice cream with pudding in it.  Why are you looking like that?  I don’t let the pudding sit for a year I make it the year before.  It’s frozen!  Ice cream is frozen, Julie.  There’s always Christmas pudding left isn’t there?  Everybody likes Christmas pudding.  I like Christmas pudding.  Do you?
J:  Oh no, I really don’t.  Too stodgy.  Tell me about your one earring.
R:  My earring? Ha ha!  I have other studs.  I like this black one.  I got my ear pierced in 1978.  It was probably at Lewis’s in Manchester because they did ear piercing.  I think it was my wife’s suggestion.  Why only one?  Because of William Shakespeare!  
J:  So it has nothing to do with punk?  You never put a safety pin in it or anything like that?
R:  No.
J:  What did you dress like back in the Rough Trade days?
R:  I had jackets.  Ties. I liked ties.  I always made a point when I worked at Rough Trade amidst all the punks, hippies and goths to wear a tie.  It was my gag.  But my earring - nobody ever asks me about that.
J: I noticed as it’s the only one.  Like, ‘I’m a librarian by day but I’m secretly very punk, you know.’
R:  Yes, maybe! I think I just wore a sleeper for a long time.  I get most of my stuff from Metal Crumble.
J: What’s your favourite crisp flavour?
R:  Salt and Vinegar.  If I were to eat crisps I’d probably eat them straight from the bag.
J:  What’s your favourite pizza topping?
R:  Wow. Right.  Topping.  Let’s see. You’ve got your tomato base. Olives.  Rocket.  Maybe some mozzarella.
J:  Favourite Buzzcocks song?
R:  Ah. ‘What Do You know?’  The one with the horn section.  Tail end of Buzzcocks career.   
J:  Favourite Sex Pistols song?
R:  ‘Bodies’. Johnny’s Catholicism comes out. It’s an anti-abortion song.  As Simon Reynolds’ says, it’s his favourite because Johnny says ‘F*ck’ a lot.  I think because we were so familiar with the Pistols’ repertoire the only thing that was new and distinctly different was ‘Bodies’ so it stood out.  Although I disagree with its sentiment.
J:  What’s your favourite Smiths song?
R:  Wow. Ah.  That’s hard.  There’s so many.  Oh blimey. It’s really hard.  ‘Handsome Devil.’  I love it.  And I love ‘I Know It’s Over.’  But I still love ‘Handsome Devil’  it’s them as they’re really starting out.  It’s got an edge, they got more polished.  I like a rough diamond.
J: What’s your favourite Smiths album?
R:  Strangeways.
J:  The most polished.
R: The most overlooked!  The Queen Is Dead is seen as their peak.  Otherwise, Hatful Of Hollow.  At the Peel sessions they were live and more immediate.   Which is yours?
J:  The Smiths. The first album. I love all the records but this is what first turned my head so it’s special to me.
R:  That reminds me.  Geoff and I went to a Peel session and they did ‘This Charming Man’.  We ran out into the corridor and said, ‘That song!  That has to be the single.’  The first time we heard it.  Live. We were in the control room and had to nip out of the studio to talk about it. For Rough Trade, ‘Hand In Glove’ was a one-off deal.  We never went in for standard contracts, but we decided to with The Smiths. During that summer we got into contracted discussions.  We said, ‘If they’re going to sign, this has to be the single.’
J:  Favourite Morrissey song?
R:  ‘Every Day Is Like Sunday.’  It’ encapsulates boredom in a more serious way than Buzzcocks did.  And Vini’s playing is great.  
J:  Favourite Morrissey album?
R: ‘Your Arsenal’.  I like that one.  I like the cover.
J:  Do you have a lyric that you love?
R:  ‘There’s more to life that books you know, but not much more.’  That’s a great line!
J:  How did you end up as a librarian?
R:  After the big Rough Trade collapse in 1991 a couple of people and I tried to revive The Catalogue.  And failed. We tried and we failed.  Then my son was born and I was ‘house husband’. In a parent-run cooperative crèche. Then my son went to primary school and my wife said, ‘Right.  Get a job. Here’s an advert you should reply to!’
J:  So you got your ear pierced because of your wife, and a job, because of your wife.
R: I moved to London because of my wife.  She is my everything.
J:  I see that! What’s your favourite thing that she says?
R:  ‘Do some f*cking tidying up!  Clear some of these books!  Get rid of that!  Why is this in the living room?’  
J:  Of course. She’s still with you.
R:  Yes. We are blessed.  We got married when she was pregnant with our daughter, Rachel, who was twenty-eight yesterday.  
J:  Who is your favourite actor?
R:  Marlon Brando.  On The Waterfront.  
J:  What’s your favourite book?
R:  Book? That’s a big ask.  
J:  Favourite song to dance to?
R:  Anything ska or northern soul.  I like that one, oh, what’s it called, ‘Give Me Just A Little More Time’ by Chairmen of the Board.  Kylie covered it.  I love that. See it’s easy to dance.  It’s just like this, [stands up, begins walking through the steps]. ‘One-two-three-four.  One-two-three-four.  Just repeat.’
J:  What’s your favourite childhood toy?
R:  Toy?  Tough call. Mainly, I recall happy hours playing and building on my own as a small boy with Lego bricks, decades before they became so themed.
J:  Where is your favourite place to eat?
R:  Place to eat? I can do place to eat.  Home!  I’ve done note to mum – tick.
Tumblr media
J:  Thank you. Do people phone you to check facts from years ago?
R:  Yes. And some of the time I can remember them.  
Tumblr media
Follow Richard Boon on Twitter @booniepops.  Don’t phone, he’s in a meeting.
15 Minutes With You by Julie Hamill is available now from all good book shops.
©All content is copyright Julie Hamill 2017.  Unauthorised use and/or duplication of this material without consent from Juie Hamill is strictly prohibited.
Tumblr media
Punk loose on Oxford Street
2 notes · View notes
sage-nebula · 7 years
Note
I wanna send BlueEx ships for the meme but I'm having a hard time choosing one. Pick your favorite between Rin, Shiemi, Bon and/or Izumo x3
Why not all of them? ;D
Rin/Shiemi:
I definitely ship this.
Aside from the fact that I’m 95% sure that this is going to be the canon endgame pairing (or at least one of them), this is one of the rare cases in shounen manga where I feel perfectly comfortable and happy with that because of how wonderfully it’s being developed. Although it was established pretty much from the start that Rin thought Shiemi was hecka cute and had a huge crush on her, their relationship has still been primarily developed in the arena of friendship rather than the arena of love interests. I mean, for starters, Shiemi hasn’t even realized until recently that dating Rin/being romantically involved with him is even a possibility; and when she did realize it, she asked him what the difference between romance and friendship was, because she honestly didn’t know (given that this would be her first relationship and they’re both still quite young!), and he didn’t have a real answer either (aside from what you’d expect from a hormonal teenage boy =P). Because of this, all of their interactions from Shiemi’s side have been steadfastly rooted in friendship, particularly since Rin was one of the first friends that Shiemi ever had (her second ever friend, actually, after Yukio), and she didn’t even realize that he considered her to be a friend at first, considering he was stupid and lied about it when Bon teased him about it right after Shiemi started attending the cram school.
And you know what? From Rin’s side, things have been pretty focused on friendship, too! While not as obvious as Shiemi, Rin also has a pretty much friendless background; he was always getting into fights and being disruptive as a kid, and as such pretty much no one outside of his family wanted anything to do with him. The fact that the other ExWires consider him a friend is shocking to him, which is what makes it so heartbreaking when they all become terrified of him a couple scenes later thanks to Amaimon’s shenanigans in the woods. But it’s because of this that even though Rin has a crush on Shiemi (and has since he saw her, pretty much), his interactions with her have still primarily been platonic. Even in instances where he confessed that he liked her, or asked her to dance—even in those cases, Rin still put their friendship first, rather than his desire to date her. They’ve been steadily coming closer as friends and companions rather than love interests, growing as people in addition to building their budding relationship. And we can see that this is only going to continue with Shiemi formally turning him down for the time being, because she feels that she still has a lot of growing to do, and wants to continue to grow as a person (and wants him to wait for her, though she refuses to say that out loud because she knows it isn’t fair—baby). So this is a rare situation in a shounen manga where it’s very, very evident that even though Shiemi is Rin’s primary love interest, she’s also much more than just his love interest, and whatever eventual romance they have is going to be one built on a solid foundation of friendship. I’m pretty sure this is going to end up canon, and I’m excited for it, because we’re seeing relationship development in this series on par with FMA, and that’s pretty hard to accomplish.
Rin/Bon:
But that said, I also definitely ship this!
I’m pretty sure that the BlueEx mangaka is going to go the typical route of only having het ships, so I don’t have any hope for this one being canon. But that said, if it was, I’d be really happy with it! This is one of those rare instances in shounen manga (so many of those) where we see an actually healthy rivalry. Rin and Bon are rivals, sure, but they’re rivals who encourage, inspire, and support each other. Even when they fight, it’s clear that they aren’t fighting with the intention to be hurtful, per se, but rather because they’re coming from opposite views and they’re both headstrong, passionate people who sometimes have a hard time seeing where someone else is coming from. This has made it difficult for both of them to reconcile with others in the past (most notably, both of their fathers—but god damn it, Bon, Rin warned you). But with all of that said, it’s also pretty apparent how they each care about the other quite a bit and hold them in high esteem. Rin has felt that Bon was super cool since the moment they met (and only had that opinion drop when he saw Bon going off on his own father, making the same mistakes that Rin himself did), and while Bon was eternally frustrated by what he saw as a lackadaisical attitude from Rin at first, the fact that Rin continually managed to succeed and so very plainly cared about all of them regardless of the circumstances won Bon’s respect, too. I also think that, as of S2E5, Rin flipping out on Bon for treating his father like that has cut deep to Bon’s core as well. I think that is what is inspiring his change of heart toward Rin after the whole “son of Satan” thing repulsed him so.
Essentially, I think these two are a wonderful example of rivals who actually boost each other up rather than tearing each other down. They have a lot of similarities and differences, and while this causes clashing sometimes I think that, on the whole, they work beautifully together. So I ship this, too. x3
Rin/Izumo:
I like this … but I lean more toward brotp. 
I do think that Rin and Izumo work pretty well together. They’re both honest, blunt people, which means that communication isn’t likely to be an issue. Izumo also knows what it is to be a pariah, ostracized and looked down upon by others for being unapproachable or frightening, which I think is a big part of the reason why she was the first of the ExWires to reach out to Rin after what happened in the forest. Rin isn’t afraid to cut right through Izumo’s BS, either, which is something that she needs considering that she has a lot of it (I mean, I love her, but it’s true). So I definitely see the merits in this ship, especially since—like every other possible ship among the ExWires—it’s been developed wonderfully as a friendship.
That said, I will admit that the attitudes of some Rin/Izumo shippers have been pretty terrible from what I’ve seen. Namely, I’ve seen quite a few of them tearing down Shiemi with some pretty horrible things (everything from calling her a useless bimbo to accusing her of not caring about/being afraid of an ungrateful toward Rin, wtf), and that kind of behavior can cool me off a ship real fast. It’s fine if you prefer Rin/Izumo, but you don’t have to bash Shiemi or Rin/Shiemi in the process of celebrating your ship, you know? So I do like Rin/Izumo, but at the moment I’m more solidly in brotp territory thanks to the way some Rin/Izumo shippers have behaved.
Bon/Shiemi:
I haven’t really thought about this too much, but I think it could be really cute! I could see Bon getting flustered with trying to date someone like Shiemi, who is still pretty sweet and, well … I don’t want to say naive, but she is learning about romance via shoujo manga, so. =P (Which isn’t all that different from Rin, so hey!) I could especially see Bon trying to follow tropes to the letter, too, but getting flustered when things don’t go exactly the way he thinks they’re supposed to, and ultimately just throwing caution to the wind to just be himself. I don’t know, I really haven’t thought about it, but it could be cute! I wouldn’t be opposed, even if I mostly see them as a brotp at the moment.
Bon/Izumo:
Again, I haven’t thought about this one a lot either, but it could be cute/funny, even if I … don’t really see any romantic chemistry between them at the moment at all, heh. I’ll have to get farther in the series before I can really make a judgment on this one either way, since at the moment they haven’t interacted very much beyond insults and arguing.
Izumo/Shiemi:
EXORCIST GIRLFRIENDS. I really, really like this one because of all the wonderful development they’ve had. I mean, let’s not kid ourselves, they started off on a horrible foot. Izumo was downright horrid to Shiemi (something Paku called her out on, finally), and Shiemi took it because she was so desperate to make a real friend for what she felt was the first time in her life (because she didn’t feel that she was on equal footing with the Okumura twins). But thanks to Paku’s callout and Shiemi’s steadfast tendency to be wonderful, Izumo realized the error of her ways and has really improved. These two have had a steadily developing relationship built around the fact that they encourage and support each other. Izumo, thanks to Shiemi’s support, is realizing that there are people who support her outside of her one friend (Paku). And Shiemi, thanks to Izumo’s encouragement, is finding her own confidence and inner strength and is learning to stand back up when things get her down. I’ve also seen spoilers from a most recent chapter in which, after Shiemi makes a rather shocking declaration, Izumo is the one most upset about it, which really shows how far they’ve come, both as individuals and as companions.
So yeah, I definitely ship the exorcist girlfriends. ♥ They’ve come a very long way and I’m so, so happy that they’ve been allowed to develop such a strong, wonderful relationship outside of their relationships with the male characters. Seriously, bless Blue Exorcist, it makes me so happy. ♥
(Put a ship it my ask box and I’ll tell you if/why/why not I ship it.)
8 notes · View notes
mcollawn · 4 years
Text
Winter and Snow in Anime By: Zorez Shahzad
No matter how you put it, we must all accept the fact that Japanese people see this world a little differently. Japanese people give a lot of importance to the smallest of things, and these things also include weather change. Weather change, whether it be a drop of the first dried up leaf in fall, or drop of the first snowflake in winter, is given a lot of significance by the people. In Japan, it is not out of the ordinary to see people make a prediction based on the weather. Snow is viewed differently in different parts of Japan. Some consider it to be the most beautiful blessing, whilst others, not so much. For the most part, however, snow is referred to as “Yuki” in Japan. The word Yuki roughly translates as, “Winter’s beauty”. If you are a fan of Japanese anime, or Japanese dramas/movies, then you might have seen characters (especially female) named Yuki or something similar to Yuki. Winter and snow are seen as such a blessing, that people are naming their children after it.
Today, we will take a closer look at the deeper meaning of snow in anime. I will be breaking down the winter scenes from some amazing anime. Also, before we get started, this post will contain spoilers.
Let us first get started with the anime “5 Centimeters Per Second”. This anime has a very deep message behind its story. 5 Centimeters Per Second shows us the reality of life, about how this reality is most of the time, uncontrollable. It’s a story about the struggle of two lovers, who eventually wind up getting further and further away from each other. This beautiful masterpiece uses the weather quite masterfully in order to convey its story. When the show starts up, we are greeted with beautiful cherry blossoms. Cherry blossoms actually represent youth and energy in Japan. The spring season is used to show us how young love is blossoming between the two kids. The two kids are young and naïve and believe that they will be able to stay together forever. The first time we see snow in the show is when Takaki and Akari try meetup with each other one last time before moving away. In this part of the movie, we see heavy snowfall and fast winds. Stormy winds are used to represent hopelessness whilst the snowfall, shows a glimmer of hope. We see how the whole air is filled with hopelessness, but Takaki still manages to get to Akari. In my personal opinion, this part of the movie defines the whole show through just the weather. The stormy winds are telling our protagonist that there will be hardships in life and he can’t avoid them, no matter what. At the same time, the beautiful snow shows a glimmer of hope. If both the protagonists had really tried, they could have ended up together. But eventually, they (especially Akari) start to accept this separation as the reality of their life.
Now, let us consider the example of Naruto, or more precisely, “Naruto Movie 1: Ninja Clash in the Land of Snow”. This anime movie also uses snow as a way to convey subliminal messages. First of all, the name of the female main character, Koyuki, tells us a lot about her importance in the movie. The name roughly translates as, “little snow”. As the ninjas are going into a land of heavy snowfall, bad luck also follows them. The show depicts the heavy snow as, being dark, whilst the female main character Kiyuki, the little snow, is seen as a glimmer of hope. At the end of the whole show, we see how all the heavy snow, suddenly just fades away, whilst Koyuki, the little snow, remains. This shows us that things always tend to work out! No matter how dim the ray of hope may be, there is always a good way in which the whole situation can end. In this movie, the ray of hope is very dim, as it is portrayed through the character with the most hopeless personality in the entire movie. But with his spark, Naruto makes everything turn out ok. The depiction of snow here is actually the same as its depiction in 5 Centimeters Per Second. But here, we see how the protagonist never gives up and always chases after that small spark of hope.
Next on our list is Erased. Erased is a brilliant mystery anime focusing on the story of Satoru. In this show, the mysterious vibe is represented through snowfall. This show actually uses the snow to showcase an ominous and dark tone. Whilst Satoru is trying his best to find the killer, the snow is in a way giving him a cover, hiding him from Satoru. This is another example of heavy snow being used to depict darkness. At the same time, however, the snow is also used to represent beauty. No matter how bad the situation got, Satoru never lost hope. The same goes for Kayo. The beautiful moments that Satoru and Kayo shared in the snow really helped them to keep ongoing. This anime shows us that everything can appear as good or bad. Where the heavy snow is ominous, it is also beautiful. Similarly, in life, every situation can be viewed as positive or negative, it is all truly up to the viewers perception. At the end of the whole show, after everything has been fixed, we see snowfall again. This time, the light snowfall actually represents beauty and hope. No matter how hard it gets, there is always a way for things to turn out okay! This show represents this fact throughout its entire run.
At last, we have the brilliant masterpiece “Your Lie in April”. Your Lie in April is an extremely emotional show, which uses the force of nature quite well. In the start, the cherry blossoms are used to show the enthusiastic spirit of Kaori. The spring season is also the season in which Kosei, slowly, starts to get out of his shell. Now, what about the winter season? The winter season and snow are also used quite beautifully in the show. The beginning of the winter season is also the time when Kosei starts to feel sad again. A girl suddenly came in Kosei’s life, changed everything for him, made his like better again, and now, she was on her deathbed. Kosei did not know about the true severity of the whole situation until one day he went to the hospital to give her a visit only to see her in such a bad condition that she had to be taken to the ICU. The snow represents how Kosei’s spirit is being taken away from him yet again. For Kosei, the snow is creating a very dark and ominous tone. On the other hand, Kaori is also scared. She does not want to die. She wants to spend the rest of her life with Kosei, but sadly she can’t. Kaori still tries to lie to herself and find beauty in the snow, which she does. Kosei also manages to find light in the darkness, when he remembers that there are other people counting on him as well. He can’t just give up on everything Kaori taught him, just because she’s leaving him. As Kosei plays the piano, this hope is shown in the form of spring yet again. Your Lie in April really used snow to convey a very gloomy tone.
https://i.imgur.com/ssLKSei.jpg
0 notes