#...the standards were weird

[thetimelordbatgirl]

People out here saying Bridge To Terabitha traumatized them as children meanwhile I'm out here having been traumatized by My Girl as a child instead.

[bearloonz]

I think we as a society should bring back brotps. I think we should be weirder about characters being friends the same way people are weird about ships. Make those two characters who interacted once or twice besties. Make it difficult for them to get rid of each other even if they want to. Go nuts

[aroaceleovaldez]

some musings about deified death sibs designs. ft obligatory sibling tormenting

[chaiaurchaandni]

also remember that no form of resistance is ever acceptable to the colonizer. and that includes non-violent resistance (the great march of return) + non-violence is only successful against a force that has a conscience. but if your opponent had a conscience, he would not be oppressing you in the first place.

[fromtheseventhhell]

I love how people are only ever interested in defending Arya's right to be weird-looking. It's never defending her intelligence from people who claim she's incapable of thinking for herself, highlighting her importance to the plot and refusing to see her as just a prop, acknowledging how much of her story gets stolen and given to other characters, talking about her trauma or how often it gets erased and overlooked, seeing her as more than just an attack dog/bodyguard, etc. Nope. It's just a "why can't people let Arya be ugly/unconventional looking? :(" post every other week because people are, for whatever reason, obsessed with how Arya is visually perceived. One of the most misinterpreted characters yet the issue is only ever with her being portrayed as "too pretty" or the wrong "type" of pretty. This fandom will entirely rewrite a character's motivations, values, and role in the story to the point that they consider references to canon "hate" but! The true injustice to canon is we acknowledge that she is described as pretty several times. Arya simply existing as her pretty, important, and non-conforming self is too complex and confusing for people to comprehend 😔.

[dreamings-free]

The former One Direction star has faced tragedy in recent months, but battles on — Joe Bromley meets him, smoking a cigarette in a basement in Soho, as he throws a party for his fashion brand.

by Joe Bromley, Fashion Editor Evening Standard 12/3/25

Louis Tomlinson still cannot shake the One Direction mob.

It’s the first, big realisation I have as the growing horde of girls barely into their teens — many of whom have been waiting for 10 hours, others who have flown in from Italy, and some that are accompanied by their doting fathers — alert me to the location of the Soho party he will be throwing for his fashion label, 28, later this evening.

Inside, as a cocktail bar, make-shift band set-up and rails of clothes made in China are being frantically erected, the security is flustered and tweens outside squawk and slam on the windows. I find Tomlinson, 33, hiding in the basement alongside a crate of warm Peroni beers, two bottles of Grey Goose vodka and a basket filled with Skittles and crisps. Hardly the red carpet treatment.

“Do you mind if I smoke,” he says, as he sits forwards in a black leather chair, wearing a cream, button-up knit short sleeve shirt with a bouquet of roses embroidered on one chest — of his own design — with loose fitting, blue jeans. Next to his box-fresh, white Adidas Stan Smiths stands a water glass which he is using as a make-shift ashtray. I do not. He lights a cigarette, before cracking open a beer using his lighter with the speed and smoothness of a seasoned pro. He is wearing a fair bit of concealer — his make-up artist stands, at the ready, in the corner of the room — and his long, eyebrow-length fringe is tousled.

“I must have the easiest f***ing rider of all time,” he says. “As long as I’ve got my vodka Red Bulls and a pack of ciggies, I’m alright.”

While Tomlinson appears somewhat erratic, his hand constantly gripped to one of the green bottles, he is effusively energetic with a singing Northern twang, keen smile and friendly nature. At 5ft 7in he is not overbearing in stature, and kindly repeats his vodka is for sharing.

The atmosphere is hectic upstairs, however. After five years in the most famous band in the world, which finally split in 2015, I suggest he must be used to the fans. “No, no,” he corrects me. “It’s a funny relationship ’cause I feel like I get on really well with them. It’s really, really nice to see them,” he says, in the most genuine tone he can muster. “It’s not something I’ve ever really stared in the face of, though. The longer you think about shit like that, it just doesn’t make any sense anyway.”

It has been a horrific few months for Tomlinson, by any standard. His band-member Liam Payne died after falling from the third-floor balcony of a hotel in Buenos Aires in October, and media scrutiny around the four surviving One Direction members — himself, Harry Styles, Zayn Malik and Niall Horan — has massively intensified.

I am told sternly before we sit down to, please, forgo any questions on the topic. “The Sun has been running a story that the boys are going to reunite at the Brits for Liam,” a PR manager tells me. “Louis just despairs. He could never get up there and sing as part of the band after what has happened.” One Direction did not perform during the awards, which took place the night after our interview.

Instead, in the wake of Payne’s death, Tomlinson took to Instagram, where he now has 20 million followers, to share his own personal message to his “brother”. “I’m so grateful that we got even closer since the band, speaking on the phone for hours, reminiscing about all the thousands of amazing memories we had together is a luxury I thought I’d have with you for life,” he wrote. “I wish I got a chance to say goodbye and tell you one more time how much I loved you.”

Tomlinson is no stranger to grief. His mother, Johannah Poulston, a midwife and TV assistant, died in 2016 at 43 after battling leukaemia, and his sister, Félicité, died from an accidental overdose in 2019 aged 18.

Eager not to be sidetracked, he launches, with fervour, into discussion about his fourth 28 collection, named so after his favourite number, which is also tattooed on his left-hand fingers. “It’s been really fun for me to apply the creative side of my brain somewhere else. When you’re songwriting — and at the moment I’m writing a new record — it is all encompassing. It’s nice to have a break from those kinds of creative ideas,” he says.

He founded the brand in August 2023 when he realised the clothes he loved growing up in Doncaster had become trendy. “Forty per cent of my wardrobe is sports-inspired somehow. I was doing that for years as a chavvy, tucking my socks in when I was a young lad before it was cool, and now you see everyone in the sports garb,” he says. “There’s a very, very chavvy aesthetic in Doncaster, at least when I was growing up. That’s exactly who I am and the kind of stuff that I like.”

Doesn’t he mind the term chavvy? “I’ve always embraced it,” he says. “Look, I am a f***ing chav, so I have to embrace it. I have to try and make it cool in my own head.”

Really? “I don’t think it’s a bad word, not to me. To me it’s about culture. It might mean other things to other people. It’s also very much how you grow up in a place like Doncaster. You can’t escape the chav in Donny, so you’ve got to become it.”

Tomlinson was born in Doncaster in 1991 to Poulston and Troy Austin, an alcoholic who left when he was a child and whom Tomlinson remains estranged from. He subsequently took his then-stepfather Mark Tomlinson’s surname, who is now a micro-celebrity in his own right boasting 274k Instagram followers.

Everything changed for him in 2010, aged 18, when he stepped out, squirming with nerves, in front of Simon Cowell and the rest of The X Factor judges to sing Scouting for Girls’ Elvis Ain’t Dead followed by Plain White T’s Hey There Delilah.

The clothes he wore are burnt into memory. “Like many of us, I’ve had some real f***ing fashion disasters for sure. I kid you not, the outfit I went to my first audition in, I will have been out in Doncaster in Silver Street, where all the clubs are, 20 times. That was my outfit: not quite baby blue, but a blue shirt with a black skinny tie and a cardigan,” he says. “These days that seems so f***ing like smart, but skinny ties were the vibe then.”

He was later moulded into the boy band member executives required. “When I was in One Direction we all had to have our certain specific look. Even if I tucked my socks in, they would say: ‘Let me tell you, take them straight out,’” he recalls. “There was an element of kind of dumbing that down.”

It is part of why he is enjoying going back to his roots with his brand, first designing football shirts and tracksuits but for the latest range introducing a denim co-ord set and knitwear. “There is an element of going back to all those ideas and really embracing my youth and my culture.” As for who he wants to see in his latest looks: “I feel like Jack O’Connell, from Skins, sums it up pretty well.” A$AP Rocky is his style pin-up (“every time you see him, he’s looking on point”), and what about Beyoncé in the denim? “Yes! That would be pretty cool — and also be great for sales.”

Tomlinson doesn’t overthink the creative process. “It’s not something that I’m spending 12 hours a day thinking about, I’m led by feel,” he explains. “That’s the way I treat my songwriting, too. You know, I’m not some musical genius.” While not designing, you will usually find him playing packed-out arenas in far-flung destinations worldwide. During his Faith in the Future World Tour, which ran May 26, 2023 to June 6, 2024, he played a total of 98 shows starting in Uncasville, Connecticut, and concluding in Mexico’s Guadalajara.

Last Sunday, in neon tracksuit bottoms and white vest, he was in Mumbai headlining Lollapalooza. “I always want to be ultimately relaxed, but my stylist is trying to get a little bit of sophistication out of me, which is needed,” he says.

He professes to love being on tour, which sets him apart from some of his contemporaries who deem it a gruelling, yet lucrative, part of the job. Why? “It’s a far cry from the real world.” He doesn’t bother trying to pull off the harrowing line as a joke.

“It’s like you might have speculated as a 16-year-old lad of what it is to tour — exciting, different places every day,” he continues. “You’re surrounded by so many different cultures, conversations with different people. As a creative — if I can call myself that — it’s really good to see the world.”

Trips back home to Doncaster are scheduled as often as he can, “realistically two or three times a year, but always for about three weeks over Christmas.” He is otherwise based in a grand, four-storey, six-bed Victorian mansion in Barnet, north London, which he bought in 2012.

“London is so vast, it just feels like a melting pot. There’s so many different creative ideas flying around,” he says. When I push him on his favourite places to hang out here, however, he freezes. “To be honest, the irony of that is that I was thinking about moving recently. I’ve got no idea where to move to. I like London, but I wouldn’t say I’d be able to put my finger on what: I really love it here, I really love it there — I don’t really know.” No other boroughs in the capital have caught his eye. “The place that I live now I’ve lived in for ages, ever since I was in the band. I haven’t really got any true perspective of London. But there’s time for that.”

Ultimately, he claims to find comfort on the stage. “There is a lot of mystique in the job of a singer,” he says. “If you do this, it might mean that.” Playing a gig is simple. “I just love how literal the whole thing is. I have people that are willing to pay to come and see me and I feel their reaction every night,” he says.

“I feel really good about that.” This time, I think he means it.

28’s fourth collection is available now, from £45, 28clothing.com

[marzipanandminutiae]

Eggers confirmed in interview that Ellen wasn't a child, she was teenager at the start of the film. You can probably say there's case of ephebophilia. But there is no CSA there. Also Eggers absolutely saw it as Dark romance and ships it himself. He wouldn't be doing it if there was CSA.

And that's fine, but not everyone accepts Word of God as canon

My thoughts on Eggers' interview statements are that he should have made his intentions clearer if that's what he was going for, because a huge portion of the audience came away with the impression that it was about someone's stalker/rapist coming back to jeopardize the life she'd made for herself out from under his thumb. And like...if he wanted people to not think that, he should have made directing choices that made the onscreen story match his vision better.

You're free to interpret it however you want. What I take issue with is people saying that there's One True Interpretation and no viable way to see it in any other light. There's one interpretation that the director intended, but the movie he actually made leaves holes to interpret it a different way. He shouldn't have made it that way if he had a very specific story to tell.

How can I see it as CSA? Simple. She said she was "a child" when it started and even if she was a young teenager, it being the early 1830s (assuming she's like 20-23 at time of canon, based on statistical age at first marriage for women back then) doesn't magically make 15-year-olds adults. 15 back then was about like 17 now- not a Tiny Baby, but decidedly not a Full Grown-Up either. "Child" CAN be a euphemistic term for a naive or inexperienced adult, but it's not always

And maybe if he wanted people to not interpret her as a literal child...he shouldn't have had her characterize herself that way in the dialogue, talking about when all of this started? "I was so young," "I didn't know better," "I was a fool," "I was naive," etc. SO MANY clearer wordings there. They already didn't get a child actress to play her in the opening scene; without that line, I'd assume it had been like. A few years before her marriage, when she was maybe 17-18, and just seen it as abuse rather than arguable CSA. It's a weird dialogue choice if he wanted to convey "the vampire sex started when she was young but not unacceptably young," like many other weird choices that I felt were counterproductive to his stated narrative aims.

Doesn't mean my interpretation is objectively correct either! But you don't see me going around saying that there's No Way Anyone Could See It As Consensual And That's Wrong And Bad.

I have both been there and done that before, coming from a fandom (Crimson Peak) where there's no way to interpret a central relationship as peer CSA/COCSA if you go by Word of God, but there's absolutely space for that based on what ended up in the actual movie. And I've had to make peace with it, even though I ship that couple to the moon and back.

You like these fake people kissing in this way, and other people don't. And that's fine! You don't need a big moral justification for it, or to have the Single Correct Interpretation!

[sysig]

Maybe something with Mousey being jealous of Hunter and Smoker for one reason or another? hehe

Day 7 - There might be a reason for that

Bonus:

[brainstewmp3]

a lot of the songs before nimrod were slightly out of tune (e flat, 1/4 step down, etc.) because supposedly the band didn't use tuners and didn't realise they were out of tune for most of their career until nimrod

[bowsbar]

pillowbook thoughts because ive been thinking about them all day!

[kira-light0-but-i-reblog-stuff]

The Colgate Comedy Hour- September 17, 1950

Part 1 / 2 / 3 / 4

[wackywatchdotcom]

...are they getting up for adventures at/before 6am every day?

like maybe the adventure for ep 4 is especially long, or maybe the work day was technically shorter and the clock was just going fast. but gangle says ragatha "gets off in an hour" and a full hour on the clock passes, and in previous scenes it really does seem to be going at a standard clock speed

even if this was a one time thing it still implies that adventures generally start at 6. and even thats not accounting for the fact that like... the show is operating on cartoon logic where the ~25 minutes we see isnt necessarily the exact same timespan that the characters are actually experiencing...

and honestly no matter what its implying that caine is completely willing to expect the circus members to be up at 6 in the morning for adventures

[dykedvonte]

Reading MW takes on Twitter is like reading a summary of the Bible from someone who only watched like a Family Guy family special about it

[cluepoke-archive]

Their both so autistic coded....

[aliusfrater]

you know the more i think about the events of season eight from sam's perspective the more i think. yeah id want to kill myself too

[acediaedeus]

he was a punk, she did ballet typa story with grimmichi, but both of them are punk, and both of them do ballet.

this one is an AU where they're just humans, but Ichigo is still a weirdo who sees ghosts, cause why the fuck not. also, long-haired Grimmjow.

in Ichigo's case, it's that he did ballet. why? let's imagine Masaki sending Yuzu to ballet classes when she's four because the girl is fascinated by the beautiful women dancing in white tutus on TV in one of her mum's shows. Masaki is afraid her small, gentle, and shy daughter will have a hard time making friends with all the new kids, so she tries to convince Karin to go with her sister, at least for the first few classes, but the girl is unwavering in her refusal. she would hate to pressure her children into anything, so accepts, and as a last resort goes to her older son. young and filled with the desire to protect his family and please his mother, Ichigo says he'll go with Yuzu.

and so on top of his karate, Ichigo also does ballet for a while, so his baby sister will have an easier time adjusting. he actually likes it too, but then mum dies, and the beautiful women dancing on TV she used to watch no longer bring fascination, only tears. so they no longer do ballet and that is that.

everything else after that is much the same: Ichigo gets bullied, puts the karate classes to use and becomes a delinquent. all is well until one day Yuzu comes to him, timid and unsure, putting Ichigo on high alert, fearing someone has hurt his sister (a big mistake they'll regret and learn not to repeat), but all she says is that she wants to try dancing again. he, of course, encourages her to try.

like the good older brother Ichigo is, he comes along for her first class as moral support. Yuzu is amazing, as expected, and he definitely feels some water in his eyes watching her dance, which no one needs to know that. BUT, there's this guy, who seems to be his age, training on the opposite side of the room. beautiful and mesmerizing, and so ethereal Ichigo can hardly look away. the way he moves is enchanting, his long blue hair swaying and spiralling into a snake with each spin. he leaves with a happy Yuzu for their little sibling celebration with Karin, filled to the brim with confusion.

time goes on, but he simply can't get the guy out of his head, and one evening he comes to walk Yuzu home (he is not about to let his baby sister walk alone in the darkness of winter). he's a little early, so the class is yet to finish, but oh wait, there's the guy standing outside. one thing leads to another aaaand... they're fighting. positively rolling on the ground like children. and like a child Grimmjow (cause that's his name apparently, which Ichigo doesn't even remember when he was told that) bites his hand, so like a child Ichigo tugs on his blue hair. it's soft and nice, and he's getting distracted. but then Yuzu is yelling at him, calling him a foolish boy (and he won't even argue, because he really is a fool).

so yes, turns out they both were punks and both did ballet.