#2016 french cast

[redgoldsparks]

I wrote a 12 page epilogue to my 2019 comic "Harry Potter and The Problematic Author" because I found, in 2023, that I had more to say. You can also find this comic on my website, and I have PDF copies available on etsy. I may sell print copies at some point in the future.

instagram / patreon / portfolio / etsy / my book / redbubble

Full transcript below the cut.

PAGE 1

Part one: Ruddy Owls!

I was in fourth grade when the first Harry Potter Book was released in the US.

Panel 1: Sometimes our teacher would read it aloud in class. “Mr and Mrs Dursley of number 4 Privat Drive were proud to say they were perfectly normal, thank you very much…”

Panel 2: I was 11 years old when Harry Potter finally broke through my dyslexia and turned me into a reader.

Panel 3: Every night in the summer before sixth grade I waited for the owl carrying my Hogwarts Letter. I cried when it didn’t come. “I have to go to Muggle school!”

PAGE 2

Part Two: Hats

I dedicated myself to being a fan.

Panel 1: I began collecting Harry Potter News article.

Panel 2: I asked my relatives to mail me ones from their local papers. I filled a thick binder with clippings.

Panel 3: I wrote my own trivia quiz

Panel 4: and participated in the one held annually at the county fair. “Next contestant!”

Panel 5: I usually got into one of. the top five spots. I won boxes of candy, posters, stationary, and once a baseball cap. (Hat reads: I survived the battle of Hogwarts).

Panel 6: In high school I sewed a black velvet cape and knitted many stripped scarves.

PAGE 3

Part Three: Double Trouble

Watching the last film in 2011 felt like the final note of my childhood. 

Panel 1: I remember driving home from the midnight showing thinking about the end of 13 years of waiting; wondering what would define the next chapter of my life. 

Panel 2: That same month I heard of something called Pottermore. “Okay, so there’s a sorting quiz… I already know my house! Patronus assignment? Mine’s a barn owl. Duh!" 

Panel 3: You can read the books again but with GIFs? Why? 

Panel 4: I lived in a place with very slow and limited internet at the time. Pottermore sounded inaccessible, but also boring. I never joined. 

Panel 5: "I’ll just read the actual books again, thanks." 

PAGE 4

Part Four: Sweets

In 2016, a series of short stories titled "History of Magic in North America” were released on Pottermore to pave the way for the first Fantastic Beasts Film. These stories display an extreme ignorance of American history, culture, and geography, but the worst parts are the casual misuse of indigenous beliefs and stories. Fans and critics immediately spoke up against this appropriation. Some of the most quoted voices included Nambe Pueblo scholar Dr. Debbie Reese who runs the site “American Indians In Children’s Literature”; Navajo writer Brian Young; Johnnie Jae (Otoe-Missouria and Choctaw), founder of A Tribe Called Geek; Dr Adrienne Keene (Cherokee Nation), a Professor at Brown University who runs the blog “Native Appropriations”, and writers N.K. Jemison and Paula Young Lee.

PAGE 5

Rowling is famous for responding to fans directly on twitter, yet she did not respond to anyone calling out the damaging aspects of “Magic in North America.” Her representatives refused to comment for March 9 2016 article in the Guardian. She has never apologized. All of this, plus the casting of Johnny Depp and the specific declarations of support by JKR, Warner Brothers, and director David Yates left a sour taste in my mouth.

For further thoughts on the new films read The Crimes of Grindelwald is a Mess by Alanna Bennett for Buzzfeed News, November 16, 2018.

PAGE 6

Excerpt from Colonialism in Wizarding American: JK Rowling’s History of Magic in North America Through an Indigenous Lens by Allison Mills, MFA, MAS/MLIS (Cree and Settler French Canadian)

Although Rowling is certainly not the first white author to misstep in her treatment of Indigenous cultures, she has an unprecedented level of visibility and fame, […] One of the most glaring problems with Rowling’s story is her treatment of the many Indigenous nations in North America as one monolithic group. […It] flattens out the diversity of languages, belief systems, and cultures that exist in Indigenous communities, allowing stereotyping to persist. […] It continues a long history of colonial texts which ignore that Indigenous peoples still exist. […] In the Wizarding world, as in the real world, Indigenous histories have been over-written and our cultures erased.

from The Looking Glass: New Perspectives in Children’s Literature Volumn 19, Issue 1

PAGE 7

Part 5: Music

Panel 1: Also in 2016 I discovered two podcasts which radically altered my experience of being an HP fan. The first was Witch Please created by two Canadian feminist literary scholars Hannah McGregor and Marcelle Kosman.

Panel 2: “If it’s not in the text it doesn’t count!” “Close reading ONLY!”

Panel 3: They talk about Harry Potter at the level you’d expect in a college class with particular focus on gender, race, class, and the troubling fatphobia, fear of othered and queer coded bodies, violence against women, white feminism, gaslighting and failed pedagogy in the books. They bring up these issues not because they hate the series, but because they LOVE it.

PAGE 8

These passionate, joyful conversations went off like fireworks in my mind. I had never taken a feminist class before. I gained a whole new vocabulary to talk about the books- and the world.

PAGE 9

Panel 1: The second podcast I started that year was Harry Potter and the Sacred Text, created by two graduates of the Harvard Divinity School, Vanessa Zoltan and Casper Ter Kuile.

Panel 2: They read one chapter per episode through a theme such as love, control, curiosity, shame, responsibility, hospitality, destruction, or mystery. Like Witch Please, they are interested only in the information on the page, not thoughts from the author. The delights and failures of the text are examined in the context of the present day, and new meanings constantly arise.

PAGE 10

What does it mean to treat a text as sacred?

Trusting that the more time we give to it, the more blessings it has to give us.

Reading the text repeatedly with concentrated attention. Our effort is part of what makes it sacred. The text is not in and of itself sacred, but is made so by rigorously engaging in the ritual of reading.

Experiencing it in community.

“To me, the goal of treating the text as sacred is that we learn to treat each other as sacred.” -Vanessa Zoltan

PAGE 11

Part 6: Tooth and Claw

In October 2017, Rowling liked a tweet linking to an article arguing that trans women should be kept out of women’s bathrooms because of cisgender women’s fears. In March 2018, she liked a tweet about the problem of misogyny in the UK Labour Party which included the line “Men in dresses get brosocialist solidarity I never had.” The author of the tweet had previously posted many blatantly anti-trans statements.

Rowlings publicist claimed she had liked the posted by accident in a “clumsy and middle-aged moment.” Yet, in September 2018 she liked a link posted by Janice Turner to her column in the Times UK titled “Trans Rapists Are A Danger In Women’s Jails.”

Screencaps of these tweets can be found in the article “The Mysterious Case of JK Rowling and her Transphobic Twitter History”, January 10 2019 by Gwendolyn Smith (a trans journalist), LGBTQNation.com

PAGE 12

Excerpt from: Is JK Rowling Transphobic? A Trans Woman Investigates by Katelyn Burns

Ultimately, the answer is yes, she is transphobic […] I think it’s fair that she receives criticism from trans people, especially given her advocacy on behalf of queer people in general, but also because she has a huge platform. Many people look up to her for creating a singular piece of popular culture that holds deep meaning for fans from different walks of life, and she has a responsibility to handle that platform wisely. (Published on them.us March 28, 2018)

PAGE 13

Part 7: Home

At age 30, I’m still not over Harry Potter.

Panel 1: I’ve recently found a local bar that does HP trivia nights. “Poppy or Pomona?” “Poppy!”

Panel 2: I currently own an annual pass to Universal Studios so I can visit Hogsmeade.

Panel 3: I love talking to kids who are reading the books for the first time. “Who’s your favorite character?” “Ginny!”

Panel 4: And I’m planning a relisten to the audio books to next year to help me get through the election cycle. “Jim Dale, I’m going to need you more than ever…”

Spoiler from 2023: I did not do this. By mid-2020 JKR had posted her transphobic essay; we were in covid; I never visited Universal Studios again.

PAGE 14

But I do want to learn from her mistakes. I never want to repeat “Magic in North America.” As I write, I will do my research. I will consult experts and compensate them. If a reader from a different culture/background than me speaks up about my work, I will listen and apologize. I KNOW I WILL MAKE MISTAKES. But I will own up to them and I will do better.

PAGE 15

Excerpt from Diversity Is Not Enough: Race, Power and Publishing by Daniel José Older

We can love a thing and still critique it. In fact, that’s the only way to really love a thing. Let’s be critical lovers and loving critics and open ourselves to the truth about where we are and where we’ve been. Instead of holding tight to the same old, failed patriarchies, let’s walk a new road, speak new languages. Today, let’s imagine a literature, a literary world, that carries this struggle for equity in its very essence, so that tomorrow it can cease to be necessary, and disappear. (Buzzfeed, April 14, 2017) 

PAGE 16

Harry Potter is flawed, & JK Rowling is problematic. But the books helped me learn a lot: 

*One of the greatest dangers facing the modern world is the rise of fascism 

*The government cannot be trusted 

*Read and think critically

*Question the news: who paid the journalist? Who owns the paper? 

*Trust and support your friends through good times and bad

*Organize for resistance

*Educate and share resources with peers

*The revolution must be diverse and intersectional

* We are only as strong as we are united

*The weapon we have is love 

MK 2019

PAGE 17

PART 8: EPILOGUE

In 2021 I removed a Harry Potter patch I sewed to my book bag over a decade ago. I took 15 pieces of Harry Potter fanart off my walls. I got rid of my paperback book set, 2 board games, and 8 t-shirt. [images: a Hogwarts a patch with loose threads, a pair of scissors and a seam ripper]

Panel 1: Maia holding up a shirt with the Deathly Hallows logo on it. Maia thinks: “Damn, this really used to be my entire personality.”

Panel 2: The t-shirt gets thrown into the Goodwill box.

PAGE 18

I wrote my zine wrestling with JKR’s legacy in 2019, after her dismissive and racist reaction to indigenous fans and critics of “Magic in North America” and after she had liked a couple transphobic tweets. Since then, she has gotten so much worse.

A Brief Timeline (mostly from this Vox article)

June 2020- JKR posts a 3600 word essay making her anti-trans position clear

August 2020- The Robert F Kennedy Human Rights Org issues a statement about her transphobia, JKR doubles down on her position and returns an award they gave her

December 2020- JKR claims 90% of HP fans secretly agree with her anti-trans views

December 2021- JKR mocks Scottish Police for recognizing transgender identities

March 2022- JKR criticizes gender-inclusive language and legislation

December 2022- JKR retweets trans youtuber Jessie Earl’s critical review of Hogwarts Legacy, starting an onslaught of transphobic harassment towards Earl

December 2022- JKR removes her support from an Edinburgh center for survivors of sexual violence with a trans-inclusive policy and funds her own center which explicitly excludes trans sexual assault survivors

January 2023- JKR tweets “Deeply amused by those telling me I’ve lost their admiration due to disrespect I show violent, duplicitous rapists.” It got nearly 300K likes

March 2023- One the podcast “The Witch Trials of JK Rowling”, hosted by a former Westboro Baptist Church Member, JKR compares the trans rights movement to Death Eaters.

PAGE 19

What are The Witch Trials of JK Rowling?

Panel 1: Maia speaking. “It’s a 7 episode documentary style podcast hosted by Megan Phelps-Roper. Nearly every episode contains interviews with JKR as well as critics, journalists, historians, protestors and fans.

Panel 2: Maia speaking. “In episode 1, JKR speaks more candidly than she has previously about being in an abusive marriage. Her ex-husband hit her, stalked her, broke into her house overlapping with the time she was writing the first three HP books.”

Panel 3: Maia speaking. “What she went through genuinely sounds horrific. I have a lot of sympathy for the kind of life-long traumas those experiences leave.”

PAGE 20

HOWEVER.

It is clear from reading the June 2020 essay on her blog and listening to the podcast, that JKR still to this day feels unsafe. Despite her wealth and privilege she moves through the world with the mindset of a victim. And the group of people she finds most threatening are trans women.

Or rather, she is afraid that allowing trans women in women’s spaces invites the possibility of male predators entering those spaces.

Here’s a direct quote: The problem is male violence. All a predator wants is access and to open the doors of changing rooms, rape centers, domestic violence centers [...] to any male who says “I’m a woman and I have a right to be here” will constitute a risk to women and girls. - from The Witch Trials episode 4 as transcribed by therowlinglibrary.com, March 2023

Image: A stem of Belladonna with flowers and berries.

PAGE 21

Let me introduce here the term: TRANSMISOGYNY. The intersection of transphobia and misogyny, this term was coined by Julia Serano in 2007. Scout Tran, on tiktok as Queersneverdie said: “Transmisogyny occurs in people who have been previously hurt by traditional misogyny. Who have been driven to hate men or at the very least to be scared of men. They will sometimes take out that rage on trans women. (March 2023)

JKR claims to care for trans women and understand they are extremely vulnerable to assault and violence. In her 2020 Essay she wrote: “I want trans women to be safe. At the same time, I do not want to make natal girls and women less safe.”

So she cares about trans women… just less than cis women, and she’s willing to throw all trans women under the bus because of her unfounded, prejudice fears.

PAGE 22

Panel 1: Maia speaking. “JKR claims to have seen data that proves trans women have presented physical threats to other women in intimate spaces, but never cites sources. She also uses “producer of the large gametes” as a definition of “woman”.

What about transmen and nonbinary folks?

Panel 2: Maia leaning on a stack of all seven HP books, the first four Cormorant Strike books and The Casual Vacancy, gesturing to a series of quotes with a tired and disgusted expression.

I’m concerned about the huge explosion of young women wishing to transition and also about the increasing numbers who seem to be detransitioning. * [...] If I’d been born 30 years later, I too might have tried to transition. The allure of escaping womanhood would have been huge. -June 10 2020 essay

I don’t believe a 14 year old can truly understand what the loss of their fertility is.

-Witch Trials episode 4

I haven’t yet found a study that hasn’t found that the majority of young people experiencing gender dysphoria grow out of it*. -Witch Trials episode 7

*No sources cited

PAGE 23

It’s hard to over emphasize how fixated JKR has become on these topics. As of the date I’m writing this, 14 out of her 20 most recent tweets (70%) are in some way anti-trans. She tweets against Mermaids (a UK based trans youth charity), against trans athletes, against gender neutral bathrooms, and in support of LBG Alliance- a UK org that denies trans rights while upholding gay rights. Here are some gems from her archive:

“People who menstruate.” I’m sure there used to be a word for those people. Someone help me out. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud? -June 2020

War is Peace. Freedom is Slavery. Ignorance is Strength. The Penised Individual Who Raped You Is a Woman. - December 2021

And in response to someone asking “How do you sleep at night knowing you lost a whole audience?”

I read my most recent royalty cheques and find the pain goes away pretty quickly. -October 2022

PAGE 24

Hashtag Ruthless Productions a queer nerd podcast company created a great guide on ethical engagement with HP. Image: the two hosts of Hashtag Ruthless productions, Jessie (They/she) and Lark (he/him).

Stop buying all official HP Products: books, movies, games, toys, etc, Universal Studios tickets, food, merch.* Boycott any new TV series or movies. Instead: buy the books and DVDs used. If you still want to wear HP merch, buy fan-made. Engage only with fan content: fic, podcasts, fanart, wizard rock, etc. Show transphobia is bad for business. None of this will change JKR’s mind. But the Fantastic Beast series was canceled and after record Pottermore sales in 2020, they fell in 2022 by 40%.

*She gets a portion of ALL tickets. In 2019, this was her largest income source. Read the full guide: hashtagruthless.com/resourceguide

PAGE 25

As late as 2019, I was still reading JKR’s murder mystery series. But by the fourth book my experience began to sour.

Panel 1: Maia holding a copy of Lethal White. “The only gay character in this book is a government official who gropes his staff?”

Panel 2: “The only genderqueer character is misgendered and portrayed as a whiny faker?”

Panel 3: “The only Muslim character is disowned by his family over gay rumors?”

Panel 4: “Even the women aren’t portrayed very well…”

Panel 5: “Why is the main female character defined by the rape in her past?”

Panel 6: “Wait, what happens in the rest of this series…?” Maia scrolls on eir phone.

Panel 7: “Is the series heading towards an employee/boss relationship?”

Panel 8: “And has a man wearing women’s clothes to commit assault?”

Panel 9: “Yeah, I’m done. I’m never reading a new JKR book ever again.”

PAGE 26

And as for JKR herself?

As tempting as it might be to tweet your frustrations at her, I don’t recommend it. In 2021, she tweeted, “Hundreds of trans activists have threatened to beat, rape, assassinate and bomb me.” Getting hate online feeds her sense of victimhood and she waves it as proof of her moral high ground. Instead I suggest you block her on twitter, then delete twitter, go to the library and try to find a new book that feels magical.

Stack of books: In Other Lands by Sarah Rees Brennan, The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater, Gifts by Ursula K Le Guin, Deep Wizardry by Diane Duane, A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik and Gideon the Ninth by Tamsin Muir.

PAGE 27

In “Emergent Strategy” adrienne maree brown writes: You do not have the right to traumatize abusive people, to attack them, personally or publicly, or to sabotage anyone else’s health. The behaviors of abuse are also survival-based, learned behaviors rooted in pain. If you can look through the lens of compassion, you will find hurt and trauma there. If you are the abused party, healing that hurt is not your responsibility and exacerbating that pain is not your justified right.

PAGE 28

Seeing anyone over age 12 wearing HP merch now makes me uncomfortable. Are they ignorant or actively a TERF? I hate wondering how much money JKR has probably poured into anti-trans legislation… This zine is a culmination of my slow breakup with a story that once brought me joy. Now it just makes me angry, tired and sad.

Image: Candle in a fancy holder burned down to less than an inch.

Maia Kobabe, 2023

[fromthedust]

portrayals of bats in the 20th & 21st centuries

Bat Cabaret Sign - France - wrought iron, rolled iron, carved and embossed, green glass

pair of bats - ivory seal - China

Rene Lalique (French, 1860-1945) - bat brooch - 1900

bat design - Bijutsukai (Art World) - vol. 2 - 1901-1902

Rene Lalique (French, 1860-1945) - bat ring - 1901

Rene Lalique (French, 1860-1945) - bat pendant - 1901

Ferdinand Erhart (French, active 1891-1933) - Bat Belt Buckle - cast silver, carved and oxidized - 1908

Bat Brooch - France - c.1908

Henri Husson (French, 1852-1933) - Cup with Bat - c.1909

Ohara Koson (Japanese, 1877-1945) - Bats In Moonlight - c.1910

Harrison Cady (American, 1877-1970) - illustration for Mother West Wind Why Stories by Thornton Burgess - 1915

John Buckland Wright (British, 1897-1954) - illustration for Le Sphinx by Iwan Gilkin - 1919

Heinrich Kley (German, 1863-1945) - illustration for Der Orchideengarten (The Orchid Garden) - 1919

Bats and Crescent Moon - incense box - Japan - early 20th century

Weird Tales - October 1933

Black Bat Firecrackers

Edward Gorey (American, 1925-2000) - Bat & Ballerina - pin - New York City Ballet - c.1970s

Edward Gorey (American, 1925-2000) - Bats & Bicycles stencil illustration from The Broken Spoke - 1976

Edward Gorey (American, 1925-2000) - cover illustration for A Clutch of Vampires by Raymond T. McNally

Three of Bats - Tarot Card - 1996

Richard Cooluris (American, working in San Francisco) - Perseus and the Bat - mixed media painting on wood panel - 2016

Yegor Smirnov (working in Montreal) - Bat Ring - 3d-printed and casted in silver - 2016

Stephanie Inagaki (working in Los Angeles) - Trinity - charcoal & gold foil

Adam Binder (British, b.1970) - Bats - carved ebony & carved ivory

Wayan Tuges (luthier working in Indonesia) - Raised by Bats - Commemorative custom Blueberry guitar for Aurelio Voltair - 2020

[yurimother]

'Yuri Is My Job!' Anime Premieres

On Thursday, April 6, the first episode of Passione and Studio Lings Yuri anime Yuri Is My Job! (Watashi no Yuri wa Oshigoto Desu!) premiered in Japan on AT-X and streamed on Crunchyroll internationally. The anime is based on the manga of the same name by Miman.

The series description on Crunchyroll reads:

Worried about her reputation, Hime covers shifts for a cafe manager she accidentally injures to maintain her picture-perfect princess image. But this cafe has a peculiar theme—private school. To put on her best barista schoolgirl act, she’ll be trained by the most graceful girl there, Mitsuki. Under her guidance, Hime’s feelings start to brew, but there’s just one problem—Mitsuki can’t stand her!

Yuri Is My Job! parodies themes and elements of shoujo and Class-S Yuri works, such as the catholic school setting of the cafe, the use of a foreign language, and the "Schwestern" system between girls of the fictional school.

The anime stars Yui Ogura as Hime Shiraki and Sumire Uesaka as Mitsuki Yano. Additional cast includes:

Minami Tanaka

Makoto Koichi

Yukari Tamura

Asami Seto

The anime is directed by Hijiri Sanpei, with script supervision by Naoki Hayashi and character designs by Taisuke Iwasaki.

The original Yuri is My Job! manga began serializing in Ichijinsha’s Comic Yuri Hime in November 2016. Ichijinsha publishes 11 bound volumes in Japanese. Kodansha Licenses the manga in English and will release the 11th translated volume in June.

Crunchyroll is streaming the series internationally with subtitles available in English, Spanish, German, French, Italian, Portuguese, and Russian. New episodes are released every Thursday. You can stream the first episode today.

[myoddessy]

CONEY ISLAND CHARACTER PROFILE

series masterlist

FAMOUS BIRTHDAYS!

Y/N L/N —TV Actress/Singer/Model

BIRTHDAY —July 5TH, 1998

BIRTH SIGN —Cancer

BIRTHPLACE —Monte Carlo, Monaco

AGE (as of 2018) —20

#3 MOST POPULAR ✰ BOOST

ABOUT

Famous for her breakout role in the French, Oscar-winning film, "Enchanté", where she played a young girl learning of love and of life through art and foreign cinema. (For this film, Y/n won her first of many Academy Awards, and made history as the youngest nominee to win in said category.) In 2014, she released an album entitled 'As I am' which delved into her troubled personal life and how she fears that there will come a day when those she loves will grow bored of her. 5 of the album's 11 tracks made it onto Billboard's top 100, while a further 2 topped the list for three weeks post-release. Additionally, she made her directorial debut with "Little Women" starring Saoirse Ronan, Timotheé Chalamet, and Florence Pugh, where she also played the role of the eldest March sister, Meg. That year, she won the Academy Award for best director.

BEFORE FAME

She began her acting career at the age of six, where she starred in a number of commercials and minor appearances in soap operas. She also began modeling at a young age, and can be found on the cover of several textbooks.

TRIVIA

In 2015, she was casted for the French dubbing of Joy in the Pixar movie "Inside Out". In 2017, Y/n launched her beauty and cosmetics company "Bare", a brand dedicated to creating a diverse range of product shades and cruelty-free cosmetics. She hosted SNL for the first time on March 11th, 2016

FAMILY LIFE

Despite keeping her personal life quite private, many sources have been able to gather that she has a very close relationship with her mother and two brothers, and is the middle child. We do not know anything about her father. As far as we know, none of her family is involved in showbusiness.

ASSOCIATED WITH

She is most commonly associated with her long-term boyfriend, Formula 1 driver, Charles Leclerc.

POPULARITY

Most Popular #3

Born on July 5th #1

TV Actress #2

Singer #5

Model #2

20 Year Old #1

Born in Monaco #1

Cancer #2

SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS!

taglist — @lilsiz , @formula-hamilton

if you would like to be tagged in future series parts, either comment, dm me, or send a message into my inbox! 💞💞

[neoyorzapoteca]

What is the role of the translator in decolonizing translation? In your regional/linguistic focus(es), are there certain stereotypes or tropes you have to avoid? As translators, we choose which books to pitch, which books to translate, which books to promote to publishers and online. We have a responsibility to diversify the books we’re pitching and reading. And it’s not just about pitching or translating books from underrepresented countries and groups, but doing what we can to understand the place, the author’s context, what the book means in its country of origin, what it means to bring that book into English, and how to do that effectively and responsibly. And if a translator doesn’t think they can grasp the context or meaning well enough to do the book justice, then it’s important to make room for a different translator who will be able to. For me, I’ve made the choice not to translate work only from France, but to read widely from authors writing in French around the world, and to pitch and accept projects by authors from other Francophone countries. I spent a year in Morocco learning about the literary landscape there and so I have a particular connection with Moroccan literature, and hope to continue translating books by Moroccan authors. I’m also half Arab and it’s important to me to work on more books from that part of the world as well. I loved translating Moroccan writer Fouad Laroui’s The Curious Case of Dassoukine’s Trousers (Deep Vellum, 2016) because the stories are hilarious, they portray a variety of kinds of people, they foreground joy, romance, and the absurd, they also span countries and cultures, they poke fun at Morocco but also lean away from tropes. Laroui’s stories don’t only depict Moroccans, and don’t only depict Moroccans living in desperate poverty, oppressed women, desert scenes with camels, or other stereotypes from that region which tend to populate the Moroccan books translated into English. One of my favorite things I’ve ever translated was a wildly experimental short story by Anis Arafai called “The Leg,” and often people are surprised to find such inventive writing from Morocco, but why? Because translators don’t typically pitch these projects and publishers don’t typically publish them, but they’re out there. And my translation of Meryem Alaoui’s Straight From the Horse’s Mouth, coming out next month from Other Press, is about a Moroccan sex worker who is cast in the lead role in a film by a foreign director and embarks on a fantastic, thrilling life. Stories that are different than what English readers typically have access to from a given country are important to translate, and I think that’s one way (among many others) that translators can attempt to decolonize the landscape of translated literature.

Wit Month: Q&A with Emma Ramadan — The Magic Word

[hua-fei-hua]

20 questions for fic writers

tagged by @justpastsaturn~!! man it's been a while since i've partaken in something like this lol

1. how many works do you have on ao3?

63! 64 if you count the random anon one i don't technically write but for which i do overly-elaborate html for a friend. and um. a lot more if we want to also count each chapter of the single-ship ficlet collection works i have as a separate work ehe.

2. what's your total ao3 word count?

heh. 772,261 words since june 2016. C:<

3. what fandoms do you write for?

these days just genshin, but in the past i did jjk, bnha, soul eater, flip flappers, and attack on titan. a number of years ago i also had a fma fic up on ffn, but i deleted it and never ported it to ao3. should still be on my google drive, though.

4. what are your top 5 fics by kudos?

//HEAVY SIGH.

sparklers (BnHA), 939 kudos

Orchid in Bloom (BnHA), 476 kudos

the diner at the end of the night (JJK), 474 kudos

Fermata (BnHA), 413 kudos

Veneer (BnHA), 368 kudos

5. do you respond to comments? why or why not?

i do!!! mostly it's bc i have can't-shut-up disease, but through the years, i've also found it to be a really good community-building exercise!!!! i'm not the type of person to get involved in fandom discord servers, so i've come to really treasure the friendly environment the comments section of a wip can foster, as well as the friends i've made because of it~

6. what is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

i am actually a hardcore happy-ending person myself, so pretty much all of them end with some sense of hope. there's a kagerou days au i wrote for bnha back in the day, though, so i guess time looping to die for one another infinitely counts here.

7. what is the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

tbh i have a hard time quantifying the happiness of all the different endings i've written, esp since it's been years since i've written simple self-indulgent "and then they all lived happily ever after the end" kinds of endings ahahaha,,,

8. do you get hate on fics?

no but someone impersonating me left a hate comment in my name on a fe3h byleth hannibal au back in may 2021. that was crazy i hope ao3 user dikhotomia is living their best life writing whatever the fuck they want after that incident.

9. do you write smut? if so, what kind?

i wrote exactly one (1) explicit fic which was literally just a 16k word sex scene bc the logical endpoint to xiao genshinimpact's character arc is that he needs to get fucked. i don't make the rules. outside of studying blorbo, though, i don't really feel any compulsion to write smut

10. do you write crossovers? what's the craziest one you've written?

nah. i'll write fusion aus, where cast a goes into setting b and may or may not try to retell the story of canon b, but i like to put the "transformative" into "transformative works" in those situations, to the point where people sometimes can't tell what story i'm basing the narrative off of LOL

11. have you ever had a fic stolen?

not to my memory or knowledge, no.

12. have you ever had a fic translated?

yes, several times!! mostly back in my bnha days, where i had one fic (partially) translated into chinese and russian, a different fic reviewed and fully translated into chinese; going even farther back, i also once had a query to translate one of my snk fics into french, but i never really heard back from that person so i assume that one fell through.

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

i'd say yes. there's the aforementioned fic i do the overly-elaborate html for, but also back in high school, a couple friends n i sat around my computer between rounds at a speech tournament and took turns turning one of my kouhai's scripts into a bnha fic that kept on going off the rails bc i implemented a "no backspacing" rule and once our turn typing was over, we had to have our hands-off the computer until it was our turn again.

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

let's just cut to the chase and make this post timeless: i like it when a ship is basically just MONSTER x MONSTER FUCKER. if not on a literal level, then a spiritual/metaphorical level! bonus points if both parties think the other person is the monster fucker!!!!

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

well i actually recently decided to let go of zenith, so i don't really have any "i wish i could finish this" thoughts abt it anymore tbh... i think abt finishing my html sanitizer 2.0 so that i can post the notes for it more conveniently though lol

16. what are your writing strengths?

heh. bitches love my characterization. and imagery/use of metaphor!

17. what are your writing weaknesses?

SOMEONE will probably snipe me if i say poetry, but i still find my poems to be rather stiff and overly-literal, so i still consider poetry to be a weakness of mine. and fight scenes. DEFINITELY #1 weakness fight scenes.

18. thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

for a word here or two there, i don't mind as long as it's culturally appropriate. (you will pry my dearly beloved "aiya" out of my cold dead hands) like that's just how people talk in real life. for longer sentences or conversations, then i'd like it if there are translation notes left somewhere. at the very least, i'd kind of like a narrative or aesthetic reason if the meaning can't be parsed from context alone.

19. first fandom you wrote for?

pokemon, if we're counting my being five years old and unaware of what fanfiction is! otherwise, attack on titan or my little pony.

20. favorite fic you've written?

tbh i try not to play favorites w/my fics anymore, since if a darling of mine doesn't get the attention i think it deserves, i end up having a tough time getting over it emotionally, which has sometimes led to unnecessary bitterness and resentment towards the fic or even fandom/community itself.

tagging~ @kanonavi, @cadriona, @tempests-bards-and-birds, @followerofmercy, @chickycherrycola, and anyone else who might feel like it hehe

[hotmusketeerspoll]

Magnificent Musketeer Tournament

Duke of Buckingham Poll 1 - Round 1

Duke of Buckingham - Simon Ward The Three Musketeers 1973, The Four Musketeers 1974

He just seems reeeeeeeally bitchy, like he conveys this essence of "i should be in a REAL swashbuckling movie" while these 4 buffoons he's accidentally adopted start a fight in the laundry room. very pouty lips too which i feel is important

Duke of Buckingham - Golan Yosef  Les Trois Mousquetaires, le spectacle musical 2016

Condolences to the rest of the cast but Golan Yosef absolutely stole this entire show. He is drop-dead gorgeous and has such a great voice. He also sings in both English and French!! His solo "On my mind" is objectively the best song in the musical. Also, when he's singing it he's wearing Queen Anne's diamond choker that she gifted him and he wears it so damn well.

The complete list of entrants can be found here.

More information & links to the other polls here.

Additional Propaganda under the cut

Simon Ward:

dear lord he's hot

Golan Yosef:

[maximumwobblerbanditdonut]

Conor MacNeill as young Edward (Ned) Gowan

Bill Paterson as old Edward (Ned) Gowan. Ned was a lawyer from Edinburgh who knew the law, inside and out and acted as a legal advisor to Clan MacKenzie.

Conor MacNeill is an Irish actor from County Antrim, Northern Ireland, who has experience on both the big and small screen, as well as the stage. He is an actor, producer, and writer, and is known for his roles in An Crisís (2010) Whole Lotta Sole (2012) a Comedy/Crime with Brendan Fraser and Privates (2013) and in the BBC and HBO drama, Industry, as Kenny Kilblane.

He made his London stage debut starring alongside Harry Potter actor Daniel Radcliffe in The Cripple of Inishmaan. He was nominated for a BAFTA award in 2017 for Best Short Film.

He played the Garda, and Detective Ruairi Slater in The Tourist season 2 alongside Jamie Dornan (2024) Conor MacNeill wrote a script with Jamie Dornan it's set in NI'.

The Tourist is the four-time MacNeill and Dornan have worked together – they were both in The Fall, Belfast and Siege of Jadotville together, and became good friends outside of work, even writing a script together during lockdown (more of which later)

Belfast. The film is set in the 1960s. Belfast captures the spirit and atmosphere of the city during a period of significant social and political change.

Conor MacNeill (McLaury) fictional character and Colin Morgan in Kenneth Branagh's “Belfast” film (2021) 🎬

Industry (2020)‧ Drama Young finance graduates venture out into the cut-throat competitive world to get a job during the recession times that followed as a result of the 2008 financial crisis.

Conor MacNeill - Industry’s Kenny belongs in the pantheon of bad fictional bosses.

The Siege of Jadotville (2016) It is a true story. Irish soldiers on a UN peacekeeping mission in Africa, are besieged by overwhelming enemy forces, as UN peacekeepers defend their outpost.

The Siege of Jadotville depicts the incredible true story of the siege of 150 UN Irish troops led by Commandant Pat Quinlan (Jamie Dornan) in the Congo in 1961. Quinlan and his men held out against a force of 3,000 local troops led by French and Belgian mercenaries working for mining companies.

In honour of their courageous actions in Congo at the Siege of Jadotville a specially commissioned medal “An Bonn Jadotville” was awarded to all men of “A” Company, 35th Infantry Battalion and the families of deceased members, to give them full and due recognition. If you haven't seen this film yet, I recommend watching it.

The Fall (TV Series 2013–2016) - Conor MacNeill as Mark Bailey - MacNeill joined the cast of The Fall in 2016 for its third season, in which he featured in the final few episodes.

The Fall is a crime drama television series filmed and set in Northern Ireland. The series, starring Gillian Anderson as Detective Superintendent Stella Gibson, is created and written by Allan Cubitt and features Jamie Dornan as serial killer Paul Spector. 

#ConorMacNeill #BillPaterson #NedGowan #RuairiSlater #TheTourist #JamieDornan #season2 #TheFall #Belfast #SiegeofJadotville

[loloschive]

╰┈➤ ❝ is she the girl from the video?❞

0.0 WHITNEY JOY PROFILE

NAME: WHITNEY JOY

NICKNAMES: Winnie ((the pooh)) mom, fans), whit (myung-hee & cleo) zlatíčko ((little gold) dad)

FACECLAIM: @lame.cobain (ig)

BIRTHDAY: 05.13.1998

ZODIAC SIGN: Taurus ♉️

NATIONALITY: American

ETHNICITY: Central African, Cameroon (Mother) Europe, Czech (Father)

HEIGHT: 170 cm (5’7”)

MBTI: ISTP

VOICE CLAIM : tyla (pretend she doesn’t exist in this universe shh)

DANCE CLAIM: tyla LMFAO & contemporary!!

Get To Know Whitney!!

She can speak 5 languages: English, Czech, French, German, Korean

When she starred on Disney Channel, her family couldn’t relocate to California. So, she lived with a family friend on her mother’s side— a nice Korean woman named Lee Jihye, where she met her best friend Myunghee, her daughter.

Whitney was born in Atlanta, Georgia, however moved to Virginia when she was 10 years old.

Whitney attended an open casting call for the role of Renee blue, Zendaya’s younger sister on the show Shake it Up.

From 2011-2016, the girl continued to land small roles in popular films such as Iron Man 3, Transformers: Age of Extinction, Hotel Transylvania, Tinkerbell and the Neverbeast

In 2014 she collaborated with Camille Rose and launched a campaign on a deep conditioning product.

In an interview she revealed her celebrity crush is Kerry Washington, stating “she’s just soooo pretty!”

Whitney is described as a quiet, warm, personality type who is very curious and can make someone easily comfortable in a new environment.

Her debut song, “Baby, I” (stolen from ariana hehe), garnered 34 million streams over the span of 2 weeks

She’s had 1 stadium tour so far, and plans on having another as soon as she’s given the green light!

[cdaae]

Why Am I Like This- Phantom Collector Edition

I’m a completionist and an obsessive so I need all the different versions of a thing so here’s a list of where I’m at right now. I wish I could say that I was anywhere near done but there’s always more phantom stuff to collect

Books

Gaston Leroux x51(This includes all 6 English translations, 8 different languages, and three levels of French)

Gaston Leroux signed by Broadway Cast

The Underground’s of the Phantom of the Opera

The Phantom of the Bathtub

Night of the Phantom

Embrace the Night

Lessons from the Phantom of the Opera

Song of a Maiden

Madrigal

Phantom

Unmasqued

Phantom of Manhattan

Ruinsong

Roseblood

Beyond the Masque

Chanson de L’Ange

Sing Me Forgotten

The Angel of the Opera

The Phoenix of the Opera

The Phantom’s Opera

The Phantom of Paris

The Phantom’s Apprentice

Where Dreams Descend

The Phantom Cat of the Opera

Phantom Pop Up Book

George Perry’s Complete Phantom of the Opera

Phantoms of the Opera

The Trap Door Maker

Phantom Graphic Novel x2

The Phantom Cooks

2004 Companion

Geronimo Stilton

Thea Stilton

My Phantom

Phantoms in the Night

Phantom of Pemberly

Phantom of the Auditorium

Behind the Phantom’s Mask

The Phantom Returns

Phantom erotica

Book cassette

Souvenir edition OLC

Emoji of the opera

Phantom 2020

Phantom Phantasia

Songbird

The Phantom’s Lullaby

Phantom of the Little Russian Theatre

Masked Love

Treasures of Egypt

Victory

Venetian Romance

Susannah’s Secret

The Man in the Shadows

Love in the Spotlight

Let the Dream Begin

A Phantom’s Promise

Destiny’s Curse

Phantom by David Bischoff

Mini Leroux

L’Opera de Paris

Paris National Opera

Palais Garnier

Peeping Duck Gang

Out of the Darness

L’Opera De Paris Coulisses etc secrets du Garnier

Claude Rains Book

Movies/CDs/Media

Lon Chaney

Claude Rains x2

Herbert Lom x2

Phantom of Hollywood

Schell

Robert Englund

Charles Dance

David Staller

Julian Sands

2004 x17 (English x2, French x3 Germanx2, Greek, Spanish, Italian, limited(English and German), deluxe, and Ultimate, Special, Collectors(English and French)

Angel of Music

25th Anniversary

Love Never Dies

A Monster in Paris

Phantom of the Grindhouse

Anthony Mann

Phantom of the Theatre

Unmasking the Masterpiece

Love on Safari

Faust

1987 Cartoon(dvd & VHS)

Mystery Legends Phantom Game x2

2004 digital press kit(English and French)

OLC (cassette & CD)

CDs x59

Phantom of the Paradise Record

OLC small record(wywsha&motn)

Long box cd

Long box 2004

2004 VHS

Movie/book set

Long box OLC cassettes

Karaoke cassettes

Highlight cassettes

Robert Englund VHS

For Your Consideration 2004

Book casettes

Stage Fright

Props/Signed/Similar

Love Never Dies audience gift notebook

1992 tour Auction book prop

Jerry Mitchell signed LND after party invite

Phantoms Note from BWay x2

Don Juan Music from BWay x1 1/2

Ticket to 25th Anniversary Party

Majestic Theatre Phantom Barricade Cover

Photo cards, signed x16

Signed LOBs x2

Robert Englund autograph

Laird Mackintosh autograph

BWay 29th anniversary cast gift beanie

KAV’s dressing gown shoes

Manager’s BWay newspaper prop x4

Cast board name placards x3(2 BWay one Vegas)

Reopening cookies x2

London 35th anniversary rose petals and card

Il Muto page boy stockings

OBC cast member costume gloves

Printed cast member email

Cast made calendars 2006 and 2007

Full cast signed poster with Hugh

Signed trading card

Signed Michael Crawford Face mask

Signed Crawford Article

Signed 35 Poster

Signed Mask

Scrap of Christine’s wedding dress

Scrap of phantoms suit

10th anniversary invite

Opera glasses cast gift

Magazines

24/7 Magazine featuring Crivello

NYC City Guide 2014 & 2016

TODAY featuring Vegas

What’s On Vegas

Time Out New York

German LND

Theater Week 1988

In Theater 1998

Casino Player Magazine

Fate Magazine

Broadway Spotlight

Other

Megstine notebook

Mugs x7

Cups x5

Water Bottle

Ornaments x5

Phantom harmonica

Red death figure

Lon Chaney figure

Phantom Nutcracker

Phantom and Christine Barbies

Tote bag x4

Phantom creamer tops, complete set

Postcards x6

LOBs x2

Magnet x5

Stickers x12

Phantom Cat sticker set

Chibi phantom sticker set

Angel patch

Greeting cards x2

Posters x5

Art print

Calendar

Ramin based doll

Phantom doll + Ayesha

Snerik

Pen

Mardi Gras coin

Felt Raoul and Erik

Francœur bean

Small hand painted canvas

25th Anniversary limited edition boxed set

Canada gift bag

Mexico phone card

Japanese train card x2

Trading card

Lon Chaney money

Lon Chaney stamp

Pencil

Phone case

Gift bag

Japanese posters x6

Herbert Lom ad stamp

Complete LND London draft script

Blanket

Operetta

34th Anniversary blank playbill sticker sheets

Goosebumps pen

Goosebumps magnet

Goosebumps stickers x9

Bendyfigs phantom

German postcard

Angel of Music coffee

Where Dreams Descend popcorn holder

Raoul and Christine art print

Large paper bag

1994 calendar

Ireland phone card

Movie screening invite

German something?

Frame

Vegas key card

Angel of music bear

Tea towels x2

Mask sticker

Blockbuster card

Phantom press invite

Mini 2004 scrapbook

Playing cards

Assorted Japanese 2004 film memorabilia(10 pieces)

2004 film poster and booklet

1999 ticket info

2023 newspaper clippings

Gingerbread ornament

Aussie keychain

Phantom/Christine blanket

2011 wall calendar

2012 wall calendar

2013 wall calendar

Angel ornament

Universal Erik doll

Sarah/Steve Ad

1993 calendar

2004 Mylar

1995 calendar

Italy confetti

Crawford ornament

Halloween figure

Matchbox

Soap?

Heart frame

Jewelry

Pins x11

Charm bracelet

Necklace x2

Key chains x14

Replica Ring

Hair bow x2

Think of Me hair clips

Jewelry pouch

Music Boxes

Square black jewelry music box

Il Muto

Limited Edition boat scene

Boat Scene

Phantom and Christine wedding

Porcelain signs x2

Limited edition mirror scene

Mirror scene

Mirror

Limited edition MotN

Red Death

Throne water globe

Music water globe

Phantom w/ stick water globe

Rooftop water globe

Russian egg(?)

Mirror scene water globe

Phantom w/ stick

Phantom in throne

Monkey music box

Limited edition Jack in the box

Boat scene water globe(broken globe)

Russian egg (?? Missing top)

Small music box(no music)

Universal Phantom and Christine

Phantom and Christine with Marni

Opera House

Phantom Automata

Madame Alexander Christine Doll

Broken Mirror

Erik and Christine porcelain figure

Music pedestal

Clothing

Socks

Glow in the dark boxers

Night shirt

Phantom BWay x2

Sydney Harbour shirt

Christine dressing gown VTC

Peacock dress

US tour grey shirt

Christmas Sweatshirt

Toronto shirt

Candy of the Opera

1988 mask shirt

Phantom of the Opry shirt

New York shirt

Mask sweatshirt

Ghost Red Death Shirt

35th anniversary shirt

Italy shirt

Programs/Playbills/ETC

Loose understudy slips x14

Ticket stubs x11

Newspaper clippings

Mini flyers x6

Flyers x40

Ken Hill souvenir program

2004 film souvenir program

ALW souvenir programs x49

BWAY playbills x63

Signed playbills x12

Tour playbills x20

London programs x18

YK phantom playbill

World tour playbill

Melbourne playbill

Robert Englund film souvenir program

Italy program

Sweden program

Music Books

ALW piano x3(easy, intermediate, expert)

2004 film

YK phantom

LND London

I can honestly say this may not even be everything because sometimes I forget to add new acquisitions to the list. If there’s anything on the list you wanna see pics of, I’m happy to share!

[jules-has-notes]

2017 Kettering A Cappella Festival — VoicePlay live performances

Three years after their previous appearance, VoicePlay returned to the stage in Dayton as professional headliners for the Kettering National A Cappella Festival. Their recent schedule hadn't allowed as much educational outreach as usual, so they enjoyed what time they had with the kids.

.

[Here is another recording from the side of the stage with more of their entrance.]

A toe-tapping tune with an audience participation element is a fantastic way to kick off a show. With a performance like this one, it's not surprising that the crowd treat them like the rockstars they are.

Details:

title: Mr. Blue Sky

original songs / performers: "Mr. Blue Sky" by ELO (Electric Light Orchestra); [1:10] "Blue Skies" by Ben Selvin & Charles Kaley (as The Knickerbockers)

written by: "Mr. Blue Sky" by Jeff Lynne; "Blue Skies" by Irving Berlin

arranged by: Geoff Castellucci

performance date: 11 November 2017

My favorite bits:

the crunchy harmonies on ♫ "sun shines brightly" ♫ ☀

J.None working the front row, and the kids' resulting excitement

Layne looping back for his mic stand without missing a beat

"So far, you've been helping us… not so much." 😆 (Very diplomatic.)

the smooth transitions into and out of the "Blue Skies" section

Geoff giving Layne's arm a friendly bump as they cross on the riser

using the mini megaphones to replicate the voice distortions from the original song

the build up to the lovely ending chord

Trivia:

The guys performed this arrangement for a little over a year more before they finally filmed a video for it as the first entry in the second round of their PartWork series.

The mini megaphones later made an appearance in the music video for their cover of "You're My Best Friend" by Queen.

.

There's a ton of overlap between a cappella kids and theater kids, so it was an easy choice for VoicePlay to include a song from the biggest musical of the 21st century in their setlist. It's interesting to see how their new member and a live setting led to adjustments in the arrangement from the recorded version.

Details:

title: My Shot

original performers: cast of Hamilton: An American Musical (2015)

written by: Lin-Manuel Miranda & Alex Lacamoire

arranged by: Layne Stein

performance date: 11 November 2017

My favorite bits:

shifting the vocal roles with J.None taking on both the Hamilton and Burr lines

all the audience members singing along

the projections on the backdrop

Earl's fantastic French accent and that dip into his lower register

the moment of silence after ♫ "you're gonna get shot" ♫ and Layne's gunshot sound effect

the building tension during Geoff's repetition of ♫ "When are these colonies gonna rise up?" ♫

harmonized fast patter lyrics

J's big old belt leading into the ending section

Trivia:

VoicePlay had released their video for this song a year and a half earlier, shortly before the 2016 Tony Awards.

This video was originally posted to Facebook by the Western Brown Choirs from Mount Orab, Ohio.

.

Every performance of this piece is unique. It's also one of the best demonstrations of their group name, a chance for the boys to play together for everyone's amusement, including their own. Unfortunately, this clip is only the first two verses and one chorus, but it's still fun while it lasts.

Details:

title: Elvira

original performers: The Oak Ridge Boys

written by: Dallas Frazier

arranged by: Geoff Castellucci

performance date: 11 November 2017

My favorite bits:

troublemaker Eli nudging Earl to take center stage

pouty Geoff sitting on the edge of the riser, and the ensuing gesture conversation between him and Earl

J.None's smooth runs

Eli's big old riff

Trivia:

This fan favorite tune was a staple of VoicePlay's live shows for many years, including on the 2015 Sing-Off tour, but they've never made a music video for it because the audience response is so integral to the humor of it.

Their buddies in Home Free enjoyed this arrangement so much that they asked to use it as a starting point for their own version recorded with The Oak Ridge Boys.

.

Additional photos

.

The crowd was pretty excited for the post-show meet and greet.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by FloVoice (@flovoice)

[jungle-angel]

The Greatest Memories (Rhett Abbott x Reader)

Summary: You and Rhett leave a special little something for those who gave everything

Warnings: Mentions of passing, war, military service, cancer, parenthood etc.

Tagging: @floydsmuse @bradleybeachbabe

It was the sunniest of May days so far, not a cloud in the sky and the grasses rippling in the breeze. The birds were singing high in the trees above the Teton Mountain Cemetery while wildflowers were blooming in the woodlines near the plot.

You and Rhett walked the loping footpaths that led to a familiar plot that you had visited time and again, every year in May and again in June to leave flowers. The lilac bushes had already bloomed near the headstones, casting its cool shade over the graves and releasing its heady scent throughout.

"Amy c'mere," Rhett called to the four year old running around the truck.

Amy darted right beside you and him as you carried the flower boxes to the two headstones that lay side by side with each other. Both were marked with the names of Royal's parents, his mother and father who had passed not too long before Amy had been born. The white marble appeared brand new, much as it had the day the two had been placed side by side, just as they had been in life.

River John Abbott

Born January 24th, 1928

Died June 5th, 2016

1st Marine Division, Korean War and Vietnam

Beloved father, grandfather and great-grandfather

Rhett brushed a few loose strands of freshly mown grass off the second, revealing the name that he missed just as much as Grandpa River along with the Lorraine Cross beneath.

Heidi Brunner Abbott

Born May 24th, 1930

Died June 5th, 2016

Member of the French Resistance, WWII

Beloved mother, grandmother and great-grandmother

Rhett kissed the headstones belonging to his grandmother and grandfather. Though it had been close to eight years since they had passed, the wounds were still fresh. River and Heidi had been married for sixty-six years, enduring unimaginable turmoil as young adults. Oma Heidi had been fourteen when she had joined the Resistance before leaving her native Switzerland and had seen things that no child should have ever had to see. Grandpa River had been the same, seeing the ranch through one drought after another, having to take care of his own ailing father and helping provide for the family all through the Depression on top of going to school. He had met Heidi while the two had been at the University of Wyoming, the two of them having gotten married young and him having been shipped off to Korea after their honeymoon. Rhett still remembered the little slip of paper in his grandmother's trunk, a little note from River that said only three words....."wait for me".

Up the path came two familiar faces, Joy and Martha with Rosie in tow. "Mornin," Joy greeted. "Didn't think we'd see you two here."

Rhett laughed a little bit. "Just payin a visit Joy."

"Oh you too?"

Rhett nodded.

Out of her pocket, Joy pulled a small feather, a white one with black streaks along the tip. "Here," she said. "I meant to leave that the other day."

"Joy ya'll didn't have to," Rhett told her.

"It's alright," she promised him. "I already left one for Gramps anyways."

You and Rhett followed Joy and Martha down the path a bit of a ways to a hill where the mountains were in full view. Rosie excitedly pointed to the stone belonging to her great-grandfather, proudly showing Amy and the others.

Robert "Red" Hawk

Born July 4th, 1923

Died August 18th, 2017

US Army Infantry, Shoshone Code Talker, Omaha Beach Veteran

Beloved father and grandfather, tribal elder of Shoshone First Nations

"Amy honey, do you and Rosie wanna help put the flags out?" you asked.

The girls excitedly said yes as you, Rhett, Joy and Martha swapped stories about your loved ones, the girls picking lilac sprigs to sprinkle over the graves.

"God I'll never forget the story Dad told us when Marty and I got married," Joy chuckled. "Grampy supposedly stole a bunch of horses while he was in Europe and had them shipped back to the states."

You and Rhett laughed at the tale. "Oh God that reminds me of when Papa stole a bunch of cattle from an enemy camp in Korea. Them and the guys from the South Korean army ate pretty damn good for the next couple of months."

You all shared some good laughs and a few emotional moments along the way before having to head back home. On the way back, you and Rhett held each other's hands, enjoying the sunshine and the heat of late May as the radio played.

"You think they're still with us?" you asked him.

"I don't doubt it darlin," Rhett said, smiling a little. "Oma and Papa are definitely along for the ride, no matter where we go."

You rested your head against your husband's shoulder, squeezing his hand a little bit, perfectly at ease and content with the world.

[baufive]

So for all intents and purposes, I had considered myself ready to pull together some sort of post - slowly - of all these disparate parts, but *this* piece popped into my head while I in the shower. I have never really loved the piece. It always looked a little washed out wherever I put it. Even the thumbnail is like 'boo' when I finally find it. First introduced as a gift in 2012 for S3 and then again in 2016 when I was learning S4 tools - I always like the *idea* of this piece and really, the S3 version was a little different in that it could be CASt so the painted panel could be changed to whatever color (it was actually a separate part on the mesh - not just a mask trick) as could the mat and the frame ... but the S4 version was a bit ... washed out.

Botanicals can be lush, but this sort of specimen drawing is delicate and is a perfect example of why one might use french matting. Scale is everything and I think I figured out what bugged me all this time (aside from the truly ugly and flat color of the frame) ... the spacing of the painted panel and the lack of variety in the linework. Staggering measurements and weights is critical so the details don't stymie the flow of ones gaze and overpower the subject. Effectively, I would call the original 'cheap' if it came into my shop ... unfinished if I was feeling kind.

So hopefully this edit (and remake of sorts - I took out a few polys while I was at it) will not be a wallflower so to speak.

[r0semirages]

So. I made an RTC swap au!!

It started just with an idea of John Doe!Ricky that I had for a pretty long time, but recently I decided to turn it into something cooler, so I made this whole thing. Maybe I'll sketch their designs later (or at least make picrews of them), but idk how much time it will take. I haven't change some things, like the relationships between some characters, because I thought it wouldn't work very well. But, this isn't fully finished yet, so there's some moments that may be changed in the future.

I imagine this AU more like a play, than a musical and honestly I really don't think that it'll become something serious, cause I'm not that good at writing and creating full stories, so, at least at the moment, it's just for fun. Also, the designs are based on the 2016 cast, but feel free to make your own interpretations with your favorite cast. And maybe someday I'll make them too, we'll see. Anyway, hope y'all enjoy it!! (Pls excuse me if there are any mistakes, english isn't my first language, blah blah blah. Also there are a lot of spoilers for rtc, so if you plan to watch it — don't read further!)

So, first is Penny — the most imaginative girl in town. She's super silly, sometimes awkward and doesn't really have any friends because most people think she's weird. Penny often gets left out or bullied, and she uses escapism to cope with this + all the stuff with her parents, who she didn't get enough love from. Her fantasies is a bit different from the original Ricky's: they don't have a lore, she just makes up random stories to escape from reality and writes them out sometimes. She *definetely* writes fanfiction and probably posts it online. For some reason people find it cool, but no one in the choir knows about it. She's still a Seven-Up fan and she plays the ukulele (that will be used in the new birthday song for Ricky)

I changed her design just a bit, now she wears a lot of accessories, mostly pins (bc I headcanon the og Ricky having them) and it's mostly based on Emily Rohm's Penny, while her personality is more like legoland Penny's.

The next is Ocean — the angriest girl in town. Like the og Mischa, she hates her parents (but in this case they aren't adoptive) and their lifestyle, but instead of becoming the most succesful to prove that she's different from them, this Ocean just becomes a total mess and starts hating everyone. Idk if I will make her like shitty rap about money in autotune, but she definetely has a history of stealing stuff from stores, lol.

Design changes: messy hair; she doesn't have a headband and a tie, her shirt isn't fully buttoned up. She wears a sweater vest over it with a short skirt (a dress, actually).

Then we have Constance — the most succesful girl in town. She's a big nerd and spends a lot of her time studying because she wants to be the best. In general she behaves just like original Ocean and treats Noel like Ocean would treat her in the og musical (they're besties, but not really). She's pretty mean and very ambitious. This Constance doesn't have as much love for her town as the og one and she plans to move out (and become a premier minister of Canada, maybe :p) She's the one to make the final vote in this AU and of course she will choose John Doe/Ricky.

I haven't change a lot of things in the design, but her hair isn't dyed anymore, buns are down, she has a tie and maybe some hairpins. In general she looks a bit more tidy

Next one: Noel — the nicest boy in town. A complete opposite to the og Noel, he doesn't want to change anything in his life and enjoys living in Uranium. He's still super homosexual and has a big crush on Mischa, and, as I've said before he's "best friends" with Constance who treats him like shit and makes jokes about how he's never gonna breed👍🏻 /ref

He's really insecure about himself, but very friendly with everyone else (especially Mischa). He still enjoys all the french stuff, but you know, in a less... horny... way. And his mother is a baker and Noel often helps her in their cafe

He now has a short-sleeved shirt, round glasses and half of his hair is purple (it's also a bit more messy). In general I didn't change a lot in his design, but I made him such an UwU softie boy /j

Then, Mischa — the most romantic boy in town (ah yes, this one is for you, Mischa simps). He's still in love with Talia and his backstory is the same, but instead of becoming an angry rapper, he became a sad romantic guy, who dreams about moving to Ukraine with his (probably non-existing) internet fiancé. He just wants to be happy :(

Design changes: his clothes and hair aren't that messy anymore and he has a black jacket (like the one chance theatre Noel had). Also his nails are usually black or any other dark shade!!

And! Finally! My best creation yet — John Doe!Ricky. Perhaps, the rest of the choir doesn't remember him (well, in fact they do remember him, but it's a different theory and I don't want to bring it here) because he couldn't talk and no one really noticed him. The only person he was pretty close with was Penny, but still, they weren't even friends, they just standed close to each other while the choir was performing and both sat in the back of a rollercoaster when the accident happened. There will be a role-swapped version of the Savannah scene, but I don't know what name should I use instead of Savannah yet (if you have any ideas, please drop them in the comments!! I'll be very grateful)

When he gets choosen by Constance he'll came back to life as Ricky and yes, he WILL remain disabled because I'm a very big Ricky fan + a very big ableism hater, don't expect that shit from me👎🏻👎🏻👎🏻 Also he will still have 14 cats because. Why not. I love cats.

The only thing that will change is the fact that he's a little happier now?? People around him treat him better and he doesn't have to fantasize about fucking cat-people from Zolar to be happy lol. Oh man I'm writing a bit too much about him sorry I just love this guy a lot. Bless his little heart

Finally, about his design: honestly he's just a yassified version of this picture /hj

↓

Okay, so he has a head stolen from some super swag dressed in a Bowie-like style doll that for some reason was in the warehouse. He has a big purple star around one of his eyes and some parts of his hair are also colorful (purple/blue/pink). His clothes isn't very different, but maybe I'll add some more accesories

Well, that's all atm. I will try my best to make some content for this and keep developing this idea and I really really hope you will like it!

Reblogs/comments/likes are VERY appreciated and again, if you have any recommendations for improving this au I'll be really glad to hear them or just any of your thoughts!!!

Ty for reading (⁠◍⁠•⁠ᴗ⁠•⁠◍⁠)⁠✧⁠*⁠。

[wen-kexing-apologist]

Bengiyo's Queer Cinema Syllabus

For those who are not aware, I have decided to run the gauntlet of @bengiyo’s Queer Cinema Syllabus and have officially started Unit 2: Race, Disability, and Class. The films in Unit 2 are: The Way He Looks (2014), Being 17 (2016), Naz and Maalik (2015), The Obituary of Tunde Johnson (2019), Margarita With a Straw (2014), My Beautiful Laundrette (1985), Brother to Brother (2004), and Beautiful Thing (1996)

Today I will be writing about

Being 17 (2016) dir.  André Téchiné

[Available on Amazon Prime, Runtime: 1:54, Language- French]

Summary: Damien lives with his mother Marianne, a doctor, while his father is on a tour of duty abroad. He is bullied by Thomas, whose mother is ill. The boys find themselves living together when Marianne invites Thomas to come and stay with them. (from IMDB)

Cast Sandrine Kiberlain as Dr. Marianne Delille Kacey Mottet Klein as Damien Delille Corentin Fila as Thomas Chardoul

___

There is something I desperately love in film and television that I certainly do not talk about enough, and that is when an object or a setting acts as a character within a story (i.e. the Poor Boy shirt in Only Friends or Wilson in Castaway). While I have a background in technical theater and I am a slut for lighting design especially, I have realized over the past few months of writing immense amounts of media analysis that I never really set out in watching a show with a particular technical element in mind to discuss (by which I mean I did not go in to movie with the intention of paying attention to the costume design and discussing it’s significance). But in Being 17 what very quickly became apparent to me was the weather, the landscape, and coming out the other end of this film, the weather felt like a character all on it’s own. 

The film begins and all we see on screen is white, snow covered mountains, minimal dialogue, just the sound of snow crunching beneath feet, sniffles from runny noses, etc. During the entire first trimester of Thomas and Damien’s school year there is snowfall for as far as the eye can see. I recognize this is probably a strange place for me to start in writing up my thoughts on this film, but I am working my way through the Race, Disability, and Class Unit of the syllabus right now, so I think paying attention to setting is vitally important. Especially for this film, because Thomas is Black, Thomas is poor, and Thomas is the adoptive son of a white couple.

Personally, I don’t think the movie does a deep dive in to the subject of race, but that does not mean that conversations about race do not exist in the film. I just see them being placed there more subtly. In the way that the only thing our eye can differentiate in the vast blanket of thick, white snow, is a backlit, black silhouetted figure trudging across the screen. Thomas is the only Black person in his family, Thomas goes to a school with very few people of color, Thomas gets invited to stay with Damien’s family who are also all white. And I loved that in the beginning of this story, when Thomas is reserved, withdrawn, aggressive, and self-isolating that there is almost no place that he can go to escape whiteness. The whiteness at school, the whiteness at home, the whiteness at Damien’s, the whiteness outside. 

And literally just now as I was writing that up I realized that there is one place that Thomas frequents in the movie, especially when there is still snow on the ground, and that is a lake at the top of a mountain, where the water is black.

Anyway, I say all this because the weather in this film is a character to me, a physical manifestation of the feelings between Thomas and Damien. In the first trimester, in the winter, the feelings Thomas has for Damien are ice cold (or at least appear that way). Damien and Thomas are actively hostile to one another, Thomas especially initiates a number of fights between himself and Damien (oh the intricate rituals that allow men to touch the skin of other men). Damien recites poetry in class and Thomas trips him, Thomas can’t solve a math equation and Damien insults him, if they are in the same space for more than thirty seconds blows will be exchanged. 

We learn in the first trimester that Thomas’ mother is sick, that he lives up in the mountains on a farm and travels three hours round trip to get to school, we learn that his mother is pregnant, and that Thomas is a consolation child. I love how much subtlety there is in this film, how much a single line can reveal so much about a character’s behavior. Soon after Thomas learns of his mother’s pregnancy, he is talking with his father about all the failed pregnancies that had happened before Thomas. Thomas asks his father “If she had [birthed a child], I wouldn’t be here?” to which his father, smiling, light hearted, and jokingly says yes. Yes, if Thomas’ mother had had her own biological child, then they would not have adopted Thomas. The line is delivered, the actors react in such a way that an audience might not see the emotional impact, until the scene cuts to Thomas sitting in bed, staring out the window. 

Tom’s mom goes to the hospital, and Dr. Delille suggests that Thomas come and stay with her and Damien for a while. The reasoning is that Thomas is falling behind in school, he has a long commute, he works the farm at night. It is very difficult for him to concentrate on his studies. The Delille family lives closer to the school, they are close to the hospital where Thomas’ mother is staying. Thomas wants to be a vet, he knows that the more his grades slip the slimmer the chance that he can make it to vet school. But he is incredibly resistant to the idea of staying at the Delilie’s, saying he loves the mountains, he wants to be able to help take care of the farm, and despite the fact that these are both generally true for him, you can see and understand exactly why Thomas is pushing so hard to stay at the farm. He has heard mere days ago that a successful pregnancy of his mother’s would have resulted in him never being adopted, and now here is a pregnancy that is seemingly going well, and his parents are suggesting he move away from home and go stay with another family.

I want to make it clear, this is not a conscious or insidious effort on his parents’ part to get rid of Thomas, they genuinely want him to stay at the Delille’s because they believe being closer to school, and having a smart adult around to help with homework questions will help get Thomas’ grades up. But we know that is where Thomas’ mind is wandering because he makes a half-joking comment to Dr. Delille about it: “Finally, a real child,” and to Dr. Delille’s credit, she does not let that comment just skate by, telling Thomas “there are no fake children.” 

Now that Thomas and Damien are living under the same roof and have been forced by Damien’s mom to call a truce to their constant fighting, they are starting to tolerate each other, to get along, to be able to share space. And when they do want to fight, they make a plan. Thomas picks a time and place, and both of them drive in the same car to the middle of the woods to fight each other. Rain falls, and they pause their fight to retreat to a cave for shelter, sharing a cigarette after they just beat the shit out of each other. [It is here where Ben’s voice popped in my head with his commentary on how boys fight, get it out of their system, and then are chilling with each other very soon after they’ve fought. This is a very accurate depiction of that observation from Ben.]

Thomas takes Damien to the lake he hikes to in the middle of the night, and wouldn’t you know it, Thomas and Damien sharing more about themselves, growing closer to become friends, happens at the same time that the snow begins to melt. The warmer months are approaching, and so too is Damien and Thomas’ relationship beginning to warm up. 

With less pressure on him, more time to study, and a shorter commute, Thomas’ grades start to improve, and one of my favorite scenes in the movie is when Thomas’ teacher tells the whole class he got the highest grade, and Thomas is trying to hide his smile. I love that this film takes the time to show that Thomas does actually really care about school. That he cares about his grades. And I think adjacent to that, it adds additional weight to Thomas’ initial refusal to leave his parents due to his fear of being replaced. Damien starts his gay awakening, at which point we get a “I don’t know if I am in to guys or just you” moment.

And it is at that point I remember this whole syllabus is a warm up to BL, which makes me much more tolerant of the passing gay for you trope. (That said, considering the number of posters of men Damien has in his room, I think he is definitely queer). At the place in the story where Damien says this to Tom, there have been zero conversations about Damien’s growing feelings for Thomas. So, props to him for just coming right out and saying it. But with that comment spoken, the summer months are approaching. All the ice has melted, we start moving towards lighter clothing, fewer layers, and well, wouldn’t you know it the boys are getting along.

Where before Thomas would never be caught dead in the same space as Damien, even walking on opposite sides of the street to go back to Damien’s house so it didn’t seem like they were together. Now, they are sitting next to each other in class, they are acknowledging each other’s presence, they are talking and smiling, where everyone can see them. The weather is warm, the ice is gone, and the boys are sharing awkward, quick, exploratory, and messy kisses that bring Thomas’ internalized homophobia to the surface. 

Thomas hits Damien, is expelled from school, is made to return to his home in the mountains, and he stays there until Damien’s father dies, and Thomas’ own father drags his sorry ass out of the house and makes him go to the funeral. Damien’s mom spirals in to a major depressive episode, and Thomas is the first person to drag her out of the house, and to get her outside. He takes her to the mountains, the mountains that he loves, and they get out of the car and they are surrounded by fog. 

Which, again, on the subject of weather being a character, the weather being reflective of the emotional state of the characters. Thomas is a child, taking care of an adult, an adult who has just lost the love of her life, and who cannot see the sunlight through the clouds. Thomas wants to show Dr. Delille something beautiful, but she can’t see it yet. Thomas moves back in to the Delille’s house to help Damien take care of his mother. She steadily improves, the sunlight returns to the mountains and there is greenery as far as the eye can see. Things are bright, and colorful, and rich just in time for Thomas to get cool with his feelings for Damien, and fuck him. 

And, god the sex scene was cringey in the best possible way. The fact that I recoiled at Damien using his spit as lube, and Thomas just inserting his penis in to Damien’s asshole without any prep, I was like, “if you’re gonna show cock and balls, why are you showing such irresponsible- oh yeah, they are literally seventeen year olds having gay sex for the first time” which makes it work quite well for me. 

By/For/About

I would put this somewhere between By and About Queers or By, For, and About Queers I think. Fun Fact though, the title, Being 17 came from a 1870 French poem called ‘Roman’ by Arthur Rimbaud, who was a gay man.

Favorite Moment

My favorite moment is after Damien’s dad’s funeral, Thomas finds Damien practicing on a punching bag. Thomas who at this point has run from his feelings for Damien, head butted Damien after Damien kissed him, and had initially refused to go to the funeral says “I’m with you, for your Dad,” which results in Damien sobbing in to Thomas’ arms. Which is glorious on its own, but to follow it up with them having to pry themselves apart from on another because Dr. Delille has walked outside, to follow her together, and then have to physically manhandle her and bring her back inside their house so she didn’t injure herself was just so expertly done. Full of love and tragedy, and was equal parts beautiful and heartbreaking to witness.

Favorite Line

“They tell me things will get better. I know they’ll get better. I even hope so. But I also know that I won’t have accepted his death then. I’ll just have forgotten he died.”

If I had seen this movie a month ago, it is likely that I would have had a different favorite line. But as it so happens there has been a surprising amount of death happening inside and on the outskirts of my life recently, so these lines just hit different.

Score

9/10, it was a little slow for my tastes and it did not capture me emotionally the way some of the other films I've seen so far have, but it was all very well done, especially considering that it was filmed in 8 weeks.

[uttersorcery]

10 Horror films for Halloween

By David K Frampton

The Curse Of Frankenstein (Terrence Fisher 1957)

Hammer’s classic features a fine pair of performances from Chistopher Lee and Peter Cushing.

It also features the first time in cinema history to feature red blood. It’s so atmospheric and deep

And I love the way that Dr Frankestsein (Peter Cushing) becomes more and more evil as the film progresses yet somehow we still care about him. Classy early Hammer with tons of charm, atmosphere and darkness.

Les Yeux Sans Visage (Georges Franju 1960)

This French horror from the late 50s pioneers body horror. Beautifully shot and featuring some of the most haunting imagery of the era. There are some heart in mouth moments and a powerful performance my it’s cast…

Lake Mungo (Joel Anderson 2008)

This Australian horror flick might be the most terrifying movie I have ever seen…at least the most upsetting. But it is extremely well made and realised. A mockumentary with an edge it recounts the last days of a persons life. The gut wrenching finale is unforgettable and truly deeply scary.

Skinamirinck (Kyle Edward Ball 2022)

For true fear and originality try Skinamirink this film utilises atmosphere and tension to build a truly terrifying portrait of a young girl alone in her house. Too say anything more would spoil it but from a technical perspective this film uniquely creeps it’s way into your mind through showing and hiding key information leading to a disorientating and captivating stew of pure dread.

Raw (Julia Ducourno 2016)

Sometimes horror needs to be gut wrenching to truly have fun. And it doesn’t get much more gut wrenching than Raw. What makes this horror film so elemental is that this sort of pairs up as a coming of age tale as much as a cannibal horror. Beautifully shot and finely acted by Garance Marillier).

Jennifer’s Body (Karyn Kusama 2009)

Megan Fox arrived in this sensational witty and huge fun demon flick alongside Amanda Seyfried, writer Diablo Cody and director Karyn Kusama. The film deals with themes such as female sexuality, male gaze and the occult. It’s great fun, very bloody and somehow strangely moving.

From Beyond (Stuart Gordon 1986)

It’s always a pleasure to see some good old 80’s slime in a horror movie. This “slime classic” from Stuart Gordon is fun to watch, intense and woozy. When a scientist opens a portal to hell it is up to Jeffrey Combs to try and close it with disastrous results. This is a staple in the body horror diet as we witness flesh giving birth to flesh.

Audition (Takeshi Miike 1999)

Japan’s “Audition” is about as extreme as it gets as a film maker holds a fake audition to find a wife with terrible consequences. Takeshi Miike’s skill is to never let go of empathy for all of the characters leading to a finale that is both visceral and horrific aswell as heartbreaking. Essential horror.

Prevenge (Alice Lowe 2016)

If like me you think Alice Low is a genius then you’ll truly love her take on the slasher genre incredibly written and directed when she was pregnant. This movie contorts gender roles of men and women into new shapes as one nightmare situation bleeds into another. It’s dark…very dark but also shot with blackest humour. Stunning cinematography by Ryan Eddlestone.

Thanksgiving (Eli Roth 2023)

Eli Roth likes to make horror movies. He’s very good at them. And this is his best yet. My final entrance is a bit of fun. This slasher movie gets more and more crazy and gory as it progresses..almost a love letter to slasher movies the kills get more creative…and he keeps it in at a tight 90 minutes. It’s exhilarating, a little bit exploitative but the tension throughout is crafted immaculately.