#Amy Pickering

[kafkaspestcontrol]

i’m afraid to touch myself

’cause when i do, i jerk away

because the hands don’t feel like mine

they feel like yours

[epellucid]

[buffythecomicslayer]

Slayers: A Buffyverse Story

Release date: October 12, 2023.

Original cast members from the beloved TV series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, reunite for an all-new adventure about connections that never die — even if you bury them. A decade has passed since the epic final battle that concluded Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV). The game-changing spell that gave power to all potential Slayers persists. With new Slayers constantly emerging, things are looking grim for the bad guys. Rebellious vampire Spike is working undercover in Los Angeles with his old pal Clem when he meets feisty, rookie Slayer, Indira, who wants Spike to be her mentor. Stakes intensify as Cordelia Chase emerges from an alternate reality where she alone is the Slayer, and Buffy Summers doesn’t exist. Cordelia enlists Spike’s help with a classic big bad terrorizing her world…his ex, Drusilla. Giles, Anya, Jonathan, and Tara also return, but through the years and the vastness of the multiverse, not everyone is who they used to be…

Writers: Christopher Golden, Amber Benson.

Starring: James Marsters as Spike; Laya DeLeon Hayes as Indira; Charisma Carpenter as Cordelia; Emma Caulfield as Anya and Anyanka; Amber Benson as Tara; James Charles Leary as Clem; Juliet Landau as Drusilla; Anthony Head as Giles; Phina Oruche as Olivia; and Danny Strong as Ghost Jonathan.

Also Featuring: Julia Cho as Ms. Bang; Josh Petersdorf as Kurgan; Juno Dawson as Miranda; Jessica Gardner as Amy Madison; Cheryl Umana as Zantina; Joshua McClenney as Rahim; Denise Pickering as Buzz; Glenda Morgan Brown as Esther; Jasmine Hyde as Althenea; and Michael Swan.

[keenenthusiastinfluencer]

Since I’m in the spirit of the season I thought I’d gift some of my audios from this year feel free to trade and gift as normal

Evita Leicester Curve January 11 2024

Martha Kirby (Eva Peron) Harry Chandler (u/s Che) Gary Milner (Peron) Dan Partridge (Magaldi) Chumisa Dornford-May (Perons Mistress)

Harry’s only performance as Che

Evita Leicester Curve January 13 2024

Martha Kirby (Eva Peron) Tyrone Huntley (Che) Gary Milner (Peron) Dan Partridge (Magaldi) Chumisa Dornford-May (Perons mistress)

A Chorus Line UK tour July 13 2024

Adam Cooper (Zach) Carly Mercedes Dyer (Cassie) Jocasta Almgill (Diana) Lydia Bannister (Bebe) Bradley Delarosbel (Greg) Archie Durant (Mark) Joshua Lay (Al) Katie Lee (Kristine) Mireia Mambo (Richie) Kanako Nakano (Judy) Manuel Pacific (Paul) Ashley Jordan Packer (Paul) Kate Parr (Maggie) Rachel Jayne Picar (Connie) Chloe Saunders ((Val Clarke) Toby Seddon (Bobby) Amy Thornton (Sheila) Louie Wood (Don)

Zach calls on Bobby first instead of Mike leading to the song that I can do being cut

Phantom of the opera West End July 20 2024

Jon Robyns (the Phantom of the opera) Chumisa Dornford-May (alt.Christine daae) Joe Griffiths-Brown (Raoul vicomte de chagny) Kelly Glyptis (Carlotta) Samuel Haughton (u/sAndre) Matt Harrop (Firmin) Simon Whitaker (u/s Piangi) Francesca Ellks(Madame Giry) Maiya Hikasa (Meg Giry)

les Miserables West end August 2 2024

Chris Jacobsen (alt. Jean Valjean) Jordan Simon Pollard (u/s Javert) Katie Hall (Fantine) Amena El-Kindy(Eponine’) Luke Kempner (thernardier) Bonnie Langford (t/r Madame thernardier) Jac Yarrow (t/r Marius) Lulu Mae Pears (Cosette) Djavan Van de Fliert (enjolras)

Les Miserables west end November 2 2024

Ian Mcintosh (Jean Valjean) Stewart Clarke (Javert) Anouk van Laake (Fantine) Amena El Kindy (Eponine) Luke Kempner (thernardier) Clare Machin (Madame thernardier) Jacob Dachtler (Marius) Annabelle Aquino (Cosette) Robson Broad (Enjolras)

Phantom of the opera West End November 2 2024

Dean Chisnall (The Phantom of the opera) Colleen Rose Curran ((u/s Christine Daae) Joe Griffiths-Brown (Raoul Vicomte de Changy) Joanna Ampill (Carlotta) Samuel Haughton (u/s Andre) Martin Ball (Firmin) Hywel Dowsell (u/s Piangi) Helen Hobson (Madame Giry) Millie Lyon (Meg Giry)

My Fair Lady Leicester Curve November 23 2024

Molly Lynch (Eliza Doolittle) David Seddon-Young (Henry Higgins) Minal Patel (Colonel Pickering) Steve Furst (Alfre P. Doolittle) Djavan van de Fliert (Freddy Eynsford-Hill) Cathy Tyson (Mrs Higgins) Sarah Moyle (Mrs Eynsford-Hill Mrs Pearce) Jonathan Dryden-Taylor (Harry) Ying ue Li (Jamie) Damian Buhagiar (Zoltan Kaparthy)

During get me to the church on time cast members run down the front row which is caught on the audio causing some disruption

)

[likeawolfatthemoon]

books read in 2024 📚

💖 > 👍 > ✅ > 👎

The Dutch House by Ann Patchett ✅

The Guest List by Lucy Foley 👎

Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt 💖

Pageboy by Elliot Page 👍

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab 💖

Don't You Dare by C.E. Ricci 👎

Sure, I'll Join Your Cult by Maria Bamford ✅

A Good Girl's Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson (1/3) 👍

I'm Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy 💖

Counting the Cost by Jill Duggar ✅

Yellowface by R.F. Kuang 👍

The Lemon by S.E. Boyd ✅

The Woman in Me by Britney Spears ✅

Wrong Place Wrong Time by Gillian McAllister 👍

Kill Joy by Holly Jackson (.5/3) ✅

The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner 💖

Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann ✅

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak 💖

Good Girl, Bad Blood by Holly Jackson (2/3) 👍

The Grace Year by Kim Liggett 👍

The Girls by Emma Cline 👍

Dyscalculia by Camonghne Felix 👍

Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn 💖

As Good as Dead by Holly Jackson (3/3) 👍

The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins ✅

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig ✅

The Diviners by Libba Bray (1/4) 👍

I'll Be Gone in the Dark by Michelle McNamara 💖

The Wishing Game by Meg Shaffer ✅

Educated by Tara Westover 👍

The Butcher and the Wren by Alaina Urquhart 👍

The Heiress by Rachel Hawkins 👍

The Bone Houses by Emily Lloyd-Jones 👍

My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell 💖

Lair of Dreams by Libba Bray (2/4) 💖

Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner 👍

Listen for the Lie by Amy Tintera ✅

The Wife Upstairs by Freida McFadden ✅

No One Is Talking About This by Patricia Lockwood 💖

Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson 👍

A Flicker in the Dark by Stacy Willingham 👍

The Only One Left by Riley Sager 👍

The Fury by Alex Michaelides 💖

The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris 💖

The Grownup by Gillian Flynn ✅

The London Seance Society by Sarah Penner 👍

The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters 👍

The Debutantes by Olivia Worley 💖

Weyward by Emilia Hart 💖

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins 👍

Paris: The Memoir by Paris Hilton 👍

Dark Places by Gillian Flynn 💖

[anonymoushouseplantfan]

Omid says Kate got her inspiration for HOLD STILL from Meghan's cookbook. LOL. Meghan is really really really jealous of Kate. I've never seen this type of envy before. Everything Kate does kills Meghan.

Together wasn’t Meghan’s cookbook. It was a KP production. Amy Pickering did the whole thing.

Meghan hasn’t been able to produce anything close to that book. That’s what kills her. Kate can actually get something done.

[sendmyresignation]

5, 22 and 50 ;)

5) Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight) - Brian David Gilbert

Listen. I did a capstone project on Frankenstein this year- we spent the wholllee semester working on a paper which became a video essay modeled after film adaptations. so I was getting in the mood, I was having a good time, I was researching!! Plus incredible song to blast in the car and sing poorly

22) Millions - Gerard Way

Self-explanatory hesitant alien inclusion. I really did listen to the record an obscene amount this year. Had a Smiths moment around the same time which was a unintentional little coincidence. Really taken by the end recently... the echoed with loves reading like a salutation. I think people often overlook how kind millions is, in a weird way.

50) Suggestion - Fugazi

I read Our Band Could Be Your Life at the behest of a good friend (I would've gotten to it eventually). That plus the extended revolution summer research meant I was listening to a lot of Ian Mackaye this past winter into the spring. This is my favorite fugazi song probably. Live they'd often have Amy Pickering do vocals, it's based off her experiences she shared with the Dischord house staff. The willingness to implicate the audience is very fugazi but it works, for me, it's an imperfect document of the show which can grow and change

thank you for the ask nastia <3

[skrooy]

Sonic Crack Ships

So lately I've been going through a Sonic phase though its mostly a Tails phase if im being honest with myself. I've been trying to watch all the Sonic media and read all the Sonic comics that I can while playing a few Sonic games here and there. So my messed up brain came up with this stupid idea. What if I put every version of every canon Sonic characters from all Sonic media into multiple rounds of the hunger games simulator until only ones left. So I did that and even though I literally did it yesterday I already forgot who won I just remember it was something stupid. I also did it with all the diffrent canon and AU versions of Tails I could find and the winner was actually Tails from Sonic Boom. But anyways im getting off track where im going with this is that today while I was doing nothing lying in bed my brain came up with an even more messed up idea. What if I put all the Sonic characters not including the humans into a random wheel picker on Google to form a bunch of crack ships. So I did it for every character on the wheel. I now have a list. And I have decided to post this list because I find it funny. And I dare people to draw a couple from this list together or make a short cute crack story about one of these ships. And if you do please send a link to me. Ill die laughing if anyone does this. Sorry if I misspelled some names. P.S. I tried to put pictures on here for each character but I couldn't figure out how. I already have a part 2 for this in the works with even more characters.

Rosy the Rascal x Dark Doom

Scourge the Hedgehog x Trip the Sungazer

Mephiles the Dark x Silver Sonic

Ray the flying Squirrel x Rouge the Bat

Espio the Chameleon x Whisper the Wolf

Sage x Metal Amy

Storm Beard x Tumble the Skunk

Tiara Boobowski x Duck Bill Platypus

Cat (from Sonic Freedom Fighters) x Sonar the Fennec Fox

Hangry x Johnny Lightfoot

Gaia (Light, Dark, or both) x Megan Acorn

Tangle the Lemur x Silver the Hedgehog

Thrash the Tasmanian Devil x Sails

Thorn Rose x Vector the Crocodile

Monkey Khan x Fang the Jerboa

Jack x Tikal the Echidna

Prim x Chip

Werehog Sonic x Blaze the Cat

Nicole the Holo Lynx x Catfish

Knuckles the Dread x Sonic the Hedgehog

Zector the Zone Cop x Metal Tails

Wave the Swallow x Morian Blackthorn

Infinite the Jackal x Mighty the Armadillo

Vermin the Cybernik x Super Mecha Sonic

Porker Lewis x Zails the Zone Cop

Geoffrey St. John x Nazo the Hedgehog

Metal Sonic 3.0 x Manic the Hedgehog

Rocket the Sloth x Eclipse the Darkling

Marine the raccoon x Metal Scourge

Sonia the Hedgehog x Red

Black Rose x Dingo

Metal Knuckles x Nine

Charmy Bee x Neo Metal Sonic

Zknuckles the Zone Cop x Knuckles

Vanilla the Rabbit x Ebony the Cat

Rusty Rose x Perci

Mecha Sonic x Jet the Hawk

Bark the Polar Bear x Emperor Metallix

Mangy x Amy Rose

Sally Acorn x Griff

Fleetway Sonic x Tails the Fox

Bean the Dynamite x Zonic the Zone cop

Nasty Hyenas (the whole group) x Sticks the Badger

Metal Sonic x Stripes the Tiger

Batten x Storm the Albatross

Fiona the Fox x Cream the Rabbit

Anti Tails x Shade the Echidna

Bunnie Rabat x Shadow the Hedgehog

Antoine x Zooey the Fox

Sonic.exe x Jules (yes I know this is Sonics dad in the comics)

Ifrit x MinaMongoose

Rocket Metal Sonic x Tekno the Canary

Avatar x Big the Cat

Zantoine the Zone Cop x Gnarly

Chaos x Rotor the Walrus

Bunny Bones x Anti Sally

Zouge the Zone Cop x Zespio the Zone Cop

Denizen 1998 x Tails Doll

Mecha Knuckles x Honey the Cat

Rebel x Sleet

Knucks x Pseudo Sonic

Solaris x Zally

Nack the Weasel x Athair

Ball Hog x Carrotia

Grand Battle Kuku 15th x Lupe the wolf

Roxy the waiter x Lien-Da

Number 16 Speedy x Alicia Acorn

King Max Acorn x Bearenger

Lawrence x Burning Blaze

Elias Acorn x Fiest the Panda

Ari x Roller

Sallybot x Queen Aleena

Da Bearz (both of them) x Fockewulf

Julie-Su x Dr. Finitevus

Ms. Possum x Catty Carlisle

[janiemcpants]

2024 Reading Roundup, Part 1

Another year, another bunch of books!

I read A LOT of mysteries (all 30-something Patricia Wentworths, some Georgette Heyers, some Dorothy L. Sayers, plus caught up on a few current series). I also read more fantasy than usual, and I definitely want to keep doing that. More nonfiction than last year, too, including some great books about movies. 

There weren't quite as many 5-star books as there usually are, but the ones that were were REALLY good. Not sure if this was because of my own mind, or because my picker was less lucky, but there were still more fives than ones, so I'll take it! 

Stats:

Total books: 218 Total pages: 69,786 Average length: 320 pages Shortest book: The House on Abigail Lane by Kealan Patrick Burke (68 pgs) Longest book: Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson (1,088 pgs)

Three favorite books I read this year: 1. Paladin’s Faith by T. Kingfisher 2. The September House by Carissa Orlando 3. Hot Earl Summer by Erica Ridley

Three least favorite books I read this year: 1. Listen for the Lie by Amy Tintera 2. A Lady Awakened by Cecilia Grant 3. The Summer Bride by Anne Gracie

Full list (with ratings!) below the cut.

Five stars: The Inimitable Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse (1923) [reread] Very Good, Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse (1930) [reread] Paladin’s Grace by T. Kingfisher (2020) Paladin’s Strength by T. Kingfisher (2021) Paladin’s Hope by T. Kingfisher (2021) Paladin’s Faith by T. Kingfisher (2023) What Feasts at Night by T. Kingfisher (2024) Nona the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir (2022) Starter Villain by John Scalzi (2023) The Bell in the Fog by Lev A.C. Rosen (2023) Five Came Back: A Story of Hollywood and the Second World War by Mark Harris (2014) Death of an American Beauty by Mariah Fredericks (2020) His Majesty’s Dragon by Naomi Novik (2006) [reread] My Rogue to Ruin by Erica Ridley (2023) Hot Earl Summer by Erica Ridley (2024) Moving Pictures: Memories of a Hollywood Prince by Budd Schulberg (1981) The September House by Carissa Orlando (2023 Oscar Wars: A History of Hollywood in Gold, Sweat, and Tears by Michael Schulman (2023) The Warm Hands of Ghosts by Katherine Arden (2024) Floating Hotel by Grace Curtis (2024) Lone Women by Victor LaValle (2023) Mrs. Porter Calling by A.J. Pearce (2023) The Briar Club by Kate Quinn (2024) The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery (1926) [reread] Cue the Sun!: The Invention of Reality TV by Emily Nussbaum (2024) The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving (1820) The Phantom Patrol by James R. Benn (2024)

Four stars: The Perfect Rake by Anne Gracie (2005) The Winter Bride by Anne Gracie (2014) Clockwork Boys by T. Kingfisher (2017) Thornhedge by T. Kingfisher (2023) Nine Goblins by T. Kingfisher (2013) The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen by K.J. Charles (2023) A Nobleman's Guide to Seducing a Scoundrel by K.J. Charles (2023) A Gentleman Fallen on Hard Times by Grace Burrowes (2023) A Gentleman of Dubious Reputation by Grace Burrowes (2023) A Gentleman in Challenging Circumstances by Grace Burrowes (2023) A Gentleman in Pursuit of Truth by Grace Burrowes (2024) A Gentleman of Unreliable Honor by Grace Burrowes (2024) A Gentleman Under the Mistletoe by Grace Burrowes (2024) Lady Violet Investigates by Grace Burrowes (2021) Lady Violet Attends a Wedding by Grace Burrowes (2021) The Refusal Camp by James R. Benn (2023) Proud Sorrows by James R. Benn (2023) Miss Percy's Pocket Guide to the Care and Feeding of British Dragons by Quenby Olson (2021) Miss Percy's Travel Guide to Welsh Moors and Feral Dragons by Quenby Olson (2022) Cold-Blooded Myrtle by Elizabeth C. Bunce (2021) In Myrtle Peril by Elizabeth C. Bunce (2022) Myrtle, Means, and Opportunity by Elizabeth C. Bunce (2023) The Marquis Who Mustn’t by Courtney Milan (2023) The Golden Tresses of the Dead by Alan Bradley (2019) What Time the Sexton’s Spade Doth Rust by Alan Bradley (2024) An Infamous Betrayal by Lynn Messina (2018) How to Be Eaten by Maria Adelmann (2022) Street of the Five Moons by Elizabeth Peters (1978) [reread] Borrower of the Night by Elizabeth Peters (1973) [reread] Superfluous Women by Carola Dunn (2015) The Corpse at the Crystal Palace by Carola Dunn (2019) The Last Devil to Die by Richard Osman (2023) Circles of Stone: Weird Tales of Pagan Sites and Ancient Rites edited by Katy Soar (2023) A Fire at the Exhibition by T.E. Kinsey (2023) An Assassination on the Agenda by T.E. Kinsey (2024) Cursed Objects: Strange but True Stories of the World's Most Infamous Items by J.W. Ocker (2020) The Lawrence Browne Affair by Cat Sebastian (2017) The Ruin of a Rake by Cat Sebastian (2017) A Little Light Mischief by Cat Sebastian (2019) The Road to Roswell by Connie Willis (2023) The Mimicking of Known Successes by Malka Ann Older (2023) The Tiger in the Smoke by Margery Allingham (1952) Forgotten Murder by Dolores Gordon-Smith (2018) The Chapel in the Woods by Dolores Gordon-Smith (2022) I Do, I Do, I Do by Maggie Osborne (2000) The Rust Maidens by Gwendolyn Kiste (2018) Holy Ghosts: Classic Tales of the Ecclesiastical Uncanny edited by Fiona Snailham (2023) A Study in Scarlet Women by Sherry Thomas (2016) A Conspiracy in Belgravia by Sherry Thomas (2017) The Hollow of Fear by Sherry Thomas (2018) The Art of Theft by Sherry Thomas (2019) Murder on Cold Street by Sherry Thomas (2020) Miss Moriarty, I Presume? by Sherry Thomas (2021) A Tempest at Sea by Sherry Thomas (2023) A Ruse of Shadows by Sherry Thomas (2024) Beheld by TaraShea Nesbit (2020) The Archive of Alternate Endings by Lindsey Drager (2019) Death of a Showman by Mariah Fredericks (2021) The Lily of Ludgate Hill by Mimi Matthews (2024) Throne of Jade by Naomi Novik (2006) [reread] A Light Most Hateful by Hailey Piper (2023) Rose Cottage by Mary Stewart (1997) The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels by Janice Hallett (2020) The Temporary Wife by Mary Balogh (1997) The Lord I Left by Scarlett Peckham (2020) The Mistress Experience by Scarlett Peckham (2024) The Witches: Suspicion, Betrayal, and Hysteria in 1692 Salem by Stacy Schiff (2015) Never Whistle at Night: An Indigenous Dark Fiction Anthology edited by Shane Hawk (2023) Girl A by Abigail Dean (2021) Leave It to Psmith by P.G. Wodehouse (1923) [reread] Twice as Wicked by Elizabeth Bright (2017) Wicked With the Scoundrel by Elizabeth Bright (2019) The Duke’s Wicked Wife by Elizabeth Bright (2020) Mystique by Amanda Quick (1995) The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson (2010) Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson (2014) Snuff by Terry Pratchett (2011) Vermilion: The Adventures of Lou Merriwether, Psychopomp by Molly Tanzer (2015)

[calebwittebane]

but like im telling you hes morally bankrupt and complicit. and he still has the audacity... remember how everyone was drawing professor sycamore in pokemon amie so they could imagine a game mechanic where they can fondle his balls and feed him cupcakes until hes sooo full and burping. but im different because i think he should be put in pokemon amie so i can flick his forehead and poke him and punch him and force him to do those minigames. come on augustine just one more puzzle! ohhh youre tired? its been 13 hours and the puzzle pieces are so big and heavy? well in that case why dont we play the berry picker one. ohh are you hungry? you want some water? well sorry we dont have any fucking water. amd ive given all the cupcakes to my pokemon. so youre gonna have to play berry picker. to earn some cupcakes. god im sorry i just realized this post is deranged

[malohkeh-artblog]

Inktober 2024 - 05 (binoculars/ Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart)

Inktober 2024 - 06 (Amy Pond)

Two prompts today because this weekend was... Difficult. Terrible headache with effing pain in my eyes, I just couldn't draw.

So, I mixed the official prompt and my Whoctober prompt for yesterday, and used the Whoctober prompt for today.

I had so much fun coming up with this list of prompts around Doctor Who 😄

I used a "random picker" to pick 31 items from a list made of : all the Doctors plus 6 lists of 10 randomly picked : episodes; Classic companions; Nuwho companions; aliens and foes; various characters; and various elements from the whoniverse.

[noelledeltarune]

i actually just realized i don't care about the new legends game because like. they aren't gonna fucking have pokemon amie. NEVERMIND. i don't want to be in kalos without my FUCKING minigames!!!!!!!!! LET ME PLAY BERRY PICKER OR I WILL KILL US ALL

[thenightlymirror]

Amy Pickering of Fire Party singing Suggestion with Fugazi.

[anonymoushouseplantfan]

Samantha Cohen is attacked by the sugars as being weak, incapable etc. yet look at her resume

Chief of Staff to the global CEO of Rio Tinto

Co-Founder & Deputy Chair of The Queen's Green Canopy

Director of the Office of the Prime Minister: Downing Street

Chief Executive of Commonwealth Enterprise and Investment Council

Deputy and Assistant Private Secretary to HM The Queen

Communications Secretary to HM The Queen

Deputy Communications Secretary to HM The Queen

Assistant Communications Secretary to The Queen

I haven’t seen those comments. I Donny understand why they would be mad at Sam. Sam keep Meghan’s reputation afloat during her first year, which was an amazing pr feat given all the dad drama and celebrity hijinks.

It was impressive while it was happening and it’s even more impressive now that we know everything Sam had been keeping a lid on. They were planning Megxit since the wedding, and they were negotiating deals with Netflix and the publishers. She was mistreating the staff and fighting with Will and Kate. Plus she was writing her memoir and documenting their lives, plus she was fighting with UN Women, ghosting celebrities, alienating aristos, and causing chaos during the tours. Plus the merching. Plus the drug use.

There were rumors about this all over social media. The reporters had to know about it. Heck, Rebecca English flat out saw Amy Pickering weeping in a car.

And none of it got out! Sam Cohen finessed all of it. We could see there was a problem. We could see Will scarfing Meghan. We could feel the tension during the foundation forum. We could see hatless Meghan flouting protocol. We could see the giggly demeanor and the unfocused pupils. We could see Harry’s friends weren’t invited to the reception. And yet it all got spun by Sam. Sam Cohen won the Olympics of Public Relations during Meghan’s tenure with the royals.

I focus on weird details so my favorite example of this was the Castle Mey visit after the wedding. It was clear to me that Charles called them to Castle Mey to tell they had to deal with her father who was giving post-wedding interviews complaining about how he was treated, but it was spun as Charles being super-supportive and wanting to give Meghan a nice break. It wasn’t until Tom Bowers’ book cam out that we found out that indeed they were scolded at Castle Mey

Ditto Sandringham. We could feel the relationship was breaking down. We could see Meghan leaking Amner Hall details to People. We could practically fell Will’s disdain, and yet Sam got the reporters to focus on the Fab Four nonsense. It wasn’t until the tiara story broke out that reporters confessed they knew there were tensions during Christmas and they just didn’t my tell us about them.

That’s an amazing PR job. Literally everyone in London knew there was a problem—aristos, charities, diplomats, brands, celebrities—and yet Sam managed to keep it out of the press. With her dad and sister out there giving interviews at the drop of a hat!

[sendmyresignation]

I didn't finish Girls to the Front partly bc I got distracted but partly bc I heard a few other people saying it felt biased or lacking a further critical analysis, I'm curious it it references any of the women who were involved in DC hardcore or hardcore in general, re the books assertion that hardcore is overly technical and masculine point thay you alluded to in your tags. I know that it was still a very male dominated scene but the continued way that some people act like the women who were there didn't matter or aren't worth discussing has always irked me, and I'm curious if you had thoughts

sorry, i just got the time to answer this! i wanted to be able to give some quotes so it didn't look like i was pulling anything out of my ass. but yeah, so while the book does occasionally mention women in hardcore, Marcus has this rhetorical strategy where she brings them up, but not without first diminishing their existences and then dismissing their contributions.

There's reasons for this, I think, actually. One is that she really wants to sell this idea that punk was more influenced by women in the 70s and then, suddenly hardcore happened and the "macho-ism" of hardcore meant that the 80s lacked the previous generations female presence: "its penchant for louder-faster-harder performances and frenetic slam dancing were catnip for boys anxious to blow off adolescent steam... [the mosh pits] drove most girls to the sidelines". This is true... but only to a certain extent and is also a generalization, the other thing is I think she just reallllly wants to make riot grrls this supreme influence on women in the 90s, like there were sooo few women in DC (not out front, not as personalities, as she quotes from Jen Smith). But, by writing off the entirety of the 80s, she loops hardcore and posthardcore together?? like rev summer bands were explicitly challenging the violence and the "hard" rhetoric with vulnerability- spiritually v connected to riot grrl. and, ofc, rev summer was conceptualized by amy pickering! like she is directly responsible for not just the term but is herself the catalyst (Marcus says: "The scene's previous golden age... was what Fire Party's Amy Pickering had then dubbed Revolution Summer" which I feel removes a lot of her involvement, esp when Marcus criticized the fact Fire Party rehearsed religiously for months before performing live, therefore they weren't a part of the summer itself and also stood in contrast to the Olympia-riot grrl values of anyone-can-play diy). She also, in an attempt to re-enforce this riot grrl linage into The Canon excludes women in DC who weren't direct inspirations on riot grrl (so for example, Chalk Circle is mentioned a hell of a lot in these histories bc she was a mentor for Olympia grrls after moving to Cali, wrote a precursor zine that a lot of riot grrls read, and was in a band with Kathleen Hanna, Holly Rollers always gets mentioned bc of Juliana Luecking, etc) but Pickering and others gets left out bc she's an imperfect role model (wanted her band to be seen outside the paragram of gender, she worked at Dischord, booked shows, was friends with most of the hardcore scene). Unsurprisingly, then, Marcus v. conveniently leaves out the black women in DC; Pickering's band included drummer Nicky Thomas (who is literally never named in the book, only Pickering is mentioned when talking about Fire Party which i find particularly egregious) and their first show was dedicated to Toni Young of Red-C and Dove who were legit hardcore bands.

She also is weirdly inconsistent about the contributions of female instrumentalists (that idea of personalities...); again, the members of Fire Party outside their vocalist are never mentioned, Unwound is briefly offhandedly namedropped but Sarah Lund's name never appears, Christina Billotte is mentioned and quoted when she's involved in riot grrl (Autoclave-era; later she would grow distant from the DC meetings) but is only passingly mentioned when Slant 6 is formed and none of her bandmates are named, Maria Jones is name dropped as a significant presence in DC because of the Holly Rollers connection but none of the other bands she was in are shared, including the all-girl, all openly queer Broken Siren, I could go on and on and on. Unless you were a frontwoman or directly involved in riot grrl, you were not relevant enough for Marcus to care about, which I find frustrating. who gives a fuck about female vocalists when the "technical" nature of guitar or drums makes them much more gender-locked positions in rock music? again, there's also a divergence about proficiency, as if attempting to perform complex, serious music was like.... giving into the masculine musical culture? which i find incredibly essentialist and insulting to women invested in their craft. Ultimately I find Marcus incapable of adequately accounting for the variety of women and their reasoning for being in a band during this period and it does a disservice to the history to simply pretend any woman not Doing It Correctly is worth forgetting or dismissing. so, hopefully that answers your question lmao. id still recommend girls to the front, if just because it presents riot grrl pretty unedited and the timeline is super helpful when dealing with a very fragmented small subculture and seeing that it gets preserved. but MAN did a lot of the analysis get on my nerves lmao