#Bloody Mary Variations

[vaughnboyd]

Cocktail - Tito's Bloody Mary Our homemade version of this traditional brunch drink has some kick. Do not apologize if your guests begin to perspire.

[noonecanhearyouscreen]

Submitted for the Approval of the Midnight Pals Season 2!

Submitted for the Approval of the Midnight Pals is a fiction podcast based on The Hugo Award Winning microfiction series "Midnight Pals" originally posted on Twitter by Bitter Karella https://twitter.com/midnight_pals. The series stars classic horror authors Stephen King, Edgar Allen Poe, Mary Shelley, Clive Barker, H.P. Lovecraft, and Dean Koontz all gathering around a campfire to tell their stories like in the classic kids horror anthology "Are You Afraid of the Dark?".

Our first season premiered last year to much success and all of our episodes are currently available at http://www.midnightpals.com/ or wherever you like to get your podcasts.

We are currently crowdfunding our Season 2 which will feature parodies of Hellraiser, Angela Carter's Red Riding Hood variations from The Bloody Chamber, The Watchers, Interview with the Vampire, "A Shadow over Insmouth", Richard Bachman, and Rebecca. If you like a healthy dose of laughs with your horror, we just might be your jam.

[pastrydragon]

What do the rogues smell like? ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

I know you probably asked this as a joke but I thought deeply about it anyway so here you go!

Riddler:

Lemon and lavender soaps.

Edward's dad was a hoarder and so Edward has a thing about his space being clean.

when he got his first apartment he kept it obsessively clean and as a side effect of this the place always smelled like the lemon and lavender cleaning products he'd scrubbed the place with.

And since this was the first place Edward ever felt safe, he ended up associating those scents with safety.

So all his soap and cleaning products to this day are either lemon or lavender scented, so he inevitably ends up with a near permanent air freshener like scent.

Scarecrow:

Pumpkin pie now but used to smell like chemicals.

Harley got him a basket of pumpkin spice everything as a gift for his birthday one year after he developed a toxin variation that was particularly pungent and he wasn't gonna waste perfectly good hygiene products!

And he has a genuine love for pumpkin taste so he keeps cans of it around to put in his pancakes every morning.

So yeah, The Master Of Halloween smells like thanksgiving.

You can still smell the chemicals if you get close though.

Mad hatter:

“Iris Poudre” by Frederic Malle, he doesn’t care that it’s a women’s perfume, he wants to smell like a sexy flower garden and everyone else can mind their own business.

Under the perfume he smells like whatever tea he drank that day and possibly like whatever sugary treat he baked to go with it.

Unless he's been in his lab all day, then he smells like metals and plastic.

And once in a blue moon when he needs to do some intense testing, cool ranch Doritos.

Except he never brings food down there with him so how....?

Mr. Freeze:

His condition causes him to have a permanent fresh snow smell which he was pleasantly surprised by.

Like the other scientists on this list carries a kind of "laboratory smell" with him.

His suit smells... weird. Like you can smell that a person was there but there's no sweat smell and its honestly a little off-putting. Luckily he cleans it very regularly.

He used to wear “Angel’s share” by Killian because Nora has good taste and wasn’t gonna let her husband smell like detergent and nothing else.

He'll start wearing it again when she wakes up.

Penguin:

“Tobacco Vanille” by Tom Ford mainly. The man wants to ooze class.

He also wears it because he always has a cigar after his lunch and dinner so he needs to wear something he knows won't clash scents with his Arturo's.

And if you're thinking that smell is strong, that's on purpose.

Oswald has a small group of birds in his atrium that he cares for personally out of affection, and because of that if you get right up close to him you’ll smell bird cage. Not great.

He might also smell like seafood after meals but not really in a bad way, more in a "Well fuck, now I'm craving Red Lobster!" way.

TwoFace:

“REPLICA jazz club” Because before he was Twoface he was a snazzy lawyer who wanted to smell like how big band music sounds.

There's also the medicine he puts on his acid burns which smells exactly how you’d expect it to.

The two mixing together isn't unpleasant but it is a bit confusing to get a whiff of if you don't know who it's coming from.

It smells kinda like an expensive hospital room.

He might also smell like Bloody Mary's if he's had a bad day.

Harley:

“Tutti Fruity Candy” by Bath and bodyworks

Unless she’s going to one of Oswald’s fancy parties, Then she wears “Into The Night”…. Also by bath and bodyworks.

She also smells a bit like bubblegum.

She smells like how a slumber party feels I think.

Just smells like fun!

Catwomen:

Has accumulated an impressive collection of expensive perfumes as gifts from various gentleman friends over the years and uses them almost at random so literally no one knows until she shows up.

She also smells a bit like cats.

Poison Ivy:

ROSES

Like a very aggressive rose smell.

Like you aren’t allowed to wear rose scented perfume in Gotham because it makes people try to evacuate the area.

Ivy could smell like any flower she wanted of course.

But who doesn't love roses?

Bane:

Harley strikes again and got him Dr. Squach products because he's Mr. manly man and she thought it was funny.

He shares John's "waste nothing" philosophy and used all of it, then bought more because he liked it.

His favorite scent is alpine sage but he changes it up sometimes.

He also smells like 24 hour fitness, because obviously.

He might also smell like peanut butter protein shakes.

Bookworm:

Musty dusty book smell.

He smells like a socially awkward moth eaten carpet.

He smells like an old arm chair with a cat sitting in it.

He smells like cocoa butter because he is an ashy bitch who needs to be moisturized.

Please buy him some cologne.

Killer Croc:

Waylon's home may be in the sewer but his home also happens to be beachfront property, so he smells like ocean mainly.

With all his free time between heists and such, Waylon often takes on elaborate cooking projects with a focus on BBQ and smoking meat. Which means he smells like a plethora of kitchen spices, smoke and herbs.

Maybe it's the alligator skin, maybe it's the jackets he wears, but he always smells a little like leather.

So the entire effect is "Bar and grill by the ocean with those really nice leather booths"

Please make him into a cologne.

Music Meister:

He avoids scented products to avoid irritating his respiratory system in any way.

So He just smells like a clean human.

Possibly lemon and honey from trying to soothe those vocal cords with weak tea.

Joker:

Is also a basic bath and bodyworks bitch, he wears “Among The Clouds”. 

He does class it to the roof for formal events though and switches to "English Promenade 19" By Krigler.

If you catch him without any scent on he smells slightly acidic and some other rogues would describe him as smelling "sickly". He's not physically sick as his doctors can attest, in fact his chemical bath raised the PH across his body so he can't even get most diseases anymore.

Because of this he can tend to overdue it on the scent to hide the sickly and chemical smells.

Like Jervis, Joker often smells like his baking projects. (Except the project is almost exclusively some sort of pie.)

[daisychainsandbowties]

thinking about how groups in isolation grow close with rapidity, develop bonds and rely on each other for physical comfort at the same speed with which lesbians U-Haul, and so you shove a bunch of queer girls into a socially isolated situation like Cat's Cradle and they develop a shorthand, they seek each other out for the quiet touches they can't get from family or friends anymore, they collapse into cuddle puddles in the grass after training and braid each other's hair and hold each other close and watch each other die

Help I’m thinking about this post and shanmary signing to each other and the implications of that across the whole OCS.

Shannon sitting cross-legged with Beatrice in the afternoons when they’re both exhausted from training, walking her through the movements and the syntax and the variations on each sign.

Bea and Shannon use it when Shannon finally persuades Beatrice to be her lookout while she pranks Lilith.

The tall, intimidating figure who catches Bea the first time because she’s too distracted by conspiratorial grins and Shannon touching her arm as she sprints down the hall.

“Come on!” but Bea’s still fresh to the OCS, and this request is absent the snap of command that usually shadows Shannon’s voice.

In a flurry of dark hair and angry eyes she finds herself pinned to the wall by Lilith, her nails bloody from climbing the drainpipe after Shannon emptied a bucket of water down onto her from the window above.

Stunned by that touch, unmoving. Lilith, who quirks an eyebrow, “Not even going to put up a fight?”

Shannon signing to get Bea’s attention when she’s on the verge of a panic attack. Naming sensations and they’re variations on “i can feel you. i can hear you.”

“you’re here.”

Beatrice with all her languages learning this new one from Shannon and also a separate language of touch. She’s so remote at first, flinching from everything but fists, until Mary pulls her aside and makes her play stupid hand-dexterity games that leave her palms stinging and her face flushed.

Sometimes, Lilith catches her under the chin with her fingers as she walks by, a silent “chin up” reminding her she’s a warrior now, not a disgraced daughter.

Mary bracing Bea with her arm when they stumble out of a tear-gassed room, palm over Bea’s mouth because fuck knows what they put in those cannisters, fuck knows if it might be lethal in high doses.

Beatrice learns to do these things in return, turning her head into Lilith's chest when the field medic takes her gloved hands out of someone’s chest and asks for the time. Lilith's mouth, warm on her temple, she who never looks away.

Helping Mary clean the guns and butting shoulders as they work, sharing Mary's earbuds. Beatrice only nodding cryptically when Mary asks if she likes a particular song - in her head thinking ‘I like you. the song’s just noise we’re both hearing.’

Shannon and Bea mirroring their movements with the bō, wordless competitions for who can spin it the longest without dropping it. Bea watching Mary and Shannon sit out on the grass, Shannon with her arms around Mary as Mary sits bracketed by her legs, pulling up blades of grass with a complicated expression.

Bea signs on the days she doesn’t want to speak. Lilith teases that she’s one of those silent nuns who only speak to god (but gently, gently) thumb tucked under Bea’s chin as she checks a graze on her cheekbone. Bea, transfixed by Lilith’s tight, concerned frown.

A dry, “Oh yes, how astonishing that someone might give a shit about you” from Lilith before she notes Beatrice’s stricken expression, squeezes her shoulder and makes an odd, abortive motion like she wants to brush her lips over Bea’s forehead, but thought the better of it.

Mary who won’t learn Spanish but picks this up, if not with ease then with determination, with renewed fervor when Shannon gets the halo. Looking to her ears for the telltale trickle of ruptured eardrums before dropping back to this, their shared voice.

And this, too, is how they learn to die.

Beatrice fixing the straps on Lilith’s vest, tugging them tight so the armor won’t collapse into a puncturing shape at the point of impact. Lilith letting her do it - the routine is like with a hazmat suit or a space suit. Check your own, check someone else, and let them check you.

“You look ridiculous in that hood, like a worm.”

“Thank you Lilith.” As Bea tightens the last strap, smooths it flat. Her hand lingers so Lilith takes it. Why not?

“Don’t die tonight, okay?” Lilith pauses. “I refuse to attend a vigil mass for a worm.”

Beatrice bites back on something. Lilith knows what it is, knows what she looks like, has wrestled Shannon over it and scowled at Mary - “Wow Lil, now you match your personality. A dickhead.”

All the stupid little nerd says is, “I’ll see you in the van.”

And she does, but it’s with Shannon’s blood on her hands, the divinium in her body casting little lights on the ceiling of the van, like glow-in-the-dark stars. Lilith’s eyes roaming in the rearview mirror, both hands busy on the wheel, as Shannon coughs on a mouthful of blood and switches to her hands.

They shake, fluttering out their meanings as street lights switchback in over the tense shape of Lilith’s shoulder.

“Hey,”

Beatrice wants to clutch her hands but she wants the words, too.

Her voice breaks around the response, so she mirrors, like they’re doing forms on the grass, like they’re home.

“Hey.”

[myriadparacosm]

Sirius Black discovering otome/dating games through Mary when she brings some kind of muggle invention and becoming obsessed over it because he just wants to date everyone once but never manages to because he feels like cheating over his favorite one: the "book-lover that looks like a cinnamon roll but promises a treat if you can shut your mouth one bloody minute".

It's his guilty pleasure and he hides it from everyone, even James because he just knows he will want to date the tenebrous and bitchy character - which is the worst choice in Sirius' opinion.

Sirius has to share because Regulus, they are on better term but his brother is still a twat, discovers him on one of his secret outing and becomes as obsessed over the game as well. The whole perspective of choices, interactions based on how you play and the different variations of a dialogue or endings (not that they ever reached one) makes him too curious for his own good so he wants to do it all.

They fight over who they want to date, the choice of clothes and the dialogues. Sirius wants to pick the funniest or at least the more natural answers while Regulus calculates which one is the best even if it just sounds weird and out of character.

Once they manage to create a schedule, because Regulus won't leave Sirius alone, they share the game properly but they always erase the save of the other because they can't agree on the love interest. They use the excuse of "brother bonding time" to justify how many times they disappear together.

Sirius is very shocked to see Regulus always going after the guy always happy and laughing who speaks too much about sports, despite saying that the lack of glasses is a very bad choice, when he complains Regulus tells him that at least his boyfriend doesn't look like a wet overgrowth stick.

Let's just say whatever progress they have made on their relationship is thrown out of the window concerning their false boyfriends.

Regulus starts to make charts, billions of parchment, to catalog all the informations about the characters. He notes down all dialogues options and their hypothetical impact over the story and the characters they want to date with. He brings them over to argument over their choices and the sheer logic of it before hitting Sirius with it when he ignores it.

They lose their mind when they manage to get a date with a random character but they decide to go for it "to prepare themselves when they have the date they want to" . For it they plan a whole day alone free of any distraction, Sirius has taken on the habit to keep the Marauders' map to be sure no one finds him.

Regulus barely focuses on class and keeps checking the charts and memorizes every single details. Sirius prepares himself like he is going on a real date but like he might die if he isn't looking perfect, which confuses his friends because he tell them he is "spending time with Reggie".

Both actually agree on an outfit for their character that satisfies the both of them and Sirius actually remembers what kind of things the character likes so they are so ready. They are holding hands the whole time and stops breathing when the date starts - which is abruptly cancelled by their love interest upon noticing their outfit with the argument of 'you aren't what I expected'.

They don't take it well.

[feraliminal]

Titan TVman and Beowulf are Basically the Same Character: Why Skibidi Toilet Is Folklore

It’s been a long time since I’ve touched the hellsite (I used to doodle and write dirty fic), but I’m fascinated by the silly toilet men videos, their popularity, and the confusion about their popularity. And because I’m a huge nerd and always want to know why people do things, I wrote something. It’s too long to leave on my Notes app and forget about, and I’m also not letting skibidi toilets anywhere near my serious blog. So I actually came back to Tumblr for this.

(Also the first stupid doodle I’ve done in forever, here’s the original meme.)

Toilet humour is obviously a huge part of why it’s so popular, and imho it’s a poop joke that got bigger than the creator intended it to. Toilets are endlessly amusing, particularly for kids, because learning to manage your waste is essential to being a civilised person but something that no one really wants to do. Some of the first conflicts between kids and their parents are often around cleanliness and potty training, and as we get older, the toilet is one of the few places where we’re first alone, particularly if we share a bedroom with siblings. Childlore and fiction about childhood is full of toilets: bullies that strike in school toilets, toilet ghosts like Bloody Mary and Hanako-san, people who died on the loo, and rats or spiders that bite your bum. It’s a classic example of a liminal space that looks mundane but could be full of scary shit.

So that’s my first smart theory, Skibidi Toilet is a contemporary haunted toilet story with something to do with dirt and discomfort vs tech. Clever theories about symbolism are fun and I think symbolism that feels relevant and familiar might be why something first attracts someone’s attention, but I don’t think it can explain the thing having fandom.

The only thing people love as much as poop jokes is stories about cool guys having punch ups, and there’s plenty of that as well. Visually and thematically, Skibidi uses all the tropes that we love in serious popular media - fights, explosions, monsters, giants, noise, the aforementioned cool robots. Swap out skibidi toilets for alien invaders, and cameramen with plungers for cyborgs with swords, and we’d have a respectable alien apocalypse story that’s identical to five other summer blockbusters. But as it is, it’s so ridiculous that it can only be a silly little internet video.

There’s a video by MatPat making a convincing argument that it’s actually about the conflict between independent content creators and the conventional media industry. But again, I think it’s also probably only indirectly what’s turning curious views into millions of subscriptions, especially since the earlier netlore was pretty niche. I think what viewers are picking up on is the dissonance between cool robots, apocalypse horror, and silly toilets, evidenced by most of the comments on YouTube being variation of “why is this actually good”. It’s got the same vibe as other stuff I’d classify as creepypasta-style or meme-style horror: Five Nights at Freddy’s, Among Us, Homestuck, and so on. In meme horror, there is an in-universe threat to characters that’s not played for laughs. However, something like a ridiculous gimmick, a parody of pop culture, or a dissonantly cute art style makes it clear that adult viewers who understand it as fiction don’t have to respect the threat.

The line between feared and respected has always been thin. A cool example of this is the word aglæca in Beowulf and other Old English texts. Aglæca is a debated word because it’s mainly used to describe monsters and demons, but is sometimes used to describe heroes and saints. Both the human hero Beowulf and his monster opponent Grendel are called aglæca. Based on this use and its etymology, some medieval studies scholars think it means something more like an uncanny and powerful outsider. I think a big part of meme horror’s appeal is that it’s still got heroes who are more or less serious characters fighting serious battles. We can respect the characters and their struggles even if we don’t fear the absurd stuff. I’ve chosen Titan TVman for my silly title because they’re the character that best embodies the “uncanny hero” aspect for me, but tbh I think that most meme horror heroes/anti-heroes seem to be these character types.

We know that enjoying horror fiction helps some people manage anxiety and fear, and comedy horror can help us laugh at fear. With the retained seriousness besides the playfulness, meme horror might be more beneficial than basic serious or comedy horror as a comfortably uncomfortable middle ground between the two. Cringe is currently having a cultural moment too, where concerns about and celebrations of being cringe are everywhere, so it might also give us a way of exploring and processing our feelings about embarrassment as well as fear.

Memes, and therefore meme horror, are very amenable to being collaboratively and spontaneously adapted and spread by regular folk. They’re a new form of folklore, essentially. They address stuff that’s relevant to the lives of regular folk, including ugly and uncomfortable things. There’s even a theory that the culture of the very online has began an era of “secondary orality” where how we spread stories on the internet replicates how we used to spread folk stories by word-of-mouth. Secondary orality is a double-edged sword, as it can build creative and supportive communities, but also spreads conspiracy theories and hate. No wonder some of us might not be having our needs fulfilled by regular horror fiction, if we’re facing the bad kind of secondary orality as well as everything else that’s going on in the world. (More allegories! An increasingly absurd and hostile world is another theme in Skibidi Toilet.)

The 1938 book Homo Ludens argued that doing things just for fun has defined features and benefits: play gives us freedom to express ourselves, it’s separate from everyday life, it allows us to construct new worlds with new rules, and it’s never compulsory or for profit. When we’re bombarded by media that’s designed to extract the maximum amount of profit from us, engaging with mainstream entertainment might sometimes feel not as playful or as voluntary. But by being a bit cringe, meme horror retains the appearance of being indie and just for fun even if it becomes obscenely popular.

So, for me, this is what Skibidi Toilet is about. It’s about new folklore playing the same role as old folklore, even if it looks like silly toilet men videos, because we’re essentially the same people as our ancestors telling monster stories around the fire.

[lesbiansagainsttheatre]

tumblr dot com, enjoyers of the ides of march, should know my hometown is the origin of the canadian variation on the bloody mary called a ceaser which is the same except it uses clamato (clam + tomato not joking) juice.

perhaps make one for the next ides

[chasingmidnights]

13 Nights of Halloween: Campfire Stories; Story Two

Title: Mirror, Mirror 

Storyteller: Ransom Drysdale

Summary: A story about Mary Eileen Tylerson of Knockemstiff, a Bloody Mary story. 

Warnings: First, 18+ so Minors DNI! Angst; mentions of death, broken neck, eyes being scratched out, blood; a variation of Bloody Mary; mentions of alcohol/drinking beer; and I think that’s everything and I apologize if I miss anything but you are responsible for what you read and consume on the internet. I do not claim to be a professional writer, so any and all mistakes are my own. Nothing is beta read.

A/N: This story might be a bit shorter than the first one, but all of these stories for my 13 Nights of Halloween are going to be different lengths. So, pull up a chair around the fire and try not to get too spooked! 

Wordcount: 846

“Alright, now that we’re all settled, can I tell my story since I didn’t get to last night?” Ransom practically whined before taking a long drink of his beer. 

You couldn’t help but find it a bit adorable at how anxious Ransom was to tell his story. You scooted a little closer to Steve as you got more comfortable and everyone else was doing the same. The last remaining bits of the sun was slowly disappearing behind the trees. 

“Yeah, I think I’m ready for another story, let’s see if you can beat Kate’s.” Johnny challenged with a smirk. 

“Come on now, this isn’t supposed to be a competition.” You tried to referee but you knew it would be pointless. 

Ransom smiled smugly back at Johnny. “Trust me, mine’s better. No offense, Kate.” 

Kate held up her hands before leaning back in her chair. “None taken.” 

“Okay, so, what’s your story then?” Natasha inquired as she roasted a marshmallow.

“Alright, everyone ready?” Ransom asked and when he didn’t receive any protests, he took a drink of his beer before he started. “Everyone here knows some form or variation of Bloody Mary, right?” 

Everyone nodded their heads and just then, a cold breeze picked up and it caused the flames of the fire to dance around and flicker. The fire popped and you pulled your blanket a little closer to you. 

“So, I actually did some research on this and it seems like almost every town has their own story of how Bloody Mary works. Even a town like Knockemstiff has its own story. It was a tragic accident that happened about twenty, twenty-five years ago. This story revolves around a young woman named, Mary Eileen Tylerson. According to legend, she was encouraged to do an old ritual to see what her future husband might look like. To do so, all she had to do was darken her home and walk backwards up the stairs as she held a hand mirror. So, when the moon was round and high in the sky and when the clock struck midnight, she did exactly that. Step by step, she slowly walked backwards up the stairs of her home. She held a mirror in one hand and she held onto the railing of the stairs to help guide her with her other hand. 

“With each step she took, she grew more and more anxious, having not seen anything in the mirror yet. However, just as she reached the top of the stairs, an image of a skull started to form in the mirror. Now, part of this legend is that if a skull or the grim reaper appears in the mirror, then death is soon to follow. That’s exactly what happened to this young woman. Death. Because a few days later, the neighbors found her at the bottom of the stairs with a broken neck and the hand mirror was shattered. Police labeled it as an accident and moved on to other cases. As the years went on, the story changed as to what actually happened to poor Mary Eileen Tylerson. Some people thought maybe she was a witch and cursed the mirror so she could do the same thing to other young girls. Kill them before they can marry. Others have told the story, that if you say her name thirteen times in front of any mirror, she will appear and scratch your eyes or torture you in other ways. 

“Knockemstiff has a long list of mysterious deaths that have been written off as undetermined or accidental. They’re cases where it’s a single woman found alone and a lot of time they have blood coming from their eyes or no eyes at all. Some people believe in the whole Bloody Mary theory and refuse to even say her name, especially in front of a mirror. Whereas others simply believe what they’re told by the police and move on with their lives. No one can ever be sure though because no one’s ever survived one of her attacks. Not to mention, no one has ever really been brave enough to try and stop her.” 

Ransom then polished off his beer as the fire cackled. 

“Really, Bloody Mary?” Ari teased as he stood up and stretched. “Couldn’t have thought of anything better Drysdale?” Ari shook his head with a small smirk and started to walk away from the group. 

“Oh, like you could do better?” Ransom called out to him, challenging him. 

“Give me some time and I will! Be back, going to take a whiz!” Ari called back as he continued to walk away. 

“Hey, why don’t you do us a favor and say Bloody Mary’s name in the bathroom mirror!” Ransom shouted to Ari as a scowl formed on his face. 

“Well, I liked it.” You chirped with a small smile on your face. 

“Me too. Way better than mine.” Kate tried to encourage Ransom. 

“Yeah, yeah.” Ransom rolled his eyes as he reached for another beer. “Who’s next?” 

“I’ve got one.” Yelena spoke up. “It’s a good one too.”

[warningsine]

I’ve written several times about the phenomenon of the cable-drama “bad fan”—the loyal viewer, often a guy, who views antiheroes as heroes. The archetypal bad fan shrugs off any notion of moral complexity; he fast-forwards through arguments with the nagging wife and freeze-frames the bloody whackings. It’s a phenomenon that haunts some of the best and most ambitious “dark dramas,” particularly online. Depending on your mood, you could interpret this response in a range of ways: Are the viewers who fantasize about killing Skyler White misogynists, or is there something in “Breaking Bad” that causes this reaction, a drop of ricin in the narrative?

Recently, however, I’ve been thinking about another kind of bad fan—the feminine type.* By this I mean the fans of shows with female protagonists, both comedies and dramas, who crave not bloodshed but empowerment. The topic came up during my conversation at The New Yorker Festival_ _with Mindy Kaling, the creator and star of “The Mindy Project.” As we talked, Kaling made a strong case for one way in which her series has been misunderstood: her idea for Mindy Lahiri, she said, wasn’t a spunky role model like Mary Tyler Moore. She also wasn’t trying to create a flawed comic protagonist with a voice-of-reason quality, in the tradition of Liz Lemon and Leslie Knope. Instead, she was going for the Michael Scott, the Larry David, the Kenny Powers—truly screwed-up bigots and basket cases who were, nonetheless, the rowdy centers of their respective shows.

“That felt more fun to me,” she said. “The Mindy Project” has gotten its share of flack during its three years: for some fans, chiding Mindy Lahiri for her behavior—for being selfish, cruel, narcissistic, politically clueless or conservative, shallowly money-focussed, and otherwise not a role model—seems to be central to watching the show. I’ve read smart analyses from such fans, who are typically women, but other times they operate less like viewers than ombudsmen. As with “Breaking Bad,” it’s possible to see this tension as baked into the show’s genre: “The Mindy Project” is a sitcom about a woman poisoned by rom-coms, but it offers up its own romantic-comedy pleasures. Female viewers, especially, have been trained to expect certain payoffs from romantic comedies, vicarious in nature: the meet-cute, the soul mate, and, in nearly every case, a “Me, too!” identification. Without “Me, too!,” some folks want a refund.

I adore “The Mindy Project,” which, like many sitcoms, took a while to gel but has become a consistently hilarious series with a caustic edge, and a sexual depth missing in shows such as “New Girl.” I also love its main character, who says things like, “I could never repay you and I don’t plan to.” I love it in part because the show, and its creator (like many interesting showrunners, both male and female), tends to be a bit of a shit-stirrer—in its best episodes, “The Mindy Project” has a mischievous tendency to destabilize its viewers, by swinging sweet to sour within a single joke. That comic approach has become common among female comedians on cable television, on shows including “Girls,” “Veep,” “Broad City,” “Inside Amy Schumer,” and “It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia,” but network TV is still a compromise machine, a tumbler that takes spiky gems and smacks them until they’re pebbles. Miraculously, “The Mindy Project” has stayed spiky. As that insidious guidebook “The Rules” used to recommend to wishful single girls, it’s a “creature unlike any other.”

It’s also not the only show haunted by this bad-fan variation. “The Good Wife,” which is among the most ambitious, morally complex dramas on either network or cable television, has always had viewers who mistook it for a “You go, girl!” fantasy. To these viewers (and to a few recappers, male and female), Alicia Florrick is a role model for “having it all.” When she takes moral shortcuts, these fans get outraged and confused. The same is true of “Scandal,” a very different kind of show, but one that also centers around a high-powered, wine-swilling, morally sketchy heroine. On fan boards, a subset of viewers gripes that Olivia Pope is an adulterous basket case and a hypocrite. (These fans often prefer early Season 1, when Olivia wore the white hat and it was easier to see her affair as true love.) A similar discussion rages about “Homeland” ’s Carrie Mathison, a mentally ill C.I.A. agent who nearly drowned her baby in this season’s first episode, an incident that some online fans (again, both male and female) felt made it impossible to root for her—an interpretation grounded in the idea that we must root for her, rather than merely feel for her.

For me, the canary in the bad-fan coal mine is still “Sex and the City,” a show that to this day inspires fans to complain that its heroine was no damn good. Carrie was selfish and a bad friend and needy and shallow. She had an affair! She didn’t deserve Aidan. She had the nerve to ask her friends for a loan. What was she thinking with that dirndl? Like “The Mindy Project,” the show was an allergic response to rom-coms and sitcoms, just as “The Sopranos” was an allergic response to mob stories and “The Office” was an allergic response to reality TV. For some viewers, the idea that her flaws were there on purpose, that they were the whole point, remains hard to swallow. But “relatability” is a trap—it’s a cage for artistic ambition. When it comes to role models, as Kaling herself suggested, we may simply be looking for love in the wrong places: instead of looking to the show, we should look to the showrunner.

*Yes, I know it’s tremendously rude to call someone a bad fan for watching a show the “wrong” way. Just assume I mean it in a thoughtful, conversation-starting sort of way.

[themanhattanfoodproject]

Tomato and tequila go so well together--I know I prefer a Tía Maria over a regular Bloody Mary myself--and I had some leftover juice from a can of tomatoes recently that begged to be made into some sort of cocktail. Instead of going with a Bloody Mary variation, I kept it a little more simple with some tomato juice, pepperoncini brine, dry vermouth, and tequila, and…the result was really good and then made better with a sprinkling of Tajín and some grasshopper salt.

A little unconventional, but still a great way to get a savory cocktail without having to go to too much trouble.

[stepfordgoth]

[imperialchem]

Top Hot Sauce Hacks and Unexpected Ways to Spice Up Your Meals

Hot sauce transcends its role as a mere condiment and instead offers a culinary experience filled with excitement and exploration.  Whether one possesses a fervent appreciation for spicy flavours or simply seeks to enhance the taste of their culinary creations, hot sauce can serve as a clandestine asset inside the realm of gastronomy.  Heat meets heritage! Choose MFP, one of the excellent Hot sauce manufacturers in Saudi Arabia and infuse Arabic flavours into your meals!

This blog post aims to examine some notable strategies for enhancing the flavour of meals through the utilisation of hot sauce, thereby delving into unconventional and innovative approaches.  These innovative concepts will not only stimulate your gustatory senses but also impart a distinctive element to your culinary creations that will elicit enthusiastic praise from your loved ones and acquaintances.

Marinades and Grilling:

The utilisation of hot sauce as a primary component in marinades enhances the flavour profile of meats and vegetables, imparting a piquant and spicy sensation.  Combine a preferred hot sauce variant with olive oil, minced garlic, and a small amount of honey or brown sugar to achieve a harmonious flavour profile.  By allowing your protein to undergo marination for a duration of many hours, you will be able to prepare grilled dishes that are rich in taste, thereby eliciting a desire for additional servings from all individuals present.

Spicy Dips and Dressings:

Enhance the quality of your dipping sauces and salad dressings by including a small amount of hot sauce.  One can produce a piquant ranch dressing by amalgamating mayonnaise, sour cream, garlic powder, and hot sauce.  Alternatively, an unremarkable ketchup can be transformed into a lively dipping sauce by including hot sauce and a small amount of paprika.

Hot Sauce Infused Oils:

Elevate the quality of your cooking oils by incorporating the flavours of hot sauce.  The recommended procedure involves applying heat to the selected oil and afterwards incorporating a small quantity of the desired spicy sauce.  Allow the mixture to cool and subsequently filter it into a container.  These infused oils are ideal for the culinary techniques of sautéing, pouring over pizzas, or incorporating them into salad dressings.  Crafting fiery flavours for discerning palates.  Trust MFP’s expertise as one of the most distinguished Hot sauce suppliers in Saudi Arabia!

Hot and Sweet Combos:

Combining spicy condiments, such as hot sauce, with sweet elements, such as honey, maple syrup, or fruit preserves, yields a very harmonious flavour profile.  One can produce an enticing glaze by combining spicy sauce and honey, and thereafter applying it to roasted chicken or grilled prawns.  The harmonious combination of sweetness and spiciness is certain to captivate the sensory receptors of your gustatory system.

Spicy Breakfast Delights:

One should not confine the use of spicy sauce solely to lunch and evening meals, as it has the potential to enhance the breakfast experience in a remarkable manner.  Prepare scrambled eggs by using a small amount of spicy sauce, so initiating a vibrant commencement to your morning, or alternatively, use a modest quantity of this sauce atop avocado toast to enhance its flavour profile.  An interesting brunch delight can be created by incorporating hot sauce into a spicy rendition of the classic Bloody Mary cocktail.

Hot Sauce Hummus:

Enhance the composition of your hummus by incorporating spicy sauce into the amalgamation of chickpeas, tahini, lemon juice, and garlic through the process of blending.  What is the outcome? This variation of a traditional dip offers a spicy flavour profile that complements pita bread or fresh vegetables really well.

Spice Up Your Mac and Cheese:

Macaroni and cheese possesses the potential to transcend banality.  Incorporate a preferred hot sauce into the mixture to introduce a piquant and velvety variation.  The elevated temperature enhances the palatability of the cheese sauce, resulting in a culinary creation that evokes a sense of comfort and satisfaction.

Hot Sauce on Pizza:

Although red pepper flakes are commonly used to add heat to pizza, hot sauce can significantly enhance the flavour profile.  The addition of a modest amount of spicy sauce onto a pizza, either prior to or subsequent to the baking process, imparts a vibrant and multifaceted taste profile.  From mild to blazing hot, we've got the perfect hot sauce for your palate.  Choose MFP, one of the leading Hot Sauce manufacturers in KSA and discover the finest!

Hot Sauce Ice Cream Topping:

Indeed, the statement has been accurately comprehended.  For individuals who possess a bold inclination, a minute application of piquant condiment onto a serving of vanilla ice cream has the potential to engender a distinctive gustatory encounter that combines elements of sweetness and spiciness.  The juxtaposition of the icy and creamy ice cream with the intense heat of the hot sauce creates a visually and sensorially striking contrast.

Spicy Pickles:

Enhance the flavour profile of your homemade pickles by incorporating a little quantity of hot sauce into the brine solution.  The application of heat will permeate the pickles, resulting in a piquant snack that is ideally suited for inclusion in sandwiches or for direct consumption from the container.

Final Thoughts:

Hot sauce is a multifaceted component that has the potential to elevate one's culinary endeavours to unprecedented levels.  Hot sauce can be utilised in a myriad of unconventional manners, ranging from marinades to ice cream, to enhance the flavour profile of various culinary creations.  Conducting trials with various flavours and levels of spiciness in order to discover an optimal combination, one can prepare to captivate both their gustatory senses and the palates of their dining companions.  Therefore, it is advisable not to only store the bottle of spicy sauce in the pantry, but rather utilise it as a concealed asset in your kitchen to enhance the flavour and memorability of your food. 

Wishing you a delightful experience in enhancing flavours! Savour the unique and aromatic hot sauces from KSA.  Partner with MFP – a noteworthy Hot sauce supplier in KSA and transform your dishes!

[tadpal]

🥤🍄💐

🥤 favourite drinks?

very basic i think but a bubble tea. for a milk tea a rose or a matcha (a rosemactha perhaps👀) or a brown sugar with tapioca OR for a fruit tea a mango or passion fruit or peach with mango or raspberry or passion fruit popping pearls AND normal tapioca (the variation of textures is so good but you HAVE to get a large so that there's enough juice and then when you run out of tea, i put a peach lipton tea in). for alcoholic like a margarita, maybe a tequila sunrise OH GOD you know i like a bloody mary.... cocktails ♥️

🍄 if you had to live the rest of your life as either a gnome, a fairy, or another woodland creature which would you choose and where would you live?

maybe a jackalope!! i think that would be awesome!!! but actually not a jackalope but one of those little bunnypheasant hybrids!!! that's lovely!! they're lovely little guys!!! or like a charmed little frog in a wind in the willows type way... i live in a like a little hollow somewhere

💐 if you were to receive a bouquet from a loved one, what flowers would you want in it?

OOOO i don't know!! i do have some favourite flowers but when i receive flowers from people i like to get their favourite flowers instead!! or ones they associate with me!!! idk the best part is seeing what THEY choose!! does that make sense?

[mxdam]

fairy tales and the female gothic

"gothic" is a bit played out as a term. what is the gothic? is it Dark Macadamia? is it crimson peak? is it ebony dark'ness dementia raven way?

the gothic as a genre is generally agreed to have begun with the novel the castle of otranto by horace walpole, one of the worst pieces of crap ever composed in the english language. i'm so serious, don't read it. walpole (1717-97) was an antiquarian, sort of a hobbyist historian whose particular interest was in the medieval period (this was pretty hot shit in england at the time, but we can talk more about 18th century foundations of horror and ghost stories later). by talking about otranto we can identify certain hallmarks of the gothic genre:

an illusion of historicity. walpole pretended that the novel was actually derived from a medieval italian manuscript which he'd "discovered" and translated for a modern audience.

a focus on the family unit, lineage, inheritance: conrad, the sickly heir to otranto, dies horribly at the beginning of the story and this is seen as heralding the downfall of the family line.

an interest in corruption, violence, unequal power dynamics: manfred, the lord of otranto and conrad's father, wields the power of life and death over peasants under his rule and the inhabitants of the castle cower under his whims.

the appearance of unusual and/or supernatural occurrences that undermine ordinary reality and emphasize the themes of the story

an almost taken-for-granted exploration of patriarchal power and control, in the literal sense of rule of the father, with commensurate interests in sex, control, and incest: after conrad's death, manfred decides to divorce his own wife, conrad's mother, and marry isabella, his dead son's fiancee. both women are helpless to do much but run away.

what does this have to do with fairy tales? in our previous installment, we talked about the ways in which fairy tales reflect and reinforce patriarchal realities for women; that's one connection. another connection hinted at by marie mulvey-roberts in her essay, "from bluebeard's bloody chamber to demonic stigmatic," is that the prototypical gothic story is a fairy tale: the tale of bluebeard.

in bluebeard and its variations across cultures, we see a story that reflects "a time when women were deprived of legal rights within marriage," such that "the ‘Bluebeard’ fable is a test of wifely obedience and subjugation to the will of her husband" (mulvey). perhaps not for nothing, the most famous rendition of this story, la barbe bleue, was written by charles perrault, the same guy who gave us cendrillon, or "cinderella," upon which the disney cartoon and countless other renditions were based. in it, a young woman is married to a man whose knowingly-impossible demand of absolute obedience from his many wives inevitably results in their slaughter. the protagonist barely escapes with her life.

there are numerous parallels between the gothic and this story: a fascination with violence, corruption, and evil, a focus on lineage and the family unit (the male-female couple being the basis for all nuclear family and for all structures of biological inheritance), and above all an exploration of patriarchy. bluebeard can almost be considered the ur-text for what has come to be called the "female gothic," gothic stories written primarily by women (ann radcliffe, the bronte sisters, jane austen, octavia butler, angela carter, shirley jackson, toni morrison, jean rhys, daphne du maurier, etc) which explore the complex webs of interpersonal relationships and power structures that shape and control the lives of women, and how those women react to, challenge, or submit under the force of those structures.

in the next installment, i will talk about the wicked stepmother and the female gothic. stay tuned 🥸

[thedemon-crowley]

Nicknames #8! You know the drill, I'd love a rating! Always a pleasure handing these over!

- Merida (...you can already pull off a Scottish accent. you're just one perm away from being a Disney Princess)

- Mr 'Waffles' Potato Head (just in case you're grading on a curve today)

- [in Aziraphale's voice] 'Crowley'

- Kaa (the snake from the djungle book; pronounced 'car')

- Snarky/Snazzy Snake Snoring Snugly in a Snarf (snake scarf)

- Doctor Coup

- Lovestruck Duck

- Foil Coil

- Julie Chartreuse (like Mary Poppins)

- Pinot Snoir

Question of the day: What do you call a black snake?

...

A sn-ack ...or Bl-ake (or just, like, their name)

- 🫛🪶🐡

- 8/wahoo (but MUUUUM I don’t WANT to get married.)

- 9/wahoo (no idea what that means, but if someone called me waffles I really would just accept that)

- wahoo/wahoo (which voice though? There are many variations)

- wahoo/wahoo (say no more)

- 6/wahoo (points only deducted because I can’t say it without it dissolving into unintelligible hissing, otherwise, 8/wahoo)

- 7/wahoo (honestly how do you come up with these?)

- 7/wahoo (quack💕)

- 8/wahoo

- 9/wahoo (I bloody love Mary Poppins)

- wahoo/wahoo (very good. Although for a very stupid moment I was thinking of Poirot and I was deeply confused)

8/wahoo for the joke 😉

And a gold star ⭐️ as an apology for taking SO LONG to rate these.

[myhauntedsalem]

Bloody Mary

Bloody Mary is a ghost or witch featured in English folklore. She is said to appear in a mirror when her name is called three times or sometimes more while in a dark room, depending upon the version of the story, often as part of a game or dare.

One of the more common ways participants attempt to make her appear is to stand before a mirror (usually in the dark) and repeat her name 3 times, though there are many variations including chanting more than 3 times, chanting at midnight, spinning around, rubbing one’s eyes, running the water, or chanting her name thirteen times with a lit candle. In some versions of the legend, the summoner must say, “Bloody Mary, I killed your baby.” In these variants, Bloody Mary is often believed to be the spirit of a young mother whose baby was stolen from her, making her mad with grief, eventually committing suicide. 

In stories where Mary is supposed to have been wrongly accused of killing her children, the querent might say “I believe in Mary Worth.” This is similar to another game involving the summoning of the Bell Witch in a mirror at midnight. The game is often a test of courage and bravery, as it is said that if Bloody Mary is summoned, she would proceed to kill the summoner in an extremely violent way, such as ripping their face off, scratching their eyes out, cutting their head off, driving them insane, bringing them into the mirror with her or scratching their neck, causing serious injury or death. Some think if she doesn’t kill the one who had summoned her then she will haunt them for the rest of their life. Other versions tell that if one chants her name thirteen times at midnight into a mirror she will appear and the summoner can talk to a deceased person until 11:08a.m., when Bloody Mary and the dead person asked to speak to will vanish. Still other variations say that the querent must not look directly at Bloody Mary, but at her image in the mirror; she will then reveal the querent’s future, particularly concerning marriage and children.

Bloody Mary Worth is typically described as a child-murderer who lived in the local city where the legend has taken root years ago, somewhere in the west. There is often a specific local graveyard or tombstone that becomes attached to the legend and a destination for legend trips.

On the other hand, various people have surmised that the lore about taunting Bloody Mary about her baby may relate her tenuously to folklore about Queen Mary I, also known as “Bloody Mary,” whose life was marked by a number of miscarriages or false pregnancies. Speculation exists that the miscarriages were deliberately induced. As a result, some retellings of the tale make Bloody Mary the queen driven to madness by the loss of her children. The mirror ritual by which Bloody Mary is summoned may also relate to a form of divination involving mirrors and darkness that was once performed on Halloween. While as with any sort of folklore the details may vary, this particular tale encouraged young women to walk up a flight of stairs backwards, holding a candle and a hand mirror, in a darkened house. As they gazed into the mirror, they were supposed to be able to catch a view of their future husband’s face. There was, however, a chance that they would see the skull-face of the Grim Reaper instead; this meant that they were destined to die before they married.