#Byron Meredith

[crazyhologramhologram]

[ofbakerst]

holmes & literature

[pupsmailbox]

NEUTRAL LEANING MASC NAMES ⌇　abner.　 abram.　 adam.　 adrian.　 alex.　 alistair.　 andreas.　 ariel.　 arlen.　 arley.　 arlo.　 ash.　 atlas.　 auden.　 august.　 austin.　 avery.　 bailey.　 baron.　 barrett.　 baylor.　 beauden.　 bee.　 bellamy.　 bennett.　 blair.　 blaise.　 bowen.　 brayden.　 brendan.　 bronson.　 bryce.　 byron.　 caius.　 caleb.　 callahan.　 callan.　 calloway.　 callum.　 camden.　 cameron.　 carlin.　 carson.　 casey.　 cassian.　 chandler.　 chase.　 cody.　 cole.　 connolly.　 corban.　 corwin.　 cyrus.　 dallas.　 damion.　 damon.　 daniel.　 darius.　 davis.　 dawson.　 daylon.　 denver.　 desmond.　 devin.　 doran.　 dorian.　 drew.　 elian.　 elias.　 ellery.　 ellison.　 emery.　 ethan.　 evan.　 ezra.　 fallen.　 farren.　 finley.　 ford.　 foster.　 gabriel.　 gannon.　 garner.　 gavin.　 gentry.　 graham.　 greer.　 griffin.　 guthrie.　 harley.　 harlow.　 hartley.　 hayden.　 henley.　 henry.　 heron.　 hollis.　 hunter.　 ian.　 irving.　 isaiah.　 jace.　 james.　 jameson.　 jared.　 jeremiah.　 joel.　 jonah.　 joran.　 jordan.　 jory.　 josiah.　 jovian.　 jude.　 julian.　 juno.　 justus.　 kalen.　 kamden.　 kay.　 kayden.　 keaton.　 kellan.　 keller.　 kelly.　 kendon.　 kieran.　 kit.　 kylan.　 landry.　 lane.　 lennon.　 leslie.　 levi.　 leyton.　 liam.　 linden.　 lowell.　 luca.　 madden.　 marley.　 marlow.　 marshall.　 martin.　 mason.　 mathias.　 mercer.　 merritt.　 micah.　 miles.　 miller.　 milo.　 morgan.　 morrie.　 morrison.　 nate.　 nevin.　 nick.　 nicky.　 nico.　 nicolas.　 noah.　 noel.　 nolan.　 oren.　 orion.　 owen.　 parker.　 percy.　 perrin.　 peyton.　 pierce.　 porter.　 preston.　 quincy.　 quinn.　 reece.　 reid.　 reign.　 rein.　 remi.　 remington.　 renley.　 riley.　 river.　 robin.　 rollins.　 ronan.　 rory.　 rowan.　 russell.　 ryan.　 rylan.　 sam.　 samuel.　 sawyer.　 saylor.　 seth.　 shiloh.　 soren.　 spencer.　 stellan.　 sterling.　 talon.　 taylor.　 thaddeus.　 thane.　 theo.　 toni.　 tracy.　 tristan.　 tyrus.　 valor.　 warner.　 wells.　 wesley.　 whitten.　 william.　 willis.　 wylie.　

NEUTRAL LEANING FEM NAMES ⌇　abigaël.　 abilene.　 addison.　 adrian.　 ainsley.　 alexis.　 and.　 andrea.　 arden.　 aria.　 ashley.　 aspen.　 aubrey.　 autumn.　 avery.　 avian.　 ayla.　 bailey.　 beryl.　 blair.　 blaire.　 blake.　 briar.　 brooklyn.　 brooks.　 bryce.　 cameron.　 camille.　 casey.　 celeste.　 channing.　 charlie.　 chase.　 collins.　 cordelia.　 courtney.　 daisy.　 dakota.　 dana.　 darby.　 darcy.　 delaney.　 delilah.　 devin.　 dylan.　 eden.　 eisley.　 elia.　 ellerie.　 ellery.　 ellie.　 elliot.　 elliott.　 ellis.　 ellory.　 ember.　 emelin.　 emerson.　 emery.　 evelyn.　 ezra.　 fallon.　 finley.　 fiore.　 florence.　 floris.　 frances.　 greer.　 gwenaël.　 hadley.　 harley.　 harper.　 haven.　 hayden.　 heike.　 hollis.　 hunter.　 ivy.　 jade.　 jamie.　 jocelyn.　 jordan.　 jude.　 juno.　 kelly.　 kelsey.　 kendall.　 kennedy.　 koda.　 kyrie.　 lacey.　 lane.　 leighton.　 lennon.　 lennox.　 lesley.　 leslie.　 lilian.　 lindsay.　 loden.　 logan.　 lou.　 lyric.　 madison.　 mallory.　 marinell.　 marley.　 mckenzie.　 melody.　 mercede.　 meredith.　 mio.　 misha.　 monroe.　 montana.　 morgan.　 nico.　 nova.　 oakley.　 olympia.　 owen.　 page.　 palmer.　 parker.　 pat.　 paulie.　 perri.　 petyon.　 peyton.　 phoenix.　 piper.　 priscilla.　 quinn.　 raven.　 ray.　 reagan.　 reece.　 reese.　 remi.　 remy.　 riley.　 rio.　 river.　 robin.　 rory.　 rosario.　 rowan.　 ryan.　 rylie.　 sacha.　 sage.　 sam.　 sammy.　 santana.　 sasha.　 sawyer.　 saylor.　 severin.　 shannon.　 shelby.　 shiloh.　 skye.　 skylar.　 sloane.　 sol.　 soleil.　 sterling.　 stevie.　 sutton.　 swan.　 swann.　 sydney.　 tatum.　 taylo.　 taylor.　 tracey.　 valentine.　 vanya.　 vivendel.　 vivian.　 vivien.　 wren.　 wynn.　 yael.

[chippedcupwrites]

Sansa Stark & Sandor Clegane A Girl and Her Dog

♥ all gifs & image edits are made by me quote and painting attributions under the cut ♥

A Game of Thrones by George R.R Martin │ Herbert Thomas Dicksee, The Vikings Daughter │ A Game of Thrones ep. 2x07 & Lord Byron │ Walton Ford, Gleipnir │ "One More Brevity" by Robert Frost │ A Feast for Crows by George R.R Martin │ The Secret of Moonacre (2008) and "Tuned Girl With Her Dogs" by Vivian Nguyen │ professor-pants │ John Everett Millais, The Crown of Love │ A Game of Thrones ep. 2x06 │ "The Lonely Girl And Her Dog" by Justin Gildow │ Aesop's Fables Cigarette cards (Gallaher Limited), The Wolf and the Lamb & White Oleander by Janet Fitch │ A Storm of Swords by George R.R Martin │ Douglas Malloch │ Regency oil painting, artist unknown │ A Game of Thrones ep. 2x09 & "Soap" by The Oh Hellos │ Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver │ A Change of Heart by Sonali Dev │ A Game of Thrones ep. 8x04 │ Edvard Munch, Love and Pain │ "Little Lost Pup" by Arthur Guiterman │ A Game of Thrones and A Clash of Kings by George R.R Martin & Edwin Henry Landseer, Saved │ "Little Lost Pup" by Arthur Guiterman │ A Clash of Kings by George R.R Martin │ "Start Here” by Caitlyn Siehl │ The Blade Artist by Irvine Welsh │ Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert │ A Game of Thrones ep. 2x07 & Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte │ A Clash of Kings by George R.R Martin │ Mufti Ismail Menk │ A Game of Thrones deleted scene │ John William Waterhouse, Tristan and Isolde with the Potion │ "Start Here” by Caitlyn Siehl │ A Game of Thrones by George R.R Martin │ William Chapman │ "Shrike" by Hozier │ Hans Adolf Bühler, Homecoming │ Gale Smith, Promise of Peace │ "The Taming Of The Beast" by Dean Meredith │ Walton Ford, Gleipnir │

[jgthirlwell]

2023 Year In Review

This year once again I invited some friends and colleagues to reflect on 2023

JG Thirlwell Composer Foetus Xordox Manorexia Steroid Maximus Venture Bros Archer

2023 was an intense year. The year began with the premiere of my symphony for Alarm Will Sound and ended with guesting vocalizing with Dinosaur Jr on some Stooges classics. I completed the final season of Archer. Wrote a lot of material for new Xordox and Foetus albums. Released an album of string quartets and scored a Venture Bros movie. Worked with some great singers and premiered my Ensemble project in London. I spent several months traveling and set up a small studio in Melbourne for a bit. Road tripped through NZ with my partner, Dora. I played some excellent shows in London, Colchester, Auckland, Wellington, Melbourne and Sydney. I still woke up 5am in a panic on too many occasions. And I saw some great concerts.It was difficult to whittle down this list but here are a lot of albums I enjoyed in 2023, in no particular order.

Albums

Poil Ueda Yoshitsune (Dur et Doux) Poil Ueda - Poil Ueda (Dur et Doux) Genevieve Artadi Forever Forever (Brainfeeder) Knower - Knower Forever (Brainfeeder) Ultraphauna No No No No (Dur Et Doux) Gahlmm Break A Leg (GEIGER Grammofon) Oneohtrix Point Never Again (Warp) Lankum - False Lankum (Rough Trade) Evian Christ Revanchist (Warp) Chromb Cinq (Dur et Doux) Deskartes A Kant After Destruction (Cleopatra) Gazelle Twin Then You Run (Original Score) L’Rain I Killed Your Dog (Mexican Summer) Loraine James Gentle Confrontation (Hyperdub) Royal Blood Back To The Water Below (Warner) John Luther Adams Darkness and Scattered Light (Cold Blue) Catherine Christer Hennix Solo for Tamburium (Blank Forms) Rachel Fannan Bjork Impersonations (Instagram) Regal Worm Worm! (Quatermass) Wild Up Julius Eastman Vol. 3: If You’re So Smart, Why Aren’t You Rich? (New Amsterdam) PJ Harvey I Inside the Old Year Dying (Partisan) Poppy I Disagree (Sumerian) Sparks The Girl Is Crying In Her Latte (Island) Queens Of The Stone Age In Times New Roman (Matador) Time Wharp Spiro World (Leaving) Murderpact Ultraheaven (Bandcamp) RVG Brain Worms (Our Golden Friend) HMLTD - The Worm (Lucky Number) Catarina Barbieri - Myuthafoo (Editions Mego) Ligeti Quartet and Anna Meredith - NUC (Mercury KX) Mandy Indiana I’ve Seen a Way + EP(FireTalk) Kate NV WOW (RVNG) Kelly Moran Vesela EP (Warp) Kurws Powiez / Fascia (Korobushka) Fever Ray Radical Romantics (Mute) Netherlands Severance (Svart) Tim Hecker No Highs (Kranky) Bohemian Flesh Bohemian Flesh (Ojet) Pure Adult II (FatCat) Model/Actriz - Dogsbody (True Panther Sounds) Laurel Halo - Atlas (Awe) Water From Your Eyes - Everyones Crushed (Matador) Moritz Von Oswald - Silencio (tresor) REZZETT Meant Like This (Trilogy Tapes) Jess Johnson and Simon Ward 'Terminus' Virtual Reality exhibition at the Museum in Dunedin NZ.

Books

Naomi Klein Doppelganger Graham Rayman and Reuven Blau Rikers : An Oral History Thurston Moore Sonic Life Malcolm Gladwell The Bomber Mafia Tony Cohen Half Deaf, Completely Mad Brett Anderson Coal Black Morning Book Wesley Doyle Conform To Deform Primo Levi Survival in Auschwitz

Films + TV

Beef Barry Fargo The YouTube Effect Mutiny In Heaven Beau Is Afraid In The Court Of The Crimson King Oppenheimer

Concerts

01.28.23 Kodak Quartet performed at the Jack Studio Festival Event at The New School, performing a work by Khyam Allami and a stunning rendition of Ligeti’s String Quartet No 1. 02.21.23 Pure Adult opened for Gilla Band at Brooklyn Made and both were excellent! 02.22.23 Clown Core (featuring Louis Cole on drums and keys) Elsewhere in NYC. 03.02.23 Laurie Anderson performs at a drone event anchored by Lou’s guitar generating feedback drones, on the occasion of Lou Reed’s birthday .Other musicians joining the drone included Shazad Ismailey, Steven Bernstein, Stan Harrison, Briggan Krauss and more. 03.09.23 Michael Byron’s new work In One Second There Will Be A Thousand Plateaus Perhaps for two pianos and small orchestra featuring pianists Joseph Kubera and Steve Beck with Petr Kotik conducting members of the S.E.M. Ensemble. At Roulette Intermedium. 04.04.23 Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs brought the rock power and played an intense and triumphant show at Mercury Lounge to end their first US tour. 04.08.23 Amarcord Nino Rota, a reimagining of the Hal Willner’s Nino Rota tribute album, at Roulette Intermedium. 05.03.23 Genevieve Artadi played a grreat set at Public Records in Brooklyn to support her new album Forever Forever, with Louis Cole on drums. 05.27.23 Gloryhammer at Irving Plaza. Saw them in Melbourne too. 06.27.23 Sparks played a brilliant show at the Beacon Theater in NYC and I also caught them at Palais Theater in St Kilda, Melbourne, Australia on 10.26.23 07.04.23 75 Dollar Bill at Union Pool 08.20.23 BeatFox . Incredible luck to see this guy busking on Brick Lane. 08.21.23 The very wonderful Deerhoof at The Lafayette in London 08.22.23 clipping. played a killer show at Outernet in London 08.23.23 The incredible Poil Ueda from Lyon, France played in London at the Lexington + Lost Crowns 08.24.23 Swans played an epic set at The Troxy in Londo 09.24.23 TENGGER played an amazing set at the Art Gallery of NSW. 10.06.23 Fuji|||||||||||ta at Tempo Rubato in Melbourne, Australia. 10.07.23 RVG played a killer show to a packed house at Northcote Theatre in Melbourne, Australia 10.17.23 Chloe Sobek at Make It Up Club in Melbourne Australia. 10.21.23 Paul McCartney at Marvel Stadium in Melbourne Australia 10.28.23 Sarah Mary Chadwick at Wesley Anns as part of The 86 Super Saturday Festival 10.28.23 Party Dozen from Sydney played a great set at The 86 Super Saturday Festival in Melbourne Australia. 11.10.23 Devon Townsend played a beautiful, brutal and ecsatic show in Melbourne Australia at the Forum. 12.06.23 Ashley Bathgate and percussion sextet Mantra Percussion performed Matt McBane’s Topography at National Sawdust in NYC.

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Michel Langevin (aka Away/Voïvod)

My coups de coeur in 2023:   TV Series: The Last of Us   Music: The Damned - Darkadelic Godflesh - Purge Crown Lands - Fearless Gong - Unending Ascending Soft Machine - Other Doors   Best show: KISS End of the Road World Tour in Montréal on Nov 18th   Best Moments: -Recording and touring the new Voïvod album, Morgöth Tales, celebrating the 40th anniversary of the band -Celebrating my 60th birthday on stage in Lyon on the Voïvod/Testament Euro tour -Jason Newsted joining the band on stage in Fort Lauderdale, USA -Eric Forrest joining the band on stage at Hellfest, France  

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Lydia Lunch

https://www.lydia-lunch.net/

“Time-one long second that goes on forever” So enjoy it motherfuckers!

BOOKS

Love the World or Get Killed Trying Alvina Chamberland Mother Howl Craig Clevenger Nein, Nein, Nein! : One Man's Tale of Depression, Psychic Torment, and a Bus Tour of the Holocaust Jerry Stahl Mystic Debris Justin Gradin Niagara, NY Ric Royers The Pale-Faced Lie : A True Story David Crow The Conspiracy Against the Human Race: A Contrivance of Horror Thomas Ligotti The Field: The Quest for the Secret Force of the Universe Lynne McTaggert Yuval Noah Harari Box Set (Sapiens, Homo Deus, 21 Lessons for 21st Century) Season of the Witch Cathi Unsworth Every word John Tottenham utters or writes

TOURS with Sylvia Black & Gregg Foreman, Joseph Keckler, Marc Hurtado (tribute to Alan Vega & Suicide), Ian White, Kevin Shea (Sinister Impulse), Tim Dahl & Matt Nelson (Murderous Again)

Workshop & Performance Badass Babes of Burlesque w Rita D’Albert Zebulon LA

Workshop at the University of New Mexico thanks to Greg Moss

Reading with Zoe Hansen & Ron Athey at The Philosophical Research Center LA Reading with Eugene Robinson Makeout Room SF

Finishing the documentary with Jasmine Hirst Artists - Depression, Anxiety, and Rage and premiering it in Italy

Meeting butuh Queen Azumi OE and discussing up coming performances together with Tim Dahl

Completing the 233 episode of The Lydian Spin with Tim Dahl

FUN

Nights in London & Brighton spent with Nick Soulsby, Cathi Unsworth, Billy Chainsaw, Chris Bohn, Jack Sargeant, Pam Hogg,

Tina Kit (opened for my Suicide tribute in London & Brighton) best new band of suited and booted bad boys

Squired around Europe by Sebastien Greppo, a man like no other - who so lightens my burden…

Watching every episode of The Dark Side of The Ring with Kevin Shea

Training squirrels, levitating objects, saving lives, screaming into the void.

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Mike Berdan

(Uniform) https://uniform-nyc.com/

ALBUMS

Lankum - False Lankum

Surgeon - Crash Recoil

Ryuichi Sakamoto - 12

Fellwinter - The Dawn Of Winter

Abysmal Lord - Bestiary Of Immortal Hunger

Death Kneel - Dawn Simulation

Shit And Shine - 2222 And Airport

Carnivorous Bells - Room Above All

Agonal Lust - Mankind Is A Talisman Of Misfortune

Godflesh - Purge

FIRST-TIME READS

A History Of Violence (1973) - David Cotner

Someone Who Isn't Me - Geoff Rickly

Your Dreams - Thomas Moore 4. In A Lonely Place - Karl Edward Wagner

Burn You The Fuck Alive - B.R. Yeager

The Holy Day - Christopher Norris

A Collapse Of Horses - Brian Evenson

The Devil Thinks I'm Pretty - Charlene Elsby

Let's Go Play At The Adams' - Mendal W. Johnson

Counterillumination - Audrey Szasz

MOVIES

Godzilla Minus One

CIGARS

Cohiba Magico Maduro Petit Robusto

God Of Fire Serie B Double Robusto

Padron Family Reserve no. 95 Maduro Petit Gordo

El Pulpo Toro

Tatuaje Reserva J21 Broadleaf Robusto

Atabey Benditos Double Corona

Romeo y Julieta Línea de Oro Nobles

H. Upmann Half Corona

Foundation Cigars The Tabernacle Robusto

OpusX Eye Of The Shark

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Mario Diaz deLeon (composer, Luminous Vault, Bloodmist)

ALBUMS Evita Manji - Spandrel? Eartheater - Powders Slowspin - Talisman Marta DePascalis - Sky Flesh Kalia Vandever - We Fell in Turn Eraldo Bernocchi + Hoshiko Yamane - Sabi JakoJako -  Verve Surgeon - Crash Recoil Cavalera - Morbid Visions / Bestial Devastation Bell Witch - The Clandestine Gate Steve Lehman + Orchestre National de Jazz - Ex Machina

SONGS Kelly Moran - Vesela Vines - I Don’t Mind Cybotron - Maintain Barker - Birmingham Screwdriver VMO - Supergaze Omar Hisham - Adhan (Be Heaven)

EVENTS New Firmament: MONAD - Roulette Peter Evans: Being and Becoming - Roulette Anna Sperber: Amplifier - Roulette 20 Years of Shinkoyo - Roulette Anthony Braxton + Wolf Eyes - Pioneer Works Caterina Barbieri - Pioneer Works Felipe Lara + Claire Chase + Esperanza Spaulding + NY Phil TAK Ensemble: Swoonfest - The Clemente Center Kayo Dot: Choirs of The Eye - MilkBoy Cecilia Vicuña / Raven Chacon - The Poetry Project Krallice / Indocrithere / Geryon / Ocrilim - Saint Vitus Cavalera: Morbid Devastation - Irving Plaza Hulder / Blackbraid / Aeviterne - Le Poisson Rouge Eartheater / Concrete Husband - Elsewhere

BOOKS Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz - An Indigenous Peoples History of the United States

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Alexander Tucker (Microcorps)

I started off the year by releasing a project very close to my heart: Fifth Continent, a collaboration with the late Keith Collins, partner and collaborator of film maker and artist Derek Jarman. The album was partially recorded in Jarman’s cottage in the desert-like landscape of Dungeness, on the South East coastline of Kent, in the UK, with elements constructed from Collins own spoken word pieces, and environmental recordings. The album was released on James Ginzberg’s Subtext label, and we also produced Fifth Quarter, an anthology publication of writing, recollections, photography and newly commissioned artworks about Jarman, Collins and Dungeness.

Although I probably made more music than usual this year, and had a greater focus than ever on the various projects I have underway, 2023 felt like a weird and often frustrating year for me and music. About five years ago I set about teaching myself modular systems, experimenting, and recording the results as I went along. This culminated in a new solo guise primarily for electronics and the synthesis of voice and acoustic instruments, MICROCORPS (the debut album Xmit came out on Alter records in 2021). Using these systems is at the same time liberating and incredibly frustrating. For a while this year nothing felt good enough: I could feel the potential of my ideas glimmering in the distance but was unable to catch up with them. I decided to take a short break from the modular, and focused upon compositions for cello, saxophone, and clarinet. But the pull of electronics is never far, so I began processing these recordings, using granular synthesis to stretch, mutate and reorganise the audio into new pieces. As soon as you want more from your practice and yourself, things can become more laborious - it’s difficult to be in the moment and focus on what’s in front of you. I used to be happy with the immediate effects I produced, but I think this is being replaced by a different approach, something more considered, which is exciting and, in some ways, sobering - even if the results are far from what you would describe as sober. I’m also so lucky to have many friends and fellow artists around me to offer help and suggestions, to whom I’m eternally grateful. As R.Crumb says, “Keep on truckin”.

Music I dug this year: Godflesh - Purge (Avalanche Recordings) Rắn Cạp Đuôi - *1 (nhạc_gay) Mun Sing - Inflatable Gravestone (Planet Mu) RS Tangent - When A Worm Wears A Wig (The Trilogy Tapes) Arnold Dreybaltt And The Orchestra Of Excited Strings - Resolve (Drag City) Elvin Brandhi and Lord Spikeheart - Drunken Love (Hakuna Kulala) Mark Fell and Will Guthrie - Infoldings / Diffractions (NAKID) Afrorack - The Afrorack (Hakuna Kulala) Kinn - Dogtooth (First Light Records) General Magic - Nein Aber Ja (GoTo Records)

Live shows: Emptyset - Village Underground Elvin Brandhi - IKLECTIK Mick Harris/FRET – Downwards’ 30th, Centrala Mun Sing, Crys Cole, Penelope Trappes - Boundaries Festival  Maxwell Sterling - Cafe OTO Pole - EartH Nik Colk Void - Too many to count! Phew - Cafe OTO Residency Acid Horse Festival Devo - Hammersmith Apollo Kinn - New Cross Road Baptist Church

Comics: In 2023 I produced a new issue of my ongoing oblique and nonlinear comic series, Entity Reunion. For this issue I drew upon my love of HP Lovecraft, using the repetition of the comic format to peel back layers of the everyday to reveal omnipotent entities underlying all reality. The viewpoint of each page is from the point of view of the protagonists, who hold an electronic device, photographing their surroundings only to capture the blurred features of some insidious face. There are also references to Lovecraft’s own fictional grimoire the Necrononmicon. I wanted that dreamlike sensation of being the protagonists of the dream but also viewing yourself as separate entity.

Books: I read nearly all of Patrica Highsmith’s ‘Ripley’ books, a bunch of John Le Carré novels, Mark Kermode’s book on The Exorcist and I’m currently working my way through the spy novelist Eric Ambler’s books. I also re-read Bruce Robinson’s analysis on Jack the Ripper and Victorian society, ‘They All Love Jack’. 

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Tom Chiu (composer, Flux Quartet)

2 0 2 3  IN  REVIEW

Albums Worth Exploring (including a couple entries from 2022 that I discovered late)

Bar Italia                 Tracey Denim (Matador)

Blur                         Ballad Of Darren (Parlophone)

Bush Tetras             They Live In My Head (Wharf Cat)

Death Valley Girls    Islands In The Sky (Suicide Squeeze)

Dummy                    Mono Retriever (Sub Pop)

Duster                        Remote Echoes (Numero Group)

En Attendant Ana       Principia (Trouble In Mind)

Everything But the Girl     Fuse (Verve)

Horse Lords               Comradely Objects (RVNG)

Kelela                         Raven (Warp)

Lael Neale                  Star Eaters Delight (Sub Pop)

Lana Del Rey             Do You Know That There's A Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd (Interscope)

Lewsberg                   Out And About (12XU)

Munya                        Jardin (Luminelle)

Slowdive                    Everything Is Alive (Dead Oceans)

Sweeping Promises    Good Living Is Coming For You (Sub Pop)

Wednesday                Rat Saw God (Dead Oceans)

Yo La Tengo               This Stupid World (Matador)

Night at the Movies

Poor Things Past Lives Monster

Recurring Personal FAVES

FAVE Sandwich: Mekelburg's  Clinton Hill, Brooklyn

FAVE Burger: Two8Two Bar & Burger, Boerum Hill, Brooklyn

FAVE Craft Beer Brewery Omnipollo (Sweden), brewed at Twelve Percent Beer Project, North Haven, CT

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Pierre Cerrato

Producer - Editor  Floyd County Productions (Archer)

Favorite Movies/TV Archer Season 14 The Last of Us Gen V Beef This Fool Season 2 Fargo Season 5 Primo (Amazon Prime Show) The Bear Season 2 Episode Barry Season 4

Favorite Records  I listened to a lot of music but these were in constant rotation.  Some are from last year but what is time and who cares?

Boris/Uniform - Bright New Disease (2023) Birds in Row  - Gris Klein (2022) Fleshwater - We Are Not Here to Be Loved (2022) Asunojokei - Islands (2022) Everything But the Girl - Fuse (2023) Night Owls - Versions (2022)

Honorable mention Boris - Feedbacker (2003) this was my introduction to Boris. This year is the 20 year  anniversary of its release. Roberto Carlos Lange shared it with me one day while at work. He said it was something he thought I would like. Blew my mind and I have been a fan  ever since.

Favorite Concerts The Cure - State Farm Arena - also saw The Cure at Riot Fest but this was better of the 2. I regret not going to Night 2 in Atlanta because they played Disintegration.  H20 - Riot Fest 2023 Set Fleshwater - Riot Fest 2023 Set Future Islands - Shakey Knees 2023 Set The Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Shakey Knees 2023 Set Converge / Brutus - The Masquerade Drain / Drug Church - The Masquerade Donny Benet - Terminal West Idles - Re:Set 2023 Set

Favorite Food

MF Sushi - Atlanta - went twice and each time it was a special occasion.  Heirloom Market BBQ - Atlanta - best BBQ in my neck of the woods. The Aviary - Chicago - specialty cocktails with spectacular presentation.  Cafe Tola - Chicago - best empanadas i've ever had in my life.  Selva Negra - Miami - a solid contender for Nica food. Jaguar - Miami - great vibes, service and ceviche! No Hard Feelings - Chatanooga - great cocktails and vibes! 

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Zachary Lipez

(editor at large of Creem Magazine, writer, singer of Publicist UK)

Music I made a (very) long list on my wildly popular blog, Abundant Living. But, for kicks and with the understanding that maybe you don’t feel like reading (or subscribing to) my wildly popular blog, here’s some stuff I included and some stuff I forgot (with particular attention paid to albums I think might be of particular interest to JG friends/fans but which may have slipped through the radar) (meaning: I mainly put the stuff that wasn’t on too many other lists). Fatboi Sharif Decay (Backwoodz) Skech185 He Left Nothing for the Swim Back (Backwoodz) Zohra Murder In The Temple (American Dreams) The Native Cats The Way On Is The Way Off (Chapel)  Geese 3D Country (Partisan) Gold Dime No More Blue Skies (No-Gold) Algiers Shook (Matador) EXEK The Map and the Territory (Foreign) Skinhead Everything Was Beautiful and Nothing Hurt (Closed Casket) Débruit & Alsarah Aljawal ا​ل​ج​و​ا​ل (Soundway) Fairytale Shooting Star (Toxic State) Among The Rocks and Roots Pariah (Cacophonous Revival)  Full of Hell, Nothing When No Birds Sang (Closed Casket) Uniform & Boris Bright New Disease (Sacred Bones) Sleaford Mods  UK Grim (Rough Trade) Money&King Act Unnaturally (self released) Blu Anxxiety Morbid Now, Morbid Later (Toxic State) Nana Benz du Togo  AGO (Komos) Citric Dummies Zen and the Arcade of Beating Your Ass (Feel It) Ghösh  Prismassive (Ramp Local) Peasdez  Fenomenologia Del Espiritu Agonico: De La Existencia Sordida Al Pendulo De La Nada (SPHC) Upper Wilds Jupiter (Thrill Jockey) Death Valley Girls Islands In The Sky (Suicide Squeeze) Raphael Rogiński Talán  Body Void Atrocity Machine (Prosthetic) Feeling Figures Migration Magic (Perennial) Ryan Davis & the Roadhouse Band  Dancing on the Edge (Sophomore Lounge) Nosaj from New Kingdom & steel tipped dove House of Disorder (Fused Arrow Records) mclusky unpopular parts of a pig / the digger you deep (self released) Advertisement Escorts (Feel It) King Vision Ultra  Shook World (hosted by Algiers) (PTP)

Live Shows that Stand Out In My Memory Moor Mother/Armand Hammer/The Caretaker/Raphael Roginski for the Unsound Fest at Lincoln Center (I covered this for The Quietus if yr interested) Sleaford Mods at Coachella (profiled them for CREEM) Lydia Lunch/Zohra at St.Vitus Lydia Lunch Retrovirus last American show ever (?) at TV Eye Various skinhead/nü oï bands at the Monarch/TV Eye etc. with Liberty & Justice being the standout Son Rompe Pera at TV Eye Chisel (the Ted Leo outfit, not the neo-bootboy band with the “the” in their name) at LPR

BOOKS My phone has pretty much eliminated my ability to read. I did read the first 100 pages of more books than I care to admit. I finally finished Mark Andrews’ Paint My Name In Black and Gold: The Rise of the Sisters of Mercy and I recommend it if, like me, you think The Sisters of Mercy are better than the Beatles (or whatever inane comparison annoys your friends the most). I also discovered Gene Wolfe and read the first book in the Book of the New Sun trilogy. Otherwise, it’s pretty much been just using Louise Glück poetry as inspiration to write terrible versions of Louise Glück poetry. 

TV Doom Patrol Pokerface Rick and Morty (idc idc idc idc) HasanAbi twitch stream  A ludicrous amount of Britbox mysteries and—passively, yes, but not without a fair amount of emotional investment—various Real Housewife shows/spinoffs

Movies Didn’t watch any new movies this year but I did have a lot of youtube videos playing in the background while I did other things, and sometimes those videos would be three hour long screeds about what was wrong with a number of movies I’d never heard of. So I feel like I got the gist. 

LIFE Converted to Islam and married Zohra in January. Both choices have proven to be rewarding as all hell. Cashing in my “as a Jew I…” argument card—while simultaneously being too new a Muslim to reasonably claim either special knowledge and/or marginalization status—has really fucked with my ability to be self-righteous online. But the love that Zohra and her family have shown me has more than made up for my newfound inability to really wipe the floor with a motherfucker in the instagram comments. In fact, I liked marrying Zohra so much that I did it again in December (first time was a religious ceremony, the second time was our rendering to Caesar etc). If you know me/us and weren’t invited to either that’s because essentially no one was. As my parents couldn’t attend (on account of being dead) I didn’t really see the point of a big party. That was perhaps selfish. We love you (probably) and will have some sort of to-do in 2024. 

Otherwise, I am still very much enjoying working for the new CREEM Magazine (please subscribe) and doing my newsletter (please subscribe). Musically, I lived vicariously through Zohra and the release of her first solo album. Murder In The Temple, with amazing production by Ben Greenberg and contributions by Lydia Lunch, is a synthesis of so many of Zohra’s obsessions. It’s unlike anything in the post-goth-dark-whatever sphere and I can’t express how proud I am of it and her. As for my music, I did some neat-o Scientists-esque stuff with Telematics (Sohrab Habibion, Robert Austin, and Alexis Fleisig) and Zohra and I did a Sheer Terror cover in the style of Tindersticks to commemorate Paul Bearer’s marriage. Also, I’m pretty sure my most successful band (Publicist UK) got dropped by our label (apparently taking eight years to finish a demo is a long time) so get at me if you have a low-to-mid tier label and want to put out an album of eight minute gothic metal songs with zero mosh parts, about an aging hipster loving his wife and cats and missing his dead mom and dad. C’mon, do it. You’d be printing money. 

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Jim Siegel

Vivid Oblivion

Records And Other Things I Liked In 2023

Lankum - False Lankum (Rough Trade)

Milford Graves with Arthur Doyle and Hugh Glover - Children Of The Forest (Black Editions Archive)

Nakibembe Embaire Group (Nyege Nyege Tapes)

Henning Christiansen - Mediterranean Music-Water (Holidays)

Alain Goraguer - La Planete Sauvage (Expanded) (Decca)

Phill Niblock - Boston III (Alga Marghen)

Sam McLoughlin & David Chatton Barker - The Heavenly Realms (Folklore Tapes)

Svitlana Nianio & Tom James Scott - Eye Of The Sea (Skire)

Half Mortal - Creature Of Christ (Hospital Productions)

Pharoah Sanders - Pharoah box (Luaka Bop)

Ragnar Johnson & Jessica Mayer - Spirit Cry Flutes And Bamboo Jews Harps From Papua New Guinea (Ideologic Organ)

PJ Harvey - I Inside The Old Year Dying (Partisan)

Jana Winderen - The Blue Beyond (Touch)

Rezzett - Meant Like This (The Trilogy Tapes)

Arsenije Jovanovic - Sailboat Galiola Nuria's Unfinished Logbook (Pentiments)

Only Voices Vol. 1 + 2 (DDS)

Wounded Son - Pain Is All I Have For You (Hospital Productions)

Various - Cease & Resist: Sonic Subversion & Anarcho Punk In The UK 1979-1986 (Optimo Music)

Umeko Ando - Upopo Sanke (Pingipung)

Philip Jeck & Chris Watson - Oxmardyke (Touch)

Lori Vambe - Space-Time Dreamtime: The Four Dimensional Music Of Lori Vambe (Strut)

Mozart Estate - Pop-Up! Ker-Ching! And The Possibilities Of Modern Shopping (West Midlands)

Sandwell District - Feed Forward box (The Point Of Departure)

Japan Blues - Japan Blues Meets The Dengie Hundred (DDS)

Various - A Web Of Braided Willow - The Folklore Of The Wickerman (Folklore Tapes)

Surgeon - Crash Recoil (Tresor)

Mark Glynne And Bart Zwier - Home Comfort (La Scie Doree)

Ariel Kalma - French Archives Vol. III 1964-89 (Black Sweat)

Marginal Consort - 06 06 16 (St Elisabeth Kirche, Berlin) (901 Editions)

Brendan Perry - Eye Of The Hunter / Live At The I.C.A (4AD)

The Complete Obscure Records Collection box (Dialogo)

Various - Avant Garde 21xCD Box (Deutsche Grammophon)

Bill Nace Live at Public Records, December 2023

The Elephant 6 Recording Co. Documentary

Squaring The Circle - The Story Of Hipgnosis 

Shame And Dignity with Stanley Schtinter and Sukhdev Sandhu at UnionDocs, NY November 2023

Godland, dir. Hlynur Palmason

Wawa Pretzel w/ Melted Cheese (Sandwich)

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Simon Karis

(CEO of Nice Music, recording artist)

Okay so fave releases of 2023

Absurd Cosmos Late Nite 'These Magic Clothes Don't Play Themselves' (Reseach Laboratories) Actress 'LXXXVIII' (Ninja Tune) Armand Hammer 'We Buy Diabetic Test Strips' (Fat Possum) Danny Brown 'Quaranta' (Warp) De-Bons-En-Pierre 'Card Short Of A Full Deck' (Dark Entries) Evian Christ 'Revanchist' (Warp) Eyes Of The Amaryllis 'Perceptible To Everyone' (Horn Of Plenty) Francis Plagne 'Into Closed Air' (Bison) Francis Plagne 'Udge' (Horn Of Plenty) Giuseppe Ielasi 'Down On Darkened Meetings' (Black Truffle) HHOST 'Windswept Italics' (Altered States Tapes) HHOST 'Veil' (Snail Editions) JPEGMAFIA & Danny Brown 'Scaring The Hoes' (no label) Kassell Jaeger 'Shifted In Dreams' (Shelter Press) Khanate 'To Be Cruel' (Sacred Bones) Klein 'Doubt'/'Normani's Torment'/'STORM' (no label) L'Rain 'I Killed Your Dog' (Mexican Summer) Land's Air 'Land's Air' (Tone List) Locust 'The First Cause' (Mysteries Of The Deep) Low Flung 'The Wheel' (Snail Editions) Matt Harkin 'The Door Knocker' (no label) Nick Ashwood 'Inside The Body Of A Wave' (no label) Nuno Loureiro 'Lua Onus' (Super Pang) Patten 'Mirage FM' (555-5555) Pissed Jeans 'No Convenient Apocalypse' (Sub Pop) Princess Nokia 'I Love You But This Is Goodbye' (Arista) Red Wine & Sugar 'Turkish Coffee & Twice Baked Potatoes' (Chocolate Monk) Rezzett 'Meant Like This' (The Trilogy Tapes) Richard Youngs 'Modern Sorrow' (Black Truffle) Rory J S 'P' (no label) Rrose 'Please Touch' (Eaux) Solo Andata 'Slip Casting' (12k) WPH 'III' (no label) 100 Gecs '10,000 Gecs' (Dog Show/Atlantic)

fave back catalogue listens that made sense in 2023 Armand Hammer & The Alchemist 'Haram' (Backwoodz Studioz) Beherit 'H418ov21.C' (Spinefarm) Bernard Parmegiani 'De Natura Sonorum' (INA-GRM) Bowery Electric 'Beat' (Kranky) Charalambides 'Exile' (Kranky) Def Leppard 'Hysteria' (Mercury) Elastica 'Elastica' (Deceptive/Geffen) Elucid 'I Told Bessie' (Backwoodz Studioz) Emptyset 'Demiurge' (Subtext) Emptyset 'Recur' (Raster-Noton) Hematic Sunsets 'Musik Aus Dem Aroma Club' (Klang Der Festung) Joey Beltram 'Classics' (R&S) Ka 'Languish Arts' (Iron Works) Kim Cascone 'Cathodeflower' (Ritornell) The Kinks 'Lola Vs Powerman And The Moneygoround Part One' (Reprise/Pye) Kreator 'Terrible Certainty' (Noise International) Lol Coxhill & Morgan Fisher 'Slow Music' (Pipe/Aguirre) Low 'Hey What' (Sub Pop) Marsfield 'The Towering Sky' (Faraway Press) Massive Attack 'Mezzanine' (Virgin) Matt Harkin 'Sanctuary 1, 2015-2016' (Hobbies Galore) Maurizio Bianchi 'Endometrio'  (no label/Dais) Moodymann 'Mahogany Brown' (Peacefrog) Moor Mother & billy woods 'Brass' (Backwoodz Studioz) Nearly God 'Nearly God'  (4th & Broadway) Nightcrawlers '2031 AD' (no label) Richard Youngs 'Beyond The Valley Of The Ultrahits' (Sonic Oyster) Rita Revell 'I Had A Very Bad Time!' (Happy Endin') Roc Marciano 'Reloaded' (Decon) Seine Trance-Parenz Fredi Alberti 'Klaenge Aus Dem Engelsraum (Die Verdunklung Der Sonne Und Des Mondes)' (Scribble Art) Simbiosi 'Elements' (Werkdiscs) Suede 'Dog Man Star' (Nude) Valerio Tricoli 'Say Goodbye To The Wind' (Shelter Press) 100 Gecs '1000 Gecs' (Dog Show)

fave melbourne/naarm restaurants in 2023

Khabbay (Indian/Pakistani, Carlton) Laksa Village (Malaysian/Chinese, Donvale) Cinger Biang Biang (Dolan/Uyghur/Chinese, Carlton) Lim Kopi (Malaysian, Naarm/Melbourne CBD) Raya (South East Asian desserts, Naarm/Melbourne CBD) Taste Hunan (Hunan/Sichuan/Chinese, Naarm/Melbourne, CBD) Laksa House (Malaysian, Naarm/Melbourne, CBD)

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Brendon Randall-Myers

(composer, Scarcity, Marateck, Glenn Branca Ensemble)

If 2022 was the Return of the Show and the Return of Travel, 2023 was about Building Stability (i.e. making my teaching studio a primary income source), Hunkering Down to Finish Two Albums, and Re-Learning How to Be a Human Being. I also played a bunch of cool shows with Dither (collabs w/ Carla Kilhlstedt, Lee Ranaldo/Brian Chase, Amirtha Kidambi, AJ Santillan, and Laurie Spiegel; playing Electric Counterpoint on GFA), a couple fun Scarcity shows (playing with Liturgy, improvising on graphic scores by Anthony Hawley) and did some performances with Whimbrels and Contemporaneous. 

These were albums I enjoyed (incessantly) at some point during 2023 that were mostly - but not exclusively - also released in 2023.

Agriculture - Agriculture Armand Hammer - We Buy Diabetic Test Strips Arnold Dreyblatt - Resolve Big Brave - Nature Morte Blackbraid - Blackbraid II Bummer - Dead Horse Caroline Polachek - Desire, I Want to Turn Into You goat (JP) - Joy in Fear Goldfeather - Change JPEGMAFIA & Danny Brown - SCARING THE HOES Jute Gyte - Unus Mundus Patet KEN Mode - VOID Killing Joke - Night Time Krallice - Mass Cathexis 2 - The Kinetic Infinite Model/Actriz - Dogsbody Modern Nature - How to Live  Nabihah Iqbal - Dreamer Neil Young - Greatest Hits Oren Ambarchi - Shebang Pink Pantheress - Heaven knows The Prodigy - The Fat of the Land  Rid Of Me - Traveling  Slowspin - Talisman Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream Swans - The Beggar Trauma Bond - Winter’s Light  Tristan Kasten-Krause and Jessica Pavone - Images of One Victory Over the Sun - Dance You Monster To My Soft Song! Yaeji - With A Hammer

Here were some shows I attended:

Wolf Eyes + Raven Chacon @Union Pool Liturgy @TV Eye Gamelan Dharma Swara, Ridgewood Presbyterian Church Moor Mother @Merkin Hall Object Collection @The Brick Theater Spectral Wound @Saint Vitus Pyrrhon + Barrsheadahl @Saint Vitus The Smile @Forest Hills Stadium Krallice @Saint Vitus Mediaqueer @Windjammer Sarah Hennies + Tristan Kasten-Krause @Issue Project Room Peter and the Wolf @Guggenheim Model/Actriz @Music Hall of Williamsburg  

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Grace Bergere

(songwriter / singer / performer)

This year was full of firsts for me! 

Definitely the most musically eventful year of my life to date. I went on my first tour playing bass with my great friends in COP/OUT, supporting Days n' Daze (A band I'd been listening to for years as a young punk kid.)  I immediately realized touring is really all I want to do.  I also got to tour alongside Subhumans in Cop/Out. Meeting them and getting to know them was mind expanding.  They were all kind and humble thoughtful individuals, completely down to earth and engaged with everyone they spoke to. Every night across the midwest they brought the crowd to a cathartic screaming euphoric mess. Working with COP/OUT, whose message is so clear; to be good to each other, question everything even when it means swimming upstream with every bit of strength you have, filled me with hope.  Playing on that tour with them, and watching Subhumans every night reminded me the power of music to affect real social change which is something I believed to have been  lost in recent years.  I met my great friend Jessica Mills on that tour and we still talk all the time. 

I also started playing guitar in The Art Gray Noizz Quintet. One of my longtime favorite bands (that my very talented cool boyfriend happens to play bass in.) We went all across the West Coast, landing in Las Vegas. Playing with them has demanded I advance as a guitarist, stepping into Andrea Sicco's shoes. Andrea is a complete beast of a musician and all of his musical projects are awesome. Check out MOVIE MOVIE, his most recent project. 

I also joined Crazy And The Brains on second guitar. They’re a super fun high energy punk band. I love being around such positive fun loving musicians and watching them bounce around while I do my best to keep up. 

I recently finished recording my album at HOBO SOUND in Hoboken by James Frazee. The time and effort it took over the several years since I started, was at times grueling. But James never stopped caring or checked out. He helped me shape this album into something I am truly proud of, along with Richard Dev Greene, one of the first people to ever believe in my music. I am so grateful to both of them.

I started spending time with Victoria and Kay of Puzzled Panther. They quickly have become two of my best friends. It is so meaningful for me to have found such badass, driven young women to share a dream with. Puzzled Panther is raw and hypnotizing. They have a unique strong hold over their audience and every show of theirs I’ve been to has been fantastic.  Victoria has joined me a few times on a song at my shows, and every time I believe has been one of the strongest points in my set. 

I Met Eugene Hutz of Gogol Bordello (the first huge band I ever went to see as a young teenager.)  He will be releasing my upcoming single and video for “Come And Go”  on his label Casa Gogol Records in early 2024. 

I just played the biggest show I’ve ever played with my solo project that plays under my name.  We were on a bill with Gogol Bordello and JON SPENCER (Also one of my favorite artists.)  Being on that stage standing there in front of more people I’ve ever seen in an audience from that vantage point, I felt like every second of my life was leading to that moment. Each song brought me back to the time in my life when Id written it and it felt very much like watching my life projected in front of me. It was indescribably satisfying to be on that stage. Later, in the audience, I screamed along to Gogol and watched my mom dance to songs she'd heard me blasting through the house as a kid, and felt just as moved by them as I did as a young teenager the first time I saw them.

I am so grateful to be working with Eugene. He is kind and thoughtful in his feedback and hugely supportive of me and my dreams. 

I will be playing New Years Eve with the Art Gray Noizz Quintet before Kid Congo Powers and The Pink Monkey Birds !!

This last week I can honestly say, has been the best of my life to date. Like looking out over a valley after climbing for years.

BEST SHOWS

(other than the ones I was lucky enough to play at listed above) 

RICHARD DAWSON 

I got to see Richard Dawson three whole times!!! it was his first US appearance. He is a completely unique force. I’ve never seen such a captivated crowd. we all cried and screamed along with him. 

PIGS X 7 

One of those times he was playing with Pigs x7. They quickly became another favorite band of mine despite having severe technical difficulties. it was actually kind of a highlight because their front man just started joking around and had the entire audience laughing along with him and talking for about 10 minutes. I got to see them two other times that went perfectly. What a band.. 

JON SPENCER AND THE HIT MAKERS

I saw them at TV Eye. I had been able to squeeze myself into the DJ booth for their set. They hammered away into some kind of magical hypnosis that made me feel like I'd taken MDMA. (I had not.) I had to lean against a wall to keep my balance. They played with Licks, a badass 60s garage rock inspired band fronted by my friend Skunk. 

LYDIA LUNCH RETROVIRUS 

Also driving and hypnotic and loud as hell. I was left with a similar feeling of having been dosed with something at all of their shows…

JOSEPH KECKLER

The first time I saw Joseph perform was at TV eye with Lydia Lunch. He’s completely unique. He writes gorgeous songs that he sings in an incomprehensibly wide range, sometimes in languages that he has invented himself! His seamlessly mixes humor with honest beautiful songwriting.

SONGS I LISTENED TO A BILLION TIMES THIS YEAR. 

ART GRAY NOIZZ QUINTET- Lie Come True  JOSEPH KECKLER- The Ride JON SPENCER AND THE HIT MAKERS- Death Ray  GOGOL BORDELLO- Shot Of Solidaritine  PUZZLED PANTHER- Smoke And The Mirrors We Broke  PIGSX 7 - Reducer  ARCHERS OF LOAF- Banging On a Dead Drum 

OLDER HITS THAT WERE NEW TO ME

LAURIE ANDERSON- Poison  POISON GIRLS- Fear Of Freedom CULTURE SHOCK- Things To Do  CAPTAIN BEEFHEART- Tropical Hot Dog WARREN ZEVON- Desperados Under The Eves MINNIE RIPERTON- Les Fleurs  BOBBY GENTRY - Ode To Billy Joe TOWNES VAN ZANDT- Highway Kind

BOOKS 

Joseph Keckler-  Dragon at the edge of a flat world.  Mark Lanegan- Sing Backwards and Weep Miriam Toews- Fight Night

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Marc Urselli

producer / engineer / sound designer

I want to thank JG Thirlwell for inviting me to submit my 2023 Year in Review. I had never done one of these before and it's been a fun challenge to go through my calendar and social media to remember and realize how much I was able to pack into this year! Selecting and writing down all of these things also helped me further grasp and understand how tremendously privileged and lucky I am to be able to do what I love all year around, year after year, and to live my life to the fullest and according to my own wishes and my own design. I don't take this lightly and I don't take it for granted. I am very aware that it comes from hard work, limitless passion and unweavery dedication, not just luck and good fortune, but nevertheless I am grateful every single day for this life and for being healthy, being able to do all of this, and for all the people in my path who trust me, inspire me, support me, challenge me, and enlighten me!

STUDIO SESSIONS, ALBUMS & PRODUCTIONS When compiling this list, it really dawned on me how fortunate I am to be working with such incredible talents and how priviledged I am to be able to witness, participate and contribute to the creation of exceptional works such as the following:

Producing, Recording & Mixing sessions with David J of Bauhaus, Norwegian artist Ihsahn (of Emperor) & Toby Driver (of Kyao Dot), John Stanier (of Battles), Brian Chase (of Yeah Yeah Yeahs), Restless Spirit, Vicki Peterson (of the Bangles), John Cowsill (of the Cowsill Family and The Beach Boys touring band) and many others for my new RAMONES tribute album to come out next year on Magnetic Eye records

Producing, Recording and Mixing a cover of Soundgarden's song "4th of July" with my doom metal / throat singing project SteppenDoom for the Magnetic Eye album "Soundgarden (Redux) and featuring Matt Cameron of Soundgarden themselves on drums

seeing the release of Brian Carpenter's "Ghost Train Orchestra & Kronos Quartet - The Music of Moondog" album featuring Kronos Quartet (which I recorded at EastSide Sound) and many other amazing guest artists

Producing, Recording, Mixing, and Mastering a live album by Brazilian artists Zé Ibarra, Dora Morelenbaum and Julia Mestre of Bala Desejo for Glasshaus Presents & Tower Records

Mixing new albums by Glenn Max Vanderwolf (produced by Dennis Martin), by Bloodmist (Toby Driver, Mario Diaz De Leon, Jeremiah Cymermann), and by Ikue Mori & Zeena Parkins at EastSide Sound fully utilizing the analog console and the analog outboard gear (something nowadays is more and more rare)

Recording & Mixing 6 new albums by John Zorn this year alone, which brings my total JZ count to over 120 albums, and which as of this year can finally be heard on streaming platforms as well!

Recording and Producing a new album by Marco Cappelli's Italian-inspired band IDR at EastSide Sound in NYC and then going to Rome, Italy to overdub trombone and vocals with famed contemporary Neapolitan singer Raiz

Producing, Recording, Mixing, and Mastering 2 new albums by incognito jazz / blues artist Russell Orr with legendary Brian Marsella & Brian Mitchell on keys, respectively

Recording, Mixing, and Mastering two new albums by Jessica Pavone and her trio

Producing, Recording, Mixing and Mastering a "We Are the World"-type track for NYC Mayor's Office of Immigrant Affairs with a song composed by Captain Beefheart / Jeff Buckley's guitarist Gary Lucas and 10 other musicians from various parts of the world playing their local instruments and singing in their mother's tongue

Recording and Mixing the new album by Italian singer/songwriter Beppe Voltarelli, produced by Simone Giuliani, which took second place in Italy's Premio Tenco

Recording a new film score by composer Billy Martin (of Medeski, Martin & Wood) and arranged by Simon Hanes (of Tredici Bacci)

Producing, Recording, Mixing, and Mastering contemporary classical music sessions commissioned by Miller Theater and Columbia University with artists such as Laura Barger & Julia Den Boer, Miguel Zenon, Matt Mitchell & Miles Okazaki, Russell Greenberg & Vicky Chow

Recording new albums by contemporary classical/jazz musicians such as Miles Okazaki, Brian Drye, Anna Webber & Matt Mitchell and others Recording new albums by amazing Latin Jazz artists such as Gili Lopes, Homan Alvarez, Rodrigo Recabarren, Benjamin Furman

seeing the HBO release of John Lurie’s “Painting with John” new season where all the music was recorded & mixed by me and seeing my face briefly on TV

recording in an old church in Italy with Adriano Viterbini and Vincenzo Vasi for a project that will come out sometimes next year hopefully 

SOUND DESIGN GIGS & LIVE SOUND MIXING GIGS Similarly to the list above, I am eternally greatful for the fact that all these wonderfully talented people trust me with designing, mixing and amplifying their sound so that the rest of the world can truly and fully experience their art in the most complete, sonically articulated, detailed and full spectrum way there is! Some of these highlights include:

Mixing a 90-piece orchestra + 90-piece choir playing the score to Stanley Kubrick "2001: A Space Odyssey" live-to-picture  conducted by Brad Lubman in the Auditorio Nacional of Mexico City to a sold-out crowd of 10'000 people 

Mixing the Grammy Award Premiere Ceremony in Los Angeles and being there to amplify and mix the immensely talented house band led by Cheche Alara and the performances by musicians such as Samara Joy, Anoushka Shankar, Arooj Aftab and more…

Mixing the Robbie Robertson tribute concert & memorial organized by Martin Scorsese at Village Studios in Los Angeles with artists such as Jackson Browne, Jason Isbell, Rocco DeLuca, Citizen Cope, Angela McCluskey, Blake Mills and Jim Keltner

Mixing the National Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony concert at the White House with artists such as Dionne Warwick, Samara Joy, Joe Walsh of the Eagles, St. Vincent and others.

Sound Designing and Mixing the world premiere of "Perle Noire: Meditations for Joséphine" at the DNO Dutch National Opera House in Amsterdam, a beautiful performance/concert/opera directed by Peter Sellars, composed by Tyshawn Sorey and performed by Tyshawn Sorey and ICE International Contemporary Ensemble with soprano Julia Bullock

One of my sound design pieces inspired by Icelandic nature sounds and folklore was presented at the "Le Son 7" Art Gallery in Madrid between the 3rd and the 13th of May 2023, after it was presented the year before in London and will be presented in January 2024 in New York

mixing 12 shows by John Zorn in 2 days at Big Ears Festival in Knoxville TN

mixing more shows by John Zorn to celebrate his 70th birthday in places like Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, Miller Theater in New York, Reggio Emilia and Modena in Italy, Philharmonie in Paris, November Music Festival in Den Bosch Netherlands and Mexico City

Mixing Brian Carpenter's Ghost Train Orchestra live at Roulette with special guests David Byrne, Karen Mantler, Joan As Policewoman AND doing so right after I mixed another matinee gig earlier in the day with the New York Choral Society

working sound for the Met Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art with musical guests Lizzo and David Byrne

Mixing Claudia Acuna at Lincoln Center

mixing Idina Menzel's performance in Trafalgar Square in London for Gay Pride 2023

playing keys (something I almost never ever do!) for Japanese electronic artist Coppé's first-ever performance in Italy

mixing my first ever K-pop gig in Times Square NY

teaching Mixing Workshops at SAE in Mexico City and MOB Studios in Rome, Italy

RECORDS In no particular order, here are some of my favorite records of 2023 that I was not involved with but I wish I had been ;-)

Anohni and the Johnsons "My Back Was a Bridge for you to Cross"

Lil Yachty "Let's Start Here"

Boygenius "The Record"

Ryuichi Sakamoto "12"

Jaimie Branch "Fly or Die Fly or Die Fly or Die ((World War))"

Arooj Aftab / Vijay Iyer / Shahzad Ismaily "Love in Exile"

Peter Gabriel "I/O"

Hania Rani "Ghosts"

Meshell Ndegeocello "The Omnichord Real Book"

Bill Frisell "Four" - Ambrose Akinmusire, Bill Frisell, Herlin Riley "Owl song"

Porcupine Tree "Closure / Continuation"

Dr. John "The Brightest Smile in Town"

Spencer Zahn "Statues II"

Meshuggah "Chaosphere 25th anniversary 2023 Remastered edition"

Ennio Morricone "Segreto Songbook 1962-1973"

Sin Fang, Kjartan Holm "Angakok"

MUSIC SHOWS It's always hard for me to recount the shows I've seen because I usually see about 300-500 shows every year. LPR (Le Poisson Rouge) definitely shines through as my favorite venue and the one I've visited most often! Here are some of the highlights of 2023:

Spotlights, Imperial Triumphant, Puzzled Panthers at Saint Vitus

"La Splendida", a heavy metal opera by Laurent David & Kilter at Culture Lab LIC

Exotech 3 times, at Public Records, Mark Morris Dance Theater and at LPR

Tredici Bacci at least 2-3 times, one of which at Sultan Room

John Cale at Paradiso, Amsterdam

Plini at Melkweg, Amsterdam

Mary Halvorson Quintet at Bimhuis, Amsterdam

Thurston Moore at OCCII, Amsterdam

Jeff Goldblum at Town Hall

Xylorius White at LPR

Hal Willner's Amarcord tribute concert at Roulette

Snarky Puppy at Beacon Theater

Tim Bernardes at LPR

Groa at Taste of Iceland showcase at Pianos

JG Thirlwell & Mivos Quartet at National Sawdust

Bloodywood at Irving Plaza

Hermeto Pascoal twice, at Pioneer Works and LPR

Sexmob at Fotografiska

Grace Jones at Hammerstein Ballroom

Lisa Fisher at Blue Note

Iggy Pop and Debbie Harry / Blondie, London

Laurie Anderson & SexMob Let X=X at Barbican in London and BAM in Brooklyn - The Cult at MEDIMEX festival in Taranto, Italy - Tom Morello at MEDIMEX festival in Taranto, Italy

Emperor at Kings Theater

Ibrahim Malouff at Drom - Elan Mehler & Dave Douglas at Fotografiska

The Misfits at Prudential Center - Oumou Sangare at Brooklyn Bandshell

Red Fang at Gramercy Theater

The Eagles & Steely Dan at MSG - Tammy Faye Starlight at Joe's Pub

Julian Lage at Village Vanguard - Mdou Moctar at Summerstage

Makaya McCraven at Locus Festival, in Locorotondo Italy

Fatoumata Diawara at Locus Festival, in Locorotondo Italy

Sisters of Mercy at Cinzella Festival, in Grottaglie Italy

SunRa Arkestra at Locus Festival, in Locorotondo Italy

Robert Plant at Locus Festival, in Bari Italy

Mr. Bungle at Terminal 5

Melvins, Boris and all the other amazing bands at Desert Fest at Knockdown Center

Front Line Assembly at LPR

Peter Gabriel at MSG

Empire State Bastard at LPR & St Vitus

Cavalera Conspiracy at Irving Plaza

Swans at Music Hall of Williamsburg - Steven Bernstein w/ Millennial Territory at Dizzy's

Nick Cave & Jonny Greenwood  3 times, twice at Beacon Theater and once at Kings Theater

The Mission at LPR - Titan to Tychons at NuBlu

Dresden Dolls at Bowery Ballroom

Robert Glasper's Art Blakey tribute at Blue Note - Puzzled Panthers at Bowery Electric

Ghost Train Orchestra at Roulette

Arthur Brown in London

The Mongol Khan theater production at the Coliseum in London 

8 Bit Big Band at Sony Hall

Bud Spencer Blues Explosion at Monk in Rome Italy

plus all the amazing artists I can't recall individually that I have seen at Winter Jazz Festival, Long Play Festival and Big Ears Festival

BOOKS I am sadly a slow reader and my pile of books on my bedside table is always bigger than the time awake I have when I finally do get to bed, but here are some I have read, or started to read or am planning on starting to read:

Kid Congo Powers "Some New Kind Of Kick"

Nick Cave & Seán O'Hagan "Faith, Hope and Carnage"

Warren Ellis "Nina Simone's Gum"

Rick Rubin "The Creative Act: A Way of Being"

Quincy Jones "12 Notes: On Life and Creativity"

Quincy Trouple "Miles & Me"

MUSEUMS I try to visit museums in every city I go to, whether I am on tour, working, traveling for pleasure or whatever the reason is… Art is my passion, my love and a way of life…

Museu Picasso, Barcelona, Spain

Fundcaio Joan Miró, Barcelona, Spain

The Salvador Dali Theater and Museum, Figueres, Spain

Salvador Dalí House / Fundació Gala, Cadaqués, Port Lligat, Spain

Park Gúell, Barcelona, Spain

Moco Museum, Barcelona, Spain

Sagrada Familia, Barcelona, Spain

Vermeer Exhibit, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Moco Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Amsterdam Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Art on Paper, New York

Frieze, New York

Karl Lagerfled "A Line of Beauty", Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY

Yayoi Kusama "Infinity Mirror Rooms", Tate Modern, London, UK

Frida Kahlo & Diego Riviera House & Studio, Mexico City

Palacio De Bellas Artes, Mexico City

Museo Jumex, Mexico City

Museo Tamayo Arte Contemporanea, Mexico City

Paul Gugelmann "Poetic Machines", Aarau, Switzerland

MOVIES There are soooo many movies I still want to / need to see… I love movies but I prioritize work and live music in my life and I will only watch movies on planes, on (very very) rainy days or those rare times when I don't have a concert on my calendar, so here are a few of those rainy/non-concert films, in no particular order:

Killers of the Flower Moon (for the story, the acting and the soundtrack)

Equalizer 3 (because aside from its Hollywood-ish story and ending, it's a realistic look at how organized crime works in Italy)

Little Richard: I am Everything (for his story, his character, his music and his courage!)

Psychedelicized: The Electric Circus Stroy (for the amazing portrait of a time that's past but that changed NYC forever!)

American Symphony (for the amazing story, talent, spirit and courage of Jon Batiste)

32 Sounds (because my life is about sound…)

Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song (because Leonard was an amazing artist and songwriter and singer and so many friends are in this movie)

Oppenheimer (because that history is so complex and so divided as the country in which it took place)

TRAVEL Travel is the richess of life! I travel SO MUCH that I am on a plane AT LEAST once a month and usually it is to an international location… This year was no different, so I've decided to only list 12 trips for this section:

January: Ringing in the year in a medieval tower in Barcelona and spending the first 4 days of the new year trying all the tapas bars, restaurants, food stands this beautiful city has to offer and seing the Sagrada Familia cathedral for the 3rd time in my life

February: Living in Amsterdam for 3 weeks visiting all the musuems, all the music venues and all the while working at the Dutch National Opera with some amazing folks (see list above)

March: Snowboarding the Swiss and the French alps

April: Visiting Knoxville Tennessee for Big Ears (easily the best independent music festival in the US!!!) for the 2nd time in 2 years, and hopefully the beginning of many more visits in the future!

May: Spending time in sunny Los Angeles and plotting a way to spend more time there and make music

June: Visiting London twice in one month to work and see amazing music shows, theater shows and art exhibits

July: coming back from London on July 6th only to realize that strangely there is no travel for the rest of this month! So weird and unusual!

August: Spending the month in Puglia, Southern Italy eating good food, kitesurfing in the Adriatic and Ionium sea, seeing tons of concerts and playing one myself!

September: arriving in Mexico City and getting my very own police escort motorcade to make it in time from the airport to the theater

October: On tour with John Zorn in Italy, France and the Netherlands

November: Flying to Los Angeles with a 36 hour notice for a concert I was hired for in secrecy having been told "we need a mixing engineer who can mix music for a room full of musicians" and showing up for the Robbie Robertson tribute orgnaized by Martin Scorsese with people like Joni Mitchell and Leonardo DiCaprio in attendance

December: DC-to-DF aka flying to Washgington DC to work at the White House and then flying straight to Mexico City I've finished the year with travel to my motherland of Switzerland, my fatherland of Italy and my second home of London UK!

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

DJ Food aka Kevin Foakes

Music: Kosmischer Laufer - Volume 5 LP (UCR) Soia, Julien Sénélas, Jérôme Vassereau - In C for 11 Oscillators and 53 Forms LP (unjenesaisquoi) Cate Brooks - Tapeworks DL (Cafe Kaput) Memorials - Music For Film: Tramps! LP (State 51 Conspiracy) King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard - PetroDragonic Apocalypse… LP (Album of the year) Brian Eno - The Lighthouse radio station (Sonos) (most listened to) Niholoxica - Source of Denial LP (Crammed Discs) SareemOne - Olivine Window Coast Contra - Breathe & Stop Freestyle/Never Freestyle/Scenario Freestyle Move78 - Grains LP Heiroglyphic Being - The Moon Dance LP (Apnea) Raj Pannu - Past Crimes EP 12" (To Pikap Records) Gordon Chapman-Fox - The Nine Travellers LP (Castles In Space Subscription Library)

Gigs / Events: Beyond The Streets exhibition @Saatchi gallery, London Sunroof / Finlay Shakespeare @iklectik, London The Light Surgeons - The Consensual Hallucination @iklectik, London Memorials at the State 51 Summer Psych party @State 51, London FogFest2 @iklectik, London JG Thirlwell & Ensemble @Bush Hall, London Machina Bristronica, Bristol Visiting Peel Acres with Eilon Paz for Dust & Grooves Nihiloxia @the Jazz Cafe, London

Design / Packaging: Yves Malone - A Hello To A Goodbye LP (Castles In Space) Drumetrics - Phuzzle (Drumetrics) Waclaw Zimpel - Train Spotter LP (State 51) David Boulter - Factory 3" CD (Clay Pipe Music) Fluctuosa - Wetware EP 12" (Analogical Force) Fluxus - Orbit & Shine LP (Castles In Space) Floating Points - Birth4000 12" (Ninja Tune) Cate Brooks - Easel Studies LP + badge (Clay Pipe Music) Brian Eno - Top Boy OST CD (Beatink)

Books / Magazines / Comics: Medical Grade Music - Steve Davis & Kavis Torabi (White Rabbit) Doctor Strange - Fall Sunrise - Tradd & Heather Moore (Marvel) Tales To Enlighten - The New Testament - Matt King and James Edward Clark Pop - Milton Glaser (Phaidon) Kevin O'Neill Apex Edition (2000AD) Mark Stafford - Salmonella Smorgasbord (Soaring Penguin Press) Savage Impressions - Bruce Lichen (Independent Project Records) Hexagon Bridge - Richard Blake (Image) Monica - Daniel Clowes (Fantagraphics) Acid Valley - Luke Insect Petrol Head - Rob Williams & Pye Parr (Image) Lawless - Dan Abnett & Phil Winslade (Rebellion) Giant Robot Hellboy - Mignola/Fegredo (Dark Horse) Facelss & The Family - Matt Lesniewski (Oni Press)

Films: Barbie Squaring The Circle : The Story of Hipgnosis

[b0wie-st4rdust]

Oh???? Another person with an AU and their own versions of the Rogues? Which ones you got because I want to know EVERYTHING about them.

OKAY SO I have a list of Rogues that are gonna be in my AU and the list is a bit Long, some of these character still need to be fully shaped, but Asking Question about them is probably gonna help, so feel free to ask about any of them (Also I'm trying to organise the whole thing)

Characters:

Leader of Crime Organizations and people attached to it:

The Penguin - Oswald Cobblepot

Flamingo - Edouardo Flamingo

Music Meister - Darius (Cobblepot) Chapel

Carmine "The Roman" Falcone (and his family)

Sal "The Boss" Maroni (and his family)

Black Mask

Talon and the Court of Owls

Ra's Al Ghul, Talia Al Ghul and the league of Assassin

Mother - Christian Cain

The Big Ones (Very Important to the General Plot):

Joker - ???

Harley Quinn - Harleen Quinzel

Riddler - Edward Nygma

Two Face - Harvey Dent / Harv'

Poison Ivy - Pamela Isley

The Scarecrow - Jonathan Crane

(AU OC) The Mania - Marlene McCree

(AU OC) The Mourning Dove - Bo Hawkins

Dr. Hugo Strange and Dr. Jeremiah Arkham

The Others (some Still important):

Catwoman - Selina Kyle

Magpie - Margaret Pye

(AU OC) Soda Can - Cheryl Lee (Later Cheryl Chapel Lee)

Punchline - Alexis Kaye

Jester - Duela Jones (Joker Daughter in comics)

Mad Hatter - Jervis Tetch

Victor Zsasz

(AU OC) Madame - Camilla Shelley

Jane Doe - ???

Professor Pyg - Lazlo Valentin

DollMaker+Dollhouse - Barton Mathis and Matilda Mathis

Mister Camera - Alexander Gillian

The Eraser - Leonardo Fiasco

Man-Bat - Dr. Kirk Langstrom

Killer Croc - Waylon Jones

Orca - Dr. Grace Balin

Bane - ???

Firefly - Garfield Lynns

Anarky - Lonnie Machin

Ratcatcher (s) - Otis Flanegan and Cleo Flanegan

Clayface - Basil Karlo

Calendar Girl - Paige Monroe

Roxy Rocket - Roxanne Sutton

Baby Doll - Mary Dahl

Cluemaster - Arthur Brown

Clock King - William Tockman

Calendar King - Julian Day

The Calculator - Noah Kuttler

Bookworm - A.S Scarlet

King Tut - William Yasser

Catman - Thomas Blake

Lord Death Man - Tetsuo Fujiwara

Kite Man - Charles "Chuck" Brown

Mister Bloom - ???

Solomon Grundy - Cyrus Gold

Ventriloquist - Arnold Wesker

Character that I want to add but need to do more research on them:

Professor Achilles Milo

White Rabbit - Jaina Hudson

The Carpenter - Jenna Duffy

Cornelius Stirk

Toymaker - Cosmo Krank

Crime Doctor - Bradform Thorne

D.A.V.E

The Designer - ???

Deadshot - Floyd Lawton

Doctor Phosphorus - Dr. Alexander Sartorius

Ten Eyed Man - Philip Reardon (The Spooky Version)

Spellbinder - Charles Dante

Lady Arkham - Victoria Arkham

Merrymaker - Dr. Byron Meredith 

Onomatopoeia

Polka Dot Man - Abner Krill

Killer Moth - Drury Walker

(and Captain Boomerang if I am peer pressured enough)

[eeveegirl9]

These are my Octavinelle OCs. Their names are Maitso(Mae-tso or Mai-tso), Uriah 'Uri', Cai, Damir, Byron and Nikolai.

Maitso: He is the younger-half brother of Azul. Their father cheated on Azul's mother his Maitso's mother. However, they left Maitso with Azul's mother and disappeared. He often feels inferior to Azul(more so after discovering he's not related to the people who raised him).

Uri: Uri was the runt and was thought to not survive. He proved all wrong as he grew(slowly)and got stronger. He later befriended Maitso Ashengrotto and would later enroll in NRC and become human thanks to Azul.

Cai & Damir: Their parents were killed on accident by a fisherman's net. So traumatized by this, they lost their voices.

Byron and Nikolai: Were adopted by Professor Meredith Maddox(male)when their parents failed to pay back a loan they owed him.

[89rooms]

Once you were Tolstoy’s young man; now you are Byron’s young man; perhaps you will be Meredith’s young man; then you will visit Paris in the Easter vacation and come back wearing a black tie some detestable Frenchman whom nobody has ever heard of. Then I shall drop you.

Virginia Woolf - 'The Waves'

[2000sfm]

any suggestions for roles or reboots that would fit 30+ muses well? either existing or new ones!

we  would  love  more  older  muses  around  here.  some  ideas  for  older  muses  in  existing  reboots  are  listed  under  the  cut  since  it's  quite  a  long  list.  however  some  other  reboots  that  could  definitely  fit  30+  muses  are  :  13  going  on  30,  legally  blonde,  american  psycho,  mamma  mia,  how  i  met  your  mother,  the  office  &  desperate  housewives  !!

the  vampire  diaries:  alaric  saltzman,  jenna  sommers,  john  gilbert,  meredith  fell,  sybil,  liz  forbes,  lillian  salvatore,  josette  laughlin,  isobel  flemming,  carol  lockwood,  abby  bennett,  pearl,  mikael  mikaelson,  zach  salvatore  &  esther  mikaelson.

the  oc:  alex  kelly,  sandy  cohen,  kirsten  cohen,  julie  cooper,  jimmy  cooper

one  tree  hill:  dan  scott,  keith  scott,  deb  scott,  karen  roe,  quinn  james.

sons  of  anarchy:  jax  teller,  opie  winston,  donna  winston,  gemma  teller-morrow,  clay  morrow,  tara  knowles,  juice  ortiz,  tig  trager,  chibs  telford,  happy,  wendy  case,  half-sack  epps.

gilmore  girls:  sookie  st.  james,  christopher  hayden,  emily  gilmore,  richard  gilmore,  max  medina,  michel  gerard,  mrs.  kim.

pretty  little  liars:  ezra  fitz,  melissa  hastings,  wren  kingston,  ashley  marin,  meredith  sorenson,  veronica  hastings,  ella  montgomery,  byron  montgomery,  ian  thomas,  tom  marin.

sex  and  the  city:  samantha  jones,  charlotte  york,  miranda  hobbes,  mr.  bing,  aiden  shaw.

supernatural:  dean  winchester,  sam  winchester,  jo  harvelle,  bobby  singer,  john  winchester,  mary  winchester,  ruby,  lilith,  castiel,  ellen  harvelle,  jessica  moore.

friends:  phoebe  buffay,  ross  geller  (ross  gang),  janice  hosenstein,  gunther,  mike  hannigan,  carol  willick,  emily  waltham,  susan  bunch,  kathy,  jill  green,  amy  green.

criminal  minds:  spencer  reid,  derek  morgan,  penelope  garcia,  emily  prentiss,  hotch  hotchner,  jason  gideon,  david  rossi,  elle  greenaway.

grey's  anatomy:  lexie  grey,  mark  sloan,  derek  shepherd,  amelia  shepherd,  izzie  stevens,  george  o'malley,  cristina  yang,  alex  karev,  miranda  bailey,  callie  torres,  arizona  robbins,  april  kepner,  jackson  avery,  owen  hunt,  addison  montgomery.

true  blood:  bill  compton,  eric  northman,  lafayette  reynolds,  sam  merlotte,  tara  thorton,  pam,  alcide  heveraux.

jennifers  body:  nikolai  wolff

resident  evil:  chris  redfield,  albert  walker,  jill  valentine,  ada  wong,  barry  burton,  rebecca  chambers,  ashley  graham.

scream:  gale  weathers,  dewey  riley.

[cor-ardens-archive]

what do you think about Aria/Alison’s dynamic? I think it was one of many fascinating things that the show played with but never committed to exploring to full potential. One thread I kind of enjoyed was how different members of the Drake-Dilaurentis-Hastings tree (Alison Spencer Jason and Alex) responded to Aria with different levels of what could be read as romantic obsessed at times, Alison taking photographs of Aria and keeping them a secret has always fully read that way to me. 

i know this is a very old ask, but i was taking some time from pll questions. i'm back though :)

alison and aria have such an intriguing relationship, but i think it lost its appeal after they backtracked on ezra being -A. he was the reason why their relationship seemed so significant, and why they were so often paralleled. they were in similar positions of vulnerability, and were preyed upon by the same man.

i really love ali's role in the byron/meredith's plot, and i love how the flashbacks make it seem almost as if byron and ali were the ones having an affair. they weren't, of course, but the vibes are there. either way aria suspects byron of hurting alison, and i really wish he had been the one to do it. i love charlotte, but she could've been part of the story in some other way!

all of this because byron and ezra also parallel each other. alison and aria both are connected to the book lolita, and to ezra. alison is ezra's holly gollightly, aria is daisy buchanan. what a tangle of thorns.

what you say about the drake-dilaurentis-hastings all developing interest in aria is very true. we never really got any reason for ali taking those photos of aria, and it's not exactly a normal thing to keep as a secret. tbh i never got a romantic vibe from ali and aria, but i find their relationship compelling in other ways, and i'm not opposed to the idea either. i do think all the girls had a very intense connection with ali, and the jump to something sexual and/or romantic is easy to make, and wouldn't be a reach for any of them.

[kwebtv]

Burke’s Law -  List of Guest Stars

The Special Guest Stars of “Burke’s Law” read like a Who’s Who list of Hollywood of the era.  Many of the appearances, however, were no more than one scene cameos.  This is as complete a list ever compiled of all those who even made the briefest of appearances on the series.  

Beverly Adams, Nick Adams, Stanley Adams, Eddie Albert, Mabel Albertson, Lola Albright, Elizabeth Allen, June Allyson, Don Ameche, Michael Ansara, Army Archerd, Phil Arnold, Mary Astor, Frankie Avalon, Hy Averback, Jim Backus, Betty Barry, Susan Bay, Ed Begley, William Bendix, Joan Bennett, Edgar Bergen, Shelley Berman, Herschel Bernardi, Ken Berry, Lyle Bettger, Robert Bice, Theodore Bikel, Janet Blair, Madge Blake, Joan Blondell, Ann Blyth, Carl Boehm, Peter Bourne, Rosemarie Bowe, Eddie Bracken, Steve Brodie, Jan Brooks, Dorian Brown, Bobby Buntrock, Edd Byrnes, Corinne Calvet, Rory Calhoun, Pepe Callahan, Rod Cameron, Macdonald Carey, Hoagy Carmichael, Richard Carlson, Jack Carter, Steve Carruthers, Marianna Case, Seymour Cassel, John Cassavetes, Tom Cassidy, Joan Caulfield, Barrie Chase, Eduardo Ciannelli, Dane Clark, Dick Clark, Steve Cochran, Hans Conried, Jackie Coogan, Gladys Cooper, Henry Corden, Wendell Corey, Hazel Court, Wally Cox, Jeanne Crain, Susanne Cramer, Les Crane, Broderick Crawford, Suzanne Cupito, Arlene Dahl, Vic Dana, Jane Darwell, Sammy Davis Jr., Linda Darnell, Dennis Day, Laraine Day, Yvonne DeCarlo, Gloria De Haven, William Demarest, Andy Devine, Richard Devon, Billy De Wolfe, Don Diamond, Diana Dors, Joanne Dru, Paul Dubov, Howard Duff, Dan Duryea, Robert Easton, Barbara Eden, John Ericson, Leif Erickson, Tom Ewell, Nanette Fabray, Felicia Farr, Sharon Farrell, Herbie Faye, Fritz Feld, Susan Flannery, James Flavin, Rhonda Fleming, Nina Foch, Steve Forrest, Linda Foster, Byron Foulger, Eddie Foy Jr., Anne Francis, David Fresco, Annette Funicello, Eva Gabor, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Reginald Gardiner, Nancy Gates, Lisa Gaye, Sandra Giles, Mark Goddard, Thomas Gomez, Pedro Gonzalez Gonzalez, Sandra Gould, Wilton Graff, Gloria Grahame, Shelby Grant, Jane Greer, Virginia Grey, Tammy Grimes, Richard Hale, Jack Haley, George Hamilton, Ann Harding, Joy Harmon, Phil Harris, Stacy Harris, Dee Hartford, June Havoc, Jill Haworth, Richard Haydn, Louis Hayward, Hugh Hefner, Anne Helm, Percy Helton, Irene Hervey, Joe Higgins, Marianna Hill, Bern Hoffman, Jonathan Hole, Celeste Holm, Charlene Holt, Oscar Homolka, Barbara Horne, Edward Everett Horton, Breena Howard, Rodolfo Hoyos Jr., Arthur Hunnicutt, Tab Hunter, Joan Huntington, Josephine Hutchinson, Betty Hutton, Gunilla Hutton, Martha Hyer, Diana Hyland, Marty Ingels, John Ireland, Mako Iwamatsu, Joyce Jameson, Glynis Johns, I. Stanford Jolley, Carolyn Jones, Dean Jones, Spike Jones, Victor Jory, Jackie Joseph, Stubby Kaye, Monica Keating, Buster Keaton, Cecil Kellaway, Claire Kelly, Patsy Kelly, Kathy Kersh, Eartha Kitt, Nancy Kovack, Fred Krone, Lou Krugman, Frankie Laine, Fernando Lamas, Dorothy Lamour, Elsa Lanchester, Abbe Lane, Charles Lane, Lauren Lane, Harry Lauter, Norman Leavitt, Gypsy Rose Lee, Ruta Lee, Teri Lee, Peter Leeds, Margaret Leighton, Sheldon Leonard, Art Lewis, Buddy Lewis, Dave Loring, Joanne Ludden,  Ida Lupino, Tina Louise, Paul Lynde, Diana Lynn, James MacArthur, Gisele MacKenzie, Diane McBain, Kevin McCarthy, Bill McClean, Stephen McNally, Elizabeth MacRae, Jayne Mansfield, Hal March, Shary Marshall, Dewey Martin, Marlyn Mason, Hedley Mattingly, Marilyn Maxwell, Virginia Mayo, Patricia Medina, Troy Melton, Burgess Meredith, Una Merkel, Dina Merrill, Torben Meyer, Barbara Michaels, Robert Middleton, Vera Miles, Sal Mineo, Mary Ann Mobley, Alan Mowbray, Ricardo Montalbán, Elizabeth Montgomery, Ralph Moody, Alvy Moore, Terry Moore, Agnes Moorehead, Anne Morell, Rita Moreno, Byron Morrow, Jan Murray, Ken Murray, George Nader, J. Carrol Naish, Bek Nelson, Gene Nelson, David Niven, Chris Noel, Kathleen Nolan, Sheree North, Louis Nye, Arthur O'Connell, Quinn O'Hara, Susan Oliver, Debra Paget, Janis Paige, Nestor Paiva, Luciana Paluzzi, Julie Parrish, Fess Parker, Suzy Parker, Bert Parks, Harvey Parry, Hank Patterson, Joan Patrick, Nehemiah Persoff, Walter Pidgeon, Zasu Pitts, Edward Platt, Juliet Prowse, Eddie Quillan, Louis Quinn, Basil Rathbone, Aldo Ray, Martha Raye, Gene Raymond, Peggy Rea, Philip Reed, Carl Reiner, Stafford Repp, Paul Rhone, Paul Richards, Don Rickles, Will Rogers Jr., Ruth Roman, Cesar Romero, Mickey Rooney, Gena Rowlands, Charlie Ruggles, Janice Rule, Soupy Sales, Hugh Sanders, Tura Satana, Telly Savalas, John Saxon, Lizabeth Scott, Lisa Seagram, Pilar Seurat, William Shatner, Karen Sharpe, James Shigeta, Nina Shipman, Susan Silo, Johnny Silver, Nancy Sinatra, The Smothers Brothers, Joanie Sommers, Joan Staley, Jan Sterling, Elaine Stewart, Jill St. John, Dean Stockwell, Gale Storm, Susan Strasberg, Inger Stratton, Amzie Strickland, Gil Stuart, Grady Sutton, Kay Sutton, Gloria Swanson, Russ Tamblyn. Don Taylor, Dub Taylor, Vaughn Taylor, Irene Tedrow, Terry-Thomas, Ginny Tiu, Dan Tobin, Forrest Tucker, Tom Tully, Jim Turley, Lurene Tuttle, Ann Tyrrell, Miyoshi Umeki, Mamie van Doren, Deborah Walley, Sandra Warner, David Wayne, Ray Weaver, Lennie Weinrib, Dawn Wells, Delores Wells, Rebecca Welles, Jack Weston, David White, James Whitmore, Michael Wilding, Annazette Williams, Dave Willock, Chill Wills, Marie Wilson, Nancy Wilson, Sandra Wirth, Ed Wynn, Keenan Wynn, Dana Wynter, Celeste Yarnall, Francine York.

[momentary-ecstasy]

I've made the awful decision to rewatch Pretty Little Liars. I forgot how much I love the Emily-Toby brotp. Also Byron kisses like he's trying to eat Meredith's face and he's a rotten potato and Ella is a stone cold fox. I'm trying not to get emotionally attached to Maya again. It's not working.

[terrifyingstories3]

aria puts a lot of pressure on herself when it comes to her family, specifically as it pertains to maintaining harmony within her family and/or living up to the person they raised her to be. she has a lot of intense feelings that sit very close to her chest related to family that she often doesn't know how to express, particularly concerning byron following his request that she lie about his affair, and at times this manifests in extreme and/or aggressive behavior. aria holds and holds things in, and usually no one sees how much she's been holding or how heavy it is until it explodes.

conflict within her family is agonizing to aria, and causes her very intense pain that she often doesn't know how to manage. her parents' separation is devastating to her and she feels responsible for trying to ease tensions between her parents and mike, she's deeply affected by mike's struggles in s2, she blames herself for her parents' divorce, and when mike apologizes to aria for not stepping in when she's slut-shamed in season 5, you can see the distance between them cuts terribly deep. being disconnected from her family is one of the worst things in the world for aria.

likewise, the idea of falling short or disappointing her family is immensely painful. though she has spells of anger and rebelliousness, her parents' disapproval of ezra - and more importantly, of her choices concerning ezra - is something that deeply hurts her (and that hurt is also what fuels these moments where she does push back or lash out). the thought of disappointing them is incredibly painful, and this also dampens her ability to truthfully communicate with them at times.

she and byron have never truly healed the fracture that came of his affair with meredith and him asking her to keep it a secret, but this isn't something aria knows how to talk to him about. often times, she avoids mike rather than speak with him directly, because she doesn't know how to explain so many of the things that have happened, and she's terrified to push him farther away. she can't tell ella she really really needs her to stay, in large part because of A but also because ella has done so much for her and she can't ask her to postpone her happiness anymore.

it is because aria thinks the world of her parents and mike that she struggles at times. she thinks frequently about how lucky she is to have the parents and family that she has - a family that loves and accepts her for who she is, and who have always protected her. something aria is very aware of is that being trans, this could have been so very different. she sees how emily's mom responds to her being a lesbian, and she has the empathy to understand how her being trans might have been hard to come to terms with or accept. in another family, aria might not have been allowed to explore and come to terms with who she is. but aria grew up loved and accepted, and she never had to worry that it might go away.

she puts a lot of really intense pressure on herself because of that. a lot of intense pressure to appreciate her parents and not take for granted what it is to be loved and accepted by your family. it takes time for her to learn that her having a good mom and dad and brother who loved and accepted her doesn't mean that they're immune to making mistakes, even mistakes that hurt her, and that she's allowed to react to those mistakes. to see that this can even extend to her being trans - that just because they've made those attempts to educate themselves and understand out of love and support for her doesn't mean they'll always get it right, and that it's okay for her to have feelings about that, too.

[owibitmylip]

Certainty

Meredith centered fic posted also on AO3!

Relationships: Meredith Stannard/Original Female Character(s)

Characters: Meredith Stannard, Cullen Rutherford, Varric Tethras, Original Female Character(s), Original Male Character(s)

Additional Tags: Lyrium Addiction, Red Lyrium, Slight body horror, Jacked Meredith, POV Meredith, Meredith’s super fucked up perception of things, Adrastianism

Chapter 2: The Second Chance

Ferelden was much as Meredith remembered it. She had never particularly cared for it, though she had been stationed there for a very short spell before becoming Knight Captain. Wentworth had still been alive then, so had Guylian, and that bastard Threnhold. Meredith had only really respected one of the three. Wentworth had looked after her when she was a girl, he had taught her, helped her along. He had given her his greatsword when his time was coming to an end.

Meredith had thrown down her sword and taken up his, and then years later she had thrown his down and taken up Certainty.

She would have liked to keep Wentworth’s sword, but she could not remember for the life of her where she had stowed it. Surely she hadn’t sold it? Meredith was… Pretty sure that even in her red lyrium addled state she would have had the presence of mind to not sell one of her most prized possessions. But she had not had time to look for it, and so she would just have to use her new - still unnamed - blade.

Meredith would admit that, for all she disliked having to leave Kirkwall, she had something of a soft spot for certain parts of Ferelden, and even a small swath of Orlais. Orlais was where she had first met Byron, though admittedly that had not been a particularly good time for her. He was an apostate she was sent to hunt down, her Ferelden Knight Commander evidently not having faith in the Orlesian Templars to get the job done. She had hunted him through Emprise du Lion and into the Emerald Graves before she had caught up, and then she took an arrow to the side from a wayward bandit. Meredith had truly believed that it was the end for her, and she lamented that she would never see Kirkwall again, or return triumphant to Valeria, or achieve her privately held goal of trying to convince Valeria to transfer to Kirkwall - she had never particularly liked Guylian, and she thought that Valeria would do a much better job of governing the Gallows. Kirkwall could really use a woman like her, Kirkwall needed a woman like her.

But then, while her vision waned and her breathes grew shallow, the apostate she had been about to detain moments before she was shot leaned down over her, and she felt something cold blossom in her side.

“How many fingers am I holding up?” He’d asked.

“V-al-er-a-” Meredith had croaked.

“Not a number, good Knight.”

That felt like it had happened in another life, to a different Meredith. Perhaps it had.

It was in Orlais, too, that Meredith had met the other mage. This one had set her more on edge than Byron had. He’d never struck her as much of a threat to anyone, and finding him was more a matter of duty than the sincere belief he would hurt someone if he was allowed to live outside a Circle. When they were younger, Byron had struck her as being a little too… Bumbling, to do much damage. She wasn’t sure there was a demon that’d make a deal with him back then even if he’d tried. The other mage had been the polar opposite. She’d set Meredith’s teeth on edge from the moment they’d met. There was something about her, her bearing, a certain look in her eye, that told Meredith she would have to be very wary.

Meredith had been young, though, and the mage had reminded her of Valeria in a way. They had the same air about them, they were both something dangerous, and they were both something that intrigued Meredith, that drew her in.

In what was not actually the worst decision of her life, Meredith allowed that mage to remain alive and free. Perhaps she had not been thinking wholly with her head when she made that choice. But then the mage died, a mistake of her own, and Meredith could go back to Valeria with the news that the apostate was dead. Meredith had also gone back to Valeria with a small piece of herself missing, something she had left in the Emerald Graves, something she expected she would never get back. That mage had taken a lot from Meredith, more than she had ever intended to.

It was shortly after that that Meredith returned to Kirkwall, alone. Valeria refused to leave her post, telling Meredith that Ferelden needed her. She would not abandon her homeland, and that was something that Meredith could understand. Just like Ferelden needed Valeria, Kirkwall needed Meredith. Wentworth was… Unwell, and Guylian was a fool. He was too lax, too willing to look the other way when mages bent the rules. He would not last, sooner or later something avoidable was going to put an end to him. Meredith had been right about that, and in the wake of Threnhold’s treachery, Meredith gladly accepted the role of Knight Commander. She and Dumar ascended around the same time, and she was sure to make it clear to him where things stood.

His fate need not be yours.

But Dumar, too, had been a fool in the end. He wasn’t good enough. He had been too slow in dealing with the Qunari, and all of Kirkwall had paid for it. He had paid for it. Meredith had lost Templars that night, had lost a few mages, too. That was a night that made Meredith almost glad that the mage had not come back to Kirkwall with her, because she was not sure she would have been able to keep the woman from running directly into danger.

The mage had always had a strange sense of valour. She got it from her father, Meredith thought, who had been a Chevalier. The damnable woman had cause more than a few problems for herself and for Meredith in their short time together, never knowing when to keep out of things. At first, Meredith had thought her courage and sense of honour to be admirable, but it had not been long before the woman had proved herself to be little different from any other mage. She had, at the very least, made quite the impression. Meredith would not soon forget her.

*

“We must go, now. Quickly. If they see you, they’ll-”

“No, Merri, I cannot just stand by. We have to do something!” There was a fire in the woman's eyes, something that might have frightened Meredith.

*

The journey South from the Storm Coast, a wretched place that Meredith had to admit she loved dearly - courtesy of the only assignment she ever accompanied Valeria for having been on the coast - was arduous. Meredith was still aching, still tired, still not even close to her full strength. Horses had at least been easy to obtain, which meant Meredith would not have the burden of carrying her sword all the way down to Haven.

She and Byron made relatively good time, though none of the towns they passed through had a blacksmith that Meredith believed could craft suitable metal armor. Byron promised that the Inquisition would have a good smith, and Meredith sincerely hoped he was right. She felt like she might as well just walk around in trousers and a shirt, for all the good leather armor was going to do her.

Byron had estimated it would be about a three or four day ride to Haven, though Meredith expected he was trying to be generous in case her condition slowed them down. In total it took about three days, with Haven coming into sight as the Ferelden sun set on them for the third time. The little place was nice enough, from a distance. It was not what Meredith had expected of Inquisition headquarters, but she supposed she ought to cut them some slack given how new the organisation was. Perhaps they were in the process of acquiring better holdings. She elected to reserve her judgement until they could see the place up close.

Meredith wondered if there were going to be any Templars present that she had known, or if all of them had gone to Therinfal. She fully intended to question this supposed “Herald of Andrastae” about what information they may have about the state of the order. Meredith had her own suspicions, but thus far they were totally baseless, and she was putting effort in to not jump to conclusions. If she had a sickening feeling in her gut, if she felt like she could occasionally hear the hum of the red stuff, well then, maybe she was just imaging it. Had she not just recently been released from her own red lyrium prison? Such a thing probably left a lasting mark on a person.

She supposed the best thing she could do at the moment would be to trust Byron, to try to trust this Inquisiton - if she couldn’t trust the Herald, perhaps she could at least trust their Commander, and the hands of the late Divine. Although Meredith had to admit it, just to herself at least, that she was extremely skeptical about the whole “Herald of Andrastae” business. Why would Andrastae choose some random mage woman, when there were so many others utterly devoted to her? When the hands of the Divine had been right there, when plenty of intelligent and capable Chantry sisters were right there, when Meredith was right there? Could it not just have been a demon trying to trick the Herald? 

Meredith tried to quiet her thoughts. It would do absolutely no good to stew about why she was not the chosen one of the Maker when she had no evidence yet that this Herald even really was. Perhaps sending Byron to rescue her was the Maker’s way of giving her new purpose, anyway. Perhaps this was a holy purpose. That was what she had to tell herself, or else she would begin to feel dreadfully bleak. If she believed that the Maker had turned his back on her, that Andrastae had turned her back on her, then Meredith verily had no purpose.

Haven loomed, so much as such a tiny place can loom, in front of them as they approach the gates. Or perhaps Meredith just got the sensation that it was looming because she was nervous about what lay inside. A ways ahead she heard a familiar voice calling out to recruits.

“You have a shield in your hand, block with it!” He shouted. Meredith had said something similar a thousand times, and so had Guylian and Valeria before her. She glanced over at her former Knight Captain, no longer clad in his templar armor, holding a shield and trying to make a boy who could not have been a day over 17 understand how to position it. It was bizarre to see him like that, to see him as such… As not a Templar. But he was there, he was alive, he was continuing to serve, and as far as Meredith was concerned, he was still serving a divine purpose.

She briefly wondered if he still had the small dagger she had given him - another Tranquil crafted thing - when she had made him Knight Captain. It had been a short blade with a serrated edge, and she’d given it to him because Meredith sincerely believed he was going to be great, and with greatness comes an increased number of people who want to kill you. She thought it would be good for him to have a smaller, concealable weapon, and one that could do substantial damage in an instant, if need be. After everything that had happened in Kirkwall, she wouldn’t blame him if he’d gotten rid of it, but some part of her hoped that he’d keep it. When he had first arrived in Kirkwall, she’d seen something of herself in him, and she had tried to be for him what Valeria and Wentworth had been for her.

She had failed, quite spectacularly. She had led him down a dark, paranoid, volatile path, and he was lucky to have left it when he did. Perhaps in placing them both here, the Maker was giving her a second chance to do right by Cullen as well.

“Hold there,” one of the two guards stationed outside the gate called to them, and they eased their horses to a stop. “What’s your business?”

“We’ve come to join up,” Byron said. “We’d like to lend a hand getting that closed.” He pointed over his shoulder at the now very visible massive green hole in the sky. “Thought you know, more hands make less work. Or rather, more hands make it a little bit easier to deal with demons all over the place. I’ve already got a couple of friends here, they should have arrived yesterday, or the day before. Rowen and Scilla, I believe.”

“Right then, we’ll be glad to have you. What’s your name, Serah?” Ah, the man was a Marcher then. Meredith allowed herself a small smile. Based on the accent, she would have guessed he was from Ostwick.

“Byron, Serah. I hail from Orlais.”

“A pleasure,” The guard gave a shallow bow. “And what’s your friend’s name?” The guardsman asked, glancing over at Meredith, then at Meredith’s sword where it was strapped to the side of her saddle, then back to Byron.

Before Byron could choose one for her, Meredith cut in. “Valeria,” she said. “Of Ostwick.”

The guard smiled up at her. “I hail from Ostwick as well. Welcome.” Another bow. “The stables are there, town’s too crowded already to let horses through the gates. The Quartermaster, Threnn, will tell you where you can lay down your things. You can probably find her up by the Chantry.”

“Many thanks, Messere,” Meredith said with an incline of her head, and urged her horse - a massive, dark coloured beast - over towards the stables.

*

Valeria had looked down at her, brushed a hand softly over Meredith’s cheek. “Kirkwall needs you.” Softly down her golden hair, gently down to the side of her neck. “Ferelden needs me.”

Meredith couldn’t argue, she could never bring herself to argue with Valeria. She trusted always that the decisions the Knight Commander made were for the best.

“I will see you again, Meredith. If not in this life, then in the next.”

It was then that Meredith decided if Kirkwall could not have Valeria, they would have a woman very much like her.

*

Meredith had a moment to regret the name she gave herself as she and Byron strode through the gates and into Haven. Was she really worthy to carry Valeria’s name? Had she even come close to earning such an honor?

She did not look in Cullen’s direction, but rather kept her eye out for anybody else she might recognise. It did not take long before she was looking a certain dwarf square in the face as she came up the steps. Varric Tethras, a particularly vexing man, stood by a fire talking to somebody that Meredith did not recognise. Not Hawke, at least. Though Tethras’ presence may prove problematic. Between him and Cullen, the likelihood that someone would recognise here was much higher than she would have liked. She kept her hood up, and tried not to look like a Templar as she and Byron passed by Varric. The dwarf glanced briefly at her as the passed and did a double-take. He stared at her, but she had already gone by, so all he had to see was her back and the blade leaning against her shoulder.

Meredith thought something impolite, and kept walking. She expected to get a visit from… Somebody, later, be it Tethras himself or somebody else sent to take a better look at her. Varric had been a thorn in her side for long enough that she felt she had a decent idea of who he was - tenacious, irritating, foolish, she could go on.

It was relatively straightforward to find Threnn, as she was in the middle of a rather strict conversation with somebody about preparations for more snow when Meredith and Byron arrived by the Chantry. Byron gave Meredith a light pat on the shoulder and said he would do the talking. Meredith still sounded like a Knight Commander when she spoke. Byron insisted it was the tone and word choice, not to mention the distinct Marcher accent, that did it. She was too used to everybody she spoke to being either her subordinate or the Grand Cleric, she was too formal, too demanding, too firm to sound like a regular person. She had the bearing of the soldier, the demeanor of an officer, and the countenance of a Templar.

She glanced around while Byron spoke with the Quartermaster, who seemed only slightly less irritated by him than she had by her subordinate. Haven’s Chantry was small, but it would serve well enough. A Chantry did not need to be extravagant, and indeed sometimes Meredith thought they could get a little too decadent. She preferred the more subdued, the more humble structures. This small building, about as subdued and humble as they came, very much appealed to her.

“Pardon me,” came a meek voice from behind Meredith. She turned, looking the slight Elven girl over. “I was sent to ask after your name, Madame.” She girl looked up at Meredith with wide eyes. “A-and where you’ve come from.”

“Valeria, of Ostwick,” Meredith said with a small incline of her head. “And what is your name?”

“My-?” Confusion clouded the girl’s expression for a moment before she gathered herself enough to squeak “Aeris.”

“Where have you come from, Aeris?” If Meredith sounded like she was interrogating the girl a little, she didn’t mean to. She was, as she was so helpufully informed by Byron, just like that.

“Near Denerim, Madame.”

“Have you come all this way alone to join the Inquisition?”

“No, Madame, my sister is here with me. We… It isn’t much but we do what we can.”

“I am sure you do more than you think.”

“That is very kind of you, Ma-”

“You are welcome to call me Valeria.” Meredith was not usually in the habit of letting anybody call her just by her name without a title attached, she’d worked damned hard for her titles. But ‘Valeria’ was a title more than it was a name, the woman so thoroughly mythologized in Meredith’s mind that she was barely remembered as a human being rather than a goddess of justice - no, of balance.

*

“There is a give and take to everything, Meredith,” Valeria had told her, a hand resting on her shoulder as they had overseen the making of a new Tranquil. Rarely now did Valeria administer the rite herself, not now that she had more important things to focus on. “There must be, so the world can remain balanced. Magic, it is given. But magic freely given is unbalanced, so we are placed here to take it. We restore, where magic destroys.”

*

“Valeria,” Aeris corrected herself. She bowed to Meredith, her hands clasped behind her back. When she straightened up Meredith noted how close the girl’s posture was to parade rest. “It is a pleasure to meet you.” Aeris turned and hurried away, back down the steps to report to whoever had sent her - Varric, Meredith assumed. She doubted Cullen would send a servant girl to ask after her, she would like to think she brought him up well enough that he’d have the courage to ask himself.

She watched Aeris walk away, the girl’s posture rigid and he hands clasped at her back. Meredith could not help but see potential in the girl. She clearly already had a workable sense of discipline. The image of the girl in light armor, with a set of twin blades in her hands popped into Meredith’s mind, and she wondered for a moment. Was this girl, too, part of the Maker’s plan for her? Or would her path diverge from Aeris, before she had the chance to craft the girl into something great? Something more than a servant, sent to ask after people’s names by someone too cowardly to go themselves.

If she was meant to bring the girl up into something better, then their paths could surely cross again. Meredith gave herself a small nod. If it was the Maker’s will, then it would happen. She would do what she had always done before, go where she was sent, and do as she was bid.

“Merri-dith,” Byron appeared beside her again. “Ready? We really should be hurrying along. There is an extra tent the kind Quartermaster said we can share. I am sorry in advance for however many times I wake you up, and also, curse you in advance, for however many times you wake me up.”

Meredith barked a laugh. “The feeling is mutual. Come, show me to it.”

She followed Byron back down through Haven and once again out the gate. A quick glance revealed that Varric was no longer standing where he had been when they’d first arrived - for the best, Meredith decided. She did not want him questioning her, as she was confident that he and Cullen would recognise her in an instant. Perhaps she should cut her hair, although that would do little to disguise her face. Perhaps she could get a tattoo over her good eye, or on her cheek or something? She had met a Knight Captain from Starkhaven once who’d had tattoos on his face. Meredith had disliked the look of it, though, and decided that tattooing her face would be a last-resort thing. If Hawke showed up, only then she would get a tattoo.

“Merri-dith, you’re a thousand miles away,” Byron said in a sing-song tone. Meredith blinked, looking over at her friend. They stood in front of an empty tent with the flaps drawn back. It was small, much smaller than their cabin on the ship had been.

“I suppose I am.”

“What did that Elf girl want from you, earlier by the Chantry?” Byron tilted his head to the side, and Meredith thought it made him look like a confused bird.

“She asked after my name, and where I’ve come from. I suspect she was sent by someone I knew in Kirkwall, Varric Tethras.”

“You knew him? The- he wrote those books, the romance ones, have you ever-”

“No, Byron, I have not read his romance novels.”

“You’re missing out, Merri-dith, they’re very entertaining.”

Meredith rolled her eyes and laid her sword down inside the tent. From the looks of how it, she was a little worried that Byron’s feet were going to stick out at night. But he had a tendency to work himself up into uncomfortable looking bundles as he slept, so he would probably be alright. Meredith resolved to get ahold of a second tent for herself, so that they both would be able to sleep with some relative peace.

“I shall take your word for it. I doubt I would find it enjoyable.” If she were talking to anybody else, she’d have outright called the books drivel. But given Byron had sprung her from her lyrium prison just a couple weeks ago, she thought she would cut him a little slack when it came to his inferior taste in literature.

“You’re no fun, my friend, absolutely none. Do they train the fun out of you in the Templars? Come to think of it, I have never met a single one of you that had a sense of whimsy.”

“Whimsy is frowned upon by the Order, yes.”

“I knew it. Plain inhumane. Even Templars need to kick back and relax once in a while.”

“No, we really don’t. At least, we are not supposed to.” Meredith frowned. “If Templars ever relaxed, mages less honest and capable than yourself would run amok.”

“Merri-dith, there are fewer mages like that than you think there are,” Byron said, as gently as he could. It was not the first time he’d said something like that to her, but Meredith did not believe it any more than she had before. Her experience had showed her what mages could be like, what they would be like if left unsupervised. It was not something she could abide by.

Meredith shook her head, glancing down at the still-nameless sword. Sorrowfully, as she had once spoken to Orsino about something similar, Meredith said “No, no I do not believe there are.”

*

Valeria’s words echoed in her head as Meredith sat slumped in her desk chair, a glass of whiskey in her hand. She looked over at her armor, resting on the rack, waiting for her.

“You must not falter,” Valeria had told her. “You must stand strong, even when all others would shrink away from the responsibility. You must be firm, you must not second guess yourself.”

Meredith sipped the whiskey and glanced down at her thigh, covered in bandages after taking a hit from a Qunari spear. She was lucky to still have her leg.

“You must do what no one else has the courage, the resolve to do, Meredith,” Valeria had told her, back when she was still a newly minted Knight. “That is our purpose, that is why the Maker put us here. To do what must be done, no matter the cost. And sometimes that is unpleasant, but know that you are fighting for a righteous cause, a merciful cause, a just cause. Do not forget that.”

It was then that she decided she must do something more, and thus, Certainty was born.

*

The night was dark, and full of sounds one never heard in Kirkwall. Chirps, growls, twigs snapping and leaves rustling in the pitch black outside the flaps, the howl and beat of wind against the side of the tent. Meredith laid in the tent, staring at the wall closest to her. She could feel Byron at her back, already sound asleep, snoring quietly and mercifully not wriggling around yet.

Meredith had been laying that way for what felt like ages, unable to fall asleep despite feeling dead tired. It wasn’t the first time she’d been struck with a bout of insomnia, but it was certainly vexing. Laying there, however, she knew would do her no good. Carefully, as not to disturb her sleeping friend, Meredith crawled out of the tent, pausing to pull her boots on and to pick up her cloak once she reached the entrance.

She emerged quietly into the chill night air, making sure the tent flaps were pulled to behind her.

As Meredith strode down the road past the stables, the dirt crunching softly beneath her boots, she heard a door creak open and close as quietly as an old door could. She did not stop walking, assuming it was simply the smith - a man Meredith meant to have a word with come the morning. She had high expectations, and she sincerely hoped the man - Harritt, she believed his name was - was going to be as talented as Byron promised.

Meredith noted a few hurried footsteps on the road behind her. “Valeria,” a familiar voice called out her newly adopted title.

“Aeris,” Meredith hummed, finally coming to a stop. She turned around and looked down at the lanky girl before her. A smile tugged at the corner of her mouth as a sense of vindication settled on her.

If our paths are meant to cross, then they will. And here they were.

“Might I walk with you,” Aeris asked.

Meredith nodded. “Of course.”

The girl took a few long strides to catch up to Meredith, and easily matched her leisurely pace. She was not as tall as Meredith, but she was slender, and it looked as though she had not yet grown into her limbs. The cloak she wore was a little too big, and dragged on the ground as she walked. Her long, dark hair was tied in a braid similar to Meredith’s, which hung down over her shoulder, and her face was covered with the beautiful lines of Vallaslin that looked like thorned vines.

Meredith’s eyes lingered for a moment on the girl’s Vallaslin, smooth lines which seemed to writhe in the moonlight.

“What do they mean,” Meredith asked after a few moments of silence had passed between them. “Your tattoos? If I may ask.” She was vaguely aware that Vallaslin had meaning, though she had not a clue what it was. Meredith had met very few elves in her time that both wore it and were willing to have a civil conversation with her, most of her interactions with the Dalish had been an altercation with a Dalish mage. A brief shudder ran up her back as the recalled the Dalish woman that had galavanted around with Hawke - blood magic, Meredith had suspected, though at the time she felt there was precious little she could do about it. She could only hope now that the girl had not harmed anyone, if indeed she was using forbidden magic.

“They’re for Elgar’nan,” Aeris said. “He’s the god of vengeance, and the sun,” she continued, absently bringing a hand up to trace a line that ran across her skin.

Retribution, the light of the Maker, Meredith thought. Like she had once seen part of herself in her former Knight Captain, Meredith wondered if there might be a part of her in this young Dalish girl, as well.

“They are beautiful. If I may, how old were you when you got them?”

“When I was fifteen. It’s when you ‘come of age’, that you’re supposed to get them.” Meredith thought she might have detected a note of bitterness in Aeris’ tone, similar again to the pain, the anger, the fear she had once heard in Cullen’s voice. It was part of the reason that she had chosen him as her Knight Captain. She’d stoked the flames of his resentment, his fear, and she had used it to make him into what she’d thought was the perfect Templar.

Meredith would not repeat her past mistake with this one. If Aeris was indeed put here for her to teach, then Meredith would make sure she did it right this time. And perhaps, if she was very lucky, the Maker might grant her the chance to make up for her past failure and repay Cullen, as well. She was not quite so hopeful for that, but if the opportunity presented itself, she would not turn it away.

“A little young to be considered ‘of age,’ is it not?” Meredith glanced at the girl out of the corner of her eye.

Aeris shrugged, the tension in her shoulders was visible. “It depends on.. Things. My sister got hers when she was eighteen. I…” She trailed off, staring at the ground as she sauntered along for a few moments. Meredith hung on her every word. “Mine were earlier because I had to grow up a little faster than she did.”

Meredith did not pry. She trusted that the girl would keep talking of her own volition, but worried that if she tried to glean anything specific, she might scare her off.

“My… I had two brothers, too. They were both older than me. And there were my parents. One of my brothers… Disappeared one day, he was supposed to be out hunting, and he didn’t come back. My parents assumed the worst, but I was trying to.. To stay hopeful. We never found him, not really.” She paused a moment, gathering herself. Meredith waited as patiently as she could. “What we found was his bow, and some blood, and a finger.”

When the girl quieted again, Meredith murmured a low, gentle “I’m sorry,” though it seemed to go unheard.

“Nobody told me what had happened to him until my other brother and father had already gone out to do something about it. Blood magic, my mother told me. He’d been abducted and used in some… To summon some creature. My brother and father were going to try to find the bastard who did it. My family didn’t much trust the Templars in Denerim, and back then neither did I. We had mages in the tribe, and we didn’t want to risk them getting dragged away to a Circle. We’d never see them again.

“So we were going to handle it ourselves, exact revenge and all that. Get justice.” Aeris’s voice had grown shakey, though not with sorrow, Meredith noted, with rage. “Neither of them came back. I don’t know if it was the same damned mage who killed the two of them, too, but I don’t know who else it would have been.

“And so it was just me, my sister, and my mother. We had the rest of the tribe, we mourned, we packed up and moved to a different spot, trying to leave all of that pain behind us. I thought of going to the Templars myself, just because I didn’t want the bastard to get away with what he’d done, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. I didn’t want to put the rest of the tribe in danger. I just… I couldn’t. Not after everything we’d gone through, not after everything, everyone we’d lost.”

It saddened Meredith deeply to see someone so horribly disillusioned with the Templars that she would let a blood mage escape instead of asking the Order for help.

“My mother started hunting too, to make up for my father and brother’s not being there to help with it anymore. She was always good with a bow, but she didn’t like killing animals. I guess I understood it, but I thought… You know, someone had to do it. I wasn’t allowed to, though, because I was still a child. Well, one day, bad weather hit, and.. It was an accident, my mother, she wasn’t like the other ones. But it hurt us, still, we… Everybody missed her. And losing four people in just a few months hurt us, too. We didn’t have enough hunters, and my sister couldn’t help. She’s never had much skill with a weapon. She stayed in the camp, usually, and sometimes if we needed something she couldn’t make, she’d venture into the city for us. So, I asked the Keeper, and I got my Vallaslin, and I learned how to shoot a bow and how to gut an animal. It was for them - my family, everything has been. I..” Her voice broke, frustration crept into her tone and her hands clenched into painfully tight fists. Meredith could practically feel the pain, the anger, the pure, unadulterated rage radiating off the girl.

“My sister and I came here together. She wants to do something for the good of the world, and I… I don’t know. I want it to be about justice.”

“There is more to it than that, isn’t there?” Meredith glanced down at her again. The girl’s gaze was firmly locked on a point far ahead of her. Her meagre muscles tense and her expression stony, though there was a fire in her eyes that Meredith couldn’t help but admire.

Aeris gestured to her Vallaslin. “Yes. I…” She trailed off for a moment again, her expression briefly softening, but then quickly returning to it’s hardened state. “I want him to pay, the one that killed my brothers and my father. I don’t know how, or where he is, or even what his name is, but if I ever find him…”

Meredith couldn’t help it, she grinned. She would not make any mistakes this time. She’d help this girl, she’d teach her, she’d craft Aeris into something to be feared, something to be respected. There were lessons the girl needed to learn, surely skills that needed to be honed, and Meredith could help with that. She would succeed with this girl where she had failed with Cullen. His skill left nothing to be desired, he was decisive, he was ruthless when he needed to be, but Meredith had made a fatal mistake. She’d encouraged him to let his hatred and fear consume him, to let that be his sole motivator. It had done him no good, indeed Meredith thought it had only hurt him more. She had seen him, broken down, in pain that he couldn’t handle when he’d first arrived in Kirkwall, and all she’d really seen was something that could be rebuilt into the perfect soldier.

She would not make Aeris a soldier, no, she would make Aeris into a weapon. The girl could learn to harness her anger without letting it control her, and Meredith would be the one to help her along.

“I am very sorry for all you’ve been through, Aeris. But I believe you will do incredible good here.”

“Thank you.” The girl glanced up at Meredith. “Might I ask you something now? Just so we’re even.”

“Of course.”

“I don’t think your name is really Valeria, and I don’t think you’re really from Ostwick.” Perceptive, good. “So what’s your real name, and where are you really from?”

The wolfish grin Meredith had managed to subdue once again overtook her expression. “You will keep it a secret? So far as anyone else is concerned, I am Valeria from Ostwick, yes?”

Aeris nodded. “Yes.”

“Good. In that case, I am from Kirkwall,” the former Knight Commander looked up at the sky, once again marvelling at the beauty of it. “And my name is Meredith.”

*

Cullen came looking for Varric that night, walking up to the gates the moment that Varric himself hurried out of them. Surely the woman he’d seen earlier could not have actually been Meredith, there was no way. Meredith was dead, he was there. She was bones encased in red lyrium.

But still… The tall, muscled woman carrying a sword that most of Cullen’s men couldn’t wield if their lives depended on it… She had looked so much like Meredith. And just as Cullen recalled very clearly taking a nasty hit to the face, leaving him with the small scar on his upper lip, he recalled Meredith taking an even nastier one to her eye. He could not, however, remember if it had been his sword or somebody else’s, or perhaps Hawke had hit her with his staff? Parts of that fight were something of a blur to him, but he was confident that had she survived the fight, Meredith would have walked away with just one eye.

“Curly!” Varric exclaimed before Cullen could get a word in. “Did you see her?”

Cullen nodded. “I think I did. It… It couldn’t be. Right?”

“Right,” Varric said, nodding as well. “There’s no way it’s Meredith.”

“Right,” Cullen agreed. “Meredith is dead.”

“Meredith is dead,” Varric echoed. “There’s absolutely no way it’s her.”

“Right,” Cullen said.

“Right,” Varric agreed. Both men were trying to convince themselves more than they were trying to reassure each other. Meredith was dead, they had been there for it.

Although… Stranger things have happened, Cullen thought, glancing away from Varric and absently touching the scar on his lip. After all, are we not gathered here to try and close a demon-spitting hole in the sky?

*

The mage had looked over at her, all dark eyes and languid movements. Meredith’s breath hitched. “You should leave, Templar, if you know what’s good for you.” The woman’s Orlesian accent softened her otherwise threatening tone.

“I don’t,” Meredith had said, lowering her sword. “I don’t think I know what’s good for me.”

The mage grinned - a sharp, almost predatory expression. Meredith felt like a Halla being circled by a hungry wolf, the only time in her life she’d ever felt that way.

“I had hoped you would say that.”

[jaggedwolf]

pll rewatch 2x15

THESE AREN’T HIGHLIGHTS HANNA, I HAVE GLASS IN MY HAIR

Aria immediately scampers over and picks the glass out of Emily’s hair. Very cute

Hanna responds to everyone’s freakout by saying Isabel and Kate are moving to town. Girl, that is the least important drama in your life rn.

Emily says she has Caleb’s number so Hanna’s opinion doesn’t matter. Do Emily and Caleb hang out? I would like them to. Emily likes Caleb because he votes in favor of her suggestion of slashers for group movie nights.

Byron loses all points he gained with me last episode by taking his rage out on Aria’s outfit. (1) Your daughter has never dressed appropriately (2) It is very weird to jump from Aria/Ezra to Aria must be dressing slutty for the teachers at her high school, none of whom are Ezra

Did Spencer know she was going to make out with Toby when she went to go see him? Unclear, but it leads to another makeout->spy sequence for Spoby

Lucas is so obviously still into Hanna that this entire thing makes me cringe. He doesn’t have enough of a spine to say no to her. She can tell he doesn’t want to hang out with her but pushes him anyway. No one is appealing to me here, including Caleb randomly going “You’re a good man, Lucas”

I was relieved at the possibility of this being A-related and not friendzone related. 

Ella is ridiculously lax in letting Emily continue a makeup test on yet another day. Emily’s already seen the test! This is wild! 

Ella then asks Emily what else she doesn’t know about her daughter, though she does acknowledge she’s being unfair. 

I get distracted by the blackboard writing behind Ella, given that I’ve read The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter. Good book.

Emily: They’ve already made some memories on that couch in the living room 

Spencer: -looks aghast-

Emily: She—she didn’t tell you?

Spencer, horrified: That was my nana’s couch.

Back in the day Emily would sometimes get framed by fandom as being grossed out at having to hear about Haleb makeouts, because gay. Rewatch is definitely proving that wrong. Between her :D at relaying the above and that her response to Haleb banging in S1 was to ask Hanna when they’d get the chance to do it again, Emily is here to hear these deets and Hanna is here to share.

Spencer is not here to hear this shit or that it happened on her nana’s couch. Very funny to compare how horny Spencer is over Ezria to how uninterested in Haleb she is. I will have thoughts on Emily ships here in the future.

Anyway, Spencer does offer Hanna the lakehouse

The girls should tell Caleb at this point. He’s doing hacking work for them, if A is smart he would be at risk anyway, Caleb is not inclined to trust the authorities so he won’t spill. 

A doesn’t even send them messages going DON’T TELL CALEB BOOOO

Instead Caleb gets a surprise birthday party. Does Caleb even know any of these people? Does Caleb even like surprise parties? I feel like he’d just wanna hang out with his girlfriend and maybe their friends.

This will not be the last time on this show someone throws a surprise birthday party for their significant other while I frown in judgement. 

The Montgomeries continue to leave me with so many questions about their parenting. Byron storms into Ezra’s apartment without his wife or even telling her, Ella decides Aria/Ezra must be connected to Byron/Meredith. (Which again convinces me they never had an actual conversation about the affair while getting back together, they just got horny and decided, well, back to normal!)

Ella does not want to go to the police over Ezra. I’m...inclined to side with her. Less so about Aria’s reputation, because there are already rumours and the entire student body of Rosewood High, if not Hollis, knows about this. Just that uh, I don’t think it’s illegal for them to date, even if they were having sex that’s difficult to prove when Aria won’t co-operate. Little chance of Ezra facing consequences, more chance of cops being unhelpful.

You know what they could do that no one mentions? Talk to the school, which already should have been Ella’s responsibility as a teacher. Yeah, he’s not at Rosewood anymore but he has some kind of teaching certification, right? Get that shit off of him. Lower threshhold of evidence, ruin his reputation, incentivize Hollis to fire him too. 

Sorry I briefly imagined a world where Coach Fulton walked by one of those classrooms Ezria love to have dramatic conversations in and she goes WTF??? And straight to the principal. Because Coach Fulton would. 

Ella says something about how they raised Aria to be open-minded and I’m like Ella...girl...no...

Hanna stops by Ezra’s office to say she supports him. This is in-character, unfortunately

I completely forgot that the mystery caller was Lucas.

BTW, the contemporaneous podcast I listen to called this the Worst Crisis Hotline Ever and they are not wrong, the way this place is run.

Something I really appreciate about S2  is that we’ve gotten a lot of Spemily teaming up as the investigative leaders, really trying to push the investigation forward. They confront Hanna about Lucas together, and Hanna goes full denial.

Garrett whines to Toby like a crybaby about Toby’s step-sister dumping him. Toby looks at him like a guy who got crept on by said step-sister. 

Spencer says they have tiki torches left over from her dad’s 40th. I would love to know how that party went.

Lucas creeps Spencer out, who seems physically afraid of him. The way this episode and the next frame Lucas as a physical threat is interesting, in that all our previous A suspects have felt more imposing in attitude or stature. 

Byron and Ella think shoving an age-appropriate boy at Aria is the solution. Okay, I get that they’re trying to supervise Aria more, but why keep her away from her friends? They should get her to have her friends over sometimes at least so it feels less like a punishment.

Spencer is so happy to have Emily return to play buddy cop with her but oh no! Hanna’s on a boat! With Lucas! And then she uh hits him in the back of the head with an oar.

Spencer cradles Hanna for a while post-lake, I just think we should all note that. 

DUN DUN DUN A has fished out...Lucas’s shoe. Bummer, can’t eat that.

[manyfandomocs]

World Building Wednesday + Samuel

Complicated family

B A S I C S

full name: Samuel Clay Carlson (would've been Johnathan Owen Montgomery)

gender: Cis Male

sexuality: Bisexual

pronouns: He/Him

O T H E R S

family: Byron Montgomery (Father), Ella Montgomery (Mother), Aria Montgomery (Older Sister), Mike Montgomery (Twin Brother), Wade Carlson (Adoptive Father/Kidnapper), Meredith Carlson (Adoptive Mother/Kidnapper), Carmen Little (Adoptive Maternal Aunt)

birthplace: Rosewood, Pennsylvania (thought he was born in Portland, Oregon)

job: Student, Coach

phobias: Burning

guilty pleasures: TBD

M O R A L S

morality alignment?: chaotic neutral

sins - lust/greed/gluttony/sloth/pride/envy/wrath

virtues - chastity/charity/diligence/humility/kindness/patience/justice

T H I S - O R - T H A T

introvert/extrovert

organized/disorganized

close minded/open-minded

calm/anxious

disagreeable/agreeable

cautious/reckless

patient/impatient

outspoken/reserved

leader/follower

empathetic/unemphatic

optimistic/pessimistic

traditional/modern

hard-working/lazy

R E L A T I O N S H I P S

otp: Samuel/Hanna

ot3: Samuel/Hanna/Spencer

brotp: Samuel/Aria

notp: Samuel/Ali

Send WBW and an oc for…