#God bless everyone

[dedi-ashour]

إن قتل الصحافيين هو اعتداء صارخ على حرية التعبير وحقوق الإنسان، ويجب أن نقف ضد هذه الجرائم للحفاظ على الحقيقة والعدالة⚖️

The killing of journalists is a blatant attack on freedom of expression and human rights, and we must stand against these crimes to preserve truth and justice⚖️

حسبنا الله ونعم الوكيل وكفى☝️💔💔

اللهم احفظ لبنان الحبيبه واهلها وادم عليها الأمن والأمان يارب

اللهم احفظ لبنان وشعبها واهلها من كل مكروه وسوء اللهم الطف بلبنان وأهلها اللهم اصرف عنهم كل شر وسوء وضرر ومكروه آمين ياا ربّ 🤲🌿🇱🇧🇱🇧🇱🇧

[robo-boy]

im watching duck! this shit is.... interesting to say the least

[phan-meme-trash]

I’m not on TikTok but apparently ppl are talking about the hat fic to the point where people who aren’t even aware of Dan and Phil are reading it.

WHY

I forgot that fic existed and now not only did TikTok bring that cursed fic to the forefront of my brain but poor non phandom civilians are suffering too?

Let me just say to anyone who hasn’t read a cursed crack fic from any fandom, do yourself a favor and stay away. They’re intentionally disturbing and contain sexual violence and gore and so much horrific twisted potentially triggering content.

I wish I could go back in time and unread these fics but I can’t. So I will do my best to stop others from reading them now. If you can’t stop yourself bc the curiosity is killing you i recommend you look the titles up on urban dictionary to get a summary. Don’t read the actual thing. Please, I beg you.

[thethirdman8]

Charlie Brown is in position 🎄🎅

[kavalyera]

Ask time, yay!!

16. What’s something you want to create soon?

17. How do you feel best loved?

25. If your soul was a color, what would it be?

yayayay ask time ^_^

16. What’s something you want to create soon?

More art!!! And vtm fics ofc ofc. Maybe a mix of my own ocs (if anyone is interested haha) and also vtm bloodlines. I want to make more art of my own ocs and stuff drifting away a bit from all the marquis de gramont lmao

17. How do you feel best loved?

im such a girl who likes words more than actions cuz i lowkey get awkward hsxgishxsh i like it when i get showered in compliments and praise because i fckin deserve that ^_^ or honestly whenever someone lets me yap in their ears about anything i find interesting like how earlier i yapped for a good 32-maybe 33 minutes about philippine history and culture :3

25. If your soul was a color, what would it be?

hrmmmmm maybe likeeeeeeee a really bright neon pink to scare off the non weirdos that don’t get it and it has to be sparkling too. it has to look like a biblically accurate angel just came down to earth and said “be not afraid”

[9x19-balaclava]

I’m finally going to take a much needed break from here.

[jjspina]

Happy Easter and Passover!

May you receive all the blessings today and everyday from God. Hope you have a happy and blessed Easter and Passover. I pray for all those who are homeless and have no one to love and care for them. May HE watch over them today and every day. Here are some tulips to brighten your day that my daughter gave me! They brought a smile to my lips and a joy to my heart. I feel blessed. As I get older…

[jinghestation]

the feminism leaving my body when there’s a centipede in the house

[maythray]

sorry my follower said that on your post. ill have them executed immediately.

[aq2003]

imagine you need to get away from the house and your responsibilities for a hot second and there's this bus driver/tour guide you meet and he invites you on a one-time big sightseeing trip (what the bus driver is telling himself. don't worry about that). and at first you think it's like a date and he's into you but this dries up maybe half a day in when the sightseeing goes wrong and he starts angsting about his dead girlfriend. anyway the trip gets extended and he's still the worst most disappointing tour guide in the world so you do the emotional equivalent of poking at him with a stick and asking what the hell is wrong with him. bus driver relents and reveals that his whole family is dead and he's been trying to avoid thinking about it by being a bus driver. you listen to him as he talks about how nice his town was before it exploded and you suddenly realize that the bus driver is furiously grieving/homesick/depressed and you're like the only thing stopping him from driving off a cliff and into the sea. especially bc the next day you run into the mafia and the bus driver starts screaming at them to kill him. then he hugs an electric fence. and then he tells you to take the bus keys and leave him and screams at the mafia to kill him again. and like this is so obviously horrific but what can you do besides stay with him on more sightseeing trips and hope you're doing enough to keep him alive. bc one of the responsibilities you ducked from was your job of saving people and this stupid fucking bus driver is a person in need of saving so bad. even if he starts shutting down when he manages to catch that you're directly onto how unstable he is. anyway, on an unrelated note, ten and martha from hit tv show doctor who,

[hollow-head]

all i can think of is how they would've made him look like yosemite sam

[cuddlytogas]

So I accidentally almost got into an argument on Twitter, and now I'm thinking about bad historical costuming tropes. Specifically, Action Hero Leather Pants.

See, I was light-heartedly pointing out the inaccuracies of the costumes in Black Sails, and someone came out of the woodwork to defend the show. The misunderstanding was that they thought I was dismissing the show just for its costumes, which I wasn't - I was simply pointing out that it can't entirely care about material history (meaning specifically physical objects/culture) if it treats its clothes like that.

But this person was slightly offended on behalf of their show - especially, quote, "And from a fan of OFMD, no less!" Which got me thinking - it's true! I can abide a lot more historical costuming inaccuracy from Our Flag than I can Black Sails or Vikings. And I don't think it's just because one has my blorbos in it. But really, when it comes down to it...

What is the difference between this and this?

Here's the thing. Leather pants in period dramas isn't new. You've got your Vikings, Tudors, Outlander, Pirates of the Caribbean, Once Upon a Time, Will, The Musketeers, even Shakespeare in Love - they love to shove people in leather and call it a day. But where does this come from?

Obviously we have the modern connotations. Modern leather clothes developed in a few subcultures: cowboys drew on Native American clothing. (Allegedly. This is a little beyond my purview, I haven't seen any solid evidence, and it sounds like the kind of fact that people repeat a lot but is based on an assumption. I wouldn't know, though.) Leather was used in some WWI and II uniforms.

But the big boom came in the mid-C20th in motorcycle, punk/goth, and gay subcultures, all intertwined with each other and the above. Motorcyclists wear leather as practical protective gear, and it gets picked up by rock and punk artists as a symbol of counterculture, and transferred to movie designs. It gets wrapped up in gay and kink communities, with even more countercultural and taboo meanings. By the late C20th, leather has entered mainstream fashion, but it still carries those references to goths, punks, BDSM, and motorbike gangs, to James Dean, Marlon Brando, and Mick Jagger. This is whence we get our Spikes and Dave Listers in 1980s/90s media, bad boys and working-class punks.

And some of the above "historical" design choices clearly build on these meanings. William Shakespeare is dressed in a black leather doublet to evoke the swaggering bad boy artist heartthrob, probably down on his luck. So is Kit Marlowe.

But the associations get a little fuzzier after that. Hook, with his eyeliner and jewellery, sure. King Henry, yeah, I see it. It's hideously ahistorical, but sure. But what about Jamie and Will and Ragnar, in their browns and shabby, battle-ready chic? Well, here we get the other strain of Bad Period Drama Leather.

See, designers like to point to history, but it's just not true. Leather armour, especially in the western/European world, is very, very rare, and not just because it decays faster than metal. (Yes, even in ancient Greece/Rome, despite many articles claiming that as the start of the leather armour trend!) It simply wasn't used a lot, because it's frankly useless at defending the body compared to metal. Leather was used as a backing for some splint armour pieces, and for belts, sheathes, and buckles, but it simply wasn't worn like the costumes above. It's heavy, uncomfortable, and hard to repair - it's simply not practical for a garment when you have perfectly comfortable, insulating, and widely available linen, wool, and cotton!

As far as I can see, the real influence on leather in period dramas is fantasy. Fantasy media has proliferated the idea of leather armour as the lightweight choice for rangers, elves, and rogues, a natural, quiet, flexible material, less flashy or restrictive than metal. And it is cheaper for a costume department to make, and easier for an actor to wear on set. It's in Dungeons and Dragons and Lord of the Rings, King Arthur, Runescape, and World of Warcraft.

And I think this is how we get to characters like Ragnar and Vane. This idea of leather as practical gear and light armour, it's fantasy, but it has this lineage, behind which sits cowboy chaps and bomber/flight jackets. It's usually brown compared to the punk bad boy's black, less shiny, and more often piecemeal or decorated. In fact, there's a great distinction between the two Period Leather Modes within the same piece of media: Robin Hood (2006)! Compare the brooding, fascist-coded villain Guy of Gisborne with the shabby, bow-wielding, forest-dwelling Robin:

So, back to the original question: What's the difference between Charles Vane in Black Sails, and Edward Teach in Our Flag Means Death?

Simply put, it's intention. There is nothing intentional about Vane's leather in Black Sails. It's not the only leather in the show, and it only says what all shabby period leather says, relying on the same tropes as fantasy armour: he's a bad boy and a fighter in workaday leather, poor, flexible, and practical. None of these connotations are based in reality or history, and they've been done countless times before. It's boring design, neither historically accurate nor particularly creative, but much the same as all the other shabby chic fighters on our screens. He has a broad lineage in Lord of the Rings and Pirates of the Caribbean and such, but that's it.

In Our Flag, however, the lineage is much, much more intentional. Ed is a direct homage to Mad Max, the costuming in which is both practical (Max is an ex-cop and road warrior), and draws on punk and kink designs to evoke a counterculture gone mad to the point of social breakdown, exploiting the thrill of the taboo to frighten and titillate the audience.

In particular, Ed is styled after Max in the second movie, having lost his family, been badly injured, and watched the world turn into an apocalypse. He's a broken man, withdrawn, violent, and deliberately cutting himself off from others to avoid getting hurt again. The plot of Mad Max 2 is him learning to open up and help others, making himself vulnerable to more loss, but more human in the process.

This ties directly into the themes of Our Flag - it's a deliberate intertext. Ed's emotional journey is also one from isolation and pain to vulnerability, community, and love. Mad Max (intentionally and unintentionally) explores themes of masculinity, violence, and power, while Max has become simplified in the popular imagination as a stoic, badass action hero rather than the more complex character he is, struggling with loss and humanity. Similarly, Our Flag explores masculinity, both textually (Stede is trying to build a less abusive pirate culture) and metatextually (the show champions complex, banal, and tender masculinities, especially when we're used to only seeing pirates in either gritty action movies or childish comedies).

Our Flag also draws on the specific countercultures of motorcycles, rockers, and gay/BDSM culture in its design and themes. Naturally, in such a queer show, one can't help but make the connection between leather pirates and leather daddies, and the design certainly nods at this, with its vests and studs. I always think about this guy, with his flat cap so reminiscient of gay leather fashions.

More overtly, though, Blackbeard and his crew are styled as both violent gangsters and countercultural rockstars. They rove the seas like a bikie gang, free and violent, and are seen as icons, bad boys and celebrities. Other pirates revere Blackbeard and wish they could be on his crew, while civilians are awed by his reputation, desperate for juicy, gory details.

This isn't all of why I like the costuming in Our Flag Means Death (especially season 1). Stede's outfits are by no means accurate, but they're a lot more accurate than most pirate media, and they're bright and colourful, with accurate and delightful silks, lace, velvets, and brocades, and lovely, puffy skirts on his jackets. Many of the Revenge crew wear recognisable sailor's trousers, and practical but bright, varied gear that easily conveys personality and flair. There is a surprising dedication to little details, like changing Ed's trousers to fall-fronts for a historical feel, Izzy's puffy sleeves, the handmade fringe on Lucius's red jacket, or the increasing absurdity of navy uniform cuffs between Nigel and Chauncey.

A really big one is the fact that they don't shy away from historical footwear! In almost every example above, we see the period drama's obsession with putting men in skinny jeans and bucket-top boots, but not only does Stede wear his little red-heeled shoes with stockings, but most of his crew, and the ordinary people of Barbados, wear low boots or pumps, and even rough, masculine characters like Pete wear knee breeches and bright colours. It's inaccurate, but at least it's a new kind of inaccuracy, that builds much more on actual historical fashions, and eschews the shortcuts of other, grittier period dramas in favour of colour and personality.

But also. At least it fucking says something with its leather.

[supersaiyanjedi14]

Oh, come, all ye faithful,

Joyful and triumphant!

Oh come, ye, oh come ye

To Bethlehem!

Come and behold Him!

Born the King of Angels!

Oh come, let us adore Him,

Oh come, let us adore Him,

Oh Come Let Us Adore Him,

CHRIST THE LORD!

[indigovigilance]

How Aziraphale Responds to being Pinned to a Wall

Aziraphale trusts Crowley more than God, part 1/?

bonus:

[hualianschild]

oh they def had this conversation before

[pavlmescal]

PAUL MESCAL 29 January 2024