#Hollie Jay Bowes

[zayadriancas]

Degrassi, Riverdale & The Summer I Turned Pretty

Thank you!!! 💜💖

Degrassi:

1: Top 5 Episodes:

TNG: Mercy Street, Secret, Standing In The Dark, Live To Tell, & Voices Carry

Seasons 10-14: Zombie, Take A Bow, Boom Boom Pow, Unbelievable, & Purple Pills

Next Class: #Fire, #Obsessed, #KThxBye, #IRegretNothing, & #ImSleep

2: Bottom 5 Episodes:

TNG: Goin Down The Road, Got My Mind Set On You, The Power Of Love, Uptown Girl, & Keep On Loving You

Seasons 10-14: Spiderwebs, Honey, Summertime, Black or White, & Closer To Free

Next Class: #ThisCouldBeUsButYouPlayin, #ToMyFutureSelf, #CheckYourPrivilege, #SorryNotSorry, & #SquadGoals

3: Top 5 Characters

Male: Spinner, Drew, Zig, JT, & Jay

Female: Maya, Bianca, Darcy, Fiona, & Ellie

4: Bottom 5 Characters: (Only Counting Main Characters)

TNG: Peter Stone, Derek Haig, Declan Coyne, Leia Chang, & Blue Chessex

Seasons 10-14: Declan Coyne, Katie Matlin, Owen Milligan, Winnie Oh, & Winston Chu

5: Top 5 Romantic Ships:

Zaya, Drianca, Sparcy, Fimogen, & Semma

6: Bottom 5 Romantic Ships

TNG: Rick/Terri, Matt/Paige, Mick/Manny, Pia, & Ellie/Jesse

Seasons 10-14: Krew, Matlingsworth, Sav/Ms. Oh, Alli/Leo, & Fiona/Bobby

Next Class: Yunter, Hollingsong, Zig/Esme, Fronah, & Zoe/Winston

7: Top 5 Platonic Ships:

TNG: Ellie/Marco, Manny/Darcy, JT/Toby, Craig/Marco, Paige/Marco, & Spinner/Jay

Seasons 10-14: Fiona/Holly J, Drew/Dallas, Zig/Tiny, Maya/Grace, & Jake/Mo

Next Class: Maya/Grace, Zig/Tiny, Lola/Frankie, Frankie/Shay, & Lola/Yael

8: Bottom 5 Platonic Ships:

Derek/Danny, Yael/Baaz/Vijay/Hunter, Miles/Winston, Eli/Adam, & Jake/Eli

9: Season Ranking?

Season 4, Season 7, NC season 3, NC season 4, Season 12, Season 3, Season 10, Season 11, Season 2, Season 5, NC season 1, NC season 2, Season 8, Season 6, Season 14, Season 13, Season 9, Season 1

10: Character you relate to most? Maya, Esme, Fiona, Ellie, & Cam

11: Character that inspires you? Maya

12: Character you can’t understand? Peter, Hunter, Jonah, Vijay, Baaz, Winston, Next Class Seasons 1-2 Grace

13: Best Written Character? Spinner, Manny, Fiona, Holly J, & Maya

14: Worst Written Character? Peter, Declan, Katie, Seasons 13-14 Eli, NC Seasons 1&2 Grace, Jonah

15: Most Cliched Character? Declan

16: Most Unusual Character? IDK

17: Most inspired storyline? The shooting arc

18: Favorite Hero? Maya

19: Favorite villain? Vince

20: Best Person? JT & Maya

21: Most influential character? IDK

22: Most manipulative character? Esme

23: Best Performance in an episode? Ephraim Ellis in Time Stands Still, Demetrius Joyette in Bittersweet Symphony Part 2, Luke Bilyk in Young Forever, Olivia Scriven in #ImSleep, & Chelsea Clark in #Obsessed

24: Most Visually Stunning Episode: Paradise City, Degrassi Takes Manhattan, Don’t Look Back, & #Fire

25: Most impressive special effects? Idk

26: Character with the best aesthetics? Ellie, Fiona, Imogen, Maya, & Lola

27: Favorite song? Mr. Nice Guy, What I Know(Dust), Rescue You, The Great Escape, Maybe Love, Yes, & Last Exit

28: Best writer? Idk

29: Favorite theme: Seasons 3-5, Season 9-10, & Season 12

30: 5 words you associate with it? Addicting, compelling, relatable, intriguing, & emotional

Riverdale:

1: Top 5 episodes:

The Sweet Hereafter, The Lost Weekend, Return Of The Pussycats, Quiz Show, & Labor Day

2: Bottom 5 episodes: Wicked Little Town, Welcome to Rivervale, Tales of A Jugular Vein, Peep Show, & Dirty Dancing (honestly I felt like just saying the majority of season 7 lmao)

3: Top 5 characters: Cheryl, Veronica, Toni, Jughead, & Tabitha

4: Bottom 5 characters: Alice, Uncle Frank, Nick St. Clair, Percival Pickens, & Evelyn Evernever

5: Top 5 romantic ships:

Bughead, Varchie, Choni, Season 7 Beronica, & Archosie

6: Bottom 5 romantic ships:

B*rchie, F*lice, Hiram/Hermione, Kevin/Fangs, & Veronica/Chad

7: Top 5 platonic ships:

Cheronica, Toni/Veronica, Toni/Tabitha, Betty/Tabitha, & Seasons 1-6 Beronica (I ship all of these too though lol)

8: Bottom 5 platonic ships:

Alice/Betty, Kevin/Betty, Fangs/Sweet Pea, I came think of anymore honestly

9: Season Ranking

1, 4(before 4x17), 3, 2, 5, 6, 7

10: Character you relate to most? Betty

11: Character who inspires you? None of them

12: Character you can’t understand? Most of the parents tbh

13: Best written character: Honestly none of them after season 1

14: Worst written character? Most of them especially from season 5 onward

15: Most cliched character? Idk

16: Most unusual character? Percival

17: Most inspired storyline? Jason’s murder mystery

18: Favoriye hero? Veronica

19: Favorite villain? Hiram

20: Best person: Veronica

21: Most influential character: Idk

22: Most manipulative character: Hiram

23: Best performance in an episode: I’m not sure

24: Most visually stunning episode. Labor Day

25: Most impressive special effects: Idk

26: Character with the best aesthetics? Veronica & Cheryl

27: Favorite song? Kids in America & Mad World

28: Best writer? Someone from season 1

29: Favorite theme? N/A

30: 5 words you associate with? Ridiculous, entertaining, embarrassing, trainwreck, trash

The Summer I Turned Pretty:

1: Top 5 episodes:

Love Fool, Love Fest, Love Game, Love Affair, & Love Triangle

2: Bottom 5 episodes: Summer Dress, Summer Nights, Summer House, Summer Catch, & Love Scene

3: Top 5 characters: Conrad, Belly, Taylor, Steven, & Susannah

4: Bottom 5 characters: Skye, Aunt Julia, Milo, & Adam Fisher (I know that’s 4 but there are no other characters I dislike on this show)

5: Top 5 romantic ships: The only 2 I like are Belly/Conrad and Steven/Taylor

6: Bottom 5 romantic ships? Taylor/Milo, Conrad/Nicole, Skye/Cam, Belly/Cam, & Laurel/Cleveland

7: Top 5 platonic ships: Belly/Taylor, Steven/Conrad, Laurel/Susannah, Belly/Jeremiah(I know they’re also romantic, I just prefer them as friends), & Conrad/Cleveland

8: Bottom 5 platonic ships: N/A

9: Season ranking: 2, 1

10: Character you relate to most? Conrad solely for the anxiety/panic attack storyline

11: Character who inspires you? None of them

12: Character you can’t understand? None of them

13: Best written character: Belly & Conrad

14: Worst written character? None of them

15: Most cliched character? None of them

16: Most unusual character? N/A

17: Most inspired storyline? N/A

18: Favorite hero? N/A

19: Favorite villain? N/A

20: Best person: Susannah

21: Most influential character: N/A

22: Most manipulative character: N/A

23: Best performance in an episode: Lola Tung in any episode Belly has an emotional moment, she’s great at making your heart break for her

24: Most visually stunning episode: Most of them are

25: Most impressive special effects: N/A

26: Character with the best aesthetics? N/A

27: Favorite song? This show plays Taylor Swift in so many episodes lol so any time one of her songs is used

28: Best writer? Idk

29: favorite theme? N/A

30: 5 words you associate with? Addicting, compelling, fun, summer, & entertaining

[iamghostwriter]

The RUN DMC ReAction Figure Holiday 3-pack is here to deliver some of that holiday spirit from Hollis, Queens straight into your collection! Inspired by their hit song Christmas in Hollis, this festive box set features 3.75” scale figures of Joseph Simmons, Darryl McDaniels, and Jam Master Jay sporting tracksuits, Santa hats, and gold chains, with two microphones with gift bows, a sack of cash, Santa’s wallet, and an “ill reindeer” figure. Celebrate the season in the company of Hip-Hop royalty with the RUN DMC ReAction Figure Holiday 3-Pack! Accessories 2 microphones with gift bows Sack of cash Santa's wallet ill reindeer @super7 #igcomicfam #igcomics #igcomicfamily #igcomiccartel #igcomicscommunity #igcomiccollector #illreindeer #rundmc #hiphop #hiphoplegends #christmasinhollis #igcomicbookfamily #cash # #panelalchemist #readmorecomics #readmore #supportindiecomics #supportindiecreators #supportlocalartists #supportindieauthors #createimproverepeat #3pack #super7 https://www.instagram.com/p/CmCh-0FPdPf/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[taiblogcomics]

Taking the "Fun" Back Out of Funeral

Hey there, knit caps. Are ya ready for some more dang-ass Countdown? Lemme tell ya, as bad as this comic is, at least it won't scare someone's dog or set off someone's PTSD, unlike other things you could be doing tonight~

Here's the cover:

Okay, the costumes I understand, secret identities are a thing, even among the cape crowd themselves. But, like, Mia, did you have to bring your bow to the funeral? Like, unless you and the other archer heroes are doing some variety of 21 gun salute, you coulda left it in the car or at home or whatever. Or even just put it over your shoulder, it doesn't need to be in your hand right now. Like, everything else about this cover is pretty good, it's moody, it's framed well. But Speedy having her bow out just strikes me as so dumb in, I dunno. Did they think we wouldn't recognise her without it? Is Mia Dearden the DC equivalent of Tony Hawk~?

So, the recap. Former Teen Titan Duela Dent is murdered by a Monitor, and former Titans Donna Troy and Jason Todd are investigating it. Future Titans auditionee Jimmy Olsen is developing superpowers. Mary Marvel, related to Titans member Captain Marvel Jr, also got new superpowers. Holly Robinson, no relation to the Titans, is in an Amazon women's shelter. Karate Kid, who knows someone from Saturn's moon Titan, is in the past for mysterious reasons. And Trickster and Pied Piper, participants in murder of Teen Titans member Kid Flash, are on the run. We join our heroes at Kid Flash's funeral, already in progress.

So we open with Jimmy Olsen narrating about Keystone City and how much they love the Flash. Like, Metropolis is very fond of Superman, and the relationship between Batman and Gotham is contentious at best (and toxic at worst). But Keystone flipping loves the Flash. There's a whole Flash Museum, if you didn't know. But it's closed today, in favour of all the Flash-themed bars. Because their beloved hero has died. It's only, like, the third time this has happened! You'd think they'd be used to this after Wally, if not Barry. Just saying, this happens to the Flash a lot.

Jimmy's here in a role of official photographer, and he's not having a great time at this, the funeral for a fun-loving aged-up kid. Anyway, Jay Garrick, the golden-age Flash (too often the last Flash left), starts the proceedings. He introduces everyone to Bart Allen's secret identity, since he figures everyone deserves to know the name of the guy who was protecting their fair city. Bart, in case you didn't know or couldn't tell, is also the grandson of Barry Allen, who's still referred to as the Greatest Flash Ever. Geez, and they haven't even resurrected him yet. Give it a year, guys~

So while Jay continues eulogising, we cut over to Jason Todd, Donna Troy, and their Monitor pal. He thinks this is a waste of their time, and I hate to tell you, pal, but this whole series is a waste of time. This might be one of the better issues, in fact. And while he thinks this is a waste of time, Jason thinks his whole proposal to run off and start another tie-in miniseries to go searching the multiverse for Ray Palmer is also a waste of time. Donna tells them both to shut up, since she was actually a Teen Titan herself and wants to pay respects to Bart.

Cyborg comes up to eulogise next, and really, I invite you to read these yourself. Coz it's just a lot of nice things being said about Bart, who was always one of my favourite characters. Whether in his solo series or in Young Justice as Impulse, or in the Teen Titans as Kid Flash. Even the 13 issues they let him be the Flash to lead up to this were… Well, something, to be sure. Anyways, after Cyborg is Wonder Girl/Cassie Sandsmark, and she takes an unusual tack during her eulogy by vowing Bart's murderers will rot in hell. I tell you, no one vowed someone would rot in hell and my grandma's funeral.

So this declaration gets a couple folks in the crowd spooked. In the stupidest possible decision, Pied Piper and Trickster are actually in attendance at the funeral. Guilt, I guess! After Cassie's big rant, the pair of them leave in a hurry, figuring it was dumb to even come. Best they can do is hope some world-ending event makes everyone forget about this. And, I mean, technically that is what happened! After Final Crisis happened, everyone immediately forgot about Countdown--including the writers, even though this series was meant to be leading up to that one~

Piper and Trickster make their exit, but not cleanly enough. Once out in the parking lot, before the pair can go their separate ways, they're ambushed. But not by any of the heroes attending the funeral, including Jay Garrick, who distinctly shoots them a dirty look as they hastily exit. No, who shows up to stop them is C-list Firestorm foe Multiplex. Given his other associate, Deadshot, I'm guessing he was a member of the Suicide Squad at the time. The pair of them take out Trickster and Piper, with Deadshot declaring them to be the dumbest criminals he's ever seen. Yeah, no arguments from me, pal.

We eat up a couple pages still talking about Monarch and Forerunner, who need to move onto their own spinoff where we can really not care about them. Then we join Holly Robinson in her storyline. Athena shows her the amenities, which Holly makes snarky remarks about, but helps herself to regardless. Later on, while she's relaxing in one of those single-seater spa pools, another girl brings her some tea. She tries to shoot the breeze, but Holly blows her off, not interested in building comraderie through shared trauma. But then the other girl remembers to introduce herself. Her name's Harleen Quinzel. Yeah, she's in this too~

Back at the Flash Funeral, we've got Tim Drake giving a eulogy now. I wouldn't want to be the one following Cassie's "rot in hell" speech, but here we are. I kid, but this must really suck for Tim, coz Connor Kent/Superboy just died back in Infinite Crisis, and now he's the only original Young Justice member left. In fact, speaking of, he recalls "the last time it was this bad", a day when something bad happened to Donna. And if you know anything about DC Comics, especially Titans storylines, he's talking about Graduation Day, a comic only better than this series because it was shorter.

Anyways, right around the time the 2003 Titans started up, Bart had just heard of video wills. He had one made eventually, and the Titans have agreed that the whole people of Keystone deserve to see it. In the video, Bart's just recovered from being shot by Deathstroke, which was the first time he'd ever really confronted his mortality, and was the genesis for advancing his identity from Impulse to Kid Flash. And he's also reflecting on the Graduation Day incident. So he's ready to give this Titans thing his most serious try. And he'll be lucky if he goes out even half as cool as his grandpa Barry. Alas, Bart, you were not so lucky.

So while the video will is playing, Jimmy notices something odd about up in the rafters and goes to take a look. But Jason, Donna, and their Monitor fly away before he can get up the fire escape. Jimmy resolves to try and be a hero like Bart, now that he has powers. Meanwhile, the reason why they flew off so quickly is that both Jason and somehow the Monitor are being immature jackasses to each other, so Donna flew them away to straighten them out. Get ready for this to continue to be a recurring theme. So they resolve to finally go looking for Ray Palmer, who will solve all their problems for sure. And the comic ends on another page of Monarch and Forerunner that I just don't care about. Go be in your own spinoff already! I know you have one!

I'll be honest, this is actually one of the better issues of Countdown. Which is sad, because it's still dead depressing. Like, the main parts are well-written, and the sucky bits are all the things that tie it to the greater story of Countdown (Holly Robinson, Jason and Donna, Monarch). But I still think it sucks that they killed off Bart Allen for this storyline. (Both Bart and Superboy would return in the aftermath of Final Crisis, so they didn't even stay dead that long.) Like, if I haven't ranted to you enough already in stuff like Heroes in Crisis about how often DC loves to kill off members of the Teen TItans, here's another reminder. What a load.

And you know what, even though he didn't technically die in this series, I'm putting Bart on the list with Duela, Lightray, and Sleez, because his death was the direct result of Countdown and its plotlines. His funeral's in this series, so it's as good as.

[polhpie]

Beyonce flawless

BEYONCE FLAWLESS UPGRADE

BEYONCE FLAWLESS FULL

Nicki Minaj: Dum-da-de-da, Do do do do do do, (Coming down dripping candy on the.

BEYONCE FLAWLESS FULL

The clip was first seen in HBO's 'Beyonce and Jay Z On the Run,' which became available on Sept. Full and accurate LYRICS for Flawless Remix from Beyonc feat. Now, Bey released a new video of the live collaboration, which initially garnered attention in September. Available in a range of colours and styles for men, women. That's how Beyonce introduced her performance of 'Flawless (Remix)' featuring Nicki Minaj during On the Run tour's stop in Paris. The high point of the bombshell unveiled at the stroke of US east coast midnight comes from Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie– who spits a verse (sampled) on Beyoncé's ladies power anthem " Flawless." The rework of screwed and somewhat chopped Hit-Boy-produced crown adjustment " Bow Down" pairs the two titans of girl power together on the trappiest call to universal feminist action yet made. Said sampling comes from Adichie's follow-up to her massively important 2009 pillar of the TED community, a speech delivered at Ted圎uston which asks audiences to dismiss the notion of feminism being inherently "unAfrican." The newly crowned TED Talk heard round the world, " We should all be feminists" explores how Adichie transitioned from "feminist" to “happy African feminist who does not hate men, and who likes lip gloss, and who wears high heels for herself but not for men.” In between the bowing, take a break to watch the speech that inspired the coming wave of flawless mornings. Shop high-quality unique Beyonce Flawless T-Shirts designed and sold by independent artists. Beyoncé’s sophomore album B’Day was released on. Knowles a scris piesa cu Rashad Muhammad, Terius Nash, Chauncey Hollis i Raymond DeAndre Martin, cu producia de Hollis, Knowles, Martin, Muhammad i Boots.

BEYONCE FLAWLESS UPGRADE

Starting off the album from high-energy songs like Déjà Vu Get Me Bodied and Upgrade You to belt-heavy tracks such as Resentment and Listen, Beyoncé refuses to rest on this album. Flawless (stilizat ca Flawless ) este o melodie înregistrat de cântreaa american Beyoncé de pe al cincilea album de studio auto-intitulat (2013). Alas a media blitz is upon us courtesy of Queen Bey's utter reinvention of the album. Beyonc appears to have referenced her sister Solanges infamous lift attack on Jay Z, in a remix of her track, Flawless. B’Day (2006) One song into this album and you will already be sweating. 66,691,694 views 615K Dislike Share Save Beyonc 25M subscribers Available now 'Beyonc' The Visual Album 14 Songs 17 videos Music video by Beyonc.

[jackbatchelor3]

Throwback Thursday: Dennis Savage's First Scene

[mallowstep]

It doesn't seem to take long for Leafstar to hear that one of the cats Violetpaw and Twigpaw had ran off and rescued was the youngest kit of Mistystar, and Leafstar quickly let's the riverclan leader know that Reedwhisker is alive. It..unfortunately has the side-effect of all of Riverclan following Leafstar back to Thunderclan camp, the riverclanners spreading out in the quarry and making nests.

Leafstar winces a bit at how bluntly Mistystar informs Bramblestar that riverclan is staying with Thunderclan for now, and that she and her older kits would like to see her son and the-- a yowl of happiness interrupts the riverclan leader, and all three leaders turn to see Frogheart, and Hawkfrost lightly crushing a slightly smaller male. A squished face pops out from underneath the two warriors, and look up pathetically at Mistystar.

"Mooom! Hawk and Frog are squishing me!" Reedwhisker calls, and Mistystar bounds down the high ledge, calling for Mothwing. She pulls Reedwhisker up and looks him over, her heart Sinking at her son's ribs poking out from his pelt, his once strong frame gone thanks due to the starvation. Mistystar notices that Hawkfrost and Frogheart have noticed Reedwhisker's thin frame too, as both toms turn to leave camp, promising to bring back enough trout for Reedwhisker to have his pick over.

She begins to groom her kit, ignoring Reed's sighs. "I'm glad you're safe, Reed. Feather has been extremely worried." *she meows between licks, counting each wound she found on her kits pelt silently.* "Leafpool didn't put Marigold on your scratches, did she?" She asked him, wanting to hear him talk.

"No, Mom. Every medicine cat knows I have a reaction when Marigold is put on my wounds and it makes them fester. She used a mix of dock and something else." He informs her, and Mistystar feels the stone she's been carrying slowly drop. "I need to finish with Bramblestar and Leafstar, but Feathertail should be helping Stormheart with his kits, if you wish to join them after Mothwing looks you over."

"Aww, Mom, Leafpool just--"

"Reed, for me, please."

"Yes Mom." He meows, bowing his head at his older sister as Mistystar heads back to Leafstar and Bramblestar.

"Do not hide my son from me again, Bramblestar." She meows coldly at the Thunderclan leader, tail tip twitching.

dfsalk i again have no memory of avos but mistystar gets to thunderclan before reedwhisker, right? they get kicked out? god it's not important i just have no memory of avos and am legitimately asking bc i don't remember how it plays out.

aaaaanyway. on topic.

mistystar is Very Happy reedwhisker is back and safe again. he is immediately crushed by half of riverclan. stonefur (local uncle and father figure), feathertail and stormheart (local big siblings), mothwing and frogheart and hawkfrost (local effectively-cousins-but-technically-niblings), and like. probably others. don't know who lives in po3/oots but at least one of holly, jay, and lion is there.

and just like -- mistystar is elated to have reedwhisker back but as she watches him just be mobbed by his family and. you know. she's -- happy they're all here and together and despite Everything. and then she immediately wades thru the mass like. "okay cool everyone he's my son and i'm taking him."

and of course she can't really keep him because leaders need to lead but. she goes to talk with bramblestar and leafstar and she looks over her shoulder. feathertail and reedwhisker are laying together, mothwing is looking over his injuries, stonefur is keeping stormheart's kits entertained and not tacking reedwhisker while mothwing is trying to treat him and. that's her family.

and when time passes and onestar makes his announcement

(Mistystar looks back at her family. Feathertail is standing between Brook and Stormheart, braced by them and muttering something Mistystar can't hear. Stonefur and Reedwhisker sit together, with guarded expressions, but they both glance at her.

Mistystar knows what it means to give up kits. She gave up three. But she looks at Hawkfrost, who has been designated current favourite by Stormheart's kits, and has slumped in defeat as they tumble over him. She looks at where Mothwing and Frogheart sit together, laughing at their brother despite everything going on.

She gave them up because she wasn't ready to love them, not as their mother. It was a hard and easy decision, but she watched them grow from a distance, watched them run to Feathertail when they hurt themselves or had bad dreams, watched them grow into the cats they are now -- cats anyone would be proud of.

Onestar said he had no choice, but there was always a choice. His kit did not have to be raised in anger. Bring him to WindClan, send him back to the twoleg place, none of that matters. What matters is that he rejected him, not because he had no choice, not because he could not be a father, but because he was afraid.

The simmering anger in Mistystar threatens to explode.)

good stuff

[lgbtmyq]

Name Ideas ; List One (A-J + Double First Names)

FIRST, A Note: I’ve realized that these names can also help with writing; example, you’re making character (or in my case, using character from a fandom but need to name their kid), but don’t have a name? Here’s some help!

In short, the name ideas are going to be reposted on either my main or fic-rec blogs...or both. Not that it has anything to do with posting name help...

NEXT, A Guide: So these are male, female, gender neutral, basically just names. I’ve included “multi-first names”, example; in one of my fics, I named a child “William Claud / Will Claud”. Boom, double first namer.

Okay, uh, To the names I guess?!

Two first names, not alphabetized ;

Jonathan James (JJ)

Jamie Daniel (JD)

Devon Jack (DJ)

Spencer Lane

old name choice of mine, I’m excited but tbh it has nothing to do with your choice... continue 😅

Tyla Jane (TJ)

Tyler/Taylor Jayden (TJ)

Kaleb Dexter (KD)

Jacob Thomas (JT)

Kieran Drew (KD)

Parker Gray

Oliver Jay (O-Jay/OJ...lol)

Alex Emerson

Jack William (Jack Will)

Spencer Thomas

Tommi/Tommy Joel

Avery Jones (AJ)

Bree Anne/Ann 

Or / Really any two names you think sound good together. AND while I added things like “AJ” and “JT” at the end for abbreviations or whatever, the nickname / shortened name doesn’t have to be two letters. Example, Spencer Lane and Jack Will!

Single First-Names

A:

Avery / Avary / Avry

Alexander/Alexandria

Ashton

Asher

Axel / Axl

Atticus

Allie / Alli / Ally

Amy

Ava

Athalia / Athelia / Aethalia / Athaliah

Aaron / Aron (or, previously -in my other list- Arin)

Adamaris

AJ

Adam

Ann / Anne

Alvin

Avon

B:

Beck

Becah / Beckah / Bekah

Becky

Beverly

Bree / Brea

Bianca

Bryan

Brayden

Bryn

Birdie / Birdy

Ben

Benjamin

Bryce

Bryson

Bowe

Bowie

C:

Calix

Cay

Cayson

Cam

Cami

Cameron

Cora / Coran

Cassidy

Cassandra

Cleo

Calli

Coraline / Caroline

Catie / Cady ...

Caidence / Caydence

D:

Danny / Danni

Daniel 

Danielle

Darin / Daren

Dally

Dolly

Dexter

Deacon

Dee

Diane

Dori / Dory

Dorian

Daya

Delanie

Deb

Debby / Debbie

Debora / Debra / Deborah

Dia

Dwayne

Dwight

Dune

Dorthy / Dorthey

E:

Emmy

Emma

Everette

Evan

Eddie / Eddy

Ed

Edward

Ellie

Everly

Eve

Eva

Elle / El

Ella

F:

Farkus / Farkes / Farkas

either take me seriously, or don’t

I meant it as a joke, but who knows*

Faith

Florence

Fredrick

Fred

Freddy / Freddie

Fern gully

Freya / Fraya (?)

Faya

Farkle*

Fi

Fiona

Fibi / Febe

Forest

G:

Grayson / Greyson

Gibi

Gia

Gen

Gibson

Gibby

Greg

George

Georgie

Gem

Glimmer

Gemma

Genna

Grace

Gracie

Gwen

H:

Helen

Helena

Harry

Henry

Henrietta

Hally

Holly

Hazel

Harriet

Hope

I:

Ian

Ilia

Iliana / Iliana

Italia

Ira

Ila

Ita

Iwan

J:

Jamie

Jones

Jonesie

Jack

Jackson

John

Johnathan / Jonathan

Jill

Jessabelle / Jezabelle

Joseph

Jordan

Jaiden / Jayden

Julia

Jules

Jade

Jimmy

Jim

Jamerson

Jane

Jayson / Jason

Joy

Joyce

Jennie / Jenny

Jen

Jennifer

Julian

Jemma

[mysticalhearth]

Six

Six - Broadway - February, 2020 (Preview) (StarCuffedJeans's master) FORMAT:  MP4 (HD) CAST: Adrianna Hicks (Catherine of Aragon), Andrea Macasaet (Anne Boleyn), Abby Mueller (Jane Seymour), Brittney Mack (Anna of Cleves), Samantha Pauly (Katherine Howard), Anna Uzele (Catherine Parr) NOTES: First Preview! Recorded from orchestra. Six - Broadway - February, 2020 (2) (Preview) (StarCuffedJeans's master) FORMAT:  MP4 (HD) CAST: Adrianna Hicks (Catherine of Aragon), Andrea Macasaet (Anne Boleyn), Abby Mueller (Jane Seymour), Brittney Mack (Anna of Cleves), Samantha Pauly (Katherine Howard), Anna Uzele (Catherine Parr) NOTES: Recorded from the left mezzanine. Six - Broadway - February, 2020 (3) (Preview) (StarCuffedJeans's master) FORMAT:  MP4 (HD) CAST: Adrianna Hicks (Catherine of Aragon), Andrea Macasaet (Anne Boleyn), Abby Mueller (Jane Seymour), Brittney Mack (Anna of Cleves), Samantha Pauly (Katherine Howard), Anna Uzele (Catherine Parr) NOTES: Recorded from the right mezzanine. Six - Cambridge University - July 31, 2017 (Preview) (Highlights) FORMAT:  MP4 (HD)| Gifted: Upon Request CAST: Megan Gilbert (Catherine of Aragon), Ashleigh Weir (Anne Boleyn), Holly Musgrave (Jane Seymour), Tilda Wickham (Anna of Cleves), Annabel Marlow (Katherine Howard), Shimali de Silva (Catherine Parr) NOTES: First and only Cambridge (ADC Theatre) preview. House-Cam video of part of Don't Lose Your Head from an audience reaction video, Bows (MP4 (HD)) and 30 seconds of a Soundboard audio of Ex Wives, also from an audience reaction. (WAV (untracked)). To be gifted upon request. Six - First UK Tour - September, 2018 (Preview) (hitmewithyourbethshot's master) FORMAT:  MP4 (HD) CAST: Jarnéia Richard-Noel (Catherine of Aragon), Millie O’Connell (Anne Boleyn), Natalie Paris (Jane Seymour), Alexia McIntosh (Anna of Cleves), Aimie Atkinson (Katherine Howard), Maiya Quansah-Breed (Catherine Parr) NOTES: A safety rail obstructs much of the screen, but the camera is steady and what is seen is fantastic. The master has asked that the date for this video is kept vague, so please stop making the encora admins work so much and just keep this as September, 2018 please. The first six video. Six - Norwegian Bliss - September 4, 2019 (Preview) (House-Cam's master) FORMAT:  MP4 (HD) CAST: Candace Furbert (Catherine of Aragon), Hazel Karooma-Brooker (Anne Boleyn), Bryony Duncan (s/w Anne Boleyn), Caitlin Tipping (Jane Seymour), Sophie Golden (Anna of Cleves), Alicia Corrales-Connor (Katherine Howard), Viquichele Cross (Catherine Parr) NOTES: Video ends mid-way through "Six". It's a bit grainy and there is minimal spotlight washout but definitely watchable. Audio is perfectly clear. From the first tech run through, with no audience. Hazel had lost her voice, so she did the choreography while the audio was provided by Bryony Duncan backstage. The cast is amazing and at the top of their game. In 2 MP4 files (7.91 GB/1:06:54). Six - Norwegian Breakaway - February 18, 2020 (Highlights) (onlyrowdphotography's master) FORMAT:  MP4 (HD)|| Gifted: Upon Request CAST: Jasmine Shen (Catherine of Aragon), Kelly Sweeney (Anne Boleyn), Amy Bridges (Jane Seymour), Liv Alexander (s/w Anna of Cleves), Elizabeth Walker (s/w Katherine Howard), Amelia Walker (Catherine Parr) NOTES: Clips of the Breakaway production with Olivia on for Cleves and Elizabeth on for Howard. Some copies include 3 clips of Get Down, but their shaky and the master talks over them. 2 clips of Ex-Wives, 1 clip each of Don't Lose Your Head, Haus of Holbein, I Don't Need Your Love, All You Wanna Do, Six and the Megasix. Originally posted on Instagram and gifted upon request. Six - Pre-Broadway Tour - May 31, 2019 (Highlights) (FetchHappened's master) FORMAT:  MOV (HD) CAST: Adrianna Hicks (Catherine of Aragon), Andrea Macasaet (Anne Boleyn), Abby Mueller (Jane Seymour), Brittney Mack (Anna of Cleves), Samantha Pauly (Katherine Howard), Anna Uzele (Catherine Parr) NOTES: Highlights include: Ex-Wives, All You Wanna Do, and I Don't Need Your Love Six - Pre-Broadway Tour - August 21, 2019 (Preview) (redladydeath's master) FORMAT:  MP4 (HD) CAST: Adrianna Hicks (Catherine of Aragon), Andrea Macasaet (Anne Boleyn), Abby Mueller (Jane Seymour), Brittney Mack (Anna of Cleves), Courtney Mack (Katherine Howard), Anna Uzele (Catherine Parr) Six - Pre-Broadway Tour - November 30, 2019 (Opening Night) (myroadofgoodintentions's master) FORMAT:  MP4 (HD) CAST: Adrianna Hicks (Catherine of Aragon), Andrea Macasaet (Anne Boleyn), Mallory Maedke (t/r Jane Seymour), Nicole Kyoung-Mi Lambert (s/b Anna of Cleves), Samantha Pauly (Katherine Howard), Anna Uzele (Catherine Parr) NOTES: Shot with a high quality camera; a mix of wides and zooms. There are some minor obstructions to the bottom left of the screen up through Don't Lose Ur Head. Some adjustments to set up were made at this time and the rest of the show was very clear and crisp, some minor jerkiness from following the action. Starts from the beginning of the show and goes through the Mega Six without disruption. Six - Pre-Broadway Tour - December 1, 2019 (myroadofgoodintentions's master) FORMAT:  MP4 (HD) CAST: Adrianna Hicks (Catherine of Aragon), Andrea Macasaet (Anne Boleyn), Mallory Maedke (t/r Jane Seymour), Nicole Kyoung-Mi Lambert (s/b Anna of Cleves), Samantha Pauly (Katherine Howard), Anna Uzele (Catherine Parr) NOTES: Video starts in the middle of Ex-Wives (but still includes all their introductions!) due to neglect of hitting the record button. It was shot with a no-fear attitude and it shows--they action is followed for the almost the entirety of the show and there are zooms of each queen during her song. The camera loved this show and there is very little to no washout. There is occasional obstruction from a bar across the bottom that couldn't be shot around, but it doesn't block the action. There was some obstruction from heads during the MegaSix. Six - Pre-Broadway Tour - December, 2019 (musicals-musicals's master) FORMAT:  MP4 (HD) CAST: Adrianna Hicks (Catherine of Aragon), Andrea Macasaet (Anne Boleyn), Mallory Maedke (t/r Jane Seymour), Nicole Kyoung-Mi Lambert (s/b Anna of Cleves), Samantha Pauly (Katherine Howard), Anna Uzele (Catherine Parr) NOTES: St. Paul. A mostly unobstructed video taken from left orchestra. Plenty of zooms, and the action is captured well. The quality is a bit grainy, and there is some washout as it was filmed on a phone. There are two videos; the second video includes the Mega-Six. Limited Trade 2:1 Six - Second UK Tour - November 26, 2019 (Highlights) FORMAT:  MP4 (HD)| Gifted: Upon Request CAST: Lauren Drew (Catherine of Aragon), Maddison Bulleyment (Anne Boleyn), Lauren Byrne (Jane Seymour), Shekinah McFarlane (Anna of Cleves), Jennifer Caldwell (alt Katherine Howard), Athena Collins (Catherine Parr) NOTES: Highlights originally posted on Youtube including Haus of Holbein, All You Wanna Do, I Don't Need Your Love and Six and the Megasix. To be gifted on request. Six - Second UK Tour - January 11, 2020 (Closing Night) (Highlights) FORMAT:  MOV (HD) CAST: Lauren Drew (Catherine of Aragon), Harriet Watson (alt Anne Boleyn), Lauren Byrne (Jane Seymour), Shekinah McFarlane (Anna of Cleves), Jodie Steele (Katherine Howard), Athena Collins (Catherine Parr) NOTES: Closing night in Salford! Highlights of all the songs. Some of the dialogue. Interruption during AYWD making the Queens go off stage Six - Second UK Tour - February, 2020 (hitmewithyourbethshot's master) FORMAT:  MTS CAST: Cassandra Lee (alt Catherine of Aragon), Jennifer Caldwell (alt Anne Boleyn), Lauren Byrne (Jane Seymour), Shekinah McFarlane (Anna of Cleves), Jodie Steele (Katherine Howard), Athena Collins (Catherine Parr) NOTES: MTS, includes finale Megasix (MOV) Six - Second UK Tour - November, 2019 (hitmewithyourbethshot's master) FORMAT:  MP4 (HD) |  TRADER'S NOTES: Highlights CAST: Lauren Drew (Catherine of Aragon), Maddison Bulleyment (Anne Boleyn), Lauren Byrne (Jane Seymour), Shekinah McFarlane (Anna of Cleves), Jodie Steele (Katherine Howard), Athena Collins (Catherine Parr) NOTES: Good quality capture overall, shot around heads and circle overhang, includes finale Megasix  

Six - Second UK Tour - November, 2019 (2) (queenofthedead's master) FORMAT:  MP4 (HD) CAST: Lauren Drew (Catherine of Aragon), Maddison Bulleyment (Anne Boleyn), Harriet Watson (alt Jane Seymour), Cassandra Lee (alt Anna of Cleves), Jodie Steele (Katherine Howard), Athena Collins (Catherine Parr) NOTES: The focus and exposure aren’t brilliant and video often wanders upwards but is never obstructed by heads. Maddison forgets some lines in DLYH and delivers the wrong one. Six - West End - April, 2019 (hitmewithyourbethshot's master) FORMAT:  MP4 (HD) CAST: Grace Mouat (alt Catherine of Aragon), Millie O’Connell (Anne Boleyn), Courtney Stapleton (alt Jane Seymour), Alexia McIntosh (Anna of Cleves), Aimie Atkinson (Katherine Howard), Maiya Quansah-Breed (Catherine Parr) NOTES: What is captured is good quality, but it is quite obstructed. The camera aimed high, a few drop outs and there is a safety rail/lighting rail in the way. Includes finale Megasix (MOV). Six - West End - December, 2019 (hitmewithyourbethshot's master) FORMAT:  MTS CAST: Jarnéia Richard-Noel (Catherine of Aragon), Cherelle Jay (alt Anne Boleyn), Natalie Paris (Jane Seymour), Collette Guitart (u/s Anna of Cleves), Hana Stewart (alt Katherine Howard), Danielle Steers (Catherine Parr) NOTES: MTS, shot around heads, includes finale Megasix (MOV). Six - West End - January, 2020 (hitmewithyourbethshot's master) FORMAT:  MTS CAST: Jarnéia Richard-Noel (Catherine of Aragon), Courtney Bowman (Anne Boleyn), Hana Stewart (alt Jane Seymour), Cherelle Jay (alt Anna of Cleves), Zara MacIntosh (alt Katherine Howard), Collette Guitart (u/s Catherine Parr) NOTES: MTS, obstructed view, includes finale Megasix (MOV) Six - West End - March, 2019 (hitmewithyourbethshot's master) FORMAT:  MP4 (HD) CAST: Jarnéia Richard-Noel (Catherine of Aragon), Millie O’Connell (Anne Boleyn), Natalie Paris (Jane Seymour), Vicki Manser (alt Anna of Cleves), Aimie Atkinson (Katherine Howard), Courtney Stapleton (alt Catherine Parr) NOTES: Obstructed view, shot around heads. Includes finale Megasix (MOV) Six - West End - March, 2020 (Highlights) (hitmewithyourbethshot's master) FORMAT:  MTS CAST: Jarnéia Richard-Noel (Catherine of Aragon), Courtney Bowman (Anne Boleyn), Collette Guitart (u/s Jane Seymour), Alexia McIntosh (Anna of Cleves), Sophie Isaacs (Katherine Howard), Hana Stewart (alt Catherine Parr) NOTES: MTS, shot around heads, up to All You Wanna Do. Includes full audio (M4A) and finale Megasix (MOV).  

Six - West End - October, 2019 (hitmewithyourbethshot's master)

FORMAT:  MTS

CAST: Jarnéia Richard-Noel (Catherine of Aragon), Cherelle Jay (alt Anne Boleyn),Hana Stewart (alt Jane Seymour), Alexia McIntosh (Anna of Cleves), Vicki Manser (Katherine Howard), Danielle Steers (Catherine Parr)

NOTES: MTS, shot around heads

Six - West End - September, 2019 (hitmewithyourbethshot's master)

FORMAT:  MTS

CAST: Collette Guitart (u/s Catherine of Aragon), Millie O’Connell (Anne Boleyn), Natalie Paris (Jane Seymour), Shekinah McFarlane (alt Anna of Cleves), Vicki Manser (alt Katherine Howard), Maiya Quansah-Breed (Catherine Parr)

NOTES: MTS, safety barrier obstructs view, includes finale Megasix (MPG).

[blackkudos]

Johnny Guitar Watson

John Watson Jr. (February 3, 1935 – May 17, 1996), known professionally as Johnny "Guitar" Watson, was an American blues, soul, and funk musician and singer-songwriter. A flamboyant showman and electric guitarist in the style of T-Bone Walker, Watson recorded throughout the 1950s and 1960s with some success. His creative reinvention in the 1970s with funk overtones, saw Watson have hits with "Ain't That a Bitch" and "Superman Lover". His successful recording career spanned forty years, with his highest chart appearance being the 1977 song "A Real Mother For Ya".

Early life

Watson was born in Houston, Texas. His father John Sr. was a pianist, and taught his son the instrument. But young Watson was immediately attracted to the sound of the guitar, in particular the electric guitar as played by T-Bone Walker and Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown.

His grandfather, a preacher, was also musical. "My grandfather used to sing while he'd play guitar in church, man," Watson reflected many years later. When Johnny was 11, his grandfather offered to give him a guitar if, and only if, the boy didn't play any of the "devil's music". His parents separated in 1950, when he was 15. His mother moved to Los Angeles, and took Watson with her.

Early career

In his new city, Watson won several local talent shows. This led to his employment, while still a teenager, with jump blues-style bands such as Chuck Higgins's Mellotones and Amos Milburn. He worked as a vocalist, pianist, and guitarist. He quickly made a name for himself in the African-American juke joints of the West Coast, where he first recorded for Federal Records in 1952. He was billed as Young John Watson until 1954. That year, he saw the Joan Crawford film Johnny Guitar, and a new stage name was born.

In 1953, Shorty Rogers had Watson as part of his Orchestra perform for the famed ninth Cavalcade of Jazz concert held at Wrigley Field in Los Angeles which was produced by Leon Hefflin, Sr. on June 7. Also featured that day were Roy Brown and his Orchestra, Don Tosti and His Mexican Jazzmen, Earl Bostic, Nat "King" Cole, and Louis Armstrong and his All Stars with Velma Middleton.

Watson affected a swaggering, yet humorous personality, indulging a taste for flashy clothes and wild showmanship on stage. His "attacking" style of playing, without a plectrum, resulted in him often needing to change the strings on his guitar once or twice a show, because he "stressified on them" so much, as he put it.Watson's ferocious "Space Guitar" single of 1954 pioneered guitar feedback and reverb. Watson would later influence a subsequent generation of guitarists. His song "Gangster of Love" was first released on Keen Records in 1957. It did not appear in the charts at the time, but was later re-recorded and became a hit in 1978, becoming Watson's "most famous song".

He toured and recorded with his friend Larry Williams, as well as Little Richard, Don and Dewey, The Olympics, Johnny Otis and, in the mid-1970s with David Axelrod. In 1975 he was a guest performer on two tracks (flambe vocals on the out-choruses of "San Ber'dino" and "Andy") on the Frank Zappa album One Size Fits All. He also played with Herb Alpert and George Duke. But as the popularity of blues declined and the era of soul music dawned in the 1960s, Watson transformed himself from southern blues singer with pompadour into urban soul singer in a pimp hat. His new style was emphatic – wearing the gold teeth, broad-brimmed hats, flashy suits, fashionable outsized sunglasses and ostentatious jewelry.

He modified his music accordingly. His albums Ain't That a Bitch (included funk blues singles "Superman Lover") and Real Mother For Ya(1977) fused funk and blues. Watson had album Love Jones in 1980. Reviewing Watson's 1977 LP A Real Mother for Ya, Robert Christgau wrote in Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies (1981): "Watson has been perfecting his own brand of easy-listening funk for years, and this time he's finally gone into the studio with his guitar Freddie and his drummer Emry and a bunch of electric keyboards and come up with a whole album of good stuff. The riff-based tracks go on too long but go down easy and the lyrics have an edge. Granted, Watson can't match George Benson's chops, but this is dance music, chops would just get in the way. And I prefer his Lou-Rawls-without-pipes to Benson's Stevie-Wonder-ditto."

Later career

The shooting death of his friend Larry Williams in 1980 and other personal setbacks led to Watson briefly withdrawing from the spotlight in the 1980s. "I got caught up with the wrong people doing the wrong things", he was quoted as saying by The New York Times.

The release of his album Bow Wow in 1994 brought Watson more visibility and chart success than he had ever known. The album received a Grammy Award nomination.

In a 1994 interview with David Ritz for liner notes to The Funk Anthology, Watson was asked if his 1980 song "Telephone Bill" anticipated rap music. "Anticipated?" Watson replied. "I damn well invented it!... And I wasn't the only one. Talking rhyming lyrics to a groove is something you'd hear in the clubs everywhere from Macon to Memphis. Man, talking has always been the name of the game. When I sing, I'm talking in melody. When I play, I'm talking with my guitar. I may be talking trash, baby, but I'm talking".

In 1995, he was given a Pioneer Award from the Rhythm and Blues Foundation in a presentation and performance ceremony at the Hollywood Palladium. In February 1995, Watson was interviewed by Tomcat Mahoney for his Brooklyn, New York-based blues radio show The Other Half. Watson discussed at length his influences and those he had influenced, referencing Guitar Slim, Jimi Hendrix, Frank Zappa and Stevie Ray Vaughan. He made a special guest appearance on Bo Diddley's 1996 album A Man Amongst Men, playing vocoder on the track "I Can't Stand It" and singing on the track "Bo Diddley Is Crazy".

His music was sampled by Redman (who based his "Sooperman Luva" saga on Watson's "Superman Lover" song), Ice Cube, Eazy-E, Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre, Jay-Z, and Mary J. Blige. Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre borrowed P-Funk's adaptation of Watson's catchphrase "Bow wow wow yippi-yo yippi-yay" for Snoop's hit Who Am I? (What's My Name?). Johnny also played the guitar on the G-Funk remix of Dr. Dre's Grammy award winning single Let Me Ride in 1993.

"Johnny was always aware of what was going on around him", recalled Susan Maier Watson (later to become the musician's wife) in an interview printed in the liner notes to the album The Very Best of Johnny 'Guitar' Watson. "He was proud that he could change with the times and not get stuck in the past".

Death and material loss

Watson died of a heart attack on May 17, 1996, collapsing on stage while on tour in Yokohama, Japan. His remains were brought home for interment at Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California and buried in the Great Mausoleum, Sanctuary of Enduring Honor, Holly Terrace entrance.

On June 25, 2019, The New York Times Magazine listed Johnny "Guitar" Watson among hundreds of artists whose material was reportedly destroyed in the 2008 Universal fire.

Influence

Watson, a recognized master of the Fender Stratocaster guitar, has been compared to Jimi Hendrix and allegedly became irritated when asked about this comparison, supposedly stating: "I used to play the guitar standing on my hands. I had a 150-foot cord and I could get on top of the auditorium – those things Jimi Hendrix was doing, I started that shit."

Frank Zappa stated that "Watson's 1956 song 'Three Hours Past Midnight' inspired me to become a guitarist". Watson contributed to Zappa's albums One Size Fits All (1975), Them or Us (1984), Thing-Fish (1984) and Frank Zappa Meets the Mothers of Prevention (1985). Zappa also named "Three Hours Past Midnight" his favorite record in a 1979 interview.

Steve Miller not only did a cover of "Gangster of Love" on his 1968 album Sailor (substituting "Is your name "Stevie 'Guitar' Miller?" for the same line with Watson's name), he made a reference to it in his 1969 song "Space Cowboy" ("And you know that I'm a gangster of love") as well as in his 1973 hit song "The Joker" ("Some call me the gangster of love"). Miller had also borrowed the sobriquet for his own "The Gangster Is Back", on his 1971 album Rock Love.

Jimmie Vaughan, brother of Stevie Ray Vaughan, is quoted as saying: "When my brother Stevie and I were growing up in Dallas, we idolized very few guitarists. We were highly selective and highly critical. Johnny 'Guitar' Watson was at the top of the list, along with Freddie, Albert and B.B. King. Watson influenced Jimi Hendrix, Sly Stone, Etta James, and Stevie Ray Vaughan.

Bobby Womack said: "Music-wise, he (Watson) was the most dangerous gunslinger out there, even when others made a lot of noise in the charts ～　I'm thinking of Sly Stone or George Clinton".

Etta James stated, in an interview at the 2006 Rochester International Jazz Festival: "Johnny 'Guitar' Watson... Just one of my favorite singers of all time. I first met him when we were both on the road with Johnny Otis in the '50s, when I was a teenager. We traveled the country in a car together so I would hear him sing every night. His singing style was the one I took on when I was 17 – people used to call me the female Johnny 'Guitar' Watson and him the male Etta James... He knew what the blues was all about...".

James is also quoted as saying: "I got everything from Johnny... He was my main model... My whole ballad style comes from my imitating Johnny's style... He was the baddest and the best... Johnny Guitar Watson was not just a guitarist: the man was a master musician. He could call out charts; he could write a beautiful melody or a nasty groove at the drop of a hat; he could lay on the harmonies and he could come up with a whole sound." Pearl Jam recorded a song entitled "Johnny Guitar", about Watson, for their 2009 album Backspacer.

Watson's 1976 song "Superman Lover" features on the soundtrack of the video game Grand Theft Auto V.

[excindrela]

12 Days of Demon Ayno- Day 7

Supernatural AU

Pairing: demon! Ayno (Noh YoonHo) VAV / Female reader

Genre: Fluff

Warnings: foul language

Word Count: 2228

AU: Look we made it to day 7! (Only 10 days after Christmas) Today is fluffy, but there’s smut ahead in the forecast! To everyone reading this series- I’m so glad you’re here- thank you for reading ( especially to those who have re-blogged!). I love feedback- so if there’s something you like, or something you want to see- tell me!! Interesting fact: Tenley, Katricia & Cassidy are people I actually know! I love giving irl people cameos! LOL

Demon Ayno: Summoned | Thanksgiving | 12 Days: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | Day 6 | Day 7 | Day 8 | Day 9

On the 7th Day of Christmas: Ayno Experienced the True Spirit of the Season 

You strolled out of the bedroom still brushing your hair to find Ayno in the kitchen making your breakfast as usual. He poured and doctored your coffee and turned around to hand it to you but stopped with eyes wide at your appearance. He slowly handed you the coffee cup, while looking you up and down. You knew he wanted to say something but was clearly having trouble deciding on exactly what to say. He opened his mouth, and then stopped and closed it- rethinking whatever it was that had come to mind. You waited. Finally, he seemed to have settled on a way to broach what he had decided was going to be a delicate subject.

“You know that I find you beautiful, right? Have I told you today that you are beautiful?”

You struggled to hide your amusement. “Not today, but you have often told me this, yes. I believe based on your record of that particular compliment you find me most attractive when I am flushed and sweaty and looking totally fucked-out laying underneath you.”

He grinned. “True!” Then he muttered under his breath “I am not sure even that would help right now.”

You struggled to keep your face neutral.  “Is there something wrong with the way I look today?”  you asked innocently.

“Um...I know you said we are going somewhere today…would you not be more comfortable in the soft sweater with the big neck? It is a good color on you and looks nice with your jeans….”

“Oh…do you not like this one?” you asked strolling over to the floor mirror and admiring yourself.

Ayno, rubbed the back of his neck uncomfortably, struggling to find something nice to say. “Well…it will be easy to keep track of you…”

Privately you thought he had done very well in finding anything good to say about the knit catastrophe that adorned the upper half of your body. It was made of cheap chunky cream yarn, the whole front covered with a Christmas present made from 4 different red calico prints appliqued on the front, and a giant gold glitter ribbon bow that sat at the shoulder. There were green holly leaves embroidered around the cuffs and on the center back just below the collar.

“Agreed!” you said, “but not as easy as it will be to keep track of you!” you giggled as you ran to the bedroom closet and returned with a larger sweater that made yours look positively tame. Ayno looked with utter horror at the nightmare conceived in polyester yarn you held in your hands. The bottom was knit to look like a rooftop, and the top 2/3 was supposed to be the night sky in royal blue with little silver metallic yarn stars sprinkled on it. The center of the front was dominated by an appliqued reindeer complete with a googly eye, sparkly red pom-pom nose and a harness with actual jingle bells.

“Oh. Yes. You will not lose me.” he said in a small voice.

“Yep! No chance of that! Check this out!” you said as you pushed the hidden button and the tiny lights on all the stars began blinking.

Temporarily robbed of speech by the twinkling atrocity he was expected to put on his body, poor Ayno just stood there, mouth hanging slightly open.

“That…that is very…special.” he finally choked out. Then, hoping for an out, he tried a different tack. “But I thought we agreed that it would be best not to call attention to me. Perhaps the lights…or the whole sweater…are too much? We do not want people to notice me.” he finished hopefully.

You couldn’t take it anymore. The sad pathetic look on his face was too much, and you burst out laughing. “It’s awful right?! I can’t believe I was lucky enough to find something this bad in your size!!”

“Lucky? Uh-huh.” he said, looking very confused.

You needed to explain. “Ayno, today we’re volunteering with Project Reach Out. We’ll spend the morning sorting the food and present donations, wrapping presents for the kids, and preparing a meal. Then in the evening, we’re hosting a Christmas party, and families will come to eat and play games and then the children will pick a present, and we’ll send the families home with a box of food so they will be able to prepare a nice Christmas dinner. All the volunteers are wearing ugly Christmas sweaters today.”

“Oh! So we are supposed to look embarrassing? I will blend in wearing this?”

“Yep! And everyone will know you’re a volunteer.”

“So I am not being punished. Ok. I will trust your judgement” he said as he took the Rudolph sweater from you, “but I still think this should be condemned to the fires of hell.”

*          *          *

You arrived at the community center and went straight to the check in table. You waved happily to Tenley, Katricia and Cassidy who were already there.

“Whoa! That’s quite the bow there!” Tenley laughed.

You laughed “Its huge, right? Nice tree you’ve got.” You said, admiring her red sweater with a green Christmas tree knit into the front that was decorated with pom-poms, fake lights on thread, and plastic charms.

“Yeah, this tree’s gay green dress isn’t going to delight anyone. But check out Trish’s ghetto snowman.” Tenley said jerking her thumb in Katricia’s direction.

Katricia walked forward proudly gesturing at the snowman sweater that had seen better days. One button eye was thisclose to falling off, too many washings had caused the carrot nose to droop like a flaccid penis, one button on the mid-section was unironically totally different than the other two, and someone had attempted to fix one of the cross-stitched twig hands- but had used the wrong color of brown thread. “Yeah, I don’t know what kinda shit Frosty has seen, but I’m pretty sure he’s a crack hoe straight out the hood.” Katricia laughed.

You all laughed with her, shaking your head at the unfortunate sweater, when Cassidy caught sight of Ayno. “Oh damn. Girl, is that your boyfriend? What did you do to this poor man?!” she cried looking in awe at the awful sweater.

“Isn’t it hideous?!” you cried with glee.

“Yes. That is just terrible.” Katricia said hi-fiving you. “Where did you find that?”

“The Assistance League thrift store in The Heights!”

Poor Ayno stood there looking concerned: he couldn’t decide if he was being complimented or made fun of. You felt his fingers fumble for yours and you took his hand and squeezed it for reassurance. “Yes, the extremely good sport stuffed in the sweater from hell is my boyfriend, Ayno. Ayno, this is Tenley, Katricia and Cassidy.” The girls all smiled and shook hands with him, Cassidy mouthing “He’s so cute!” and Tenley fanning her face and mouthing “HOT!” when he was distracted by someone else.  

You had no sooner finished introductions when Jayden, who had gotten roped into coordinating the event this year, breezed over with nametags and clipboard in hand. “Ok ladies…and gentleman, what are we doing today?” she said as she handed out the name tags. “Ayno- we’ll start with you. Do you have a preference on what you’d like to do today?”

Ayno looked at you wide eyed and shrugged. “Ayno loves to cook Jay. He’s good in the kitchen- why don’t we put him there?” you suggested.

“Perfect! Ayno, I’m sending you and Trish to help sort canned goods for the take-home boxes, and then to the kitchen for dinner prep! You already know what you’re doing, right?” she said to you.

“I believe I’m sorting toys and wrapping presents?” you said.

“Yes ma’am!” Jayden said as she moved on with Ten and Cass in tow.

“You will not be with me?” Ayno asked nervously.

“No. But you’ll be fine, and you’ll be much happier in the kitchen.”

“But what if people talk to me? What do I say?”

“Well I’d advise not mentioning you’re a demon.” You said dryly. Ayno gave you a look. “You know what to say. My best advice is to deflect: you want to learn about humans- well lesson number one is that people love to talk about themselves. Just ask them questions.”

Ayno nodded, still looking a little unsure. “Ok.”

“Don’t worry- Katricia will be with you, and she is so much fun. I’m sure she’ll take good care of you”, you promised him.

“Mmmm-hmmm. Yes ma’am, Imma take gooood care of this fine man!” Katricia said looking Ayno up & down and winking at you. “C’mon Ayno, we are gonna go get biz-zee in the kitchen!” she said taking him by the arm and dragging him off.

And that was the last contact you had with Ayno for the next eight hours.  You saw him singing Christmas carols while happily sorting canned goods and carrying loaded dinner boxes to the area where fresh produce, dairy & a turkey would be added at pick up. Later you passed by the kitchen and saw him peeling a giant pile of potatoes listening intently to whatever the others doing prep were talking about. You almost dropped the cranberry sauce you were bringing around during the dinner when he snuck up behind you and kissed your cheek as he went on his way refilling coffee.  As you cleared dinner dishes, you saw him lifting little ones up to choose an ornament off the tree, and then later being taught how to play “Go Fish” by some elementary age kids.

It was while you were drying baking pans and putting them away in the kitchen that he came up to you waving an envelope.

“Look I won a prize? I do not know what it is...”, he said curiously looking at two pieces of paper inside.

You looked in the envelope, “Oh those are movie tickets! So you can go to the cinema to see a movie... and there is a coupon for popcorn and snacks too! What did you win a prize for?”

“Apparently others think my sweater is very, very bad too. It was bad enough to win the number 3 envelope. I did not think it was possible to wear a sweater that was worse than mine but apparently two people did. I think the number 1 envelope was given to the man who had the Demon of Sahjoolh coming out of a box on the front of his sweater... I am told it is actually a ‘jack in the box’ with a ‘clown’ -whatever that is- but it looks like the Demon of Sahjoolh. It was very frightening, and I could not figure out why anyone would want to make a sweater with the Demon of Sahjoolh on it, so I suppose he deserved to win just for being brave enough to wear it.”

You laughed, “Well, I have never seen the Demon of Sahjoolh, but that does sound frightening. Congratulations!”

His face suddenly brightened as a thought occurred to him. “I have two tickets! You could go with me to the cinema- I could take you on a date! Will you go to see a movie with me?”

You smiled, “Yes, Ayno, I would love to go to the movies with you…but right now, I want to go home, because my feet hurt.”

*          *          *

Later that night you sat in your usual position stretched out across the couch from Ayno. He was rubbing your sore feet while you watched whatever the insipid Hallmark movie of the day was. You were looking at him and you could see the wheels in his head turning.

“Our life is charmed, isn’t it?”, he said suddenly.

“What do you mean?”, you asked.

“Our home is nice- it is warm and safe…we always have hot water, and there is always food here- you do not ever seem concerned about getting food…your car is big and shiny and seems to work well... and when I want something you get it for me... you give me money every week and let me buy iced coffees without worry. The people today… it is not the same for them is it?”

You shook your head sadly, “No, it’s not. That’s why we do what we did today. To help them. To try to make things better. We helped lift some of their burdens for today: they knew they were going to have a hot dinner for themselves and their families, they knew their children were going to get a Christmas present and they knew that they were going to get food to prepare a nice dinner on Christmas. These are small things to you and me but very big ones to them. We don’t have these worries, so yes- we are privileged. We are lucky.”

He looked thoughtful. “We should do this again. Is this like Thanksgiving where it only happens once in a year? Do we have to wait for next Christmas?”

“Well, Christmas only happens once a year; but there are lots of opportunities to volunteer all year long.”

“Good. More of this then. I like small humans. We should do things for them.” He said as he crawled across the couch to lay his head on your chest.

“Good plan.” You said, wrapping your arms around him and silently marveling at the humanity of your demon.

[janiedean]

Mood lightener ask, I am intrigued by book recs from you since you mentioned something about a dinosaur series a bit ago? Color me intrigued so top five books you'd recommend for people who enjoy ASoIaF?

OH GOD THANK YOU XDDD

okay so, I’m taking the dinosaurs out first because... well. hahah.

the dinosaur lords is ABSOLUTELY a thing you might wanna try out if you like asoiaf for reasons, BUT I’m warning you, the author died before finishing it (unless he wrote the last three but didn’t have publishing contract for the second part of the six-books plan but no one quite knows and no idea) so most likely you’ll never get a conclusion, warning you beforehand so that’s why I’m putting it outside the top five. BUT IF YOU LIKE ASOIAF YOU SHOULD STILL TRY IT because:

the author was a friend of grrm’s and it shows;

it’s literally asoiaf except people go around on dinosaurs;

NO, REALLY;

there’s at least a couple characters who are totally asoiaf homages (there’s a dude named jaume who’s basically jaime and loras’s lovechild I SWEAR HE IS HE’S EVEN THE HEAD OF THE LOCAL KINGSGUARD) but not in a way that makes it look like plagiarism;

admittedly it takes a bit to find its rhythm, but when it does it’s really good because the worldbuilding is amazing and like... it’s basically fictional medieval europe with dinosaurs but to a really good degree and the representation is a+++, in the sense that idk one of the main four is obv. irish romani (or what irish romani are in that universe), a few are def. catalan, the french guy is really so french you wanna die, the italian dude actually comes from the oldest university in the realm, there’s people from russia/greece and the protagonist is basically some three eastern europeans countries thrown in one character but not stereotypically, like the guy is obv. a mix of russian/polish/mongol and he’s really a good character in that sense, there’s germans too, spanish ofc, like it’s really good in that sense

DINOSAURS FIGHTING DINOSAURS WHILE THEIR KNIGHTS RIDE THEM

there’s an entire supernatural angle with ARCHANGELS WHO MIGHT BE ROBOTS which is honestly intriguing and a+ and I just wish the books hadn’t finished just before going deep into it

if you also want lgbt+ rep............. well, two out of the three supposedly straight characters are irish romani dude and the protagonist and I can 100% assure you that everyone I dragged into reading those books agreed with me that in each single scene they have together (ie: most of them) they’re gayer than Actual Gay People in these books, but other than them half of the cast is bi, the gay sex is better written than the straight sex (forreal there’s one of the few actually.... sexy m/m oral sex scenes I read in published fiction???), their sexuality is not the whole of their personality but it’s fairly stated that most of them are Really Not Straight and it’s really done well;

actually THE ENTIRE KINGSGUARD IS GUYS WHO FIGHT VERY WELL BUT LOVE ARTS AS WELL AND THEY ALL SLEEP WITH EACH OTHER EXCEPT THE TOKEN STRAIGHT FRENCH CHARACTER THAT THE JAIME AND LORAS LOVECHILD HAS A CRUSH ON and ngl I thought they would end up fucking at some point if the books went on so... XDDD anyway a+++ kingsguard >>> the one in asoiaf;

ngl at some points there’s some badly written sex scenes (the straight ones lmao I’m 99,9% sure milàn was not that straight himself) and it’s not half as complex as asoiaf and doesn’t have as many characters but it has the same scheme except with dinosaurs, archangels being robots and three people are straight and two of them are in love anyway;

so tldr I greatly recommend the dinosaur lords if you want something similar to asoiaf, don’t expect an ending, enjoy dinosaurs and a lot of nice rep for everyone. also Y’ALL HAVE TO SHIP ROB AND KARYL WITH ME BECAUSE THEY’RE RIDICULOUS.

.... wow, and you asked me the top five. lmaaaaao. anyway, given that the dinosaur lords will not be in the top five, I’ll go and advise you to read:

IAN TREGILLIS’S ALCHEMY WARS, which is not like **fantasy** but it’s alternate history where the netherlands win the colonial wars in the 16th century because they figure out how to make brass androids and they use it to basically destroy the british and drive the french to canada while they conquer the US instead of the british. it’s a trilogy, it’s completed, it’s flawless and features: FRENCH CATHOLICS VS DUTCH CALVINISTS WITH THE FRENCH WANTING TO TAKE BACK PARIS, PREDESTINATION VS FREE WILL IN THE ANDROIDS DISCOURSE, REHASH OF 16TH/17TH CENTURY PHILOSOPHY DONE GREATLY, the greatest female character of genre literature since grrm (berenice GUYS BERENICE IS THE BEST GOD I LOVE HER SFM), the evil antagonist who’s a gal cersei wishes she was (like she’s terrible but she’s competent), the davos-like french general who knits in his spare time and the protagonist is the cinnamon roll-est android ever I love him sfm OH and the one time I cried because of a catholic fictional priest. guys tregillis is an a+++ top notch writer who has no time to waste with fillers and knows how to write a story even if HE HATES ME AND HE WANTS ME TO SUFFER and like... alchemy wars is really really good give it a go k?1,5. tregillis also wrote another alternate history trilogy, the milkweed tryptich, which is basically ‘the nazis create the x-men to win the war and so the british counteract by evoking ctuhulu and it goes exactly as it promises’. now: I have a love-hate rship with that one because the last book is narratively working but I hate everything it chose to be for reasons also i wanna punch the protagonist in the face, but thesuperevilgirl is totes the cersei of the situation and her brother has.... some srs jaime moments lmao he’s also my favorite ofc god klaus ily so much, and it has... some... well... ENGAGING choices lol I mean i loved book one and two and the third I did reluctantly but it could be an option? anyway ian tregillis is amazing and y’all should read him bye

the curse of chalion by lois mcmaster bujold has, as the amazing soul who recommended it to me pointed out, a protagonist that manages to be jaime and theon and partially sandor put into one. IT AMAZINGLY WORKS. the plot is kiiiinda more straightforward if you know spanish history bc the moment you figure out it’s the fantasy version of how castille and aragona united you know where it heads, but it has a lot of nice twists, also some a+ lgbt+ rep tho not as much as the dinosaur lords and the protagonist is.... really great I love him XD also ngl the fact that it ends fairly nicely is a balm so I’d try it, there’s other books in the same verse but I haven’t gotten around to read them yet

... guys stephen king’s dark tower is my fantasy favorite series EVER like ever, I love asoiaf and brienne is in my heart and she’s my true rep but nothing will top TDT for me ever for reasons and while it’s a completely different thing I still recommend it. caveat: I hate the last book with a vengeance and I think king fucked up the last two thirds real bad, but..... hey, it’s finished and the rest is 100% worth it. also jaime is totally the lovechild of the male protagonist and the other male-coprotagonist who are also my #1 ship ever in history so I’d give it a go ;) ;) ;) also while eddie’s my fave roland deschain is honestly the kind of character that you can only bow in front of like if I ever made an oc one hundredth as good as roland is in conception and execution and everything I’d feel like I accomplished everything I need in life. IT’S WORTH IT. TRY IT.

terry pratchett’s discworld: yes, it’s 41 books. yes it’s a lot. but you can read them by cycle which makes it a lot easier, they’re fun (the first three are a bit meh but the rest is all top notch I swear), they’re sarcastic and witty and delightful and it’s a++++ fantasy and I’ve been wanting to do the asoiaf au for ages sigh but anyway if you don’t want dark and grim but also want a+++ narrative, good satire about how our world sucks and a lot of fun at the expense of our pop culture (guys the book about their version of australia is a hoot and there’s a leonardo da vinci!!) GO FOR IT. IT’S AMAZING. also your life isn’t complete until you read about sam vimes and the local version of death speaking in capslock and being a cat person. also charles dance plays one of the mains in one of the tv adaptations and he was delightful xD

this is going to gain me rotten tomatoes, but....... grrm’s shared series wild cards. that he has going on with fifteen other writers including the aforementioned tregillis and milàn.yes, it’s like 28 books by now. no, it’s not perfect by all means and certain arcs are a total wtf and you don’t even have to read all of it, but especially grrm’s characters in it are obvious templates for asoiaf people (the powerful and amazing turtle is dark sam tarly and jay ackroyd is basically jaime without the incest and the extra good looks while lohengrin is brienne’s spiritual twin except for the looks), the shared worldbuilding is great, the alternate history story where buddy holly didn’t die and some of the protagonists organized a concert for him bc he was poor as hell was genius, and while a lot of the older stuff is dated and most likely was progressive for the eighties and would read a bit wonky now they always were super-inclusive, it has a bunch of nonwhite/nonstraight characters (esp. in the last books but there were also in the old ones, and the longest-standing gay dude since the eighties got a husband in the last trilogy!!! it was so ;_;), the alternate history is really good imvho and if you enjoy asoiaf you probably would like most of wild cards. if you want a reading order I made one here. xD

here you go sorry it took me one hour to answer it but IT GOT LONG XDD

[amnakanna]

Ste and Michaela

[journeyintotheshelves]

July is a busy month for me. Not only do I have quite a bit to do in real life — which includes a bachelorette weekend — but I have big reading plans too. I plan on participating in TWO readathons this month: The Book Junkie Trials and the Medieval-a-thon. Both are RPG-style readathons that are so ridiculously creative I can’t even begin to describe how much I’m in love with both of them. I really pulled myself out of my slump in June, and with my excitement for these readathons, I hope my July is even better reading wise.

The Book Junkie Trials, created by Rachel Marie Book Junkie on Youtube, is a map-based readathon where readers are divided into teams, read for points, and follow a path to glory. Since the trials is the most involved of the two readathons, I organized my TBR around that and fit the Medieval-a-thon prompts around the books I chose. The Medieval-a-thon, created by Holly Hearts Books on Youtube, is a readathon where you create your own character by the books that you read; the number that you read is what caste you’re in and there are different prompts for clothing and weapons.

My goal is to read at least eight books this month, which is doable I think. If I manage to do that, I will complete my team’s path for the trials, finish my own TBR challenges that I have for every month, and end Medieval-a-thon a queen with a crown, cape, bracers, chest plate, boots, and a sword — a very formidable queen, I think.

I’m following the Mage path for the trials, and have to read these five books in order no matter what (no DNF’ing either).

Prompt 1: ORC GROVE: Read a book that is gruesome, gory, or gritty

Tokyo Ghoul, Vol. 4: Sui Ishida

In the dictionary, Tokyo Ghoul has to be next to the definition for gruesome. There may be worse offenders in manga than this, but it really toes the tolerance line for me. But, the storyline and morality of the world are so fascinating that I keep returning to the series. This’ll be an interesting start to this readathon, to say the least.

Tokyo Ghoul also fufills the class specific challenge of reading a book out of my comfort zone since I normally hate horror/gory stories.

Prompt 2: OL’ PIRATE COVE: Read a book that takes place, at least in part, at sea

Dark Shores (Dark Shores: 1): Danielle L. Jensen

This is one of my most anticipated releases of 2019, and I’m so excited to finally dive into it (pun fully intended). I mean, a book about gods, pirates and politics? Sign me right up.

Dark Shores also covers the crown prompt — read a book where a character fights for the throne — for Medieval-a-thon.

Prompt 3: GLIMMER: Read a beautiful or colorful book

Beneath the Sugar Sky (Wayward Children: 3): Seanan McGuire

McGuire’s Wayward Children is one of my favorite series of recent years, and I loved Down Among the Sticks and Bones even better than the first book. I hope that Sugar Sky continues this trend of being better than the last.

Beneath the Sugar Sky also covers the cape prompt — read a book with read on the cover — for Medieval-a-thon, and my personal monthly goal to read an adult novel.

Prompt 4: DRACONIC ISLE: Read a book that features dragons

A Clash of Kings (A Song of Ice and Fire: 2): George R. R. Martin

Okay, so I know this book has been on a monthly TBR before, but this month it will happen — I mean, it has to for me to complete the trials. I love this story, and I think it has been long enough since the finale that I can dive into the world of Westeros once more.

A Clash of Kings also covers the bracers prompt — read a thick paperback — for Medieval-a-thon, and my personal monthly goal to read a sequel.

Prompt 5: THE BOOKIE GRAIL: Read the group book

Stardust: Neil Gaiman

This book has been on my shelves for ages (so long that I actually forgot that I owned it and almost bought a second copy…whoops). I’m so glad that this was picked as the group book and will end my mage journey. I think it’ll be a breath of fresh air after Clash of Kings.

Stardust also covers my personal monthly goal to read a backlist title since it was originally published in 1998.

  In order to complete my personal goals and Medieval-a-thon, I have to read three more books. These books would be extra for the trials, and will still give my team points.

Prompt 6: THE GREAT LIBRARY: Read a book that has been on your TBR forever

Three Dark Crows (Three Dark Crowns: 1): Kendare Blake

I’ve had this book for ages — I had an ARC of it and it came in an OwlCrate box back in 2016 — and I haven’t picked it up once. One of my friends (this one is for you, Nicole) have been pestering me to read it ever since, but I kept putting it off. But this month, I randomly picked it from my TBR jar, so it’s time. Plus, I think it’s quite fitting to read while participating in two fantasy-based readathons.

Three Dark Crowns also covers the chest plate prompt — read a shiny book — and my personal goal to read a Top 10 to Read in 2019.

Prompt 7: THE HALLOW ISLE: Read an atmospheric or horror book

Here There Are Monsters: Amelinda Bérubé

As I said earlier, horror books are not my thing. But, I picked up a copy of Here There Are Monsters and fell in love with the cover (I mean, it’s so freaking gorgeous and atmospheric all on it’s own). I’m hoping the book is just as amazing as it’s cover and doesn’t freak me out too much.

Publication date: August 1, 2019

Here There Are Monsters also covers the sword prompt — read a book with something pointy on the cover — for Medieval-a-thon, and my personal goal to read an ARC.

Prompt 8: EMPTY BARREL INN: Read an indulgent read

Slammed (Slammed: 1): Colleen Hoover

Colleen Hoover’s books are such a guilty pleasure of mine. I haven’t read her most recent ones (yet), but those that I have read I loved (except Confess, but let’s not talk about that one…). Slammed is one of Hoover’s earliest novels and I’ve heard mixed things about it, but I’m sure it’s going to be as indulgent as ever.

Slammed also covers the boots prompt — read a book that has yellowed over time — for Medieval-a-thon.

  If, by some miracle, I finish all eight books and there are still days in the month left, I picked books for every other prompt for both the Book Junkie Trials and Medieval-a-thon. There are some that I would love to get to sooner rather than later, but when I put pressure on my reading is when I get into a slump, so I really am just going to wing it. I’m not going to get into why I picked the books I picked — this TBR is already long enough as it is haha — but you can always drop a comment if you want to chat about them!

Prompt 9: THE DROWNING DEEP: Read a book with rich world building

Godsgrave (The Nevernight Chronicles: 2): Jay Kristoff Godsgrave also covers the duel daggers prompt — read a book with assassins — for Medieval-a-thon.

Prompt 10: THE FORGOTTEN FORESTS: Read a sequel

The Two Towers (Lord of the Rings: 2): J.R.R. Tolkien The Two Towers also covers the bow & arrow prompt — read a book about elves — for Medieval-a-thon. I mean, I couldn’t not.

Prompt 11: CRIMSON PEAKS: Re-read a favorite

The Night Circus: Erin Morgenstern

Prompt 12: QUEENDOM STONE: Read a book featuring Royalty

American Royals: Katherine McGee Publication date: September 3rd

Prompt 13: THE WEEPING FALLS: Read a tear-jerker

The Fountains of Silence: Ruta Sepetys Publication date: October 1st

Prompt 14: DWARF MOUNT: Read a book with a hint of romance

Ao Haru Ride, Vol. 3: Io Sakisaka

Prompt 15: APOTHECARY TOWERS: Choose a book at random (7, 3, 42)

The Bride Test (The Kiss Quotient: 2): Helen Hoang (I had my mother pick three numbers — one for the bookshelf, one for the specific shelf, and one for the book number — and this was what she picked. What luck!)

Prompt 16: THE ELVEN GUARD: Read a book with War, Military or Politics themes

The Poppy War (The Poppy War: 1): R.F. Kuang

Prompt 17: GIANT SQUID: Read a book that intimidates you

Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage: Haruki Murakami

Prompt 18: HELMET: A book with a dragon on the cover

The Ruin of Kings (A Chorus of Dragons: 1): Jenn Lyons

Prompt 19: BATTLE AXE: A book with mercenaries

The Boneless Mercies: April Genevieve Tucholke

With 19 books, my TBR for July is my biggest and most ambitious yet! (Hopefully my slump stays far far away.) Check out my full July TBR for @Medievalathon and @TheBookieTrials here: July is a busy month for me. Not only do I have quite a bit to do in real life -- which includes a bachelorette weekend -- but I have 

[callunavulgari]

Scrapbook 2019 | Pt. II

Reminder:

Normal font - Indifferent/Neutral Italicized font - Enjoyed bold font - Loved with an asterisk* - All time favorite (bracketed titles) - Re-watches/Re-reads strikethough - Disliked

Goals are: read one hundred books this year (on track, currently at 76), finish five video games (FIN), write something novel-length (not so much) and write something original (technically done? don’t know if I want to count a snippet that didn’t even hit 1k). These last two goals CAN be combined (I might try NaNo this year, so we will see).

Part I: January-July. 

MOVIES

August

American Graffiti

Toy Story 4

Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark

Aquaman

(Spirited Away)

The Grinch

Invader Zim: Enter the Florpus

John Wick

Alita: Battle Angel

(Jaws)

Jaws 2

The Dark Tower

September

(Avengers Endgame)

IT: Chapter 2

(Kull: The Conquerer)

(Lord of the Rings: Return of the King)

October

Lego Movie 2

Us

Roman Holiday

(Monster’s Inc)

(13 Ghosts)

Addams Family

November

The King

BOOKS

August

Red, White, and Royal Blue | Casey Mcquiston [Fin]

Nevernight | Jay Kristoff [Fin]

David Mogo, Godhunter | Suyi Davies Okungbowa [Fin]

League of Dragons | Naomi Novak [Fin]

The Magpie Lord | KJ Charles [Fin]

Witches of Lychford | Paul Cornell [Fin]

The Gunslinger | Stephen King

The Affair of the Mysterious Letter | Alexis Hall [Fin]

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine | Gail Honeyman [Fin]

The Way of Kings | Brandon Sanderson

September

The Way of Kings | Brandon Sanderson [Fin]

The Gunslinger | Stephen King [Fin]

Educated | Tara Westover [Fin]

Middlegame | Seanan Mcguire [Fin]

Eye of the World | Robert Jordan

Harrow County Vol. 1 | Cullen Bunn [Fin]

Harrow County Vol. 2 | Cullen Bunn [Fin]

Harrow County Vol. 3 | Cullen Bunn [Fin]

Harrow County Vol. 4 | Cullen Bunn [Fin]

Harrow County Vol. 5 | Cullen Bunn [Fin]

Exhalation | Ted Chiang [Fin]

The Ten Thousand Doors of January | Alix Harrow** [Fin]

Through the Woods | Emily Carroll [Fin]

To Be Taught, If Fortunate | Becky Chambers** [Fin]

The Eye of the World | Robert Jordan [Fin]

Chilling Effect | Valerie Valdes [Fin]

October

We Are Where the Nightmares Go | C. Robert Cargill [Fin]

Horrorstor | Grady Hendrix [Fin]

Feedback | Mira Grant [Fin]

Ninth House | Leigh Bardugo [Fin] 

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo | Taylor Jenkins Reid [Fin]

Monster of Elendhaven | Jennifer Giesbrecht [Fin]

Mirrormask | Neil Gaiman [Fin]

The Darkest Part of the Forest | Holly Black [Fin]

We Set the Dark on Fire | Tehlor Kay Mejia [Fin]

November

The Gilded Wolves | Roshani Chokshi [Fin]

Words of Radiance | Brandon Sanderson 

PODCASTS

August

The Magnus Archive Eps 11-63

Alice Isn’t Dead Ep 5

September

The Magnus Archive Eps 64-94

The Adventure Zone | Episode 5

October

The Magnus Archive Eps 95-159**

Welcome to Night Vale

Alice Isn’t Dead Eps 6-10 + bonus episodes

TANIS Ep 1

The Penumbra Podcast

Zero Hours**

November

The Penumbra Podcast

The Magnus Archive Eps 160

TV SHOWS

August

Buzzfeed Unsolved: Supernatural

Another Life

She-Ra s3

Steven Universe s5

Glow s1

(Gravity Falls s2)

September

Carnival Row

Sherlock s4

Fruit’s Basket

October

Buzzfeed Unsolved: Supernatural s6

Leverage s1

Fruit’s Basket

November

Buzzfeed Unsolved: Supernatural s6

VIDEO GAMES

August

Witcher 3 DLC: Blood and Wine (40 hrs)

September

Control (20 hrs)

Monster Hunter World

Monster Hunter World: Icebourne

Link’s Awakening (23 hrs)

October

Monster Hunter World: Icebourne

Link’s Awakening (30 hrs) [Fin]

Assassin’s Creed: Origins (10 hours)

November

Assassin’s Creed: Origins (10 hours)

DELIGHTFUL FIC

August

In These Frozen and Silent Nights by beethechange | Buzzfeed Unsolved | Ryan/Shane | “You know me,” Shane says, “I love a good cabin. I’m a cabinhead.”“I’ll show you cabin head,” Ryan rebuts without thinking, and then he turns his face into the pillow to stifle a nervous snicker. “Oh shit, wait, that’s—”

Warm My Bones by blacktofade | Buzzfeed Unsolved | Ryan/Shane | 12k | Shane isn't meant to go into heat, but he does.

and only then we'll know if it was worth to become a ghost by Spooks | Buzzfeed Unsolved | Ryan/Shane | 8k | It has never been easy, convincing Shane of the existence of the supernatural. It doesn't become incredibly much easier once Ryan becomes a ghost himself.

#blessed by thehoyden | Buzzfeed Unsolved | Ryan/Shane | 9k | Of course Shane would rather not work; he’d like it to be like the good old days, and who wouldn’t? But a demon’s gotta eat, and he can’t even get a discount on his rent because it turns out it’s a lot harder to influence faceless companies with ominous dreams. Ergo: gainful employment at Buzzfeed.

i think i'm still turning out by the_tenerife_sea | Buzzfeed Unsolved | Ryan/Shane | 6k |  Shane is starting to think Ryan is using him for his baby, considering how much he’s already talked her up to all of their coworkers and friends.

never tell me the odds by Wildehack (tyleet) | Wolf 359 | Doug/Hera | 9k | “I tried Star Wars," he says, adjusting the phone under his neck, "and it was way underwhelming.”

Alien Reacharound by Edgelord (lostlikeme) | Invader Zim | Zadr | 3k | “You’re telling me the only way I can get back into my body is some kind of…” Dib gesticulates while he searches for the right words. “Alien reacharound?”

Find Me Somebody by raiining | Good Omens | Adam/Warlock | 11k | “You left me,” he said. “You both left me, for him. And I can’t even blame you, because I’d have left me for him too.”

flirting with fire by brawlite | Stranger Things | Harringrove | 6k | WIP | Steve's a cop, Billy's a firefighter. It's not a grudge, it's just a regular old small town rivalry.

and you're trying not to tell him by lymricks | Stranger Things | Harringrove | 4k | Whatever. They don’t talk, is the point, and Billy doesn’t need to finish all these big, deep, tragic sentences in his head. He needs to know if Harrington can’t swim.For lifeguard reasons. It’s his job, all right?

See Your Colors by lj_todd | The Dark Tower | Roland/Walter | 2k | The first time Roland laid eyes on Walter was the first time he saw color.

Straight Martinis by dreamfleet, mezmerize | Kingdom Hearts | Axel/Roxas | 5k | The obvious choice. (Or, cocktail parties are boring and hot waiters are fantastic distractions.)

September

gold, when you find me by mmtion | The Flash | Iris/Barry | 53k | It's not that Iris hates The Flash, per say - more that she hates writing about The Streak in a weekly, pun-heavy comic based on The Flash.

From friends to this by Ever-so-reylo (Ever_So_Reylo) | Star Wars | Reylo | 3.6k | Ben has never been good with words; Rey, it seems, doesn’t mind learning his language.

wear it well by sarcasticfishes | Buzzfeed Unsolved | Ryan/Sara, Shane/Sara | 5k | “Are Ryan and I dating? Or— something?”Shane looks up from his paperback, an eyebrow raised. “Babe I think you’re asking the wrong person.”

never gets old by brawls (brawlite), ToAStranger | Stranger Things | Harringrove | 31k | WIP | Falling in love with a cam boy named KingSteve isn't the smartest thing Billy Hargrove has ever done, nor is it the most healthy -- but the good choice is rarely ever the fun choice, and Billy is all about living life fast and loose.

Gift Trapped by andavs | Teen Wolf | Sterek | 19k | There was a massive box, wrapped up prettily with red paper and a green bow, totally eclipsing the small Christmas tree Laura set up on his coffee table. The thudding heartbeat was coming from inside.

To the Sun by blacktofade | Buzzfeed Unsolved | Ryan/Shane/Sara | 17k | Life is weird. Ten years after Unsolved ends, Shane’s married with a kid and Ryan accidentally bumps into him at a gas station in Illinois.

Tag Team by blacktofade | Buzzfeed Unsolved | Ryan/Shane/Sara | 14k | Ryan participates in a charity date auction, much to his chagrin. Sara and Shane try to help.

October

only then i am human, only then i am clean by Macremae | EOS 10 | Ryan/Akmazian | 4k | There had never seemed to be a reason why everyone on station wanted to bang the living daylights out of Ryan. It was just... a thing. Space is black, stars are bright, and Ryan Dalias is attractive to literally everyone. The universe continues as normal.Except now it's laughing it's ass off, because turns out there was a reason after all.

(Almost Cool by blacktofade | Buzzfeed Unsolved | Ryan/Shane | 30k | While filming the Yuma Territorial Prison episode, Shane gets bitten by what he thinks is a bat. Spoiler alert: it's not.)

low lays the devil by Spooks (agonizer) | Buzzfeed Unsolved | Ryan/Shane | 19k | Keeping Ryan Bergara alive and safe is a full-time job, and Shane Madej has his work cut out for him.

Scratch by L1av | DBH | Hankcon | 71k | There's a virus killing androids. Hank and Connor are tasked with finding out what it is and why it's being made. When the virus is unwillingly uploaded into Connor's system, he learns there may be a desperate reason why androids want it. He can feel pain. And he likes it.

Ask a Compelling Question by TeamHPForever | The Magnus Archives | Martin/Jon Sims | 2k | “What are you thinking about?” Jon asks, his voice edged into a snap.Martin’s mouth opens and, entirely without his permission, words spill out. “I was thinking about what it would be like to kiss you.”

a clean break by Wildehack (tyleet) | The Magnus Archives | Georgie/Melanie | 1k | Georgie’s phone rings at work, and she almost doesn’t answer it.

ways to save the world by Wildehack (tyleet) | The Magnus Archives | Martin/Jonathan | 19k | “I left you,” Martin says softly.

Where Airy Voices Lead by Harvey_King (Delphi) | The Magnus Archives | Martin/Jon | 4k |  Five unsubstantiated encounters between Martin Blackwood and Jonathan Sims, and one that was captured on audio cassette.

the shape of your comfort, molded with care by ivelostmyspectacles | The Magnus Archives | Martin/Jon | 6k | “You didn’t like the sex, did you?”

Out Of His System by platoapproved | Raven Cycle | Noah/Ronan, Kavinsky/Ronan | 2k | Noah gives Ronan a quick and nasty handjob while dirty talking to him about Kavinsky, because that's what friends are for.

i'd bury diamonds just for you by desastrista | The Bright Sessions | Sam/Damien/Mark | 9k | Mark is photographing a band on tour, Sam is working at the AM, and Damien is still struggling to adjust to life without his abilities

strange bedfellows by spookykingdomstarlight | Star Wars | Finn/Kylo Ren | 4k | “Alas, the storm is come again! My best way is to creep under his gaberdine. There is no other shelter hereabouts. Misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows. I will here shroud till the dregs of the storm be past.” - The Tempest, Act II, Scene II

The Denial Twist by beethechange | Buzzfeed Unsolved | Ryan/Shane | 35k | Or, the one where Shane and Ryan have some really weird dreams and perhaps, eventually, some sex.

November

The Sun Dog by ambiguously | Star Wars | Finn/Ren/Rey | 5k | Finn and Rey, with their semi-prisoner Kylo Ren, attempt to meet up with the Resistance on a planet that has been taken over by monsters.

DELIGHTFUL FANVIDS

August

billy hargrove | fairly local.

(Marvel) MCU || In The End

battle royale [iw + endgame]

Multifandom || Can i keep you?

roman godfrey | bad guy.

Mr. Sandman | Multifandom

September

Iron Man & Captain America || Legends Are Made

Quentin & Eliot || There's a door somewhere

glitter & gold [bungou stray dogs amv]

(Marvel) Thor | Worthy

MARVEL || What if the Storm Ends? (collab w/ djcprod)

Marvel || I'm Only Human

DISNEY'S Motivational Video

(SW) Darth Vader | The Good In You

(Marvel) Peter Parker | Legacy

MultiFandom || Way Down We Go [200K]

Marvel || Destruction

October

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt [Geralt Of Rivia] Tribute

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Tribute ''Swallow Song" [HD]

►buzzfeed unsolved; GhostBusters™

👻 Buzzfeed Unsolved in Nutshell [IG edits]

👻buzzfeed unsolved; calling all the monsters

Dishonored GMV (Outsider tribute) - Dark Matter

Dishonored GMV Honor for all

Preacher ][ Play Dirty

【Assassin's Creed ｜Odyssey】Wires

👻 The Buzzfeed Unsolved Crack

👻 2 Unsolved 2 Crack

Pennywise | Toxic

2023 - Trailer (1917 Style)

Crowley Good Omens Cosplay Tik Tok Compilation

Joker

(Death Note) Yagami Light | The God of the New World

REYLO || WICKED GAME

Multi-Horror || Where is my mind?

November

MARVEL/DC - Runnin

THE WITCHER | MAIN TRAILER | NETFLIX

DELIGHTFUL MUSIC

August

It’s All Coming Back to Me Now - Celine Dion

Walk Through the Fire - Ruelle

Remember When - Bad Wolves

The High Road - Broken Bells

Hey Look Ma, I Made It - Panic! At the Disco

Season of the Witch - Lana del Rey

The Void - Muse

Dancing On My Own - Robyn

Lanterns Lit - Son Lux

Fire With Fire - AlicebanD

Hungover in the City of Dust - Autoheart

Everything I Need - Skylar Grey

Liquid Smooth - Mitski

Think - Kaleida

Swan Song - Dua Lipa

September

Eleventh Dimension - Julian Casablancas

Talk | Khalid

Interstellar soundtrack

Bird Song | Juniper Vale

For the Dancing and the Dreaming | Erutan

Paradise Valley | Honey and the Sting

My Hallelujah | Autoheart

Witchcraft | Vian Izak, Juniper Vale

Furthest Star | Dirt Poor Robins

October

Lots of ghost ambient music

The Ocean | Linnea Olsson

Play Dirty | Kevin McAllister

NFWMB | Hozier

Me and the Devil | Soap&Skin

Rhiannon | Fleetwood Mac

In the Woods Somewhere | Hozier

Wet Black Leaves (playlist)

The Cruel Prince

Pas De Deux - Michael Abels

Beach Walk - Michael Abels

I Got 5 On It (Tethered Mix) - Michael Abels

POSTED FIC

August

no more dreaming like a ghost | KH | Axel/Roxas | 813 words | He is in the kitchen, the stove top still warm under his thighs, and everything smells of cherries. The pie is cooling on the windowsill, the sun slanting in warm and buttery, and it is like a dream. A memory. A wish.

Cheers | DBH | Hankcon | 6,368 words | “Are you coming in or not?”Connor blinks, jerks his eyes up and away from those hands and-The bartender has blue eyes. They match the spinning LED at his temple perfectly.

September

N/A

October

bury a friend (try to wake up) | Stranger Things | Harringrove | 1,587 words | Steve digs up Billy’s body on a Tuesday.

won't be too soon 'til I say... goodnight moon | KH | Riku/Sora | 4,549 words |  The house was built in the fall of 1882.

you'll never know what hit you | Buzzfeed Unsolved | Ryan/Shane | 5,379 words | "C’mon, ghost,” Shane urges. “Make all my dreams come true. Fuck me up, fam.”

make this chaos count | EOS 10 | Ryan/Akmazian | 724 words | “You really should stop looking for me,” Akmazian tells him, fingers creeping across Ryan’s ribcage, mapping the architecture of his ribs.

eat you up whole | The Witcher | Geralt/Regis | 2,527 words | “How many mouthfuls do you think I could take from you before it had some effect?” Regis whispers, lips against his throat. Geralt can feel the pinprick of fangs. “Four? Six? Ten? More, even?”

forget the horror here | DBH | Hankcon | 4,390 words | “Hello,” the android says, it’s chest heaving, the gleam of its heart brighter, bluer than before.

summoning demons (and other bad first date ideas) | Buzzfeed Unsolved | Ryan/Shane | 3,868 words | “If I let you out of that circle,” Ryan says, slowly. “Are you going to eat me?”

Itch | The Magnus Archives | Martin Blackwood/Jonathan Sims | 1,440 words | The boneturner takes from him two ribs - one for him and one for Jon. 

the salt water sting | Dishonored | Corvo/Outsider | 2,163 words |  The ship wrecks several hundred miles off of the coast of Karnaca.

a skeleton of something more | SGA | Rodney/John | 3,072 words | “John?” he murmurs, still coasting on the pain. His head feels like it’s stuffed with cotton, if cotton were also made of glass.

in the woods somewhere | Teen Wolf | Derek/Stiles | 4,570 words | Stiles buys a house in Virginia.

Wake Up | The Magnus Archives | Martin/Jon | 550 words | “If you wake up,” Martin tells him, experimentally. “I won’t go through with it. You can tell me what a stupid idea it was, and we can laugh about it, and everything will be normal.”

Pas de Deux | KH | Axel/Roxas | 506 words | Roxas doesn’t remember what the sky looks like anymore.

try to wake up | Stranger Things | Harringrove | 1,226 words | They do not, in fact, bone down and praise Satan.

too late to come on home | LoZ | Gen | 1,391 words | “You look familiar,” the boy says in his strange, haunting voice. “Are you lost?”

patron saint of the lost causes | Harry Potter | Draco/Harry | 4,203 words | “Can’t you just, y’know,” he waves a hand and makes an obscene gesture, his cheeks flaring red. “Shag it out?”

wouldn't you like to see something strange? | Teen Wolf | Sterek | 1,571 words | “I’d say you make my heart pound, but well…” Stiles nods meaningfully to his chest, where if you look hard enough between the slots of his ribs, you can see the lump of muscle that once was his heart, pointedly not beating. “You know.”

the night is softly, sweetly calling | Teen Wolf | Sterek | 2,938 words | Here’s the thing that Stiles never tells the Hales: his mother was strange too.

Haunt | Buzzfeed Unsolved | Ryan/Shane | 1,486 words |  Ryan couldn’t remember a time when the world didn’t believe in ghosts.

bite my tongue, bide my time | PJO | Nico/Percy(/Annabeth) | 1,376 words | “What’s wrong with you?” Nico asks, cowering when Percy places a gentle kiss on his collarbone.

Bird Song | Raven Cycle | Ronan/Adam, Gen | 1,445 words | On a dreary Sunday in early January, Ronan dreams himself a pair of wings.

kiss me hard until you're done | Star Wars | Reylo | 3,082 words | He looks up at her from under heavy lids, dark hair sweeping forward to frame his face. “May I have this dance?”

beauty in the dissonance | Marvel | Tony/Loki | 1,411 words |  When Tony dies, it isn’t for forever.

like real people do | Stranger Things | Harringrove | 2,808 words |  “I’ve got the sight, man,” he says with a small shrug. “And look, I feel for you. You’re dead and I’m not, and that sucks, but unless you’re planning on doing something about it, I’d really appreciate it if you could stop feeling me up and let me get back to sleep.”

i'd rather drown in your ocean | Naruto | Itachi/Shisui | 1,630 words |  The Uchihas are an odd sort. Everyone says so.

catch your breath | The Bright Sessions | Mark/Damien/Sam | 2,588 words | Mark had never assumed in a million years that he would ever see Damien again. He hadn’t factored in zombies.

Nightmare | The Magnus Archives | Martin/Jonathan | 1,424 words | “All right,” he says, taking Jon’s still outstretched hand. “Let’s give the dream what it wants.”

dreaming of the crash | Gravity Falls | Mabel & Dipper | 484 words | When the end of the world comes, they’re under the bed.

don't we love it now? | Kingdom Hearts | Sora/Riku/Kairi | 1,784 words |  When Kairi is eleven years old, she gets lost in the woods.

all this, and love too, will ruin us | Star Wars | Reylo | 1,102 words |  Rey is awake to watch the sunrise

November

WIPS | UNPUBLISHED | ORIGINAL

August

N/A

September

N/A

October

Not October 8 | Wolf 359 | Hera & Jacobi | 652 words |  When they land on Earth, Hera spends a week in a box.

FANMIXES/GRAPHICS

August

N/A

September

[elipodda]

“They say in the moment before you die you see your life, a spat of film strip, the bad and good, nightmares and dreams, unfolding before you. Your first dog. Your first cigarette. Your first love. A friend who became a stranger. The tree you planted when you were five. These moments come up and grab you. Live and steady. And then they let go. Receding into the past. Before parting ways, your body is weightless, hovering in place for what feels like an eternity. This is so you have enough time to say goodbye. But you don’t realize it. Because it’s all of a moment. A speck in time in which you exist. And then not. Just a moment. Before it’s all over.”

 I guess if Mary Kills People has its fatal flaw as a show, then it’s a passionate, fool love for what makes life meaningful.

This season finale, astoundingly poignant, pulls the strings of both seasons’ tale, links by hand all characters encountered on the stage. Actors and extras of a higher story of which maybe they were unaware. All gathered together like Brendan’s friends saying his goodbyes in the woods, each one with its verses, each one with its fragment of life lived, to build the message, the legacy of this wonderful show.

Why Mary Kills People is a show captivating for the audience, involving intimately things we do not know or want to talk about. What we know is only something that has involved intensely in its genesis, can involve in turn. What we rather want to highlight is how every single component, every single detail contributes to compose this valuable tapestry, the more precious, the more rare.

So let us stand up to applaud anyone who took part in this show.  The 3 fantastic, surprising directors – the level to which Holly Dale had left the bar last year seemed unattainable – to the writers, poets of intimate feelings as ancient elegies rather than just simple screenwriters.  To musicians, able to tell with notes and songs what could not be said with words.  To photographers and editors leaving us speechless.  To costumes, make-up, prop department, location scouts, who set them up, to the guy who brought them  a cup of  warm coffee in the cold of  Ontario autumn… All those who helped make this show true, above all others. True but at the same time, poetic. Thank you.

To the actors, all of them, generous interpreters of characters and personalities. Soul donors. Their talent second only to the devotion with which they have been committed to make Mary, Des, Ben, Nicole, Jess, and Olivia, Brendan, Germaine, Heather, Noemi , Betty …all true. All of them: Caroline Dhavernas, Richard Short, Jay Ryan, Abigail Winter, Charlotte Sullivan, Rachelle Lefevre, Salvatore Antonio … All.

To those two brave women who have defied the custom, ignored the easiest way, choosing as the first project to link their name to a story so out of the box, challenging, revolutionary… Thank You from the heart.

If Life were a person, Mary Kills People would be its epitaph. The love verses telling the meaning of an existence.

The season finale did nothing but confirm feelings and emotions that kept us company throughout the whole season. As in the procession in the woods, protagonists  marched for us with their fragment of story as their legacy. They marched for us and for Mary.

The entire season was designed as a path of awareness for each one of the characters, from Mary to Des, to Jess, Nicole and Ben. The patients who we saw dying in the episodes made their farewell a testimony of values, leaving to Mary and Des but also to Nicole and Ben and finally to Jess, a message as a sort of responsibility, arousing not only emotions but deep reflections in each character’s inner being.

During this last day in the finale, we see all protagonists committed, in one way or another, voluntarily or involuntarily, to make life-changing choices, deciding how to fill, frame by frame, that footage that will flow before our eyes in the last moments, choosing how to give worth to life. It is all in choices and awareness in the path that brings everyone together in the end, in a clearing in the woods, in the light of candles surrounded by marigolds.

Jess, with the delicate but intense touch of Abigail Winter’s talent, surprises us positively, confirming an esteem that is unlikely to be questioned. She finds out the nature of Mary’s clandestine work. She finds out it in the most brutal way yet she does not bat an eyelid. Her acceptance, which reminds us once more that nature of love is to love, not necessarily to save or understand, is second only to Mary’s candor in opening up to her. When the situation is desperate and you put a lot on scale, it is not worth wavering and holding back. So Mary can be sincere and honest and true in confessing her daughter that there is all of herself in what she does and she does not know why nor can she be different – Bravo at the poignant artistic moment of Caroline Dhavernas that goes beyond stealing us a tear. Beyond acting, beyond  awards, beyond TV or maybe giving a new definition of TV entertainment just as the whole show did. Jess does not need anything else. Nothing more than to know who her mother is, to be able to love her completely, to understand that she is really  loved in turn. Jess and Mary choose without fear of being themselves and their choice leads them to stand side by side to face together what happens.

Nicole has not always understood Mary’s motivations. Quite the contrary. Not just because Mary had kept them hidden at first. There, Nicole had been quick and ready to get a clear idea of ​​her sister’s actions but why the reasons, she had not always been able to share. Embracing enthusiastically Des’ project of the hospice, Nicole too takes her position beside Mary, choosing in turn. If to be Mary’s sister, if to have the only family left in Mary means to be part of Mary’s life as much as you want her to be part of yours, Nicole is there, she does not hesitate anymore. With enthusiasm, positive inclination, involvement and “vibes”, Nicole’s path leads her to look forward enriched by her experiences thanks to Mary.

Des … Des is the person who has changed more since the first season. Eight months of reflection and rethink have given him a great advantage on the way to the  awareness. He has the clearest ideas and the deepest doubts. He knows exactly, in every moment of his adventure with Mary, what he is doing and why he is doing it. His awareness gives each of his actions a more meaningful and deeper value. We must bow to Richard Short, so extraordinarily the Master of this eclectic and multifaceted character, to give him nuances that in the writers’ room they dared not even imagine. The choice of Des, therefore, with the greater awareness that the events had given him, is more a confirmation than a new choice. A confirmation linked to a discovery. The confirmation that he does not need a painful, intimate past to embrace with passion the choice to do what’s good, in a way perhaps still illegal, perhaps unconventional but with no shadow of doubt or fear, right, noble, appropriate. Choosing what he believes is right inevitably means choosing Mary, is his own fatal flaw. Because Mary is not always aware. Mary is not always fearless. Mary does not always proceed with straight and understandable trajectories. On the contrary…

Mary is a whirlwind of emotions.  Her apparent coldness is just the garment she uses to cover, protecting herself, an unthinkable vulnerability that comes from an extraordinary emotionality. Mary is passion, strong and generous in everything she does. Getting rid of Olivia while staying with Ben, who she loves, seems like a possible goal rather than a mirage. Mary throws herself all without hesitation. She risks and is terrified, not by Olivia, but by what she herself put into play in that operation. However she does not hold back.

When in that car with Olivia’s words, the microphone records that Mary has let Grady bleed to death, it is not the failure of trying to indict Olivia without incriminating herself to tear Mary’s heart and to deliver the knowledge there is always a cost to be paid for the choices made. The bill comes when you least expect it. Mary, in the car with Ben, is annihilated by pain with no hypocrisy of wanting or being able to justify, because when two people who have pretended and hidden so much from the beginning do decide to be sincere, they change and do it to a true and deep level with no limits. There is no space, therefore, to drown the truth that brutally tears away what was between them, as the tape that holds the microphone is torn painfully and abruptly from Ben. Could Mary have chosen differently? It does not matter.

Planning with Ben in the woods, she chose knowing how much she was putting at risk, though trusting if the plan had worked, so many questions would have been silenced, so many shadows gone, maybe forever. Wearing the wire in Olivia’s car, she realized at the highest price that the only way to dispel the shadows is to turn on the light, as she had done with Jess. How she did not succeed with Ben. If she was ready to pay the price for such a high risk. If she was ready to face such a loss, we believe not. On the contrary, we believe that the story has still much to tell precisely because it’s Mary who has still so much to say, to understand and to achieve.

So generously committed to helping others give meaning to their life or death, whether one wants it, (fantastic how the two terms express the same concept when related to value and meaning), so taken by sublimating the meanings of others lives, as much as the right to choose how to die can be read as a compensation due for having to separate from affections, Mary unfailingly overlooks her own meanings, wishes and emotions that would enrich with softening tones, that final footage flowing in front of their eyes in the last moments.

Brendan’s farewell ceremony, his death, is almost a warning to Mary – we allow ourselves a standing ovation as deeply as Salvatore Antonio has let the character penetrate within himself to become so intense and extraordinarily touching – a standing ovation to Vlad Alexis too, for making his Germaine intense and truthful, so to highlight Brendan’s character details and nuances.

A warning…

to remind Mary that death is not always or entirely serene. Not just about marigolds and candles.  Sometimes it can be painful and unfair. Betty’s death was fair and desired, her life had been full and in her eyes, done. Brendan’s death is right and serene, since he cannot avoid it, he chooses how to live it, filling it with the richness of his affections and fullness of what he has experienced. How fair, how serene, in comparison, Cho-cho San’s death, on the stage of Madame Butterfly which so surprisingly moved Mary? Cho-cho San does not want to die. Cho-cho san should not die. However when the girl’s life had emptied of what gave her meaning, she had no choice. Because a life without meaning, it is not life. Cho-cho san challenged her society, the conventions of her world and questioned her belief… because of Love. Lost her love, she can die. She chooses love to give meaning to her life. Like Betty. Like Brendan. Like Ben.

It is surprising that it’s Ben the bearer of the most important message for Mary. Ben, who for so much time we had difficulty to place. Maybe, or maybe not. Ben who was there in the shade, uncertain whether to jump to the middle of the stage. Ben who pretends so well that you never know how much you can trust him. Ben who does not seem to understand fully and then surprises you by accepting everything at once, redesigning everything because of Mary. Because he loves her.

Love is worth it being on Mary’s side and we faint every time we see him telling her at that table between a mismatched cup and a doubtful Des, with an intensity that only Jay Ryan could put in that look, overwhelms words saying much, too much more. Ben fell in love and love gave a different meaning to his life. Love for a woman, not just for what is right and fair Love made him accept so much, indeed love made him understand so much, accepting was a consequence. Because of love he chose to live with little doubt that there is not necessarily white and black but also a little grey, as all the voices kept whispering on each side of this stage, Love is acceptance.

But in that car, from that cold wire, what Ben heard, went beyond doubt, stained grey of an indelible black. Ben heard that he has been used. There is no other way to say it. Used and betrayed. Love that fills life is not a love that uses. It does not betray you.

On the squalid patio of his camper, Ben – he will understand us and excuse us, Jay Ryan – is Cho-cho San. While in a clearing they celebrate love that makes peaceful the farewell from life, in the unreal silence of his own clearing, Ben shouts louder than words of Brendan’s poem: death makes no sense if you have not filled your life with meaning.

It matters very little that there is his bourbon or Olivia’s pento in that bottle. Of course it counts for Mary. It will count a lot for her because the pento or the bourbon will decide the colors of many frames of her footage in her future.

For Ben, however, when he chooses to overflow the content of the bottle, there is no difference.

There is no tomorrow if there is no love.

Pento or bourbon that it is, in that bottle Ben chooses to drown.

Federica Edited by Lisa

"It's ok, babe. I'm only dying" For its season finale #marykillspeople invites you to a heart rending edition of Dia de los muertos. Our Fatal Flaw review. “They say in the moment before you die you see your life, a spat of film strip,

[eznews]

Toronto singer/songwriter Jessie Reyez was to make history Monday by becoming the first artist to perform the American and Canadian national anthems from the CN Tower’s EdgeWalk, 116 storeys above the ground.

Reyez is to sing the anthems for Game 1 of the first round of the Toronto Raptors’ NBA Playoff Series. The internationally televised game between the Raptors, the reigning NBA champions, and the Brooklyn Nets, is scheduled to begin at 4 p.m. Monday on Sportsnet.

It’s been a good summer for the Grammy-nominated Reyez, the pandemic notwithstanding. A news release announcing the anthem performance noted that Reyez sang her single “Before Love Came to Kill Us” on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” last week. And she had a cameo during the song “SCAR” in Beyoncé’s film/visual album “Black Is King,” released July 31 on Disney Plus.

Reyez released her debut studio album, also called “Before Love Came to Kill Us,” in March.

Mirvish honours ‘Come From Away’ and ‘Hamilton’ lighting designer Howard Binkley

Mirvish Productions plans to dim the marquee lights of the Royal Alexandra and Princess of Wales theatres Tuesday at 8 p.m. for Howell Binkley.

The Tony Award-winning American lighting designer died Aug. 14 at 64. He had lung cancer, Mirvish said in a news release.

Binkley, who was born in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, made his Broadway debut with “Kiss of the Spider Woman” in 1993, which earned him his first Tony nomination.

He went on to work in more than 100 shows, was nominated nine times for Best Lighting Design Tonys and won two, for “Jersey Boys” in 2006 and “Hamilton” in 2016.

Binkley also founded the modern dance company Parsons Dance Company with David Parsons in New York City in 1985.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic closed theatres around the world, three shows with lighting designed by Binkley were playing in Toronto: “Come From Away” at the Royal Alexandra; “Hamilton” at the Ed Mirvish and “Summer: The Donna Summer Musical” at the Princess of Wales.

David Hein, co-creator of “Come From Away” with wife Irene Sankoff, paid tribute to Binkley on social media: “I have a degree in lighting design and Howell Binkley’s work was the best in the world. I remember telling Irene I would’ve watched Hamilton with the sound off just to watch his lighting. We were so so lucky to have him on Come From Away.”

‘Egyptian Mummies’ exhibit will open at ROM on Sept. 19

Six Egyptian mummies whose appearance at the Royal Ontario Museum was sidelined by the COVID-19 pandemic will make their Toronto debut next month.

The mummies are the centrepiece of “Egyptian Mummies: Ancient Lives. New Discoveries,” which was scheduled to open in May but will now bow on Sept. 19.

The ROM says this will be the last chance to see the show on its worldwide tour.

Loading…

Loading…Loading…Loading…Loading…Loading…

Loading…

Originating at the British Museum, it’s described as “both a rigorous scientific exploration and a spiritual voyage, using advanced CT scanning techniques, 3D images, over 200 extraordinary objects and six mummies to illustrate — in greater detail than ever before — fascinating facts of each individual’s life story.”

The six people lived between 900 BC and 180 AD. They include Nestawedjat, a woman from Thebes; Tamut, a middle-aged chantress; Irthorru, a middle-aged priest; an unnamed temple singer; a young boy who lived during the Roman period; and an unknown young man from Thebes.

To ensure physical distancing, the ROM is limiting daily admissions to the museum with visitors asked to buy timed-entry tickets online. The exhibit runs until March 21. See rom.on.ca for information.

Two men indicted in 2002 killing of Jam Master Jay

Two men have been indicted in the 2002 slaying of hip-hop artist Jam Master Jay, which until now had been one of New York City’s most notorious unsolved killings.

Three law enforcement officials not authorized to speak publicly identified the suspects as Ronald Washington and Karl Jordan. Federal prosecutors were expected to announce the charges at a news conference Monday afternoon.

Washington, who had reportedly been living on a couch at Jay’s home in the days before his death, was publicly named as a possible suspect or witness as far back as 2007. He is currently serving a prison sentence stemming from a string of robberies he committed while on the run from police after Jay’s death.

Jason “Jay” Mizell, known professionally as Jam Master Jay, was a member of 1980s hip-hop act Run-DMC. Their hits included “It’s Tricky,” “Christmas in Hollis” and the Aerosmith remake collaboration “Walk This Way.”

Jay was shot once in the head with a .40-calibre bullet by a masked assailant at his studio in Hollis, the Queens neighbourhood where he grew up, police said at the time. He left behind a wife and three children.

The Associated Press

Raunchy single ‘WAP’ becomes most streamed single in its first week out

“WAP” is a verified rainmaker.

The raunchy hip-hop single by rappers Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion racked up 93 million streams in the United States in the week after its release on Aug. 7 — the most ever recorded for an opening seven-day period, according to Nielsen Music, and more than enough for the song to enter Billboard’s Hot 100 at No. 1.

“WAP” bested the previous first-week streaming record-holder, Ariana Grande’s 2019 “7 Rings,” by about eight million streams; its total is the 18th highest for any song in any week, Billboard said, on a list topped by Lil Nas X and Billy Ray Cyrus’s “Old Town Road,” which drew 143 million streams in a single week in April 2019.

“WAP” — scorned by conservative politicians and commentators — wasn’t just a streaming success. With 125,000 downloads, the song also notched the biggest sales week for any song since Taylor Swift’s “Me!” in May 2019.

Los Angeles Times

from WordPress https://ift.tt/3g4ILZp via IFTTT