#I like to pretend I've had any success as a photographer

[doozclops]

Well I made $0 from that sale, as usual. I hope selling my worldly possessions on eBay has more success.

[aziraphales-library]

Hello! It's nice work you're doing here, and as a recent victim of Good Omens 2, I am definitely going to be enjoying this.

Now, requests, was wondering if you had any angst or hurt/comfort about the magic show scene where Crowley has to pretend to shoot Aziraphale? Mostly focusing on Crowley, but either is fine. Thanks in advance <3

Hi! We recently reccomended some fics where the bullet catch doesn't go as planned here. I've got a few now, mostly set after the magic act, in which Crowley suffers some hurt/angst...

In the Dark Beside You by EdosianOrchids901 (T)

After helping Aziraphale with his magic act in 1941, Crowley suffers from nightmares. Will a trip to the bookshop let him finally get some rest?

Fire Away Like Never Before by Bazzpop (T)

Crowley had experience with holding firearms—probably not with the correct form—but he’d at least held them before he’d passed them off onto someone else over the years. That, however, was about as far as his experience with them went though. — Or the fic where I saw Crowley’s hand shaking during the Bullet Catch scene and just had to expand upon it

Lightning strikes twice with glitches in the sky by verovex (T)

Crowley remembers an evening in 1941 ending differently than Aziraphale recalls it, or so Crowley thinks. “Yes,” Crowley says honestly, but gravelly adds, “Don't make me do that again.” “Do what?” “Put me in a position that would hurt you.”

1941, or, blurring the edges by DemonToBee (E)

After Aziraphale and Crowley return to the bookshop from their successful magic trick at the theatre, Crowley asks Aziraphale to show him how he did the thing with the vanishing photograph, which leads to some angst, an apology dance performed by Aziraphale and eventual smut. Enjoy!

Aim For My Heart by midnightdragons (E)

“You could have been hurt, angel.” Crowley’s voice was near-silent, barely a whisper of a breath. It was too quiet, and it made Aziraphale’s heart sink. It was nothing like the spitfire and cocksure tone of voice that Aziraphale knew Crowley’s confidence to be so flamboyant in; it felt vulnerable, it felt uncomfortable, it felt like crossing a line that they were both too scared to step over. “My – my life was not in the hands of no one whom I did not trust,” Aziraphale responded after several long moments, wringing his hands together behind his back and biting his lip. He didn’t know how to react to this. Crowley did not seem like himself, and it was . . . scary. “I was never in any real danger, because it was you who was holding the gun.”

(Missing scene from directly after the Bullet Catch scene, to the scene in the dressing room. Aziraphale didn't realize how genuinely scared Crowley was at the prospect of hurting him, and in fear, a lot of things are said, and a lot of things are revealed. INCLUDES AN ALTERNATE ENDING THAT IS JUST SMUT.)

- Mod D

[allwaswell16]

Hiiiii I’m currently reading Love, Hate & Clickbait and was wondering if you had any recs of fics like that. Enemies to lovers and also Fake/ Pretend Relationship where they both think they’re straight at the beginning and then realize they like the other person and have a sexuality crisis

Okay, I've had this sitting in my inbox forever (sorry anon!) because I basically didn't know what to do with it. I can't find any fics that have all three of the things you're looking for. So I decided to break it up into separate options that have 2 of the 3 because I know lots of great fics that have 2 of the 3 things you're looking for! So I'll just put their tags in the description so you know which 2 that fic addresses. (And if anyone knows of a fic that matches all three tropes, let us know!)

-Harry/Louis-

✧ Lightning Strikes The Heart by @fournipplesau , @justalarryblog

(E, 130k, enemies to lovers+fake relationship) And here, dear reader is where we will find out which young omega might succeed at securing a match, hoping to not become a spinster.

✧ That Sounds Fake But Okay by dancingontheceiling

(E, 112k, enemies to lovers+fake relationship) Harry Styles is a rookie journalist forced to work the gossip desk at a major New York magazine. Louis Tomlinson is the A-list actor who doesn't appreciate Harry or his articles.

✧ Paparazzi by Darling28 / @blousun

(E, 93k, sexuality crisis+enemies to lovers) Louis is a successful paparazzi that the stars love. He brings out the beautiful in them and treats them kindly. But then he suddenly gets the job of photographing Harry Styles for the next few months.

✧ Mistletoe's For Two by crimsontheory

(E, 90k, enemies to lovers+fake relationship) They both need dates for their respective Christmas parties and decide to use each other for their own benefit.

✧ this charade (was never going to last) by @scrunchyharry

(E, 68k, enemies to lovers+fake relationship) As if the whole ‘industrial spy’ business was not stressful enough, Harry found himself in a hatred-at-first-sight relationship with one of his new coworkers, Louis, a man intent on detesting Harry.

✧ Love's On The Line, Is That Your Final Answer? by PearlyDewdrops 

(E, 53k, fake relationship+enemies to lovers) Harry can’t believe it when Louis, the boy he’s always had a tempestuous rivalry with, asks him to be his boyfriend. Well, pose as his boyfriend, that is—for a new television game show in which young couples are quizzed on how well they know each other for a jackpot of thirty grand.

✧ Follow Your Heart by dimpled_halo / @comebackassholes

(E, 32k, sexuality crisis+fake relationship) “We think it would be best to market you guys as a couple,” Simon tells them. The tone in his voice makes Louis think there’s no wiggle room to even try to argue about it.

✧ Pillow Talk by @fallinglikethis

(E, 25k, sexuality crisis+fake relationship) When Harry starts having confusing feelings for a male classmate, his sister's best friend, Louis, helps him figure himself out. Cue lots of kissing, sex, and falling in love.

✧ And I’d Marry You Harry (Because You Forced Me) by @2tiedships2

(NR, 24k, enemies to lovers+fake relationship) The Proposal AU featuring Harry as Sandra Bullock, Louis as Ryan Reynolds, and all the fun a fake relationship and forced engagement can bring.

✧ i'll be yours to keep by midnights 

(NR, 17k, enemies to lovers+fake relationship) louis should've thought a lot more about who he said his fake boyfriend is, especially since he and his "significant other" kinda hate each other. most of the time.

✧ if it looks like, feels like, tastes like love... by tempolarriefics / @tempolarriefix

(T, 16k, enemies to lovers+fake relationship) the one where harry and louis hate each other but pretend to date to be able to live in university 'family housing', zayn and liam are their nosy next door neighbors, and niall is the friend who made it all happen.

-Rare Pairs-

✧ Show Me Forever by 2870

(G, 42k, Zayn/Harry, sexuality crisis+fake relationship) A plan involving fake fiancés is in conduct to prolong Zayn from getting officially married, and somehow he and Harry become homeowners together, ruining everything in the best way possible. (aka, best friends to pretend relationships to roommates to lovers au)

✧ thought you might be mine by orphan_account 

(T, 11k, Zayn/Niall, sexuality crisis+enemies to lovers) Zayn's the top model in the fashion industry, until Niall shows up.

[wromwood]

Complain-y ramblings about commercials for AI services below the "read more."

You know, I think it's telling that the most popular genre of AI commercials (that is, commercials advertising the use of AI services, not commercials made by AI) that I've been seeing on TV lately have been the Apple Intelligence ones where the protagonists use AI as shortcuts in ways that make me not want to be like them.

Like, there are at least two commercials for Apple Intelligence starring Bella Ramsey where Ramsey uses the AI features to A) learn the name of someone that she's totally forgotten and B) summarize a pitch she didn't read so that she can pretend she prepared for her work meeting. On paper, these sound like useful fixes for people stuck in awkward situations, but seeing them play out in the commercials doesn't endear me to Ramsey (her fictional self for the commercial) or make me want to utilize Apple Intelligence in these ways.

I think it's because both of these scenarios play out like the first half of a sitcom episode, where the protagonist is clearly and blatantly trying to shortcut their way to success. When I saw that summarizing-the-pitch commercial, I was waiting for a negative consequence to befall Ramsey. Like, the summary can't cover EVERYTHING. She's gonna learn she missed something crucial in taking the shortcut and regret going with her half-informed summary, right? The second half of the sitcom episode will happen and show that you can't half-ass important stuff, right?

In the forgetting-the-name commercial, the guy even says something like, "Wow, you remember me?" and she answers something like, "Of COURSE, how could I FORGET [name]?" And like... I have a pet peeve about lying, so that got under my skin on a personal level. Pretending you didn't remind yourself of someone's name in the last five minutes is actually relatable to me, but doubling down in that way with that kind of dialogue exchange just makes me anticipate some kinda karma will leap out and get Ramsey. This commercial actually motivates me to be more open about admitting to people that I'm bad with names and to remind me what people's names are.

My dad shares my frustrations about these commercials because he doesn't like the one where a mother uses her iPhone to quickly make a slideshow of photographs for her husband's birthday. The commercial is absolutely framed like A) she either forgot the birthday or fully believed the "We said no gifts!" claim, B) she's annoyed at her daughters' legitimately good gifts to their father, and C) she's proud of "getting away" with making a slideshow present in under a minute.

Like, I'm not gonna get into any discussions on how devoted people should be in their gifts to their spouses; that's not what is bothering us about the commercial. What's bothering us is how this commercial is absolutely framed to show that the last-minute slideshow gift was made to directly compete with gifts that had more love and effort put into them, and that we were either meant to A) sympathize with the mother or B) respect/admire her hustle on navigating this situation. But we can't do either! If we were in that situation (the mother's position), we'd own up to not having a gift prepared and offer a solution in the moment. If we were experiencing the slide show gift ourselves, we'd likely appreciate it, but then feel a WHOLE lot worse if we learned that the gifter had handed the situation like the mother did in this commercial. Like, the gift of a photo slideshow would feel meaningful if we thought that the gifter had chosen and compiled the photographs themself. Just learning that it was an AI under-a-minute gesture would be iffy enough, but if we knew that the gifter was annoyed at our mutual loved ones for making more of an effort? Oof, our opinion of the gifter is gonna lower pretty quickly.

Finally, I saw the commercial that inspired this post. It's of an office worker who is clearly not the most efficient guy in the room; we get a short compilation of him doing things that are just sorta lame and not focusing on his job. He writes an email in his casual way of speaking, then presses a button to make the email sound professional. His boss is surprised to see this worker's name at the end of the fixed-up email, so he apparently knows about this worker's reputation of being a lame worker. But there's no real "ending" to this commercial after that, so we just leave on this guy's boss not being able to comfortably believe that this crappy worker wrote a competent email.

This was the last straw for me. This commercial proved that we're supposed to see the protagonists of all these Apple Intelligence commercials as uncaring and lazy in some way. How does that benefit the advertisement? I don't want to act like the people in these situations. In fact, they're just supporting my previously held belief that it's better to work and learn skills through time and effort rather than try the apparent "easy way out." These commercials feel like they're advertising reading CliffsNotes instead of completing assigned readings.

I'm not gonna lie and say that I hate any and all shortcuts. I love things that save me from doing unneeded work. I love being able to take more time for myself. I don't think we need to remove or avoid things that make life easier. But I really don't like this idea that the selling point of AI is to be a replacement for practicing legitimate skills. Sometimes, it's absolutely worth it to do the work, especially to avoid those sitcom karma moments that will undoubtedly come when your lack of effort is revealed.

[weneedtotalkaboutcate]

Had to share this, I love the photos, the evolution of Cate's face is fascinating. This photographer posted these back in 2016. They were taken in September 1998. What he said about her was so acutely different from any description of the Cate Blanchett we know today.

I CAN'T PRETEND MY SHOOT WITH CATE BLANCHETT WAS A NOTABLE SUCCESS. I remember it even now as more than slightly awkward, with neither of us really sure of what we wanted to do on either side of the camera. At the time, she was a young actress with her first really big roles and a reputation as someone to watch.

Blanchett was in Toronto publicizing her starring role in Elizabeth, playing the young Tudor queen in a film that would lead to an inevitable sequel and a high profile career that has produced a sixth Oscar nomination for Todd Haynes' Carol. She's won twice now, once for playing Katherine Hepburn in The Aviator, and I won't be the first person to suggest that her career is more like Hepburn's than any other movie star.

Blanchett has had a very nice career, I think. Not a conventional beauty, she's been lucky enough to be spared the cheesecake and nude scenes and has worked with practically every worthwhile director in and outside of Hollywood. It's not to say that she's without her particular charms; she has a great face for period films, though I found her at her most attractive recently playing a highly tailored and psychotic rogue CIA officer in Hanna, which probably says more about me than anything else.

I've never really revisited this shoot until now, so strong was the lingering memory of Blanchett's nervous, unsure demeanor in front of my camera. I don't remember much except that she kept sharing bemused glances with her husband, Andrew Upton, and that she had very big feet and hands. Don't ask me why that detail has lingered.

Well, what a contrast! She oozes confidence and allure now. Master of the gaze!

[idratherbeloislane]

I wasn't really familiar with any of these, so I decided to look them up and here's the information I was able to find.

John Byrne and Jim Shooter - "John Byrne was so pissed off at Jim Shooter (former editor in Chief at Marvel during most of the 80's) to the point where at a party, John Byrne made a giant pinata where he put a photograph of Jim Shooter's face on it and he BURNED IT WITH FIRE, pretending that it was Jim Shooter. . This story has been verified by several people, one of them being writer Peter David." I could not find anything with Peter David verifying this myself. But I did discover that Byrne has apparently been involved in a few swipes at Shooter in the comics. See here and here.

Grant Morrison and Mark Millar - This came up in a Rolling Stones interview. Morrison had previously been a mentor to Millar, but when Millar started to become successful on his own, he cut ties to Morrison. There's a lot of speculation that Millar stole the idea for the ending for Superman: Red Sun from Morrison, but Morrison just says in this article: "...he was in denial that I’d been there, because I saw a lot of his work had been plotted or devised, even dialogue suggestions were done by me right up until the point of The Ultimates." But here's the good part: "He still lives in Glasgow, is there a chance of bumping into him? There’s a very good chance of running into him, and I hope I’m going 100 miles an hour when it happens."

Neil Gaiman and Todd McFarlane - Mentioned in this Hollywood Reporter article. Apparently there was a lawsuit that went on for almost 10 years, though it was resolved in 2012. Like the original description says, it was basically over who owns certain characters that Gaiman had created for McFarlane's Spawn comic.

Rick Remender and Hobo Piss - There's a r/HobbyDrama write about the situation here. Basically, Remender wrote a controversial X-Men scene where Havok says that he thinks the term "mutant" is offensive, referring to it as the "m-word" and requesting to be called by his name, instead. This scene received a lot of backlash that apparently led to Remender having a meltdown on Twitter. Thus the now deleted hobo piss tweet, with bonus shiny red dick tweet!

Frank Miller & Tom King - I found a video of an interview with Tom King and Frank Miller, but I'm not sure if this is the right reference? Frank definitely does have a very annoyed expression whenever Tom King is talking and he shoots him down a few times as well. I'm hoping this is the video, as I feel like I've lost brain cells by watching it, and I would hate to waste those for nothing. I can't even really enjoy Frank low key roasting Tom, as they're both terrible people. Frank Miller might be worse as he wrote the horribly racist Holy Terror, but I guess it really depends on whether or not Tom King committed any war crimes while working as a counterterrorism CIA Officer.

John Byrne & Gay Female OCs - I assume this is something he said in an interview, but I couldn't find it? If anyone has a link, please let me know. The weird thing is that technically this isn't true! John Byrne created Maggie Sawyer, a recurring side character in the Superman Comics who was a lesbian police officer. Most of the results for John Byrne and "lesbian/lesbianism" are talking about Maggie, though a few also talk about Northstar, who is generally considered the first gay superhero of any prominence. I did find plenty of articles talking about how he's transphobic, though!

In conclusion, ACWAB (All Comics Writers Are Bad). But at least sometimes they're funny about it.

[nnatsume]

Please tell me about your OC because I had to ramble about mine. Also can he and Aka be friends please? 👉🏻👈🏻🥺 ~🌹rose anon

alright then, heeere we gooo! under the cut, i'm a littke embarrassed.. and of course they can be friends <3

so... man how do i go about this this is a little embarrassing hmmng,, well.. i've drawn him before, so here's both versions,, the second one is a lite sloppy and i forgot the pendant thingy but,, pretend it's there okay?@?@? also, i'm really having trouble with tying him into the story help,,

TW // spiders

his name is noriaki kobayashi,, just nori for short. he was supposed to enroll in the idol course, but his voice was found too weak to give stable performances, and he had no partners to help him over the hurdle. bitterly, he joined the production course. if he can't be an idol, then he'll just help idols from backstage, right?

he lives with his grandma, as his parents are pretty busy all the time—they have to work hard to fund his dreams. nori is the father of two cats, a spider and takes care of his grandma's canaries as well. he's really fond of animals. (he thinks penguins are the best. sadly he can't have one)

nori has a positive outlook on pretty much everything. if things don't go his way, then he'll make another way. he is extremely energetic and full of life, and when it gets tough, nori just gets more energy. he's always grinning or laughing, he just has no neutral face. oftentimes, he won't settle with just having something, he wants the best he can get. his hands always have to be working on something, otherwise he feels useless. the feeling of accomplishment is great, isn't it? he loves helping people out and seeing the look of pride or accomplishment on their faces.

nori is.. not the brightest tool in the shed. he wants to know everything there is to know and uncover every secret around yumenosaki—he has years worth of information on his cellphone. nori is kind of a ticking bomb, naturally, people are pretty wary of him, so he doesn't really have any friends. it makes him feel a little discouraged when he has to occupy a table by himself, but he just brushes it off at the end of the day. BUT he'll sit with aka sometimes if it doesn't bother her <3

that energy of his makes him pretty unpredictable, his emotions tend to control him more. it leaves him pretty short-tempered. a lot of things he does are out of spite or out of revenge. he gets jealous of other people's success very easily and tries to outshine them, often leading to fatigue. oh, you said that the violin is too hard for him in middle school? well, damn you, nori learned it in two months. he can't dance? well, he just learned to tango, wanna watch? he's prone to hiding sad feelings, burying them deep. grudges. lots of grudges.

he has a few things to flaunt! you see, he's actually pretty good at the violin. and nori is so flexible, he can sling his leg over the back of his neck while standing, and then go back like that just didn't happen. nobody can beat him in games about knowledge and memory.

nori can absolutely not handle the season changes. he gets sick everytime for a few days, especially during warmer changes. and despite his flexibility and unlimited energy he is extremely bad at sports. he runs half a lap on the field and then drops dead. speed-walking has him gasping for air. he's so bad that the teachers have mercy on him and let him do some essays on sports to better his grade.

his interests consist of mostly gothic things, like fashion or literature. he finds them beautiful. even though he gets startled easily he binges horror movies—the super old ones, like nosferatu or photographing a ghost—he has the cassettes for them, with a device to play them of course. he also has a gothic antique chair that he likes to flex everytime he gets the chance. literally just a chair

the dresscode? nori does not care. nori wears what nori wants. only when reprimanded does he wear the school uniform. it has him sulking and complaining for the entire week.

[kosmosian-quills]

*sneezes* I've read the snippet with Lily's mom and... HOW DARE YOU!???!?! It attacked me with feels. 😱😱

What??? You mean you want more feels??? Okay!!

in all seriousness thank you very much for this comment :D it’s very nice to know that The Feels TM have hit you with success.

It’s set in @cirianne​‘s Street Magic universe, about maybe a month after the drabble you mentioned. I wrote this also as a tie in to @flashfictionfridayofficial​‘s prompt “Come Back”.

I hope you enjoy!

POV: Gwen

“How are you doing?”

I look up from my task of preparing dinner to see one of our guests looking at me, brows furrowed and head tilted slightly to one side.

“Fine, just fine Marissa,” I respond, with the smile I had been practicing this whole time, just for my guests. Polite. Pleasant. Small. But still believable enough to pass for the real thing. “keeping myself busy, what about you?”

“I’m… fine, as well,” she answers me slowly, frowning at me.

I can see her share a look with Jason beside her before I bring my attention back to chopping the carrots and sliding them into the pan of water in front of me. The repetition of peeling and chopping in the kitchen, the familiar scent of the pans bubbling and the roast from the oven I a small comfort. A slither of familiarity, that things are normal and alright.

“Are you…” it almost surprises me that Marissa is no longer stood with her husband – I can only assume that he has gone to join Charles in the living room. “… are you sure you’re alright, Gwen? You can talk to me about it.”

Her voice is so rich with concern, and she rests her hand on my shoulder with a feather light touch. She’s set down the glass of wine she had been drinking on the counter nearby, and I find it just too close to the edge for my liking. I reach over and push it back, further away from the edge, before moving the now full pan of carrots to the stove.

“I appreciate your concern Marissa, but I’m…” I clear my throat , not looking over at her as I ignite the gas rings. “I’m fine, really.”

She removes her hand from my shoulder, but doesn’t move from that spot. I don’t stop to face her, instead I cross the kitchen to the oven to check and baste the roast. It’s a pleasant enough distraction.

“… pictures?”

I’m so distracted in my own work, that I barely notice that Marissa had spoken to me.

“Sorry, what was that, Marissa?” now that I am done with the roast, I close the oven and wipe my hands down my apron.

“I said, what’s happened to these pictures?” she repeats, gesturing to the wall with her glass of wine. I know what she’s referring to.

On the corkboard, where all our reminders are pinned up - appointments, meetings, parent-teacher conferences - are a few family photographs too. Taken on school picture days, are the portraits of my sons, as well as a photograph of Peter with Charles at one of his soccer matches.

“Nothing, why?” I reply, moving the knife and cutting board from the counter to the sink for me to wash up.

“But where are Lilly’s?”

I stop, and am very glad for the fact that I am facing away from her. She can’t see how my eyes have flooded with tears at the mere mention of her name. I blink quickly, trying to blink away the tears before they manifest on my face, leaving evidence of my emotional wall crumbling. I clear my throat again, not daring to speak when my throat feels so dry and tight.

“They’re, erm –“ I move to do the washing up in front of me, scrubbing at the dishes and equipment and setting them down on the draining board. “- They’ve been moved with the other pictures. We thought it was best to… to move them, for the time being.”

Every picture that has Lilly in it in our house – from the frames to the albums – has been moved to storage in the attic. I am fine with this, because looking at her smiling, innocent little face is enough to bring me to tears, and I cannot do that in front of the children, much less any guests. I can live my life almost exactly as before if I don’t see them, if I don’t have anything to remind me of what has happened barely a week ago.

“But she’s your daughter, Gwen, why are you hiding them away?”

She’s moved closer, right beside me, and I feel almost insulted that she hasn’t taken the hint and left it be.

“They’re not hidden away –“

“Gwen, I saw it the moment I came into the house, every picture that once had Lilly in it has gone. Please, you can’t tell me that you’re trying to pretend she doesn’t exist anymore –“

“Because I can’t -!” I raise my voice louder than intended, looking at this woman – the godmother to my children – and seeing her eyes wide, staring at me in response. My throat feels scratchy and tight from my tears, and I hate it, but I can’t stop it anymore. “I can’t look at them without thinking about her, Marissa!”

My hands, still hidden in the soapy suds in the sink, are clenched into fists.

I lower my voice, trying to make sure that Peter or Max don’t hear me in the state I am in. “It, it hurts, Marissa! I can’t stand it! Knowing that she’s not here, that she… that she can’t come back, it hurts so much!”

I take barely a second to dry my hands on the nearby towel, before facing away from Marissa and drying my face. She stays there, silent, and just waits, not even trying to say anything against me.

“It’s much better this way,” my voice is almost normal now, but I know that I still look a total mess. “Charles says so, and I agree with him. It doesn’t hurt the same. I miss her - so, so much - but I can’t live in that pain Marissa.”

I turn back around, and Marissa has shed a tear too, mouth agape and shaking her head slowly, silently.

“Lilly, she’s… she’s gone, and it hurts too much, I can’t take it. Please, Marissa, just let me leave it behind me. Don’t try to change it. I beg you…”

It’s painful to see the hurt on her face, and I can feel my emotions begin to overwhelm me. I want to go somewhere alone, if only for a few moments, to regain my composure, and as long as Marissa is here in this kitchen talking about her I cannot do that.

I slip past her, out of the kitchen and into the hallway, ignoring Jason and Charles as I pass the living room to the staircase.

It’s agonising, in my chest, my heart pounding and my stomach aching.

I wish it was different. I wish I didn’t have to live like this, where my daughter is in some faraway place, but I know it really is what she needs. For her safety and for everyone else’s. I believe Jason when he tells me she’ll be okay there, but that… just…

There is no use mincing words. She isn’t coming back. She can’t, and she won’t - and the sooner I accept that I’ll never see her again, the sooner I can live my life in peace and raise my family as I have done before.

All it takes is for me to remember the way she looked at me, the last time I saw her – the way she saw us over her shoulder, escorted by soldiers on either side of her, dressed in that snow white overall, that made her wide emerald eyes stand out even more – and I’m reduced to a sobbing mess all at once.

I want to leave it behind me. I want it all to go away. If I have to live like she never existed, if it makes the pain stop… then so be it.

[siryouarebeingmocked]

>You can send drones and unmanned craft…from which you can leave whatever reflectors you want.

>The initial video explains why it's harder….the van allen radiation belt. You can send drones and unmanned craft…from which you can leave whatever reflectors you want. But people cannot survive the trip.

Radiation shielding is a thing, and it was a thing in 1969. Lead aprons had been common for x-ray operation decades earlier.

>Also you want to talk about why Russia doesn't believe in the moon landing…it's because they also tried to get to the moon and figured out why it doesn't work.

No, I said Russia had a good motive to expose a fake landing.

I do find it interesting how so many people wildly misinterpret clear English sentences right in front of them, but also think they have a handle on a much more complicated issue.

>Their astronauts all died in the radiation belt, there's very hard to find audio of Russia's space flights where they get to the radiation belt and you can hear them start screaming and dying….Russia then covered up this failure by pretending the astronauts did not exist and edited them out of photos and news stories.

Or you listened to a hoax or misatribution. Which is more likely.

It is now known that the Soviets did cover up disasters and accidents within the space program, but there is no evidence to suggest they ever covered up any deaths in orbit.

Also, "Russia couldn't do it, therefore it must've been impossible for America" is not a good argument.

There's actually a bit of evidence about Russia I found earlier that would bolster the hoaxer case, but I've never seen a single one of you bring it up.

In over a decade.

>"we have photos of the landing sites" We also have photos of spiderman fighting thanos doesn't mean it's real.

And how many of those photos were collected by multiple space agencies, across the globe, for decades? Plus successive moon landings?

The coverup alone would arguably be more trouble than the landing.

>Speaking of photographic evidence that's fake…have you guys actually watched the moonwalk footage…where you can see the wires suspending them and they try to explain away the appearance of jerking on a suspension wire as "air pockets" in the suit.

And yet I'm still trying to find a single denier who can explain why the sand isn't falling in the right way for Earth gravity, even assuming the footage is slowed down. It falls parabolically, like it's in a vacuum.

Not staying in the air, like in atmosphere.

Heck, people picked up the TV signals, live. They just pointed antennas at the moon. Was the drone also a broadcast station?

Also, most people have no frame of reference for what someone looks like walking in a spacesuit on the moon. Which are, and always have been, heavy and cumbersome and unnatural.

Like conspiracy theorists often do, you're mistaking your own opinion for a fact.

Repeat the lies often enough and people will believe them. 🤔

[getitinbusan]

Night at the Museum

It was finally here, the first Monday in May, The MET Gala had been on your calendar for months. It was a closely kept secret that that the boys would be attending together as BTS to the CAMP themed event. You were allowed to come along as part of their special entourage but it had stipulations. When Jungkook first asked you about going with him you didn't think it was a good idea. It would be awkward to watch your boyfriend interacting with everyone while you had to stand in the background and watch. You hated pretending to be staff, not getting to actually be with him, truth be told it really hurt that he could ignore you so easily at these things. You didn't see the point of watching beautiful celebrities throw themselves at your boyfriend while you could do nothing but pretend it didn't bother you. There was also one other thing that raised a red flag in the back of your mind, this years host was Harry.

You'd dated Harry Styles for the better part of a year as his One Direction days were coming to a close. You'd joined 1D on tour as an assistant chef for Sarah's Kitchen making sure they were always fed. He was charming, good looking a complete flirt, you had been instantly smitten. You travelled the world with him, spending your nights in his bed, but never getting to publicly be "Harry's Girl", it was just the rule of boy bands. Things were great until everything in the 1D universe unravelled. They had decided it was time to call it a day and nobody could quite figure out what to do with themselves. Harry took a break and went back home, you went with him for a while but you both wanted more. He needed to discover himself, write and record his own album, but he needed to let go of everything to do it. You understood, you loved him and wanted him to be happy outside of the bubble he'd been in for years. You had left each other, open ended, maybe one day you would find each other again. You turned to growing your career and started your own on the road catering company.

Here you were, the same situation repeating with Jungkook. You really hadn't thought about the pattern until that damn invitation showed up. You absolutely loved him, just not the lifestyle of pretending you weren't together. He could always talk his way into getting you on his travel team. Management knew about your relationship, buy they weren't happy and made sure you both knew what the fallout would be if the fans found out. It was hard. So when he received the Gala invite your heart sank in your chest. You'd grown up with Vogue as your guide to life, it was every girls dream to be a part of that fashionable world. Now it was just another thing that you couldn't really share with your boyfriend.

"Baby you are going to come right?" He asked with his arms around you. "Guk, I don't think its a good idea" you made every excuse you could think of knowing that being in that room would break your heart in pieces. The ache of seeing Harry again would only be compounded by being treated as stranger by Jungkook. Tears fell down your cheek and Jungkook kissed them away. "Please don't cry Y/N. I'll buy you the prettiest dress and I promise after its over we can spend all night drinking champagne and dancing in our hotel room, just us. I know its hard but its all I can offer right now." Not wanting to disappoint him you agreed to go.

Standing in your room at the plaza you couldn't take your eyes off your boyfriend. Here he was before you, a vision in Gucci, he looked ethereal. You watched on in track pants and his oversize t shirt feeling a little inferior as the stylists worked around him. There was that sinking feeling creeping up again. You dropped your head and pretended to play on your phone, you would never be good enough for him. Like he sensed your eyes not on him anymore he asked "Are you ready for your surprise baby?" He motioned for the stylist to begin getting you ready. She went into the closet and brought out the most beautiful Vivienne Westwood gown you'd ever seen. "She's your favorite right?" You ran to embrace him and speckled his face with grateful kisses. "I have to leave early for the red carpet but I can't wait to see you in this tonight. I love you"

When you got to the car with the PR team you turned on the arrivals live stream from your phone watching all the amazing outfits and celebrities walk the carpet. The crowd roared suddenly and you knew why, everywhere they went cheers followed. Exiting the car one by one, each of them looked stunning. They gave waves and smiles posing for the photographers and stopping for the entertainment show interviews. You were so proud of them, they truly deserved their success. The hard work and dedication that they put into their career was like nothing you've ever seen. It was just a sad fact that their personal lives suffered for it.

You were guided out of the car to one of the back park entrances. You would be free to wander the galleries with the guests but you were not invited to the dinner or ball. You'd been to the MET once before and you could easily spend hours taking it all in, the beauty of the building alone was as noteworthy as the pieces. You moved from room to room generally not paying attention to who was around you, your mind frequently imagining what Jungkook would think of certain works. Moving to the Contemporary Art Wing you saw them, surrounded by beautiful women all wanting to be seen with them. You weren't even a blip on his radar, you may as well be back at the hotel, he'd never even know. The door to the deck overlooking Central Park was right there so you decided to go outside instead of torturing yourself by watching them.

Staring up at the night sky you were lost in your thoughts when a soft voice brought you back to the present. "Of all the places in the world I could have run into you, I never would have imagined it to be here." His voice was unmistakable. "You look amazing, I've caught glimpses of you all night and tried to follow you but you kept getting away" god that accent made you melt. You turned to face him, smiling "What are the chances we're both here and we're both wearing Westwood? I've missed you Harry" you said, sure that the somber tone in your voice gave you away. "Why are you alone out here when you look this stunning? Every man in this place should want you on their arm tonight." He lifted your chin to look at him and you couldn't hold in the tears any longer. "I'm so sad Harry, why do I keep falling for men I can't really be with?" He brushed your cheek with his thumb, "Its not easy from the other side either you know. I couldn't keep track of how many times I wanted to do things with you and show you special new places, it wasn't only hard on you." He kissed your forehead and stood looking out at the skyline. You knew he couldn't stay long, people would be waiting for him but this moment was enough. You'd always have a special place in your heart for him but times had changed and you truly loved Jungkook.

The glass door opened and your boyfriend stood staring at you. Harry picked up your hand, and kissing it he said, "until we meet again" On the way out he shook Jungkook's hand. "She's an amazing girl, make sure you make her a priority. She deserves better than to be left waiting in the wings, she deserves to be seen" and on that advice he left. Jungkook walked over to you "I can see the tear stains on your face Y/N, I know how sad I make you but please don't think you aren't important to me. You may not have noticed but my eyes have been on you and only you all night. When I first saw you looking at the Degas I had to catch my breath, you look more stunning than any of the pieces in this museum. I hated that I couldn't stand there with you, I just wanted to be beside you holding your hand. When you cried seeing your favorite Monet I wanted to run to you and hold you. When I saw your ex consoling you I hated that someone could have gotten the impression that you were his. I want everyone to know you're mine, i want to show you off proudly" You were dumbfounded, although he hadn't been by your side he had actually been with you the whole time. He leaned into you, resting his cheek on the top of your head "I don't care what everyone has to say, I don't care what's best for my career, I care about us. I can't keep pretending you mean nothing to me, it hurts us both too much. Everyone needs to know that we are together and that I have an amazing girlfriend" He picked up your hands and wrapped them around his neck placing his on your waist " I want to dance with my girlfriend overlooking Central Park and I don't care who sees."

[christhebarker]

Twenty bloody years

Today HR informed me it was my 20th anniversary at my company so in a slightly self-indulgent post here's ten random things from twenty random years. I intended to do twenty but I think it's long enough really.

1 Talent spotting

Standing at the light box looking at transparencies through a loop I spotted a star. It was my first week at Classic FM magazine and that girl was the young Katherine Jenkins making one of her first PR appearances backstage at the classical Brit awards. I demanded to do a cover shoot with her. She was incredibly beautiful and totally charming in real life. Over the three years I worked on that mag I photographed her on numerous occasions , upping the ante every time; borrowing a million dollars worth of diamonds, an Aston Martin DB5 and ultimately a palace for each successive shoot. Over that time I saw her evolve from a little girl, green around the gills into a bona fide diva - never heard her sing though. It was never about that for me. She clearly had star quality. 

2 Tunnel vision

I art directed the McLaren in house magazine for a while. It wasn't a comfortable job - the tobacco advertising ban was coming through at the time and the marketing team were all over everything - so it's quite fitting that that my most memorable experience was pretty uncomfortable too. I had an idea for a cover shoot that I'd never seen done before. For the Monaco issue I wanted a front on close up of coulthard in his car heading for the tunnel with it reflected in his visor. Amazingly they allowed me to borrow his MP4-16, overalls and helmet, but not the man himself. So, being fairly small (DC is tiny) it fell to me to be his body double. Those cars are cramped. I sat for an hour in that tiny cockpit, moulded to his girl-like hips and I could barely walk afterwards. And the visibility, Christ they must get claustrophobic in those things. The rear view mirror was about the size of a cigarette lighter. Makes you realise it does take some balls to go at that speed in those things. 

3 Olympic vision

It's very rare in any non-performing profession to see people enjoying your work in its natural environment but London 2012 provided me with that, among many other unbelievable, opportunities. I had the chance to witness Mo Farah's historic 5000m win at the London Olympic stadium and see Bolt win gold too to boot. But the take home for me was witnessing 100s of people - in the grounds, in the stadium, on the train home - consuming and enjoying my work on the Official Olympic Daily Programmes. You never get that opportunity in publishing, and to top it off there was also televised praise from John Inverdale and Claire Balding on the BBC. And Lord Heseltine told me it was the best thing we had ever published when he came in to the office. A real morale booster at that point when spirits were starting to flag in the middle of sixteen solid days of 6am-9pm (then a break, then the Paralympics too).

4 The royal wee

Sometimes it's easy to take it for granted. The intimate moments with incredible people. I remember turning to the PR as we were sitting in on a rehearsal by the Ballet Rambert as they were perfecting some superhuman feat I couldn't possibly imagine doing and saying "We've seen some things haven't we" and laughing about it. I've witnessed personal performances for me and a photographer alone from some of the greatest classical musicians alive Julian Lloyd Weber running through Bach's cello concerto in his kitchen, James Galway toddling away at something he was learning, but my favourite anecdote is probably when me and Sting took it in turns to sneak into the Queen's private toilet in the royal opera house for a piss. "Well if you're doing it I'm gonna go as well" he said. 

5 Sheffield steel

I accidentally touched Jessica Ennis's backside while adjusting a Union Jack draped around her in a Sheffield steel mill. Which is quite appropriate seeing as they are buns of steel. It was like I'd bashed into a wall, not a person. It was a complete accident and I don't think she noticed but it was quite memorable. Even though at the time I didn't really know who she was, same with Mo a week earlier, who I shot in the world's oldest wind tunnel at the National Physical Laboratory just down the road from my house. No idea who he was at the time. We chatted about a mate he may have worked with at McDonald's I believe. 

6 Have I got awards for you

I've been fortunate enough to win a few awards over the years. We won PPA publication of the year for the Olympics work, my most high profile win was BSME art director of the year earlier this year for Work. magazine but my favourite win was the second of my back-to-back cover of the year awards voted for by a room of my peers on the night. Anyone can win something once with a fluke, but to do it twice was pretty special. It means you must know what you're doing. But what made the Brexit cover win extra special for me was that when I went up to receive it I spotted Ian Hislop, a bit of a hero of mine, sitting in the front row giving me a thumbs up. I got to chat to him after in the green room and I told him I thought he was the best thing about Britain today. 

7 Trouble in Tuscany

There's been a bit of travel over the years. In the early days we would fly out to Germany to show proofs to BMW and Mercedes. Unimaginable now what with PDFs, emails, Skype and minuscule budgets. I photographed a sprinter in Florida, a hurdler in Ostrava... but the most memorable trip was to photograph tenor Andrea Bocelli at his home just outside Pisa. Memorable because it was such a disaster. As you may know he is blind, and his English isn't brilliant so communication was a problem. And the fact that to ease his obvious discomfort with the whole situation he insisted on using props. He left the room and came back in with a trumpet for example, which he insisted on holding in shot for every frame. Then just as we were getting underway someone started cooking pasta in his kitchen and the smell made him wander off. We didn't know if it was over or if he was coming back. Eventually he did and we got a few extra frames without the trumpet but it was such a bad day that when we left and the photographer put a light stand through the hire car's rear light I was like "yeah, that's about right". 

8 High anxiety

Borrowed a helicopter for a shoot once. That was bloody terrifying. Never been in one before. If you've never done it, it's like being in a transit van in the air and whenever they want to turn or move in any way it kind of lurches. You feel like the pilot is only slightly in control and gravity is the real driver. I kept my head down and looked at the pictures as they came in on the laptop, pretending I wasn't there in the end. 

9 Roger that

Seeing a genuine sporting legend at the top of his game is incredible. None of the other sporting events I've been present for in a work capacity - Grands Prix, UEFA Cup Finals, England test cricket - quite match up to seeing Roger Federer take on Andy Murray from the front row at the O2. Before the match I'd been looking forward to seeing Murray's trademark smashes but seeing Federer caress the ball and think five strokes ahead from such close quarters converted me to the tennis legend I had previously thought was a bit boring. 

10 Mercury prizing

As far as I can tell I was responsible for Gomez winning the Mercury Music Prize in 1998. Which is weird because they were up against Pulp and I love Pulp. I was sitting on a table with the MD of Technics - I think, it's all a bit of a blur to be honest - at the awards ceremony and he was really interested in my opinion on who I thought should win. This was just after Gomez had done a storming rendition of Whipping Piccadilly and I think it probably swayed me. So when he disappeared for a bit then came back and told me he'd put his vote in for my favourite I didn't have the heart to say I'd changed my mind and thought Pulp should win. It was a very close run thing as well apparently. Sorry Jarvis.

[gattsuru]

I didn't have Guardian contributor and often-published author complaining, on an account under his own name, that the "final solution" wasn't "final enough" on my bingo card.

Like, I didn't think I had many illusions about this stuff; I've seen a lot of organizations on both sides of the political aisle. It can be kinda tricky to distinguish, even from inside a movement, those who hate the ATF for their history of killing dogs and burning small children to death, from those who consider the Oklahoma City Bomber as 'revenge', from the ones that are really happy that he hit the daycare center. And I'm old enough to remember the Little Eichmanns and Jet Fuel Can't Melt Steel Beams discourse of the 00s, so it's not weird that there's someone somewhere saying objectionable things.

It's not like there's a shortage of actual atrocities or bad behaviors for people Actually Opposed to Zionism to focus on, and a week before at least some of the chalk slogans could credibly pretend they were about the 2018-2019 border protest killings, or illegal Israeli settlements, or the Duma arson attack and its aftermath, or a thousand different things; people defend some of the most unenviable responses by suggesting at least some authors thought these were just more of the same. Even here, there are serious concerns about how Israeli military responses will respond, not just morons talking about proportionality, and it's... actually pretty likely that they will Do Bad Things.

But an attack of this scale has added a whole lot of additional symbols, and the immense lack of any serious tactical or strategic success against the Israeli state (or even anti-Gaza Israelis) makes it pretty clear what a lot of the new symbols mean. They're not quite up there with not-so-coded references to Hitler (though we're getting a lot of that, too!) but there's not much chance that the people promoting Hamas Paragliders are talking about anyone other than the mass shooting at a rave. "Settlers aren't civilians" is a legally indefensible position, but it's something rather different when someone says it response to what was effectively a dozen spree shooters instead of about an illegal kibbutz. We're at the point where a Washington Post writer has since devolved into insisting that the photographs of piles of dead babies could have come from anywhere.

That's not everyone, or universal. Hell, I know Muslims and Palestinians (including recent refuges!) who are giving up the keffiyeh because they're seeing it as symbolically tainted as a MAGA hat or Christchurch Rifle, because of these nutjobs.

((I have mixed feelings about the "let the nutjobs take the symbol if they touch it" response, but it's their decision to make.))

And there's a lot of people who have kept to reasonable criticisms or concerns, or didn't realize how bad this stuff was, or (rarely) pushed back against the bad actions of others on their sides.

But while it's not the absolutely worst sorta behaviors I've seen along this axis -- there are still literal Holocaust deniers out there! -- but even being well-aware of a lot of base-level antisemitism on campuses, I didn't think it was this sort of naked celebration of death.

I would prefer not to have to keep returning to this subject, but it's not clear that I've gotten through to many people who weren't already persuaded a week ago.

The left does have an antisemitism problem, actually. And it's not harmless.