#I think Tori's is the one story from the books we haven't seen a lot of yet.

[xwingace]

Heartstopper S3 ending feels very much like it's setting up for Heartstopper S4. Like. That wasn't an ending except of the school year.

[theodoraflowerday]

heartstopper s3e6 live episode reaction

okay, holy shit

this episode's gonna have to do a LOT bc last episode was everything good in the world

man, Geoff is so sweet I love him

MR FAROOOUUUKKKKKK MR FAROUK AND HIS LIL FIST BUMPS

not the rugby lads 😭

"I still relapsed two weeks after" oh no

oh no please don't show it

OH THEYRE SJPWING IT DONT FIGHT PLEASE

did he just tell nick to fuck off? oh my god

NOOOOOO

NNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOO NOT TORI AND NICK

9h my god

ohmtmgkd

bro this isn't good

oh my god

"he's seen me at my absolute rock bottom and hasn't run away screaming" AND HE'S NOT GONNA! #FutureHusbands #FutureDads

TEN YEARS IN AND HAVING MARITAL PROVLEMS OH MY GO D

BRO I WAS *KIDDING* WITH THE HASHTAG

geoff is so funny though I love him

OH. OKAY.

"more energy" yeah that's what we're calling it now huh

geoff's knowing look lmfao

bro I love geoff

ELLE IS IG FAMOUS OMG

not a radio interview? oh god

seeing charlie play the drums again has me emo (prob also nick's thought process)

THEYRE SEEING SEXY JACK MADDOX

oh they're kissing

oh they're Kissing™

they're like fr kissing oh my god they're GOING AT IT STOP IT SLUTS

WHAT

"and it's obvious we both want to" okay I am LIVING for this change from the book

WHAT WHAT

WHAT

NO YOU HAVEN'T?

YOU'VE DONE NOTHING

WDYM OVER THE CLOTHES CHARLIE YOU HAVE NOT DONE ANYTHING AT THIS POINT

WH A T

it is Incredibly Extremely Hilariously accurate that the one aroace in the group actually wants to hear all the details nskfjsofjdofk most ace people I know are *so* nasty so this tracks so much

TAO I SWEAR

FIERY PASSION STOP ITJFKGJDLGKLDKG

"we've all heard the story" god I know this man called them up the next morning like I'M NO LONGER A VIRGIN

WHY ARE YOU INTERESTED IN CHARLIE'S SEX LIFE AND NOT MINE SKFISIFUSOFUDIGUDOGUFOGIFOGIFIGIDKG

WE KNOW YOU LOVE SEXY TIME

oh my god they're so annoying

but I gotta pause because I need like

a moment

wdym nick and charlie have "not done nothing" like this is a huge deviation from the books. not an unwelcome one but I've been psyching myself up for this because I love them but they're my babies

so hearing this is so..........

like over the clothes is still sex isn't it

like "IT'S NOT LIKE WE'VE DONE NOTHING" CHARLES?

oh..... I wasn't prepared to see the scars

haha ha haha hah ha

PLEASE DON'T BREAK ANYTHING OR BE SICK ANYWHERE KSJFKDFJDKFJDLFJ

"that sounds like a note for imogen" "HOW DID I GET THIS REPUTATION" oh I don't know baby how did you

okay

nick and imogen vs charlie and sahar......... loving this actually

bro nick and imogen being groupies together tho :(

oh mh god babies

O

OH

MICHAEL

MICHAEL HOLDEN

MICHAEEEELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

oh my god

how is that literally michael im in tears

MEOW - MEOW - MEOW

okay elleargentupdates we get it you love your girlfriend

LETS GO ZAHEANEY

"what I do know is I don't wanna keep hurting you" oh baby girl

"you made me realize something pretty big about myself" "I guess I could say the same about you" oh my darlings :(

also is that immy admitting that she's also into girls bc, love that

"we'd be awful together" NO YOU WOULDN'T GET YOUR SHIT TOGETHER

"I like us better as friends" oh babies

NOT BABY IMOGEN AND SAHAR I'M GONNA CRY BABIES

"is it sustainable? I'm trying to do my bit" JSKFJSKFJSKGJDKGK IMOGEN I LOVE YOU

god I love them I still want them to get together

CHARLIE ISAAC AND TAO ALL DRUNK TOGETHER SKFJDKFUDKFJF

NOT CHARLIE ON NICK'S LAP AAAAAAAA

GOOD 4 U I'M DUIGJFKDJGLDKGLD

joe personally texted olivia for the rights to this song I know it

TORI AND MICHAEL AND THEIR DRINKS IM GONNA LITERALLY RIP MY ARMS OFF

[rips clothes off and runs down the street] SPROOOOOLLLLDDDEEEENNNNNN

oh

'business or politics' yea sounds like imogen

oh Tara baby no

TARA NOOOO Bby

oh my god???

CHARLIE?????????

oh my god charlie is so good

bro nick looking at them with that face..... bro's thinking "yeah that's my future baby daddy"

"that was amazing" "I'm so drunk right now" kskfldjfkdjfkdjgld

"don't ever leave me" "wasn't planning on it" oh man they're gonna wreck me next season

charlie seems so cuddly like this :(

"I've been thinking about something" "what" "you and me" OH DONT SAY IT WHILE YOU'RE DRUNK

WE COULD DO THINGS???

NO HES NOT SAYING IT WHILE DRUNK

"WE COULD HAVE SEX" NOT WHILE YOU'RE DRUNK CHARLES

"I think about it all the time" "yeah, so do I" oh you horny little miscreants

"that was a long time ago" fr it's been almost a year like let's be so serious

NOT WHILE YOU'RE DRUNK CHARLES

yeah nick exactly

oh he's trying to use liquid courage :( charlie no

"OH SHIT" lmao honestly

"and then we were in the kitchen and..." CHARLIE'S PANIC FACE LMAO

TORI AND MICHAEL WAKING NICK AND CHARLIE UP

bro all I want from life is nick/charlie/tori/michael like please give them a sitcom I want all 4 of them and nobody else

"I can make egg on toast. you look like you need egg on toast" responsible parent michael holden

NICK AND CHARLIE LOOKING AT TORI LIKE THAT SKFKDKFJFKF

nick gets to tease her too they've bonded for life! favorite in laws ever!

the way nick looks at them kills me, that man has his eye on them the way he had his eye on tao and elle. he's manifesting

"ready to meet the love of your life?" "you're so jealous right now" kskfksofkdof oh nick baby

oh elle baby

oh

oh wait no

BRO WTF IS WRONG WITH THIS BITCH

"well, your speaker last week was transphobic, then" GO OFF ELLE

what the fuck that was so fuckin nasty

oh elle baby

oh my god elle's parents are the best im gonna cry

oh elle baby

NOT THE COPPER JOKE SKFJDLFKDLFKDLGKD

oh my god that was the single most embarrassing scene I've ever watched

what the fuck that was AWFUL IM DHINGKDKFKDKFLDKFDL

Jskdjslfjsldk NICK

yeah I love you Jonny boy but I'm not gonna be watching that scene again

oh

OH OKAY

OKAYYYY LETS KEEP THIS ENERGY GOING

oh charlie no

oh

HANDS ABOVE WAISTS MISTERS

ohhhh

OH FUCK

oh right. charlie's house. open door policy. horrifying.

but thank god bc charlie was making me so nervous

"you know I really fancy you. infinitely more than jack maddox" broooo

I really love the way they included jack maddox in this episode tho like. as a way to bring up unrealistic body standards and all that shit

"I want you" if that man looked at me like that and said that to me i would literally faint

but yeah, please god not at charlie's house lmao

oh the therapy session :( I love geoff so much he's so sweet

"there's free condoms at reception" lmao oh my god

aw the birbs

god what a fun episode. AND I HAVE MICHAEL NOOOOOWWWWWWWW. I love this show *so* deeply*

[tellthemeerkatsitsfine]

I haven't done one of the Chortle roundup posts in a while, mainly because I just haven't seen that many headlines on there that have particularly grabbed my attention. But when I opened the website yesterday, the two at the top seemed worth a screenshot.

What a combination. I have to admit I've dropped off from following The News Quiz lately, for the first time since I first got into it in about 2009, back in the Toksvig days. Followed it through the Miles Jupp days and into the Zaltzman days.

So you'd think I'd have gotten more obsessed with it as I became increasingly obsessed with Andy Zaltzman due to The Bugle, but it sort of had the opposite effect. The News Quiz feels like a somewhat watered down version of Andy Zaltzman, where I can hear him make a lot of the same jokes he makes on The Bugle that week (not that I blame him, he can't be expected to turn over two sets of material every week), but with certain parts cut, for time and/or BBC radio rules and/or format points. I'd rather hear him in the format where he's allowed to go on as much as he wants with fewer restrictions. And most News Quiz guests who are all that great get invited onto The Bugle anyway, so I hear them there.

In early 2023, I started skipping News Quiz episodes if they featured a TERF or a Tory. By mid-2023, I was noticing how often I skipped episodes, and realizing just how frequently they feature one of those was souring the program in my mind. It's worth noting that zero of the TERF or Tory guests have ever turned up on The Bugle, meaning it's not Andy's choice to have them on The News Quiz, I assume it's a BBC balance thing.

The final straw of a long loosening of that show's grip on me came when those quotes about Graham Linehan's book came out and we were all disappointed (but not, like, completely and utterly shocked) in Richard Ayoade, but Simon Evans had added a supportive quote as well. Simon Evans is one of the Tory comedians who turns up on The News Quiz fairly regularly, and I'd thought of him as someone who will make me skip an episode, but not that bad really, I disagree with him but he's not one of those really hardline right-wing horrible people. Is how I thought of him, until I read that he'd thrown his lot in with the absolute worst of them in the Linehan quote, and then I decided that his regular inclusion on The News Quiz is enough to make me not just skip his episodes, but not want much to do with the show anymore. Like I said, I don't blame Zaltzman at all (if Simon Evans turns up on The Bugle that's a different story, but I can't imagine that happening). It's a BBC thing.

Cancel culture, I know. Sorry, right wing. I'm personally canceling all of you by not wanting to take the horrible viewpoints I listen to every day in serious news and then hear them in my entertainment as well.

Anyway, that all makes that Chortle headline extra hilarious. Picking The News Quiz as their example of anti-right wing bias. I was about to write several paragraphs here about why that is bullshit, but actually it's 6 AM and I have to get up for work soon and I cannot be bothered. Everyone reading this already knows why that is bullshit, and I'm at a point in my life where if anyone doesn't know, I don't want to waste energy explaining it, I just want to not hang out with them. Cancel culture, I know. I'm a big fan of cancel culture these days.

Having said all that, that second headline is really worth a look. This is a bit of a ridiculous thing to say given the subjective nature of the genre, but that stand-up show - the tour that Nish Kumar's just announced (via his mailing list that the Chortle article pretty much just copy-pasted, everyone should get on his mailing list so you can get your comedy news from correctly spelled sources, usual disclaimer that I reserve the right to make fun of Chortle misspelling things even though my Tumblr blog misspells things because no one pays me for my Tumblr blog) - might be the best stand-up show. Like. Of all stand-up shows out there. It might be the best one. Nish might do his tour in late 2024 (following an Edinburgh run, that I desperately hope will include dates in the first week of the festival because I would love to see the finished show live) and then everyone might be able to just pack and up and say "Well, it's okay that the world's ending, because at least stand-up comedy has been done to perfection. We can all move on now." (I mean, except some people on some comedy message boards whom I'm pretty sure won't like him no matter what he does, and also I guess the Daily Mail won't like him no matter what he does for very different reasons, sorry he's not Fin Taylor and some people stand for something, also sorry for dedicating a sentence of my Tumblr post to responding to a message board post I saw last week for which no one on this website has context, I'd say about 5% of my posts these days are doing that.)

I realize this is a weird thing to say about a tour that hasn't started yet, and a show that hasn't been completed yet. But I've heard some of the WIP material, and if you put all that material together, and wrap it around some structure and stuff - which is what I assume Nish Kumar intends to do before touring it as a full hour - I'm pretty sure that's a recipe for the best stand-up comedy show I've ever heard. Absolutely everyone who has the ability to do so should check this show out. I think Nish Kumar's at his best ever right now, and that means a hell of a lot when you consider how much I've venerated his previous stuff. He keeps improving on perfection and I think everyone should just stop bothering making comedy after this one. After I get the chance to gaze upon the eighth wonder of the world in Edinburgh 2024, that is.

[recurring-polynya]

6 & 30 the writer’s asks

For 30 - who are your biggest writing influences?

6. Are there any fics from others you reread all the time?

My current one that I re-read the most is Chicken, by @bleachbleachbleach because I'm obsessed with it. It's a story about what it means to share your life with a person you love, good, bad, and smelling like a chicken coop, and it is very, very beautiful and I love it. (I re-read a lot of B3's other stories, too, but in a broader rotation)

I read all of @gizkasparadise 's Renruki stories habitually, but probably that which cannot be seen (Renji dies and Ichika looks for him) and Proposals and Paperwork (Renji wants to propose to Rukia but has to deal with Byakuya first) are my favorites.

I will also go diving thru @zabiume 's Works List whenever I want something nice to read, but I'd be lying if I didn't say that I end up on she's not afraid more often than not (Renruki go on a date)

It's kind of an undertaking, but I have re-read the Roots of Heaven by paperiuni (rated M), um, a lot of times. Rukia gets lost in another dimension after the war and Renji and Ichigo track her down. It is a masterpiece, maybe one of the finest pieces of fanfic I have ever read.

It's even more of an undertaking, but A Thin Red Line, the biggest and best Hisana Lived! AU by @afinepiece is also worth an annual re-read.

Once We Closed that Distance by todaslasmadrugadas is a great story where Renji tries to step back and just be a good friend to Rukia because he thinks she's in love with Ichigo (he's an idiot). The writing style is fantastic, and it is at turns sweet and funny and emotionally devastating.

Let the Rain Kiss You by Jetamors. Kira invites everyone to his beach house (I think Kira should have a beach house) and kinda regrets it but also kinda doesn't.

Stay by eosdawnaurora. (rated M) It's just the platonic ideal of a certain kind of Renruki fic-- they're at a Kuchiki party and they have some tension and then they have sex, and it all wraps up in 7k words, what else could you want?

The Curse of the Zanpakutou by c2t2. (rated E) This is THE Bad Rukongai story and while I am not raw enough to write stuff like this, it lurks at the back of my consciousness whenever I am writing Inuzuri stuff.

13 by @mothmckrakken is a Renruki try to figure stuff out after the war fic that is just cute and fun and nice and I haven't re-read it in a while which probably means it's time again.

I think that's...enough? (I also have my favorite smuts, but that's embarassing)

For 30 - who are your biggest writing influences?

I think my single most obvious writing influence is Terry Pratchett, but here is a list of formative influences on my writing, which I decided to consider from all media categories. These are not necessarily endorsements, just things that rotted my brain into its current state, in rough order of appearance:

Sideways Stories from Wayside School, by Louis Sacher

E. B. White (I wouldn't have thought this until I re-read Trumpet of the Swan and Charlotte's Web to my kids and it was like...hmmmm)

The Prydain Chronicles, by Lloyd Alexander

Mercedes Lackey, particularly the Valdemar books (sorry to everyone who has to find this out, but my shinigami-zanpakutou relationship comes directly from the magical psychic horses. I hate this as much as you do)

Sierra On-Line point and click adventure games, incl. the Quest for Glory series and the Gabriel Knight games

The X-Man fanfiction community of the late 1990s

Grendel by John Gardner

Takahashi Rumiko's Ranma 1/2

Vision of Escaflowne

The melange of Neil Gaiman/Flash Girls/Emma Bull/Boiled in Lead/Tori Amos/Ellen Datlow Fantasy anthology all us 90s urban fantasy girlies were incredibly sauced on

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead by Tom Stoppard

Princess Mononoke

The honors English 101 class I took on romantic novels

Angela Carter, whom I discovered through the above

Books of Magic, by John Ney Rieber

Ursula K. LeGuin, primarily the Earthsea books

Kishiro Yukito's Gunnm/Battle Angel Alita

The Japanese film course I took in college

Garth Nix's Old Kingdom novels

Naomi Novik

Bleach, obvs

Infinite Jest, by David Foster Wallace (don't at me I got real mixed feelings about him but I read it twice and it rearranged my brain)

the-toast.net

The Haunting of Hill House and We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson

N.K. Jemison, primarily the Broken Earth trilogy and the Hundred Thousand Kingdoms which I'm still not sure I liked, but I sure do think about a lot

Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer (book only, and only the 1st one)

Jane Austen (spent 40 years trying not to be a P&P girlie but turns out maybe I am a P&P girlie)

I'm sure there are others, but I think that list is long and embarrassing enough.

[87stardust]

Raivis’s side of the story.

—————————

Eduard:It's beautiful.

I wonder when it was.Eduard said this while touching the white petals of the flower. When was that?

It may have been a meaningless comment to him, but I remember it well.

Summer has come again this year, and white marguerites are blooming all over the my garden. I took a breath while I was watering.

My rather large straw hat falls down to cover my face, and sweat drips down my chin as I breathe in the still, steamy air.

A few weeks ago, I left a voicemail message for Eduard. In the meantime, he has not responded. We haven't seen each other at all, so I don't know if he's busy or not.

Raivis:That ...... has bloomed a lot this year. If you want, you can come and visit.

It had become an annual promise that I would contact him every year in early summer to let him know that the flowers had bloomed.

Marguerites are not that rare. If you go to a flower shop, there are so many to choose from.

I just need an excuse.

Without an excuse, I don't know what to talk about with Eduard. When I try to talk to him, it is brief and only about business. It's over quickly. We have no common interests, things get awkward, and the air becomes contagious.

In the end, it all flows vaguely and ends in silence.

I am not able to naturally get the conversation going like Toris and everyone else.

Well, this is not only for Eduard.

I am used to being alone all the time, so I have become "good at playing alone".

How do I appear to others?

Do they think I am a lonely person?

It is true that I sometimes feel lonely, but there is a part of me that is convinced that this is okay.

Forcing myself to be in other people's circle is exhausting.

Of course, if it's a business, there are some aspects that can't be helped.

I am not interested in the issues in the people I don't even enjoy talking to, so I just listen to what they have to say and make conversation as appropriate. Then, at the end of the conversation, I force the corners of my mouth to twitch up in an affectionate smile.

I don't want to do that kind of thing in private.

But I've never done such a bothersome thing, so I have to do such a roundabout thing.

It's a curse that I can't honestly say, "I miss you.

It was a long time ago that I took it for granted that Eduard and I were always by each other's side.

Eduard is smart, quick-witted, light on his feet, and can get along with anyone. The complete opposite of me. I thought I was special, but it seems I was the only one who thought so.

Still, if I called him (well, suddenly!), he would come to me. They always came, so today, I'm cutting off the wilting flowers in the beauty one by one with scissors and holding faint hopes in my heart.

I can talk about flowers as much as I want.

I like them to begin with, but I read a lot of books to keep the conversation going, and I am accumulating knowledge. The Midsummer Festival is coming up soon, and I have a wealth of topics in common with Eduard at this time of year.

Let's make a crown of marguerite flowers, go back only to each other's memories when it was natural to be by each other's side, and immerse ourselves together in beautified memories.

But I don't mind if we don't continue our conversation, or if everything ends up being silent in the end.

The white flowers blooming in the garden are my alter ego, the lovely ones I have tended every day without fail.

I want them to notice me, but I don't want them to notice me. I have no choice but to grow tall as much as I can, while holding a contradiction in my feelings.

If Eduard gently caresses and loves them again this year, just as if he were soothing them with him fingertips, then I and these children will be rewarded just for that.

end.

-------------------

I translated a novel I wrote.

I always write stories like this.

[queer-cosette]

for this : marius & courfeyrac !

Marius

Favourite thing about him: he just. Believes in his friends so much. He doesn't understand their political convictions but he loves them so much that he follows them to the barricade to help them

Least favourite thing about him: he's technically a Conservative and I am of the death to tories brand of socialism.

Favourite line: God he's got some good ones but I think it's gotta be "I have come to sleep with you"

BroTP: Marius and Courfeyrac, they make each other worse and I'm here for it

OTP: Marius and Cosette, they love each other so much!!! They kiss once and spend the rest of their time together talking about everything and then only at the end of the conversation do they realise they haven't actually introduced themselves. Romance goals.

NoTP: Marius and Éponine. She believes she is in love with him on the basis that he's the first man in her life who has treated her politely. Like in the story it obviously doesn't work out, but irl, you pursue someone who is longterm in-love with someone else (Marius loved Cosette before he ever met Éponine in the brick) you don't just hurt yourself, the hurt is an AOE destruction deal. You hurt yourself, you hurt the person you love, you hurt the person they love, you hurt your friends who now have to take sides. Self care, girl.

Random headcanon: modern AU Marius loves ABBA. He's actually not into cheesy pop love ballads like everyone assumes. To him, Fernando is the ultimate love song to dance to with your gal.

Unpopular opinion: I think the musical actually interpreted him accurately to the book - in the musical he has a lot more information about Jean Valjean and Javert. In the book, he thinks Jean Valjean probably murdered Javert because Valjean never specifies why he was in prison, but in the musical Marius knows it was because Valjean stole bread to save his nephew, which is why he asks Valjean to stay.

Song I associate with him: Line Without A Hook by Ricky Montgomery

Favourite picture of him:

Courfeyrac

Favourite thing about him: he's the centre - he's the friend who keeps the group together. He's so bright and loving and friendly!

Least favourite thing about him: the implication that he is at all like Félix Tholomyès. He's a good boi shut up Victor Hugo

Favourite line: "I have just seen Marius's new coat and hat going for a walk, with Marius inside them." Best way to say "he keeps buying clothes that are too big for him"

BroTP: Marius and Courfeyrac. They are BROS for LIFE

OTP: Courferre. Best friends to lovers couple ever.

NoTP: I used to ship Courfhan when I first got into the fandom but... nah. Not for me. Wrong vibes.

Random headcanon: he has ADHD and absorbs information like a sponge, but can't remember parts of it when he drinks alcohol and this has resulted in him drunk-crying because he couldn't remember pi to one thousand digits

Unpopular opinion: he's like the least superstitious Ami after Enjolras. Even Combeferre believes in appeasing the supernatural, but Courf is like. Nah we're doing this logically with all the information before we start thinking it's ghosts or bad luck. That being said, he's super respectful and understanding of his friends' superstitions. It's why he's the centre of the group, because he's so good at pulling people away from panic.

Song I associate with him: the Anaconda Of The Opera remix

Favourite picture of him:

Thankyouu 🥰💫