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inneedofsupervision · 3 months ago

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I didn't ask, did I? (Chapter 5)

Happy begrudgingly steps aside and walks after Tony into the diner. The billionaire skillfully ignores the gasps of surprise and the poor attempt to take pictures of him secretly as he strides straight up to the counter. "Two cheeseburgers and a large fry. To go." "Please get in line and wait for your turn, Sir." "Excuse me?" Tony slowly pulls his sunglasses down and glances at the skinny teen behind the register. "Bad hearing comes with age, huh?" mutters the teen under his breath.Happy makes a choking sound behind him.

Or, how Tony Stark gets sassed by some high schooler working part-time and makes it his mission to figure out what he did to make this kid he'd never seen hate him. If that means annoying the hell out of said high schooler, that's not his problem.

Chapter: 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

Chapter Summary: Something unexpected happens while the team's at the Avengers Compound.

Read on Ao3.

"Anthony Edward Stark, what did you do?"

The man in question jumps as the door to the conference room bursts open, giving way to a furious-looking Pepper Potts. Tony pulls at his tie, loosening it with a roll of his eyes before turning around, face morphed into a wide apologetic smile.

"Pepper Virgina Potts, you cannot imagine how delighted I am to see you. Is that a new blouse? It looks magnificent."

"Something's wrong, Mrs Potts?"

Tony turns to glare at Steve, the latter raising a single eyebrow before gesturing for him to look at his fiancee. Tony's head reels back, facing Pepper. Her lips form a thin line, pressed together firmly as she tries to suppress most of her anger and keep a professional face.

"Ten bucks, Tony screwed the pooch," whispers Clint behind his hand with a snicker. Natasha's lips tug upwards at the corner. Tony turns with a glare, pointing a finger at the archer.

"Shut your mouth, Legolas. Mommy and Daddy are talking."

Clint grimaces at the comment but kicks his legs up the table. He crosses his arms over his chest and leans back to enjoy the show.

"Feet down, now."

Clint's boots are off the table in an instant.

Tony smirked at how quickly the archer cowered at his fiancee's words. One glance at Pepper makes him realize he did not have the privilege to laugh, as he's currently the main target of her wrath. The man quickly schools himself, setting up his best placating smile. "Darling, although incredibly smart, mind reading isn't on my list of traits, so tell me what I can do to get you to relax again."

Pepper crosses her arm over her chest, eyes narrowing.

"Don't you dare try to tell me to relax when you caused the press to run wild and SI stocks to go into an all-time-deep in a day, Tony!"

Sam whistles. "That's almost impressive. What did he do?"

Tony turns, glaring, pointing his finger at them. "The peanut gallery is closed for today. No clever comments coming from any of you, capiche?"

The rest of the team keeps quiet as they watch Pepper scolding the man whose shoulder sinks further as the strawberry-blond woman asks him if he has completely lost it.

"Pepper, darling. Please, whatever I've done, the PR Team can manage it," he tries, but Pepper is having none of it.

"You know what, tell me if they can," says the angered woman. She glances towards the ceiling. "Friday, if you would be so nice."

"Of course, Miss Potts."

The flatscreen at the wall turns on, all heads turning towards the live broadcast playing on the big screen.

"Is that the Tower?"

Steve leans his arms on the table, brows furrowed as he stares at the drone footage playing, showing a side of the well-known building, thoroughly covered in black and white paint.

"What even is that?" asks Sam, who tilts his head in confusion.

Tony's mind is blank. His building got used for some crazy idiots canvas to portray their juvenile act of rebellion or whatever that imitation of a zebra on crack is trying to be, and he finds out about it in the news.

His Tower.

Full of paint.

"Friday, volume up," he snaps, jaw clenching in anger.

The voice of the news anchor raises. Every person in the room has their eyes on the screen, where a camera zooms in on the large image of a quadrat filled with black and white rectangles that overtake most of the glass facade.

"A statement regarding the allegations is still pending from Stark Industries. The burden of proof will be challenging for the concern to sweep under the carpet; the video has already been shared over a million times and is spreading like wildfire on the Internet. It shows SI owner Tony Stark, also known as Iron Man, in a dispute with a minor working part-time at a fast food store. The huge QR code painted on the Stark Tower with graffiti spray, which is scannable even from several miles away, regained the attention of the video a thousandfold."

The camera focuses on the reporter, who now takes out her cell phone and opens a QR-Scanner, demonstrating how the code causes a link to a video to pull up.

"How in the world did someone paint this on a building? Doesn't the lines have to be perfectly straight for a scan to work? That's honestly impressive. Hey, don't glare at me. You are the one who caused that if the lady on the TV is right," defends Sam himself when the billionaire throws him a bitter look. Before Tony can tell Sam to shut up, he gets shushed by Natasha, who watches with interest as the video begins to play.

"Good luck to your PR Team," comments Clint, grimacing in unease when Peter Parker's voice echos through the conference room, begging to keep his job.

"Tony, how could you do that to a kid?"

Tony is ready to throw his drink at Steve at the disappointment that drips from the man's voice while the blond's face shows a hint of anger.

"I got framed! This kid is pulling your leg. He's acting," Tony tells them as he points at the screen, but the image of him leaning over the counter of a specific fast food chain, holding onto the arm of an employee who begs him not to get fired, doesn't help much to convince his fellow teammates. Tony doesn't know if the news channel or the person uploading the video has pixeled the kid's face and laid a voice modulator over the sound of Parker's voice to keep his privacy. What he did know is that the caption under the video didn't help make him look less like a grade-A douchebag.

"Tony Stark getting high school employee fired from a part-time job. Damn, Stark. That's low even for you," states Sam, shaking his head.

Tony could tear his hair out in frustration.

"I told you, the kid's acting!"

Steve, who had stood up from his chair, puts a hand on his shoulder on his way out, having seen enough.

"Maybe you should stay out from the next few missions until it's settled."

Tony blinks at him in disbelief.

"You're kidding, right?"

Steve pats his shoulder.

"We all have bad days, Tony. But this isn't the way. Get this sorted out, and you're back on the team."

The others follow soon, walking out of the conference room and leaving Tony with a still frowning Pepper.

"Steve's right, Tony. You have to get this sorted out."

She gives him a last look before also walking out of the room.

Tony runs a hand over his face, a tired sight leaving him before telling Friday to turn off the TV. His knuckles are turning white with how hard he's balling his hands into fists as he stalks around the room, mind going miles a minute. A million and one questions are running through his head, questions he couldn't answer, and that drives him more mad than the fact his tower got turned into a memorial of his failure to keep his cool. Why didn't Friday notify him someone put a hand on the Tower? How did they paint the facade of an eighty-story tall building?

Even though there were many questions without an answer, Tony had a hunch about who was behind all of this. Who had to be behind this petty act of revenge?

On his way out, Tony checks his reflection in the glass door, pulling his tie straight.

"Friday, give me the kid's location."

It's time to go looking for Peter Parker.

#marvel fanfic #marvel #spider man fanfiction #spider man #peter parker #the avengers fanfic #iron man #tony stark #captain america #steve rogers #natasha romanoff #black widow #clint barton #hawkeye #sam wilson #falcon #pepper potts

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starrysharks · 1 year ago

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could you show a little bit of your art progression over the years? your style is absolutely magnificent btwbtw!!

sure ! i've done a similar post, but that was focused on shape language and didn't go over all of my art progression. i'll link it at the end of this post!

anyway, i started digital art around 7 years ago, but all of the art from that period is essentially lost. at that time, it was just deviantart bases and various furry/warrior cats fanart made in MS paint. while i'm not a fan of vivziepop anymore, she was a big inspiration at that time, as well as a handful of popular animation meme artists at the time. around 2019, i started making art in krita using a mouse. and later that year, i started making art in ibispaint (mostly skullgirls fanart). unfortunately, practically everything from before 2020 is lost because it was on reddit accounts that i had deleted out of cringe. don't delete your old art ever!!! i do have this piece though, made in 2020 on krita with a mouse. my main inspirations were invader zim and other cartoons.

my artstyle took a lot of dips and turns around this time. i got back into anime, and it influenced my style in a way that i think made it really ugly and bad looking. i also refused to ever flip my canvas. i think this era actually held me back. here's an example.

anyway, by 2021, i had gotten into more anime that influenced my style in a different way. i forget the exact ones, but i did watch a lot of stuff from trigger (like BNA and LWA) at the time, and also got into enstars which influenced my compositions a lot. it's also around the time that nova in her current "space astronaut bunny" concept was born. i started experimenting with backgrounds, color palletes, and colored lines, which was crucial. i look back at this era pretty fondly. though i still refused to flip my canvas :D

by 2022, my artstyle looked like this -

(this is actually from dec 2021 but like. it's still what my artstyle looked like)

i had played world's end club and rewatched panty and stocking, and it changed my brain chemistry. i decided that my artstyle would be "60% anime, 40% western cartoon", and despite some shortlived phases where i'd go for a slightly different style, i still kept it up. looking at least year's art summary, though, you can see that i broke away from that style for something more anime. and also, i hardly ever experimented with colors anymore because i was focused on character design. i'm gonna be real i think everything after july looks like absolute bootycheeks. i hate this weird single tiny dot reflection style i had going on it looks like dogwater.

after 2022, my art was in a miserable transitional period where i had zero clue what direction i wanted to go in. but despite all that, this piece in particular is crucial. because i used halftones in the background. it's foreshadowing!!!

i continued like this for a while, until the time where i decided to play around with shapes with those vocaloid big 8 drawings. people really liked the shapes that i used in that one, and i found them fun to draw. so i started exaggerating more, and after i rewatched panty and stocking for the 307492020506th time, as well as invader zim for the 2nd time, my cartoony roots came back.

and then, when my art was already steadily improving, across the spiderverse dropped, and i watched it. funnily enough afterwards i had a big art block because i was just thinking, "you need to draw if you want to work on something as big as that! improve!!!!" which kind of held me back. but after all that, i decided to take a note out of ATSV (and comic books in general)'s book and start using halftones in my work. as well as that, i started focusing on lineart way more, and tried to play around with lineweight. which brings us to present day, where my latest art pieces look like this :

i still think that my artstyle needs a lot of work. even these pieces have issues when it comes to symmetry, values, and the like. but nowadays, though my art takes far longer now (as i've abandoned special pens and just do lineart with the hard dip pen in a kind of tedious way), i'm having more fun with it than i have in years. i think halftones fit my artstyle really well, and they're a unique way to "fill up" areas. now that i pay attention to lineart, i think it makes my art feel 'fuller', at least with more depth. did i mention my inspirations for this current 'phase' of my art? :0 i've been playing a lot of muse dash lately, and my pinterest boards are always full of stuff from TWEWY and megaman. there's far more than that, but in short, i want a sharp and striking style with bright colors. i know that you said a little bit of my progression and i basically dropped a whole essay 😭 ,,, but i really like talking about art in general even if i'm not very good at it. i hope this was interesting at the very least! here's the other post also:

#ask zeno #zeno's art #long post #VERY long post #i reallly wish i had my old art to show you guys but oh well #i think my art is improving maybe

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saleintothe90s · 1 month ago

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Daily press, September 28, 1989

The more things change, the more they stay the same. 35 years ago people in South Carolina were still reeling from Hurricane Hugo. Very strange how people could just go to someone's house to donate (see left column) back then.

Imagine getting ready to get on a plane to London when you collapse at the airport.

I'd never heard of the comic Outland, it was a spinoff of Bloom County that ran only on Sundays. Here is Mortimer Mouse:

(eBay seller Erickson Comics and Paper)

I found this Sunday night, and then Monday night, I find out that Pete Rose died! VHS Tapes Old newspapers are magic.

Even in 1989, the clothes in these A&N ads already looked outdated. It was always like this with them. I could pull up a newspaper from 1994, and the clothes would look like the clothes people wore in ... 1989.

ooh, we have a Phar-Mor alert. We were not a Phar-Mor family, we did not visit the mythical store known as Phar-Mor. My mom said that area was too crowded. It was like a giant variety store with a pharmacy, right?

I was nosy, and looks like they broke up in 2001. So the Yorks were trying to gain "custody" of their embryo from a lab in Norfolk (they lived in California). I'm not sure if the couple were successful at having children though.

Oh no! It's our boy David Merritt! We remember him from the August 1, 1993 newspaper entry. Remember, his restaurant didn't open until 1992, and was hyping that it was going to open on April 7, 1990.

These ads are magnificent.

Old Mill? I gotta say it:

For you dead mall fans out there, both Outlets Ltd and Great American Outlet Mall are long gone.

I never thought that My Two Dads needed one censor, let alone two. I gotta watch My Two Dads, it has Paul Reiser and Dana from Step by Step! I love that podcast she has with Christine Lakin about Step by Step.

Speaking of censorship, STOPLESS GIRLS. I looked up the address, and looks like it was torn down.

No Cathy in this strip, but there are Fax jokes. Remember faxing in your lunch order? Onion rolls seem so old skool, I feel like I remember seeing them at the bakery at the grocery store when I was a real little kid, and then never again. Is it a regional thing? Do people not eat onion rolls in Hampton Roads anymore?

Garfield was upsetting that day.

OH I almost forgot. Speaking of upsetting:

A man on his bike was hit by a car down the street from the newspaper offices. So just you know, walk down the street and take a photo of it and put it on the front page of the local section. I hope Allen was ok. The McDonalds where it happened is long gone, but the building remains.

/edit/

So the day I went to publish this, I had to take the long way home from Suffolk, and I drove by this intersection on my way to the James River Bridge. Old newspapers ARE magic.

I know we make jokes about certain people putting raisins in potato salad, but what about raisins in your chicken.

I love the names of these raisin recipes! Silk Stockings?! Model T?! I would try a lil bite of each of these.

I can't remember where I mentioned this place, but it amuses me SO MUCH that back in the day you could go to Coliseum Mall and buy steaks.

wait. Bryers made jelly? I wonder if that's the same fruit that was in that yogurt they used to make that was so good. Breyers ice cream is soo bad now.

!! This was my friend Paul's mom! I about flipped when I saw this. This is exactly how five year old me remembers her. She would give me rides to school sometimes in her old jeep and would pick my mom up for room mothers.

Finally, this Eastern Airlines ad is beautiful. They had about a year and a half left, closed in 1991.

I completely forgot to post for September, I got 🦠 at the end of August that went into the first week of September, then I had to get ready for the Norfolk Zine fest, then then this weekend? Is Richmond Zine fest. Don't forget, my zines are available on my Etsy shop.

And there's a new design over at my TeePublic.

#1989 #daily press #old newspapers #Pete rose #Phar-Mor #Hampton Virginia #hampton #newport news #raisins #zines

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dc-marvel-crossovers · 11 months ago

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Day 1: a magnificent slice of stardust by @bittercape. Roy Harper/Tony Stark, 857 words, rated T.

Day 2: An Adamantium Shovel by @notherdeadrobin. Jason Todd/Slade Wilson & Logan, 3496 words, rated T.

Day 3: The Stockings Were Hung by @betrayedbycinnamon. Bucky Barnes/Jason Todd/Clint Barton, 3945 words, explicit.

Day 4: Can’t Start A Fire Without A Spark by @mightymightygnomepriest. Frank Castle/Jason Todd, 1322 words, explicit.

Day 5: Winter Traditions by @carcrash429. Clint Barton/Ronon Dex (Stargate Atlantis), 1152 words, rated G.

Day 6: Barebow by @artaxlivs. Clint Barton/Jason Todd, 3421 words, rated M.

Day 7: Biggest Fan by @claraxbarton. Clint Barton/Roy Harper, art.

Day 8: Make It Up As We Go Along by @there-must-be-a-lock. Roy Harper/Clint Barton, 4922 words, rated T

Day 9: early next mornin’ (‘bout a half past nine) by @capriciouswrites. Karen Page & Jason Todd, 2212 words, rated M.

Day 10: Just Want You For My Own (More Than You Could Ever Know) by @there-must-be-a-lock. Dick Grayson/Jason Todd and Dick Grayson/Clint Barton, 4461 words, explicit

Day 11: Baby It's Hot Outside by @claraxbarton. Clint Barton/Jason Todd and Clint Barton/Diana Prince, art.

Day 12: Sit By The Fire by @darbydoo22. Steve Rogers/Dick Grayson, 746 words, rated G.

Day 13: On Target by @claraxbarton. Clint Barton/Roy Harper, art.

Day 14: Waiting For Something More by @wyxan. Peter Parker/Michelle Jones & Tim Drake, 2342 words, rated G.

Day 15: Nocking Point by @artaxlivs. Jason Todd/Clint Barton. 5042 words, explicit.

Day 16: any frontier, any hemisphere by @bittercape. Jason Todd/Steve Rogers, 719 words, rated T.

Day 17: Christmas Magic by TheologyDiscography. Clint Barton & Harry Potter, 1694 words, rated G.

Day 18: to hold saltwater in your mouth by @paprikadotmp4. Jason Todd/Bucky Barnes, 598 words, rated T.

Day 19: Wake Up by @claraxbarton. Clint Barton/Jason Todd, art.

Day 20: Birds of a Feather by @carcrash429. Clint Barton/Sam Wilson/Dick Grayson, 1291 words, rated G.

Day 21: all things nature’s given by @carcrash429. Clint Barton & Dick Grayson, 1327 words, rated G.

Day 22: I’ll Take The Dangerous One by @wyxan. Yelena Belova/Stephanie Brown, 2698 words, rated T.

Day 23: In Brightest Day by @claraxbarton. Clint Barton/Kyle Rayner, art.

Day 24: can’t start a fire without a spark, ch. 2 by @mightymightygnomepriest. Frank Castle/Jason Todd, 3468 words, explicit.

#marvel #dc #dc marvel crossover #crossover #dc/marvel #art #fic rec #jason todd #clint barton #bucky barnes #dick grayson #tim drake #peter parker #steve rogers #slade wilson #logan howlett #roy harper #karen page

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thethirdromana · 1 year ago

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Servalan's costumes, rated

I was supposed to be going out and doing fun things like bouldering tonight, but it's pouring with rain, so instead I'm staying in and looking at Blake's 7 screengrabs.

Screengrabs from here (they prefer their images copied, not linked) and record of what Servalan wears when from here.

As seen in Seek-Locate-Destroy.

We begin the list with what is - delightfully, amazingly - a relatively understated costume by Servalan standards. I guess it's the shorter sleeves over longer sleeves (a consistent Blake's 7 design choice, I guess that's just what fashion is like in the Grim Future) that gives the sense that this might be Dress Down Friday in the offices of the Federation. Almost dowdy in comparison with what's to come. Let's keep our powder dry for now. 5/10.

As seen in Project Avalon.

What amazes me about this costume is how silly it looks in screengrab form - seriously, take a moment to really look at Servalan's tiny head emerging turtle-like from the enormous quantity of furs - and yet, in motion, Jacqueline Pearce completely pulls it off. It's ridiculous, of course it is, but not for one moment do you doubt that this is the kind of thing that Servalan would choose to wear and feel comfortable in. It also gets an extra point or two for how the opening of the coat is tailored to the collar of the dress she wears underneath. 6/10.

As seen in Project Avalon and Deliverance.

There's a fun process that happens when you look at lots of Servalan's costumes (bearing in mind that I've preloaded all the images!) where you start to look at something like this and think, yeah, that looks normal enough, I could wear something like that to the office. And then you step back and go, no the fuck I couldn't, and you admire everyone involved in the process that brought us here. Love the beading and ruching, love the way that big collar actually looks quite comfortable, love the way that Jacqueline Pearce is lounging in it. 9/10.

As seen in Orac.

Trousers? On Servalan? Not sure how I feel about that, and I get the impression nor is she. On anyone else the coordination of white gloves and shiny white knee-high boots would be noteworthy, on Servalan it's just a Tuesday. Bit bland to be honest. 4/10.

As seen in Weapon.

There's an image limit to deal with, so I'm sacrificing at least one further fluffy overcoat thing in order to show more photos of this magnificent costume, and I make no apologies for that. Look at this swan-queen spun-sugar exposed-midriff confection of delight. Just when you think you've absorbed it all you notice the fishnet sleeves and the floor-length cape. Maybe it would be worth submitting to just a little bit of remorselessly evil oppression for the opportunity to float around all day dressed like this. 100/10.

As seen in Pressure Point.

It takes quite an outfit for you not to really notice the Sexy Stormtrooper vibe of the Mutoids in the background. And so Servalan is delivering quite an outfit here. What a jacket, what a hat. Ladies Day at Ascot never looked so good. 9/10.

As also seen in Pressure Point.

This is one of those beaded lizards that we all made when we were eight, right? I feel like I should like this: it's flattering, it's a bit weird, it's a nice dress with 25cm or more of a sparkly gecko giving it jazz hands across Servalan's chest, but somehow it's just not coming together for me. Maybe it's the lack of a massive collar. 5/10.

As seen in Trial and Voice from the Past.

No. Absolutely not. The nadir of Servalan outfits, from the weird double-breasted bodice, which I can only describe as military meets straitjacket, to the terrible combination of off-grey stockings and shiny silver shoes. Even Jacqueline Pearce is struggling to make this look good. 0/10.

As seen in Gambit.

From the nadir to very nearly the zenith. This is only one of two times that Servalan wears an outfit that isn't black or white and wow, does she make it count. The red! The glitter! The big frill thing that looks like the kind of adaptation a lizard might use to warn off predators! Also, not to get too pervy, but I think this has to get extra points for whatever machinations are preventing her boobs from making a bid from freedom from the astonishingly low neckline. 12/10.

As seen in The Keeper.

It's another big fluffy robe! But a different one from the previous big fluffy robe! I like to think she might be hiding snacks under there. 7/10.

As seen in Star One and Aftermath.

This is... a normal dress. Could be an understated bridal gown, plausibly a cocktail dress, but I could imagine both having this in my wardrobe and actually wearing it, and I'm not sure how I feel about that. It's just not what Servalan's costumes are for, you know? Obviously she looks great but where's the pizzazz, where's the oomph, where's the collar that could take someone's eye out? 6/10.

As seen in Aftermath and Powerplay.

This is technically Dayna's dress, but Servalan wears it for two whole episodes, so it counts. Which is a pity because it's just so drab. It shouldn't be! It has a funky triangle neckline, only one sleeve, and a ribbon arm wrap on the sleeveless side like she's heading off to a festival with hippies. Unfortunately the colour scheme brings to mind nothing so much as a faded bus seat and the smock-like cut is deeply unflattering. 2/10.

As seen in Volcano.

Things I like about this: for once Servalan gets to cover both shoulders, her arms and her cleavage. Jacqueline Pearce must have been so warm! It looks comfortable and practical. And dull, but I suppose it must be a lot of pressure on a Supreme Commander to look fabulous all the time. 4/10.

As seen in The Harvest of Kairos.

Fun fact, of all of Servalan's outfits this is actually the closest to something that I used to have in my wardrobe. Mine was navy blue on one side and stripey on the other, and the stripey side emerged into a similar enormous... sleeve... thing?? I never wore it to my day job, but you know, perhaps I should have done. These are the kinds of things that Servalan inspires us towards. 8/10.

As seen in Children of Auron.

And just like that, Servalan changes her colour scheme. Black, of course, looks just as good on her as white did, and I can't decide which I like better. What makes this outfit is the detailing: the collar, the little decorative slashes like a Tudor nobleman would use to show off his undershirt. 6/10.

As seen in Rumours of Death.

I just spent ages scrolling through red carpet photos to try to find the celebrity who I swear recently wore almost this exact outfit. And I can't find them. But never mind! This ticks so many boxes for me: it looks everso pretty, it seems wearable, and the floofy sleeve feels like it reflects plausible fashion trends of the Blake's 7 universe. 9/10.

As seen in Moloch.

Whereas this is not working for me. This is, thank goodness, Servalan's only foray into full-on 80s shoulders (unlike poor Avon, whose costumes suffered from this for the whole of series D) and I do not like it. The wide shoulders, made to look wider by the silver detailing, just serve to make the rest of her look small. And no one should make Servalan look small. 3/10.

As seen in Death-Watch.

Just a normal LBD, innit. 5/10.

As also seen in Death-Watch.

This is the same dress underneath with a semitransparent beaded cardi over the top. It should be fun and vaguely goth, but instead it reminds me of nothing so much as the kind of thing you throw on when you're worried you're showing too much skin for a funeral. Amazing how it makes her look about 10 years older too. I miss the days of the massive collars. 2/10.

As seen in Terminal.

For someone who is confidently writing a series of posts about costume design choices, I know exceptionally little about costume, and as a result I don't actually know what this is made of. Is it leather? Some kind of matt-looking PVC? It's a solid costume choice, anyway; I'm starting to think that the mark of a good Servalan outfit is how much difficulty I have with the image description. In this instance, I have no idea what the thing on her shoulder is and I love it. I also love that this is the 80s and therefore she's allowed to be on TV with a normal human belly. 8/10.

As seen in Traitor.

MAGNIFICENT SHOWSTOPPING ICONIC. She looks like a sexy raven and she's having such a great time. The way the points of her eyeliner match the points of her hair! This is the kind of thing that drives people to cosplay. I don't think I would get a buzzcut and dye my hair solely to get this look just right, but I'm also not ruling it out. 20/10

As seen in Animals.

It's so disappointing when you get an outfit spot on and then it's in the wash, and all you can manage from what's available in your wardrobe is an half-hearted replica. That seems to be what's happened to Servalan here. Sorry, Supreme Commander, but sexy raven lightning doesn't strike twice. 6/10.

As seen in Assassin.

Later on she wears a sort of lacy cardi over it, but I have an image limit and I'd only be repeating what I said for Death-Watch, so we're going to skip that one.

This is another normal dress. It's a perfectly fine normal dress; it's hard to see from the photo, but I like the fabric belt, and those are undeniably good earrings. Still, it's not exactly strange enough for a Servalan costume, and I feel for Jacqueline Pearce having to do this whole episode without a bra. 7/10

As seen in Games.

Just as I am running out of ideas for commentary, I feel like the Blake's 7 costume designers were running out of ideas for outfits. This feels like it has a bunch of disparate ideas thrown at it - polka dots! fluff! peephole thing! - but the vibe is of a reality TV show fashion challenge where they have a box of stuff and 20 mins to turn it into a dress. 4/10.

As seen in Sand.

This is a floor-length dress, but it's best in close-ups: it's the detail that matters. It looks pretty, comfortable, and quite soft. It's a nice costume, but is it really a Servalan costume? It doesn't scream command like some of the others on this list. 5/10.

As seen in Orbit.

Don't worry about what I cut to be able to include two photos again, because this is worth it. From the front it's good but not great (though I'm glad she gets a bit more boob support in this one!) but from the back? Superb. She's wearing the splendid earrings from Assassin again, but here they also reflect the detailing on the back of the dress - oh, it's just a delight. A very creditable note to end on. 9/10.

#blake's 7 #servalan #costume design #this took ages but i really enjoyed writing it #so i'm happy to take prompts if there's another character you'd like me to do this for #doesn't even have to be blake's 7 #image descriptions in alt text #long post

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linasofia · 2 years ago

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A Shooting Star

Part 1 l Part 2 l Part 3 l Part 4 l Part 5 l Part 6 l Part 7

Fandom: The Hobbit

Relationship: Thorin Oakenshield x OC Vega

Summary: Lady Vega loves to sneak out to Erebor’s rampart to study the night sky, but one night, an unexpected visitor joins her. It is the beginning of a story whose end only the stars can tell.

Warnings: none

Special thanks to @lathalea & @legolasbadass for all your support and feedback. 💙⭐️

A small gush of wind met Vega, daughter of Vimar, as she climbed the many stairs to the rampart. Since she left her lantern by the wall, her only guidance was the moon. Thankfully, it was a clear night, and the pale light coming from the grand silver coin in the sky was enough to illuminate her path. As she silently entered the rampart, she felt the usual excitement tingling in her body. She knew she was not allowed to be there, but it was the best place for stargazing, if she did not count the mountain slope outside the gate, and it was worth the risk of being discovered. Without making a sound, she hurried to her secret spot, hidden behind a large block of stone—remains from a battle long before she came to live under the Mountain.

Vega rested her back against the rough wall and took out her book from the pocket in her skirt. She was grateful for choosing her warm stockings of finest mountain goat wool; the wind on the rampart was colder than she had expected. Her long winter shawl covered her upper body, and she pulled it tighter. She should have taken the heavy cloak instead, but it was too late to go back now. Besides, she had endured worse weather on the rampart. Vega opened the book carefully, found the most recent of her notes and peered up. Her trained eye easily located the stars of her people’s most important constellation; the magnificent Durin’s Crown. Every year, when a feast was held to celebrate Durin’s Day, the constellation could be seen right above the Mountain. Now, however, when the days were much shorter, it was set far to the west. She smiled. A handful more full moons, and then she would close the circle and be back at the first page in her notebook. She had stood on the rampart many nights and studied the constellations' quiet movements over the sky. It was a fascinating hobby, but not completely without danger. The rampart was high, and the darkness could be compact, at least when the new moon resembled a curved, thin chain of mithril. In addition, there was obviously always the risk of being discovered. Vega preferred not to tell anyone about her own private escapades. Especially not her father. In his eyes, she was still a young girl with little or no understanding of what was considered dangerous. The fact that she followed in her mother’s footsteps and refused to marry any of the lords she was presented to, out of duty, only fueled the old man's conviction that she did not understand what was best for her. Her mother, on the other hand, supported her strong will and constantly defended her daughter’s decision in public.

Vega grew up in the Blue Mountains, and as the daughter of a trusted construction advisor to the king, she lived what many would describe as a relatively comfortable life. Their home was always filled with her father’s construction drawings, books, and strange tools. During her first years, her father would not let her near his precious drawings, but as she grew older, he opened up another world to her, where the symbols, numbers and lines started to make sense. Vega believed it was her father’s work that laid the foundation for her interest in trying to understand things written or drawn by others long before her time. When she found an old map, she instantly tried to visualize the places, and eventually, she started to dream about adventures far beyond her people’s borders.

After King Thorin and his company had reclaimed Erebor, it did not take long before a messenger with the king’s summons reached the Blue Mountains. Vega’s father quickly answered the call and packed his most important belongings. Then, less than a year later, he arranged for his wife and daughter to make the same journey. She still remembered the excitement she felt as a young woman when their caravan set out toward their new home. Vega had heard many old tales about the great treasures of the Lonely Mountain, but also songs of unspeakable grief. She could not wait to see the great halls with her own eyes, and her mother repeatedly assured her it would be worth the long absence of her father. He had an important role to take on as the King of Carven Stone had returned to the Mountain. That was now many years ago, and Vega had grown, both in body and mind, since then.

Suddenly, the sound of heavy boots reached her ears. She drew nearer to the large stone and hid in its shadow. Her heart was banging in her chest, and her throat tightened, making it hard to breathe, as if she was deep down in the dusty coal mine under the Blue Mountains—a place restricted to the strongest miners among her people. Was this the night she finally was to be discovered? A tall shadow appeared on the stone floor in front of her, but she could not see the dwarf for the massive block of granite. She waited, desperately trying not to make any sound, as the shadow slowly moved closer. Then a broad figure walked right by her and stopped only a few arm’s lengths away. The pale light of the moon fell upon the male, and it made the rich fur on his cloak shimmer. It reminded her of a tale she once heard; about a rare fox who changes color—from almost black to white—when the first snow falls. From behind, the cloak in front of her looked vaguely familiar. In the darkness, all things appear to be grey, but Vega instinctively knew she had seen that cloak before. Admired it, even. The man searched his pockets and pulled out a long, thin item. A small flash of light tore the darkness apart, and when he turned his face to shield his pipe from the wind as he lit it, Vega stared—horrified—at the dwarf’s regal profile. The tobacco glowed as he inhaled loudly, and then a thin cloud of white smoke seeped from his nostrils. The dark, pleased hum that followed made something stir in her lower body, and Vega let out an involuntary gasp. The king instantly turned his head towards the dark corner, and her heart almost stopped. With a hand over her mouth, she held her breath.

“Who’s there? Step out of the shadow!” the king demanded, his voice raised, but not to its full capacity.

Vega took a deep breath and forced her feet to obey. When she stepped out from her hiding place, the moon appeared to be brighter, and she gracefully curtsied as the ruler of Erebor’s piercing stare met hers. The look on his face shifted from annoyance to surprise.

“Good evening, My King.”

“My Lady, I did not expect to meet anyone here. What in Mahal’s name brings you to this dark place?”

Vega hid her book behind her back. “I’m simply looking at the view.” She tried to control the tremble in her voice, but the rush of adrenaline made it impossible.

“The view?” The king looked over the edge of the rampart. He could see lights from the city of Dale, but other than that, the night offered nothing spectacular.

“Surely you must struggle to see anything interesting at all.”

Vega gazed up with a broad smile. “Not that view. This!” She pointed above their heads, where countless stars silently stared back at them.

Silence fell heavily between them. Thorin smoked his pipe while searching his memory for constellations he learned long ago, when he was a much younger dwarf. He could only remember a few of them. Back then, Frerin was much more interested in these stars and always waited patiently for his older brother to locate Durin’s Crown. Thorin’s heart ached at the memory. His brother’s death had removed the joy from so many activities, stargazing was only one of them.

He glanced at the lady standing beside him, her chin lifted and her eyes fixed on the sky. She seemed lost in her thoughts, and the smile still lingered on her lips. Her dark hair was braided in a beautiful pattern—the style popular among the women from the Blue Mountains—and then he spotted a bead with her family's name. He smiled. When he first saw her, he was unsure who she was, but as he looked closer, he could clearly see the resemblance. She was truly her father’s daughter, but beautiful and with a disarming smile.

”Is Lord Vimar aware of your late visit to the rampart?” He could hear her surprised gulp, and she quickly turned her focus on him instead. She had not realized he recognized her, and Thorin met her startled gaze with a calm smile. ”Do not worry, My Lady, your secret is safe with me.”

”Thank you, My King.” She smiled back, a sweet and slightly mischievous smile. ”No, my father would probably lock the door to my chamber if he ever found out what I was doing during the nights.”

”Nights? Are you telling me that I could have had the pleasure of meeting you here on other nights previous to this one?”

Vega wanted to smack herself. Why did her mouth speak too much as soon as the king rested his captivating azure gaze on her?

”I…” she did not know how to continue. How could she explain the thrill and the longing to do something forbidden? What it felt like to slip out in the cover of darkness and just be alone with her dreams and imagination. ”I’m afraid that is the truth,” she then admitted.

”Did you bring a book to read in the dark as well? Your eyes must be much better than mine.” The king sounded almost amused when he spotted the leather-bound piece in her hand, and Vega instantly pressed it against her chest.

”It contains only a few hasty notes I made for myself to read, together with drawings of constellations I have seen. It is nothing of importance.” Vega tried to gain control of her own words; she always spoke too much when she was nervous.

”Would you allow me to see it? I am certain your handwriting is neat and a pleasure to read.”

Her heart hammered again, just as it did when she was hiding, but this time it was not from fear. Was the King of the Longbeards really interested in the stars, or was he only being polite? She searched his face for the truth but found only honesty in his eyes. For a short while, she allowed herself to admire his prominent nose and full beard before she remembered she had no right to gaze upon her king like that.

”My King,” she hesitated, but was tempted to share her findings, if only to make him stay a little longer. Never before had she spoken to someone with such powerful charisma, and he made her very curious. ”It is nothing like the maps in the Royal Library of Erebor,” she then heard herself say. ”But I will be honored to show it to you.” Her hands trembled slightly as she opened the book, but when she tried to offer it to him, he took a step closer.

”Please, My Lady, explain it to me.”

Vega had to take a few deep breaths before she mustered enough calmness to explain her notes. When she spoke, the king listened intently, but every time he pointed at one of her drawings of Durin’s Crown, she couldn’t stop herself from staring at the heavy rings adorning his thick fingers. He had the hands of a warrior—large and calloused—but something in the way he let his fingertips glide over her stained papers told her those hands could do more than just harm.

The notes were indeed created for her eyes only, but after the initial insecurity, Vega found herself growing bolder in the king’s presence. As he leaned a little closer to her, no doubt to see better, a faint hint of pine and leather caught her senses, and it made her head spin, just like the strong tobacco she once was persuaded to try. She promised herself after that single time, to never smoke anything equally strong again. But she wouldn’t mind feeling this type of warm dizziness again. Then Vega shook her head to clear her mind. Who knew the alluring scent of the mightiest of all dwarves alive could evoke such delusional ideas.

”Considering all constellations, which one do you find most mesmerizing?” His question came unexpectedly, spoken in a much lower voice than before. It felt very personal, and Vega shivered. She knew what he probably was expecting from her, but eventually, she decided to answer honestly.

”Of all the constellations and the tales told, I must say I have two favorites, next to Durin’s Crown, of course.” She smiled warmly when a thick black eyebrow rose in surprise. ”The first one is The Hammer.” Vega pointed to the east, where nine stars proudly formed a large hammer.

Thorin nodded, remembering the constellation from Frerin’s rare attempts to actually teach him something useful. He was not sure about the tale; Frerin sometimes changed the story, only so he later could claim that Thorin remembered it wrong.

”And the second?” he asked, gently holding the unusual emerald gaze of the lady beside him. Thorin found her truly fascinating, and the way her voice enchanted him, as she spoke passionately about the stars, made him wish she was a member of his council instead of her elderly father. The endless discussions would be much more bearable if she was.

”The second one cannot be seen now. You will have to wait until spring before you can spot Raven’s Nest in the east.”

”Is it easy to find?”

”If you know what to look for, I supposeit’s easy. It’s one of the smallest constellations I know of, but I love the tale.”

Thorin smiled. He wanted to question her about the tale, just so she would keep talking, but he realized he could not ask her to stay on the rampart all night. The icy wind was growing in strength and the hour was late. He had gone to the rampart for the possibility of clearing his mind after a long evening session with the council. Instead, he had stumbled right onto Lord Vimar’s daughter’s secret stargazing spot. He had completely forgotten his manners and did not introduce himself properly. And what was even worse—he had no name on the lady in question.

”My Lady, even if your father sometimes speaks of his family, I do not think I have ever heard your name. May I ask for it?” His words were soft, and less formal than their initial conversation.

Vega stared at the king. Had he just showed interest in knowing her name? She could not understand why, but she had no intention of denying her king. The unexpected warmth in his eyes made her weak. His raven hair rested against the fur of his cloak but as he turned his head, the wind caught strands of it and blew life into the dark locks. She briefly wondered if his hair was as soft as it looked.

”Vega,” she almost whispered, her voice suddenly failing her as a result of her improper thought.

”Lady Vega, you have been most kind and shared your private notes. I thank you for that. But I’m afraid I need to ask you to return to the warmth of your chamber, before you get too cold.”

”Of course.” She averted her gaze, afraid he would see the disappointment in her eyes. The most exciting moment in a very long time would soon be over, and Vega pulled her shawl tighter around her shoulders. She could do nothing to stretch their chance meeting further.

”I bid you a good night then.” He gave her a short nod.

”Good night,” she echoed as she made a poor attempt to curtsy. Her knees wouldn’t cooperate. Thankfully, King Thorin didn’t seem to notice, or care. All he did was grace her with another warm smile.

”And Lady Vega, do not hide in the shadows next time. I might mistake you for an intruder.”

She mustered one last smile in return. Then she watched him disappear from her—no longer—secret spot on the rampart. His cloak's movement as he rounded the corner was the last thing she saw of him. Vega took a deep breath and the cold air in her lungs made her cough. The king was right; she really should get back home. As she climbed down the stairs and found her lantern at the same place as she left it, she couldn’t stop thinking of his last words to her. Next time. Would there really be a next time?

💙 If you like my writing, please consider spreading the love and reblogging.💙

Taglist and others who might be interested: @lathalea @legolasbadass @laurfilijames @i-did-not-mean-to @enchantzz @fizzyxcustard @middleearthpixie @xxbyimm @bitter-sweet-farmgirl @kibleedibleedoo @mariannetora @haly-reads @sunnysidesidra @rachel1959 @knittastically @jaskierthelover @quiall321 @medusas-hairband @fulltimecrazy @s0ftd3m0n @emrfangirl @glimmering-darling-dolly @lilith15000 @clumsy-wonderland @chaikittie @theawkwardbutterfly @legolaslovely

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#thorin oakenshield #thorin #thorin fanfic #the hobbit #torin fic #thorin x oc #erebor #tolkien #fanfiction #richard armitage #stargazing #durin's crown #the hobbit fanfic #hobbit fic #a shooting star

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littlequeenies · 2 years ago

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BEDSITTER GIRL JANE ASHER [1966]

I'm sure that many of you are already quite familiar with this photograph of Jane Asher, it has been reproduced several times in various fashion books over the years, but it was originally published in a magazine editorial called The Time, The Place, The Dress, and (if you still need it) The Food, by Molly Parkin for Nova in 1966, and printed poster-sized over a double-page layout, measuring 51.5 cm x 34cm for full visual impact! Molly commissioned Ossie Clark and Celia Birtwell to design the dress especially for the feature, she specifically wanted something which represented not only the fast-paced, disposable, transient nature of the current youthful attitude towards fashion trends but also something with enough decorative value to end up on the wall in a bedsitter as pop paraphernalia after it had been worn at the weekend, rather than thrown out with the trash!

So what better candidate for potential 'wall art' than a printed paper dress! Celia painted her initial ideas in gouache, inspired by the work of Paul Poiret and illustrations from La Gazzete du Bon Ton. The finished designs were then printed onto a suitable Johnson & Johnson manufactured paper by the 'Art to Wear' company of Zika Ascher, and the dresses were made to order for the sum of 17s 6d each. I love the fact that Celia also took it upon herself to paint the vinyl floor tiles in the mock-up bedsit, mirroring the design detail from the border of the garment to complete the overall look. And that Molly (a woman after my own heart), attributed just about every single item on display in the magazine feature to its original source, from the Biba beads right down to the Woolworth lollipops and sticks of rock!

On the floor: Jane Asher in a dress designed by Ossie Clark made of printed paper fabric designed by Celia Birtwell; made to order in small, medium and large sizes, approximately 17s 6d. Bangle at Woolworths, 2s 9d. Vinyl floor tiles painted by Celia Birtwell. Lilac patent shoe by Russell & Bromley, 7½ gns. Amber patent shoe by Elliot, 8 gns. Coloured cigarette by Sobraine, 7s 2d for twenty. Coloured crepe stockings by Russell & Bromley, 6s 11d. Pop tin tray by Goods & Chattels. 9s 6d.

Close-up of the design detail from the border of the dress.

Above: One of Celia's initial designs for the paper dress rendered in gouache, inspired by the work produced at the Martine School of Decorative Arts in Paris. The school was set up by designer Paul Poiret in 1911 at 'La Maison Poiret' in an endeavour to realise his dream of creating a decorative arts movement in France which would be on par with the new developments in the arts taking place in Vienna and Germany at this time. The students mainly consisted of young working class girls between the ages of 12-15 years old, Poiret encouraged them to work freely from nature, organising trips to the countryside and conservatories whenever possible, but apart from this input they were otherwise without artistic supervision. His role was merely to stimulate their artistic taste without influencing or criticising them, in order to maintain the purity of the original source of inspiration in the work. He would then select a range from the finished designs which were suitable for reproduction and have them applied to fabrics, wallpapers, carpets, cushions and ceramics.

The work received an excellent response amongst art circles, and following an exhibition at the Salon d'Automne in 1912 the demand was such that Poiret opened a retail outlet called 'Atelier Martine' on Rue du Faubourg St Honoré. With a very favourable review in Vogue, the Martines went from strength to strength, also using their designs to create magnificent large scale murals, transforming hotels, shops, offices, private houses and the studio of dancer Isadora Duncan into exotic oriental palaces in the process. An international reputation was quickly established, however, the gathering momentum of the Martines success was stopped in its tracks by the outbreak of WW1 in 1914. The school closed for the duration of the war, with many of the students relocated to a safer environment. Business eventually resumed as normal in the aftermath, but although Poiret tried several times to re-establish his career and the Martine style, most notably in the mid 1920s with an extravagant display at the International Art Deco Fair in Paris, both failed to ever regain the immense popularity of their glory days.

Three designs for round carpets, typical of the Martine style, from the workbooks of the School of Decorative Arts.

The Table: green paper drum table by Hull Traders Ltd, £3 13s. On the table: Large glass jar, £2, full of Smarties, Liquorice Allsorts and Barratt's assorted sweets; glass-topped storage jar, 6s 6d, containing dolls' eyes from Pedigree Dolls; spice jars, 2s 9d; glass dish, 7s 6d a pair, contain bath oils at Boots, 6s 6d. All the glassware from The Scientific Glassblowing Co Ltd. Hexagonal coloured boxes by Goods & Chattels, £1 17s 6d a set.

On the wall: wooden beads at Biba's, 11s. Striped shoes at Fifth Avenue, £3 19s 11d. Red and green shoe by Walter Steiger for Bally, 9½ gns. Bead bracelet at Biba's, 5s 6d. Dress designed by Ossie Clark of printed paper fabric designed by Celia Birtwell, made to order, 17s 6d. Plastic earrings by Paco Rabanne, £1 10s. Bangle at Woolworth, 2s 9d. Pink patent shoe by Russell & Bromley, £3 19s 11d. Woolworth lollipops. Paper roses from Portobello Road market. Dried flowers at Natural Fern Display Ltd, from 3s 6d each. Large wooden beads at Biba's, £1 2s 6d. Pearly Queen dress from Hector Binney stall, Bermondsey market.

The Bed: emerald green wooden bed by Gary Griffiths at Vasa, approximately £30. Green sheets at John Lewis, £5 19s 6d a set. Orange and red shoe by Walter Steiger at Bally, 9½ gns. Leather and suede shoe by Salvatore Ferragamo, 14 gns. Woolworth's rock, 1s a stick.

IMAGE CREDITS

All content scanned and transcribed by Sweet Jane from an original article by Molly Parkin for NOVA, September 1966. Model; Jane Asher. All Photographs by Duffy. Celia Birtwell design in gouache scanned from Celia Birtwell by Celia Birtwell. *The Close-up of border design detail on the printed dress courtesy of the V&A collection. Carpet designs from the Martine School of Decorative Arts were scanned from A Fashion For Extravagance by Sara Bowman.

LINKS

Visit the Celia Birtwell website here. Listen to Molly Parkin on Desert Island Discs here. Watch Great Lives: The Molly Parkin Documentary here. Read about the life and times of of Zika Ascher here. View an issue of La Gazette du Bon Ton from 1914 here. And finally, read more about the career of designer Paul Poiret and view examples of his work here.

From @sweetjanespopboutique blogspot

#Jane Asher #1966 Jane #Jane model #The Time The Place The Dress and (if you still need it) The Food #Molly Parkin #Nova #Nova magazine #Ossie Clark #Celia Birtwell #1960s #model #muse #actress #1960s Jane #1960s fashion #Biba #Sweet Jane #Duffy

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aaronburrdaily · 1 year ago

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October 28, 1809

Couche at 1. Rose at 7. Called on J. de C. at 10. Was received by Madame with very engaging frankness and ease. Passed an hour with the family. Got some books, and he sent his servant for others for me from the King's library. Young brother of Mr. J. de C. went to show me Puerari's; out; left card. Had scarcely got home, when Puerari called on me. We walked to see the library of Classenborg, about which I have a pretty story to tell you. This library is confined to natural history and botany, and is magnificent in those departments. It is in care of Professor Ramus, to whom I was there introduced. He tendered himself to go with me on Sunday to the Palace of Rosen, and to show me the collections of coins and medals, which is said to be splendid. I shall make some addition to Gampy's stock here. You can't think what trouble the little varlet has brought me into. Having on my arrival inquired where some coins and medals could be had, it was immediately noised about that I was a medal and coin hunter, and scientific, of course, in numismatique.¹ Puerari introduced me as such to Ramus, for which I could have boxed him. Dined to-day, for the first time, at the table d'hote,² and am so well pleased with the company that shall dine there henceforth when not engaged abroad. At 6 walked out to see the illuminations and fireworks at the palace of Fredericksberg, about 1 1/2 miles, on occasion of the arrival of the King and Queen. You must know that the Queen has been passing some months (ever since the death of the late King) with her father in Holstein, and has never yet been seen here as Queen, which is the cause of all this stir. And so it happened that we all, about 30,000 of us, came back as we went; the King and Queen had not arrived; there was neither illumination nor fireworks; we were all quite sad. The report is that the King cannot get across the Belt a cause du³ British fleet. Called on Schlegel this morning; out.

1 The science of coins and medals. 2 For table d'hôte. Literally, host's or guest's table. A complete meal regularly served in a public dining room. 3 Because of the.

#aaron burr #the private journal of aaron burr

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hellostarrynightblr · 2 years ago

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highlights of March

1. Favourite movies: it's the first time I'm not impressed with any film I've seen.... Most of them are just good or solid, but I'm sure I won't rewatch any of these. The closest one to this category is The Magnificent Seven (1960), a great film, just not a favourite of mine, just a clear standout among the rest. 2. Decent movies I liked / appreciated but not loved: I'm going to skip this one, otherwise I'll leave the rest of the films here. 3. wtf movie/ending: some moments of Elvis (2022). Tom Hanks in general, the editing, the music. Some of it is truly baffling. 4. Best scenes: the dance on the deck (Honolulu, 1939); dancing while changing clothes (Silk Stockings, 1957), taking the hearse to bury a guy / Britt's introduction / the final shootout (The Magnificent Seven, 1960). 5. Favourite genres: crime, drama, western. 6. Favourite directors: John Sturges (The Magnificent Seven, 1960). 7. Favourite actors: Michel Simon (Panique, 1946); Dennis O'Keefe (T-Men (1947), Austin Butler (Elvis, 2022); James Cagney ('G' Men, 1935); Cyd Charisse (Silk Stockings, 1957); Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson, James Coburn (The Magnificent Seven, 1960). 8. Least favourite performances: Fred Astaire (Silk Stockings, 1957). It's just awkward and... boring. Same, same, same... And Tom Hanks in Elvis (2022). That was just unbearable. 9. The most wasted cast: no one really. 10. The best wasted premise: O. Henry's Full House (1952). I like the idea of an anthology and I mostly like the films that use it, but this one is deeply boring. 11. Best premise: none of them? Again. But if I have to choose, then Panique (1946). 12. Favourite cast: The Magnificent Seven (1960). Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson, Robert Vaughn, Brad Dexter, James Coburn, Eli Wallach and even Horst Buchholz. 13. Favourite on-screen duos: Yul Brynner x Steve McQueen (The Magnificent Seven, 1960). 14. Favourite on-screen relationships: none. 15. Favourite characters: Dennis O'Brien, a.k.a. Vannie Harrigan (T-Men (1947); Chris, Vin, Bernardo, Britt (The Magnificent Seven, 1960). 15. Favourite quote: I have been offered a lot for my work, but never everything. (The Magnificent Seven, 1960). 16. Favourite fact discovered in 2023: Yul Brynner and Steve McQueen had a feud on the set of The Magnificent Seven (1960). It didn't look like that to me, but then again, the film was supposed to be tense, so it might have helped. 17. The most overrated film: Elvis (2022). It's okay, it just has a lot of issues. 18. The most disappointing film: O. Henry's Full House (1952). I can barely remember anything about it. 19. The biggest surprise: T-Men (1947). 20. Best cinematography: Nicolas Hayer (Panique, 1946). 21. Best set design: Hugh Hunt, Edwin B. Willis (Silk Stockings, 1957). 22. Best costume design: Helen Rose (Silk Stockings, 1957). 23. Best music: Silk Stockings (1957). 24. Best prooduction choice: raising the stakes in T-Men (1947). 25. Worst production choice: the romance subplot in The Magnificent Seven (1960). I wish they'd either get rid of it or write it differently, with a bit more care. 26. Film of the month: The Magnificent Seven (1960).

#march #months #2023 #best #highlights

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controlledchaosetc · 9 months ago

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Something to add.

Disclaimer: I'm not an economics major, I don't own stocks, and I don't keep up with the market too much

However, lord the potential bubble that's forming. For the past year, there's been 7 stocks causing the continued rise of the SMP-500 called "The Magnificent 7". These are Tesla (although Tesla's been doing rather poorly which, lol, lmao even), Meta, Amazon, Apple, Alphabet (aka Google), and most importantly for this AI craze, Microsoft and Nvidia. It's ALL TECH STOCKS.

It's these 7 that drove the growth of the market almost entirely by themselves. Now, at the beginning of this year, it's primarily Nvidia and Microsoft (other stocks are still contributing, but growth wise, over 50% of it is these 2 stocks).

This almost entirely because of GenAI, with Microsoft owning OpenAI as stated before, and Nvidia manufacturing the GPU farms that can run these models.

Nvidia in particular is going ABSOLUTELY FUCKING NUTS. It's growth has SKYROCKETED because they are basically the ONLY company that can create the cards required to support ChatGPT and Midjourney and the like. So if you want to do GenAI, you gotta go through Nvidia, hence the massive growth spike.

Issue. As stated previously, GenAI's not profitable yet. Everyone's investing into 2 companies that are hoping to become money printers on the hope they can awkwardly shove it within their business models.

What happens if it isn't profitable quickly and the majority of companies that aren't doing well growth-wise that are pursuing GenAI stop?

Then gold rush stops and people stop buying shovels. Then the 2 companies that hold up the majority of growth in the stock market stop growing. Then people panic and pull out because its peaked and don't want to be left holding the bag.

We've seen it before with the dotcom bubble. We've seen it hit Nvidia specifically with crypto just a couple years ago (Don't conflate crypto and the current GenAI craze though, because while one was based on almost nothing, there is genuine merit at least business-wise in GenAI. Saying "this is just like crypto" means it's way easier to blow off in your head, and estimates the staying power about as long. Unfortunately I don't think we're getting that).

Idk when, or even if it'll happen, so again, take what I say with a grain of salt, but this expansion can't last. It'll stop, and based on current stock consolidation down to just a few, when it stops it's gonna be baddddddd.

If anyone wants to know why every tech company in the world right now is clamoring for AI like drowned rats scrabbling to board a ship, I decided to make a post to explain what's happening.

(Disclaimer to start: I'm a software engineer who's been employed full time since 2018. I am not a historian nor an overconfident Youtube essayist, so this post is my working knowledge of what I see around me and the logical bridges between pieces.)

Okay anyway. The explanation starts further back than what's going on now. I'm gonna start with the year 2000. The Dot Com Bubble just spectacularly burst. The model of "we get the users first, we learn how to profit off them later" went out in a no-money-having bang (remember this, it will be relevant later). A lot of money was lost. A lot of people ended up out of a job. A lot of startup companies went under. Investors left with a sour taste in their mouth and, in general, investment in the internet stayed pretty cooled for that decade. This was, in my opinion, very good for the internet as it was an era not suffocating under the grip of mega-corporation oligarchs and was, instead, filled with Club Penguin and I Can Haz Cheezburger websites.

Then around the 2010-2012 years, a few things happened. Interest rates got low, and then lower. Facebook got huge. The iPhone took off. And suddenly there was a huge new potential market of internet users and phone-havers, and the cheap money was available to start backing new tech startup companies trying to hop on this opportunity. Companies like Uber, Netflix, and Amazon either started in this time, or hit their ramp-up in these years by shifting focus to the internet and apps.

Now, every start-up tech company dreaming of being the next big thing has one thing in common: they need to start off by getting themselves massively in debt. Because before you can turn a profit you need to first spend money on employees and spend money on equipment and spend money on data centers and spend money on advertising and spend money on scale and and and

But also, everyone wants to be on the ship for The Next Big Thing that takes off to the moon.

So there is a mutual interest between new tech companies, and venture capitalists who are willing to invest $$$ into said new tech companies. Because if the venture capitalists can identify a prize pig and get in early, that money could come back to them 100-fold or 1,000-fold. In fact it hardly matters if they invest in 10 or 20 total bust projects along the way to find that unicorn.

But also, becoming profitable takes time. And that might mean being in debt for a long long time before that rocket ship takes off to make everyone onboard a gazzilionaire.

But luckily, for tech startup bros and venture capitalists, being in debt in the 2010's was cheap, and it only got cheaper between 2010 and 2020. If people could secure loans for ~3% or 4% annual interest, well then a $100,000 loan only really costs $3,000 of interest a year to keep afloat. And if inflation is higher than that or at least similar, you're still beating the system.

So from 2010 through early 2022, times were good for tech companies. Startups could take off with massive growth, showing massive potential for something, and venture capitalists would throw infinite money at them in the hopes of pegging just one winner who will take off. And supporting the struggling investments or the long-haulers remained pretty cheap to keep funding.

You hear constantly about "Such and such app has 10-bazillion users gained over the last 10 years and has never once been profitable", yet the thing keeps chugging along because the investors backing it aren't stressed about the immediate future, and are still banking on that "eventually" when it learns how to really monetize its users and turn that profit.

The pandemic in 2020 took a magnifying-glass-in-the-sun effect to this, as EVERYTHING was forcibly turned online which pumped a ton of money and workers into tech investment. Simultaneously, money got really REALLY cheap, bottoming out with historic lows for interest rates.

Then the tide changed with the massive inflation that struck late 2021. Because this all-gas no-brakes state of things was also contributing to off-the-rails inflation (along with your standard-fare greedflation and price gouging, given the extremely convenient excuses of pandemic hardships and supply chain issues). The federal reserve whipped out interest rate hikes to try to curb this huge inflation, which is like a fire extinguisher dousing and suffocating your really-cool, actively-on-fire party where everyone else is burning but you're in the pool. And then they did this more, and then more. And the financial climate followed suit. And suddenly money was not cheap anymore, and new loans became expensive, because loans that used to compound at 2% a year are now compounding at 7 or 8% which, in the language of compounding, is a HUGE difference. A $100,000 loan at a 2% interest rate, if not repaid a single cent in 10 years, accrues to $121,899. A $100,000 loan at an 8% interest rate, if not repaid a single cent in 10 years, more than doubles to $215,892.

Now it is scary and risky to throw money at "could eventually be profitable" tech companies. Now investors are watching companies burn through their current funding and, when the companies come back asking for more, investors are tightening their coin purses instead. The bill is coming due. The free money is drying up and companies are under compounding pressure to produce a profit for their waiting investors who are now done waiting.

You get enshittification. You get quality going down and price going up. You get "now that you're a captive audience here, we're forcing ads or we're forcing subscriptions on you." Don't get me wrong, the plan was ALWAYS to monetize the users. It's just that it's come earlier than expected, with way more feet-to-the-fire than these companies were expecting. ESPECIALLY with Wall Street as the other factor in funding (public) companies, where Wall Street exhibits roughly the same temperament as a baby screaming crying upset that it's soiled its own diaper (maybe that's too mean a comparison to babies), and now companies are being put through the wringer for anything LESS than infinite growth that Wall Street demands of them.

Internal to the tech industry, you get MASSIVE wide-spread layoffs. You get an industry that used to be easy to land multiple job offers shriveling up and leaving recent graduates in a desperately awful situation where no company is hiring and the market is flooded with laid-off workers trying to get back on their feet.

Because those coin-purse-clutching investors DO love virtue-signaling efforts from companies that say "See! We're not being frivolous with your money! We only spend on the essentials." And this is true even for MASSIVE, PROFITABLE companies, because those companies' value is based on the Rich Person Feeling Graph (their stock) rather than the literal profit money. A company making a genuine gazillion dollars a year still tears through layoffs and freezes hiring and removes the free batteries from the printer room (totally not speaking from experience, surely) because the investors LOVE when you cut costs and take away employee perks. The "beer on tap, ping pong table in the common area" era of tech is drying up. And we're still unionless.

Never mind that last part.

And then in early 2023, AI (more specifically, Chat-GPT which is OpenAI's Large Language Model creation) tears its way into the tech scene with a meteor's amount of momentum. Here's Microsoft's prize pig, which it invested heavily in and is galivanting around the pig-show with, to the desperate jealousy and rapture of every other tech company and investor wishing it had that pig. And for the first time since the interest rate hikes, investors have dollar signs in their eyes, both venture capital and Wall Street alike. They're willing to restart the hose of money (even with the new risk) because this feels big enough for them to take the risk.

Now all these companies, who were in varying stages of sweating as their bill came due, or wringing their hands as their stock prices tanked, see a single glorious gold-plated rocket up out of here, the likes of which haven't been seen since the free money days. It's their ticket to buy time, and buy investors, and say "see THIS is what will wring money forth, finally, we promise, just let us show you."

To be clear, AI is NOT profitable yet. It's a money-sink. Perhaps a money-black-hole. But everyone in the space is so wowed by it that there is a wide-spread and powerful conviction that it will become profitable and earn its keep. (Let's be real, half of that profit "potential" is the promise of automating away jobs of pesky employees who peskily cost money.) It's a tech-space industrial revolution that will automate away skilled jobs, and getting in on the ground floor is the absolute best thing you can do to get your pie slice's worth.

It's the thing that will win investors back. It's the thing that will get the investment money coming in again (or, get it second-hand if the company can be the PROVIDER of something needed for AI, which other companies with venture-back will pay handsomely for). It's the thing companies are terrified of missing out on, lest it leave them utterly irrelevant in a future where not having AI-integration is like not having a mobile phone app for your company or not having a website.

So I guess to reiterate on my earlier point:

Drowned rats. Swimming to the one ship in sight.

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an-unloving-god · 11 days ago

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Scar has been feeding me with buggy behavior Ajay headcanons that I decided to make canon for like two days and now I'm going to make it everyone else's problems

Right out of Scar's magnificent walnut wrinkled brain I give: Ajay being a bug

Bug ( Sting ) behavior: Growing up no one directly told Ajay that they weren't normal, so there are timed when Ajay runs straight into uncanny valley.

- They might tilt their head just farther than a human should be able too, smile slightly too wide and show off their fangs, or stretch beyond what human mobility allows. Their eyes also occasionally reflect to show a hexagonal array, much like a flys eye pattern.

- Ajay will occasionally communicate through clicks and buzzes, which confuses everyone.

- They have a strange tendency to be drawn to artificial lights such as lamps and will get tired/fall asleep immediately if they get too cold.

This is why their containment cell is typically kept dark and warm, which makes them happy anyway. This is also why Yanqing will avoid using ice moves around them unless they've annoyed him.

( /hj on that last sentence, Yanqing wouldn't actually knock them into a sleep just for being annoying because last time he did it Ajay got scared shitless so he stopped )

But Jenny does have multiple pictures of Ajay walking face first into lamps on the Zhuming. And Aventurine/Ratio have the time of their lives walking with Ajay in the city where artificial lights are everywhere ( Penacony was fun ). Of course they've gotten use to this and can resist it easily, but sometimes the urge calls. Especially if they're tired.

- Mr. Pan-Pan is a squishy ingenium red panda that lights up whenever Ajay squeezes him hard enough. Close friends and family may look at the squishy panda, but no one is allowed to touch their panda lest they get frowny and upset. ( Once Mr. Pan-Pan broke and Ajay sadly brung him to Boothill for fixing. This was when they were like 7. They only let him touch Mr. Pan-Pan because they knew he had an engineer partner and wanted her to fix it. )

- Ajay can also go invisible and cause hallucinations from the fibers their wings can let off. They don't actually do this often and it's rare for them to think about it. But this has caused some very long games of hide and seek when they were a child, Aventurine made sure they stuck with tag after that.

---

The latent bug instincts that one day kicked in and then never went away: Ajay thought that Jenny was gonna eat them after they got married. They literally didn't bring that up until years later when they two were on their honeymoon. ( blame Scar )

- Ajay thought that they were gonna have to fight Yanqing for food for survival and will hang up his swords in high places because they want to keep them safe. Both of these things may have caused an argument at some point.

- Ajay tends to prefer being in groups of their friends or family. Especially when they're molting, hibernating, or just because. And if they don't have a person nearby then a Sting is probably accompanying them somewhere, who knows.

- Ajay has a keen sense of navigation and situational awareness. This is mainly why they were able to lead the Nameless on a wild goose chase on Penacony without getting lost, and when finding Aventurine. They rarely ever get lost unless they're in a new area and sneaking up on them is extremely difficult.

- Ajay will occasionally cook more food than necessary and wraps it up for later. Everyone saw this as normal until they realized that they do this on instinct and they accidentally stocked the Astral Express kitchen for a full month. Yanqing no longer has to worry about food but Holy Shit does his sibling cook at inhuman speeds.

This gets funnier during the winter when this habit doubles. Jing Yuan and Fu Xuan both struggled with storing the food and needed to call Aventurine and Ratio, the only two who are used to this. Ajay blows the IPC's allowance on sustenance and makes it everyone else's problem. ( They want their family to be fed for the winter 🥺 )

- Ajay's buggy instincts is what causes them to love working.

- Ajay's buggy instincts also cause them to want to help out constantly. Which Crocaval finds wonderful. Until she remembers that Ajay doesn’t know SHIT about mechanics and now they're chewing on a wrench.

Okay that's it I think

#[ 🎭 ] the unloving god talks #[🪀] hsr ajay thoughts #This was supposed to go to the OC chat but I am a coward and am full of fear #So onto the brainrot blog it goes #Scar is responsible for all of these btw I didn’t think of Ajay's buggy side until she started it #Ajay stop stealing Crocavals shiny things challenge FAILED

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