#also i googled it and it was on bbc america so that checks out

[forcebookish]

killing eve is so good that it doesn't feel like a real show

[useless-englandfacts]

I don’t know if you’ll be able to help out, but I support BLM and want to learn more about black people in the UK but most of the stuff out there is about America. Do you have any recommendations about British black people? Books or documentaries or resources?

I'd be happy to help out! I agree the US tends to dominate conversations about race, but happily there are quite a few British books out there too! Disclaimer that these are just off the top of my head so if anyone wants to add more then please go ahead!

Black and British: A Forgotten History by David Olusoga! He's a prominent Black historian and has also done multiple documentaries which aim to expand traditional narratives of British history to include people of colour who are so often written out. You can find a full list on his Wikipedia page of course, though I'm unsure as to how many are on iPlayer and such! There's a child-friendly version of Black and British here too for any parents/teachers who are interested!

Brit(ish) by Afua Hirsch is a more autobiographical book about Hirsch's experiences growing up as a mixed race woman in Britain. Hirsch attended Oxford University and works at the BBC, so it’s offers a good insight into what it's like for POC to exist in spaces that have traditionally been saved for rich white people. She's a journalist too so there are various articles of hers floating about covering a range of issues, some of which relate to race. She's also done a few documentaries that are worth checking out, including The Battle for Britain's Heroes which questions whether some of our 'heroes' (e.g. Churchill, Nelson) should really be honoured, and (not British but) African Renaissance which looks at Black culture in Ethiopia, Senegal and Kenya - maybe the first time I've seen African culture shown on its own terms.

Natives: Race and Class in the Ruins of Empire by Akala is another half autobiographical work, covering stuff like the far right in Britain, policing and education. It does a great job of cutting through the squeamishness I think Brits often have when talking about race.

Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge has become a sort of classic of its genre but I think it's totally worthy of all the praise it's received! It looks at how lots of white people in Britain (and more generally) equate racism with full-on hate crimes, meaning they don't consider themselves racist despite regularly committing micro-aggressions/other unintentional acts. Also an absolutely stellar insight into intersectionality throughout the book! Cannot recommend enough!

Feminism, Interrupted: Disrupting Power by Lola Olufemi is a must-read for feminists! It discusses modern-day feminism and how it needs to remove itself from that girlboss capitalist yuckiness, and should instead focus on marginalised issues within feminism such as transmisogyny, sex work, and - of course - racism. Has been praised by Angela Davis so that's a huge plus!

The Good Immigrant edited by Nikesh Shukla is a collection of essays by POC from across Britain sharing experiences of racism and immigration, and what it feels like to be constantly regarded as an 'other' or as an ambassador for your race.

Literally anything by Paul Gilroy! His work is slightly older and some of it is very ~academic~ but I don't want to suggest that it's therefore totally inaccessible. He talks a lot more about British national identity and our role in the world and how that has affected views on race and immigration. He's written lots (I recommend Googling him and having a better look yourself!) but There Ain't No Black in the Union Jack and After Empire: Melancholia or Convivial Culture are both fab.

If you're feeling brave then you could look at anything by Marxist darling Stuart Hall? Some of his writing is very difficult to penetrate imo, but it's worth it if you can. He's written a lot so I would recommend browsing his Wikipedia page first and seeing if there's anything that grabs you. Even if you don't feel up to reading his stuff cover to cover, he's still someone who every antiracist in Britain should know!

Honourary mention to Thinking Black: Britain, 1964-1985 by Rob Waters just because he taught me at university hehe! Obviously more of an academic history book, but again pretty accessible and a good insight into more radical Black politics in Britain in the era.

I haven't read it myself as I believe it's only just come out but David Harewood has a book called Maybe I Don't Belong Here: A Memoir of Race, Identity, Breakdown and Recovery which looks worth checking out! Foreword by our beloved David Olusoga too!

If you're still looking for more then a good tip with any of the academic books listed here is that you can browse the footnotes and/or bibliography to find further reading there!

If you're looking for documentaries then on the BBC you can browse for Black History Month stuff, (fictional) shows that centre Black British characters and narratives, and documentaries that do the same. There has been quite a lot done in the past year about all sorts of stuff - from Black people in the NHS, what it's like being Black in the church, more specific stuff on Stephen Lawrence, Windrush, the Newcross Fire, and even specials on Black celebrities such as Lenny Henry. There's also a Black and Proud section on Channel 4's website that does something similar (side note: cannot believe they've put Hollyoaks on there that's so funny).

I don't read much fiction myself, but it is important not just to see Black Britons as victims of racism, but also as… you know… complicated and fully rounded human beings who are able to experience the full spectrum of human emotion like everyone else. Like black people just… existing. Looking to others who do read fiction to help flesh out this section in particular but a couple again off the top of my head:

Girl, Woman, Other by Bernadine Evaristo

Love in Colour by Bolu Babalola (I know this isn’t about Britain per se, but she's a Black British writer so I think it counts).

This is probably more than you asked for and you can likely tell that my academic background is in history so it is skewed towards that but I hope this helps! And again, if anyone wants to add anything then feel free!

- Dominique

[calumcest]

i took a walk with my fame down memory lane (i never did find my way back) - chapter four

[ao3]

is it technically tuesday? yes. are we going to talk about that? no. everybody lives in at least gmt-1 now suck it up 

@tirednotflirting yet again...i cannot sing your praises enough for reading this ENTIRE fucking thing!! although it looks a bit different here to how it looks on the google doc because its not in bold and theres no ‘finishh’ in sight nor my insane random words that i write down when i know exactly the words i want to say but i’m too lazy to write them. am i the worst writer known to man? possibly

we are getting to the juicy stuff now...its quarter to fucking malum o’clock...

also if you saw the title of this chapter before i went to check you didn’t see it. close your eyes 

By the time Calum wakes up the next afternoon, they’re already halfway back to Manchester, somewhere on the M40. Predictably, Liam's up, vibrating with that impatient energy he’s always got when he can’t snort or drink it away, and Calum’s the second one to rise, padding into the lounge area sleepily, yawning loudly and rubbing his eyes. His head’s fucking pounding, and his mouth is dry and disgusting, but Liam, because he sometimes is the angel his doe eyes and full lips make him out to be, has already put out a cup of water and two paracetamols for him. 

“How the fuck are you never hungover?” Calum grumbles, throwing himself down on the sofa next to Liam and nestling into his side as he downs the paracetamol. 

“Luck of the Irish,” Liam tells him, resting his cheek on Calum’s head. Calum makes a noise of discontent and turns to press his face into Liam’s shoulder, squeezing his eyes shut like it’s going to stop his head from hurting. 

“You deserve a hangover,” he mumbles. “You were off your fucking head last night.” 

“And you weren’t?” 

“Never said that.” Liam huffs out a soft laugh. 

“Nearly fainted in the fucking toilets, you did.” Calum scowls. 

“Fuck off,” he says, as his memory flashes back to last night - yeah, he did almost fucking faint in the toilets, but that was only because- and then his eyes fly open, because fuck. Jesus fucking Christ. 

Michael. 

“Our kid barely even made it back to the bus last night,” Liam says, and it’s just meant to be casual conversation, maybe a little contemptuous, but it makes Calum’s lungs collapse in on themselves with guilt. 

He’d spoken to Michael. He’d come to some sort of a fucking understanding with Michael, something he can’t quite remember and doesn’t quite understand. Fuck, he might have even called Michael pretty. Jesus Christ. He’s fairly certain any and all of that goes against his promise to Noel. 

“Oh?” he says, when he remembers to speak. Liam just hums, and Calum tries not to exhale too shakily as his mind races. 

It’s not his fault, he tells himself. Not really. He’d been there first, hadn’t he? Michael had been the one to walk up to him, and the one who hadn’t walked away. And sure, maybe Calum had been the one to strike up conversation, but it hadn’t exactly been friendly, had it? And Michael had been the one to ask questions, to change the topic, and to level the playing field when Calum had accidentally let something slip. Plus, Calum had been drunk and high, so he can’t really be held accountable for his actions, can he? 

Liam’s still talking, but Calum’s not listening, and it doesn’t even matter because Liam cuts himself off when Tony stumbles into the lounge area, bleary-eyed and yawning. There’s no paracetamol set out for him, and Liam makes no move to get any. 

“I’m looking forward to a fucking break,” Tony says a little hoarsely, and flops down on the sofa opposite Liam and Calum. 

“Fucking when?” Liam says. “We’ve got Top of the Pops in two days.” Tony groans, pressing the heels of his hands into his eyes. 

“Fucking Top of the Pops,” he mumbles. “Why the fuck did we agree to that?” 

“For the money,” Liam says. 

“Don’t even get to play the fucking drums,” Tony says, muffled by his palms. 

“Thank fuck for that,” Liam mutters.

  -------

  Top of the Pops is exactly the bland, boring nightmare Calum expects it to be. 

They’re shepherded into some kind of studio for a rehearsal and informed that they’ll be recording a live track then and there which will be mixed together with the album version, and none of them will actually be playing live. Liam’s having absolutely fucking none of it, and for once neither is Noel, and Calum, Bonehead and Tony all decide to step back and enjoy the show that is both Gallaghers on the same team for once. 

After a lot of shouting, swearing and a few threats of violence, it’s decided that they’ll go ahead with recording the backing track but Liam will sing live. Noel’s absolutely fucking furious about not being allowed to play live, but it’s almost entirely forgotten when he sees the setup for the stage - Tony on drums in the front, Calum and Bonehead on a step behind him, and Liam and Noel on another step right at the back. The BBC aren’t budging on that, though, despite Calum, Bonehead, and Alan all weighing in to agree that it’s fucking stupid to have the stars of the band stood right at the back, and a nasty row breaks out between the Gallaghers and the production team, ending in Calum having to move at the speed of fucking light when he sees Liam tense into the all-too-familiar I’m going to fucking deck you stance. A lawsuit with the BBC is still well beyond their budget, no matter how well the singles have been doing. 

Calum manages to talk Liam down, and Liam manages to talk Noel down, and they’re only ten minutes behind schedule by the time that the brothers have reluctantly agreed to do the show, which is pretty good going for them. They trail to the stage to the sound of screaming and cheering, which makes Calum’s head spin a little bit as he picks up his unplugged bass. They’re really fucking making it now, he thinks in awe, as he looks out at the sea of excited faces and spots a few white Oasis shirts. They’re really fucking doing this. 

They get set up and pretend to play Shakermaker, and Liam sounds fucking gorgeous, like he’s making a point to the producers, and Noel slings his arm around Liam as they walk off, a protective, proud gesture that Liam grins at and leans into. They’re fucking unstoppable, Calum thinks, as he trails after them, Noel’s arm tight around Liam and Liam stumbling over his own feet as he tries to press as close to Noel as possible. The two of them on the same side is a fucking sight to behold.

They’re at a hotel that night, and Liam and Bonehead decide they want to go out but Tony and Noel want to stay in, and Calum decides he’s too tired to stay up for the length of time it’s going to take him to find someone willing to fuck him. 

(“What d’you think coke’s for?” Liam says to him, and Calum rolls his eyes.) 

Calum falls asleep almost as soon as his head touches the pillow, and he wakes up early to the sound of Liam stumbling into the room, high and drunk and probably something else, bruises blooming all over his throat and grinning giddily. 

“Good night?” Calum says. 

“The best,” Liam declares, and then passes out on his bed. 

They have to drive back to Manchester that day, though, because they’ve got a show in Leeds tomorrow, so Liam only gets about four hours of rest before Alan’s banging on the door and yelling at them to get the fuck up, lazy fuckers, didn’t I fucking tell you bus call’s at twelve? To his credit, though, he only complains about a hundred times, and stops when Noel rolls his eyes, holds his arms open and lets Liam snuggle into him and have a nap while Noel chats to Alan about the setlist for America. 

Calum tunes most of it out, because he’s not fussed about what’s on the setlist and he trusts Noel to pick the best of his own songs, and spends two hours getting absolutely thrashed at chess by Tony. By the time they’re back in Manchester, Calum’s lost a game of chess to literally everybody on the bus, including Liam, who's being taught the rules of chess by Noel and Bonehead as they play, and Calum decides he’s never fucking playing chess ever again. 

(“We’re fucking buying some new games,” he says moodily, when Liam flicks his king over nonchalantly. 

“No need to get so mardy,” Bonehead says, stretching out and grinning at Calum. 

“Fuck you,” Calum grumbles, sweeping all the pieces off the chess board. “We’re getting a game that I can fucking win.” 

“Alright,” Noel says, grinning. “How about Frustration?”)

Calum’s mum has dinner ready for him when he drags himself up the path and into the house, and she fusses over the state of his hair and his clothes and says really, Calum in a disapproving voice whenever Calum uses colourful language to describe exactly what he thinks about the production team of Top of the Pops. Calum rolls his eyes, but he’s smiling when she tuts at him for fondly calling Liam a silly cunt for the fourth time that evening, because it’s nice. It makes him feel like a kid again, but in the best possible way; warm, protected, like someone’s still looking out for him. 

His dad gets back from work around seven, and they sit down to watch the Top of the Pops performance together. Calum’s heart swells with pride when it’s their turn to play, because they look fucking cool. The staging’s still shite, granted, but Liam looks every inch the rock ‘n’ roll star he claims to be, and the rest of them look lazily and effortlessly cool, helped enormously by the fact they’re half in the shadows, lights focused on the Gallaghers. 

Calum’s parents are polite about the song, and he can see they’re beaming with pride, but he can also tell they don’t really get it. It’s okay, he thinks, unable to help the smile that creeps onto his face as he watches his parents watch him on TV. They like jazz. It’s probably for the best that they don’t think it’s good music. 

Calum’s mum switches to some soap opera after Top of the Pops, and his dad grumbles not this again and pulls out his newspaper, but Calum can see his face popping over the top of the paper every two seconds. After three minutes he comments wasn’t Sheila dating Mark last week? She’s not having an affair with Bertie, is she? Calum snorts, and his dad glares at him, opening his mouth to make a defensive remark about how he doesn’t follow this show, it’s absolute rubbish, but then the phone rings. 

“I’ll get it,” Calum says, before anyone has the chance to say anything, mostly to avoid having to listen to his dad’s I’m not watching this, Calum, don’t be cheeky spiel, and his mum just nods absent-mindedly, waving a dismissive hand at him, eyes glued to the TV. Calum heads for the phone in the kitchen, just because it’s the closest, jogging to get there before it rings out. 

“Hello?” he says, when he picks up. There’s silence at the other end of the line, and he frowns. “Hello?” he tries again. 

“Hi.” Calum’s stomach drops. 

“ Michael? ” 

“Yeah.” 

“What the f- how the- what? What? ” Calum’s heart is beating out of his fucking chest, almost covering the embarrassment that’s flaring up as foggy memories of their last conversation drag themselves to the forefront of his mind. 

“Sorry,” Michael says, and he sighs, and Calum can just imagine him running his fingers through his hair, a small crease between his brows. “Fuck, I- sorry. I shouldn’t’ve-”

“No,” Calum says abruptly, clutching the receiver, dreading the fucking dial tone. “No, I just- how did you get this number?” There’s a moment of silence. 

“Only so many Joy Hoods in the book,” Michael says, and Calum exhales, hoping the crackling static of the phone line will hide how shaky it is. 

“Oh,” he says. Michael had sought him out. Michael wants to talk. Michael still remembers his mum’s name. 

“I saw you,” Michael says suddenly, into the uncomfortable silence that’s blossomed between them, neither of them knowing what to say next. “On Top of the Pops.” 

“Yeah?” Calum doesn’t trust himself to say any more, but the question on the tip of his tongue is evident in the eagerness in his tone, anyway. 

“Yeah.” There’s a pause. “Sounded good.” 

“That’s because it’s a backing track.” Michael huffs out a laugh, sounding a little surprised, like he wasn’t expecting it to come out.

“I guess,” he allows. They lapse into silence again, loud and uncomfortable, before Michael sighs. 

“I’m sorry,” he says, and he sounds a little regretful.  “I shouldn’t’ve called.” 

“No,” Calum blurts. “I’m glad you did.” The phone’s warm against his fingers, slippery from his hot, sweaty hands, and he’s clasping it so hard he thinks it might break. He tries to focus on that rather than on what he’s just said, on the knife-edge he feels like they’re poised on, each word a weight that could unbalance them. 

“Are you?” Michael sounds a little doubtful, and a little sceptical. 

“Yeah.” Michael hums, like he’s mulling something over. 

“Do your bandmates know?” Calum’s heart skips a beat. 

“Know what?” 

“That we talked.” At Glastonbury, while you were drunk and high and out of your fucking mind. You called me pretty, by the way. He doesn’t say any of that, but Calum’s mind tacks it on helpfully anyway. 

“Do yours?” Calum says, deflecting, because his stomach’s bottoming out with the sheer weight of the guilt, of the broken promise. Or was it broken? Calum barely remembers, just remembers the look on Michael’s face, the tiny microexpressions, the glassiness of his eyes. 

“No.” Calum inhales sharply, can’t fucking help himself - Michael’s talking to Calum, and the rest of Blur don’t know. That's got to mean something, even if Calum isn't entirely sure what.

“Oh.” 

“Do they know?” Michael asks again. Calum stares at the hob opposite him, weighing up his answer. 

If he says yes, he’ll be lying, and whatever the fuck him and Michael have going on right now is so fragile that one lie like that will send it all crumbling down, pulverise it so thoroughly that it’ll never be able to be built back up again. If he says no, though, he’ll be doing the same to Oasis, to his best mates, to his career.  There's no right answer.

“Not yet,” he settles on eventually, straddling the line between Oasis and Michael. It’s the truth - he hasn’t told them, but they might find out at some point. 

“Are you going to tell them?” Fucking hell. Trust Michael to pick at the loose thread.

“Maybe. I don’t know.” It’s true, and that’s the best Calum can offer him. 

There’s a moment of silence, neither of them really knowing what to say, and it’s fucking gut-wrenching because Calum’s never had that with Michael. He’d never even had to think about what to say with Michael - he’d just existed, just been, and that was always enough. 

“Luke and Ashton asked about you,” Michael says, and Calum’s breath hitches. 

“Oh?” he says. “How are they?”

“Good,” Michael says. “They’re good.” He pauses for a moment, and then adds: “Luke’s a pilot, now. Or training to be, I think. I don’t know. Ashton’s a teacher.” 

“Oh,” Calum says, voice small. Two of his best mates, in an earlier life; two spotty blonde teenage boys laughing on the beach at Calum splashing Michael in the water, shooting each other furtive glances across crowded rooms, getting high just for an excuse to shotgun. A fucking pilot and a teacher. 

“Yeah,” Michael says. 

“Did they ever get their shit together?” Calum asks. 

“What? Oh, yeah. Fuck, has it been that long?” Michael exhales heavily. “They’ve been together for years.” 

“Oh.” Calum doesn’t know what else to say to that. He’s trying to imagine it; a pilot and a teacher, fucking hell. Maybe Luke brings Ashton little gifts from his trips abroad. Maybe Ashton writes Luke postcards while his pupils work. Who does the cooking? Luke definitely doesn’t clean. Or maybe he does. If Michael’s changed this much, maybe Luke has, too. 

“What about you?” Michael asks. 

“What about me?” Calum’s not sure what Michael’s asking. Michael knows what he’s up to - he’s in Oasis, spending all his money on intoxicants, trying to exist alongside the supernova that’s the Gallagher brothers. 

“Y’know.” Calum doesn’t know. 

“I have no id-” 

“Are you seeing anyone?” Michael says it all in a rush, like it’s taken a lot of courage to say it. It probably has, Calum thinks. He wouldn’t have asked Michael. It’s sort of reassuring, actually, makes something a little warm blossom in his chest, because that’s still so Michael . Michael always blurted out questions, always demanded answers, always kept social etiquette and politeness as an afterthought.

“No,” Calum says. He swallows, and then adds: “Are you?” 

“No.” Good, Calum wants to say, but he doesn’t. He doesn’t have Michael like that anymore; he doesn’t have the right. 

“Why did you call?” he says instead. Michael hesitates. 

“I saw you on TV,” he says eventually. That’s not a reason. 

“Why did you call?” Calum presses. Michael inhales, and doesn’t exhale for a moment.  

“I don’t know,” he admits eventually, on a long, heavy  exhale. Calum doesn’t blame him. None of this really makes sense to him either; the fact he feels like this after five years of not seeing Michael, after four years of not speaking to him, after three years of not thinking about him. He’s not sure why he wants this, whatever this is, not sure why he wants more of Michael, not sure why his heart feels drawn to Michael like it’s north and Michael’s south. 

“Yeah,” Calum says, hoping it conveys I understand. 

“I almost reached out,” Michael says suddenly. “A few times. Over the past year, I mean.”

“Why didn’t you?” 

“Didn’t want to.” 

“Why didn’t you tell your band?” 

“Didn’t know how,” Michael says. Calum gets that too; he’d thought about it as well, entertained the idea, turned it over and over in his mind, but he’d never known what to say. I fucked the guitarist from Blur - I was in love with him actually - and I don’t know why I can’t get him off my mind would probably have sparked even worse reactions than the way it had come out did.

“They seem really protective of you,” Calum says. 

“They are,” Michael says, and there’s a small smile evident in his tone. “Not like yours, though. I don’t think all the money in the world could get Graham to start a fight on my behalf.” Calum can’t help the startled laugh that escapes him. 

“I don’t think all the money in the would could get Liam not to start a fight on my behalf,” Calum says, and Michael huffs out a soft laugh. 

"I'm glad you found such good friends," he says, and the smile is ripped off Calum's face at the jarring reminder that they don't know each other anymore. It sounds so distant, like Michael's content with this arm's-length distance between them, two people who used to know everything about each other and are now making polite small talk.

“Yeah,” Calum says. “I’m glad, too.” He can’t bring himself to say what he really means - I’m sorry it was good enough to take me from you. He doesn’t know if he’ll ever be able to say it. 

“I should go,” Michael says after a minute. Calum wants to say no, don’t, stay, but he forces the words back down and nods, still staring blankly at the hob. 

“Yeah,” Calum says. “Me too.” 

“It was-”

“Don’t,” Calum says abruptly, as his stomach twists. It was nice talking to you. It was nice catching up. He doesn’t want to hear the finality of the words, the forced politeness, the jarring dissonance that is the boy he’d known and loved for so long and the man he is now.  

Michael doesn’t say anything for a moment, and then he sighs. 

“Look,” he says. “I- you don’t-” he cuts himself off, takes a deep breath, and starts again. “D’you want my number?” 

“Do I- uh, yeah,” Calum says, a little stupidly, glancing around wildly for something to write on. 

“I’m on tour for the next few months,” Michael says, as Calum snatches up a recipe his mum had left lying out, and an incredibly unsharpened pencil. “But I’ll- y’know. When I’m home.” I’ll call you. He can’t bring himself to say it, and Calum doesn’t blame him. 

“Okay,” Calum says. 

“You got a pen?”

“Yeah.” Michael rattles off a number, some area code Calum doesn’t recognise, something starting 071. He writes it down hastily, hoping he’s heard it right because he doesn’t want to ask is that five like hive or nine like fine , and then rips the corner of the recipe off and tucks it into his pocket. 

“Got it,” Calum says, dropping the pencil onto the counter with a clatter. “071, where’s that?” 

“London.”

“Oh. Uh. Cool,” Calum says. 

“Well,” Michael says, a touch awkwardly. “See you around, then, yeah?” 

“Yeah,” Calum echoes. There’s one more moment, the two of them listening to each other breathing, a second suspended in time, and then it’s broken by a click and a dial tone. 

Calum puts the phone down a little dazedly, just as his mum wanders into the kitchen. 

“Who was it?” she asks. Calum hesitates, and she raises an eyebrow, which means he’s lost the opportunity to say oh, just a cold call. 

“Michael,” he says, and her eyes widen. 

“Clifford?” she says. He nods. Who the fuck else is it going to be, Michael the sound engineer that had mixed two fucking tracks in Cornwall? “I didn’t know you two still spoke.” 

“We don’t.” Her face softens. 

“Oh, honey,” she says gently, and Calum swallows. He hasn’t told her yet, hasn’t told her about the awards ceremony and Glastonbury, and somehow, he doesn’t quite want to. She seems to sense it, though, because she just sighs and pulls him into a warm, tight hug. Calum wraps his arms around her, closes his eyes and buries his face in her shoulder. Even though he’s half a foot taller than her, even though she only comes up to his collarbone, it still feels like she’s the one protecting him, like he’s small and cocooned in her arms. 

She lets go after a minute, fussing over him messing up his hair, and he groans at her and ducks out of the way of her meddling fingers, but the warm feeling stays, and when she smiles at him and tells him she’s going to bake him his favourite biscuits tomorrow, he feels seventeen again. 

(Or maybe that’s just Michael.) 

  -------

 July and August pass in the blink of an eye.

After Leeds, they have three weeks off. Calum finally fixes the garden wall, and for the first few days, he finds himself jumping every time the phone rings. It’s never Michael though - most of the time it’s one of the brothers, asking whether Calum wants to go to the pub or get high or go out on the pull, and sometimes it’s Alan, reminding him that he’s got to be here on this day at this time and there on that day at that time and is he writing all this down because he’s going to be responsible for getting Liam there too since Noel’s going ahead this time. 

They go down to London for a few days, record a few new versions of songs and one demo of a new song that Noel’s written but isn’t sure about yet. As soon as he’s heard Liam’s vocals on it, though, his eyes light up, and Calum files the bassline away, because he knows it’s going to be on the next album now, no matter how much Noel’s pretending to hum and haw about it. He can’t fucking let Liam have anything, though, so when Liam comes out of the live room, bright-eyed and desperate for Noel’s affirmation, Noel curls his lip and tells him that sounded fucking shite, Christ, you’re almost as useless as Tony. It culminates in a huge fight that Calum and Bonehead manage to duck out of before it begins, only finding out about it when they get woken by a sombre-looking Alan in the middle of the night and informed they’re all being kicked out of the hotel because Liam’s trashed the bar and Noel’s chucked a TV out of the window of his room that landed on the hotel manager’s car.

They play their first show in America on the 21st - their first show outside of Europe - and it goes well. Noel’s not impressed by the country, having toured there with the Inspirals half a decade earlier, but the rest of them are in fucking awe, and Calum catches tiny, fond smiles playing on Noel’s lips when he sees Liam staring at the Statue of Liberty or the Empire State Building, lips parted and eyes wide. 

Noel’s finally managed to get his way on Live Forever too, it seems, because they’re shepherded into Central Park a few days later, half of them hungover and half of them still blind drunk, to film a video. The director seems to be even fucking higher than they are, because he comes up with ideas like Liam singing while sitting on a chair nailed to a wall, and the band take it upon themselves to start suggesting ever more ludicrous ideas, just to see what sticks. Liam throws in chucking a bucket of water over Bonehead, and Calum suggests burying the drum kit, and Noel goes why don’t we just bury the fucking drummer? The director thinks that’s a fucking brilliant idea, inspired, creative, and Noel shoots Calum a look and says wow, is that how easy this is? You just fucking randomly suggest nonsense and people just go and film it?  

(He doesn’t bother showing up for most of the second day of filming, and Calum can’t really blame him.) 

They fly back to the UK and play another festival on the 31st of July, and as Calum passes by one of the posters on the way to the stage he does a double take, because Blur are on there. Liam sees him looking, though, and taps the top of the poster wordlessly as he walks past - Sat 30th July. Calum can’t help the way his stomach sinks at that. Michael was here yesterday, and Calum’s here today. Maybe that’s a sign, he thinks. Maybe fate is trying to tell him something.

Live Forever comes out in early August, and people fucking love it. Calum’s getting stopped in the street in fucking Wolverhampton - Wolverhampton - and asked to sign autographs, which makes his head spin. They’re really fucking making it now, he thinks, when he calls his mum from a payphone and she tells him that they’ve had people turning up at the door asking for interviews. This is what the rise to the top feels like, powered by coke and booze and Noel's guitar. 

They play a festival in Sweden which sees Noel, Liam and Bonehead smashing up a hotel bar with the guys from Primal Scream, who they’d met at T in the Park, and Richard Ashcroft, who they’ve known for years, and once again Calum’s woken up in the middle of the night and informed that they’ve been asked to leave - not just the hotel this time, but the country. He’s driven to the police station where Bonehead, Liam and Noel are being held, and has to stand with the harsh lights hurting his eyes while Alan tries to hash things out with the Swedish police, and then the three fucking delinquents come stumbling out, grinning and reeking of alcohol. 

("Are you trying to get arrested in every single fucking country we visit?" Calum asks Liam, as they make their way to the car.

"No," Liam says, "but that's a fucking mega idea, that." 

Shit.)

They have to film another music video in August, but since it’s for Cigarettes & Alcohol Marcus at the record label lets them bargain the video down from a full on shoot to the filming of a live gig at the Borderline in London and hiring a few pretty faces to mingle with them backstage. It’s not bad, Calum thinks, as Liam hands him a beer and grins drunkenly for the cameras. Slap a fucking black and white filter on it and it’ll look almost intentionally dingy. 

A week after that, the album comes out. 

Calum hadn’t really realised what album releases would entail, but apparently, it’s a lot of fucking interviews. The first few are quite exciting - they’re still not that used to interviews; a few radio shows, a few TV shows, the odd magazine - but after days on end of answering the same questions hour after hour, Calum starts joining Liam for his hourly smoke breaks, just for something to liven the mood. 

They play a show in London the day the album comes out, and Calum finds himself scanning the screaming crowd for blonde hair, pale skin, sea-green eyes, a pretty smile, but Michael’s not there. Calum hadn’t really expected him to be - it’s a small venue, and apparently it’s been sold out for weeks - but it doesn’t stop him feeling disappointed all the same, having to turn to the back of the stage for a minute to collect himself. Tony shoots him a strange look over his hi-hat, but doesn’t say anything, and Calum sends up a quick prayer of thanks that it was Tony and not Noel that had noticed. 

The album goes gold in three days - the fastest-selling debut album in British history - but they barely even have time to celebrate because they’re heading to Sweden again the next day and Alan tells them with an unusually stern expression that he’s had to twist a lot of arms to get them back in and they’re absolutely fucking not allowed to get drunk or high or fight anybody until they’ve been in and out of Sweden. Liam moans and bitches about it but accepts reluctantly, spending the entire journey to Sweden yawning and rubbing his eyes and making sleepy conversation until he falls asleep on Noel’s shoulder. 

The show in Sweden goes off without a hitch, and they’re in Dublin the next day - their first Irish show - and the brothers go fucking mental. Calum joins in for a bit but can’t keep up; two Irish Mancunians in Dublin is far too much for his Australian stomach to handle. Belfast is no better, and the day after that they play the Haçienda in Manchester - one of the most famous clubs in their hometown - and after the three-day-binge even the Gallaghers are worn out and sleep for the majority of the two days they have off before heading to Europe and then to Japan. 

Japan is fucking insane. Fans are swarming around them the minute they step off the plane, drunk off the free little bottles of booze, and the crowd sings their songs back at them louder than any English fans ever have done. Calum’s glad he’s not singing, because he gets choked up when Liam steps away from the microphone for a second during Live Forever and the crowd scream did you ever feel the pain in the morning rain as it soaks you to the bone? He sees Liam’s eyes widen, sees the way he swallows before starting the chorus, sees the way his gaze flits to Noel and they hold each other’s gazes for a split second, something that only the two of them can read in it, and his heart swells with pride and love. God, he fucking loves his job, he loves the music, he loves his band, he loves the fans, he fucking loves it all. 

They’re riding off the high of Japan when they get to America again, due to play a whole host of shows throughout the rest of September until the end of October, when it all goes wrong. 

They’re not made for America, Calum thinks. They gets thrown out of a radio show for swearing live on-air; they get in a fight with the bouncers at some famous club in Hollywood; and one night in LA they even get a visit from the police, who arrive with their guns drawn, because Bonehead won’t stop playing Supersonic with his amp on full volume at six in the morning. Noel cackles when he sees them and tells them to fucking go ahead, shoot the cunt, and Maggie, their poor, overworked, underpaid tour manager, rushes out in her pyjamas and bargains with the police, tries to smooth things over. Calum thinks that’ll be it, that’ll be the big story of the tour, but it’s all overshadowed when they get to the Whisky a Go Go, some famous club that they’re told repeatedly it’s an honour to be playing. 

Oasis being Oasis, they’re looking for coke. Someone procures a bag of white powder at soundcheck, and Liam grabs it greedily and starts cutting it into lines as the rest of the band circle around it like vultures, and as it goes up Calum’s nose he thinks fucking hell, this feels a bit fucking different. He shrugs it off, though, and hands the rolled up dollar bill to Bonehead - maybe American coke’s just stronger.  

It hits him like a fucking train. He’s buzzing with the kind of energy that he’s never had from coke before, higher than he’s ever been before, more euphoric, feels fucking unstoppable, but there’s a dirty edge to it, something gritty and nasty that he just doesn’t like. It’s too late, though, because it’s gone down, and he thinks fucking hell - well, at least it’ll wear off in about half an hour.  

It doesn’t. 

He’s sweating, heart pounding in his chest, vision sharp and blurry at the same time when they get on stage. Everyone else seems to be in a similar situation - Bonehead’s eyes are wide and flitting left to right, right to left, and Liam’s jittery and bouncing on his heels. Noel’s somewhere else completely - he starts playing fucking Bring It On Down when the rest of them start up with Fade Away, and he plays the solo of Supersonic during Cigarettes & Alcohol. They have to play Roll With It one-and-a-half times, because Calum’s bass amp explodes a minute in, and Liam starts shouting at the audience after a crowdsurfer knocks his mic stand over, and then starts shouting at Noel for fucking God knows what, yelling at him to fuck off, until he launches his tambourine at Noel, hitting him on the shoulder, and storms offstage as the set ends. 

Calum heads off dazedly, trying to slow his pounding heart and thinking fucking hell, what the fuck was in that coke? The brothers are still yelling at each other backstage, pupils dilated and faces red, and don’t stop yelling as they’re herded into a car to get back to the hotel, are still screaming at each other as Maggie ushers them up the stairs and into their separate hotel rooms. They each shout a venomous fuck you, you fucking cunt at each other before slamming their doors, and Calum, who’s due to room with Liam that night, decides he’d rather sleep on Bonehead and Tony’s floor than brave that. 

He can’t fucking sleep, though. The high just doesn’t stop. He’s so wired, feels so fucking strung out and awful, barely cognisant of what’s going on around him but hyperaware at the same time and he just wants to fucking sleep, just wants to rest. He can’t, though, and neither can Bonehead or Tony, and they just pace around the room, vibrating with energy, muttering what the fuck do they do to the coke over here, eh? every few minutes. 

Time passes so fucking slowly, every minute inching by painfully, and by the time it’s morning Calum’s starting to finally, finally come down. He feels semi-human by the time the knock on their door for breakfast comes, and wrenches it open, still dressed in last night’s clothes, to find a serious-looking Maggie, a crease between her brows. 

“What?” he says, because he knows, he just knows something’s happened. 

“Noel’s left,” she says. Oh. Well. That’s hardly grounds for a face like that. 

“Will he be back for soundcheck?” Calum asks. 

“He’s gone, Calum.” 

“What d’you mean, he’s gone?” Calum’s not quite getting it.

“He asked for his passport and some money,” Maggie says. “And he’s gone.” Calum stares at her. Noel can’t be gone. He might have left, sure, but he can’t have gone.

“Wha’s tha’?” Bonehead calls groggily, from across the room. He’d come down a few hours ago, managed to force himself to sleep, and he sits up in bed, rubbing his eyes with the heels of his hands. 

“Noel’s gone,” Maggie repeats, a little louder. Tony turns from where he’s sat in the corner of the room, twisting his fingers this way and that, eyes wide. 

“Gone where?” Bonehead asks.

“I don’t know,” Maggie says. 

“What d’you mean, you don’t know?” 

“He’s gone, Bonehead. Took his passport, took some money, and left.” There’s a moment of stunned silence. 

“Does Liam know?” Tony asks. Maggie bites her lip, and shakes her head. 

“I thought I’d tell you first.” 

“Shit,” Bonehead breathes. “He’s gone? ” Maggie nods. 

“Yeah,” she says. “Suitcase and all.” 

Fuck. 

Fuck.  

“Oh, fuck,” Calum mutters, and sits down on the bed. “He’ll come back, though, won’t he?” 

“I don’t know,” Maggie admits. “He sounded pretty certain about it.” 

“Why the fuck did you let him go?” Bonehead demands. 

“I can’t hold him hostage, can I?” Maggie says. “He’s fucking twenty-seven years old.” 

“Shit,” Tony says. “Oh, God. Shit. ” 

“I’m going to tell Liam,” Maggie says, sounding a little nervous about it. She probably should be, Calum thinks distantly, staring unblinkingly at the carpet. Noel’s gone.  

“I’ll come with you,” he finds himself saying, more for Liam’s sake than Maggie’s. He stands up robotically, completely on autopilot, and follows her out of the room, leaving Bonehead and Tony in shocked silence. 

Liam answers his door on the first knock, already awake and showered, and his face falls when he sees it’s not Noel. Oh, God. The kid’s going to be fucking beside himself. 

“Can we come in?” Maggie says, aiming for sweet. Liam’s eyes narrow. 

“What’s happened?” he says. Maggie hesitates. 

“Noel’s gone,” she says softly, after a moment. 

“Where to?” 

“He’s gone, Liam,” Calum says. The words feel strange on his lips. Noel can’t be gone, not now, not when they’re finally getting somewhere. Not without fucking saying anything to them. 

“Where?” 

“We don’t know,” Maggie says, still gentle, still kind, still trying to soften the blow. Liam looks about five years old, damp hair plastered to his face, eyes wide and shining with something that looks like fear, maybe, or loss, or rejection. Or maybe all of them with a sheen of anxiety. 

“Fuck,” he says, but he doesn’t sound angry. “Is he going to be okay? Is he alright? Did you speak to him?” 

“He just asked for his passport and some money,” Maggie says. 

“But he’s okay?” 

“I- he seemed okay, yeah, but-”

“Okay,” Liam says, like he’s trying to steady himself. “When’s he coming back?” 

“I-” Maggie cuts herself off, and takes a deep breath. “I think he’s gone for good, Liam.” 

Calum can see it, the moment it registers in Liam’s mind, sees it in the way his eyes widen and his lips part, in the panic that rises in his eyes. 

“He’s not,” Liam says, like he’s trying to convince himself. “He wouldn’t fucking do that.” 

“He’s gone,” Maggie says again, softer than before, and then reaches inside her coat pocket. “He left you a letter.” Liam stares down at the folded envelope in her hand, and then snatches it and shuts the door in both of their faces. 

They stand there for a moment, and then Maggie turns to Calum. 

“Well,” she says, like she’s bracing herself. “That could’ve gone worse.” 

“Yeah,” Calum says vaguely, still staring at the door. 

It couldn’t be worse, though. 

  -------

  Alan tells them not to worry, for the first few days. Noel’s disappeared before, and he’s quit before, and he always comes back. 

So they try not to worry. Bonehead starts drinking at eleven in the morning, and Calum tries not to worry. Tony and Maggie have hushed conversations under their breath, and Calum tries not to worry. Liam doesn’t leave his room, and Calum tries not to worry. 

They get a fucking bollocking about the gig from Alan, from Marcus, from fucking Maggie, even, but it feels hollow because they all know they’re not going to get the only bollocking that really matters - the one from Noel. They sit there silently while Alan rages about how embarrassing it was, while Marcus runs through numbers and statistics about sales and how they’re going to be affected, while Maggie gives them disappointed looks and says really, snorting meth hours before a concert, what were you thinking?  

Yeah. They’d snorted fucking meth. Some absolute fucking idiot - William John Paul Gallagher - had mistaken meth for coke. It’s why they were absolutely out of their fucking minds, why Calum hadn’t been able to sleep that night, and why Liam and Noel’s argument had been more ferocious than usual. It might also explain why all of this feels even more overwhelming than usual, why the comedown feels like it’s just not going away, why whenever Calum walks past Noel’s empty hotel room he feels like he’s suffocating. 

By the third day, even Calum’s at a loss. He’s been getting out of the hotel, going for long walks and getting lost and having to ask for directions to get back, standing by the sea and breathing in the salty air to try and clear his mind. He’s worried about Noel, more than anything - Noel doesn’t usually leave without saying anything, without getting the last word in, which is what makes this feel all the more real, like this is the time it’s going to stick. 

Although, Calum thinks, maybe Noel did get the last word. He’d written a letter to Liam, after all; maybe he’d said something in there about where he was going, what he was doing, something that makes this whole situation make any sort of sense. Maybe Liam knows something the rest of them don’t. 

He knocks on Liam’s door after he doesn’t show up for lunch again, and Liam answers, looking a little dishevelled, and a lot drunk. 

“What?” he says dully. 

“What did the letter say?” Calum asks. Liam stares at him for a minute, and then opens the door enough to let Calum walk in. 

The room’s a fucking tip. Liam’s clothes are strewn all over the floor - which, granted, isn’t exactly new - and Calum can see white powder residue on the coffee table, the desk, even the fucking bedside table. Next to the smudges of powder on the bedside table is the letter Noel had left, rolled up tightly, but creased all over. Liam’s been reading it, using it to snort drugs, smoothing it out and reading it again, rinse and repeat. 

Calum sighs, and sits down on the chair next to Liam’s bed, throwing him a doleful look. Noel’s Calum’s best friend, sure, and Calum’s not got a clue what to do without him, but he’s Liam’s brother. His flesh and blood, the boy who held Liam’s hand while he crossed the road, who nursed him through his first black eye, who writes songs with lyrics like please, brother, let it be, after a fight. Liam's never not had Noel looking out for him - through exasperation and curses and fists connecting with jaws, but there nonetheless.  Liam hasn’t got a chance without Noel.

Liam throws himself down on the bed and stares up at the ceiling, and Calum puts his hand on Liam’s shin, fingers resting lightly against rough denim. I’m here, he’s trying to say, but it feels hollow to the both of them, because he’s not Noel. 

“What did he say?” Calum asks again. Liam stares up at the ceiling, blinks once, and then opens his mouth. 

“He told me he loved me,” he says. Calum’s stomach twists. That’s not a good thing, not from Noel. He’d never say that, least of all to Liam, unless what he was trying to say was goodbye. 

“Oh,” Calum says, and tries not to let the panic seep into his voice. “Did he say where he was going?” Liam shakes his head. 

“Just a bunch of shite about how can we be brothers anymore, blah blah blah,” he says, voice rising mockingly on Noel’s words. Anger works for Liam, especially where Noel’s concerned. It’s the only way he knows how to feel about Noel. “Can’t do this anymore, it’s not me it’s you, all that breakup bullshit.” 

“What about your mum?” Calum says, even though he knows the answer to that, because Alan’s been calling Peggy pretty much every hour. Liam shakes his head. 

“She’s fucking beside herself,” he says, fury licking at the edges of his tone. “I get doing it to me, up and leaving like that, because that’s us, innit, but to mam? I’ll fucking kill the prick myself if I ever see him again.” He doesn’t mean it, but Calum lets him pretend that they both believe it. 

“You should eat,” Calum says, after a moment of silence.

“Probably,” Liam says, to the ceiling. He blinks up at it one more time, and then rolls onto his side. 

“He’s a fucking cunt,” he announces, but he doesn’t sound convinced, and his voice wavers a little. Calum sighs and reaches his hand out, and Liam extends his own to lace his fingers with Calum’s, blinking at him with glassy, tired eyes. 

“I didn’t mean to,” he says, and his voice is definitely wobbly now. “I didn’t mean to push him away. I love him.”

“I know,” Calum says, and squeezes Liam’s hand in what he hopes is a reassuring manner. “He knows, too.”

“I wouldn’t’ve said it if I knew,” Liam says, swallowing hard. “I wouldn’t’ve been such a cunt.” 

“Yeah, you would’ve,” Calum says, but it’s not unkind. “That’s how you two are.” 

“Cain and Abel.” 

“Doesn’t Cain kill Abel?” 

“Isn’t Noel killing me?” Calum’s not really sure what to say to that. He supposes, in a way, Liam’s right. One of them’s got to fall off the tightrope at some point, and Liam’s never going to push Noel. And Liam would be all too happy to fall off, if it were for Noel.

“He needs you,” he says eventually. “He’s always needed you.” 

“Does he fuck,” Liam says flatly. 

“He’d never let anyone but you sing his songs,” Calum says. “That’s the highest praise you can get from Noel.” Liam’s silent for a moment, because he knows Calum’s right, and then he sighs again, loud and heavy.

“I’m hungry,” he says, and Calum closes his eyes in relief. "I want fish and chips."

“Order room service,” Calum suggests. Liam blinks at him. 

"Do they do fish and chips?"

"They will if you offer them enough money." Liam hums, like he's thinking about it.

“Will you stay?” he asks lowly. Calum hesitates, and then nods. 

“‘Course I will,” he says, and gives Liam’s hand another squeeze. Liam smiles at him, small but genuine. 

“Love you,” he says. Calum smiles back, soft and fond. 

“Love you too,” he says. 

“Enough to find me good fish and chips in LA?” Liam says hopefully, and Calum laughs. 

“Nowhere near enough for that,” he says, and Liam sighs dramatically, but he’s smiling too, which is the best Calum can hope for.

  -------

 A few hours later, while searching for a pack of cigarettes, Calum comes across the spare room key to Noel’s room that Noel had pressed in his hand wordlessly on their first night. Calum hadn’t really been sure what to make of it - was it an invitation for late-night songwriting, or the first acknowledgement of that night a few years ago either of them have ever made? - but it hadn’t even mattered, because Noel had left so soon anyway. 

He’s heading to the room before he’s even really thought about it, unlocking the door and taking in the too-empty, too-clean room. The bed’s been perfectly made by the staff, nothing like the slapdash job Noel usually does, and there’s no suitcase with clothes spilling out of it kicked in the corner of the room, no shoes strewn across the floor as Noel had kicked them off on his way to the bed. It’s almost overwhelming, to know that this room housed the decision that could end Calum’s career, and that this is the last connection he could ever have to Noel. It feels almost suffocating, like the walls are too big and too white for Calum, and he finds himself sitting down on the bed and reaching for the phone before he’s really thought through what he’s doing. 

He’d memorised the number, of course. He hadn’t really meant to; he’d just read the little scrap of paper so often that it had stuck. He barely even hesitates as he dials, chest so heavy with the crushing weight of the empty room, of the silence Noel's left in his wake. 

The phone rings four times and Calum doesn’t even realise his fist is clenched until there’s a click and a shuffling sound, and his fingers relax.

“Hello?” Michael sounds casual, relaxed, a little sleepy. Calum clutches the receiver to his ear. “Hello?” Michael repeats. 

“Michael.” He hears a sharp intake of breath. 

“Calum?” Michael says. “Aren’t you in America?” 

“Yeah.” 

“Fucking hell. You’d better make this quick, then.” He doesn’t hang up, though, which is something. Calum just listens to him breathing for a minute, not really sure what he actually wants to say, or if he wants to say anything at all. 

“Calum?” Michael says, jolting him back to reality. 

“Noel’s gone,” Calum says. 

“What d’you mean, he’s gone? Where?”

“Dunno.” There’s a pause.

“You lost your songwriter?” 

“He’s gone. Left.” Michael inhales deeply. 

“Where? Where’d he go?” 

“We don’t know.” Michael exhales. 

“Oh, Calum,” he says, and he sounds sorry and sad. Calum’s eyes flutter shut, trying to soak in the sound of his voice. 

“I-” Calum cuts himself off, because he doesn’t actually know what he’s trying to say. 

“I’m sorry,” Michael says, and he sounds like he means it. 

“Are you?” Calum can’t help but ask, a little bitterly. If Michael rang him and said Damon had left Blur, Calum would probably feel honour-bound to tell Noel. Or, he wouldn’t, now. Fuck. 

“Are you seriously asking me that?” Michael says, tone a little hard. Calum puts his head in his hands. 

“I don’t know,” he mumbles. 

“Why did you call me if you think that?” 

“I don’t know,” Calum says again, hearing the hopelessness in his own voice. “I just- I don’t know.” Michael sighs. 

“How’s Liam taking it?” he says. He’s trying, Calum can tell. He’s trying, for Calum’s sake. 

“Fucking terribly,” Calum admits. “Noel wrote him a letter.” 

“A letter?” 

“Yeah. A- a fucking, like, goodbye note, I don’t know. He’s a mess.” 

“Jesus.” Michael hesitates for a moment, and then adds: “What happened?” 

“Him and Liam had a fight,” Calum says. “And we played a fucking awful gig in LA.” 

“Don’t they fight all the time?” 

“Yeah.” 

“Why this time, then?” Calum shrugs. 

“We did meth,” he says. 

“You- you did meth? ” Michael sounds horrified. “ Calum, fucking-” 

“We thought it was coke,” Calum says. 

“How the fuck- ” 

“I don’t fucking know, Liam’s a fucking idiot,” Calum says, even though he’d put the stuff up his nose too. 

“Fucking hell,” Michael breathes. “Alright. Jesus. And Noel just- just, what, took off?” 

“Yeah,” Calum says, gut twisting at the words. “Took his passport and some money and left.” 

“Passport?” Michael says. “Did he go home?” 

“No.” There’s a pause. 

“Fuck.” 

“Yeah,” Calum agrees, and it sounds listless, but he means it with every fibre of his fucking being. 

“I’m sorry, Calum,” Michael says softly. Calum blinks at the wall. 

“Yeah,” he says again. “Thanks.” Michael sighs. 

“What are you going to do now?” he says. 

“I have no fucking idea,” Calum says, the words acrid in his mouth. What the fuck are they going to do now? None of the rest of them can fucking write, can they? Not like Noel, at least. 

“Are you going to finish the tour?” 

“I don’t know, Michael,” Calum says. All the questions are making his head hurt. He hasn’t even thought that far ahead, hasn’t really considered anything beyond where the fuck is Noel, I hope Noel’s alright, I’m going to fucking kill Noel. He doesn’t even know if they’d be allowed to play Noel’s songs - there’s got to be some kind of legal bullshit about royalties involved, hasn’t there? God, Noel’s always handled that stuff. Calum’s never read a fucking contract in his life, just signed where Noel told him to sign. Noel had been the one to sort out their management, to negotiate the record deal, to get the contracts for the tours. Who the fuck are Oasis without him? 

“Hey,” Michael says gently. “It’ll be alright.” 

“Will it?” 

“Yeah.” Michael has nothing to back his words up, no events or facts he can point to and say see, it’ll be fine, but somehow, Calum believes him. Maybe because he wants to believe him, with every scrap of his soul, or maybe just because it’s Michael. 

“Thanks,” Calum says, and it comes out tired. Michael just hums in response, and they lapse into silence. It’s not uncomfortable, though, not like the last time Michael had been at the other end of a phone line. They’re existing in tandem, and it feels like something slotting into a place that Calum didn’t know was empty.

“I can’t believe you did meth ,” Michael says after a while, in disbelief, and Calum can’t help the way his lips hitch up in a faint smile. 

“I didn’t mean to,” he says. 

“Y’know, the tabloids aren’t wrong about you,” Michael says, and there’s a smile in his voice too. He’s teasing Calum. “Always calling you a bunch of hooligans. Taking meth because you think it’s coke, fucking hell.” 

Calum huffs out a laugh, fingers curling around the receiver as his heart flips in his chest. Michael reads about him in the papers. 

“That’s just Liam,” he says. 

“So you weren’t deported from Sweden?” 

“Well-”

“Exactly,” Michael says, and Calum can hear him grinning.

“That was because of Liam,” Calum says. He pauses, and then adds: “And Noel. And Bonehead.” Michael laughs, soft and melodic, and for one split, giddy second Calum thinks fuck, I want to spend the rest of my life hearing you laugh. He’s sure he doesn’t mean it, though. It’s probably the fucking days-long comedown, and the fact he’s feeling Noel’s absence like nothing else. It's the first time he's heard someone laugh since Noel left, after all.

“I can’t believe that’s what I’m up against,” Michael says, and it’s still soft and amused, but Calum can hear the slight tinge of sadness to it. 

“Yeah,” Calum says, smile fading. “That’s your competition.” Michael exhales heavily, and Calum thinks they might be thinking the same thing. How did we go from us to competition?

“Why did you call me?” Michael asks. Calum’s fingers twitch against the phone. 

“I don’t know,” he says. “I just- I don’t know.” He hesitates, and then adds: “Why did you call me? After Top of the Pops, I mean.”

“I don’t know,” Michael says. He’d said the same thing two months ago. But, two months ago he hadn’t added what he does this time: “D’you really want to do this now?” 

“Do what?” Calum says. 

“Talk about this. Us. Now.” Calum swallows. 

“No,” he says. He never wants to talk about it. He wants to walk the edge of this precipice forever, doesn’t ever want Michael to say c’mon, let’s jump, because he doesn’t know what he’ll find at the bottom. He doesn’t know whether Michael’s just biding his time, waiting until they can have their big what happened to us? talk to say everything that he’s thought for the past five years, get it all off his chest, and then fuck off and leave. He’d be well within his rights to, Calum thinks, but that doesn’t stop the mere thought of it from making his heart ache. 

“Okay,” Michael says. “But we-” he’s interrupted by Calum and Liam’s door slamming open. Calum starts in surprise, phone slipping out of his fingers, and whips around to see Bonehead standing in the doorway.

“We’ve found him,” Bonehead says breathlessly. “He’s in San Diego.” 

“You’ve found him?” Calum repeats. “What? How?”

“Maggie got his phone bills and traced all the numbers,” Bonehead says. “Found one in San Diego. Remember that girl, whatsherface, Leah? Dunno, doesn’t matter, we’ve found him. ” 

“And?” Calum says, heart in his mouth. “Did you talk to him? Is he okay? Is he coming back?” 

“Yeah,” Bonehead says, grinning widely. “He’s coming back.” 

“Oh, thank fuck,” Calum mutters, stomach somersaulting. “Does Liam know?” Bonehead’s smile falters. 

“Yeah,” he says. Oh. Noel’s going to have fucking hell to pay. 

“Oh,” Calum says. Bonehead looks at him for a moment, both of them thinking the same thing - there’s going to be fucking fireworks - and then he grins again.

“Well,” he says, “at least we’ve got our fucking songwriter back, eh?” 

“Yeah,” Calum says, and laughs, a little lightheaded. Fucking hell. Noel’s coming back. 

“Bonehead!” he hears someone yell - Liam, he thinks - and Bonehead sticks his head back out of the door. 

“Aye?” 

“...go out...fish and chips...you ask Calum?” is all he can make out. Bonehead casts a glance over at Calum. 

“Fancy going out for tea?” he says. “Liam reckons he’s found a chippy.” Calum raises his eyebrows. Fucking hell. Might as well have one last supper before Noel gets back and all hell breaks loose. 

“Alright,” he says, and gets up to leave, making the phone clatter to the floor. He picks it up hastily, and Bonehead frowns at him. 

“Who’ve you been talking to?” he says. Calum clutches the receiver to his chest. 

“No one,” he says. “Was going to ring my mum.” Bonehead’s face doesn’t clear, and his eyes narrow, like he’s trying to work something out. Shit, it’s fucking three in the morning in England, isn’t it? Fuck. 

“Bonehead!” Calum hears Liam yell again, sounding more aggravated this time, and Bonehead sighs in exasperation and turns back around. 

“Fucking hell, who the fuck are you, my missus?” Bonehead yells back. “I”m fucking coming, don’t get your knickers in a twist.” 

“I’ll just-” Calum motions at the bed vaguely, hoping it’ll come across like he’s got some final organising to do - fucking make the already-pristine bed, or something, anything to make Bonehead leave so he can hang up on Michael - and Bonehead just nods, already halfway out of the door and on his way to Liam. 

Calum brings the receiver back up to his ear, ready to make some excuse to Michael, but all he hears is a dial tone. 

Michael’s already gone. 

taglist: @callmeboatboy @sadistmichael @clumsyclifford @angel-cal @tirednotflirting @cthofficial @tigerteeff @haikucal @queer-5sos @i-am-wierd-always @stupidfuckimgspam @bloodyoathcal @pixiegrl @pxrxmoore @currentlyupcalsass @clumthood

if you’d like to be added to my taglist pls fill in this form! 

chapter five

[fleabaged]

do you think they're gonna fuck at some point? being realistic lol. god knows i'd Love To See It but lowkey don't wanna get my hopes up. i mean... the sex scenes we've had were kinda meh. not only because it was het sex, but it wasn't at all engaging

I was literally GOOGLING after 3x03 what kind of sex scenes AMC and BBC America have to get a level of how intense they can go HA (Orphan Black had wlw scenes for bbc america so...?) 

I think if they soften any part of the intensity of their relationship and don’t give us the sexual side it would be a huge loss. I just don’t know though! I just don’t know. This is coming both from a whore knee perspective AND I think it would be way more compelling for their dynamic to finally have sex and explore the other side of their relationship looks like after giving into desire

The het scenes we’ve gotten so far weren’t engaging because between sebastion/v and hugo/eve both the ladies were purposefully supposed to be checked out- so I’m not concerned about that as a standard for ke sex scene.

Also notice how in 2x07 Villanelle’s covers are literally up to her chin and she isn’t moving a Single Muscle under those sheets... I think the regulations surrounding masturbation on network tv are much stricter than actual sex LMAO

[mykingdomforapen]

top five pieces of media you wish more people had read/watched/listened to

Gosh I’m not much of a hipster so I’ll preface this with the assumption that these works aren’t necessarily unknown, but I do recommend to anyone and haven’t seen a toooon of attention to it, but possibly I’ve been looking in the wrong places/people like it but just don’t Tumblr about it much.

1. Blood/Water/Paint, a play by Joy McCullough. I believe it is a novel now, but when I first came across this work it was a play. I had the great privilege of performing this work and partnering with the writer herself when she had first put it out there, and it is a play that has stuck to me ever since. It is about Artemisia Gentileschi, and the way it weaves her story with the narratives of the subjects she often paints (particularly, Judith and Susanna of the apocryphal narratives of the Bible) in the midst of her trauma and her decision to stand up for herself. I have personally never read the book, and frankly because of how well composed the story was in the medium of theatre, I actually cannot imagine how it could translate into a novel, but that means I should check it out. But the play is beautiful, beautiful. I don’t know why but I still think of the last five or so lines. 

2. Woman on Fire, a play by Marisela Treviño Orta. I also came across this play through my theatre department back in uni, and it really stood out to me. It is a reimagining of Sophocles’ Antigone set in post 9/11 US-Mexican border. I remember there was a moment  between the main character and the ghost around the climax of the play that really made my stomach swoop. I think this must be not as well known because even when I googled it to try to find the playwright’s name, a bunch of other unrelated plays of the same name came up as well. Tragically relevant to current events, and this play was written pre-45. 

3. The band ‘Hurricane Love,’ is such a sweet little band I found through Cardinal Sessions several years back. I think they’re Swedish and they have such lovely acoustics and tunes and then they suddenly disappeared about three years ago without a trace?? No word about them breaking up or stopping or anything, all their social media just stops at about 2016 and there’s no Wiki page for them to track where they’ve gone. But I love their ‘You Are The Sun’ and although they only have like…8 songs, they’re sweet and I hope the best for them whatever they’re doing.

4. BBC America’s Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency okay look. I’m just still so sad that it has been cancelled. It’s not terribly hipstery but I just. I loved it. I really did. It’s charming and fun and Frodo is in it and granted, I may have contributed to its demise because I unfortunately do not have the channels on which it plays. But I wish it lived longer.

5. Yo Yo Ma’s Goat Rodeo Sessions. The renowned cellist Yo Yo Ma partners with great musicians from the bluegrass/folk music genre to make some great tunes. Yo Yo Ma does do this a lot where he partners with musicians from very different realms of music and makes something incredibly interesting and lovely and unique. (I was going to recommend another play, but I don’t know how much it will be everyone’s cup of tea lol) 

[bbclesmis]

Exclusive Track & Interview: 28 Days Later composer John Murphy’s “Les Misérables”

Check out this exclusive premiere of John Murphy's "Les Misérables" from the BBC/PBS's Masterpiece Les Misérables now. This version is very close to Victor Hugo's original novel, and hence is not a musical. The soundtrack will be available May 3.' Murphy also dishes on the challenges of scoring such a huge, epic, and sweeping story (and a lot more) in the interview below.

Exclusive premiere: John Murphy's "Les Misérables" from Masterpiece's Les Misérables Lakeshore Records is set to release the original soundtrack to the critically-acclaimed BBC/PBS Masterpiece mini-series Les Misérables, written by composer John Murphy (28 Days Later, Sunshine, Kick-Ass). Check out our interview with Murphy and the exclusive song directly below this article. Les Mis the album will be released digitally on May 3 with CD and vinyl versions forthcoming.

This Les Mis is NOT a musical; in fact, it is relatively faithful to the source novel. It premiered April 14 on PBS, but all episodes can be watched with PBS Passport.

Les Misérables is a six-part drama adaptation starring Dominic West (The Affair) as Jean Valjean, and David Oyelowo (Selma) as Javert in this landmark take on a classic, timeless, and sweeping story. They are joined by Lily Collins (Rules Don’t Apply), in the role of Fantine.

With a striking intensity and relevance to us today, Victor Hugo's novel is a testimony to the struggles of France’s underclass and how far they must go to survive. The six-part television adaptation of the renowned book vividly and faithfully brings to life the vibrant and engaging characters, the spectacular and authentic imagery and, above all, the incredible yet accessible story that was Hugo’s lifework.

The distinguished British cast includes Adeel Akhtar (The Night Manager) and Academy Award winner Olivia Colman (The Favourite) as Monsieur and Madame Thénardier, Ellie Bamber (Nocturnal Animals) as Cosette, Josh O'Connor (The Durrells in Corfu) as Marius and Erin Kellyman (Raised By Wolves) as Éponine.

Liverpool born John Murphy began scoring movies at the age of 25. In 2001, following the success of Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch, he moved to Los Angeles.

Since then he has worked with some of the industry's most respected and luminary filmmakers, including Danny Boyle, Guy Ritchie, Stephen Frears, Matthew Vaughn and Michael Mann, producing film scores as prominent and diverse as Sunshine, Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Miami Vice, Snatch, Kick-Ass, and the seminal 28 Days Later.

Murphy's movie trailers include: Captain America: Winter Soldier, Gravity, X-Men: Origins, Cloverfield, War of the Worlds, Cowboys and Aliens, Blindness, Ex Machina, Southpaw, X-Men: Days of Future Past, and Avatar. His music has been featured in advertising campaigns for Nike, Audi, Microsoft, Louis Vuitton, Samsung, Google, and Apple.

After Kick-Ass, Murphy set up the record label Taped Noise and began work on several non-movie projects. BBC/PBS Masterpiece Theatre's Les Misérables is his latest project.

Les Misérables director Tom Shankland wanted John to tell a fresh musical story and to ultimately create a raw and uncompromising score to reflect the trials and misery of "Les Misérables." John describes the scoring process as an "experimental journey."

Initially, Tom wanted a gritty, folk-oriented score, but as they began the process, he and John quickly realized that the story would need a broader musical palette. John ended up incorporating less obvious elements such as bowed electric guitar, analog synths, experimental viola, and backwards loops, with a nod to the classic French romantic scoring of the '60s. Despite mixing instrumentation, the elements fused and the sensibility stayed true throughout.

John described the scoring process further:

"My original idea for the score to Les Mis was '1816 Velvet Underground meets '60s French film music.' While director Tom [Shankland] was thinking 'gnarly, down in the dirt, French folk music.' Producer Chris Carey suggested, 'let's do both, but throw in some vintage analog synths.' I then gleefully tried all of these elements, often at the same time. And we discovered that you can actually mix a hurdy gurdy with a Moog Sub Phatty, and we loved it. And what started out as a musical standoff, became our score for Les Misérables."

Interview: John Murphy

Hello John and welcome!

Hey Wess. Good to talk with you!

Likewise. To start things off, what attracted you to this telling of Les Mis as a project? I really appreciated how it was based on Hugo's novel, and not a musical. The novel, in my opinion, does not get enough praise.

Yeah, sadly the musical has pretty much hijacked this great novel. I read it in my early twenties. I was a session player back then and I spent a lot of time on tour buses, so I got through a lot of reading. Aside from all the ideas and themes, it's a great story – hope, despair, sacrifice, redemption, all the good stuff. I loved it.

I read it when I was in my twenties as well. Such a great novel.

So when the call came in, I did some Skype meetings with the director Tom Shankland and producer Chris Carey, and they were so passionate about it, and so hell-bent on going back to the source, the book I loved. I knew I had to do it.

That's fantastic. I was hoping we could get an idea of your overall creative process on the project. It really is very sweeping in the emotions of the story and the history it covers.

Well I've really only ever done movies so I knew the production process would be different. For example, before they started shooting I had to write a lot of the in-camera music they needed to shoot to; the scene with the band in the pimp's den, Cosette's piano pieces, Gavroche's song when he runs out to collect the bullets, that kind of thing.

Oh wow.

Which was cool because I'd never done that before. And then there was a big break while they filmed and put together the episodes. So rather than sit around and wait, I started sketching out themes and ideas from the script, which is actually way more creative than writing to picture. But having this pot of ideas was a life saver because, when the episodes finally did come, they came thick and fast.

But the actual creative process wasn't too different from scoring a film. I always write the themes first, and I try to write them away from picture. And then I'll work to picture and write the featured cues, the montages, the chases, that kind of thing. And then you're down to the underscore cues and you're just connecting the dots really.

Interesting process John. What were the challenges like?

I think the biggest challenge was time. Even though I had ideas sketched out for most of the themes, there's only so much you can do until they give you locked picture. And when the final locked cuts started coming, I had about 20 days per episode from start to delivery. And this is when I would score everything in, write the underscore, record the soloists, and mix the tracks ready for the dub. There was usually about forty cues and forty minutes of music per episode. So there were a few long nights!

Were there huge differences between Les Mis as a project and working on your more conventional titles like 28 Days Later? You've scored quite a bit in the horror realm.

I've actually only scored a few horror films. They just tend to be the ones people remember!

[Laughs] good point. I was thinking just relative to other composers I've talked to…

Because of the musical, there's kind of a skewed perception of Les Miserables. But a lot of the book is actually very dark. And, for whatever reason, I find it much easier to work with darker material.

I find myself attracted to darker art as well; not just film.

For me, it's just a deeper well to draw from. So even though it's based upon an historic work I never felt like I was writing outside of my own instincts. At the end of the day, whatever the scale, it all comes down to ideas, story and characters.

Absolutely. Any memorable or funny moments that stick out from that behind the scenes process of scoring the series?

There were, but none I could mention! [Laughs]

[Laughs] fair enough. A question I ask most everybody: what scores and films have molded you most as an artist?

I think the first time I became aware that movies used music was in A Fistful of Dollars. I must have been six or seven and it was on TV one night. I remember thinking why is there music playing? Where is it coming from? After that I started listening for it when I watched movies. So, I think my love for [Ennio] Morricone started there. And after that it was the James Bond movies, and the great John Barry themes. Another film composer I love to this day. I was just a kid, but I remember getting hyped up whenever I heard that guitar riff. A few years later, when I started to play a few things, I discovered Bernard Herrmann.

Psycho always stands out for me when I think of a great score. It may be cliché to say but it is true.

I couldn't fathom how he could make music that was so dark and so beautiful at the same time. I'd never heard anything like it and it blew me away. It was like magic.

So, those three made more of an impression on me than any specific movies. Thinking about it now it's probably why I'm so theme-heavy today. Because those guys definitely knew how to write a theme.

That they did. One other big question which is sort of related, what makes a great score?

That's such a difficult question and I don't think there's a definitive answer. But if it truly moves you and takes you somewhere else, then it's doing something right.

Well said. Last, what's next for you?

Well, Les Mis was like doing six movies back to back, so I won't be jumping into another big project just yet! I'm going to mess around with one of my own projects for a few months and then see what's around. Maybe a cool little indie where I get to play everything myself!

https://www.thefourohfive.com/film/article/exclusive-track-interview-28-days-later-composer-john-murphy-s-les-miserables-155

[almostarchaeology]

Archaeotrolling the Wall

By Adrián Maldonado

There’s been a lot of commentary over the weekend on the effect of two years of the Trump presidency. One overlooked aspect of this is the surprising amount of archaeology-related activism that has arisen over the same period. From peer-reviewed takedowns of populism to fact-checking Trump’s theory of ‘wheels and walls’, archaeology has become one of the most consistent methods used to troll Trump.

The most interesting part about this is that it is not only archaeologists who are archaeotrolling Trump. The best example of this is the way journalists have begun reading up on the famous border walls of history. They have not done so of their own volition, of course, but because of Trump’s repeated misuse of ancient monuments to lend justification to one of his signature campaign promises. It is one of the most obvious ways in which archaeology is being dragged into current events, and thus deserves comment as ‘pop culture’ archaeology.

Trump’s argument for the wall has increasingly relied on citing historical walls, both specific (the Great Wall of China) and nonspecific (“medieval”), as precedent. It is the kind of ‘common sense’ argument that sounds legit as long as you don’t think about it. In response, several news sources have found themselves rushing to slap together short pieces on famous historical walls (usually just the ‘big three’: Great Wall, Hadrian’s, and Berlin), in which some light Wikipedia research is dressed up as fact-checking. But even a cursory reading of past border walls quickly allows journalists to troll Trump’s intentions. Archaeology is powerful this way.

Famous walls of history

Notably, several scholars of archaeology, anthropology and history have also taken part in this trend, whether by being cited in these pieces, or having original pieces published in news outlets. Denigrating Trump’s Wall using facts and a long-term perspective is now a whole subgenre of political commentary and is allowing archaeology to take centre-stage in matters of global import.

However, it should also be clear by now that the combined heft of these pieces have not remotely dissuaded Trump or his base from believing that the Wall is a good idea. So this subgenre of journalism is due a bit of source criticism. Here follows a preliminary, non-scientific survey of online news and commentary on ‘famous walls of history’ in light of the Trump Wall.

I am choosing here to divide the genre into two groups – those led by journalists (including some with academic credentials, but whose main output is through an online periodical) and those led by academics (whether in a blog or periodical). This is to roughly distinguish between public archaeology (in which experts share knowledge for public benefit), and the reception of archaeology by the public (in this case, journalists).

Journalist-led

History via Google search (source)

Much of this work consists of little more than going through the ‘big three’ in turn, conflating three very different times and places in the assumption that a wall is a wall.

Why Trump’s comparison of his wall to the Great Wall of China makes no sense 

8 March 2016 – early in 2016, when Trump was by no means the frontrunner in the Republican primaries, he began making outlandish comparisons between his wall and the Great Wall of China. In response, Michelle Ye Hee Lee put together a fact-checking piece for the Washington Post highlighting some unsavoury aspects of the famous world wonder. “Labor conditions were so appalling that some 400,000 people are estimated to have died building the wall…through most of Chinese history, the wall was a negative symbol of oppression, cruelty and death…the wall as a symbol of strength and resourcefulness is a part of the myth and misconception of its true history.”

The walls before Trump’s Wall

11 December 2016 – long read by Thomas de Monchaux (design and architecture critic) for the New Yorker. Shows he’s accessed good scholarship on Hadrian’s Wall, pointing out all the ways its design shows it was not meant as a hard border. Concludes with some incisive archaeotrolling: “some distant Anglo-American memory of [Hadrian’s Wall] may help to explain the political power behind the idea of a wall—even as theories suggest that this wall’s purpose may have been very different, perhaps directly opposite, from that of the wall evoked by our President-elect.”

How Trump’s Wall compares to other famous walls

25 January 2017 – Cheap rundown of the ‘big three’ for BBC Newsbeat, featuring embarrassing graphics about which is the longest and the tallest with barely hidden phallic undertones, which I’m sure Trump would actually retweet.

Trump’s Wall vs the Great Wall of China, Hadrian’s Wall and the Berlin Wall

29 January 2017 – off-the-shelf roundup of the ‘big three’ again for a history news blog, including howlers like “Hadrian’s Wall was built as a defensive measure to keep out nomadic tribes, in this instance the Picts of Scotland”. (Fact-check: Scotland did not have ‘nomadic tribes’, nor was the wall built as a defensive measure against nomadism, nor did the Picts exist in the second century.)

The history of walls is long. Here’s where Donald Trump fits in

30 January 2017 – Time correspondent Olivia B. Waxman provides a very hazy history of no specific ancient walls, but does better in modern times. Notes that walls attract and bind communities of their own, as seen in the afterlife of the Berlin Wall. Sadly ends on the facile lesson that walls are some kind of inevitable social logic: “one thing is certain: walls are not going anywhere…it’s an impulse that’s only human.”

What can Scotland teach Donald Trump about walls?

2 Feb 2017 – featuring yours truly. I was approached by a reporter during this wave of wall histories for a lighthearted feature on BBC Scotland. The focus was on the lesser-known Antonine Wall, and marks its only appearance in this list. Abandoned by the Romans after little more than a generation, “The Antonine Wall is the epitome of a symbolic victory.”

The (anthropological) truth about walls

7 February 2017 – In a post for the Anthropology in Practice blog on Scientific American, Krystal D’Acosta uses a few ancient walls, but mostly Hadrian’s Wall, to troll Trump’s vision of a wall as a hard border. “As a concept, the idea of a wall suggests permanence, security and identity. Physical boundaries help define people by establishing a shared experience of place and time. But this is a very simplistic view of national barricades. It overlooks the ways in which these monuments function as sites of exchange, and the ways in which they generate their own experience of identity and place.” Negative points for, again, mistakenly making the Picts into Hadrian’s antagonists.

The fears that fueled an ancient border wall

26 April 2017 – decent history of Hadrian’s Wall by Carly Silver for the Smithsonian, with Trump slotted in as the lede. Featuring guest appearance by wallchaeologist Rob Collins, but despite expert advice still manages to make the mistake that Hadrian was fighting the Picts, who, again, did not exist yet. Valuable observation that it was fear, not strength, which fueled Hadrian.

What walls mean from Hadrian to Trump

2 May 2017 – another flying survey of walls through time from the BBC, but does well to cover the modern wall-mania sweeping the world beyond Trump. “Of course, walls remain practically rather useless barriers, rendered increasingly obsolete by new technologies like drones. Yet they clearly retain their psychological value as demarcations of a dream of purity, keeping out all those threats to self-identity.”

Building walls may have allowed civilization to flourish

5 October 2018 – National Geographic featured this interview with David Frye, author of Walls: A History of Civilization in Blood and Brick. Judging solely from this summary, it is clear the author equates wall-building with ‘civilization’, splitting peoples into ‘wallers’ and everyone else, denigrating those who didn’t build empires as the uncultured losers of history. In doing so, he ends up parroting the propaganda of emperors and autocrats through time.

via GIPHY

Academic-led

Undergirding all the above commentary were the archaeologists and anthropologists who have weighed in, producing new pieces rather than waiting to be approached by journalists. Notable here is how early these voices began to weigh in, many well before Trump was elected president. Here in the ‘expert’ column I am including early career and student voices which have joined the fray.

How Trump’s Wall would trample hundreds of archaeological sites

21 March 2016 – One of the first to enter the field was public archaeologist Kristina Killgrove in her widely-read Forbes column. Here she drew attention to the violence the Wall would perpetrate upon indigenous heritage, a symbol of the ethnocentric agenda that embodied the Trump campaign.

The Wall: a monument to the nation-state

17 April 2016 – Maximilian Forte, Professor, Sociology and Anthropology, Concordia University, for his Zero Anthropology blog – the densest academic tone of the pieces reviewed here, a rebuke against those that rail against Trump's 'fascism' while ignoring the forces of globalisation and neoliberalism that brought us to Trump. Some alarming rhetoric about 'globalists' and George Soros, though, and the 'Let’s watch and see' conclusion certainly did not age well.

Hole(s) in the wall: Trump’s implausible solution to the problem of immigration

22 July 2016 - Rosemary Mitchell, Professor of Victorian Studies at Leeds Trinity University, punctures the myth that Hadrian’s Wall separated civilisation from barbaricum, but in fact acted as an “economic magnet for people and goods”, similar to the way the actual southern border in America currently acts. Negative points, and I can’t believe I have to say this again, because the wall is said to border onto the Picts, which, how many times can I say this, did not exist for the first two centuries in the life of Hadrian’s Wall.

For five millennia, politicians have proposed walls like Trump’s. They don’t work

29 July 2016 – Adam T. Smith, Professor of Anthropology at Cornell University, takes us straight back to Mesopotamia for some top-notch fact-based archaeotrolling, where “walls were spectacular failures…Barrier walls are not simply clumsy, imprecise solutions to problems of population movement, past and present; they also represent a catastrophic failure of political imagination endemic to totalitarian thinking.”

Archaeology in Trump’s America: borders, immigration, and revolutionary remembering

10 November 2016 – a fiery call to action from PhD candidate Patricia Markert, published on Binghamton University’s public archaeology blog, just days after the election in 2016. “Contemporary archaeology of the border opens spaces to critically engage those who fear undocumented migration in new conversations that include real people rather than abstract villains, foster empathy rather than hate, and lead to constructive conversations about immigration policy in our country…Trump’s discourse is one of forgetting, and a dangerous one at that. Archaeology is a discipline of remembering, and that may be one of the most revolutionary tools we have for the fight ahead.”

Trump, Brexit and the archaeology of exclusion

10 November 2016 – across the Atlantic, PhD candidate Cait Scott also submitted her take on the catastrophic politics of 2016 for her blog Archaeology Stories right after Trump’s election. Linking Trump’s unsubtle wall with Brexit’s conceptual walling off of Britain from Europe, she notes their symbolism is directed inward. “Imagined safety, though, is a seductive idea; the election of Trump and the Brexit referendum results demonstrate its power. The manipulation and misuse of immigration narratives by politicians legitimises and reinforces the desire in everyday people for this imagined safety.”

The Trump Wall in archaeological perspective

14 November 2016 – An archaeological volley written soon after the election in November 2016. Howard Williams, Professor of Archaeology at the University of Chester, argues that we can use history to understand Trump’s Wall, but we can also use Trump to help us understand archaeology. Extra credit for introducing the early medieval Offa’s Dyke, which rarely makes it into the discussion but may be one of the closest archaeological parallels to Trump’s Wall. “Was Offa’s hegemonic project incomplete or subverted once it was realised just how unsustainable it was as an enduring frontier work?” One of the few blogs cited here that has crossed over into academic literature, cited by Gardner in his archaeological reflections on Brexit.

Clovis anthropologist challenges Trump’s Wall

7 April 2017 - Manuel Peña, in an editorial for the Fresno Bee, argues that we forget the past when we wall it off. "I happen to be a descendant of the colonists who first settled the Texas side of the river. We did not immigrate to this country: it migrated to us… the promotion of the wall is at base a symptom of the historical amnesia that defines a surging neo-nativist ideology. Besides denying the diverse origins of our nation, this nativism is of a piece with the ethnocentric/racial intolerance that rages through several European countries at this moment."

How walls like Trump’s destroy the past and threaten the future

24 October 2017 - Andrew Roddick, Associate Professor of Anthropology, McMaster University submitted a post on The Conversation on the problems that come with walls throughout history. Archaeological perspective advises us “to carefully think about the material impact of fear and xenophobia…anthropologists and archaeologists working with contemporary migration issues demonstrate that the costs of such walls can have long-term unintended consequences, including an increase in violence and insecurity.”

Crossing between the Great Wall of China and the ‘Great’ Trump Wall

14 November 2017 – the only journal publication I’ll mention here as it is open access. Mimi Yang, Professor of Modern Languages and Asian Studies at Carthage College goes far beyond the usual explainer about the Great Wall of China, producing a meditation on the fundamental difference between the Great Wall as the violent establishment of a new empire, and Trump’s Wall as the dying cough of an imperial era. “The Trump Wall has its foundation cemented on fear, bigotry, and above all, fundamental intolerance for difference.”

How do the walls around the world function differently?

2 December 2018 – This is a student blog submitted as part of coursework for ANTH 100 at Vassar College, but credit for being one of the few to discuss the anthropology of modern walls. “Hungary and Slovenia are two countries with the region’s largest expanse of fences. …It is revealed that people living near these barriers often find that they serve little purpose and can be psychologically damaging.”

Hadrian’s Wall, education and the heritage presenced in US ‘security’ and immigration policy

5 December 2018 - A short case study by Chiara Bonacchi, Lecturer in Heritage at Stirling University. This snippet text-mines 1000 tweets mentioning Trump and Hadrian’s Wall, showing that the public forges links between them, even if only as defensive barriers and not as “places of encounter” as wallchaeologists might prefer. Notably, these tweets often refer to Brexit as well. “It is a wall that divides, but also connects regions and peoples who are experiencing populist nationalism today… it remains a powerful but contested image and heritage site, of great resonance in today’s world.”

Trump says medieval walls worked. They didn’t

10 January 2019 - In late 2018, Trump began mentioning nonspecific ‘medieval’ walls as proof that walls always work, prompting medievalists to enter the fray. Matthew Gabriele, Professor of Medieval Studies at Virginia Tech went straight to one of America’s leading newspapers. “[C]alling the proposed 700 to 1,200 mile border wall ‘medieval’ is deeply misleading because walls in the actual European Middle Ages simply did not work the way Trump apparently thinks they did. If anything, their true function may speak to Trump’s intentions: Poor tools of defense, medieval walls had more to do with reassuring those who lived inside them than with dividing self from other.”

The Wall isn’t medieval

11 January 2019 – Gabriele was soon joined by David Perry for CNN, reinforcing the point that Trump’s use of the term medieval is not just lazy, but shows how wall-logic appeals to those with the least historical awareness, and along the way, gets in some exquisite fact-based burns. “[T]he wall won’t work – not because it’s a throwback to imagined medieval barbarism, but because it’s a con.”

What works, and what doesn’t

It is clear from the above charts that the academic-led responses largely preceded the journalists’ interests, and have carried on continuously, responding dynamically as Trump shifts his narrative. It shows that archaeologists and anthropologists are actively fulfilling their responsibility for public education. In comparison, journalists really began to take interest when it was too late, in response to one of Trump’s first acts as president, the Border Security and Immigration Enforcement Improvements executive order which formally directed the government to seek funding and design proposals for a physical barrier along the southern border.

And while this survey begins in 2016, archaeologists and anthropologists have been trolling the impulse to build border walls for years. For instance, on this very blog, I wrote an exasperated piece bemoaning the abuses of Hadrian’s Wall in the run-up to the Scottish independence referendum of 2014, as did Britain’s eminent wallchaeologist, Richard Hingley, for The Conversation. Long before 2014, the work of Laura McAtackney and many others around the Belfast ‘Peace Walls’ has shown the value of recording the human effects of walling people from one another in real time.

On the other side of the Atlantic, archaeotrolling the Border Wall takes us much further back to its first major fortification (fencification?) during the xenophobic Cheney presidency. No discussion of archaeotrolling is complete without mention of Jason de León’s Undocumented Migration Project, with its devastating revelations of the violence perpetrated by fortifying borders. Similarly, the Migrant Quilt Project materialises the human costs of a fortified border, promoting cooperation and understanding. David Taylor’s photography has documented the border’s transformation from imaginary line to irrational severing of living communities since 2007.

All these projects put the focus squarely on the people and communities terrorised by the Wall, but also their continued resistance to it. As activist archaeologist Randall McGuire put it in 2013, the wall unintentionally “enables agency that the builders did not imagine or desire, and crossers continually create new ways to transgress the barrier.”

‘Walled In’ by John Cuneo (source)

So what hasn’t worked? It is clear that despite decades of archaeotrolling border walls, dating back to the days when Trump was known only as a walking reminder of failed 80s economic policies, the urge to build them has not abated, and has in fact increased. Despite demonstrating “A Wall Is an Impractical, Expensive, and Ineffective Border Plan” way back in November 2016, here we are, still debating it two years into the Trump era.

The problem lies with walls’ own brutal physicality. We can academically deconstruct these ancient walls all we want, but we are at the same time always told that they are wonders to be marvelled at. The way they remain standing after millennia gives them an obviousness that is blinding. Their recurring role in history makes them seem inevitable, as several of the pieces listed here concluded. And even those with the best intentions, even a fair few of the experts listed above, are hoodwinked by the mythical quality of the stories that grow up around these walls – like the notion that Hadrian’s Wall was ever seen as the end of the Roman Empire, and that it was put up against Pictish aggression, when it would be more accurate to say that Roman frontier policies created the Picts.

In his Myth of Nations, Geary called ethnic nationalism the 'poison' of modern history, but these famous walls seem to exude the same venom. Border walls are the toxic waste of empire, spread around the globe by short-sighted regimes with no regard for the future, which continue to poison us and cloud our view of the foibles of the human past by their stubborn monumentality. If Trump gets his wall, it will not only be his legacy, but all of ours. Don’t pollute the future with another one.

***

Follow us on @AlmostArch 

The title image is not my creation, but an unwitting self-parody by the president himself; I’d rather not link to his Twitter account, so read this instead.

[anomiezine-blog]

The Tyranny of the Narrative

“The receptivity of the masses is very limited, their intelligence is small, but their power of forgetting is enormous. In consequence of these facts, all effective propaganda must be limited to a very few points and must harp on these in slogans until the last member of the public understands what you want him to understand by your slogan.” ― Adolf Hitler

“Journalism is not a profession or a trade. It is a cheap catch-all for fuckoffs and misfits—a false doorway to the backside of life, a filthy piss-ridden little hole nailed off by the building inspector, but just deep enough for a wino to curl up from the sidewalk and masturbate like a chimp in a zoo-cage.” ― Hunter S. Thompson

You clicked on the article because of the cool image, right? And you’re still reading because I quoted Hitler, right? In a nutshell I’ve just demonstrated my core point without having to write a complete paragraph. I should quit while I’m ahead!

I’m not quite the nihilist that Hitler was, but like all true Psychopaths, he picked up on an unpleasant weakness in human psychology. For most people, slogans and soundbites have always been the main conveyance of ideology, if you can even call it that. In reality, most people don’t have an ideology (sorry left wing nerds). They form their opinions and prejudices through day-to-day lived experience. How something or someone makes them feel is the prime motivator of mankind not whether rationality is present. Nothing exists in a vacuum however, and I’m not implying that the world is devoid of ideology. Quite the opposite! Forever and always, there has been a ministry of propaganda, and rarely has it been titled as such. For most of history it was the media, whether state or corporate controlled, that provided the majority with their emotive slogans. As long as there has been newspapers and journalists there has been fake news and manipulation. They understood long ago that to appeal to emotion, to employ slogans and soundbites was all they needed to do to see the results they desired.

We must also share some of the blame, we are the product of our evolution and a celebrity obsessed culture. I mention evolution not to imply permanence. There was a time when strict hierarchies, fearless leaders or messiahs might have been useful, clearly that’s no longer the case. It is also clearly true that we have a penchant to idolise celebrities and move with them like a shoal of fish. The fact that 20% more young Americans registered to vote after Taylor Swift told them to, speaks for itself. This has allowed the media to ignore complicated issues like the reality of poverty or direct provision, and instead faun over Ariana Grande’s love life. To ignore our lemming-like desire to follow celebrities, or even worse demagogues, and their self-help slogans doesn’t help us one jot to come up with a response.

If that sounds like a relentlessly cynical view of human society, congratulations you’re beginning to understand what it’s like being a historian. To step back from the precipice for a second, I’m not trying to imply you can’t find unbiased news or that people can’t become informed citizens. You can, but it is exceedingly rare and time consuming. A good rule of thumb for me is, if I’m looking for information on Brexit, I don’t go looking for it from the BBC or Channel 4 News. I might, however, try Al-jazeera English or even Euro News. At least in the case of the former they don’t have, as the Americans would say, skin in the game. Most people simply don’t go to those lengths, they believe the BBC or Fox News in America and therein lies the problem. But to avoid going down a rabbit hole of what media can ever be truly honest or for that matter a philosophical discussion on the nature of truth or bias, I want to focus on why I am writing this article: what are we as Anarchists meant to do about this unpleasant reality?

The simple fact is if you don’t have a media imprint, you have very little chance of convincing anyone that your ideas aren’t the insane ramblings of a pseudo-cult leader (the frequent use of the label comrade doesn’t help). The internet has helped open up the discourse to new ideas, the importance of Breitbart News and Infowars to the Fascist movement in the US is a clear sign of that, but no such platform has emerged from the Anarchist movement (I love Libcom but it’s not being name checked by major news outlets as an imminent treat to capitalism). In any case the google algorithms are beginning to filter out even the limited alternatives that do exist. So what should we do?

In every sense this article is what we shouldn’t be doing, analysing to death something that is rather simple: how do we convey our propaganda effectively through emotive soundbites? Personally I think the only way to do this is to accept two inevitables: The first that we have to fundamentally reconsider the language we use to talk to people, and if that means embracing slogans and simple emotive narratives, then so be it. And secondly either upping our internet game at a time when the state and global capital is shutting off this avenue as an option, or embrace the style of door-to-door decades-long campaigning that no one with an ironically named cat is currently willing to do. Sounds horrible, huh? Do you feel grimy? Need a quick shower to rinse off the cynical slime I’ve coated you with? I understand how you feel, but I also know that part of the reason you’ll stay in the shower an extra few minutes is because I’m right.

[msfbgraves]

Because fascist regimes, or regimes facists tend to support - think of Mussolini in Italy, Hitler in Germany, Franco in Spain, Videla in Argentina - have in very recent history led to dictatorships in which there were state sanctioned mass violations of human rights and state mass killings, which has led to multi generational trauma and several (international) wars.

America's openly fascist leader has already started violating the human rights of its own citizens, by deliberately exposing them to life threatening situations during a pandemic, police brutality (regular and ICE) plus he is trying to undermine democracy and rule by decree. People are already dying, democratic freedoms are already being challenged (voter suppression, deliberate misinformation via the Presidential Twitter), institutions for public welfare (the cdc among others) are being actively hindered. He has already threatened two wars, one of them nuclear and that is bad because he said these are the things he said he wanted to do before he was elected, he has indeed done several of them, and now he says he wants to keep doing them. Also, based on his recent behaviour I have no reason to expect a change of heart.

It's bad because fascism is a pattern of disrespect for human welfare and human life and I fear not only for my American friends but also the people who are going to die in the wars he is constantly threatening to start. These people have no chance to vote him out, even.

It is bad because the longer he stays in power, the more human lives, American and non-American, it most likely is going to take to stop him. It is bad because he's already had three years to lay the foundations of his regime, so he is likely, based on historical parallels, already harder to stop than he would have been if he only turned fascist this year. It is bad because he has already potentially threatened my own life by trying to seize the means to produce respirators and Covid- vaccines for Americans only, a vaccine or respirator I might need to save my life or the life of my loved ones in the near future, and I have no reason to believe he won't try that shit again.

That's why it's bad.

And if history doesn't always repeat, well... If I have a viper in my bed, it isn't absolutely guaranteed to bite and kill me, no. But based on what I know about vipers, i.e. how they typically behave, it is dangerous to have a viper in my bed, and based on what fascists claim to want and how they have historically behaved, it is dangerous to have a fascist President. And 'historically', I mean both based on what we know about the past decades and based on what I have seen happen during the past three years, or even the past three weeks.

(My opinions are based on information obtained studying for my my history degree, with sources typically found on JSTOR, Historical Abstracts, and lectures by Dutch, English, German and American professors affiliated with among others the university of Oxford, Oregon, Leiden, Leeds, Wales, and the Humboldt University of Berlin. Furthermore I have used information found via Wikipedia, CNN, Fox News, OAN, Breitbart, the BBC, ZDF Heute, Der Spiegel, Die Zeit, Bild, The Guardian, Le Monde, NRC, de Volkskrant, The New York Times, De Telegraaf, De Standaard, De Morgen, The Correspondent, Twitter, Google, Youtube, Tumblr, my grandmother, my mutuals and my friend Claudia. Among others I don't directly recall. I will say, however, that this is Tumblr, and therefore my post is not completely reliable as a sole source (if only because you have no way to check my credentials or all the sources I listed since I didn't include a bibliography or disclosed my identity. I am on mobile and too lazy and I like my pseudonym). I encourage you therefore to consult a various range of additional sources across the political spectrum (you can start by googling the ones above. Also the term "fascism") and ideally, several countries, before making up your mind. Pay particular attention to the points they all seem to agree on, as these points are least likely to be distorted by personal, national or political bias.)

[loadtown982]

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T-Mobile TVision Review: More Competition In Streaming Services Welcomed

New Post has been published on https://perfectirishgifts.com/t-mobile-tvision-review-more-competition-in-streaming-services-welcomed/

T-Mobile TVision Review: More Competition In Streaming Services Welcomed

T-Mobile TVision

There has never been a better time to cut the cord. These days, more than ever, people are looking to save money on streaming, and the selection of robust, affordable live TV streaming services make cable TV unnecessary. Earlier this month, T-Mobile launched two new Live TV Streaming Services, TVision VIBE and TVision Live, that aims to disrupt not just cable plans but also the current live streaming service out there that have increased in size and price. Unlike Hulu Live TV, Sling TV, YouTube TV, and FuboTV, which bundle entertainment and sports in a single package, T-Mobile has essentially split out entertainment channels in TVision VIBE, with sports and news going in TVision Live. So, what does this new service offer? What platforms does it support? And when can you get it? I am going to go over all of that and more. I spent a few days trying out TVision on both an iPad and T-Mobile’s branded Android TV dongle, the TVision Hub. Here comes TVision with its low-cost approach. Let’s dive in.

T-Mobile Home UI

What is TVision?

TVision is a T-Mobile brand new live streaming service meant to compete with traditional cable providers and established streaming options like Sling TV, Hulu Live TV, YouTube TV, and FuboTV. But do not get confused with the T-Mobile at-Home service. They are not the same thing that the company offered last year with their acquisition of Layer3 to help build the service, catapulting the relatively small cable company into the national spotlight, where that version with limited to a handful of markets around the country for $100/month. Around this time in 2017, T-Mobile announced its acquisition with the small cable TV company Layer3. At the time, the carrier said it would use the technology developed by Layer3 as the basis for disruptive cable TV service that would challenge competitors like Comcast and Verizon.

What makes Layer3 special? Layer3 is not using the type of internet that you use when you pay Comcast or Verizon. It runs its private IP network to serve users’ content directly. What that means is that Layer3 can manage your bandwidth and content without having to worry about a medium network causing congestion to slow down your speed or throttle your data with the ability to send HD video at a bandwidth of fewer than four megabits per second or at least that is what their CEO Jeff Binder has claimed.

Taking on the challenge and modern approach to putting together a TV service in this day and age, especially with the year we have been having, of Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, YouTube TV, and more, Layer3 integrates content from those services alongside DVR recordings to learn what you watch over time to offer better suggestions alongside a more personalized on-demand content. One might consider that T-Mobile is buying an experienced and internet-focused company that encodes live video from streaming over a privately managed network certainly bears some parallels in execution and strategy. I would even say that the self-dubbed “uncarrier” might have something interesting up their sleeve as of now.

T-Mobile TVision

T-Mobile TVision pricing, channels & DVR

A big selling point that T-Mobile is leading heavily on is its value proposition. The fact of the matter is that T-Mobiles pitch is that traditional packages are too inflated or too pricey. They cost too much, as they pile on too many channels and a combination of channels that you do not want or use. While live TV streaming services have certainly disrupted that pattern, T-Mobile says, “some of those bigger players in the streaming space are also guilty and are getting too bloated and expensive over time.” So, here comes TVision with its low-cost approach. Below you will see a total of four plans to choose from what the company has to offer right now.

TVision Vibe: ($10 a month for two simultaneous streams, 30 channels)

TVision Live: ($40 a month for three simultaneous streams, 30 plus channels)

TVision Live Plus: ($50 a month for three simultaneous streams, 40 plus channels)

TVision Live Zone: ($60 per month for three simultaneous streams, 50 plus channels)

The company is splitting its offerings into a few different services. The service has two primary plans to choose from TVision Vibe for $10.00 and TVision Live for $40.00 plus, which can be upgraded to TVision Live, TVision Vibe for $50.00. TVision Vibe can be upgraded to TVision Live Zone for a total of $60.00. With TVision, T-Mobile has essentially split up the entertainment channels in TVision Vibe, with sports and news in TVision Live. TVision Vibe is $10.00, including Food Network, BBC America, Comedy Central, BET, Nickelodeon, Hallmark, none of the premium and more expensive Live plans do. So, to get those channels, you will need both TVision Live and TVision Vibe. One might be more of a decent fit if you have a substantial selection of over the air options and you are looking to supplement that with a few more channels. Up next is TVision channels, which are essentially the premium channels you can also tackle your live or Vibe packages like CNBC, NBC News Now, Fox News, ESPN2, and more. The TVision Live package includes a mix of sports, news, local TV channels, and entertainment.

After TVision Live, the packages become more specialized and customizable. The TVision Live Plus adds many sports channels, but few entertainment channels I found ideal given that NFL Sunday Ticket and other channels are not in the streaming service. Finally, TVision Live Zone adds a mix of news, more sports channels, and Spanish language stations like Telemundo and the NFL Network. If you upgraded to the TVision Live Zone, the most massive addition is the Longhorn Network, NFL RedZone, MAVTV, Universal Kids, and Outside Television. Channels like the Dodgers, which is owned by Spectrum, or NFL Sunday Ticket, which is owned by AT&T, will not be included, and other teams owed by other cable providers.

A significant exception was the lack of CBS local channel support, so T-Mobile customers will need to register and sign-up for CBS All Access Additionally, in some cities, FOX affiliates may not be available on TVision Live, but the national channel will feed on those networks. A&E Networks are missing across all tiers in the entertainment channels, with TVision Live including 17 of the top cable channels and TVision Vibe only includes 15. You can also purchase a few add-on movie channels as extra packages like most other streaming services, like Epix, available for $5.99, Starz for $8.99, and Showtime can be purchased for $10.99 a month. Unfortunately, HBO is not included as an add-on. To receive that content, you would need to pay for HBO Max. Additionally, if you do not find a channel that you like, T-Mobile offers individual channels on which pricing may defer.

Device Support

If pricing and plans are the most crucial detail when a new service launches, device, and platform support are probably not far behind on that list, and for TVision, that support is solid with one exception. Below is a list of platforms that will support the T-Vision application at launch. You can see the mobile site is well taken care of with Android and iOS support. Meanwhile, the ‘At-Home’ streaming can gain access to the new service from the list you see below. What I find disappointing is that there is no Roku support. I am sure it will be just a matter of time before the company will bring Roku into the lineup or continue evaluating future platforms, including next-gen game consoles like the Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5.

Mobile:

Android (Version 5.1 and Up)

iOS/iPADS (Version 11 and up)

At Home:

Apple tv

Fire TV

Android TV

Google TV

Platforms Unsupported at Launch:

Roku

Samsung TV

LG TV

All models of Microsoft Xbox, Sony PlayStation, and Nintendo Gaming Systems

 Web Browser

T-Mobile TVision & Apple TV

Beyond all that, if you are on the TVision Live or channel plans, you can view a maximum of 3 simultaneous streams. For VIBE users at a $10/month plan, that is limited to two concurrent streams and includes a 100-hour Cloud DVR option for all three levels of the TVision Live packages, but it is an additional $4.99 add-on for the TVision Vibe Package. It is important to note that all the package prices are available for subscribers to T-Mobile postpaid accounts. It will be made available for legacy Sprint subscribers later this month in November. As for prepaid T-Mobile customers and non-T-Mobile customers, they will access TVision in 2021, but as for an exact date, I am not sure when that will be next year. T-Mobile customers who signed up for TVision Live Plus or Live Zone before December 31, 2020, could have secured a discounted Apple TV 4K set-top box for $99 and Apple TV Plus for free for a year. If all goes well during those phases, the company expects a full nationwide rollout to everyone, including those who aren’t currently customers of T-Mobile in the future; when that will be, again, I am not exactly sure, but T-Mobile has a sign-up page if you want to be notified when those stages begin. 

If you were to subscribe to both TVision VIBE and LIVE, you would get more than any other Live TV Streaming Service out there. If you would like to check out the TVisions channel list on its website, click here or compare the TVision channel line-up against other streaming services – here from CNET. Recently, FuboTV made a switch where you can stream on connected devices from two locations simultaneously, while Hulu Live TV has yet to make that change, which I highly suggest that it does. As for AT&T TV Now, YouTube TV, and Philo, they allow you to stream in different locations. On either the VIBE or LIVE plan, you can stream on a connected TV device from a single location at a time. However, if someone is streaming on a connected TV device at home, you can use a tablet or mobile device while away.

It is straightforward to record shows from the guide. As for TVisions cloud-based DVR, it does work rather well. Although it records the movie or TV show’s actual live airing instead of flipping to an on-demand version, you are limited to only 100 hours of content across all profiles on your account. Like most DVRs, TVision’s does not differ too much; it supports the ability to record single episodes, all episodes, or just new ones. Your recorded content will remain for nine months and then will be automatically deleted. As of now, I am unable to see if you can purchase additional cloud storage, but if two or three individuals are on your account and record at least one show per week, that storage will fill up in just a week or less, so I hope this gets upgraded. It has three unique features that I have not seen on other Live TV Streaming Services before. You can request it only to record recurring episodes on specific channels and give an additional time when recording shows or sports games (5, 10, 30, and 60 minutes), so you can make sure you don’t miss anything. Like its streaming competitors, unlike cable, TVision doesn’t require a contract and doesn’t need special equipment to watch on, just an application. The hub is just extra but not required.

But there is a time delay when you do record a live event. You cannot immediately watch it. I tried turning on the Dallas Cowboys game this past weekend, and I had to wait roughly 15 minutes before I could start playing back the recorded channel. Additionally, there were a few instances, like when watching an episode of ‘Ninja Warrior’ on NBC where the program did not allow me the fast forward a pre-recorded video that wasn’t on my cloud DVR with an error that read ‘fast-forwarding is disabled for this program.’ I hope that changes because I have never run into an issue when watching an episode on any streaming service where I could not do fast-forward unless it was LIVE, which it was not. 

The DVR is split out into two tabs, “Recorded” and “Scheduled.” It shows how many hours of your 100-hour DVR have been used on the top of the page. Along with the recorded tab, you can see all the shows, movies, and individual episodes that have been recorded. The ‘scheduled’ tab will show you’re showing that are to be recorded. From there, you can cancel or add padding. I have not had any issues with recording a single show so far. But, speaking of limited on-demand. I tried to check out “Fear the Walking Dead,” and the service only had season six with episodes three through seven, while Hulu Live TV had all seasons. So, since TVision has only been out less than a month, I am assuming it will gradually bring the rest of the seasons of countless shows up to date. If not, then TVision can look for a drop in subscribers just as quickly as they are signing up.

T-Mobile Tvision Guide

TVision Hub & UI

The TVision Hub resembles the TiVo Stream 4K. Powered by Android TV, you can access the Google Play Store, including a ton of other applications as well. TVision hub cost $49.99, just like the TiVo Stream 4K and Chromecast, which is surprising since T-Mobile has been making a lot of noise for less buck for their product. I will only assume that Google is making them charge each company that sets a dongle price. Honestly, the hub is not anything special anyway. Its primary function is for those that use T-Mobile as their primary carrier. The dongle comes with TVision pre-installed from Android TV with an HDMI dongle on one side. Alongside a remote control that integrates TVision-specific functions like the three new buttons: guide, DVR, and TVision, along with a number pad. It is practically a regular remote, just with a few more ‘smart button’ bells and whistles for the hub. You technically don’t even need a TVision account if all you want is a streaming device even though I am sure T-Mobile would prefer if you subscribed, but it’s worth pointing out even with the T-Mobile branding on the side, this is still a relatively an affordable streaming device for $49.99.

T-Mobile gave me an iPad Pro 2nd Generation tablet to check out the was able to check out the application’s iOS version. The home page offers up a general look at the movies of the day and trending shows. As you scroll down, you are shown categories like drama, documentaries, and more and channels given which tier package you have purchased. Watching on the Apple iPad Pro 11″ 2nd generation should not have problems with the quality. Over the past few years, one of the main changes for Live Streaming Services has been the upgradability of 60 fps (frames per second) for its streams. At 60 fps, the higher frame rate will smooth the video quality and make each show, especially for sports games and movies to look better or any performance that requires much motion. This is where TVision falls short and will most likely lose out on some significant sports fans from purchasing this product. YouTube TV, Sling TV, FuboTV, and Hulu Live TV all offer 60fps with their sports channels, but TVision only offers 30 fps, and it shows. TVision does a great job with practically not having any buffering time, and the quality is more than fair when it comes to entertainment. This is just not the right choice as of now until T-Mobile upgrades the fps. So, if you are a massive movie buff and sports fan, you might want to wait. As for the audio, I did not have any issues with it. It was crisp and learned without any delays. I am sure it will depend on which channel and device you stream with.

If you don’t own a smart TV, then this Android hub is undoubtedly dependable, and when you decide to buy that 4K TV, the device even supports up to 4K resolution and 60 fps. Unfortunately, the TVision app doesn’t have any content in that format, yet not counting the TVision In-Home service. This is a significant disadvantage compared to other streaming services that allow you to watch movies and sports games how they are meant to be watched. How much storage is inside the device? There’s 8GB of storage along 2GB of RAM with an ARM-based processor with a 1.8GHz clock speed. Additionally, you don’t need to have a wall charge available. If your TV has a USB available, it can just charge through that to be given power. Like most company’s marketing approach, T-Mobile customers get services like HBO and CBS that is not included in its channel packages. As for pricing, I do not know if they are freebies or just the applications themselves. The TVision home screen has a carousel of featured content. Below the icons for the services you are subscribed to, you will find content organized in various ways.

You can access and download familiar applications and subscription streaming services like Netflix. A nice perk is the Google Assistant for using voice commands for finding a streaming service, channel, show, or movie through the remote. T-Mobile’s attempt at a cable interface lacks pizazz but makes up for it with great functionality. The interface is clean, refreshed, and the navigation is responsive. Additionally, no matter what you are doing that time, if you press any of the maroon TVision buttons at the top, they will take you directly to the application.

When you turn on the TVision hub, the UI will show you what you have recently watched and customized your streaming application to give you recommendations, like Netflix. The UI is very responsive when using the remote control, so latency should not be an issue. The TVision viewing experience has been one of the closest to Cable TV compared to other live streaming services I have used. It is notable how fast the channels switch when changing them. The onscreen guide is quick, intuitive, and responsive and navigates as quickly as you press the button.

I am sure there will be plenty of individuals out there who will not care about the pricing and will be glad to have a TV to watch in the first place, which is fine. However, one other thing that might bother them or at least for sports fans is the lack of CBS affiliates associated with NFL and college football games that air on that channel. I am sure in no time that will change and will the rest of the TVision channel lineup. It will be in your best interest if you fall in this category to pay for CBS All Access instead.

If you happen to be a current T-Mobile customer and want to cut the cord on your cable or satellite TV system, then TVision packages are a very affordable way to get LIVE and on-demand cable TV channels. Sure, you will not have as many channels, but no one needs to watch over 300 channels. I prefer the minimalistic way of life. As I would have liked the various CBS channels to be included in the packages, the web browser access is non-existent at this point, and Roku is not being supported; this should not be a huge problem overall. Applications like Netflix, Youtube TV, and Hulu are innovative with their UI and known for it, but TVision lacks personalization, but I am sure finding various user-friendly UIs and AIs for streaming can be difficult. Streaming services UI is always changing, so it is a work in progress. Additionally, there was an issue with creating a page dedicated to ‘children friendly’ shows. Luckily, these parents will be glad to know that they can create a PIN that will lock out any adult-rated programs in the application. The bottom line is, the TVision app UI and its features are fresh but nothing spectacular.

T-Mobile Tvision Hub

Wrapping up

When it comes to streaming services, one of the biggest questions revolves around price. T-Mobiles most significant selling points at launch are price and choice. It is good plans that are “half the price of cable TV,” and there are no annual service contracts to speak of either. It is even adequate protection from plan blow or, as it describes on the T-Mobile site, “No Exploding Plans.”. It is essentially offering low-cost service plans in configurations that are more attractive to consumers while promising no commitment or price hikes down the road. T-Mobile’s new streaming bundles are competitively priced while other streaming services offer more networks at the same price point, but TVision’s plans include fewer “waste” channels that will most likely not be used, ranging on preference for each person. It is still early days for TVision as it will undoubtedly continue to build out its service as time goes on, especially within the next few months. TVision is a service that is a bridge between cord-cutting and your applications. You can get some of the best of traditional cable but with a little bit of application thrown in that will suit your needs.

For now, if you are looking for a cable replacement, T-Mobile’s offering will do just that. But do not expect much more for some time. T-Mobile’s movement to give it a shot into the TV market is an exciting move by the mobile carrier, even if it is not anything to jump for joy about but as of now. An ideal consumer would be someone who already uses another source for streaming and wants to surf through various channels for background noise or when they are plain bored. That $10/month Vibe package is going to be very tempting. But a lack of CBS affiliates and streaming quality that lags the competition holds it back from being an industry kingpin. Finally, strategically, I would have loved there to have been a 5G option versus WiFi, but we’ll have to wait a bit for that.

Will T-Mobile suffer the same fate as some of their competitors and give in to increasing their streaming price, or are they onto something here by offering lower-cost streaming packages? Either way, we have another streaming option to consider.  Of course, I will be keeping a close eye on T-visions pricing and plans moving forward. After all, it is one thing to say you have better prices and choices at launch, but it is another thing entirely to keep that promise over the longterm. The bottom line is that T-Mobile is jumping into the cable streaming alternative ring with a service that works as intended, but there are still a couple of big bumps that need to be smoothed out.

Note: Moor Insights & Strategy writers and editors may have contributed to this article. 

Moor Insights & Strategy, like all research and analyst firms, provides or has provided paid research, analysis, advising, or consulting to many high-tech companies in the industry, including 8×8, Advanced Micro Devices, Amazon, Applied Micro, ARM, Aruba Networks, AT&T, AWS, A-10 Strategies, Bitfusion, Blaize, Box, Broadcom, Calix, Cisco Systems, Clear Software, Cloudera, Clumio, Cognitive Systems, CompuCom, Dell, Dell EMC, Dell Technologies, Diablo Technologies, Digital Optics, Dreamchain, Echelon, Ericsson, Extreme Networks, Flex, Foxconn, Frame (now VMware), Fujitsu, Gen Z Consortium, Glue Networks, GlobalFoundries, Google (Nest-Revolve), Google Cloud, HP Inc., Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Honeywell, Huawei Technologies, IBM, Ion VR, Inseego, Infosys, Intel, Interdigital, Jabil Circuit, Konica Minolta, Lattice Semiconductor, Lenovo, Linux Foundation, MapBox, Marvell, Mavenir, Marseille Inc, Mayfair Equity, Meraki (Cisco), Mesophere, Microsoft, Mojo Networks, National Instruments, NetApp, Nightwatch, NOKIA (Alcatel-Lucent), Nortek, Novumind, NVIDIA, Nuvia, ON Semiconductor, ONUG, OpenStack Foundation, Oracle, Poly, Panasas, Peraso, Pexip, Pixelworks, Plume Design, Poly, Portworx, Pure Storage, Qualcomm, Rackspace, Rambus, Rayvolt E-Bikes, Red Hat, Residio, Samsung Electronics, SAP, SAS, Scale Computing, Schneider Electric, Silver Peak, SONY, Springpath, Spirent, Splunk, Sprint, Stratus Technologies, Symantec, Synaptics, Syniverse, Synopsys, Tanium, TE Connectivity, TensTorrent, Tobii Technology, T-Mobile, Twitter, Unity Technologies, UiPath, Verizon Communications, Vidyo, VMware, Wave Computing, Wellsmith, Xilinx, Zebra, Zededa, and Zoho which may be cited in blogs and research.

From Cloud in Perfectirishgifts

[alltechdownloads6-blog]

Download Turbo VPN for PC/Laptop on Windows & Mac

https://alltechdownloads.food.blog/2019/12/06/download-turbo-vpn-for-pc-laptop-on-windows-mac/https://alltechdownloads.food.blog/2019/12/06/download-turbo-vpn-for-pc-laptop-on-windows-mac/Download Free Turbo VPN For PC is the most speedy proxy based internet connection. To unblocking the websites which are blocked by the governing authority; VPN is the master key to unlock them. As a result, nowadays the advanced internet users are depending on the virtual private network Software (VPN) service. Here is the updated version of November 2019. Now it is more secure and reliable too!

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Navigation For PC User Turbo VPN for PC Download Latest Version November 2019 DOWNLOAD EXE Turbo VPN For Windows What’s New On The Latest Edition November 2019 Furthermore Wonders About The Free Servers Use with Android Emulator Turbo VPN On Mac Method to Using on Mac Turbo VPN for PC Features & Adventures Turbo VPN for PC Download Latest Version November 2019 DOWNLOAD EXE Overcome your government’s internet communication rules and kick the firewalls easily with Turbo VPN software. The goal of making independent networking globally. Brook the chain of subsidence of your internet surfing with the world’s most powerful VPN provider. No one can block your IP/browser to browse any website. Just download Turbo VPN for Windows 8 and run on your operating system like Windows 10,8,8.1,7 even XP, Vista, and Mac too!

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Links 8/7/19

Digital Elixir Links 8/7/19

Animal friendships change with the weather in African savanna Science

The Life Factory: Synthetic Organisms From This $1.4 Billion Startup Will Revolutionize Manufacturing Forbes

Big Money Starts to Dump Stocks That Pose Climate Risks Bloomberg

New Models Point to More Global Warming Than We Expected Weather Underground

Challenges to natural and human communities from surprising ocean temperatures PNAS. Important.

17 Countries, Home to One-Quarter of the World’s Population, Face Extremely High Water Stress World Resources Institute. The United States is #71 on the list, but averages conceal. AZ, CA, CO, NM, and UT are all High or Extremely High stress.

Millions of Business Listings on Google Maps Are Fake—and Google Profits WSJ. Just like Facebook accounts. How odd.

Google’s ‘cookie’ privacy settlement that paid users nothing was just voided by a U.S. appeals court Business Insider

Brexit

History Holds Few Lessons If Brexit Means Crashing Out of EU Bloomberg

Britain’s constitutional time-bomb Economist

Syraqistan

Iran Has Hundreds of Naval Mines. U.S. Navy Minesweepers Find Old Dishwashers and Car Parts. ProPublica

A Crashed Israeli Lunar Lander Spilled Tardigrades on the Moon Wired

India

India Moves to Strip Kashmir of Autonomy, Potentially Setting Up Conflict in Disputed Territory The Intercept

Pakistan vows to fight India’s ‘illegal’ Kashmir move BBC

The story of Indian democracy written in blood and betrayal Indian Express

‘Everything Has Been Lost. Except Our Resolve to Fight Back’: Shah Faesal on Kashmir The Wire

Decades of Insular Pakistani Leadership is to Blame For The World’s Failure to Care About Kashmir Eurasia Future

Asia is the right place for a US ‘Green New Deal’ Nikkei Asian Review

The Koreas

Nuclear Weapons and Their Pride of Place in North Korea Wilson Center

Post scandal lays bare mythology of corporate Japan FT

China

China Summons Hong Kong Officials to Shenzhen to Discuss Unrest Bloomberg

Helmets, goggles sent from Taiwan to HK protesters Asia Times

Defend your home against radical protesters, Beijing urges Hongkongers amid ongoing extradition bill unrest South China Morning Post

* * *

1st China-Kyrgyzstan joint counter-terrorism exercise Xinhua

Multiply this by tens of millions:

To better care for her family, Chen Chunlian moved back to her hometown in Shaanxi province and opened a pedicure shop from her apartment.

Learn more: https://t.co/qCfSLDfZc0 pic.twitter.com/AywVjYHbXz

— Sixth Tone (@SixthTone) August 7, 2019

Protest is not enough to topple a dictator: the army must also turn Aeon

Trump Transition

China just showed why Trump can’t win with tariffs The Week

The Push to Expand Gun Background Checks: What You Need to Know New York Magazine

Justice Department Backs Trump’s Suit Over Accountant Records Bloomberg

Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico Supreme Court to decide fate of new governor CBS

Democrats in Disarray

Elitists Roll Out “Stop Rebelling And Support Biden, You Insolent Little Sh*ts” Campaign Medium. While at the same time in a moral panic about white supremacy.

Democrats still at square one Stuart Rothenberg, Roll Call

L’Affaire Joffrey Epstein

Messages left for Jeffrey Epstein ‘suggested his friend might be procuring two 8-year-old girls for the pedophile to sexually abuse’ state court docs filed by victims’ lawyer Daily Mail. Again, the focus on the awfulness of the individual at the center of the network, but nothing on the network. Odd.

Florida governor orders state criminal probe into Jeffrey Epstein case McClatchy

Health Care

Why Won’t Democrats Blame Hospitals? The Atlantic

Vital Signs: Pharmacy-Based Naloxone Dispensing — United States, 2012–2018 CDC

Our Famously Free Press

Indicators of news media trust Knight Foundation

Times public editor: The readers versus the masthead CJR

Black Injustice Tipping Point

Stopped, Ticketed, Fined: The Pitfalls of Driving While Black in Ferguson NYT (UserFriendly).

Those Feral Hogs

What about the 30-50 feral hogs? Man’s defense of assault weapons goes viral Guardian

Fair use:

30-50 private equity managers, rolling around in a pile of cash they took from an unsuspecting public while firing the retail workers who are struggling to make ends meet as it is. That’s the tweet.

— Pennsylvania Treasury (@PATreasury) August 6, 2019

Imperial Collapse Watch

America’s Other Original Sin The American Conservative

Millennials are killing these 7 military traditions DuffelBlog

Class Warfare

Student Debt and Racial Wealth Inequality (PDF) Marshall Steinbaum. As it happens, a universal benefit that raises everybody to a baseline disportionately benefits those farthest beneath the baseline. Who would have thought?

Revealed: Amazon touts high wages while ignoring issues in its warehouses Guardian

* * *

Class interests:

Randa Ragland got a letter: "Your eyesore is affecting the resale value of OUR homes."

"So many things" had happened, Ragland says. She posted on Facebook, asking people to "try being kind."

She never could have imagined the kindness that came next. https://t.co/gXKCwDw4sX

— CNN (@CNN) August 7, 2019

Nuisance Ordinances: The New Frontier In Social Control Current Affairs

Masked gunmen reportedly set RVs on fire in West Oakland Oakland Reporter

Antidote du jour (via). I couldn’t help myself:

See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.

Links 8/7/19

from WordPress https://ift.tt/2MLj1GD via IFTTT

[youremyonlyhope]

Extremis

Watching the re-airing at midnight again. Yay.

Still very confused as to why the Doctor is still blind.

Executioners to every living thing? That’s... not a good thing... Wait. It’s hitting me that this is “a long time ago”... how long ago... because Twelve is still Twelve not an earlier version of him. Oh, hi Missy! “Memories are so much worse in the dark.” I mean yeah. So.... why is Missy being imprisoned and executed? Ok you know what I just shouldn’t question these things about her and just accept it. Yay the sonic sunglasses! Was I the only person who loved the sonic sunglasses? I thought they were cute and fit with the Doctor’s casual sweatshirt look from last season. Like an older guy trying to be cool and young and failing but it’s cute and endearing. “Pope Benedict the Ninth” ok... when he pope? Oh ok, in the 1000s, great. Older than the church itself?!? Really? “A secret that drives all who know it to commit suicide” Ok so how about we just let it stay a secret. “Assumption makes an ass out of you.” OH MY GOD DOCTOR. “I have very strict rules about men” “Probably not as strict as mine.” Oh Bill I love you so much. That death stare that Bill is giving the TARDIS as it appears is amazing. THE POPE WALKING IN ON THIS MOMENT SCREAMING IN A FOREIGN LANGUAGE IS LITERALLY THE WORST POSSIBLE THING THAT COULD EVER HAPPEN. “THAT WAS THE POPE. BILL. THAT. WAS. THE. POPE.” OH MY GOD. Doctor. You managed to ruin Bill’s date and terrify the Pope. Congrats. “Do not, under any circumstance, put the POPE in my bedroom.” That’s going down in history as one of the most amazing sentences ever said in Doctor Who. “Pope Benedict said you are in more need of confession than any man who ever lived.” Yep. Oh poor Doctor.

Nardole: “My husband,” Me: ...Okay... Nardole: “My mad man in a box.” Me: Okay!? Okay... TV: *Shows River’s book* Me: Okay... Okay. Nardole: *Looks up so we can see his face* Me: OH OK.

That had me so confused for a second. I’m not exaggerated when I say I said “ok” out loud in confusion many times just now. But now we know how Nardole joined with the Doctor.

TV: Torchwood is back on BBC America. Me: REALLY!?!?!?!?!

TORCHWOOD MARATHON. JUNE 2ND AND 3RD. I AM SO HAPPY. MY TORCHWOOD BABIES. AND OF COURSE “EVERY DEATH. *MONTAGE OF JACK’S DEATHS*” THAT’S AMAZING. Also my “really” was super high pitched. I’m losing my voice because of a sore throat, and you could barely hear it, I squeaked out “REALLY!?!”

Nardole: You’re an idiot. Me: Yes. Doctor: Everyone knows that. Me: Awww no Doctor no.

I don’t mind other people calling the Doctor an idiot, I call the Doctor an idiot multiple times in an episode, but Doctor baby please don’t call yourself an idiot. “Harry Potter!” “Language.” Doctor. Is it the Master? I mean, Simm!Master? Is that the cage that was in the water? Or did I just get a really bad look at the cage when it emerged? Hey, someone should go check on the cardinal... Oh great. Emailing an ancient and dangerous text. That’s fun “Nardole, make sure that you walk in front of Bill.” AWWW.  “Are you secretly a badass?” “Nothing secret about it, babydoll.” Oh that’s amazing. So a long time ago was a thousand years. Wait. Why the Pentagon? WAIT WHAT.  OH. NO. NO NO NO NO NO NO NO. WHAT IS THIS? “What is this?!” ME TOO BILL ME TOO. I don’t think it’s safe for there to be this many portals/wormholes/whatevers to this many places... that’s concerning. AND WHERE IS THE CARDINAL?

Random but the fact that my Torchwood babies, especially my baby Owen, will be on my TV in a few weeks is really hitting me now and making me very very happy. I’m just so happy I could cry. I legit let out a sob/sigh just now and held my hand over my heart. I love this show so much. And I love Owen so much. Just.. this is so great.

Wait, is a few minutes of eyesight really equal to losing a regeneration or all regenerations? I feel like... even to read such an important book... eyesight isn’t worth that much. Especially when the Time Lords so graciously granted the Doctor a new set. AHHHH NOPE. THIS IS LIKE... A ZOMBIE VERSION OF THAT THING FROM THE GOONIES. I forgot his name but you know who I mean. “Doctor we have the Veritas.” Oh they don’t know what the internet is so yay for the Doctor. Oh he took the laptop, I mean that works too. Oh no. Is this a suicide pact? OK. Ok. Much worse than koolaid. Much... much... worse... WHAT. WHAT IS HAPPENING!?!?!?! So the Pope is a computer generated being? Like a CPU in Mario Kart? NARDOLE TOO? WHAT IS HAPPENING. ARE THEY LIKE SLEEPING SOMEWHERE AND ARE ALL AVATARS IN THIS SIMULATION OR SOMETHING?! Ok but seriously does anyone wanna like check to see if the cardinal is still alive or even was real at all? WHAT!? WHAT?!?!?!! THE PRESIDENT KILLED HIMSELF!??!?! Oh god. Oh god oh god oh god no. SO ALL THE PEOPLE WHO SAY “OH WHAT IF WE’RE ALL A SIMULATION?” ARE RIGHT?! SO MY MARIO ANALOGY WAS FORESHADOWING? Is this a 2 parter? Because this doesn’t feel like it can be solved in the next few minutes. “I have nothing. Not even hope.” DOCTOR. I AM RIGHT HERE. I AM HOPE. I AM HERE FOR YOU. My TV just froze at the worst possible time. I don’t think I missed anything, but oh my god TV don’t do that again to me during this episode please. OH. OH. I LOVE THE DOCTOR. I LOVE MY BABY. HE’S SO GOOD. HE’S THE BEST. I’m asking again. Is this a 2 parter? Because we got 5 minutes left... And I’d rather this ending not be rushed... “Oi! Get off. I’ve just been executed. Show a little respect.” Oh Missy. “You are unarmed.” Yeah. You should know he’s scariest when he’s unarmed.

So... this is a 2 parter? They didn’t say to be continued...

I just googled Pope Benedict IX and a few of the results are Doctor Who related and it’s amazing.

PROMO TIME. A PYRAMID?  “Life on Earth will cease by humanities own hand.” Oh great.

[drinkyourfuckingmilk]

Do you have any particular documentaries you like ?

yes I have a list!!! I’ll copy and paste an old one I’ve used and updated recently. though a lot of the documentaries I watch are crime/psychology related so some of these are going to be morbid, just a heads up. 

the crime/psychology list

- Making a Murderer: this one is on netflix, looks at possible police corruption, wrongful imprisonment and analyses a current murder trial. it’s pretty damn popular and it’s brilliantly well done (though frustrating on a lot of levels) so check it out. it’s about a current case too so there’s still new information to look up. 

- There’s Something Wrong with Aunt Diane: a family tries to investigate what really happened the day diane schuler fatally drove into oncoming traffic with 6 children in her car. this one haunts me for some reason, not a lot of it makes sense in terms of her character. 

- Dear Zachary: A Letter to His Son About His Father: very tragic story but good insight into how the justice system and child protective services need constant reevaluation and scrutiny, and the story also features probably the bravest and most supernaturally compassionate and strong couple I’ve ever seen like if you want just an example of two incredible human beings then pay attention to the mother and father. 

The Boy Who Should Have Lived: looks at the story of a boy with a mental illness, his parents struggle to get him help and how the system utterly fucking failed him. 

The 9/11 Faker: a woman who got away with pretending to be a survivor of 9/11 and the aftermath of her actions within the survivor group she totally fooled. 

The Imposter: amazing documentary on a man who pretended to be a long lost missing child and disturbingly fooled a lot of people. I didn’t even think this one was real until the end. 

- Back From the Edge: documentary on borderline personality disorder that interviews people living with the disorder (women AND men which is good, because borderline can seem like it presents quite differently in either gender).

- Boy Interrupted: about a boy named evan who suffered from bipolar disorder from a very young age. it looks at the genetic influences, how it affected the family in the aftermath, and it’s heartbreaking to see how the illness manifests itself in such a young child. 

- Just Melvin, Just Evil: this one is centered around a large extended family and how child sexual abuse has affected its members. it’s got very triggering content for abuse survivors so avoid it if that’s a problem for you, but it’s actually a really important insight into how abuse contributes to poverty, alcoholism, dysfunction, self-harm, mental health issues and how that cycle is perpetuated)

- Child of Rage: looks at the rehabilitation of a child suffering from reactive attachment disorder which is when a child fails to develop emotional attachment or empathy for others (sometimes being the foundation of sociopathy/psychopathy), in this case due to sexual abuse and neglect. it involves recordings of therapy sessions with a young girl who experienced this and how she is treated for the disorder.

- Interview with Expert FBI Criminal Profiler: basically just an interview with one of my role models John Douglas who probably has one of the most extensive careers as a criminal profiler and conducted a huge body of research that contributed to the most effective methods of catching killers and preventing crime.

Love Crimes of Kabul: follows several women in a Afghanistan prison and their stories of what “crimes” had them imprisoned (just dont look through the comment section. this applies to all videos obviously but this one in particular). 

History of the Capital Punishment: kinna self explanatory but really awesome because crime AND history.

Broadmoor: documentary on a psychiatric facility in Britain that contains violent offenders who suffer from mental illness, and looks at the rehabilitation process and at the morality of treating or punishing the patients/offenders)

India’s Daughters: documentary on the issue of rape culture in India and the sociopolitical aftermath of the rape and murder of a medical student, Jyoti.

Thin: follows several women in a treatment facility for eating disorders.  

and if you’re just interested in crime and profiling etc then you can find most good 30 - 40 min crime documentaries on youtube from Crime Investigation Channel but keep in mind these can be quite full-on since some of them have “dramatic reenactments” of crime (and tbh some of them go over the top to the point where I feel like it can get disrespectful)

some history yaaaayyyy

Nanking: an interesting documentary that revolves around the foreigners who stayed behind in Nanking to create a Safety Zone for 200,000 chinese residents fleeing from the atrocities committed by the invading japanese military. It uses narration by actors and interviews with actual witnesses and survivors of the time. 

Sorrowful Homecoming: a korean documentary (with subtitles) that follows a japanese journalist Takashi Ito who has been interviewing and advocating for korean survivors used as “comfort women” during wartime by japanese soldiers. this one is very upsetting and has a lot of sexual violence described so keep that in mind before you watch it.  

The Romanov Dynasty: mini documentary series about each tsar and tsarina who ruled during the 300 year long romanov dynasty. IT’S SO WELL DONE and was made with so much love. 

Marie Antoinette Documentary: one of the best documentaries on the historical bae who has always been grossly misunderstood and misrepresented even in modern history classes. 

Mystery of the Romanovs: looks into the discovery of the remains of the Romanovs, insight into what happened the night they were murdered and investigation into the potential survival of Anastasia and/or Alexei.

Catherine the Great: the title says it all, gurl was great. amazing leader who knew exactly how to play the political/royal game and told all the men who tried to oppress or abuse her to sit the fuck down and shut the fuck up y’all best recognize.

Servants: The True Story of Life Below Stairs: really cool little doco series on the people who served the upper class in the UK back in the day (Victorian, Edwardian eras etc) and what their daily lives were like and what kind of people they were.

And Man Created Dogs: how wolves/dogs evolved and bonded with us and became the natural BFFs of humans like god bless the power of evolution and oxytocin.

less morbid documentaries in general

- Babies: this is a lovely documentary (FOR A CHANGE). it doesn’t use interviews or voice overs, it just follows the development and differing parenting of four babies from four different nations: Japan, America, Namibia and Mongolia. it’s really interesting and excruciatingly cute.

- My Heart Belongs to My Dad: looks at 3 men doing their best to raise their children as single parents. 

Nomadic Tribes of the Sahara: basically the title sums it up! the narrator is kind of annoying but it’s a really awesome look at how the tribes of the sahara adapt to live in such a scorching climate. 

- Poor Kids: follows children in the UK who live below the poverty line and how their family’s make do from day to day

Search For Habitable Planets: because space is hella and maybe one day we’ll end up on one of these bad boys like not in my lifetime at least but hey.

An Astronaut’s Guide to Life in Space: mini videos about Chris Hadfield doing adorable and informative shit in space

Cosmos: everything you’ve ever wanted to know about everything that hurts your brain to even think aka the entire universe brought to you by Carl Sagan

Killing Us Softly 3: absolute favourite look into how advertising and the sexual objectification of women creates a horrible climate of low self-esteem, eating disorders, and violence etc against them

Planet Earth: if you haven’t seen david attenboroughs planet earth series then holy sHIT get on that because it’s so beautiful and the footage of the animals and landscapes and how he explains all of it is just perfect seriously I’ve watched this series more times than I can count.

The Union: Business Behind Getting High: super entertaining doco on the history and politics of weed and how we would benefit if it was legalized and how we should be goDDAMN USING HEMP AS A HUGE NATURAL RESOURCE.

and obviously if you haven’t checked out any of louis theroux’s documentaries then GET ON THAT

- list of some of his doco’s 

youtube channels with more awesome documentaries

- Real Stories

- 20/20

- BBC History Documentaries Playlist

[some of the links might be broken as youtube is want to remove every good video from existence but just do a new search in youtube/google and you’ll probably find all of these]

[templeofgeek]

Whether you have been into cosplay for years or are just starting out, we all have learned one thing: it can get expensive! However, I am here to remind you that it does not have to cost an arm and a leg to create a cosplay. Doctor Who is my favorite television show, and I have created so many cosplays from it. Here, I will show you a break down of my cosplays, where I got certain pieces, and how I made and put together others.

Print on demand

Finding screen accurate pieces for cosplay can be difficult. It can also get expensive. However, print on demand websites are wonderful. Redubble is a print on demand website where artists’ renderings are applied to shirt, sweaters, dresses, etc. These might not be totally accurate, but they will be extremely close and way less expensive. For example, the striped shirt for the Thirteenth Doctor that I own came from Redbubble.

Thirteenth Doctor cosplay shirt

Ace cosplay shirt from Redbubble

Also, my Ace McShane (companion of the seventh Doctor) cosplay shirt came from Redbubble. The “Ace” patch was found on Etsy, but it does not seem to be available at the moment. This cosplay as a whole was a labor of love.

Ace McShane, played by Sophie Aldred,companion to the 7th Doctor

Maddie’s Ace Cosplay. Photo taken by Monica Duarte

Ace cosplay fabric from Spoonflower, cut into the individual patch pieces

Spoonflower is another great print on demand website. This website is more geared toward specialized fabric designed by artists. Since a lot of the patches couldn’t be found for Ace’s jacket, I checked Spoonflower just for fun. Not expecting anything, I was pleasantly surprised to see there was fabric made by an artist of a few of the patches that cannot be found. On Spoonflower, you can order sample sizes of fabric. This was the perfect size to get the “patches” I needed for Ace.

Redbubble replica shirt based on the Tshirt worn by the 12th Doctor

Redbubble replica shirts based on the Tshirts worn by the 12th Doctor and Rose Tyler

More options for print on demand websites include teepublic and society6. Both of these websites have designs made by different artists that are printed directly onto apparel.

Thrift Store and online consignment stores

Tweed jacket from thrift store for Eleventh Doctor

Thrift stores, secondhand stores, and online consignment stores are a gold mine for cosplay! Most of the coats from the different Doctors can be a bit pricey, but finding an alternate at a thrift store or website works perfectly. My very first cosplay was the Eleventh Doctor, and I found a wonderful tweed jacket there for $7. It was a bit big, but having it fixed (or fixing it yourself!) will still cost you less than buying a screen accurate coat/jacket.

Eleventh Doctor cosplay

Eleventh Doctor, played by Matt Smith

eBay, Depop, and Poshmark are some of my favorite places to find secondhand outfits and pieces that you may not be able to find in a regular store.

Ebay is where I found the bomber jacket for my Ace outfit as well as most of the patches and pins. This is the image I used to identify what was on her jacket. To be honest, a lot of these were either impossible to find or were not in circulation anymore. It was still a fun treasure hunt!

River Song, played by Alex Kingston

River Song Cosplay. Photo taken by Katie York, Gallifrey One 2019

Also, once in a while, eBay (or Depop or Poshmark) will have screen accurate or close to accurate Doctor Who items. I was lucky enough to find Mels/River Song’s Ecote Urban Outfitters screen accurate dress for way less than it was in the stores. However, be mindful of shipping. If you are in the United States and you found something in the U.K., then shipping may bring the price back up.

Bill Potts, played by Pearl Mackie. Companion to the 12th Doctor season 10

Knock-off Bill Potts bomber jacket (front)

Knock-off Bill Potts bomber jacket (back)

There is also an alternate Bill Potts jacket that was circulating eBay that works perfectly. It isn’t TopShop, but who can tell? (See above images)

Clara Oswald, aka “Souffle Girl” from Doctor Who episode “Assylum of the Daleks”

Alternate “Souffle Girl” wedged sneakers from Depop

Depop is an app purely for secondhand clothing items. You can type into the search bar “Clara Doctor Who cosplay,” filter the results to international or national, and find great options. I found Souffle Girl alternate shoes on this app for $12.

DIY Cosplay Projects

Sometimes, making props or pieces for a cosplay can be a little intimidating. It doesn’t have to be, and it does not have to be expensive. Find things at your local discount store that can easily be painted or even cut/molded into what you are looking for. Craft stores have a lot of options for materials that do not cost much at all.

The TARDIS. The time and space ship the Doctor uses to travel.

The TARDIS is one of the most fun “characters” in Doctor Who to cosplay. There is so much you can do with her!

Ballerina TARDIS cosplay. Photo taken by Katie York.

My very first TARDIS cosplay was a ballerina version. I used a blue corset that I had purchased from eBay for a Snow White variant I made a while back. The black Forever21 leggings were in my closet already, and I threw on some black flats. Now, the tutu is an Amazon find. I made the windows out of felt pieces I already had, but felt in general is quite inexpensive, and you do not need much for this. The “St. John’s Ambulance” and “Pull to Open” patches were printed onto iron-on fabric paper and ironed on to more felt. I attached them with sticky pins since safety pins do not work well with the bones of the corset.

Punk Rock TARDIS. Gallifrey One, 2019. Photo taken by Monica Duarte

This is my punk rock TARDIS. Rather than purchase ripped leggings (which are so expensive!) I cut a pair of my own I hadn’t worn in a while. The patches are actually printed out images using iron-on printer paper. Way less expensive and less of a hassle than trying to find or create patches. The flannel and the spike jewelry are from Amazon. Since I did not need to wear the flannel as an actual sweater, the size did not matter to me. Sometimes, sizing on Amazon changes the prices, so I went bigger in order to spend less money. The temporary tattoo that says “Gallifrey” in Circular Gallifreyan was made at home. Amazon also has temporary tattoo printer paper available, so I found the Gallifreyan image on Google and printed it out. (I actually printed several in case it didn’t go on right the first time.)

My 5 year old son was also the TARDIS. His costume is much more simple since it can be hard to keep a small child in cosplay. I used a blue t-shirt from a craft store and iron-on paper to attach the windows and signs. The headband light is a clear plastic cup. By request of my little guy, I used blue sparkly pipe cleaner around the bottom of the cup (top of the light). Then, I used blue felt for the strips down the side. In order to get the cup to stay on the headband, I Gorilla glued a piece of cardboard from an Amazon box to the cup and then to the headband.

Dalek. Evil alien from Doctor Who, first appeared in 1963.

Ravenclaw Dalek cosplay. Photo from Gallifrey One 2018

This Dalek DIY Ravenclaw dress was part of a group at Gallifrey One where we were Hogwarts Houses versions of Daleks. Now, there are a couple of ways out there to make a Dalek dress, but I chose the easiest way possible. The bulbs are Styrofoam spheres cut in half and painted with acrylic paint. I glued them on with Gorilla glue. DISCLAIMER: If you are using Gorilla glue on fabric like this, put a piece of parchment paper in between the front and the back. Otherwise, the dress or shirt will be glue together…I learned this from experience. The belt was an inexpensive Amazon find, and the Ravenclaw patch came from Etsy. The “lights” in my hair were made with plastic jello shot cups glued to a couple of bobby pins. That plunger was from the Dollar Tree, and I painted the handle silver to match my house. See that wand? It’s a chopstick painted black!

Gallifrey One Hogwarts House Dalek group. Photo taken by Katie York

Ace cosplay picture taken by Monica Duarte

The patchwork and pins for my Ace cosplay were all attached by hand. She is by far my most favorite cosplay that I have ever created and pieced together. Sewing patches onto a bomber jacket was not something I was going to attempt, so I used Gorilla glue for most of the patches. Also, Ace does use safety pins to attach quite a few of the patches to the jacket. This made application of a lot of them pretty easy.

Rose Tyler, played by Billie Piper. Companion to the 9th and 10th Doctors until season 3.

This Rose Tyler “Tooth and Claw” outfit uses iron-on patchwork for the shirt. A lot of these designs can be found online, printed out, and then ironed onto your shirt. Iron-on transfer paper can be found at just about an craft store. When in doubt, Amazon!

      Download the image below for your own cosplay DIY!

  Closet Cosplay

A lot of Doctor Who costumes can be created by clothing you already have in your closet. You can absolutely create a whole look from “regular” clothes or piece your clothes with purchased and/or created pieces. For example, with my Ace cosplay, I already had the leggings and boots, and I found the skater skirt on clearance from Hot Topic.

9th Doctor, played by Christopher Eccleston

9th Doctor cosplay

The Ninth Doctor is a wonderfully easy closet cosplay. Grab yourself a black jacket, a solid, dark colored shirt (olive, dark red, or dark purple will work), black jeans, and black boots. Will it be perfect? No, but every Doctor Who fan will recognize you!

Purchasing licensed pieces

Jodie Whittaker as The Doctor – Doctor Who _ Season 12, Episode 3 – Photo Credit: Ben Blackall/BBC Studios/BBC America

Photo taken by Monica Duarte, Gallifrey One 2020

Her Universe currently holds the license for current Thirteenth Doctor products. Within this brand, there are pretty-close-to-accurate Thirteenth Doctor pieces. Her blue and pink shirts are both available. You can also find her coat and culottes. Do not be afraid to treat yourself and purchase these pieces! They are high quality and as close to accurate, I believe, that you will get other than spending a fortune on the legitimate pieces. Side note: the culottes and coat from Her Universe do run a little big. The coat is fine, but I did have to alter the culottes so they were a little shorter.

Her Universe coat, culottes, and 13th Doctor top (pink)

                                          The BBC Doctor Who Shop also has so much to choose from. From sonic screwdrivers to socks, this is where a lot of the licensed products can be found. Lovarzi currently holds the license for the Fifth Doctor’s (played by Peter Davidson) official Cricket Sweater.

Ultimately, just have fun! Cosplay is meant to be fun. The word “play” is in the name! Do what works for you. This fun hobby does not need to cost you a fortune. When it comes to Doctor Who cosplay, there is always a way!

For more cosplay guides:

Temple of Geek Chic: Her Universe 13th Doctor Collection

How To Cosplay Grunge & Air Force Captain Marvel

How to Cosplay Allison (The Rumor- #3) from The Umbrella Academy

Corinna’s Chilling Closet Cosplay: Cosplaying Sabrina on a budget

How to Cosplay MJ from Spider-Man: Far From Home

Cosplay on a budget: how to create Doctor Who cosplays #DoctorWho #DoctorWhoCosplay Whether you have been into cosplay for years or are just starting out, we all have learned one thing: it can get expensive!