#also im not seeing the depiction of her vanity but

[oneshlut]

Hello! May i request a yandere romantic!jax x obsessive girly fem!reader:3 one shot? (Preferably on the longer side)

a little background info,

reader is obsessed with the fact that she wants him to love her so much, she finds out he's crazy for her, and instead of what Jax thinks she's gonna do, she's over the moon! Immediately kissing and she can't keep her hands off him. Ofc Jax eats all the affection up, !!

A/N: ooh, first yandere request! (also i loveee writing long oneshots,) thanksies for the request!! hopefully you like how i portrayed the characters and what not :D (also, i swear i have nothing against ragatha, she's one of my favorites, im VERY sorry)

Down The Rabbit Hole (Yandere!Jax x Fem!Obsessive!Reader) [Oneshot]

Rules For Requesting

Characters I Will Write For

Masterlist

WARNINGS: Graphic Depictions of Violence, Major Character Death, Toxic Relationships/Tendencies, Possessive/Obsessive Behavior, Stalking, Mentions of Bl0od (in the form of black ooze/glithces), Murd3r (in the form of abstraction), etc.

Summary: Jax finds himself pleasantly surprised that you adore his crazy-loving tendencies. One day, he thinks he goes too far, but you react in a way he never could begin to think you would.

Word Count: 2,254

Another day passed. Another day, spent all with Jax! That's how her mindspace was. She spent most of her day with Jax, and knew of her growing feelings. She knew these feelings were growing by the day, and didn't mind at all.

However, this didn't pass by everyone. No, almost everyone knew about this obsession of hers. Nobody wanted to speak up about it though. Some, like Zooble and Caine, were entertained by her lovesickness. Others, though, were concerned for her. Such as Pomni, Gangle, or Ragatha.

She didn't mind. Not at all. Her feelings were her own, and she didn't even care about how other people thought about it. She was crazy, and she knew it.

Deep down? She was glad she had put on the headset.

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

"Crap.."

She was getting the best of him, wasn't she? Jax paced around his room, circling and circling and circling and--he skidded to a stop. What is wrong with him..?

The day she put on the headset, the day she entered this reality, he felt an immediate change. Like a spark, sending an extra heartbeat straight through his spine. Seeing her did something to him, but he doesn't know what.

He's becoming different. He swears his vision took on a new shade of red. Was this the mainframe, or was this him..?

All he knows now is that he wants you.

And.. it felt good. He loved how it felt to love you. Jax's past frown slowly faded away, melting into a lovesick smile. He stared at himself in his vanity-sized mirror. If he was lucky enough.. maybe, you could be his.

Jax jumped up suddenly, hearing the sound of a knock at his door. He steadied himself, latching onto an object just about to fall, and took a deep breath. Why now..?

He moved to the door to open it. Lay behold, in front of him was... you. His heart practically jumped out of his chest. Oh no no no--he couldn't let you see him like this! Jax needed to compose himself..

"Hey, sweets. Uh, wh-what's up?"

"Jax! Hey, I was looking all over for you-!"

You invited yourself in, feeling a bit of flush on your face due to the nickname. He was always a tease like that, but it caught you off guard every time.

Jax watched as you inspected his room. You were never in his room, were you? He kept the sly grin on his face steadily, but it was practically an inch away from turning into an adoring smile. You were going to be the death of him.

You, on the other hand, had no problem hiding your crush. You think? He didn't seem like he was getting any hints at your loving gaze or anything.. Jax actually looked really spaced out. Staring at you. You flushed up, stammering out a response.

"Uhm.. J-Jax?"

That seemed to snap him out of his trance. Could he really help admiring you, though? Before he could dig into that subject more, he quickly returned his playful facade.

"Hah! Sorry, toots--long day, I guess.."

He laughed half-heartedly. You chuckled with him, but something about Jax was putting you off.. Maybe it was his unusual posture--or the look in his eyes when he.. stared. He also wasn't teasing that often today. Strange.

You brushed it off, continuing to chat with him. You shouldn't have. You knew something was wrong. Maybe you'll confront him about it later.

Jax didn't understand why he acted this way around you. Can't he just be normal? ..Whatever. You were still here, and that's all that mattered. So, for the time being, he simply relished in your presence.

Eventually, you had to leave to your room, noticing the lights were dimming, signalling the day was ever. It helped keep track of some sort of time. And keep people sane with a morning/night type schedule. Jax hated seeing you go. He wanted to keep you. He wanted you to be his.

But not everyone gets what they want. So he leaves you be, so you can get your well-deserved rest. Didn't want you abstracting on him, did he..? Hah. Heh.. Hm.

Listen, I know it sounds bad, but all Jax wanted to do was keep you safe! He stood outside your room, leaning lovingly on the door frame. Stalking and protection are two completely different things! He stared at the photo on your carved brown door, his pupils black, though now, with a hint of dark red. A color of blood.

He's not too worried about himself mentally anymore. Jax was already sinking in the shallows, he can go a bit deeper, can't he..? After all, it felt so good to be utterly obsessed with someone, to let loose.

Jax could hear your soft breathing, the sound of ruffling sheets, your content sighs.. He was lucky the walls were so light. God, there was something really wrong with him, wasn't there? He chuckled lowly, making sure not to disturb your rest--He was sure you were just so peaceful and soft and dreaming restfully in your room, he didn't want to interrupt that, did he? Of course not. Hahah! Imagine how you'd react, seeing him like this? He's sure you'd be disgusted. He doesn't care, though. He laughed under his breath again, his grin multiplying tenfold. He breathed in deeply, his exhale shaky with overwhelming emotions as he began clutching the doorkno--

"Jax-? Wh.. What are you doing..?"

...

Ragatha. He looked back slowly, sending her a piercing glare.

She felt her stuffed legs suddenly go weak. What's up with him? Is he sick? Why was Jax outside your door in the first place? Why does he look so.. vile?

"Oh-hoh! Ragatha, shouldn't you be in your room right now? It is nighttime, isn't it..?" He picked up his sly look he previously dropped again to avoid suspicion. Jax sighed internally. Shit.. he just had to get caught, didn't he?

"Why are you out of your room?? Are you.. Are you snooping on her?!" Ragatha snapped, waving her stitched arm in the direction of your door. She wasn't really angry, but rather shocked.. and a bit disgusted.

She was starting to get on his nerves. He couldn't let her wake you, could he? Ragatha was always a bit of a nuisance, and now she was trying to get between you two. He wouldn't let that happen. He wouldn't let you hear.

"Listen."

Jax grabbed onto Ragatha's plush jaw, preventing her from making any further noise. All that was heard now were muffled cries for help. Luckily, they were just quiet enough to not be heard. He no longer felt empathy, tears streaking her cloth cheeks and making their way down to Jax's palm.

"Dollface, I know we've never really been the bestest of friends," Ragatha's eye squinted at his now teasing voice. "..but just this once, I need you to be silent. Alright?"

Ragatha shook her head up and down violently, her strands of red yarn quivering under her shaky form. He let go, and she stumbled back, keeping a shaky hand on her previously covered mouth.

"But if this gets out to the others, I will f(__)king butcher you."

Ragatha, still shaking, took this as her sign to leave. To run. She ran back to her room, closing the door lightly to not irritate Jax.

He sighed deeply, taking one last look at your frame in the door, before returning to his room.

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

The next day, everything felt off. Everyone felt off. Even Caine, who announced there wouldn't be an adventure today. Maybe that was why--people were on edge because there wasn't an adventure? You didn't really know, but you could feel the heavy air that crowded around the circus.

You hadn't seen Ragatha most of the day, either. When she did come out of her room, all you heard from her were either short answers, hums, or pure silence.

So, there was Ragatha. And then there was Jax. Now, Jax was a.. weird situation. Mixed, to say the least. One moment he'd just.. stare. Look through you. The next, he'd be extremely playful--sometimes even flirty. Not saying you disliked the flirting.. heh, but, uh.. it was definitely a change.

Perhaps permanently changed. This thought didn't come to you, but it did come to Jax.

First hearing the cancellation of an adventure announcement in the early morning, only one explanation came to him. Ragatha.

It could've been his now delusional mindset, or the evidence of Caine's hesitance, but every part of him was telling him that Ragatha must have told Caine about the night before.

Of course she would. She's not easily threatened, is she? Jax couldn't let word get out he was utterly crazy about you. What would you say to him? Would you still talk to him? Would you leave him..? No, he wouldn't let that happen.

Ragatha was always such a chatterbox. He'd make sure she wouldn't make a sound again.

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

Three knocks. Surprisingly, finding a weapon wasn't too hard. Found in his room, a comically large hammer, spiked at the hit-point of the weapon.

The door opened slowly.

...

"Jax, please.." She shuddered. "I don't know what you want from me, just tell me, I.." Her eye became glossy.

"I'll do anything."

Jax's grin expanded. He chuckled under his breath, closing the door behind him, and looking up to meet Ragatha's petrified gaze.

"..Well, dollface, if you'd like, I could abstract you in a much less painful way." Her gaze widened.

"I could repeat to you over and over again.. how there's no point to anything, you'll be stuck here forever, and there is no escape, until.. well, until ya lose your mind!" Jax teased. Ragatha didn't seem up for it. "Slow, but painless."

Ragatha swallowed. Beads of sweat dripped down her digital head, was he serious? What is fucking wrong with him?!

Jax walked forward, causing her to take a step back. His hammer dragging across the floor, making a tear in the carpet from its spikes. "Buuut, then again..~" He spoke in a sing-song voice.

"I don't really have the time."

Jax pushed Ragatha to the ground, pressing a foot on her to keep her down. He didn't have the energy to deal with her screams right now. She tossed and turned, her cries echoed throughout the room.

He swiftly pointed the spike of the hammer to her throat. She let out a soft whimper, swallowing, and breathing heavily.

"Please.. don't..."

..Leave no room for empathy.

Jax swung the hammer directly under her neck. She yelled out in pain, though, the scream quickly faded into the echo of the room.

The space on her chest, once plush, was now sickly, black, and glitchy. He could almost see something neon glowing inside, but he didn't care to look. Abstraction always looked the same anyways.

He looked down to see the same thick, black, gutty blood on his hands. He swiped it off cleanly. It came off his fur pretty swiftly. Jax wiped the muck off his face as well, before returning to his room.

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

Actually, if you were being honest, you were a bit worried for Jax. His sudden mood swings were strange, but now you haven't seen him in a few hours. Being as he's normally in his room, if nowhere else, that's where you headed.

The halls were silent. There was always some sort of ambiance. Whether it be echoed music or sound effects, there was always something there. You couldn't even hear your own footsteps now.

You passed by Ragatha's door. Something about it seemed.. off. But you were reminded of your original intent, passing by Jax's door.

You were about to knock, before you heard muttering coming from inside. Was he talking to someone..? You leaned into the door, the muttering now becoming audible.

"What is wrong with me..? I never wanted this to happen--No, no, I did the right thing, if she found out, then.. Maybe it was worth it? For her..?" For who-? "I.. I did what had to be done. She'd never talk to me again if she found out. And now.. I can have her. Keep her.."

He began chuckling. This chuckling evolved into a manic laughter. And when it died down, you heard him sigh, and.. he spoke your name, softly.

Your heart jumped out of your chest. Was that all.. about you? You felt a heat rise to your face. You couldn't help but wonder how that worked in a digital world.

You knocked on his door.

Shortly after, Jax opened the door to greet you.

"Oh. Uh. Hey, sweethea--!"

"I.. were you.. talking about me..?"

...

"..Sh(_)t. Listen--I get if.. you'll hate me after this. Buuut.. yeah. I-I don't know what's going on with me but.. all I know is that I want you, and--"

Without thinking, you immediately jumped into his arms. Saying you were overjoyed would be an understatement. Knowing he was obsessed with you as you were with him? Were you dreaming?

Jax, on the other hand, was shocked. Not for long was he frozen, though. His first reaction melted away into his classic cheeky grin. This time, a hint of obsession in his eyes as he embraced you.

Then you kissed him. Then, he was over the moon. You pulled away, viewing his lovesick eyes with pure joy. Jax didn't regret anything at all. You were just pulling him deeper, encouraging him to keep up his behavior. And he was all for it.

As long as he could keep holding you like this, he would do anything.

And now, you're his.

[not-alien-girl-v]

some george fluff, maybe him and reader are childhood friends, or they’re in their school era ( idk if that makes sense💀) and they’re just pining for each other but neither know the feelings are mutual

Heartbreak Girl (George Daniel)

warning: drinking, moshing, smoking, language

note: of course i understand what that means i’m the same bitch who called mattys 2013 tumblr days his ‘small era’ also im starting to realize a lot of you people are british. weird. im from california and in PST but some of you are european or whatever. strange

⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ:*⋆.*:･ﾟ .: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆

the blood is rushing straight to adam's head from where he lays upside down off of y/n's bed. the comforter is pink, mirroring the walls which are the same hue, so him and his leather jacket look out of place. she's sat at a vanity, carefully applying mascara to what's left of her lashes.

"so why are you so against having fun again?" he asks, out of genuine curiosity but it sounds like he's poking fun.

she snaps her head around, hair whipping around at her shoulder. "it's not like that. i'm not against fun. i just had a... thing... the last time i went."

he sits up, twisting upright to lean back on his elbows. "define 'thing.'"

polaroids from over the years are used as cheap decorations in this pink bedroom of hers. they’re taped the walls, tucked into the edges of this vanity mirror, and unbeknownst to anyone else, she hides a few intimate ones under her mattress.

they aren’t dirty or lewd, but they depict george daniel at some of his most beautiful moments, or so she believes, and they’re private enough that she doesn’t want anyone to walk in and see them, so she keeps them private, just for her.

sighing, "it was george," she's interrupted by adam's loud groan of annoyance but continues anyway, "he was just being weird to me. a bit cold, and he was completely sober through it because he was driving home, so it wasn't like 'greening out' kind of weird it was just him being bitchy to me. i'm scared he found out i like him or something, so i've been keeping my distance."

"just avoid him tonight. if he's choosing to be so cold to you, i'm sure he won't seek you out. you'll be fine."

the makeup adds pounds of weight to her face and she feels undesirable, but then again, she feels the same without the makeup, anyway. it’s a way of life to her.

she’s like a little child in her mothers pearls and heels, like an ugly girl in a paper mache head of a pretty one. she’s always wondered where this sprouted from. it’s not like she has some incredibly beautiful sister she’s been compared to, and she was never harshly bullied growing up, or if she was, george would have taken care of it for her. ‘no one makes fun of her but me,’ he would say.

"you're right. when did you get so wise, hann?" she begins applying a wine red lipstick to her lips precariously, when the door to her room is slammed open by ross, who is careless as he stands there. the red leaves a large smudge off of her lips and she turns back to glare at ross.

"you're still going tonight?" he asks, not caring to read any context clues. "nice lipstick, is that how girls are doing it these days?" he laughs cruelly, like a mean older brother. she throws a decorative pillow his way as he laughs himself out of the room.

⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ:*⋆.*:･ﾟ .: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆

she hops out of hann's car, doc marten boots clunking on the pavement below. with one quick glance around the landscape of the parking lot, she doesn't see george, which is a good sign, meaning she can proceed with her normal routine, which starts with a cigarette outside.

she started smoking at 16, and now, at 18, she’s more than addicted to it, but it’s just another issue in her life she’ll push aside and never address until it inevitably causes her downfall.

she's adjacent to the entrance, but she always hangs around outside for a few minutes before she buys her ticket and heads inside. cupping her hand around the lighter, the flame flicks into motion and burns the tip of her thumb in the process. a large, looming figure approaches her from her peripheral and it’s roughly six feet and four inches tall and she knows it's already too late.

removing the stick from her mouth as a courtesy, she turns to face george, lazy smile on his face. "i knew i'd find you out here," he grins.

"you found me." she's not sure what his angle is here right now, why he's smiling, why he sought her out after making it abundantly clear the last time they met that he was no friend of hers.

"well, come on, i'll buy your ticket, come," he grabs her by her wrist and she sneaks it out of his grasp but follows him to the entrance table, where one person sits with a cashbox and a marker.

"it's fine, you don't have to," she reaches around to dig cash out of her back pocket but he halts her, again, grabbing her, and she can see now just how drunk he is, he is normally way less handsy when sober.

"no, please, i insist, it's no problem, not when it's you." the words make her tingle in an odd way and she swears to herself every time that its a feeling she will ignore but she never can.

"what's that mean?"

"it means i owe you money, anyway." he hands the cash to the collector and the person draws an x on the back of her right hand with their marker, ensuring her paid entrance.

"hey, i'm gonna... um..." she's pointing to the entrance where she intends on going but george has already gotten distracted in speaking to somebody working at the merch counter. it's whatever. he's always like this, his attention is never long-lasting, and sometimes she swears that's part of the appeal. that he never seems to care too much, he's so nonchalant, like his attention is something she needs to work for, to earn. something about the 'chase' or whatever.

when the 1975 isn't playing a show at this small venue, adam and ross tend to volunteer to work at the functions, doing small things such as selling drinks and snacks, cleaning up here and there, but it's mostly just an excuse to hangout. tonight, adam is selling the snacks and drinks. ross is supposed to be, as well, but he's just eating the snacks, mostly, sitting behind adam so he doesn't have to deal with customers.

"can i get a cup of coffee?" she asks adam, who greets her with a bright smile. his expression is warm, almost apologetic, he's speaking with his eyes, 'how are you doing tonight?' adam is by far her best friend on this earth.

believe it or not, george used to hold that title for years, until she met adam through george a few years ago, and despite him being two years older, the two got along swimmingly, brought even closer once she realized her feelings for george, which ultimately wedged it's way between her friendship with him.

she even dated adam for 2 strange months before they both came to find that they were better off as friends, and they've been even closer ever since.

"ay, is george being a dickhead again?" ross yells from the back, a bag of chips in hand and also filling up his crunching mouth. he has a habit of speaking with his mouth full. "what'd he do. i'll fuck him up if he's been bad again!"

his threats are empty, ross is too much of a lover to be a fighter, and she knows he's just saying it to make her feel better.

"he's fine. it's all fine, stop looking at me, stop worrying about me, i'll survive this tonight, i'm fine." she informs and adam doesn't believe it, his skeptic gaze following her all the way to the couch that's located in the back room.

the show is in between bands right now, with a total of 4 playing tonight. the first one finished up their set a few minutes ago so the stage room consists of one band packing up and the next band setting up to play.

as she sits silently on the couch, sipping away at her coffee, she notices george walk past her, not stopping to talk or sit or even look her way, which is fine, why wouldn't it be? it's not like they're supposed to be friends or anything. right?

he walks past again, looking lost.

the third time he passes, she calls out for him, "g? what are you doing?" he looks genuinely surprised to see her sitting there on the couch, like she's just suddenly gained visibility and she hasn't been sitting on the couch the whole time.

his dopey drunk smile shows up on his handsome face again, curly brown hair in the way of his eyes and he plops his heavy body down next to her on the old couch, making her bounce a bit on the other end. there's only room for two on this couch.

she makes eye contact with adam from across the room, and it's like he can bluetooth connect to her brain just through one thoughtful glance, but through the wireless connection, she informs him that 'its fine,' like that's her new catchphrase for the night. adam nods but doesn't let the two on the couch out of his sight.

"i was looking for you."

"you found me."

"hey, you said that already," he pokes his finger into her cheek and she smiles, bashfully pushing his hand down. "ok wait, when the next band plays will you get up and dance with me?"

"i don't know, are you going to throw me into the pit again, mister?"

he laughs all too loudly for a private conversation, "for the last time, honey, it wasn't me, i swear!"

she huffs, rolling her eyes, "sure, yeah, you just happened to be standing right there with a guilty look on your face. shit hurt, that guy punched me so hard i got a black eye! you remember that?"

he gets silent and still, a little too silent and too still before he suddenly blurts out, "i punched that guy afterwards."

"what?"

"he knew better than that. i wasn't just gonna stand there and watch him push you around like that, it isn't right."

she's blushing now. she wishes she wasn't, but this is the world she lives in. she speaks small, "you didn't have to do that."

"of course i did. that's what friends are for."

"right."

⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ:*⋆.*:･ﾟ .: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆

once they hear the heavy drums introducing the first song of the next bands, george is quickly up on his feet, reaching out his hands for her to grab, and he pulls her up with too much force, sending her flying into him, which she chooses not to discuss as she wordlessly continues next to him over to the stage room.

people have already filed into the room, forming a decent sized crowd, and even aside from the heavy music playing on the stage before them, it's loud.

she stands awkwardly by his side, not knowing if she should dance or mosh or leave the room or go home or go cry about it to adam in the next room. however, once the crowdkillers come in, throwing themselves blindly into the confines of the crowd, george makes a point to pull her out of harms way.

it's thoughtful, it's really thoughtful, that he doesn't want her to get hurt by anyone, that he doesn't want anyone to touch her, or maybe it's just that he feels guilty for last time. either way, he threw his arm around her shoulder and held her steady there to his left.

then, seemingly out of nowhere, matty crawls out from the midst of the crowd, shit eating grin plastered over his stupid, stupid face. "don't you two look cozy. almost like a real couple."

in this very moment, matty is the worst man in the world and she wishes him nothing but death in his future. she also wishes she never confessed her crush on george to matty because, of course, he can't shut his big fat mouth.

but then george does the unthinkable, he gets a fake-serious expression on his face and pulls her in by the shoulder to a tight, messy hug. her face is smushed into his shirt but it's not like she's complaining. she waits to see what happens.

"of course she's my wife and i love her. we have two dogs at home and a horse," he seems to laugh his ass off at his own joke, something about the horse really doing it for him.

knowingly, matty responds, "you're wasted, man," he claps george on the back like best buddies do, then to y/n, "i trust you'll get him home safe, won't you, love?"

matty is a bit of a small guy and he doesn't have any fighting experience. if rage completely takes over her body, mixed with adrenaline, she's sure she can rip his entire head off and chuck it onstage. but george doesn't let go of her, so she'll never know if it's a possibility.

she reluctantly peels herself off of him and with an awkward feeling, "a horse?"

he laughs in her face, "yeah, a horse."

she decides to play along with it. "since when do we have a horse? i can't handle your spontaneity, we need a divorce.”

“fine. but i’m taking the horse. you can keep the kids.”

“i never even wanted the horse, silly,” the lights are on and the band’s set is over now, so she walks out the door of the venue and continues out to the parking lot, more than sure he’s following behind like a lost puppy. she’d take sappy drunk george over cold sober george any day.

the night is inky black and light pollution causes stars to cease to exist in the sky. it’s no big deal. y/n’s seen them before on other, clearer nights, and george just doesn’t care.

she leans against the stone wall of the building and george stops to stand right in front of her. he’s close. he’s too close. he’s not still in place. he’s jittery, fidgety, his hands wring together like his words will pour out of them like water if he squeezes hard enough. they never do.

she chews the inside of her mouth, maybe all the damage she does to her cheek from her teeth is the reason george never liked her back. maybe that was the big deal, the one reason that held the line.

but she knows things aren’t black and white like that. she knows it’s a cocktail of things all put together that george has observed about her over the many years growing alongside one another.

she could argue it’s near impossible to love someone through all the changes from childhood to adolescence, all the phases and new shapes an individual inevitably takes in order to find some peace of mind.

but it wouldn’t be true, because through it all, she’s still so in love with him.

she’s thought about writing him a letter. a long letter, it will cover everything she wanted to say, everything she almost did but never came out. in this letter, she’d magically gain the confidence and cadence of an old poet, an old soul who’s words are like honey to the tongue, and she’d give it to him.

no, she’d give it to adam to give it to him. no, she’d mail it to him. his mom would retrieve it from the mailbox and leave it on his messy desk where he wouldn’t notice it, much less read it, until she’s long gone, somewhere far, far away.

she’d go to london. no, she’d go to amsterdam. no, seattle. if he dared to read the letter word by word, between the lines, he’d find secret instructions telling him to meet her there.

wherever she ended up fleeing to, it wouldn’t matter, as long as she would be far, far away from the aftermath of confessing her feelings to him. she can’t imagine looking him in the eye when it happens, much less being right in front of him.

she’d stand at a distance, a 1,000 mile distance, and watch her life implode into chaos and she would have nothing to do with it until she chose to come back. or maybe she wouldn’t. and maybe when reading the letter, george would never know to meet her in seattle, maybe he’d get two lines in and he’d fold it up, crumple it, and toss it into his wastebin under his desk in his bedroom.

then maybe years later, she’d finally come home for christmas, and he’d have stayed there, he’d have waited for years and years for her. and by then, the city of seattle had changed her, she’d have lost the meaning of christmas, and george, who had taken up work at a local christmas tree farm, could return it to her with a few witty jokes and sweet kisses.

then she could sell the story to hallmark and leave again. maybe george could tag along this time. maybe the years apart aided him in gaining some worldly wisdom, and he’d know to follow when she walks out of her own life for the second time.

george’s fingers dig into her knotted hair. his thumbs parallel on each side of her frosty cheeks and his mouth is blowing warm air onto her lips.

she gasps, quiet and low, “what-“

he acts for himself and doesn’t let her finish her sentence, he traps her lips into the embrace of his own.

she always did wonder what it would feel like to kiss him. it had occurred in dreams many, many times before and once they parted, it would always be followed by some friendly remark, like ‘i was just curious to know what would happen’ and then the plot of the dream would continue on like normal.

but this isn’t a dream, this is real life, as real as it gets, and if she doesn’t act on this now, she may never get another chance.

she pushes him away, “what the hell george?”

he stumbles back, backing away from her absentmindedly. “fuck, god, fuck, i’m sorry, shit, i’m so sorry.” he grovels like it will fix this. “i’ll go, i’ll leave you alone, i’m sorry.”

now it’s her turn to grab him harshly by the arm. “fuck you, no. you’re staying here. we need to talk about this. why did you do that?”

“i’m so sorry, i’m so, so sorry. i’ve just had these feelings. for so long, i’ve had these feelings and i didn’t know what to do so i didn’t do anything and i know i should have but i didn’t and i’m sorry. and i thought that tonight was the right time and that you have feelings too but you don’t and that’s ok, i’ll leave you alone for now, i’m sorry i screwed things up with you, i hope you can forgive me.”

george doesn’t cry. it’s not in a toxic masculine way, it’s not like he’s not allowed to cry or he doesn’t let himself cry, but as a general rule of thumb, he simply doesn’t cry.

y/n’s known him for ages. even as a little kid, falling off his bike, tripping over his feet, blood could be gushing out of a fatal wound of his body and she swears he would just walk it off, free of any tears.

but now tears stream down his face. it’s a sight to see. he roughly wipes them away with the sleeve of his shirt, even looking surprised at himself to be crying.

and she isn’t quite sure what to do about any of this, she’s aware, now, that her initial reaction made her seem as though the kiss was unwelcome. and that’s far from the truth.

“stop. just stop.”

he’s got a desperate look on his face and it physically hurts to see.

“what do you want me to do? i’ll do anything. just tell me what to do.” he looks much more sober now. his eyes are more focused and he’s swaying a lot less.

“kiss me again. please.”

he just stands there, jaw slack. if he were animated, he’d have a big question mark over his head.

so she makes the move, instead. she holds him by the back of the neck and kisses him harder than he had.

he smiles into the kiss but again, he pulls apart, this time holding her head tenderly with both hands. “you’re confusing me,” he shakes his head.

“then i’ll make it simple. i’ve had the biggest crush on you since the first grade. here i was thinking i’d be the only pining idiot but now you’re here telling me you feel the same? i can’t believe it.”

he giggles, “you mean year 2?”

“that’s what you get out of this?”

he smiles wider. “can i take you home?”

“you’re drunk. i’ll take you home.”

“yeah, yeah that sounds good.”

⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ:*⋆.*:･ﾟ .: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆

taglist: @indierockgirrl @itssimpleanditgoeslikethis @milkluvr8 @americanangel

[tacky-optic]

Had a question about who our favorite Zenigata partner is in a server I'm in and now I can't stop thinking about them. Tis the zaza sickness.

anyway here's literally all of the characters Zenigata's been partnered with that i could find (within reason). if anyone wants to elaborate on any of these guys (cough yata cough) please feel free to go absolutely ham. *(obligatory spoiler warning for a whole lotta lupin specials, waow-- notably zenigata keibu since that's probably the most unwatched of everything i cover. but if youre here im guessing youre as unfortunately well-versed as i am so LETS FRIGGIN GET INTO IT)

Starting off nice n' mellow. I'm pretty neutral on Yata, tbh. I just think he's neat and it's easy enough to write him and not much else. I've rambled about him being a stand-in for the viewer before, but overall i just don't have all that many thoughts on the guy (seriously someone please do yata). ironic considering he's hands-down the most prevalent sidekick to date, but alas. head remains empty.

MARIYA. Mariya my girlie oh how i love thee. finally, someone with a Gimmick on par with Mr. my-sword-can-cut-anything. Plus she's super sweet and smart and sharp and just an all-around endearing character. AND SHE'S DIFFERENT!! she's tagging along with Zenigata of her OWN FREE WILL like gurl what are you THINKING. there isn't a shred of coherent interview material to draw from this man, especially about Lupin. The dynamic they end up developing is on point, though!! Zenigata's initial total miscall of it aside, It's just plain ol' wholesome. If Yata's his surrogate son than Mariya's obviously his daughter. No shot in hell they don't at least keep in contact after the special's done. plus her snapping a pic of him every time he eats shit is peak comedy journalism

MOTHAFUCKIN' MELON COP!! an absolutely magical reefer-smokin' shitbag, especially in the edgy Tokyopop translation. He's a great foil to our otherwise serious(ly neurotic) manga Zenigata. Not to mention the combative potential with a down the line Melon.... ough. A more toned-down "newer part"-esque Zeni getting slapped with an extremely smug and insistent reminder of his angstlord past is such a delicious concept to me. i will be using this guy extensively in that exact way one of these days-- he's too fun not to.

a bit of a sidenote but i've gotta point fingers at gray jacket again (can't recommend it enough) for having my favorite melon depiction in fic; walther recently had him show up in their fic secondhand vanity as well (which i also can't recommend enough), so needless to say i think he has some fun potential.

Sakuraba and Kunikida from the live-action show get honorable mentions, obviously. They're both so different yet learn so much from Zenigata all the same. As far as reacting to the inspector goes, they're the ideal Yatas (again i am so so sorry yata-- surely someone will do you justice). Even though they aren't technically "new" to the force they're new to the Zenigata Shenanigans, and that is where the entertainment factor is. Sakuraba's the traditionalist keibu method-doubter whereas Kunikida's this mousey blue around the gills fella, and over their respective case file appearances, they both gain faith in/learn confidence from Zenigata, respectively. It really is a great bit of development to watch play out.

I'm gonna count The Guys™️ as a collective group/formless mass with maybe one of the Guyest of Guys as Zenigata's right hand Guy, like that one dude in Cagliostro. Apparently the name he's given in one of the dubs is Sam?? That's neat. Sam's neat. for anyone interested in some homework, here's the link to the highly informative lupin forum thread i found that out from: [x]

But yeah the Guys! Right from the start, Zenigata having this army of inexplicably and absurdly loyal cops was always a fun trope and i love to see 'em whenever they show up. I had this idea ages ago for this fake documentary-style miniseries based around them-- all the usual Lupin nonsense goes on in the background while we get a peek at the typically unseen shenanigans happening on the law-bearing side. Getting assigned to the lupin taskforce is probably seen as some kind of punishment, but that just makes the camaraderie all the more tight-knit. There'd be some behind-the-scenes Zenigata/how he interacts with them, what they get up to on their own whack case assignments when they're in a Lupin sighting lull.... hell maybe we even learn why they're all so damn loyal to this one supposedly hyper-independent guy. I think it'd be fun but maybe that's just the Zenigata hopeful in me. Surely he's capable of building some semblance of rapport with the fine group of folks he drags around the world with him....

Let's just rip the band-aid off-- I dislike Oscar with a burning passion. which is weird, right? because i like Melon Cop, the dude who's totally cool with straight-up cold-blooded judge/jury/executioner-style murder. I dunno dude the obsessive daddy kink simping's just too feckin' weird for me. i checked the hell out so fast. If the goal was to make Oscar extremely disquieting, they friggin' did it. Granted he was written to be a bit whack from the start, and getting raised(?)/mentored by THAT Zenigata would irreversibly mess anyone up. I get that the fucked up-ness is part of the appeal, but man. How anyone can gravitate towards Oscar without heavily modifying his whole deal escapes me.

I've seen him written tolerably in fic maybe... twice? He's in gray jacket (there it is again!) and SMRO (needs no introduction nor explanation), so obligatory kudos to anyone who can wrangle [gestures vaguely at all of that].

Vicky though. Vicky Flannigan from Island of Assassins is so goddamn funny. Still can't believe they took one of the most badass Zenigata character designs and actively went out of their way to make him bedridden. I've seen folks call him "Proto-Yata" and. Yeah. Can't argue. He's a glorified babysitter, if anything, and the only reason he's even remotely effective is because he (accidentally) broke both of Zenigata's legs. Funniest shit istg

ICPO LADIES!!! They're cute. Designs could be better but it's Babylon yknow. Despite being an admittedly fun romp, the special has its obvious.... uh. issues. product of its time and all that. iykyk. anyway LADIES. They're competent. They take No Shit from Zenigata. The random little crush that comes out of nowhere between Chinjao and Goemon is cute as hell. Plus, I've seen some pretty rockin' fandom redesigns floating around.... wouldn't mind in the slightest if they made a comeback.

I'm gonna lump all of the Betrayers into one category: Emily O'Brien from Angel Tactics, Kazami from Fuma Conspiracy, and Terry Crown from Alcatraz Connection. Never expected the "Zenigata's partner is the bad guy!!1" trope would be so prevalent, but it tracks in retrospect. It's a neat enough idea-- bummer they never seemed to nail it down, though.

The only reason O'Brien is so predictable is because she's so goddamn unlikable. There's hardly any screentime of them working together and in every single scene, the incompetency just feels so blatantly intentional its almost offensive lmao. Zero surprise in the slightest when she showed her true colors-- just mild annoyance, which tracks for the whole special tbh. Only worthwhile parts are the beginning and the end, and absolutely none of that has anything to to with O'Brien.

Kazami just has that chump secondary villain face y'know. Again, a bit on the nose how obnoxiously dorkish he is-- but them playing up him putting on his glasses so Fujiko can recognize him got a little laugh outta me, ngl. He served his purpose, plain and simple.

I'll never know whether Crown was predictable or not because I stumbled across ""Evil Columbo"" before I watched Alcatraz, but despite the spoiler I can at least say he isn't lame as shit. Pre-reveal, he's probably the closest we'll get to a taste of what Melon might be like in modern Lupin media. He's your run-of-the-mill corrupt sleazebag detective-- steals evidence, generally doesn't give a fuck, takes cheap jabs at Zenigata-- but their final standoff is what puts him above Kazami for me. Just a real melodramatic overdramatic moment of Zenigata Zenigata-ing his heart out.

Welcome to the ELDERLY MEN CATEGORY, OORAH. The old guy from Twilight Gemini, Kogoro Akechi from the pilot, and George McFly from First Contact. I could track down Gemini old guy's name, but I hand-to-god couldn't care less. The only worth a damn thing Gemini's given me is that one jigzeni screenshot, so we're just gonna move on to the next two.

Not much of Akechi, huh. He only shows up in the pilot and doesn't do anything of note besides be someone for Lupin to disguise himself as. Dare i say Goemon was a more effective ally to Zenigata than Akechi...? yeah sure, why not. Goemon's a zeni sidekick. i'll die on that hill. anyway I believe he's also a reference to a pre-existing character...? like Lupin, Goemon, and Zenigata are. All in all its probably for the best that he didn't make it to part 1.

Finally, the only old guy that actually has aspects to talk about. I actually really like McFly and the role he plays in First Contact; it isn't Zenigata learning from whoever his partner may be, but McFly learning from Zenigata. He's a jaded, on-the-verge-of-retirement type that thinks he's seen all the force has to offer, but here comes this young (is he considered "young" in this?? early, maybe) freak-ass foreigner cop with a vendetta he's practically frothing at the mouth to rectify. Neither of them are exactly enthused to be working together, but McFly sticks around anyway and learns to see past a lot of Zenigata's first impression baggage; the tenacity, the passion, the genuineness of it all. Not only does he want to make real change, but the crazy bastard can actually friggin' do it. ...Or at the very least make a sizable dent.

Zenigata sincerely adheres to the idea of what a cop's supposed to be, fundamentally, and not what a "cop" actually is, as a vague collective occupational concept. Zenigata has a genuine effect on McFly-- enough to make him just the slightest bit less soured by the end of it all. It's a nice sentiment; that no matter where you are in life, ideas can still change. It's a small arc that flies beneath the radar of everything else, but i noticed it. I FRIGGIN' NOTICED IT, MAN

tl;dr Zenigata's a lonely guy, sure, but he doesn't have to be.

That should cover all of the significant parts/specials/movies, but if i missed anyone (any notable episodes? manga?) lemme know. Either way, it's nice finally having 'em all in one place.

[skywarpie]

Watching The Empress on Netflix and *deep breath* yall already know what I'm gonna say

[mokutone]

after seeing ur hiruzen/third hokage thoughts i was wondering what u think abt tsunade ?

thank you for the question! well as far as villains go she's—

no im just kidding. i know she's not a villain. of all the hokages, she's probably my favorite, but...i suppose that's not saying much, since i dislike literally every other hokage skdjghsdkjghdkgh (it's true i don't dislike kakashi or naruto. but i don't like that they become hokages)

i struggle a lot with her because she's one of the most compelling female characters in the show, but she's also written into a lot of sexist tropes.

mostly, when i think of her, i think of this quote from john berger's Ways of Seeing

“You painted a naked woman because you enjoyed looking at her, put a mirror in her hand and you called the painting “Vanity,” thus morally condemning the woman whose nakedness you had depicted for you own pleasure.”

obviously, tsunade is not naked, but she is a 50+ yr old woman, who is drawn to look like she's in her 20s because she's doing a henge to look youthful always. all of the characters make asides about this, condemning her for her vanity, and we the audience are meant to agree. she never gives a solid reason for wanting to look like she's in her 20s, so we're meant to assume that she values her own beauty over everything else, and is afraid of losing that beauty. i have a lot of trouble getting over this point when it comes to her.

there could be something really interesting and fucked up to explore about a woman who is unable to let go of the youth that, due to war and loss and trauma, she never got to live out! about hanging on to that impossibly because she doesn't know how to grieve or move past a loss like that—but. the fact that nothing in the series gives that visual choice any emotional weight aside from a punchline about the vanity of women mean's that's not what's happening. she's just "vain." lol.

the reason she looks like she's in her 20s is probably just because kishimoto didn't want to draw a middle aged woman. that sucks. i have a really hard time forgiving him for things like this.

but, ah, whatever. this is turning more into me talking about kishimoto than it is talking about tsunade.

I'm disappointed that we see more of lady chiyo working with sakura than we do lady tsunade. not that i didn't enjoy the fight vs sasori but. tsunade is sakura's shishō...why don't we get to see them together....that would be so entertaining...

her gambling addiction and tendency to lose are interesting too, but i feel like i want to see that influence her decision making? like, the choices we actually see her make for the most part, she seems like a very cautious and calculating person, somebody who stares at tempting problem for a long time before deciding it's not worth it to risk that.

why is she so different at a gambling table?

i think i want to see a little more dysfunction from her. she's maybe the most functional hokage konoha has ever seen. I think I would've liked to see her try and make really rash calls, and either learn from the mistakes, or have to rely on the people around her to help her NOT risk it all on an off chance they'd succeed. basically. i want her to have a bigger character arc about handling power than "no i dont want to!!!" —> "oh well this little blond guy convinced me. guess ill do it."

her having lost her family is a backstory. I don't really have much to say about it. It's fine, I guess.

her relationship with the other sannin...i dont know what to say. i think i've seen more fanworks of them interacting than actual interaction, so I don't want to speak on that, my opinion will be skewed.

I think it's fucked up that she's the best medical ninja in the world, but technically Yamato's self healing properties are probably on par, let alone Hashirama's. don't you think that's fucked up? like, that's the one title she's got to herself, and just.........ugh. whatever. sorry im ranting about kishimoto again.

i think a lot about her relationship with yamato. it seems, in canon, that she doesn't feel she has any duty or connection to him (and! rightly so. just because he's connected by her former squadmate to her grandfather doesn't technically mean she's in any way responsible for him)

BUT obviously. i personally think it would be interesting regardless, if she did. I think that her having tea or meals with him sometime and just connecting with him over this shared fucked up little attachment would be funny.

I'd like to see both of them (Yamato who never had any family) and Tsunade (who lost her family) try and forge a connection where there really doesn't have to be one. I think that would be sweet. Not necessarily a mother and son thing bc. well. Idk.

like tsunade seeing naruto as like her son, canonically, is kind of sweet, but it sucks that its like. you know. she has to be hot. she has to be a mom. and we can say she's a total trainwreck but we can't actually explore what that would look or feel like for her because she has to fulfill those rolls, and being a trainwreck is neither hotcoded, nor momcoded and also she can't be old. we're kishimoto and we hate women. blarg blarg blarg.

i don't knoooowwww. i struggle with her a lot. I wouldn't have this many problems with her if kishimoto was better at writing women, or if he wrote more of them and gave them more screentime so I didn't have to look at the few crumbs he offers as intensely as I do.

[gavillain]

could you tell a bit more about amora's past? im playing as her but i dont really know how and i cant seem to find enough comics w her ?

Sure, I can help. Bare in mind that I’m not as familiar with Amora as I am with Loki, but I have a pretty strong working knowledge.

We don’t actually know very much about her past and childhood the way that we do with Loki. Marvel has this weird thing that I actually kinda hate where Ragnarok happens in cycles over and over again, and the gods are stuck playing the same roles over and over again. It’s a cop-out to explain continuity errors, but in at least one of these, she was the keeper of the golden apples that granted the gods immortality

(Thor: Ages of Thunder)

Worth noting is that Ages of Thunder equates Amora with Idunn and Freyja, both of whom are separate goddesses by the time of the modern Ragnarok cycle. Given that Idunn is the keeper of the golden apples in most Thor comics, we can assume that she got her role usurped in some fashion (the Thor & Hercules: Encyclopaedia Mythologica supports this). There’s a lot of gray area to fill in there with your own headcanons. I’m partial to the interpretation that Amora’s growing jealousy and vanity made her too “impure” for the apples, and her losing her position only served to make her jealousy worse.

There’s not really a comic that depicts this (to my knowledge - I could be wrong), but the official handbook (and presumably some line of dialogue somewhere in an earlier issue) tells us that she ran away from home in her youth to be trained in magic by Karnilla the Norn Queen. However, Karnilla expelled her, and she picked up other magic by seducing other sorcerers.

(Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe vol.2 #4)

But, again, with this only being an informed attribute, there’s a lot of gray area to exploit for headcanons and original backstory that you may wanna give her. Maybe Amora and Karnilla are ex-girlfriends and they had a bitter falling out. Maybe they both lusted after the same man and one of them got jealous of the other. Marvel doesn’t tell us so we don’t know.

Defenders #108 reveals that Amora captured Valkyrie and set her in a mystic trap a few hundred years ago after the latter refused to help Amora gain power.

(Defenders #108)

Though, as you can see, she was basically already exactly how she is in the current timeline by this point so it’s really more backstory for Valkyrie than Amora. Worth noting is that she didn’t have Skurge under her thrall at this point. Though she had been the object of his affections beforehand, their partnership really didn’t begin until their debut appearance:

(Journey Into Mystery #103)

Now when you say her “past”, I’m not fully sure if you just mean her backstory or if you mean her actual comics history that has come out in the past. I’ll touch briefly on her early appearances just in case. Journey Into Mystery #103 is her debut where Odin, at Loki’s suggestion, sends Amora to Earth to get Thor to come back to Asgard by getting him to forget about Jane Foster. However, because she and Skurge attacked Thor, Avengers #7 reveals that they got banished to Earth by Odin.

(Avengers #7)

And on Earth, they teamed up with Dr. Heinrich Zemo to have someone to show them around in this strange land of strange customs.

(Avengers #7)

Which led to Those three (and a revolving door of allies) becoming the Masters of Evil until Zemo’s death in Avengers #15.

(Avengers #9)

Amora was involved in numerous schemes across The Avengers, The Defenders, The Incredible Hulk, and other titles whilst on Earth. Sometimes with Skurge, sometimes not. They wouldn’t return to Asgard, however, until much later:

(Thor #258)

Which they did at Loki’s behest to help him conquer Asgard and dispose of Odin. Even though she allegedly “died” during that story (nobody stays dead in comics), from there, Amora pretty much came and went as she pleased up through the modern stuff. She’s been involved in several major story arcs that you’re probably already familiar with like Secret Wars, The Reigning, War of the Realms, etc.

But, yeah, this was a long way to say that Amora’s backstory is vague, but I think as long as you understand who she is, you can improvise for your roleplay as much as you want. Amora’s a flexible character who has filled a lot of different roles in the comics, so there’s a lot of different ways you can choose to take her character. If you need help getting her voice and mannerisms down, definitely check out some of those comics I referenced. I’d also recommend watching her episodes in the Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes cartoon, because it’s really good and Kari Wahlgren has the perfect voice for her, imo. It’s a good place to build off of if you’re unsure about your grasp on thecomics Amora’s voice and mannerisms.

[colpeia]

Sungrass Oasis

~ Music ~

The crisp ocean breeze felt revitalizing and abrupt in such sunbaked air. Beneath an otherwise lavender sky, peach colors streaked around the sun as it hid behind a glittering turquoise horizon. Salty sea turtles roamed the shore.

On a large wooden deck overlooking the beach, a pair of tawny blood elves squatted over the sides of opposite lounge chairs.

A pensive sigh escaped Colpeia as she gazed up. “Well, at least we’re no longer hated for what we’re not.”

The solemn nature of Roholly’s nod didn’t stop the characteristically peppy bounce of her ponytail. She said nothing.

“What are mother and father going to do?”

“They’re returning to the glass forge,” Roholly said. “It’s still there, thankfully, and undamaged. So they’re going to continue running Beamgully Crystal like before.” She hesitated, an uncomfortable thought tugging her lips. “I’m honestly not sure whether Eversong Woods is going to welcome them back with awkward guilt, or the same scowls that made them leave. You know how they are about their craft, though.”

“Passionate.”

“I mean, it’s just as well. Finding a suitable place in Dalaran never got easier. Not for them at least.”

“Are you’re staying, then?” Colpeia asked.

There was gratitude in Roholly’s smile. She glimpsed at her feet. “Mhmm. I’ve already settled in, so it’s like, why return to Silvermoon? Why return to a place that was so quick to cast us out? People I had worked with for years acted like they’d never known me... It hurt.” The echo of grief leaking into her voice dropped to bitter sarcasm, “Really, I’d love to see how they deal with telling patients they need a root canal. They were far too sour. The people I work with now are a lot nicer.”

“I’m glad to hear that.”

“What about you though? Enough clientele?”

Colpeia huffed a laugh, “They haven’t stopped. Though, most of them have been architects. Civilians want to rebuild and protect themselves. After Lordaeron and what happened in Teldrassil, I’m not surprised.” She stopped, her humble expression heralding a confession. “Actually, because of the extra money, there is something else I want to do.”

“What’s that?” Roholly blinked, bewildered. “And honestly, why? Why work any harder when you’ve already such a solid income?”

“When this war started I was already tired. I’ve rested. Now I see a lot of other people tired. Tired, injured, and very sad. I want to give them a place to rest.” Unthinkingly, she turned to the hills winding just behind and beyond the beach house. They resembled dried and knotted-up honeycombs. “A place with soft seats and hot tea. Maybe somewhere in Gadgetzan.”

“That sounds ambitious when you don’t have a tribe to help you,” Roholly joked.

Colpeia looked back at her and returned a knowing smile.

She sat on the bed, her room under the blue blanket of midnight. A silvery glow brushed every contour. The window behind her was open, revealing distant waves glittering under a nearly full moon. Their rhythmic whisper was a soothing but everyday nostalgia to her while a cool draft carried its hush inside. Colpeia’s long stare sank into the vanity mirror against the wall. She looked as dazed as she felt.

Her motivation wasn’t purely altruistic, and she knew it. This was a time of war. She was plagued by an addiction only battles could feed - not for bloodlust or power, but an insatiable redemption she didn’t need in the first place. It spiraled her into a desperate black hole of this-still-isn’t-good-enough-to-absolve-me. If she dedicated herself to soothing survivors, it meant she couldn’t go to wanton lengths rescuing people in danger.

The mathematician knew a negative feedback loop when she saw one. Colpeia was Tildalune’s curse, which made her feel guilty, which piled onto her continued self-blame, which was Tildalune’s curse. She projected her acquaintance’s death onto people in danger only to re-experience severe personal failure if they weren’t saved. This trigger was unavoidable in wartime.

It was fortunate her tribe offered so many methods of mind-healing; they were helping. It couldn’t stop there, however. Constant over-exposure didn’t help to desensitize her, but a change in environment might.

How does one stop a negative feedback loop? Replace the causing variable. After Tildalune’s death, she had fantasies of nurturing her back to health and providing comfort. What if Colpeia frequently did something that she would associate with this ‘fake memory’? She could soothe people who survived danger, instead of succeeding or failing as their white knight.

She could learn to stop. She could focus on how she’d grown to care about Tildalune instead of how she’d failed her.

Tildalune’s spirit could be free to move on. She promised.

A vague breath of a silhouette flashed the corner of her eye, and a honeyed voice beamed in her head:

It’s time. Run, my sweet desert gazelle. It’s waiting for you. You know I’ll be right behind you.

For the next week Colpeia was a montage of sending proposal letters, receiving terms, ordering equipment, and huddling over a floor plan.

In an eclipse-like flash, holding a crescent pendant, she vanished. Colpeia reappeared amidst the celestial themed tents and Silithus-esque crystals floating above the ground. Presenting her floor plan to a gradually swelling group, she delved into thorough detail - the aesthetic, the business plan, the modest building she’d be renting, the spirit of the lounge. The appraising eyes mulling over her words eventually exchanged amenable glances.

Several yards from the shore, a herd of camels sped majestically across the gold sand, their hooves kicking up clouds in their wake. Thick ribbons of cloth gracefully fluttered behind their human and elven riders. Gadgetzan drew nearer.

Slowing to a saunter through the dusty port town, the half-dozen Shafise approached the clay dome building Colpeia had described. Knicks of moderate wear greeted them.

The following month was a slew of repairs, painting, tiling, heaving furniture, positioning lights atop secured ladders, and repositioning ornaments. Regularly catered at the entrance were water and food fine enough to convey a grateful gesture. 

Sungrass Oasis was ready to open.

Colpeia sat over the bar scanning over a collection of slender menus. They catalogued an overwhelming list of loose-leaf and blooming flower teas. The rest were fanciful snacks: clamlette magnifique, clam chowder, goblin deviled clams, firebloom crab cakes, cactus fruit salad, Shafisian desert dumplings, hot roc wings, fried scorpid, and prickly pear sorbet. She wasn’t initially pleased about needing a supply of meat, until a goblin explained they always had these ingredients leftover after pest control and harbor maintenance. It was good they didn’t go to waste. This would also give the Shafise tribe the opportunity to showcase some of their traditional recipes along with blends.

Though a hole-in-the-wall, it was contemporary chic and polished, a message of modern class that she knew would hook the landlord’s interest. The floor was tiled in sleek black, and the walls painted white, brought to life by voguish artwork. Framed in thick, black frames, the paintings were as soothing as they were stylish. They depicted modern abstract, turquoise beaches, and desert blossoms. A few were pieces that might have been pretentious in another setting, but somehow felt innocently trendy here. Two of them were offset by equidistant sandstone bowls resting in tasteful square impressions on the wall. Sweeping glass sculptures ribboned with solid colors, some glittering in the light, added bold character. Most of them were feet tall and stood on the floor.

On each black chair was a plush, pale yellow cushion. Filled with sand, sea glass, and shells, a candle resting in a glass bowl embellished every table, along with a daisy in a white vase. A handful of firebloom petals were strewn about them. 

Outdoor seating overlooking the beach waited behind a thick curtain. It ironically had more space than inside. Fit for a posh vacation photograph, a pergola strung with lanterns hung over the display, with translucent lilac curtains draped to the sides. To keep customers warm in the chilly desert evenings, a gemstone fire pit sat in the middle. The area was lined with potted, flowering cacti and a low wicker-weave fence. In place of daises were 

One task remained before it opened: Reach out to old friends.

[ganymedesclock]

heY SO UH, i really love your ace lance hc.... so uhhh you got anything more on that? (i have no idea how long ago you posted that so im sorry if i just unearthed some hc ur not interested in anymore hhh)

No, I’m still 100% behind the concept of biro ace Lance!

An addition I was kind of talking over to a friend of mine is the idea of the “James Bond” archetype that Lance tries to emulate. The thing is, the Casanova concept is inherently pretty misogynistic, in a way that Lance... isn’t.

Lance is shown in many regards to have a very open relationship with the concept of femininity. He isn’t afraid of having interests or expressing his emotions in ways that the narrow standards of “men versus women with no in between” in the action movies he follows would never condone, and we can see him sort of fumble over that when he’s trying to get into ‘Casanova mode’ in his vlog.

Lance is a sweetheart who loves his mom, who thinks Allura is one of the coolest people he’s ever met. The root of his crush on her is based in complete admiration for her as a person and when he says he misses home, it’s clear that he conflates that a lot with “Mom’s hugs” that he mentions a second later.

It’s worth noting that the Lions are stated to empathize directly with their paladins, and of the Lions, with Black still ambiguous- all of them seem to match the gender of their paladin besides Lance and Blue. Red and Yellow are guys, as are Hunk and Keith- Pidge and Green are both girls. But Lance (male) is paired with the unapologetically feminine Blue Lion. Heck, if I’m right about Lions asserting gender through the color spectrum, Blue presents very feminine- her presentation would be, on a human, the equivalent of someone wearing long dresses, makeup, earrings, if she has visible hair it’s styled artistically.

And this is Lance’s basically bonded soul partner, someone he absolutely adored before they split up and still thinks of fondly. Lance doesn’t see femininity as a barrier in relating to people, even on a very intimate level.

The Casanova archetype, the b-movie James Bond, is basically an illusion of charisma. At a glance, you look it over and well, everybody loves him.

Here’s the thing. Real people do not love a Casanova figure. It doesn’t matter how well-dressed or educated they are, a smug misogynist who treats women as disposable flings or beasts to be tamed for his personal vanity is awful and that being awful shows. Fictional Casanovas are usually depicted as successful, charming, well-liked, but that’s because he lives in a misogynistic narrative, one that guarantees he gets the girl, he gets the job done, he wins. He’s a power fantasy.

I think, though it’d have to be handled very carefully- it’d be interesting to see Lance run into someone who’s actually like that as a personality. Objectifying, dismissive, attracted to women but believing that their most important contribution is being pretty and attractive to him. 

Because we see that the rebellion is full of women of all walks of life, some of whom are pretty, but all of whom are plenty capable and know what they’re doing. It would be really interesting to watch the broken pedestal occurring with Lance, of, at first glance, this is one of his fictional heroes coming to live, here’s a smooth guy who surrounds himself with beautiful women- but the longer they go on the more Lance just sorta... realizes the guy is a huge creep. Given Lance’s natural empathy I imagine that would only take as soon as he hits on someone who is more than just sorta rolling their eyes but actively uncomfortable.

They could even bring in a figure from the past who I think would work pretty well, if they wanted to do that.

Prince Bokar was a character introduced in DotU as a one-off rival to Lance and someone who put up a ‘prince charming’ front but who was actually a huge jerk. While the florid misogyny of some of his, uh, antics, went unremarked because DotU can be really misogynistic as a show sometimes, but he did establish himself by fistfighting Lance for the right to keep hassling Allura.

While I really doubt a VLD Bokar could get any traction with Allura- I mean, he’d be starting awfully high on the food chain considering she’s the leader of the coalition and more people than Lance would take a lot of issue with him not listening to her- it could be a growing moment for Lance, not him proving his good guy points by fighting a misogynist but learning that hey.. maybe some of his role models weren’t the greatest people.

Also, relegating that to a relatively powerless character like a lone self-styled hotshot rebel would be another way to make it, again not about Lance having to valiantly step up to defend the honor of the women he knows. It could even be mostly separate from actual women- I mean, skeevy people love to talk up their worldview when they think only people who will agree with them are listening and the Bokar-figure taking Lance for a co-conspirator would be frankly affronting once Lance gets a better read on the guy.

Again, as I said, it’d have to be handled carefully to not convey the tone the original did, with White Knight Lance saving Allura from a jerk that she doesn’t realize is a bad apple (again, DotU was... bad) but I think the writers could swing it. Especially because, again, within the network of the coalition, many of our high-ranking personnel are women, so if Bokar didn’t take a lesson himself in cutting that shit out (the part with him being a robeast spy is I think more a matter of like... in DotU All Conflicts Must End In A Mech Fight and thus not necessary to adapt) he wouldn’t. get very far. The rebel forces are led by Olia, Voltron is led by Allura, and even if he’s a galra in this one I can’t see the Blade opening their arms to him. Kolivan would take one look at that crap and intervene.

Narratively, Allura doesn’t really need to waste time with a hypothetical Bokar. She’s really got nothing to prove here and there’s no possible power he could have to try and make her. Nor would he find a sympathetic ear anywhere else- certainly not with Lotor, who, his prior connection to the Generals aside, in s3e3 can be observed to specifically avoid using gendered pronouns for the paladins while he’s fighting him and respectfully acknowledges Allura once she turns the tables on him without once assuming it must be a male paladin.

[namitaylor1-blog]

Major self directed Media based artwork.

Before starting my media based artwork I looked to my favourite artists; Wes Anderson and Nadia Lee Cphen, to gain some inspiration. I further looked at various installation artworks, one that stood out to me the most is Tracey Emin ‘My Bed’. With the help of these artists I was able to come to the conclusion of creating my own installation for my overall artwork. I knew I wanted to focus on portraiture and play with the theme surrealism by manipulating the time and situation within my work. Further, I think it would be interesting to incorporate a high fashion theme amongst my images to add individuality and character towards my series of photographs. 

INSPIRATION

Wes Anderson is a American filmmaker who is well known for his distinctive visual and narrative styles. ‘Moon Rise Kingdom’ (2012), really stood out to me through the use of colours and composition that was used throughout the whole movie.

His techniques within filmmaking has always been intriguing to the public, I would liker to adapt such skills and intertwine them into my own images but still maintaining my own style. By indulging myself within the world of Andersons I’m able to gain a rich understanding of composition and the overall style that will help me in my final project. 

Nadia lee Cohen is a British filmmaker and self-portrait artist. Her style mainly focuses on the 1950-70s American and British cinema that is portrayed specially through her series ‘Hello my name is’. 

Cohen’s unique style of photographs and films has always been extremely satisfying to the eye. She creates captivating images through her unique skills in what seems like a materialistic world that she creates in studios and settings. In this series especially  has inspired me to create my own bizarre portrait photos. Her use of hair, makeup and costumes are all factors that build a somewhat plastic/fake appearances in each image creating a doll like figure. The posture of these subjects is what builds a strong composition and character that I will have to think about very carefully as I will only be using one piece of item with each image. I will have to use that to my own advantage to create a solid composition within the frame. 

Tracey Emin is an English artist known for her autobiographical and confessional artwork. I looked closely at one of her most famous installations of all time, ‘My bed’ (1998). She was inspired by the aftermath of her bed following a bad-breakup. Surrounding her bed was crumpled tissues, cigarettes, empty vodka bottles, through this image she believed that this was a work of art. 

Installation view of Tracey Emin, My Bed, at the Turner Prize Exhibition, Tate Gallery, London, 1999-2000. 

I was inspired by  her use of various random objects and created it into a one large installation artwork. It makes you wonder all the little things that we own or collect over the years into one little section of your own home. I wanted to use this idea within my own work by incorporating one random object in my house to show our relationship with our belongings towards the audience. The messy and uncleaned bedroom creates a buzzer compositions as it is placed in the middle of a meusume. She expresses a personal response depicting vulnerability, a self-portrait that doesn’t veer from the messiness of depression and heartbreak. Where she comments the views and her own painful experience. 

Mario Testino is a Peruvian fashion and portrait photographer whose work is found mainly in international magazines such as Vouge, V Magazine and Vanity Fair. High fahsion  photography has always been an interest in mine through the use of set design, preprofessional models and the mood and styling of the overall photo. Testino creates emblematic images that have contributed to the success of high fashion brands while he challenges traditional views on gender by mixing masculinity and femininity and suggests sensuality rather than. sexuality. 

Right: Amiaya, Tokyo, 2018   Left: Mario Testino Document Journal, May , 2014 

Above it is clear that Testino captures the moment in time and brings out the humanity of his subjects, creating a connection between the model and the audience. His images are captivating to the eye using bright bold colours, he also draws on his printed work to create a two layer image to exemplify the chaos within the image. Further I chose Testino as one of my artist of inspiration as his works have always stood out to me, especially for this task I want to create a my own inspired high fashion photographs to create an editorial series based on context and situation. 

DEVELOPING IDEA 

Before capturing any photographs I've decided to to sketch out each image that I will be taking, to gain a better understanding fo what my series will ultimately look like.  As you can see each drawing has one coloured object item that will correspond with the outfits. I wanted to keep a colourful rainbow theme throughout each image to indorse a light-hearted mood for the audience. 

Red: In this image I will mainly focus on the the colour rose red. This strong vibrant colour will be structured by the object; Eiffel tower statue. 

Blue: The image will have a striking electric blue tone throughout the photo. I will be using a phone box as my prop. 

Pink: For this image I will be using a mannequin head wearing a pink bob wig as my prop. My model will be wearing a pink coat that will correspond to the wig. 

Green: The green pop wad a little tricky to find as I will also be using toilet paper in the image as my main prop. 

PRACTICE SHOOT 

Proofsheet

Evaluation: For this shoot I had to create my own little studio within my house. This was very tricky as I had to find multiple lamps and set them up facing towards the subject, however there was not enough lamps to achieve the studio lighting that I wanted. Resulting to using flash on my camera allowed me to get that bright image that I wanted. I worked with small colourful objects just so I can see how myself series will turn out. Overall I’m very pleased with my final mini practice shoot as it helped me know what camera settings I should use and how I should position my c camera for the actual shoots. 

SHOOT ONE: BLUE

Proofsheet

Evaluation: The blue images turned out exactly how I wanted and I’m very pleased knowing that there are potential images that I can use for my final series. I did have problem with the lighting as my flash was turning off and on. I did like the ones without flash but I would have to ensure all my other images have the same tone in colours to keep a theme throughout my images.

SHOOT TWO: GREEN  Proofsheet

Evaluation: This shoot was very tricky as I couldn’t find anything in my house that was green except this this three layered holder for tissue paper. My whole approach to this series is suppose to express quriky and playfulness however use toilet paper was very hard create a structured composition. Once again the lighting was going all over the play due to the flash turning off and on which made the images seen dark. There are a few images that the subject is holding the toilet paper that covers the entire frame however there is something still very off about these images that don’t quite fit into my series. I will have to see how I go for my next couple photos if I was to incorporate a green image of not.  SHOOT THREE: PINK 

Proofsheet 

Evaluation:  The test shoot did not go as well as I hoped it would due to the prop not suiting the overall image. I felt as if the mannequin head with the pink wig looked somewhat awkward and due to the flash it washed out the white face in an unpleasant way. Further, I used a flask but the i felt as if the small object did not justice and was failure once again. Thus, I’ve decided to not use these pink images in my final work and due to the short amount of time I have im enabled to repeat this pink shoot again.       SHOOT FOUR: RED  Proofsheet 

Evaluation: I am very pleased with this shoot as it turned out exactly how I expected. I was able to create new composition within each image by placing the Eiffel tower artefact around the photo. It was also very fun to shoot as it was quirky and random. As of right now the red and blue images are the only ones that turned out great but for the other ones I was very disappointed. I decided to do another photo shoot using the colour yellow that will hopefully stand out just the other primary colours. 

WEEK FIVE

FEEDBACK FROM TEACHER 

In today’s class I was able to discuss my overall idea to my teacher, Vicky and showed her my images that I have taken. Further, I discussed how I will be doing another shoot today with a yellow theme however we both agreed on just work on the blue and red images to create a more detailed image. She suggested to put a backdrop to add texture and more depth. I also decided to present my work in a large spacious room because it will allow the audience to  move amongst the space and interact with the objects. 

 I further went to the printing room to meet with Josh, where he helped me set up my images on Lightroom, however we discovered the image quality is very low due to my camera setting. This meant my images will not print in a high resolution causing it to look burly and having a lot of noise. Since I will be doing another shoot today I will have ensure that my camera is on the highest pixel where next Tuesday I will be able to print them in a higher resolution photo. 

Throughout the day I worked on my blog and edited a few parts. Later in the day I will hopefully be taking my last shoot for this task that will help improve my overall final work. 

PINTEREST INSPIRATION 

Before my shoot I wanted to look for more inspiration to really develop an idea throughout my images and to see what composition I’m aiming to create. I looked through Pinterest and found a couple of images that have really helped me gain an idea on how to develop my backdrop for my final images. 

SHOOT FIVE & SIX

Set up: For todays photo shoot I was able to get a ring light from a friend of mine which allowed me to achieve that bright studio lighting without using flash on my photos. In the early photo shoots my flash kept going off and on due to the auto setting, however this time I kept it off. Below, the images show a set up off my mini studio that I’ve created. You can see I had purchased fabric for my background and had to tape it to my wall creating riffles to add texture. 

SHOOT FIVE: RED & BLUE

Evaluation: I was very pleased with this photo shoot as I was able to pick two images for my final work. I made a few annotations on the proof sheet that describe which images I liked my ticking them and others that I found awkward or out fo place. 

EDITING & PRINTING 

Below is the two chosen images of red and blue photos. I have placed my edits of the red photo as you can see the before and after image. Where skin tone is now warmer and will suit nicely with the blue skin tone. I also had to  fill in the left bottom corner of the blue image to get rid of the white background. 

Then Josh helped me print test images on fine art smooth paper. This allowed me to view my printed images and see if the colours and tone on the screen matched with ones on the paper. Below is an image of the set up for printing the mini test prints. 

Here is a photo of Josh placing the art smooth paper A3 into the printer. 

TEST PRINTS 

I’m very pleased how my test print turned out as they were both successful. The skin in the red image was really balanced and complimented the other blue image. This ultimately made a nice duo. 

PRESENTATION

Below is my overall presentation setup. I had to pin up the print using a hammer however during this stage a couple of finger print marked my blue print. I then asked Izzy to help, we decided on taping a clear plastic seal at the edges of my image and hammer those down without touching my prints. 

Further, I placed two pillars infant of my photographs and put the objects on it. As you can see I placed a miniature version of the red chair on the pillar because it would of been impossible too bring the actual human size form chair to the University. Hopefully this alternative still manages to bring a high quality installation. 

(I tried to upload my final images on a google drive but it wouldn't upload because of the photos resolution being too high. I could email you the images so please let me know.) 

FINAL EVALUATION 

Overall, I am very pleased with my final media based artwork, as it turned out exactly how I wanted. Throughout the long process I was able to finally achieve my final images. By the last shoot I knew that I have came a long way, and was extremely happy how they turned out. The editing and printing stage ran smoothly with the help of Josh as we were able to achieve it in less than a hour. I learnt how to use Lightroom where he helped me edit the red image skin tone to match the blue one. We printed on shiny gloss paper however when I was hanging it up I accidentally go my finger prints on the image. This made me question if I ever wanna use glossy paper again but the overall look was spectacular. On the presentation day I was able to locate two block stands where I placed my two objects. The outcome was nicely placed however, if I was given more time and resources I would of done a whole large series, to really complete my vision. Thus, despite the lack of photos and time, Im very happy how the overall presentation was put together. 

ARTIST STATEMENT 

My media based artwork, “What the eye can't see”, focuses on beauty found within the mundane as we look beyond the superficial standards of human perception. The images tells a story, of a young women possessing the objects; a vintage phone box and a love heart chair,  that challenge our perception of beauty where these inanimate objects oppose our natural indications of beauty. Furthermore, the model becomes one with the objects where we start to associate beauty to a further extent than our natural standards. 

Inspired by situation and creating a time and place, each setting compliments the colour of the object, forming an aesthetic appeal to the series. By brining these objects to life by presenting them directly in front  of the audience it creates a layer of realism allowing us to maintain our focus on the bright vivid items. The interactive installation allows us to question our own individual associations of beauty, as we view two perspective; the images and the objects placed in front. Overall, by exploring humanities identities of true beauty and superficial perfection, my work looks beyond these standards viewing mundane items that provide its own natural beauty. 

[narcisbolgor-blog]

In Death Leonard Cohen Is in Danger of Becoming Cute

Would Leonard Cohen recognize Leonard Cohen?

The longtime poet-singer-icon, who died a year ago at the age of 82, has just been nominated for two Grammyseither of which would be his first award (he won a Lifetime Achievement nod in 2010, and was part of Herbie Hancocks Grammy-winning River: The Joni Letters in 2007, but those dont count).

Theres also been an effulgence of posthumous production. Cohens late-period book of poems, The Book of Longing, has just been reissued in a new, limited edition. A sweet, beautiful, sentimental animated video of his song Leaving the Table went viral two months ago. A new, final book of poems and songs, The Flame, is to be published by Farrar, Straus, and Giroux next year.

And of course, theres Hallelujah.

Forgive me for being a curmudgeon here, but the posthumous Leonard Cohen is scarcely recognizable to those of us who followed the messy, brilliant, self-destructive artist over his six decades of work. Im not complaining, exactly. I am legitimately delighted that Cohen is getting all this attention, and while the Grammys are even more obsessed with deceased artists than usual this year, it would be a thrill to see him finally win one.

Its justthose of us who loved Leonard Cohen didnt love him because he was a wise, grandfatherly figure who wrote a beautiful song based on the Bible. We love him, still, because he was a poet of brokenness, loss, redemption, vanity, sex, violence, and, five decades before Lady Gaga, bad romance.

Whereas, the immortal Leonard Cohen is in danger of becomingwell, almost cute.

Take that Leaving the Table video, which depicts Cohen as a bardo, a disembodied soul after death in the Tibetan Book of the Dead, which Cohen himself narrated a few years back. Its gorgeous, filled with Easter Eggs for fans, and it made me cry. But its almost too beautiful, depicting Cohen as a kind of Marc Chagall figure flying over cityscapes, or a monk meditating on a mountain top, or a Dylanesque folkie in a coffeehouse. (To be fair, Cohen actually was a Dylanesque folkie in a coffeehouse even before Dylan was.)

Juxtapose that with the lyrics of the song, which contains such lines as Theres nobody missing / There is no reward / Little by little / Were cutting the cord. That is, theres no heavenly reward; theres just death, coming closer. Other lines in the song are about the death of the libido (after a lifetime of sexual voraciousness), remorse in old age, and giving up in the face of looming mortality.

Cute, huh?

Likewise, the Grammy-nominated song You Want It Darker, which may seem conventionally religious if you dont pay attention to lines like a million candles burning for the help that never came and "you want it darkerwe kill the flame," which accuse the Almighty of enjoying suffering and depredation.

Or consider the Book of Longing reissue. On the surface, these songs and poems, many of which were written during Cohens time as a monastic on Mt. Baldy, are consonant with the clich of the Zen master. Here is the elder Cohen reflecting sagely on Buddhist topics of impermanence and clinging.

But between the covers are verses like I am old but I have no regrets / not one / even though I am angry and alone / and filled with fear and desire; and prayers like G-d opened my eyes this morning loosened the bands of sleep / let me see the waitresss tiny earrings and the merest foothills of her small breasts Thank You Ruler of the World Thank You for calling me Honey; and rejections of profundity in favor of libido: Kyozan Joshu Roshi / addresses the simultaneous / expansion and contraction / of the cosmos. / I go on and on / about a noble young woman / who unfastened her jeans / in the front of my jeep / I prefer my stuff to theirs.

Nowhere is the disjuncture between Cohen the myth and Cohen the man starker, though, than in Hallelujah itself.

It would be a shame if Cohens work were turned into sentimentality, since he so assiduously resisted it in his art.

Once a relatively obscure album track from one of Cohens lesser albums, Hallelujah was then covered (and reconfigured) by Velvet Underground alum John Cale, whose cover was itself covered by the late Jeff Buckley, perhaps the only singer-songwriter who could sing sadder than Cohen himself. Those, not the original, became the songs definitive versions.

And then things got weird. Subsequent covers by k.d. lang, Rufus Wainwright, Bon Jovi, John Legend, Bono, and many, many others made the song into a kind of standard. The song showed up in Shrek. Buckleys version was featured on The West Wing, Crossing Jordan, The O.C., House, Criminal Minds, ER, Ugly Betty, NCIS, and Sense 8. It was sung at sports events, including the first Red Sox game after the Boston Marathon terrorist attack, at which point it became the unofficial anthem for the tragedy and its aftermath.

And after Cohens death, thirty years after it was written, the track entered the Billboard Hot 100 list.

And yet, what is Hallelujah about? Definitely not recovery, resilience, faith, or hope. Its about how King David turns lust into poetry (oh, and after David saw [Bathsheba] bathing on the roof, he sent her husband into battle so he could marry her himself), and how Cohen is now doing the same. Its about how love is not some triumphant, Beatles-Dolly-Parton symphony but a cold and broken Hallelujah. Its about how, for some holy sinners, God and sex are intertwined. (The lines remember when I moved in you/The holy dove was moving too are often omitted from the stadium versions.)

Now, songs mean what their audiences make them mean. That is one of the beautiful things about public poetry. Born in the U.S.A. is an anguished cry of a forsaken Vietnam vet, but it became a patriotic chant. Losing My Religion is an oblique poem about repression and sexuality, but then it becamewell, Im not sure what fans think it means actually. Halleluyah is no different, and that is fineespecially if its brought solace to the hearts of those who lost loved ones in a terrorist attack, for Gods sake.

And yet, it would be a shame if Cohens work were turned into sentimentality, since he so assiduously resisted it in his art. The man never wrote a love song that didnt have some kind of dark twist in it. He never covered up his own flaws or pretended to piety. And not once did he rely on clich.

Its possible that Cohens life and work will be airbrushedI suppose not many people think about Frank Sinatras violence and failures with women these daysbut Id like to propose, Im afraid, a more optimistic possibility. Im hoping that if Cohen does win one of those Grammys, that some of what is brilliant about his work sneaks through the mass appeal, and finds an audience almost as an act of subterfuge.

I cant think of too many Grammy-nominated performances with lines like If You are the healer, Im broken and lame/ If Thine is the glory, then mine must be the shame/ You want it darkerwe kill the flame. Or with quotations from the Kaddish prayer, or the biblical utterance Hineni (Here I am). Or with a ringing condemnation of the conventional notion of God (A million candles burning for the help that never came). You Want It Darker has all of these, plus a cantorial choir and the whispering voice of an octogenarian singer who is clearly looking beyond the final horizon.

If a million people think Hallelujah is a prayer of hope, well, good for themas long as one in a million listens more closely and uncovers the vast, dark treasure of Leonard Cohen for themselves. Probably listening alone.

And to you, to that one lonely listener, I offer you this. The last time I saw Leonard Cohen live, he ended his performance with the following blessing. Be well, be kind, he said. If you have to fall, may you fall on the side of luck. May you be surrounded by friends and family. And if this is not your lot, may blessings find you in your solitude.

More From this publisher : HERE ; This post was curated using : TrendingTraffic

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In Death Leonard Cohen Is in Danger of Becoming Cute was originally posted by 11 VA Viral News

[sartle-blog]

And the Emmy goes to...ART!

[kidsviral-blog]

Kurt Eichenwald doesn’t give a damn about offending Clara Jeffrey

New Post has been published on https://kidsviral.info/kurt-eichenwald-doesnt-give-a-damn-about-offending-clara-jeffrey/

Kurt Eichenwald doesn’t give a damn about offending Clara Jeffrey

http://twitter.com/#!/theturner/status/299707234986909696

It’s no stretch to call Mother Jones and Vanity Fair liberal publications, but an online scuffle between Mother Jones co-editor Clara Jeffrey and Vanity Fair contributing editor Kurt Eichenwald seems to show the two jockeying to prioritize liberal ideals. Can we allow just a little bit of sexist language if it advances the cause of gun control?

Jeffrey offended plenty with her ghoulish reaction to the murder of Navy SEAL Chris Kyle, tweeting, “So much for good/talented guy with a gun being able to stop mentally ill guy with a gun.” She wasn’t pleased, though, when Eichenwald steered readers to a blog post entitled, “Clara Jeffrey is a Bitch.”

.@kurteichenwald So you think you’re making the world a safer place by pointing your followers to a post that calls a fellow journo a bitch?

— Clara Jeffery (@ClaraJeffery) February 8, 2013

“@kurteichenwald, Contributing editor, Vanity Fair;NYT bestselling author.” And endorses post titled “Clara Jeffery is A Bitch.”

— Clara Jeffery (@ClaraJeffery) February 8, 2013

@vanityfair has lost me as a subscriber. Shameless ref to Sandy Hook victim having jaw blown off by contributing editor while

— BusyChasingNick (@BusyChasingNick) February 8, 2013

Insulting editor of another magazine I read via Twitter is offensive. @vanityfair used to be great. Really gone downhill in past few years.

— BusyChasingNick (@BusyChasingNick) February 8, 2013

Twitchy’s original post on Jeffery’s tasteless tweet managed to compile quite a few people who expressed their disgust in fewer than 140 characters. Eichenwald, who never even called Jeffrey “the B word,”  needed quite a few more to respectfully disagree. Reading them all earns you 3 credit hours toward a gender studies degree.

@busychasingnick @clarajefferye Before u make a decision based on Clara’s lying depiction of my impossible to misread tweet, read it urself.

— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) February 8, 2013

@billgifford @futuretwitblog @brianlandreth @clarajeffery Let’s see, I said using bitch word was wrong, but point about unseeliness…

— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) February 8, 2013

@billgifford @futuretwitblog @brianlandreth @clarajeffery …of using Kyle death to make point attacking NRA guard argument was right….

— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) February 8, 2013

@billgifford @futuretwitblog @brianlandreth @clarajeffery …particularly when it was like comparing apples to trapeze artists. No one can..

— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) February 8, 2013

@billgifford @futuretwitblog @brianlandreth @clarajeffery ..reasonably question where I stand on guns, but Im also committed 2 human decency

— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) February 8, 2013

@clarajeffery Clara, I can disagree with u. I have the right. & I can disagree with how he attacked u. I have that right. I was clear.

— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) February 8, 2013

@clarajeffery …if u think I should be forced to defend what u SAID when I disagree, just like I disagree w/ what he SAID, then u have…

— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) February 8, 2013

@clarajeffery …dramatically different standards than me. His stupid and atrocious headline and repeated use of the word was wrong. But…

— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) February 8, 2013

@clarajeffery …that doesnt mean I cannot say that the criticism of what YOU said was also wrong.

— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) February 8, 2013

@clarajeffery I separated myself from the hateful rhetoric. But I saw the conversation devolving into solely being about his terrible use…

— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) February 8, 2013

@clarajeffery …of a terrible word. And I condemned that. By saying his critique of what u SAID was valid does not mean I am therefore…

— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) February 8, 2013

@clarajeffery …supporting the very word I condemned.

— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) February 8, 2013

@monikabauerlein @clarajeffery ..was ONLY a post attacking Clara, and never raising a point as to why, then thats wrong. I said the EXACT…

— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) February 8, 2013

@monikabauerlein @clarajeffery …same thing the other day when people on my feed were making the same argument re: Kyle killing. And…

— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) February 8, 2013

@monikabauerlein @clarajeffery …given where I clearly am on the gun issue, the idea that u would try and wrap up my point….

— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) February 8, 2013

@monikabauerlein @clarajeffery …to mean the exact OPPOSITE of what I said is quite disturbing. I believe in reasonable, coherent debate…

— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) February 8, 2013

@monikabauerlein @clarajeffery …on this feed, I knock down ppl ALL THE TIME for using words like that to attack ppl. And I knock them…

— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) February 8, 2013

@monikabauerlein @clarajeffery …down when I think they have made an unseemly point. U need to read what I write before launching into…

— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) February 8, 2013

@monikabauerlein @clarajeffery …an attack on me based on what u WANT to hear, based on ur own dictates of who can say what when, rather…

— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) February 8, 2013

@monikabauerlein @clarajeffery …than what I actually said.

— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) February 8, 2013

@monikabauerlein @clarajeffery Because debate is not about the person who said it or how it was said. I agreed w/ his POINT, not with him.

— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) February 8, 2013

@monikabauerlein @clarajeffery If we are 2 wrapped up in ourselves, rather than in the IMPORTANT issue at hand, then we accomplish nothiong

— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) February 8, 2013

@monikabauerlein @clarajeffery …I believe that making unseemly arguments undermines the debate by purposely infuriating the other side…

— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) February 8, 2013

@monikabauerlein @clarajeffery …the photo on my page is of Noah Pozner, buried without a jaw or a left hand. THATS what I care about…

— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) February 8, 2013

@monikabauerlein @clarajeffery …not whether someone used improper and terrible words to make a valid point. I will fight for the kids…

— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) February 8, 2013

@monikabauerlein @clarajeffery …And I will say whatever I think needs to be said to make this country a safer place. And if that means…

— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) February 8, 2013

@monikabauerlein @clarajeffery …agreeing with a point made by a pig, than thats what I’ll do. I care about Noah, not Clara’s feelings.

— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) February 8, 2013

.@kurteichenwald So you think you’re making the world a safer place by pointing your followers to a post that calls a fellow journo a bitch?

— Clara Jeffery (@ClaraJeffery) February 8, 2013

.@kurteichenwald Where’s the line for you? If he’d called me a cunt? A whore? A slut?

— Clara Jeffery (@ClaraJeffery) February 8, 2013

@clarajeffery Clara, get over urself. I came in to move a debate back onto the issue at hand- was it unseemly 2 make the pt. u made. It was.

— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) February 8, 2013

@kurteichenwald @clarajeffery When the headline is calling a woman a bitch that IS the debate at hand.

— Patrick (@SpringaldJack) February 8, 2013

Here’s the thing @kurteichenwald: all you had to do was tweet you disagreed w/ what I did. On your own. No post calling me a bitch attached.

— Clara Jeffery (@ClaraJeffery) February 8, 2013

@clarajeffery Let me ask — I think it is HORRIBLE that u used Ryan’s death to make a valid point. If I say it in the context of that…

— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) February 8, 2013

@clarajeffery …discussion, then I am agreeing w/ Josh’s point. To do so, I have to separate myself from HOW he said it. Which I did…..

— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) February 8, 2013

@clarajeffery …if that doesnt meet up with ur beliefs on how everyone should behave, Im sorry. But this issue is too important to me…

— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) February 8, 2013

@clarajeffery …than to stand by and watch ppl turn it into a sideshow about the use of the word “bitch.” Because, when it comes right…

— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) February 8, 2013

@clarajeffery …down to it, Noah’s jaw wasn’t blown off because someone was mean to u. It happened because we have been unable…

— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) February 8, 2013

@clarajeffery …2 bridge the gap between 2 sides of a political debate, because both try as hard as they can to outsleaze the other.

— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) February 8, 2013

@springaldjack @clarajeffery Yes, what matter is the word bitch. Not whether we can bridge a divide to keep kids being killed. Shame on u.

— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) February 8, 2013

@springaldjack @clarajeffery Folks, get the point. If u dont like what I did, fine. But try to recognize where it came from. Cause….

— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) February 8, 2013

@springaldjack @clarajeffery …from the moment of Newtown, I havent given a DAMN about offending ppl, if it is done with respect…..

— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) February 8, 2013

@springaldjack @clarajeffery ….whats his face didnt do that. Which is why I condemned him for it. But if u weigh the use of the word…

— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) February 8, 2013

@springaldjack @clarajeffery …bitch against making a point, that in my belief, makes it harder to get protect kids, I know which one…

— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) February 8, 2013

@springaldjack @clarajeffery ….matters the most to me.

— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) February 8, 2013

@digby56 @clarajeffery I did not retweet his post. I responded to the last tweeter. Is ANYTHING u ppl say based on what happened?

— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) February 8, 2013

@scottmadin @clarajeffery Clara, if u believe I was endorsing the word bitch — which i specifically said i wasnt — then I apologize….

— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) February 8, 2013

@scottmadin @clarajeffery However, I wont apologize 4 endorsing an argument that what u did was unseemly. Cause I believe it is destructive.

— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) February 8, 2013

This is unbelievable. U ppl are attacking me for point I never made, because I made an argument in a way u didnt like. I cant apologize …

— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) February 8, 2013

@clarajeffery …what I said cause I still believe: use of the word bitch was terrible. But point about unseemliness of using Ryan murder…

— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) February 8, 2013

@clarajeffery I apologize for appearing to endorse the word bitch. I NEVER did. But again, this issue is so important to me that I care…

— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) February 8, 2013

@clarajeffery ….FAR FAR more about whether the debate on gun control stays on track. And because I believed ur point knocked things off…

— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) February 8, 2013

@clarajeffery …track, I had to give voice to that. Appearing to endorse whatever his name was was apparently a misleading way to do it….

— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) February 8, 2013

@clarajeffery …but I wanted to get that conversation back to being about what I consider the issue that literally can mean life and death.

— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) February 8, 2013

@awoo_ @clarajeffery I cant truthfully apologize for my main point. I can ONLY apologize for apparently not being clear that word was wrong.

— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) February 8, 2013

@clarajeffery If that was sincere (tweet sarcasm’s sometimes hard 2 read), thank you for ur kudos. I will not relent on the gun topic. Ever.

— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) February 8, 2013

@awoo_ @clarajeffery How can I apologize for saying the use of the word bitch was wrong, but the point about unseemliness was right?

— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) February 8, 2013

@digby56 Last time. I was trying 2 put a conversation back on track 2 the important topic. I specifically CONDEMNED his use of word bitch.

— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) February 8, 2013

Here’s the thing: PPl can disagree w/ me about whether the point vis a vis the Ryan death is right. That is what my feed is about: debate..

— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) February 8, 2013

@anneturner79 @clarajeffery …but to try and put words and meaning in my mouth when I said the opposite is wrong.

— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) February 8, 2013

Im going to say this 1 more time, then stop. I did not endorse the post. Ever. I agreed with the point that using Ryans death was unseemly.

— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) February 8, 2013

@musicaltypist I am happy to answer questions about what I was actually saying. There are several reasons I believe it was unseemly…

— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) February 8, 2013

@musicaltypist …the Ryan shooting was an exceptional circumstance, one with facts that dont fit into any broader pattern. When u use…

— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) February 8, 2013

@musicaltypist …it to make a broader point, u are opening a door to vast arguments about an irrelevancy. Just like when gunners…

— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) February 8, 2013

@musicaltypist …use points that undermine their own arguments. My goal is to win over those who believe everyone is after their guns…

— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) February 8, 2013

@musicaltypist …based on the delusions sold to them by the NRA. When gun control folks make arguments that seem to be belittling a man…

— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) February 8, 2013

@musicaltypist …(sorry, the DEATH of a man) considered by gunners to be almost a hero, a wedge is being driven in that feeds into the….

— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) February 8, 2013

@musicaltypist …next NRA newsletter. They are ALWAYS looking for ways to rile up their members. That is the only way they can make money..

— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) February 8, 2013

@musicaltypist …so when that door is opened to allow for the NRA to use a new wedge, I want to fight it. And that is what is most …

— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) February 8, 2013

@musicaltypist …important to me.

— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) February 8, 2013

Unbelievable.

— Clara Jeffery (@ClaraJeffery) February 8, 2013

Yes, @kurteichenwald: You alone feel the horror of Newtown. You alone are our muse. You alone choose the high road. (Sexism not included)

— Clara Jeffery (@ClaraJeffery) February 8, 2013

.@kurteichenwald. Seriously, for the sake of all of us, stop digging.

— Clara Jeffery (@ClaraJeffery) February 8, 2013

It’s a bit too late to stop digging, or to prevent the sideshow. So, this is what the national conversation on guns looks like from the Left?

Read more: http://twitchy.com/2013/02/07/kurt-eichenwald-doesnt-give-a-damn-about-offending-anyone-apologizes-for-not-calling-clara-jeffrey-a-bitch/

[bruhsauraus]

Armando Iannucci: I was saved from being a reject by comedy

The king of satire, back with a new film about Soviet-era Russia after Stalins death, talks about being uncool, Veep and building a spaceship in London

Armando Iannucci arrives for our 3pm meeting with a small amount of his lunch still clinging to his shirt. We discuss retouching the mark for the Observers pictures but, admirably, he doesnt seem to care either way. It is tempting to describe the 53-year-old Iannucci as the most feared political satirist of our age. Certainly, his output in the past decade the BBC sitcom The Thick of It, the companion film In the Loop, and latterly Veep has been untouchable in skewering the vanity, incompetence and plain childishness of people in power. But, in person, nothing about Iannucci is remotely scary: he is self-effacing, smiley, quick to laugh. At the end of the day, hes just a guy with a tomato stain on his shirt.

Iannuccis latest target is Stalin and his cronies. His new film, The Death of Stalin, is set in 1953 and depicts with unexpected historical accuracy the undignified scrabble for dominance that followed the demise of the Soviet despot. It is silly, moving and revelatory, all at once, with deft, pitch-perfect turns from Simon Russell Beale as Beria and Steve Buscemi as Khrushchev. Iannucci, who never likes to have fewer than seven plates spinning at any moment, has also just published a book on classical music, Hear Me Out, about a lifetime of listening to Mahler and Britten in open defiance of the keepers of the cool.

Was it easier than you expected to make a comedy about Stalin and his inner circle that was also factually accurate? Yeah. When we were researching it, we found out things like Vasily, Stalins son, really did lose the ice-hockey team in a plane crash. And because the comedy is the comedy of hysteria, you want to be true to what happened and how people responded. So anything that was so-bizarre-and-yet-true was a candidate for going in. I thought about having This is a true story, but then I thought, no, just watch it for what it is, and it would be great if you subsequently found out that the bulk of it was true.

These men are vicious, but your film also gives them a human side. They have families they fear for; they play practical jokes. Did your feelings towards them change? Um, no. But I did think, what must they have done to have survived and ended up so close to Stalin, and what has it done to them? The fact, for example, that he would almost taunt them and mock them and play them off against each other With all these things its about posing the question, What would you have done in those circumstances?

Power corrupts? Yeah, it was almost like Animal Farm by the end, and yet they all lived near each other and popped in and out of each others houses. He might have had your brother shot and all that, but they had to sublimate that as just part of the process of moving forward. But, you know, you read that Boris Johnson and Michael Gove were the biggest enemies and are now reconciled. Im not saying they are like Stalin, but in that febrile environment where you see each other every day, in order to survive, just psychologically, you must have to close off a bit of your emotion.

Watch a trailer for The Death of Stalin.

So there are lessons about todays political landscape? Trump gets all his closest associates in over the past three or four months, and has to say, By the way, youre fired because I need to survive now. So could you go away? And eventually hell be saying that to his daughter and his son-in-law: Youve now become an albatross, I cant be seen with you anymore. Or after the general election, Theresa May turns to her two very close advisers and says, Its you or me. And they all kind of understand that. Its like that thing in The Godfather: Its not personal, its strictly business.

Is it true there have been calls in Russia for the film to be banned? You say Russia its a person in a country of 200 million people. Just somebody somewhere said something.

Were you expecting a reaction? I was wondering what it would be. I was surprised to hear we sold it to a Russian distributor. Stalins been making a comeback. There have been busts of Lenin, Stalin and other key figures going up in Moscow for the 100th anniversary of the Russian Revolution. Its that sense of, dont be frightened of strong men. Thats the message in Moscow at the moment.

Theres a line in your book Hear Me Out where you describe film directing as an astonishing ego trip, and that you wouldnt recommend it to anyone who has the slightest psychotic tendencies. Is it a job you feel comfortable doing? Ha! It is, but you do spend all day ordering people around, and everyone will do what you say. My wife teases me when I finish a shoot that it takes about a week and a half before I stop going, Right, shall we have a cup of tea? You, get a cup of tea I can see how, especially if you do shoots that go on for months, you become like a medieval lord with all these serfs, just ordering them around and torturing them and asking them to tell jokes and fetch food.

As the creator and showrunner on HBOs Veep for the first four seasons was it a difficult decision to give it up in 2015? No. It might have been the British thing that we dont do that many episodes of TV shows in the UK. Plus, it was three months of the year going out to Baltimore, backwards and forwards, and it was an all-year-round thing of the writing, the shooting, the edit, the publicising and then the writing And I knew the show could carry on, but fundamentally Id taken it to where I wanted to take it.

The show will end next year with a final, seventh series. Do you know whats going to happen? No, no, no. They asked if I wanted to stay on, but I knew I was going to do Stalin and I just thought, I cant be on set and get a call saying, Can you look at this script? But its great, because I watch it as a viewer and you realise though I always knew this what an amazing cast it is and how funny they all are. And also, I genuinely dont know what they are going to say next, which is really great.

Julia Louis-Dreyfus as vice-president Selina Meyer in Veep. Photograph: HBO

It was recently announced that youre making a new show with HBO called Avenue 5. Whats the idea behind that? Ive always wanted to do sci-fi, so this will be set mostly in space, in about 40 years time. Its not going to be Blade Runner, but there will be an element of realism to it. Ive been out to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena and Virgin Galactic, looking at where it might be in about 40 years time. Ive mapped out the season and were writing the pilot episode and well shoot that sometime next year. And because its in space, its not location specific, so we can shoot it in a studio or a hanger in London. Well just build a spaceship here.

What impact do you think streaming services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime are having on terrestrial TV? Well, the good thing is that content producers writers and producers have more places to go. And also, whats great, and HBO paved the way with this: quality stuff is profitable. Thats their business model: youll only subscribe to HBO if you think youre going to get good stuff thats different from whats on the networks. So they need it to be better and well thought out and high production values and all that.

But is the quality always better? I do worry that simply because theres so much money available from the big streaming companies, theyll say, Oh well make your movie. We know no one else wanted to, and we realise why, because it was slightly indulgent or whatever, but well make it. And you watch it and you think, it was fine but For all the criticism of the studio process, if youre making something that costs someone else money and which is going to be available commercially, you want people to go and see it. So it does force you to think: have you made it as well as you can? Or have you really thought this through?

In Hear Me Out you write about the tyranny of the keepers of cool. Was liking classical music a reaction against them? Well, I was never really into fashion or clothes. I just wasnt that bothered. I wanted to read a good book. I was saved from being written off as a complete reject by the fact I could do comedy.

You started to learn piano in your 40s. Was that difficult? I found it hard. It was learning a language: Oh, I can speak music! And suddenly these dots and whatever started to make sense. But it was hard work. Some people can do it instinctively and I couldnt. My son would lean over me, hed be practising the violin, and go, No, no, no, its like this. And he hasnt had a piano lesson.

Do you listen to any non-classical music? I kind of like Radiohead, the Beatles, Bowie, its not extensive, but Im always trying. Whats interesting now is, because everything is available, kids can listen to Sinatra when theyre 12 and theres no real sense of: Youve got to listen to this because its out now. But you cant listen to that because thats from 20 years ago. They are a lot more experimental in what they are listening to and that then feeds into the music thats being produced. Its influenced not just by music from two years ago, but music from 20 or 30 years ago.

How can classical music stay relevant? Its up to the classical music establishment, for want of a better word, to open it up. Concerts neednt be off-putting and expensive and you dont have to dress up and you dont have to understand the technical complexities. Just talk to the audience. One of the weird things about a concert is that nobody says anything to you, so youve got to just accept whats in front of you and work it out. Somebody should sit down and explain: This piece, when it was first composed, caused a riot. Now it might sound a bit more conventional because its been used in a Walt Disney movie. I dont know, I think its just useful.

Stalin had a great passion for classical music. So listening to it doesnt make you a better human being then? George Steiner writes about how Goebbels was into Mozart and played the piano beautifully. Wagner was an antisemitic bastard, so actually, no. Thats the sad thing: it doesnt make any difference. It really doesnt.

Can you put that aside when you listen to the music? I dont know. I always got taken by the grandiosity of Wagner, but the more I listen to it now the more I think, it does sound fascist, doesnt it? But its interesting, that thing of, Can you excuse? Like Polanski. That whole, Great film-maker, but should you be watching his movies? I dont know what the answer is.

The Death of Stalin is released on 20 October.

Hear Me Out by Armando Iannucci is published by Little Brown (14.99). To order a copy for 12.74 go to guardianbookshop.com or call 0330 333 6846. Free UK p&p over 10, online orders only. Phone orders min p&p of 1.99

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/media/2017/oct/15/armando-iannucci-the-death-of-stalin-hear-me-out-interview

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