#and bc she knows barry is VERY interested

[coldflash-corner]

Some Misunderstanding Fic Plots Are Valid.

consider: barry talking to snart, and he's trying to have the "what are we" conversation, and snart replies with "labels aren't his thing"

which barry interprets as rejection, bc he is genetically incapable of the "friends with benefits" thing. so he says okay, backs off, and (potentially) starts dating someone else

Snart, however, has just assumed automatically that barry would never want him seriously, so was trying to reassure him that he was okay with continuing on as they were, even if he secretly did prefer an official situation

And now thinks Barry took "labels aren't my thing" to mean "we have an open relationship" not "we don't have to label the relationship because i know you don't want to, no worries"

Without realizing that Barry doesn't know they're currently in a relationship at all

Anyway that's how Snart ends up (unsuccessfully) flirting with Sara Lance

And Barry Is Just Fine With This. Don't Worry. It's FINE.

[rescuefield-arch1]

kinda funny how one of claire's recurring themes has become fear

[maybejj]

read gossip girl here

if you haven’t read gossip girl part 40 do not read below the line. contains a huge spoiler!

read below to find out who was almost gossip girl ↓

kie

i almost made her super jealous of jj/readers relationship because she wanted jj to herself. therefore she would’ve been gossip girl and done everything she could have to sabotage their relationship but i quickly changed my mind because they did kiara wrong in the show (at least i think) by passing her around all the guys. i also wanted kie to be friends with reader and i didn’t want to make her bitter. i also couldn’t hurt my pogues like that. could we imagine the betrayal? 😭

topper

our poor sarah obsessed boy was literally this close to being gossip girl. like the first 3/4 parts of this story i was dead set on him being gossip girl solely for the fact that this man is so nosy and wants to know everything the pogues are doing because sarah is apart of the group. but i had to get rid of that idea because he’s obsessed with sarah and not reader so he was out of the running.

wheezie

the youngest cameron was a tiny little thought in my head for gossip girl because i see her as being left out and being upset that no one ever includes her in anything so she took it upon herself to be involved with everything. but i threw the idea out for two reasons. 1. i needed gossip girl to eventually go off the walls crazy, i.e, the fire, posting readers pictures, posting pictures of people half undressed, etc. 2. wheezie is underage. i can’t see her starting a fire or running around on the cut stalking the pogues.

rafe

this was also a very close choice for gossip girl. he hates adam, he hates the pogues, wants them to suffer. and he’s just so petty i could see him doing some of the stuff gossip girl ended up doing. but i also love rafe with every fiber in my being and i didn’t want to make him the villain again when he already is in the main show. he’s not perfect by any means in this story but i didn’t want to make him the main villain. also, i couldn’t come up with a reason for him to hate reader & jj’s relationship so much to the point he basically stalked them without having rafe have feelings for reader and i didn’t want to do that. (i hate love triangles lol)

adam

i briefly thought about making adam gossip girl because duh, it’s adam and gossip girl very much targeted jj and readers relationship which makes sense for adam to be behind the account. i changed my mind bc it would have been very obvious for him to be gossip girl and a lot of people thought it was him. another reason he didn’t end up being gossip girl was because he wasn’t even in OBX for months. and that’s how i decided to make barry gossip girl!

i have a post in my drafts explaining in detail why barry is gossip girl if anyone would be interested in reading it! i’m sure everyone has some questions and while a few will be answered in the last few parts of gossip girl, i still felt obligated to make a post outlining why he did what he did. let me know below if you’d like to see it posted ↓

also tagging my gossip girl peeps in case they wanted to see this as well 🫶🏻

taglist: @hopelesssheaven @annasturn0lo @sheisntyou @onelonelybitch @marleymarleymarleymarley @awurtzx06 @scaroooos @pr3tty-pink @freyawhitexxx1 @aesthetic-lyss @voidangxls @kathryn-maraudersversion @hotvampdragon @jaydaaasworld @sunflouer04 @coriiiioooooo @xdbug-bob @rafe-cameronswife @idiotussupremus @grapejuice32 @dr3wstarkey @ineedtherapy1 @moustacherryismyhusband @davinashifts333 @barnesboo1967 @bee-43 @maybanksgirl69 @mirellef2001 @lillell467 @spenceatiny18 @obxshift @rafeysworldim19 @justsomerandompersonintheworld @thepopcultureaddict @rafeysworldim19 @justdamnpeachy @masongetinmybed @acidfeens @starsval @cali-888 @vivian-555 @sky-full-0f-fl0wers @moonywhisp3rs

[starfxkrinc]

moony please tell us more about alicia and rafe and their interactions 🙏🏽 can we hear about their interactions throughout the seasons please?

OKAY FINALLY BACK TO THIS I HAD A GAS LEAK IN MY HOUSE LOL

so s1 peak loser rafe peak pink hair alicia! shes younger than him, they dont know each other well but she goes to his parties gets free coke off him he tries to hit and FAILS shes also like younger than him 😭 like shes abt 6 months older than the main pogues but still younger than him

s2 rafes got his own shit goin on and alica and courtney are living together/stripping theyyy dont know each other well still but she knows barry bc of courtney. barry mentions alicia a lot but again rafe got other shit goin on but shes def on his radar in the back of his mind

s3 is where it gets interesting bc shes rlly integrating herself into kook circles. sure its ass an escort but its more money than shaking her ass and rafe is very very aware of her and sees her as a blank slate. shes still kinda pink haired and her appearances are relegated to rich old mans arm candy to a rich old men only schmoozing party and a golf caddy but during a date gone wrong rafe sees a chance to play captain save a hoe and swoops in with a proposition. she starts over, links herself to him and she’ll be secure and set for life. just business. probably his best deal ever made. shes still more pogue than kook but shes smart she can play the game and infiltrate

s4 the plot is diff completelt no morocco no goat island just pure class warfare. alicias more kook than pogue. rafes making her worse, shes greedier, shes sneakier, shes willing to sell out the ppl she grew up with for more and rafes encouraging it 100%. shes no longer a pogue to him and he views her as his own project sorta. in a weird way shes the sarah to his ward: perfect kook princess hes grooming but rafes addiction is worse his mental health is worse hes spiralling fast and its not til hes laid on the floor choking on his own vomit does she see a problem. she doesnt change tho. somehow its the pogues fault like shes not the one lobbying to turn her childhood home into a tourist trap

[coldflasher]

okay i decided to make a separate post bc the other one about meta biology is pretty long and i don't wanna derail, BUT, some thoughts on my "caitlin running an underground metahuman health clinic/ER" concept, because i was thinking again about the potential conflict this could cause with barry and the rest of the team

the thing is, barry is generally pretty in favour of second chances, redemption, talking villains down with meaningful speeches, and so on, so i actually don't think he would be opposed to caitlin providing healthcare for metahumans, even metahumans he's personally had conflict with. but i DO think he'd have a problem with, for example...

- caitlin failing to disclose information about the patients she's treated who might be relevant to his work as the flash. say, for example, team flash are searching for a dangerous metahuman fugitive and have no leads, and as it turns out, caitlin's known exactly where they are the whole time because they're currently receiving treatment in her clinic

- caitlin borrowing and using S.T.A.R Labs' equipment behind barry's back, especially if this leads to it not being available in an emergency or a metahuman steals it from the clinic

- caitlin engaging in illegal/morally dubious activities to fund her clinic because medical equipment and supplies are expensive and she doesn't have S.T.A.R Labs' financial backing because she's doing everything in secret

- come to think of it, that could have been an interesting alternative backstory for killer frost---caitlin having to resort to desperate measures and harden her heart and embrace that criminal persona because in order to save people, she has to steal or do bad things for the greater good, and killer frost is a coping mechanism that allows her to compartmentalize it

- caitlin's work at the clinic endangering her/risking compromising her identity, as well as the flash's

- just barry being generally upset and hurt and frustrated about being lied to about what she's been doing, even though it makes sense because her patients trust her, and many of them don't trust the flash and wouldn't come to her if he was involved

also not entirely relevant but this has also made me think about the metahuman wing at iron heights and what a cool episode concept it would have been if, as one of or potentially the only doctor in the world with experience treating metahumans, caitlin had been called in to provide medical care for a sick metahuman prisoner and it was a trap or there was a riot or some shit went down and she ended up trapped in iron heights in a hostage situation with a bunch of metahuman prisoners (yes this is very prison break, sue me). there are meta dampeners everywhere so she (potentially barry with her) has to fight her way out without relying on meta powers. honestly we were robbed of an ep in the iron heights meta wing. i guess they did something similar with the meta prisoners being trafficked in s4 but it wasnt quite the vibe im going for with this idea, you know?

[cenorii]

Hi, I want to ask questions about Wesker, I hope that's okay! Do you think that there is any meaning in making Ms. Muller ca 10 years younger than Wesker? I read a tumblr post from last year where somebody wrote that they think that Weskers type are young brunette women because of that (also because of the Rebecca photo bc it's still not clear if that's canon or not). So maybe they wanted to show that Wesker likes way younger women (even if they are barely legal.. Like Rebecca) but I really hope that Wesker is not really a creep

Hi, thanks for the question!

I will be happy to answer.

I must say right away that the theory that Wesker is not indifferent to Rebecca is just a fan myth, in reality it's just a funny Easter egg. I recommend reading my post about this, where I analyzed in detail what significance this photo has in re2 and re2r. So we will not be looking at Rebecca as Wesker's interest.

I think it's wrong to judge Wesker's preferences by Miss Muller alone. Perhaps he was attracted to women of his age range, or even men, we cannot know, because there is no information about this. He was also obsessed with Chris (in some way), who is 13 years younger than him. But that's all the information we have to judge by his preferences. Of course, there is Excella, who was 26 years old at the time of her death. She is 22 years younger than Wesker and was romantically interested in him, but it was not mutual. And this is important.

I think IF Wesker is really interested in people who are 10 or more years younger than him, it only shows how young he feels (within reason). Compare him and Barry at the time of re1, they were both 38 years old, but while Wesker looked at most 25-27, Barry seemed much older, as if he was almost 50. Wesker looks and feels younger than his age, so it's easy for him to contact people who are younger than his own age range. Well, young people are also easily manipulated due to their naivety, which is also an important criterion.

My verdict: he is not a pervert who will reach out to any attractive person who has barely turned 18. Considering that he has had almost no romantic relationships in his entire life, he is very careful and selective in this regard. And low age is definitely not his criterion. He is predisposed to those who are psychologically formed, who are talented and interesting to him. And it will be some person like Chris: mature, confident, courageous. Is it possible that Miss Muller was just like that?

Despite her age (about 20 years old), she was something special that attracted him. And their relationship was not manipulation, it was not something creepy, they were completely normal. Ms. Muller saved Wesker's child and raised Jake in love with his father, even in a deathbed note asking her son not to hate his father. This suggests that she was in love even when they broke up. This suggests that Wesker treated her well. The fact that Jake was born, and the fact that Ms. Muller remembered Wesker with warmth, tells us that he may not only be the kind of person we were shown in the games. There's a side to him that we didn't get to see. There was something sincere between him and Ms. Muller, and he's definitely not some creep for whom "age doesn't matter." Maybe they broke up because of her age? What if Wesker thought she was too young to stay with him and immerse herself in the horrors he had seen? We can't know.

[shoot-i-messed-up]

please yap away abt the fic verse I love it sm <3 will Jill meet Jack and jim later on? Is Jack alive or is he dead alr?

YAY TYSM FOR ASKING <333333

Jill will meet Jack and Jim later on but most likely off screen or, like, not in the main fic. The reason is bc I’m only familiar with Jack from The Spectre (2001), and I’m only familiar with post-Johns Jim. So like. I think I have a very skewed perception of what those two are actually like, and I don’t want to write a character until I feel like I can accurately hear their voice when I write. (There will be a future Barry POV chapter and I genuinely feel like I’m on thin ice for that.)

Which is a shame because I knowww Jill would have Feelings TM about meeting these adult alternate versions of her brothers, and I could use that drama to get Jill to (uhh spoilers I guess lmao?) actually process that she chose not to go to her home universe, which means she probably won’t ever see her versions of Jack and Jim and Carol ever again.

And then Jack and Jim would both have feelings about seeing a young version of Hal. Like DILLH!Hal was the middle child, and he was the only girl, and he was somehow the only child who got physically abused by Martin. That’s a really interesting dynamic to me (I said, like a normal person).

I could get into the drama of how Jack was older than Hal, was “supposed” to “protect” him like big brothers should, and he actually was pretty hard on Hal himself as a kid. I imagine that he didn’t interfere because 1) he initially/partially bought into the narrative that Hal is being a troublemaker and should be punished 2) he was a kid and he couldn’t do anything about it 3) that helplessness turned into guilt once he got a little older and started to get the feeling it was wrong, and then that guilt turned into resentment towards Hal himself and 4) he didn’t want to jeopardize his own status in the family as the golden child. As Jack got older and processed all that shit while being estranged from Hal bc he fucked off to the USAF, I think he would’ve eventually reached out to Hal and apologized for all that. Or who knows? Maybe he’ll reach out during the timeline of DILLH, and we’ll get to see it onscreen. It’s kinda up in the air rn lmao. And anyway, if/when he does see Jill, who looks even younger and smaller than she did in his memory, he’ll feel even more guilt. yum <3

Meanwhile, I imagine DILLH!Jim would be like 6yo when Martin dies, and possibly he didn’t even know what happened until long after the fact. He was the baby of the family, after all. I think he would mostly be a little weirded out by seeing Jill as a girl because he mostly only saw Hal as a guy while he was growing up, since he’s so much younger and Hal transitioned fairly early on in life.

(And I have…absolutely no idea what Jessica Jordan would think about the abuse situation tbh. I’ve seen two characterizations of her: one where she’s sweet and genuinely loving towards Hal and another where she stifles his love for flying because she doesn’t want him to end up like Martin. My characterization for her in DILLH from Hal and Jill’s various comments has mostly implied the latter. And if Martin was beating up Jill, I can’t really steer towards the former much. If I give Martin’s abuse a more misogynistic bent, it might make sense if Jessica herself was abused by him. Idk. Thinking about it.)

I think I would have to do more research on how siblings of abused children experience that trauma, but those are my thoughts for now. PLUS I really need to figure out what are their canon characterizations because like, u gotta know the rules before u break them at least ykyk. I need to know the tune before I can riff off on it with my own reimaginings u get it u get it

On the subject of Jack dying, I am a huge wuss, and I don’t like killing characters (this will come up again Later). Jack died in The Spectre (2001) because Monsieur Stigmonus killed him and his wife in a car crash iirc in order to teach Helen Jordan some sort of lesson. In the DILLH universe, Hal won’t become Parallax and therefore will never become the Spectre either, so even if Helen is still cosmically special, Monsieur Stigmonus would probably not go to such extremes to teach her that the world sucks or whatever. I actually imagine Helen and Jill could actually be around the same age? Would need to do a little math on that, but that could be so, so fun. Cousins <333

(Just remembered. Helen will technically show up in DILLH but not in the way you think.)

[musicoftheheart]

this is going to a very niche audience but if any marauders fan has read the shapeshifter series by ali sparkes, thoughts on an au???

remus as dax obv, sirius as gideon, james as barry (bc invisibility cloak??) and then maybe lily and marlene both taking on a mix of mia and lisa. peter as clive too i reckon. snape as spook (and then tie in his friendship with lily as spook's friendship/romantic interest in mia!!)

book 1 with dumbledore being the villain (as the og headmaster, i dont remember his name but the guy who charms people) then minnie (as the lovely french teacher) stepping in as headmistress (she might also have to take on owen's role too bc i cant think of who else could tbh)

OR poppy being owen because the bond she and remus have is so perfect as owen and dax, then have minnie take on the role that tyrone has in one of the later books

then book 2 bringing in regulus as luke and he and james bond over the fact sirius is too busy with family member 3 (i was thinking maybe bellatrix as catherine even though theyre cousins not siblings, but she gives the vibes yk)

i could 100% write this once i finish my current wips and include all six books plus the spinoff series unleashed. if yall wanna know more please say i could talk about it forever

[rhaegars-cervix]

About the possibility of the Daynes hating Arthur's ass. Two questions

Do you believe the Dayne shunning theory? Basically it is the idea that current gen Daynes have been isolated from Dornish politics because the Martells are aware of Arthur's involvement in the Tower of Joy. Evidence includes: Allyria's betrothal to a marcher lord, Edric squiring for Beric instead of being at the water gardens, no Daynes among Oberyn's retinue at Kings Landing and Darkstar's deep dislike of the guy (people often take it as pure jealousy, but this gives it a much more interesting framing tbh)

Also, what do you think of the theory that Ashara's actual lover at Harrenhal was Howland instead of Brandon or Ned and she is alive and living in greywater watch as Jyanna Reed. This one is a lot more farfetched but I do find the idea that Ned and Howland showed up at Starfall with Dawn and Howland went "hey babe just killed your brother, let's go home" somewhat compelling. As much as it sounds a bit absurd, and I don't necessarily think it is super likely, I can't quite ignore the slay factor of the theory

ohh that’s an interesting theory! i’ll have to read more about it bc it sounds very plausible but i think there are too many secrets involved so how would an organized dorne-wide shunning work… maybe just the martells severing the existing ties with the living daynes 🧐

and the ash dayne = jyana reed theory is cute… i think it’s unlikely if only because the part where barry thinks she “looked to stark” is pretty clear cut it me, but i also like to imagine ashara still alive and happy. and howland/ashara sounds very sweet as a ship

dayne theories are always very interesting to me because nothing we know about them adds up it’s very clear we’re missing many pieces of the puzzle. i hope we get some answers in the future

[jonquilyst]

OC Deep Dive Questionnaire Tag

A set of 20 questions to get to know your oc! Ty for tagging me @akitasimblr 💖 I'm gonna do Eva (right), since she won't be playing a big role in Chapter 10

What uncommon/common fear do they have? She'd defintiely be afraid of bugs and would have either Wyatt or Jayden get rid of it (mostly Wyatt though bc they'd enjoy bugs and wouldn't kill them [and would scold Jayden for trying to kill them])

Do they have any pet peeves? Some of her pet peeves include when people bump into her and don't apologize and when people arrive to her college class wreaking of weed

What are 3 items you can find in their bedroom? Books, posters of her favorite bands, and her trusty headphones, of course

What do they notice first in a person? Their emotional state. It's the sole reason Eva decided to approach Megyn at the beginning of the story. She noticed Megyn soaking wet and looking frantic, and since she's an empathetic person who loves helping others out, she followed her to make sure she was ok

On a scale of 1 to 10, how high is their pain tolerance? I'd say it's mid, like a 5. Not the worst but not the best

Do they go into fight or flight mode when under pressure? I think she'd fight, even if it's not in her best interest to do so

Do they come from a big family/are they a family person? For the most part yes, she's a family person, though her immediate family just consists of her parents and herself (and she quarrels with them sometimes). However since she's Vietnamese through her dad she's definitely close with that side of the family since everyone visits each other a lot and the grandparents (who are Vietnamese immigrants) host family events with their children and grandchildren (aka Eva's immediate family plus Barry's siblings and their children/Eva's cousins)

What animal represents them best? She definitely gives off excited dog energy, specifically the golden retriever

What is a smell that they dislike? This ties in with her pet peeve, but she dislikes the smell of weed (but she tolerates it if she knows people are gonna be smoking it, like a concert)

Have they broken any bones? Eva was a very active kid growing up and was very accident-prone, so yea, I think she most likely has broken a bone. I can see her having needed a walking boot at some point, so I'll say that she broke her ankle when she was a kid. She would have totally had her friends sign the initial cast before transitioning to a walking boot

How would a stranger likely describe them? Exuberant, lively, energetic, very friendly, and unique

Are they a night owl or a morning bird? Definitely a night owl

What is a flavor they hate and a flavor they love? She dislikes grape-flavored things and loves strawberry-flavored things

Do they have any hobbies? She loves to read, listening to music, and going to the gym

Boom, surprise birthday party! How do they react to surprises? She LOVES surprises and the friends would definitely through a surprise party for her. She'd be absolutely thrilled if they did that for her

Do they like to wear jewelry? Yes. Earrings and necklaces are the way to go for her

Do they have neat or messy handwriting? It's legible to most people but it definitely leans towards messy

What are two emotions they feel the most? Excitement and intrigue

Do they have a favorite fabric? Anything that's soft and cozy such as fleece

What kind of accent do they have? She has a medium-high pitched American accent that's sharp, clear, and lively. It contrasts Megyn's voice which is very soft and a little raspy (so opposite of that)

Tagging @thebramblewood @dreamlandiasims @seyvia (feel free to ignore) and anyone else who wants to do this bc Idk who to tag 🙃

[raysletters]

2023 Character Wrapped

Rules: share your top 9 characters of 2023

tagged by the lovely @suseagull04 (like, so long ago, but i had forgotten to do it so here i am)

1. Alex Claremont-Díaz (RWRB)

i wish i could explain to you the deep connection i have to this fictional man. he is me and i am him. he probably has been my favorite character since i first found him on 2021 (which is the longest hyperfixation ive ever had, funnily enough) and has actually shaped me to be more confident in myself and all that mushy stuff, so yeah, im just missing a henry kinnie that wants to put up with this mess.

2. Percy Jackson (Riordanverse)

i binge read pjo and hoo these last months, and the way ive become attached to this kid is something else. i want to protect him from anything.

3. Nico di Angelo (Riordanverse)

like with percy, i became attached to him from the moment he showed up, and i would protect him with my life even from rick riordan. he cant do no wrong ever.

4. Henry Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor (RWRB)

henry has specially gained a piece in my heart lately, but i have to be honest, when i first read about him, i thought nothing of him more than the perfect companion and love interest in alex's story. i have to say that getting a glance to his mind through both the bonus chapter and really fucking good fics gave me the insight i needed to comprehend him: his actions, his motivations, and everything in between that made him who he is and made me realize how many things we have in common and how many things i could learn from him, which is always a beautiful experience

5. June Claremont-Díaz (RWRB)

theres nothing i wouldnt do for her. even though i absolutely HATE how i wrote the fic that has june's pov, im still in the process of learning about her and comprehending her more. still, she reminds me so much of my own sister, even though i should kin her more than alex because of the whole sapphic latina journalist who loves her sibling very much, even when they annoy the shit out of you, but alas, im a younger sister and june has so much vibes of my own sister except with my tastes, so yeah, nothing i wouldnt do for her

6. Iris West-Allen (The Flash TV)

in case you didnt know this about me, i had a not-so-recent hyperfixation on the flash (and it can absolutely be seen in my sky high au), and she was half the reason of it. i wish i could put into words how much i fucking love her in every sense of the word. like, i'm in love with her but i also want her to be happy and protected at all costs and i would do anything for her to actually get those things. she can also step on me and i would thank her, but that is unrelated

7. Annabeth Chase (Riordanverse)

what you dont get is that for her i would become like a rabid feral gremlin or maybe that dog that takes a sword in its mouth and starts swinging carelessly. thats how ready i am to protect her from absolutely everything, even spiders, no matter how fucking scared i am of them

8. Imogen Heaney (Heartstopper TV)

yes, i am absolutely biased because the actress also has t1d and my hc is that now imogen also has t1d, but also because i, too, affirmed with my whole chest how i was an ally and totally straight and then slowly realized i was sapphic bc of one cute girl in my friend group that called me out on my bs 💀

9. Barry Allen (The Flash TV)

yes, we dont acknowledge that other version by that other actor. yes, he's last because i had a love-hate relationship with the way he was written. but season 8!barry became one of my favorite versions of him, and i absolutely thank grant (the actor) for the way he made me love the character once again

i missed so many characters that i love but just not like i love these ones. the only one who could easily take barry's place on the list would be nick nelson my absolute beloved, but since flash tv ended this year, it had me in my feelings and i couldn't not put him there, so yeah

DISCLAIMER: i am at the moment reading trials of apollo (im just like 1/4 of the first book) and if somebody spoils me anything i WILL become a rabid feral gremlin, this is your only warning, thank you very much.

anyway, you can consider this an open tag and do this and tag me in it bc i always love to read about yalls favorite stuff. still, no pressure, but im still tagging beautiful ppl so i can read about your favorite characters @anincompletelist @inexplicablymine @read-and-write- @sherryvalli @14carrotghoul @formorewishes

[fantasticalleigh]

LEIGH'S RIDICULOUSLY BIG TBR/TBW LISTS

like i mentioned before i am too busy/hesitant to actually consume a lot of new media (or at least be able to focus on it) so i'm critically behind on so much stuff. don't judge me pls :S lmao

anything in bold is something that i've begun but not finished :P tagging @snow-in-the-desert bc you expressed interest in seeing the lists!

TO READ:

The Love Hypothesis - Ali Hazelwood

The Hurricane Wars - Thea Guanzon

Winter's Promise - Christelle Dabos

The Stand - Stephen King

North and South - Elizabeth Gaskell

The Nightingale - Kristin Hannah

Little Women - Louisa May Alcott

Work - Louisa May Alcott

Don Quixote - Miguel de Cervantes

Dr. Sleep - Stephen King

The Secret History - Donna Tartt

The Last Duel - Erik Jager

Portrait of a Lady - Henry James

The Song of Achilles - Madeline Miller

The Age of Innocence - Edith Wharton

The Great Mortality - John Kelly

Dead by Sunset - Ann Rule

Dracula - Bram Stoker

It's Lonely at the Center of the Earth - Zoe Thorogood

The Great Influenza - John M. Barry

The Monster of Florence - Douglas Preston

The Lottery and other stories - Shirley Jackson

Helter Skelter - Vincent Bugliosi with Curt Gentry

White Noise - Don DeLilo

Icebreaker - Hannah Grace

She Is a Haunting - Trang Thanh Tran

This Thing Between Us: A Novel - Gus Moreno

Parable of the Sower - Octavia E. Butler

^^ This is an incomplete list--I know there are others but these are the books I've bought over the past couple years and have not yet finished/ready. They are stacked on my desk and around my room, silently accusing me of neglect. I wither in shame. The rest of the list escapes me currently. This also doesn't include the tbrs currently on my e-reader since I can't remember where it is to see what's on there.

MOVIES/MEDIA TO WATCH:

Any Adam Driver movie that isn't on Netflix (House of Gucci, Annette, Paterson etc.) I have seen the Last Duel, Blackkklansman, This is where I leave you, Marriage Story, White Noise, Frances Ha and a few others). I know Ferarri is in theaters right now but I've kind of developed a phobia of theaters since 2020 :S

a ridiculous number of documentaries/video essays on youtube that I do not have the energy to go look for right now

Fall of the House of Usher (I love Mike Flanagan's work but I'm still hooked on Midnight Mass and Daddy Father Prewitt)

The Haunting of Bly Manor (I know everyone was obsessed with this and I meant to watch it but I was reading the Turn of the Screw when it came out and didn't want to get spoiled for it so I avoided it like the plague and finished the book but never got to watching the show)

Blue Eye Samurai

The Beguiled

Ugly Betty (I'm actually on season 2 and it's charming and funny but holy shit the amount of body shaming/slut shaming/ homophobia in this show. definitely a product of its time.)

Anne with an E

Fleabag (never finished it but thought it was amazing)

What we do in the shadows (have seen all but the most current season)

Reservation dogs

The Batman (2023)

Black Swan

The Crown

Band of Brothers

Demon Slayer

Whiplash

Wolf of Wall Street

Birds of Prey

Downton Abbey

Peaky Blinders

Nimona

Drag me to Hell

Forgetting Sarah Marshall

Queen Charlotte (halfway through but haven't finished. i hate things that make me cry when i watch them so i have to be in a very specific mood to watch emotional heavy things)

Lady Bird

The Banshees of Inisherin

BARBIE (*ducks thrown rocks* I'll get to it, i SWEAR) (but i'm amazing at avoiding spoilers at this point i still know very little about the movie)

Men

Pearl

The Invisible Man

The Turning

Succession

Suspiria

Promising Young Woman

Shiva Baby

Luca

The Green Knight

Licorice Pizza

Bullet Train

The Menu

Women Talking

Knives Out + Glass Onion (*ducks more thrown rocks*)

Paddington 2!!!!

SHadow and Bone (honestly I lost almost all interest in reading/watching this once I heard the hot villain dies. BOOOO)

Carol

That one newish show with Adam Scott that looks super liminal and sci fi i can't remember the name

The Killing of a Sacred Deer

Oppenheimer

Killers of the Flower Moon

Guardians of the Galaxy 3

M3gan

Turning Red

Everything Everywhere All At once

Nope

Barbarian

Just like the book list, I'm sure there's many other titles I'm forgetting to put here. I actually have branched out and watched a fair amount of new movies this year so i'm going to keep it going! and here's one more list just because this is fun

Stuff I watched or read in 2023 that I loved/recommend (with the caveat that not all of this came out in 2023): (and i'm not including obvious stuff like Spider man across the spiderverse)

White Noise

Don't Look Up

Living in the Time of Dying (documentary on Youtube. It is HEAVY on existentialism and the science/data on the current state of climate change. This WILL ruin your day so I'm warning you now. Definitely don't watch it today. This really affected me and I cried for a long time after watching this but it is incredibly important to keep in mind.)

Blackkklansman (i had to watch this with the volume on the lowest setting bc of all the n words being dropped so frequently lmao but goddamn this was so good and funnier than i expected.)

DIMENSION 20: Burrow's End!!!!! As well as The Unsleeping City season 1. Neverafter and A Crown of Candy are probably at the lower end of the list but I still love them. (thank you to @rogueimperator for cluing me onto how amazing D20 and Dropout are. <3 this is a whole new world lol)

Midnight Sun :)

7. Christine and the Queens - Redcar les adorables étoiles Full show on Youtube. I was supposed to see him live in October but he got injured and had to cancel the rest of his tour :( but this album and the video are incredible! Slight warning for semi nudity.

8. Game Changer on Dropout. he's been here the whole time!

9. The 1975 live at Madison Square Garden. I was lucky enough to see them twice this tour with my twin sister and we had an absolutely amazing time. They always put on amazing shows and this particular tour/their latest album meant so much to us. Even our younger brother has come with us for some of these shows so it's something we all share. (Last time they came to Chicago in 2022 the venue was too small so they didn't have the House set with them so we didn't get to see it in action until this year) Sex and The Sound will always be the perfect closers for their shows and I get so emotional every time I hear them. Core memories for sure.

10. Puss in Boots: the last wish. this seems like another obvious answer that i probably could have left off but this gets an honorary mention because our family cat was diagnosed with advanced bone cancer in August, and we had to put him down very soon after that diagnosis. We spent an agonizing week tending to him and cherishing every last second we could get with him. I've been fortunate enough to never experience the death of a pet until this year, and i almost wish we didn't have any pets at all because I've never felt such excruciating grief. He was a fat, grumpy orange boy with beautiful yellow stripes and a little yellow mustache. I was trying to distract myself and found this movie on Netflix and watched it, then recommended it to my sister (who is actually Thomas's owner but we all shared him) though I warned her the movie did deal with themes on mortality. We all watched it together the night before his final vet visit and Tommy was there with us on a comfy pillow. I hope he approved of the movie, because now any time I think of Puss in Boots i think of him. <3

I could add more to this but my eyes are tired and I'm wired up from coffee. I know this is long as hell so sorry but I had fun making it! I'll probably keep coming back to this post in the future to cross out what I've watched.

[kitkatt0430]

do you ever discuss of you ranking list of the flash seasons yet?? from best to worst?? bc i don't think i've seen any, so i'm curious, hehe.

You know, I don't think I have really ranked the seasons before. It's definitely something that likely changes based on my mood, but some things will stay consistent, like which seasons are my favorites.

So, Flash season's best to worst:

Season 1 - Without a doubt the best season. Everything was really well plotted, there weren't a whole lot of dropped threads. Eobard was at his best as the season's main villain; Barry establishing his friendships with Cisco and Caitlin was so much fun, they all grew to love each other so fast; and Iris discovering herself as a reporter was interesting to see happen. It could have done without Barry's entitlement issues towards Iris (or keeping her unnecessarily in the dark) and the pipeline prison (oh look at all the human rights violations and where are the bathrooms in those cells???) but over all it was a solid first season and set the bar high for the rest of the show.

Season 2 - Second best season. Zoom was derivative of Eobard, but we got Harry who started off seeming shady but quickly turned out to be a traumatized dad who just wanted to save his daughter and the new found family (Team Flash) that he absolutely doesn't want to admit he now loves way too much. It tried new things that didn't always work out and had more dropped plot threads than S1 (and wasted a few perfectly good characters) but there were a lot of really good ideas in there. It could have done with a few of the plots being more firmly tied back into S1 events - Harry's speed theft tech building on Eobard's research into Farooq's powers, Cisco's fears about his powers corrupting him to be more like Reverb tying into his actions with regards to Hartley (when he tortured Hartley, let's not mince words there) - but still a pretty solid season overall and finally brought us Wally West, teasing the possibility of Kid Flash.

The first half of Season 6 - I'm just chopping this season in half here. The first half of this season was superbly plotted. Barry and Iris' grief over Nora's death, everyone's fear and grief knowing Barry would soon be joining her, Cisco wanting to be able to save his bestie when he's lost so many loved ones already, the whole theme about fear of death destroying what makes life living with Ramsey and his blood zombies. The fight over Barry's soul by the Speed Force and Ramsey while Barry breaks down over fake-baby-Nora's crib... and all the parallels between Barry's romantic love with Iris and his platonic love with Cisco.

Season 4 - Harry's obsession with being the smartest and being able to protect the people he loves leading him to endanger himself in the very way he'd find unacceptable if his loved ones did it? So heart wrenching in all the best ways. Seeing how close he and Cisco are, how much Harry's grown to respect and admire Cisco... And while Ralph was at first suuuuuuper annoying, his character growth over the season was really wonderful. He goes from pushing others away (and weaponizing misogyny) to protect himself to being willing to do anything to protect his friends even if it meant destroying himself. He becomes Frost's biggest cheerleader in finding herself as a person (which continues into the next season) and grows to really respect and admire everyone on Team Flash. Cecile really comes into her own as a character here, her transformation from background character to main cast complete. It sucks that the season starts off with Wally leaving - this should have been the season where he earned his place as the Flash and not just Kid Flash. There was so much ableism going on with DeVoe. And the Cisco/Cynthia romance, while cute, was brought down a lot back the fact that the organization she worked for was majorly hypocritical and, well... fascist. There were a lot of pieces that didn't gel well, but it was a major improvement over S3.

Season 5 - I actually really like Nora, even though I get why a lot of people didn't. It was weird having her basically be Barry and Iris' age, though. Would have worked a lot better if she was more like 19~21 somewhere not really a teen anymore, but still very, very young adult. This was also the season where Barry and Iris started acting like an old married couple, emphasis on old. They were acting as if being married meant they stopped doing fun stuff. Frustrating since we never really got a proper dating arc. It was a speed run from dating to moving in together to engaged to not engaged to engaged again to married despite the best efforts of the nazi versions of Oliver and Kara. Honestly, it's been hard to see their relationship as fun at times, but they do get some silly moments here. Also cemented Barry as being oblivious to other people's romantic interests, which has given me so many oblivious arospec headcanons about him over the years. I hated the Iris as a bad mother characterization for future Iris, especially when Iris is actually trying so hard to be a good mom to her adult daughter in the present. Like... no way Iris changed that much. The cavalcade of main villains was bad, even though I saw Eobard coming out on top as main bad guy from a mile away. But the bad guy is Cicada! No Cicada II. No Eobard doing a prison break (though it was a cool prison break, gotta give him props) was just... annoying. The cure was terrible, though and I hate, hate, hated Cisco taking it.

Season 3 - This actually ties for me with S5, but my current mood is that I like it slightly less thought sometimes that's reversed. Flashpoint was a token effort, but it gave us our first glimpse of Wally as Kid Flash. HR was a sweetheart and my fav Wells after Harry. I don't think they ever figured out what they were doing with Julian, but gosh did Barry need a CSI coworker at the CCPD and I was annoyed that it took until S5 for Barry to get another one (his daughter) and she also only lasted one season. *sigh* The OG Killer Frost arc was interesting because it wasn't split personality AGAIN so I was frustrated in S4 when Caitlin's 'not Caitlin but not Frost' S3 ending was retconned into Bruce Banner and the Hulk lite. Savitar had so much promise and so little follow through. Emo Barry's hair in the future was... um... something alright. Possibly the true villain of the season was that hair. Anyway. More ableism with the main villain, but that's basically every season by the end of the show. The plot is almost incoherent at times, but there's a lot of really good character moments.

The back half of Season 6 - Did you think I forgot this half a season I'd chopped off the front half? Well here it is!!! Oh gosh, it was so slowly plotted. Everything dragged out way more than it needed to. They could have fit a whole extra plot arc in there before diving into the mirror arc/speed force issue and it would have been so much better paced. Like, say, Barry actually dealing with the fallout of rebooting the multi-verse? Just a thought? Allegra not wanting Nash to use her as a replacement goldfish for Maya and Nash trying not to do exactly that even as his dad-instincts were screaming 'that's my kid' deserved a lot better nuance than it actually got. Iris' promised storyline isolating her from everyone else while they failed to recognize the fake was a fake was really awful. I realize it suffered technical difficulties due to covid, but it was just. such a let down after that first half of the season.

Season 9 - This actually ties with S7, but I kinda like it more right now so it's rating higher. But sometimes I like it less. S8 is the worst. S9 had some real gems in there. The Rogues team up was delightful, though I wish they'd taken the chance to give Hartley more of his comics character development. But at least he finally got to kiss his boyfriend on screen without the focus moving to Barry's face getting in the way. Red Death arc had a lot of plot holes in it. Iris finally tackling the issue of whether her destiny being Barry's wife ever meant she'd actually chosen anything for herself or just done what she thought she was supposed to. Poorly handled, but I'm still glad it finally got addressed. The four part finale was really representative of the show where the first quarter was the best and the rest was varying levels of suck. Caitlin reached the pinnacle of being side-lined, written out entirely until the final episode to make way for the goddess Khione who came out of the left field, had story lines that would have been 10x better with Caitlin, and then ascended to a higher plane of existence with no real impact left behind at all. What was the point??? Every time Mark Blaine was almost sympathetic, I would remember him throwing a temper tantrum over not being allowed to kill Khione to resurrect Frost. But I actually liked the return of Ramsey, though that absolutely should have been a multi-episode plot. And there were too many cameos going on at once with Dig, Wally, and Oliver - they were well balanced for the time allotted them, but Wally especially deserved more focus time. They had this final chance to officially make Wally the Flash and they wasted it. Oh well, at least I got more Barry/Iris/Eddie headcanon fuel.

Season 7 - The final fate of the Wells characters was insulting. Cisco's send off was insulting, though at least the episode itself had some fun and whimsical moments. The Speed Force being made less of a blue and orange morality type and more humanized made her less interesting. The plot with the forces dragged on. They'd been teasing Godspeed since S5 and he was kinda a let down. Bringing back Eobard to help fight Godspeed made no sense; what would have made sense? Bringing back Nora 1.0 who had actually beaten Godspeed. On her own. After he killed her bestie (and girlfriend???) Lia. Like, they tried to recreate Nora 1.0's grudge match with Godspeed using Bart's trauma over seeing Jay's death but we barely get any interaction with Bart so it just doesn't hit the same. And also, adorable though Bart is... that is supposed to be Barry and Iris' grandson and I cannot ever completely forget that. Dawn and Don are the Tornado Twins and we deserved to get them and we never do.

Season 8 - It had the Armageddon Arc and there was no coming back from that clusterfuck. The plot holes were the size of double decker busses. Eobard was enacting three evil plans simultaneously despite them contradicting each other. The introduction of the Negative Forces and the retconning of the Negative Speed Force as no longer being something artificial that Eobard created. Establishing Frost/Blaine as an official couple. And the season itself had Frost dying for Caitlin who then ends the season by accidentally killing herself too. The Bart and Nora episode in the past was cute, though. And getting an actual good-guy version of Eobard was interesting, but the less said about NSF Avatar!Eobard ripping Matt-obard's face off, the better. *shudders* creepy; I skipped out on most of this season, though. So I'm missing a lot of the smaller arcs. I know it had a *lot* of dropped plot threads all over the place though. The thing with Mia being the most egregious.

Anyway, this is generally the order but it can change up more than this and sometimes I also chop up S7 into halves because the two halves suck but for very different reasons. And sometimes I like S4 more than the first half of S6, sometimes I don't. Tonight I didn't. Nothing beats S1, though.

[a-tale-of-legends]

Hmmmm Beryl playing up the cool factor for Kenji and Aiko? A little part of her likes being recognized for their achievements, even calling it "cool". Maybe they have a tiny bit of an ego? Hrm. That might clash with Kavi. Both are the "smart" ones of the group. Though Kavi is like. Initially annoyed at having to travel with Danica and Barry on the fact that he is very much introverted and would prefer to be in a lab ( or sleeping), and the fact that he finds Barry too loud and Danica kinda creepy ( at first). He is very much the type to um actually and present himself as better when he's. Overall kinda pathetic lmao. Beryl is overall more chill? Wasn't expecting to be a glorified babysitter for Kenji and Aiko, would also be rather doing her own thing but doesn't hate the company. She finds them funny as is and probably already knows them given their a professor's assistant.

Hmmmmmm. Beryl wants to complete the Pokedex,and in an old version of their story their brother was the one that doubted she could. Maybe that's what drives her? Being doubted or looked down upon bc of their interest. Hmmmm. Much to think about.

[coldflasher]

so me and my friend had to put our flash (re)watch on pause for a while bc she broke her ankle so we haven't seen each other in a while, but we finally picked season 8 back up and. god. i don't even have anything funny or insightful to say about it because it's just bad. it's so bad. and i couldn't even put my finger on why it was so bad at first, but eventually my friend pointed out that like. NOTHING happens. the characters literally just stand in a circle and talk. then whenever something DOES happen they go "hey so this thing just happened, hold on a sec while i describe it word for word in case you missed it." there's no action 90% of the time and there's no meta of the week for the most part so every episode feels samey and directionless as we slowly crawl our way towards a resolution of a plotline that isn't particularly compelling anyway

the characters are flat and nothingy. barry, the main character of the show, does FUCKING NOTHING EVER. there was one scene where he was running down the street, which he obviously used to do in every single ep, and my friend was like "holy shit i feel like we haven't actually seen him RUN in ages" and she was right. the man whose WHOLE SUPERPOWER IS RUNNING VERY FAST DOESN'T RUN ANYWHERE ONSCREEN FOR LIKE SIX EPS STRAIGHT. we see him run in and out of rooms but never see a straight shot of him running TO anywhere. WHY?

then there's the fact that the overarching plots are bad. the characters are split into two factions that don't interact at all. iris having time sickness could be cool and interesting and there's lots of potential for interesting character work there, but instead of making anything happen they have her sit on a couch and not touch anything in case she erases it from the timeline.

at one point she literally GOES MISSING and barry just. DOES NOTHING?? im sorry, fuck whatever else is happening, you know if iris disappeared he'd be tearing the city apart looking for her but all that happens is cecile is like "omg barry i can feel that you're sad, what's going on??" and he's like "iris is missing, im worried about her." WHAT!! THEN FUCKING LOOK FOR HER YOU DINGBAT!! i've said this before but s1-4 barry would absolutely beat the shit out of this version of himself if he found out about this

and don't even get me STARTED on caitlin and her almost husband, the skeleton fire demon who eats grief---again, this had the bare bones (pun intended) of an interesting plotline; a meta that feeds off people's grief could actually be really powerful and interesting to explore, but he's a magic skeleton from another universe who tricks her by pretending to be her dead husband so it's just stupid. at one point the characters like "why are we doing this plotline now, 7 years after ronnie died?" and i'm like yes, why ARE we? because again, having caitlin fall prey to the manipulations of a malevolent force that feeds on grief would actually be very topical and interesting if it had happened in, say, s2, when ronnie had just died for the second time. if her grief was fresh and raw and painful it could be conceivable that she'd be desperate enough to go "well i thought he was dead once and he survived, maybe he did it again", and cling to that, allowing herself to be tricked into believing this evil sentient flame skull was really ronnie. but it's been SEVEN YEARS and she literally just got a new boyfriend who has no personality and who we never see again, so it doesn't make any sense and i don't care. also the show keeps trying to convince you to care by having caitlin go "ronnie was such a valuable member of the team, you knew and loved him!!" and it's like... did we though? did we really? he's never made a big impression on me personally. the only character who was close to ronnie and actually knew him was cisco and he's not here. they added a few flashbacks and a proposal scene to try and make us care more about the caitlin/ronnie relationship but they didnt do anything for me because i was too busy staring at danielle's terrible wig. like babes that is NOT what caitlin's s1 hair looked like, did you even try

the skeleton fire demon stuff is actually kind of enjoyable to watch at times purely because it's so fucking ridiculous, the whole thing is a trainwreck, so i did somewhat enjoy getting to make fun of it but JESUS CHRIST IT'S SO TERRIBLE. HOW DID THE SHOW FALL SO FAR. WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED

[davinaclaires]

https://www.tumblr.com/davinaclaires/770420107055955968/im-so-excited-for-superman-2025-i-cant-wait?source=share

^^^ I understand. Tbh, I wasn't into the whole Superman being dark and edgy, though. He's meant to be a symbol of hope in DC stories, not "Beware the Superman" trope. That trope belongs more to Batman, obviously.

Oh no, I don’t want a dark or gritty Superman either. Personally I like the tone they used for the Wonder Woman films (I even loved ww1984, unpopular I know). It has light, funny moments but it’s got real heart and purpose. With Superman I love digging into Clark’s isolation and the emotional turmoil that breeds. Like in the supergirl show I just remember Kara talking to Barry about how alone she feels and how deep that really goes. Literally being from another planet that has been wiped out. But Clark obviously was raised on earth and although he loves earth and the people and wants to help and do good, there’s always those that won’t accept him and are afraid of what he can do. I just LOVE leaning into that.

And from the looks of the teaser, we will be delving into that! I want him to be what he is: an emblem of hope. A good, loving force. Not gritty or dark or anywhere near Batman’s domain lol but I just love the emotional layers of his story and I always get a little worried that Hollywood will try to strip that away.

Side note: battinson is the first time I’ve even been interested in bat man 🫣 I typically find him very boring and draining but I really enjoyed Reeves’ movie and rob’s take. I even told my friend today that I hope him and David are part of the same dc universe bc it’s giving “someone will die” “OF FUN” lol