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panaramic-art · 4 months ago

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You quickly explain Your pressure AU

Oh sure! So, picture this:

Michael is just your average man, working at his uncle's pizzeria to save for college after his father basically vanished into thin air a few years back. It's an alright gig, nothing glamorous, but he likes it well enough. Plus, it helps him get over his trauma with the animatronics. Exposure therapy. But then, one day, kids start going missing, 5 in total before Freddy's has to close its doors and investigators crack down on it all.

At first their main suspect is Henry, the man is cirtainly strange, he knows his way around the springlock suits, one of which was found in the back covered in a mix of all the victims blood. But that's where the wrench hits the gears, Bon, the suit covered in blood, their main evidence, is just barely too small to possibly contain Henry. If he had worn it he was liable to slaughter himself.

That then left Mike. They question him, trying not to give away their suspicions, but the moment he admits to knowing how to use the spring bonnie suit, it's over. They arrest him then and there, throwing him in a cell until his court date, wherein he was utterly demolished by the prosecutor’s arguments. It all lined up, it all fit like a perfect puzzle, all hinging on the idea that he was the one in that suit. The one thing he couldn't prove, as he was sick at home with no witnesses and the roomthe killer got suited up in had no cameras.

But he didnt do it.

That doesn't matter though. Soon enough he was convicted and sentenced to death, as he's being escorted out he sees Henry, the only family has had for so long. Looking at him with a gaze of hatred and disgust. He believes them, he actually thinks he could have killed those kids.. he looks away, not being able to take that look any lomger- and he sees his father. Sitting on one of the benches, giving him a grin.

He doesn't even have time to process that before he's dragged out of the courtroom.

Later; William ends up being Mike's only visitor. He truely has been abandoned by the world.. his father speaks to him, telling him he can get him.out of here for a little cooperation on a project down the line. Mike agrees, desperate to live. Whatever this mystery cooperation his father had been working at needs him to do, if they can pull some strings and save him he'll do it! Though, he does emphasize he won't kill anyone for them first, but luckily is assured that won't be necessary.

His father leaves as suddenly as he appeared, and for months later he has no visitors. The day of his execution is coming fast, and as he's being taken to the chair his gut curdles, taking in the idea that his father too had once again abandoned him.. he was going to die a murderer..

But the guards dont take him to the room that held the electric chair. No, they bring him to the supply doors, where the prison gets their deliveries. He's confused, but after a moment a needle is in his neck and darkness fills his vision.

He wakes up in a dark, nearly empty, room, all that existed within it was a thin mattress on a metal frame, and your classic prison toilet. There are no bars or windows, making it feel like a significantly larger isolation room. Eventually his father appears, and he gives a vague explanation, lacing a not so hidden threat within. He needs to do as they say, prove his worth with some experiments, or he'll be deemed a waste of recourses and returned to his walk of dread twords the electric chair.

So when they cuff him and put a back over his head then say fallow, he fallows. When they say sit in that modified dentist chair looking seat, he sits, he let's himself be strapped to it. It's when the needle comes and sticks into his arm that he starts to have a problem with it. His skin turns red, all of it, like a bad sun burn, he even gains what look almost like blisters here and there across his body. Over the next couple days, the blisters would pop, and his skin would peel off of him, separating from his body to the point it could almost just slip right off of him. Revealing red scales underneath.

But it doesn't stop there, just at he was settling, badly, into his new appearance, he began to feel absolutely dreadful, sick and tense for an entire day. Eventually his body spontaneously changed again, growing small fins on his forearms and back, his middle and ring finger squished and murged into one limb. He was a genuine freak, if he hadn't been before.

Over the course of months later, he would go through change after change as he got injection after injection. And angler lure and axolotl gills, razor sharp teeth and a mouth who's corners stretched to the hinge of his jaw, two extra arms with thick blue lobster armor, their color bleeding out and mixing with the read to turn him a light purple, though some scales hold tightly to their red coloring, his legs grow and mash into a long slippery eel tail, more fins coming along for the ride to form a proper fin at the tip, long ribs connected to thin and sturdy membrane, he grows to the size of a school bus thanks to some whale DNA, and finally some bioluminescence and ultra fast regeneration from the immortal jellyfish.

Once that one was in, that's when the experiments finally stopped. The goal of his torture was to find the secret to immortality, see if it could be achieved through DNA splicing. And it can. Though Michael wonders why he wouldn't START with the one that has immortal in its name..

So now, he's a giant fish monster that's grown a bit too big for his enclosure.. and he's just.. Stuck there. That's where my current ideas for Mike end!

But I have a couple less for Jeremy ~

He was freshly highered at Freddy's, only lasted a week before something horrible happened. All of a sudden, it was like the animatronics went CRAZY! The previously quiet nights were now full of frantic fearful movements to fight for his life. But it was all for naught, mangle swooped in and crushed his head between their teeth. He doesn't remember anything after that. He had flashes, he felt so cold, disconnected. Like he was floating above his own body, one little string keeping him teathered, but it was growing thin. He was going to die, and somehow he's become.ok with that...

However, he wakes up. He's strapped down on an operating table, leather straps holding him still as he thrashed about. His body was on fire the moment his soul was ripped back in. At first he couldn't see, his only remaining eye blury with pain. But then slowly his other eye, the one he was sure he had lost, opened. The vision was blury, but it adjusted slowly.

But then his vision expanded as another eye opened. Then another. And another. And another and another and another and another and another andanotherandanotherandanotherandanotherandanotherANDANOTHERANDANOTHERANDANOTHERANDANOTHERANDANOTHERANDANOTHERANDANOTHERANDANOTHERANDANOTHERANDANOTHERANDANOTHERANDANOTHERANDANOTHERANDANOTHER!!! SO MANY EYES TOO MANY

He could feel them, squishing and rubbing up against eachother, writhing like maggots in the hole left in his head, filling it. Over the next week, more eyes opened, though not in such a sudden burst as the first time. But they wernt on his head, no random spots all over his body suddenly had an eyeball or two sticking out.

His body had turned a jet black, so dark he couldn't even see himself in the dim lighting of his room. He experienced a few more experiments, not many, though. After the shark and alligator attributes took hold and transformed him into a near perfect killing machine, he got one final injection, an unknown forced into his veins. His eyes began to glow a new ability taking hold within him. He just wanted to be left alone, to never be seen like this again, to keep them away! And that's exactly what this concoction granted him. As the guards came to retrieve him, his eyes became trained on each of them as a toxic yellow filled the room. He watched as they screamed, their eyes melting and blood puring from their ears as their brains turned to soup, before finally they fell to the ground. Limp and dead.

He ended up being sedated to take him back to his room, but from that point on his interaction with the members of the facility were few and far between. He was left alone in the darkness of his enclosure..

Well, not entirely alone. He had a friend. Deep down in the pool.of water they allowed him, there was a filtration vent. And if he listened carefully, he could hear someone by the name of Mike speaking to him. And he could speak back. The one good thing about this horrible place.

Haha, wow, that was long! Hope you enjoyed!

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trulyinspiringmovies · 2 years ago

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Knock At The Cabin

“Knock At The Cabin” doesn’t grow past its initial premise and feels stagnant.

Eric and Andrew are a couple who has taken their daughter, Wen, to a cabin in the woods. While catching grasshoppers, Wen is confronted by a mysterious man who claims to want to be her friend. The mysterious man introduces himself as Leonard and expresses how his heart is breaking for what he must do. Wen starts getting suspicious as three of Leonard’s friends start making their way toward them. Wen runs back into the cabin and tells her fathers about what happened. That’s when Leonard and his friends try to enter the cabin.

The only two outstanding things from this movie were its performances and the camerawork occasionally. Dave Bautista has really been impressing me with his acting prowess throughout the years. I know most people know him as Drax The Destroyer from the Guardians Of The Galaxy movies, but he has so much more range than that. He’s proven himself as a more than capable actor in movies like “Dune” and “Blade Runner 2049″. I especially noticed how good of an actor he is in the “Blade Runner 2049: Nowhere To Run” short on YouTube. He manages to come off as shy and physically small and switches up on the flip of a dime. I know the standard for wrestlers turned actors is low, but Dave Bautista shines amongst even regular actors. He was definitely the highlight of this movie for me. Rupert Grint was one of my most anticipated actors for this movie. It’s a shame that he doesn’t get a lot of screen time, but he makes the most out of his relatively small role. I’ve only heard his British accent up until now and if I didn’t know any better, I would’ve thought he was American. Other than that, Jonathan Groff and Ben Aldridge undeniably had chemistry. They were a great pairing not only as a couple, but also as parents. Kristen Cui as Wen really crushed her speaking roles. I was genuinely surprised when I first heard her speak. She doesn’t sound like a child actor at all. She speaks with this eloquence and you can definitely tell that she’s smarter than your average child at that age. Her moments of more intense acting left more to be desired, but personally, I pin that on the directing more than her skills as an actress. I understand that this was her first acting gig, so with that in mind, she was fine. I also mentioned how the camerawork was pretty decent at times. To be honest, it’s mainly for two shots. The first one was when Leonard drops the axe and the camera follows the motion like in the movie “Upgrade”. The other shot was a panning shot of the floor, indicating where Wen was under the floorboards while two of her captors were talking. Other than that, I don’t really have much praise for this movie. I was excited by the premise, but after watching the movie, I realize the premise from the trailers was literally the only thing in this movie. I don’t even understand why each of the captors was killed off. They never explain it, so when the captors seem scared and hesitant to do it, I was left wondering why they’re so convinced that they must. This movie makes no attempt at exploring the moral consequences of its plot. It makes no attempt at making commentary on religious fanatics and the extremes they’re willing to go to. In fact, the ending of this movie almost feels like a justification for it. The movie doesn’t play with the power dynamics until the very end, which still felt insufficient. This movie is about a home invasion with a hulking captor and yet I never felt like the main three characters were in any trouble. That’s because the captors were always polite, seemed like decent people (other than the whole murder plot), fed and tended to their needs, and genuinely felt remorse. I feel like adding some inconsistency and infighting within the group could’ve added to the mystery of whether or not they were right in their convictions. It would’ve played with the tension a lot more. Instead, the movie is content with just cruising along for the entire duration of the runtime.

★★★

Watched on March 13th, 2023

#Knock At The Cabin #February #2023 #Horror #Mystery #R #M. Night Shyamalan #March 2023 #3 stars

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lavendershowcase · 2 years ago

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Up-and-Coming Works By Queer Authors

I’ll keep the intro short. These are original works-in-progress by queer authors on Tumblr! Each writer has included their WIP intro posts and some have included character intros. Check out what these writers are working on!

All WIPs are under the cut (I did not include everything from the WIP intro posts so be sure to check out the links for author comments, ratings, and more!)

@talesofsorrowandofruin: The Power and the Glory, fantasy, science fiction, steampunk, young adult, attempts at comedy, maybe some hints of horror

Summary: There’s a necromancer in the kingdom. No one knows who they are. No one knows what they want. Everyone knows they’re a threat. (Or: why you should always read the fine print before raising the dead.)

Status: Books 1-4 are finished (posted on Wattpad, FictionPress, Royal Road and AO3). Book 5 will be a future NaNo projects.

Talesofsorrowandofruin wrote this for her April 2020 Camp NaNo project. The full WIP intro can be found here. And the character intro tag can be found here.

@gailynovelry: Mindhive, queer dystopian fiction

Summary: Dead-broke and dead-set on paying off his student loans before he’s forty, Nathaniel Emersin signed up as a paid test subject for ReGene, a genetics company with a mysterious new invention that they promise will change the world; the Worker Bee Implant.

But Nathaniel has one little secret that didn’t make it onto paper … He’s also been hired by a rival company to sabotage the trial and steal the mysterious new technology that ReGene’s been working on.

(link to WIP intro below)

@gailynovelry: Toybox, psychological horror

Summary: Eight upcoming episodes of queer psychological horror time loop tragicomedy. Say that five times fast! Or if you want a shorter genre category, it’s a weird fiction visual novel.

A mysterious feyrie figure ushers you into a “play” for their own amusement … and all-too-quickly, you learn that not only is the cast trapped in a timeloop, but the “win” condition for the fey’s “play” involve a fair amount of murder in order for each loop to reset.

Can you help the cast escape their story, or is the playwright always destined to win in the end?

You can read all of the WIP intros here.

@calicojackofficial: The Babysitter’s Here, an adult romance novella.

Summary: Will Moore comes back to his home town four years after running away from home as a teen. He reunites with his siblings and his best friend. But to his surprise his ex-boyfriend Nicky is there to welcome him back too - accompanied by his almost four year old son Seong-Min.

Will is looking for a job back home, thinking about getting his G.E.D., regretting his choices, et cetera. Nicky’s wife offers him a babysitting gig, and despite his better judgement Will takes the job. Seong-Min is just too cute to resist. And there’s a lot of unfinished business between Will and Nicky that Will would like to put to rest, if they can.

Status: 6k words of a goal of 25k, draft #2.

You can see his WIP intro and read an excerpt here. You can sign up for the taglist here.

@calicojackofficial: Curse the Messenger, book one of The Stranger trilogy, a series of adult urban fantasy horror inspired by crime noir.

Summary: The main character and 3rd-person narrator of the first book is Eddie Alfaro, a 23 year old Mexican-American lesbian. She is a Seer, which is a type of clairvoyant who has night terror premonitions. Eddie is tormented in her sleep with visions of strangers’ last moments. She has mundane nightmares and sleep paralysis as well, so sometimes it’s difficult to tell what is a premonition and what is just her own subconscious torturing her for the wrongs of her past.

Eddie and her sibling, Fred (27, agender, Scryer), run a small scale private investigation service for other witches - one of the only ways that clairvoyants, who are pariahs in witch society, can make a relatively safe living. They mostly find missing items or curate profiles on people, the same kinds of things that secular P.I.s do but with the added benefit of their powers and the intrigue of their clients’ and targets’.

Then the mysterious Jessica (31, trans lesbian, secular) brings them a murder case. Her ex-girlfriend, Maddie (30, pansexual, Emenant), was brutally murdered. Jessica knows this for certain, she even claims to have seen the crime scene herself before it was cleaned up and there’s no way anyone could survive that kind of carnage. But the secular police are insisting that Maddie is missing, and that they don’t even suspect foul play and aren’t going to look into it.

Despite Fred’s numerous reservations, Eddie makes the executive decision for the both of them to take Jessica’s case and find out what happened to Maddie - and why the police are so sure she’s completely fine despite the gore left in the alleyway she disappeared from.

You can see the WIP Intro here. You can see the character intro for Eddie here. And the character intro for Fred here.

@touchingmadness: Touched, contemporary fantasy

Summary: The Touched are dangerous.

Or at least, that’s what Eris was always taught. It’s not their fault – violence and apathy is simply their nature, and only through rigorous training and careful outside control can they overcome these instincts. Eris was one of the lucky ones, found and whisked away by the Registry at a young age, taught to expel her pent up rage and aggression to defend humanity from her own kind, a perfectly controlled killing machine.

Growing up, all she ever wanted was to be better, to be human and normal. And it’s right there, right around the corner in the form of a nemesis left to die, a job training Touched youth, and an engagement to the Registry Head’s daughter. Her dream is finally within reach… So why does she feel more trapped and alone than ever?

Everything Eris thought she knew about herself, her world, and her desires is falling apart at the seams. And the only one who seems willing to listen is a strangely familiar man who she exchanges numbers with at a Registry party.

Maybe she’s giving in to the darkness, just like they always said she would.

Or maybe she’s just growing up.

Status: Second draft

You can read the full WIP intro and join the taglist here.

@astrophysiciann Mothwing, webcomic

Summary: After a brush with Death (who gives her the mothwing cloak), Mothwing journeys through the land of the Fae in search of the Silver Door, a place that is said to cure all ails and heal all wounds. At its core, Mothwing is about healing from familial trauma, recovering a sense of identity, and learning how to forgive yourself.

Status: As of September 2022, Mothwing is fully outlined and partially scripted, and has undergone some visual development.

You can view the WIP intro here. You can view updates under the tag #mothwing on the artist’s blog.

@open-notebook: Nobody Ends Up Dead in a Bathtub, Everyone Keeps Their Organs, revenge romantic-comedy

Summary: Alex is a secretary who gets pranked by his co-workers. They set him up on a blind “date” with an escort and sex worker, Damián, thinking it’ll be totally humiliating.

But Damián is nice and needs extra cash to get his brother into grad school. So, he and Alex plot revenge in the form of a fake dating scheme. If they wanted Alex to be embarrassed by going on a date with a sex worker, well, Alex will proudly show off his new boyfriend at the upcoming office party. “Thanks for setting me up with Damián, guys! He’s so smart and kind, and he’s an entrepreneur, as you know.”

And because this is a half-romance story, they end up falling for each other for real. Until shit starts going down, and Alex panics and feels immeasurable guilt over dragging Damián through petty revenge when he’s just trying to do his job.

Status: There is one very rough draft of chapter one posted here.

You can view the WIP Intro and join the taglist here.

@preliminarynori: First Dates and Second Scandals, romance

Summary: Izzy was once known as the Pop Princess of LA, but a public breakup and harassment over social media from defensive fans of her ex pushed her into semi-retirement.

Enter Kai, the leader of the internationally beloved boy group NXT. Slowly, he draws her out of her shell and reveals the ugly underbelly of the pop industry in his home country, Cadapor. They start to develop feelings, but a romantic relationship is frowned upon by Kai’s management and Izzy is afraid of facing the same death threats and suicide bait she received years before all because of a summer fling.

First Dates is a somewhat K-pop-inspired romance novel. Rather than really being based on any one idol or group, it’s really inspired by the phenomenon of K-pop—the international adoration and the darker sides of it including toxic fanbases and abusive contracts

Status: This project was part of preliminaroynori’s July 2022 Camp NaNo project. The complete novel can be found on Wattpad and Tapas hopefully by January 2023.

The WIP intro can be found here. And character intros can be found here.

Thank you so much to everyone who contributed their WIP to this post! This blog literally cannot run without authors supporting it and each other. It’s such a big favor to ask people to share their writing projects, but all these lovely people did it! That’s awesome!

Please try to give these authors some love

And if you’re a queer writer who’s interested in being included in the next up-and-coming post, keep an eye on the #call for submissions tag. If this is a moderately successful thing, I will try to do these posts on a regular basis (maybe once every month, two months, or three months).

The Lavender Showcase is a blog dedicated to sharing and cataloging works by queer authors. Check out the blog to find more works or learn how you can be included in the catalog.

#writeblr #writing community #writblr #up and coming #wip intro

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from-the-dark-past · 3 years ago

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Interview with Anders Ohlin in The Black Metal Murders: English translation

Translator’s note: Black metal-morden (English: The Black Metal Murders) is a radio documentary from 2017 produced by Radio Sweden (download). It’s about Mayhem and the Norwegian black metal scene in the ‘90s and contains interviews with Jørn “Necrobutcher” Stubberud, Kjetil Manheim, Eirik “Messiah” Norheim and Anders Ohlin (Pelle Ohlin’s younger brother).

Here, I’ve translated the parts where Anders Ohlin speaks into English (from Swedish). I’ve added time-stamps and short descriptions for the different sections of the interview.

I am working on translating the interviews with Necrobutcher, Manheim and Messiah and will post them soon.

1:51 - 6:35 [Talking about him and Pelle getting into extreme metal]

Anders: We’d started listening to hard rock and it was… We’d, like, worked through all of those… Judas Priest and Iron Maiden.

Narrator: It’s the mid-1980s in Västerhaninge, a suburb of Stockholm. Pelle Ohlin lives here. He plays in the extreme metal band Morbid and his stage name is Dead. Pelle has introduced his five-years-younger brother to hard rock. Together, they’ve worked through all of the main bands.

Anders: And you, like, hungered for this… This Other.

Narrator: The ‘Other’ that younger brother Anders is talking about is extreme metal; music that is faster, darker and harder. A progression of hard rock. Music that isn’t easy to get your hands on at this time. Anders is in his early teens and has gotten his first girlfriend.

Anders: It was my first relationship and it was super-exciting, and I was at her house, she lived in Jordbro, which is, like, the neighbouring suburb.

Narrator: Anders’ girlfriend’s older sister has an LP that Anders simply must show his older brother Pelle.

Anders: It was, like, you knew it was good music, and it was that Destruction record.

Narrator: Anders sees the German death metal band Destruction’s cover and it’s enough for him to understand that this must be good music. [...]

Anders: This. This here isn’t Judas Priest and it isn’t Iron Maiden; it’s something else. I’ve got show this fucking record to Pelle.

Narrator: Anders nags [his girlfriend’s older sister] to borrow the LP. He’s allowed to, but only for the day, so he bikes home in the rain from Jordbro to Västerhaninge as quickly as he can.

Anders: And it was like [excited noise], like a cartoon; the evil wolf, their eyes bulge out and we both ran -- because we hadn’t heard the LP, only seen the cover -- ran to the record player och then Mom walks up and is like: ‘Stop! You’re forbidden from using the gramophone.’ And it was like, fucking hell, is it going to die here and then we explained to Mom -- ‘This is an extreme record and we’ve borrowed it for the day and it’s going back tomorrow,’ -- and Mom was super-harsh and was like: ‘It doesn’t matter. [...]’ And then we started negotiating and agreed that we could record the LP onto cassette [because you don’t need volume for that]. So, it was on full-blast the entire night and we recorded it and stood bent over the record scratches and were like,‘Shit, this is good stuff’.

Narrator: Pelles hard rock style stands out against the usual sweatpant-Bagheera-jacket [style], not least the music.

Anders: The ideals that existed at that time were that you were supposed to look like Arnold Schwarzenegger, which neither he nor I did [laughs]. You were supposed to be handsome and cool and have some fucking helipad on your head.

Translator’s note: Anders is talking about a flat-top haircut commonly referred to as a ‘helikopterplattafrisyr’ -- helipad haircut -- in Sweden. Think H.R. Haldeman. I’m not sure what the English term for this haircut is.

Narrator: Anders and Pelle are apart of a small subculture; extreme metal, with subgenres such as trash metal, death metal and black metal, which provokes with its satanic and morbid symbols. Pelle’s band Morbid pushes the limits of what music can sound like. With his stage-name Dead, Pelle sings on the demo December Moon. The new subculture is not embraced by the adult world.

Anders: Like, we faced this fucking cultural oppression as hardrockers. It was that time-period… And especially if you wanted to do something that was worse than hard rock; it was completely judged.

14:52 - 15:53 [Talking about Pelle being bullied]

Anders: He was beaten at school and to such an extent that he actually died for a while, or however you put it.

Narrator: There’s an explanation to Pelle’s obsession with death. At 13, he was bullied at school and once, he was beaten so badly that his spleen burst. Pelle’s brother Anders Ohlin tells the story.

Anders: He was beaten to death and had some near-death experience as he was laying in the hospital and he kept coming back to that all the time, and I think you can see that as some sort of theme in his songs too. Like, it’s always about the fact that he was actually there and touched something that he doesn’t know what it is, and that was the engine in all that. He was definitely [at the bottom of the pecking order] at school, precisely because he was a bit… He had his special... his special style and was, like, uncompromising, and that was what singled him out, I’d say, markedly from other teenagers.

18:07 - 18:30 [Talking about Pelle’s depression]

Anders: He would neglect to eat, just to get a cassette tape out or arrange a gig somewhere.

Narrator: Anders Ohlin, Pelle’s brother.

Anders: To be a bit harsh, I think that the others gave up at some point. And that’s my personal interpretation. That he suddenly turns around and notices that he hasn’t got the gang with him. And I think that destroyed him.

21:50 - 22:30 [Talking about Pelle’s suicide]

Anders: At first, I was actually really pissed at him… Or, like, angry, enraged. I thought that he’d abandoned us -- which he has. That it was so shitty of him; to just take off and leave this big fucking abscess to the rest of us that just kept growing and growing as the years passed.

Narrator: Christmases become especially painful for the Ohlin family, because that was the time Pelle usually came home.

Anders: No one felt good on Christmas Eve. It was like a fucking ghost all Christmas. Brutal. So, I remember that I couldn’t celebrate Christmas at all for a very long time.

1:06:39 - 1:09:31 [Talking about how he and Pelle’s Swedish friends remember him and his life today]

Anders: All of his Swedish friends see him as this exuberantly happy guy that spews ideas and is funny and has a sense of humor and stuff. Then, it’s like a line is drawn when he goes to Norway and they see him as introverted and mysterious and, like, difficult. And that’s two opposite images.

Narrator: The Pelle Myth is associated with a lot of darkness and death but that’s not how his brother Anders and Pelle’s Swedish friends remember him.

Anders: I think that’s been the devastating part, but it, like, helped him build… strengthen that myth. It’s hard being that funny dude and saying that you’re, like, Satan. It’s hard, it becomes, like, silly.

Narrator: Anders is often reminded of Pelle. Usually because of happy memories but also because of that image that he is fighting to remove; the image that Øystein took of Pelle’s corpse which spread because it became the album cover of a Mayhem bootleg, Dawn of the Black Hearts. The image lives its own life on the internet.

Anders: It’s difficult. It’s very difficult.

Narrator: Pelle’s fans often want to become Facebook friends with Anders; he receives 3-5 friend requests per day. Sometimes, the people sending the friend requests have themselves shared the image on their social channels.

Anders: You say you want to be my friend yet you have an image of my brother from when he’s just killed himself and like… body parts all over the wall. Would you think it was okay if I had an image of your brother like that? ‘What,’ they excuse themselves. ‘Oh, fuck, I’d forgotten that I had that image, that’s… Of course, I’ll remove it and I’m ashamed.’

Narrator: When Anders asks people to remove the image, most do.

Anders: I’m terrified for when my children will start to Google those images… Øystein’s parents inherited the rights after Øystein died and [Øystein’s dad] has destroyed the images and I’ve received the rights, gotten to take over the rights from Øystein’s dad, so if anyone uses them in any form is printed media, I can sue the shit out of them.

Narrator: It’s a small comfort every time one of Pelle’s fans tells Anders how much Pelle means.

Anders: Most often, they have some story. They tell me how they’ve had a tough period in life and how they’ve, like, really been at a crossroads or something and feel that they received guidance from Pelle’s music. That warms -- That makes you happy. That really warms your heart.

Narrator: Pelle’s grave is well-visited and every now and then, there’s a handwritten letter or a box of snus by it.

#mayhem #the true mayhem #per ohlin #pelle ohlin #per yngve ohlin #jorn stubberud #necrobutcher #kjetil manheim #eirik norheim #manheim #messiah #black metal #black metal history #true norwegian black metal #lords of chaos #my translation

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kabutoraiger · 3 years ago

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double... whatta tv show!

wowow is usually the place to go for more Artistic dramas but the vast majority of those are like. about crimes or political conspiracies. very interesting to see something like this which has no mystery to solve, no deaths, no corporate sabotage, just a slice of life about two Are They Gay Y/N theatre homies doing acting gigs,

except the presentation here actually isn’t dissimilar from a murder mystery bc the main characters are SO dramatic about their emotions and occasionally unmoored from reality. i would love to see more dramas like this get made where “will these 2 men ever fuck each other” is treated with the same sort of gravitas as finding the killer would be in another show.

i mean just on the basis of production value i’d recommend this show to most people - it’s very atmospheric, well-shot, i especially loved the music used in it which made me feel some kinda way.

it all combines together to really capture the strange mindset of these two people who exist in this like dreamy borderland between their real lives and their entwined identities and their acting. certain scenes actually reminded me of my favorite movie of all time millennium actress, so. bonus points there. i do kinda wish double had leaned into the “boundaries between reality and fiction blurring” angle a little more; i think it could’ve done some wild stuff with that. but as is i still enjoyed what it was going for.

if it has any issues i’d say... the end does feel a bit abrupt. you expect some big final confrontation about their relationship but it all happens inside takara’s weird headspace without the real yujin being present and you kinda feel like you missed a step in the finale and wish you had more of yujin’s actual perspective on all this. but perhaps it makes sense that you don’t get it. maybe even he will never know how he really feels since it’s so wrapped up under layers of Acting Hyperfocus.

i’m still not totally sold on chiba yudai in this. he’s very good as takara, especially his cuter, naive moments, and he is a good crier i’ll tell ya what, but takara is also supposed to be this like enchanting magnetic stage presence in every role he takes and. that part just doesn’t really come across in yudai’s performance. i’m not sure it ever could have come across bc that’s just not the vibe yudai conveys. it does take you out of it a bit.

the other minor problem is the fansubs which are good enough for your average jdrama but. this is not your average jdrama. it’s laden with parallels and subtext and complicated exchanges that even if i was fluent in the language might give me pause, but as someone reliant on subs there were several times when i just couldn’t really grasp what was being communicated at all. (some weird turns of phrase used by the subber too and they get one character’s name wrong every time it’s spoken which was driving me up the fucking wall.)

so maybe only really recommendable to people who don’t mind being a bit confused by media. in the end i found the nebulousness to be more of a pro than a con, honestly. it’s a fun show to sit and think about after you’ve finished an episode. like me going “damn.... being a theatre person seems exhausting”

#doramablogging

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muddshadow · 3 years ago

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Happy Storyteller Saturday! What is something that has changed from the beginning of your WIP to now?

hello @ryns-ramblings!! *showers you with glitter* I have morphed this ask into world-building Wednesday! and for the subject of change, i’ve gotta talk about my oldest, dearest, most maddening project...

TO FORGET A PRINCE // High fantasy, mystery. A world built on bones, volatile magic and sentient nature, and the escalating riddle of a godling’s revenge. First in a trilogy, To Forget a Prince brings together the three strangers Yulei, Nara, and Kon, each struggling to prove themselves in all the wrong ways as a cold-hearted monster wakes from its long sleep. About failure, perseverance, and creating your own salvation.

oh boy this story... it's been with me since i was about twelve years old. It's undergone so many overhauls, i could write an entirely separate novel about what's changed since the first few ideas. It’s original version was more a convoluted chain of wild events and spectacular battle scenes and extra-dramatic character drama than it was an actual story with plot. Giving it structure took a lot of time and effort, though the biggest challenge was designing character arcs. The three main characters sort of grew up with me, their traits and personalities went through several transitions, and so writing them a beginning and end was tough. I'm sure they'll endure more tweaks and adjustments as the last of my plot comes together, but I've settled on their personal journeys - how they begin the story and the difficult truths they face along the way. Besides a name change for each, a couple makeovers, and some major background revisions, here’s some of the biggest changes for the three main characters...

Yulei began as many twelve-year-old OC's do: an over-powered, over-dramatic, tragic chosen one. Also everyone was in love with her (naturally). Yulei was really good at being captured by enemies (everyone wanted her ultra special powers), accidentally destroying buildings in fits of magical hysteria (she was always forgiven for this), and staring pensively into the night sky. Yulei didn’t actually have that much personality. Her righteous goodness and popularity were boring. Over time, she’s become significantly less ‘good’ and entirely less ‘popular’. After scrapping the chosen-one gig and rearranging her background, Yulei is defined by her razor-sharp resourcefulness, eager impulsiveness, and lonesome wanderlust. She grew up in a big city with very little support, she knew a hundred flavors of neglect before an affectionate touch, and is infatuated by the whisper of magic (and now also branded by it). Despite being (mostly) good-natured and friendly, Yulei struggles with attachment. Meeting her mentor changed the trajectory of her entire life. When he disappears, Yulei becomes obsessed with finding him. Her character arc centers around this obsession - fearing the rot of loneliness, killing the self to please someone else, digging up truths better left hidden. But in the effort of searching for her mentor, Yulei forges new bonds she never thought she could, and learns a lot about how to love.

Nara (Nathera) is utterly unrecognizable from his original design. He began as the story's villain: also over-powered, smirks eight times a paragraph, and whose blinding handsomeness and (predatory) charm cancelled out all those murders he committed. But Nara was also indentured to the bigger, badder bad guy, and so this made him sympathetic enough to team up with sometimes. Nara’s personality has changed A LOT, and transitioning him from problematic villain meant giving him a weakness - so now, Nara is a coward. He runs from blatant danger, possible danger, confrontation of an emotional nature, and most things that blink at him funny. Not for lack of magical talent - Nara is still an exceedingly talented sorcerer - but his work often flirts with death and running away has always meant survival. Nara looks after himself first and foremost, and he prefers to hide behind a hundred-layer mask. His character arc is about courage - courage to face his fears, but also the courage to know oneself. Nara can’t flee the plot of the story because it grows from the problem he never quite foresaw (he’ll curse himself for never anticipating that danger), and he can’t flee himself as the past comes calling. Surrounded by people who are ferociously authentic, Nara is forced to decide who he wants to be.

Kon (Konvhana) has always been the voice of reason. Except when I was a kid, I had little to no interest in silly things like reason, and so Kon was condemned to be the bland and boring one. He led a prestigious team of warriors; always making the right battle decisions, connected the others to the story’s political higher-ups, and rarely felt complicated emotions. The best thing I did for Kon’s character arc was take away all that certainty in his leadership - Kon stills leads a (much smaller) team, but his storyline is defined by trust. Kon has good instincts, a sharp nose for lies, and a strong sense for justice, but he doubts himself. It’s difficult for him to trust others and terrifying to lead them. He wants to make a difference but doesn’t know how. Throughout the first book, Kon hesitates and stumbles, blindly follows others despite disagreement, suffers and learns from his failures. Meeting Yulei and Nara forces Kon into the position where he can make a difference - where his decisions have consequences and his actions affect lives, and where he must trust himself or lose everything he cares about. Kon has always been stern, grumpy, and a slight buzzkill, but nowadays he’s also intelligent, extremely caring, and someone who’s had to work very, very hard to act on what he believes is right.

thanks for the excuse to ramble about my oldest characters <3 here's some lineart of them i haven't colored yet!! Kon - Yulei - Nara. (yulei is usually 5'3" hehe) i love them very much <3

#writeblr #muddshadow #mud draws #mud asks #thank you so much for the question!! sorry i am a slug. but this was fun trash talking their old terrible personalities LOL #i so badly want to dig through my storage unit to find my old sketchbooks... their first designs compared to now would give y'all whiplash #maybe i'll say the same in another ten years who knows!! i hope the first book is done by then lmao #thanks to anyone who reads all this! it was fun to think about :v #wip. to forget a prince #oc. kon #oc. yulei #oc. nara

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lucky-sevens · 5 years ago

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so, you’ve heard about the mechanisms, but have no idea what they are or how to get into them?

the mechanisms are a steampunk folk concept band! if you’re familiar with the decemberists, some of the stuff david bowie has done, or steam powered giraffe, it’s a bit like that- each album tells a story! (the albums are all tragic space operas, with the added bonus of being very queer!)

the bit where it starts to get complicated is the band itself. they’re all playing characters, and they do their shows in character! so, basically, the narration on the albums isn’t omniscient- it’s being narrated by the mechanisms, who have opinions about the story and tend to get involved in it at some point. to differentiate them from the actual band, i’m going to refer to them as ‘the crew of the aurora’!

further details under the cut! (edit: added some links!)

the albums

they have 4 main albums, which you can listen to on spotify, bandcamp and youtube! just look them up, there's a youtube account called TheVoidSings that does lyric videos + album playlists, as well as the mechanisms official account! in addition, they are all linked at the end of this post.

(note: the albums are all tragedies, and there’s some pretty intense stuff that can happen- i wouldn’t let that steer you away from it as they are very good and well done, but if you tend to like lighter or happier stories, be a bit careful going in? a lot of queer characters tend to die- because 1. everyone dies and 2. everyone is queer- which, while it’s not bury your gays, i know some people like to avoid.)

album descriptions

-once upon a time (in space)- based on european fairy tales! stars snow white and her attempt to rebel against the evil king cole and his intergalactic empire and rescue her sister, rose red! also has a lesbian romance at the center!

-ulysses dies at dawn- based on greek mythology! stars four 'suitors'- orpheus, oedipus, ariadne, and hercules- trying to break into ulysses/odysseus' secret vault on a job for the olympians, an elite mob family with a stranglehold over the planet it takes place on

-high noon over camelot- a steampunk western based on arthurian legend! features poly arthur, guinevere, and lancelot on a quest for the G.R.A.I.L, the control center of the abandoned space station they're trapped on

-the bifrost incident- based on norse mythology! a locked room mystery around what happened to the ratatosk express, a train that disappeared eighty years ago with all of the asgardian ruling class on board. this album is also rock, versus the earlier ones which were folkpunk.

you can listen to them in any order (i've summarized them in order of release), but you should listen to the album of your choice in order/all the way through! (my personal favorite is high noon over camelot!)

the crew

the crew of the aurora is a group of nine queer space pirates! they’re all immortal, mostly because of dr carmilla, a morally ambiguous, very lonely lesbian vampire who has a slight problem with experimenting on dying children. they all have a mechanical part of some kind- for example, ashes o’reilly has mechanical lungs, because they originally died from smoke inhalation. that part is called their mechanism, and it’s what’s keeping them immortal! (also, their immortality works by having them come back from death, rather than being unable to be harmed. this can result in them doing really stupid shit, dying, and then just coming back. they murder each other a lot to bond) there’s a lot of found family vibes, which is quite nice! in general, despite being tragic figures themself, they add an air of humor to the albums with their banter and the like!

each of the crew has their own backstory, mostly from quite different genres! if you’d like a fairly comprehensive version of all their backstory songs, i’d recommend this recorded show and if you’d like just an assessment of their general vibes/a good intro to everything, i’d suggest looking up ‘the ignomious demise of dr plitchard’ (one of their stand-alone songs)

bonus content

recorded gigs- there are quite a few out there, and i’d highly recommend listening to them, because the shows were the original way the media was supposed to be! there’s a ton of in character banter, they’re all in costume, all that!

death to the mechanisms- the mechanisms’ last show! it has a very bittersweet vibe, but there’s also incredible lighting, as well as proper recordings of tales to be told and drunk space pirate (the songs they play at the beginning and end of each show!) there’s also a lot of lore there that’s nice to know, including what it says on the tin: how they all, eventually, die. note- there’s a stream and an audio version. the stream is choppy and cuts out a lot, and the audio version is nice and clean, but the stream is still nice to watch because of the lighting and the visual jokes.

tales to be told volumes one and two- compilations of all their standalone songs! some of them fit with albums, and some of them are their own retellings that work on their own! this is also where all the backstory songs are compiled, though i’d recommend watching the recorded show i linked instead as that has the relevant exposition.

frankenstein- a standalone, 10 minute album on youtube about the story of victoria frankenstein and the rogue ai she created.

dr. carmilla albums (exhumed and [un]plugged + ageha prototype edition, available on bandcamp)- songs telling the backstory of doctor carmilla, the mechanisms’ creator! they’re in a different style than the rest- think girl in red. lots of yearning lesbian music vibes.

mechanisms fiction- this is on their website! has a lot of very interesting lore and character things, and i’d highly recommend reading all of it! it’s also very well written. personally, i’d recommend ulysses and narcissus go to the seaside, the quickest draw, archive footage, and bedtime story for the writing, and ever after, the story of the toy soldier, who killed dr carmilla, and ghost in the machine for lore!

resources

links to almost all the mechanisms content out there!

album links

once upon a time in space- spotify/bandcamp/youtube

ulysses dies at dawn- spotify/bandcamp/youtube

high noon over camelot- spotify/bandcamp/youtube

the bifrost incident- spotify/bandcamp/youtube

bonus content

tales to be told, volume 1- spotify/bandcamp/youtube

tales to be told, volume 2- spotify/bandcamp/youtube

frankenstein- spotify/bandcamp/youtube

mechanisms ‘supplementals’ (songs not in the albums, alternative versions, etc)- youtube

exhumed and (un)plugged- bandcamp/youtube

ageha (prototype edition)- bandcamp/youtube

mechanisms fiction

additional short story

tumblr (mostly an inactive blog for the band to post about shows they were doing, but features some in-character posts)

twitter (ditto)

---

gig compilation post

fiction compilation post

blog compilation post

deep lore post

fanfiction recommendations list

#the mechanisms #the mechs #gonna tag this with #because a lot of tma people end up wanting to get into the mechs #the magnus archives #my posts

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sufjanstevensworship · 3 years ago

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My Golden Age of Television

It’s 2008, The Sopranos had just gone off the air in 2007 with Mad Men starting the same year, it is the Golden Age of Television, and things were just getting started. Many wondered if a character could ever live up to Tony Soprano when in comes Walter White the star of Breaking Bad. Breaking Bad ran from 2008 to 2013 and had five seasons. The main actor of the show was Bryan Cranston who was best known for his role as the goofy dad in Malcolm in the Middle. Cranston in this role proved to be a versatile actor with a wide range of talents. Walter White was nothing like his previous role. Walter was a dissatisfied high school chemistry teacher living in New Mexico. The show starts with Walter’s 50th birthday celebration with his family. His teenage son has cerebral palsy, and his wife is pregnant with their second child. Walter is diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer in the first episode. Not having the finances for chemotherapy, he turns to making and selling drugs with a former student. Breaking Bad shows the evolution of the mild-mannered Walter to the ruthless drug-lord he would soon become. Breaking Bad won 12 Primetime Emmy Awards over the course of the show.

Twin Peaks, not to be confused with the hooters like restaurant bearing the same name, is a show that aired in the early 90s. The show is a soap-opera satire intertwined with a murder mystery. Twin Peaks is a small town located in the state of Washington. Two young teenage girls were murdered, and the FBI is called in to investigate. When our main character Special Agent Dale Cooper arrives, he notices there is something eerie about the town and its inhabitants. The wacky characters he encounters easily won over fans and especially Cooper. The creator of the show, David Lynch, is known for his unusual characters, strange writing, and unfinished plots. Lynch had no intention of revealing the murderer; fans and the network became impatient with him. He is forced to reveal the killer in the second season, but at that point, there was no plan for what to do after this point. The show dips in quality and is canceled. The show ends with one of the main characters saying, “see you in 25 years.” Well, they kept that promise and brought the show back for 18 episodes in 2017. The show was weirder than ever, and the fans and critics loved every moment of it. The original run of Twin Peaks has become a cult classic beloved by many. Twin Peaks was nominated for several Emmy awards, but it did not win any other than 2 Primetime Creative Arts Emmys.

Donald Glover, the 30 Rock show writer turned actor turned rapper (under the name Childish Gambino), created his own show called Atlanta. Glover grew up in Stone Mountain, Georgia, and wanted to make a tribute to his town. He described the show as “Twin Peaks but for rappers.” This of course shows why it is also one of my favorites. Atlanta has many zany characters and uncomfortable episodes, but it is overall a bit more down-to-earth than Twin Peaks. The show follows the life of Earn Marks (played by Glover), and his cousin known professionally as “Paper Boi” who wants to be a big-time rapper. Earn becomes his manager working to get him gigs in town and get signed by a record label to produce and create music. We see the struggle of Black people in America and the racism they face. We see the ugly and the beautiful of the city of Atlanta and the struggle to break into the music scene. It is a show worth watching just to learn about the various experiences people have in this country. Glover and the show have both won many awards including 5 Primetime Emmy wins.

#television #tv #the sopranos #breaking bad #atl #atlanta #reviews #tony soprano #walter white #donald glover #golden age of television #emmy awards #bryan cranston #childish gambino

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tcm · 4 years ago

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Celebrating the Charismatic Ann Rutherford By Kim Luperi

“I’m out in the fresh air, I’m my own boss, and at least there’s a thick pane of glass between me and the drunks.” – Patty (Ann Rutherford) in TWO O’CLOCK COURAGE (’45).

I’ve been an Ann Rutherford fan for as long as I’ve loved classic films. I credit most of the cast of PRIDE AND PREJUDICE (’40) for hooking me on the Golden Age of Hollywood, and Rutherford, who plays the youngest Bennet daughter Lydia, made the most of her small role. It’s the persona she radiated in this movie – the dynamic, merry, headstrong young woman – that I’ve come to associate her with. Today, TCM celebrates the star’s birthday, and I perked up because at first I thought 2020 was her centennial… until I remembered that MGM shaved three years off Rutherford’s age, as they did with many actresses.

When I moved to Los Angeles, I ended up spending a lot of time in two places closely associated with Rutherford: I landed a job five minutes from the home she resided in for almost 70 years until her passing in 2012, and I live mere blocks from where she went to high school. Though I’ve always felt some sort of connection through that physical proximity, I still knew little about the actress. That changed after reading Phillip Done’s book The Charms of Miss O’Hara: Tales of Gone With the Wind & the Golden Age of Hollywood from Scarlett’s Little Sister. Done shared stories the star regaled him with during their friendship, presenting me with reams of new knowledge and a new regard for Rutherford as a person.

One of my favorite tales came from PRIDE AND PREJUDICE co-star Marsha Hunt. One day, Rutherford showed up on Hunt’s doorstep bearing a brand-new evening gown. Rutherford explained that she just bought the beautiful dress but didn’t find it “becoming” on her. “When I look at it, it makes me think of you,” Rutherford told Hunt, handing over the dress. That’s just one of many stories – in Rutherford’s own words and anecdotes from friends and family – in which she comes across as a generous, thoughtful woman with a positive attitude and warm, vibrant spirit.

She was a wonderful woman, but she sure lied a lot! “My motto was: Fake it till you make it,” she explained to Done. Well, that adage certainly worked throughout her career. Rutherford fibbed about her acting experience to secure her first radio gig at 15 and then pretended to be her sister Judith, a WAMPAS Baby Star of 1934, to land her first film role in STUDENT TOUR (’34). At 17, Rutherford’s mother allowed her to say she was one year older so she could legally sign a contract with Mascot Pictures/Republic, only to bring her to court to nullify it a year later when she thought her daughter was working too hard! (Ironically, when Rutherford signed with MGM the following year, 1937, they made her younger.) Rutherford left MGM in 1942, but she continued making movies throughout the 1940s until she transitioned to television in the 1950s.

Comedy, drama, Western, noir – Rutherford exemplified a willingness to try almost anything in more than 60 films. The iconic GONE WITH THE WIND (’39), in which Rutherford was honored to play Scarlett’s sister Carreen, will forever be the picture she’s best known for. Her tenure as Andy Hardy (Mickey Rooney)’s All-American sweetheart Polly Benedict in 12 Hardy films from 1937-1942 also remains memorable to fans.

While I enjoy the actress’ humor and pep in comedies like THE SECRET LIFE OF WALTER MITTY (’47) and the Whistling series with Red Skelton, one of my favorite Rutherford pictures is TWO O’CLOCK COURAGE. Rutherford enjoyed working in film noir, “where men wear hats and start drinking at ten o’clock in the morning,” she told Done. (This B-movie, the first film Anthony Mann directed for RKO, doesn’t even make it to 10am.) Co-star Tom Conway led the studio’s Falcon series, and tonally, TWO O’CLOCK COURAGE reminds me of those pictures – it’s another light mystery led by a suave main character. In the movie, Rutherford plays Patty, a cab driver who encounters an injured amnesiac man (Conway) who may or may not be involved in a murder.

Over the course of one night, they piece together his identity to exonerate him. With a runtime of 68 minutes and a lot of ground to cover (complete with a twist ending!), the story gets convoluted at times, but Rutherford’s snappy, spirited performance always brings a smile to my face. Independent, kindhearted and open to any adventure, Patty is someone I admire, and she seemingly shared those characteristics with Rutherford, too. That’s why I adore TWO O’CLOCK COURAGE and recommend it as an excellent way to celebrate Rutherford on what would be her 103rd – or 100th, if MGM records had anything to do with it – birthday.

#Ann Rutherford #classic hollywood #old hollywood #Andy Hardy #Golden Age #TCM #Turner Classic Movies #Gone with the Wind #Kim Luperi

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orangenfrottee · 4 years ago

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Hey ho there, feel free to ignore this and I hope I'm not bugging you as I awkwardly slide in here, but I must ask: if you had full creative control of the show, how would you run season 5? You can pick and choose whatever leaks you want to include.

Ah!!! Thank you for your ask <3 I might have spent a couple nights typing out my answer, but in short: I'd cherry pick old story arcs, bring back everyone I like and who doesn't run when they hear Riverdale's calling.

I'd definitely get some decent writers (I'm partial to Jane Espenson, but no idea if she'd be a good fit) and definitely some diversity. I might accidentally fire all men and then play up all their shitty recurring themes for fun as a weird inside joke between me and the show.

I think if they ever gave me creative control of the show it would swerf hard to the crazy and not leave that lane because honestly, i think that's what Riverdale does best.

So, where would I start...

Instead of giving season four a decent ending, I would start with an extra long pilot with the title 'previously on' where the best and most important bits of the teens' school lives is shown with a heavy focus on Jason and the Farm. Parallely, we get to see the lovestory of Chic and Charles. The episode ends with a few very short scenes of the prom where everyone's happy and pretty.

Then we'd start on the real season five. It's been seven years and our characters are older and more grown up.

The show would at first only present the present lifesbof our characters and the barest bones structure to keep as much a little mysterious as possible (but here I tell you what happened during timeskip, too).

Archie is often considered the main character, so let's start with him:

Archie went to the Army after school (though he didn't actually pass his exams and thus didn't graduate, Mr Honey was quite amused). On his most recent tour he met someone special: Eric, his new friend.

Archie was wounded in battle with a... giant mutated elephant with sharp teeth and hallucinogenic venom. Or something. He isn't really sure what happened, but he's got a huge new scar all over his torso. The abs stayed in tact, but oh his pride. During recovery he met new wheelchair user (and on occasion crutches) Eric who has trouble walking since his legs are misshapen/he only has one. Archie thinks Eric got maimed by the same elephant he was, but thinks it rude to ask.

For Eric I'm picturing Sabrina's Ambrose.

With his hurt pride, Archie can't stay with the military and decides to go back to Riverdale.

Eric doesn't have a place to go, so Archie invites him along.

They need a job and since Eric has a calendar full of sexy half naked firefighters AND since they both have abs, Archie decides that type of uniform is the perfect fit for them and trades his newly renovated and well running boxing gym against the old fire station Penelope Blossom owns. (Literally, they even meet at Pop's to exchange keys and sign papers Penelope brought that Archie doesn't even skim.)

The fire station is quite out of everything, but it has a huge pool Eric likes to swim in and a fire truck. To make ends meet Archie sells his sperm to the Greendale sperm bank.

Archie is of course in love with Eric but unfamiliar with the concept of bisexuality and struggles to identify his attraction for what it is. Eric is a foreigner to Riverdale (or is he?) and unfamiliar with the town's culture and quirks. Still, something going on in Sweetwater River seems to be related to him.

Archie and Eric share the Andrews' House - and in the house next door... live Gladys Jones and Polly Cooper!

After Jughead and Betty left for College Alice' horrid mom impulses settled on Jellybean who didn't stand back, grind her teeth and took it but instead broke Alice' teeth. Her and FP were not amused (though FP was also angry at Alice for being too strict). Alice moves out but stays as a journalist in town.

FP gets in trouble for being a brutal gang leader without a gang beating up criminals behind the boxing gym on tape. Not wanting to go to an illegal fighting club prison, he hides with Canadian Serpents behind the border. (Joaquin's identical twin brother and Ricky live there, too. They're happy there.)

Maybe he'd call once or twice with misleading wrong snake facts that have nothing to do with the current mystery of the episode but fit into perfectly by chance.

Jellybean was invited along, but she chose to stay because she thinks Riverdale is rad and the old Cooper House is luxurious as hell. Also, her mom came back to become the new Sheriff!

Nearly seven years in, Gladys still holds the position because no one legally qualified wants it and she manages to keep gang violence at an all time low for Riverdale. Plus, she and Mary Andrews are not exactly friends but able to work well together. When there's another serial killer running wild in town she has no problem with having another girlfriend of Mary who happens to be a skilled professional in the most relevant field take over for a bit. If needed, the Riverdale gangs are usually willing to add muscle to good causes, too.

Jellybean has left Riverdale for university and will only be present for holidays and breaks. She'd still be played by Trinity because I love her and honestly, real nineteen year olds look like fourteen year olds everywhere in the world. Also this gives the viewers 'Archie vision': he will always see his best friend's toddling baby sister in the young woman which makes her the only undatable (legal) female on this planet for him.

While attending Riverdale High she lead the Andrews Boxing Gym and made it the most successful gym in the area. It won't be a plot point in the show (apart from her being angry at Archie for just trading it against trash) but there will be framed newspaper articlesband the like in Gladys' house.

Around the time everyone graduated, Polly was released from Shady Grooves and is back to her old smart self - and really missing her babies! As Choni leave for whatever private college Blossom women have always gone to, Polly takes them and goes home - just to learn on the porch that not only did her mother sell her childhood home more than a year ago without anyone ever telling her, the college fund she never had gotten legal access to and planned to use for the twins is gone too and her sister left town without saying goodbye.

Gladys has always taken care of all the stray kids she found no matter how tight the budget was and now there's this young desolate mother with twin toddlers in front of her posh murder house she'd gotten for cheap and she has this new gig as sheriff. Of course, she takes them in.

They stay in Betty's old room at first, but they soon get to remodel the attic to give Polly her own room. At present, Dagwood has Polly/Chic/JB's old room and Juniper the one facing Archie's. (When Archie sees her in the room, he actually has a flashback once to when he and Betty used to be so young, but then Juniper turns her gead, stares at him really creepily and smiles weirdly. Archie will be somewhat scared from then onwards and be reminded of when everyone thought Polly might gave killed Jason. Juniper would murder.)

At first, Polly's a full time, stay at home mom, but once the kids are older, she starts working part-time: for Gladys.

It turns out they work amazing together. Gladys tends to jump to convenient conclusions and threatens violence way to freely. Also, she is intimidating as fuck.

Polly is everything she isn't: level headed (to a point, in comparison at least), brilliant at combining clues and steering people (remember how she infiltrated Thornhill and made Cheryl unknowingly assist in her snooping plans?). On top of that, she has these stepford smiles and all the ways to appear unthreatening drillend into her head. Honestly, she and Betty are quite alike. While Betty has the lockpicking skills and knows her way around cars, Polly used to be really into fashion (or something) and, with all her experiences at the Sisters, the Farm and Shady Groves, Polly knows psychology.

She started solving some of Gladys' cases at the breakfast table, but now she's officially a deputy or an advisor or something. They're essentially like FP and Jughead, just that Polly is an adult (and that she wouldn't be in a gang beating suspects up regularly).

(These characters would all be mostly in the background though.)

Veronica finally gained perspective on her relationship to her father and grew up. Hiram's cut out of her life for good. They won't ever interact. (In fact, Hiram either moved to New York or he had a minor traffic accident where he lost all of his memory for good and now lives as Ram Rod and works as a trainer at Penelope's newly acquired boxing gym. Everyone is confused about it but doesn't care to ask.)

Veronica is successful at whatever she's doing and doesn't plan on ever moving back to Riverdale, but maybe something is up at Pop's that requires her checking up on in person and she just happens to cross paths with Betty who is also just there for the weekend. And they haven't had quality time together for years, because it's so hard to stay in contact sometimes even with people you love so much you'd die to keep them safe.

If I could come up with something meaningful for them to catch up on emotionally, I'd have them sitting together in a booth at Pop's for a whole episode just talking (but I'm not that deep).

Veronica might be engaged, but we see it fall through without really getting to meet the guy. She mostly just talks to Betty about him on occasion but in a somewhat messed up way. Ultimately, she realises how she treats him in some regards like Hiram treated her and her mother. She wants to grow up further and not be like her father anymore. Since the fiance was only a trophy pawn, she breaks it off and concentrates on introspection/ maybe therapy for a bit.

Later that season her sister comes back and surprise: Hermosa embraced becoming Daddy.

(These would have to be restricted to two half episodes only, she definitely deserves story arcs that aren't about her dad.)

Careerwise: she has a couple businesses, maybe a restaurant chain or a franchise and she seems to collect startups. She reinvests a lot and has to travel quite a bit but can work remotely too.

Everyone seems to want FBI agent Betty and if I'd go that route I'd have her demask Charles as the fraude fake FBI who hires guns for hire and fake emergency teams while making up fantasy horror stories about serial killer genes to scare his biological family into killing each other that I wholeheartedly believe he is. But I also like Betty's interest in mechanics and would love for her to have a career in mechanical engineering. Maybe she switched majors at uni and now works for a company developing prosthetics. Maybe she tries to get Eric into joining a study. (I mean, prosthetic legs would help his work as a fire fighter...).

She's in town to visit Polly and the twins but after talking to Veronica she spontaneously stays in town. She can do her work remotely, really. The two of them move into a two bedroom 'shared bnb' (or whatever it was called in season two) and we finally get to see their friendship on screen.

Betty isn't in a relationship at the moment abd she's so into her work, she isn't looking for one either.

Jughead had broken up with Betty seven years ago and never really had a well working relationship after. He's grown obsessed with finding a way to recreate what he had with Betty.

Not in a totally creepy psycho way, he's simply not understanding that he might be sex positive and he had been in love with Betty, but he is ace and quite aro, too. It doesn't help, that he finds people sexually attractive on their online profiles just to be repulsed by the tought of even kissing them goodbye in person.

(I don't think tv is generally a fitting medium for this, but I guess he can narrate for himself and make it work.)

I guess he has to be an author. Obsessed as he is about finding love again (he wouldn't call it like that) he figures it had either been the location or the constant fear for his life. He chooses to return to Riverdale. He probably instantly moves with everything he owns to Riverdale (not that it's much beside a modern laptop, the typewriter and his camera).

Archie gives the great advice how Jughead is obviously still innlove with Betty, duh.

He of course runs into Betty some day, they end up investigating some random murder together and find themselves in familiar positions and kiss - but it just isn't there anymore. Jughead feels nothing and Betty isn't really into it either.

Veronica later points him in the direction of maybe not being allo (because she used to question herself as aro).

Funfact: Jughead would have failed graduation with Archie if Mr Honey didn't forge some records that weren't actually submitted from Stonewall (they claim all records were deleted during a power outage). Jughead knows and is deeply shamed.

Thornhill has been renovated! Toni is pregnant! Choni will be raising their kids (surprise, it's going to be twins!) in Cheryl's ancestral home. Choni are married and happy.

Toni has reopened the White Worm with Fangs somewhere at the Southside and yes, let's make her the official Serpent Queen. Let her work lots of social causes (remember toys for tots?), grey area rule bending for good and of course she works well with Gladys. I've seen talk about her being a social worker floating around and honestly, I think that works amazing. She's working the local cases (and a few unofficial ones) and I think she and Cheryl are registered foster parents. On occasion (like once) they'd be shown taking care of a random kid.

Cheryl used her College time to study two things: business and Riverdale town history. Remember how in season two she took so much pride in her ancestors because she believed them to be good people? She might be disillusioned but she is the Blossom heiress and her and Toni's as well as Jason's kids will one day inherit a better family legacy. She'll invest in Southside rebuilding projects, advocate for new town memorials, maybe rebrand some of the Blossom product lines. Something like that

She won't run for mayor yet, but she's definitely invested in (local) politics.

Of course the pregnancy was with artificial insemination, the donor was either an unsuspecting red head from the Greendale Sperm Bank or they use some of Jason's that has surly been saved to guarantee the Blossom line when everywhere was scary talk about sperm counts going down due to mobile phones.

In addition: the maple factories need worker bees! Cheryl has a few programs with Toni to get Serpents/random Riverdalians newly released from prison or just with bad luck into a steady job and a cushy appartement overlooking the ex prison on the Southside. Pop's is also participating. Ethel works as a landlady for said appartement complex.

Also, why not add a second Blossom-Topaz lovestory to underline this incest-adjacent show and bring back Toni's grandpa and set him up with Nana Blossom. XD

Then during this season's arc, the Blossom uncle's corpse will be found in the river and the mistery is whether the FBI will figure out who the corpse us and what happened or not.

I love Reggie. Since Varchie is unlikely thanks to Eric, him and Veronica rekindling their relationship would definitely be a possibility I'm into, but he also seems to have an interesting connection with Kevin and Fangs that could be built on.

He would definitely have a car he'd love very much and I think it would still be Bella.

I'm not sure about his career, but it wouldn't include his father's car dealership. Maybe he'd be a successful movie star just in town between movie shootings.

Kevin was doing something with musicals on Katy Keene, I think? Writing or directing? He was trying to nake it big, but some plans fell through. Now he's back in Riverdale. Luckily, they are just about to open Riverdale's first theater in the relatively newly built but forever closed prison. Next to the Southside Theater the complex holds a mall and the White Worm.

Fangs works full time as the manager of the WW that he co-owns with Toni. He meets Kevin again once he's back in town.

Sweet-Pea somehow ended up as a junior doctor at the Riverdale hospital. He spends all of his scarce free time at the WW.

Some of the background Pretty Poisons officially work for the police now. Different than Gladys, they are actually ccccc for the positions they hold.

Peaches works as a manager for one of Cheryl's companies. She's happily married and has a kid (or something).

How long in prison do you get in the US for standing in as the head figure of a crazy pen and paper cult that has literal murders committed in his name? As a blond white dude probably just parole? So honestly, once they actually bring his case to court (and they have nothing against him because anyone could have been under the mask at any one time and people know of different gargoyle kings) he's released of all charges. No one in Riverdale actually knows though since his case took forever, Bughead had already left Riverdale and Alice didn't step up to follow the case. No one wrote about it, so no one knows. They just assume that of course the guy will be locked away forever, he's guilty.

In reality, he and Charles have bought a house somewhere in a different street of Riverdale where they aren't quite known and have adopted a couple kids.

Charles meets Alice regularly for lunch and she thinks he's this workaholic FBI agent only living for solving crime. They play a long con game I don't know the goal of.

(They have been behind the tapes even if that storyline gets totally ignored. They pretend FP being in exile is their doing, but the tape responsible was just a random security camera in the area.)

Josie's plans in New York sadly fell through (I haven't seen any Katy Keene but I want her back)

Lot's of bonding scenes with her brother Kevin who's also back in town. The two share a flat and on occasion burst into song together. Since I've already invented the Southside Theater, maybe she'd find a job there, too.

Val and Melody stayed in Riverdale aftee highschool and made careers in town for themselves. Maybe Melody at city hall and Val as a marketing specialist at the farm, Riverdale's most outstanding new grocery mart. Half of all Riverdalians don't get the controversy of the name, the others either think it's brilliant or tasteless. (Kevin for example has repressed the nemories so gard, he doesn't get it. Josie is very protective and angry at Val for working there.) The store belongs to the eccentric redhaired Eva Everafter or whatever pseudonym Evelyn can come up with to thinly hide her identity behind.

Somewhere in it I'd throw in a few lines vaguely referencing older happenings like "I still can't drink tap water" and the very first time Veronica sees Archie again after seven years she identifies him through his ab muscles.

So in short: Archie would be very dumb, everyone else is just there.

Also: Pop's would serve 50% vegan burgers and milkshakes so I could dig in with gusto.

#riverdale speculation #riverdale fanfiction #riverdale #asks #arsenicpanda #fun #my writing #i guess

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welllpthisishappening · 4 years ago

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Welllp These Are Books: the June 2021 Edition

I have read a lot of books this month. That should be stated upfront. Just an absolute metric ton of books. Some real good, some not-so good, some inadvertently hysterical. Also, I made that BINGO board. Because, like, you ever have a total crisis of writing-confidence and ignore that potential freakout and the tendency of your coworkers to miss deadlines by reading every free Amazon sports romance you can find? And several full YA series? In one month? No? My experiences are not universal, I understand. Anyway, there’s thoughts and opinions and spoilers under the cut. Everyone read the Once Upon a Con series, I’m begging you.

READ THIS SERIES! PLEASE! EVERY BOOK WAS SO CUTE! EVERYONE IN EVERY BOOK WAS SO CUTE! THE FANDOM STUFF DID NOT GIVE ME SECOND-HAND EMBARRASSMENT!

Geekerella by Ashley Poston Part romance, part love letter to nerd culture, and all totally adorbs, Geekerella is a fairy tale for anyone who believes in the magic of fandom. Geek girl Elle Wittimer lives and breathes Starfield, the classic sci-fi series she grew up watching with her late father. So when she sees a cosplay contest for a new Starfield movie, she has to enter. The prize? An invitation to the ExcelsiCon Cosplay Ball, and a meet-and-greet with the actor slated to play Federation Prince Carmindor in the reboot. With savings from her gig at the Magic Pumpkin food truck (and her dad’s old costume), Elle’s determined to win…unless her stepsisters get there first. Teen actor Darien Freeman used to live for cons—before he was famous. Now they’re nothing but autographs and awkward meet-and-greets. Playing Carmindor is all he’s ever wanted, but the Starfield fandom has written him off as just another dumb heartthrob. As ExcelsiCon draws near, Darien feels more and more like a fake—until he meets a girl who shows him otherwise.

The Princess and the Fangirl by Ashley Poston Imogen Lovelace is an ordinary fangirl on an impossible mission: to save her favorite Starfield character, Princess Amara, from being killed off. On the other hand, the actress who plays Amara wouldn’t mind being axed. Jessica Stone doesn’t even like being part of the Starfield franchise—and she’s desperate to leave the intense scrutiny of fandom behind. Though Imogen and Jess have nothing in common, they do look strangely similar to one another—and a case of mistaken identity at ExcelsiCon sets off a chain of events that will change both of their lives. When the script for the Starfield sequel leaks, with all signs pointing to Jess, she and Imogen must trade places to find the person responsible. The deal: Imogen will play Jess at her signings and panels, and Jess will help Imogen’s best friend run their booth. But as these “princesses” race to find the script leaker—in each other’s shoes—they’re up against more than they bargained for. From the darker side of fandom to unexpected crushes, Imogen and Jess must find a way to rescue themselves from their own expectations...and redefine what it means to live happily ever after.

Bookish and the Beast by Ashley Poston In this third book of the Once Upon a Con series, Rosie Thorne is feeling stuck—on her college application essays, in her small town, and on that mysterious General Sond cosplayer she met at ExcelsiCon. Most of all, she’s stuck in her grief over her mother’s death. Her only solace was her late mother’s library of rare Starfield novels, but even that disappeared when they sold it to pay off hospital bills. On the other hand, Vance Reigns has been Hollywood royalty for as long as he can remember—with all the privilege and scrutiny that entails. When a tabloid scandal catches up to him, he’s forced to hide out somewhere the paparazzi would never expect to find him: Small Town USA. At least there’s a library in the house. Too bad he doesn’t read. When Vance’s and Rosie’s paths collide, sparks do not fly. But as they begrudgingly get to know each other, their careful masks come off—and they may just find that there’s more risk in shutting each other out than in opening their hearts.

— I cannot possibly overstate what an absolute delight this series was. Cute and sweet and adorable. Like rot your teeth sweet with romances that my high-school self would have swooned over. (I would have been so in love with Darien Freeman as a 16 year old, it’s not even funny. Also, I would have been obsessed with Starfield.) Let’s be honest, my current self swooned quite a lot. Reading these books genuinely felt like a love letter to fandom. To the good and bad and trashy parts of it, and it made my heart swell thinking about these fictional kids and the community they found and how much they learned and then they FELL IN LOVE and, like, not to sound like an after-school special, but: THE REP IN THESE BOOKS?!?? HOLY S H I T. So good. So goddamn good. And not, like, shoved to the side. Like, Jess falls in love with a girl. And it gets its swoon-worthy moment as much as anyone else. Plus, bi-librarian dad who wears suspenders??? Sign. Me. Up. Twisting the fairy tales into the stories also worked really well in my opinion. Honestly my only gripe was that Darien found a cell phone number in the white pages, but, like, everything else was a joy. Please read these books. I promise they will make you smile.

IN WHICH I CAN NEVER TURN DOWN A BEAUTY AND THE BEAST ALTERNATE UNIVERSE

Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge Betrothed to the evil ruler of her kingdom, Nyx has always known that her fate was to marry him, kill him, and free her people from his tyranny. But on her seventeenth birthday when she moves into his castle high on the kingdom's mountaintop, nothing is what she expected—particularly her charming and beguiling new husband. Nyx knows she must save her homeland at all costs, yet she can't resist the pull of her sworn enemy—who's gotten in her way by stealing her heart.

— Yo. YO. Everyone in this book was horrible! And it was wonderful! I figured out the twist approximately point two seconds after the potential for a twist was possibly introduced and it did not diminish my enjoyment of this book for one second. I am such a sucker for any Beauty and the Beast AU, but this was way different than anything I’d read before and Nyx was a blood-thirsty terror and I loved her. The magic and the world building was fascinating in that I really did not expect Greek gods and goddess, but it was also a welcome turn in a weird, huh, that’s interesting sort of way. And the banter was a-plus, top tier. Even when they were snarking at each other. Especially when they were snarking at each other. (Still a pretty quick turn from enemies to lovers, but I’m willing to overlook that based almost solely on the snark.) Plus, the castle was fascinating. And there were more twists aside from the main twist, none of which I figured out. All of which I gasped over. The end was like—chef’s kiss, fantastic. I would like a novel-length sequel to tell me how everything worked out.

...BUT THE LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD ONE WASN’T AS GOOD

Crimson Bound by Rosamund Hodge When Rachelle was fifteen she was good—apprenticed to her aunt and in training to protect her village from dark magic. But she was also reckless—straying from the forest path in search of a way to free her world from the threat of eternal darkness. After an illicit meeting goes dreadfully wrong, Rachelle is forced to make a terrible choice that binds her to the very evil she had hoped to defeat.Three years later, Rachelle has given her life to serving the realm, fighting deadly creatures in a vain effort to atone. When the king orders her to guard his son Armand—the man she hates most—Rachelle forces Armand to help her hunt for the legendary sword that might save their world. Together, they navigate the opulent world of the courtly elite, where beauty and power reign and no one can be trusted. And as the two become unexpected allies, they discover far-reaching conspiracies, hidden magic . . . and a love that may be their undoing. Within a palace built on unbelievable wealth and dangerous secrets, can Rachelle discover the truth and stop the fall of endless night?

— As much as I loved Cruel Beauty, I was like ehhhh on this one. Which is part Little Red Riding Hood (although that seems like a stretch, honestly) and part The Girl With No Hands, which is a fairy tale I have literally never heard of before. Rachelle was just—sorta whiny? Which, y’know, she was cursed and had fucked up her entire life, so fair, but also...annoying. I kept reading mostly to try and understand what the FUCK was going on with the magic. I like to consider myself a relatively intelligent person who can understand most YA novels, but this one was tough to keep track of. Like, sure, the imagery of the Dark Forest was cool, but also what is a Gladspring? I’m still not sure I know. Also, this kind of dragged in some places. Lots of patrolling the palace (whining about life) and not enough magic-fighting or establishing any sort of relationship between Rachelle and Armand. Which just sort of happened? Amidst, approximately, twenty-four different twists that were admittedly cool, but also felt like they came out of nowhere. Everything that happened in Cruel Beauty made sense. Most of what happened here felt like it was shoehorned in for shock value.

YOU WANT MORAL AMBIGUITY? BOY HAVE I GOT MORAL AMBIGUITY FOR YOU. IN GODDAMN SPADES.

The Firebird Series by Claudia Gray Marguerite Caine's physicist parents are known for their groundbreaking achievements. Their most astonishing invention, called the Firebird, allows users to jump into multiple universes—and promises to revolutionize science forever. But then Marguerite's father is murdered, and the killer—her parent's handsome, enigmatic assistant Paul— escapes into another dimension before the law can touch him.Marguerite refuses to let the man who destroyed her family go free. So she races after Paul through different universes, always leaping into another version of herself. But she also meets alternate versions of the people she knows—including Paul, whose life entangles with hers in increasingly familiar ways. Before long she begins to question Paul's guilt—as well as her own heart. And soon she discovers the truth behind her father's death is far more sinister than she expected.

— Guys. GUYS. These books, oh my G O D. Little known fact about me, but I am trash for cross-dimensional soulmates. The concept of “we’ll find each other anywhere” is one of my favorites, so I was so psyched about these books. And for awhile that’s what I thought I was going to get out of them. But. BUT! What I actually got was something, not totally different, but not entirely great, either. The problem here was that when anyone used one of the Firebird devices to jump dimensions they TOOK OVER THE BODY THEY JUMPED INTO. So, like, that consciousness got shoved to the side while whatever prime!person just took over. Living that body’s life. In a different dimension. And that’s kinda fucked up, right??? Brings in all sorts of questions about consent and morality and let me tell you, guys, this YA series DID NOT ADDRESS A SINGLE ONE OF THEM. Which is also super fucked up!! So, like, Marguerite is just bouncing around dimensions taking over people’s bodies and lives and leaving this, frankly, trail of destruction in her wake. And as if that wasn’t enough!!! In the second book Paul’s soul gets, like, split and she’s got to round up the pieces through dimensions, meeting all sorts of Pauls who are occasionally kind of shit people and he eventually just, like, CANNOT COPE. Seriously, I could not stop reading these. Partially for the moral ambiguity. Partially because I could not figure out why Paul loved Marguerite. Also, capitalism was the ultimate villain. AS IT SHOULD BE, REALLY.

CREEPY FAE WERE KIND OF CREEPY AND THAT’S NOT BAD, BUT LIKE MAYBE THIS WASN’T A GOOD BOOK?

An Enchantment of Ravens by Margaret Rogerson Isobel is an artistic prodigy with a dangerous set of clients: the sinister fair folk, immortal creatures who cannot bake bread or put a pen to paper without crumbling to dust. They crave human Craft with a terrible thirst, and Isobel’s paintings are highly prized. But when she receives her first royal patron—Rook, the autumn prince—she makes a terrible mistake. She paints mortal sorrow in his eyes—a weakness that could cost him his life. Furious, Rook spirits her away to his kingdom to stand trial for her crime. But something is seriously wrong in his world, and they are attacked from every side. With Isobel and Rook depending on each other for survival, their alliance blossoms into trust, then love—and that love violates the fair folks’ ruthless laws. Now both of their lives are forfeit, unless Isobel can use her skill as an artist to fight the fairy courts. Because secretly, her Craft represents a threat the fair folk have never faced in all the millennia of their unchanging lives: for the first time, her portraits have the power to make them feel.

— I’ve seen this book mentioned a lot. As good. And it wasn’t not good, but Isobel was pretty goddamn annoying and kind of dumb and a little self-important and I was mostly here for the creepy fae. That was fun. More fae should have antlers and stuff. Everything in this story happened ridiculously fast. I couldn’t believe it was over when it was over.

THE PROSE WAS VERY PRETTY. I’M NOT SURE WHY THE DRAGON HAD TO BE SUCH A MONUMENTAL DICK.

Uprooted by Naomi Novik Agnieszka loves her valley home, her quiet village, the forests and the bright shining river. But the corrupted Wood stands on the border, full of malevolent power, and its shadow lies over her life. Her people rely on the cold, driven wizard known only as the Dragon to keep its powers at bay. But he demands a terrible price for his help: one young woman handed over to serve him for ten years, a fate almost as terrible as falling to the Wood. The next choosing is fast approaching, and Agnieszka is afraid. She knows—everyone knows—that the Dragon will take Kasia: beautiful, graceful, brave Kasia, all the things Agnieszka isn’t, and her dearest friend in the world. And there is no way to save her. But Agnieszka fears the wrong things. For when the Dragon comes, it is not Kasia he will choose.

— Let me just say first off, that this should have been two books. Everything happened so quickly, I swear I got whiplash. That being said, as a heroine, I liked Agnieszka a lot. She was understandably freaked by everything that happened, but once she kind of settled, she didn’t take The Dragon’s shit and that was good because The Dragon was kind of shitty. This is why it should have been two books. Because everything The Dragon did felt like it needed some kind of explanation. Or at least some sort of reasoning for why he was such a monumental bastard. Which is why I was a little confused that Agnieszka was in love with him? He was such a dick, honestly. The last third or so of this book was the best because Novik really does know how to write action and the magic itself was pretty fascinating. (I wish it went into more depth, but I think I’m spoiled by fic and that’s not actually how the publishing world works.) Kasia might have been the most interesting person in this story. Girl went through it and just became a total badass. I loved her.

MARAUDER FEELINGS! MARAUDER FEELINGS! SO! MANY! MARAUDER! FEELINGS!

The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater All her life, Blue has been warned that she will cause her true love's death. She doesn't believe in true love and never thought this would be a problem, but as her life becomes caught up in the strange and sinister world of the Raven Boys, she's not so sure anymore.

— RICHARD GANSEY, MY BELOVED. What a dweeb. A self-sacrificing, sorta sad dweeb. When he wrapped his jacket around Blue, my heart exploded. I think I spent the last fifteen or so chapters with disconcertingly wide eyes and possibly my hand over my mouth. Still not entirely sure why a Welsh king was in Virginia, but I loved it. Was real glad he was there. As promised by that one book rec list I read months ago, the Marauders vibes of these books were off the charts. It was a weird story with lots of weird things and I hope Mr. Grey gets to be happy one day and that Ronan and Adam make out some more eventually. I think they’ll both feel a lot better if they do. Like, about the world as a whole. Has anyone read the Ronan spinoff series? Should I read the Ronan spinoff series?

OK, THIS WASN’T THAT BAD, ACTUALLY

To Love Jason Thorn by Ella Maise Jason Thorn... My brother's childhood friend. Oh, how stupidly in love with that boy I was. He was the first boy that made me blush, my first official crush. Sounds beautiful so far, right? That excitement that bubbles up inside you, those famous butterflies you feel for the very first time--he was the reason for them all. But, you only get to live in that fairytale world until they crush your hopes and dreams and then stomp on your heart for good measure. And boy did he crush my little heart into pieces. After the stomping part he became the boy I did my best to stay away from--and let me tell you, it was pretty hard to do when he slept in the room right across from mine. When tragedy struck his family and they moved away, I was ready to forget he ever existed. Now he is a movie star, the one who makes women of all ages go into a screaming frenzy, the one who makes everyone swoon with that dimpled smile of his. Do you think that's dreamy? I certainly don't think so. How about me coming face to face with him? Nope still not dreamy. Not when I can't even manage to look him in the eye. Me? I'm Olive, a new writer. Actually, I'm THE writer of the book that inspired the movie he is about to star in on the big screen. As of late, I am also referred to as the oh-so-very-lucky girl who is about to become the wife of Jason Thorn. Maybe you're thinking yet again that this is all so dreamy? Nope, nothing dreamy going on here. Not even close.

— Ignoring the fact that this was almost blatant self-insert, this was a mostly good, occasionally trashy book with brother’s best friend and the one who got away tropes. Which, as we know, are my life’s blood. (Plus, surprise, fake marriage that isn’t really fake?!? Ok. OK!) My only eeek moment was when Olive got super drunk and wanted Jason to like—consummate the marriage and he was like, No Olive, you’re drunk. And then they ended up doing everything except having full-on sex, which felt a little creep and a lot sketch and then it was never mentioned again. Also, Olive needs to find some better friends, God.

EMERSON COD VOICE: HE’S STAAAAAALKING YOU

Marriage For One by Ella Maise Jack and I, we did everything backward. The day he lured me into his office-which was also the first day we met-he proposed. You'd think a guy who looked like him-a bit cold maybe, but still striking and very unattainable-would only ask the love of his life to marry him, right? You'd think he must be madly in love. Nope. It was me he asked. A complete stranger who had never even heard of him. A stranger who had been dumped by her fiancé only weeks before. You'd think I'd laugh in his face, call him insane-and a few other names-then walk away as quickly as possible. Well…I did all those things except the walking away part. It took him only minutes to talk me into a business deal…erm, I mean marriage, and only days for us to officially tie the knot. Happiest day of my life. Magical. Pop the champagne… Not. It was the worst day. Jack Hawthorne was nothing like what I'd imagined for myself. I blamed him for my lapse in judgment. I blamed his eyes, the ocean blue eyes that looked straight into mine unapologetically, and that frown on his face I had no idea I would become so fascinated with in time. It wasn't long after he said I was the biggest mistake of his life that things started to change. No, he still didn't talk much, but anyone can string a few words together. His actions spoke the loudest to me. And day after day my heart started to get a mind of its own.

— Ok, ok, ok, so I enjoyed the Jason Thorn book, right? Was, like, how bad could this other book be? And it wasn’t bad, but it was patently ridiculous. Let me explain what happened. Not entirely sorry for the spoilers. Jack the lawyer sees that Rose is only going to get the space for her coffee shop from her uncle’s will if she marries someone. She WAS engaged, but the guy split. For reasons no one can understand, especially Rose. She’s sad. She’s spent so much money on espresso machines! Enter Jack the lawyer who one random afternoon is like: HEY ROSE, YOU’RE MOSTLY A STRANGER, BUT I ALSO NEED TO GET MARRIED FOR REASONS I’LL ONLY SORTA EXPLAIN, LETS DO THAT. So they do???? And Jack the lawyer continues to be kinda weird and a little shady, but Rose has got the coffee shop and things are going well. Until! She’s got a leaky brain!!! That’s not a joke. Not a typo. Out of goddamn LEFT FIELD, Rose has got some horrible medical condition, so thank God she got married because Jack the lawyer’s got great health insurance. (this is ROMANTIC) and she’s got to have an operation and he stays with her and sleeps in the hospital chair and her coffee shop is somehow still going strong??? On Madison Avenue??? What sit-down coffee shop on Madison Avenue do you guys know that would succeed? None because it’s not downtown. I digress. Anyway, Rose makes a miraculous recovery, she and Jack the lawyer are now almost in love? At least having a shit ton of sex. They’re mostly happily married. Until, part two! The ex-fiance shows up and is like JACK THE LAWYER PAID ME TO BREAK UP WITH YOU. To which Rose is understandably flabbergasted. She confronts Jack the lawyer who fesses that he’s been seriously crushing on her since they met at her uncle’s Christmas party. She doesn’t remember this. He does. BECAUSE HE’S A STALKER. So, he knew about the will stipulation with marriage BACK THEN, which is why he used FIRM RESOURCES to investigate the ex-fiance and found out he was a con man, using Rose with plans to basically steal all her money. This infuriated Jack the lawyer because he thought Rose deserved better and then proceeded to basically con her himself, just in a different way. With marriage! He told her he needed to get married to show he was a family man to make partner. THAT WAS A LIE. He didn’t need it at all. He just—wanted to marry her??? To help her??? What a psycho. She leaves. He continues to lurk outside the coffee shop. They make up. No one mentions the stalking. The end.

I KEEP GIVING HELENA SECOND CHANCES AND SHE KEEPS...NOT DESERVING THEM

All In Series by Helena Hunting Sometimes I need an escape from the demands, the puck bunnies, and the notoriety that come with being an NHL team captain. I just want to be a normal guy for a few weeks. So when I leave Chicago for some peace and quiet, the last thing I expect is for a gorgeous woman to literally fall into my lap on a flight to Alaska. Even better, she has absolutely no idea who I am.Lainey is the perfect escape from my life. My plan for seclusion becomes a monthlong sex fest punctuated with domestic bliss. But it ends just as abruptly as it began. When I’m called away on a family emergency, I realize too late that I have no way to contact Lainey.A year later, a chance encounter throws Lainey and me together again. But I still have a lie hanging over my head, and Lainey’s keeping secrets of her own. With more than lust at stake, the truth may be our game changer.

— Last year I read a hockey romance by Helena Hunting that was very cute and traditionally published and she’s got a bunch more free Amazon books that, for some reason, I keep downloading and reading and they continue to be absolutely ridiculous. That first one was a not-so-secret accidental pregnancy (as previously discussed ONE TIME without a condom mention and bam pregnant) but the second one with Rook’s sister was actually pretty cute. I’m not sure why they all called him Rook. Almost all these series have at least one book with someone recovering from an injury and they inevitably fall in love with their physical therapist. So, that one was pretty ok. None of these, however, were quite as entertaining as (wait for it) QUEENIE AND KINGSTON. WHOSE FRIENDS AND TEAMMATES ALL CALL HIM KING. QUEENIE. AND. KING. Gag. I read it anyway. At least 99% of that decision was based solely on the fact that the story started just after King found out his sister was actually his mom. How am I supposed to stop reading THAT?!? I ask you. Highlights of Queenie and King’s romance included: him calling his mom/sister MOMSTER, Queenie being secretly married this whole time, WITHOUT KNOWING IT, his strawberry allergy that flared up because she’d had a strawberry milkshake and then GAVE HIM A BLOWJOB, her dad finding out they were dating because he was the GM of the team and saw that his starting goalie was having a MASSIVE allergic reaction, Queenie’s eventual ex-husband getting engaged to someone who previously tried to self-inseminate to trap Rook into a relationship (I am not making this up, I swear) and then when he found out that his fiancee’s kid wasn’t actually his, he got into a massive fight and earned a 20-game suspension. THAT’S A QUARTER OF AN NHL SEASON. Tom Wilson got fined five thousand dollars for practically killing Artemi Panarin on the ice! I did not read the last book in this series because it was MORE ACCIDENTAL PREGNANCY and because it was Queenie’s dad and King’s mom and that meant they’d share a sibling. Which is where I draw the line, guys.

THERE WERE SEVEN BOOKS IN THIS SERIES! EVERY SINGLE ONE HAD TO HAVE A SCENE WHERE THE DUDE UNDERSTOOD THAT PERIODS WERE A THING???? LIKE THAT WAS IMPRESSIVE SOMEHOW?!?!

Hot Jocks Series by Kendall Ryan I've never been so stupid in my entire life. My teammate's incredibly sweet and gorgeous younger sister should have been off-limits, but my hockey stick didn't get that memo. After our team won the championship, and plenty of alcohol, our flirting turned physical and I took her to bed. Shame sent her running the next morning from our catastrophic mistake. She thinks I don't remember that night—but every detail is burned into my brain so deeply, I’ll never forget. The feel of her in my arms, the soft whimpers of pleasure I coaxed from her perfect lips…And now I’ve spent three months trying to get her out of my head. Which has been futile, because I’m starting to understand she’s the only girl I’ll ever want. I have one shot to show her I can be exactly what she needs, but Elise won’t be easily convinced. That’s okay, because I’m good under pressure, and this time, I’m playing for keeps.

—I read all of these. All. Of. Them. They were exceptionally quick reads. Every single one had a copious amount of sex in it and a very weird, apparently required scene, where the dude had to be like I’M NOT SQUICKED OUT BY PERIODS AM I NOT THE ULTIMATE EXAMPLE OF MASCULINITY?? My favorite one was Grant and Ana’s, though, because it was so goddamn absurd I cannot believe someone wrote it. Basic gist was that Ana was dating someone on Grant’s team (he’s the captain, natch) but the guy was a dick and abusive and so one night Ana decides to leave, but she needs someone to help her and WHO DOES SHE TURN TO??? That’s right, reclusive captain Grant. Who’s spent the last few years watching his teammates marry-up and start families and he’s so jealous, but he can’t say anything because he’s a stoic MAN™. So he takes Ana and her dog (of course she’s got a dog) back to his super swanky bachelor pad and she just sort of...stays there? Video of the boyfriend accosting her at her job gets leaked and the boyfriend gets sent to the AHL which is not really how it would work, but fine. Naturally, Grant and Ana hook up. It’s emotional. Vaguely romantic. There’s no GODDAMN CONDOM. So, she gets pregnant. But, of course. Except! She doesn’t know if it’s dick boyfriend’s or Grant’s. Because he’s the male lead in a free sports romance on Amazon, Grant is the MOST understanding. He wants to help Ana. He would like to continue having sex with Ana. This is ready-made happily ever after. Only Ana’s like...eh?? She doesn’t want it to look like she bounced from one hockey player to the next, but also she sorta did and she kept telling Grant she just wanted to be friends, only to have sex, like, three chapters later. Then she just moved out! Just moved out. Seven months pregnant. Moving out. With her dog. Of course, this is a free sports romance on Amazon, so eventually she moved back in with Grant. Once she realized independence wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. And because he left practice to be there when she had the baby. Oh! And she got a DNA test after. To see whose kid it was. Grant ripped that ‘ish up. Just ripped it up. Which is cool, I guess. But, like, you didn’t want to double check? What if that kid has to go to the hospital? Did she put Grant’s name on the birth certificate? What are his parental rights?? Anyway, they’re all set to live HEA when....THE DICK BOYFRIEND DIES. Straight up. No explanation. Nothing. Just Grant tells Ana he’s dead, she’s like, oh wow that’s sad, they send some flowers to the funeral and that’s THAT. I assume this was to close any potential plot holes on the father of this baby, but it was hysterical and I cannot stop thinking about it. Strangely enough, the one where the couple made a secret sex tape in college and then got back together because it got released may have been the healthiest relationship in this series.

#book recs #book rec #book reccs #laura reads books #welllp these are books #i will not apologize for that bingo board #i think this is a highlight of accomplishments #like for me personally

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grapevynerendezvous · 4 years ago

Photo

Bobby Hebb - Sunny

In the summer of 1966 the sun warmed the Earth, in part because Bobby Hebb’s compelling song, Sunny, was released that June by Phillips Records. An uplifting ode to celebration of life and perseverance; it is one the most recorded and performed popular songs. In a 2000 interview with Jonathan Marx of Nashville Scene Hebb estimated that there was some 500 recorded versions of the song. Recorded in February ’66, it entered the Billboard Top 100 at the end of June and in late August peaked at No. 2 for three weeks. It was ranked No. 27 in the Top 100 for the year. It also hit No.3 on the Billboard R&B chart and was ranked No.17 for the year. In BMI’s Top 100 Songs of the Century it is at No.25. In this particular case century represented the period of time that BMI - Broadcast Music, Inc. had existed since the 1930s. The tally also represented those songwriters and publishers that were licensed through BMI, which has had a significant share of artists in rock and roll, blues, jazz, r&b, gospel, country, folk, latin and classical styles of music as opposed to their main competitor ASCAP which has been more focused on pop artists. The ensuing Sunny album was released in September. It topped out at No.17 on the Billboard R&B during a brief period on that chart, but appears to have not broken through the Billboard Top 200 chart. Another track from the album, A Satisfied Mind b/w Love Love Love, was released later in the fall and reached No.39 on the Hot 100 and No. 40 on R&B in Billboard. A non-album song, Love Me b/w Crazy Baby (which was on the album) was released in late ’66 and only reached No.84 on the Top 100.

About the time I graduated from David Starr Jordan Junior High School, and summer days were upon me, radio jocks started spinning Sunny, a beautifully written and performed song with such wonderful positive message. I wasn’t really considering buying 45s at the time and the song lead me to buying the album when it came out in late summer making it the tenth LP of my small, but growing collection. I enjoyed some of the songs on the album and listened to it quite a bit after I first got it, less so as I started getting more records that kept me busy listening to them. It appears that the album didn’t have big sales so it must be comparatively rare these days, although I don’t get a sense that it is collectively in big demand. Since there was no internet back then, and I didn’t know about trade magazines and such, I had always wondered about what happened to Bobby. I basically heard nothing about him after 1966. It turns out that within five years he was basically out of the recording business, but still did some performing, although on a more local basis in the locations where he lived. His song still brings me sunshine when I hear it.

One of the stranger things I’ve ever come upon is that a single of Bobby Hebb’s Sunny was released by a Japanese label in 1971 backed with Summertime Blues by Blue Cheer. As soon as I saw the track times I knew it was for real. I used to put both songs on cassette tapes and have the song lengths indelibly stuck in my brain. Don’t get me wrong, I love both those songs, but I don’t think I would ever play them back to back, let alone expect them to be on the same 45 record. Just to clarify, Sunny is an R&B/Pop song as opposed to Blue Cheer’s version of Summertime Blues, which is arguably one of, if not, the earliest heavy metal songs on radio or anywhere else.

Robert “Bobby” Von Hebb was born in Nashville, Tennessee, one of eight children. His parents were both blind, and they were musicians. Bobby started performing at the age of three when he was introduced to an audience by his nine-year old brother, who was tap dancing at the time. They were both members of their gospel group Hebb’s Kitchen Cabinet Orchestra which included his siblings and parents. His brother Harold and he continued performing as a song-and-dance team, mostly in local nightclubs. Meanwhile Bobby learned to play guitar and other instruments. Being in Nashville meant that Hebb was also surrounded by “hillbilly music”, which is what later became known as country music. He was about 16 when, after playing on a local TV show hosted by record producer Owen Bradley, he was given an opportunity to perform with Roy Acuff’s Smoky Mountain Boys, playing the spoons among other instruments. He was one of the first African-Americans to play at The Grand Old Opry, performing regularly with the Acuff band, having played there before Charlie Pride.

A few years later he went to Chicago, drawn by the jazz scene, but drawn in by the blues. He ended up hanging out with Bo Diddley and is “said to have appeared on a Bo Diddley recording, Diddley Daddy…singing back-up or playing spoons, but there is no aural evidence of the latter”, according to the Richard Williams’ August 2010 Bobby Hebb obituary article in The Guardian.

By the next year he was in the U.S. Navy and assigned to the seaplane tender USS Pine Island. He learned to play trumpet while in the band, the Pine Island Pirates. After his stint in the Navy he returned to Nashville where he performed in Nashville jazz and R&B nightclubs playing guitar and trumpet. Hebb recorded his first record, Night Train to Memphis. It was a song written by Owen Bradley and performed by Acuff’s Smoky Mountain Boys. Bobby gave this country song an R&B edge, even a bit of gospel, proving that the hillbilly/country and race/rhythm & blues styles were quite compatible. The song was released on Rich Records by owner/DJ John “R” Richbourg. A few years later Bobby went to New York after he had worked in some sessions with Dr. John and James Booker, where Richbourg got him a gig at Sylvia Robinson’s (nee Vanderpool) Blue Morocco Club. As Hebb put it, “I went for two weeks and stayed for two years.” Sylvia was one half of Mickey & Sylvia and after Mickey relocated to Paris she worked with Hebb for awhile as Bobby & Sylvia.

It was while Bobby Hebb was in New York that he wrote Sunny. It was not long after the death of his brother Harold which occurred outside a Nashville nightclub the day after President John F. Kennedy had been assassinated. It has been claimed by some that he wrote the song as a response to the murder of his brother, perhaps to both men, but Hebb put it another way in his interview with Jonathan Marx: “Very few people know what I really meant when I said “Sunny.” The other things, yes, but who I was talking to, or what I was talking about when I said “Sunny”—that still remains a mystery because it can be taken in quite a few ways.” After being asked if it was written for his brother he said, “Everyone seems to think that, because of the love, I suppose. But the love is always there. Sunny is your disposition. You either have a sunny disposition or you have a lousy disposition. Either you’re screaming at someone and angry, or you say, ‘No, uh-uh, I’m not angry. Let’s discuss this thing in a nice and pleasant way.’ Well, that pleasant way is a sunny disposition. Instead of confusing, and building chaos, let’s make this day a nice day for everyone. Spread that type of news so that you can become a little more relaxed and not filled with chaos, because chaos can become a killer.” In a sense, it still was in reaction to the tragic death of his brother, even if not consciously. He wrote Sunny in 1964 and, according to Richard Williams’ obituary article, it is explained, “The song came to him one morning when he had just returned to his home in Harlem from an all-night music session and a bout of heavy drinking, the sight of a purple dawn being its immediate inspiration.”

Not long after Hebb started being represented by Buster Newman, who started shopping the song around to publishers, but kept getting turned down. It did finally get picked up and was first recorded by a Japanese singer, Mieko Hirota, and as an instrumental by vibraphonist Dave Pike. Hebb was finally persuaded by eventual producer Jerry Ross to record it in New York studio Bell Sounds and it was included in an eighteen song demo. The recording of it was completed in the last moments in the session. Among those who were back up singers for the recording are names that eventually made their own marks in the music world: Melba Moore, and Nicholas Ashford and Valerie Simpson, soon to known simply as Ashford and Simpson. The album was released three months after the single and included two other Hebb-penned songs.

Sunny was Bobby’s only big hit, but it came at a very special moment. So special that he was offered the opportunity to be on the bill as The Beatles toured America. Some have said that he was the opener, but it was in fact a co-bill. At the time of the tour his song, Sunny, was ranked higher than The Beatles’ songs. Here is what he had to say about it in the interview with Jonathan Marx in 2000, “I went on the Beatles tour—but I did not open up for The Beatles. Barry and the Remains opened the show for The Beatles. Then you had The Ronettes. Then you had The Cyrcle—“Red Rubber Ball.” Then I came on, and The Beatles came on. I was the costar of that show.”

Bobby Hebb also recorded three other singles after Night Train to Memphis, one on the Rich label, and two more on a couple of other labels in the ‘60s. In addition to the three singles that charted in ’66-’67 five more unsuccessful ones were released in the U.S, through 1968, primarily on Phillips. Mercury Records released another single that didn’t chart in 1972. The album Love Games was released in 1970 on Epic Records with all songs written or co-written by Hebb. It failed to chart in any manner. In 1975 the last single Hebb released, on Laurie Records, was a disco-ized version his hit called Sunny ’76 which only reached No.94 on the Billboard R&B chart i 1976. After 35 years of non-recording Hebb issued an album on a German label in 2005.

Bobby Hebb wrote hundreds of songs, and as his recording days faded, in a large part due to alcoholism, he begun working with comedian/composer Sandy Baron on a musical that never made it to Broadway. Two of the songs, A Natural Man (originally titled Natural Resource) and His Song Shall Be Sung, made their way to Lou Rawls after they had done some re-writes to the former one. A Natural Man was a big hit for Rawls in 1971, while His Song Shall Be Sung was the B-side to Rawls’ ’71 single Believe in Me.

Bobby had gotten married and has one daughter who, as of this writing is around 35 years old. He also had a son in the mid-fifties. After a move to the Boston area, where he played in a few clubs, Hebb’s liqueur issues were coming to a head, literally. Per Charles Goldsmith’s UPI article in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Nov. 2, 1987, Hebb said he "was drinking a quart a day, Green Chartreuse, 110 proof.” In 1978 he was arrested for shooting his wife in the shoulder, and served two years for assault. Hebb said, “it was “an accident, my wife and I are still friends,” In the ‘80s he was working a maintenance job with the state Public Works Department and, as a recovering alcoholic, was singing in a lounge in North Boston. He had stopped drinking in 1981. Eventually returning to Nashville, Bobby Hebb died while being treated for lung cancer.

Thank you, Bobby, thank you for the gleam that shows its’ grace.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobby_Hebb

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunny_(Bobby_Hebb_song)

https://www.nashvillescene.com/arts-culture/article/13004879/one-so-true

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/bobby-hebb-mn0000075683/biography

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2010/aug/05/bobby-hebb-obituary

https://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/fl-xpm-1987-11-02-8702030189-story.html

https://books.google.com/books?id=qYtz7kEHegEC&pg=PA159&lpg=PA159&dq=bobby+hebb+and+Dr.+John&source

https://www.bmi.com/news/entry/19991214_bmi_announces_top_100_songs_of_the_century

R&B top albums Bobby Hebb Sunny No. 17 https://books.google.com/books?id=hSIEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA43&dq=billboard+top+records+of+1966+december

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broadcast_Music,_Inc.

https://www.discogs.com/Bobby-Hebb-Sunny-By-Bobby-Hebb/release/14985370

https://www.discogs.com/Bobby-Hebb-Blue-Cheer-Sunny-Summertime-Blues/release/12366602

Sunny https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-5xGXpNt74

Sunny Live with Ron Carter https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRWyxzmNdJc

A Satisfied Mind https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shs74PDun2Q

Night Train to Memphis https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URYxTHTNKkM

A Natural Man Live with Ron Carter https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TYrc3tjePI

Bobby Hebb Playing Sam Cooke’s You Send Me Live https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=342QerUE-og

LP10

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rubyredsparks · 4 years ago

Text

An Imposter’s Heart

Relationships: Anxceit (Platonic), everyone else is just friendships

Characters: Virgil, Janus “Deceit”, Patton, Logan, Roman, Emile, Remy, various ocs

Tags: Among Us, Video Games - Freeform, Magic, Friendships, Queerplatonic Relationships, Cursing, Platonic Relationships, Chronic Illness, Card Tricks, Mentions of Quarantine, mentions of burn scars, mentions of vitiligo

Word Count: 3175

Summary: Quarantine sucks, especially if you're a chronically ill streamer and let's player. But it's nice to have friends and partners there to support you all the way.

And to accuse of murder.

AO3

"Is this your card?" Janus smirks when he holds up an eight of hearts, his audience clearly freaking out when it inevitably becomes clear that it is in fact their card. “I thought so, goodbye.” He clicks the button that takes him to the next participant.

“Hello,” he says, tipping his hat. While it has become difficult in getting gigs booked when he’s an amatuer magician (he’s not so much amatuer but young) becoming a MeTuber actually has become a much more entertaining way of living his dream and fucking over other people’s minds with illusions.

It’s much more fun, and much more lucrative.

“You’re that— that magician snake guy. Uhh, Deceit, right?” the participant says, clearly recognizing him. “I recognize you because of your whole—” a hand waves in front, gesturing towards a cheek.

Janus has never been one to shy away from his scars or his vitiligo, embracing them as his aesthetic and as much of his character as he can. And Virgil says it reminds him of scales and he definitely plays that up with makeup, adding to the whole snake character.

Janus nods in the affirmative, “I’m just here wondering if you can guess how I do this card trick. Would you like to guess?”

“Yeah! My grandpa was a magician and really liked to do card tricks. Maybe I can guess it!” they say eagerly.

Janus chuckles, flipping a card back and forth with his fingers. He doubts it. This trick he came up with all on his own. “Wonderful,” he murmurs. He singularly flips one card between two hands, forming a diamond with his thumb. He does it a few times, making sure that his participant sees the card appear and reappear a few times.

“Oh! I know how you do that. You— you take the card and put it between your fingers on your other hand behind your palm—”

“Really?” Janus says, doing it again. He looks down at his hands, feigning looking them over, spreading his fingers wide and then turning his hands back and forth to show that no card rested behind his fingers. “How do you do that?” he scratches his head, biting down a smile when his participant gawks at him.

“No, really, how do you do that?” Janus says with a faux sincere smile.

“I cannot,” his participant says, ducking their head and logging off to show the loading screen.

He chuckles, logging off of Omagle. Turning towards his camera, he smiles mysteriously. “Thank you for watching, I hope to see you on the morrow.” With a flirtatious wave, Janus turns off his camera.

With a sigh, he slumps back into his chair, groaning at yet another video he has to edit soon if he wants to make his weekly update. Being a MeTuber, as fun as it seems and is at times, is utterly exhausting. Not to mention what his roommate and partner deals with on a constant basis.

While he has gotten a bit of a subscriber jump ever since he played a few games of Amidst Us with the Sanders Shows gang, he won’t even begin to explain the hoops and valleys that his roommate went through to get such a jump.

Virgil, or as called by his online persona Corpse Emo, has gotten a 3 million subscriber jump ever since the normies as Janus liked to call them got addicted to his deep and soothing voice. Generally anxious, Virgil had freaked out. A Lot.

But Virgil loves being a MeTuber, Janus knows. He loves reading scary stories and making conspiracy theories about cryptids and other spooky things. But Janus also knows that Virgil gets freaked out by large numbers and performing if he doesn’t have everything handled.

Which is why he’s a faceless MeTuber and just a deep, soothing voice that people love to listen to. Something that Virgil is able to handle and control, to an extent. He obviously can’t help the fact that he has an incredibly recognizable voice or hair or hands.

So he compensates by being the main source of income and stays home while Janus goes out and gets the groceries and food. The little shit is lucky that Janus cares for him.

He hears the door to Virgil’s recording room open, and he blinks lazily. Groaning, he pulls himself up and stretches on his way out, only wearing half his usual attire and layers. With a scratch to his cheek, he leaves to meet Virgil out in the hallway.

“Gamer bladder?” Janus asks dryly when he sees Virgil zip through to the bathroom. He looks much too freaked to truly be in need of the restroom, eye bags darker than usual, so Janus assumes that Virgil needs to de-stress and take a moment to himself. The needs of the people too great and demanding. Janus can sympathize, fans can be the absolute worst sometimes.

Virgil flips him off, closing the door with a sharp thud. “Go entertain my chat,” Virgil’s words come out muffled behind the door, “they keep asking when Snake-Eyed Deceit is coming back on to play. It’s so fucking annoying.”

Janus would believe the indignation if Virgil doesn’t sound so fond. “You know I’m not much of a gamer, Virge,” Janus reminds him patiently.

“Just talk to them,” Virgil mutters, and Janus imagines Virgil curling into their bathtub with his hoodie drawn tight around him, lights turned off to complete the room. “Play a game if I take too long. It’s proximity anyway.”

Janus raps on the door lightly, “Just remember to drink some water. Did you take your meds?”

“Yes, mom,” Virgil rasps out, voice scratchy. “Fuck off.”

With a sigh, Janus raps an affirmative on the wood door and meanders his way down to Virgil’s recording room. He taps out a few greetings in chat, and then moves Virgil’s character blob in game.

“Emo, you’re back!” one of Virgil’s streamer friends cheers, doing a little wiggle in game.

“Not exactly,” Janus says into the mic lowly. A glance down at the chat shows them exploding in greetings to him with which he responds back politely. Doesn’t hurt to try and get new followers.

“Oh, it’s the Snake guy,” another says, and this voice Janus knows all too well.

“Hello to you, too, Roman,” Janus purrs. “Or should I call you Valkyrome? What a particularly creative name. Combining mythologies. Tell me, did you want to be a Valkyrie as a child.”

Roman puffs up, voice flustered, “Perhaps, they are one of the greatest warriors in Norse myths.”

“Oh, yes, I’m sure,” Janus says. He moves into the customization section of the game, changing from Virgil’s signature black and cat ears to yellow and a top hat. He keeps the name however, too lazy to change that. “How is everyone? It’s been a while since I’ve talked to you all. Yes, hello to you as well, chat.”

“Salutations, Snake,” Logic or Logan says monotonously in greeting. “I’m doing well.”

“HI, JAN!” Cupcake Harts, otherwise known as Patton Hart, cheers. Janus can’t help but twitch at the exorbitant cheerfulness, grating on his nerves a bit. Nothing against Patton, but the relentless sunshine can burn just a tad overwhelming sometimes.

Nevertheless, fondness tugs at his heart, “Hello again, Cupcake.”

“Is Corpse okay?” he asks, concern lacing every word. “He didn’t sound so lively last round. Is the kiddo good?”

“The Emo will be alright, but he gave me permission to play a few rounds as his little character for a bit if that would be alright.”

“Of course!” Patton says happily. “We don’t mind, do we?” Everyone else starts to overlap with words of reassurance at that, and Janus smiles. If anything, Janus is glad that Virgil was able to make friends this year. It has boosted the man’s confidence much more than it had been even if there is still some of that self-consciousness and anxiety that lingers.

“Alright, let’s start.” Logan cuts through the cacophony and the game counts down from five to begin.

---

“CUPCAKE WAS FAKING TASKS!” Roman screams when the meeting is called up, repeating it as much as he can. He clicks to vote instantly, not letting Patton explain.

Janus snickers at that, knowing for a fact that he was the imposter along with Remy.

“Roman, kiddo, do you really think that I would fake tasks with so many people in the room? I mean I could be the imposter, but I was alone so many times with Jodie.”

“He was,” Jodie confirms, “I don’t think that Cupcake is the imposter, he could’ve killed me so many times in specimen.”

“No, no Jodie, I mean I could be the imposter but that doesn’t mean that I couldn’t marinate you. I could just be playing a long game.”

“Ugh, he’s doing that double speak again,” Roman groans. “Cupcake, are you the imposter or not?”

“No, but I mean I could be,” Patton says with a mischievous tone that made Janus roll his eyes.

Janus skips his vote quickly, “Let’s just skip, there’s only one person dead.”

A murmur of agreement follows Janus’ declaration.

“Let me postulate this, but I think that the imposters are Deceit and Sleep.”

“How dare you—?” Remy immediately starts in on Logan, false offense filling up his words and making him much louder. Incessant clicking from their keyboard as rage fills their heart. “I will have you know that I was nowhere near the kill. You know what, I think it’s Specs, actually, he keeps framing me.

“Well, let’s settle down now,” Emile, otherwise known as Dr. Stitch, tries to intervene. “It’s only the first round of the game after all.”

“Uh, no can do, doc, not when my integrity is on the line.”

“What integrity,” Virgil mutters, and Janus whirled around in Virgil’s desk chair to see him leaning on the frame of the door.

“Is that Emo??” Patton squeals happily, “Hi! Are you taking over for Deceit? The game’s just started.”

Virgil shakes his head even though the only ones who can see are himself and Janus, his thick purple-brown curls falling in front of his brown eyes, “Nah, let Dee have a turn murdering everyone, I know he enjoys it.”

“Liess and slander,” Janus hisses, purposefully elongating his ‘s’ to make him seem more snake like.

“Does that mean Dee’s an imposter!?!” Roman screams as the meeting panel falls away and the little characters start running around crazily.

“I’m not the imposter, I’m not the imposter,” Janus lies reassuringly, shooting a dark glare at Virgil behind him as the taller one stifles his giggles, hiding the amusement in his eyes behind his hair.

He settles into Janus’ lap, completely obscuring the screen and his view of the game. “Emo, please let me play the game.”

“Hmm,” Virgil hums, tucking his head underneath Janus’ chin, a feat in and of itself given the height difference, “no, I’m comfortable. I’ll just sit here and talk to chat.”

With a sigh, Janus continues the arduous task of running around in the game with the much difficult challenge of having an emo in his lap. Virgil, for his part, looks very content and Janus can’t help but run his fingers through curly purple-brown hair.

“Hello, Roman.”

Roman yelps, “Who said that? How can you see me?” The lights in the game have been turned off and have been for a while, and Janus is taking advantage of the fact that Roman has been left in the far left hand corner of the map where people rarely go.

“Oh, Roman, Roman, Roman,” Janus says, tongue curling on his name with a knife. Roman screams, protesting and shouting for Janus not to do it. “Sorry about that, Ro,” Janus says with a manic giggle as he slices through Roman’s character.

“Big yikes,” Virgil murmurs. “No, chat, I’m not gonna do that, stop suggesting it. Anyway, yeah, I’m gonna be having some major collabs soon with some artists and I have so many cool projects on the way. Thank you guys so much for everything. We wouldn’t have gotten this far without you.”

“Aww, is that you, Emo? Are you talking to chat while Deceit plays?” Leslie pipes up, running close and in circles around Janus’ little blob character.

“Yup,” Virgil pops the last letter, “and guess what?”

“What?” Leslie asks just as Janus’ kill cooldown hit zero.

Janus clicks kill and Leslie screams in protest, her outrage cutting off when the body flops down onto the map. Virgil snorts out a laugh, cackling as Janus smiles indulgently, running around crazily on the map.

A new meeting is called up, this time two people have been killed, clearly shown on screen as having died: Roman and Leslie.

“Guys, guys, guys. I think Remy is the imposter,” Patton is saying. He’s the one who reported Leslie’s body“I’m pretty sure I saw him vent in electrical.”

“Excuse me, Kingdom Hearts!” Remy interrupts rudely. “I wasn’t even in electrical this round. You should get your prescription checked.”

“We needn’t vote here,” Logan interjects sagely. “We are, after all, on seven. But, need I remind you that Remy has been suspicious two rounds now and this time two bodies have been killed. I believe it would be wise to vote him off.”

“Uh uh, glasses here. I know you’re Mr. Big Brain and everything, but I am telling you that it ain’t me,” Remy takes a large sip of whatever drink he has on hand to emphasize his point.

With almost agreed silence, everyone votes and it’s an almost unanimous decision to vote off Remy, causing him to squawk.

“Oh no, you guys really voted for him? You guys voted him off?” Patton is saying as Remy starts screaming curse words and regret.

“What do you mean? You’re the one who said that you caught him venting—”

Janus starts to walk off, the conversation dying out the further he went. He walks to a secluded side of the map, making sure that no one can see as he waits for the cooldown.

“Think you can pull it off?” Virgil asks.

“Without a doubt,” Janus responds.

“What are you guys talking about?” Jodie walks up, suspicion in her question.

“Oh nothing,” Virgil starts, “except this—” and Janus clicks to kill.

Virgil starts talking to both chat and the other players as Janus starts his murder spree quietly. The two of them work as partners, Virgil talking and distracting the players as Janus offs them one by one.

Janus accidentally kills a person in front of someone else, but luckily he didn’t seem to see. “Okay, so I think this was Dragon,” Jace is saying.

Dragon immediately protests, “What do you mean? Where’s the body?”

“Emo, you just walked into admin, right? Did you see Dragon run out?” Jace asks.

“Um, maybe, I think so, yeah?” Virgil says, playing dumb.

“Then it’s Dragon. They were the one to kill, I saw them run out of admin just as the body flopped. Emo, back me up here.”

“Wait, what? I wasn’t even near—”

“AND they were sus last round, so.”

Quite easily, Dragon is voted off, but the game continues.

“I don’t get it, I thought it was Dragon and Sleep,” Jace says.

“Unless it was a self-report,” Logan posits. “You could’ve been caught by Dragon or Emo and you just reported to throw suspicion off yourself.”

Janus called up the meeting button, and Virgil got ready to speak, “Well, we could always 50/50 it. One of them has to be the imposter, right? We’re sure we got out one of them earlier with Remy and if it wasn’t Dragon, then it has to be Jace.”

“No, listen, Emo, I am begging you. I am on my knees, literally in real life right now, don’t vote for me, I am innocent. Please, I’m literally on my knees right now! It’s not me!!”

“Patton, I’m trusting you here,” Logan says. “Do you really think it’s Jace and not Emo?”

“Emo wouldn’t do that to us,” Patton says, though a bit unsurely, “and here’s the thing if Emo’s the imposter then he’ll win and get his video, but if he’s not then we win as crewmate. Either way, it’s a win-win situation!”

“What? Guys! That’s not how this works,” Jace pleads. “Please, it’s not me! I’m serious.”

But too late, the votes come in and Jace is voted out, his character yeeted out into space. And the game continues.

Logan screams in realization, “Patton, I trusted you! It’s Emo, it’s Emo. Oh my goodness. Patton, run! Run!”

“Logan, I have been waiting for this moment my entire life—” Virgil says manically as Logan starts to lose it, running around and screaming at Patton that he trusted Patton and that they voted off the wrong person.

Virgil calls a sabotage and starts to really race after Logan.

“Logan, I was right!” Patton says, slowly trailing after them just to keep up with the conversation. “That means Emo does get to have his video. And I get to be in it! Either way, it’s a win!”

Janus loses it, laughing just as hard as everyone else when Virgil finally manages to click the kill button, the victory screen loading up just as quickly as everyone’s voices come back loud and cheery.

“Good game, everybody—”

“Emo, that was hilarious—”

“Patton, I trusted you—”

“YOU GUYS VOTED ME OUT???—”

Virgil smiles up at Janus from his perch on Janus’ lap, contentment swimming in those brown eyes. Janus is helpless to smile back, even if he’s a bit overwhelmed by the noises. He nuzzles the top of Virgil’s head, burying his face in dark purple-brown curls.

“That was an amazing game, oh my gosh—”

Virgil buries himself into Janus’ warm body, a catlike grin stretching across his face. “Good job, Jan,” he whispers, making sure that chat doesn’t hear the name.

“I think you should be getting that congratulations, little Emo nerd,” Janus says dryly. “You got the final kill of the game after all.”

“Hey, Emo and Dee cheated! They worked together—!”

“We were using one character, jackass! It’s not our fault you guys didn’t think it was us!” Virgil yells back in retaliation, laughter edging on his words. More protests and compliments and whatnot continued as the gamers started arguing over each other again.

Warmth wraps around Janus like a warm hug and he wraps his own arms around Virgil as he continues heckling and joking around with friends, a new game already started. Virgil squirms in his hold to sit in his lap properly so that Virgil’s back is to Janus’ chest, moving to get comfortable.

“Alright, we won’t play together again—” Virgil is saying. Janus just holds Virgil in his lap tightly, contentment curling around him and settling into his stomach like a warm meal.

Sometimes life sucks, giving you chronic illness or vitiligo and burn scars. But sometimes life doesn’t suck so much when you have friends by your side and laughter surrounding you.

A/N: @sanderssidesgiftxchange Hi, @emo-does-things!!! I was your Secret Sanders this year and I hope I was able to fulfill your wish! I honestly couldn’t decide between the two things that I wrote, so you get two fics! Happy Winter and I hope you’re staying safe and that you enjoyed this!!!

#anxeit #anxiet #virgil sanders #janus sanders #roman sanders #logan sanders #patton sanders #various ocs #among us #emile picani #remy sanders #sleep sanders #secret sanders gift exchange #my writing

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