#and they left out the Catherine

[monster-noises]

so I finished my last book/series and had my day off and now I'm reading a non-fiction book about Fantasy Art and oh my goooooood this book is written like the final thesis of a college freshman who has Way too much unfounded confidence in their abilities to write a grounded, engaging, and informational essay about the history of pulp fantasy art. I"m gunna read the whole thing, because it appears to be a series of essays and ancedotes by various authors and the artists themselves, but hooo my Goodness Gracious it's so... it's sO.... it's SOOOOOO.... every like Four lines you can hear the author go 'ohohoho, isn't This a clever little sentence' but it's not, it's not a clever little sentence and then it's like a chunk of text that's all names and dates and then it's back to weird non-informational prose-ing like they just "covered" the part of modern sci-fi/fantasy history centered around the Comics Code and they didn't... explain anything about what it was. They just said it was There.. and then listed a bunch of names and dates that things either shut down or got published. There's no Narrative, there's no Pull, there's no details, it's not a compelling History of Fantasy Art; it's 90% fluffy pontificating and like 2% actual information and the other 8% is the author making weird horny references to the way women are usually depicted in this genre of art.... (I'm not generally one to rag on someone being Horny, even in a professionally published non-fiction book, and Hell the way women are and have been depicted in Fantasy is Something to Talk about, but if I have to read the sentence 'Supple Flesh' in a cheeky reference to a woman's ass One More Time I'm going to start Biting)

They said 'Heironymous bosch -often considered the first Fantasy Artist" and then made it clear they Disagreed like two pages later because Mr. Bosch didn't draw any fucking Dragons like hhhhwhaT? Again interesting debate to be had: where does the turn from mythological/religious iconography to Fantasy happen? how do you apply modern labels to things from the past? should you? what level of content or Style will/does/did define something as Fantasy, as opposed to other possible labels? but this author pushes all that aside and is just like 'it's about the DRAGONS' and it continues to be a running theme like every second paragraph they have something to say about Dragons as the leading Icon of Fantasy Art (I would argue if you were going to give that label to anything it would be Wizards but perhaps I am Biased.)

It's not the kind of Bad writing that makes one Genuinely angry, but is more just...comically Flabbergahsting. Makes you sit there and go; What are you Talking About???? Not to mention the illustrations on each page don't... fucking match the text at all, the author is talking about the works of fantasy artists around world war 2 and the accompanying image is a japanese wood block print from 1 8 3 5 this essay has said 0 words about japanese wood block prints. I am astounded, and frankly, astonished.

[expelliarmus]

[veruca4seether]

some ppls inclination to villainize or erase entirely jason todd’s parents and their role in his life says a lottttt more than you mean to

y’all ran with the nu52 versions real fucking fast

[chippdhearts]

@frostysfrenzy requested - CSI + Favourite story arc ↳ Catherine's leaving arc

[halsaph]

Estrogen wouldn't save her but it would make her issues present in new and fascinating ways

[fideidefenswhore]

was the tudors 'oversexualized', or was that just how tv was back then?

[decepti-geek]

i keep seeing tendrils of wider fandom discourse crossing my dash about who's a better fit for Lizzie or Darcy in Pride and Prejudice but HONESTLY

i'm currently very wrapped up in and entertained by the idea of a Northanger Abbey au - ie, Aziraphale as Catherine Morland and convinced he's living through a gothic novel surrounded by rakes and villains at every turn, meanwhile Tilney!Crowley is just hanging about like 'i would not be a real gothic hero if you PAID me but sure i can pretend if you're into that in the interests of taking the piss'

[aq2003]

AND WHAT IF I DIE!!!!!! WHAT IF I EXPLODE THE EARTH OVER THIS LINE

[arisu-alisa-alice]

𝓒𝓪𝓽𝓱𝓮𝓻𝓲𝓷𝓮 𝓪.𝓴.𝓪 𝓒𝓪𝓽𝓱𝔂, 𝓒𝓪𝓲𝓽, 𝓑𝓵𝓸𝓷𝓭𝓮 𝓒𝓪𝓽

[dmaorg-info]

dinnertime, a very short thing about two of my ocs

Catherine hadn’t moved from the couch in hours. She had spent most of her day watching whatever mindless segment Good Day Dema had on, but now she was lying there in silence. The sun had set hours ago, leaving her in complete darkness. 

The light above the apartment’s small kitchen was turned on by her roommate and best friend Sam. Catherine had almost forgotten she was still there, as Sam had mostly stayed isolated in her bedroom all day to give Catherine some space. To her knowledge, this was the first time all day Sam had left her room.

“Catherine? You still alive?” Sam said, taking a kettle out of their cabinet and filling it with water.

“Mm..” Catherine hummed, slowly sitting up. Her head was pounding after lying down for so long. “Would take a lot more than a slow day to kill me.”

“I’ll make dinner tonight. Don’t want you to push yourself at all today.” Sam set the kettle on the stove and turned it on, the sound of the stove clicking cutting through the air like bullets.

A few minutes later, Sam sat down on the couch next to Catherine. She handed her a ramen cup with a plastic fork sticking out the top. Her hand was carefully positioned so she could avoid Catherine’s fingertips. “Be careful, it’s still very hot.” Sam said, smiling.

“Thanks.” Catherine took the fork out of the cup and started halfheartedly stirring the ramen around.

Sam glanced at the turned-off television. “Anything good on TV today?”

Catherine shook her head. “Just the same type of things Good Day Dema runs every day. Weather. News. Show for children. Public service announcement. Repeat.”

“If it ain’t broke don’t fix it, I guess. Would like a change of pace every once and a while though.” Sam said, laughing while taking a bite of her ramen. “Maybe one day you could change that.”

Catherine sighed, looking down to her lap. “Yeah, sure.” she said quietly.

“Did something happen yesterday?”

Catherine lied back against the couch and returned to mindlessly stirring her ramen. “A lot of things happen. Don’t worry about it.”

“I worry about it because you worry about it.”

Catherine turned her head towards Sam. “I’m not worried about it.”

“The look on your face says otherwise. Sacarver isn’t being hard on you, is he?”

“No. Don’t worry about it. Seriously.”

Catherine abruptly stood up from the couch and briskly walked away. She set the now cold ramen cup on the kitchen counter and went into her bedroom, shutting the door behind her and leaving Sam alone in the dark. Heavy silence fell back upon the apartment, now with a tangible tension hanging in the air.

[pinktinselmonstrosity]

WELL

[throughpatchesofviolet]

After 48 hours of agony, I have secured the newest official Heathcliff acrylic stand for myself ...

Look at him ... my boyfriend ...

[sakuravalelp]

Phantom letters - DPXDC PROMPT

The bats wake up one day to the internet going crazy; people around the world were getting letters from they're diseased loved ones. The reactions are mixed, from people being outraged for the "prank" to people crying in melancholy at getting closure.

All the letters have something in common: They're closed with a green sealing wax that had an stylize DP and the name Phantom beneath it. Posts about the cards were using the # Phantom Letters.

The bats are discussing the viral posts in the cave when Alfred comes holding a basket filled with letters, announcing they were left at the doors. The letters had the sealing wax that they recognize from the posts. Checking the cameras they can see how they glitch before the basket appears.

Alfred starts to distribute the letters that had only one destinatary. Letters from each Thomas and Martha to both Bruce and Alfred. Letters from each John and Mary to Dick. A letter from Catherine to Jason. A letter from the Drake's to Tim, and another one to Bruce.

Once they had calmed down enough from the shock, Alfred proceeded to read the shared recipients. From Thomas and Martha to "The grandchildren we never got to meet." From John and Mary to "the family that took our little Robin in." Letters from Catherine to "My little boys family." The letters were directed to people the deceased didn't get to meet.

As much as the mere existence of the letters tugged at their hearts, they decided to not read them until they verified that the handwriting actually belong to the ones it claimed. They checked each letter, and in the end confirmed the letters were in fact from they're lost love ones.

After much discussion, each person makes the decision to read they're own letters later in private, and they proceed to read the ones that shared recipients out loud. The letter mentioned specifics like names and events that the deceased shouldn't have been able to know, including they're vigilante abilities, which had them pause each time to panic a bit. But what was more interested were certain pieces of the letters that mentioned a Prince Phantom.

"Prince Phantom said to don't mention things past our death, but it wasn't a command, so we're hoping this won't be much of a problem." - John and Mary

"I still can't believe Prince Phantom is letting us do this, but I'm so glad." - Catherine

It finally paints the mystery in a more concerning light when at the end of Thomas and Martha's letter there is a call for help.

"We're sorry for ending the letter on a serious tone, but seeing the kind of job you all get involved in, we wanted to ask: Could you please help Prince Phantom? Phantom had asked us to not give information about this, but he's so young, and has already been hurt so much. Please, check on Amity Park, Illinois."

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Meanwhile, team Phantom has decided that they needed to get the news about the GIW out of Amity and ask for help. Two problems:

the GIW blocks any technological attempt made.

People might be afraid to learn that ghosts exist and side with the GIW.

As a way to deal with the public image, Phantom opens a possibility that the death have never had:

"All afterlives are open to write letters to their love ones that are still alive today. Nothing that includes threats, and don't go talking about the anti-ecto acts or Amity Park yet, we're trying to ease people into our existence first. Also, I know you all check on your love ones when the veil is thin, but please keep the things you shouldn't know out of the letters if possible. If you want your letter to be sent in the first batch, make sure to deliver your letter before the week ends."

Letters are a good way to reconnect people with the death, they aren't digital, and the GIW won't be able to intercept letters if they're send through inter-dimensional portals. Two birds in one shot.

[immediatebreakfast]

It's so tragic to read how Jonathan's writing changed so much to the point that it feels as if another person took his hands, and erased his literary identity. In an epistolary novel where all of the characters have such distinct writing styles, and quirks this writing change is the only reflection of the amount of trauma Jonathan has gone through.

From early may:

Before us lay a green sloping land full of forests and woods, with here and there steep hills, crowned with clumps of trees or with farmhouses, the blank gable end to the road. There was everywhere a bewildering mass of fruit blossom—apple, plum, pear, cherry; and as we drove by I could see the green grass under the trees spangled with the fallen petals. In and out amongst these green hills of what they call here the “Mittel Land” ran the road, losing itself as it swept round the grassy curve, or was shut out by the straggling ends of pine woods, which here and there ran down the hillsides like tongues of flame.

With the heart, and soul of a curious poet trying to capture the beauty of their surroundings.

To today in october:

We left Charing Cross on the morning of the 12th, got to Paris the same night, and took the places secured for us in the Orient Express. We travelled night and day, arriving here at about five o'clock. Lord Godalming went to the Consulate to see if any telegram had arrived for him, whilst the rest of us came on to this hotel—"the Odessus." The journey may have had incidents; I was, however, too eager to get on, to care for them. Until the Czarina Catherine comes into port there will be no interest for me in anything in the wide world.

It's simple, technical, to the point, and nothing at all like the Jonathan we knew. There are no more heavy descriptions of the landscapes, no more curious details to study later, nor recording the kind of people to meet, all is left is the focused hatred that Jonathan has for Dracula, and his eagerness to either kill him with his hands or see him dead with his two eyes.

It's a reflection of the kind of mental state Jonathan is in right now, and the kind of expression that Mina must have noticed by now.

[fanonical]

one thing that continues to impress me about catherine tate's performances in doctor who is that she isn't, strictly, an actor?

or at least, she wasn't really a dramatic actor until she did doctor who. i remember there were so many people before series 4 saying that the show was going to be all comedy now and saying that it was going to be awful, but then fires of pompeii and planet of the ood and turn left happened and blew everyone away

and she's still continuing to knock it out of the park with the dramatic acting - and nailing the comedy too, of course! - and i can't help but be stunned by her understanding the assignment perfectly

[fideidefenswhore]

🔥 whatever you like

Thanks!

So, there's been a few articles in the past decade or so that express distaste at the comparison of Princess Diana & AB (and a fair amount of umbrage in misc comments on social media at any parallels being drawn whatsoever, generally, I'm not gonna lie, from C/oA stans...Catherine was the Princess of Wales, Catherine was the one that was popular and beloved by the people, I think these are the broader strokes they believe should be associated with her more...that Catherine was the older of the pair does not seem to matter, that Catherine was, like Camilla, the one that knew 'the prince' the longest doesn't matter, because Camilla was Other Woman and AB was Other Woman, and as such they were both hated by the public, they will never see past any other elements of the story/stereotypes than those, esp. because ultimately they believe all the animus directed at both of those women was/is entirely deserved and justified);

But what's interesting is it's not even so much on the grounds that there are always pitfalls in sanctifying people in general, it's generally pearl-clutching about how Diana deserves sanctification, deserves every possible iteration to be made of her life, and AB does not...the answer to the 'moral quandary' presented in the The Times' BSR review, "Anne Boleyn is being rebooted — but was the tragic Tudor queen a whore and a witch or the Princess Diana of the Tudor age?" by Alison W/eir was basically that she wasn't a whore or a witch, but again, her oh-the-humanity answer of "she wasn't a very nice person" and deserved her "unpopularity in her own time", and was so far from Princess Di, woe to those that popularize AB, somehow she omits herself from that list, how stupid they are to ever believe otherwise, etc

The implication of the above is more what's funny to me... she shouldn't be treated as Princess Diana, because Anne 'had a mean streak' (using "words as one would not address to a dog", from a source no less than above reproach than that of an ex-flame)... but, Diana didn't? The woman who pushed her stepmother down a flight of stairs? The woman who confronted her children's nanny with an entirely personal, private (and leaked, to her belief, although it was later revealed it was another doctoring by Bashir) medical document? Diana was sanctified because she died tragically; if she were still alive today, she would almost certainly be "cancelled"; famous (women, particularly...they are generally judged more harshly) people have been cancelled for much less.

And then we have author Vanora Bennett, who did compare them, but not favorably, and rather misogynistically (to other women, as well):

[Anne] didn’t have the knack for self-reinvention that has brought modern celebrities such as Victoria Beckham long-term success, or the tight-lipped compliance that saw Kate Middleton claim her prize after eight years of waiting for Prince William to propose.

If anything, Anne reminds me more of Princess Diana – both of them charming and glamorous, yet unable to maintain smooth relations with the royals around them; manipulative and sometimes vindictive, yet posthumously elevated to icons of victimhood; dying too soon and leaving young children to cope with their tragic legacy.

Unfortunately this assessment has also been given academic gloss, but luckily this has mainly been limited to GW Bernard's asinine, quasi-profound remark that since Diana had sex outside of her marriage, AB probably did, too.

Idk, I've honestly just been thinking about this because I've been thinking about fan reactions as I watch The Crown, puzzled by how Peter Morgan is so good at writing those royals, but so bad at writing these royals...

Because, really, I think there are elements of both Camilla and Diana's stories in AB's? On the surface level, you have ebullient, charismatic, cheated on by her husband, husband dated her sister 1st, (honestly, never not going to be a weird thing, it must have been borne out of...I suppose, both the utterly limited society of 'acceptable' people to interact with for those of extreme wealth and the entitlement and belief you're above such provincial concerns as ‘That's Weird’), which is probably what led to that being motif in the Kristen Stewart as Diana movie.

And then, Anne was unpopular, but it was said basically, that...those who knew her, loved her, and those that didn't were, at the least, captivated by her despite themselves.

How much of her contemporary slander was from people that had only ever glimpsed her? I think we forget that when we forget how late the sixth-finger and other misc. deformities were alleged. 'Goggle-eyed whore' is the mark of someone who saw her from enough of an distance that the only feature of note was those infamous, large eyes.

Often people confuse charisma with popularity, very often they go together but they are not interchangeable, not synonymous. Charisma can only take effect within intimate contexts. As such, it's true that Anne had one but not so much the other.

Who knows how she might have fared, popularity-wise, if she'd had the powers of radio, TV, etc at her disposal...they're creative reimaginings out of her control/remit, but she has those now and seems to have done better on that front in immortality than she did in mortality/life.

What we have basically is two elements -- "royal mistress" and "threatening the image of the monarchy", and maybe even a little “marrying for love [when royal]”. These are all broad narrative stripes that are seen as “scandalous”, all seen as disruptive, against status quo, so they are always going to inspire creators. At the end of the day, the hand-wringing over that inspiration rings ... insipid? Naiive? Take your pick.