#ann and moe talks'

[oldguy56-world]

As You Like It

This is the 2nd blog I have written named after a Shakespearian play that was turned into a movie. (Last October i did Much Ado About Nothing). Perhaps I should stick with this theme for a while. I could do Hamlet (story of an undersized pig) or Macbeth (the Scottish version of a Kiss hit song) Perhaps not. Let's stick to today's theme shall we?

Have you noticed that people are different. I am not kidding you. We like different things and for no apparent reason at all. Some companies have taken advantage of this. Harvey's is one of them. They make your burgers to order and based on the number of ingredients available there are a possible 11, 296,371 different ways to serve their burgers. They should have an employee contest to see how many different ways each one can dress up a burger. They could use the distraction. Me, I like mine one way only and that is with mustard and ketchup. My wife likes hers with a bunch of other stuff. I am not sure what exactly as I try not to watch. The opposite end of the spectrum is McDonald's. When I go in for a quarter pounder I ask for it with ketchup only. (they don't use, or have never heard about mustard). When I order it my way (no reference to Burger King) the entire place goes silent. The cook comes out of the back to see who is upsetting their assembly line of production. There is usually some snickering and pointing but I hold my ground. The upside is upon occasion when they get it wrong and I point it out to them they will shoot me a freebie. That is always nice.

My father was always a potato guy. He liked them every way except baked. He would throw a fit if the peel was still on it. To quote him 'is it too much g*%#&#@ effort for them to peel it for me?' Once the waiter asked if he would like to substitute rice for his potatoes. My mother was quick enough to grab his knife before it became bloody. I cannot find the words to explain what my father thought about rice.

Speaking of restaurants, they must love it when people substitute what they are supposed to get for something else. The waiter will say that 'today's special is grilled chicken breast with a pilaf of rice and steamed broccoli for $17.99'. The patron will order it and ask 'Can you change the rice to fries, the broccoli to corn, and while you are at it can the chicken breast be a beef tenderloin?' The waiter will explain that they cannot substitute the meat and that they do not have corn. The patron will be pissed and say under their breath that this will affect the tip they leave.

People like different hair styles. That is a good thing because if we all were required to wear a 'Moe' it might be hard to tell people apart. Same goes for clothing. It is creepy watching those movies from the future where everyone has on the same outfit. If you want that kind of uniformity there is a lovely Mennonite community waiting to embrace you Goodfriend. For me I have a unique style. My hair color is Absent Black and my clothing is retro Sally Ann. My wife is okay with my hair (or lack thereof) but she does have a say in what I wear out in public. FYI her say is the final word always.

My wife and I are very different people. Luckily she likes me enough to not say much about my eating, dressing (as long as we are not going out), or talking habits. She also likes my sense of humor which is good. Not everyone gets me just like I don't get some of these so-called comedians or comedies on TV. The networks are paying big bucks for some not funny material. I know I can write unfunny material and would gladly do it for half of the going rate. I can even make fart sounds with almost every part of my body so that must be worth something.

My philosophy is that if you like something, and it doesn't hurt other people, do it for the enjoyment. My only request is that if you like mushing your food together and putting it all in you mouth at one time, please, please, please do not do this within eyeshot of me. This hurts me deeply. My only retaliation would be to make a farting sound from the one part of my body you do not want me to engage thusly. Fair is fair.

PLEASE NOTE: NEXT WEEK'S BLOG WILL BE LATE. WE ARE HAVING OUR FAMILY HERE FOR FOUR DAYS TO CELEBRATE AN EARLY CHRISTMAS, SO NO NASTY NOTES PLEASE.

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK: Variety is the spice of life. Spice is a variety that your body might not like.

[brian-in-finance]

Apple TV+

Irish Film, TV Nominations 2023: ‘The Banshees of Inisherin,’ ‘Bad Sisters’ Lead With Most Nods

“The Banshees of Inisherin,” starring Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson, led the nominations for the Irish Film and Television Awards (IFTAs) as the full list of nominees was unveiled on Monday night local time, picking up 11 nods in the film category.

“Bad Sisters” – Sharon Horgan’s Apple TV+ mystery series – led the pack in the drama category with 12 noms.

Coming off the back of a stellar year for Irish film and television, the nominations include a number of familiar names and titles, including Paul Mescal, who has been nominated for best lead actor in a film for “Aftersun” and best supporting actor in a film for “God’s Creatures” while Farrell is also competing in both categories, both for his star turn in “Banshees” and his supporting role as Penguin in “The Batman.”

“Conversations with Friends” has also scored noms in multiple categories while Aoife McArdle is up for best drama director for Apple TV+ series “Severance.” Sinead O’Connor doc “Nothing Compares” is up for best feature documentary.

The IFTAs are set to take place at the Dublin Royal Convention Centre on May 7. They will be broadcast on local network RTÉ.

FILM CATEGORIES

Best Film

“Aisha”

“The Banshees of Inisherin”

“God’s Creatures”

“Lakelands”

“Róise & Frank”

“The Wonder”

Director – Film

“Aisha” – Frank Berry

“The Banshees of Inisherin” – Martin McDonagh

“It Is In Us All” – Antonia Campbell Hughes

“Joyride” – Emer Reynolds

“Let the Wrong One In” – Conor McMahon

“Róise & Frank” – Rachael Moriarty & Peter Murphy

Script – Film

“Aisha” – Frank Berry

“The Banshees of Inisherin” – Martin McDonagh

“God’s Creatures” – Shane Crowley

“Joyride” – Ailbhe Keogan

“Let the Wrong One In” – Conor McMahon

“Róise & Frank” – Rachael Moriarty, Peter Murphy

Lead Actor – Film

Colin Farrell – “The Banshees of Inisherin”

Daryl McCormack – “Good Luck to You, Leo Grande”

Éanna Hardwicke – “Lakelands”

Liam Neeson – “Marlowe”

Ollie West – “The Sparrow”

Paul Mescal – “Aftersun”

Lead Actress – Film

Alisha Weir – “Roald Dahl’s Matilda The Musical”

Bríd Ní Neachtain – “Róise & Frank”

Danielle Galligan – “Lakelands”

Kelly Gough – “Tarrac”

Seána Kerslake – “Ballywalter”

Zara Devlin – “Ann”

Supporting Actor – Film

Andrew Scott – “Catherine Called Birdy”

Barry Keoghan – “The Banshees of Inisherin”

Brendan Gleeson – “The Banshees of Inisherin”

Colin Farrell – “The Batman”

Paul Mescal – “God’s Creatures”

Pierce Brosnan – “Black Adam”

Supporting Actress – Film

Aisling Franciosi – “God’s Creatures”

Eileen Walsh – “Ann”

Elaine Cassidy – “The Wonder”

Jessie Buckley – “Women Talking”

Kerry Condon – “The Banshees of Inisherin”

Kíla Lord Cassidy – “The Wonder”

DRAMA

Best Drama

“Bad Sisters”

“Conversations with Friends”

“Derry Girls: The Agreement (Extended Special)”

“Smother”

“The Dry”

“Vikings: Valhalla”

Director – Drama

“Bad Sisters” – Dearbhla Walsh

“Conversations with Friends” – Lenny Abrahamson

“Maxine” – Laura Way

“Severance” – Aoife McArdle

“Smother” – Dathaí Keane

“The Dry” – Paddy Breathnach

Script – Drama

“Bad Sisters” – Sharon Horgan

“Conversations with Friends” – Mark O’Halloran

“Derry Girls: The Agreement (Extended Special)” – Lisa McGee

“Smother” – Kate O’Riordan

“The Dry” – Nancy Harris

“Top Boy” – Ronan Bennett

Lead Actor – Drama

Aidan Turner – “The Suspect”

Conleth Hill – “Holding”

Jason O’Mara – “Smother”

Kerr Logan – “North Sea Connection”

Stephen Rea – “The English”

Vinnie McCabe – “The Noble Call”

Lead Actress – Drama

Alison Oliver – “Conversations with Friends”

Caitriona Balfe – “Outlander”

Dervla Kirwan – “Smother”

Roisin Gallagher – “The Dry”

Sharon Horgan – “Bad Sisters”

Siobhan McSweeney – “Holding”

Starz

Supporting Actor – Drama

Brian Gleeson – “Bad Sisters”

Ciarán Hinds – “The Dry”

Daryl McCormack – “Bad Sisters”

Michael Smiley – “Bad Sisters”

Moe Dunford – “The Dry”

Tommy Tiernan – “Conversations with Friends”

Supporting Actress – Drama

Anne-Marie Duff – “Bad Sisters”

Brenda Fricker – “Holding”

Eva Birthistle – “Bad Sisters”

Eve Hewson – “Bad Sisters”

Genevieve O’Reilly – “Andor”

Sarah Greene – “Bad Sisters”

OTHER AWARD CATEGORIES

Feature Documentary

“The Artist & The Wall of Death”

“The Ghost of Richard Harris”

“How To Tell A Secret”

“Million Dollar Pigeons”

“North Circular”

“Nothing Compares”

Live-Action Short Film

“An Irish Goodbye”

“Call Me Mommy”

“Don’t Go Where I Can’t Find You”

“Lamb”

“Wednesday’s Child”

“You’re Not Home”

Animated Short Film

“Candlelight”

“Dagda’s Harp”

“Red Rabbit”

“Soft Tissue”

CRAFT CATEGORIES

Cinematography

“Conversations with Friends” – Suzie Lavelle

“How To Tell A Secret” – Eleanor Bowman

“It Is In Us All” – Piers McGrail

“The Dry” – Cathal Watters

“Vikings: Valhalla” – Peter Robertson

Costume Design

“Aisha” – Kathy Strachan

“The Banshees of Inisherin” – Eimer Ní Mhaoldomhnaigh

“Disenchanted” – Joan Bergin

“Enola Holmes 2” – Consolata Boyle

“Vikings: Valhalla” – Susan O’Connor Cave

Production Design

“Aisha” – Tamara Conboy

“Bad Sisters” – Mark Geraghty

“Mr. Malcolm’s List” – Ray Ball

“Róise & Frank” – Padraig O’Neill

“Vikings: Valhalla” – Tom Conroy

Hair & Make-Up

“Aisha” – Dumebi Anozie, Liz Byrne

“The Banshees of Inisherin” – Orla Carroll, Lynn Johnston, Dan Martin

“Mr. Malcolm’s List” – Eileen Buggy, Sharon Doyle

“The Wonder” – Lorri Ann King, Morna Ferguson

“Vikings: Valhalla” – Joe Whelan, Tom McInerney

Sound

“Aisha”

“The Banshees of Inisherin”

“Conversations with Friends”

“The Sparrow”

“The Wonder”

Original Music

“Good Luck to You, Leo Grande” – Stephen Rennicks

“Lakelands” – Daithí

“Nothing Compares” – Irene Buckley, Linda Buckley

“Róise & Frank” – Colm Mac Con Iomaire

“The Dry” – Sarah Lynch

Editing

“Aisha” – Colin Campbell

“Elvis” – Jonathan Redmond, Matt Villa

“Death on the Nile” – Úna Ní Dhonghaíle

“Nocebo” – Tony Cranstoun

“Nothing Compares” – Mick Mahon

VFX

“The Banshees of Inisherin”

“Marlowe”

“Stranger Things”

“The Woman King”

Best International Film

“Aftersun”

“All Quiet on the Western Front”

“Elvis”

“Tár”

“The Fabelmans”

“Top Gun: Maverick”

Best International Actor

Albrecht Schuch – “All Quiet On The Western Front”

Austin Butler – “Elvis”

Cosmo Jarvis – “It Is In Us All”

Felix Kammerer – “All Quiet On The Western Front”

Josh O’Connor – “Aisha”

Tom Cruise – “Top Gun: Maverick”

Best International Actress

Cate Blanchett – “Tár”

Emily Watson – “God’s Creatures”

Florence Pugh – “The Wonder”

Letitia Wright – “Aisha”

Michelle Williams – “The Fabelmans”

Viola Davis – “The Woman King”

Variety

Starz

Remember the ☘️☘️☘️☘️☘️☘️☘️☘️☘️th IFTA nomination?

[switch]

have u given any thought to what Mori and Vlad would be like drunk. would it be a good time or a bad time

oh i’ve certainly thought about it.

well to start with the actual game we’ve seen moriarty actually drinking twice to my knowledge, so there is sort of something to go off of there. now he was certainly playing it up in shinjuku since it was basically just to bait yan qing, but he was also in the “drunkards” cutscene in enma-tei which we can probably take as a bit more indicative.

by the time in this cutscene that, like, jing ke and tristan are absolutely hammered, moriarty is one of the characters (alongside munenori) that’s still acting basically normal. we don’t technically know what he ordered (everyone ordered different drinks so the abv could be all over the place), but based on these being some of the heaviest drinkers we can at least reasonably assume he has a higher tolerance from this cutscene.

as for the actual question of “what do you think he’s actually like when drunk” i imagine he could be prone to getting pretty silly if drunk enough given how often he defaults to acting ridiculous even when sober, but definitely not actually as prone as he was in shinjuku. and even when he’s drinking he’s still trying to talk to anne+mary about dubious business opportunities and thinking about blackmail, so moriarty being drunk at all is probably a bad time insofar as 90% of the time it’s actually kind of just another avenue with which he can somehow cause problems.

well, personally, just loosely based on how moriarty’s been depicted sleeping a bit more often than some other servants, i like to imagine that if he actually gets really drunk he just gets tired after being silly and insufferable for a bit and then falls the fuck asleep. it’s what happens to me. the old man experience of drunkenness.

vlad’s a bit trickier, he’s never been depicted drunk and you can kinda go either way with him. he is obviously depicted as drinking red wine all the goddamn time, but we also don’t necessarily know, like, how many glasses he actually tends to have. we did see him absolutely shoot back an entire glass one time in apoc but that may have been… animation weirdness. is he a glass-a-day guy? multiple? we dunno. he is shown with some kind of cocktail in KJJ, while in old spider he’s not actually in-character (thank you kogetsukan very cool) but it’s implied that “he” doesn’t like the taste of liquor, which by default we’ll ignore but you can take for vlad depending on how you like to interpret kogetsukan-flavor-fuckery. either way, i’d assume his tolerance is lower than moriarty’s, at least.

it’s basically down to if you prefer keeping up with the bit of vlad being an immovable wall even when drunk and being immune from all the goddamn red wine, or if you prefer the gap moe of him being a worse drunk than expected if he actually has something higher abv than just wine. personally i lean towards the latter. i like to imagine vlad probably gets… quiet, if ever really drunk. quiet, but still kind of intense, probably feeling things more strongly than he usually does. it probably brings out his tsundere tendencies even worse than normal. also, vlad’s the one with an actual blushing sprite ingame, so i also like to imagine he gets a drunk blush pretty quickly. i think if vlad was properly hammered it would be like dealing with a moody, oversized cat. i think this would be cute. maybe not actually necessarily a good time.

basically i think both of them would be insufferable in their own unique ways. vlad and moriarty could probably be decent drinking buddies at first, but amusingly difficult if they both actually got drunk.

[bookclub4m]

Episode 174 - Economics

This episode we’re talking about the genre of Economics! We discuss economic philosophy, Excel spreadsheets, micro vs macro, and more!

You can download the podcast directly, find it on Libsyn, or get it through Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, or your favourite podcast delivery system.

In this episode

Anna Ferri | Meghan Whyte | Matthew Murray | Jam Edwards

Things We Read (or tried to…)

Edible Economics: A Hungry Economist Explains the World by Ha-Joon Chang

Poisoned Wells: The Dirty Politics of African Oil by Nicholas Shaxson

Cobalt Red: How the Blood of the Congo Powers Our Lives by Siddharth Kara

Communism for Kids by Bini Adamczak

Talking to My Daughter About the Economy: or, How Capitalism Works—and How It Fails by Yanis Varoufakis, translated by Jacob Moe

Other Media We Mentioned

Soccernomics by Simon Kuper and Stefan Szymanski

The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power by Shoshana Zuboff

Utopia for Realists: How We Can Build the Ideal World by Rutger Bregman

King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa 

Adam Hochschild

The Colour of Magic by Terry Prachett

“Perhaps there is something in this reflected-sound-of-underground-spirits? It was a cumbersome phrase. Rincewind tried to get his tongue around the thick syllables that were the word in Twoflower's own language.

What Is to Be Done? Burning Questions of Our Movement by Vladimir Lenin (Wikipedia)

Links, Articles, and Things

If Books Could Kill - Freakonomics

Fear the Boom and Bust: Keynes vs. Hayek (YouTube)

Fight of the Century: Keynes vs. Hayek - Economics Rap Battle Round Two

Peter Singer (Wikipedia)

Unspeakable Conversations: Harriet McBryde Johnson on debating Peter Singer

“He insists he doesn't want to kill me. He simply thinks it would have been better, all things considered, to have given my parents the option of killing the baby I once was.”

If Books Could Kill - Rich Dad Poor Dad

Saltwater and freshwater economics (Wikipedia)

Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences (Wikipedia)

Another normal day of mining in Africa (Reddit)

Belt and Road Initiative (Wikipedia)

Report exposes solar panel industry Uyghur forced labour links

Ouija (Wikipedia)

Chinchilla (Wikipedia)

Social media is doomed to die (The Verge)

Reddit: Antiwork

Reddit: Late Stage Capitalism

25 Economics books by BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, & People of Colour) Authors

Every month Book Club for Masochists: A Readers’ Advisory Podcasts chooses a genre at random and we read and discuss books from that genre. We also put together book lists for each episode/genre that feature works by BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, & People of Colour) authors. All of the lists can be found here.

Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the World by Liaquat Ahamed

Get Good with Money: Ten Simple Steps to Becoming Financially Whole by Tiffany Aliche

Good Economics for Hard Times: Better Answers to Our Biggest Problems by Abhijit V. Banerjee and Esther Duflo

Consumed: On Colonialism, Climate Change, Consumerism, and the Need for Collective Change by Aja Barber

The Whiteness of Wealth: How the Tax System Impoverishes Black Americans—And How We Can Fix It by Dorothy A. Brown

23 Things They Don’t Tell You About Capitalism by Ha-Joon Chang

Edible Economics: A Hungry Economist Explains the World by Ha-Joon Chang

Extreme Money: Masters of the Universe and the Cult of Risk by Satyajit Das

The Reconciliation Manifesto: Recovering the Land, Rebuilding the Economy by Grand Chief Ronald Derrickson and Arthur Manuel

Wolf Hustle: A Black Woman on Wall Street by Cin Fabré

Build the Damn Thing: How to Start a Successful Business If You're Not a Rich White Guy by Kathryn Finney

Winners Take All: The Elite Charade of Changing the World by Anand Giridharadas

Indigenomics: Taking a Seat at the Economic Table by Carol Anne Hilton

The Revolution Will Not Be Funded: Beyond the Non-Profit Industrial Complex edited by Incite! Women of Colour Against Violence

Upholding Indigenous Economic Relationships: Nehiyawak Narratives by Shalene Wuttunee Jobin

How We Can Win: Race, History and Changing the Money Game That's Rigged by Kimberly Jones

The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together by Heather McGhee

Collective Courage: A History of African American Cooperative Economic Thought and Practice by Jessica Gordon Nembhard

Can’t We Just Print More Money? Economics in Ten Simple Questions by Rupal Patel

The Black Tax: The Cost of Being Black in America by Shawn D. Rochester

Karl Marx's Ecosocialism: Capital, Nature, and the Unfinished Critique of Political Economy by Kohei Saito

The Wisdom of Sustainability: Buddist Economics for the 21st Century by Sulak Sivaraksa

Decolonizing Wealth: Indigenous Wisdom to Heal Divides and Restore Balance by Edgar Villanueva

The Great Economists: How Their Ideas Can Help Us Today by Linda Yueh

Creating a World Without Poverty: Social Business and the Future of Capitalism by Muhammad Yunus

Give us feedback!

Fill out the form to ask for a recommendation or suggest a genre or title for us to read!

Check out our Tumblr, follow us on Twitter or Instagram, join our Facebook Group, or send us an email!

Join us again on Tuesday, May 16th we’ll be talking about some old genres we’ve covered and whether we’d read them again.

Then on Tuesday, June 6th we’ll be discussing the genre of Fantasy! 

[evakcardamom]

Dagsavisen has written a review of the premiere of 20 November last night:

By: Av Inger Marie Kjølstadmyr, Dagsavisen

This performance gets a big lump in the throat

Tarjei Sandvik Moe excels in the role of a young man who plans a school shooting in the Lars Norén play «20. November".

5

THEATRE

«20. November"

by Lars Norén

Director: Ilene Sørbøe

With: Tarjei Sandvik Moe

Teaterkjeller’n, Centralteatret

Although Oslo has again become a more open city and the summer this weekend has made its full entry into the capital, there are places where the summer light does not let in. In Teaterkjeller’n at Centralteatret, for example. These days it is dark when Lars Norén's «20. November »finally get to meet a small audience. And thanks to Norén's good text, Ilene Sørbø's steady direction and last but certainly not least Tarjei Sandvik Moe's fabulous role interpretation, this darkness is one of the most unpleasant you can experience on a summer day in Oslo in 2021.

And I do not know, but maybe some performances benefit from being stored for a while - just like good wine. For «20. November »should have premiered in the spring of 2020, which is starting to be quite a long time ago, but its effect on the audience has by no means faded over the past time.

«20. november »is a play made by Swedish Lars Norén, who died of covid-19 in January this year, and the German actress Anne Tismer in the wake of a school massacre in Germany committed by 18-year-old Sebastian Bosse. The play premiered in 2007 and is thus fourteen years old. But the topic is unfortunately still very relevant. Bosse left behind diary notes and poems that have become part of the stage text, and this documentary material makes us come uncomfortably close to the young boy who wanted revenge on all the bullies from growing up, all the materialistic, meaningless people around him and the whole system that he experienced a great and ever-growing hatred for. In the play, we meet him an hour and ten minutes before he is to carry out the massacre against his former school.

But then: Tarjei Sandvik Moe must be one of our most talented young actors. Since he took Norway by storm in the role of Isak in the TV series Skam, he has been shown that he has a large register to play on through other roles in TV, film and theater. The role of Sebastian is perhaps one of his best to date. For not only does he fill the cold young man with moments of recognizable warmth, but he also gives the character a body language that expresses a complex of emotions: there is a tense nervousness over him combined with a feeling of power, while we sense the sadness and powerlessness in his face even though his face is quite devoid of emotional expression. And then he laughs occasionally. Of himself, of us in the audience, which he constantly talks about and is part of the society he wants to affect, and of quite ordinary things that young people like to laugh at.

The laughter is both liberating and contagious, but it does not prevent me from sitting through the whole performance with a lump that alternates between being in the throat and in the stomach.

In Oscar Udbye's spartan scenography, Sebastian walks like on a small, black catwalk; he will be seen. And he will see. On two large screens, we twenty in the audience can see ourselves and the area we are sitting in, as on surveillance cameras. Sebastian is watching us. This emphasizes the confrontational style of this play and makes us part of the system Sebastian hates.

But even though this is a strong and brutal performance that touches us who see, I wonder a bit about the actual effect of the performance. For as Sebastian himself says; people are going to commit similar crimes after him as well. And considering that both the real and the fictional Sebastian basically said this 15 years ago or more, we know today that he is unfortunately right. Because even though Sebastian in the form of Sandvik Moe scares the shit out of us, and makes us realize that what we had to send out of bad energy in the world can quickly strike back at ourselves, we know that people still have a strange pleasure to incite both online and in real life, and that terrorist acts and massacres are planned and carried out.

It has also been shown in connection with another Norén piece with a break in society, that the result was different than Noren planned. I think then of the play «7: 3» from 1999 where two of the actors were inmates who committed serious crimes, even murders, during the leave they were given to make theater with Norén. Norén's idea had always been that the play should contribute to something good for the prisoners and lead them back into society in a positive way. But reality trumped the artist and the theater. So what about all the Sebastians out there - help «20. November »us to see them before it's too late? I'm not sure, but if the answer could only be close to a yes, Teaterkjeller’n should open its doors to as many people as possible as soon as possible. And then the audience will get a fantastic acting performance on the purchase.

[tarjeismoeworknews]

This performance will leave you with a huge lump in your throat

Tarjei Sandvik Moe excels in the role of a young man who plans a school shooting in Lars Norén’s play “20 November".

5

THEATRE

“20 November" by Lars Norén Director: Ilene Sørbøe With: Tarjei Sandvik Moe Teaterkjeller’n, Centralteatret

Even if Oslo again has become a more open city and summer has made its full entry into the capital this weekend, there are places that the summer light will not reach. Like Teaterkjeller’n at Centralteatret, for example. In there it’s pitch black these days when Lars Norén's “20 November” finally gets to meet a small audience. And thanks to Norén's terrific text, Ilene Sørbø's steady direction, and last but certainly not least Tarjei Sandvik Moe's fabulous role interpretation, this darkness is one of the most unpleasant you can experience on a summer day in Oslo in 2021.

And I don’t know, maybe some performances benefit from being stored for a while - just like good wine. For “20 November” should have premiered in the spring of 2020, which by now is beginning to be quite a long time ago, but its effect on the audience has by no means faded over the past time.

“20 November” is a play written by Swedish Lars Norén, who died of covid-19 in January this year, and the German actress Anne Tismer, in the wake of a school massacre in Germany committed by 18-year-old Sebastian Bosse. The play premiered in 2007 and is thus fourteen years old. But the topic is unfortunately still very relevant. Bosse left behind diary notes and poems that have become part of the stage text, and this documentary material makes us get uncomfortably close to the young boy who wanted revenge on all his childhood bullies, all the materialistic, meaningless people around him, and the whole system that he experienced a great and ever-growing hatred for. In the play, we meet him an hour and ten minutes before he is to carry out the massacre against his former school.

But really: Tarjei Sandvik Moe must be one of our most talented young actors. Since he took Norway by storm in the role of Isak in the TV series Skam, he has shown his large register through other roles in TV, film and theater. The role of Sebastian is perhaps one of his best to date. For not only does he fill the cold young man with moments of recognizable warmth, but he also gives the character a body language that expresses a complex of emotions: there is a tense nervousness in him combined with a feeling of power, while we at the same time sense the sadness and powerlessness in his face even though his face is quite devoid of emotional expression. And then he laughs occasionally. At himself, at us in the audience, who he constantly talks to and about and who are part of the society he wants to affect, and at quite ordinary things that young people like to laugh at.

The laughter is both liberating and contagious, but it does not prevent me from sitting through the whole performance with a lump that alternates between being in my throat and in my stomach.

In Oscar Udbye's spartan scenography, Sebastian walks like on a small, black catwalk; he wants to be seen. And he wants to see. On two large screens, we twenty in the audience can see ourselves and the area we are sitting in, as on surveillance cameras. It is Sebastian who is watching us. This emphasizes the confrontational style of this play and makes us part of the system Sebastian hates.

But even though this is a strong and brutal performance that touches us who watches, I wonder a bit about the actual effect of the performance. For as Sebastian himself says; people are going to commit similar crimes after him as well. And considering that both the real and the fictional Sebastian basically said this 15 years ago or more, we know today that he is unfortunately right. Because even though Sebastian in the form of Sandvik Moe scares the shit out of us, and makes us realize that what bad energy we’ve sent out into the world may quickly come back to hit us, we know that people still find a strange pleasure in trolling both online and in real life, and that terrorist acts and massacres are planned and carried out. 

This has also been shown in connection with another Norén piece about breaks in society, where the result was different than what Noren had planned. I’m thinking of the play “7:3” from 1999, where two of the actors were inmates who committed serious crimes, even murders, during the leave they were given to make theater with Norén. Norén's idea had always been that the play should contribute to something good for the prisoners and lead them back into society in a positive way. But reality trumped the artist and the theater. So what about all the Sebastians out there - will “20 November” help us to see them before it's too late? I'm not sure, but if the answer is even close to a yes, Teaterkjeller’n should open its doors to as many people as possible as soon as possible. And then the audience will get a fantastic acting performance to boot.

Big thanks to @evakcardamom for givinig me a head up about this great review

[teejaysnow]

Okay, so here is today’s P3 Morgen interview. Or at least most of it... 

(I’m sorry, I love my art-y little son very much a lot - but at one part he reads one of his own poems and you’ll have to find a real norwegian for that one. I can do regular norwegian, but I draw the line at pretentious norwegian, please and thank you...)

(Also, link to P3 Morgen: x)

P3 morgen 201120

Interviewer 1: What a friday it is. My soul is thriving by what I’m seeing in front of me - and what you get in your radio at six minutes past eight - and that is Ina Svenningdal and Tarjei Sandvik Moe here with us at P3 Morgen in a small Skam reunion. Good morning and welcome, Tarjei.

Tarjei: Good morning and thank you.

I1: We, I mean, Ina you’re here because you were the ugly bear [don’t ask - apparently some kind of guessing game where Ina was wearing a bear suit and the listeners had to guess who it was?]

Interviewer 2: Stop calling her that.

Ina: Oh, but I’m kinda liking it, it’s pretty funny.

I1: Tarjei, you were supposed to come here today anyway, but we had no idea that Ina was going to be here, but now you’re here, so… what’s it like with you two, do you see each other often?

T: Yeah, I think so. Honestly.

I: Yeah. Well, it’s been a while now.

T: Are we going to sit here and lie on radio, going naeeeeeh.

I: No, but it is a bit on and off, I think?

T: Yeah.

I: Sometimes you coincidently run into each other a lot and then nothing for a year.

I2: But I guess it’s difficult now, too.

I: Yeah.

T: Yeah, but I thought about it recently, I thought about it because, “Oh, I’m going to go watch Ina act and maybe grab a beer or something”, but then you just...

I: Yeah. But nooo.

I1: Of course. But can I ask, do you have… this is typical, when we get to talk to you Skam people we completely fall back into the Skam bubble, but you have of course gone on with your lives and are doing new things, and we are going to talk about that, but is there a Skam group chat where you send memes or something to each other?

I: Yeah?

T: Yeah.

I1: There is?!

I2: No there isn’t.

I: There is!

I2: It was too long a pause there.

I: No, but I hesitated because I got like, “should I say that there is one or should I say that there isn’t one?” But there is…

T: There is still a group chat. We can’t say that it’s terribly active, though, but…

I: No, it isn’t. 

T: But it does flourish sometimes. Like, like...

I1: Who’s the most active?

T: Well, maybe Julie Andem.

I1: No…

[I2, I and T all doing terrible impressions of Julie, going “What’s happening”]

I1: But… does it have a name? Because I feel like it says a lot about people, the name of their group chats.

I: Yeah, but… well, I’m so rarely on that chat that I can’t remember what it’s called. 

T: No, I can’t remember either.

I1: We’ll just continue… Tarjei, you’ve been in a Christmas movie.

T: Yeah!

I1: That’s really great, I love Christmas movies.

T: Yeah?

I1: What movie is it?

T: It’s a film called “Gledelig jul”, which is shown at cinemas around Norway. But not in Oslo.

I1: No. Because you can’t go to cinemas here.

T: Because it’s not allowed. So… but, just watch it if you’re outside of Oslo or maybe when Oslo opens up.

I2: What’s the film about?

T: “Gledelig jul” is about Annemor, played by Anne Marit Jacobsen, who always, together with her husband, played by Otto Jespersen, has celebrated Christmas abroad but this year decides that, “fuck it, this year we have to meet up with the family for the first time in ten years”. And everyone thinks she’s got cancer, so that’s why they come, but then she doesn’t have cancer, so they’re like “why are we here?” and then the family bonds get unraveled and secrets are revealed, and… comedy happens.

I2: So she doesn’t have cancer.

T: No.

I2: Okay, great, then it’s comedy.

I1: So, who is it you play in this mess?

T: I play Anne Marit’s grandson, so I’m there as like a bit of a weird character.

I1: Okay.

I2: What do you mean by a weird character? You’re looking at the floor in a very suspicious way now.

T: No, but he’s, like, I never really managed to fully decide why, but he is a bit weird. And he’s really in love with a girl and he’s trying to learn hebrew through one of those kinds of language courses to be able to talk to her in hebrew.

I2: It sounds almost like you haven’t listened to what the director or anyone has told you, you’ve just decided that, my character does these weird things, we have to continue, he does these weird things like learning hebrew and stuff.

T: Yeah, it’s a very difficult job.

I1: But how was it filming a Christmas movie, are you a Christmas movie buff?

T: Yeah, I like “Home Alone” at least? 

I1: Okay, that’s… do you have any more recent favourites? Or you’ve stuck to the classics?

T: “Home Alone 2���?

I1: “Home Alone 2”. 

I: But not 3?

T: Nah, it’s not the same actors. It has to be Macaulay. [in english:] They don’t do it without Macaulay. [If I never hear Tarjei pronounce Macaulay ever again it’ll be too soon…]

I1: No, I agree, I love the “Home Alone” movies and I’m happy that there is a new Christmas movie that you’re acting in and I’m looking forward to when the cinemas reopen so we in Oslo can go see it. And remember, you who live outside of Oslo can still go to the cinema. Ina, you’re acting in front of empty auditoriums [during Ina’s interview they talked about her two plays still being acted out on stage during the lockdown just to keep up the flow and to be prepared for when the lockdown is lifted], Tarjei, you were supposed to premiere a play today…

T: Yeah.

I1: We’ll talk more about this…

T [sounding absolutely crestfallen]: I hadn’t realised that it was today?

I1: It’s 20 November today.

T: Fuck, I had… 

I2: I just hope no one hears that.

T: It’s allowed on P3? To swear?

I2: Well, we get scolded by our bosses, but you know what? We’ll allow you to swear once, Tarjei.

T: Fucking hell.

I2: That was two. That was two.

I1: We’ll talk more about 20 November, the play that is, not just today’s date, after we’ve listened to some music here at P3. And to you, Ina Svenningdal, we’ll say thank you for coming and making our friday so much better. So thanks for your visit…

I: Thank you for having me….

I1: ...and this is “Mad At Disney”.

*****

I1: Rat City and Isak Heim with Kind Of Love [No, you didn’t miss anything, there were two songs with nothing said in between] sixteen minutes past eight this friday. We are visited by you, Tarjei Sandvik Moe…

T: Hello, hello.

I1: It’s very nice to have you here…

T: It’s very nice to be…

I1: How are… What kind of friday person are you? Are you one of those who gets extra excited by waking up on a friday?

T: I love fridays. Definitely.

I1: Okay, do you have a friday routine?

T: Umm… [laughs]

I1: Tacos or something?

T: No, not like tacos, nothing like that. All those routines are just [he makes a retching sound] so in case I ever had any then I’ve forgotten about them. No routines.

I2: I was wondering, like, do you live in a flat share, or?

T: No.

I2: Home?

T: No, I live in a flat with my girlfriend.

I2: Oh yeah, so you haven’t managed to make any taco routines with your wife? [wow, we went from girlfriend to wife really fast there…]

T: No, but we do eat together?

I1: I get really fascinated by people who have to decide on friday dinner like it can be anything, but that has nothing to do with you, Tarjei, it’s just me and my taco brain. 

T: You’re very strict about that, you’re eating tacos every friday, or?

I1: Do I ever. And get all stressed out on saturdays.

I2: And talks a lot about it too.

T: Yeah. And you, Martin?

I2: I eat tacos on sundays.

T: Sundays? Yeah? And do you have any routines for fridays?

I2: No, actually no. No, I’m a bit on the no routines team there, I just take it as it comes.

I1: So what is it today?

I2: I’m going to… it’s not... let’s not talk about me!

I1: You haven’t planned dinner? That’s fine.

T: Disappointing, Martin. Disappointing.

I2: Yeah, it’s bad.

I1: But, Tarjei, how’s this year, 2020, been for you?

T: Strange. Um, like it’s probably been for everyone. But there’s something about… how to put it… being on the brink of film- and theatre releases and it’s not allowed. Then I could just as well be a pimp or anything else illegal, it’s just weird when what you’re doing is… has become illegal.

I1: Yeah, but…

T: I feel like a criminal.

I1: So in case you’d picked another criminal job, you’ve probably seen a lot of action movies and such things, what would you have been?

T: [in english] I would do a heist. A robbery.

I1: Yeah…

I2: Do you want to be a criminal? Do heists?

T: Yeah, yeah, yeah. A couple of years ago... [no, don’t stop there, Tarjei. Tell me more.]

I1: Is there something… because you haven’t done a real action movie yet, have you?

T: No… I’d say that in “Skitten Snø” there were some stunts and fight scenes and such when I played a security guard but not a “pure action movie”, I haven’t done that yet. That’s still lacking.

I2: What’s your dream movie to act in?

T: Umm… dream…

I2: Genre.

T: Yeah, genre. That’s... I don’t… I just thought… on an airplane, maybe? No, but it’s… I want to play a lawyer.

I1: Yeah, why? Is it based on a series you’ve seen?

T: I’m really fascinated by what happens in a courtroom, and also, my sister is a lawyer and she has a lot of exciting stories from her studies and what she’s going to work with and stuff and her… 

I2: I think it would fit you to play a shady lawyer.

T: Yeah, right? So that would be absolutely amazing, to play a lawyer.

I1: Is it because you can see so clearly how you walk around the courtroom in a suit and just holding a long monologue and hitting the table, giving all the reasons for why your client is innocent.

T: Yeah, maybe a bit. Yeah, I watched the OJ Simpson series, fuck, that would be really cool to play. So, something like that. Maybe there’ll be a film in twenty years on the Laila Bertheussen lawsuit and then I can play prosecutor Frederik Ranke.

I2: So you want to play something that somber?

T: Somber?

I2: You want to do those kind of serious things?

T: Yeah, yeah, [in english] fuck yeah. Is it that.. It is serious…

I2 [giggling]: Yeah, it’s serious. And like the OJ Simpson series, “yay, cool”, and it’s about some of the darkest things that has happened. You have a real darkness inside of you.

T: Yeah, well, I do a lot of dark stuff. That’s just how it is. To be an actor is a bit like throwing up, you have to get the garbage out.

I2: Oooookay…

I1: Ooooookay… this is exciting, I’m looking forward to hearing how you “got the garbage out” in the way you’ve prepared the play that was supposed to premiere today. It’s called 20 November and we’ll talk more about it after Justin Bieber and Chance the Rapper with “Holy”.

*****

I1: It’s so beautiful, it’s Justin Bieber and Chance the Rapper’s “Holy” in P3 Morgen, it’s twenty past nine, and this friday we’re visited by you, Tarjei Sandvik Moe, who today, 20 November, were supposed to premiere a play with the same name as the date, 20 November. That won’t happen, unfortunately, because of these times we live in, but we can talk about the play anyway, so…

T: It can suddenly be that it’s allowed, so then you’ll just have to throw yourself into…

I2: One day we’ll get to see the play.

T: Yeah. 

I1: What is 20 November?

T: 20 November is a monologue written by the swedish playwright Lars Norén and is about a school shooter who was a real school shooter in Germany in 2006 and is based on the diary, notes, manifesto and photos he’s posted online, so I’m playing a real guy who actually died on that day, 20 November 2006, but no one else died, so in a way it’s the story about Sebastian Bosse.

I2: He was the school shooter?

T: He was the school shooter. So I am he, who’s explaining to the audience why I’m going to do what I’m going to do on 20 November, and… [in english] That shit is going to happen.

I1: It might be one of the darkest things you’ve done, or?

T: Yeah, I have acted out rape scenes and stuff, but school shootings are… it’s extreme.

I1: Yeah. And you shouldn’t compare dark things because that’s…

T: No, that comparison was completely…

I2: But I was wondering, when you act in such a dark play, or with such dark themes, isn’t it a bit strange… or, because you’re really looking forward to going out there and performing, isn’t that a strange feeling?

T: Yeah, it’s… it’s a mixture there, the performance is a visual… we could call it a feast, but it isn’t… I think it will be a very good performance that’s interesting in many ways. Art isn’t necessarily good because it’s important, but it gets important by being good, so I think a performance can be good in itself and exciting to act and exciting to watch. So I’m really looking forward to do it, and it’s hard to having started rehearsals in february and still not being allowed to perform it.

I2: So you’re ready.

T: It’s been postponed two times, so I’ve had to go bald twice in a year to do it…

I2: You’ve shaved your head for that part?

T: Yeah, that’s the thing, he shaved his head because he was doing it like a kind of military thing, but, so I do a lot for this, but… 

I2: Couldn’t they have said that it was postponed before you shaved your head?

T: Yeah, yes…

I1: I’m going to disagree a bit because I think a shaved head suits you very well, Tarjei.

T; Thank you very much.

I1: But… how is it, now that it got postponed again, how does that feel when you’ve worked that hard on something?

T: When life goes against you, you just have to laugh at it. 

I1: You have to do that. And did you manage to laugh at it?

T: Yeah, I did laugh. Because we were closing in on the actual premiere and I went into the lounge and sat by myself and checked the mobile and there it said that Raymond Johansen had decided that we were to close the theatre. And I just laughed. 

I1: Yeah, you can’t really do anything else. You either laugh or cry.

T: I saw myself from the outside, the tragic character of Tarjei who keeps shaving his head. It’s a bit like the greek story about Sisyphos or whatever his name is, who pushed that stone up and up to no avail because when he reached the top the stone just rolled down again.

I2: Your stone is the razor?

T: Yeah, that’s… that’s… I’m the modern version of Sisyphos.

I1: But when things close down you can start new hobbies, I feel like 2020 has been a good year for that. You have got a new hobby and we’ll talk some more about that on NRK P3 very soon, but right now we’ll listen to some music. Ava Max, two minutes before half nine, “Who’s Laughing Now”, guess it’s you, Tarjei.

*****

I1: Thank heavens for Sigrid [yeah, another one with multiple songs with a newscast in between] and for the kind of music that we just heard here on NRK, “Strangers” in your radio, twenty two minutes to nine here on P3 Morgen, which today is visited by you, Tarjei Sandvik Moe. 

T: Yeah.

I1: And you were supposed to premiere… 

I2 [giggling]: It was just such a good “Yeah”.

T: Yeah, it was just… continue with the show and I’ll think about it.

I1: Today you were supposed to premiere the play 20 November. It didn’t happen, like so much else this year, 2020, but when things halt for a bit you can do things you’ve never done before, try a new hobby. And that’s what you’ve done.

T: Yeah. That messed things up a bit because P3 was supposed to call me yesterday and I didn’t answer and then I had to call back half an hour later and apologise, “I’m sorry, the phone was in flight mode, I was writing a poem”, and that was an excuse that P3 had never heard before. They’ve had a lot of people saying that they’ve overslept, but never that they were writing poetry.

I2: Yeah, because that’s your new hobby, writing poetry.

T: Yeah.

I2: And I love that you used that as an excuse to not answering the phone. Because it’s something a bit classy about, “I was a bit preoccupied, I was writing a poem”.

I1: But, Tarjei, when you’re writing poetry and the phone rings and you don’t hear it, is it like you’re sitting at a desk by the window with a pen, like a quill that you dip in ink and a paper and stare into the air, or are we talking notes on the mobile.

T: I’m doing it on the mac.

I1: You’re doing it on the mac.

T: I have this very clever program called “word”.

Both inteviewers: Aaaah.

T: A lot of nice fonts. And… I turn the mobile off or set it in flight mode and put it somewhere else, which is why no one can get a hold of me because that’s often a part of the art of writing. I’ve, like, written other things like scripts and such, but I’ve never done any poetry. Nor read a lot of poetry either for that matter. But a couple of weeks ago I watched “Hannah and Her Sisters” where there was a poem by e e cummings, which I just loved and I immersed myself in him and then I thought, “fuck it, I have to try and write something too”, so this is a hobby that’s been going on for less than a week, hm.

I2: You said there were a lot of nice fonts in word, which font do you use when you write poems?

T: Oh, that… what’s its name, caruso or something like that? 

I2: So you’re actually using a pretty font when you’re writing poetry?

T: Yeah, because I got a bit provoked when I looked at my poem in Times New Roman.

I1: And now my thoughts go to submitting works in secondary school, not to the kind of creative writing that you’ve chosen to do yourself. But I’m happy to have found out that you can’t answer your phone because you’re writing poetry because today we’ll get a poem by you. [The interviewer stumbles on the norwegian word for poem - “dikt” - and says “drikt” instead. Which is close enough to “dritt”, which I guess every Skam lover by now knows basically means “shit”. Believe me, you need this knowledge from here on.]

T: Because I’m writing shit?

I2: Yeah, I heard that too.

T: Well, it is shit too. Shit poems.

I1: No, no, no.

I2: Is it possible to get to hear a poem here and now?

T: Yeah, it’s from my poetry collection, Shit Poems.

I1: No, Tarjei, it was just a slip of the tongue.

T: Yeah, but this… it’s just amateur poetry.

I1: Have you named it?

T: The poem?

I1: Yeah.

T: Destination.

I1: Oh.

T: [Reads his poem - and I’m sorry but you need a real norwegian for this one because he’s being annoying and pretentious and uses words with double meanings. So for any poetry loving norwegian out there, just… please translate it and put me out of my misery…]

I1: Oh my. Oh, shit.

I2 [applauding]: Wow.

I1: Oh my god. And you began just a week ago, it was really beautiful.

T [awkwardly]: Thank you. 

I1: Tarjei, you’re so multi talented.

T: Eeey. Shit. Shit.

I1: I just get so…

I2: I really liked the part with [yeah, so… something about crooked teeth - ask a norwegian, I don’t know…], was that it?

T: Yeah.

I2: Amazing.

T: Can we… should we just let it be and let us interpret it for ourselves or do you want to say anything else about it?

T: Interpret it yourself, art isn’t supposed to be explained. If I was a theatre director - which I’m never going to be - I would refuse programmes. People would just sit down in a dark auditorium, not knowing what they were about to see, and then walk away without anyone analysing it afterwards.

I1: Oh, rats, then we’ll just let you walk away without analysing this poem too much. Tarjei Sandvik Moe, thank you very much for coming…

I2 [yelling]: You have to explain what it’s about!!

T [yelling back]: NO!!

I2 [still yelling]: I can’t live like this!!

Music starts.

[trailshome]

please tell us about your fish, cat and plants!!

asdas omg okay rambles incoming!! So, I have six minnows (I can’t remember their ‘breed’, however), one beta fish (she’s a cutie and her name is Rosie), and a giant six-year-old goldfish named, Anne!! Please note none of my fish are in the same tank! Anne will easily swallow the minnows and Rosie, so they are separate from her!)

Anne is my shyest child and she gets scared pretty easily -- I’m working on saving up to buy her a nice hidey-hole but in the meantime, I made a nook in her tank out of a bunch of plants!! She is my oldest (aside from my cat who is 16 this year!!)

My minnows, most of which are unnamed except for one, are very friendly and love to ‘beg’ for extra food!! I sneak them snacks sometimes because who can deny such precious babies? I sure can’t!! I have one minnow, named Bonnie, who lived with a bunch of goldfish prior to her surprise adoption by me. They like to goad their siblings into watching me when I walk past their tank lol!!

My Beta, the light of my life, is of unknown age and she’s a beautiful blue and dark red! She’s also very friendly and likes to take naps on the morimo (moss) balls that I bought her and hangs around her heater! She’s a wiggler, never jumps, and likes to follow my finger around (but never bites)!

My cat, the biggest baby of all, is named Smokey but my family calls him Moe or Mokey! He like to be rocked in my grandma’s lazy boy and enjoys cuddling! He’s also a talker, always yelling or talking back at us and he’s a parent’s boy lol!! As I said above, he is 16, healthy, and rather large imo!! I carry him like a toddler at my side and he likes to hang onto my shoulder!!

I have two plants, Stevie (a Rex Begonia) and an unnamed beauty that my grandma ordered online!! Both are inside for right now but once summer rolls around they get put on our back porch where they get a good amount of sun, water frequently, and away from anything that could harm them!! I’ve had Stevie for about two or three years and the other plant for about one!

[coochiequeens]

University Hosts Event Disparaging Women

Minnesota State University Moorhead is hosting an event titled “Let’s Talk About TERFs” on April 8, 2021. TERF (“Transgender-Exclusive Radical Feminist”) originally designated radical feminists who did not include transgender-identified people under the LGB umbrella, but the term has become a catch-all insult for any woman who expresses concerns or questions about anything related to transgender ideology: "Trans-exclusionary radical feminists (TERFs) argue that including trans women in women’s spaces like sports erases the rights and experiences of cis women, straight and queer. What’s really at the root of this transphobic ideology? How are feminism and women’s rights weaponized against the trans community to ultimately harm all women and gender non-conforming people, and how can we fight back? Tune in to find out![i]" The epithet “TERF” has close, if not parallel, connotations to misogynistic slurs like b*tch and c*nt. It is often used to dehumanize women and to advocate violence against them.[ii] Minnesota State University Moorhead’s event might equivalently be titled, “Let’s Talk About B*tches,” “Let’s Talk About C*nts,” or “Let’s Talk About [INSERT RACIAL SLUR HERE].” Calling reasonable and credible concerns about women’s safety “transphobic” is gaslighting at its finest. Framing women’s rights as “weaponized against the trans community” is a classic DARVO (Deny, Attack, Reverse Victim and Offender) tactic cherished by abusers worldwide. Considering transgender rights activists’ relentlessly savage personal and professional assaults[iii] on anyone who doesn’t fall in line with their outrageous demands, the organizers of this program have no grounds on which to stand when they imply that they have been unfairly targeted for abuse and are justified in organizing to “fight back.” Partners for Ethical Care has reached out to the university, but has received no response. We encourage anyone who also finds this misogynistic event unacceptable to contact the university, its president, and/or its board of directors and tell them so:

Minnesota State University MoreheadEmail: https://askus.minnstate.edu/app/askPhone: 1.800.593.7246 or 1.800.456.8519 Chat: https://askus.minnstate.edu/app/chat/chat_launch/c/1883Contact Form: https://www.mnstate.edu/contact

Minnesota State University Morehead President: Anne Blackhurst1104 7th Avenue South Moorhead, MN 56563Phone: (218) 477-2243 Fax: (218) 477-5093 anne.blackhurst@mnstate.eduMinnesota State University

Morehead Board of Trustees: Ahmitara Alwal30 7th Street East, Suite 350 St. Paul, MN 55101 Phone: 651-201-1705 ahmitara.alwal@minnstate.edu

Asani Ajogun30 7th Street East, Suite 350 St. Paul, MN 55101 Phone: 651-201-1705 Asani.Ajogun@minnstate.edu

Alex Cirillo10107 Brookhaven Drive Woodbury, MN 55129-4800 Phone: 651-208-7342 cirilloac@gmail.com

Jay Cowles, Chair275 Market Street, Suite 274B Minneapolis, MN 55405 Phone: 612-359-9449 jay.cowles@minnstate.edu

Dawn Erlandson30 7th Street East, Suite 350 St. Paul, MN 55101 Phone: 651-201-1705 dawnerlandson@gmail.com

Jerry Janezich30 7th Street East, Suite 350 St. Paul, MN 55101 Phone: 651-201-1705 jerry.janezich@minnstate.edu

Roger Moe, Vice Chair30 7th Street East, Suite 350 St. Paul, MN 55101 Phone: 651-201-1705 roger.moe@minnstate.edu

Javier Morillo30 7th Street East, Suite 350 St. Paul, MN 55101 Phone: 651-201-1705 Morillojavi@gmail.com

April Nishimura30 7th Street East, Suite 350 St. Paul, MN 55101 Phone: 651-201-1705 april.nishimura@minnstate.edu

Oballa Oballa30 7th Street East, Suite 350 St. Paul, MN 55101 Phone: 651-201-1705 Oballa.Oballa@minnstate.edu

Rudy Rodriguez30 7th Street East, Suite 350 St. Paul, MN 55101 Phone: 651-201-1705 rodolfo.rodriguez@minnstate.edu

Kathy Sheran30 7th Street East, Suite 350 St. Paul, MN 55101 Phone: 651-201-1705 Kathleen.Sheran@minnstate.edu

George Soule30 7th Street East St. Paul, MN 55101 651-201-1705 George.Soule@minnstate.edu

Cheryl Tefer30 7th Street East, Suite 350 St. Paul, MN 55101 Phone: 651-201-1705 cheryl.tefer@minnstate.edu

Michael Vekich3924 Natchez Avenue South St. Louis Park, MN 55416 Phone: 612-709-6262 vekich@vekich.com

[hello-robin-goodfellow]

BUG-A-BOOO

Bug-a-Booo ("Turma do Penadinho") is a Brazilian comic strip, created in 1963 and part of the Monica's Gang series. All of the characters are monsters or other supernatural creatures, none of them being a human being. The main location for their stories is a cemetery. However, their stories are not intended to be scary, they are sometimes classified as “Terrir”, which is a Portmanteauof the Portuguese words "Terror" (horror) and "Rir" (to laugh). In some of the stories, they have to deal with the fact that vampires, ghosts, zombies and mummies are no longer appreciated as characters of horror films. People instead are opting for assassins, psychopaths, serial killers, etc.

CHARACTERS

Bug-a-Booo (Penadinho) – Bug-a-Booo is the main character, a short ghost. Originally he was introduced in 1963 in the Jimmy Five's comic strips, as a friend of the titular character, in his first appearances he was an unnamed ghost child whose family had immigrated from Europe to Brazil. He continued appearing in the Jimmy Five comic strips until the following year when Mauricio de Sousa decided to create a separate comic strip focused on him and also giving him the current name. He is actually invisible, but wears a white sheet so he can be seen. In one strip, it is stated that he was engaged to a woman named Ernestina and was about to open a factory of disposable socks for people suffering from foot odor before he died.[An unnamed friend of his reveals while regretting Bug's death in his death anniversary at his grave that he ended up both marrying Ernestina and opening the factory, though the factory closed three months later and Ernestina became obese.

Lady MacDeath (Dona Morte) – Lady MacDeath is a Grim Reaper, the personification of Death who is responsible of going after all people whose time to die has come, although unlike a typical Grim Reaper, sometimes her body is not pictured as made of bones. She uses her sickle to kill people, by hitting them in the head, and then she takes their souls to the purgatory, for them to be judged and sent whether to hell or heaven (sometimes after much bureaucracy). She always carries a list with the name of the people she must kill on the day. Most of her stories feature a pursuit, sometimes punctuated with struggles faced every day by normal people. Maurico says that the purpose of creating her is "taking death less seriously, while it doesn't come to us."

Vic Vampire (Zé Vampir, full name José Morcego (Bat) Vampiro) – Vic is a yellow-skinned vampire, and therefore, he is able to turn himself into a bat. He feeds on blood and fears crosses (even though he lives in a cemetery full of them), sunlight, garlic and holy water. In one strip, it is revealed that he was born 300 years ago in the fictional city of Transilvânia do Sul (South Transylvania), near Varginha and turned into a vampire at infancy after one of them bit his dog, which in turn bit him and his parents.Vic has the power to turn other people vampires with a bite on their necks.

Moe the Mummy (Muminho) – Moe is a mummy of Egyptian ancestry. When the swabs which cover his bodies are taken out, Moe appears either invisible, as if the swabs were covering nothing, or as a dry corpse.

Frank – A reference to Frankenstein, Frank is a green construct with a very weak brain, so that the virtue he least holds is intelligence.

Wolfgang (Lobi) – A charming werewolf. While being able to talk, think and walk by two feet, he must live side-to-side with his canidae instincts, like chasing cats, urinating on lamp posts and trees, and howling to the moon. He hasn't an "official" human from, thus this form may change its personality dramatically from story to story. He has fangs, claws and yellow eyes.

Skully (Cranicola) – Skully is single skull, which rests all day on top of a stone. He cannot walk nor move (although in some stories he is seen jumping around), but on the other hand, he provides fine conversations to whoever speaks to him.

Al Ashmore (Zé Cremadinho) – Al Ashmore is nothing but the remains of someone who's been cremated. However, he is still able to talk, and jumps around just like Skully does sometimes. In most of his appearances, he is confused with dust and is attacked by broomsticks and vacuum cleaners.

Sid Skully (Zé Caveirinha) – A full skeleton. He is clumsy and is always losing his bones.

Sally Soul (Alminha) – Sally is Bug's girlfriend, although they are constantly seen having arguments with each other. Like Bug, she is actually an invisible ghost who wears a white sheet

Little Boy Boo (Pixuquinha) - The Bug's nephew. He is a child ghost.

Espírito de Porco - In Brazil, pranksters are sometimes called "espíritos de porco" (lit. "pig spirit"). Espírito de Porco is thus a pig-nosed ghost who likes pulling irritating pranks on the other residents of the cemetery.

Sources:

https://web.archive.org/web/20080902022737/http://www.monica.com.br/ingles/personag/t-penad.htm

@amalthea9​ @princesssarisa​ @deforestkelleys​ @gravedangerahead​ @ardenrosegarden​ @mademoiselle-princesse​ @dci-softy-edgelord​ @superkingofpriderock​ @ohiwannatakeyouhome​ @jgvfhl​ @hmmm-what-am-i-doing​ @lioness--hart​ @anne-white-star​

[beautifulpaxielreads]

September Wrap-Up

Books Completed (ratings out of five stars)

The winner’s curse (Winner’s Trilogy #1) by Marie Rutkoski (reread, begun in August, ★★★★)

Southern sun, northern star (Glass Alliance #3) by Joanna Hathaway (★★★★)

The seven husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid (★★★★)

Hood by Jenny Elder Moke (★★★)

The winner’s crime (Winner’s Trilogy #2) by Marie Rutkoski (reread, ★★★1/2))

Books currently in progress

Talking to my daughter: a brief history of capitalism by Yanis Varoufakis, translated from Greek by Yanis Varoufakis and Jacob Moe

Popular (a memoir): vintage wisdom for a modern geek by Maya Van Wagenen

The winner’s kiss (Winner’s Trilogy #3) by Marie Rutkoski

A sky painted gold by Laura Wood

Reflections on September and Goals for October

It might not seem like it, given I managed to finish five books, but September has proved to be a relatively slow month for me. I had a lot of other stuff going on in my life, and I didn’t always feel like reading. Nevertheless, I’m still on track to reach my reading goal of 65 books read this year.

My first love will always be fiction, but I have more than a few non-fiction books on my TBR that I’m also starting to make my way through. First is Talking to my daughter: a brief history of capitalism by Yanis Varoufakis, and Popular (a memoir): vintage wisdom for a modern geek by Maya Van Wagenen.

Rereads have also been a significant feature of my reading life as of late. I reread the first two books of Marie Rutkoski’s Winner’s Trilogy to prepare for the third, The winner’s kiss, which I’m now reading. I’m also rereading a favourite of mine – Laura Wood’s first YA novel, A sky painted gold, which is as delightful as ever. She’s got a new book called A single thread of moonlight coming out this month which I’ve pre-ordered and am HUGELY looking forward to reading.

Aside from reading Laura Wood’s latest and making my way through my non-fiction TBR, my goal for this month is to continue with my TBR, plus begin getting into my recent book purchases. I have been on somewhat of a book-buying spree lately (thank you, COVID) – so I have a LOT of reading to get through. I don’t see that as a bad thing, though!

Several of my new purchases are by Aussie authors (some of which are in this photo). I have recently acquired Australia Street by Ann Whitehead (a freebie picked up off the street) and Social Queue by Kay Kerr. I love supporting Australian creatives and Australian businesses whenever I can, especially at this time when so many are doing it tough.

So that’s it for this month – as you can all see, I’ve got quite a bit to do! All enjoyable, though (hopefully).

See you next month for my October wrap-up. Until then, stay safe – and happy reading!

[sillyfudgemonkeys]

Was reading your response to the Okumura Ryuji/Morgana fight, and the way the person worded Ryuji's character made me wanna ask... Do you think a bad fanbase is a fair reason to dislike a character? I've heard people say things like "no look at the character too", but... For example, I'm very neutral on Ryuji. When he's good, hes SO GOOD, EXCELLENT BOY, but Ann is my favorite girl. Guess who he pervs on exclusively and is rude to all the time? I've never seen his fans talk about (1/2 sorry)

His rude behavior, or his pervy tendencies, or his more selfish desires regarding the PT. That's fine!! Not everyone wants to constantly talk about bad things their fave has done!!! But people referring to him as a "woman respecting king" so insistently rubs me the wrong way, since he treats Ann Like That. That, and (more personal) i remember making a post/ask thing once about my grievances with Ryuji, esp his perv stuff, and the fans that interacted very aggressively denied his behavior (2/3)

And it even turned into a big discourse on the blog I submitted it to (it was that one confession blog). All the people that responded and just tried moving the arguments to "well Yusuke did this-" or even tried to push blame on Ann "she was asking for it" just kinda cemented my already growing dislike for Ryuji. Super sorry this is so long!!! Final question: is a bad fanbase a fair reason for disliking a character? (3/3)

Don’t say sorry about multiple sent asks, I don’t mind kfdsjla;fja As for the answer, I want to say yes and no, but really it’s just “yes with a side note attached.” Yeah, it’s ok to not like a char because of their fans, but I think it’s as long as you know why you dislike the char beyond the fans (well tbh, imo it’s usually the crazy fans so I think stans is a better word, but even then there’s diff stans). And tbh, I....can’t....think of a character I don’t like that the fandom/fanbase does....but I know nothing about the char all the while (closest and most recent example this....is....I know people dislike that grey haired moe blob on twitter even tho I don’t think they watched the show, and while I’m not a fan of the moeblobness I don’t know anything about the char so I’m personally not upset). I can only name chars I don’t like because of what happens in the text, fandom be damned (but sometimes they don’t help). Which is why it’s a yes with a side note. If you don’t like the char despite not knowing them.....probably get to know the char first even if your impression is clouded by the fandom....at least you gave the char a chance. 

Under cut cause length (first few sentences in the first paragraph under the cut/tldr at the end gives you the answer a bit more in depth, the rest is rants related to that and why I get frustrated in a similar sense too, but yeah sorry if I repeat myself, I kinda jumped all over + my tendency to try to nail a point home I feel like might’ve had me repeat a bit more than usual akslfjdakfjaf):

I say this because.....it’s hard....it’s hard to keep them separated, unless you completely isolate yourself from the fandom (which is basically impossible if you wanna keep up with news, even the comment section is part of the fandom tbh...and you might be looking down their for diff reasons). And then.....well...the big reason....sometimes seeing the fans really highlights the reasons you dislike the char. That’s what happened to me and Makoto, specifically cause of....a certain fan (and buddy if you happen to see this, nothing against you, no bad blood, def won’t mention your name I respect you and the debates we had)....AND TO THE TUMBLR READERS WHO GET NERVOUS: It wasn’t on this website in case anyone is freaking out so if you’re thinking “Oh god it’s me” it is most likely not you (tho I think we do know each other on here cause of usernames/saw each other in passing but we def aren’t mutuals last time I checked), and while I do respect that person.......my god did they highlight the reasons I had issues with P5 and Makoto. Ironically in trying to defend her and show off her good sides, I realized the writing issues more and more and her bad sides became more glaring. It turned my frustrating dislike and attempt to try to work out my issues with her and P5 (ironically “working out” in hindsight would’ve been me....denying and refusing to look at P5′s flaws) into....well......the salt factory you know today. (same thing happens with like......Yukari and Junpei fans too tbh...that’s more recent tho, it feels like they are just downplaying their negatives constantly and I’m not about that). Basically, you probably have issues already, they are just more pronounced now. 

As for “look at the character”....you kinda already are doing that, and that’s probably where your existing issues originated from (tho if someone wants a more in depth reason as to why, while you DON’T OWE them an explanation, it is also hard for someone to understand your feelings and reasons if you don’t try to explain). 

As for Ryu, yea, I getcha, I like the guy, I’m neutral positive on him....was my best bro but he’s 2nd best thanks to post-Kamo writing. I like him because of his positives, but I always keep his negs in mind because. Cause like while I agree with the fans IT MAKES NO SENSE! P5′S WRITING IS BAD! it happened, same as I agree that Anne kicking Ryu’s ass, along with the other girls, is shitty. Hate the scene, and I accept that it happen (low key gonna start some kinda 2nd wave war with this bs cause the fandom be like that, but I’m really surprised no one took Anne smacking Ryu behind the neck cause he was being too loud as super offensive and abuse.......it’s def something a friend might do, not like belting him just a tap, and it’s framed as chill and also as warning him to reign in the volume control, but high key surprised no one has tried to cancel her cause of that). BUT that DOESN’T mean it erases all the creepy stuff he’s done. Is he the goodest boi when he’s being good? The best. Is he always a good boi? No, he def is not. And hearing that he is can be frustrating to people that do see his flaws (cause they are there). And like....you are 100% able to like a character despite and because of their flaws, while also accepting they have those flaws. I do it with Yosuke, Ryuji (for the most part), Teddie, Shinji, Ken, Kanji (when he’s not around Naoto, then he’s in a trash can for me), P1/2 casts, Aigis, Mitsuru, as long as the flaws are within reason and are treated pretty well....then I’m ok with it. (again, Kanji/Ryu have moments when I’m like....NOPE! but when they aren’t doing the bad thing I’m cool with them). As long as the flaws are withing reason (aka they aren’t making a jerk person out to be the person in the right, or the writing is trying to sweep what they did under the rug, or trying to force us into empathizing with them despite what they did while also trying ot sacrifice empathy towards another char.....*cough*Makoto/Yukari/Junpei*cough* if the writing isn’t doing that...... I’m probs neutral to pos on them). 

Like I’m fine if they are criticizing the writing and being like “Him doing this makes no sense cause it conflicts with the good boi we’ve already seen!” That’s a-ok! Not only do you recognize your char has flaws, you also are able to identify issues with the writing. But saying “so I’ll choose to ignore that scene” isn’t....ok. Because sadly it did happen, as contradictory it did happen. AU it all you want, but you have to accept it happened outside of that AU. Like, I don’t like the Mika conflict in Anne’s CoOp, by which I don’t like how it went down (100% fine with Mika, and there being conflict with her). How it the whole thing started doesn’t make sense if you put MainStory!Anne in her CoOp. MS!Anne can read the room and other people’s emotions (only other person capable of that is Haru, or at least with Mona), hell she was so good at it she noticed something was up with Shiho without Shiho telling her about it! The issue was the fact Anne’s not a mind reader and could only assume the issue Shiho was going through that Anne was aware of (and that was her spot on the team). Now MS!Anne is not like Yosuke, she doesn’t put her foot in her mouth. She’s not like Naoto who can’t read the room. She’s not super eloquent, but can empathize and when she can interact with people she can do it pretty well. So why the hell does she basically not think before talking and insult Mika? Sure Anne’s not GREAT at school, but she’s not a moron, she can talk to people. But her CoOp makes her a moron all around, 100% airhead, and that’s how her issues with Mika start, by not thinking before talking and accidentally insulting her via blatantly “not caring” about the job to a full time person......it’s stupid, it makes no sense, I hate it. But it’s there, the flaw might not be present in the main story, but for the all around character (cause CoOps are included) it is now and I just have to deal with it. We can bitch about it all day (and trust me I will) but it happened. Basically never frame it as “it didn’t happen,” but instead “It SHOULDN’T HAVE happened.” One is denial, the other is critiquing the text. 

Anyway my rant aside, yeah I hate it when...well Ren/Ryu/Yusuke (no one’s said Mona yet, cause....well yeah...which is good they haven’t labeled him as it yet tho), are labeled as “drinking respect women juice” and I’m like “I have one to a few women who would disagree.” I know some people will argue Goro is drinking it, and imo he’s not....he’s just eating the “I don’t discriminate sandwich” which is different. And yeah the “But Yusuke-” yeah yeah we’ll get to him, but right now we’re talking about RYUJI. I’m not a fan of derailing a topic *war flashbacks* *shivers* anyway. But yeah I remember that debate, I was probably one who was like “We’ll get to Yusuke but right now we’re talking about Ryuji” and pushing the blame onto Anne is disgusting and Kamo Arc!Ryuji would be very upset. >:( (btw high key I think I was the first one who started the first anti-makoto war wave with me saying “yeah Anne shouldn’t have apologized Makoto started it and blah blah she was an ass” not the exact words but basically just calling her out on her shitty behavior cause the game certainly didn’t......tho as Miley Cyrus would say.....”I didn’t mean to start a waaaaaar~!” I actually wrote my first Persona Problems on that topic.......but it got lost in the drafts....my photo examples kept getting messed up which is bad considering the whole post really relied on them....I should try to dig it up tbh....)

Tldr/short answer: Yeah, you probably already have issues with the char to begin with tbh, and the fanbase can highlight those issues more. It’s also hard to escape the fanbase (I see stuff I don’t wanna see despite trying my hardest to avoid certain circles, it just happens).

[spongeguyandlelouchvibridankia]

SpongeGuy Reviews Every Disney Animated Show Ever!: The Proud Family (1.1): “Bring It On”

Could it be? A near perfect episode? YES. Let’s talk Proud Family (super fitting with the new season coming out soon).

The Proud Family was one of the original hits of The Disney Channel when it became it’s own thing in the beginning of the 21st century. In fact, it was for a while as big and as famous as the other big hit, Kim Possible, and it’s only really because of Phineas and Ferb’s quite earth shattering success that Proud Family feels like it was so long ago.

The show centers on Penny Proud (the Ronnie Anne lookalike in the pic) and her hard to deal with but still mostly loving family: Oscar Proud, the butt monkey dad, Trudy Proud, her no nonsense mother, Suger Mama, her even MORE no nonsense grandmother, and her baby sister and brother BeBe and CeCe Proud, not to mention a group of friends who are... Complicated, to say the least.

I hate to say it, but I never saw this as a kid (my country didn’t really air it, tbf, but still). Still, I used to play the games on the Disney site, and if my very positive views on the first episode stay, this is gonna be one of my favorites!

QUICK NOTE: While an argument can be made that certain moments between Oscar Proud and his mother and wife are not intended to be taken seriously, the fact of the matter is that he is abused by them physically and verbally all the time, and if it was the other way around, we would all be rightfully calling him out. Abuse is wrong both ways, so every time it features in an episode (and it does here) a point will be deducted from the characters score. I know this might seem odd for some, but i’m doing it anyway.

Now, onto the episode!

SUMMERY:  When a rich new family moves in next door to the Prouds, the parents hit it off right away, but Penny can't get along with their luxurious but vain daughter LaCienega, who tries out for cheerleading with Penny. When Penny makes a remark the she wants LaCienega out of her life, local bullies the Gross Sisters take it upon themselves to grant Penny's wish. After her friend Sticky brings word of the Gross Sisters' plan, Penny must decide between wanting the glory for herself or allowing her new rival a fair chance.

(Before we continue, I love the names in this show!)

COMEDY: 4 Out of 5

As I have said multiple times by now, comedy is subjective. It’s hard to judge it. Proud Family has a mixture of slapstick, verbal humor, character quirks, and sitcom jokes (and also one really weird joke we’ll get to). But most of them land! You may ask why? After all, many of the jokes here are ones we’ve all heard (except for the grandfather with the Cesar Romero Joker laugh from archival recordings because YES THAT IS A THING).

Well, this will pop up in the other segments, but it’s probably best to say it here: Atmosphere. The atmosphere of The Proud Family feels like if the color palate of Doug, the street sensibilities of Hey Arnold and the personality of Recess all came together to make this show a reality, and honestly, I’m very grateful! The jokes aren’t top tier, but I don’t mind, they become funny thanks to the vocal delivery and atmosphere, which is why Characters will also get a high score!

CHARACTERS: 4 Out of 5

Penny Proud is moe and likable despite her flaws.

...Was I supposed to say more?

Well, tbf, Penny isn’t the only character here: Oscar, despite the pain it is to view him, has a fun atmosphere to him too (Just imagine they all have that), Penny’s friends range from Lovable Alpha bitch to less lovable but still fun to see alpha bitch to kid who speaks in so much slang it is used for padding and it becomes funny to geek girl I may or may not ship with Penny for crackship reasons. Even when these characters are jerks, there is something likable and charming about them, which says a lot!

The rest of Penny’s family, however...

Look, Sugar Mama CAN be funny, but as stated before, she and Trudy ABUSE Oscar, so that’s all I’ll say about them.

Also I stan Joker Grandfather.

STORY AND HEART: 5 Out of 5

Originally I was gonna give a 4, but again, THAT ATMOSPHERE! The moral is a pretty interesting one: Not every person has hidden depths, sometimes a person is a jerk for  no reason, but that doesn’t give you the right to be that in return, and outside of that, it’s just fun seeing this story unfold, even when nothing  much happens. The pacing is very odd, but again, I like that it is! There’s just something about this one. Full of life, yet weirdly real, funny and charming with a lot of attitude, it’s just a joy to watch and I can’t wait for the next episode!

Also the theme song fucking SLAPS!

FINAL SCORE: 13 Out of 15 

This and Good Luck Charlie’s Pilot episode really have set a benchmark, this was how you do a Disney cartoon!

Next time we have... Well, we were going to do Jungle Junction (an obscure and crappy Disney Junior show), but since I can’t seem to find it anywhere and I have no money to buy it online, it seems like I’ll have to drop it and do Fish Hooks!

https://docs.google.com/document/d/194d3gsPrhlOsFPYsXU-lJirY4sWncrBl/edit#heading=h.gjdgxs (current rankings in here)

[alcalavicci]

Charles Plymell on Dean

[Jill: The following excerpt is from an essay written by Charles Plymell, titled "Charles Plymell From Kansa, Land of the Wind People" (yes, the 's' is left off of Kansas). This pulls Stockwell into Neal Cassady's world, because Stockwell is hangin' with Plymell, and Cassady is Plymell's roommate. See how nice and tidy everything is? But really, the San Francisco/Los Angeles Beat scene is probably a small world - that's why the same names keep appearing in all of the Links from this time.]

There were a lot of things coming together by 1963. It was like some great cosmic charge opened and sent ripples through every level of changes; as if the I Ching had been shuffled. I rented a house with Glen Todd and Justin Hein, a painter from Kansas. The house had been used as a meth factory, and before we had moved in, it was rented to a new wave of youths from Wichita who had by then immersed themselves somewhere in the Haight. I didn't know it at the time, but Ginsberg had lived at this address with the painter Robert LaVigne. Diane DiPrima had been there years before to gather material for her magazine The Floating Bear. She will visit the Gough Street flat again in the city of floating scenes.

During the summer of 1963, at the infamous 1403 Gough Street residence, a blast was in the works. It was an address well known to the Auerhahn regulars: Dave Haselwood, who would move his Auerhahn Press soirees to that address and entertain a steady stream of poets; Jonathan Williams and others from the Black Mountain school; McClure and the San Francisco Renaissance; Ed Sanders, another Kansan, who migrated to New York's Lower East Side and started the Fugs. He performed across the street at the Avalon Ballroom.

The Hollywood "alchemists," whose strong image collages and film montages mixed the word medium, also came to Gough Street and contributed to the scene: the publisher Wallace Berman and the actor Dean Stockwell. Dennis Hopper and Dean Stockwell sent collages and drawings to be included in an underground magazine I was printing at that time called NOW. Later, when I lived in Hollywood with Brad and Celeste Hammond and had no money, Dean's hospitality allowed me to explore the scene. There was some common ground in Hollywood, Barney's Beanery, where I wrote some "pop" poetry.

History in the making was the feeling at the Gough Street party in San Francisco that night. Parties were open affairs and strange people always showed up. It was like a cosmic gene pool, a Star Wars rehearsal, an archetypal convention with hidden messages and timeless meanings that manifested themselves with a look, a dance, a conversation; where everyone communicated on multiple levels, as if Carl Jung had met pop culture, where group consciousness was saturated with lysergic acid. It was as if enormous cosmic forces were coming together and the weave and warp of time was overlaying itself in a history that I suspect a keen Herodotus meditating on Mount Tamalpius (Marin County) might have enjoyed. Even the tile inlay on the stoop resembled a superimposed swastika over a Star of David. Or were things really that significant? When I answered the doorbell, a group was on the stairs. Allen Ginsberg, who had just returned from India, entered. Behind him: Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Michael McClure, Philip Whalen, Lew Welch, and a host of other luminaries. The songs and dancing grew wilder, and a crazed poet, Dave Moe, started flipping out, dancing wildly, in a tantrum, for the famous guests.

After a while Ginsberg introduced himself and said to me something that sounded rather cryptic, like, "I guess you're the one I'm supposed to meet." And I said, "I guess your the saint", and he said, "No, I don't want to be," or something to that effect. I tried to make small talk with Ferlinghetti and told him he reminded me of someone a master painted. He looked puzzled and never said much. Within a few days, Ginsberg took me to Ferlinghetti's house on Portero Hill. Ginsberg said he had come to San Francisco to help his old lover, Neal Cassady, write his novel and was looking for a place to stay. I said I had this seven-room flat for a hundred bucks a month that we could share.

I had met Neal once when he had dropped by Maureen Kegwin's flat in North Beach where I'd been staying. Allen said Neal would be bringing his things to move in. A '39 Pontiac pulled into the driveway and jerked to a halt. I learned later that a brake line was damaged and Neal drove it that way, gearing it down as far as possible, then pulling on the emergency brake. It was in that car we went on a white-knuckled ride down the coastal mountain road to Bolinas with Neal driving and pulling the emergency brake to slow down while physically fighting with his girlfriend, Ann. Allen and I were being tossed around in a backseat like a couple of Marx Brothers' extras.

At Gough Street, Neal unpacked three or four cardboard boxes with his belongings spilling out of them. He moved much faster than a normal person and left his girlfriend, Ann, standing in a daze. His last parcels were a grocery sack and a shoebox full of marijuana which he tucked under one arm while putting his other arm around Ann to carry her up the stairs. I later characterized them in a poem as Popeye and Olive Oyl and began making collages-notes of scenes that would go into my book, The Last of the Moccasins.

Also: https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-06-05-ca-623-story.html (about Berman)

[phoenixfeatherquill]

To Catch A Swan (13/22)

Neal was having a good week until he saw August drive by on his motorcycle, Emma in tow. 

He tried to pay it no heed. But the image of August’s smug expression as he passed him, with Emma’s arms wrapped tightly around his waist was seared into Neal’s brain for days. By the time he made it to the troll bridge to meet Frederick, his mood had only gotten worse. 

“Yikes,” Frederick took in Neal’s expression as he wordlessly handed him a coffee. “You look like you’re about to commit murder.” 

Frederick was the gym teacher at the elementary school. Neal had met him during one of his covert meetings Henry on the playground. Mary Margaret had been sick that day and Frederick, unaware of who Neal was, had stormed over and demanded what Neal was doing there and threatened to call the cops. Neal wasn’t bothered by this—it was actually somewhat relieving that Henry had teachers that noticed strangers on the playground and would not put up with it. After a brief explanation and conversation (followed by a quick phone call to Emma), they became friends. 

“I’m fine,” Neal said through gritted teeth. “I uh…saw Emma. She was on the back of August’s motorcycle. I didn’t realize they were…hanging out.” 

Frederick glanced at his watch—he had about an hour of free time before he had to coach the girls’ soccer team. 

Frederick cocked his head. “You don’t look fine.” 

“I’m fine,” Neal repeated. He accidentally squeezed his paper cup too hard and groaned as he got coffee all over himself. 

“You really don’t look fine,” Frederick chuckled. “It’s okay to not be fine. I’d be pissed too if my ex was riding off on a motorcycle with some weirdo.” 

“It’s not about that,” Neal muttered. 

That was the truth. Neal wanted Emma to be happy—even if that meant dating someone else. But the fact that she was spending time with August…brought up conflicting emotions. He had no idea what August would tell her. He had no idea what they would be doing. The idea of Emma in August’s arms made him feel slightly sick. 

“Do you want Emma back?” Frederick asked squarely. 

Neal wrinkled. “Why would you ask me that?” 

“Because from what you’ve told me about Valentine’s Day,” Frederick took a sip of his chai latte. “Something has shifted between you too.” 

“Shifted how?” Neal asked warily. 

“That’s for you to figure out,” Frederick answered sagely, taking another sip. “But with you guys giving each other longing looks every five minutes—” 

“We do not!” 

“—while simultaneously going out with other people and then getting mad about it later—it’s gonna blow up in your face if you’re not honest with her.” 

“I haven’t gone out with anyone!” Neal said in outrage. 

“What about Ann?” Frederick wanted to know. “What about last night?” 

“You were with me last night,” Neal said impatiently. “It’s hardly a date if there are three people. Besides, Ann isn’t interested in me like that.” 

“How do you know?” 

Fair question. And a question Neal didn’t know how to answer. But he just knew that Ann did not have romantic designs on him. She was intrigued by him, certainly. They had a sort of kinship he couldn’t quite describe. But aside from conversations and shared drinks, there was never much of a romantic atmosphere between the two. 

“Well, at any rate,” Frederick chose to fill Neal’s silence. “That’s not what Emma thinks.” 

Neal decided to change the subject. “Hey, do you know what’s going on with Mary Margaret? Feels like the whole town is…I dunno, ‘shunning’ her or something. Emma told me a few days ago she’s been trying to get people to do this fundraiser and no one will help her out.” 

Frederick scratched his neck. “Um…well, I did…sort of see Kathryn Nolan barge into school and slap her in the middle of the hallway.” 

“What?!” 

“Yeah…word around town is that David Nolan has been cheating on Kathryn with Mary Margaret,” Frederick said darkly. “Not a great situation.” 

“Jesus,” Neal said and kicked a pebble. “This is too small a town for that kinda shit.” 

“No kidding,” Frederick took another swallow of coffee. “I don’t condone how people have been treating Mary Margaret…but she did walk into it. She knew what she was doing.” 

“Well, so did David,” Neal pointed out. “No one’s written TRAMP on his pickup, though.” 

“Yeah, well,” Frederick looked off into the distance. “I can’t help it. I feel bad for Kathryn. After all she’s been through…losing her husband, getting him back again, him not remembering her…I dunno. I just hate that this is one more thing hurting her.” 

Neal glanced at him. “Do you know her?” 

An odd expression formed on Frederick’s face. “No…I mean, I guess we all sort of know each other in Storybrooke, it’s a tiny town. But we’ve never spoken. I don’t think we have, anyway…” 

He looked disturbed at Neal’s question. Neal wondered if they had known each other—back in the Enchanted Forest. 

Neal tossed his coffee cup into the trash. From the Storybrooke perspective, it was easy to agree with Frederick, that David and Mary Margaret were completely in the wrong and Kathryn was the one who got hurt. But from the Enchanted Forest perspective…David and Mary Margaret were really Snow White and Prince Charming. They had true love. A measly curse couldn’t make them forget that, not completely. This was bound to happen. 

In Neal’s opinion, the blame fell squarely on Regina. She was the one who enacted the curse. She was the one who toyed with everyone’s lives like puppets on a string. 

“Doesn’t matter,” Frederick cleared his throat. “I heard Kathryn was moving. Good for her, I say. Anyway, if you’re so concerned about Mary Margaret, why don’t you volunteer to help her?”

“Emma is living with Mary Margaret,” Neal said quickly. “Mary Margaret has that support.” 

Truth be told, despite his sympathy for Mary Margaret and David, Neal had pretty pointedly been avoiding them in Storybrooke. He realized they didn’t know who they were and by extension couldn’t know who he was—aside from Emma’s ex and Henry’s father. But it was a little awkward. The truth was, Neal was Baelfire, the son of the wicked Dark One. If the curse was broken, his first impression to Prince Charming and Snow White would be the fact that he had knocked up their daughter. 

Somehow he doubted they’d appreciate his presence in their family. 

“I’m off,” Frederick threw his own coffee cup away. “Gotta drive to the Perrault field and get some 12-year-olds motivated. Want to meet up later tonight? Colts are playing the Rams, they’ll be showing the game at the Rabbit Hole.” 

“Yeah sure,” Neal shrugged. “Tell Henry I miss him.” 

“You got it,” Frederick waved and walked off. 

XXXX 

Frederick stood Neal up that evening, but it ended up being for the best. Apparently while driving to the soccer field, Frederick had noticed a car that had crashed on the side of the road and needed to report it to Emma. 

It was neither here nor there. Besides, Neal was trying to stay out of the bar, though now that he had started to make friends, it was getting difficult. He liked Frederick and Ann, but admitting that his lawyer had warned him not to get drunk again made it seem like his drinking was a problem. Which it wasn’t. It wasn’t a problem. 

He was looking forward to the Miner’s Festival. He couldn’t help it—he loved festivals. He used to have an amazing time with Emma at small town festivals—it was easy to steal drinks and food, especially at busy stalls. Even more than that, they reminded him of some of the happier moments of his childhood. 

He wondered if Emma remembered their adventures at festivals. There was one time in Mississippi where they… 

“Neal!” Mary Margaret called out. “Would you like to buy a candle?” 

Neal was abruptly ripped out of his reverie. Mary Margaret was dancing a little on her toes, thrusting a large wax candle in his face. 

“Um…” Neal coughed. “I’m not really a candle guy, Mary Margaret.” 

Her face fell. Neal remembered that he knocked up her daughter seventeen years after she sent her through a wardrobe. 

“But I would love one,” He said quickly. He handed her some cash and Mary Margaret sighed in relief. He noticed Leroy was helping her and wondered why. 

Neal then spied Emma talking seriously with Sidney. He frowned and walked over to her. Sidney quickly vacated; he was well aware of Neal’s opinion of him. 

“What’s going on?” He asked.  

“Kathryn,” Emma crossed her arms. “You know that car Frederick found? It belonged to Kathryn Nolan.” 

Neal whistled. “But you didn’t find her?” 

“No,” Emma said worriedly. “And I called the law school she was enrolled in—she never showed up for registration.” 

“You think she’s been kidnapped?” Neal said in alarm. 

“I don’t know what to think,” Emma took the candle Neal was holding it and examined it with interest. “Sidney’s tracking down her phone records. We’re gonna find out the last person she spoke to.” 

Neal’s eyes narrowed. “Emma—” 

“Look, I know you don’t think I should trust Sidney,” Emma snapped. “But this is important, Neal. Sidney’s already telling me that Mary Margaret might be a suspect—which is bullshit. But he still wants his reporter job. I need to keep him on my good side and keep this out of the papers for as long as possible.” 

“Right,” Neal scratched his neck. “And—you’re sure Mary Margaret isn’t a suspect?” 

Emma gave him a withering look. 

“Okay, dumb question,” He held up his hands. “That’s not what I came to talk to you about. I wanted your go ahead to do a little investigation of my own.” 

Emma’s brow furrowed. “What kind of investigation?” 

“I can’t stop thinking about what Mr. Gold said,” Neal said seriously. “About Moe French hurting someone.” 

Emma tilted her head. “You want to investigate that? That’s not much to go on.”

“I know,” Neal coughed. “But—call it gut instinct. I want to look into this. See where it takes me.” 

“Neal…” Emma bit her lip. “We have no idea what Gold was talking about. It could be nothing.” 

“It could be something,” Neal said firmly. “Please. I need your help.” 

Emma exhaled slowly. “Look, you’re free to do whatever digging you want to do. You can use my resources. But I have to find Kathryn Nolan.” 

“Fair enough,” Neal agreed. 

XXXX 

Neal found Gold the next day at the docks talking to Leroy. Leroy was apparently trying to sell his boat—unsuccessfully, from what Neal could tell. Leroy was explaining something about the rent the nuns owed and Gold was flatly rejecting cutting them some slack. 

“You don’t like nuns?” Leroy said incredulously. “Who doesn’t like nuns?” 

Gold noticed Neal and stepped off the pier. “Oh, I have my reasons. And they’re mine. Let’s just say, I have a long and complicated history with them, and leave it at that.” 

He walked away from the frustrated Leroy and greeted Neal politely. 

“I’m afraid I can’t linger,” Gold said apologetically. “You’re welcome to walk with me…I have to pop in and warn some noncompliant tenants about their impending eviction.” 

He seemed to relish the words. 

Neal rolled his eyes and matched Gold’s pace. “So what is your issue with nuns?” 

Gold’s lip curled. “I’m of the opinion that it’s better to be an honest bastard than a bastard that pretends to be godly.” 

“O-kay,” Neal replied and arched a brow. “And…that makes you an honest bastard, right?” 

Gold didn’t reply but his smirk was answer enough. Neal sighed. 

“I’m impressed you got out of jail so quickly,” Neal shoved his hands in the pockets of his coat. “Though not surprised. I want to talk to you a little more about that stunt you pulled with Moe French.” 

Gold smiled again, as though cherishing the memory of almost beating the florist to death. But he only said, “I think my actions were fairly self-explanatory.” 

“Maybe,” Neal allowed. “But I’m curious about your history with that guy. You never did elaborate on that. There was something else he did, wasn’t there? He hurt someone close to you.” 

Gold’s stride slowed barely a beat—it was almost imperceptible to notice. But Neal knew his father well. He’d touched a nerve. 

“The only things in the world that matter, Neal, is power,” Gold said quietly. “And keeping that power. With that comes sacrifice. Loss. Something Moe French does not appreciate.” 

Nausea hit Neal and he staggered slightly. His breathing quickened and he forced himself to take deeper breaths and focus on a single point ahead of them. He was flashing back…thinking about his father letting him fall through the portal to the land without magic. Gold watched him mutely. 

“Look, I’ll see you later,” Neal regained control of his breathing. “I just wanted to touch base. Emma and me are getting antsy. Regina is forcibly keeping Henry away from us.” 

“She is within her rights to do that,” Gold continued to stare at him unnervingly. “But I wouldn’t worry so much about it. Madam Mayor has other things to worry about.” 

“Like what?” 

Gold didn’t answer. They had reached the nuns’ building. 

“Will you be joining me?” Gold asked suddenly. “I have a feeling you and the Mother Superior would get along swimmingly.” 

“No thanks,” Neal said sourly. “I don’t enjoy you terrorizing a bunch of little old ladies. We’ll talk later.” 

He stepped away from the building and started towards the abandoned library. 

It was a beautiful old place, completely boarded and locked up tightly.  It was strange that Regina had the library locked up—didn’t the school utilize its resources? Then again, the last thing Regina would want to do was promote critical thinking. 

He tried a few times to find a way in. Emma might have managed it, as she was more slender, but Neal’s stocky build prevented it. Henry would definitely be able to get in, but there was no way Neal would allow his son into a place Regina had taken care to shut down. He had no idea what Regina had stored there. 

Maybe Gold knew of a way to get in. He seemed to have keys to every other place in Storybrooke. But would he allow Neal entry? Especially if he knew what he was looking for…but it was dangerous to pry. Even a simple question could bring on an anxiety attack that would completely break the con. 

He needed to be more careful. One false move and Gold would know everything. 

XXXX 

“Well, you get used to it,” August smirked at Ruby. “Plus, I had the motorcycle so if I didn’t like a place after a while…whoosh!”

She stared at him awestruck. The diner was full of people, but her attention was fixed on August. 

“I’ve never even been out of Storybrooke,” Ruby said regretfully. “What was your favorite place?” 

“Nepal,” August informed her. “Best people. They have these prayer temples carved into mountains that are overrun with lemurs.” 

“Macaques,” Neal interrupted, squeezing August’s shoulder painfully. “There are no lemurs in Nepal.” 

Ruby blinked at this interjection but before she could respond, Granny called her over. She stomped towards her grandmother in irritation and Neal took a seat across from August. 

“Uncool,” August sniffed, but his eyes twinkled. “Ladies always fall for the lemurs.” 

“Same lying bullshit,” Neal growled as he took August’s mug of coffee. “I was stupid enough to fall for it once. Not gonna let Ruby Lucas fall for it too.” 

August gazed at Neal quizzically. “Was there something you wanted, Baelfire?” 

“Shut up,” Neal hissed. He looked around the diner frantically, terrified that Gold or Regina was around. But no one seemed to notice their conversation. 

Neal exhaled. “What are you even doing here? I’d have figured you would have cleared out by now, seeing as I still owe you a full beat-down.” 

August tsked. “Sounds like you’re not too happy about me taking Emma out for a joyride. Emma and I have history, Neal. Just as much history as you and her. We’ve got a connection, whether you like it or not.” 

“A connection centered on you ditching her when she was a baby,” Neal snapped. 

“Not unlike you abandoning her when she was eighteen,” August noted. 

“You told me to!” 

August raised his hands. “C’mon, Neal. I don’t want to fight with you. I’m sure there’s another reason why you interrupted my storytelling.” 

“You’re right about that,” Neal muttered. “Look—obviously you know Emma’s the Savior. Have you figured out the others’ identities?” 

“Here and there,” August acknowledged, his voice lowering. “I was pretty young when I left the Enchanted Forest, Neal. Only a few years younger than you. But I remember Snow—that’s Mary Margaret. And David is Charming, obviously. Regina is the Evil Queen. And Mr. Gold…is the Dark One.” 

“Well, you all are the party of five,” Neal said sarcastically. “But…did you ever know a Belle?” 

August tilted his head. “Belle?” 

“Yeah.” 

The two men stared at each other. Neal tried to read August’s expression, but it was inscrutable. 

“I don’t,” August said finally. “Who is she? If she’s from your time, she might not be alive anymore.” 

“Not from my time,” Neal drained the rest of August’s coffee and stood. “But I think she’s somewhere in Storybrooke. August—you’ll earn a lot of good will from me if you hear anything about her. Got it?” 

August’s lips curved. “I really do think we could be friends, Neal. I’ll keep my ears open.” 

“Thanks,” Neal went to the door. “No more lemur stories. Leave Ruby alone.” 

August rolled his eyes but Neal was already gone. 

XXXX 

The next day, while eating lunch, Neal’s phone rang. In between bites of grilled cheese, he glanced and swallowed hard. He took a sip of coffee to free his voice and answered. 

“Emma?” 

“Hey…” Emma’s voice was hesitant. “Look…you helped out a lot with Gold, helping me figure out where he is. I know you’re working Gold over right now, but…I could really use your help on this case. Ruby and I just found David bruised and bloody in the middle of the woods. I took him to the hospital and Ruby’s checking out the area right now. Can you help her out?” 

“Of course,” Neal said immediately. “Of course. Where can I meet you?” 

“I’m still at the hospital. But Ruby’s checking out the Toll Bridge. That’s where David ended up when he first started this sleepwalking crap.” 

“Be there in ten,” Neal said and dug out a twenty. Ann chucked at his exuberance. 

“Emma?” She guessed. 

“Yeah,” Neal said awkwardly. “She asked me for help with this Kathryn Nolan thing…you don’t mind?” 

“Not at all,” Ann hid a smile behind her cup of tea. “We’ll catch up later. I think I know where you’re priorities lie.” 

Neal paused. “Ann—it’s not that…you’re not a second choice, okay? You know that, right?” 

Ann laughed and set down her teacup. “Oh, Neal. I knew I wasn’t in the running the day I met you. I’m happy with what we are. Friends. I need friends. I get very…lonely. I miss my family. I would do anything for a second chance with them.” 

Neal stared at her. Ann finished her tea. 

“You have that second chance,” She set her teacup down with a clink. “Don’t waste it, Neal.” 

Neal nodded and strode out the door. 

He found Ruby under the Toll Bridge, gingerly scoping out the area. She brightened in relief at his approach but waved her hands in frustration. 

“I have no idea what we’re supposed to be looking for,” She complained as he joined her. “I really suck at this Sherlock shit, Neal.” 

“Don’t sell yourself short,” Neal squatted and scanned their surroundings to see if there were any footprints. “Emma wouldn’t have asked you to do this if she didn’t trust your instincts.” 

“Instincts,” Ruby muttered. “Any other hints, Watson?” 

Neal checked under the Toll Bridge for any markings—scratchings or otherwise. “Evidence, basically. Anything that might have belonged to Kathryn Nolan. Hidden weapons. Anything of that nature. This place would be a good place for something to be found…” 

Almost too good. Which was why Neal was dubious when Ruby exclaimed that she found something. 

“Under here!” She said excitedly as she dug out a small wooden box. “It was buried here under this board. What is this, exactly?”

Neal examined the board. It was a little…convenient that Ruby found something so easily. But before he could wonder aloud if it had been planted purposefully, Ruby shrieked in terror. 

She had dropped the jewelry box. Neal scooped it up and opened it. He stared numbly at the human heart within. 

“Shit.” 

XXXX 

It seemed Ruby had had enough of detective work. Neal didn’t blame her. She returned to the familiar comforts of her grandmother’s diner, presumably to make up with Granny Lucas as well. She left Neal and Emma alone at the sheriff’s office to fingerprint the jewelry box and discuss what was to be done. 

Emma was quiet, which was never a good sign. She had successfully matched the fingerprints and Neal watched her across the room with an odd mixture of pride in her abilities and sorrow towards the results. As he suspected…the fingerprints were Mary Margaret’s. 

Someone was trying to implicate her. 

Emma stared blankly at the wall. “I have to arrest her.” 

“You don’t have to do anything,” Neal said gently. 

“I have to, Neal,” Emma’s head shot up. “If I don’t, it’ll look like I’m not impartial. Regina will—you know what she’ll say.” 

She put her face in her hands. “I don’t know what to do.” 

He went to her immediately. To his surprise, she welcomed his arms willingly and she buried her head in his shoulders, just like she did when they were together. 

“We’re going to figure this out,” Neal murmured into her hair. “We both know it’s not Mary Margaret. This is a frame job—a good frame job…we have to verify that heart belonged to Kathryn.” 

“DNA test results take forever to come back,” Emma said bitterly. She lifted her head up and Neal became lost in her storm-blue eyes. 

He shook himself out. “We’ll do it the old fashioned way, Emma. We’ll ask some questions. We’ll find an alibi for her. And I’ll…I’ll get Gold involved. He’s helping me with Henry’s custody case, I can get him to help Mary Margaret too.” 

Emma took a shaky breath. “I just—I feel so awful for her. What if we can’t prove that she—” 

“We can,” Neal said firmly. “We’ll figure this out. Emma…you’re not alone on this.”

She became very still at his words. Before Neal quite knew what was happening, she kissed him.

[theharellan]

RP POSITIVITY MEME

DAY 05: favorite multimuses

i’ve been trying to bring multimuses in on past days b/c i want to acknowledge certain characters on said blogs, but here i’ll just highlight the blogs as a whole!

@aniente​ - muses: ameridan, merrill, evangeline, gatt, adrian, dalish, missne (oc), sabriel (oc)

a dragon age multimuse who i featured a couple times b/c i just. really admire their choice of muses as well as the writing! there’s not a muse on here i don’t love, even those like adrian that i’m not overly familiar with given i’ve yet to finish asunder. i can feel ciri’s passion when they write about each of their muses, and it invests me in each one. i’d honestly love a thread w/ each of their muses one day. gotta catch ‘em all. 

@burnsbriiight​ - muses: mai (a:tla), kitty pryde (x-men), marie-elise (da oc), annuneth (da oc), patricia anne (da oc), adahleni (da oc)

first, it was apparently rachel’s birthday the other day, so happy birthday! second, mai is one of my a:tla faves (i actually rped her back in the day) and although i just followed this multimuse i’m excited to see her rps w/ mai. she’s an underrated character.

@centuriesuntold - muses: all the doctors. every one.

i’ve been following this blog since my mass effect days, back when they were bowtied, and they provided a lot of rly inspirational posts to anons and such on their dash! seeing them again, only now with more doctors, was a very exciting experience!!! it’s not something i’d seen before in the dw fandom, and i’ve adored what i’ve seen from them, even as someone who is only familiar with new doctor who.

@dryhtenhold - muses: gareth cousland (oc), ves aeducan (oc), eleanor cousland, agravaine ker (oc), tamar (oc), loghain mac tir

i’ve only listed erran’s primary dragon age characters, but she rps tolkien as well as having a list of secondary muses! her ocs have interesting and complex backstories that really dig deep into dragon age lore, specifically fereldan lore and the civil war. they are such natural parts of the lore that i had to mark them (oc) otherwise you might confuse them with canons like eleanor and loghain.

@kaleiidoscopehearts​ - isabela, miryin brosca, peebee (mass effect), bolin (lok), sally malik (being human), azalea gothel (descendents oc), artemis crook (young justice), amellia smollet (treasure planet)

multifandom, and some are fandoms i’m unfamliar with, which just goes to show how talented they are b/c i’m v selective with non-da multimuses! i’ve talked about peebee and miryin, but i also have been v pleased with seeing bolin on my dash! he was one of my faves from lok. and every time an isabela hits on solas another five minutes are added to my life.

@lcgacyofages - ceridwen mahariel, atena hawke, myrrdin lavellan, zoria amell, dazbo amell, aurora amell, ronina lavellan, seigfried trevelyan, etienne de rousseau, xora orsiniel pharare, arik tabris, hildegard cadash

a blog full of lovely ocs based upon the pc backstories given to us in-game (for the most part!). don’t let the names fool you, though, as not all of them are the heroes. some are companion ocs, which are honestly some of my fave ocs in darp!

@mercysought - priestess (oc), maxima aurum (oc), himsulem (oc), manala (oc), anora theirin, emilie de clair (oc), abel de clair (oc), laone shatterspine (oc), moe (star wars oc)

there isn’t a muse here who isn’t fascinating and beautifully written. with the exception of moe, they’re all dragon age characters, and while i haven’t rped with all of them yet i hope to one day. skells is a wonderful writer and i’m glad a multimuse has enabled her to have more characters b/c that’s what we deserve.

@mindsmade - cremisius acclassi, liam kosta (mass effect), aiden shepard (me), gil brodie (me), celebrian (tolkien), and more!

also featuring more tolkien muses and characters from the good wife and mythological characters! i mentioned this the other day, but i adore their ship on liam with the aforementioned peebee! there’s not a muse listed here who isn’t worth reading about, even as someone unfamiliar with the expanded tolkien universe.

@teleidoscopic - khaliya lavellan, raleigh samson, morrigan, sera, zenyatta (ovw), jameson locke (halo), EDI (mass effect), ashley williams (mass effect), the black box (halo), john hancock (fallout 4), red (transistor)

i’ve been following pastry’s rp blogs for... idk... seven years now? a lot. a lot of years. i’ve seen a few of these muses in action on single-muse blogs, so i’m glad they can return in multimuse form. pastry’s samson and ashley in particular are old favourites, but looking at this list pastry has the magic ability to pull my faves out in general (i would die for zenyatta. and probably deserve it after how many times i’ve gotten him killed playing him...). 

@tothezeros - morrigan, minaeve, raleigh samson, melchior heeren (oc), cornelia solette (oc), clancy griffin (oc), corin thenn (oc), sylvus varnehn (oc)

again, i decided to only list the dragon age muses to save me from tabbing back and forth, but this blog has so many fun muses aside from that! like spyro, taking me back to the days i would ask my dad to take me and my brother to a clubhouse so we could play one of the games on the ps2. and christopher robin! as for their dragon age muses, i’ve thoroughly enjoyed them. i still have a few to get to know, but their samson and minaeve are great, and i’ve known clancy for a few years now! it’s comforting to see him on my dash after all this time.