#arthur birling

[secretagentsagainstwhatever]

I saw ‘An Inspector Calls’ on stage today and holy shit

[muse-rants]

[unsuspicious-nobody]

I type 4 Eva on the groupchat and they think I mean forever when I actually mean for Eva Smith from an inspector calls who deserves better

[deschainartnerd]

They are allowed to bite and maul him I think

[an-inspector-balls]

eat up children - 🥧

[ultcrackshipskirmish]

Round 1: Brason (Jason Grace x A Brick) vs Bir-cler (Arthur Birling x Once-ler)

No photo for Bir-cler sadly if you have one please send it via asks

[aninspectorcalls]

"ARTHUR BIRLING is a heavy-looking, rather portentous man in his middle fifties, with fairly easy manners but rather provincial in his speech."

Mr. Birling is wealthy, and comfortable in his life, but he does not come from a high class family - shown by his "provincial" speech. This presents him as the embodiment of the middle-class capitalist ideal.

[novuit]

I'm grieving so badly over the quotes I remember that I never got to write down, so I'm going to draw a bunch of doodles with the quotes I still remember before I thankfully forget it forever. And to the people doing gcses right now, let's celebrate the end of having to memorise quotes from british plays by getting sloshed over champers and then drink more seeing as we have more exams this week!!! :D

(Edexcel gave us easier questions than I thought, I don't know what I was so worried about, hahah...)

[khorazir]

A yellow car at Birling Gap. Arthur Shappey would call that brilliant!

[wipbigbang]

The 2025 WIP Big Bang & WIP Reverse Bang Are Open For Sign-Ups!

Welcome to a new round! We're bringing back the OG WIP Big Bang, which is for finishing fic and getting art to go with it, and introducing the first full round of the WIP Reverse Bang, which is for finishing artwork and getting fic to go with it. All fandoms/ratings/ships are welcome, including original works!

Schedule

All times are by 11:59pm PST. Convert time zones.

Big Bang/Reverse Bang Sign-ups Begin- April 1st

Big Bang/Reverse Bang Sign-ups Close- May 21st

Big Bang/Reverse Bang Check In #1- May 22nd

Big Bang/Reverse Bang Check In #2- June 15th

Big Bang/Reverse Bang Snippets Due- July 1st

Big Bang Art Claims/Reverse Bang Fic Claims Begin- July 17th

Big Bang/Reverse Bang Check In #3- July 22nd

Big Bang/Reverse Bang Check In #4- August 6th

Big Bang/Reverse Bang Rough Drafts Due- August 15th

Big Bang/Reverse Bang Posting Claims Begin- August 23rd

Big Bang/Reverse Bang Posting Claims Ends- September 1st

Big Bang/Reverse Bang Final Drafts/Art & Fic Due- September 7th

Big Bang/Reverse Bang Posting Starts- September 8th

SIGN UP LINKS

WIP Big Bang | WIP Reverse Bang

FAQ

[emberphoenixisgoingtolive]

Me in my English Lit paper 1: *trying to focus*

Brain cells: what if (pre redemption) Scrooge and Arthur Birling were part of the world’s most toxic old man yaoi?

Me:

Brain cells: they would be perfect for each other. They would grow each others businesses. Scrooge really would be hard and sharp as fli-

Me:

[rosetta-j-stone]

So, for anyone who's seen/read An Inspector Calls...I imagine the writing process went something like this?

(Disclaimer: I do actually quite like this play)

Priestley's long-suffering roommate: Ah, Priestley, still writing that play set in pre-war England I see.

Priestley: Yes, and since you said my title "HAHAHAHA, PAYBACK'S A BITCH YOU ISOLATIONIST IVORY-TOWER-DWELLING DELUSIONALS" wasn't subtle enough, I've decided to go with "An Inspector Calls".

Roommate: I see, and is the inspector still called Major Foreshadowing?

Priestley: No, I've settled on Inspector Goole. Get it? Goole?

Roommate: Ok...

Priestley: IT IS A PUN.

Roommate: <skimming through the manuscript> Hmm, don't you think it kind of gives the audience the impression that you have a chip on your shoulder about the nouveau riche?

Priestley: That is sooooo not true.

Roommate: Really? Because your portrayal of Arthur Birling is -

Priestley: I hate ALL RICH PEOPLE. Look at Gerald. He's old money so you'd think he'd have some class but PSYCH he also turns out to be a total wan-

Roommate: Look, is this about that time that posh eejit insulted you at a party?

Priestley: (pause) Noooooooo...

Roommate: It is isn't it.

Priestley: (scribbling furiously) CALL ME A SOCIALIST CRANK WILL YOU, YOU ELITIST BASTARD?!?!?!

[cabinpressurechallenge]

Alright, I had hoped to have this together sooner, but I'm busy! I just got my airframe cert :)

Without further ado! 2024 prompts:

November 29th: Abu Dhabi

prompts: ice / light

discussion: Who is your favourite character?

30th: Boston

prompts: home / hurricane

discussion: What’s your favourite Arthur moment?

December 1st: Cremona

prompts: nuts / loss

discussion: What’s your favourite Douglas moment?

2nd: Douz

prompts: big / red

discussion: What’s your favourite Carolyn moment?

3rd: Edinburgh

prompts: maps / uphill

discussion: What’s your favourite Martin moment?

4th: Fitton

prompts: rain / heart

discussion: What’s your favourite episode?

5th: Gdansk

prompts: salt / wind

discussion: What’s your favourite word game?

6th: Helsinki

prompts: gift / present

discussion: Which is your favourite series?

7th: Ipswich

prompts: pool / fool

discussion: Who’s your favourite minor character?

8th: Johannesburg

prompts: shade / brave

discussion: Who is your favourite friendship?

9th: Kuala Lumpur

prompts: service / nervous

discussion: What’s your favourite ship?

10th: Limerick

prompts: sunset / room

discussion: What’s your favourite MJN family moment?

11th: Molokai

prompts: cracker / speed

discussion: What scene makes you laugh the most?

12th: Newcastle

prompts: games / wrong

discussion: What’s your favourite Herc moment?

13th: Ottery St Mary

prompts: river / piano

discussion: What’s a scene you know by heart?

14th: Paris

prompts: glass / discover

discussion: Which Birling Day is your favourite?

15th: Qikiqtarjuaq

prompts: facts / volume

discussion: How did you get into Cabin Pressure? 

16th: Rotterdam 

prompts: honey / whistle

discussion: What are your favourite Cabin Pressure fics?

17th: St Petersburg

prompts: names / fly

discussion: What’s a scene that makes you cry?

18th: Timbuktu

prompts: colours / repeat

discussion: What’s your favourite piece of CP fanart?

19th: Uskerty

prompts: drinks / tree

discussion: Do you like anything else by John Finnemore?

20th: Vaduz

prompts: dragons / badge

discussion: What’s your favourite Theresa moment?

21st: Wokingham

prompts: puzzles / coffee

discussion: If you could change something about CP what would it be?

22nd: Xinzhou

prompts: waiting / breath

discussion: What would your dream CP revival episode be?

23rd: Yverdon les Bains

prompts: underwater / swim

discussion: Which part of CP do you find most relatable?

24th: Zurich

prompts: gold / rainbow

discussion: What does CP mean to you?

[crossover-ships-yay-or-nay]

mr birling from and inspector calls and the onceler from the lorax

why :(

Mr. Arthur Birling (An Inspector Calls) x The Oncler (The Lorax)

[deschainartnerd]

You all helped to kill her

[o-uncle-newt]

ONE: it creates traditions

Despite not being a Christmas-celebrator myself, I'm really glad that the final episode of this show aired as a Christmas special, because it's equally timely to talk about Molokai.

I wrote extensively about Molokai last year, and my main takeaway is that it celebrates ritual in a way that's really important. And I was thinking about it, and so many of the themes that I elevated in previous posts I've done this year are related to this as well. It's important to how funny the show is, how heartwarming the show is, how good the show is for mental health... so many different things.

I recommend reading the above post for a full breakdown, but what I raised about Molokai was that it's basically about the importance of creating and/or participating in rituals and traditions, things that mark your life and add pizzazz to it. Martin, living a depressing life on his own in an attic, has no reason to like Christmas when it's just another dull day, but enjoys it when he's exposed to and participates in ritual. Arthur, it turns out, creates ritual all the time, whether invoking existing traditions re Christmas or creating rituals around things like Birling Day.

I argue, pushing that further, that CABIN PRESSURE is about creating a kind of comforting ritual, tradition, what have you. Don't get me wrong- the comedy is often sharp and creative, there's story and character development over time... but it's not so much that the shape of the show is familiar as that the expectations are. This is going to be funny, this is going to have interesting people, this is going to let those interesting people be comically nasty to each other but also let them have real relatable emotions, and at the end of the episode GERTI will fly again.

There's also the repetitive element of features like games, particular character mannerisms, etc. One of my favorite sitcoms, the 60s spy spoof Get Smart, was written with the main character, Maxwell Smart (Agent 86) given many catchphrases, and the actor who played him actively encouraged the writers to create more because having those kinds of repetitive and funny elements is a good hook and a comforting element to viewers. They ended up being some of the most iconic parts of the show, not just because the lines are funny but because of the way they're said by Max/Adams and the way the character who says them is written. Plenty of Get Smart fans can be caught saying "missed it by that much" or "sorry about that Chief" or, my favorite that I say all the time, "he should have used his powers for niceness instead of evil."

The characters of Cabin Pressure don't have catchphrases in the same way- or rather, it's limited to things like "brilliant" and "yellow car"- but it contains so many different elements that listeners can count on in an episode. If the whiskey is stolen, obviously Douglas did it and the question (which will be answered creatively) is how. If this is a situation where Douglas can save the day, he will- and if he doesn't, then there will be a satisfying reason why. People won't recognize Martin as captain- and if they do then that's a sign that something is off kilter. JF creates the boundaries of the world that we step into and then plays within and around them in incredibly innovative ways. It's such a good formula for keeping things interesting and comforting.

And here's where I go to praise JF as the creator- because he ended up taking on an interesting form of commitment to create ritual in our own lives, maybe because he saw how much we'd already done it ourselves. Thanks to the show, already as of S4 people were taking traveling lemons to different locations, playing Yellow Car by Arthurian rules... and then, he started posting a variation on Get Dressed Ye Merry Gentlemen every year, and as a decidedly non-Christmas person it's basically the only thing about the holiday that I look forward to. (Incidentally- one of the things that made me want to post about this is my curiosity what he'll do this year when he's no longer on Twitter...)

But the biggest ritual-creating thing he did, of course, is do 26 episodes of Cabin Fever. He posted the episodes on a regular schedule (and warned us in advance when he started spacing them out), he gave us games to try and puzzles to solve, and he gave us something to look forward to that would add some fun and shape to our lives in a time that could be both shapeless and stressful. I myself was still recovering from my very early bout of COVID, isolated in my room, bored and miserable and not at full breathing capacity and still only getting over the feeling that I could have potentially died, when Cabin Fever arrived and gave me something to look forward to. It created ritual, which created meaning, which was one of the most thoughtful things someone could have done for me around then.

So, a tribute to Cabin Pressure, a tribute to the wonderful John Finnemore, a tribute to the idea that we can take our own action and join with others to create ritual that gives us meaning and comfort... and a tribute to all of you who have been doing/following along with Cabin Pressure advent in various forms. This too is a form of ritual, community, and tradition that I look forward to continuing to participate in- as part of a really cool fandom.

In the meanwhile, happy tenth freaking anniversary, Merry Christmas to all the Christmas people, almost-Happy Chanukah to all the (fellow) Chanukah people, and just generally wishing a beautiful year full of things that give your life shape and meaning.