#bonkers and adorable in equal measure

[avengersome]

This photo makes me smile. Hopefully it will make you all smile too.

Credit: Billie Charity

[yan-twst]

Thank you for all your hcs! Can i request non yan hcs for idia, lilia, and silver’s reactions to their partner who wants their characters in a game to marry for special benefits like duo moves and matching outfits? But then later on they make a comment about how it can be a stepping stone to marrying in real life 🎮

idia shroud

idia is no stranger to marriage perks in certain games. he’s never been a fan of them; multiplayer games are fine, and guilds are all good and dandy, but he just doesn’t like the idea of having to ask a random stranger on the game to marry him even if it’s for perks. it’s- it’s really embarrassing, ok?

but when his partner asks him if he can log into a game they play because of a “special marriage campaign”, it’s entirely different. of course it’s different- this is his partner, someone he already knows and loves; but that doesn’t mean that he’s entirely composed either

it’s just a game it’s just for the perks why is he so worked up- idia seems to get flustered enough one would almost think he was considering a real-life proposal. his lover can tell, too (it’s not too hard to notice when idia is stressed), and it’s almost... adorable how much thought he seems to put into an in-game wedding that really just consists of going through some dialogue prompts and getting an item that’s really not that rare

one would think that with how used to video games he is, that the whole ordeal would just go over his head as another event to clear for some in-game cosmetics and moves- in practice there’s not that big of a difference between this and other multiplayer duo events in the game- but... it’s clear he’s flustered over it, as silly as he feels about it

it’s so hard to not tease him about it, but idia’s lover knows that if they comment on idia’s adorable seriousness over the game event, he’ll get all pouty and depressed. still, when the actual wedding event is going on and both avatars are in wedding attire, they can’t help but make a fateful comment;

“i wonder if our real wedding will look something like this” is enough of a comment to make idia short circuit, and that’s a big feat, because usually once he picks up the controller he zeroes in on the game to a degree where it’s almost impossible to get his attention

“y-you can’t just say that...! that’s- our wedding would... look cooler.” the way idia’s voice slowly dies down as he speaks, probably choked out of embarrassment, is adorable. to anyone who wasn’t familiar with him, they’d probably find it hurtful he’s so tense and clumsy at the topic of marriage, but his partner knows better. idia’s flustered attitude at the subject isn’t brought around because the student dislikes the thought of being united to his lover; by now, they can tell that he’s overwhelmed in a positive way. it’s easy to see the gears turning in his head in the way he grips his controller, face red as he glances at them and then at the screen (to a not very interesting wedding event, but hey, it’s a free event and it’s just to unlock some skins and duo combat moves so it’s alright for what it is). he shyly scoots closer to them; whatever he was going to say before, he’s too flustered to continue saying, but the way he lets go off the controller with one hand to place it around his beloved’s shoulder perhaps speaks louder than any words he could stutter out in his current state.

lilia vanrouge

ohoho? marriage in a game? how advanced times are!

of course, this is just lilia poking fun at his lover. he’s well aware of the marriage event- he tends to play games way into the night, and it just so happened he was online during midnight when the event announcement dropped. 

in good vanrouge fashion, he takes every chance to tease his partner, at least a little. he might make a big deal out of it all, chuckling about “how quickly time flies” and how “just yesterday he was teaching them how to play the game and now they’re marrying”

despite marriage being a bit different in concept between fae and humans, lilia has been around for a long, long time. he doesn’t really need any explanation on the human concept of marriage, nor does he need any explanation on the concept of marrying in-game by exchanging some mildly rare rocks and mashing through some dialogue prompts to obtain some items and some skins

and yet somehow he’s still caught off-guard; when his partner chuckles and comments about how perhaps in the future they’ll marry just like they’re doing in-game now, lilia’s heart jumps a little. for once he doesn’t immediately have a playful response ready

he almost feels like he’s a thousand years younger, a lovesick teen again, with how his heart seems to melt into warm honey at those words. lilia doesn’t often think of the future- he’s learnt to live in the present, to focus on the things that are with him (because perhaps in some time, they won’t be there anymore); but he allows himself to imagine being wed to his beloved, and it warms his heart

the way he almost drapes himself over his partner, cooing about how sweet they are and burying his head into the crook of their neck is perhaps a good symbol of how surprisingly moved by the comment he is. lilia is a family-centric guy: he can’t help but get sappy at the thought of marriage, and he doesn’t care if the comment about it originated from some video game event

“i wonder if you’d prefer a human or a fae wedding. this game seems to be very much based on wedding rites from various lands” lilia’s talking about the game, but the way he nuzzles into his partner and the tone of his voice clearly seem to indicate that he’s not really thinking about the game, but rather imagining an actual wedding. surely later he’ll go back to the game to test out the new moves and try on the wedding skins- he is pretty obsessed with the game after all- but at the moment, his brain is too focused on other things to even truly think of the game. if lilia could purr, he’d surely be doing so: he’s always been keen on incorporating his lover into his odd little family with malleus and silver (and even sebek, to an extent), but there’s something about them being the one to bring up marriage first that makes his heart flutter. “remind me to teach you about weddings in the valley of thorns. i’d like to see if the wedding rites from your homeland could be mixed with those...”

silver

silver may not be too keen on video games, preferring to spend his valuable awake time studying or training. games are fun, sure- he often sees his own father stay up until the crack of dawn mashing away at a controller, or spots malleus playing with that weird egg-shaped virtual pet thing- but silver finds that whenever he tries to play for his own enjoyment, he tends to fall asleep with the controller or console in his hands

but he also considers spending time with his partner as an important part of his day, and so when they ask him if he could make an account on some game they play so he could help them out to complete an event, he agrees, despite knowing he probably won’t play much outside of lending said help

he’s visibly flustered and confused when his partner explains that he’s essentially going to be marrying them in the game.  he might have played some games here and there, or watched lilia play from time to time, but he’s never heard of getting married in a game...?

it’s not that he doesn’t understand; ok, it makes sense to unlock things for completing something in the game, sure. he just can’t help but feel a little bit shy, and more so feel incredibly silly for being shy over a game wedding

still, he almost seems to try and take on the game event like it’s one of his serious tasks, with how his brow furrows as he accompanies his partner to go and collect the needed resources and as he carefully reads the dialogue instead of smashing the ‘a’ button to get it over with. it’s clear he’s trying to distract himself from his initial flustering by trying to take in the game event as serious work

... and all of that lasts until his partner makes a comment on how “getting married in the game won’t measure up to getting married in real life”. that’s when he nearly drops the controller and feels his face heat up

his idea of a wedding is quite quaint and at the same time fantasy-like. he’s never actually attended a wedding, but he remembers lilia reading story books to him and how the stories always seemed to end with the valiant knight having a beautiful wedding with his beloved. he can’t help but imagine himself in that situation, imagining those storybook weddings but instead of it being the valiant knight protagonist and his love interest it’s him and his lover- the thought is almost... dizzying, in a good way

“don’t let the old man, hear you talking about marriage, or he’s going to go insane and start planning the wedding now.” silver leans to the side, pressing closer to his lover’s body as they continue advancing through the wedding event. although his words aren’t particularly romantic, there’s something in his tone that’s soft, almost delicate; without even looking, his lover can easily tell silver’s flushed, his pale skin and white hair making the blush stand out. he’s not wrong- they can easily imagine lilia going absolutely bonkers at the thought of his son’s wedding, and it elicits a giggle from them. he seems to find the thought equally as hilarious (though he can say with certainty that when time comes to let lilia help with the wedding prep he’ll surely get a headache from it all), as he presses a chaste kiss to their cheek. “... but when time comes, i promise we’ll have a beautiful wedding.”

[ecfandom]

Okay, yet another future HC idea. I have to put them down here or I’ll forget them for ever. This one is still murky in my mind, but similar to the other NASA one. Obviously, space has been on my mind...

SO: 

It’s a lots of years into the future. We (as in human kind) have successfully completed the first colonization mission to Mars. (Bleh colonization, I KNOW.) Lexa was a part of that first mission and has been living on Mars for 3 years now. Back on Earth, Clarke is an adorable, nerdy edaphologist (studier of how soil interacts with living things, especially plants) who has been following the Mars missions with borderline obsession. Twice, she submitted proposals to NASA for the Mars missions, but was always rejected for the “irrelevance of her specialty to the current phase of Mars missions.” AKA they think her theories are bonkers.

Well, when two years into the colonization of Mars and their crops start failing, NASA and the other three collaborating space agencies, start to panic. They employ the best plant scientists the world has to offer, millions of dollars in federal and international funding spent over the course of the third year, trying to find a solution, but none of the Botanists, Astrobotanists, Agronomists, Chemists, Geologists, farmers and other experts employed can figure it out. 

The colonization team on Mars are starting to lose hope, knowing full well that their freeze-dried rations will only last so long once their fresh food sources completely die off. They’re on a conference call with NASA when the director officially tells them that they “don’t have anything yet, but are continuing to employ the best minds”...universal code language for: “You’re fucked.” 

Cue colonization team lead, Mission Commander Lexa Woods who’s all: “I’ve been doing some research and...” This NERD. I mean, they’re all nerds, they’re in space for gays sake, but what always catches people off guard is that Commander Woods is so smoldering. Like stoic as Eurpoa and hotter than Venus smoldering. Nerds can look and act like anything, this has long been accepted, BUT everyone knows there are two sides to space missions: the scientists and the soldiers. Take one look at Lexa, and you’d immediately expect a military background. Most people tend to forget she’s got four degrees from MIT, Stanford and Princeton, two of which are PhDs. 

So all heads turn when this sexy ass space sailor who normally says the minimum amount of words required to lead her team and get the job done, speaks up with an “forgive me but you’re fucking WRONG” tone and is all, “I’ve been doing some research and with all due respect, you’re not asking the right people. It’s not the plants and it’s not the atmosphere. We have contended for all those variables time and time again. We replicated all of it over and over again back home, and know exactly what’s it’s doing up here, and according to all of our data, it should be fine. So what’s the one thing we weren’t able to replicate exactly on Earth? The one thing we barely understand?” 

Silence. 

“The soil. It’s leaching into our compost. It has to be. I have a feeling it’s the perchlorate levels. If Martian soil is leaching into our terrestrial compost, we’re essentially trying to grow our food in rocket fuel.” 

“We’ve already consulted with the world’s leading botonists, Commander, I think they would--” 

“I don’t want a botanist. I don’t need a three-million dollar moron to tell me what I already know. No offense, Jim,” she says to the mission’s botanist sitting to her left. 

“None taken,” he shrugs. He couldn’t figure out what the hell was wrong with their food either. 

“If you’re worried about perchlorate levels,” the director says, his voice measured, “we’ll re-consult the chemists.” 

“No. No, you’re not--” Lexa struggles to keep her temper in check. She takes a deep breath, willing herself not to shout. Though they’d long since figured out how to cut the travel time of radio frequencies between Earth and Mars down to something nearly resembling a phone call, Lexa had grown up in her NASA career accustomed to the minute-long, sometimes hour and day-long communication delays it took the radio signals to make it to Earth and back, and she’d learned it was always best to use that time to find your composure, regroup and get the point across. 

“Look,” she starts in again, calmer this time, “We have a botanist and two chemists sitting right next to me as we speak. Three of the best, and they don’t know what’s going on. Your minds back home don’t know what’s going on. I want something else.” 

“What, Lexa? What do you want? We can’t materialize scientists out of thin air. We have tried. Our best option is to send a supplies mission to you before your rations run out.” 

“That’s not feasible, and you know it. We can’t subsist on freeze-dried green beans for the two years it takes you to get a supplies mission here. We need to fix what we’ve got.” 

“What do you want, Lexa?” The director asks in defeat. “You want biologists? Geologists? They’re all going to say the same thing. There’s only so much they can do from here.” 

“Exactly.” 

“Exactly what?” 

“I don’t want anymore radio consults. I want someone here.” 

“Out of the question.” 

“An edaphologist.” 

“No.” 

“30 seconds ago you were willing to spend 4 billion dollars to send us a bunch of freeze dried meat dust. Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime. Fix what we already have, Phil, and do it soon. Otherwise...are you prepared to tell the world you let 15 global citizens starve to death on a planet no one wanted us to stay on? Is that really where you want this to go? The world asked for exploration, not colonization, and this is why. We don’t belong here. But as long as we are, I’d really like to not waste away on this red hellhole for the next 378 days that our rations last.” 

“Charming, Lexa. That’s real nice, I’m sure your team loves to hear their commander talking like that.” 

“My team aren’t ostriches with their heads in the sand! They all know what’s goin on here. They know what’s at stake. Don’t patronize them by acting like a supply mission that gets here in two years is going to solve our problems. Do what’s right, Phil, god dammit!”

The silence that follows is so long, Lexa almost thinks that the connection has been lost...or terminated. Her backs hits her chair in exhaustion and frustration as she rubs her hand over her face.  

“Who.” Comes the equally exhausted, finally, voice over the radio. 

Lexa sits ups, re-energized. “What?” 

“Who do you want.” 

It takes her less than a second. “Griffin. Clarke Griffin.” 

“Lexa...” 

“I know what NASA thinks of her, but I’ve read her proposals and she knows what she’s doing, and with all due respect sir, if you didn’t have your heads so far up your asses about her father, you’d know it too.   She’s the one for this job. If I’m wrong, permission granted to launch me into the Kuiper belt.” 

A long sigh echoes over the comms, then: “Of all the people in the world, you want the daughter of the man who intentionally tanked a 38 billion dollar mission citing a misplaced sense of moral high ground.”

“I want the solution, sir. And she’s it.”

*** Part 2? Should I? 

[x-heartofthecards-x]

@puzzlefated

There’s no missing the way that Atem falters beneath the earnest weight of those words. Long lashes and heavy lids veil the line of his gaze, but they do little to hide the slightly overcome pinch in his brows, much less the bashful chuckle that stutters out of him before he can quite think to stop it.

“I pity anyone who makes the mistake of testing you on that,” he tosses back, and it’s to his own credit that he manages such levity at all. It’s mortifying and euphoric in equal measure to be handled like a treasure. Like he deserves this kind of tenderness. He doesn’t know what to do with that feeling just yet – but among the many things that Yugi makes of him, Yugi also makes him brave. His grip grows firmer.

“But, that’s exactly to my own point, isn’t it? After all – what you see in me is just the same as I see in you. Believe in the you that I see then, if you find yourself wavering. Believe that I made my choice with clear eyes – and remember that, when I made it, even the gods saw fit to stand aside.” A lift of his chin and a flicker of challenge in his eyes – a glimpse of that haughty, ancient king forever peeking through the thin veneer. He smiles, seeming more satisfied than he had just moments before, and gives Yugi’s hand a lingering clasp. “Think you can do that for me?”

Yugi smiled softly, almost wistfully up at the other as he spoke. It was still wild to him to have Atem here with him, in the flesh. It was even more wild that the Pharaoh was so devoted to him and saw him as someone that it was worth challenging gods to stay beside. 

The smaller man let his head rest against Atem's shoulder, gently grazing his thumb along the man's knuckles as he settled into the soft assurances and tender affections that were offered to him. While their meeting and their lives together had been absolutely bonkers, he had never felt more at home than he did sitting beside his other half. 

He chuckled softly at the stern look that was levelled his direction— while it was certainly a weighty one that could command armies in another life, to Yugi it was just adorable. He knew full well that he was beyond any of the Pharaoh's actual commands. He grinned and said, "I will definitely try to. As long as you do the same. You can brood with the best of them, but not about what you mean to me. And I will try to— well, I don't know that I ever properly brood, but I will do my best not to pout with insecurity." 

[starwarsnonsense]

The Best Films of 2017 - Mid-Year List

There have already been many great films so far this year, so I felt it worth doing a run down of my favourite films of the year so far. These all reflect the cinema releases we’ve had so far in the UK in 2017 - for that reason this list includes some films that were released in the US in 2016. Enjoy, and I’d love to hear your thoughts on the best films of the year so far!

Honourable mentions: Their Finest, Colossal, Gifted

1. Get Out, dir. Jordan Peele

This film really knocked me for six, to such an extent that I simply had to see it twice in the cinema. It got even better upon a re-watch, when I was able to watch it with full knowledge of the characters’ underlying motives and the things to come. It’s a terrifying concept (the racism of an all-white suburb is taken to a horrifying extreme) executed with incredible panache, and you feel every emotion that Chris goes through thanks to Daniel Kaluuya’s excellent performance. Get Out also represents one of the most brilliantly communal experiences I’ve ever had at the cinema - I won’t spoil it, but let’s just say that the audience erupted into spontaneous applause at a key moment in the climax. Simply fantastic. 

2. The Handmaiden, dir. Park Chan-wook

This film is exquisite - it’s first and foremost a beautiful boundary-smashing love story, and an absolutely marvellous tale of female defiance. It transplants Sarah Waters’ novel Fingersmith to 1930s Korea, and the story is effortlessly adapted to become intrinsically interwoven with its new setting. Sookee is a talented pickpocket plucked from a thieves den and sent as a handmaiden to trick a rich heiress into falling for a conman. To say any more would spoil the twists, but this film is just a masterwork of suspense, keeping you guessing throughout a series of interlocking pieces that take their time to reveal their secrets. I’ve seen the theatrical cut and the extended version, and they’re both great - you’re in for a treat with either.

3. Jackie, dir. Pablo Larrain

This is a film that soars on the strength of Natalie Portman’s incredible performance, which is complemented by Mica Levi’s haunting score. Portman’s performance is painfully vivid, with her agony and wretchedness coming through so intensely that it’s often uncomfortable to watch. Jackie is probably the best portrait of grief I’ve ever seen, and it sucks you into a famous historic event by providing an incredibly intimate perspective on it. This is great cinema, but be prepared for suffering.

4. A Cure for Wellness, dir. Gore Verbinski

This is a delightfully strange Gothic fairy tale of a film, and I’m amazed and impressed that a Hollywood studio gave Gore Verbinski a budget sufficient to pull it off with such beauty and style. I’ve seen this film attract love and hate in equal measure, but I adore it - the trailers set you up for a rehash of Shutter Island, but nothing could be further from the truth beyond the isolated setting. If I had to compare this to anything, I would compare it to Roger Corman’s Poe cycle of films from the 1960s - it has a similarly lurid sensibility and a deep-seated sense of fantastic romanticism at its core. Great if you’re after something uncompromisingly bonkers.

5. Wonder Woman, dir. Patty Jenkins

This film represented pure joy for me - I couldn’t have anticipated how emotional I was going to get at witnessing a (wonder!)woman crossing No Man’s Land and deflecting bullets with her bracelets. This simultaneously rejects the wry self-awareness of the Marvel films and the grim self-importance of the previous DC movies, instead unabashedly depicting a superhero who triumphs thanks to her overriding belief in love and compassion. Patty Jenkins adds endless little touches - from funny moments to quiet scenes where characters talk simply to learn about each other - that enrich the film and make it feel vivid and intimate in a very rare and special way.

6. Silence, dir. Martin Scorsese

This is truly the work of a master filmmaker, and it represents a stunning artistic achievement and a moving and intelligent investigation of the threshold of faith. Scorsese tried to get this made for decades before finally succeeding, and his passion for and belief in the project shine through in every painstakingly crafted frame. Silence is equal parts beauty and brutality, and it uses this contrast to illuminate the painful questions that the faithful must ask themselves when faced with the harsh reality of the present world. It’s heavy stuff, but well worth your time if you’re up for a film that raises more questions than it answers.

7. In This Corner of the World, dir. Sunao Katabuchi

I had no idea this film existed until a few days before I saw it, but I was really struck by its poetic treatment of the joys and tragedies of life. This film follows a young bride who moves to live with her husband’s family in WWII-era Japan, and while it deals unflinchingly with the trauma and horror of war - particularly the bombing of Hiroshima - it’s also surprisingly funny and ultimately hopeful. The power of this film comes through in the little moments of human connection and the way that the full potential of animation is exploited to maximum effect.

8. La La Land, dir. Damien Chazelle

A lovely ode to the classic Hollywood musical, La La Land is a technical marvel that sticks with me because of its heart and humanity (those words are recurring a lot, right?). It tells a very small story of a love affair between two dreamers in Hollywood, but it feels much bigger than them because of the way in which their story is told. La La Land draws from influences across the spectrum of cinema, and its homages to the classics are joyful and loving. The final ‘what might have been’ sequence represents the perfect marriage of raw emotion and filmmaking virtuosity. 

9. Okja, dir. Bong Joon-ho

Not many films can balance flatulence jokes with uncompromising critique of capitalist greed, but Okja pulls it off with aplomb. The core story hinges on the innocent and endearing friendship between a young girl named Mija and a bio-engineered super pig called Okja, and the film succeeds because you totally buy their connection and desperately want the two of them to have their wish and live together in the mountains. I'm delighted that Netflix gave Bong Joon-ho a platform to make such a weird beast.

10. Logan, dir. James Mangold

Logan may be bleak, but that isn’t what makes it great - Logan is fantastic cinema because it remembers that superheroes are still people who struggle with their own souls as much as super-villains. This film features the best character work managed in any of the X-Men films, and Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart and - in particular - Dafne Keen give heart-rending performances that really ground the film and give it an emotional core. I hope we get more superhero films like this, and that the takeaway from it for the industry is the importance of stressing character rather than frantic spectacle.

Most anticipated films still to come: War for the Planet of the Apes, Valerian and the City of A Thousand Planets, Dunkirk, The Beguiled, Mother!, Logan Lucky, Blade Runner 2049, Murder on the Orient Express, The Shape of Water, Annihilation, Star Wars: The Last Jedi

[news-mashable-yahoopartner-blog]

Why I’m only reading books by women this year

My bookcase in my bedroom in my childhood home is bursting full of books that have shaped my education and, come to think of it, my entire life to date. 

During a recent visit home, I observed that the overwhelming majority of these books — many of which were prescribed texts during my sixth form studies and my literature degree — are authored by men. 

SEE ALSO: Snobbery about romcoms goes all the way back to the 1930s

However, among those books gathering dust, the most dog-eared, well-thumbed ones were written by women. These books were old friends I'd revisit time and again throughout my teens and twenties. Their authors: Virginia Woolf, George Eliot (AKA Mary Anne Evans), the Brontë sisters, Mary Shelley, Margaret Atwood, Edith Wharton, Maya Angelou, Iris Murdoch, Sylvia Plath, Joan Didion, to name a few. 

But, after studying English literature at university, something turned me off reading for many years. The vast majority of books I read during my studies were penned by male authors, and more often than not, they told stories about male characters. I was hungry for a woman's voice, for a story that resembled my own life, for pages that read like the inside of my mind. But, my university studies didn't provide the nourishment I so desperately craved. Fast forward a few years and I had pretty much stopped reading altogether. "You don't read," my best friend said to me last year. How had I, a former bookworm, become so far removed from something that defined the first 20 years of my life? I didn't know how to rekindle my romance with reading. 

But, something happened earlier this year that changed everything for me. During a lunch break in early March, I wandered over to a pop-up bookshop called Like A Woman in east London which was only stocking titles penned by women. The shop was set up by publishing house Penguin Books to coincide with International Women's Day — but it was during an interview with its creator that I realised that this wasn't just yet another stunt by a brand. Zainab Juma, creative manager at Penguin and the creator of the bookshop, told me that female authors account for a huge swath of literary fiction's commercial success, but they're grossly undervalued when it comes to awards. "The majority of the bestsellers on the literary fiction list last year were written by women, but out of the 114 Nobel Prize laureates, there have only been 14 women. Fourteen out of 114, that's bonkers," Juma told me. "Women make an awful lot of contribution without necessarily the recognition that goes with it." 

Prizes aside, research has found that books by male authors are more likely to be reviewed by critics at esteemed literary publications like the New York Review of Books and the Times Literary Supplement. British-American novelist Nicola Griffith analysed 15 years of literary fiction awards including the Man Booker Prize, the Pulitzer Prize, among others, to look at the gender breakdown of winners. The results showed that between 2000 and 2015 "not a single book-length work from a woman’s perspective or about a woman was considered worthy" of a Pulitzer Prize. "Even when women win prizes, it is generally for novels about men," Griffith told me over email. "So do we see much progress in terms of more novels about women winning prestigious literary prizes? Perhaps a little, but not much. Not nearly enough." 

Incidentally, women also account for two thirds of those buying novels in Britain, but male authors and narratives still dominate literary criticism. So, who's responsible for the cultural devaluing of women in publishing — an industry where women dominated the bestsellers list in 2017. Griffith believes that gender bias in education is to blame. 

"If I had to point at a single culprit, I'd say education. That is, the standardisation of syllabi, and therefore canon/s," says Griffith. "If we grow up reading and being examined on books by and about men, and if we watch film and TV by and about men, how can we avoid internalising the understanding that women are less interesting and prize-worthy than men?"

"Prize jurors are people, products of our culture. Women and men on prize juries often genuinely believe they are choosing the objectively best book. The problem is that we all grow up being taught that 'best' = male," she adds. 

In 2017, a mere 30 percent of set texts prescribed by GCSE specifications are books written by women. These shocking statistics have sparked petitions and campaigns for more female representation in school syllabi — curricula which inevitably shape students' perceptions of what is considered the very best literature.

We, as readers and writers, are not necessarily in control of what educators choose to include in syllabi, but there are some things that we can do to affect change. "What *readers* can do is easy: buy books about women, read them, and talk about them," says Griffith. 

Griffith wrote a response to the 1983 book by Joanna Russ How to Suppress Women's Writing outlining what we as readers can do to make women's writing more visible and more culturally appreciated. "The single most important thing we (readers, writers, journalists, critics, publishers, editors, etc.) can do to improve the visibility of books by and about women, and to secure that visibility for the future, is talk about them whenever we talk about books," writes Griffith. "And if we honestly can’t think of books by and about women 'good enough' to match those about men then we should wonder aloud (or in print) why that is so."

After visiting that book shop the day before International Women's Day, I made a pledge of my own. For the next year I would only read books by women, about women. There began a journey of rediscovery of my love of reading, of returning to the thing I used to love more than anything else. Of course, I'm not advocating feminist separatism here or permanently entering into another echo chamber. For me, this is more about redressing a historic imbalance in the books I've been taught to value since my education began. It's a recalibration.

Since making that decision, I've read so many books that made me want to shout about them from the rooftops. 

Image: rachel thompson 

Image: rachel thompson 

The first book I read was Joan Didion's The Year of Magical Thinking, an account of the year following the author's sudden death and a touching reflection on the reality of grieving for a loved one. Next up was Everything I Know About Love by Dolly Alderton, a beautifully relatable memoir about navigating relationships in one's twenties. Continuing in my theme of devouring books of essays, I read Look Alive Out There by Sloane Crosley, who's one of my absolute favourite writers. 

Next up was Not That Bad: Dispatches from Rape Culture by Roxane Gay, a necessary text to emerge in the post-#MeToo landscape. Then I read The Rules Do Not Apply by Ariel Levy, a book that was infused with so much raw emotion I found myself welling up on the Tube. On holiday in France I read The Pisces, which was a fast and fun summer read (who doesn't love a bit of merman erotica?). As I fell back in love with reading, I noticed that I no longer viewed reading as a chore, as something I didn't have time for. I now read whenever and wherever I — in bars, on public transport, in bed, in the breakout space at work.

Image: rachel thompson

Image: rachel thompson 

I milled through Florida and Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff. I read My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh and loved it so much I instantly bought her previous book, Eileen. I read Heartburn by Nora Ephron and adored every page. 

Then I read What a Time to Be Alone by Chidera Eggerue, She Must Be Mad by Charly Cox, The Female Persuasion by Meg Wolitzer. The next book was perhaps my favourite one I've read in years. A book that felt like I was reading my life on a page, my innermost thoughts spelled out in letters — Normal People by Sally Rooney. Not for a long time have I read such realistic renderings of the intricacies of human emotions and relationships. I followed that immediately with Rooney's brilliant debut novel Conversations With Friends. 

As summer turned to autumn I sped-read Crudo by Olivia Laing, then moved to the dark The Mars Room by Rachel Kushner, and The Cost of Living by Deborah Levy. The latter book of essays was a beautifully written rumination on what it means to be a writer and a woman. I'm now reading Putney by Sofka Zinovieff and am finding it gripping and disturbing in equal measure. 

Image: rachel thompson 

Image: rachel thompson

I'm not alone in my mission to read only women writers this year. Some are choosing to read books by women of colour. Jalisa Whitley, founder of equality organisation Unbound Impact, told me she decided to only read books by women of colour this year "because we're often not discussed in the 'must read' books lists."

"Looking at my own Goodreads list I realised how male-dominated it was and wondered how that framed the way I saw the world," she says. "I wanted to widen my frame of reference and expose myself to different types of stories that centre the experiences of women in ways that are layered, complicated, and represent the many ways we show up in the world including but not limited to our roles as wives, mothers, and love interests." 

Whitley says she reached out to people on Twitter for ideas of what to read and she ended up getting hundreds of book recommendations. "I could literally just read women of colour for the next five years," she says. "I've been exposed to AMAZING books including: When They Call You a Terrorist by Patrisse Khan Cullors, Emergent Strategy by Adrienne Maree Brown, Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, My Mother Was A Freedom Fighter by Aja Monet, An American Marriage and Silver Sparrow by Tayari Jones, The Book of Unknown Americans by Cristina Henriquez, In the Country by Mia Alvar and so many more." She says that in this political moment these books have afforded her "community" and "comfort" as well as making her laugh, cry, and "re-energised for the resistance." 

What are your favorite books by women of color? Need some fire recommendations to round out my goal of reading 50 books only by women of color this year. Bonus pts for international writers #wellreadblackgirl

— Jalisa Whitley (@JalisaNichole) August 12, 2018

I, too, share this feeling of re-energisation. I will forever be grateful that I chose to go on a walk that lunchtime in March. And I'm glad that I got to meet Zainab Juma, whose insights prompted me to question the types of books society tells us are more worthy of our attention.

Ultimately, this has been, and continues to be, a lesson in exercising choice over the pages I put in front of my face. What we're told to read by our teachers, professors, literary critics, and even our friends are not necessarily definitively the best. If we amplify the voices of women writers through reading them, sharing them on social media, and recommending them to people in our lives, we remind readers that women's writing is essential. 

WATCH: Boston Dynamics 'parkour' robot took more than 20 attempts to nail it

[soundsandnoises]

Simple Plan with The Bottom Line, Trash Boat and Milestones in Kentish Town Forum - ‘No Pads, No Helmets... Just Balls’ 15th Anniversary Tour (09/06/2017)

If you have ever seen Simple Plan live you know their shows are delightfully entertaining. The longer they reign pop punk stage the better they are at it. Never miss a beat, not slowing down even if their status went from ‘I’m Just A Kid’ to [Rock] Dad. The energy created during their show should easily power up the neighbourhood for a longer while. And the crowd complies: jumping, waving, lights’ flickering, whispering and repeating ‘ooos’...

It was helluva sentimental journey to hear each and every song from the album (and ‘Grow Up’ which I still adore, even though with time it’s sounds cheesy, but funny enough I still can relate). And it wasn’t ‘just’ whole album played with couple of songs added to the playlist, ‘cause that’s so overrated. It was almost two sets show: ‘No Pads, No Helmets... Just Balls’ in full plus few acoustic ones and the greatest hits nicely mixed together. 

Add beach balls flying all over the place, Pierre singing ‘Crazy’ back of the room (and surprising fans standing at the very end of The Forum), a pretty successful switch (Chuck singing and Pierre killing it on the drums), Chuck jumping onto the crowd, confetti... It was absolutely bonkers and I loved every second of it. Speaking of... did I mention that someone made perfect curve ball out a bra which hit Pierre right in his groin? His face was priceless and as far as I remember the moment was just right too. Never boring with these guys.

Pity David [Desrosiers, bassist] couldn’t make it to be on this tour, but [mental] health is much more important and hopefully everything goes well for him.

Setlis:

I'd Do Anything

The Worst Day Ever

You Don't Mean Anything

I'm Just a Kid

When I'm with You

Meet You There

Addicted

My Alien

God Must Hate Me

I Won't Be There

One Day

Grow Up

Perfect

Encore:

Shut Up

Jump

Boom!

Your Love Is a Lie

Jet Lag

Summer Paradise

Crazy

Welcome to My Life

Not only the show itself was bigger and better, even the amount of support acts was telling that this anniversary tour is special and three bands were warming up the crowd in Kentish Town Forum before Canadian rockers took over the stage.

The opener had already toured with Simple Plan with ‘Take One For The Team’ Tour. The Bottom Line were more than excited to hit the road again. And they’ve go their way with the crowd - with their light, catchy tunes and great vibes they made the crowd move and chant in minutes. And it wasn’t just a quick set of buzzing guitars, jokes onstage or turning fast round its axis. It was fun and they heated up the room inviting Pierre onstage and playing basketball with basket placed somewhere in the middle of the crowd. Go check out their album ‘Role Models?’

Find out more about The Bottom Line here.

Milestones were next and they kept the pop punk/pop rock tone of the evening. With passionate and emotional vocals [of Matt Clarke] reminding of emo/punk and a little bit of edge of alt rock to the mix and took the crowd on a nice ride with infectious tunes. They’ve released their first EP, ‘Equal Measures’ via Fearless Records last year [2016].

Find out more about Milestones here.

The last support act, Trash Boat, surprised with a heavier sound. It seemed the crowd was less active during this show, but it could have been weariness of a long wait for Simple Plan. Leaning more towards post-hardcore than pop punk it was something else. With vocals’ range from passionate soaring vocals to nearly screams and fast pace they produced solid rock show. Their latest release is ‘Nothing I Write You Can Change What You’ve Been Through’

Find out more about Trash Boat here.