#but there's one that is from a yet unpublished piece :)c | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

clocks-are-round · 9 months ago

Text

WHAT THE FUCK. After finding that last snippet I did more digging in my google docs. what the fuckk hahaha

it’s titled “april fools” from March 2022, so like exactly two years ago. i have cued it for the next April 1st

some things are best left unpublished but frankly i don’t like to take that much psychic damage and NOT inflict it on the next idly curious RvB fan.

i remember now, i was going to write a fic with the most bastardized fandomy takes on each character possible but i legitimately can’t tell if that psa was a real attempt at that or if i physically could not bring myself to (likely) and went for the easier to deal with ‘react to fandom’ instead

Prepare for lots of Donut innuendos

(it’s not actually that bad, i very much did back out of the initial concept immediately, it just caught me really off guard haha)

——

I’m going t o fucking c r y. this was pain to write. (first thing i wrote. haven’t even written the fic yet)

fandom cringe versions plZ i hate it

Simmons: ;w; anxiety boi

Grif: uwu sleepy boi

Caboose: owo can do no wrong boi

Donut: owo can do no wrong femboi

i don’t know if i can do this. holy shit. i know it’s for april fools but if it causes pain to write aren’t i the fool?

ImPorTaNt RvB PSA

Simmons: Hi everyone, I’m Dick Simmons from popular webseries Red vs Blue.

Grif: And I’m Dexter Grif from the same show.

Caboose: And I am Caboose

Simmons: … Hi Caboose.

Caboose: What are we talking about today?

Caboose: And now, the weather! Spoiler, it is rain.

Simmons: Uh… No idea how to segue that back. So, we’re supposed to read these fan stories. This first one is about me and Grif it looks like, and– Wait, wait what??

Grif: What? What is it, let me see. *starts laughing hysterically*

Simmons: *flustered* What is this mushy gushy romance stuff? I’d just– I’d just like to set the record straight that if I did hypothetically have feelings for a person that I knew I totally wouldn’t do that. I mean, pine for somebody? For a decade? That’s some bullshit, any self-respecting person would move on in that amount of time–

Lopez: [Honestly, you two are not subtle. Even I’ve noticed and I try my hardest to ignore you all.]

Grif: You would! You would act like that around a crush! Holy shit, they nailed you, Simmons!

Donut: Did someone say Donut?

Donut: Wait a minute! Fanfiction?? Those are my people! Let me host this one please please please? I’ll be the hostess with the mostest! I’ll put my Donut whole into it!

Simmons: Yeah, I need to go bleach my eyes, so be my guest.

Grif: And I just wanted to watch Simmons die as he read all this. It’s no fun if it’s you, Donut.

Donut: Well, I’m excited. I can’t wait to read how deep they’ve penetrated into you and Simmons’ relationship! Looks like you two are in a lot of these.

Simmons: Lalala I can’t hear you. I can’t hear anything and therefore do not need to respond to any awkward topics.

Donut: Ooh, they’re all romantic.

Grif: Oh god, yeah, let’s go.

Doc: Could I be co-host? I haven’t helped host one of these in forever!

Donut: I thought you didn’t like this kind of thing?

Doc: Well, we’re keeping it PG, I’ll be just fine.

Donut: Ehhhh

Doc: Donut. We’re keeping it PG, right? *O’Malley* I hope not. I’d like to see some carnage. Shut up, you fool. It’s fiction. *Doc* I didn’t say anything. *O’Malley* You were about to chastise me.

Donut: Depends… does PG stand for pornogr–

Doc: Donut! *O’Malley* Or pussy grande. *Doc* O’Malley! There’s way more out there than just smut! Even in the romance genre there are comedies, introspective pieces, adventure, slice-of-life, drama…

Donut: Well, yeah, but I figured we could do a little of everything.

Lopez: [Jesus christ, just choose one. I’m going to burn this anyways.]

Donut: Good idea, Lopez! Burn it to discs! We can send them out as audiobooks!

Lopez: [I meant in a fire.]

Donut: Yeah, it is a fire idea, Lopez. Jeez, now you’re just fishing for compliments. *clears throat*

Doc: We’re doing a “safe for work” one, right? *O’Malley mutters* You are a wet, wretched blanket. I hope you know that.

Donut: Yeah, yeah. Jeez. Now I have to clear my throat dramatically again! *clears throat*

——

you know what? fuck it. this is about in line with my other fake psas maybe i’ll complete it and post it on ao3. eventually. on an april 1st, naturally lol

#red vs blue #my fics

6 notes · View notes

flutteringdreams-matw · 3 years ago

Text

Fic Writer Review

Thanks for the tag @dp-marvel94 - first time I've been tagged like this. I have a full fuzzy heart right now!

1) How many works do you have on AO3? 7 but attempting to clean up and move fics to AO3. I've got about 13 on FFN. 2. What’s your total AO3 word count? 184 768 3. How many fandoms have you written for and what are they? On AO3 - 1, on FFN 2. Almost all Danny Phantom except for an old Merlin one shot. I'd like to revisit that Fandom one day - I just got so busy with school :/ The merlin fandom is quite awesome. 4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos? 1) Twist and Turns 2) The Road to Normal 3) Making the Grade 4) Out of Time 5) Undeserved Punishment 5. Which of your fic do you want more attention for? Out of Time but honestly I'm grateful for any attention I get. 6. Do you respond to comments, why or why not? Yes! I have been bad at it for AGES but have recently gotten in the habit of replying once every two days. It brings some serotonin to my brain. I don't get many comments or kudos - so it brings even GREATER joy when I get to reply.

7. What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending? Uh.... I guess it would be Just a Clone an old oneshot from Dani's perspective after Kindred Spirits (right after it aired). It was maybe the 2nd thing I posted on FFN. 8. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written? Have not done a crossover yet - not for lack of ideas. It's just not something I'm good at. 9. Have you ever received hate on a fic? Remember when flames were a thing? Also, quite a guest reviews on FFN who impersonated people's accounts. Just... not a good thing to do. 10. Do you write smut? if so what kind? NOPE. 11. Have you ever had a fic translated? I have not - honestly don't think anyone would want to but please be my guest! 12. Have you ever co-written a fic before? Not yet - but did start the planning process over on FFN with MsFrizzle for something. Still working out timelines/commitment! 13. What’s your all time favorite ship? Canon pairings so Amethyst Ocean. Not that I won't read or enjoy other pairings so long as it's close to canon or very well done. 14. What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will? Hmm. See the whole reason I came back to writing was to finish all the WIP fics I didn't finish. Underserved Punishment was left sitting for 6 years. Making the Grade was TEN. YEARS. But have since finished them both. Currently, I guess it's an unpublished short work called "Worth of a Pawn" from Vlad's perspective in Reign Storm. I started it, have made attempts to finish it... but writer's block and life.

15. What are your writing strengths? Huh. Um. Hurt Comfort? Friendship? I'm hoping characterization?

16. What are your writing weaknesses? Honestly, I have a love/hate relationship with action/fight scenes with heavy dialogue. For a while I thought it was humour but Road to Normal has been going well so far? 17. What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic? If you can do it - do it responsibly. 18. What was the first fandom you wrote for? 15 (or 16?) year old me sat in a dentist office and wrote the entirity of Escape from Fear Island and an untitled angsty torture fic with Danny finding Dani in the Fenton Basement in a notebook. Then I read Tortured Truth by Darth Frodo on FFN and went "oooh... that was better." I published EfFI instead and started to plan more in that universe.... and am still going 15 years later. 19. What’s your favorite fic you’ve written? What. Ugh - do I have to lol? I love Making the Grade for many reasons, but I think Out of Time has started to replace that. 20. What fic are you most proud of? Out of Time - hands down. All of the ecto-storm fics hold a place in my heart but there are some parts of this story that have been in my head since I wrote EfFI in 2006/7. I just... I look at the almost 110k words I've written for that story (that isn't already on AO3... still working on catching up!) and realize how much time it's spent in my heart. Everytime I post a chapter, I feel like a piece of myself is out their in the world. An insane world with many ups and downs. We're getting near the end now and I had literal tears when I finished the last chapter a couple weeks back. Tagging: Oh gosh I'm new to tumblr! Um... @dekalko-mania @captain-ozone and anyone else who wants to do this? So many people have done this already, I'd hate to double tag! Please go for it - share your story!!!

#danny phantom #fic writer review

24 notes · View notes

drosselmeyerwrites · 3 years ago

Text

20 Questions: Writer's Edition!

Thank you for the tag, @chierafied! I'm sorry for such a late response!

***

1. How many works do you have on AO3? I believe I have 45!

2. What’s your total AO3 word count? 221,141 - started in 2019

3. How many fandoms have you written for and what are they? Fandoms currently posted include Inuyasha and Doctor Who. But the first fanfic (unpublished and lost now) I ever wrote was for Gundam Wing, and I'm currently working on my first Zelda - Breath of the Wild piece.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos? E Pluribus Unum When winning against Naraku takes everyone from them, Sesshoumaru and Kagome find themselves suddenly thrust together and trying to survive their grief as they figure out how to get rid of the completed jewel and move on with their lives. When Comes the Rain A miko and a demon lord share a common interest when it rains, and in the quiet and peace of these stolen moments, something neither of them could have predicted begins to grow...

On Unexpected Love It's by chance that they happen across each other again, but it's by choice that they don't let each other go.

Chasing Your Tail When an item up for auction offers Kagome a piece of her past, she jumps at the chance to hold onto it. But she may be getting more than she bargained for when that past bids against her and then follows her home...

Fixer Upper 500 years and a fixer upper are no match for married mayhem...

5. Do you respond to comments, why or why not? Yes. On AO3. I don't post on other sites anymore, but their system was more difficult to work with. But AO3 makes it very easy, and it's one of my favorite things about the platform. If someone takes the time to write me a comment, it makes my day, and I'm going to respond back to them, even if it's only to say thank you. But I love it when there's the opportunity to discuss what's happening in the story and answer questions!

6. What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending? Probably Until Death because it dealt with tragedy and was left open ended. There's still hope there though.

7. What’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending? Morning Light. It's a proposal one-shot.

8. Do you write crossovers? If so what is the craziest one you’ve written? Crossovers have never been my thing, but I have one planned - potentially. We'll see if I ever get to it. But it's a crossover between Zelda and Inuyasha.

9. Have you ever received hate on a fic? I have. I'm all for constructive criticism - that helps me do better as a writer. But there have been a few comments here and there that go beyond that. Most of the time I ignore that. Recently I did not because the comment crossed some major lines that could potentially affect other readers, so I made my opinion on their attitude known there. I believe in constructive and effective criticism and embrace that. But I won't put up with readers going out of their way just to be an ass. That's a disservice to fandom in general.

10. Do you write smut? If so what kind? LOADED QUESTION, lol! I like to think I write love and/ or intimacy. If I write a sex scene, it's going to be with a purpose that fits within the context of the story. Personal bit of info - I'm demi. So, smut for smut's sake has never been my thing (no shade to those who feel otherwise!). In my case, I just don't go there. Any sex scene I've included in my work is there for a reason (though it may not always seem that way to readers). But if asked, I can explain why I included every single one I've written and why I felt the scene added to the story. I do enjoy exploring the different facets of sex within a relationship, particularly because PWP isn't my thing, and I want to see the connection that intimacy brings explored. So, I don't shy away from writing it (though writing friends can attest to the almost panic attacks I have including it).

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? Not to my knowledge. But I have had writing stolen before in my professional life, so I feel pretty adequately prepared to deal with it should the time come. Hopefully not though.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? I have not! Someday I want to finish translating EPU into Spanish. I've had people request it before, but I'm just not comfortable yet allowing people I do not know to translate what I've written.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? Tried. It's not my thing. I'm too particular with how I write (as most writers are), and I find collaboration difficult. It's hard for me to stay motivated to work on co-written fics. As a rule now, I just don't do it, but I would make and exception for one person (you know who you are!) because we have this weird brainwave thing going on, and it might just work, lol.

14. What’s your all time favorite ship? It is, likely unsurprisingly, SessKag. Though, I am really enjoying exploring the various ships within the Zelda fandom.

15. What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will? Deseo a una estrella.

16. What are your writing strengths? I feel like I can never evaluate myself on these matters, so I'm going to go with what others have told me and trust them. The comments I get most about my writing tend to be about how I say a lot with very few words and then an ability to evoke strong feelings and emotion. I have appreciated that feedback and hope my writing truly reflects that!

17. What are your writing weaknesses? I am a SLOW writer. Between life and a tendency to overanalyze the most ridiculous things, it's hard to just punch work out.

18. What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic? I love it, lol. Foreign language has been a part of my educational background since elementary school and was always my favorite subject. So, I get really excited to see other languages pop up in fic. An unpublished piece (SessKag) I'm working on called Beneath the Eternal Blue Sky actually includes a language I created to use in fic. Tribal inuyoukai group (Sesshoumaru's extended family) has their own native language, and that's fun for me to play with. Poor Kagome though, lol.

19. What was the first fandom you wrote for? Gundam Wing! But the first piece I ever published was for Inuyasha.

20. What’s your favorite fic you’ve written? This changes every time I'm asked. But right now? Probably the EPU one shot First Blush. I hit publish accidentally more than once when writing this, so I apologize for the mess that made! Tagging @sereia1313, @jafndaegur, @stormielikeweather, and @ladygoshawk if they want to participate!

4 notes · View notes

animanightmate · 4 years ago

Text

WIP Sampler Basket

Rules: post the names of all the files in your WIP folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. Send me an ask with the title that most intrigues you and interests you and I’ll post a little snippet of it or tell you something about it!

I was tagged by @thelaithlyworm so here goes:

Fanfic

Where it says “so far notes only” it means that it’s pretty much an entry in a notes file or spreadsheet. If you ask for a snippet, it will force me to write something, so you’ll get it, but you’ll have to wait... 😉

War Series – The Musketeers (BBC, 2014)

This one’s a bit of a cheat as it’s all in one file, but they’re being posted as separate works in the series. They also tend to just have date and place as their titles when they’re published, but I’ll give you a subtitle to whet your appetite:

Paris, 11 November 1637 (or: The King’s Parade), G

Character perspectives: Constance, Grimaud, Perrault, Marcheaux/ Tréville (haven’t decided yet)

Northern War Front, 13-15 November 1637 (or: Nightwalk and Return), T

Character perspective: Porthos

Benedictine Monastery at Douai, 6 December 1637 (or: Snow on St. Nicholas’s Day), G

Character perspective: Aramis – so far notes only; poetry is heavily implicated.

Musketeer Garrison, 21 December 1637 (or: The English Vice), T

Character perspectives: Constance, Ninon – so far notes only.

Metz and Environs, 25 January to 4 February 1638 (or: Burning Books), T

Character perspective: Sylvie – so far notes only.

Flemish Border, Metz, Strasbourg, Basel, 26 January to 7 February 1638 (or: Strong Cause), T

Character perspectives: Porthos, Athos, d’Artagnan, possibly Bolloré

Paris, 23 February to 2 April 1638 (or: Tightration), G

Character perspectives: Tréville (possibly Constance or Perrault), Grimaud (possibly Feron) – so far notes only.

Paris, 4 March to 23 April 1638 (or: More Than a Rest Stop), T/ M

Character perspectives: Sylvie, Constance – so far notes only.

Woburn Abbey, 10 October 1638 (or: Paper Trial), T/ M

Character perspective: The 2nd Duchess of Bedford.

The Musketeers (BBC, 2014)

These ones are a combination of plot bunny note entries and more (sometimes massively) fleshed-out pieces from when I was stuck on the War Series and needed to have a break while keeping on writing. Same universe, but either pre- or post-War series.

On The Road to You – pre-canon, G/T for language

Character perspectives: Constance and Athos – so far notes only (which it turns out I have lost and that is Not Okay).

Popinjay – between seasons 2 and 3, T for language and innuendo

Character perspectives: d’Artagnan, Aramis, Constance.

His Name on My Lips – between seasons 2 and 3, M

Character perspective: d’Artagnan – so far notes only.

Embattled – season 3, E

Character perspectives: Aramis and Porthos, with a couple of short bits of d’Artagnan, Athos, and Constance.

OT3 Reunion Inter-Bellum – season 3, E

Character perspectives: Athos and Constance.

Red Flag – season 3, M/ E

Character perspectives: Porthos/ d’Artagnan, Athos, Constance.

Red Flag Coda – season 3, M

Character perspective: Athos.

A Constant Rebellion – season 3, M

Character perspectives: Sylvie, Constance.

Sirocco/ Marais (haven’t decided yet!) – season 3, E

Character perspectives: Aramis, d’Artagnan, Porthos, Constance, a little Athos at the end, as a treat.

Sirocco Coda – season 3, M/ E

Character perspectives: Aramis, Athos.

Those Left Behind – post-canon, M/ E

Character perspectives: Aramis, Constance.

Crossing Over – AU yet also this universe, E

I’ll give you snippets if you ask, but that’s likely all of this that will ever see the light of day. It’s wildly self-indulgent crack.

The following is not part of the same universe:

Gathered – a sequel to Summoned (modern day reincarnation AU), E

Character perspective: Porthos – so far notes only.

Podfic

I am currently recording and editing the War Series in random order (mostly going for the simpler ones – short, few/ highly contrasting voices – to start off with), plus someone else’s that I’ve asked permission for. You could theoretically ask for an audio sample of either the current, unpublished War Series recordings, or the third party ones...

Non-Fanfic

What?! No, seriously, I do some of that too.

Fiction

Nocturne – a novel

Started in 2016 when I was very ill and unable to perform (oh, also: speak, breath while lying down or in deep sleep, retain any weight, walk more than a few feet at a time), it’s well in excess of 200,000 words and I wonder if it’ll ever be finished, because I reckon it’s about 70-80% done. The plot is completely mapped out, I just have to, you know... write it.

False – a short story

Probably. I’m not entirely sure where I was aiming when I started writing this in [checks] 2015?! Smug fantasy, started on a train while bored, as far as I can tell. In Arial. (That’s going to have to change!)

The Stranger – ?

I’ve no idea what this will turn out to be. Novel? Novella? Abandoned project which was born completely from a very detailed, rather scary dream many years ago? Who knows? I didn’t even realise I’d started writing it down until I went and looked at the folder of fiction on my Google Drive.

Highway – probably a novella, maybe just a chunky short story

It says it’s from May 2003, but I know fine well it’s older than that. I like the plot, so I may just rewrite it from scratch someday, having done a lot more research about 18th Century roads, carriages, weapons, clothing, post inns, and modes of address.

Short Days – chunky short story

Oh this! Every so often I remember this and wonder about getting on with it and then... don’t. It’s got something, though, so I’ll probably revisit it.

Poetry

Embodied

Experimental. May become a show. May malinger in my Unfinished Long Pieces drawer.

Sunk Cost

Also fairly experimental.

She

Nearly done.

Good Lads

Angry. Needs some focus and a proper ending.

I am going to tag @erytria, @r0b0tb0y, @mvsketeer, @canadiangarrison, and @suzie-shooter with absolutely no pressure, but I’d love to see what you’ve got cooking…

#the musketeers #bbc musketeers #bbc the musketeers #musketeers #Fanfic #WIPs #WIP #Works in progress #Poetry #Fiction #Tag game

4 notes · View notes

klein-archive · 5 years ago

Text

New book – ‘Essential Readings from the Melanie Klein Archives’

17th February 2020

After several years’ delving through the Melanie Klein archive at the Wellcome Library, and working with other researchers doing the same, I have edited and contributed to a book of critical reflections on this rich store. It is scheduled for publication by Routledge at the end of February (you can order a copy here!).

Although I missed the opportunity to do this in the book itself, I would here like to dedicate it to the memory of Dr Elizabeth Bott Spillius (1924-2016), a distinguished psychoanalyst who did so much to explore the Klein archives, and to open them up for future generations.

In the first section of the book, ‘In Klein’s own words’, I am particularly pleased to be publishing four of Klein’s ‘lay’ lectures for the first time. These were given to educationalists and child guidance workers at conferences in the 1930s. While the style of her academic and clinical papers can sometimes be rather dense, Klein is always clear and lively in the lectures she wrote for non-analytically trained audiences. These four are no exception. We see her here at the height of her creative powers, while she was evolving her central ideas of the paranoid-schizoid and depressive positions. She offers some lovely clinical examples – often taken from her work with children – and expounds her ideas as they apply to ‘the difficult child’, children having problems at school, or those attending child guidance clinics. She also describes the fundamentals of her play technique and, among other things, her interesting disagreements with her contemporary, the paediatrician and educator Maria Montessori. Importantly, Klein’s lectures illustrate how her work differs from traditional non-interpretive ‘play therapy’.

The first part of the book also reproduces Klein’s autobiography in its most complete form (it was left unfinished at the time of her death in 1960). Until now, this version has appeared only on the Melanie Klein Trust website, after it was discovered by chance in analyst Roger Money-Kyrle’s archive. Alongside the autobiography is a recently unearthed letter from 1955, written by Klein to fellow analyst Elliott Jaques. Written after a conference at which Klein was warmly received (somewhat to her surprise), she movingly expresses to her colleague and friend some renewed optimism about the survival of her ideas.

The second half of the book, ‘Studies from the Melanie Klein archive’ contains papers based on studies of the archive by four Klein scholars. Claudia Frank’s three papers were previously only available in German and have been translated into English for this book; four other papers (three by Robert Hinshelwood and one by me) have appeared in various journals. The final paper is the result of an exciting piece of research carried out by Maria Rhode, commissioned especially for this publication.

Claudia Frank, already well known for her meticulous and illuminating study of Klein’s early work with children in Berlin (Frank, 2000), writes fascinatingly about how, immediately before and during the war years, Klein used her patients’ references to Hitler to understand the interaction between the internal and external world. Frank also explores unpublished material of Klein’s on the topic of reassurance, and her psychoanalytic study of the character Don Juan as he is represented in a play by Obey, which Klein saw in 1934.

Bob Hinshelwood, distinguished for his many contributions to Klein scholarship (Hinshelwood, 1989, 1994 and elsewhere) has contributed three chapters to this collection. They examine Klein’s contribution to the concept of ‘internal objects’, and how this was taken up in the British Psychoanalytical Society; Klein’s rare but important use of the concept of repression; and, finally, Klein’s complex, ambivalent relationship to the clinical usefulness of countertransference, which gained ground in psychoanalytic thinking from the 1950s.

My own chapter looks at the material Klein collected while she was writing her final (posthumously published) paper, ‘On Loneliness’. I found exploring this material both interesting and moving, and hope that my readers will too.

Finally, Maria Rhode, who has written widely on autism from a psychoanalytic perspective (Rhode, 2003, 2004) has studied Klein’s later material relating to ‘Dick’. ‘Dick’ was the small child who formed the basis of Klein’s seminal 1930 paper, ‘The Importance of Symbol Formation in the Development of the Ego’. The archives reveal how Klein continued to see Dick from time to time, at problematic moments in his development, until he was almost an adult. Rhode draws on poignant material showing both the ways in which Dick was able, with analytic help, to succeed in his development, and the considerable difficulties that persisted for him. Rhode places this material within the modern context of psychoanalytic research into the autistic spectrum. These are current ideas to which Klein had no access, yet Rhode shows how, even then, she was noticing things that would only much later be fully conceptualised by analysts like Frances Tustin.

---------------

References:

Frank. C. (2009) Melanie Klein in Berlin: Her First Psychoanalyses of Children. Routledge.

Hinshelwood, R.D. (1989) A Dictionary of Kleinian Thought. Free Association Books.

Hinshelwood, R.D. (1994) Clinical Klein. Free Association Books.

Klein, M. (1930). ‘The Importance of Symbol-Formation in the Development of the Ego’. International Journal of Psycho-Analysis, 11:24-39.

Milton, J (2020) (Ed.) Essential Readings from the Melanie Klein Archive: Original Papers and Critical Reflections. London: Routledge.

Rhode, M. (2003) (Ed. with Rustin, M., Dubinsky A. and Dubinsky, H.) Psychotic States in Children. Karnac.

Rhode, M. (2004) (Ed. with Klauber, T.) The Many Faces of Asperger’s Syndrome. Tavistock Clinic.

#psychoanalysis #Melanie Klein #autistic spectrum #routledge #child analysis #Wellcome Library #melanie klein trust #repression #object relations

4 notes · View notes

plothooksinc · 5 years ago

Text

Second time lucky I wrote a damn essay before I accidentally lost it (@Tumblr you could really benefit from an undo option)

Author Interview

tagged by @wrexie

name: KJ on here, my pen name is Nekotsuki.

fandoms: Many and varied! The ones I write for are Rurouni Kenshin, TMNT and FFVII and the ones I RP from are One Piece and Blade of the Immortal. I’ve also dabbled in SPN and Tiger & Bunny but those fics aren’t likely to see the light of day. I also love most things that have decently written women and uh. Kdramas. I dabble.

where you post: ao3, tumblr and ff.net

most popular oneshot: From the review count I’m gonna guess it’s Left Unsaid, which is hilarious but yet unsurprising as it’s the one romance fic I’ve written in a field of gen. Go figure.

most popular multi-chapter fic; favorite story you’ve written; fic you were nervous to post: Most popular and favourite is gonna be Underdark! LMAO that one shot that wouldn’t die (working title literally that) that I thought would be about eight pages and ended up to be uh. 89. It’s also very popular – last I checked it had the highest amount of faves on ff.net out of the whole ’03 TMNT fandom. (Less so on AO3, but that’s where all the smut hangs out so am unsurprised tbh)

The one I was the most nervous about was my first because I’d never written to be published online before and I generally thought my writing sucked, and that’s Tanabata Jasmine. It still…mostly holds up (though I cringe at all that fangirl Japanese, I thought everyone had to do that to be good /cry) and is fun to go back and read b/c I can see the evolution of my writing from ch1 through to ch28 as I gained more confidence. (…and less fangirl Japanese as I went, lmao)

how you choose your titles: …it varies. Hard to pin down. Usually I go for one or two words that underpin the themes of the story. Misconduct was named for one particular quote in Crisis Core, Tanabata Jasmine was …named that because I had yet to realize Kaoru and her jasmine connection were entirely fanon creations and it was set at Tanabata. The Zaibatsu Project was named on many levels b/c it was both my weird and wacky cyberpunk project with different writing experiments and it was about a Zaibatsu that had a nefarious project going and it was originally published experimentally over at LJ (zaibatsu.livejournal.com and I gotta say I miss being able to do it like this). Himura Kenshin’s Day Off was my crack file full of weird shit and fourth wall breakage and was an aside fro all the serious writing, title made sense ok. Black Danube was a waltz with a Man in Black. Etc etc.

do you outline: sometimes. Most of the time I usually go “okay here are X, Y, and Z events I want to happen and I’ll just write until I get to them” and thus write organically for the most part and end up doing a bunch of side stuff that is fun. Stuff I’m really unsure on I’ll outline from the start. Zaibatsu Project is outlined up to a point because I needed to figure out who all the characters were in the AU (we’re about three quarters of the way through that outline). Legacy is outlined all the way from beginning to end, so are Desperation and Court of Miracles (both unpublished sob maybe I‘ll get to them who knows). Tanabata Jasmine I literally just jumped in feet first and went HAH SUFFER REDHEAD and then just wrote so it made sense and Kenshin wasn’t a damsel. Underdark had no outline. Misconduct has no outline, but I have the original FFVII/Crisis Core canon in mind as I write which informs some events. Etc etc. I like writing off the cuff most times unless I am v. unsure of what I’m doing. ...also if a chapter is mostly conversation, you can near guarantee that I sat down and wrote nothing but the script for it first so it flowed and then went back to fill out descriptors. A different kind of outline.

complete: Tanabata Jasmine, Underdark, and a bunch of one shots.

in progress: Eesh. Misconduct, Legacy, Zaibatsu Project, Snowblind. I need to pick up the pace goddammit, Zaibatsu is closing on 150 pages and the two main leads have yet to hold a decent conversation /sobs in cyberpunk

coming soon/not yet started: Oh sure, coming “soon”, as long as you’re an Ent. Desperation and Court of Miracles are the only two I actively have a piece written and intend to get to at some point. They’re both TMNT. Desperation is a story where Leo and April team up to take on a high stakes murderous mad-scientist-run labyrinth to save their friends, and Court of Miracles is an ’07 story where the remnants of the child traffickers that Leo basically murdered his way through before the movie come to New York to take vengeance, only they don’t expect there to be more than one bizarre turtle and so they end up taking Mikey instead. Whoops.

One day I might upload the little Nami introspective I wrote or the other two OP fics I have vaguely in mind, but as they’re vague and I already have a full load, that’s a while away.

do you accept prompts: I have in the past. I probably will again! If people want me to write shit, they can always fling prompts at me and if I’m sufficiently intrigued I will take it up, but given my current depressed™ white noise brain that might be quite unlikely. Himura Kenshin’s Day Off is full of weird-ass prompts because people threw me things like “There needs to be a Toys R Us and a Battousai potato head” and “Kenshin is actually a pink and purple dragon with measles” I mean, challenge fucking accepted okok. A lot of my oneshots are based off prompts also.

upcoming story you are most excited to write: Zaibatsu Project! Misconduct is a close second though.

tagging (no pressure!): @eggxalted, @janedrewfinally, @columbinepurples, @winnyverse, @angeldormante, @bunnymaccool ... heck, any writers on my list, do this. I wanna see your answers.

DO NOT DESTROY THIS ONE TUMBLR (hah I wised up and wrote this in Word first so nyah.)

#nekotsuki #fanfiction #writing

6 notes · View notes

ibelieveinahappilyeverafter · 6 years ago

Text

To Land On Your Feet - Chapter 05

Wow, wow, wow, we're already on Chapter 5! Sorry for the day's delay, everyone, but my body just gave out on me yesterday after my 11-hour school day. Tuesdays and Thursdays are always vicious on me! No worries, though, for I am here!

I would have had this uploaded a few hours ago, but, um... Well, I got distracted reading Falling Head-First Where Mystery Lives by Glue_the_Grue. I read it all in one go and oh, my gosh, it is just so good! I highly recommend checking it out and giving it a read! With all that out of the way, though, on to the good stuff!

Remember that this story tries to have scheduled updates Tuesdays and Fridays with the possibility of extra chapters in between.

Also, consider donating $3 a month to my Patreon and getting access to unpublished drabbles and the Google Doc where I write this story; meaning you could see chapters and notes days or even weeks in advance.

Enjoy!

Click here to read the work on Archive Of Our Own.

⍣ I have a Patreon! Support me?⍣ ☪ I have a tip jar! Buy me a coffee?☪

Summary: Aizawa Shouta had a good life. He was a happily married pro-hero teacher, had two cats that loved to make his life difficult, and soon, if things went well, he would have Shinsou Hitoshi as a son. Thanks to an unexpected attack by a man with the League of Villains, though, Shouta is turned into a cat. While he had a fondness for cats, that never meant he wanted to be one, especially when no one seems to recognize him and his friends and family are trying to find him when he’s right there.

He had been planning to find a way to change back, but instead he ends up following Shinsou Hitoshi to the foster home he lives in after hearing some worrying information from the teen himself. Shouta himself was guilty of venting his frustrations to cats, but hearing that Hitoshi would be locked outside in the cold if he was late getting home was just another clue among countless that something was wrong. He has to get back to normal, but he’d be a poor hero and a shit father-to-be if he didn’t follow the kid and make sure he was okay.

Besides, quirks like this usually had a time limit. Right?

<<First Chapter>><<Previous Chapter>><<Next Chapter>>

Chapter Five

“This is such a bad idea… Like, I really could get in a lot of trouble letting you into my room.” It had taken almost an hour of Shouta lying in the grass and drifting off into a few short naps, but Hitoshi had finally appeared at the window and was now leaning out and looking down at him. “Have you just been sitting there this whole time?”

‘Not like I can go anywhere else. I don’t think the trains even run this late,’ Shouta grumbled to no one but himself, yawning wide and stretching out as he stood up. It was oddly natural to be in a completely different body.

“Okay, think this out,” Hitoshi muttered to himself, biting at his lip. “On one hand you have a giant feral wild cat that followed you home.” That did sound rather bad when he phrased it like that. “On the other hand, you have a cat that followed you home through three trains. That has to be fate, don’t you think?”

Shouta wasn’t sure if he laughed or not, but it really was amusing to watch Hitoshi waver back and forth on such a simple matter as to letting a cat in his room. Well, maybe it wasn’t simple, considering all the factors, but it was still reassuring, in a way, to see Hitoshi act his age.

“Can you even get through this window? I mean, I could try to help you inside or something, but you’re pretty big and I don’t know if I can even nudge you, let alone pick you up.”

‘Good point, kid. Let’s find out.’ Crouching down, Shouta thought about what he wanted to do before deciding that would probably only screw up his jump even more. Deciding to rely on instinct or muscle memory or whatever the hell it was, Shouta jumped neatly through the window, landing on wooden floorboards with enough force to make a loud thump.

Hitoshi burst into stifled giggles and Shouta rolled his eyes as he took stock of himself to make sure he was alright, grumbling inaudibly yet again. ‘At least you’re having fun with all of this.’ Still, he supposed it was kind of nice to see HItoshi smiling and laughing. Shouta usually only ever saw him when he was tired, sarcastic, or nervous beyond all reason.

“Okay- Okay, okay, okay. I’ll try to sneak you some actual food later, and I’ll leave my window cracked so you can get back outside if you need to, you know, go, or anything.” Fuck. That was a thing he had to worry about now, wasn’t it? This was turning into a bigger pain than he thought it would be. “And I promise I’ll get you some water once they’re all asleep, but right now I need to start on some homework, okay?”

Shouta stepped forward to bump his head against Hitoshi’s leg lightly, pleased when Hitoshi grinned down at him before moving to his desk and starting in on the papers and books that were already scattered across it. At least Hitoshi had a good sense of when to set time aside to do his homework. He really needed to get Nedzu to hurry with that transfer paperwork.

‘Right. Might as well as make use of this.’ It was possible there would be clues to Hitoshi’s state of living within the room, after all, so it was as good a place as any to start. While the caseworker they were working with agreed that Hitoshi would be a good fit with them, they would need probable cause to remove him if the current foster family protested enough.

Shouta had already heard enough just by the yelling he had heard earlier, but it never hurt to have more evidence. The problem with that plan, though, was that any evidence he could find seemed to just not be there.

Hitoshi’s room was small, but it was also sparse with barely anything in it. The bed and desk were the only real pieces of furniture, the desk looking like it had seen too many children and a western style bed that looked ready to collapse at one wrong look. There wasn’t much in the way of pillows or blankets, either, but at least Shouta knew Hizashi was already packing their no-longer-really-a-guest room full of anything that looked soft.

Poking his head under the bed, Shouta saw a few mothballs and a wooden box with a lock on it. Shouta was willing to wager that was where Hitoshi kept the few items he had that were important to him. Making a mental note to remember to make sure the kid took it when he finally left, Shouta went over to inspect the closet, nosing it open with a bit of a struggle.

The clothing looked a couple years old, and oh, Hizashi was not going to be happy with that. Shouta still remembered Hizashi’s growth spurts in high school and how many times he had to get new clothes. Hitoshi, with his own height, was going to be much the same way. No doubt the kid would end up taller than both of them the way he was growing, but he looked to still have a bit longer.

Right. New furniture, a few more blankets and pillows, new clothes… Actually, Shouta should have the school replace his uniform, too. He was starting to outgrow it in the arms and legs, especially. The clothes he brought to their training sessions were in good enough condition, but the way Hitoshi kept pushing himself meant they would be tattered and threadbare before long.

“What kind of hero school even requires Art History?” Glancing back at Hitoshi’s mumbles, Shouta almost laughed at seeing Hitoshi was staring down at his work with utter bafflement. “Why do I even have to learn about Western art?”

‘Don’t let Nemuri catch you saying that. She’s weirdly passionate about art.’ It was still strange to see Nemuri teaching, and teaching children at that, but Shouta was glad she had found something good to do with her life; even if she had sold him out and submitted an application to U.A. for him.

“What do you think, kitty? Do you know anything about art?” Hitoshi turned to look at him and Shouta gave him a flat look in return. Instead of looking put off, Hitoshi only laughed. “Jeez, you glare just like my teacher.”

‘There’s a reason for that, you know.’ Maybe he could find a way to let Hitoshi know who he was while he was there. Then again, the teen would probably be too embarrassed to ever speak to him again. ‘If it’s multiple choice just go with whatever sounds the most pretentious.’

Leaving Hitoshi to his grumbling about art, Shouta took one more glance at the closet, pausing as something on the door caught his attention. It took a bit of squinting and staring considering his odd new eyesight, but he eventually managed to make out a scattering of posters of pro heroes.

That wasn’t all that surprising considering their culture and Hitoshi’s desire to be a hero, but there were only two heroes in the several posters and the two of them were Present Mic and Eraserhead. The thing that was causing Shouta to stare the most, however, was that one of the posters that was his was only a couple months old, his agency, and Hizashi, pushing him to try and get some positive media attention.

This meant that Hitoshi had to have purchased this poster and placed it on his closet door either shortly before or shortly after Shouta had started training him. He… honestly wasn’t sure whether to be embarrassed or touched by that; maybe a mixture of the two.

His thoughts were broken up by the crisp, clear sound of footsteps approaching Hitoshi’s door, Shouta quickly and quietly moving to push himself under the bed. He wasn’t sure if it was the father, the mother, or one of the foster siblings, but the last thing he wanted was to get Hitoshi in trouble when following the kid was Shouta’s idea.

“Whoa, hey, are you okay? What’s wrong, kitty-” Hitoshi’s words stopped before the last syllable was fully out. He must have heard the footsteps now that they were closer.

The door opened without even a knock, the invasion of privacy causing Shouta’s hair - fur - to raise. It may have been a small thing, but it spoke plenty of having no respect for Hitoshi or his space.

“I thought I told you that I only don’t care if you sit in here and hide away in your room if you do what you’re supposed to.” The words were crisp and sharp, an edge of bite to them even though they were said in a soft tone. “Hitoshi… you’re one of the oldest in this house. It makes sense that you’re meant to take care of the younger ones and keep the house clean, doesn’t it?”

Hitoshi gave no response, but Shouta could barely focus on that over the intense rage he felt. It was one thing to hear that yelling from before, loud and harsh and sounding slurred in the way that spoke of slight inebriation, but this? This was so much worse.

“I know you’re busy with your studies, but if you’re struggling this much in school then there are other paths in life. It’s best to accept that now, you know, before you get your hopes up.” Hearing a voice speak such poisonous words with kindness was so much worse than just yelling. “I still have those connections available if you choose to take that path. You’ll be aged out of the system in only three or so years after all, right? It’s unlikely you’re going to find a permanent family in that amount of time, especially with your quirk.”

‘Proof of emotional and verbal abuse,’ Shouta mentally noted to himself, burning the words in his mind to relay to Hitoshi’s caseworker once this was over. ‘Implying Hitoshi is mentally incompetent, pushing him to quit his studies and do unknown offered work, and showing clear quirk discrimination.’ Shouta would destroy this man.

There was a heavy sigh from the man, his voice softer. It would have been kind if not for the words, “It’s best to give up now, you know, instead of possibly endangering a nice family. Besides, even if someone took a liking to you, your quirk would ensure that they wouldn’t want you.”

Shouta felt his body shaking, new claws digging down into the wooden floors because that was his kid that this man was being so cruel to and he wanted him.

“Make sure you do your chores tonight, alright, Hitoshi?” An answer wasn’t expected, the door closing with a soft click that seemed to echo too loudly in the silent room. It stayed that way for a long minute before Shouta saw movement, Hitoshi standing up from his desk and then crawling into his bed.

Taking a minute or two himself to calm down and work his claws out of the wood, Shouta crawled out from under the bed, wiggling a little at points and frowning at how tight a fit it was. Somehow being a bigger cat was more inconvenient than it might be to be smaller.

Jumping up onto the bed that was shoved against the wall Hitoshi was curled up against, Shouta carefully walked over to the head of the bed, heart breaking at seeing Hitoshi looking as lifeless and detached as he had before Shouta had managed to get him to open up.

‘Oh, Hitoshi…’ Shouta hesitated for only a moment before moving to lay down, working his way under Hitoshi’s hand and letting it rest on his back as he did so. It was a move his cats often did to him when he was overwhelmed and, just as it helped him, it seemed to help Hitoshi, the teen slowly burying his fingers in Shouta’s fur and looking just a touch less lifeless.

‘Don’t worry, kid,’ Shouta thought, watching Hitoshi work his way out of the state he was in. ‘I’ll get you out of here if it’s the last thing I do.’

Jeez… He had been planning on heading back to the school since it was a weekend, but there was no way in hell he could leave Hitoshi’s side after hearing something like that. He would have to wait until Monday and follow Hitoshi to school.

Hizashi was going to worry himself sick when Shouta didn’t turn up over the next few days, but there was no way Shouta could abandon Hitoshi now that he knew what was happening. If he was lucky then the quirk he was under had a time limit and would wear off after another day or two.

Shouta still needed to decide whether or not to tell Hitoshi who he was, too; or find a way to tell him, at least. While the kid would be embarrassed at first, it might be better in the long run considering everything that was happening. Then again, he might just think Shouta pitied him since Shouta couldn’t exactly have a conversation and tell him that none of this would ever be pity.

Ah, well, that was something to worry about tomorrow. For now, at least, he could comfort Hitoshi in some small way, sitting with him and letting him know that he wasn’t alone. If Shouta had his way, his kid would never feel like this again.

#bnha #boku no hero academia #mha #my hero academia #erasermic #to land on your feet

11 notes · View notes

tiger-in-the-flightdeck · 5 years ago

Text

@lepetiterik asked: For the writer's game: 1, 6, 16, 19, 24, 34, 39, 44, and 47! Enjoy!

And like an idiot, I answered it privately. Oops

1. Do you listen to music when you write?

Absolutely. I have to. And I usually only listen to one song on repeat. If I’m writing something heavy, I listen to Disturbed’s cover of Sound Of Silence. If it’s fun and fast paced, or maybe even a bit silly, it’s Shut Up And Dance. I’m currently doing A Place On Earth for a fic I’m chipping away at.

6. Single or multiple POV?

It depends on the fandom and the length, to be honest. If I’m writing Canon Holmes and Watson, it’s always single POV, and always first person. If it’s a longer fic for different fandoms, I’ll switch the point of view between characters once in a while, but generally stick with one for major events. If it’s a short one shot, it’s almost exclusively single point of view. But I almost never switch between more than two people.

16. How many drafts do you need until you’re satisfied with a project?

Technically, one. But that’s a bit misleading. I edit as I write. So I’ve never just spewed a bunch of words onto a page until it’s done, then go back and edit that way. I write a few paragraphs, set it aside for an hour, reread, and change what doesn’t fit. I also have a few dear friends who read along as I write and give wonderful advice and suggestions. When the final piece is done, it’s usually polished to the point that it’s where I want it, and I just have to go through and look for missing commas and spelling errors.

19. How do you keep yourself motivated?

Having people read AS I’m writing, in real time, is the best way. I am such a sucker for a live audience.

24. Favourite genre to write and read

Urban fantasy, with humour. Not crack humour, but witty comedy. Think Shaun of the Dead, if it were about vampires instead of zombies. Or basically anything by Tanya Huff. If I could call Tanya Huff a genre, that would be it.

34. What was the hardest scene you ever had to write?

There’s a tie here for me. It’s between Sherlock doing a factor reset of himself at the end of Software Malfunction, and a scene in an unpublished chapter of my modern take on Scandal in Bohemia involving Holmes experiencing serious gender dysphoria. Because of coming to a crashing halt in that scene, I haven’t opened that fic in a couple of years.

39. Weirdest character concept you’ve ever had

Bahahaha, okay, so in high school, I was writing this vampire story. You know, like EVERY other goth kid in the history of the world. Now, I was writing this without realising that I was A- Projecting onto these characters, B- Had several different mental disorders, and C- REALLY FUCKING QUEER. Like, I had no idea that what I was feeling was actually me being non binary, and the acest ace that ever looked at a naked body and went ‘Ehh’ while shrugging like a Frenchman. So it isn’t weird to me now, but at the time? Boy howdy, did I think it was weird: Each of my vampires would switch between their gender representations whenever they felt like it. The werewolves could change their sexual characteristics when they shifted between forms. So if they’d been a wolf for a day, when they became human formed again, it could be with different genitals if they so wished.

This also explained my immediate, and intense love for Good Omens I developed when finding the book stuck down the back of a shelf in my drama class when I was sixteen and reading that bit about Aziraphale and Crowley being sexless unless they put in an effort. I was like “Damn, why do I identify with these characters???”

44. How much research do you do?

Oh god, so much. Here is a list of tabs I currently have open: The Great Fire Of Rome, The Great Fire of London- 1666, Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, Chimera- Mythological Representations, Roman Cavalry Horse Breeds, Distance Measured Mayfair to Soho, Apple Tart Recipes, and Language of Flowers. All of those are for fics that I HAVEN’T EVEN STARTED YET. When I’m actively writing a fic, I will usually pause several times a scene to do a bit of research. Most of which will not get used....

47. Best way to procrastinate

Research, honestly. I’ll start by saying “Oh, I need to find out exactly how long it would take these characters to walk from site A to site B, to see if they could reasonably have this conversation in that time.” which means I have to open up maps. Figure out which path they would take. And in the case of some of my ancient setting fics, find out what the road looked like 1800 years ago. Track down that one tiny line in the original source which tells me sort of vaguely where the setting MIGHT be, then try to narrow it down more specifically. “I know that Uncle Aquilla lived here, and it took this long to travel by cart, a horse drawn cart travels at about this average speed, which logically places their current position here. Now I need to find out what the terrain looks like here, so I can describe the surroundings. Have these flowers changed dramatically in their make up the way tomatoes and watermelon have? What was the climate in this region that long ago? Would it have influenced the migratory patterns of certain birds?” All of that to figure out whether or not I can describe a robin sitting on a heather stalk. Which will probably get scrubbed on my next read through.

I fucking love research.

#tiger writes #long post #question meme #writing meme

1 note · View note

klbmsw · 6 years ago

Text

How rich does your Father have to be for you to lose $100M every year for decades? By the time his master-of-the-universe memoir “Trump: The Art of the Deal” hit bookstores in 1987, Donald J. Trump was already in deep financial distress, losing tens of millions of dollars on troubled business deals, according to previously unrevealed figures from his federal income tax returns. Mr. Trump was propelled to the presidency, in part, by a self-spun narrative of business success and of setbacks triumphantly overcome. He has attributed his first run of reversals and bankruptcies to the recession that took hold in 1990. But 10 years of tax information obtained by The New York Times paints a different, and far bleaker, picture of his deal-making abilities and financial condition. The data — printouts from Mr. Trump’s official Internal Revenue Service tax transcripts, with the figures from his federal tax form, the 1040, for the years 1985 to 1994 — represents the fullest and most detailed look to date at the president’s taxes, information he has kept from public view. Though the information does not cover the tax years at the center of an escalating battle between the Trump administration and Congress, it traces the most tumultuous chapter in a long business career — an era of fevered acquisition and spectacular collapse. The numbers show that in 1985, Mr. Trump reported losses of $46.1 million from his core businesses — largely casinos, hotels and retail space in apartment buildings. They continued to lose money every year, totaling $1.17 billion in losses for the decade. In fact, year after year, Mr. Trump appears to have lost more money than nearly any other individual American taxpayer, The Times found when it compared his results with detailed information the I.R.S. compiles on an annual sampling of high-income earners. His core business losses in 1990 and 1991 — more than $250 million each year — were more than double those of the nearest taxpayers in the I.R.S. information for those years. Over all, Mr. Trump lost so much money that he was able to avoid paying income taxes for eight of the 10 years. It is not known whether the I.R.S. later required changes after audits. Since the 2016 presidential campaign, journalists at The Times and elsewhere have been trying to piece together Mr. Trump’s complex and concealed finances. While The Times did not obtain the president’s actual tax returns, it received the information contained in the returns from someone who had legal access to it. The Times was then able to find matching results in the I.R.S. information on top earners — a publicly available database that each year comprises a one-third sampling of those taxpayers, with identifying details removed. It also confirmed significant findings using other public documents, along with confidential Trump family tax and financial records from the newspaper’s 2018 investigation into the origin of the president’s wealth. The White House’s response to the new findings has shifted over time. Trump Engaged in Suspect Tax Schemes as He Reaped Riches From His Father Several weeks ago, a senior official issued a statement saying: “The president got massive depreciation and tax shelter because of large-scale construction and subsidized developments. That is why the president has always scoffed at the tax system and said you need to change the tax laws. You can make a large income and not have to pay large amount of taxes.” On Saturday, after further inquiries from The Times, a lawyer for the president, Charles J. Harder, wrote that the tax information was “demonstrably false,” and that the paper’s statements “about the president’s tax returns and business from 30 years ago are highly inaccurate.” He cited no specific errors, but on Tuesday added that “I.R.S. transcripts, particularly before the days of electronic filing, are notoriously inaccurate” and “would not be able to provide a reasonable picture of any taxpayer’s return.” Mark J. Mazur, a former director of research, analysis and statistics at the I.R.S., said that, far from being considered unreliable, data used to create such transcripts had undergone quality control for decades and had been used to analyze economic trends and set national policy. In addition, I.R.S. auditors often refer to the transcripts as “handy” summaries of tax returns, said Mr. Mazur, now director of the nonpartisan Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center in Washington. In fact, the source of The Times’s newly obtained information was able to provide several years of unpublished tax figures from the president’s father, the builder Fred C. Trump. They matched up precisely with Fred Trump’s actual returns, which had been obtained by The Times in the earlier investigation. Mr. Trump built a business licensing his name, became a television celebrity and ran for the White House by branding himself a self-made billionaire. “There is no one my age who has accomplished more,” he told Newsweek in 1987, adding that the ultimate scoreboard was “the unfortunate, obvious one: money.” Yet over the years, the actual extent of his wealth has been the subject of much doubt and debate. He broke with four decades of precedent in refusing to release any of his tax returns as a presidential candidate, and until now only a few pages of his returns have become public. Last year’s Times investigation found that he had received at least $413 million in 2018 dollars from his father. The new tax information does not answer questions raised by House Democrats in their pursuit of the last six years of Mr. Trump’s tax returns — about his recent business dealings and possible foreign sources of financing and influence. Nor does it offer a fundamentally new narrative of his picaresque career. But in the granular detail of tax results, it gives a precise accounting of the president’s financial failures and of the constantly shifting focus that would characterize his decades in business. In contrast to his father’s stable and profitable empire of rental apartments in Brooklyn and Queens, Mr. Trump’s primary sources of income changed year after year, from big stock earnings, to a single year of more than $67.1 million in salary, to a mysterious $52.9 million windfall in interest income. But always, those gains were overwhelmed by losses on his casinos and other projects. The new information also suggests that Mr. Trump’s 1990 collapse might have struck several years earlier if not for his brief side career posing as a corporate raider. From 1986 through 1988, while his core businesses languished under increasingly unsupportable debt, Mr. Trump made millions of dollars in the stock market by suggesting that he was about to take over companies. But the figures show that he lost most, if not all, of those gains after investors stopped taking his takeover talk seriously. In Washington, the struggle over access to Mr. Trump’s tax returns and other financial information has sharpened in recent days, amid partisan warfare over the findings in the Mueller report. On Monday, the Treasury secretary, Steven Mnuchin, said he would not deliver the tax returns to the Ways and Means Committee. And after vowing that “we’re fighting all the subpoenas” from House Democrats, the president has filed lawsuits against his banks and accounting firm to prevent them from turning over tax returns and other financial records. In New York, the attorney general’s office is investigating the financing of several major Trump Organization projects; Deutsche Bank has already begun turning over documents. The state attorney general is also examining issues raised last year by The Times’s investigation, which revealed that much of the money Mr. Trump had received from his father came from his participation in dubious tax schemes, including instances of outright fraud. The first of the two previous glimpses of the president’s tax returns came from his 1995 filings, pages of which were anonymously mailed to The Times in 2016. They showed that Mr. Trump had declared losses of $915.7 million, giving him a tax deduction so substantial that it could have allowed him to legally avoid paying federal income taxes on hundreds of millions of dollars of income for almost two decades. Several months later, the journalist David Cay Johnston was mailed pages of Mr. Trump’s 2005 returns, which showed that by then he had significant sources of income and was paying taxes. THE ART OF LOSING MONEY Mr. Trump spent $365 million in 1989 to buy a shuttle operation from Eastern Airlines. It never turned a profit. Don Hogan Charles/The New York Times The year was 1985, and Mr. Trump appeared to be on top of the world. He was still riding high from the completion of his first few projects — the Grand Hyatt Hotel, Trump Tower and another Manhattan apartment building, and one Atlantic City casino. He also owned the New Jersey Generals of the United States Football League. As the year played out, he borrowed hundreds of millions of dollars to fuel a wave of purchases, acquiring a second casino ($351.8 million), a Manhattan hotel ($80 million), the Mar-a-Lago property in Florida ($10 million), a New York hospital he intended to replace with an apartment building ($60 million) and an undeveloped expanse of railroad yards on the West Side of Manhattan ($85 million), where he planned to construct an entire neighborhood, including a 150-story tower envisioned as the world’s tallest. For the first time, Forbes’s ranking of the wealthiest Americans listed Mr. Trump individually, independent of his father — with an estimated net worth of $600 million that included the real estate empire Fred Trump still owned. “What I have done is build the most beautiful buildings in the best locations,” Donald Trump told the magazine. But what the newly revealed tax information makes clear is that, with his vast debt and other expenses on those properties, Mr. Trump’s fortunes were already on the way down. His yearly carrying costs on the rail yards would rise to $18.7 million. He would not be able to convert Mar-a-Lago into a moneymaking club for another decade. The apartments on the hospital site would not be ready for sale, as Trump Palace, until 1990, and another residential project would be stalled for years. The football league would soon fold. Because his businesses were generally created as partnerships, the companies themselves did not pay federal income taxes. Instead their results wound up on Mr. Trump’s personal ledger. Beyond the $46.1 million loss that his core businesses logged in 1985, Mr. Trump’s tax information shows that he carried over $5.6 million in losses from prior years. The I.R.S. data on one-third of high-income tax returns that year lists only three taxpayers with greater losses. In his letter, Mr. Harder, the president’s lawyer, took issue with comparing the tax returns of “a real estate developer to the returns of all taxpayers.” But most of the high-income taxpayers appeared, like Mr. Trump, to be business owners who received what is known as pass-through income. (That data does not include businesses, like most large corporations, that pay their taxes directly.) The next years were a time of continued empire building. The information also documents, year by year, a time of gathering loss. Here is how it added up. In 1986, he bought out his partners in Trump Tower and the Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino. He bought an apartment building in West Palm Beach for $43 million. His business losses for the year: $68.7 million. A Deal Maker in Financial Distress Every year from 1985 through 1994, Donald J. Trump reported a negative adjusted gross income on his tax returns. That number grew as new losses were combined with those from prior years. The New York Times previously found that Mr. Trump declared an adjusted gross income in 1995 of negative $915.7 million. 1985 '86 '87 '88 '89 '90 '91 '92 '93 '94 '95 –$100m Adjusted gross income –$200m –$300m –$400m –$500m –$600m –$700m –$800m –$900m Donald Trump 1987: “I don't do it for the money. I’ve got enough, much more than I’ll ever need.” 1990: “It’s been good financially.” Rich Harris and Andrew Rossback/ The New York Times About two weeks before the stock market crash of Oct. 19, 1987, he spent $29 million on a 282-foot yacht. Months later he bought the Plaza Hotel for $407 million. He recorded $42.2 million in core business losses for 1987, and $30.4 million for 1988. In 1989, he bought a shuttle operation from Eastern Airlines for $365 million. It never made a profit, and Mr. Trump would soon pump in more than $7 million a month of his dwindling cash to keep it airborne, New Jersey casino regulators, who closely monitored his finances in those years, found. Mr. Trump’s business losses that year soared to $181.7 million. Then came the Trump Taj Mahal Hotel and Casino, which opened in April 1990 saddled with more than $800 million in debt, most at very high interest rates. It did not generate enough revenue to cover that debt, and sucked revenue from his other casinos, Trump’s Castle and Trump Plaza, pulling them deep into the red. As a result, 1990 and 1991 represented the worst years of the period reviewed by The Times, with combined losses of $517.6 million. And over the next three years, as Mr. Trump turned over properties to his lenders to stave off bankruptcy, his core businesses lost an additional $286.9 million. The 10-year total: $1.17 billion in losses. Mr. Trump was able to lose all that money without facing the usual consequences — such as a steep drop in his standard of living — in part because most of it belonged to others, to the banks and bond investors who had supplied the cash to fuel his acquisitions. And as The Times’s earlier investigation showed, Mr. Trump secretly leaned on his father’s wealth to continue living like a winner and to stage a comeback. This is not to say that Mr. Trump never made money on a deal. One that turned out quite well came in 1985, when he bought the Hotel St. Moritz in Manhattan for $73.7 million. Mr. Trump has said he sold it for $180 million in 1989. His tax information showed long-term capital gains of $99.8 million, accounting for the vast majority of such gains in the 10 years reviewed by The Times. But that rich payday was overwhelmed by his business losses, and Mr. Trump still paid no federal income taxes that year. Some fraction of that ocean of red ink represented depreciation on Mr. Trump’s real estate. One of the most valuable special benefits in the tax code, depreciation lets owners of commercial real estate write down the cost of their buildings. “I love depreciation,” Mr. Trump said during a presidential debate in 2016. In “The Art of the Deal,” Mr. Trump points to one of his Atlantic City casinos to illustrate the magic of depreciation. If the casino’s cost was $400 million, he says, he would be able to depreciate it at a rate of 4 percent a year, allowing him to shelter $16 million in taxable income annually. But while this example is intended to show the benefits of depreciation, it also demonstrates that depreciation cannot account for the hundreds of millions of dollars in losses Mr. Trump declared on his taxes. The tax code also lets business owners like Mr. Trump use losses to avoid paying tax on future income — a lucrative deduction intended to help troubled businesses get back on their feet. Mr. Trump’s losses over the years rolled into the $915.7 million free pass from income taxes — known as net operating loss — that appeared on his 1995 returns. The newly revealed tax information sheds light on how those net operating losses snowballed. By 1991, they had grown to nearly $418 million, accounting for fully 1 percent of all the losses that the I.R.S. reported had been declared by individual taxpayers that year. And the red ink continued to accumulate apace. Because Mr. Trump reported a negative adjusted gross income in each of the 10 years, he was not allowed to deduct any charitable contributions. So while he has boasted of making large donations at the time, the information obtained by The Times shows no such itemized deductions. Potential deductions could have been carried over to a future year, should Mr. Trump have reported a positive income. About this website nytimes.com Decade in the Red: Trump Tax Figures Show Over $1 Billion in Business Losses

2 notes · View notes

beethoven82-blog · 4 years ago

Text

Fur Elise - Beethoven's Mysterious Inspiration

In the 21st century, the music and notes to Beethoven's Fur Elise are the object of millions of Internet searches and downloads every day. The fact that the music is so freely available for download, along with the piece continued popularity in the Internet age, is testament to the great emotional power and musical depth of Beethoven"s work. Fur Elise is one of the most instantly recognized pieces of music from the Classical era, and it continues to work wonders in the ears and hearts of modern listeners and pianists. But what's the story behind this composition? Before downloading the notes to Fur Elise, let's take a look at its history.

In fact, the true story behind Fur Elise is shrouded in mystery, and there are many theories behind the events in Beethoven's life that lead to the writing of the piece. What's more, the manuscript of Fur Elise was undiscovered and unpublished until 1865, nearly 40 years after the composer's death. Because of this, obviously, Beethoven could not make any first-hand clarifications about the origins of his work, which became wildly popular almost immediately upon publication. See here Claro de Luna

In reality, Fur Elise is actually just Beethoven's note of dedication included with the piece, whose real name is Bagatelle in A minor. A bagatelle is a musical form, literally translating to a trifle, which is usually short, light, and mellow. Meanwhile, the piece is also a Rondo, which is a form, frequently used in the Classical era, which usually follows an A B A C A structure, although there are variations. As its name suggests, the key signature of the piece is A minor, but one of the beauties of Beethoven's composition is how he mixes in discordant notes and continuously shifts the tonal center of the music.

Fur Elise translates from German to For Elise, yet Beethoven historians have never figured out who Elise was. One popular theory is that the piece was actually called For Therese, and that because of Beethoven's notoriously sloppy handwriting, the original transcriber of the piece simply copied the name wrong. When the piece was written in 1810 Beethoven had recently been involved in a courtship with Therese Malfatti, who eventually turned down Beethoven's marriage proposal. This could account for some of the effusive and overwhelming emotion of the music.

Meanwhile, some historians have posited that Beethoven, his heart broken, deliberately changed the name of the piece to a non-existent woman's name, in a subtle refutation of the woman or women who snubbed him.

Of course, Beethoven historians acknowledge that it is not possible to know about every single person with whom Beethoven had a relationship. Elise may be a short-time sweetheart who never made it into records of Beethoven. Or, the piece could have been commissioned, and Elise could be the name of someone related to the person who paid for the piece.

Ultimately, it's not important who or what Beethoven's Elise was, as each person who plays those famous notes can have in mind his or her own Elise. All that is required to play the piece is to have some deep well of emotion to put into the music. It doesn't really matter where this emotion comes from. Beethoven clearly had something that he felt strongly about, which makes this one of his most famous and evocative compositions. Most of us cannot even listen to the first, emotionally strained notes of the piece without feeling something in our own hearts.

This emotional intensity is what distinguishes Beethoven from many of his contemporaries, and it also accounts for the continued popularity of his music, both on paper and in formats that make the notes free to download. Many of us remember hearing Fur Elise as children and being profoundly moved even then and maybe it even inspired us to take up the piano just as our own children are moved by the piece. Because of its pure beauty, Fur Elise should remain popular for as long as music exists.

#Beethoven Música clásica Claro de Luna para Elisa5a Sinfonía de Beethoven 9a Sinfonía de Beethoven

0 notes

jamesgraybooksellerworld · 5 years ago

Text

369J Publius Terentius Afer. 185-

Terentius Comico Carmine

Impressum in nobili Helvecior[um] urbe Arge[n]tina : Per Ioanne[m] Grüninger mira etium arte ac diligentia. 1503 $7,500

Folio A6 B8 C-Z6 AA6 Bb4 Cc6. There are numerous handwritten annotations in ink (marginal and interlinear, ff. IX-XIX). The binding of half-calf with corners of the XIXth, back with 4 sewing support with pieces of title of red and green leather, dishes covered with stony marbled paper. { A typical Kloss binding} (there is a tear sig. B1, with loss; first signature cut shorter at the lower margin; restorations of paper with the last sheets in the upper margin; Yet this copy remains a beautiful illustrated edition of the comedies of Terence with comments by Aelius Donatus and Calphurnius. From the presses of the famous and prolific Strasbourg printer-publisher Johann Reinhard, known as Grüninger, it is remarkably illustrated with 7 large full-page woods (including the famous representation of a theater on the title), woodcuts depicting the dramatis personae in a land- or cityscape, one at the beginning of each play, and 142 woods in the text 19 of the cuts appear here for the first time; the others are from the 1496 ed. «Grüninger’s illustrations, intended to clarify the complexities of Terence’s plots for the reader, act as visual mnemonic devices for the book’s anticipated student audience. This is demonstrated especially in the full-page woodcut that begins each play, where all of the characters are displayed with connecting lines to indicate their interrelationships. A verbal explanation and plot summary accompanies each of these illustrations. The most remarkable feature of Grüninger’s Terence is his use of small interchangeable woodcuts that were combined to create the individual scene illustrations for each play. Individual blocks were cut for most of the characters of the six plays, who are identified by name in overhead banners. The blocks were cleverly combined repeatedly in groups of two to five, sometimes together with cuts of trees and buildings, to create the illustrations. Grüninger was attempting to use the woodcuts as repeatable and combinable objects, much in the same manner as movable type» (Christine Ruggere, in Vision of a Collector: The Lessing J. Rosenwald Collection in the Library of Congress)

Terence writes in a simple conversational Latin, pleasant and direct.Due to his clear and entertaining language, Terence’s works were heavily used by monasteries and convents during the Middle Ages and The Renaissance. Scribes often learned Latin through the meticulous copying of Terence’s texts. Priests and nuns often learned to speak Latin through reenactment of Terence’s plays, thereby learning both Latin and Gregorian chants. Although Terence’s plays often dealt with pagan material, the quality of his language promoted the copying and preserving of his text by the church. The preservation of Terence through the church enabled his work to influence much of later Western drama. [Holloway, Julia Bolton (1993). Sweet New Style: Brunetto Latino, Dante Alighieri, Geoffrey Chaucer, Essays, 1981-2005.]

colophon P. Sexti Terentij Afri Poetæ Comici. Lepidissimæ // Comoeiæ: Cum Aelij Donati grammatici examinata // intrepretatione [sic] finiut. Insuper addita est Calphurnij in Heautontimorumenon Terentij accurata expositio. // Impressum in nobili Heluecior vrbe Argetina per // Ioanne Gruninger mira etiam arte ac diligentia. Anno // M CCCCCIII. XV Kalendas Aprilis./

This copy has the book plate and a binding typical for Kloss.

NOT Melanchthon’s copy, with marginal notes!

Georg Franz Burkhard Kloss (31 July 1787 Frankfurt am Main – 10 February 1854 Frankfurt). Kloss was the son of a physician and studied medicine at Heidelberg and Göttingen, where he became one of the cofounders of the Corps Hannovera Göttingen. He practiced medicine in Frankfurt. He became a book collector, and gathered a fine collection of old manuscripts,. On February 21, 1838, New York book auction house Cooley & Bangs began a three day sale during which they offered more than 313 incunabula distributed among 1,302 lots. Many incunables came from the collection of George Kloss and had appeared in the London sale of his books three years before. It is entirely possible that the 1838 sale was the first time in America that so many incunables were offered all at once in a single auction..

The bulk of the Kloss books were sold by Sotheby in 1835. Most of the books containing notes were attributed as owned and annotated by Melanchthon .

Catalogue of the library of Dr. Kloss of Franckfort a. M. including many original and unpublished manuscripts, and printed books with ms. annotations, by Philip Melancthon … Which will be sold by auction, by Mr. Sotheby and son … May 7th, and nineteen following days (Sundays excepted) .

https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.32044055066971&view=1up&seq=9

Adams D 304. Proctor 9889. Ritter 2284.

Watch the slideshow!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Terentius Comico Carmine 1503 369J Publius Terentius Afer. 185- Terentius Comico Carmine Impressum in nobili Helvecior urbe Arge[n]tina : Per Ioanne[m] Grüninger mira etium arte ac diligentia.

#1503 #Annotated #Comico Carmine #Grüninger #Post-incunable #Terence #Woodcuts

0 notes

alanafsmith · 6 years ago

Text

Read all the emails Jeff Bezos says the National Enquirer sent to 'blackmail' him (AMZN)

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos wrote a blog post on Thursday accusing National Enquirer publisher American Media Inc. (AMI) of trying to extort him over naked photos of him.

AMI sent Bezos emails describing the photos they obtained of him and the former news anchor Lauren Sanchez, Bezos said.

These are the emails that Bezos said were sent to "blackmail" him.

On Thursday, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos wrote a Medium blog post revealing the emails that he said were sent to blackmail him.

In the email, American Media Inc. (AMI), the publisher of the National Enquirer, threatened to publish personal photos of Bezos and the former news anchor Lauren Sanchez, including a naked selfie of Bezos, Bezos said.

In January, the National Enquirer, a longtime ally of President Donald Trump, had published an exposé on the affair between Bezos and Sanchez. After that, Bezos hired investigators to look into who leaked his personal photos and texts.

AMI threatened to publish these photos unless Bezos and Gavin de Becker, Bezos' security boss leading that investigation into the exposé, made a public statement that they "have no knowledge or basis for suggesting that AMI’s coverage was politically motivated or influenced by political forces," Bezos said. AMI also said it would keep those photos, Bezos said.

"Of course I don't want personal photos published, but I also won't participate in their well-known practice of blackmail, political favors, political attacks, and corruption. I prefer to stand up, roll this log over, and see what crawls out," Bezos wrote.

Here is the email that Bezos said he received from AMI, describing the photos.

From: Howard, Dylan [[email protected]] (Chief Content Officer, AMI)

Sent: Tuesday, February 5, 2019 3:33 PM

To: Martin Singer (litigation counsel for Mr. de Becker)

Subject:. Jeff Bezos & Ms. Lauren Sanchez Photos

CONFIDENTIAL & NOT FOR DISTRIBIUTION

Marty:

I am leaving the office for the night. I will be available on my cell — 917 XXX-XXXX.

However, in the interests of expediating this situation, and with The Washington Post poised to publish unsubstantiated rumors of The National Enquirer’s initial report, I wanted to describe to you the photos obtained during our newsgathering.

In addition to the “below the belt selfie — otherwise colloquially known as a ‘d*ck pick’” — The Enquirer obtained a further nine images. These include:

· Mr. Bezos face selfie at what appears to be a business meeting.

· Ms. Sanchez response — a photograph of her smoking a cigar in what appears to be a simulated oral sex scene.

· A shirtless Mr. Bezos holding his phone in his left hand — while wearing his wedding ring. He’s wearing either tight black cargo pants or shorts — and his semi-erect manhood is penetrating the zipper of said garment.

· A full-length body selfie of Mr. Bezos wearing just a pair of tight black boxer-briefs or trunks, with his phone in his left hand — while wearing his wedding ring.

· A selfie of Mr. Bezos fully clothed.

· A full-length scantily-clad body shot with short trunks.

· A naked selfie in a bathroom — while wearing his wedding ring. Mr. Bezos is wearing nothing but a white towel — and the top of his pubic region can be seen.

· Ms. Sanchez wearing a plunging red neckline dress revealing her cleavage and a glimpse of her nether region.

· Ms. Sanchez wearing a two-piece red bikini with gold detail dress revealing her cleavage.

It would give no editor pleasure to send this email. I hope common sense can prevail — and quickly.

Dylan.

And here are emails Bezos said he received from the National Enquirer publisher, laying out the terms for withholding publication of the photos:

From: Fine, Jon [[email protected]] (Deputy General Counsel, AMI)

Sent: Wednesday, February 6, 2019 5:57 PM

To: Martin Singer (Mr de Becker’s attorney)

Subject: Re: EXTERNAL* RE: Bezos et al / American Media et al

Marty -

Here are our proposed terms:

1. A full and complete mutual release of all claims that American Media, on the one hand, and Jeff Bezos and Gavin de Becker (the “Bezos Parties”), on the other, may have against each other.

2. A public, mutually-agreed upon acknowledgment from the Bezos Parties, released through a mutually-agreeable news outlet, affirming that they have no knowledge or basis for suggesting that AM’s coverage was politically motivated or influenced by political forces, and an agreement that they will cease referring to such a possibility.

3. AM agrees not to publish, distribute, share, or describe unpublished texts and photos (the “Unpublished Materials”).

4. AM affirms that it undertook no electronic eavesdropping in connection with its reporting and has no knowledge of such conduct.

5. The agreement is completely confidential.

6. In the case of a breach of the agreement by one or more of the Bezos Parties, AM is released from its obligations under the agreement, and may publish the Unpublished Materials.

7. Any other disputes arising out of this agreement shall first be submitted to JAMS mediation in California

Thank you,

Jon

Deputy General Counsel, Media

American Media, LLC

Jon P. Fine

Deputy General Counsel, Media

O: (212) 743–6513 C: (347) 920–6541

[email protected]

February 5, 2019

Via email:

[email protected]

Martin D. Singer

Laveley & Singer

Re: Jeff Bezos / American Media, LLC, et al.

Dear Mr. Singer:

I write in response to your February 4, 2019, letter to Dylan Howard, and to address serious concerns we have regarding the continuing defamatory activities of your client and his representatives regarding American Media’s motivations in its recent reporting about your client.

As a primary matter, please be advised that our newsgathering and reporting on matters involving your client, including any use of your client’s “private photographs,” has been, and will continue to be, consistent with applicable laws. As you know, “the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies . . . for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting . . . is not an infringement of copyright.” 17 USC Sec. 107. With millions of Americans having a vested interest in the success of Amazon, of which your client remains founder, chairman, CEO, and president, an exploration of Mr. Bezos’ judgment as reflected by his texts and photos is indeed newsworthy and in the public interest.

Beyond the copyright issues you raise, we also find it necessary to address various unsubstantiated defamatory statements and scurrilous rumors attributed to your client’s representatives in the press suggesting that “strong leads point to political motives”1 in the publication of The National Enquirer story. Indeed, you yourself declared the “politically motivated underpinnings” of our reporting to be “self-evident” in your correspondence on Mr. de Becker’s behalf to Mr. Howard dated January 31, 2019.

Once again, as I advised you in my February 1 response to your January 31 correspondence, American Media emphatically rejects any assertion that its reporting was instigated, dictated or influenced in any manner by external forces, political or otherwise. Simply put, this was and is a news story.

Yet, it is our understanding that your client’s representatives, including the Washington Post, continue to pursue and to disseminate these false and spurious allegations in a manner that is injurious to American Media and its executives.

Accordingly, we hereby demand that you cease and desist such defamatory conduct immediately. Any further dissemination of these false, vicious, speculative and unsubstantiated statements is done at your client’s peril. Absent the immediate cessation of the defamatory conduct, we will have no choice but to pursue all remedies available under applicable law.

As I advised previously, we stand by the legality of our newsgathering and reporting on this matter of public interest and concern. Moreover, American Media is undeterred from continuing its reporting on a story that is unambiguously in the public interest — a position Mr. Bezos clearly appreciates as reflected in Boies Schiller January 9 letter to American Media stating that your client “does not intend to discourage reporting about him” and “supports journalistic efforts.”

That said, if your client agrees to cease and desist such defamatory behavior, we are willing to engage in constructive conversations regarding the texts and photos which we have in our possession. Dylan Howard stands ready to discuss the matter at your convenience.

All other rights, claims, counterclaims and defenses are specifically reserved and not waived.

Sincerely,

SEE ALSO: Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos accuses National Enquirer publisher of 'extortion' over naked photos in extraordinary blog post

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: How to use this time-saving feature Apple added to the iPhone

from All About Law https://www.businessinsider.com/read-emails-jeff-bezos-naked-photos-national-enquirer-2019-2

0 notes

davidchanus · 6 years ago

Text

Read all the emails Jeff Bezos says the National Enquirer sent to 'blackmail' him (AMZN)

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos wrote a blog post on Thursday accusing National Enquirer publisher AMI of trying to extort him over naked photos of him.

AMI allegedly sent Bezos emails describing the photos they obtained of him and former news anchor Lauren Sanchez, who he was having an affair with.

These are the emails that Bezos says were sent to "blackmail" him.

On Thursday, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos wrote a Medium blog post revealing the emails that he alleges were sent to blackmail him.

In the email, AMI, the publisher of the National Enquirer, threatened to publish personal photos of Bezos and former news anchor Lauren Sanchez, including a naked selfie of Bezos.

In January, the National Enquirer, a long-time ally of President Donald Trump, had published an exposé on the affair between Bezos and Sanchez. After that, Bezos hired investigators to look into who leaked his personal photos and texts.

AMI threatened to publish these photos unless Bezos and Gavin De Becker, Bezos' security boss leading that investigation into the exposé, make a public statement that they “have no knowledge or basis for suggesting that AMI’s coverage was politically motivated or influenced by political forces.” AMI also said it would keep those photos.

"Of course I don’t want personal photos published, but I also won’t participate in their well-known practice of blackmail, political favors, political attacks, and corruption. I prefer to stand up, roll this log over, and see what crawls out," Bezos wrote.

Here is the email that Bezos says he received from AMI, describing the photos it had obtained.

From: Howard, Dylan [[email protected]] (Chief Content Officer, AMI) Sent: Tuesday, February 5, 2019 3:33 PM To: Martin Singer (litigation counsel for Mr. de Becker) Subject:. Jeff Bezos & Ms. Lauren Sanchez Photos

CONFIDENTIAL & NOT FOR DISTRIBIUTION

Marty:

I am leaving the office for the night. I will be available on my cell — 917 XXX-XXXX.

In addition to the “below the belt selfie — otherwise colloquially known as a ‘d*ck pick’” — The Enquirer obtained a further nine images. These include:

· Mr. Bezos face selfie at what appears to be a business meeting.

· Ms. Sanchez response — a photograph of her smoking a cigar in what appears to be a simulated oral sex scene.

· A full-length body selfie of Mr. Bezos wearing just a pair of tight black boxer-briefs or trunks, with his phone in his left hand — while wearing his wedding ring.

· A selfie of Mr. Bezos fully clothed.

· A full-length scantily-clad body shot with short trunks.

· A naked selfie in a bathroom — while wearing his wedding ring. Mr. Bezos is wearing nothing but a white towel — and the top of his pubic region can be seen.

· Ms. Sanchez wearing a plunging red neckline dress revealing her cleavage and a glimpse of her nether region.

· Ms. Sanchez wearing a two-piece red bikini with gold detail dress revealing her cleavage.

It would give no editor pleasure to send this email. I hope common sense can prevail — and quickly.

Dylan.

And here are emails Bezos says he received from the National Enquirer publisher, laying out the terms for witholding publication of the photos:

From: Fine, Jon [[email protected]] (Deputy General Counsel, AMI) Sent: Wednesday, February 6, 2019 5:57 PM To: Martin Singer (Mr de Becker’s attorney) Subject: Re: EXTERNAL* RE: Bezos et al / American Media et al

Marty -

Here are our proposed terms:

1. A full and complete mutual release of all claims that American Media, on the one hand, and Jeff Bezos and Gavin de Becker (the “Bezos Parties”), on the other, may have against each other.

3. AM agrees not to publish, distribute, share, or describe unpublished texts and photos (the “Unpublished Materials”).

4. AM affirms that it undertook no electronic eavesdropping in connection with its reporting and has no knowledge of such conduct.

5. The agreement is completely confidential.

6. In the case of a breach of the agreement by one or more of the Bezos Parties, AM is released from its obligations under the agreement, and may publish the Unpublished Materials.

7. Any other disputes arising out of this agreement shall first be submitted to JAMS mediation in California

Thank you,

Jon

Deputy General Counsel, Media

American Media, LLC

Jon P. Fine

Deputy General Counsel, Media

O: (212) 743–6513 C: (347) 920–6541

[email protected]

February 5, 2019

Via email:

[email protected]

Martin D. Singer

Laveley & Singer

Re: Jeff Bezos / American Media, LLC, et al.

Dear Mr. Singer:

All other rights, claims, counterclaims and defenses are specifically reserved and not waived.

Sincerely,

SEE ALSO: Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos accuses National Enquirer publisher of 'extortion' over naked photos in extraordinary blog post

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: We compared the $1,200 MacBook Air with the $500 Surface Go, and the results were a mess

from Legal News https://www.businessinsider.com/read-emails-jeff-bezos-naked-photos-national-enquirer-2019-2

0 notes

leonardchang · 8 years ago

Text

Writing Exercises

Writing Exercises [borrowed from various sources over many years of teaching, published and unpublished, personal and professional...]

1. Describe a person in motion (walking, running, eating, etc.) whose name is an animal, vegetable, or mineral. (For example, Jewel playing basketball.)

2. Describe one: a) a landscape as seen by an old woman whose disgusting and detestable old husband has just died. Don’t mention the husband or the death. b) a lake as seen by a young man who has just committed murder. Don’t mention the murder. c) a landscape as seen by a bird. Don’t mention the bird. d) a building as seen by a man whose son has just been killed in a war. Don’t mention the son, war, death, or the man doing the seeing; then describe the same building in the same weather and at the same time of the day, as seen by a happy lover. Don’t mention the love or the loved one.

3. Write a paragraph that would appear in a piece of fiction just before the discovery of a body. You might perhaps describe the character’s approach to the body s/he will find, or the location, or both. The purpose of the exercise is to develop the technique of at once attracting the reader toward the paragraph to follow making the reader want to skip ahead, and holding him or her on this paragraph by virtue of its interest.

4. Write a dialogue in which each of the two characters have a secret. Don’t reveal the secret but make the reader intuit it. (For example, a dialogue between a husband who has lost his job, and a wife who has a lover in the bedroom).

5. Take a simple event: A man gets off the bus, trips, looks around in embarrassment, and sees a woman smiling (you may switch the genders). Describe this event, using the same characters and elements of setting, in three different ways (changes of style, tone, sentence structure, voice, etc.). Make sure the styles are different.

6. Write one effective long sentence, at least 250 words, involving a character having a certain emotion. Don’t write a sentence built almost entirely of adjectives.

7. Complete one of these sentences and continue for at least one page: a) “No one knew that...” b) “When I was young...” c) “Sarah walked into her apartment and found her lights on.” d) "You thought this would be easy." e) "The shirt ripped when..." f) “She touched him lightly on the shoulder.”

8. Write a short-short (no more than one page) involving someone hitting someone on a bus.

9. Brainstorm with the class to decide on six aspects of a story (place, time, general characters, situations, quirks, etc.) and then everyone write a story in any kind of style, tone, and voice, using these elements.

10. Plot a story with the class, starting from the climax and working backwards.

11. Write a scene in which a person questions another person about his/her mother. Characterize all three characters.

12. At the end of the story, character A wants money from character B. However, before we get to that point, character A must deal with character B's dog. Write the first page of this story--A, B, and the dog-and characterize all three.

13. Write a scene in which one character is uncomfortable in his/her surroundings. Build a conflict between the person and the place, and avoid too many adjectives in his/her feelings about the place. Use active verbs.

14. Write a scene in a setting that is familiar to everyone (supermarket, classroom, etc), recognizable to most everyone, yet is unfamiliar, strange, frightening, or outlandish to a central character.

15. Identify the place you have most hated in your life. Then write a scene set in that place, about a character who loves it.

2 notes · View notes

hellosaltysaladcollectionstuff · 6 years ago

Link

WHEN I THINK ABOUT J. R. R. Tolkien’s unpublished writings, I think of them in terms that probably would please the old master: as the literary equivalent of the Staffordshire hoard in England’s West Midlands. Discovered in 2009 by a fortune hunter with a very good metal detector, the hoard contains mangled Anglo-Saxon weapons, golden jewelry, military implements, other metalwork, and rings inscribed with runic characters (though not the language of Mordor). All of it gives us — thanks to a team of devoted archaeologists — a richer understanding of the era of Anglo-Saxon Britain.

The same can be said of the “Tolkien hoard” — the reams of drafts, faded notes, indecipherable scribbles, and fragmented stories that were never published in Tolkien’s lifetime. But because of the tireless work of his son, Christopher, we have an even richer understanding today of Middle-earth than we did when his father died in 1973.

Ever since the publication of The Silmarillion in 1977, Tolkien fils has slowly worked through these materials and produced annotated versions of tales taking place long before the events chronicled in The Hobbit (1937) and Lord of the Rings (1954–’55). Now, with nearly 30 works added to his father’s oeuvre, Christopher Tolkien is finished. His service as his father’s literary guardian and interpreter ended last August with the publication of the earliest story of Middle-earth that Tolkien ever wrote, The Fall of Gondolin. “I ‘presumed’ […] that Beren and Lúthien would be my last,” he writes in the new book’s preface, referring to another story that he edited and published in 2017. “I must now say that ‘in my ninety-fourth year The Fall of Gondolin is (indubitably) the last.’”

What a long and distinguished run — and what a high note to end on. Christopher Tolkien’s edition of his father’s Gondolin manuscripts is nothing less than a triumph — a substantial contribution to our understanding of his father’s early vision of the Middle-earth cosmogony and a gift to all lovers of Tolkien, young and old. And Alan Lee’s accompanying illustrations — along with a foldout map — enrich this book even more, giving Tolkien’s First Age a vivid physical reality that Westeros and Narnia just don’t have.

Not everyone will agree, I’m sure; Philip Pullman certainly won’t. Last fall, Pullman published the essay collection Daemon Voices: On Stories and Storytelling, in which he doesn’t hesitate to dismiss Tolkien’s world-making. For him, Tolkien’s characterizations are shallow and the settings “no more real than the horse-brasses and the posthorns in an Olde English theme-pub — a place called The Hobbit and Firkin,” he writes in the essay “The Republic of Heaven.”

“C’mon now,” I’d like to tell him, “lighten up.” There’s room enough for everyone in fantasy, isn’t there? Pullman’s certainly free to dismiss whomever he likes, of course, but it seems beneath the dignity of Lyra Belacqua’s creator to sound so jealous of another’s success.

At the very least the publication of this book gives us a reason to applaud the son’s long commitment to his father’s work … and to readers (like this reviewer) who see Tolkien’s early vision of Middle-earth in the tale of Gondolin’s destruction.

The human hero at the center of The Fall of Gondolin is Tuor — Elrond of Rivendell is descended from him — who searches for the hidden city of Gondolin, an elven stronghold that has escaped enslavement by the evil Melkor, also known as Morgoth, predecessor of Sauron.

In the original 1916 version of the story — which opens the book and runs to about 75 pages — Tuor is sent on his quest by the sea god Ulmo, one of the Valar. Ulmo wants Gondolin to raise its army against Melkor and his shadowy legions of Orcs, Balrogs, and other ghoulish creatures before they find and attack the city. But Tuor fails to persuade them to fight — they are confident (too confident) that Melkor will never find them — and he decides to join them in their idyllic seclusion instead. He gives up the goal of his quest and weds the king’s lovely daughter, Idril.

Whenever an author introduces a note of hubris, you know it’s a bad sign — and suffice to say that the smugness of the citizens of Gondolin is the key to their undoing (like Théoden’s flawed conviction, in 1954’s The Two Towers, that the Hornburg can resist any force).

But that isn’t the only version of the Gondolin story in this book. Many of the best Tolkien scholars, especially Tom Shippey and Verlyn Flieger, have reminded us that Tolkien’s vision of Middle-earth was constantly evolving. And as that vision evolved, Tolkien struggled to adapt and adjust his material to harmonize with these changes. His son provides us with other draft variations assembled in chronological order, with commentary. Over 35 years, Tolkien continued to change and expand the story before finally abandoning another version — to his son’s initial perplexity — in 1951 (a version of which appears in 1980’s Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-earth).

All of these drafts display a style that’s far from the conventional storytelling you find in The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. The Gondolin drafts are steeped in grandiose, archaic expressions and the kind of reversed syntax that Yoda would probably like: “Here they abode very long indeed,” or “Timber he had that came down the hidden river; a goodly wood it was.” At first the style makes for tough reading, but soon it grows on you like moss on Treebeard’s chin.

To be fair, these drafts are First Age stories, and they’re supposed to sound like the foundational myths of Western civilization. Tolkien didn’t hide the fact that he believed his vision of Middle-earth’s ancient days deserved to be placed alongside the world’s great epics. Gondolin’s fall wasn’t just some quaint fairy tale that he scribbled as he recovered from trench fever during World War I. For him, its tragic fate ranked — outranked, actually — what happened to some of the greatest cities of antiquity:

Glory dwelt in that city of Gondolin of the Seven Names, and its ruin was the most dread of all the sacks of cities upon the face of Earth. Nor Bablon, nor Ninwi, nor the towers of Trui, nor all the many takings of Rûm that is greatest among Men, saw such terror as fell that day …

Even though the collapse of Troy and the sacking of Rome don’t measure up to the tale of Gondolin’s terrible destruction, Tolkien couldn’t finish it. Why not? Was his artistic vision just too big for his talents? Hardly. Even as late as 1951, long after he’d demonstrated his artistry with The Hobbit and had Lord of the Rings under his belt, Tolkien’s last attempt at the story takes us only as far as Tuor’s arrival at the Gate of the Noldor (a name for the craftsman elves). In this draft, he doesn’t fall in love with Idril or help the city-dwellers escape destruction. All Tuor gets is a glimpse of Gondolin’s gleaming armies before the narrative breaks off.

So what happened? For Tolkien’s son, in a chapter near the end of the book called “The Evolution of the Story,” what finally snuffed his father’s enthusiasm for his Gondolin narrative (and other uncompleted First Age works forming the core of The Silmarillion) was his pessimism over publishing them despite the success of The Hobbit. Tolkien wanted these stories published with Lord of the Rings as “one long Saga of the Jewels and the Rings,” but in the years right after World War II, that was an unrealistic expectation. Everything was in short supply, especially paper, and this would have been a ridiculously expensive undertaking for any publisher. Tolkien realized that. Disappointedly, he gave up, and his son describes his gloom in another work, Morgoth’s Ring (1993):

[L]ittle of all the work begun at that time was completed. The new Lay of Leithian, the new tale of Tuor and the Fall of Gondolin, the Grey Annals (of Beleriand), the revision of the Quenta Silmarillion, were all abandoned. I have little doubt that despair of publication, at least in the form that he regarded as essential, was the prime cause.

“Despair of publication” — it is hard to believe that Tolkien ever worried about such things. But he did. He worried about publication, and he worried about making money, just like any writer. His doubts that Gondolin and the other heroic tales would ever be published in a form “he regarded as essential” were enough to discourage him.

Of course, that didn’t end his career. Far from it. Three years later, Lord of the Rings appeared in three volumes, followed by other stories, works of scholarship, and translations. Tolkien was fêted and celebrated as the modern-day equivalent of an Icelandic skald crossed with a medieval scholiast. Fans wouldn’t leave him alone; the counterculture movement (and Led Zeppelin) embraced his mythology as their own; awards and money flowed in — his old friend and colleague C. S. Lewis nominated him for a Nobel Prize. Life was good.

And yet. One can’t help seeing something in those photos of him tucking on his pipe — something wistful about the eyes — that suggests the master was still thinking, even then, at the peak of his success, about all those precious pieces of his legendarium that remained in fragments at home.

Anything, even a fragment — as the Staffordshire archaeologists know well — can be valuable. They can tell us a great deal, despite what’s missing. That is certainly true of the Gondolin fragments. They provide us with an opportunity to glimpse some of the first great figures and dramatic situations of Tolkien’s mythology — figures and situations that would later resurface, more fully integrated and realized, in the pages of Lord of the Rings.

Already in 1916 we have the golden-armored elf Glorfindel — second only to Elrond in Rivendell — long before his crucial appearance late in The Fellowship of the Ring (1954), when he stops the Black Riders from nabbing Frodo. Glorfindel plays a similar role in the 1916 fragment as the Gondolin citizens flee the burning city. But instead of the Nazgûl, he faces a terrifying Balrog — its whips blazing and crackling — that bars the people’s escape. As Glorfindel leaps to the rescue, Tolkien writes,

[his] left hand sought a dirk, and this he thrust up that it pierced the Balrog’s belly nigh his own face (for that demon was double his stature); and it shrieked, and fell backward from the rock, and falling clutched Glorfindel’s yellow locks beneath his cap, and those twain fell into the abyss.

Their deadly combat should be familiar to any student of Tolkien. In Fellowship, Gandalf replaces Glorfindel in a fight with the horrific Balrog known as Durin’s Bane in the Mines of Moria. They take a similar plunge into the abyss, too … but with a much better result for Gandalf.

The Gondolin drafts anticipate and echo the famous stories of Middle-earth’s Third Age in other ways as well. We encounter Elrond’s father, Eärendil, as well as Círdan the Shipwright, who is the master of the Grey Havens. We meet the elf Legolas Greenleaf — who, despite his name, is not the warrior of Lord of the Rings. This Legolas isn’t gifted with a bow, but he is “night-sighted,” which enables him to lead the Gondolin citizens through pitch darkness to safety. These drafts also contain plenty of wolves, Orcs, eagles, and dragons — and Melkor’s evil influence hovers over the landscape with the same shapeless menace as Sauron’s.

What also hovers over these drafts — particularly the 1916 version — is Tolkien��s brief experience of World War I. Some critics have been reluctant to draw too close a connection between Gondolin’s destruction and Tolkien’s experience of the Battle of the Somme, but it seems equally bizarre to ignore it. That battle was fresh in Tolkien’s mind when he was invalided back to England — ironically, to Staffordshire, where that Anglo-Saxon booty would stay hidden for nearly another 100 years — and started writing about Gondolin as he recovered.

In the draft that opens this book, as Melkor’s forces drive toward Gondolin’s walls, they employ strange, armored machines — “things of iron that could coil themselves around and above all obstacles before them.” At the mention of those coils, one can’t help imagining the caterpillar treads of a tank (the first ones ever used in warfare appeared on the Western Front) that Tolkien might have seen while he was there:

[T]heir hollow bellies clanged beneath the buffeting, yet it availed not for they might not be broken, and the fires rolled off them. Then were the topmost opened about their middles, and an innumerable host of the Orcs, the goblins of hatred, poured therefrom into the breach.

The 1916 fragment alone is worth the price of this book. It is thrilling to consider — even if some would object — that in this apocalyptic scene we have a veiled reference to the horrors Tolkien might have witnessed on the Western Front.

Late in his life, when Tolkien looked back on his first yearnings to create a fresh mythology for England, he said that he had had in mind

a body of more or less connected legend, ranging from the large and cosmogonic, to the level of romantic fairy-story […] I would draw some of the great tales in fullness, and leave many only placed in the scheme, and sketched. The cycles should be linked to a majestic whole, and yet leave scope for other minds and hands, wielding paint and music and drama. Absurd.

But it really wasn’t absurd, even if Tolkien pretended to be embarrassed by his own grandiose vision. In the end, though he died far sooner than he expected, Tolkien had achieved this goal. Gondolin and the other pieces remained unfinished, but that is okay: their state of incompletion fits with his vision of the legendarium. Some tales are complete, others aren’t, and “other minds and hands” are welcome to step forward and contribute, too.

Tolkien’s son certainly seems to be the best example of one of these. The same can be said of Alan Lee … and John Howe. Howe’s A Middle-earth Traveler: Sketches from Bag End to Mordor gives us not only the massive vistas of Tolkien’s world (the majestic view from atop Minas Tirith or Ilúvatar’s creation of the universe) but also a great deal of minutiae — what you’ll find in a hobbit’s kitchen, the variety of axes and war hammers used by dwarves, the styles of armor worn by Orcs, the mess and disorder of Radagast’s leaning study, and the details carved into the logs of the skin-changer Beorn’s home.

A conceptual artist (alongside Lee) on Peter Jackson’s Tolkien films, Howe gives us in his book a rich and exhaustive — though not exhausting — taxonomy of goblin faces, twisting forests and passageways, fortresses, castles, and caves inhabited by the human and nonhuman citizens of Tolkien’s work and Jackson’s franchise. His tome is a lovely addition to anyone’s expanding collection of Tolkienana and an ideal shelf companion for the book — brought out a few years ago by the same publisher — of Tolkien’s own drawings of the world of The Hobbit.

In his introduction, Howe says that, as he began to create his own versions of Tolkien’s world, he realized that a “sense of reality, of personal experience, pervades much of Middle-earth.” That sense is so strong, in fact, that “we are tempted to seek out a real place for every locality he describes,” whether it’s the Shire’s resemblance to the English countryside or Tolkien’s 1911 walking tour of Switzerland that inspired Esgaroth, the wooden Lake-town destroyed by Smaug.

But the same can be said of Howe’s drawings, too — many of these were inspired by New Zealand localities as he worked on Jackson’s films. “So many of the fantastical landscapes we painted to replace the green screens were almost directly taken from real landscapes we wandered through,” he writes. Howe likens himself and the films’ other artists to “hobbits with sketchbooks, drawing the world as they went. There. Back again. And the journey between, which is of course the best part.”

He’s right; often the journey is the best part, in writing and in many other parts of life, too. Christopher Tolkien would probably agree. His own journey with his father’s work has lasted more than four decades and has given us so much that is essential to the legendarium.

And now, with that journey done, the only thing left to say to him is also the simplest: thank you.

Nick Owchar is a PhD candidate in English at Claremont Graduate University and the founder of Impressive Content, an editing and content production service. He was formerly the deputy book review editor of the Los Angeles Times.

The post The Final Treasure from the Tolkien Hoard appeared first on Los Angeles Review of Books.

from Los Angeles Review of Books https://ift.tt/2WlPwNc

#Blogger

0 notes