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thesilverlady · 2 years ago

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I have to say that although Matt Smith is the perfect Daemon for me (book!canon wise too), the combination of Holliday Grainger (who is perfect for Rhaenyra! Both young and older versions (she is 35 so the older version is the one she could realistically play) and Sam Reid has me swooning. It's a thing I like about fancasting that sometimes the actors are actually good for the role and could fit together.

I am curious, do you have any fancast for Viserys I ? Mine is Amza Pellea, he is a great actor and really gives me the vibes of Viserys (when he has the moustache and grey hair is when he resembles more what I imagine Viserys looked like).

And have you ever imagined any particular jewels or dresses for Rhaenyra? ( I am obsessed with fashion, so to imagine the clothes and accessories for a character like Rhaenyra who was said to dress richly is very very entertaining). Or for any clothes for Daemon? ( The fashion for men is worth discussing too I think).

Anyways thank you, and I really like your blog even if we don't share every opinion you are always very nice.💖💖

I'll admit Matt Smith didn't work as Daemon for me, but then again I can count with my fingers only 3 actors who I genuinely enjoyed in the show and think they match the characters they were given to play despite the writing.

I fell in love with Sam Reid when I saw him acting in the iwtv. His performance as Lestat gave me so many book daemon vibes. The way he portrayed the obsessed, intelligent manipulative, short tempered lover? Simple chef's kiss.

I truly wish I was telented enough to find some way to edit him more as book daemon

As for Viserys I, I loved your fancast! I'll admit I haven't thought of Viserys much so my only fancast so far had been Clive Wood (for older Viserys obviously).

Now ✨ fashion ✨

I'm definitely not an expert but I have imagination. Daemon can be prideful and vain so he definitely cares about his appearance and understand the power an image can have.

I picture him wearing expensive fabrics and leathers with lots of embroidered doublets. Later in life i can imagine he might have adopted some of Rhaneyra's coloring into his as a power move and to show his support.

Meanwhile for Rhaenyra we know from the book that she dressed richly, favoring purple and maroon velvets, golden Myrish lace in intricate patterns, and her bodice often glittered with pearls and diamonds. So safe to say, the woman knew how to steal a show.

For her riding clothes I imagine something similar to dany but with the targaryens colorings of red and black, like this one below. Tight fitting and practical but not void of drama.

She was a big girl, so I imagine she boldly chooses cuts that compliment her shoulders and chest

Otherwise if everything had to be covered, she'd make up with interesting and patterns, embodiment. I imagine her skirts would be long and the sleeves either long and wide or slashed

As for her hair, i know she canonically wore them long and braided similarly to Visenya but I always pictured she was experimenting with it in a similar fashion as she did with her clothing. I think she'd play around with braiding her hair, wearing them sometimes in half or full updo

I'm not good with jewelry but multiple rings on her fingers is a must and her crown was probably something beautiful like this one:

sidenote: this is the shipper in me doing the thinking but given the amount of extravagant gifts daemon sent her. I can totally imagine him sending her Myrish lace that rhaenyra could either make it blend in her clothing or wear it as a veil like this:

ps: thank you for your kind words 🥺 and of course I'd love to also read your ideas if you feel like sharing. ♥

#rhaenyra targaryen #canon rhaenyra targaryen #daemon targaryen #babygirl was the fashion icon of her time!#I can definitely imagine she added color and boldness throughout the years #asoiaf #asoiaf fashion #f&b #I had the hardest time uploading these images 😭#also thank you for bring nice anon! ♥ I think all of having different ideas is cool because we can exchange so many things we have in mind

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colleybri · 8 months ago

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Answer the questions and tag 5 Fanfic Authors

Tagged by @mosylufanfic :)

1. How did you get into writing fanfiction?

I’m relatively unusual here, I think, in that whilst I’ve been writing it since my teens I have had a good twenty year break up until a few months ago. Years ago, I just started writing it for my own pleasure - certainly no internet or easy ways to share it back then. More recently, I can attribute my return to one thing and one thing only: my love of the series Andor. An obsession that came out of nowhere in September 2023 when I watched it for the first time and it resonated with me in a way nothing has come close to in quite some time. After several months of writing various analyses of it I felt the urge to get creative.

2. How many fandoms have you written in?

Not many - most recently, Andor - obviously - and with the obvious overlap of Rogue One. Going back: I started out on E.T. (early teens then so that will date me accordingly :) ) - moving on to Aliens, The Silence of the Lambs and The X Files. Some novels then too: Narnia and Clive Barker, notably.

3. How many years have you been writing fanfiction?

As above, really. I’m in my mid 50s now - which I imagine makes me one of the older ones here. I dabbled most recently in the late 90s, with The Phantom Menace slashfics that were hugely popular back then - one of my friends was a superb writer (her stories were considerably better than the film itself ) and absolutely churned them out on whatever forums were around. They were a wholly new thing to me and I hadn’t even seen the film, but I dabbled a bit anyway :)

4. Do you read or write more fanfiction?

I write more at the moment, but I’m gradually trying to catch up with the reading. I missed Andor when it was first released and therefore the glut of fics from that time. But I’m getting to know the writers I really like and rediscover my own interests, genre speaking, along the way.

5. What is one way you’ve improved as a writer?

It’s really hard to compare as I haven’t got much left hanging around from my earlier years, but I would say that with several decades of teaching Lit under my belt now I do care a lot more about characterisation than I ever used to. It used to be all about the plot. I’m finding myself very drawn to subtext-heavy dialogue, internal monologues, drabbles and even poetry - the last being something I never thought I’d touch with a barge pole. I’m not saying I’m any good, just that I enjoy the challenge. That’s the main thing, in fact. These days I’m happy to embrace a challenge rather than shy from it.

6. What’s the weirdest topic you researched for a writing project?

That would be what human flesh tastes like. For a Silence of the Lambs fic, obviously. The answer is apparently “pork crossed with beef” so I guess a genuine ragu lasagne would scratch that particular itch if anyone’s curious.

7. What’s your favorite type of comment to receive on your work?

At the moment, as I’m pretty much starting from scratch and trying to find readers, absolutely anything. Probably excluding ‘don’t give up the day job’.

8. What’s the most fringe trope/topic you write about?

Probably the cannibalism thing. Though that’s no doubt more mainstream nowadays…. I haven’t even looked at all the Hannibal (tv series) fics out there.

9. What is the hardest type of story for you to write?

Anything long - the longest thing I ever completed was a 250 page novel but I was 14 at the time and haven’t come close since. Haven’t the stamina these days. Same with reading – I prefer one shots.

10. What is the easiest type?

Missing scenes or scene commentaries - not so much easy as such but probably my favourite forms, so they come relatively easily once I really put my mind to them. I find analytical essays the easiest of all, if I know the text well, but that’s no doubt a teacher-thing. I’ve made myself a regular feature on the Reddit Andor sub, probably to the chagrin of some :)

11. Where do you do your writing? What platform? When?

Looking at other answers to this one, I’m a bit perplexed. I have an elderly iMac and write on that. Hell, I used to do everything in long hand. Thank God I learned to touch-type. I guess I use Googledocs when forced to use my laptop. I’m fortunate to be semi-retired, so I generally find the time.

12. What is something you’ve been too nervous/intimidated to write, but would love to write one day?

Something longer, I guess. Hard to tell. I was and am intimidated by Smutfics, but had a go at a challenge recently and was quite pleased with the result. Not something I’ll be writing often though - not the main event, anyway. Love the buildups, and there’s some really great erotica out there, but I do get pretty stuck using the same vocabulary if I’m not careful. I’ve done a few humorous variations and quite liked those too. I’m British, lived in Bath for many years so like to imagine Austen’s ironic take on sex scenes quite a bit.

13. What made you choose your username?

Nothing very deep - it’s to do with where I live. I’m a keen birder and Colley is an old West Country (England) word for a blackbird.

Apologies in advance for tagging you - I’m sure some or all of you have been ‘done’ already! I don’t know a huge range of writers yet and I’m new to Tumblr and Discord. Absolute social media dinosaur as I am.

Tagging @beladonna02, @ceruleanphoenix7, @faceofpoe, @jake-and-amy-are-married, @vadercat

#ask game #writing #andor

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oreniaa · 9 months ago

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About me!

Find me on ao3! I have works in: (✅ means that these works are completed and that I am not working atm on works in this fandom even if I have a bunch of ideas)

Dexter (1+) - writing, expect multichaptered fic to begin soon

Stranger Things (1) - spontaneous updates (2/3 times a year)

Top Gun (1) ✅

Star Trek (1) ✅

Hannibal (1) ✅

Sherlock (1) - spontaneous updates, writing

Works planned in: the Primal Hunter (several slash + angst), Dungeon Crawler Carl (gen whump), Pkciv (one-off for someone 🤭) Hi, so I'll be putting things about me (fandoms, fun facts) here. It will probably get updated sporadically, but anyways if you have any specific recommendations for books or shows, etc then don't hesitate to ask me :)

Also!!! I take fic requests :) I’m in a bit of a writing block, so just request a fic from any fandoms below OR any you like which I may potentially be involved in!

Fandoms:

TV Shows (not obscure)

Hannibal - I am pretty familiar with the show, I'd say I'm not an expert but I'm no beginner either

Sherlock BBC - OMG I LOVE THE FANDOM, I have so much head canons but I can never get to writing :(

House MD - i love myself some malpractice MD :D

Merlin - used to be more obsessed, but I still love it, especially soulmate AUs

Psych - YES THE BEST, I've recently started watching this but I really love it

Stranger Things - I have watched all seasons & ofc, I AM A BYLER WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT NO IM NOT DELUSIONAL

Star Trek - mostly TOS & AOS, and I REALLY dig Tarsus IV, Academy pics and Spirk childhood friends w/ Tarsus

Books & such (not obscure)

The Inheritance Cycle - read all the books and halfway thru Murthag & i am really sad that there's not more fan work about this series :(

Fractalverse - YES I DIG IT SO MUCH ITS AMAZING, Kira is so badass, I love her, and there's barely any fan work on this, so... give it a try?

Grishaverse - decently into this, I have a lot of head canons but not much time to write anything bc I procrastinate too much

Obscure stuff

Lupin (the Netflix series) - I NEED MORE MORE MORE, in my head Assane, Benjamin and Guedira are in a throuple because why not

B13 (District 13) - I watched it once and... what if Damien was a trans guy? I see it.

LitRPGs

note: I have too many good litrpg series that I am reading. I have read most of the mainstream litrpgs, so you can hit me up whenever about that

Dungeon Crawler Carl - **IF YOU HAVEN’T CHECKED IT OUT THEN DO IT** in the process of writing an angsty whump!Carl fic hehehe

HWFWM - I adoreeeeee! There’s just so much humor, angst and of course an MC with dark powers :D

(on a tangent here about HWFWM, i image this clive/jason oneshot 5+1 which is basically 5 times people didn’t know who clive’s wife was + 1 time they did)

Reborn as a demonic tree - YES.

Tree of Aeons - yeyy.

Cradle - obv yes

Primal Hunter - love it! (however, I do hope that Jake doesn’t end up with a harem bc it’s not rly my cup of tea) ++ I unironically ship Jake with the Fallen King. In my lil AU, the fallen king’s nickname is Green :D

Other writing:

I write poetry mostly but I do some original stories, and occasionally I will try out playwriting or some other media

my writing is usually depressing and dark, which is exactly why I feel I can write well - so don’t hesitate to hit me up on that! I’m welcome to any discussion :)

tell me if you want me to post some original works!!

Fun facts:

I can do the 3x3 Rubik's cube in 30s

my method to write is just to put depressing adjectives next to random nouns, tweak it a little... and there. p o e t r y

that's all :)

#about myself

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thealmightyemprex · 8 months ago

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Universal Monster watch through thoughts part 1

So I have a 30 film set of Universal Classic Monster movies.What I am gonna do is every five films is share my thoughts,not really reviews but just thoughts

1.Dracula 1931

The first black and white film I saw as a kid .Its a capital C Classic for sure....But its never been my favorite,and there are many other Dracula adaptations I prefer .I think my big issues are Johnathan and Mina here are just so boring,while some of the silence is eerie I find most of it awkward and the ending just suuuuuuucks,we dont even get to see Dracula's death .That said four things make this film worth while ,one is the gothic vibe is peak here ,then you have Dwight Frye who is a scene stealer as the deranged Renfield,Edward Van Sloan who is a perfect heroic foil to the titular character as Van Helsing and of course Bela Lugosi as one of the most iconic villains ever,mesmerizing ,suave,seductive and yet still eerie .Its got flaws but Its good parts are so good,mainly those three performances

2.Frankenstein 1931

The movie I say is responsible for me being a horror fan and truly my favorite horror movie .Lets get this out of the way,Boris Karloff delivers one of the greatest performances of the genre ,cause he isnt a big scary monster,hes a lost child in world that fears and hates him .I actually feel this is a good film to show kids,as kids really connect to the plight of the Monster .Karloff is not the only highlight,James Whales direction is superb ,the moments of silence are actually eerie,the film looks gorgeous ,gotta praise JAck Pierces extraordinary makeup and Colin Clive gives a phenominal performance as the obsessed creator .Only thing I am not fond of is the tacked on ending .The opening however is brillaint with Edward Van Sloan warning how scary the film is and his ominous "We warned you "

3.The Mummy (1932 )

Man I wish I liked this film more then I do.Like its not bad but not a favorite .Theres a lot of good in this movie,cast is good ,Zita Johan is a good leading lady,Edward Van Sloan is always a plus ,and Boris Karloff gives a nice undestated performance as our villain Imhotep ,with some legit frightening shots of his hypnotic glare .Jack Pierces makeup is extraordniary ,the production design is good ,there is some legit shocking pre code stuff like a bunch of guys getting impaled .I also like the angle of it being a dark love story with Imhotep just trying to resurrect his lost love .Also has the scariest scene in a Universal Monster movie so far ,when Imhotep awakens and scares a guy into madness .Unfortunately its slow pace ,David Manners as the Boring Pretty Boy protagonist ,the weak love story between Manners and Zohan ,and the fact that plot wise it is WAY to similar to Dracula hold me back from fully loving it.ITs still good ,I just dont love it

4.The Invisible Man (1933)

James Whale hits it out of the park again with another great film .Claude Rains gives a powerhouse performance ,which is really impressive cause you dont see him for most of the movie ,hes either just a voice or bandaged up yet he carries the whole film as one of the best villains in all of cinema .The effects for being 91 years old look pretty damn good ,the film has an amazing supportinjg cast including Gloria Stuart ,Henry Travers and ESPECIALLY Una O Connor and to top it all off,the film is HILARIOUS.I mean it folks this film has an amazing sense of humor,from being very witty,eccentric character to examining the absurdity of the premise .One of my favorites

5.The Bride of Frankenstein (1935)

While Frankenstein is MY personal favorite,I TOTALLY get when people say this is the BEST of the Universal Monster movies ,as this is a masterpiece .Also DEFINATELY a queer classic(Happy Pride ) .The performances are great with the stand out being Ernest Thesingers wonderfully comic and camp villain Pretorious (So far my favorite non monster character in these films ) and of course Karloff at his best giving an utterly heartbreaking performance as the monster ,his scenes with the blind man bring a tear to my eye .Thats really the word to describe the film,heartbreaking ,the filmmixes tragedy,horror and humor so experetly .Also Elsa Lanchesters role as the Bride is so brief but is rightfully iconic and the ending is utterly magnificent

Ranking so far

5.Mummy

4.Dracula

3.Invisble Man

2.Frankenstein

1.Bride of Frankenstein

To be continued

@ariel-seagull-wings @the-blue-fairie @themousefromfantasyland @theancientvaleofsoulmaking @piterelizabethdevries @countesspetofi @princesssarisa @barbossas-wench @amalthea9

#universal monsters

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fayesdiary · 2 years ago

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Top 5 characters from Shadows of Valentia!

Sure! Since you haven't played Echoes I'm gonna be a bit more vague than usual!

Rudolf) I don't know what's going on anymore. I hate this man. I ironically love this man. He's one of the characters I think about most. He genuinely inspired a lot of my most interesting discussions about this game. He's a shitty character, a shittier ruler and the shittiest parent. I made an April Fools where I pretended to stan him. Dunking on him brings me joy.

5) Python. This man, I swear. Ever since I started working he's been the biggest mood. Why bother putting effort into something that barely matters to you for someone who only cares about how much you can make them earn, after all? He even criticized the monarchy straight to Clive's face! This man is as "lazy" as he is clever, and he's in the Deliverance just so he can support his boyfriend and see him achieve his dream of becoming a knight.

Also he supports aro rights in a series that can get very obsessed with romance, seriously this man is based

4) Sonya! This is a woman who knows she's hot shit and relishes it, she never stops being confident, has a personal beef with the main antagonist, and despite very much being a self-interested mercenary with her own agenda, it turns out said agenda is to help women who met her same fate as her sisters. It's a wonderful example of giving a character an engaging personality and just enough information to get you interested, while still keeping an air of mystery around it, which is why I'll always choose her over Deen.

3) Clive! Honestly, if Echoes wasn't a remake, I think he would have made a wonderful protagonist. I adore how the game makes painfully clear in both the main story and his DLC supports that while he does mean well and wants to improve the life of the common people, he knows next to nothing about the problems they actually face, and he's still unconciously valuing the nobles as superior to commoners and that's something he has to work on if he wants to make any meaningful change.

He's one of the best written characters of Fire Emblem, honestly.

2) Celica! I've talked so much about her, she's one of my favorite characters of the entire series, honestly, while I wish she didn't get shafted near the end of the game she's still so good!

1) Faye! I mean come on, this blog is themed after her! She's definitely not the most popular or the best written by far, but at the same time there's so much about her that I dig. I love that her obsession with Alm has both a reasonable explanation and is treated as genuinely unhealthy for once (she's the one character in the entire series that has one of her stats drop if she's supporting Alm and is next to him, specifically her Avoid), I love how despite this she's still overjoyed to see Celica, and I have a soft spot for socially awkward characters because honestly, same.

#fire emblem #fire emblem echoes #fire emblem echoes shadows of valentia #fe15 #ask replies #iturbide #my rambles #honestly i could gush about echoes characters all day

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plsbyallmeans · 3 years ago

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yuck, why am I doing this episode 2.

NOT REALLY A SERIOUS Commentary. just for the lulz.

I was prohibited by Tumblr to comment further on my original post hence this huge ass post. HAHAHA.

I actually like ML's friend. HAHAHA.

Ewww so this is where Monica hurriedly went to her mom and told her that the President kissed her. She looks so thrilled and proud like as if Bill gave her a star or something. GIRL, I MEAN SERIOUSLY. HOW COULD YOU BE PROUD OF THAT?

She's really delusional. That's it.

Clive Owen is so funny. LMAO.

Awww where Bill hugged Hillary and Chelsea but lmao this is so uncomfortable. Everyone looks like shit.

Dang girl she really likes beret. LMAO.

Ewww so this is where she is pictured giving Bill a kiss on the cheek on the ground of White House. LMAO. Clive is so funny. So awkward. lmao. Seriously the hilarity of this series. LMAO I THOUGHT MONICA WILL BE KISSING BILL'S JACKET. LIKE GADDAMN THE GIRL IS SO THIRSTY.

I SWEAR TO GOD THAT MOMENT IN THE LAWN IS SO FUCKING FUNNY. THESE PEOPLE ARE FUCKING STIFF.

YA GIRL YA THRISTY WOMAN.

Girl is so damn cray cray.

oh yikes, so this is where Monica said it's the President. lmao. She finally told Linda that it's the President and of course. of course, Linda got crazy because she could see all the $$ $ $$ $ $ $ $

lmao.

Oh she's now recounting when it first happened.

She's really obsessed with him. lmao. Oh hahahaha she literally showed her thong. HAHAHAHAHA. I laughed more than necessary on the thong scene. Bananas.

Here's the Pizza scene. I know where this is going. What's with the slowmo? This is sickening. LMAO.

Eww, these two. hahaha.

It gets lonesome some days - Bill Clinton

LMAO these two. fudge.

Ewww, Bill is flirting.

Shucks. This two is crazy and even nuts. Oh they literally skipped the part where Bill asked for permission. Actually, the kiss is solid. lmao. crazy

"We secretly plan to run to each other."

Yes damn down to 35 minutes.

HAHAHA. Girl, you are naive. Wow, this girl fell hard. Girl, your ass is going to fall hard on the concrete after your confession to Linda. Watch ya back.

Linda is so crazy.

They really characterized Bill as someone who would take advantage of the women working in the White House. LIKE DUDE. U OK? I mean it's being insinuated.

#Isurvivedthegrosskiss2021 #Isurvivedthiscrazyseries2021

Girl you trapped.

#yourgirlisstillpinning2021

he ain't calling you because he's having seks with Hillary. ya dammit.

lmao, Bill you crazy shit. But I still you. Like you and your troubled soul.

"I missed your voice" BWAHAHAHA! BILL YOU OAF.

These people are fat because they like microwaving stuff. Don't people have like a stove or something?

"I have a gift monica," - Linda. Yes, Linda, you have a gift. A gift fit for a witch. wtf. you monster.

Yes, 29 minutes left!!!!!

They really have an ugly setting. ugly background. boring. boring.

dull. wtf. don't they have funds?

Everyone is so ugly. WTF. That's why this series is not getting views (besides its boring plot).

That and it's still fucking dark.

Seriously, I know that back in the '90s are not yet modern with makeup, dang girl, everyone looks ugly. I mean, I'm not that beautiful but come on I expected something.

LMAO ANN COULTER IS "FIRED AGAIN"

Ann is really horrible.

Awww, Cobie. I still love you. <3

COBIE WTF WITH YOUR ACCENT?! LIKE THE FUCK GIRLLL GET YOUR ASS BACK IN MARVEL.

See everyone is really crazy about Bill's eggplant.

"THE GOAL IS TO EMBARRASS HIM" - YEAH SIR you got that right.

I can't wait for this series to end. <3 <3

oh, they really want ya Bill to get impeached.

22 minutes before it ends, come one. end now. this is so boring. no wonder this couldn't pull viewers.

will they show Bill and Hillary kissing because I am more interested in that?

WAT. Can I fast forward? This is so boring.

Wow ya girl is persistent. Wants to be the one to send the gift and she wants to get back in the white house.

"SHE'S A GOOD KID" - like what the fuck. lmao.

Oh here's the blue dress. YAY. Monica keeping it as a souvenir. HAHAHAHA. I still cannot.

ALSO THE FROG. WTF. HUHU WHY DO YOU HAVE TO.

LMAO MONICA WEARING THE RED DRESS. HAHAHAHAHA. I CANNOT.

"It's just Hillary" - like girl, u ok? that's Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton for you, Linda.

lmao - hahahaha Bill is hinting to Monica that she's being a weird-ass stalker. lmao.

LMAO LINDA USED AN EXCEL TO DO A TIMELINE FOR MONICA AND BILL'S "MOMENTS". girl, I would also do the same. Like how I do my fanfics.

Let's just get it done and over with. GIVE ME EDIE - I want to see cold robotic Hillary Clinton.

I miss HILLARY huhu. love you girl.

HAHAHAHA THE INAUGURATION DANCE.

LMAO THIS IS SO FUNNY.

HAHAHAHAHA! Actually bill and Hillary dancing together smiling kinda gets it. I mean it lacks the sweetness but it's kinda there.

DUDE EVEN IN THE SHOW IT SHOWS CREEPY SHOW BILL HAPPY WITH COLD SHOW HILLARY. They actually look kinda cute.

YAY 12 MINUTES LEFT!

you know I kinda understand why Sarah Paulson hated taking this role. Linda is just a monster.

lmao Paula Jones got a glow-up in her interview.

I think everyone's ugly because of everyone's nose. They all look huge. WTF.

Just give me Cold Show Hillary pls. I am so tired.

Bill's playing solitaire is gold.

aww I miss Bill and Hillary. <3

LMAO "TESTING 1 2 3" - I imagine Bill doing this.

EWwww here comes creepy Monica giving Bill a creepy dreamy stare. ewwww. ewww. ewww.

Yay down to 7 minutes!!!!!

"Boy I miss that smile" - Bill Clinton - eewww, Bill. Like u ok? hahahaha. I laughed.

Wait what did he gave her? i thought it's a wand. like a harry potter wand.Fucking studio light. I cannot see everything.

Oh, it's a hat pin! I thought it's a pen.

EEWWW "IF YOU GOT ME THAT I WANT TO OPEN IT IN FRONT OF YOU."

oh, here's the leaves of weeds book.

Bill should have given Monica a bible.

6 more minutes! I am done!

These monkeys. Hurry the fuck up.

I really miss the Clintons. lmao.

"We have to be really careful." - Bill Clinton ; eeewww, yuck

oh they kissed twice in this show. Ewww. this two. gaak.

Overall comment:

they really depicted it as what it is: Monica is crazy about Bill. She teased him. They had consensual affair.

Monica pinned hard for Bill, he didn't return the fondness.

Monica had a mistake trusting Linda.

She was trapped by people who have a selfish interests.

I think Monica wanted to make herself innocent by making it appear that she is just someone who fell in love with the wrong person and who trusted the wrong friend.

The way they portrayed the whole thing is really consensual. But they made Bill really look predatory.

The lighting is really so bad. lmao. Their makeup is kinda bad. It's still boring

Nothing new that we don't know of.

I actually don't hate Bill after watching this. LMAO. I actually missed them! bwahahaha. I miss seeing Bill and Hillary. Maybe I would read some fics and watch their past interviews.

#just me doing a useless commentary

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incblackbird · 4 years ago

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Heiya :D What are your faovurite movies and shows?

Listen... as a huge film buff, I am unable to be short about this question. So you’re getting a top 20 fav tv shows and a top 40 fav movies (and I still had a hard time, there were so many more I wanted to include) Tv Shows:

1) Trust (from 2018 about the kidnap of John Paul Getty III): nobody seems to know this show exists and it’s SO FUCKING GOOD! Go watch it!!! 2) Breaking Bad 3) American Horror Story (Asylum, Freak Show and Cult) 4) Mindhunter 5) Penny Dreadful 6) Spartacus 7) The Haunting of Hill House 8) Vikings (up until season 4, after that it got horrible imo) 9) Game of Thrones (for Theon) 10) Hannibal 11) Bates Motel 12) Fargo 13) Six Feet Under 14) Kulderzipken (this is a Belgian show that I watched with my family over and over again as a kid, it’s hilarious and I love it) 15) Misfits 16) Wentworth 17) The Walking Dead 18) Shameless 19) Stranger Things 20) La Casa de Papel

Movies:

My top 4 has been the same for ages so I don’t think it’ll change anytime soon, the rest is sorta interchangable though and yesterday and tomorrow i’d give you an entirely different list, possibly even with some different movies on there :) And yes, 28 out of 40 movies are horror movies (and many others are disturbing even if not considered horror) sue me.... 1) A Clockwork Orange (1971, Stanley Kubrick) 2) The Evil Dead (1981, Sam Raimi) 3) Old Boy (2004, Park Chan Wook) 4) Das Cabinet Des Dr. Caligari (1920, Robert Wiene) 5) A Ghost Story (2017, David Lowery) 6) The Man Who Laughs (1928, Paul Leni) 7) Autumn Sonata (1978, Ingmar Bergman) 8) Naked Lunch (1991, David Cronenberg) 9) Carnage (2011, Roman Polanski) 10) Saw (2004, James Wan): This is the only one on the list that I don’t actually think is a great movie objectively, but it was the movie that got me into movies and my first big obsession so it has a special place in my heart and I still think it displays a lot of creativity and I wish it could be viewed without the awful sequels in mind. 11) Vincent (1982, Tim Burton): It’s a short film, just 6 minutes long, but it’s still my fav thing Tim Burton ever did! 12) A Bay of Blood (1971, Mario Bava) 13) Sleepy Hollow (1999, Tim Burton) 14) Hereditary (2018, Ari Aster) 15) Suspiria (1977, Dario Argento) 16) The Skin I Live in (2011, Pedro Almodovar) 17) The Lighthouse (2019, Robert Eggers) 18) Piercing (2018, Nicolas Peche) 19) Pan’s Labyrinth (2006, Guillermo Del Toro) 20) A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (2014, Ana Lily Amirpour) 21) Enemy (2013, Denis Villeneuve) 22) Donnie Darko (2001, Richard Kelly) 23) The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993, Henry Selick) 24) Vampyr (1932, Carl T. Dreyer) 25) Hellraiser (1987, Clive Barker) 26) Lost Highway (1997, David Lynch) 27) Nosferatu: Phantom Der Nacht (1979, Werner Herzog): I love the original as well, but I’m a bit more crazy about this remake 28) Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992, Francis Ford Coppola) 29) Brazil (1985, Terry Gilliam) 30) 12 Angry Men (1957, Sidney Lumet) 31) The Favourite (2018, Yorgos Lanthimos) 32) Funny Games U.S. (2007, Michael Haneke) 33) Black Sunday (1960, Mario Bava) 34) Faust (1926, F.W. Murnau) 35) From Dusk Till Dawn (1996, Robert Rodriguez) 36) The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974, Tobe Hooper) 37) Killer Klowns from Outer Space (1988, Stephen Chiodo): probably the most shamelessly entertaining movie on this list! 38) Meshes of the Afternoon (1943, Maya Deren) 39) Valerie and her Week of Wonders (1970, Jaromil Jires) 40) The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014, Wes Anderson) Honorable Mentions: Possum (a British horror movie from 2018 that nobody knows about but that’s super awesome), Hugo (from Scorsesse), Audition (from Takashi Miike), Paths of Glory (Kubrick’s most underrated movie imo, it’s talked about so little!) and Under the Silver Lake

@moviestorian, @janiedean, @cafeleningrad & @like-a-word-on-a-wing now I’m really curious to know your top whatevers of movies and tv shows! :)

#movies #horror movies are amazing #horror #I like disturbing cinema

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novelistash · 4 years ago

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Life Simulators

Tinkering with life simulators are a guilty pleasure for me. The chaos of procedurally generated lives keep me far too interested. My mind fills in the blanks creating the story of these rich lives. It kind of goes against what I was talking about yesterday, but I think I said it was an issue up for debate? Well, if I didn't, you can basically say that about everything. Newtonian Physics was the only way to view the Universe until it wasn't after all.

Anyway, I'm going to drop the life of Alexandra Miller, a character who was able to live most of her life with perfect stats. Is this for posterity or just for me to keep a semi-obsessive record? Also this might be in multiple parts. Hmm, maybe I should turn this into an exercise.

Born in Sydney, Australia, my parents conceived me on a nude beach. Cate Miller, my mother, never knew who my father was, and never cared to find out. She was a 40 year old history teacher. She quickly found and married Samuel Hornsby, a 33 year-old army enlistee with a son, Kobe.

Alexandra (Lex) had trouble getting along with her new family at first. Samuel didn't want to take 3 year old Lex to the zoo when she asked, and she got into a fight with Kobe where she got so mad that she licked him on the forehead.

To help Lex feel welcome, Cate got her daughter a boxer named Baxter! Lex was very serious about taking care of Baxter, giving him baths at the age of 4 and feeding peas for treats. Her family warmed up to her, with Kobe talking to Lex about how scary the toilet was and Samuel discussing Lex's imaginary friend.

When Lex started school, she was anxious about the other kids. Some of them didn't seem to like her. In particular Ariana was always giving Lex the stink eye. Lex tried to be her friend. Ariana responded by telling Lex to jump off and calling her a sausage shark! Lex gave up on trying to make peace with Ariana and instead tried to be nice to everyone in class, showering them with compliments. She became friends with Ayla, the first girl to talk to her, as well as the smart cookie Clive. Lex cared so much about her grades in Kindergarten that she studied until her eyes were sore.

At the age of 6 Lex went to Pompei with her family and starting taking piano lessons. She learned to enjoy reading, finishing Corduroy and Stellaluna by herself.

At age 7, Lex became friends with revolutionary Archie and stylish Eleanor. One of her fondish memories of her father Samuel happened this year, when he took her sky diving! Afterwards, he gave her a compass that had been in his family for three generations. Whenever Lex was lost, she could look at the compass and know where to go.

When I turned 8, Lex's step brother Kobe became a cadet for the Sydney Police Department and moved out of the house. Continuing this theme of people leaving her, Baxter ran away from home. With compass in hand, Lex looking for her dog and found him hiding in a bush! They ate lemons together and hated it. In addition to piano lessons, Lex started taking taekwondo and voice lessons and dreamed of becoming a pop star.

An avid reader and compulsive studier, Lex was having trouble with her eyes at age 9, but the optometrist said she wouldn't need glasses if she just studied in the light. When she got a yellow belt, she learned how to perform the eagle strike in taekwondo.

Lex was content that some people would never like her, but those that showed her kindness, she'd always go out of her way to talk to them. She felt extremely luck to have so many amazing people in her life.

Kobe became a Patrolman, but Lex's 11th year would be anything but safe. Lex fell out of bed and hurt her jugular. She was bed ridden for 5 days. Baxter got in a street fight with another dog and died. Ayla helped Lex get over losing her dog and the two became best friends.

Sixth grade was the year of the great Disney movie debate, where Lex's entire class argued about which was the best Disney movie. Clive wanted to sneak into a neighbor's house to get a box of Reese's Puffs, but Lex stopped him from taking a suspicious risk. Lex was finally old enough to go to the library by herself and she started going there every week.

At the start of secondary school, Lex joined the school's orchestra! She did 26 hours of babysitting for a neighbor. She tried out for water polo but had too much trouble breathing to focus on the ball at the same time. She started going to the local gym and focus on breath control. Lex found that diving helped her get better and ended up joining the diving team instead. She started working with her mother on the garden. Her mother Cate said that the garden always reminded her of Lex.

Lex will always remember the day before her fourteenth birthday, because she met a boy from another school, Chase Edwards. After spending some time together, Chase asked to kiss her and she gave him her first kiss. When she felt him opening his lips she pulled back and decided not to spend any more time with him. A few months later, Lex went to a party with Ayla. Ayla spun the bottle and it landed on Lex. Ayla seemed like she wasn't sure if she was ready to kiss a boy, so Lex went into the closet with her. Once they were inside, Lex realized that she wanted to kiss Ayla, but didn't have the courage to try anything. Their seven minutes in heaven turned into seven minutes that were very much on Earth. Lex vowed to not live life in fear and focused on her taekwondo, earning her blue belt. While at the gym training for dive, she was asked out by Connor Robinson, and agreed to date him. Lex did work as a babysitter and lawn mower, and used that money to pay for her first mani-pedi. She joined instagram just to show off her nails. She was meditating a lot on the nature of the world and joined her school's recycling club. If all of that wasn't enough, she started taking guitar lessons.

Lex and her acne ridden boyfriend, Connor, snuck into Lex's attic, and found her mom's camcorder. There wasn't anything interesting. Lex became her orchestra's section leader and her mom, Cate, gave her a BMW after acing her driving test. Feeling like an adult, 15 year old Lex decided to go on birth control, and her mom had no objections. Ayla joined the art club, and Lex partied with her and her friends. She realized that she still had feelings for Ayla, but Ayla confessed that she was into one of her club mates and so Lex decided not to act on her feelings and stay with Connor. Ayla got a boyfriend and Lex felt like she was ready to commit to Connor.

Her sixteenth birthday was an emotional high point for Lex, and she felt like she was happy for no real reason. She became concertmaster of her school's orchestra. Everything was going great and she decided that she wanted to take things to the next level with Connor. Connor wasn't interested in sex before marriage, so she broke up with him. Her friend, Clive, helped her get over the break up by getting mani-pedis with her and they became best friends. Ayla had recently become single and so against Clive's advice, Lex decided to ask Ayla out on a date. Ayla rejected her, but said that she was willing to still be friends. Lex wasn't over her but gave up after her attempts at flirting continued to go nowhere. Lex's tutoring gig let her work with grown men from college. Clive thought one client was a pimp.

Kobe became a Corporal, Lex became dive team captain, and the family had a big party to celebrate. Lex told all of her friends that she was pansexual and everyone was more interested in going to the movies.

Lex decided to study biology at university. She met Charlie Edgecliff at the gym and asked him out. On their first date Charlie took her yodeling. After going to the movies, Lex gave her virginity to him. Lex joined the university's orchestra and swim team. For Charlie's 20th birthday, Lex took him cliff diving. They had a serious talk about cloning and decided that it would be cheating to hook up with a clone of your partner.

Lex's ex boyfriend Connor went to Lex's 19th birthday party and tried to get back together with her. Lex told him off without needing to use her brown belt in taekwondo. Between swim team, uni, and hooking up with Charlie, Lex was not only busy, but happy.

Lex became the section leader in her orchestra and somehow found time to do tutoring to pay for the many dates she went on with Charlie. She wanted to look her best for him and got Brazilians and laid on the tanning bed. She loved her body and her boyfriend, but one day at the tanning bed, she got out and threw up all over the floor. When she went to the doctor, they told her she had skin cancer. Lex had maybe five years to live. Lex couldn't accept that, she needed to try other options. When Lex talked to Connor about going to see a witch doctor, he laughed at her. She broke up with him and saw a spiritualist from Mexico. The woman told Lex to eat chihuahua hair as part of a ritual. Lex did and her cancer was miraculously gone! The 20 year old Lex had a new lease on life and she wasn't about to spend that life being single. She met the buff Kylie Mills, and dated her. Within a week they were not only girlfriends, but they were talking about moving in together.

At the age of 21, Lex took her girlfriend Kylie to Kobe's marriage. Sergeant Kobe had married a school teacher, Kiara. At the reception, Lex's old friend Archie joked with her about how weird it was that he was dating one of his mom's coworkers, even if she was only 34. Lex liked Archie's dark humor and the two became best friends. Lex kept tutoring, swimming, playing, studying, and dating. She climbed up onto a try with Kylie and school children taunted them to kiss. They made out while the sun set.

The love of Lex's life, Kylie, graduated and became a Pilot Trainee for Salls Air. Kobe and Kiara divorced after having only been together for thirteen months. Six months later, Kobe was a father to a little girl named Kylie. After graduation, 22 year old Lex got a job as a Jr. Environmental Scientist at Pacific Consulting.

Not hindered by his divorce, Kobe got promoted to Inspector. 23 year old Lex, put everything she had into her job, working more and more overtime. She was determined to buy her own place and marry the woman she loved. Things wouldn't be the same as Kobe.

Kobe had another daughter, a girl named Hazel. No one really talked about who the mother was, but they were proud of him for taking her into his family. Lex's research discovered that used condoms were threatening the lives of duck billed platypus, so she engineered a biodegradable condom. This got her a promotion at work. Feeling like she could do anything, the 24 year old Lex read War and Peace. She purchased a ring of alexandrite and proposed to Kylie. She said "yes." They were going to get married!

At Cate's retirement party, Lex realized she'd been with Kylie for 5 years! Thought the two were madly in love, Kylie's financials were in doubt. She had a lot of debt and her job wasn't even covering her student loans. At Lex's mom's retirement part, she learned that Cate was actually independently wealthy, owning some 3 million dollars in stocks and bonds. Lex's brother was the one who brought this up, because he was pretty sure the two of them were going to get a million dollars each. He told Lex to look out for Kylie, because she could divorce her and take hundreds of thousands from her. Lex knew in her heart that she could trust Kylie, but when she saw a male proustite on the street, she found herself tempted. Maybe their relationship wasn't perfect. The still Jr. Engineer, Lex, asked her boss for a promotion, but despite having come up with a new condom, she was denied.

For Lex's 26th birthday, she went to Comic Con with her coworker Bella and her friend Eleanor. Eleanor became her best friend. Lex worked while sick with the common cold and got a raise. She applied for a mortgage and bought a town home on Evans Manor. Her mom had to help her pay for the place, because Kylie's financials were all tied up in her debt.

After celebrating Lex's niece Kylie's birthday, her fiance, Kylie wanted to get married. Lex was still house poor and asked her parents to pay for the wedding. They agreed. They were going to be wed within the year. Lex had a short battle with athlete's foot. She was really starting to think of her own mortality and the mortality of her mother. After going paintballing with her step father, Lex decided that Kylie needed to sign a prenup. When Kylie refused, Lex made her promise to wait to get married until Kylie could stand on her own two feet. Kylie wasn't happy and the two stopped having sex. Lex begged Kylie to go to couples counseling, but Kylie wouldn't try. It was then that Lex knew she needed to end things with her fiance. The 27 year old Lex cut down on her hours at work and decided to focus on herself. She had a one night stand with Archie Irvine and realized that it wasn't for her. She wanted something long term and went online to date Ariana Evans. Their first date was a parkour exercise. And even though things went well, Lex wasn't ready to start getting physical with Ariana. Ariana told Lex that she was willing to take things slow.

After giving her all to a company that didn't seem to appreciate her and a fiance that wanted everything, it was only after Lex stopped caring that things finally started to change. At age 28, Lex was finally promoted to Environmental Scientist. Ariana took Lex for a photoshoot to celebrate and the two finally got physical. It was then that Ariana admitted to Lex that she didn't need to work. She was independently wealthy, being worth nearly 5 million dollars from her family's wealth. Lex threw a party at her house and Ariana was content to live separately.

Lex was falling for Ariana, but she didn't want her to think she was after her fortune. She asked her mother to pay for the wedding, and Cate agreed. Lex bought a $500 platinum ring and proposed to the millionaire, Ariana. Lex took Ariana to a football game and proposed on screen. Ariana said "yes!"

At the age of 30, Lex finally married Ariana. There was only one catch, a prenup. Lex laughed and agreed to the prenup, explaining that her mom was also wealthy. When the time came to go on a honeymoon, the two women realized they'd rather just stay local and be with friends and family. Lex took Ariana's last name, becoming Alexandra Evans.

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cry-stars · 4 years ago

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14, 15 and 23 for the fanfic asks, please ! 💖

Thank you so much, anon!!

14: a fic you didn’t expect to write

I wound up writing a lot of request oneshots this year, so technically I didn’t expect to write any of them. To be honest, though, I didn’t expect to write anything for Professor Layton. I’d been obsessed with Fullmetal Alchemist for a bit more than two years and, at the beginning of this year, I was still writing a couple of stories for it, but I could feel the obsession beginning to fade (although I still like it and hope to write for it again someday), and I was miserable. Writing is one of my favourite things to do, to the point of almost being a compulsion sometimes, but I couldn’t summon up enough willpower to write for FMA anymore. During the spring though, I started playing through PL with my sisters, and something about Clive really got me excited to write again. So I wrote “A Gift, Undeserved,” and that led to me writing a lot of other things for PL, and I’m so glad I did!

15: something you learned this year

(This might just be a me thing, but hopefully it’s helpful to someone else). This is something I learned through writing fanfics and through writing music this year, but… you don’t have to bare your whole soul in your fanfics if you don’t want to. For example, I wrote a song for a class about a bad experience I’d had, but I wrote it very truthfully, completely from my POV, and I felt awful after. I wished that I’d never written it, because it was too real, and it only made me feel worse. I wished that I’d written it from a character’s POV or about a hypothetical scenario.

Something similar may happen when you write vent fics, or any fics, really… if you dig too deep, trying to put your characters through what you went through, you may be hurting yourself more. That’s not to say that’s always the case; I think I’ve benefitted from venting through fics before, but it’s important to recognize when something stops helping you and starts hurting you.

If something is too personal, and hurts you too much, you don’t have to write about it. There’s a difference between being ashamed of the past and forgetting it for that reason, and purposely reopening old wounds because you “have to be authentic.” There’s nothing wrong with using a character as a shield, changing details about your experience for that character’s story, or even writing something unrelated to your experience. You don’t have to be authentic all of the time. It’s okay to just write a fun story without trying to be super deep or feeling like you have to justify all of your writing decisions with things that happened to you. Writing should be fun, and it doesn’t all have to be deep.

23: fics you wanted to write but didn’t

So many, haha… I’ll just list a few longfics that I’ve been wanting to write for ages, but I’m just not sure how to start them:

1: AU where Clive loses his memory during PL3, believes that he truly is Future Luke, and tries to help his friends solve the mystery of Future London.

2: Yet another “Layton adopts Clive after the explosion” AU.

3: The “Clive apologizes to Flora/they become semi-decent okay friends that don’t hate each other” story that I’ve been agonizing over for months because I’m afraid of messing it up…

4: Some Clive & Layton post-PL3 longfic, sort of a slow-burn friendship thing, that would lead up to Clive coming to live with the Laytons like in my oneshots. I’ve kind of wanted to combine it with no. 3 above somehow, but I’m not sure if I can because I want to give both relationships (and the Flora & Layton relationship) all enough time, so I’m not sure if I can balance all three relationships in one story.

#writing #my fanfiction #answered asks #thank you so much for the ask!#tw trauma mention #an anonymous wayfarer

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deepstheeskimo · 5 years ago

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‘The Power of Four’

Right, everyone is picking Lions squads with less than a year to go until the next South Africa tour is meant to happen. Only so much brainpower I want to put into considering the pros and cons of scrummaging abilities though so I’ve gone for the Deeps Cult Lions XV made up of past tourists from of the last 20 or so years.

1. Allan Dell. What better way to start than with a South African born Scottish prop that only got called up as part of the ‘geography six’? In the squad: Andrew Sheridan (built like one of those GM bulls) and Tom Smith (badly underrated player,

2. Keith Wood. The ragin’ potato. Came to Quins and inspired a character in the first ‘book’ I wrote aged 8. Weird obsession with belly buttons, understandable obsession with trying drop goals from 40 metres. In the squad: Shane Byrne (1- mullet 2- not actually very good) and Andy Titterrell (Pro Rugby Manager 2 legend and extremely small man)

3. Kyle Sinckler. Why? He’s my guy, that’s why. He’s the opposite of that ruddy faced, sweaty tweed rugger culture. He makes me smile. In the squad: Jason Leonard (The Fun Bus. Non-playing tour captain. Once ruffled my hair - give him all the ale he can drink.) and Adam Jones (The Hair Bear. My sister used to see him all the time in Neath Tesco - give him all the pic n mix he can eat).

4. Martin Johnson. Looks like a character from a Guy Ritchie film, universally loathed by opponents and taped up his fingers(??). Summed up by the saying ‘Last time I saw a mouth like that it had a hook in it’. In the squad: Paul O’Connell (has some weird mythical power about him. Came to Quins with Munster and made south west London echo with ‘fields of Athenry’) and Simon Shaw (his emotional final interview post 2009 third test, aged 37, was pretty special)

5. Doddie Weir. Could not be anyone else. Farmer strength. Permanently looked 20. Built for Lions tours. Still fighting the good fight. Go on big man. In the squad: Nathan Hines (perma-suspended and a ‘tartan wallaby’) and Maro Itoje (Sometimes it’s not all about drinking and bungee jumping. Itoje’s one of the few that would be able to have an actual conversation)

6. Peter O’Mahony. One of those players that always grows into a series and ends up being important. Entirely unremarkable player but must be nasty to play against. Can’t actually imagine he’s that nice to be around at all. Big ‘school bully’ vibes. In the squad: Richard Hill (the only one of England’s 2003 RWC forwards that didn’t vote Brexit) and Alan Quinlan (Hit form at the right time, finally being picked in 2009 after a good but near-miss career. Expresses immense pride in selection. Then gouges someone. 12 week ban. If that’s not a cult player then I’m not sure what is).

7. Sean O’Brien. Another one with farmer strength. Thick in the arm, thick in the head but unlike a lot of the others won’t ever let you down. Plus on a tour you need characters and I bet, deep deep deep down he’s actually got a personality. Well, maybe. In the squad: Martyn Williams (a face that belongs in a back office of a mid sized electronics company. Somehow helped to invent modern rucking) and Sam Warburton (picked only so I can annoy people by saying his name as War-burrton’ not ‘Wabatan’ as they seem to say. Also looks like an Easter Island statue)

8. Scott Quinnell. Just rugby league all over. Overweight, comedy accent, illegal use of a plaster cast on his arm, despicable post-career lad culture DVDs and even had a stint on Soccer AM. If you kick him, all the Quinnells walk with a limp. In the squad: Ryan Jones (about the only player to come out of 2005 with credit) and Andy Powell (body of a god, brain of, erm... Great on tour as he’s a six foot five version of that kid in school you could make do anything by saying ‘oh go on!’)

9. Chris Cusiter. Born in Aberdeen which obvs piques my interest. Somehow got called up aged 22 while playing for the ill-fated Border Reivers. Played in Scotland, England, France and Australia and now lives in California running a whiskey retailing business. International. In the squad: Matt Dawson (over the head dummy try) and Austin Healey (absolutely horrible grinding shithouse). The two of these would be encouraged to collaborate on deliberately provocative articles similar to what they wrote in 2001.

10. Jonny Wilkinson. The best player of all time. Note to self, don’t hang around him too much because you’ll look pathetic and probably annoy him. In the squad: Mike Catt (Utility back. My fave) and Finn Russell (Joué Joué 🍷)

11. Ugo Monye. A huge part of my weekends for about 10 years was getting excited every time he touched the ball. Top scorer on his one Lions tour, shock. In the squad: George North (need a scapegoat for when we lose 49-0 to Japan in a warm up game) and Jack Nowell (wouldn’t play a single game, only being taken to let the squad mock him and call him a yokel - bet he’s got a dead short fuse).

12. Rob Henderson. Looked like, acted like, presumably ate like and definitely played like that guy from your local club who played England U16s and let it get to his head. And gut. Crash ball. In the squad: Scott Gibbs (hefty) and Gavin Henson (Insane talent, probably got good stories and even if he’s a prick he’s nicer to look at than some of the other options).

13. Ollie Smith. When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. Life gave Sir Clive Woodward the entire player pool of Britain and Ireland and somehow he picked Ollie Smith. In my team because he just looks like a nice guy. Defo pro-HS2 and his dad would pick up the bar tab. In the squad: Brian O’Driscoll (meh, guess he gets a place) and Will Greenwood (but only with bleach blonde hair. He genuinely almost died on the pitch playing for the Lions, looks like Shaggy and is a rarity in being a Lions player selected while playing Championship rugby).

14. Dan Luger. Always looked like he’d just come off a 10 hour shift at B&M. Even made skintight shirts look baggy. Played for Perpignan and Toulon before it was cool. Tryscoring machine. Injury prone as fuck. In the squad: John Bentley (so long as he isn’t a massive sexist like on the 1997 documentary) and Christian Wade (I will never forgive rugby union for wasting his talent).

15. Neil Jenkins. Ol’ dependable. Looks like a man off the street. Can imagine he’s almost always terrified around these peacocking ‘alpha males’. In the squad: Tim Stimpson (remember him?) and Iain Calamity Balshaw (Brendan Laney never played Lions so he’s there to mess everything up instead)

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a-big-apple · 5 years ago

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Favorite Media

I was tagged by @perniciouslizard! <3 Her post is here.

Rules: Repost, don’t reblog. Link to the post of whoever tagged you. You can pick any categories you like - feel free to add new categories as well. Tag anyone you’d like to!

Tagging: Do it if you want to do it! <3

Movie - Live Action

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990)

The Muppet Christmas Carol

Flight of the Navigator

Movie - 2D Animated

The Last Unicorn

A Goofy Movie

Anastasia

How can I choose only threeeee, what about Rock-a-Doodle, or Balto, or Cats Don’t Dance, or Mulan, or Hunchback of Notre Dame, or Prince of Egypt!!!!!

Movie - CG Animated

Kung Fu Panda

Happy Feet

Frozen 2 (don’t at me, AROACE ELSA BABEY)

Game - Story

Myst

Mysteries of Time and Space

Monument

Game - Gameplay

Sonic the Hedgehog (original game)

Katamari Damacy

Super Mario Bros 3

Podcast

The Adventure Zone

MBMBAM

It’s impossible to choose a third... Dr. Gameshow? Best Friends? Fansplaining? I'm subscribed to 60+ podcasts okay

Manga

Kaze Hikaru

Antique Bakery

Fullmetal Alchemist

Anime - I’m sorry, I cannot limit myself to three.

Tenchi Muyo

Yuri!!! on Ice

Ouran High School Host Club

Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit

It seems sinful not to put FMA even though I have the manga up above, so FMA, both versions.

Okay sorry I also have to give an honorable mention to Fushigi Yuugi, my first anime obsession

TV Series - Live Action

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Merlin

TV Series - Cartoon

Steven Universe

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2003)

Gargoyles

Fictional Literature:

Carry On by Rainbow Rowell

Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein

Season of Ponies by Zilpha Keatley Snyder editing this belatedly because I changed my mind! I think Abarat by Clive Barker should go here actually.

Webcomic Comics

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures (Archie Comics run)

Young Justice (original run)

Black Canary (90′s era)

Fanfic This is literally impossible for me to choose, I have so many favorites.

Streams Don’t watch any, so how about Graphic Novels?

The Prince and the Dressmaker by Jen Wang

Nimona by Noelle Stevenson

The Arrival by Shaun Tan

#these things are so fucking hard #favorites meme #my millennial is showing

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gascon-en-exil · 5 years ago

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rank the lachesis archetype

This is going to be inherently less entertaining for everyone involved because, with one exception, all the Lachesis characters are women and as such I have no frame of reference for how they might be in bed. It’s arguably even more awkward for me than something like the Camus or Jagen archetypes because a Lachesis is defined first and foremost by what might be called aspirational incest - how deeply she desires to fuck her brother. Anyway:

Lachesis: The original might be the most audacious, but because she exists against the backdrop of Jugdral where everything is just kind of like that it’s not nearly as scandalous as one might think. I’m totally on board with more recent portrayals playing up her obsession with Eldigan, a star-crossed love undeterred by any number of one-night stands with surprise pregnancies and/or an unsatisfying and probably sexless relationship with Finn wherein they bonded over the dicks of dead men they’d never get (again). She’s not!French, her promoted class is hilariously OP, and she does her messy best to be a mother to her children even though she’s definitely not ready for it or in a situation conducive to competent parenting. 9/10, not perfect but her successors would be hard-pressed to ever surpass her or her monumental legacy of incest.

Nanna: Lachesis Gen 2, literally. Codified the valkyrie as the class most strongly associated with this archetype as well as diversified their incestuous portfolio via her two predestined pairings: with her first cousin (and son of Eldigan) Ares, and with Leif who was raised alongside her as a brother. FE5 gives the nod to the latter and Leif/Nanna does indeed make more thematic sense in the context of the unification of Thracia, but I’m docking her a point since her more canon-endorsed love interest isn’t biologically related to her and because I like Diarmuid better can he be gay in the remakes please?. 7/10.

Clarine: Meh. Haughty and obnoxious without much to recommend her unless you like characters with that sort of personality, and now that we’ve moved on from Jugdral actual incest and for the most part pseudo-incest just isn’t in the cards anymore. To her credit she doesn’t go for either Perceval or Elffin even though both of them seem like they’d be ideal husband material for her. Instead, she appears to follow Lachesis’s lead and go slumming for men noticeably beneath her when she can’t get brotherly dick. 4/10, could be helped out by a remake with FE6 being as comparatively thin on characterization as it is.

Priscilla: As with many older Western fans she was my first exposure to the archetype, and it’s the oddest thing to me that she’s garnered something of a mild hatedom. I find her inoffensive for the most part; she may attempt to come between one of the GBA era’s seminal M/M pairings but it’s not like she succeeds, and there’s a certain satisfying verisimilitude to all but one of her pairings ending badly on account of her boyfriends’ lower social statuses. Plus, a healer and strong offensive caster on a pony is always fun - and she’s the best of those from the GBA games, beating out Clarine’s bad MAG, L’Arachel’s bad availability, and Cecilia and Selena’s...everything, really. Does FE8′s meta still favor mage knight!Lute? She could be a contender I guess. 6/10, I really don’t get why she’s so disliked.

Mist: An odd case of a Lachesis who belongs to the archetype purely on a meta level, one of Tellius’s numerous examples of taking a bunch of series staples and jumbling them all up for fascinating results. In Mist’s case this jumbling takes the form of one of the many relationship fake-outs between the two games. FE9 appears to favor her cutesy prepubescent connection with Rolf, only for the sequel to pair her up with Rolf’s big brother Boyd instead. Now how does this fit the Lachesis archetype? Well, Mist’s problem is that her actual brother is gay (or some kind of not straight where he’d not much be interested in plowing his little sister, really not the point here), so she transfers all that illicit sisterly affection onto a friend of her brother who’s similarly thick in more ways than one. 3/10, not a bad character, but she’s a strange Lachesis to discuss as such and each game screws her over as a unit in a different way that makes it very hard to appreciate her as the lone valkyrie in Tellius’s roster.

Leo: The token male Lachesis, awkwardly enamored of his busty big sister. It’s a shame that his incest subtext (well, that incest subtext - he’s still totally down for banging his adoptive sister because Avatar) was largely buried in the localization, but to be fair I don’t think it would have mattered that much when the guy’s got a bunch of other stuff going on. His male harem of retainers who do a very poor job of convincing anyone of their collective heterosexuality, for example, or his drama queen tendencies contrasted against those times when it feels like he possesses the lone brain cell of the Nohrian royals. He’s not even in FE14′s unisex valkyrie equivalent class by default, although it is in his secondary class set and it gets a lot of love anyway between his Gothic lolita little sister and his gender nonconforming son. And did I mention his weird thing with tomatoes? Like I said Leo has a lot going on; being one of the millions of men in-universe and out who fap to Camilla barely even registers. 5/10, a novel concept but he’s so much more than a Lachesis. Also, it barely exists in localization.

Clair: Not a proto-Lachesis or anything of the sort in FE2, more of a very mild Catria toward Alm. The remake presented us with Faye as one of the most disturbing takes on the Catria archetype, and Clair got a fresh new design and personality most strongly reminiscent of Clarine instead. FE15′s Clair does offer up one or two interesting new takes on Lachesis, mostly in how self-aware it all is and how she one-ups every woman on this list crushing on a guy with gay subtext by existing against the backdrop of the hotbed of homoerotic longing that is the Deliverance. She and Fernand out each other’s attraction to Clive, and even once he deserts them to find a man who understands him she’s still stuck in line behind Mathilda and Clive’s loyal, fawning subordinates (and Python). It’s up for debate who comes out worse in the end. Sure, Fernand gets betrayed and killed by his rebound, but at least he gets to die in Clive’s arms. Clair marries Gray, which continues in the Lachesis tradition of massively lowered standards. 6/10, a lot less annoying than Clarine and heavily embedded in some prime queer content, but on her own she’s just a bit above average as a unit, as a character overall, and as a brother lover specifically.

Three Houses unfortunately lacks a Lachesis, unless Wave 4 surprises everyone by tossing one in somewhere. If I had to squint very hard and pick one I’d say that Flayn comes closest to the archetype, as no fewer than three of her romantic support lines (Byleth, Ferdinand, Linhardt) invoke the specter of incest though it’s usually Crest-derived rather than standard biology. I wouldn’t call her a true Lachesis, but perhaps like the game’s nod to the Christmas knight archetype it’s meant to be a more understated thing.

#Fire Emblem #Lachesis archetype

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eddycurrents · 6 years ago

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For the week of 5 May 2019

Quick Bits:

Age of Conan: Bêlit #3 throws a few road bumps in the way of Bêlit’s plans as the Kushites renege of their deal and her drunken “Captain” continues being a jerk. I’m really liking this exploration of Bêlit’s early days from Tini Howard, Kate Niemczyk, Scott Hanna, Jason Keith, and Travis Lanham.

| Published by Marvel

Archie #704 throws some roadblocks in the way of Archie and Sabrina’s relationship through the form of a “Bachelor”-like charity programme set up by Cheryl. I love the even more stylized pastel colour palette from Matt Herms.

| Published by Archie Comics

Batman & The Outsiders #1 is an entertaining debut from Bryan Hill, Dexter Soy, Veronica Gandini, Clayton Cowles. I’ve not read the arc in Detective Comics that feeds into this, but this first issue provides enough information for new readers now to be lost and gives good incentive to check out what’s come before. Great art from Soy and Gandini, with an interesting look inside a team and a compelling start to a mystery about the last survivor from a metahuman generating factory.

| Published by DC Comics

Bettie Page #4 concludes the QE2 aliens caper. Love the art from Julius Ohta, Ellie Wright, and Sheelagh D.

| Published by Dynamite

Bronze Age Boogie #2 continues the strangest Doom Patrol story as the Martian invasion angle has taken hold in the future and a motley crew of heroes bands together to try to stop them. Stuart Moore, Alberto Ponticelli, Giulia Brusco, and Rob Steen are playing with some interesting cross-media influences to tell a highly entertaining tale. It’s rounded out with the usual goodies in the form of prose, letters, and what’s probably my favourite of the back-up strips so far, Major Ursa, from Tyrone Finch, Mauricet, Lee Loughridge, and Rob Steen.

| Published by Ahoy

Conan the Barbarian #6 sees Jason Aaron, Mahmud Asrar, Matthew Wilson, and Travis Lanham tell a story of Conan’s frustrations as a mercenary in the skirmishes between Turan and Stygia. People constantly underestimating Conan is always a fun story.

| Published by Marvel

Deadly Class #38 sees Marcus and Maria return to King’s Dominion. It’s kind of messed up seeing the new status quo, but at the same time the tension that Rick Remender, Wes Craig, Jordan Boyd, and Rus Wooton build here between to old Legacy kids and Marcus & Maria feels like it’s going to explode, suggesting something even worse for the characters is coming soon. It’s very captivating.

| Published by Image / Giant Generator

Detective Comics #1003 reveals the identity of the Arkham Knight. It’s not really anyone you could have possibly guessed, but an interesting addition to Batman’s rogues gallery. Also the cult surrounding the Arkham Knight is certifiably insane. Gorgeous artwork again from Brad Walker, Andrew Hennessy, and Nathan Fairbairn.

| Published by Marvel

The Empty Man #7 goes full Clive Barker as we get an explanation for what the Empty Man really is and how he continues to manifest himself upon reality. I know I keep saying it, but the body horror brought about in the art from Jesús Hervás and Niko Guardia just can’t be stressed enough. Every issue they seem to outdo themselves with creepy and intriguing designs.

| Published by BOOM! Studios

Eve Stranger #1 looks to be another winner for Black Crown. This first issue sets up the titular character as a secret agent who seems to need to reboot her memory every week. Why, exactly, is left unknown, but that’s part of the fun. David Barnett, Philip Bond, Eva de la Cruz, and Jane Heir do a wonderful job here with the action and intrigue. Also it’s great to see Bond doing more espionage tinged action, his art always looks so great telling these kinds of stories.

| Published by IDW / Black Crown

Excellence #1 is a thoroughly excellent debut from Brandon Thomas, Khary Randolph, Emilio Lopez, and Deron Bennett. The world and character building in this first issue is impeccable and the art from Randolph and Lopez will just blow you away. Incredible development of a magic-based society and the class structure therein.

| Published by Image / Skybound

The Flash #70 begins “Year One” promising new insight and occurrences during Barry’s origin story. Given that the last time this happened his mother was murdered, changing the timeline and resulting down the line in Barry trying to fix it with Flashpoint, anything’s possible. The real draw, though, is the stunning artwork from Howard Porter and Hi-Fi. Porter is really giving this his all and it shines through wonderfully.

| Published by DC Comics

Hawkman #12 brings Bryan Hitch’s tenure on the series to an end with the conclusion to “Cataclysm”. This is an excellent, action-packed final confrontation between the legion of Hawkmen and the Deathbringers, setting up a whole Hawkman for possibly the first time and hints as to worse things waiting on the horizon.

| Published by DC Comics

Infinite Dark #6 amplifies the terror and chaos as the dead-ish things exposed to the void start spreading fear and panic throughout the station. Ryan Cady, Andrea Mutti, K. Michael Russell, and Troy Peteri ratchet up the horror here.

| Published by Image / Top Cow

Invaders #5 raises more questions after we thought some things were coming into focus in the previous issue, as Chip Zdarsky, Carlos Magno, Butch Guice, Alex Guimarães, and Travis Lanham continue “War Ghosts”. The tension here on the brink of all out war between the US and Atlantis is incredible, and there are more interesting twists that suggest something far more sinister occurring.

| Published by Marvel

Jim Henson’s The Storyteller: Sirens #2 features a gorgeous adaptation of the story of Chinese mother goddess, Nuwa, by Chan Chau with letters by Jim Campbell. The artwork is amazingly beautiful supporting a very sweet tale.

| Published by Boom Entertainment / Archaia

Justice League Odyssey #9 opens up an interesting thread that Starfire, Cyborg, and Azrael may be unduly under the influence of Darkseid. Dan Abnett is setting up some simmering conflict between Jessica Cruz and the rest of the team here, along with quite a few occult catchphrases thrown in to help amplify the mood.

| Published by DC Comics

Lodger #5 is the end to this excellent crime drama from the Laphams and it is all kinds of messed up. We learn what really happened to Ricky’s family and...yeah. This has been a strange, at times disturbing, ride and they stuck the landing.

| Published by IDW / Black Crown

Murder Falcon #8 is the epic conclusion to this series as Jake and Murf take on Magnum Khaos. Between this series and Extremity, Daniel Warren Johnson has proven himself time and again as a master storyteller and it shines through with the heartrending end to this story. This one goes up to eleven.

| Published by Image / Skybound

Red Sonja & Vampirella Meet Betty & Veronica #1 is an interesting mash-up of the three properties from Amy Chu, Maria Sanapo, Vinicius Andrade, and Taylor Esposito. Some nice fish out of water humour as Sonja and Vampirella acclimate to Riverdale.

| Published by Dynamite

Savage Sword of Conan #5 concludes “The Cult of Koga Thun” from Gerry Duggan, Ron Garney, Richard Isanove, and Travis Lanham. Some interesting twists in this finale of what has been a highly entertaining adventure.

| Published by Marvel

She Could Fly: The Lost Pilot #2 sees Martín Morazzo cut loose again with some of the designs and presentation for Luna’s dreams and schizophrenic episodes.

| Published by Dark Horse / Berger Books

Star Wars: Age of Rebellion - Boba Fett #1 features some incredibly rich artwork from Marc Laming and Neeraj Menon. Great detail throughout this story spotlighting Boba Fett’s cold, silent amorality.

| Published by Marvel

Star Wars: Doctor Aphra #32 begins “Unspeakable Rebel Superweapon” as Aphra and her young protege steal the titular MacGuffin. There’s some interesting flashbacks to Aphra’s youth and it’s great to see Caspar Wijngaard doing more Star Wars art, even if just the flashbacks.

| Published by Marvel

These Savage Shores #4 is a sumptuous feast. Ram V, Sumit Kumar, Vittorio Astone, and Aditya Bidikar are elevating the artform of comics which each subsequent issue. The epistolary narrative, the horror and mythological themes, the plays upon the nine-panel grid, the shadowy character designs, the lush and spooky colours, the overlap with historical events, the unique approach and detail in each character’s missive...just one of these elements would result in an entertaining tale, this comic mixes all of them into a superlative package. You’re doing yourself a disservice if you’re not reading this series.

| Published by Vault

The Unstoppable Wasp #7 throws Nadia a birthday party, wherein she learns of her relations to what seems like half of the Marvel universe. Also, issues a death threat to Tony Stark. It’s cute, from Jeremy Whitley, Alti Firmansyah, Espen Grundetjern, and Joe Caramagna.

| Published by Marvel

War of the Realms: New Agents of Atlas #1 sets up the conflict in the Pacific with Sindr while introducing a swath of new international characters to the Marvel universe. Also, Amadeus Cho continues to be a massive idiot, even at his shrunken size. Great art from Gang Hyuk Lim and Federico Blee.

| Published by Marvel

Wonder Twins #4 sets up the twins with a pair of dates, allowing for some hilarious misadventures. Also, Polly seems to have a weird obsession with testicular cancer. Mark Russell, Stephen Byrne, and Dave Sharpe continue the fun, even though this one kind of takes us away from all ages material.

| Published by DC Comics / Wonder Comics

Wyrd #3 opens up the messy can of worms of Wyrd’s past further as a figure out of the past he can’t remember emerges for a “meet”. Great tone and atmosphere for this story from Curt Pires, Antonio Fuso, Stefano Simeone, and Micah Myers.

| Published by Dark Horse

X-Force #7 begins “The Counterfeit King” from Ed Brisson, Dylan Burnett, Damian Couceiro, Jesus Aburtov, and Joe Caramagna as past and present threaten to collide. Some nice character development for the team as they wait for Deathlok to do his thing.

| Published by Marvel

Other Highlights: Accell #20, Age of X-Man: Apocalypse & The X-Tracts #3, Battlestar Galactica: Twilight Command #3, Betty & Veronica #5, Black Hammer: Age of Doom #10, By Night #11, Captain America #10, Captain Marvel #5, Catwoman #11, Curse Words #21, Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #6, Gunning for Hits #5, Hack/Slash vs. Chaos #5, Hit Girl: Season Two #4, House of Whispers #9, Ice Cream Man #12, James Bond: Origin #9, The Last Space Race #4, The Long Con #9, Marvels Annotated #3, Oberon #4, Ronin Island #3, Section Zero #2, Shadow Roads #7, Six Days, Spider-Man/Deadpool #50, Star Wars Adventures #21, Supergirl #30, Symbiote Spider-Man #2, The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #44, Unnatural #9, Vindication #4, War of the Realms: Journey Into Mystery #2, Wasted Space #9, Waves, Wonder Woman #70

Recommended Collections: Accell - Volume 4: Slipstream Dream, Beyonders - Volume 1, Blackbird - Volume 1, Doctor Who: The Thirteenth Doctor - Volume 1, The Freeze - Volume 1, Justice League - Volume 2: Graveyard of the Gods, Pearl - Volume 1, Quantum & Woody! - Volume 2: Separation Anxiety, Red Sonja/Tarzan, Spider-Gwen: Ghost Spider - Volume 1: Spider-Geddon, Star Wars: Age of Republic - Villains, Thor by Jason Aaron: Complete Collection - Volume 1, The Woods: Yearbook Edition - Volume 1

d. emerson eddy feels like a frappuccino.

#This Week in Comics

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redsoapbox · 7 years ago

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MY TOP TEN ALBUMS LIST OF 1983

As someone who has always been an obsessive list-maker, I can’t quite comprehend how I’ve resisted the temptation, in the three years of redsoapbox, to blog to the world my thoughts on favourite films, books, records, etc. However, during some much-needed spring cleaning over the weekend, I stumbled upon a list of my favourite albums from 1983 and my defences collapsed on the spot. So I ’m putting it out there, regardless of the risk to my reputation (ha, ha).

1.Swordfishtrombones - Tom Waits

The album, of course, that marked Waits’ change from jazzy, bohemian barfly to surrealist junkyard poet. I hadn’t had much to do with Waits up until this point but subsequently bought up his back catalogue on the strength of this masterpiece. Waits described the transition in style this way - “I hatched out of the egg I was living in. I'd nailed one foot to the floor and kept going in circles, making the same record”. “In the Neighbourhood”, the alt.torch song “Frank’s Wild Years” and the little love poem “Johnsburg, Illinois” were the obvious standouts. Swordfishtrombones still remains on heavy rotation in the McGrath household today.

Selected track - “In the Neighbourhood”

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2. Life’s a Riot with Spy Vs. Spy - Billy Bragg

Sometime in 83/84, I showed up at the local Polytechnic to watch The Icicle Works and fell head over heels in love with unbilled support act, Billy Bragg. As a fully paid-up member of the Labour Party, I bought into Billy’s ‘socialism of the heart’ in a big way. I stood there open-mouthed as the ‘Bard of Barking’ cranked out “Milkman of Human Kindness”, “New England” and “To Have And Have Not”. The gig ended on an unbelievable high, with Billy joining Ian McNabb and co. on stage for an encore which included a medley of “Jailhouse Rock”, “L.A. Woman” and “Love Will Tear Us Apart”. I’ve seen Billy ‘one-man Clash’ Bragg play a dozen times since, and this fifteen-minute masterpiece remains high in my all-time top twenty albums list.

Selected track - “To Have And Have Not”

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3. Hysterics - The Nightingales

In the sixties, you got to define yourself musically/culturally by choosing between The Beatles and The Rolling Stones, for post-punks like me, though, it was a straight choice between The Fall and The Nightingales (of course, you could secretly worship both and I did!). I was always, deep down, a Robert Lloyd man - I once fired off an angry letter to *Mojo taking Morrissey to task for lumping the ‘gales in with The June Brides and The Jasmine Minks - and still regard the frontman as one of the best lyricists in pop music history. It was a real joy to witness The Nightingales come back from a 20-year hiatus (during which Lloyd worked as a Postman) with 2006′s Out Of True, an album which gives Hysterics a real run for its money. One of my top 5 all-time favourite gigs was The Nightingales/Happy Monday’s/Ted Chippington corker in the Poly of Wales in 1984/85.

Selected track - “This”

The Nightingales have not been too well-served by the internet and there is next to nothing in terms of live footage before their reformation. They did, however, record 8 Sessions for John Peel, including the one below from the 5th of December 1983 which kicks off with “This”, the only song from Hysterics that I could track down for the purposes of this piece.

* The letter was published in issue no 151.

youtube

4. Murmur - R.E.M.

Having disastrously passed up the chance to catch ‘some new American band’, who in fact turned out to be none other than R.E.M., at Rumney’s run-down New Ocean Club in November 1984, I had to wait a further five years to see the band play (in Newport and Birmingham) as part of their Green tour. By then, of course, the whole world had fallen in love with the college rockers turned conquering heroes. Albums such as Document and Green may have propelled Athens’ finest into the big leagues, but the Byrdsian mumble-fest that is Murmur remains their masterpiece. A belated thumbs-up to Big Al for turning me onto the band in the first place.

Selected track - “Talk About The Passion”.

youtube

5. Power Corruption and Lies - New Order

You can’t begin to discuss the strange and surreal story of New Order’s rise to world domination without first engaging with the personal tragedy of Ian Curtis and the dramatic fall of Joy Division. How the remaining members of Manchester miserabilists Joy Division - Peter Hook, Bernard Sumner and Stephen Morris - recovered from the suicide of their friend and frontman Curtis in May 1980 to remodel themselves as the unexpected pioneers of Indie dance (Blue Monday is the biggest selling 12 inch record of all time) is surely one of the tallest tales in the annals of popular music.

Full disclosure here - there was a time in the mid-eighties, stretching to somewhere between 12 and 18 months, where I barely listened to anything other than Joy Division/New Order. Curtis had already died when I bumped into two old school friends, Tosh and Dai, huddled in the doorway of The Criterion pub at closing time one stormy Friday night in Pontypridd in the winter of 1983. In what was undoubtedly a drunken conversation, I heard the name Joy Division for the very first time. The next morning, with praise for JD still ringing in my head (unless that was the hangover), I headed straight for Hurleys Toy Shop (there was a record store in the back, staffed that morning by another friend from school, Huw, a mod who was clad in his usual Parka). I asked him to put on the first Joy Division record that I had caught sight of, which, try and stifle the laughter here folks, happened to be odds & sods compilation��Still. The thrumming, glacial intro to “Exercise One” slowly unfurled and then, at 1.43 precisely, Curtis’ doomy, dislocated voice kicked in and my life would never be quite the same again. And I hadn’t even heard a track from Unknown Pleasures or Closer, let alone the classic singles “Love Will Tear Us Apart”, “Transmission” or “Atmosphere”.

New Order tried and failed to recapture that sound with their debut album Movement, but they were saved by the unlikeliest of transitions - the doom merchants became dance doyens, a shift signaled by the singles “Everything’s Gone Green” and “Temptation”.The members of New Order underwent personality transplants overnight and cemented their place in the pop pantheon.

Selected track - “Age of Consent”. The video below is the notorious live BBC concert, where everything in the lead-up to the gig has gone wrong. Bernard, visibly bursting at the seams with anger, isn’t best pleased, to begin with, and things are about to get worse!. I must have watched that twenty-minute broadcast a million times!

youtube

6. The Icicle Works - The Icicle Works

It’s been many a long year since I played this album and off the top of my head I can only name a couple of the tracks - “Birds Fly (Whisper To A Scream)” and the top twenty hit “Love Is A Wonderful Colour”. I was, though, a hardcore fan at the time, buying every album and a fair few of the Ian McNabb solo efforts that followed, including his majestic Head Like A Rock (1994), featuring members of Crazy Horse. Around the time of that album, he played a gig in Newport in front of a very paltry crowd. He took to the stage, looked around him and murmured ‘so this is Newport’. He never uttered another word during the set and looked well fed-up with life. He did, though, play the storming “Fire Inside My Soul”, which more than made up for his couldn’t care less attitude.

Selected track - “Love Is A Wonderful Colour”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFUGLNz1YfY

7. Punch the Clock - Elvis Costello and the Attractions

Another album that needs a good dusting down! Aside from King of America (1986), I usually confine myself to the Greatest Hits compilations when I’m in the mood for a slice of EC these days. Funnily enough, this month’s issue of Uncut has a feature on the album's producers Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley in which they recall that ‘the premise of the record was Elvis needs a hit, and a hit in America. Keep that in mind”. Langer recalls Costello freaking out on the last night of recording, claiming the album sounded crap. There are great tracks here - “Shipbuilding”, “Everyday I Write the Book” and “Pills and Soap” but there won’t be too many Costello aficionados claiming it as his best work.

Selected track - “Let Them All Talk”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vjr9zAknhbI

8. Soul Mining - The The

Although we weren’t to know it at the time it was Matt Johnson’s follow-up to this fine record, 1986′s crusading, state of the nation classic Infected, that would truly stand the test of time. Soulmining shouldn’t be neglected, however, with fine tunes like “This is the Day” and “Uncertain Smile” to its credit.

Selected track - “This is the Day”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAue9jqLB74

9. Perverted by Language - The Fall

Probably The Fall record I played the most down the years (along with Live at the Witch Trials), mainly because I was obsessed with “Eat Y’ Self Fitter”. Any track beginning

I’m in the furniture trade / Got a new job today / But stick the cretin / On the number-three lathe’, deserves our absolute devotion.

As with most Mark E. Smith compositions, I haven’t got a scooby’s as to what the substance of the song is actually about, but it doesn’t really matter, does it? when you can belt out ‘Where’s the cursor? Where’s the eraser? until you’re fit to drop.

Selected track - “ Eat Y’Self Fitter” of course!

.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFCOt6wbm80

10. Inarticulate Speech of the Heart - Van Morrison

The Belfast Cowboy’s streak of legendary albums, from 1968′s Astral Weeks through to 1974′s Veedon Fleece (discounting workmanlike efforts such as His Band and Street Choir in 1970 and 1973′s Hard Nose the Highway), was well and truly over and his mid-eighties slump entirely predictable by the time of this average undertaking. Still, anything that bears Morrison’s stamp upon it is bound to include a magical track here or there. In this case, it was the momentously odd “Rave On, John Donne” and the Morrison masterclass that is “The Street Only Knew Your Name”.

Selected track - “The Street Only Knew Your Name”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xa8sdU6bxlA

Clearly, there are some glaring omissions here, but I was a 21-year-old slip of a lad at the time, and all in all, it’s a pretty fair list, I think. The top 4 are all still to be found in my top 30 albums list and I wouldn’t disown any of the others 35 years on. Those were great gig-going years - many thanks to Duncan, Huw and Stephen who accompanied me to some of the concerts mentioned above, and plenty of others besides in my indie heyday. I guess I still owe you petrol money, guys?

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