#c: keith mars

[behindblueeyesrpg]

[liste des faceclaims réservés]

— behind blue eyes.

a,b,c

adrien sahores — si la rose alexa demie — wasted comets andrew garfield — faithfully anouchka gauthier — rattlesnake. billie eilish — nevra carla guetta cohen — léa charleen weiss — rainbow stars charles leclerc — davidou charlie hunnam — mars christina nadin — mikrokosmos cindy kimberly — néréide. cooper koch — absolem

d,e,f

daniela garza — lachrymarum danika pieenar — blue. david alexander flinn — nonameforyou dove cameron — cheryl drew starkey — sidesnack ellis iyayi — ness emilio sakraya — ariesfelis evan mock — dulapeep francisca gomes — lakostas freya walton — lumos solem

g,h,i

grace van patten — bliss gracie abrams — desert bleu harris dickinson — anaïs ian fonz — lavoice

j,k,l

jacob elordi — samhain jacob rott — mayumi/clémence jade distinguin — astræa jeon jungkook — fatigay jessica alexander — alli joseph quinn — evermore kaden hammond — ivory keith powers — prince naveen kim jennie — midnight shadow kim taehyung — astrhal kim yeri — tempted laetitia casta — adé lalisa manoban — mannie lea elui — hemera lexi sonnett — salvìa louis baines — hoodwink.

m,n,o

madelyn cline — endlesslove. matthew noszka — doflamingo meeya dugied — vampyllia. nadia lee cohen — themuseparadox nathan niehaus — anakinough nicholas alexander chavez — ησησ nicola peltz beckham — jawbreaker.

p,q,r

park chaeyoung [rosé] — oxymore paul mescal — meuf géniale pierre garnier — loredana rachael lange — rage. rachel bilson — mixsy-cute rudy pankow — marie

s,t,u,v

sabrina carpenter — lattee. sam corlett — rascal shanina shaik — bluemoon sydney sweeney — clem tamika fawcett — bluemoon vinnie hacker — deathless saints. viv may — anne-constance

w,x,y,z

yumi nu — saturne

[krispyweiss]

Song Review: Grateful Dead - “Ship of Fools” (Live, May 12, 1974)

“Ship of Fools” was still developing when the Grateful Dead on May 12, 1974, shoved it off the stage and into a sea of concertgoers in Nevada.

Previously unreleased, the recording is out as single No. 2 ahead of From the Mars Hotel (50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition), which arrives June 21. “Ship” sails in the wake of Jerry Garcia’s solo demo of “Wave that Flag” and the streaming-only album From the Mars Hotel: The Angel’s Share.

Tentative and saddled with choppy harmonies between Garcia, Bob Weir and Donna Jean Godchaux, this “Ship” is nevertheless intriguing for the glimpse into the early stages of its evolution and for Keith Godchaux’s attempts to kick start something with occasional flourishes on his grand piano.

The high-quality recording suggests the entire show - included on Mars 50 - will sound sharp. But this “Ship of Fools” is relatively dull.*

*Full disclosure: Despite Robert Hunter’s masterful lyrics, Sound Bites was never a big fan of this song

Grade card: Grateful Dead - “Ship of Fools” (Live - 5/12/74) - C

5/9/24

[leanstooneside]

Don't throw the baby out with the bath-water

• PETER FACINELLI'S FOREHEAD (CONTRACT REVOKED)

• LIONEL MESSI'S BUTTOCKS

• ALEXANDER LUDWIG'S BACK

• BOO BOO STEWART'S FOREHEAD

• MICHAEL C. HALL'S EYEBROW

• AMANDA PEET'S HEAD (WANDERED OFF)

• TAYLOR MOMSEN'S EYE (LOANED OUT)

• GEORGE CLOONEY'S CHIN

• FARRAH ABRAHAM'S FINGER

• BRUNO MARS'S CHEEK

• KEITH URBAN'S FOREARM

• ALYSSA MILANO'S TONGUE

• CHRIS HARRISON'S BACK (EMBEZZLED)

• GWYNETH PALTROW'S HAND

• DIANNA AGRON'S HAND

• LEONARDO DICAPRIO'S EYEBROW

• CATHERINE ZETA-JONES'S LIP

• FANTASIA BARRINO'S THUMB

• KYRA SEDGWICK'S HAIR

[vmficrecs]

Every school has an obligatory psychotic jackass. He’s ours.

It has been one year since The Incident. In celebration of this beautiful, snarky, dynamic, passionate, beloved, smug, asshole, essential, etc., etc., character I have complied a lengthy (but by no means exhaustive) collection of some of my personal favorite fics focusing on Logan, or on his relationships, or fics that i just think do something neat in terms of Logan/his journey/his character. ❤️

Previously on vmficrecs: 

dark_roast, “Fish Out of Water,” Mature, Post Season 1 AU 

Logan opts to leave Neptune, and spend summer vacation with his grandparents.

Notes: This AU is essential reading if you love Logan. His characterization is nearly perfect, and the premise of the fic is endlessly engaging and smart. 

wily_one24, “Sleep, Perchance...,” Mature, Pre-series AU

Logan thaws towards Veronica and sets out to save her.

Notes: I want to eat this fic. If you’ve never read it, read it-- it will linger endlessly inside of your brain in the best way possible. So many of the things Logan does or says in this fic exist in a very tangible and palpable manner for me, it’s that good. I think about it constantly. 

ghostcat, “What We Have in Common,” Teen, Post Season 3 AU 

Weevil Navarro, his incredibly poor choice of a research paper prepping locale and the close talking, finger waving jackass that interrupts and effectively hijacks his night. Set in 2010, three years after The Bitch is Back.

ghostcat, “A Trace of Meaning,” Teen, Pre-series 

13 year-old Logan Echolls and 14 year-old Veronica Mars wait at the Kane Estate for their held-up sleepover hosts to show up. 

theohara, “Rich Dirt,” Mature, Pre-series AU 

And Logan wouldn’t let you have anything. He’d danced over to you and smirked in your face and twirled your plastic cup right out of your hand and cooed that just because your Daddy wasn’t sheriff anymore didn’t give you license to break the law, and he’d acted all shocked with his hand over his mouth and he’d laughed like breaking glass and nanced off with your drink.

anjou, “Into the Blue,” Mature, Post Season 1 

It’s almost summer, and Logan is sinking into the blue.

flyingcarpet, “Mexicali Blues,” Mature, Post Season 3 AU

When he reaches the water he doesn’t hesitate, just keeps walking until he can duck his head under and start to swim away from shore, letting the salt and the waves wash away the residue that Neptune’s left on his skin.

absolutelyiris, “Truth for a Dream,” Teen, Future Fic (Pre-movie)

Fleet Week 2012. A reformed bad boy turned sailor and a former party girl turned career woman meet in a bar…

Notes: A LOGAN AND PARKER FRIENDSHIP FIC!!! pure fucking delight 

absolutelyiris, “Come Around,” Mature, Future AU 

A woman travels the world over in search of what she needs and returns home to find it.

Notes: I will talk about this fic until the day that I day, and then I will still talk about it. One of my absolute favorites. Pure gold Logan/Keith dynamic. I would 10/10 die for Razia. and, of course, the l/v is so damn good 

TheLastGoodGolfish, “The Phenomenal Pixie, #1,” Teen, AU 

Veronica is a masked avenger who stalks the streets of Neptune. Logan is the intrepid reporter who’s on the story.

Notes: PERFECT. PERFECT PERFECT PERFECT. also-- “That’s ridiculous. My favorite person is a sorority girl.” in my head, rent free, and i am forever indebted. 

bryrosea, “Waste of Breath / A Quartz Contentment,” Mature, Post Season 2 to TDTL 

Part one: Logan Echolls, the nine years, and the Navy. Part two: Veronica Mars, the nine years, and a new normal.

Notes: I am recommending specifically “Waste of Breath” for my boy, although Veronica’s piece is excellent as well. 

always_winter, “Written Out,” Teen, Season 2 AU 

Duncan has some residual guilt and Logan wants to be left out of the story.

always_winter, “White Combs and Sweet Honey,” Mature, Season 1

Even when Aaron is trying to be a good father, there’s still a lot he’s doing wrong.

Notes: This fic is so tender to me!!! A beautiful Logan and Aaron piece. 

sadiekate, “Grand Canyon,” PG-13, Season 1 to Future AU 

Three friends reminisce several years in the future, snarkily and pointlessly.

sinaddict, “Necrosis,” Explicit, Season 2 AU 

Death in bits and pieces, denial as a religion… Or ‘normal’ in Neptune.

sowell, “Surviving the Wreck,” Explicit, Season 3 AU 

Nothing’s ever simple with Veronica Mars. Weevil’s day at sea gets a little complicated.

Notes: THIS FUCKING FIC!!!! i love everything about it and especially at this moment in time, the part where logan gives weevil a blow job but weevil notes that somehow, in spite of this, logan retains the upper hand. this fic is world class and i am grateful everyday for it 

theohara, “Broken Toys,” NC-17, Pre series AU 

One glance across a street saves Lilly Kane’s life. It changes everything; it changes nothing.

Notes: This is the most heartbreaking Veronica Mars’ fanfic ever. I have such a deep love for it. It takes Lilly’s character and Logan/Veronica’s relationship to places I don’t ever think they would go and yet it works in this and it works so damn well. a truly devastating and beautiful au 

fluffernutter8, “The Ninety Nine Percent,” Teen, Post Season 3 AU 

Junior year of college, Logan gets some news that proves that no matter how hard he tries, life is just going to keep throwing him curve-balls. Post season 3, non movie canon compliant.

youcallitwinter, “gravity is gonna keep you tied down to this city,” Teen, Post Season 3 to TDTL 

[your life in extended parenthesis] the lone neon nights and the ache of the ocean, and the fire that was starting to spark. From the love to the lightning and the lack of it. 

Notes: please don't fall out of love with me, okay? don’t you dare give up on me. I DIE EVERY FUCKING TIME youcallitwinter is a force with all of her writings, but this one.......my god every single bit about it is fucking flawless 

petpluto, “Of Scars & Consequences,” Teen, Post-series AU 

Almost a decade in the future, Logan's still a little messed up. And Veronica's still a little closed off. They make it work.

julietbravo, “one brutal thing after another,” Teen, Pre-series to Season 1 

These rich boys think they can get away with anything, don’t they.

querulousgawks, “there should be stars for great wars like ours,” Teen, AU 

It’s gotta be some Alliance mind game, a holdover, the Operative’s last trick: Logan’s old secrets manifesting everywhere around them. Where are you, how are you doing this, he wants to scream, but he doesn’t know which ghost he’d be railing at.

SilverLining2k6, “Sometimes (You Can’t Make It On Your Own),” Teen, Season 1 AU 

Silly Duncan stopped taking his meds. Now, one dead Fitzpatrick later, Logan and Veronica need to get him out of town. Too bad they hate each other.

SilverLining2k6, “Control,” Teen, Pre-series AU 

Don’t you mess with a little girl’s dreams. ‘Cause she’s liable to grow up mean. Pre-series. Oneshot. - A twisted little tale of hate and revenge.

Notes: CONTROL!!!!! I love Control so much, it’s one of the first fics I ever read for the fandom and one of the finest. The Logan that exists in this is sooo good and his relationship with Veronica is deeply flawed & wonderful. M is in the process of writing a remix to Control (more in-depth emotion) and I for one am foaming at the fucking mouth every day about it. 

nevertothethird, “Reunions,” Teen, Post Series AU 

Sometimes it just takes a little longer to get things right. Two high school reunions and a birthday party should do the trick.

youcallitwinter, “you give love a bad name,” Teen, Season 2 AU 

“Hey, did you guys know there was a sensitive poet-type hiding behind this hard exoskeleton of expensive alcohol and bitter cynicism?” In which Logan Echolls is, well, Logan Echolls.

scandalpants, “Something to Remember,” Mature, Post Series AU 

Facing a separation, Logan and Veronica spend their last night together exchanging gifts.

Notes: I am always in a goddamn state about this fic. Logan jacking off in front of Veronica at her request? Yes, thank you please. thank you so much 

leurocrystal, “Take Your Time,” Teen, Post Season 2 

Keith doesn’t know how to look at or touch his daughter for the first time in his life.

petpluto, “We Are Nowhere, And It’s Now,” Mature, Series AU 

“You know there is another way of looking at this, Logan. If you’d still been together, you might be dead too." Logan and Lilly both die on October 3rd. But for Veronica, it’s not like they’re gone. And she still works to solve their murders.

absolutelyiris, “Delay,” Teen, Post TTDL

Logan reflects on his first Christmas with Veronica after a ten year separation, as well as how his life has changed with her absence.

New to vmficrecs: 

Christmas in Arkham Author: dark_roast Pairing: Logan Rating: Teen Genre: Hurt/Comfort, A Really Good Hug  Setting: Season 2 Spoilers: 2.09, “My Mother, the Fiend” Chapters: 1 Word Count: 10128 Status: Complete Summary: Sequel to Fish Out of Water. Logan spends christmas with his grandparents.  Notes: This is, full stop, my favorite Veronica Mars fanfiction ever. I am so protective of this fic that part of me doesn’t even want to give it a formal place on the blog, which is ridiculous because I’m sure plenty of people have already read it and obviously it’s so good that I want people to read it but....this belongs to me, somehow, like I feel like it’s mine that’s how much I love it. ANYWAY possessiveness aside-- Every word, every sentence, every punctuation mark in this fic is perfect, devastating insight into Logan’s character. Absolutely beautiful and wonderful and every other good thing. 

The Teeth by the Shoulder Author: ghostcat Pairing: Fab Four, Logan/Lilly, Veronica/Duncan  Rating: Teen Genre: Friendship, Angst  Setting: Pre-series Spoilers: 1.01, “Pilot”  Chapters: 3 Word Count: 17273 Status: Complete Summary: Two couples, two friendships. The Fab Four in three Octobers. Notes: WE’VE NEVER FUCKING RECOMMENDED THE TEETH BY THE SHOULDER BEFORE?????? HOW IS THAT EVEN POSSIBLE OH MY GOD jesus this is one of the greatest fanfictions ever written. three pre-series explorations into the fab four friendship and it is impossibly good. i am especially in love with the logan/lilly in this fic (the first chapter!!!!) and as always special care is given to exploring the logan + veronica dynamic. the third chapter will break your fucking heart so bad in the best way 

Seven Times Logan Echolls Went to Jail Author: sowell Pairing: Logan/Veronica, Veronica/Piz  Rating: Teen Genre: Angst, Romance, Logan Echolls is a Little Shit   Setting: (Post) Season 3 AU  Spoilers: 3.12, “There’s Got to Be a Morning After Pill” and 3.16, “Un-American Graffiti”  Chapters: 1 Word Count: 6701 Status: Complete Summary: Who thinks Logan behind bars is sexy? I do, I do! // Logan goes to jail and calls Veronica to bail him out. Again and again and again and again.  Notes: WE HAVEN’T DONE THIS BEFORE EITHER???? oh my god!! I remember finding this one a few months before the movie came out and i would just lay in bed in the dark and re-read it endlessly. and then i left it alone for a few years and when i went back to it holy shit it undid me all over again. perfect logan and veronica relationship. p e r f e c t!!! i firmly believe this is exactly what shape their relationship would’ve taken if veronica hadn’t cut and run 

Love is Just a Four-letter Word Author: bigboobedcanuck Pairing: Logan/Veronica, Keith, Weevil  Genre: Angst, Hurt/Comfort Setting: Future AU  Spoilers: 1.12, “Clash of the Tritons”  Chapters: 1 Word Count: 1753 Status: Complete Summary: Set a few years down the road from high school. Logan hits rock bottom. Keith and Veronica help him back up. Notes: Lynn’s body turns up and it is fucking DEVASTATING. A short piece that’s told from Keith’s POV (anyone who knows me knows how much of a sucker I am for Keith + Logan interaction) and holy hell Logan is so good in it and I think about it all the fucking time 

Serendipity  Author: TheLastGoodGoldfish  Pairing: Logan/Veronica, Veronica/Piz, Carrie, Gia, Stu Cobbler, Ensemble Genre: Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Detective-ing  Setting: Post Season 3  Spoilers: 3.20, “The Bitch is Back” and The Movie  Chapters: 4 (out of a planned 6, fingers crossed!!!) Word Count: 59763 Status: Complete Summary: During her sophomore year at Hearst, Veronica takes on your run-of-the-mill blackmail case: the clients hate her, the evidence is impossible to destroy, and her ex turns out to be a bit of a distraction, but Veronica is a sucker for a damsel-in-distress. Even if the damsel is an intoxicated, pissed off Carrie Bishop. Notes: I AM HIGH PITCHED SCREAMING. Transplanting the movie plot to this timeframe works tremendously and TLGG’s execution is fucking perfect. Carrie is a powerhouse in this fic and god, Logan is such a honey it in which is why it is being recc’d for him. Him practically letting Carrie move in with him and doing his damnedest to protect Carrie and Gia (much to Veronica’s chagrin) is so, so important to me and I love him so much. 

The Phenomenal Pixie - Interlude #1 - “Bugs”  Author: TheLastGoodGoldfish Pairing: Logan/Veronica, OC’s  Genre: Humor, Fluff, Logan and Veronica Are Smarter Than You  Setting: AU (Season 3)  Spoilers: uhhh n/a Chapters: 1 Word Count: 5072 Status: Complete Summary: Dating a superhero poses a unique set of challenges. Notes: Tiny sequel to The Phenomenal Pixie which you absolutely must read first (and is recommended above) because it’s a fucking delight. Logan is incredible in this fic and I would die for him, like always. The part where Steve can sense Logan is thinking about punching him in the face-- a million chefs kisses. 

The Medusa Jewel  Author: TheLastGoodGoldfish Pairing: Logan/Veronica  Genre: Established Relationship Bliss, Fluff  Setting: MKAT Spoilers: MKAT  Chapters: 1 Word Count: 5336 Status: Complete Summary: Logan and Veronica's new neighbor is a writer. Notes: is my TLGG obsession shining through? good because it fucking should be. The Logan/Veronica in this relationship is so sweet and perfect and is 100% my reality and i would like to bathe in this fic and live in it forever as is my right.

Drowning Together Author: bryrosea Pairing: Logan/Veronica Genre: Romance, Hurt/Comfort Setting: Season 3 Spoilers: 3.07, “Of Vice and Men” Chapters: 1 Word Count: 897 Status: Complete Summary: AU of the confrontation scene from 3x07: Of Vice and Men (Logan and Veronica both need a hug) Notes: Absolute wonderful insight and even some reconciliation into a canonical season three fight. Logan calming down while Veronica falls apart as they hug is so important to me. 

Interrupt Us  Author: bryrosea Pairing: Logan/Veronica Genre: Romance,  Hijinks, They Want To Fuck So Bad  Setting: Post TDTL Spoilers: through TDTL  Chapters: 1 Word Count: 17223 Status: Complete Summary: Logan Echolls is home from deployment. Time to cue the sweeping movie montage, right? Notes: Logan and Veronica try to have sex everywhere and it is my life force. The car scene when they get pulled over and Logan instinctively hiding under Veronica’s desk....god i love everyone in this bar

Ready to Go Author: Amberina Pairing: Logan/Duncan; Veronica  Genre: Friendship, Romance, Angst Setting: Post Season 1  Spoilers: not obvious but 1.22, “Leave it to Beaver”  Chapters: 1 Word Count: 6346 Status: Complete Summary: "Let's leave. Let's go. What's left in Neptune for us anyway?" (AKA Duncan, Logan and Veronica have wacky adventures on the road! Also angst.) Notes: Logan getting hissy and storming off from the car while Duncan and Veronica just watch him and then calling a taxi once he’s out of their sight is PEAK logan. I love boyfriends, even if they’re angst-ing in this, and they big time are. 

Nashville On My Mind Author: hjcallipygian Pairing: Logan, Veronica, Duncan Genre: Friendship, Hijinks  Setting: Post Season 1 AU Spoilers: 1.22, “Leave it to Beaver” Chapters: 1 Word Count: 1659 Status: Complete Summary: Every year, they take a road trip together. This year, it's to Nashville, Tennessee. Notes: i just spent forty minutes trying to find this fic to the point where i was genuinely concerned i had hallucinated it. it’s so fucking good. a sequel/prequel of sorts to grand canyon by sadiekate (recc’d in the previously section). logan is a mess and by god do i love him 

Six Times Logan Echolls Got Wet Author: bryrosea, CarolineShea, ghostcat, kmd0107, marshmallowtasha, SilverLining2k6 Pairing: Logan/Veronica Rating: Teen Genre: Romance, Friendship, Hijinks Setting: Everywhere Spoilers: All series to MKAT  Chapters: 6 Word Count: 11568 Status: Complete Summary: aka: The Wet Henley ChroniclesSix stories in which we probably give Logan Echolls pneumonia, inspired by the movie's infamous wet henley. Set variously across the series and post-MKAT. Notes: each chapter is written by a different author, they’re all good but bryrosea’s chapter and silvery’s chapter are my favorites. set during the summer between season 1 & 2 and post season three respectively they do such a great job dealing with the fractious and tumultuous nature of Logan/Veronica’s relationship at the time and i love it so much

A Little Dysfunctionality Goes A Long Way  Author: fluffernutter8 Pairing: Logan/Veronica Rating: Teen Genre: ANGST with a side of fucking ANGST, happy ending but jesus   Setting: Post Season 3 AU  Spoilers: 1.22, “Leave it to Beaver”  Chapters: 1 Word Count: 2878 Status: Complete Summary: Despite their history, Logan and Veronica might be somewhere on the brink of normal. A few years post season 3. Notes: i just read this for the first time 07/13/20 at 9:08pm because when i asked shelby for her favorite logan fics she included this one. i am fucking dead now and-- there’s nothing else to say about it. i’m just fucking dead. for YEARS i have said that nobody with the username fluffernutter8 should be able to write shit this goddamn emotional and yet, time and time again, i find myself here fuckign wrecked and furious about it 

these are just ghosts that broke my heart before i met you Author: theviolonist  Pairing: Logan, Veronica, Carrie, Dick  Rating: Teen Genre: Introspection, Angst, I Love Logan   Setting: Pre Movie & Movie  Spoilers: Movie  Chapters: 1 Word Count: 1326 Status: Complete Summary: In the army they say, don't think of the target as a person, otherwise you won't have the guts to pull the trigger. Notes: fuck, you guys. this one is so beautiful. an exploration into logan’s grief and him trying to move on and it cuts like a damn knife because he can never really do it but fuck he wants to so bad and [lucas scott voice] that’s gotta mean something, right? truly so so wonderful 

Fugue Author: vaeran Pairing: Logan/Veronica, Logan/Lilly, Dick  Rating: Teen Genre: Angst, hopeful ending  Setting: Post Season 1 Spoilers: 1.22, “Leave it to Beaver”  Chapters: 1 Word Count: 4137 Status: Complete Summary: It's something he refuses to let go because it defines who he is and what he has become. Notes: deviates from the PCHer confrontation on the bridge, which means logan takes a little longer to come around to reconciliation with veronica. it’s perfect and i particularly love the logan/lilly in this, he’s hurt but still so impossibly and eternally in love with her 

One Flew Over the Echolls Nest Author: Wynn Pairing: Logan/Veronica, Duncan Rating: Teen Genre: Angst, Friendship Setting: Post Season 1 AU  Spoilers: 1.22, “Leave it to Beaver” Chapters: 1 Word Count: 1507 Status: Complete Summary: Open wide and see what's inside. A bridge and a bed and Veronica. Logan finds himself in a mental institution after the events of "Leave it to Beaver." Veronica, Duncan, and Logan's psychiatrist attempt to help. Notes: so sad and so good!!! the part where Logan’s psychiatrist asks him when the last time he was happy was fucking wrecks me everytime!! 

Free at last  Author: querulousgawks Pairing: Logan, Weevil, Aaron Rating: Teen Genre: Frenemies, They Are Boyfriends Setting: Season 2 Spoilers: 2.09, “My Mother, the Fiend”  Chapters: 1 Word Count: 1242 Status: Complete Summary: Logan and Weevil and fire go a long way back. A flashback scene interrupts their Season 2 meeting in the Neptune Grand. Notes: I LOVE EVERY SINGLE THING ABOUT THIS SO GOD DAMN MUCH 

The Right Shade of Red Author: ghostcat Pairing: Trina, Logan, Aaron  Rating: Teen Genre: ANGST Setting: Pre-series Spoilers: 1.15, “Ruskie Business”  Chapters: 1 Word Count: 883 Status: Complete Summary: Trina finds her jerky little brother hiding in her closet and does the unexpected thing. (Or, A time Logan trusted Trina) Notes: If you want 883 words to be able to make you feel like you’ve been hit by a truck this is the fic for you! I love the Echolls family dynamics so much, and this one is excellent. 

[impfiltration-archive2]

I have already made these points in some scatterplot fashion between my blogs and chat logs, but I feel like dumping all my thoughts into one place, and just say: the writers had a weird, weird favoritism issue with Pidge. Of course, I can dunk on the writers all I want, but they were moving on by season six, and I’m still caught up on this show years later. What I’m trying to say, though, is that the writers had a favoritism issue with Pidge that resulted in a warped sense of personal internal inconsistency as well as a warped sense of group internal inconsistency. And the thing is, this goes beyond a production casualty, because even with some of the most flubbed-up arcs, I can see what the writers were going for. They wanted Allura to break out of her father’s shadow, and to return own time as her as her own legend. They wanted Lotor to be tragic in his absolute devotion for a better future, yet knowing nothing beyond the infinite loop of abuse he had inherited from his broken parents. They wanted Lance to thrust himself into a serious relationship to feel more like a serious person, since he was reeling from Kuron’s undermining after Shiro had been the one to make him “the sharpshooter.” None of those marks really hit, but I can recognize the build-up that either got marred by rushed writing or halved seasons. I don’t like all of these ideas—scratch that, I just don’t like Allura erasing her to go return to her “own time”—but I can see a greater nuance was intended for all these characters and their big moments. Pidge got the cream of the crop, though. She has several of her own dedicated episodes—even one in which her plot line isn’t split up by b or c stories. Her arc is realized three seasons early, and she spends the rest of the show raking in even more golden moments. She is the last VLD character I should be griping as poorly written. But I will, because when I say the writers had a favoritism issue with Pidge, I mean that the writers gave her all the softest and strongest moments with zero development in-between. Pidge openly spites Allura by making lines such as, “You’re no princess of mine,” or, “But I’m going to get my father back,” and then, with zero friendly rapport established, she becomes a dutiful paladin who respects and even fears Allura. Or, at least, she is supposed to be a dutiful paladin, since in realizing how poorly she treats Hunk and Lance, she decides she can be a better friend to them by treating them the same way her father treats his team members—like a second family. Instead of running away to complete her own mission, she stays with Voltron for both her family and the families of the universe. Only, Pidge never really expands on that notion of family. To her, it’s just a point of relation through either blood or time. It’s always about her or people that remind her of herself (At least in terms of parallel situations) and never the universe at large. Sure, she learns that everybody is connected, but that lesson is meant to better connect her to her lion since she rejects its elemental alignment. Not to mention that, if this point was taken as Pidge expanding her understanding of family, then it gets devalued by the fact that Pidge starts to routinely leave on her own solo-missions—or, as her arc comes to a head, dragging the team directly into an obvious trap for the sake of her father—long after this epiphany. This is where the group internal inconsistencies start to leak in, since no one has anything to say about Pidge’s stunts here. They had plenty to say against Keith during his reconnaissance missions with the Blade of Mamora—when he was still contributing to coalition efforts—but nothing against Pidge leaving or endangering the team for her own personal gains. A similar issue comes up when Hunk goes against the Garrison to rescue his family from Sendak’s camp, and then gets talked and cowed down alike from everyone around him.

Apparently, Pidge only has to give 75%, while the rest of the team has to give 110%. And this is supposed to be fair. I mean, it’s not like Pidge ever faces any repercussions for her actions.

Of course, all of this leads into Pidge’s personal internal inconsistencies, because with all of her severe fluctuations from brat to, well, non-brat, it feels forced when she does anything for anyone besides herself or her own, narrow ideologies.

And the end result is that the found family between the team just feels fake. It’s a given thing that never develops beyond its dysfunctions; rather, it clutches onto them for dear life as if they’re the foundation for this group dynamic. Pidge gets to be hardest and the softest, and the rest of the team gets to suck it up, because she’s the baby. They have hell and high water to answer to for their own slip-ups, while Pidge gets to split off into her own, separate story with the ultimate pay-out.

[scabopolis]

Congrats on 600 followers!!!! How about Logan/Veronica and "Are you doubting my acting skills?" and/or any one of your 76 Danielle/Henry modern AUs?

Oh, Sarah, I’d do anything for you! I will eventually write a Danielle/Henry modern AU and it shall be dedicated to you, but for now, here is some Logan/Veronica friends to lovers inspired fake dating setup shenanigans.

--- Title: look at me like you like me Fandom: Veronica Mars Pairing: Logan/Veronica (side Wallace/Parker) Other Characters: Wallace, Parker, a frequent switching of tenses b/c this is barely edited.  Additional Tags: Should be a multichapter probably, friends to lovers (or idiots to friends to lovers??), fake dating shenanigans, Wallace sees all and knows all Word Count: ~1,800 ---

Sitting at brunch, her plate piled high with pancakes, Veronica Mars wonders just how long her best-friend thought he could get away with this. Logan Echolls (said best-friend) is currently walking slowly back and forth in front of the restaurant as he talks on his phone. He isn’t speaking, which means his mother is in the middle of a persuasive monologue. And everyone at their table knows what that means. 

“Charity gala?” Wallace asks. 

“My money’s on a distant relative’s wedding,” Parker says. 

“His parent’s anniversary is coming up,” Veronica says. “Could be their own party.” 

“What will they celebrate?” Wallace asks. “Ten years of sleeping in separate rooms and ignoring one another’s affairs?” 

“Regardless, I’m ready,” Parker says. 

Okay. Apparently Veronica’s isn’t the only one thinking about Logan’s go-to family event strategy. “You think he’ll ask you?” 

Parker frowns as she takes a sip of her coffee. “Why wouldn’t he?” 

Veronica draws a line in the air, connecting Wallace and Parker. “Well, for one, you’re married now.” 

“The people at these parties don’t know that,” Parker answers. 

The woman has a point. Veronica turns to Wallace. “And you’re okay with this?” 

“We’re living on two teacher’s salaries. If some wealthy man wants to be my wife’s platonic sugar daddy, who am I to stop him?” 

“I wanted to buy a new dress for your brother’s graduation anyway,” Parker says. 

“See! Perfect plan.” Wallace and Parker seal their agreement with a kiss and Veronica focuses on her pancakes. She cuts off a large bite with more force than strictly required and shovels the pancakes into her mouth. 

She isn’t sure why this whole conversation needles her. Something about Parker’s certainty, Veronica supposes. That it is going to be Parker who Logan calls on. To be fair, Parker and Logan’s arrangement pre-dates Veronica’s friendship with either of them. 

By the time Veronica met Parker their first year of grad school, Parker and Logan had been friends for four years. The pattern wherein Parker pretended to be Logan’s girlfriend at any and all society events his mother required him to attend was already well-established. Even after Veronica and Logan met, and it was quickly evident the two of them were destined to be platonic soulmates for the rest of their lives, it was still Parker that Logan turned to for help in these situations. Which, fair. Parker possesses levels of grace which Veronica can never hope to achieve. 

Veronica is much more apt to give a Hollywood director in his fifties judgey facial expressions when he introduces her to his barely legal wife. (A real thing that happened at an Echolls family BBQ. At least it still makes Logan laugh all these years later.)

It just didn’t occur to Veronica that it would always be Parker. Especially now that Parker is married. What is going to happen when she and Wallace decide to have a baby? How will they prevent word of Logan Echolls’ pregnant girlfriend from making the tabloid rounds? 

No. This is ridiculous. 

“She’s definitely not listening,” Wallace says, disapprovingly. 

“Some sort of fugue state?” Parker suggests. 

“Could be.” 

Veronica sighs. “What are you two talking about?”

“I wanted to know if it was all pancakes in general you seek to destroy, or if this one in particular had done something to upset you?” 

Her first instinct is to glare at Wallace. And then at Parker when she sniggers. Introducing the two of them to one another is the worst decision she’s ever made. But then she looks down at her plate. Sure enough, at some point she traded in eating her pancakes for cutting them into smaller pieces and then smushing them into the maple syrup. They no longer resemble an edible object.

“I’m not hungry.”

“Sure,” Wallace says, taking a well-timed sip of his coffee. His expression is all smug and knowing. 

Veronica is saved from additional Wallace stares and Parker sniggers by the return of Logan. He slides his phone into his blazer pocket and sits down beside Veronica, resting his arm on the back of Veronica’s chair. This is nothing new. Being best-friends with Logan means being comfortable with his rather tactile nature. But the look Logan’s action invites from Wallace is new. Veronica wants to spit at him. (Wallace. Not Logan.) 

(Portrait of grace, indeed.)

“What happened here?” Logan asks, gesturing to Veronica’s pancakes. 

“Nothing,” Veronica says. “What happened out there?” 

Logan’s fingers still from where he is lightly tracing the contours of her shoulder. “My mom and dad are renewing their vows.” 

For a moment all movement at their table ceases as they each take in this information. This despite Veronica's keen awareness of the fact that her guess was eerily close to being right. 

“I’m sorry. What?” she asks.

“That was about my reaction,” Logan says. “Want my bacon?” 

“Yes, please. They can’t be serious.” 

Logan slides his slices of bacon onto Veronica’s plate. “Serious about drumming up some positive PR, absolutely. Aaron was spotted looking a little too friendly with a married co-star. So, he and mom are going on a romantic getaway to Italy. When they get back they’ll do a backyard vow renewal.” 

“Logan—” 

The man in question holds up a hand, stopping Parker’s softly spoken entreaty. 

“No. I can’t do the talking about it thing right now. I can’t feel anything about it right now. What I need is a wedding date.” 

“Of course,” Parker rushes to answer. “Just tell me when.” 

“The weekend of June 11th.” 

“Absolutely. Deal,” Parker says, nodding enthusiastically. “Consider it—,” she trails off, her gaze somewhere over Veronica’s shoulder. 

“Consider it, what?” Logan asks.

“—Not something I can do.”  

“Why not?”

“That’s graduation weekend,” Parker explains. “I’m the faculty speaker.” 

“I’ll buy you shoes, too.” 

“I’m sorry.” 

“Don’t be,” Logan says. “This way I can get very drunk and not feel bad about it.” 

Logan’s arm returns to the back of Veronica’s chair. This time his hand sort of hangs over her shoulder and curls around towards her clavicle. It makes it impossible to ignore details about Logan’s hands — the surprising delicacy of his fingers, the length of them, the weird knot on one of his knuckles. 

“I’ll do it,” Veronica says. 

“Do what?” Logan asks. 

“Be your fake girlfriend for the sham vow renewal. I can do it.” 

She refuses to look at anyone at the table. Not Parker. Sure as hell not Wallace.

(Seriously. Does he know something? Was it that night they all played King’s Cup and the two of them stayed up talking until 3:00 AM? Did she say something she wasn’t supposed to?)

And absolutely not Logan. She scrapes the edges of the smushed pancake with the tines of her fork. 

“Veronica.” Logan’s voice is soft, but she detects a hint of incredulity. Which, maybe she’s wrong and he isn’t her best-friend and he doesn’t know her very well, because it raises her hackles. 

She drops her fork. “What? Why not?” 

“Look, I love you. You know I love you.” Veronica ignores the little skitter of her pulse at Logan’s words, furrows her brow, and concentrates on being offended. “And you know me better than anyone.”

“But?” She prompts. 

“But,” he says, “you don’t really—” 

Before Logan can finish, she comes up with a dozen ways to complete the sentence. There is plenty she doesn’t have —the class, the patience, the height, the sweetness, the glamor, the—

“—look at me like you like me,” Logan finishes. 

“Wait. What?” Veronica’s eyes dart from Logan to Wallace to Parker. Neither one of them appear surprised by Logan’s words. In fact, Parker is faintly nodding in agreement. “Of course I like you. You’re my favorite person.” She thinks about this. “When you’re not being a total asshole.” 

“I know that. But, your face makes it look like you want to slap me most of the time.” 

“Because I do.” 

“It’s just not the most conducive to convincing my mother to not set me up with the daughter of whichever producer she is trying to impress.” 

“I’ll change my face.” 

“Change it?” 

“I can look like I like you.” 

“Really?” 

“I’ve been in love before, you know.” Veronica’s hackles are now standing at full attention. “Are you doubting my acting skills?”

“I would never,” Logan says. 

“Good. Because I could be the sweetest goddamned fake girlfriend you’ve ever had.” Veronica turns to Parker. “No offense.” 

“None taken.” 

“I’ll even use pet names. Schmoopsie. Snuggle muffin. Sweet cheeks. What’s your preference?” 

“My preference is none of them.” 

Still, despite his words, Logan seems to consider it. Veronica takes the time to nibble on one of the slices of bacon from Logan’s plate. If she isn’t mistaken, Parker and Wallace kept shooting each other, what they probably believe to be, covert glances. What are those glances supposed to mean? Does Parker know something too? Damned married couples with their telling each other things. 

“My mom does love you,” Logan eventually says. 

“See, I already have a leg up,” Veronica says. “And I can absolutely rock a floor length gown.” 

“Can you?” 

“I was on homecoming court senior year.” 

“You were?” She’s not certain which of the voices speaking in unison sound more shocked, Logan’s or Parker’s, but regardless she is deeply offended. She’ll look classy and hot as hell and that will show them. 

“Yeah,” Wallace says, “Keith still has the picture hanging up in his house. It’s hilarious.” Veronica glares at him. “Hilarious, because of how great you look. Obviously.” 

“I don’t want to make you do this,” Logan says.

Veronica doesn’t have time to question why he would make Parker do this but for some reason wants to spare her.  

“Hey.” She reaches up for the hand still draped over her shoulder and laces their fingers together. Logan looks down at her. His eyes are all soft and heavy lidded; like they sometimes get when he’s sleepy. 

(She’s also noticed they can kind of look like that when she’s ranting about a coworker. Or, that one time she helped her dad install a fence and came over to Logan’s place after. Her hands were full of splinters and Logan was so careful and gentle, removing each one with a very expensive pair of tweezers.)

“This is going to suck. Isn’t it?” she asks. 

He nods. “Yeah. I think it will.” 

“Then let me be there for you.” He doesn’t say anything. “I’ll work on my face. Promise.” 

That gets him to crack a smile. “If you’re sure.” 

“I’m sure.” 

“Then great.”

“Great.”

“Did I just get replaced?” Parker asks. 

Veronica shrugs. “I like nice shoes too, you know.” 

Logan gives her hand a squeeze. 

Oh. Look at that. She didn’t even notice they were still holding hands.

[samgccdy]

Verse: stranger things

full name: Marleigh Emerson

pronunciation: Mar-lee Ey Mur Sun

nickname/alias: Marls, Marl, Marlboro man, never leigh.

gender: Female

gender role: feminine / tomboyish

orientation: Lesbian

real age: 18

age appearance: 17/18

birthday: October 31st, 1967

deathday: verse dependent

birthplace: Hawkins, In

immediate family: Elizabeth Emerson ( Mother ) , Frank Emerson ( Father )

distant family: Dr. Everett Brown ( Maternal Grandfather / Former psychologist / janitor in later years at Hawkins Laboratory )

parenting: Strict, disapproving of Marleigh’s party life.

upbringing: Go to college. Get a job at Hawkins Laboratory. Obey the law. None of which Marleigh did.

species: Human

ethnicity: White

preferred hand: Right

eye color: Blue

hair color Black / brown and red highlights

hairstyle: Teased out, always hairsprayed and styled.

complexion: Fair

makeup: Heavy blush, eyeliner, dark eyeshadows, mascara

build: Long legs, small waist, large breasts.

height: 5′ 10″

weight: 109 lbs

cup size: 34 D

birthmarks/scars: Chain link fence shaped scar on inner wrist from trying to scale the Hawkins Laboratory wall and getting burned by electrical shock when young. Numerous odd and in scars from scuffles and falls when she was drunk.

distinguishing features: Bright blue eyes that could steal a sailor from the sea.

health: Slightly underweight. Unhealthy drinking / party lifestyle. Dabbles with drug use ( c*ke and p*t )

energy: High energy

memory: Very well. she can remember even the most minute details unless she has been drinking the night before and is hungover.

medication: Shes supposed to take depression meds but doesnt. She’d rather have freedom to party when she wants.

phobias: The Hawkins Laboratory, darkness and being alone, swimming in deep water, the demogorgon ( more recently since she saw it for the first time )

addictions: Alcohol, weed, occasional use of c*caine.

mental disorders: Depression. Paranoia when out in Hawkins by herself.

style: Gothic / Hair Metal hard rocker style. Leather studded jacket, teased hair, lots of jewlery on her hands.

grooming: Always well kept.

coordination: Great reflexes. She played striker for a local team and could have gone to state for soccer.

habits and mannerisms: bites lower lip, paces when nervous.

scent: Campfire , cedar, and jack daniels. sweet, smoky, and slightly strong.

current residence: Hawkins, In

community: Loch Nora ( the rich people community )

family: Elizabeth Emerson ( Mother ) , Frank Emerson ( Father ) , Dr. Everett Brown ( Maternal Grandfather ) .

friends: Tina Reed, Tommy, Carol, Vicki, Nicole, Robin Buckley.

enemies: Steve Harrington, Nancy Wheeler, Jonathan Byers.

bosses: Keith ( unfortunately, while working at Palace Arcade ) . Donny ( Manager at Sam Goody ) .

followers: n/a.

rivals: she feels like she competes with Steve for Robin’s attention.

pets/familiars: Black Cat ( Jinx ) .

lovers: Tina Reed ( crush ) . Robin Buckley ( on again - off again girlfriend ) .

marital status: On again - Off again relationship with Robin Buckley .

sex life: Definitely active.

occupation: Associate at Sam Goody

verses found here.

[samgccdy-a]

Verse: Stranger Things Full Name: Marleigh Emerson Pronunciation: Mar-lee Ey Mur Sun Nickname/Alias: Marls, Marl, Marlboro man, never leigh.  Gender: Female Gender Role: feminine / tomboyish Orientation: Lesbian Real Age: 18 Age Appearance: 17/18  Birthday: October 31st, 1967 Deathday: verse dependent Birthplace: Hawkins, In Immediate Family: Elizabeth Emerson ( Mother ) , Frank Emerson ( Father ) Distant Family: Dr. Everett Brown ( Maternal Grandfather / Former psychologist / janitor in later years at Hawkins Laboratory ) Parenting: Strict, disapproving of Marleigh’s party life.  Upbringing: Go to college. Get a job at Hawkins Laboratory. Obey the law. None of which Marleigh did. Species: Human Ethnicity: White Preferred Hand: Right  Eye Color: Blue Hair Color Black / brown and red highlights Hairstyle: Teased out, always hairsprayed and styled. Complexion: Fair Makeup: Heavy blush, eyeliner, dark eyeshadows, mascara Build: Long legs, small waist, large breasts. Height: 5′ 10″ Weight: 109 lbs Cup Size: 34 D Birthmarks/scars: Chain link fence shaped scar on inner wrist from trying to scale the Hawkins Laboratory wall and getting burned by electrical shock when young. Numerous odd and in scars from scuffles and falls when she was drunk. Distinguishing Features: Bright blue eyes that could steal a sailor from the sea. Health: Slightly underweight. Unhealthy drinking / party lifestyle. Dabbles with drug use ( c*ke and p*t ) Energy: High energy Memory: Very well. she can remember even the most minute details unless she has been drinking the night before and is hungover. Medication: Shes supposed to take depression meds but doesnt. She’d rather have freedom to party when she wants. Phobias: The Hawkins Laboratory, darkness and being alone, swimming in deep water, the demogorgon ( more recently since she saw it for the first time ) Addictions: Alcohol, weed, occasional use of c*caine. Mental Disorders: Depression. Paranoia when out in Hawkins by herself. Style: Gothic / Hair Metal hard rocker style. Leather studded jacket, teased hair, lots of jewlery on her hands. Grooming: Always well kept. Coordination: Great reflexes. She played striker for a local team and could have gone to state for soccer. Habits and Mannerisms: bites lower lip, paces when nervous. Scent: Campfire , cedar, and jack daniels. sweet, smoky, and slightly strong. Current Residence: Hawkins, In Community: Loch Nora ( the rich people community ) Family: Elizabeth Emerson ( Mother ) , Frank Emerson ( Father ) , Dr. Everett Brown ( Maternal Grandfather ) . Friends: Tina Reed, Tommy, Carol, Vicki, Nicole, Robin Buckley. Enemies: Steve Harrington, Nancy Wheeler, Jonathan Byers. Bosses: Keith ( unfortunately, while working at Palace Arcade ) . Donny ( Manager at Sam Goody ) .  Followers: n/a. Rivals: she feels like she competes with Steve for Robin’s attention. Pets/Familiars: Black Cat ( Jinx ) . Lovers: Tina Reed ( crush ) . Robin Buckley ( on again - off again girlfriend ) . Marital Status: On again - Off again relationship with Robin Buckley . Sex Life: Definitely active.  Occupation: Associate at Sam Goody

[fromthedust]

When I was little I read a lot — I had many of the Hardy Boys mysteries given to me as birthday presents, and a few of the similar but hard-to-find Tom Swift books. I found a couple of hardcover copies of Edgar Rice Burroughs Pellucidar and Caspak series (Back to the Stone Age and The People that Time Forgot) in my grandfather’s bookshelves and soon started buying the ACE paperbacks with covers by Roy Krenkel from those series. I remember a Fourth Grade classmate traded me The Mastermind of Mars for some old comics I had — that started me on Burroughs’  Martian and Venus series. However, within a year or two I grew out of Burroughs and started going for more ‘modern/adult’ SF (i.e. - Golden Age authors like A.Merritt, E.E.Smith, John W. Campbell, Robert Heinlein, A.E. Van Vogt, Clifford Simak, Jack Vance, Gordon Dickson). When I was about thirteen or fourteen a neighbor who lived five or six houses down the street found out from my Dad that I read science fiction and gave me a box of his old paperbacks from the late Fifties / early Sixties. I knew some of the authors, but these books introduced me to many more (Arthur C. Clark, Frederick Pohl, Keith Laumer, Theodore Sturgeon, Eric Frank Russell, Cordwainer Smith, C.M. Kornbluth, James Blish, Poul Anderson, Damon Knight, etc.).

If I remember correctly a few years later when we moved to Atlanta we gave him (and his young son) my HO-scale train table (hand-built plaster mountains and tunnel) and all the scaled fittings/buildings.  Fair exchange, right?

The first four images are the SF books my neighbor gave me, the rest are SF books I bought and read in the mid-Sixties.

[1962dude420-blog]

Today we remember the passing of Mick Ronson who Died: April 29, 1993, London, England

Michael Ronson (26 May 1946 – 29 April 1993) was an English guitarist, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, arranger, and producer. He achieved critical and commercial success working with David Bowie as one of the Spiders from Mars. He was a session musician who recorded five studio albums with Bowie followed by four with Ian Hunter, and also worked as a sideman in touring bands with Van Morrison and Bob Dylan.

Ronson and Bowie also produced Lou Reed's Transformer with Ronson playing lead guitar and piano and writing string arrangements, and brought mainstream recognition. The album is considered an influential landmark of the glam rock genre, anchored by Reed's most successful single, "Walk on the Wild Side".

Ronson also recorded five solo studio albums, the most popular being Slaughter on 10th Avenue, which reached No. 9 on the UK Albums Chart. He played with various bands after his time with Bowie. A classically trained musician, Ronson was known for his melodic approach to guitar playing. He was named the 64th-greatest guitarist of all time by Rolling Stone in 2003 and 41st in 2012 by the same magazine.

Early in 1970, John Cambridge came back to Hull in search of Ronson, intent upon recruiting him for a new David Bowie backing band called The Hype. He found Ronson marking out a rugby pitch, one of his duties as a Parks Department gardener for Hull City Council. Having failed in his earlier attempts in London, Ronson was reluctant, but eventually agreed to accompany Cambridge to a meeting with Bowie. Two days later, on 5 February, Ronson made his debut with Bowie on John Peel's national BBC Radio 1 show.

The Hype played their first gig at The Roundhouse on 22 February with a line-up that included Bowie, Ronson, Cambridge, and producer/bassist Tony Visconti. The group dressed up in superhero costumes, with Bowie as Rainbowman, Visconti as Hypeman, Ronson as Gangsterman, and Cambridge as Cowboyman. Also on the bill that day were Bachdenkel, The Groundhogs and Caravan. The following day they performed at the Streatham Arms in London under the pseudonym of 'Harry The Butcher'. They also performed on 28 February at the Basildon Arts Lab experimental music club at the Basildon Arts Centre in Essex, billed as 'David Bowie's New Electric Band'. Also on the bill were High Tide, Overson and Iron Butterfly. Strawbs were due to perform but were replaced by Bowie's New Electric Band. John Cambridge left in March, again replaced by Woody Woodmansey. In April 1970, Ronson, Woodmansey, and Visconti started recording Bowie's The Man Who Sold the World album.

During the sessions for The Man Who Sold the World, the trio of Ronson, Visconti, and Woodmansey – still under The Hype moniker – signed to Vertigo Records. The group recruited Benny Marshall from The Rats as vocalist, and entered the studio to record an album. By the time a single appeared, The Hype had been renamed Ronno. "4th Hour of My Sleep" was released on Vertigo to an indifferent reception in January 1971. The song was written by Tucker Zimmerman. The B-side was a Ronson/Marshall composition called "Powers of Darkness". The Ronno album was never completed.

Bowie's backing ensemble, which now included Trevor Bolder, who had replaced Visconti on bass guitar, and keyboardist Rick Wakeman, were used in the recording of Hunky Dory. The departure of Visconti also meant that Ronson, with Bowie, took over the arrangements, while Ken Scott co-produced with Bowie. Hunky Dory featured Ronson's string arrangements on several tracks, including "Life On Mars?".

It was this band, minus Wakeman, that became known as The Spiders from Mars from the title of the next Bowie album. Again, Ronson was a key part of The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, providing string arrangements and various instrumentation, as well as playing lead guitar. Ronson and Bowie achieved some popularity over the concerts promoting this album, when Bowie would simulate fellatio on Ronson's guitar as he played. Ronson's guitar and arranging during the Spiders from Mars era provided much of the underpinning for later punk rock musicians. In 1972 Ronson provided a strings-and-brass arrangement for the song "Sea Diver" on the Bowie-produced All the Young Dudes album for Mott the Hoople. Ronson co-produced Lou Reed's album Transformer with Bowie, playing lead guitar and piano on the songs "Perfect Day" and "Satellite of Love". Again with Bowie, he re-recorded and produced the track "The Man Who Sold the World" for Lulu, released as a single in the UK, and played on a few tracks on the Dana Gillespie album Weren't Born a Man. Ronson appeared on the 1972 country rock album Bustin' Out by Pure Prairie League, where he undertook string ensemble arrangements. Ronson recorded "Angel #9" for his second solo LP Play Don't Worry), and string arrangements on "Boulder Skies" and "Call Me, Tell Me" .

His guitar work was next heard on Bowie's Aladdin Sane and 1973 covers album Pin Ups. However, he was absent from the subsequent Diamond Dogs album. In September 1983 he was a special guest at the Toronto leg of the Serious Moonlight Tour, playing lead guitar during the performance of "The Jean Genie". He had only been asked to play the day before.

Bowie said in a 1994 interview that "Mick was the perfect foil for the Ziggy character. He was very much a salt-of-the-earth type, the blunt northerner with a defiantly masculine personality, so that what you got was the old-fashioned Yin and Yang thing. As a rock duo, I thought we were every bit as good as Mick and Keith or Axl and Slash. Ziggy and Mick were the personification of that rock n roll dualism.

After leaving Bowie's entourage after the "Farewell Concert" in 1973, Ronson released three solo albums. His solo debut Slaughter on 10th Avenue, featured a version of Elvis Presley's "Love Me Tender", as well as Ronson's most famous solo track, "Only After Dark". In addition, his sister, Margaret (Maggi) Ronson, provided the backing vocals for the set. Between this and the 1975 follow-up, Ronson had a short-lived stint with Mott the Hoople.

He then became a long-time collaborator with Mott's former leader Ian Hunter, commencing with the album Ian Hunter and featuring the UK Singles Chart No. 14 hit "Once Bitten, Twice Shy", including a spell touring as the Hunter Ronson Band. In 1980, the live album Welcome to the Club was released, including a couple of Ronson contributions, although it also contained a few studio-based tracks – one of which was a Hunter/Ronson composition. In 1974, Ronson secured the No. 2 spot from a reader's poll in Creem magazine as the best guitarist that year (with Jimmy Page taking first place), and Eric Clapton in third place after Ronson.

Ronson contributed guitar to the title track of the 1976 David Cassidy release Getting It in the Street. On 11 February 1977 the single "Billy Porter" (b/w "Seven Days") was released on RCA Victor Records, but did not chart. Roger Daltrey employed Ronson's guitar on his 1977 solo release One of the Boys. In 1979, Ronson and Hunter produced and played on the Ellen Foley debut album, Night Out, with "We Belong to the Night" and the hit single "What's a Matter Baby".

He also played guitar on Roger C Reale’s “Reptiles in Motion” album recorded in 1979 and only released in 2019 after the master tapes were acquired from the family of the original rights owners. The label Big Sound, based in Connecticut, had gone bust and the album remained unreleased for forty years.

In 1982, Ronson worked with John Mellencamp on his American Fool album, and in particular the song "Jack & Diane". Both "Jack & Diane" and American Fool topped their respective US Billboard charts.

In 1990, Ronson again collaborated with Hunter on the album YUI Orta, this time getting joint credit, as "Hunter/Ronson". One of the backing singers on the album was Carola Westerlund. While in Sweden Ronson wrote and produced three new songs with Estelle Millburne and Westerlund as EC2: "I'm So Sorry"/"Kiss Me" (1990), then a second single as ECII: "Passion" with a B-side cover of J. Kilette and K. Brown's "I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles".

In 1993, he again appeared on a Bowie album, Black Tie White Noise, playing on the track "I Feel Free", originally recorded by Cream. Ronson and Bowie had already covered this track live 20 years earlier, whilst touring as Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. He also played lead guitar on the Morrissey-penned "I Know It's Gonna Happen Someday".

His second and third solo albums were Play Don't Worry in 1975, and Heaven and Hull in 1994. The latter set was only partly completed at the time of Ronson's death, and was released posthumously. Artists involved with the album included Bowie, John Mellencamp, Joe Elliott, Ian Hunter, Chrissie Hynde, and Martin Chambers.

Besides Bowie and Hunter, Ronson went on to work as a musician, songwriter and record producer with many other acts. He did not restrict his influence behind the recording desk to just established acts. His production work appears on albums by more obscure artists, such as Payolas, Phil Rambow and Los Illegals, The Mundanes and Italian band Moda. Ronson produced The Visible Targets, a Seattle, Washington-based group, on their 1983 five track EP, "Autistic Savant". In 1985 he produced and played on the four song EP "Stillwell Avenue" with the NYC based band XDAVIS.

Ronson was also a member of Bob Dylan's "Rolling Thunder Revue" live band, and can be seen both on and off-stage in the film of the tour. He made a connection with Roger McGuinn during this time, which led to his producing and contributing guitar and arrangements to McGuinn's 1976 solo album Cardiff Rose.

In 1982, he participated on lead guitar in a short-lived band with Hilly Michaels on drums and Les Fradkin on bass guitar. One of their recordings from this group, "Spare Change", appeared on the Fradkin's 2006 album, Goin' Back. In 1987, Ronson made an appearance on a record by The Toll. Ronson played lead on the band's song, "Stand in Winter", from the album The Price of Progression.

In 1991, Ronson produced the Swedish cult band The Leather Nun's album, Nun Permanent, adding backing vocals and guitar overdubs on several tracks. At the end of the production, during a short visit to his sister in London, Ronson was diagnosed with cancer. In 1992 he produced Morrissey's album, Your Arsenal. The same year, Ronson's final high-profile live performance was his appearance at The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert. He played on "All the Young Dudes" with Bowie and Hunter; and "Heroes" with Bowie. Ronson's final recorded session was as a guest on the 1993 Wildhearts album Earth vs the Wildhearts, where he played the guitar solo on the song "My Baby is a Headfuck". Liner notes for the Earth vs The Wildhearts album give credit to Mick Ronson for guitar on the track "My Baby Is A Headfuck" and the "album is dedicated to Mick Ronson".

Ronson died of liver cancer on April 29, 1993 at age 46.

[crimsonsx96]

¿Hange no murió? ¡¿Hange sigue viva?!

A continuación hablaré sobre algunas razones que tengo sobre que Hange sigue viva. Esto solo es una TEORÍA, no hay nada confirmado. Ya cada quien saque sus propias conclusiones al final. Igual Isayama puede destruir todo lo que diga aquí en los próximos capitulo que quedan del manga jaja

¿Cómo sabemos que un personaje realmente esta muerto?

1. Cuando vemos los cuerpos sin vida.

2. Cuando un personaje afirma la muerte de otro.

3. Cuando es obvio...

4. Y todas las veces que hemos visto que un Titan se coma o aplaste a un personaje.

En TODAS estas muertes, Isayama siempre ha mostrado el “cuerpo” de quien murió, o a veces los restos de este. La única excepción que hay es la de Moblit y los demás soldados que murieron en la explosión del Colosal. Sin embargo, aquí Isayama nos mostró los últimos momentos de Moblit:

No importa si es un personaje secundario o principal, siempre hay algo que nos dice que ha muerto.

Ahora analizemos como fue la “muerte” de Hange en el capítulo 132:

* Ella empezó a luchar contra los Colosales con las lanzas relámpago y luego con las cuchillas.

* Vimos claramente que su ropa empezó a agarrar fuego por el vapor de los Colosales.

* Ella estaba cubierta Totalmente del vapor de los Colosales. Hasta vemos una expresión de dolor en su rostro.

* Lo último que vimos de ella fue que iba cayendo en llamas.

* Luego se da a entender que fue aplastada por un colosal. Luego vemos que se “reúne ” con sus ex compañeros en la otra vida.

La primer cosa que quiero resaltar es que NUNCA vimos el cuerpo de Hange siendo aplastado. A comparación de los niños del capítulo anterior. ¿Pero que hay de este panel?:

Ahí claramente se ve el “cuerpo” de Hange. Pero es muy diferente a como quedaron los cuerpos de los niños:

Aquí vemos la silueta de los niños y observamos que la sangre está esparcida, pues obviamente fueros aplastados. Pero con Hange no vemos su sangre de esa forma, solo vemos la silueta de un cuerpo. 

“Pero Hange se encontró con sus compañeros caídos”

Sí. Pero ¿No se les hace raro que a este punto de la historia Isayama sacara esto de la otra vida? No lo hizo con nadie más sino solo con Hange. Erwin fue un personaje muy querido, igual que sasha, y a ellos nos les dio un momento así. A Erwin lo hubiera reunido con su padre y a Sasha con sus compañeros caídos.

En mi opinión, esto es una alucinación de Hange al borde la muerte. Pienso esto por que hay cosas que no me cuadran sí esta escena que vimos es realmente la “otra vida”:

1- A Erwin le falta el brazo. Pienso que tendría que tener su cuerpo completo.

2- Mike y Nanaba, así como el escuadrón de Levi, tienen sus cuerpos completos. Nosotros sabemos que Mike fue descuartizado, Nanaba perdió una pierna, Eld fue partido a la mitad y así. ¿Por qué tienen sus cuerpos completos y Erwin no? Por que Hange nunca vio como terminaron sus camaradas, a Erwin sí.

3- El Caballo de Ness está ahí. (Osea, entonces donde esta el caballo de Erwin y los demás??)

4- ¿De donde fregados saco Gelgar el licor?

5- ¿Dónde está Ninfa, Abel y Neiji? (los demás miembros del escuadrón de Hange)

6- Keith Shadis esta ahí. Nadie, además de Magath, supo que Shadis fue quien destuyo el tren y quién murio en la explosión del barco en el puerto junto a Magath. En esta pienso que Hange lo dio por muerto cuando los reclutas le dieron una paliza antes.

7- ¿Dónde está el equipo de maniobras de Hange? Podemos ver cuando está cayendo en llamas que aún lo tiene puesto. Osea, si puede haber una botella de alcohol pero no el equipo?

Como ya dije, pienso que esto es una alucinación de Hange. Ella vio lo que más deseaba ver. Primero que el avión si pudiera volar, después a sus camaradas (a quienes tenía en mente durante este capítulo). Hasta las palabras de Erwin hacia Hange “Lo hiciste bien” ¿No era esto lo Hange anhelaba escuchar? Todo este tiempo la hemos visto cansada, dudando de su rol como comandante, queriendo dejar todo de lado y seguir con su vida.

“Escucharemos todas tus historias” Lo que Hange le encanta hacer es hablar sobre sus hallazgos, o simplemente platicar con alguien. Pienso que ella quería sacar todas sus frustraciones con sus amigos.

Entonces ustedes preguntarán “¿Entonces como es que sigue viva si fuera el caso que esto es una alucinación?”

1- Si observamos bien, Hange no sufrió quemaduras al grado como Armin sí lo hizo. !Armin quedó casi como carbón¡ En cambio podemos ver que la ropa de Hange no se quemó del todo, tiene su capa puesta, hasta aún tiene las cuchillas sostenidas con sus manos.

2- Podemos ver que Hange logró detener a los colosales justo a tiempo para que el avión se salvara. En la imagen de arriba observamos que los colosales ya habían llegado a la orilla del mar.

3- Justo después de eso nos muestran a Hange cayendo. 

Podemos suponer que Hange cayó al agua y no en el suelo (?) 

Talvez los colosales no la aplastaron. (?) 

De ser así, Hange debe estar muy mal herida, pero no muerta.

 ¿Entonces quién la podría ayudar? Los únicos que lo hubieran hecho era Annie y los demás del barco, pero como vimos en el capítulo 133 no lo hicieron. ¿Entonces?

Lo que viene a mi cabeza es Zeke. Hay unas teoría que andan rondando por ahí sobre que Hange puede ser la próxima portadora del Titan Bestia. Y no me parece una idea descabellada del todo, hay varios datos interesantes que hacen que Hange sea la candidata perfecta de ser la heredera del poder titan:

A. Recordemos que los únicos poseedores del Titan bestia que conocemos son Xavier y Zeke.  Xavier era un investigador Titan, Hange también era una investigadora sobre los titanes. Hasta Pieck la llama “Profesora Titan”.

B. Hange y Zeke son los personajes más inteligentes del universo de Shingeki teniendo una inteligencia de 11/10.

C. La actitud alegre de Xavier y Hange son parecidas. Ambos usan lentes.

Solo piénsenlo bien, el portador del titan fundador había sido siempre una persona con buenas intenciones, que tenía en mente librar a la humanidad de los titanes, pero fracasó por el voto de paz del rey fritz; el portador mandíbula se ha caracterizado por sacrificarse por otros; el portador del titan de ataque ha sido alguien que siempre sigue adelante sin importar lo que tenga que hacer; el portador del titan colosal han sido personas tímidas que les falta un poco de valor; entonces pienso que esta similitudes de Hange y los portadores del titan Bestía son importantes.

Hasta en Junior High podemos ver a Hange en un traje de mono, junto al titan bestia. Recordemos que este manga, a pesar de ser un spin off, ha predecido algunas del manga original:

Nadie sabe donde se encuentra Zeke en estos momentos. No creo que esté con Eren por que su cuerpo estaba en shiganshina aún cuando Eren le habló a todos los erdianos por medio de los “Caminos”. 

Ahora que Isayama está integrando la posibilidad de un titan volador ¿No sería perfecto que Hange (si ingiere el titan bestia) adoptará la forma de un pájaro? Ya sabemos que el titan bestia no siempre tiene la apariencia de un Mono. Tenemos el opening 3 donde sale el titan bestia que conocemos junto a otros animales, dando a entender que dependiendo del portador del titan bestia tomará la forma de un animal en específico. Xavier menciono que su titan no era de gran utilidad en la guerra. Si hubiera sido un titan como el de Zeke, habría sido de utilidad, pero no.

Sabemos que ahora el campo de batalla se dará en el cielo. Onkyapon mencionó que solo habían podido llenar medio tanque. ¿Qué pasaría si algo sale mal y el avión estaría en peligro de estrellarse? Sería la perfecta oportunidad de sacar de sorpresa un titan volador.

Claro que no descarto la posibilidad de que el titan de Falco pueda volar. Pero sería un buen troleo de parte de Isayama de habernos metido la idea de que Falco puede volar y luego... Imaginense esto, el avión está en peligro, ¡pum! un titan volador los rescata, y uno creería que es Falco, pero ¡No! ¡ES HANGE! Osea, eso sería TAN sorpresivo e inesperado. 

No me sorprendería que Isayama trajera de vuelta a Hange. La primera vez que ví el capítulo 132 me dolío ver que Hange “murió”. Pero luego analizando mejor, siento que la muerte de Hange fue muy rápida, se sintió extraño que Isayama la sacará así por así.

No sería la primera vez que Isayama nos hace creer que un personaje murió, lo hizo con Eren:

Con Jean:

Con Armin:

Con Levi:

Con floch:

Con Hange lo hizo 3 veces:

*La primera cuando el Colosal les cayó encima*

Y no me hagan mencionar todas las veces que Reiner pudo haber muerto y ahí lo tenemos vivito y coleando.

Yo se que la mayoría quiere que Levi mate a Zeke. ¿Pero en qué contribuiría esto en la historia o en el desarrollo de Levi? ¿Solo por satisfacción del lector? En este capítulo 133 Levi propuso que matarán a Zeke por que con eso talvez podrían detener a Eren. Esta vez no lo dijo con aire de venganza, sino como una solución a un problema mayor.

Isayama podría mostrarnos la redención de Zeke. Después de haber quitado tantas vidas de erdianos, le devolverá la vida a uno de ellos.

Se imaginan lo que Levi sentiría al saber que el hombre al que quiso matar con tantas ganas, quien le quito la vida a varios de sus camaradas, quien mató vilmente a Mike, quien mató a Erwin, quien lo dejó mal herido... ese mismo hombre sea quien le devuelva a un ser querido ?  

Pero bueno, todo lo que acabo de escribir son puras suposiciones. Cada quien saque sus propias conclusiones. Aunque los datos sobre que Hange puede ser la próxima heredera del Titan bestia Sí que es interesante. No sería forzado. Isayama tiene algo preparado para Zeke para que no lo haya mostrado en todo este tiempo.

Veremos que pasa en los siguientes capítulos.

[weavingthetapestry]

Places to Go: Tullibardine Chapel

A small kirk sheltered by Scots pines, Tullibardine Chapel has an air of tranquility and simple elegance. Formerly the private chapel of the Murrays of Tullibardine, it is one of the few buildings of its kind in Scotland to have survived with many of its medieval details intact.

The Murrays acquired the lands of Tullibardine in the late thirteenth century, when William ‘de Moravia’ married a daughter of the steward of Strathearn. Later, through judicious marriages and court connections, they first became earls of Tullibardine and then Dukes of Atholl. But even as lairds the Murrays were a significant power in late mediaeval Perthshire. In those days Tullibardine Castle was one of their main strongholds, and the close proximity of royal residences like Stirling meant that the Castle also hosted several notable guests. Mary, Queen of Scots, stayed there in December of 1566 (allegedly in the company of the earl of Bothwell). One laird of Tullibardine became Master of Household to the young James VI, while his aunt Annabella Murray, Countess of Mar, oversaw the king’s upbringing. Thus James VI was also a frequent visitor and it was he who created the earldom of Tullibardine in 1606. The king is known to have attended the wedding of the laird of Tullibardine’s daughter Lilias Murray, though it is unclear whether this took place at Tullibardine itself. The castle grounds were probably an impressive sight too: the sixteenth century writer Robert Lindsay of Pitscottie claimed that a group of hawthorns at the “zeit of Tilliebairne”* had been planted in the shape of the Great Michael by some of the wrights who worked on the famous ship.

Thus the tower at Tullibardine, though presumably on a small-scale, was apparently comfortable and imposing enough for the lairds to host royalty and fashion an impressive self-image. But the spiritual needs of a late mediaeval noble family were just as important as their political prestige, and a chapel could both shape the family’s public image and secure their private wellbeing. The current chapel at Tullibardine, which originally stood at a small distance from the castle, was allegedly founded by David Murray in 1446, “in honour of our blessed Saviour”. At least this was the story according to the eighteenth century writer John Spottiswoode, and his assertion is partly supported by the chapel’s internal evidence, though no surviving contemporary document explicitly confirms the tale. A chapel certainly existed by 1455, when a charter in favour of David’s son William Murray of Tullibardine mentions it as an existing structure. In this charter, King James II stated that his “familiar shieldbearer” William Murray has “intended to endow and infeft certain chaplains in the chapel of Tullibardine”. Since the earls of Strathearn had previously endowed a chaplain in the kirk of Muthill, but duties pertaining to the chaplaincy had not been undertaken for some time, James transferred the chaplaincy to Tullibardine. He also granted his patronage and gift of the chaplaincy to William Murray and his heirs.

The charter indicates that Tullibardine Chapel was an important project for the Murrays. Interestingly though, no official references to the chapel in the fifteenth, sixteenth, or seventeenth centuries describe Tullibardine chapel as a collegiate church, even though later writers have frequently claimed this. Collegiate foundations were increasingly popular with the Scottish nobility during the late Middle Ages, but, although such a foundation might have been planned for Tullibardine, there is no evidence that this ever took place.

The 1455 charter serves as an early indication of the chapel’s purpose and significance. Judging by its architecture the current chapel does appear to have been constructed in the mid-fifteenth century. However it was also substantially remodelled and enlarged around 1500, when the western tower was added. One remnant of the original design is the late Gothic ‘uncusped’ loop tracery on the windows. Despite the apparent simplicity of the chapel, features such as this window tracery have been taken as evidence that its builder was acutely aware of contemporary European architectural fashions. Another interesting feature is the survival of the chapel’s original timber collarbeam roof, a rare thing in Scotland. Several coats of arms belonging to members of the Murray family adorn the walls and roof corbels, although some of these armorial panels were probably moved when the chapel was reconstructed. They include the arms of the chapel’s alleged founder David Murray and his wife Margaret Colquhoun, as well as those of his parents, another David Murray and Isabel Stewart. A later member of the family, Andrew Murray, married a lady named Margaret Barclay c.1499, around the same time that the chapel was renovated, and although they were buried elsewhere, their coats of arms can also be seen there. Aside from such details- carved in stone and thus less perishable than books and vestments- the chapel’s interior seems quite sparse and bare today. Originally though the mediaeval building probably housed several richly furnished altars and some of the piscinas (hand-washing stations for priests) can still be seen in the walls. But the sumptuous display favoured in even the smallest mediaeval chapels was soon to be swept away entirely by the Reformation of 1560, when Scotland broke with the Catholic Church and Protestantism became the established faith of the realm.

Tullibardine was used chiefly as a private burial place after the Reformation, but there are signs that the transition from one faith to another was not entirely smooth. Four years after the “official” Reformation, a priest named Sir Patrick Fergy was summoned before the “Superintendent” of Fife, Fothriff, and Strathearn to answer the charge that he had taken it upon himself “to prech and minister the sacramentis wythowtyn lawfull admission, and for drawing of the pepill to the chapel of Tulebarne fra thar parroche kyrk”. Fergy did not obey the summons and so it was decided that he should be summoned for a second admonition. It is not known whether Fergy compeared on that occasion, nor what kind of punishment he might have received for his defiance. We are also in the dark as to the laird of Tullibardine’s views on the situation, even though it was going on right under his family’s nose. Nonetheless the case does provide a glimpse into what must have been a complex religious situation in sixteenth century Perthshire, no less for the ordinary parishioner than for the nobility. It also raises the possibility that private worship continued in the chapel after the Reformation, albeit unofficially.

Even as Tullibardine chapel’s public role diminished, the castle was still of some importance. Royal visits must have been considerably rarer after James VI succeeded to the English throne in 1603, and the Murrays of Tullibardine themselves acquired greater titles and estates, but the tower at Tullibardine still witnessed some notable events. During the first half of the eighteenth century, the castle was the home of Lord George Murray, a kinsman of the Duke of Atholl and famous for his participation in the Jacobite Risings of 1715, 1719, and 1745. During the last of these, Tullibardine Castle played host to a Jacobite garrison and was visited by Charles Edward Stuart. In less warlike times, Lord Murray often resided with his family at Tullibardine, and one of his daughters, who sadly died in infancy, seems to have been buried in the chapel. Lord George himself expressed a wish to be buried there as well but he was forced to flee into exile on the continent after the failure of the ’45, and so his body was interred “over the water” at Medemblick, in the Netherlands.

After Lord George’s exile Tullibardine castle entered a period of slow decline. Much of the fabric of the building was removed in 1747. Some years earlier plans had been made for the old tower to be replaced by a fashionable new house designed by William Adam, but these never materialised. A sketch of the mediaeval chapel made in 1789 shows the castle in the background- a roofless, tumbledown ruin. Tullibardine castle was finally demolished in 1833, and the family chapel, whose very existence had for centuries been defined by its proximity to the laird’s house, now stands alone. We are thus all the more fortunate for its survival, and both its attractive situation and interesting mediaeval features make Tullibardine chapel well worth a visit.

(Tullibardine Chapel, with the castle ruins in the background, as sketched in 1789. Reproduced with permission of the National Libraries of Scotland, under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License)

Sources and notes may be found under the ‘read more’ button.

* “zeit” is presumaby “yett”, the old Scots word for gate.

Selected Bibliography:

- “Account of All the Religious Houses That Were in Scotland at the Time of the Reformation”, by John Spottiswood, in “An Historical Catalogue of the Scottish Bishops Down to the Year 1688″, by Reverend Robert Keith.

- Seventh Report of the Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts, Part 2 (Duke of Atholl papers)

- “Register of the Ministers, Elders, and Deacons of the Congregation of St Andrews”, volume 4, Part 1 (St Andrews Kirk Session Register), edited by David Hay Fleming

- “Statement of Significance: Tullibardine Chapel”, Historic Environment Scotland

- “The Historie and Croniclis of Scotland From the Slauchter of King James the First to the Ane Thousande Five Hundreith Thrie Scoir Fiftein Zeir”, by Robert Lindsay of Pitscottie, volume 1 edited Aeneas J. G. Mackay. 

- “Late Gothic Architecture in Scotland: Considerations on the Influence of the Low Countries”, by Richard Fawcett in ‘Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries Scotland’, 112 (1982) 

- “Aspects of Timber in Renaissance and Post-Renaissance Scotland: The Case of Stirling Palace”, Thorsten Hanke

- “Register of the Privy Seal of Scotland”, Vol. 5, ed. M. Livingstone

- “The Household and Court of King James VI”, Amy L. Juhala

- “Memoirs of the Affairs of Scotland”, by David Moysie, ed. James Dennistoun for the Bannatyne Club

- “Calendar of State Papers, Scotland”, Volume 10, 1589-93, ed. William K. Boyd and Henry W. Meikle

- “The Indictment of Mary Queen of Scots, as Derived from a Manuscript in the University Library at Cambridge, Hitherto Unpublished”, by George Buchanan, edited by R.H. Mahon

[m58]

three from Joshua Martin

Deserted Avalanche Hole in One

 firing squad DIMPLE & carry the two, added up, makes a vomiting like a crying ANTeater slipping on banana peel, joking, the jokester crawls through the landMINES minding his own business to a fault, to an average faced poolhall, there are Lessons LEARNED & seaWEEDs choking perfume gasping water buffalo time machine panache, trash, lashing out, strapped in for antigravity simulation /// look here, the banjo playing ballerina w/ the SNIFFLES,

                                    cough              cough              cough

                        COUGHING                                                   FIT

                                                Errol Flynn     diamond bracelet

            Archibald spoiled the party by playing himself,

meanwhile,

                        ALICE B. TOKLAS

                                    sped through RED

                                                            LIGHT

                                                                        drinking Fruit punch &

                                  ��             eating cold cuts—

her & her historic parades of pondered pinochle games & peanut shell glass house dr., please, dr., don’t tell a soul how far gone we all are, in step & OUT OF WHACK, reading until dawn’s early farting, she in gin floating, she in a corner of a cart, all at former headquarters of cut rate keyboard destroyers—

                                    You see,

                        the flesh                      melts stubbornly,

            not unlike,

                        a                      ketchup&mustard                   dressing gown, hot

sauce PIE

            Chart, leaping

                                    dinner time in the shadow of hannah HOCH,

the                                           groom                         stripped                       NAKED

            &

pouting, doglike, thinned out, wearing glasses, struttin’, shut-in, a million sleeping paradises proposing enigmatic randomness, then loosed for THOU ART LOOSED &

            THOU ART a             STONE

                                                tho STAINED

w/ letters,

            Latinized, church to grave / easel to dumpster / blew to heaving blown up enough trash heaps to make the encyclopedia of information overload once a desire passes for a NEED &

                                                            then                 MARGOT KIDDER   bookends

brothers of

            LIARS,

                        peels of laughing bellhops at risk for calamities,

so very

            un

                        fettered,

                                    feathered, Absurdly drowned b/t stretches over park defined by barbarian coat of many colors, yes unknowns, yes CHAOS, yes you did hear the bookworm shoes correctly,

                        Carlos had another bat fancy

                        idea, see how it sets,

            see how                                   another crushing

PAVEMENT

                                    bellows                                               like GRENDEL

                                                                        flotsam&jetsam

je, tu, il, elle,

            didn’t You have a meeting with Professor Doctor Whatshisface????

                        or,

inside ambitions signals trained to have been promised, snickering, bickering on a beam of sclerotic light, laser, phased out diarrhea of the mouth, syndrome all too familiar, all CNN all the fucked up & leave it alone for the love of eyeball juice, sailing through rimless OCEAN liner house of a 1000 cracked skulls /

                                                                        really,then, You & Yours & the fountain

                                                                        taller than a maniac running

                                                                        than a mannequin squirming,

                                                                                    the sex of the baby

                                                                                                POINTLESS &

                        PROFOUND &                                                                                  Pounded

into head curved swerved hair follicle abundance, hairpiece missions, squirrels on EDGE, another PINOCCHIO for the ages, new decade to test the limits, white water rafting,

                                                TEST TUBE TOP,

                                                            Saturday had revealed

                                                            itself as sudden &

                                                            brief,

truncated sweet meats,

                        a STAR is

                                    RISEN, (deformed)

                                                a BUM is

            grown,

societal salad bowls brains splattered raised to be the spitting image of Wallace Beery, then uncovering plots to render butter tasteless, then VENUS slaps MARS who tells URANUS to go to hello how are you,

                                                not likely to have

                                                unveiled the TRUTHFUL

                                                acrobat cursing shoehorns (the kind)

                                                w/ teeth,

                                    even tho                                  THEY             DON’T exist,

            still, You

wonder,                                   then, in fact,

                        WHAT DOES????????????????????????????????????????????????????

  Preconceived LED Drunken Brawl

 damaged LIKED lifted horizon stumbles

lame duck truck NECK BRACE

                                                embrace

                        of                                 nothing            LIKE

            elephant rippling flesh hair nipple

                        VESTS…spun to gold thread spleen /

                                    rumpled vest/shirt/

ingested bleach substitute

                                                helicopter

PROPELLER…a jet engine                                       JAZZ

                        computer Streaming

                                                momentary lapse of

            un-

                        reasonable lingering push-pull

OF                                           BRANCH / trance

                                    D

                                    A

                                    N

                                    C

                                    e…saying in the round

table, chair, leg, ham, fist,

            grieving MUG / CHUG /

                        high heels down the

Rabbit Hole…fixing diamond,

                                                to Fist

                                                            s…

                        a slimy drop of

Perspiring                                                       ROCK

                                    gulf                 enigma

            ritual

                        sacrificial Hawk wing

of plentiful                              destroying

                                    stammering /

            POUNDING / DRIFTING…when to

find a how TO guide crumpled

up into ball of WAX

                                    reception.

  All Hail the National Disasters

 Swiss doughnut piles swirling green in jest

                                                in AN OUTSTRETCHED

                                    comma                        grinning

                                                                        wild

or (&this is where Simon turned to Simone who had shoes on her hands but no real sense               

       of three hole punching) rhythms pontificating Faustian approvals (at night the knight

       seemed to glow tho not properly enough to prosper like the GHOST of Ebenezer   

       Scrooge shirking his duties at dawn’s early lighter fluid mistaken identity culture

       dump).

                        Keith, the fascist extraordinaire

colored only between the lines,

melting melted snow

                                                HEAD ON

                                     (screwed        on                    BACKWARDS)—

                                                                                                            that

                                                                                                ‘s         enough

tho

                        may

            be                                                        NOT

enough

                                                AT

ALL.

            Cursed, cursed, cursed overlooking an overwhelmed bear scrounging around for

            centipede pill to sell on the black market.

                                                            an

                                                attempted

                                    assassination                           of a

                        FRENCH DIPLOMAT                                               failed

                                                            (how do you define failure?) / .

 Yourself a savior.

Your pants on fire.

Your spawn sweltering.

 This is

no time

for gymnastics! (Simon pulled the rug out from under)

                                                (Simone buried gold teeth under fountains)

             As

long                 toothless

                                    as

squirming                               in triangular imitation

                                                            leather kidneys.

 Cannot.

            Will not.

                        Should not.

Judgmental frostbite & the somehow misleading conditions of modernity.

                                                The UNIVERSE of ZERO

                                                            (0!)

Joshua Martin is a Philadelphia based writer and filmmaker, who currently works in a library. He is the author of the book Vagabond fragments of a hole (Schism Neuronics). He has had pieces previously published in The Vital Sparks, Breakwater Review, Ink & Voices, The Free Library of the Internet Void, and Paragraph Line. His films have screened at various film festivals including The Pineapple Underground Film Festival, New Filmmakers, Film Al Fresco, Views from the Underground, and The Shooting Wall Film Festival.

[vmficrecs]

WEEKLY FIC ROUND UP

Fresh Egg Author: sadiekate Pairing: Logan, Wallace Rating: PG-13 Genre: Friendship Setting: Season 2 Spoilers: 2.18, “I Am God”  Chapters: 1 Word Count: 1045 Status: Complete Summary: Logan and Wallace do a physics project. Logan thinks a lot, while Wallace gives him meaningful glances.  Notes: WALLACE AND LOGAN BONDING!!! We really deserved for them to be featured more in the show and I’m always upset by it, especially since season 3 totally sets them up to become bffs and then they never have screentime alone together again. it’s fine. 

Black Lines Author: innie-darling Pairing: Logan, Veronica, Logan/Lilly Rating: PG-13 Genre: Introspection  Setting: Season 1 Spoilers: through 1.15, “Ruskie Business”  Chapters: 1 Word Count: 1323 Status: Complete Summary: What if Logan is the one locking Veronica in a cell? Remix of The Bars.  Notes: just feeling upset!!!!!!!! thanks for asking!! also, y’all, the line “He remembers being an onion in the summer camp play, the only vegetable that could make you cry,“ should not affect me in this way and yet. here we are. 

All That Glitters Author: vatrixsta Pairing: Logan/Veronica, Lilly, Wallace  Rating: M Genre: Romance, Friendship Setting: Pre-series, Future  Spoilers: n/a Chapters: 1 Word Count: 1747 Status: Complete Summary: Veronica could never imagine needing anything to remember Lilly by. Notes: Logan Echolls is a moron and it warms my heart. Veronica wondering if Logan thinks about Lilly (and thinks she looks like Lilly) during sex.....I will be showing myself out. I love Lilly Kane and Logan Echolls and Veronica Mars forever thank you. 

Before you knew you’d know me  Author: nevertothethird Pairing: Logan/Veronica, Lilly/Mac, Parker  Rating: Teen Genre: fake dating! secret romance! mutual pining! snowed in! only one bed! friends to loves! suzanne is my mortal enemy!  Setting: AU Spoilers: n/a  Chapters: 4 Word Count: 21694 Status: In Progress Summary: Logan and Veronica's relationship in five different settings: makeup artist at a friend's wedding, best-friend's girlfriend, ditched on vacation, sneaky in love sweethearts, and fake daters reunited years later. Notes: bless tropeapalooza!! suzanne wrote this delightful concoction of one-shot lv stories based off of varying tropes and every single one of them is delightful and true to character and did i mention DELIGHTFUL!! 

Tickets to the Gun Show Author: alilamba Pairing: Logan/Veronica, Ensemble  Rating: Explicit Genre: fake dating! forced to work together! veronica has a crush on logan!  Setting: AU Spoilers: n/a Chapters: 3 Word Count: 16212 Status: Complete Summary: “You’re kidding. You’re kidding. You’re the person about to give me a ticket.” It’s not the first time someone has been less than intimidated by her physical appearance, and, after two years on the force and a few months in this town, Veronica knows just how to respond. “License and registration please.” Notes: Starts off with Veronica being thoroughly unimpressed by Logan and determined to knock him down a few pegs, to her finding herself reluctantly and wholly charmed by him, and attracted to him, etc, etc. A truly fun read. 

The Lost Art of Persuasion Author: TheLastGoodGoldfish Pairing: Logan/Veronica, Keith Rating: M Genre: HIJINKS!!!, Team Detecting, I would die for Logan Echolls Setting: AU Spoilers: 1.22, “Leave it to Beaver” Chapters: 1 Word Count: 12302 Status: Complete Summary: “I don’t like that you’re enjoying this." “And there’s that spirit of generosity that I’ve come to expect from you during our short but—seemingly endless acquaintance.” Veronica Mars, Neptune's pre-eminent P.I., is accustomed to sweet-talking her way into and out of a wide range of sticky situations. Logan Echolls seems born to throw a wrench in her plans. Notes: if everybody remembers one fanfiction fact about me please let it be that i would absolutely die for thelastgoodgoldfish. i’m going to pretend she wrote this with my specific happiness in mind. everything she writes is so dang good, and this fic!!!!! it’s an engaging premise, logan and veronica are ON. FIRE. in it, and the dialogue!!! perfect lv. we owe her everything. also this is a real laugh out loud fic (i laugh out loud when i’m reading a lot because i like to be joyful but i have corroborated this with others who don’t laugh out loud when reading as much. anyway) 

how anybody survives in this life (without someone like you)  Author: gingermaggie Pairing: Logan/Veronica, Ensemble Rating: Teen Genre: Friendship, Romance, Growing Up Setting: Post Season 3 AU  Spoilers: 3.20, “The Bitch is Back”  Chapters: 1 Word Count: 7701 Status: Complete Summary: She thinks about their last breakup.  Well, not their last breakup, actually. Their last get-back-together. The best one. The one that stuck. Still sticks. Will continue to stick, dammit, so help her. She's not losing him again. AU post season 3. Things go on. Veronica and Logan go on. Notes: AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH 

[thecoolerlinds]

My kin list

Keith-Voltron

Yuri-DDLC

Monika-DDLC

Sailor Saturn- Sailor Moon

Sailor Mars- Sailor Moon

Sailor Jupiter- Sailor Moon

Mitsuri- Demon Slayer

Tanjiro- Demon Slayer

Wirt- OTGW

Beatrice- OTGW

Ciel- Black Butler

Lapis- Steven Universe

Hanako- Toilet Bound

Nanamine- Toilet Bound

Tsuchigomori- Toilet Bound

Yako- Toilet Bound

Knight knight- Undertale

Kid- Soul eater

Ticci Toby- Creepypasta

Gwen- Total drama island

Crimson- Total drama island

Number 4- Umbrella academy

Number 5- Umbrella academy

Heather C.- Heathers

Veronica S.- Heathers

JD- Heathers

Raven- Teen Titans Judas contract

Sakura Miku

Cruellea- 101 dalamations

Shadow man- Princess and the Frog

Crispin Wizard- Bee and Puppycat

Cass Wizard- Bee and Puppycat

Yuki- Akuma academy

Miyuki- Lucky Star

Rosalina- Mario multiverse

Marclien- Adventure time

Bubble gum- Adventure time

Jasmine with the red outfit- Aladdin

Astrid- How to train your dragon

Esmeralda- The hunchback of Norte Dame

Hiro- Big hero 6

Shego- Kim Possible

Amity- The owl house

Era- The owl house

Litten- Pokémon

Jim Hawkins- Treasure planet

Captain Amelia- Treasure planet

Helga Katrina Sinclair- Atlantis

This list is still in work

[phantomofthepairofdice]

The Rosscars 2020

Wow. It’s that time of year again, only this time it’s different because it’s on a blog that no one will read! (hold for applause) Welcome to the first annual online publication for the Rosscars (hold for applause while the reader acknowledges how positively droll it is that I combined my name with “Oscars”). Who can forget such indelible Rosscar memories like when Steven Soderbergh surprised us all and won Best Director for Out of Sight or Bill Irwin’s beautiful speech upon winning Best Supporting Actor for Rachel Getting Married?! The Rosscars mean something different to everyone, but we all know that they mean quality choices made by a committee of one schmuck. This year’s Rosscars are bizarre because in an effort to be more like the Academy guidelines, film’s nominated have been released between January 1, 2020 and February 28, 2021. As usual, theatrical windows be damned, streamers are welcome. Of course, I have my gripes. I like categorizing movies by release year – specifically, when they become available to the plain old public like yours truly – not at festivals, limited runs in NYC and LA. Well, the Oscars are still weeks away and I feel like everybody wants to forget about last year and move onto this one that we’re already three months into - So here are my awards for the films, performers, and craftspeople that stood out in a pretty exceptional year for movies even though distribution was stranger than ever. 

**A few caveats and guidelines to Rosscar newcomers (which I imagine is just a formality since we all know the Rosscars so well)**

The rules and categories are a little different around here. First, not every category is honored directly. That’s for a few reasons, chiefly that I don’t feel qualified to reward the technical categories properly – I suppose I should say that I feel less qualified to do so than the “above the line” categories. In keeping with the Academy standard, there are five nominees in each category, except for Best Picture, Best Non-Fiction/Documentary Feature, and Best Ensemble Cast which allow up to ten. Every category, save those three, will have the possibility of honorable mentions, because I want to highlight some things that just barely missed the cut. The narrowing down of a lot of these categories was awfully tough.

Nominees are listed alphabetically, and the winners are in bold and italics.

Also, it’s important to keep in mind that I couldn’t see everything (this isn’t a job and it’s still $20 to rent The Father, y’all) and that these are just the opinions of one (self-described) “bozo on the internet.” If you’re a reader and have different picks, feel free to share!

Special Commendations for some things that I want to recognize: • Ludwig Goransson for his Tenet score which is an absolute banger • The costumes of Emma. (Alexandra Byrne), Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (Ann Roth), and Small Axe (Jaqueline Durran, Sinéad Kidao, and Lisa Duncan) all struck me as exceptional • Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross with their scores for both Soul and Mank. Crazy that Pixar is working with the guy who made “Closer” • The cinematography of Da 5 Bloods (Newton Thomas Sigel), First Cow (Christopher Blauvelt), Beanpole (Kseniya Sereda), and A White, White Day (Maria von Hausswolff)

The Rosscars red carpet was, as usual, a bizarre affair. People filed into the theater and it seemed like the only encounters were awkward ones. Vin Diesel showed up in character as Bloodshot, Aaron Sorkin started getting really verbose about what a lovely night it was, and it became clear that most of the celebrities in attendance didn’t read their invitations closely enough to realize that this was not, in fact, the Academy Awards.

Everyone’s seated, and the show is under way. After a medley about the nominees this year by Common and Seth McFarlane that was more corny but clever than it was funny, the first official category is here, and the presenter is none other than... Ross!

Best Supporting Actor:

1. Chadwick Boseman for Da 5 Bloods

2. Matthew Macfadyen for The Assistant

3. Jesse Plemmons for Judas and the Black Messiah

4. Paul Raci for Sound of Metal

5. Glynn Turman for Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom

Honorable Mentions:

• Lucas Hedges for Let Them All Talk

• Orion Lee for First Cow

• Bill Murray for On the Rocks

Best Supporting Actress:

1. Vanessa Bayer for Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar

2. Candice Bergen for Let Them All Talk

3. Gina Rodriguez for Kajillionaire

4. Amanda Seyfried for Mank

5. Yuon Yuh-jung for Minari

Honorable Mentions:

• Jane Adams for She Dies Tomorrow

• Charin Alvarez for Saint Frances

• Talia Ryder for Never Rarely Sometimes Always

• Debra Winger for Kajillionaire

Everyone loves a montage. The audience gets comfortable in their seats as the video screens start to show a montage of some of the most famous moments from Hollywood’s most magical movies. Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers waltz, gliding across a dance floor like two hovering angels. There’s a clip of Leo declaring himself king of the world in Titanic, the flying bicycles in ET, Bogart stares longingly into Bacall’s eyes, and then there’s some scene where Tom Cruise rides a motorcycle from 2010′s Knight and Day. The audience all seems confused how that last one got in there. The John Williams music swells as little Kevin McAllister screams when puts on aftershave. We see clips of Robert De Niro in Taxi Driver, Carrie Fisher’s Princess Leia embrace Harrison Ford’s Han Solo, Bruce Lee smoothly declares that boards don’t hit back and... wait... was that a clip from Michel Gondry’s Green Hornet with Seth Rogen? And that’s a clip from What Happens in Vegas... Bad Teacher... Vanilla Sky... Shrek 2... Any Given Sunday... Everyone is flummoxed. The last clip fades out and a sole editing credit appears: Cameron Diaz. The lights come up and there’s some applause, but mostly confused murmurs. 

The ceremony has had a bit of a misstep, but nothing it can’t recover from, especially as the next category is announced over the PA, and it looks like the presenter is... Ross!

Best Ensemble Cast:

1. Bacurau

2. Da 5 Bloods 

3. Kajillionaire

4. Let Them All Talk

5. Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom

6. Minari

7. Nomadland

8. Pieces of a Woman

9. Small Axe

Best Original Screenplay:

1. Danny Bilson and Paul Dameo & Spike Lee and Kevin Wilmott for Da 5 Bloods

2. Lee Isaac Chung for Minari

3. Brandon Cronenberg for Possessor

4. Sean Durkin for The Nest

5. Kleber Mendonça Filho and Juliano Dornelles for Bacurau

Honorable Mentions – a very difficult task to weed this down to five.

• Shaka King and Will Berson for Judas and the Black Messiah, from a story by Kenny and Keith Lucas

• Steve McQueen, Alastair Siddons, and Courttia Newland for Small Axe

• Kelly O'Sullivan for Saint Frances

• Thomas Vinterberg and Tobias Lindholm for Another Round

Best Actor:

1. Ben Affleck for The Way Back

2. Chadwick Boseman for Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom

3. Delroy Lindo for Da 5 Bloods

4. John Magaro for First Cow

5. Mads Mikkelsen for Another Round

Honorable Mentions:

• Riz Ahmed for Sound of Metal

• John Boyega for Small Axe

• Daniel Kaluuya for Judas and the Black Messiah

• Hugh Jackman for Bad Education

• Ingvar Eggert Sigurðsson for A White, White Day

We have a break in the action and it looks like Darius Rucker has showed up to perform what he would have nominated for Best Original Song. The crowd is absolutely furious as he starts playing a song that apparently was in Trial of the Chicago Seven. An ocean of sonorous boos and curses overtakes the the once docile crowd. The Rock just ripped his chair from out of the ground. Jane Lynch somehow smuggled in a civil war era flintlock pistol that she’s now pointing at the stage! Suddenly, the crowd unifies around what started as a confident chant of one lone audience member - John C Reilly. It’s growing... Ja Ja Ding Dong, Ja Ja Ding Dong, Ja Ja Ding Dong - it’s like the macabre circus performers from Tod Browning’s Freaks, but instead of chanting “Gooble Gobble” they’re clearly pining for Darius to change his tune to the silly and delightful jam from Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga. Darius, scared for his life, leaves the stage, but here come Will Ferrell and Rachel McAdams to deliver the goods. Busy Philips and Michelle Williams burst into tears. Tom Hanks nods in approval. A segment saved by brave artists placating a toxic group of fans... we’ve just witnessed a live version of the Snyder Cut, folks.

Jack Nicholson seems completely unfazed, giving a thumbs up to the camera and blowing a kiss to the next presenter. Coming to the stage is... Ross... again...

Best Actress:

1. Jessie Buckley for i’m thinking of ending things

2. Carrie Coon for The Nest

3. Han Ye-ri for Minari

4. Sidney Flanagan for Never Rarely Sometimes Always

5. Vasilisa Perelygina for Beanpole

Honorable Mentions – these cuts were especially painful

• Haley Bennet for Swallow

• Morfydd Clark for Saint Maud

• Frances McDormand for Nomadland

• Christin Milioti for Palm Springs

• Geraldine Viswanathan for Bad Education

Best Adapted Screenplay:

1. Charlie Kaufman for i'm thinking of ending things from Iain Reed's novel

2. Sarah Gubbins for Shirley from Susan Scarf Merrell's novel

3. Kelly Reichardt and John Raymond for First Cow

4. Simon Rich for American Pickle from his short story "Sell Out"

5. Mike Makowsky for Bad Education from Robert Kolker's "The Bad Superintendent"

Best Non-Fiction/Documentary Feature:

1. Boys State

2. Collective

3. David Byrne’s American Utopia

4. Dick Johnson is Dead

5. Feels Good Man

6. In & Of Itself

7. The Painter and the Thief

8. Time

Jimmy Fallon has come out on stage to do a bit about the pandemic and watching movies at home. People are just absolutely not having it. He tries not to laugh at his own jokes while doing what I guess is technically a pretty good impression of Dr. Fauci interviewing James Corden as Martin Scorsese (the less said of this impression, the better) on what is or isn’t cinema. The bit doesn’t track and Fallon is absolutely tanking. The producers cut away from the stage to spare the viewers at home from this monstrosity. We see crowd shots of Millie Bobby Brown shaking her head in dismay, Colin Firth is simultaneously grimacing and trying to stave off laughter, Cynthia Erivo is texting, and director Tom Hooper is taking notes for his next film. Corden yells, “Carpool Karaoke! Remember?!” Ron Howard has fainted. This thing is almost completely off the rails.

Coming back to the stage is the next presenter, a clearly embarrassed... Ross! He’s in a total flop sweat, but stumbles his way through a joke about how Fallon should try co-hosting the Oscars with James Franco sometime. There are scant chuckles throughout a crowd that mostly just wants to see who won and go home.

Best Director:

1. Christopher Nolan for Tenet

2. Spike Lee for Da 5 Bloods

3. Steve McQueen for Small Axe

4. Kelly Reichardt for First Cow

5. Chloé Zhao for Nomadland

Honorable Mentions:

• Kitty Green for The Assistant

• Eliza Hittman for Never Rarely Sometimes Always

• Charlie Kaufman for i'm thinking of ending things

• Thomas Vinterberg for Another Round

Best Picture

1. Bacurau

2. Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar

3. Da 5 Bloods

4. First Cow

5. i'm thinking of ending things

6. Judas and the Black Messiah

7. Never Rarely Sometimes Always

8. Nomadland

9. Small Axe

10. Tenet

Accepting the award for best picture is none other than Eve, the cow actor who played the titular First Cow! The audience is enamored with how graceful she looks in her cow gown, and her speech, though indecipherable, is likely simple, observational, and deeply profound for those who speak cow.

Wow, what a ceremony! Hearts were broken, property was damaged, dreams were fulfilled... blood was shed? Damn it, Meryl Streep came in and mugged Charlie Kaufman before absconding with the trophy. Oddly, she’s a previous winner, so the attack isn’t out of need for hardware. People are reading through articles about production on Adaptation for potential motives. Streep made time for a photo opportunity, but remains at large.

I could go on ad infinitum about all of these nominees and winners themselves and why they did or didn’t make the cut, but that’d be better served in a different piece. For now, my thoughts on most of these can be found on the Best of 2020 write-up and over on my Letterboxd. And, as always, these awards can be revoked and redistributed at will, so don’t get too cozy with that statue, Danny Bilson!

On behalf of the RAOGL (Rosscars Association of One Guy at a Laptop), thanks for reading, and stay tuned as we’re establishing a tip line for anyone has seen Ms. Streep or her stolen valor Rosscar. We’ll see you next year. Keep watching movies, and keep arbitrarily quantifying them in terms of subjective quality!