#complete journalistic integrity here | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

99pansy · 8 months ago

Text

ss/mayo blogspot lore + frerard theory

hi I'm about to drop some insane lore that I don't think a lot of mcr fans/frerard theorists know about. this isn't discussed often so I figured I should write about it here before all the evidence is lost to time.

this is probably gonna be a long one so buckle in! i have gathered as much evidence here as possible but there's no way to be certain about anything. i'm trying to maintain as much journalistic integrity as i can throughout this post (also trying super hard not to insert my opinion too much) because i think a lot of this speaks for itself.

so i have a pretty significant frerard theory but i have to give a lot of backstory and documentation for it to fully make sense. this will not be in chronological order (to best suit the narrative) but i hope it makes sense

many people know about frank's F.T. Willz endeavors which have been proven as him in recent years. however, "ss" or "shitsubou shita" was another blog he had before this which is not widely known

around 2007, there was a major theory in the fandom that gerard and frank were running secret blogspot accounts where they'd post journals, poetry, etc. frank's account was iamthemodernprometheus.blogspot.com and gerard's supposed account was its-mayonaise.blogspot.com. both accounts are still up, though i'm not sure if any posts have since been deleted. this probably sounds crazy so i'll explain everything!

evidence for frank as SS/shitsubou-shita/iamthemodernprometheus

i strongly believe this was frank's personal blog, but you can come to your own conclusions based on this info

frank's supposed original blogspot handle was "shitsubou-shita." once fans realized this was his account, he deleted it pretty much immediately. you can read some fan discussion about the fall out from this in a comment thread here. this comment thread will be linked a few times in this post because most of the screenshots on this post originate from there.

apparently *frank* was posting some very personal thoughts/feelings on this blog that he did not want to be discovered. i'll go over some of the deleted posts in a minute, but first i need to give more a little more context.

at the same time the blog is found, someone comments "your fired" on a recent post. apparently some fans thought the comment looked strangely out of place, and it was one of the last comments left before the account's deletion, on one of the final posts made.

this will be relevant later on, and we'll get into the account's posts soon.

my theory is that someone on the "inside" could have found his personal blog and tried spooking him, which could have been the final straw for him. or, the account being deleted could be completely unrelated to the weird comment. all of this can be found here (same link i posted previously)

months after deleting their blog, shitsubou shita begins posting under a new url "iamthemodernprometheus" (but still under the pen name "shitsubou shita" or "ss" as fans called him)

in his new blog, and similarly to F.T. Willz years later, he still leaves plenty of crumbs for fans to figure out it's him. screenshot sources are below

latin heading: his page had a latin heading that when translated, reads "keep the faith"

bio on blogspot: "industry - chemicals", and "you dont stop playing cos you get old…you get old cos you stop playing" both sound suspiciously personal to frank

his url choice: "the modern prometheus" is the full title of mary shelley's frankenstein. frankenstein is a character that frank has always deeply resonated with due to his namesake, love of horror, and being born on halloween

spelling of wierd: SS and frank both spell "weird" as "wierd"

i think he enjoyed the mystery of having a secret online persona, which eventually led to the creation of F.T. Willz in 2008. it seems like wanted to leave just enough evidence for people to suspect it was him, but not enough to prove it.

here are some snippets of 2007 era discourse about the identity of "ss" and their deleted blog. you can find all of these comments and more context here. this was around the time gerard got married and fans felt like the dynamic on stage was different, and they were concerned about the future of the band. it's a LOT to go over so i would advise reading the comments if you want more perspective

on the next page, an anonymous comment is posted which fans immediately begin to speculate is SS (frank). again, if you click the link you can get way more context than i'm able to provide here.

this insinuates that SS frequented the comments on mayo's blog, which i don't think he would have done without believing/knowing mayo is gerard

there was a lot discussed in this thread including pretty solid evidence that frank/ss wrote the ancient and historic "eliza post"

if you are not aware of the eliza cuts drama, that's a totally different and equally as insane rabbit hole you'll have to research on your own

tldr; she is gerard's mentally unstable ex-fiance who he was engaged to very shortly before lindsey

gerard and eliza got engaged on may 22, 2007 (the last show of the black parade tour) according to this reddit comment.

the "eliza post" went up on june 4, 2007. here is the post in its entirety:

"Hi I felt I had to write to you guys to allay some of your fears regarding the rumours and speculation surrounding Gerard and Eliza and the future of the band. This is the only time I will ever post. I will not be able to respond to your comments or enter into discussion or debate on what I'm about to say. We are aware that this is one of the most popular message boards for MCR fans and we know you guys are the most dedicated and loyal fans in the world. It saddens me to see such division amongst the fans over one woman. If it's any consolation, you guys are not the only ones affected. She is merely tolerated by both band and crew. Believe me, nothing anyone can say will change his mind. She's been the cause of numerous conflicts and while we dont have to like it, we have to accept it, at least for the forseeable future. From day one this woman has had a hidden agenda - her manipulation knows no bounds. Some of you may find this difficult to believe but I assure you I have personally witnessed the two sides of this woman. Her so-called 'good deeds' are nothing more than PR exercises for his benefit. But he does not see what goes on behind closed doors. We have tried to draw his attention to her blatant self-promotion and diva demands. This is a prime example of love being blind. His feelings for her do run very deep. Her feelings for him, however, are questionable at best. Many people believe, including myself, that he is being used as nothing more than a stepping stone. It's disheartening to see someone you care about and have worked with for a very long time change as a person, becoming more detached and causing the group dynamic to change as a result. There have been conflicts and differences of opinions and compromises have had to be made She does not accompany the band on the European legs of the tour. Since being on this current European leg, he seems much happier which suggest she doesnt make him as happy as he thinks. Despite being asked more than once to remain discreet, she blatantly disregards his wish to keep his personal life private by continually fuelling the internet hype. The band has always been about the music and the fans. This will not change. MCR have never endorsed any type of clique as it encourages and promotes the kind of high school mentality that MCR have always fought against. Your continued support is appreciated and rest assured this woman will have no adverse affect on the band and the music. For obvious reasons I am remaining anonymous. Eliza, we know you trawl these message boards and you probably know who I am - but I'd like to see you try and prove it!!!"

it's clear that whoever wrote this had a very strong distaste for eliza and was deeply troubled by the idea of gerard marrying her. based on the language used and style of writing, i strongly believe frank wrote this post. i'll be circling back to this in a minute, because i have a little more to go over.

for more evidence that SS is frank, we can reference this reddit comment made just 9 months ago by someone heavily involved in the blogspot community at the time, kapunua. their username on this post is "ReallyKapu."

if you read through the comment links I provided earlier, you may see their name pop up. they are also mentioned by name on the "iamthemodernprometheus" blog. if you also search "kapunua mcr" on google, you can verify their involvement in the blogspot community at the time.

kapunua is also mentioned in its-mayonaise's post here (no screenshot provided for this one, its just a small mention)

there's also a screenshot of a different comment kapunua made about 9 years ago with similar information. i found the screenshot here.

evidence that "mayo" is gerard

as mentioned in the post above, mayo often used british english syntax in his posts. he also posted about some pretty juicy stuff including a blowjob poem (you can seek that out yourself)

using british english isn't out of the ordinary for gerard. he often used an accent on stage during this time. moreover, he is a writer who has written multiple characters with this type of accent, showing he has a certain appeciation for it. i think his persona for the "mayo" account could been a sort of character he put on to disguise his idenity.

if you decide to view mayo's blog, you'll see each post has nothing but comments from mcr fans exclusively. i find it very interesting that the writer of its-mayonaise never bothered to make a post saying "hey, btw, i'm not gerard" in the 4 years this blog was run for

we have somewhat less definitive evidence that gerard is mayo. however, it is clear that at the very least, they had to have been someone involved with MCR or their crew at the time.

mayo makes a post alluding to their identity here, which you can find in the first screenshot below. this section sounds a lot like something gerard would write:

"I have been asked to reveal myself to you. You all know me. I am whoever you want me to be, I am an artist, a poet, a singer, a motherfucker, and a contradiction, a mouthpiece, a friend, and an enemy, a brother, an informant, a whipping boy, a basket case, a queen, and a criminal...(credit to John Hughes.)"

there are THOUSANDS of comments, many of which speculate the identity of mayo on each of his blogspot posts. you should definitely do your own detective work and see what you think, because there is far too much info to go through here.

a frerard theory

as i previously mentioned, frank had deleted his original blog for shitsubou-shita in late september. however, prior to this, he made and then deleted some particularly turbulent and questionable posts

for context, the frerard fight happened on august 22, 2007, and gerard and lindsey got married on september 3, 2007 (just four months after gerard was engaged to eliza)

gerard and lindsey are married on the last night of the projekt revolution tour.

mcr takes a break for one month after this, where we can probably safely assume that freshly-married gerard and frank did not plan on seeing one another.

i think this was very troubling for frank for many different reasons. gerard had just freed himself of the eliza situation and here he was making the same mistake again. he was on the verge of losing his dearest friend yet again, and i believe that despite his best efforts, he could not get through to gerard.

obviously, gerard and lindsey are still married to this day. however, many fans might be aware of what happened between her and mikey. there's also a lot of other questionable information about lindsey circling the web, but that's a different story for another time.

weeks later, similarly to the eliza situation, shitsubou-shita makes and deletes the following posts on his original blog (this was prior to the creation of iamthemodernprometheus):

Friday, September 21, 2007 Abandon hope, all who enter here... What the fuck happened? Why didn't I see this coming? I made a point to keep out of it this time, but at what cost? I'm trapped between a rock and a hard place, it's a lose/lose situation. I've always been honest with you, shouldn't that work both ways? What's with the double standards? People are starting to notice. I'm not talking about kids, I'm talking about people in their mid 20's and 30's. People with life experience who can see the cracks starting to show. What am I supposed to say? I just dont have the answers. How can I reassure them when I need reassurance myself?

he says "i made a point to keep out of it this time" which seems like a reference to the situation with eliza i mentioned previously. he alludes to the idea that fans are beginning to notice the band's dynamic is not the same anymore. this was specifically around the time when "frerard" moments came to a pretty abrupt end.

he says "i've always been honest with you, shouldn't that work both ways?" which can be interpreted in a few different ways. he may feel deceived due to his best friend's sudden marriage. however, the intensity of the language used in this post shows he probably had some very intense feelings toward the situation.

it seems like the writer was having a considerably difficult time coping with these feelings. a day later, this post is made:

Saturday, September 22, 2007 Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me. Bullshit. I've always been a smart ass, even as a child, although my mom would prefer to use the term precocious. I've always had trouble keeping my mouth shut, I'm an open book, completely ingenuous - secrecy and circumvention are not my style. But then I've never experienced extreme paranoia. So I'm writing this blog. I know you will never read it, I wouldn't want you to. Not everything is about you. This blog is for ME, a perverse catharsis, I need this right now to preserve the small amount of sanity I have left. A blog fuelled by disappointment, frustration, confusion and dejection. I am not laying the blame at your door. The burden of blame is mine. I didn't speak up soon enough. I didn't want to rock the boat, I've been there before. I didn't want to fight or endure days of being given the silent treatment. Its not fair on the others. Why do you always make everyone feel like they have to take sides? If I had been a better friend, I would have stepped in regardless of the consequences. I acted selfishly because I didn't want to lose you, but ironically, I may have lost you anyway. I meant every word I said at the diner and although I didnt show it, your smirk and glib response hurt me more than you will ever know. I don't know who you are anymore. I cant seem to find the right words. Nothing I say seems to reach you. You are wrong. I DO care. I love you. I refuse to give up on you and I refuse to let you push me away. I am going to fight for our friendship, you aren't the only one with a stubborn streak. We are in this together, for the long haul, I promise. I want my friend back. I miss him.

it seems like whatever the writer is feeling toward the subject of this post goes beyond the boundaries of a typical friendship. the final paragraph says everything we need to know.

we can assume that based on this post's mention of meeting a diner, that frank and gerard likely met up during their month-long break to talk about the way things went down

lastly, i know there's at least one interview floating or blog post around where frank says he was a difficult teen and a pain in the ass as a kid, but i can't find it right now. if anyone has the link to that i would love to add it here, because i remember it sounding pretty similar to that first paragraph.

Sunday, September 23, 2007 Is the pen really mightier than the sword? And so you continue to blog, as do I. The difference is, I am not hurting anyone. I'm just trying to gain some perspective while you are publicly making a fool of yourself. Your words are hungrily devoured and dissected by the masses, you seem to revel in the chaos and controversy. At the moment your identity is pure speculation, but have you thought about the consequences if anyone was able to prove your identity? Not just for you, but for all of us? Have you lost your mind? How can you be so selfish? You have become a self obsessed megalomaniac. I know what I get out of writing my blogs - but what do you get out of writing yours? Do you even bother to read the comments? Some of those comments break my heart. These aren't just nameless, faceless strangers, these are real people with real lives and real feelings. These are the people that allowed us to bring our music into their lives. These are the people that we see on tour, the people that wait outside for hours in the cold and rain just to meet us, the people that write us letters and make us scrapbooks, the people who care enough to bake us cookies and brownies, the people that send us birthday cards and bizarre, crazy ass gifts, the people that have given us their love and support, the people that cheer us on, the people that made us. Why are you so hellbent on destroying not only yourself, but everyone who loves you? You wanna see how far down I can sink? Your mom called last night - and I lied to her. After everything she has done for us, I lied to her. How do you think that made me feel? Do you even care?

this last post, for me, solidifies the identities behind each blog. it is so clear through the details in this post. to me, it seems like frank was hurting so bad, and in such a vulnerable place, that he completely let his guard down and made this post.

the mcr lyric included "You wanna see how far down I can sink?" is undoubtedly mind-boggling and speaks volumes to how carelessly obvious frank was (maybe intentionally?) willing to be

there's so much to unpack in this post and i honestly can't even begin to wrap my head around it. i would love to hear anyone's opinion!

later in the post, it seems clear that he is referencing the iam-mayonaise blog and gerard's seemingly wreckless posting. but mostly, i think he was lashing out due to pain of betrayal after losing the closest person to him and someone he deeply loves not once, but twice.

again, it's hard to believe how obvious he was being here, but i really think it was a result of the pain/suffering he felt

if you scroll back up to the first screenshot of this post, you can circle back around to when he removed his entire profile after making this final post, eventually rebranding to "iamthemodernprometheus"

the its-mayonaise account makes this post on september 30, seemingly as a response. the title could apply to frank, who as we all know, was gerard's best friend and right-hand man. the rest of this post can be interpreted in many different ways, so you can make whatever you want out of it:

however, the last paragraph does give me pause... i would love to see/create a full analysis of this post, but i'm trying to stick to facts here so you can form your own judgement

after gerard's wedding and mcr's month long break, they play two shows in mexico (oct 4 & 7, 2007) and then the hoboken show takes place, where frank yells "lie to me" during i'm not okay and seems very low energy and unlike himself

i believe things gradually improved between them after this point, but i'm not sure if their connection was ever completely the same.

conclusion/my opinion

coupled with all of the other available evidence about gerard/frank's tumultuous friendship/relationship/situationship, i think this information strongly alludes to the idea that at the very least, frank had some very intense feelings for gerard that were not fully reciprocated. i would love to hear what anyone else's opinion is on this topic, because it definitely isn't discussed often

i think it's completely heartbreaking (especially with everything else we know) but i do think their incredible connection is a massive contributing factor to mcr's legacy

if you notice any inconsistencies in this post or have any questions, please send me a message! i want to keep this as consistent, comprehensible, and well-sourced as i can!

lastly please follow me if you liked this! i spent months researching and compiling sources for this post and i would so appreciate it <3

#frerard #my chemical romance #mcr #gerard way #frank iero #frerard theory #ss/mayo #ss mayo #shitsubou-shita #its-mayonaise #mcr history

362 notes · View notes

narraboths · 2 years ago

Text

“You got anything to tell me about yesterday’s interview, Ponytail?”

Being cornered by one’s editor is rarely a good sign. Being cornered by a harried Snapper Carr one month into her tenure as a rookie reporter would be enough to give others nightmares for a month. Maybe ulcers. Kara, though, she’s been having a great week, and she’s not about to let anyone ruin it.

“Nope.” She pops the p a little. Something about Snapper’s moroseness always pushes her to be spitefully chipper.

“Nothing out of the ordinary?”

“Not at all.”

“Hm.” Snapper nurses the thought with that dour, toothachey look that Kara’s come to learn is directed at her just as much as it is a sign of his general displeasure with the world. He pulls out his phone, jabbing at the screen. “So do you mind explaining to me why my cub reporter is on the front page of every gossip rag from here to Metropolis as the Mystery Blonde Caught in Luthor’s Web?”

That can’t be right is immediately the tip of Kara’s tongue but it freezes there, along with the incredulous laugh threatening to burst out of her, because Snapper is shoving his phone in her face and–

“It’s not what it looks like,” she blurts out, instinctively, then winces at her own choice of words. Great save. “I was just being considerate.”

It’s true, really. She was only holding the door open for Lena as they left L-Corp (Lena was on the move the whole day, they did half of the interview in the back of her Range Rover, flitting between offices), and it only happened that Lena’s hand fell to her forearm, a completely innocent gesture, as innocent as Lena’s smile, as the way she swayed a little closer, saying thank you as she strode by. And sure, Kara may have felt mesmerized for a single, fleeting moment, suddenly so deeply flustered by the gentle weight of Lena’s hand that she almost cracked the door handle in two, but who wouldn’t? Lena Luthor just has a remarkable presence. Why are they letting paparazzi camp out at the L-Corp doorstep, anyways?

“I’ve never seen Luthor that affectionate with anyone.” Snapper eyes Kara suspiciously, his face screaming why you of all people, bumbling rookie who can barely even spell?. “I’ve never seen any of the Luthors affectionate with anyone at all.”

“Guess it’s just my natural charm, sir.” Kara flashes the most annoyingly innocent smile she can, then squares her shoulders. “Did you actually read my article?”

There’s a beat of silence, Snapper staring daggers at her. Then finally, finally, he lets out an annoyed huff.

“Of course I read it. It’s going out first thing tomorrow.” He pockets his phone, then rubs his face with a tired motion. “Make sure this doesn’t happen again.”

“You got it, boss.”

It happens again.

It happens again a bunch, really. (Kara at the L-Corp gala, at Lena’s table, the two of them in lively conversation, shoulders pressed together – she was telling me about L-Corp’s new green energy initiative, sir –, the fond smile and almost-teasing tone when Lena calls “yes, Miss Danvers?” at her press conference – she’s just nice! It’s not a crime! –, the candid of them on the CatCo balcony when Lena’s in house for her cover shoot, Kara gesturing excitedly and Lena leaning against the railing, hanging onto every word, a jacket two sizes too big wrapped around her shoulders – you know it gets cold out there. At least there’s no photos of her wrapping the jacket around Lena, their hands brushing together, the faint blush along the lines of Lena’s throat. That’d probably look pretty suspicious.) Snapper’s face takes on increasingly vivid shades of purplish red.

“Do we need to go over the meaning of journalistic integrity again, Danvers?”

Kara decides to take graduating from “Ponytail” as a win.

“We’re not– it’s not anything untoward,” she shoots back, arms crossed, only slightly blushing. In anger, certainly. “I’m doing my job. I grilled her on L-Corp still holding a contract with the government for anti-alien defense systems that Lex negotiated, just last week. There’s footage.”

“Yeah,” Snapper grinds his teeth so vehemently that Kara’s afraid he might crack a crown. “Footage of her hugging you in the hallway afterwards, too. What the hell were you doing?”

“She just thanked me, sir.” The vein on Snapper’s neck looks ready to burst. Kara makes a mental note to recommend meditation at a less belligerent time. “She said my question made it possible for her to make a public stance and really send a message.”

Snapper looks like he’s nearing an aneurysm.

“Hell, Danvers, that sounds even worse!”

It sounded pretty great, actually, Kara thinks, after the borderline unprofessional row they had in Lena’s office when Kara first broached the subject. It felt pretty great, too, not just Lena’s declaration, her renewed commitment to reject everything Lex and Lillian stand for, but the warmth of Lena’s pressed against her, her lips brushing against Kara’s cheek, the low murmur of “you’re such a wonderful friend” in her ear that gave her such a strange shiver. At least that much thankfully escaped the prying eyes and cameras.

“Either I don’t go near her, or CatCo continues to have the leading stories on one of National City’s most high-profile citizens.” She gives Snapper the steeliest look she can muster without letting her heat vision flare up. “And my covers are currently bringing in our biggest numbers. Sir.”

Snapper grinds his teeth again, but his shoulders sag just a touch, and Kara knows she’s won this round.

“You’re on thin ice, Danvers. Back to your desk.”

Kara complies with a grin and a thumbs up, and decides to take a break half an hour later, when Alex forwards her an article titled Bosom Buddies: Lena Luthor Out And About With CatCo Gal Pal with a subtle mix of skull, knife, and eyeroll emojis. She does save one of the photos, though, the one where Lena’s head’s thrown back in adorable, delightful laughter.

“Can you explain this one, Danvers?”

Snapper doesn’t look angry this time. No, he’s strangely calm, somewhat elated, even, slamming a whole bundle of newspapers down on her desk, jolting Kara out of her reverie. Half of them are National City publications, Kara vaguely notes, but there’s Metropolis and Gotham and Central City in the mix, too, as if it was the story of the century. Must be a slow news day.

“Of course, sir. I think the proper term is ‘first date’?”

To her greatest surprise, Snapper barks out a laugh, loud and gruff.

“You’re now barred from any future reporting on the Luthors or L-Corp,” he tells her, not without a touch of satisfaction. If Kara hadn’t been walking on sunshine for the past thirteen hours, twenty-eight minutes and forty-one seconds, since the first tentative press of Lena’s lips against her own, she might’ve felt a bit miffed. “Cat Grant’s setting aside a little time later in the afternoon to chew you out personally.”

Kara nods happily along. Withering tones and grim disapproval, the usual spiel, as if anything could dull that buzzing, electrifying feeling coursing through her body since last night, the weightless, feverish joy that grips her every time she thinks of Lena’s last text and everything can’t wait to see you again tonight could possibly entail.

“Yessir.”

“Congratulations, Danvers.” Snapper raps his knuckles against her desk. “Let’s spare each other the heartburn from now on.”

(Kara shows up with a hickey on her neck and the headlines of Lena Luthor Packs PDA With New Girlfriend the next day. Snapper refuses to look her in the eyes for the rest of the week.)

#supercorp #supercorp fic #my fic

1K notes · View notes

lesbiansforboromir · 7 months ago

Text

Alright, I was holding off for journalistic integrity but now that I've seen the WotR film I can make posts about it without restraint.

Jesus christ the racial politics of this film are atrocious. Some character might as well just tell Wulf 'not to play the race card'. Wulf is a liberal snowflake who blames racism for all his troubles and can't pull himself up by his bootstraps and he is also brown-skinned and obsessively pursues our PORCLAIN white dainty-drawn female protagonist with both romantic and murderous intent. Oppression of dunlendings by the Rohirrim exists only in Wulf's head apparently, though it can be tasted in every spat 'dunlending' perjorative that comes from Helm or Haleth's mouth. But Hera has absolutely no racism within her of course! She refuses Wulf because she doesnt want to marry anyone and Wulf just assumes it's because his dunlending blood disgusts her, so entitled of him!

But also maybe the racism is '''justified'''? If it exists? Which it doesn't! But IF it did, don't worry because ONCE AGAIN all the dunlendings are just greedy, clutching, unwashed, skull wearing, violent barbarians with no unique culture to speak of and no reasons to be making war on Rohan except to sieze what isn't theirs (ignoring the fact that it totally was theirs until Rohan seized it from them and OH BOY are we ignorin' that) And the only dunlending we see not frothing at the mouth for violence or showing any introspective depth at all is General Targg who is the mouthpiece with which we get to hear 'the girl (Hera) is right' whereupon he is promptly killed by Wulf.

Oh but of course, what else could Helm have done? Freca was some greedy FAT man (boy does everyone love calling him fat, happy to lean into THAT aspect of canon) whose lands were too prosperous for his own good (hang on isn't keeping your lands prosperous the platonic ideal of lordship?) And he called a 'Witan' (no he didn't, he came to one of the regular councils of lords that Helm called himself) just to make a scene about how Helm was going to marry Hera to a lord of gondor which is bad because Gondor has some nebulous hold over Rohan so Hera should marry Wulf instead (literally none of that, Freca simply asked Helm to wed his daughter to Wulf, his son, a completely normal and legitimate political strategy to secure a better relationship with the King's family since Helm already mistrusted him for having dunlending blood. Freca is a lord of Rohan, he is rich, he traces his ancestry back to King Freawine, this could not be a more reasonable suggestion in canon.)

SO OBVIOUSLY Helm had to get angry and call Freca fat again (true he did do that) and THEN claim that Freca only wanted his throne (there was never any suggestion of this in the books, it was just the offer of marriage which insulted Helm) to which Freca answered "Old kings that refuse a proffered staff may fall on their knees," and Helm is like okay lets take this outside.

And now THIS change is actually so important in understanding the extreme nature of the Rohir/Helm favouritism that is the main focus of this film. In the film Helm pretty much immediately takes Freca outside, he reassures Frealaf that Freca just needs to be shown his place, this is the only way to settle the matter, if he doesn't embarass him here then Freca will try to take his crown and slay his family apparently, his hunch ig etc etc. Freca punches Helm three times in full view of the whole of Edoras including Freca's two men who came with him, then Helm punches him back and he is knocked out cold and dead by the time he hits the ground. Film!Helm does not realise he has done this and tells Freca to get up, Wulf realises his father is dead and threatens Helm with revenge, swords are draw against him which he tries to calm before Wulf attacks him. Helm incapacitates Wulf, his sons draw THEIR swords and Helm exiles Wulf for drawing his sword on his king. Messy right? Like not a good thing to do, generally brawling with your lords is a bad idea full stop, but if you fear for the lives of your children then idk maybe it's excusable? And then it's just an unfortunate series of events right? And Freca was rude and insulting to a king in his own halls, heat of the moment etc etc

I feel so comfortable in telling you that Helm murders Freca in cold blood in the books, fully intending that to be the outcome.

He does not take him outside initially, Book!Helm tells Freca that this marriage dispute isn't important and they will deal with it later. And then;

When the council was over, Helm stood up and laid his great hand on Freca’s shoulder, saying: "The king does not permit brawls in his house, but men are freer outside"; and he forced Freca to walk before him out from Edoras into the field. To Freca’s men that came up he said: "Be off ! We need no hearers. We are going to speak of a private matter alone. Go and talk to my men!" And they looked and saw that the king’s men and his friends far outnumbered them, and they drew back. "Now, Dunlending," said the king, "you have only Helm to deal with, alone and unarmed. But you have said much already, and it is my turn to speak. Freca, your folly has grown with your belly. You talk of a staff! If Helm dislikes a crooked staff that is thrust on him, he breaks it. So!" With that he smote Freca such a blow with his fist that he fell back stunned, and died soon after. Helm then proclaimed Freca’s son and near kin the king’s enemies; and they fled, for at once Helm sent many men riding to the west marches.

(Appendices, 'The House of Eorl', emphasis mine)

I think we can all agree that forcing someone out of your city, isolating them away from their fellows with threats of violence, telling them you will break them, killing them in one blow and then proclaiming their kin your enemies and forcing them to flee to escape a murderous pursuit, is pretty clearly premeditated murder. There is not much nuance here, Freca tresspassed over a line with Helm that Dunlendings are not allowed to cross and Helm killed him for it.

And listen like, the description of this whole story within the appendices is barely more than three pages. This is not an obscure missable aspect of the tale, nor is it outside of what rights they had to adapt. The choice was made, actively, ONCE AGAIN by the Warner Bros cinematic universe makers, to drastically alter book events in order to sand down any immorality within Rohan's narrative, especially where the Dunlendings are concerned. And in the end the only 'mistake' Helm is allowed to learn and grow from is some nebulous and trite 'not believing enough in his daughter' schpiel, which needs to be the subject of a whole 'nother post actually.

And what's agonising is they COULD have done it like they were so close, there are multiple moments where me and my friend watching were like struck!! With grief! Over how impactful this moment could have been if only the racism actually existed as an acknowledged theme in the story. If only it was something Hera had to come to terms with, if only IT was the true driver of these horrors to the point where it's Avatar, Hera's father, a man who loves her and whom she has loved all her life, turns into a cold icey ghost of brutality, far more vicious and barbaric than the people he so reviles, and reveals to her the terrible truth of his actions and motivations. It's agony I tell you.

Anyway I did not like the film.

#text post #the war of the rohirrim #wotr #twotr #wotr spoilers #wotr critical #erran vs peter jackson #I should change that to vs warner bros

145 notes · View notes

rainyenemypoetry · 1 month ago

Text

Tech Moguls Want to Build a Crypto Paradise on a Native American Reservation And hope to gobble up some land near you.

Early last year, a group of entrepreneurs and tech enthusiasts from around the world gathered inside a newly built dome on the Honduran island of Roatán to grapple with a problem: For thought leaders who want to move fast and break things, what can be done about laws that get in the way? The conference, sponsored by the Salt Lake City–based Startup Societies Foundation, was being put on in Vitalia, a longevity-themed “pop-up city” that caters to American medical tourists sidestepping cumbersome FDA regulations. Its motto: “We’re here to make death optional.” Vitalia was in turn located in Próspera, a semiautonomous city on Roatán. Imagine a nesting doll, a city within a city within a city—all on a Caribbean isle.Próspera, the project of entrepreneurs funded by venture capital firms backed by PayPal founder Peter Thiel and venture capital mogul Marc Andreessen, was established in 2017 and continues today, despite repeated efforts from Honduras to shut it down. An example of a “special economic zone,” Próspera is an autonomous jurisdiction with limited regulations. The general idea has been around for years—Mother Jones wrote about a failed Thiel-backed effort to build floating cities at sea back in 2012, for example. But in recent years, Silicon Valley founders, as they like to call themselves, have reworked the concept into the “network state,” as coined by entrepreneur and investor Balaji Srinivasan, a close friend of Thiel’s and a former colleague of Andreessen’s. As journalist Gil Durán observed in a New Republic piece on Srinivasan last year, “Balaji’s politics have become even more stridently authoritarian and extremist, yet he remains a celebrated figure in key circles,” including multiple Signal chats that, Semafor reported in April, helped radicalize the Silicon Valley elite.In a 2021 essay on his website, Srinivasan laid out his vision for people seeking to build a new utopia or, as he put it, “a fresh start.” Sure, there were conventional ways to do this—forming a new country through revolution or war. But that would be, well, really hard, not to mention unpredictable. A cruise ship or somewhere in space were appealing options, but both presented logistical challenges. Far simpler and more practical was “tech Zionism,” creating an online nation, complete with its own culture, economy, tax structure, and, of course, startup-friendly laws.Eventually, Srinivasan mused, such a community could acquire actual physical property where people would gather and live under the laws dreamed up by the founders—a “reverse diaspora,” he called it—but that land didn’t even need to be contiguous. “A community that forms first on the internet, builds a culture online,” he said, “and only then comes together in person to build dwellings and structures.” Acknowledging that the idea might sound a little goofy—like live-action Minecraft—he emphasized that it was also a serious proposition. “Once we remember that Facebook has 3B users, Twitter has 300M, and many individual influencers”—himself included—“have more than 1M followers,” he wrote, “it starts to be not too crazy to imagine we can build a 1-10M person social network with a genuine sense of national consciousness, an integrated cryptocurrency, and a plan to crowdfund many pieces of territory around the world.”A network state would, like a kind of Pac-Man, gobble up little pieces of actual land, eventually amassing so much economic power that other nations would be forced to recognize it. Once that happens, laws in more conventional nations could become almost irrelevant. Why on earth would, say, a pharmaceutical company with a new drug choose to spend billions of dollars and decades on mandated testing when it could go to a deregulated network state and take it to market in record time? As Srinivasan argued in a Zoom talk at last year’s conference, “Just like it was easier to start bitcoin and then to reform the Fed,” he said, “it is literally easier to start a new country than

46 notes · View notes

loudcreationbluebird · 1 month ago

Text

Tech Moguls Want to Build a Crypto Paradise on a Native American Reservation And hope to gobble up some land near you.

46 notes · View notes

vidra-comprehends · 29 days ago

Text

TES Gala - Morndas

Event organized by @tes-gala and hosted by the honorable House Nivulirel.

Article written by Yivohn Malril.

Today's highlight: Herma-Mora

Guests presenting:

Lady Ithruen

Miraak (?)

This is going to be one of the weirder entries in this review. Brace yourselves, because we are diving into the inky depths of Apocrypha with Lady Ithruen (see my Sundas article) and none other than the double warlock half-man-half-beast dragon rider Miraak... or not.

Okay. A quick disclaimer here. I value both the trust of the esteemed readers and my own integrity as a journalist, and this is why I will admit that I am not entirely sure what I saw was real. Later in the evening, when I requested audience with Lady Ithruen and showed her my drawings, she gave me an uncomfortable but negative answer; she claims to have never worn this outfit. "Ven Ghul", "Wuth Sunvaar" or "Not Miraak Anymore", as she referred to the other figure, was completely unavailable for questions… or anything else, really. Still, if this is my punishment for speaking ill of the prince last week over dinner, I better get it out of my system. So, did I sketch these from memory or vision? I truly have no idea... I feel very far from myself at the moment.

My assistant suggested I sketch him to get my mind off the whole topic. He was not in costume, but perhaps my disturbed readers will appreciate "something of finer nature". I certainly did.

Another disclaimer. Any possible resemblance to known government officials is purely coincidental.

#skyrim #tesgala25 #oc: Semir'Visca Ithruen #miraak #taliesin skyrim #cw tentacles #cw body horror #cw delusion #(not really but you will see)#ironically the reason this post is late is because i had a really good sleep #no terrible knowledge to process for once #vidrart #id in alt text

25 notes · View notes

the-laced-dollhouse · 11 months ago

Text

from twitter

"Our journalists visited the site of the homicide earlier today, to conduct an investigation of our own, but we were met with a bit of resistance by the police and forensics team at the site. But fear not! We at the Emberton wire are committed to journalistic integrity and getting the stories to the public, no matter the cost! So without hesitation, we pushed past their blatant censorship of journalism, and went to the scene of the crime! Here are some raw photos of the victim!"

uh.. WOAH THERE!!!

the images are actually incredibly interesting, the grayscale and pixelation somehow makes it look Spookier than it is (it leaves more room for the brain to fill in the blanks), maybe that's just me though

full image under the cut for anyone who (understandably) doesn't have Twitter

"The Emberton Wire

MURDER AT WHITEPINE!

Murder strikes! Earlier today, a maid was found dead in Whitepine Estate, home of Emberton's largest tycoon and philanthropist, Sir Zombie Hemlocke! The maid was said to have been stabbed multiple times all over her body, with parts of her severed completely. Shocked and confused are the people of Emberton on this day, such a horrible occurrence hasn't happened in this quaint city in decades!

And now an investigation has opened on who could have been the murderer, the dastardly villain who could still be among us!

Our journalists visited the site of the homicide earlier today, to conduct an investigation of our own, but we were met with a bit of resistance by the police and forensics team at the site. But fear not! We at the Emberton wire are committed to journalistic integrity and getting the stories to the public, no matter the cost! So without hesitation, we pushed past their blatant censorship of journalism, and went to the scene of the crime! Here are some raw photos of the victim!

Who could have done this? Was it a fellow, jealous maid? An affair gone wrong? Stay tuned for the newest updates of this thrilling case, we will be updating you all every step of the way!"

In a footnote (? I don't know the word for it):

"Text corrector hired!

our last few papers had some typos! well we finally hired a goddamn editor so you can stop sending up angry letters now. it really hurts our feelings and we'd like" (the rest is cut off)

#whitepine #if anyone's already posted this on here um whoops #un whites your pine #-🧨#I'm not gonna do the cruel thing and tag this as mysticat. it is literally just bros corpse

62 notes · View notes

formulatrash · 7 months ago

Note

Hi! Just wondering what you do now that you aren’t in journalism (or maybe you are and I’m completely mistaken)? Would you go back to journalism within motorsports, or within a different field at all?

oh, I am a pub manager. I've just moved jobs from working for Wetherspoons - which is secure and you're fairly well looked after but boring and restrictive - to running an absolutely enormous pub on the extreme outskirts of London. it has many challenges, such as the fact I am living in an enormous pub by myself and all my friends aren't here and everything is broken etc. but that's what it is and I knew what I was signing up to.

right now, no I wouldn't go back to journalism. it's not the urge is gone - I'm actually doing an oral history project in the pub because it's near where Crayford race track used to be, so I'm capturing the stories of the speedway and stock car racers. it's, firstly, important and increasingly dying history and secondly, obviously a passion project on something I care about.

the reason I wouldn't go back to journalism unless something radically changes is that there just isn't any way to sustain a job in it. entire newsrooms are being fired weekly, pay is appallingly low even for the industry right now and getting steadily worse. even the couple of big commissions I've had this year (and when I write things now we're talking four figures for a feature) were so painful to be actually paid for I finally got payment for something I wrote in May in November. that... isn't survivable.

this does happen in the media. it happened during the great pivot to video in 2015 and it happened when print media collapsed and it probably happened tens of times before that. but it's now happening on a cycle of about six months, with publications being bought and ruined by private equity and then everyone being replaced by SEO and AI.

I also think there is something very wrong with journalism in, specifically, the UK. I'd struggle to think of a mainstream paper I could write for in good conscience knowing I wouldn't be sharing a platform with transphobes and bigots - Metro's probably one of the last and that's owned by the Daily Mail Group. journalism is about ethics and integrity and if it's impossible to work in it with both of those then what you're doing isn't journalism and that's not for me.

I really enjoyed being a journalist but I also enjoy working in pubs. caring for and curating a community has its own, very big, rewards. they pay roughly as shitly as each other, so it is what it is.

(if you're in Kent/the outskirts of London my pub is The Royal Oak on Bexley Road in Northheath - it's a bit of a mess currently but we'll get there steadily. one thing about me is that I'm incapable of being normal about my job so something that benefits from relentless working is kind of ideal.)

36 notes · View notes

empiredesimparte · 1 year ago

Text

Live TV Broadcast on Francesim 2, Special Edition ‘Oliver and Hortense, The Royal Wedding’

👉🏻 Follow Hortense's wedding on the blog @officalroyalsofpierreland

Statement by Jérôme Leicca, Head of the Emperor's Household, at the Press Conference on the Marriage of Hortense and Oliver of Scots.

Ladies and Gentlemen, members of the press, This royal marriage marks an important and symbolic moment for our two nations, and I am here to clarify the new legal and protocol situation of Her Royal Highness, Princess Hortense, to the French people. Princess Hortense, in marrying Prince Oliver, has acquired a new status as Princess of the Scots. She will henceforth be referred to as "Her Royal Highness, Princess Hortense." This title is a recognition of her integration into the Scottish royal house and her new role within it. This new status takes precedence over her French title, which she nevertheless retains as the sister of the Emperor of the French. This retention has been approved by His Imperial Majesty, Emperor Napoleon V, in accordance with imperial tradition and the provisions of our Constitution. Thus, her full title is: "Her Royal Highness, Princess Hortense of the Scots, Duchess of Rothsey, Countess of Carrick, Lady of the Isle of Sky, Madame de Francesim." As a member of the imperial family, Princess Hortense will continue to enjoy certain protocol privileges when she is in our country, in her capacity as Madame. However, her main responsibilities and commitments will now focus on her duties as the wife of the Prince of the Scots. The official functions and protocol engagements of the Princess in Francesim will be coordinated in close collaboration with the Scottish Royal Household to ensure harmony and consistency in her activities. It should be noted that Her Royal Highness will continue her studies in Francesim at the École Polytechnique for two more years. We kindly ask journalists to respect the privacy of the Princess and the newlywed couple while on French soil. In accordance with Article 2 of the Imperial Constitution, the children of Their Royal Highnesses will not have any rights of succession to the throne of Francesim. They will hold dual Franco-Scottish nationality but will not have any French imperial privileges. This event strengthens the bonds of friendship and cooperation between the empire of Francesim and the kingdom of Scotland. It symbolizes the unity and fraternity of our two nations, and we look forward to increased cultural and diplomatic exchanges as a result. The members of the Emperor's Household, with whom the Princess grew up, wish to express their warmest wishes for her marriage to the Prince Oliver.

⚜ Traduction française

Emission télévisée en direct sur Francesim 2, édition spéciale "Oliver et Hortense, le mariage royal"

Déclaration de Jérôme Leicca, Chef de la Maison de l'Empereur, lors de la Conférence de Presse sur le Mariage d'Hortense et d'Oliver d'Écosse.

Mesdames et Messieurs, membres de la presse, Ce mariage royal marque un moment important et symbolique pour nos deux nations, et je suis ici pour clarifier la nouvelle situation légale et protocolaire de Son Altesse Royale, Hortense, auprès des Français. En épousant le prince Oliver, Madame a acquis un nouveau statut en tant que Princesse des Ecossais et duchesse de Rothsey. Elle sera désormais désignée sous le prédicat "d'Altesse royale, Princesse Hortense". Ce titre est une reconnaissance de son intégration dans la maison royale écossaise et de son nouveau rôle au sein de celle-ci. Il prévaut désormais sur son titre français, qu'elle conserve néanmoins en tant que sœur de l'Empereur. Ce maintien a été approuvé par Sa Majesté Impériale, l'Empereur Napoléon V, en accord avec la tradition impériale et les dispositions de notre Constitution. Ainsi, le titre complet est : "Son Altesse Royale, la Princesse Hortense des Ecossais, Duchesse de Rothsey, Countess of Carrick, Lady of the Isle of Sky, Madame de Francesim". En tant que membre de la famille impériale, la princesse Hortense continuera à jouir de certaines prérogatives protocolaires lorsqu'elle se trouve en notre pays, en qualité de Madame. Cependant, ses responsabilités et engagements principaux seront désormais centrés sur ses devoirs en tant qu'épouse du prince des Ecossais. Les fonctions officielles et les engagements protocolaires de la Princesse en Francesim seront coordonnés en étroite collaboration avec la Maison Royale d'Écosse pour assurer une harmonie et une cohérence dans ses activités. Il faut préciser que Son Altesse Royale poursuivra encore deux ans ses études en Francesim, à l'Ecole Polytechnique. Nous demandons donc aux journalistes de bien vouloir respecter l'intimité de la Princesse et du jeune couple marié sur le sol français. Conformément à l'article 2 de la Constitution impériale, les enfants de Leurs Altesses Royales n'auront pas de droits de succession au trône de Francesim. Ils auront la double nationale franco-écossaise, mais n'auront aucun privilège impérial français. Cet événement renforce les liens d'amitié et de coopération entre la Francesim et l'Écosse. Il symbolise l'unité et la fraternité de nos deux nations, et nous nous réjouissons des échanges culturels et diplomatiques accrus qui en découleront. Les membres de la Maison de l'Empereur, auprès desquels la Princesse Hortense a grandi, souhaitent exprimer leurs vœux les plus chaleureux pour son mariage avec le prince Oliver.

34 notes · View notes

justinspoliticalcorner · 3 months ago

Text

Parker Molloy at The Present Age:

Last week, I wrote about the shocking resignation of Bill Owens from 60 Minutes and how it represented a dangerous capitulation to Trump's intimidation tactics. Now, Scott Pelley has confirmed our worst fears. During Sunday's "The Last Minute" segment, Pelley delivered a remarkably candid statement acknowledging exactly what pushed Owens out: corporate interference from Paramount executives desperate for Trump administration approval of their pending merger.

Transcript:

[In tonight’s last minute, a note on Bill Owens, who until this past week was executive producer of 60 Minutes. He was our boss. Bill was with CBS News nearly 40 years, 26 years at 60 Minutes. He covered the world, covered combat, the White House. His was a quest to open minds, not close them. If you’ve ever worked hard for a boss because you admired him, then you understand what we’ve enjoyed here. Bill resigned Tuesday. It was hard on him and hard on us, but he did it for us and you. Stories we pursued for 57 years are often controversial. Lately, the Israel-Gaza war and the Trump administration. Bill made sure they were accurate and fair. He was tough that way. But our parent company, Paramount is trying to complete a merger. The Trump administration must approve it. Paramount began to supervise our content in new ways. None of our stories has been blocked, but Bill felt he lost the independence that honest journalism requires. No one here is happy about it, but in resigning, Bill proved one thing: He was the right person to lead 60 Minutes all along.]

"Paramount began to supervise our content in new ways," Pelley stated bluntly. "None of our stories has been blocked, but Bill felt he lost the independence that honest journalism requires." This is as close to a public confirmation of editorial interference as you'll ever hear from a network anchor. The message couldn't be clearer: A once-independent news program is now operating under the watchful eye of corporate executives who need Trump's blessing for their business deals. Pelley also made sure to emphasize that the controversial coverage of "the Israel-Gaza war and the Trump administration" was at the heart of this supervision. The timing here is no coincidence. As Trump has repeatedly attacked 60 Minutes coverage (most recently over a Kamala Harris interview that prompted his $10 billion lawsuit), Paramount's corporate overlords swooped in to make sure the show wouldn't further antagonize the administration they need to greenlight their merger. What's interesting about Pelley's statement is how uncharacteristically direct it was. Network news anchors typically avoid calling out their corporate parents. The fact that Pelley felt compelled to acknowledge this interference publicly speaks volumes about how egregious the situation had become.

When Pelley says "No one here is happy about it," he's signaling that the entire 60 Minutes team recognizes this for what it is: a devastating blow to journalistic independence. By praising Owens as "the right person to lead 60 Minutes all along," Pelley is tacitly criticizing the corporate decision-makers who made it impossible for Owens to continue. The implications here are chilling. If 60 Minutes — a program legendary for its independence and journalistic integrity — can be brought to heel by corporate interests afraid of presidential backlash, what hope do lesser-known news operations have?

On CBS’s 60 Minutes Sunday, Scott Pelley delivered a very brutal truth: corporate pressure by Paramount drove producer Bill Owens to resign.

From the 04.27.2025 edition of CBS's 60 Minutes:

youtube

#CBS #Paramount Global #Scott Pelley #Paramount Global/Skydance Merger #60 Minutes #CBS News

8 notes · View notes

acesgarden · 1 year ago

Text

Lowkey based off of an old fanfic of mine that got accidentally deleted :<. So to the person who requested the og Rise!April sleepover fic (if you’re still here), This one goes out to you 🫡.

|| Girl’s Night

Pairing(s) ->

Rise!April O’N. Sunita, and Cassandra J. + F!Reader

Warning(s) ->

N/A.

Summary ->

Sleepover at April’s ft. Sunita and Cassandra.

1k Words : Masterlist

Worn shoes beat against old stairs. Climbing them has become a second nature to her. The hallway of the second floor wasn’t dim, but not harshly lit either. Though there was this one light that constantly flickered. Always some strange rhythmic pattern. She continued on, passing door after door while she counted the numbers as they went by.

213, 214, 215, 216, 217, 21- she stopped immediately, backtracking to apartment 216. giggling to herself and readjusting her backpack. Raising her fist she knocked on the wooden door. There was faint talking coming from deep in the apartment. Then there were footsteps approaching and the door opened.

“Oh! I’m happy you could make it, honey. April, Sunita, and Casey are in the living room waiting for you. I’m just about to head out, so do take care of the apartment.” She loved April’s mom, most everyone did. She treated all of April's friends like her own kids. The older woman followed after her to the living room and gave April a quick peck on the forehead. All four girls waved goodbye as April’s mom left for work. A late call in. Not that April ever minded, nor the three other girls. Who turned to the latest arrival.

“Soooo, what snacks ya get?” Casey was the first one to speak up. Casey leaned in close as she plopped on the floor. Pulling the bag from behind after she sat and unzipped it.

“I went and raided the nearest convenience store.” She flipped over her bag and various kinds of chips, candies, and other goodies fell out of it.

“And-“ she flipped the bag right side up, unzipping the front pocket. Shoving her hand in and pulling out a few extra bags of popcorn.

“I came prepared.”

“You are a lifesaver! I completely forgot to grab extras.” April laughed, she had been very busy with setting up for their monthly girls night.

She smiles big, passing things out, everyone has their tastes and when plain popcorn is made it goes by quickly. They all began setting up for the night, blankets, pillows, foods, movies, and other activities.

They talked as they did. Casey talking about her life after leaving the foot, she was trying out for hockey again. Reminiscing over her childhood team. Sunita talks about her new job on the surface and her work with integrating Mutants, Yōkai, and Humans. April mentioned more of the integration project as well as the work she does now as a news journalist. The later arrival intrigued, asked questions and eventually updated about her own life.

The chatter quieted as the group got settled. April sorted through the movies as they decided which one to watch first. She had grabbed five, a few favorites, a musical and three newly released movies. Each with their own tastes, but eventually they all decided on Howl’s Moving Castle. Sure they’ve watched it hundreds of times but it was good! With them in agreement they fully settled into their spots and started the movie.

a decent portion of the movie had passed when Casey started dozing off. Sunita noticed her first, grabbing a nearby pillow and whacking her on the head. Casey jumped up.

“You started it.” Casey snatched a pillow and threw it at Sunita, but she missed and it hit April in the back of the head. Name remained oblivious to the pillow fight stirring as she was engrossed in the movie. Until a stray pillow hit her in the back of her head. To which she turned and looked at the scene. April pillowless, Casey with a pillow in hand bonking Sunita who’s pillow lay in her grasp below Casey.

Name turned to face them. Before grabbing a pillow as it went flying. The pillow fight continued with pillows flying, giggles and laughter, and light hearted shrikes as the group of girls lost track of the movie.

That was till a knock at the door sounded and all four of them froze.

“The pizza!” April scrambled up rushing to the door. The other three settled and tidied up just a smidge. They turned as April closed the door with her foot and headed to the kitchen. Everyone followed after her, talking and helping her set up. Grabbing slices and then leaving the leftovers of pizzas in the oven for April’s mom once she returned.

Everyone returned to their seats, munching on pizza as the movie continued. Each time starting up a new one, followed by chatting and jokes and the occasional person getting up for another slice. Cracking open the bags of chips, candies, and other goodies occurred throughout the night. Once April went to the kitchen and came back with four tubs of icecream.

Maybe stopping to play a game or do another little activity together before eventually returning to a new movie. This went on for hours.

The movies ended, games and food put away. Pillows and blankets readjusted. Everyone was readying for bed. Doing a quick thing of skincare, helping with hair and everything else needed.

All of them were quick to doze off, tired and exhausted from their previous ventures. it quickly became quiet and the room filled with sleeping kids. Mayhem curled up by April like an actual cat would do.

They all whispered good night to each other and some managed to fall asleep faster than others, while some quickly scrolled on their phone to fall asleep. They too eventually fell asleep.

It was late- or well early in the morning when Mrs. O’Neil returned home. Tired from work and relieved to not hear any screams from the apartment. Opening the door to find all four girls passed out line a light. Their weird dog thing curled up by April. She smiled and quietly stepped into the kitchen, seeing the note about the leftover pizza. Getting herself a quick two slices before turning back to the four girls laying dead asleep. Missing April’s forehead and giving them all a quietly whispered goodnight.

Tags: @fluffybun24

46 notes · View notes

eisforeidolon · 5 months ago

Note

Whoever runs that YouTube was in the comments was saying “I’m here for a reason” and that they “fought battles for them” behind the scenes. Unless promising destiel content on Valentine’s Day (it’s a channel that posts official clips - what do people think they’ll do( The more you read, the more you realise it’s someone who likely grew up on tumblr. But the things they are saying are just sily.

Have you noticed spn social media has been more active in general lately? They’re trying to make money

Yeah, another anon pointed out the channel was only started back in October of last year. It probably doesn't cost much to get some randos to run social media accounts to boost an already made show that's still bringing in streaming/syndication views. And since the show is over? Nobody's gonna be super invested in monitoring exactly what they're posting at this point, which makes it easy for delusional weirdos with an agenda to weasel in and attempt to manufacture more of their own homemade "proof".

So yeah, there's a reason that rando is there beyond what they were actually hired for - their own personal agenda to queerbait for attention. Because that has worked out so well to actually make the ship happen, surely they should keep trying!!!

Like, hellers have been attempting to make D/C canon by taking clips of the characters blatantly out of context and calling it a romance for years. It's not going to magically work by doing the same old shit on YouTube, even if it is some random intern affiliated with promotion of the show doing it instead of a completely random tumblr user.

Just like how supposed journalists stalling to get Misha and Jensen to interview together on a carpet at an event didn't make Misha/Castiel actually a lead. Like how the same people tweeting and writing clickbait claiming to be besties with the writers who totes for real told them big D/C developments were coming did not manifest their ship into reality. Like how the creepy editor guy, or the minion writing assistant, or even Bobo the assclown literally working on the show didn't change what the show was actually about.

It works on them as a group because, again, hellers seem to masochistically enjoy being queerbaited and almost never blame those actually responsible for leading them on. So if you have no integrity nor genuine care for either the show or even your fellow fans, why not?!

#destihellers #askboxery #anonymous #the definition of insanity...

8 notes · View notes

turneradora · 10 months ago

Text

THANK YOU SO MUCH TO Emma Jones for the article in the Telegraph

🌹❤️💋

The Telegrah

Judith Woods

27 September 2024 2:30pm

Here I am, avidly watching the first few episodes of Rivals, the sizzling new Disney+ treatment of Dame Jilly Cooper’s raunchy blockbuster, before my interview with dreamboat-y Aidan Turner, when my 22-year-old daughter walks into the room.

‘What the actual?’ she cries, open-mouthed in horror. ‘Oh my God! What are they doing?’

I chide her prudishness. ‘Well, if you must know, Rupert Campbell-Black and a woman he probably just met have reached a shuddering climax on Concorde,’ I explain. ‘Your generation didn’t invent sex, you know, darling – the Mile High Club has been around for…’ but it turns out that’s not what’s triggered her.

‘These people are SMOKING! On. A. Plane. Who even does that?’

Everybody, that’s who. Welcome to the sassy, sexy 1980s, Missy. Double-breasted suits and taffeta skirts, booze, bonking, endless ciggies and hairstyles so fugly (the mullet, for pity’s sake?) as to have recently crept back into fashion.

It’s all there: rampant sexism, social climbing and conspicuous consumption, to a banging soundtrack of Eurythmics, Hall & Oates, Haircut 100 and the rest – no idea how The Birdie Song got in there though. Did people really...? Yes, we did. Now run along.

From the moment the opening credits roll on Rivals, it’s fair to say we are immersed in a very different, instantly recognisable universe.

I lapped up every transgressive minute. Why, dear readers, the last time I enjoyed a pleasure quite so guilty was when Aidan Turner took off his shirt in…

‘I’m not here to talk about Poldark,’ says Turner very politely, with a fabulously winning white smile, when we meet. So we don’t. At least for a bit. We are here, after all, to discuss his new role in this very different literary classic – and no, ladies, he’s not been cast as the libidinous blaggard Campbell-Black. As if.

County Dublin-born Turner, 41, was a shoo-in for dashing Declan O’Hara, the saturnine Irish journalist turned reluctant chat-show host who finds himself at the epicentre of a battle royale in the cut-throat world of independent television.

David Tennant plays Corinium TV boss Lord Baddingham, and Alex Hassell’s Rupert Campbell-Black has ascended to the lofty heights of Tory Minister for Sport.

I could try to explain, but that’s about all the primer you need – rest assured that with this high-budget adaptation, even the most loyal of Cooper’s fans will find themselves safe in its (wandering) hands.

‘Rivals is about the three things that fascinate all of us: sex, power and money,’ says Turner. ‘That trifecta is especially potent when there’s a clash of status and class. Class informs all sorts of things, including the sex, which is sometimes completely transactional on both sides. From the very top to the very bottom of the ladder, everyone’s slightly on the make.’

Speaking of the top and indeed the bottom, the eight-part series employed not one but two intimacy coaches. ‘They had a lot of intimacy to coach,’ confirms Turner breezily. ‘I think they really improve sex scenes because they encourage creativity and it all looks so much more authentic. There’s a lot of bonking. I want to say I did a lot of bonking – I can’t quite remember how much.’

Declan is very much the dark-eyed, watchful outsider, his integrity as deep-rooted as his humongous moustache – ‘artist’s own’, remarks Turner. (He speaks in mellifluous Irish tones and uses his own accent to play Declan.) Amid the jostling for supremacy in the first few episodes, Declan’s only crime appears to be wearing mustard socks on air and having sensuous congress with his own wife (played with exquisite brittleness by Victoria Smurfit).

Such uxoriousness appears borderline scandalous in Dame Jilly’s masterfully constructed world of egos, oneupmanship and serial adultery, which signals that despite being a workaholic, Declan is clearly a good ’un – although, to be fair, I have only seen the first three episodes.

‘I hadn’t read Rivals before. It seemed very British so it wasn’t really on my radar, but it’s really fun – although later on it descends into something much murkier. I just read the scripts initially and then was really struck by how faithful they were to the book,’ says Turner, who is married to the American Succession actor Caitlin FitzGerald, 41. ‘You get a real sense of the characters in the first 15 or 20 pages and it’s a mark of excellent writing that you feel you already know these people.’

Whether or not you like them is up to you, but it’s absolutely gripping and Turner’s character is right at the heart of the story.

‘Rivals is a really truthful depiction of an era that in a great many ways was hugely problematic,’ says Turner. ‘It’s not being refracted through a modern lens and some of it is quite shocking, particularly the way women are treated. There’s also endless back-stabbing; Declan is detached, the one who sees what’s going on, and because he’s not from this class-bound world [he] struggles to understand the playbook – but he’s married to a woman who does and that causes tension.’

To research the role of a broadcasting homme sérieux, Turner trawled YouTube to watch hours of Firing Line, the US current-affairs talk show presented by conservative pundit William F Buckley Jr for 33 years. From 1966 to 1999, he verbally sparred with leading figures of the age.

‘I felt it was important to look to older shows, the way they were presented and the communication style,’ says Turner. ‘The interviewee would be given time and space to answer questions in full. These days it’s very different; the nearest we have to that now would be podcasts.

“Once filming started, to be honest I was channelling my dad the whole time. He’s an electrician not a journalist, but Declan is very like him – the way he carries himself, the tone of his voice, his passion. He feels very Irish and so does Declan.’

For Alexander Lamb, an executive producer on Rivals, finding the right fit for the pivotal character of Declan was crucial. ‘The very first person we thought about – the very first person we cast – for Rivals was Aidan. He was the lynchpin because he just felt so right; he’s got depth but also such charm and that was exactly what we wanted. A lot of the cast was built around him.’

That cast also includes EastEnder Danny Dyer, Katherine Parkinson, best known for The IT Crowd, Emily Atack of Inbetweeners fame, and Claire Rushbrook, who was in the first series of Sherwood. When it came to Turner, Lamb had been impressed by his previous standout roles as a vampire in the supernatural series Being Human and a clinical psychologist in police procedural The Suspect.

‘Aidan hadn’t played sexy-dad-with-teenagers or an intellectual journalist before, so that gave the whole thing a freshness. I think there’s a lot to be gained from getting actors out of their comfort zones,’ observes Lamb. ‘I’ve never really worked with an actor before who was so conscious of his performance. He would come back behind the camera to see if he could improve on what he’d done.’

Dame Jilly, adds Lamb, needed no persuasion in casting Turner. ‘It did not escape her just how good-looking Mr Aidan Turner was. Let’s just say she became quite the fan.’ Turner responds in kind, with unalloyed admiration. ‘Jilly is so sharp, perceptive and really funny – she’s very kind, but as she was seeing the daily and the weekly rushes I am quite certain that if she hadn’t liked what any of us were doing, she would have told us very swiftly.’

Later, he quietly relates a telling conversation with Cooper at a garden party held at her Gloucestershire gaff (to call it a pile would be too excessive, to call it a house too modest), one summer evening last year, after filming.

‘I remember a surreal moment when she took me by the arm and led me around the garden, pointing out the place where she would write and how she would look over the valley,’ he says. ‘And then she pointed out the houses where her nearest neighbours and friends lived and said, “This is Declan O’Hara’s house, and that one’s Tony’s house,” and explained how she would visualise the world of Rivals. It was a very special moment.’

How magical, I say. He nods very slowly, the corners of his mouth twitching, eyes crinkling at the preciousness of the memory. He’s so unabashedly soulful, I almost have to look away. And so to business: is Turner really as handsome as they say? Hmm. Maybe that’s what strikes you first but, in truth, it’s the least interesting thing about him.

Born in Clondalkin, a town outside Dublin, before the family moved to a suburb of the city, Turner admits he was never academically inclined. With a low boredom threshold, he struggled to concentrate at school, but when his accountant mother took him along to dance classes, he excelled; he went on to compete in ballroom dancing at national level, but lost momentum.

There was a stint working as an electrician with his father, but it was a job at the local cinema that sparked his interest in acting, entering the Gaiety School of Acting, Ireland’s national theatre school, where he graduated in 2004. After appearing in several theatre productions, including Seán O’Casey’s Easter Rising play The Plough and the Stars, he got his first major television gig in 2008 in the Irish hospital drama The Clinic.

‘I was a lowly receptionist and Victoria Smurfit, who is my wife in Rivals, was a consultant,’ he smiles. ‘Let’s just say we didn’t have a huge number of scenes together back then, so it’s great to catch up now.’ Soon the BBC beckoned and he was cast as Dante Gabriel Rossetti in the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood drama Desperate Romantics.

The six-parter failed to make a mark, but led to a critically acclaimed role in the comedy-drama Being Human, where he caught the eye of director Sir Peter Jackson, who cast Turner as the dwarf Kili in The Hobbit trilogy between 2012 and 2014.

Various other parts followed, culminating in his award-winning portrayal of Captain Ross Poldark in the 2015 revival of the BBC classic, which ran for five series and made him both a household name and a pin-up among ladies (and interviewers) d’un certain age.

After he was shown scything a field shirtless, a sheen of sweat on his ripped – sorry – torso, the Sunday-night concupiscence became so pronounced that media commentators called out the reverse sexism and denounced the reductive way in which Turner was being treated as a piece of prime meat. A decade on, he still seems mildly baffled, but not ungrateful, for the attention, if loathe to dwell on it. ‘There are worse things to be known for than having a nice physique,’ he says, philosophically. ‘But that was a long time ago and I’ve done a lot of fully clothed work since.’

Hilariously, in Rivals, Declan finds himself sharing a schedule with a series called Four Men Went To Mow, featuring a quartet of topless hunks – with scythes. Turner almost leaps off the sofa when I bring it up. ‘I know! I was reading the script and when I saw the Four Men Went To Mow reference, I assumed someone was deliberately winding me up. Then I realised it was actually in the original book, so I took a deep breath and let it go.’

I can confirm he’s fully dressed for our interview, wearing a mustard top by British menswear brand Oliver Spencer, which he dryly describes as ‘drab chic’, Levi’s 501s, and a pair of trainers. He points out they are classic white Reeboks with a natural gum sole. I admit I didn’t know that was A Thing. ‘To be honest, neither did I,’ he shrugs in good-natured agreement. ‘They were a present from a mate of mine – he’s a musician so far cooler than me, obviously – and he was very emphatic that the soles were a big deal.’

On his wrist is a 1969 Omega Seamaster. ‘It cost less than £2,000, it was an anniversary gift and the only watch I own,’ he offers, pre-emptively. ‘Oh and I’m not sponsored by Omega, none of that.’ Would he like to be? I ask mischievously. ‘Ah well, I’d certainly take the phone call. You always like to have options.’ This is all the more interesting because later I ask if there’s any truth in tabloid rumours that he has variously been earmarked as the new Bergerac and the next James Bond. He denies both charges.

‘But you’d take the calls presumably?’ I suggest. A pregnant pause follows. ‘You know, I don’t think I would. I have to say I think I’d pass on those.’ Bergerac I can understand – but intimations of 007 are, like talk of knighthoods, not to be trifled with, much less dismissed out of hand, however cat’s-chance unlikely.

Turner just pulls a slightly apologetic face (possibly for the benefit of his aghast agent reading this). But really it should come as no surprise; Turner has built up a reputation as a protean performer, moving seamlessly between television, film and the stage in a variety of markedly different roles.

Last year he appeared opposite Jenna Coleman in a minimalist two-hander, the West End revival of Sam Steiner’s 2015 fringe hit Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons, about love and language. Director Josie Rourke says she cast Turner not just because he is ‘brilliant’, but because he has an ability to connect with his character and with the audience.

‘Aidan is a very technical and focused actor who really works hard to prepare – in that respect he’s not dissimilar to David Tennant. That might make him sound dour or serious, but he’s very personable and funny,’ says Rourke, a former artistic director of the Donmar Warehouse in London. ‘He’s acutely aware, in a lovely way, of every single person in the room. There’s something fundamentally unselfish about his performances.’

Off stage, Turner leads a quiet life with his family in an 18th-century house in east London, which he famously furnished with the table and chairs from the Poldark set in Cornwall. He looks amused when I wonder aloud if he hangs out – virtually or actually – with the slew of young Irish actors, like Paul Mescal and Barry Keoghan, who have made a name for themselves.

‘It sounds boring but I work, and then when a project is finished I start reading scripts again,’ he says. ‘I’m not on social media, I don’t get wrapped [up] comparing myself to anyone else. Frankly, it’s hard enough keeping track of my own career. Since the birth of our son, my wife and I have agreed that only one of us will take a job away from home at any given time; we’ve not [had] a clash yet but we’ll have to see what happens when the time comes.’

They did, however, both have plays on in the West End at one point last year; he was appearing in Lemons while she was in The Crucible.‘It worked out really well, we headed out in different directions during the day, catching up with friends and getting stuff done, far too busy to see each other,’ he recalls. ‘Each of us did our show then we would meet up afterwards and share a cab home. It was really fun, but that sort of synchronicity is quite rare.’

Like a lot of actors, Turner is guarded when it comes to discussing his personal life. Although frenzied interest from the paparazzi has calmed down post-Poldark, every so often pictures do appear in the tabloids – and Rivals will no doubt increase his bankability. It is something he accepts with equanimity.

‘If I do get snapped, I don’t make a fuss or get angry, but I try to stay out of the way.’ I remind him of a very striking photo of him putting the rubbish out in a frankly extraordinary receptacle. ‘Ah yes, maybe I should get rid of the fluorescent pink wheelie bin, a bit of an own goal,’ he sighs.

I bet he doesn’t. Far too much of a compromise. I do manage to winkle a few details out of him by playing my fellow Irishwoman card and discover that he’s a ‘serious’ pool player – just this week he settled down in front of a recording of Steve Davis and his teammates taking the 2002 Mosconi Cup in Bethnal Green.

He plays golf, enjoys music, and is an avowed Nick Cave fan.

‘I’d have to say my favourite downtime is having friends round for good banter and food in the garden, weather allowing. I’m trying to perfect the manly art of beef brisket in my [Big] Green Egg barbecue. I think one of the reasons Rivals was such a happy show to work on was because so many of the scenes were us all together at parties. Then at the end of the day we’d kick back and half of us would still be in character.’

And what characters they are, all dressed up in their ’80s finery, jockeying for position, angling for seduction as Tears for Fears belt out Everybody Wants to Rule the World. Gen Z won’t understand, much less approve (lock up your 22-year-olds), but as a snapshot of a bygone age, Rivals promises to be TV gold, and at its glittering epicentre, Declan O’Hara, legendary brooding broadcaster with the biggest ’tache in town.

All episodes of Rivals are available on Disney+ from 18 October

#aidanturnerinternational #séries #rivals #declan #disney+uk #disneyplus #Aidanturner

12 notes · View notes