#connie holloway

[absolutedaisy]

What if I put RtC characters into the Hatchetverse?

-At first Ocean would vibe with Grace but then realize “oh, she’s a bit fucked up actually” after Grace like. Idk. Kills a man in front of her or something.

-Richie and Ricky are like. Immediatly in a weird, slightly tense ‘bromance’ thing and they watch anime together and read comic books and shit.

-Ruth thinks Noel is like the coolest person ever and keeps following him around and asking about his “hooker stuff” and he tells her but also is like “can. you go follow someone else now”

-Mischa somehow manages to steal vodka and weed or something and Steph’s just like “I’m in” they get drunk and become best friends

-Connie spends a lot of time at Miss Retro’s and Miss Holloway enjoys seeing her there a lot :3

-Penny doesn’t know what the fuck to do. D’you think she’d like going to Perky’s Buds yk cause of Elysium or would it bring back bad memories?

-Max goes after the uh. Less cool portion of the choir and Mischa threatens to kick his ass but honestly idk what would happen with that.

-Hatchetfield gets referred to as “Murder Uranium” like a hundred times

-Ocean runs for Honey Queen but loses in like the first round because she won’t SHUT THE FUCK UP

[cams-cozy-corner]

🪁 and 🌸 for the ask game?? ^_^

🪁Is your headspace affected more through traditional or alternative regression?

I’d say mainly traditional!! I’m not super feminine or cutesy and I like a lot of more grungy styles irl but horror movies scare me, like I can do it but I will need somebody to hide behind lol

🌸Who do you head canon as a regressor or caregiver?

Oh I have SO many characters !!!

PJO: Annabeth (7) Percy (4-8) Grover (4-8) Silena (5-7) Clarisse (2-4)Thalia (5-7) Bianca (no set age jsut little) Hazel (7-8) Reyna (10) Nico (8-10) Will (4-5) (pretty much all flips except Bianca. Let her be baby)

RTC: Jane (babiest baby ever) Penny (3-6) Constance (8-9 flip) Ricky (CG mainly penny and Connie) Ocean (abt 5)

Starkid: Hannah (2-5) Lex (12-15 big sister flip) Ethen (CG) Miss Holloway (CG)

Misc: Mae from NITW (4-8ish) Syd from IANOWT (no set age) Bernard from COTC (7-8) Katniss from THG (7ish)

[multifandotakugirl]

The Prankster

Alice Jane "AJ" Wilson Amber Corbin Anastasia "Ana" Lewis Andrews "Andre" Adair Anna Branson April Holt Astrid "Sassa" Isbert Blair Parker Bree Winters Carson Elliot Cherry McLaine Constance "Connie" Willis Cory Pierson Devonne "Devon" Flynn Ethan Morton Evangeline "Eva" Flynn Gabriella "Ella" Finn Dahlia Hills Isadora "Izzy" Night Jasmine "Jaz" Asher Kalista "Kallie" Ryans Katyona "Katya" Egorovna Kaycee "KC" Bethel Lyssa Dexter Mackenzie "Kenzie" Lewis Mallory "Mal" Hale Marina "Mara" Morozova Mercedes "Mercy" Orlando Mia Hills Michaela "Mickie" Griffin Nadine "Nadia" C. Mitchell Paris Stein Parker Howell Quintana "Quinn" Jones Reid Swayde Rowan Esteriac Sadie Lightborn Vega McLaren Vera Moen Emily Hiller Rickie Howell Damon Howell Ezra Howell Salvador Martell Medus Martell Harper Gardner Gabriel "Gabe" Flynn

The Victim of the Prank

Alessia Emerson Alexandra "Xandra" Dexter Allyson "Ally" Conrad Alyona "Aly" Levina Anastasia "Asia" Atkins Andrea "Drea" Adair Athena "Nina" Ivanova Audrey Laurent Bastet "Bast" Blackwell Bella Sawyer Briar Gillan Callum "Cal" K. Mitchell Cecilia "Cee" Bryson Clarabelle "CB" Jean Claudia "Clo" Marisol Cleo Walter Cyan Lightborn Daphne Elliot Faith Mitski "Amber Rothman" Gabrielle "Rielle" Finn Grace Kensington Hailee Flynn Ingrid Flores Irene Willis Juno Amsel Kalina Rachkova Laura Orlando Leona DeMarco Logan Parker Maeve Pierson Micah Steinhelm Morgan "Morri" Thorne Phaedra Martell Psyche Lyria Raina Grey Rebecca "Becca" Lewis Reigna Lightborn Riley Swayde Roxana "Roxy" Twain Sasha Nikorova Sielle Duvall Silvia "Silvy" Kingston Simon Esteriac Sonia Branson Tamsin "Amsi" Dallas-Henderson Teagan Night Wren Valentino "Lucille 'Lucy' Rose" Yuliya "Yulia" Agapova Yvette "Ivy" Hollis Zoe Holloway Christy Howell Helena Howell Maximus "Max" Flynn

Is your OC be more likely to be the prankster, or the victim of the prank?

[alfiejacksonsongwriter]

Alfie Jackson

Alfie is a multi-instrumentalist and producer who specialises in lyrics and top-lines. 

Working in  pop, folk, punk, dirty alternative, dance, indie rock - Alfie loves bending rules and melding genres. There will always be a unique lyric or two to remember.

Splitting his time between Austria and the UK, Alfie is regularly working hard to help develop exciting acts such as Skinny Living, Connie Talbot, Bloom Twins, Billy Lockett, Gemma Rogers, RIKA and many more.

During 2023 Alfie took big steps in the Austrian music industry. Multiple releases with top 10 Austrian artists have raised Alfie’s profile. More releases are scheduled for 2024 with stars such as Anna Sophie and Thorsteinn Einarsson. Multiple releases in Switzerland are also penned for 2024, having forged new working relationships with great acts such as Luca Hänni, Remo and Eliane.

Alfie has had several UK top 40 singles, over 200,000,000 streams and some big sync deals with with the likes Barns Courtney, Declan Donovan, Skinny Living, The Holloways, Connie Talbot and OSKA.

As the frontman of The Holloways, Alfie enjoyed the highs - several UK top 40s and a top 20 single, an appearance on Never Mind The Buzzcocks, playing The Other Stage at Glastonbury - which came in the same year the band had the 2nd most played song on Radio 1.

The lows tragically followed - a legal battle involving Pitbull and The Holloways' American label - TVT - saw the band frozen as an asset; then Nambucca (the bands' HQ and home) burnt down, with all of The Holloways equipment inside. No, it was not insured. Frozen and burned by luck,  Alfie never gave up and established himself as a writer and earned a publishing deal in 2017. 

[twittercomfrnklin2001-blog]

Jamboree!

You can gauge the importance of the plot in Roy Lockwood’s JAMBOREE! (1957, TCM) by the fact that the opening credits list the many musical guests but none of the actors driving what little story there is. That’s not unusual for a 1950s rock and roll movie. They’re all just excuses for top recording artists to perform, and when you get to see people like Fats Domino, Jerry Lee Lewis, Count Basie, Joe Williams, Slim Whitman and the underappreciated Louis Lymon and the Teenchords, what more do you need. OK, a little coherence and skill would help. Feuding, divorced music managers Kay Medford and Robert Pastene swallow their differences long enough to turn their clients, Paul Carr and Freda Holloway, into America’s singing sweethearts. The managers’ manipulations break up the act, with predictably heart-breaking results for all involved. Pastene, who was a mainstay of the Guthrie Theatre for years, isn’t bad, and Medford is so natural and nuanced she gets laughs out of the tired lines. The kindest thing I can say about Carr and Holloway is that, at least while making this film, they were not shopping at the charisma mart. His singing sounds like a less enthusiastic Mel Torme, and when he’s supposed to be upset after being tricked into betraying Holloway, he only seems to be suffering from mild indigestion. Her vocals are dubbed by Connie Francis, and Holloway is so bland she manages to suck the life out of them. The original songs written for America’s sweethearts are mostly forgettable, and it’s strange that the best of them, “Siempre,” is the only one that flops. Fortunately, the guests brought their own numbers along, so you get Jerry Lee Lewis doing a sanitized version of “Great Balls of Fire,” Fats Domino rocking out on “Wait and See,” Joe Williams wailing “I Don’t Like You No More” and Count Basie swinging “One O’clock Jump” (though it feels naked without Lambert, Hendricks and Ross), along with novelties like Buddy Knox’s “Hula Love” and Ron Coby/Cauby Peixoto’s “Toreador.” Even the stranger numbers have their little charms, like Coby/Peixoto’s impossibly high-waisted pants and Slim Whitman’s skinny mustache.

[championofsanghelios]

Watch Dogs Legion - "M"

This was written by me, remember. So expect the usual errors, typos and word bugs (bzz.) --- [11.11.2029] [THE EARLS FORTUNE] [2044 HOURS] --- "...that's not my point!" Jackson says as he pushes the door open, his waterproof dripping wet from the rain that was lashing down outside. "You need to stop being so reckless, and actually consider the risks to yourself...as well as others."

"There's no fun in being careful!" Wrench replies, following him in. He was absolutely soaked through, but didn't seem to care. "It takes away the unpredictability...which is what I love about those Ops. Just showing up with my Lady Smash and some home made explosives...it's great!"

"That's another thing I need to talk to you about." Jackson pulls off his waterproof, draping it over one of the radiators near the wall. "There's breaking things, then there's vaporizing them..."

Connie comes out of the back room, letting out a laugh when she sees them both. "Well Well, you two took your time getting back."

"Only because this one here decided an Albion Comms Tower needed to be demolished." Jackson says, moving past her into the backroom where he locates a towel to dry his hair. "I'm yet to figure out how he wasn't caught or killed."

"You're making a name for yourself, Reggie." Connie says, moving around to the other side of the bar. "Not entirely sure if it's a good one, but...a name nonetheless."

"Yeah well, I'm just prepared to do whatever is necessary to take this city back." Wrench shrugs, gladly accepting the beer she places on the bar for him. "If that involves blowing up Albion property or smashing up Blume server stacks with my hammer, so fucking be it."

"It's dangerous." Jackson appears from the backroom, tossing the towel at him. "You better change that sweater by the way. You'll catch a chill."

"What are you my mother!?" Wrench let's out a modulated grunt, pulling up his mask slightly and downing about half of the beer he'd been handed. "Give me a break, we made it back okay!"

"And what happens if you end up getting arrested, or seriously wounded?" Jackson asks, opting for a bottle of water instead of anything alcoholic.

"Oh no." Wrench shakes his head placing his bottle down on the bars surface, his exposed mouth smirking. "There's no injuries with me. Either I get the job done, or die trying."

"You genuinely don't care if you live or die?" Jackson asks, giving him a look. "Seriously?"

"I don't have this for nothing." Wrench points at the anarchy symbol on his neck. "I don't live by rules, that includes the ones to do with life and death."

Jackson is about to say something when the door pushes open and Aiden comes in, feeling about as miserable as he looked. He was wet, but not in the same way the two of them were, something else had happened to him. "Wow! What happened to you!"

"I fell in the Thames." Aiden grumbles, shaking the water from the sleeves of his overcoat. "...actually I dove in there after some thugs caught me stalking them."

"Oh that reminds me!" Connie suddenly pipes up, her hand tapping Wrench's right forearm. "There was a bloke in here earlier on. He was asking for you."

"A bloke?" Wrench replies, questions marks lighting up his askew mask. He downs more of his beer. "Who was it?"

"No idea." Connie shakes her head, smiling. She reaches under the bar, taking out a small piece of white card paper. "But he was lovely, all charms...asked me to pass this onto you."

Wrench eyes the card for a second, opting to pull off his mask entirely. He takes a hold of it, turning it around. Someone had written a note in red-ink.

YOU NEED TO ANSWER YOUR PHONE, MAN ALSO THE WEATHER HERE IS NUTS!!! SEND ME A MESSAGE WHEN YOU GET THIS oh...and thank Connie for the free cookies. - M

He suddenly let's out a cough as he chokes on the beer he's drinking. Lifting the card up. "...motherfucker!"

"What?" Jackson stops trying to wrestle his Uncle out of his coat. "What is it?"

"I'll be right back." Wrench says, leaving his beer and his mask at the bar. He heads out into the rain, ignorant to the fact that it was making him wetter than he already was.

Taking his out his phone, he swipes up the contacts tab, scrolling down until he finds the right number. He thumbs it, his Optik lighting up and dialling.

After a tone or two, he hears a click.

"You took your time." Marcus' voice was something that he would never ever tire of hearing, especially now, especially after all of the shit he'd been through the last year or two. "I was wondering if Connie would get that to you."

"You're here." is all Wrench can say, unsure of what he should do now. Part of him wanted to jump for joy, another wanted to cry. "...you're actually here. In London."

"Yeah, I guess I couldn't just sit there in SF and let you have all the fun." Marcus chuckles. "...that little job we did together a few months back reminded me of how much I enjoyed having you around."

"Where are you right now?" Wrench asks, reaching up this face, rubbing at it. "Are you nearby?"

"Why?" Marcus asks, a smile evident in his voice. "You that desperate to see me?"

"Yes." Wrench admits it there and then. In truth there hadn't been anything he wanted to do more than see him again. "...It was the same for me. I didn't realise how much fun I used to have with you until you found me through, Jordi."

He moves over to one of the benches, sitting down on it. All around him, London was going about it's business, people were walking past, umbrellas in hand, hoods covering their heads. Looking out across Parliament Green, he sighs.

"I hear you've been having some fun outwith our little shared Op." Marcus says. "Something about killing Nigel Cass?"

"He had it coming." Wrench snorts bitterly, shaking his head. "Fuckin' maniac thought he could subvert justice and launch a coup...which reminds me, I've got to introduce you to the Dick."

"The Dick?" he hears the Hipster's confusion. "Who's that? Dusan's cousin?"

"Might as well be." the Anarchist nods, smiling to himself. "His name is Richard Malik...and he's a massive prick...but he's been useful to us."

"Wait...is that the same Richard Malik who was appointed Director of SIRS, only to be exposed literally 2 days later?" Marcus asks.

"That's the one." Wrench nods, sitting forwards. Staring at the concrete between his shoes. "I should send you the vids from when Bagley used his own FILAMENT against him."

"FILAMENT?"

"...what were his exact words?" Wrench's eyes narrow. "It's like...Nudle, but with instant access to all information about every person in the UK...basically George Orwell's wet dream."

The laugh that Marcus let's out is cathartic, such a delightfully bright noise, and one he could never get enough of. One he hoped he would hear more of soon.

It's short lived though, as a whole load of other feelings come to the surface in the pause that follows. He deflates a little. "I've missed having you around, M."

"I know." Marcus replies.

"So where are you?" Wrench asks. "Are you coming back this way? Or am I going to have to find you?"

He gets no response to those questions. His eyes narrow slightly. "M?"

Suddenly there's a movement in his peripherals, at which point a hand appears, holding his mask. He looks at it for a second, almost stunned.

"You're making a habit of leaving that thing lying around..." Marcus says, having just sat down next to him. "...am I gonna have to retrieve it for you every time you misplace it?"

Wrench doesn't move, he just sits there, frozen in place. Marcus had aged, much like himself, but not in the way he was expecting. He still looked pretty much the same as he always had, spare the scruff around his face and neck, which had turned into a full beard...and a little tinge of silver hair on his fringe.

Something shifts inside him at that moment, a tightness in his core that he wasn't even aware of unravels. A laughs bubbles out of him, one that turns to a sob half-way, and without so much as a word he puts an arm around him and pulls him into a hug, hiding his face in his shoulder.

"Huh." Marcus says, placing the mask onto his lap and closing the hug. "Of all the reactions I was ready for...this wasn't one of them."

"Shut up." Wrench says, his voice muffled by his shoulder. "Just-...Just shut up."

Marcus laughs out loud again.

. . .

[misterfeller]

i forgot to fo this

m- man in the sky - connie converse

i- intermission - scissor sisters

s- sweet believer - cass elliot

t- talk about you - mika

e- everybody's been talkin - the mugwumps

r- rock it (prime jive) - queen

f- foolhearted woman - the peanut butter conspiracy

e- everyone hates his parents - falsettos

l- la madame on the moon - bryan scary and the shredding tears

l- lysergide daydream - will wood and the tapeworms

e- every little bit hurts - brenda holloway

r- randy scouse git - the monkees

Rules: pick a song for each letter of your URL and tag that many people.

Ghost girl - Lil Peep

Ruoska - Kaarija

In your darkest nightmares, you’ll see me- Grim Salvo

Miss you! - Corpse

Mercury: Retrograde - Ghostemane

Sexq - Mupp,

Counting bodies like sheep to the rhythm of the war drums - A Perfect Circle

Your face - Wisp

Trenchworld- Kamaara

HeAdworm-Qoiet

E-girls are ruining my life! - Corpse

Tagging : @rot-topic @poopeth @xmissmayimurderux @ghvsts @darkraiii @strawberrysesh @polyphobicc @fallenangelkitten @sscyth-iv @exmorphic @gothicpuke

Join if you wanna

[slayernina]

Writing villains in Stranger Things

An analysis of the villains and antagonists in Stranger Things and their role and impact in the story.

Get ready for a long post on moral relativism and character creation XD. Mostly because villains and antagonists are what they are mostly because of the heroes’ POV.

My other metas here

La maldición de las cuatro brujas here

Una novela romántica de esas con un macizorro sin camiseta en la portada here

Buy me a ko-fi!

The Hawkins Lab

This is the most easy. The story starts with them. They are responsible of the experiments on children and monsters in our world. And they covered it.

This is villainy 1.0, the most generic bad guys ever. They dress about the same (lab coats if they are scientists, suits and guns if they are people of the government), looks about the same and they are basically inexistent. We are supposed to think they are the bad guys because we are disposed from real life to think of them as the bad guys. Think about it. They are the doctors who tell you you have cancer, they are the bureaucrats who make you pay bills and refuse to give you a college scholarship because you failed that exam. They are the Systemtm, and you somehow are not part of it.  

From the heroes POV, they are clearly the bad guys because they look for Eleven, but in the great scope of things, they are not so bad guys. They are outside of the story for pretty much part of it, and only through Eleven’s POV. Obviously, using children for experiments is not okay, but we must remind this people were trying to not to be obliterated by the nuclear bombs of another country, so… Excuse me if I think basic survival is not bad itself. They can be called out for being stupid enough to open a portal to another dimension, but not for being bad. In fact, if Eleven never escape, or if they just chose to don’t follow Eleven, the story wouldn’t label them as villains, at least at the moment the Party meets Eleven. Imagine this from the POV of the Party: “hey, I found a girl in the forest, we helped her… the end”. She was adopted by whatever and grows to become a normal girl. That’s it.

This relativism or balance between the evil and good of the workers of the lab are represented by Connie Frazier, Martin Brenner, Sam Owens and Ray Carroll. But they are need to be singled out from the Systemtm (aka the Lab), to stop being an entity.

Connie Frazier is basically the first villain we see on fully evil on screen. She is Brenner’s right hand and the one who killed Benny. And we know she is evil because she follows Brenner, she shot Nice Character Benny and she has the pimped out version of a Karen hairdo.

Dr Brenner is a full sociopath with good intentions. His ends are noble (at least from the American’s POV. But well, again, not wanting to die in a war goes for all sides), but not his methods. The funny thing is that he was more of a benevolent dictator than just a dictator, the children would have done his will without needing to be chained. I mean. Tell any kid they are going to have powers (and most of them were born with them because of the experiments inflicted in their parents), that they will be safe and happy (some of them came from rocky backgrounds, like number Six from the comics), provide for them a safe and happy environment, and you have your superpowered child army. Basically, Brenner is a crossover between Kira and Erik Killmonger (I’m surprised I said that. Ugh).

An asshole. But he almost erased the crime in the planet in less than 5 years. After his demise, the Earth becomes as shitty as before.

Sam Owens is the benevolent dictator. His interest in the wellbeing of Will and Eleven (and by extension, associates) is genuine. He doesn’t want people dying. However, he is still part of the Hawkins Lab. He still executes the aims of “protect America”. If Brenner was the system, Owens is the bureaucrat.

Ray Carroll can be considered the reformed villain. Yes, he participated in the experiments. But since he moved on, he cannot be considered one of the bad guys. In fact, due to this, the villains in his scene are Eleven and Kali. From his POV (and her daughters), several intruders assaulted his house and wanted to kill him for a mistake he did some years ago, a mistake he regrets. If he hadn’t developed, we could have talking about heroes Eleven and Kali taking down a villain, but he did evolve. Due to this dichotomy, Eleven, who chose not to kill became again a hero, despite her robbing a gas station and assaulting a man. This is where any doubt of Kali as a villain was erased.

Troy Walsh

He was the straight child/teen bully from stories of children/teens growing up. He hates nerds (aka the Party). Funny, though in those times when nerd is fashion and mainstream, he couldn’t be a bully for this motive. This character exists purely to torment our heroes. In fact, the writers have to show him on purpose bullying the Party, because after all, he only exists on the school context. They don’t share any class together and the bullying could have been avoided if the Party stays in another place other than the playground (like the AV club, for example). We don’t know literally anything about him. And is easily erased from the narrative once Eleven, who at that moment was a “villain” because she argued with the Party, can have her moment of heroicness and save Mike breaking Troy’s arm. Once Eleven is reinstated as the hero again, Troy disappeared forever to never come back. The quarry scene exists purely to put Eleven again on good graces, because how many chances you have to put your heroes and bullies at the same place at the same time, somewhere very outside from Hawkins. What the hell they were doing the bullies there? There is literally nothing there for a child and also is very far away from the city.

After that, we don’t know what happened to him, except a brief scene at the Police station, in which he is with his mom and claims that a girl with powers hurted him. That is the clue that put Hopper into the Party and Eleven’s path.

In the one shot comic The Bully (analysis here), we finally learn about his whereabouts: basically, he stays for a while during season 2 without intervene (but he saw something of the Upside Down), and he moved from town when his shitty dad (a mix between Lonnie Byers and Neil Hargrove) was fired.

Nancy Wheeler

Surprised, right? Why Nancy is a villain? She kills monsters, loves her family, and is friends with the heroes. Only her love triangle with Steve and Jonathan was messy (and that was developed on season 2. Remember ST was supposed to last only one season). She chose Steve at the end of season 1, without cheating on him and matured.

Why she is a villain? Well, not because of her actions, but because of societal expectations. And there is nothing more hateful than a girly teenage girl. This is a well known phenomenon: teens suck, and nothing is more mocked and despised than teenage girls. We hate how they talk, how they dress, how they behave, what they look like, what they like… We open national television because some girl did X, and people involved in creating entertainment for teenage girls and girls are usually harassed to the point of leave their jobs or social media. She is not the innocent little girl, nor the nurturing mother (hello, misogyny). Did the male protagonist commit genocide? Doesn’t matter, let’s hate his daughter because reasons. And if she wears pink, has female friends and likes pop music? The horror. The captain of the cheerleaders was the evil of all evil. The girly girl is only ok if she’s a sexy manipulator. A lot of people has already talk about this issue of the tomboy vs the girly girl, and all the “not like the other girls” bullshit, so I’m not going to expand this here.

Nancy was introduced in the first episode and all her context was created to irate the audience: she’s talking by the phone (ugh), she closes the door in Dustin’s face (shock!) and she has a boyfriend and wants to party and hang around the cool kids (OMG). Barb’s death was the hit needed to evolve from the wannabe cheerleader (she is btw, according to Hawkins Yearbook) to the “not like the other girls”. Gun included. Because apparently, the other girls suck and there is nothing to lost a meaningful one (or get raped) to mature and stop being like that. Once she becomes Nancy the shooter, her femininity is downplayed until we reach season 3, to make even more blatant her contrast with her male bosses. And yes, I’m glad the show put her in sensible clothes to fight the monsters instead of running in high heels and a skirt, but even the appropriate clothes could have been more pink. The only character who still is unabashed “girly” by the end of season 3 is Erica (not a teen girl), because Eleven and Max didn’t count (Eleven comes sort as genderless due to her upbringing and Max more bright colours and hairstyles in this season doesn’t hide the fact she is still a tomboy).

Steve Harrington

Steve was dubbed by the writers and the actor as the bully on season 1 (King Steve), and develops outside that during season 2 (Mom Steve). Excuse me, what? Steve was never a bully. He slut shames Nancy because he thought she cheated on him, and hits Jonathan because he took photos of them. The only other things he did bad to other people was, apparently, break the heart of like 2 other girls off-screen before season 1, and we don’t know how bad that was (and also, teen years. There was a lot of drama in that ages and thinking critically back about it, if you look closely to your own life, the things were not so horrible). That’s it.

He is also labeled as bully because of his toxic friends, Tommy and Carol. I have already talked about them and how they are just simple, regular people here. But in retrospective, there is nothing bully on them, either. They make sarcastic comments about Nancy goody two-shoes nature. Tommy enjoyed Steve’s fall from grace due to Billy’s arrival, but given both of them were dumped by Steve without very strong reasons (they were right that Nancy wasn’t into Steve so much), but again, that’s it. They never targeted Steve or his friends. Steve fell from grace because other stuff happened and because he wasn’t into the crown either, so…

Steve is more akin to Regina George, when Regina herself is analyzed. For those unfamiliar with this iconic movie, this is about Cady, a transfer student, who meets Regina, the high school queen bee. She befriends Janis, ex Regina friend, and both plans to destroy Regina, because she “steals” the guy Cady wants. Janis had issues with Regina with a comment out of context that exploded (lesbian). At first, Regina is the Bad Girl. However, upon a closely rewatch, you realize Regina is not the villain (she is not a hero, either), but the one who benefits from social structures.

How she dear to date a single guy she and Cady didn’t own? Regina sometimes creates rumours to humiliate students out of boredom and fury, but Janis is the real villain. She appears as the hero to Cady’s problem, but we really watch a full movie of a goth-punk girl (because remember, girls are vapid, stupid and pink) purposely isolating another girl, making her the joke of all her high school, messing with her physique and her boyfriend, probably creating an eating disorder and Regina ends run over by a fucking bus (by accident).

Something similar occurred to Steve. Steve benefits from a system who puts white hetero pretty abled boys with rich parents above else. But he doesn’t do anything to abuse his power. Dustin, who has a crush on Nancy on season 1, complains that this 16/17 year old (and at whole other level of maturity) doesn’t play with them anymore because her stupid boyfriend (that apparently he even didn’t interact with yet) “ruined” her. Robin plainly states in her coming out scene that she hated Steve because he was dumb at class and his hair because… the girl she has a crush on likes him. How he dare to exist!. We have seen this before. People hate celebrities, actors, musicians, because they are rich, famous and hot, and punishes them because they are not “so amazing”. People who at the best case, don’t know the haters at all. To be fully on the heroes’s side, Steve has to lose his crown. For real and forever.

Lonnie Byers

Lonnie is Jonathan and Will’s father, because the show loves shitty fathers. He didn’t appear much on season 1. He divorced Joyce sometime after Will was born and was enough old to do stuff (baseball) with him. He doesn’t have any redeeming qualities. He was distant and aloof with his children and possibly abusive with Joyce, but since he is not in the town, is not a great villain. In fact, he only appears in Hawkins when Will is lost and we can see for a moment that maybe he wasn’t that asshole (when he told rightfully Joyce needs therapy) but it was all a ruse to win money. He didn’t exist in the narrative in an impactful role so Jopper can be a thing.

Apparently, he will appear again in season 4 in some way or another, since his actor was at the promotional reading table and a huge part of the story will be about the Byers+Eleven dynamic. But he would be an annoyance, at best. He is only white trash and his family has overcome her presence long time ago. He doesn’t have any connection with the Hawkins lab nor the Upside Down, so another Flayed scenery wouldn’t raise any stakes. And probably the Party will enjoy his killing, so not a big deal here.

Keith

He is just a nasty low paid worker. Not a villain nor a menace at all against the Party. In fact, I’m pretty surprised he managed to survive at this point of the history, he is the kind of characters usually killed before the opening credits because they are not relevant to the plot but they have enough traits to have a recognizable death.

Also, the audience is predisposed against him. He is not the lovable nerd, he is the incel/gate keeper nerd.

Kali Prasad

Eleven’s lost sister. Since her appearance, all make her look like a villain. She is first shown being chased by the police (back in the times police people thought cops were good thanks to propaganda), she is dressed in all black, all her gang are misfits who match in some way or another the “evil” look.

From an outsider POV, she is a villain until she starts bonding with Eleven. Once Eleven the hero with curls coming to the dark side (because nothing screams “bad” as black clothes), her actions are validate. She becomes more of a grey character thanks to Eleven’s innocence, but at the choice of killing the Carroll and the refusal of Eleven, she came back again into villain territory. If Carroll was another type of character (you know, the type who beats puppies on screen), Kali would have been still a hero. It was not the case, since Kali’s villainy (or lack) is seen from an outsider’s POV.

The Demogorgon

He was the main antagonist of season 1. He was a villain because he is a monster who attacks people because plot reasons. Anything can be said about him, except he is like the Marvel villains: they are not important because what it is important about them is how the heroes react, not the big bad itself.

The Demodogs

Same as above, but Dart case is much more interesting: are the demodogs able to learn orders from humans? They are able to become real pets without killing instincts? If used properly by the bad guys, they are more interesting than generic CGI monster, but at this moment, they are just an annoyance. They could be easily killed by now with half of the cast proficient with weapons and with overpowered Eleven.

It is a pity we couldn’t see Dustin training Dart fully. That would have been awesome if only for the lols.

The Mind Flayer

The Big Bad from season 2 and 3. A generic CGI monstrosity who wants to conquer the world because… well, because Dustin made an analogy with a D&D book and they needed some Big Bad somewhere. His powers are more interesting, though. The Flayed raised stakes because he could have attacked anyone, anywhere at any time.

It would have been funny if his final objective was to make a trip to our world because he wanted to taste our gastronomy. Or came to our world, look how humans are, say “nop. Not interested” and return to his world.

More interesting is the theory that the Mind Flayer is Will’s subconscious. It is not confirmed, but if true… Well, we would need another whole post only for that and psychology fans would be having orgasms.

Neil Hargrove

He only appears in one scene from season 2 and boiiii, he did an impact. He exists only because Dacre Montgomery asked to have some background to Billy and unknowingly, the writers created a horrible villain. Both the writers and actor explicitly said his intention was not to woobify or excuse Billy, but to explain from where all of him came from.

Neil abused Billy’s mother to the point she runaways. He shaped Billy in the monster he is today. Some part of the fandom was angry that he wasn’t one of the Flayed, given what is relevance to characters he has, that making Billy kills his father would be some interesting show drama. However, I disagree. The point of the Mind Flayer is his human victims. The killing would be only impactful if Billy was already on the heroes’ side (but truly, not some half baked excuse). But redemption off-screen between seasons 2 and 3 is cheap and Billy has done too much shit for half of the cast so an apologies would only works if we spend most of season 3 doing that. But the story is not about Billy. So if the Mind Flayer chooses Neil as his right hand, we would be just cheering if Neil is destroyed. If we go with the Neil vs not good Billy, we would be cheering for both getting killed.

And the worst part of it, you cannot erase him from the plot. He was not in a position to be killed by monsters (and there is no monsters left in Hawkins at the end of season 3). He is a regular human no related with the Upside-Down plot, so you just can’t kill him and expect nothing after would happen (too much bureaucracy and covering for some random superside character).

He is part of the Mayfield family and pretty much the main provider. The Hargrove/Mayfield family has been implied to have some economical problems, so killing Neil is pretty much a travel to bankruptcy.

Given the story until this moment now, Susan (Max’s mother) won’t divorce him; she is subjugated and truly loves him. The only way the context make Susan to divorce Neil (and just maybe, because we all know how abuse relationships works in real life) force Neil to attack Susan and/or Max so brutally Susan cannot excuse it.

Most of the fanfics depicted him as some asshole who punches Billy when he is bored or drunk, but if you read the book here (and pretty much the show implies), Neil is a responsible stern father and only attacks Billy when he does something irresponsibly or dangerous (which is 90% of the time. Seriously. Billy was already a danger before the Mind Flayer). So he is part of the respectable member of the community, a cop won’t appear at his door to throw him in jail because he disciplined his delinquent son. The only one who would believe Max’s accusations without doubt would have been Eleven and Hopper, and the first doesn’t has powers anymore and Hopper is in trapped in Russia.

Ah, and the funny part of him? Max still lives at his house and his favourite punching bag is gone. Max is not spiraling out of control like Billy was, so the chances she ends being pushed around are less, but maybe if Neil got mad because Billy is dead and blames Max…

The Evil Russians

The same description as the Hawkins Lab, but even more hilarious and over the top. Gregori kept the adults outside of Hawkins for a huge part of the season and killed Hopper. Commander Ozerov and Dr Zharkov tortured Steve and Robin. Dr Zharkov has to be killed by innocent hero Dustin. They plan another war.

And ironically, their villainy is erased because how over the top said villainy is. We have to be introduced to Alexei, the Russian plot equivalent of Dr Owens. Alexei appears among the rest of the Russian scientists and even when episode one the camera focus on him for a second (the classic “this character is important”) any of the viewers would anticipate he was going to be so relevant to the plot and break brutally our hearts. Alexei is the human face of the Evil Russians, a reminder that those people are just people and not an army. That’s why Alexei needed to be separated from them and have a miniplot with Team Adults. But somehow, the Audience needed to forget he is one of the bad guys.

Yes, he is.

Maybe he was extorted to work with the Russian Army and everything, maybe he was just the product of the propaganda and wanted to participate in the experiments by himself, but we must not forget that as far as we know, this guy opened a portal to another dimension because he wanted his country to annihilate another. In a war, there is no “defend from others” concept, at that time USA and Russia were ready to jump each other’s throats without mercy. The Woody Woodpecker toy and the slushie love was not casual, the writers wanted to woobiefy him so we can forget maybe he is a genocidal asshole as far as we know. And also, he is in an interesting place: if he helps the Russians, is a villain for America. If he helps America, is a villain for Russia. Gladly he was killed before choosing to do anything.

By extension, Mayor Kline is another visible face of the Evil Russians, a villain but probably the weakest of this entire list. He is only the Mayor of a shitty town; he is not involved with the Upside Down and is just a regular guy. The plot dispatched him quick: Hopper and Joyce were able to hit him without consequences and by the end of the season he is arrested by the police, like all villains in media who are in simple setting of good vs evil.

The Flayed

Aka the Zombie Army. They are the supernatural equivalent of the Hawkins Lab and the Evil Russians. They are a mixed bunch of people, heroes and villains. Their villainity as a whole came from who is the host at the moment: if they were good people, they are tragic villains who didn’t deserve got killed by the Party, if not, they are terryfing and should be exterminated. Thus, it was mandatory to present some of them distinguishable. Their danger is the moral dilemma of killing them or not, because with a full group of armed adults anyone could have been killed pretty easily:

Billy falls in a grey area (more explained below)

Heather was introduced as a villain by the pool moms (the Nancy Effect again because Teenage Girls Suck) but deconstructed as she is shown as a truly caring nice individual, whose only fault was to have a crush on a dick.

Mrs Driscoll is the adorable granny (specifically designated to hit all the cords of the audience)

Tom Holloway is introduced as a villain since his scenes are from Nancy’s plot, so once we move from her side, we can see he is a fairly competent worker after all with a functional family.

Bruce Lowe comes from the same start as Tom, however, since his scenes were not expanded outside Nancy’s POV, he would remain only as a villain.

On the other hand, The Flayed as a whole they lost all heroicness they could have. They become faceless and uninmportant, to the point our heroes passed from “we want to help this people” when confronted one by one, to “fuck them, we want to kill them” by the end of the season. It was a bit rushed from a writing point, and if we look closely don’t make the heroes look particularly great.

Billy Hargrove

Billy was brought to the show as the human villain of season 2. And he developed to be a monster villain on season 3. And is incidentally, probably, the best villain of the show (and by extension, a lot of recent shows).

He was supposed to be the dark side of Steve (again, I disagree. Steve was never a bully on first place), without all his redeeming qualities. He was created as the Henry Bowers of Stranger Things, but it ended being much more than that. Billy is much more dangerous, brutal and broken than Henry was, Henry needed his followers to do things most of the time, Billy can do them alone. And before getting possessed.

In It, if the Losers Club wanted to get rid of Henry Bowers, they just needed to finish school. They just needed to play indoors. They just needed to grow up. Even influenced by Pennywise, Henry needs a weapon because he is just human. 

You cannot do that with Billy, because you face the same problem than with his father Neil, you cannot erase him from the plot. Billy is related to Max, so if you want to erase him, you need to erase Max. And Max herself (a full member of the Party at the end of season 2 and subject of 2 love triangles), cannot be erased. The only way to do this is pulling a Rose Tico in TROS, or some characters in Glee, which is forced and obvious. “Do you remember that redhead who was with us last year? Yes, she moved away again and don’t talk to us anymore”. Erasing Billy somehow for real means to kill Max for real too. The writers could have gone also with “Billy runaways and left the town” but they couldn’t really pull that realistically either, since according to the story, he was still a minor. I know that parents in ST are basically inexistent for plot reasons, but that means adding another suspension of disbelief to a show that has already too much incompetent adults and authority figures. So runaway Billy issue should have appear at some point or another again.

Billy is also more dangerous than any of the villains presented before. Brenner has an objective, the Mind Flayer has an objective, Billy was a full wild card. His moods change in one scene in a way any of the other characters. The only thing similar were Flayed Tom and Bruce, and yet they take a bit of time to get in the mood, Billy’s behavior was even more explosive than theirs. He is the closer to kill writers’ pet Steve than any villain, and as Flayed!Billy was the closer to kill Eleven and the Party of all the bad guys.

Both the writers and the actor stated that Billy was a goner since the beginning, but they couldn’t kill him just by “monster attacked him one day and that’s it”. It couldn’t be like this, because Max was related to him, and because the Neil scene. Also, it has the fact that Montgomery sold his acting and this asshole brings a whole new level of energy to an existing A list cast.

We cheered Joffrey’s death. He deserved it. But. He. Was. So. Entertaining. To. Watch.

Some people felt (justifiably) that Billy’s redemption story fell flat. Daddy abuses and Mommy leaves. Cliché. Also they complained about Max giving so much thought to Billy’s suffering or death (people, despite their relationship, victims and abusers relationships are complex, Max is not a cruel asshole, and Billy has until this moment the most brutal, long 8 episodes torture and death depicted in ST). I think most of the people don’t get Billy was not a redemption story, it was a redemption moment. It’s not the same.

Spike or Zuko started as villains. They got they did wrong and spend several seasons of their respective shows trying to amend the fuckery they did. Kylo Ren/Ben Solo was rushed, okay. But chose to change by himself and spend the rest of the last movie trying to save Rey’s ass. Billy had like 2 minutes of self conscience before getting impaled and dies.

The writers couldn’t have go only with the Full Villain route either. If you left the Neil scene, you have a martyr. If you erase Neil, you have your audience cheering for the Mind Flayer to kill him, and in that case, the Mind Flayer “loses” his villainy. So you have to send your character to the grey territory, again.

Billy on season 2? An asshole.

Billy with Neil and not being hostile to Max at all in their last glimpse of season 2? Redeemed.

Billy being ogled by older women at the pool (remember, victim abuse here)? Redeemed.

Billy insulting a fat kid and trying to get laid with one of the heroes’ mom? Asshole.

Billy spending season 3 crying, scared and begging for help? Redeemed.

Billy trying to kill the Party? Asshole.

Billy confronting the Mind Flayed and telling he’s sorry to Max? Redeemed.

Max mourning Billy, but still having an unresolved, toxic relationship? Asshole.

There were comments from the cast of two plotlines erased due to lack of time, one with Steve and another with Heather at the Lover’s Lake.

Given the above, and the necessity of put Billy in the grey territory, I would go that the scene with Steve would have been Billy mocking Steve’s sailor outfit or something like that (because it wouldn’t be fair for Max’s character that the only character Billy apologises onscreen was his teammate and not his fucking stepsister) and outside of the mall (because I doubt a rocker too cool for school would go to a family friendly sailor themed shop). 

And with Heather, it would be something along the lines Heather confessing to Billy and getting rejected because he was focused on Karen. You cannot make Heather have something remotely romantic/sexual with Billy, because she would lose her “innocence” (aka hero status), since it approaches too much to the incel sexist narrative of “all women are bitches who dig bad boys and ignore nice guys and she deserves to be killed for that”. That, or Billy setting a much complex plot to trap Heather (faking a date and everything to take her to an isolated place), but it is much easier for plot and money reasons just have both characters at the showers, instead of taking two actors and the crew to a lake and film a scene (exteriors are a pain in the ass in filming).

[tslbooks-historian]

Connie's Lovely Boy - Beatrice Holloway

New Post has been published on https://tslbooks.uk/connies-lovely-boy-beatrice-holloway/

Connie's Lovely Boy - Beatrice Holloway

AI - Connies Lovely Boy - Beatrice Holloway

Related Posts

Invalid post ID specified

[hiddenwashington]

anonymous said : MW from Stranger Things, Star Wars and The Walking Dead, please?

after checking in with our members we’d absolutely love to see bail organa, cosinga palpatine, owen lars, mon mothma, chewbacca, jabba the hutt, jacen solo, wrecker, crosshair, tech, echo, ben skywalker, cad bane, c-3po, lando calrissian, wedge, boba fett, fennec shand, qui gon jinn, crosshair, bo katan kryze, and korkie kryze from star wars, brenner, any of the other numbers, viktor creel, alice creel, karen wheeler, ted wheeler, murray, alexei, jonathan byers, erica sinclair, tammy thompson, heather holloway, fred benson, vickie, eden bingham, and argyle from stranger things and rick grimes, michonne, carl grimes, alden, tyreese williams, connie, paul rovia, aaron, and rosita espinosa from the walking dead!

[ninja-muse]

Fantastical Londons

Because @violettesbookss asked, here’s a complete list of what I’ve read (and a bit of my TBR). I’ve bolded the ones I’ve particularly enjoyed.

- The Rivers of London series - Ben Aaronovitch (contemporary fantasy, novels and graphic novels, wizarding police and river goddesses)

- The Clown Service - Guy Adams (contemporary fantasy, spies vs. zombies if I’m remembering right)

- Ink and Steel - Elizabeth Bear (historical fantasy, William Shakespeare and the Fae)

- the Felix Castor series - Mike Carey (contemporary fantasy, exorcist, ghosts and demons)

- The Shadow Police series - Paul Cornell (contemporary fantasy, police with second sight, gets dark)

- The Oversight - Charlie Fletcher (historical fantasy, guardians between mortal and magical worlds must protect/kill a young girl)

- Neverwhere - Neil Gaiman (contemporary fantasy, subterranean London as fantasy world)

- Stray Souls - Kate Griffin (contemporary fantasy, magical self-help group discovers London’s Spirit is missing)

- A Study in Silks - Emma Jane Holloway (steampunk-y fantasy, Sherlock Holmes’ niece on a case)

- Fated - Benedict Jacka (contemporary fantasy, magic shop owner vs. ancient artifact and politics)

- The Shades of London series - Maureen Johnson (YA fantasy thriller, American teen can see ghosts, Jack the Ripper is back?)

- the Spellcrackers series - Suzanne McLeod (contemporary fantasy, woman who breaks spells for hire solves mysteries)

- The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen - Alan Moore (steampunk graphic novel, “superhero” team composed of Victorian literary characters)

- Anno Dracula - Kim Newman (alternate 1800s with vampires and Jack the Ripper)

- Her Fearful Symmetry - Audrey Niffenegger (literary fiction, toxic twin relationship, also ghosts)

- The Left-Handed Booksellers of London - Garth Nix  (YA historical fantasy, 1980s, teen seeks father, discovers magical society instead)

- The Map of Time - Felix J. Palma (historical fiction with steampunk/time travel flavour, H.G. Wells is talked into faking time travel for strangers, Jack the Ripper makes appearance)

- Whitechapel Gods - S.M. Peters (steampunk, common man vs. mechanization)

- Gods Behaving Badly - Marie Phillips (contemporary fantasy, Greek gods and hijinks)

- The Watchmaker of Filigree Street - Natasha Pulley (steampunk, clerk meets mysterious clockmaker, precognition)

- Strange Practice - Vivian Shaw (contemporary fantasy, sensible doctor and vampire sidekicks vs. murderous cult)

- Into the Dim - Janet B. Taylor (YA time travel, teen tries to rescue mother from 1100s)

- Mary Poppins - P.L. Travers (middle grade fantasy, was read this as child, honestly remember nothing)

- Blackout/All Clear - Connie Willis (time travel, historians trapped in the Blitz)

Honourable Mentions (Only Partly in London)

- the Dirk Gently duology - Douglas Adams (fantasy, aimless detective solves weird crimes, meets gods, travels in time,

- The Parasol Protectorate series - Gail Carriger (steampunk romances with vampires and werewolves)

- Sorcerer to the Crown - Zen Cho (historical fantasy, Regency era, brown magicians fighting White establishment for recognition)

- Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell - Susanna Clarke (historical fantasy, Regency era, two magicians seek to revive English magic by beating Napoleon, as written by Austen or Dickens)

- The Invisible Library - Genevieve Cogman (fantasy, parallel London with fae and vampires, librarian-spies seek rare—and stolen—book)

- A Declaration of the Rights of Magicians - H.G. Parry (historical fantasy, Regency era, revolutions, human rights, politics, and magic, gets grim)

- the Shades of Magic series - V.E. Schwab (fantasy, multiple Londons, encroaching dark magic, bad life choices)

- The Courts of the Feyre - Mike Shevdon (contemporary fantasy, man discovers fae heritage in middle-age, thrust into politics and mystery)

- Good Omens - Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman (contemporary fantasy, angel and demon lose Antichrist, world ends in one week)

And of course, I’ve read a good handful of novels (at least) set in other parts of the UK, and non-London steampunk as well! Let me know if you want those too….

[bluecarelesswhisper]

TOP 100 FEMALE SOLO SINGERS OF THE '50S AND '60S

Patti Page - All My Love, The Tennessee Waltz, Mockin' Bird Hill, I Went to Your Wedding, The Doggie in the Window, Cross Over the Bridge, Allegheny Moon, Old Cape Cod; Hush, Hush, Sweet Charlotte

Connie Francis - Who's Sorry Now, My Happiness, Lipstick on Your Collar, Everybody's Somebody's Fool, My Heart Has a Mind of its Own, Where the Boys Are, Don't Break the Heart That Loves You

Brenda Lee - Sweet Nothin's, I'm Sorry, I Want to Be Wanted, Fool #1, Break it to Me Gently, All Alone Am I

Kay Starr - Wheel of Fortune, Side By Side, Changing Partners, If You Love Me (Really Love Me), Rock and Roll Waltz

Doris Day - A Guy is a Guy, Secret Love, If I Give My Heart to You; Whatever Will Be, Will Be (Que Sera, Sera); Everybody Loves a Lover

Dionne Warwick - Anyone Who Had a Heart, Walk on By, I Say a Little Prayer, (Theme from) Valley of the Dolls, I'll Never Fall in Love Again

Aretha Franklin - I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You), Respect, Baby I Love You, Chain of Fools, The House That Jack Built

Teresa Brewer - Music! Music! Music!, Till I Waltz Again With You, Ricochet, A Tear Fell, A Sweet Old Fashioned Girl

Jo Stafford - Shrimp Boats, You Belong to Me, Jambalaya, Keep it a Secret, Make Love to Me!

Rosemary Clooney - Come On-a My House, Half as Much, Botch-A-Me, Hey There, This Ole House

Joni James - Why Don't You Believe Me, Have You Heard, Your Cheatin' Heart; My Love, My Love; How Important Can it Be?

Petula Clark - Downtown, I Know a Place, My Love, This is My Song, Don't Sleep in the Subway

Dinah Washington - I Don't Hurt Anymore, What a Diff'rence a Day Makes, Unforgettable, This Bitter Earth

Mary Wells - The One Who Really Loves You, You Beat Me to the Punch, Two Lovers, My Guy

Georgia Gibbs - Kiss of Fire, Seven Lonely Days, Tweedle Dee, Dance With Me Henry (Wallflower)

Lesley Gore - It's My Party, Judy's Turn to Cry, She's a Fool, You Don't Own Me

Nancy Sinatra - These Boots Are Made For Walkin'; How Does That Grab You, Darlin'?; Sugar Town, Love Eyes

Sarah Vaughan - Make Yourself Comfortable, How Important Can it Be?, Whatever Lola Wants, Broken-Hearted Melody

Dusty Springfield - I Only Want to Be With You, Wishin' and Hopin', You Don't Have to Say You Love Me, Son-Of-A Preacher Man

Ruth Brown - Teardrops From My Eyes, 5-10-15 Hours, (Mama) He Treats Your Daughter Mean, Oh What a Dream

Kitty Wells - It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels, Makin' Believe, Searching (For Someone Like You), Heartbreak U.S.A.

Etta James - The Wallflower, All I Could Do Was Cry, At Last, Tell Mama

LaVern Baker - Tweedlee Dee, Play it Fair, Jim Dandy, I Cried a Tear

Gale Storm - I Hear You Knocking, Teen Age Prayer, Dark Moon

Dinah Shore - My Heart Cries For You, Sweet Violets, Chantz-Chantez

Jaye P. Morgan - That's All I Want From You, Danger! Heartbreak Ahead, The Longest Walk

Eydie Gorme - Mama, Teach Me to Dance; You Need Hands, Blame it on the Bossa Nova

Carla Thomas - Gee Whiz (Look at His Eyes), B-A-B-Y, I Like What You're Doing (To Me)

Patsy Cline - Walkin' After Midnight, I Fall to Pieces, Crazy

Peggy Lee - Lover, Fever, Is That All There Is

Dee Dee Sharp - Mashed Potato Time, Gravy (For My Mashed Potatoes), Ride!

Kitty Kallen - Little Things Mean a Lot, In the Chapel in the Moonlight, My Coloring Book

Annette - Tall Paul, O Dio Mio, Pineapple Princess

Cher - All I Really Want to Do, Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down), You Better Sit Down Kids

Barbra Streisand - People, He Touched Me, Second Hand Rose

Linda Scott - I've Told Every Little Star, Don't Bet Money Honey, I Don't Know Why

Connie Smith - Once a Day, Ain't Had No Lovin', The Hurtin's All Over

Barbara Lewis - Hello Stranger, Baby I'm Yours, Make Me Your Baby

Anita Bryant - Till There Was You, Paper Roses, In My Little Corner of the World

Skeeter Davis - My Last Date (With You), The End of the World, I Can't Stay Mad at You

Sue Thompson - Sad Movies (Make Me Cry), Norman, Paper Tiger

Della Reese - And That Reminds Me, Don't You Know, Not One Minute More

Loretta Lynn - Don't Come Home A-Drinkin' (With Lovin' on Your Mind), Fist City, Woman of the World (Leave My World Alone)

Betty Everett - You're No Good, The Shoop Shoop Song, There Comes a Time

Jackie DeShannon - What the World Needs Now is Love, Put a Little Love in Your Heart, Love Will Find a Way

Timi Yuro - Hurt, What's a Matter Baby, Make the World Go Away

Debbie Reynolds - Tammy, A Very Special Love, Am I That Easy to Forget

Gogi Grant - Suddenly There's a Valley, Who Are We, The Wayward Wind

Maxine Brown - All in My Mind, Funny, Oh No Not My Baby

Betty Johnson - I Dreamed, Little White Lies, The Little Blue Man

Jean Shepard - A Satisfied Mind, Beautiful Lies, Second Fiddle (To An Old Guitar)

Shirley Ellis - The Nitty Gitty, The Name Game, The Clapping Song

Little Eva - The Loco-Motion, Keep Your Hands Off My Baby, Let's Turkey Trot

Vera Lynn - Auf Wiederseh'n Sweetheart, Yours, If You Love Me (Really Love Me)

Eartha Kitt - C'est Si Bon, Santa Baby, Somebody Bad Stole De Wedding Bell

Lulu - To Sir With Love, Best of Both Worlds, Morning Dew

June Valli - Crying in the Chapel, I Understand, Apple Green

Connie Stevens - Sixteen Reasons, Why'd You Wanna Make Me Cry, Mr. Songwriter

Jane Morgan - Fascination, The Day the Rains Came, With Open Arms

Nancy Wilson - (You Don't Know) How Glad I Am, I Wanna Be With You; Face it Girl, it's Over

Esther Phillips - Release Me, And I Love Him, When a Woman Loves a Man

Vikki Carr - It Must Be Him, The Lesson, With Pen in Hand

Little Peggy March - I Will Follow Him, I Wish I Were a Princess; Hello Heartache, Goodbye Love

Mindy Carson - Candy and Cake, My Foolish Heart, Wake the Town and Tell the People

Sandy Posey - Born a Woman, Single Girl, I Take it Back

Bobbie Gentry - Ode to Billie Joe, Fancy

Brenda Holloway - Every Little Bit Hurts, When I'm Gone

Eileen Rodgers - Miracle of Love, Treasure of Your Love

Barbara Lynn - You'll Lose a Good Thing, Second Fiddle Girl

Dottie West - Here Comes My Baby, Would You Hold it Against Me

Baby Washington - That's How Heartaches Are Made, Only Those in Love

Kathy Linden - Billy; Goodbye Jimmy, Goodbye

Cathy Carr - Ivory Tower, First Anniversary

Fontella Bass - Rescue Me, Recovery

Barbara Mason - Yes, I'm Ready; Sad, Sad Girl

Marianne Faithfull - As Tears Go By, Summer Nights

Shelley Fabares - Johnny Angel, Johnny Loves Me

Wanda Jackson - Let's Have a Party, In the Middle of a Heartache

Tammy Wynette - D-I-V-O-R-C-E, Stand By Your Man

Mama Cass - Dream a Little Dream of Me, It's Getting Better

Faye Adams - Shake a Hand, Hurts Me to My Heart

Jill Corey - I Love My Baby, Love Me to Pieces

Dodie Stevens - Pink Shoe Laces, No

Bettye Swann - Make Me Yours, Don't Touch Me

Jan Howard - Evil on Your Mind, Bad Seed

Nina Simone - I Loves You, Porgy; Ain't Got No; I Got Life

Norma Jean - Go Cat Go, I Wouldn't Buy a Used Car From Him

Miss Toni Fisher - The Big Hurt, West of the Wall

Damita Jo - I'll Be There, If You Go Away

Patty Duke - Don't Just Stand There, Say Something Funny

Bonnie Guitar - Dark Moon, Mister Fire Eyes

Gloria Lynne - I Wish You Love, Watermelon Man

Jody Miller - Queen of the House, Home of the Brave

Gisele MacKenzie - Hard to Get, The Star You Wished Upon Last Night

Betty Madigan - Joey, Dance Everyone Dance

Ketty Lester - Love Letters, But Not For Me

Barbara George - I Know (You Don't Love Me No More), You Talk About Love

Joanie Sommers - One Boy, Johnny Get Angry

Irma Thomas - Don't Mess With My Man, Wish Someone Would Care

Diane Renay - Navy Blue, Kiss Me Sailor

[themandylion]

what are your favorite books?

As I mentioned fairly recently, I'm actually very bad at choosing favorites for anything! I enjoy different things at different times and for different reasons, so I end up going into a sort of holding loop kind of state when asked for favorites. Also, I have really gotten out of the habit of reading books in recent years (a combination of reading mostly fanfic, no longer being able to read on my commute to work, and other RL factors). Truth be told, I did the majority of my book-reading when I was in middle school, before I discovered fanfic, and that was. A while ago. And mostly consisted of my mother's science fiction and fantasy collection from the '60s–'80s.

So keeping all that in mind, here's a vague attempt below the cut because this got quite long and rambly.

I love most books and stories by Connie Willis, in particular the Oxford/Time Travel series. Doomsday Book was one of the things that motivated me to choose history as my major in college, though I think I like To Say Nothing of the Dog best. Bellwether is another favorite, though probably Promised Land (coauthored with Cynthia Felice) is my favorite of all of Willis's books. If you enjoy a good balance of meaty plot and character develop (usually with a dash of humor), I recommend Willis's works. Many of them remind me of fanfiction, in terms of pacing and character-focus.

Kate Wilhelm is another favorite author. I haven't read as many of her sf books—those I have read tend to make my head hurt because I will insist on trying to understand the fictional science. Wilhelm also wrote a fair number of mystery/courtroom drama books as well, however, in particular the Barbara Holloway series, which I absolutely adore. The first book of the series is more sf than anything else (heavy with chaos theory and other stuff), but all the rest are about a lawyer based in Eugene, Oregon, and the cases she solves argues.

For older sf, I've loved every story I've read by James White. I need to read more of his books (I think I may have only read 3–4, and one of those was a short-story anthology). There's an in-depth analysis of humanity and what makes people human (or what we think of as human) in his stuff that I've always enjoyed.

Anne McCaffrey's Pern series was pretty formative for me when I was a wee Mandy. I started with the Harper Hall trilogy and that definitely influenced which books in the series I like best (I find whether someone started with Harper Hall or with the Dragonriders trilogy tends to affect which books they prefer), though my favorite is probably Dragonsdawn (SPACE colonists is very yes for me).

Brain Plague by Joan Slonczewski is a book I read in high school, and reread in high school, and reread in college, and reread in college, and finally reread again for the first time in ages a couple years ago (I'd forgotten the title and the author and a dear friend tracked them down for me based on my vague recollections of the plot). While it does involve space people having space adventures in SPACE (a long-time favorite of mine), the majority of the story is more focused on the micro rather than the macro. Another wonderful exploration of what makes people people.

My all-time favorite Young Adult series is hands-down Susan Cooper's The Dark Is Rising Sequence, though it's a toss-up which book I like best out of all of them at any given time. Somewhere in my sketchbooks I have fan art I did for these back in high school, illustrations of the two prophetic poems found in the series.

Finally, in terms of short stories (not a book, but one of the few things I can point to and say, "Yes, this is a favorite"), my favorite is probably 'Another Story' by Ursula K. Le Guin (can be found in the anthology book A Fisherman of the Inland Sea, which is named for that story).

[comicweek]

Professor Marston & The Wonder Women - Trailer

In a superhero origin tale unlike any other, the film is the incredible true story of what inspired Harvard psychologist Dr. William Moulton Marston to create the iconic Wonder Woman character in the 1940’s. While Marston’s feminist superhero was criticized by censors for her ‘sexual perversity’, he was keeping a secret that could have destroyed him. Marston’s muses for the Wonder Woman character were his wife Elizabeth Marston and their lover Olive Byrne, two empowered women who defied convention: working with Marston on human behavior research — while building a hidden life with him that rivaled the greatest of superhero disguises.

Written/Directed by Angela Robinson

Starring Luke Evans Rebecca Hall Bella Heathcote Connie Britton

Release date October 27, 2017

[toongrrl-blog]

Color Me Beautiful: Stranger Things Edition (Pt. 2)

Robin Buckley = Summer

Erica Sinclair = Winter (she rocks bright pastels)

Flo = Autumn

Becky Ives = Autumn

Terry Ives = Spring

Samantha Stone = Autumn (based on the actress’s real life coloring but Sam does her own way)

Mick = Autumn (based on her undertone and actress’s real life hair color)

Dottie = Summer (based on undertone and eyes)

Holly Wheeler = Summer (could change, she’s very little)

Connie Frazier (with a side of melted brain) = Summer (Melted Brains! Screw you Connie!)

Up Next: Heather Holloway, Janet Holloway, evil Stacey Albright, evil Carol Perkins, Ms. Sinclair, Marsha Holland, Claudia Henderson, Susan Hargrove, Doris Driscoll, Suzie, Karen’s hoochie pool pals (Jill, Liz, Winnie Kline)

[ao3feed-willel]

by Ab0019

In the middle of a quiet yet vibrant Albany night, Jane “El” Hopper is taken from her apartment without a trace of anyone being there. In and out in only a few moments, it is only her adoptive father that notices the difference. The young girl, who had been flagged for telekinetic abilities since birth, is brought to a Georgian lab where she meets other children like her.

Mike Wheeler, Lucas Sinclair, Dustin Henderson, Max Mayfield, and eventually a skittish boy by the name of Will Byers are all in the front half, where they receive periodic injections, tests, and tokens for good behaviour. But eventually, after the mysterious workers determine they are ready for the dreaded back half, the group-as well as the others that come and go to the lab-are bound for a plunge into what can only be described as the roach motel, where you check in but never check out.

But despite the seemingly harmless situation and the promise of an eventual return back to their families and lives before the tests even began, El can’t help but become more and more desperate to get out. But there lies the problem: No one has ever escaped the lab.

Or: A "The Institute" AU

Words: 2519, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English

Fandoms: Stranger Things (TV 2016), The Institute - Stephen King

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence

Categories: F/M, M/M

Characters: Mike Wheeler, Steve Harrington, Nancy Wheeler, Eleven | Jane Hopper, Will Byers, Dustin Henderson, Maxine "Max" Mayfield, Jonathan Byers, Jim "Chief" Hopper, Joyce Byers, Robin Buckley, Martin Brenner, The Party (Stranger Things), Erica Sinclair, Sam Owens (Stranger Things), Heather Holloway, Sara Hopper, Suzie (Stranger Things), Becky Ives, Connie Frazier, Griswold Family (Stranger Things), Scoops Troop (Stranger Things), Barbara "Barb" Holland, Murray Bauman

Relationships: Eleven | Jane Hopper/Mike Wheeler, Jonathan Byers/Nancy Wheeler, Joyce Byers & Jim "Chief" Hopper, Will Byers & Eleven | Jane & Dustin Henderson & Maxine Mayfield & Lucas Sinclair & Mike Wheeler, Jonathan Byers & Nancy Wheeler, Mike Wheeler & Nancy Wheeler, Eleven | Jane Hopper & The Party, Maxine "Max" Mayfield/Lucas Sinclair, Will Byers & Eleven | Jane Hopper, Eleven | Jane Hopper & Jim "Chief" Hopper, Jonathan Byers & Steve Harrington & Nancy Wheeler, Jonathan Byers & Joyce Byers & Will Byers & Eleven | Jane Hopper

Additional Tags: The Institute - Freeform, Re-write