#dedicated tv media wall

[fishervk]

Sun Room Medium Atlanta

Idea for a mid-sized craftsman sunroom with a light wood floor, a standard fireplace, and a standard ceiling.

[copperbadge]

National Clean Your Home Month, aka NaClYoHo or "Salty Pirates" month, is soon to be upon us!

Each November, I "host" NaClYoHo, where participants work to make their living spaces more comfortable and pleasant. The full manifesto is at the link, but the basic premise is that each day in November you put on a podcast, tv show, playlist, or other media, and clean or organize some aspect of your home.

It's meant to be a low-stress way to both do a yearly cleaning and also participate in an intensive project like National Novel Writing Month without having to write a novel. I'll be posting about it again before November kicks off, but I thought I'd link to the manifesto well ahead of time, so people could brace themselves. :D

This year my big goals are to figure out how to keep my floors truly clean, replace at least one rug, and clear out the storage nook where I have a bunch of stuff that needs sorting through. I am also going to try to dedicate some time to researching those "bathroom refresh" companies that basically just put a shell over your existing shower/tub/walls and see if it's feasible for my bathroom, which desperately needs it.

[calicoheartz]

I love ur writing! Could you write something about Caitlin being obsessed with her girlfriend and talking about her/posting her everywhere?

Bound by Obsession ; Caitlin Clark ┈﹒⁾⁾

summary : caitlin going absolutely feral for her girlfriend and brags about her every chance she gets ! ｡>﹏<)

warnings : mainly pure fluff :)

my master list ㇀♡

a/n : aww tysm anon! here are some different scenarios of Caitlin being absolutely obsessed w u! Enjoy ◡̈

during games ;

Caitlin would definitely dedicate every single shot she makes to you. As she believes you’re truly the reason why she has succeeded and has made it this far !

Whether youre attending the game or watching it on tv, she would always do a little heart symbol towards the camera to let you know she’s thinking of you! 🫶🏻

She also always makes an effort to wave to you when hyping up the crowd! Blowing you little kisses and sneaking glances at you 😩

interviews / post conference ;

omg our girl is SO infatuated with you that she will bring you up in every single interview at any chance she gets. If someone ask what’s the key to her success , it’s you. Good luck charm? You! I swear she will bring you up whenever she can

on social media ;

you are her entire feed. End of story. Her profile picture is of the both of you!

She always likes to show you off on her story, whether it’s a nice or silly picture of you, she wants everyone to know you’re hers!

you guys definitely have matching bios as well

will fight anyone that flirts with you in your comments. (She literally lives in your comment section goodbye!)

with your friends ;

is ALWAYS talking about you. and tbh, she’d be sick of it too if she was them. “Did you hear about what happened to y/n?” - “omg look at what y/n sent me 😘”

The team is so sick of her. Literally anytime they tell her to stfu she’ll just roll her eyes and be like “I’d be jealous too if I had such an awesome and amazing girlfriend 😒”

PDA GALOREEEE OMG ARGUE W A WALL!!!

^ always kissing your neck , hand on your thigh , rubbing circles on your back , caressing your cheek..etc! She always has to be touching you!

will probably add more to this later !! I accidentally hit publish and I didn’t want to delete it bc then I’d lose the question 😬 uhmm anywho! tysm for reading <3

[eu0n1a]

Pls I need more of yandere Izuku!!! I BEG OF YOU!!!! I 100% believe he is stalker material and would have that wall of pictures of you.

yandere prohero izuku breaking into your home (+more Stalking details)

your relationship seemed normal to you, he's your childhood best friend. after graduating UA and quickly rising to the top. you never escaped his mind. he misses you SO MUCH!

i mean you two have spent practically your whole lives together, and now what? nothing? he's so busy now, beating villains bloody, attending national TV interviews. if it's not the work then it's the media not giving him space to breathe. and you barely have time with all the pile of work your professors give you.

he would try his best to maintain contact with you. but everytime the messages would be hours apart. he felt you fading away and it upset him. he hasn't seen you in so long.

so he decides to visit you. issue is during his visit ...

he knows it's late at night. but something caught his eye. around the small space between the curtains and he saw YOU!

"gosh you're so cute," he thinks with heart eyes.

deciding to let himself in.

"best friends let themselves into eachother's houses, right?"

"i just want to turn off the TV, i'm doing her a favor."

taking advantage of the fact it's 3AM. passing through the white picket fence. in your backyard he opened the back door you forget to lock. Japan is one of the safest countries in the world. why lock it?

because of him. you'll learn soon.

exploring your house first, particularly your bedroom. rationalizing it by saying, "their birthday is coming up. maybe i'll find out what she likes."

of course he rationalizes every odd thing he does.

sniffing the pillows, a soft smile, whispering to himself, "mm strawberry shampoo" total lovesick idiot.

by the time, he finished learning things about you, he got to the living room. The TV radiating light on your face, everything else dark.

today was his first picture, his heart beating rapidly as he took it. gosh, how much he wanted to kiss you, hold you. you always lingered on his mind and he hates himself. hates himself for not confessing his love to you back in UA.

you could have been his. his honey, his lover. someone to dote on, someone to love, he hated how he wasn't able to caress your cheek.

but for now he had to return back home.

creating fake social media accounts. thank goodness you didn't have a private account. saving all your pictures, visiting your page whenever he could.

screenshotting pictures, making deep dives on the surroundings. who's that? he's searching up everything about the people around you in those pictures.

but he wouldn't talk to you, no. he needs to make sure he has all his facts straight about you. needs to make your reunion perfect.

instead he took pictures, videos. his phone had a whole folder dedicated to them. it was private, labeled as 'documents'. even bought a usb to upload it to his personal laptop.

pictures of you out on a walk, at a club, at home. he would dedicate his time simply staring, excusing it as "she's changed so much, i need to learn more about her".

it turned into something he couldn't help. secretly following her because 'a quirkless person must be protected. nothing will happen to them on my watch.'

familiarizing himself with you again as he opens one of his drawers. notebooks upon notebooks, all about you, from elementary to his UA years. reading through them either to give himself a good laugh or reminisce the past.

opening up a new notebook for a new era. once the pen hits the paper, he writes quickly, whispering gibberish at a rapid pace only he could understand.

(thx 4 the ask, I've literally never had one before💗)

[virgoilluminati]

Match Made in England

Following the success of the women's world cup and the ongoing struggles of juggling both fame, football and their relationship, Jude and Y/N set up a tv series.

A/N: ok so i kinda had this idea for a little while but this is kinda like a little spoof spinoff of the World Class series and each "episode" is like a little update into their life, with snippets as if they are hosting a tv reality show. If you have any requests on what episodes you would like to have posted on here pls let me know :)

A tv show created by two lovers that happen to both play for the england football team 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

You sit next to your window in your two-bedroom apartment, a cup of coffee steaming up over the rainy exterior. The sound of raindrops tapping against the glass creates a soothing rhythm, blending with the soft hum of the city outside. Your mind drifts as you watch the rain cascade down, each droplet carrying with it a piece of your thoughts.

Lost in the tranquility of the moment, you reflect on the past week, the challenges at work, and the unexpected encounter with an old friend. The city lights blur in the distance, their reflection shimmering on the wet streets below.

You take a slow sip of your coffee, savoring the warmth that spreads through your body.The apartment, though small, feels like a sanctuary. Bookshelves line the walls, filled with stories waiting to be explored. A faint aroma of vanilla and cinnamon from a nearby candle mingles with the rich scent of coffee, creating a comforting atmosphere.

As the rain continues to fall, you feel a sense of calm wash over you. Despite the hustle and bustle of life, these quiet moments remind you of the simple joys that make each day worth living. With a contented sigh, you lean back, ready to embrace whatever the evening brings.It had been six months since winning the World Cup and your world had been an absolute spin. TV interview after TV interview, magazine photoshoots, ongoing pestering rumors about your relationship with Jude—everything had felt like a whirlwind, one which never stopped. And now, the BBC had asked to start a reality TV show about your and Jude's life.

At first, you were hesitant, preferring the shielded safety of your private life together. But then, as reminded by your new PA, Emily, people had never been more interested in the women's game, and this was a huge step forward, likening it to other docu-series like Beckham.You let out a deep sigh, watching the rain continue to blur the cityscape outside your window. The idea of opening up your life to the public felt both thrilling and terrifying.

You and Jude had always valued your privacy, cherishing the quiet moments away from the prying eyes of the media. But Emily's words echoed in your mind—this could be a pivotal moment for women's sports, an opportunity to inspire and connect with fans on a deeper level.

With your coffee cup now empty, you stand and stretch, feeling the weight of the decision pressing on your shoulders. You walk over to the kitchen, placing the cup in the sink, and then glance at the clock. Jude would be home soon. The thought brings a smile to your face, a reminder of the support and love that had carried you both through the chaos of the past months.As you prepare dinner, your mind races with possibilities.

The show could highlight the dedication and hard work that goes into being a professional athlete, the balance between your careers and personal lives, and the love story that had captivated so many. But it could also bring unwanted scrutiny and pressure.

The sound of the front door opening pulls you from your thoughts. Jude walks in, shaking off the rain from his jacket. His smile is warm and reassuring, and you feel a sense of calm wash over you."Hey," he says, coming over to give you a kiss. "How was your day?"You take a deep breath, ready to share the latest development.

"Busy, as usual. You?"

"Trent being his usual annoying self." You let out a laugh, your heart warmed from the unlikely England duo.

"You spoke to Em today?" Jude asks, his head rested on your shoulder as he pulls you in for a hug.

"Uh yeah, theres something we need to talk about."Jude raises an eyebrow, curious. "What's up?"

"The BBC wants to do a reality show about us. Emily thinks it's a great idea, a big step forward for the women's game. I'm just... not sure."Jude listens intently, then takes your hand.

"It's a big decision, no doubt. I'm hesitant too, honestly. But it could also be quite fun. Imagine sharing our journey, the highs and lows, with everyone. It could be something really special."

You chuckle. “Yeah, special like that time you tried to cook dinner and almost set the kitchen on fire?"Jude laughs.

"Hey, it was only a small fire. And I learned a valuable lesson: never leave pasta boiling while watching a football game.”

You grin. “Exactly. We can show people the real us, kitchen disasters and all. But seriously, we should set some boundaries. Like, no cameras before I’ve had my morning coffee.”

Jude nods. “Agreed. And no filming me when I’m singing in the shower. Nobody needs to hear that.”

You burst out laughing. “Deal. And if it ever gets too much, we can always take a break. No pressure.”

Jude grins, pulling you into a hug. “Alright then, let’s get this show on the road. We’ll need to find a good production team and start planning out the details. Think they’ll let us film in the Birmingham pub?”

You laugh. “I’m sure we can work something out. This is going to be hilarious. I can’t wait to see what crazy moments we capture.”

Jude’s expression turns thoughtful. “And we’ll need a team that can travel with us, especially since I’ll be in Madrid a lot for games. Filming in different locations could add a cool dynamic, don’t you think?”

You nod. “Absolutely! We can show different cultures, cities, and maybe even some behind-the-scenes at your matches. Plus, it gives us an excuse to travel together more.”

Jude’s eyes light up. “True, and maybe I can even get some of my teammates to make cameo appearances. Imagine the chaos!”You laugh again. “Oh god, what have I gotten myself into..."

Episodes:

Ep 1: Just two kids from England: the ups and downs of football.

Ep 2: New Beginnings: All Things Madrid

[writingquestionsanswered]

How come I managed to get an outline done for once for the sole purpose of getting me to finish a chapter but I just can't get myself to finish that chapter?

Chapter Outlined, Can't Write Chapter

It happens. Outlines go only so far... you still have to flesh out the scenes as you write them... figure out the dialogue and the blocking. It's sort of like you can plot your trip route on Google Maps, but you still have to actually drive from one point to the other.

So... when you have an outline but are still struggling to actually write:

Problem #1 - You Don't Have a Way In

Having a chapter outline usually just means you know what generally (and importantly) needs to happen in the scene, the general order those things need to happen in, and some things like the scene's purpose, your character's goal, etc. But this is sort of like having a set of instructions that say, "Go to building. Go inside." Okay, great... but how are you specifically getting inside? Are you going through the front door? The back door? Climbing through a window? Landing on the roof in a helicopter? Tunneling in through a basement wall? So, before you can actually start writing, you need to figure out the specific way you're getting your character into the scene. A good way to do this is to go to the first important thing that has to happen in the scene, then rewind from there. What is your character doing in the moments before that? What has to happen in order to put them into that place in that moment? Is there anything unique about the circumstances or location you can focus on? Try opening up some of the books on your shelves and look at the ways different chapters begin. It will start to give you ideas for how you can open your chapter.

Problem #2 - Not Inspired/Excited

Having your chapter outlined doesn’t mean is a good first step, but if you're not feeling motivated to actually write the chapter, it will harder to write it. Try doing some fun exercises to get yourself excited about the chapter. Do a mood board or playlist for the chapter. Save some character and setting inspiration photos on Pinterest. Do an interview with your character that takes place after the scene/chapter to get their take on what happened and what they feel about it.

Problem #3 - Something Isn’t Working

Stories are like a house of cards in that one misplaced “card” can bring the whole thing crashing down. Sometimes you lose interest because an earlier element or event didn’t quite work. You can feel in your gut that something’s not right, so your brain interprets that as losing motivation. It’s not really that you’ve lost interest in the story… it’s that you’ve lost interest in the dead end path it’s on. Go back to the previous chapter or two and look for something that’s not pulling its weight. It could be an unnecessary character dragging the story down, a subplot that is cluttering up the story or drawing attention away from the main plot, or a scene/scenes that don’t add to the story. It could even be a combination of these things. If you can find it and fix it, your motivation may return.

Problem #4 - You’re Distracted by Other Things

If you sit down to write and you’re busy scrolling through facebook, texting with friends, and singing to the radio, you’re probably not going to get much done. Try blocking out thirty minutes (or whatever amount of time you can afford) and dedicate it entirely to writing. Shut down social media and other tempting apps/sites. Turn off the TV. Put your phone on silent. Tell housemates not to bother you. Put on soft music without lyrics, and focus solely on writing. If you find your mind starting to wander toward other things, yank it back and focus on your story.

Problem #5 - You’re Lacking the Physical/Mental Energy to Write

Whether you’re sick, not getting enough sleep, super busy, depressed, or in a bad mood, not having physical or mental energy can make it hard to write. Do what you can to bring your energy up as much as possible, both physically and mentally, and you may have an easier time writing that chapter.

I hope something here will work for you!

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

I’ve been writing seriously for over 30 years and love to share what I’ve learned. Have a writing question? My inbox is always open!

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[summerlinenss]

out of curiosity, if Max doesn’t release its metrics, then what metrics are you actually using to make these statements about the show’s popularity? what does “it’s currently in the 99.7th percentile of the comedy genre, meaning it’s in higher demand than 99.7% of all comedy series in the u.s.” even mean? How are you measuring what’s “in demand” - by who? Where? It’s bold to claim that this show was wildly popular (despite the fact that I never hear about it outside of tumblr, tho that’s a personal anecdote) but cancelled just for being queer, so I would be really interested to know where you’re getting all these numbers from. Thanks!

hey anon! first of all i am so sorry for the delayed response. i started typing something up and then i got distracted with something else and totally forgot about this in my drafts.

sure, i have no problem citing sources. i probably should’ve linked some in my original post, that’s absolutely fair.

this ended up way longer than i planned so bear with me, but a quick overview of what i’ll be going over:

1) what are the stats/where did they come from?

2) how is the show so popular?

3) was it really cancelled for being queer?

(also just a disclaimer that this will contain spoilers for the show)

1) first, the numbers

you’re right that hbo doesn’t release metrics to the public. in fact, ceo casey bloys tried to justify the cancellation to the hollywood reporter by saying “the numbers weren’t there,” despite refusing to say what exactly those numbers were or where they came from.

however, there are websites dedicated to researching/analyzing the data of different media. one of those is parrot analytics, who focus on industry insights like audience demand, competitive analysis, and content valuations. they’re trusted as a reliable source by forbes, the new york times, reuters, the wall street journal, and more.

this is what we can learn from them about our flag means death from a basic google search (note that all of this data is relevant to the last 30 days as of january 26 2024):

audience demand for our flag means death is now 33.6x greater than the average tv series in the united states. as explained in the “about demand distribution” section, this means it’s one of only 0.2% of all u.s. shows to fall in the “exceptional” performance range compared to the “average” demand benchmark of 64.1%.

the change in demand for ofmd in the u.s. has increased by 7.5% compared to the average tv series.

ofmd now actually ranks at the 99.8th percentile in the comedy genre in the u.s. i’m not a math person, but in basic terms, this is like a scale of measuring and comparing performances to create an average score. essentially, ofmd is performing at the very top of all comedy series in the u.s.

ofmd has 100% home market travelability. as it says above, the market of origin is always 100%, so in fairness i included the graph of international markets for comparison. some of these aren't super high, however (as explained by parrot analytics themselves) one of the key issues with the international market is accessibility to content, which has been an ongoing struggle for international fans. many people (i guess fittingly) have resorted to pirating ofmd because they don’t have access to max or affiliate streaming services in their country.

there are more stats i could have and wanted to go more in-depth into but it would make this even longer than it already is, so i’ll just leave some links you can check out if you’re interested and move on:

• comparison of ofmd's success to shows like ted lasso, euphoria, and peacemaker

• ofmd's placement as #1 most in-demand breakout series in the u.s. for 8 weeks

• ofmd's impressive 94% critics score and 95% audience score on rotten tomatoes

• how ofmd evolved from sleeper hit to a flagship series at max

• a list of ofmd's past and present award nominations/wins

• praise and recognition from news/entertainment sites: the atlantic (2022); the new york times (2023); tv guide (2023); vulture (2023); forbes (2023); the los angeles times (2022); vanity fair (2023)

2) so why haven’t you (or others) really heard of the show outside of tumblr despite all this success? likely because max did a terrible job marketing it.

ofmd first aired on hbo max (pre-merger before it was “max”) in march 2022. the entire season aired over one month, every thursday at 12am pst. season 2 followed a similar release schedule in october 2023.

season 1’s marketing was almost non-existent, pretty much relying on taika waititi’s name being attached. there was one teaser and one full-length trailer, as well as a few clips on youtube of taika and rhys darby answering pirate-themed trivia, all painting the show as a “silly pirate workplace/buddy comedy.” but hbo max didn’t put any real effort in because they didn’t care. david zaslav and the other higher-ups had no faith in the show and expected it to fail.

most people weren’t aware it was actually a romance due to the poor marketing, and although there were many romantically charged scenes between them, many were still wary to believe it wasn’t queerbaiting until ed & stede confessed their feelings and kissed.

showrunner david jenkins has said in interviews that he had no idea how deeply queerbaiting had hurt audiences and impacted their ability to trust what’s on screen without feeling like they’re being ridiculed, despite the fact that he was calling it a love story the whole time. it wasn’t until people realized they weren’t being queerbaited and that it was a funny, sincere show with a compelling plot that word-of-mouth began to spread. by the time the season 1 finale aired, there was a decent-sized fandom that continued to grow as it received more praise.

it was a fight to even get the show renewed for season 2, and david jenkins and the cast have majorly credited that renewal to the unexpected and massive fan response to the show, which basically forced hbo’s hand.

max didn’t bother trying to properly promote the series until season 2, when they begrudgingly accepted that it was one of their most profitable and successful shows. ofmd had huge billboards in times square, downtown los angeles, and on the side of hbo headquarters. they started accurately marketing the show as not just a workplace comedy at sea, but a heartfelt romcom. max began selling long-demanded merch (which became best sellers) and spent money on an FYC campaign.

i will emphasize, whether they liked it or not, they knew ofmd was their new moneymaker (especially with the recent end of succession, which was obviously a cash cow for hbo).

photo credit: @/bookishtheo

3) now if it was that successful, was it really cancelled just for being queer?

i mean, i can’t say that definitively. no one can. there are several potential factors at play that we may never know, and there have been a lot of rumours and speculation (many of which i don’t feel comfortable discussing in case they aren’t true) since the cancellation.

but do i believe the fact that it’s a queer romcom was one of those factors, especially since max has a history of cancelling and scrapping its most diverse projects? absolutely.

first and foremost, i can’t stress enough that this isn’t just a show with a few characters thrown in for token representation. ofmd is built on a diverse, intersectional cast and narratives, including:

• lgbtq+ representation: 5 main couples are explicitly queer (including mlm, wlw, nblm, and nblw relationships). multiple characters are implied to be poly, and there’s a polycule forming in season 2 that was hinted to be developed more in season 3. beyond relationships, it’s confirmed that (similarly to the way wwdits depicts all vampires as being pansexual) all of the pirates are somewhere on the queer spectrum.

• bipoc representation: the majority of the main cast are people of colour. this includes david fane, joel fry, leslie jones, samson kayo, vico ortiz, anapela polataivao, madeleine sami, samba schutte, ruibo qian, and taika waititi, as well as many guest actors (like rachel house, simone kessell, and maaka pohatu) and extras.

• disability representation: multiple characters have physical disabilities, most notably amputated/prosthetic limbs and visual impairment. a lot (actually most) of the characters also deal with mental health issues, particularly coping with severe trauma and suicidal ideation/behaviour.

• the show has been praised for addressing difficult and serious themes like toxic masculinity, colonialism, and self-discovery, all while still managing to be a witty comedy and not come across as “preachy.”

• the diversity also extends off-screen, with a team of directors, writers, and additional crew comprised of numerous bipoc, women, queer people, and trans/non-binary people.

my point isn’t just the quantity of representation, but the quality. they take great care and respect into every marginalized group depicted on-screen. the actors would often be consulted about their characters’ costumes, hair, tattoos, and the kind of language they use. it’s not a world where discrimination magically doesn’t exist, they just have zero tolerance for it. if a character does something homophobic or racist, you can guarantee they’ll quickly (and often violently) be punished.

so okay, sure, it’s got great representation. what does that have to do max cancelling it?

because they’ve been interfering with production from the start.

i already mentioned the marketing issues so i won’t get into that. it was also revealed in interviews with david jenkins after season 2 that hbo cut their budget by 40%, which is why they had to do everything they could to save money. this included letting go of some of the original cast (and even still having episodes where some of them don’t appear at all) and moving the entire production to AoNZ. the budget cuts also meant two less episodes, so they had to rush to fit an entire season’s worth of plot into eight half-hour long episodes.

but one of the biggest frustrations is hbo’s (alleged) censorship of the show. samba schutte revealed that the entire plot of episode 2x06 was completely different in the original script. before it was rewritten as “calypso’s birthday,” the episode took place during lucius & pete’s wedding and focused on the crew getting sick of the sexual tension between ed & stede and trying to get them to hook up (this aligned with lucius & pete getting engaged and ed & stede deciding to take things slow in the previous episode).

vico ortiz and writer jes tom have also commented that many scenes between jim, oluwande, and archie establishing them as a polycule were cut, including one of the three of them emerging from a bedroom in their underwear. jes has mentioned other elements of season 2 that had to be cut out or rewritten, like the implication of other poly dynamics between the crew and more sexually explicit scenarios and jokes.

considering that ofmd is an extremely sex-positive show that isn’t afraid to be raunchy or taboo, it’s clear that either higher-ups at hbo forced them to cut these things out or they had no choice but to cut them out due to tight budget/time restraints.

in addition to this, a recent article citing an “anonymous insider” has alleged that hbo was uncomfortable with and was unsure how to market the “shock violence” in the show (the same network that aired game of thrones), which david jenkins outright called out as being bullshit. ofmd is rated TV-MA and the posters and trailers all show the audience that it contains violent content. there is literally nothing more graphic in ofmd than any other pirate show — it’s probably a lot tamer than most of them, actually.

violence on the show is most frequently used in a comedic context, in the sense that it’s not meant to be seen as scary or taken seriously. the few instances of serious graphic imagery on the show are meant to invoke a mood shift, like ed’s transformation into the kraken or ned low’s murder. it should also be noted that some of the most graphic deaths are reserved for bigots, like ed snapping the neck of a colonizer who was ridiculing stede’s love letter.

it’s also most often used in a sexual context — not sexual violence, but violence as a sexual metaphor. more specifically the act of stabbing as a metaphor for penetration, as seen with both ed & stede and anne & mary. bearing all this in mind, it seems like the real issue here isn’t executives struggling to market explicit violence to a mainstream audience, but rather explicit gay content.

as much as we joke and affectionately call it the “gay pirate show,” ofmd has always been nothing more than an opportunity for rainbow capitalism for hbo (e.g. the fact that they waited three months to announce season 2 just so they could do it on the first day of pride month). like other cancelled queer media, ofmd was a way for hbo executives to show how “inclusive” and “accepting” they are when it was convenient (aka profitable) for them, but they never actually respected the show or us as a community.

it’s impossible to be certain of what the exact reasoning for cancellation was, especially when they won’t give us a clear answer themselves. and maybe it had nothing to do with ofmd being a queer romcom at all. maybe that’s all a horrible coincidence. but for hbo/max to axe a critically acclaimed and beautifully inclusive show that’s successful by every metric, with an extremely devoted fanbase, especially after casey bloys just had the nerve to ask “gay twitter” to hype up the gilded age? it doesn’t exactly put them in the best light regardless.

in summary, i’ll leave you with this editorial, which details how the campaign to save ofmd isn’t just about one show, but a fight to save the future of all queer art.

[klikandtuna]

Keeping one arm firmly around Azekiel, Crowley reached out, touched the solid wall just beside the light, and gave it a little push…

Sky Clear Blue chapter 7, “You Have To Believe,” has been posted!

This illustration was FAR too ambitious a concept for the couple of hours available to me, but I like it 😄 Come get caught up and find out what’s going on!

(With extra thanks, as always, to @suzypfonne for the level of beta-reading that makes me excited to get critiqued, and to @sparklyshinymagpie for tireless dedication to the proper coding of social-media conversations, even if it takes some Frankensteining 💛💛

[officialjanetweiss]

List 8 tv shows for your followers to get to know you.

Tagged by @nero-neptune

OOPS I was tagged in this like a year ago and am just getting around to posting it 😅 I’m the queen of starting these and then saving them to my drafts to finish later and then just abandoning them. ANYWAY

(I, too, am giving a lil blurb for each one bc I love to talk)

Desperate Housewives

I started watching it a couple weeks ago finished it in the spring and I love one (1) republican. I am now slowly thrifting all of the seasons on DVD

My mom watched it when it first aired and I never sat down and joined her but I remember catching glimpses. As an adult I knew I would love it before I even started and I was right! It has WOMEN. It’s outrageous. It’s hilarious. It’s addicting. The theme song is glorious!! Almost every episode title is a reference to a Sondheim song!!! It has (mostly) aged surprisingly well. And in general it just reminds me of a time before streaming when TV was…different. Idk how to put it into words but first of all, remember when shows had 20+ episodes per season? Never forget what they took from us.

Glee

IYKYK. Any “old” songs I know I know because of either Glee or Rockband. Jayma Mays was my awakening. It introduced me to Rocky Horror and many other musicals. It got me into media literacy/critique and was the first show that I anticipated every single week and the first show I gave up on before it ended. I could go on for ages but you just had to be there (my tumblr from 2012-2015).

Passions

I watched this with my mom as a little kid and am slowly rewatching now. Soap operas are a staple on her side of the family and Passions is the only one I ever got into, because I was like 4 and there was ✨magic✨. As an adult I’m not even really into fantasy but in this case it works for me bc it’s so balls to the wall insane. I definitely don’t think I could get into it today if it weren’t for the childhood nostalgia. It ran for almost 10 years, which is not long considering some soaps are still kicking after 50 or 60. But at 2,231 episodes it’s a LOT if you’re not used to the slow pacing of the soap opera format. It’s so special to me though. I have cat and baby names picked out bc of characters on this show. AND THE THEME SONG!!

Soap

My all time fave. For 10 years I have run the only tumblr blog dedicated to Soap. It’s hilarious and touching and was ahead of its time. Susan Harris is a genius. Fleabag falling in love with a priest? Susan Harris did it first. That lady on Days of Our Lives being possessed? Susan Harris did it first. Who shot JR? Susan Harris did it first. The Golden Girls sitting at a table eating dessert and talking about sex? Susan Harris did that but she also did it BEFORE SHE DID IT. I’ve rewatched this show so many times and there are still scenes that make me laugh out loud. I would die for Jessica Tate. Bury me with the boxset.

That Girl

Just started watching this (in real time, not a year ago) and it’s just so fun!! Marlo Thomas is a cutie. Her wardrobe is unreal. I’ve laughed out loud quite a few times. She has great chemistry with the leading man whose actor’s name I shan’t bother to look up. I feel like I started watching it at the perfect time in my life too.

Ann Marie 🤝🏼 Cute little aspiring actresses who just moved out on their own to the big city and don’t have sex 🤝🏼 Me

Trial & Error

Came for Jayma, stayed for everything. Last year I watched Arrested Development for the first time and if you like that show I think you’ll like Trial & Error. Mockumentary style, wacky characters, great running gags. It was gone too soon and I’m still waiting for a season 2 DVD release.

Out of the Box

Here’s a throwback bc who am I if I don’t put a kids show on the list? I loved this show when I was little. It’s so underrated. I showed it to my current babysitting kids when I first started watching them and they love it too :,) Watching it as an adult makes me so emotional idk why. It warms my heart. If I were to ever become a preschool teacher I would make the babies sing the ending song at their graduation and make their parents cryyyy. If you have little guys in your life you should show it to them. It’s on Disney + (eewwww) but there might be episodes on youtube too.

Instead of blabbing about an 8th show here are some runner ups that I’ve enjoyed over the years, some of which I think are v underrated: Tuca & Bertie, Girlfriends, Mum (BBC, not to be confused with Mom, which I also enjoy), Fleabag, Go On, Jane the Virgin, Wonderfalls, Masters of Sex (might be due for a rewatch of that one), The Fosters (fuck them kids tho), Pushing Daisies, One Mississippi

I tag @lifesizehysteria @cakesexuality @sic-transit-gloria-mea and you can do it again @nero-neptune, I know you have more shows to talk about.

[everything-changes-once-again]

Over the past several weeks, I wrote a dissertation boiling all of my research work over the past five years into a few succinct conclusions.

What I didn’t realize during those weeks was that in the background, my brain was processing another set of data. The data I’ve gathered in therapy about my mind and soul, lessons and discoveries about life and the future and the world and my role in trying to change it, over these same five years. It is a level of clarity and full honesty with myself that I've never experienced before, brought on in part by the total breakdown of mental walls that comes with writing 12 hours a day for several weeks.

And some of these realizations, I really liked. I have grown so much since starting grad school. Others, not so much. I’ve identified several patterns that I want to break and new ones that I want to take their place. And conveniently, I’m about to have at least a few weeks post-graduation where my only tasks are to find a job, and to exist.   So, I’m going to use that time for a brain reset. I will try to actively rewire my brain by catching and halting these decade-old thought patterns and replacing them with new ones. Obviously, this is the point of therapy and what I've been trying to do the whole time. But I've never dedicated specific energy to it, never had time to, until now.

There are two key rules:

Eat food. Enough food, every day, for an entire year. No matter what the rest of my life brings. In the 10+ years I've bounced between recovery and relapse, I have never actually committed myself for a full year to giving food the attention that it deserves. In treatment in 2020, I didn't understand how long of a process it really is to change your brain. Now I have more respect for the reality that these things take time.

No quick dopamine hits and no numbing out. I've seen this described as a "dopamine detox." No social media scrolling, no mindless TV or podcasts or video games, no substances, no tools that I use specifically to block out my thoughts. I am going to retrain myself how to be bored and how to be alone with my mind and how to feel.

I’ve created an extensive list of other ways to generate dopamine without the quick hits and have summed them up into the themes of connection, novelty, community, and creating safety to be weird. This means reading fantasy books and letting myself acknowledge the way the make me feel. This means picking a coffee shop to become regular at, and then actually forcing myself to talk to the baristas and wave to familiar faces when I'm there. It means focusing on my values and figuring out what I really want to do with my life and how to best position myself in the world to make effective change.

It also means sitting with feelings that I've pushed down for a long time - that's the part I'm most afraid of, and I'm working to create structure in my life so I don't fall into a pit in my attempt to grow.

The duration of this project is unclear. The food part will last for a year, but the intense focus on rewiring my brain can only last as long as it takes to get a job. Then, we restructure the plan and we reassess. Because this is about flexibility. This is about recognizing that there is no “end” to growth. There may be another intense period like this someday, or there may just be a gradual shifting and re-touching as I fine-tune myself into the person I want to be.

This has been a long, long time coming. I have gathered so much information over the past five years. Now I am going to integrate it.

[disneybritton]

HOUSE DIARY: OCTOBER 2024

Media room with a computer-generated rug.

Designing our guest room has been a puzzle. Last October, it was a dedicated space for occasional overnight visitors, like Teddy, but it’s usually 80% empty. So, this year, we turned it into a media room for year-round use with a sleeper sofa and four gallery walls. We love it!

#1/5 - Two Thieves, by Michael Cook on sofa gallery wall

#2/5 - Towering Books Wall. Nick Wooster installed World globe atop his shelves. We’ve installed artist plates atop our, from our collection.

#3/5 - TV Gallery Wall. The backdrop is the color drenched walls and ceiling, and soon a blue sofa bed (60%), a black/white carpet and pillow cases (30%), and the grey media console tables (10%).

#4/5 - Wall to Ceiling Gallery Wall.

#5/5. Sofa B&W Gallery Wall

[tomb-of-flora]

Introduction Post (V2)

I did an introduction post 7-8 months ago and it's really bad, so I wanted to do a new one.

Hello! I am relatively new to tumblr, but I've been here for over six months now, and it's the only social media I've been able to stick with for this long. It feels like I've officially put down roots with this blog, so I wanted to give myself a proper introduction.

A little about me: I'm a writer with a particular emphasis on poetry and fiction that angsts about identity. I'm a Dungeon Master who has been playing D&D (and occasionally other ttrpgs) since I was 12-13. I'm in my mid twenties (and am going to post accordingly so I don't want to see any minors interacting). I'm a lesbian, and ngl pretty much everything I say or do has an undertone of sapphic yearning. If i had to define my taste in general I love anything that is super feminine, pink, and princessy, and also anything that is gothic, rotted, and miserable. Anything that could combine the vibes of like Princess Peach/Sailor Moon and Edgar Allan Poe would be a dream come true for me. I also have a deep love on run down apocalyptic settings (especially if they include a theme park).

This blog will mainly be reblogs, fandom posts, and random things about myself and what I'm thinking. It's just kind of a personal haven to express myself and show my friends cool stuff I saw. I was originally going to make this a place where I posted about my writing/D&D, but all of that stuff kept getting buried, so I decided to delete those posts and make a couple dedicated sideblogs.

If you want to see my original posts i use the hashtag #entombedpost and for reblogs where I remembered to say something I use #entombedreblog

Follow @myovergrowngarden if you want to read/hear about my writing

Follow @yeehaw-in-magic-space if you want to hear about the adventures that take place in my space western/fantasy horror D&D campaign. I recap every session and drop random bits of lore on this account.

Some of my favorite books/short stories include: The Locked Tomb series, The Poet X, Clap When You Land, Family Lore, Any Other City, The Honey Month, This Is How You Lose the Time War, An Education in Malice, The Fall of the House of Usher, Mexican Gothic, The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas, Why Don't We Just Kill the Kid In the Omelas Hole, Orientation, White Smoke, The Iliad/Odyssey.

Some of my favorite shows include: Supernatural, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Midnight Mass, Black Sails, Game of Thrones (seasons 1-4), House of the Dragon, Breaking Bad, Chernobyl.

Some of my favorite cartoons/anime include: Steven Universe, Over the Garden Wall, Arcane, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Cowboy Bebop, Delicious in Dungeon, Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Noragami, Hunter X Hunter, Simoun, Chainsaw Man, the old DCAU (Batman TAS, Superman TAS, Batman Beyond, Justice League, Static Shock, JLU), Teen Titans, Star Wars Rebels, High Guardian Spice, Gravity Falls, Amphibia.

Some of my favorite video games include: The Last of Us PT II, Get in the Car, Loser, Hades/Hades II, Darkest Dungeon, Fallout: New Vegas, Celeste, Ace Attorney, Dark Souls, Epic Mickey, We Know the Devil, Slay the Princess, Long Live the Queen, Monster Prom/Camp/Road Trip. I also love a lot of board games, but I think that would push us over the text limit so I'm just going to mention that briefly.

Some of my favorite movies include: I Saw the TV Glow, Star Wars (particularly VI, VIII, IV, V), Lord of the Rings, Whisper of the Heart, Kiki's Delivery Service, Birds of Prey, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Snowpiercer, Annihilation, Sorry to Bother You, the Fear Street Trilogy, a bunch of the Saw movies, Us, Nosferatu (1922).

[fandomsandfairytales]

So tonight I watched my first ever Rings of Power episode.

Some brief background on my thoughts on/experiences with TROP: I haven't actually watched any of it, though I have read occasional articles on it and I've been in online spaces that are pro-TROP and anti-TROP. I'm kinda....neutral-TROP, leaning a little more negative, but I'm interested enough to read up on what's going on in the current season.

I've kept going back and forth on wanting to watch the show at all, mainly because I don't feel like dedicating the time to it. But tonight I was like "I kinda wanna watch something while eating dinner. Maybe TROP?" I didn't really want to watch the very first episode in season 1, because I'd been semi-keeping up with season 2 stuff, so I decided, why not watch the newest episode that literally came out today? So that's what I did. Here's my thoughts on 2x07—non-spoiler-y above the cut, and spoiler-y below.

Non-spoiler-y things:

My reactions were mainly lots and lots of tearing up and yelling at my TV screen. Not even in a "I dislike this" way, but a "I get easily emotional about media sometimes" way, lol.

Celebrimbor and Annatar's interactions were fantastically done. I kept yelling at Annatar XD it definitely gave me ideas for & validated stuff I was already thinking about for "but for the look in his eyes". Mwahahaha.

I enjoyed getting to see Elrond—he feels very young and it was cool to see him before the time of LOTR, when he is not yet seen as the wise lord of Rivendell.

General feelings about the episode: I liked it and was annoyed by it in turns. I think it was the best first episode I could've watched, because I already knew a fair amount of what was happening and it wasn't hard to pick up on.

Spoiler-y things (these are all over the place and really not in chronological order, lol):

Celebrimbor cutting off his thumb to get out of the chains!!! For a moment I really thought he was going to pull a Maedhros (really, a Fingon) and cut off his whole wrist. But then he only put his thumb under the metal cutter thingy and I also noticed it was his left hand

The soldiers and Mirdania had major "sure Grandpa, let's get you back to the nursing home" vibes when interacting with him

I really enjoyed watching Annatar and Celebrimbor's interactions. I'm sure some people read their relationship as Silvergifting, and I don't, but I still enjoyed it. Annatar's condescension to Celebrimbor! Annatar telling the people that Celebrimbor had gone insane when in actuality Celebrimbor didn't know anything was happening bc Annatar was hiding it from him! Annatar pulling the victim-blaming move of "you made me do this to you" and Celebrimbor going "no. nope. you're the Great Deceiver"! Celebrimbor breaking down over his city in flames and realizing he's been betrayed!!! So so good. I had fun yelling at Annatar (things like "SHUSH," "HOW DARE YOU SAY THAT," "STOP IT" etc.)

Celebrimbor and Galadriel finding solace and understanding in each other getting manipulated by Sauron was sweet. Even though of course all of Galadriel's interactions with Halbrand in season 1 didn't happen in canon, I liked that it gave Galadriel and Celebrimbor something in common.

I hated/was genuinely upset at Annatar making those guys kill each other. Not on a basis of whether he could actually do that or not, but because there was a book I read with an evil villain who did mind control and that specific thing really reminded me of that.

The parallels to Helm's Deep, like with all the archers on the wall and the orcs breaching the wall and then the light coming over the hill, were kinda cheesy. I wanted to be more awe-inspired, but I just really....wasn't.

THE. KISS. I yelled at my TV for that. I was literally screaming "NO!!! THAT IS SO WRONG!!!!! THAT SHOULD NOT BE HAPPENING NO NO NO NOOOOOOOO UGH THAT IS SO WRONG"

And I was pretty sure it was for a specific reason, so Elrond could give Galadriel something to escape, and it was, but STILL. HE COULD HAVE JUST HUGGED HER AND SLIPPED HER THE PIN. SERIOUSLY. WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE, SHOW WRITERS

Celebrimbor said something along the lines of "I knew he would bring trouble" and I immediately started singing "I knew you were trouble when you walked in..." XD

And then when he said "I built this city," I sang, "We built this city on rock and roll"

It was cool getting to see the footage of Elrond fighting, because I remembered those clips from the trailer and being kinda excited over them

Durin's speech to the dwarves was pretty great. I enjoyed it

I also enjoyed his and Elrond's interactions!!! The way Durin called Elrond a flagpole made me laugh but also made me think of Celebrimbor's fate, being strung up on a pole like a banner

I liked the sort-of parallel to the Nirnaeth with the dwarves not coming (or not appearing to anyway) to help

All of The Silm name-drops and mentions!!!! I got excited over those. Melian as Elrond's ancestress (I squealed), Fëanor's hammer (loved that honestly), Morgoth, the Valar, Rúmil. Like, these names are being spoken on TV in the year of our Lord 2024 and yes this show is not canon-compliant but there's references to The Silm and I am eating them up

Galadriel looked younger than Elrond, which I thought could be a possibility because Morfydd Clark and Robert Aramayo appear roughly the same age, though it kinda irked me because she's his (future) mother-in-law. But somehow, when Galadriel was with Celebrimbor, even though he definitely looked older than her, she managed to convey a sense of wisdom and care that made sense as an aunt to his character.

I decided at the start of the episode that I'm not going to be upset about how old Celebrimbor looked compared to Elrond and Galadriel, because that ship has sailed, we are firmly in season 2, complaining about how anyone looks now is completely pointless. And also if I kind of...separate him from the younger cast, the comparison doesn't distract me. Charles Edwards is a good actor and he plays Celebrimbor well, so yeah.

Gil-Galad's voice was deeper than I expected. However, the good thing was that I didn't really have a picture in my head of him before TROP season 1 came out, so he kinda got established as "that's how he looked," and his voice was the only somewhat surprising thing about him to me.

I liked Gil-Galad and Elrond's armor.

I was rooting for Arondir.

Elrond: "You should not be here!" Me: "Yeah, why are you only showing up now? Lol"

Gil-Galad's following line about how a king should not stay back in a fight or whatever totally made me think of "A king is he who can hold his own" (Maedhros)

Adar's character still drives me crazy because who the heck is he??? this man (elf, orc, whatever) is not in canon unless he has a different name but UGH

The battles and CGI and stuff all felt....not fake exactly. But it felt very modern-day and somewhat cheap in the making, whereas the LOTR movies and even The Hobbit feel like there's so much more poured into it all. The design, the pacing/story beats, the depth. Even though there was a battle, and characters' lives were on the line, I didn't...feel a whole lot about that. (To be fair, I am jumping in after not seeing any of the rest of this show, and also I know Galadriel and Elrond are going to live. So there's that. But I've read reviews that have a similar perspective, so idk.)

I loved that Elrond got so upset about his horse being killed and fought harder bc of it. I thought there might actually be backstory about him and his horse that I'm not aware of, but even if it's just that he simply cares about animals and his horse was killed, I'm all for it.

The "put your backs into it, maggots!" or whatever the orc commander guys were yelling was VERY Lord of the Rings-movie esque. Also I kinda liked the parallel to the orcs expressing concerns to Saruman about the trees and stuff (with the orc guy questioning Adar about sacrificing orc lives to reach Sauron)

I don't remember who said this, but it was probably Adar: "Leave Sauron to me" made me remark "yeah, we've heard that before. From Saruman" (in The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies)

I didn't think about this until later, but the episode didn't have any advancements in the Harfoots or Numenoreans plotlines, and I'm perfectly fine with that

All in all: I'd say the episode was a 7/10. Maybe a 6.5/10 because of the kiss. As I mentioned at the start, I think it was the best first episode I could watch—yes, because I already had some context for most things, but also because there were pivotal points in this episode for plotlines that I liked. Annatar's corruption of Celebrimbor was realized, the war for Eregion fully under way, Elrond and Gil-Galad fought in the battle, Elrond and Durin talked, Celebrimbor and Galadriel talked. I got to see the characters and plotlines I was most interested in, and I genuinely enjoyed that. I might actually watch the next episode when it comes out, we'll see!

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Wassily Kandinsky, ‘Untitled’ (1928) :: [Robert Scott Horton]

* * * *

Imogen Savage: Housed in a 19th-century listed mansion that stretches skyward into spires, the Grisebach auction house gives off the disquieting charm of a German fairytale castle. Outside runs Fasanenstrasse, a leafy street of galleries and skincare boutiques in one of Berlin’s chicest corners. On December 1 2022, Marcin Król, the Polish consul in Berlin, climbed the steps to the building for the evening sale beginning at 6pm. A number of impressive modern artworks were on offer, including a sought-after self-portrait in oil by Max Beckmann. But it was Lot No 31, “Untitled”, a little pink Wassily Kandinsky watercolour from 1928, that had Król’s attention that evening. Król was not at Grisebach as a buyer. Earlier that day he had sent the auction house a message demanding it stop the sale of the Kandinsky. In the hours since, representatives at Grisebach had reviewed the legal status of the artwork and its right to be sold by Inga Maren Otto, a German billionaire and philanthropist. Their decision was clear. They would proceed. At 4.40pm, Król took to Twitter, quoting the message he’d sent to Grisebach. “Withdraw[ing] the painting from the auction,” he wrote, “[was] the only correct and moral action in this situation . . . The provenance/history of the painting stated [in the catalogue] is clear . . . the painting has ownership markings indicating its origin from the National Museum in Warsaw. [It has been registered] from the Polish side in Interpol’s database of stolen works of art.” He finished the thread with an update: “The auction house has not yet stopped selling the work. As of 4.50pm.”

Król watched on a TV screen in the corner of an anteroom as the auction began. Lot No 31 eventually appeared on the screen. Flattened by the glowing pixels, the original aqueous colours took on neon tones. There was a faint scribble underneath in Kandinsky’s handwriting. After a flurry of bids, more than doubling the upper reserve price, the hammer came down. Afterwards, Król posted a photo to Twitter with a solemn summary of what he had witnessed. It read like both the beginning and the end of an art-crime story: “Grisebach sold Kandinsky’s watercolour [“Untitled”] for €310,000. The painting was stolen in 1984 from the National Museum in Warsaw.” Then the Berlin police showed up at the auction house, in response to a report of a stolen artwork being sold on the premises. Król’s message that day was, said Grisebach in a statement issued after the event, the first they’d learnt of the theft.

I heard about the auction of the Kandinsky watercolour some weeks later. I was intrigued by this little work on paper, the size of which is hard to gauge when viewed online. A cluster of geometric shapes and coloured washes not much bigger than a postcard, it’s not a famous piece and was never supposed to be. The personalised dedication at the bottom provides a clue as to its original, more intimate context. Through Król’s media offensive, I began to imagine the painting in its previous lives. A valued artwork can do this; move through history like a time traveller who has seen it all, changing hands, changing walls, changing in value, picking up a few marks and scuffs, but remaining, on the surface, itself. It’s easy to forget that many of the works of art we see today have somehow weathered revolutions, wars and genocide. During and after the second world war, art collections dispersed like breadcrumbs in the mouths of sparrows. Since that time, art dealers and auction houses have continued to sell these works, right up to the present day, with values soaring.

As I began to trace the Kandinsky’s journey, I discovered the story had deeper roots than even Król had imagined. The watercolour wasn’t stolen once but twice. Having survived the Nazi party’s confiscations of modern art in the 1930s, it languished in a depot in occupied Poland before travelling back and forth across the world via private and public sales as the lines between black market and art market blurred postwar. As the trail grew more convoluted, my questions multiplied. How was it possible, I wondered, that a piece of art that we know was once stolen from a major European museum could now be sold, perfectly legally, by an important German auction house? And who, in the chain of ownership spanning nearly a century, is the rightful owner of Lot No 31? In his Dessau studio in 1928, Wassily Kandinsky sat before a small sheet of thick paper. He drew in ink, a balance of precisely placed interlocking semicircles, triangles and floating circles, with a more irregular snakelike mark through the centre. Then he dragged his paintbrush across some watercolour pans, applying the colours to the interior of the shapes in blues, yellows and reds, and washing the surround in pink. The watery paint pooled in different areas, variegating the intensity of the colour where it settled. Then it dried, locking the painting into position. At the bottom, in pencil, the artist wrote: “Meinem lieben Otto Ralfs, herzlichsten Glückwunsch, Kandinsky I IV 28” [“To my dear Otto Ralfs, Happy Birthday, Kandinsky, 1 April 28”]. It was a gift, made for his friend and patron on the occasion of his 36th birthday. Kandinsky’s studio was in a row of identical semi-detached houses located in a pine forest at the edge of town, where artist-professors lived and worked. This was the vision of Walter Gropius, founder of the influential modernist art and design school the Bauhaus, who designed the Dessau “Masters’ Houses” in 1925 to fit his concept of gesamtkunstwerk, or total artwork. Kandinsky lived at No 6, next door to the Swiss-German artist Paul Klee. The day I visited earlier this summer, the sunny weather was heating the pines, filling the air with the same calm, sweet smell that Kandinsky, then in his late fifties, and the younger Klee would have breathed as they sat drinking tea together in the garden.

Inside, the thick, shiny paint was fresh from recent restoration work, distracting the senses from conjuring their presence. The artists’ studios, the largest rooms in their carefully designed houses, shared a wall. From the front, an enormous horizontal window frames the central focus of the house, the parallel studios in which they worked, taught and held salons: Kandinsky on the left, Klee on the right. Otto Ralfs and his wife Käte bought their first works by Klee when they visited the Bauhaus in Weimar in September 1923. After that, their lives changed completely. The couple didn’t have a lot of money. He worked as an insurance salesman and owned a shop in his hometown, Braunschweig, in northern Germany. She was a paediatric nurse. But they were among the first people to see the value in the art being produced at the Bauhaus. At one point, they had the largest collection of Klees, and the second-largest collection of Kandinskys after Solomon R Guggenheim.

[Financial Times]

[muraski-yume]

1/31 Mobile Suit Gundam and Lamarre's Introduction

I don't particularly watch a lot of anime but the first thing that struck me about Gundam was the art style. Having been originally released in 1979 there is this sort of ironic dichotomy between this futurist high tech plot and the more simplistic animation style similar to Astro Boy. I really enjoyed the style as it felt very nostalgic for me. With CGI and animation techniques getting ever more advanced, seeing media like this is rare anymore. It felt like I was watching a combination of Transformers, Pacific Rim Uprising, and Wall-E, all of which this anime predates. It also reminded me a lot of Ender's Game, with Amuro having to leap into action to protect everyone. I think in general this kind of narrative of an unlikely hero rising to the occasion resonates alot with people because they can imagine themselves as similarly heroic. I also liked the soldiers from the other side returning to drop supplies for the mother and her child. This kind of show of good will even in the midst of a battle made the story more multi-dimensional.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------As for Lamarre's work, I really liked the point he made about how despite anime's comparatively "low tech" nature the "dynamicisim of interactions that arise between viewers and animations makes for the novelty of anime". This is particularly evident by how prolific anime is. There are whole conventions dedicated to it, fan art, cosplay, whole communities of people devoted to a character or story line. The most well informed comparison I can make is with America TV shows. The content feels very superficial and is hard to engage with meaningfully. Whereas the art style and story telling techniques of anime draws viewers in and makes them deeply invested in the content.

[zebee-nyx]

CalmWriMo Day 27

[11/27/2023]

Update!

Half of my sleep felt more like half awake tv static than blank screen [as it should be] last night. So brain=hemorrhaging braincells this eve. ('>v<) Anywho, wasn't a busy day at work today and I managed to get some good progress on the things today. Which among the things is today's blurb! Which came out pretty well, if I do say so myself. And I do say so! (>v<) [y'see that? there it goes... my last braincell lol]

Progress:

2 Hour Writing Goal: ✅

Blurb: [see below]

Self Care:

Food: ✅

Hydration: ❌ [whoops, forgot the translucent life sustaining fluid exists (0^0) was a bit too zoned]

Sleep: ❌

Reading: ✅

Blurb: Housing / Architecture

Holdouts

Rarely scattered across the Undercity. They are usually single or two story brick buildings that were once homes or businesses before the Great Collapse. Now they exist as relics of the past buried under the unregulated construction of the Undercity. Usually found in back alleys as oddities and landmarks. Some of them still have windows, although whether or not they were shattered varies.

Undercity Prefab Apartments

There are two primary types of prefabricated apartments in the Undercity. The first takes it's metabolist inspiration to the greatest extreme with modular capsule rooms. Each capsule is a simple empty box roughly 8ft by 12ft in size. These are the most common, being brought in with aircranes and installed onto, well basically anywhere that it won't immediately collapse. While they all have the same basic set up, the use of space varies greatly between occupants. The second type is somewhat larger with two rooms, a mixed living area and a private bathroom. These are manufactured in several parts that can easily be transported either by a aircrane or truck to site before being assembled on location. The basic interiors are more diverse with optional bed inlets and built in vending machines among other things. They also have a few different layouts that honestly just shifts where the bathroom divides the other spaces. While water isn't necessarily a rarity, decent working plumbing often is. As such about half of these apartment bathrooms in service work more as storage closets than anything else. Due to the chaotic nature of the Undercity it isn't uncommon for walls to be cut open across several apartments to better serve the needs of small local businesses, bunkhouses, or anything else people decide to build. Also it isn't uncommon for completely random structures to be made between prefabricated buildings out of whatever scrap happens to be available. Random pipes and cables running along the walls or roofs of hallways leading towards more in-structure apartments is normal. Rooms along alleys or streets usually get their utilities directly through the wall.

Midcity Apartments

Like the Undercity most of the Midcity's apartments, at least above the first few stories, are prefabricated. However, in the Midcity they usually are larger and have a more comfortable living spaces and at least one distinct bedroom. Typically the basic utilities are better maintained allowing more access to operational bathrooms, kitchens, and stationary entertainment such as televisions. Apartments in the Midcity are often built atop old retrofitted buildings that are mostly street level shops, restaurants, or other businesses.

Uppercity Luxury Apartments

The luxury apartments of the Uppercity is about what one would expect. Spacious interiors high above the rest of the city with staff or security at the simple press of a button. Usually there is one wall that has a dedicated wide screen that can simulate a curated view of the city, nature environments, or even play video media within smaller windows. Unlike nearly anywhere else in the city apartments in the Uppercity have real wooden floors. It also isn't rare for there to be a potted plant or small garden in the apartment to truly express the tenant's wealth. Amenities such as a spa, pool, and gym are usually only a brief elevator ride away. While some are equipped with kitchens for those who prefer to cook for themselves or have a personal chef, most apartments are simply equipped with an advanced vending machine that can be programmed to prepare most meals. Beyond that the only limits is the tenant's desires and space available. The result is often limited to clean modern looking spaces, however the more eccentric individuals tend to have truly unique homes. Somewhat ironically the exteriors of the majority of these buildings contrast greatly with the interiors as they often appear as little more than massive minimally featured blocks. That is aside from prime street level viewing space of these skyscrapers which are of course covered with the colorful glowing lights of advertising and art.

[Technically there is also nomad buildings, but basically just glorified rvs made literal "mobile" homes. Which may end up time’s blurb if I don’t think of anything else... Also junkyards architecture which is, well, basically garbage slapped together into shacks. ('^.^) So, uh... Anyways and always, hope that you had a lovely day, peace (ZvZ)v]