#dreamofpeppermints

[hotcinnamonsunset]

okay jumping off of the tags in the ballerina/PT novel (💀) — do you have a your ballet media reclist? signed, former dancer and struggling 🩰

from one former dancer to another, let me tell you. the prospects are grim. (at least if you’re picky. which I definitely am.) (also after I reblogged that post I was already combing over my goodreads to see what ballet books I rated recently to see if they were as bad as I remember lol)

wordy meander below where I try to gather some thoughts coherently🩰:

my preferred type of fiction/writing style is more literary fiction as opposed to quippable “chick lit” (god I hate that term but I feel it gets the point across unfortunately) fiction - so I feel like that’s already a big ask of ballet fiction.

I also (as a former dancer) like there to be some depth to the ballet knowledge presented because I feel that most authors that take on ballet in fiction do it for the “expose the gritty underside of ballet” perspective and they just want to have a female lead that can be cute/little/girly/submissive/etc without even trying to understand that that simply isn’t what all dancers are like. that being said, I do find works where ballerinas just go off being fully unhinged is fun from time to time. ballet and perfectionism can make you do crazy things and the glass in pointe shoes myth didn’t stem from nothing.

furthermore, while I understand that people want to read romance, for some reason if a book is about ballet I want romance to be very inconsequential? maybe it’s because for me ballet is a kind of love that personally never mixed with romance or that there is so much to relationships between dancers that can be so much more engaging than some romance plot about choosing between love and dance or something but most authors don’t feel this way.

all that being said, it’s no small wonder that my rec list of good things is a bit hodge podge. (and sometimes I’ll read things regardless of how bad just because sometimes it’s soooo bad all I can do is laugh)

memoirs are always accurate and enjoyable, albeit obviously not fiction. although! Dancer by Columbia McCann is a fictionalized take on Rudolf Nureyev that reads quite nicely.

fiction really is a mixed bag and often there are ports of stories that’ll be okay even if on the whole it’s not quite up to snuff. like, the last ballet book I read a few weeks ago was The Turnout by Megan Abbott and while I wanted to strangle each of the main characters repeatedly and shake them and ask them why are you like this??? the author had an atmospheric quality to their writing about ballet studios that transported me back to the smells and groans and quirks of old buildings repurposed as dance studios so acutely that I felt more empathy towards the ballet studio in the book as a character more than anything else.

so anyways. according to goodreads some ballet fiction that I did enjoy includes Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfeild, Swing Time by Zadie Smith, Up to This Pointe by Jennifer Longo as well as Filthy Animals and The Late Americans by Brandon Taylor, both of which aren’t ballet centric but have genuinely realistic dancer characters.

as for other media…I feel like most things I watch, unless it’s really captivating, go in one eyeball and out the other. that and I’m really bad at watching movies. as for ones I have seen and appreciated though - And Then We Danced is a top one that I can recall, Suspiria is insane but a romp nonetheless, Bird of Paradise is also a bit of a romp.

all this to say if you’ve made it this far I am always always open to recs and suggestions silly and serious because it really is a struggle out there for content like this and we’ve got to stick together.

[eatmystardustloser]

happy birthday!!! -em

thank you!

[lilybarthes]

re: the gilded age, it’s by the same guy who did downton abbey, but filmed in new york, so you get a lot of competent theater actors milling around on period sets in incredibly elaborate outfits. most of the main cast is solid (carrie coon’s character and her husband from the gifset, christine baranski owns any scene she’s in, and i also really liked denee benton). only major quibble castingwise is that one of the lead girls sucks the energy out of every scene she’s in (she’s nepo baby supreme i.e. meryl streep’s daughter), but her scene partner can usually rescue it. TLDR if you like pretty costumes and playing spot-the-broadway-person, it’s a fun way to spend a few hours!

ooh thanks, that does sound right up my alley, i love elaborate costumes AND playing spot-the-broadway person.

(i hope you don't mind me publishing this, it was too funny not to keep.)

[anakinsafterlife]

Tag

tagged by @dreamofpeppermints

Last Song I Listened To: Life in the Fast Lane by the Eagles. I listen to it often because I enjoy revisiting trauma.

Currently Watching: For movies, North by Northwest. I'm watching because it features in Victoria's Secret, one of my favourite Due South episodes, as a meta-reflection on Victoria, the femme fatale of the episodes.

For shows, I'm re-watching Community again. I'm also watching Newton's Cradle, an Egyptian series about a woman who schemes to deliver her child in the US in order to stay, but ends up ruining her entire life in the process. I'm taking it slowly because a lot of Egyptian series tend to be angst-fests that try really hard to traumatize the audience, and this one is no different.

Sweet/Savory/Spicy: I enjoy all of them, but am somewhat renowned for my spice tolerance.

Relationship Status: Married With Children.

Current Obsession: Genealogy. I've managed to put my father's paternal line together going back to the early 1700s, possibly the late 1600s. I've found some of my mother's maternal line as well. It's remarkable how moving it can be to see a death notice or a marriage notice for an ancestor who was previously a brick wall.

Tag ten people if you can. Or not.

@lordansketil @lilybarthes @greysleipnir @cptsd-skywalker @asdeadasasquirrel @bonzoobel @multifandomfreak

@michele-847 @brightlotusmoon @silentwordsmyth

[feykiller]

Rules

Search ‘your name + core’ on pinterest and post the first 6 pictures

Tagged by -> @gothimp 🩵

Tagging: @lyriumrain @artemis-devotee @devilbrakers @aelyosos @zezran @rosenfey @dreamofpeppermints @bi-stander @halsinsbiggernaturals @cinqplusneuf @a-witch-bird

[crystalclaire]

tagged by @dreamofpeppermints!

Last Song I Listened To: On & On & On by Maggie Rogers, been listening to her new album all day!!

Currently Watching: rewatching Young Royals bc season 3, rewatching criminal minds again. Also just watched Femme (2023) and Ella Enchanted (2004) today. I still don’t know how I feel about Femme but the surface emotions are not positive

Sweet/Savory/Spicy: all, depending on my mood but I’m tending towards savory/spicy lately

Relationship Status: hopeless romantic (single)

Current Obsession: Masters of the Air, William Bracewell and Fumi Kaneko in ROH’s Swan Lake, also Mary Oliver’s poetry but that’s a constant in my life

tagging @kindafruityy @minorgoddesses @halleyys-comet @sourappleebaby @ladyblacklavender

[theresa-of-liechtenstein]

@keepthemacramesecret tagged me which reminded me that i was also tagged by @cjflint to post the first 9 photos that show up when i search [name]core on pinterest! i have a board called ‘emcore’ already but i actually did the search lol

tagging @sircarolyn, @stoppablethetramstory, @malcolm-f-tucker, @supercantaloupe, @leporellian, @notyouraveragejulie, @smile-at-the-stars, and @dreamofpeppermints (no pressure, of course)

[euelios]

tagged by @dreamofpeppermints 🩷🩷 (bc this was sitting in my drafts and i never posted it?????)

LAST SONG LISTENED TO: “viva la vida” by coldplay. it’s on my zevmancer cousland’s playlist but it is a forever banger.

CURRENTLY WATCHING: so much good mythical morning and mythical kitchen. also a lot of F1 but if we’re talking serious media… uh, HBO’s the passion?

SWEET/SAVOURY/SPICY: tbh a little of all of them, but sweet makes up like 70% of my cravings on its own. who am i but a girlypop who is a little too nuts about lavender coffee drinks.

RELATIONSHIP STATUS: aggressively single pringle for any number of inarticulable reasons! i have chickened out of at least four hinge eras and have decided to focus on myself for now NFHDJX

CURRENT OBSESSION: so many all at once. dayspring by anthony oliveira which is a timey-wimey p(r)o(s)etry queering of the gospels (hence my currently watching). dragon age, now that i’m not too fried for combat mechanics. also my most recent attempt to scratch together my “nano but actually year-round” project.

tagging: @mortumslab @honor-among-thieves @rosaindomitus @dogueteeth @silvery-bluish and you if yall would like?

[hotcinnamonsunset]

i only know the weewoo show through your gifsets but congrats on the incremental steps towards buddie!!!!

bahahahaha it’s a lovely thing to see bisexuals winning!! glad the love is felt via gifs as well😂🫶

[notbecauseofvictories]

what’s your favorite cheese? i keep buying wedges of manchego and eating them Way Too Fast so it is time to branch out a little bit

Havarti. Sharper than swiss but still creamy, great in a grilled cheese---better if you can get a havarti blended with something else. There's a stand at my farmer's market that does horseradish dill havarti and let me tell you, I've never tasted anything better.

[lilybarthes]

I was tagged by @dreamofpeppermints and @anakinsafterlife; thank you, darlings! 💖💖💖

last song i listened to: Bruce Springsteen's Hungry Heart was playing at the cafe today; and before that, it was my feel-good walking song, Electric Love by Borns (the man's American and Borns is his last name, I refuse to write it with a stroke).

currently watching: Shōgun my beloved, and the HBO docuseries about Synanon, as well as the Jus de Rose, Full Bottle Worthy, and ASMR Geographica YouTube channels.

sweet/savory/spicy:¿Por qué no los tres? But I will say I've been craving savory food the most, recently.

relationship status: thornback spinster/leftover woman

recent obsession: Perfume reviews for some reason? I recently ordered a cool-sounding sample online, and I've been killing time until it arrives by reading/watching reviews online so now Fragrantica is my best friend (highlights: "doesn't smell like death OR decay" for Lush's Death & Decay; "not as otherworldy as promised" for, I think, Jenny Glow's UFO). Also sketching, and The Guardian's Today In Focus podcast.

Tagging 10 people (no pressure whatsoever if you hate tag games with a burning passion/aren't in the mood for filling one out): @firstaudrina, @sparklemotioneer, @noceiling-m, @twylla, @le-quignon, @black-lodge-gatekeeper, @garrulus, @thebaconsandwichofregret, @common-blackbird, @ffrannyglass

[anakinsafterlife]

Tagged by @emeraldgreaves

Your lock screen, the last song you listened to, the last photo you took, and the last show or movie you watched.

Looks like it's a pan-Egyptian experience for me this time, unsurprisingly.

(Paranormal is a fantastic little show based on the books of an Egyptian fantasy/horror writer and I recommend it to everyone! It's on Netflix.)

Tagging @greysleipnir @lordansketil @asdeadasasquirrel @cptsd-skywalker @dreamofpeppermints @juniperpomegranate

[feykiller]

Tagged by @gothimp to make myself with this picrew so of course im using it to make the most plant goth canon version of me lol

Tagging in my fellows @aelyosos @bi-stander @lyriumrain @brightwaterforarainyday @dreamofpeppermints @lilbirdofdeath @orchid-tea-party @halsinsbiggernaturals @rosenfey + anyone else who'd like to do thiss

[rougi-if]

thank you for making a game with ballet in it!!!! as someone who used to study ballet i go nuts over any kind of dance content so this has brought me a ton of joy

eyyyyy same!! *ballet high-five* hehe thank youuuu, I'm super glad it's sparking joy!!!! 🩰❤️

[theresa-of-liechtenstein]

rules: shuffle your 'on repeat' playlist and post the first ten tracks, then tag ten people! thanks @sircarolyn!

I Got a Name, Jim Croce

Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, Elton John

How Deep Is Your Love, Bee Gees (i’m not joking lmao)

Star, Mitski

Rocky Mountain High, John Denver

Bug Like an Angel, Mitski

Katakataka, Eva Eugenio

2 Wheel Drive, Magdalena Bay

Nocturne (Interlude), Laufey

Promise, Laufey

tagging: @dreamofpeppermints, @keepthemacramesecret, @blueishrobin, @marwddewin, @lenskij, @kerfluffel, @percocet, @arth-ur, @mywingsareonwheels, and @bicolumbo

[jae-gerbomb]

This or That! (Trope edition)

hee hee thank you @mondaysandwich 💕

slow burn or love at first sight // fake dating or secret dating // enemies to lovers or best friends to lovers // oh no there’s only one bed or long-distance correspondence // hurt-comfort or amnesia // fantasy au or modern au // mutual pining or domestic bliss // smut or fluff // canon-compliant or fix-it // reincarnation or character death // one-shot or multi-chapter // kid fic or road trip fic // arranged marriage or accidental marriage // high school romance or middle aged romance // time travel or isolated together // neighbours or roommates // sci-fi au or magic au // body swap or gender bend // angst or crack // apocalyptic or mundane

enemies to lovers vs best friends to lovers really depends, as does fantasy vs modern ldfkjhd.. also sci-fi vs magic. im just indecisive as hell 🤡

tagging @dreamofpeppermints @thenightdayblogger @ivaerleth @tarydarrington💜