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doomedandstoned · 3 years ago

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Chatting with Austin’s Shitbag

~Doomed & Stoned Interviews~

By Shawn Gibson

In his never ending quest to find the filthiest bands from around the world, Shawn Gibson brings us face-to-face, virtually speaking, with frontman Keith Young from Austin, Texas trio SHITBAG. The band dishes out a harsh blend of crust, grindcore, hardcore, and sludge, a sound you may already be acquanted with if you've heard their new EP Burden on Transylvanian Recordings. (Editor)

SHITBAG - BURDEN by SHITBAG

So why are you a Shitbag? What's the name all about?

I guess when I came up with the name, the thought was that Shitbag was a person I didn't want to be and I lived in fear of becoming. It's a catchy two syllable band name. (laughs)

Oh very catchy!

Half of it's just taking the piss right?

Oh yeah.

People think it's great or they think it's really fucking stupid.

I love the name Shitbag. It grabs your attention. It is so fitting for your style of music, the sludge-grind duo.

Definitely. The idea was to get a very dirty sound from the start. The name stuck with me. You can tell from some of our earlier releases to hone the sound but you can see that it's falling into place. I think we were zeroing in on the sound on the album we put out last year.

Which was 'Furnace,' right?

Correct.

Your latest release 'Burden' is out now.

Yes, that's now through Transylvanian Records.

Awesome, they are a good label! I have definitely heard of them and have some of their artists' music. So is 'Burden' your third release?

I guess it's our fourth, if you count the first EP. We don't really push that one out anymore.

Furnace by Shitbag

'Furnace' is a really good album! I think I bought all your digital albums on Bandcamp.

Oh, thank you.

I definitely fell in love with the sound! "Emasculator" is a great sludge song from the record Can you tell me a little about that one?

It is about castration. The riff was a fun thing I kind of threw out there. I told Eli our drummer this is in 4/4 and he said" it is absolutely not, I can try to play along to it anyways." As usual, he did. the different pieces kind of fell into place. The bass guitar always stuck out to me on that one. The speed of the song and the mix we got on those recordings allows the bass to shine through I think. Also, I think that might be one of my favorite vocal performances off of Furnace as well.

Who all is in the band and what roles do they have?

So I play guitar and vocals. Eli Deitz plays drums and Eric Prescott plays bass.

I would say 'Burden' sounds heavier than 'Furnace.' Can you tell me about your guitars and the set up you use for writing and recording?

Oh, sure!

What are you using to get that Shitbag sound?

So first off I think it's worth noting that we recorded Burden at a different location and we had more power at our fingertips. The guitars definitely did get beefed up. For the first two releases I had been playing a Randall RH 150 with a Randall 150 amp head. It gets this really nasty distortion right out of the box, you don't need a distortion pedal, which is pretty convenient. It wasn't reliable at high volumes. That was becoming a problem more and more playing alongside Eric, as he was playing an "O-R something" Orange head and also running that through an HM2 and some fuzz stuff in front of it, as well. He gets a very loud, snarling bass tone.

He's covering the low end, but there's an intersection where the guitars and bass compete when we are playing live. So I needed something that I could crank up just to keep up. The Randall wasn't cutting it. May of last year I purchased a Sunn Coliseum 880. That was great but I needed to beef up my cabinet setup. Before I had been playing out of a Laney 4x12 with two different Celestion speakers and an old Marshall 2x15. The Celestion speakers are just not cut out for running something like a Coliseum880. At 4 ohms I think it's already at 230 watts.

Oh, wow!

That is when I moved up to a Worshipper 4x12. It's an Intown establishment, and some good friends of mine run it. They got me a new cabinet in 8 to 12 weeks. Kinda crazy to think about from what I heard from Dillon at Worshipper they had good business during the pandemic.

That is great! I love to hear that everyone's keeping up the practicing at home.

Yeah, It definitely has a silver lining. I got a 4x 12 and I'm trying to remember what speakers are in it. My technical knowledge of that stuff is a little limited, I'll be honest. I went with Dillon's recommendation. I told him what I was using currently, this is what I want out of it. I already have a 2x15 cabinet so I don't need a whole shit ton of low end power coming out of the 4x12. He kind of went with something that had the right profile and could handle 320 watts. After that was the matter of finding a distortion pedal, because Sunn Coliseums don't really have a built in distortion the way a Randall does. For a while I was a really great distortion pedal that does all kinds of great stuff the Earthquaker device's grey channel.

It has six different clipping presets, clipping diodes, and you can do just about everything from straight up gain to kind of a fuzzy effect to full-on Moss clipping diode, which does the whole balls to the wall heavy metal thing. Great diversity on that pedal but it wasn't quite hitting the right spots. I went to a Boss HM2 and was very reluctant to do so because I know everyone does those. I ran that with a Graph equalizer like I would any distortion pedal. I made it not sound like I'm playing in tuned riffs. That's my equipment set up and how it evolved from Furnace to Burden.

Awesome, thank you. Something that attracted me to Shitbag's music is the sludge is the jelly and the grind is the peanut butter that makes this great Shitbag sandwich. There are moments in your music that it is as thick as swamp mud, then the next it's firing out like bullets out of an AR-15!

Hell, yeah!

Cordycep by Shitbag

With that being said you have a song like "New Day" that's grind as fuck, clocking in at a minute long, just blasting through! Then you have songs like "Rogue Furnace" that's right up the sludge/doom alley clocking in at 15-minutes, 20-seconds. Shitbag has a really great balance between different styles in your music.

Well, thank you!

What bands influenced Shitbag's music?

Yeah, so I think the time I was getting into sludge and doom in my college days and I came across Primitive Man.

Oh, yeah!

I grew up listening to death metal and shit like that.

Me too!

The way they threw that together with just oppressive doom sound. It was something I had never heard before. I instantly heard that and said"this is the future." I don't want to shit on anything but Black Sabbath has been around 50 years and that sound has been around 50 years.

Newer and current bands are still using that sound, yeah.

Maybe I shouldn't disparage it, right? Even the stuff I'm drawing influence from is 30 years old now. Maybe I shouldn't say it that way. I think it's a matter of pervasiveness rather than how old something is. There are a lot of bands in the sludge/doom canon that are like, "Black Sabbath, hell yeah!"

You can find lots of music that was coming out of the death and grindcore scene in the '80s, '90s, and 2000s that had very slow, lurching oppressive moods. To me, it's not so much a matter of the notes that are being played or the rhythms, it's the atmosphere. So yes Primitive Man, God Flesh, they are a big one. I'm a big fan of Assuck, Dystopia, and Grief. Then a lot of older death metal shit, too. Napalm Death, Eric and Eli loved Entombed. Full Of Hell is tight as shit, too!

Yes they are! By chance have you heard of Clinging To The Trees Of A Forest Fire?

Oh yeah, yeah.

I thought you might, being they were before Primitive Man. Great shit, as well!

Every band of theirs that the members of Primitive Man have been in that I have checked out, I have been very much into.

Vermin Womb, Many Blessings...

John put out an album with a death metal band called Black Curse last year that I thought was fucking phenominal!

I'll have to check that out! I like just about everything across the board, personally.

You are mentioning that we're striking this blend, we are not even playing the same genre through the whole EP. It's kind of like there's moments where it's one thing then there's moments where it's another. I think the more important thing is that it sounds like a cohesive thing. I hope we manage to do that.

You do! Shitbag has it's own sound that is unique to you guys!

Well, thank you!

I stumbled upon Shitbag's music on Bandcamp on Fathers Day. I saw the song title "Fathers and Sons" off of Burden and thought, "That's no coincidence -- I need to check this band out!" I was wondering if you can tell me a little about that track?

The song is about grappling with father and son relationships that are, I don't want to say estranged but you know trying at times. That was something that was a really big deal for me over the past year and a half, cause my mother passed away at the end of 2019.

I am sorry to hear that!

Thank you. When you have a death in the family like that, there is a lot of time for reflection that comes about. That's where the concept came about. I would not say that it's entirely autobiographical, there is definitely some exaggeration in there. We had the music for the song written and we couldn't figure what to write the lyrics about. I was just spitballing ideas and concepts to Eli. That was the one he said, "Yeah, I'm not really a fan of this draught but this is the concept to go with. Keep going with this."

Historically, I think I have been a weak lyricist. I would not call myself good by any means. We definitely made that part of the writing more collaborative process. Like the music has always been with us. We ironed out the words with each other so it felt a lot better. We came out with something more polished.

I understand completely.

A little graciousness opens yourself up. I think it's true with lyrics, as well. You probably don't have people say that to you very often, I imagine. I think it's especially true with lyrics when you're trying to make something that's personal and vulnerable. Having someone say, "Hey I would word that differently!" YOU MOTHERFUCKER!

Exactly. (laughs)

Take a step back from the initial knee-jerk response and just let it sit. You can really go places with that. I think lyrics are different just because people are not accustomed to making themselves vulnerable in that way.

What bands from Austin and surrounding areas that are heavy and you love to see them play or play with?

Let's see... Zyclops, really fucking great! There's bands like Glassing, Inhalants, Portrayal Of Guilt.

Yep, familiar with them.

There's a band called Godshell, they are new. I saw them play at a house show in North Austin in a living room full of people younger than myself. A crowd that was young enough to make me feel old. They played an outstanding fucking show! Those guys are rad live! There's also Metal Abortion, who is a pretty fun noise core band that Shitbag has played with a couple times. They put on a hell of a show and they have some crazy fucking records, too!

We have had the pleasure of playing many great shows with Desist on account of Shitbag and Desist being the two "Austin sludge" bands. Lucas is an outstanding vocalist and an even better human being. I don't know if Desist has been active through the pandemic but word is they have shit in the works. Another band forming a major constellation in the Austin shit-verse is the crusty blackened thrash outfit Vacha. Every show we've played with them was a fucking barn buner. I have nothing but love for all those dudes! Special shout out to Carlos for his God-like endurance behind the kit.

What makes Shitbag laugh? What's funny to you guys?

Oh, man. Eli and I have decided that a good way to get around when I bring a riff and don't know the time signature, is that we count everything in one. There 's no more time signature.That's a fairly recent joke. There are times at practice instead of playing a Shitbag riff with the distortion and everything balls out, I will go to the clean channel and push on the wah pedal and play with a funky staccato thing.

Hell yeah!

I think everyone else finds it annoying.

I have always enjoyed when the one guy in the band during practice either gets funky or jazzy, one of the two.

There is also something that Eli does that is fucking histarical. He never warns me he's going to do it. We will be in the middle of a song in the intense parts of the song he slips in the ba-dum tiss like a joke was told. When he nails it it's really a special thing.

Well, Keith that is all I have for you. Thank you again for your time!

Thank you very much, Shawn! The cassettes are available through Transylvania Recordings and Bandcamp. They are up for pre-order. I am not sure when those pre-orders will be in. There are some delays.

Several bands and labels having a tough time with vinyl getting pressed and shipping, too.

If you order the cassette you will get it eventually. I hope there is new music to announce in the near future.

We hope so, too!

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unproduciblesmackdown · 5 years ago

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ok-yikes replied to your post: diefordarkseid replied to your post: ...

ok but like thank u sm for the link i’ve been vaguely following your winston/billions content and ive been trying to find the context without having to watch the whole thing lmao so now i can fully understand ur analysis and art that i already enjoy!!

oh first of aw!!!! that’s such a compliment lol ty and yes s/o to @winstonthequant for posting that compilation for 5.5k+ people to partake in, it’s super useful

yeah we Jest that all anyone needs to know to understand the Spirit Of Wynnstanning is to have seen those scenes with winston and taylor from kompenso, ep 3x11 lol.....i mean it’s partially a joke but it’s also partially true, that’s pretty much the Cause of the group of us going “oh my god” and becoming Invested in all of this. winnie n tay baby.......their Dynamique...they are way too good Ugh

and yeah the Broadest Of Strokes of this series overall is that the Central Theme is "insufferable bastard hedge fund ceo damian lewis [aka axe] man Versus insufferable bastard attorney general paul giamatti man [aka chuck],” just these corrupt assholes having a back and forth slapfight power struggle every season. nobody cares what happens in season 1 but taylor is introduced at the start of season 2 as a just-out-of-undergrad intern at axe’s hedge fund. turns out they’re amazing at hedge funding (they have some goddamn sense and strategy and awareness, whereas axe is 100% beholden to the whims of his own Delicate Temper and Ego and is a continually self-sabotaging idiot, nbd) and by season 3, while axe is doing a bit of jail time over insider trading (see: previous parenthetical) taylor is left effectively in charge of axe’s hedge fund, which btw is called axe capital

Our Beloved Quant Winston enters the picture 3 eps into this situation, where taylor is attempting to start a quant team at axe cap, hence interviewing him, then only known as “quant kid 2″ in the credits. [not-that-informed explanation of What Is A Quant: where the Traditional Financial Analysts in a hedge fund try to make profitable stonk trades just via like, reacting to The News and other publically available info / whipping up Strategies / intuiting shit and making judgment calls or whatever the hell they do, a Quantitative Analyst (a more recent development in the high finance world) is taking a more mathematical approach to the whole legal gambling operation which is The Stock Market and might, as winston does, use An Algorithm to analyze finance info and make trades in response. is the vague idea here] Quant Kid 2 was not Originally meant to ever reappear, hence him just messing up the interview and getting sent off after like 30 seconds, but they wrote him in further when William Roland showed up and actually filmed the scene.

when “i’m a shitty bastard driven by my shitty ego and will self-sabotage if my Pride asks for it on a whim” axe shows back up, tl;dr, he spends the rest of s3 being terrible and unappreciative to taylor, who you might imagine is Threatening That Delicate Ego of his by capably taking care of his hedge fund while he was indisposed. for example, he needlessly wrecks taylor’s relationship with a guy they were having a nice time dating (and will, we’re pretty sure, talk to again in s5ep2!! hoorayy) and does basically the opposite of apologizing, sweeps taylor’s Quant Project into the trash, gets mad at them for failing to land a certain investor which he said they did on purpose which idk they May Have lol i think this was later in the season, and won’t give them the raise they want, and that’s just A Few of the bullet points in this topic. but oops, turns out that taylor has been secretly taking steps to put together their own entirely separate hedge fund! which is where winston comes back in, aka their meeting him in that empty classroom only to summon him to a random basement. that algorithm he ends up creating for them (which he’d Assumed was for axe cap purposes) was used by taylor to entice a Big Investor at axe cap to invest in their own hedge fund, taylor mason capital, which exists by the end of season 3, which obviously axe is not happy about and of course it’s a whole ~betrayal~ even though he did it to himself but no, he decides taylor is his Nemesis, b/c in so many ways he is a dumbass. god

season 4 has winston as taylor’s Main Quant (the one time we hear his name spoken aloud is taylor saying “winston and the quant team). taylor spends the season dealing with all the problems of having a Brand New Hedge Fund and having a Well Established Hedge Fund With An Asshole At The Helm constantly trying to sabotage their fund, which we also call tmc / mase cap for short, just for reference lmao, the latter being how they shorten it in the show’s actual dialogue. the Front Running mentioned in that one clip was an instance of such sabotage. and by the time winston shows up 5 eps later, that Fracking Subplot (lmao...this fucking show) was about taylor being reeeeal sick of axe cap’s sabotage b/c they kinda made it personal, and thus spending the whole episode Completely playing axe for a fool, which was kinda fun, b/c it’s not that hard and he has it coming. it gets a little involved with what’s going on in ep 4x11 with the bonuses lmfao but it's nbd, just know that winston was right, we went frantic about him being Bullied and are still indignant about it, and taylor talking to Everyone in that 4x12 clip does seem to address what winston had said, compare and contrast 4 yourselves, even if this apparently went totally over the heads of any Regular Billions Viewers lmao. and then in 4x12 A Lot Happens b/c it’s the finale but axe manages to self-sabotage himself in a way that does a lot of damage for mase cap though, and axe thinks that he’s successfully blackmailed taylor into returning to axe cap with mase cap as a Supposedly Temporary subsidiary of axe cap, which sucks, but taylor is not as blackmailed as he thinks, which is a secret, Drama and Twists and Shifting / Dubious Loyalties and Stonks are just constant themes here and who cares. we are here for the quant, who is there with taylor

We Have Many Ideas / wise concepts and headcanons, seeing as canon is a nightmare and there’s not That much material re: winston and precious few details about him / he spends sooo much time offscreen and unmentioned and it leaves us plenty of blanks to fill in. for example, maybe u noticed we think he should kiss taylor and also get railed by them, there are extensive ideas about that relationship wherein we happily ignore Finance. also, there is an unusually kind and reasonable analyst over at axe cap named ben kim who we also think should kiss winston, so yeah That idea is sure around as well lol, they have enough Parallels and complementary Similarities and Contrasts and also just like, a normal nice person is a rarity on this show, so ben does Not have a world of competition in our [list of people who’d be Okay to kiss winston, b/c someone should, b/c he deserves that cuz we love him]

yeah that’s my Quick Basic Context summary lmao we hate it here but also we have fun, and really at any time (extending this to anyone lol) feel free to Send An Ask about anything at all b/c i am Not annoyed by random / unprompted asks from anybody, i love interaction! who knows if i’ll answer promptly (for example: sorry @ the person who’s asked for deh/bmc hcs who i havent answered yet lol) but yeah. it’s totally nice that you were already interested even without any Context lmao like. i mean yeah basically the joke still stands that the only context u truly need is that one scene from Kompenso but. yeah #Stonks

#ok-yikes #i've 100% been appreciating all ur Likes btw ty ty #winston billions

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drunklander · 6 years ago

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Drunj!Der Yells About Outlander

Thoughts on Ep. 413

I’ve been singing Jefferson’s “The emperor has no clothes.” line from Washington on Your Side all day. Because honestly, that’s basically how I feel about Outlander at this point. Obviously every season when the press tour rolls around the cast and crew are going to talk about how it’s their best season yet and yada yada talking point bullshit. And in the segments after each episode they’re obviously going to pat themselves on the back for being so fucking brilliant. But I have to ask, are they delusional and believe what they’re saying? Or are they self-aware enough to realize that they’ve been putting out a worse and worse product every year but they’re contractually obligated to only say good things about the show? (I’m not stupid, I know that regardless of what they really think about the show they’re putting out, they’re never actually going to say it’s not good. That’s not how this works.) Some, like Balfe, I think are aware that the show isn’t what it used to be. And some, like Matt and Toni, I really think believe they’re doing a good job.

But as long as they keep spouting off the same nonsense about how everything is awesome, a certain segment of the fandom will keep agreeing that the emperor’s new clothes are indeed amazing, while I’m just over here like uh, y’all realize he’s nekkid, right?

Anywho, I’m really looking forward to a very long hiatus.

As much as I tend to not like the title cards anymore, this one included, Otter Tooth being like oh fuck this white kid in his racist costume is valid af.

I do appreciate that they show the Mohawk playing lacrosse in this episode and in 4x12. Because as much as it’s associated with prep school white boys today, it was invented and played by Native American and First Nations tribes, including the Mohawk.

(I signed up to play lacrosse in high school thinking that girls’ lacrosse was like boys’ lacrosse, but it’s not. You can’t check or anything. Lame.)

These fuckers are really bad negotiators. Like hey, we *really* want this guy. Like we’re desperate to get this guy. We didn’t just give you the upper-est of upper hands in this negotiation. Nope.

Tehwahsehwke brushing off the stuff they brought to trade with as just trinkets for Roger gives me life.

Has Claire been wearing this stone all season? You’d think they would have shown her wearing it more or something. But why would they do that when it can just pop up again out of nowhere.

Also, like, why the fuck would you wear a stone you found by the skull you think belongs to a Native American ghost dude who was hatchet’ed in the back of the head to a Native American village. Like, sure she doesn’t know the connection yet, but like, seems like something you’d maybe want to leave at home.

Also who the fuck are you guys, Frasers, refusing to leave someone else’s village when asked? You’re in no position to make demands. I know you want Roger back for some reason that I will never understand, because he’s the worst (only partly being sarcastic), but you’re the fuckers who sold him away so... Just leave and come up with Plan B, don’t make everyone hate you on the way out.

Oh the irony that the racist af term is “Indian giver” when it’s the white folks who go back on their deals...

Murtz being indignant about Bree and Lord John’s engagement makes me mad all over again that we were robbed over his reaction to Jamie marrying Laoghaire.

They’re like really leaning into the benevolent slave owner bullshit, and it’s gross, tbh. Like Bree’s just totally chill being waited on by an enslaved person. This show is killing meee.

Claire making demands and Wahkatiiosta being like “bitch, please” gives me life. Like Claire, you fucking idiot, you’re really not in a position to make demands right now.

Otter Tooth really is a tragic figure. I’d say it’s weird to spend this much time on someone that’s already dead (Just to set up Donner? I’m assuming that’s why they’re doing it?), but honestly, giving the Mohawk something to do that’s not about white people is fine with me.

Really Claire, you have all these opinions about ghosts? Since when?

(Since eventually they need to explain Jamie’s ghost. So why weave in ghost-related mythology organically when you can randomly shoehorn it in with a line that makes everyone scratch their head.)

“Not one of my finer moments.” Understatement of the season, Bree. Seriously, wtaf. And putting in this meta line doesn’t make it better.

“Da told me I should forgive him.” I hate that she was doing things because someone told her she should instead of because she wanted to. Because, again, Bonnet doesn’t deserve forgiveness. Part of forgiving someone, imo, is that they need to be sorry for the thing that needs forgiving. And Bonnet is not. So fuck that guy, he shouldn’t be forgiven.

“I already have.” In this instance, Jamie at least admitted he fucked up and is trying to fix it, but that’s like the first time something like that has happened. And honestly, I’m looking forward to him continuing to try to be worthy of this forgiveness she’s granting him. Because if next season starts with them just being buddy buddy, I’m gonna roll my eyes a lot.

Uh, why *would* this Mohawk dude let you escape with Roger. He owes these white people nothing. Why on earth wouldn’t he raise the alarm. He’s not the bad guy here.

Oh good god it’s not even half over yet.

I should be feeling things about Jamie and Claire possibly being separated again, but the show has managed to make them so meh this season that I really can’t be bothered to give a fuck, tbh.

Also, like, we’ve seen them say goodbye like it might be forever so many times already that like it’s kind of losing its meaning if we don’t also see them being *together* like they’re on borrowed time. Which we haven’t this season.

I miss caring about Claire and Jamie. Make me care about them again, show. This season was supposed to be them building a life together and enjoying finally being married and settled and knowing that every minute together is precious because it’s one they never thought they’d have. And somehow the show instead made them secondary characters in their own story to the point where this moment isn’t even evoking a reaction from me.

Young Ian really hasn’t had much to do all season, but what he has been given has been good and I love him a lot. And major props to him for being like yeah, I fucked up, I’m owning it, I’m gonna apologize and I’m gonna be the one to stay. Take note, literally every other dude in this show, be more like Young Ian.

Although, man, as much as I love the growth Young Ian goes through in the books, it’s gonna be so... problematic, to put it lightly, to have a white kid cosplaying as a Mohawk for the rest of the series when we’ve never had a fully developed Mohawk character.

Murtagh’s whole speech to Jocasta can directly translated to our current trash fire of an administration not being able to grasp what the federal employees they furloughed were going through during the shutdown. But this isn’t a political show. Nope.

Yes, I know that this was all written and shot months ago. But discussing privilege and and using your privilege for good is also political.

Murtagh’s pretty chill about Jocasta owning people for someone who was indentured for years.

As great as Murcasta is as a ship name, I don’t ship it. I’m here for them being inappropriate fuckbuddies, but she’s a fucking slave owner and he’s a Regulator. So hard pass on going full Duncan Innes here.

Also it’s cute that the producers were like this is a brand new idea because in the books, Murtagh’s dead! It’s like guys, you don’t get originality points for giving a canon book plot line to a different character.

Also I swear to fuck, they’d better not do the Jocasta is secretly having a relationship with Ulysses. Because not only is that fucked up on its own, but now if she’s banging Murtz, it makes her even more garbage, because not only does she enslave people, and bangs someone she technically owns, but she’s also a cheater.

Also, is Jocasta only against sex outside of marriage for women who have never been married before? (And I specify women since Murtagh has never been married and she’s not giving him any shit...) Or is she only against it if it results in a pregnancy?

“Jenny will be totally cool with this. Yup. Jenny will totally get it and be absolutely fine with this whole situation.” Are you fucking kidding me?

Jamie deserves all of these punches, but Roger remains the worst.

The difference between Young Ian running the gauntlet and Roger running the gauntlet is striking. Young Ian knows that this is his one chance to prove himself to the Mohawk and he is not throwing away his shot.

Young Ian smiling when the Mohawk accept him is like the only thing in this episode that makes me feel things. Because like this kid is the youngest of a whole squad of siblings and has always been the awkward one who gets into shenanigans accidentally, so like it’s really nice to see him being accepted into a group on his own merits.

“Because she said terrible things and turned ye against me.” Weird way to say “because she told you the truth about how awful I am and made you realize that I am, in fact, the actual worst,” Roger.

He’s never going to apologize, is he. Of course not.

“How could you think such a thing?” “Well, you see, my daughter apparently doesn’t care enough about you to tell me anything about who you are. And you’re enough of a dick that her servant thought you were a rapist. Because, you *are* a dick. And I’m enough of an asshat that I sell into slavery first and never ask questions later because lol toxic masculinity is grand.”

“I left because she told me to go. She actually told me not to come in the first place. And I was an asshole to her in our own time. And then I was an asshole again to her in this time. And really I should just fuck all the way off because I’m the worst and she deserves better and has made it clear that she isn’t down for how I’m treating her. But nope. Why do that when we can forget she ever had any issues with me so I can play the victim card forever and then get welcomed back into her life no problem.”

“But even then, I came back for her. Even though, again, she made it clear she didn’t want me.”

I hate Roger so much. He is literally more worked up over the fact that it was fucking Bonnet who raped Bree and how Bonnet made him sail to Philly than he is about Bree being raped. What the actual fuck, bro.

“Somewhere between here and Fraser’s Ridge. You know, casually somewhere on the eastern seaboard. Really narrows it down.”

“I don’t think you can go through with a child.” They keep saying that but like they have no proof of it? Are they really just saying it so much to set up them doing just that in season six?

In this instant, Frank 2.0 is worse than the OG twatwaffle. Don’t worry, Frank is still the actual worst. He’s an emotionally abusive fuckwad and I hate him with the passion of a thousand fiery suns. But Roger here isn’t dealing with someone who left and fell in love with someone else and is having the child of the love of her life. He’s dealing with someone who was violently raped and is choosing to keep the child and love it on its own merits. And he’s fucking hesitating about whether or not he can live with that?! Are you fucking kidding me? Go fuck yourself, Roger. And then fuck all the way off. Because Bree already deserves better, but the fact that you need to fucking think about it, like she’s somehow not worthy of your love because of what she went through, is fucking irredeemable.

I. Hate. Roger.

ALSO! Can we fucking talk for a second about how they’re making Bree’s rape and pregnancy about fucking Roger? Not omg is she ok, not omg how is she coping, not omg is she getting the care and support she needs. No, none of that. Instead we get fucking “are you, a man, ok with this.”

But since we’re apparently making this all about good ol’ Rog. He literally two fucking minutes ago called Bree his wife. Like in sickness and health, richer or poorer, no matter fucking what, married. I know he didn’t fucking think he was going to stay in the past forever or to become a parent in this way, but guess what? LIFE IS FUCKING FULL OF SURPRISES. SHIT DOESN’T ALWAYS GO ACCORDING TO PLAN. YOU WANT TO SAY YOU’RE MARRIED TO BREE? THEN NUT UP OR SHUT UP, MISTER “I WANT ALL OF YOU.”

I HATE THIS FUCKING SHOW SO MUCH.

“And we will choose his birthday wisely, but ye can be sure the lad was born in wedlock.” Oh fuck off, Jocasta.

Thank fuck this season is over because the are they/aren’t they married whiplash about the handfasting is annoying af. Literally one scene ago Roger was saying she’s his wife and now they’re lying about birthdays because she’s not married.

Ok this is shallow but did they decide that Sophie could wear makeup this season and Caitriona could only have the bare minimum to try to make the age gap seem bigger? Because honestly, the difference in their faces is quite noticeable.

Unpopular opinion alert, but I’m totally fine with Claire and Jamie not being there for the baby’s birth. I mean, I’m kind of sad Claire wasn’t there. But she can be there for the next one. But like, Jamie hasn’t earned being with Bree in such a personal moment. Their relationship isn’t at that level.

“We told him everything. But since he’s the worst and loves the *idea* of you and not *you*, the truth was too much for his imaginary version of your relationship so he bounced. Like an asshole.”

We’re gonna be stuck with Bonnet for two more seasons, aren’t we. Ugh. They could have just killed him and been done with it, because honestly he’s not interesting enough to keep around, but the more they keep talking about how he died in the prison, the more it’s basically guaranteed that he’s going to show back up...

I’m glad Claire and Bree get a moment alone, tbh. But Bree will be “surrounded by family” at the Ridge? Really? Because pretty sure it’ll just be you and Jamie now. Since Ian is gone. And Roger went AWOL. And who knows where Murtz is gonna go...

They really love using no dialogue dinners instead of doing actual work on the characters’ relationships with each other this season, don’t they. Le sigh.

Cool that everyone is super down with Jocasta now. Because clearly ep. 4x02 didn’t happen.

Oh ffs. The literally did a running toward each other and meeting in the middle with a hug shot. Fucking kill me.

Ok, so Bree and Roger had a kind of flirty friendship that was basically just based around them both knowing about time travel. And then they sort of did the long distance relationship thing. And then Roger proposed in the most awful way possible, refused to listen to Bree’s very reasonable response, slut-shamed her for being ok with sex before marriage even though he himself had had sex before, was a dick to her when she tried to have another conversation with him, and then he followed her into the past when she expressly said not to and implied that she wasn’t planning to stay in the past permanently. Then we’re somehow expected to just accept that she’s over all of her reservations about marriage and Roger being the worst when she agrees to handfast with him, but then he’s the worst again and she rightly tells him to fuck off. And then he can’t decide if he can accept a woman he “loves” after she’s been raped?! And now we’re supposed to think that they belong together and should get the cheesiest, most cliché shot of all time? Are you fucking kidding me, show? How the fuck are we supposed to ship this?

Roger is the literal worst.

This isn’t earned at all and I hate it.

Also, wtf is up with this ending? Why not end it with Bree and Roger going back into the house?

Although, Claire’s face when Murcasta are forehead fucking is my everything.

Like there’s no reason to end on a cliffhanger that’s not even really a cliffhanger? Because like, we already know that Tryon was eventually going to call in this favor from Jamie? We’ve known this since they accepted the land grant? And like, the tension between Jamie and Murtagh over being a Regulator is already established and clearly Jamie isn’t going to actually kill Murtagh?

This is dumb. This show is bad. Thank fuck it’s Droughlander.

#*#outlander starz #outlander 4x13 #drunj!der yells about outlander #rogergate

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ourmanifestoisfun · 6 years ago

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4x12 episode thoughts

All right...so calling last week’s episode a breather ep was more apt than I anticipated.

Rebecca going off therapy in the flush of a new relationship - oh no. Though I am interested that they rerouted back to her rocky relationship with drugs again and her finally overcoming that. I was so proud of her by the end, resolving to go through and keep up the work for her BPD

Happy to see Dr Akopian again, even if this therapy session was a little more trying.

I’m glad she had fun at Raging Waters, but I really wish she had gone with Josh or her girls instead where they would have been able to have fun together. I appreciate that Greg wanted to be sweet and be with her somewhere she wanted to be, but I think this was the wrong venue to be unenthusiastic.

Greg was trying to be a good boyfriend too, asking her about how she was feeling, so that they can be healthy together, but there will still be ups and downs and I think they both miscalculated Raging Waters here.

I still feel like the Marco thing is kind of unresolved, so that kept sticking at the back of my mind, even when I didn’t want it to.

Costume detail: Rebecca’s Raging Waters shirt has a similar cut to her dress from Jayma’s wedding! Or it looked like one to me anyways.

“Leaving, that’s a classic Greg move” - OUCH

I liked “ova-ry-acting” though. Good word play.

“I Hate Everything But You” is AMAZING and Skylar Astin absolutely rocked it. Loved the sleeveless jean jacket and the leather jacket and the fact he cannot play a guitar. It was super cute.

“Case of the Mondays” - I just watched Office Space last week and laughed WAY too hard at seeing it come up again here. Must have been a Whitefeather thing.

I really liked Nathaniel showing concern for Paula, both by being way too blunt and also offering his office for her to rest.

Though...your uncle’s island for your bar, really, Nathaniel? As much as I appreciate that you appreciate that Paula is doing a lot of work, that is absurd.

Paula really didn’t look good, and I’m glad she had so many people in her life all trying to ask her to look after herself.

Female heart attack symptoms being different like that just utterly terrifies me. You can walk around with one for 18 hours? Yikes.

Scott really stepped up to the plate, pushing her to go to the doctor’s. Their marriage has gotten so much better over the last few seasons and I love every instance of it.

Also loved that Mrs Hernandez is mildly interested in seeing Paula topless. Also her advice on having gone through menopause herself - I love all of the inter-generational female friendships on this show

“I’m Not Sad, You’re Sad” sounds like a genre I listened to way too much of when I was in college. I did love the leather jacket look, even if I was sad about her mental state.

A billion drinks = three drinks. Story of my life.

Rebecca going to see Nathaniel was...all kinds of Not OK. The guy literally just told her a few weeks ago that he was letting her go, and then showing up on his doorstep and trying to talk him into sex by saying she still thought about him was a pretty low move.

Never expected to hear another reference to “Strip Away My Conscience” - that was a pleasant surprise, also made me laugh

“Who is the man of my dreams” - good episode title callback though, always happy to see it

It was pretty much guaranteed that Nathaniel was gonna turn her down, even beyond his “being a better person” thing, since all of the men on this show, even Trent, are good about consent, and Rebecca was clearly very drunk.

But I did like that he seemed to realize pretty quickly that whatever Rebecca wanted wasn’t going to be something he was down for.

Rebecca attempting to seduce Josh - also so many shades of Not OK

I love that she’s still “theater girl” to him

I do love their friendship...still wondering if they are going to go try to do something by referring back to their relationship, but while Josh loves Rebecca as a friend (and he’s a good one! they make good friends), they just haven’t circled around to it yet. Will they? We do not know yet.

WHEN ARE THEY GONNA CIRCLE BACK TO THE JOSH/GREG THING? NEXT EP? I HOPE IT’S NEXT EP

Good to see Dr Shin again! Missed your handsome face.

“Darkness” - it’s a pretty song about something terrible, and honestly I am glad to hear Rebecca singing more again.

That ending scene between Rebecca and Paula was so lovely. They haven’t spent a whole lot of time together this season, but I always am happy to see them interacting and can’t wait to see what that means for next episode.

lol at there being two Dr Roths

While seeing Rebecca backslide was pretty surprising to me, I really liked how it was handled and the resolution for it.

#ceg spoilers #season 4 #episode thoughts #long post #le gasp i actually wrote this faster than usual!#actually watched it on the night it aired for once #crazy ex girlfriend

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aspiestvmusings · 7 years ago

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SCORPION: ”PARALLELS”- S4 FINALE VERSUS OTHER EPS

AN “ANALYSIS” POST... THAT IS INCOMPLETE:

SEASON 4/S4 FINALE VS PAST SEASONS/EPS/S3 FINALE:

in S4 finale (a lie in the sand) we get Walt being “buried alive”under sand...and the team digging him up VS in S3 finale we have Ralph & Scotty being buried alive and being rescued by the team

in S3 finale we have a parents/kids theme and a guest character (Scotty,the PIlot) protecting Ralph while a team member/Paige thanking them for it VS in S4 penultimate ep, 4x21 we have parents/kids theme and a guest character (Kenny’s dad) protecting Ralph while the team/Paige is protecting theirs (Kenny). Even the lines spoken by characters are almost identical at one point.

in S4 finale we have the team divided and working against each other... in he end VS in S3 finale we have a team divided and Sly and Ralph addressing the issue, and all agreeing that the team is the best when working together, united, not in parts/divided. The same plot with minor changes. So...Scorpion is a team divided #SlyPredictedThis

in S4 finale we have Ralph missing (with no mentions of him) throughout the episode.. as the team is fighting/splitting up/divided VS in S3 finale we have Ralph “missing” and working alone to save them and reunite the team (when he “steals” the crank & goes to the beach & then later his speech about their childish behaviour)

in S4 finale we have an actual 2 week timejump in the end... between the team split and the reveal of 2 teams (The Gettleman Pitch) VS in S3 finale we have a promise of a 2-week time jump & vacation time for all team members, when Quintis say they are taking their honeymoon time off now... and not to be contacted for 2 weeks

in S4 finale we have a theme of keeping secrets (again..like in many eps/during many plots in the past: S1/S1 end plot:1x21 Walt/Cabe and Baghdad, S2 finale/ep 304: secret green-card marriage, S3: 303/322 space love confession, S3 finale “i have a past”)

in S4 (season 4B: eps 417, 419, 421) Sly is engineering a water filter system that gives you drinking water purer than the LA tap water VS in S3 finale Walt/Happy/The Team engineer a water pumping system which gives them cleaner driningwaterthan LA has.

in S4 finale we hear about Sly’s writing, about his pen-pal Alex and his letters to him, where he bends the truth a bit VS in S3 finale we see Sly writing.. a journal/book.. about their island adventures. While on the island,and after... Sly is the narrator of the story here. #SlyTheStoryTeller

in S4 finale Paige comments that Walt’s EQ went from ”age 9″ when they met in 2014 and she started coaching him to “age 15″ (or so)... now. This fits with my estimate that Ralph was 9, when the show started/we met him & would be around 15 in he series finale...if there was a 6-season plan for the show...

OTHER SMALL DETAILS:

Walter and head injuries: S1 finale/S2 premiere car accident, 2x19 car crash (”I have a bump”), 3x03 major trauma (spacefall), 3x22 hitting his head (fall in the biodome), 4x02 inhaling toxins, 4x12 head trauma (fall from stairs), 4x16 injuries from jumping from a chopper/building.... to name the biggest”head bumps”

S4 premiere starts seemingly right after s3 left off, and it starts with Walt daydreaming... (the musical number) only... is he? Because later in the episode 401-402 he has similar visions, only now it’s “hallucinations” due to the toxic gas inhaled

in the S3 finale a radio plays a part in the ”how to get off this island” plan. The RADIO EXPERT and ex team-member is one Mark Collins.

Flo’s speciality is CHEMISTRY!

Collins setup the doubt in Walt & Paige’s (teams) minds in S4 premiere about their differences and they voiced their concerns regarding it all in season 4A. In season 4B he was “forgotten” (no mentions of him since the trial, no mentions of CLAM, no nothing... quiet before the storm), and the IQ/EQ issue was re-set with another plot for some reason...instead of using the original seed of doubt (do they really think the audience’s memory span is that short that they can’t use the premiere idea to lead to the finale reveal... even if the man himself can’t be present?) Why the double re-set?

Biggest mysteries of S4 finale: why not bring fuel (at least ”emergency” amount) with them from the US if time is of the essence & “fuel is running out”? Why, as usual with this team, go into unpredictable situations, unprepared? (answer: then the “suspense” of the “mission” would not happen for regular viewer... who get sucked into the story...)

Biggest mysteries of S4 finale: What purpose (other than the writers really not knowing what to write and hence going back to the most boring plot device.. creating a sort of love triangle... even if fake.. like Chet/Happy/Toby was in s2... ) did Flo’s “confession” about developing feelings have? None...besides used as a plot device.. either for the “loved-by-TV-writers-but-actually-most-boring-and-uninteresting-plot” and/or to just make the waitress more insecure OR an actual twist reveal setup. (this goes together with: Why would mr. 197 include the chemist in the new team...other than it’s most convenient and wanting to hurt the waitress back..aka more childish behaviour from both sides... and why did everything seem so perfectly in place... as if it was all planned?

There are ton of small fun “parallels”and “similarities” between S4 and past episodes, and between just eps in general... Use of same themes, same plots... (as usual for network TV... things get “repeated”)

#CBS SCORPION #TEAM SCORPION #SCORPION #SCORPION S4 FINALE #SCORPION SEASON 4 FINALE #THEORY #JUST FOR FUN #SCORPION 4x22 #4x22 #A LIE IN THE SAND #THIS IS VERY RANDOM #I AM POSTING THIS FROM THE DRAFTS IN THIS INCOMPLETE FORM

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backtothestart02 · 7 years ago

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Westallen Fanfiction | Smut-By-Ep

An official sign up list. If you are super psyched for the fic idea I posted and would like a chapter dedicated to you (which would include your input on the content if you like!), plz either reply to this post, send me an ask, or DM me with your enthusiasm and your request (prepare some back-ups in case someone else snatches your chosen episode first!).

I’m EXCITED!!! :D

1x01 - Pilot [TAKEN] (Posted) 1x02 - Fastest Man Alive (Posted) 1x03 - Things You Can’t Outrun [TAKEN] (Posted) 1x04 - Going Rogue [TAKEN] (Posted) 1x05 - Plastique [TAKEN] (Posted) 1x06 - The Flash is Born 1x07 - Power Outage 1x08 - Flash vs. Arrow 1x09 - The Man in the Yellow Suit [TAKEN] 1x10 - Revenge of the Rogues 1x11 - The Sound and the Fury 1x12 - Crazy for You 1x13 - The Nuclear Man 1x14 - Fallout 1x15 - Out of Time 1x16 - Rogue Time [TAKEN] 1x17 - Tricksters 1x18 - All Star Team Up 1x19 - Who is Harrison Wells? 1x20 - The Trap [TAKEN] 1x21 - Grodd Lives 1x22 - Rogue Air 1x23 - Fast Enough

2x01 - The Man Who Saved Central City 2x02 - Flash of Two Worlds [TAKEN] 2x03 - Family of Rogues 2x04 - The Fury of Firestorm 2x05 - The Darkness and the Light [TAKEN] 2x06 - Enter Zoom 2x07 - Gorilla Warfare 2x08 - Legends of Today 2x09 - Running to Stand Still 2x10 - Potential Energy 2x11 - The Reverse-Flash Returns 2x12 - Fast Lane 2x13 - Welcome to Earth-2 [TAKEN] 2x14 - Escape from Earth-2 [TAKEN] 2x15 - King Shark [TAKEN] 2x16 - Trajectory 2x17 - Flash Back 2x18 - Versus Zoom 2x19 - Back to Normal 2x20 - Rupture 2x21 - The Runaway Dinosaur [TAKEN] 2x22 - Invincible [TAKEN] 2x23 - The Race of His Life

3x01 - Flashpoint [TAKEN] 3x02 - Paradox 3x03 - Magenta 3x04 - The New Rogues [TAKEN] 3x05 - Monster 3x06 - Shade 3x07 - Killer Frost 3x08 - Invasion! 3x09 - The Present [TAKEN] 3x10 - Borrowing Problems from the Future 3x11 - Dead or Alive 3x12 - Untouchable [TAKEN] 3x13 - Attack on Gorilla City 3x14 - Attack on Central City [TAKEN] 3x15 - The Wrath of Savitar 3x16 - Into the Speed Force 3x17 - Duet [TAKEN] 3x18 - Abra Kadabra 3x19 - The Once and Future Flash [TAKEN] 3x20 - I Know Who You Are [TAKEN] 3x21 - Cause and Effect [TAKEN] 3x22 - Infantino Street 3x23 - Finish Line [TAKEN]

4x01 - The Flash Reborn 4x02 - Mixed Signals [TAKEN] 4x03 - Luck Be a Lady [TAKEN] 4x04 - Elongated Journey Into Night [TAKEN] 4x05 - Girls Night Out [TAKEN] 4x06 - When Harry Met Harry 4x07 - Therefore I Am 4x08 - Crisis on Earth-X, Part 3 [TAKEN] 4x09 - Don’t Run 4x10 - The Trial of the Flash 4x11 - The Elongated Knight Rises 4x12 - Honey, I Shrunk Team Flash 4x13 - True Colors 4x14 - Subject 9 4x15 - Enter Flashtime 4x16 - Run, Iris, Run 4x17 - Null and Annoyed

*Post will be updated as new titles are revealed and people have sent in their requests (and as chapters are written & posted).

#westallen #fanfiction #request list #smut by ep #some of these titles will srsly test my creativity #but we'll see!!

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dettiot · 8 years ago

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Arrow Fic: Bitches Getting Stuff Done 1/1

Bitches Getting Stuff Done Set post-4x12; no spoilers for future eps. Inspired by a thought I had after last night’s ep. Thanks to @acheaptrickandacheesyoneline for reading this over and cheering me on!

XXX

Dinah had worked in teams and with partners. She had worked with women before, too. And speaking not just about herself, female cops? They were the ones with the reputation. The ones that everyone, from low-level toughs to big bads, knew not to mess with.

But she was still pretty shocked to realize that tonight, she was here to be the buffer. To play the good cop. Because who would think the girly-pretty blonde tech genius and the brunette former party girl/current mayoral chief of staff would be playing so close to the edge?

Maybe it had something to do with the fourth woman, the woman they were here to deal with tonight. The woman currently zip-tied to a chair in the middle of this dingy, cold warehouse.

This was not how Dinah expected her night to go. Her plans had been simple: go to the lair with her dinner of extra-spicy dan dan noodles, put in some more work on controlling her cry, and then do some kickboxing. A good Friday night, really. Part of her new routine--a good routine, really. One that made her feel grateful to Oliver for persisting with her, even when she also wanted to knock him upside his head for all the brooding.

Still, he was a good man and she was grateful, and she was finding the whole ‘having a routine’ thing pretty appealing. So she was really surprised when she stepped into the lair to see Felicity there.

Well, not really surprised, as if she hadn’t expected to see Felicity here. Understandably, Felicity was around a lot. Curtis and Rory and Rene had all filled her in about Felicity and Oliver being together but not anymore--something Dinah had been able to figure out within about five minutes of seeing the two of them together--and how Oliver had accidentally killed Felicity’s new boyfriend, thanks to the manipulation of Prometheus. Which made her understand, a bit more, why Oliver was so freaked out by the guy. Felicity herself had been polite to Dinah--not what you would call friendly, but it was pretty clear the blonde had a lot on her mind, so Dinah didn’t take it personally. It could take time for friendship to form, but since they were the only two women on the team, Dinah knew that at some point, it would happen.

Women had to have each other’s backs, especially in a room full of dudes.

This wasn’t the first time Felicity had put in more hours than the rest of the team, so Dinah hadn’t been too shocked to see Felicity in the lair when she arrived. But the woman sitting next to Felicity? She was a stranger to Dinah, but in that nagging way of not being a stranger, either.

That was why Dinah kind of froze after taking three steps off the elevator. The thumping of her boot heels had immediately drawn the other women’s attention, making Dinah feel awkward.

Especially with the guilty looks on both Felicity and the stranger’s faces. Which made Dinah feel curious and awkward.

“Um, sorry, Felicity--I can--” Dinah began, for some reason gesturing towards the elevator with the hand holding her bag of food.

“No--no, come on in, Dinah,” Felicity said, still looking furtive. “This is Thea. She’s Oliver’s sister.”

That explained why the fine-boned brunette looked familiar, Dinah realized. This time, she held out the hand that wasn’t carrying her spicy noodles and shook Thea’s hand. “It’s nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you, too, Dinah,” Thea replied, a flicker going through her eyes. A flicker that made Dinah suspect she had also known that Dinah Oliver had mentioned knowing.

“If you two need me to leave, I can,” Dinah offered, but Felicity shook her head.

“No--no, it’s fine! We were just . . . having some girl talk.”

Arching an eyebrow, Dinah looked back and forth between the two of them. “You’re still friends after you broke up with Oliver?”

“Wow, that was . . . blunt,” Thea said, folding her arms over her chest. “You wanna ask how I feel about being a former drug addict next?”

“No, because I don’t know anything about that,” Dinah retorted, before she stopped and took a breath. “Sorry. I just don’t see the need to beat around the bush. And clearly I’m interrupting something you two are planning, so I’ll just see myself out.”

Felicity’s eyes widened, but to Dinah’s surprise, Thea grinned and nodded at her. “Direct. Nice.” Thea looked at Felicity and nudged her. “What do you think about . . .?”

“What?” Felicity asked, her eyebrows narrowed in confusion, but then she started shaking her head. “Oh, no. No no no. I think the cop might have issues with what we’re planning.” Felicity paused and flushed. “And I shouldn’t have said that out loud.”

This was making Dinah’s head hurt. “Former cop, remember? If I was still a cop, I’d have to turn myself in first for being a vigilante. So what’s going on?”

Thea looked at Felicity, who just sighed and threw up her hands. With another elfish grin, Thea turned to Dinah. “Do you know Susan Williams?”

Dinah frowned. “Oliver’s girlfriend Susan Williams? The reporter?”

“Yes, the reporter who has a boatload of evidence to show that not only is the Mayor of Star City a still-active member of the Russian mob, but that he’s also the Green Arrow, too,” Felicity said, sounding a bit hysterical.

It was a reaction Dinah could understand, at least partly. Because this was not good. She knew she had told Oliver to move on . . . but damn, did he have shitty luck or what? But Felicity sounded really, really upset. More than she should about an ex. Dinah eyed Felicity, then turned back to Thea. “So you want to stop her?”

Thea nodded. “I warned her not to play me again,” she said, the words simple but full of barely-concealed menace. There was a passion and commitment in Thea’s voice that made her rise in Dinah’s estimation. This wasn’t a woman to double-cross.

Neither was Felicity, Dinah knew. Not with how she had started going down a dark path in Russia, much to Oliver’s dismay and worry.

Dinah snagged one of the rolling chairs and sat down, plopping her bag of food into her lap. She dug through the bag for her chopsticks and opened up the container of noodles, feeling Felicity and Thea’s eyes on her. She looked up and met their gaze. “I’m gonna eat while you tell me the plan, okay?”

“Are you sure you want to be involved--” Felicity began to ask, but Dinah cut her off.

“Oliver gave me a chance. Besides, the last thing he needs is a girlfriend screwing him over,” Dinah said, holding Felicity’s eyes. Because she might be new to the team, yeah, but she had her own opinions on how things stood between Oliver and Felicity. And like she said, she didn’t beat around the bush.

Felicity’s chin lifted as she got a steely cast to her eyes, but she nodded.

“Good, we’re all in agreement,” Thea said. “Let’s get started.”

Sitting back, twirling her noodles around her chopsticks, Dinah listened and offered a few suggestions, but the plan was solid. So that was how her night changed, from what she planned into what was happening right now.

Namely, Susan Williams, zip-tied and blindfolded in front of her. In front of them.

“Ready?” Thea said under her breath, rolling her head from side to side and shifting back and forth on her feet. She was wearing a threadbare-looking red hoodie that was too big on her, as well as a red domino mask. A lethal-looking sword was held in one of her hands.

Dinah nodded. Suddenly, Felicity nudged her.

“What?” Dinah hissed.

“Breath mint,” Felicity whispered, holding an Altoids tin out to her. “There’s only one place in Star City to get dan dan noodles.”

Quirking an eyebrow, Dinah took the tin and popped a mint into her mouth. She rolled it around, letting it melt, while Felicity went back to tapping away on her tablet.

Since Dinah was the only one of the three whose voice Susan Williams wouldn’t recognize, she was the face woman, the one doing most of the talking. Which was probably for the best, because Dinah wasn’t sure Thea or Felicity could stay grounded through this--if either woman could keep their emotions from getting the better of them.

And she didn’t blame them. She wanted to pop Susan in the mouth, too. But that needed to wait until later. Once they knew they had her where they wanted her.

The mint had dissolved enough and Dinah tucked the remaining morsel in her cheek. She strolled forward, noticing how Susan’s head jerked up when she picked up the sound of the approaching footsteps. Dinah quirked her lips in a smirk and crunched loudly on her breath mint.

“Susan Williams, you have failed this city.”

XXX

Dinah was pretty good at this, Thea had to admit. Clearly, having an ex-cop was going to help the team with interrogating bad guys. Not that Ollie did a bad job with it--her brother could get downright scary. Unless you were his little sister and remembered how a fourteen-year-old Oliver had a crush on preschool Thea’s babysitter.

It had been fun to tease Ollie about that. It had always been fun to tease Ollie about girls. Even when it came to Susan, although Thea’s teasing had been more like warnings. Because she couldn’t flat-out tell her very stubborn, very heart-broken brother that Susan was bad news and he would be better off waiting for Felicity to inevitably come around. So Thea had given Susan a warning and tried to let her brother manage things on his own.

Well, this was the last time she let him do that. As soon as they dealt with Susan, she was going to sit down with Felicity, get her drunk, and make her admit she still had feelings for Ollie.

But first: Susan Williams.

Thea walked around Susan’s chair slowly, her steps sauntering and graceful. She swung her sword in a series of arcs, letting it whistle through the air. Occasionally, it went right past Susan’s head, and although the woman was trying really hard to hide her flinches, Thea could see them. And so could Dinah.

“How did you get the intel on Mayor Queen?” Dinah asked again. “You want to tell me, or should I bring in my associate?”

As if they had planned it, Thea sliced her sword through the air above Susan’s head. She made sure to keep enough space so that when Susan belatedly jumped, the sword was still nowhere near her.

Physical pain wasn’t the goal tonight. They needed to break the spirit, the will of Susan Williams.

Thea had warned Susan: if she crossed Thea again, she would be lucky to have a blog. It was time for her to see that Thea Queen hadn’t been the daughter of Moira Dearden Queen for nothing. There was no such thing as an idle threat to Thea’s mother.

And it was the same for Thea. Because just like her mother had protected her son, Thea was going to protect her big brother.

Susan was being stubborn, though. The woman gritted her teeth. “I told you. I will not reveal a source.”

“We’re not talking about getting thrown in a nice, cushy jail for contempt of court,” Dinah said, derision dripping from every word. “There’s no due process here, Ms. Williams.”

“All the more reason to stand fast on my principles,” Susan said mulishly. “I’ve done nothing wrong.”

Thea shook her head at Dinah, who understood the silent message to follow Thea towards the back, where Felicity was standing and still working on her tablet. “What?” Dinah asked.

“I got a tip from Ollie’s security detail. She slept with Ollie,” Thea said in a hushed voice. She saw how Felicity’s head jerked up, staring at Thea.

“I bet she did it to get more evidence,” Thea continued, keeping her eyes on Dinah.

Dinah nodded and walked back over towards Susan. Thea went to follow, but Felicity grabbed her elbow.

“Why didn’t you tell me that before?” Felicity asked, her cheeks flushed.

“I was hoping to not tell you like this,” Thea admitted. She eyed Felicity. “Why, are you bothered by Ollie sleeping with Susan?”

Behind her glasses, Felicity blinked, looking totally thrown by the question. Then she quickly shook her head and let go of Thea’s elbow, adjusting her grip on her tablet. “I--I should only need another few minutes to finish planting the altered files,” Felicity said, fumbling in the pocket of her coat and producing a flash drive. “Then I just press a button and she’s destroyed.”

“Gotcha,” Thea said with a nod. She stepped away, falling into position with Dinah again.

Dinah stalked around Susan’s chair. “You won’t give up your source. But you did more than just hire a private detective to dig up dirt on Mayor Queen, didn’t you?” Dinah asked.

“I won’t reveal anything about how I acquired--”

“You slept with him,” Dinah interrupted. “Don’t bother denying it. We know you have. It took some time to get him into bed, didn’t it? Must have really messed up your timeline.”

Susan’s mouth was hanging open and Thea smirked. She snapped her sword through the air sharply, jolting Susan into talking.

“That--my relationship with Oliver has nothing--it’s not like that,” she stuttered.

Letting out a sarcastic bark of laughter, Dinah leaned down, getting into Susan’s face. “You really expect me to buy that? C’mon, Susan. Girl to girl.”

With a grimace, Susan shook her head, as if she was trying to knock loose the blindfold. Thea stepped up and tightened it, making sure the cloth stayed in place. Then she watched in silent approval as Dinah cupped Susan’s face in her hand tightly, her fingers digging into Susan’s flesh.

“Tell us the truth,” Dinah ordered.

Susan yanked her head free of Dinah’s grip, melodramatically moving her jaw before speaking. “Sleeping with Oliver helped support my research,” she said calmly. “But that doesn’t mean I don’t have feelings for him.”

“Some feelings,” Dinah sneered.

Thea circled around to face Susan, gripping her sword tighter. Because how dare this woman take advantage of her brother? How dare this woman claim she had feelings for Ollie when she was building a case that would destroy everything he had built for himself?

The darkness she hadn’t felt for over a year, the darkness that set up an itch under her skin, rose inside Thea. She imagined lifting her sword and opening up slices on either of Susan’s cheeks. Letting the blood drip down her face, staining her smart white dress, looking like poppies on the snow.

Would that be enough to satisfy the beast inside her? Thea didn’t know. She doubted it. Because now she could see a horizontal slash across Susan’s neck. A deep one.

Sucking in a breath, Thea edged back from Susan and Dinah. With her free hand, she reached up and gripped the hoodie she was wearing. Roy’s hoodie. One she had stolen from him at some point when they were dating, one that she had never given back to him. It was what she wore when she needed to feel loved, no matter what.

She closed her eyes and breathed a few more times, only opening her eyes when she felt a hand on her back.

Twisting to look over her shoulder, Thea saw Felicity gazing at her. There was that soft, sympathetic expression on her face, the kind of expression Thea hadn’t seen on Felicity’s face in months. Since long before she broke up with Ollie.

“Are you okay?” Felicity whispered.

“We--we need to break her and fast,” Thea panted softly. “Or else my bloodlust is going to get the better of me.”

Felicity’s eyes widened in understanding and she nodded quickly. “Step back. I’ll take over.”

Thea did as Felicity said, edging towards the back wall. She didn’t know what Felicity was going to do, but she wasn’t sure if she was going to pull this off. Because what did Felicity know about being threatening and dangerous?

Maybe she had learned something from Ollie?

XXX

Squaring her shoulders, Felicity looked down at her tablet. Everything was ready to take out Susan. It was just a matter of presenting the information, letting her realize her utter destruction and see what she would decide.

Felicity didn’t know how she wanted Susan to decide. If she wanted Susan to back down, to admit that her feelings for Oliver were stronger than a career-making story. Or if she wanted Susan to play chicken with them, to see if they could really wipe out Susan’s professional reputation.

And when she said ‘they’, Felicity meant her. If Felicity could wipe out another woman’s career, to take away her livelihood and passion.

Looking at the woman before her, her defiance rolling off her in waves, despite her crumpled white dress and disheveled hair, Felicity knew the answer.

When it came to Oliver, she would utterly destroy Susan Williams. But she wasn’t in a position to examine why she felt like she could do this for him.

She pressed the button on the collar of her dress. “Ms. Williams,” she said, her voice distorted to camouflage her identity. “Do you know who Stephen Glass, Jayson Blair, Jonah Lehrer, Fareed Zakaria and Maureen Dowd are?”

Dinah stepped back silently, providing backup and letting her run the show. Felicity’s eyes were locked on Susan, who had tilted her head at the sound of a new voice.

“They’re journalists,” Susan answered after a long moment.

“Correct!” Felicity said jauntily. “They have something else in common, though. Something very pertinent to our conversation today.”

Susan looked like she had sucked on a lemon. “They were all accused of plagiarism. But that’s not pertinent. I’m not a plagiarist.”

“Aren’t you?” Felicity asked, walking around Susan, her heels clicking against the floor of the warehouse. “Because . . . oh, my. It looks like suddenly, there are going to be several questions raised about your past work. It appears that your portfolio is just riddled with fabrications and lack of complete attribution and copying material from other publications.”

“That’s not possible,” Susan said, raising her chin. “You would have to radically rewrite content--but there are always print copies to back me up.”

Felicity smirked. Susan had walked right into Felicity’s trap. Because yes, she was right. There were print copies . . . of the articles she had written.

“That’s true. In those cases, I just appended some corrections to certain articles in their online archives. Corrections that weren’t able to make it into the final print copy,” Felicity explained.

Susan frowned. Dinah moved towards Felicity, her back to Susan as she whispered, “Is that going to be enough?”

Felicity held up a finger, asking Dinah to let her continue. The other woman nodded and took another step back.

“If you think that’s enough to get me a reputation as a plagiarist--” Susan began, but Felicity interrupted her.

“That’s just the start, though. Certain of your broadcasts have been edited, modified, finessed to appear like other reporters’ work. Other reports now have a distinct appearance of favoritism. Which will be backed up by the financial paper trail I created,” Felicity continued.

The reporter’s mouth dropped open, her head moving in a slow shake of her head. Like she didn’t want to believe it. “W-what?” she gasped.

“Plagiarism isn’t enough to destroy you, Ms. Williams,” Felicity said. “You could come back from that--Maureen Dowd did, Fareed Zakaria did. But combined with allegations of influence peddling and bribery? That will wipe you out, don’t you think?”

Dinah grinned and nudged Felicity, drawing her attention. Looking over, Felicity smiled at the sight of Dinah giving her a thumbs up. Then she turned her head as she heard Thea’s soft footsteps. The younger woman looked steadier, not in the grips of her bloodlust. And she was smiling at Felicity, looking impressed.

Returning her gaze to Susan, Felicity felt an incredible sense of gratification. Because as great as the approval of her team felt, it felt even better to see Susan clearly on the verge of losing it. Her face was going red and she was yanking on her bindings.

“You can’t do that--it’s not true--it won’t hold up!”

“Oh, you don’t see what I do,” Felicity said. “A push of the button, and it all goes live, and a full dossier goes to all your former employers, as well as Channel 52 News here in Star City. And oooh, if I see a button, I just want to press it!”

Felicity could hear that manic edge in her voice that she got whenever she quoted--or in this case, paraphrased--the Doctor, but she felt a bit manic. Because she knew she had Susan.

“You--you--you bitch!” Susan sputtered.

Grinning, Felicity remembered the last time she had been called a bitch by someone who she was interrogating. She could still remember Digg’s grin at her response.

“Bitch with wifi,” Felicity replied. “So, you will turn over every bit of intel you uncovered about Mayor Queen. Every scrap of paper, every single hard copy document. All your online versions are already permanently deleted, by the way. You will mail your files to this address,” Felicity said, nodding to Dinah who moved forward to stick the address, written on an index card, into one of Susan’s hands.

“If you agree, and guarantee that you will never share your knowledge with anyone else, that no one will ever know what you’ve learned about Mayor Queen . . . nothing will happen to your career. We won’t even interfere with your relationship with Mayor Queen. Although I’d advise you to reconsider your relationship with him,” Felicity said, that last sentence not part of the plan but just tumbling out of her mouth.

Swallowing, Felicity lifted her chin. “Do we have an agreement?”

Susan Williams had a pretty good poker face. But Felicity Smoak had grown up in Vegas, and the gamblers there would have eaten Susan for breakfast. So she knew before the woman had opened her mouth that she was going to agree.

“Fine,” Susan said, her voice full of barely-concealed rage. “I’ll give up my hard copies and not publish anything about what Mayor Queen’s past is or how he spends his nights.”

Felicity nodded to Dinah, who cut the zip ties and then marched Susan out of the warehouse, to the car that was waiting to take her back to Star City. It wasn’t until Dinah came back inside that Felicity relaxed, her shoulders sagging.

“Do you think she’ll follow through on her side of the bargain?” Dinah asked as she approached them.

“She better, or else I’ll just press this button,” Felicity said, gesturing to the screen of her tablet.

“How did you do all that?” Thea asked, trying to get a look at the screen. “I mean, I know you’re the best, Felicity, but you did all that so quickly.”

Pasting on a grin, Felicity casually unplugged the flash drive from her tablet and tucked it into her pocket. “Oh, I asked for help from a few of my contacts.”

Dinah’s gaze sharpened on Felicity, but then she nodded and stretched out one of her hands, palm down. “I don’t think Williams will be giving us any problems.”

Thea grinned and covered Dinah’s hand. “And hopefully she’ll be breaking up with Ollie really soon.”

Both of them turned to look at Felicity, who felt her smile grow more natural. “To bitches getting shit done,” she said, putting her hand on top of the pile.

All of them laughed and chanted in unison, “To bitches getting shit done!”

It was a moment of connection, of sharing. A perfect time for Felicity to reveal, to two women who understood darkness, just what she had done.

But instead, she kept her mouth shut.

End.

#arrow fic #arrow spoilers #bitches getting shit done #mischievous badass elf thea queen #hacker sunshine queen Felicity Smoak #tina boland/dinah drake #susan williams #Slimy Reporter

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sunnydaleherald · 3 years ago

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The Sunnydale Herald, Sunday, April 3rd

Giles: Willow, it's-it's me. Something's happened. I need your help. I can't see very well. Everything's blurred. I'm certain it's a spell of some kind, because.. well..it seems something else is going wrong... Buffy: Here you go... 98.6! Giles: ... horribly wrong.

~~Something Blue~~

[Drabbles & Short Fiction]

Sometimes (Faith, Buffy, NR) by Nevi5x5

A Sunday Together (Crossover with Supernatural, G) by BrandiIndigo

A Brief Morning Kiss (Crossover with Supernatural, G) by BrandiIndigo

You're Not Broken Just Bent (and we can learn to love again) (Willow/Fred, G) by Lesbian_Valkyrie

All the Lies That I Had Spun (Buffy/Angel, T) by butimbroken

Bitten (Buffy/Spike, NC-17) by Holly

The Power of the Wish (Crossover with Dragonball, FR18) by Sithicus

Treacherous (Buffy/Spike, 13+) by Fancyflautist

[Chaptered Fiction]

Generación Slayer: La Profecía de la Cazavampiros, Chapter 1 (Spanish language, T) by Ivan_Halliwell

Burial Ground, Chapter 4 (Kate Lockley, T) by captainamergirl

Beneath the Surface, Chapter 1 (Buffy/Spike, E) by TheDanishBird

Keeping Up With the Scoobies, Chapter 10 (Buffy/Spike, T) by Takara Phoenix

The Past Is Only The Future With The Lights On, Chapter 22 (Buffy/Angel, T) by butimbroken

Dawn of the Future, Chapter 16 (Dawn/Faith, T) by Brenna's Urbangirl Projects

Web, Chapters 8-9 (Buffy/Spike, NC-17) by DarkVoid116

The Bond, Chapters 1-2 (Buffy/Spike, AO) by Grief Counseling

Mortal Allies Series, Episode 5: War and Roses, Chapter 10 (Buffy/Spike, NC-17) by Passion4Spike

Finding Her, Chapter 6 (Buffy/Spike, R) by scratchmeout

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Sign of the Times, Chapter 1 (Buffy/Spike, NC-17) by JaneRemmington

Bleeding Poetry, Chapter 3 (Buffy/Spike, NC-17) by Dusty

Snippets, Chapter 12-13 (Buffy/Spike, R) by EllieRose101

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William the Bloddy: Prince of Thieves, Chapter 1 (Buffy/Spike, R) by Darkvoid116

The Fairytale, Chapter 21 (Buffy/Spike, NC-17) by Dusty

You Can't Fight Fate- But You Can Piss Him Off, Chapter 27 (Crossover with Batman, FR13) by Hermionetobe

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Artwork:BTVS "Every Outfit" "Anne" Xx (sfw) by whatshisfaceblogs

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[Reviews & Recaps]

The Initiative! | Buffy the Vampire Slayer Reaction | S4 E7 by Georgia Corsby

Buffy the Vampire Slayer 2x12 | Bad Eggs | All Positive Thoughts by DIY Entertainment

Buffy the Vampire Slayer 30th Anniversary Review by E.D. Lewis Reviews

Buffy the Vampire Slayer REACTION I 4x12 A New Man by riley lynn

Roses & Reactions Presents: Buffy the Vampire Slayer by Marc Lee

The ENDING!!!!! - Buffy the Vampire Slayer Reaction - 4x15 - This Year's Girl by TheLexiCrowd

Who's Owen and Why Do We Care? Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Ep 105 - Never Kill A Boy on the First Date by That's Not Acting

Buffy The Vampire Slayer Reaction 2x1 'When She was Bad' by TTG-Ben Reacts

WHAT AN EPISODE 😍 Angel~ S02E05~ "Dear Boy"♡First time Reaction&Review♡ by SoFieReacts

Angel~ S02E06~ "Guise Will Be Guise"♡First time Reaction&Review♡ by SoFieReacts

Slayer Sunday-Bad Eggs by Jane Talks Reels

Buffy The Vampire Slayer 3x02 - "Dead Man's Party" Reaction by DodoReactions

Buffy The Vampire Slayer 3x07 - "Revelations" Reaction by DodoReactions

PODCAST: Episode 74: Doomed by MythTaken

[Community Announcements]

Reminder: Seasonal Spuffy Signups are Now Open! by West of the Storm

[Fandom Discussions]

Why I enjoy season 11 by tonykushner

Cordelia defending Buffy in S7 by frankierose

Buffy shouldn't have run after Riley by booknerdinglasses

[Buffy asks] 9 & 10 by snakeliciousbaby

[Buffy asks] 14, 23, 24 by snakeliciousbaby

[Spike isn't supportive] by we-pay-for-everything

[Buffy takes more fault than she should] by juniperhillpatient and theowritesfiction

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Re: BTVS S7 and Angel S4 (which happened concurrently) Did the writers ever comment on the whole Jasmine vs First Evil thing? by mysharona1987

[Spike is amazing in Lover's Walk] by theowritesfiction

Would Amy still feel an animosity toward Willow if the latter had welcomed her back into the Scooby gang? by afanofbuffy

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Buffyverse: What If?... by Frogurt1337642 and multiple authors

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[The mechanics of microwaving blood] by multiple authors

Interesting anti-foreshadowing with Spike by heinebold

Osiris ritual at the start of season 6 by multiple authors

So I finally got my husband to try watching BtVS with me, I noticed this? Spike foreshadowing as far back as S1E3? Or just a coincidence? by TigerJean and multiple authors

vampires dating teenagers is weird. by nordeliachase and multiple authors

spike question? by Academic_Witness

Poll: If you could be a slayer would you!?! by Crimedramagirl

The Kalderash and D'Hoffryn by BuGMoiDroit

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[Articles, Interviews, and Other News]

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agl03 · 8 years ago

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AOS 4x12: AKA FANDOM DOWN...I REPEAT THE FANDOM IS DOWN!

So....that happened. How are we doing! I for one am freaking out. Lots of theories coming into play here including one that is very near and dear to my heart.

My ask box is blowing up and I think we are going to break the record of 70 post Singularity easily. So bear with me as I go tomorrow. I will combine where I can and will get to them all.

Spoilers ahead!

Real May: We didn’t get to see her. And she is sadly locked away in the Superiors submarine. The earliest I see her rescue is 14....but brace ourselves it might go on longer. The...bit....of good news is Radcliffe doesn’t want her hurt and will have AIDA keep her safe. I can also see them using her as leverage at some point. Either to bring Coulson into a trap, make a trade, or to get away.

Robo May: Well that went about how I though it would. I had though we might see more conflict but Radcliffe’s programming was too strong. Radcliffe is ‘done’ with her, but she’s still in play. Whether Radcliffe tries to reactivate her or Shield uses her against Radcliffe is yet to be seen. One important pick up I got is she sees herself as May.

Coulson: Well what we saw in Closure was likely a bit of a warm up for what he’s going to do to get May back. He’s going to leave no stone unturned to find her and we know from the synopsis that will involve digging into Radcliffe past. As he did with Ward, see what makes him tick. No matter how you ship Philinda he’s going to do everything he can to get the woman he cares about back.

Philinda: Is the Philinda fandom okay? They kissed! Though a lot like Fitzsimmons first kiss it was a bit bittersweet. It was based in real emotions but one of them was an LMD. But that moment did confirm is that there are feelings on both sides. And that speech of Coulson’s in the promo gave me goosebumps. When he gets her back its going to take time for her to heal and we’ll just have to wait and see where they go relationship wise from here.

Daisy: Well done Daisy, interrupting the kiss like any good surrogate daughter does. She was awesome, I LOVED her interactions with all the Koenig’s, just fantastic. We did see she is still not a fan of the Quake mantle and still getting used to it. And we’ll see her continue to grow as that public, hero face of Shield. And next week we’ll see her in some serious action.

Mack: Mack was in a big brother how dare you hurt my little brother crack heads now ask questions later kind of mood this whole ep. Next week it will be a crack heads and ask questions later in order to help find May frame of mind.

Mace: Was kicking it up in his office or something. Next week he goes into battle again....I worry this won’t end well for him.

Fitzsimmons: You guys okay too? Was that not wonderful? That was exactly what I wanted, it was perfect. I just....so happy with this. This is what I wanted to see from them.

Jemma: Right what I predicted. Supportive, protective, and helped get the breakthrough about Robo May. I am a happy happy girl. I feel woman on fire coming...I really do.

Fitz: So...yeah...those theories we’ve had...since 3.02.... Guys really...It took me a good 2 hours just to stop shaking. Papa Fitz is totally on the table now. Papa Fitz IS coming. Man I even had Radcliffe knew him on my list! The only reason they would have put that backstory AND that much of it is if it was going to play a MAJOR role. The seeds were planted and look for them to explode for the C arc...possibly as early as 15. Give me a bit to process further, we’ll dust off the Descendant Theory and go forward (things like Fitz catching Ward looking at the picture of him and his mom back in play...it is all connected after all). But look for Fitz to be a HUGE target from here to the end. If he doesn’t want to meet his father...meaning Papa Fitz is going to come calling and soon....we just have to wait and see who is telling the truth...IE is Papa Fitz a bad guy or did he leave to protect his family (though Papa Fitz does not seem like a nice guy right now).

Side note...I think one of those BIG guest stars they are teasing us about will be whoever plays Papa Fitz. I know we have our wish list started.

Radcliffe: Man is is a good bad guy. And very dangerous. He is manipulating everyone to get what he wants. And will continue to do so. The fact that he not only knows Papa Fitz but has been in contact with him....Recently! I need a minute again. I think there is a lot more to this and this could go beyond a passing acquaintance to that they were/are partners (think dark twist on Fitzsimmons). We also have to watch that he had Radcliffe get closer to Fitz so he could swoop in when the time was right (Radcliffe getting exposed to the Darkhold likely derailing the original plan). He now has the Darkhold, he’s got may, he’s got a whole bunch of muscle to protect him. Next week we should get a bit of a look at what the book is having him build. We should also watch to see if The Darkhold has derailed a larger plan.

Misc:

The Koenigs were all awesome but I vote for LT to come live at the Playground and be part of the team on a regular basis. They were part of the the original LMD program and they still teased a bit of mystery. Poor Davis.

Superior, he is our big bad Russian, the guy with a collection of military toys...which we’ll see more than a few next week as part of the team gets attacked. He’s also a decoy Baddie, he’s not our overall big bad but will be a formidable foe in his own right.

We need to worry about him seeing the appeal in AIDA being a weapon to him.

He’s got his sites set on Coulson

He’s the source of the money

Shockley, the new Guyiera. The nasty minion with a nasty weapon that we can’t wait to meet his icky end.

Papa Fitz

DESCENDANT THEORY LIVES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LIVES!!!!!!!!!!!!

Something we noted a long time ago was Fitz is not a common Scottish last name, its means “son of”. So WHO he is the son of is substantial. Even more so was the rest dropped for some reason?

His father was always telling him he wasn’t good/smart enough.

Radcliffe went to school with Papa Fitz....saw Fitz’s baby pictures....possibly knew exactly who Fitz was when they came to him for help with Daisy.

Radcliffe has been in contact with him....RECENTLY. Papa Fitz wanted him to pass a message along.

Someone had to put that crazy programming into Robocliffe and I think that was Papa Fitz. That speech in Latin wasn’t from Radcliffe, I think i was a message. And a huge thank you to @blake-wyatt as she helped translate that little speech.

The first bit was from Cicero and the Laelius de Amicitia Throughout the book, Cicero emphasizes the importance of virtue in friendship and how true friendship cannot exist without it.

The Second bit we are still working on.

Finally ... alea iacta est .... THE DIE IS CAST .... an event has happened or a decision has been made that cannot be changed. The point of no return AKA the event horizon AKA Singularity ... which is where we met Radcliffe.

Did Philinda’s mission in Glasgow all those years ago tie into this? After all the writers could have used ANYTHING but they used Glasgow.

Okay, its late, and I’m crashing from my theorizing high. I’ll pick up and formulate more as I process the asks and do some more research.

#aos spoilers #i can't believe that happened

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taipeishoegazer · 7 years ago

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沉浸於噪音的 Andy Bell (RIDE)

原始訪談 @

premierguitar : Ride’s Andy Bell Addicted to Noise

by Alex Maiolo February 08, 2016

翻譯： Taipei Shoegazer

在'80年後期的英國，許多人仍然對於Acid House中的電子聲響喋喋不休時，一種全新的音樂風格正在當地的大學城被孕育而出。

受到那些噪音系如 My Bloody Valentine，Dinosaur Jr.或 Spacemen 3 ，以及比較夢幻系的樂團如Cocteau Twins，帶著藝術氣息的音樂家開始探索加入更多ambient吉他紋理(textures)到搖滾中的可能性。

起源於自我解放（原文：ego-free）的龐克哲學，任何人都能組樂團，用著回歸基礎的樂器：吉他、貝斯和鼓，他們結合Drone和旋律組成全新一代的迷幻（psychedelic）音樂。他們常出現分離於舞台的存在感被指責為過度依賴腳下的踏板效果器，或者更甚之，擺架子，儘管這樣說不太公平。現在已經不存在的英國流行搖滾評論雜誌 Melody Maker[譯註：WIKI]也許也沒有察覺到根本性的轉變（paradigm shift）正在潛移默化發生，他們被賦予(譯註1)『The Scene That Celebrates Itself』(譯註2)的稱號，並且揮手致意稱他們為瞪鞋客(Shoegazers)。

很少人知道，即便是樂團本身，都沒有預測到這波創造性的浪潮會在十年後帶來什麼樣的影響。但是呢，在這些多類型的樂團中， A Place To Bury Strangers，Mogwai，Sigur Rós，Yeah Yeah Yeahs，and I Break Horses，我們都能見到Slowdive，Lush，或是Telescopes等樂團的DNA。

Andy Bell 在一開始就跟到這波浪潮， 1988年，他和幾個來自牛津的朋友決定成立 Ride。和同時代的人一樣，他們把噪音吉他加進去，但他們特有的Vocal和聲和鏗鏘12弦吉他(譯註3)讓他們不一樣。經過一連串成功的專輯之後，事情就結束了。樂團在1996年解散，Bell最後成為Oasis的貝斯手近十年。

2015年10月，是RIDE極具影響力的第一張全長作品 Nowhere 25週年。對於總是出現在「90年最佳」或是「最有影響力」的清單的 Nowhere，它被Reissue重新發行絕對是再合適不過了。 Bell也是完成這張Reissue專輯的手冊，照片或是內頁包裝的負責人。內含品還包括了一場在倫敦 Town & Country Club 1991年現場演出的DVD，那是一場之前沒有被公開過的錄像而且也是樂團最巔峰時期的演出。去年四月(2015)，宣佈重新活動的RIDE在Coachella(譯註4)演出，一直到該年底，他們有一系列世界巡迴。我們坐下來和Bell討論樂團歷史，瞪鞋場景的醞釀、他聲響表現的進程以及他最愛的噪音製造者的工具。

# 吉他是你的第一個樂器嗎？

我以前有個烏克麗麗，但一直都彈不起來。當我九歲生日時，我決定要一把吉他。後來我得到一把基本的尼龍古典吉他然後開始上吉他課。但我也不是真的有很多熱情，所以很快就覺得很無聊。然後有一次，我叔叔 Pete 給我一些和弦，然後教我一些民謠。儘管如此，我那時候還是沒有想太多。直到有一次，我在廣播中聽到 The Smiths ，那是1983年，我13歲。我非常，非常，非常（很重要所以講三次）喜歡那個樂團的聲音，所以我跑去買了人生第一張卡帶，也是我所能找到他們的一張。這就是一切的開頭，開關就這樣被打開了。我馬上開始嘗試做出 Johnny Marr 的吉他部份。

# Marr 非常不可思議

對於第一次真正要進入學習吉他的人那真的非常難。真的！我那時候就開始嘗試去理解「The Charming Man」。呃，我就用我自己的版本，跟著單音走。但這以足以讓我開始思考：我需要去學更多和弦。這一切都非常自然。我也沒有走向學習古典理論或是去讀五線譜。我到今天，有時候彈E和弦都還會彈錯。我還多上了很多課，但和之前一樣，真的很令人挫折。老師會彈一些東西，然後我再彈一次。但他說：『你彈得很對，但你做的不對，因為你沒有照譜彈，你只靠耳朵去彈。』我心想：『如果我彈的對，為什麼又說我不對呢？』當我看著五線譜，我真的閱讀困難，但我可以用耳朵輕鬆的把他們撿回來。

#你哪時候開始換成彈電吉他？

我過去都是一直邊放唱片然後用古典吉自己跟著彈。然後我父母的朋友給我一把 Hohner 電吉他。他是黑色，有三個拾音器，上面還有好幾個開關就像一把Jazzmaster。我就把它拿來沒有用音箱彈了好一陣子。然後我去了我牛津家附近的一個大拍賣會場，結果發現一個奇怪的真空管（譯註5）音箱。我猜他是自製的，現在回想起來，這可能非常危險。

#你什麼時候才得到你認為是稱得上專業的樂器？那些你看的上眼的

我彈那把送的Hohner一陣子，後來拿到一把不錯的仿335型的Satellite 吉他。我用那把做了Ride早期的東西，然後當我們被簽約時，我就買了兩把 Rickenbacker 12弦吉他：一個 330，一個 360，一把Gretsch Tennessean。全部都是一次在倫敦丹麥街買的。 Mark Gardener[ Ride 另位吉他手主唱 ] 也買了一把 Fender Jaguar 和 Rickenbacker。他買了一把比約翰藍儂小的尺寸，然後我買了比較大的，像是 George Harrison或Roger McGuinn用的。

# 是披頭四，把你帶到12弦吉他嗎對，當然是。披頭四對我影響非常大，但 Johnny Marr也是一樣。我總是喜歡 Harrison的彈奏，Marr 在某部份上也有類似之處： Half Chord，開放空弦彈法，同和弦不同把位，或是一些你不能夠確定是Lead還是節奏的聲線。有時候，他們兩個都是！而且，他們兩個的 Contry 風格 picking 都非常棒。這非常勵志，也讓我學習如何演奏。至於在木吉他部份，我非常愛 Paul Simon。我會彈他的「Scarborough Fair」和「Anji」，他們都非常難。

# 這也相當程度解釋 Ride 的旋律以及 Jangly面向噪音和侵略性是從何而來的？是從那時候我們周遭正在成型或是正在演出的樂團們。我們那時候非常喜歡 The Who 的 My Generation [Youtube]。我也愛 Rolling Stones的 Big Hits(High Tide and Green Grass)[Wiki]，裡面有「19th Nervous Breakdown」[Youtube]的那張。那首歌裡面的貝斯真的超吵而且超棒的。我也喜歡那段直��降的RIFF。我被那些歌吸引。同時，在80年後期，我們所有身邊，空氣中，彷彿那些樂團都在我們面前出現，像是 My Bloody Valentine， Spacemen 3 或是 Loop。他們有一些我們發現非常非常酷的噪音元素。音速青春(Sonic Youth) 1988年的Daydream Nation 對我們影響非常大。我們以前寫的第一首歌是輕柔的，英倫的，用了一些大調和弦就像 The Smiths 或 Felt。但當你回去聽，你可以輕易的分辨出：當時我們都在聽 Sonic Youth，因為我們當時開始使用噪音技術。事情從那時候開始變得自由形式以及藝術。「Seagull」和「Nowhere」就是這樣出現的。 My Bloody Valentine 對貝斯聲響非常大，吉他整體的夢幻感，甚至是鼓或是我們的製作過程。我們沉浸於噪音中。

#在那時候你們沒有任何可能被 Postcard Records簽下來嗎？

在我們第一次練團的時候，我們彈了 Orange Juice的「What Presence」。

（原註：Orange Juice 是英國80年代具有影響力的樂團之一，也是第一個被Postcard廠牌簽下的樂團） Mark，Steve Queralt（Ride的貝斯手）和我成為夥伴，而且後來我們在藝術學校遇到 Loz（Laurence Colbert，鼓手）。當我們在他媽媽家中練團時，我們都還不知道彼此，所以我們必須試圖了解彼此。我們還彈了Stooges的「I Wanna Be Your Dog」，New Order的New Order「Blue Monday」以及 The Smiths 的「How Soon Is Now」。

#聽起來，樂團的DNA在第一次練習之後就完全準備好了

對，但必須澄清，當我說「演那些歌」，我當然是指「嘗試演這些歌」（笑）。後來，我們試出來的曲調就變成其他種了。比方說，「How Soon is Now」演變成了我們的「Drive Blind」。

#The Stooges 似乎對那場景很重要。

Swervedriver 也提到他們。 Swervedriver 的前身是 Shake Appeal（這其實是 The Stooges的一首歌名）而且他們是牛津那時候最大的樂團。每個人都非常敬畏他們。他們真是可怕的混蛋。透過他們，我們知道更多 The Stooges而且被像是「1969」，「No Fun」所吸引。我們也學了「I Wanna Be Your Dog」因為他最簡單。

#它似乎是Punk搖滾裡面的「鋼鐵人」 #你提到的，抽象藝術也影響樂團。樂團比如 Mission of Burma 和 Gang of Four都說過一樣的事。 #怎麼說呢？

我們三人曾經就讀北牛津科技學院和班柏里(Banbury)的藝術學校。我們充滿了視覺，知覺以及解構，所以將這些理論運用到音樂上並非是一個大跳躍。在藝術學校很棒的一件事是有一份精彩的閱讀清單。 John Berger的「觀看的方式」和 Robert Hughes「新世界的震撼」展示了80年代後期最前衛的思維：什麼是藝術以及它和我們有什麼關係。我們都是...非常藝術的人，但諷刺地是，唯一沒有上過藝術學校的人是 Steve。他在一家唱片行上班，也是在我們視覺上影響最大的人。他創建了我們EP和專輯所有的圖像。他在公寓的牆壁上有一堆這些藝術照片，也可以讓我們的有人像圖片（像是 Nastassja Kinski 或 Sophia Loren）傳單放上去。藝術和性感女演員是在那之前我們的老方式。在專輯開始錄製之前，我們已經有了 Nowhere（一張海波浪的圖片）的封套。當我們去錄音時我們把那張圖片帶到錄音室。

# Jericho Tavern(音譯：傑里科酒館)似乎是牛津音樂場景的中心。你們有在那邊演出過嗎？

是啊，很多樂團都是在那邊做第一次演出（包含 Radiohead 或 Supergrass）。他是一家Pub的樓上。我們只有四首歌所以我們必須用一些東西填滿一個Set，所以我們演了一首歌叫：Mind Fuck。他其實後來變成我們的歌「Drive Blind」其中比較大聲的部份，然後用慢一點的節奏。所以我們就用五分鐘做了「Chelsea Girl」，「Mind Fuck」，然後是「I Wanna Be Your Dog」然後「Chelsea Girl」...再一次（笑）。用大音量演出真的非常棒。這本身就非常鼓舞人心的。我們就想著：『就用這個吧，根據音量和噪音去做發想然後善用 P.A。』

#你覺得你和同場景的其他樂團中有親和力嗎？

我們和 Slowdive，Lush，Chapterhouse都是朋友。我也和Blur是非常好的朋友，雖然他們不被認為是「瞪鞋」。事實上，Blur的 Graham Coxon讓我對Les Paul和歪斜音符有更多興趣，這在12弦吉他上是比較困難的。在 1992的 Going Blank Again，裡面有很多用Les Paul 做的歪斜音符。真的，所有的樂團都彼此尊重，沒有一點高傲姿態（原文：macho posturing）。當你還不大的時候，競爭不是那麼多。你不過是同個地下樂團圈的所有的其中一個。我們都彼此互相知道，而且和一些早一點進入樂團圈的成為了朋友，像是 My Bloody Valentine 或 Primal Scream。

#Ride和效果器非常有關係你們很早就開始使用嗎？

我當時就用了，但都非常基本的。我有一個小Boss綜效：Delay，Chorus，Distortion和一個我忘記什麼功能了。不過，最重要的一件事是當我加了一顆哇哇(Wah)踏板時。當我有了那個，他就好像：『啊啊啊啊....歐耶』我每次都用它，用到其他人都說：『Andy...你能不能控制一點...』每一首歌都不能『哇嗚啊哇啊』我還是一直用，但現在比較多用在solo的boost上面了。我已經了解我用它的風格。我知道它的範圍在哪，哪裡是我要的Tone。有時候，我就只是把它打開，然後就放在那邊（譯註6）。

#當你進錄音室錄音的時候你是否對場地所能夠提供的聲音感到興奮，我指的就是現在你所產出的那些屬於自己的聲音美學

我們的第一張EP基本上是從Demo中拼湊出來的，真的。第二張EP則是有些想法然後進錄音室做出來的。我們做了四首歌，然後用完所有素材，所以我們為了整張專輯[Nowhere]做了大量的Jam，但我們並沒有採用因為我們決定把舊的東西丟掉。我們想要在 [Nowhere] 中從零開始。我們花了更多時間在控制室然後掌握更多我們的歌。當我們做EP時，我們和錄音工程師吵架。整件事就是一場大戰。事情有正確與錯誤的方式，但在他腦中我們就是一直在用錯誤的方法。在那時候，我們準備製作[Nowhere]，我們找到了 Marc Waterman。他曾經在EMI demoing 錄音室工作，在那裡我們準備專輯的地方，而且他年紀和我們一樣大。我們知道我們可以和他合作。不僅僅是因為他不會一直說No而且他會說：『哇，超酷的，就做這個』。 Nowhere是他的第一個突破：從錄音工程師轉為製作人。這件事是這樣的：我們把他推上火線所以他有點疲憊，所以 Alan Moulder[Smashing Pumpkins, Nine Inch Nails] 來幫我們混音。他(Alan)則後來當我們下一張專輯 [Going Blank Again.]的製作人。錄音是一個進程，我們花更多時間在錄音控制室，用一些像是 Eventide 的 Ultra-Harmonizer在吉他上，特別是Lead吉他部份。我們用Slave卡式機器，用一些逆向聲響，放慢速度再加速，編輯兩首歌再一起。在 Nowhere中，我們有很多「把錄音室當作個樂器（原文：studio as an instrument）」的概念。雖然 Nowhere比起以往的EP複雜許多，但他的核心還是一個基本的排練側錄(rehearsal cpatured)。

#在演出中重現錄音應該是一個挑戰吧

我們每首歌都有好幾個版本然後演示他們最後再把它做成專輯。但當我們現場演出時，我們回到歌曲的最初版本，就是在製作前的樣子。把現場做的完全和錄音一模一樣不是必要的。我們在錄音室做過「Seagull」[Nowhere的] 好幾個take，然後其中一個變成專輯中的版本，但在現場，它每次都會不一樣。我們唯一一次回去聽整張專輯參考時，已經是很久之後的事：我們重聚時。像是「Cool Your Boots」[收錄在Going Blank Again專輯] 歌中有一些隨機的東西，我們必須回去複習它。現在的巡演中，我們已經能夠使用比較新的技術。在過去，我們永遠聽不到我們在唱什麼或是在做什麼，只能聽到吉他和鼓的轟鳴聲。現在，有了耳內監聽，我們可以聽到所有清澈的聲音。它讓我們演的比以往都還要來的好！

#奇怪的是，在某方面來說效果器盤已經成為比較低的技術，但你們還是在用單顆效果器

對，一開始時我用 Boss DS-1 distortion，Cry Baby 娃娃和機櫃式的Roland GP-16。用它們來做所有聲音。現在我有兩個效果器盤，和一堆單顆(stompboxes)效果器沒有機櫃式的。我現在有顆逆向(backwards)吉他效果器，願望終於成真。 Eventide 的 TimeFactor 讓我可以做像是在彈奏「Seagull」前奏中的聲音，就像當初錄音錄的那樣。

#在這次巡演中，你有用你之前的任何吉他嗎？

有，兩把以前我們簽約時候買的 Rickenbacker 12弦都有。我目前都還在用那把我拿來錄「Seagull」和「Vapour Trail」[也是來自專輯Nowhere]的吉他。

#作為一個吉他手，有任何你想研究但還沒做的嗎？

我現在正在我吉他旁邊弄一個非常大的合成器 modular。紐約的 Snazzy FX 已經幫我做一些東西讓我可以接上吉他然後當作 CV 控制器。了解 module 很有趣。Make Noise的Phonogene是我的最愛之一。這好像就是為我設計的，我非常興奮。我將會用它來錄音然後釋出新的音樂。

#ANDY BELL’S GEAR

##Guitars

2—1967 Gibson Trini Lopez models with Bigsby vibratos

Rickenbacker 360/12

Rickenbacker 330/12

1967 Gibson Hummingbird

1966 Fender Jazzmaster

## Amps

Marshall 2061X 20-watt head

vintage Marshall 1960A slant front 4x12 cab

##Effects

Boss TU-3 Tuner

Dunlop BG95 Buddy Guy Cry Baby wah

Ibanez CP9 Compressor/Limiter (always on)

Origin Effects Cali76 Compact Deluxe compressor

MXR Micro Amp (usually on)

Boss DD-3 Digital Delay

Electro-Harmonix Holy Grail Nano reverb (on “Hall” setting)

Strymon Mobius modulation pedal

Eventide TimeFactor Delay

Gollmer ’60s Trem

Ibanez TS9 Tube Screamer

Fulltone Octafuzz

Eventide Space reverb

##Strings and Picks

Various brands of .010 sets

Jim Dunlop .73 mm

**譯註: **

1.原文使用dubbed，帶有中古歐洲文化，以劍輕觸肩膀策封騎士等意義。

2.延伸閱讀：巴西瞪鞋廠牌 The Blog That Celebrates Itself (TBTCI) 源自此，仍致力於推廣瞪鞋音樂。

3.原文使用：Jangly

4.Coachella：每年在美國加州的音樂祭，為世界知名大型音樂節。

5.原文使用 Valve

6.Wah 踏板效果器透過踏板改變吉他Tone，搖滾常見手法是透過快速踩動獲得Wah聲，但若開著不動，則可以改變吉他Tone聲。

#RIDE #Nowhere #GoingBlankAgain #BandInterview #瞪鞋 #英搖 #樂團訪談 #噪音 #台北瞪鞋客 #WeatherDiaries #天氣日記

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