#firth element

[wisdomfish]

Ethics, although contains an element of human creativity and inventiveness, is even more clearly a discovery, something which is not of our own making.

Louis P. Pojman

[modernmanblues]

Colin Firth on Lynn Hirschberg’s Screen Tests for W magazine

[daincrediblegg]

I don't know if I care much about all other aspects of the netflix p&p remake because it definitely can't hold a candle to 2005 (nothing can) but at least we know for a certain fact that Jack Lowden is absolutely neurotic enough to play darcy and is perfectly cast, and at least there they cannot fuck it up

[tyrantisterror]

Wife Goals: The Princess, aka The Shifting Mound, aka Shifty

Alright, fuckers, we're finally at the end. After covering Karlach Cliffgate last time, there's one last fictional woman I'm going to profess my parasocial love for in this cringe display of emotional honesty. And our last lady here is, I think, the perfect one to end on.

Slay the Princess is, in my personal opinion as an eternally lonely deranged freak on the internet, the best love story ever told. And I love a lot of love stories! I know I don't talk about it very much, on account of me being a lonely deranged freak who's deeply ashamed of their own loneliness and all, but I do, I really do! I love Pride and Prejudice (the book and the Colin Firth miniseries specifically, not too fond of the Kiera Knightley version), I love Much Ado About Nothing, I love The Princess Bride and When Harry Met Sally and so so SO many Chivalric ballads and, like, I just love love stories man!

But they're all shit - ALL OF THEM, EVERY ONE, it's shit! - compared to Slay the Princess.

To talk about the titular Princess, I'm going to have to spoil, like... a LOT of this game, and while I usually don't give much of a shit about spoilers, I will admit that figuring out exactly what sort of weird supernatural nonsense is going on in this game's story is extremely fun, and since I imagine many of you haven't played it yet but REALLY SHOULD, I don't want to rob you of the opportunity to find it out for yourself. So I'm going to give a more or less spoiler-free pitch to begin with (in that what I'm going to describe is literally the setup of the whole game), and then give you copious warnings before I get into the guts of this whole ordeal, ok? Ok!

Our story begins with you, yes You, the player, walking on a path in the woods. At the end of the path is a cabin, and in the basement of the cabin is a Princess. You are told by a very much diegetic disembodied voice you call the Narrator that your job is to slay this princess. If you don't do this, the Narrator tells you, the Princess will end the world.

Ok, so, you probably have some questions. You're given a smorgasbord of ones to ask - who locked the Princess in the cabin, why and how will she end the world, why do YOU have to kill her, why can't we just leave her in the cabin, where are we anyway, how did we get here? To which the Narrator essentially says, "Don't worry about it, focus on the very simple and clear-cut task at hand, stop asking so many reasonable questions!" in the most condescending way possible.

Eventually a second voice manifests, called The Voice of the Hero by the game's interface, and asks you a question: "We're not going to go through with this, right? We're supposed to save princesses, not slay them." And, really, that's the first big question this game is forcing you to answer: are you going to hate and kill someone just because someone told you to, or are you going to try and give that woman in the basement the benefit of the doubt at the risk of ending the world?

This setup is more or less the story - there is You, the Narrator, and the Princess. Those are our three characters. You have a cabin in the woods. You have a task you're assigned to do: slay the princess. Everything that follows is about fleshing out these elements in as many different ways as possible, and you, the player, choose how you explore those elements. There are a lot of questions you'll want answers for, and a lot of questions the game will ask of you in turn. That's it, that's the pitch, and if you're like me, you should be quite intrigued.

Ok, so... to actually talk about the Princess I'm gonna have to, like, go through a whole playthrough with you guys. See, her characterization is so thoroughly tied with the story itself - the game is quite literally about exploring who and what she is, as well as who and what You are in relation to her, so it's hard to talk about her without also talking about the choices You, the player, make.

You get to the cabin. Inside there is a dagger, the Pristine Blade, which the Narrator tells you to pick up and use to kill the Princess. This is your first big choice - if you believe the narrator might be telling the truth, even just a little, you'll take the blade. But if you decide to truly give the Princess the benefit of the doubt, to believe she is a person who is entitled to be understood on her own terms, you'll leave that blade on the table to the Narrator's incredibly pissy protestations.

And, like, personally speaking, I never fucking touch that blade in my first run. When someone tells me to hate someone I don't know and refuses to give a reason beyond vague "Well she's Bad and Evil" bullshit, my gut instinct is that they are full of shit. This is a woman locked in a basement and a pushy asshole is telling me to hurt her, I know who the villain and victim is in that scenario and it's not the woman in the basement.

So You/I/The Player goes down into the basement without the Pristine Blade, and out comes a sweet, pitiful voice of a woman who has been trapped in a basement and is hoping for an escape. You go down and see she's just, like, a woman. A pretty woman, even - ok, maybe a kind of disconcertingly pretty woman, with eyes that are a bit too large and a button nose that's a bit too cute and a dress that's, like, the twee picture of what you'd expect a fairy tale princess to wear, but she's still, like, just a lady! She begs you to rescue her, but you've still got all these questions about the situation, and she's the ONLY character you've met so far who you haven't asked them to yet.

And while the Princess tries to answer as best she can, there are certain questions she struggles to come up with an answer to. Basic questions. You ask her what her name is, and she tries to dodge, "You can call me Your Royal Highness or just Princess if you like!" Continue to ask she'll admit she doesn't know her name, offering the explanation that she's been down here so long with no one to talk to that she must have just... forgotten it?

Which brings up more questions - how has she survived down here without anyone else? What does she eat? How long has she been down here, really? And she has no answers to them. You don't know if it's because she just doesn't know or if she's lying to you - and if she's lying to you, you don't know why, because yeah, it COULD be that she truly is a monster that will end the world, or it COULD be that she's a woman who's been trapped in a basement and approached by a stranger who, rather than free her immediately, decided to grill her with questions about her nature and purpose, and she's worried if she answers wrong you'll leave her or, worse, kill her. Because, really, can she trust you in this scenario any more than you can trust her? You're the one who was sent here on a mission of assassination, remember.

If you're me, you decide that the benefit of your doubt still lies with this woman. So you try to free her from the shackle holding her down here. It won't budge, so you go upstairs to look for a key - or at least, you try to, until the door slams and locks, leaving you trapped in the basement with her. The Princess, realizing you're now trapped, decides to do something desperate, and begins gnawing on her own wrist like a fox in a trap.

You hear a clatter on the stairs. The Pristine Blade has fallen downstairs, somehow. The narrator urges you to slay the princess with it. But if you're me, you STILL side with her, especially with how the narrator has gloated about how you've been trapped down here for Not Doing What You're Told. The Princess offers her wrist to you, and you help her, uh... cut her hand off... so she can be free.

It's a lot grislier than you hope, but you did it. You freed this woman. The Narrator is pissed, and demands that you kill her while her back is turned. Suddenly the only options in your user interface are "Slay the Princess" repeated over and over - well, almost, for nestled within the HUGE list of "Slay the Princess" prompts is one that says "Warn her." If you're me, you pick that one. The Princess sees you struggling against an unseen force that's making you try to kill her. The Narrator forces you to try again, with the same dirty trick - but once again there's a hidden option: Resist. The Princess realizes that you're struggling as best as you can, but you won't resist forever. As you hold the blade out in your hand, struggling not to stab her with it, she takes it, looks at you apologetically, and stabs the shit out of you instead.

Everything goes dark, and you die...

...then you're on a path in the woods again, and at the end of that path is a cabin, again, and in the basement of that cabin is a Princess, again, who the narrator tells you to slay, again.

BIG SPOILERS FROM HERE ON OUT, YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

You go back to the cabin and it's... different. The exterior looks the same, but the interior is nicer, more fairy-tale esque. And you've gained a new Voice as well - in addition to the Voice of the Hero, you've now got the Voice of the Smitten, who sounds and acts like a fairy tale Knight in Shining Armor who is oh-so, well, smitten with his darling, perfect, did-nothing wrong princess. You go down a cozy, pleasant set of Fairy-Tale style winding stairs into a dark but nicer basement than before, and waiting for you is... well, it's the Princess, but she's changed. Like, physically - she's cuter, her dress is fancier, her build is, uh, bustier, her voice is more high-pitched and giggly, and she regards you with utter affection, because you're her smitten knight in shining armor.

She is, as the chapter title that showed up right before you found yourself back on that path in the woods, The Damsel in distress.

She regards you as a savior, and in gratitude wants to repay you. You ask her about what happened after you died, and she responds blithely with what you already know: you died, then you came back. You ask her whether she destroyed the world, and she asks what you want her to have done. If you say you didn't want her to destroy the world, then she didn't destroy the world! : ) When you ask how you can free her without, you know, getting stabbed to death, the Voice of the Smitten argues that her dainty wrist will just slip out of that shackle easily, which it does. The Narrator tries to lock you down again, but the Smitten says you merely need to believe in the power of your love, and sure enough it opens, to the Princess's delight.

And it's all just too saccharine, isn't it? To easy, to inauthentic. It's even a bit distressing, actually, because the Princess you met before had a personality and will of her own, and the self-preservation instincts to question your intentions. This Princess, this Damsel, is acting completely dependent upon you - she's giving up her agency.

But maybe that's the solution? You consider if you could just stay in the cabin - that way the Princess won't "destroy the world," but you won't have to Slay the Princess. The Smitten agrees, but the Narrator doesn't - and neither does the Princess. If you try to explain why it works, she looks at you with fear for the first time and says the obvious - nice as you are, she doesn't know you, and asking her to stay with you forever and never see the world is fucked up, isn't it? Why can't she get to see the world?

The Voice of the Smitten freaks out at the idea that his love isn't enough to convince her to completely give up her agency, and that's really what this change has been for her, isn't it? She's given up her agency so You can become a Knight in Shining Armor rescuing a defenseless damsel. And as the new voice of your Chivalric Romance Fantasies flips the fuck out and tears your chest open to reveal your heart, you and the Princess both realize how twisted this seemingly pleasant fantasy is. Everything goes dark, and you die...

...and find yourself inside a castle. Not really a cabin, anymore, but a castle. No path in the woods, you've skipped that this time, just a beautiful castle with a new voice in your head to replace the Smitten, who's grown... oddly quiet. You go up the stairs this time, not to a basement but to a lavish dining room, where the Princess, now in an even FANCIER and more poofy fairy tale gown, sits at the far end of a long table. The Pristine Blade hangs on a chain over her neck, its sharp end pointing directly over her heart, and an ominous, bird-like shadow hovers above her, its talons over her shoulders.

You, your voices, the Narrator, and the Princess are forced to act out a Happily Ever After. You share a delicious feast, and when you're done you eat it again, and again, and again, until what once tasted delicious begins to feel like sand on your tongue. You play board games, again and again, until you grow utterly bored with them. You realize with mounting horror that this "paradise" is never-ending, a fact that breaks the Narrator more than anyone else - for some reason, seeing this never-ending Happily Ever After really destroys his morale. The Princess is clearly unhappy too, but feels too defeated to offer any resistance. She probably wouldn't even resist if you just reached over and shoved that knife into her heart...

But if you're me, you don't. Instead you make the choice you were trying to make since the beginning: you take her hand, and offer to get her out of here. The Narrator doesn't even complain this time - he's seen that there are fates worse than the end of the world.

The Princess stops you at the door and asks whether you still think you love her after you endured all of this on her account. You can in turn ask her what she really wants, and she explains that all she wants is to escape this cabin and dance under the stars. So you take her out, and she dances, free thanks to you...

And the stars go out. The world fades away. The Princess grows cold and still, and dozens of disembodied hands emerge from the void to pull her into it. The world, as you know it, is at an end. All there is left is you, a void, and a mirror.

You look in the mirror and see yourself - something that is very much NOT human, a bird-like figure with feathers and talon-like hands. Eventually you see a large mound in the void, and atop it is the Princess, her lifeless body held aloft and puppeteered by dozens of disembodied hands. Her corps speaks with a voice that both is and is not her own, and speaks of herself as a clearly inhuman entity - "an ocean that has been reduced to a small pond." She tells you how the Princess you knew, this Vessel, is but a fraction of her - perhaps, you might think, the way your own Voices are a fraction of you. After all, she says that she believes You are something akin to her, and notes that she feels drawn to you. If you bring her more vessels - different vessels, specifically, different fractions of her - she can become more whole, and perhaps the two of you can figure out what you are and what has been done to you.

That's right, fuckers, getting that girl out of the cabin was just STEP ONE in this whole ordeal.

You ask about the Princess - is she dead? The shifting mound gives her a eulogy of sorts, highlighting how this vessel was shaped by your choices, and tells you not to mourn her, because her experiences will live on in the mound and give her a warm and loving heart. Then she sends you back - back to the path, back to the cabin, back to make different choices and create a different princess.

That is the meat of the game - not just discovering the answer to all those reasonable questions the initial scenario gives you, but to shape the Princess and be shaped by her in turn. Your shifting perceptions of her reveal new facets of her personality and nature - different personas she undertakes that are made literal as a result of her actions. And in turn you gain new facets of yourself, new voices for impulses and beliefs you hold.

Let's say you decide to take the Pristine Blade down with you this time. The Princess's demeanor is immediately different - she regards you with more obvious suspicion, knowing that the knife in your hand means nothing good for her. You dilly dally, you splutter, and maybe you wait too long to make a choice, only to decide at the last minute, what the hell, let's try to slay her and see what happens.

And she kicks your ass so utterly that you never get a single strike in. As she stands over your broken, dying body, you can't help but think about how POWERFUL she is. Everything goes dark, and you die...

...Then you're on a path in the woods, and at the end of that path is a Princess who is immediately far more powerful than the one you met before. She's a giantess, her voice booms, and you barely come up to her knee. When the narrator talks she hears him for the first time, and forces him to first shut up, then to narrate the story she wants to tell. Your new voice, the Broken, demands you bow to your new goddess, but you find some strength to resist, and so she makes you kill yourself.

Dark, die, path, woods, cabin - you're back, but before you reach the cabin the ground quakes, and the Princess emerges, mountainous and godly in power, slaying the narrator outright and offering you a chance to be remade as her henchman. If you're me, you agree, you fucking simp, and watch as she tears open reality to find something beyond - beyond the cabin, beyond the woods, beyond the void, something strange and colorful and NEW. She reaches out to it, only to grow cold - disembodied hands emerge from the disappearing earth and begin to pull her down. Realizing her godlike power has limits, the Princess-turned-Goddess looks at you and apologizes for treating you unkindly when you "Are the only one who treated [her] with grace," and tries to let you, at least, escape into that great beyond - but unfortunately, neither of you make it.

Back to the mound. The pond becomes a lake, the mound apologizes for your strife and asks for another vessel. You return to the path in the woods.

You try slaying her again, still giving her warning, and the fight's more even - the two of you both get lethal blows. So you die, and return to the cabin, and now the Princess that waits for you is more aggressive, more boisterous, and explicitly monstrous, with horns on her head and a dragon's tail. You fight her, trying to use speed to your advantage against the advice of your newfound fightboi voice, and get killed for your trouble. Dark, woods, path, cabin, the Princess is bigger and more monstrous and draconic still, obsessed with fighting you again and again because conflict with you is what makes her feel ALIVE. You lure her out of the cabin, and the mound claims her.

Another vessel, please.

You go back, blade in hand, and you don't talk this time. You just go up and stab her to death before she can raise a hand. As you go back to the cabin, deed finally done, the Narrator congratulates you and informs you that your reward is, uh... being in this cabin. Forever. The world outside is still around, you just can't go back to it now. When you look out the door, the woods are gone, and there's a now-very familiar void. The Narrator insists this is a good thing, and you have no way out of it anyway.

Well, that's not true... there's a knife downstairs, after all.

Dark, woods, path, cabin. You find the princess's corpse in the basement this time, but that's not all - slowly an ethereal being rises from the floor. A ghost in a familiar dress with a familiar scar over her heart where you thrust the knife in. The Princess, now a specter, demands you help her escape - her old body is useless now, but yours is still intact, if you just give her a ride, and hey, you kind of owe her for killing her in the first place.

So you let her in, and she looks around the inside of your mind. There's all these shards of glass - your voices - and for the second time she's able to hear the narrator, though the specter is amiable enough to actually let him talk rather than trying to shut him up (though she still presses him to explain why he hates her so much and why he's sure she'll destroy the world when she has no desire to do so). You walk out of the cabin, and the mound claims her.

One more vessel, please.

You try to play hero again - you forsake the blade, you set her free, but because the Mound specified you must make NEW choices, you can't resist this time when the Narrator hijacks your choices. So you stab the Princess when her back is turned, and she fumes at your betrayal. Stab, dark, die...

Woods, path, cabin. You enter a basement that is more like a gnarled cave full of thorny vines, and find less a princess and more of a, well, Witch. She makes little effort to hide the fact that she resents your betrayal from last time, but you still want to play hero, dammit, so you apologize and offer the pristine blade to her as a sign of trust. She asks why on earth you'd do something so stupid, and if you're a simp like me, you tell her that it's because she's beautiful and you love her, because at this point you kind of do. She betrays you, of course, stabbing you as an eye for an eye, only to reel in horror as she realizes she has become everything she hates about you.

Dark, die, woods, path, cabin. The cabin is in ruins now, the basement is a tangle of thorny vines, and wrapped up inside them is the Princess, her body trapped not by a shackle but by the very thorns that prick and cut you as you enter. Her prison is also her best defense against you. She explains she has no idea what you want, or what she wants. You hurt her, she hurt you, why? What's the point of this? What do either of you want out of this relationship?

If you're me, you simp, you tell her that you just want out of this situation, and you want her out of it too, and that both of you deserve better, and that the only way either of you will get it is by working together. She lets you take the blade and cut her free, and, with the help of the voice of the Smitten, you finally, finally give this woman a kiss as a sign of your love - one that, to your GREAT satisfaction, the Narrator is forced to describe in exquisite detail.

She's claimed by the mound again, but for one moment, one beautiful moment, you two got to really figure out what this relationship you have is, to forgive each other for how you've hurt one another, to share some love and kindness, to define yourselves outside of this situation. And you kissed!

You return to the void, you meet the Mound, and both of you start to become what you really are: her, a goddess of death and change, you, a god of life and stability. The Shifting Mound demands that you embrace godhood, bringing out the vessels you've met to try and convince you to join her. But maybe that's not what you want - after all, you'd still be defined as something other than what you were, what you wanted to be.

The Voice of the Hero reaffirms that desire, and helps you find a more... well, human probably isn't the right word, but a more mortal core of Shifty, the Princess at the heart of the God.

You meet her in the basement of the cabin, and the two of you re-litigate the conversation you had with her previous incarnation. You don't want to hurt each other, you don't want to become gods. You just want to leave this all behind, but can you? What is there outside of this cabin - you've never managed to find it. If the two of you leave now, you won't be doing so as gods, and you won't know what lies beyond that door.

But you'll face it together. And after what you've faced together so far, what could really frighten you?

...

Slay the Princess is a game about the Mortifying Ordeal of Being Known and the Hedgehog's Dilemma and, like, the inescapable fact that to have relationships with other people you will be hurt and you will hurt them in turn. That's the inescapable price of being known - your vulnerabilities will be exposed and wounded, as will those of the people you wish to know, and the care that you feel for them will come with pain. They will misunderstand you, you will misunderstand them, and at times you will make monsters of each other.

Like, even in the Damsel route, the one where you most explicitly try not to harm her, you still hurt her by thinking of her not as a person with autonomy, but as a victim to be rescued - a damsel, an ideal that you place on a pedestal but fail to view as an independent person who exists for reasons beyond your own desire to play hero. No matter what your intentions are, you will hurt her, and no matter how she tries to avoid it, she has to hurt you to survive.

But it's worth it, it is so worth it, because when you work through that pain, those misunderstandings, and truly, truly know someone and let them know you in turn, they can help you through the worst ordeals of your life. And that's what you and the Princess can do if you play your cards right.

The Princess changes in reaction to how you treat her, and you change in turn as a reaction to her choices. But the way you two change, while influenced by each other, also reveals truths about you. You are, in the end, two people who were put in an extremely fucked situation against your will, and both of you just want to live your lives. By the end of the game, you're the only people who could possibly understand each other. You've hurt each other countless times, but you've also been the only ones to comfort each other through this ordeal. You can, if you want, commit to keep striving to be better, for yourselves AND for each other, and that is what your romance with her truly is.

There are SO many other choices you can make in this game than the ones I've outlined - like, to illustrate: I've described The Damsel, The Happily Ever After, The Tower, the Apotheosis, The Adversary, The Eye of the Needle, The Ghost, The Witch, and The Thorn, but there's also:

The Nightmare, The Moment of Clarity, The Prisoner, The Cage, the Drowned Grey and the Burned Grey, The Razor, The Wraith, The Beast, The Den, The Wild, and The Princess and the Dragon.

And each of these individual princesses, including the ones I described for you, has MANY different ways to take their routes - like, if you keep asking The Damsel questions about herself, her artwork will get more crude and simplistic until she dies of becoming literally two-dimensional in a moment that's both horrifying and hilarious. There are so many sides of this woman for you to uncovers, so many facets of her personality and relationship with you to explore.

And there are, of course, other endings to the tale. You can embrace godhood, or you can kill her forever and accept the eternal stagnation the Narrator offered you. You can, if you want, make this into a very tragic story.

But, to me, this is and always will be a love story. The love story, even, the best love story ever told. There are few women in fiction I feel I know as well and as thoroughly as the Princess, and I do love her in my own, sad, parasocial way. One of my favorite stock phrases in a love story is "You are worth Hell," and dammit, never has that been more true than it is with her. She's worth Hell.

...shame she's not real, though. Ah well, time to find something else to fill the void inside me with for a time.

[weclassybouquetfun]

Netflix is so funny. The streamer goes radio silence on their projects for years ::cough:: THE OLD GUARD sequel ::cough::, then turn around and say, "By the way: this and that drops tomorrow."

Or tonight in the case of the new SING short. Did you know there was going to be a SING short? Neither did I. But today Netflix announced that tonight at midnight, the Halloween themed SING short will debut.

SING THRILLER.

What is is about? Well, just that. The gang decides to stage their version of Michael Jackson's music video "Thriiller"

Returning for the short is Matthew McConaughey as Buster Moon, Tori Kelly as Meena, Nick Kroll as Gunter, Scarlette Johannsson as Ash, Garth Jennings as Miss Crawly and Taron Egerton as Johnny.

To prove the global reach of "Thriller" Taika Watiti did a Haka inspired bent at the end of his film BOY.

Taron Egerton's not coming off of his IG hiatus for this, but perhaps he will in December when his Netflix thriller CARRY ON is finally released (on December 13th, to be exact.).

Maybe by December 13th they will release a better poster.

Entertainment Weekly exclusive pictures from the upcoming film (and other KINGSMAN alums goings-on).

Since Edward Holcroft has provided Taron's fans with a few glimpses of Taron since his self-imposed social media hiatus,

I'll give Ed equal time.

Holcroft's Lithuanian limited series A WOLF'S PALATE (which, to date is Lithuania's most expensive sereis) is one of the five series selected to screen at TV Beats Forum's inaugural screening day on November 20th.  The six-parter, A WOLF's PALATE is described as a psychological drama with supernatural elements.

While I await Ed's return to the screen, I just have to be satisfied with his selfies.

Our other KINGSMAN alum, Colin Firth has been absent from screens for a moment, but he will soon be back with the Sky/Peacock five-part limted series, LOCKERBIE: A SEARCH FOR TRUTH.

LOCKERBIE: A SEARCH FOR TRUTH tells the real-life story of Dr. Jim Swire whose daughter was among the 259 people who lost their lives in the 1988 bombing of a PamAm flight over Lockerbie, Scotland (with an additional eleven who died on the ground due to the disintergrating plane). It will drop January 2nd in the UK and the US.

Like Mark Strong, Firth will set foot in the Sherlock Holmes universe. He has been cast in Guy Ritchie's upcoming YOUNG SHERLOCK series for Amazon Prime Video starring Heros Fiennes-Tiffins as the young detective, Fiennes-Tiffin's uncle Joseph Fiennes as his father Silas,

Natascha McElhone as his mother Cordelia, Max Irons as Mycroft Holmes, Tsine Tseng (3 BODY PROBLEM) as Princess Gulun Shou'an, Dónal Finn (WHEEL OF TIME) as Moriarty and Firth as  Sir Bucephalus Hodge (no further character details have been announced).

And while not confirmed, there was a report that Colin Firth will be joining his ARTHUR NEWMAN and MARY POPPINS RETURNS costar Emily Blunt in Steven Spielberg's next film that is slated for a 2026 release.

[scotianostra]

21st September 1745 saw The Battle of Prestonpans.

The Battle of Prestonpans was the first significant conflict in the Jacobite Rising commonly known as the ‘45.

The subject of my earlier post, Walter Scott made the Battle of Prestonpans the centrepiece of his first novel Waverley, and another Edinburgh literary giant, Robert Louis Stevenson looks back on its importance in Kidnapped. The national bard Robert Burns also wrote about it and has connections with the area, his brother worked in Prestonpans and he is remembered around the town to this day.

The battle later reached the big screen with David Niven’s Bonnie Prince Charlie in 1948, and more recently Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander novels and TV series have brought the Battle of Prestonpans to audiences all around the world.

The victory became a symbol of Scottish resistance to British government rule, and of the negligence of Hanoverian military commanders.

Thanks to local knowledge and a thick haar that drifted in from the Firth of Forth, the Jacobite army filed along a narrow path during the wee small hours giving them the element of surprise over the redcoat army and General “Johnny Cope”

At 6am around 2,000 men drawn to the cause of Prince Charles Edward Stuart clashed with a larger force of some 3,000 government troops under the command of Sir John Cope close to the Firth of Forth in East Lothian.

Cope’s men, originally facing South, were forced to rapidly wheel around to face the Jacobites, who charged unexpectedly from the East.

British dragoon regiments, stationed on either flank of Cope’s infantry, abandoned their posts soon after fighting began, leaving the foot soldiers dangerously exposed.

Surrounded on three sides, the remaining Hanoverian force was swept aside in a little over ten minutes.

Hundreds of government troops were killed or wounded, and a further 1,500 taken prisoner by the Prince’s men, Jacobite casualties were light.

But while the rout took just a few minutes, Jacobite commanders had been far less confident about victory in the days leading up to it. There had been a few skirmishes, including at High Bridge in Lochaber in August, but this was the first large-scale confrontation with a sizeable Hanoverian force.

The Hanoverians were professional soldiers, infantry and dragoons, the forces at Cope's disposal were - or should have been - competent.

In contrast, contemporary accounts emphasise the role of poor Highlanders, who marched south with Prince Charles, in the Jacobite force. If the Jacobites had lost it would have been game over, especially since there was much dissension among the senior Jacobite commanders in the hours before the battle.

Several accounts of the battle emphasise how spooked Cope’s men were by the Highlanders, as well as their struggle to deploy heavy cannon and cavalry that should have given them an advantage. Cope is said to have been so frustrated by his artillery units that he dismissed them and sent word to Edinburgh for replacements. They did not arrive in time.

Despite being cleared of any negligence at a court martial in 1746, Sir John Cope’s reputation as a military commander was destroyed by Prestonpans, and never recovered.

Immortalised in Adam Skirving’s famous Scots song “Hey, Johnnie Cope, Are Ye Waking Yet?, Cope was characterised in contemporary accounts as a coward and a buffoon.

Fye now Johnnie, get up and run,

The Highland bagpipes mak a din,

It's better tae sleep in a hale skin.

For 'twill be a bloody morning.

When Johnnie Cope tae Dunbar came,

They spiered at him, 'where's a' your men?'

'The Deil confound me gin I ken,

For I left them a this morning.'

Skirving's song did much of the damage, but Burns also published a version and there wasn't much of a counter-narrative in his favour.

The site of Cope’s defeat - and the Jacobite’s surprise victory - has been listed in the Scottish Government’s national inventory of significant battle sites when that was established in 2009, and re-enactments of the fighting regularly take place.

A cairn in memory of the battle was erected in 1953 and others have been added throughout the years. A visitor centre is planned.

The illustration is from the hand of the late Andrew Hillhouse depicting the night march. https://www.andrewhillhouseprints.co.uk/gallery_660173.html

[wonder-worker]

Despite her indisputable agency and successes as ruler of the Mercians, the title of ‘queen’ eluded Æthelflæd. [...] Her feats were adjudged by Irish, Welsh, and Anglo-Norman chroniclers as worthy of the title, but in contemporary West Saxon and Mercian sources Æthelflæd is known as the ‘Lady of the Mercians’. This title was not an indictment of her merits, but rather a reflection of Mercia’s relative status within the context of West Saxon hegemonic expansion. […] To all intents and purposes, every indication within contemporary West Saxon and Mercian sources is that Æthelflæd was not viewed as a queen, that her subordination to her brother [Edward the Elder of Wessex] was well known, despite her having garnered immense authority as the Lady of the Mercians.

— Matthew Firth, Early English Queenship, 850-1000: Potestas Reginae

Æthelflæd's role as co-ruler in the tenth century [...] takes on an element of pragmatism. There was no male heir to the rulership of Mercia, and presumably no prospect of this given either Æthelflæd's abstinence or Æthelred's illness. In turn, their daughter Ælfwynn would only have been around 12 years old at the turn of the tenth century, thus representing no reasonable alternative to her father’s rule. For Edward, annexation of Mercia was not a resolution to this problem, especially with Aethelred still alive, no matter his physical condition. This would have risked rebellion in Mercia and conflict between the two kingdoms, which would have rendered both vulnerable and jeopardised the gains that had been made against the Danes in preceding decades. For Æthelred and Edward, Æthelflæd's promotion to co-ruler served a useful political artifice. It maintained the status quo, giving the semblance of Æthelred's continued involvement in governance, even if those powers in practice devolved to Æthelflæd. This then avoided any potential power vacuum developing during Æthelred's convalescence, it placed an individual with personal loyalty to both rulers at the head of Mercian government, and it ensured a succession tolerable to both Edward and the Mercian elites in the case of Æthelred's death. In short, Æthelflæd's rise to power preserved political stability. It remains, however, that in all extant diplomatic evidence for the couple’s rule prior to 911, this was formalised as co-rule and a tradition of this, as codified in Æthelred and Æthelflæd's charters, entered subsequent cultural memory.

Although Æthelflæd was well positioned to take over governance of Mercia upon Æthelred's death, this did not mean that the Mercian ruler’s passing went unnoticed in Wessex. Æthelred's death represented a shift in the West Saxon–Mercian political dynamic, and Edward was poised to take advantage. According to the Chronicle, he immediately moved on Mercia’s southern borders, seizing London and Oxford and their surrounding lands. Yet there is no indication that this was an act of aggression directed at Æthelflæd herself, and it may be that this annexation represented some agreement between the siblings. The Register characterises Æthelflæd's period of sole rule as one of great activity, defined by remarkable outward-facing political and military agency. Æthelflæd goes on to build further burhs in the north and east of Mercia, annex key Danelaw burhs, and even arrange an incursion into Wales. However, she is never shown to be active in Mercia’s south. The implication is that the West Saxon–Mercian hinterland was stable, and sovereignty settled, so long as the siblings ruled over the two kingdoms. This allowed both Edward and Æthelflæd to turn their attentions to the project of extending their hegemony into those territories that had been claimed by the Heathen Army at the end of the ninth century.

[...] For all her independence in ruling Mercia, any doubt that Æthelflæd was, at least on a performative level, subject to her brother’s authority, should be put aside on review of the numismatic evidence. No coins were issued in either Aethelred or Æthelflæd's name. Those Mercian coin designs likely to derive from their reigns are remarkable for their distinctiveness – a symbolism undoubtedly imbued with meaning for a Mercian audience – but they bear the inscription Eaduueard rex: King Edward.

[...] However, whatever political or cultural considerations lay behind the Register’s decision to characterise Æthelflæd as Lady of the Mercians, rather than as their queen, was clearly absent from external sources. The histories and chronicles of societies separated from tenth-century England by time or place (or both) demonstrate no such reservations. While few sources purport to record the perspectives of Scandinavian settlers to Mercia’s east, no less their experiences of the Lady of the Mercians, Welsh and Irish sources provide valuable insights. In reporting her death in its entry for 918, Annales Cambriae names her Queen Æthelflæd (Edelflet regina), as does Brut y Tywysogion (Edelffleda vrenhines). This prominence is yet more pronounced in the Irish annals. In noting her passing, the Annals of Ulster declare her to have been famosissima regina Saxonum (the most famous queen of the Saxons). The claim that she was queen of the Saxons, rather than just Mercia, is also reflected in Brut y Tywysogion, as well as in Fragmentary Annals. In this latter, of course, she features more prominently than the simple recording of her death in the other Welsh and Irish chronicles. Fragmentary Annals names her as queen around eight times, identifying her as ‘Queen of the Saxons’ (rioghan Saxan) to Aethelred's ‘King of the Saxons’ (righ Saxan). All four texts are, as noted, later compositions or collations, and thus not necessarily contemporary to Æthelflæd's queenship. Nonetheless, they give some insight into the cultural memory of Æthelflæd's rule in Mercia and the perceptions of it held by her western neighbours.

It may also be that Æthelflæd's legacy simply grew in the telling. And here we come full circle to Henry of Huntingdon’s panegyric. William of Malmesbury does not accord Æthelflæd the title of queen, nor does John of Worcester. Geffrei Gaimar introduces Aethelred as king of the Mercians and later asserts that Æthelflæd was the rightful heir to his kingdom, but she herself is never named queen. Henry is, in contrast, refreshingly direct. While his prose closely follows the Register, and so titles Æthelflæd Lady of the Mercians, his verse is unambiguous. Æthelflæd was regina potens rexque trophea parans (a mighty queen and a victory-winning king). There is, of course, no evidence for Æthelflæd's ceremonial endowment as queen, quite the opposite in fact. But, to borrow from Stafford again, medieval authors ‘knew a queen when they saw one’, and in Æthelflæd, Henry of Huntingdon clearly saw a queen in action. So too did Welsh and Irish chroniclers who compiled their various annals around the same time as Henry. Perhaps then, the ideals of queenship had shifted into the twelfth century and beyond, and so Æthelflæd was more readily recognisable as a queen by later historians. More likely, however, is that the political impetus that saw her modelled as the ‘Lady of the Mercians’ had died alongside the West Saxon dynasty in 1066.

[...] Æthelflæd's political trajectory was remarkable among pre-Norman royal women. She ruled Mercia as its queen in practice, if not in name, for seven years, exercising singular military and political agency. She achieved political stability within her realm, secured its defensive capabilities, reconquered lost territories, and expanded Mercian hegemony to the north, east, and west. There is little wonder that the Lady of the Mercians stood out to later generations of historians, that she attracted their admiration and praise, and that they claimed for her the title that she had been denied in her own lifetime: queen.

[stedefxckingbonnet]

So this is gonna be entirely too much info but like. I've fallen into reading your reader x Izzy fics and I LOVE them! I've been going through a hard time with it getting to Christmas and having no family, and the Izzy fics just make me feel lighter. So mostly just thank you thank you thank you!

Now the cheeky bit - is there any way we could get a Male reader x Izzy with a pride and prejudice element. My friend said something about Con O'Neil as Mr Darcy and I damn near swooned. Either like a Colin Firth wet white shirt scene or like anything like the Matthew Macfayden Darcy (The hands! The sopping wet pathetic man!)

If not, that's more than okay! I still love your work so much! And again, thank you so much for it!

Hi, anon! First of all, I completely understand how rough the holidays can be, especially without family around. My heart is truly with you during these times and I hope you can still find joy, peace, and love this winter. If you ever need anything, I am always in your corner. I know I'm just a random writer on Tumblr but I truly do care for you, each and every one of you, for that matter! I'm happy I could even bring you a sliver of joy with my work. Thank you endlessly for reading, and I am sending an abundance of my love your way <3 feel free to message me if you'd like, I'd love to be your friend! My messages are always open, everyone! But if not, that's okay too. I'm just happy to share this with you!

Anyhow, I absolutely lit up at this request—I love Pride & Prejudice! OFMD and P&P intertwining is honestly heavenly, I got so excited to write this that I put a pin on another x reader I was writing (never fear! You will all get this one by the end of the week if finals don't absolutely drain me!). This one is reminiscent of Pride & Prejudice and the vibes it emits, but more so, my own spin on it, as well as twists and turns. Like, Izzy honestly exhibits more of a Lizzie in this one but it's also very clear his actions parallel Darcy. I really, truly hope you enjoy this nonetheless!

Lastly, speaking of the holidays, I'm thinking of writing some holiday headcanons for Izzy or a few x readers regarding the holidays with Izzy! So stay tuned for that! Thank you everyone for your everlasting kind words, understanding, patience, and encouragement with my slight delay with writing in the past week.

My Gem | Izzy x Male Reader

Warnings: slight angst, some strong language, slight enemies to lovers, not so in depth research of 1700's aristocracy (even though I'm a damn dramaturg, but we'll look past that for now), made up my first non-canon canon character because just referring to her as "she" felt inhumane, brief mentions of fake suicide note, kissing

Word count: 2324

Thoughts of the first mate of The Revenge were absolutely consuming you. Devouring you alive, plaguing you—you truly couldn't get him out of your head no matter how hard you tried. Oh, yes, you tried. But there was no use. Daydreams would always swirl in your mind and they would only increase tenfold throughout the course of your days.

You were grateful that you at least didn't have to carry the burden of breathing the same air as Israel Hands anymore. You would even collapse being within ten feet of him, let alone seeing him every single day. Your chest ached even at the mere thought of the man.

To say you were confused by his last actions toward you was an understatement. Confused, embarrassed, miserable, even flattered...You couldn't get Izzy Hands out of your head. You couldn't get his hands out of your head...

⋆.ೃ࿔*:･

"So you really are doing this, then."

"Yes," you nodded. "I am. I don't belong here—"

"You are a damn great pirate," Izzy almost seethed. "I'll be damned if I believe you really want to go back to that...lavish lifestyle."

You looked slightly frantically behind you in hopes that no one heard Izzy's dig at what was about to be your life again. You hesitantly looked back at Izzy, almost biting your lip in disbelief. "I just need to do this."

"Really? That's all you have to say?"

"What—what else am I supposed to say?"

Silence loomed between the two of you. He nervously fidgeted with the coat that Stede had lent him to disguise himself as an aristocrat. He couldn't wait to toss it back into Bonnet's arms, but he needed this in order to see you off safely, without any suspicions of what you had been up to in your absence from the life you were born into. He knew full well that you were making a mistake, but that you couldn't be convinced of this. His chest ached upon realizing that you wouldn't change your mind, that he wouldn't be able to change your mind.

"Goodbye, Israel."

Instead of responding, Izzy carefully intertwined his fingers with yours as you were about to step up into the carriage. You froze, yet began to melt into his touch, his warmth. You finally met his eyes just as he let go of you, and before you knew it, you were riding off into the distance, Izzy becoming a small speck fading from your sight. Before he began to fade out of view, you caught a glimpse of him flexing his hand by his side as he watched you depart.

⋆.ೃ࿔*:･

You scoffed as the yellow carnation was pinned to your coat.

"Is something wrong, sir?" one of your dressers inquired, concern washing over his expression.

You almost laughed at such a question, thinking back to all of the late nights you spent studying flowers and their meanings, dying to tell him how this marriage was going to be doomed if you had to wear a yellow carnation. At the last minute, you decided against it, holding your tongue. "Everything is perfect. Thank you."

He nodded, exiting the room as soon as he finished dressing you. You turned toward the mirror, a frown falling onto your lips upon seeing your reflection. You had never dreaded a coming day like you dreaded tomorrow. Before you could internally lament further, a rhythmic knock was heard from your door. Genevieve—future wife. How delightful. It's not like you dreaded it every time she walked into a room, let alone walked over to your side, and it's not like you could tell she dreaded you all the same.

"Yes. Come in," you sighed, plopping down onto your bed. Only, it wouldn't be your bed anymore—you would share it with her, come tomorrow. Your solitude would be interrupted and put on pause forever.

Genevieve quickly rushed in, making sure to shut and lock the door behind her. She fixed her hair a bit as she did so.

"What is it that you want?" you demanded softly, your brows furrowing.

"Hello to you too," she rolled her eyes. "I'm not looking forward to tomorrow—"

"That makes two of us, Genevieve! Finally, something we can agree upon," you laughed, falling backwards onto the bed.

"Will you let me finish?" she crossed her arms without realizing it. Once she had in fact realized, an expression of guilt overcame her as she untwisted herself. A guilt you had never once seen her bear. You sent an apologetic look her way. "I'm not looking forward to tomorrow, nor the rest of our lives together, but I just wanted to say that you are lovely. I don't hate you. I just hate this."

"I don't hate you either," you sat up carefully, your head sort of spinning as you did so. "Far from it. This is just an...unfortunate situation we've found ourselves in."

"Yes," she agreed, carefully placing herself beside you on the edge of the bed. "You know, I would love you, if you were...there's no way to dance around this. I would love you if you were not a man."

"Oh!" you realized, looking over at her, relief crashing over you. "And I would probably love you if you were not a woman, quite honestly."

Genevieve gasped in delight, wrapping her arms around you as she laughed happily. You couldn't help but smile upon her embrace.

"Who is the lucky woman?" you playfully smiled, nudging her shoulder. You watched intently as you watched the pigment of her face turn rosy.

"Well...we've known each other since we were babies," she sighed happily. "But our families have been dear friends since before we were even conceived. It would never work out."

"Take "never" out of your vocabulary this instant!" you exclaimed, shooting up off the bed and onto your two feet.

"What are you planning?" Genevieve tilted her head.

You rushed over to your desk, filing through all that had piled atop it until you found a quill, some ink, and some parchment.

"We can't say you've run away—no, that would give hope that you're still alive and then you would be seeing wanted posters with your face plastered across trees anywhere you go," you sighed. "No. We'll fake your death instead. And you'll run away tonight."

Genevieve bit her lip concernedly. "Are you sure this will work?"

"I'm certain," you assured her. "Are you able to communicate this plan to your love before midnight?"

"Yes, she is coming to the rehearsal dinner tonight and I'm sure we'll sneak off to the gardens," she nodded.

"Wait—is that why you and Alice go there every time—"

Genevieve's hands flew up to her face, covering it as she giggled.

"My goodness!" you couldn't help but share the laughter. "Wow. I am not surprised, honestly."

"What about you?"

"Have I ever snuck off to a garden to—"

"No!" Genevieve rolled her eyes playfully. "Do you love another?"

"I..." you sighed. "Well, it's complicated."

"I've got time."

"I'm kind of upset with him at the moment. And I'm not sure how he feels about me. And I didn't realize I love him until after I left—"

"One thing at a time!" Genevieve tilted her head back to laugh. She place a hand on your shoulder. "Why does he have you upset?

"He held my hand before I left." you admitted, staring out the window as you spoke. Most days, you would have the curtains closed in order to mask the view of the ocean, as it would only bring you feelings of sorrow and regret.

"And you really question how he feels for you?!"

"Well, he's not like us," you frowned. "Believe me, I'm glad he's not. Though I just don't think he understands what a touch of the hand means to someone like me."

"You may come from different worlds with different values and rules, but holding hands is still an expression of affection wherever you come from," Genevieve pointed out.

"He did wear a fancy ensemble just to see me off safely..."

Once again, Genevieve's laughter filled the room. "You are blind!"

"It's just hard to tell with him!" you protested, laughing along with her. "He's hard to read. He's...very easily irritated."

"Is he like that when he's with you?"

"Less so, but yes," you shrugged. "He is a complicated man."

"But his feelings for you are apparent."

"My god, I need to go!"

"Yes, you do!" she encouraged you, patting you on the back.

"I can't right away. I have to get in contact with someone first, and if both you and I are found missing or dead by morning, it's going to be terribly suspicious—"

"You will find a way. I know it," she assured you. "Let's go and oversee the menu for tonight. I'm starved."

You laughed as she jokingly linked arms with you, leading you out into what you were about to leave behind once again.

⋆.ೃ࿔*:･

All had gone according to plan—you saw Genevieve and Alice off safely, and falsely mourned your fiancée the next day, and for only a few days after before Stede caught wind of your message. As soon as he had, you scurried to the beach, only bothering to bring a few possessions with you. You hadn't even bothered to leave a note—nothing attached you to the aristocratic life anymore. For good this time.

"Captain!" you exclaimed, almost out of breath. "Thank you. I'm so, so sorry."

"No need to apologize to me," Stede assured you warmly. "Believe me, I get it."

"I wish you warned me—"

"Oh, you wouldn't have listened," he teased. "I do regret having done the same thing you had, but if I hadn't, I never would have gotten closure with Mary and bade farewell to that side of me fully. You had to do the same."

"And you and Blackbeard—he forgave you?"

"We're working on it," Stede laughed. "He has, mostly."

"Do you think Izzy will ever forgive me? How is he?"

"Go see for yourself," Stede suggested kindly. "He's on watch tonight. I'll be in my quarters should you need anything at all."

Before you could thank him again, he vanished into the darkness. You smiled, though you could have swore your heart stopped upon the sight of Izzy Hands. You almost choked on the breath you had taken before gaining the courage to waltz over to him. Before you knew it, you were beside him once again. Izzy jumped upon sensing your presence.

"Jesus fuck," Izzy mumbled.

"Hello to you too."

"What the fuck are you doing here?"

"Oh, Izzy, I'm happy to see you too!"

"I'm serious—what the fuck? You just up and leave and then you're back. Is this some sort of pattern? How long will your stay be this time, perhaps only a day, maybe two—"

Without much thought, you found your fingers laced between his once again. Izzy's train of thought stopped in its tracks and all he could focus on now was the feeling of warmth that had been yanked away from him ever since you left, and that now, it had been restored. A warmth he thought he would never get to experience again, nor experience at all. Whenever he spent countless days and hours reminiscing upon it, he scolded himself, convincing himself that he should be grateful he got to feel that at least once in his life. It was one more time than he ever expected he would feel it. It should have been enough, but it wasn't even close. His heart began beating out of his chest—what was this feeling he couldn't quite place? He knew it all too well and he was tired of pushing it down to drown. Eventually, you softly removed your hand, and you noticed Izzy's hand flex by his side once again.

"Did it mean something to you? When you held my hand before I left."

"I was giving you a boost onto your ride," he shrugged it off, turning away in hopes that the darkness would hide his smile.

"Right," you laughed. "Izzy, seriously. I have been going crazy. Every single day, wondering if you ever understood what such a gesture meant to me or if it meant absolutely nothing to you."

"Of course it meant something to me, dammit," Izzy sighed. "You are such a fool if you thought for a second that it didn't."

You laughed breathlessly, relief overcoming you instantly as you pressed your forehead against his. The way the moonlight shone upon his face made him even more breathtaking, even more earth-shatteringly beautiful. You couldn't believe what your eyes were allowing you to see, and you couldn't believe how warm you'd felt. You almost swore you'd never shiver once again. Your lips softly grazed his forehead before you pressed another kiss upon his cheek, before resting your forehead against his once again, your eyes fluttering shut, butterflies flying around in your stomach as you reached for his hands once again.

"Mark my words. I will never, ever leave again—"

"Shh," Izzy gently whispered against your lips. "We can talk about it later."

"Later," you nodded gently as finally, your lips collided. Your heart did pirouettes as your lips danced against one another's. In the darkness of your vision, you caught a glimpse of your future aboard The Revenge, with Izzy. You had never seen so clearly, until now, that you had finally found the place you were meant to be after denying it for so long. You had found your family and your lover, and they were all gathered in the same place. This was a luxury that would always beat the fancy balls you attended, the gold-laced coats you wore upon your back, the gems you were gifted often. Izzy was your gem, and he made your life shine brighter than it ever had.

[letitrott]

Bowers gang x reader Part 2 ~ Kill your fears ~

IF YOU CHOSE SCIENCE CLASS

Will leave link to part 1 at the end THIS IS A CHOOSE YOUR OWN STORY . Thank you for reading xxx

Warnings: None at this point

Reader: *The science rooms were always the firths from the locker rooms it was such a drag. You roomed into the class room taking a random seat not really bothered by who was or wasn't there next to you.* Teacher Miss Mayweather: Blah, blah,blah Atomic radiation, blah blah experiments. Reader: *You never really liked Science class not enough people appreciated it. The other kids were always talking too loud and carrying on made it harder to focus and enjoy. Miss Mayweather: What did you take from the BillNi The Science guy (bam bam bam sorry could helpl it) video Lillith? She gave you a warm smile. Reader: Everything around us is made of atoms. Atoms react or become affected when the environments changes. Ultimately changing its state as well. The answer to his question why does the magnesium turn the water purple faster in warm water vs cold. Is because the water atoms have been heated with energy speeding up the break down of the magnesium as all the atoms within that environment are trying to find and make more stable bonds. Letting go energy in the process. Some of the water and oxygen molecules seperate/evaporate and others create new bonds with the magnesium/copper element leading to the purple water. Miss May weather: Brilliant Lilith A+ *she smiles happily* Belch: Wow I didn't think you were the type for Science class. Reader: Well its actually one of my strongest subjects... Belch: Oh..umm..I got this for you by the way*hands you something wrapped in a cloth* Reader: *you open it to see one of those squeeze and shake ice packs* Thank you... umm I didn't catch your name. Belch: Belch..Belch Huggins Reader: You don't mind if i call you Huggins do you? Belch: *smiles warmly* I don't mind at all. Reader: So whats up with Bowers... Belch: You mean Henry? He's usually not that bad. I'm sorry I really should have stepped in sooner... I admit you stood your ground pretty well with those two. Reader: I figured they were the worst...had to establish dominace...yk what I mean Belch: *chuckles* You know if you want. I'm happy to drop you home after school its the least I can do to make up for earlier... Or Maybe get Mcdonals fro lunch? Reader: Your too sweet Huggins...It's that gonna get us put in detentiion? Belch: Who said you had to stay or even go to detention. *You helped Huggins complete the rest of the Science Homework so you both wouldn't be caught up after school. You learn't he drives a Tran's am and seems like a real sweet heart. But you know this is just the surface level. Perhaps what he wants you to see him as. You were gonna be watching him closely. *

*THE BELL RINGS*

WHICH WILL YOU CHOSE

Spend lunch with Belch (click me) Leave on your own

Sorry if this part wasn't super juicy but i promise its for the plot armour and it only gets better!!!

Click me to read part 1

[thethirdromana]

Blake's costumes, rated

Every time I do one of these, someone asks me for another one. So... I guess I'm doing the set?

Here are my thoughts on Blake's costumes in Blake's 7. Get ready for a whole lot of brown. Screengrabs from here (they prefer their images copied, not linked) and record of what Blake wears when from here. Here's the same for Avon, Servalan and Jenna.

As seen in The Way Back, Space Fall, Cygnus Alpha, and Time Squad.

This is Blake in his normal, pre-Liberator clothes, and wow are they boring. This is clearly a man who was waiting for any opportunity to cut loose. Look how small his sleeves are! This isn't the clothing of a freedom fighter; it looks like the uniform of a handyman at an eco-friendly adventure park. It's not really Blake at all. 3/10.

As seen in The Web, Seek-Locate-Destroy, Mission to Destiny, Duel, Project Avalon, Breakdown, Deliverance, and Orac.

I was going to say that this is a long time to be wearing the same outfit, but at a closer look, Blake does change his shirt. Thank goodness, because the question of who does the laundry on the Liberator has bothered me before, and I didn't like to think of Blake being stinky for most of series A.

Also, this is a great outfit. I feel like the way it has four different elements and textures should be too much, but it's working for me, particularly the chainmail-esque sleeve detail. 8/10.

As seen in The Web, Seek-Locate-Destroy, Duel, Project Avalon, Bounty, and Orac.

Jenna made the pink version of this look cool; Blake looks like a dad in a National Trust car park. There might be poo bags for the family Labrador in one of his many pockets. Honestly, kudos to the Blake's 7 costume designers for this one: obviously functional and yet perfectly of a piece with the more ridiculous outfits in the series. I don't love to look at it but I have to admire it. 6/10.

As seen in Redemption, Shadow, Horizon, and Killer.

In which Blake appears to be wearing an entire cow. Honestly, I love this outfit, from the sleeves to the boots. It's Romantic hero meets Robin Hood, it's ridiculous, it's wonderful. Gareth Thomas must have been so warm. 15/10.

As seen in Shadow, and Voice From the Past.

I got a telling-off in the notes on my Jenna post for not including her in the karate ghi. So let the record stand that I approve of the karate ghi universally for Blake's 7 characters. I particularly appreciate that Avon and Jenna have theirs fastened up, while Blake's is open halfway to his midriff. Quarry chic, you can't beat it. 8/10.

As seen in Weapon, Pressure Point, Trial, Countdown, and Voice From the Past.

This feels to me like the classic Blake outfit. It's like Avon's bajillion studded black leather jackets: green leather and bishop's sleeves are simply what Blakes in their natural environment should wear. But it's not quite as batshit as some of his other outfits and so I can't love it quite as much. 7/10.

As seen in Horizon.

I accept that I'm straining the definition of "outfit" here but come on, I couldn't not include this moment. I love the artfully placed grime; I love the way, it being the 70s, that Blake's trousers come up to his navel; I love the fact that this is, to the best of my recollection, the one and only scene of someone taking their top off in the whole of Blake's 7. 10/10.

As seen in Horizon.

The Romantic hero look is BACK. Here Blake is starring as a rebel version of Colin Firth's Mr Darcy. Get this man a lake to jump in. It is my firm belief that no man has yet existed who doesn't look good in this kind of shirt, and Gareth Thomas is no exception. 9/10.

As seen in Hostage.

This is one of those "who wore it best?" moments and I have to be honest and say: Avon did. The rule that Avon should wear tight things, preferably leather, and Blake should wear loose things, preferably with massive sleeves, is not being disproven here. 4/10.

As seen in Hostage, Gambit, The Keeper, and Star One.

There's just too much stuff going on here. The chainmail effect outfit was also quite busy but in a way that made Blake look bigger and bolder. This is the opposite; he looks almost smothered by it. There's a lot of fabric around his neck. It's brown and there's leather, but Blake doesn't look at home. 4/10.

As seen in Blake.

Normally I rate these costumes based partly on how good they look, and partly on how well I feel they suit the character, and normally those two things are in alignment and it's all good. But here, I'm so torn.

Blake looks like shit. He's wearing some kind of horrific quilted knee-length gilet like a cross between a knight and someone who spends too much money in Jack Wills. It's too big for him and the little grab-handles on the front are... well, they're not very functional without Avon around to be grabbing him, are they? But on the other hand, it would be really weird if he looked good at this point in his story. The costume designers have judged this perfectly, and I hate it. 5/10.

[adamwatchesmovies]

Wolf Man (2025)

After 2020’s The Invisible Man, all memories of the failed Dark Universe left our collective memories. Universal Monsters fans, in particular, began anticipating Leigh Whannell’s next reboot: Wolf Man. Some early creature screenshots leaked and were met with a mix of ridicule and disappointment but those were leaks and there's more to a monster movie than its monster anyway. Where do the end results land? Is it another masterpiece that takes the monster in bold, fresh directions? Is it a big miss? It’s somewhere down the middle. This is nowhere as innovative or fresh as The Invisible Man but it’s not a disaster either. There are missed opportunities but as a werewolf movie, it fares well.

Blake Lovell (Christopher Abbott) receives his father’s death certificate in the mail, along with the keys to his childhood home. A survivalist recluse, Grady Lovell (Sam Jaeger) was not a kind man and it’s been years since his son had spoken to him. Thinking that some time away from the city will do him, his wife, Charlotte (Julia Garner), and his daughter, Ginger (Matilda Firth), some good, Blake takes them to the woods where he grew up. Along the way, Blake is scratched by a creature in the dark and becomes infected with a strange disease.

There are metaphorical elements throughout Wolf Man but they don’t quite pay off. Blake’s father was borderline, if not outright abusive. You can see that Blake also struggles with his temper and if it hasn’t put a strain on his marriage, work and the big city life has. I'm not spoiling anything by telling you that Blake's injury has infected with wolf man disease. He’s losing control and becoming a monster. The comparison is obvious, and that’s part of the problem. We don’t learn anything new about ourselves or other people by watching him transform, not the same way we did while watching Cecilia try to convince others that her supposedly dead fiancé was still pursuing her in The Invisible Man. We also don’t see anything in the relationship between the father, his wife and their daughter that surprises us, not even when things go to hell. On the upside, Blake’s relationship with his father doesn't hamper the movie. Grady's lifestyle gives the characters a reason to be in an isolated location while also providing them with a fortress that can hold off potential threats and the tools they need to fight back or escape. It's a great setup for a horror movie.

There’s decent suspense with the undeniable threat outside the barricaded Lovell home and the growing danger within the walls as Blake gets sicker and sicker. There could’ve been more tension if everything didn’t move so fast - the entire film takes place within two or three days at most if we include the scenes before the family arrives at the Lovell family home. Wolf Man ditches all supernatural elements from the mythos so it’s not like anyone ever dreads the rising full moon and there are no “See? He's no monster.” scenes. What it has plenty of is body horror as the wolf man disease takes its toll on Blake. When we finally do get a good shot of a werewolf, it's not the catastrophe those leaks would've lead you to believe but I’ll admit that this is the one place where I found myself preferring the previous attempt at a Wolf Man reboot, the 2010 film.

The end credits say that Wolf Man contains some footage of 2020’s The Invisible Man but I didn’t recognize anything and story-wise, there are no ties between them at all. I bring the 2020 movie up one more time to emphasize that the best way to enjoy Wolf Man is as a standalone werewolf movie. If you don't go in expecting anything bold or innovative from Wolf Man, you’ll be pleased. Particularly if you’re watching it at home, for the price of a rental. (May 23, 2025)

[wyola-normiss]

The Eight House (horary)

Will I get a refund?

Analysis:

8 house: Symbolizes debt, monetary obligations that the questioner can receive from another person. The steward of the 8th house: shows the possibilities of obtaining money and the factors that can affect the result. The steward of the 7th house: symbolizes the relationship with the debtor. The steward of the 2nd house: symbolizes money, finances, property that the debtor can use to repay the debt.

Example:

The steward of the 8th house in a harmonious aspect with the steward of the 2nd house: this may indicate that the debt will be repaid. The steward of the 8th house is in conflict with the steward of the 7th house: this may indicate that the debtor does not want to repay the debt or that the return of money may be related to conflicts.

For example, the question of a husband's salary may be related to finding out his financial capabilities and determining his role and influence in a relationship.

The question of "How will the flight go, is there nothing threatening me?" implies an assessment of risks and external circumstances. Here you can study the effects of Uranus and Mars to determine if there is a possibility of hazards associated with power outages or unexpected events.

When analyzing the issue of flight safety, it is important to take into account that the 8th house carries elements of risk and danger. Thus, the horoscope can provide information about possible obstacles or circumstances indicating the need for greater caution on the trip. It is through the prism of 8 houses that you can see the possible threats associated with travel and give recommendations on how to reduce risks.

How soon will I receive money from [name]?

Analysis:

8 house: Symbolizes financial resources, debts, debts that the questioner can receive from another person. Ruler 8 of the house: Shows the possibilities to get money and the factors that can influence the result. Ruler of the 2nd house: Symbolizes money, finances, property that can pass to the questioner. Moon: symbolizes the emotions of the questioner and his expectations regarding receiving money.

Example:

The steward of the 8th house in a harmonious aspect with the steward of the 2nd house: this may indicate that you will receive money soon. The ruler of the 8th house is in conflict with the Moon: this may indicate that receiving money may be associated with disappointments or troubles.

When it comes to finance and investments, the question of a partner's investments in a business also falls within the scope of the 8 house. It is important to determine how much the partner is willing to take risks and how to do it.

Questions such as: "Will the partner invest money in the business?" require an analysis of joint resources. It examines how the perception of risk and the financial stability of a partner affect the investment decision. Variations in the interpretation of these issues can significantly affect the understanding of financial dynamics in a relationship.

The First House (horary)- "I myself"

The Second House (horary) - "My resources"

The Third House (horary) -"Household"

The Fourth House (horary) - "Homeland"

The Firth House (horary) - "creativity"

The Sixth House (horary) - "ailments"

The Seventh House (horary) - "other people"

[piscesseer]

Virgo Season 🌾 August 23 - Sept 22

Virgo Season spans from August 23 to September 22. A time of attention to detail, sorting through the things in your life, and a strong desire for perfectionism. We can use these energies to improve our lives, especially if we know the positives to look toward and the negatives to navigate.

Symbol: The Virgin (or Maiden) Mantra: I analyze Element: Earth Ruling Planet: Mercury Modality: Mutable House: 6th Crystals: Jade, Citrine Anatomy: Digestive System Flower: Buttercup Tarot Card: The Hermit

Thoughtful • Meticulous • Caring • Organized • Petty • Loyal

Famous Virgo Suns: Beyonce, Idris Elba, Zendaya, Keke Palmer, Salma Hayek, Colin Firth, Cameron Diaz, Pink, Shania Twain, Amy Winehouse, Freddie Mercury, Blake Lively, Nial Horan, Stephen King

About Virgo

Virgo Season begins August 23, setting off the final phase of summer. The sun’s heat and light are beginning to mellow and surrender to the coolness of the upcoming Autumn. Virgo’s season is when nature’s abundance and fertility become ready for harvesting, lending to their earthy, caring, organizational qualities. Yes, Virgos are known for being picky and critical, and they can be. But their attention to detail is for a reason: to help others. Virgos are born to serve and it brings them great joy!

To the ancients, the constellation of Virgo appeared to be a winged woman carrying wheat. In many ancient cultures she was considered the “Queen of the Sky”, being the largest constellation. She was linked to purity, fertility, agriculture and the harvest. Babylonians associated her with the goddess Shala, who ruled fertility and harvest. In Greek mythology, Virgo was connected with Demeter, the ruler over the earth and agriculture, and her daughter Persephone, who returned from the underworld for part of the year when the Earth was barren. It was the ancient Greek way of explaining the changing of the seasons. In Ancient Rome, Virgo was related to Vesta, the goddess of domestic life, dedicated to purity and service. The Vestal Virgins dedicated their lives to Vesta by tending to her hearth and caring for people. The Virgin represents Virgo’s purity and acts of service, and Virgo is still connected to planting, growing, harvesting and medicinal herbs. 

The Hermit tarot card relates to Virgo, sharing the earthy, contemplative, and analytical energies of this sign. The Hermit retreats from life to go within for self-reflection. This card can also appear as a warning that we have over extended ourselves in overdoing. This is a reminder of what action we can take when we are at the end of a cycle in the still point of self-discovery before the next thing.

In classical astrology, Mercury was assigned rulership of both Gemini and Virgo. Virgo was thought to be the night home of Mercury, a conscientious and detail-focused earth sign that allows Mercury to express its most swift and easy functions like analysis, communication, and dexterity. As the voice of clarity and precision, Virgo’s mantra is: I analyze. The sense of purpose is about organizing, so our lives can flow and operate efficiently. They rule the area in life that we approach in an organized, contentious and efficient way. 

Virgo’s affinity for being efficient, skilled and resourceful are related to the structure and tangibility of the Earth element. They tend to be practical and grounded, keeping it 100% real.  As a mutable sign, Virgo is able to find relationships between seemingly unrelated factors and transform them into a meaningful harmony. It’s important for them to be helpful. They are great at dedicating themselves to projects and relationships that need some care, healing, and tending to. 

Virgos are perfectionists who strive for excellence in everything they do. Virgos are natural organizers, and they are able to see the big picture and break it down into manageable tasks. They are also very detail-oriented, which makes them excellent at proofreading and editing.

Virgos are also known for being helpful and caring individuals. They are always willing to lend a helping hand, and they are often the first to offer advice or support. Virgos are also very loyal friends and family members. They are always there for the people they care about, and they will do whatever it takes to help them.

Their perfectionist nature can be both a blessing and a curse, as it can lead to Virgos being very critical of themselves and others. However, it also motivates them to always strive for the best. Virgos are also quick to learn from their mistakes. They are always looking for ways to improve themselves, both personally and professionally.

Virgos are natural achievers, and they are able to overcome any obstacle that stands in their way. With their determination and focus, Virgos can accomplish anything they set their minds to. Virgos are a valuable asset to any team or organization. They are hard workers who are always willing to go the extra mile. They are also great problem solvers and are always looking for ways to improve things. They made amazing friends and are loyal family members.

How Can Virgo Season Affect You?

Virgo Season can bring focus about the workforce and economy. Discussions about job stability, labor and enhancing productivity could come up. While Virgo energy tends to be strict, it is also caring. Perhaps this energy can lend to the support of local initiatives and humanitarian causes. Working toward helping each other could be important at this time. Refining systems and society is natural during this time, and our hopes are that this is a positive change that focuses on the needs of others, and all. 

In our personal lives, Virgo Season might bring focus on smaller details. We will want to improve our efficiency and productivity. We may feel like tackling difficult projects, want to work overtime and get out responsibilities in order. We may be looking to finetune the finer points of projects that may have been overlooked before.

This is a time for getting organized and taking care of business. We can use the qualities of Virgo to bring order into our lives and take care of tasks that have been neglected. The Virgo energy is all about service, order, and efficiency. This can be a great time to get organized, declutter your life, and set some goals for the future.

We can also use this time to focus on our health and well-being. Virgo Season is a great time to start a new exercise routine, eat healthier, or get a check-up from the doctor. It’s a great time to focus on our personal development and make positive changes within our lives. Refine your daily routine to better suit your needs.

Virgos are also known for being helpful, so use this time to give back to your community. Volunteer your time, donate to a charity, or simply do something nice for someone else.

We may be overly critical of ourselves during this time. We might be evaluating our actions, and reflecting on areas that we look at as imperfect. It is important to be self-aware to lead to self improvement and growth, just be aware that our inner critic is hyper-aware at this time. Don’t be too hard on yourself.

We may look at things through a new lens. The analytical and practical mindset can bring us back down to reality, where we will find solutions to challenges in personal and work life.

Here are some tips for making the most of this time:

Declutter your home. This can be a daunting task, but it will be worth it in the end. Get rid of anything you don't use or need, and organize the things you do keep.

Create a to-do list. This will help you stay on track and accomplish your goals. Break down large tasks into smaller, more manageable ones.

Set some goals for yourself. What do you want to achieve during Virgo Season? Make sure your goals are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound.

Be kind to yourself. Virgos can be critical of themselves, so make sure to be kind to yourself during Virgo Season. Forgive yourself for your mistakes, and focus on your strengths.

Virgo Season is a great time to focus on your goals and aspirations. With the determination and focus on Virgo energy, we can accomplish anything we set our minds to. So make the most of Virgo Season and start working towards your dreams!

Virgo Reflections & Journal Prompts:

🌿 What causes or organizations resonate with my values, and how can I support them? 🌿 What small acts of kindness can I incorporate into my day? 🌿 How do I feel about my current work or career path, and what adjustments could I make? 🌿 In what areas of my life do I need to pay closer attention to the details? 🌿 How can I be more efficient in managing my time, tasks, and responsibilities? 🌿 What goals do I want to set for this season, and how can I break them down into actionable steps? 🌿 How can I engage in constructive self-reflection without becoming overly critical? 🌿 What self care practices resonate with me and how can I integrate them into my routine? 🌿 How can I practice mindfulness and stay present in everyday activities?

[catgriosaich]

Vocab from SpeakGaelic eps 1-2

Tha mi air mo dhòigh - Given as "I'm excited"; my dictionary says "I'm happy", "I'm in my element"

Tha mi toilichte a bhith an seo - I'm happy to be here

Bidh spòrs againn - We'll have fun

Gabh air do shocair - Take it easy

Tha thìd agam falbh (?) - It's time for me to go

Chì mi a-rithist thu - I'll see you again ("see you later")

-

Domhainn - deep

An linne (f) - firth

An caladh (m) - harbour

An talamh (m) - land

An crann-ola (m) - oil rig (lit. "oil mast", "oil plough")

An leumadair-mara (m) - dolphin (lit. "sea leaper")

-> Tha e a' leumadh - He is jumping

-> Tha e na leum - He's in a rush

[scotianostra]

The Scottish Polymath Mary Somerville died on November 28th 1872 in Naples.

Today Somerville’s name lives on in an Oxford college, but her wider legacy is largely forgotten. She is the face of the Royal Bank of Scotland’s £10 banknote – the first non-royal woman to be honoured in this way.

Born in Mary Fairfax, Jedburgh on 26th December, 1790, Somerville grew up in the Fife seaside town of Burntisland. She was fascinated by the natural world from the start, collecting shells and fossils, and observing birds and sea creatures.

When her father returned from the sea, he discovered 8- or 9-year-old Mary could neither read nor do simple sums. He sent her to an elite boarding school, across the Firth of Forth, Miss Primrose's School in Musselburgh.

Miss Primrose was not a good experience for Mary and she was sent home in just a year. She began to educate herself, taking music and painting lessons, instructions in handwriting and arithmetic. She learned to read French, Latin, and Greek largely on her own. At age 15, Mary noticed some algebraic formulas used as decoration in a fashion magazine, and on her own she began to study algebra to make sense of them. She surreptitiously obtained a copy of Euclid's "Elements of Geometry" over her parents' opposition.

Four years after marrying, Mary Somerville and her family moved to London. Their social circle included the leading scientific and literary lights of the day, including Ada Bryon and her mother Maria Edgeworth, George Airy, John and William Herschel, George Peacock, and Charles Babbage. Mary and William had three daughters and a son who died in infancy. They also traveled extensively in Europe.

In 1826, Somerville began publishing papers on scientific subjects based on her own research. After 1831, she began writing about the ideas and work of other scientists as well. One book, "The Connection of the Physical Sciences," contained discussion of a hypothetical planet that might be affecting the orbit of Uranus. That prompted John Couch Adams to search for the planet Neptune, for which is he is credited as a co-discoverer.

Mary Somerville's translation and expansion of Pierre Laplace's "Celestial Mechanics" in 1831 won her acclaim and success: that same year, British prime minister Robert Peel awarded her a civil pension of 200 pounds annually. In 1833, Somerville and Caroline Herschel were named honorary members of the Royal Astronomical Society, the first time women had earned that recognition. Prime Minister Melbourne increased her salary to 300 pounds in 1837. William Somerville's health deteriorated and in 1838 the couple moved to Naples, Italy. She stayed there most of the remainder of her life, working and publishing.

In 1848, Mary Somerville published "Physical Geography," a book used for 50 years in schools and universities; although at the same time, it attracted a sermon against it in York Cathedral.

William Somerville died in 1860. In 1869, Mary Somerville published yet another major work, was awarded a gold medal from the Royal Geographical Society, and was elected to the American Philosophical Society.

By 1871, Mary Somerville had outlived her husbands, a daughter, and all of her sons: she wrote, "Few of my early friends now remain—I am nearly left alone." Mary Somerville died in Naples on November 29, 1872, just before turning 92. She had been working on another mathematical article at the time and regularly read about higher algebra and solved problems each day.

Her daughter published "Personal Recollections of Mary Somerville" the next year, parts of a work which Mary Somerville had completed most of before her death.

[clarasghosts]

I made a post on this before, but I'm still thinking about how tumblr live was never a tumblr feature, and that's why it never worked. it's not just that you'd have to agree to a terms of service for a third-party company, but that the streaming community (which did exist, apparently; it wasn't just the porn blogs we always saw promoted) had nothing at all to do with tumblr's culture.

the tik tok live style currencies that make no sense didn't help either.

if it had been a built in feature, imagine the weird shitpost style streams we could have had (and stumbled across on our dashes). people counting every style of cheese at the supermarket. live streaming the crabs at the zoo. it would have been so stupid, but I could even have live streamed watching yet another colin firth film (so few of you here know I watched 50 separate things on his filmography in 2023! I even made a bingo card based on repeating elements in his films!) but with the way that tumblr live existed here, my mutuals and followers would have to agree to a third-party terms of service first, before they could join in on the nonsense. and that screen alone would kill it.