#for most of us

[homoerectusindeed]

i'm sorry but steven going 'uwu its just 6 dollars, everyone can afford it' made me want to whack him with a stale baguette filled with lead, like how tone-deaf can you be, you silly little tesla-driving man

[thexfridax]

Juliet Rylance is running late to our interview, but she’s got an excuse straight out of the show she stars in. “I’m so sorry,” she says over the phone to New York. “I got caught in the aftermath of a bomb scare in London, so it was a bit dramatic.” It’s a new one on me, but not her: “I seem to find myself in these situations quite often, which probably says more about me than anything else.”

Rylance’s life as Della Street, the brilliant secretary-turned-partner of Matthew Rhys’s title character on HBO’s gorgeous, addictive Perry Mason reboot, has been pretty thrilling this season too. When Della takes over the cross-examination of a witness from Perry — revealing how the murder victim at the center of the season’s case was a sexual predator, then driving the point home by wrapping his belt around her own neck — she delivers a massive hell yeah! moment on a show where such victories are few and far between.

But even as she fights for respect as a woman in 1930s Los Angeles’s legal system, she’s a lesbian living in the closet. This season, the issue looms large thanks to the emergence of two new characters: her glamorous screenwriter girlfriend, Anita St. Pierre, and her powerful potential future employer, Camilla Nygaard — even as shadowy figures involved in the case appear poised to exploit her secret. With only one episode remaining in the show’s second season, all of these shoes are ready to drop at any moment.

Talk to me about Della’s courtroom scene, which literally had me yelling “ooooooo-whee!” at the screen.

[Laughs.] It was something Jack Amiel and Michael Begler, our showrunners, brought up at the beginning of season two. We discussed, “Should Della get up in court or not? If so, how? Is it even possible?” Matthew and I were both really excited about the idea for her.

It’s such a perfect Perry Mason moment, in the old-fashioned style of the original show. And it’s a very poignant moment for Della in her arc. This is a woman who’s worked as a secretary but was basically running the office for years, then found a way for Perry to become a lawyer even though she knows more about the law than he does. She gets her moment to say, “This is who I am.”

When she wraps that belt around her neck to demonstrate how the victim was strangled, it conjures a very different image than it would if Perry had done it.

Ever the research gal, Della puts the line of questioning together the night before. But on the day, when she sees the female jurors uncomfortable with this sensitive line of questioning from Perry, she realizes that this is one of the only times that being a woman, a woman in front of that jury, that witness, might win them the day. The course is set, and she makes the decision to brave the floor, realizing that if she uses the belt she gives an immediate picture to the jury of what happened. It’s a very bold choice, and one that I love that she makes.

Della is doubly marginalized, in that she’s both a woman and queer. Even as she’s fighting not to be dismissed by men, she’s still keeping a major part of her life a secret.

Yes. It’s strange: When I take on a character, there are certain things I decide about how I want to play them, and then there’s a whole other element where the character arrives with you in ways you didn’t expect. That dichotomy, that conflict — Della of needing to be seen and also needing to hide — is a fascinating element of her that I really only became aware of maybe four or five episodes into season one.

I kept thinking, “Why am I being quiet in this scene? Why am I pushing to be seen, and in the next moment, I’m trying to hide?” Then you become aware of those two things. With only three percent of lawyers in L.A. at that time being women, while being discovered as a gay woman would have meant arrest, loss of her profession, disgrace … Della’s pushing and pushing to be seen, then constantly on the back foot, hiding and being careful not to draw too much attention to herself.

It’s not something that feels very natural to me. She and I are very different. I’m quite a free spirit, very much myself, and don’t mind being sort of out there, yet she’s constantly walking this tightrope. That whole dichotomy gave Della her own life, really. It creates a conflict within her which I love exploring.

This season introduces two characters who are almost role models for Della in terms of how comfortable they are in their own skin: her new girlfriend, Anita, and also Camilla, one of the town’s most powerful people.

Anita changes everything for Della in an instant. Della has been a gay woman in this town for a long time; she moves with a small underground scene, careful not to get found out. She plays it safe. Anita’s this Hollywood writer, she’s successful, she’s bohemian, she’s part of this whole other world in L.A. that Della knows a little about but isn’t connected to. This love story quite literally demands that Della begin to imagine a world where she is no longer on the periphery but at the center.

Camilla is a self-made woman, and their first conversation, about how to be a powerful woman in a very male world, sets up everything that follows between them. Della is fascinated by her: She’s ballsy, she takes no prisoners, she is who she is, with no apology — something Della’s never been able to be. The fascination with Camilla is huge from that first meeting, and continues to be.

What do you do, as an actor in the 2020s, to get ready to play a person in the 1930s?

It’s funny: I grew up watching a lot of 1930s-1940s movies. I loved that period. So I often felt more at home in my imagination there than where I was in England.

But one of the great joys of working on this show is the detailing of the costumes and props and production design. The minute you put on the period shoes, you walk differently, so Della has a different walk than I do. The wig is such a completely different look that the minute it goes on, I feel like, “Oh, this is definitely not Juliet, this is Della.” The last thing is when you walk into the courtroom, where every detail is perfectly 1930s. It’s a delight to feel like you’ve stepped back in time.

On this version of Perry Mason, the characters openly debate whether justice is an illusion. They criticize the system. Your courtroom scene aside, they don’t score slam dunks or have happy endings. When you were first preparing for the part, was it tough for you to reconcile all this with the style of the old franchise?

It’s what drew me to the project. If we’re making a show about the law, we have to look at that in the context of where we are today. It would feel irresponsible to make a legal show at this moment in time that didn’t.

For me, it felt like a challenge, but also a really necessary, essential part of, Why do this? That was my biggest question to Tim Van Patten, who was directing at the time: “Why? Why are we doing this now?”

Della is someone who really believes that the law will carry us through. In reality, with how corrupt the LAPD were at that time, it’s not that simple. Because Perry, Della, and Paul are such outsiders, they’re more invested in getting to the heart of the matter, supporting the underdog, getting to the truth.

It became clear that as well as making an entertaining show, we were hoping to mirror what’s happening around us. We’re dealing with women’s rights issues, race issues, LGBTQ issues. We’re hoping to move people to think differently.

[victusinveritas]

[twelvemonkeyswere]

not even JRR Tolkien, who famously developed the concept of the Secondary World and firmly believed that no trace of the Real World should be evoked in the fictional world, was able to remove potatoes from his literature. this is a man who developed whole languages and mythologies for his literary world, who justified its existence in English as a translation* simply because he was so miffed he couldn't get away with making the story fully alien to the real world. and not even he, in extremis, was so cruel as to deny his characters the heavenly potato. could not even conceive a universe devoid of the potato. such is its impact. everyone please take a moment to say thank you to South Americans for developing and cultivating one of earth's finest vegetables. the potato IS all that. literally world-changing food. bless.

[inkskinned]

please i love you i'm begging you bring back suspension of disbelief bring back trusting the audience like. i cannot handle any more dialogue that sounds like a legal document. "hello, i am here to talk to you about the incident from a few minutes ago, because i feel you might be unwell, and i am invested in your personal wellbeing." "thank you, i am unwell because the incident was hurtful to me due to my childhood, which was bad." I CANT!!!!

do you know how many people are mad that authors use "growled" as a word for "said"? it's just poetics! they do not literally mean "growled," it's just a common replacement for "said with force but in a low tone." it's normal! do you hear me!! help me i love you please let me out of here!!!

[toadalled]

Pride Month is upon us again and so it is time to repost my little guy, Hue! I’m wishing everyone a safe, supportive, positive, and enlightening Pride, whether you’re all the way “out” or not!

[crookedtines]

I finally took the time to photograph my vintage dip pen nib collection, and I need to share with you all how wonderful and diverse their designs are.

These two are my favorite. Just look at them! One of them is named Gorille and the other Mephisto, but to me they're little pumpkins.

And of course you gotta love the Pinocchio nib. You get to write with the nose of a tiny guy! Just not something you get to do anymore.

[dogsuffrage]

Another question for my tumblr census...

Do what you feel is most accurate, even if there is some nuance. If nothing feels accurate enough for you, do other.

[captainnikki]

I respect everybody's right to their religious beliefs but it's bizarre as an atheist to hear a Christian going on about Halloween being a gateway to Satan worship for children

[youarentreadingthis]

[notherpuppet]

Role reversal AU

[couldcarefewer]

"THERE IS NO STATE WHERE IT IS LEGAL TO KILL A BABY WHEN IT IS BORN" THAT WAS A FUCKING AMAZING MODERATOR INTERJECTION THANK YOU SO MUCH

[krysmcscience]

I have some questions about karaoke night, Alex Hirsch. Very Important Questions. Which I will happily scream at a poor hapless baby triangle who can have no answers for me, and possibly also does not have object permanence yet.

Follow-up that is I guess suggestive, but let's be real here, Bill's a fucking triangle:

Dude slipped right into his birthday suit, lmao

this is so stupid :D

Anyway, I don't care what anyone says, this brilliant individual knows what's up - Bill is absolutely way more of a monsterfucker than Ford could or ever will be, full stop.

[elodieunderglass]

Oh I forgot to say.

Bug (4) is going to start school now so we’ve been doing literacy practice. One set of exercises was about “opposites” and I drew a card reading “fat”. Ok what’s the opposite of fat.

Bug thought about it and then said dreamily: “meat.”

[littlemizzlinguistics]

Studying linguistics is actually so wonderful because when you explain youth slang to older professors, instead of complaining about how "your generation can't speak right/ you're butchering the language" they light up and go “really? That’s so wonderful! What an innovative construction! Isn't language wonderful?"