#graham lister

[nmpositive]

An officially licensed 2015 Cat Toad plush has a removable hood.

Main Blog | Twitter | Patreon | Small Findings | Source: twitter.com user "antdude92"

[yonderghostshistories]

Monty Python Fan watches Red Dwarf for the first time

(or, a Monty Python fan watches the Red Dwarf episode “Timeslides” for the first time)

Recently watched the Red Dwarf S3 Ep5 episode “Timeslides” for the first time, and I really liked and enjoyed it fr! It was very funny tbh, and ngl I fr relate with Lister’s existential dread with lounging about with nothing to do and wishing things went differently. I would absolutely love a Tension Sheet fr, I think it’d help me with my anxiety tbh

Kryten & Cat are so cool I absolutely love them both <33

Holly is a Sarcastic Queen fr 💅👑✨

Ruby Wax as Blaise (/Blaize) Falconburger was also pretty funny too, I really enjoyed her performance in the episode!

Ok the reason I did watch this episode was partly (actually no, not “partly”, it’s was “entirely” really lol) because of the fact that Monty Python member Graham Chapman was originally gonna play the role of Blaise(/Blaize) Falconburger, but he unfortunately passed away before rehearsals and filming began, and so the role was given to Ruby Wax at the last minute.

Idk why, but if in some AU where Graham never had cancer (or, at the very least in an AU where Graham’s cancer wasn’t as rapid and he was still well enough to at least appear in cameos or smth idk), this scene truly would’ve hit different at the time as it probably would’ve been, like, his final final acting role or smth, ya’know what I mean?

Like the episode is about people entering into photographs, like MOVING photographs, and so if Graham appeared in this episode as was originally planned, his performance really would’ve really given the episode a whole new meaning to it. Like the episode is about people going into the past via photographs from the past, and trying to change the timeline so they could have a different future compared to the one they currently have, so they could have a better AU life than the one they currently have, an AU life where they are happy and content compared to the mundane monotony and lack of excitement in their original life. Graham’s would-be performance had he not died would’ve (imo) represented this heightened sense of longing to be in a AU where everything is alright and good and happy and the world was ok for once (like for example, Graham Chapman not having cancer and is still alive and well and happy), as well as being really emotional too 🥺🥺😭😭❤️❤️.

Anyway, those are my thoughts and I apologise for making everyone sad now.

To cheer myself and y’all, the Red Dwarf theme song absolutely slaps fr 💯💯💯

@gcballet @iiep-wop

[invisibleicewands]

Michael Sheen: Prince Andrew, Port Talbot and why I quit Hollywood

When Michael Sheen had an idea for a dystopian TV series based in his home town of Port Talbot, in which riots erupt when the steel works close, he had no idea said works would actually close — a month before the show came to air. “Devastating,” he says, simply, of last month’s decision by Tata Steel to shut the plant’s two blast furnaces and put 2,800 jobs at risk.

“Those furnaces are part of our psyche,” he says. “When the Queen died we talked about how psychologically massive it was for the country because people couldn’t imagine life without her. The steel works are like that for Port Talbot.”

Sheen’s show — The Way — was never meant to be this serious. The BBC1 three-parter is directed by Sheen, was written by James Graham and has the montage king Adam Curtis on board as an executive producer. The plot revolves around a family who, when the steel works are closed by foreign investors, galvanise the town into a revolt that leads to the Welsh border being shut. Polemical, yes, but it has a lightness of touch. “A mix of sitcom and war film,” Sheen says, beaming.

But that was then. Now it has become the most febrile TV show since, well, Mr Bates vs the Post Office. “We wanted to get this out quickly,” Sheen says. With heavy surveillance, police clamping down on protesters and nods to Westminster abandoning parts of the country, the series could be thought of as a tad political. “The concern was if it was too close to an election the BBC would get nervous.”

I meet Sheen in London, where he is ensconced in the National Theatre rehearsing for his forthcoming starring role in Nye, a “fantasia” play based on the life of the NHS founder, Labour’s Aneurin “Nye” Bevan. He is dressed down, with stubble and messy hair, and is a terrific raconteur, with a lot to discuss. As well as The Way and Nye, this year the actor will also transform himself into Prince Andrew for a BBC adaptation of the Emily Maitlis Newsnight interview.

Sheen has played a rum bunch, from David Frost to Tony Blair and Chris Tarrant. And we will get to Bevan and Andrew, but first Wales, where Sheen, 55, was born in 1969 and, after a stint in Los Angeles, returned to a few years ago. He has settled outside Port Talbot with his partner, Anna Lundberg, a 30-year-old actress, and their two children. Sheen’s parents still live in the area, so the move was partly for family, but mostly to be a figurehead. The actor has been investing in local arts, charities and more, putting his money where his mouth is to such an extent that there is a mural of his face up on Forge Road.

“It’s home,” Sheen says, shrugging, when I ask why he abandoned his A-list life for southwest Wales. “I feel a deep connection to it.” The seed was sown in 2011 when he played Jesus in Port Talbot in an epic three-day staging of the Passion, starring many locals who were struggling with job cuts and the rising cost of living in their town. “Once you become aware of difficulties in the area you come from you don’t have to do anything,” he says, with a wry smile. “You can live somewhere else, visit family at Christmas and turn a blind eye to injustice. It doesn’t make you a bad person, but I’d seen something I couldn’t unsee. I had to apply myself, and I might not have the impact I’d like, but the one thing that I can say is that I’m doing stuff. I know I am — I’m paying for it!”

The Way is his latest idea to boost the area. The show, which was shot in Port Talbot last year, employed residents in front of and behind the camera. The extras in a scene in which fictional steel workers discuss possible strike action came from the works themselves. How strange they will feel watching it now. The director shakes his head. “It felt very present and crackling.”

One line in the show feels especially crucial: “The British don’t revolt, they grumble.” How revolutionary does Sheen think Britain is? “It happens in flare-ups,” he reasons. “You could say Brexit was a form of it and there is something in us that is frustrated and wants to vent. But these flare-ups get cracked down, so the idea of properly organised revolution is hard to imagine. Yet the more anger there is, the more fear about the cost of living crisis. Well, something’s got to give.”

I mention the Brecon Beacons. “Ah, yes, Bannau Brycheiniog,” Sheen says with a flourish. Last year he spearheaded the celebration of the renaming of the national park to Welsh, which led some to ponder whether Sheen might go further in the name of Welsh nationalism. Owen Williams, a member of the independence campaigners YesCymru, described him to me as “Nye Bevan via Che Guevara” and added that the actor might one day be head of state in an independent Wales.

Sheen bursts out laughing. “Right!” he booms. “Well, for a long time [the head of state] was either me or Huw Edwards, so I suppose that’s changed.” He laughs again. “Gosh. I don’t know what to say.” Has he, though, become a sort of icon for an independent Wales? “I’ve never actually spoken about independence,” he says. “The only thing I’ve said is that it’s worth a conversation. Talking about independence is a catalyst for other issues that need to be talked about. Shutting that conversation down is of no value at all. People say Wales couldn’t survive economically. Well, why not? And is that good? Is that a good reason to stay in the union?”

On a roll, he talks about how you can’t travel from north to south Wales by train without going into England because the rail network was set up to move stuff out of Wales, not round it. He mentions the collapse of local journalism and funding cuts to National Theatre Wales, and says these are the conversations he wants to have — but where in Wales are they taking place?

So, for Sheen, the discussion is about thinking of Wales as independent in identity, not necessarily as an independent state? “As a living entity,” he says, is how he wants people to think about his country. “It’s much more, for me, about exploring what that cultural identity of now is, rather than it being all about the past,” he says. “We had a great rugby team in the 1970s, but it’s not the 1970s anymore and, yes, male-voice choirs make us cry, but there are few left. Mines aren’t there either. All the things that are part of the cultural identity of Wales are to do with the past and, for me, it’s much more about exploring what is alive about Welsh identity now.”

You could easily forget that Sheen is an actor. He calls himself a “not for profit” thesp, meaning he funds social projects, from addiction to disability sports. “I juggle things more,” he says. “Also I have young kids again and I don’t want to be away much.”

Sheen has an empathetic face, a knack of making the difficult feel personable. And there are two big roles incoming — a relief to fans.

Which leads us to Prince Andrew. “Of course it does.” This year he plays the troubled duke in A Very Royal Scandal — a retelling of the Emily Maitlis fiasco with Ruth Wilson as the interviewer. Does the show go to Pizza Express in Woking? “No,” Sheen says, grinning. Why play the prince? He thinks about this a lot. “Inevitably you bring humanity to a character — that’s certainly what I try to do.” He pauses. “I don’t want people to say, ‘It was Sheen who got everybody behind Andrew again.’ But I also don’t want to do a hatchet job.”

So what is he trying to do? “Well, it is a story about privilege really,” he says. “And how easy it is for privilege to exploit. We’ve found a way of keeping the ambiguity, because, legally, you can’t show stuff that you cannot prove, but whether guilty or not, his privilege is a major factor in whatever exploitation was going on. Beyond the specifics of Andrew and Epstein, no matter who you are, privilege has the potential to exploit someone. For Andrew, it’s: ‘This girl is being brought to me and I don’t really care where she comes from, or how old she is, this is just what happens for people like me.’”

It must have been odd having the prince and Bevan — the worst and best of our ruling classes — in his head at the same time. What, if anything, links the men? “What is power and what can you do with it?” Sheen muses, which seems to speak to his position in Port Talbot too. Nye at the National portrays the Welsh politician on his deathbed, in an NHS hospital, moving through his memories while doped up on meds. Sheen wants the audience to think: “Is there a Bevan in politics now and, if not, why not?”

Which takes us back to The Way. At the start one rioter yells about wanting to “change everything” — he means politically, sociologically. However, assuming that changing everything is not possible, what is the one thing Sheen would change? “Something practical? Not ‘I want world peace’. I would create a people’s chamber as another branch of government — like the Lords, there’d be a House of People, representing their community. Our political system has become restrictive and nonrepresentational, so something to open that up would be good.”

The actor is a thousand miles from his old Hollywood life. “It’d take a lot for me to work in America again — my life is elsewhere.” It is in Port Talbot instead. “The last man on the battlefield” is how one MP describes the steel works in The Way, and Sheen is unsure what happens when that last man goes. “Some people say it’s to do with net zero aims,” he says about the closure. “Others blame Brexit. But, ultimately, the people of Port Talbot have been let down — and there is no easy answer about what comes next.”

[decadentscribe]

IT WAS NORMAL TO BRING a plus one to an event as grand as this. An A-Lister like Graham was an eligible bachelor, and women would line up just to be with him. It shouldn‘t be a surprise that he was able to have a date for the night. Despite her awareness, it didn‘t lessen the sting of seeing him with someone else. She had already ended their affair, and she shouldn‘t care anymore. But even though she shouldn‘t, she had no control over her real feelings. ❝It‘s not working,❞ she retorted, staring daggers at him, and then to his date. The audacity of this guy! She inwardly told herself to stay calm. Schooling her features to be devoid of emotion, she riposted, ❝Why would I bother? She doesn‘t have what it takes.❞ The remark was merely out of spite.

continued from here // @lovepctions

[swiftie-blog-123]

Couples I ship and/or am obsessed with:

America Chavez/Kate Bishop (Young Avengers): "Princess, I've seen the way you look at me. You're not that straight."

Kirk/Spock (Star Trek): "This simple feeling"

Aloy/Seyka (Horizon): "I want to be with you"

Aloy/Petra (Horizon): "About time there was something worth looking at in this dump"

Merlin/Arthur (Merlin): "two sides of the same coin"

Anne Lister/Ann Walker (Gentleman Jack): "Every time I closed my eyes, there you were"

Rachel and Luce (Imagine Me & You): "The lily means I dare you to love me"

Graham and Megan (But I'm a Cheerleader): "don't run from me because this is fate"

Prof X/Magneto (X-Men movies): "I want you by my side"

Carol/Therese (Carol): "My angel, flung out of space"

Karolina/Nico (Runaways): "There's no leaving each other, not anymore"

Wiccan/Hulkling (Young Avengers): "I'm not going to lose you again"

Chloe/Nadine (Uncharted): “Relax, you’ll live longer.”

Nathan/Elena (Uncharted): “Anyone ever tell you, you have a funny idea of romantic?”

Spider-Man/MJ (Spider-Man): “Face it tiger, you just hit jackpot”

Tasha/Alice (The L Word): “You like girly girls”

Carmilla/Laura (Carmilla): “So you’re a giant black cat”

Hiccup/Astrid

[listerbirdloml]

The Death of Your Dog, The Stretch of Our Skin.

Summary: At fourteen, Rowan's dog died. At fifteen, Jimmy's grandmother died. And now, at twenty, Lister has lost his father.

Characters: Alister 'Lister' Bird, Jimmy Kaga-Ricci, Rowan Omondi, Piero Ricci, Chiara Ricci, Graham Duncan, Mention of Cecily Wills and Louise Bird.

Warnings: Death of an animal, grief, self effacing thoughts, strong language, minor violence, someone says the wh*re word, someone also tries to say a racial slur but they do not manage to.

Ships: Bicci kiss teehee

Word Count: 4.6k

just a little thing I wrote about the ark boys comforting one another through different types of grief. PLEASE BE KIND IVE NEVER PUBLISHED ANY WRITING BEFORE LMAO

Tilly Omondi.

When they were fourteen, Rowans dog died. 

It had been a truly unremarkable day at school. They played in the music room, ate their lunch, attended their afternoon lessons, and then walked to Rowans. He had the better gaming system out of him and Jimmy, and he even had the new Red Dead Redemption game. He’d gotten his mum to buy it the day it came out, and now they were all excited to see how it was. Especially Lister, since he didn’t have a play station or anything of his own.

As they walked down the road to Rowans, conversation flew freely among them. Per usual, it was dominated by Lister and whatever random topic entered his mind. Jimmy was content to sit back and listen, chipping in whenever he thought of something relevant to say. Meanwhile, Rowan was more than happy to shut down particularly stupid conversations Lister started or rise up to the challenge whenever Lister turned to teasing him. 

When they arrived at Rowans home, the three boys began untying their show laces and shucking off their winter coats. It wasn’t exactly freezing anymore, but it was cold enough for the jackets to still shelter them from the Kent winds. Earlier in the winter, Rowan noticed Listers coat wasn’t the warmest, so he’d given him one of his own under the guise of wanting to get rid of it.

When Rowan opened the door, the lack of four legs bounding towards them was immediately noticeable. Tilly, the Omondi family dog, was a little white Jack Russell with the sweetest of nature. She was a lap dog at heart, rarely barking. She was always found greeting anyone who entered their home at the door, her little tail wagging while she waited to be greeted in return.

"Mum?" Rowan called out pensively, thinking perhaps she’d taken an impromptu walk with the little dog. There was noise from the kitchen, as though someone was startled at the idea of Rowan being home at the time he was.

"Hi sweetheart." Came the call from Rowans mother, but she didn’t leave the kitchen. Lister thought he could hear a waver in her voice. But then again, he was starting to believe he was hardwired to detect the negative emotions people portrayed. even if they weren’t there. "Uh, Ro, can you come to the kitchen, please?" Rowan glanced at his two friends who waited in the doorway, all three clearly confused. With a gesture signalling the other two to wait, Rowan headed down the hallway and disappeared into his kitchen.

Standing just the two of them, Lister suddenly ran out of words. He was entirely focused on a loose thread in his school shirt, and Jimmy was too nervous to start a conversation himself. If it wasn’t in band practise or their shared history lesson, Jimmy found it difficult to talk with Lister. He found the other equally intimidating as he was admirable.

The blonde had definitely made huge progress with his confidence around the two friends, but deep down he was still pretty shy. He still held the fear that he was only there because he knew how to play the drums. He was a friend of convenience until Jimmy and Rowan could afford another drummer or even meet a better one. A drummer who wasn’t self-taught like he was, someone who could actually afford the lessons needed to become successful. While he still had these fears and and worries, he had begun to use them for the better. He was worried about being replaced in their band, and so he practised as hard as possible. He was worried about being replaced in their lives, and so he made as big a space for himself as he could. A space big enough that they would sorely miss him should he leave it.

"So uh-" Biting the bullet, Lister had gone to say something. But as he did, Rowan reappeared down the hallway, shoulders slumped, and face a mixture of shock and tears. All trace of nerves or awkwardness had immediately subsided from the two left in the hallway, both meeting Rowan half way. Jimmy put a hand on his shoulder, his own face contorted with worry. Lister didn’t doubt that Jimmy had thought up every single worst-case scenario he could.

"Tilly died."

There were two sharp inhales, and then silence.

Neither seemed particularly sure how to continue, but they both knew that their friend needed them. And so in a fluid motion, Lister and Jimmy had wrapped Rowan in a big group hug, pretending not to notice the way his body was wracked with sobs.

"There was a- a car." Rowans explanation was met with shushes. Lister knew that talking about it more would just upset Rowan, and he had plenty of time in the upcoming days to process the loss. Right now, he was allowed to just feel it. Feel it, with the safety of his two closest friends.

They stood in the Omondi garden, with Lister on one side of Rowan and Jimmy on the other. They both had a head leaning on Rowans shoulders, arms around his middle as he cried. His mother and sister had cried too, but nowhere near as much as Rowan. He had always been particularly close to the little dog.

His dad had just rested Tilly in the ground and let Rowan lay her favourite toys and treats with her before he began to refill the dirt.

Lister had never been to a funeral. Neither had Jimmy.

When Lister was ten, his grandmother on his dad's side passed away. Even though he had been very close with her, his dad didn’t want him at the funeral. He didn’t want Lister to have to stay the few days at his new home; his wife and new kids clearly objected to the older boy’s presence in what was their family home. It wasn’t exactly like he could own a pet either, the landlord of the flat he lived in with his mum was very clear about that.

Jimmy had never been to a funeral because no one in his family had died yet. There had been the rare distant aunty or several times great grand-something or other, but no one closely related to him. The thought alone of losing anyone in his family made him want to lie in the ground alongside Tilly.

"It’s okay, mate." It was Lister speaking, which wasn’t always the safest bet in a rocky situation. But Rowan was too upset to form words, and Jimmy was too scared he’d say the wrong ones.

There’s silence between the trio for a moment, until Lister starts speaking again. "Hey Jim?"

"Yeah?"

"Can dogs go to heaven?"

"Well... they’re creatures made by God? So, I would assume so."

"Me too! I think if any creature on earth should enjoy an eternity of peace and happiness, it’s dogs. Not humans." He turned his body to face Rowan. "And when your time comes, you can wave up at her."

There’s silence before Rowan chokes out a loud and abrupt laugh. He covers his mouth, his shoulders shaking from laughter even as the tears freely flow down his cheeks. Jimmy can’t help but begin to chuckle too, even if he himself had been tearing up. And when Lister joined them, they came together again in a group hug, sandwiching Rowan.

Joan Ricci.

Jimmy wasn’t in school today.

While Lister himself had missed more classes this year than possibly anyone else in their school, and Rowan wasn’t immune to the odd sick day, Jimmy was never sick. And even if he was, he made his way to school for fear of missing anything important and having his schoolwork snowball.

The most concerning thing about his absence, however, was that he hadn’t responded to any texts from the two boys. He hadn’t even read their group chat either. And now, at four o’clock in the afternoon, the two were headed to the Ricci house, sat on the bus in silence. Thankfully, Lister no longer felt awkward in the presence of one of them alone. He still felt incredibly aware of the split between them, between childhood best friends and drummer, but it no longer prevented him from connecting with either Jimmy or Rowan.

He had just come to accept that he would forever be the odd one out. the one who lived on the council estate, the one whose mum had him as a teen, the one with an estranged dad. He could never compare to Jimmy and Rowan, with their private music lessons and middle-class homes. The kind that weren’t even attached to the houses next to it and were made of the fancy looking red brick.

"What if he's, like, dead?" Rowan interrupted the silence, looking down at his still-unanswered text to their friend. Lister sighed and lightly shoved the bassist on the shoulder. They were almost at the bus stop near Jimmy's grandparents home.

"Mate, you sound like Jimmy when you think like that. 

With a reluctant sigh of agreement, Rowan followed Lister out of their seats and down the aisle of the bus to wait at the door for the driver to let them off.

As they walked the last few minutes to the Ricci household, Lister could feel dread settling in his stomach. He didn’t know what for, or why it decided to make itself at home in his gut, but he almost had to stop walking. Something was wrong. Something was really wrong. He wasn’t sure if it was with Jimmy or what, but he was definitely more eager to pick up the pace to the Riccis to ensure their singer and best friend were okay.

The first thing they noticed about the Ricci household was the cars parked outside. Neither of Jimmy's grandparents could drive anymore, and Jimmy wasn’t even old enough for a provisional licence yet, let alone a car.

But for some reason, there was four or five cars around the driveway and road in front. Lister glanced at Rowan, the taller one seeming confused as well. But instead of looking at Lister, he kept walking, jogging up the steps, and ringing the doorbell. Lister soon joined him, hands wringing together uncharacteristically. Through the stained glass of the front door, he was sure he could hear soft murmurs from the living room. way more voices than the three inhabitants of the Ricci home. Soon a figure from the inside was moving down the hallway to open the door, and it was immediately apparent it wasn’t Pierreo or Joan. This person moved far too quickly, and before Lister could say anything else, the door was opened.

It was a woman that Lister had never met before, but he could tell instantly who she was. She was tall, about the only thing that didn’t resemble their friend. But the shape of her eyes, the curve of her nose, and the slant of her jaw was almost entirely Jimmy. The grumpy frown was the splitting image.

She had only glanced at their uniforms before she sighed and went to shut the door. "Jimmy can’t come out right now."

"Wait!" Lister cried out, sticking his foot in the doorway. The woman looked mildly infuriated, and distantly, Lister couldn’t help but think this was a terrible first impression with Jimmy's mother. "Is he okay? He hasn’t answered us, and he wasn’t at school. We were just…" Lister trailed off as he caught sight of Piero walking out of the living room.

"Pierro?" Rowan called out, and Lister could hear the apprehension in his tone. The old man’s face had sunken even since they’d seen him at the weekend. They’d been celebrating Rowans fifteenth a week early, and Joan had managed to get out of bed to bake him a huge cake before they had band practise. But now, Pierros eyes looked red-rimmed, and he was leaning heavily on his walking stick with every step.

"Boys," he sighed, joining his daughter in the doorway. Lister was the closest to him, with his foot still in the door. Pierro opened up the arm not relying on the cane, and Lister quickly accepted it for what it was: a hug.

"Is Jimmy okay? Did something happen?" It was Rowan again, and as he pulled away from the old man and glanced at Jimmy's mum, who still stood watching, Lister couldn’t blame the worry in his voice. If Rowan was feeling anything as unease’d as Lister in the presence of the usually aloof CEO, then Lister was unsure how Rowan was so well at hiding it.

"Boys." It seemed that Pierro couldn’t say anything else; his voice was fading. "This morning… Joan passed this morning."

The dread in Listers stomach had spread to his whole body, his heart aching as it pounded a mile a minute in his chest. He couldn’t form words, but tears had begun to well in his eyes.

"What? no… No she… What?" Rowan was scrambling to find the right words. He hadn’t begun to cry yet, but Lister knew it was from shock. His own tears were spilling onto his cheeks already.

"I’m sorry, boys." Pierro shook his head, and as though they were driven by the same force, Rowan and Lister descended on the old man with bone-crushing hugs. He tried his best to reciprocate them, but Lister could feel the quiver of his hands and the shallowness of his breath.

When they pulled apart, Lister wiped at his face a little too aggressively, but his shoulders were still high to his face, and he was still shivering from the force of his tears.

"Jimmys upstairs. I think he might like to see the both of you."

 

When they opened the door on the furthest end of the upstairs corridor, they noticed the lights were off and the curtains were drawn. There was a figure sitting up on the bed, a blanket draped over their head as they seemingly stared into space.

Pushing the door over further, the creak of it and the intrusion of the hallway light made Jimmy turn his head, the blanket falling to instead rest on his shoulders. His face was void of emotion, but even from where he stood in the doorway, Lister could see how puffy and red it looked compared to normal. Cheeks that still carried baby fat were raw with tears and the motions of wiping them away. Rowan and Lister had only just managed to compose themselves.

No one of the trio said anything; instead, the two newest additions to the room made their way over and sat on either side of the singer. He managed a small smile, trying to convey his appreciation for their attempts at comfort.

"She died." He croaked out, looking between them. Lister had a hand up to Jimmy's face, carefully moving some of Jimmy's shaggy hair out of the way of his face and behind his ear.

"We know, Jimjam." His voice was so foreign, even to himself. It was soft in a way he didn’t know he possessed anymore. He couldn’t help but think he almost sounded like his mum. The hand that had been fixing Jimmy's hair now rested gently on his shoulder, and he used it to bring the smaller one into a hug.

They could feel Rowans arms wrap around them, Jimmy circled. If Lister wasn’t the token atheist of their little group, he would think that it was symbolic or something. The wings of an angel maybe.

They should write a song about that.

Alister Bird.

Bringing a hand up to his earpiece and pulling it out, the full noise of the crowd hit Lister instantly. It was the end of their first show back, and now only Lister stood on the stage. Jimmy and Rowan had already made their exit, and now, standing up from his drum kit and holding his sticks in the air, it was Lister's turn.

He was panting, and he’s sure he looked like a sweaty mess, but the crowd was losing their minds, and he had never felt more alive. He jumped down from the platform where his drum kit was stationed and exited off the side of the stage towards Rowan and Jimmy, who were waiting for him. They both were panting and sweaty, but the grins on their faces resembled their thirteen-year-old selves so much that Lister didn’t care about it when he dragged them into a group hug, jumping up and down from excitement.

"That was fucking class." Lister managed out, his arm still wrapped around Jimmy's shoulders when they pulled away, his boyfriend (boyfriend!) leaning onto him.

"Profound as always, Alister." Rowan teased, the both of them pretending to fight for a moment or so longer before they were all ushered away from the backstage area and towards the dressing rooms.

Jimmy held a firm grip on his hand, and when they found an area secluded enough, he used it to detour them into a hidden crevice. His hands balled into fists around Listers shirt, and he used it to push him against the wall.

Lister laughed, but his chest was still heaving. "Jimjam, slow down." He could see the way the singers eyes drooped, the way they seemed fully focused on the way Listers lips moved around his words. He kept leaning in to try and kiss them, but Lister was feeling mischievous. He kept holding the singer away.

"Lis, I swear to God." He had a glare on his face, trying to appear intimidating. He failed to realise that to Lister, he did the exact opposite. Feeling empathy for the clearly desperate singer and giving into his own urge to kiss his boyfriend stupid, Lister leaned down and pressed their lips together.

He could feel Jimmy relaxing in his hold. He could feel the heat radiating from the frontman's body after the long show, and he could still hear the commotion of the crowd as the lights were turned on and they were ushered out of the venue. It was hard for Lister to believe that he was lucky enough to experience this. Not just the resurrection of his passion for music, but also the chance he’d been given to live a life by Jimmy's side. He’d lived in the frontman's shadow all these years, but now he had been given permission to love him. To kiss him freely without the guilt of another drunken mishap. To hug him without feeling that he had ill intentions.

He hoped the way he held Jimmy could convey all this. It was difficult to show the full extent of your love with only one arm around the middle. To share your soul with someone in the hopes they’ll accept it and, in turn, share their own.

His hands were in Jimmy's hair now, tugging at the strands on the back of his neck. Jimmy's hair had thankfully recovered from the years in which he straightened it, and now it was styled in its more natural waves. It was thick and bushy, and when Lister needed something to do with his hands, he would try to braid it. It wasn’t quite long enough for that, though, as Jimmy still preferred it short.

"Mr Bird."

The voice made both stars jump, with Lister keeping hold of Jimmy until he could see who it was who had interrupted them. He only hoped to God that it wasn’t a fan. But then again, not many Ark fans were middle-aged, bald white men with security written in bold letters over their chests. If this was a disguise to get backstage, it was a damn good one.

"Sorry to bother you, sir. But there’s a gentleman here who says he needs to talk with you." The man held a hand to his earpiece, turning away slightly as he likely received more information. Lister's thoughts had begun to run wild. He wasn’t sure who it could possibly be. He hadn’t spoken to any hookups in months and hadn’t initiated any since he and Jimmy had been talking. The guard turned back to them, ignoring Jimmy entirely. "A Graham Duncan, sir."

While it was clear the name didn’t ring any bells to Jimmy, Lister had sucked in a breath through his teeth so deeply that Jimmy could feel his chest move with it. Lister gently nudged at Jimmy's shoulder, urging him to back up so that Lister could move away from the wall.

"How did he get in?"

"His ID, Mr. Bird. Miss Cecily has a list of approved names, and he was on it, sir."

Lister sighed and rubbed at his forehead, post-show high clearly gone as he looked back to Jimmy.

"There he is!"

There’s excitement in the voice, but the room is silent around him. Rowan was sat on the couch farthest from the door, Lister stood from where he’d been sitting on the sofa, and Jimmy still sat next to his old spot. The father and son stared at each other for a few tense moments. Listers face was unreadable as he crossed his arms over his chest. Graham looked as though he'd been here to joke around with his son, coming close and punching him lightly on the shoulder.

"What you been up to then, boyo?" Lister could see Rowan raise an eyebrow at this, his face screaming, 'What does it look like we’ve been up to?' But Graham didn’t seem bothered by waiting for a response from Lister. He looked around at the two other members of the band, likely not wanting a crowd for his conversation with his oldest son.

"What do you want?" There was no pleasantry in Listers tone. He felt no need to pretend. To act like he and his dad had spoken since he’d turned ten, since his half brother was born and he himself was thrown to the side. Lister was the child born from a teenage mistake to the woman Graham had married for only two years before cheating with another woman. He wasn’t something Graham wanted to remember. And yet, he stood in their dressing room as though they were old buddies.

Graham laughed, spluttering on words for a moment as he clearly struggled to find what to say. "I can’t come see you then?" He landed on, earning a scoff from Lister, who walked away from the older man and made his way to the refreshment table in the corner. It was obvious to those who knew him that he was acting on instinct. Looking for something to drink. Looking for something to take the pressure of the situation off. But of course, there was no alcohol on the table anymore. Just water and juice. The juice would have to do.

"Ally, don’t be like that. You’ve no seen your auld man in donkeys, and this is how you want to act?"

"Lister." It was Rowan who had corrected him, sitting up on the couch and levelling Graham with a glare. While he knew very little of Listers family, he knew that this man was no father. He had just so happened to be Listers biological parent. There was nothing more between them.

"What do you want?" Lister asked again, holding the juice bottle to his lips and drinking almost half of it in one go.

Graham once again looked like he was about to obfuscate, but dropped it when Lister went to turn away from him again. "The house, Alister. It’s gone up... Me and Maria are struggling."

Rowan and Jimmy looked at each other, utter disbelief written over their features. The gaul of the man who had neglected their friend since he was a toddler to then come to him and ask for financial aid?

It would appear Lister also caught the irony, laughing bitterly as he finished the rest of his drink. "The house I have never been to? The house the woman you cheated on my mother with asked you to buy, so that you could play happy families while me and mum rotted away in a fucking council flat?" With each sentence, Listers voice rose higher and higher. "That fucking house?" He rounded the sofas to once again stand in front of the now angry man.

"You can fuck right off." Lister hissed, pointing to the door.

"I am your father, Alister. I helped raise you. You might look back on it now and scoff with all your multi-millions, but it was the damned best I could do." He was shouting too now, poking lister repeatedly on the chest. Rowan and Jimmy had stood up, fearing the worst with Lister's temper.

"You gave my mum fifteen fucking quid a month."

"It was all I had, Alister!" But Lister wouldn’t accept that. He threw the bottle across the room, watching as it grazzed past his father's head.

"Get out!"

"You are fucking pathetic. Your mother did about as much as I did, and you bought the stupid bitch a house? You give her money so she can prance about like she wasn’t some little fucking whore. And now, you’re acting like some big rockstar." He looked at Rowan and Jimmy. "But its just you and two fucking da-"

Graham Duncan didn't get to finish whatever hateful words he had wished to shout, as Lister had slammed his fist right into the centre of his face, feeling satisfied at the crunch of bone he felt and the cry that carried out through the room. The older man seemed to be torn between hitting back and staggering away, but the door was already open, and security was swarming Graham, dragging him out.

"Lis." Jimmy’s hand was on Listers shoulder from behind him, and Rowan was also taking a step closer so that he could make sure his friend was okay. Listers shoulders were hunched, and his face contorted as though he were in physical pain.

"Why... why doesn’t he care? Why does he..." He had begun to cry, and Jimmy was quick to tug him down by the shoulders in a hug. He rubbed at the drummer's back as he cried, shushing him gently to try and calm him down. Rowan also had a hand on Lister's shoulder.

"It's okay, Lis. he's gone." The bassist reassured. The drummer turned his head to look at Rowan, a small and appreciative smile on his tear-stained face.

"Well, he seemed lovely." Jimmy sighed, and Lister couldn’t stop the wet laugh he let out, rubbing at his eyes.

"A fucking delight, right?"

The three of them can’t help their giggles. Rowan quickly checked Lister's fist to be sure he hadn’t hurt it.

No matter how much it had hurt Lister to be confronted by his father, he felt comfort in the fact that he’d always been right about the man. He didn’t care about Lister or his mother. He only cared about himself and what he could get out of people. Perhaps it was a good thing that Lister had been raised by his hard-working and considerate mother. As much as he used to long for a father in his life, he knew now he was better off without him. It was his job to grow up to be a better man. not because of his father, but to spite him, to show him that not everyone was doomed to fall headfirst into the bottle and to never make it out. No. he had reason to live. to live happily.

"If I ever become a dad, I am never asking him for advice." Lister sniffed out, Rowan and Jimmy laughing as they pulled him in for a group hug.

[raybizzle]

"Posse" (1993) is a western film directed by Mario Van Peebles and written by Sy Richardson and Dario Scardapane. The movie stars a large cast, with many notable actors and actresses. It saw success at the box office, grossing $20 million on a $3.5 million budget. The soundtrack was a mixture of blues, funk, soul, and hip-hop, but it could have done better on the charts. This film was the first black cowboy movie since the late 70s.

Director: Mario Van Peebles Writers: Sy Richardson, Dario Scardapane

Starring Mario Van Peebles, Stephen Baldwin, Charles Lane, Tommy 'Tiny' Lister, Big Daddy Kane, Billy Zane, Blair Underwood, Melvin Van Peebles, Richard Jordan, Salli Richardson-Whitfield, Tone Loc, Pam Grier, Isaac Hayes, Vesta Williams, Nipsey Russell, Reginald VelJohnson, Woody Strode, Lawrence Cook, Robert Hooks, Reginald Hudlin, Warrington Hudlin, Christopher Michael, Bob Minor.

Storyline In Cuba, a band of Buffalo Soldiers, led by the fearless Jesse Lee (Mario Van Peebles) and joined by a gambling white soldier (Stephen Baldwin), is sent on a suicide mission to intercept a shipment of gold from enemy troops during the Spanish-American War. When they discover that the racist white officer who sent them, Col. Graham (Billy Zane), meant to betray them, they are forced to shoot their way to freedom. Upon escaping, they embark on a dangerous quest across the American frontier, one which leads Lee back to his hometown, where the KKK killed his father.

Available on Blu-ray and streaming services

[manyfandomocs]

Okay in honour of finally finally finding a version of pretty smart that I could download/convert/turn into Gregg scene packs I have to ask

Any crossover ideas for the new army of Gregg ocs? 🥺👀

Absolutely I tried to keep these relatively short but it was hard lmao

Wyatt Hayden

Adrian Nelson & Amanda Weston (idk if poly vibes or bestie vibes but something)

Allie St. James

Annabel Harkness (just vibes)

Anthony Byrne (doppelgänger fun)

Ashley Nardini (Cinderella Story: A Christmas Wish said this is a necessity)

Bekah Chamberlain (Idk I think she’d be fun for him)

Casey Boone

Chelsea Geller (idk idk just vibes)

Conrad Huntzberger (I’m just gay. That’s it this is just for Me)

Cosette Gerard

Gabi Mariano

Harry Bechtel & Troy Donahue-Castillo (again I’m just gay)

Heather Belleville

Kaitlyn Lister

Kaylee Hayden (we’ve already talked about them but)

Kippi Doose

Lia Belleville (idk why I’m vibing with the Belleville’s)

Maisie McCrae

Malcolm & Marianne Medina (I couldn’t pick)

Marley Tinsdale

Paige Huntzberger

Romy Danes

Sage Hall

Sophie Dugray

Verity Huntzberger

And then just every Gilmore

Rhett Sheppard

Abigail Claremont-Diaz (either instead of crushing on Alex forever he’s crushed on her or he still has crushed on Alex but seeing Alex and Henry makes him realize it was Abi all along??)

Caroline Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor & Oliver Cochrane

Cate Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor

Isabel Luna

Kennedy Quinlan

London Carter

Madison Richards

Margaret Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor

Cooper Sullivan

Ainsley Winchester

Anna Winchester

Cybil

Dinah Novak

Elle Winchester

Esther Colt

Evelyn Jacobs

Kat Smith

Katia McKinley

Nevaeh Murphy

Samira Devlin

Maximillian Sterling (forgot about my Genevieve Sterling from Riverdale so his last name maaaay change we’ll see)

Abigail White

Blair Dupont

Dominic Forrest (I’m gay)

Eva Gilbert

Harry Saltzman (I’m gay)

Karina Mikaelson

Karissa Marshall

Ronnie Lockwood

Rowan Saltzman (poly with Caroline perhaps perhaps)

Graham Donovan

Anastasia Campbell

Annette Diggory

Bobbie Fortescue

Carina Goldberg (Squib kids squib kids)

Clio Lupin

Danica Lestrange

Elvira Lestrange

Laurel Prewett

Lianne Slughorn

Lyarra Vance

Lysithea Sewlyn

Maia Lupin

Maristela Carrillo

Mavis Bardot

Miranda Granger

Nineve Weasley

Talia Lovegood

Venus Malfoy

Maaaaybe the Invictus crew if we want Andrew to have a doppelgänger too

[illogarithmil]

If you're one of the dozens - DOZENS! - of people unfortunate enough to ever have had to read Johnny Adair's autobiography (ghostwritten by Graham McKendry), I strongly recommend David Lister & Hugh Jordan's Mad Dog: The Rise and Fall of Johnny Adair and C Company. It's sensationalized journalistic uncited arse-talk about half the time, but it provides enough context for all the times Adair's much shorter book published three years later is utter, hilarious, detached-from-reality bullshit that it makes up for it. Also, and I say this with no disrespect necessarily meant for Graham McKendry, a man who may well have had very compelling reasons for ghostwriting for the kind of man who made the football hooligans of Irish terrorism go 'you're tasteless, dangerous, unprincipled, and unpleasant': Lister and Jordan know how to write a readable book.

[coop-of-coffee]

Tag game: 9 favorite characters

Thanks for tagging me @hugh-lauries-bald-spot !!

These are just some of my favorites in no particular order. From top left:

1- Kim Wexler (Better Call Saul)

2- The Doctor (Doctor Who)

3- Orlo (The Great)

4- Julian Bashir (Star Trek DS9)

5- Tasha Yar (Star Trek TNG)

6- Will Graham (Hannibal)

7- Lorne (Angel: the series)

8- Dave Lister (Red Dwarf)

9- Brienne of Tarth (A Song of Ice and Fire) / art by @swordmaid, whose Brienne & Braime & asoiaf art I adore

Tagging: @dracfields @catabasis @evilbubblewrap @killemwithgayness + whoever wants to do this :)

[missyourflight]

some stuff i read and watched in october:

midnight mass: october innit, did a doctor sleep rewatch too (director's cut obvs) - hill house probably fucks me up more emotionally but riley's speech about what happens when you die (synapses version) is like the closest anything's come to expressing my feelings about it so. also did fall of the house of usher which was fun enough but i feel like i'd have got more out of it if i knew more poe whoops

bodies: netflix time travel time loop nonsense i got weirdly sucked into, kyle soller forever etc. stephen graham reminded me i need to watch boiling point

troy: i'm still wallowing in the emily wilson iliad, therefore, troy rewatch. god it's so stupid but i am weirdly fond of it. in 2004 i just thought eric bana was so so handsome. every old man in this is killing it and brad pitt and orlando bloom are unspeakably bad lol. still bananas to me that that one quote gets circulated and attributed to homer when in fact it is by one of the game of thrones dudes

a quiet passion: god terence davies is such a loss. there's a scene in this where emily dickinson is talking about loneliness and she's so Angry about it and i cried so much

the heiress: watched partly for terence and partly for marty and partly for william wyler. i Don't understand how zooms work but there's a shot where olivia de havilland turns back to the house and it's like everything looms and narrows. need to watch more montgomery clift pictures

i know where i'm going!: i can't get to any of the powell and pressburger bfi screenings so i rewatched the red shoes and i watched this for the first time. very romantic imo to get stuck on a scottish island and fall in love with someone who is not your fiance and want them so much you try and sail away from them in the middle of a perilous storm because they keep standing so close to you!!

killers of the flower moon: give lily gladstone everything my god. literally i can't rewatch that one scene in certain women bc it's So much she's SO good

the quick and the dead: we used to make Films you know. 107 minutes. bunch of cowboys in a shootout competition and that's the whole plot. sam raimi inventing new types of zooms. mid-90s russell crowe and absolute baby leo. no notes!

all that jazz: bob fosse you absolute nightmare. i had to go and rewatch the on broadway opening rn just thinking about it. five stars

possession: something fucked up to watch on halloween! very strange and harrowing, loved the tentacle monster obvs

emma donoghue, learned by heart: i do have a soft spot for famed west yorkshire lesbian gentleman jack for reasons of like ancestral queerness, did Not know that anne lister went to boarding school in york and lived in the same building i met my tutor every term. i love york and i love lesbians and i liked this a lot, what a good and ultimately wrenching way into the story. time for a slammerkin reread and also when will sarah waters return to us etc

[thefirsthogokage]

There are actors absolutely making my shit list for not only taking interim agreements during the strike, but also NEVER POSTING OR TALKING ABOUT IT, meaning, they aren't supporting their fellow guild members.

Anne Hathaway and Jennifer Lopez are two people I've clocked as doing this.

Also, there are plenty of A-Listers who all they did was say to SAG-AFTRA they would strike and since...haven't done anything to support it.

So, that's also gross.

Also, fuck everyone of these people:

Actors able to continue working under these agreements include Anne Hathaway, Dakota Fanning, Glenn Close, James Badge Dale, Ben Foster, Graham Greene and Melissa Leo among others. Movies from the likes of Guy Ritchie and Destry Allyn Spielberg have been granted casting waivers. (Source)

That source also includes a current list of the film and TV productions that will be made under the interim agreement.

Every A-Lister working on this movies - you know, people who aren't hurting for money - should be required to donate at least half their paychecks to funds for the people who ARE hurting for money IN THEIR INDUSTRY. If they don't, fuck them all to hell. They give zero shits about anyone but their bank accounts.

[robertrabiah]

Rabiah tells IF: “Bilal was such a draining character to play. Even though a lot of scenes didn’t make the cut (normal, in order to get it to a TV duration), feeling my stomach turn every morning was intense and I just needed to travel for a while.”

Produced by Nick Batzias of Good Thing Productions, Veronica Gleeson and Kate Neylon and due to shoot in WA in January, Below stars Ryan Corr as Dougie, a directionless dreamer who is recruited to work in the detention centre. He soon discovers the centre is home to a Fight Club-style underground operation where detainees are blackmailed into fighting, which awakens his dormant conscience.

Anthony LaPaglia is Dougie’s stepfather Terry, the centre’s security manager. Alison Whyte is Cheryl, Dougie’s mum, with Phoenix Raei as Azad, a detainee and fighter. Zenia Starr is Imogen, a social worker, with Morgana O’Reilly as Michelle, a detention centre guard who is Terry’s offsider.

Rabiah has been cast as King Ciggy, a prize-fighter who was one of the first arrivals at the detention centre and is burdened with the task of keeping order among the detainees.

He is looking forward to teaming again with Corr after Ali’s Wedding and with Raei, who directed and wrote 7 Storeys Down, a drama which co-starred Raei and Kate Lister.

Most of all he is excited about the opportunity to work with LaPaglia, his childhood idol, observing: “I remember watching him as a kid in a TV movie called Frank Nitti: The Enforcer back in 1988 and you couldn’t take your eyes off him – such a formidable screen persona. The only lines I’ve been rehearsing is saying my name correctly. I have this recurring nightmare that I shake his hand, open my mouth, and no words come out…”

Next year Rabiah will also be seen in Foxtel/Matchbox Pictures’ Secret City: Under the Eagle. Directed by Tony Krawitz and Daniel Nettheim, the sequel to Secret City again stars Anna Torv, Jacki Weaver, Danielle Cormack, Rob Collins, Sacha Horler and Marcus Graham.

In the six-part political thriller Rabiah plays Sami Almasi, a shady Canberra businessman who is the main antagonist to Torv’s Harriet Dunkley, the former journalist who, after being released from jail, discovers a military and political cover-up.

[steveleeuk]

On this day in 1961 Marilyn Monroe, Hollywood screen siren and society A-lister was found dead in her bedroom having taken a huge overdose of barbiturates. The world’s media covered the story in a big way as it always seems to when someone famous and glamorous dies. By all accounts, Marylyn Monroe was a deeply troubled woman at the time of her premature death and battled depression and addiction.

American evangelist, Dr Billy Graham spoke about his attempt to have a conversation with Marilyn Monroe about her life. He described the moment he felt an inner sense that something was going to happen to her. He telephoned Monroe’s agent in an attempt to arrange the conversation but was told her diary was full, but a date was set a few weeks in advance. In the interim, the world was rocked by the actress’s apparent suicide. Billy Graham never got to have the meeting.

There are moments in our lives when life seem so fragile, and maybe they are the very moments when we all ask the big questions about life, faith in God. The Bible issues a stark warning about procrastinating over the most important things. Today is the day, it says, and now is the time to make a response to God as Creator and Father.

[clivechip]

Friday Funnies 2

It’s been four weeks since I restarted my earlier Saturday Smiles series as Friday Funnies, so it seems about time to give you a few more clips to make you smile. These are a bit of a mixed bag, but I hope you’ll find something in here to enjoy. When I ran the previous series I played a couple of excerpts from the Graham Norton Show, of Greg Davies reducing a couch of Hollywood A-listers to…