#i finally made a decent promo

[rescuefield-a]

credits: X - X

[deputygonebye]

"YOU CAN'T JUST BE THE GOOD GUY AND EXPECT TO LIVE." || Independent RP Blog for SHANE WALSH of THE WALKING DEAD. || Written and created by KENNZIE. 

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[rcsentful]

      —- we talked about making it , i’m sorry that you never made it , and it pains me just to hear you have to say it . you knew the game and played it , it kills to know that you have been defeated - i see the wires pulling while you’re breathing . you knew you had a reason , it killed you like diseases . i can hear it in your voice while you’re speaking : you can’t be treated . mr. know-it-all had his reign and his fall , at least that’s what his brain is telling all ... if he said “ help me kill the president ” , i’d say he needs medicine ! sick of screaming , let us in ! the wires got the best of him . all that he invested in goes straight to hell, straight to hell ... 

                                rules ... bio ... template by @candyredmusings​

[snowblack-charcoalwhite]

Another bad episode. A numerous callbacks to got (with zero subtlety), and of course, TB had 90% of screentime. Funny how in supposed TG centered episodes (1-4) the blacks still had a decent amount of screentime and relevance, just remember the aftermath of B&C. But this? Oh, someone counted and apparently aemond appeared for... 93 seconds. In the whole episode. It's official now, he actually was more relevant and present in s1 (unless he gets like 20+ minutes in season finale which won't happen). I just don't understand why was he promoted as a main character this season. It was such a dirty marketing trick. Not to mention other things they relentlessly pushed during promo, like his loyalty, scenes with helaena... It's not about subverting expectations, it's straight up lying by giving false answers to the questions of the people and journalists who actually correctly predicted what was going to happen from the beginning. Oh well, fool me once, I'm just happy this mess is over next week. Bye bye s3. Still salty they made me hate something I was passionate about for years, though.

Hello!

I understand you completely. This episode was one giant ball of boredom. The only two times I woke up a bit were for Tom's brilliant portrayal of pain and for the final scene with Aemond in Vhagar. Never in a million years coud I imagine that the highlight of a HotD episode for me will be a character mounting a horse.

And Aemond... Well. I still feel very angry about the way the show treated him this season but at the same time I'm already kind of numb to it. It wouldn't even be that surprising for me amymore if the writers have him abuse Helaena, of all people, in the finale, either psychologically or physically (or both). Then it will officially became a complete circus.

On the one hand, I am happy we got as much Ewan in the promo as we did - but I sure hope he will wind a way to use this goddamn show in his own interests just as HBO used him.

[rubyteacos]

Soooo who remembers the L & Light Gametoys figure promo photos that were circulating last year? Well, I may have made a bonkers financial decision and actually bought them for giggles. They finally arrived and the time has come to see what they're like! Not a review, just an unhinged reaction and two Death Note fans playing with dolls.

Though if you want my actual review, here's what I'll say:

The quality seems very good

the heads are too small lol

the bodies are well-made and very detailed (literally even L's feet lmao)

it's hard to change the hands

Light is in the high school blazer rip

the little props are very fun (though I'm afraid of losing the utensils if I ever unwrap them) and of decent quality (not the best & not the worst imo)

the headset falls apart a lot so be careful with it haha

they are fun to wreak havoc with

[accio-victuuri]

some cpns in my head today…. 🍭🍬

not @ them proving that they do read what’s on the internet. with yibo who spoke about reading what people posted about him when he was sick. also zz who shared a review about ygy that he liked and then his thoughts about melons. they do have time to look and read. i just hope they don’t get too caught up in some doom scrolling and check more about the good things people say about their works.

it wouldn’t hurt if they visit the bjyx supertopic too lol . which we suspect they do. 🙈🙈🙈

there is also some talk about how WYB is in today’s road show. of course he is still coughing and there is still some trace of him being sick but the fuck. look at him. in HD and unedited, this is sick yibo? so handsome! He was also smiley and attentive. speaking so well. amazing.

the speculation is, for the past days, GG is doing Condor Heroes work early. Like 7:00 or 8:00 AM. then on the 26th, when WYB had to cancel, he arrived 9:00 AM. Then when WYB went back to work, XZ arrived at CH set before noon. people are thinking XZ gave extra time to be with WYB today before he has to join the One and Only promos again. and that’s why, even if the sickness is still there, our WYB was still in a good mood. 😌

THEM. 💓💓💓

Da Peng attending a 10:05 showing of One and Only. It could be because it’s the earliest showing in the morning but I love how he’s not scared of 1005. knowing how certain people got “mad” about him for being “cpf-friendly” when he’s really just a decent human being who appreciates those who support the film.

BUT WHAT I DEFINITELY WANNA TALK ABOUT IS FREAKIN KAI XIAO ZAO POST. This one. ⬇️

the logical explanation : the post is about chengdu world university games. which coincidentally, yibo made a promotional vcr for.

the cpn explanation:

1. The freakin time it was posted 18:00 ( YIBO ) and the premiere day of One and Only. They could have easily used 10:05 to represent XZ like they usually do but somehow they used 18:00.

2. Spicy Wonton which is what they ate during CQL filming.

3. How the color RED is the theme of it. I’m thinking how the E-Mark dance crew are wearing all red jackets in the finals ( if you see the trailers ).

4. Youth??? Dreams??? Enthusiasm??? Uhmmm. These buzz words scream One and Only to me.

-END.

[absolutebl]

Hi there! I've just returned from a two-week holiday (as I'm writing this I'm actually still driving back home, but I want to get on top of it lmao), so I would like to defer to your knowledge:

could you pretty please provide me with an update on what series ended/started while I was away? I have a vague idea, but I don't want to miss out on the things that didn't get as much promo and are therefore not on my mdl.

if you can, my watchlist will be forever thankful!!

July Report: BL that Stopped & Started & Is worth Your time

Ended July 2023

Step By Step

This was Thailand’s answer to The New Employee, and everything I loved about that show I loved about this one.

This was an office romance between stern boss and sweet subordinate that felt more authentic to an office environment than previous Thai BLs of this ilk. And that authenticity added tension to the narrative and character development (how novel). Now that might be because it has western source material, or it might be because it is actually kind of old-fashioned (it’s been years since I worked as an office grunt). I also really enjoyed the brothers’ relationship, and kinda wished they hadn’t attempted (and failed) to give said brother his own side BL. That one flaw made it a 9/10 for me.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

La Pluie

This BL takes to task the fated mates trope and what it means to have love chained intimately to predestination. It’s about how faith in destiny before choice diminishes the authenticity of emotion, relationships, and connection. This is a high concept to examine through the lens of a BL.

By activating + examining the soulmates trope this show is challenging a foundation of romance: the idea that there is one person meant to be your one romantic partner all your life. This means that we, as viewers, spend much of the show worried about it having a happy ending, and that’s the source of both its brilliance and tension: would the narrative have the strength to truly challenge its own romantic core? But, ultimately, all this elevated complexity was executed in a somewhat shaky manner with the narrative derailing into some serious pacing issues and characters manipulated by miscommunication.

However, with good chemistry and decent acting all around, plus some excellent high heat and representation of consent and a few other rare tropes, this one has to (like it’s sibling show My Ride) earn a 9/10. I enjoyed it even as it made me think, so despite its flaws:

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

Started July 2023 & Looking GOOD

Jun & Jun

Korea Thurs Viki 8 eps

THANK YOU BL GODS. It is so good. Like everything I want in the world. I’m incandescently happy with this show.

It’s office set,

it’s an ex idol,

everyone is pretty as peaches,

and it’s all about remembering somebody’s smell!

I could not be more delighted.

Laws of Attraction

Thai Sat iQIYI 8 eps

(Icky picked it up but they are serving it in a complicated way that may require a VPN.)

Stars the pair from To Sir With Love with the same production team. IT’S SO GOOD. A morally corrupted trickster lawyer with a tragic past, sad eyes, and a beautiful smile that he uses like a weapon. Meets paladin martial arts instructor from other side of the tracks (who is out, at least to his baby sister).

Corrupt police.

Spoiled rich kid evil.

Ambitious politician.

Tragic death.

Terrible subs.*

This show is very like Manner of Death but so far it is a much better/tighter story (there's a Devil Judge aura happening). It’s NOT BL but it is fucking phenomenal. And you should watch it. Not wait to binge it. WATCH IT.

On a global scale this might be the best thing currently airing featuring gay romantic leads. Its really fucking good. It’s Lawless Lawyer but more complex character motivation and gay af. Fuck yes please and thank you. FINALLY.

Triggers for violence, beatings, death & torture depicted on screen. Like MoD they are not holding back. 

(* A lot of the familial names they are using are not gendered in Thai but translated as such, like “nephew”. This one is gonna go down a lot easier if you know some Thai.)

ALSO:

Stay By My Side - Taiwan Fri Gaga 10 eps

Hidden Agenda that isn’t hidden - Thailand Sun GMMTV YouTube 12 eps

Low Frequency - Thailand Sat iQIYI 8 eps

Started But You Can Probably Wait IMHO

Dinosaur Love (Sun iQIYI)

Be Mine Super Star (Mon Viki)

Wedding Plan (Weds YT & iQIYI) it's mame so A trash watch is happening! 

Minato Shouji Coin Laundry Season 2 (Japan Thu Gaga)

Hope this is what you wanted.

[turnwashingtonsbaddies]

PLS PLS OKS DEAR GOD GIVE US THE PUSS PUSS EATING RANKING OF TURN CHARACTERS I NEED IT LIKE SPONGEBOB NEEDS WATER (must include robert rogers)

ok im officially done with school (woo 🥳) so i can give everyone in my ask box what they've been waiting for. i am going to keep the list limited to the ppl in this promo photo bc there are so many goddamn characters in that show and if you want heavy-hitting analysis, i've gotta keep a short list (at least for now)

analysis under the cut:

as mentioned before caleb brewster does indeed SWEEP the pussy eating power rankings

as also mentioned before john andre is as mediocre in eating pussy as he is in acting and flute playing. he thinks he's amazing at it tho

now for the fun. i need to get this first paragraph out of the way bc it is about the man who made me begin to ponder this question 2 years ago in the first place. abraham. fucking. woodhull. this beanie-wearing menace to society has NEVER made anyone other than anna strong come. point blank period. even with anna tho, he's done it like maybe once or twice. whether or not he did it by giving her head is up for another debate tho

oh and speaking of anna strong. she gives me pillow princess vibes for a reason i cannot quite explain. it is just kind of a gut feeling i have. maybe it has to do with the fact that ppl are always just throwing themselves at her, so she doesn't have to bother with actually working on pleasuring them

but back to abe for a minute. he's actually (believe it or not) NOT the worst one on the list, and that is because richard woodhull has NEVER ONCE made a woman come. not even his wife. not once. richard has never even eaten pussy before. richard has only ever had sex in the missionary position. abe is a terrible partner for a reason, and that reason is bc he was raised by richard

one member of the woodhull family does possess some finesse however. mary woodhull eats pussy like a mf champion. i imagine her learning it was much like her learning how to fire a gun. at first she was like 'wtf is going on??? i cant do that??' but give it few tries and she easily upstages all the men around her

using mary shooting a gun as my transition here..... let's talk about simcoe. honestly, he does give me the vibes of someone who really wants to be good at eating pussy, and maybe he even enjoys doing it. however, i think he gives toothy head. and i also think he does it on purpose. that's right. he's a biter

speaking of ppl who enjoy eating pussy, i think hewlett slays in that department ngl. ik i said before that caleb is arguably the only man on the show who enjoys eating pussy, but i actually want to amend that bc i think hewlett does too. however, i think the one drawback for hewlett is that his desire and ability to give good head does come from a place of him being (and i mean this with peace and love hewlett enjoyers) a massive simp

i straight up dont have a transition for this one but it was literally an intrusive thought and i just need to expel it. ben tallmadge the type of guy to apologize after eating pussy. why? who knows. it could have even been decent head. he's still apologizing anyway. however my bet is that decent is the best he can do bc he's an overthinker, which can get in the way of having strong head game

finally, and yes i made you read all of this before giving you what you wanted anon, robert rogers. "(must include robert rogers)" is SO REAL. SO TRUE. you're right for saying so. however he is such an enigma to me and i really don't know where to place him both as an eater of pussy and frankly as an entity in general. i know he has to exist in some kind of extreme tho. god-tier head or the most abysmal head ever anyone's ever experienced. maybe he's even literally eating pussy, like in a cannibalism way. i'm not ruling that out either. honestly, maybe the quality of head varies between sessions too. after all, he's always gotta keep em on their toes

[shion-yu]

Day 6: Dizziness/Vertigo

Cliff and Elliot again, being angsty and mushy in love newlyweds. 1,769, CW mentioned vomit/clean up. It has a slightly abrupt end but I was like, I either end it here or write 5 more pages of dialogue, lol. @sicktember

Shortly after Cliff and Elliot finally had their wedding, Cliff began having terrible migraines. They had been a problem for a long time, but they increased dramatically in frequency that fall. They worried, of course, that Cliff was having a relapse of sarcoidosis or it was permanent damage from the coma, but his brain scans kept coming back negative. It could just be stress, the doctors said. Try to take it as easy as possible.

Cliff felt as if he'd been taking it easy forever, though. When he married Elliot, he’d wanted to contribute to their life together, and that meant working. Elliot made plenty for the both of them to live comfortably on, but that wasn't the point. The point was Cliff wanted to be useful in their partnership, and he hated feeling like he couldn’t be. He tried working part time as a receptionist at a hotel for a while, but they soon let him go after realizing how many sick days he needed to call out. Cliff didn't blame them, but it stung. It felt like another failure, like dropping out of law school.

Pushing himself was an equally terrible option though. The migraines not only left him feeling sick, but they sometimes triggered seizures too. The seizures were horrible, and Cliff was frankly terrified of them. They gave him a feeing of impending doom, and then he’d lose all control of his body. Afterwards he’d panic, disoriented and unable to form words as he desperately grasped at whomever was around him. His lungs would hurt from the way his body had forced all of his air out of them and the tiredness and pain in his entire being was overwhelming. 

He hated living like this. But what other choice did he have?

At least he had Elliot, but at the same time Cliff loathed to be entirely dependent on his husband. Elliot was preparing to go on tour in January, and Cliff didn't want to hold him back. He deserved to go out and be brilliant as he was meant to be. Elliot had already suggested Cliff live with Shu, or Elliot’s parents, while he was gone. Cliff brushed him off and told him he'd be fine, even though he silently worried he wouldn't be. What if he had a seizure and he couldn't get help, he worried? What if he was too sick to get himself out of bed? There were so many what ifs to obsess over when Cliff permitted himself to. 

Things changed so quickly there was no real way to prepare for them. That was the scary part. Like today, Cliff woke up with a horrible migraine. As usual he immediately feared it might trigger a seizure, but Elliot was doing a promo with Vogue today and there was no way Cliff could call and interrupt. He had the phone number of several back up people: the home health nurse was technically the best option, but Cliff always felt like a bother when he called. Ryo, Alex, Shu, Matt, Elliot’s parents, and even his own father were all people he could trust to get help too, but he wanted to bother them even less than the nurse.

So instead, Cliff simply hoped it would go away. He crushed up his migraine medication and pushed it through his tube, then hooked himself up to a continuous feed of water for the hydration. Rest was all he could do then and he lay in total darkness in bed, trying to sleep and swallowing down waves of nausea. The vertigo was especially bad this time, and Cliff felt as if the bed were a boat bobbing on an angry sea. 

Around lunch time Elliot called him. The sound of his phone ringing pierced Cliff’s brain like jagged daggers scraping themselves over flesh. He struggled to make it to the edge of the bed and threw up into the trash can, hoping blindly that his aim was decent enough not to leave sick all over the rug. His phone went to voicemail; Cliff hadn't managed to pick it up on time. He fumbled to call Elliot back, squinting at the phone screen which seemed painfully bright. He couldn't read any of the words right now, his vision blurry with tears, but he managed to find the button to return the call. The phone rang but there was no answer. Elliot must have gone back to work, Cliff thought. It was okay. Really, it was better this way because he knew Elliot would worry and race home if he knew Cliff was feeling so sick and Cliff didn’t think he would have been able to hide it in his voice. It was why he hadn’t tried harder to answer on time.

So he held on, fighting bursts of nausea as the world spun around him at breakneck speed. At some point Cliff had to pee and stumbled to the bathroom, gripping onto anything he could reach for dear life. He managed to relieve himself, eyes mostly closed, and was washing his hands when time seemed to stop. Confused, Cliff opened his eyes and looked down at his hands. The water running over his fingers wasn't moving, as if frozen. He blinked, and then time hurried to catch up to the present just like a VHS on fast forward. 

He didn't know how he ended up on the floor, it happened so quickly. Cliff stared at the ceiling, dazed, head throbbing. He'd never noticed how uneven it was, the outdated popcorn ceiling the landlord had put in. It hid the fact that it sloped downwards right where the door was. He closed his eyes. Elliot would be home soon - or at least eventually. Cliff didn't know when, but he didn't have the energy to get up. And so he lay there, half asleep and shivering, swallowing down mouthfuls of nausea, until he finally heard the front door open. 

“Cliff? I’m home.” 

It had to have been hours later, although maybe it was only minutes. He opened his mouth to call for help. “Elliot?” Instead of a cry, it came out a whisper. He could hear Elliot opening doors, looking for him. “I’m here,” he tried again, but the sound didn't leave the room. It felt like another hour before Elliot finally found him.

“Cliff!” Elliot was suddenly kneeling at his side, a look of panic and horror on his face. Cliff realized at some point he must have vomited again, as Elliot grabbed the hand towel off the rack and quickly wiped up a patch of sick on the floor so he didn't sit in it. “What happened, baby? I’m here,” Elliot was saying. He already had that desperate, teary eyed look that filled Cliff with guilt.

“I don't know,” Cliff said weakly. “I think I fainted.” He jammed his eyes shut again, this time because Elliot was quickly multiplying into two, then four, then eight copies of himself. 

“God, why didn't you call?” Elliot asked, his hands all over Cliff trying to assess the situation. “I should've known when you didn't text me back, I’m so stupid...”

“Don't say that. You're not stupid,” Cliff mumbled. “E? I’m so dizzy.” 

“I’m calling an ambulance.”

Cliff’s eyes flew open and he grabbed Elliot’s forearm to stop him. “Don’t. Please, don’t. I’m just dizzy. And probably dehydrated. Just help me get back in bed. Please?”

Elliot bit his lip, trying to judge whether Cliff was telling the truth. It wasn’t as if Cliff hadn’t fainted before. Throwing up wasn’t that irregular of an occurrence, either. But it was more about how he had found Cliff: in such a scary, startling position on the floor. The amount Cliff was speaking - and making sense - was the only thing reassuring him at the moment.

“E?”

“I’ll make up my mind in a few minutes. Let’s get you in bed,” Elliot sighed. They both knew then that unless Cliff suddenly passed out again that he had won - but getting back in bed without incident was a small test in itself. 

Cliff let Elliot basically lug him to his feet then half carry him back to the bedroom, where Cliff realized he, in fact, had not aimed perfectly earlier. “Sorry,” he said. “I had my eyes closed.”

Elliot shook his head and helped Cliff around the mess and onto the mattress. “It’s okay.” He eased Cliff onto the pillows and brushed his sweaty hair from his eyes. “You don’t have a fever.”

“I know. It’s just a migraine. A bad one,” Cliff said. Elliot went to the bathroom and came back with two more washcloths - one to start cleaning the floor with and one for Cliff’s face. “How was the interview?”

“What?” Elliot asked, concentrating on cleaning the floor now. 

“Vogue. How was it?”

Elliot paused, looked up from his position on the floor, and suddenly laughed. “I already forgot about it. It was great,” he said, shaking his head. “Baby, you really scared me.”

“I’m sorry.”

“I know,” Elliot said. “Are you still dizzy?”

Cliff stopped himself from nodding, because it would make that dizziness worse. “Yes,” he said. “Very. I’m sorry you went from Vogue to vomit on the floor.”

“Thus is marriage,” Elliot shrugged. He finished cleaning up, washed his hands in the bathroom and then returned to Cliff’s side. He stripped his clothes off down to his underwear and crawled into bed next to Cliff, wrapping his body around Cliff’s and resting his head on Cliff’s shoulder. “I’ll call the doctor in the morning,” he said quietly. He reached for Cliff’s hand and intertwined their fingers, closing his eyes. “I’m tired, Cliff. I wish I didn’t have to leave you. I worried all day.”

Cliff squeezed Elliot’s hand, guilt and affection mixed into one complex emotion that choked him up. “I know. I’m sorry.”

“You can’t help it,” Elliot said.,

“I know. I’m still sorry,” Cliff said. Elliot nuzzled closer. Cliff rested his other hand in Elliot’s hair, rubbing and closing his eyes. “I love you. Thank you for caring.”

“Of course I care,” Elliot muttered. “But what will you do when I’m gone for months?”

“We’ll figure it out,” Cliff said. He managed to sound more confident than he felt. “Maybe I’ll be doing better by then. Become a roadie. I’m still your biggest fan, you know?”

Elliot huffed out a quiet, exhausted laugh. “Shut up.”

Cliff smiled and kissed the top of Elliot’s head, smelling his sweaty, coconut-scented shampoo curls. “I love you,” he said. “And we will figure it out.”

“I know,” Elliot said. “We always do.” 

[alilyamongroses]

Which is the earliest time Jame Seymour should have been introduced in "The Tudors"? Since Jame had scored a place in Katherine of Aragon's court in 1529, she should have been introduced sometime during the last couple of episodes of s1, along with Edward and their father John.

After a recent rewatch, during the scene at the s1 finale where a nameless girl rebukes Anne Boleyn after her wishing that all Spaniards would be put under the sea speech, I thought that that part should have gone to Jane Seymour. That rebuke could have been one of Jane's first lines in the series.

You’re right, Jane should’ve been introduced earlier. The earliest Jane could’ve been at court was 1527, or more likely 1528, to my understanding. Katherine of Aragon made her speech at Blackfriars in 1529, and The Tudors leaned into the idea of Jane as connected to Katherine - the scene where Mary gives Jane Katherine's cross to help her through labor comes to mind. As for Anne, there were an assortment of... nameless, jittery blonde women swirling around her during the early seasons. The creators could've slotted Jane into one of their places. Maybe they meant to? I know there was some kerfuffle about her casting.

If the comparison scene between Jane & Anne before the latter's murder is anything to go off of, the creators wanted to set Jane up as ideologically opposed to Anne, to some extent. It would've been nice if Jane was given a more self-actualized role in that opposition, rather than being shown as this silly, flighty girl who stumbled into a position for which we're obviously supposed to judge her. I just know she and Katherine Howard are sharing tea cakes in hell.

Sir John's offscreen death in Season 3, and the casually callous way Edward communicated it to Jane, also would've landed much better if they'd introduced Jane earlier. Her and Edward's sibling dynamic is one of my favorites in the show, communicated subtly through shared looks, close ups and such. In Season 2, Jane follows Edward's lead, allowing him to influence her decision making something like a surrogate father. Jane is certainly the passive member of their relationship, but that wasn't used to cast her as stupid, or lesser than the other wives, which I appreciated. Edward asking Jane if she'd like to be Queen once he and his father start planning for it speaks to this dynamic that's sort of childish, in a sweet way - Edward leads and Jane follows, but willingly, not slavishly.

In Season 3, when Henry starts controlling Jane more overtly, Edward remains a man in her life who she's allowed to criticize and chastise, even as he's demonstrated to be brutally unscrupulous in his own right (see: that awful sexualized torture scene.) His wife Anne Stanhope is shown putting horns on him, but Edward barely notices, never mind getting mad at her for it. Compare that to how savagely Henry reacted to the vaguest whiff of infidelity in his Anne. The first one, that is.

It's almost like The Tudors' Henry is a decent public figure, but a monstrous domestic one, while The Tudors' Edward is a monstrous public figure, but a decent domestic one. And Jane is the woman who connects the two of them, binding their families into one, however temporarily. As Jane lays dying, Henry compares her to his late mother, and Jane is introduced to Henry by her own father, himself depicted as this jolly old fat country lord. Sir John's characterization in The Tudors was sparse, but maybe that's a blessing, considering the shaft Thomas Boleyn got.

Which leads me to another comparison. Thomas and George Boleyn's posthumous reputations both took a massive hit with this show. George is rendered not just abusive but sexually violent, the shadow of early 2000s homophobia hanging over The Tudors' portrayal like a pall. His father's depiction is more unfair than offensive, but that's not much of an improvement. This promo pic of him just makes you feel dirty, as Olga Hughes pointed out, lmao. We the audience can assume that Pádraic Delaney's George Boleyn got his cruelty from his father, while Anne (and Mary) are the family's more kindhearted diamonds-in-the-rough, a position that is reinforced by George's atypical protectiveness over Anne, which is ultimately used against him. Jane and Edward's relationship isn't as emotionally intimate as George and Anne's, but Edward and George's duel positions as men who are capable of being both negligent & violent and paternal & attentive sets them up as interesting examinations of the kind of man who takes root in an environment like this, much like Charles Brandon, Eustace Chapuys, Francis Bryan, etc.

The missing piece in the equation is Jane. Henry's fatherhood is well explored, Anne's sisterhood is the most overtly sympathetic part of her characterization, Mary I's conflict as a daughter is what drives her through the whole series. Jane is a sister, daughter, mother and wife, and there are a few shining moments where she really titillates: inquiring about her family's plans, selling the necklace Henry gave her, chiding Edward for mishandling her father's death, protecting Mary no matter the cost, things like that. But her most well-developed relationship is the one she has with Henry, and that one says more about him as a man than it does her as a woman.

How did Jane feel about Sir John that encouraged her to lean on Edward, even though he was easily identifiable as a worse man than his father? How did Jane feel transitioning from Katherine's household to Anne's, especially with regards to her catholicism? What did she think about the dissolution of the monasteries when it first started? Did she want to get married and have children, or did she just know she'd have to one day? What were her prospects before Henry? What does she like in a man anyways?

Unfortunately, we don't know, because The Tudors doesn't bother to tell us. Wish it had been different, to say the least.

[mandy4ever69420]

‘lone star lesbian mickey’ U GET IT!! probably unpopular but I really hate fics that give him loving bfs and friend groups in mexico that are super protective of him it makes no sense 😫 like I hope he fucked his way through the country but otherwise that man is a feral gremlin thru and thru and regular ass people don’t get him and that’s fine! I need fans to stop attributing a personality to him that makes him more sympathetic or palatable i suppose? it takes away all his complexity pleaseee

i haven't seen these fanfictions* but wow, i really cannot picture that at all. i imagine that it seems lonely to people that he's not big on making more connections but its not something you can just expect of someone. mickeys a real "i know enough people" type guy

i find it much more believable he'd be sort of a closed off weirdguy with a handful of passive friendships that don't really go anywhere. "yeah we get drinks after work but idk their kids and their friends," هيك

i think more so than making mickey palatable, it can just be that people can't wrap their head around him really only wanting a small social circle at all. especially since mickey is so well liked. so of course he should have a lot of friends, right? i know a lot of people find mickey relatable in other ways, so they want for him what they'd want for themselves. this is just what happens with fictional characters sometimes. c'est la vie

it's one of my favorite/most touching features of mickeys personality that he's not super into being close with people. i really like that people just are so fucking charmed by him and he gets overwhelmed. it's not his fault that he doesn't have room for that. like, you don't have to really "get" it, that's just the way some people are.

so if he's not big on forming friendships with every mark, joe, and amy that walk by, it just follows he's not into relationships very much. he found the one he likes already tyvm👍 i also think it's sweet when ian (very social) is just. visibly delighted watching mickey ignore and brush off people trying to be friends. because that's part of him and how he is, so it's part of what ian loves

it might be people think he should date in mexico because there was a decent chance he was just not going to see ian again (certainly ian thought this was a very final tragic goodbye) but i think 1. mickey would be perfectly ok being single, because romance isn't a necessary condition of being alive and 2. he never really believed that was the last time he'd see ian. less so a tragic farewell and more so a "goddammit ok this is a fucking bummer while i wait for the next opportunity to go home or whatever"

with mickey having protective friends it's kind of funny, because i get it. like. it's a bit self insert wishful thinking-y i believe. yeah he's been through a lot and even the person he loves most fucks him over sometimes. but he's just not going to react well to that! it's his business who he wants to be with and if you asked he'd happily clarify that he can handle his damn self

i agree he probably had a number of hookups in this timeframe. (side note: have you seen those people who think mickey bottoming with ian is like special secret level 2 sex that he wouldn't do with anyone else?? dude lmfao). i actually wonder if this ties into the way people are just bizarrely judgemental towards people who like sex but aren't interested in emotional commitment. even as a clearly expressed boundary. in a lot of shows this is treated as a flaw or a symptom of an underlying problem that someone should "overcome" & im mostly fine with these "learn to accept and be in normal relationships" plot lines but you really do have to respect someone's emotional boundaries. sure, maybe they're just repressed because of (whatever), but maybe that's not the business of random people around them

*i have, however, seen promos for fic that gave mickey an abusive partner in mexico which made me SUPER mad. not vagueing bc i genuinely have no idea who or where this was, but that's and incredibly widespread & racist stereotype. idk like white anglo america can't cope with men of color being beautiful and charming and we have 50 years of cinema/media depicting black, latino, and arab men as domineering and dangerous partners :(

mickey is not immune to falling into abusive relationships just for being tough and clever, this is very clear from several aspects of his plot line. you don't really need to do much to elaborate on that. its something i appreciate a lot in shameless, and i'll never understand people who thought it was poor writing for mandy to have an abusive boyfriend, because it's unfortunately not uncommon for people with abusive upbringings to wind up in familiar patterns. but again, the problem is that mandy's crappy boyfriend was cast as a black man for no reason. lip is also super racist to kenyatta (both in telling cops he's selling crack, and calling him mandy's "big black boyfriend"). pull it together people!!!

[introvert-celeste]

Oh man, I was going through my Google Drive and I found some old SU fan art I made on the tablet I had in high school. I've probably shared it here before but it's been so long I might as well share it again. These are pretty much my first and only attempts at digital art.

Probably my favorite, made a few days before Sworn to the Sword premiered. I was so excited lol. I realize the shading makes absolutely no sense, but it is what it is.

Okay, this is cringe but I actually liked Ronaldo a decent amount of time. The paper background was from a promo one of the people who work on the show posted for this episode.

A couple of Gregrose! Probably inspired by We need To Talk. I think this really showcases how inconsistent my art style was/is.

And here's another example of my art style being inconsistent, albeit this is just a sketchy doodle. These were all made during the summer of 2015, by the way, so there's very little time between each piece.

And finally, here's a gem design I made for one of my favorite stones, Celestite! I don't remember anything about her backstory--clearly I had something in mind--but I still kinda like her design.

[acoldsovereign]

FOR THE MAN WHO WEARS HIS HEART ON HIS SLEEVES.

// @scarlxtleaves / @thuganomxcs / @peoplcshope

---

{{ Happy Birthday, you fuckin' fucker! (I say this with love). I remember when I first came to the DBZ RPC months ago and I was so shy I didn't know how to communicate properly. People scared me. Following people scared me. People following me back scared me. I was freakin' scared of EVERYTHING. I even unfollowed a person I followed (and then followed them back when they checked in with me) because I realized how bad that looked/how problematic it could be if I didn't address it. I felt so bad, and I still do sometimes. I'm so glad that mutual was understanding and patient with me, aaaaaaaa. Needless to say, ya girl had SO many issues in the beginning. I was a HOT MESS. Hell, I didn't even have all of my muse info up but you didn't give a shit about none of that. You just took one look at my blog, saw 'despot of the universe' on my header and said 'LET IT RIP' like Beyblade. DUDE, you were ballsy as fuck and I'm so glad for that! You gave me my first ever starter here!!! THAT made me remember you! Everytime I logged in, it was to respond to our Future Gohan/Maiz fight thread. (I'm actually looking for it now because that's gonna be something I continue after I reply to someone else first 👀). You're one of the first people I ever plotted with too, even if that intimidated me a little. I mean, granted it was after you gave me the starter because I was freaking worried about everything, which was why I was all over your inbox, "okay, so she can do this and that...", "i have no problem with them having this sort of dynamic", etc. Gosh, you were overwhelmingly sweet and kind to me and I appreciate that. I know this is not something I should apologize for, but I'm still sorry that I scared you slightly when I changed my username to acoldsovereign from maizthefemalesaiyan, and didn't tell you in advance. I didn't realize you wouldn't recognize me so I had to put the former name in my old promo post. YOU'RE why I did that. I didn't know what other accounts you had and I just wanted to let you know it was meeeeeeee! ;w; But then you forgot your password to the blog so we couldn't even communicate anyway! One thing I will say-- it is funny I recently posted about Toriyama and Future Trunks and what the latter means to me because guess what blog I found you on. Guess what reunited us. Yeah.

FUTURE TRUNKS.

YOU SEE WHAT I MEAN?????? That man is always doing something for me! You would've thought he was REAL. But anyway, it was so cool to have you back on my dash again! It took me an embarrassing amount of time to realize who it was. I saw the name "Jay" on your promo post and it didn't cross my mind it was you, man. Not until I went down the blog and saw the writing style matched up. Remember how I just burst into your inbox and made some noise? And then you realized it was me? That shit was hilarious. We were so happy to see each other. Everything's been smooth sailing since then and we've created so many cursed memes, threads, jokes and storylines. Dude, we fuckin' made Rengakura. That little psychopath LOL. Well, moreso I made him but your response to that thread in particular made it so that he didn't come out any worse than he could've. Damn you for having Trunks make the right decision! (Again, I say this with love). At least in one verse, Trunks finally gets a happy-ish ending though. He lives with his mostly mellowed-out/former-tyrant for a wife and a pseudo-sane Saiyan-hybrid child on a spaceship, having space adventures. 🥺 Papa Trunks isn't something I knew I needed until I got it so thank you. I also did not know Maiz was actually capable of chilling the eff out-- THAT was a surprise to me. The fact that she's actually a decent mother is hilarious, considering all the fucked up stuff she's done before without blinking an eye. I also love how through our threads, you can see how she naturally came to care for him, even if she's sadistic and still messes with him from time to time. One of my favorites scenes with them unironically was when she offered to take Trunks to a tropical planet for his birthday. She was actually affectionate towards him the proper way more or less, but he didn't realize it because he was so used to her being busy/selfish/frosty/teasing. Bro thought he was dying. That was tragically sad yet funny all at once. I'd say more but this is already a lot and you already know how I feel about your Yusuke and our favorite assassin, Sanosuke.

Long story short- thank you for warmly welcoming me into this small, but chill RPC. I'll always love and appreciate you.

Happy birthday, Jaybird.

[silver-wield]

So FINALLY Clotis decided to uninstall that trashy game?? All Clotis should have uninstalled since this pattern of them giving some crumbs to #that crackship and then releasing a canon/romantic event for Cloti right after so we stayed was made VERY clear. Thank God now all Clotis noticed this pattern that I noticed a VERY LONG time ago. That game is just there to keep alive the toxicity of the fandom. So I say fuck SE for still trying to get promo and noise for their average game by fueling the toxicity in the fandom. Fuck them for playing with their costumers mental health, everyday I feel less inclined to support them. It's a shame Tifa is stuck in that company. She deserves so much better.

Hopefully it's not empty words.

I uninstalled last Halloween when they not only didn't give Tifa a skin but also did an event in nibelheim and didn't give her a skin or mention.

They spat in our faces and people kept supporting them, even when I said they'd keep taking the piss. People were huffing copium trying to find something decent about that shitty amarant skin and yet se continued to take the piss. They eventually realised they were pushing their luck and placated players with the mermaid skin, and nomura designed her bahamut skin so ofc that's pretty, but he doesn't actually design them all. He does as many as he's able to, but he's busy, and he didn't choose the skins for ff9, he just chose to crossover with it.

Toriyama is running ec and aside from the main scenario which nojima handles, he is inserting his bullshit whenever he thinks he can get away with it. That's why it's so inconsistent. If another dev pops in, he has to behave. If he's unsupervised he fucks it up.

[lindsaywesker]

Good morning! I hope you slept well and feel rested? Currently sitting at my desk, in my study, attired only in my blue towelling robe, enjoying my first cuppa of the day (green tea!) Welcome to the weekend and welcome to September!

Wow! Here we are again: Friday! Where did that week go? No, seriously, where did that week go?

First of all, many thanks to everyone that got involved with Throwback Thursday on my page. Yesterday’s word was HOME. Again, another emotive word! It has both good and bad connotations for people. I could lay my hat in all sorts of places but it wouldn’t feel like home! I like my bed, my sofa, my armchairs, my remote, my fridge, my study. You know I’m a creature of habit and routines, so I need to things to stay the same. Am I a little OCD? Maybe I am?

Looking forward to the weekend. After the show, we are popping down to Hove to see Lady Wesker. She’s been a bit out of sorts. A Curry’s delivery van totally wrote off her car (while it was stationary) and Curry’s stingy insurance company only gave Mum £2k. What can you buy for that? Anyway, she’s sorted now, so hopefully we can go out in her new (second-hand) car? The last thing your mum needs is some big oaf in a big van destroying the key to her independence. We will not be shopping at Curry’s again! Heartless corporate bastards!

A quick word on the England squad. The word is pathetic (and that’s being polite!) Maguire, Phillips and Henderson? Really, mate? Where are Sterling, Watkins, Bowen and Ward-Prowse? Southgate must think it’s still 2020?

Naturally, I’m very grateful to receive a lot of promos via email. However, it takes a lot of time to work through them all. I wouldn’t mind this if most of them were decent and playable, but most of them are NOT! Even new music by established names! Maybe I’m fussy but I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that. Doubtless, loads of people will say, “Oh, there’s plenty of good, new music, Lindsay!” Well, it might be good enough for YOU but I’ve been collecting top quality music since the late sixties and most of this new stuff is not cutting it! I look at the charts to see the most popular tracks, check them out on iTunes and, more often than not, I am seriously underwhelmed!

Really hope you can join me tomorrow at 1.00 p.m. for ‘The A-Z Of Mi-Soul Music’: The final part of The Letter P. We will have one week of Q, then move on to the next letter. I have made contact with the executive producer of The Letter R (Pt. 1) and she has built a superb show! We’re going to Jamaica in mid-September for a wedding, so I’ll miss one radio show but I’ll be back in time for the start of The Letter R on September 23rd.

Absolutely buzzing! Friday: my favourite day of the week! No work ‘til Monday, The Mighty Josiah arrives, Chinese for dinner and my team are on telly! Very excited!

Have a fabulous and funky Friday! I love you all. You’re probably thinking, “You don’t even know me!” but, if people can hate for no reason, why can’t I love?

[cantsayidont]

Some more dubious TV:

GRISELDA: Griselda Blanco, la padrina de cocaína in early '80s Miami, gets the #girlboss treatment in this six-part miniseries starring Sofía Vergara. Writers Doug Miro and Ingrid Escajeda seem to have made a close study of the 2007 film AMERICAN GANGSTER, about Frank Lucas, which is similarly structured and has a similar abundance of period detail that never feels organic or authentic. If you know anything at all about the real Griselda Blanco, it also feels pretty sanitized, and of course prettified. For contrast, there's also a 2017 Lifetime movie called COCAINE GODMOTHER, starring, improbably, Catherine-Zeta Jones, which is much more tabloid-lurid, although calling Jones' performance and accent "a broad caricature" would be giving it more credit than it deserves. Curiously, the Lifetime version is much more upfront about presenting Griselda as bisexual: Both it and the new mini indicate that Blanco's bestie, who eventually died of a drug overdose (called Carolina in the 2017 version, Carmen in the new one), was in love with her, but the new version is weirdly noncommittal about Griselda herself. Pondering the behind-the-scenes politics of that is honestly more interesting than much of what's onscreen.

MASTERS OF THE AIR: Lugubrious Apple TV+ miniseries about the USAAF 100th Bomb Group of WW2, based on the nonfiction book by Donald L. Miller and produced by Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks, and Gary Goetzman, obviously keen to recapture the success of BAND OF BROTHERS. A heavy-handed and often tedious propaganda piece, MASTERS is basically a long-form modern version of WW2 movies like AIR FORCE or THIRTY SECONDS OVER TOKYO, full of contrived patriotic uplift (inevitably underlined by obnoxiously syrupy orchestral scoring), lots of CGI (most of which looks like a video game), and a few more naughty words than the 1940s Production Code would have allowed. The promos suggested the show would deal with the experience of Black fighter escort pilots, which could have had some interest (especially since the 2012 movie RED TAILS did such a disastrous job of it), but the handful of Black characters don't appear until the eighth episode, and they're much more thinly drawn than the white officers who comprise the core cast. Most of the main characters are theoretically based on real people (who are shown in a brief coda in the final episode), but the show's dramatization is much less effective than a decent documentary treatment would have been, particularly since it's already reliant on sleepy voiceover narration to hold together its disparate story threads. The main consolation is that there’s a refreshing lack of distracting stunt casting; I didn’t recognize anyone in the cast, which is for the best with this kind of thing. A show for your dad or grandpa who only watches WW2 documentaries.

STAR TREK: PRODIGY: I only barely struggled through the first four five episodes of this animated STAR TREK spinoff, and the kindest thing I can say about it is that I'm not even remotely adjacent to the target audience. The animation and character designs caused me physical pain, and overall it feels like what we would get all the time if STAR TREK became another of the many properties absorbed by the evil power of the Mouse. One shudders to think.