#i wanted to write a screenplay but also poetry ok

[theeccentricraven]

If you are joining NaNoWriMo at the last minute, read this first...

I've been preparing for NaNoWriMo for about four months now. I have my outlines, profiles, and world development in place. Even with all of my planning, I know I'll still discover a lot of the story as I write. Sometimes I see comments throughout the web along the lines of "I'm joining NaNoWriMo at the last minute. I'm kinda scared. Should I be worried?" For the most part, I say welcome on board. You're never too late to join. Last minute joiners are the most pansty of all pansters. As a planster, I say you can succeed as either panster, planner, or in between.

However, recently I realized a reason to be careful about joining at the last minute. Sometimes a comment may be along the lines of, "I don't even have any ideas for NaNoWriMo."

I will say it out right: You should only join and write if you are passionate about your idea.

I personally don't agree with writing for writing's sake, that is, for the motive, "I want to write/participate because I like the idea of being a writer" or "I want to write because it sounds something cool people do". Unfortunately, things aren't likely to turn out well for you if that's the case.

The key to succeed at NaNoWriMo, a writing career, or writing in general is to have passion. You need to be passionate about your idea. You need to feel like it's your calling. You need to feel like the world depends on you to tell this story. You have to feel like you are dying to tell this story.

Not joking.

Writing is hard. Most people who try to be writers fail for that reason. It can be stressful and keep you up at night. NaNoWriMo prepares you for the life of a writer. It helps get you to learn to spend more time writing and to focus. You aren't likely to be willing to go through it if you aren't passionate about your idea.

Regarding my NaNo 2023 project, "The Blood Cleaners" I'm madly passionate about this story and my main character Justin. I got the idea clear back when I was working as a custodian and got an idea for a story where special powers were needed to clean up blood. I worked on various WIP's until I abandoned my writing for nearly a decade. Thankfully, I'm back to writing now. I remembered my old idea and how I would regret to never let it take fruition. I know this will be hard and a lot of obstacles are ahead. I am ready to face them head on because of how important it is to me.

So if you realize you aren't passionate about your idea nor NaNoWriMo, you have options. It depends on what you feel is best for you. You could go ahead and try and see how it works for you. Some people might write 10,000 words, 7,00 words, or 500 words before realizing, "This isn't for me" and stopping. This is ok. You often don't know until you try. If you decide to go on and write the 50,000 words then go for it! If you feel you'd be happier writing something other than a novel, that's great. NaNoWriMo does support using that time to write poetry, non-fiction, screenplays, or other mediums instead. You could also instead use the time to work on outlining your idea if you want to write it but just don't feel ready yet. You can also pick up another worthy project. Cooking, baking, painting, crochet, music composition, sports, etc. are all good things.

In the end, if you are passionate about your idea, don't feel scared to join NaNoWriMo at the last minute. Your passion will take ahold of you and help you overcome obstacles. If nothing else, NaNoWriMo will help you learn what to do in the future, wherever your passion lies.

Photo by Ospan Ali on Unsplash.

[bibliophileiz]

Ok, so I have a system. It seems arbitrary but I set it up very specifically.

In my bedroom is a (mostly) fiction bookshelf (but not my only mostly fiction bookshelf). The top shelf has many of my favorite books on it like Station Eleven, A Lady for a Duke, We Could Be So Good, and multiple books by some of my favorite authors like Kate Quinn, Madeline Miller, TJ Klune, Tamora Pierce, and Emily Henry. Some of the books are a little less sentimental than others but I still shelved them there for aesthetic purposes--for example, I don't love The Witch's Heart by Genevieve Gornichec as much as I love Circe by Madeline Miller, but I still love it and it seems like the two go together on the shelf. And then from there it's not a big leap to shelve Gornichec's other book, The Weaver and the Witch Queen, there as well even if I didn't like it as much as the other two (but still liked it). I also shelved the Good Omens script book on that shelf, so it made sense to put my two other screenplays there as well.

The shelf right below that is the shelf for signed copies, special editions, and memoirs. There's a tad bit extra room after that, so I slide in my four science books (An Immense World, A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived--which is about DNA--The Sixth Extinction, and Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife) on the other side.

In the two bottom shelves, I've got a bunch of adult fiction, mostly romance and fantasy, shelved alphabetically by author.

Any books I've borrowed, either from the library or from people I know, I keep on my bed stand so I don't lose them and also so that they're in my face and I'll actually read them.

The headboard of my bed makes a little shelf, so I have more books there. They are many of my favorites, like Lord of the Rings, Good Omens, and anything by Jane Austen, but crucially they are also quite small, most of them mass market size, because much bigger and they won't fit. It's a shelf for small but special books, books I might slide out and read a random chapter of before bed.

In my living room is my History bookshelf. Most of it is taken up with nonfiction, organized by time period. The bottom shelf and a half or so is historical fiction (including historical romance) shelved alphabetically by author.

Then I have a squat bookshelf with square cubbies that make great niches for something that I don't have much of or tends to be very slim, like books of poetry. The top of it is covered in franchises, box sets, and those classics with fancy covers (I'm going to honest, they're just differently decorated versions of the Complete Works of Jane Austen). Cubbies below contain, in this order, books of mythology, then poetry, then plays, then a classic or two that didn't fit anywhere else. (A lot of myth comes to us in epic poems, and then you have the blending of playwright and poet with Shakespeare, so this seemed a logical flow to me.) In the cubbies below THOSE are my YA books, plus a couple of hardcover mythology-inspired novels. Below THOSE are some hardcover books that didn't fit anywhere else and, in the last cubby, my Royal Diaries and Dear America books that I was obsessed with as a kid.

I have a couple of slender shelves holding up a makeshift bar by my kitchen that contain magazines, books on writing and writing prompts, and popular romance novels with really cute, colorful covers. My logic here is those are the types of things a visitor may want to flip through while sitting at the bar waiting on me to finish breakfast. (Worth noting that literally no one has ever done this.)

My last bookshelf is a big one by my front door that holds a lot more than books, like my bike helmet--things I might need to grab while walking out the door. (Also, since my washer and dryer are in a closet right by it, it ends up being a way station for clean-but-not-folded clothes a lot.) But it has books as well, specifically tall and/or heavy ones--tabletop books, children's books, books with lots of pictures, etc. It also holds some hardcover books with really fun covers, like David Barry's Swamp Story.

My cookbooks are in an unorganized stack in my kitchen pantry because I never cook.

[nickel-tongues]

Act I Scene I

(Curtain opens and there is no stage)

STAGEHAND

(fallen on the no-stage, covered with wounds for which he has no blood)

TYRANT

Have you no conviction in your beliefs? If you do not bleed for the audience, how should they know that you are our Martyr?

STAGEHAND

(silence, for he is Dead)

KNIGHT

(She cannot enter, for there is no stage)

(She cannot speak, for she to, is an unknown Martyr)

DREAMER

(They have been here for all time, have you not noticed?)

DREAMER

But woe betide the leader who cannot see his own peoples' suffering. And fear the man who will not deign to concern himself with the rapture of the human spirit.

TYRANT

Dearest, do you not realize the folly in your thought? Do you not see the crime in your passion? To suffer is the state of all humanity, and tis only the Fool who believes that he may change this.

That is why I play the Tyrant yes? I have not been disillusioned by the Knight's self-imposed righteousness, nor thine blindness to all that is true and right.

DREAMER

Love, pray tell that tis not Justice herself who wears a blindfold against the manifold deceits of man?

KNIGHT

(attempts to draw curtains, but alas, she cannot, for there are no curtains)

TYRANT

(dons a mask and comes alive)

TYRANT

Goodnight, fair Dreamer, a good show tonight, a lovely play at living.

DREAMER

(returns to the stars)

KNIGHT

(Bleeds and bleeds and bleeds and bleeds)

(Curtains close)

Tagging: @thesnowflakeemporium

[zalrb]

hi! same anon from before, hahah. first of all thank u so much for answering - i'm a big steve mcqueen fan too and i was wondering if you were ever interested in reviewing your favourite mcqueen movies? a few words for each kinda thing. i love your movie reviews because way more often than not, i find myself agreeing with you and you seem to find the exact right words. of course, it's merely a request you don't *have* to take seriously.i hope u have a great day!

OK so here is my list, starting from favourite to least favourite. The only feature film of his that I haven’t seen is Hunger.

What I will say are general Steve McQueen characteristics that I like about all of the movies is the fact that his films require patience and attention. If I’m tired or not really in the mood to devote my focus but I want to watch something, I’m not putting on a Steve McQueen film. I want to be fully present. His work demands that. I appreciate that.

I have also come to respect that there are what you would consider holes in his movies. Like we don’t really know anything about Brandon’s backstory in Shame, we know his sister says that they come from a bad place but we don’t know what that place is and the movie doesn’t find it necessary to divulge that information. Widows has a lot of loose ends that a typical heist movie may at least attempt to sort out but I don’t think McQueen really concerns himself with those details, he concerns himself with the emotional present and he concerns himself with the present to such an intimate and almost unbearable degree that it can make you flinch and cringe as a viewer because it’s uncomfortable to kind of stew in emotional truth like that, it’s uncomfortable to stew in the present that way.

There is an artistry and a poetry to his movies, it reminds me of paintings and I can say without irony or without being corny or without being pretentious, that these movies really do examine the human condition, do deep dives into emotion or deep dives into emotions that a particular event or issue would bring about.

1. Lovers Rock

I love this movie for so many different reasons. It means so much to me as a woman of Jamaican descent to see an ode to Caribbean party culture in the diaspora

and even though it’s in London and even though it was in the 80s, there is so much overlap in Canada, it was basically like a spiritual experience watching this movie and on twitter, there was so much outpour of gratitude and feeling seen by Caribbean Canadians, it was like a whole moment, so this movie makes me super emotional.

Like this scene, where they yell “Jah!” “Rastafari!” it got me in my chest and I had never experienced feeling so seen in film before because it’s specifically Caribbean, in this case Jamaican, and what I usually see is African American or movies from the Continent and this was diasporic and it was Caribbean

But what I also love about it is that even though it takes place over one night, it’s a love story between two young dark-skinned Black people and it’s handled with the kind of grace and beauty and weight that I like in my love stories, like it’s not Atonement, it’s not POTC, but it’s this culturally specific courting and coming together and it’s super sweet and just very nice

2. Alex Wheatle

There is this scene in this movie that is excruciating to me in its simplicity and it’s one of McQueen’s techniques or choices. So this installation in Small Axe is about Alex Wheatle who is an author and in the beginning we see his life in an orphanage and how he’s abused and ridiculed and how as a child he would be thrown in a room for hours just lying on his side

Then we get to him as an adult and we see the way the police harass Black youth and they take Alex throw him in the back of their van and he’s bloodied and beaten and he’s just lying on his side for hours. And I cried because that callback to his childhood was so brutal to me even though we don’t see excessive violence onscreen, it was just him lying on his side like when he was a kid and how systems upon systems are failing him and failing Black children, Black people and I didn’t need that spelled out for me, I just needed to see him lying on his side for minutes. And that’s kind of the power of McQueen’s directing/storytelling to me?

Another reason I really like Alex Wheatle - and the Small Axe anthology as a whole - is showcasing Black history in other countries

and it’s a great story about identity and figuring out your history, your roots, where you come from and how it informs you

3. 12 Years A Slave

I didn’t know if I was going to watch 12 Years A Slave or not, I kind of make it a point not to watch movies about enslavement now and I haven’t seen a movie about enslavement since (I did watch the show Underground though). What I love about this movie is how it examines the human condition, how it examines resilience, how it examines the soul, really, through many of the characters but particularly Solomon. It’s that unflinching portrayal of emotion and the present that really stuck out to me. And also again some of McQueen’s choices, like when they’re on the slave ship, for a lot of it we don’t see inside, we see the rudders

but that inspired such dread in me? We see the trees a lot.

We see the setting. We see the environment and that just adds a whole other layer, Lupita Nyong’o spoke about that when filming, about just thinking about the trees and what they witnessed. But I watched it, I didn’t cry until the third act then I wouldn’t stop crying then I pulled myself together and a week later, my roommate was playing it in her room and I could hear it and I was trying to write for workshop and it was just the score that I could hear and I got so emotional I had to ask her to put her earphones in so I could work.

4. Education

This installment of Small Axe was again an educational one for me (pun intended) because I know the ways in which the education system in my country and in my province and in my city fail Black children and I know enough about how that happens in the States, I didn’t know so much about how it happened in England and this was very illuminating for me without it taking on the tone of a docu. There is this scene that is just so uncomfortable to watch because it’s long and it’s boring and it’s irritating and that’s exactly what you’re supposed to feel because you’re supposed to feel exactly what the characters would feel in those moments:

Education also has a scene where we hear an entire song, but it’s deliberately not fun, when the teacher torments all the kids with his acoustic version of “House of the Rising Sun.” Why that song? That happened with me!

Oh my god. The teacher brought in his guitar, and he started to strum. We’re this captive audience. That was it. But it’s interesting, about that sequence. Because it’s funny, and then it gets irritating, and then you get bored. You have to go through boredom to get to the other side of it, and then you get to something else. And then there’s another understanding of it. So it had to play out that way, in real time.

and you know by the end, the movie explores how to engage children, how to encourage children, how to advocate for children and the different ways you can educate children so it’s an optimistic movie and I appreciated that

5. Widows

My second best experience at TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival) was watching Widows. TIFF screenings tend to be very quiet. But there’s a scene in Widows where after the protagonists (four women) do the work and get the money, Daniel Kaluuya watches them, holds them at gunpoint and takes the money, then leaves in his car. Then you’re with him in this car and he’s feeling good about himself and he’s laughing and he’s listening to this speech his brother makes then you see another car gain on him, run into him and it’s the protagonists and they take their money back and the entire theatre cheered and clapped and it was awesome. And that is the type of “girl power” scenes I like that aren’t “girl power” scenes? Where it’s just this man thought he could take what he wanted from these women and leave and they were like ummmmmmm?

I would say Widows is McQueen’s most commercial movie and it still doesn’t read very commercial and unfortunately Liam Neeson is in it but again I like the choices he made, I like that when Colin Farrell’s character is going on this racist rant in his car, we see the exterior of the car with his dialogue as a voiceover.

I like how controlled and tight the direction is and how throughout the movie I was on the edge of my seat in a different way, I was just tense until it was all over. It was also interesting watching his direction with Gillian Flynn’s screenplay interact with each other.

I had issues with this movie, mainly one moment which is when Alice, who is white, slaps Veronica (Viola Davis) -- Veronica slaps Alice first but Alice is a character who has been abused and who has been controlled by the men in her life, by her mother and she’s finding independence and so she exerts that by slapping Veronica back and I just thought there were other ways to show that.

6. Red, White and Blue

Another installment of Small Axe. My first husband stars in it and won a GG for it

and has this gem in it

It’s a good representation of what it looks like trying to right a system from the inside, since this is about Leroy Logan who became a police officer and ended up policing the neighbourhood he grew up in and how he was trying to be a positive change in the environment and in the police force and the racism he experienced as an officer

7. Mangrove

The first installment of Small Axe. To be quite honest I wanted to like Mangrove more than I did. It’s Steve McQueen so it’s a good movie, although the accents had some Trini people I know be like mmmmmmmmmmmmno, and again it’s also an educational movie because you learn about the Mangrove restaurant which was a Caribbean restaurant and hub for the community and for artists and authors and the police saw it as a threat so they constantly harassed the costumers and did raids and did everything in their power to shut it down.

And there are some great lines in this movie, I was most compelled when it became a courtroom drama, because that was some masterful directing

8. Shame

Shame was definitely uncomfortable for me to watch haha and it’s interesting because there were reviews that were like the title doesn’t match what we see because are we really expected to believe that the protagonist feels shame when we see him in New York having anonymous sex with [conventionally] attractive strangers and he has awkward moments with his sister and I was just like ............ if there’s anything McQueen is able to do is show how mechanical and compulsive Brandon’s sexual conquests are and his inability to actually connect because once he does he becomes impotent and pushes Marrianne away, his life is sterile and unfulfilling

so, I don’t know, some of the reviews had me like, what movie were you watching?

[aethelflaedladyofmercia]

Alright, I’ve been saying I’m going to do some Masterposts for my 25 AO3 fics, so here we go...

For those who don’t know me, I write Acespec Ineffable Husbands, and my specialities are historical adventures, character studies, and gut-punching angst. My main series, Sawdust of Words (SoW) contains all of these in spades! Check the TW on anything rated T, as that usually indicates non-graphic violence, threats of violence and physical/emotional abuse.

Please select desired angst level:

I just want something warm and fluffy!

Finding the Words: G, 4509. Aziraphale has something he rather desperately wants to tell Crowley. Immediately after the Ritz. (SoW)

Blizzard! Broken Thermostat! Only One Bed!: G, 1438. It’s snowing — I mean BLIZZARDING — and Crowley has no choice but to pull over at a conveniently located luxury hotel. No choice! Will his cunning plan succeed?

Perception: G, 715. Crowley puzzles over one of the great mysteries of the universe: why isn’t EVERYONE in love with Aziraphale?

Reflections: G, 1229. Aziraphale’s simple question, Do you think I should change, hides a world of doubt. Fortunately, Crowley knows just what to say.

Quarantine: G, 554. Aziraphale and Crowley are quarantined in the bookshop! Wait...why? Half PSA, half clueless flirting!

I want some feels and a happy ending.

Early Days: G, 19,459. In the Beginning, an Angel and Demon met on the Wall of Eden. The next day they really started getting on each other’s nerves. See the very beginning of this relationship for the ages! (SoW)

Careful: G, 1664. For nearly 6,000 years, Aziraphale has been careful to control his actions, his feelings and his thoughts. Until Crowley makes a request that could destroy them both. Divergent AU starting with the fight at St James’s Park.

The Dark of Eden: G, 2980. On their last night in Eden, Aziraphale and Crowley walk together trough the Garden, each reflecting on what he’s lost. But perhaps there is something they have gained. Intended to be fluff, came out sort of melancholy. Direct follow-up to Early Days (SoW)

Sealed: G, 5835. London, Three weeks after the Apocalypse: Crowley finds a certain document tucked away in a forgotten book. / Mercia, 1020 CE: An angel and a demon meet to finalize an Arrangement... (SoW)

Reckless: G, 6303. After Aziraphale's reckless confession, he and Crowley must make plans to keep themselves safe. But the worst happens when certain uninvited guests arrive at the bookshop... Sequel to Careful, one more part expected.

Mystery Science Theater 6000: The 1992 Screenplay: G, 8528. An angel and a demon sit down to watch (and mock, and analyze) a movie that probably shouldn’t exist. A little heavier on the feels than originally anticipated. (Only covers the first 30 pages of the Screenplay, so there may be another chapter or 3 in order.)

Of Poetry and Valentines: G, 3435. Crowley can’t stand what Valentine’s Day has become. If he has to look at one more heart-shaped cake, he’s going to be sick. But it wasn’t always that way. Guess which holiday this was written for!

Our Side: G, 1172. After the end, on the bus ride home, Aziraphale despairs. But Crowley shares a new dream... A ButterOmens fic started by @sani-86!

Anniversaries: G, 2422. Just over a year after the apocalypse didn’t happen, Aziraphale and Crowley’s picnic is interrupted by an old enemy. A ButterOmens fic started by @n0nb1narydemon!

A Cunning Plan: G, 11,275. Two angels and two demons decide to get their revenge on the traitors. But holding Aziraphale captive turns out to be harder than expected. Can they break through his defenses before Crowley mounts a successful rescue? ButterOmens fic begun by @kaz3313!

I want LOTS of angsty feels! (Note: endings range from happy to hopeful)

Give Them Hell: G, 1179 words. After the Apocalypse, Aziraphale and Crowley discuss plans for their upcoming trials... (SoW)

Someplace You Belong: G, 5326. London, 1800, Aziraphale finds he must come to terms with the unexpected emotions of his near-promotion. With gentle prodding from Crowley, he reveals a secret. Something of a follow-up to Obedience, but you will likely still feel sad! (SoW)

In Love with My Car: G, 3287. London, 1933, After 70 years of naps, Crowley meets someone who just might change his life. It’s the Bentley! (SoW) Also has a podfic by @exmarks

What it Means to Be A Demon: T, 32,284. Mesopotamia, c. 2400 BC. After an especially harrowing trip to Hell, Crawley arrives in a tiny Mesopotamian village, where he encounters a familiar face. But Aziraphale soon realizes Crawley isn't acting like his old self. Between his foul mood, his mysterious injuries, and his refusal to talk, the demon is certainly hiding something. What has brought Crawley to Gu'Edena? And is there anything Aziraphale can do? So many TWs — please tread carefully! (SoW)

Boundless Love: G, 54,200 (some chapters approach a T rating). 17 stories of Aziraphale and Crowley, 17 chances to fall in love. Written for @drawlight’s Advent Challenge. (Note: these stories are thematically connected, but they are separate stories, not a single plot.)

Aziraphale’s Path: G, 524. Many years later, Heaven and Hell come for them. Aziraphale returns home too late. Is Crowley gone forever? Part of a ButterOmens chain started by @holycatsandrabbits — links are in the fic!

Never Alone Again: G, 9577. They're on their own side now. But they aren't free yet. After the Apocalypse, Aziraphale and Crowley risk everything in one final, desperate gamble to break free of their old sides and truly start their life together. Bus Ride, Body Swap and Trials, overlaps Give Them Hell and ends just before Finding the Words. (SoW)

Kindly rip out my still-beating heart.

Obedience: T, 1797. Before Eden, before the Fall, there was a War in Heaven. Somewhere amongst the eternal fighting on the endless battlefield, one angel learns the consequences of disobeying an order. This one is an absolute gut punch you have been warned. (SoW)

Three Little Words: G, 3361. London, 1849, Crowley has something he rather desperately wants to tell Aziraphale. But there are some things a demon can never say. Sad ending! But only because this is part of a larger series! It’s going to be ok! (SoW)

Claimed: T, 4182. A dinner of crepes. An angel who's ready to talk. But Crowley's evening is interrupted by the arrival of two demons. And they're not here to deliver a rude note. Made for @whiteleyfoster’s contest. Downer ending, though this one may get another chapter or two in the future to mitigate that.

—

Please feel free to save/reblog to help spread the word!

[stevesharrlngtons]

Hello!!! please let us know if it is worth watching Battlecreek because I am ready for Henry but I may not be ready for the rest of whatever goes on and need your review 😂💗

ok! writing this as the credits roll lmao. this will have no spoilers, cross my heart. also, this is just my opinion, so pls take with a grain of salt. 

overall? it wasn’t the worst movie i have ever seen, but it wasn’t good. it was chalk full of stereotypes and overused tropes, which i don’t mind when done right but like, they weren’t done right here so -- 

allison (the female lead) and henry have very little romantic chemistry. a lot of the movie seems very forced/unrealistic bc of this. i feel like this movie would have been better if they were siblings or friends? idk. forced hetero romance makes me sigh lmao. allison could have been a really well developed and nuanced character had the writing and pacing of this movie been better, which is disappointing. to me, she (and sadly all of the characters) were very one dimensional. 

the southern accents in this movie, goddamn, some were so just bad... again, lay on the southern stereotypes and tropes! 

every character, with the slight exception of henry, is a character you’ve seen a million times before and just done worse here. the message/plot --  same thing (felt very fake deep). the dialogue for the most part is mediocre and at some points cringe, i said this in my original post, but it reads like very melodramatic fanfic dialogue. for me, the big selling point in a drama like this, is strong character connections (good or bad) and well written dialogue to move the audience and bring on emotion, and we get neither in this film (beside the relationship between henry and arthur) there were points in the movie were i felt baffled that someone read this screenplay and decided to buy it and then make it. though, it is just a run of the mill romantic drama, so i guess it makes sense, its commercial. but it felt like a knock off nicholas sparks movie. 

i did feel like if the three main characters (henry, tallulah, allison) had been given better dialogue, directing and pacing, this movie could have been a lot better. like the premise is basic, but all three actors are talented so i know they would have really relished in being able to stretch their legs in these roles, if the writing had been better and their characters had not been half baked. 

second to last thing, again with no spoilers, but WHAT THE FUCK is the last fifteen minutes of this movie??? it felt like the beginning to a totally different movie, or the ending to a movie i certainly didn’t just watch??? and like it’s just forgotten, immediately??? just... not good, anyways... 

last thing: mr. henry pearl, the real reason for this ask and not my very poor movie review. he is adorable, so fucking cute, i probably said “he’s so cute!” out loud a million different times watching this movie (thank god no one was home lol). not bill’s best performance (writing was bad im a broken record lol), but he is a good actor so he still does a good job! he is a very kind, gentlemanly man who loves to paint and read and loves poetry like???? how can i not love???? 10/10 would love and cherish forever. 

tldr: would i watch this movie again? no. if i want more henry, i’ll probably just youtube clips rather than watch this movie again. should you watch this movie? only if you’re bored or really want to. like i said, it’s not terrible, but it's pretty meh. if you don’t feel like watching 90 minutes of this just for cute soft baby henry, i’d just head to youtube and watch clips there. but, if you do watch it, it’s fun to just talk about loud at the screen and laugh at your own jokes. 

i feel bad that i sorta just ripped this movie a new one bc like it said, not the worst thing in the world! just not for me. if you want my thoughts with spoilers, i’ll do another post lol

[drivingsideways]

I LOVE YOUR WORK! For meta asks, 4, 17, 24 please?

Hello, hello fair demon, thanks for being so kind  and also asking questions that I have no satisfactory answers for, oooops. 

4. Share a sentence or paragraph from your writing that you’re really proud of (explain why, if you like)

This was actually part of a Black Sails tumblr ficlet I wrote once, and it suddenly came to mind when I saw this question, so, top-of-mind reply:

The first time James undresses entirely in front of Miranda, he feels awkward, ungraceful. Here, in her bedroom, where every object seems carefully chosen and precisely placed- each painting and statuette, the delirious yellow bloom of roses that fill the deep blue-and-white vase by the bed-even the books that- on first glance- seem carelessly scattered, even those seem part of a design, at the heart of which is Miranda. Miranda, with her wicked smiles and soft, sure, hands; her eyes, so warm and full of mischief- eyes that are laughing (a little) at him, as he stands there, bare-I don’t belong here, he thinks, almost overcome by an urge to run-hands clutching his shirt- the finest one he owns that feels, in this elegant place-common-

-but Miranda is right in front of him (when had she moved from the bed?) and her hands are moving over his, gently-gently!-prising his fist open-and her eyes aren’t laughing anymore as she takes his hand and places an open mouthed kiss on his roughened palm, before placing it on her breast-

-the bed is silk and cool against his skin that has become a conflagration in the wake of her questing hands that wander every inch of it; asking, taking-an unremarkable geography turned into something wondrous, as she tells him how she wants him, and arranges him into the precise shape of her needs; finds a place for him in her room of beautiful things, unerring in this, as always.

 7. What do you think are the characteristics of your personal writing style? Would others agree?

Overlong sentences, too many em-dashes and parentheses, or more recently, semi-colons, either too subtle or too on-the-nose and nothing in between.

Uh.

Ok, gosh. So I know you had, Thoughts ™ about me calling my prose workman like, but basically I think that does fit my writing the most. I'm often writing on sheer instinct, feeling my way through the story. I think I remember telling you once that I write to find out what I feel? Yeah, so, given that, and idk, that I tend to write shippy things, I do think my writing style is quite- emotional? Evocative? But not literary or lyrical about it, which is often frustrating to me, because somewhere in my head, I want to write poetry (which is my favourite form of literature), all the time.

But I also think that years of watching tv/movies has basically overwritten a bit of the wiring in my brain, so I often find myself writing a scene the way one should, perhaps, write a screenplay. This is also a bit frustrating to me!

I don't know what other people would think, I'm constantly surprised by the kind and generous things they say about my writing. 😊

24. Would you say your writing has changed over time?

Oh yes! For starters, I used to write mostly non-fiction or poetry, and have found myself writing fiction with any degree of commitment only in the last few years? (Thanks a lot Netflix, for putting The Rise of Phoenixes in my eyeballs!) But honestly, the things I'm interested in now, politically, personally, are different from what I was in, say, my twenties and early thirties, so that is reflected, one way or the other in my writing. I also hope I'm getting better at the actual craft, the more I write, though I suppose I'm still writing mostly by instinct and with zero training for it, outside of high school education. 😊

[euphoriecs]

11/11/11 tag !!!

thank u sm for tagging me @yikescomma​, @buckaroowrites​ nd @yikeskimi​ !!!

rules: answer 11 questions, write your own 11, tag 11 people !

under the cut bc its a Lotta questions KSKSKSHK

yikescomma’s questions!!

1. what’s your favourite place to write?

oh this is ?? kind of a tough one bc i feel like i never Branched out in my spaces when it comes 2 being productive,, like a lot of my work is done in my bedroom just bc my desk is there and it’s the most convenient,,,, honestly im jus gonna say my favorite place to write would be from . my desk . bc it faces the window :-)

2. which character(s) from your wip(s) is your favourite?

since i only have wtsf confidently worked out ,, i’ll use those ocs !! but i think , quite Honestlie ,,, that wendy is my favorite character !! im rly in love with how she progresses as a person nd also she’s jsut . she gets it u know .

3. what are some inspirations for your wip(s)?

I TALKED ABT THIS BEFORE but b/ts’ hyyh series, my neighborhood, spring day by b/ts are a few inspirations for wtsf !!! 

4. how did you start writing?

my dad got me hooked on reading when i was really really young !! and being able to read abt all these huge worlds nd being given an opportunity 2 fall in love w them rly inspired me to want to write worlds of my own . plus , i watch a lot of different shows nd animes that feed into my daydreams nd sometimes im like ‘yo,,, that was a good daydream,,,,, time 2 story it’ .

5. which of your ocs is most difficult to write?

uHGHHGHGS ARTHUR ...... trying to capture this like . enigmatic feeling while keeping close 2 his reasons for acting That way is actually ,, rly hard?? hes a tough cookie 2 crack but i will crack it .

6. what aesthetic do you associate with your wip(s)?

for wtsf ,,, quiet towns , lonely beaches , sunset nd sunrise ,,, running through the streets ?? 

7. do you like planning?

YEA !! i see it more as like . being able to explore ur wip and what directions it can take nd its also jsut rly helpful to have a solid foundation .

8. what is your favourite quote from your wip(s)?

i pulled this from my drabbles but: “Slow down.” Wendy grabbed Arthur’s wrist, pulling him down to sit on the sand. “This world can’t keep up with you.”

9. do you like to listen to music while you write?

yes and no ?? im very particular to the kind of music im listening to nd more often than not, i write in complete silence ,,, but sometimes i’ll find a song that i feel rly fits the vibe of what im writing nd i just put it on repeat HGSHJK

10. what do you like most about your own writing?

i think i like the descriptive aspects of it ?? like how i describe places nd feelings ,,,, :-) !

11. what are/were/would be your ocs favourite subjects in school?

everyone except piper in wtsf is graduated from high school but ,, wendy liked english class the best bc it was fun nd she got good grades !! rafael definitely loved psychology nd took it at an ap level ,, arthur liked math nd chemistry .. chemistry he liked More bc he got 2 blow stuff up SKKSKSEH and piper likes world history!! tho shes not good at it . but she likes it!!

buckaroowrites’ questions!!

what is your favorite subgenre to write? to read?

i lov urban fantasy and low fantasy JGHDSHGJKS like its my favorite to write nd read bc like .. o heck ?? ghosts nd ghouls nd just overall supernatural stuff irl ?? that’s the way 2 go

if you had to be trapped on a desert island with any of your ocs, who would it be and why?

if i had 2 be trapped on a desert island ...... i’d probably choose rafael . honestlie he just seems like he always knows what’s up nd my chances of survival would increase w him JHGJKSJKS

what is your favorite medium to write?

definitely novels !! its a format i’ve pretty much grown up w and im more comfortable w this medium than any others GHSHJKS but i’d love to explore like ,, screenplays nd see where that takes me

who was your first oc?

HYLLY SHITTTT THIS BRINGS ME BACK SJHJHJGJKS i used to draw a lot back when i was younger nd so i had this oc JHJS his name was ian and he was meant for the maximum ride universe but he was a dumb dude who was 2% cat . nd he had an adopted sister ,, i forgot her name but she was part bird .

what was your first wip about?

world end club is supposed 2 be abt a group of teens who work together 2 take down a corporation that wants 2 essentially control the artificial island they live on thru engineered soldiers . ITS A CONCEPT ,, nd it requires a little Too Much for my one brain cell to think abt

thoughts on shakespeare?

uhhh no thots bc i never read his work in high school i jus know macbeth is cursed .... wow i rly dont know anything abt shakespeare huh .

poetry or prose?

o this is TOUGH i rly adore both .......... im gonna . im gonna go w prose . i lvoe poetry so much sometimes there are lines that just rly fucken punch u in the face but im gonna go w prose bc its familiar !!

would you ever co-write a story?

nO ..... i wouldnt b able 2 compromise i’d jus b like oH ACTUALLY SKSKKS MY IDEA’S DUMB LETS JUST DO URS 

write what you want to write or write what you want to read/watch?

oh . fuc .... i feel like its important to have a good balance of both but . honestlie im very partial to what i want to read/watch ..

do you like to write violence?

i dont Like 2 write it but its In My Wips !

what is your favorite trope?

oH ,, probably ‘fire forged friends’ or like . mutual pining ... i have too many favorite tropes nd somehow im gonna incorporate them all .

yikeskimi’s questions!!

Tell us about the main character(s) in your current WIP!

oKAY SO im gonna try to not make this too long SJKHJGS !! wendy is a very like . prickly character . shes like a cactus . nd she’s not too fond of letting ppl get close, but the ppl who do manage to get close to her are happie 2 learn she would actually die for them . loyalty is a Huge Huge part of her character, and she cares very deeply abt the people she calls family . shes also v sarcastic nd like . ‘open ur eyes dummy’ .

arthur is a kind of person who lives heavily on false pretenses . like he projects this image bc its an image that he can control nd he jsut Rolls w it , but hes actually someone who likes 2 tease his friends nd be friendly to them ,, hes got Issuez nd is very much the type of person to be like ‘o lol im ok :-)...’ nd prioritize the needs of others 

rafael is , in all honesty , just babey . he studied a lot during high school nd rly pushed himself beyond his limits bc he wants to be able 2 go 2 a good college on scholarship nd get a job 2 support his family , nd hes just ?? very responsible nd sweet but that can also manifest into him taking on more than he should nd burning out . 

piper is a very ,, honestlie kinda sad character kjHGJSJ she spends a lot of time just trying 2 appeal to other ppl bc she knows her interest in the supernatural make her a ‘weird’ person nd she wants to be able 2 have real friends ,, but when she learns 2 let go of this she’s very silly nd always making jokes During The Right time ..

Do you have an all time favorite OC? Tell us about them!

hMMMM i dont think i do ??? my memory of my ocs is rly bad JHSJ so more often than not i just ,, rip i dont remember them </3

If you could be best friends with one of your OCs, who would it be and why?

ms piper chaiyathan !!!! shes a very open nd kind individual nd i feel like our humor nd joking style would match V v v well !!!

Last line you’ve written in your WIP?

Wendy, unlike her brothers Adam and Nate, had inherited her father’s rough touch, and that made them both unwanted in the high stakes setting of a diner kitchen.

If you have a chosen title for your WIP, were there any titles you considered before it? And if not, what are some titles you’re thinking of?

when the sun falls went through SO many titles nd i actually have them all here: where the sun goes / fever dreams / above the sun / where the sun follows / the drowned sun ... as u can see the sun was smth i Needed .

What is an important element in the world your WIP takes place in?

uHHHH the supernatural element is . Very important but i cant be too specific about it but i will tell u it involves a dead tree on the beach .

Tell us an out of context spoiler.

arthur gets a cool new set of eyes.

Any power couples/ships in your WIP?

wendy nd arthur babey ,,,,,, bat nd molotov cocktail duo ,,,, last name central until the important moment nd THEN they use each other’s first names ..

Any music you like listening to while you write?

uHHHH specifically for wtsf i listen 2 a lot of hozier, lorde, conan gray, khalid nd halsey :-)

What would your main character(s) favorite song be?

oH okay i got this in the BAG ... wendy’s favorite song would Absolutely be work place by hozier or more than sorrow by a-lin ,,, arthur would definitely b listening 2 like . free spirit by khalid .. piper, since she p much spent all of middle school nd 2 years of high school in thailand ,, i think she’

Which character in your WIP could you relate to the most?

honestly? all of them !!! a lot of the characters in wtsf have little bits nd pieces of me bc thats how all my ocs come into existence nd theres no One character thats like “oh,,, das me”

and here are my 11 questions !!

Which one of your OCs do you think could survive a zombie apocalypse? Why?

What’s something you’ve been itching to write about?

Share the last paragraph you wrote!

Do you prefer coming up with plots or characters? Why?

Do you have any abandoned WIPs? Tell us about them!

What are some favorite themes/tropes to write about?

How do you get into the zone for writing?

Tell us a random fact for any of your OCs !!!

Are you someone who needs a visual for your WIPs?

What are some influences to your writing style?

If you had to be a character in one of your WIPs, which WIP would it be and what role would you play?

i’m gonna tag @babyreeds @holotones @alejandroistyping @noloumna @faerisms @omniawrites @aslanwrites @ashesconstellation @thegrievingyoung @glittcrpeach @syposium !!! no pressure to do it if u dont want to tho <3

[unbearablylight]

11/11/11 Tag

i thought these had died out tbh, but hello @synwrites thanks for ze tag and ze questions

1. If you want to be a published author, what are you doing towards that aim?

i mean i have self-published before, but rn it’s not like my main focus since i’d prefer to write for tv/film. but mostly i’d just like my will to write to return from the war

2. How many books have you read in 2019?

o..one? a half of one?? my reading has been bad this year

3. Do you track how many words you write? If so, what are your metrics for the year? For longer than this year?

screenplays/tv scripts track pages over words, so i have no idea how many actual words i’ve written this year whoops

4. Who is your favourite writeblr blog?

oh man oh man i mean i’m friends with quite a few but looking at this just at a writeblr angle i adore @reeseweston @noloumna @pinespittinink @lilquill (although i’m not sure that’s sakshi’s actual writeblr but i could just be confused and thinking of someone else with a separate writeblr and either way sakshi is cool so worth a follow)

and there’s probably many more that i’m forgetting lmao

5. What is something about writeblr that you don’t like?

engagement rates lol but i’m just as guilty as anyone else so i can’t really complain about it

but like i wish reblogging was the hot thing to do again

6. Do you change your writing style, or are you consistent in how you write?

i tend to change style to fit whatever i’m writing. there’s probably, almost definitely stuff that carries over, but i like the style to reflect the work and complement it

7. Do you like writing by hand? How many notebooks do you have?

i only like writing poetry by hand but i rarely do it, but i have like two small notebooks/journals that i use

8. What is your favourite dinosaur?

i honestly have never considered this but my first thought was brontosaurus because i like a long-necked boi

9. Do you like time travel plots in media?

look i’m still a slut for doctor who, so yeah

i also wrote a screenplay that was based around time travel

depending on how it’s done, it can be so fun

10. Which character, in any media format, completely infuriates you?

ok i couldn’t think of a specific like archetype, but any female character that’s one-dimensional is usually gonna make me mad especially if you can tell that they’re just there to be a bitch/mean girl with no depth or if they’re just like bland and wasted potential (and they’re like..... the only women.....)

or also a bad man in power who just keeps getting away with doing shit because the writers are too lazy to think of a better plot (looking at you veronica’s dad in riverdale. actually i’m just looking at everyone in riverdale. why do they all suck.)

11. Have you ever pranked someone? What was it?

i don’t think i have? i’m not really good at pranks lol

i am too lazy to do the rest of this as always! whoops! plus davy tagged a lot of people in his so i’m just gonna let it go

[sundaynightnovels]

11/11/11

i was tagged by the lovely @aslanwrites, who has just undergone a name change which confused me a LOT because i was like... who is this person.. with that familiar icon... what happened to quiescentwriting????????? but my slow mind caught up and yea!! thanks for remembering me even with your new identity hahahha and thanks for tagging me in this!! <3 

Rules: Answer 11 Questions, Ask Eleven Questions, Tag Eleven People! 

Why did you start writing? I honestly don’t remember. i’ve just been writing since young... and it might have to do with reading books, i really don’t know. but when i was younger my sis and i used to play with our stuffed toys and we created this entire world surrounding the 6 of them (used to be 4 but we added 2 to the gang), including an entire class of 22 people with names, distinct personalities and relationships, and also multiple AUs such as a superpower one and a living-together one, which was really fun. so yea i guess i’ve been creating stories since young!

What writing advice do you adhere to? i actually don’t adhere to writing advice HAHA i’m a rebel . okay kidding aside, i really don’t refer to them or read them at all, like i’m not really bothered with advice. i just want to do what i wanna do, yknow?? i guess the only advice that i know and follow is to not read back on what you’ve already written. i think i’ve quoted that a lot of times before HAHAHA but yea, that’s really the only one.

What writing advice do you disagree with? refer to above hahaha i can’t really disagree with anything when i really don’t know anything!! ( i mean, of course i can if i want to be an ass but yknow, i’m not. well, not all the time)

Do you think “Said” is dead? nah. i use ‘said’ all the time. sometimes you just need it yknow? it’s like an old best friend that you’re so used to, you don’t even notice its presence in your life but you need it like you need air. you can pry my best friend away from my cold dead hands!!

Favorite drink when writing? i mainly drink water. i don’t really drink anything else. ooo ~~healthy ~~~ nah i’m really not i just like water.

What’s your favorite app to write on? Or do you prefer notebooks? i write mainly on MS word, which i know ain’t the best but i’m used to it and my OLD LIMBS WILL NOT TAKE ANY OTHER ok jk i am up for other options but it’s working fine for me now, so i don’t feel the need to change. i write sometimes on notebooks when i’m really stuck, or i just feel like writing something by hand, but that’s rarely, usually when i’m overseas without my laptop or bored to death at work.

Who or what is your biggest inspiration? other creators i guess, and not just authors but also filmmakers or musicians or whatever. right now i just want to be like taika waititi, yknow. i just wanna do what i want to do and what i have fun doing and maybe eventually others can jump onboard and enjoy my work with me!

What do you wish writers would do more of? PLATONIC RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN MAIN CHARACTERS!!! i mean, i love romance as much as the next person, but it always seem like the main characters always end up in a romantic relationship with each other when sometimes they are a lot better as friends. another of my wip (the only other wip i have with first drafts written... since years ago) has three main characters who remain in platonic relationships with one another throughout, and while retrospectively i could see how some might ship certain characters together, i really liked that i kept them as purely friends and it worked so much better and idk, i just feel like a lot of times when you see main characters it’s like an immediate, oh they are gonna get together, and yknow, that doesn’t always have to be the case.

What do you wish writers would do less of? uhhhhhhhhhmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm i don’t really know right now. hmmmmm. 

What turns you away from a story? well. unnecessary plot twists. like, sometimes it’s okay for a story to be predictable and for readers to expect what is happening, because that just means the story makes sense and whatever’s happening is coherent with what happened in the past, yknow???? and sometimes i feel like people stress too much about being unexpected and subverting expectations and wanting to surprise readers that... they throw too many plot twists into a story until it doesn’t make sense, until the flow is disrupted and it ruins the story as a whole. being predictable is not a bad thing!!!!!! and vice versa, shock value isn’t inherently good for your story!

Thoughts on the whole “Mary Sue” topic? ah. well, i don’t like them, but that’s mainly because mary sue’s are so flat as characters that i don’t think any story will happen around them, yknow what i mean? like if they’re so perfect and can do no wrong, there’s not much conflict to be had and the story won’t be as strong. also, i just don’t think they’re particularly realistic or relatable characters, they’re mostly self-indulgent... which is not a bad thing (my whole damn wip is self-indulgent tbh), it’s just... they’re not particularly entertaining to read about either.

OKAY i am tagging: @cawolters @kidsarentallwrite @focusdumbass @inexorableblob @insearchof-solace @kaigods @nyxnevin @inkpot-dreamer @elusiveink @usuallydecentwriter @purplepenblog  && anyone else who wants to do this! my 11 questions are:

What is your favourite type of character to write (in terms of trait, personality, trope, or just basically what you find yourself writing the most)? 

What kind of a writer do you aspire to be?

What kind of book do you really want to write, and why have you not written it yet?

What is the one thing you like best about your own writing?

What is the one thing you want to improve most about your writing?

Do you write things other than conventional novels (e.g. poetry, screenplays, non-fiction)? If no, do you wish to venture out into other forms of writing?

Do you let the people around you read your writing? At which stage do you let them read it (outline, first draft, polished piece)? Why or why not?

What aspects do you like best about writing in general?

Do you tend to stick to what you know when writing, or do you like to write about things outside of your real life?

What do you think about plot twists?

What do you want to see more of in the publishing industry in general? Why? 

(had to include that second last one HAHAHA) alright!! hope y’all enjoy answering these questions!!

[thortunes]

I’m gonna deconstruct this scene because I’ve been thinking about it ALL DAY and what the hell, I’ve got time. This clip demonstrates what I love most about Taika Waititi’s filmmaking and it shows off Chris and Tom’s chemistry in the fiercest way. It’s hilarious, sweet, bittersweet, surprising, and poignant.

1) “Loki, I thought the world of you.” 

Even though there was an instinctive part of me that screamed, “OK, WELL, YOUR ACTIONS TOLD A DIFFERENT STORY, THOR” due to residual bitterness over what a dickbag Thor was in the first film, I’m 1,000% here for this line. I’m proud of how much Thor has matured, thrilled that these two are actually talking to each other, and happy that Loki’s hearing something he’s probably always wanted/needed to hear even though it’s bittersweet because Thor’s using the past tense.

Tom’s reaction here is SO GOOD. Just the tiniest shift in his eyebrows to indicate that Thor has Loki’s attention and he’s fucking locked in and hanging on to every word.

2) “I thought we were gonna fight side by side forever, but at the end of the day you’re you and I’m me.”

I know there was a minor (?) uproar over Chris’ comments that Thor will be “indifferent” to Loki in Ragnarok, but this scene seems to suggest a kind of acceptance rather than indifference. Maybe for the first time, Thor truly seems to have accepted that he and Loki are fundamentally different beings--and by extension, he’s accepting Loki’s nature. Yes, part of that acceptance means letting go and moving on (note: I did not say giving up) and that’s sad, but realistic I think. How many fakeout deaths and stabbings can a person be expected to withstand? “You’re you” is a significant break in pattern for Thor and Loki appears genuinely taken aback by it.

“You’re you” is a huge deal because to me, the brothers’ central conflict has always boiled down to the fact that Loki isn’t Thor (thanks, Odin, for exacerbating this tension). For Loki, that fact is a source of self-loathing and resentment, something that he can act out against and, as Tom has often said, define himself in opposition to.

By the same token I think it’s become clearer that what Loki thinks of Thor matters to Thor. For an older sibling, having a younger sibling who looks up to you and wants to be like you is perhaps one of the biggest indicators that you’re a good--dare I say worthy--person. Ever since Loki let go of Gungnir Thor has struggled to make sense of Loki’s rejection, to define himself without the security of having his brother by his side. With that in mind I’ve always seen Thor’s past attempts to bring Loki back to the “good” side as heartfelt and genuine, but also somewhat ego-driven and shortsighted because it came at the expense of Loki’s autonomy and self-identification.

Cut to now. By acknowledging that he and Loki are each their own person, Thor’s relieving Loki of the pressure and expectation to be anyone other than himself. In a way that’s a gift, but it’s also terribly sad because it’s accompanied by loss for both of them. Which brings me to:

3) “I dunno, maybe there’s still good in you but let’s be honest: our paths diverged a long time ago.”

It’s in this moment that Loki really seems to realize where this conversation is headed. And he doesn’t like it.

We know Loki lives to test Thor. It’s his (super dysfunctional and unhealthy) way of making sure Thor still cares about him. In The Dark World, Loki tests Thor’s assertions that he doesn’t trust him and has lost hope for him by ... getting himself impaled. Yeah, “dying” was also his “get out of jail free, usurp the throne” card, but it’s not insignificant that he calls Thor’s bluff in the process. 

4) “Yeah. It’s probably for the best that we never see each other again.”

Speaking of calling Thor’s bluff, I think Loki--because he’s a smart little fucker--says this in order to get ahead of the conversation. He knows what’s coming, so he pulls the classic “I’ll reject you before you reject me” move. But I don’t think he means it. It’s more likely that he’s trying to balance the scales so he’s not on the utter losing side of this conversation. And honestly? Deep down I doubt he can bear to hear Thor say it and by proactively agreeing with him he’s holding out hope that Thor will pull a “JK!” and change his mind.

5) “That’s what you always wanted.”

OMG THOR HAS GOTTEN SO SMART. I mean, I guess it’s within the realm of possibility that Thor is still really dumb about Loki’s feelings/motivations, but personally it’s more fun and satisfying to think he sees Loki’s test and raises him an even bigger one.

Loki’s face is so sad-funny. His plan backfired, he’s panicking a little, but he’s got to save face and play it cool, and he’s also legit sad because he knows this outcome is the culmination of his past actions and he did his part in paving this road for both of them. And at the end of the day he’s still the younger brother who doesn’t want to appear weak, so he’s doing his best to match Thor’s tone and attitude.

The moment when Loki lifts his chin and gives a little nod is a dead giveaway; never seeing Thor again is the opposite of what he wants, but he’s prepared to accept that it’s too late for anything else. It’s SO far from an apology, but for Loki it’s about the most mature thing we’ve seen him do.

The fact that for once they’re not arguing with each other is what made me tear up. It’s like they both know they should’ve had this conversation years ago, when it could have made all the difference, but at the same time they know that moment has passed. THIS IS FUCKING TRAGIC.

(If I wrote this movie, this would be the moment where they both dissolve into tears, fall on the floor, and cry-hug it out, which is why I write poetry and not screenplays.)

6) “Hey, let’s do Get Help.”

This was the beginning of the death of me, I will never be the same. I laughed so hard. On the surface this whole exchange may seem like just a gag--and it IS funny as hell--but I feel like it’s working on so many levels and reveals something deeper about Thor and Loki’s bond.

First of all, if you’re me, everything that preceded this moment was really uncomfortable and sad and almost unbearable to witness so I don’t think it’s a stretch to assume that Thor and Loki were feeling some of that too.

What I love about this transition is that Thor immediately cuts through the tension, probably to put both of them at ease and bring them back into the more familiar territory of their rapid-fire banter. Loki seems a bit surprised but relieved.

IMO, this brief exchange of dialogue does more to convey Loki and Thor’s bond and establish their history than anything we’ve been shown in the previous films (not counting that deleted scene from the first movie). I thought it was really poignant to see them revert to/rely upon something from their distant past. You can tell this is an argument they’ve had a zillion times before. You can tell from the stunt itself that it’s something they’ve had many opportunities to perfect. 

Even though Loki is reluctant to participate, he does, because he still craves inclusion and acceptance. Even though Thor is no longer quite as overbearing and arrogant as he once was, he regresses into that role so that he can get his younger brother back for just a moment. It’s like they’re consoling themselves without admitting that they want to be consoled. And yeah, on a practical note they also need to find a way off of Sakaar.

In conclusion, they’ve both just conceded that their relationship has reached an impasse with no real way forward, yet in the immediate aftermath of this supposed acceptance they choose to revert to an older dynamic that reflects presumably happier times. They don’t want to quit each other. This is fine. It’s fine. I’m not crying. I love them. The end.

I’m deep in my feels right now and probably projecting a lot (HI, HELLO, I HAVE A TROUBLED YOUNGER BROTHER, I’VE NEVER USED HIM AS A PROJECTILE BUT I UNDERSTAND THE IMPULSE), but even without having seen this scene in the full context of the film, it’s my favorite Thor/Loki moment to date. It’s what I’ve always wanted. It actually brings “We were raised together, we played together, we fought together” to life in a meaningful way, whereas in The Avengers I felt like those were just words.

If you made it this far, thanks for reading!

[smallpressdistribution]

Wazzzzzap internet. Feast your eyes and your shelves on May’s

SPD Recommends *Backlist*,

ten titles from the 90's that continue to rock our world. boo-ya.

Scrunchies, Beverly Hills 90210, Ryan Gosling’s long hair, Xena, The Parent Trap with Lindsay Lohan, all those Bagel Bites commericals...just a small glimpse into humanity's greatest feats. It's not a coincidence that all these feats took place in the 90's either. That's because the 90's were great. It only makes sense that literature in the 90's was great too.

So hold tight to your Tamagotchi, Furby, or Beanie Baby collection: The 90's are back in the form of 10 awesome SPD backlist titles. These titles will leave you glowing brighter than any glow-in-the-dark star on your bedroom ceiling ever could. feat. New Star Books, Talisman House, Publishers, Kelsey Street Press, & more!

1. Debbie: An Epic by Lisa Robertson (New Star Books, 1997)

Lisa Robertson's Debbie: An Epic was a finalist for the 1998 Governor General's Award for Poetry. As arresting as the cover image, Robertson's strong, confident voice echoes a wide range of influences from Virgil to Edith Sitwell, yet remains unique and utterly unmistakable for that of any other writer. Brainy, witty, sensual, demonstrating a commanding grasp of language and rhetoric, Debbie: An Epic is nevertheless inviting and easy to read, even fun. Its eponymous heroine will annihilate your preconceptions about poetry - and about the name "Debbie."

2. The Tower of Babel by Jack Spicer (Talisman House, Publishers, 1994)

An established writer from an Eastern college returning to his former San Francisco haunts becomes entangled in a labyrinthine series of events that culminate in the sudden violent death of a respected poet. Described by Lewis Ellingham and Kevin Killian as "a satiric look at the private world of poetry gone public in the wake of the Six Gallery HOWL reading of October, 1955," The Tower of Babel includes finely detailed sketches of the San Francisco poetry world and gay life as they existed then.

3. Four Year Old Girl by Mei-mei Berssenbrugge (Kelsey Street Press, 1998)

In this extraordinary new collection of poems by Mei-mei Berssenbrugge, writing reflects human presence in the phenomenal world. Physical sensations of experience—a horizon, moisture, a child, a piece of quartz, a loss—become objects of focus and poetic elements. Her written lines, like strings of protein, both create and destroy bonds. Reading affords moments of exquisite vulnerability in which the perceived world is suddenly exposed to the quick. The pace of everday life slips into that of a waking dream. Winner of the 1998 Western States Book Award.

4. Brooklyn Bridge by Leslie Kaplan (Station Hill Press of Barrytown, 1992)

This is the first English translation of Leslie Kaplan's haunting novel about the meaning of childhood and the mysteriously intimate interworkings of child and adult. Here four adults and a child come together in a chance meeting in New York's Central Park, where the child's presence is a question to all of them. The novel pursues the erotic complexity of their various relationships with a special focus on the disturbing interaction between Julien and the child Nathalie. Woven through the affecting depictions of human characters, is the extraordinary depiction of the city, its tensions, its unexpected necessities, its urgencies. Written in a rhythm as electric as its setting, Brooklyn Bridge is a novel for the questioning child in us all.

5. WHATSAID Serif by Nathaniel Mackey (City Lights Publishers, 1998)

Nathaniel Mackey's third book of poems, WHATSAID Serif, is comprised of installments 16 through 35 of Song of the Andoumboulou, an ongoing serial work whose first fifteen installments appear in his two previous books, Eroding Witness and School of Udhra. Named after a Dogon funeral song whose raspy tonalities prelude rebirth, Song of the Andoumboulou has from its inception tracked interweavings of lore and lived apprehension, advancing this weave as its own sort of rasp. These twenty new installments evoke the what-sayer of Kalapalo storying practice as a figure for the rough texture of such interweaving. Mackey has suggested that the Andoumboulou, a failed, earlier form of human being in Dogon cosmology are "a rough draft of human being," that "the Andoumboulou are in fact us; we're the rough draft." The song is of possibility, yet to be fulfilled, aspiration's putative angel itself.

6. Another Smashed Pinecone by Bernadette Mayer (United Artists Books, 1998)

"It's OK that poetry won't save us from circumstance, or pave our road to what we're tempted to call Heaven, but it doesn't matter—because reading Bernadette Mayer's poetry is where I always want to be. Here, within the playfulness of her language, is where consequences of daily living are histories of heart and mind. Poetry is in life and life is in Bernadette's poetry, and that's all the reassurance we need."—Kristin Prevallet

7. Sight by Lyn Hejinian and Leslie Scalapino (Edge Books, 1999)

Equal parts poetry and philosophy, Lyn Hejinian and Leslie Scalapino's collaboration is organized around the act and idea of seeing, written in the form of a literary dialogue. "We were interested in a joint investigation into the workings of experience," writes Hejinian in the introduction, "how experience happens, what it consists of, how the experiencing (perceiving, feeling, thinking) of it occurs, what the sensation of sensing tells us." Visual descriptions interact with meditations on contemporary life, Western intellectual history, dream, film, poetry, and collaboration itself.

8. Close to Me & Closer...(The Language of Heaven) and Desamere by Alice Notley (O Books, 1995)

Alice Notley's two books collected here, Close to Me & Closer...and Desamere, are works that are wholly their art, meaning they occur as their language shape measure. She's invented a measure. The text is a rich current crossing, as at the moment of imagining, into being in death and in an expanded life. Notley transgresses conventional contemporary categories of genre; rather than genre, the form of the writing is the mind's inner sense and motion. "Alice Notley is, I think, the most challenging and engaging of our contemporary radical female poets...infused with uncommon verbal originality, intelligence and joyous playfullness, full of heart, intensity and wonder, provocatively addressing forever unsolved questions of form and identity, life and death, imagination and gender, Notley's poems are unsettling and inspiring"––the San Francisco Chronicle. 

9. Barefoot Heart: Stories of a Migrant Child by Elva Trevino Hart (Bilingual Review Press, 1999)

A vividly told autobiographical account of the life of a child growing up in a family of migrant farm workers. It brings to life the day-to-day existence of people facing the obstacles of working in the fields and raising a family in an environment that is frequently hostile to those who have little education and speak another language. Assimilation brings its own problems, as the original culture is attenuated and the quality of family relationships is comprimised, consequences that are not inevitable but are instead a series of choices made along the way. It is also the story of how the author overcame the disadvantages of this background and found herself.

10. Local History by Erica Hunt (Roof Books, 1994)

"Erica Hunt's Local History blows the public and the personal inside out, estranging familiar forms of writing, letter and diary, while snatching moments of intimacy and insight in disembodied prose that anatomizes artifacts of mass culture, such as screenplay and cartoon strip."—Harryette Mullen

[bomethius]

INADIQUIT: A STORY

Bomethius, inadiquit (2020) A full-length collaboration between Jonathan Hodges and his uncle, Dave Hodges 

My uncle Dave and I have been close for most of my life. He used to dip my pacifier in Jack Daniels — to “strengthen my immune system” — and he taught me to eat ants in my Mormor’s (grandmother’s) pantry, play chess, shoot pool, and debate my Sunday school teachers.

Our relationship has always been equal parts silly and serious, and we’ve always seemed to understand each other. The distance that frequently separates adults and children never seemed to come between us. We often sat at the piano and plunked about until we were sufficiently bored with our ideas and then listened to Paganini or Chopin, mutually cringing at our ineptitude and mediocrity. We debated over philosophers, history, and theology. Above all, we laughed.

Things changed around my 14th birthday, though, when my family moved from Atlanta to Austin, Texas. My dad was diagnosed with cancer shortly after the move, and I started writing music to cope. After Dad made a full recovery, we took a road trip to Atlanta to see our extended family. On that trip, I listened to Chopin’s entire catalogue. The drive is about 17 hours, and Chopin wrote about 17 hours of music.

I sat down at the piano as soon as we arrived at Mormor’s house. It was Sunday, and Dave was over. After lunch, I showed him my ideas for a piece. We messed around and ended up finishing a draft together. About a week later, my friend dropped by and recorded it. The result was my first professional recording, “Improvisation No. 1,” which is the fourth track on inadiquit. Dave and I had ironed out the song’s structure, but the performance was mostly improvised — I had never played it that way before, and I’ll never play like that again. As it was last played and recorded seven years ago, “Improvisation No. 1” represents the first time I had something to say with my music.

Years went by, and I left for college. I only got to see Dave whenever we were in the same town. We exchanged emails and texts now and then, but we could never talk the way we needed to. It’s impossible to spend all the time you have with only the people you want to see, so we just accepted that and moved along. Each of us became a story for the other: I’d do impressions of my ridiculous uncle for my friends, and he’d tell his friends about his semiserious violinist nephew.

Before college, I released an album called The Dressing to My Salad with my good friend Nate Zivin. We wrote and recorded the whole thing on a whim in about a week and a half, but Dave really took to it. He showed it to friends and family, and a few people actually listened to it, which was pretty neat. Nothing serious came of the record, though; it was just a fun little thing that happened.

A couple years later, when I was halfway through undergrad, I released a self-recorded album called Gender is a Fluid and sent it to Dave. He was confused.

“What are you doing?” he asked me. “You’re a violinist, right?”

I told him I wanted to do more than violin. It was a short conversation, and Dave left scratching his head. Regardless, he kept up with my releases and periodically sent me listening suggestions. We started talking over the phone a lot more frequently — often about music that made us cry. Our conversations became a monthly event.

After I released Sweet Nothings and the reviews started to come in, I began to feel stuck. While the record did really well, considering I’m nobody, I wondered if I’d written Bomethius into a corner. The music was all so serious, and the laughter I’d always tried to maintain didn’t come through as much. I remember telling Dave I hadn’t had a new or decent idea in a while, to which he responded, “Here’s a stack of things you need to listen to.” I needed the next Bomethius album to be different. I needed to stave off all the Elliott Smith and Andrew Bird comparisons and prove to myself that I wasn’t just another sad minimalist.

As I was finishing my last semester of college, Dave called me to see if I had any interest in setting an old poem of his to music. It was called “A Mazing Tonic,” which he described as an initialistic acrostic that touched on his experiences with an hallucinogen called AMT. I jumped at the opportunity, and we hung up. (Here's that poem!)

I heard nothing from Dave for several days, which meant he was probably having second thoughts about showing it to me, so I badgered him until he gave in and sent me the poem. I spent three days reading the poem aloud — and wondering if it even needed music — before I began to set it.

A few weeks later, Dave called again to tell me he’d be coming out to Dallas for a business project and that he’d like to stay at my place. So, he came over, and three bottles of wine later, we’d unpacked our adolescence, early frustrations with the church, drug experiences, regrets, love for Kierkegaard, and discovery of a God who’s completely different from what we were told to believe in as children. It was an amazing night. I woke up the next day with a terrible hangover and the beginnings of what would become the worst case of laryngitis I’d ever had, but I was beyond excited.

About a week later, I finished a demo for his “A Mazing Tonic” poem and emailed it to him. I heard nothing for a few days, and then he called me to say that he couldn’t stop crying the first time he heard the demo. We were both ecstatic. He shared some ideas for making the song better, and we hung up. After I finished a second draft of the song, I showed it to my roommate Travis. He asked me what we were planning to do with the song, and I said I’d probably just release it as a single. Over Christmas, I told him, I happened upon some old photographs of Dave and me hanging out when I was about 3 years old, and we could probably use those as cover art. Travis thought about this for a moment and then remarked that we should do an entire album together.

I got so excited I called Dave right then to suggest it to him. There was complete silence on the other end, and then he inhaled deeply — the way he does when he’s unsure about something — and finally replied with some hesitation. “Ok, I’m not going to say anything about this yet. Give me some time to think about it. My gut reaction is absolutely not, but I might just be scared. Let me call you back.”

He called me back fifteen minutes later. “All right, I’m in. Might just be an EP. I’d be surprised if we’re able to put enough material together for a full album, but I have to tell you that I’m in. Hold me to it. I know tomorrow I’ll hate myself for this. Tomorrow, I won’t want to do this.” As soon as we hung up, I immediately opened a Google Doc so we could start writing and discussing our album.

Dave has spent much of his life ashamed of his creativity. He might spend a few hours composing a piano piece, stop to take a break, and then come back to the piece only to be so completely disgusted with his efforts that he prints it off, sets it on fire, deletes the file, and reformats his hard drive. As hilarious as this sounds — and it is funny — it’s also terribly sad. A big part of this project came from the need to show Dave his ideas don’t have to stay buried and hidden — that he doesn’t have to be ashamed of what he can create.

As the project unfolded, Dave steadily grew to be more confident, and his ideas became stronger. It was a beautiful progression. Dave came into this project with some experience as a poet but not as a lyricist, so working with his lyrics was often challenging. The difference between good poetry and good lyrics is difficult to pin down, but I think it has something to do with the fact that, like a screenplay, you actually have to sing a song — whereas a poem is sustained by the words alone. I’ve never needed to hear Robert Frost read one of his poems. They’re already complete on paper. A good reading might add something, but it isn’t essential. Good lyrics only come alive when set to the right tune and sung. And that’s what I had to do on this album: I had to wring the music out of the poetry.

Neither of us can take 100 percent credit for any of the songs on this album. This album is a true, complete collaboration from beginning to end, and it was a joy to create something with Dave that captures our relationship, our personalities, and our experiences.

[heylabodega]

Books Read, Age 26

Previously: 25, 24, 23, 22, 21, 20, 19, 18 (holy shit)

Enigma Variations–Aciman I talked to Robbie about this one a bunch bc he’s always looking for good novels about gay people by gay people and I thought this might be that but this is…not that. It had promise and the first section is really kind of lovely but it veers off and just…I don’t know, mileage will vary, but it didn’t feel True to me. idk idk either like he misunderstands love and sexuality or I do and it honestly could more than likely be me.

A Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy–Adams One of those books I had just always kinda pretended I read. I mean not that people like frequently check to make sure I’ve read AHGttG but just like in my mind whenever it was mentioned I checked it off. You know the dealio you don’t need my thoughts on it (as opposed to most things, on which you definitely do).

All Grown Up–Attenberg My favorite of the Attenberg novels I’ve read. Of particular use and relevance to me, an aging single woman and unlikeable protagonist. I enjoyed this very much, it was sharp and warm and mean and tender.

Queen of the Night–Chee Hmm. Ok. I felt for most of this book that it like…thought it was a different, more important book than it actually was? It is overwritten–both in prose style and in that it could have been at least 100 pages shorter–and you know how sometimes you read a book with a female protagonist and you’re like ‘I can’t believe a man wrote this!’? Yeah this isn’t that. But the ending line is really good? idk. Someone else read it and tell me your thoughts.

Too Much and Not the Mood–Chew-Bose First of all, excellent title. These essays reminded me, and I mean in this in the lease self-important way possible, of my own writing. Just in that way where writing doesn’t have to be traditionally literarily linear. These essays are good and filled with the kind of sentences that make you know the writer loves words, you can feel her placing them carefully with the satisfying click of scrabble tiles, sliding them into the right order.

Who Killed Roger Ackroyd–Christie Typical Agatha novel and very good. I can’t tell you any more without spoiling it.

Murder in Retrospect–Christie This is one of my fave Christie’s. It was dark and smart and pithy.

Rule Britannia–Du Maurier I found this in a used bookstore in Portland, Maine, just after the Brexit vote. She wrote it in like the 70s and it’s speculative fiction based on if the UK left the EU and formed a union with the United States. It’s kind of really good but it also ends kind of abruptly, like maybe it could have been the first of a trilogy or something.

Plum Bun–Fauset This was my favorite book from my Harlem Renaissance class. I wrote my term paper on it. I love this book. I want to write it as a screenplay and someone to make it into a movie and I want Troian Bellesario to play the lead.

A Coney Island of the Mind–Ferlinghetti A book of (I think?) beat poetry that I found in a used bookstore in Saugherties at Thanksgiving. I love these poems, especially one called “The World is a Beautiful Place” which I read out loud to Robbie one night while we were walking between bars in the snow at like midnight.

Wishful Drinking–Fisher Carrie Fisher is one of those people whose very existence makes me feel braver and weirder and funnier. She’s a truly good soul and I don’t have anything else to say except that you should read this and also that you should Postcards From the Edge first it’s better.

Difficult Women–Gay I prefer Roxane Gay’s fiction to her nonfiction and these are very good, very interesting stories full of sadness and love.

The Autobiography of Malcolm X (as told to Alex Haley) I have never had so many people approach me while reading a book in public as this one. It is, unsurprisingly, an extremely compelling and upsetting book. But I was very surprised by it. I’m not sure quite what I expected from it, but it wasn’t what it was. I think about this book at least twice a week. I think everyone should read it and I think they’ll all enjoy it.

How To Be  A Person In the World–Havrilesky I think maybe Ask Polly columns are better in smaller doses than a whole book, but nevertheless, for better or for worse, she shaped a great deal of my early-twenties self esteem and the essays translate to the page much better than a lot of internet writing I’ve read. 

Girl on the Train–Hawkins This felt…cheap somehow. Like I got really into it and then felt like I’d been cheated or fooled because it’s truly not very good.

Bright Lines–Islam This is a fascinating book. It’s the most Brooklyn summery, felt the most like my Brooklyn summers despite describing a Bengali Muslim family and smoking weed and other experiences that are not specifically mine. I’d recommend it. Highly.

Intimations–Kleeman Man, I’ve recommended this book of short stories to so many people. It’s weird and interesting and it does something I think is hard, which is write surreal stories where the stakes still feel real, if that makes sense. She came and spoke to our class and she told an interesting question to ask of short stories which was, “what are the satisfactions of this story?” and all of these are satisfying and visceral. There’s one long one in the middle that I skipped and you can too, I give you permission.

A Swiftly Tilting Planet–L'Engle Hey, um, you know what’s p upsetting to read? A plot where a crazy dictator is gonna drop a nuclear bomb and start the end of the world (this isn’t a spoiler it’s introduced like five pages in). 

A Wind in the Door–L'Engle This was not as good as A Wrinkle in Time–what is–but it was a bright easy read, her books are so–loving, I guess. Good if you need a little palate cleanser.

Passing–Larsen We read a LOT of books in my Harlem Renaissance course. This a very good, short novel about, well, guess. It’s like a painting somehow, like a 20th century painting.

Sister Outsider–Lorde  I have taken none women’s studies courses so this was a pretty important text I had never read. It is very Good and everyone should read it if they have not already.

Cruel Shoes–Martin I LOVE Steve Martin and still on a few of these I was like “I don’t know, Steve.” But many others (they’re very short stories) are funny or clever or great.

Bright Lights, Big City–McInerney ughhhhhhh a book that is entirely written in second person and is about how womens’ existences and deaths have like ~made a man feel~ but it’s a short quick read and–I am E X T R E M E L Y reluctant to admit–the end is a really good image that did lowkey make me cry but also fuck this book

The Hopeful–O'Neill This I didn’t like much, in a way that I thought it needed a stronger editor and I want Eleanor or Robbie or someone I trust to read it to tell me if I’m wrong.

The Bed Moved–Schiff Weird and good little stories. I don’t think about them often, but they were elegant and sharp as I read them.

Eligible–Sittenfield It’s nice that they’re publishing Modern AU Pride and Prejudice fanfic now in a bound book. This was enjoyable tho tbh not the best Modern AU Pride and Prejudice fanfic I, a cool and chill person, have read in my life.

Swing Time–Smith I think this is my fave of the Zadie Smith books I’ve read. I wasn’t sure by the end quite what the point of it was, but I guess also what’s the point of anything? idk this is a useless description of a book. It was immersive and interesting but I’ve also not told anyone “you *have* to read this you’ll love it.” We did go see her read from it and in person she is enchanting.

The New Woman–Sochen Nonfiction about what I think we’d call first-wave feminism? It was really fascinating about an era I knew nothing about but also had some, um, glaring omissions ahem any mention of race whatsoever.

Action. A Book About Sex–Spiegel Ok look yes fine I am an adult sexually active woman who still reads books about sex whatEVER. I missed sex-ed and I also like to hear, in a non-prurient (or sometimes prurient w/e) way what other people are up to, sex-wise. I mean there’s no real like advice about sex in the world, I think, except that everything consensual and fun is fine, but I think it’s important to occasionally remind yourself of that. This was a good book.

Missing, Presumed–Steiner A crime book that I neither loved nor hated and generally enjoyed reading. Big enh.

The Girls From Corona Del Mar–Thorpe Robbie gave this to me for my birthday last year. A beach read with an edge, page-turner-y but sharp. Seems like it’s going to be a light read, but there’s a bite to it, a reminder of the cruel randomness of fate and of our inability to really know other people or ourselves. I loved this.

Cane–Toomer So this is an important text from the Harlem Renaissance and it’s kinda…never classified? It’s a series of related but not continuous short stories, as well as poetry, and little like plays? idk it’s very evocative and beautiful and dense and bears up to intense overreading. One of my favorite books I read for my Harlem Ren class.

The Blacker the Berry–Thurman Ok so Wallace Thurman apparently worried his whole life that his writing style was too journalistic and he maybe wasn’t…wrong. This is NOT a bad book and it’s well written and novelistic exCEPT when sometimes it feels pedagogical or expository. It’s a short, well constructed novel about colorism and worth checking out.

Killer–Walters Lovely and weird poems. I went to go follow the author on Twitter and discovered I already was. I love these.

The Underground Railroad–Whitehead An extremely. upsetting. book. Here’s the thing and I understand the presumption of my criticism of a book that won the national book award, but: if you’re going to make your conceit that the Underground Railroad is a real railroad, I think that you should do more with it. THAT SAID the rest of this is truly wonderful, somehow at once a page turner and viscerally upsetting.

Kiss Me Like a Stranger–Wilder I love Gene Wilder. I’d read Gilda Radnor’s memoir a couple years ago so part of this was sort of an interesting other side of the story. Anyways he seems like a genuinely strange, slightly neurotic, flawed but mostly warm and kind person.

[daisyannewinchester]

I'm coming back on just for a bit

BOOKS. YES.

Do I have a certain place I like to read at home?

Hmm. Well I mean I have a few places. I read on the couch(I sit in the corner and curl up like a cat), at the bar in my kitchen(it gets good lighting), but probably my favorite is in my bed. I have lots of pillows and a lamp and no one bothers me.

Do I use bookmarks and if so, what kind?

I try to! It's usually doodles that I've drawn on the back of my spiral notebooks. You know that cardboard backing? If I finish a spiral but find I like the doodle too much to throw away, I cut it out and clip it to the lattice board behind my bed with all my pics on it. Then when I need a bookmark, one of those doodles usually comes down. They're sturdy and not flimsy paper so they work well

Can I just stop reading or do I need to make it to the end of a chapter?

So it really depends on the book. I was reading the Hobbit or recommendation from @g-e-r-a-s-k-i-e-r and I'm sorry but it was very slow and I couldn't get to the end of it. It had to be returned to the library today and I did so without finishing it... and so far I'm not feeling withdrawls or anything. But if it's a good book then I'll finish it. Unless is a book ive already read, in which case I sometimes just read favorite bits just for fun.

Music or TV while reading?

It really depends on what I'm reading. If I'm rereading then some music is ok. If I need to concentrate then maybe some light instrumental. I love some good piano.

One book at a time or several at once?

Usually one book. If they're new then just the one but I also usually have one other that's not as good but that I'll pick up over the months just so I can say I've read it. That book is the screenplay for Wicked. It's so fucking long and I pick it up maybe once a month just to read a chapter

Reading at home or out?

I keep the actual books at home cuz I lug around a lot of crap. My fics stay on my phone for me to read while I'm out. I love AO3

Reading out loud or silently

I read silently. I dont have a place really ro read outloud. I used to by my mom got mad. If I'm wanting to notice the flow of word in poetry I'll mouth them sometimes.

Do I read ahead or skip pages

I do read ahead most times. I have and want to know I a character survives something in the end so I'll go look for their name. But I dont skip pages fully.

Breaking the spine?

Ok so I cant seem not to? I like my book to stay open without me having to hold it. You should see my Harry Potter book collection. They're all paper back and sooooo beaten up. I've read each book at least 10 times and the spines are very creased. I was trying not to do that with my new Gwaine and the Green Knight book but I tripped and stepped on the cover so now there's a huge crease across the front and I'm super mad at myself i wanted it to stay pretty. I truly try not to harm my books but they all end up beaten to hell, there's really just no avoiding it.

Do you write in your books?

I write in textbooks and in books I have to annotate for school. I used to have to do that in high school and hated it. I still write in textbooks but in my regular books heavens no. Those are sacred. Altho my name and phone number does usually get put somewhere if i know the book will be going places with me. I'm notorious for losing things

TAGGING ALL BOOK READERs THIS WAS VERY LOVELY.

@starrose17 open-tagged everyone, and this seemed interesting, and I’m in hour three of Zoom meetings, so here you go.

i. Do you have a certain place at home for reading?

I usually read outside the home, but when I do read at home, it’s in bed or out on the back terrace.

ii. do you use bookmarks? If so, what kind?

Usually I finish a book in one sitting… but that’s less common these days. Or it’s an ebook, so the program saves my spot for me. If I can’t finish a physical book in one sitting, whatever scrap doodle I have nearby at the time that will fit the size of the book. I have actual bookmarks—several Harry Potter ones, some miscellaneous animal ones I’ve had since I was a child, a couple miscellaneous pretty nature-y ones friends have given me as souvenirs over the years—but they’re never nearby when I open a book, so I don’t think I’ve used them since I was a teenager.

iii. can you just stop reading or do you have to make it to the end of the chapter?

End of the chapter for sure, unless there’s a reason I have to stop, like getting off the bus or taking a call.

v. music or tv while reading?

Silence or quiet instrumental music.

vi. one book at a time or several at once?

I used to be a one-book-at-a-time type, since, as said above, I finished them in one sitting. But these days I’m sorely lacking in time, so it’s several at once. Right now, I think I’ve got three…? Four?

vii. reading at home or out?

Out. On the bus (until I get too carsick), at a cafe or bookshop, on holiday, at a park, etc.

viii. reading out loud or silently?

Silently, for sure. If I’m reading something mandatory and it’s super boring and I can’t focus, I might periodically read a line out loud if I’ve tried it silently six times to no success, but that’s just to clear a hurdle. I can’t do audiobooks, even when it’s myself talking. I get too hung up on the cadence and miss the content.

ix. do you read ahead or skip pages?

I’ll skip ahead if the book is starting kinda slow or I don’t like the writing style so I’m not sure I’ll like it. If I’ve decided to read it, though, then I don’t read ahead.

x. breaking the spine?

Definitely not. Not out of some perfectionist desire to maintain a pristine book, though—just because I hate the white creases that mar the title when it’s on a shelf, and because it can make the pages fall out sooner. Books will take enough damage if carried about in a bag; I don’t want to contribute to the beating up of it by willfully destroying the binding. I used to reread some of my books every year or every other year, so maintaining the structure of the book was very important to me. Many of my childhood favs still look pretty new despite how often I’ve read them. I don’t understand why people crack the spine so badly?

xi. do you write in your books?

In an ebook, sure, I’ll sometimes use the highlight tool or doodle. On a physical book, definitely not. I like reading other people’s notes in a used book, but I just can’t bring myself to mark up a perfect page.

Tagging: Any book readers out there! @a-kind-of-merry-war? @daisyannewinchester? @dinahdarling? @disasterboysandtheirgruffloves? @gravitational813? @humii369? @noobtiedoo?

[bpellerin]

Kids who enjoy reading? Imagine that...

Great little rant in the Boston Globe magazine about summer reading programs libraries have.

"In June, my 6-year-old son got very excited about our town’s summer reading program, in which kids who read for a certain number of hours vote for a movie that gets screened at the library. For several days, he reminded me we had to track the time we spent reading and check boxes off his chart so he could participate. But then he spent time with a California friend whose library’s summer reading program offers passes to Disneyland. A free movie suddenly seemed lame by comparison. He lost interest in the program and, for a while, in books, too.

Across the Commonwealth, public libraries encouraged schoolchildren to read this summer by offering prizes, often related to the big screen or sports, for those who met the minimum number of hours or books. In Arlington, we had the free movie. In Boston, if you read three books, you were entered into a raffle for Red Sox tickets. Maynard’s raffle was for a new bicycle.

There’s nothing wrong with movies, or sports, or amusement parks — or with programs aimed at spurring children to read. What’s wrong is the underlying message that books are a chore and that kids who endure them deserve payback.

Why, I wonder, are civic programs framed around this assumption? Is it because most kids don’t like books? Because adults don’t like them, either? Or because parents and educators and even doctors talk so much about The Importance of Reading that we have forgotten it once was (and still could be) a widely enjoyed activity?

Couldn’t agree more. But also: What else did you expect? The entire North American educational culture has been slowly but surely moving in the direction of making everything related to learning a chore for many long years now, with the result that kids grow up not valuing playing with their imaginations because that won’t be on the test. It’s been so long now that many of those young kids’ parents and teachers were raised that way. Kids are surrounded by people who think learning and reading is a hassle to get over with so we can get back to sucking screen.

Children start pre-school programs earlier and earlier; it’s not uncommon for two- or three-year-olds to begin their pre-K education in school-like settings where parents very much expect they will learn skills that will give them a leg up when the time comes to start junior kindergarten. Once there, little kids are swallowed up by an educational machine that makes them sit in rows and pay attention to what the teacher is saying. Oh sure, there’s play involved. But the playing is relentlessly didactic, because the adults involved worry about educational achievements above just about everything else.

I’m all for educational achievements. But they don’t come from programs designed to measure and track children on flowcharts designed by a committee of educationators. Real learning happens when children themselves want to learn, in settings where their natural curiosity hasn’t been dulled by overly didactic programs.

In plain English: If you stick your toddlers and young children in a classroom and make them drill (with a song! and a dance! or a screen!) until they can regurgitate something measurable, you will kill their natural curiosity and make them think that everything you want them to do is a chore.

I have three daughters whom I’ve been homeschooling since birth. They are now 10, “almost 9” and 7. If they went to school they’d be entering grades 6, 4 and 2. But if you heard them speak or read out loud, you’d think the eldest was half-way through high school already. Both parents are writers, and we both put a lot of emphasis on reading, writing, and oral expression. This is not to boast (well, OK, but not much), but to illustrate my point.

My kids don’t have to sit around learning things for much longer than 60 or 90 minutes a day, which we tend to break up in chunks of 20-30 minutes, in between which they are allowed to stretch or play or read. They don’t have goals to meet, as far as their educational achievement goes. I do, but they don’t know what the goals are. They just keep learning stuff until I send them off. They’ve never had to take a formal test in their lives, and I believe it’s one of the main reasons why they are still excited to learn things, especially if it involves story-telling. (Math and piano practice, not so much.)

When they are not made to sit down and listen (i.e. the bulk of their average day), they are left to play by themselves. We don’t tell them what to do, we let them figure out their own games. They also read a lot. For fun, I mean. They have books we assign to them (we loosely follow a classical education curriculum and their assigned reading books tend to be classics of literature), but they are free to pick anything they like for their free reading. They have library cards and they use them like little fiends.

Our local library branch has one of those summer reading clubs where the kids earn stickers and small toys every time they finish a book – and then they get entered into a draw for a free book. I never pressured my kids to join it, but they’re all enrolled. And they love nothing better than to rush there to tell Kelly, the friendly and incredibly patient custodian of the kids’ section, about the books they’ve read.

They don’t do it to get the toys and stickers, although they enjoy those. Nobody would read three novels just to get stickers. If baseball tickets and Disney passes aren’t enough to entice non-reading kids to get lost in a book for fun, stickers certainly won’t do it. But my kids really do enjoy the reading, precisely because to them it’s not a chore.

One important point: with very rare exceptions we do not insist that they finish a book that doesn’t interest them. Instead we ask them to explain why they don’t like it. The explanation does not have to convince us but it must be coherent and grammatically correct. Some books are terribly dull, and often it’s a matter of taste whether we like a style or not. Sometimes a person isn’t ready for a particular title, for no obvious reason, and they’ll like it a lot a year later. Heck, it took me three tries and a dozen years finally to enjoy Les Misérables, who am I to push Little Women on kids who aren’t, at the moment, digging it?

Fortunately, for parents of children who are not so keen on reading, there is a remedy, and it involves getting your kids immersed in stories. Here’s how you do it: If they are young (it helps a lot to start this when they’re babies), read stories out loud to them. Not just bedtime stories either. Real stories that involve character development, heroes slaying beasts and people succeeding despite long odds. When our kids were little we read all the Dr. Seuss books to them, over and over again. We eventually graduated to the Narnia Chronicles, the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Swallows and Amazons, that sort of thing. It didn’t matter that the kids were too little to understand the story. The point was for them to get used to hearing stories. To fill their little heads with sounds, poetry, rhythm, and images. We didn’t shy away from stories that featured bad people and tragedies. Real life is full of those and little ones need to know this, provided the stories make moral sense and preferably end well, because nightmares are no fun.

Nowadays we still read out loud to them. We also let them listen to audiobooks until their ears fall off. They now insist on doing some of the reading we do themselves, which is something we encourage because it lets them practice speaking properly and also because it gives us a chance to spot problematic words and correct their pronunciation where needed. We let them watch movies (not educational TV programs; those are banned around here), and every now and then we’ll pick up a screenplay and act it out together. Macbeth is a favorite; you should see the delight they take in impersonating those witches.

The result of all this is that my kids love being immersed in stories. When they play freely they often re-enact movies they’ve watched, and they have their own parallel Harry Potter universe. Their imaginations are engaged and they eagerly seek out new stories.

It’s never too late to engage your children in good storytelling. But you have to do it with them. Kids have a very annoying habit of ignoring what we say and paying attention to what we do. If they never see us excited about a story, they’ll just think we’re trying to get rid of them when we send them to read. Watch movies together and discuss them – play with alternate endings, ask them how they’d want certain characters to behave instead, and see where their imagination takes them. Don’t expect too much at first. Treat imagination like a muscle; if your kids have already spent a few years in a school system that privileges measurable achievements over free play, they’ll need some practice. But the payoff is amazingly worthwhile.

Plus you’ll save loads of money on Disney passes.