#julia's writing adventures

[luckylolabug]

Damn, rewriting old fics and posting TAZ stuff in 2024? More likely than you think. Anyways...if you want a dumb AU of everyone working in a museum and Taakitz figuring their shit out after an impromptu hook up session without realizing they work in the same building, along with side Blupjeans and Mags/Julia stuff, here you go. Reborn with better writing this time around and not years old.

[cabe0512]

While I know that most people don't like them...

Varney and the Adventurer Lady from Season 4 will make a return for The Curse of Darkness, albeit through numerous flashbacks that tries to make sense of their actions/appearances during Season 4. While Varney is already dead, he is quite connected (in this case, acquainted) with the main villain of CoD. Without spoiling anything, I would hint that Varney wasn't the only one orchestrating Dracula's resurrection.

As for the Adventurer Lady (whom I would give a name for later), her entire minute of screentime felt so wasted that I had to rewrite her here as a more villainous character (and if I have to be honest, it physically hurts just how much thought went in her design when she is basically a nameless nobody in the show). I will hint at her pivotal encounter with the Laforeze twins when they were younger, which will make you despise her a lot more other than being the sole reason for Saint Germain's unnecessary and embarassing heel turn in the last season.

[theadventurezoneoftruth]

7 years ago, I started a group chat fanfic. People seemed to like it! I sure liked writing it.

But then life happened, yada yada, and I never got around to finishing it. To be honest, I thought I never would.

But I reread it recently. While it definitely has the strong Stench of 2017 humor on it, I found that there was still a lot to like about it. And it kept receiving a lot of very nice comments.

So I finally decided to finish the damn thing. I hope y'all enjoy.

[popstart]

goddddd whenever i remember julias canon voice is Like That it has me cringe so bad. shes very very obviously supposed to be a valley girl vsco kinda girl but her accent drives me absolutely nuts because its such a poor imitation of the accent😭😭😭and her lingo is sooooo generic. i do not hear like any actual valley girl slang or even californian slang in general. and yeah ok its a show, and its a canadian show no less which has rules on who theyre allowed to hire for their voice actors, but it bugs me and i see zero other people point out how grating it is to listen to julia for 2 seconds. am i the only valley girl fan of total drama in the entire world. am i the only one upset by this

[noodyl-blasstal]

Uhuhuhhhh marine biologists au is this anything

Oh ho ho ho! Yeah it is! Thank you so much for this, I've had a great time playing with it.

[This is an ask game - give me an AU and I'll give you five things about it. Feel free to send your own!]

Marine biologist AU basic premise: the star blaster is a research vessel and the seven birds are crew. They're looking at an area where there has been a massive fish death. However, they're not supposed to - the area is privately owned by a big Definitely Above Board Corporation, so they have to be stealthy. Kravitz is a marine ecologist that works for the same research facility but there was a whole thing around Merle smashing his favourite mug and Magnus eating his lunch (accidentally) so they don't speak.

1) Kravitz is also investigating, he's on his own so has a much smaller boat and they don't notice him initially. He thinks they're polluters and it leads to a stand off.

2) They eventually decide to reluctantly team up. He and Taako do some water sampling, obviously it's fraught with sexual tension.

3) Barry needs a fish corpse (to dissect and assess in his lab) and he needs it asap. He's on a fission.

4) Merle assesses a tonne of algae/seaweed etc. and with the other results they realise it's related to pollutants

5) Dav and Lucretia use their ability to do bureaucratic nonsense to try and stop what's happening. The corporation tries to buy their way out and bury the story by buying off trash press and lawyering other press. Lup and Magnus use his weirdly popular (he does it topless and always features his bajillion dogs) woodworking [insert social media account of some description] to highlight what's going on and everyone knows the corporation is evil actually. (And it's my world, so something actually gets done)

[bourbon-ontherocks]

this is the depressing ask. beware. 😂 

first I want to thank the writers for so helpful reminding us of 305 with the line about naked suspects. clearly, morgane wasn’t there to witness adam’s frightful interrogation because she’d have eviscerated him then and there (that’s what I like to think, at least). 

bref. the ending. are we really doing this? I feel like this conversation’s been had a thousand times before yet the show doesn’t seem to have heard any of it. or doesn’t care. (I’ll let you list off the reasons why it’s an awful twist, if you feel up to it, because I’m frankly too tired for that) 

I hate the way they showed a sonogram as if to hammer home she’s carrying a child, not a fetus, when it's the other way round. I hate the mamma mia montage, as if figuring out whose genes are involved is the priority. I hate the 306 retcon, get this shit away from me, both their drinks were spiked. I hate that we’re supposed to believe none of these grown adults (the ones who weren’t drugged, at least) considered protection. especially morgane--she’s had DREAMS about this, ffs, there’s no way that wouldn’t cross her mind. I hate the ramifications of every single way this could go down (too long to expound but you get me). I hate that there’s even a shred of doubt about how this will go down. I hate that they served us some watered-down so-called feminist juice for a whole season and still decided to use morgane’s body as an open ground for drama. 

given the way they’ve addressed the question in the ep, I’m very pessimistic about s4. Idk about you but my only solace is knowing it’s out of our hands, anyway, so I don’t have to waste my energy trying to change anybody’s mind. 

thanks for sticking along on this ride. wouldn't have had it any other way. and good luck for the year ahead of us, everybody. the only way out is through! 🤞

Nodding along at everything you said because yeah, and also while I liked Adam's line about naked suspects, your point about Morgane finding out about it just gave me a fantastic idea to add to my WIP, so thank you for that!

Now for the ending.

I think there are two main points to distinguish here because obviously, my personal distaste for pregnancy and baby storylines makes the idea of Morgane bearing a fourth child everything I don't want to see. BUT, had the circumstances been wildly different, I could have come to terms with it and accepted it, as in "Yeah I don't like this turn of events but I can get over it because it makes sense narratively and serves an interesting purpose". What actually makes this finale awful are the circumstances of this pregnancy, and now we're getting to the essay-ish part of this post where I'll try to explain

Why HPI finale is lazy, infuriating, and profoundly anti-feminist

Just like you point out, this mamma mia scenario was already explored in… well… mamma mia, plus countless other stories, zero originality here, I expected better from HPI tbh. And I read just yesterday an interview with the producer saying "Season 4 be like, we're looking for a baby daddy instead of a murderer lolilol", yea guess what, I DON'T CARE. For a while after watching the episode, I dared to hope that the montage in the end was purposefully misleading, that soon Morgane would come to her senses and remember that she did use protection with at least Timothée and David, because I 100% agree with you, it's ridiculous to make us believe that none of these people ever had a thought about contraception. Timothée even said "We're not trying yet", which means he kinda knows how not to try, no? And also I can accept the idea that Morgane isn't on any kind of birth control because it happens (some women react badly to pills and IUDs, etc), but she was with Ludo for half a season so they must have used condoms, she has to know and think about it (and like you said, she's DREAMED of it, and explicitly said that SHE DIDN'T WANT A FOURTH KID - I'll get to that later because it makes me fume). Besides, she's had three kids already, she knows how this all works. So yeah, it's lazy and implausible.

What I find particularly infuriating in this 3-baby-daddies plotline is also the deeply misogynistic trope of seeing a female character unable to enjoy an unapologetic sex life with multiple partners without getting punished by the script with an unwanted pregnancy. This is the literal definition of slut-shaming by the way. I was going to say that I didn't see where you found feminist vibes in the show, but then I remembered how much I loved the way Morgane expresses her feminity, her desire, and her sexuality, and…. yea, this is exactly the point I'm trying to make (also I loved seeing childfree, 40+ characters who were thriving but that's another discussion I guess). Seeing that we're still there in 2023 legitimately makes me sick.

Speaking of misogynistic tropes… I guess the ONE detail that really makes me want to throw spears at the writers is the sixteen weeks' mention. By purposefully making her too far in her pregnancy for abortion, they robbed her of having a choice. I mean, they could have got her two months pregnant, and then for some bad (imo) reasons she'd have decided to keep the baby, it would have made no difference for what's coming next. I wouldn't have loved it, sure, but it would have been fine by me because at least it'd have been her decision. Here she's just subjected to the plot, and like you said, her body is used as a narrative tool, and it feels like a slap in the face. Not to mention that even here they fucked up the timeline, because she fucked Timothée, David, and Adam in the span of like 4 days, right? Literally the day after the LSD adventures she and Adam decide to wait for three months, and the montage insists on how on the schedule they are. And I'd say that 307-308 happen within a week maximum because Redbone's not one to wait three weeks for his money lol. So 3 months is 12, 13 weeks at most, which means that in the end, Morgane is 14 weeks pregnant AT BEST (which makes her still eligible for abortion, mhhhh, see where I'm going with this? 🤔), and not 16. The only valid explanation would be that it's Timothée's baby and that she was already pregnant when she had her other encounters, but since the show seems to go in another direction, then it means that they purposefully fucked up the numbers so that she CANNOT consider abortion, which is the most dehumanizing, disempowering thing you can do to a female character.

They're literally forcing a pregnancy on her, and I want to throw up every time I think about it.

Speaking of which. Morgnane's already had three kids. Also, she told us in season 2 about her first-trimester symptoms. And she's supposed to be smart, hell that's the WHOLE point of the show. So there's no way she wouldn't have noticed that she was pregnant again, unless she denied her pregnancy (which would explain her total absence of symptoms, incredulity at the hospital, and possibly the fact that her brain erased her sexytimes with Adam). Now pregnancy denial is one of my greatest fears in life, so I can hear that this was particularly triggering for me specifically, but still, this is an incredibly traumatic experience to throw at her, and a source of huge emotional distress. SHE STATED SHE DIDN'T WANT A FOURTH KID FOR FUCK'S SAFE AND YOU ARE FORCING HER TO GET ONE WHEN SHE'S AT HER LOWEST, AND YOU'RE EXPECTING US TO FIND THIS FUNNY??????? I mean just go sell potatoes and stop writing shows because this is an insult to the art of writing.

😠🔪😭

Sorry I need a minute to have a good cry and yell at the abyss.

.

Okay, I'll just close the 16-week essay by saying that I entirely blame Audrey Fleurot for this, and this is what I base my theory on:

I mean, cool bro if it worked for you (except it didn't, do you want to talk again about your post-partum? Is that what you're planning for Morgane?) and I get that acting can be a therapy in some way, but this is getting way too close to the target, just get the fuck out of the writing room if that's what you're going to come up with, PLEASE.

I'm not sure where you see a 306 retcon though, for me it's pretty clear they were both under the influence, had sex, and blacked out about it (which as @earanie and @hemerae-ramblings pointed out, is highly unrealistic since memory losses are NOT a side-effect of LSD, but I can hear the argument of denial here). But speaking of 306, the finale completely doomed this episode for me, because in retrospect it feels like a giant set-up. The LSD scene is ONLY here to make it possible for Adam to have unprotected sex (side point here, I'm actually not mad they hooked up, even though it's kind of frustrating to see it happen this way, because I find the "offscreen banging reveal" a hilarious yet underused trope, and also I like the messiness), and while this last point is in a way funny, the worst part is the three months window at the end, which has in fact NOTHING to do with Adam sorting his feelings or whatever but is only here to forbid the possibility of abortion for Morgane, and this makes me want to stab people multiple times.

Also, one last thing that I find absolutely disgusting is the fact that Morgane and Adam (presumably) conceived a baby against their will (there's a whole other discussion to have about consent here but I won't go there for today) while solving a case about a BABY BORN FROM RAPE. I mean, can you make it more icky than that? Do the writers even acknowledge the irony of this? Do they even care? This baby is doomed by the narrative from the fertilization stage, and we're supposed to enjoy it as a comedy?

And now I assume we'll get to watch a forced coming together between Adam and Morgane due to the circumstances, which means that even if they end up together we'll never know if they actually wanted it? What a way to kill a ship, man, I've seen shows pretty efficient at ship-sinking but this has to be in the top three.

(somehow there's a wild irony in the fact that both the showrunners and the main cast have been saying on repeat from season 1 that they didn't want to make that disappointing season that ruins most shows, and yet they managed to spectacularly fuck-up and promise the worst season ever, and they're already paying for it audience-wise...)

See, all of this is the silver lining I'm holding onto for now, in the hope of a miscarriage (which would also be incredibly traumatic for Morgane, and still an objectified-by-the-plot scenario, but at this point our options are limited. Also for now the showrunners are only mentioning the pregnancy but not the baby so maybe there's a tiny chance she actually doesn't have it), because there's no way anyone could rejoice from this. And if she does have this baby, and if it's Adam's, then I'll officially change their shipname from Brosse Adam to Brosse & Rachel, and this will probably be my last contribution to this fandom. Hated this in Friends, will hate it in HPI.

I'm not pessimistic about season 4, anon, I just don't want to consider it at all. Obviously, I'm ready to withdraw everything I said here if they choose the only acceptable outcome (abortion) and actually make an extremely powerful narrative and political statement about it, but I know it's off the table. Having to endure such a plotline in 2023, at a time when women's right to dispose of their own bodies is threatened everywhere in the world, is a very painful punch in the face, and I sincerely hope they'll get a ton of backlash on social media for this. I just saw this morning that the airing of 308 had the lowest audience numbers ever in the show's history, and I can't say that it makes me unhappy.

(I was lowkey hoping for a cancellation at this point, even though I know the chances weren't great, but I found out today that the show was officially renewed so we won't even get the solace of knowing they can't do any further damage... Eh 🤷‍♀️)

Finally, the thing that saddens me the most isn't even what they did to Morgane and to the show, it's what they did to our community as a result. I have been alone in this fandom for almost a year, and it was incredibly frustrating. And then people joined, created content, interacted, had fun, and we had such an amazing time together, writing, giffing, vidding, sharing theories, jokes, and thoughts. I've met some incredible, witty people, some of them I dare to call friends. And now it feels like everything is falling apart. Friends are leaving, or considering to. Group chats have turned into support groups. The writers didn't only ruin the show, they took away the enjoyment we gathered from it, and it sickens me. Personally, I've had a very rough first semester of 2023, and this community is what has kept me afloat. It's made me smile and laugh in times of sadness, it's given me a shiny, quirky escape that I'll never be grateful enough for. And to witness it all collapsing really hurts. I do hope it's just a bump in the road, that we'll come back eventually, sticking together and collectively despising canon, ignoring it by ferociously writing AUs, and roasting the timeline, and making Daphné-centered vids, but I'm not even sure myself where I stand regarding my own involvement in this fandom. Nothing else to say, I just miss what we had, that's all 😢

Now that I'm thinking about it, "J'avais tellement envie que ça marche entre nous" is exactly how I feel about canon right now. You know when I said that getting into a new hyperfixation felt like falling in love? Well, this shitty ending feels like getting ugly dumped.

Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk, anon, and thank you for sticking with me too. It's too early to say if this is officially the end of Julia's adventures with the HPI anon or not, but please know that I've loved every second of the ride and that I will never forget it 🥲

😘🥃👻

[chiropteracupola]

thinkin about the imaginary timeline where antonia sharpe and fanny and charlotte aubrey are friends again...

[twodoorsnotone]

I know my childhood fav book series (set in Drury Lane) has its reconstruction being a whole plot point and I now really want to reread that bit to see if they make any foreshadow-y jokes about it lasting forever, ushering a new era etc, given it burnt down 15 years after it was built

[sammy-deserves-better]

Hey people who definitely didn’t follow me for my AUs here’s another AU I thought up on the spot!!!

Fantasy/Royalty AU bam lets get into it

Julia and Bowie are the princess and prince of the kingdom, as you do, it’s gay and lesbian hostility in that castle every day

Axel, Wayne, Raj and Emma are knights with Axel being the head of the knights, Emma is also secretly a florist because why not

Priya is the head of the guards while Caleb is the personal guard/advisor to the king

Chase is a travelling bard who loves to talk about his ‘amazing’ adventures of ‘helping’ people

Nichelle is still a famous actress but instead of movies she’s like, famous from plays and all that jazz

Ripper’s a barbarian that’s pretty good at his job, unfortunately he is not taken very seriously

Millie is a famous writer but she’s so damn difficult to find at times and only a few people know where she actually lives

Damien is a wizard’s apprentice, he’s still learning but he’s got some real talent within him

Zee is the court jester, he didn’t even like try out for the role he just started talking one time and the king thought he was hilarious

Scary Girl is a famous necromancer because she is, funnily enough, scarily good at her job

And MK, silly ol’ MK, is a master thief who is wanted all over the world, but can never be located, always managing to escape at the last moment

Alright here’s some more details yippee

Raj and Bowie are like, in love, obviously, knight x prince romance! Forbidden love that isn’t really forbidden but like it’s super cute and Raj is so smitten and Bowie just loves this handsome knight that would do anything for him

Wayne and Emma are friends here because I also think they’re silly, Wayne’s the only one who knows Emma’s secret florist job because she trusts him enough and also he accidentally found out but it’s fine!! But he also nearly gives away Emma’s secret so many damn times because he’s just a little bit stupid

‘Man I wish I could get Bowie a nice bouquet…’

‘Oh well Emma is actually a fl-‘

And then Wayne gets elbowed so hard he can’t breath for 2 minutes

Emma also definitely has a thing for the cute court jester but she has no idea on how to actually approach Zee so she just sends him flowers anonymously and sighs while looking at him lovingly

Julia and MK meet because MK climbs up the damn castle walls at 2am and sneaks into Julia’s room just to rob her, gets absolutely slammed by the princess, wakes up and is tied to a damn chair with Julia right up in her face about to rip her to shreds and all MK can say is ‘you are REALLY attractive oh my gods’

This throws Julia off, they start talking, Julia realises that despite the fact she is holding one of the most wanted criminals hostage in her room, she wants to keep seeing MK because she’s entertaining and mean and just slightly pathetic, so she lets MK go on the promise that the thief will come back every night and so she does and yadda yadda lesbians toxic yuri wins

Millie’s stories actually come to life because shocker she’s actually a wizard in disguise and she needs to be really careful about what she writes so that’s why she hides herself away and is so hard to track down because if the wrong people knew about her magic capabilities oh no that’s a lot of blood and injury and angst and 10k words every chapter

Millie’s parents also had this ability to create anything from mere writing, they shared this ability with the kingdom, and so if an important figure asked them to say…make a protector of the kingdom, they would do so, and they did, and that’s where our villain/antagonist comes in but that’s a story for another day

The older gens are also involved in this one way or another as well, most are just backgrounders but some hold important to the story

Damien is the wizard apprentice to Leonard and Tammy, two great and powerful sages who spend their time helping the world

DJ is the one who taught Emma how to be a florist, he’s kind and understanding and always helps Emma choose the right flowers to give to Zee

Eva trains Ripper under her watchful eye, she’s proud of how far he’s come, but feels he can do just a bit more

Aleheather are the king and queen of the kingdom, Bowie and Julia are their adopted children

And that’s all I got for now uhhhh add whatever you want to this it’s just a silly time

[daydreamer-in-reverie]

I think one of my biggest gripes about S3 of Bridgerton is that I am utterly unconvinced that Colin and Penelope started as friends.

Now hear me out. I believe that Eloise and Penelope are friends. I believe that they grew up together, having lived across each other. I believe that Eloise loved Pen so much, Penelope was always welcomed to the Bridgerton home. I believe that by virtue of Eloise loving Pen and having her as a best friend, the Bridgerton family loved Pen as an extension.

But I’m unconvinced that Colin ever saw Pen or loved her as more than his sister’s best friend.

They tried so hard to convince us that it was Colin and Penelope who met first and that theirs is a stronger bond than what Eloise and Pen have by virtue of this but I just remain skeptical. In S1 and S2, we never really see them interact without the intervention of a ball or a social gathering. Eloise and Penelope actively seek the other person out while it was only Pen who looked for Colin and never the other way around. Colin only ever stumbled upon Penelope. He never scanned the room the find her, never tried to pull her away from Eloise so they could have their own conversation. I always felt like Penelope was such an afterthought to Colin while Penelope always made space for Colin in his life. Even while Colin was writing letters to Pen, and it was only Pen who consistently read and replied to his missives, it felt so one-sided. Penelope was eager to know of Colin’s adventures but Colin never asks Penelope about her own life and hobbies.

In all honesty, I think this could have easily been remedied by a good flashback. In Bridgerton S1, S2 and even in Queen Charlotte, flashbacks were the mediums used to fill in the gaps of the story. To inform the readers of a character’s history, and why the choose to do the things they do.

In a single episode, we saw how horribly Simon was mistreated by his father. In a single episode, we saw how deeply Edmund’s death wrecked Anthony’s boyhood and broke his mother’s heart. These flashbacks told us why Simon refused to procreate or why Anthony didn’t want to marry for love. We saw how deeply these core memories hooked themselves into these characters psyches, forcing them to become the people we know today. Without these integral flashbacks, we’re left with words said in passing to convince us of the story they’re trying to sell.

And don’t tell me flashbacks in the Bridgerton-verse are unimportant. Flashbacks have always been Julia Quinn’s method of choice when trying to inform readers of a character’s decisions. In Book 1 and 2, we got the same flashbacks as S1 and S2. In Benedict’s book, we got Sophie’s flashbacks. How her father treated her and how much her life changed after he died. In Book 4, which is Polin’s book, we still got flashbacks on Pen and Colin’s relationship and how much their friendship actually meant to the other. Book 5 showed us Philip’s backstory while 6 showed Michael’s and Francesca’s and John’s friendship, and 7 showed Garett’s and 8 showed Lucy.. While these flashbacks maybe used to showcase the love-interest’s past, they were still utilized by Julia Quinn to give us insights on the characterizations that make up their respective relationships.

I feel like this season, while having its moments, wasn’t what I was hoping it would be. There were so many changes that I feel the original plot of the story got lost. Polin didn’t feel like the main couple, just a couple with a story to be told. There were so many plots told in such extended ways that the main event was sidelined. The Mondriches, Benedict (who by the way is my favorite character), Francesca were all put on spotlight more than Polin was. In the books Francesca barely gets a passing mention of her marriage until her actual book (an act I believe to be intentional on Quinn’s part. It fits that the black sheep of the family who prefers the quiet didn’t have all of the fanfare that came with marrying an earl) yet her time at the marriage mart was put as a spotlight. In fact, when Francesca and John marry, it doesn’t happen with the series and happens much in the same way as Prudence’s marriage is (by this I mean it happens off screen). Don’t even get me started on her character assassination and deviation from the books (I can write a whole essay on this without even mentioning Michael/Michaela). All of these plot points, were put as main focuses when they shouldn’t have been. A waste of Polin’s amazing love story, if you ask me.

[brickcentral]

🤩 ARTIST SPOTLIGHT: @lady-brick Hello everyone! It's time to direct the spotlight toward our community members, and today we will get to know better @lady-brick!

"Hi everyone! My name is Julia, known as Lady Brick on Instagram and I’m from Spain.

My adventure with toy photography started in 2011 when a small Wall·E arrived at home. The toys are good for practicing photography techniques, and help me to relax my mind and are a way to escape from my daily routine.

The minifigures, sets, and accessories are a source of inspiration and also an addiction. So, for this reason, now I only shoot LEGO photos.

I like making people believe that a small toy made of plastic is alive. In fact I enjoy recreating comic situations to make people smile.

I find inspiration in everyday life, watching movies and from LEGO communities on Instagram and Flickr. My favorite subjects are the minifigures, but my works includes various themes like medieval, pirates, astronauts, movies...for example, I enjoy put the stormtroopers in unusual situations.

I currently use Olympus OMD E-M10 Mark III with 30mm macro lens with a LED panel for lighting. In my workflow, I’ll draw a sketch or write some lines just to remember the idea.

I think that details are important and for this reason, I try to collect all the things that will I need to prepare the scene.

I think about the composition and the lighting. I like to move the camera lens to the eye level of the minifigures – it helps to dive into the scene and makes it more credible."

Thank you for accepting our invitation and let the community knows you better!

If you want some insights on the exclusive picture and for a better view of the others, head to our blog at https://brickentral.net/.

- @theaphol, Community Outreach Manager

[cupcakefoggy]

Ok, this drives me nuts.

I love Bridgerton. And I don't love all things Regency, so before you write me off as a romance-loving Austenite (which is ALSO a perfectly valid thing to be, thankyouverymuch) just hear me out on why this take is so damn annoying.

Ok. Cool. Now, you're entitled to your opinion that Bridgerton is too fluffy, too girly, and needs more "texture" (which, according to the article, should come in the form of labor, hardship, threatened financial ruin, the usual good stuff) but I want to impress upon you, firmly but politely, that if you're in the market for something gritty, you probably should turn off Bridgerton.

She compares Bridgerton to every prominent period show in this article, and consistently complains that it doesn't measure up. "Well it's not Downton Abbey!" No, no it isn't, and that's what we like about it. We aren't watching it to Learn Something. We're watching it because, for an hour or three at a time, it's really nice to forget that there's so much awful crap going on in the world, and just focus in on Penelope's up-and-down courtship with Colin or how damn cute Kate and Anthony are together.

But that isn't even the thing that bothers me the most about this article.

Why, in the year of our lord 2024, are we still perpetuating this "fluffy girly things are BRAIN CANDY" nonsense? Has Jane Austen truly taught us nothing? At the age of 12, back in the early aughts, my dad gave me a hard time for reading the Sweet Valley Twins books. He wanted me to read Pride and Prejudice, and aggressively shoved it under my nose until I finally agreed to take a look at it. I found it incomprehensible, looked it up online, and found to my immense pleasure that Jane Austen's literature was considered "popular" and "feminine" in its day -- not at all serious literature. I took my findings to my dad, who just about exploded and told me "that's not the point, it's a classic NOW, so shut up and read it."

Guys, I don't care if it was written in the 1600s or last week, pop culture is pop culture. It reflects its time. And more importantly, it shapes its time.

In the 1990s, Seinfeld aired the now-famous episode wherein the boys and Julia Louis-Dreyfus' character, Elaine, have a contest to see how long they can all go without masturbating. One of the men is out before the contest begins; of the remaining contestants, Elaine cracks first. This is now considered a bold statement, because in the 90s, women actually ENJOYING orgasms was taboo -- a concept they make sure to acknowledge within the episode itself, as the men insist women don't masturbate.

Julia Louis-Dreyfus later said of her time on Seinfeld, "We weren't trying to change the world, we were just trying to make something really funny. And that's really hard to do. And if you can do it, you CAN change the world a little bit."

Now, I don't watch Seinfeld. I hate it. I tried to watch a bit of it for Julia, bc I loved her so much in New Adventures of Old Christine, but I just couldn't get into it. but I saw the episode she's talking about, and it IS funny. Because they aren't up on a soapbox, they're just having fun, and she's a damn good comedic actress. So why am I bringing up Seinfeld in a conversation about Bridgerton? Because they're both fluff. No one is watching Seinfeld in an effort to solve the mysteries of the human condition or reflect on the nature of good and evil. It's just for fun. And so is Bridgerton.

And even if there was absolutely no value to Bridgerton besides being fun, it would still be "okay" to watch it. Because sometimes we just need fluff. But I don't think we really spend enough time thinking about just how much impact that "fluff" has on our culture.

I've seen people argue that Bridgerton DOES tackle occasional "serious" topics, and that's why it has value. I disagree. Bridgerton's value comes from the fact that it is FUN. It's easy to get into, it's easy to watch, no one is FORCING it on you, like my dad tried to do with P&P. And because it's fun, people -- YOUNG people -- are willingly watching it…

And they're seeing elderly women, women of color, and plus-size women being depicted as beautiful and desirable.

They're seeing a young, newly-married woman force herself on her husband and realizing that women also need to be taught about consent, and that a lack of sex education leads to damaged relationships.

They're seeing depictions of mental illness in the Queen Charlotte spinoff. They're seeing a man with a mental illness bare his soul to a woman he loves, and hearing her say, in no uncertain terms, that as damaged as he thinks he is, she loves him too. Unconditionally.

They're seeing queer representation in the Queen Charlotte spinoff, too. They're seeing racism and politics and medical abuse. They're seeing storylines that they'd never seek out on their own, and intentionally or not, they're learning from those stories.

Maybe it's optimistic to a fault, but I just can't stop wondering, how many young girls talked to each other about Daphne and Simon? How many plus-size women saw Penelope and Colin's sex scene and felt beautiful, felt seen, for the first time? How many people with mental illness saw Charlotte love King George and realized that they too are worthy of love? How many people heard Violet shyly tell Agatha that she misses having sex with her husband, and felt validated that, no, you don't turn 40 and stop being horny?

I sobbed my eyes out watching S3 the other night, because they captured the feeling of being unpopular and overweight so damn well. I saw my high school years reflected in Penelope's story and it broke my heart and gave me hope all at the same time. I love that they dress Violet and Agatha and Charlotte as richly as they do the younger, "hotter" leads. I love that Anthony Bridgerton goes down on Kate every fucking chance he gets. I love Bridgerton's message, however unintentional, that you don't have to be the classic Pretty Skinny Caucasian Starlet - you can be fat, old, BIPOC, disabled, outcast, anything, and still deserve and GET your happily-ever-after.

Shondaland is not trying to change the world. They're just trying to be fluffy and horny. And if they can do it, they can change the world just a little bit.

[mrs-snape5984]

“I'll follow you down to where forever lies…”

“Without a doubt, I'm on your side. There's nowhere else that I would rather be…” (“I’ll follow you” by Shinedown)

Living with a disease like ME/CFS often means a life in solitude. In my case, even a life in darkness. It’s hard enough to deal with the loneliness, that comes with being unable to cope with noises, movements and lights.

But then, there are the holidays…the celebrations…the times, when families come together. Knowing that I can’t participate in anything of this - whether it’s Christmas, the birthdays of my children or something simple like the Easter holidays - is a terrible feeling. I just can’t be with my family!! And yes…it hurts me to know, that my kids have to spend these special occasions without their mother.

My loneliness weighs more on these days…it’s suffocating me! I’m catching myself in getting pathetically whiny (this post only proves my point 🙄), drowning in self-pity and despair…only fuelling my self-loathing.

But this doesn’t make sense…it won’t make things better or easier to endure. So, I’m trying to dream myself away…fantasising and writing about another little adventure of Severus and his wife Jules.

I’ve always been a sucker for a fresh sea breeze, so of course, this couple of my dreams lives in a tiny cottage at the seashore. They’re the owners of their own apothecary ("The Potioners' Apothecary...owned by Severus and Julia Snape”) and they’re living their best lives in peace and harmony, enjoying each others company.

Usually, Sevy and Jules prefer the colder temperatures and a more rigorous weather, but today, they’re going for a little walk at the beach on a very sunny afternoon. The overdramatic and exquisitely sarcastic couple is backbiting about the heat and the burning sun, although they’re refusing to change into something shorter or lighter than their regular clothes. Well, Severus and Julia remain true to their style! 😅

When I considered about the perfect artist for this project, I immediately thought of @dranna! Their unique style highlights the dramatic beauty of my favourite couple so perfectly.

Dranna, my dear friend, as always I am extremely grateful for your talent and your dedication to your profession. I’m a big fan of your art and I love your way of making my fantasy come alive in your drawings. You are such a kind person and I enjoy our conversations immensely! Thank you for everything, sweetheart! 🥹

🖤Severus & Julia🖤

🖤Sevy & Jules🖤

[j4m3s-b4k3r]

CREEPY Steve

2024 is the 50th anniversary of Stephen King’s first published novel, CARRIE. The story of a bullied telekinetic teen, who gets blood-soaked payback at her prom. Since then, he's written 65 novels, 200 short stories, and 5 nonfiction books. A freakish feat, almost worthy of one of his supernatural characters.

King’s first published story was when he was 19 years old. He continued selling short stories after graduating from the University of Maine, and while teaching English at a public high school, all later collected in NIGHT SHIFT. He's averaged more than a book a year since 1974. Many of his novels were initially released under a pseudonym, lest their sheer number dilute his ‘brand’. I became aware of King via the early movie adaptations of his books. CARRIE, THE SHINING, and THE DEAD ZONE. A great introduction, as those early films were all good, whereas most adaptations of his work are terrible, sadly. 

During one of the Halloweens in the covid era, Julia & I got into a CREEPY STEVE frame of mind. Watching the better film adaptations, and listening to audiobooks. Those narrated by Will Patton were faves, as he really brings the characters to life. The Bill Hodges trilogy - Mr MERCEDES, FINDERS KEEPERS and END OF WATCH - were all marvellous, and introduced the wonderful character Holly Gibney. Who then appeared in further stories of her own. 

There are 10 Stephen King short story collections, and all that I’ve read contain several gems. JUST AFTER SUNSET has the terrifying (yet somehow hilarious) tale of a man trapped and left for dead in a capsized porta-potty. DIFFERENT SEASONS contains the stories that inspired THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION and STAND BY ME. Donald Sutherland starred in a great film entitled Mr HARRIGAN’S PHONE, taken from IF IT BLEEDS. Which also contains another great Holly Gibney story. 

ON WRITING: A MEMOIR OF THE CRAFT, is an engaging book, narrated by the author himself. Part memoir and part how-to instructional. Reminding me of William Goldman’s ADVENTURES IN THE SCREEN TRADE, in that it can’t truly deliver the secrets to making the magic that it promises, but serves up entertaining & revealing autobiographical anecdotes instead.

We are now used to seeing vampires in contemporary settings, so some of the 1970s impact of SALEM’S LOT has been lost. But both the book and its movie adaptation have many indelible images. Such as a vampire child hovering at the window.. (an inspiration for John Ajvide Lindqvist perhaps?)

After listening to book after book of King’s, and loving their brilliantly observed characters, and wonderful dialog, DARK TOWER was conspicuous for not having the elements that are normally intriguing in his books. Maybe I’ll give this series another shot someday, as friends swear it gets better. 

We read THE SHINING and its sequel, DOCTOR SLEEP, watching & enjoying both movie adaptations. King apparently despises Kubrick’s version of THE SHINING - "The book is hot, and the movie is cold; the book ends in fire, and the movie in ice. In the book, there's an actual arc where you see this guy, Jack Torrance, trying to be good, and little by little he moves over to this place where he's crazy. And as far as I was concerned, when I saw the movie, Jack was crazy from the first scene.” 

After reading the book, I understand King’s critiques, and agree with his second point. Jack Nicholson seems already about detonate on his drive to the hotel. Whereas King’s Jack was driven to madness by the malignant spirits within it. However, Kubrick’s film is so indelibly stamped into my mind, that I cannot unsee it. Nor unlike it neither (sorry, Stephen).

“Plot is, I think, the good writer’s last resort and the dullard’s first choice. The story which results from it is apt to feel artificial and labored.” - Stephen King.

I work in storytelling too, but in my biz it’s the dullard’s choice all the way - everything plotted & discussed, ad infinitum. King apparently starts with the merest idea, then writes straight ahead, surprising himself as he goes. A magician pulling a string of goodies out of his own head. At his best, this approach produces stories that feel naturalistic, with surprising twists and turns. 

At his worst, it can be rambling, meandering and self indulgent. Especially when he struggled with addiction. Apparently, King was so out of control in the late 1980s, that he was confronted by an intervention after finishing the TOMMYKNOCKERS manuscript. A pity then that the editor wasn’t given more latitude in tidying up that waffling mess before it went to print..

Stephen himself agrees - “I mean, The Tommyknockers is an awful book. That was the last one I wrote before I cleaned up my act. And I’ve thought about it a lot lately and said to myself, “There’s really a good book in here, underneath all the sort of spurious energy that cocaine provides, and I ought to go back.” The book is about 700 pages long, and I’m thinking, “There’s probably a good 350-page novel in there.”

We enjoyed the screen adaptations of IT, CHRISTINE, 1922, THE MIST, and 11.22.63. After soaking in worlds King has created, on page & screen, it became clear that the recent NETFLIX hit, STRANGER THINGS, is merely glorified Stephen King fan fiction. By the end of the pandemic, we’d chewed through many stories, yet only a mere fraction of The King Catalog. 

King is thought of as a master of the paranormal, but his real genius is for the everyday. Some of my favourites King stories are his straight crime fiction, or stories about real life. Even his famous horror stories are grounded by settings in relatable blue collar situations.. The writer Peter Straub even compared King to Dickens: “Both are novelists of vast popularity and enormous bibliographies, both are beloved writers with a pronounced taste for the morbid and grotesque, both display a deep interest in the underclass."

How does a man who’s been a millionaire for decades, with a very recognisable face, keep an ear for dialog patterns of common folk? Does he wear a disguise, and lurk in truck stops, diners, dive bars, and greyhound bus stations, taking notes?

 “He's one of the first people to talk about real Americans and how they live, to capture real American dialogue in all its, like, foulmouthed grandeur... He has a deadly ear for the way people speak... …Surface-wise, King's work is a bit televisual, but there's really a lot going on." - David Foster Wallace

Lately, we’ve embarked on yet another quest to chip away at the KING oeuvre. Having already fallen in love with Bill Hodges & Holly Gibney, it was fun to watch the Mr MERCEDES TV series. Even though the filmmakers took liberties with the characterisations. Rather than the shy, smoking, middle aged, OCD woman of the novels, the TV Holly is a perky & cute 30 something. An autistic variation on the manic pixie dream girl trope. (sigh..)

Taken from a short story collection entitled EVERYTHING’S EVENTUAL, the gripping movie 1408, starring John Cusack & Samuel L. Jackson, is the creepy story of a skeptical paranormal investigator, whose cynicism is challenged by spending a harrowing night in an actual haunted hotel room.

In THINNER a selfish fat lawyer is cursed into anorexia by a gypsy. Entertaining, in 'the guy deserves everything he gets' manner of a parable from the Twighlight Zone. It seems to have inspired Sam Raimi's DRAG ME TO HELL.

GERALD’S GAME seemed like a story written on a bet, or an author’s exercise - “write a novel where the protagonist never leaves their bed for most of the story.” To me it felt like it might have worked better as a short story. When King fails (for me, anyway) it's when there hasn't been enough editing.

King has apparently said that PET SEMATARY was his book that scared him the most, and it is extremely creepy, but for me, MISERY was even more terrifying. I'd already seen the film, and Kathy Bates’ Oscar winning performance, but the book is even scarier somehow. There’s nothing paranormal about this story. There is utter horror, but it is the worst kind that there is - the twists & turns of the human mind.

Despite, or perhaps because of, King’s great popularity, literary critics long damned him with faint praise. In 2003, when he received the National Book Foundation’s ‘Medal of Distinguished Contribution to American Letters’, some became openly hostile:

"The decision to give the National Book Foundation's annual award for "distinguished contribution" to Stephen King is extraordinary, another low in the shocking process of dumbing down our cultural life… ..What he is is an immensely inadequate writer on a sentence-by-sentence, paragraph-by-paragraph, book-by-book basis." - Harold Bloom

Bloom is dead, so King gets the last word - “A lot of today's reviewers grew up reading my fiction. Most of the old critics who panned anything I wrote are either dead or retired".

In 1999, Stephen King was flattened by a vehicle while walking along a highway - "After the accident, I was totally incapable of writing. At first it was as if I'd never done this in my life. ...It was like starting over again from square one." As someone who was been flattened too (but in a very different way) one of the many inspiring things about King is how he recovered from that terrible accident, to do some of his very best work.

CREEPY STEVE is a one-man multimedia idea engine, keeping the publishing & Hollywood machines running. We are still enjoying poring through the King library (listening to THE INSTITUTE now) so if any of you have further recommendations, please let me know in the comments!

[rhapsodynew]

#love story

One soul for two.

58 years ago, on November 9, 1966, John Lennon first met Yoko Ono at an art show in London, where she presented her exhibition "Unfinished Paintings and Objects". To this day, many believe that this was the beginning of the end of the holiday era called the Beatles.

Without realizing it, he had long been looking for a woman who looked like his frivolous mother Julia and domineering aunt Mimi, who raised him. Everything was smooth in his marriage with his wife Susan — she did not burden him with herself, did not bother him with conversations, cooked well and was great in bed. Another man would have carried such a woman in his arms, but not Lennon. He lacked madness, passion, hooliganism. Critics will later write about this period of John's life:

"When you get everything in your youth, life becomes insanely boring and insipid. You will involuntarily start looking for adventures."

They first met in November 1966. Lennon, on the recommendation of a friend, went to the Indica gallery for an exhibition of "anti-art". The spacious hall was crowded, everyone was talking about something, discussing the latest news. John has always resisted this society of snobs and mawkish intellectuals. Out of boredom, he decided to take a walk and suddenly came across an inscription: "Beat it up." Lennon wanted to carry out his plan, but a voice called out to him: "Only for five shillings." That's what Yoko said.

This was the first time he saw the woman of his whole life, but he did not attach much importance to the fateful acquaintance. And the very next morning I received my first message from her — a book where She talked about the world order, the meaning of life and all that, which the famous musician, who had had enough of the love of the audience, did not care about. From that day on, the persistent Japanese woman continued to attack John with notes, calls and sudden meetings.

It was not the first time that the Japanese woman bewitched men with her unflattering beauty. She has already had two marriages under her belt — the first with the talented but poor composer Toshi Ichiyanagi, the second with producer Anthony Cox, who pulled Yoko out of depression several times, but, alas, did not deserve her love. The couple divorced as soon as Lennon's muse managed to win over his genius.

Susan immediately suspected something was wrong and demanded an explanation from John. He waved it off, saying that she was a crazy artist. But Yoko did not even think about giving up, she bent her line until Lennon's marriage finally fell apart. Leaving his wife, he shouted in his heart that their son Julian was the result of an extra bottle of whiskey. Then it seemed to Lennon that he had finally found true freedom. He would later say that Yoko had replaced all those who had left his life and forced him to look at himself and the world around him differently.

Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr still remember the day when Ono first entered the recording studio with Lennon. John didn't even want to listen to his friends who tried to explain to him that a woman didn't belong here. "She didn't know a damn thing about music, but she was telling Paul how to sing and me how to play the drums. We were furious, but there was nothing we could do about it. John didn't seem to hear us," Ringo said in an interview. In 1970, the legendary Liverpool Four broke up.

The band's business had not been good for a long time, the Beatles stopped writing new songs and were engaged in creativity separately, but millions of fans around the world refused to believe that the former team was no more. The angry audience immediately blamed Yoko for everything. The newspapermen happily picked up on this idea, and at the same moment headlines appeared in the press: "The Black Witch destroyed the Beatles", "The devil possessed the Liverpool four," but Lennon didn't care about it either: they completely dissolved into each other, even looked the same: shapeless clothes, round glasses and long Her hair was parted in the middle.

Shortly before the breakup of The Beatles, Lennon and Yoko set up their own studio where they could create whatever they wanted. It is here that John will record his famous album Imagine. Later, critics would recognize him as the best musician's record, and the real "Beatlemans" would grab their heads and curse his Japanese muse with renewed vigor.

In 1969, the mad lovers will get married in Gibraltar, the ceremony will last a record 72 minutes. And again, all traditions will be broken, it's not Yoko who will take John's last name, but he will take hers. Back in Amsterdam, the happy newlyweds will rent a presidential suite in one of the city's hotels, change into pajamas and... call together journalists. This "recumbent conference" lasted for several days, as the couple fought for world peace.

They were inseparable for four years, but the family idyll ended when Lennon noticed another woman at a party in honor of the election of the next American president. Tipsy, John took the guest into the next room and made love to her. Like a true Japanese woman, Yoko did not make scandals for her husband in public, but only asked him to hand over the flower and say that she still loves him.

John spent the next year and a half in Los Angeles, where It allowed him everything he loved so much: alcohol, fun, women. She even picked up her secretary, the pretty Mei Pang, as a lover. Lennon was happy at first: "You are the most understanding woman in the world," he told his wife on the phone.

Loneliness quickly got tired, John wanted to return, but Yoko was adamant. To her husband's pleas, she replied sharply: "You are not ready yet." As Mei Pang later told me, it all ended abruptly. Ono called her and said that she had found a person who would help John quit smoking. So Lennon came home. Reconciliation with his wife ended with the conception of a child, whom both had long despaired of waiting for after several miscarriages. The birth of Sean's son finally put everyone in their place.

Now John was tinkering with the baby, and Yoko was arranging exhibitions and buying up expensive real estate with the money left over from the Beatles ships. Friends often teased Lennon. "You sing about freedom, a world without property, and you live in a six-room apartment with separate rooms for furs and shoes." John himself had long been sick of such a life, but how could he contradict a woman he loved to distraction.

In 1980, the former Beatle would record the last Double Fantasy album in collaboration with Yoko Ono, and a week later he would be shot by a mad fan Mark Champion. In an interview, Lennon's killer will say that he thought John was a god, but at some point he came down to earth and became an ordinary person. "Then it seemed to me that I was going to shoot the picture on the album cover, a two—dimensional celebrity without real feelings," Champ confesses to reporters while already in prison. Former detractors will suddenly begin to sympathize with Yoko and feel sorry for the woman who lost the best man. But It will not even think of grieving.

A week after her husband's death, she will put up for auction his letters and albums, and six months later the media will tell that the eccentric Japanese woman has remarried. However, this marriage will be short-lived.

[targayrenss]

JUNO — eddie munson x f!oc

݁˖ ❀ ⋆｡˚ You are always trying to keep it real

I'm in love with how you feel

summary:¡join juno and eddie on the difficult adventure of growing up and becoming young parents! —inspired by juno movie

warnings:teenage pregnancy, small age difference, Eddie being a bit of a jerk (he's really just scared of being a dad), mentions of abortion (she doesn't actually do it).

authors note:English is not my first language so please excuse any mistakes (feel free to correct me) I'm really excited to write this fic, Juno is my favorite movie and I was recently rewatching it and thought of Eddie so here we are!

Julia Stiles is my face claim for Juno but you can change it if you like.:)

‧₊˚❀༉‧₊˚.CHAPTERS

chapter one:coming soon…