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lindsaywesker · 2 years ago

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Good morning! I hope you slept well and feel rested? Currently sitting at my desk, in my study, attired only in my blue towelling robe, enjoying my first cuppa of the day. Welcome to Too Much Information Tuesday!

Cats and killer whales both kill for fun.

People with schizophrenia can tickle themselves.

About one million Japanese people refuse to ever leave their homes.

Once you start loving someone, it's hard to stop.

The Catholic saint against procrastination is St. Expeditus.

The national bird of Peru is the Andean cock of the rock.

One third of US divorce filings in 2011 contained the word ‘Facebook’.

The town motto of Gas, Kansas is, "Don't pass Gas, stop and enjoy it."

98.4% of Twitter users who announced they were moving to Mastodon are still on Twitter.

In Utrecht, for George Orwell's birthday, local artists put party hats on the city's CCTV cameras.

When Kylie Jenner said she no longer used Snapchat, its market value dropped by roughly $1.5 billion.

You are eight times more likely to be killed walking drunk than driving drunk.

Everyone has a song in their playlist which they always skip but never delete.

Bill Murray was once pulled over by the Swedish police for driving a golf cart under the influence of alcohol.

People who stay busy (even with pointless tasks) tend to be happier than those who don't.

The man who voices Spongebob Squarepants is married to the woman who voices Plankton's computer wife Karen.

Bob Marley was buried with his Les Paul guitar, a bible and some weed.

Tip: If you think somebody is giving you a fake number, read it back to them incorrectly, see if they correct you.

The script for "Back to the Future" was rejected over 40 times by every major studio and by some more than once.

One day, you’ll just be a memory to some people. Do your best to be a good one.

At any given time, 0.7% of the world population is drunk. Meaning at least 50 million people are drunk right now.

Research suggests women make more jokes when they’re not being interrupted by men.

While you're busy looking for the perfect person, you'll probably miss the imperfect person who could make you perfectly happy.

Lava lamps were invented by an accountant whose hobby was making underwater nudist films.

William Morton, the father of anaesthesia, first experimented on himself but kept falling asleep before he could describe the results.

Sometimes you never know the true value of a moment until it becomes a memory that you wish you could experience again.

During World War I, French soldiers were issued a daily ration of Camembert and red wine.

In gay slang, a "friend of Dorothy" is a gay man. During the 1980s, the US military conducted a massive investigation to find out who Dorothy was.

Due to a computer error in 1989, 41,000 Parisians received letters charging them with murder, extortion and prostitution instead of traffic offences.

In 2016, Yukon Territory, Canada rolled out a campaign to remind residents that they should make sure to get enough vitamin D. The campaign's tagline was, "We all need the D".

For four years, the US state of Nebraska was last on a list of states that tourists are interested in visiting. The Nebraska Tourism Commission then adopted the slogan “Nebraska: honestly, it’s not for everyone.”

An old English alternative to divorcing was to auction off your wife, or husband in one case, in the town square. While there was never a legal basis for this, it continued for centuries and was reported as recently as 1901.

Examples of graffiti from Pompeii include, “Aufidius was here”, “Apollinaris, the doctor of the emperor Titus, defecated well here”, and “Apelles the chamberlain with Dexter, a slave of Caesar, ate here most agreeably and had a screw at the same time.”

Okay, that’s enough information for one day. Have a tremendous and tumultuous Tuesday! I love you all.

#mixcloud #mi soul #dj #music #new blog #lockdown #coronavirus #books #weekend #democracy #brexit #cronyism #election #tuesdaymotivation #christmas

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lizzygrantarchives · 10 years ago

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The Guardian, June 12, 2014

Lana Del Rey has been through the wringer since her breakthrough success led to a vicious backlash, which shows in the 'narco swing' of her brooding new album Ultraviolence – and the fact that she can't stop talking about dying.

"I wish I was dead already," Lana Del Rey says, catching me off guard. She has been talking about the heroes she and her boyfriend share – Amy Winehouse and Kurt Cobain among them – when I point out that what links them is death and ask if she sees an early death as glamorous. "I don't know. Ummm, yeah." And then the death wish.

Don't say that, I say instinctively.

"But I do."

You don't!

"I do! I don't want to have to keep doing this. But I am."

Do what? Make music?

"Everything. That's just how I feel. If it wasn't that way, then I wouldn't say it. I would be scared if I knew [death] was coming, but …"

We're in New Orleans, a city not known for peace and quiet. A couple of blocks from Lana Del Rey's hotel lies Bourbon Street, the scene of drunken rampages from morning till night. Head in the opposite direction and you can expect to be assaulted by the vibrant brass of the French Quarter's street jazz musicians. Even inside Del Rey's elegant suite there is carnage: suitcases half-exploded; bags of corn chips strewn across the floor. Even her laptop has been doused in tomato ketchup, temporarily thwarting our attempts to hear songs from her new album Ultraviolence. "Ewww," she says, baffled as to how a condiment could have found its way inside the power socket.

And yet when we move outside to sit on her balcony, the scene is transformed into complete calm. "This place is magical," she says, sparking up the first of many cigarettes. So serene is the setting, in fact, that it takes me by surprise when Del Rey begins to tell me how unhappy she is: that she doesn't enjoy being a pop star, that she feels constantly targeted by critics, that she doesn't want to be alive at all.

"Family members will come on the road with me and say: 'Wow, your life is just like a movie!'" she says at one point. "And I'm like: 'Yeah, a really fucked-up movie.'"

Throughout our hour-long conversation she keeps returning to dark themes. Telling her story – a remarkable one that involves homelessness, biker gangs and being caught in the eye of a media hurricane – also involves working out why a songwriter who has sold more than 7m copies of her last album, Born To Die seems so disillusioned with life.

Perhaps the logical place to start, then, is with the extraordinary reaction to Video Games, her breakthrough song in 2011. Arriving seemingly out of nowhere (although Del Rey had been posting her songs and homemade videos for some time), the video's Lynchian creepiness cast a spell on almost everyone who saw it, causing the song to go viral. Yet no sooner had the plaudits started rolling in (the Guardian voted it the best song of 2011) than Del Rey was placed under the intense scrutiny of endless blogposts and think pieces, with critics poring over her past for evidence of fakery: was her carefully studied aesthetic for real? Was she really just a major label puppet? Had her dad funded a previous bid for fame? Were her lips the result of plastic surgery? Was she really born as plain old Elizabeth Grant rather than emerging from the womb fully formed as the popstar Lana Del Rey?

I ask how long she got to enjoy the success of Video Games before the backlash arrived and she looks surprised. "I never felt any of the enjoyment," she says. "It was all bad, all of it."

Del Rey says she's not scared to put another record out because she "knows what to expect this time", but during the two-and-a-half years since Born to Die came out, she has often dismissed the idea of a follow-up because she'd "already said everything I wanted to say". So what changed?

"I mean, I still feel that way," she says. "But with this album I felt less like I had to chronicle my journeys and more like I could just recount snippets in my recent past that felt exhilarating to me."

From the handful of songs I get to hear at the hotel, it's safe to say the new material has plenty to get the bloggers worked up about again. Sad Girl, for instance, talks about how "being a mistress on the side, might not appeal to fools like you".

She laughs when I ask where the inspiration came from: "A good question. I mean … I had different relationships with men, with people, where they were sort of wrong relationships, but still beautiful to me."

By wrong does she mean being the other woman?

She laughs again and looks away coyly. "I mean, I guess so."

It's not clear if Money, Power, Glory was originally written just to rile her detractors but it makes a decent stab at it by warning: "I'm going to take them for all that they've got."

"I was in more of a sardonic mood," she says of writing that song. "Like, if all that I was actually going to be allowed to have by the media was money, loads of money, then fuck it … What I actually wanted was something quiet and simple: a writer's community and respect." She talks about that frequently: craving a peaceful life in an artistic community, away from the glare of a media that "always puts an adjective in front of my name, and never a good one".

Like the woozy soft rock of the album's teaser track West Coast, many of the songs on Ultraviolence are slow-tempo and atmospheric, ditching the hip-hop trappings of Born To Die for what she and her producer – the Black Keys' Dan Auerbach – call a "real narco swing". Del Rey originally thought she had completed the album back in December, but after meeting Auerbach in a club and dancing the night away with him she realised she needed to record it all over again with his looser techniques – adding a more casual, California vibe to the sound by recording in single takes, with cheap microphones bought from the drugstore.

It wasn't all plain sailing. One track, Brooklyn Baby, had been written with Lou Reed in mind: he'd wanted to work with Del Rey and so she'd flown over to New York to meet him. "I took the red eye, touched down at 7am … and two minutes later he died," she says.

If the critical sniping had died down, then Del Rey was finding her life invaded by other, more intrusive, means. In 2012, her personal computer was accessed by hackers and all sorts of information started to appear online: pictures, financial details, health records, not to mention her songs. "All 211 of them," she sighs. "Just one more element of the unknown in my daily life." She says she has no way of knowing who currently has access to several years' worth of material, and no way of controlling the slow-drip leak of them online, including songs written for other people and at least one – Black Beauty – that was originally scheduled for Ultraviolence.

Indeed, when you start to look closely at Del Rey's past three years, it's not hard to understand why she might feel burned by her experience of stardom. You're also forced to wonder why the pop stars who attract the most vitriol are so often solo female artists.

"People ask me this all the time," she says. "I think they think there's an element of sexism going on, but I feel that it's more personal. I don't see where the female part comes into it. I just can't catch that feminist angle."

I mention some current examples of musicians getting picked over in the spotlight: Miley Cyrus, Lorde, Lily Allen, Lady Gaga, Sinéad O'Connor spring to mind.

"Well maybe those people are true provocateurs," she says. "But I'm really not and never have been. I don't think there's any shock value in my stuff – well, maybe the odd disconcerting lyric – but I think other people probably deserve the criticism, because they're eliciting it."

What about her video for Ride, in which she hooks up with a succession of older guys from biker gangs (it received criticism for, among other things, appearing to glamorise prostitution)?

"OK," she concedes. "I can see how that video would raise a feminist eyebrow. But that was more personal to me – it was about my feelings on free love and what the effect of meeting strangers can bring into your life: how it can make you unhinged in the right way and free you from the social obligations I hope we're growing out of in 2014."

How much did that video reflect her actual life?

"Oh, 100%"

Hanging out with biker gangs and going off with different guys?

"Yeah," she says, looking away again with another awkward laugh.

For all the accusations of being a fraud, Lana Del Rey seems to have lived a more rock'n'roll existence than your average pop star. She talks of teenage years spent "displaced … I didn't have a home, didn't know my social security number" and says she wasn't in contact with her parents for about six years. Which must have made it extra galling when accusations came in that her career was funded by her father. "It was the exact opposite of that," she says. "We never had more money than anyone we ever knew in town. My dad was a well-loved entrepreneur – he was interested in the early dawning of the internet in 1994 – but it wasn't anything that ever translated financially." When those stories first emerged in the wake of Video Games she says she wasn't even sure what her father was doing with his life: "And I don't think he was too sure what I had been up to either. So it was interesting that they sort of fictionally put us side-by-side together and involved him in that story."

Del Rey likes to describe the more tumultuous periods of her life in romantic terms: she says she'd often spend her nights wandering around New York – "West Side Highway, Lower East Side, parts of Brooklyn" – meeting strangers and seeing where the night took them. "I was inspired by Dylan's stories of meeting people and making music after you met them. I met a lot of singers, painters, bikers passing through. They were friends, or sometimes more. All people I was really interested in on impact."

It sounds pretty dangerous.

"Yeah, I was lucky, but I also have strong intuition."

Does she still do it?

"Sometimes."

Does anyone ever say: "Hang on … you're Lana Del Rey!"

"Sometimes they do. About half the time they do, half the time they don't. If they know who I am I can just leave, or I say it's not a big deal, I'm just a singer."

Are they not surprised to see you out wandering the streets?

"If I'm in LA then maybe. If I'm in Omaha, maybe not."

When she was 18, Del Rey's darker experiences – she has talked about being alcoholic – prompted her to take up outreach work helping those addicted to drugs or alcohol. It's something she describes as her true calling and something she still does when she gets the chance.

"I live in Koreatown on the edge of Hancock Park [in LA], so I do different things where and when I can. It's not just people with mental illness on the streets, but also people who, throughout the years, have lost identification information, that sort of thing. And I know what to do, I know how I can help, because I was that person."

She says it feeds directly into her music. "A lot of my songs are not just simple verse-chorus pop songs – they're more psychological." She talks about tempo, and how she likes to reflect her mental state through a song's speed: "When I played [the label] West Coast they were really not happy that it slipped into an even slower BPM for the chorus," she says. "They were like: 'None of these songs are good for radio and now you're slowing them down when they should be speeded up.' But for me, my life was feeling murky, and that sense of disconnectedness from the streets is part of that."

She longs to be regarded as a serious songwriter, which is why those early accusations of fakery stung her so badly. Yet Del Rey only really needs to take a step back to see how well things have gone for her since she rode out that initial storm and began accruing the critical respect she feels she deserves. Outside music, too, her life appears relatively settled, even if she does describe her relationship with fellow musician Barrie-James O'Neill intensely: "We have a difficult road. He's a very dark character. He has months on end where it's a really dark stretch of writing and waiting, he has his total own world so …"

She falls silent. A waft of brass floats by and mingles with her cigarette smoke. I think about her live shows, such as the outdoor one she's due to play later that night, during which she'll respond to the constant screams – her fans are too busy taking photos to applaud – by letting her band jam away for 20 minutes while she wanders the photo pit, posing for selfies with fans in the front row. Surely during those moments she must love what she does.

"No," she says. Then after another drag from her cigarette she looks down towards the busy street below and says. "I don't know what I think. All I know is that, right now, I like sitting here, on this terrace." She leans back and, for a moment, looks completely content in the silence.

Ultraviolence is released on Polydor on 16 June. Tim Jonze's trip to New Orleans was paid for by Polydor.

Originally published on theguardian.com with the headline Lana Del Rey: 'I wish I was dead already'.

Following the article’s publication, Lana Del Rey shared subsequently deleted tweets criticizing the piece:

Read The Guardian’s response here.

#2014 #Ultraviolence #The Guardian #Tim Jonze

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survey--s · 1 year ago

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634.

Name all the pets you’ve ever had. I never had any growing up, but as an adult I've had Gizmo and Athena who were sibling tabby cats. I had to leave them with my ex when we split up, though. Then when Mike and I got together, we got Layla (a little black kitten), Purrlock (a black rescue cat) and Toby (black kitten). We lost Layla in May and we now have Simba who is a ginger tabby kitten. We also have Archie the beagle who is five.

Are you on break, or do you still have a couple days of school left? I haven't been in any kind of education since 2011.

Do you like Stephen King novels? I've actually never read any of them, or seen any of his films.

Have you ever had a macaroon? Yes, and a macaron. Macaroons remind me of my childhood.

One of my friends dislikes animals in general. Are you like her? No. My dad is one of those people though, lol. He tolerates my love of animals but it's why I was never allowed a pet growing up.

Do you prefer being on time, or do you not mind being late? I HATE being late. I'm always early or on time unless I have absolutely no other choice.

What is one adventurous thing you’d be willing to do? (ex: skydive) Travel to outer space.

Have you ever made a bucket list? No.

What subject at school did you absolutely hate? Chemistry.

How many cell phones have you gone through up till now? I think seven or eight, maybe. Which is pretty good going considering I've owned some kind of phone for the last 20+ years.

Italian food or Chinese food? I love both. I think overall I prefer Italian though.

Do you have more than the standard earlobe piercings? Yes - three in each earlobe, one in my right cartilage, my nose and my belly button (though I don't wear jewellery in the latter anymore as it kept getting infected).

Ever studied a foreign language? I did a degree in French, and I also studied German for a while. My dad taught me a bit of Italian as a kid too.

Don’t you hate it when your family eats all the ice cream at home? My mum always used to do that and it drove me insane.

Ever been in a near death situation? If so, what happened? Hmm, no, I wouldn't say so.

Do you like to make flash cards when you study? No.

Favorite flavor of gum? Spearmint.

Do you tend to be frugal, or are you more comfortable spending money? I have no real need to be frugal as we don't struggle financially. But saying that, I'm not really that materialistic and only tend to spend money on stuff I need, or stuff that's practical/for the house.

Do you have a connection to any religion? No.

Ever played a team sport, or are you not sporty at all? I was on all the sports teams in school but I never really enjoyed it.

Do you put posters on your bedroom walls? No. I did as a teenager though.

Do you sleep with one leg sticking out of the covers? Sometimes, yeah.

I have extremely weird, frightening dreams. Do you? Not frightening, but my dreams are definitely on the weird side.

Has anyone ever told you that you’re a good singer? No, because I am not. <--- haha yep, same.

Ever been to the Big Apple? If not, do you want to visit? No, but I'd love to visit one day.

Opinion on Gangnam Style? It's catchy and a pretty good song, really.

Do you ever watch TED talks, live or online? No.

Did you ever watch the Lizzie McGuire movie? Yep, multiple times ha.

If you did, do you know what the guy that played Gordo looks like now? (ew) Why ew?That's harsh, lol. Anyway, I've just googled him and he looks normal to me?

How many email accounts do you have? Two.

Ever shamelessly played Farmville on Facebook? No, I never really got into Farmville.

Are you a big fan of dessert? Not really. There are a few kinds I love but generally I'd rather have a starter.

Ever had a brush with the paranormal? If so, describe. No.

Were you one of the popular kids in high school? Nope, definitely not lol.

I dare you to write the name of a person you strongly dislike. I don't really strongly dislike anyone. I either like you or I'm generally apathetic towards you lol.

Do you know the band Vampire Weekend? I've heard of them, yeah.

What do you think about Marilyn Manson? He's a dodgy fucker. He's been accused of all sorts of shit.

In general, do you prefer going out or staying home? It really depends, there is no "in general" because there are so many different variables.

Biggest trouble you’ve ever gotten into at school? I honestly never got into trouble at school.

Do you own one of those “professional” DSLR cameras? No.

Does it bother you when you see a 6th grader with a bunch of gadgets? Why would it bother me?

Favorite pair of shoes? Probably my black ballet shoes or my grey ankle boots.

Where were you on 9/11? In French class in year...8, it must have been. Any food in particular you just can’t get enough of? Pizza, bread, potatoes.

Did you buy yearbooks every year in high school, or did you not bother? No, they weren't really a thing here.

Do you have Restless Legs Syndrome? I do. It sucks. Yeppp. I hate it.

Are you a fan of British Youtubers? (Marcus Butler, JacksGap, etc) I don't watch YouTubers of any nationality, lol.

Jalapeños: yay or nay? Nay. I can't stand spicy food.

Did you ever play Minecraft? I tried and it just gave me a headache lol.

Did you ever have a Club Penguin account? Were you a member? I played it a few times.

Favorite concerts you’ve been to? Did you scream until you were hoarse? Plain White T's or Lily Allen, and no.

So where were you when the Boston Marathon bombing happened? I don't remember. At home probably, or work?

Rainy days on the weekend: yay or nay? It depends whether I have plans or not.

Do you look down on girls that wear shorts with Uggs? No, but then again, nobody wears Uggs anymore.

Californian girls talk and dress a certain way, don’t they? I mean, sure, but that's true of people from any part of the country.

Ever crushed on a teacher? If so, what subject did he/she teach? No. I never understood that lol.

Ever take an art class? If so, what’d you think? I did art in school until GCSE's. I quite liked it.

#survey #surveys

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5sosfanfictioncatalogue · 1 year ago

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Mature Rated Fics Masterlist

A Ticket to Another World (ao3) - lovealways1990 Luke/Ashton M, 29k

Summary: When a car crash erases Luke’s memories, he wakes up in the year 2014. Only problem..his last memory - testing a new drummer for the band’s first gig - is from 2011. Now, he’s forced to rely on second-hand accounts and flashbacks to retrieve his memories. Not to mention the new drummer Ashton is making everything incredibly unsettling.

BOYS with an S (ao3) - gardener Ashton/Luke/Calum M, 24k

Summary: French, eighteen years old Luke Hemmings moves to NYC to study Sociology. It is not long until he meets Ashton Irwin, thirty years old owner of a grand, renowned magazine in an unfortunate setting and they decide to get to know each other better. Luke is so overwhelmed by his exclusive charms that he could have never expected a meet-up with Calum Hood. Vice versa.

Eat Me (ao3) - notonguexwithbutt Michael/Luke M, 14k

Summary: "Michael’s bottle green eyes are absolutely shining and Luke has to take a second to appreciate the beauty before him. Luke convinces himself it’s not weird to think things like that because it’s so obviously a fact. Michael is a beautiful boy, the prettiest Luke’s ever seen, and it makes Luke’s heart pound to think that he’s his best friend. How did he get so lucky?"

Michael is upset that none of his bandmates want to take him to a deserted island and eat him so Luke makes him feel better. In doing so, he discovers the feelings he has for his best friend are a little stronger than he ever intended.

Fine Print - @daydadahlias (cornflowerblue (daydadahlias)) Luke/Ashton M, 61k

Summary: If Michael says Ashton Irwin will be a good bodyguard then sure, Luke will put his money on Ashton being a good bodyguard. Besides, all Luke needs is a shadow. So what if he doesn’t like him?

Who ever cared about liking their shadow anyway?

or the one where Luke is a heartbroken solo artist who can’t sleep and Ashton is his less-than-enthusiastic bodyguard

home is wherever you are tonight (ao3) - lifewasradical Luke/Ashton M, 72k

Summary: Life has become so mundane in the past few years that there’s very little that sends a thrill up Luke’s spine anymore. It’s that idea that had him saying yes to the idea of moving out here for a few weeks anyways: the knowledge that this was a completely new place where no one knew his name. He could be anyone he wanted to be here, within reason. He wouldn’t be seeing any of these people again after May, so what’s the harm in becoming a new person for a bit? Someone not so bogged down by the shit in their head that they can’t get out of bed some mornings. Maybe this is a step in the direction of the person Luke wants to be in the future anyways.

Or, Luke inherits a beach house on a tiny coastal island that needs some work. He didn't plan on falling in love with the guy at the hardware store.

I Love You a Latte! (ao3) - reylofics Luke/Ashton, Michael/Calum M, 28k

Summary: A story where Luke Hemmings randomly texts Ashton Irwin over Kik and the rest of their story unfolds rather quickly.

in a big red bow (ao3) - galacticsugar Luke/Calum M, 7k

Summary: 5 times Calum checks out Luke's ass and 1 time he finally gets to touch it.

It's a hell of a feeling though (ao3) - thenewbrokenscene Michael/Luke M, 58k

Summary: [AU, actor/model Luke and musician Michael]

After a recent scandal and the subsequent publicity nightmare, Luke Hemmings doesn't need any more trouble. He's just trying to enjoy his best friend's birthday party. But who the fuck invited Michael Clifford?

Keep Me Close, Keep Me Close (ao3) - senioritastyles Luke/Everyone M, 4k

Summary: Calum and Michael are looking back at him now too, brows furrowed and annoyance clear on their faces too. Luke can tell he’s in for it when they get back, and that wasn’t exactly his planned outcome but he’s not going to complain. He starts tapping his feet in anticipation once the commotion dies down, and he can’t sit still so his hands start drumming on his thighs to some irregular beat and he’s twisting his lip ring with his teeth and he’s not even meaning to be annoying right now but Calum’s having none of it.

“Luke, chill the fuck out bro. You’re driving me insane.” He growls, jaw locked and Luke realizes they’re all looking at him like that.

They look more pissed than annoyed now and he’s seriously probably going to regret this once they’re done with him later. But he’ll just have to wait and see for sure.

or: Luke’s being annoying, and things don’t go so well.

Never (ao3) - notonguexwithbutt Michael/Luke M, 41k

Summary: “I rub him through his jeans and he pushes against me as he sucks on my lips and scrapes his fingers across my back, undoubtedly leaving marks. After a minute I don’t think I can wait any longer so I sit up again and reach for the waistband of his jeans. His arms fall beside him and he reaches up to grip his hair, looking up at me with his swollen lips parted and eyes dark from being so dilated. He looks so wrecked and I haven’t even properly touched his dick yet.”

Michael and Luke work together at a pizza shop and Michael seems to hate Luke but really he’s just in denial. Michael’s POV.

Of Polaroids and Safe Sex (ao3) - Juliaenerys Luke/Calum M, 8k

Summary: In which Calum and Luke meet in high school, date, break up and meet again. And Luke has changed a lot.

someone to stay (ao3) - lukeyboy Luke/Ashton M, 5k

Summary: cliche high school au where ashton is the social outcast in school, and luke is the most popular guy in school, captain of the football team and adored by everyone. their paths cross when luke finds ashton crying on the corridor floor.

Something Better (ao3) - notonguexwithbutt Michael/Luke M, 10k

Summary: "It’s like Luke is trying to say so many things with one look and somehow Michael is understanding them all. Or is he? Because to him it looks like Luke is saying 'push me up against a wall and fuck me' or maybe it’s something more like 'do something, I dare you.' Or maybe Michael’s just really turned on by the sight of his best friend covered in sweat and staring at him with dark, dilated eyes."

Luke gets his wisdom teeth removed and feels quite affectionate and honest in the haze of his anesthesia. Later, he's embarrassed about the things he confessed to Michael, so Michael does what he can to even out the field.

stained hearts (ao3) - galacticsugar Luke/Calum M, 28k

Summary: “I’m not really looking for a serious relationship right now.”

Okay. That’s okay. Good, even. Get to know each other before they get in too deep.

“But I liked spending time with you and I liked having sex with you and I’d like to do it again.” Luke squeezes Calum’s hand, pulling Calum’s gaze to his face. He’s smiling softly, eyes illuminated by the sun, starbursts in his pupils and shadows of his curls in perfect spirals on his shoulders. “If you want.”

Casual. Sure. Calum can do casual.

“I want.”

Tell Me All The Things That I Wanna Hear (ao3) - senioritastyles Michael/Luke M, 4k

Summary: “Did you just throw your fucking come pillow at me?!” Michael yells, wiping his hands on his jeans and staring at Luke like he’s gone insane even though Michael’s the one who let himself into Luke’s room while he was busy doing things, and then didn’t fucking leave.

“Yeah well you scared the shit out of me! What the hell are you doing in here?” Luke yells back, discreetly taking the dildo out of himself, although he doesn’t exactly bother to cover up.

“Apparently watching you fuck yourself with a piece of plastic while moaning my name.” Michael explains, looking self-satisfied and smug and like a general piece of shit.

or: Luke is curious about his sexual life and he (not so) secretly want Michael involved.

The Best Thing (the way it’s supposed to be) (ao3) - gravityinglass Michael/Calum M, 87k

Summary: Or, the story of how 5 Seconds of Summer became a band (starting from the beginning) and how Michael Clifford realized he’d always been in love with Calum Hood (not starting from the beginning, not even close), and how taking on the world turned out to be less daunting than it seemed.

The Sun Is Burning Down Los Angeles (ao3) - galacticsugar Luke/Calum M, 40k

Summary: Calum probably signed a form saying he wouldn’t fall in love with the lead singer of the band. And he really doesn’t want to. What a cliché. It’s just…people get famous for a reason. This guy got famous for all the reasons.

Calum moves to LA to work for 5SOS.

walmart sonata (ao3) - kaleidoscopeminds Luke/Calum M, 33k

Summary: Luke shakes his head. He doesn’t really understand Calum. What is this beautiful man doing being sweet and kind to him in the Walmart he works at several times a week? Luke’s life doesn’t include things like this. He just smiles at Calum slightly disbelievingly, it’s not like Calum will ever really see him perform. He’s just a hot stranger from his grocery store.

What Was Not Expected (ao3) - xxsilverlist Michael/Calum, Luke/OC M, 61k

Summary: Jessie had the once in a lifetime chance to meet 5SOS, unexpectedly she finds herself friends with the boys. Soon the secrets begin to pour out. And maybe Luke really likes her.

Or the one where Michael and Calum are secretly dating, Luke falls in love, and Ashton keeps things from the boys.

Without You (ao3) - ofmonstersandmayhem Luke/Ashton, Michael/Calum M, 67k

Summary: Nothing made Ashton happy anymore.

He was slowly drifting away.

Everyday he prayed for a savior. He had the tiniest sliver of hope in the back of his mind that someone would come and save him from all this darkness.

His prayers were answered in the form of a tall blonde boy with a lip ring. But was he able to save Ashton in time?

(or the cliche fic where Ashton’s depressed with an abusive father but when Luke Hemmings moves into the neighborhood, his dark clouds open up to reveal a sunshine)

#5sosfanfictioncatalogue #5sos fanfic #5sos #mature #mature masterlist #masterlists

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deepartnature · 1 year ago

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Seeing Beyond the Beauty of a Vermeer

“The afternoon I discovered Vermeer, I was passing time by browsing the books and publications piled up on the shelves at home in Lagos. I was 14 or 15. Amid the relics of my parents’ college studies (Nigerian plays, French histories, business-management textbooks), I found something unfamiliar: the annual report for a multinational company. I don’t remember which company it was, but it must have had something to do with food or drink, because on the front cover was a painting of peasants in a rolling field and on the back was a painting of a woman pouring milk. ...”

NY Times (Audio)

2009 September: Vermeer's Masterpiece, The Milkmaid, 2011 February: Vermeer: Master of Light, 2013 October: Vermeer, Rembrandt, and Hals: Masterpieces of Dutch Painting from the Mauritshuis, 2015 December: This Is Not a Vermeer ™, 2017 January: The Art of Painting (1665–1668), 2021 December: Museum rivalry ‘could make Dutch Vermeer show last of its kind’, 2021 December: Okay Cupid: Reopening Vermeer’s love letter to contradiction, 2022 October: A New Brushstroke Analysis Reveals Vermeer...

Detail of “A Lady Writing.”

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sugdenlovesdingle · 2 months ago

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ALSO Dutch people grow up learning English, French, and German in school (some schools teach Spanish too) because nobody speaks/understands our ass backwards language (outside of half of Belgium and Afrikaans speaking people in South Africa).

We are taught we have to learn another language (English at the very least) to make ourselves be understood. When you tell a Dutch person you're learning their language, most of the time their reaction will be "WHY?! Why would you DO THAT???"

So someone coming here, on holiday, and ordering lunch (for example) in Dutch when it's obvious it's not their native language? Well that's just another opportunity to show off your English skills outside of the classroom or the internet! Show this person you can speak their language and they don't have to bother with ours - because who would want that with the g and the sch anyway??

I was in NYC in 2011 and talking shit with my friend - in Dutch - in our hostel and some guy suddenly reacts to something we were saying. it turned out he was Danish and had studied Dutch. (I asked him why, he said "why not?") When I tell you that was the last thing I expected to happen on holiday in NYC...

Yes English has a lot of French and Greek/latin in it but most of our everyday words are still Germanic. We did have that great vowel shift though. Idk what was so great about it but it makes it so we can’t understand Dutch anymore

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britishchick09 · 2 years ago

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things i learned about giverny from its french wikipedia article (besides monet!)

giverny is part of the paris area of attraction, a study showing the influence of paris on the surrounding towns

the average temperature is 10 celsius (51.6 degrees!)

hillary clinton visited in 1996

it was known as giverniacum in 1025 and its current name was seen in 1276 (it was gyverny so... almost?)

there was a leper colony there during the middle ages?

the le lorier family owned it during the french revolution and monsieur le lorier was the first mayor

since 2020, the mayor has been claude landais (his term ends in 2026)

it was originally owned by monks from saint-denis (the church mentioned in 'aupres de ma blonde'!) in 863

nothing of note happened in between 1791 to 1883 so allow me to add that gustave daae and his toddler daughter christine moved there from ryd, sweden in 1868! ;)

a gourmet restaurateur named david gallienne opened a restaurant in 2020 (it's called le jardin des plumes and opens at the unique time of 12:15!)

this year giverny and vernon will organize giverny's first eco-citizen walks

in 1866 (the year rewrite christine was born!), 340 people lived in giverny. that number decreased to 277 people in 1886 but 305 people were there in 1891 (the last year of the rewrite!)

the smallest population was 250 in 1901 and the biggest was 548 in 1990

as of 2020 there are 486 people living there (the english article says 494 in 2019, the same number as 2017 in the french article)

the giverny festival takes place every september and features contemporary music, authors, composers and performers!

hotel baudy has a rose garden :)

sainte-radegonde church has been a historic monument since april 2009

a painter named jean-marie toulgouat was born and died in giverny. his love for art began when his aunt took him to the monet house. she was blanche hoschede... the widow of monet's eldest son, jean!

non monet adjacent givernians include a singer named leny escudero, playwright germain delavigne and 'man of letters' albert collignon

i've been saying givernians but turns out they're called givernois! :o

rewrite christine is best givernoi ;)

the third track of chris rea's album 'on the beach' is called 'giverny'

michel bussi's book 'black water lilles' was the most awarded french detective novel in 2011 (can you guess where it takes place? ;) )

to end things off, here's a 1910 painting by guy rose ('late afternoon in giverny'):

#i discovered so much! :o #way more than the english wiki page! ;)

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aristidetwain · 3 years ago

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The Shared Dalek Universe of the 1960s: A Case Study

In 2011 (a little over ten years ago!), El Sandifer cited my dearly-beloved 1960s Who Annuals as examples of stories which ended up influencing the TV series many years down the line despite making an unrepentant hash of continuity.

Her first example is that the Doctor is called Dr. Who, and that he alternates between being from Earth on one page, and not being from Earth three pages later. I would point out that TV was doing much the same thing in those days, and went on flip-flopping basically until Jon Pertwee, so it’s not a terribly good argument to begin with.

However, she spends more time pondering the Daleks of the comics. These Daleks, she notes, are very different from those on television at the time. There are hordes of them, they travel in fleets of saucers, and they’re ruled by the Emperor. This contradiction, she argues, later fed back into the TV series in the RTD era, when huge fleets of Daleks became the norm and, earlier but still well after the first burst of Annuals, in the form of Patrick Troughton facing a very different Dalek Emperor in The Evil of the Daleks.

In no way do I wish to undermine Sandifer’s ultimate conclusion that “canon” in the sense of diegetic consistency is a red herring of little importance, and what matters for any sane definition of ‘canon’ is whether a story is referenced at all, not whether it’s contradicted.

However.

Having gone back to 1966′s The Dalek Outer Space Book, I have made a very startling discovery, in the story entitled The Secret of the Emperor. The rest is after the cut; I will leave you with a delightful panel from this story, showing the “bewildered” Dalek Emperor being bullied by knights at the Battle of Agincourt. (This is one of my favourite Doctor Who images ever, and if it doesn’t put a smile on your face I am not sure I want to take you seriously.)

So, famously, when he debuted in the comics, the Dalek Emperor was not the giant, static Dalek later shown on television in The Evil of the Daleks and The Bad Wolf of the Ways; instead, he was golden, squat, and had a bulbous head; to house all the ego, one expects.

Thus, most people will point at the fact that when the Doctor met “the Emperor” in The Evil of the Daleks, he resided in a huge tower-like casing in the Dalek City, as evidence that although ideas received a first treatment in the comics which later made it to screens, no direct continuity was intended; the comics’ Emperor was an alternate, a first draft, to be discarded once a more definitive TV portrayal emerged.

And yet, of course, it is somehow appealing to think of the two as the same Dalek, isn’t it? John Peel (Dalek writer voted most likely to be a 19th century Victorian man who stumbled into a time eddy; it’s mostly the remarkable sideburns) spent a lot of time in his Dalek novels establishing the life story of the Dalek Prime, the First Dalek Ever, who transitioned from the globe-headed casing to the towery Evil one and then deeply regretted it, what with the “getting killed by his own infighting troops with no way to escape”.

But this is usually viewed as a retcon. A cute retcon, an admirable retcon even, but a retcon. My good friend and esteemed fellow canon-welder, @rassilon-imprimatur, espoused such a view four years ago:

Well, all of this is, if you’ll pardon my French, bollocks. John Peel didn’t make anything up, except for the snappy name of “the Dalek Prime” as a designation for the individual. The Dalek Emperor in Evil of the Daleks was always the Emperor of the 1960s comics, and there is a very good reason for his seemingly-contradictory change of appearance. What’s more, I am not talking about murky authorial intent: these are things that the discerning Dalek fan in 1967 was meant to have known.

Let me wind back the clock to 1966. A Dalek master-plan is unfurling, a multi-media agenda spanning several years, more ambitious perhaps than even Time Lord Victorious in its scope; for the ultimate aim of a small cabal of men including David Whitaker, Terry Nation and Brad Ashton is nothing less than spinning the Daleks out of Doctor Who and into their own non-BBC TV show — to be made in America, and in colour, if you please!

For over a year now, a Dalek story arc has been running in the pages of TV Century 21, tracking the early rise of the Dalek Empire and its early interactions with 2060s humanity. Though the Daleks encroach over other parts of the book, including the headline stories, the bulk of this story arc comes in the form of weekly one-page comics making up one long serialised history of the Daleks, under the minimalist title of The Daleks.

Also under the solo brand of “The Daleks”: Annuals, an exclusive audio story, and, of course, toys. Time for Phase Two. It is time to end the Daleks’ endless confrontations with Dr Who on television, and set the stage for a new status quo able to support the TV series Nation dreams about.

Important background: Terry Nation, famously, does not like the Dalek Emperor. Whitaker made him up without consulting Nation, who maintains that the highest rank in the Dalek hierarchy should be the Dalek Supreme. The Emperor was hard to do away with in the comics, since he was basically the protagonist of the TV21 strip, but one imagines Nation was keen to jettison him from the world of the planned TV series.

I am speculating, of course, but I picture Nation sitting in his office, pondering the two great thorns in the side of the Independant Daleks Masterplan.

Thorn one: the Daleks are entangled with the Doctor both diegetically and symbolically; unless something can be done, the Daleks will remain “the Doctor’s enemies”, and a show where they commit evil and the Doctor fails to show up would ring false with the kids watching. The Daleks must be removed from Doctor Who in a sensational and definitive manner, or the whole enterprise is a nonstarter.

Thorn two: I, Terry Nation, have foolishly allowed David Whitaker to shape the lore of the Daleks, and he has made this Dalek Emperor guy very central to early Dalek history, leading up to the 22nd century Dalek Invasion of Earth that most of the Doctor’s subsequent conflicts with the Daleks have stemmed from. But I do not like the Dalek Emperor. I wish I could get rid of him in my new status quo.

…………Aha.

A triumphant Terry Nation adds a post-it note to the ever-widening corkboard representing the multimedia Dalek Masterplan setting up the TV series, which must already include things like “convince Jean Marsh to come back as Sara Kingdom”. Notes distilled from this corkboard will form the backbone of The Dalek Outer Space Book, this year’s Dalek annual, which exists principally to set up the prospective main characters of the new TV series: Sara Kingdom and Agent Mark Seven, of the Space Security Service.

The new post-it note reads:

Construe the Daleks’ enmity with the Doctor as a personal enmity between the Doctor and the Emperor, a la Sherlock Holmes and Moriarty. Have the Doctor triumph over the Emperor on TV in a big ‘event’ story.

Result: the Doctor-vs-Daleks storyline is over; the Emperor is dead; I get everything I ever wanted.

(Except maybe a pony.)

Then he phones David Whitaker, smirking all the while like an evil genie preparing to grant a badly-worded wish.

“Good news, old chap, I’ve decided you can write a new Dalek story for the BBC, all by yourself. I promise I won’t interfere.”

*confused and delighted David Whitaker noises*

“ And you can even bring in that Dalek Emperor of yours. Yes, you heard me!”

*Whitaker enthusiasm intensifies*

“Ahhh, but there’s a catch. The Dalek Emperor must DIE.”

Of course, like all good Faustian bargains, this is irresistible even though it is ruinous and the victim knows it to be ruinous. Whitaker agrees to the scheme. He and Nation begin planning out the events of the great finale of the Dalek-Doctor confrontation, which will hit the screens in 1967 as the mildly racist, but otherwise quite well-loved, ‘The Evil of the Daleks’.

Quickly enough, it is decided that Patrick Troughton crouching to berate the short and bubble-headed Golden Emperor would look silly. If the Emperor appears on TV, alongside human performers, then it should tower over them. Besides, this is to be the archvillainous Dalek Emperor’s last stand, and certain traditions must be followed.

Hence another task is added to the bucketlist of the Dalek Outer Space Book: tell the story of how the Emperor transformed from the globe-headed dwarf to some huge and terrible towering form under the Dalek City, for the Doctor to stumble onto later. This rebuilt Emperor may be teased, but must not be truly seen or truly defeated in the book; that would defeat the whole idea.

Hence, The Secret of the Emperor, a story which sees the Emperor becoming self-conscious about his own efficiency and letting the Scientist Daleks rebuild his casing from scratch. The final page is a splash panel, a delightfully nonsensical diagram of the mechanical components of the new casing.

The almost surreal array of colours and shapes is so arresting as to obscure an important detai. Many have seen this page over and over, and yet still missed it. The recent(ish) ‘Anatomy of the New Dalek Emperor’ artwork from Time Lord Victorious clearly looked at this page for reference, in spite of the fact that the TLV Emperor is much more inspired by the old Emperor than the rebuilt one.

Let me spell it out for you: look at the Scientist Daleks in the top right and centre-left. Look at them.

The new Emperor is huge.

And what else?

That Scientist on the left is plugging huge wires snaking from the wall into the tower-casing.

He now resides in the Great Hall of the Dalek City.

The background wall is a weird checkered pattern.

In addition, the following facts are seeded throughout the earlier pages of The Secret of the Emperor.

The point of moving to the new casing was to grant the Emperor increased brain capacity (suitable for concocting masterplans).

He acquired said increased brain capacity to help the Daleks attempt to overcome humanity once and for all.

The Emperor has recently had a trautmatic but eye-opening experience with time travel.

Ignore the fact that the Emperor was here depicted with what appears to be a still fairly bulbous, and golden, head, and it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that this is very, very direct setup for how the Doctor finds the Dalek Emperor in The Evil of the Daleks — tower-like, in an imperial throneroom in the Dalek City, with a checkered wall pattern, planning out a complicated scheme to harness time travel as a means of defeating humanity once and for all!

Yes, the designs don’t quite match — but how could the artist behind the visuals of Secret of the Emperor have known precisely what Shawcraft would build, a year later, based on the same basic description by Nation & Whitaker? The parallels far outweigh the minor differences in execution. (It’s worth noting that elsewhere in the Outer Space Book a different artist drew what was clearly intended to be the Golden Emperor as a large, golden, but normally-proportioned Dalek, so it’s not like the visual descriptions of these scripts were exceedingly precise…)

The rebuilt Emperor is never seen in the Outer Space Book outside of this ‘dissection’: he is heard throughout The Brain Tappers but kept carefully off-panel, and his new and dangerous new casing is pointedly not destroyed in the story’s conclusion. Well, of course not. That’s what Dr Who is for.

tl;dr: it is not a post hoc retcon, or even a secret, that the round-headed Emperor of the comics became the Dalek Emperor of Evil of the Daleks. A holistic view of the state of Dalek media in 1966-1967 shows that, in fact, it was the whole point that this be the Emperor of the comics; and that the comics had begun setting this up long before Patrick Troughton encountered Edward Waterfield on TV.

And thus, to circle back to Sandifer’s 2011 post, it is not enough to simply say that the “seemingly non-canon” comics inspired the show down the line. In fact in this instance, what appeared on Doctor Who existed for the benefit of the Daleks spin-off — not vice-versa!

#Daleks #Canon-Welding #Doctor Who #Analysis #Doctor Who Meta #Dalek Emperor #Dalek Prime #The Evil of the Daleks #Terry Nation #David Whitaker #Brad Ashton #The Secret of the Emperor #El Sandifer #Canon #Jacob Black

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lindsaywesker · 1 year ago

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Good morning! I hope you slept well and feel rested? Currently sitting at my desk, in my study, attired only in my blue towelling robe, enjoying my first cuppa of the day.

Welcome to Too Much Information Tuesday. (Although this could very easily have been Too Much Misinformation Tuesday!)

There are two billion parking spaces in the US.

Park City, Utah has a city park. Address: City Park, Park City.

Pumbaa was the first ever character to fart in a Disney movie.

Bob Marley was buried with his Les Paul guitar, a bible and some weed.

In 1972, a spokesman for Scotland Yard suggested that Ford Transits were used in 95% of bank robberies.

British dung beetles are estimated to be worth £40m a year to the cattle industry for clearing up cow pats.

Capgras syndrome is a delusion where you believe the people closest to you have been replaced by imposters.

October 21 is National Throw Short People Day. You can throw anyone under 5’4” with no permission needed.

For the first time since they began polling on the question, YouGov reports that most British men now sport facial hair.

The role of Captain Jack Sparrow was originally offered to Jim Carrey but he turned it down for the role of ‘Bruce Almighty’.

It is more likely to rain on Saturday than on weekdays. Pollution builds up over the course of the week and seeds clouds.

In 1978, Soviet geologists found a family of six that lived in the middle of Siberia who hadn't seen another human since 1936.

James Murray, the primary editor of the Oxford English Dictionary from 1879, wrote his last entry in 1915. It was the word ‘twilight’.

The deadliest female serial killer in US history, Clementine Barnabet, had murdered 35 people with an axe by the time she was 18 years old.

The average human attention span has almost halved since 2000 decreasing from 20 seconds to 12 in 2018. Sorry … what’s your name again?

The currency in Botswana is the Pula. ‘Pula’ means ‘rain’ or ‘blessings’. Since most of Botswana is arid, rain is considered precious.

The New Zealand Symphony Orchestra have teamed up with a local chicken farm to play chicken-friendly music to improve the lives of chickens.

During job interviews, Google doesn't ask for GPA or test scores from their candidates because they don't correlate with success at the company.

Ninjas didn't actually wear black. According to the ninja museums in Japan, the best colour to wear during the night time was actually navy blue.

A study measuring the effects of music found that cows produce more milk when listening to soothing music. They produce the most when listening to REM’s ‘Everybody Hurts’.

Knowing someone who works at the company you want a job at increases your chances of getting an interview and makes you 40% more likely to get the job over someone with a fancier CV than you.

Your odds of being killed by a meteor are 1 in 1,600,000. What about the odds of a 4 billion year old meteor hitting the home of a French family with the last name Commette? Because that's what happened in 2011.

A Japanese soldier was stranded on an island for 30 years after the Second World War had ended. He continued to stand his post in uniform until his commander came to the island to personally dismiss him in 1974.

The Tiffany Problem occurs when a historical novel or film contains details that seem too modern to be true but are in fact correct for the time. The name Tiffany is one such example, it dates back to at least the 12th century.

British banking giant HSBC admitted to laundering billions of dollars for Colombian and Mexican drug cartels and violating a host of important banking laws but, somehow, there were no criminal charges and no one went to jail.

Sadio Mané, the Senegalese football player is transforming Bambaly, his native Senegal village; he built a hospital, a school and he is paying 80 euros a month to all its citizens. Recently he installed a 4G network and built a postal office.

There are debt collectors in Spain that hire people to find you when you're out in public and just stand and stare at you. And they just stare, in an attempt to shame you into paying your debt. They can be dressed as funeral directors, clowns, bull fighters, bears, anything!

Mario Puzo, the author of The Godfather books, who’d also adapted them to film, had no idea what he was doing as he’d never written a screenplay before. After winning two Oscars, he decided to buy a book on screenwriting to learn how. In the first chapter, it said “Study ‘The Godfather’.”

Okay, that’s enough information for one day. Have a tremendous and tumultuous Tuesday! I love you all.

#mixcloud #mi soul #dj #music #new blog #lockdown #coronavirus #books #democracy #brexit #cronyism #election #radio #tuesdaymotivation

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dailyunsolvedmysteries · 4 years ago

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Timeline

Family's final actions

The lease on the house had been terminated.

All bank accounts had been closed.

The children's school received a final payment settlement.

Agnès's employer was informed that she was suffering from gastroenteritis and then that she was moving to Australia.

A message was placed on their letter box: "Please return all correspondence to sender. Thank you."

The house had been completely emptied.

March 2011

Rifle bullets were purchased on 12 March.

Xavier registered at the Charles Des Jamonières shooting range to the north of Nantes, where he visited four times between 26 March and 1 April. He obtained his firearms licence on 2 February 2011. Thomas and Benoît had also started to learn how to shoot, while Arthur was scheduled to start.

A sales receipt from a DIY store was found at the family home. The store is located in Saint-Maur in the central French department of Indre, approximately 320 kilometres (200 miles) from Nantes, a 3.5-hour drive away. The receipt was dated to a Wednesday in late March – either the 23rd or the 30th – and listed several purchases, including a roll of large bin liners and a box of adhesive plastic paving slabs.

April 2011

Friday 1 April

Arthur, the oldest child, leaves the college where he was studying and does not turn up at the pizzeria where he worked and was due to go to pick up his monthly wages. His boss is surprised by this, stating that Arthur always came to collect his wages on the first day of the month.

Xavier Dupont de Ligonnès buys cement, a shovel and a hoe.

Saturday 2 April

Xavier buys four bags of lime, 10 kg each, from different shops in the Nantes area.

Sunday 3 April

A neighbour, Fabrice, sees Agnès for the last time. Shortly afterwards, he sees Xavier "putting large bags into his car", a Citroën C5.

The couple and three of the children dine in a restaurant in Nantes, then go to the cinema.

At 10.37 pm, Xavier leaves a message on his sister Christine's answerphone: "We spent our Sunday evening in the cinema together, then in a restaurant, and we've just got back – I'm just calling to ask if it's too late to speak to you on the phone and now I see it's gone to voicemail. But ... I was surprised, you spoke to me about Bertram, who's getting ready for his flight?! Huh?! But ... I thought he'd only just arrived! ... So I was a bit surprised. Anyway, sending you my love ... If it's not too late, call me back or send me a text and I'll call you. OK, I'm going to put the kids to bed, say hi to everyone. See you soon! ... Maybe ...".[30] The recording of the actual message was released publicly in September 2019.

Monday 4 April

Anne and Benoît do not turn up at their school, La Perverie-Sacré-Cœur, "due to illness". Anne's and Benoît's friends become concerned when they are unable to reach them.They remember a rumour about the family leaving for Australia where their father had been given a job transfer, and they find it suspicious that their friends hadn't told them about this "departure". They attempt to contact Benoît and Anne online and by text.

Xavier speaks with his sister, Christine de Ligonnès, on the telephone for 20 to 30 minutes. She said that everything seemed normal.

Xavier dines alone with his son Thomas at La Croix Cadeau, a high-end restaurant in Avrillé, near Angers. The pair arrived at about 9 pm. Xavier ordered a €35 tasting menu with half a bottle of Anjou-villages-brissac red wine; Thomas had a sea bass dish and a tomato juice. The total bill for the meal came to €72.55.The two waiters remember Thomas feeling unwell near the end of the meal, and that Xavier and Thomas barely spoke to each other during the meal.

Investigators believe that Xavier Dupont de Ligonnès murdered his wife and three of his children on the night of 3 to 4 April, then murdered his son Thomas on the evening of 5 April.

Tuesday 5 April

A bailiff comes to the family home to recover a debt of €20,000, but no one answers the door.

The family's neighbours dispute Agnès's stated date of death. They have claimed that she was seen in front of her house on 5 April around 12.15 or 12.30 pm, and again on 7 April.The prosecutor in Nantes acknowledged that forensic experts were unable to narrow the exact date of death down to a specific day. In addition, an employee of a hairdressing salon near the house claimed on RTL to have seen Agnès on Tuesday 5 April. The employee stated, "I came to pick up my wages. It was a Tuesday, it was 5 April. I needed my wages. I saw her on the pavement on her phone around 12.15 or 12.30."

A friend of Thomas who studied music with him confirmed that Thomas spent Tuesday afternoon with him at the friend's home in Angers, where they played music and watched television. Thomas had planned to spend the night at his friend's house, but Xavier phoned his son, asking him to return to Nantes, as his mother had been involved in a "cycling accident". Thomas ate quickly with his friend, then took a train home at around 10 pm. The following day, the friend tried to reach Thomas, but only received brief text messages in reply, such as "I'm not coming to yours. I'm ill" and "Really ill, I'm not coming to class". Two days after Thomas's departure, his friend received a text: "I'm out of battery, my dad's looking for a new charger for me." This is the last that Thomas's friend heard from him or anyone else in the family.

During this week, neighbours heard the family dogs howling for two consecutive nights and then never heard them again.

Wednesday 6 April

Arthur's girlfriend, who is concerned after not having heard from him, knocks on the door of the family home, where "a light was on on the first floor", but the family's two Labradors do not bark when she knocks.

Thursday 7 April

several witnesses claim to have seen Agnès alive

Xavier is seen making several return trips from the house to his car, loading the car with large bags. A neighbour also claims to have spoken to Agnès on this day: "On 7 April, I saw Agnès walking her dog. We spoke briefly, then I cut our chat short because I had an important appointment."

This same neighbour spoke to RTL on condition of anonymity, saying "the newspapers say the autopsies put her death on the 4th [April], but I'm almost convinced I saw her on the evening of Thursday the 7th because I know I didn't have much time to speak to her as I pick up my son from the childminder every Thursday evening."

Friday 8 April

Xavier writes on the Catholic online forum cite-catholique.org. According to the state prosecutor, he "went online for the last time on 8 April from the IP address of the family home in Nantes."

He sends an email to his brother-in-law (Christine's husband), saying "everything's fine, Bertram, you'll hear more detailed news soon through Christine. Bye for now. All the best, Xavier."

A message to Xavier's mother and sister is sent from the family home's IP address. After this was revealed by RTL and Le Figaro on 7 May, the family's lawyer, Stéphane Goldenstein, said "it was sent from their IP address, but what if it was written under duress? Either Xavier killed himself or he was murdered..."

Disappearance and letters

Monday 11 April

Anne and Benoît's school receives a letter signed by Xavier, stating that Anne and Benoît will be leaving the school and the family will be moving to Australia due to "urgent professional changes". The Catholic school where Agnès works receives a resignation letter signed by Agnès, stating the same reason for leaving. The headmaster is unable to reach her by telephone.

A typed, unsigned letter dated 11 April (the date may have been added afterwards) is sent to Xavier's immediate family. This was revealed by the press on 5 May. In this letter, Xavier explains that after having worked covertly for the American Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the entire family has had to relocate to the United States as part of a Federal Witness Protection Program, and that no one will be able to contact them for a few years. He advises his relatives to circulate reports on social media that the family has in fact moved to Australia. There is no proof that this letter was written by Xavier Dupont de Ligonnès. To this day, results of DNA analysis (if any) are unknown.

Xavier spends the night of 11 to 12 April at the Hôtel Première Classe in Blagnac, near Toulouse, in southern France, and pays for his stay by credit card. He then leaves in his Citroën C5.

Tuesday 12 April

Xavier spends the night of 12 to 13 April at the Auberge de Cassagne in Le Pontet in Vaucluse, in south-eastern France, under the false name of Mr Laurent Xavier. He pays €214.59 by credit card.

Wednesday 13 April

Neighbours in Nantes become concerned and contact the police. The house's shutters have been closed for more than a week and Agnès's car has been parked outside on the street the entire time.

Xavier spends the night of 13 to 14 April at a hotel in La Seyne-sur-Mer in Var, south-eastern France. He had lived in the town in the 1980s. A former girlfriend from that time informed the police that Xavier had contacted her that evening, although they did not meet.

Thursday 14 April

Xavier withdraws €30 from an ATM in Roquebrune-sur-Argens in Var.

That evening, Xavier sleeps at the Hotel Formule 1 in the town, where he is captured on film by a surveillance camera – the last known sighting of him.

Friday 15 April

Xavier checks out of the hotel, abandoning his car there.

Investigation and discovery of bodies

]Tuesday 19 April

An investigation was opened and revealed Xavier's purchase of the DIY materials.

Thursday 21 April

A "wanted" notice is issued for the whole family. During the day, investigators discover the remains of Agnès and the four children under the patio in the back garden of the house. The family's two Labrador dogs had also been killed and buried.

During the night of 21 to 22 April, the metallic-blue Citroën C5 with registration 235 CJG 44 is found in the car park of the Formula 1 Hotel in Roquebrune-sur-Argens by police equipped with an automatic number plate recognition system.The whereabouts of a Pontiac, which was also being sought, remain unknown to this day.

Investigators turn towards a line of inquiry involving a monastery. It is speculated that Xavier Dupont de Ligonnès could have withdrawn to a monastery, where he would be afforded discretion.

Autopsies, funeral and cremation

22 April: autopsies

According to the autopsies, the victims were drugged and then shot dead with a .22 Long Rifle as they slept. Xavier has a weapon of this calibre, which he inherited from his father three weeks before the murders.

The prosecutor in Nantes states that he will allow the victims to be buried in the next few days. The surprising speed of this procedure, combined with the fact that relatives were advised not to view the bodies, leads Xavier's relatives to believe that the bodies recovered are not those of Agnès and her children.

An international arrest warrant is issued to locate Xavier Dupont de Ligonnès, in order to obtain witness testimony from him with regard to the murders.

28 April: funeral

The family's funeral was held at 2.30 pm at Saint-Félix Church in Nantes.

Hunt for Xavier Dupont de Ligonnès

On 29 April, a search was carried out in the Var department. On 10 May, an international arrest warrant was issued for Xavier Dupont de Ligonnès. He remains not found.

#Xavier Dupont de Ligonnès #true crime #cold cases #unsolved #UNSOLVED MYSTERIES #post

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gladiates · 4 years ago

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56 french-language film recs!

I wanted to find some movies I can watch to improve my French, so I looked for films available on Kanopy (which is rly cool--if you live in the US, you can stream some movies for free if your library or school subscribes to it!) All of the following films are on Kanopy, and I imagine you can also find many of them on p*racy sites (totally not endorsing that at all no sir!). I’ve listed each film’s title along with its year and score on IMDB. I only included movies with at least 1,000 IMDB ratings and an average of at least 7/10 so they’re all reasonably acclaimed! I also included a short summary of each from IMDB as well. List below the cut because it’s long!

Cleo From 5 to 7 (1962, 7.9 from ~17.0k votes): Cleo, a singer and hypochondriac, becomes increasingly worried that she might have cancer while awaiting test results from her doctor.

The Rules of the Game (1939, 8.0 from ~26.6k votes): A bourgeois life in France at the onset of World War II, as the rich and their poor servants meet up at a French chateau.

Breathless (1960. 7.8 from ~73.1k votes): A small-time thief steals a car and impulsively murders a motorcycle policeman. Wanted by the authorities, he reunites with a hip American journalism student and attempts to persuade her to run away with him to Italy.

The 400 Blows (1959, 8.1 from 105.1k votes): A young boy, left without attention, delves into a life of petty crime.

Purple Noon (1960, 7.8 from 14.2k votes): Tom Ripley is a talented mimic, moocher, forger and all-around criminal improviser; but there's more to Tom Ripley than even he can guess.

The Return of Martin Guerre (1982, 7.4 from ~4.0k votes): In medieval France, some villagers challenge a man's claim of identity when he (as he says) returns home from some time in the army.

Last Year at Marienbad (1961, 7.8 from ~20.3 votes): In a strange and isolated chateau, a man becomes acquainted with a woman and insists that they have met before.

The Wages of Fear (1953, 8.1 from ~54.5k votes): In a decrepit South American village, four men are hired to transport an urgent nitroglycerine shipment without the equipment that would make it safe.

Tell No One (2006, 7.5 from ~50.7k votes): An accidental discovery near a doctor's estate stirs up some painful memories eight years after his wife's hideous murder, and now, things are bound to take a turn for the unexpected. Does the good doctor know more than he's letting on?

Queen Margot (1994, 7.4 from 16.3k votes): Young Queen Margot finds herself trapped in an arranged marriage amidst a religious war between Catholics and Protestants. She hopes to escape with a new lover, but finds herself imprisoned by her powerful and ruthless family.

Un Flic (1972, 7.1 from ~8.2k votes): After a shaky first heist, a group of thieves plan an even more elaborate and risky second heist.

Monsieur Hulot's Holiday (1953, 7.5 from ~16.8k votes): Monsieur Hulot comes to a beachside hotel for a vacation and accidentally, but good-naturedly, causes havoc.

La Haine (1995, 8.1 from ~150.0k votes): 24 hours in the lives of three young men in the French suburbs the day after a violent riot.

Alphaville (1965, 7.1 from 22.9k votes): A U.S. secret agent is sent to the distant space city of Alphaville where he must find a missing person and free the city from its tyrannical ruler.

Tomboy (2011, 7.4 from 18.4k votes): A family moves into a new neighborhood, and a 10-year-old named Laure deliberately presents as a boy named Mikhael to the neighborhood children.

Full Moon in Paris (1984, 7.4 from 3.8k votes): Louise, a young woman, who recently finished her studies in arts, is working as a interior decorator trainee. Playing the game of seduction, her life becomes more and more complicated.

Bob the Gambler (1956, 7.7k from 10.8k votes): After losing big, an aging gambler decides to assemble a team to rob a casino.

La Chinoise (1967, 7.1 from ~6.2k votes): A small group of French students are studying Mao, trying to find out their position in the world and how to change the world to a Maoistic community using terrorism.

The Innocents (2016, 7.3 from ~9.6k votes): 1945. Mathilde is a French Red Cross doctor working on a mission to help the French survivors of the German camps. While she works in Poland, she is asked for help by a nun. In her convent, several nuns are pregnant.

Germinal (1993, 7.1 from ~4.7k votes): In mid-nineteenth-century northern France, a coal mining town's workers are exploited by the mine's owner. One day, they decide to go on strike, and the authorities repress them.

BPM (Beats Per Minute) (2017, 7.4 from ~13.4k votes): Members of the advocacy group ACT UP Paris demand action by the government and pharmaceutical companies to combat the AIDS epidemic in the early 1990s.

Touchez Pas Au Grisbi (1954, 7.8 from ~6.7k votes): An aging, world-weary gangster is double-crossed and forced out of retirement when his best friend is kidnapped and their stash of eight stolen gold bars demanded as ransom.

Jeanne Dielman, 23 Commerce Quay, 1080 Brussels (1975, 7.8 from ~7.4k votes): A lonely widowed housewife does her daily chores, takes care of her apartment where she lives with her teenage son, and turns the occasional trick to make ends meet. However, something happens that changes her safe routine.

Port of Shadows (1938, 7.8 from ~8.2k votes): A military deserter finds love and trouble (and a small dog) in a smoky French port city.

Lumumba (2000, 7.2 from ~1.8k votes): The true story of controversial leader of independent Congo, Patrice Lumumba.

Three Colors: Blue (1993, 7.9 from ~89.6k votes): A woman struggles to find a way to live her life after the death of her husband and child.

The Young Girls of Rochefort (1967, 7.7 from ~8.4k votes): Two sisters leave their small seaside town of Rochefort in search of romance. Hired as carnival singers, one falls for an American musician, while the other must search for her ideal partner.

The Brand New Testament (2015, 7.1 from ~29.8k votes): Did you know that God is alive and lives in Brussels with his daughter?

La Rafle (2010, 7.1 from ~8.2k votes): A faithful retelling of the 1942 "Vel' d'Hiv Roundup" and the events surrounding it.

Diabolique (1955, 8.0 from ~61.4k votes): The wife and mistress of a loathed school principal plan to murder him with what they believe is the perfect alibi.

OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies (2006, 7.1 from ~18.5k votes): Secret agent OSS 117 foils Nazis, beds local beauties, and brings peace to the Middle East.

Mon Oncle (1958, 7.8 from ~18.8k votes): Monsieur Hulot visits the technology-driven world of his sister, brother-in-law, and nephew, but he can't quite fit into the surroundings.

A Man Escaped (1956, 8.3 from ~19.1k votes): A captured French Resistance fighter during WWII engineers a daunting escape from a Nazi prison in France.

The Well-Digger's Daughter (2011, 7.0 from ~3.6k votes): In 1930s southern France, a father is torn between his sense of honor and his deep love for his daughter when she gets in trouble with the wealthy son of a shopkeeper.

Weekend (1967, 7.2 from ~13k votes): A surreal tale of a married couple going on a road trip to visit the wife's parents with the intention of killing them for the inheritance.

Claire's Knee (1970, 7.6 from ~9.0k votes): On lakeside summer holiday, a conflicted older man is dared to have a flirt with two beautiful teenage stepsisters despite his betrothal to a diplomat's daughter and the fact that the girls have boyfriends.

Shoot the Piano Player (1960, 7.5 from ~17.5k votes): Charlie is approached by his crook brother Chico, who is chased by two gangsters. Charlie helps him to escape, but he upsets the criminals, so when his brother Fido is kidnapped, Charlie has to take an attitude with tragic consequences.

My Night at Maud's (1969, 7.9 from ~10.8k votes): The rigid principles of a devout Catholic man are challenged during a one-night stay with Maud, a divorced woman with an outsize personality.

Eyes Without a Face (1960, 7.7 from ~27.5k votes): A surgeon causes an accident which leaves his daughter disfigured, and goes to extremes to give her a new face.

Three Colors: Red (1994, 8.1 from ~90.4k votes): A model discovers a retired judge is keen on invading people's privacy.

The Grocer's Son (2007, 7.0 from ~2.3k votes): Antoine moves home to help his mom drive the mobile grocery, when his dad's hospitalized. He brings Claire along, hoping she'll become more than a friend. He drives around Provence's countryside, selling mainly to old people.

Pickpocket (1959, ~7.7 from 19.6k votes): Michel is released from jail after serving a sentence for thievery. His mother dies and he resorts to pickpocketing as a means of surviva

La Collectionneuse (1967, 7.5 from ~6.6k votes): A womanizing art dealer and a painter find the serenity of their Riviera vacation disturbed by a third guest, a vivacious bohemian woman known for her long list of male conquests.

Code Unknown (2000, 7.2 from ~11.9k votes): A young man harasses a homeless woman, another man protests, the police arrest both and the woman has to leave the country. What were their various story-lines leading up to this event?

Children of Paradise (1945, 8.4 from ~18.2k votes): The theatrical life of a beautiful courtesan and the four men who love her.

The Last Metro (1980, 7.4 from ~12.5k votes): In occupied Paris, an actress married to a Jewish theater owner must keep him hidden from the Nazis while doing both of their jobs.

Danton (1983, 7.5 from ~6.4k votes): In 1793, as the Terror begins in France, Georges Danton, a champion-of-the-people, returns to clash against Maximilien Robespierre and his extremist party.

Orpheus (1950, 8.0 from ~10.5k votes): A poet in love with Death follows his unhappy wife into the underworld.

Lacombe, Lucien (1974, 7.7 from ~6.5k votes): In 1944, an 18-year old boy from small-town France, collaborates with the Nazi-regime and subsequently falls in love with a Jewish gir

L'Atalante (1934, 7.8 from ~14.4k votes): Newly married couple Juliette and a ship captain Jean struggle through marriage as they travel on the L'atalante along with the captain's first mate Le père Jules and a cabin boy.

Le Million (1931, 7.4 from ~3.1k votes): An impoverished painter and his rival engage in a race across Paris to recover a jacket concealing a winning lottery ticket.

La bête humaine (1938, 7.6 from ~6.8k votes): In this classic adaptation of Emile Zola's novel, a tortured train engineer falls in love with a troubled married woman who has helped her husband commit a murder.

Black Girl (1966, 7.4 from ~3.5k votes): A black girl from Senegal becomes a servant in France.

Out 1 (1971, 7.8 from ~1.1k votes): Following the May 1968 civil unrest in France, a deaf-mute and a con artist simultaneously stumble upon the remnants of a secret society.

Les Misérables, Part 1 (1934, 8.2 from ~1.5k votes): The lives of numerous people over the course of 20 years in 19th century France, weaved together by the story of an ex-convict named Jean Valjean on the run from an obsessive police inspector, who pursues him for only a minor offense.

Beau Travail (1999, 7.4 from ~8.5k votes): This film focuses on an ex-Foreign Legion officer as he recalls his once glorious life, leading troops in Djibouti.

#french #french language #french langblr #langblr #french resources

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graphicabyss · 4 years ago

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XVII-XVIII Century Royal Queer History

Unexpectedly to myself, I got really engaged in history of Europe of XVI-XVII centuries. I never really had much interest in kings and queens and didn't know much about them but once I began to read and learn about their personal lives, I got kinda hooked. Also, I was struck by how many of them were queer and I began to write down my findings, which inevitably turned into a freaking study. I thought I might as well post it.

I'm gonna start with King James I of England who ruled in XVII century. Now there are several tumblr posts about this queer legend. Some historians think he was weak and unremarkable but he survived several assassination attempts, kept his power over 3 countries and lived to old age, which is pretty remarkable on its own. He also kept all the religious leaders at bay and commissioned the world's most famous Bible, which is still owned by most Christians 400 years later. He was also the one who created the modern wedding ritual. You know, church, vows, rings, that stuff. He avoided wars and was a patron of the arts, even wrote some books, including one about demons, werewolves and vampires. What a nerd. He was very different from Elizabeth who preceded him, so one contemporary epigram stated "Elizabeth was King, now James is Queen". Oh, also he was very gay. Or, at least, as gay as a king can get. His relationships with his male courtiers were notorious. He had several favourites who had way too much influence over him and his court really hated it.

He needs to have a movie made about him, seriously. I found only one semi-documentary film and it was The King James Bible: The Book That Changed The World (2011). While I liked the film and King James was hot, sassy and very cool, it was disappointing he was shown as perfectly straight. They could just avoid his personal life altogether, but instead they chose to show him being a perfect husband. While it is true that he was nice to his bride, by the time he met her he had a 10-year old relationship with a man 24 years his senior (since he was 14). I'm just gonna use this screenshot from the movie instead of a painting because it's too good.

Perhaps the most notorious of his alleged lovers was George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham. Starting out as a son of a minor gentleman, the 21-year old lad caught the eye of King James I and quickly became his favourite teasing him by dancing in intricate performances called masques. He made a brilliant career becoming a knight, an earl, a Marquess, and finally a duke - a title normally being reserved for members of the royal family - within just 9 years. Can you blame him though? I mean, look at that stud.

Btw, James’ pet name for Buckingham was ‘Steenie’, derived from St. Stephen who reportedly had the face of an angel.

The name Buckingham seemed oddly familiar to me but it took some time before I realized he was one of the characters in Dumas's "The Three Musketeers". Now I am someone who grew up on old pure Three Musketeers movies so when I started learning about the real historical figures involved in it it gave me a slight shock as the truth is way more weird and sinister that fiction.

The storyline I remember the most was the one where Anne of Austria, the queen of France, got in trouble with her husband Louis XIII because of her affair with Duke of Buckingham. Of course, Duke of Buckingham was never the Queen's lover, he was the King's. What's more, some historians assume Louis XIII was also queer. There is no evidence that Louis kept mistresses, but he had very intimate relationships with his favourites. He has even been described as “repelled by female contact”. There's also the issue of him struggling to have an heir. His wife had 4 pregnancies that were unsuccessful but that seemed like too few for a king who needed to secure his dynasty. After 23 years of trying, the king and queen were finally able to produce a son and another soon followed, the older son to become Louis XIV, and the younger, Philippe, to be known as Duke of Orleans.

Anne was quite the character for a dramatic story too. After Louis's death she became the Regent and made sure to clear the way for her son Louis. To ensure that Louis's younger brother will not try to usurp the power from him as it was with Louis XIII 's brother, Anne of Austria conducted an early and very wicked gender development experiment. She and her adviser, Cardinal Mazarin, set up a plan to raise the two boys very differently. Queen Anne called Philippe by such nicknames as "my little girl" and encouraged him to dress in feminine clothing, which he sometimes did even as an adult.

I'm just gonna use this quote because this shit is real: The queen and Mazarin discouraged the duc d'Anjou [Philippe] from traditional manly pursuits such as arms and politics, and encouraged him to wear dresses, makeup, and to enjoy feminine behaviour. His inclination toward homosexuality was not discouraged, with the hope of reducing any threat he may have posed to his older brother. Reportedly, Cardinal Mazarin even commanded his nephew, Philippe, to de-flower the king's younger brother.

Well, fuck. The joke's on them though, as Philippe grew up to be a fashion icon AND a fierce warrior. He participated in many battles and was immensely praised for his bravery and valour. In 1677, he led the French forces at the Battle of Cassel against William III of Orange of the Netherlands. Yes, that guy who later gently invaded England and took the throne. By the way, there are some allegations that he was also gay. Anyway, Philippe was so badass in battle that people glorified him as a hero and it made his stallion of a brother so jealous he sent him back and never allowed him on the battlefield again. Louis XIV continued his mother's effort in encouraging his brother's effeminate behaviour and putting up with his homosexual relationships, all the while waging a war of homosexuality in France. I mean, gotta preserve the traditional values, such as fucking 12 mistresses who were often married. There were even rumours Louis fucked Philippe's wife. I guess he was trying to make up for his father, brother, son, and uncle, César de Vendôme. Meanwhile, Philippe gave no fucks. He had a number of favourites and didn't even try to hide his sexuality. In fact, it is said that every time Louis pissed him off, Philippe did something extra gay and in his face. Fierce.

One guy I have to mention is Armand, the Comte de Guiche, who was said to be handsome, vain, and manipulative. Armand was Philippe’s lover, but he is widely thought to have been his wife Henrietta’s lover as well. That apparently wasn’t enough for the guy, because in 1665 he also tried to romance Louise de La Valliere, who was Louis’ chief mistress at the time. Louis exiled him in 1662 for plotting with Henrietta to break up Louis and Louise. What a glorious fucker.

But the love of Philippe's life was Chevalier de Lorraine who was basically a prince of a realm outside France. He's usually called 'Chevallier' but his name was also Philippe. He also had an older brother named Louis. Seriously, couldn't they try a little harder with the names? Anyway, when they met Philippe was 18 and Chevalier 15 and sparks flew. He was described as being “as beautiful as an angel” and was more than ready to use what his mama gave him. He was smart and very manipulative and Philippe showered him with gifts all his life, much to the chagrin of his two wives whose money and estates he often gave away.

He moved to Palais-Royal, the same palace as Philippe and his wife Henriette. Very convenient. Philippe's marriage got kinda crowded. Chevalier got so arrogant, he actually told Philippe's wife she needs his permission to sleep with him and that he could get him to divorce her. She complained to the king and he got Chevalier imprisoned and exiled. However, not for long as Philippe pleaded the king to pardon him and eventually succeeded. Henriette did not get much relief apparently as she wrote: “I see from the ashes of Monsieur’s love for the Chevalier, as from the dragon’s teeth, a whole brood of fresh favourites are likely to spring up to vex me.” Of course, Chevalier also managed to enrich himself immensely by getting Philippe and the king to give him and his family tons of perks, such as make him the titular Abbot of four abbeys, which payed handsomely.

Henriette died very suddenly claiming she was poisoned. The doctors found no evidence of that, but there were still rumours that Chevalier was to blame. Philippe had to find another wife, even if he wasn't happy about it. Chevalier stuck around. He was exiled a second time after he apparently seduced the king's son (more on that later) but was able to return again. Their relationship lasted for 40 years, until Philippe's death.

There was a recent TV show called Versailles that depicts Louis XIV’s reign and it has a fairly accurate though romanticized portrayal of Philippe and Chevalier's relationship. Too bad the show is way too violent for me to watch. They look stunning in it~

Anyway, such relationships were far from rare. In fact, apparently there were the so-called confréries (“fraternities”), which were basically gay brotherhoods whose members hung out together and set up orgies. One elite brotherhood was founded between 1680 and 1682. Apart from Chevalier, it included the king Louis XIV's cousin Prince of Conti who was once proclaimed the King of Poland, and Louis's illegitimate son, the comte de Vermandois. The latter was 15 in 1682 when at the court of his uncle Philippe, he met the Chevalier de Lorraine and his sect and apparently got very personally acquainted with Chevalier's younger brother and nephew. When the king learned about it, the group was forcibly dissolved and Vermandois was beaten before the king, exiled from court, and forced into marriage. Another such group was within the highest ranks of nobility at the court of Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, the son of Philippe and the regent at the time when Louis XV was young. They really didn't bother with names, huh? Anyway, they got involved in a number of scandals, in one of which that happened in 1722 a group of 17 noble men gathered in the palace gardens to fuck. The Regent didn't seem very bothered and even seemed to find it amusing.

The Regent, who did not stop smiling, was satisfied that it was necessary to give the nobles a harsh reprimand and tell them that they do not have the best taste [goût] in the world.

Dad would be proud.

There were also some (presumably) queer queens, like Queen Anne of England. Now you might have seen the movie The Favourite but it's heavily satirized and Anne wasn't really childlike and helpless. Actually, this image was created by Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough, after she was expelled by Anne, and stuck. However, the rivalry between the old and new favourites was very real.

Anne met Sarah when she was just 8. Sarah was beautiful, charming and very persuasive. When Anne became the queen, she made Sarah Churchill her Mistress of the Robes (the highest office in the royal court that could be held by a woman) and gave her a bunch of other really cool titles. She also made her husband, John Churchill, a duke. Thus Sarah became the most powerful person in England after the queen and the queen always listened to her advice. However, as years went by, Sarah became increasingly pushy and insensitive, using the queen to get what she wanted.

Sarah looking fab~

Then comes Abigail Masham, Sarah's impoverished cousin. Abigail was soft, caring and considerate, exactly what the queen needed. Sarah tried to get rid of her but it only angered the queen further and she eventually dismissed Sarah and her husband and banished them with disgrace while Abigale took her place. Sarah then wrote scandalous memoirs, painting the queen as weak and instable, as well as implying that her relationship with Abigail was lesbian. In mid-1708, she helped to circulate a ballad with such lyrics as: “Her secretary she was not / Because she could not write / But had the conduct and the care / Of some dark deeds at night.”

While there is no direct evidence that she and Anne had sexual relationship, there are many letters between the women that are very romantic and intimate. Sarah even used them to blackmail the queen. And you can kinda see why. “Tis impossible for you ever to believe how much I love you except you saw my heart,” the princess wrote in one letter, as quoted in Anne Somerset’s biography of Anne. “If I writ whole volumes I could never express how well I love you,” read another.

Also, like, evidence was hardly even a thing with queer relationships, since the only solid evidence of regular affairs were illegitimate children.

Finally, I really want to talk about Frederick II, the king of Prussia. Buckle up because this is gonna be long.

Until the age of 7 Frederick was growing up with his lit mother and sister. Here they are, looking gorge. I think he's in blue but tbh I'm not 100% sure.

Anyway, as he got older he was taken to his father and that's when things got shitty. His father, Frederick William I, was the model image of toxic masculinity. He was all about power and military and expected his son to be the same. And since the boy was a lot more into music, poetry, and French stuff, his father often beat and humiliated him. He didn't allow him to learn French and Latin because, like, that's so gay. Now he was a real man. With a weird kink for tall guys. He is known for creating the Potsdam Giants, a regiment of very tall men that he didn't use for battle, just dressing them up and making them march. Ultimate straightness. It is probably redundant to say but his father also hated 'sodomy' and it was punishable by death, a law Frederick would repeal.

And the thing is, Frederick wasn't even supposed to become a king. He was the third son. It wasn't even disease. The first son died because a volley was fired close to his crib (because that’s the only way to wake up a real man - canon) and the second died at baptism because the royal crown crushed his skull. And you thought your parents were bad. Poor Frederick didn't even want to be a king, he just wanted to play the flute and do his thing. In a different age he'd be writing musicals on Broadway or something.

Anyway, there are few doubts among historians the man was gay. There's this BBC documentary that downplays it but it keeps saying he grew up in an environment where he was "leading a double life" and that he once wrote to a close friend that he felt he was a mirror that dared not be what nature made it, forced to oblige what was around it. Please.

Frederick's first presumed relationship was at 16, with Keith, the king's 17-year-old page. Unsurprisingly, Keith was soon sent to a far-off frontier. Right after that, however, Frederick got real close with an officer Hans Hermann von Katte. The dude was very woke and they both loved music and poetry but shit got very real very soon. In 1730, Katte and Frederick decided to flee to Britain to escape their despotic fathers. Sadly, they got caught and tried for treason. Although the prince was pardoned, Katte was sentenced to life imprisonment, which his sick dad changed to execution and then forced Frederick to watch it. At execution Katte and Fred shouted to each other endearments in French and before it happened, Frederick fainted. That shit really fucked him up and he got depressed but he toughened up and accepted his fate.

Aged about 20, Frederick was expected to marry. After a few failed attempts, an Austrian bride was selected, Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Bevern. Frederick was clearly unexcited and apparently even threatened suicide. As soon as he had secured throne, he sent her away and only met with her out of necessity. They had no children. And some historians are like, "well, they just didn't get along". Well, his folks hated each other but it didn't stop them from having 14 children.

Anyway, his father finally got off his back and as a crown prince, he mostly spent his time reading, composing, watching plays and writing woke political essays. Then his dad died so playtime was over.

Now that sounds like a story of a "weak" king. A man who loved to read books and play his flute. But it's not how it was. As Fred became king, he inherited a very militarized state with a huge-ass army and he worked with what he had. He started expanding Prussia, starting with Austria, which he had old beef with. He wasn't out for world conquest, he struck swiftly and strategically to consolidate and strengthen his state.

Frederick, widely known as Frederick the Great, waged war against much bigger armies with great success and doubled Prussia's size in his reign. Which is why Hitler was obsessed with the guy smh. Would make more sense if he was into the Frederick Senior, with his militarism and his little hobby of inbreeding giants and all. He must have missed the part where he was tolerant, modest and also gay.

Frederick also had a younger brother, Prince Henry, who was also gay. He was an important general in the king's army, though their relationship was quite complicated. Henry married but like his brother, bore no children, ignored his wife and spent time with fine lads.

Look at this unapologetic legend!

When Frederick wasn't battling, he was doing lit stuff. He built a gorgeous palace in French fashion, full of Grecian sculptures and homoerotic paintings. He attracted the best intellectual minds of his time. Voltaire lived there for 3 years btw and he did not hold back to make many "wink wink" references to the king and his Grecian taste.

Speaking of which... One of his closest friends was Michael Gabriel Fredersdorf, an army private and a son of a peasant. Frederick met him as a prince and kept him by his side for the rest of his life, quite literally as he had an adjoined bedroom in his palace. He also made him a chancellor and gave him an estate, which really pissed off the elites.

Frederick is a complex character. Sure, he waged war and very successfully asserted himself as one of the top military leaders in history. But at the time Prussia was a scattered landlocked state, it couldn't just opt out of war so it's not like he could just go "peace out, bitches". But he did so much more. The guy actually believed that the king's duty was to be just and improve the lives of his people. He did some major reforms, improved education, supported art, and practiced religious tolerance, which was pretty woke at the time. He abolished torture and corporal punishment. He made governing more democratic by hiring people based on ability, not just status. Sadly, his cool legacy was utterly destroyed because the Nazi decided to appropriate him as their idol but lately it’s being reassessed. It’s hard to judge him considering how much he went through. But despite it all he became one of the best military commanders in history, one of the most woke and talented monarchs, and of course a legendary queer!

Disclaimer: I know all of these people did some terrible shit, at least by modern standards, but I'm here to have fun so I'm not going to go there now. Sources: medium.com/@LukeBoneham/the-politics-of-desire-... thehistoryofparliament.wordpress.com/2019/02/21... www.ranker.com/list/life-of-philippe-dorleans/m... cour-de-france.fr/vie-quotidienne/sociabilite-e... aelarsen.wordpress.com/2018/07/20/versailles-th... thedrummersrevenge.wordpress.com/2007/06/22/ref... dirtysexyhistory.com/2017/09/03/a-secret-gay-br... unspeakablevice.tumblr.com/post/82525976110/lou... journals.openedition.org/crcv/14427#ftn161 Marie Antoinette's World: Intrigue, Infidelity, and Adultery in Versailles The Real Versailles - BBC Two

BBC Four - Frederick the Great and the Enigma of Prussia https://medium.com/war-is-boring/historys-greatest-gay-general-fd7d1d311464 https://www.queerportraits.com/bio/frederick https://www.spectator.com.au/2015/10/frederick-the-great-king-of-prussia-is-a-great-read/ http://gayinfluence.blogspot.com/2011/10/frederick-great-1712-1786.html https://www.history.com/news/true-story-queen-anne-sarah-abigail-the-favourite-fact-check

#King James I #Duke of Buckingham #George Villiers #Philippe Duke of Orleans #Queer History #Chevalier de Lorraine #Queen Anne of England #Frederick the Great

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attheexactlyrighttimeandplace · 2 years ago

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I was tagged by the coolest tumblrina @wvnjo to answer this ask game. Each time your personal tags show up on my dash, i think about how much someone as full of energy and ambition like you deserves to reach her life goals. I can't be more than a groupie who is cheering for you from the side, but i'm doing it with all my heart. 💗

Name: Imane

Sign: Lion sun, Taurus moon, Capricorn rising,

Height: 1,58m

Time: 18:45

Birthday: july 27th

Favourite bands/artists (the ones i always returned to in difficult times): Ali Farka Touré, Toumani Diabaté, Fayruz, Umm Kulthum, Cesaria Evora, Médine, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and so many more

Last movie: US by Jordan Peele

Last show: Severance (an instant favourite: series that mix sci-fi/political concept+ philosophical/metaphysical questions about the nature of identity+ impossible love stories will always have a special place in my heart)

When I created this blog: I think in 2011 but it's not my first blog on Tumblr

What I post: What my mood dictates me. I see my blog as kind of stream of consciouness created to calm and to relax. I reblog quasi exclusively (since i have no talent) all sort of arts (photography of nature, architecture, paintings, poetry, music, gifs of films) and sometimes current news about the world (Palestine), but in a specific order because my brain needs a visual/aesthetic connection to what i reblog and more importantly an invented (by me) narrative continuity between the posts. That's why i don't reblog immediately what i like or bookmark. I search/create in my mind the stories that gives sense to me to the flow of the pics/gifs i pick.

Last thing I googled: Algeria

Other blogs: Fandom blogs. It's pure nostalgia for my childhood favourite tv shows.

Do I get asks: Very rarely. That's why i rarely post personal thoughts. I think most of my followers prefer this blog to speak for itself, without additional thoughts...

Following: I don't get this one. Am i is supposed to say how many people i follow or who i follow?

Average hours of sleep: usually 6-8h. I can't have less: i'm too old to endure sleepless nights anymore.

Instruments: None

What I’m wearing: A cute blue dress i received as a gift from my mother who just came back from her holidays in Algeria.

Dream job: Quoting my muse @wvnjo "I don’t dream of labour". I studied law and worked in the field for years because i have a strong sense of justice. I loved to defend people but lost a lot of my illusions, so i quit. These days, i daydream of some activity, (not necessarily a job, volunteering would be very okay), with children: helping in a children library (i love to share books and stories with children) or teaching some after classes lessons to children of primary schools.

Nationality: algerian the only one that matters in my heart and forever. I have been born, raised and lived my entire life en France. I have the french citizenship but i don't feel i belong here. If my health condition was better, i would pobrably try to leave France.

Favourite songs (currently, it changes all the time): Sun May Shine by Tamino, all because my favourite music librarian @wvnjo rebloggged it and got me hooked. it's so melancholic and so soft at the same time, i think i will never be not haunted by Tamino's voice (and the notes of arab influence in his music certainly helped a lot).

Last book I read: The Willow Tree by Hubert Selby Jr. A very powerful modern story on revenge, grief and forgiveness about a young black american boy whose life is shattered when his hispanic girlfriend and him are attacked by a street gang enraged by the fact they are a racially mixed couple. I loved how the author used such a musical and poetic language to tell a a seemingly hopeless and dark tale, until grace comes from an unexpected place and enlightens again life.

3 fictional universes: Middle Earth. Battlestar Galactica. All poems and plays related to the House of Atreus: The Illiad, The Odyssey and The Oresteia.

Tagging all my mutuals and everyone who feel inspired by this ask game.

#ask games #personal

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