#lewin is chilling in this scene

[everyryuujisuguro]

[pierrotdameron]

Dafne Keen does not much look like Lyra Belacqua, at least not as Philip Pullman describes her in His Dark Materials. In Northern Lights, the first book of the trilogy, she is “like a half-wild cat”, with dirty fingernails, green eyes and grubby blond-ish hair. Keen, who is half British, half Spanish and lives in Madrid, is darker and is already the master of an intense glare, as anyone who saw her alongside Hugh Jackman in the Wolverine swansong Logan will know. When we meet, in a London hotel, she has the self-possessed cool of a total pro, even at 14. But there are plenty of Lyra-esque flourishes that make it obvious why she got the part.

She was almost 12 when she finished filming Logan. She had heard about the BBC/HBO adaptation of His Dark Materials, then in its early stages, and sent in an audition tape. But she didn’t hear back. “I thought, never mind, I’ll just carry on with my life,” she says. “Which is when I got stung by the jellyfish.”

The production team had finally replied, asking her to make another tape. Keen was on holiday in Puerto Rico. “I thought, right, I’m going to have a chilled-out swim and then I’m going to get ready. I suddenly felt this thing on my face and then it started stinging and then it expanded all over my face. I ran to my mum and I went, ‘Mum! Is it really red?’ My mum went, ‘No it’s fine.’ And then she went, ‘Oh no, it’s not fine.’” Her face was red and swollen but she had to do the tape. “So my audition is with a jelly-face,” she smiles.

The next step was to meet Ruth Wilson, who plays Mrs Coulter, one of the best evil characters in children’s literature. “I was sitting in the waiting room with 20 other girls,” Keen remembers. “I was thinking, oh god, they’re all blond. I don’t physically look like this character, and these girls all do. I went in, shook hands with Ruth, and five minutes later, she looked at me and said, ‘You know, you have the same eyebrows as me.’” Fans of the books will know that this is a big thumbs up. Days later, she began rehearsals, with Wilson and puppets. In Pullman’s books, people have daemons, an animal manifestation of their “inner self”, which lives alongside them. Because the daemons on screen are CGI, the actors shot their scenes with puppets to make their interactions as authentic as possible.

When Philip Pullman writes, he isn’t trying to bring down the church, he’s bringing down the system

Naturally, Keen is practised at describing what her own daemon would be, were this world to have daemons in it. “Mine is quite easy to figure out, because it’s what everyone called me on set. Everyone calls me Monkey.” In the books, daemons change form until their human reaches adulthood, when they settle as one fixed animal. Keen particularly liked hers as a pine marten.

We meet the morning after the world premiere of His Dark Materials, which was the first time Keen had watched it. “Everybody had seen it apart from me! I’m really busy filming season two, so I had no time to watch it. I had Philip Pullman right next to me, and I was like, oh god! But I think he liked it.” Did he offer his approval? “His wife came up to me and was really lovely and was saying I was the perfect Lyra. I was really happy to hear that.”

Keen had not read the trilogy before she auditioned. “Now I’m a massive, massive fan. As soon as I read the books, I knew this was a good message to the world, and it’s important that we have stories about young girls, because there aren’t many,” she says. At the premiere, Jack Thorne, who wrote the screenplay, likened Lyra to Greta Thunberg. Though she does not know it, the future of the world rests on Lyra’s shoulders, and she has to fight tooth and nail to defeat the forces that wish to suppress free will and independent thought. Keen approves of the Thunberg comparison. “I am genuinely in awe of that girl.”

There have been various adaptations of His Dark Materials over the years: a Radio 4 series, a play at the National Theatre and the 2007 Hollywood attempt, The Golden Compass, with Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig. It was supposed to be a trilogy, but only the first was made – and Pullman’s theme of an abusive authoritarian religious body was watered down almost beyond recognition. The television series seems more comfortable with its source material, and its Magisterium, the governing body of the Church, is portrayed as a fascist regime.

In 2007, the Catholic League called for a boycott of The Golden Compass, despite the religious references being excised, and the Vatican also denounced the film and Pullman’s writing. Keen had seen it – was she aware that this new version might be controversial, given the backlash the movie attracted? “I thought that was sad, but I understand why they had to do it,” she reasons, diplomatically, of the decision to soften the book’s themes. “But I think people are reading too much into it. When Philip writes about the Magisterium, he’s not bringing down the church, he’s bringing down the system.”

Keen was born and raised in Spain and is bilingual. Her mother María is Spanish, and as well as being her acting coach is also an actor, as is Keen’s father Will. He has a part in His Dark Materials, as Father MacPhail, part of the Magisterium faithful. “He is terrifying,” says Keen. “He always plays bad people. I don’t know why because he’s so nice. I genuinely think it’s because he’s bald and has green eyes.” She practically grew up in a theatre rehearsal room, because of her parents, but she thought she would be a biologist, like David Attenborough. “Then I found out you have to study biology, and to do that you have to study maths, and I went, mmm no, I’m not doing that. I hate maths so much, you can’t even imagine.”

A friend of her mother’s was making a short film, and needed a child for it, so Keen gave acting a go. She loved it. She did a series in Spain, The Refugees, alongside her father. (“He was playing my evil father, yes. Always got to give it the psychopathic twist.”) She picked up an agent, who put her forward for Logan, and she got down to an audition with Jackman. “In the waiting room, once again, there was this perfect LA beautiful blond girl. I was just, like, a small, scrappy Latin girl. I always think it’s not going to work out for me, and then it went really great.” She auditioned with Jackman, then asked if she could try again, only this time she said she’d like to improvise the scene. She was 11. “My heart was beating big time,” she says. “I thought, I’m just going to dive in and ask them, and they loved it, so I was lucky.”

Jackman remembers the audition well. “[Director] Jim Mangold looked at a lot of actresses for Laura. When he told me about Daf, I was hopeful, but when we tested together, I was blown away,” he says over email. “She was every inch Laura. When Jim asked her if there was anything more she wanted to show us, she said, ‘Can I improvise?’ That’s the actor that got the part and who you see on screen.”

“Hugh is the nicest human being,” she grins. “I used to call him the human jukebox because he was always singing. Lin does the same thing.” Lin is Lin-Manuel Miranda, who plays Lee Scoresby in His Dark Materials. He got Keen tickets to see his smash-hit musical, Hamilton. “Two VIP Lin-Manuel Miranda guest tickets. I felt like such a diva.” On set, she would find herself singing the songs from it, but was too shy to sing when he was there. When Miranda had finished shooting, they all went for a meal to see him off. The bartender recognised him, and put My Shot on the stereo. “Me and Lewin [Lloyd, who plays Roger] were like, we’re not throwing away our shot, we’re singing this song.” They all joined in. “I’ve got videos of me and Lin singing it.”

Right now, Keen is preparing to go back to Wales to film season two, which loosely adapts The Subtle Knife, the second book in the trilogy. The third season, which will take on the astonishingly ambitious The Amber Spyglass, may take a little longer to pull together. Still, she is happy to live as Lyra for a while yet. She has taken plenty of her away from the experience already. “She taught me to speak up. Be bold, be brave, be yourself. Don’t follow rules, because rules can be useful, but they can be very stupid and pointless,” she says – sounding very much like her Lyra herself.

[dragoninmypocket]

scar

note: This is part 3 of a (rather disjointed) series of ‘missing’ scenes from the books. While the parts can stand alone, I’ve thrown in some callbacks.  

Other parts:

part 1: stay

part 2: follow

part 2.5: promises

epilogue: after the storm 

content warnings: mental illness, panic attacks, blood

Lindal wakes to a scream, but there is nothing for her to fight. It is dark and still, and the night is not burning. Barda is whole and untouched beside her, holding out a hand.

She takes it, shaking slightly as the panic ebbs, and the visions of torn limbs and shrieking men fade.

“What-?”

A low sob from Barda’s other side and finally Lindal notices Jasmine is leaning over Lief, whispering softly. Lindal cannot see Lief’s face, but she can see the way his hands clutch desperately at Jasmine as his whole body contorts with fear.

Lindal has heard the rumours that the king was unwell, that he wandered the halls of the palace like a lost soul of Tora, that staff and guards had heard him shrieking and sobbing late at night. There is an evil in the palace, the streets had whispered. It will take our king and our hope and our country if we let it.

“He will be fine,” Barda murmurs, his voice tinged with pain and resignation. “Jasmine is used to it.”

“What happened to him?” Lindal asks softly. But Barda just shakes his head. It is not his story to tell.

* * *

“No kissing, you two,” Lindal says. “Brothers do not do that.”

Lewin and Jay scowl and blush red. Laughing, Lindal turns to Berry. He looks strangely vulnerable without his beard but his smile is still the same. His nephews look away politely as he kisses her.

“I will be back,” he whispers, promises. “Wait for me.”

Four days after she sends Lief, Barda and Jasmine off on the back of a dragon, Lindal hands her room key to the tavern owner, shoulders a bag filled with her belongings, and begins the long walk to Del.

* * *

Jasmine dreamed of this sometimes, alone and in secret. She imagined that one day she might be here, sitting on Lief’s chest with her legs tight on his hips and her hands on his face. His eyes lock on hers as he arches and moans, but the wind is howling and the air is dense with poison and not like this, never like this, no no no please…

“Lief-” she sobs. A trickle of blood rolls down his neck and his hands grip her wrists, desperately trying to push her away. “Lief, I am sorry, I am so sorry-”

Quill had called for him- you are one of us now. But she will not let them have him. He is not theirs.

Eleven…

* * *

Lief looks at her through his new mask of blood. “It is not your fault, Jasmine.” He tries to smile, though it makes the wounds around his mouth stretch and sting. “And it does not matter anyway. I cannot even remember it.”

Jasmine smooths the green cream onto his face, trying not to let him see the terror in her eyes. She wonders whether she will ever be able to forget. Whether she will ever be able touch his face without remembering his screams, and the time she hurt him so badly he could no longer remember who she was.

* * *

Standing alone, turning to face the Masked One, Lief cannot feel anything anymore- his courage and his heart have died, and his body will be glad to join them.

* * *

There are still fresh pink scars splotching across his jawline and up his neck. Another snakes along his hairline above his right eye, visible only when he pushes back his hair.

“I am sorry,” she whispers.

“What for?”

“I did this to you… I scarred you.”

Lief smiles. “No, you saved me.” His face carries the proof.

* * *

Prin screams, Barda yells at her to stay, and all of a sudden Jasmine is seven years old again, helpless and alone, watching as her family is stolen from her.

* * *

Sharn’s outstretched arms fall. The girl her son loves is standing alone. Her face is white with fear, red with tears, black with horror.

Into Sharn’s mind comes that night six months prior, when Lief told her that she was to go to Tora. She had protested, vigorously. She knew something was wrong, even if Lief had not yet admitted it. She could see it in the tremble of his hands, hear it in the croak of his voice. She could feel the anxiety crackling off Jasmine like the sparks of a blazing fire. But Lief had refused to hear any arguments. “You must go, Mother, and I must stay here. It is our duty,”

“My only duty is to you!”

“You know that is not true.” His eyes were so full and aching. It scared her sometimes, just how much her son could feel.

“No, please… sunshine…” she had whispered desperately, his childhood nickname, the word she sang over and over on those nights in the forge when chaos reigned outside. When the darkness had taken her parents and her life and her name, and the baby in her arms was the only light left in the world. “Sunshine, I-”

“I hope you have a safe trip, Mother,” Lief had interrupted her, clasping her hands. “Write me a letter to let me know when you have arrived.”

He had kissed her forehead, and a thought had caught in Sharn’s mind, and held. I will never see him again.

“Jasmine?” she whispers. “Jasmine, where is my son?”

* * *

Jasmine’s dreams are so empty they suffocate her, but when she looks out to sea she knows he must still be alive. Why else can she feel her soul tugging and pulling at the places she has stitched it to his? 

On the seventh day Marilen grips her arm, her whole body seized with grief. “Jasmine… they are dead. You know that. You must know that,”

“Lief is not dead,” she whispers. “If he was… I would feel it.”

Marilen closes her eyes. The people of Tora share their thoughts, and the city is somber. Outside their walls, Deltora goes on, unaware that tragedy is about to crash around their heads. Doom refuses to declare anything until they know for sure. In many ways he and Jasmine are alike.

She knows what will happen- what has to happen. They will lay Lief’s body before Jasmine and she will inspect it. She will lay her head on his chest to check for a heartbeat. She will call his name softly, shake him, and beg him to wake up. And then, only then, will she accept that Lief is dead. 

It does not seem right that Marilen is to take Jasmine’s place, when Jasmine was born to be their queen.

* * *

Jasmine breaks free of the others and she and Lief fall to their knees together in the sands of the Sleeping Dunes, hugging and crying and kissing.

“Well hello to you too,” Barda growls, a smile on his face. Still sobbing, she flings her arm around him, drawing him into the hug.

Later, they rest together under a tent in the Sleeping Dunes, and while Lief sleeps, using Jasmine’s lap as his pillow, she looks at Barda and knows how he dreams of this for all of them- peace, all they have ever wanted.

* * *

He understands the way Laughing Jack looks at her (pulsing desperation and anger), he sees the way he holds her (tight against his body), he hears the way he speaks (dare and threat, rolled into proposition) and Lief’s blood runs cold.

* * *

Barda and Jasmine are arguing about Torans and plots and trust, but Lief’s mind is filled with other matters. As soon as Barda leaves he pulls Jasmine towards him and kisses her frantically, desperately. He is only eighteen and about to die but for a moment he thinks maybe the whole world might have stopped. Perhaps nothing matters anymore but this. She touches his face and she is not afraid.

When he breaks away his eyes are glistening with tears. “You are not going to die,” she promises him, and she promises herself. I am not going to let you die.

* * *

They disregard the order of the king because Barda would never consider not following, and Jasmine understands love in a single word.

* * *

But now Jasmine is choking. Behind her eyes, covered in slime, she can still see him hunched by the ragged carcass of the platform. He had looked at Gla-Thon with eyes as bitter and hate-filled as those which had once stared at her from a feathered mask, and Jasmine knows that it is over.

She cannot see or breathe or scream but she can still hear the wind and the dragons and all of Deltora is howling in despair that theirs has turned against them. She does not want to hear it anymore. She hopes that death will come soon. She hopes that Mamma will be there to greet her.

I will destroy you…

A lurch, a jolt, and suddenly the world comes rushing back into focus as instinctively, painfully, she gasps in the chilled air of the chapel. Wildly she turns and watches as the black slime eagerly surges forward, and disappears into the shattered floor.

“Lief? Lief!”

He is gone. And there is only one place he could be. 

“Where is he Jasmine?” Barda shouts. He cannot see. He cannot see. He cannot see. “Jasmine- do not follow him Jasmine!”

* * *

His mother reaches out with still-shaking arms and envelopes him.

“You are alive,” Lief murmurs quietly into her shoulder, almost surprised.

“We both are,” Sharn replies. Her eyes grow concerned, and she brushes his matted hair back from his forehead. “What happened, my darling?” she says, running a gentle finger across his mottled scars.

“Jasmine saved me.” It is all he needs to say, all he will ever need to say. Sharn smiles, and embraces Jasmine too.

* * *

She thinks they are safe, and the future is theirs to create, but then Lief walks back into the room with a hand full of map pieces and news of the world’s end and Jasmine wonders if they will ever be allowed to be happy.

* * *

They slide, shaky-legged, off Fidelis’ back. Before them, in the shadow of Steven’s caravan, their friends stand speechless, looking at them with a look of awe that Jasmine does not like.

Lief mumbles something incoherent. He is still clutching them both tightly, like he will never let go. He looks like he might collapse, his face confused and his eyes blank. Barda and Jasmine look at each other in concern, and Jasmine squeezes Lief’s hand. “Lief?”

He turns to them, his teeth chattering in the cold night air. “I… thank you. I do not know how-”

Smiling, Barda puts his arm around him. “We were always in this together, were we not? Remember what we said, right at the start? Fate decreed we would be three.”

“Clever fate,” Jasmine grins.

Barda looks at their intertwined hands, the way Jasmine looks at Lief. “Clever fate indeed.”

Lief leans into Barda, pulling Jasmine closer to him, and they stand in the light of the full moon watching the dragons take to the sky. 

* * *

One of Jasmine’s favourite memories is six weeks after the first Dragon Night. She is sitting on the grass of the palace gardens, under the dappled shade of an old tree. Lief sits beside her, humming softly to himself, some Del folk tune. He tilts his head upwards towards the sun, closing his eyes briefly as he smiles. His eyes are not dark and his face is not lined with pain. It is such a beautiful day.

* * *

Sometimes Sharn cannot help but wonder whether this whole mess was just their fate, that everything (Endon and Jarred, the Shadow Lord, the Quests), happened this way only so they could find each other, for Lief and Jasmine together can change the world. And that is why when she looks at Anna, she does not see their child- she sees validation.

note: I have been writing this fic in scraps and pieces for years and years, and I am so happy that this wonderful fandom finally motivated me to put it all together and finish it! Thank you for reading.

[aion-rsa]

His Dark Materials Episode 7 Review: The Fight to the Death

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Lyra gains another new name in His Dark Materials' penultimate series one episode. Spoilers ahead in our review...

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This His Dark Materials review contains spoilers.

His Dark Materials Episode 7

“We thought book one could not be adapted in fewer than eight episodes,” said His Dark Materials producer Jane Tranter at October’s launch event, “and I didn’t want to push my luck asking for more than eight.” Absolutely, quite right. No complaints here.  

Except, if Tranter had pushed her luck to the tune of an extra five minutes for this week’s episode, a few things things might have been better explained. The story of Iorek’s homecoming had gaps that, if filled, would have made it more emotionally satisfying. Perhaps those answers are on their way in the finale, but without them here, Iorek’s redemptive arc lacked some weight. Lee Scoresby’s reaction to hearing the news of his friend’s return to the throne felt more moving than the thing itself. 

Parts of the plot simply felt as though they were missing. Who, for instance, did Iorek kill before he was banished from Svalbard, and in what circumstances? Why was he exiled for that, but re-crowned for killing Iofur? What aid did Mrs Coulter give Iofur in his plot to take Iorek’s throne? Why was the first creature Iorek killed his own father? What were the “human ways” Iorek had brought to the Panserbjørne Palace, and what did the other bears think about Iorek’s return? 

And if bears are, as we’ve been told, so impossible to trick, why was Iofur so easily tricked not once but four times (by Mrs Coulter, by Lord Asriel, by Lyra and by Iorek during their fight). If his desire to become human had negated his natural abilities as a bear, that didn’t quite read, and neither did the reason he so idolised another species. 

If the bear story wasn’t perfect, then the look of it came pretty close. Iorek had real presence in his scene alone with Lyra, and as a spectacle, the fight had weight and peril. The palace design, with its architectural bones and pools of blood, was as impressive as we’ve become used to on His Dark Materials – a location on a monumental scale that, in the wide-shot of Lyra approaching, recalled the sight of tiny figures dwarfed by the landscape approaching Game of Thrones’ ice wall. 

Against a similarly vast and desolate backdrop was Sister Clara’s hunched figure in that chilling scene where Mrs Coulter almost choked her to death. (It didn’t lack for darkness, episode seven). The choking wasn’t the interesting part, that came when she stopped herself, horrified, and repeated “I didn’t mean it” like a traumatized child. As in her chamomile tea ministrations to Lyra last week, Wilson’s character is at her most fascinating when she’s something other than pure evil. Injured, for instance, or caught off guard.

Not that she ever is for long. Within a breath of Father MacPhail crowing over Mrs Coulter’s failure, she was back on the team, having persuaded him to let her join the assault on Asriel through a combination of logical argument and physical proximity (dressed in red, she flusters priest-types, and knows it).

Speaking of rattled men, our first look at Lord Asriel in six episodes saw him having gone full Victor Frankenstein up in that Arctic laboratory. His agitated reaction to Lyra’s arrival (“No, no! I did not send for you. I did not send for you. You have to leave!”) was worrying enough even before he greedily turned his eyes on Roger Parslow - the loveliest and most adorable friend a kid could have. If this show was aiming to make us love Roger so we’d feel every second of any peril Lewin Lloyd’s character was in, then job done. Asriel’s the wolf and Roger’s the lamb. 

We’ve seen less of our other boy in danger, Will Parry, but with his story properly underway now, we can expect to see, and feel, more about him in series two. After accidentally killing Boreal’s despicable lackey, Will’s now on the run and on his own – not being able to risk seeing his mum to say goodbye. Armed with the clues in his father’s letters and the hint that Colonel John Parry may yet be alive, his adventure starts here.

The Golden Compass adventure, on the other hand, is very nearly at a close. (After an information-heavy start, haven’t these past episodes just flown by like a dream?) We leave our young heroes on a remote mountaintop in the clutches of an unstable scientist, with an army and an enraged Mrs Coulter on the warpath. It’s hard to know who to be more afraid of.

Read and download the Den of Geek Lost In Space Special Edition Magazine right here!

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Review

Books

Louisa Mellor

Dec 17, 2019

His Dark Materials

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[meow-meow-motherfckr]

The Old Gods and the New

I always forget how much I like the opening title if I go without watching Game of Thrones for a while. It’s so good. Anyhow, the episode opens with Maester Lewin sending a raven before guys with swords come in and then Theon comes in to tell Bran he’s taking over the castle because he can. Bran is kind of...wtf. I like that we get to see Bran use an assisted device to sit up. Nice worldbuilding and giving a disabled character independence. There’s some angst, and I think it’s a pretty good scene. Everyone knows that Theon is not 100% in this and doesn’t take him fully seriously, but they’re still scared. Osha promises to serve him, and Bran looks betrayed. Theon yells at Ser Rodrick about his daddy issues, and Rodrick spits in his face. With some encouragement with the guy who is standing in for Reek I guess Theon kills Ser Rodrick because that’s the iron price. Maester Lewin tries to talk him out about it, but Theon won;t listen. Rodrick is a class act to the end and convinces Theon to kill him himself. It takes a couple swings. All over a really good, well acted scene.

Up north Jon and friends are looking for wildlings while Ghost wanders. Quorin is a lot like a lot of the people I met in Montana when he talks about the wilderness. He gives Jon a talking to, about how he should fight death, and then they move on. Kind of a filler scene but ok.

Tywin gets mad at his lord for not being able to read, and Arya gives away that she can, which Tywin totally doesn’t think is suspicious at all. Then Little finger shows up to fuck everything up, as he does, and Arya gets a little nervous. She avoids facing him, and Petyr talks about how much he loves chaos. He wants to team up with the Tyrells, though Tywin is bitter about the whole rebellion thing. Petyr starts to recognize Arya, but is more concerned with convincing Tywin, so Arya escapes.

Cut to Jon, who is closing in on the wildling camp. The ambush is successfull until Jonny realizes one of the wildlings is *gasp* a girl. He can’t kill her because of protective paternalism, and plus she’s hot. Quorin is going to kill her, but Jon volunteers because he has something to prove. He is about to chop her head off, and doesn’t even have the decency to promise to bur her after, but it doesn’t really matter because he can’t do it. It’s a very well acted scene. He cuts the rock next to her head, which has got to be bad for a sword, and she runs away. He chases her and we see some nice landscape, but he catches her in the end. He realizes he’s lost, and is probably re-evaluating his life choices at this point.

We cut to Myrcella being sent away. She’s crying, and Cersei does her threaten-people-while-deadpan thing. Tyrion looks a little disturbed by that and then walks away. Tommen is crying also because he’s eight, but Joffrey tells him princes don’t cry. I have a bone to pick with whoever is doing Joffrey’s eyeliner, because it really makes him look like an emo middle schooler. They kind of throw out Sansa’s “I saw you cry” line, when they could have done more with it, but the focus is more on how wonderfully horrible Joffrey is and less on Sansa. They go back to the red keep, and Tyrion’s spidey senses are a-tingling because people are not happy with Joffrey. Somebody literally throws shit and Joffrey loses his shit. A riot breaks out, but Joffrey wants the shit thrower. Somebody rips off the High Septon’s arm, which is gross. The Hound gets Joffrey out, but Sansa is on her own. Tyrion insults Joffrey, which is nice, and then hits him. Finally Tyrion notices Sansa is gone, which doesn’t bother Joffrey, but Tyrion wants Jaime back. Sansa is in trouble, as there are about four men who want to rape/kill her, and Joffrey won’t send anyone to get her. The Hound comes and literally guts one guy, kills the rest, and carries Sansa back to safety.

In Qarth Dany is pouting because the Spice King is making her wait. Xaro believes all women can be flattered. Dany is pretty rude to the Spice King, which is probably not the best strategy. The dragon card doesn’t even get her some ships, but she does give a nice speech. Can’t really blame him for being a pragmatist.

Tywin catches Arya reading important military messages and is super chill about it, because it’s not like spies exist or anything. Apparently Jaime is dyslexic or something, but Tywin just bullied him into learning to read anyways, which is charming. Arya bonds with Tywin to distract him while she steals the letter, but gets caught, so she has to get Jaqen to kill the guy for her , and jaqen looks mildly inconvenienced that it has to be a priority express assassination. The guy gets killed just as he walks into Tywin’s office and Tywin looks mildly irritated as he shouts for his guards.

We cut to Robb wandering around the camp being one with the people until he finds Talisa and I fall asleep for a little while. They debate whether or not she is a lady, and she insists she’s not a spy. Catelyn comes in to cockblock and teases Robb about his crush, then reminds him he’s sort of betrothed already.

Jon can’t find the other Night’s Watch men, so he ties up Ygritte and they cuddle to stay warm. He rubs up against his dick, or at least she does between ten layers of clothing, and he’s getting a sexual feeling.

Down South, Roose brings the news that Theon took over Winterfell, and Robb feels super betrayed. Cat, of course, can’t resist an “I told you so”. Roose offers up Ramsay, refferred to as “his bastard” to take over Winterfell. Robb asks for Theon to be brought to him alive.

Cut to Theon, who is talking to Osha. She says the free people “know things” which apparently includes hair removal. She exchanged her freedom for sex with Theon.

She fixes up Sansa’s face, and it’s nice to see two women having a positive interaction for once. Shae explains class conflict to Sansa, and they bond.

We go back to Theon, and evidently Odha has served him well because he is fast asleep. She sneaks out, kills a random guard, then Hodor comes with Bran, Rickon and the wolves, revealing she was good all along.

Dany complains to Xaro about how nobody is giving her free shit. Xaro low-key ecourages her to prostitiue herself, which is...okay, but then they open the doors and everyone is dead and the dragons are gone. We cut to a guy in a cloak carrying the dragons to a spiky tower.

[globalsource-blog]

Global Source meets B.L.O.O.M.

Artist - Ellis Lewin-Turner for B.L.O.O.M.

Some things never change. Night follows day, winter turns to spring, and when it comes to the arts, mediocrity is rewarded while true brilliance often goes unrecognised. Having spent the last two years as a student in Manchester, I can attest that this is nowhere more evident than on that city’s thriving nightlife scene. Year in, year out, venues like Factory, Tiger Tiger and the infamous Fifth have punters queuing around the block for the chance to hear the same ten commercial house tracks mixed badly with whatever Capital FM were playing that day. It’s not just Manchester – head to any city centre in the country on a Friday night and most of the music you hear coming out of clubs and bars is dull at best and painful at worst. In our Spotify-Soundcloud era, where there is so much incredible music so readily available, and almost everything ever recorded is available in some dusty corner of the internet, it is a crying shame to see people settling for such crap.  

However, there are lights in the darkness. One such flame of joy goes by the name of B.L.O.O.M., an up-and-coming all-female crew of DJs and promoters based in Manchester aiming to deliver a healthy dose of musical originality, as well as promoting the many talented acts who don’t conform to the white-heterosexual-male-with-a-dodgy-haircut norm which is so ubiquitous in dance music. Ahead of their debut night at Soup Kitchen this Thursday, where they’ll be blessing everyone’s favourite basement with some hypnotic rhythms (and a set by Boiler Room alumnus Courtesy), Global Source caught up with two of the group’s members, Sofia and Phoebe, to talk about their upcoming night, representation within dance music, and what to look out for next from the B.L.O.O.M. girls.        

Global Source: Hey guys. Great to have you here on Global Source! First things first, for those unaware, how would you describe B.L.O.O.M. in your own words?

B.L.O.O.M: Thanks for having us! B.L.O.O.M. is an all-female DJ collective based in South Manchester. We aim to promote gender equality in music through increasing the visibility of women and gender-non-conforming people! It actually stands for "Beautiful Ladies Organising Orgasmic Music" so we tend not to take ourselves too seriously and just have fun with what we play. Virtually anyone who gets involved can be a "beautiful lady" in our eyes.

GS: What made you form a collective, besides a shared love of great tunes?

B: There was a shared feeling of frustration among us all. We just felt we were surrounded by great nights in Manchester but they were all quite male-dominated. We wanted to create a space which would provide women with a platform to perform and create a community of lots of different types of people that could come together and party!

GS: That's cool. Do you feel like the number of different nights being put on in Manchester is a bit of a double edged sword, or do you consider it a positive thing overall?

B: We think it's really nice to be in such a diverse and creative city. There's so much opportunity for collaboration which is exciting, but then when the market is so over-saturated it makes it pretty difficult for new groups to be heard amongst the noise.

GS: Do you feel confident that B.L.O.O.M. can stand out from the crowd? Your shows on Limbo Radio and Reform Radio span an impressive range of styles and genres that should set you apart from the cookie-cutter tech-house and D&B crowd...

B: Yeah, apart from promoting gender equality, we think that's what distinguishes us from a lot of other nights. Everyone in B.L.O.O.M. plays such different stuff to one another, so we can put on a really diverse range of events. Phoebe is really into techno, breaks and world music, so her sets alone cover a lot of ground! Sofia’s been buying dusty old records since she was 13 so her sets tend to have a more nostalgic feel.

GS: While we’re on the subject of musical tastes, what would a B.L.O.O.M. radio show have sounded like if your 15-year-old selves were on the decks?

B: Sofia was actually already on the decks at 15 years old! She started playing northern soul in East London pubs and bars at that age and dabbled a bit in some of the psychedelic nights so hers probably would sound very similar to what she does now…with some shakier transitions, mind! Phoebe was obsessed with jungle and dub back when we were at school together so it would be more that sound.

GS: As I mentioned guys have a fair bit of experience spinning records on the modern miracle that is internet radio. Was the plan always to move on from radio to putting on your own nights?  

B: Hmm… we wouldn’t say ‘moving on’, but the plan was always to run nights and radio shows alongside each other. Doing radio is great because there’s a lot more leeway to play more chilled out stuff that you just wouldn’t in a club. For example, Sofia did a bit of a 60s psychedelic special on Reform Radio but you’d rarely play that out in a club because it’s not exactly the easiest genre to mix into dance music! At the moment we rotate among ourselves between the shows so there’s always different styles to hear. Both Limbo and Reform have been so supportive of what we’re doing so we love getting to play with everyone there, too.

GS: Listening to the radio shows, it’s clear that you guys have really varied taste – the mix that you mentioned also included tracks from the Jackson 5 and afrobeat legend William Onyeabor. Not quite the same vibe as Courtesy, but can we expect future events to reflect the diverse musical tastes of the B.L.O.O.M. crew?

B: We actually have a show planned for February which we hope will fuse all of our styles together into a kind of big B.L.O.O.M. lovechild.

GS: Definitely one for the diaries - you heard it here first! So, this Thursday, Soup Kitchen will play host to B.L.O.O.M.’s debut appearance on the Manchester nightlife scene. And of course, you’ve booked the talented Courtesy to play as well. How are you feeling about it?

B: Eeek! We’d say we’re sitting somewhere between nervous anticipation and excitement. We’ve had a really amazing response so far which we are very thankful for but there is still a lot of work to do. Phoebe and Kitty have had a fair amount of experience running nights in other groups though, so we’re in good hands!

GS:  Let’s talk about Courtesy. She seems to be doing pretty well for herself, and while doing some research on her I discovered she seems to be a big fan of flowered garments. Very apt for the B.L.O.O.M. theme – although I assume it was her mixing as well as her wardrobe that led you guys to book her for Friday night?

B: We can comfortably say it's nothing to do with her wardrobe! We booked her because we all think she's one of the most exciting women in electronic music right now. If you check out her Boiler Room or Resident Advisor mixes, she goes through all these really interesting breaks with melodic techno with dark, fuzzy stuff - there's so much more to it than a standard tech house set. We also booked her partially for selfish reasons of just all wanting to see her play!

GS: That seems fair enough - I'm sure nobody will hold it against you. Based on what I've heard from her, she should bring the perfect vibe for that Soup Kitchen basement - great venue to kick off your debut event! Given that you're intending to continue to promote diverse talent and draw attention to those who deserve more acclaim, have you got any ideas about acts you might like to book in future?

B: Gosh, there are so many we wouldn’t know where to start. We've some ideas floating around but we don’t want to give anything away. Guess you’ll just have to watch this space to find out! What we can tell you though is our next event will take place on the 23rd of November at Soup Kitchen with a very special guest...

GS: Exciting stuff... it's clear you guys have a lot going on behind the scenes. So on the show you guys did for Reform back in August, you played a really nice new track from the band Kala, called Wide Eyed To The Sun. How did that come about? Is showcasing up-and-coming acts like this something that you aim to continue, given that musical diversity the radio allows?

B: Yeah that's a great track! Kala are a London based jazz-electronic two-piece that we have mutual friends with, and we've been huge fans of them for a while. We strive for diversity in lineups and we want to showcase the incredible talent that’s out there but often goes unrecognised so supporting smaller acts is very much in line with our ethos. We also are proud that all our artwork and visuals has been created by up-and-coming women or gender-non-conforming hands! It’s pretty integral to our ethos that we don’t just appear to promote gender equality and local artists on the surface, but actually all behind the scenes work will be done by the kinds of people that we’re promoting.

GS: So, promoting diversity, great tunes and collaboration is the name of the game... I for one am on board. As you throw more events, will the B.L.O.O.M. residents be rotating in a similar way to the radio shows?

B: Yes, absolutely. We definitely plan on utilising our different musical tastes and as we grow we would love our roster of residents to grow with us so we can keep putting on some really exciting stuff.

GS: There's certainly a lot of potential there, and on behalf of Global Source I want to wish you guys every success, it's great to see like-minded people working together on such a cool project. Here's to a more diverse, authentic and stimulating scene for everyone!

You can get tickets for what is sure to be an enjoyable night for one and all right here.

Check out some of B.L.O.O.M.’s mixes for Reform Radio and Limbo Radio here and here.

And finally, check out the video below to see Courtesy tearing it up for the Boiler Room in Helsinki: 

[meow-meow-motherfckr]

The Ghost of Harrenhal

We open with Catelyn having a nice lunch with Renly. She tells him Robb doesn’t want the Iron Throne, and Renly says he can be King in the North--but only in name. She wants him to negotiate a peace with Stannis, which he says is a no can-do, and then he gets killed by Stannis and Mel’s smoke-demon-baby. Talk about timing. Just as she lowers his dead body to the floor, different Kingsguard come in, and ignore Catelyn and Brienne’s insistence that she didn’t kill Renly. This isn’t exactly unreasonable of them. Brienne fights her way out, and even kills a man, which I suppose is more dramatic than Catelyn coming up with an escape plan. Apparently nobody heard the mini battle in the King’s tent, so Brienne has time to cry over Renly before Cat gives her a little pep talk, and they leave because revenge.

Littlefinger’s spidey senses go off, and he goes to find Loras and Margaery. Loras is understandable upset over the death of his lover. Margaery wants to go home with their army. Loras wants revenge. Littlefinger pops up and has an idea to play the long con, and between Littlefinger and Margaery he calms down enough to storm out of the tent. Margaery and Petyr have a little moment, and we find out what Margaery wants is to be the Queen. It’s not a bad direction for them to go with her character, and Natalie does a really good job playing that angle, but the show does tend to neatly divide women into either sexual manipulator or strong badass warrior. At least the cool women.

Tyrion and Cersei discuss Renly’s death, and Stannis’ impending arrival. Cersei can’t be bothered, and Tyrion is mildly concerned. He and Cersei fight about Myrcella, and then Cersei informs him that Joffrey is heading up the war effort, and apparently he’s not telling. Good thing Lancel is there to tell Tyrion that it’s Wildfire. Tyrion threatens him until he gives more detailed plans. Lancel takes a face-plant outside Tyrion’s litter, and then relays his execution orders to Bronn. I feel for this guy.  Honestly, Lancel has more interesting character development than half of the people on the show. Cut to the Stormlands, where Davos is kind of concerned because of the whole demon baby thing, but Stannis is more concerned with bannerman than the fact that he just killed his brother. Davos brings up the moral implications, but gives up and talks about the Blackwater attack. He at least gets to give Stannis the truth, which is that people don’t like Melissandre and think Stannis is her puppet. So they leave for King’s Landing without Mel, because Stannis compares about PR now. But he’s still into killing dissenters. Baaby steps.

Tyrion has an exposition moment and explains that they’re basically screwed as he walks down the streets of King’s Landing, which apparently he does routinely now. He accidentally walks into a rabble, and apparently the people aren’t down with incest. Tyrion is ready to flame Joffrey, until the speaker drops “demon monkey” and Tyrion is, understandably, perturbed. He realizes people blame him for the shit-show that is King’s Landing, when he sees himself as the savior. I mean, he’s still propping up and illegitimate and sadistic tyrant, but he practices harm reduction, so we’re all good.

Theon watches another ship sail away, and it upset by how small his own ship is. Rare pairs, am I right? Nobody follows his commands, and his second mate is ready to mutiny before they even get on board. Yara shows up to mock him, and brag about all her ships, while Theon’s crew sails off without him. SOme random guy comes to help Theon, and he is not quite suspicious enough about why this man wants to help him. He questions Theon’s masculinity, and primes Theon to disobey his father’s orders and go for Torrhen’s Square. Theon realizes the Starks would immediately take it back, leaving Winterfell vulnerable, and the music tells us this is going to be a big deal.

Tywin has a chat about how the Northern lords are discontent, because it’s war, but Tywin thinks they’ve underestimated Robb. He chucks his cousin out of the council/Harrenhall because he wanted a nap, and then he asks Arya where she’s from, and gets her to admit she’s a Northerner. Remember that part where Arya said that Sansa knew all the sigils and she didn’t? And how Sansa actually has practical skills that could assist her in surviving? Oh wait, Sansa’s not allowed to be good at anything. Back to the show, she talks about how great Robb is, and Tywin is super chill with it. Arya says that anyone can be killed, and we’re up to our eyeballs in foreshadowing. Arya wanders around, until Jaqen rolls up and they talk about gender for a hot second. She’s pissy because he works for the Lannisters, but to be fair, she does as well. He offers to take out three people for her, and she tells him to kill the tickler first. She doesn’t name Tywin for some reason despite the fact that he is right fucking there. Maybe she’s grown sympathetic to his harsh, yet grandfatherly manner. Who the fuck knows.

We go up to our Winter Wonderland the Fist of the First Men. The only thing Sam can talk about is Gilly, because his personality is chasing girls I guess. He does geek out for a while to exposit who the First Men are, and then Jon says something gloomy because he’s Jon. I guess they gave up on making Dolorous Ed actually dolorous and made Jon fill that role. Quorin Halfhalnd is introduced as basically the Bear Grylls of Westeros, and then we cut to Tyrion.

Tyrion promptly makes a dick joke, but the Pyromancers take him seriously. They have a shit ton of highly volatile substance, and Bronn points out that if somebody drops some wildfire during a battle it’s game over for King’s landing because that shit burns fucking everything. They also make a nice joke about Aerys and Wildfire, and I think it might even be original, so credit where credit is due. Tyrion takes the whole Wildfire operation from Cersei basically just by saying so, and the pyromancers are down with that because sexism I guess.

Across the Narrow Sea, Dany is teaching her dragons how to barbecue. Drogon is clearly the favorite child. Also I high-key ship Dany and Doreah, and I’m super mad that the writers decided to end Doreah’s storyline the way they did. Irri is bitter because she’s also low-key in love with Dany (who wouldn’t be tbh) but they get along by talking about Dany’s new clothes because that’s what women do. Dany casually brings up the fact that she wasn’t consensually married to her husband, and that he actually bought her, something the fandom collectively tends to forget. There’s this awkward moment where 1) Irri acts like Drogo is the best thing since sliced bread 2) Dany asks Doreah to prostitute herself to get information 3) Irri snaps at Doreah because Dany is getting to westernized, and then 4) Irri tries to cover it up by being nice to Dany, then storms out. It like, there’s actually a complex scene with multiple characters with different motivations and dynamics. The good old days, when the show could write dialogue.

Apparently the costume directors decided to ditch the one-boobie-hanging-out look since they presumably wanted the audience to absorb something from the next scene, which is in the courtyard in Qarth. Dany is networking. She then has to go and stop her Dothraki from stealing a gold peacock, which is supposed to be funny I guess, but in a white-woman-stops-clueless-brown-people-from-stealing sort of way. This isn’t GRRM’s strongpoint either, but the show does a pretty shit job at presenting this is different culture with different values surrounding ownership, and just makes all the Dothraki look uncultured and clueless. Pyat Pree rolls up with his trippy kaleidoscope and makes Dany see double, then tells her to come to his magic castle. Emilia Clarke succeeds at looking mildly confused. Jorah gets jealous when Dany talks to Xaro Xoan Daxos, because he gets jelous everytime she breathes the same air as another man, and then Quaithe rolls up and says something fake-deep. I do not think her makeup was successful, but admittedly, GRRM didn’t give them an easy task.

Cut to Catelyn and Brienne and their pretty horse. They talk about how they saw a shadow deamon kill someone, and they’re trying to play it cool. Cat says it just looked like a generic man, but Brienne is convinced it was Stannis (guess who’s right.) Cat decides to go to see Robb and then head home to see Bran and Rickon. That noise you hear is me bawling my eyes out. Brienne asks for permission to go kill Stannis once she takes Cat home, and Cat is literally the only person on this show who isn’t a revenge zombie. They do keep Brienne’s line about a woman’s kind of courage, which is really nice. They’re pretty much my brotp.

Up north Rickon is smashing wax while being forced to do LordThings, which is honestly #relatablecontent. One of the commoners is talking about how he can’t keep watch of his sheep because everyone went to war, and Bran does the correct LordThing, and sends him some orphans, as one does. Then he scolds Rickon for smashing wax, which is probably this kid’s only source of fun. Ser Rodrick comes in with his funny facial hair and says that Torrhen’s square is under attack, and Bran falls for Theon’s trap, sends 200 men. Maester lewin is a bit iffy about it, but he goes along with it, but allows Bran to be noble and shit. Bran asks Osha about the three-eyed raven, and she isn’t a dream dictionary, which irritates him. He describes his prophetic dream of the sea flooding Winterfell, which honestly... people should listen to Bran more often. Osha mentions that they “say all sorts of crazy things north of the wal” and then the camera cuts... North of the Wall!

It looks cold. Like, yikes. Quorin sees a fire. Sam can’t see it because his eyes are good, so hey, there’s some continuity. He brings the news that all the Wildlings have joined Mance Rayder in an army, and says the wildlings are going to adapt to their habits, so they need to adapt to be more like the wildlings. Quorin wants to start by killing some lookouts, and gathers a team. Jon feels left out, and asks to go with. Sam steps i to take up Jon’s duties because he’s the real MVP, and Jon gets to go on the field trip.

Dany and Zaro have a talk about Jorah and the Friend Zone because what else would anybody else care about in Dany’s storyline? They talk about conquering and what they want, and dragons. He shows her his door to his treasure chamber, though if she were really serious about anything she would ask to see it. He asks for marriage, so she can get enough wealth to take over the seven kingdoms, and he gets a dragon. He also tells her Robert is dead, so she goes off to argue with Jorah. He advocates for a grassroots campaign, and she tells him not to talk down to her, finally. He compliments her a bit which apparently makes things better. He tells her to “make her won way” which is pretty iffy coming from the guy who’s constantly trying to control her but he promises a ship. One. Ship.

Back in Harrenhall, Arya checks out Gendry’s hot bod and gives him fighting tips, and then somebody dies. It’s the tickler, so she makes meaningful eye contact with Jaqen. And she is officially the ghost of Harrenhal.