#made me think of that post that's like 'do you think the cuckoo chick feels guilty as it grows bigger than its parents and as it watches | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

hailsatanacab · 11 months ago

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@ailithnight behold, my thoughts:

Depending on who you ask, Danny's been with the Waynes for anywhere from four years to three to what he knows is the truth. Two months.

It's a delicate question, really, so Danny tries to avoid it when he can, along with anything relating to his past with and without them. Best to keep them all in the dark for a little longer—just until he can say he's repaid some of the help they've given him.

Deep down, he knows it won't ever be enough.

But he's doing well! He's pretty much healed now, aside from the odd twinge whenever he stretches himself and his powers, and while he feels so incredibly guilty over this whole situation... It was for the best.

He can't—he won't—regret it.

That's what he thought, anyway, until Bruce Wayne had come to sit on his bed one morning, eyebrows drawn in a concerned, confused, look.

"Danny..." he says, reaching his hand over as if he's going to lay it on Danny's knee before pulling it back with a breath. "Danny, we need to talk."

Well. Shit.

Look, Danny's under no illusions here, he's been living the good life. He’s been coasting and it's been more than good for him. Resting has done more than heal his wounds and honestly, despite the lies, he feels... Happy, here.

That happiness plummets in his stomach quicker than a stone sinking to the bottom of a lake.

“B?” His voice sounds tiny in the open space of his bedroom, far bigger than any room the Fentons had. It had been weird to get used to, at first. It didn’t take long for it to feel like home.

“Danny… Do you remember when you came here?”

There it is. The question he’s been trying so hard not to ask everyone, only now flipped on its head and pointing back at him.

He doesn’t know how to answer it, so he doesn’t.

“What do you mean?”

Bruce sighs, his shoulders deflating. If Danny strains his ears, he can hear the rest of the family outside, the shuffling of their feet muddling with their dissonant whispers.

“I’m sorry, Danny, I’m so sorry, but…”

Danny’s heart stops.

See, there’s always a catch with Desiree’s wishes. They always come toppling down, one way or another.

He should have expected this, really, shouldn’t he? They’re the world’s greatest detectives, of course they would figure it out! It was only a matter of time. He just wishes—no, he had hoped—he’d be able to tell them first.

Bruce takes a deep breath and everything goes quiet. Danny’s chest feels like it’s going to explode. What are they going to do to him?

“Danny, I don’t think you’re real.”

Wait, what?

“What?” Danny asks, fingers clenching and unclenching in a futile effort to get them to stop shaking. “You don’t think I’m real?”

Is that… is this better or worse than realising Danny’s invaded their lives? That Danny’s infiltrated their minds?

“I’m sorry, that probably wasn’t the best way to phrase it,” Bruce says, looking away. He keeps his hands folded together in front of him. “What I meant to say is, I don’t think you existed before you fell into my lap two months ago.”

Is that any better? Marginally, Danny supposes. To them, he may as well not have existed until two months ago.

Danny doesn’t say anything—because really, what can he say to that?—and Bruce, who is back to watching him carefully, takes it as permission to carry on.

“I also believe that it’s my fault you’re here now.”

Okay, so, in hindsight, this is where Danny should have said something. Right now. If he comes clean, they might still like him. There’s still a chance that—if he just stopped lying to them right this second—they might still want him when this is over.

But when he opens his mouth, nothing comes out.

There’s a lump in his throat that hurts everytime he tries to swallow around it and his eyes burn and he can’t say anything because saying something means that this is all going to end, but—but… but it’s all going to end anyway, isn’t it?

“There’s a lot of evidence.” Bruce continues, looking back down at his hands. “We all have different memories regarding your first appearance, or how you were adopted, and why you were injured that night. Some things are the same, like how any memory of you is… distorted, somehow. Faded, barely there. As if it’s not there at all. Alfred had to make you a new room!”

“W-what…” Danny’s voice breaks as he desperately tries to think of how to salvage this situation. “What are you saying?”

“More damningly, there’s no security footage of you in the manor at all, not until the last two months when you fell right into my lap.”

Here, Bruce pauses, and Danny has to scramble to grab his hand and hold on. Bruce looks up at him, finally, and Danny’s startled to see red rimming his eyes.

“Danny, just moments before that, I had wished to have a child who would return my hugs.” Bruce offers him a small smile even as Danny’s heart swells into a painful lump in his chest. “I don’t know how it happened, or why it came true, but… I’m sorry, Danny.”

“Bruce—”

“It’s my fault. I couldn’t go on with the idea that all of this was because of my selfish wish now that you’re a fully realised person. You deserve autonomy, you deserve the choice.”

“Bruce, please—”

“You deserve to know the truth so you can decide what to do, I know that—”

“Listen to me, Bruce—”

“No, Danny, I know that you believe you’re part of this family—and you are—but you also need to know what happened, so you can—”

“It was my wish, Bruce!”

Finally, Bruce stops, and looks up at Danny.

“It was… Bruce, it was my wish,” Danny confesses, his words strangled by his heart pounding in his throat. His lungs burn as he breathes in far too fast, short, sharp and uneven. “I mean, it was my wish that caused it. Desiree—I was… I had to, because—Bruce, if I hadn’t done it, if I hadn’t wished for it, they would—they were going to—Bruce, please…”

Danny scrambles forward in the bed, his legs tangling in the covers, to get to Bruce. He’s going to miss this, he realises with a sob as he all but falls into his arms, he’s going to miss feeling safe in Bruce’s hugs. He’ll miss the happiness, the trust, the warmth, that security brings.

“Shh, Danny, it’s okay,” Bruce whispers as he combs his fingers through Danny’s hair, just like his mom used to do before she—before… It feels nice. It feels really nice. “Can you tell me what you mean?”

Danny takes in a deep, shuddering breath, and Bruce presses his lips against his forehead. Immediately, Danny softens, his core soothing in his chest, and he takes a moment to just breathe.

“I was real. Before the wish, I was real. I… I lived in the midwest, with my mom, my dad, and my sister. We were happy, mostly.” Danny presses his face tight against Bruce’s chest and he tries to keep the wobble out of his voice. “And then I died and I became Phantom and everything went to shit.”

“You were a vigilante, with your… previous family, too?”

Bruce doesn’t stop stroking his hair and Danny takes a moment to just enjoy it. He tries not to think about how it’ll be the last time.

Danny hums an affirmative and lets it sit there, for a second, as he basks in the warmth before it inevitably ends.

“My parents were… are… ghost hunters.”

Bruce stops.

Gently, he peels Danny off of him, and tries to look him in the eyes, but Danny scoots back and away to the other side of the bed. The bedspread is awash with stars, full of constellations. Dick got it for him when they realised he hadn’t anything of his own.

“Danny, what do you mean?”

“They hate ghosts. Call them evil, unsentient, no better than animals. They… They’re scientists, too. They study ecto-biology and—”

Danny hears a gasp from behind the door and he wraps his arms around his stomach. His wounds have closed now. He’s fine. He’s fine, he’s fine, he’s fine.

“When I… When I told them—I had to tell them, you know? The secret, it, it was eating me alive, they had to know, I had to let them know, they needed to know, right? Bruce, they had to know—I had to know, I had to tell them, because I knew they would love me. I was their son and they loved me, right? They love me, Bruce, they—they—Bruce, they loved me, I’m sure they—”

“It’s okay, Danny, it’s okay, come here,” Bruce says, holding his arms out for Danny to crawl into. Danny’s strong, but he’s not strong enough to resist his dad asking for a hug, not like this.

Bruce’s hands tangle in his hair again and he shivers as he relaxes.

“There’s a ghost in the Zone called Desiree.” Danny explains as soon as he’s settled. “She grants wishes. Everyone knows not to wish for things, now. They come true, but never how you expect them to. Always wrong. Always twisted.”

Bruce stops stroking Danny’s hair.

“You wished for this?” He asks, voice carefully devoid of any emotion.

“I wished…” Danny sits up to look at Bruce, wanting him to see, to believe him when he says it was the only way. “I was so desperate, Bruce. I had to do something and I know I shouldn’t have, but… I just wanted them to love me. I didn’t want to be on that table anymore. It hurt so much, Bruce, I had to, I had to wish.”

“Danny…” Bruce is staring at him with wide eyes, horror clear on his face. His gaze drifts down to Danny’s stomach, no doubt remembering his injuries and whatever fake memory Desiree conjured up to explain them.

“I wished that my family would accept me for who I am. I think,” Danny sniffs, pushing the heels of his palms into his eyes to try and stem the tears, “I think you wished at the exact same time and it crossed Desiree’s wires up and she sent me to you instead of making my mom and dad actually—actually love me.”

Danny chuckles humourlessly, finally realising the main reason she probably sent him away. “It also probably helps that we’re hundreds of miles away from Amity, so I’m not there to ruin her fun.”

Bruce doesn’t join in his laugh. Doesn’t even crack a smile. He just sits there, perched on the edge of his bed, with his face creased in that sorrowful way it does when he’s down in the Batcave and thinking about a particularly tough case with too many victims.

Danny’s breath hitches in his throat and he forces himself to scoot back a bit, to let Bruce have some space. He probably doesn’t want to be near Danny too much right now, not after finding out that Danny’s been lying to them all this time.

“I’m sorry, Bruce,” Danny whispers, “I know it was wrong. I should have told you straight away, but… But I didn’t want you to hate me. I told myself that as soon as I was better, I would repay everything you did for me—and I’ve tried! It’s not enough, I know it’s not, but I-I infused the Bat-computer with ectoplasm so it’s way more intuitive now! And I made all those ecto-weapons for you, just in case you ever had to fight a ghost! And, and, and, I haven’t done it yet, but I was planning on updating the wards around the manor because—while they’re good—they’re not perfect and there’s some glaring holes that ghosts can exploit and it wasn’t like I was just going to leave them like that, I was going to fix it, I just don’t have all the strength for it yet and—”

“Danny,” Bruce says, cutting through Danny’s rambling. He places a gentle hand over Danny’s trembling one. “Danny, it’s okay.”

“What?”

“It’s okay.” Bruce repeats, a small, sad smile on his face. “I’m glad we found out what happened, and I’m so, so sorry that you went through that, but it’s okay. You’re here with us now, you—”

“No! No, Bruce, aren’t you listening? None of this is real, it’s my fault that—”

“Danny,” Bruce interrupts, taking Danny’s hand in his own now and smooths his skin in calming circles, “listen. The reason I wanted you to know about my wish was so that you could have the choice about whether or not you wanted to be here. Now that I know the truth, I’ve made my choice, too. You’re a part of this family, Danny, no matter how you came to be here. These past two months, I—”

“No!” Danny snatches his hand back, not entirely sure what he's doing or why he’s doing it. Isn’t this what he wanted? Why is his chest about to cave in when finally, finally, Bruce knows the truth and still wants him? Still accepts him, still loves—that’s it.

A flash of ice lights down his spine as he realises what’s wrong.

"I promise, Bruce.” Danny says, eyes wide and voice trembling. “I'm going find Desiree and have her reverse the wish. I'll set everything back to the way it was. It'll be okay. I'm sorry."

For a moment, Bruce looks confused. He opens his mouth and takes in a sharp breath as if he’s ready to argue his point, but stops, nods briefly, and closes his eyes. Does this mean he understands, too?

They’re the Bats and the Birds. Gotham’s vigilantes and respected members of the Justice League. The greatest minds in the world. There’s no way he doesn’t understand that this has to happen. It needs to be done.

They can't have something affecting their minds like this. Better to rid themselves of this magic and go back to normal.

There’s a brief moment of silence. Danny wonders what the others are thinking outside as he wipes the tears from his face, more determined now than he’s ever been.

"Promise me this, too, Danny," Bruce says, unable to stop himself. His fingers bleed white where they ball into fists. "Promise me that you’ll come back and find us when you're done. No matter how you came to be here, you're a part of this family. We will always accept you as you are, ghostly powers or not. You're family now."

"Yeah," Danny whispers, voice choking on the thought. His chin trembles and his mouth downturns and when he squeezes his eyes closed, tears roll down his cheeks. He hunches himself up, hugging his knees, as small as he can make himself.

"I mean it, Danny. You're one of us and we want you to stay." Bruce tries to rest a comforting hand on his leg, but Danny snatches it away, unable to bear the touch.

"I know." Danny says, with a watery laugh as he smiles at Bruce. "I know you do. You have to. Because of the wish."

And then Danny tucks his head back into his arms and sobs.

Bruce can't stand it, he hates it when his children cry—and that's what Danny is, he's his child, no matter what circumstances brought him here. He knows his mind, he knows himself, and he knows that he'd never turn away a child like Danny. He never has and he never will, because, at his core, that's who Bruce Wayne is.

He reaches over to pull Danny into a hug, and, after a tense second where Bruce thinks he’s going to pull away again, Danny latches on tightly and squeezes him hard, as if he's worried he's going to lose him forever.

Bruce hugs Danny and Danny hugs him back and neither of them acknowledge that it’s because of the wish.

The bats have so many folks around, even if they aren't always working together. Enough that folks like to joke/write about Danny just kinda showing up acting like he already lives there. He just kinda blends in.

I'd love to see more magic motivated versions of this. Some kind of spell that affects the bat's perceptions of the past and present, making them actually miss that this boy wasn't with their family too long ago. Maybe it changes their understanding like it's a time line shift, maybe it fogs their mind just a tad and makes them glaze past something like it wasn't even there. I like the second if only because I feel like that would make it more likely for the bats to realize a spell was a foot.

Imagining this from Danny's side, hes terrified this whole time of getting found out. He knows how and when he showed up here and maybe even how flimsy whatever magic is in place is. Imagining a Desiree wish that was either very carefully worded or Not so carefully worded. Maybe he placed himself with the Wayne family with the expectation that he would quietly mooch of some rich idiot until he was ready to be on his own. Or maybe he wished himself to be a part of the batclan, taking up a mask and patroling with them as a bird that Doesn't Exist.

Ofc eventually the spell has to be broken, leaving the bats confused worried scared angry probably even amused, and a billion other things. WHY did this teenager decide to adopt himself into the Wayne/bat family? Who the hell is he and where did he come from. Someone call Zatanna, there is some magic Fuckery going on.

#sorry this took so long haha #this has been ruminating for a while now #i hope you like it!#also someone tagged this as cuckoo danny and i love that #danny as a poor little cuckoo bird who never asked to be born into another nest #made me think of that post that's like 'do you think the cuckoo chick feels guilty as it grows bigger than its parents and as it watches #its brothers and sisters - its nestmates - starve'#like woof what a post #ANYWAY - hope y'all enjoy #danny realising that any and all love he gets from the waynes is never actually from the waynes #danny letting himself get comfortable in the feeling of warmth and happiness #until it crashes down on him that no. no this is all a lie #he'll never be able to know true acceptance until he gets desiree to reverse the wish #but if he does that then what happens to him? is he back on the operating table? does he count on the bats to rescue him except #except he's gone from their minds because the wish has truly been reversed and he's right back where he started #with his parents leering over him and his organs in jars nestled by his head and he wants to get out help him help him get out please #oh ow my heart #but yeah. i hope it all came across alright - just a quick little ouchie for the boy danno. sorry danny love you i promise #oh fuck my writing tag!#hailsatanacrab🦀🦀writes #anyway love you all thank you for the tag ailithnight!!! i hope you like it <3

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dansnaturepictures · 5 years ago

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The third of my wildlife and photography highlights posts of 2019: My adventures in the New Forest this year

This post I include every year, and in the past have styled it as a talk through some of my favourite landscapes I took in the forest that year and then some of the standout wildlife experiences or vice versa. This year I am approaching it differently and I just talk through experiences I have had at different places in the forest wildlife or landscape, whether that is just a simple mention of one bird I saw there or one landscape I took, or a longer paragraph or part paragraph about lots I saw and did there in 2019.

Denny Wood was the second go to location for me on New Year’s Day for a fourth year running, where I saw lots of woodland birds and Redwing and Fieldfare were standout year ticks. I was back on a day off in late March when I enjoyed seeing two Stock Doves, my first of the year one shown in the first of my pictures this year in this photoset. I went again to Denny Wood in October when I was happy to see a Great Spotted Woodpecker feeding among other birds in the rain a standout moment. The first Saturday of the year saw Eyeworth Pond as one of a few places visited, where Mandarin Duck was a highlight and I saw these again at Cadmans Pool in early March.

A place in the forest I have had a very good year at in 2019 is Blackwater, on a February Saturday it looked very nice in the snow, and this day I saw two of its specialities the Crossbill and Hawfinch precious forest birds. I saw my first Bullfinches of the year there in March, and other year ticks Goldcrest and Mistle Thrush on my first visit there in January when I took the second picture in this photoset of sun shining through trees a very sunny and hearty wintery picture I thought. On the way to the February visit I saw my first Fallow Deer of the year, something I saw along with Roe Deers a week later at one of my favourite forest and general spots Pig Bush. At Pig Bush that day too I took the third picture in this photoset of some of hundreds of cattle we saw crossing the bridge which was interesting to see. On our next visit there in April I was delighted to see my first Redstart of the year very late into the walk just before we got back into the car, a really strong bird for this place and the forest as a whole, as well as have an amazing afternoon of seeing Buzzards four times and see so much more. When there in October it was nice to see some New Forest ponies wildly running across the heath in the rain.

I had a nice walk at Acres Down and Millyford Bridge in the New Forest on my first trip out of April, seeing my first Swallow of the year and three Brook Lampreys in a stream including their amazing stone “sucking” which made me think what a fabulous and wild place the New Forest is. I took the fourth picture in this photoset looking over Acres Down that day. I came back to Millyford Bridge on a day off in August getting great views of beautiful Golden-ringed Dragonflies along the stream, seeing this made my dragonfly and damselfly year list outright my highest ever. Also nice that day to see a Red-veined Darter, loads of Grey Wagtails with one unusually high up a tree and masses of water spiders on the steam. On the way out from the forest we saw some grazing animals with an adorable baby donkey that day and my second and third Wheatears of the year on the grass.

A Good Friday walk at Milkham became something of a spring classic for me, on a beautiful day the start of some really hot ones over that time it was rich in wildlife sightings, including my first Comma and Green-veined White butterflies of the year, first Large Red Damselfly of spring and first Cuckoo heard this year as I said in my favourite birds highlights post. My next visit to the open forest was Fritham in early June which was a really packed day too, I saw only my second ever Woodlark, my first Silver-studded Blue and Broad-bodied Chasers of the year, Cuckoo really well, Redstart, Buzzard, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Jay, Green Hairstreak, Fallow Deer and more. A stunning day with classic New Forest wildlife! Two weeks later the day after returning from Northumberland we went to Standing Hat, seeing lots of Large Skippers and Meadow Browns and my next dragonflies this year, two more of my favourites the Southern Hawker and Keeled Skimmer.

I had another brilliant afternoon in the New Forest at Whitefield Moor in July at the heart of summer, seeing my first Common Grayling butterflies of the year taking my year list to 42 making it level with my then highest ever total in a year of 2018 in 2019 I beat that total ultimately of course I took the fifth picture in this photoset of one there, my first ever Red-veined Darter dragonfly I did think this was a Common Darter initially but it was suggested by a kind Twitter friend I checked for Red-veined and I concluded it was in the end, many Silver-studded Blues, Keeled Skimmers, a young Redstart and my first Dartford Warbler in the forest since 2017. I took so many more photos that afternoon too like the sixth in this photoset. When back here in late November it was fantastic to see dozens of beautiful Fieldfares flying about and in trees, my first seen this winter such a nice memory with a Jack Snipe seen late on that day too. By contrast to the July visit this was a typical winter’s afternoon with rain showers and how dark it was with much of the landscape looking bare, but being out fairly deep in the New Forest it did feel very atmospheric like it so often does here in the winter. Due to an (as yet) unsuccessful period of searching for a regularly reported Great Grey Shrike in this area we actually came here the next two weekends as well going into December. On the second visit on the 30th November more Fieldfare views stood out. On the third visit this Sunday just gone after arriving after a shower it was a great sunny and nice wintery lit afternoon one of my best for sky pictures this year and as well as more Fieldfares I also saw my first Redwings of the season. I got some memorable and quality binocular views of a Redwing sat and Fieldfare flying on Sunday really getting to make them out. I also enjoyed seeing some Ravens and a couple of Fallow Deers running across the heath just before dusk.

I had a good time at Ibsley Common on 1st September seeing at least one other Common Grayling as well as nine Painted Ladies it’s been a boom year for this migrant and it was good to see some in the forest too alongside many other places for me. Small Heath, Fallow Deer, Kestrel and a couple of Whinchats the day after seeing my first this year at Farlington Marshes with a Stonechat were great things to see on this walk too as well as a pony drinking and wading in the river. A week later after our Cornwall trip that week I was back at Eyeworth Pond seeing a couple more graylings one quite faded as well as lots of pretty yellow Willow Warblers, Wheatear, Fallow Deer, Swallows skimming the water and still a good few Small Heaths about for that time of year.

In early October I visited Ashley Walk walking to Leaden Hall and back and on the way I was so thrilled to see at least one Ring Ouzel (we saw one flying then another later on so it could have been the same or a different one) only my third ever sighting of one. What a brilliant bird to see which this area is so good for on the autumn passage and this has become a regular place to visit for us in October because of that. I also saw Fallow Deers and some late Swallows that day which was great.

At one of the New Forest reserves Lymington-Keyhaven I felt I took a lot of landscape pictures I was happy with this year, the seventh in this photoset one on a sunny February day. I also saw a lot of brilliant wildlife here this year again, standout bird species seen being; Spotted Redshank, Greenshank, Spoonbill, Bar-tailed Godwit, Red-necked Phalarope, Common Sandpiper, Semipalmated Sandpiper, Long-tailed Duck, Scaup, Eider, Common Scoter, Goldeneye, Marsh Harrier, Yellow Wagtail, Little Tern, Sandwich Tern, Little Ringed Plover, Reed Warbler, Willow Warbler, Dartford Warbler, Cuckoo, Sparrowhawk and Peregrine Falcon. I was thrilled in July to see Common, Little and Sandwich Tern here in one afternoon which I don’t remember ever doing before. In early September I had a nice visit here generally but also a memorable one for butterflies seeing Brown Argus, Painted Lady and many Small and Large Whites. On an October visit here we got a really nice quick view of a seal in the sea my first ever seen in Hampshire. When back in November we saw a seal again even closer in the sea behind us behind the wall with the tide in. I took the eighth picture in this photoset, a very spring one, of a Lapwing with three chicks beneath it in April by Normandy lagoon.

On a sunny September Sunday we went to Lymington to spend some time in the Lymington-Keyhaven nature reserve open day. As you may have read my Redshank picture at the reserve last year was in the wildlife part of the photography competition exhibition there. The exhibition was on boards you had to walk past to get into the open day events. It was a moment of pure joy when I saw this and spotted my picture there. It was a really surreal moment I’d not seen one of my pictures at anything like this before and I was just thrilled and it felt like one of my happiest moments this year and in the 10 years I have been taking photos. What a thing to happen in that big anniversary year that I talked about a lot too. But what made it all the better was seeing my picture on two boards for the wildlife and landscape parts of the competition with so many incredibly high quality pictures of really varied subjects across this wonderful reserve too. Everyone involved should be really proud of their work in this exhibition.

The open day generally was a brilliant way to showcase this special area it had a great atmosphere. I first ever came here on a similar open day in 2008 so it was very close to my heart what a big part of my hobby this reserve is. I really enjoyed at the day too chatting to the many local charities, groups and wildlife experts, watching some bird ringing at the demonstration run by Wild New Forest and getting a rare chance to go into the private hide which was opened today to overlook Normandy lagoon. The highlights here was seeing two Greenshanks importantly for me that day with Redshanks too as well as many Swallows flying. Between here and a little look at Pennington before leaving I saw many Swallows and Red Admirals that day which was great.

At nearby Sturt Pond in November I saw one of my standout birds this year with nice views of two stunning Black Redstarts, I took the ninth picture in this photoset of one. That bright weather day too for our first time ever we walked all the way along Hurst Spit to Hurst Castle. We got our greatest ever views of the castle a prominent landmark here as well as looks over to the Isle of Wight very closely so places like the needles which was very nice as well as views all the way down to Portsdown Hill at the other end of the county as we often get from Lymington-Keyhaven.

Key birds I saw at outskirts reserve Blashford Lakes this year included; Egyptian Goose, Great White Egret (getting views of the famous one Walter with both Grey Heron and Little Egret on separate days in the same channel in front of Ivy North hide which was interesting for size comparisons) Yellow-browed Warbler, Yellow-legged Gull, Goldeneye, Goosander, Long-tailed Duck, Cetti’s Warbler, Bittern, Lesser Redpoll, Brambling, Sparrowhawk and my first Swifts of the year nearby seen from the car on a journey. A day that felt crucial to my 2019 at Blashford was 7th April where I went there and saw key spring sightings my first Little Ringed Plover, Blackcap and Red Admiral of the year and so much more. I went back later in April and saw my first Sand Martins of the year, some Mandarin Ducks for the first time ever there and the Bonaparte’s Gull my first new bird of 2019.

During my week off in August I managed to do an activity I often do with my Dad go on the New Forest open top bus tour doing all three routes. It was wonderful to see the heathland and coast beauty of the blue route seeing many House Martins and grazing animals too, some great water views like the one I took of Lymington river in the tenth picture in this photoset and dramatic dark cloud above heathland scenes before a heavy shower on the green route and the vast beauty of the red route with nice Buzzards flying over the bus closely. What a brilliant way to see and appreciate my beloved wild and characteristic New Forest from an unusual perspective for me with fantastic service from the staff and a very interesting and engaging commentary.

Every year in my autumn edition of these posts (this year my eighth of these blogs) I mention our trips to the New Forest so much when talking about mushrooms, autumn leaves, pigs that are released to eat the harmful to ponies acorns in the forest commoner’s right of pannage that I enjoy in the forest each autumn and more. I don’t feel the need to repeat that here so look out for that post if you enjoyed this one. Thanks for reading.

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all-the-best-pictures · 8 years ago

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All About Eve 28.3/30

Robin: before we begin, has anyone seen this before? Any strong feelings about it?

Liz: no and no. but it has Marilyn Monroe and I love her

Robin: Until yesterday, the only thing I was aware of was the title; I'm very excited to discover it's a black and white film featuring such great actresses, I'm literally bouncing in excitement at some of these names

Nick Blake: Monroe!

Liz: 3

Robin: 2

Liz: 1

Robin: go!

Nick Blake: ACTIVATE

Liz: Bette Davis!

Robin: When i gave this a test watch yesterday, I got all excited thinking it was going to be a silent movie

Nick Blake: that was a very convincing Robot Wars impression btw

Liz: (no it wasn't)

Robin: before I realised actually my sound was off

Nick Blake: any movie's a silent movie if the sound's off

Robin: BETTE DAVIS YES I am screaming i delight

Nick Blake: My Dinner With Andre, for example

Robin: I know! We could do it silent, just for a laugh

Robin: follow the progression of cinema

Nick Blake: the writer sounds familiar, I may have seen his other stuff

Robin: HOW DARE THEY QUESTION THE PULITZER

Robin: Oh wow, the comedy in this is phenomenal already - "being an actor... it is not important you hear what he says."

Liz: "Award for Distinguished Achievement"

Liz: I like

Nick Blake: these are clearly some Men of Achievement

Robin: "Minor awards are such as for writer and director" YES, THE WRITING IN THIS FILM IS DEFINITELY GOOD

Nick Blake: this man is essential to the theatre. he must be stopped at once!

Robin: "I am critic and commentator. I am essential to the teatre." THE SHADE BEING THROWN ALL OVER

Liz: I would like to take a moment to appreciate Joseph L. Mankiewicz. I already love this film

Nick Blake: good ol' Mankie

Liz: Joe Mankie

Robin: Mankie my bro

Nick Blake: I appreciate Mankie's wits

Nick Blake: who'd a thunk it, an actor quoting Hamlet

Robin: Every second of this, of the narration and of every tiny gesture they do while on screen, is so phenomenal, they've put so much thought into it

Robin: This film already deserves Best Picture

Liz: I think this project may already be over. Best Picture Ever

Nick Blake: coming out of the gate strong like a horse made of celluloid

Nick Blake: it shall never be turned into glue

Robin: like a flammable horse made of celluloid

Liz: all horses are flammable

Nick Blake: all horses are flammable. That's their beauty and their tragedy

Robin: true true

Robin: wow, A+ hivemind you guys!!

Robin: And now, Citizen Kane herself...

Liz: this is why we're getting married

Nick Blake: there are other reasons, but those are secondary

Robin: <3 <3 <3

Robin: It's mainly for the horses

Robin: FREEZEFRAME

Robin: honestly, why did we develop cinema past this point?? It's already the best

Nick Blake: record scratch

Liz: "you're probably wondering how she got here"

Robin: man, I need to watch more black and white pictures

Nick Blake: there are some quality B/W pictures to come. for instance, The Apartment (1960) which is just A++++

Nick Blake: multiple narrators? by golly, this complicates the narrative

Robin: "Where was she? I found myself looking for a girl I'd never spoken to..." GAY GAY GAY GAY GAY

Liz: this is apparently Monroe's breakthrough role so I am PUMPED

Robin: "I've seen you so often, it took every bit of courage I could raise..." GAY GAY GAY GAY GAY

Robin: Is Monroe Margot Channing? I'm bad at recognising ppl in different roles

Nick Blake: it feels odd to me to see Monroe's breakthrough. She's so emblematic of celebrity that it seems bizarre that there was a point she wasn't famous

Liz: Miss Caswell, a minor character who has not appeared yet

Robin: Wow, so Eve has been famous for less than a year?

Robin: Harp box in the corner like a coffin

Nick Blake: "write me one about a nice, normal woman who just shoots her husband" yes, good

Liz: 10/10 would watch

Robin: I have good news for you about the musical 'Chicago'

Liz: shoots the lover, abandons the husband

Nick Blake: Chekhov's Nice Normal Woman. If she's in the play in act 1, she'd better shoot her husband in act 3

Robin: "They're never indoors long enough" Kids these days, playing outside

Nick Blake: Like and share if you remember kids confined to the salon to practice pianoforte like a good boy

Robin: "My good friend and companion" is this Actually Gay? I feel so many good vibes

Liz: all old films are gay, it is a Fact

Robin: I'm surprised to find it post-30s, I guess

Nick Blake: If I may quote Sunset Boulevard "It was gay, alright, but it was about to get REALLY FUCKIN GAY"

Nick Blake: I think I paraphrase, but still

Robin: San Francisco, yes, okay, confirmed

Robin: The way the babble overlapped just then, and then Eve being interrupted, and then dead silence... wow. That's incredible writing

Liz: I'm enjoying the classic breathy-yet-stilted exposition

Liz: lean forward at the end of every sentence to emphasise the banality

Robin: Mmm yeah, makes it old-timey even for the time. Turns this into a proper fairytale about the magic of the stage for baby Eve

Nick Blake: One night, Margo Channing came to play and then BAM gay thoughts

Liz: "there were theatres is San Francisco" WHAAAAAA?

Robin: I'm sorry, I really didn't mean to turn this into me repeating GAY over and over, but:

- offscreen husband

- she goes to SF to meet him

- husband fridged

- instead she found the woman of her dreams who brought light back into her life

Robin: BIRDIE IS A BUTCH LESBIAN, AS ALL VAUDEVILLIANS ARE

Nick Blake: I'm sorry if I upset you, it's just how dang butch I am

Robin: GAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

Liz: "what are you two, lovers?" probably

Nick Blake: "I love a psychotic" - superwholock blogger confirmed

Robin: "What are you two, lovers?" "Only in some ways." THIS MOVIE DELIVERS

Nick Blake: Only in the homosexual fashion

Nick Blake: There are probably other themes. theatre, possibly?

Liz: the theme is Eve, obviously

Liz: look at the title

Nick Blake: I thought it was All About Eaves, the Samwise Gamgee story

Robin: I really do like the Citizen Kane aspect, it looks like it really is going to be vignettes from different people about her maybe

Liz: you say Citizen Kane, I say that one scene from Mean Girls

Liz: "one time, Eve punched me in the face"

Nick Blake: Donald Duck, Ibsen and the Lone Ranger... we didn't start the fire

Robin: Loving this scene about theatre being flea circuses and cartoons too; NB, your 'non-gay theme' could be about 'what is theatre'

Robin: is it writers or is it the essential critic. broadway or television.

Robin: Her one earring is in the gay ear #confirmed

Liz: Bette Davis cannot throw, apparently

Robin: Wait, the straight ear. Oops. I take it back.

Liz: "throw that letter away" drops it but behind her head

Nick Blake: it's half about art, half about complete fascination with an individual; the impersonal and the deeply personal

Nick Blake: "Everybody can't be Gregory Peck" the attitude of a QUITTER

Robin: I like the Gregory Peck reference - I love that he's real in this fictional universe

Liz: Gregory Peck is the universal constant

Nick Blake: so Roman Holiday exists in this universe. It's a good universe.

Robin: Eve, averting her eyes from this outrageous display of heterosexuality

Robin: Wow, they're already moving in together

Nick Blake: "THE HONEYMOON WAS ON"

Robin: Hello, and welcome to our new blog 'Every Film Is Gay'

Nick Blake: If it weren't for the Hays Code, who knows how this film could have been? It's really inviting this reading in a way I wasn't expecting.

Liz: BURN THE HAYS CODE

Robin: You are going to be so happy when we reach Wings in ten years

Nick Blake: black and white is the warmest colour

Liz: quality brisk undressing there

Liz: oh no...THE UNIONS

Nick Blake: gosh darn them unions

Robin: Wardrobe mistress...

Robin: unions...

Nick Blake: a beat poem by robin

Robin: aaaw, Eve...

Nick Blake: oh no, calling a man

Robin: Do either of you know when this film is set? I suppose contemporary, if Roman Holiday exists

Nick Blake: nyet

Liz: I think the start is contemporary (read 1950)

Liz: oh ok it's based on a 1946 short story so I guess mid 40s

Nick Blake: Eve I feel may not be a good person

Robin: Mmm, if the honeymoon period is coming to a close...

Robin: I wonder how much of this is also about age - the ageing star versus the young, perfect Eve

Liz: maybe this is why Margo looked grumpy at the beginning

Robin: "a lifetime is a season; and a season, a lifetime"

Robin: much in the same way Margot is so rude to Birdie

Nick Blake: imitation is the sincerest form of I HAVE ABSORBED YOUR PHYSICAL FORM

Robin: YES loving that creepiness

Liz: she's literally wearing her old clothes...

Robin: "I'm sure that's very flattering, I'm sure there's nothing wrong with it."

Robin: BETTE DAVIS IN A SUIT THOUGH. The only thing I wanted from this film, fulfilled.

Robin: "It seems I can't think of a thing you haven't thought of." OOOOH, THE STUDENT BECOMES THE MASTER.

Liz: Eve is Anne Baxter

Liz: Bette Davis is Margo

Robin: Oops

Nick Blake: same thing

Liz: but Anne Baxter in a suit is also very good

Nick Blake: quality content

Robin: The only way this film could become better is getting these women in some trousers

Liz: ROBIN SUCH INPROPRIETY

Robin: I WANNA SEE SOME LEGS!!!

Robin: Is... is that 'french ventriloquist' joke about cunnilingus? I feel like it could be a very oblique cunnilingus joke

Liz: I googled French ventriloquist and all I found was that Britain's Got Talent dog

Robin: "I'll tell you about looking into the heart of an artichoke some snowy night in front of the fire" is what you say to someone you're about to murder

Robin: no but like... linguistics, and being good with tongues, I mean? And it was also a sex joke definitely

Liz: makes sense

Nick Blake: what is she doing with this man who is quite clearly not a lesbian

Robin: I love how Margo is really being presented as reasonable for picking up on all these things, but it still looks from the outside that she's being a ridiculous diva

Robin: and that Eve is innocent but still predatory, like a cuckoo chick

Nick Blake: that's the perfect analogy

Robin: "What about her fangs?" "She hasn't cut them yet and you know it!" Except she's currently cutting them now, on Margo!

Liz: what's Margo got against milkshakes that bitch

Nick Blake: delicious symbols of innocence

Liz: I'm 22 I want a milkshake

Robin: They're bringing boys to her yard

Nick Blake: tasty tasty childhood symbolism

Liz: but she wants girls, oh no!

Robin: Hmm, more symbolism:

Robin: - Eve taking people's clothes at the start, subservient

- Eve literally wearing Margo's clothes, donning her skin

- And now, taking ppl's coats looks like theft

Liz: It's really ridiculously well done

Liz: MARILYN

Nick Blake: "ok but this time I'm onto something" is the vibe i'm getting off Margo, which is great. It's so frustrating and fascinating

Robin: "What has, or is about to happen?" I'M GONNA MARRY THIS SCREENWRITER

Nick Blake: the first time anyone has ever said that

Robin: Wow, they got a genuine frenchman

Robin: I think I'm correct in saying "in passing" is a sex joke

Liz: has to be

Robin: "You won't bore him, you won't even get a chance to talk!" LOVE YOU, MARILYN

Robin: Margo, holding a cocktail and a cigarette and someone else's lollipop is the symbol of this film

Robin: "Play it again." HEY THERE!

Liz: do you know the story about Marilyn Monroe and pissing?

Robin: No, please tell it

Nick Blake: "I AM DYING HERE ARE MY BURIAL REQUESTS" - Margo with the sad twitter aesthettic

Liz: ok so when she was dating Arthur Miller she went with him to meet his mother, needed the toilet, and turned on the taps to cover the sound

Liz: the mother later said she was a "wonderful girl, but she pisses like a horse"

Robin: YES, I LOVE THAT STORY

Robin: There's something wonderfully meta about a film with an aspiring actress featuring Marilyn Monroe as an aspiring actress

Liz: I'm always suspicious of films about actors etc. but this is top quality

Robin: Old Hollywood was remarkably self aware

Nick Blake: I think films about actors/films/theatre should be rationed. So maybe 2 per director. You need a special permit for fourth wall breaking.

Nick Blake: Mankie's cool, he's got it right. But we need a system.

Robin: I endorse that statement

Liz: I always wondered, what order are the other walls in?

Liz: I'd probably put the back as the first wall but then which?

Robin: left, back, right, fourth?

Nick Blake: they all vie for position. It's a tough gig.

Robin: No, right, back, left, fourth. The door is on the right in all sitcoms.

Liz: that's true actually, I never noticed

Liz: ok that order wins

Robin: 1950 AND BETTE DAVIS IS CALLING OUT HOW ALL FEMALE PROTAGS ARE WAY TOO YOUNG

Robin: BETTE DAVIS, THE HERO WE NEED TODAY

Liz: YES

Liz: "I'll wear rompers and come in rolling a hoop" sass central

Nick Blake: that's my business wear

Robin: Eve is almost vampiric, isn't she? Her youth feels eternal since she too young to worry about age yet, and she is stealing Margo's lifeblood...

Nick Blake: she bite

Nick Blake: oh no

Liz: yeah it's quite interesting how much of the events are incidental to the story they're telling mostly visually

Liz: I think Marilyn might be being set up as a rival too

Robin: Sable//Gable, actors as objects

Nick Blake: "I've listened backstage to people applaud"... I think this is the key line of it

Robin: I really like this scene of two men pontificating on the stairs, and the women not merely absorbing it, but weaponising it?

Robin: Writer and critic talking about how to get ahead, while Marilyn and Eve sharpen their pickaxes and take notes

Robin: OOOOF I LOVE THIS

Nick Blake: it's marvellous just how angry Margo gets

Robin: Margo who came up in vaudeville sounding off against her friend who went to Radcliffe

Robin: Margo, so far the only one Eve has been feeding off, not understanding how no one else can see what's lurkin in the shadows

Robin: I love her

Nick Blake: she's haunted

Robin: Yes!!!

Liz: It's almost Gothic isn't it

Robin: Hitchcockian

Nick Blake: yep, Eve is her gothic double!

Robin: Yes! Eve is the Dorian Grey to her portrait

Liz: tragic heroine. mysterious draining force. double. everyone else ignoring what's happening

Liz: this is a gothic film and I'll fight anyone who denies it

Robin: And I do think she's completely innocent, Eve is, it's just that her youth and her eagerness is by definition a danger

Liz: idk I think the phonecall thing was intentional

Liz: she's trying to find a quick way to the top using Margo as a stepping stone

Nick Blake: This is a tragedy; either the brilliant Margo is exploited by a cunning trickster, or Eve is just inherently vampiric. The tragedy is either Margo's or Eve's

Robin: Love also how all those paintings (of Margo, I think?) are Ye Olde, really puts her as a symbol of the past

Robin: 'Eve is new and unpregnant'; 'I must start wearing a watch, I never have, you know!' Every line gets more and more sinister as the film goes on

Robin: "In TIME she'll be what you are" oof!

Robin: "He listened to his play as if it had been written by someone else..." Eve is stealing the play too! This is incredible!

Liz: oooh she's fighting back!

Liz: I think this confirms my gothic theory. she's fighting back against the enemy and being essentially called paranoid

Robin: Yes yes yes

Robin: Also wonderfully calling out "Hey, don't you think it's odd the way women's ages are represented in fiction?" and being told she doesn't understand and is missing the point

Liz: especially with the repeated referring to Margo as a tool or an instrument

Robin: Bette Davis putting out her cigarette defiantly on the stage is my sexuality

Nick Blake: it's very interesting how the writers and critics are men. They're interpreting and critiquing the actions of the women, putting them into context or twisting them.

Liz: oh god it's about sexism and ageism, not just gay

Robin: yesssss

Nick Blake: "a body with a voice"

Robin: It's terrifying - he's holding her down like a bad psychiatric doctor; and it's a position/framing that could be sexual, except we've never seen them interact sexually on screen, it's only been referenced

Robin: what a film

Robin: The thing is, what the man is saying is true? She is great and talented and at the peak of her career etc

Nick Blake: "I told you how to view things, will you comply woman?"

Robin: but she lives in her real world and is talking about the real truth that she is Too Old

Liz: "I don't like your explanation. Tell me what's happening"

Robin: THE SHOT OF HER CRYING ON A BED, AND ZOOMING OUT TO SHOW IT'S A BED ON A STAGE

Robin: Ooof, the man talking about how Margo knew Eve was her understudy when she came in and acted all shocked, therefore her shock must have been an act - it was an act! she was fighting! how could he not see, not interpret her technique correctly!

Robin: Men.

Nick Blake: Eve doesn't have to do anything, she's just way easier to work with now than Margo who is so angry

Robin: yup

Robin: "What time is it?" "When you asked a minute ago, it was..." Time is so good in this

Nick Blake: mortalityyyyyy

Liz: almost crashing and stranded in the snow? DEATH

Liz: HOW MUCH TIME HAVE WE GOT

Liz: "I detest cheap sentiment" No Margo it's because it's the song from the party isn't it

Robin: Did cigarettes kill you in 1950 or were they still recommended by the Surgeon General? Did they age you, at least?

Robin: Bc I think Margo is the only one we've seen smoking...

Robin: Oooof yeah, I didn't catch that about the song!

Robin: "I want him to love me, not Margo Channing." THIS IS THE BEST FILM EVER

Liz: Apparently the official warning was 1964

Liz: but there were lots of reports before that from the 20s

Robin: Interesting

Liz: so I guess in the 40s it'd be a "maybe you shouldn't. maybe?"

Robin: "Gender is performative" - Bette Davis, 1950

Robin: I love Margo recognising that Eve isn't the problem, it's what Eve symbolises, but that a symbol can be dangerous in and of itself

Liz: oh god there's so much sabotage going on though

Robin: YES

Liz: and this was definitely all the friend's doing

Liz: but was she sabotaging Margo on purpose or just giving Eve a little chance?

Robin: Mmm, that and at the very start - Margo didn't want to meet a fan, but the friend wanted Eve to have a chance

Robin: UMM, I CAN'T TELL THE MEN APART, BUT ISN'T THIS THE ONE WHO IS IN LOVE WITH MARGO

Liz: YES

Robin: EVE NO

Liz: AND EVE KNOWS IT

Robin: EVE MY FEELINGS ABOUT YOU ARE CHANGING

Liz: BILL YOU ARE THE ONLY GUY NOT TO CHEAT WITH THE YOUNGER MODEL IN A FILM AND I SALUTE YOU

Robin: Yeah, but I'm not a huge fan of his reasoning being "I don't like a forward woman"

Robin: it should have been more along the lines of "MARGO AND I ARE TOGETHER"

Liz: well no, but nobody's perfect, and especially not 40s/50s men

Robin: hdu, Casablanca had already come out at this point

Nick Blake: I like Dewitt's turns of phrase

Liz: Rick is an outlier and should not be counted

Robin: Dewitt wants her to leave her bathroom door open a bit, and as a human being I am deeply uncomfortable

Liz: at least she's not actually...going

Robin: "An oasis of civilisation in the desert..." uuuhhhhh

Nick Blake: Eddie Lastname

Robin: OH he's catching her on her lies and that won't be a real theatre/husband

Robin: I thought he was just really bad at knowing things about San Francisco

Liz: implies she shed his name too, which would also be interesting

Robin: oooh yes!!

Liz: since he died in the war...

Nick Blake: he died of LIES

Robin: That adds to the performativity of her being a woman - not an innocent wife and widow, but someone self-driven and playing that up to be alluring even though she already cast him aside

Liz: THIS FILM IS SO GOOD I LOVE YOU JOE MANKY WHEREVER YOU ARE

Robin: //opinions on the film do not reflect my real feelings about human women who change their names

Robin: YES JOE MANKEY THANK YOU

Liz: I like that you spell it like the Pokémon not the adjective

Robin: Pokémon are the only screenwriters I trust

Liz: we are buffering

Robin: I paused at "what are the differences between theatre and civilisation"

Robin: which is wowza

Liz: we're at reading the newspaper "vigour of which they retain but a dim memory"

Robin: Okay, tell me when you get to civilisation!

Nick Blake: eggs

Liz: I'm thinking it might be good it when we do our ratings it's kind of a box quote thing?

Liz: words words words x out of 10

Nick Blake: nice

Robin: Yeah, that sounds good!

Liz: go

Nick Blake: civilisation!

Liz: I love when people smack newspapers in things

Nick Blake: what did the newspaper do

Liz: supported eve

Nick Blake: o no

Robin: Bill called it filth! Bill gets points back!

Liz: oh god

Liz: Eve

Nick Blake: top quality Bill

Liz: the original betrayer

Liz: YOU GUYYYYYS

Robin: EVE THE ORIGINAL BETRAYER!!!!!!!!

Robin: I was thinking all this time "Eve the original woman" but BETRAYER

Nick Blake: woooooah

Robin: Who's the serpent? Fame/theatre, or the friend, or...

Liz: I think the friend

Robin: "Eve would never ask to be in a play like that!" She would never ask...

Liz: Eve seems genuinely quiet and shy at the start, even if her backstory is a lie

Liz: although maybe Eve is the serpent

Liz: tricking the friend in betraying Margo

Robin: Yeah, I'm feeling that way too

Robin: The friend is so interesting - I'm thinking of Lyra in HDM, how she was a betrayer without meaning to be

Liz: Yes so much that

Robin: innocently leading her friend to his death

Robin: It's incredible how the movie is changing my opinions of Eve so effectively, I was completely on her side at the start and now I'm reevaluating my entire life

Robin: "In a cathedral or a ball park or a penny arcade..." He's talking about love the same way he talked about theatre at the start

Robin: I do like Bill

Nick Blake: same thing #makeuthink

Robin: Oooooooooo

Robin: MARGO GONNA GLASS EVE IN THE FACE WITH A CHAMPAGNE BOTTLE IN THE BATHROOM

Robin: I'M LIVING

Liz: god that'd be so good

Liz: the classiest thug

Robin: Karen marching straight past Dewitt without looking. Blood in the air.

Liz: did she just fucking bite a bone or is black and white making veg look like bone?

Robin: I CAN'T BELIEVE BETTE DAVIS JUST BIT A MAN'S DICK OFF

Robin: I think it was celery

Nick Blake: wowsers

Robin: This movie is such #lifegoals

Liz: I think the key is to be Margo but deck Eve early on

Robin: "Don't treat me as if I was the queen mother" - she's repeating what she criticised Margo for saying. Battle lines being drawn.

Robin: Eve's face and makeup is so intent and villainous here - a real change from her in a wet raincoat at the start

Robin: Local Girl Gets Makeover And Turns Evil

Liz: it's a tale as old as time

Liz: song as old as rhyme

Liz: don't trust fucking Eve

Nick Blake: biting off a dick

Robin: And now Eve is drawing the friend back into her fold!

Robin: This is the best chess game I've ever seen

Liz: This isn't chess this is Kal-toh

Nick Blake: reminds me of the TV Hannibal - doesn't have to say what you should do, just quietly manipulates people into saying the thing and doing the thing. no culpability

Robin: "It might have been Margo's fifteen years ago, but it's my part now!" Looking up from below, black dress//white dress, holding her hand, winged eyeliner - it looks absolutely like a deal being made with the devil

Robin: AND NOW THE BLACKMAIL BEGINS

Robin: HOLY SHIT

Liz: mmmm humble pie

Robin: :D

Robin: Shut Up About Eve, the movie

Robin: I love all the references to the title

Robin: They're all master-level

Nick Blake: it was arrested development

Robin: Eve//Evil

Liz: I think I need to see more Mankiewicz

Robin: "It means I've got a life to live, I don't have to play parts I'm too old for." I want to watch this film a thousand times, just to see more of Margo

Nick Blake: I can guess what rating you're going to give it

Robin: You're not allowed to guess, I'm an international man of mystery

Liz: gay out of sassy

Nick Blake: save it for the Austin Powers episode

Robin: Seperate beds - a comment on the relationship, or sustaining the Hays Code?

Robin: EVE IS STEALING YET ANOTHER MAN

Liz: I'd guess relationship

Robin: BREAKING FRIENDSHIPS

Liz: Hays code separate beds tend to be next to each other

Robin: LURKING IN THE SHADOWS

Robin: that's true, that's true!!

Liz: oh that's some quality green screen

Nick Blake: Yes We Are Really Walking Down a Street

Liz: No That's Not My Perfectly Flat Shadow

Nick Blake: that's my butt

Robin: Very good cut though, of them awkwardly "walking into a building" and then having them walking out of an elevator - carries the movement but doesn't make it seem completely false because there has been spacial disconnect

Liz: yeah that was just bad

Nick Blake: I feel like the film started happy and gay, and it's ending sad and straight

Robin: DEWITT IS COMING FOR LOUISA MAY ALCOTT AND HE IS MY ENEMY

Liz: WHO IS LOUISA MAY ALCOTT

Robin: Wrote Little Women and also some sickass trashy scifi about throwing people into volcanos and pirates and stuff

Liz: ah ok cool

Robin: Mainly known for Little Women

Nick Blake: I can imagine being thrown into a volcano, but being thrown into a pirate is altogether beyond me

Liz: like a javelin

Liz: or a dart

Robin: Something wonderful about Eve's convo with Dewitt here - he uses his words as a weapon, and she's doing the same. Like two devils meeting.

Robin: "Killer to killer." "Champion to champion."

Nick Blake: "yes I am a critic therefore i'm going to hell"

Liz: I think killer is appropriate. They can both kill people's careers in different ways

Robin: Yes!!

Nick Blake: "you will belong to me" fucking hell

Robin: "you will belong to me" is a mix of sexism/wedding, and also of the sataic contracts that keep popping up

Robin: UUUH

Robin: DEWITT

Robin: GO FUCK YOURSELF

Liz: good post-slap face though

Nick Blake: All About Gertrude

Liz: Not a great name...

Liz: "Dead Heroes and The Women Who Loved Them"

Nick Blake: "Dead Heroes and the Women Who Loved Them", a paperback by Addison Dewitt

Robin: I read that as "dead horses"

Liz: also that

Nick Blake: Society says neigh, but their hearts say yes

Robin: "desire to love and to be loved" - interesting words from a critic, whose job is cruelty

Liz: I thought it was inability to love and be loved?

Nick Blake: if the critic can possess Eve he can possess theatre

Robin: oh, I must have misheard! That's much better!

Liz: also appropriate mind, but in a smaller way

Liz: oh it's now again

Nick Blake: aaaand we're up to the opening

Nick Blake: I feel like someone's going to die

Liz: there are guns behind her. symbolic?

Robin: The fact her whole story was fake makes it very different, the feeling when she told it how it was like a monologue from a film ten years before

Robin: GOOD EYE FOR CHECKOV'S GUN!!

Liz: I was thinking more like she'll get old eventually and be displaced by the next Eve

Robin: Yessssss

Nick Blake: it feels like her shoutouts are veiled threats

Liz: oh without a doubt

Robin: Fascinating how all the women are uncomfortable with being Eve's friend - and Bill, I suppose, who is an honourary woman by way of being a respectful and caring spouse - and all the men are seduced

Liz: I wouldn't say she seduced Addison

Robin: Mmm yeah, she lost the war on that one

Robin: She tried, but he won

Robin: I'LL BE BACK TO CLAIM IT

Liz: terminator voice

Nick Blake: "If you want me back" - the self-effacing manipulator strikes again

Robin: Interesting too that this is a film about theatre - Eve is leaving Broadway for Hollywood, Marilyn is leaving theatre for TV (which is like film but less classy)

Liz: SICK BURN MARGO

Robin: new overtaking the old

Robin: Eve talking about how the party is for the award and not for her - like Margo was saying in the car

Liz: she won, but she's still ultimately a prop

Nick Blake: thought - was Margo once an Eve?

Robin: I think so? She came up via vaudeville, but it sounds like she did the second act while Birdie - aged, over the hill - did the first act

Nick Blake: she was so angry and upset because she saw the moves that she once tried, and that means it's over

Nick Blake: the cycle continues

Robin: HERE WE GO HERE WE GO HERE WE GO

Liz: HERE WE FUCKING GO

Robin: YEAH!!!!!!!!

Robin: Extremely stalkerish behaviour, but please, it's a compliment!

Liz: It's ok because I made a club about you

Robin: "Of course, they're just movie stars..." but Eve is going to hollywood and will elevate it

Robin: Remember how Eve put Margo's affairs in order? And now here, New Kid is cleaning Eve's carpet even though Eve is so tired and the maid will get it in the morning

Liz: yeah that was quick

Robin: SYMBOLISM OF NEW KID BEING HANDED THE AWARD, HOLY SHIT

Liz: FAKE NAME, ADDISON GETTING INVOLVED

Robin: Eve looks like she's aged ten years since she picked that award up

Liz: trying on the cape like she tried the dress!!!

Robin: Yes!!!!

Robin: amazing mirror placement

Liz: she looks like the evil queen

Nick Blake: it's like a coronation or wedding

Robin: Who is Phoebe? The moon? The moon is also virginity and innocence, much like Eve in the garden

Liz: oh god oh god oh god

Liz: HOLY MOTHERFUCKING SHITBALLS BOX QUOTES GO

Nick Blake: A very well crafted film about theatre, obsession, fame, men and women and many other things. Its only drawback is being a tad on the long side.

Nick Blake: 9/10

Liz: A lesson in visual storytelling. 9.3/10

Robin: Absolutely incredible film; I had high hopes and it surpassed them by miles. I want to watch it a million times to soak in every detail. The acting, the WRITING, the cinematography, it was all absolutely phenomenal. I want to write a book about this movie. I feel very bad starting out so high in this grand experiment, but I can't give it anything less than a 10 -- it had so many incredible things that I love and adore and had wonderful, complex heroines and villains, all about excellent women and wonderfully presented. No faults. 10/10

Liz: That's a big box

Robin: shit I don't actually know what a boxquote is. should it be shorter.

Liz: All About Eve: 28.3 out of 30

Robin: Surpassed my highest hopes with its wonderful writing and acting. Incredible and complex female characters. 10/10

Liz: That was so fun!

Robin: Yeah!! I really enjoyed it!!

Robin: One question, to include or not: Do you think this film could be remade/rereleased today? With the same script and everything? It's put together so wonderfully, every line has a purpose

Liz: I honestly don't like remakes as a rule and the stuff I'd change is very minor

Liz: (Also next month is All Quiet on the Western Front, so that'll be fun)

Nick Blake: I fear what would happen to the motivations of characters. Eve would be a rote psychotic character rather than a clever manipulator

Liz: that's true

Liz: a lot of what they do is interesting in part because it was the 40s

Nick Blake: based on a true story

Nick Blake: originated in an anecdote told to Mary Orr by Elisabeth Bergner

Robin: I think my favourite moment in this film, in retrospect, was Eve's life story at the start - bc it felt like a 40s emotional monologue, which must have been a little dated even by 1950, so it would have felt very much like a performance to viewers

Nick Blake: became a short story by Orr which Mankie then went "yeah i'll make this"

Robin: and idk if that would translate to now. It's a perfect film of the time

Robin: ooooooh, interesting!!!!

Nick Blake: there's specifics about the war dead which makes it hard to alter - the fake WW2 dead husband

Liz: idk there's always wars

Robin: Her husband could still have fake died in WWII, it'd just make her Definitely A Vampire

Nick Blake: but the bodycounts are different, each one's on the news

Liz: could update it a bit and say Vietnam

Robin: No one remembers each name though - you'd have to check, like Dewitt did

Liz: or, killed in a terrorist attack

Liz: go full on and say 9/11

Nick Blake: "I was working in a brewery when my husband 9/11ed"

Robin: GOSH

Robin: You know that's an actual thing?

Robin: One of the heads of, I don't remember whether it was 9/11 survivors or if it was widows, but had no connection with 9/11 at all, built a whole false identity around it

Robin: And it would gain instant sympathy

Liz: oh god I saw that

Nick Blake: how you remake it - lean into the contemporary elements. Young woman with tragic backstory goes viral, receives help from an Ellen-type figure. Whole thing was fake and she's trying to usurp her.

Robin: Yeah; it wouldn't be theatre, but something else

#all about eve #all the best pictures

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josephkitchen0 · 6 years ago

Text

The Polish Chicken: “The Royalty of Poultry”

By Terry Beebe – The Poland is a unique breed of poultry. It has various names worldwide, which include Padua and Polish chicken and although all of these names would lead you to believe that the breed originated from the country Poland this has never been proved.

It is believed that the breed originally came from Eastern Europe and possibly Russia but again this is all still speculation. What is fact is that the oldest reference found to date is the stone statue in the Vatican which bears a very close resemblance to a crested fowl.

Another discovery was in a Roman archaeological dig in the south of England where a skull from a bird was discovered and was exactly the same as the skull on today’s Poland breed. It therefore suggests that the Polish chicken did originate from this area and was imported into the U.K. by the Romans. This also suggests that the breed is possibly one of the oldest in existence today.

Anyway, enough history but it does give a basic insight into how important it is to keep this stunning breed alive and also that the future and protection of this and many other rare poultry breeds need to be conserved.

Over the last 17 years, my wife and I have been devoted to-and obsessed by-the Polish chicken. This breed is what I class as the “Royalty of Poultry.” It is, without doubt, one of the most stunning of all poultry breeds, the crest is its crowning glory and sets it apart from any other breed. The crest is what causes the fascination and interest in Poland. The times we have been asked, “where are its eyes” with the answer they are under there somewhere always creates even more gasps of delight, especially from the public who have never seen this breed before.

There is another enormous plus to the Polish chicken breed and that is the color variation which is, to say the least, quite vast. Not only do we have plain, laced, and white crested, but also they vary in large, bantam, non-bearded, bearded, and last but not least, a frizzle feathered variety.

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Basic Description

The Polish chicken is classed as a soft feather lighter breed and this description does mean exactly what it says, they are no use as a meat bird and although they do lay a decent white egg they are not a prolific layer. Another major point to remember is that Polish chickens are also non-sitters, meaning that you either use another broody as a surrogate mother or artificial incubation. There is the very rare occasion when the hen will sit for the full term but I have found that even if she hatches the chicks as soon as they appear they are killed without mercy, and to me is not worth the risk.

All breeds love to perch including this Silver Laced Poland bantam.

Range of Colors

The range of colors is quite extensive. The most popular are the White Crested variety: these come in black, blue, and cuckoo. There are also buff and partridge available but these are rare and not standardized as a color. By standardized, I mean that the color has been accepted by poultry clubs around the world as a recognized color variation for the breed.

We have the self or plain colors of which there are white, black, blue, and cuckoo. All of these colors are the same color all over the body including the head.

This White Crested Black exhibition bird won many shows and is now used for breeding.

The laced varieties are also the same color over the whole of the body and these are available in gold, chamois, and silver. These colors are very striking and have black or white lacing subject to color. These are possibly the most popular with the keeper who just wants beautiful birds for the garden, although the exhibition versions have to be seen to be believed.

Without going into detail, of all the variations these are the most popular, and the ones which are the most available. All the above come in a large also a small and useful bantam version with both sizes also being bred in the frizzle feathered variety.

There are a large number of breeders worldwide but in the U.S. they are well-represented by the Polish Breeders Club. I spent a weekend in November 2006 at the Crossroads of America Poultry Show, where this club had over 340 Polish chickens of all types on display. The atmosphere at the show was excellent and a good weekend was had by all. Even if the exhibition side of poultry is not of any interest to you, joining the club is a very good idea for an unlimited supply of information and help. Membership is open to everyone and there are newsletters and information available to all members.

This is a pair of Self White Poland bantams. One plain feather and one frizzle.

Care & Maintenance

The Polish chicken is kept all over the world by an ever-increasing selection of very serious breeders. The breed is what needs to be classed as high maintenance, but over the last few years, there has been a large increase in the number of people who want to keep the Polish chicken for its appearance and ornamental value. Thankfully all this adds to the future conservation of the breed.

As a breed of chicken, the birds are quite hardy and resilient but there is a definite need for more care and attention with the keeping of these birds. Certain things are really best avoided, one of which is mixing Polish chickens with any other non-crested breed. This is definitely not a good idea. There is also the fact that they are not really suitable to be allowed to run outside in all weather. Again, this is asking for trouble and problems. The main reason for both these points is the fact that with the crest of the Polish chicken being quite large, it does create a disadvantage when dealing with other breeds. I have seen the results on many occasions of crest pecking and in some cases, this can prove to be fatal. As for being outside in bad weather, when the crest becomes wet and dirty it can lead to both eye infections and the lack of ability to see to eat and drink, and the results can be fatal. Do not let any of these problems put you off from keeping the breed but I feel that these potential problems need to be addressed. This not only saves the birds from unnecessary suffering but also saves the owner from being upset if a loss does occur.

A very rare trio of Self White Frizzle Poland bantams.

Crest Care

This is quite easy to achieve. If the birds can be kept in a fully covered chicken run and coop, then over half the problems will be solved. Keeping the crest dry and clean is the most important part of this maintenance. If the crest does get soiled it is easy enough to wash and then dry. Do this with care and gently but this is really the only way to help keep them clean. The use of a good insect repellent sprayed into the crest feathers helps to keep away the crest mites which do appear if these practices are not carried out. The way you can tell if the mites are in the crest is the formation of a black dust-like appearance down near the base of the crest feathers. This needs to be cleaned and must not be left. If you leave these mites on chickens and the infestation gets really excessive, they get into the bird’s ears and eyes and will cause permanent damage. Again prevention is far better than cure. One note I will add is that whatever spray you use, make sure that the eyes and nose are protected and the spray does not get anywhere near the bird’s face. Common sense, I know, but a warning has to be made.

Wrapping the bird in a towel to wash prevents struggling and unnecessary stress to the bird.

Wash the head for both exhibition and to keep the head mites clear and under control.

This Poland White Crested has a bad crest that is flat, split and loose.

Drinkers and Feeders

To pick the best feeder and waterer for your Polish chickens, always take into account the crest. This is another way the birds get the crest both wet and dirty. A narrow lipped drinker preferably made from a smooth plastic is, in my opinion, the best product for the job. They not only help keep the crest out of the water but also does not damage the crest as it rubs on the side of the drinker.

With metal galvanized drinkers they can tend to go rough and also can stain the crest as the birds are using them. The use of open drinkers is definitely not recommended under any circumstances.

Feeders can be described in the same way as the drinker but I also recommend the use of pellets and not mash. The reason is that the dust from the mash can, and does, affect the eyes on the Polish chicken. The dust gets under the crest and always seems to find its way into the eyes, sometimes with terrible results.

Bedding

This is also another item to consider but as with all breeds of poultry, I really do think the use of dust free shavings is the best bedding for chickens. The dust affects the respiratory system on any breed, but with the Polish chicken, it is the eyes as well as the respiratory which we are trying to protect.

Sylvia Babus, President of the Polish Breeders Club in the U.S. visits Terry at his home in the United Kingdom.

Do you have any Polish chickens in your coop? We’d love to hear your experiences with them!

Originally published in the April/May 2007 issue of Backyard Poultry and regularly vetted for accuracy.

The Polish Chicken: “The Royalty of Poultry” was originally posted by All About Chickens

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josephkitchen0 · 7 years ago

Text

The Polish Chicken: “The Royalty of Poultry”

By Terry Beebe – The Poland is a unique breed of poultry. It has various names worldwide which include Padua and Polish chicken and although all of these names would lead you to believe that the breed originated from the country Poland this has never been proved.

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Basic Description

All breeds love to perch including this Silver Laced Poland bantam.

Range of Colors

We have the self or plain colors of which there are white, black, blue, and cuckoo. All of these colors are the same color all over the body including the head.

This White Crested Black exhibition bird won many shows and is now used for breeding.

This is a pair of Self White Poland bantams. One plain feather and one frizzle offers a comparison.

Care & Maintenance

A very rare trio of Self White Frizzle Poland bantams.

Crest Care

Wrapping the bird in a towel to wash prevents struggling and unnecessary stress to the bird.

Wash the head for both exhibition and to keep the head mites clear and under control.

This Poland White Crested has a bad crest that is flat, split and loose.

Drinkers and Feeders

With metal galvanized drinkers they can tend to go rough and also can stain the crest as the birds are using them. The use of open drinkers is definitely not recommended under any circumstances.

Bedding

Sylvia Babus, President of the Polish Breeders Club in the U.S. visits Terry at his home in the United Kingdom.

To join the Polish Breeders Club, send $10 member or $15 family, for one year to:

Polish Breeders Club Jim Parker RR6, 3232 Schooler Rd. Cridersville, OH 45806 e-mail: [email protected]

Do you have any Polish chickens in your coop? We’d love to hear your experiences with them!

Originally published in the April/May 2007 issue of Backyard Poultry and regularly vetted for accuracy.

The Polish Chicken: “The Royalty of Poultry” was originally posted by All About Chickens

0 notes