#simon mckay

[kenpiercemedia]

Breaking News: Canada's The Agonist Has Disbanded

The Facebook Announcement: Dear friends, it’s time to make a very difficult but necessary announcement. We have decided that The Agonist as a band, has come to an end. Much deliberation and care has been put into making this decision, and unfortunately, given the circumstances, this is the conclusion that makes the most sense for the band and us as individuals. There are many factors that led to…

[nerds-yearbook]

Star Trek Beyond premiered on July 22, 2016. The film was dedicated to Anton Yelchin (Chekov), who died a month before the film's release. The film was used to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Star Trek franchise. It was the first theatrical release that protrayed Sulu (John Cho) as being gay, which created some controversy. The move was meant as a tribute to the original Sulu (George Takei), who is a prominent gay man and gay rights advocate. However, Takei responded “I’m delighted that there’s a gay character,” he was quoted by The Hollywood Reporter. “Unfortunately, it’s a twisting of Gene’s creation, to which he put in so much thought. I think it’s really unfortunate.” J.J. Abrams handed over directing duties to Justin Lin as he was busy directing Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens. Simon Pegg (Scotty) co-wrote it with Doug Jung, Roberto Orci, Patrick McKay, and John D Payne. The film was nominated for numerous awards, but only won a Saturn Award for Best Make-Up. The film underperformed at the box office losing approximately 50.5 million dollars. The events of the film took place in March of 2263.

[chuckbbirdsjunk]

[deadpresidents]

I think you kinda covered it in the Presidential elections, but maybe biographies on failed Presidential candidates? I know there was a notable one on Romney that came out last year. I'd imagine maybe some candidates like Ross Perot, Bob Dole, John Kerry (snore), or John McCain would have biographies.

The Romney book you mentioned that came out in October is definitely work checking out: Romney: A Reckoning by McKay Coppins (BOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO). Romney gave Coppins incredible access -- not just when it came to extensive interviews with him and his family and his aides, but also by giving Coppins free reign to explore his personal journals, his archives, and his private e-mails. Romney obviously had a safe seat and decided that he would be retiring soon anyway, but that's still unprecedented access for a major incumbent political figure to give to a journalist. It's a really interesting book because you get a sense that Romney is somewhat tormented by his role in modern Republican politics and his inability to turn his political party back towards what it was when Romney was Governor of Massachusetts or even when his father was Governor of Michigan.

[tinyreviews]

Must Watch if you are curious about Stephen Hawking. It’s a good, emotional story. I am super curious about the polyamorous relationship but I think it is in service to the story not to make it play a bigger part.

The Theory of Everything is a 2014 biographical romantic drama film directed by James Marsh. It was adapted by Anthony McCarten from the 2007 memoir Travelling to Infinity: My Life with Stephen by Jane Hawking. It stars Eddie Redmayne and Felicity Jones, with Charlie Cox, Emily Watson, Simon McBurney, Christian McKay, Harry Lloyd, and David Thewlis.

[kwebtv]

Series Premiere

Adventures in Paradise - The Pit of Silence - ABC - October 5, 1959

Action Adventure

Running Time: 60 minutes

Written by John Kneubuhl*

Produced by Richard Goldstone

Directed by Paul Stanley

Stars:

Gardner McKay as Adam Troy

Weaver Levy as Oliver Lee

Teresa Wright as Emily Forbes

Hazel Court as Laura McLeish

Robert F. Simon as Ned Hogue

Margo as Mrs. Hogue

Noel Drayton as Fred McLeish

Peter Gordon as Eric Byram

Leo Richmond as Island Chief

Michael Allinson as Police Commissioner

Robert Castile as Islander

*John Kneubuhl was the writer who created the character of Dr. Miguelito Loveless for the TV western series "The Wild Wild West"

[roguestorm]

Dr. Ewing doing a Kitty&Emma as co-teachers comic… I am exactly the target audience of Exceptional X-Men.

[theambitiouswoman]

Book Recommendations 📚📒

Business and Leadership:

"Good to Great" by Jim Collins

"The Lean Startup" by Eric Ries

"Zero to One" by Peter Thiel

"Leaders Eat Last" by Simon Sinek

"Outliers: The Story of Success" by Malcolm Gladwell

Success and Personal Development:

"The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People" by Stephen R. Covey

"Mindset: The New Psychology of Success" by Carol S. Dweck

"Atomic Habits" by James Clear

"Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance" by Angela Duckworth

"The Power of Habit" by Charles Duhigg

Mental Health and Well-being:

"The Power of Now" by Eckhart Tolle

"Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy" by David D. Burns

"The Gifts of Imperfection" by Brené Brown

"The Anxiety and Phobia Workbook" by Edmund J. Bourne

"The Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills Workbook" by Matthew McKay, Jeffrey C. Wood, and Jeffrey Brantley

Goal Setting and Achievement:

"Goals!: How to Get Everything You Want—Faster Than You Ever Thought Possible" by Brian Tracy

"The 12 Week Year" by Brian P. Moran and Michael Lennington

"Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us" by Daniel H. Pink

"The One Thing" by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan

"Smarter Faster Better" by Charles Duhigg

Relationships and Communication:

"How to Win Friends and Influence People" by Dale Carnegie

"The 5 Love Languages" by Gary Chapman

"Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High" by Al Switzler, Joseph Grenny, and Ron McMillan

"Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life" by Marshall B. Rosenberg

"Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus" by John Gray

Self-Help and Personal Growth:

"The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck" by Mark Manson

"Daring Greatly" by Brené Brown

"Awaken the Giant Within" by Tony Robbins

"The Miracle Morning" by Hal Elrod

"You Are a Badass" by Jen Sincero

Science and Popular Science:

"Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind" by Yuval Noah Harari

"The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot

"Cosmos" by Carl Sagan

"A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson

"The Selfish Gene" by Richard Dawkins

Health and Nutrition:

"The China Study" by T. Colin Campbell and Thomas M. Campbell II

"In Defense of Food" by Michael Pollan

"Why We Sleep" by Matthew Walker

"Born to Run" by Christopher McDougall

"The Omnivore's Dilemma" by Michael Pollan

Fiction and Literature:

"To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee

"1984" by George Orwell

"The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald

"The Catcher in the Rye" by J.D. Salinger

"Pride and Prejudice" by Jane Austen

[battyaboutbooksreviews]

🐈‍⬛ Queer Witchlit for Spooky Season

✨ Witch please (add these witch reads to your TBR, perfect for spooky season)! Posting this from my first Pride!!

🧹 Spells to Forget Us - Aislinn Brophy 🧹 Reverie - Ryan La Sala 🧹 The Witch Boy - Molly Knox Ostertag 🧹 Carry On - Rainbow Rowell 🧹 Practical Rules for Cursed Witches - Kayla Cottingham 🧹 Spell Bound - F.T. Lukens

✨ This Spells Disaster - Tori Anne Martin ✨ All the Bad Apples - Moïra Fowley-Doyle ✨ Her Majesty's Royal Coven - Juno Dawson ✨ A Marvellous Light - Freya Marske ✨ Runaways - Rainbow Rowell ✨ Mortal Follies - Alexis Hall

🐈‍⬛ Blood Debts - Terry J. Benton-Walker 🐈‍⬛ The Scapegracers - H. A. Clarke 🐈‍⬛ So Witches We Became - Jill Baguchinsky 🐈‍⬛ Three Dark Crowns - Kendare Blake 🐈‍⬛ B*WITCH - Nancy Ohlin and Paige McKenzie 🐈‍⬛ Remedial Magic - Melissa Marr

🧹 Witchlight - Jessi Zabarsky 🧹 The Dark Tide - Alicia Jasinska 🧹 Coven - Jennifer Dugan & Kit Seaton 🧹 Payback's a Witch - Lana Harper 🧹 These Witches Don't Burn - Isabel Sterling 🧹 Toil & Trouble: 15 Tales of Women & Witchcraft - Various

✨ Mooncakes - Suzanne Walker & Wendy Xu ✨ Summer of Salt - Katrina Leno ✨ The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea - Maggie Tokuda-Hall ✨ Basil and Oregano - Melissa Capriglione ✨ The Once and Future Witches - Alix E. Harrow ✨ Spell on Wheels - Kate Leth

🐈‍⬛ An Academy for Liars - Alexis Henderson 🐈‍⬛ Over My Dead Body - Sweeney Boo 🐈‍⬛ Wild and Wicked Things - Francesca May 🐈‍⬛ A Sweet Sting of Salt - Rose Sutherland 🐈‍⬛ The Last Sun - K. D. Edwards 🐈‍⬛ The Witches of New York - Ami McKay

🧹 The Midnight Girls - Alicia Jasinska 🧹 The Witchery - S. Isabelle 🧹 The Spells We Cast - Jason June 🧹 Now, Conjurers - Freddie Kölsch 🧹 Cemetery Boys - Aiden Thomas 🧹 That Self-Same Metal - Brittany N. Williams

✨ The Honey Witch - Sydney J. Shields ✨ Wild Beauty - Anna-Marie McLemore ✨ The Invocations - Krystal Sutherland ✨ Improbable Magic for Cynical Witches - Kate Scelsa ✨ Flowerheart - Catherine Bakewell ✨ Snapdragon - Kat Leyh

🐈‍⬛ Labyrinth Lost - Zoraida Córdova 🐈‍⬛ The Witches of Silver Lake - Simon Curtis 🐈‍⬛ Sweet & Bitter Magic - Adrienne Tooley 🐈‍⬛ Witches of Ashes and Ruin - E. Latimer 🐈‍⬛ Edie in Between - Laura Sibson 🐈‍⬛ When We Were Magic - Sarah Gailey

[liveinfarbe]

Simon Tolkien and McKay/Payne disagreeing over whether Adar should be Celeborn or a nameless ancient Moriondor and that’s how the ambiguous messaging happened which got all confusing.

Bringing this back for reasons

[goodwhump-temp]

FULL WHUMPS LIST;

Shows, movies, anime, & cartoons (Organized Alphabetically by TV Title)(pinned) - Message me if any of this is outdated! Organized whump of my posts

LIVE ACTION

Ray Palmer | Arrowverse Jake Peralta | Brooklyn-99 Tangerine | Bullet Train Richard Castle | Castle Ryan | Castle Dexter Morgan | Dexter Johnny Gage | Emergency! (1979) John Carter | E.R. Peter Bishop | Fringe Simon | Firefly Malcolm | Firefly Mike Schmidt | FNAF Movie Tom Mason | Falling Skies Matt Damon | Jason Bourne Jake Green | Jericho (2006) Hawkeye | M*A*S*H Steven Grant | Moon Knight Thomas Shelby | Peaky Blinders Shawn Spencer | Psych Daniel Jackson | SG1 Trip Tucker | Star Trek: Enterprise William Riker | Star Trek: TNG Rodney McKay | SG: Atlantis John Sheppard | SG: Atlantis Sam Winchester | Supernatural (S1-S15) Mark Wahlberg | Ted 2 Hughie | The Boys Shaun Murphey | The Good Doctor Dick Grayson | Titans Rust Cohle | True Detectives Cordell Walker | Walker Ryan Gosling | Multiple movies Owen Strand | 9-1-1 Lone Star

ANIME

Hajime Nagumo | Arifureta: From Commonplace To World's Strongest Ciel Phantomhive | Black Butler Ichigo | Bleach Yukio Okumura | Blue Exorcist Rin Okumura | Blue Exorcist Akutugawa | Bungo Stray Dogs Atsushi | Bungo Stray Dogs Yuu Otosaka | Charlotte Lelouch Lamperouge | Code Geass David Martinez | Cyberpunk: Edgerunners Allen Walker | D. Gray Man Saiki K. | Disastrous Life of Saiki K. Natsu | Fairy Tail Grey | Fairy Tail Yuki | Fruits Basket Edward Elric | Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood Edward Elric | Fullmetal Alchemist: 2003 (+ the Movie) Shoyo Hinata | Haikyu!! Nanase Riku | IDOLiSH7 Kuroko | Kuroko No Basket Cheng Xiaoshi | Link Click Lu Guang | Link Click Deku | My Hero Academia Natsume Takashi | Natsume's Book of Friends Yuito Sumeragi | Scarlet Nexus Kirito | Sword Art Online Cid Kagenou | The Eminence in Shadow Naofumi | The Rising of the Shield Hero Ashiya Hanae | The Morose Mononokean Vanitas | Vanitas No Carte Yuri | Yuri On Ice

CARTOONS

Boimler | Star Trek: Lower Decks Ezra Bridger | Star Wars Rebels Bumblebee | Transformers: Prime Optimus Prime | Transformers: Prime Ratchet | Transformers: Prime Smokescreen | Transformers: Prime Jack Darby | Transformers: Prime Lance | Voltron: Legendary Defender Robin | Young Justice Blue Beetle | Young Justice Batman | Justice League / Unlimited, JLA + Movies..

GAMES

Johnny Cage | Mortal Kombat

[danikriatura]

"Exuma, the Obeah Man, was born in Cat Island and christened as Tony McKay. He grew up on Canaan Lane, off Shirley Street, Nassau, Bahamas.

Drawing on the traditional Bahamian folk songs, the infectious beat of Junkanoo, ring play, myths and linguistic idioms, Exuma, through his musical recordings, performances and paintings, has promoted Bahamian heritage and extended Bahamian music throughout the world more so than any other contemporary Bahamian recording artist.

Exuma left The Bahamas in the early 1960s to study architecture in New York. After running out of money, Exuma started to perform around New York during the rising sentiments against the war in Viet Nam. Soon thereafter, Exuma started to perform, using Bahamian rhythms in the Greenwich Village folk scene.

In the village, Exuma often performed along with Bob Dylan, Richie Havens, Peter Paul and Mary, Jimi Hendrix and Barbara Streisand at the Café Wha on Third and McDougal Streets, Café Bizarre on McDougal Street and Café Bitter End on Bleeker Street — all in Manhattan, New York.

Exuma landed his first major recording contract with Mercury Records, which released two albums by him: ‘Exuma, the Obeah Man’ and ‘Exuma II’. Later, Exuma signed a recording contract with the Kama Sutra/Buddah label, which released four albums by Exuma: ‘Reincarnation’, ‘Snake’, ‘Life’ and ‘Do Wah Nanny’, and the single, ‘Bam Bam’. In pursuit of artistic independence, Exuma established his own record producing labels, Nassau Records, through which he released ‘Rude Boy’ and ‘Going to Cat Island’.

In the early 1970s a song from Exuma’s first album entitled ‘You Don’t Know What’s Going On’ was used on the soundtrack of the movie ‘Joe’ that starred Peter Boyle and Susan Sarandon.

​Exuma’s compositions and arrangements are also very much in demand by other top artists. For example, Nina Simone recorded three of Exuma’s compositions: ‘Obeah Woman’, ‘22nd Century’ and ‘Dambala’. Also, Jimmy Castor Bunch recorded Exuma’s compositions ‘Bam Bam’ and ‘Do Wah Nanny’. Many contemporary Bahamian recording artists, including Eugene Davis and the National Youth Choir, have recorded and performed many of Exuma’s compositions, such as ‘Going To Cat Island’, ‘Exuma, The Obeah Man’ and ‘Bam Bam’.

As a performance artist, Exuma has carried the unique Junkanoo sounds in his arrangements and pictures of Bahamian cultural life, folklore and myths in his lyrics to the major concert halls of the world. Exuma has performed at Avery Fisher Hall in New York, opening the show for Patti LaBelle; at the Bitter End Club in New York City with Curtis Mayfield; he opened for Rita Marley at the New Orleans Jazz Festival and at the River Boat President; toured with Peter Tosh; performed with Toots and the Maytals at the New Orleans Jazz Festival; opened many times for Sly and the Family Stone, Bush, Spirit, Steppenwolf, X and Black Flag.

Between the years 1978 through 1991, Exuma performed each year at the New Orleans Jazz Festival and regularly performed and toured with the Neville Brothers.

In 1974 Exuma was invited by the Queen of Holland to perform for her with the Edwin Hawkins Singers. Under the patronage of the then Prime Minister of Jamaica, Michael Manley, Exuma was invited to perform in Jamaica in the National Arena in 1975, where he was invited to record a reggae album, under the direction of Clancy Eckles, in collaboration with some of the leading Jamaican recording artists. In 1982 Exuma was invited to perform at the Nancy Jazz Festival in Nancy, France, along with the Neville Brothers. Exuma’s contribution to Bahamian and Caribbean music was recognized by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in 1978 when she awarded him the British Empire Medal. Exuma is also the recipient of The Bahamas Tourism Award.

As a self taught painter, Exuma paints in oils scenes of everyday Bahamian life – children shooting marbles in the yard, a man on the dock enjoying a kalik beer, etc. In 1992 the Baltimore Museum authenticated Exuma as a folk artist. His paintings have been exhibited in 1990 at the Key West Lucky Street Gallery in Florida, in 1990 at the Piccadilly Restaurant, Parliament Street, Nassau, Bahamas and in 1993 by Antonius Roberts at the Bay Gallery, Bay Street, Nassau, Bahamas. Exuma’s paintings have been purchased by many art lovers, including the well known movie director, John Demme, director of Silence of the Lambs. Exuma conveys the mystique and beauty of Bahamian life as stunningly in painting as in song. A Bahamian visionary, humanistic philosopher and people’s poet, Exuma gives expression to the beauty and power of the cultural life of The Bahamas — the people’s every day experiences, folklore, myths, stories, Junkanoo, rake ‘n’ scrape, pain, joy, struggle and survival.

In the late 1980s, he suffered a heart attack in New Orleans. Bahamas Tourism Officer Athama Bowe recalls visiting McKay in hospital. "His skin was coated with olive oil and candles were burning all over the room for 'the sperrits'. He was mixing modern medicine with Obeah."

Exuma spent most of his time writing songs, painting, and fishing, living in both Miami, Florida, and in the childhood home his mother had left him in Nassau. He died peacefully in his sleep in 1997."

[la-femme-au-collier-vert]

IWTV Season 2 Sources & References

Season 1 here (these lists are updated regularly)

Season 3 here

Cited by the Writer’s Room/Cast:

The Ethnic Avante-Garde: Minority Cultures and World Revolution (Modernist Latitudes) by Steven S. Lee

Paris Journal 1944-1955 by Janet Flanner (Genet)

The Vampire: A Casebook by Alan Dundes

Horizontal Collaborators: The Erotic World of Paris, 1920-1946 by Mel Gordon

The Sexual Outlaw: A Documentary: A Non-Fiction Account, with Commentaries, of Three Days and Nights in the Sexual Underground by John Rechy

Banjo: A Story Without a Plot by Claude McKay

Pour Que Paris Soit by Elsa Triolet and Robert Doisneau 

Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles: An Alphabettery

The Fly cited by Jacob Anderson

King Lear by Shakespeare cited by Rolin Jones

The Third Man (1949) cited by Levan Akin

An American in Paris by George Gershwin (1928) cited by Daniel Hart

Giovanni’s Room cited by Jacob Anderson

Works directly referenced:

Melmoth the Wanderer by Charles Maturin

Sebastien Melmoth by Oscar Wilde

Ode to a Nightingale by Keats

Amadeus (1984)

The Lost Boys (1987)

Gaslight (1944)

Batman

Casablanca (1942)

Now, Voyager (1942)

Moulin Rouge (2001)

The Phantom of the Opera

Les Vampires (1915)

Dracula (1931) credit to @vampchronicles_ on twt

Le Triomphe de L’amour by Pierre de Marivaux

Existentialism is a Humanism by Jean Paul Sartre

Les Liaisons Dangereuses by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos

Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare

How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie

Hamlet by William Shakespeare

Vampire’s Kiss (1988) credit to @talesfromthecrypts

Les Morts ont tous le Meme Peau by Boris Vian credit to @greedandenby

The Most Dangerous Game by Richard Connell

Waiting for Godot by Samuel Barclay Beckett credit to @rorscachisgay on twt

An Enemy of the People by Ibsen

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

Vie de Voltaire by Marquis Condorcet

Simone de Beauvoir: A Critical Introduction by Edward Fullbrook and Kate Fullbrook credit to @iwtvfanevents

Nightwood by Djuna Barnes credit to @iwtvfanevents

Beloved by Toni Morrison

The Blacks by Jean Genet

The Books that Shaped Art History: From Gombrich and Greenberg to Alpers and Krauss by Richard Shone and Jean-Paul Stonard

A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking (10th anniversary edition)

Artists, Art, and Salons:

R-26

Palma Vecchio

Andre Fougeron

Elsa Triollet

Fred Stein

Lisette Model

Gordon Parks

Miguel Barcelo

Taxidermied Javelina by Chris Roberts-Antieau

Ai WeiWei (wallpaper)

David Hockney (Lemons)

Wols 

The Kiss of Judas by Jakob Smits

Salome by Louis Icart

Ophelia by John Everett Millais

Shelter by Peter Macon

The Kiss by Edvard Munch

The Vampire or Love and Pain by Edvard Munch credit @iwtvasart

Ruiter on Horse by Reiger Stolk credit @ iwtvasart

Portrait of Frank Burty Haviland by Modigliani credit @iwtvasart

Self-Seers II (Death and Man) by Egon Schiele credit to @90sgreggaraki

The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters by Goya

Aicha by Felix Vallotton

Cariatide by Modigliani

Nature Morte Au Pain Et Au Cocteau by Louis Marcoussis

Untitled by Julio Gonzalez

Embrace by Mikulas Galanda

Trees on a Mountain Slope by Ernst Kirchner

Landscape Paris by Henry Lyman Sayen

Tabac 56 by Oscar Garcia

Spirituals by Lillian Richter Reynolds

Movie & Play Posters on set (in chronological order by year):

Tarzan and his Mate (1934)

Avec le Sourire (1936)

Les Deux Gosses (1936)

Le Jour Se Leve (1939) about a man who commits murder as a result of a love triangle and locks himself in his apartment recounting the details as the police attempt to arrest him. Credit to @laisofhyccara

Nuit de Décembre (1940)

Mademoiselle Swing (1942) about a girl who follows a troupe of swing musicians to Paris.

Les Enfents du Paradis (1945) about a woman with many suitors including an actor and an aristocrat.

Fantomas (1946) about a sadistic criminal mastermind. This version includes a hideout in the catacombs where he traps people.

Quai des Orfevres (1947) watch here

Monsieur Vincent (1947)

Le Cafe du Cadran (1947) about a wife’s affair with a violinist.

La Kermesse Rouge (1947) film about a jealous artist who locks up his younger wife and a fire breaks out while she’s trapped.

Morts Sans Sepulture by Jean-Paul Sartre (play) also published in English translations as “The Victors” or “Men Without Shadows” about resistance fighters captured by Vichy soldiers struggling not to give up information.

Mon Faust by Paul Valery (play)

Musical Influences: @greedandenby collected all music used in Season 2 here.

Henry Cowell

Meredith Monk

Howling’ Wolf

Shirley Temple

Jason Lindner Big Band

The Teeth

Carlos Salzedo

Alice Coltrane

Thelonius Monk

David Lang

Caroline Shaw

Gadfly by Shostakovich (for Raglan James)

musical career of Martha Argerich

[lxstfathier]

Hiii welcome to my blog!

About me: my name is Mar, i’m 22 years old, mexican, autistic, and i love horses, music, literature and fictional characters <3

I’m here just to be horny for men that don’t exist, and hopefully make some friends, so don’t be shy to send me a dm.

As you can see, english is not my first language, so i apologize for any mistakes on my fics.

Requests: open! but only as commissions ✨

Masterlist

Star Wars

Good Girl (Luke Skywalker)

Princess (Luke Skywalker)

Mean (Luke Skywalker)

Midnight Sky (Luke Skywalker)

Sith!Luke (Luke Skywalker)

Dom!Luke hcs (Luke Skywalker)

Pornstar!Luke hcs (Luke Skywalker)

Pornstar!Luke thots pt.1 and pt.2 (Luke Skywalker)

Breeding thots / Dad thots (Luke Skywalker)

Lightsaber play thots (Luke Skywalker)

Master!Luke thots (Luke Skywalker)

Threesome thots (Luke Skywalker)

Friends with benefits thots (Luke Skywalker)

Closer (Axe Woves)

Call of Duty

Mi Niña (Alejandro Vargas)

Cachorrita (Alejandro / Rodolfo)

Cachorrita pt.2 Cachorrita pt.3 Cachorrita pt.4

Flowers (Alejandro Vargas)

Mine (Alejandro Vargas)

Heat (Alejandro Vargas)

Storm (Rodolfo Parra)

Animals (Phillip Graves)

Fantasma (Simon Riley)

Daddy!König hcs (König)

Cowgirl (TF 141 + Alejandro)

Five Nights At Freddy’s

Attention (William Afton)

Innocence (William Afton)

William Kinks hcs (William Afton)

Daddy!William hcs (William Afton)

Husband!William (William Afton)

William’s sidechick thots (William Afton)

Midnight Ride

Horny thots (Justin McKay)

Serial killer (Justin McKay)

Mark Hamill

Fortune Teller (Mark Hamill)

Award ceremony thots (Mark Hamill)

Thanks for reading my works!!

[conundrumoftime]

Thank you to Rotem Rusak from Nerdist who did ask them this & let me know! Alas McPayne dodged it in favour of their standard line on Celeborn but ah well.

Channeling s1 Galadriel: “Why, Elrond. You really have become a politician.”

But look at this as an answer to the question about the Uruk and Tolkien’s orc issues:

I am so intrigued! The show’s treatment of the orcs touching on Tolkien’s moral dilemma was one of my favourite things about s1, and then s2 did more with it but seemed to end potentially on a “never mind they’re all irrevocably evil now” note which was disappointing. (And learning that the s1 rumours about Adar’s role originally being planned as a shorter one were true AND that it was Simon Tolkien who suggested they might want to do more with him?!)

I have not seen any of the video interviews this time round because life is not very conducive to it now and also because I really dislike a) video as an interview format and b) watching interviews with actors about a role they’re currently in, so I’ve been so thankful to my fandom pals pulling out quotes and clips. love you all!

But I have been trying to keep up with the printed ones, so finally here’s a bit I loved from an interview with Morfydd about Galadriel also from yesterday:

Links:

Nerdist interview with Patrick McKay and J D Payne

Nerdist interview with Morfydd Clark

[dr-futbol-blog]

Critical Mass, Pt. 11

In the coda we find Sheppard joining Weir in her office and while it has not happened lately, them having a moment at the end of an episode is not unprecedented. Weir looks morose, clearly affected by the decisions she had been forced to make and she appears to be doing a repetitive movement going through the chain links of a pocket watch with a pen or some other pointy thing to centre her thoughts, to calm herself down. We do not know whose watch this is or how she had come to possess it but the alternative sources are her father or grandfather, a mentor figure, or Simon. Clearly, the watch holds some importance to her and it is obvious she is doing this motion to alleviate her feelings of guilt.

Sheppard: Did you see Zelenka? Weir: No.

Sheppard saunters into her office, stopping by the open doorway. He seems to be in a really good mood and starts off by asking her whether she got the chance to see Zelenka, and this is clearly connected to the previous scene. Sheppard and Mckay are both in a good mood and both seemed delighted by having seen the state in which Zelenka had returned from the planet of the children, both seeming more than a little gleeful with what is really rather unprofessional behaviour from them towards their colleague but is, at the end of the day, harmless fun because they both do appreciate Zelenka, they are not school bullies making his life a living hell on the regular even if currently Zelenka might be feeling like this is the case.

Point is, Sheppard's mood here is clearly connected to McKay's mood, their similar response to Zelenka suggests that they had shared in this joy together and Sheppard was coming here straight from having been with McKay, or at the very least that they are once again of one mind and thinking the same exact thing at the same time. What ever the case, we might note that Sheppard's mood here is not caused or connected to Weir, and it is unlikely that his sole order of business in coming to her office had been to inform her about Zelenka and tell her to check him out. No, this is coincidental to why he had sought Weir out and he starts mirthfully with Zelenka because that happened to be topmost on his mind when he walked in.

It is because Sheppard is in such a good mood unrelated to her that it may be difficult to discern his actual motivation for coming to see her. While he is much more practiced in using enhanced interrogation and making tough calls, Sheppard does not exactly feel good about what they had to do either. While his chosen method for dealing with things like that is repression and he would gladly never speak of it again, he realizes that he has to do some damage control with her. For one, she got to see a side of him that he does not like sharing with people he cares about and he has a deep-seeded fear that if people can see the real him, if they knew who he really was, they would walk away from him and abandon him just like everyone always does. Although McKay seems to accept him warts and all (and he does not want to push that to find out how true it really is), he has come to consider the whole of the permanent staff on Atlantis as his family and he does not want her to turn away from him in disgust having witnessed him do that. And although Weir blames herself and it is true that the final authority was hers, Sheppard knows full well that she would never have even thought of it as an option if it had not been for him (and Ronon). As far as he is concerned, it is not on her, it is all on him -- and to save McKay and the city, he would do it all over again. That is why he had come. And that is why he comes in with a joke, trying to lighten her mood. Lightening the mood is how he copes. It is not, however, the way Weir copes.

Sheppard: You should take a quick look before he washes his face. The kids did a real number on him! Weir: I asked Doctor Beckett to give everyone on the base a full examination. If Colonel Caldwell could have a Goa'uld in him, any of us could.

Although Sheppard's intention is not to cheer Weir up as such, he is being purposefully charming here, he is using his charming persona because he needs to make sure that they are good, that recent events have not damaged their working relationship. Sheppard's capacity to bend Weir to side with his calls when he needs her to is important to him insomuch as it may one day make the difference when he needs to save McKay, or when he needs her protection against the brass for his extracurricular activities. But although Sheppard may genuinely be happy after having witnessed Zelenka's predicament together with McKay and having just survived quite the ordeal, some of what he is approaching her with here is also an act, at the very least the faux-innocent way he describes what had befallen Zelenka. He sits down on her table (although make note of the fact that he does, as ever, keep his dick turned away from her), trying to put her at ease and show her that he is relaxed, that everything is back to normal, that there is nothing to worry about anymore. But he does not actually look at her as he describes what he had witnessed, seeming to be lost in the memory of that. Their moods are clearly incongruent and Weir does not even respond to him, merely launching into a sitrep about what she had ordered Beckett to do.

Sheppard: It's not a pleasant thought. Weir: No. No, it isn't. I crossed a line, John, with Kavanagh. Sheppard: You did what you had to do.

As soon as he notices that Weir is feeling somber, Sheppard's mood shifts, alerting us to the fact that his mirth was only on the surface level and that he is far from unaffected by the events of the past few days himself. The readiness, conviction and swiftness with which he convinces Weir that she had been in the right, that it had been the right thing to do, that they had no choice, is not him trying to convince just her of this but also himself. These are the kind of lies he has been telling himself his whole life, they come to him as easy as breathing. It had further been a harrowing experience to him because the military is meant to provide a structure that facilitates making tough decisions and where the responsibility is always up the chain, there is always someone else above you whose job it is to make sure that you make the right decision. And not only is he the military commander of this expedition, he had been forced to pull a gun on a superior officer. That is not the kind of thing that his training prepared him for. Sheppard does not know how to deal with that. He does not have answers to give her. His sole comfort is that he and McKay had worked together to keep each other and their home safe, and managing to keep McKay safe made it all worth the trouble to him. He is beginning to realize that he would do so much worse to keep him safe, and he does not even feel bad about it.

Kavanagh is a very dislikeable character and the actor does a good job of portraying the kind of person people love to hate. However, even though the audience is meant to find him dislikeable and to side with our protagonists against him, it once more does not mean that he is wrong. In Letters from Pegasus (S01E17), Kavanagh recorded a message to be sent to the SGC criticizing the leadership of the expedition, particularly Weir. We learn in this episode that he had left the expedition after contact with Earth was re-established, and his reasons had been "because working conditions became intolerable for me here. I have no friends here, my work is not respected." Although his main conflict was with Weir, it seems as though McKay had also contributed to his poor working conditions, and we learn that his second tour on Atlantis had only lasted for three weeks, which seems to coincide with the amount of time McKay may have been taking his emotions for Sheppard's dealings with ascended women out on the people working under him.

Kavanagh may well have inadvertently wound up paying for something that he had no part in because, as by his own admission, McKay can be a petty man sometimes. In this episode, we watched him unload on both Zelenka and Cadman but it seems as though Kavanagh had also been on the receiving end of his sour mood before making the choice to leave. So, he had reasons for leaving that had nothing to do with Weir. However, it does not mean that he is wrong about Weir and given that he does not like her, he is able to see her with much more clarity than people who like and respect her ever could. As he is being interrogated, they have the following exchange:

Weir: Given the circumstances, can you not see how such behaviour might arouse suspicion? Kavanagh: Your suspicion, sure. Seeing as how you never cared for me, nor valued the talents I brought to this expedition. Weir: My personal feelings towards you, no matter what they may be, have nothing to do with this. Kavanagh: Oh, please! Everything you do is motivated by personal feelings. You're driven by emotion, not reason. It's why I've always felt you're not capable of doing this job. You don't have the-- strength to be leading the fight against the wraith. Weir: If I remember correctly, you were the one who wanted to -- what was it? -- run and hide? Kavanagh: And at the time, I was right. If the Daedalus hadn't arrived at the eleventh hour, this city and everyone in it would have been wiped out because of your recklessness. There no need for the Trust to blow it up when Doctor Weir's at the helm!

He is being harsh but he is not wrong. Weir tries to not let her emotions compromise her command to the point of coming across cold and unfeeling but just like Sheppard, she cannot not feel. And neither of them, for their own reasons, seem to understand that feelings can also be a source of great strength when tempered with reason and repressing and suppressing emotions has a tendency to only make them stronger, to affect their decisions in ways that they might not do if they allowed themselves the freedom to feel like a normal person. Although Kavanagh was very much going to say that Weir does not have the balls to lead the fight against the wraith, Weir and Sheppard are very much alike in this. The difference is that Sheppard eschews authority and hence avoids taking responsibility, forcing Weir to actually have to shoulder the burden of leadership alone.

Sheppard: The good news was, he wasn't hurt. Weir: Here we are, gloating about the in-fighting among the wraith. How are we any different?

Weir hits Sheppard with an ethical dilemma that he does not seem to have an answer for, both of them having to sit with this uncomfortable feeling. Sheppard glances at the piece of artwork on Weir's desk, a wooden ring consisting of four interlinked figures holding hands symbolizing both the SGA-1 but also Weir, Sheppard, McKay and Beckett, the senior staff of the expedition. There might be a reference here to the Frederik Pohl and Cyril Kornbluth novella Critical Mass (1962) where four characters coming together have bearing on the resolution of the story. Especially relevant as regards this scene is the character of the President who is having to make some tough decisions, coming to the realization that he alone must bear the weight of the responsibility for making decisions that affect everyone because the buck stops at his desk. The title in the book is explained as two characters being drawn together (akin to atomic particles): Walter Chase, a young concrete engineer and Arturo Denzer, an incompetent food editor whose collision together is what created the critical mass for social change. In this episode, it is obviously the men who brushed their fingers together that are coming to collision.

Sheppard turns his face away from her, unable to really disagree with her sentiment. We saw Sheppard and McKay exchange those short but intense bursts of energy between them in this episode and even though they are mostly good, they are not precisely fighting, there is still some resentment clearly bubbling under the surface that they have not been able to deal with. McKay is feeling hurt and Sheppard does not know how to make it better. And clearly pretending that everything was back to normal was not working, not really. The episode begun with McKay telling Sheppard that he needed him but although he was headed his way, it seems as though Sheppard has not been able to meet him where he is yet.

All the while the rest of the episode was happening, Teyla and Beckett had a side quest involving Charrin, an elderly woman that was close to Teyla and who decided to die with her heart condition rather than to let Beckett artificially prolong her life. Now, because the episode seems to be Weir-centric and she is paralleled with Teyla, it might be that Teyla letting her go has echoes of what had happened between Weir and Simon all those months ago. Especially as Teyla tells her: "You are all I have left. My family -- my mother, my father -- they are all gone. If you leave me, I will truly be alone" we may get insight into how Weir, who is not very expressive with her emotions and likes to keep her emotions close to her chest may have been feeling. Note that both Charrin and Simon questioned the skills of the women to cook. We should also note the fact that in The Intruder (S02E02) Weir and Sheppard were paralleled, Weir and Simon were narrative mirrors for Sheppard and McKay, so it is possible not only Weir but also Sheppard could have been harbouring feelings similar to Teyla recently. But although for Teyla and Weir the lesson they need to learn is that they have a community and a family on Atlantis, for Sheppard the lesson seems to be more that in order to get what he needs, he needs to let go. And for him, this lesson is still in the future (and, in fact, we run out of show before he can get back what he does eventually learn to let go, more of which later).

Charrin dies and the Athosians arrange a "Ring ceremony" to send her off, and we hear Teyla sing a funeral dirge that seems to foreshadow things to come on the show (and, in fact, another way to interpret their interactions is as symbolic of the shows themselves, SG-1 as Charrin and SGA as Teyla, where they probably had been unsure the original show would get renewed for a 10th season at this time and were preparing to wrap it up regardless):

Beyond the night, a rising sun Beyond the night, the battle's won The battle's won. Fear and shame now in the past Pain and sorrow gone at last Gone at last. Circle renewed, peace will be found Beyond the night on sacred ground. River flows, led by the wind First new breath, our journey begins Our journey begins.

The song seems to foreshadow the ending of the narrative taking place by the Golden Gate bridge (in ancient mythologies, the sun was believed to travel between Gates of the East in the morning and Gates of the West in the evening so a sunrise on the West Coast is symbolic of both death and rebirth; also the Golden Gate at the Versailles has the sun emblazoned on it). The show started with the city taking off from Earth toward Pegasus and we were always going to close the circle with Atlantis returning to Earth (and Sheppard returning to San Francisco from where he started his journey, for reasons that were never explained to the audience; although note that he is not by the Golden Gate but possibly the Bay Bridge). And that, the show coming to an end, would only have been the beginning of their journey. And the battle that both Sheppard and McKay had to overcome was never just against the wraith, it was also internal: fear for one and shame for the other. Also symbolically McKay is the river, the conduit to power that Sheppard directs. The intention seems to have been to wrap it all up in a neat bow eventually.

The term "critical mass," while technically a reference to the a mass of fissile material that self-sustains a fission chain reaction (that as such seems to have very little to do with the episode as there is no actual bomb and zero point energy does not work that way; the resultant explosion was not going to come from the ZPM reaching critical mass because zero point energy is derived from the quantum vacuum state of matter and the Ancient "battery" not being able to contain the building charge can be described as reaching critical "mass" only in a very abstract sense), was bandied a lot in connection with influencing the attitudes of the general public to be more positive toward the idea of marriage equality in the early aughts.

DADT was repealed in 2011 but the 2008 Presidential election is widely seen as the moment when critical mass for the change was reached, when public opinion had been swayed widely enough that they could begin working on actually overturning it, and let us make note of the fact that many of the legal challenges that actually went into ending the policy had been raised in the Air Force specifically (cf. Witt v. Department of the Air Force). I cannot overstate what a critical juncture this was for swaying public opinion, and how impossible it would have been for them to do this outside of the subtext. Co-operating with the Air Force, they could literally not have maintexted it however much they might have wanted to, so to get the kind of confirmations of the subtext as we got was really rather bold of them. But this was also why, although there was at least one gay officer on the main show (a Major later promoted to Lt. Colonel, as it were), they decided to play with this thematic using the spin-off show. It was never just one person that was doing it, it was clearly a communal effort and it was done for a purpose.

What is really interesting is that this episode seems to reference multiple past episodes, not merely of the first season but also the second. The intention may also have been to indicate reaching a critical mass in establishing the show as its own individual entity, capable of standing on its own two feet even if the mothership was taken out of commission. The following is a brief list of references to past episodes in this one, some more overt than others:

Rising: Teyla as the leader of her people Hide and Seek: Teyla as the leader of her people, McKay's Hail Mary pass, naqadah generators Thirty-Eight Minutes: Beginning of Weir's trouble with Kavanagh Suspicion: Weir and Sheppard conflict over authority, Athosian hoodoo Childhood's End: Zelenka on the planet of the children, Carter is name-checked Poisoning the Well: Beckett and the Hippocratic Oath, torturing prisoner Underground: Debating morality and warcrimes in the meeting room Home: Contact with SGC, only not; McKay disabling the DHD The Storm: Athosian hoodoo, grounding stations, evacuation The Eye: McKay and the shield/cloak, McKay's Hail Mary pass, naqadah generators The Defiant One: planet with crashed hive mentioned Hot Zone: Weir and Sheppard conflict over authority Sanctuary: Teyla is in a light blue dress like Chaya, seeming to play the part of a priestess in the ceremony Before I Sleep: Although they do not live together at this time, Sheppard and McKay are on their way toward the quarters they had discovered here The Brotherhood: McKay and the ZPM Letters from Pegasus: Kavanagh's problem with Weir continued, contact with SGC, Carter is name-checked The Gift: Kavanagh, Charrin The Siege: 15 hour flight to LaGrange point satellite mentioned, McKay and the ZPM, Hermiod The Intruder: Weir and Simon's relationship, why Weir is feeling lonely, Hermiod Runner: Caldwell's issues with Sheppard, Ronon throwing down Duet: Cadman Condemned: Wraith cruisers Trinity: Caldwell's issues with Sheppard Instinct: Beckett and the Hippocratic oath Conversion: McKay and Sheppard meet up where we saw Sheppard climbing the wall, Weir and Caldwell conflict Aurora: Wraith cruiser, Weir and Sheppard hanging by McKay's work station, distress beacon, Atlantis jurisdiction v. the Daedalus The Lost Boys: the wraith becoming territorial The Hive: The wraith fighting each other Epiphany: Cadman is name-checked

Out of these, Kavanagh and Cadman seem to be used as specific references to episodes, and both Zelenka's mission on the planet of the children and Sheppard's mention of the planet 15 hours away by puddlejumper are also explicit references to past episodes. Some of these are a stretch but there was definitely a sense that intentional callbacks were made here. I am sure I've also missed some so if you can think of any, please let me know and I'll update the list. In any case, I think this is the "critical mass" intended by the title, the show having created enough of its own mythos to have its own distinct identity by this time. It is a swan song for the original show while now ready to begin its own journey.