#stag (2016)

[jimhowickfan1]

[lilalexhorne]

Watched the first episode of Stag because I'm watching through anything and everything Jim Howick content related cause I can't get enough of that chubby little man and was very pleasantly surprised to see that it featured Tim Key too! Enjoyed the pair close together, especially during their little tent scene. Now I'm wondering how much differently things might've went for them if Jim took up Tim's offer on just running away together. And also wondering how more obsessed with it I'd be if they kept their beards for the series too. Very partial towards that look for them, even if I do adore Jim's stache in Ghosts and Action Team too.

[howicked]

Do you know what? It doesn't matter. I'm just a teacher, on 21K, who drives a Ford Focus and listens to Radio 2. You guys are the best and the brightest, aren't you? Things work out for guys like you so I'm just going to follow this tributary here, which I think is freshwater, which hopefully means it'll lead to a loch. I'd suggest you follow, but I've been told to keep my helpful suggestions to myself.

Jim Howick as Ian in STAG (2016)

[fecklesheckleshacklesschmeckles]

reece getting his arse out (again) and looking all sad and wet in stag (2016) ʘ‿ʘ

you're not wrong ¬‿¬

[jamessluttythighs]

have - jegulus - @stag-microfic - word count: 216  - 16 September

James and Sirius’ favourite pastime was to sit on the steps outside the library and pass judgement on those going in to study. Their university was massive so the pool of randos was always plentiful.

“Sick as fuck bag”

“Frosted tips do not work on him.”

“She needs to ditch the scrunchie, that was so 2016”

Oftentimes it just resulted in a big game of smash or pass. Or rather it was a game for James where Sirius just offered his opinion. Sirius was hopelessly in love with his boyfriend, Remus. They had moved in together recently after problems with Sirius’ family. James doesn’t know the full story. Sirius hardly talks about his family. 

“She’s lovely, look at her hair. It’s like a fire.”

“That’s Evans, she’s in my Physics class. Too bad she likes women.”

“Ugh, all the good ones do.”

“Hmmm he’s cute,” James tried again.

“Too many facial piercings for me. Are those snake bites?”

“Hot. Wait no. I’ve found the love of my life. That devastatingly gorgeous, grey-eyed god just behind him.”

“What the fuck Prongs?” Sirius exclaimed, his expression incredulous.

James, startled by this sudden outburst, tore his eyes away from the man in the dark green crop top as he entered the library doors. “What?”

“That’s my little brother!”

“You have a brother?”

[dogearedheart]

Man is the animal that doesn't know what to do with itself. The mind has many possibilities, but we can live no more than one life. What are we going to do with ourselves?

[a hora da estrela, clarice lispector || bloodlust, supernatural || calling a wolf a wolf, kaveh akbar || the things we left behind, supernatural || scottish stag | the enchanting nature’s wonder, alen kesler || unkown || dead deer, gustave courbet || on the head of a pin, supernatural || red dead redemption 2's symbolism was underappreciated, rob dolan || unknown || wolves fighting over a stag, friedrich gauermann || skin, supernatural || mythology and folklore of the wolf || shadow, supernatural || half-light: collected poems 1965-2016, frank bidart || the prisoner, supernatural || psych ward lover,” potions for witches the boys couldn’t burn, meggie royer || the power of myth, joseph campbell]

[aleksanderscult]

My unpopular opinion for today? The Darkling was terrible at manipulating people

And that mostly comes from the author's incompetence on the matter.

Back in 2016-2017 on Tumblr she was asked which SoC character finds difficult to write and she replied "Kaz. Because he's clever and cunning".

So for her, writing manipulative characters is difficult and actually explains the reason why the Darkling's "efforts" seemed comedic in S&B.

I still remember how posts from 2020-2021 expressed bafflement about where did the Darkling actually manipulated Alina in S&B.

His first, full conversation with her? He lied to her three times and tried to figure her out. What her views are, what does she know about him, has her judgement been clouded by other people's opinions of him, how she feels about her supposed destiny. Apparently she failed in each one of them and the Darkling decided to withhold information since he didn't find her trustworthy. It was too early and she was too immature.

I've written about this scene here but I MUST put this reblog here as well because it's ✨gold✨

So for anyone who believes he should tell her the truth from the very beginning uhh....have you ever been to a job with a hierarchy?

(You can also read a very good meta about their first conversation here from @theweeklydiscourse)

His additional conversations with her? They lasted only ten minutes (maximum) and he mostly tried to soothe her fears and assure her that since she'll have the Stag she won't have to worry about the strength of her power. So, me, the reader, am I supposed to think "That walk that he took with her and lasted for five minutes was so suspicious"?. Ahh...ok.

That first kiss? Boy wasn't it awkward.

It was like I watched two high school kids being kissed for the first time💀

I'm sorry but if that was manipulating then he didn't succeed at making the reader say "Now that seems shady" but wonder "What the fuck was that?". The same thing Alina wondered apparently.

If he wanted to manipulate Alina, why didn't he stay longer with her? Why didn't he spend more time with her? The guy was missing for days from the Little Palace doing his duties and even Alina said that she didn't see him much. So where was the manipulation?

To the first, awkward kiss where he lost control for the first time?

To their Winter fete make out where he almost lost his pants?

(Homeboy couldn't even control his own feelings apparently)

Leigh describes him as "manipulative" but we have no context.

So basically it's like "Source? Trust me bro".

We only have a couple of characters accuse him of manipulation but no scenes to base the argument.

His attempts, in comparison to other truly manipulating characters in fiction (like Varys, Tom Riddle, Petyr Baelish, Tyrion Lannister, the Joker), seem honestly pathetic.

When the author doesn't know how to write such things then her "manipulative" characters and their attempts seem cartoonish, cringe and childish. There's no real danger to make the reader feel like there's something wrong. His scenes with her in the Little Palace only included attempts from his part to calm down her worries and their kisses only made the reader say "Oh he fell for her!" (Which is kind of funny because this is exactly what happened).

The only instance where he was manipulative and good at it was at the orphanage scene where he lied about the Grisha children and his plans with them in order to draw Alina out.

Besides that? Nada.

And it's actually strange to me when people call him "so manipulating" and it makes me think "Have you truly not read other manipulative characters from other authors to compare?"

Because, personally, I have and the Darkling seems like an idiot in comparison.

And this is not me trying to water down the Darkling but say how Leigh Bardugo is so incompetent in writing manipulative characters and try to present him as a "master" of it.

Because he was not.

(P.S. the fact that Leigh once said "I don't want my bad guys to carry a label saying "I'm evil" because I think the real bad guys are much more tactful in their attempts" is actually laughable considering how she gave her bad guy a label when she called him "the Darkling", gave him black clothes and a fearful reputation from the very first chapter. That man really didn't stand a chance from the beginning lmao)

[dansnaturepictures]

Today is 15 years since I got my first camera of my own so I thought I'd post 15 random standout photos I've taken over the years. They are of; views at Farlington Marshes and Bala Lake in 2022 and 2016, rainbows at Portland Bill in 2020, Colin the Cuckoo at Thursley in 2021, Black-throated Diver at Lochindorb this May this year, Marbled White at Lakeside Country Park in 2022, Comma at Martin Down on Sunday, Willow Beauty moth at home last year, Stag beetle at Fishlake Meadows in 2020, Red Deer at Bushy Park last September, Grey Seal at Flamborough Head last month, snake's-head fritillaries at Lakeside in 2021, wild carrot with Common Red Soldier beetles on at Rutland Water the weekend before last, amethyst deceiver in the New Forest in 2021 and shaggy ink cap on the green out the front in 2020.

[tartiflvtte]

sooo i've been hyperfixating on the boys since season 4 aired in june and i've created an oc at the end of july, and i'm having sm content to share about them i'm finally starting!!

Name: Qilin (Supe Name) | Jayden Wu

Age: 36

Gender/Pronouns: genderfluid afab (and mostly fem presenting) (she/him)

Sexuality: bisexual

Ethnicity/Languages: american mixed chinese, speaks American English, have some bribes of Mandarin

Height: 158cm

Occupation: Solo Supe, Vought tried to get her into the Seven but quickly failed, now they want to kill her.

Power desc: Shapeshifting (into a Qilin's form, mythical creature of chinese' folklore, symbol of peace and justice), super strength, healing (on people, not himself), semi-durability, flying (Qilin's form only), creates a trail of clouds when flying in Qilin's form details about Qilins : Qilins are often based off horses or stags! they have horns, a sort of ethereal mane, and sometimes they can have a mix of fur and scales (in Qilin's case she has both) and a big tail. They also can have features that you can find in asian dragons in cultural art!

Pairing(s):

> Situationship between both Homelander and Victoria Neuman. (fanservice says trouple tho) > At first Homelander is jealous of the symbol Qilin carries, and is disgusted by his Qilin's form (he struggles to comprehend such a form). But now he's just down bad bro's is on his KNEES for Qilin (literally) > Neuman wants her on her side because of the whole face of justice thing, AND befause she would protect her and her daughter (and Vicky is also down bad ngl) he also grew up with Victoria at Red River but she got out before him. He eventually left at 18 and never saw her again until Neuman got into politics and Qilin began being famous as a Solo Supe

Some random lore infos (probably will write about them!):

NOTE : I HAVE FOUR different storylines with different endings for both Qilin and her pairings, the main one is where she kills Homelander, but my brain can't focus on one so basically here are the list of the storylines : The storyline in which she kills Homelander The storyline in which she reunites with her childhood friend Victoria and agrees to protect her The one in which she finally destroys Vought and takes away Homelander's powers and the last one, which is there purely as a fanservice (polyam Victoria x Qilin x Homelander :P). Her story remains more or less the same for each storyline, just the evolution of her relationships are different.

Qilin is an orphan, her dad abandoned her at Red River because he was scared of her tiny Qilin form without any words to her mom and left, Qilin's mom got refused to get her back and she quickly abandoned her too. Qilin had the objective to destroy Vought very early, probably when Victoria left Red River when she was 16. Qilin met Homelander for the first time during one of Homie's patrol in 2014, Homelander started quickly get obsessed about knowing who was Qilin at that time but Qilin moved on quickly and they only met again in 2016 where they fight until Homelander actually get beaten up a bit (he's not injured just have some small bruises) After this fight Vought finally find infos about Qilin's true identity and Vought wants to recruit her, and they send Homelander to do it because he's the only of the Seven that encountered her. 2017 marks the change of Homelander and Qilin's relationship, they start to talk, and they ends up starting a chasing game that lasts until Qilin kills Homelander in 2023 in the first storyline! 

Bonus: Qilin growing up at Red River

I have plenty of Qilander (Qilin x Homelander) arts because I've been obsessing over them for the pas few months, so if anyone is interested by small writings or just me sharing my art just send an ask because my brain is just full of them atm! ;_;

[bi-sapphics]

found something that was so hilarious to me that i wanted to post and talk about its irony here

linked post in the second screenshot

i find it really funny that radfem/exclus lesbians assume we think like they do and are overly possessive and hostile over our history and culture being cut off from the rest of queerness, which has historically been VERY OPEN.

let me make this clear: most bisexuals online do NOT CARE if monosexuals "take our terms", especially considering the fact that our community overwhelmingly rejects and despises doe/stag and any other alternate replacement terms for butch/femme that we're expected to use.

if some lesbians wish to use these terms instead, if only ironically to spite bisexual butches & femmes who identify that way genuinely after being informed (you tell me who's really using which improperly lmao?), then be my guest. useless presentation labels solely for the aesthetic or whatever seem based enough to me, and also to most normal people who have no intention to gatekeep something that isn't so serious to do so with at the end of the day. i have no intention of giving that power to your pathetic attempt.

i even came across this doe lesbian flag a while back, and have yet to hear of any damage done to bisexual sapphics after our precious term was appropriated and tainted by any who might use it. (/sarcastic)

if anything, i would venture to guess that doe/stag were only coined exclusively back in, what 2016?, because the LGB(T) were under this unfounded ahistorical social contract that each should be kept to their own and sharing in any direction is bad, actually (it's not, never has been). otherwise they wouldn't have even been created in the first place, y'know?

^^^ and i will admit that such reasoning is probably the motivation behind why i wrote this contradictory post more than a couple years ago; and while after re-reading it i do still somewhat stand by my reasoning for the sentiment based on the origin, at the end of the day it just does not matter and it won't destroy the balance of the universe if i can't be bothered to care. the statistical number of bi women & lesbians who use each other's terms is so minimal and unaffecting that this discourse is the only thing even bringing awareness and attention to it.

TL;DR ─ use whichever labels you wish if you like them enough and before you "steal" something to teach a lesson in favor of exclusionism, make sure it isn't from people who have always radically believed that sharing and accepting with the fellow marginalized is a good thing!

alternate TL;DR, as a friend of mine likes to put it: "do whatever you want forever"

[leaping-laelaps-art]

Sculpt of the small bivalved arthropod Gladioscutum lauriei from the middle Cambrian of Australia (after Hinz-Schallreuter & Jones 1994).

Gladioscutum had a body only 2-3 mm long, but, being undoubtedly aware of its disappointingly small size compared to its cooler Cambrian cousins like radiodonts and trilobites, tried to make up for it with a pair of (presumably) front-facing spines that were at least as long as the rest of the head shield.

Other than improving its self-esteem, the function of Gladioscutum's extremely elongated spines is unknown. The enlarged spines of other small Cambrian bivalved arthropods have been suggested to fulfill a sensory role, but this remains speculative (Zhang et al. 2014).

References and notes:

Gladioscutum was originally described as an "archaeocopid", an order that is now known to be an artificial grouping of various small bivalved arthropod fossils superficially resembling modern ostracod crustaceans. To my knowledge, the affinities of Gladioscutum have not been reinvestigated since its initial description, but its appearance (marginal rims, valve lobation, ornamented surface, simple hinge line) and age seem bradoriid-y enough (Hou et al. 2001) for me to more or less confidently reconstruct it as one (top scientific rigour as always on this blog).

Appendage morphology is unknown in Gladioscutum - what little soft anatomy I have not modestly hidden under the head hield is based on the bradoriid Indiana sp. from the Chengjiang Biota (Zhai et al. 2019). In that species, only the antennae are differentiated from the rest of the appendages, which has the double advantage of (1) not making crazy hypotheses about limb specialization in Gladioscutum and (2) giving me fewer different types of limbs to sculpt.

Like Gladioscutum, most bradoriids are only known from their decay-resistant valves, which are often squashed flat in a so-called "butterfly" position. This arrangement has been traditionally interpreted as the life position of the animals, which were implied to crawl over the seafloor like tiny crabs (e.g., Hou et al. 1996). Yet, undistorted fossils of head shields preserved in 3D are almost always closely drawn together, which is similar to the way modern bivalved arthropods like ostracods are articulated (protecting the soft limbs and body) and probably more reflective of the actual life position of bradoriids (Betts et al. 2016), as depicted here.

References:

Betts, M. J., Brock, G. A., & Paterson, J. R. (2016). Butterflies of the Cambrian benthos? Shield position in bradoriid arthropods. Lethaia, 49(4), 478–491. https://doi.org/10.1111/let.12160

Hinz-Schallreuter, I., & Jones, P. J. (1994). Gladioscutum lauriei n.gen. N.sp. (Archaeocopida) from the Middle Cambrian of the Georgina Basin, central Australia. Paläontologische Zeitschrift, 68(3), 361–375. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02991349

Hou, X., Siveter, D. J., Williams, M., Walossek, D., & Bergström, J. (1997). Appendages of the arthropod Kunmingella from the early Cambrian of China: Its bearing on the systematic position of the Bradoriida and the fossil record of the Ostracoda. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B: Biological Sciences, 351(1344), 1131–1145. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.1996.0098

Hou, X., Siveter, D. J., Williams, M., & Xiang-hong, F. (2001). A monograph of the Bradoriid arthropods from the Lower Cambrian of SW China. Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of The Royal Society of Edinburgh, 92(3), 347–409. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0263593300000286

Zhai, D., Williams, M., Siveter, D. J., Harvey, T. H. P., Sansom, R. S., Gabbott, S. E., Siveter, D. J., Ma, X., Zhou, R., Liu, Y., & Hou, X. (2019). Variation in appendages in early Cambrian bradoriids reveals a wide range of body plans in stem-euarthropods. Communications Biology, 2(1), Article 1. https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-019-0573-5

Zhang, H., Dong, X., & Xiao, S. (2014). New Bivalved Arthropods from the Cambrian (Series 3, Drumian Stage) of Western Hunan, South China. Acta Geologica Sinica - English Edition, 88(5), 1388–1396. https://doi.org/10.1111/1755-6724.12306

[jimhowickfan1]

[lesbianalanwake]

Saga's mind place is styled like the Elderwood Palace Lodge, and specifically the back room where Saga and Alex have set up a temporary place to work.

It doesn't say what public or private use the original building served, only that it was disassembled and reconstructed in Bright Falls in 2015-2016.

You can interact with the deer head in the back room of the lodge, and there are deer skulls on the walls in several rooms. Saga is often visually crowned with antlers when she is within her mind place.

"Elderwood" brings to mind the Oldest House and its thematic roots in Yggdrasil, "palace" evokes royalty. ("Mind place" is Saga's little spin on the concept of a "mind palace.") Deer have a lot of rich symbolism all over the world - in Norse myth in particular, four deer live within Yggdrasil and eat at it, causing it pain, and another deer stands upon the hall of Valhalla, whose antlers feed into the spring from which "all waters rise." (These may have been the same creatures at one point.) Stag gods and the association of deer with royalty, death, spiritual travel, and the sun were also common from the Steppes to Eastern Europe to Scandinavia.

Room 108 is a locked room in the lodge. It's also the murder site that you can find in the Oceanview Hotel in the Dark Place, a large suite that overlaps with the bunker beneath the Valhalla Nursing Home, where Norah Hesburg drowned and which is referred to as "the Oceanview Motel and Spa." 108 is a number associated with the "golden ratio" (or golden spiral, or divine proportion), and a sacred number in many Dharmic beliefs.

If you interact with the deer head in Saga's mind palace, it will speak to you with a feminine voice and tell you that a certain number are "remaining," with a deeper register than Saga's voice. You can unlock Room 108 by interacting with all twelve deer heads. You will see a deer enter the room when it's open. The room is home to deer skulls and antlers, tools (presumably used for sawing off antlers?), a mirror on the ground, and extra supplies for you to pick up.

What Saga says to the deer head in the back room of the lodge is: "Hello Mr. Deer. You remind me of a dream I had."

[genopaint]

Week 17 of the Daily Dragon Challenge for your viewing pleasure! I kind of forgot to do the end of month dragon voting at the end of April so... while you're here, why not vote on your favorite dragon for April? The voting will be closed soon (and absolutely by the end of next week) So please consider voting!

As always you can follow me on twitter where they’re posted daily

And read more info on each of them below the cut

Daily Dragon #112 - Waves Wyrm

A young witch with dragon blood inside her, allowing her the power to study their ancient texts and learn their magics. She's loves all lizards and has lots of them wandering about her lair

This is, of course, another redesign! I've had this dragon witch for a hot minute but don't draw her super often. VERY first drawing is from 2016-ish I think. The newer one is from 2019!

This one is a bit more of a design overhaul, I sadly axed the green hair cause I thought it clashed a bit but I hope everyone likes her new look!

Daily Dragon #113 / #114 - Rhino Kabutosaur + Stag Kabutosaur

Living in colonies deep within jungles, Kabutosaurs are relatively rare but incredibly important parts of their ecosystems. Tearing down trees for food, and ultimately scattering their seeds and pollen to grow more

Been very tired lately so I ALMOST didn't do one today either but I figured I'd go ahead while I wait for my laundry to finish up. Good thing I did too idk what beetle I would've done tomorrow to make it count for 3 days lol

Daily Dragon #115 - Soarer Dragon

Today's is a little bit different, I tried to draw a dragon I saw in the clouds today. I hope you can see it too :)

Daily Dragon #116 - Rawrdon

Tiny, feral, simple. These are pretty standard dinosaur-like dragons. Mostly found in mountainous regions as well as abandoned castles/temples. These lizards use their fire breath to cook random smaller animals they find in the places they call home

While the red version is what you'll commonly find in the wild, extremely rare blue ones can be found in areas that don't get much sunlight, typically deep underground in forgotten temples. They're considerably stronger, but can't survive long in intense sunlight

Daily Dragon #117 - Octogon

A chubby deep sea dragon with insanely rubbery limbs that it uses to grab and stick to things it encounters day to day. It's well known for its brilliant bioluminescence people see while scuba diving

Also its underside is transparent, if that wasn't obvious

Daily Dragon #118 - Angler Drake

Another deep sea dragon that's a big time carnivore. It hides deep in pitch black sea using the bulb on its forehead to trick prey into being eaten by it!

[inthegoodbooks]

shadow and bone (review)

So, according to StoryGraph, I have already read this book before… in 2016… that probably tells you all you need to know about what I thought about this book.

I enjoyed this book. Don’t get me wrong, the book is not bad. It is very expositional and reads very YA… but then again, that is exactly what it is. And I don’t hate it.

In this book, we are introduced to Alina, a Grisha (magic user, basically, although the book does a pretty bad job of describing this to you) who discovers her powers very late. And what a power she has: Alina is a Sun Summoner and the seemingly omnipotent Darkling plans to use her to change the world.

I found Alina quite annoying tbh. But only in the ways I often find YA protagonists annoying… She’s clearly beautiful, but she “doesn’t realise it.” She’s a plain Jane. And it gets on my tits. She also sticks out her tongue at least three times in this book and I just refuse to believe that anyone does that over the age of 3. Just me? Very much gave me the ick, regardless.

Another YA trope in Alina which irritated me was her suggested love interests changing every five minutes. It made rooting for Alina quite difficult and, by the end, I no longer cared whether she found Mal again or not.

On the topic of tropes, boy are the men in this book bloody awful. The king, the creepy priest, the obviously evil Darkling (I mean, come on, he’s called the DARKLING ffs.), even the bloody trainer! Suggestive lines such as, “You don’t want to attract too much attention from the King.” and, “Lock the door…” made a lot of the plot twists predictable, dry and just a lil obvious. Not that we don’t need more stories about men abusing their power - that’s always going to be relevant and especially important in YA circles - but I just wish it was a little more subtle.

Speaking of subtly - did you know Alina had a scar on her right palm? Because she tells us more than five times in a very short book. All the build up with this and the reason behind it is because she didn’t put down some pottery when she hugged Mal once? Are you joking? This was such a lacklustre climax that it should’ve been called a clilow.

The ending of this book also gave me proper Harry Potter vibes. Not that I want to credit she-who-must-not-be-named with anything more than being an awful transphobe HOWEVER, there’s something very Voldemort about ‘mercy was something the Darkling would never understand.’ A little close to the bone of the only kind of magic Voldemort can’t understand being love. Just me? Idk. It did make Alina sparing the stag make sense though, otherwise that was a bloody ridiculous decision which was OBVIOUSLY going to result in the deaths of lots of people.

And it goes without saying that the Darkling isn’t dead, right? Suppose I’ve got to read book 2 to find out…

⭐️⭐️⭐️

[pogomcl]

Stag Beetle, Lucanus cervus Canon7d EFS 60 2.8 f/4 1/400 iso: 800 Srbsko, Czech Republic 6/18/2016