#tag for mine and my additions

[torchlitinthedesert]

"#but john had a pattern of asking for proof of commitment and pulling away once he’d got it" can you elaborate on this? I can't think of an example of it, off the top of my head

Yes! This is a very late response, both because life got away from me and because I wanted to think it through some more.

In the tag you quoted, I said "asking for proof", which I now think is too sweeping (I've updated my earlier tags to reflect this). It's may not be as clearcut that, or not verbalised that way. And it involves other people's expectations/choices: some of this is just about how intensely people sought John's approval. But even with all those caveats, I do find it striking how making a big commitment to John could lead to *loss* of closeness.

Some examples (unfortunately including the Beatles being ableist):

Stuart Sutcliffe wins his art prize, and gets talked into spending the money on a bass guitar so he can join John's band. It's a big commitment from Stu. So what happens? The band goes on tour to Scotland, where they all picked on Stu. “We were terrible,” John told Hunter Davies. “We'd tell Stu he couldn't sit with us, or eat with us. We'd tell him to go away, and he did.”

According to Davies, "At one hotel they stayed at, a variety show had just left. There had been a dwarf in the show and they found out which bed he had slept in and said that would have to be Stu's. They certainly weren't going to sleep in it. So Stu had to. 'That was how he learned to be with us,' says John. 'It was all stupid, but that was what we were like.'"

John frames the status drop as a rite of passage: making the commitment isn't enough, you have to go through being pushed away, too. And it's John doing it: it's not just Paul and George being jealous of the new guy, John is actively joining in.

Fast forward to Hamburg, where it's Paul's turn to drop down the pecking order. Fandom often focuses on Paul leaving his job at Massey and Coggins, but I think Hamburg is a much, much bigger turning point.

Paul's exam results were disappointing, but good enough for further education. That had been the family dream his whole life, particularly for his mother - that Paul would get a professional job that would lift the family into middle-class security. And other trusted adults agreed: Paul asked his favourite teacher Alan Durband for advice, and was told he should play it safe and get his qualifications.

Paul ignores this, rejects the future his family dreamed of and demanded for him, and goes to Hamburg. Where he finds himself out in the cold, unpopular, stuck in a windowless back bedroom. (Beds again: important for hierarchy and for bonding - see George insisting that Ringo roomed with Paul when he joined.) This happens right at the start of Hamburg, too. It's not just about getting distracted by the cool exis: this is the dynamic the Beatles brought with them.

This isn’t all John. The teenaged Beatles were a seething messy friendship group, a bunch of jealous rivals kicking out at someone else’s success. Both Stu in Scotland and Paul in Hamburg had reason to feel homesick and rejected. Those are hard feelings to have, and can make people harder to be around, especially when other friendships and opportunities are opening up. So there are other factors involved, but to me it does feel like a pattern.

I misremembered my next example, conflating two of Cynthia's later acid experiences. John asked her to try acid again: she had a horrible time, but he did stay close and try to comfort her. So that's an important example of John not pulling away, even if it didn't work out.

What I remembered was the last time Cynthia tried acid - I think spontaneously, rather than at John's encouragement. I'm fairly sure John was already high when this happened, which I'm sure affected his behaviour. It's still a brutal example of Cynthia pushing herself to fit in with John's world, and being knocked back. She takes acid:

“At Brian's house I followed John around, hoping he would comfort me as I went through what was, for me, a horrible experience. But he was not in a good mood: he glared at me and treated me as if I were a stranger. I felt desolate. Upstairs I found an open bedroom window and contemplated jumping out. For a few minutes, ending it all seemed like an easy solution…”

Then there's George. May Pang describes his anger at feeling he'd made multiple commitments to John:

“Then George’s anger really burst forth. ‘Where were you when I needed you!’ he snapped. It was the first of a series of explosions, each of them followed by moments of tense silence. ‘I did everything you said. But you weren’t there,’ he repeated. ‘You always knew how to reach me,’ John would reply evenly to each of these outbursts... George said that repeatedly in the past he had sung what John wanted him to sing, said what John wanted him to say. Because John wanted it, George had gone along with the decision to go with Allen Klein. In the nearly four years since, John had virtually ignored him, a fact that pained George deeply. George’s voice grew even more harsh as he blasted John for his sudden appearance, as if out of nowhere, to offer an evening’s worth of help. Yet again George said furiously, ‘I did everything you said, but you weren’t there.’”

I think there's miscommunication here, and mismatched expectations. George felt he'd made commitments and been frozen out; it may have seemed very different from John's perspective. But if John's not responsible for other people's choices, he's also not just standing there passively while all this happens. And if people felt they'd made big commitments, only to be knocked back, that's still part of the collective dynamic.

Quotes: Hunter Davies, The Beatles; Cynthia Lennon, John; May Pang, Loving John.

[logicpng]

...at least that's the link order that made most sense to me

[Image ID:

Clownillustrations' Welcome Home fanart. Wally Darling is drawn at an angle slightly from below, lacking his mouth, and the eyes wide open and bright white looking the viewer. In front of him, along his height through the middle of his face, a long stripe made of the blurry Welcome Home website screenshots, glowing. Behind him is a vinyl record with a plain red label.

The background is littered with text, a wall of repeating "Let me in." from top to bottom to the left of the image, Wally's dialogue behind him, and the text on the foreground, slightly corrupted, says "I will help you understand neighbor I will find a way soon"

End ID]

[xxplastic-cubexx]

what is your favorite thing about charles and your favorite thing about erik? separately, as in what you like most about their characters :]

a devious question this one is, my friend!!! it's hard enough for me to explain my thoughts cohesively, but having to pick ONE thing i particularly love is difficult. with characters like charles and erik, theres been so much done with their characters over the decades and so they have so many components to them that make them so interesting and fun to observe. BUT I TRY FOR YOU TODAY. under the cut i kinda ramble and the size of this text box makin me anxious

i think if i were to be simple and broad, what i enjoy most about charles is his determination to help others, even if he isn't really thanked and/or if people don't even like him. ofc, this isn't to say he hasn't done wrong- to be honest, the fact he does wrong/questionable things at times is another aspect of him i really enjoy, maybe because- broadly speaking- he's meant to be altruistic (intent vs outcome and all that). i don't know if that's super exciting to most people, but it is for me

as for erik, my reason for liking him is easier to explain tbh. To Be Simple And Broad, his progression from villain to antihero over the decades has been fun to observe (as much as i have so far anyhow) and analyze. i think to be a bit more specific, him using his rage and pain as justifications for his villainous actions is definitely what compels me the most: hurt people hurt and the sort, an idea i've always found interesting (something something vicious cycles and the like). yet now, he recognizes this wasn't really. A Just Thing To Do and is beginning to change that, which i enjoy

[trans-androgyne]

Genuinely what is it other people are seeing from transandrophobia that I haven’t seen all the months I’ve been in these tags. Has anyone reblogging the posts calling it transmisogynistic actually looked through the tag or read about the theory from any one who uses it. Now it’s calls for violence and saying trans men choose to be men and are immoral for it. I am screaming into the void.

[hamartian-cathexis]

HI THIS IS CLOD

rules: pick a song for each letter of your url and tag that many people

Tagged by @derekhalesbian oh lordy here we go

H: hunger by florence and the machine

A: anna sun by walk the moon

M: my boy by billie eilish

A: all-american bitch by olivia rodrigo

R: reckless driving by lizzy mcalpine

T: thingamajig by miya folick

I: i eat boys by chloe moriondo

A: american teenager by ethel cain

N: no complaints by noah kahan

C: crush by tessa violet

A: after midnight by chappell roan

T: the louvre by lorde

H: happening again by katherine li

E: everybody does by julien baker

X: exile by taylor swift ft. bon iver(ik this is cheating but idk what else to put

I: it will come back by hozier

S: satanist by boygenius

No pressure tags!

@sidekcks @newtedison @crestfallercanyon @pathsofoak @fogdog1738 @its-tea-time-darling @itsthemxze @butdaddyilovehimmm @halfthebrain @blackashbluephoenix @ravenwilds @godofstory @yukiranine @thaliaisalesbian @jdwicked no way I have enough ppl to tag lol so I'll stop there

[nopeleavemealoone]

Bllk gays! This isn’t even all of them. But they’re my favorites. I did admittedly run out of steam and it’s not exactly complete but hey hey whatever

[todayisafridaynight]

any hopes for kiwami 3? like things u wanna see added or changed stuff like that

if they dont keep kiryu's goofy walk stance and the hoof-like walk sounds i dont wanna play it

[lichtecht]

PART 20

of the dfk 2023 audiobook translation

@cnka

Narrator (audiobook): Robert puts another piece of wood on the trunk and swings the axe.

Bökh: „And you never wanted to get in touch?"

The Nichtraucher picks up a piece of wood.

Silence.

Nichtraucher: „Why should I? We didn’t see each other for the past ten years either.“

He rips the piece of wood apart with his bare hands. While holding eye contact with Justus.

Silence.

Justus lowers his head.

Jo: „Uh.. weren’t you-" Martina, quietly: „Jo, leave it. Lets go.“

Martina, louder: „We need to go! We still have something to do.“

The kids leave. Jo and Martina are holding hands as they walk away.

Bökh: „Yeah… Thank you, kids.“

Jo, whispering as they walk away: "What was that just now?!"

Robert picks up the chopped wood and walks back to his wagon. Justus looks after him.

Narrator (audiobook): If the two friends will find back together? Matze isn’t so sure of that.

Matze, sarcastically: „Well, that was a great success!“ Jo: „Yeah, so much for friendship between Internals and Externs.“

Narrator (audiobook): At least Robert granted Herr Bökh access to his wagon. He looks around lost in thought more or less, while Robert washes the dishes.

Dishes clatter. There is silence otherwise.

Justus stares wistfully at Robert while he washes the dishes.

Justus takes his eyes off Robert and starts looking around while Robert continues to ignore him.

Bökh: „I thought you were living in London.“ Nichtraucher: (silence) Bökh: „It's nice here.“ Nichtraucher: (silence)

Justus starts walking around.

Bökh: „I told the kids about our friendship.“ Nichtraucher: „As a cautionary tale?“ Bökh: (chuckles/scoffs) „No. Of course not.“

Narrator (audiobook): Bökh spots the poster of „the Bandits“, the same one hanging in his apartment.

Bökh: „The 'Wild Dog' that we always played in is still there.“

Nichtraucher: (silence)

Bökh: „Should we meet there sometime? For a beer?“

Robert looks up.

He lets out a small huff, almost like an incredulous laugh or a scoff.

He dries his hands on a towel and folds it.

Nichtraucher: (silence) Nichtraucher: „I don’t know what we would have to say to each other.“

Bökh: „Hm. Well. A lot of time has passed.“

Narrator (audiobook): Robert sits down at the table and lights himself a cigarette.

Justus turns as well and starts looking around again.

Nichtraucher: „Why didn’t you come to Marie’s funeral back then?“

Nichtraucher: „You didn’t even get in touch.“

[„You didn't even get in touch“ -> parallels to „And you never wanted to get in touch?“]

Justus is silent. He starts fiddling with his jacket and pulls it off his shoulder. He lets out a deep, shaky sigh and is silent for another few moments.

Bökh: „…I don’t know, you met her and… and suddenly you were gone.“

[Parallels to „suddenly your closest loved ones are gone“]

Bökh: „As if everything -our friendship, the band- as if that had all just been a dream.“

Justus turns around and looks at Robert.

Bökh: „Wir zwei. Wir hatten doch Pläne.“

Bökh: „That really hurt me.“ Nichtraucher: „It hurt you.“

Silence. Just the music.

Bökh: „Yes. Very much back then.“

The Nichtraucher lets out a soft incredulous laugh again, almost like a scoff.

Nichtraucher: „I see.“

Long silence. Justus stares out the window. Finally, he turns and walks to the door.

Bökh: „You know where to find me.“

Justus leaves the wagon. Robert nods to himself silently.

Narrator (audiobook): And with these words, Herr Bökh leaves his friend’s train wagon. If the two will ever see each other again?

[s0re-loser]

Had 2 make a post abt the crow n religious imagery because I'm gonna bite otherwise

[torchlitinthedesert]

I'd be curious to hear your Ob-la-di Ob-la-da take lol

I claimed Ob-la-di Ob-la-da as a political song. No, I'm not kidding.

Obviously, Ob-la-di Ob-la-da isn't a protest song. It's a perky ska-style number about the happy, everyday life of an immigrant family. And it was released in 1968, when immigration had just become the most inflammatory topic in British politics.

In spring 1968, the UK government proposed a new Race Relations bill, making it illegal to refuse housing, employment, or public services to anyone on the grounds of race or national origin. It was a response to racism, particularly against recent immigrants, especially those from the Caribbean.

Cue a lot more racism, most notoriously from politician Enoch Powell, who gave what is still commonly referred to today as the "Rivers of blood" speech. Powell ranted about sending "the immigrant and immigrant-descended population" back to the countries they or their families had once come from. He was particularly freaked out by the idea that, having come to Britain, people would settle down and - horrors - have babies, eventually outnumbering the white population. Powell was sacked by his party the next day, but he sparked a horrible wave of racist protest and abuse.

All this was brewing over the summer, as The Beatles worked on the White Album, and on this song. What is Ob-la-di Ob-la-da about? It's an everyday love story. The ska style frames Desmond and Molly as Jamaican - which, in a British context, strongly suggests that they're immigrants. The song builds a happy ending out of exactly the things that racists like Powell were terrified that immigrants would do. They work, get married, and have children, who grow up and help with the family business. Life going on, happy ever after.

The Beatles were certainly aware of the tensions sparked by Powell, immigration and the Race Relations Act; they were still talking about it, and trying to write a protest song about it, in the Get Back sessions in January 1969. Ob-la-di Ob-la-da doesn't talk directly about any of that. Its subjects - work, home, children - are the sort of thing that 1970s rock journalists would put down as Paul's normie bourgeois sensibilities.

But normie is where most people live. The song presents Desmond and Molly as deeply relatable. It assumes that their happy ending is something everyone can root for and sing along with. That is not an apolitical act, particularly not in Britain in 1968.

And people did sing along, in their millions. Ob-la-di was staggeringly popular. The Beatles didn't release it as a single in the UK or the US (though it topped charts in Australia, Japan and Europe). There were multiple competing cover versions. One by the band Marmalade went to No 1 in Britain, and sold about a million copies. Paul's own favourite cover was by The Bedrocks, whose members were all first-generation immigrants from the Caribbean.

(Obviously, there are other questions here about race, music, and appropriation; The Beatles, and most of the artists doing cover versions, are white people singing black music. Hello, history of western popular music.)

As I said, this isn't a protest song. But it has been sung in protest. @beatleshistoryblog found this great footage from a Women's March in London in 1971. Just listen to the first seconds: la la la la life goes on.

[the-halfling-prince]

Had this vision in my head, had to draw it. Idk what the context is but here's another teen Zephyr drawing but this time one of my ocs is there too

[seenthisepisode]

~~~

[strawberryteabunny]

17 and 18 for the ask game!

Thank you anon! ૮₍˶ᵔ ᵕ ᵔ˶₎ა ♡

17: what's a brand you don't own many things from but would like to?

Victorian Maiden and Mary Magdalene! I only recently got my first VM piece and don’t own anything from MM but I really love their prints and design aesthetic. Their coats are really gorgeous too! Chocochip cookie is another super underrated brand I’d love to own pieces from. They appeared a lot in older GLB’s but aren’t super well know today :(

(left to right: VM’s Rococo Bouquet OP, MM’s Morgane OP, chocochip cookie brand features from GLB 18-19 [Autumn-Winter 2005])

18: what's the best feature a dress could have?

Detachable sleeves! XD

Probably just anything that allows versatility with how you wear it- detachable sleeves, neck ties, skirts that can be buttoned open, detachable bows, skirts that can be bustled up or left down… I love having lots of options for how you can style a single dress. Unfortunately the detachability means these pieces get lost easily :( plain white detachable sleeves are pretty easy to replace with any other pair but lost neck ties and bows make me really sad, it took me forever to find a Strawberry Fields OP that wasn’t missing the neck ties! Crossed neck ties is one of my favorite things on oldschool pieces <3

(The second-best feature is shirring. I hate so much when brands don’t put shirring in dresses that could definitely have it… IW at least tends to do multiple sizes but AP constantly makes unshirred OP’s with back zippers that could have had back shirring and an underarm zipper and I hate it)

[angelsdean]

people adding unnecessary comments to a clearly lighthearted fun jokey post, maybe um, don't.

[the-kipsabian]

im keeping this under a read more since its long but

its blanket boy hours

[weiszklee]

Recently watched this JohntheDuncan video, and it gives some great insights into what I too see as a very real and very worrying trend, of queerphobia in general and lately transphobia specifically acting as a sort of uniting cause for many rightwing groups, from neo-Nazis to Evangelicals to radfems to zionists to garden-variety conservatives to liberal capitalist institutions.

And I too don't think this uneasy alliance is a coincidence, and I too don't think it's just strategic either. All these groups really do pursue transphobia for its own merits, so to say. Transphobia is right at home in all these disparate ideologies. And it's easy to find examples of people migrating from one of these to the other, already made acquainted via transphobia.

But I don't think Duncan's ultimate thesis here is correct, that all these different ideologies are mere offshoots of some nebulous but all-encompassing historical force of white-supremacist cishet-patriarchal colonialist capitalism. I just don't think reality works like that. If you widen your view that much, all you're left with being able to say is either untrue or trivial. The goals and the role that transphobia plays in these groups is just too different, and you lose all this important specificity if you try to paint such a huge universal throughline for all of them.

Different groups adopting similar narratives just doesn't actually tell you all that much about these groups. Some narratives are just so convincing or so present within wider society for random reasons, that it's easy to land on them independently. So I can't give too much credence to Duncan's presented evidence of the presence of narratives around infiltrators and so on.

Trans people themselves are very capable of producing these very narratives as well, see for example transmedicalists and queer inclusionists accusing each other of being infiltrating agents of the patriarchy. And no, I don't think these accusations are expressions of white-supremacist colonialist capitalist brainwashing or whatever. It's just a pattern of thought people tend to fall into sometimes, especially under stress. And it's a pattern often fostered and exploited in the process of radicalisation, so we shouldn't be surprised to see it so prominently and loudly repeated over and over by so many different groups. It doesn't mean much. It especially doesn't mean that all these groups grow from the same root.