#taylor literally wrote the great war for them.

[lucien-calore]

the great war by taylor swift was MADE for chaol and dorian

"sucker punching walls" dorian punching that wall in COM

"spineless in my tomb of silence" dorian not telling chaol about his magic (tomb of silence) because he was scared (spineless)

"my hand was the one you reached for all throughout the great war" chaol not being able to let go of dorian even after dorian was with the valg collar and everyone thought he was gone

"you were playing with fire" dorian about chaol and celaena/aelin

"telling me to punish you for doing things you never did" dorian about chaol blaming himself for the valg collar thing or dorian blaming himself for killing all of the guards + brullo

"it turned into something bigger. somewhere in the haze, got a sense i'd been betrayed" chaol about dorian having magic and all the things they never said to each other because of fear

"soldier down on that icy ground looked at me with honor and truth, broken and blue. so i called off the troops. that was the night i nearly lost you" the whole scene where chaol says "i love you". i mean "icy ground" dorian's powers. "soldier down [...] looked at me with honour and truth, broken and blue" literally chaol trying to fight for dorian even when he was just a mortal and was hurt. "so i called off the troops" dorian willingly being captured so chaol could escape. "that was the night i nearly lost you" that line speaks for itself.

"i really thought i lost you" could be dorian with the valg collar or chaol almost dying but losing his ability to walk instead

"we're burned for better" aelin ruining their friendship just so they can get together again better and stronger

i rest my case, your honor.

[sohardlovingyou]

in honor of midnight's two year anniversary, do you have a list of how you'd divide the album into john-songs and paul-songs? would love to know your thoughts! <3

Oh, I don't have a list but I can make one right now! I don't care about my job that much, lol

This is interesting because I think Midnights (alongside Rep) is the least mclennon Taylor album, buuuuuut it does have songs that individually are a lot like both of them so let's see

John songs:

Maroon: this is one of the few songs that I think are mclennon, but specifically I think it's very John pov re: 1968 NYC Apple trip. (heartbreaking, I know)

Anti-Hero: This one is self-explanatory, really. I cried on a train the first time I listened to it because it was so John-coded that it made me sad he was never going to hear it ):

The Great War: this is like Jealous Guy 2.0 (with the caveat that he was an idiot and Taylor is a princess)

Dear Reader: As my beloved @idontwanttospoiltheparty once told me, John was not self-aware enough to write something this intimate BUT I can't hear "you wouldn't take my word for it if you knew who was talking" and "You should find another guiding light, but I shine so bright" without thinking about him, so #JohnCoded

Hits Different: Again, self-explanatory. Probably top 3 most John coded Taylor songs. "I picture you with other girls in love, and threw up on the street" is sooooo baby mclennon it makes me giggle. And "Dreams of your hair and your stare and sense of belief in the good in the world, you once believed in me" is SO SO SO John thinking about Paul that it makes me want to rip my heart out of my chest. But then she says "or have they come to take me away?" and i get sad for both of them.

Paul songs:

You're On Your Own, Kid: If I didn't find looking for video clips so tedious, I would have made a post-breakup Paul edit with that bridge because o m g. "I gave my blood sweat and tears for this" It's literally Get Bak Paul, and it makes me go insane thinking about it. "I looked around in a blood-soaked gown and I saw something they can't take away" they're both thinking about music, aren't they? Anyway, he was on his own and he DID face it.

Question...?: Taylor is so nonchalant and chill in this song that the fact that she's fucking furious almost flies right above your head. And Idk, it reminds me of the way Paul wrote Too Many People and Dear Boy. I wish I was better at explaining this but hopefully, you'll get it. "Does it feel like everything is second best after that meteor strike?" is so petty, lmao, it just gives: you'll NEVER replace me as your soulmate, cry about it (it works both ways tho).

Vigilante Shit: I just think he should have sung it about Klein doing the Eras Tour choreography.

Karma: I'm just adding it for the same reason as Vigilante Shit. "My pennies made your crown". "Ask me why so many fade and I'm still here", it's also self-explanatory.

Mastermind: The first time I heard "I've been scheming like a criminal ever since to make them love me and make it seem effortless" and "I'm only cryptic and Machiavellian 'cause I care" I gasped and went "PAUL!", so make of that what you will. Like, it's just him in song form. Also, baby Paul following John around before they officially met, and then pretending he has to think about being in his band lmao. "Checkmate, I couldn't lose" indeed.

✨MCLENNON BONUS✨

I couldn't finish this without mentioning that Midnights has a song that's literally called PARIS!!! And I have said this before but I think it's just John trapped in a hotel room in 1966 thinking about them going back there, and then THEY DID! (Paul ruined it but whatever).

[shitswiftiessay]

ALSO another thing that I can’t stop thinking about: if swifties are right and joe never loved taylor and just tolerated her all those years then why the fuck did it take taylor SIX years to figure that out? why would taylor stay with a guy who supposedly couldn’t stand her all those years. is she stupid? i certainly don’t think so. she’s supposedly such an emotionally intelligent person (according to swifties anyway). so why did she stay with a man who didn’t like her and made her miserable all those years?? you really think taylor was “led by blind faith” all those years? what a pathetic view you must have of her.

i’m so fucking tired of swifties and their constant victim narrative surrounding taylor. she is not only a grown ass woman but she’s incredibly rich and incredibly powerful. she also has more security than the goddamn president. if she was truly miserable or god forbid held hostage in the basement as many swifties claim, she could’ve ended it much sooner. she’s also had plenty of experience with relationships, good and bad ones, and if she’s really unhappy in a relationship, then she knows how to end it.

she obviously loved joe as you can see from all those songs she wrote so why are you so fucking desperate to paint him as this HORRIBLE man? why are you shitting on taylor’s judgment? just because he didn’t publicly scream from the rooftops that he’d die for her means he never loved her? just because he isn’t a clout chasing narcissist like that one football player who drops her name every 3 seconds? fuck off.

but hey, if you REALLY wanna start judging relationships by songs, let’s look at how much SHE sounds like the problem in certain songs: stay stay stay, renegade (being an unsympathetic bitch), afterglow, the great war (both songs about accusing him of cheating when he didn’t, knowing she hurt them, and then romanticising it in songs) bejeweled (threatening to cheat), false god “daring you to leave me just so i can try and scare you,” even that line in ME! is a red fucking flag, telling your partner that no one will ever love them like you do is a tactic used by abusers.

i am NOT claiming that taylor was abusive, for the record. but DAMN, if we’re going to hyper analyse song lyrics then we can certainly look at them in a way other than your biased “taylor is perfect and can can do nothing wrong ever��� perspective.

i mean the woman literally said “it’s me, hi, i’m the problem it’s me” but swifties are incapable of having a nuanced view of adult human relationships. sometimes things just don’t work out and it doesn’t mean that anybody has to be a villain. swifties always want to make it to where taylor is always a VICTIM of all her exes and every ex is always a MONSTER. it’s all so fucking tiresome, and it’s a very childish way of thinking.

and if it really makes you so sad to listen to those songs taylor wrote about joe then maybe you should try listening to someone other than taylor for once.

[raylasgf]

songs taylor swift wrote for rayllum specifically

fearless: love story, the way i loved you, you belong with me

speak now: mine, back to december (!!), the story of us, enchanted, last kiss, haunted, better than revenge

red: all too well (LITERALLY MENTIONS A SCARF??), state of grace

1989: style, wonderland, wildest dreams, how you get the girl, you are in love, out of the woods, this love

reputation: don’t blame me, dress, gorgeous, call it what you want, king of my heart

lover: lover, paper rings, all of the girls you loved before, the archer, maathp, daylight

folklore: cardigan, august, the 1, illicit affairs, my tears ricochet

evermore: long story short, evermore, willow, champagne problems

midnights: midnight rain, anti-hero, the great war, snow on the beach, high infidelity, would’ve could’ve should’ve, bigger than the whole sky, you’re on your own kid

she told me herself that she wrote these about them!!!

[m1ckeyb3rry]

HIII!! this is kokomicentral ur #1 sith fan!! 🙇🏽‍♀️💗 i’m sorry this is gonna be long. part of me wants to cuss you out and the other part of me should have expected this. my jaw dropped after reading friedrich...I AM HEARTBROKEN. it's bittersweet they confessed, but it also feels. i don’t want to say deceitful?? just sad for friedrich’s end knowing he was a rebound. not that i don't believe y/n has feelings for him, she definitely loves him sm ik she was just hurt. friedrich promised to stay in the program FOR HER and died protecting her it’s sooo ☹️ he makes my heart ache

our star of the show, colt my baby YOU SURVIVED I'M SO HAPPY YOU GAVE HIM A HAPPY ENDING!!! it hurts seeming them fall out, would it have been different if friedrich was still alive? :(( i love open endings and i'd like to think colt and y/n communicated their feelings in a healthy way/pace without the fear of death looming on them but realistically... i think they’d sadly stay as friends with mutual respect and love for each other 😭😭 right person wrong time strikes again kdjjs

and our devil in disguise y/n. she is the epitome of deserving more. she is resilient and ridiculously strong in all aspects. i never thought of myself as her when reading, i am farrrr from the person you’ve crafted her to be (maybe that’s good in some areas more than others KNDKA). i've always thought of her as her own person 🥹 just seeing the full circle from wanting to run away with the amatas to living with them in the end... my heart is warm. AND THE POMEGRANATES! THE FUCKING POMEGRANATES! OH YOU'RE SO INSANE. SHE REALLY DID COME BACK :(((

since this is not fully written out i am going to choose peace and tell myself this is not canon 😊 thank u x18472 for posting this, this brings 2021 me closure. love this LOVE YOU. to leave this on a happy note, here’s some fun angst songs i like to associate with our fav boys!! 🫶🏼🫶🏼

colt - little talks/of monsters and men

friedrich - footnote/conan gray

hadrian - the great war/taylor swift

HIII ALDJSJDHSB OMG I’M GOING TO TAKE THAT AS A COMPLIMENT!! brooo friedrich’s ending is so sad like i hope he had death flags the entire time but even still it’s so 😔 to think that he thought he’d live the longest and literally hated the thought but in the end he’s the only one who dies young

YESSS COLT MADE IT 🤩 agreed i think that they would definitely be friends again!! maybe not as close as they once were but they wouldn’t forget how much they loved one another either yk?? right person wrong universe ngl idk if those two ever could’ve ended up together as they were but in a better and more peaceful world they might’ve 🥹

SITH Y/N MY BELOVEDDD to be frank i agree i feel like the more i wrote her the more she began to feel like her own person and a very bossy one at that 😭 she’s the kind of character that WILL drag the entire plot down if you write her ooc so she’s always given me a bit of trouble but she always does end up carrying the story when i need her too!! going through her thought processes and mentality as she grows up in her conditions was probably one of my favorite parts of writing sith 🥹 she really does deserve more but all told i think she’s as happy as she can possibly be!! she even gets to eat pomegranates and live in athyae again it really is full circle with her

AHAHA i’m glad it could bring you some closure fr!! and thank you so much for reading, i said it before but it really did mean so much to me to get your comments back in the day 🙂‍↕️💖 and AHH LITTLE TALKS I LOVE THAT SONG!! truly is very sith coded…same with the great war…taste fr 🫡 ANYWAYSSS love you more and more!! thank you once more and i hope you’ll stop by every now and again and tell me how you’re doing 🫶🏻

[9w1ft]

hi,I'm really confused by and curious about these lyrics in anti-hero:

“I have this dream my daughter-in-law kills me for the money，

She thinks I left them in the will”

would you please be so kind to explain it for me,especially the “daughter in law”part,love you so so much~~₍˄·͈༝·͈˄*₎◞ ̑̑

hi! i am not sure if have anything insightful to add but i’ll explain how i see it. she’s singing about having a dream where she has a kid who is married to a woman—in the music video i think the implication is that she has two sons and one of them is married to a woman, which would make her taylor’s daughter in law.

this daughter in law, taylor sings, kills her thinking that taylor will have wrote them into her will, meaning she will get money after killing her. and in the music video, i think the will says she leaves everything to her cats? and the song goes “the family gathers round to read it (the will) and then someone screams out, she’s laughing up at us from hell!” presumably because she didn’t leave them any assets.

i think this part of the song and mv are included in order to accentuate the anxiety and fears taylor has surrounding how the people she love might view her, and how she might grow to view these people as well. this comes up in more than a few recent songs. afterglow, or the great war, for example. where taylor sing about feeling betrayed by a loved one when that was not the case. i think it also helps drive home why scott b selling her masters to scooter hurt so deeply. because it is her greatest fears realized. it’s (i believe) the “ultimate betrayal” that taylor and jack talk about during the long pond studio sessions part about my tears ricochet.

there’s a part in the anti hero mv where she’s mentally conditioning herself to believe the phrase “everyone will betray you” and so the dream is another example of those fears realized, in a way. that her family have in fact betrayed her (being killed by her daughter in law), and on the flip side that she one upped them by assuming they would betray her and leaving them out of the will in the first place.. it’s scary to know that your neuroses hurt your loved ones and also scary to have dreams of your neuroses being right.

i also think it’s implied that she fears that her children will grow up into people she may not like. that they leach off of her (chad seems to be making a living as a nepo baby podcaster), for example.

i also know there’s an interpretation of the mv where the children can be seen to represent different factions of the fandom. preston swifties, chad gaylors, kimber kaylors? i think that was it? and i get a kick out of that and in general i think the interpretation leads to some meaningful conclusions, like that we all have flaws, or that taylor is often the one mainly causing a lot of the infighting and it’s sort of silly that we all blame one another, among other things. that’s all nice and meaningful for us. but i do think it’s also important to consider how there could be some literal truth to taylor’s anxieties as they relate to the subject of family. taylor didn’t just go through a sad dad rock phase for everyone to conclude that these things are all actually about us.

[lunaoblonsky]

I loved reading Her Spell That Binds Me, such a beautiful novel! I was curious to know what your writing process is like? Do you create vision boards with literary references or other things that inspire you? Do you have any rituals/routines you like to do before, during or after writing? Are there particular spaces you like to write, in your home or in public?

I'm also curious to know, what your favourite books are? Or the books you have re-read the most in your lifetime.

Hi!

I’m so glad you enjoyed my book! Here are my answers to your questions:

Writing Process ✍🏽

I love a good outline. I like to have the whole story mapped out in front of me, going beat by beat and filling in the gaps more and more as I get new ideas.

Then when I start the book, I use the outline as a jumping off point so I have room to forge my own path while still having a general sense of direction. I try to write at least once a day, even if it’s only a few sentences.

I also take notes, notes, and more notes. Random words I like, names, phrases, ideas for spells, a character’s thoughts, or a plot point I want to consider later. Literally anything that pops into my head throughout the day that I don’t want to forget.

My Inspirations 🎶

My biggest inspirations are movies, TV, and music, as well as books. I make a playlist of songs for every book I write. Some songs are more the vibe of the book while others are associated with specific scenes. I posted the playlists on Spotify!

I’ll also have a list of movies that I put on in the background while I write. Idk if that’s a writing process thing or an ADHD thing, might be a bit of both 🤣

For Her Spell That Binds Me, it was Pride and Prejudice (2005), Bridgerton, Dickinson, War and Peace (2016), Emma., and The Witch.

I’m currently writing Her Spell #2, and I’ve been rewatching Suspiria (2018) on a loop. I can’t stop watching it, it’s a problem. 🙃

Vision Boards 📸

I use Pinterest a bit but more so for social media stuff, like pictures and ideas for posts. Sometimes I’ll find a painting or picture that really speaks to me for a certain scene or character and I’ll save it in a folder for later. John William Waterhouse was a big inspiration for Her Spell #1.

I also cast the characters in the books with actors and made a grid with pictures and referred to it when I wrote character descriptions. Not every character has an actor associated with them but many of them do. Maybe at some point I’ll post about that but not for a while. People should imagine the characters for themselves first, I think.

Rituals/Routines 🕯️

I like to light candles and feel cosy when I write, with my cat sleeping next to me. I prefer writing at home so I have a controlled environment without as many distractions. I wrote Her Spell #1 during an unexpected period of unemployment so I knocked it out fairly quickly. Now I work full time again so I’ll write during my lunch breaks, after work, on weekends, whenever I can.

My favorite books are:

- The Georgina Kincaid series by Richelle Mead - Incredibly underrated, I reread the series at least once a year.

- The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky - I would die for Charlie! I highly recommend watching Perks with the director/actor commentary. Stephen directed the movie as well.

- Tryst Six Venom by Penelope Douglas - This book changed my brain chemistry 😳

- The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid - Loooove, the main character is so complex and the love story is bittersweet. The twist was great as well.

- Little Women by Louisa May Alcott - It’s a perfect book and so comforting. I love the 90s movie adaptation the best.

Thank you so much for your questions!

Sincerely,

Luna ❤️

[venturismcdonald]

Alright you, I am totally willing to chat with you about Derek Venturi's vibe being "folklore" by Taylor Swift. I'm gonna end up listening to that album again this weekend while thinking about him, my favourite blorbo, and internally screaming while I work retail; and I both blame AND thank thee.

Okay, yes, because here's the thing: folklore is an album full of contradictions and really fucking confusing plotlines and self doubt while simultaneously believing in oneself above all else and that is Derek Venturi to a t. (He's also Midnights but that's a conversation for another day.) Please add your thoughts to this somewhat comprehensible thing I wrote about this!

Literally ever since the thought came to me all I have been able to think is Derek being every song and I have ✨thoughts✨ on it.

the 1: alright, look, Derek is aware that people *think* he's cool. But the thing is, he's had two serious relationships in his entire life. Sally was cool, he thinks he loved her, in the fearless way someone loves when they're sixteen and might have had feelings for their stepsister at the same time. Being with Sally was cool, but he knew it never would've worked out long term because... *vaguely hand gestures to his brain, which must be at least 20% Casey.* It's not that Derek regrets being with and loving Sally, he's just aware it wasn't forever and was never meant to be. He always felt like he had to be better around her, to be a version of himself that didn't prank Casey and start wars with the football team (even though, hello, they're football players, Sally, they totally deserve it! Max is annoying and an ass and not a good partner to Casey and football is a terrible sport that only narcissistic egomaniacs who should be spouting the Star Spangled fucking Banner play), a version of himself that was soft and kind and just not Derek. He can be those things, but not all the time. His love language is fond insults.

cardigan: this one is how he feels a lot of the time. As a society, we've acknowledged this is a song about being used when someone needs something but not actually being what they need or want. That's how Derek feels. He's a god amongst men, alright, and that comes with people wanting him for something or another constantly. Do they care about him? Not really, but don't they do a damn good job of pretending? It's almost convincing. Just like the song.

the last great american dynasty: is he a woman named Rebekah living in Rhode Island after the death of her first husband? No, not to his knowledge. Does he fit the vibe of someone who decides that fuck it, he's going to spend the rest of his life doing a bunch of random hijinks with his friends and Casey and their pack of kids? Of course. That's literally Derek. He has dyed a dog key lime green (Casey didn't find it nearly as amusing as Derek and Molly did, because she is lame and needs to expand her horizons), he has decided to pace rocks just to look insane and aesthetic and he's certainly made questionable gambling decisions (hence Sky's conception. Use a condom, kids.)

exile: do you know how long this man spent pining after Casey?? If we take LWL into effect, it's twenty four years! And in those 24 years, Casey was never single longer than nine or ten months (because she's Casey and loves long term relationships and all the bullshit that comes with them because she's never done anything casually. Except the one time they fucked and he ran away to Paris and they never spoke of it again), which meant Derek had to watch her fall in love, over and over again, with different terrible men! Really, what was she thinking? A football captain, a douchebag who rated her (and only thought she was a six and a half, as if Derek would ever obsess over a six and a half! It's insulting), a guy who didn't have a personality and a neglectful husband have been her choices. He has to watch, from the sidelines, because she doesn't let him in after everything happened, after the fight and the sex and the avoidance. All he is to her is a stepbrother she once hooked up with. Nothing more. Meanwhile, his heart cracks every time he sees her and Peter on Facebook.

my tears ricochet: specifically the first verse is giving Derek vibes to me. He knows he can bring out every side of people effortlessly, he can read them like a book because Derek is so smart, it's just people smart! It's why he knows that he has to try and be the greatest (not that it takes much effort, but it's difficult some days) to get any attention, to get love from his parents and his family and everyone around him. Because everyone loves him conditionally and Derek is barely holding himself together. Scotch tape doesn't fix everything. But c'mon, Marti, Simon and Sky are the only people who have loved him without conditions, without terms of service. What else is he supposed to believe? That he's suddenly lovable and perfect and doesn't need to put in any effort ever because he's not a fuck up? That would erase literal decades of George, Abby and Nora's parenting.

seven: being a kid is fucking great, man. Even a kid whose parents don't like him, who make him feel like a fuck up because he had to repeat the first grade (look, alright, it's hard to focus and his brain won't because Derek is broken and he's aware. Moving on), a kid who tries so hard and never gets acknowledgement. And then his parents have Edwin! Just because! Edwin is planned, he's wanted, he's everything Derek isn't. But when Derek is seven, George and Nora start fighting more. He takes Ed (who's two) and they hide out in the backyard, in a shitty treehouse that'll probably result in a broken bone one day, playing pirates until Edwin falls asleep or the yelling stops, whichever comes first. Because being seven is also impossible. It's great in hindsight, but at the time? God, it sucks. He romanticizes it until he remembers having to scream so loud the neighbors thought something was wrong so George and Abby would stop fighting, remembers the time he broke his arm on the slide because they wouldn't get outside and play so he went first and they didn't even notice until three days later because they were in such an intense fight. Being seven was the best and worst of times and sometimes, Derek thinks it was his peak. In a weird competition, his parents would always try to shower him with love right after a fight. It didn't add up, but whatever, who is he to judge?

august: Derek is August. I need this to be known; he's the one waiting on a call, who desperately wants to get it and knows he won't. Casey won't call, she'll never call, because they fucked everything up, hooking up. He saw it clear as day on her face the morning after, it's why he went to fucking Paris. And honestly, he's never really a first choice, is he? He's always the backup guy, the guy who you drag out for looks but don't actually love. You'll pretend to, and you'll do a good job, but no one actually does and that's okay.

this is me trying: he tries, alright? It may not seem like it, with Derek being a solid D+ student, but he tries. So hard. It's not his fault that his fucking brain won't cooperate and he can't learn the useless stuff. Give him a hockey stick, he'll be so good you'll forget all about your problems, but don't make him do school. He hates it. The only topics he can learn about are the ones he's obsessed with (mythology, film, music, the history of video games that one summer, the bodice rippers Casey keeps under her pillow, Casey as a whole entity (this is entirely against his will. Believe him, his life would be so much easier if he didn't know so much about Casey and feel so much about her he cannot breathe and he can't talk about it so it just sits there, being a crushing weight on him because she is inconvenient! And annoying and the absolute worst!), hockey, all of Marti and Simon's interests, etc) and five paragraph essays do not fit that. But then there's the fact he practically is a parent to Marti, doing all the emotional and physical labor of one most of the time. He tries so hard to not fuck her up because he loves her so much. Ed's cool and he loves him, but Smarti's different, okay? When Derek met Edwin, he sort of just shrugged, loved the kid and failed to get him into anything cool. When he met Marti, Abby told him he'd be taking on responsibility and Derek took that seriously. He's uncharacteristically responsible with her. Marti is the fucking best. Derek tries so hard to not be obsessed with Casey, even though it feels like she's in his fucking bloodstream, she's running through him, she's a goddamn part of him and sometimes he wants to crawl inside of her skin and live there, because he knows she can't feel the same. Casey doesn't love him. Casey doesn't even like him! So he pranks her and grins and throws a fit when she dates Sam (which, seriously Sam? What a fucking betrayal, dude. The male code! It's a real thing and definitely not something he just pulled out of his ass so you wouldn't date his annoying and hot stepsister) and eventually tries to be a decent person because, for some reason, she doesn't give up on him. It's sickening.

illicit affairs: before Casey finalized her divorce with Peter, there was (shh, it's a secret, don't tell the family) an affair happening in her house. Take two guesses as to who it was. Derek and Casey? Brilliant. Yeah, it's an affair, and it makes Derek feel dirty, like all he's good for is being a secret boy toy, but he loves her so much that he'll take whatever she's giving, even if it's just bare scraps. Derek will break himself in half to help her, to make Casey feel better, and if being her mistress is how he does it, then it'll be fine. He won't panic about their future once her divorce is finalized at all.

invisible string: there is only one explanation for why Derek's felt so drawn to Casey since he first met her. She had a schoolgirl uniform on. Is it his kink? No, not particularly, but she's a hot girl in a schoolgirl uniform. He's not blind! But also, he met her and something in his brain lit up, some part he'd never known was there before, some part that made him want to be around her all of the time for some inexplicable reason. She's infected him like a cancer. It's evil. He loves it. There's something dragging them together constantly, and at his age of 38 (please don't mention it, he's coping poorly), he can admit it might be fate or the universe or whatever. Derek loves Casey and she loves him back. Has for decades, apparently. They should've pulled their heads out of their asses so much sooner, because they're in love and it's great and they go do all the cute coupley shit Derek used to swear he'd never do but in his defense: it's Casey and she lights up doing that bullshit and Derek is a total marshmallow when it comes to her. She even gets to steal his food! And watch her terrible reality shows during hockey games! This whole love thing has turned him into a disgusting sap of a person. Shoot him, please. He begs.

mad woman: Derek's spent enough time around women (Casey especially) to understand they are complex creatures. He'll never fully understand them, but he can try to. They get mad at... A lot, honestly, being a woman must be exhausting (Casey and Marti are constantly feeling things so deeply it's painful) and sometimes it's each other? He's not quite sure, but he knows they're mad. And when they are, do not mess with them. Even Casey, who is stupid hot when mad. The world is against women, apparently, so they get mad at that and the fact they have to pay for tampons (Derek ends up buying them, do not make it a thing) and having it be inferred they're just fucking insane. Which, to be fair, they are! Casey especially! But yeah, it's gotta be annoying, so he's trying to empathize and be feminist and other bullshit that Skyler has bullied him into.

epiphany: so here's the problem: Derek is aware he's had a pretty decent life, all things considered. No massive traumas, nothing a therapist should see him for. Still, he can't help but feel sometimes like there's a war being waged between his brain and the Canadian education system. It's fucking insane! School just doesn't work and Derek is broken because he doesn't get it, he doesn't understand, everything feels violent and he can't cope. Hence hockey, where he can hit things and people with sticks! Hockey is great! It's bloody and gorey and everything else Casey hates.

betty: oh boy. This one's a doozy. But it's not Derek's fault, he will maintain, that he accidentally pissed Casey off so much she won't talk to him. He made one joke about her divorce (which wasn't even that bad! The kids laughed! Simon laughed! Casey is the only one who didn't) and now she's stormed off and won't talk to him so obviously Derek needs to apologize. He hates apologies; they're lame and suck all the fun out of everything and they are the worst! But he does, and god, does he hope that it'll be enough for him to apologize by playing her a song he wrote and talking about his (ugh) feelings for her to kiss him in front of the kids and their parents and admit this is what she wants. Because this thing between them has always been on her terms, he's just along for the ride, but he'd really like to be with her forever.

peace: one of the few cons of being as amazing as Derek is that he doesn't get any privacy half the time. Neither do his romantic partners, as a result. He's aware of this and it's part of why he doesn't date anymore; it's too hard to find someone willing to deal with all of it. Once he and Casey officially get together, one of Derek's biggest fears is that she's going to realize he's not worth it. Because she'll never have a quiet, peaceful life that Casey deserves, not being with him. Everything will be an article and it's going to suck and Derek loves her. Will she be okay without getting that peace? He'd get it if she wasn't; it's okay, he won't hold it against her. She'll never get to live a normal life with him. When she tells him she'd rather insane with anyone else than normal with him, he may or may not shed a tear or two. Because he's not worth that, he isn't even close to worth the chaos that'll come with it, but Casey thinks he is for some reason, so Derek will keep trying to prove to her that he is. Every day for the rest of his goddamn life.

hoax: when love feels conditional and faithless, it's essentially a massive hoax. Derek doesn't believe in a love that'll exist with unwavering loyalty and faith and trust. It's not for him. Maybe for other people, but he doesn't get that. Everyone's love for him is a fake, a pretend, and Derek is great at pretending he doesn't know it. Love is bullshit, the kind they talk about in the movies. That doesn't exist for people like Derek. It exists for Marti and Casey and Edwin and Lizzie and Nora and George and hell, Abby and Dennis, but not for Derek. He's not wired to receive it. And he'll believe they all love him endlessly to go to sleep at night, waking up knowing it's a lie.

the lakes: sometimes, a man wants peace and quiet. He wants to go to an abandoned lake, write songs with his girlfriend, let the kids play and do whatever the fuck Luca and Sky do (he thinks Luca has a boyfriend?? It's confusing. He FaceTimes him a lot) and avoid people forever. And then Derek remembers how much he hates camping because urban hell scapes are his favorite thing, shrugs, and proceeds to overromanticize small New England towns until he goes to one. Let him have his fun, he's an artist. This is his muse.

[navree]

Hi! Have you seen Domina s2? If so what are your thoughts on it?

Hey!

I have not seen Domina s2, nor have I seen Domina s1, because I just have genuine issues with it. I dislike where they chose to start the story, I dislike the way they've characterized a lot of these figures, I dislike a lot of what they've done with the history and their interpretation of the motivations behind it. And considering that Augustus is one of my favorite historical figures to read about and he already has a tendency to get really bad representations due to the people he was surrounded with (HBO Rome had Antony as a main character so of course their interpretation of Octavian, his final nemesis, was God fucking awful), it's infuriating.

Like, one of the reasons I like these figures and this period of history so much is that what actually happened was just so fascinating that I want to jam as much information about it as possible into my brain (I've harped on this before, but it is insane to me that Octavian, at the ripe old age of 22, decided to have 300 defeated and surrendered enemy soldiers slaughtered as human sacrifices on Julius Caesar's altar on the anniversary of his assassination, that is a crazy story and I wish we had more info about it) as permanently as possible. So whenever people decide to mess with that, it not only irritates me as an enjoyer of the history, but it also makes their story more dull because nothing these people come with for the sake of "ratings" is ever going to match up to real life (no, Colleen McCullough, Octavian disowning his mother based on a debunked historical theory is not more interesting than a 19 year old's only living parent dying unexpectedly a year after the only father figure he's ever known/close uncle/actual adopted father was brutally murdered thereby thrusting him into a position of extreme pressure and visibility and kicking off a personal revenge quest that led to the eventual reshaping of the Western World, sorry). And it especially doesn't work when you're relying on tropes that everyone has already seen done before.

Livia Drusilla as some conniving snake manipulating everything behind the scenes to suit her own ends is an incredibly tired trope, it's the main characterization given to nearly any interpretation of her and I've never liked it. Augustus being a power hungry tyrant who only cares about making himself a living god and nothing else is an incredibly tired trop, and it too is the main characterization given to nearly any interpretation of him and I've also never liked it. I don't even know what to do with their version of Agrippa because he just seems like a wet chihuahua half the time (and then has this insane line of "I put you where you are and Livia kept you there" that I really wrote 3k words in response to because for one, he would not fucking say that and for two it's literally untrue and for three he would not fucking say that!!!) and honestly every interpretation of him has been borderline schizophrenic (the Elizabeth Taylor movie made him significantly older than Octavian when they were the same age??? tf????). I've already seen Rome and I, Claudius (well, not really, but I have skimmed them on occasion), I don't need a rehash of old hackery. Give me something new, something interesting, something that can actually fit who these people were attested to be, and certainly more interesting than old shorthand based on ahistorical assumptions.

Domina honestly shot itself in the foot by starting the story after the Last War of the Republic (I think it starts in 27 BC when Octavian is declared Augustus, which is three years after the war against Antony), because the years between the Ides and Actium can genuinely have great character work for all of these people. And it can especially have great character work for Livia, seeing how she handled the tumultuous time leading up to eventual war, and especially how she handled Rome and the family and the politics during the time that Octavian was off at war and then in Egypt. So you've got old news characterizations that don't jive, you have boring made up stories that aren't anywhere near as fascinating as the actual history, and to make it worse you're focusing on the more placid years and bypassing any of the stuff that's actually going to be of interest and really getting into the meat of, you know, Octavian's rise to power and eventual turn into a living god, which seems to be what this show is trying to chronicle too.

And honestly? Honestly? I despise whatever the Hell they're trying to do with Livia and Agrippa. For one, again, scheming cheating whore is a tired trope, it's a tired trop that I don't care to apply to Livia. For two, it's a cop-out. I've said it before, I said it when Rome tried to do Agrippa/Octavia, it's a cop-out to try and add some tension to Agrippa by pairing him with the first woman you can find in Octavian's inner circle. No relationship that this man had, with anyone, is going to be anywhere near as interesting as the one he had with Octavian. No fictionalized, ahistorical romance with Octavian's wife or Octavian sister is going to approach the dynamic that Octavian and Agrippa had with each other. If you want to add some romance between Agrippa and a member of the Julio-Claudians, don't be a scaredy-cat and have it be with Octavian. The mutual devotion these two felt for each other, the way that Agrippa never tried to seize power even though he could, choosing instead to be Octavian's lieutenant, his attack dog, the loyalty Octavian showed Agrippa even when they were teenagers, the way these two were by each other's sides for nearly Agrippa's entire life (Agrippa predeceased Augustus by about thirty years), the longevity of the relationship and the reciprocity of it, it's all ripe for someone to do something great with it. And nobody's ever really gotten it right, there have been elements from different places that have had moments, but nothing that's had it right from start to finish. I mean, for God's sake, during Augustus's near fatal illness that I know was in Domina's first season, Augustus literally gave Agrippa his signet ring so that, if he died, his legions and followers would follow Agrippa immediately and see him as Augustus's anointed successor, and the show didn't have any of that. Insanity. Quit pussy-footing around it. If you want to add an "Agrippa loves and desperately wants something he's not sure he can have", have that something be Octavian, not Livia.

All in all, I just really don't like this show, for so many reasons, and I think they did nearly everything wrong except for maybe a few isolated things here and there, and I have absolutely no intention of watching it. Honestly, if you want good content on this time and any of these people, it's probably better to find a good nonfiction book on the period or biography on the key player that interests you the most and just read that.

Also I hate that horrible fucking wig they stuck on TGC when Augustus was literally a blond historically. Like, seriously, you have TGC there (and with all those gifsets showing how alike he and Olivia Cooke are it's a crying shame they didn't cast her as Octavia, the fancasting exists in my dreams), Augustus is attested as having been a blond pretty boy, fuck off with your terrible wig and let him use his natural hair, Roman men tended to have hair the length that most modern men keep their's nowadays anyway.

[jonathanskarma]

here's a list of songs i'd KILL to see a stancy edit to

all the editors out there this is for you

most are Taylor Swift/midnights songs, cause im OBSESSED

high infedility, specifically the part where it's like "do you really wanna know where i was april 29th? do i really have to tell you how he breought me back to life" and the other part "put on your records and regret meeting me" specifically because i do think Nancy's season 4 relationship with steve has really began to heal her younger self, and i think i would look really cool with the scenen in season 1 where jonthan is crying with his headphones on, because he's also the type to be pissed at nancy, and i ultimately think the song really incapcilates that.

midnight rain, but switched, ik how it fits as steve as sunshine and nancy as midnight rain but tbh i think what's great about stany is that there typically roles can be switched and i think this dynamic could work, especially when it says "he stayed the same, but all of me changed like midnight rain" cause steve did change a lot

lavendar haze, c'mon like it just fits.

glitch, "we were supposed to be just friends" c'mon

GREAT WAR, PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THINGS HOLY

labrinth, Nancy Wheeler literally wrote this song "uh oh i'm falling in love" "i thought the plane was going down, how'd you turn it right around??" COME ON

love of my life

afterglow

cowboy like me

invisible string, I LOVE PLAYING WITH THE WHOLE FATE/DESTINY/SOULMATES IDEA

new year's day

daylight, ok so i always see jancy edits to this, like steve is the "red" love and jonathan is the "golden" love but i think it would be so cool if you showed like how they've changed, so like its the same poeple but how they love eachother is different, so you first show scens from season 1-2 of them fighting and being stupid for the "red" love but then you show season 4 scenes of them saving eachother and being all sweet for the "golden" love🥹

[superstartaylorsversion]

was taylor intentionally thinking about katniss and peeta when she wrote the great war or was that just completely incidental in the way that it is literally them 100000%

[ileftherbackhome]

Hello, hope you're having a good day

I love reading your songs' analysis but I don't get very well your analysis of The great war. What made you think this is the break up song ? Like what lyrics? I think I agree with your pov but I need more details to make my mind

Okay, so, have you listened to hits different? Do you know about the girl who lives in delusion?

The great war is kind of like this for me. First, the great war means the FIRST world war. In the context of this relationship, this is the FIRST war they had to fight. In my opinion, it is about kissgate and how she went on twitter to deny kaylor which was the betrayal that she dealt to karlie.

Let me back up, taylor has repeatedly referred to true love as golden. This is how she views her relationship with Joe, because it's not burning red. The way taylor describes falling in love is "flying towards the sun" and so when a relationship goes bad, you've flown TOO close to the sun. You're so blinded by the light that you keep flying towards it even as your feathers are melting off, Icarus.

She says in the bridge that this love was "burned for the better" which we know is incompatible with how she views true love, aka for her that's joe. Burned here implies this is an unhealthy relationship but the war imagery should tip you off to that before you get to the bridge.

So back to the song, she has started the song off with imagery of fighting and the use of the pronoun "her," and remember this is a song off an album where the theme is literally "if one thing had been different, would everything be different today?" So the song starts off with taylor thinking back to how her knuckles were bruised like violets from fighting this war.

Violet is queer coded specifically for sapphics with a whole history there, as well. So, there is another queer flower being used as imagery here.

"Cursed you as I sleep-talked, spineless in my tomb of silence" this is clearly about kissgate to me. She is having nightmares of where it all went wrong and she is tracing it back to kissgate in 2014 (?)

Crimson clover is another gay floral reference, crimson & clover is a song about sapphic love for example. Anyways, sweet dream was over gives me gold rush vibes and I have nothing else to say about it other than this.

Once we get to the chorus, we have already changed history. "Tears on the letter" brings me to closure, where the reality is karlie apologizing to her (maybe?) And taylor resenting that letter because she remembers how it used to be, how it could have been. But in the song, I think she is saying she wrote a letter crying and vowing not to fight anymore if they could survive kissgate.

I think in reality, this actually happened (karlie sobbing with her head in her hands) but taylor said something to push her away and this started the beginning of the end of their relationship.

So, the second verse I can only interpret as Karlie telling her to trust her more (maybe taylor accused her of wanting them to be caught? This is speculation but im giving an ex so u can see my train of thought of what I think the verse represents) but here is like present taylor speaking through past taylor saying "diesel is desire, you were playing with FIRE" so here is the burning imagery again. You can write a whole thesis on this line and the beautiful metaphor it is for unhealthy relationships but I'll just say here that she is saying that the desire between the two women burned up them inside until there was nothing left of what they had.

"The bombs were close" is a reference to the phone call drama that I think signals the end of their relationship for real because Karlie lost interest in her as her reputation tanked and also the way she was treating Karlie was probably not okay because she was valuing fame over the two of them.

And here she is saying "my hand was the one you reached for all throughout the great war" because karlie wanted them to go public but she was too afraid to live her truth. "Always remember the burning embers" is also another hint that she's talking about a past relationship due to that burning red metaphor she likes to use for break up songs.

Then we get into the bridge which solidifies it for me because "it turned into something bigger" feels so my tears ricochet to me. We know Taylor was betrayed by Karlie somehow in the masters situation and she is literally saying that their relationship war turned into "something bigger" because kissgate was the catalyst for karlie betraying her and causing her to lose her masters in the way that she did. "Even on my worst day, did I deserve babe all the hell you gave me" hell is depicted as a burning inferno and "raining hellfire" is what this line references to me.

Somewhere in the haze = the lavender haze

Got a sense I'd been betrayed = masters situation

Your finger on my HAIRPIN trigger = right where you left me, you won't let me come out because of our history, you had to kill me but it killed you just the same because she is queerifying pin triggers, which is a gun term that modifies it to SHOOT FASTER. The brilliance here is *chefskiss*

But remember, we're still in the time period of kissgate so this is where I make the connection to hits different bridge and outro because it feels like a complete shift in tone where Taylor does decide to trust karlie after kissgate but karlie is now falling out of love with her because karlie looked up at her with "honor and truth" during kissgate and so she called off the troops because she was the one hurting Karlie in the kissgate situation and vowed to find a way to leave her record label maybe?

She called off the troops, which I think is her record label, and I think this means she was trying to find a way to leave them for the 2 of them to go public. But we also know that karlie cheated on her during their relationship because of the way she talks about the emotions behind August.

And the most devastating part of this entire song is "that was the night I thought I lost you, I really thought I lost you" for me because it is the thing she is changing about this entire situation. This WAS the night she lost her because in reality, there was 2 great wars in history.

The Great War foreshadows the coming of a second war in the context of this relationship because people really celebrated the end of the war like it was the last bloodshed they'd see on that scale again. This is why I think it's like hits different because it wouldn't make sense for her to be saying "there is no second great war" with the context of the great war not being a break up song.

Like, in order for this to be a happy song, you would have to ignore the historical context that she is referring to specifically by using the name "the great war." And this is why ultimately to me, this is a break up song because this song is about the feeling of believing you've won before walking straight into a checkmate trap.

Then she used funeral imagery here much like she used it in so it goes for the bridge in that song too. She says "we can plant a memory garden" why would they need to plant a memory garden of they are still together.

A memory garden implies remembering someone who died at war, and then the "place a poppy in my hair" and "there's no morning glory" "it was war, it wasn't fair" these all feel like the aftermath of kissgate on their relationship.

Like yeah, they "won" the battle of kissgate but their relationship was altered by the events of this so greatly it caused a greater, bloodier war.

Again, you cannot divorce the historical context she is using in this song from your analysis and the context is "people thought ww1 was the great war because they couldn't foresee how their actions caused a CHAIN REACTION that led to the second world war" like that is the context.

The singer here, taylor, couldn't see how her actions started a domino effect that would cause Karlie to betray her during the masters situation, leading to their metaphorical death as a couple.

They survived the great war and she vowed she'd always be Karlie's but we know that's not true and that's why it's a break up song, anon.

I love you, thank you so much for this.

[livcosmos]

2022 Wrap Up Stories

How is this year almost over? How did this happen? I absolutely can’t believe it, it’s crazy! So much happened, so many life-changing things…and not just this year also since the last time I wrote to you my life has been turned upside down, and not just because "Midnights" by the queen herself came out, but more about that in a minute. I almost finished my first semester at uni, how crazy is that?! I never ever would have believed anyone who would have told me back in July/August that I was going to make it this far, that it was going to go well, and that I was going to enjoy it but here we are! I’m studying English and History but I’m also taking a seminar in Film so I have so much to talk about, let’s get started!

All right first things first, before we get into the books and movies we have to start with music because WOW! So I teased it already in the opening but Midnights?!!! OMG it’s just absolute perfection, it is pretty much the only thing I have been listening to since it came out. It is probably my favorite Taylor album, the vibes, the music, the lyrics it just sooo good!!! I loved Taylor before and I never thought I could love her even more but it turns out I can! Ahhh I love this album so so much!!! I can’t even say which song I love most because they are all so good in their own way and I love them each for so many different reasons but I’m going to name a few of, the ones that really really got to me. The order in which I will name them is random because I can’t rank them, it would hurt too much! Ok so, definitely "Maroon" and "Lavender Haze", and of course "Vigilante Shit" omg I love "Vigilante Shit"! "Sweet Nothing" of course and "You’re on your Own, Kid" and from the 3am version "The Great War", "Paris", "Bigger than the Whole Sky", "Wouldhav’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve" and lately I have been really really loving "Glitch". Oh and of course "Bejewled' and "Anti-Hero", it's obvious that those are on my list too. Yeah so I pretty much named half the album, I’m sorry but it’s so so good!!! I love how it is a mix of everything, I feel like there is a song in there out of each era and I love that!!! Excellent Taylor has outdone herself again and I’m all here for it!

And because everyone has been talking about it, we of course have to talk about the Spotify wrap-up, and I’m going to share mine even though it won’t be a surprise to anyone, I’m basic through and through but I’m proud of it so there you go:

You know what else won’t come as a surprise to anyone? Exactly… the fact that I miss summer! I miss the sun and the warm weather and watching "The summer I turned pretty", by the way, I bet that "Snow on the Beach" will be in season two it has to be and if it truly does, please remember that I said it here first!

I think we are going to move to the books because there are only three, sad I know! First, we have "Hamlet", please don’t come for me but I didn't really enjoy it, I mean yeah it was good but "Macbeth" is sooo much better it has so much more action. I don’t know there was something about "Hamlet" that I didn’t quite like but I can’t say what it is for sure.

Next, we have the "Underground Railroad", I had a huge problem with the writing style in this book it freaked me out, there were so many characters that came out of nowhere all of the sudden with no explanation and all those time jumps and no… but for some reason even though I wouldn’t say it was a book that swapped me of my feet, I keep thinking about it from time to time. I don’t know why but apparently, I can’t let it go just yet. It’s interesting because I didn’t enjoy reading it but somehow it made an impact on me nevertheless.

Now let’s end the book section with something very hyped, something I’m sure you all have heard of and probably also read. I’m delighted to announce to you that I finally read "It ends with us", now I finally know what you all were talking about! My oh my this book was literally a rollercoaster, I have to admit that I got spoilered so I knew that Ryle was going to be a brick but before he misstepped the first time I was so rooting for him, I really really liked him and I thought that for sure he will be good in the end but ohhhhhh the first time he hit her in the kitchen…that was it for me... from that moment on I was disgusted…from that moment on he was dead to me! My God, I felt so sorry for Lily!!!! And Atlas ahhhh I love him obviously, he is her soulmate! I don’t know what to say about the sequel though, I know I always say, that I won’t read the sequels because I’m afraid it will ruin things and then I read them anyway but…I mean the story kind of had a good ending and I don’t want all to get messed up again so…I don’t know what to do! I'm curious of course but …we will see I will defiantly keep you updated! Oh and also did this book fire up my already high trust issues? Yes, it most certainly did!

Ok, now we can get to the most fun part, the movies! I will start with my favourite out of all the ones I will discuss with you today and that is "The School for Good and Evil”, I went in there knowing nothing and I had the absolute best time watching it! I really really loved the story it’s exactly the kind of story I love, with fantasy elements and all ahhh I loved it! You already know I love Sofia Wylie but oh my I also loved her costar, the girl who played Sophie, ahhhh speaking of Sophie she was my favourite character, and the "you should see me in a crown" scene is perfection, I watched it so many times it’s soooo good!!! I won't read the books but I would love them to make sequels to the movie, I would love to see how the story goes on!

I also finally watched (I know shame on me for watching it so late in my life) "Pride and Prejudice", I liked it of course but can you please tell me where Mr. Darcy wasn't the pure evil he is always portrayed to be? I get that in the book he is way worse (again shame on me for watching the movie before reading the book) and I’m not saying that he was a saint in the movie but I imagined him to be way worse!

And because we are already speaking of it, I also watched "Persuasion" the new one with Dakota Johnson, I love Dakota she is amazing! And I liked "Persuasion" more than "Pride and Prejudice" but this might probably be because of the modern turn they took on it, so I don’t know… you are all probably screaming at be because I also haven't read "Persuasion" and you think that the movie is a joke but that's just my opinion, I will get back to you about this when I read both books and I'm more qualified to judge!

Ok moving on to "Enola Holmes 2", the only three things I have to say about this movie are 1. I liked the first movie better, 2. there was too little Twekesbury in it, 3. I can’t say it enough how much I love that time period and maybe a bonus nr.4 and 5 I loved that it was inspired by true events and I missed Sam Claflin.

All right "Do revenge” I love Camila Mendes, I love Maya from Stranger Things and I love Sophie Turner. It was a funny movie and I always love a funny movie, I also loved the soundtrack especially that they put Tate and Rosalia in it!

I wouldn't be me if I wouldn’t have watched the 10 years Violetta reunion, Violetta was such a huge part of my childhood and it’s so crazy that it has been 10 years since it came out! I cried the whole time while I was watching it. It was so emotional and I still know every word of every song! The only negative thing I have to say about it is that it was way too short!

Oh and I watched "Witches" on Halloween and it was ok, my favourite Halloween movie still is and will always be "Hocus Pocus"!

As I mentioned in the beginning, I’m taking a seminar on Film, every week we watch a movie and then we discuss it. It is so much fun to be able to talk to people who share the same interests as you! And I have to be honest it made me look at movies in a whole other way, I always watch them mindlessly just for the experience and the plot but there is a whole other level. to them I have been neglecting, the technical one. It always you to analyze the movie in so much more detail and it’s so interesting! Oh and I love that the seminar make me watch movies that I wouldn’t normally watch, for example, we watched a Western "High Noon”, yes it was boring but it was a whole experience to watch it and I never watched a Western before! And that song is still stuck in my head! I love that my knowledge of movies is expanding and that I’m learning so many new things! The first movie we watched was "500 days of summer" and it was again the typical case of: I wasn’t blown away by it but I kept thinking about it for so long that it grew on me!  The next movie we watched was "Her", again very wired and not my cup of tea but the discussion we had about it was very interesting! Oh and we watched the first Spiderman, the one with Tobi and I can’t believe I’m saying this but I realized that I had never watched that movie from start to end before so that was nice! After that, we watched "Spiderman into the Spiderverse" and before watching it I thought I was going to have a problem with the animation but in the end, I ended up liking it! Then we watched "Juno", again a movie I have never watched from start to finish which I really liked, I especially liked that we watched it to contrast it to "The Florida Project", a very disturbing but interesting movie! I really love this seminar because I love learning all those new things about something that is so important to me!

And just like that, we have come to the end, thank you so much for reading, and I wish you all a happy Christmas and a happy New Year! I hope to see you in the new year with even more movies, books, and music discussions!

[creativside]

It's called queer heterosexualities and it's a noted thing in media. Often containing themes of some sort of yearning, forbidden and/or unrequited love, romances that are for some reason taboo or looked down on in a culture. Also monsterfucker relationships where one or both characters are some kind of non/inhuman, yet one uses he/him and one she/her pronouns.

Romeo and Juliet from the Shakespeare play of the same name, Anakin and Padmé from Star Wars, and Jude and Cardan from The Folk of the Air are some of my favorite examples.

(Oh hey! Those themes crop up in Taylor Swift songs. Who literally wrote a Romeo and Juliet song.)

Now, we could dig into these three examples and casting choices, canon and fanon understandings of character's sexualities (Cardan is queer, Padmé is word of God EK Johnston demisexual with a queer platonic life partnership with a woman, and I follow the great fialleril's genderfluid reading of Anakin) and land on actually none of them are "straight." But I think that kind of proves the point.

sometimes m/f ships are gay. this is often the case actually

[senbons]

just finished go easy. i want a sequel! my biggest mistake reading this fic is i thought they will get together at the end after you said that the great war by taylor swift is about them. the song is literally go easy except for "cause we survived the great war" part. a sequel would finish the song! please please i beg you 😭

Aw!!! I love that and am so so sorry to disappoint because I meant I love the song and want to write a new fic about the song ����😭😭 I wrote a story called Swallowed for tsafv1, which I always think of as my "war" story, so I would theoretically write a bigger one around that. But I mostly just see that song jamming with all my headcanon about them and want to read a fic around that song, yk? I didn't even think about go easy with it im so sorry! but rereading the lyrics with go easy in mind you are so 10000% right it literally is that i am in the wrong!!!!!!

but now i really want to rewrite the story/premise around that song!

this always fucking happens! it happened with aibg too and that morse code sewing thing! at the end (after it's written) someone gives me a way better idea! goddammit!!!!

[bisluthq]

I disagree lol, I guess I see it very differently idk. I've been a die hard fan of this woman since 2009 and she's SUCH a theater kid, she literally started out in children's theater when she was 8 (shout-out to Marjorie who enrolled her) and she did so many musicals (played Sandy in Grease, Maria in The Sound Of Music etc) and if you look at the Speak Now tour it's SO theatrical and dramatic and OTT. I think she loves theatrics and recently also visual representations of her songs and she's at a point where she has a the freedom to lean into that as much as she wants.

Also, like that anon said, this woman has never let a single thing go in her life (I personally relate to that a lot lol I'm not vengeful like she is but I carry the pain of ugly shit that happens to me forever). This girl wrote about the asshole man 10 years older than her that was her first mayor heartbreak just recently for example (Maroon, The Manuscript). There's a reason why ppl were like "omg she still has pent up feelings for Jake" after the ATW SNL performance, it's both because she's that good of a performer and bc she just doesn't let things go. She's still pissed as hell about the masters fiasco and lets out all that rage every night during mtr, you'd think she wants Scott Brochetta to apologize to her publicly and restore their professional relationship. Same with Kim K.

Imo she wants absolutely nothing to do with any of this ppl and does not care at all for/about them, but she does care about the feelings her experiences with them caused her and she will continue to forever bc she is a person who feels everything extremely intensely and has giant emotions (I also relate to that). It's part of what makes her such a good writer and performer imo but maybe I'm naive and giving more credit to her artistry than there actually is lol

I do 100% agree that there are parallels with the 1975 on-stage antics but I think you guys are exaggerating a bit lol the white flag in the back during TSMWEL is imo a reference to The Great War (the lyric video for that song is a white flag) and the dying slowly from gunshots is very You're Losing Me and many other instances are imo her being self- referential (the high school bleachers imagery nod to the YBWM mv, the witchy stuff in WAOLOM feels like a nod to LWYMMD and willow and the whole BDILH part could straight up be pulled out of the Speak Now tour).

So I tbh think she hates Matty's guts and wants to never have anything to do with him, but she's not quite done being hurt and angry at what he did. Hell, she isn't even done being angry and hurt at what Jake did lol. She just...is like that lol. She can perform the hell out of a sad song and convey those very harrowing emotions while being very happy herself and vice versa.

Surprisingly enough Travis seems to understand that very well, he can properly digest that Taylor Swift TM, the personas she plays up on stage, and the woman he loves all exist in the same person. And he seems to love all of these parts at once which simply never happened in her previous rs, she's had ppl love certain parts of her a lot but be unable to deal with her multitudes idk

fair enough!