#that matters as much as with poetry IMO

[rywritess]

cameron at LEAST had something for charlie imo

this was when charlie was flirting with the other girls I MEAN CMON BROOOOO GHFHFJDJ like ive posted about this before but w less text and stuff and im just gonna give my thoughts in this cause WOWOWOW BOOMSHAKALLALALALA BOOM??

btw im not an expert in body language and this is my interpretation

THAT does not look like jealousy to me. His eyes are softened, his mouth slightly agape, eyebrows a bit raised, before he quickly looks down at the ground. It’s like he’s in slight disbelief, heartbreak, then contemplation in such a short amount of time.

Charlie Dalton, his roomate and the worst pain in his ass—… is currently flirting with two random girls and reciting romantic poetry. I mean cmon, its not exactly out of character for Dalton to do something like that. So why be so upset about it? I mean this could’ve been a golden opportunity for cameron to FINALLY get some peace and quiet if Charlie was too busy dating around to bother him. Unless, by some rare chance— he would miss him?

I feel like this is the point cameron realizes he may not hate his roomate as much he thinks he does, and maybe just a little bit, the tiniest part of him.. actually appreciates Charlie? A little bit more than friends. I mean CMON, I don’t think people react like that if their friend flirts with someone else. Like— that look is reserved after finding out someone you like fancies somebody else.

And it’s heartbreaking. That is a look of heartbreak, folks.

I can’t imagine how Cameron would also deal with this realization. Something he holds dear to is rules and tradition. He won’t dare to challenge the norm without some help. But who could he even talk to this about?? Like?? In my hcs, Cameron definitely struggles with internalize homophobia and has such a hard time accepting it because its not the norm. Especially since its 1950s. He just regresses it so much that he won’t ever come to terms with it. Maybe one day he’ll settle down with a woman, have kids, land a normal job, but the thing is— he wont be content with it. At least, I don’t think he would be until he accepts such a central part of himself. And it wont go away, no matter how much he tries to push it down. It’s there, it’ll always be there, taunting him.

just imagine how much fucking psyche locks he would have holy crap

[trohpi]

rating regulus black ships!!

jegulus | 11/10 - i love them so much. when i rejoined the fandom in 2022 and saw how the ship had blown up in the years id been gone i was really confused, but then i read just lovers and was immediately convinced lmao. they are the epitome of sunshine x grumpy and i adore them both

bartylus | 5/10 - theyre not very compelling to me, but theyre not bad by any means. i think they work better as friends but i understand why people ship them. i just prefer other ships personally, but ive read many great fics with them too!

jegulily | 20/10 - im obsessed with them. i love regulus, james, and lily separately, but together they balance each other out. plus it helps that its a combination of my two most favorite monoamorous ships (jegulus and regulily), like whats not to like? theyre definitely a top tier ship

moonwater | 10/10 - they are so cute and so overhated! theres so much potential here, like they could be friends to lovers or enemies to lovers or rivals to lovers, basically any trope you can think of lol. and think of the angst! the drama! i love them dearly

regulily | 1000/10 - yall already know how i feel about these two! they are literal soulmates and i love them to bits. their personalities mesh so well and, this might be a controversial take, but they make more canonical sense than jegulus does imo (not that canon really matters in this fandom lmao). i could wax literal poetry about this ship i love them so much

rosewater | 6/10 - i have other ships i prefer for both of them but theyre still cute and i can see why people ship them. honestly its a similar situation to bartylus, except they intrigue me just the slightest bit more lol

regumary | 4/10 - im sorry i just cant see this ship. i can see their relationship being platonic but not romantic. i also think mary is a lesbian, which doesnt really mean much considering i also love the trans girl regulus headcanon, but most of the time when i see this ship its very cishet and just not my thing. sorry yall!

regdora | 2/10 - i just cant see this ship either. its not bad necessarily, i just see the relationship between regulus and pandora as that of a sibling relationship. no hate to people who ship them, its just not for me lol

rosestarkillerchaser | 6/10 - i understand why people ship them, its combining three popular ships (jegulus, bartylus, and rosekiller), but im sorry i just cannot see james dating barty and evan. im not hating on people who ship them and its not bad by any means (i like them more than most other ships involving evan & barty) i just dont actively ship them. ive read some good fics tho!

rosestarkiller | 5/10 - similar situation to bartylus yet again, its just not compelling to me. i think regulus works better with evan & barty as his friends rather than lovers which you can probably tell given my other ratings lol

blackeclipse | 10/10 - ooooo i love them. all the best aspects of jegulus, moonchaser, and moonwater in one, its elite. james brings the buoyancy that regulus & remus need while regulus & remus help keep him tethered. they work so well together and i love them all dearly

xenoreg | 8/10 - a crackship ive come to enjoy recently! definitely a weird x weirder kind of ship which is the best. oh to be a fly on the wall of the slytherin common room when regulus told barty, evan, and dorcas that he was dating xenophilius lestrange, ravenclaws resident conspiracy theorist (pandora, of course, would have been overjoyed to have someone to trade ideas with)

regulene | 7/10 - they intrigue me tbh, like marlenes brashness and regulus’ coldness contrast in just the right ways. theyre like fire and water and i love that. plus the potential for a quidditch rivalry is phenomenal, especially considering that they could both be the seekers for their respective teams. theyre kinda similar to dorlene imo

regulilylene | 9/10 - im gonna be honest here i think i made this ship up, but i really like their dynamic. marlene and regulus are on the opposite extremes of hot and cold and lilys right there in the middle to keep them grounded, she evens them out

[useless-donut]

so i was messing around with astarion and the description for his camp clothes includes a POEM HE EMBROIDERED ON IT he is so cute such a cute little gay

anyway as someone bent on cataloging everything he approves of, i have a decent grasp of what he likes and dislikes (at least in act 1, im almost to act 2) and it can SEEM contradictory but my thoughts and also spoilers below

sometimes hes just being a brat, like when he likes when you care for the owlbear cub, but also likes when you poke a dying bird to death (my theory here is less that he loves animals/hates them and more that he enjoys the chaos of an owlbear pet)

so generally speaking, he's pretty forgiving of a good (ish) path for a generally evil character, though if i had to pick an alignment, i'd say he's something like chaotic selfish

then there's the whole disliking any sympathy/aid for the deep gnomes/prisoners in general which had me thinking because we all know the cazador situation but here are my unorganized thoughts

astarion was jumped by a group of Gur & essentially killed

his "savior" was a vampire who enslaved and tortured him for 200 years

so it stands to reason that

he has a significant distrust & dislike of "saviors" in general, both because no one saved him and moreso because when someone DID it was horrible

he also dislikes heroics not so much because he's evil, but because they are a) boring and b) heroes are people like the Blade of the Frontiers/Wyll, the monster hunter, all of these are people who typically want to kill him for what he is

OF COURSE he disapproves whenever you act heroic/saviory, it's showing you're the type of person he categorically mistrusts

and also re: the gnome issue, i think he's also just really really BITTER. he doesn't want other people saved because fuck saviors and heroes, right? let everyone rot because everyone let him rot

(this is all just my fun little conjecture/headcanons based on what we know in act 1, i am ready to stand corrected)

anyway, we know he does have a soft side and even though he is very leery of deep bonds (jokingly says "i love you," gets weird and suspicious whenever you're altruistic to him), he does appreciate kindness. and i really think he's getting fond of the party despite himself

i'm hoping we will get a cazador betrayal arc bc itll be so dramatic and heartbreaking itll be so funnnn

but yeah imo he is a bitter, traumatized person who is self-interested by matter of necessity and very reasonably wants vengeance. BUT he is also someone who deeply appreciates being alive, and enjoying things like sunlight and poetry and even your company. and he deeply mourns everything he's lost along the way 🥺 AND DESPITE IT ALL HE IS SO SILLY AND "GIRLS JUST WANNA HAVE FUN" ENERGY HOW CAN PPL NOT LIKE HIM

anyway ill be burning down all of faerun if he needs me to

[a-bit-too-much-of-a-zelda-fan]

TotK is obviously the exception in Zelda and Link’s ages, with them being in their early 20s, but in every other game (except TP for Zelda) they range from 10 to 17. Brother, if they cast them with adult actors in the live action movie, I’ll be as upset as is reasonable for a well-adjusted person to be upset at a movie that ultimately doesn’t have much of an impact on their life.

It’s part of the poetry and subtext of the series that the task of saving the world falls on children. That’s part of the appeal for me. It’s powerful seeing a child rise up to face great evil. It’s tragic and reflective of the fact that so often in real life it’s young people that enact real change. It makes Link so much more relatable to young players.

IMO this movie needs to take the route of the new Percy Jackson series. Cast teenage actors as teenage characters. I remember seeing those mock ups of Tom Holland as Link and Emma Watson as Zelda and just thinking, these people don’t get it. Those are grown ass adults and they look like it. Tom is a talented actor and he could pass as a teenager in 2016, but not anymore.

Alright, look. Video game movies are in a tough spot. A lot of the appeal of so many of these game worlds is that you get to play around in them, be a part of the story. That’s just a given. If the Zelda movie falls flat in that respect, whatever, fine. But if the casting is wrong, I’ll actually have a problem with it. And I’m not foaming at the mouth here. It ultimately doesn’t matter, because it’s the games that matter. But please, just be faithful there.

[jeannereames]

Did Christianity change the perception of Alexander in a meaningful way?

Christianity and Alexander the Great

Perhaps a bit surprisingly, the rise of Christianity didn’t really alter perceptions of Alexander that much, largely for two reasons.

First, imperial authors (both Greek and Latin) had already shaped those perceptions according to popular philosophic virtues—using Alexander as either an exempla of Bad Behavior or of Proper Restraint (or both, depending on the writer).

Second, in an attempt to gain acceptance, or at least tolerance, for Christianity among the larger Roman imperial public, some early Christian theologians began presenting Christianity as a form of philosophy (Justin Martyr and Origen are good examples, as well as Augustine later). Some non-Christian philosophers fought back directly (Celsus and Plotinus, most notably), and some Christian authors actively resisted this “philosophizing” of Christianity (Tertullian). Yet several philosophic ideas (and ideals) seeped into early Christian thought in ways that might have surprised Jesus.

Probably the most influential were Neoplatonism (thank you, Origen), and Stoicism. Notions of self-control, ataraxia (equilibrium), and asceticism folded into Christianity as early as Paul, but certainly by Justin Martyr (early/middle first century CE) and Origen (early second century CE). These then became part of Christian discourse. Christian Gnosticism, after all, is just a particular flavor of gnostic thought found throughout the Mediterranean and ancient near east. Gnosticism owes to Neoplatonism mixing with an influx of Persian and Hindu notions that had floated west even before Alexander but certainly accelerated after. (One could even debate to what degree Plato himself was influenced by eastern ideas; after all, philosophy was born in Asia Minor with Thales & Friends, then bypassed mainland Greece for a bit to land in Sicily and south Italy. Athens was a johnny-come-lately to the party.)

In any case, “Alexander” had already been firmly situated in philosophic and rhetorical discourse in ways that were easily adopted and adapted by Church theologians. He remained a negative example of anger and worldly ambition, and a positive one of (military) leadership and physical (especially sexual) restraint.

One might point to the elimination of Alexander’s bisexual interests as Christianizing, but that’s too simple. We already find Roman literature headed that way. Romans had mixed receptions of “Greek love,” even when expressed “properly” between older men and younger boys/male slaves. It’s Roman Curtius who gives us the very negative impact of the eunuch Bagoas as part of the larger depiction of Alexander corrupted by Eastern (Asian) influence. It’s also Curtius, however, who gives us clues to other (freeborn) boys who may have been Alexander’s beloveds, but always presented in coded language as “favorites.” There’s more to say about that, but it depicts pretty well, imo, the Roman mixed mind on the matter. Also, Plutarch’s presentation of Alexander’s indignation when offered pretty boys is, even now, used by those who want to deny Alexander’s interest in males. While we can quibble over exactly what Plutarch meant Alexander to object to (it’s important to contextualize where this anecdote appears), it’s certainly not the open praise of beautiful boys found in, say, the poetry of Solon.

None of that is Christian.

Also—and conversely—we find several Renaissance-and-later paintings that depict Hephaistion and Alexander, some homoeroticized, such as the tapestry made from LeBrun’s sketch of Alexander taking leave of Hephaistion (by kissing him). Yes, kissing was a normal hello and goodbye, but the overtones are, imo, intentional.

It’s really not until the latter 1800s that Hephaistion starts to disappear from ATG discourse as heightened homophobic fears require him to be excised from Alexander’s narrative to protect the conqueror from THOSE allegations. Yes, that’s related to Christianity, but I’d argue it’s more about rising homophobia in Europe, even if Christianity is used as the excuse—just as slavery pre-existed Christianity, but Christianity was later employed to justify its continuation.

So, perhaps surprisingly, no, Christianity didn’t significantly alter popular consciousness of Alexander.

I’m not a specialist on the Alexander Romance, but it’s here you’d find more obvious Christianizing, and Islamizing, as well. Look up the work of Richard Stoneman on the Romance. Also checkout Ken Moore’s Brill's Companion to the Reception of Alexander the Great.

[01-05-2001]

how are you so good at writing??? genuine question tho like what is your writing process or do you have any advice for someone trying to get more into/better at writing fiction?

hi anon!! thank you, this is so so sweet :3 i wouldn’t consider myself like. an authority on writing and i definitely think i have a lot to improve on, but here’s some advice i can offer up!

my general process for my oneshots is maybe unconventional? but it works for me.

a basic premise. eg, “oh, i want to write a caldre vibrator fic. how the hell is that going to work?” and figuring out how to get from point A to point B.

this is random, but it helps me keep track. at the top of all of my fics, i write this:

TITLE:

DESCRIPTION:

TAGS:

NOTES:

the title is usually left blank for a while. but the description is an incredibly short summary of the fic’s contents. tags helps me plan in advance for posting. the notes is just anything additional about their dynamic that i want to remind myself of. i find this really helpful to check back on every now and then.

bullet pointing key scenes of the fic. helps to have a writing buddy who can help you troubleshoot or bounce ideas off of!

under each bullet point, i write the scene out like a script, adding in notes about body language or general actions. i also copy paste in any little excerpts that come to me!

i find this the biggest step in avoiding writers block: blocking the entire scene helps keep the flow uninterrupted, helps me establish a pace, and helps to establish a strong tone in dialogue that i can then follow through in action and description. worst case scenario, i can just jump into the next line of dialogue and come back to fill in the gaps.

working top-down, i follow my script and fill in the gaps with action and description! this is obviously the hardest and lengthiest part, but that’s just the truth of it. i stick on some music or a video essay in the background and get to writing!

i usually end up working the start around, restructuring paragraphs until i find a flow.

Some general advice:

write what you enjoy. nothing will burn you out faster than trying to please everyone. it doesn’t matter if it’s cringe, or ooc, or whatever you think. write it if it makes you happy.

READ MORE - and REAL BOOKS (and poetry!). seriously. i notice the fastest improvement in my writing when i’m reading regularly. look at books you enjoy and ask: why do i like this? is it the themes, the characters? is it the writing style - the rhythm, dialogue, pacing? connecting with literature and developing analytical skills will seriously help so much. look at what you like and mirror it.

back to basics. especially with longer form stuff - use classic structures like three acts, freytag’s pyramid, etc. they are classics for a reason! learn the rules so you can know how to effectively break them. consider metaphors, flow, phonetics.

also, basic grammar and structure is non negotiable - walls of text or lack of punctuation will turn anyone off no matter how good the content is. i understand english isn’t everyone’s native language, but even a basic run through a spell or grammar checker online can make a world of difference.

on a more technical level:

variety is KEY. vary sentence length to keep a tight control over pacing, to control flow. read your sentences out loud to find the rhythm. try to keep from using the same structures or starters. sometimes i have to pull up another book to remind myself of different ways to open sentences when i’ve been staring at my writing for too long, lol

balancing description with succinctness is trial and error. IMO it’s better to be sparing than excessive. “purple prose” is hard to keep track of, and can feel like padding to a story. pacing is always, always key. remember, you CAN part with things: copy and paste little excerpts into a spare document. learn to delete!

understand the impact of intentional word choice. i love punchy verbs over wordy adverbials! but i also prefer to use descriptive phrases over niche words that readers won’t know. it’s about balance: complex language has its place, but using it intentionally is key. get a feel for a word’s nuance, otherwise your work can feel like Baby’s First Thesaurus. also, NEVER underestimate the impact of PHONETICS!!!

[satanfemme]

I care about my OCs and their universe(s) so much but I can't write cause I feel so Cringe :-( can I be vulnerable and sensitive for a moment? I think seeing so many people online shitting on low quality writing ("booktok" "tumblr poetry" etc) has fucked me up a bit. the idea that writing has to reach a certain level of objective quality before it deserves to exist at all is such a damaging one imo. like idk maybe my writing is better than booktok books. but in all likelyhood it's worse, because I'm out of practice and an amatuer to begin with. and I don't think it should matter either way. does that make sense?

[allieebobo]

hello hello!!! found u through college tennis: origin story and frankly i am amazed by how u write romance (and how u write in general??? just nice to read) but moreso ur tennis mechanics are just so FUN!!! if there's anything i love more than the romance it's the tennis playing :]

anyway. all this to say. merry crisis has my heart. in my head i tell myself i love both equally (which i do!) but merry crisis hits different (i'm malaysian living in sg, also in international school haha) and GOD. queerness in sg. going abroad. losing ur mandarin/dialects + accent. the choices between singapore feeling like home or it never was. yeahhhhhhh. yeah. u captured it so well!!!!

especially love that one bit where nat was with the player in sg and she was looking at everything in awe and wonder bc GOD it combats my "there's nothing here for me" outlook idk that bit always stuck with me

side note do you know of alfian sa'at or his poetry? i periodically come back to 'singapore you are not my country', also this line: "[singapore] you terrible/hallucination of highways and cranes and condominiums ten minutes'/drive from the MRT"

anyway done with the outrageously long ask feel free to not answer any of this if it's too much or if u don't want to yk but love your work take care!

OH MY GOD HELLO THIS IS THE SWEETEST MESSAGE??? AND also so interesting?? You are the best.

Hehe I love that you enjoy the tennis mechanics of course but it's always so cool to find people who enjoy both the tennis AND merry crisis cause in my head the IFs have such different vibes.

And anyway! yessss I love alfian sa'at and (digression here) I remember borrowing One Fierce Hour in secondary school and having it shake me to my core and I loved it so much I just never returned it (for three years) and at the end of school they told me that I still had a book 3.5 years overdue and said if I didn't pay for the book or cough it up and pay for the (very expensive) fine, I wouldn't be allowed to graduate... so long story short I now own the book--but I digress.

"Singapore you are not my country" is a punch to the gut and those lines you quote are one of the BEST imo. Like fuck, Singapore IS a terrible hallucination of highways and cranes and condominiums" and as an urban planner whose livelihood is literally planning for and providing the homes that are 10mins from the MRT that I am too poor to buy and apparently too gay to deserve is just irony upon irony. But yes, that line is one of my favorites as well.

I think why perhaps I feel such an affinity for him and his poetry is this love-hate push and pull that queer Singaporeans feel for this goddamn place that we were born into and cannot help but love, but the very same place that keeps trying to expel us/tell us that we have no place here?

And ah yes, it's so cool that you picked up on the Nat response and that you thought it was significant too :') There's always the bittersweet ache for me when I come back home and/or see it through the eyes of a lover whom I've ensnared and brought here to this half-paradise-half-hellscape, Nat's wide-eyed wonder for me too is a way of expressing that contradiction (of loving and hating and wanting to give up on Singapore but also feeling like its so much part of you that no matter where you go it lives on in you?)

Anyway. Sorry that got long. Sending you all my love :)

[steelthroat]

For the soft asks:

ivory - describe your pajamas?

buttery - favorite snack?

nightlight - do you read before bed?

sapphos - favorite poet?

Ivory: i have several of them but the one i like the most is this very simple red t-shirt/dark blue short trousers pair that is veeeery comfy! I also have 3 made of silk that my mum gave me and I rarely use them because silk is- is an important material 🫠

Buttery: fruit! Appels are an easy go-to snack, grapes too(whenever is the season)!!! Or idk some bread with something, be it sweet or not, doesn't matter too much. Orrrrr... kinder milk slice>>>>> kinder products are my weakness 😫

Nightlight: if I don't it means I am VERY tired and it's almost worrying... going to bed without having read something, be it a ff, a comic, a book or anything else is a rare occurrence.

Sapphos: mhhhh. Complicated question. I'm not sure I have a favorite one yet... like- I live my dear Cecco Angiolieri because he was unhinged and I love his poem "S'io fossi foco"

But other than that let's see the first ones that come to mind:

Catullus: both the romantic poems and the... more descriptive ones are a fave

And Eugenio Montale, his poem "Ho sceso, dandoti il braccio, almeno un milione di scale"/I went down the stairs, giving you my arm, at least one million of stairs"

The title is long but it's very romantic and sad and my Italian literature professor described it as "the most romantic poem in all Italian history" so- I me damn...

Another poem I really like is "August 10th" by Giovanni Pascoli that talks about the day his father was killed. Also very sad, but really lovely. I like Pascoli's ideal of the poets and his style ^w^

Another poem that really touched me was "if I must die" by Refaat Alareer. Really left an impression on me and it's one of the few poems I can almost cite by memory because it's so raw I can't forget it.

I remember the day we were studying Ruoert Brooke's "The soldier" and the first few words "if I should die think only this of me..." and I was reminded of Refaat's poem.

If we think about it he was also a war poet and although the start of their poems are rather similar imo the message, the way they continue couldn't be more different... and I don't know it feels like a wrong confrontation but it was bugging me.

Also, "Dulce et decorum est" by Wilfred Owen and most of the works by several war poets are fascinating to me.

Yep I know the answer was "favorite one" but really couldn't choose! Just 2 years ago I "didn't get the hype" about poetry and now... both thanks to my former professor, and Megatron(yup... I know ahaha) I am DEEPLY fascinated by it. Poetry can express things simple prose cannot and I can't help but be in awe when I find a good poetry book

[bemycalpal]

from time to time i teach kids how to write poems through a program at my university. we go to elementary schools and hang out for a couple of days, read them some poems, talk about them, and give them prompts and quiet time to write. its one of the more fulfilling things i do. this week, i was working with some fifth graders and trying to figure out which poems to read them. my teaching partner was like, lets do some mahmoud darwish! for folks who dont read much poetry, darwish is a palestinian poet whos poems have been extensively translated (often badly, by white people), and who is perfect for that age group imo. his language is direct and beautiful and full of depth. we picked out a good translation (by fady joudah) of Letter to a Young Poet, and brought that in. little did we know, there was a palestinian kid in that classroom!! who recognized the word salaam at the end of the poem, and asked where the poet was from, and told us excitedly that he was palestinian too!!!!

point number 1: the decisions you make matter more than you know, and acting in solidarity in all parts of your life can have positive impacts you cant imagine or foresee.

point number 2: i almost thought we maybe shouldnt teach that poem to cover our asses. that, in a rural town in arkansas, someone might get upset about us teaching a poem by a palestinian poet, and that we could lose our jobs with our state funded university (graduate students are losing their jobs for less at public US institutions right now). the laws that are going on the books, the censorship decisions and precedents being set, the Vibe of fear and punitive action in our public institutions could have kept that poem and that feeling of being seen and being safe from my new friend this week. i am deeply ashamed of that feeling i had, and im glad i didnt act on it. if you need, as i clearly sometimes need, a reminder that now now NOW is the time to risk whatever you have to resist colonizer mindset, action, and oppression, here it is. read that poem. call that rep. go to that protest. say it all out loud. feel your anger and direct it in the most productive way you can think of, and engage with the people around you with it. from the river to the sea, folks.

[fiercynn]

was in bed all day so i watched the entirety of the fall of the house of usher. i'm mixed about it overall, but i think it may have actually been the best plot-wise of the mike flanagan shows i've seen?

spoilers for all the mike flanagan tv shows except the midnight club (which i started and was intrigued by, but fizzled out on when i found out it had been cancelled) beneath the cut

my problem with both hill house and bly manor is that i think that plot-wise, they set up interesting stories and then can't stick the landing and go out with a whimper out at the end. they do an okay job with emotional arcs, but you can't entirely divorce the emotional journey from the bones of the story - at least, not in these kinds of stories - so the plot still matters, i think.

(imo midnight mass does not do that, it tells exactly the story it wants to tell and constructs it decently; i just found that story really boring lol.)

so while i think bly manor was still the most enjoyable of the shows to watch, the fall of the house of usher might be the best in my book at plot, and i enjoyed the way it used poe stories amd poetry with its own twists on them. and i think with a few changes could have been really good overall! here's what i would have changed:

less racism. i mean it was probably average amount of racist for both a flanagan show and, generally, a majority-white cast & crew american show, and i know the whole thing was about how horrible rich people are, but there was still so much casual racism, sigh

like 40% less monologuing. i know, i know, that's flanagan's whole deal, but it's still too much even when it's performed by actors as enjoyable as bruce greenwood and carla gugino, and isn't all about catholicism (sorry midnight mass fans)

pretty early on i thought that the reveal about what happened on new year's 1980 would be madeline and roderick killing rufus griswold. but then after roderick betrayed auguste at the deposition i was like "wait no that's too obvious, they must have killed annabel to keep her quiet about roderick's perjury" and honestly i think that would have been a better twist??? like even the bells they were hearing behind the wall made sense to me because her name was annabel! and it would have been a murder roderick felt guilty about on a personal level, and it might have made sense that he would take the deal from verna if her pitch was "you already sacrificed your wife who you loved. don't you want to make it worth it by having some certainty for you and your children for at least a number of decades?" so i was bored when my original predictable guess was right. i guess it fit better with the cask of amontillado to have it be rufus but still, less compelling

the scene with arthur showing pictures of verna throughout history was SO silly and hamfisted, i'm sorry. also the lemons speech, the worst kind of example of a flanagan monologue which thinks it's brilliant and is just...goofy

i thought maybe there was going to be a twist where lenore didn't die because her mom had actually cheated on freddie and i was upset that didn't happen :( i know it was meant to be a lesson, that roderick and madeline's deal had to apply even to the not-horrible members of the family, but i still hated it! sigh

i thought that both lulu wilson (child madeline) and willa fitzgerald (mid-20s madeline) did a much better job with the character than mary mcdonnell (senior madeline). idk something about her just didn't seem as ruthless and collected and cold?

also not a change exactly but why did no one comment on the fact that roderick and madeline usher, who are twins, one of whom was married at the time, decided to do a couples' costume as jay gatsby and daisy buchanan for new year's 1980. why

[fatally-alive]

The Honest Review: All Quiet on the Eastern Esplanade -rating from 1 - 5 ( Part 1 )

5. Perfection!🤩 4. I really like it! 🥰 3. This one feels good 😊 2. Just ok/fine 👍 1. Don't like it. 👎

Run Run Run 5/5 🤩

Love it ! Best first single and time has proven it. It's an upbeat, fast-paced rhythm, strong guitars, and fab drums. I am a sucker for classic 50's-60's Beatles-ish beats which have been part of the classic Libs sound. I hear it and I can imagine them giving a strong vibrant live performance at some music festival. I can hear all of them at the same volume and with the same passion. This is a song to scream with and drive fast with, have a few drinks with, or just get your life restarted with it. Right now I very much identify with the song: there isn't enough time to live !

2. Mustang 5/2 👍

Nice laid-back rhythm, loud chorus, clear lyrics telling us about 3 different everyday people dreaming through their lives. It could have developed each story a bit further but went straight to the point. I wish I could understand the last lyrics Carl is singing behind the female voices at the end.

3. I have a friend 5/5 🤩

This is a critique of politics/government, human behavior, and a view of what war causes in people's lives. Love the overall strong sound to it, the urgency of the rhythm: "This is an important message so hear us, hear the human pain "

4. Merry Old England 5/4 🥰

Listening to it plus having the visuals at the same time made me a little emotional, I've been an immigrant for a short time and have seen, heard, and lived the sadness that leaving home brings and the fear of being rejected in a new place. The migrant crisis is a difficult subject to talk about, yes countries should be able to decide what is best for their land and the people but what's the right answer ?

5. Man with the melody 5/5 🤩

Wow man! This song was so good, the man with the melody got me from the start. I love John's voice and the way it was sung. The extra goodness in it is that they all sing this together, I do believe with this album The Libertines have truly become a band made up of 4 members, not just Carl and Peter.

It is a mellow and sentimental song but not sad, it is peaceful and has a smooth feel to it.

6. Oh Sh!t 5/4 🥰

Imo +Jaimie and then Nicky + Imo ( if I am not mistaken ) starting a new passionate relationship of surviving with each other. A theme of moving fast, loving hard, living fully without thinking about the future or consequences:

" What's it even matter You're just young and in love"

I am happy to hear Carl as the main voice and his talent with the guitar riffs untouched. Carl's voice has changed through the years, it developed nicely but I believe there is still more to his voice that should have been exploited.

7. Night of the hunter 5/5 🤩

Classy ! It begins with a haunting guitar and the Swan Lake sample adds to this beautiful ballad. This person has committed a crime and he is on the run, the time is running out but he knows he won't outrun the law.

Pete is lucky to have a voice that has barely aged (I like to think so), he still has that sweetness, and tenderness to it, and of course, his poetry and the way he writes songs are still faithful to himself although we know that co-writing with Carl completes his songs and takes them to the right direction.

Part II soon ...

[petruchio]

the albatross by taylor swift always makes me think of katniss and thg. probably the bird symbolism or something. thoughts?

ok short digression before i get into the thg part of this ask but i honestly get so annoyed at that song bc i think ts is trying to sound literary and interesting and reference the rime of the ancient mariner but the albatross metaphor doesn't work for me bc 1) it doesn't work with what the albatross represents in that poem and 2) i think she could've committed way harder to referencing the poem if that's what she wanted to do (and could have made a really cool song) (but she didn't) (her wordsworth references were better on folklore -- i still do believe she read lyrical ballads and got inspired by a lot of the imagery in those poems but the wordsworth stuff in lyrical ballads is mostly made up of shorter poems and the imagery lent itself well to songs. but rime of the ancient mariner is ... a much more complex (?) poem) (i guess complex isn't exactly the right word, bc of course short pieces can be endlessly complex, but it's just a lot longer and has a lot more going on in it than most of the shorter wordsworth poems in that collection. and i don't think taylor really, like, got it.)

basically it annoys me for the same reason tolerate it annoys me. like it's bad literary analysis. the albatross isn't "here to destroy" in the poem -- it just doesn't work with the metaphor she's trying to write in that song. imo there's no good reason to try to reference coleridge if you're just going to string together a bunch of mixed metaphors that don't make any sense. she tries to make this reference to like, shooting the messenger but that is not why he shoots the albatross... like what is she talking about?? if you're going to reference a metaphor with a long storied history in poetry then i think you should actually make an effort to understand the reference you're making

the most annoying thing is that i actually think there COULD be a really cool song referencing the poem and the albatross and referring to herself as the bird. like "you killed me, but it ruined your life, i'll hang around your neck forever and you'll never be able to go anywhere without telling the story of what you did to me" THAT WOULD BE COOL. UGH. i hate that song so i kind of refuse to listen to it bc i just get annoyed. the shakespeare reference also pisses me off for making no sense. "a rose by any other name is a scandal" what the actual CRAP is she talking about. its so annoying

ANYWAY you did actually ask me about thg so i will say, disregarding all of my english major beefs with that song, i actually think it works really well with tbosas bc it gives me majorrrrr lucy gray vibes.

like: "a rose by any other name is a scandal" is very snow giving the rose to lucy gray to me, and then the "one less temptress, one less dagger to sharpen" line really goes well with the tbosas ending. and then i think the bridge would be kind of, lucy gray's warning to snow about the events of thg: "and when the sky rains fire on you and you're persona non grata, i'll tell you i've been there too, and that none of it matters" -- and then i think the final reference to the albatross would work as a katniss reference, like the outro is lucy gray haunting him and saying here she is (she being the mockingjay (albatross) and she's here, she's finishing what i started.) so for me it is in my tbosas playlist (except it's not bc i hate the song)

ALSOOOOO just to connect it to what i was saying earlier but of course rime of the ancient mariner is the first poem in lyrical ballads. and you know what other poem appears in lyrical ballads? well that would be... LUCY GRAY. i rest my case 😎

[kiss-my-freckle]

Elena's character is written between brothers in such a way that I feel the audience is getting more history through her.

Elena loves Damon just as deeply as Damon loved Katherine. This bends her in ways that fans may not like, some of those bends temporary in nature. This basically shows the audience how Katherine changed Damon through his love for her, only it's shown through Elena's love for Damon. This gets more obvious in season 6 as they do her journal voiceover in Damon's absence, combining the truth of both. Different in the fact that if not for Elena changing Damon just as much as he changes her, Damon would've ruined Elena the way Katherine ruined him. This is where I feel Jeremy's death in 2x1 matters. imo, it was pure poetry. Damon shifts from a vampire girlfriend to a human wife. I consider Andie to be the bridge between Damon's fake relationship with Caroline and his real relationship with Elena. His relationship with Rose was far too short for her to act as that bridge.

Elena lives in denial about her love for Damon just as Stefan lived in denial about his love for Katherine. They simply differ on the opposite side of their vampirism. It's through Elena's denial that fans can see how Stefan altered his memories, allowing him to hate Katherine, which basically helped him to move on in a way that Damon never could. Because it took Elena becoming a vampire to work through her fear of admission, it would take Stefan just as much effort to admit he fell in love with Katherine. And Stefan had to. Only then could he actually see the truth of himself, to the fact that he fell in love with a vampire even though he believed she was human. Stefan shifts from a human girlfriend to a vampire wife. I consider cured Katherine to be the bridge between Stefan's relationship with Elena and his relationship with Caroline.

[thisliminalspacedaydreams]

For the fanfic writer asks let’s do M A and R for our names lmaooo

Hellouuu

M: What’s the weirdest AU scenario you’ve ever come up with?  Did it turn into a story?

I think TISAYCTM. I've always loooooooveeddd a good soulmate AU. The Star Wars fandom was overflowing with them, there were SO MANY I couldn't even read them all, but god knows I tried. So I really wanted to write my own little version of soulmates AU but I wanted it to be original and not like the other girls.

I've seen the Hanahaki disease trope, the tattoo trope, the sparks fly when you touch trope, the A/B/O trope, and they're all fun and games, but and I wanted it weirder.

I was reading Plato's Symposium at the time, and I love aliens, and it kind of started from there, the idea of having monsters/aliens/humans as soulmates and being separated by Gods because of their power, long ago.

And it just...SNOWBALLED into whatever the hell I'm writing now.

A: Of the fanfic you’ve written, which is your favorite and why?

My fave solo fanfic is Heartless, even though she's full of holes and I'm editing her to all hell as we speak because I see all of her flaws and I want to fix her and make her all pretty.

My non solo fave is currently under works and I hope to god we get to release it at some point because it's been something I've been loving for a year, and we recently started writing it and I think it might become my best duo work, when it's done. I hope so anyway.

R: Which writers (fanfic or otherwise) do you consider the biggest influence on you and your writing?

There are a few fics out there that are written in a way that drive me bananas.

Choices is one. @sophsicle writing was the one to push me into writing fiction again. I think they have such a weird effortless beautiful way with words that cannot be replicated. It's so simple but always somehow packs a punch and I don't know many long stories where all the words are needed and everything matters?

Pledge is another by @ellabesmirched. The writing there is also phenomenal and so different from what I've ever seen. I couldn't believe my eyes as I was reading that fic. I was drawn into the world and the characters and I think there is something about how the intentions are rarely really explained, and it leaves a LOT of room for interpretation for the reader, and I love that stuff. I like not being spoon fed my fics.

Annihilation by had me sobbing because the writing is bonkers???????? and I actually will never recover from this fic. NEVER. The companion fic was just as crazy. This line comes from Apocrypha : The man’s eyes are the sort of incomprehensible color that’s only ever mentioned in descriptions of horrors and God.

I don't know what to say. It's insane writing.

Living in border lines and every work by inthesquare @aboutnavi is so criminally underrated. There's an effortless poetry about her writing that strikes me just the right way.

There are SO. MANY. amazing writers everywhere. In all the fandom spaces I've ever been in, there are at least ten or twenty writers who I think are absolute game-changers. These are just off the top of my mind, but that doesn't diminish other writers' worth.

I think the beauty of fanfic writing is that it's so obviously un-edited and so much less palatable than "mainstream" fiction, which makes finding writers that are original and weird and wonderful much more easy than through mainstream books where books are edited to all hell and (imo) all end up looking the same.

I like the rawness of fanfic.

Yes. Give me your brain movies. That you thought up in your mind. While pretending to care about your 9/5 job.

This ask game

[worldcylinder]

(for the songlines ask game)

waco, going to alaska and pinklon :]

three deep cuts with a lot of really nice lines between them imo

My favorite thing about Waco is actually the guitar line haha. I guess that doesn't really count as a line for the purposes of the game though. I like the first verse a lot. Where the dry dust turns the sunset pink / Where all summer long, it's so hot that you can't think straight / Where we pump water from a well by hand / Half a world away from the old promised land / We understand... It sets the scene so nicely, and the rhymes are good. It's kind of a classic JD description, not as concise as some, but evocative and elegant. It gives me such a strong mental image of the place.

Going to Alaska isn't really a song, it's more of a rant sent to music. It doesn't even rhyme. I like it but what I like about it is the driving frenetic forward motion of it, not the lyrics so much. I guess I'll pick the part that always gets stuck in my head: I am going to Alaska where the animals can kill you but they do so in silence as though if no one hears them then it really won't matter!

Pinklon I haven't heard before, thank you for introducing me to it! It's really good. I like the second verse a lot. Let the ticker tape come cascading down / Above the Greyhound station out at the edge of town / And at the schoolyard fences where the children shout / Let the chains fall away and let'em all rush out. I like the images in it, the ticker tape falling like confetti, the fences coming down and the kids running out free into the world. It's so joyous and simple, the small things that can be beautiful even in kind of an ugly urban environment. I just finished Tar Baby by Toni Morrison and I realize this is kind of an insane comparison to make, but it reminds me of her descriptions in a way, the poetry she makes out of everyday things, the way her characters daydream about something beautiful or glorious that could happen but won't, that they want to happen, that they feel like they could make happen if they think about it hard enough, even though it never works. It's the power of telling a story about something, even if the story isn't really true, it's still real in and of itself. A story is a thing that exists and has meaning, while it's being told. I think this song is kind of about that.