#the arcade in brighton

[confessionsofanarcadeaddict]

And here we are on a Saturday atTheArcade, first nice weather in what three weeks? A month? Seems like longer.

Anyhow, because of the nice spring day, traffic is a little light, but that's great news for you! $20 cash will get you six decades worth of arcade a ton, all you can play!

We are a week removed from my son and I going up to Last Level, and he had a blast. Rundown and Review coming soon!

I'm going to get to work on Episode 81 as soon. As I get my taxes done. I should have them done by Monday night after work, I just have to finish entering the mileage for the first three months of 2024, something I should get done tomorrow night. In this economy who knows, but I am hoping I get enough to pay down some debt and get components for a new computer system.

Either way once I finish that I will get right to work on editing Episode 81, live on Twitch of course.

[magistralucis]

@absolut--kurant!

[s38s73r]

Hints of pink, shopping in Brighton, Sussex

[terrarium-tonic]

This is what flexing feels like

This took hard work, dedication, and an underpaid worker dealing with a complaint

[biancadoes1]

That Dublin post made my heart melt! Luke telling fans he needed to check on Nic! I mean I already ADORED that stop on the World Tour but that really cemented it! Side note something I always noticed that even when I first heard it felt VERY boyfriend coded. When Luke is talking about how the Dublin premier was Nic’s favorites of Luke’s outfits on tour so far and is so giddy about it. It was so adorable and lovely I think it though overshadowed something VERY interesting he said in that same interview. He mentioned that for the Ireland leg of the trip he wanted to wear as many Irish designers as possible and asked his styling team for that because “it just felt right”. Now that’s lovely but VERY interesting that he only made that a priority for the country of which his co star/bestie *cough*love of his life*cough* was born and raised. Like he wanted to represent and show love to the Irish people by using only Irish designers and I just think that’s interesting he felt so passionate about that for your costars home country. Sounds like significant other stuff to me where you want to honor your partners heritage and culture. I’m just saying lol. I was thinking about it the other day and was like wait he never mentions wanting to make sure to wear Australian/Brazilian/Italian/Canadian/New York designers for those legs but “felt right” in her home country. Also in Dublin on that radio interview I’ll never forget when the interviewer asked Luke what he would show Nicola if he took her to Brighton and he said a walk along the beach and then take her to the amusement park because she LOVES rides even though he doesn’t enjoy them but he’d HOLD HER BAG and then they could do the arcade. Like what in the romantic date is that?!? So cute. Dublin was so so special!

❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥

[isabela-merceds]

interviewer to luke: but if you were to take nicola to shoreham-by-sea, what would you be doing for an hour or two?

luke: just like a walk along the beach is really beautiful

nicola: yeah, love it

luke: i'd probably venture closer to brighton and do the pier and the arcades, i dont love rides but i know that you do, so i'd be like there you go, off you go, i'll hold your bag

[myarmsaretoolong]

I WILL ASK YOU ABOUT EUROVISION SONGS!!

(i’m still salty baby lasagna came second last year)

look away for a moment,, i can't lie i so wasn't into eurovision last year even with the doccy who double premier leading into it........ i went up some doggers hill to go see the northern lights instead... okay okay you can come back now i prommy

im still salty about tattoo beating cha cha cha the year before that! i had a eurovision party and everything and it ended in pure disaster. so thats clearly rec number one but im pretty sure everyone on tumblr already knows it cos. yeah how can you not? side note! the only good thing about tattoo is gallifrey cabarets cover of it where, instead "youre stuck on me like a tattoo-who-oo" it like "like doctor who-oo-oo" which i think is a huge improvement. (i went looking for the video of it and got mightly distracted snooping on the doccy premier tonight whoops)

sooo some of my favourite eurovision songs! gunna split them into categories i think starting with:

songs that people know

waterloo - abba (yes its a eurovision song. the amount of friends ive had to explain this too??? honey they won in BRIGHTON its the biggest thing thats happened in that city why don't you know this?? i thought you were allies :/)

fairytale - alexander rybak

arcade - duncan lawrence

snap - rosa linn (all three of those were eurovision songs first KNOW YOUR ROOTS (im actually so chill about things i just like being dramatic don't hate me))

zitti e buoni - måneskin (the GENDER?? me please)

give that wolf a banana - subwoolfer. unironically.

realising as i go that my perception of popular songs is so skewed so sorry if im way off base

songs thats eurovision people know

hey mamma - sunstroke project (anyone who doesn't know this one watch this video and report back with how many seconds in you realised what meme it spawned) (don't look at the title) (cos yes thats eurovision too)

hard rock hallelujuah - lordi (FINLAND MY EUROVISION BELOVED eurovision at its finest right here) (also recommend watching the video for this one. its very important actually)

soldi - mahmood (clap clap)

satellite - lena (just a classic innit. can't go wrong)

10 years & think about things - Daði Freyr (the jumpers are enough to get me hooked, the song are icing on the cake)

hold me closer - cornelia jakobs (if a breakup songs gets me, an aroace, screaming it and crying then you've done well)

(everyone brace im about to be loudly british on main) SPACE MAN - SAM RYDER (URGH THIS SONG HAS ME IN SUCH A CHOKEHOLD I LIVED A LIFE WHERE WE DON'T COME BOTTOM THREE AND GOD WAS IT EVERYTHING IVE EVER WANTED)

more niche songs (or maybe not, like i said ive got no fucking clue really)

Voilà - barbara pravi (entrancing song. not my usual eurovision type but i couldn't look away)

discoteque - the roop (this is what they should play in the club <- someone whos never stepped foot in a club)

mata hari - efendi

dark side - blind channel (another finnish should-have-one in a long list. speaking of which...)

jezebel - the razmus (holds balloon ominiously in your direction)

brividi - mahmood & blanco (just really nice)

river - ochman (the chorus...)

llámame - andrei ursu

nobody but you - caesar sampson (i hate the song that won over him... tragic...)

lie to me - mikolas (i really can't defend this one but bop-whop-a-lu-bop on his wood bamboo has been in my head longer than it has any right to be... bow ties are cool?)

miss you - Jérémie Makiese (its a bond song to me)

lock me in - circus mircus (DESERVED TO QUALIFY AT LEAST)

tell me more - turalturanx (same)

like an animal - piqued jacks (LOVE) (also gray its such a doc/jack/rose song)

stripper - achille lauro (watch the video...)

there’s my list of favourite songs! i could go on but half my keyboard keys have stopped working and it’s getting on my nerves XD please let me know yours too!

[lafiametta]

Hello! I loved your (and your anons’) perspectives on Igor and Anora as a film. I watched it last night and everytime I think about it, it has my heart crumbling. I felt so many emotions watching it and I l have to say it’s one of the best films of this year for me.

Just wanted to share my love towards the movie. I hope you have a wonderful new year!

Aw, thanks! (And thanks to my other Anons as well, for giving me the opportunity to share my many, many thoughts on this particular film…😁)

I think what makes Anora so interesting — and so fun to watch, honestly — is that it’s like three different movies that are put together so well as to make it feel seamless. You’ve got the fairytale romance first act (which should have had us on our guard, but damn, it was so fun to see Ani’s eyes widen bit by bit as she starts to believe she’s going to become a modern-day princess), then the dark comedy of the henchmen coming to break it all up (including the late-night search for Ivan through seemingly every restaurant, club, arcade, and billiard hall in Brighton Beach), and finally the third dramatic act that lands Ani back in the world of reality as she has to face the fact that her Cinderella dream was nothing more than a fantasy. Each part of the movie is so good in its own right, but they build on each other, often with little callbacks, to end up creating something even better. (Consider the two shots of Ani standing alone in front of the huge glass windows in the mansion, the first to showcase her introduction to this life of wealth and privilege, the second to acknowledge how her dream of that life has been wrenched away.) Also, I’m just in love with all the laugh-out-loud comedic bits like Ani kicking Garnik into the glass coffee table or Toros breaking his car free from the tow truck only to crash into a garbage can.

The structure is also aided by some truly astonishing performances. If Mikey Madison doesn’t get an Oscar nod for this, I’d be shocked. She brings this character completely to life, making brash, opportunistic, foul-mouthed Ani into someone we are rooting for the entire time. And it’s not just the brashness — we can see hints of the vulnerable and scared girl under all that attitude (and countless expletives), never more so than in the heartbreaking final scene when she finally breaks down from the weight of carrying it all. Yura Borisov is also fantastic as the taciturn Russian henchman Igor, who gets introduced to us very slowly and deliberately through the second and third acts, until we finally realize that he’s a much more important part of this story than we originally thought. Despite being muscle-for-hire (his skills displayed very convincingly via an aluminum baseball bat), he becomes the moral center of the film, seeing the situation for what it truly is — a bunch of rich assholes doing what they want and having others clean up their messes — and offering support, subtle as it may be, to the person who he thinks has been most wronged by it all. Igor is the only one who really looks at Ani and tries to understand her, those quiet observational glances speaking more than any lines of dialogue could. (Also, can I just say how much I enjoyed Vache Tovmasyan as sad-sack Garnik with his dumpling ice pack, constant nasal whining, broken-nose undereye bruise, and prodigious vomiting?)

Underneath all that, the movie skillfully weaves together some pretty weighty themes: the promise (and illusion) of the American dream, the ways in which wealth allows for the dehumanization of others, the personas we create as we attempt to define ourselves, and the desperate search for human connection.

Anyway, I want everyone to go see Anora and I hope it wins every single motherfucking award. Touché.

[lanaxoxoxoxoxox]

why can't i get you out of my head ?

this is part 2 !! read part 1 here

original request by @heiijoy

warnings: cute fluff, slight panic ig???

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: .☽ . :☆ﾟ. ───

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: .☽ . :☆ﾟ. ───

2 weeks later

If you have told 17 year old me that Ranboo and I were dating, I would have probably passed out. I've had a crush on him since we first met on the Dream SMP, and the fact that we're actually dating blows my mind.

I was chilling at Ran's house on his bed, scrolling through my phone as Ran worked on some writing for his horror series, Generation Loss on his desk. I peaked up from the edge of the bed and saw his back of his head and a slight few of his fingers typing on a Word document.

"You know, you better add me in the "Thank you" in the credits. We can tease the viewers and make them wonder who the hell I am! They're gonna go crazy when we tell them." I joked, putting my phone away in my pocket.

Ran turned his gaming chair around to face me and fixed his hair. I could see his chest moving up and down slowly from his breathing. "Speaking of telling." he paused. "I want to tell our friends about us. We're going to meet them later today, and I don't want to hide it anymore. I don't want to have to hold your hand under the table or wait until we're in private to kiss you. If you don't want to just yet, that's totally fine. We can take it in small steps, whatever you wan-"

I cut off his words. "Darling, I would love that!" I said, getting up to hug him. He sighed in relief and hugged me back, squeezing me tighter. "I do have an idea how we can tell them." I said, smiling, sitting on the floor next to him.

Ran perked his head up. "What if we don't tell them anything directly, but rather show it using actions? We try to make it obvious at the same time as well."

"Oh! Like we could hold hands in front of everyone very clearly and just wait for someone to react!" Ran smiled.

I smiled back at them. "That actually could be perfect."

4 hours later

Ranboo and I walked to the Brighton pier sign, and saw no one was there. We decided to take a quick photo to post on our socials to provide some "clout" for us. Ran grabbed his mask out of his pocket and put it on, and posed for the picture. As I was editing, we saw Tommy, Jack, and Niki start walking over to us.

I looked over to Ran and mouthed, "You ready?". He nodded and smiled at me.

We both walked over to them, not holding hands just yet. I ran over to Niki and gave her a hug. We all greeted everyone and I went over to Ran and grabbed his shoulder. Before we started dating, Ran would have been an absolute stuttering and blushing mess. Now, he's 100% more calm since we're together.

I looked over to take a quick peek at Jack's and Niki's face, and they both shared looks with each other. Tommy didn't even notice from his amount of energy. I giggled quietly into Ran's shoulder.

We were walking towards the arcade and I stopped to look up and Ran. I winked and said, "Love, can I have my wallet please?" I smiled at him.

Ran nodded and grabbed my wallet out of his pocket and gave it to me, smirking as he could see Jack and Niki shocked, even Tommy just standing there awkwardly.

Jack leaned over to Niki and spoke quietly to her, even though we could still hear them talking. "What the fuck?" he laughed.

We walked around the pier some more, and then went to the sea side to hang out for a bit. We walked down to the rocky area, and placed down our things on the log before sitting down. Ran was about to sit down on the log. This was the final step of our "plan" we had created earlier that day.

I pulled out my wallet and phone from my front pocket. "I'm going to buy water for myself, does anyone else want anything?" Jack, Tommy and Niki all shook their heads no.

Ran spoke up. "Can I have a water bottle as well?"

I nodded and went over to him and kissed him quickly on the lips.

I quickly saw Tommy and Jack stop in their tracks and stare at us.

Jack sputtered. "W-wha-what?"

Tommy yelled. "Why didn't you tell us, you bitch?!"

Niki just smiled.

Ran and I looked at each other and started laughing.

"Oops! Guess it's out now!" I said, sarcastically.

Gosh, I loved this man.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: .☽ . :☆ﾟ. ───

this is really short but its so cute 😭❤️

please support me by liking, replying, rebloggling or following my blog! asks are currently open!

thank u for reading <3

love u lots xoxoxoxoox

[the-toxinz-arcade]

welcome...!

[ hoarding blog -> @the-toxinz-hoard ]

[ b-a-h blog -> @headmate-smoothie-bar ]

" notice how zis mouth never moves. almost. " ⠀⠀⠀i make things. (maybe.)

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⠀⠀⠀step into the old arcade... . ݁₊ ⊹

⭒ names.

i like, felix, rust, and equinox. i also use bruise and grime, though i have a massive list of names that i like/hoard.

⭒ pronouns.

my mains are ze/zim, it/its, ze/zir, vwoop/vwoopself, and ran/boo/ranbooself. i'm also happy to use blood/bloodself, lust/lustself, xy/xyr, and i/me/my. i prefer masculine and dehumanizing terms. middling on neutral ones. hate feminine terms and anything that implies i'm "human". (gross, no offence)

⭒ other misc stuff.

i have a habit of colouring the words purple. i don't do it in id packs and coining posts but i will do so otherwise. adhd-i ( diagnosed ), some anxiety disorder, rsd ( self dx ). otherkin — demonkin, endermankin, other stuff hidden for personal reasons. fictkin various ranboos. questioning vtuberkin & maybe androidkin? minor. nz + scottish. plane lover. chronic xeno/name/prn/title hoarder. i swear a lot (refraining in this post) and occasionally use the f slur; i will censor it on here unless it is in a coining post. my personality over text switches rapidly; do not be alarmed.

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⭒ what is this?

mogai/qai coining blog!!! i love mogai stuff and i'm super fond of coining, although i'm not very good it's incredibly fun and i find a lot of joy/comfort in it!! so this is for archiving all that!!

⭒ are you actually gonna do anything here?

i dunno, let the adhd decide.

⭒ ermememem ranbboo live xnenogenders !?!! whagt the sigma

i coin and hoard xenogenders because my gender identity is a complex enigma of endless infinity, rapidly fluctuating and slowly shifting at the same time, a terrifying and incomprehensible mess that has taken a liking to me. ranboolive is my current hyperfixation; my gender is very connected to my interests & hyperfixations, not to mention the c!ranboo fictionkin thing. none of my ranboo genders are directly related to him as a person -- i do not wish to make them uncomfortable in any way. i am basically just trying to throw things on the problem and hope it gets solved.

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tagging system!!! ࿔ #felix yaps - general posts/not coins ࿔ #felix coins - coining posts ࿔ #felix is otherkin - stuff coined for my own otherkin purposes ࿔ #felix is xenogender - xenogender coinings ࿔ #felix has adhd - stuff related to hyperfixations (so, ranboo), or something related to adhd itself ࿔ #felix tried zis best - requests if i ever open them lol

⠀⠀⠀dni . ࿔ basic criteria ࿔ discourse ࿔ anti otherkin, therian, furry, etc ࿔ against mogai, xenogenders, microlabels, etc. which, if you are, impressive that you ended up here. ࿔ participate in cringe culture ࿔ dsmp stans but specifically the odd ones who support dream and the brighton biter and stuff. if you also just enjoy c!ranboo as a concept that's fine!!!

[confessionsofanarcadeaddict]

And it's Saturday night at The Arcade! We have had a large party and a large number of customers but it's not terribly busy, so there's more then enough room for you! $20 gets you in, and we have 150 games waiting for you!

True to my word, I recorded and streamed last night, my thanks to those who attended and gave me follows. Sorry about the first 30 minutes, technical difficulties and all that jazz.

Finally I will be able to go to @lastlevelfenton tomorrow, amd my son will be coming with me. Fun will be had, but of course I will be doing my usual thing for the podcast.

I'll see about doing the editing either Wednesday or Thursday, and perhaps am after work stream on Friday night. I'll let you guys know here either way.

Oh yeah, more past episodes of both COAA on YouTube and @thacoshammer on Spotify coming soon!

[justanormalfangirlx2]

oubhg,,, platonic wilbur first,, it’s so difficult to find platonic fics for him and some of that in ur writing would be awesome !!!

if you want to be added to a taglist i’m starting, message me or comment down below! i’ll make one for a general one and then a wilbur one! :) thank you!

i hope you enjoy this! thanks to my bestie @teethkidd for helping with the title! <3 you :)

Arcade Sillies

you and your best friend, wilbur soot, decided to get off your asses and go do something fun in brighton. you were contemplating doing a water park, arcade, trampoline park, or a museum. the arcade won.

on the way there, wilbur decided to have you listen to his new band’s music they were recording and asking for your opinion on the songs.

“they sound really good, will! you should release it, you’ll have tons of fans already because of your streaming! everyone will love it!” you say, putting a hand on his shoulder.

“thanks, y/n! that really means a lot to me!” wilbur said, smiling.

you guys pulled into the arcade and got out of the car, grinning like idiots. “WILBUR! I HAVE TO GET A FISH! I’VE WANTED ONE SINCE I WAS ABOUT KNEE HIGH!”

He burst out laughing and looked at me weirdly. “um… sure? i guess? it’s just a fish that’ll die the next day?”

you look at him with a pout on your face. “nohuh! i will be the best fish parent for my baby, yes i will!”

he shook his head and smiled. “alright, let’s go get you your fish.”

we went up towards the booth and paid the dude for rings to put along the bowls. it took us 20 times to get a fish, but we got one! you paid extra for fish food and a tank as well, and grinned at wilbur.

“we did it!” you said, chuckling.

“yes, yes, we did!” he said, giving you a smile.

we high-fived and got into the car.

“so, y/n, what are you naming the fish?” wilbur questioned.

you pretended to think. “wilbur!”

he shook his head laughing. “seriously?!?”

you giggled and nodded. “you know, i could always name it sally, you know.”

he gave me a murderous glare. “oh shut up!”

you stuck your tongue out at him. “nope!”

the end!

[evesaintyves]

for @remadoramicrofics October 4th prompt, "don't look now." 608 words. Read it below or on AO3 🎡

Seven years on, it hasn't gotten easier not to follow Nymphadora when Andromeda sees her in her little red mac, being led off by the hand with strangers, but she has gotten better at it. It's happened at Sainsbury's, and in the evening crush of the tube, and today it happens in the itchy drizzle on the Brighton pier with Teddy. He's tugging her toward the arcade, she's trying to steer him clear of the candyfloss stand lest he get it in his head to match the colour with his hair, and there she is. She comes into view for a moment, like always, and then slots back into the crowd. The hood of the raincoat covers her head—that was what it was for, as much as to keep her dry: she couldn't be trusted not to change herself in front of a throng of muggles; loved to do it, actually—and she is five, maybe six, skipping in her scuffed-up mary janes.

The last time Andromeda saw her she was in a floppy white t-shirt and jogging bottoms, trainers crammed on her feet with the heels smashed down, holding out the baby, unintelligible through tears. Her wet hair had soaked dark patches down her shoulders and back. She was screaming, Teddy was screaming, a car alarm was wailing outside. It was one in the morning. Andromeda was half-awake, still in one sleeve of her dressing gown. They'll be needing every wand—I can't just sit here, her Nymphadora was saying. She was so hysterical that Andromeda reached for the baby on the instinct that she might drop him, and as soon as Teddy was in her arms there was a smacking pop and Nymphadora was gone.

But just as Ted only comes to her dreams twenty years younger and in his full head of hair, broadshouldered, seizing her about the waist the way he used to do, the Nymphadora in the crowd is still always five. If she turned around, she'd be worming her tongue into the space where her front baby tooth used to be. But she never turns around.

"Nan," says Teddy, pulling on her sleeve. "Did you bring coins?"

She pries her change purse open with fingers that are starting to look like they belong to someone else: knobby at the joints, brown spots and squiggling veins. Time is spoiling her just as as it's spoiled almost everything else. Teddy bounces off to the game that has him stomp the floor tiles as they light up in blue and pink. His mother would have loved it. It's still a plummetingly wrong feeling to watch the kaleidoscope-haired child play, to open the door on him in Nymphadora's old bedroom, and to have him turn to look at her with the long solemn face of the man who led her into the trajectory of a killing curse.

Chin up, 'Dromeda, her Ted has said in dreams. In dreams, they are together at school behind the greenhouses, where it is overgrown with angel's trumpets which whisper and give off their funeral cologne in the breeze. It's all temporary, even this.

It's not as reassuring as he seems to think.

Outside the arcade, which is humid with popcorn-breath and ringing with tinny music and bells, the rain has started coming down in sheets. A young couple stop to share a kiss in it, gripping each other with all the never-enough desperation of new love, before they run for the shelter of the photobooth.

Stay where you are, Nymphadora, Andromeda thinks. It's bucketing down. You'll catch a chill.

But still she looks out into the rain until it's time to go.

image from the Criterion cover for Don't Look Now (1973), dir. Nicolas Roeg, from which i've shamelessly lifted a few elements of this fic.

[zekes-original-character-rambles]

Sup I’m Zeke this is the blog to talk about my ocs and keep it organized lol.

main is @monstrousmaws

I hope you enjoy nonsensical rambles about my little guys cause oh boy are you gonna get them

you can find all posts about a specific OC by going to their tag which is their full name

e.g “Abigail “Arachne” Spinner” or “Leon” or “Melanie Brooks”

alphabetical list of all my ocs below the cut

Abigail “Arachne” Spinner

Ace

Adam

Alex

Amelia Brown

Amethyst

Amnesia Torres

Anatomy “Ana”

Anglerfish “Angie”

Aster Hart

Arcadia “Arcade” Star

Avery Fitzgerald 

Bambi

Bianca

Black Brew

Bones Dumont

Briar

Bubbles Pierrot

Bunny O’Riley

Butterfly

Cade King

Candle Shine

Carnival “Val”

Cecil

Chance Angel

Charlie Lantern

Christopher “Chris” Otho

Chrysalis The Fae King

Clyde

Comet

Crow Dunn

Cryptid

Cyan Jones

Damien Hart

Dash Bloodwing

Echo

Edie Von Zarovich

Eio Carla Shara

Emily Brooks

Emmet Ward

Ethel

Evelyn Ward

Everything “Eve”

Featharchism “Feathery” 

Fern

Frigid

Galadriel

Ghost Edwards

Ginger “Gingi” Kindheart 

Green Hart

Hayley Gray

Hex

Hexadecimal 

Honey Vespidae

Izzy

Jane Doe

Jaqueline “Jack/Jackie” Lantern

Kane

Kirigu

Kit Crimson

Laika Roberts

Leela

Leon

Leona Murray

Lizard “Lizzie”

Malevolent “Mal”

Mallory Hart

Marionette “Mari” Graves

Maroon

Mausoleum “Lee” Terminus

Maya

Melanie Brooks

Michael

Michael “Mikey” Hallow

Millipede “Millie” Danger

Mistophelees 

Mold Infested Automaton “M.I.A”

Monster

Mordred Banneret

Morgan Asphodel 

Nana Watcher

Natalie/Nathan Skye

Nicky

Niko Watcher

Onyx Smith

Persephone Smith

Poppy Jackson

Poseidon

Rags

Random

Reynard

Robo

Ruby

Sabrine

Salem Green

Saskia Blight

Saturn

Scout Brown

Shapeshifter

Snail Rose

Sugar Bailey

Swallowtail

Tempest

Theodosia “Thunder” MacNamara

Tox Matthews

Valentine Carmine

Viola Kelly

Violet

Wither

Zanthe Brighton Shara

[darerendevil]

For archive purposes: August, 2016

Pretty much every summer since he was a little boy, the Irish actor Cillian Murphy has taken his summer holidays in Dingle, a small fishing and market town in Co Kerry. It’s a curious mix of Graham Greene’s 1930s Brighton — all colourfully painted pubs and no flashing amusement arcades — and organic restaurants and sushi bars from the cosmopolitan 21st century. It seems entirely appropriate for Murphy, 40, who can wrap a dangerous hardman from the past, like the Peaky Blinders gangster chief Tommy Shelby, in a soft cloak of contemporary vulnerability.We meet a few streets back from the front, in a pub so Irish, you’d think it was a film set. On one side, there’s the bar; on the other, a hardware store counter. He walks in as I’m trying to buy a drink and finding they don’t take debit cards. It takes a couple of seconds to recognise him. He’s slender, hunched into his denim jacket, slim legs in black jeans, a mop of hair almost covering his startling blue eyes. I explain that I’m wondering if it’s wise to drink while interviewing, and he gives a small smile. “I think it would be rude not to, don’t you?” And he buys me a Guinness.

Settling in a chair at the back of the pub, he talks about Dingle, suggesting places to hear live music. “My father’s been coming here since he was a boy, so the holiday tradition goes back a long way,” he says. It’s briefly disconcerting to be sipping a pint and chatting about family holidays with the piercing gaze and paper-slicing cheekbones of the chillingly dangerous Shelby.

When Murphy leans forward on screen, someone’s probably about to die. “He has movie-star stillness,” says Caryn Mandabach, the executive producer of Peaky Blinders. “It’s when the camera loves to stay on your face, and you can just think what the character is thinking, and it comes across. You’re born to that, you can’t learn it.“When I met him for the role of Tommy Shelby, he was so slender for a gangster, I asked how he could convey the physicality of a violent man. He leant forward, looked me in the eyes and said, ‘I’m an actor’, in such a way that I backed down instantly. There’s something in his eyes.”

In Foxy John’s pub, however, if he leans forward, it’s because he’s excited, discussing Stevie Wonder’s drumming groove or how he can’t fall asleep if he’s not listening to Radio 4, or — a favourite topic — his constant grappling to understand modern notions of masculinity.His latest movie, Anthropoid, is part of that study. It’s an unconventional war film and he plays an unconventional hero. The script is based on the true story of two Czech soldiers in the republic’s London-based army in exile during the Second World War, who were sent back to Prague by the clandestine British Special Operations Executive. Their mission was to assassinate Reinhard Heydrich, the SS officer running the Nazi-designated protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia.

The operation was successful, although luck played a significant part. Murphy’s character, Jozef Gabcik, jumped in front of Heydrich’s open-topped car and began to fire, only to find that his British-supplied Sten gun had jammed. His accomplice, Jan Kubis (played by Jamie Dornan), threw a bomb, which narrowly missed. The pair fled, assuming they had failed, not realising that Heydrich had been hit by a jagged chunk of shrapnel and would die, days later, from severe septicaemia.

Unusually for an action film, the assassination comes at roughly the halfway point. The story moves on through the destruction of entire towns in SS reprisal attacks, and the horrific torture techniques the Gestapo used to drag information from civilians suspected of helping the duo, before they’re hunted down in a church.All the time, they are battling doubts about the point of their mission. Dornan can’t bring himself to shoot a fleeing collaborator, and Murphy is consumed by guilt at having recruited local women to give the pair a convincing cover story.

“Their fear and paralysis is very relatable — they’re not presented as invincible superheroes, and that was the appeal for me,” Murphy explains. “Even though it was a small act, it had huge global repercussions. But they did not have the benefit of history to see that they did the right thing. They heard that 10,000 people had been massacred because of them. Imagine trying to live with that. Are there contemporary causes you could be that committed to, that would demand taking innocent lives? I don’t know.”He wonders what path he would have chosen, might still choose, if heroic action were demanded of him. He recently saw Force Majeure, a Swedish film that’s “like a meditation on masculinity”, he says. “This father is with his family on a skiing holiday. They’re having lunch when an avalanche roars down on the restaurant. He grabs his iPhone and runs — but the avalanche just passes over. It was dust. The mother had grabbed the two children, and they watch him walk back. For the rest of the film, they have to figure out what this has done to their family, what it’s done to him as a man and as a father.”

He gives a little shiver. How to be a father is something he’s working through carefully. His sons, Malachy and Aran, are in primary school in Ireland — Murphy and his wife of 12 years, the artist Yvonne McGuinness, recently moved back there from Kilburn, northwest London, because they wanted their boys to be Irish, to live by the sea, to know their grandparents. At the same time, he worries about protecting them from the iron casket of being an Irish man.“I’m firmly of the belief that women are the superior sex. It became apparent to me pretty early on as a young man,” he says. “Men, and particularly Irish men, project this macho facade. They still find it hard to express emotions. It’s why we’re great storytellers — it’s internalised, and it comes out through great drama or after 11 pints of stout, but it’s not the default setting. I hope my boys aren’t growing up that way.”

When he was an adolescent, emotion came via music. Both his parents were in education: his mother is a French teacher, his father a civil servant in the Irish education department. “My dad was one of those people who could pick up any instrument and play it. He’s a traditional music aficionado, so we went to a lot of sessions as kids. It was my first experience with an art form that could change you emotionally.”He rebelled against his father’s tastes, preferring the Beatles, Stevie Wonder and Van Morrison, although “by the way, I also bought a lot of terrible 1980s music... my first record was probably Europe’s The Final Countdown”. By luck, Stevie Wonder’s Superstition comes on the pub stereo, and for a moment he’s lost, recalling his days in a Frank Zappa-esque band that almost signed a five-album deal with Acid Jazz Records back in August 1996. He suddenly pauses, frozen for a second, thinking things through.

“So that’s 20 years ago this month,” he muses. “That’s the month everything in my life changed. We turned down the record deal, I failed my law exams, I met my wife and I got cast in Disco Pigs... It was the ultimate turning point.” He raises his glass and we silently toast this anniversary.

Disco Pigs, Enda Walsh’s play about a pair of strange, inseparable teens on a night out in Cork, was his first proper acting job after school and student am-dram. It was supposed to run for three weeks at an arts centre in Cork, but blew up, transferring to Dublin, then Edinburgh and London, then Europe, Australia and North America. He was on the road for 18 months and, in 2001, reprised his role for the film version. That’s where Danny Boyle saw him and cast him as a bike courier battling the zombie apocalypse in 28 Days Later — which is where Christopher Nolan saw him and cast him in Batman Begins and Inception.And on and on, until his movie-star stillness and piercing blue eyes placed him in the rare position noted by Mandabach: “He’s both a movie star and an actor, and almost no one gets to be both.”

All of which surprised him completely. “I’d never seen a zombie movie before 28 Days, so I really thought they were making a film about the problem with rage in our society.” He shakes his head. “I didn’t know it was a hit in America until Chris Nolan flew me over. To be honest, with Tommy Shelby, I saw it as a show about the generation unmade by the First World War, trying to figure out how to be a man... I’m always drawn to stories about damaged men.”By now, two pints down, I’m getting overfamiliar. He played a transgender foundling in search of a mother in Neil Jordan’s Breakfast on Pluto, in 2005, and an Irish republican soldier in Ken Loach’s The Wind That Shakes the Barley (2006). These feel like pioneering, campaigning roles, I say — and it’s as if shutters crash down behind those eyes. He suddenly becomes watchful and cautious. “It was the roles, really — I had no particular desire to bring the issue of transgender to the public,” he says carefully. “If that was a by-product, I’m really happy, but that was not the primary motivation. You have to be careful. You can annoy people by being righteous, preachy and privileged. And the IRA...” He shrugs. “I’m not going to be drawn onto that particular minefield.”

There’s a brief pause, then he starts gathering his things, heading back for dinner with the family. “Look,” he says kindly, “there are things I don’t like talking about in interviews — no one really wants an actor’s opinion. But also I’m wary of this whole thing.” He waves at the tape recorder. “Unburdening your soul in public. All my male mates are Irish, at ease with slagging each other off. Like Jamie on this movie — we slagged each other off all the time. With Irish men, slagging is code for love, but it’s never really articulated.”He still feels music is the safest place for him to feel emotion. “It’s much more instinctual than intellectual, and the words are secondary. I don’t think I cry at a song because the lyrics are so affecting. It’s generally the melody that gets me first.” He still plays guitar and writes songs. “Which makes me bad news at parties,” he says with a grin as we shake hands. “People ask me to play something, and all I’ve got is this thing I’m working on that no one’s heard of.

“Even in Dingle,” he says over his shoulder, “they don’t let you get away with self-indulgent crap like that.”

[mistydeyes]

Hiya, I’ve absolutely fallen in love with your writing (especially because you don’t leave Gaz out 😌) and Was wondering if I could get a match up for one of the cod boys?

I use she/her pronouns and am probably what most people consider to be the bi gamer girl stereotype. My MBTI is E/INFP (just noticed we’re the same!) as I tend to swing wildly between intro and extroversion. I do enjoy being social but I’ve also got some pretty extreme anxiety. I’m not big into astrology but when people find out my big three are Aquarius/Aries/Aries they’re not surprised.

I’m an Aussie and am 170cm tall so I’m not used to being much shorter than most people (growing up I was a head taller than literally everyone so I may have developed a complex 😔) I played lots of sports growing up and am actually joining the navy soon.

My fashion sense mostly consists of Adam Sandler like attire or slutty club fit with docs. I love board games/video games/dodgeball etc and am wildly competitive. I hate cooking and suck at it completely, and my room always looks like a bomb site. I love roller coasters and the beach, but only if there’s waves. I have a degree in history/geography and am 100% a cat person. I have a care bear tattoo and would have more if I wasn’t broke. I’m a very physically affectionate person and I cry a lot over media and am very sensitive but not in a way that I’ll get upset over someone insulting me, more in a I’d cry if I stood on a cats tail. I’m very loud and once you get some alcohol in me I am the life of the dance floor even though I can’t dance.

Kyle "Gaz" Garrick

a/n aww thank you so much for requesting! i hate when people leave gaz out so yk I'LL always make sure he's included :) also love a fellow INTP!

How you met: Military You fanned yourself as you entered the large school building. Despite your Navy uniform consisting of a long white skirt and blouse, the Australian heat was making it unbearable. You had the unfortunate assignment of attending a career day at one of the local school's to talk about your unique career path. You were directed by the secretary to chat with a few other military personnel before the presentation. Eventually, you saw a friend from the Australian Army chatting with another man. As you approached, you noted that his uniform was significantly different than yours as indicated by the colors and adornments. "Private!" you exclaimed as he turned to you, "fancy seeing you here." You chatted regarding a few important life events before he directed your attention to the man next to him. "This is Sergeant Garrick," he introduced as you shook his hand, "Sergeant and previous Special Air Service member." You couldn't help but laugh slightly. "A Brit? What's he doing here?" you joked and Kyle returned with a smile. "Thought I see what your military is about," he began and you couldn't help but swoon with his pronunciation, "might make me consider joining myself." You continued to jab at the difference in your countries until your friend found himself in another conversation. You didn't mind being left with Kyle as it offered you the opportunity to discuss why you enlisted following your competitive nature and how you had previously gone to school for a history and geography degree. "So why are you here?" he asked but your explanation was cut off with the opening remarks from principal. You sat down next to Kyle, hoping you could continue you conversation over dinner.

A peek into your relationship: "You call this a beach?" you asked as you finally arrived at your destination. Your boyfriend, Kyle, laughed as you looked at the rocky shores of Brighton. While it was beautiful and you loved the pastel homes, it was far from what you knew back in Australia. "Trust me I would bring you here for more than just the beach, love," he reassured and directed you along the boardwalk. As you walked with your hands interlaced, you were led into a large game center. The color-technic lights of the various arcade games and crane machines lit the room as you adjusted from the bright sun outside. "Heard you were competitive," he joked with a smirk on your face and you knew today would be a challenge.

"Fuck me!" Kyle groaned as you won yet another round in Mario Kart. "For someone in the SAS, you sure don't have a lot of skills," you teased and collected your reward tickets. You and Kyle were evenly matched but it was clear your competitive spirit was putting you slightly ahead of the competition. As you wandered around, you saw a row of crane machines. "I hate those," you mumbled and it was as if a light turned on in Kyle's mind. He held your hand as you looked at each one, finally trying your luck with a machine full of Care Bears. As you complained over how they were a scam and impossible to win, a determined Kyle placed a token in and went to work. As you leaned over his shoulder, you were shocked when he picked up a large plush Care Bear and dropped it into the basket. "What the hell," you mumbled as he retrieved the price for you. "There are some things the Navy doesn't teach you," he beamed before kissing you on the cheek. The rest of the day you pondered a few things. First, what was the set of skills he had alluded to? and second, would it be possible to get another tattoo of this bear?