#the ones with jordan shaw

[graciehart]

top 5 mentalist and castle episodes?

oooo okay this is gonna hurt lmao i'm so bad at choosing but in no particular order (based on entire episode, not just favorite moments)

The Mentalist

7x13 White Orchids (+ 7x12 Brown Shag Carpet)

6x22 Blue Bird

4x10 Fugue in Red

5x02 Devil's Cherry

4x20 Something's Rotten in Redmund

also literally all of season seven

Castle

2x12 A Rose for Ever After

4x07 Cops & Robbers

3x01 A Deadly Affair

5x04 Murder, He Wrote

5x22 Still

(I would put 4x09 Kill Shot on here because it's an absolute masterpiece, but I rarely watch it bc it's hard. but it means soooo much to me)

[secular-jew]

The Truth about Aid Flowing into Gaza. By Barry Shaw: The View from Israel

As Melanie Phillips aptly put it,

"In the remorseless attempt to demonise Israel, humanitarian aid has become the blood libel of the day."

Israel says there is no limit to the number of aid trucks being allowed into Gaza. The hold-ups at the crossing points are because the UN is struggling to distribute the aid.

That is because it uses the UN’s Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA, which is controlled by Hamas.

Israel's COGAT says that, over the past two weeks, almost 50% more food trucks have entered Gaza than before the start of the war.

On Wednesday, 257 trucks entered. Over the past few days, more than 100 trucks were transferred to the northern part of the Strip. Over the past two weeks, the number of operational bakeries in Gaza doubled from 10 to 20, providing more than 2.5 million breads per day to the population.

From the start of the war, more than 750 packages of humanitarian aid have been delivered by 25 airdrops mounted by an alliance of Israel, the US, the UAE, Egypt, Jordan and France. None from Britain!

The media is showing a deeply biased, deliberately selective, picture of Gaza.

COGAT, which co-ordinates Israeli government activities in Judea, Samaria and Gaza, published a video of Gazans queuing up at a plentiful shawarma stand in Rafah.

Social media footage has shown well-stocked Rafah markets. There have also been videos of Gazans contemptuously throwing air-dropped ready-to-eat meals into the trash.

Hamas hijacks the trucks and steals the food and other supplies, either for itself or to sell to the population on the black market.

On social media, there are videos of aid trucks being commandeered by armed men. There are also videos of Egyptian drivers warning others not to drive aid trucks into Gaza because they are being attacked with rocks hurled through their windscreens, leaving some badly injured and even killed.

This has nothing to do with Israel.

It has everything to do with the impotence of the UN and other international aid organisations that have been in Gaza for decades.

Even US officials are admitting that Hamas is stealing the aid that the Biden administration is falsely accusing Israel of failing to provide.

One senior official told journalists that the problem was with distribution once the 250 to 300 truckloads of assistance got into Gaza. He said: “This is a product of, if you will, commercialisation of the assistance; criminal gangs are taking it, looting it, reselling it. They’ve monetised humanitarian assistance. … The food is there; it’s coming in”.

David Satterfield, the senior US diplomat involved in humanitarian assistance for Gaza, acknowledged that police escorts for aid deliveries include Hamas members, and that Hamas has been using other aid delivery channels to “shape where and to whom assistance goes.”

Israel is being scapegoated for the war crimes of Hamas. Scapegoating the Jews is the consistent and defining motif of antisemitism through the ages.

Israel’s media spokesman Eylon Levy said this week: “We will accept being scapegoated no longer.” Israel isn’t on its knees. The Jews of Britain and America should get up from theirs and publicly tell Cameron and Blinken the same thing.

[marleneoftheopera]

Holiday Audio/Video Gifts!

For the holiday season, here are some audio gifts from various shows and one Phantom video! The link to them is here and the info is below the cut:

Happy holidays and I hope you are all having time for some rest!

Audios

POTO

Jon Robyns, Paige Blankson, Joe Griffiths-Brown, Kelly Glyptis, Matt Harrop, Adam Linstead, Francesca Ellis, David Kristopher Brown, Maiya Hikasa August 22, 2023; London

Tim Howar, Harriet Jones, Nadim Naaman, Lara Martins, Nicholas Garrett, Arvid Larsen, John Ellis, Valerie Cutko, Kelsi Boyden March 19, 2023; Greece

Josh Piterman, Corinne Cowling (u/s), Danny Whitehead, Katy Hanna (u/s), Ross Dawes, Kris Manuel (u/s), Sophie Caton (u/s), Paul Ettore Tabone, Georgia Ware October 17, 2019; London ​Matinee.

Jeremy Stolle (u/s), Samantha Hill, Greg Mills (u/s), Michele McConnell, Richard Poole (u/s), Tim Jerome, Ellen Harvey, Christian Sebek, Kara Klein, Scott Mikita (u/s) March 9, 2013; Broadway Matinee performance.

John Owen-Jones, Deborah Dutcher, Matthew Cammelle, Bruce Montague, Charles Shirvell, Margaret Mary Kane (u/s), Janet Murphy, Jeremy Secomb, Lucy Middleton January 5, 2002; London

Love Never Dies

Tam Mutu, Celia Graham, David Thaxton, Daniel Dowling August 25, 2011; London Tam Mutu's last performance.

Les Miserables

Christopher Jacobsen (u/s Jean Valjean), Stewart Clarke (Javert), Katie Hall (Fantine), Will Callan (Marius), Lulu-Mae Pears (Cosette), Amena El-Kindy (Eponine), Luke Kempner (Thenardier), Claire Machin (Madame Thenardier), Dejan Van der Flyert (Enjolras), Alex Shaw (Gavroche), Clohe Sullivan (Little Cosette), Tom Hext (Grantaire/Majordomo), Adam Pearce (Bishop/Claquesous), Ellie Ann Lowe (Factory Girl), Jordan Simon Pollard (u/s Foreman/Bujon), Matt Dempsey (Bamatabopis/Lesgles), Annabelle Aquino, Hazel Baldwin, Emily Olive Boyd, Ben Culleton, Matt Hayden, Sam Kipling, Anouk Van Lake, Harry Lake, Ben Oatley, Jonathan Stevens, Phoebe Williams, Ollie Wray September 28, 2023; London 15,000th show in London and the 5th show for the new company.

Sunset Boulevard

Nicole Scherzinger (Norma), Tom Francis (Joe Gillis), David Thaxton (Max von Mayerling), Grace Hodgett Young (Betty Shaefer), Ahmed Hamaad (Artie), Tyler Davis (Sheldrake), Charlotte Jaconelli (Johanna), Jon Tsouras (Cecil B. de Mille) September 28, 2023; London

Rebecca

Laureen Jones (I), Richard Carson (Maxim de Winter), Kara Lane (Mrs Danvers), Sara Harlington (Beatrice), Neil Moor (Giles), Piers Bate (Frank Crewley), David Breeds (Ben), Alex James Ward (Jack Favell), Shrley Jameson (Mrs Van Hopper), Nicholas Lumley (Colonel Julian) September 27, 2023; Off-West End

POTO Video

Ian Jon Bourg, Olivia Safe (u/s), Kyle Gonyea 2001; Hamburg, Germany VOB files. One of the most legendary Phantom's opposite one of the youngest Christine's!

[autistic-ben-tennyson]

as someone who relates a lot to both Anakin and Padme because i grew in a stressfully abusive enviroment (not being allowed to express too honest emotions and fear, having to mask my neurodivergent tendencies, not being able to raise my voice ever or cry or be angry, etcetc) and i was a "gifted kid", and on top of that i'm queer. So for a lot of my teenhood i "attached" *badly* to anything that would remotely give me comfort, mostly objects but also people and friends, it's been quite healing to read your analysis about how "attachments" are presented in SW and how the fandom tends to twists attachments as something toxic and selfish, it's understandable when people don't like him but when everyone runs to say he was evil just for getting attached or feeling "too strongly" about something is quite hurtful

victims should be accountable for the things they do wrong, and anakin outright did so many many horrible bad things, but it's cathartic for me bc he shows how victims of abuse and trauma aren't and can't be perfect, and they react in ways that are inherently affected by the enviroment that shaped them, and in the end, anakin had one of the most famous and iconic returns ever, so it's really important to me, and your analysis are great

Thanks anon. I had a period over a couple months where I was very hardcore pro Jedi/anti anakin which in retrospect was really just to fit in with what was popular on tumblr since all the big SW blogs like Kanansdume/antianakin or GFFA are Jedi apologists. I regret a lot of my past behavior and how I treated some Anakin fans. A lot of Jedi stans like to paint anyone who likes Anakin as a right wing dudebro and it doesn’t help that there are a few people who are that way such as caripr94 or Otnesse. Yet their side isn’t much better. There’s a lot of ableism, victim blaming, and queerphobia rebranded to sound progressive. For all their pseudo-wokeness, a lot of them sound like conservatives when they put the blame entirely on Anakin for his fall and refuse to acknowledge systematic and psychological issues he had because they’d have to accept that the Jedi were flawed and not perfect.

Fandom in general has become a lot more puritanical and moralistic. People insist that you can’t show any sympathy or depth for villains, possibly as an overreaction towards movies like Maleficent or Cruella as well as the rise of Trump, hence why everyone felt Big Jack Horner was refreshing and propping up TOH as the anti SU for killing Belos. The SW fandom is no different. Antianakin has a whole pinned post ranting about not just Anakin but Padme, Ahsoka, Kallus and Crosshair too. People insist you must view Anakin as an allegory for a white boy radicalized by 4chan and Jordan Peterson but one could argue he’s closer to those in the global south who live in poverty and oppression as well as queer people who have to hide their relationships or risk being rejected by their communities.

SW isn’t even close to my top fandom or favorite media but I do post about it if it relates to stuff I do like more like anime or Ben 10. It’s easy to write off a character as just born evil which removes the tragedy knowing that he was a good person at one point and dehumanizing villains allows people to reject the idea that they could become that way. I like a lot of characters who are flawed or abrasive because of trauma or abuse they suffered such as Shinji and Asuka from NGE, Hodaka from WWY, Raven from TT or Homura from PMMM. Anakin/Vader is an interesting character who has been dumbed down to just a “fascist MAGA manchild” by some when, for all my criticism of him, is not what Lucas wrote. As a side note, knowing that all 4 OT Vader actors have passed away is sad. RIP Sebastian Shaw, Bob Anderson, David Prowse and James Earl Jones. May the force be with you all.

[wot-tidbits]

Curse Words Analysis Part 1: Blood and Bloody Ashes! by JaimTorfinn

The whole article can be read here.

The curse word “bloody” (by itself) is one of the most common curses in the series with 1,284 total occurrences. It’s used like its real life counterpart, and unlike its associated phrases, “bloody” is almost always followed by a word that it intensifies, such as “bloody fool”, or “bloody dice”. A recent comment by u/wjbc offers some additional insight on the word:

"Bloody" is a real world curse that Jordan uses because it's considered mild by modern standards. But in Victorian times it was considered very profane, short for "God's blood." It was also very lower class. George Bernard Shaw created a sensation when his character Eliza said "bloody" in the play Pygmalion (later turned into My Fair Lady).

Jordan started off slowly, and then went a bit wild in The Dragon Reborn, which is mostly due to the introduction of Mat POVs. In fact, all the numbers are very affected by how much screen time Mat gets in that book, with The Path of Daggers having the lowest occurrences due to Mat being absent.

When Sanderson took over, he was conservative at first, but then set new records with the final two books. As you can see from the authors’ average per 100k words chart, Sanderson used the curse almost twice as much as Jordan.

When it comes to total occurrences, Mat Cauthon is the bloody king! With 767 uses, he says or thinks “bloody” almost 7 times more than Uno, who is in second place with 115. It’s interesting to note that he thinks the word more than he says it, with 440 instances thought, and 327 spoken. Uno, on the other hand, speaks almost all of his (101 instances) since he only has one PoV section, in A Memory of Light.

With 110 occurrences, “Blood and Bloody Ashes” is the most common of the “bloody” phrase variations. It is often used as a standalone sentence, usually with an exclamation mark. Considered a fairly strong curse, it has been known to raise the eyebrows of the prim and proper.

With 101 occurrences, “Blood and Ashes” is the second most common of the “bloody” phrases. It’s very similar to “blood and bloody ashes”, but is perhaps a bit milder. It was also Jordan’s curse of choice when he first started.

With 68 occurrences, “Bloody Ashes” is the third most common “bloody” phrase, and functions pretty much the same as “blood and ashes”. “Bloody Ashes” is a Sanderson invention, with no occurrences in Jordan’s books.

Some fans assumed the use of “Bloody Ashes” in Sanderson’s books was a mistake, but when questioned about it, Sanderson claimed that it was on purpose.

SANDERSON: I've done this intentionally. It's a personal quirk of mine from my linguistic background. I feel that many constructions like this, over time, will simplify. As the world of the WoT has been modernizing, I feel that slowly "Bloody and bloody ashes" would shorten. I've used the longer version in the books, but have begun pushing the oaths toward their more clipped versions as part of a subtle linguistic shift to accompany the birth of things like gunpowder and steam power. Our world's own oaths have done this quite aggressively.

[made-this-cause-why-not]

Gen V Drabble, Word Count: 588

When Marie heard the news, she was inconsolable. The headlines were everywhere: Vice President Victoria Nueman and daughter Zoe found dead. The story was terrible- the two had been killed at the dinner table, lasers slicing their bodies. The headline came a week after Victoria agreed to help. Three days after the virus went missing from her bunker. Sixteen days before Zoe’s fourteenth birthday. Marie and Jordan had already bought her a gift- two tickets to ‘The Seven on Ice’.

Jordan hadn’t tried to understand, they were just there. Together they and Emma held her as she cried. Sad at the lost her second family. Angry that it had happened. Frustrated in the fact that she could do nothing. 

Butcher hadn’t been as hurt. When he saw the news he had just sighed and said that they needed a change of plans. Everyone had stared at the man, shocked by his lack of empathy for their newfound ally. Hughie offered condolences on the man’s behalf, stating Butcher was always an ass and that she shouldn’t take it too hard. Everyone else was sympathetic, with Kimiko even offering her a sad smile and a strong hug.

A change of plans had apparently meant raising the dead. Two weeks after Victoria’s death, a mere 3 days after her funeral, Queen Maeve had come to headquarters. Not the Maeve that Marie had read about in books or seen in interviews, a supe that was strong, confident and took no prisoners. No, this Maeve was different. Still strong but in a way that seemed less from being untouchable and more from being touched living through it. This Maeve carried a gun everywhere, always sat facing windows, and wore an eyepatch.

When Marie first saw her she was shocked by the woman’s existence. She was wearing a sweater and jeans and holding two duffle bags, one for her and one for Elena- a woman whom Marie would meet later. Maeve had looked over to where she was sitting with Jordan, Cate, Emma and Sam and whispered something to Butcher. The conversation was short and ended with Butcher saying something that sounded a lot like a genuine ‘thank you’, something that Marie had never heard the man say in her two months of knowing him. 

“I’m Maggie,” she introduces. Her voice was deep, something Marie wasn’t expecting after years of watching high pitched press junkets. “I’m here as a favor to Annie, and Annie only.” Eyes flickered to the blonde women typing away on a computer. Though she pretended not to listen, Marie could see faint blush coat her cheeks. “I’m going to try and train you guys on how to kill Homelander.”

Marie's heart leapt at the words, looking to M.M for confirmation. The man avoided her eye and Marie focused back on Maggie. “You’re not a supe anymore,” Marie comments, staring into her bloodstream.

“Yeah, no shit. I had a chance to kill Homelander, to really get rid of him for good.” Maggie lets out a deep sigh, shutting her eyes tight. “But I didn’t. I took down Soldier Boy, and risked my life for that piece of shit, and hundreds of others.” She lets out a bitter laugh. “All because fucking Kansas over there.”

Annie turned in her chair, her face apologetic. “Maggie, I wouldn’t have asked if-”

“It’s fine, just…it’s fucking fine.” From beside her, Elena places a soothing hand on her arm. Maggie took a deep breath, before looking back at the group. “No going back now kids.”

(If you like this concept, check out "Maggie Shaw's School for Disgraced Superheroes" by WithFireAndIce on AO3. I wrote this before they posted their work, and would rather read their writings than write anymore on this)

[deanwinchesterswitch]

August 2024 Monthly Fic Recs

I dove into some master lists this month for a few of these. I highly recommend that you do the same. If you're only reading the most recent posts, then you are missing out on some fabulous fics!

Plus, you will make the authors very happy, especially when you reblog and comment.🥰

Enjoy!

Many of these blogs and fics are NSFW-18+. Please honor any requests from a blog regarding no minors. I am not responsible for the content you choose to consume; heed the warnings for each fic.

~MCU~

Embraceable You ~ @impala-dreamer. Author's Summary: None (Ficlet; Bucky Barnes x You)

~Supernatural~

A Hunter Walks Into a Bar ~ @rizlowwritessortof. Author's Summary: None (Dean x Reader)

Do You Know? ~ @thatonewriter15. Author's Summary: Dean sees her in his dreams.

In a Million Memories-Master Post ~ @deaneverafter. Author's Summary: After saving the world over and over again, Dean finally deserves to live in it. And he wants to. He’s earned it. But things are never as simple as that for a Winchester, and if he wants the apple pie life, he’s going to have to fight for it, harder than he’s ever fought before.

Just Right ~ @kaleldobrev. Author's Summary: Dean hates when you’re sick. Not only can he not kiss his best girl without the possibility of getting sick himself. But you also can’t make one of his favorite things to start off his day: his morning coffee.

Lost In You ~ @rizlowwritessortof. Author's Summary: A casual flirtation leads to a violent encounter, and Dean’s reaction is a little more than you expected.

No Title ~ @cleighwrites. Author's Summary: None (Drabble; Dean Winchester x Reader)

Oh, Baby ~ @luci-in-trenchcoats. Author's Summary: When Dean is cursed on a hunt and turned into a baby, the reader has to take care of him along with Sam. Dean however, is a bit more adult than they might realize…

Pieces ~ @atwistoffate. Author's Summary: None (Ficlet; Dean x Reader)

Sweet Escape-Part 1 ~ @rizlowwritessortof. Author's Summary: None (Dean x Reader)

Sweet Escape-Part 2 ~ @rizlowwritessortof. Author's Summary: None (Dean x Reader)

~Tracker~

Don't Mention It ~ @impala-dreamer. Author's Summary: None (Ficlet; Russell Shaw x GN!Reader)

~On Patreon~

Rebekah Jordan (Impala-Dreamer)

Sweet Creature ~ Bad things happen when you take matters into your own hands and try to prove that love conquers all

The Beat of Your Heart ~ Author’s Summary: Friends become lovers who turn into the darkest evil that one can endure...

thinkinghardhardlythinking

Close to Home-Parts 19-20 ~ Author’s Summary: Y/N and Dean are neighbours, and friends. The thing is Dean is a ladies’ man and she has always known it, if he wasn’t, maybe he’d be the ideal guy…but his eye for the ladies, how well they work as friends, as well as the fact that he’d never even think of her that way, all means that they are meant to be just neighbours and friends. Doesn’t it?

[invisibleicewands]

“In every room I go into, every office, every institution, people tell me, this is what we’re doing to encourage more working-class writers.  They reel off all the things they’re doing, and it sounds impressive, it sounds amazing. And you think: if all these people are doing all this, WHY ARE THINGS NOT CHANGING FASTER? WHAT IS GETTING IN THE WAY?”

Under the hot, bright lights of a packed-out auditorium at the 2024 London Book Fair, Michael Sheen is getting angry. His is an unthreatening, crowd-rousing kind of angry, but still, in an appropriate way – he’s mad.

The actor and philanthropist is speaking on a panel convened to discuss A Writing Chance, the programme co-founded by the actor with New Writing North and Northumbria University that helps working-class writers enter the writing industries. So far, the programme has been successful. The theme emerging on the panel is, if changes have been made in some areas, what’s holding things back in others? And what cultural changes might have to come before we solve the problem?

“You have to admit there’s a fundamental conflict between the system that’s set up, and what we’re trying to achieve,” says Michael. “I don’t know what the whole answer to that is, other than revolution.”

It says a lot about the mood in the room – and, we suspect, the rest of the country – that the laughs prompted by this conclusion feel rather approving. We firmly believe that elites have been hogging and hoarding opportunity for too long now. The support for A Writing Chance confirms that many, many people agree.

The initiative was launched in 2021, with 11 unpublished writers awarded places on a programme of support and mentoring. One, Tom Newlands, publishes his first novel this summer; another, Maya Jordan, signed a deal at the book fair. A new cohort will be selected soon, with the programme now supported by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, Michael Sheen, the Charlotte Aitken Trust, Faber & Faber, The Daily Mirror, Substack, Audible, with research supported by AHRC, Northumbria University, Bath Spa University and York St John University.

For the London Book Fair panel, Michael is joined by Professor Katy Shaw from Northumbria University, plus Tracey Markham, head of UK at Audible, Farrah Storr, head of writer partnerships at Substack, and the Huddersfield-based novelist Sunjeev Sahota. Katy and Michael begin by reflecting on the successes of the first completed programme: writers emboldened and published, policymakers in the Houses of Parliament briefed and, most importantly, great writing exemplifying the talent out there waiting to be discovered. “What came in was just way beyond anything we had hoped for really,” says Michael. “And there was a sense of revelation, the feeling you were seeing into worlds that have just been closed off, into experiences I had never thought about.”

Ideas about how to give working-class writers more confidence and access to publishing are peppered through the hour-long conversation: a creative curriculum in schools; intervening with gifted people at younger ages, like sports coaches; encouraging more people to take advantage of digital platforms, even if printed-book authorship remains the ultimate goal. Around halfway through, Sunjeev makes a brilliantly clear-eyed analysis of what being working class really means, and how it relates to identity politics. At the same time, he provides a devastatingly simple explanation of why working-class writers need support.

“Publishing is an elite space, but it’s quite a diverse space in terms of people’s racialised or sexualised identities. However, it’s not at all diverse it comes to people’s economic backgrounds, or family income. Indeed, many of the non-white people I encounter in publishing are often from just as comfortably-off backgrounds as their white counterparts.

The creative industries, he says, have tended to treat class as being another cultural identity, as if class should be considered in the same way that we might talk about race, gender, or sexuality. “But I think a more universal, class-first politics will do more for the weakest members across all identities than any identity-first kind of politics. I find that taking an identity-first approach just tends to benefit the elites within the identities.”

Lest anyone doubt the existence of a market for work originating outside the elites, the extremely upbeat Tracey is on hand to reassure them. Audible attracts a notably diverse audience, with large black and Asian listenerships, and a high proportion of young men. To satisfy this audience, the old-style audiobook, with its middle- and highbrow titles and Received Pronunciation narration, has been overhauled in favour of books more suited to audience tastes, and accents.

“Our customers really want accents! We spend a lot of time working with voice agents to widen access to the audio-narration industry. I think what’s super-important now is that your accent is not prohibitive – if you have a Welsh accent, say, that doesn’t mean you can only read stories set in Wales.”

Tracey stresses there is “so much more to be done” to widen socio-economic diversity in the whole publishing industry. But although it might still be a case of taking “baby steps”, a wonderful thing about books is their power to drive change elsewhere. “You know, it’s hard to explain to someone that’s not from the UK how much your accent kind of signifies to people when they first meet you. And with voice, we can kind of break down a lot of those barriers, and actually encourage it and welcome [diversity].”

There’s a similar note of flexibility and responsiveness to audience needs in Farrah’s account of what Substack offers. The relationship between digital and print is always evolving, and in her vision, it’s a question of the one complementing the other. Printed books still have more prestige than publication on digital platforms, but the latter can help offset the material challenges associated with the former, she argues. Echoing Sunjeev, she points that “the problem for people from a working-class background is that your advance gets paid in separate lump sums. People feel, I don’t have a regular income, I can’t make this work, I might end up falling out of the writer ecosystem.

“So, on Substack, we say, well, okay, you’re writing the book, but you’re probably going to have thousands of words leftover. So just put them on Substack and talk about the novel at the same time.”

Lots of people she works with end up making liveable incomes and building readerships for their work, which ultimately is what keeps them in the game. It’s a reminder that we shouldn’t necessarily define “writing” as the production of traditional forms such as novels and plays.

No one at this event – the queue for which was so long that dozens were unable to squeeze inside – believed all the barriers facing working-class writers would be dismantled any time soon.  Few, though, can have left without believing that A Writing Chance has begun the job – and that that job is worthwhile.

Wrapping up, Michael recalls someone from the inaugural group who told him that in their community, becoming a writer seemed about as likely as becoming an astronaut.

“They said that there was no chance of it. They said, ‘I didn’t know anybody else who lived where I live who was a writer, so I didn’t know how to begin, or where to start. It was like saying I want to go into space.’ But that changed for them.

“And of course, now, there are all these wonderful spacemen.”

[good-question-love]

[SPOILERS IF YOU HAVEN'T FINISHED THE 100]

has anyone else noticed that everyone lost their first "love" (quotation cause some of the following relationships had shitty development)

Abby lost Jake

Octavia lost Atom

Clarke and Raven lost Finn

Jasper lost Maya

Bellamy lost Gina

Lexa lost Costia (assuming she was her lover, don't remember if it was specified)

Luna lost Derrick (I think that was his name and assuming he was her first love for purposes)

Miller lost Bryan

Monty lost Harper

Jordan lost Priya

Gabriel lost Josephine

Echo lost Bellamy (or the real Echo, maybe. either way)

Everyone except Murphy (and well Jackson but eh). (okay technically she did die but he brought her so it doesn't really count) Like they fucked up his whole psyche, but they didn't take Emori. Why is he the only one who got any mercy?

Like they were merciless with everyone. Clarke lost all of her lovers in some way (Niylah betrayed her), both her parents, her best friend TWICE, and her daughter (not even to mention all the shit she went through to survive/save her people and all the hate she got for it, you don't gotta like the character just respect her ruthlessness). They made Bellamy a sheep (multiple times *cough* fucking Pike *cough*) and made his whole death pointless cause he was right and Madi gave herself up like immediately after (so fucking mad you don't even know). Raven lost her childhood best friend/lover after he cheated on her (her childhood for fucks sake), her leg, ALIE (that was bad in general but damn), had to stop her own heart to survive, and then Shaw. Jasper went through it before he took himself out. Monty was hated by his best friend (just the Mount Weather incident), forced to kill his mom twice, watched his best friend die, sent his son into danger, watched Harper die, and never saw anyone he loved again (hell, whether he died of old age or not is still up in the air, they never found a body). They threw sweet Jordan into a horror show by the scruff of his neck. Echo had a childhood for sure. Gabriel had lifetimes of fuckery. The fucking disservice to Lexa (and Lincoln) by having her be shot. Luna killed her own brother and lover then watched her entire clan die. Miller lost his dad and was in the bunker... Abby got her husband killed, the bunker, Kane, and then was just erased (POOF bye bitch👋 wtf). And Octavia (need I say more? I will tho). Raised under the floor, imprisoned for being born, mom dead, dad who?, Atom, Lincoln, Ilian, you are Wonkru or you are the enemy of Wonkru, cannibalism, watched her first kinda child die (Ethan), banished by her own brother, lost time with Hope, and lost Diyoza.

And Murphy went through it too. Like BADLY but he never had to live without Emori.

This post is nothing. I just think that's beautiful.

[pollylynn]

Title: Bound and Determined WC: 900

"There’s nothing going on between Beckett and me.”

— Richard Castle, Tick, Tick, Tick . . . (2 x 17)

She is wide awake with a gun under her pillow. Metaphorically under her pillow. A gun literally under her pillow would be unsafe. She flops from her back to her stomach, punching said pillow as she lands, silently cursing his name. It’s his fault she’s wide awake, policing her own internal thoughts for literary correctness.

It’s his fault that she is not, in fact, too tired to argue. She has, in fact, been having a deeply satisfying, one-sided argument this whole time since she stalked off, wine-less and all too aware of the smug smile he was, no doubt, leveling at her back. Or she had been having it right up until the literary policing started. She has been lying here, staring up at the ceiling, at one wall, then the other, at the door with its stubbornly non-moving knob, her mind whirring its way through every jab and cut and devastating blow she could have, should have, would have landed if only she’d taken him up on that glass of wine. Maybe she should have taken him up on that glass of wine. Maybe she should have taken the whole damned bottle to bed with her. 

“Not really,” she tells the ceiling as she groans and flops on to her back again. Her history—her dad’s history—will not really allow her to be a going-to-bed-with-a-bottle-of-wine kind of person. “Which you should know.” She sticks her tongue out at the door and adds another unforgivable sin to his already substantial total. She scowls hard at  the painted white brick the bedroom shares with the living room. She grips the blankets tight in her fists and wills herself not to throw them back, not to tear open the door and stomp back down the hall for the sheer pleasure of sharing with him the highlight reel of insults her brain has spent the last few hours coming up with. 

She grips the blankets tight in her fists and wills herself not to throw them back, not to slip soundlessly from the bed, not to slink back down the hall to pour herself a soundless, clandestine glass of wine. It’s a dual, white-knuckle truth. She forces her fingers to loosen their hold just a little, but the blankets make their cautious way to her chin. Her shoulders hunch. She’s burrowing deeper into the pillows. She’s making herself small, and what’s that about? What is any of this about? 

She is wide a wake, despite the fact that she is exhausted in every possible way. That is his fault. She tries to right herself by returning to this central fact, but the secret hour has struck in which exhaustion wakes up the whole damned internal house and insists on some middle-of-the-night introspection. 

Why is it his fault that she is wide awake? There’s the obvious. She really does want a chance to deliver some hindsight-curated shots about his schoolboy crush on Jordan Shaw. She wants go gloriously off script and rip him a new one for his crack about the sexlessness of their relationship, although now that she thinks about it, that particular theme could use some curation, because what exactly is the problem with him, for once, confirming the sexlessness of their relationship, rather than responding to Jordan Shaw’s shockingly unprofessional commentary with his usual—a sly, maddeningly confident, Not yet? 

Relationship.

That’s the crux of it. She wants, childishly, to rush out there, startle him badly enough that he rolls off the couch, waking at the exact moment that his head connects with the hardwood floor. She wants to shout at the top of her lungs that—oh, by the way—they do not have a relationship, they just have . . . sexlessness. 

That’s what she wants to do, and yeah, it’s a line of argument that definitely needs some work.  But more important, even in her current state of exhaustion, her mind won’t allow it, any more than it will allow her to abuse the word literally. 

He is on her couch, and she suspects that if she were to rush or stomp or creep or slink down the hallway and out into the living room, she’d find he’s wide awake, too. He’s probably polishing his own comebacks and stockpiling riffs about her “ridiculous” jealousy, because he is ever himself, just as she is ever herself. 

He is on her couch, because he is not leaving her alone. Because he feels responsible, and even if he has nothing to offer in the way of protection against a crazed wanna-be serial killer, save his rapier wit and a heart-stoppingly expensive bottle of wine, he is still there when it would have been easier for him to not still be there. It would have been easier for him never to have come at all—to have stayed home making sure his Agent Jordan Shaw in The Recapitator poster is hanging level on the wall of his bedroom. It would have been easier for him to have gone when she started scolding him for his breaches of imaginary protocol. 

There are so many things in the world that would have been easier than him lying on her couch, almost certainly awake—than her lying here with the covers up to her chin, very definitely awake. 

There are so many things in the world that must be easier than this thing—this relationship—they’re in.  

A/N: I am ashamed to admit that I have cracked myself up with the image of Castle's bedroom papered with Jordan Shaw posters. J/K. I clearly have no shame.

images via homeofthenutty

[keshetchai]

About #4 and your further justification of why Israeli people are scared of retaliation… you’re entire post centered the Jewish view point which I imagine you are so that makes sense but it feels “self-centered”? (For lack of a better word) What were the Palestinian’s doing during this besides attacking? Are you saying they did all that and you did maybe two things back?

Oh I forgot to add it sounds like white fears at the end of slavery they were based on the violent slave riots so they were justified /s

It sounds like you didn't understand what I said.

Preface: I'm not Israeli, and I don't live in Israel so my examination of the psychology of Israel as a nation-state is as an outsider. While I converted to Judaism as an adult, I don't have any family who died in the Holocaust or Israel for that matter, and my ancestry is mexican-american so any cultural or generational trauma there is more related to anti-indigenous and anti-latinx history in the United States.

First: My addition was explicitly to identify that the psychological fear of being attacked violently hasn't been solely about displacement (ie Israelis fear violence from Europeans, and thus displace this fear and paranoia onto Palestinians in the form of violence), but rather there has also been antisemitic violence committed by Arab Palestinians prior to the forming of Israel, in addition to a history of many having experienced European antisemitic violence.

My entire post centered around the Jewish-Israeli viewpoint because I was explaining how Jewish Israeli experiences have influenced Israeli Nationalism. It's relevant to understanding how Israeli Nationalism and right-wing ideology gets radicalized and perpetuates, and how it gets justified.

Most people don't just do things for no reason. Understanding their reasons, fears, or psychological motivations, even hypocritical, morally repugnant, or radicalized ones helps you understand lots of things like: how they got there, why they feel their actions or ideologies are sensible, how they can choose differently, what they would want in alternative solutions, and how to counter certain arguments.

Second:

the Shaw Commission Report compiled afterwards by the british is freely available online.

verbatim quotes from the report:

The outbreak in Jerusalem on 23 August was from the beginning an attack by Arabs on Jews for which no excuse in the form of earlier murders by Jews has been established.

[The disturbances] took the form, in the most part, of a vicious attack by Arabs on Jews accompanied by wanton destruction of Jewish property. A general massacre of the Jewish community at Hebron was narrowly averted. In a few instances, Jews attacked Arabs and destroyed Arab property. These attacks, though inexcusable, were in most cases in retaliation for wrongs already committed by Arabs in the neighbourhood in which the Jewish attacks occurred. The outbreak neither was nor was intended to be a revolt against British authority in Palestine.

It also includes a historical overview leading to the 1929 riots including two previous attacks against Jewish neighborhoods in Jaffa and Jerusalem in 1920.

The desecration and murder of people at a mosque is one of the events noted in the report as "the worst instance of a Jewish attack on Arabs," so yes, it was something I noted as a major event, along with the initial violent retaliation when the Jewish teenager was stabbed. Those one are two things are notable and violent as standout cases, but I also noted general spates of mutual violence. Complicating it further is that the report notes many of the Arab deaths were due to British police force, but they weren't able to further break down the numbers as sometimes they were shooting into crowds.

interesting second comment. Here's Mahmoud Abbas's 2007 recounting of his family fleeing Safed when he was 13:

"...we left on foot at night to the Jordan River... Eventually we settled in Damascus... My father had money, and he spent his money methodically. After a year, when the money ran out, we began to work. "People were motivated to run away... They feared retribution from Zionist terrorist organizations - particularly from the Safed ones. Those of us from Safed especially feared that the Jews harbored old desires to avenge what happened during the 1929 uprising. This was in the memory of our families and parents... They realized the balance of forces was shifting and therefore the whole town was abandoned on the basis of this rationale - saving our lives and our belongings."

Palestinians abandoned Safed in fear of retribution for the 1929 pogrom against the Jews, per Abbas's account. Does that also sound like white fears to you? If not, why not?

What if none of these fears justified any of the violence?

[100ducksizedfolignos]

minnesota wild players as dog breeds

who asked for this? nobody. who thought of this? me. i made one comparison in an unrelated post and as such. this is happening.

strap in everyone. this is very long so i'm read more-ing so you don't all hate a list of 20+ players with included pictures. so open this one up just to see some cute dogs even if you don't care about the rest.

#2 calen addison - french bulldog

just incredibly chilled out but a jester in his own right. very square head.

#4 jon merrill - irish wolfhound

a calm, even-tempered gentle giant with a love for kids. incredibly social and kind. great hair choices.

#5 jacob middleton - giant schnauzer

i’m gonna be real this one is mostly for the stache but ALSO. smart, extremely protective and loyal, sturdy, energetic. bred both as a herder and a guard dog.

#12 matt boldy - golden retriever

outgoing, playful, loving, loyal, and smart while being also kind of a dope. incredibly popular. floppy with incredibly pettable hair.

#13 sam steel - swedish vallhund

sturdy and no-frills, cheerful and sociable. this one’s really a dart throw sorry guys

#14 joel eriksson ek - kuvasz

big and sturdy and an excellent protector. intelligent and determined and can be hard to train (develop) properly. can be deceptively quick.

#15 mason shaw - schipperke

sturdy, lively, curious, mischievous, energetic. very protective. loves his people.

#17 marcus foligno - chesapeake bay retriever

not strictly a guard dog but does well in the role if need be. intelligent, upbeat, high-energy, with an independent streak. incredibly loyal and affectionate to his people.

#18 jordan greenway - great dane

i guess he could knock you over if he tried. bighugeboi but also kind of a layabout.

#21 brandon duhaime - bull terrier

absolute comedian and rascal. high-energy, tenacious, playful, devoted, with an independent and stubborn streak. robust and muscular with a distinctly-shaped head. obsessed with “fun and games”.

#24 matt dumba - bulldog

loyal, courageous, easygoing, tenacious. playful and affectionate. extremely sociable and good with kids. used to be a lot tougher and stronger than he is now for reasons out of his control.

#25 jonas brodin - puli

some snippets from the akc page: “agile and light on their feet” “acrobat of the dog world” “do not suffer fools lightly” “no problem humiliating you in public”. the dog version of brods’ exceptional skating and willingness to use it to absolutely stonewall everybody. incredibly intelligent and loyal.

#26 connor dewar - manchester terrier (standard)

keenly observant and intelligent. loves a challenge. affectionate to its people. active and particularly quick - akc calls out the breed’s motor and “muscular caboose”, which. well.

#29 marc-andré fleury - weimaraner

incredibly active, friendly, and affectionate, and probably too smart for his own good. an icon.

#32 filip gustavsson - great pyrenees

big, gentle, quiet, but bred to be a guardian. a big cute loveable softie and defender.

#33 alex goligoski - bedlington terrier

lanky fellow. versatile, energetic without causing trouble, loyal, loving to family.

#36 mats zuccarello - west highland white terrier

strong, tough, and courageous, especially for his size. playful, energetic, independent, incredibly smart. beloved everywhere he goes.

#38 ryan hartman - staffordshire bull terrier

stocky and fearless. instinct to fight can get him into trouble. unfairly maligned. loyal, playful, and affectionate to his people.

#46 jared spurgeon - miniature poodle

small and delicate-looking, but wickedly smart and athletic. affectionate and companionable. underestimate him at your own peril.

#75 ryan reaves - rottweiler

big, muscular, sleek, and strong - playful, loving, and incredibly gentle to friends and family but knows how to protect and by god is he willing to do it. calm and confident and incredibly sociable.

#89 freddy gaudreau - border collie

incredibly smart with an inexhaustible energy and work ethic. playful and affectionate with loved ones.

#97 kirill kaprizov - siberian husky

deceptively strong, and used to the cold. extremely friendly and social, and can be prone to whining, although it’s very funny when they do so. boundless energy and seemingly never tired of work and play. (the siberia bit was indeed happy coincidence btw)

bonus: dean evason - boxer

you know why. strong, protective, deeply funny without even trying. prone to throwing the body around at anyone in sight.

bonus: bill guerin - chinook

smart, patient, calm, confident, outgoing. very mellow when not in work mode. a blend of strength and speed.

[inthedarkbeforethedawn]

Saw Oklahoma matinee today, Phil was a delight. Maybe he doesn't have the vocal power of a musical theatre pro but (with nothing to compare it to having not seen the show before) I think his softness worked for his version of Curly. Certainly didn't make Pore Jud any less dark. I would definitely go see him in something else.

The true star of the show, however, was Jordan Shaw as Will Parker: one of his tap shoes broke as he walked onstage for Kansas City, so he took them both off and danced the whole thing in socks with a smile on his face. Amazing.

[pastryleclerc]

y/n and john are dating, her brother is one of his teammates - one day during england camp, they joke around:

gareth southgate: so, do you recognize any of these men? y/n: i was hiding in the bathroom stall, so i didn't see his face, but i heard him. he was singing along to the music at the bar. gareth southgate: do you remember what he was singing? y/n: i think it was that song, "i want it that way" gareth southgate: backstreet boys, i'm familiar. okay...number one, can you please sing the opening to "i want it that way"? jordan pickford: really? okay. *starts singing* you are my fire... gareth southgate: number two, keep it going. kyle walker: the one desire... gareth southgate: number three... luke shaw: believe when i say... gareth southgate: number four! declan rice: i want it that way... gareth southgate: TELL ME WHY! together: ain't nothing but a heartache gareth southgate: TELL ME WHY! together: ain't nothing but a mistake gareth southgate: now number five john stones: i never want to hear you say gareth southgate: WOO! together: i want it that way gareth southgate: ahh. chills you guys, literal chills. y/n: it was number five, number five killed my brother. gareth southgate: oh my god, i forgot about that part!

[my-chaos-radio]

Release: March 22, 2024

Lyrics:

Wasn't looking for nothin' here tonight

Only came for the music and the lights

Didn't know I needed more

Then, you walked in, caught me by surprise

One look and you got me hypnotized

The way you glide across the floor

When you pull me closer, all my troubles disappear

Is it me or is it gettin' hot in here?

I'm fallin' in love, got me feelin' electric

Just can't get enough, I won't ever forget this

'Cause the way you got me now, my head is in the clouds

I'm never comin' down

Yeah, the way I'm fallin' in love got me feelin' electric

I'm not even gonna try and play pretend

I don't ever, ever want this night to end

So come and give me more, yeah

The way that our bodies synchronize

Touch me and I'm feelin' more alive

Now, you've opened up that door, ooh-ooh-ooh

When you pull me closer, all my troubles disappear (hey)

Is it me or is it gettin' hot in here? (Ha)

I'm fallin' in love, got me feelin' electric

Just can't get enough, I won't ever forget this

(I will never, no, no, I will never)

'Cause the way you got me now, my head is in the clouds

I'm never comin' down (never comin' down)

Yeah, the way I'm fallin' in love got me feelin' electric

Let's go until the mornin', we know we're goin' all in (uh-huh, yeah, uh)

Ain't nothing gonna stop this, stop this (yeah, come on, yeah, come on)

Let's go until the mornin' (yeah, uh)

Ain't nothing gonna stop this (yeah, yeah)

Stop this, stop this (come on, woo)

Songwriter:

I'm fallin' in love, got me feelin' electric (electric, yeah)

Just can't get enough, I won't ever forget this

(I will never, no, no, I will never)

'Cause the way you got me now, my head is in the clouds

I'm never comin' down (never comin' down)

Yeah, the way I'm fallin' in love got me feelin' electric

Darin Zanyar / James Frederick Hurr / Paul John Harris / Jordan David Samuel Shaw

ArtistFacts:

👉📖

Homepage:

Darin

[lastblues]

@survivall / jordan riley.

          WORKING WITH JORDAN IS ALMOST AGONIZING.  that word implies that there's something bad about it, and there is, but it's not because of anything jordan has done. she's pleasant, she's talkative, she's hard working. she's probably the best coworker he's had thus far who isn't his mom. the problem is that dodge, who had just gotten really comfortable at the diner, no longer knows how to act. somehow, even through the permeating smell of diner that clings to his clothes hours after he's left, he can catch the sweet scent of vanilla as she walks by. every time it happens dodge feels like an android whose wiring short circuits for a moment and he forgets what he's saying or what he's about to do. he's a little more comfortable with jordan there now that she's a few weeks in, able to recover quickly when being too close to her causes him to falter, but he still can't quite feel normal around her. he's not sure how he's supposed to. she's got the prettiest smile he's ever seen.

          it's a wednesday night and the diner is dead. the last people to come in were the shaws, a very picture-perfect family with a dad, a mom, a son, and a daughter, at 6:30. as perfect as their lives seemed, dodge knew better than to assume what went on behind closed doors. they ate dinner, had pleasant conversation, left jordan a $20 tip, and were on their way by 7:30. it's 8:17 now as dodge glances at the clock on the wall, and he lets out a bored sigh. if all he does is stand here, leaning on the bar, thinking... he's going to go insane. despite the tight feeling he gets in his chest when he tries to speak to jordan, he decides to try anyway.

          "so..." he starts, eyes moving from the clock to jordan, "are you going to play panic?" it's the first time he's ever brought it up to her, but they obviously both know about the game. they both put a dollar into the pot when ray comes around shaking everyone down for it; he's seen her do it. they're not supposed to talk about it, but no one is there to overhear them.