#the secret life of arabia

[jt1674]

[best-bowie-bracket]

Both songs will be under the cut if you want to listen to them!

Listen to The Secret Life of Arabia:

Listen to Beauty and the Beast:

[musicandoldmovies]

The Secret Life of Arabia - David Bowie

From the album Heroes

[minkyungseokie]

Private, But Not Secret | Max Verstappen

synopsis; max is in a relationship with a pilot who, despite being popular on the internet, likes to keep their relationship as private as she could

warnings; none

note; requested

note2; I don't think I'm as funny as anyone else who make smaus. I have the sense of humor as a bag of dirt. I tried and I hope you all enjoy this enough to keep requesting. I also did not know how to do a private, but secret romance, so take whatever tf this is

fc; any random woman I find on pintrest

Come Talk to Me

Autosports Masterlist | Main Masterlist | Max Masterlist

pilotynv posted a photo!

pilotynv

liked by maxverstappen1, nyckdevries, landnorris, and 2,786,231 others

pilotynv A day in the life

tagged: pilotfriend1, pilotfriend2, pilotfriend3, maxverstappen1

dadlicker MAX CRUMBS!! I REPEAT, MAX CRUMBS!! ⤷ubertomywip First of all, your name 💀 second of all, what ⤷dadlicker Y/n doesn't really post Max ⤷Userdd Because they want to keep the relationship as private as possible

maxverstappen1 ❤️ ♥ by author ⤷pilotynv ❤️

danielriccardo I'm so glad you got that picture ⤷pilotynv You were there and you sent me the picture, dumbass ⤷danielriccardo I did? I must've been so drunk

Duign-23r Why is this bitch so fucking rude? ⤷pilotynv Rude how? I'm interacting with a friend. You would know friendly banter if you had friends ⤷User4 GAGGED

landonorris I didn’t know those windows opened

maxverstappen1 posted a photo!

maxverstappen1

liked by pilotynv and 129,420 others

maxverstappen1 Simply lovely. Thank you to our orange army in Bahrain for coming out and supporting us. Next stop Saudi Arabia ➡️ 🇸🇦

drillarkillar Simply lovely, my ass. When are you going to stop winning? You're ruining the sport 😒 ⤷ alliseearesainz @drillarkillar Fr, like, let other people win ⤷ hj219 @drillarkillar You DTS crybabies are what's ruining the sport

tututtutmaxverstappen My 2023 world champion!

masterbaiter give us Y/n content 🗣️🗣️🗣️

meirfyct See you in Saudi!

hamburgerler The 2023, 2024, and 2025 world champ

pilotynv You did amazing, my love. It was amazing seeing you in your element ❤️ ♥ by author ⤷maxverstappen1 @pilotynv ❤️

pilotynv posted a photo!

pilotynv

liked by maxverstappen1, pilotfriend2, landonorris, and 5,552,757

pilotynv Flew us to a remote getaway in Greece

tagged: maxverstappen1

maxverstappen1 ❤️ ♥ by author

gaggingballa she😭 flew 😭 them 😭 there 😭

lalalalisa_m that pizza looks so good! We should visit togther sometime ♥ by author ⤷pilotynv @lalalalisa_m Girl, I'd probably ne flying the plane you take here 😭 ⤷8bobbit0 @lalalalisa_m ariana, what are you doing here?

ariangrande Those pizzas look amazing ⤷arialandomis @arianagrande ARIANA?! ⤷greenblattbanner @arianagrande I knew Y/n was popular, but not that popular

pilotynv added to their story

replies

username omg max! He looks so good

Jossleftpinkietoe More Max pls!

Ynsimp His smile is so cute

landonorris Tell Max his face looks weird

Fuck off- Max

danielricciardo next time, take me and Heidi with you

Bet. I'll fly us all there again

pilotynv posted a photo

pilotynv

liked by maxverstappen1 and 4,663,781

pilotynv decided to watch a race for once since I'm off

tagged: maxverstappen1

urethka here before Max

lugunam The hand holding in the car is so cute

Taggedidj We stan a supportive queen

Fashionicosn She looks so good

Bootlicker GOOD LUCK, MAXIE

pilotynv added to their story

Honestly, I as struggling a bit with this one. I don't know how to make a smau about a private, but not secret relationship lol. Anyway, feel free to request more smaus or written fics

[graybby]

The F1 driver's Streamer sister

Lando Norris X Twitch streamer Russell!reader

Part 1 - ongoing series ! 820 words

Hi ! this is my first time writing anything on tumblr - I used to make fics on wattpad like years ago so I'm a bit rusty, hopefully you guys will like my content enough for me to keep up with it - graybby <3

Faceclaim - Nihachu

She's his sister?!

The door cracks open as Max rushes into Lando’s room giggling to himself. 

“Mate guess what-” Lando’s head snaps up at the intrusion to what he was watching on his phone “what?” tilting his head questionably. 

“You know that twitch streamer you watch Y/N?” - he definitely had his full attention now. 

“SHE'S GEORGE'S SISTER!” Lando juts his lip out and tilts his head, confusion setting in. 

Max laughs “George... George freaking Russell -you know?” 

Lando’s face drops, jaw swinging open - “No fucking way… you-you’re lying to me, you have to be” 

Max shakes his head, deadpanned trying to stifle another laugh. “How did you even find out?” the brunette says - shock written all over his face. 

“George just posted on his private insta and it was a pic of them with HER private account tagged - last name RUSSELL”. Lando jumps to his feet running to snatch Max’s phone to see for himself still in disbelief. 

His eyes scan the page immediately acknowledging the familiar last name she appears to share with the fellow driver he shares his races with. 

“How the hell have they both kept this a secret? Does she even support him at the races? No one has ever spotted her at one " he remarks "Oh yeah - trust you to know that mate” Max pipes up earning a slap to the shoulder as Lando turns away grumbling. 

Max laughs again “Maybe she hides away in the Mercedes garage, at least you might have a chance to be introduced to her now” Lando reddens at the thought of meeting his internet crush “Please shut up Max” he pleads trying to hide his blush behind his hands. 

Max edges towards the door “Anyway, I’m going to bed - I’ll leave you to stalk her - night!”, “Whatever, night Max” he groans out as his friend shuts his bedroom door. He rolls over in his bed, reaching out he grabs his phone and wastes no time in searching for her account. Immediately finding said post on George’s page, he taps the tagged account - without a single thought he follows her. Turning his phone off his heart raced at the anticipation of whether she would even accept his request, him being an absolute stranger to her. 

Ding! 

He feels his stomach flip. She accepted! And followed me back! He feels his palms sweating. Rushing to his notifications he taps on her account and begins browsing through her posts, seeing a vast amount of aesthetic images - that give his .JPG account a run for its money- dating back a few years of her life, a sea of different hair colours and styles of clothing she has adorned over the years and still to his surprise a couple of candid shots of herself and George - a goofy smile worn on both their faces during a water fight on a beach holiday, his memeable pose in ski suits at a resort and most recently few shots from around the paddocks in Saudi Arabia from the last grand prix he had raced with George and the others only last week. Suddenly her change of streaming schedule and lack of main social media presence adds up - she’s been hiding in plain sight - supporting her brother while trying to maintain her distance from the Russell last name, probably knowing the craziness that would ensure if both the Formula 1 and her own twitch fanbase discovered who she was related to. He can’t help the smile gracing his face as he scrolls through her posts, staring at the smile that reaches her eyes in her pictures - capturing her beauty and personality oh so well. He wonders if she spent hours specially cultivating this flow of aesthetic images and if she had anyone in mind when she posted them as he ponders what else she might be hiding from her fanbase. Stop it Lando, he grunts to himself, a hundred thoughts clouding his mind she never mentioned in any stream that she had a boyfriend so calm down - but then again she literally hid her own brother and who he is. He continues doom scrolling her account much to his relief when he realises there's no evidence of a boyfriend in any of her posts - his thumb slips. Fuck! 

His heart drops to his stomach as he realises he's liked one of her pics from two years ago. He immediately closes the app, quick to chuck the phone to the end of his bed as if it were physically hurting him to hold it any longer. He sighs and brings a hand up to rub his temples and tired eyes, glancing at his bedside table at the clock that reads two thirty AM, he decides he needs to try and sleep - hopefully she won't even notice. 

As his eyes are fluttering shut he hears the dooming sound of an instagram notification. 

Ding ! 

Oh fuck. 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thank you for reading <3

[umseb]

The Day Sebastian Vettel Decided To Retire From F1 — Then Annoyed Aston Bosses With Climate Campaign

Two years ago, Sebastian Vettel decided to bring an end to his glittering F1 career, so picked up the phone to Matt Bishop, then Aston Martin comms boss. He details the ensuing scramble and Vettel's increasing determination to speak out

Just over two years ago, on Wednesday July 27, 2022, I was forced to do something that I really hate doing: at the eleventh hour I had to cancel a long-standing dinner arrangement with my husband and two of our dearest friends, who live in New York and were on holiday in London for a week. The reason was that, at 5 pm that afternoon, I received a phone call from Sebastian Vettel telling me that he had decided to announce his retirement from Formula 1 in the Hungarian Grand Prix paddock the following day. I was Aston Martin's chief communications officer at the time, and, when something as big as that is sprung on a Formula 1 team's most senior comms/PR operative, he or she has to drop everything and focus on briefing colleagues in confidence, writing press releases, planning social media content, arranging press conferences, and formulating comms/PR strategies designed to optimise the management of a tricky news narrative that in this case would surely unfold rapidly, and perhaps also trickily, over the next 24, 48, 72, and 96 hours. I have written above that Vettel had "sprung" his decision on me, but, although the imminence of his announcement was a surprise, its content was not. Four months earlier you will recall that he did not travel to Jeddah for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, since he was recovering from a bout of Covid-19. His place was taken by Nico Hülkenberg, who, despite race-rustiness caused by his not having competed in F1 the previous year, did a typically excellent job.

Seb had made no secret of his disapproval of the Saudi regime when we had all gone there the first time, in December 2021, and, not surprisingly, in March 2022 rumours soon began to spread to the effect that he had invented a Covid-19 diagnosis so as to avoid racing there a second time. The truth was that he had indeed had Covid-19, and that he was indeed still unwell; however, was he disappointed to have had to skip the 2022 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix? No, he was not. Two weeks later, in Melbourne, he was back. On the Thursday before the Australian Grand Prix, in the Albert Park paddock, I gave him his comms/PR briefing, as was my habit on the Thursday before every grand prix. We discussed media matters of moment, including his not having raced in Jeddah. "The truth is that I was ill, honestly," he said, "but I admit that I don't like or approve of the country, so if I was going to have to miss a race because of Covid-19 that's probably the one I'd want to miss." He paused, smiled, and added, "I'm pretty sure I'm never going to race there again." Then and there I realised that 2022 would probably be his final season as an F1 driver. Not only was the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix going to be a fixture on the F1 calendar for years to come, but also one of Aston Martin's principal sponsors was Aramco, Saudi Arabia's state-owned national oil company. Missing that particular race without a 24-carat excuse would henceforth therefore be impossible for any Aston Martin driver. So, axiomatically, it followed that the only way he could make sure that he would never have to race there again would be to retire from F1 at the end of the year.

On the morning of Thursday, July 28, 2022, having worked until 3 am the night before, my comms/PR team and I issued a video in which our much loved four-time world champion announced his F1 retirement in his own words, and he posted it on his then brand-new Instagram channel at the same time. It included the following sentences, which he spoke with his usual eloquence: "I love this sport but, as much as there's life on track, there's also life off track. Being a racing driver has never been my sole identity. I want to be a great father and a great husband. I believe in change, and progress, and that every little bit you do can make a difference. We all have the same rights, no matter where we come from, what we look like, or whom we love. I'm an optimist and I believe that people are good, but, in addition, I feel that we live in very difficult times. How we shape the next few years will determine the rest of our lives. Talk is not enough. We can't afford to wait. I believe that there's still a race to win." The race to which he was referring was his growing and accelerating commitment to doing whatever he could to leverage his fame and popularity for the good of the inhabitants of planet Earth. That may sound grandiose, but it is also entirely valid. In the two years during which I worked with him, 2021 and 2022, we won awards for the inspirational way in which he did just that.

Just before the 2021 Styrian Grand Prix, helped by local schoolchildren, he created an F1 car-shaped 'bee hotel' at the Red Bull Ring. Three weeks later, straight after the British Grand Prix, in which he had raced hard for forty laps until his Aston Martin's Mercedes engine had terminally overheated, he led a group of volunteer litter-pickers to clear the Silverstone grandstands of the trash that irresponsible spectators had left behind. A month after that, in Hungary, infuriated by that country's new anti-LGBTQ+ legislation, he wore rainbow-coloured sneakers in the F1 paddock, and he donned a similarly hued T-shirt bearing the legend #SameLove as he took the knee on the grid before the race. Throughout the weekend he had talked to journalists and TV crews intelligently, thoughtfully, and compassionately on the subject of LGBTQ+ rights, equality, and inclusion. In May 2022 he visited and spoke inspirationally at HMP (Her, or now His, Majesty's Prison) Feltham, a young offenders institution in a suburb of west London, formally opening a new workshop in which the teenage inmates could learn how to become car mechanics as part of their rehabilitation. Immediately afterwards he and I took a South Western Railways train to London's Waterloo Station, sitting among regular commuters, so that he could spend time with the pupils of Oasis Johanna Primary School, which is in a disadvantaged part of inner London, and after that we went by Uber taxi to a church in Hackney, in the East End, where the BBC's prestigious political television talk show Question Time would be filmed. As the TV cameras rolled, he conversed fluently on the subjects of Brexit, the UK's cost of living crisis, the then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson's 'partygate' shenanigans, and even Finland's desire to join NATO, consummately out-arguing one of his fellow panellists, Suella Braverman, who was then the Attorney General for England and Wales and the Advocate General for Northern Ireland.

In addition, as the months went by, he continued to speak out in support of what he saw as humankind's collective global responsibility to address the climate crisis, doing so with increasing regularity, vehemence, and fearlessness, with the result that he began to irritate the very most senior people at Aston Martin, even though what he said tended to please most journalists and fans. "I don’t care," he said when he learned of his big bosses' disquiet. "I must do what's right." Behind the scenes what he did was perhaps even more admirable. F1 teams receive communications from troubled people all the time. You try to do what you can to help them, but sometimes their difficulties are of the type that human kindness alone cannot resolve. I am thinking of recently bereaved people, terminally ill people, profoundly disabled people, people with debilitating mental health issues, etc. Sometimes all you can do is send them a team cap signed by a driver. It is not much, and it breaks your heart that you cannot do more, but it is better than nothing.

Yet Vettel always tried to do more. On one occasion, I had been contacted by a young man who was deeply depressed. I told Seb about him, and he said, "Let's do a Zoom call with him." So I arranged it. I had thought that Seb might speak for five minutes or so, but no. He chatted animatedly for more than twenty minutes, with touching humility and heart-warming empathy, and I feel confident when I say that those twenty-odd minutes were significant in expediting the lad's mental and emotional recovery. A few months later, Seb hand-wrote the boy a four page letter. He gave it to me at a grand prix-I cannot remember which one-and he instructed me to post it on when I returned to the UK. I read it before I did so, and the tenderness and beauty of Seb's prose brought me to tears. There are many other examples of his remarkable generosity and sensitivity: too many to mention, in fact. This column has been about Vettel the man, not Vettel the driver. He was fast and clever in the cockpit, and I may well write about that side of him one day. I could write much more about Vettel the man, too, for I have dozens of stories that I could tell on that subject, because I worked very closely with him for two years and, more importantly, because he is a truly great man. In my long career I am lucky enough to have spent time in F1 teams with four world champions-Seb, Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso, and Jenson Button-and they are all fantastic guys in their own, very different, ways. But, in my 61 years on this planet, I can state with confident and emphatic certainty that Sebastian Vettel, from the small town of Heppenheim, south-west Germany, is one of the most impressive people whom I have ever had the pleasure and honour to know, whether that be inside or outside F1. As he is fond of saying, "You can't always be the best, but you can always do your best." As a maxim to live by, it is hard to beat.

article by matt bishop

[prettyboysdontlookatexplosions]

medialog july 2k24

watched

the seven samurai - classic that holds up IMO!! like lawrence of arabia, one where you can see why basically every person to make a movie since cites it as a formative influence. lots of really beautiful shots but what really stood out to me was how human it felt - small scale but not in a way that means "minor," in a way that emphasizes that even the smallest of scales is everything to the people living it. every character feels so real and carries such a sense of a life lived, thanks to both the writing and the absolutely wonderful performances. it feels so empathetic and compassionate and warm even though it's ultimately a war movie - one of those movies where you get the sense a fundamental love for humanity is one of the animating creative impulses. also toshiro mifune, one of the hottest people ever to live, spends the back half of this movie, to quote nick, dressed like hercules with his ass hanging out and it's incredible.

tank girl - every single Look and Aesthetic in this movie is an absolute 100/10 and lori petty is a foul-mouthed delight, but wow was I not prepared for how much of this movie is about the discovery of a secret underground society of kangaroo people

read

megan whalen turner, the thief - a pair of friends of mine basically shoved this into my hands when i was at their apartment with the promise of great craft & an ending that goes crazy. the first in the series of six, this one is more or less a sturdy and fairly straightforward middle-grade adventure story, and while it was at times a little heavy on descriptions of the characters making their way across various types of terrain, overall my interest was sustained by a few things: a clean, deliberate writing style that washed me in nostalgia for the middle-grade classics of my own youth (which this could have been - it came out in 1996 - but somehow i never came across it); a setting deliberately out of any real historical time but clearly influenced in Vibes by (among other places) ancient greece, which contributed to the nostalgia; glimpses of a convincingly rendered mythology (and the fascinating choice, which continues throughout the series, to render the characters' occasional glimpses of the actual divine as more unsettling than anything else); and a wonderfully compelling set of characters, above all gen, the book's narrator and the series' central character (although not most of the books'), who as i said a while ago is a classic blend of clever, brave, and incredibly annoying to everyone he meets.

monique wittig, the straight mind - collection of essays by a french lesbian feminist/theorist i first heard of, to be very honest, because adele haenel was one of the panelists at an event at the local french bookstore and i wanted to see her in person, lmao. the first essay in the collection opens with a call to abolish the concept of sex, which is one of those claims i'm not sure i actually endorse or even fully understand but find really invigorating to read, all of which more or less applies to my experience of the collection as a whole (including the part where i was not sure i was always following it). i did particularly appreciate her interest as a writer (she was a novelist as well as a theorist) in language and the role it plays in upholding gender/the work of imagining a way to play a role in dismantling it. and i found her general rejection of "the myth of woman" quite bracing.

rick emerson, unmask alice: LSD, satanic panic, and the imposter behind the world's most notorious diaries - i heard about this book on an episode of you're wrong about before i stopped listening and it was in fact an incredibly entertaining and fascinating bit of light nonfiction about a truly bonkers episode in american publishing history. go ask alice is the obvious draw here, but a large chunk of the book is devoted to "editor" and professional liar beatrice sparks's follow-up, jay's journal, which emerson reveals to have, in fact, started as the actual diary of a suicidal teenager whose family entrusted it to her in the hopes that their dead son's pain might somehow be able to help other families prevent similarly tragic outcomes... only to have sparks expand his few dozen entries into a story of the absolute most insane satanic panic ground zero nonsense (this book predates michelle remembers!), but somehow leave in enough identifying details that everyone in the family's small mormon town knew exactly who it was about. truly truly monstrous and if emerson sometimes veers a little close painting sparks as a cartoon villain, it's honestly hard to blame him given how much time he spent contemplating this unbelievably heinous act.

courtney summers, i'm the girl - the simplest way to describe this book is to paraphrase the author in some interview i can't remember as a story about a girl who confuses beauty for power because that's what the world has told her is true; it's emotionally rough but highly readable, and as always i just so admire summers' lack of interest in morality tales or lessons learned, her keen understanding that having a sixteen-year-old being groomed come suddenly and fully into a perfect feminist analysis of what's happened to her would make the book more palatable to some but ultimately be a betrayal of the character she'd created. summers has alluded in her newsletter to this book, loosely based on research about the epstein/maxwell case & the testimony of their victims, closing the chapter on the first arc of her career as a writer - eight thorny, painful novels about interior lives of teenage girls struggling with themselves and the world they live in - and it feels like a fitting capstone, one that both calls on the skills she's developed over the years and feels like it digs even more deeply than the project into an area of interest that feels fitting for an author who started writing YA in her early 20s and is now in her late 30s, namely, how to write a book that makes space for real empathy with a young person naive enough - some might say, and indeed some have said, stupid enough - to be well and truly taken in? (and i think one of the smartest things the book does is foreground early on how badly its protagonist doesn't want to be thought of as stupid, which is part of what makes her vulnerable and part of what makes processing the reality of what's happening to her so difficult.) also, despite the fact that romance has never been a huge or simple part of summers's novels, she's always had a knack for crafting a YA dreamboat love interest, and as someone who it turns out was figuring out her sexuality in her 30s around the same time summers was - it was great to see her do it again but this time with a girl :)

ted chiang, exhalation - my friend recommended me this because i was looking to read more sci-fi short stories but running into my perennial problem with sci-fi which is that frequently the writing is bad. ted chiang is pretty good! i liked how much he clearly conceives of or intuits that form & story are one and the same - almost all the stories in this collection take the form of a document that has some in-world reason to exist, which keeps the style feeling fresh and which he often uses to merge character work & sci-fi concepts in a cool way (as in a story with the fascinating premise that creationism is real but earth is not god's favored planet). it was unfortunate that the longest story in the collection was by far my least favorite, being both the most subject to sci-fi bland prose disease and focused on a concept it is impossible for me to muster interest in (the ethics of digital sentience... they're pictures on a screen...). the last story, the only other one written in the third person, suffered a little stylistically as well, but made up for it with an INSANELY good premise, which is that it's a multiverse story focused on a variety of psychological challenges people might have in response to learning for sure parallel universes are real - there's a support group for people addicted to checking in on their parallel selves! that's the most awesome multiverse concept i have ever come across.

evelline adams, astrology for everyone - astrology got less fun when the ratio started shifting of people viewing it as A Fun Pretend Thing to people taking it very seriously, but i do retain the same aesthetic appreciation for the particular kitsch of vintage astrology writing that i did when i borrowed this from my friend several years ago.

patrick radden keefe, rogues: true stories of grifters, killers, rebels and crooks - a collection of 12 of keefe's new yorker #longreads that i read because (a) i liked empire of pain, his book on the sackler family, a lot (b) i'm trying to get back into my library ebook habit to keep me away from Scrolling and hopefully learn some things and substantive-but-still-easy-to-read journalistic nonfiction is my favorite genre for this purpose because i don't feel i lose anything by reading it in 5 minute snatches while waiting for the train, and (c) his other books had all the licenses checked out. anyway this gave me what i wanted! i think my favorite was the one about wine fraud just because i think wine fraud is funny because anyone shelling out crazy money on wine deserves to be scammed so it's basically a victimless crime. the book closes with his profile of anthony bourdain, which is a really lovely read although incredibly sad in retrospect because bourdain comes across as so full of life and would die the year after it was published.

megan whalen turner, the queen of attolia - book two in the series, and everything is growing up a bit, as we shift from an adventure story to a war story, from gen's narration to an expertly deployed omniscient/shifting third, and from an irrepressible protagonist to one Truly Going Through It. this book kicks off strong by opening with a set of circumstances that permanently and painfully changes gen's circumstances, and the question of how he's going to process this and move forward drives a lot of the emotional suspense of the book. it also upends our understanding of a character introduced in the first book en route to an absolutely insane romance that shouldn't work but in its quasi-mythical context absolutely does. i tend to prefer hard copies for fiction, but starting here and for every book after i got to the end and went straight to the library app so i could keep going.

megan whalen turner, the king of attolia - THIS BOOK SLAPS SO HARD IT'S UNBELIEVABLE!!!! at first you're like, WHY is the narration primarily focused on some random no-name member of the royal guard we have never met before? but then you realize it's so that the entire book can be propelled by the dramatic irony wherein we, readers of the series, know gen well at this point and also know exactly how and why things went down the way they did at the end of the last book, but almost no one else does and (partly because of the ways he is annoying) many assumptions are being made... so a lot of the "suspense" in this book comes from, like, when is this new guy's understanding of gen going to start aligning with ours? it's soooo cool and something i don't remember reading in a series before (although i don't read a ton of series), and this book is, like, relentlessly entertaining on its way to its insanely satisfying conclusion, and also contains two of the most romantic paragraphs i have read in my LIFE despite the fact that the couple they center on barely appears together in the book.

megan whalen turner, conspiracy of kings - we catch up with a character from the first book who's been having a rough go of it and now needs to toughen up a bit in response to his circumstances. i think as a novel this is maybe the weakest of the set but as a character i love my sweet baby sophos so much i would have read 500 more pages. also contains one of the DUDES ROCK scenes of all time.

megan whalen turner, thick as thieves - this one picks up with a minor character from book two that i was happy to see again, because he really punched above his weight in terms of interest. it kind of combines the adventure-story of the first book with the dramatic irony as suspense of the third, and both the narrator and the central dynamic between the two main characters are delightful. this book has the least gen of all the books and i did miss him but it was funny how intensely his whole Deal hung over the circumstances regardless, and also despite the fact that the ending of literally all of these books so far has involved the reveal of some five-dimensional chess magic trick, so to speak, and thus i knew logically it was coming, i once again found myself so swept up that i was fully :O when it all went down.

megan whalen turner, return of the thief - an incredibly satisfying ending to the series, even if it left me sad that it was over! as was often the case with these books, it was, like, so satisfying that part of me almost felt like it should feel like cheating... but it didn't and i was just so happy to be there rooting for all my close personal friends. also the narrator of this one is a new character who is both physically disabled and nonverbal, and a) i thought that was generally pretty cool and the way the text engaged with people underestimating him was interesting and b) the descriptions of him as a kid being fascinated by triangles & numerical patterns was THEE most endearing thing i have read in my life.

listened

willow, empathogen - i don't know why willow decided to put out the best tori amos record since scarlet's walk? but i'm glad she did, because this album rocks! (and, like, seriously, if you're a tori person, you owe it to yourself to check this out - the influence is strong and undeniable, IMO, and on its own merits the album sounds gorgeous and takes you on a rich and textured sonic journey, even if you do maybe get the sense that being the very rich daughter of two incredibly famous millionaires in the entertainment industry is an impediment towards having all that much to say as a lyricist.)

other

anna di resburgo - my friend had an extra ticket to a short-lived production of this, the only surviving bel canto opera by a woman (recently assembled for performance from its discovery in some archive). it was only her second aria and as per the program notes kind of flopped, possibly partly due to its thematic similarity with another opera first produced around the same time by donizetti, by then an acknowledged master of the form while di resburgo was a novice (she had previously composed one opera, which has since been lost, and none after, although iirc she did some other composition) (also disclaimer that i know very little about opera, like just barely enough for all that to kind of make sense to me lol). anyway the work is uneven and (as my friend pointed out) oftentimes the music, while pretty and sometimes interesting, is at odds tonally with the plot - the plot is in theory quite dramatic with life-or-death stakes but for much of the runtime the music feels more suited to a farce - and the libretto is... not a piece of well constructed drama overall or scene to scene or line by line (there are some, like, accidentally comical exposition dumps along the lines of "father, do you remember that mysterious orphan that showed up on our doorstep all those years ago?"). but it was not without its highlights, and we agreed that as a second outing it showed promise we wish the composer had received support for the way men with similarly Just Alright second operas did.

inwood shorts - we went with some friends (actually the same friend as above) to see some shorts by local filmmakers at a place in inwood with an incredible view of the river featuring on that day an unbelievably gorgeous sunset and while nothing really wowed me a nice time was had by all & there was a big laugh in the crowd when the guy in a short giving a little "tour of my neighborhood" schtick said "for a while i lived in this place upstate called yonkers." :)

[hummussexual]

Alexander Durie 23 May, 2024

The Cannes Film Festival this year showcased screenings from the Middle East and North Africa that captured significant attention.

The New Arab has curated a list of the top seven films premiered there, and we highly recommend giving them a watch.

The Seed of the Sacred Fig (2024) 

Director Mohammad Rasoulof – Iran, France, Germany

In the bustling streets of Tehran, the life of Judge Iman takes a drastic turn when he discovers his gun missing, leading him to suspect his own family, including his wife and daughters. The film explores the intricate dynamics of familial relationships, as suspicion and distrust put their bonds to the ultimate test. 

Despite facing an eight-year prison sentence in Iran, Director Mohammad Rasoulof's determination to present this story at Cannes highlights the enduring power of artistic expression in challenging times.

Norah (2024) 

Director Tawfik Alzaidi – Saudi Arabia

Transporting audiences back to the conservative landscape of 1990s Saudi Arabia, Norah introduces us to Nader, a newly arrived teacher in a remote village, and Norah, a spirited young woman yearning for freedom. Their secret affair blossoms amidst the shadows of societal restrictions and impending danger, fueled by their shared passion for art and beauty.

Against the backdrop of a repressive society, the film serves as a reminder of the power of love and the human spirit's pursuit of liberation.

To a Land Unknown (2024)

Director Mahdi Fleifel – Palestine, UK, France, Germany, Greece, Netherlands, Qatar, Saudi Arabia

To a Land Unknown tells the story of Chatila and Reda, two Palestinian cousins in Athens, Greece, aiming for a better life in Germany. They face tough challenges as refugees, pushing themselves to their limits. Their journey highlights the struggles of seeking refuge and finding hope in difficult times.

Across the Sea (2024)

Director Saïd Hamich Benlarbi – Morocco, France, Belgium, Qatar

Across the Sea follows Nour, a young immigrant who comes to Marseille, France, for a better life. He faces tough challenges surviving on the outskirts of society, getting involved in small crimes with an uncertain future. But meeting Serge, a charismatic but unpredictable cop, and his wife Noémie, gives Nour hope.

The story spans from 1990 to 2000, showing Nour's search for love, identity, and belonging in a world that's changing fast.

East of Noon (2024) 

Director Hala Elkoussy – Egypt, Netherlands, Qatar

East of Noon welcomes viewers into a fantasy world rooted in Egyptian folklore. It follows young Abdou, a musical prodigy who defies tradition with his music. As Abdou's melodies resonate across the timeless landscape, he confronts the norms, embarking on a bold journey of self-discovery.

Director Hala Elkoussy's tale celebrates Egypt's cinematic heritage, with enchanting characters and captivating storytelling that transport audiences to a realm of limitless imagination.

The Brink of Dreams (2024)

Director Nada Riyadh & Ayman El Amir – Egypt, France, Denmark, Qatar, Saudi Arabia

In a remote village in Upper Egypt, a group of young girls breaks societal norms by forming a street theatre group. They dream of a life beyond their traditional upbringing. Through daring performances, they challenge the expectations of their Coptic families and local communities. Daughters of the Nile, filmed over four years, shows their journey from rebellious teens to empowered women.

This film is a powerful story of resilience and strength, capturing their universal longing for self-discovery and freedom.

Everybody Loves Touda (2024) 

Director Nabil Ayouch – Morocco, France, Belgium, Denmark, Netherlands, Norway

In the charming villages of Morocco, Touda dreams of a life beyond what society expects. She wants to become a Sheikha, a traditional Moroccan performer. Despite facing criticism from her community, Touda finds comfort in her music, singing about resistance, love, and freedom. Every night, she performs in local bars, her voice filling the streets as she imagines a better future for herself and her son.

Driven by a desire to break free from tradition, Touda sets her sights on the bright lights of Casablanca, determined to make her own way in a world full of opportunities.

[nerdsbianhokie]

Reading the World

In 2023, I challenged myself to watch a movie from every country in the world during the year, which I more or less succeeded. At the start of this year I decided to read a book from every country in the world (without the time restraint) and got a map to track my progress along with a challenge on Story Graph.

List of countries and books below the cut

Current count: 37

Afghanistan:

Albania:

Algeria:

American Samoa:

Andorra: Andorra: a play in twelve scenes by Max Frisch

Angola: The Whistler by Ondjaki

Anguilla:

Antigua and Barbuda:

Argentina: Our Share of the Night by Mariana Enríquez

Armenia:

Aruba:

Australia:

Austria:

Azerbaijan:

Bahamas:

Bahrain:

Bangladesh:

Barbados:

Belarus:

Belgium:

Belize:

Benin:

Bermuda:

Bhutan: Folktales of Bhutan by Kunzang Choden

Bolivia:

Bosnia and Herzegovina:

Botswana:

Brazil:

British Virgin Islands:

Brunei:

Bulgaria:

Burkina Faso:

Burundi:

Cambodia:

Cameroon: The Impatient by Djaïli Amadou Amal

Canada: The Gift is in the making: Anishinaabeg Stories retold by Amanda Strong and Leanne Betasamosake Simpson

Canary Islands: Dogs of Summer by Andrea Abreu

Cape Verde:

Cayman Islands:

Central African Republic: Co-wives, Co-widows by Adrienne Yabouza

Chad:

Chile: The Twilight Zone by Nona Fernández

China: The Secret Talker by Geling Yan

Christmas Islands:

Cocos Islands:

Colombia:

Comoros:

Cook Islands:

Costa Rica:

Croatia:

Cuba:

Curacao:

Cyprus:

Czech Republic:

Dem. Rep. of Congo:

Denmark:

Djibouti:

Dominica:

Dominican Republic:

Ecuador:

Egypt:

El Salvador:

Equatorial Guinea:

Eritrea:

Estonia:

Eswatini:

Ethiopia:

Falkland Islands:

Faroe Islands:

Fiji:

Finland:

France: The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas

French Guiana:

French Polynesia:

Gabon:

Gambia:

Georgia:

Germany: At the Edge of the Night by Friedo Lampe

Ghana: Wife of the Gods by Kwei Quartey

Gibraltar:

Greece:

Greenland:

Grenada:

Guam:

Guatemala:

Guernsey:

Guinea:

Guinea-Bissau:

Guyana:

Haiti:

Honduras:

Hong Kong:

Hungary:

Iceland:

India: Coming Out as Dalit: A Memoir Of Surviving India's Caste System by Yashica Dutt

Indonesia:

Iran: Darius the Great is Not Okay by Abid Khorram

Iraq: Frankenstein in Baghdad by Ahmed Saadawi

Ireland:

Isle of Man:

Israel:

Italy:

Ivory Coast:

Jamaica: When Life Gives You Mangos by Kereen Getten

Japan:

Jordan:

Kazakhstan:

Kenya:

Kiribati:

Kosovo:

Kuwait:

Kyrgyzstan:

Laos:

Latvia:

Lebanon: Beirut Hellfire Society by Rawi Hage

Lesotho:

Liberia:

Libya: Zodiac of Echoes by Khaled Mattawa

Liechtenstein:

Lithuania:

Luxembourg:

Macedonia:

Madagascar:

Malawi:

Malaysia:

Maldives:

Mali:

Malta:

Marshall Islands:

Mauritania:

Mauritius:

Mexico: Silver Nitrate by Silvia Morena-Garcia

Micronesia:

Moldova:

Monaco:

Mongolia:

Montenegro:

Montserrat:

Morocco:

Mozambique:

Myanmar: Smile as They Bow by Nu Nu Yi

Namibia:

Nauru:

Nepal:

Netherlands: We Had to Remove this Post by Hanna Bervoets

New Caledonia:

New Zealand:

Nicaragua:

Niger:

Nigeria: Buried Beneath the Baobab Tree by Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani

Niue:

Norfolk Island:

North Korea: A Thousand Miles to Freedom: My Escape from North Korea by Eunsun Kim

Northern Mariana Islands:

Norway: Blind Goddess by Anne Holt

Oman:

Pakistan: Hijab Butch Blues by Lamya H

Palau:

Palestine: The Skin and Its Girl by Sarah Cypher

Panama:

Papua New Guinea:

Paraguay:

Peru:

Philippines:

Pitcairn Islands:

Poland: Return from the Stars by Stanisław Lem

Portugal:

Puerto Rico:

Qatar:

Rep. of the Congo:

Romania:

Russia:

Rwanda: Baking Cakes in Kigali by Gaile Parkin

Saint Barthelemy:

Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha:

Saint Kitts and Nevis:

Saint Lucia:

Saint Martin:

Saint Pierre and Miquelon:

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines:

Samoa:

San Marino:

Sao Tome and Principe:

Saudi Arabia:

Senegal:

Serbia:

Seychelles:

Sierra Leone:

Singapore:

Sint Maarten:

Slovakia:

Slovenia:

Solomon Islands:

Somalia:

South Africa:

South Korea:

South Sudan:

Spain:

Sri Lanka: The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka

Sudan: The Translator: A Memoir by Daoud Hari

Suriname:

Sweden: Fire from the Sky by Moa Backe Åstot

Switzerland:

Syria: The Book Collectors: A Band of Syrian Rebels and the Stories That Carried Them Through a War by Delphine Minoui

Taiwan:

Tajikistan: The Sandalwood Box: Folk Tales from Tadzhikistan by Hans Baltzer

Tanzania:

Thailand:

Togo:

Tokelau:

Tonga:

Trinidad and Tobago:

Tunisia:

Turkey:

Turkmenistan:

Turks and Caicos Islands:

Tuvalu:

Uganda:

Ukraine:

United Arab Emirates:

United Kingdom: Poyums by Len Pennie

United States of America: Reclaiming Two-Spirits: Sexuality, Spiritual Renewal & Sovereignty in Native America by Gregory D. Smithers

United States Virgin Islands:

Uruguay:

Uzbekistan:

Venezuela:

Vietnam:

Wallis and Futuna:

Western Sahara:

Yemen:

Zambia:

Zimbabwe: We Need New Names by NoViolet Bulawayo

[bowieography]

Best bowie song

Station To Station / African Night Flight / Strangers When We Meet (Outside version) / Valentine's Day / You've Been Around / Aladdin Sane / Be My Wife / Teenage Wildlife / Isn't It Evening / Subterraneans / Dead Man Walking / The Stars (Are Out Tonight) / The Bewlay Brothers / Sunday / Can You Hear Me / Nite Flights / The Secret Life Of Arabia / Rock'n'Roll Suicide / Prisoner Of Love / Heathen (The Rays) / Sweet Thing and its appendages...

I could go on adding titles as I think of them. It's impossible to pick just one song out of such an insanely varied catalogue of such depth and high quality. And you'll appreciate that after 50 years there are a lot of songs that are connected with life events and memories, you know, nostalgia. And maybe your question should be rephrased, from "best" to "favourite" as it's obviously going to be entirely subjective ("what about Starman, what about Suffragette City, what about Space Oddity" blah blah blah).

Your favourites?

[haveyoulistenedtothisalbum-poll]

Tracklist:

Beauty And The Beast • Joe The Lion • "Heroes" • Sons Of The Silent Age • Blackout • V-2 Schneider • Sense Of Doubt • Moss Garden • Neuköln • The Secret Life Of Arabia

Spotify ♪ YouTube

[nomadomar]

Arabization: The Lost Stories of Transformation

Chapter 3: The Scholar's Dilemma

The sun was setting over Istanbul, casting a golden hue over the sprawling city that straddled two continents. In the 16th century, Istanbul was the beating heart of the Ottoman Empire, a city where the East met the West in a vibrant tapestry of culture, trade, and ideas. Within its grand walls, the Topkapi Palace stood as a symbol of the empire’s power and knowledge, a labyrinth of opulent chambers and vast libraries where the wisdom of the world was stored.

In one of the palace’s lesser-known corners, a forgotten room had recently been uncovered—a chamber that had remained sealed for generations. Inside, a single scroll lay undisturbed, its parchment yellowed with age, the symbols inscribed upon it indecipherable to all who had attempted to read it. The scroll’s mysterious origins had sparked curiosity and speculation, leading the Sultan’s chief librarian to summon one man who might be able to unlock its secrets: Niketas, a Greek scholar known throughout the empire for his brilliant mind and mastery of classical languages.

As Niketas approached the weathered scroll, the air in the chamber seemed to thicken with anticipation. The chief librarian watched closely, aware that this was no ordinary text. Niketas, however, was calm, his mind already at work, attempting to place the symbols in the context of the many languages he had studied. He unrolled the scroll with care, his fingers brushing over the ancient parchment. As the symbols came into view, they seemed to shimmer, pulsating with a life of their own, as if guarding the secrets of a lost world.

Niketas leaned in, his sharp eyes scanning the script. It was unlike anything he had ever seen, yet it drew him in, compelling him to delve deeper. There was something about the symbols—a rhythm, a pattern—that hinted at a meaning just beyond his grasp. His pulse quickened as he began to decipher the first few lines, the words slowly unraveling like the threads of a long-forgotten tapestry.

The text spoke of a civilization that predated even the oldest Sumerian records, a society that had flourished in the deserts of Arabia, leaving behind not just monuments and relics, but a legacy of wisdom that transcended time. The words on the scroll were not mere historical accounts; they were a repository of knowledge, a key to understanding the essence of an ancient Arab civilization that had once been the pinnacle of human achievement.

As Niketas read on, he felt a strange sensation—a tingling at the back of his mind, as if the scroll was communicating with him on a level beyond language. The logical, methodical part of his mind resisted this idea, but another part of him, a part he had long suppressed, welcomed it. He had always been driven by an insatiable thirst for knowledge, a desire to uncover the truths of the world. But there was more to it than that. Beneath his erudition lay a secret obsession with the Arab world, a culture he viewed with both admiration and envy.

Niketas had spent his life steeped in the works of Homer, Aristotle, and Plato, but it was the poetry, science, and philosophy of the Arab scholars that had always fascinated him. He admired their contributions to mathematics, astronomy, and medicine—fields in which they had surpassed even the greatest minds of Greece. Yet, this fascination was something he had kept hidden, knowing that his peers would never understand his desire to immerse himself in the very culture that had overshadowed his own.

As he deciphered more of the text, Niketas began to experience strange dreams—dreams where he walked through cities of white marble, their streets lined with palm trees and bustling with activity. He heard the voices of long-dead scholars, their words filled with wisdom and insight, as they debated under the shade of a grand colonnade. In these dreams, he saw himself wearing the robes of an Arab sage, his every movement filled with purpose and confidence.

These dreams were not mere figments of his imagination; they felt real, as if he were living another life in a different time. When he awoke, the dreams stayed with him, influencing his thoughts and actions. He found himself speaking Arabic with ease, as though the language had always been a part of him. His Greek heritage, once a source of pride, began to fade in importance. He started to adopt the customs and habits of the Arabs, even changing his attire to match those he now felt an inexplicable kinship with.

The scroll’s influence grew stronger with each passing day, altering not just Niketas’s mind but his very soul. He became increasingly isolated from his colleagues, who noticed the profound changes in him but could not comprehend their cause. Niketas’s transformation was gradual yet relentless, pulling him deeper into an identity that felt both foreign and utterly natural.

He stopped attending the meetings of the Greek scholars at the palace, preferring instead to spend his time in the company of Arab intellectuals. His once-immaculate Greek robes were replaced by flowing Arab garments, and his diet, once rich with the flavors of the Mediterranean, now consisted of the simple, nourishing dishes of the desert. The more he embraced this new identity, the more the scroll seemed to reward him, revealing its secrets in greater detail, guiding him on a path that felt predestined.

The text, Niketas realized, was not just a collection of words; it was a living entity, a repository of the essence of a civilization that had transcended time. The knowledge it contained was not merely academic; it was transformative, reshaping the very fabric of who he was. The logical, methodical part of his mind had been overwhelmed by something far more powerful—a mystical force that defied reason but felt undeniably real.

As the days turned into weeks, Niketas became consumed by the text. He no longer thought of himself as a Greek scholar; that identity had faded like a distant memory. He was now something else, something more—an embodiment of the wisdom contained within the scroll. His transformation was complete by the time he had fully deciphered the text. He was no longer Niketas; he had become Sheikh Nuh al-Hakim, a sage of the Arab world, a revered figure whose wisdom was sought by scholars from across the empire.

Sheikh Nuh’s old identity had faded away, replaced by a new purpose: to spread the ancient knowledge contained in the text to the furthest reaches of the Ottoman Empire. His transformation was an unstoppable force, one that had not only altered his being but also influenced those around him. The other scholars, both Greek and Arab, came to him for guidance, drawn to the depth of his understanding and the clarity of his vision.

The story concludes with Sheikh Nuh al-Hakim standing in a grand lecture hall within the palace, teaching a new generation of scholars. The scroll, once a mystery, was now a wellspring of knowledge that had reshaped not only Niketas but also the intellectual landscape of the empire. As he looked out over his students, he felt a deep sense of fulfillment, knowing that the wisdom of the ancient Arab civilization would continue to thrive through him.

His journey was complete, not just as a scholar, but as a man who had fully embraced a new identity, leaving behind the past in pursuit of a greater truth. Sheikh Nuh al-Hakim was no longer bound by the constraints of his Greek heritage; he had become a bridge between cultures, a vessel through which the knowledge of the ancient Arab world could flow into the future.

As he ended his lecture and dismissed his students, Sheikh Nuh al-Hakim stood alone in the lecture hall, the echoes of his words still reverberating in the air. He gazed at the scroll, now enshrined in a place of honor at the front of the room, and felt a profound connection to the civilization it represented. His transformation had been both a journey and a destination, leading him to a place where knowledge was not just learned, but lived.

With a quiet resolve, Sheikh Nuh al-Hakim left the lecture hall, his mind already turning to the next task, the next opportunity to spread the wisdom he had come to embody. His past as Niketas was but a shadow, eclipsed by the light of a new identity that shone brightly in the vast tapestry of the Arab world.

Arabization: The Lost Stories of Transformation Chapter 1: The Scribe's Awakening Chapter 2: The Moorish Guardian Chapter 3: The Scholar's Dilemma

The next chapter will be released next Monday 23rd September. 💚

[wordsandrobots]

I went to the effort of typing this joke out on Discord earlier and since I think I'm very funny and I've entirely run out of queue --

Regarding a potential inter-canon Gundam protagonist meet-up, we have:

Two psychic teenagers drafted into a war they barely understand who are either hitting things or having nervous breakdowns about it

One psychic teenager drafted into a war he barely understands who is just trying to goof off and/or get his sister back

Assorted soldiers in various stages of PTSD and dishonourable discharge

Some guy (also psychic), his girlfriend, the queen of outer-space, and their highly-strung boyfriend who is doing his best

One twenty-year-old master martial artist who gets nervous talking to his wife

Five teenage terrorists who are alternately incredibly socially-awkward (science experiment gone horribly right), massively over-compensating (traumatised Catholic goofball), just plain weird (clown), in desperate need of therapy (corporate Lawrence of Arabia), or massively over-compensating (sword-wielding reply-guy), and their plus-one, the acting president of the world

One probably-not-psychic con-artist who would like to get back to stealing shit, please, and his actually-psychic girlfriend who is just very nice

The sweetest guy you've ever met, the queen of the moon, the queen of the moon's doppelganger, the doppelganger's tom-boy sister, and the one Char clone with a functional love-life

The most unstable long-range polycule you can imagine and this random angry idiot they've adopted for reasons beyond anyone's understanding

One terrorist who wants to be a Gundam (and succeeds), one to two shooty Irishmen, a comicbook-style schizophrenic super-soldier, his equally-so girlfriend, and their boss, the world's most not-trying 'honestly a human being for sure'

I utterly refuse to having anything to do with AGE

A bunch of school-age nitwits playing some sort of cod-Shakespearean lost twin-siblings/secret heir sub-plot amidst an energy crisis and/or religious war

A shy hick and her business-major girlfriend, plus their assorted classmates who are totally failing to form a consistent genre

And then there's Tekkadan standing off to the side being like... yeah, so... no one's paying us to fight right now, would you all maybe like to sit down and have something to eat? A bit of light couples-counselling? Thump a punching bag until you feel better?

(Obviously Tekkadan are doing the catering. They have a cook and better access to fresh produce than anyone else. Which, I mean, Celestial Being has the budget but Tieria is definitely vetoing the unnecessary expenditure. Everyone else is just on military rations or school food.)

(@thedancingwalrus-blog would like you all know that Mikazuki is claiming every unguarded plate that someone has abandoned to go have a misunderstanding-based fight within, like, 0.5 seconds of it getting left behind. I'd insert a GIF of him deep-throating a cannoli here, obviously, only shockingly, I can't find one. Anyone have that? I feel like we should have that.)

[i-dream-of-twilight-sparkle]

As mentioned in the post I did on the 6th about the anniversary of the blog. I am introducing a new timeskip. This time to the future depicted in the series finale, The Last Problem. The previous timeskip related to the Earnest Empathetic Change was only by an additional 10 years. This will add another 15 years on top of that for a total of 25 years after the Ending of the End. With the Mane 6 in their late 40s/50s. There won’t be an accompanying story like Earnest Empathetic Change was for the previous time skip. This is simply a look at what’s similar and different from the canon timeskip from the show

Though before I get to the The Last Problem. I’m going to try to briefly recap the important bits of everything leading up to this. Talking about the 2 previous eras.

I DREAM OF TWILIGHT SPARKLE (AKA How Twilight became a genie) [Between Seasons 2 & 3] + RETURN TO SADDLE ARABIA [Between Seasons 4 & 5] + SECRETS OF THE DRAGON'S TEAR [Shortly after Ending of the End]

This for the most part is the era takes takes place during or something between seasons of the canon show. This is of course the most documented part of the blog so I’ll try not to be too descriptive. But a good majority of the blog’s history goes from all the way from after Season 2 all the way to a year or so after The Ending of the End. As for actual show events, most of the general ideas remains the same (Twilight still becomes a princess, the same villains show up, the School of Friendship still happens, etc.). Although there are important differences here and there. Some of which are explored more further in smaller one-shot stories.

Secrets of the Dragon’s Tear introduced the most important lore bits that have impacted the blog’s future since. Up to and including revealing that an older-than-canon Sunset (The Equestria Girls movies are not canon to I Dream of Twilight Sparkle too) that was never evil who had lost her life to Cozy Glow’s family. And of course the ability of Spike’s dragon tear that he received at the end of Return to Saddle Arabia to summon spirits of the deceased. Revealing many secrets that only the dead could tell.

EARNEST EMPATHETIC CHANGE (10 Years after Ending of the End)

With Equestria in an ever increasing era of peace. It was time to attempt at closing off another loose end that had impacted events in Equestria before any of the Mane 6 were born. Starlight was tasked to speak with Queen Chrysalis, and receiving gradual help from each of her many friends. While using her experience as a counselor and a principal of the School of Friendship to reach an understanding with a queen to thaw her seemingly ice cold heart.

Through careful talks and gentle pushes. Starlight and Chrysalis slowly began to see there was more in common between them then either had thought possible. Even as things looked hopeless when Chrysalis found out Sunset Shimmer, the one she has blamed for years for the deaths of her previous hive was Starlight’s late mother. Starlight still stood strong in backing Chrysalis nearly to the point of letting Chrysalis kill her, if Chrysalis feels she can’t forgive her because of a blood relation to who she saw as her eternal enemy.

Using the Spirit summoning ability. Chrysalis would get to speak with Sunset to get a sense of the real her. Though even as the obvious disconnect between Sunset and Chrysalis’ point of view on the tragic day that destroyed her previous hive. It takes the use of time travel (In context, time travel works similarly to Dragonball Z’s style. It only creates a new timeline, doesn’t affect the current one) for Chrysalis to see the truth point blank.

Chrysalis would afterward get to speak with the spirits of her siblings and her parents. The reunion with the spirits of her family, along with the return of newfound friends finally lets Chrysalis receive the same change Thorax and many of the new hive achieved. And it wasn’t just Chrysalis who changed that day, this was also Starlight’s last test before ascending to Princesshood.

With a new pair of royal “sisters” and Queen Chrysalis now firmly an ally. The harmony in Equestria became ever stronger.

THE LAST PROBLEM (25 Years after the Ending of the End)

Now… we fast forward to what was the show’s canon time skip. As mentioned before, this is another 15 years added on top of the previous timeskip. 25 years after Ending of the End. The Mane 6 in their late 40’s/Early 50’s 

For the most part, the episode would play out the same but I thought it’d be important to layout important differences. Although one thing I should probably consider is maybe the goodbye flashback scenes aren’t as dramatic. Since Twilight’s genie powers (Not to mention the portal gum) makes it pretty easy for Twilight and her friends to quickly visit each other within seconds if truly needed. That’s not to say there isn’t any hesitancy and/or worries about Twilight leaving Ponyville to rule Equestria from Canterlot. They'd still decide to travel together in the end as they do, and maybe even a little group hug cry. But there's less concern about their friendship drift apart as they spend less time together. They have more capability of reaching out to eachother faster even from long distances.

PRINCESS TWILIGHT SPARKLE AND SPIKE

(Just pretend for a moment Twilight still has her genie attire in this screenshot)

Twilight of course remains Ponyville’s benevolent leader alongside her adopted family Starlight and Spike (Sister and son, respectively). By this point, Twilight regularly takes the form of a more Celestia-shape as seen in the episode. Although she did have to study Starlight’s growth in order to replicate it as best she could. Her smaller stature from 25 years ago remains her “true” form so to speak. If she ever needs to feel more approachable, she'll sometimes shift to her more normal pony size. And sometimes she may also do the same thing if/when her friends are feeling particularly nostalgic.

Spike at this point is still the only dragon with a dragon tear capable of summing spirits. But Twilight, Starlight, and Spike are preparing for the day a genuine Dragon tear appears. So that one day Spike can entrust and teach dragons the responsibilities of using the dragon tears. Just as the right ponies are entrusted to become genies. So are the right dragons to wield Dragon tears as spirit summoners. It’s also negotiated with Sultan Theandri II and Sultana Moondancer for the day that Saddle Arabia seeks the return of more genies. to slowly restore the ancient culture they once had.

LUSTER DAWN

The first significant difference (At least, from fanon expectations) I should talk about is Luster Dawn. In the IDOTS universe, she is the daughter of Sunburst and Sunshine Smiles. The popular fanon I understand is that she’s Starlight and Sunburst’s daughter. However, the changes from as early in the timeline as Secret of the Dragon’s Tear makes that impossible (…Or at least pretty squicky to think about) since the two are cousins due to Sunset being old enough to be both Starlight’s mother, and Sunburst’s Aunt. She is thus still related to both Starlight and Sunburst. Just not in the same way as the more common fanon depictions.

Also while I don’t know if it’s clear or not what kind of student Luster Dawn is to Twilight. She could be on the road to being groomed to be another Alicorn ruling by Twilight’s side in the canon universe as I doubt Twilight’s retiring that early. And there is an open spot should Twilight decide another alicorn in Canterlot is needed. But naturally in the IDOTS universe, she already has Luster’s own aunt in that role. What she ends up doing is as much a mystery as anything else. (And I doubt G5 is going to get into whatever Luster Dawn did if any season that takes place after the G4 movie even applies to it’s history) But my guess she has a more normal life. Better at magic than her father, but also not the prodigy either Sunset, Twilight, or Starlight were at her age.

PINKIE PIE

Pinkie has long been married to Cheese Sandwich at this point. Which is shared with canon. Much of The Last Problem is left vague enough to be able to be on the fence on what’s there. But Pinkie X Cheese is the one part they doubled down and made clear happened more than anything else for certain.

Also, addressing something about their child. Lil Cheese: They’re a gender fluid kid that wished from Twilight to have the ability to shift between physically being a colt and a filly at will. Based on the idea that Lil’ Cheese was a colt in the script but looks like a filly in the final episode.

I’d also say by now she was given ownership of Sugar Cube Corner once Mr. and Mrs. Cake decided to retire. The grown up cake twins are now the chief bakers, though Pinkie and/or her husband Cheese still bake from time to time if they’re not available.

RARITY

Rarity is still not married. But not because she didn’t find love. She eventually was inspired by the dragons' and changelings’ approach to love. It took for some time to really embrace it, as she had once thought that the perfect wedding was a strong desire of hers.  But slowly the idea of leaving herself open to anyone she’d mutually partake in a relationship with, sometimes multiple at once began to appeal to her more. Her life won’t be as long as a dragon or a royal changeling, but it’s what she feels like is her ultimate act of generosity. As for who she’s been partnered with. Both her and her partners have confidentially made that all a secret. So it’s all up to your imagination, who or how many she’s been with.

APPLEJACK

Apologies to any AppleDash shippers who were really happy with the possible hints that she and Rainbow ended up together canonically. But that doesn’t happen in the IDOTS universe, she instead marries Rara/Coloratura. I may even say they have a child at this point. (…Although I haven’t designed them, if I’m given a reason to make them I can do that at some point)

RAINBOW DASH

Rainbow Dash is still captain of the Wonderbolts. Defying expectations of her age again and again, though she knows eventually age will catch up to her. But as she puts it, she loves challenging father time for as long as it’s still safe for her body to.

And in the love life department, Rainbow doesn’t have a special some pony. Though to be honest, a part of me just feels Rainbow isn’t one to easily settle down even after she retires from the Wonderbolts. Plus, it shouldn’t be necessary to every character that they eventually have someone.  (Could even be said her parents' obsession over her turned her off from a family life). She just prefers to be at most everyone younger then her’s unofficial big sister

FLUTTERSHY

Fluttershy and Discord eventually decided to stop trying to confuse ponies and eventually had their own wedding. The strange thing is their wedding went perfectly normal, like really oddly normal. But then all of a sudden… disaster struck when it became a RED WEDDING… in which everyone threw tomatoes and/or other foods that are known to make red splotches when thrown at each other for a massive food fight.

STARLIGHT GLIMMER

Starlight of course is not still the Principal of the School as she is in the canon The Last Problem. She’s by Twilight’s side as the younger Alicorn due to the many differences and/or additions depicted in Secrets of the Dragon’s Tear plus Earnest Empathetic Change. The Princesses of Friendship and Empathy leading the current era of peace for Equestria. Her cousin Sunburst is who is promoted to become the new Principal of the School.

Unlike Twilight she is changed naturally by Alicorn ‘puberty’. As mentioned previously, Twilight even studied her growth to replicate it in some fashion herself.

YOUNG SIX

Sandbar and Yona are still together, not quite married but soon getting to that point. They both also retain their teaching roles at the school. Ocellus has stepped down from her Generosity Teacher role to accept her role as a queen of the hive with guidance by the reformed Chrysalis. Silverstream is a high-ranking member amongst a Seaquestria Waterbolts group. Smolder is still the loyalty teacher at the school. Gallus is the captain of Twilight’s royal guard.

The CMC

Unlike in the canon Last Problem, none of the CMC are teachers at the School of Friendship. Smolder, Twist, and Yona all respectively are the teachers in their place in the IDOTS version

Scootaloo has become the captain of the Waterbolts 

Sweetie Belle a successful famous metal singer in her band The Belle Tolls 

Apple Bloom has an ever increasing leadership role at the farm. Her tea breweries (Apple Brews') are highly sought after by all stores that can sell them.

SADDLE ARABIANS

Malakhar and Kubuya now have a grown up daughter by the name of Jenii (Pronounced Jenny). While Kubuya expressed that they shouldn’t force the life of a genie on their daughter. Luckily for Malakhar, their daughter grew up fascinated with genies and also admiring the recent true stories about Twilight. And also luckily for Malakhar, their daughter had the temperament to make for a good genie. When she was old enough, they traveled to Saddle Arabia to ask Twilight if she could willingly make Jenii a real genie since there still wasn’t any new Dragon Tears. She happily grants it, and for the first time in a long time. There was a Saddle Arabian native genie. (Another thing I haven't given a design too. But if there's interest and/or a reason to. I'll get to it)

Sultana Moodancer and Sultan Theandri II have their own daughter. Though as of this post I have not picked a name or design. Like many other things if there’s a reason to show them at any point I’ll design them later. But just saying that they do exist.

THE CHANGELING HIVE

As earlier said Ocellus is now a full-on queen alongside Kings Thorax and Pharynx, and of course their mother Queen Chrysalis. Who has adjusted now to the new world after Starlight helped her understand that Equestria was never her enemy. That’s not to say her more grumpy attitudes are all gone, but she definitely tolerates Ponies far more than she used to.

And even as she got back in power, she preferred to let her children lead if they wanted to. She only takes charge and prepares if there is any threat to the hive. She’ll never get complacent when it comes to the hive’s safety. But she is at least sure that Equestria would come to their aid if needed. Something she never would have believed before her sessions with Starlight. Speaking of which, Chrysalis also has a very strong mutual friendship with Princess Starlight. Even now she wouldn’t like to admit it publicly, but she looks forward to every world leader summit and/or visit from Starlight. Chrysalis trusts Starlight on nearly the same level she did with Arista and Spur in their best days

MISC.

There could be many other updates I could add if people are curious on what they’d like to know what I’d personally see them become in the I Dream of Twilight Sparkle universe. But perhaps I should leave some to be surprises and/or suggestions to be asked about whether through here or the role-play blog. Just for example, you could ask if I have Cheerilee, Marble Pie, and Limestone Pie end up with anyone by this time. 

For now though this is it for where the IDOTS universe is by the time of the timeskip depicted in The Last Problem. There will be one more timeskip I want to include sometime next year before I’m finally done with additions.

Remember that all eras can still be interacted with. Just because I’m starting another timeskip doesn’t mean you can’t ask a past version of a character if it makes more sense for the question.

[atlasofearth]

when u get this, list 5 songs u like to listen to, publish. then, send this ask to 10 of your favorite followers/mutuals (positivity is cool)

omg I love this i adore talking abt music

1- my tears ricochet by taylor swift ; this song is everything to me i literally have analyzed every lyric like it’s shakespeare

2- lullaby by the cure

3- secret life of arabia by david bowie

4- wicked game by chris isaak

5- dreamers ball by queen 🥳