#their teen drama captivates me

[alien-bluez]

Rehearsals

based on the wonderful fic what happens backstage by @apricior , been thinking about oakworthy ever since i read it hehe please go read it if you haven't already!

[mieczyslawhale]

I hate knowong that if stiles was a female character her and derek would of ended up together. So fem stiles ideas that are mixed with stereotypes prudocers of teen dramas love.

My vision of fem stiles is a woman with long hair she keeps in a pony tail. Many layers of shirts like a muscle shirt and then an over shirt on top of that and then a sweater over top of that or just a regular shirt with a shirt underneath and an over shirt and a sweater over top because this version of stiles is constantly cold because she has an issue with circulation in her body. She wears really long skirts that go down to her ankles baggy pants overalls those henna pants that look like parachute pants stop go away leave me alone man. And black dogs with painted daisies on them she also likes to carry a side bag that's filled with things of all kinds she's got something for every occasion and also a bunch of over the counter medicine.

To follow the stereotypes whenever someone talks about her friendship with Scott they always state that she's madly in love with him and she's always consistently grossed out by it that no one could understand that they're just friends but everyone tries to lump them together as a romantic interest to the point where Allison when she first starts going out with Scott becomes a bit jealous of stiles.

Scott tries to reassure her and with his tunnel vision those feelings of jealousy go away also because stiles quickly becomes obsessed with Derek because them stiles still has ADHD and Derek ends up becoming one of her ADHD obsessions the way that canon stiles did.

Stiles both hates and adores Lydia she hates her attitude but loves everything else her smarts her fashion sense the way that she speaks sometimes she just really wants to be Lydia's friend but also feels as though Lydia doesn't like her.

Has the show progresses into season 2 Styles is now fighting the Dynamics between Lydia and Allison where stiles and Allison are becoming closer friends and Lydia is getting angry about it on top of everything that Lydia is dealing with with her psychosis and feeling as though her friends are there for her oh she's feeling phased out so she starts lashing out on stiles because stiles is an easy target.

Also if stiles was female in season 2 Isaac would have been captivated by her you know that they would have tried to push some kind of love agenda between Isaac and Stiles but once again stiles is still really obsessed with Derek and head over heels for him and no one else matters in the love Spectrum. Also in my vision the pool scene still happens the only thing is stiles. is wearing leggings instead of her long long skirts or a jogging outfit that looks like the lacrosse colors cuz it's Scott's jogging outfit and it was just cold so stiles was borrowing it.

I'm currently rewatching Teen Wolf so as I continue to rewatch it I will add more head cannons for my female stiles and also tropes that I know that they would have pushed if stiles was a girl

[ennn]

Initial Agatha All Along Ep 6 Meta Thoughts + Reactions

You good? I think I'm actually pretty good with what we got.

One of the struggles I've had so far with Billy is that Joe Locke always seemed more likeable than Teen but this episode convinced me that was because the boy wasn't being really himself.

Look I honestly usually don't give a shit about kid or teenager characters but this boy is winning me over. Dammit, show.

That "interrogation" scene was IN-credible and props to Joe Locke for holding it together for as long as he could. He still almost very nearly broke but who can blame him honestly.

Actually looking forward to the real Billy and Agatha bonding. Because they're both dumbass bitches. Both of them falling off things and failing at running? AMAZING.

I'm absolutely avoiding Twitter because I know some folks will be mad Billy got his boyfriend kiss but guys GUYS the odds of a kiss between Agatha and Rio happening later just got legitimately good

Will be genuinely upset if Kathryn Hahn does not get an Emmy for all of the work and talent she's showing off here, she's so full-throated in her performance and Agatha is such a captivating, complicated character

I mean, Agatha's being like a literal sad wet cat here but she's such a survivor and a performer. She will muscle her way through her trauma with the strength of her charisma and deal with it later thank you very much. She's so damn funny (and so sad if you stop and think about it)

Amazing consistent characterisation with Agatha being absolutely fascinated with powerful witchcraft and knowing her stuff. The energy she brings here is so similar to how she got studying Wanda's magic. The Detective Agnes character really isn't that far off from who she is. She's a nerd! She loves investigating. She's got big professor energy.

Crap, this show is making me want to rewatch Wandavision. Because people have told me that she always had a soft spot for Billy and Billy liked her and ugh damn this cross-marketing is working.

But like Agatha being honestly proud of him surviving, Agatha who's done terrible things to survive, knowing how witches have survived in a world that's not been kind to them. Agatha who's telling him that it's okay he did the things he did, because she's been telling those things to herself.

I was right! Rio was absolutely not physically there in person for those episode 1 house scenes given that the mirror was a painting. Among other things, it would have been weird for her to have gone into the house and then returned to blow up that door.

"You and your mother have a tell." "Which is?" "Convenient for me." -> Absolute zinger of a line. I love love love how Agatha, for all her pathetic loser energy, is being shown as smart and cunning. She always suspected! She knows things!

Also i think we've established by now that, in this show and universe at least, that witches are all some level of awful and can and will fuck up people's lives (intentionally or not).

This episode was designed to be kind of a tonal palette cleanser after all the angst and drama of Ep 5 and it worked, I think!

[skeletinmoss]

Let's talk about Sanders Sides and why it should end.

Disclaimer: this is my opinion, I don't have any malicious intentions by voicing it, please don't harass me or people working on the show as the result of reading this rant. You can just stop reading if you don't like what I am saying.

Thank you for understanding.

I myself only joined the fandom 3 years ago. Along the years there has been a lot of content and I was captivated immediately. The characters are the main thing of this fandom and I would like to talk about them first.

They started to not be themselves. Maybe it's now that obvious when you watch one new episode every year, but for someone who just showed up and binged it it's quite noticeable.

There is a thing that happens to every character in every long term content (I'm sorry I can't remember how it's called). With time they become parodies of themselves. And as the time goes on they become more and more simple. That can change the character drastically. Someone who was street smart becomes a character that you can't believe is still alive with how stupid they are.

The same thing is starting to happen is Sanders Sides. It's basically a running gag that Logan lost all his whimsy and is gonna snap at any time. This is the example of simplification, what is left of him is only his core elements. Logic, no feeling, smarty pants, facts, jam. However it ties into the story quite well. No one listens to logic. It makes us invested in how this unnoticed before conflict would be resolved.

With Patton it's not the same. He used to be innocent. An adult who doesn't want to grow up. He was relatable. Maybe it's because Thomas is older now, but the innocence in Patton's character started to come of as ignorance. He used to come of as deeper than at first glance, smarter than you give him credit for. Now he just acts stupid. A guy who can set water on fire. A guy who doesn't even try to confront reality. He was supposed to get character development. Where is it?

Virgil started to be more cringe and boring. He's emo and his character trait is to act like an angsty teen. However now it's more of an adult pretending to be a teen. You can most see it in the Jam video where he tries to do skateboard tricks and we can see his boxers sticking out. Why would you do this? He used to be sassy, he used to be arrogant villain who can't get rid of. He got excepted, and despite the Halloween episode about the phases, and him saying " It's still my job to scare you" we don't ever see him do it. He hangs around I guess, but he lost all his bark and bite. All that's left of him is just moody.

Roman likely didn't change that much. His original chaotic nature masks any changes so far. Although I would say Roman lost quite a bit of his drama and sass. Being sick because the ego was bruised, starting a rap battle just to prove a point and show off, singing and " Making the song 10 times better" in his opinion, freaking out because a person he ships Thomas with has called him back. In flirting with social anxiety he does freak out because of the cute guy, which is very Roman, but it's a bit strange that the embodiment of pure creativity would not find words to finish a poem. ( I have my questions with him in the nostalgia episode like playing the instrument poorly even if he showed he can draw a Mona Lisa with crayons, or not allowing Thomas to demonstrate the dance, but I'm just gonna put that under " Possibly Janus pretending to be Roman")

And Remus and Janus wasn't here long enough to start to fall apart. Although I don't think Remus would actually be able to fall apart as a character because of his chaotic nature.

The second thing I want to discuss are sponsorships.

I am happy that Thomas gets the money and has the opportunity to get more. But did he had to put characters into the sponsorship?

The jam one was fun. It was a joke what turned true. A running gag. But it also gave the community something to interact with. Four new jam flavours, characters on the package, limited sets. You could try something your favorite character likes!

There were good sponsorships on Thomas's chanel before. Like Hello Fresh. He did the advertising as himself, not as characters. It wasn't so in your face. And that's how it should be. He wasn't begging for you to buy it. He was simply sharing a good thing he uses. It wasn't loud and obnoxious. Even if it wasn't as entertaining as the jam musical or character jam merch, you still felt like you could buy it. The food looked good!

It's not the same with VPN, now is it? I would not get any character interactions if I buy this thing. So why are the characters involved? Because I like them and it would be easier to sell me something if They tell me to buy it? Why are you so pushy for me to buy it?

We all are waiting for the season finale. Something grand. Something epic. Something to finish the story. But I don't think Thomas should start another season. He would probably be tempted to, because of the new character involved, but that might not be a good decision. I'm not saying he should stop with the Sides altogether. But I feel like short video format would suit the characters better from now on. No big plots, no storylines, just characters interacting with each other in different situations.

Finish it. Put a stop to the story. All good things need to end. Don't drag it out or you will ruin what we love so much about those characters. It would turn into 8 seasons of Winx instead of the planned 3.

Give them their happily ever after.

I hope I'm not coming of as rude, because I don't meat it in a rude way. I just have things that are bothering me that I want to talk about with someone and see if other people think the same

[anamelessfool]

A Naming (part 3 of 5)

Rated Teen, Papa Emeritus II’s Son and Family

Tags: Halloween Hijinks, Eldest Kid Anxiety, Suburban Dad Secondo, Disabled Secondo, Post-Retirement Life, Magic Rituals, My AU with Seocondo being Papa from 2001-2008

CW: Underage Drinking, Strong Language

Paul does the ritual. It goes exactly as expected.

Dedicated to @kissingghouls thanks for cheering me on you’re my little Hell Pumpkin🎃 I’m on AO3 with all my other fics but Tumblr gets mad at me when I post links check out #anamelessfool halloween tag for the prev chapter, #anamelessfool halloween start to start the fic.

The car full of teens crunched along the gravel path behind the old church. Headlights illuminated the rickety silhouette of a swingset, beyond which the old churchyard loomed. The kids unfolded themselves from the car and mingled in the grass.

For most of the short ride here it was a joke. Get the weird gravedigger kid to do some magic or something, see some ghosts. But as they surveyed the headstones cast about like old crooked teeth juxtaposed beside the children’s covered picnic area they fell into a reverent silence. The big junior boy attempted to lighten the mood by dragging his body down the metal slide meant for preschoolers and he wasn’t even rewarded with the dumb grins he craved. Brian was still taking furtive nips from the flask in his jacket but Paul hadn’t been interested for two hours now. This didn’t seem like the place for it.

He wondered how he’d do it, whatever he’d decide to do. He knew he needed to create a circle and surround it with the right symbols. Something would need to be inside, maybe the candle; and he’d utter the syllables while tracing the circle once more with his tibia wand. He knew enough about magic to know that most of it was about just thinking about what you wanted and letting whatever happened after that run its course, but a good show was in order. He didn’t want to look stupid on top of failing to procure a decent paranormal event.

Dana smiled again at him, but she still held her friend Tiff’s hand. “What are you going to do for us?” she asked. In the low light emitted from the nearby streetlamp her eyes were wide, glittering. She was living her favorite quote, and all Paul needed to do was to let her soul take her where she wanted to be. Some sort of dark, mysterious place where demons and magic are fun. Paul left all that when he was too young to remember, but knew enough that gothic drama had a price.

“Maybe…” Paul analyzed the scene beyond the fence, where the ancient headstones were planted. “Spirit communication?”

“Ghosts? We’re going to talk to ghosts?” Tiff could barely contain her excitement.

“Yeah,” Paul replied quickly. “Let’s use the picnic area to set up.”

Under the awning studded with dead wasp nests was a smooth platform of sidewalk concrete. The kids gathered around and Paul felt the fear settle in. He was a natural performer as long as he was lodged in some hole with only his music to be perceived by. Now five older kids stared into him, getting more restless as he scrambled through his father's journal to find an enticingly arcane image to entertain them with.

He finally discovered a page drawn with a ring of syllables that he could reasonably pronounce. He got to work, drawing on the white concrete with the dark sidewalk chalk. He placed the candle in the center of the small circle along with the obsidian chunk and a sprinkling of the dried rose petals. The two girls were captivated while the boys half watched and half play wrestled with each other. Brian swayed a little and handed him a lighter for the candle, chuckling.

“Now I uh…call in the energies,” said Paul. He was supposed to start facing east and go clockwise, but in the dark there was no indication of true direction. He remembered observing a few of these gestures and repeated them here. Just recently at the equinox he had helped Secondo circumnabulate the property line of his home, restoring the energy buried along with all the nail-filled mason jars holding up the wards. He replicated the careful gesture of drawing a pentagram in the air with the wand, but refused to include the deep sonorous chant that went with it. He knew they would laugh.

At last he returned to the circle. “I…cast my will as a net,” he mumbled. “The Void will provide. Nevertheless I will endure.“

“Now what?” Muttered Brian.

“I circumambulate the circle.”

“What the fuck does that mean?” Grunted the boy from the backseat that Paul thought was named Tyler.

“Walk around,” said Paul. “Say the words.” He held out the tibia, pointing at the syllables as he stepped toe to toe past them. The other hand held the book as he read out each symbol slowly, his voice cracking. “Ab-Che-halva-ach-aleph-namu…eke…ab-Che-halva…” In his circumambulation he kept passing Dana and Tiff, trying not to meet their eyes. He wasn’t certain whether they were fascinated or bored and he didn’t want to find out. The sounds were guttural, cruel, and unknown. He was not sure of when to stop.

And then the candle went out.

The boys stopped mugging. Paul cautiously brought the tibia back into his hoodie pocket, blinking. “Should we…go out and check?”

“Check for what?” Whispered Dana. He hadn’t realized how close she came to him, her eyes wide with excitement. The boys were already out on the grass, still pretending to be half-interested but silent and watchful all the same.

“I dunno…” Paul held out his hand and Dana took it, Tiff linking arms with her. The three of them stepped cautiously back onto the grass to scan the treeline.

There was the chainlink fence, the gravestones beyond it, solid as always. The candle went out, but nothing happened. Paul felt stupid, wondering with a growing sickness in his gut that all he did tonight was look like the weirdo gravedigger kid they thought he was.

“So does your dad talks like that to all the dead grandmas he works on or…” Tyler was already done with all this, and Dave laughed in response.

“I told you there’s no spirits there,” muttered Paul. “And he’s not the one that works on them ,okay?”

“Yeah. This is all a fucking joke. Honestly.”

Paul heard Dana’s voice and it warmed him, just for a small moment. “Listen, come on, it’s just all in good fun, ok?”

Paul felt something small bounce off his shoulder and fall into the grass. “Ouch, fuck!” snapped a kid nearby, clapping a hand over his own head. “What the hell is that?”

Paul ducked down to retrieve the items that fell by his feet. It was an ordinary quarter and two pennies. He heard someone else stir, disturbed by more items falling on their head. “Coins.”

“Coins? Oh! Yeah!” said Dana, holding one up. “Where are they coming from?”

Something fell behind Paul, bouncing off his back. A cigarette lighter phone charger. Nearby, a few crumpled receipts and empty paper soft drink cup dropped onto the grass, followed by more coins. “It's…stuff from the car…”

“Car’s fucking locked,” hissed Dave. He swore again and Paul heard another coin bounce off his head. He felt old crumbs collect in his hair, sprinkled by something inexplicable above them all.

Paul glanced over to the car.

Then something happened. It felt like his brain was broken; his eyes lied. He saw the air above the car, the negative space empty there for a moment, and then watched an object pop into existence. Something big, dark and heavy that then was dropped down on top of the car so forcefully the hood crumpled into a crush of metal.

It was a small headstone from the churchyard.

“Everybody under the awning,” Paul commanded hoarsely, running backwards while still staring fixedly at the car in front of them. Coins continued to drop seemingly from nowhere, the soft sound of them hitting the grass all around them.

Paul couldn't process what he just saw. The rock was not there, and then yet it was there. And absolutely totaled the car right before their eyes.

The night taunted them with its normalcy. There was nothing out of place. No stirring leaf, no swing disturbed. The single streetlight buzzed and threw stark highlights across the asphalt by the ruined car.

A small stone fell from the awning, skidding to Paul’s feet. But there was nothing there except those empty husks of paper wasps and cobwebs.

“The car, man!” Dave whined. He bit his lip and wrung his hands. “My fucking car…”

“Would you shut up about the car?!” the junior boy rasped. His hands were over his head. “How did that stone—”

Gravel dumped across his head and skittered to the floor. The boy yelled, hopping backwards into Dave, who nearly punched him in terror. The sliding hiss of gravel falling behind them made their heads whip around to see when more would drop.

“Just like that,” said Paul, pointing. He stared fixedly at a spot where another stone had dropped. He squinted, trying to steel his nerves. Name it, his father’s voice uttered. Name what?

Just as before, a new stream of gravel was there in the air as matter-of-factly as how they were not there moments before. The space became filled without even a blink of an eye. And more stones fell.

“I’m getting out of here,” shouted Tyler. He made a few steps towards the edge of the awning and another heavy grave marker dropped, barely missing his head and cracking the concrete. He scrambled back to the group just in time for Paul to read the date 1812 carved upon it.

“It doesn’t want us to leave!” shrieked Tiff. “What did you even do?!”

Another fall of small stones from the parking lot; this time a steady, almost luxurious stream of tiny pebbles appearing, falling, and pooling into an aggressive pile right before their eyes. The sliding, angry hiss rustled terror up Paul's spine as he bit the inside of his cheek and drew blood. Satisfied, the gravel stream ceased as if someone turned off an arcane spigot. Another rock dropped onto the Junior boy's head, and he screamed, prompting yet another small rock to be pelted at Tiff and Dana.

In the silence between the bursts of stones across their heads, one of the girls started sobbing. Paul stared down at the circle in front of him, tears blurring his own eyes. “Oh, fuck! Fuuuck!” shouted Dave and Paul whipped his head up to the sound of tires on the gravel. Another spurt of rocks fell to the ground, these much larger and thrown fast enough to bounce off the concrete.

Beside the wrecked car loomed a black hearse. The headlights dimmed as the door opened, a form gingerly rising to its feet and affixing a crutch. Tall, wide shoulders slung back. The face was obscured, but the Eye shone. The eye, a brilliant beam in the dark.

“Fuck, run!” Brian yelled, but his drinking got the best of him and he stumbled across a picnic table. The other kids were frozen on the spot, the spurts of rocks scattering around them forgotten as a storybook nightmare materialized in front of their eyes.

“No,” Paul said softly. “Don’t run.”

The hearse, the Eye, the shambling gait on the large proud form was an image out any slasher movie. But Paul knew this visage more than anyone. And more than anyone, he felt an intensity of fear only experienced by a son who had completely, utterly, and wholly fucked up.

if you like it, please reblog and share!

Next part in comments!

[prettyboybillyhargrove]

Dacre Montgomery is ready to work

There’s a famous audition tape of Dacre Montgomery’s online. Maybe you’ve seen it; some 18 million people have. And it’s captivating to watch, not just because of Montgomery’s intensity, but because of the clear control that he has at such a young age. That steady ferocity cuts right through the screen, even though he’s just ‘running lines’ against a plain blue backdrop. It also cut through the sea of other actors gunning for a role in Stranger Things and made him Billy Hargrove, the resident bad guy on the sci-fi drama that broke Netflix viewership records on its way to becoming one of the biggest shows in TV history.

It’s been almost six years since that audition made Montgomery a global star, but the man sitting in front of me has lost none of that vigour. Reclining in a side room at a studio in Sydney before the photoshoot accompanying this article, the now 28-year-old looks casual. He’s wearing a plain black T-shirt, white shorts and one of those non-descript navy caps movie stars wear when they want to be incognito. The outfit is a simple one, designed to avoid attention—a far cry from the red carpet fashion that Montgomery favours. But as he starts talking about the thing he loves most—movies and the process of making them—that same intensity takes over; a passion that has him on the edge of his seat.

“When I was in my early teens, all I did was stay in my room and watch movies. And I fell in love with everything,” he says. The reverence, the obsession, is what drives Montgomery, and not just when it comes to acting. On set for today’s shoot, Montgomery—who was recently named the face of Politix’s new autumn/winter “The Gentle Man” campaign—is completely locked in. Unlike some who see an ambassador role as an opportunity to make a quick buck, Montgomery has signed on because he’s excited about the brand’s refreshed look and new chapter. “I don't just rock up on time. I rock up 10 minutes early,” he told me, “I don't just give one idea, I give 10 ideas because I don't engage with anything unless I'm authentically interested in it.”

He’s not kidding. After each burst of shots, he pores over them like he’s the creative director, rather than the subject—not out of vanity, but to see if the images are challenging enough. At one point, he grabs a mirror from the corner of the room. “Let’s just try it”, he tells the crew, and proceeds to work it straight into the shoot.

This dedication to perfection hasn’t always been easy for him or the people around him. After Stranger Things, the search for the next perfect role was almost paralysing. “Before I felt like, ‘look, I'm not going to take anything unless I'm 150 per cent invested’,” he says, and eventually, that attitude led to Montgomery parting ways with his team—his management, agents, everyone.

During that period, which he describes as a creative hole, Montgomery tried anything and everything. He wrote poetry (which was released as a book by publisher Andrews McMeel under the title DKMH and turned into a spoken word podcast of the same name), made short films, and dedicated himself to learning the arts of cinematography and screenwriting—at some points, he was watching three films a day, “morning, noon, night”, just like he did as a teenager.

Part of the fear that drove him into that lull was the looming presence of being typecast. When there are roles being offered to you left, right and centre, which one is the ‘perfect’ next step to take? This year, he has started climbing out of that hole, engaging more filmmakers as well as taking on roles like the one with Politix. But, there is still a sense of wariness.

For example, as news broke that Hugh Jackman wouldn’t be returning as Wolverine—a decision that he has since reversed—rumours swirled that Montgomery might step into the role. But for him, it’s about the filmmakers rather than any big-name character. “It’s just finding filmmakers that I'm really interested in working with and going from there as opposed to it being like, ‘oh, I've always wantedto play Wolverine or Bane’,” he says, “but also, I’m feeling a little bit of Marvel fatigue. I’m not really interested in it in the same way that I was.”

Montgomery isn’t alone in his ‘Marvel fatigue’, plenty of moviegoers aren’t as interested as they once were—just look at the recent box office figures—but it’s another example of how he’s a film fan first, and an actor second. He can thank his parents for that.

“My dad started taking me to films that I shouldn't have been seeing when I was a kid,” Montgomery says, “but he worked in the film industry and he would explain to me the process of everything.” From the very beginning, he was exposed to not just the definitive films of the time, but also how they were made. His mother and father would take him to the sets they were working on and show him the ins and outs. “It was like, ‘here’s the unadulterated version of the world and the industry and here are all the ins and the outs of how movies are made.”

For some actors, fame, as much as the films that inspire them, is a driver. And it’s only if they reach a level of success that they really see how the sausage is made—which is not always pretty, especially if they aren’t backed by a huge studio. Thanks to his parents, Montgomery is a rare actor who has always known about the gritty reality of making low-budget films—the long days, the repetition, the egos—but that’s what he fell in love with. “I'm not here for money or notoriety or anything like that,” he says, “I really care about the work and that's what I'm there for.”

But it’s that moment when he actually steps in front of the camera and it’s time to perform that has always had Montgomery hooked. “When you’re on set, I don't try to take up too much space and I wait until it’s my time to go in front of the camera and do my little thing. But when I do that… It's ecstasy. There’s nothing but that moment, do you know what I mean?”

Though it’s been a few years since Montgomery has had those moments and shared them with the world—Elvis, in which he was a scene-stealer, was largely filmed in 2020—he’s getting back to work. “I am climbing out of that [hole] and what that looks like is me engaging with more filmmakers,” he says. Of the three filmmakers he has agreed to work with—at least publicly—one thing is clear: they aren’t interested in making simple, sugar-coated work.

The first film we are likely to see in Montgomery’s next chapter is Spider & Jesse, directed by Dan Kay, which dives into the far-reaching consequences of addiction. “It’s about two girls that find their mother dead in the first scene and they bury her in the backyard so they don't have to go into the foster care system,” Montgomery explains, “I play the mum’s ex-boyfriend that was dealing her the drugs.”

It’s an unglamorous role with limited screen time, but that didn’t bother Montgomery because it was clear the film, and the people behind it, had something vital to say. “I realised they were on a mission to give insight into the people that are affected by addiction—family, friends, and people they're associated with rather than shedding light on the addicts themselves.”

Filming on Spider & Jesse, which took place in Florida, has already wrapped, but Montgomery’s other two projects are yet to begin production. Both are ambitious, and both defy simple explanation. The first, titled Went Up That Hill, comes from Samuel Van Grinsven, a New Zealand-born, Sydney-based director who became a festival circuit favourite with his feature debut Sequin in a Blue Room.

In essence, Montgomery says the film is an assessment of abuse and how trauma lingers from our childhoods. Beyond the message of the film though, it’s the challenging acting work—he’s heading to Berlin to work with co-star Vicky Krieps (Phantom Thread, Old), Van Grinsven and a movement coach to prepare for the complex role—that has attracted him.

The same goes for Faces of Death, the other project Montgomery has been linked to, which is a remake of a 1978 American mondo horror film notoriously banned for years in countries across the world, including Australia, due to its graphic depictions of death. “I have a really interesting co-star [Euphoria’s Barbie Ferreira] who I love, and the character is a serial killer, and for me, it was like, ‘what’s the thing that’s going to scare me so much about creating this character?’” he says of the film, “So I rang the director and I was like, ‘I want to go visit a serial killer in a state penitentiary in the state of California when I'm back because it scares the shit out of me’.”

After these films wrap up, Montgomery plans to start his journey into directing. “I want to direct my first movie and right now I'm in the process of working on the script with my writer and then I'm going to go on the process of trying to put the movie together,” he says, and he won’t give much more than that away, but if there’s anything we’d wager on, it’s that the movie will be challenging—both to make and in concept.

If these types of films don’t sound like they’ll be box office smashes or Oscar bait, Montgomery isn’t worried. “To me, the success of the movie is in the making of the movie,” he says. “And the outcome of the movie looks like a cathartic experience making [it], as opposed to some other thing like, ‘Oh, I want to get into this film festival and I want the film to have a 4.0 on Letterboxd.’ That's not what I'm doing it for.”

The same attitude goes for his partnership with Politix. Beyond filmmaking, Montgomery is passionate about the way that fashion allows him to control his direct experience. “I suffer from incredibly bad OCD,” he shares, “And I have always found comfort in controlling my surroundings, and that is fabric. My mood is very affected by what I have on my skin and what I have in my space and what I can smell and all that sort of stuff bleeds into my personal life aside from fashion.”

As with his project selection in cinema, the aesthetics are one thing, but for Montgomery to come on board he has to believe in the direction of the project.

“I'm interested in [Politix’s] reworking of the company and what they’re doing to reshape it for 2023 and onwards. But what I was genuinely interested in is that sensitivity of masculinity because that really is me. I am a very sensitive person. I'm very sensitive to my space and to interactions in my life. And I think this whole campaign is really about unpacking what is that.”

Once Montgomery signed on with Politix to become its new face, as with his films, he was all in. From the campaign direction to the execution of the advertising, Montgomery has been instrumental. He’s not just arriving, taking some photos and leaving—as with the photoshoot accompanying this shoot, he’s trying to make it the best he can.

“I want the product to be good, just as good as they want the product to be and not hopefully from a narcissistic point of view, from a point of view of I want it to be good,” he says, “That's more important to me than the paycheck or how many people see it or how successful the campaign is. That's the through line for me.”

It’s this sheer dedication to craft and passion for the work that has seen Montgomery through to where he is today. It’s what made that Stranger Things audition tape so arresting and, if he pulls off his big swings, may just make him one of the most memorable actors Australia has produced. Whether those ambitious punches land or not, there’s no doubt about one thing: Montgomery is ready to do the work.

PRODUCTION CREDITS:

Words by Charlie Calver

Photography by Jesse Lizotte

Styling by Miguel Urbina Tan

Fashion assisting by Isabella Mamas

Grooming by Joel Foreman

Production by Jade Carp

Dacre Montgomery wears Politix throughout; politix.com.au

[shikariix]

One for all please gimme

I knew you would do this to me AND YET

Emily okay on your own by mxmtoon (feat. Carly Rae Jepsen)

Ohhhh I love this song so much. The vibe is so tasty. This song suits the way Emily has dealt with the majority of her relationships - she's been the one to break up, saying she needs time to herself; that she's not the right person for the other; just generally she's always the one to break it off because she doesn't believe in the relationship anymore. She's not proud of it per se - if anything, she craves a loving relationship. It's just that the ones she's had made her feel like she couldn't breathe. (Of course all of this changes with Beca 😌)

Rahat Burn The House Down by AJR

why DID I add this to his playlist Rahat has a lot of trouble with his identity and once he's clean all of that will come catch up with him at the speed of light. I like how many questions are asked in these lyrics. He's always been the guy to do whatever his friends ask him to, and considering the kinds of friends these were, he's done plenty of stuff that a law abiding citizen would not. I like that this song presents the you-person as a liar because I do imagine these friends have lied to him plenty, and as he's finding his own identitiy, he becomes more aware of what he thinks of that, if that makes sense.

Anna Tears by The Tragic Thrills

I like the vulnerability in this song. Anna is someone who lives by her feelings and she's got a LOT of 'em. It's important for her to remember (and she'd remind others of this constantly!) that it's a good thing to feel so much. We DO have hearts that bleed and maybe we ARE better off having tears so we can weep. I don't have much else to say about it I'm afraid fhjfgf It's a pretty straightforward analysis.

Sara Ghost by Halsey

Okay well part of this is that Sara likes bad girls FDHJGFHJ leather jackets & teasing,,, There's just something about a rulebreaker that draws her in even though she herself follows any rule ever given to her. I think I put this song in here more for the vibes and maybe the feeling that she's lost connection with herself? I might be bullshitting this rn but when I think of her asking 'where did you go' I think more about her inner child as she had to act like a grownup at a very young age because of her upbringing and her mother's disability. Her child self definitely left nothing more than a ghost behind and I think she mourns that more than she would care to admit. But this is probably not the best song to use for this dfhgfjh

Katy Stronger (What Doesn't Kill You) by Kelly Clarkson

DFJHF I know this is like a post-breakup song but for Katy (who is just 16yo) I picked this one because of its unabashed confidence!! Teens do be feeling like nothing can get them down sometimes. She also does have a tendency to think she doesn't need anyone else, partially because finding out she was adopted (single dad) was not the best experience for her. So she says screw it!! I'm cool enough anyway on my own. ✌️

Gabriella The Killing Kind by Marianas Trench

Oh I am SO PLEASED Marianas Trench made it in here hehe. This song gives me super vivid visuals of Gabriella breaking out of the shack she was being held captive in. For context, she's a mutant (like a lot of my OCs FHDJF but it's not always as relevant) and was taken hostage by a group of people who want to eradicate them and she got tortured for information for decades. Gabriella's power is airokinesis, and when a tornado hits the shack, it gives her an incredible powersurge. She uses the wind to break free and take down her captors. And yes, that does include some killing :)

Tiffany #SELFIE by The Chainsmokers

OMG THIS HAS ME BARKING WITH LAUGHTER FDHJFG. Tiff LOVES gossip and selfies, she's chronically online in the bad way hfdgjhg I just can't even find the words to describe how much this song vibes with her 😭 The bitchiness and drama of it all I'm YELLING this was the best one to end on

[wolfofansbach]

Personal thoughts and meditations upon the occasion of the Riverdale series finale. 

Probably like four people are going to read this but I feel compelled to write it out anyway. This show has genuinely been a massive part of my life. I watched the first episode because some high school friends encouraged me to (IRONICALLY, BRO). I was in high school when I started this show. Those friends of course long ago fell away, unable to continue, unable to wacth anymore, but I have kept the faith. All seven seasons. Every. Single. Episode.

I’m not even entirely sure what captivated me so much about the show. I loved the atmosphere of season 1. I genuinely wanted to find out who killed Jason Blossom. Was genuinely fucked up by episode 1 x 12 and the first season finale.

I have such fond memories of watching the first season. I distinctly remember a road-trip I Tok with my friends the summer of 2017, and joking about  maple syrup drug empires and the “weirdo” line back when that was the wildest scene on the show. Joking about how sick of the song ‘Believer’ by Imagine Dragons (2017) we were. 

And then I decided to get involved in a fandom for the first time in a couple of years, and so I revived my old Tumblr, and I began Posting. And reading posts.  

That was my last summer after high school and I was so nervous about college but this show and this fandom helped me get through it. My freshman year I lived in a dorm, and if you wanted to watch TV you had to go down to this common room, so every Thursday I would go down there like an hour ahead of time and occupy the place to make sure the remote was in my hands by 7 PM. A few times I failed, and I missed an episode because of it. But rarely! 

I remember that slowly dawning feeling as season 2 progressed. Scrolling my Tumblr feed and slowly seeing people come to the realization: “wait…is it just me or does this show actually suck.” Was kind of frustrating at the time, realizing that the writers just like…were bad, but in retrospect? Beautiful. Incredible. Legendary. 

And you could even say that’s where the fun really began. Yes, there’s plenty to hate, but also Riverdale is brilliant. The show of all time. For real. No other show has done it like Riverdale. They just haven't, and they never will. The age of the cable television teen drama is ending, and what a hell of a last hurrah Riverdale has been.

The Red Circle. Jingle Jangle. The Gargoyle King. Edgar Evernever and his fantastic rocket. Bret Weston Wallis and Donna Sweett (genuinely cannot say their names without giggling). Jughead getting hit in the head with a rock and faking his death for like…some reason? I genuinely can’t remember, something to do with the Hardy Brothers idk. Tabitha sprinkling the devil with the tears of the Virgin Mary. The normies can laugh all they want about “epic highs and lows” but do they remember the even funnier lines like “if there’s no wedding, that means the gargoyle king has won” or “word of my exploits serving Nick his comeuppance…” THEY NEVER WILL. ONLY THE TRUE FAITHFUL UNDERSTAND. 

And is silly as it all was, I have genuine affection for these characters. Like Betty, Veronica, Jughead, Archie, Cheryl, Toni, actually mean a lot to me. YES they’re fake but I want the best for them (and for Beronica to be canon but you know we can’t win them all). I’m genuinely grateful that this show has existed and been a part of my life for the past six years. 

Moreover, I credit this show for seriously getting into writing. I’ve actually written almost a million words of Riverdale fanfiction. Much of it will never see the light of day, but it exists. Maybe I even have one or two left in me, I don’t know. At the very least I’d like to finish a few uncompleted fics. But I’ve also branched out. Since I started seriously writing in 2017, I’ve also finished several original manuscripts, and who knows, maybe one day I’ll get one published. Stranger things have happened. 

So, thanks Roberto.

And thanks to all of the very cool people I’ve run into in this fandom. I honestly wish I’d gotten to know most of you better, but them’s the breaks. Hopefully this isn’t weird but I’m going to tag a few people in particular. 

@village-skeptic. I know you’re not in the fandom anymore (lucky you), but thank you for, once upon a time, reading every one of the 200,000+ words of a 17-year-old kid’s turgid, indulgent, Riverdale Spanish Civil War fan fiction. I never, ever would have finished that story without you, and I credit it with giving me the confidence to keep writing, and in fact to write everything I’ve written since then. You’re brilliant and awesome. 

@satelliteinasupernova. Thank you for also reading Interbellum (are we noticing a pattern), and more importantly for all of your wonderful drawings. INCLUDING fanart of some of my fics. You have no idea how happy that Strange Death of Elizabeth Cooper piece made me. You rule. 

@sullypants. You were a perennial presence on my feed. Always wonderful to see. I love your taste in art, and I love those ‘penguin classics’ covers you made for a few of my fics. Thank you also for beta reading a few fics for me back in the glory days. And thank you for chatting with me a couple times over the years, including a few times when I was in quite unhappy places. 

@stillhidden. I’m not sure if we’ve ever actually talked, but you like or reblog everything I post and it makes me feel like I’m not just shouting into the void. Same goes for @frauleinfunf Thank God for dutiful mutuals. 

@sonyascomet. I can’t remember when I started following you but you have a really good sense of humor. And I’ll always remember when you kept posting about “Greg” for Succession and I, not knowing anything about Succession, kept imagining Greg Heffley. 

@stillhidden thank you for your world-weary Riverdale posts. You truly understand fandom like few others.

@halcooper. Your devotion to the neglected parents of Riverdale is truly admirable. Every time I see Lochlyn Munro in some weird low budget horror movie I’ll think of you.

I hope I didn’t forget anyone who would be offended by my forgetting, but I doubt it. 

All this to say this show has been a genuinely huge part of my life for six years. SIX YEARS. I graduated college, my God. I wish I could say I became a millionaire or a successful author in that time, but nah. Maybe one day, but for now I’m just kind of vibing. And unfortunately, I’ll have to vibe without Riverdale from now on. 

But as I sit myself down to watch the very last episode of this show, I remind myself that we’ll always have the memories. And I’ll always be an unapologetic Riverdale enjoyer. As a great man once said, snakes don’t shed their skins so easily. 

[vivalavi-daa]

Fav 2022 K-Dramas/Movies

1. My Liberation Notes

About: Three siblings, exhausted by the monotony of day to day adulthood, seek to find fulfillment and freedom from their unremarkable lives

Honestly, no one did it like My Liberation Notes. The way they captured the mundane lives of adults, the longing for happiness, freedom, and the loneliness of it all. The way they depicted all that through raw lines, monologues, and even silence that gave even deeper meanings. To say I love this show is an understatement 🥺

2. Extraordinary Attorney Woo

About: Woo Young Woo, a woman on the spectrum that tackles challenges as a newbie at a top law firm

This show is popular for a reason. It has everything you could ask for in a kdrama: feel good vibes, heartwarming stories, heart-fluttering love, found family, and interesting characters (with brilliant acting). Although we couldn't expect Woo Young Woo to be representative for all people with autism (since autism is considered as a spectrum), but I love the way her portrayal in this show was educative while also really fun to watch 🤍

3. Twenty Five Twenty One

About: In a time where dreams seem out of reach, a teen fencer pursues her ambitions and meets a hardworking young man who seeks to rebuilds his life.

Couldn't express how much it's comforting to watch the two main characters build connection in the pursuit of happiness. The fact that these two people share different perspectives in life (one was hopeful & optimistic, while the other one was realistic) was its charm. Not to mention the growing bond of the friendship between them and their friends. Together, they make every scene seemed refreshing and entertaining to watch. It was truly an uplifting youth show that brightened last year's atmosphere ✨

4. Alchemy of Souls

About: A powerful sorceress in a blind woman's body encounters a man from a prestigious family, who wants her help to change his destiny.

Love, love the world building of this one! Also, the gripping love stories that took "I'll love every version of you" seriously 🥺. It was captivating how observant every characters in this show were & the way they unfold the stories. Even the action scenes portrayed like an art. Therefore, even though it has many episodes with long duration, I wasn't bored at all.

5. Little Women

About: Three sisters become embroiled in a major incident and face off against the wealthiest family in the nation

The fact that two of my fave actresses (Nam jihyun & Kim goeun) casted in one kdrama was such a dream!! It's a women centric kdrama i could say, from the way the main characters, writer, & director are all women <3. I love that it has such morally grey characters and a story that's full of intriguing misteries. It kept me on the edge of my seat.

6. 20th Century Girl

About: A teen girl has her eyes set on a boy for her lovesick best friend. However, things become complicated when she falls in love and is forced to choose between love and friendship

A heartening youth stories that every fan of 2521 should watch! Again, the plot seemed cliche but it still managed to enthralled you with sweet & fun interactions between the main characters, their growing romance, and what comes for them in the future. It was a rollercoaster of emotion but I really enjoyed it to end <3

7. Business Proposal

About: Hari, a regular employee, shows up to a blind date in disguise of her rich friend to scare him away. Things go awry when he turns out to be her CEO and makes a proposal.

Normally, a kdrama with a cliche plot and some cringe lines wasn't my piece of cake. But Business Proposal is something else I guess. It managed to make even the cliche plot entertaining to watch, still. I didn't expect that I'd laugh this much while watching this show, but I did. Their actings were so fun to watch and it's such a light kdrama that i enjoyed to watch.

Addition: Fav K-Drama (Not Released in 2022) that I've Watched Last Year

Prison Playbook

About: a legendary Korean baseball player whose life change after he chases a man who harasses his sister and finds himself spending a year in prison.

This is such a gem for a slice of life genre! From the director of Hospital Playlist & Reply series, you could expect some heartwarming feels coming from every characters' background stories. Despite the serious & harsh life we could thought of from prison life, this kdrama have many comical scenes, a series of roommates bickering, & such a moving found family. I wish the director would make more of these 🥺🤍

K-Drama Recommendations: 8/?

[fountainpenguin]

130 Reasons Why I'm Fairy Trash

🖤 Off the Rails Collection - Smaller FOP AUs

(August 2016 - Ongoing)

“Hey! Hey! Hey, do you mind? Watch the skin! Did your mother spend so much time writing books on how to raise a kid with bad manners, she forgot to tell you not to bathe your genies? My vest is tetrahydrochloride-wash only. Hey, if this is how you greet your guests, I’d hate to be around when you greet your enemies.” “Did- Did you just say ‘genie’? Like… You mean like the magical kind of genie?” “Ha! Heck no! I mean like the non-magical kind of genie. The cloud was all smoke and mirrors for the tourists, and I’m speaking to you right now from behind the curtain in the land of Oz.”

- A variety of tones, but likely some Angst, Fluff, & Drama

- I don't often write for these AUs because I'd like to wrap up existing projects, but if you see something that interests you, you're welcome to send Asks about it! I have a lot to say even if I haven't posted 'fics

Summary

Works that don't fall under the Cloudlands AU umbrella, and instead belong to less-written-for AUs. Swing by to sample random tastes, just for fun!

Potential for any rating, but these works are most likely G and T

Read these works on AO3

130 Sums | Full 130 Prompt Series (AO3) | Other Arcs

#ridwork guides - All my AU guides (for all my fandoms)

#130 arc guides - More posts like this

More Fairly OddParents 'fics

Only notable AUs have AU guides, but you can ask about warnings or worldbuilding if you like.

AUs at a Glance:

- Reedfilter Rules - A pixie named Thirty-Seven flirts his way up the corporate ladder to seize the Head Pixie position. Meanwhile, the Anti-Cosmo struggles to pick a ruling partner. They're also raising a kid together. Fewer animal instincts, messy fae lore! - Little Imperfections - Pixies with extra eusocial insect biology... H.P. is a figurehead whose life consists of staying home to birth and raise many pixie babies. Sanderson is his caretaker who might be a little too interested in "music" and "fun" for his own good. H.P. is captivated by his stories of "raves..." whatever those are. - A New Wish - Many works related to A New Wish (and New Wish AUs) will likely find their way here. I anticipate a separate polished series that follows a consistent canon, but Off the Rails will hold random one-offs that don't fit there. - King Me - Anti-Wanda was raised in royalty. Anti-Cosmo is some scrub who ran away to Pixie World when he was young. H.P. is desperate to set his two BFFs up. Anti-Cosmo has conversion disorder and can't fly because "it's illogical." Anti-Wanda makes many innuendos. - Pivotverse - Anti-Cosmo and Anti-Wanda are especially cruel towards their son (along with other world tweaks). In Cloudlands AU, this is the alt universe Foop ended up in after "Playdate of Doom" - A.J.'s Puzzles - Timmy considers A.J., not Chester, his best friend during "Fairy Idol," so Norm goes to college with A.J. The multi-chapter for this AU is titled Pulling Your Puzzles Apart after lyrics from the Coldplay song "The Scientist" (It's fully outlined and partly drafted; just haven't gotten around to finishing it) - Red and Gold - A study of Gary and Betty in a world where they meet at the Learnatorium and become close friends as teens, as opposed to their Cloudlands AU lives where they were raised together by the Pixies from age 8 (which I write about in a 'fic called Pink and Gray). Gary still lives with his mom in this AU, which... if you know anything about her, is Very Bad News. - Dust to Dust - My ChalkZone crossover AU, akin to Jimmy-Timmy Power Hour, but with Rudy and friends! I outlined a multi-chapter in 2016 to decide if it was worth writing and I wasn't captivated by it, but it might be fun to write snippets now and then. I still have a WIP of Rudy and H.P. arguing over Rudy being "too busy" to file universal paperwork, haha. - Nicktoons Unite - At the time of making this post, I'm not familiar with Nicktoons Unite, but you never know. - Other FOP Spin-Offs - Works for the Grow Up Timmy Turner & Fairly Odder series, if I ever write anything for them. Ex: Timmy as a fairy, or a Turner family reunion told through Viv or Roy's eyes. And who knows what else!

Read these works on AO3

"'That's not healthy,' they said, 'to live in your head,' but it hurts a lot less to me ... It's a little bit cliché, but I love it anyway!" (x)

[total-feminism-takes]

Courtney Lesbian anon vision:

SOMEONE MAKE A MUSICAL FOR ME PLEASE! Instead of season World Tour and All-Stars along with the Total Drama Pahkitew Island, Blaineley basically stole the plane and all the cast members those seasons! She was like I refuse to let these kids suffer any longer and my lawyers will handle my actions later!

Plus add Brick into it please!

Blaineley is the director, producer, and the song writer of said Musical!

Ella and Courtney being rivals everyone else assumed- but no wrong! They are like sisters singing their little hearts out together and doing vocal warmups always! Ella keeps Courtney in check like this:

Courtney no screaming or yelling remember your voice needs rest! You are Princess since the first season ever since who shall not be named said so! As a Princess you must rest up and help me get ready for the musical!

Courtney aggrievedly pushed anyone and everyone who tried to tell Ella she's annoying like this:

At least she has talent! Her voice is gift from God! And I do happen to like her singing and yes, I do think she's my friend unlike you at the moment!

Blaineley puts a crown of shame and puts you in the corner you try fight her stars!

Aka Leshawna, Eva, Staci, Sugar, Courtney, Ella, Sammy, and Heather- who actually take it very seriously, know their lines by heart, and enjoy singing!

I don't about the guys there just there too? Brick actually loves to sing and helps the girls sewing their costumes!

Scott is nervous about singing because he thinks he bad at it! (He is not he just gets nervous around Courtney and afraid of the other boys judging super hard!)

Blaineley the Musical! Something like this:

A Star is Born: The Ballad of Blaineley

(Verse 1)

In the glimmering spotlight, a diva takes the stage

Blaineley commands attention, turning every page

With glamour and charm, she captivates the crowd

Her allure so captivating, her beauty so profound

(Chorus)

Blaineley, oh Blaineley, a star that shines so bright

She's the queen of drama, in the spotlight's light

With every flutter of her eyelash, every graceful move

Blaineley dazzles us all, we can't help but approve

(Verse 2)

From the Total Drama series, she rose to fame

With her wit and her style, she played the game

Though some may try to bring her down, she'll always rise

For Blaineley is a force to be reckoned with, to everyone's surprise

(Chorus)

Blaineley, oh Blaineley, a star that shines so bright

She's the queen of drama, in the spotlight's light

With every flutter of her eyelash, every graceful move

Blaineley dazzles us all, we can't help but approve

(Bridge)

So let the music soar, let her voice fill the air

Blaineley's story is one of flair

She's a diva, a legend, a star in her own right

Blaineley's presence shines through the darkest night

Imagine it!

All the girls in Blaineley style wigs and the boys in Josh wigs or something funny and bit silly like that!

Just fun fluffy teens trying to do a musical!

- 🧡

[girlsdads]

Hello! If you like to read, who's your favorite author of all time? What's your favourite book? If you don't like to read, can you recommend me a movie or a music album? :)

Hi anon! I’m really flattered that you thought to ask me for book recs 🥹 Hope you or someone finds this helpful!! 🫶

One of my favorite books of all time is actually a YA novel- A Certain Slant of Light by Laura Whitcomb. Love story with a ghostly twist. Changed my LIFE as a teen. Still holds up as an adult.

My fave from more recent years is The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah. Period drama, Great Depression era, Dust Bowl. Strong female characters. Made me SOB.

My favorite series right now is definitely A Court Of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J Maas. These books are definitely hate them or love them. EYE personally love the world-building and storyline and hotsexy characters but what do I know 🙄 Would encourage haters to give em a chance.

Psychological Thrillers/Crime/Etc.

Behind Her Eyes by Sarah Pinborough. FUCKED ME UP. BLEW MY MIND.

Survive the Night and Lock Every Door, both by Riley Sager. Easy reads, lots of suspense.

And Then She Was Gone by Lisa Jewell. Storytelling at its finest!!!! Anything by Lisa Jewell is perfect.

The Crow Girl by Erik Axl Sund. Deeply chilling and so good. (cw sexual abuse of a minor)

Period Romance

Anything by Cat Sebastian. Most of her books are m/m but she’s got some variety. Tender bodice rippers. (Faves: The Soldier’s Scoundrel 😏, We Could Be So Good)

A Marvellous Light by Freya Marske. m/m. Fantastic Beasts vibes. Heart-achingly good.

Captive Prince trilogy by C S Pacat. The GOAT. m/m. (cw sexual abuse of minors, very dubious consent situations, sexual slavery)

The Perks of Loving a Wallflower by Erica Ridley. f/f. We love gay girlbosses in victorian era England.

Contemp. Romance

The Charm Offensive by Alison Cochrun. m/m. The Bachelor but give it a gay happy ending.

The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang. m/f. “Practice sex.” Sizzling 🥵

Boyfriend Material by Alexis Hall. m/m. Fake relationship, grumpy/sunshine, all the tropes.

The Ex Talk by Rachel Lynn Solomon. m/f. Lots of banter, only one bed 😳

[magicalyaku]

Why is it October already and why am I still talking about books I read in April?! I'm like half a year behind in time than the rest of the universe. So let's make this quick, eh? The theme of this part is Gay Adult Fiction series, my comfort food. uAu

The Prince's Assassin series (Ariana Nash): I picked this up on a whim, at the end of April when I was in a slump, and then I read all 3 books and the novella in about a week. It's good! In the beginning, it has quite a few parallels to Captive Prince but I didn't mind and it quickly becomes its own story. There's magic and elves (who are very different from what you usually imagine as 'elves') and some dark themes. I liked reading it a lot and I enjoyed Nico as a character. That he actually walked away from Vasili when it got too much. And that just when I thought "how often will you repeat this?" they worked it out. :D

The Paladin's Shadow & The Sword-Witch's Heart (Radiance 2+3) (Tavia Lark): The easy-going ones, here they are! Not much different to say from the other books I read by this author. Enjoyable adventure, romance that works, good world-building. For the third book, I was very apprehensive to read about the second protagonist because I didn't like him when he appeared in the second book. But suprisingly, he got better and I ended up liking book 3 a lot more than book 2. The series got new covers recently btw. These look a lot better than the old ones. :'D

The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen & The Nobleman's Guide to Seducing a Scoundrel (The Doomsday Books 1+2) (KJ Charles): Omg, so much fun. I loved reading the first book, so 4 days waiting for the second volume to be delivered was testing my patience really hard. yAy It's fun and at times suprisingly dark (as in people die) and I really like the portrayal of the marsh, as a place, as a home. That was the one piece I missed a little in the second book, but otherwise I liked that one just as much. Can't go wrong with KJ Charles. :)

Running Close to the Wind (Alexandra Rowland): As it turns out, we started with the darkest and end with the funniest book. :'D This one is not exactly a series, but set in the same world and slightly connected to the events of the author's previous novel A Taste of Gold and Iron. This one took me by surprise. It's hugely different than its predecessor but so much fun! It's a comedy, really, and a smart one at that, despite it consisting 70% of dirty jokes. (There are no explicit scenes, though!) I enjoyed reading every second of it. It's just great. Good characters, smart writing and dialogue, adventure, absurdity. Highly recommended.

There's still 4 more books on my list but I just decided that I don't to need to talk about them much, so have one (or three) sentence(s) for each and then be done with it:

Snow Boys (Simon Doyle): Cute, contemporary story with coming out drama and family drama. Why does it change covers so often?

A Spark of Magic (Tari Riley): Self-published fantasy story with a budding romance between a teen witch and an accidental merboy, first book of a series, was pretty okay. The only thing that irked me was how they were constantly grabbing things (instead of taking them or picking them up or fetching them ...). :'D

Only Mostly Devastated prequel novella (Sophie Gonzales): Of course, I've already forgotten everything about the main story except the main points and that I enjoyed it, yet it was easy enough to get into the prequel.

The Cat Who Saved Books (Sosuke Natsukawa): I didn't like it, because it's not about the cat but the usual Japanese teenage manga protagonist, but because it's a novel instead of a manga suddenly it's great and serious? My ass. It makes some good points about our modern reading habits but is very simplified, and if you let me talk any further, I will only rage about every single point that annoyed me, so I stop. :)

[dangermousie]

Watching Captivating the King made me think of the best and yet the most depressing entrant into the “came for revenge stayed for love” genre - Royal Nirvana.

That drama is EVERYTHING - I will always love Luo Jin and Li Yitong because of their roles in this. It’s not even primarily a love story (it is a devolution story - it’s a story of watching a good capable man being slowly and inexorably ground down and no matter how he sacrifices his humanity never being able to outmonster monsters around him) but the two of them gut me in the best worst way.

Fair warning though - I have been watching dramas since 2006 and it’s the most depressing drama I’ve ever seen. You know me and my angst tolerance - this is one of only three cdramas that maxed it out (the other two being The Myth and Ji Ye’s arc in late teens-20s eps of NEF.) And like with The Myth, the ending makes none of it better (well, maybe if you stop at the drama itself and not the 12ep sequel, you are OK.)

[kareenvorbarra]

AO3 fic meme

tagged by @heckofabecca!

Rules: go to your AO3 account and find the following:

1. What rating do you write most of your fics under?

Teen And Up Audiences

2. What are your top three fandoms?

The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth still holds the top spot with 34, The Queen's Thief is starting to close in with 22, and Vorkosigan Saga is a pretty distant third with 6. One day I will get back to my Silmarillion and Vorkosigan WIPs...

3. What is the top character you write about?

Kamet, who appears in 13 of my 22 Queen's Thief fics! He's a star

4. What are the top three pairings you write about?

If I take out the "Minor or Background Relationship(s)" tag, which I have used four times (all Silmarillion Gen fics where two members of a canon couple interacted, but the focus wasn't really on the ship), that leaves me with:

Nahuseresh/Original Female Character (5)

Kamet/Marin (4)

Marin/Nahuseresh (3)

5. What are the top three additional tags?

Slavery (23), which includes every single one of my QT fics (lmao) plus one Silmarillion fic, The Carpenter's Son

Pre-Canon (9)

Family Drama (8)

all of which feel extremely typical for me

6. Did any of this surprise you?

At first I was a little surprised by all my top characters and ships being from Queen's Thief, but when I think about it more it makes sense. I had a few different groups of Silmarillion characters that I wrote about, and with QT it's really one particular set of characters that have captivated me so far. I also wrote mostly Gen fic for the Silmarillion - the top Silm ship on the list is Huor/Rian, with 2.

I'm tagging @child-of-hurin, @chthonic-cassandra, @vardasvapors, and @saelind-edain

[makedonsgriva]

Hi again @makedonsgriva . If you don't mind me asking, can I ask, what are your top 7 favorite media (can be books/ manga/ anime/movies/tv series/etc) and your top 7 favorite ships (can be canon or non canon) from any media? Why do you love them? Sorry if you've answered this questions before and if I ask too much.....

Hi @dnana-2809-blog !!! Thank you for the ask. I don’t mind answering your questions at all and you are always welcome to send more asks in my inbox ^_^

Top 7 favorite media (in no particular order)

1. Attack On Titan

I can never ever move on from this story. The plot twists??? The characters??? Zero fan service and filler episodes and being just straight to the point??? And the PLOT!?! HELLO??? THE PLOT IS SO GODDAMN GOOD????

Attack on Titan is truly a fantastic story about war, humanity, sacrifice and above all, love. On the surface level, it seems like every other shonen anime out there but its depth is truly incomparable. No media I’ve watched comes close to it.

2. Captive Prince Trilogy

I think I read this series for the first time back in 2018-19 and it absolutely rocked my world??? I reread it almost every year now because holy shit??? I’ve never read a better enemies to forced allies to friends to lovers to divorced but forced allies to lovers to im gonna die for this man???

Also the plot??? CS Pacat knew how hard they cooked and ate with Captive Prince. The world building, the characters, the plot twists, politics, the drama??? I M M A C U L A T E.

I highly recommend it to everyone who has not read it but please check the trigger warnings for this trilogy before you start.

(Pls let me know the artist yall so I can edit this and credit the artist!)

3. Carry On Trilogy

I don’t think I’ve ever been as emotionally attached to a series as I’ve been to Carry On. Like Simon, Baz and Penny were exactly who I needed as an awkward teen dealing with a lot of bs. I saw this trilogy being completed in front of my eyes. I can’t tell you how healing and rewarding it was for me to read Any Way The Wind Blows. 2020 was the most horrific, heartbreaking nightmare for me and I think a part of me healed when I read AWTWB in 2021. When I saw that Simon and Baz were going to be okay, I understood that I would okay too. It wasn’t going to be easy, but it would happen.

Sorry I think I got too personal but I just have so much love for this series and the way it showed healing and love and friendship. It’s so special to me ❤️

4. Tian Guan Ci Fu

A very recent addition but I just know it’s going to be one of those series I’m going to spend the rest of my life loving. I’m such a sucker for stories that are, at the end of the day, about love. About knowing how vicious and shitty this world is but being kind is what makes all the difference. About learning from past mistakes and about making a future, no matter how late that future comes.

It also gave me Xie Lian. You guys don’t understand just how much I love Xie Lian. I can go to war for that man, okay. I can follow him through hell. I will protect that man with my life.

5. The Good Place

It’s been a while since I watched this show but I do remember just how deeply it impacted me and permanently altered my brain chemistry.

The characters were all so unique and coming from such different backgrounds and with really interesting backstories. The growth we witnessed for them over the four seasons was phenomenal. Especially for Eleanor. And Michael. God I fucking love Michael.

Everything about this show was top notch. I think I will need to make a whole separate post talking about the philosophy of this show. I think this is one of those shows that everyone needs to watch at least once in their life.

6. Fleabag

Fleabag will always be superior. The main character is one of my all time favorites and I think it tells a really great, bittersweet story of coming to terms with your own flaws. It’s a story about life but not the entirety of it because we just get to witness a very small portion of Fleabag’s life. Her mistakes are colossal but her life is too big to be defined by it. Yes she is a raging cunt but yes I love her to death and her story too. The humour, the fourth wall breaking, the emotions… all of it make fleabag the amazing show it is.

7. Yuri On Ice

My first anime ever. The feelings it gave me is incomparable to any other. News of its movie cancellation was beyond devastating.

(As I type it out, the theme song is playing in my head..)

I can’t begin to emphasise just how important this anime is for queer representation in mainstream anime because while this anime is about ice skating, yes, above all it’s about love. How it makes us better, how it brings out the best version of ourselves, how it sustains and pushes us forward. And that love just so happens to be between two men. It’s just so heartwarming.

It was so so important for me as a young queer person still struggling with their identity and wanting to fit in. Yuri On Ice was so important for me and still is.

(Fuck I miss Yuri and Viktor)

As this post has already got too long, I will answer your ship question in a separate post! I will make sure to tag you when I do :)