#this whole article was insane and i'll post more but this

[vetteldixon]

Scott Dixon's certainly up there talent-wise with any of them. If anything is going to hold him back it's his personality. The British Racing Drivers Club wanted to give him the Bruce McLaren Award, which they give every year to the young driver who best represents what Bruce was about. He didn't even return their phone calls, so they gave it to Mark Webber instead...It's not arrogance, it's shyness. He grew up in a very small community. He doesn't like the limelight and it holds him back.

— Indy Lights president Roger Bailey to AutoWeek, August 2001

[spookysteddie]

Text Me The Details

Modern!Rockstar!Eddie Munson x Influencer!fem!reader

18+ MINORSDNI

cw: gossip magazines, reader being horny on a live stream, cocky!Eddie, drinking, drugs mention

a/n: I kinda want this to be a series? So expect a part two at some point. But yeah this isn't an original idea so, credit to literally everyone who's done this before me. I gave reader a last name because if I have to write y/l/n one more time I'll sob. ANYWAY I hope you all enjoy and let me know if you like this!

WC: 1.2k

...

You are never drinking again. Ever.

Your management would agree after what happened last night. You didn’t mean to spill the secret you’d been keeping. It wasn’t even that big of a deal, however, you had an image to keep up. The party girl, the kind one, the one with lots of friends, the girl who had good grades in college, the one who always donated most of her fortune to various organizations. 

Now, every tabloid was writing articles about your celebrity crush. 

Party girl and influencer drunkenly admits she’d love to sleep with lead singer of Corroded Coffin Eddie Munson. Sources have said they’ve been together for a while but decided to keep it under wraps. 

The dating portion of that article wasn’t true and you silently vow to figure out who the fuck these ‘sources’ were. However, you admitting to wanting to fuck Eddie… did happen. You have no one to blame but yourself. 

Now, there are three reasons why you’re so stressed about this. First, even though you party all the time, you were good. You know, like only went out on the weekends, did every single assignment, tutored people on the side, was probably the most unproblematic influencer out there. Second, the last thing you wanted was Eddie Munsons attention. You had this thing where you didn’t want the people you were fans of to perceive you. 

Theoretically you knew they did, most of them followed you on social media. But there was a difference between being a fan of someone, and them semi-knowing you vs your actual crush who you own a poster or two of? That makes you want to throw up and pass out at the same time. 

But, finally, the third reason this stressed you out was because Eddie and his crew were not good. You know like, partied every single day, smoked a lot of weed and snorted coke off of his groupies and fans. It was all over the tabloids and the band has even posted about it a time or two. You didn’t do that. And if the tabloids caught you doing that, you’d lose everything you worked towards.

“So this is how we’re going to fix it,” Case, your manager, says from where she’s standing next to the fireplace in your apartment. “You’re gonna go back on live and say it was an accident.” 

You look up from the article you were reading, eyes finding his. “That is the worst idea ever. I was tipsy not black out drunk. No one will ever believe that was an accident.” You huff, locking your phone, “and I have tickets to their show next week.” 

You loved your team, but sometimes they made the most insane comments on how to fix the unfixable. 

You stand, pacing the room, “he isn’t one to read gossip magazines. And-and I’m not on the same level as his band. They’re A listers and I’m C list at best.” 

Your manager and publicist look like fish after what you said. Anna, your publicist speaks first, “I swear to god if you ever say that again I am uppin your therapy appointments. You hear me?” 

You huff, sitting back down on the couch, “I’m not kidding though. I’m not giving up this ticket. It’s one of the few things I’m looking forward to.” 

Case answers after rubbing her temples, “you better pray this blows over without him seeing it. You may party but his partying is a whole other level.” 

… 

The call came two days later, an unknown number popping up on your phone. 

You knew, you knew before you even accepted the call who’d be on the other end of the line. 

It felt like it started in slow motion, first came the gossip mags with the original story. Then came Eddie following you on instagram. He’d like a few photos and stories you put up. Then came his interview. The interview where he said, “of course I know who she is. I’m flattered really. I hear she’s a sweet girl.” 

Now, your phone is buzzing in your hand and you can’t bring yourself to answer the phone. 

“Yes just a fucking person. Just like you’re a person. Answer the phone.” You look down at the phone and are thankful it’s just you in your house. You tap the answer button, a fake smile on your face, as you put the phone to your ear. 

“Hello?” you use your best interview voice, the one Anna has drilled into you. 

You can hear him breathe in before letting it out, long and slow, it’s clear he took a drag of his cigarette. Is he nervous too? There’s no way. Eddie always seemed to be this cool and calm guy, never afraid of anything or anyone. He gets into more fights in a week than you have in your entire 25 years of existence. 

“Good afternoon, Miss Asher.” You can hear the grin in his voice and it sends a shiver down your spine, your heart pounding in your chest. “It’s Eddie.” 

He didn’t have to introduce himself to you, you’d be able to pick out his voice in a crowded room. But only because you’ve listened to his music so often… only reason. 

“Oh! Hi! I’m s-surprised to hear from you.” You cringe at the stutter that came out of you. You had more than enough practice dealing with any situation thrown at you. From the funny to the uncomfortable to the scary. You were trained for this and you were fucking it up. “How can I help you?” 

“The band and I will be in town next friday, we’re playing a show.” You know where this is going and it makes your heart beat faster, so fast you’re scared it’ll burst. “I was wonderin’ if you were goin’?”

Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck.

“I am, actually. Me and a few of my friends actually.” You rub your hands down your sweatpants, nerves making them sweat. 

“Oh! Well that is fantastic,” his tone is chipper as hell and you know he’s high. On what, you have no idea. “I was thinkin’ that maybe ya friends and you’d wanna join us backstage. VIP area for the show? What cha think?” 

All of sudden you forget how the english language works, your tongue sticking to the roof of your mouth. This is what you’ve been wanting for so long. Well, in your dreams of course. But looking at it from a business perspective, it could bring his fans to your page and your fans to his page. It was kind of a win win. Well, win win lose because then Corroded coffin knows who the actual fuck you are and you arent just some fan. And that, terrified you,  

“Heeeeeeello? Are you there?” 

His voice breaks through your clogged mind, forcing you to respond. 

“Hi, sorry. I’m here! I um I got distracted. But, yeah that sounds great, actually. We-we’d love that.” 

“Good! I will have my people call your people, yeah?” 

“O-or you can just send me the information,” you say it before thinking and now you really want to punch yourself. 

He chuckles to himself, “okay, sweetheart, I’ll text you the information. See you next friday.” 

He hangs up before you can say another fucking stupid thing. You press the phone into your hands, foot bouncing on the floor with nerves. You can think of seven different ways that conversation could’ve (and should’ve) happened. One of which was with your entire team, another being with your friends, another being with your parents. Not alone to make a fool out of yourself. Your management team was really going to kill you.

[hazelsmirrorball]

Rockstar Girlfriend VI. | Hazel Callahan

Rockstar! Hazel Callahan x Popstar! Reader

Summary: Hazel Callahan and Y/n L/n have to be in a pr relationship, but both of them can stand each other. 

Warnings: Enemies to lovers! Enemies to lovers! Enemies to lovers! Angst, Fight (not physical) Not proof read. Sorry for any mistakes, English isn't my main language. 

a/n: I’m back after a while!! Sorry for being MIA. I don't know how to feel about this but I'm really thankful for all the support. Lots of new things coming soon. love you guys.

part one. part two. part three. part four. part five.

The tour was canceled. 

Everything Y/n had worked for went down the drain. Not only had she lost the tour she risked everything for, but she had lost her bandmates' trust. They were losing followers by the minute and receiving hate left and right. All that success she had gained because of Hazel was almost gone. 

The moment everyone found out about Hazel's outburst, the show was canceled with a blink of an eye. They could hear the cries and screams of fans outside. Y/n couldn’t bear to listen, she felt bad, guilty even. Management said that her band couldn’t perform because they were only the openers, so karma was biting her ass quickly.    

But after one show became two and then two became five, management canceled the whole tour, every single date. They claimed that they couldn’t do anything without Hazel, their star. Y/n tried to be positive that maybe Hazel was joking around and that she was going to come back but when management canceled the tour, her feet finally hit the floor. The tour was over before it even started. The hop of the wave of success both bands were having was cut short. The most anticipated tour of the year was canceled due to mental health issues from one of the band members. That was what got posted on the band's page and every news article. 

But Hazel made it her job for people to know that, that wasn’t the case. If the tour was canceled she wanted people to know the real reason, no more tricks, no more lies and no more fake love. Y/n felt her heart stop when her phone started to blow up with notifications and her eyes landed on a video Hazel had posted on instagram after being MIA for two weeks. 

That was when “Mean” was born. 

“Hi guys! I know I’ve been gone for a while and all of a sudden the tour got canceled. But I’m here to tell you guys that we are currently working to get your back running again. This time we decided it was best to get new openers. Anyways, on my little break I decided to write this song I really hope you guys enjoy!” Hazel said to the camera starting to strum her guitar. Y/n felt her heart drop every second that passed by. If she was already losing everything with a blink of an eye it wouldn’t surprise Y/n if what was left of her career ended just because of that song. 

hazel.callahan via instagram

liked by bottomstheband, y/nnn, and others

hazel.callahan rehearsals for tour are the shit! I missed this a lot, can't wait for tour to start <3

view all 1,550 comments

hazelsbottoms she's backkkkkkkk

user101 mother is back, hope tour doesn't get cancelled this time.

pjandhazeparis sorry to disappoint but I'll be a groupie for life

bottomsupdates why is y/n lurking in the likes? hasn't she done enough

| ynloveshazel please leave y/n alone

| bottomsupdates she's the one lurking her comments

Hazel had uploaded an acoustic version of a song she had written through her break in an attempt for people to understand what she was going through. It was something new, different from the songs she was used to writing for herself and other people. The song quickly took the world by storm gaining everyone’s attention. Fans had caught up quickly with who the song was written for, making it their job to make Y/n’s life a living hell. Her band's account was barely existent by the minute and management was going insane.

Y/n couldn’t let things slide. She had three options, let her pr team do everything for her, clap back and deny the allegations, or attempt to do a song just like Hazel did. The thing was, Y/n was already used to Hazel’s constant help writing songs and honestly she kinda missed spending midnights with her writing songs. She missed how Hazel would slowly touch her skin in an attempt to get her attention or how she got lost in her blue eyes while she tried to explain the chorus of the song. Y/n missed Hazel. She hated herself for running things with her. Things were finally different, this time Y/n didn’t hate Hazel, Hazel just hated Y/n. 

She was going to make things right, possibly ending her career. But it was worth it. If Hazel heard the song, she could lose everything and she wouldn’t care. 

Y/n propped her camera hitting record while sitting in front of it, letting out a sigh. She slowly strummed the guitar she barely knew how to play but all she could think of was all the times Hazel had attempted to teach her how to play it.

“This song is for someone special in my life that I treated so badly. I know I fucked up and I wished I could go back to december, they day I met you and start all over”

y/n's instagram

liked by bottomstheband, ynnnn, and others

y/nnn but if we loved again, I swear I’d love you right

comments have been deactivated

Y/nnn let out a sigh as she looked at her phone flooding with notifications. At least if she was gone for social media, she was certain Hazel had heard the song. Maybe she could get another chance or another life where they could get together with no mistakes.  Y/n’s thoughts got interrupted by a harsh knock on her door. She quickly walked towards it, ready to face her neighbor. But she felt her heart drop when she noticed the familiar blue eyes she had fallen in love with. Y/n’s eyes wandered all over her trying to tell if she was real or an act of her imagination due to the lack of sleep. But as the words slipped out of her mouth she knew it was all reality. 

“My guitar.” Hazel replied, playing with her feet. Y/n furrowed her eyebrows and looked at her confused. 

“What do you mean, my guitar? How do you know where I live?” Y/n responded leaning against the doorframe trying to get a better look at Hazel. 

“My guitar. You have my lucky guitar, I saw it in the video you posted. Now, can you please give it back” 

“No.”

“What do you mean no? It’s mine, L/n.”

“You don’t speak to me, drop a diss track on my name and expect me to give you back you guitar” Y/n exclaimed while looking at Hazel with a surprised look on her face. 

“Are you insane? You do know that all of this is not my fault, right? I was willing to do anything for you but you preferred the fame over me. You fucked up your own career and you fucked up with me. Yet, I came here, to your apartment and you still want to act like the victim instead of saying your sorry. You know what stays with the stupid guitar. I don’t want it anyway. You want to play a game that I’m really tired of playing. I really don't understand why are you like this.” Hazel exclaimed loudly pulling on her hairs.

"I like you Hazel and I'm like this because I know I screwed up the only good thing in my life" Y/n said loudly leaving Hazel with her mouth wide open not knowing what say.

At least he got the chance he desperately needed.  

thank you for reading

previous part.

[mrs-gauche]

Hey guys! 🙂 It's the end of 2024 and I realized today I haven't posted on here since finishing Veilguard.

Well, to make it short.. since then, I've spent a lot of time thinking about it, replaying it, watching my friends who are DA casuals and not into fandom play it (which was very enlightening but also hilarious 😂), so now.. I feel like I'm at a point where I know exactly what my issues with this game are and I've made peace with it. I still love Dragon Age! And I love parts of Veilguard and I had a ton of fun playing it (though probably for all the wrong reasons 🥲). When I first finished the game, I cried tears of happiness that after ten years my favorite character actually somehow got a beautiful Happy Ending and closure, but also tears of sorrow that this marks the end of the story that was set up back in 2009.. and tears of mourning that this story had all the potential to be so so SO much more.

Dragon Age is a very weird franchise in that all the games have been, in many ways, vastly different from each other and to be a fan of the whole series means to recognize all its flaws and changes, but still loving it because of its unique core elements that glue it together and make it so special. I could sit here for hours trying to put into words what I think went wrong with Veilguard, but I know many people have already done so far more eloquently than I ever could. This blog was always meant to be just a positive little corner to share my love for these games and silly VA stuff with other people and I'm sure I will eventually reblog all the two million posts I've liked over the past month, both positive and critical. But for now and the new year, I want to focus my time and energy on just being creative, getting back to drawing and trying to realize ideas about DA I've had for a looong time and that's my way of "emotionally recovering" (that sounds so dramatic 😂). 💜

With that being said... What a crazy decade year it has been for me personally in this fandom... So I want to look back at it, just some rambling under the cut, 'cause I'm a little sentimental now, I guess. 🥲

Before I created this blog, I was mostly just a lurker on here for many years, despite being a fan of BioWare games since.. uh.. forever? lol But I was always waaay too insecure about my English, let alone my own art. I also have social anxiety, so maybe that was part of the reason why I decided to finally create this blog at a time when the fandom was at its most dormant? lol (There is also a whole separate post for another day about how Mass Effect influenced me personally and how it made my biggest dream come true, the enormous honor to voice a few NPCs in (the German version of) Andromeda. Still the craziest thing to ever happen to me. lol)

So, seeing all the crazy excitement and the fandom fully revived this year and all these months leading up to Veilguard was both incredibly overwhelming, but also the most fun I've ever had as being part of a fandom! This year also marked the first time I posted my own art online and I can't even put into words how crazy it was seeing the response to that and I still can't believe that Trick Weekes not only commented on but also reposted it, that is still f*cking insane to me and I'll never forget the morning I woke up to see that. lmao

So yeah.. THAT happened. Followed by what I think has to be one of the weirdest, craziest marketing campaigns I've ever seen. lol Going back to 2022, we truly had it all...

A title announcement on a random Thursday that was probably done so that it would not be confused with the Netflix series announced a few days later. A tie-in comic more than a year before release that was... a little pointless? lol A vinyl collection that spoiled the composers a year before release. A title change literally two days before the first trailer. A reveal trailer that left many in shock because of its tone shift and complete lack of the former title character. A line of Game Informer articles that left us often times with more questions than answers. Every single article being deleted the very next month due to GI shutting down. An actor panel at SDCC happening right as Sag Aftra went on strike. A "fandom" party that had nothing to do with Dragon Age. Jason Derulo. An artbook that accidentally revealed the release date with its pre-order, which was then deleted. Twice. Memes about roadmaps. A second trailer that in hindsight probably should've been the first one. An audio drama by a different writing team with some baffling (but funny) lore mistakes. A combat showcase starting off with a disclaimer that "footage had been edited due to spoilers"... followed by THE biggest spoiler in literally the first ten seconds. The first IGN video with super spoilery dev commentary. A hand-on preview event with 140 people leading to spoilers galore... Did I mention spoilers? lol

That was when I stopped looking at stuff online, so I don't know what happened after that, but WOW, what a crazy ride that was. 🥲 Truly a DA4 Summer to remember and I'm unironically so grateful to have witnessed it in real time with all of you. 😂

Then finally, after ten flippin years of tinfoiling, speculating, reading crazy development stories and clowning around at every gaming live event, Veilguard was finally released and it will probably go down as the most emotionally charged Halloween of my life. lmao

Then it was time to actually play The Veilguard. Which took me about a month.

A month filled with what I can only describe as a crazy rollercoaster of conflicting emotions. Aside from everything having to do with Solas, I'd say my personal highlights of the entire experience was seeing Felassan (I screamed), the PHOTO MODE and even one hilarious "breaking the fourth wall" moment, where I would frantically run around in Elgar'nan's trap in "Blood of Arlathan", to a point where I would yell at the screen "SOLAS, I COULD USE SOME HELP NOW, HELLO???" and hearing his flippin voice literally two seconds later going "Yes, you called?" and I freaked out so hard I dropped the controller. 😂😂😂 Also, as someone who romanced Alistair in my first playthrough of DAO and brought him to the final battle not knowing he would sacrifice himself, you can imagine my flashbacks when I saw Davrin dying at Tearstone.. who I had romanced. 💀 Or the Dark Ritual flashbacks when I saw Morrigan wanting to talk to me right before the final mission. lol Getting the Felassan rune actually made me tear up a little. There are many little moments like that that I loved or that made me emotional, but ultimately.. Veilguard is a game that, for all the amazing graphics and cutscenes and flashy combat.. the more I think about the story and the lore (or lack thereof), the more I end up confused and trying to figure out what it is that's breaking the immersion to me in a way that the previous games didn't.

But anyway... I finished Veilguard, though the DA craziness of 2024 wasn't over just yet and I didn't know that the best was yet to come in December. lol

So.. Years ago, one of the main reasons I created this blog was to make silly "appreciation posts" about Solas' German VA and ramble on about my love for his performance.. I even remember making a post on here like three years ago talking about how I would sadly never EVER get a chance to meet his VA personally, because that man never ever goes to any fan conventions or public events. lol

Well... GUESS WHO I MET AT THE GERMAN COMIC CON EARLIER THIS MONTH!!!

YES GUYS, without sounding like a weirdo (because despite my obsession with voice acting, I don't care for VAs social accounts or anything beyond their work as a VA), but after years of jokingly referring to this blog as the "Ozan Ünal Appreciation Blog", and kinda the reason I made this blog in the first place, I finally met the man himself and it was probably the best friggin fan experience I could've wished for. 🥲🥲🥲

See, I've met a lot of different VAs at Cons before, who were all super nice and awesome to talk to.. but let me tell you, this guy has such an incredibly contagious positive attitude and charm!! lol Me and my friend were literally the last to stand in line at his booth before the event closed, there were TONS of people (there were quite a few VAs at the Con, but his booth had BY FAR the most people in line the whole day lol) and yet he made sure to take the time to talk with every single person, asking questions, was genuinely interested in our opinions, joking around and just generally SO FRIGGIN NICE. And he's just a very chill and funny dude? lol

And it was so funny, because there were SO many people and yet apparently I was the only person that day to talk to him about DA and Solas and he was SO excited about it 😂😂😂 (I bet like 90% of the fans talked to him about his VA work on Vampire Diaries, The Big Bang Theory, Gravity Falls and Nicholas Hoult lol).

And of course, because DA4 happened so recently, it was still fresh in his memory. He told us that he even watched some Let's Plays and asked what we thought of the game and I'm still laughing so hard, because he was literally like "Oh yeah, the lore is MASSIVE and it was so overwhelming and I could barely keep up with it, the whole time I had no idea what I was talking about.. like, what exactly IS Mythal??" LMAOOO His performance for Solas was so good and so convincing and now I'll always have to picture him standing in the recording booth, no flippin clue what he's actually talking about. lmaoo And then my friend was pointing at me like "She's actually a walking lore encyclopedia" and then he was like "Oh, you should've been in the booth then!" lol

And I'm actually quite upset on his behalf now, because he also told us how, when the English VAs were officially announced, he had actually made a post on social media about how he was returning for Solas in DA4 and how he got in so much trouble for that because EA told him they were going to make an official announcement.... AND THEN THEY NEVER DID??? Like, I was desperately waiting for an announcement about the German voice cast and they simply never made one, we literally had to wait for the credits to be published? (Also, the German and French version have only one female and one male voice for Rook and no one knows what happened there, we tried to contact them about it, but no response so far?? It's like they don't even care.) That's EA for you...

Anyway, we then chatted a bit more about his other work and stuff and he recorded an audio for me (I actually got him to say the "Vir shiral malasa, bellanaris" GUYS AND IT SOUNDS SO GOOD, like I was so nervous, asking "Could you do elven..?" and he was like "Sure, it's been a year, might be a bit rusty" and then he just knocked it out of the park?? lmao So I have both Lavellan's AND Solas' WEDDING VOWS NOW. 😭😭😭❤❤❤❤❤)

So yeah, that was my meeting with Ozan flippin Ünal and what an awesome guy and amazing VA and what an "epic conclusion" of this year of the Dragon (Age) 2024. lol And the timing feels so strange now, because, in a way, it feels kinda like coming full circle?

Like I said in the beginning, for years I was always mainly a lurker in the fandom and the reason why I created this blog was to join in on the hype/speculation train for DA4 and to talk about Solas' German and French voices and share my silly edits and gifs. And now I've played Veilguard AND I've met Ozan Ünal.. both things that, at some point, I wasn't sure were ever going to happen.....

So.. In terms of my fandom experience, this year was crazy and whatever 2025 brings and whatever happens with this blog or DA in general... I love this fandom (especially my little Solasmancer bubble <3) and I love Dragon Age and whoever's reading this, here's to 2025 and I hope you have a Happy New Year!! 💜💜💜💜💜

[ginnyluvstimmy]

welcome home (timothée x f.reader)

[ where timothée breaks up and realises you're the only one he actually craves for ]

Hollywood.

It was where you had met.

Between the clapperboard, action! of the director, the hair and make-up sessions which annoyed both of you and the low quality jokes just to kill time.

Luca Guadagnino had personally requested your presence among those pages of the script, and he himself said that he had been admiring your career in the world of Hollywood since time.

You were both Italian, this bonded you and created mutual respect.

The way your Italian accent rolled off your tongue when you spoke to Luca drove Timothée crazy.

Insane.

Maybe the sexiest turn on he could receive.

Just as his delicate, clean, casual French stunned you, you too had figured out how to make him take the bait.

The moments you treasured the most were those behind the scenes. The laughter, his schizophrenic outbursts from the excitement of filming, his unpredictable moves, his pleasant speeches.

The way his curls made him look like a puff, his green/grey eyes where you could get lost in the edges of the foggy jungle, his French cheekbones that mirrored him, in your eyes, like a gentleman from the 1800s, and how his bottom lip was definitely more full and inviting than the one above.

You immediately started hanging out regularly even off camera, without the buzz and movement of filming.

No weeks passed that he confidently proposed to you.

It was no longer a matter of pretending for the production staff, you two weren't in the spotlight and maybe you loved each other even more.

But then came the commitments, the premieres, the collaborations, and suddenly you found yourself with a different plane ticket in your hand every day, and you rarely saw Timothée.

This displeased both of you, especially since he wasn't in a very different situation.

But then the pace slowed down and the world collapsed on you.

Kylie Jenner...

You scrolled through Instagram posts. Kylie.

You read every film article. Kylie.

You checked every interview, questionnaire, news of the day.

Kylie.

Timothée he had left you for her, another.

Without warning, without a reason, without a moment to say goodbye and explain one last time.

You were exhausted, physically and mentally, and the suitcases from your countless business trips were still at the entrance.

Months, months passed...and every time you called your ex-boyfriend he neglected you with 'I'm busy', 'I'll call you back later, ok?', 'it's hard to explain, you wouldn't understand'.

What was there to explain? Did you do something wrong? Did you forget his birthday? The monthly anniversary?

Absolutely not, you weren't the type.

The only relief you felt was listening to the opinions of the fandom and the parazzi: they were much less convinced of this relationship than you already were. It was a sign, it definitely meant something...but every day was torture without his laughter, his cuddles, his French kisses.

It all felt too real.

More months passed, and he didn't show up.

Valentine's Day was approaching and you would have felt a new knot in your stomach gathering in you.

Suddenly, the last person you thought would call, made your cell phone ring.

You picked up, waiting for Timothée to speak first and give you a good explanation.

A very good one, you hoped.

"Hey, Y/n..." His voice cracked and you could tell he was sobbing.

"Listen I...I swear I can explain it all..."

You waited on the other line, you weren't in the mood to answer. If you had done so you would certainly have screamed so loudly that you would have broken his eardrum, throwing that whole situation of the Kardashian in his damn face.

"Can I come to your place...?"

You were about to say a harsh 'no' when you realised he would have shown himself anyway.

You hung up, and the house reverberated with a dull hum.

[ ... ]

He showed at your door with a red rose, red and swollen eyes and his entire figure soaked wet by the heavy rain that was pounding the neighborhood gravel.

You let him in, without saying a word.

He stopped at the carpet in the entrance, as if he suddenly realized that that house was yours and yours alone and he no longer had anything to do with it.

"My manager forced me..." He whispered, but his faint voice died in the air before he could reach you.

"Sorry?"

"I said...my manager forced me. The whole thing of Kylie, it was for...money, you know. I haven't decided on it, my staff has the power. I'm sorry if I didn't warn you, I couldn't...I had to make people believe it was real, you understand me?"

You knew you should have felt immense relief at those words, but they made you even more nervous.

"You're completely out of your mind..."

"But it's true! I'm telling the truth Y/n...she...she never gave me the slightest attention, it was a dirty game, we were both pretending just to live together on the edge of decency! You know I could never leave you from one day to another!!"

You let him stay at the entrance, as if you wanted to see the mat suck him alive.

But Timothée couldn't wait anymore and hugged you tightly, sobbing like a child in the crook of your neck.

His tears ran down your skin, his arms setting a fire in your stomach.

"Je t'aimerai toujours, tu sais..."

"Ti amerò per sempre anch'io, Timothée."

[ominashii]

'v' ello there! what are aspects about your characters that notably stand out to you specifically? be it something you personally love or whatnot

ohhh boy i haven't gotten to yap about em on here in a WHILE lemme go down the list, this is gonna be long

Omi? They're adorable, and they know it. They look and act very disarming, but they're still very clever, secretive, and mischievous, with a whole separate, more serious side to em. Plus they're really fun to write given they're both illiterate, and can't lie outright. (half-fey) They're just a bundle of fluff and mysteries~

Kiari? She's a (partially) insane, immortal catgirl that loves cats, girls, hunting, and killing. She's brutally honest, extremely sassy, and changes moods at the drop of a hat. She's THE most fun to write for by far. Plus, its interesting to write the perspective of someone who's lived countless years while their mind Was Not Built for it. How have her morals shifted? How much has her sanity eroded? What is she willing to put up with to keep herself entertained? What value does a life have to her? Always thinking about this for her.

Shiri has been on the backburner as of late, but his main appeal is his lack of expressive emotion. He'll make frequent puns and jokes, subtle references, and poke at some tropes, but it's all delivered with the same deadpan tone of voice. Likewise, nothing really phases him much, and his expression rarely changes. It goes a bit deeper, but that's part of what's in progress. He looks cold and badass, but he's kind of a dork. It's great.

Viola I'll go off her previous self (Psionic mage), since her current lore is hard to work with. She's a bookworm through and through, but likes to mess with people sometimes. The most fun for me is her subtleties. She's similarly deadpan as Shiri, but much more snarky when you examine her words. She'll pretend to read out fake articles for an extremely specific problem. She has a second voice underneath her own that sometimes says something different, inducing a headache in the listener. She changes hairstyles often to look cuter, making no mention of it. She appears as a different species to every individual. It's so much fun.

She also has Several alters, but that would be a post of its own.

Juliet, disposable random lobotomy corp employee promoted to full OC status. She's a proper tomboy, mentor/big sister figure, and skilled at what she does, but very carefree. I never had anyone like her before, and she's so much fun! Her dynamic with Pallene is especially cute, but they're both still relatively new.

Mimi. Fluffy space critter. They're as close to my heart as Omi, and have twice as many mysteries. Their design would be one of the standouts here, since they have no mouth. Instead, they communicate telepathically with a slightly broken english (or, canonically, whatever the listener's primary language is), which is really cute~ Then there's their big eyes and ears. They carry all the expression, and its really really fun to draw different emotions with em. Plus, black sclera & white pupils on a friendly lil critter like this is nice! The other standout would be their very inquisitive nature. They don't know anything! They're constantly curious about people and the world around em! And they're always so happy to learn!

I could go on and on, but it'll just turn into describing everyone at length, and putting these thoughts together takes tiiime

[ca-suffit]

idek how to rly start this. it's a lot of heavy topics.

yesterday, I combined a lot of asks and an article for a post about this same topic. I didn't want it to turn into a reason to attack assad (a vulnerable target as a brown actor) but I didn't want to ignore the general subject either. this comes up in the fandom a *lot.* It should be given space to talk about bcuz there *is* a lot of racist shit being tied to it (I think I have other asks related to how, so I'll get into it more later too). this fandom is always talking about "nuance" but then works in extremes (and usually bullying) whenever anything comes up that could be explored.

anyways, here's my post and then compare it to this one

dismissing the topic like this at all and dismissing the whole thing, once again, as "fandom wank" is rly a choice. it's also a fucking joke and clear manipulation that the person who v literally *is* antiblack *all the fucking time* is using this as a reason to say that's not a serious criticism about her either. the permanent victimhood mentioned in every post never ends bcuz it's trying to get in ur head that she's incapable of hurting anyone.

all of this leads to more racial tension in the fandom and it's done on purpose so that nothing will ever be resolved. when u keep all racial discussions "other'd" then it means they never happen and ppl never take them seriously bcuz it's always seen as "not that deep."

there's never going to be unanimous support for or against most stuff that's talked about like this, bcuz when is there ever for most things?? we all have different experiences and opinions. but if u *never* talk about it then how does anyone learn anything?? how do u learn to break free of echo chambers and consider other perspectives?? (u don't and that's the point but that's why I'm underlining here why it's so dangerous to keep acting like this and normalizing it)

this fandom will analyze and make up shit to defend lestat or sam or anne rice all the gd time. unprompted. the mental gymnastics required to pull off half of that shit is insane, but u can't discuss anything else like that? u give all of *that* deep respect and think *that's* worth ur time but delving into fandom racism and all the ways u can explore loumand just by a topic itself with it....nothing to say there? that's just "wank"?? it's literally not even done out of a concern for assad's vulnerability in relation to this topic, it's just done to not disrupt the status quo of white fandom. I'm also p sure that main tweet comes from a black account, which should *also* not go unnoticed for why nalyra would post it and respond this way. this is the established pattern here.

[starryjkoo]

Alright, not to get too caught up in the MHJ drama, but I’m crying because I just reread my now deleted post-Golden rant complaining about BSH, SB, and my issues with their strategy and I got to this part

😭😭😭

No but I was right. Say what you want about MHJ, but NewJean’s was truly HYBE's only other major success outside of BTS and it had nothing to do with BangPD and it turns out that it absolutely did piss him off LMAO. I knew it. You don't have to believe everything she says, but the elevator thing was basically confirmed and there's no normal, well adjusted adult who would ignore young girls like that if they weren't an immature, petty asshole.

Not to be messy and reopen this can of worms, but it does make me think it's even more likely that he might have been a little bitter over LC hitting #1 considering he couldn't take credit for it. He had that whole article in billboard that came out around the same time talking about how they were going to get the next #1 through their connections or infrastructure or however he put it, which was clearly referencing SB & HYBE America. I think he was trying to make it seem like this whole Scooter A&R strategy was ingenious and vital to Western success based on how hard they kept pushing and talking it up. So if MHJ was telling any amount of truth about his attitude and how he acted towards NWJN's, I just can't help but feel like he must have felt at least a LITTLE negatively about LC hitting that #1 right after he was talking such a big game about how his system (that he spent a billion dollars on) was going to be vital to that next #1.

LC was a Korean song Jimin made with a small in-house team so it must have been a little embarrassing for him to say all that to billboard (and probably investors lol) and have it be immediately invalidated. And LC so clearly demonstrated that BTS and the members could still pull off these big feats without him or his ideas and massive investment and personal involvement. And yeah, billboard did target LC right after that to try and smear it's success, but I think this argument still holds up. Especially because if LC was given any extra care or support it could have kept charting. And what billboard did in it's second week was insanely dirty.

(I’m not saying he was MAD about it, or that he didn’t talk it up to investors after, or that he sabotaged Jimin like a vengeful cartoon villain, I’m just being petty and speculating and saying I don’t think he was thrilled about it considering the circumstances)

Likewise NewJean's released music that did have a good chunk of English but was still Korean, and they managed to break a bunch of girlgroup billboard records as well, and that's ANOTHER project that BSH didn't have his hands on at all. In fact it was one he didn't believe in. Yes, ILLIT broke their record for getting their debut song on billboard quicker, however BSH followed the formula that MHJ created and apparently didn't even consult her or give her any credit while creating a group that was clearly inspired by her work (I genuinely love ILLIT and think they have their own identity! But they do follow the formula that MHJ popularized). So it's not like he got another group on billboard with his genius, it was again just following a formula someone else created (Magnetic was a bop and I loved the whole EP, so I'll give him that!).

I honestly don't even know what SB brings to the table that's so helpful because all they need for a pop song to succeed is basic charting tools like CDs and remixes and playlisting, which they could get before him, and basic decent promotions for visibility. And he's not doing anything interesting or helpful for the non-pop releases even though there's a massive market here for indie, alternative, R&B, and rap. Why wasn't CBTM on college stations? He's useless because the pop releases don't even need much to be successful. And none of JKs promotions were new or unique or something they couldn't have gotten before SB either. And if he's doing something else behind the scenes, I don't think that's worth it either.

JK did have more GP tuning in, but his solo debut was still heavily carried by ARMYs who took advantage of every provided tool, so nothing revolutionary they couldn't have accomplished pre-SB. It wouldn't have worked for anyone else like I said before either, a good example being TXT and their Jo Bros collab which flopped. BSH was all overconfident (top 10 on billboard lol) about it because he thought the secret to success was simply - western producer, western collab, english - but their fans didn't care for the song and therefore it didn't do well. So yeah, at the end of the day it's about good music and/or having a big fandom willing to carry (and that very rare charisma the BTS members have). Not whatever stupid synergy strategy BSH thought he unlocked. Honestly I wonder if he's really that stupid to think that they could get a hit with just those things, but I'm starting to think so. Genuinely what good decision has he made lately that wasn't just following trends?

Won't rehash everything again but this MHJ drama did make me look back on all this discourse even though I swore I was done with it. I'm not as bothered by all of this now, I just think it's interesting to look back on and compare some of her criticisms of HYBE & BSH to many of our own criticisms and speculation. While I take her words with a massive grain of salt, I do think there's a lot of outside evidence to back up some of her claims about the company and their issues (and I'm not her fan or excusing her actions or saying she's always truthful either).

Of course I could be totally wrong, just my thoughts. I'll go back to looking forward to Jin returning and upcoming projects because at the end of the day the BTS members are the ones responsible for their own careers and they have to be the ones to advocate for themselves and deal with their company, but the plus side of this situation is that I hope at least some K-ARMYs are approaching the company with more scrutiny and hopefully holding them accountable for certain things, although I won't hold my breath. It was hilarious seeing HYBE's quick response to their complaints about Jin's hug event though. I wish I-ARMYs would stop being such company stans (you can criticize HYBE/BH without being a manti you know) but not getting my hopes up.

I just sincerely hope that this whole SB creative strategy won't carry over into BTS music, or any more of their solo work. I wouldn’t care if the quality was there, but imo it’s too inconsistent (I definitely enjoy most of Golden! Seven is a bop, SNTY is 10/10). It’s not about creating art or good music for them, it’s about trying to design a song that they think will chart. And songs like that will almost always lack in some way. So I hope this doesn’t become a pattern and the members retain their creative freedom and recognize that they definitely do not need to rely on those people for a hit (ofc unless the want to work with them).

[hockeychatstea]

https://www.tumblr.com/hockeychatstea/765635501712670720/i-have-some-thoughts-and-have-noticed-a-few-things?source=share

so this whole post is inch-resting for a few reasons, because it confirms i'm not fucking crazy lol. i've noticed some of this shit for months now, basically since those two started dating lmfao (well, publicly anyway)

so the queer sibling and his sister are EXTREMELY close. like, would take a bullet for each other close. closer than sway is to his sister close. the queer sibling also lives in chicago, while beth and her fam are in new york so so they can visit boston more regularly. i wanna say it was on puckgoss that someone who knew alessandra from high school said she was really good at being manipulative and fake nice in order to social climb, so it wouldn't surprise me if she was pulling the same shit on beth (esp since they see each other like 2-3 times a year at most?) because her being a bigot would NAWT fly in that house.

AND OKAY GOOD i'm not the only person who noticed the stuff going on with the wags. rebecca (pasta's wife) apparently HATES her, she's now seemingly been shunned from the main group of younger girls w amanda, ryen, paula, madison, etc. so now she's stuck clinging to katrina, a woman in her late 30s who also has a rep with locals for being a nasty cunt, but is also head wag so i guess not surprising she'd attach herself to the "queen bee" for clout. i saw a rumor on the athletic of all places, in the comments on one of the swayman contract articles, saying that during playoffs alessandra was incredibly rude and entitled towards the other wags/service staff during a cam neely foundation dinner that the front office put on for the wags, to the point where she got reprimanded by cam/his wife themselves for it being a bad look on the bruins org 😬 if true then holy YIKES no wonder the other girls want to distance themselves. i def noticed she didn't get invited out to any of the dinners after that night which i thought was sus, but didn't really think much about it at the time back in may lol.

the house thing is just. insanity lol. i've been convinced since june that they've been rushing the relationship because he was about to become one of the bruins core players and needed to look "settled" for optics because he's about to turn 26 this year which is "late" by nhl standards. his relationship with his ex tori lasted what, almost three years? they never moved that fast and that was with someone he literally described as the "girl of his dreams" on a podcast back in 2020. meanwhile he's moving in with with a girl he's known for less than a year, has nothing in common with, and who was actively hunting for a hockey husband to bankroll her luxury lifestyle while she sits around unemployed and badly plays instagram and tiktok influencer online. uh huh, sure jan. if the plan is to endgame then i sincerely hope sway is smart enough to keep his finances separate/in trust away from her because the vibes are absolutely rancid with that girl.

the one thing i'm gonna push back on is the fake nice thing, only because as a fan who has followed him for years now, him being like this is very VERY recent behaviour and pretty much started when he started dating alessandra. i've talked to so many other b's fans online who have noticed his entire personality change because of this girl. if it was a long-running issue there would probably be way more stories about him being a dick to people, but most anecdotes about him since college have always emphasized him being a genuinely sweet and well-adjusted (read: non hockey bro) guy. why he's decided to turn into country club frat boy mcgee to impress a girl i'll never understand, but it really ain't cute. like, the pussy CANNOT be that good. 😭

Yeah it's honestly pretty sad if he's changing that much for her 😕

[multapohja966]

some fav things this year

Read

Detransition, baby - Torrey Peters' book. just adding a one more assurance that it is just as good as everyone says.

Shopping Star as a semiotechnical code modulating Greek femininity in pharmacopornographic capitalism - fun opulence of hard words discussing interesting things. (article utilising Preciado's analysis tools to discuss (post)recession Greece)

Chimamire Sukeban Chainsaw - Rei Mikamoto's insane gory gross, hard to explain, manga about a girl with a chainsaw trying to kill the person responsible for turning her classmates into grotesque minions.

One Piece - caught up finally. yes, it is worth it.

67,292 Things Car Guys Can Teach Transsexuals by Adrian Glenn - part of the 2 Trans 2 Furious zine. as a car guy associate and transsexual i deeply loved this one.

The Shape of Premodern Nonbinarity: A Conversation with Leah DeVun - I'll never stop talking about this article.

Watched

Bronson - Tom Hardy movie, biography of "Britain's most violent prisoner " Charles Bronson. It doesn't completely highlight everything essential about his story (having a less than nuanced view on untreated mental illness and its relationship with incarceration) but it's such a good fucking movie!! And at least artistically very loyal to who it's depicting (insane and absurdist).

this video of jack harlow at a chiropractic appointment - we live such weird fucking times. like it isn't heartfelt but it isn't disgusting either it's just, w-what? eh?

Little chinese everywhere - vlogger Yan who travels though less tourist heavy provinces in China, really respectful look to everyday life in more rural communities. these have given me a lot of peace and joy. a lot of extremely intresting architecture as well.

Inflatables and the adults who love collecting them - by furry youtuber Ash Coyote. Truly a gem of respectful by fandom, of fandom documentaries. Touching and lovely!!

MerPeople - don't touch netflix anymore but this documentary of the mermaid community and industry is incredibly good.

this rose ramdin x html jones vid - the well read terminally online gen z musical artists who get their estrogen money from twitter shitposting are the modern greek philosphers. in the sense that i'd sit on a stone public square step and listen to a convo like this for the whole day.

A normal creepypasta retrospective - there's hope for youtube actually

Cat soup / Nekojiru-sou movie

Earth Maiden Arjuna - early 2000s environmentalist anime series lovers make some noicee. this one is sooo lovely and gorgeous. real hidden gem.

Gigs

Sabaton - as expected, bit of a weird vibe in the crowd demographic :--------D but show itself is an insane fucking spectacle I'm happy I saw. You can really sense these men are swedish, the "my country hasn't been in an active war for two centuries" theater kid energy is wild. Tank on stage.

Death Grips - I'm pretty sure this rebooted my whole brain. Went with close friend, pretty sure my biggest bruise came form her hands.

Antti Tuisku - Farewell gig of the best pop performer in finland. I do not understand how he doesn't pass out on stage with everything he's doing. The jesus allegory album is forever my favorite, it's so genious in how it discusses fame so well while staying funny and self-avare. Neck hurt for the next week due to headbanging.

Suistamon sähkö - small gig yet one of the absolute best this year. (i cried) You need to see these guys live, the vocal ability of the main singers is absurd, it doesn't come through fully in recordings. And they create a very special atmosphere and community within their gigs, literally joined hands and danced in a circle.

[thelioncourts]

Okay, please share what it was like watching Sam and Jacob being cast back when the announcement was made! Curious to see what fans of the book thought when they saw them. And Bailey!

!! so I followed anne religiously on social media (naturally) and remember vividly when she sold the rights in 2016. i had called my friend v and was like 'WE'RE GETTING TVC' and she and i freaked out. but then it just. didn't happen. and there would be news, and then nothing, and then news sometimes, then nothing. i remember the last kind of "big" thing i saw was an article in 2019 (which i posted on my instagram story so it's in my archive lol) that ultimately, at the time, led to nowhere.

(i feel like the article was about the show moving from the original network that had it OR was about the showrunner changing, because there's a whole story there too)

anyway, i very much became a 'i'll believe it when i see it' kind of person and didn't check too much into anything.

then all of a sudden: august 2021.

i'm sitting in my shitty apartment, getting ready for my first year of teaching and nauseous at the thought, and i'm doom-scrolling and amc has put out casting announcements. and i absolutely lost my mind.

you see, there have been fancasts and everything since the books came out, and i have seen some pretty insane casting suggestions for tvc. i remember cody fern was a big fancast for lestat around this specific time period. i, personally, had very much made up my mind that i didn't want to know the actors that got cast as lestat and louis, specifically, because i would have preconceived notions of who they were and would get in my head.

i saw jacob's casting announcement first and had a very mixed set of emotions. i sort of vaguely knew jacob from got; i never really watched got, but my parents did and i would see about everything in passing. he was my mom's fave character <3 but! i had not real opinion of him other than he was beautiful and for that i very much approved. i will say, however, that when the casting announcement was first made i didn't know/they hadn't said (??) about the time change and i spent a lot of time really confused how he was going to play a 1700s wealthy plantation owner :)) and then when i learned of the time change his casting made sense, but it added this whole different level of anxiety because like ?????? what did that meannnnnn for me. but i knew he was talented and i knew he was beautiful and i was like 'this is fine. i trust this' and like ?????????? oh my god did strike gold with jacob anderson. beautiful, stunning, talented, otherworldly boy.

i saw sam's casting announcement second and i need to preface it with this: since 2016 i had lived in this state of almost fear at the idea of casting lestat. lestat walks so many lines, lines of villain and hero and lover and antagonist and beauty and monster and prince and pauper and vampire and human and mentor and student and father and son and husband and etc. etc. etc. like lestat is fully, 100000% the hardest casting because he really is the vampire chronicles. i did not know sam reid when i saw him. the picture they posted for the announcements was with very short hair, a fair amount of stubble, and i remember looking at him and thinking that i couldn't really see it but also i've seen amazing transformations and so i was like 'we'll see.' i purposefully did not look up ANYTHING about him, did not watch anything he was in, to avoid getting in my head. it wasn't until SDCC that i really took the time to look at him and, in hopefully the least weird way possible, i have never been more attracted to another person in my entire life. and so much of it was centered on personality. like hollywood is full of beautiful people so it wasn't just that sam is incredibly attractive and stunning, but the way he spoke of the books, of lestat, of loustat, his utter understanding of what this was, how important it is, him having a multitude of copies of the books, some since his adolescence, just -- everything. and then, of course, i watched iwtv and i can't believe i ever questioned if someone could play lestat the way he need to be played because sam is the definition of perfection. he is everything, he is superb. he is unmatched in his talent and we're so fucking lucky to have him.

bailey made me nervous too, namely the age change! anyone that's read iwtv knows that the true horror of claudia is the idea of this FIVE. YEAR. OLD. CHILD. running around in that child body for eternity. being a woman in that body. and so making her 14 was like :)) like i got it from a filming perspective; if you cast an actual 5/6 year old and it takes three/four years to film the first two seasons (as it is) then suddenly she's 8-10 years old and the growth of a child from 5 to 8 or any of the other options is just crazy !!!! but also i was like oh nooooooooooooo a time period change and a significant claudia age change whyyyyy and then i watched it and it was perfect. and bailey was this perfect love child of sam and jacob's likeness and she embodied so many of lestat and louis' traits in a way that made her so much their child it was scary.

and basically it was my nervousness at the time period change and casting lestat and the aging up of claudia all being proven to be utterly beautiful things, perfect and a gift, truly, to this story that made me decide, then and there, that i would not question these writers until i felt like there was something right on my screen that made me. i would trust all of their changes, all of their choices, because they have yet to ever let me down.

and the casting -- i know so many of us have talked about it, but we are so incredibly lucky on all fronts. beautifully talented and wonderfully kind people are playing our vampires. what more could we ever ask for????

[adarkrainbow]

I didn't had those to the previous reblog, so that the post wouldn't get too heavy, but there is a lot of interesting articles about Andersen and his relationship to Christianity, religion as a whole and various folklores and "paganism". For example...

Of course, the go-to would be the Hans Christian Andersen Center, which has an entire collection of online articles about Religious motifs within Andersen's tales and works:

One of which is, for example, "Andersen and those of other faiths":

There is this very interesting article by Forward taking a look at Andersen's view on Judaism through his story "The Jewish Girl":

It is more of a side-mention within the article, but there is this very interesting article about how Hans Christian Andersen was received in China and is seen through Chinese culture:

JSTOR has "Critical Reflections about Hans Christian Andersen, the Failed Revolutionary"

https://www.jstor.org/stable/41388797

(A bit short and incomplete but) Toronto Metropolitan University has a page for an exposition about the Little Mermaid, and it evokes the religious influences:

(Not very much about religion but I'll still add it) The Hans Andersen fairy tale, on "CatholicIreland.net"

"Religious Views in Hans Christian Andersen's Works", on Wiley's Online Library

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1600-0730.2007.00880.x#:~:text=Since%20Hans%20Christian%20Andersen%20has,Christianity%20has%20often%20been%20questioned.

[thebonerpit]

Idk if anyone follows my posts enough to even notice this but you may have seen me talking about a lot of new things I've watched so far this year, both tv and film. I kind of made a mini resolution to do this because I found, especially at the end of 2023, that I was stuck in a rut of either rewatching old things or mindlessly flipping through YouTube videos I had little to no interest in. There's so much media out there I'm interested in and now I feel almost reinvigorated to go through it and I've been having a blast.

Most of the time I'll probably just reblog a gifset or two with thoughts in the tags but I finally watched the Interview with the Vampire tv show and I have FEELINGS (mostly good)! Spoilers for season one and I do talk about book things that eventually happen so beware in case you don't know and want to continue the show completely blind...

So I kinda put off watching this at first because the Vampire Chronicles books are some of my favourites, and while it did have its own issues, the 1994 film holds a special place in my heart. I was like... do we really need anything else? But I'm glad I gave it a chance because the show was able to go so much further in so many aspects and also now we have a chance to actually see even more of the book events take place!

I'm gonna say up front that almost every character felt very different from how they are in the book except for Lestat. Lestat was actual perfection and I cannot BELIEVE someone did a (dare I say) even better job than Tom Cruise who gave the performance of his life in the film. Sam Reid's Lestat is unhinged and dramatic and terrifying and sad and cringe and yet also loveable and it was a masterpiece of acting. For the majority of the other characters I really didn't mind the differences and in some instances I thought they were actually improved. Daniel Molloy, for example, who is basically Anthony Bourdain? Perfection. Louis who is yes kind of pathetic and dramatic like the book, but also is volatile and complicated which Lestat is drawn to right from the beginning instead of only after having his little breakdown caused by his brother's death? Excellent. Armand who is older and looks nothing like the Armand described in the books but I can see without any problem how Marius fell madly deeply insanely in love with him because he's GORGEOUS and has this unsettling serenity about him? Give. Me. MORE.

The only issue I really had was with Claudia. I see people praising her all over the place so I'm sure this is an unpopular opinion but I hated that they aged her up so much. The most compelling thing about Claudia as a character is that she is an adult woman trapped in the body of a literal CHILD. A pre-pubescent child. Not a teenager. It's absolutely horrifying and it should be horrifying. Now, I will say, I saw an article where they talked about part of the reason behind this choice being that they needed the actor to work longer hours and it was impossible for a kid to do that, plus the very intense material, and I fully FULLY support any protections for child actors because the industry is insane. But it does make me sad and I wish there was some way they could have worked around it. I get what they tried to do with teenage Claudia but it just fell flat for me. And also the actress really looks her age (I think she's 20?) so like the few times where people were making fun of her for "playing dress up" or whatever I'm like... she fully looks like an older teen at LEAST what are you talking about lol. Also I thought her accent was kind of bad.

But honestly, that was really the only problem I had with the whole series. I absolutely loved how they went full-on explicit with the Lestat/Louis romance and the chemistry between the two of them was... WOOF. I was actually really interested in the modern portions too, mostly because Anthony Bour-- I mean Daniel Molloy was so entertaining lol. I loved how he pushed and pushed at Louis and their whole back and forth was brilliant. Although putting on my archivist's hat for a second to be outraged at Daniel consenting to wearing the cotton gloves to handle the diaries but then eating a fucking sandwich right beside the book???? Absolutely not lol. It was so much fun to see the Armand reveal (which I was spoiled for somehow but that's ok) especially knowing that Armand eventually turns Daniel and boy oh boy I hope they go long enough to get to that. I loved the continued references to Lestat's love of music which makes me hope they're planting seeds to make rock star Lestat a little more believable lol (god can you even imagine?? And we don't talk about the Queen of the Damned movie ok).

As for S2, I'm so excited for Paris and the Théâtre des Vampires and HELLO Ben Daniels as Santiago!!! Omg so hype for that. And it's going to be so interesting to see the Armand/Louis relationship as well because I mean it's always going to be Lestat/Louis and Armand/Marius for me so Louis being like "he's the love of my life"... girl. (And speaking of Armand/Marius please GOD give us some flashbacks because they are my Vampire Chronicles OTP and I need to see that whole story including my girl Bianca thank youuuuu).

Yeah so overall I'm quite positive about the whole thing and sincerely hope that they get many more seasons because there's so many interesting stories in those books and we've only ever gotten a TINY portion on screen.

[likeadevils]

I was trying to find out timelines for one of my favourite artist's songs(not taylor). So can you give some tips? What is the first things you do while trying to find a date? Anything I should remember?

oooh good question

so, first tip, there's various different ways to be useful--one of the reasons this project has kept my attention for so long is i can do it in so many different moods. some days i just want to organize everything, some days i want to compile a bunch of links, sometimes i want to read old interviews, and sometimes if i'm lucky i want to actually use my brain to connect all the clues. don't get in your own way, just follow your gut

step one: organization

i find my spreadsheet set up very useful and i wouldn't be able to keep track of everything without it-- i would say my must haves are track, title, written, recorded, writer(s), producer(s), misc credits, and location recorded (for example here's 1989).

you'll want to set up some sort of key for how certain you are of the date (i do white text if i only know the general timeframe, red highlight if i have no idea where the date comes from, yellow highlight if its a shaky source, and green highlight if it's certain). i also like to color code everything else so i can quickly see basic information but that's just me being extra

in my experience genius has a list of most credits, and if not this website is super thorough (kinda a beast to sort through tho)

i add also add comments to each song and copy paste any quotes from taylor or her collaborators that i think might be useful to figuring out when it was written

step two: interviews interviews interviews

youtube is a gift from god-- i have a folder for interviews from each year and it's so nice (a good place to start is literally typing like, taylor swift 2006 interview, and following that rabbit hole wherever it will lead you), and when i'm in the mood i'll watch them.

old print interviews are a bit easier to find in taylor's case-- taylorpictures.net has a whole section dedicated to it, and i've noticed a lot of other big pop girls have something similar. if not, i've literally google searched "taylor swift interview" gone over to tools, click "any time", change it to custom time frame, and just crawled month by month through target years.

i'd say start with articles around the release date of the album and then work backwards

if you get tired of crawling through a bunch of interviewers asking about literally anything other than the art at hand, search interviews with the producers about the artist, and they tend to be more on track

step three: social media

use twitter advanced search to search specifically your artist and words like "studio" "writing" "guitar" "piano" "song" "album"

i like to add relevant posts to my spreadsheet like this

but i also have a full sheet for just taylor's old posts

if your artist is also insane and deleted all of their old posts, then wayback machine is so helpful

step four: when and where

a fair amount of the work comes down to figuring out where the artist was and when they were there-- especially if your artist works out of multiple studios

location stuff can get a bit icky, so personally i don't track stuff until two years have gone by, and even if you want to steer clear of candids you can still gain a good amount of information from public events only-- most artists are constantly touring, doing interviews, maybe attending award shows, stuff like that, and its useful to keep track of all that

again, the wayback machine is super useful-- most artists have an events page on their website, and smaller artists especially will add almost every television show appearance they have to it

Misc tips

CITE AS YOU GO

get around paywalls by copy pasting the link into the wayback machine

in general, i've gotten so good at googling because of this project it's insane-- check out this article to get more specific search results

i've also gotten crazy good at creating and using spreadsheets-- check out conditional formatting if you don't want to manually color code stuff

go one album at a time, at least until you've gotten a feel for it

have one or more work sheet on your spreadsheet- you'll need to format/sort stuff without worrying about screwing up everything else

i do this all in one massive spreadsheet with little individual sheets inside of it for each thing i need to keep track of, but like. i've literally opened up the sheet and then used my computer as a heating pad for period cramps. so do what that what you will

A rough date is easier to organize than no date-- get something down, and then you can refine it

[policemanofprincesspark]

I genuinely appreciate your take on babygate it makes me feel less insane. I used to be in the party that didn’t really think anything would come of the pregnancy rumors until of course out pops Freddie. I could recognize the aspects of BG that were always shady but larrie theories in my opinion got more and more bizarre the longer BG stretched which is why I ended up taking a step back.

I think there were also ‘influential’ larries who refused to give up on theories that had obviously been wrong (ie. Freddie was a doll) I couldn’t make myself see Brett or Austin when I looked at Freddie, Briana actually having been pregnant wasn’t a far stretch for me, and the kid looked like Louis point blank. Being called a fake larrie for voicing any of that got tiring.

I feel like there are certain hills that a lot of larries just refuse to come down off and the longer babygate lasts the more it weakens the theory as a whole. Like yeah new larries aren’t going to take this seriously when there’s constantly theorizing over strange minute details that cannot be proven or disproven like saying they’re lying about Freddie’s birthday??? Okay who cares? Anyway I look forward to your thread on the doppelgänger theory.

Thank you! I felt the same way and also took a step back a few months after F was born. I couldn't make sense of anything and felt so much anger toward Louis. I felt like I'd been personally "betrayed" lol.

That said, babygate will always be shady, mainly because of the ways in which Louis and Harry themselves have directly shaded it. I'll be covering some of those in the future.

The main reason why so many larries now believe Louis is a father (or why so many people are now ex-larries) is because F looks like Louis. That's it.

The longer brettgaters hang onto these Brett and photoshop theories, the more they will discredit our entire theory and the more people will start to realize F looks like Louis and isn't being photoshopped. It worries me whenever a picture of F is posted that goes around the fandom and larries start saying "maybe Louis really is the father." It's as if it's down to either photoshop or Louis being the father. I haven't seen anyone consider the idea of Sony finding a Louis lookalike, even though to me it seems like the only other answer.

That's how I found those articles. Only about a month ago, I searched up "one direction lookalikes" just to see if there had been anything about such a concept, and lo and behold I find straight-up casting calls from One Direction's management (well, they claim it's security who wanted them, but that to me sounded like a made-up story to disguise the real reason). I actually contacted a bunch of people including some of 1D's old security, and they got back to me. I don't know when I'll make the post, but I have all of the information ready to go in a folder. I'll probably make it into a google doc so I can send it to people on twitter and that awful r/larrystylinson subreddit, since no one seems to trust sources from tumblr lol.

[ellielol]

so this argument is pretty flawed for a number of reasons. i'll be referring to @txttletale's excellent overview of AI power usage from this post as well as this ars technica article. any numbers i reference here can be found in one of these links.

to start, nearly your entire source is referring to water usage by AI run on data center hardware. the issue with that is that the thing using this energy is not AI, it's data centers, which have existed for (and been growing massively!) for waaaay longer than generative AI has been around. we really cannot tell how much of the usage is AI and how much is other data center activities. your article tries to cite how Google and Microsoft's water usage increased from 2021 to 2022 as proof of AI specifically causing this, but that ignores the fact that data center energy usage has been on the rise for years. this chart is specifically electricity usage but all data centers use water; you can't attribute water usage only to AI. i think it is still indicative of my point.

also, for water specifically, your source also attributes increased water usage by energy plants (which it concedes uses FAR more water than data centers as a whole!) to AI. which just seems dishonest to me? like what about data centers that may be powered by solar? what about like. the increasing energy use by the world at large? i do not think you can calculate a direct number where "AI" (data center) energy usage goes up by X, so power plant usage goes up by Y. there are too many variables in play to just make that claim without some sort of evidence.

now, we can use estimates as ars technica cites to try to get some idea of AI-specific use. but even if we assume that AI explodes by 2027 to the largest number they give (134 TWh), data centers are expected to use as a whole 620 to 1050 TWh by 2026; i think it is fair to assume that if AI usage explodes that much, we're looking at the higher number of that data center range. but to even get to this, though, we'd need to see the current insane blitz of AI adoption by tech companies continue throughout the rest of the decade. which seeing as AI is being viewed more and more as a bubble ready to burst by those with the money, seems incredibly unlikely. and if we look at the lower end of the AI usage estimate, we get 84 TWh by 2027. which the current energy usage of just PC gaming world-wide is 75 TWh!!! we are literally talking about, comparatively, a tiny tiny tiny fraction of global power usage.

so while i can agree climate change is Bad and we need to reduce our energy usage, the issues you're raising here are not AI-specific. they're tied to data centers, which power like, the entire modern internet. raising this accusation against only AI is just does not work! we cannot meaningfully separate their numbers, and i do not see the same ire being aimed at like. Blizzard's ecological crimes for running Overwatch servers. obviously we need to get data centers and big tech companies to do better, but when we only focus on AI we're both weakening our argument and making putting into action effectively impossible.

somewhat of an aside, but i would also say that even if this source was ONLY about AI and could empirically prove ALL this usage is just AI, attacking random people for using AI to make a Funny Picture is still an utter waste of time. we cannot social ostracize our way out of the adoption of a new technology when it has the weight of the wealthiest people and companies in the world. NFTs, aside from being an obvious pump-and-dump scam, did not have the backing of Wall Street. it doesn't matter how much you post "WARNING!!! THIS USER USED AI ART!!!", Disney is still going to use it to puppet Robert Downey Jr's corpse for Iron Man 73, because there are material economic benefits to it. the only way to meaningfully oppose how AI is going to be used to harm people is to organize workers to demand strict limits on how it is used. just as people who rail against AI for its supposed destructive effect on culture, you cannot meaningfully oppose the existence of a tool that already exists. you have to oppose the ones who are wielding it.

the absolute easiest ppl to rile up on this website r dweebs who get mad that an AI generated image exists at all. you put one 9/11 Gameboy ad or McDonald's Simpson Porn in front of them and they start crying and foaming at the mouth. lighten up, no Absurdly Tiny Dog On Leaf Artisan's Guild was harmed by this post i promise. you don't even know why you're mad.