#worlds most annoying dog award

[complicit-rot]

i'm so good at having one word spoken to me and then yip-yapping 6000 words back. until it actually matters

[doyoulikethissong-poll]

Chris de Burgh - The Lady in Red 1986

"The Lady in Red" is a song by British-Irish singer-songwriter Chris de Burgh. It was released on 20 June 1986 as the second single from his eigth studio album Into the Light. The song was written in reference to his wife Diane, who used to come and watch him perform at his parents' hotel. He said that the song was inspired by the memory of when he first saw Diane, and how men so often cannot even remember what their wives were wearing when they first met.

It was a massive hit across the world, quickly becoming de Burgh's best-selling single and his signature song. It reached the number one position in Canada, the UK, Ireland, Norway, and the Flanders region of Belgium. It reached number three in the US during the spring of 1987. The song also propelled its parent album Into The Light to the number two position in the UK and success in other markets. The song tends to divide public opinion and it was voted the tenth most annoying song of all time in a poll commissioned by Dotmusic in 2000.

The song is briefly featured in a scene of the 2000 film American Psycho where Patrick Bateman is listening to the song while in his office, and in the 1988 Academy Award-winning film Working Girl during a slow dance scene. The song is featured in the 2004 film Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story, acting as the theme music for the character Fran Stalinovskovichdaviddivichski, who wears a red warmup suit. It is also featured in the 2024 film Deadpool & Wolverine, during the scene when the dog variant of Deadpool named Mary Puppins first appears.

"The Lady in Red" received a total of 55,8% yes votes.

[its-avalon-08]

hii, can you write a headcanons for kimi as being boyfriend of a model? tysm!

world apart yet we fit

kimi räikkönen x model!reader

kimi, despite his stoic exterior, secretly keeps every magazine cover or spread y/n is featured in. he has a hidden folder on his laptop titled "the most beautiful smile" which is just y/n's modeling photos.

y/n knows kimi hates attending galas or award shows with her, so she finds ways to make it fun for him. they create a secret game of counting the most outrageous outfits or spotting the most bored celebrities.

kimi isn't the most vocal with his feelings, but he always makes sure to pick y/n up from the airport after a long modeling trip, no matter how early or late it is. he has the biggest bouquet of flowers in his hand along with her favorite take out.

kimi knows healthy eating can be difficult during long modeling shoots. he preps little care packages of her favorite trail mix and healthy snacks to sneak into y/n's luggage.

kimi hates crowded restaurants, so after a race weekend, they have a tradition of ordering takeout from their favorite local place and having a movie marathon in their pajamas (which are matching).

y/n hides little notes with motivational quotes or silly jokes in kimi's race helmet before qualifying or the main race. eg- "my icemean, show them hell xoxo y/n/n"

kimi pretends to be grumpy when y/n gushes about him in interviews, but secretly he loves it. he'll catch her eye from across the room and give her a small, genuine smile.

y/n knows how much kimi values his privacy. she never forces him to be on social media with her, but she might sneak a goofy picture of him relaxing at home into her instagram story every now and then. (he pretends to be annoyed but secretly adores the attention).

kimi isn't the best gift-giver, but he always remembers those little things y/n mentions in passing. he once surprised her with a rare book on a finnish artist she'd admired from afar and he got it for her.

y/n encourages kimi to reconnect with his finnish hobbies. they spend summer afternoons going for quiet nature walks or fishing in the finnish countryside, just the two of them.

kimi, who hates flying, will conquer his fear and accompany y/n on certain shoots if it means they get to explore a new location together.

y/n knows kimi isn't the most expressive with words, so she's learned to read his emotions through small gestures. a raised eyebrow means he's proud of her, a small squeeze of her hand means he's happy. but kimi surprised her and with the help of sebastian as him teammate, he became more expressive and comfortable with pda.

after a particularly tough race, y/n will find kimi sketching in his notebook. it's a little-known hobby that helps him de-stress. she'll sit beside him in comfortable silence, drawing circles with her finger on his bicep, just being a calming presence.

they have a tradition of celebrating each other's victories, big or small. whether it's a podium finish for kimi or a major campaign booking for y/n, they clink champagne flutes (or milk if it's late) and celebrate each other's achievements.

kimi hates the male models who get to comfortable and makes it a point to stay as close to her as possible, causing y/n to jokingly call him her guard dog.

kimi and y/n adore eachother to the end of the earth. he calls her kulta <3

🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️

i hope you enjoyed! happy reading <3 do send in more requests! as for pre existing requests- im working on it! lots of love ava

🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️

[chaoticace2005]

Why Alastor hates Susan:

1. She’s a bitch

2. He doesn’t like her style

3. Susan was actually his mom’s name, so he hates anyone else who uses it

4. Alastor had an abusive father canon and Susan was his aunt

5. Susan was Alastor’s abusive father actually

6. Susan tried to ask him out, things got awkward quick

7. She always takes the best meat

8. Told him he sounded “tacky”

9. She’s racist

10. She’s aro/acephobic and even though Alastor doesn’t know what that means, he’s tired of being told he hasn’t found the right person

11. She beat him in a bake sale that one time

12. She’s Vox’s mother— he hates her for bringing that annoyance into the world

13. She’s a huge radiostatic shipper

14. Susan actually owns his soul

14b. She’s Roo (Root of all Evil) and has Al’s soul

14c. She’s secretly Lilith and/or Eve

15. She’s actually more powerful than him and he loathes that

16. She’s publicly denounced radios

17. Rosie and her have problems, and Alastor is just sticking up for his girl pal

18. He was always taught as a child to hate witches

19. Susan is actually the one who shot and killed him

20. Susan ran a competing radio show

21. She owns so many dogs and Alastor is more of a cat person

22. He just hates anyone who argues against him and challenges his authority, especially when he can’t simply kill them (since she’s protected by Rosie and also he’s get shit for killing an old lady)

23. Alastor just doesn’t really like old people

24. She kept trying to set him up with her nieces and nephews

25. Insulted his jambalaya

26. Wrecked his coat

27. Said she was going to make jambalaya but badly butchered it

28. He hates when people ask to speak to the manager

28b. He had a traumatic experiences after someone last asked to speak to the manager

28c. As a serial killer he specifically only killed Karens, now he’s annoyed he still has to deal with one

29. She won the award for “Most Gluttonous Cannibal” which is stupid because that was HIS award

30. She’s the one who gave him that yee yee ass haircut

[artistzjay]

You know what I find really interesting, annoying, and frustrating all at the same time?

How people dumb down characters to make the other characters look good.

Or when they take away all of the bad traits from one character to make that character liked but amplify the other party’s bad qualities or add bad qualities that doesn’t exist.

As in basically making them OCs.

Like how they make a characters in Miraculous Ladybug worse than what they are and how they make Marinette the most amazing person on earth when she literally broke into Adrien’s house multiple times and stalked him on multiple occasions.

Yet the fandom is creating such fiction that will reconstruct the entirety of the show, especially the salt fanfiction, making the class to be such bullies because of Lila, like making Alya some kind of angry, irrational dog or Adrien some kind of really creepy dude, when, in reality, Marinette, actually the creep all because of the chameleon episode.

Is Alya not the best of friends? Yes.

Was Adrien’s advice to Marinette stupid? In my opinion, yes.

Did they make the characters dumb (dumber than usual) in chameleon? Yes.

Marinette is a kid but her classmates around e also children and her crimes are much bigger than their in the show and the fanfic is just making it seem like her crimes are not existent.

Or in DC fanfiction where they make characters like the Green Lantern or The Flash or Superman incredibly dumb or incredibly incompetence for the Bats.

Then, in reality, Hal graduated top of his class and has (what I believe are) a aviation degree and engineering degree, working on extremely complex projects of aircraft, Barry is a forensic chemist and literally works on crime scenes, or Clark who is literally a reporter who won two Pulitzers awards, works at one of the best newspapers in the industry/world, and does amazing work on his stories

And all of them have use their intelligence to defeat their enemies bigger than themselves, but writers just throw it all away to make them complete blundering idiots or just straight up a-holes for Batman and his family.

Just complete disregard for the characters quality in who they are and what they stand for.

[rhysdarbinizedarby]

Couch surfer in his 30s. Oscar winner in his 40s. Why the whole world wants Taika

**Notes: This is very long post!**

Good Weekend

In his 30s, he was sleeping on couches. By his 40s, he’d directed a Kiwi classic, taken a Marvel movie to billion-dollar success, and won an Oscar. Meet Taika Waititi, king of the oddball – and one of New Zealand’s most original creative exports.

Taika Waititi: “Be a nice person and live a good life. And just don’t be an arsehole.”

The good news? Taika Waititi is still alive. I wasn’t sure. The screen we were speaking through jolted savagely a few minutes ago, with a cacophonous bang and a confused yelp, then radio silence. Now the Kiwi ­ filmmaker is back, grinning like a loon: “I just broke the f---ing table, bro!”

Come again? “I just smashed this f---ing table and glass flew everywhere. It’s one of those old annoying colonial tables. It goes like this – see that?” Waititi says, holding up a folding furniture leg. “I hit the mechanism and it wasn’t locked. Anyway …”

I’m glad he’s fine. The stuff he’s been saying from his London hotel room could incur biblical wrath. We’re talking about his latest project, Next Goal Wins, a movie about the American Samoa soccer team’s quest to score a solitary goal, 10 years after suffering the worst loss in the game’s international history – a 31-0 ­ignominy to Australia – but our chat strays into ­spirituality, then faith, then religion.

“I don’t personally believe in a big guy sitting on a cloud judging everyone, but that’s just me,” Waititi says, deadpan. “Because I’m a grown-up.”

This is the way his interview answers often unfold. Waititi addresses your topic – dogma turns good people bad, he says, yet belief itself is worth lauding – but bookends every response with a conspiratorial nudge, wink, joke or poke. “Regardless of whether it’s some guy living on a cloud, or some other deity that you’ve made up – and they’re all made up – the message across the board is the same, and it’s important: Be a nice person, and live a good life. And just don’t be an arsehole!”

Not being an arsehole seems to have served Waititi, 48, well. Once a national treasure and indie darling (through the quirky tenderness of his breakout New Zealand films Boy in 2010 and Hunt for the Wilderpeople in 2016), Waititi then became a star of both the global box office (through his 2017 entry into the Marvel Universe, Thor: Ragnarok, which grossed more than $1.3 billion worldwide) and then the Academy Awards (winning the 2020 best adapted screenplay Oscar for his subversive Holocaust dramedy JoJo Rabbit, in which he played an imaginary Hitler).

Waititi playing Adolf Hitler in the 2019 movie JoJo Rabbit. (Alamy)

A handsome devil with undeniable roguish charm, Waititi also slid seamlessly into style-icon status (attending this year’s Met Gala shirtless, in a floor-length gunmetal-grey Atelier Prabal Gurung wrap coat, with pendulous pearl necklaces), as well as becoming his own brand (releasing an eponymous line of canned ­coffee drinks) and bona fide Hollywood A-lister (he was introduced to his second wife, British singer Rita Ora, by actor Robert Pattinson at a barbecue).

Putting that platform to use, Waititi is an Indigenous pioneer and mentor, too, co-creating the critically acclaimed TV series Reservation Dogs, while co-founding the Piki Films production company, committed to promoting the next generation of storytellers – a mission that might sound all weighty and worthy, yet Waititi’s new wave of First Nations work is never earnest, always mixing hurt with heart and howling humour.

Waititi with wife Rita Ora at the 2023 Met Gala in May. (Getty Images)

Makes sense. Waititi is a byproduct of “the weirdest coupling ever” – his late Maori father from the Te Whanau-a-Apanui tribe was an artist, farmer and “Satan’s Slaves” bikie gang founder, while his Wellington schoolteacher mum descended from Russian Jews, although he’s not devout about her faith. (“No, I don’t practise,” he confirms. “I’m just good at everything, straight away.”)

He’s remained loyally tethered to his ­origin story, too – and to a cadre of creative Kiwi mates, including actors Jemaine Clement and Rhys Darby – never forgetting that not long before the actor/writer/producer/director was an industry maven, he was a penniless painter/photographer/ musician/comedian.

With no set title and no fixed address, he’s seemingly happy to be everything, everywhere (to everyone) all at once. “��The universe’ is bandied around a lot these days, but I do believe in the kind of connective tissue of the universe, and the energy that – scientifically – we are made up of a bunch of atoms that are bouncing around off each other, and some of the atoms are just squished together a bit tighter than others,” he says, smiling. “We’re all made of the same stardust, and that’s pretty special.”

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

We’ve caught Waititi in a somewhat relaxed moment, right before the screen actors’ and media artists’ strike ends. He’s ­sensitive to the struggle but doesn’t deny enjoying the break. “I spent a lot of time thinking about writing, and not writing, and having a nice ­holiday,” he tells Good Weekend. “Honestly, it was a good chance just to recombobulate.”

Waititi, at right, with Hunt for the Wilderpeople actors, from left, Sam Neill, Rhys Darby and Julian Dennison. (Getty Images)

It’s mid-October, and he’s just headed to Paris to watch his beloved All Blacks in the Rugby World Cup. He’s deeply obsessed with the game, and sport in general. “Humans spend all of our time knowing what’s going to happen with our day. There’s no surprises ­any more. We’ve become quite stagnant. And I think that’s why people love sport, because of the air of unpredictability,” he says. “It’s the last great arena entertainment.”

The main filmic touchstone for Next Goal Wins (which premieres in Australian cinemas on New Year’s Day) would be Cool Runnings (1993), the unlikely true story of a Jamaican bobsled team, but Waititi also draws from genre classics such as Any Given Sunday and Rocky, sampling trusted tropes like the musical training montage. (His best one is set to Everybody Wants to Rule the World by Tears for Fears.)

Filming in Hawaii was an uplifting experience for the self-­described Polynesian Jew. “It wasn’t about death, or people being cruel to each other. Thematically, it was this simple idea, of getting a small win, and winning the game wasn’t even their goal – their goal was to get a goal,” he says. “It was a really sweet backbone.”

Waititi understands this because, growing up, he was as much an athlete as a nerd, fooling around with softball and soccer before discovering rugby league, then union. “There’s something about doing exercise when you don’t know you’re doing exercise,” he enthuses. “It’s all about the fun of throwing a ball around and trying to achieve something together.” (Whenever Waititi is in Auckland he joins his mates in a long-running weekend game of touch rugby. “And then throughout the week I work out every day. Obviously. I mean, look at me.”)

Auckland is where his kids live, too, so he spends as much time there as possible. Waititi met his first wife, producer Chelsea Winstanley, on the set of Boy in 2010, and they had two daughters, Matewa Kiritapu, 8, and his firstborn, Te Kainga O’Te Hinekahu, 11. (The latter is a derivative of his grandmother’s name, but he jokes with American friends that it means “Resurrection of Tupac” or “Mazda RX7″) Waititi and Winstanley split in about 2018, and he married the pop star Ora in 2022.

He offers a novel method for balancing work with parenthood … “Look, you just abandon them, and know that the experience will make them harder individuals later on in life. And it’s their problem,” he says. “I’m going to give them all of the things that they need, and I’m going to leave behind a decent bank ­account for their therapy, and they will be just like me, and the cycle will continue.”

Jokes aside – I think he’s joking – school holidays are always his, and he brings the girls onto the set of every movie he makes. “They know enough not to get in the way or touch anything that looks like it could kill you, and they know to be respectful and quiet when they need to. But they’re just very comfortable around filmmakers, which I’m really happy about, because eventually I hope they will get into the ­industry. One more year,” he laughs, “then they can leave school and come work for Dad.”

Theirs is certainly a different childhood than his. Growing up, he was a product of two worlds. His given names, for instance, were based on his appearance at birth: “Taika David” if he looked Maori (after his Maori grandfather) and “David Taika” if he looked Pakeha (after his white grandfather). His parents split when he was five, so he bounced between his dad’s place in Waihau Bay, where he went by the surname Waititi, and his mum, eight hours drive away in Wellington, where he went by Cohen (the last name on his birth ­certificate and passport).

Waititi was precocious, even charismatic. His mother Robin once told Radio New Zealand that people always wanted to know him, even as an infant: “I’d be on a bus with him, and he was that kind of baby who smiled at people, and next thing you know they’re saying, ‘Can I hold your baby?’ He’s always been a charmer to the public eye.”

He describes himself as a cool, sporty, good-looking nerd, raised on whatever pop culture screened on the two TV channels New Zealand offered in the early 1980s, from M*A*S*H and Taxi to Eddie Murphy and Michael Jackson. He was well-read, too. When punished by his mum, he would likely be forced to analyse a set of William Blake poems.

He puts on a whimpering voice to describe their finances – “We didn’t have much monneeey” – explaining how his mum spent her days in the classroom but also worked in pubs, where he would sit sipping a raspberry lemonade, doodling drawings and writing stories. She took in ­ironing and cleaned houses; he would help out, learning valuable lessons he imparts to his kids. “And to random people who come to my house,” he says. “I’ll say, ‘Here’s a novel idea, wash this dish,’ but people don’t know how to do anything these days.”

“Every single character I’ve ever written has been based on someone I’ve known or met or a story I’ve stolen from someone.” - Taika Waititi

He loved entertaining others, clearly, but also himself, recording little improvised radio plays on a tape deck – his own offbeat versions of ET and Indiana Jones and Star Wars. “Great free stuff where you don’t have any idea what the story is as you’re doing it,” he says. “You’re just sort of making it up and enjoying the ­freedom of playing god in this world where you can make people and characters do whatever you want.”

His other sphere of influence lay in Raukokore, the tiny town where his father lived. Although Boy is not autobiographical, it’s deeply personal insofar as it’s filmed in the house where he grew up, and where he lived a life similar to that portrayed in the story, surrounded by his recurring archetypes: warm grandmothers and worldly kids; staunch, stoic mums; and silly, stunted men. “Every single character I’ve ever written has been based on someone I’ve known or met,” he says, “or a story I’ve stolen from someone.”

He grew to love drawing and painting, obsessed early on with reproducing the Sistine Chapel. During a 2011 TED Talk on creativity, Waititi describes his odd subject matter, from swastikas and fawns to a picture of an old lady going for a walk … upon a sword … with Robocop. “My father was an outsider artist, even though he wouldn’t know what that meant,” Waititi told the audience in Doha. “I love the naive. I love people who can see things through an innocent viewpoint. It’s inspiring.”

After winning Best Adapted Screenplay Academy Award for JoJo Rabbit in 2020. (Getty Images)

It was an interesting time in New Zealand, too – a coming-of-age decade in which the Maori were rediscovering their culture. His area was poor, “but only ­financially,” he says. “It’s very rich in terms of the ­people and the culture.” He learned kapa haka – the songs, dances and chants performed by competing tribes at cultural events, or to honour people at funerals and graduations – weddings, parties, ­anything. “Man, any excuse,” he explains. “A big part of doing them is to uplift your spirits.”

Photography was a passion, so I ask what he shot. “Just my penis. I sent them to people, but we didn’t have phones, so I would print them out, post them. One of the first dick pics,” he says. Actually, his lens was trained on regular people. He watches us still – in airports, ­restaurants. “Other times late at night, from a tree. Whatever it takes to get the story. You know that.”

He went to the Wellington state school Onslow College and did plays like Androcles and the Lion, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and The Crucible. His crew of arty students eventually ended up on stage at Bats Theatre in the city, where they would perform haphazard comedy shows for years.

“Taika was always rebellious and wild in his comedy, which I loved,” says his high school mate Jackie van Beek, who became a longtime collaborator, including working with Waititi on a Tourism New Zealand campaign this year. “I remember he went through a phase of turning up in bars around town wearing wigs, and you’d try and sit down and have a drink with him but he’d be doing some weird character that would invariably turn up in some show down the track.”

He met more like-minded peers at Victoria University, including Jemaine Clement (who’d later become co-creator of Flight of the Conchords). During a 2019 chat with actor Elijah Wood, Waititi ­describes he and Clement clocking one another from opposite sides of the library one day: a pair of Maoris experiencing hate at first sight, based on a mutual suspicion of cultural appropriation. (Clement was wearing a traditional tapa cloth Samoan shirt, and Waititi was like: “This motherf---er’s not Samoan.” Meanwhile, Waititi was wearing a Rastafarian beanie, and Clement was like, “This ­motherf---er’s not Jamaican.”)

With Jemaine Clement in 2014. (Getty Images)

But they eventually bonded over Blackadder and Fawlty Towers, and especially Kenny Everett, and did comedy shows together everywhere from Edinburgh to Melbourne. Waititi was almost itinerant, spending months at a time busking, or living in a commune in Berlin. He acted in a few small films, and then – while playing a stripper on a bad TV show – realised he wanted to try life behind the camera. “I became tired of being told what to do and ordered around,” he told Wellington’s Dominion Post in 2004. “I remember sitting around in the green room in my G-string ­thinking, ‘Why am I doing this? Just helping someone else to realise their dream.’ ”

He did two strong short films, then directed his first feature – Eagle vs Shark (2007) – when he was 32. He brought his mates along (Clement, starring with Waititi’s then-girlfriend Loren Horsley), setting something of a pattern in his career: hiring friends instead of constantly navigating new working relationships. “If you look at things I’m doing,” he tells me, “there’s ­always a few common denominators.”

Sam Neill says Waititi is the exemplar of a new New Zealand humour. “The basis of it is this: we’re just a little bit crap at things.”

This gang of collaborators shares a common Kiwi vibe, too, which his longtime friend, actor Rhys Darby, once coined “the comedy of the mundane”. Their new TV show, Our Flag Means Death, for example, leans heavily into the mundanity of pirate life – what happens on those long days at sea when the crew aren’t unsheathing swords from scabbards or burying treasure.

Waititi plays pirate captain Blackbeard, centre, in Our Flag Means Death, with Rhys Darby, left, and Rory Kinnear. (Google Images)

Sam Neill, who first met Waititi when starring in Hunt for the Wilderpeople, says Waititi is the exemplar of a new New Zealand humour. “And I think the basis of it is this,” says Neill. “We’re just a little bit crap at things, and that in itself is funny.” After all, Neill asks, what is What We Do in The Shadows (2014) if not a film (then later a TV show) about a bunch of vampires who are pretty crap at being vampires, ­living in a pretty crappy house, not quite getting busted by crappy local cops? “New Zealand often gets named as the least corrupt country in the world, and I think it’s just that we would be pretty crap at being corrupt,” Neill says. “We don’t have the capacity for it.”

Waititi’s whimsy also spurns the dominant on-screen oeuvre of his homeland – the so-called “cinema of ­unease” exemplified by the brutality of Once Were Warriors (1994) and the emotional peril of The Piano (1993). Waititi still explores pathos and pain, but through laughter and weirdness. “Taika feels to me like an ­antidote to that dark aspect, and a gift somehow,” Neill says. “And I’m grateful for that.”

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

Something happened to Taika Waititi when he was about 11 – something he doesn’t go into with Good Weekend, but which he considered a betrayal by the adults in his life. He ­mentioned it only recently – not the ­moment itself, but the lesson he learnt: “That you cannot and must not rely on grown-ups to help you – you’re basically in the world alone, and you’re gonna die alone, and you’ve just gotta make it all for yourself,” he told Irish podcast host James Brown. “I basically never forgave people in positions of responsibility.”

What does that mean in his work? First, his finest films tend to reflect the clarity of mind possessed by children, and the unseen worlds they create – fantasies conjured up as a way to understand or overcome. (His mum once summed up the main ­message of Boy: “The ­unconditional love you get from your children, and how many of us waste that, and don’t know what we’ve got.”)

Second, he’s suited to movie-making – “Russian roulette with art” – because he’s drawn to disruptive force and chaos. And that in turn produces creative defiance: allowing him to reinvigorate the Marvel Universe by making superheroes fallible, or tell a Holocaust story by making fun of Hitler. “Whenever I have to deal with someone who’s a boss, or in charge, I challenge them,” he told Brown, “and I really do take whatever they say with a pinch of salt.”

It’s no surprise then that Waititi was comfortable leaping from independent films to the vast complexity of Hollywood blockbusters. He loves the challenge of coordinating a thousand interlocking parts, requiring an army of experts in vocations as diverse as construction, sound, art, performance and logistics. “I delegate a lot,” he says, “and share the load with a lot of people.”

“This is a cool concept, being able to ­afford whatever I want, as opposed to sleeping on couches until I was 35.” - Taika Waititi

But the buck stops with him. Time magazine named Waititi one of its Most Influential 100 People of 2022. “You can tell that a film was made by Taika Waititi the same way you can tell a piece was painted by Picasso,” wrote Sacha Baron Cohen. Compassionate but comic. Satirical but watchable. Rockstar but auteur. “Actually, sorry, but this guy’s really starting to piss me off,” Cohen concluded. “Can someone else write this piece?”

Directing Chris Hemsworth in 2017 in Thor: Ragnarok, which grossed more than $1.3 billion at the box office. (Alamy)

I’m curious to know how he stays grounded amid such adulation. Coming into the game late, he says, helped immensely. After all, Waititi was 40 by the time he left New Zealand to do Thor: Ragnarok. “If you let things go to your head, then it means you’ve struggled to find out who you are,” he says. “But I’ve always felt very comfortable with who I am.” Hollywood access and acclaim – and the pay cheques – don’t erase memories of poverty, either. “It’s more like, ‘Oh, this is a cool concept, being able to ­afford whatever I want, as opposed to sleeping on couches until I was 35.’ ” Small towns and strong tribes keep him in check, too. “You know you can’t piss around and be a fool, because you’re going to embarrass your family,” he says. “Hasn’t stopped me, though.”

Sam Neill says there was never any doubt Waititi would be able to steer a major movie with energy and imagination. “It’s no accident that the whole world wants Taika,” he says. “But his seductiveness comes with its own dangers. You can spread yourself a bit thin. The temptation will be to do more, more, more. That’ll be interesting to watch.”

Indeed, I find myself vicariously stressed out over the list of potential projects in Waititi’s future. A Roald Dahl animated series for Netflix. An Apple TV show based on the 1981 film Time Bandits. A sequel to What We Do In The Shadows. A reboot of Flash Gordon. A gonzo horror comedy, The Auteur, starring Jude Law. Adapting a cult graphic novel, The Incal, as a feature. A streaming series based on the novel Interior Chinatown. A film based on a Kazuo Ishiguro bestseller. Plus bringing to life the wildly popular Akira comic books. Oh, and for good measure, a new instalment of Star Wars, which he’s already warned the world will be … different.

“It’s going to change things,” he told Good Morning America. “It’s going to change what you guys know and expect.”

Did I say I was stressed for Waititi? I meant physically sick.

“Well…” he qualifies, “some of those things I’m just producing, so I come up with an idea or someone comes to me with an idea, and I shape how ‘it’s this kind of show’ and ‘here’s how we can get it made.’ It’s easier for me to have a part in those things and feel like I’ve had a meaningful role in the creative process, but also not having to do what I’ve always done, which is trying to control everything.”

In the 2014 mockumentary horror film What We Do in the Shadows, which he co-directed with Jemaine Clement. (Alamy)

What about moving away from the niche New Zealand settings he represented so well in his early work? How does he stay connected to his roots? “I think you just need to know where you’re from,” he says, “and just don’t forget that.”

They certainly haven’t forgotten him.

Jasmin McSweeney sits in her office at the New Zealand Film Commission in Wellington, surrounded by promotional posters Waititi signed for her two decades ago, when she was tasked with promoting his nascent talent. Now the organisation’s marketing chief, she talks to me after visiting the heart of thriving “Wellywood”, overseeing the traditional karakia prayer on the set of a new movie starring Geoffrey Rush.

Waititi isn’t the first great Kiwi filmmaker – dual Oscar-winner Jane Campion and blockbuster king Peter Jackson come to mind – yet his particular ascendance, she says, has spurred unparalleled enthusiasm. “Taika gave everyone here confidence. He always says, ‘Don’t sit around waiting for people to say, you can do this.’ Just do it, because he just did it. That’s the Taika effect.”

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

Taika David Waititi is known for wearing everything from technicolour dreamcoats to pineapple print rompers, and today he’s wearing a roomy teal and white Isabel Marant jumper. The mohair garment has the same wispy frizz as his hair, which curls like a wave of grey steel wool, and connects with a shorn salty beard.

A stylish silver fox, it wouldn’t surprise anyone if he suddenly announced he was launching a fashion label. He’s definitely a commercial animal, to the point of directing television commercials for Coke and Amazon, along with a fabulous 2023 spot for Belvedere vodka starring Daniel Craig. He also joined forces with a beverage company in Finland (where “taika” means “magic”) to release his coffee drinks. Announcing the partnership on social media, he flagged that he would be doing more of this kind of stuff, too (“Soz not soz”).

Waititi has long been sick of reverent portrayals of Indigenous people talking to spirits.

There’s substance behind the swank. Fashion is a creative outlet but he’s also bought sewing machines in the past with the intention of designing and making clothes, and comes from a family of tailors. “I learnt how to sew a button on when I was very young,” he says. “I learnt how to fix holes or patches in your clothes, and darn things.”

And while he gallivants around the globe watching Wimbledon or modelling for Hermès at New York Fashion Week, all that glamour belies a depth of purpose, particularly when it comes to Indigenous representation.

There’s a moment in his new movie where a Samoan player realises that their Dutch coach, played by Michael Fassbender, is emotionally struggling, and he offers a lament for white people: “They need us.” I can’t help but think Waititi meant something more by that line – maybe that First Nations people have ­wisdom to offer if others will just listen?

“Weeelllll, a little bit …” he says – but from his intonation, and what he says next, I’m dead wrong. Waititi has long been sick of reverent ­portrayals of Indigenous people talking to kehua (spirits), or riding a ghost waka (phantom canoe), or playing a flute on a mountain. “Always the boring characters,” he says. “They’ve got no real contemporary relationship with the world, because they’re always living in the past in their spiritual ways.”

A scene from Next Goal Wins, filmed earlier this year. (Alamy)

He’s part of a vanguard consciously poking fun at those stereotypes. Another is the Navajo writer and director Billy Luther, who met Waititi at Sundance Film Festival back in 2003, along with Reservation Dogs co-creator Sterlin Harjo. “We were this group of outsiders trying to make films, when nobody was really biting,” says Luther. “It was a different time. The really cool thing about it now is we’re all working. We persevered. We didn’t give up. We slept on each other’s couches and hung out. It’s like family.”

Waititi has power now, and is known for using Indigenous interns wherever possible (“because there weren’t those opportunities when I was growing up”), making important introductions, offering feedback on scripts, and lending his name to projects through executive producer credits, too, which he did for Luther’s new feature film, Frybread Face and Me (2023).

He called Luther back from the set of Thor: Love and Thunder (2022) to offer advice on working with child actors – “Don’t box them into the characters you’ve ­created,” he said, “let them naturally figure it out on their own” – but it’s definitely harder to get Waititi on the phone these days. “He’s a little bitch,” Luther says, laughing. “Nah, there’s nothing like him. He’s a genius. You just knew he was going to be something. I just knew it. He’s my brother.“

I’ve been asked to explicitly avoid political questions in this interview, probably because Waititi tends to back so many causes, from child poverty and teenage suicide to a campaign protesting offshore gas and oil exploration near his tribal lands. But it’s hard to ignore his recent Instagram post, sharing a viral video about the Voice to Parliament referendum starring Indigenous Aussie rapper Adam Briggs. After all, we speak only two days after the proposal is defeated. “Yeah, sad to say but, Australia, you really shat the bed on that one,” Waititi says, pausing. “But go see my movie!”

About that movie – the early reviews aren’t great. IndieWire called it a misfire, too wrapped in its quirks to develop its arcs, with Waititi’s directorial voice drowning out his characters, while The Guardian called it “a shoddily made and strikingly unfunny attempt to tell an interesting story in an uninteresting way”. I want to know how he moves past that kind of criticism. “For a start, I never read reviews,” he says, concerned only with the opinion of people who paid for admission, never professional appraisals. “It’s not important to me. I know I’m good at what I do.”

Criticism that Indigenous concepts weren’t sufficiently explained in Next Goal Wins gets his back up a little, though. The film’s protagonist, Jaiyah Saelua, the first transgender football player in a FIFA World Cup qualifying match, is fa’afafine – an American Samoan identifier for someone with fluid genders – but there wasn’t much exposition of this concept in the film. “That’s not my job,” Waititi says. “It’s not a movie where I have to explain every facet of Samoan culture to an audience. Our job is to retain our culture, and present a story that’s inherently Polynesian, and if you don’t like it, you can go and watch any number of those other movies out there, 99 per cent of which are terrible.”

*notes: (there is video clip in the article)

Waititi sounds momentarily cranky, but he’s mostly unflappable and hilarious. He’s the kind of guy who prefers “Correctumundo bro!” to “Yes”. When our video connection is too laggy, he plays up to it by periodically pretending to be frozen, sitting perfectly still, mouth open, his big shifting eyeballs the only giveaway.

He’s at his best on set. Saelua sat next to him in Honolulu while filming the joyous soccer sequences. “He’s so chill. He just let the actors do their thing, giving them creative freedom, barely interjecting unless it was something important. His style matches the vibe of the Pacific people. We’re a very funny people. We like to laugh. He just fit perfectly.”

People do seem to love working alongside him, citing his ability to make productions fresh and unpredictable and funny. Chris Hemsworth once said that Waititi’s favourite gag is to “forget” that his microphone is switched on, so he can go on a pantomime rant for all to hear – usually about his disastrous Australian lead actor – only to “remember” that he’s wired and the whole crew is listening.

“I wouldn’t know about that, because I don’t listen to what other people say about anything – I’ve told you this,” Waititi says. “I just try to have fun when there’s time to have fun. And when you do that, and you bring people together, they’re more willing to go the extra mile for you, and they’re more willing to believe in the thing that you’re trying to do.”

Yes, he plays music between takes, and dances out of his director’s chair, but it’s really all about relaxing amid the immense pressure and intense privilege of making movies. “Do you know how hard it is just to get anything financed or green-lit, then getting a crew, ­getting producers to put all the pieces together, and then making it to set?” Waititi asks. “It’s a real gift, even to be working, and I feel like I have to remind ­people of that: enjoy this moment.”

Source: The Age

By: Konrad Marshall (December 1, 2023)

[ilylovelyz]

megumi fatherly headcannons

i absolutely love megumi, he's perhaps my most favorite anime character out of any anime <3 and whats better than imagining a fictional character as a father?

is absolutely protective of you during your pregnancy

he doesnt even mean to

it's just an instinct that he has that he doesnt even know he's acting on

looking at you throughout your pregnancy is a stress reliever for him

just looking at you so lovingly with soft eyes

he cannot help but be afraid and guilty for your health

absolutely is nervous if you come down with a cold

towards the end of your pregnancy, he would just lay down with you, cuddle with you on the couch or bed while watching tv and ordering takeout for you

he would just have his head in ur neck and hair, sniffing your sweet scent, fingers twirling and playing with your hair or rubbing your bump with fleeting touches

absolutely loved it when you began to wear his clothes because yours didnt fit you anymore

he would offer u his boxers? would feel prideful when you would wear them 😭

at night, while you slept next to him, he was constantly on edge

he felt the need to watch you as you sleep, just in case

when his paranoia was at it's peak, he would even summon his dogs just as an extra precaution or so he could sleep

when you gave birth, he was there every step of the process

no matter how much it hurt, even if you broke his hand or something, he was holding your hand throughout the entire thing

pressing sweet kisses onto your sweaty forehead, telling you that you were doing so wonderful and that he loves you so much

when the baby is born, he softly kissed you, a relieving sigh leaving his lips

ofc his baby is a girl

i see him being a girl dad

he's a bit disappointed when your daughter looks like him, he doesnt want his daughter to inhabit any of his details because he doesn't want his daughter to end up like a "bastard" like him

your daughter is absolutely beautiful tho, has beautiful hazel eyes that megumi often praises

doesn't let you take on night shifts, says that he's always gonna be up at night anyways so he can just take care of the baby and let you sleep

it's what you deserve after all, you carried his child for 9 months and went thru horrible labor

absolutely was carried to hold her but after a while, all he wanted to do was hold her and cuddle with her

she was always ALWAYS snuggled up because megumi was worried she would get cold 😭

absolutely takes pictures of you and your baby

will find himself smiling at those photos

he has a polaroid of you and the baby in his wallet

your daughter is absolutely a daddy's girl and will always laugh with him

shes more on the giggly side, much to his relief

i feel like he would have two daughters

he would act all annoyed with his daughter's sassy attitudes but in reality he wouldnt want it any different

i feel like after a while he would develop a little sassy attitude like them 😭🌚

he doesnt spoil them too much but when it's needed, he will give them sweet and lavish gifts to award their hardworks

absolutely does not want them to be associated with the jujutsu world

but he knows he cant stop them either

the daughters will be like 6 years apart btw

very protective of his daughters

but not overbearing

when his daughters are older, his pride and joy for them is very visible

if you like my content, please leave a like and repost with tags :)

[laundrybiscuits]

Will’s looking at him with those tragic eyes, this kid who’s almost as tall as Eddie but seems centuries younger, infinitely more fragile and breakable. And shit, Eddie is not at all prepared to be some kind of queer mentor. He’s barely keeping his head above water with Robin, who doesn’t expect him to be anything other than a peer with a little more experience in his pocket; he’s a piss-poor option for baby Byers, who desperately needs some kindly gay Gandalf in his life. A role model with like, a long-term boyfriend and a city job and one of those yappy purse dogs.

But Eddie’s the only one here, and what else can he do? So he takes a deep breath and prepares to say something really wise and mentor-y. He doesn’t know what it is yet, but it’ll definitely be both appropriate and profound.

“I mean, it worked out for you, right?” says Will.

“Uh,” says Eddie, thrown completely off track. “What?”

“With—” Will flushes, but continues in a low voice. “You know. With Steve, and all.”

“What,” says Eddie again.

“I mean, sorry if that’s…I know you guys haven’t exactly been telling people, but…you know you can tell me, right?”

“Ahahaha,” says Eddie. “What.”

“I think it’s nice, how you guys managed to move past all the high school stuff and find each other. It’s like—a happy ending, right?”

“Right. I mean, wrong. I mean, whatever you think is going on, it’s not. Jesus christ, Will the Wise, there’s absolutely no way anything would ever be—where are you even getting this? We’re not—we’re not.”

“Sure.” Will rolls his eyes, and Eddie is reluctantly reminded that this kid can be a catty bitch too sometimes. “That’s why he was wearing your Black Sabbath shirt last Tuesday, and why you keep Springsteen in your glove compartment, and why his car is parked in your driveway almost every night. Dude, Dustin doesn’t even bother calling Loch Nora when he’s trying to find Steve now, he just goes straight to your place.”

Laid out like that, it’s a little damning.

“That’s—all out of context,” says Eddie weakly. “And—and Steve is straight, anyway. So. Check and mate, Byers.”

Will lets out an annoyed breath. “I’m sixteen, you know. You don’t have to—look, sorry if I’m pushing too much with this, but…don’t lie to me, okay? Friends don’t lie.”

Eddie’s heard the kids say that last thing every so often, like a mantra or some godawful affirmation. He huffs, shaking his hair out of his face.

“Y’know, that little catchphrase you’ve got isn’t the worst rule in the world, but it’s not the most nuanced, either. Ever heard of discretion, kid?”

“Right,” says Will. “Discretion.” He winks at Eddie, squinching the whole side of his face up like he’s never actually tried winking before, and Eddie is momentarily struck dumb with how terrible the effort is.

Just then, Dustin barrels in talking a mile a minute about some idea he needs Will for immediately, yes right now, Eddie’ll still be here afterwards, come on.

As Eddie watches them go, he awards himself one Gay Gandalf point for effort, and negative five million points for the trouble he can smell coming down the line.

(eta: I am a god damn liar. continuation here.)

[gamergirl-06]

I gotta go-Part 2- Bruno x reader

Here is the part 2 requested by @hyunjinbiased-blog so hope y’all enjoy

~Previously~

Bruno turns to look back at the house. You couldn’t see it but tears streamed down his face at the thought of not seeing you again, he loved you and his heart felt a pain he has never felt before.

He drew a shakey breath and continued in his journey. If it’s the last thing he does…he would never let you go.

~Present~

It had been a full day since you had last seen Bruno leave Emma’s. The pain in your heart seemed to increase the more you thought about him.

You thought that the tension you had between you both was special but it looks like you were wrong.

You guys ended up burying Michael next to Emma’s dog Sam (whom she named after Sammy) and placed his ‘mentor of the year’ award on his cross.

It had been quiet to say the least, for the past day. You had been up in your room for most of your time not talking or seeing anyone apart from coming down to eat but other than that no one hadn’t heard from you

Emma,of course had gone up to comfort you and if you hadn’t come down to get food,she would bring it to you. You sat opposite her on the bed and she would talk to you.

“Hey” you said looking at her

“Hi” came her reply, it was barley above a whisper

It was silent for a good minute before Emma spoke up again “I’m sorry”.

You look at her confused “for what”.

“For the way I acted…I was selfish to do that to Bruno” she said not looking at you.

“Why are you apologising to me and not him” you ask

She looks up at you and into your eyes “because I see the way you two look at each other”

Your face goes red and you rub your neck “oh that…there’s nothing going on between us.. I don’t think that there ever will be…well that’s if I see him again”.

“How do you know…he might like you?” She said

“Because there he doesn’t…why would he..I just..ugh…I miss him”

She grabs your hand and you look at her with tear stains on your face.

“You know the night we crashed, and he found us” she said. You nodded and signal for her to continue with curiosity.

“When Bruno looked at you when you were helping Ronnie with his injuries when Michael told him out names, Bruno was checking you out” she said

“Uh so I wasn’t crazy and he actually did” you say

“Yes and he smirked, lord knows what he wants to do to you or what the thoughts he has of you are but I don’t think I want to know” she said with a laugh.

This makes you giggle “don’t blame you”

There was a static noise coming from the radio on Emma’s hip.

You both wonder what it could be and Emma picked it up and Bruno’s voice came through.

“Emma jaunt do you read me” he said.

Upon hearing his voice, it sent butterflies fluttering in your stomach and that giddy feeling.

“Ok no need to tell the whole world it’s me” she said with an annoyed tone “anyway I wanted to talk to you about poor dear Michael..I was upset..you didn’t have to actually leave”

“It’s fine, I had to go to find the doc anyway” he continued.

Emma have you a smile and exited the room leaving you alone for a bit.

When she walked out of the room she spoke up again “Yeah well if that doesn’t work out, your always welcome back here, (Y/N) has been a bit heartbroken over you leaving”

On the other end of the line Bruno’s face went bright red at Emma’s words. You really were sad he was gone and so was he over leaving you.

“She/he/they uh, she/he/they are?”he says

“Yes, She/he/they care about you” Emma said

Bruno felt his heart beat fast, god he fucked up, he loved you so fucking much it hurt. He couldn’t bear the pain any longer, he just wanted you in his arms.

“You know” he heard Emma start “it’s hard to watch you two stutter around each other and not have your love admitted yet.”

It was silent while Bruno tried to think of what to say to that. Yes he liked you more so but he was going to ask you out if it hadn’t been so chaotic with Michael’s death. He kinda lost the courage to ask you out of fear to be honest.

“I..um…” he stuttered

“Look, once you do what you need to do and find a way to get us out, let us know and we will come to you, but you better ask (Y/N) out” Emma said as she was saying goodbye.

Bruno sighed. He knew she was right, he HAD to ask you out. He wanted to be with you more than anything.

-Time skip-

Bruno finally made it to the Serling hotel and made his way up the stairs to the safe room.

He walked towards this locked door and knocked before the peep hole opened with a woman holding a gun.

“Woah easy I don’t bite” Bruno put his hands up in defence.

A darker male who was older walked up to stand next to the woman at the hole.

“Is that so? Your not here to eat us then” Bruno knew that voice and it was Dr Reed.

“Eh I’m a picky eater” Bruno said smugly.

“Ha, quite the comedian, does he look human to you” Reed says to the woman.

“Hmmm so and so” she replies.

“Ok, human’s can be redeemed, let him in” reed says “keep up the good work Denise”

She opens the door for Bruno and Reed puts his hand on his shoulder as Reed leads him to his research room.

Bruno’s POV

Reed was telling me about my immunity and how it could cure humanity but..I had a very..off feeling like there was something more sinister going on.

He told me that in order to test my blood for a cure he needs his laptop but it was left by the pier by one of his colleagues. He asked me if I could go grab it and I agreed but his main concern was me going alone to which I assured him I’ll be fine, I got here by myself easily.

I then made my way to Santa Monica.

-Time skip-

I got to Santa Monica fine and made my way to the lifeguard HQ were hopefully the laptop still was with on of Reeds guys.

I had to kill 2 crushers and some walkers before jumping into a truck and onto broken stairs and into the Tower.

When I got in there was no one in there, so I radios the doc.

“Reed there is no one in here” I said

“Damn it that means bundy didn’t make it” he said

Looks like I had to go onto the pier to find it so with a quick goodbye I ran towards the pier which was actually very beautiful with the fair lights at night, and towards the Ferris wheel where I had to fight if a bunch of Z’s.

After they were dealt with I hopped onto the wheel and it started to move, I decided I could use this time to plan my next move before my vision went red for a second and I could hear laughter of a clown.

I look down and see a clown zombie crawling on the Ferris wheel and before I know it, the pendejo is stabbing me through the top of my coach.

He land next to me but I kick him off the ride and say “No climbing on..THE RIDE!”

As he fell on the ground he scurried away, my ride came to a stop.

“Jeez I have to get moving” I said to myself as I ran to pier.

Once I had made it to the broken pier I run toward were a bunch of dead CDC people lay, I spot the laptop.

“There we go, sorry friend I need this more than you do” I say and take the laptop and open it up and log in “now what’s the cdc not telling us”

Like what I felt and heard at the pier I look up and see the clown again before he jumps on me and I black out.

I wake up and hear squelching and see the clown eating the dead CDC guy and I mumble a “ew..gross”

I slowly and silently slide my hand towards the laptop “easy…” I then felt searing pain in my hand as the clown stab my hand.

“AHHHH” I scream letting out a bunch of curses in Spanish before I find myself fighting the thing off me

“Can’t die here..need to get back to (Y/N)” I say as I smash the clown with the laptop.

I engage in a battle with this thing dodging its hits because it could easily hurt and kill me with his knife hands.

I end up hitting it and critically hurting him before he scurried to a nearby body and feeds in it.

“Mierda it regenerates by eating the body” I say as I dodge a close hit.

I look at the broken part of the pier and I get an idea and I smile. “Ah of course”

I run towards the edge and let him run at me before I lodge my machete in his head and he stops moving briefly before he falls back and off the pier.

“ HA HA HA, last laugh is mine” I say

As I head back towards were the laptop was and picked it up and I let the doc know.

“ I have the laptop, in my way back” I said

“Ok but be careful we still need you” Reed said

I run back toward the front of the pier before I make my way back to ocean avenue.

-Back at Serling hotel-

I made my way back to the safe room and knocked on the door and long story short.. Konradt was there her and Rueben bickered a bit and I handed him back the laptop.

All I could think of right now was (Y/N).

Back to third person POV

You waited for Bruno to have some sort of communication with you guys. You hadn’t heard from him in a good day and a half.

Emma and Sam were seated with you in the couch when The radio went off and Emma picked it up.

“Hello did your doctor get you out?” Emma asked

“No the doctor was a sham but I know someone who can get us out, but we will need your talents” Bruno said.

“If you think I’m gonna fuck some creep” she said.

“No nothing like that” Bruno said

“Ok fine, I want to at least meet him but no promises” she said.

She looks at you and Sam “ well it looks like we are going, let’s get moving”

You and Sam geared up with weapons to use on the tidious journey there and you made your way to the sewers.

After awhile you make it to this underground area where Bruno told you to meet up with him.

“What’s up?”

You look up and see Bruno and he makes eye contact with you.

“(Y/N)…” he said

“Bruno..”you said

He smiles at you and knocks on the door “Hey Patton let me in, I got some friends I want you to meet”

The door opens and a man comes out and he immediately spots Emma and immediately freezes up.

You were all introduced and you found him to be alright for the most part, you felt bad that he went through what he did.

He led you all deeper into the sewers and showing you the way to get out.

You felt someone walk next to you and you look up and see Bruno giving you his smile that you love.

“Hey” he said

“Hey” you reply back

“Listen I’m sorry that I left, I was a dick to do so, I-“ he said but you shooshed him

“Bruno, it’s not your fault you did what you needed to, don’t doubt yourself” you say

“I know, I have something to tell you” he said

At this point the others are far ahead of you a bit so they couldn’t really hear you.

“What?” You say

“I-I care about you..a lot and I would die for you, what I’m saying is”

You look at him not believing what his saying until he grabs your hands in his.

“I-I love you (Y/N)” he says before crashing his lips to yours.

You take a second to process what happened and you close your eyes taking in this moment.

This kiss deepens and becomes more needy as Bruno places a hand on your neck and another on your waist while yours finds a place on his chest.

Bruno moans into the kiss and you smile.

You eventually hear someone clear their throat and break apart with a pop and see The other 3 staring you both.

“Yo you two we ain’t trying to witness you take of each others clothes, come one let’s get moving” Sam says.

He,Emma and Patton walk off leaving you and Bruno standing there both a blushing mess.

“I guess we better go, we can continue this later” Bruno said a hint of teasing in his voice.

“Can’t wait” you smirk as you both make your way to the others holding hands.

[hargrove]

「 In watching S2, I'm noticing how vastly different Mind Flayer's possession was over Will than it is over Billy. For Will, it takes some time to really come to fruition, whereas for Billy, he was instantly gone. The explanation for this could be that it got stronger between S2 and S3.

OR. We can go with a longer explanation and dive into the differences of the two victims in what I like to call 'A Tale of Two Williams'.

Poor little Will was not having an easy life by any means. He's growing up and learning that his dad is a jerk, his brother is a bit of a loser, and then of course he gets taken to the Upside Down and lost there for a week. It's not all rainbows and sunshine for him. But he definitely has something going for him in the beginning of S2: a loving support system. His friends are closer than ever, his older brother looks out for him, even calling him his best friend, and Joyce has won every mom of the year award ever. If they existed. He's surrounded by love. Even at times when it seems stifling and annoying, Will is aware that the people who surround him, really care about him. Even Bob takes the time for a heart to heart!

When the Mind Flayer begins to take hold of him, that support system is only stronger. Joyce is immediately investigating the strange shadow thing and promising him to protect him. His friends, especially Mike, are there for him, worried about him. There's a reason for Will to fight back, even if he doesn't know what he's fighting back against. He has that tether to the real world, holding him in place by means of friends and family waking him up every time they can. There was no way in the world that Will would want to go back. All he wanted was to stay with his mom, his brother, his friends, and in his home.

Then we meet Billy, who would probably say that he has no home. Forced to leave California and moved to a small town that he wants nothing to do with, he was a rebel without a cause. He might come off as popular, surrounded by people at parties or girls in the parking lot, but most of the time we see Billy, he's on his own or driving Max. His constant bullying of Max pushes her away from him, his mom abandoned him when he was young, and his dad beats him. We don't see much about him and his stepmom, but it's safe to assume there's not much a relationship there, either.

Once he's possessed, it doesn't look like people really notice. He's still at home but his dad and stepmom aren't worried about him. He's at the pool looking like he's sick as a dog, but no one is telling him to go home or asking if he needs anything. The first offer of help comes from his co-worker, but it didn't hold the same weight that it did when Joyce offered help to Will. Too little, too late.

Now here's where the headcanon part comes in. After surviving that and the Upside Down, Billy is still completely overcome with guilt. He knows that it wasn't him who killed all those people, but rather the Mind Flayer in his body. However, he also knows that he didn't fight back. As soon as the realization came over him that some otherworldly creature had possessed him, he saw it as his escape. His release from a life he loathed. He's not suicidal, but it provided the perfect excuse to just let go of everything. Sounds contradictory seeing as how I headcanon that his ultimate fear is losing control, but maybe he fears it because of what that loss could lead to: a complete surrender.

When he does find out about how Will had been able to fight off the Mind Flayer longer, he feels a deep shame, knowing that he didn't even try. He hasn't met the kid yet, but he has respect for him.

The point of this rambling is to point out that Billy, as strong and violent and unhinged as he is, was the perfect victim. He'd been conditioned from a young age to believe that he's alone in the world. To believe that he's worthless and not worth saving. There was really nothing in his life worth fighting for. When the Mind Flayer took him, he not only didn't fight back, he was actually relieved. 」

[3nvymist]

Explaination for relationship chart below cut :

Dogday : These two like each other alright, the thing is that due to how dogs usually like to play rough with cattles sometimes, Mooney honestly gets a little scared but none less she thinks highly of him!

Catnap : She honestly doesn’t pay him that much mind cause most of the time he’s likely either napping or is just there to be there. Mooney likes how quiet and peaceful he is though.

Bobby bearhug : Mooney finds comfort in Bobby and tends to listen to her a lot, even if it’s about some stupid thing. ( Hc : Bobby’s metacarpal pad is heart-shaped and she likes to line it up with Mooney’s heart-shaped spot on her head. Heart twins! )

Hoppy Hopscotch : I honestly don’t know how to explain their friendship. I feel like Hoppy just finds a way to get along with all of the critters in general. Mooney thinks Hoppy is a very fun person to be around with.

Kickin chicken : OHHH BOY. Mooney is gonna wack him with a big fat wooden spoon one of these days. There’s no specific reason to why, she just wants to do it. Mooney sees kickin as that one young annoying brother, she can’t bring herself to dislike him yet she can’t bring herself to like him. ( Note : Lowkey have that feeling that some barn animals see each other as found family. )

Bubba Bubbaphant : Mooney has always been fascinated by Bubba and his intelligence, these two honestly just clicked the moment they started talking. They’re so similar yet so different. Mooney rants to him a lot about things she likes and he just sits there and listens cause he’s a good listener! Two peas in a pod type shi honestly.

Picky Piggy : World’s #1 sisters awards goes to them, Mooney enjoys being around Picky and has grown attached to her—They’re not blood related? Stop talking silly, of course they are! 100%. Picky is trying to teach her how to cook while Mooney is just standing there holding the book upside down, there’s never a boring moment between these two. They team up against kickin sometimes, it’s sibling bonding!

Crafty Corn: Very rare occasions when Mooney is not taking care of something, and has free time, she likes to watch Crafty draw. It’s very relaxing and Mooney loves to watch how things are made. She’s one of her biggest fans, would honestly hang all of Crafty’s creations on walls if she could.

[igottoomuchtime]

Famous Inventor’s Icks.

Henry Ford

Apparently, he hated Jews. He even made an entire newspaper section dedicated to telling the public just how much they're trying to achieve world domination continuously for a good number of years, on the front page, called “The International Jew: The World's Problem,” even Hitler was hyper aware of his works and praised them, soon even awarding Ford the Grand Cross of the German Eagle on his 75th birthday, 30 July 1938. Which he accepted since you know, they were far away buddies.

Thomas Edison

He hated tons like an elephant weight number of tons. 1 – Any form of criticism, got extremely annoyed when Henry Morton, the President of the Stevens Institute of Technology, called his light bulb a "conspicuous failure" in a public letter. 2 – Most (if not all) black inventors getting any kind of credit for things he majored in like, Edison sued Granville T. Woods, a prolific Black inventor, twice in the 1880s, claiming that he invented the telegraph for trains first. 3 – Tesla. Tesla eventually resigned from Edison's company after becoming convinced that Edison hadn't lived up to a promise of bonuses.

Madame Curie

Xenophobia, Curie faced xenophobia as part of the right-wing press campaign against her. Sexism was also an obvious and huge problem for her as well, some of her coworkers didn’t enjoy her much because they felt she was spending too much time in the lab rather than with her own children. In 1911, Curie was denied a seat in the French Academy of Sciences, likely due to sexism and religion. The right-wing press spread false rumors about her, including that she was Jewish and not truly French.

Nikola Tesla

He absolutely despised germs, this man was the definition of a germaphobe to the point where he declined to shake hands, even wore gloves to avoid germs and hair, just simply hated the feeling of touching hair, some speculate that his hate of feeling hair is stemming from a childhood illness, made him particularly sensitive to the idea of hair carrying bacteria.

Benjamin Franklin

Hated Germans, even saying that they weren’t “as smart as the people already living in the colonies.” As of 1750s, disparaging "low women," Catholics, and Jews; decrying "alien" German immigrants who would "swarm into our settlements;" and labeling Native Americans as "drunken "savages who delight in war. take pride in murder," and should be pursued with "large, strong, and fierce dogs." Yet, in the 1760s, when white Americans attacked an Indian settlement, he labeled the attack "white savagery." African Americans, he described as "sullen, malicious, revengeful" and "by nature [thieves.]" Yet, ever the inquiring scientist, he visited a school for black children, emerging from the visit with a "higher opinion of the black race than I had ever before entertained."

Hedy Lamarr

Lamarr was not a supporter of her husband's political views and hated fascism. She was concerned about the war and didn't feel comfortable making money in Hollywood while the world was in such a state, Lamarr was unhappy in her marriage to Mandl, a wealthy armaments producer for the Nazis. She described him as controlling and said he prevented her from pursuing her acting career. Lamarr escaped to Paris in 1937 and divorced Mandl.

Steve Jobs

Jobs famously disliked styluses, saying, "You have to get 'em, put 'em away, you lose 'em. Yuck! Nobody wants a stylus. So, let's not use a stylus". He also killed the Newton, a tablet-like device that used a stylus, also didn’t like Bill Gates very much, Jobs called Gates "unimaginative" and said that Gates was more comfortable in philanthropy than technology.

All information from google, I tried not to use Wikis, but if it’s incorrect then blame the internet, not me.

[i-can-even-burn-salad]

This or That tag

I was tagged by @silvertalonwritblr - this looks fun :D

Historical or Futuristic

I don't write in our world settings, but I stick more to historical-ish vibes in mine. Like, I'll take a castle over a spaceship :D

Opening or Closing Chapter

Gonna go with the closing chapter. There's something so satisfying about it - especially when writing in order.

Light and Fluffy or Dark and Gritty

Nope. No. This one I won't pick. That's my whole issue I keep whining to my friends about. I want dark shit, but I want a fluffy ending, and I can barely find it, and I am losing readers on either end of it, and I'm gonna cry.

Animal Companion or Found Family

I'll be honest, I have one (1) char with an animal (not a special one) and I am already annoyed because I keep forgetting the dog exists. Nah, gonna stick to found family here. I can leave them outside the door without getting accused of animal abuse.

Horror or Romance

Isn't that the same? /s

I guess if I HAD to - romance. Because I am easily scared. But the thought of a pure romance without any fantasy elements (and let's be honest, without a disproportionate amount of blood) is not very exciting.

Now the romantic subplot between angst, drama and the world ending? Gimme gimme.

Hard Magic System or Soft Magic System

Soft magic system, mostly because I am so over worldbuilding, and I just cram in whatever I need in the moment. Oh, I need a healer who can't control his magic? Done, because I said so. Next!

Stand-alone or Series

I love stand-alones that tie together. In the same world, perhaps with recurring chars, either in a major or minor role, but each story stands on its own.

That kinda solves the problem of barely finding the motivation to read one (1) book without subscribing to a series, but also having more if I love it.

So I try to write what I love as reader.

One Project at a Time or Always Juggling 2+

I guess I have one main project, usually, but that doesn't mean there's not several others in different stages lurking in the background.

One Award Winner or One Best Seller

Ok, honestly, looking at what I write, what award should I win LOL

Also, I like money, and there's a selling in best seller.

Now for that I would have to sell instead of just uploading the files for free, but uh, let's not look into the details, let's move on...

Fantasy or Sci-Fi

Fantasy all the way. Not only do I love it, and always have, Sci-Fi also has a too high chance of coming across tropes I, uh, let's say, dislike.

Character Description or Setting Description

I guess setting, because I don't know how to describe characters. Most lists of "words you can use! :)" make me wanna cry. He has a... face. A human face. And hair. Let's move on.

For the setting, I can at least sneak little details in, and sometimes people get distracted and don't notice I have no idea what I am talking about.

First Draft or Final Draft

First draft here, because getting that done is an amazing feeling - editing, not so much. Especially because I never feel like I have a real, final, never gonna touch again draft. There's always... something.

Also, since I ignore all the advice about not editing while drafting, my first drafts aren't that bad. I rarely change content, just fix the prose.

(Do you know how many "again" fit in a manuscript? Many.)

Aaaand I'm gonna tag @starlit-hopes-and-dreams @winterandwords @serotoninshift @poetinprose @whump-me (no pressure, and ignore the ones that don't apply <3)

[grymmnox]

weekly fic recs #19

woo let’s go

ship(s): kunikizai, soukoku, and ofc some gen fics (p much all of these will have gen fics of some kind, even if i forget to say so)

fandom(s): bungo stray dogs

Oneshots

but you’re a part of me.; pigeonpi - bungo stray dogs

teen and up | 1.2k words | chuuya/dazai | READ TAGS

summary:

he stared at the dazai standing in the corner.

dazai stared right back with that empty eye of his. that smile of his.

he reached out in desperation for what he knew would be the antidote to the pain he suffered.

he reached out in desperation, hopelessness crawling through him like a colony of ants.

hopelessness, because he knew that the antidote was gone.

the screaming would continue.

because dazai was dead.

--

in which chuuya can't sleep.

Morning Light; FallenBrie - bungo stray dogs

mature | 18k words | atsushi & dazai, atsushi & kunikida, akutagawa & atsushi, atsushi & chuuya, ADA & atsushi, atsushi & ranpo, chuuya & dazai, dazai & kunikida | READ TAGS

summary:

Atsushi stares for a long moment, taking that in. “That’s it? I just have to die and I’ll be let go?”

“You’ll exit the loop. Sounds fairly simply but remember the time limit, your healing ability is going to be working against you here,” Ranpo corrects.

“I almost die all the time - “ He laughs, a weight in his chest lifting. “I’m going to get out of here!”

--

Atsushi gets stuck in a time loop and severely underestimates just how dedicated his family is to keeping him alive

england made me; kazarismask - bungo stray dogs

mature | 1.6k words | ADA & dazai, dazai & kunikida, dazai & yosano | READ TAGS

summary:

Dazai Osamu was going to die today.

Complete Fics

Promised Future; Katical - bungo stray dogs

mature | 8 chapters | 17.4k words | chuuya/dazai, chuuya & kouyou | READ TAGS

summary:

It wasn't Dazai who left the Port Mafia and later joined the Armed Detective Agency after a certain incident.

No, it was Chuuya.

A story of continuous searching, touching reunions and building a future.

Incomplete Fics

no man is an island; That_One_Fran_Fan - bungo stray dogs

teen and up | 14/? chapters | 39.8k words | dazai/kunikida, dazai & kunikida, dazai & ranpo, kunikida & ranpo, atsushi & dazai, ADA & dazai, dazai & yosano | READ TAGS

summary:

"It had started with Dazai acting more restless than usual."

Or

Dazai wants to get better.

When I Awake; wildflowertea - bungo stray dogs

mature | 20/22 chapters | 190.8k words | chuuya/dazai | READ TAGS

summary:

Dazai Osamu has been in a coma for exactly one year, seven months, and twenty-two days. But Death still refuses to take him.

Trapped in the space between worlds, and unable to die, Dazai waits, killing what precious time he may have left. And hoping—praying—that his family will pull the plug and move on. He doesn't expect someone to move into his old apartment instead.

Nakahara Chuuya, two-time Grammy awards winner, and freshly unemployed pessimist, has never believed in fate—much less the supernatural. But the lively—if a bit annoying—ghost of his apartment's previous tenant, might just change everything.

act of faith; cherrior - bungo stray dogs

teen and up | 7/12 chapters | 73.3k words | chuuya/dazai, chuuya & yosano | READ TAGS (altho most warnings r in chapter notes)

summary:

Chuuya Nakahara wakes in the infirmary of the Armed Detective Agency with no memories of what landed him there, or why he isn't able to manipulate gravity at will.

Dazai's at his side, tight-lipped about the ordeal and hiding behind his veneer of calm, and lets the doctor inform Chuuya that he'll be staying at the Armed Detective Agency until further notice, the deal already negotiated between their organizations.

Living with Dazai keeps bringing up the past, though, and there's nothing worse than being forced back into old memories where none new can form.

[ can be read standalone; has an accompanying sskk fic, though. ]

[jupyyter]

infodump for characters in a little thingy thing i’ve made

Francis:

• 14 years old

• talks to their schizophrenia

• pretty sure they’re meant to be in jail

• murderer by profession and hobby

• gender, who?

• if you asked for pronouns they’d stab you, so who really knows

• has a pet pig :3 her name is Sonnenschein (Sonny for short)

• the local farmers nicknamed them ‘the anti-shepherd’ because they keep killing sheep

• also throws stones at birds, except corvids and blackbirds

• are they one person? are they four? who knows!

• nobody knows where they live, they’ve just been seen running into forests for days on end

• Mommy issues™

• 73 mental illnesses and banned from most public spaces

• bities. screamies. stabbies.

• probably wants Matt dead

• Lani is safe though

• the Great War <3

• couldn’t tell you what you said a second ago but can tell you everything you would need to know about the first world war

• fuck cops

• practices witchcraft!! they suck at it!!!

• they’ve probably tried cannibalism before

• speaks in a confusing jumble of English, Spanish, Irish and German

• on the topic of their languages, they use a different surname depending on their language. German is Durchdenwald, Irish is O’Dubhthaigh and Spanish is Vasco. they won’t use their English (birth) Surname

• also each country thinks they’re a different person because when they go for the yearly visits they change appearances

• their dads are a teenager with the mentality of a two year old and their imaginary friend

• hasn’t cut their hair in ???

• can probably see ghosts

• like bigfoot if he was just some guy

• they probably talk to Mothman about his day, they’re friends with cryptids we think

• always cold, like always always cold

Schizophrenia:

• told you Francis spoke to their schizophrenia

• kinda a hallucination/delusion in herself

• just a little shadow girl

• Schizo or Schizy by name, sometimes gets Skips as a nickname

• she wears a my little pony shirt and still acts like the baddest bitch alive, what a role model

• has tried to fist fight people who don’t even see her

• can inflict a single symptom of schizophrenia on anyone, but only one symptom and one person at a time

• annoying af

Sammy:

• the imaginary friend who gained too much sentience

• tulpa probably

• soldier from the Great War!

• also a pacifist

• he was conscripted to the war and was shot for cowardice after a year of service

• had a baby called Francis who died due rations not providing enough, hence why they latched on to this Francis

• can talk Francis out of killing when they’re still semi sane

• professional alcoholic

• taught Francis to use a musket and a flame thrower

• has a little gas mask, puts it on Sonny sometimes

• dad of the year award goes to

Danny:

• about 19 years old? no-one knows for sure how old he is

• likes women but is still somehow the gayest guy to exist?

• has a horse called Stormy, Francis gets to ride her

• would love a dog, might get one some day

• speaks English and a small bit of German

• dumbass by trade

• Francis’ dad by law, older brother by bond, partner in crime by police registration

• has been arrested 3 times

• wants a kid but won’t have one because of his reputation, he doesn’t want the kid to be fatherless like he was

Matt:

• huge history and geography nerd

• from Francis’ history class

• has suspicions that Francis is the local murderer but hasn’t said anything

• has a huge crush on Lani

• bullying material

• intimidated by Francis, but wants to be their friend

• is followed everywhere by his dog

Lani:

• knows full well Francis is the murderer, has seen them kill

• her dad is a cop

• she still won’t say anything

• wouldn’t consider Francis a friend but they’ve spoke a few times

• would help hide a body

• thinks Sonny is cute

• girlboss <3 we stan Lani

• cannot stand Matt

• might steal his dog

• pretty sure she had a crush on Danny a while back

Sonnenschein:

• oink

[trans-het]

OC Duo Questions Except not an ask Game I just Write Them out cuz I'm Bored

Characters Featured: Thunderstrike and Omensky (I'll be doing these with different charas prolly as well but I'mma start with my guys)

All of these answers are given before the story itself starts, some would change if they happened during certain parts of the story/after the story

😇- What's their best trait?

Thunderstrike: Hmmm a toughy...really depends. Not too fond of pushovers, but if you're like. A big ol' dick who likes stomping on kittens or whatevs this guy's the perfect kitten for a stomping if ya catch my drift. Like....dude's. Dude's just such a pushover, and it makes them a perfect follower, which is nice. But, honestly, I prefer a person with guts. A little bit'a bravado, y'know? Grow a pair of balls, but eh. Even though we...don't get along, they seem to listen to me cuz I'm the all important prophecy cat which is pretty cool to be honest

Omensky: He. He is certainly a character. Not much positive I can say about him. BUT, if you must wring an answer out of my sorry pelt, then I'd say I admire his confidence. It's something a sorely lack, but honestly, if I had as much confidence as that guy I'd want someone to tell it to me straight. Like, I don't know how he can be the most un-self aware guy quite possibly ever, but he has his whole head up his entire ass and it's like. Shut the fuck up.

👿- What's their worst trait?

Thunderstrike: Kinda same answer as before to be honest, like. Dude's a pushover. Good for some, just not good for me. Also dude is so meanies to meeeeeeeeeee! Like why ya gotta be such a prick aalllll the time, I just wanna be buds!

Omensky: Oh, I could go on for fucking HOURS. He's annoying, overconfident, cocky, egotistical...ignore how most of those mean the same thing. But he's just. GAH I don't even know what to say, most annoying tom in the world award goes to him, though.

⚖️- Are they a good person?

Thunderstrike: If there's a definition of a good person, it's this guy. Bro's a grade-A StarClan ass kiss. And well, StarClan dictates morality, I guess. I dunno, not all too religious myself, but Omen sure is, hoooooooo-boy. Might as well court StarClan and make it their mate at this point. Hunker down at night, singing sweet nothings into StarClan's ear....spending the days hunting together and the nights cuddling...got side-tracked, you can ignore that last part

Omensky: He was chosen by StarClan so I can't quite say no...I can't tell. He's not done anything wrong he just gets on my nerves seemingly on purpose. But, if I had to answer this while being completely and utterly unbiased...then yes. He is a good person

👁️- Do you really know them?

Thunderstrike: Never claimed I did, to be quite frank. Little guy's an enigma, a total and honest mystery. I wish I could crack that little nutcase open, but alas. Well, maybe it's best I don't. They don't want me to, so I won't pry, ya know? Cuz I'm a good samaritan

Omensky: Oh please, I think the entire clan knows his general shtick at this point. Annoying, brash, thinks only of himself. I wish I could know less of him, or hell, I wish there was even some kind of hidden complexity to him but. Nope! He's just like that

👥- What are they to you?

Thunderstrike: My buddy! But for real, we're nothing to each other. We're both connected to StarClan, but that's about it.

Omensky: Absolutely. Nothing.

❤️- What are you to them?

Thunderstrike: Perhaps a one-sided crush....oh that'd be so scandalous!!!!

Omensky: If that dumbass is saying I'm crushing on him, please hit him. With a rock. A big one, preferably

🐺- What animal do they most remind you of?

Thunderstrike: Like a sheep. Always in a group and willing to give up everything for their twoleg. I wouldn't be surprised if Omen tried to give up their own wool for StarClan, HAH

Omensky: Not sure...maybe a dog. Obnoxiously loud and dangerous.

😘- Are they your type?

Thunderstrike: BA, Ya gotta be joking me? After hearing all that, you're asking if they're my type? HA!

Omensky: Next question, please.

😨- What's their greatest fear?

Thunderstrike: Not sure, probably not being guided by someone or something stupid like that.

Omensky: I don't think he feels fear. Too much of an idiot.

🧠- What's your best memory with them? Worst?

Thunderstrike: We don't talk enough for me to answer that question, most of my memories is just me annoying them for fun and them getting absolutely pissed HA

Omensky: Best memory, none. Worst memory, all.

👣- How long have you known each other?

Thunderstrike: Ever since little omen was born!

Omensky: Too long

🫂- How has your relationship changed recently?

Thunderstrike: It hasn't, and probably never will! We don't like each other, but we don't hate each other, and that's fine by me.

Omensky: I'm. More worried. Not about him but...of him.

🫡- Are they a good leader?

Thunderstrike: No, but they're a HELL of a follower!

Omensky: I never noticed anything of the like.