#written by libby / 21+ / she/her

[ragedagainst]

"jyn, i think, never knew the effect she had on others—never realized the intensity of her own humanity or the presence she brought to a room. she was, as expected, troubled and quarrelsome; she was also impossible to ignore or forget."

RAGE AGAINST. a private and selective rp blog for JYN ERSO from star wars: rogue one. headcanon-based and canon divergent with the main verse set during the original trilogy.

previous url : sgterso

001. carrd 002. memes 003. template credit

[killervelveteenrabbit]

"The Ghost and Molly McGee", Ten Years After

Molly’s ongoing work to improve the economic, cultural, and mental well-being of Brighton has earned her the love and respect of everyone in town, a few write-ups in statewide and national publications… and a full scholarship to the University of Iowa’s civil and environmental engineering program. She’s returned to Brighton, working for City Hall as assistant city planner (with her dad as her boss, which isn’t awkward at all, really) while earning her master’s online.

Molly wasn’t alone while she attended UI—Libby was her dormmate all four years that she was there. She earned a scholarship of her own, majoring in English. She also returned to Brighton after graduating, becoming a part-time reporter for the town newspaper while helping run her mother’s bookstore. All of this is in addition to her literary career. Matias, her father, took a second look at the fantasy novel she wrote and realized it was publication-worthy. It wasn’t a best seller, but the royalties from this and two other books Libby has written since let her live comfortably and pursue her passions in life. Her latest project is a series of books helping small children understand and live with the effects of divorce.

Molly and Ollie hit a rough patch after an admittedly stupid argument during their senior year of high school, and their two-month breakup proved just as hard on their respective families as it was on each other. They got back together just in time for graduation from Brighton High, only to part ways as Molly went to UI and Oliver headed for Iowa State. But they carried out a successful medium-distance relationship (it was only a two-hour drive between the two campuses).

Ollie has parlayed his experience as a researcher for his parents’ MeTube videos into a career as a freelance researcher for an assortment of psychological and medical foundations. While he travels all over the Midwest and occasionally beyond, he’s based out of Brighton… specifically, the rental house he shares with Molly. Ollie and Molly are practically married already, but their parents are eager for them to make it official. The couple are waiting a while to save enough money to stage the dream wedding and after-party they always wanted without breaking the bank.

Several years ago, an ill-advised deal involving a shipment of counterfeit designer smartwatches and the Uzbek mafia landed Darryl in hotter water than usual. He’s lucky all he got away with was lockdown in juvie until his 21st birthday… which got commuted to two hundred hours of community service and time served due to an unexpected (and slightly suspicious) governor’s pardon. At any rate, the whole debacle soured Darryl on similar schemes. He’s kept his nose clean since then, barring a few school detentions. He takes business courses at a local community college with plans to transfer to a four-year institution this fall. His current side hustle involves promotions and advertising for assorted boutiques and under-21 nightclubs that have popped up in Brighton's revitalized downtown.

June lives away from home, majoring at Drake University. But she remains Darryl’s best friend, the only person outside his family who’s consistently been there for him after his schemes blew up in his face—figuratively and almost literally; she was the one who detected that leak in the ammonium nitrate storage tank Darryl stashed out near the water tower. They even dated for a while before mutually acknowledging the situation was “weird” and deciding they were better off as friends. On a related note, maybe Esther shouldn’t have paid out all that money to have her wedding dress remade.

Pete and Sharon are still happily married. Pete takes great pride in the improvements he’s helped make for his adopted hometown of Brighton, and he’s especially flattered that his daughter is following in his footsteps. The town’s successes have become Pete’s successes—in the last ten years, he’s fixed up the family home and bought his first non-used car. He’s even dusted off his vinyl for a few gigs at some of the new clubs downtown. Meanwhile, Sharon offers painting classes at the local community center and retirement home. These days, she primarily uses her Gig Pig account to set up painting parties in and around town, sometimes as far out as Perfektborg.

The Chens’ enlightenment about the true nature of ghosts has led them to step away from their “Ghost Chaser Chens” MeTube channel. Ruben has had far more luck marketing his brand of small-batch root beer, now available in grocery and convenience stores all over the state. Recently, Esther inspired Ruben to introduce a “spiked” version flavored with Habanero peppers. Reception has been mixed.

Grandma Nin and her friend Patty are the self-described “Bad Girls of Brighton Hills”, but their adventures have proven more constructive than mischievous. They’ve organized concerts at the bandshell, joined the Senior Construction Crew on home-repair projects for needy families, and hosted a weekly potluck dinner/board game session in the home’s cafeteria. These dinners always feature Patty’s homemade gumbo—Nin helped her fine-tune the recipe so now it’s actually edible.

The McGees look forward to David and Emmie’s annual visits, a chance to catch up with family and connect with their heritage. The Thai lessons Molly took on Triolingo have helped her feel slightly more at ease when the Suksais come to call. Also, Sharon has tried practicing some Thai dishes, with Pete’s assistance and (critically) while Nin isn’t in the vicinity.

A year after Davenport’s closed its doors, the family rolled the dice and started a supermarket specializing in organic groceries, local produce, and hard-to-find foreign brands… items Bizmart couldn’t or wouldn’t accommodate. The gamble paid off, and Davenport's Turnip Patch sells and ships to customers across the region—yes, even to Perfektborg. (Sharon and Nin are frequent visitors since they carry Thai specialties like jackfruit, pandan extract, and even durian.) Andrea maintains the store’s computer systems but pointedly avoids appearing in advertising. She’s back on her socials, but not as an influencer. Her “Girl Code” series on MeTube provides tips and tricks for entry-level coding enthusiasts. The videos feature occasional cameos by her girlfriend Alina, who’s also taken an interest in the subject.

Three months after Scratch cast off his Chairman’s robes, they settled upon the recently departed spirit of a retired manager of an IRS branch office. Since then, the Ghost Council has basked in bureaucratic bliss, leaving the denizens of Ghost World alone and happy. Not long after Todd left, Molly conducted a séance and told Geoff what happened to Scratch. He realizes it will be a while before he sees his friend again, but at least he has Jeff to keep him company.

Todd and Adia have photographed wild horse herds in Montana, kayaked off the Antarctic Peninsula, biked through Croatia, snorkeled with manta rays in Hawaii, and helped refurbish a centuries-old mosque in Brunei… and that’s just in the last year! Their adventures included a meditation retreat in India where Todd astrally projected his spirit out of his body for a few minutes. He “came back” talking about a young lady back in Brighton who showed him how to live even though he was already “dead”. On their next swing back to the United States, Molly is the first person they plan to visit.

[littlemissmentallyunstable]

‘she’s gonna save me, call me "baby", run her hands through my hair, she’ll know me crazy, soothe me daily, better yet she wouldn't care’

masterlist * to be written * ellowyn estate

reader. writer. actress. pianist. dancer. singer. hopeless romantic.

heyy, i’m bella ⋆౨ৎ˚⟡ ࣪

work too much. think too deep. dream too big. cry too soon. love too hard.

about me: I love to read and write, it’s literally become a personality trait . this is my first writing blog ever so I’m open to criticism and pointers on how to make my work better 🤍🤍 she/her, minor, 21+ DNI

my family on tumblr: as well as my beautiful and amazing moots I’m also part of the ellowyn dynasty!!

my fictional idols: avery kylie grambs, rory gilmore, jo march, katniss everdeen, juliette ferrars, mare barrow, annabeth chase, savannah grayson, paedyn gray, gigi grayson, tris prior, lyra kane, nazeera ibrahim, libby grambs, beth march, lorelai gilmore, thalia grace, meg march, emmaline sommers, hermione granger, amy march, lucy gray, adena, luna lovegood, reyna ramírez-arellano, anne shirley-cuthbert (is the shortened list)

my husbands: grayson hawthorne, kai azer, aaron warner, jameson hawthorne, kenji kishimoto, kitt azer, nash hawthorne, xander hawthorne, florian beck, laurie, percy jackson, makoto khitan, finnick odair, tobias eaton, peeta mellark, coriolanus snow, jason grace, gilbert blythe (just to name a few)

music: tom odell, hozier, arctic monkeys, the lumineers, hamilton, standing at the sky’s edge, månoskin, twenty one pilots, x-ambassadors, conan gray, olivia rodrigo, marina, florence + the machine, harry styles, sia, taylor swift & moreeee

currently reading: war storm

note: music, rain, cinnamon rolls, dance, gilmore girls, piano, iced tea and fiction are my therapy <3

masterlists:

- the inheritance games

- powerless

- shatter me

I’m currently closed for requests 🤍🤍 so sorry!!

I can write for most fandoms (I think) it’s not just limited to the ones I have listed!!

other blogs:

ellowyn family: @primabellarina

valencourt boyfriend: @eunspercy

tig rp: @xanderlovesscones

powerless rp: @ordinaryleena

shatter me rp: @emmal1nesommers

harry potter rp: @daphhatesyou

my tags:

bella blabs 🤍 - probably me spouting some random nonsense

bella writes 🤍 - my fics

bella’s chit chat 🤍- if you guys send me an ask

bella’s 🎧 - a song I’m screaming the lyrics to at the mo

bella’s questions 🎂- when I set up a poll

[therubyreader]

Book Bites: Volume 1

Hello again! I know it's been a while since I’ve written anything in a while, real life has a way of beating you up sometimes, and while I still want to write book reviews, I also know I don’t have the mental capacity to write long reviews like I used to, so I have come up with a compromise! Introducing Book Bites, quick reviews for the books I’ve been reading recently which I will be simultaneously posting on my Goodreads account, they will be spoiler free unless stated otherwise. I also wanted to let you all know I will be switching to tracking books on Storygraph for the coming year, I’ve started posting on there already, so check out the link in my pinned to follow my account! Please let me know what you think and let's get into it!  

The Seventh Veil of Salome – Silvia Moreno-Garcia ☆☆☆☆☆ 

As soon as I heard that Silvia Moreno-Garcia was publishing a new book I had to place a hold on it at my library through Libby. I’m a huge fan of all of Silvia’s writing so I knew that I was going to love this book as soon as I read it, and I was right! This book tells both the story of the biblical Salome, the woman who ordered the head of John the Baptist, Vera Larios, an unknown Mexican actress who somehow managed to land the coveted role of Salome in the movie production set in the golden age of Hollywood, and Nancy Hartley an unsuccessful actress trying to become a star. The way the books is written is extremely unique, there aren’t any chapters just changing points of view between the three women, and bits where it is written like a documentary based on the movie being made in modern day. While this format is a little weird at first, it really lends to the story telling experience and it makes for a beautifully written ending. I absolutely loved going on this journey with all three women, all facing unique hardships and their unified struggle of a woman trying to be successful in a time where men held all the power. If you love historical fiction and are a fan of golden age Hollywood movies, you’ll love this book but be prepared to go on an emotional rollercoaster with each of these characters. 

The Map of Love - Ahdaf Soueif ☆☆☆☆☆ 

This book was recommended to me by one of my dear friends, and since I love making them read books that I loved, it was my turn to return the favor. The book tells the story of a woman, Isabel, who inherits her great-grandmother, Ana's, suitcase full of her writings, and after some guidance from Omar, an Egyptian American man she has fallen in love with, she travels to Egypt to meet Omar’s sister, Amar, to help her unravel Ana’s hundred year old love story. The book switches points of view between Ana’s journey to Egypt from England and her love story with an Egyptian man, Sharif, and Isabel and Amar’s own struggles in the modern day. The point of view shifts a quite jarring at first, it does take a while to get into, but once you do it's such a good way to tell the story of all three women and the political landscapes of their times. It really puts into perspective how Egypt is such an old country as there is common locations across those hundred years as well as common problems, namely the situation in Palestine which we are still living through twenty-five years after the book was published. I absolutely loved this look into the late-Victorian era and early Edwardian in a country outside the US and UK, though the story is greatly influenced by both. If you want to read some more diverse historical fiction and have the patience for a long and dense book, then I highly recommend this one. 

The Honey Witch - Sydney J. Shields ☆☆☆★★ 

I was once again influenced by TikTok and their rave reviews about this book and decided to check it out at my library. This book is about 21-year-old Marigold Claude, a high society outcast and soon to be spinster who is whisked away by her grandmother to a magical island after finding out that she is the next Honey Witch meant to protect the island, its magical inhabitants, and the people of the nearby town, all while grappling with a curse that prevents her from falling in love and a brewing evil. I was promised by the people of TikTok a witchy sapphic romance and it unfortunately underdelivered, the book took too long establishing the world and magic system, and once things started to get into motion each plot point was connected to the next with very flimsy strings and everything felt super circumstantial and forced. The life altering evil was over and done with in fewer book pages than I would’ve liked, and the romance was written like a bad Wattpad story from 2012. I did give it three stars because I thought all the characters were very compelling, though victims of a subpar story, and the world and magic system that was very well thought out. Honestly, not a bad book, but if you want to read it, I recommend keeping your expectations lower so as to not be disappointed. 

[thatguywiththefaceog]

Kinktober 2023 Day 20-Watersports

The Ghost and Molly McGee-Molly/Libby

After Libby has an accident, she and Molly discovers a new kink

written for @kinktober2023

requested by anon

This story is rated E for explicit. It is for mature audiences only. All characters are over 18. This story contains watersports. NSFW under the cut.

It had been forever, since Molly and Libby had spent any significant time together. Between college and jobs, it was just too hard. So imagine Molly's joy when she found out that they'd both have the fall semester off at the same time. Molly figured that a road trip was in order, so she and Libby packed up and were on their way across the USA. The cool autumn breeze made making their way nice and cool.

As the sun fell, Molly drove the car to a nice inn with a bar. Both were 21 now and the girls made quick work of several kinds of alcohol. The duo made their way to their rooms for the night and made a discovery. There was only one bed.

"Should we call the front desk?" Libby asked.

Molly shrugged. "I mean, I'm fine with it if you are."

Libby felt the sweat on the back of her neck. "Of course I'm fine with it. Why wouldn't I be fine with it?" She gave an awkward laugh.

So the two ladies changed into their pj's. Libby had a shirt and pants decorated with turtles. Molly wore a simple over large tee shirt with panties. The two got underneath the covers and it wasn’t long until Molly was snuggling Libby. Soon Molly drifted off to sleep.

Libby did not. For one, the girl she's had a crush on since junior high was pressing her body against hers. Second, she really needed, I mean really needed to pee. Libby wanted nothing more than to discreetly leave the bed and relieve herself in the bathroom but Molly's snuggles were strong and very hard to break out of. The only thing harder was holding in pee when you really, really need to go.

Libby did the best she could do, but the dam burst and her pee started to flow. Holding it in for so long, the pee was huge. The wet spot grew across her pants and dripped onto the bed sheets. Libby cried herself to sleep laying in her warm pee.

Libby awoke off the bed on an air mattress. She was bottomless, her pee drenched panties and bottoms in a garbage bag marked laundry in Molly's handwriting. Speaking of Molly, she was nowhere to be seen. God Libby felt so humiliated. She stripped off her top and made her way to the bathroom. She showered, making sure she washed and cleaned her thighs and sex. She dried and dressed; making her way to the Inn Cafe ( which was the same room as the bar). There was Molly. She waved to Libby. Libby shyly made her way to the table.

"Morning Lib! Ready for our second day of roadtripping?" Molly was her usual bright and sunny self. She gave no sign of even being aware of last night.

"I guess," Libby shrugged.

Molly had ordered a very nice brunch for the both of them. The two ate and talked, the horrible night fading from Libby’s mind. They went on their way once more and took in the beautiful autumn sights.

It was a little past noon when Molly said, "I was into it."

"Into what?" Libby asked. Molly looked at her and Libby suddenly got it. "Oh! OH! Molly, Molly. That was an accident. I-I didn't mean to-"

Molly put her finger to Libby's lips. "Shush. Life is full of-of happy little accidents. And this is one of them. You don't have to, but maybe tonight we can have a chance to explore it again."

Molly looked at Libby with those puppy dog eyes of hers and Libby's heart melted. "Okay", she said. "We can, ah, try it again."

The continued the day, it was not lost on Libby that Molly was giving her a lot of water throughout most of it. The two found another rather nice hotel. Once the room was booked, they wined and dined. Much more wining. The two made their way back to their room. Libby laid down some ground rules. One, if they were gonna do this, they were doing this in the bathroom. Libby did not want to sleep in piss again. And two, Libby was in control. If she said stop, Molly would stop.

Once inside the room the girls made their way into the bathroom. The place did have a rather luxurious tub that the two naked girls could fit in with comfort. This was the first time Libby really had a chance to see Molly nude. They've undressed in the same room before but Libby was always too nervous to look. Molly's chest was small, she could pass as flat chested in the right shirt and she kept her mound waxed. Even on the road she was bald. Libby on the other hand had developed into snagging c-cups with rather large nipples. Her crotch was abound in curly black hair. Libby felt rather unsightly next to Molly.

As if Molly could her friend's mind, she wrapped her into a naked hug and kissed her body. "Libby, you are so darn beautiful."

Libby blushed at the affection. "Th-Thank you."

Their eyes meant. After a brief moment, their lips touched. Jolts of passion flowed through their bodies. But Libby felt something else.

"Molly, maybe we should get in the tub. It's getting hard to hold."

Molly gave Libby bedroom eyes. “Oh, okay. Someone is eager,” she sang. The two got in the bathtub. Molly laid down on her back; Libby crouched over her. She was really feeling her bladder now. “So where should I, you know?”

Molly slid her hand over her stomach. “How about here?” Her hand stopped near her belly button. Libby switched her hips, trying to aim. She breathed out and let herself go. A steady stream of piss poured out of her hairy pussy onto Molly’s stomach. Molly moaned as the warm piss rolled across her body. As she watched Libby pee, her fingers massaged her vaginal walls, before moving onto her clit. Just before Molly hit her orgasm, she used her free hand to pull Libby’s face to hers. The two kissed just as Molly climaxed.

[arwainian]

Reading This Week 2024 #21

As I am still getting into the swing of making these posts regularly again, its coming a little bit late! I've been pretty absorbed in trying to finish a crochet project, so reading has often been a little secondary unless I've got a good audiobook to go with it

Finished:

Tomie by Junji Ito, translated by Naomi Kokubo read for the sake of getting to read along with Shelved by Genre, and I blasted through it before they announced the pace they would be reading it, whoops. Lots of domestic violence, stalker, and abuse imagery along with the body horror. I think it's kinda lacking in terms of a conclusion, but it did give me a nightmare because the rules of how the horror worked were established but also flexible enough that my sleeping mind could construct its own Tomie scenario, so I think that makes it a successful piece of horror

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers, audiobook narrated by Rachel Dulude read for an upcoming sff bookclub meeting. to me this reads like a novel version of a clssic episodic scifi show like some sort of Farscape, and while that was charming, i think it suffered from not having as many episodes as a television show would have to develop its characters. the characters of Corbyn and Ohann I think were just handled poorly in general (more could have been done to give either of their arcs more weight), but also i loved the lizard aliens in this!

Lumberjanes, Vol. 1: Beware the Kitten Holy written by ND Stevenson, Grace Ellis, & Shannon Waters and illustrated by Brooklyn Allen read for upcoming June queer lit bookclub. this was kinda nostalgic for me because my dad got me these comics as they were coming out, but i never really read them that much! fun and charming, tho now more than ever I side with Jen.

Started/Ongoing:

The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories by Ken Liu I am reading this collection of short stories on recommendation from a friend! I started reading slow but now I'm trying a method of alternating between crocheting a round and reading a story and that is going very well! Of what I've read so far, I absolutely adore State Change, The Regular was very suspenseful, and the title story The Paper Menagerie made me cry! Also my audiobook hold at the library has come in so I may also read using that

The War That Saved My Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley, audiobook narrated by Jayne Entwistle so a kid I'm friends with was telling me about books she thought were good and out of respect for her I'm trying the first couple chapters of all of them even though I'm out of their target age demographic (can you hear my bones creaking as I try not to be a snob?). 2 chapters in, I'm not quite sure how i feel/if I'm compelled enough to keep on reading, but if there's a middle schooler in your life who likes historical fiction this might be worth checking out!

Reading Plans: since the last update, I have put together an organized list of books and other reading to do for my thesis this summer! here's hoping I follow through As i mentioned above, a kid I'm friends with gave me some book recommendations that I'll be checking out because my library has audiobooks for all of them! I've also got some other recommendations from friends on hold at the library, and some other random holds on Libby coming in that i need to check out. other than that I'm going to try and finish the Ken Liu short story collection this week and

[cathygeha]

REVIEW

Warrior’s Hope by Rebecca Zanetti

Dark Protectors #16

Growing up knowing you are the key to a prophecy and that your choices impact an entire realm – or more – making decisions about what direction to take and what man to choose is a big choice to make. Hope’s story and who she ends up with has been awaited through the reading of several books. She has spent time with Libby, Paxton, and dream-time with Drake of the Kurjan Nation. She feels her “time” has arrived and is ready to take that final step to keep her realm safe, believes she knows what that step is, and then…wonders if she is right or got things wrong.

I was looking forward to finding out how this segment of the story and the prophecy was handled and did find out although I had a bit of letdown. I am not sure if it was Hope being so “young” and seeming rather immature or that one character became even darker than he had leaned previously, or something else. I had a feeling, after the last book, that I knew which man Hope would end up with but still wanted to find out for sure.

This book provides the answer of which man, Drake or Paxton, Hope will be mated to, gives a hint of the work she and her mate will face in the future, if there are more books that they show up in. And my guess is that there will be more books as there were plenty of loose ends left to tie up if the author chooses to stay with this series. What loose ends? Well, enhanced women have a blood issue, the Kurjan Nation has a lot of repair work to be done by their new king and queen, and there are issues I wonder about like the Seven and what they will do now…and then all of the OTHER realms and beings and such.

The author mentioned 21 books written in this world though this is book 16 in the Dark Protectors Series. The books don’t have to be read in order but this book would benefit from knowing the backstory of Hope, Paxton, and Drake.

Did I enjoy this book? Not as much as I thought I would

Will I read more by this author? If the synopsis appeals – yes

Rating: 3 overall

Enjoyment: 2-3

5 because it needed to be written

Averaged to: 3

Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Lyrical Press for the ARC – this is my honest review.

BLURB

An explosive love triangle comes to its passionate conclusion and decides the fate of battling nations in award-winning and New York Times bestselling author Rebecca Zanetti’s Dark Protectors . . . As the only female vampire ever born, and the heir to two powerful immortal families, Hope Kayrs-Kyllwood has always felt the weight of fate and destiny. Now her heart is torn between two men and two different futures. It’s a choice between duty and love, peace and war, with the fate of everyone she loves hanging in the balance. As the leader of the Kurjan nation, Drake has always known that mating Hope is the best path to avoiding war. He’s counting on her to know the same. . . . Paxton has been Hope’s best friend and protector since they were children. He would kill and die for her without a second thought. In fact, he’s always known that would be his path . . . With deadly factions at her heels, Hope must decide whom to trust and where her loyalty lies—before the choice is taken away from her . . .

[bubba4576]

The recap of several years in a row 🫣

June 2023

Right now I’m sitting in the backseat of a different car (I drove a minivan for 20 years and now have a smaller car a rav4, which is cute and fun to drive but I admit I miss a big car! Maybe this one will become a car for one of the kids one day…) listening to my grown daughters chatter about life and Taylor swift and in the heights and…life. It’s otherworldly and beautiful to be one adult among many instead of the adult (well one of two:). I realized that I haven’t written in so long not because I haven’t had things to write but because the speed of life has had me running and barely a chance to catch my breath.

I’m not going to do a good job recapping three years but I’ll try my best

2020 fall: Lindley went back to Purdue -thankfully to an apt- the dorms were not fun during covid. we went back to school at BCS with plexiglass, masks shield and terribly smelly hand sanitizer. I had to teach in the classrooms all year since they were tying to minimize the kids leaving their safe spaces and infecting others. There were too many cases and quarantined to count.

Mal had covid in late oct but didn’t suffer too much. Mostly a really bad headache. So james and I had to stay out of school for two weeks. I started getting really good at recording myself teaching and making viable music lessons from afar. James and I painted the big room in the basement (oh we also changed out the flooring in the sunroom during the spring 2020 lockdown).

At thanksgiving we didn’t know how to plan with the cleveland family and in the end it just felt too risky esp with the grandparents, so we rented a little cabin in southern Indiana and hike and explored caves- it was pretty fun. Sadly lindleys found out after she was already with us that she had covid. So she masked most of the weekend. Funny moment: when you open up what you think is a turkey and it’s HAM! Ham for thanksgiving….. no bueno!

Christmas was strange also - we did a drive thru in the 24th in Cleveland. JT had his party outside in the garage with heaters. We stopped by Grammy’s and nana and grandpa’s houses and unfortunately unknowingly infected them:( when we got home lindley started not feeling great and we found out she had covid again. We were so worried that the grandparents would freak out but no one had symptoms so they were fine. We loved it when lindley would come home for break and even though it was hard to see her go she loved Purdue and her friends. That year she lived in an apt with Cori, Lydia, and Alexis. Next door was Libby, Hailey, Mackenzie and….?? Those girls also went to Guatemala together the next summer and had a fabulous time!

I hardly remember the second semester in 21- things were still online-like ISSMA- Mal recorded her solo at Sweetwater, james was in 7th grade, playing soccer for United and playing the saxophone at school. Things eased up as the year went on at BCS thankfully. Public schools were a mess all year- they had students come every other day so that there weren’t as many ppl in the building at the same time and the students could stay 6 ft apart. It was a mess for families whose parents needed to work out of the home. As the students were virtual in their off days. Many people say that not much learning and much stress happened that year. The seniors who graduated and began college are who I feel the worst for. So challenging.

By the summer, things were beginning to feel more normal. We could always notice a difference between Ohio and Indians tho- Ohio was much stricter. More masks for longer- more stores closed down etc.

Black Lives Matter and the me too movement were huge at this time. The George Floyd murder at the hands of cops set into motion a wave of protest and outrage in the nation. It hope it all produced some change.

Mallory worked at Old Navy that summer (masked the whole time) and enjoyed it although never really wanted to go back. She was good friends with Maddie Lehman during this time.

Lindley went to Guatemala after meeting a boy at a wedding in May ❤️ that boy ended up being the one 💕and they are getting married in three weeks! We love Josh and are excited to welcome him into our family. She is home for several days and now and we are working on wedding details. I love having her home and am feeling nostalgic that the 5 of us won’t be a unit any more. There is nothing bad about it, it’s just change…. 😢

Both girls had their senior years at the same time - Lindley dating Josh and trying to figure out her life :) she lived with Tori and Olivia Coats in an apartment off campus and second semester went back and forth between Indy and Purdue as she had an internship at Riley hospital there. She really loved the hospital setting and hopes to be able to return after getting her masters one day. Josh came to Cleveland with us that Thanksgiving and got to meet the extended family.

Mallory had a rough beginning to her senior year as he friendship with Maddie broke up and she never really knew why or had an closure from that. So hard. She began a close friendship with Will Guthrie after getting close to him at Youth group and began dating him in November. The group went in a backpacking trip to northern Michigan (north manitou island) and she sadly got Lyme disease from a tick bite and it resulted in Bell’s palsy for about 6 weeks- one half of her face was paralyzed!! It was pretty crazy- she had to tape her eye shut at night because she couldn’t blink it and put eye drops in frequently to keep it moist. She was on medication and things did clear up although it is something she’ll need to mention to every doctor for the rest of her life probably. :( even with that she had a great soccer season, chapel leadership went great, and she thrives through it. Her college auditions were delayed bc of her Bell’s palsy, but by January she was ready. She applied to many schools but zeroed in in Wheaton and Belmont and decided to audition there. After receiving a very personal acceptance letter from Hope College she also decided to add that to her list, and that was the place she loved the most. We were all surprised but it has been a great place for her!

James just loved life as the little brother of a cool senior - playing soccer and getting taller by the day. He is still easy going and kind of quiet. Once Mal left for school we realized exactly HOW quiet and introverted he really is. I wonder if we have talked over him all of these years? Has he had something to say that we’ve ignored? Maybe we’re making up for lost time now. He doesn’t complain and also doesn’t like extra attention which might make him think deeply about emotions etc 😂 or maybe he’s just easy. Is that a thing? I think for james there is a part of him that is. He goes with the flow, doesn’t make waves, is mostly happy to do whatever is going on and can be convinced by his sisters esp to do just about anything:) it’s pretty great!

As a family we got into watching some shows together which have been fun- amazing race, Lego masters, survivor, marvel movies and series.

We went camping several times at pokagon, Mal and Kevin hiked the red river gorge, and youth group took Mal and separately james (and Kevin as a chaperone) up to manitou island to backpack. They all really loved it.

[agentofship]

I posted 308 times in 2022

31 posts created (10%)

277 posts reblogged (90%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@bughead-bones

@2minutes2midnight

@valentinaonthemoon

@libbyweasley

@springmagpies

I tagged 292 of my posts in 2022

Only 5% of my posts had no tags

#fitzsimmons - 83 posts

#&lt;3 - 59 posts

#fic rec - 30 posts

#leo fitz - 21 posts

#agents of shield - 17 posts

#jemma simmons - 16 posts

#fitzsimmons fic - 15 posts

#iain de caestecker - 13 posts

#alternate universe - 12 posts

#agents of shield fic - 11 posts

Longest Tag: 120 characters

#love it when translation is actually smart like that and doesn't just stupidly translate something that's not gonna work

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

See the full post

27 notes - Posted November 23, 2022

#4

Just for the Night, chapter 2/2

FitzSimmons, rated M, 7900 words Summary: Bringing home her cute new colleague for the night sounded like a good idea to Jemma Simmons. He's cute and a fantastic kisser, just what she needed to relieve the stress of spending Christmas with her whole family. She just hadn't planned that she would end up snowed in with her one-night stand AND her family for Christmas.

Once more, happy Christmas Libby <3 "I'm so sorry, they weren't supposed to be here until much later!" she whispered as she closed the door behind herself and leaned back against it as if someone might burst through it anytime. "I know, you said so but I bet they wanted to avoid--" "The snow, yeah. My mum tried to call but my phone was in the living room. I probably wouldn't have heard it anyway, I slept like the dead last night." Fitz smiled at that and there was something so sweet in a way that she didn't tell him the orgasms weren't the only responsible. Even though he'd greatly contributed to the short-lived state of relaxation she'd felt that morning, she'd been exhausted for weeks. "Anyway, the road's closed so--" His lips pressed against hers softly, taking her by surprise. She was busy panicking about the whole situation, how dare he interrupted her like that? But then, his arms wrapped around her waist, impossibly warm, and Jemma melted into the embrace with a slight whine. Maybe she should have gone and talked to him weeks ago. She might have brought him home to her London flat and gotten the opportunity to enjoy his affection longer without being interrupted in the worst possible way. "Good morning," he said, eyes and tone equally soft when he pulled back.

Continue reading on AO3

29 notes - Posted January 8, 2022

#3

Finally finished this portrait of Fitz/Iain from the wedding scene in 5x12 <3 It had been a while since I drew him and I’m pretty happy with the result! Done in watercolor and color pencils! Commissions open for this type of portrait or digital ones, more details via DM :) REDBUBBLE / ETSY

33 notes - Posted December 4, 2022

#2

It Was All Make-Believe

FitzSimmons, rated T, 2609 words (for now) Chapter 1/6 @libbyweasley​ and I are very excited to finally start posting this fic we've been working on for months based on Libby's original idea. The fic is all written and a new chapter will be posted every week. I've written three chapters from Jemma's POV and Libby has written all chapters from Fitz's POV. Hope you enjoy :) Summary: Fitz and Jemma go undercover as a couple and discover it isn’t as difficult as they’d thought it would be. But what happens when those feelings become a little too real? Season 1 AU They all moved to the briefing room, May and Ward looking as awake and ready as ever. Fitz, not so much.

"Didn't even have time for breakfast," he grumbled as he took his place next to Jemma. "Why do these always have to be so early?" Jemma shook her head and pressed the second mug of tea she was holding into his hand. "Oh thank you." He took a sip and his face turned a little less grumpy for a second. "Maybe the problem is that you stayed up working in the lab so late," Jemma pointed out and he huffed. "You're one to talk!" "But I can function on five hours of sleep, you obviously can't." If his still only half open eyes and messy curls weren't enough to prove her point, Jemma reached out to straighten his collar. "That's because he's still growing!" Skye tousled his hair as she walked past him to take her place in the briefing room.

Continue reading on AO3

41 notes - Posted April 9, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

It had been a while since I’ve worked on a Liz/Jemma art :) (Based on that gorgeous Liz photoshoot I’m planning I’ve done this one using both color pencils and watercolor and I’m thoroughly enjoying it.  I’m currently open for commissions (both traditional and digital fanart). Send me a DM to know more :) 

44 notes - Posted July 3, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[merchlingsarc]

𝚆𝙴𝙻𝙲𝙾𝙼𝙴 𝚃𝙾 𝚃𝙷𝙴 𝚄𝙽𝙸𝚅𝙴𝚁𝚂𝙸𝚃𝚈 𝙾𝙵 𝙺𝙴𝚃𝚃𝙴𝚁𝙳𝙰𝙼. once you enrol, the best way to make friends and enjoy the new academic year is to join societies and decide which accommodation you will live at for the rest of your semesters. the university of ketterdam is a hub for hardworking students and those looking to live the next few years of their lives to the fullest but don’t let the weekly events organised by the university or your fellow students to distract you from your studies! we wish you good luck and make us all proud. (edit)

𝚁𝚄𝙻𝙴𝚂: follow and post in the brainrot campus gv tag . mun must be over 21 to join, muses over 18 . duplicates are allowed with permission from the first mun . make sure to be nice and include everyone . non grishaverse muses can join if they have a verse. ocs are welcome and more than encouraged ! to join, dm me (merchlings) with the following information: mun name, age, pronouns / muse name, age, pronouns, wire. have fun !

𝚂𝚃𝚄𝙳𝙴𝙽𝚃𝚂: wylan van eck : 18, he/him. written by @merchlings (ly. 23, she/they) jesper fahey : 19, he/him. written by @pistolslinger (nat. 27, she/they) inej ghafa : 19, she/her. written by @ineij (macy. 21, she/her) nina zenik : 19, she/her. written by @corpseralki (macy. 21, she/her) zoya nazyalenskaya : 21, she/her. written by @drakoroleva (macy. 21, she/her) kaz brekker : 19, he/him. written by @rietveild (leah. 21, she/her) nikolai lantsov : 20, he/him. written by @kcrclrezni (sarah. 26, she/her) gennadiya safina : 21, she/her. written by @krashaya (tas. 25, she/her) andromeda presley : 20, she/her. written by @appleyed (hailey. 21, she/her) david kostyk : 21, he/him. written by @daverialki (abby. 24, she/her) sirius black : 19, he/they. written by @askabound (ly. 23, she/they) matthias helvar : 21, he/him. written by @djelvar (alex. 31, she/her) nadia zhabin : 20, she/her. written by @zhcbin (abby. 24, she/her) eugene ( flynn rider ) kostyk : 21, he/him. written by @dreamwaited (abby. 24, she/her) malyen oretsev : 20, he/him. written by @biblade (eza. 24, they/them) tamar kir-bataar : 21, she/her. written by @solsoldats (eza. 24, they/them) alys anthonis : 25, she/her. written by @eversinging (nile. 24, she/her) marie dubrow : 21, she/her. written by @infernil (tara. 23, she/they) james potter : 19, he/him. written by  @braveswine (aggie. 21+, they/them) jyn erso : 21, she/her. written by @kyberborne (libby. 22, she/her) alina starkova : 19, she/her. written by @solsnkta (haley. 30, she/her) gemma buckley : 20, she/her. written by @enastrcs  (haley. 30, she/her) maddy mim : 19, she/they. written by @madnifcnt (reh. 21, she/her). jordie rietveld : 24, he/him. written by @jordhie (sage. 22, they/them) regulus black : 18, he/him. written by @betraeyer (sage. 22, they/them) bianca di angelo : 20, she/her. written by @morsquies (sena. 19, she/her)

[nouveauweird]

bullshit-free guide to actually fucking writing your wip

disclaimer: this isn’t a fool proof method. when it comes to writing advice and techniques for productivity I say keep an open mind, but take what works for you and leave the rest. 

disclaimer 02: this is more or less for people who want to eventually publish, but there may be elements in here that benefit hobby-writers.

Where & When You Write

Some people will tell you that your writing routine needs to be sacred. I don’t quite believe that. You can absolutely curate a space for yourself that you aim to write in, but at the same time, focusing very strongly on the ritual of writing makes it hard to create an adaptable habit. 

The Writing Zone: 

Your desk or table should face away from your bed, my mother always swore by that and it stuck with me. If space doesn’t allow for that, consider putting furniture or some partition up so you can’t see your bed. For some reason, this makes focusing easier. 

For those of you who may be bedridden or have limited space, a good bed-desk is absolutely just as acceptable (I am actually planning to get one). 

If you have a space separate from your bedroom, the follow applies as well: 

Eliminate as much distraction as possible from your desk. Your experience of distraction is unique so do what you gotta do to eliminate it. 

Make sure your space is well lit. Background light is essential to avoid eyestrain when staring at a screen.

Your chair should be comfortable, and support your back. Scoot your ass all the way to the back of the chair and try sitting on your thighs as much as possible to take strain off your lower spine (my chiropractor told me this).

The Writing Time: 

You need to make time for your writing. Summer means the sunshine is waking me up at 5:45 AM and it’s too hot to doze comfortably so my ass is up and writing or reading until 7 AM when I gotta start getting reading for the day. If I have to catch the 10:15 AM bus, I’ve for about 4 hours to work with between waking up and leaving. 

I finished July 2019 Camp Nano by writing in the morning. And I’m not even a morning person, I swear.

Make time for you writing. If you can make a routine you can stick to, excellent, if you have a handful of 5-10 minute time-pockets— also okay! The 30 minutes your dinner is in the oven is just as good a time to write as any other.

How do you learn how to write in tiny time pockets, you ask, well here it is: Micro Writing Sprints and Macro Writing Sprints. The former applies to pockets of time under 15 mins, while the latter applies to pockets of time over 20 mins. All you have to do is set a timer and challenge yourself to write as much as you possibly can. 

Another thing to keep in mind is knowing your personal limits. If your attention suffers and you start to wander after 15 mins, keep your sprints to 5-10 minute blocks, and give yourself 5-15 min breaks where you get up, drink some water, move your body and then come back to your writing. 

How to Write More, Faster

You have to kill your inner editor. Or at least subdue them. You can fix a typo or whatever but that’s really it. The idea is that you need to allow yourself to get into a mindset where you’re only focusing on the writing, your prose is allowed to be a mess. Insecurity and doubt have no place here, only writing.

Your first draft doesn’t need to be clean. You get to clean it up when it’s done. Stephen King says you write your first draft with the door closed, and the second with the door open, and I like that saying a lot. The revision process is actually way more fun than I thought it would be. I get to make fun of myself for my weird writing quirks— every single one of my “most common errors” in my Grammarly report is about misusing commas!— and restructure and improve upon the foundation I laid with the first draft.

If you come up with something that changes something significant to your story, write a note about it, and then continue on with your draft like it’s been that way the whole ass time. Do not go back and change things. Just keep writing.

Learning how to do Writing Sprints allows you to quickly get into the habit of putting everything down as fast as you can without overthinking it. Because the real thinking is for later, when you’re revising. Essentially these Sprints enable you to get into the writing zone much faster, so feasibly you could write in small time-pockets at the bus stop, in a waiting room, on the bus—anywhere.

Outlining will make you write faster.

Yes I am pro-outlining, please don’t click away because of that, because I also still think that you need to use what works for you, and if you’re reading this something isn’t working, so please keep your mind open.

The very least you should try is preparing or pre-planning what you need to write for your writing session (no matter how short). You will write more and faster this way. Most of all, you will be less likely to “wander” around. 

I wrote out a small fragment-filled paragraph of what needed to happen in the first few scenes of my July 2019 Camp Nano project and got them out more easily and faster compared to when I didn’t. I wrote sustainedly in 30 minute time-pockets with a great deal of focus when I prepared my writing before actually writing.

Your WIP Outline

What if your outline was also actually super connected to your character sheets? Libbie Hawker makes this sound so easy in her book “Take Off Your Pants” in which she broke down some very interesting ideas on how to build your characters and your story that I hadn’t previously considered. 

What I ended up with was something like this: 

CHARACTER NAME Character: write down the basics; age, career, small relevant facts Flaw: what problem do they have that hinders them External goal: the thing they want that they can’t get unless they overcome their ‘flaw’ Ally:  who pushes the character toward their goal when they stray Antagonist: who has same or aligned goal, but with different motives and execution Events:

Opening scene

Inciting event

Character realizes external goal

Display of flaw

Drive for goal

Antagonist reveal

Thwart 01

Revisiting flaw

New drive for goal

Antagonist attacks

Thwart 02

Changed goal

Ally intervention

Renewed Focus

Battle

Death

Outcome

End: success or failure or neutral result with regards to overcoming ‘flaw’

The stuff under the “Events” category is stuff everyone has seen before in narrative charts, and it won’t be the last time you see it either. You can use or discard or repeat them however many times you need to. I still think this plot chart that I made it great for figuring out pacing, so check that out if you need some help there.

You can also apply these to series, where the character’s “Flaw” and “External goal” change as the narrative progresses. 

All of these parts are explained in Libbie Hawker’s book, but I’m happy to explain if you DM me! 

I applied a central idea for my WIP “Hyacinth Stalks” and all the central characters share a common idea with regards to their flaws. Hawker recommends filling in this information for all central characters, and working in which events which characters will interact in. 

The common idea is that my characters are “holding onto the past to feel more in control in the present”. Juliet Shain maintains habits of maintaining a “perfect athletic body” in the same way she did as a dancer five years earlier. She can’t exercise that same control over her mental health, which she struggles with, because of questions she has pertaining to the accident that lost her her leg remaining unanswered. 

Juliet’s ultimate goal is closure about the accident, which she won’t be able to access unless she stops holding onto the past and in turn the idea that the accident “ruined” her. 

I can apply the same things to Alana Murdock, another central character in “Hyacinth Stalks”, who, because she could only rely on herself after her sister’s murder while her parents grieved and her brother cut all contact, rejects her brother’s attempt to reconnect in order to protect herself in the present despite the stress of the upcoming 10th anniversary of the Hyacinth Killer’s disappearance. Her goal, would be to make it to the Olympic Volleyball team, which she won’t be able to do unless she stops isolating herself.

I can now approach the Events sections with more clarity because I know what the characters’ goals are and what their hindrances are as well. I can apply the same ideas to the other central characters, as well as the Serial Killer and weave their stories into the narrative as well. When you have a strong character arc, you can build a strong story.

When you can answer the questions about your character(s) you can fill in those Event sections with far more ease, and begin to break those sections down into chapters, scenes, or beats, with as much or as little detail as you want. Libbie Hawker’s method involves writing out paragraphs worth of scene details before actually getting to the writing. She says this isn’t necessary, but that for her it eliminates “wandering” and any doubts about what needs to be put on the page. 

Personally speaking, I lie somewhere in the middle, wherein my scene outlines involve small paragraph or bullet points for what needs to happen. 

Hawker has written books in 21 days, so there is definitely some magic in her method. In her book, Hawker details that creating her outline took 4 hours. When I outlined “But a Monster” it took a week (5 days), and despite not having had her method then, the existence of the outline made writing the novel much clearer and focused, which my writing had not been prior to admitting I needed to give outlining a chance. 

All writing advice is a tree of wisdom

Take what benefits you most and leave the rest. 

I have fully taken the advice that I have attempted to explain here. I read in “5000 Words Per Hour” by Chris Fox and “Take Off Your Pants” by Libbie Hawker and felt incredibly inspired and motivated, but some of what they say or eschue doesn’t resonate with me or my craft. I have to do what works for my writing, and if I’m happy with the pace the work is going at then alright! 

What I’ve written here is meant to give you new ideas on how to be more productive. I read the books that helped me come up with this because I felt like something was lacking in my writing routine and I had my eyes opened. I hope I have opened yours too and that your work benefits from this.

[bewareofchris]

Public Relations 21/??

R atm | Alec Hardy/Dr. Bill Masters | Broadchurch, Masters of Sex | Strong language, eventual sexual situations

“The fact that Alec Hardy was not currently, had not ever, and did not want to date the American sex research did not seem very important at all to the town of Broadchurch.  They did what they had always done with a little bit of juicy gossip: they made a spectacle of it.”

<< prev | Part 1 | AO3 Link

Sitting opposite a lawyer with a very expensive tie and a bulldogish face, Bill Masters could not help but recall his most recent conversation with Alec.  Maybe that was because it was so appropriate to the moment and maybe it was because Bill had always had an excellent memory for the things he’d heard.  Anything said by Alec Hardy was a breeze to remember.  

He’d said: the worst thing about a divorce is sitting across from the man about to get rich from your misfortune.

This was the third lawyer that Bill had interviewed in as many days.  While the others had been reassuring enough about how they would facilitate the process with as much tact and ease as possible, this one’s face lost a bit of it’s hopeful glimmer when Bill got to the part of the conversation where he mentioned his wife wanted nothing from him by his children.

“And you,” the man said, almost hopefully, “will be contesting?”

“I’d like to be able to see my children.”

“Weekends?” the man prompted, “certain holidays?  Would you prefer to keep them over the summer?  Half the year?  What sort of custody arrangement would you prefer?”

It was the third time Bill had been asked, and the third time he’d stood in a seat that suddenly felt too hot and too small, while he stared back at a man who had only asked because of his professional interest.  Bill had no answer for what sort of arrangement he would prefer because he’d never been asked to pick the days of the week he wanted to spend time with his children.

(No, he’d gone the opposite route, the one where he simply didn’t see them at all.)

“Well,” Bill said when it became obvious to both of them that no answer was forthcoming.  “Thank you for your time.  I have your card.”  He shook the man’s hand because it was expected and as soon as he was out on the street again he thought very seriously about how nice it would be to have some kind of hand sanitizer.

Maybe he could coat his whole body in it and finally wash away the greasy, uneasy feeling that maybe he was simply being a coward about the whole thing.  He was on his third interview in a row to find a man to go before a judge and plead the case that Bill Masters did not deserve to be married to Libby (and never had, probably).  He was searching for someone that could slip him a piece of paper with the answers he hadn’t taken the time to figure out for himself.  (Yes, Your Honor, Bill Masters would like to see his children twice a month on weekends with a week in the summer and the week following Christmas.  Of course he thought up all these dates himself, Your Honor.  They are very meaningful to him, Your Honor.)

That was to say nothing about how he’d run as fast as his legs could carry him from his own business last Friday.  How he’d stopped only long enough at Virginia’s door to be sure that she was properly settled and to leave her a summation of his current clients.  

He hadn’t even gone over it with her.  He’d left her a sheet of hand written notes with his impressions.

He sat in his car, in a parking lot, thinking that everything that had been true about his life up to this point could be forgotten.  He was caught up in a wave of cowardice, yes.  He was afraid.  

It shouldn’t have been a revelation.  Bill Masters had marks on his bones to prove just what sort of awfulness there was to be afraid of in his ugly world.  But it came over him like a wave, a great slideshow of spinning images.  He could smell his own blood smeared across his face, and he could feel the thick-hot-pads of his father’s fingertips gripping his face.  The smell of liquor seeping through the spaces in his teeth as he sneered at Bill like he was nothing at all, hissing: 

Aren’t you ever going to learn?  Aren’t you ever going to learn, boy?

Bill had learned plenty in his father’s house.  He’d learned it in his mother’s kitchen pressing ice against his aching face.  He’d learned it in his bedroom long after dark winding shop-lifted medical tape around his broken fingers.  He’d learned all he needed to learn about the worth of a man, standing in front of his teachers, telling them he’d been boxing with his kid brother again.

The wave dragged him onward, swirled him around the panic of finding yourself suddenly orphaned on the steps of a school you’d never heard of.  It caught him in a paralyzing moment, when all his instincts demanded he beg the man that broke his fingers to take him back.  But Bill Masters never begged anyone in all his life.  He’d stood there with a straight back and one crooked finger on his left hand, and he’d let it happen.

On and on and on it went.

All those lost and forgotten years of his life, all the mistakes.  The image of Libby across a room.  The memory of touching her hand for the first time, how purposefully he’d kissed her cheek.  How he’d memorized facts about her that he’d learned from his friends.  How he’d convinced her that he loved her because his heart was aching. 

Oh hell, he was sitting in a car in a parking lot, drowning in the certainty that there was no way forward and no way back.  He would exist only in that moment, for all the rest of time, because anything else was unbearable.

His phone chimed from where he’d dropped it on the passenger seat, and he thought (just for a millisecond) that he could throw it out the window.  That it was as likely to be from work, or Libby, or Virginia, or nobody at all, as it was to be from--

But it was from Alec, right there in black and white, the words:

Don’t forget to tell me how it goes with number three.

--

Miller had not invited him up for a quick cup of tea.  She hadn’t suggested they meet at a nice sandwich shop in town.  She hadn’t indicated that she thought it would be a good use of either of their times to stand awkwardly opposite one another in front of a teenager at the start of what was rapidly becoming a long shift.  

That was because Miller had never answered the text he’d sent her.

She had declined to answer his call.

“Well,” she said when she recovered the ability to speak, “you really are Britain’s Worst Detective.”

“I’ll buy you lunch?” Hardy offered.  It had taken more effort than he would ever have admitted to find himself standing opposite Miller in this little sandwich shop.  The first order of business had been finding an excuse to run into her sister, and the second had been convincing the sister that he really was interested in how Miller was doing.

(The fact that Hardy did miss her had not helped him sway the sister’s mind.)

He couldn’t drive, so he had to hire a cab to bring him out to meet her.  

And now Miller just sighed to herself with something like a smile pulling at the edge of her lips.  “Well, if you’re offering.”

She ordered; Hardy found them a table.  It was tucked into a corner out of the way of most of the tables.  The sort of place that you sat and ducked your head and talked about confidential things.  It suited the purpose of his meeting, all except for the garish little angels dangling from the frilly green garland hung across the window.  

“I don’t suppose you’ve come to tell me that you’re dying,” Miller said as soon as she was sitting.  She unwrapped the edges of her sandwich with a proud nod to herself.  Whether that was for her excellent culinary choices or her wit, it couldn’t be determined. 

“Uh,” Hardy said.

“Oh God,” Miller said before he could say another word.  “It’s not, is it?  Shit.  Tell me it’s not.”

“Calm down, Miller.  I’m not dying.”  At least not any faster than he’d been dying last time they’d met one another.  

He cleared his throat as she squinted at him with exaggerated interest.  Her eyes took in his messy hair, his unpressed shirt and settled on his fidgeting hands resting on the table.

“Well, you’re not very trustworthy are you?  Chasing after murderers when you already knew your heart was--”  There must not have been a word she wanted to use there because she just cleared her throat again and said, “so, what is it?  Why did you need to see me?”

(Hardy had toyed with the idea of telling her that he was lonely.  He had thought very seriously about telling her that he did miss her, and that he hoped she was doing as well as one could do under the circumstances.  It was just, no matter how he phrased it in his head, it didn’t sound very much like the sort of thing he’d say to her.)  

“I want your help,” he said, “I want your help with Sandbrook.”

“I think I’ve had enough of child murderers for the year,” Miller said.  “Frankly, I would have thought you had enough of them for a lifetime.  Is this what you came for?  Is this really what you came for?”

“Miller,” he cut in before she could start lecturing him.  Not because he didn’t deserve it or because she didn’t deserve to be able to say her fill.  Because their time was short and he only had the one chance to make his case.  “The medicine they’ve been giving me for my heart--it’s not working.”

“So you are dying.”

“It’s not working as well as it needs to work,” he amended.  “I’m going to have to get a pacemaker in the spring and when I wake up in that hospital bed, I don’t want--”  

He frowned at his own knuckles.  At the memory of a little girl’s hair tangled around his fingers, at the terrible, cold weight of her body up against his.  He thought of her mother, and of the picture in his wallet.

Hardy cleared his throat before he said, “I don’t want to wake up there, still not knowing what happened.  Whoever killed those girls, I want them brought to justice.”

Miller was leaning back in her seat, arms over her chest, trying not to look like she cared about him.  It was quite a beating she’d taken lately.  The sort of thing that was enough to change a person for the worse in a way they couldn’t ever quite recover from.  There was a hard shell that Miller had tried to construct around herself, but the kindness in her eyes hadn’t changed at all.  She looked sideways, not at him, frowning at the proposal before her.  “Why me?” she asked.

“I value your work, and your opinion, and I can’t do this alone.” God knows he’d tried.

“I don’t know if I can,” Miller whispered.

Hardy nodded at that.  “If you can’t,” he conceded, “you can’t.” 

@it-is-ineffable, @marvelmisha, @e3105eb, @may-darling, @bigleosis, @stardust-andwine, @echelongaga, @imnotokaywiththerunning, @heirofsarcasm

[shemakesmusic-uk]

INTERVIEW: Girl Friday.

LA band Girl Friday's debut full-length Androgynous Mary will be out August 21 via Hardly Art.

Burning deep in Girl Friday's music is an unquenchable will to survive. The LA-based band don't blunt the impact of the themes they work through in their ferocious, knotty rock songs, but they don't let the more harrowing aspects of being alive and young in the 21st century daunt them, either. Taking full advantage of the dystopian shades of post-punk and noise rock palettes on their arresting debut LP, Androgynous Mary, Girl Friday nevertheless suffuse their music with abundant optimism. The world is a hellscape, but the four of them are in it together.

With bold, dramatic guitar lines and tightly wound vocal harmonies, Girl Friday negotiate the stress and alienation that comes with being sidelined from normative society on Androgynous Mary. 

We had a chat with the band all about Androgynous Mary, the music industry and much more. Read the interview below.

Hi! How are you? How have you been spending your time during this pandemic? How has it affected you as a band?

Libby: "Hello! How are YOU? These days, generally diving into some long forgotten projects. I have been chipping away some music that may or may not ever emerge into the world."

Virginia: "I’ve been able to give some more time to working with other bands and collaborators which has been really nice.  Outside of that, just using this time to reflect and learn."

Sierra: "Welcome to this interview. I am stocking up on metaphysical paraphernalia in the hopes that the spirits in my house will finally relent and participate in my long-awaited masquerade ball."

Vera: "Initially I was making tunes and learning Spanish and hanging with my family - now I’m always working but for the teachers union here in NZ so some important work and there is lots to learn."

You are gearing up to release your debut album Androgynous Mary in August. What can you tell us about the record?

Virginia: "In the words of the late Steve Irwin, “She’s a beauty!”  I think we’re all very proud of dear Mary."

Sierra: "Mary likes to explore the entire emotional world at her disposal and say whatever she wants about it."

What were your musical influences for the LP? Who were you listening to around the time of writing it?

Libby: "The movie Hole."

Virginia: "Definitely second Hole.  Pretty sure I had also started descending into my first Cheap Queen deep dive at the time." 

Sierra: "I was photosynthesizing in a Placebo hole that I have yet to claw myself out of. And also a lot of Blaenavon. Every answer must include the word “hole.”"

Vera: "Holy moly mother Mary, literally holes what we dug and sat in."

Please talk us through your songwriting/creative process for Androgynous Mary.

Sierra: "On the third try, we successfully meet in the center of a dark room, under the disco ball. We scream in anguish into assorted jars and shake them violently until we can’t deny the brilliance of the sound contained therein."

What do you hope fans/listeners will take from the album?

Vera: "I just want people to be weird and feel ok about that."

Virginia: "I hope it’s as satisfying as eating a home cooked meal with your chosen family."

Sierra: "I hope they can listen to it on repeat for an extended period of time and feel like they are being held by a loving entity who is just as confused as they are."

Libby: "I hope they like me."

Were there any other songs written during this period that didn’t make it onto the album, and if so, will you revisit them again in the future?

Virginia: "Wouldn’t you like to know..."

Sierra: "We have a staggering and comical number of voice memos that, and I promise you will thank us for this, will likely never emerge from their technological encasings."

Libby: "Nah."

Which new artists/bands are you listening to right now? Anyone you think we should be checking out?

Libby: "Kills Birds, Ulrika Spacek."

Virginia: "Mod Pods, Suzie True, Cry Babe, Hot Moms, Genevieve Artadi."

Sierra: "Hayley Williams’s Petals for Armor. And my brother is about to release an album with our friend Brian that he’s put so much love and work into, and the entire universe needs to hear it! It’s called Silo by The Altogether. (Disclaimer: I am on it, but I can assure you I’ve contributed very little to its perfection)."

Vera: "At the moment I can only listen to this one album by Brian Eno and John Cale, Jesus is King by Kanye, Gracie Fields and Nina Simone."

If there was one thing you could change about the music world today, what would it be?

Libby: "More Trans A&Rs. More Black A&Rs, More POC A&Rs. More accountability in safe spaces."

Virginia: "More safe music venues open to minors!"

Sierra: "Fair pay for artists too."

Vera: "Agreed with all. And yes we really need the unionization of musicians and artists and understanding our value in society. Because it is labor and the fact we ‘love to do it’ is really exploited. Going off Libby's point, I think we need to acknowledge the major influence that music created and invented by BIPOC has had and continues to have in genres (including rock) where the main profiteers today are white men. We got to dismantle that."

What challenges, if any, have you faced in the music industry? And how did you overcome them?

Sierra: "We’ve been really lucky overall in terms of the people we’ve worked with, but we have gotten some not-so-sexy commentary from people assuming our genders and what that means about the music we’re able to make. We rename them all “Chris,” quietly hex them, and move on with our lives."

Finally, what do you have planned for when we're back to some sort of normality? I expect you're excited to get out on the road to tour the album following its release and when it is safe to do so?

Sierra: "You are absolutely right about that. Other than fantasizing about future tours, I’m taking it one day at a time."

Vera: "I don’t think there is a return to ‘normalcy’, but honestly if normalcy is Trumps America with a complacent public where cops intimidate and murder and money takes precedent over life, I don’t want to go back to that anyway. Let’s keep pushing forward."

Androgynous Mary is out August 21.

Photo credit: Al Kalyk

[mrsrcbinscn]

Franny’s 30 Day Cover Challenge

Playlist

Franny’s 30 Day Cover Song Challenge: (categories are mostly from here, and here, with some from here, and a couple I made) in September 2020 one of her musician friends challenged her to do the thing and she was like “It seems like a fun way to show everyone what kind of music has influenced me as a musician, singer, songwriter, and just like, person. So I’m going to do it.”

In reality, she recorded most of them in 1-2 days to distract her from how sad she is because Wilbur hates her and he’s sad lmao

It helped a little.

(If you want me to drop the playlist she mentions in #24 let me know, I have it started I can finish it)

TW: mentions of Franny’s political beliefs so tw: politics, an allusion to suicide though the word isn’t directly used, mention of 9/11 and the subsequent invasions...nothing graphic with any of these triggers but worth a forewarning

Day 01 - A song that makes you happy

Honey Spiders by The Parlotones

“The Parlotones are this fantastic indie rock band out of South Africa. And I actually thought about doing their song, uh, Stars Fall Down for day sixteen, but I’m going with Honey Spiders for day 1. There were lots of Parlotones songs, I mean. Push Me to The Floor, We Call This Dancing, Should We Fight Back...but ah, Honey Spiders always puts me in a good mood.”

Day 02 - A song that helps you clear your head

Light of a Clear Blue Morning by Dolly Parton

“I grew up on Dolly, and it’s funny because for the longest time this song wasn’t really on my radar as much as it is now. But when I was twenty-two I was going through something really difficult, and my then-fiance now husband was abroad for work, so I was alone in our apartment and just. Really, profoundly sad and lonely. So I put on a Dolly Parton record and just laid on the bed and Light Of A Clear Blue Morning played and I had a good long cry and felt so much better after that. When I need to think about how to solve a difficult problem, or I feel overwhelmed, I just listen to that song.”

Day 03 - Song you love from a band/artist you hate

Should’ve Been A Cowboy by Toby Keith

“Honestly, he’s called me a nasty lady to my face and I’ve called him a facist enabling pig to his, so I have no qualms openly saying I hate Toby Keith. That being said, Should’ve Been A Cowboy is one of the best country songs of the 90s, undeniably. I loved that song when it came out when I was thirteen, and I still love it.”

Day 04 - A song about drugs or alcohol

Whiskey Lullaby by Brad Paisley and Alison Krauss

“This is probably cheating, because my lovely best friend Daniel and I cover this a lot at Dara & Danny shows. But today look who I have! My friend Max from Seoul Hanoi’d! Max the Korean Scot who can’t hide his accent to save his life, so let’s see how it sounds in a Scottish accent.”

Day 05 - A protest song

Talking Vietnam Blues by Phil Ochs /// and Here’s to The State of Mississippi by Phil Ochs

“This one was hard because I. Fucking. Love. Protest music. I could have done a whole 30 days of protest music - wow, let me know if I should do that and give my husband a heart attack with all the twitter threats I’ll invite. Huh. Right, so I was going to do Your Flag Decal Won’t Get You Into Heaven by John Prine. But I decided to do two Phil Ochs songs because I don’t think Phil Ochs is talked about enough. It’s a shame we lost him so young. Ochs’ sardonic humor and honesty in his writing has influenced me as a songwriter deeply. When I write political songs, I don’t hold back, and it’s because of Phil Ochs’ writing that I have that courage. I’ve been singing Love Me, I’m A Liberal since I was in college with constantly updating lyrics. It was so hard to even choose which songs of his to do because for his fairly short career his songbook is lengthy and full of gems. I’m Going to Say It Now, Draft Dodger Rag, Spanish Civil War Song, I Ain’t Marching Anymore...I couldn’t pick one so I’m cheating and recording two.”

Day 06 - A song you wish you wrote

When I Think About Cheatin’ by Gretchen Wilson

“I will forever be pissed off that I didn’t write this song. I’m absolute trash for my husband, so it’s never -- I’ve never had to be in a situation to ever consider -- but this song gets me every time. It feels like I could have written it. Because we do spend a lot of time apart travelling for our work. And the sentiment expressed in the song is a little too real.”

Day 07 - A song in a language you don’t speak

Khattar by Khine Htoo

“This will either be a charming attempt to sing in Burmese or I’m about to offend a lot of people. Which, being a politically outspoken woman on the internet, I’m used to anyway. So. 1, 2, 3, okay here goes.”

Day 08 - A song by an artist no longer living

Phop Samnang by Sinn Sisamouth (inspiration)

“Haha, you thought I’d see the name of this category and not do a Sinn Sisamouth song? You were wrong.”

Day 09 - A song you want to dance to at your wedding

Devoted To You by The Everly Brothers

“I’m already married, so this was actually our first dance song at our wedding. Day three of our wedding, like the more Westernized wedding ceremony day. We had a three day long traditional Cambodian wedding and I felt like a princess. An-y-way!”

Day 10 - A song that makes you cry

Borrowed Rooms and Old Wood Floor by Emily Scott Robinson

“Unfortunately, Emily Scott Robinson and I aren’t related. Sad, I know, because she’s so talented. Almost her entire album Traveling Mercies is...sad as hell. The record reminded me of early Dolly Parton, and my second solo album. You know, all those sad-ass songs. The Dress is honestly the song that makes me the saddest but I can’t even listen to it without crying so.”

Day 11 - A song that you love hearing live

Prove My Love  by Violent Femmes

“There is nobody I have seen in concert more than Dolly Parton, but Violent Femmes and George Strait come incredibly close. The Cranberries, the amount of times I saw them in the 90s and early 2000s...close fourth. Probably. The very first concert I dragged my husband to was a Violent Femmes concert, he was not prepared for how hard college me went.”

Day 12 - A song from before 1960 

There Ain’t No Sweet Man That’s Worth The Salt of My Tears by Libby Holman

“This song is from 1928. I came across it when I was in grad school and it’s, as the kids say, a bop.”

Day 13 - A song you think everybody should listen to

White Man’s World by Jason Isbell

“I think perspectives of people of color should of course take precedence in these conversations. But I find this song to be a good faith attempt of a white man coming to terms with the institutional racism and sexism in the world around him. And I think this song can be a useful tool to explain certain concepts of racial justice to ignorant but well-meaning folks. As a woman of color I think Jason Isbell did a great job not centering himself even though it was from his perspective. This song is great musically and necessary socially.”

Day 14 - A song from the 1970s

You’re No Good by Linda Ronstadt

“Linda Ronstadt is grossly underrated, that’s all I have to say here.”

 Day 15 - A song people wouldn’t expect you to like

Racists by Anti-flag

“I mean, I’ve talked about how much I like punk in the past, and I remember a video of Seoul Hanoi’d doing Spanish Bombs at a San Antonio show made the rounds, but I don’t think I’ve talked about how much I like Anti-flag. People don’t expect me to like punk for some reason. But I agree with...everything punk music is all about.”

Day 16 - A song that holds a lot of meaning to you

Blue by LeAnn Rimes

“It’s silly, but I won a county fair singing competition with this song in high school and it really fueled my passion for music, that win. It’s also the first song Cornelius heard me go full Georgia on, with the yodels and all, at the little bar in my hometown on his first trip meeting my parents. The song doesn’t cut to my very soul ot anythin’, but it’s special to me.”

Day 17 - A song attached to a memory

Supernova by Liz Phair

“I remember buying Liz Phair’s Whip-smart album when I was eleven. And in college, when I was getting ready for dates with Cornelius in my dorm room, I would dance around to a CD I burned and wrote on it with a sharpie, ‘Pre-date Movie Scene Music.’ God, what was even on there? I’m about to expose myself as the most basic 1999-2001 bitch. I remember Head Over Feet, I mean, Alanis Morisette? I was a young woman in 2000, obviously I loved her. Mm, Dreams by The Cranberries...oh, Kiss Me, Sixpence None The Richer...yeah, anyway, Supernova was on there.”

Day 18 - A song from the year you were born

Call Me by Blondie

“...I can’t believe Call Me is as old as I am.”

Day 19 - A song that reminds you of someone you miss

Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing (yes, of course she does a cover with banjo)

“This was my late best friend Molly’s favorite hymn. And I sang it at her funeral at her husband’s request. Molly and I grew up together in the small town of Payne Lake, Georgia and Molly was the most devout Christian...but she was also the first person I came out to as bisexual when I was a teenager, and she said that Jesus taught her that love was the greatest commandment and that meant I was automatically twice as good at it as her. Her faith guided her every action but she never talked down on her two best friends - Dan(iel Maitland) and I for not sharing it. Molly was doing the whole emulate Jesus thing beautifully. I miss her every day and it’s been seven years. If you ever think that people won’t miss you...you’re wrong. All right, let’s see if I can get through this without crying.”

Day 20 - A song by an artist you discovered this year

Hello, Anxiety by Phum Viphurit

“I just discovered this quirky Thai-Kiwi singer and not to be dramatic, but he’s my favorite thing in the world right now.”

Day 21 - A song with a city or country in the title

Oh! Phnom Penh (track 20)

“This song was written after the fall of the Khmer Rouge, and after people began to make their way to what was left of their homes, alone, or with what was left of their families. If you want to learn more about what that was like to actually live it, my cousin Reena Boran has a video interviewing her parents and paternal grandfather and uncle about it. Reena is a journalism student currently studying in London but she lives in Cambodia. Her mother is my aunt Malisruot, my mother’s youngest sister. The video is English subtitled on her channel, I’ll link it in the description box below.”

Day 22 - A song from the 1960s

To Sir, With Love by Lulu

“I didn’t actually discover this song until I heard it covered at a 10,000 Maniacs concert in the 90s. My friend Allison was standing next to me and I just started crying and she’s like ‘are you okay?’ and all I just blubbered out ‘My dad!’ For the uninitiated, my dad married my mom, who’d raised me alone until then, when I was six and he adopted me when I was eight. My dad didn’t have to adopt me, he didn’t have to call me his daughter, he could have just been like half of my friends’ stepdads and give me a place to live and nothing else. But my dad was my biggest supporter from day one. He convinced my mom to let me join the dance team and show choir instead of science club, he was the one that talked my mom down from probably killing me when they found out I was only studying music and not music and political science at NYU. I am who I am today because he is my dad. And this song just says everything I’ve always thought about him.”

Day 23 - A song from your childhood

Una Lacrima Sul Viso by Bobby Solo

“But Franny, aren’t you a Cambodian raised in the US? Yes, but you were fooled. My very white father is also an immigrant. He is from Switzerland and while he didn’t teach me to speak Italian and German growing up, he played German, Italian, and French records all the time. My parents often spoke to each other in French and I picked up some French but properly studied it starting in high school, and I didn’t study Italian until college -- and my German is still …. [points to a spot on the screen where she later inserted a card linking to a video on her cousin Köbi Framagucci’s YouTube channel titled ‘Can My American Cousin Speak German?’ where he tests her Standard and Swiss German speaking and comprehension]. But hell if I couldn’t sing every one of the songs from my father’s French, German, and Italian record before I knew what the words even meant.”

Day 24 - A song that gives you chill vibes

Glorify by Ivan & Alyosha

“Dan(iel Maitland) and I actually have an entire playlist on my Spotify accounts of songs to listen to to get us out of writers’ block. And one that I often will put on repeat and just absorb through my headphones with my eyes closed is a song called Glorify by Ivan & Alyosha. I think it touches on a lot of the themes I include in my songwriting. Christian mythology, the darker side of humanity, it often reminds me of what I love about songwriting. If you say please I might drop a link to that playlist.”

Day 25 - A song that’s your signature song

Long Gone Lonesome Blues by Hank Williams“Right, so I chose this instead of a Kitty Wells song or I Get A Kick Out of You (her being

featured on a 2005

recording propelled her career majorly) because if you’re familiar with me you might have seen a video that went around in like….2017? 2016? of Dan(iel Maitland) and I doin’ the song at our hometown bar in 2014. I posted it in response to some tweets because hoes mad when a WOC calls out racism and sexism in the Nashville music industry. ‘Bet she don’t even know Hank’, really? You think I wouldn’t know the history of one of the two music industries I work in? Please. Anyway, she knows Hank and nails the incredibly technical yodel -- the

most difficult

one in Hank’s songbook - in Long Gone Lonesome Blues. Mm...Lovesick Blues though, that also strikes fear into my heart. Anyway stay mad I guess?”

Day 26 - A song by your favorite band

Gun Shy by 10,000 Maniacs

“10,000 Maniacs was one of my favorite bands when I was in like 5th grade through 10th. I listened to them for a little while after Natalie Merchant left for a solo career, but the Natalie Merchant era was really what resonated with me the most. Gun Shy was a bit too advanced for my little 5th, 7th grade ears to really appreciate when I first discovered the album In My Tribe. Merchant’s voice -- because like, I don’t have a very conventional voice either, so her and Dolores O’Riordan really changed my entire perspective on what a woman’s voice can sound like in rock music. Um, yeah, so her voice more than the lyrics just wowed me. And as I got closer to graduating high school and especially in college I actually understood what What’s The Matter Here, Hey Jack Kerouac, and Gun Shy were talking about. Gun Shy...really became a significant song to me because...being born in 1980 I grew up in a relatively peaceful time. The Cold War was all but thawed by my tenth birthday. But I was getting ready to leave my then-boyfriend-now-husband’s apartment for class at NYU on the morning of 9/11. We stood in line for hours to donate blood. And then my government invaded two completely unrelated countries and jingoism and terrifying, fervent nationalism, and xenophobia just smacked me in the face. And friends of mine from high school were convicted to drop out of college and join the Army, and died, for an unjust, imperialist war, and suddenly Phil Ochs, John Prine, and Bob Dylan lyrics hit a lot different, and I understood what Gun Shy was really about.”

Day 27 - A song you hate by an artist you love

Mrs.Robinson by Simon & Garfunkel 

“Paul Simon is one of my favorite songwriters ever, um, and I actually used to like Mrs. Robinson….until I got married and everyone sang it at me. It’s kind of my fault, I did choose to take my husband’s last name. And I leaned into it by making my social media handles all Mrs. Robinson...but still. Only play the song around me if you want to die.”

Day 28 - A song that a younger you would have loved

Mean by Taylor Swift

“I’m so genuinely glad that I am older than Taylor Swift. Middle school Franny did not need Taylor Swift to enable me and fuel my ego. Some of her singles, while not really 35 and 40 year old Franny’s cup of tea, young me would have played until my mother hid the record or cassette from me. Although - fuck if Tim McGraw didn’t immediately give my happily married ass flashbacks to my first love and make me bawl like a baby? Right, so when Speak Now came out and I listened to it, Mean, while not a song that adult me has listened to maybe more like ten times, I immediately thought ‘wow, I needed this song when I was in middle and high school.’ I could literally picture 7th grade me with my little guitar and my little cowboy boots my dad bought for me singing this at the talent show making eye contact with the kids who bullied me as if it was some kind of own when it’s not. I could still, almost thirty years later, name them if I really wanted. So, for 7th grade me, Mean by Taylor Swift.”

Day  29- A song that reminds you of your partner/spouse

ផាត់ជាយបណ្តូលចិត្ / Phat Cheay Bon'dol Chet by Sinn Sisamuth (translation) (female singer covering it) (modern, studio recording of a male and female singer dueting it) (a cool violin cover) (another female singer) (cool guitar cover)

Feat. some members of Seoul Hanoi’d. Andy Chaiyaporn (violin), Max Cho (piano), Jodie Batbayar (cello), Aisulu Niyazova-Li (percussion) and Franny has her guitar

“The song, lyrically, only reminds me of my husband a little bit. But Phat Cheay Bondol Chet has several memories with my husband attached to it. The first time he heard me sing in Khmer was at my mother’s house in Atlanta when I had him visit the first time to meet my parents. My mom had a little dinner party at our house to show him off, like Asian moms do when they think their daughter snags a good one, and I was hand washing the dishes while my mom and the other Cambodian parents were listening to Sinn Sisamuth records. I’ve always loved the song I’ll be showing y’all today, like I’ve always just stopped what I was doing and -- so it came on and I just started singing along without really being aware of it. And then at a different diaspora get together that summer, that song came on and I just kinda. Pulled him aside to the side yard of that person’s house to look at the stars with him and translated the song. It’s one of the Khmer songs he instantly recognizes now, so it’s special.”

Franny did NOT say in the video that college her 100% had him sit in the grass with her outside that person’s house, where nobody could see, so she could makeout with him 

 Day 30- A song by one of your favorite songwriters

Reincarnation by Roger Miller

Feat. Seoul Hanoi’d, done more in the style of the Cake cover 

Also instead of singing the lyric “you’re a girl, I’m a boy” she goes “you’re a girl, so am I” because she doesn’t ever change pronouns, she just makes it gay because she is a bi-con

“Roger Miller, to me, is as important as Dolly Parton, Paul Simon, Bob Dylan, in the American songbook. He’s not as talked about which is a shame because his discography is iconic. Getting to be a part of King of The Road was one of the highlights of my career.”

[multimetaverse]

Andi Mack 3x16 Review

One Girl’s Trash really showcased why Andi Mack is such an important show though I wish they would have spent more time on the stereotypes plot. Let’s dig in!

Positives: 

When Andi Mack is at its best there’s really nothing like it anywhere on TV and it’s going to leave such a void when it ends and I hope something fills that void sooner rather than later. 

A really strong A plot by Elena Song, it makes such a difference that the diversity we see on the show is mirrored in the writers room. I was so happy that they actually had Andi used the word Asian when talking about the stereotypes she was facing; it was a big improvement from the more coded way they had to talk about the racism Buffy faced back in S1 in regards to her hair. Words truly do matter and being able to openly and accurately describe these kind of things is so important.

Lilan and Peyton posted on how much this ep means to them and I hope we’ll be seeing more plots like this on kids TV. 

Honestly my only real complaint about the A plot is that it felt too short and I wish Celia had been in this ep and that Bex could have been brought in to, seeing three generations of Asian woman supporting each other would have been great. 

I also liked that Andi said that Mrs. Frankel turning the stereotyping into a teachable moment wasn’t fun which of course would be true in reality. I also appreciate that the show continues to put black women in positions of authority.

It was great to see Andi so into art again and it makes for a good way to bring her story to a climax.

Andi’s art project looked like something a 14 year old might come up with and I liked that she was inspired but didn’t immediately know what she was going to do for her project. 

Hangry and resting happy face were very funny jokes. 

A rare Andi and Cyrus scene. Liked the callback to the rainbow wig and the protest and the experiment; definitely a show reaching to its past as it prepares for the end.  And we get two callbacks to the party tonight to set up the finale. It did feel a bit tacked on but that’s likely because the writers wanted to get in some solo time for this duo before they run out of time. 

Stellar acting from Trent and Lilan this ep. Bowie talking about wanting to one day see Andi get married in Bex’s dress and how it wouldn’t happen now was so sad. That was some good Bexie angst. and it actually felt earned.  I’m glad it’s all out in the open now. Bex’s biggest flaw is that she runs from her problems and she was being willfully blind to the fact that obviously Bowie wanted to get married. Now she has to face reality and make her choice. 

Jonah was hilarious tonight. Asher was killing it with the comedy. His groan when he said he’d have to breakup with Amber again? Emmy worthy. There’s really not much to Jonah other than Frisbee and dimples and I like when they just use him as comic relief; it usually lands better than when they shove Cyrus in that role. 

Jonah is definitely true to life for the average 14 year old boy but in fairness at least he recognized that he didn’t reciprocate Amber’s feelings and that he had to eventually be honest with her. 

Nice little callback to 3x07 with Jonah wearing the same blue sweater he wore when he was with Libby at the school. And a nice realistic touch since he would be re wearing clothes. 

It was good of him to actually take her on a real date and I liked the detail of him winning tickets on the radio. 

Andi really is being a good friend to both Amber and Jonah and is giving good advice, though how long that lasts remains to be seen. 

Amber was the most likeable she’s ever been. Really strong performance from Emily tonight. Disney PR posted that she actually was driving the go kart which is cool. Must have been really fun to shoot. 

I liked that we opened on community service, too often this show just ignores the events of the previous ep. 20 hours of service for trespassing and theft versus 100 hours for playing with a gun is interesting

More set up for Buffy’s injury. 

Negatives: 

Jamber is a huge mess and really not a wise use of precious screen time. Amber is clearly looking for the affection she’s not getting at home and Jonah is probably the worst possible character on the show to seek that from. I really don’t know what exactly Amber’s version of a happy ending will be; there’s really nothing the show can do to solve her parents problems or her financial problems. 

Amber has always been an oddly written character. She’s never gotten the full redemption arc TJ had and the writers never seemed to truly settle on an arc for her. I get why she was in so many eps this season: unlike Garren they had Emily available from the start and didn’t have to work around her schedule and unlike Luke she’s not playing a gay character who’s story needs to be delayed until the very end but I really don’t think we needed Amber in 11 of the original 21 eps this season.

Jonah is another character who has been woefully under developed. I don’t think the writers ever decided what exactly was the deal with his not liking labels or commitments yet also being a chronic relationship hopper. He’s right that what he and Amber have can just be fun instead of love but then why is he dating her? Just stay friends! Part of the problem is that Jonah is first and foremost a love interest and they don’t tend to get much development but because Cyrus’ story has so many constraints the writers were forced to focus more on Jonah than they would have if Cyrus had been straight without really having much in the way planned for him. 

Cyrus’ shirt at school was ugly. A really bad misfire by the wardrobe department. 

Looking Ahead:

So the original casting notice released by our friends at Yun Casting was correct and Rachel is still Marty’s current girlfriend and the official Disney synopsis describing her as Marty’s ex is incorrect. I don’t think it’s ever happened before where the synopsis got a detail like that wrong. Obviously they break up at the bowling alley so maybe that’s why Disney wrote it that way? The casting notice describes Rachel as a co-star so she won’t get much screen time. 

It’s going to be very messy making Buffy a homewrecker. Her saying ‘’oh you’re real’’ to Rachel is quite a power move but then again Driscoll doesn’t draw.  Likely we see her twirling her hair at Marty since Cyrus is there and is the only one who knows about that tell. 

Good on Rachel for seeing what’s right in front of her. She was obviously just a rebound for Marty and he’s clearly been spending a lot of time with Buffy once she reached out to him. Not a good look to have him be emotionally cheating on Rachel for the last several weeks but I’m sure that will be swept under the rug in order to get that Muffy endgame. 

Buffy seems to be hobbling a bit so clearly her foot is getting worse. Does it get injured at the bowling alley or later on since she seems to be injured before the game itself in 3x18. 

Still no hint when the new Muffy pro player plot happens. It was meant to replace their scenes at the original wedding and it really does seem like the original wedding happened pretty quickly after 3x17 so I don’t know if they can delay those Muffy scenes all that long. 

It does look like the timeline is fairly smooth, it’s only been a few weeks since costume day and the rest of the series probably only spans another few weeks or a month in universe. 

Andi goes to SAVA. Does she stay there or transfer to a school elsewhere? Is it her moving in the finale or is Jonah moving far away? 

3x17 had Ham so we’re going to see some sort of cuts or re-shoots. The texts released before this ep had a convo between Bex and Bowie and Andi about a movie night do-over that was pretty clear foreshadowing for an ‘’I Do-over’’ convo in 3x17 even if that’s now cut. Bex talked about having a movie night do-over and Bowie questioned if it was a do-over if it never happened in the first place and Bex replied that she would give Bowie the movie night her deserved. Swap in wedding for movie night and you have a rough outline of the kind of convo we likely would have seen in 3x17 before the re-shoots. 

Ham obviously had an important role to play in getting the wedding back on track but what exactly we don’t know. And how Bex goes from not wanting to get married to agreeing to get married and agreeing to Celia’s lavish wedding plan in otl is an open question. The show has always struggled with pacing and they really should have had Bex call of the wedding earlier in the season rather than rushing it like this. It will be interesting if nothing else to see what kind of Mack family scenes we’re getting next week; there’s a range of possibilities from most of them being cut to a brief Mack family only wedding happening.

Therapist Cyrus is usually pretty boring and I wonder if his advice actually helps. His meddling often backfires like when he accidentally convinced Jonah to get back together with Amber in S1. 

I really don’t know if they can keep Andi completely romance free for the rest of the season. I did wonder if her asking Jonah to share a milkshake was going to lead to something.  She’s been very supportive of both Amber and Jonah but it seems like the kind of situation where the writers would make things messier for the drama, even if they didn’t fully think it through. 

This could very well be the last time we ever see the GHC inside Andi Shack. And come to think of it we’ve never seen Jonah inside of it and maybe we never will.

These last 4 eps are going to be wild. Until next week folks.

[tessatechaitea]

Justice Society of America #3

In this issue: old guys versus monkey monsters! I don't know how this issue didn't win a Harvey.

This comic book might have won a Harvey. What am I? Wikipedia? An adult capable of doing research? No, I'm a lazy, cynical, piece of shit who purports to be a comic book critic but who really just uses the medium as a confessional. And most of my confessions are lies to make me sound cooler than I really am! Which is still pretty cool, actually. This issue begins with an old guy stowing away on an Ultragen train car while suffering from sever cramps or possibly even a heart attack.

Is this a super hero comic book or an Alfred Hitchcock movie?

Now that I'm an older man (not old! Just older!), I don't fetishize old men like I did when I was five. But I'm guessing, at 21, I still had a bit of that zest for old man content. What else could drive me to purchase ten issues of this comic book about old men whose glory days are long past but they keep trying to relive them as their wives sit at home rolling their eyes? The stranger stumbles into Doctor Mid-Nite's offices. I guess he's named that because his medical practice stays open all night? The man has something wrong with his stomach. Judging by the strange colored splotches all over his clothing, I'd say he ate too much chili. Or he's bleeding out from a gut shot. Both are probably pretty painful but I can only speak for one. You'd be surprised which one. No you wouldn't. I was just trying to sound cool again. The mystery man from the end of the last issue was Johnny Quick and, judging by how much I'm now yawning and how my head keeps nodding forward, I'd like to apologize for claiming that revealing his identity would have been more exciting and sold more of the third issue. Len was right to conceal his identity. While the Justice Society were keeping Ragnarok from happening, Johnny Quick got a gig endorsing nutritional supplements on late night television infomercials. He was laughed at by scientists when he tried to figure out why his nonsense formula made him so fast. They were all, "You know that's idiotic, right? We can do actual science tests to find out why you're fast. It's probably the Meta(l)gene, you know?" But Johnny didn't want to hear their scientific mumbo-jumbo (which might make him an ignorant jerk in our world but he lives in the comic book world where science can't explain everything and I sometimes why it even bothers to try to explain anything. I mean, X-ray vision? The power of flight? Helmets that grant magic powers by possessing the wearer with an ancient Great Old One of Order? Batman visiting heaven and Constantine visiting Hell? It's like an Anti-Vaxxer's dream reality come true). Instead, Johnny decided to visit a bunch of religious kooks who deal in utter nonsense every day. Unlike the scientists who needed proof and evidence of how his power worked, they were happy to say things like, "Oh, yeah! Your formula is a magic mantra that focuses your chi!" and "It's a message from God to grant you magic speed powers for being such a morally upstanding human being!" and "What exactly do you want to hear and how much will you pay me to hear it?" So after realizing that his super power came from believing in himself, Johnny Quick decided to tell everybody else to believe in themselves too! Did he invent The Secret? Because, as a narcissist, I understand why The Secret is so compelling! Doesn't everybody want to believe that they themselves are the reason all the best things happen to them and also want to believe that everybody who is poor or sick or devastated by random tragedy did it to themselves like big dumb suckers who just weren't strong enough to believe in themselves?! Obviously the only reason I didn't fall out of a tree and die when I was twelve years old was because I believed so strongly in myself and not because I was just another lucky asshole who somehow survived childhood. That's enough about Johnny Quick for the entire ten issues of this comic book that I own. I'm never fucking mentioning that jerk again. I don't care if he becomes super important to the plot! I'm erasing him from history right now! Although I'll probably still discuss Jesse Quick when she turns back up because she's hot. Oh what the hell. One last parting shot at Johnny!

Maybe if you spent less time trying to find the secret to your nonsense formula and more time trying to find Libby's clitoris, you'd still be together! By the look on Ted's face, I bet he could have helped!

Doctor Mid-Nite arrives to let everybody know that their favorite jazz musician died in his arms last night because he was too blind to save him. Probably. But what he discovered was that the man, Reggie, had signed up to become a test subject for Ultragen! He was locked away with a bunch of half-man, half-animal creatures as Ultragen searched for a drug that could make people youthful again. Apparently what the writer is saying is that corporations are the new Nazis. Maybe that's why I bought ten issues of this comic book! Because I was all, "Yeah! This analogy is so apt! Fucking corporations think they can get away with whatever they want! Where's my current girlfriend so I can mansplain this shit to her?!" I don't want to get too cynical here but what else am I supposed to do when a comic book asks me to just buy into this whole Doctor Mid-nite thing. So he goes blind when a grenade goes off in his face. But he discovers he can still see in the dark because, you know, fuck you and comic books and all that shit. We've already established that science doesn't live here. But I don't have a problem with that! Okay, great! So he can see in the dark but not in the light. His reaction to this is, "I should use this new power to fight crime! I just have to wait until a bank robbery happens in the middle of the night with a new moon perpetrated by a bunch of robbers who forgot their flashlights and whiz bang! I'll have the advantage!" I know, I know! He invents dark glasses so he can see while pretending to be blind. I guess that helps him catch muggers who prey on blind people. And then he created smoke bombs which are conceivably his best idea, creating pockets of dark where he would have the advantage against the criminals. But it's not like his eye-sight based super powers gave him the ability to fight well or gave him invulnerability in case of a lucky shot in the dark or allowed him to protect other people at the scene of the crime from stray bullets fired wildly out of the area of effect of his smoke bomb! Doctor Mid-Nite's whole deal is so implausible that it breaks even my capacity for disbelief while reading super hero comic books. It simply makes me think, "This guy sounds like a bad idea from a desperate writer looking for another big super hero hit." Which is what it was! Which is why it breaks the entire comic book! I'd be okay if it simply made me think, "This guy's an idiot with a dumb idea! It's going to get him killed! Ha ha! That'll probably be funny!" While Doctor Mid-Nite is conferring with the Justice Society about what to do with Ultragen, Ultragen is raiding the his free clinic. Luckily Johnny Thunder just happened to be stopping by, probably to get a check-up on his genie. He gets shot and his genie appears to help when a young girl comes up and is all, "Oh hey! I recognize that genie! It's a Badnesian Hex Bolt!" And the genie is all, "Yes, I am! Do you want me to inhabit you for awhile so I can get rid of this old guy (who isn't that old for some reason? Probably a reason that has to do with me living inside of him?)" I just feel like, with Jesse Quick appearing earlier, this series is headed toward creating a younger JSA so the older members can simply fall into the role of mentors. The Atom, Wildcat, and Doctor Mid-nite head off to investigate Ultragen's experimental laboratory and they make a discovery that causes me to literally kill myself because I was too stupid to call it.

This is Grunion Guy's assistant Pickle Boy. I think I'm supposed to make a naughty joke caption here? Like, um, "What is that guy's pee-pee doing inside that kangaroo?!"

Justice Society of America #3 Rating: Does anybody know how to get blood out of shag carpeting? Also, if a person's will is found written on used tissues (hopefully for his nose), is it legally binding because I don't want to inherit this blog and all of its debt.