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absolutebl · 11 months

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This Week in BL

June 2023 Wk 2

Being a highly subjective assessment of one tiny corner of the interwebs. Organized by which ones (in each category) I’m enjoying most.

Ongoing Series - Thai

Step By Step (Tues WeTV & Gaga) ep 7 of 10 - I really adore the family/household dynamics in this show. All the relationships between siblings are so well executed. All the tension and sub text and covert glances in the first “modeling” sequence was so good. I really want to watch the BL within this BL. Bruce is THE BEST. Jeng shutting down everyone with a cool few words is genius (especially given the curt sharp flat way he speaks Thai). Why does nobody have parasols or sun hats or sunshades or sunglasses or anything? I’m actually not mad about seeing an attempted reunion with the ex, bc we are getting to see both that (and how) they once were good together, and also the cracks that drove them apart (and will not allow them to ultimately be together a 2nd time around). I do feel sorry for Jeng, he moved too slowly and lost the 1st round. The captions were not good in the trunk seen, but trust me it was totally hilarious.

La Pluie (Sat iQIYI) ep 7 of 10 - I finally figured out why I am so tense around this show. In openly taking to task and challenging the soulmates trope, this narrative is telling viewers not to trust it’s core trope - which means we cannot trust the main couple to end happily, nor can we trust those characters who believe most strongly in fated mates (Pat & Mai). This means I, personally, not only can’t rely on an HEA but (as someone who also does not believe in soulmates) I am not entirely sure I even WANT an HEA. This has NEVER happened to me before. It makes me uncomfortable because that’s a core part of my identify with these shows. I mean, good job La Pluie, but also.... huh. Back to this ep: Uh oh. The crush is obvious and the soulmate knows what’s up now. The sex scene twist was v interesting, v gay, and v unusual in a BL. Unfortunately it’s still a BL so the faen fatal just HAD to appear. Will there ever be one out of Thailand where this trope doesn’t show up? Next week is the tried & true uke damsels off into the woods alone. Sigh.

Our Skyy 2 (Bad Buddy & 1k*) eps 12-16fin - Jimmy, baby, why so hot in an engineering smock? Please have mercy. Aw, Marc is back in yet ANOTHER BL. Definitely the current record holder for most BLs at any one time. (His filming schedule must’ve been insane at the beginning of this year!) PatPran are still great, and their eps this had me hooting with laughter (startling the cat). I forgot how much I enjoyed this show and cast. (Ohm looks great with longer hair, but also he’s lost a lot of weight. I hope he’s OK.) OhmNanon give pitch perfect LTR energy. Throwing EarthMix into the, erm, mix is fun if awkward. NO SINGING. 2 damsels in the forest! Also PatPran = geniuses at mock fighting. So much flirting. It was all quite adorbs. But me-thinks Chief & Tian have been eating moonlight chicken. Full review below.

Be My Favorite (Fri YouTube) ep 3 of 10? - was enjoying it up until the last bit, why so digusted by smooches? Bad GMMTV no green tea for you. Trash watch here! Rollercoaster about to go DOWWNNNN.

Luminous Solution (Sat Gaga) ep 3 of 6 - I still only like the high school characters + Dome (WHY so gorgeous?). Is he a magical spirit too? Also, the subs were well off kilter.

Ongoing Series - Not Thai

Our Dining Table AKA Bokura no Shokutaku (Japan Thurs Gaga) ep 10 fin - God they’re so cute. This show used the manga as a storyboard, so I knew the “crisis of faith over possibility of loss” would happen. Still in live action this felt tonally off. While understandable given Yutaka’s character, and ultimately particularly important for the dad and a relationship with the family, I don’t know we needed it in this BL. The book does have a better ending second scene, but it wouldn’t be possible to do it on screen easily. Ultimately, this show had a simple, touching, quiet end to it. That’s very like the show as a whole. I did love it - it’s been top of my list all along. Full review after the special airs.

Love Tractor (Korea Weds iQIYI) eps 1-2 of 8 - I LOVE IT SO MUCH. IT IS EVERYTHING. SHUT UP I AM FERRIL FOR THE BEAUTIFUL CITY BOY AND THE YOUNG FARMER. Come on. Korea. SRS? Plus some language play? I just go die now.

Star Struck (Korea iQIYI & Gaga) ep 7-8 fin - Man this was a difficult show for me. I know we’re supposed to identify with HanJoon but I really felt for YooJae. I’ve been in his position more often than I care to count, and it’s terrible to lose a friend because they caught feelings and you did not. It’s an awful thing to hold a friendship hostage on condition of a romantic relationship. Especially if the other person is not sexually interested in you! All that said, the boyfriend ep was okay. Not sure I believed in this relationship, but it was cute enough. The final ep was (how do I put this?) a loser. We spent a lot of time with terrible home lives and then a semi happy for now final scene? Whatever. Full review below.

Vian the series (Vietnam YouTube ) ep 6 of 12 - somehow I keep missing this one, I’ll catch it next week.

Naked Dinner AKA Zenra Meshi (Japan Fri Gaga) ep 9 of 12 - I think the Taiwanese boss is my favorite character. Japan rarely (if ever ) trots out the faen fatal trope. I mean I named it with a Thai word for a reason, it’s not from origin yaoi at all. Yet still there she is. Sigh. This show.

Stupid Genius (Vietnam Fri YouTube) ep 1 of 6 - RL Studio (Stupid Boys Stupid Love) bringing us yet another high school set VBL. It’s actually not bad. I see a lot of common faces whom I’ve enjoyed in past VBLs.

It’s Airing But ...

House of Stars (Thai Mon iQIYI) 12 eps - I bounced at ep 3. Will binge if told it is worth it at end.

Stay (Pinoy YouTube) 7 eps - It’s mostly in English and set in LA so I’m not bothering but the first one did drop.

Ever After (Pinoy ????) - I got nothing.

Takumi-kun Series 6: Nagai Nagai Monogatari no Hajimari no Asa (Japan Sun ????) 10 eps - NO ONE ASKED FOR THIS and no, I have no idea where to get it, why would I? (Say it with me everyone: Oh Japan, must you?*)

Boys Love Omegaverse (Japan ????) - honestly tho? Who tf cares? You’ll still tell me if you find it, because inquiring minds... Irony of this airing at the same time as Takumi-kun. Full circle much, Japan?

Tin Tem Jai Special (Thai ????) - honestly I checked Gaga & iQiyi in my territory (craptastic hotel) and neither had it listed so I quickly gave up. I mean OF COURSE I WOULD LIKE TO SEE Lee Long Shi in a bathtub, who wouldn’t? But...

Just because I didn’t watch the special doesn’t mean I can’t gank Lee Long Shi wearing nothing but soap bubbles for you.

I’m not a monster.

Ended This Week

Our Skyy 2 final 4 eps thoughts: This was an interesting combination, and don’t get me wrong I very much enjoyed it, but it felt like the story was carried by PatPran’s characters while the setting and narrative followed an ATOTS arc - ultimately disjointed. OhmNanon are so bold and vibrant they’re too stark a tonal contrast to EarthMix’s more refined and elegant approach, so for me the screen presences and the style of story clashed. It was like a bouquet made up of tulips & roses: they are both flowers and they’re both pretty, but I feel like they actually belong in different vases. Still, enjoyable. And I got a crying kiss. Always makes me happy. Definitely the best of this bunch, and probably the best Our Skyy (and I genuinely loved both the NLMG historical installment and SOTUS.) 8/10

Star Struck. A friends to lovers story that felt more friends to tolerant yet disinterested partner. It was more about challenges with parents and class strife. I would’ve been disappointed if the show hadn’t come out of nowhere so I had no expectations. But as KBLs go, don’t bother. 6/10

Next Week Looks Like This:

Starting:

6/15 Tokyo in April AKA Shigatsu no Tokyo wa (Japan Gaga) 8 eps - Based on a yaoi, this is a reunion romance that takes place in an office. Japan does Our Dating Sim? Yes please.

Still Coming - June 2023

6/22 About Us but Not About Us (Pinoy movie from 2022 on Prime) - A professor grieving the loss of his partner meets an ambitious literature student.

6/24 Why You (Khmer BL ????) - Billed as a horror romance, not sure if this is a movie or a series where it will air... nothing except that it exists.

6/24 Tie The Knot AKA Under the Same Sky (Pinoy movie on Prime) Trailer - I guess Prime is coming for our Pinoy BL? From OXIN Films (Rainbow Prince), announced for 2022 based on a true story, Briggs's family runs a bridal business but he has never had a chance to fall in love until he meets Shao, a groom to be.

6/25 Dinosaur Love (Thai iQIYI) Trailer 5 eps - from Ultimate Troop about a uni student, Rak, whose partner cheats on him with Rak's best friend. This gives bad boy hazer Dino an opportunity to hit on Rak at last. From The Yearbook people so I will not watch this as it airs. After Remember Me? Never again with them.

2023 forthcoming BL master post (see comments, some are inaccurate, NOT KEPT UPDATED)

THIS WEEK’S BEST MOMENTS

Bruce is so damn fantastic in this show.

Consent comes in all different forms. (both Step by Step)

Fight fight fight!

Sex sex sex blow job! (both La Pluie)

Smartest boy in the show.

Not enough InkPa... never enough. Never never never!

Love the suit.

All from the Our Skyy 2 BB + ATOTS cross over.

(last week)

Current Kpop earworm? IVE’s I Am

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aeternallis · 9 months

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Ren's Kimchay Fic Rec List

I'll try to add onto this as I read more, but suffice to say that having enmeshed myself into the world of Ao3's Kimchay tag for the past seven months, I have definitely found some hidden jewels that I highly recommend you give a go if you can! :3 I read all kinds, if you're looking for something out of the ordinary and special! And yes, I also read smut gratuitously, so there will be a handful of that as well here!

I myself also write, but I only have one ongoing Kimchay fic at the moment, if you'd like to give my work a shot!

The fics are in no particular order! This list is also a work-in-progress, since I have a lot of talented authors to cover! Most if not all of these are either one-shots, completed, and/or can be read as stand-alone.

Long post, so the fics are under a cut!

Last Updated: 08/21/2023

come home by reasonwasoutforlunch (@emmelineprufrock) Eldritch!Horror Kimchay, monsterfucking, memory alteration shenanigans, supernatural elements, etc. Comments - This is one of the most beautiful and haunting Kimchay fics I've ever read and thus, one of my ultra faves the fandom has to offer; the prose is so elegant, and the horror elements (Tankhun's mindset and abilities are fucking scary and nerve-wracking, but he loves his brothers, //sobs) the author implements just works for the overall setting. I first read this fic at work a few weeks back, and believe you me, it's still churning around my noggin. Like, for reals, this is one of those fics that just stays with you for some time, yknow? I definitely want to draw something for it in the near future!

there is no time for this by heedoyurims (@radishayuan) Kimchay smoochies while there's a gunfight outside. Comments - I love reading short pieces like this, and the author does such a wonderful job creating the atmosphere between these two lovebirds. You can just feel the want and desperation between Kim and Chay in this fic, and I regularly go back to it since it gives me wonderful art inspo!

ninety-six hours (KimPorchay) by coldeyesroni (Twitter - soobellus) Novel!verse, canon-divergence. Kim and Chay meet while Kinn and Porsche are lost in the woods. Incomplete, but each fic in the series can be read as a stand-alone. Comments - Such an awesome read when I first stumbled across it a few months ago! The chemistry between Kim and Chay is electrifying, and the author does a marvelous job of hinting at the different aspects of Kim's character. Highly recommend so you can get a taste of how Kimchay is in the book!

wolf house by venagrey (@venagrey) Dystopian, Dubious Consent, ABO Dynamics (Alpha!Kim/Omega!Chay), Wolfboy!Kim agenda, Feral Kimchay agenda, Respect the Sex Workers. Comments - Honestly, every fic Vena has written for Kimchay is to die for (this fic is but one of them), and I am one of those on my last ounce of life whenever I read their work, for reals. Vena's world building when it comes to their fics is incredibly rich, detailed, and just freaking phenomenal. Vena is truly #writinggoals. They never fail to build the tension and rawness that surrounds Kimchay's relationship, and I am HERE for it. Wolf House in particular reads like a classy, vibrant noir film to me, so it's definitely one of my most favorite fics in the fandom! Definitely art inspo material!!

Reversible Error by saturnscoded (Twitter - saturnscoded) Lawyers!Kimchay, canon-divergence, Angst, friends to enemies to frenemies to lovers, Porsche goes to jail for a crime he didn't commit. Comments - A true comfort fic for me. It's a marvelous AU that the author has created for Kimchay, and the tug and pull of their tense working relationship never fails to make me both swoon and breathless. The author also does a good job of highlighting Chay as a very determined and brave character with real human flaws, which I truly appreciate and can never get enough of.

Year of the OTP (Kimchay Edition) by sapphicblight (@sapphicblight) weathered down by pouring rain ain't no time for talking when we're tongue tied blow out all the candles Canon-compliant, Reconciliation, Post-Canon, Mutual Pining, Light Angst. Comments - When it comes to a good 'ol reconciliation fic, this author is among one of the best! <3 I love this author's characterization of Chay specifically, and how much of a simp their Kim is. Their fics are my comfort zone, and on bad days at work, I often turn to their fics to get me through the day. Their Year of the OTP fics are all marvelous in their own right, but I wanted to take the time to list out my favorites from the ongoing list. They also have a Hanahaki fic that never fails to make me cry and which features 2 endings, so like—whichever you’re in the mood for in terms of ending, this author’s got you covered. XD Please give their stuff a read whenever you can, they're like balls of sunshine that'll make your day better~

Stain of Sun by Lilla_Torg (@lillatorg) Hacker!Porsche and Grifter!Chay, Aged-up characters, ABO Dynamics (Alpha!Kim/Omega!Chay), Mating Bonds, takedown scheme gone wrong. Comments - All of this author's works for KP are truly stunning, and I have them all on my iPad for my regular reading pleasure. Their worldbuilding is downright amazing; particularly with Stain of Sun, it's a fast-paced story that keeps you on the edge of your seat with its twists and turns (I love me one crafty Chay, Your Honor). I genuinely admire this author's prowess when it comes to dialogue as well, and they do an awesome job at balancing out the three main ships. Definitely recommend this author's works! <3

Chains And Crowns, A Flower Can Both Make by Sweet_William (@sweet-william-writes) Regency Era!Kimchay, Arranged Marriage, Hints of MPreg, Angst. Comments - Listen, I am a sucker for Regency fics of my ships, and this fic definitely delivers, okay! I love this one-shot fic to pieces, and it's also a work I regularly go back to and reread! The dialogue of the era is perfectly captured by this amazing, brilliant author, and the smut ofc is to die for! The Kim in this fic doesn't know how to communicate his feelings very well, but he's trying dammit, he's so much in love with his gorgeous wife and I. AM. HERE. FOR. IT. They do a lot of dead dove KimChay fics as well, so if you think you’re up for it and can handle the glorious madness this author writes, I also highly recommend them~

You are my last peace by nubeazul Light Angst, Reconciliation, Domestic Bliss, Fluff Comments - This author’s post-canon fics for KimChay are so poignant and lovely, I love them so much. There’s a softness to their KimChay that I appreciate so much, especially since we hardly get any domestic scenes of KimChay together in the show, yknow?

Whiskey Sour by alphanetic Canon-divergent, Angst, Reconciliation, the Kittisawasd siblings disappear after they are threatened by Korn. Comments - Say what you will, but I am a hopeless romantic/sucker for “I will find you to the ends of the Earth” kinda vibe fics, yknow? And this fic just satisfies that trope so very well for me. The desperation of the chase, the unhinged pleas to return home, I just love it so much. This fic is actually part of a series called Alcoholism, in which the author delves into KinnPorsche and Kimchay’s respective relationships from a variety of different angles, both canon-divergent and canon-compliant. I always love me a versatile author, so I definitely recommend their works! //chef’s kiss

The Success by s6115 Werewolves, Some body horror, elements of Teen Wolf and the Dread Doctors, non-linear narrative, Chay is dying from a certain condition, and Porsche chooses to make his little brother’s last days count. Comments - One of the very first KP fics I ever read for this fandom, and still one of my most favorites. This one isn’t actually centered on Kimchay, but Kimchay is featured in the story. Truthfully, I’m in love with this author’s world building of their fic, and the marvelous way in which they’re able to really establish the tension and fear that Porsche and Chay go through due to their condition. The story reads like a high-stakes adventure with lots of angst and dealing with impending death; it’s very dark in some places, very intense in some, but at the end of it all, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. And by that I mean it’s a happy ending, despite my short summary. XD

Hunting Down the Bambi by fancifulnim (@fancifulnim) Canon-Divergence, Suicide Attempt, Non-Consensual Touching/Kissing, Toxic Relationship, but when all is said and done, they’re gonna make it work somehow. Comments - Another fic that was one of the very first I came across for this fandom and thus, one of my most favorite and holds a special place in my heart. To this day out of all the fics I’ve ever read for Kimchay, the characterization of Kim from this particular work is definitely the darkest I’ve read, and to be frank? I just love it so much. This fic is wonderfully a partial thought-provoking character introspection piece, as well as a vibrant experiment of seeing how far down the rabbit hole one can go for this ship. I still re-read it regularly, so I highly recommend it, if you’re willing to give this author’s Kimchay a shot!

In this Moment (Picture Perfect) by eggwars (@eggwars) Canon Compliant, Character Study, Missing Scene, Fluff, Sweet Kimchay, set during before the break-up Comments - Such a fluffy, wonderful fic! <3 Perfect for any day, any time! I read this one on a particularly bad day at work, and lemme tell you, it did wonders for lifting up my mood (the text messages were so cute, omfg)! This is definitely a scene I can picture happening in the show, considering for at least half their airtime, Kimchay were pretty much off in their own little world and playing out the Wattpad story of Chay's dreams. Lol It's a brilliant piece that also explores Kim's different facets and how he's seamlessly able to create some semblance of order in his lifestyle, despite his two opposing careers. The fic is heartfelt and tugs at your heartstrings with the sweet innocence of their relationship in the beginning~ Ah, I love it so much!

#kimchay #kinnporche the series #fic rec list

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tadpolesonalgae · 2 months

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this is gonna be so random but..

thoughts on gwynlain? 🤭

OKAY OKAY HEAR ME OUT

besides the fact that i have the chronic disease that is whenever im presented with popular highly fandom competitive hetero ships i get the irresistible urge to ship the women together just out of lesbian spite.

i think their relationship could be pretty interesting 👀👀 like ur in a rough patch with ur sister whom u had a pretty decent relationship w ur entire life until u both went thru traumatizing events and one day ur sister is hanging out with a pretty red haired girl who coincidentally has a potential Thing going on with the same guy that you also have a potential Thing going on with and she seems to get along with the current version of your sister who's trying to heal from everything that's happened meanwhile everytime u and ur sister have a convo it seems to end in jagged words getting thrown at each other so everything abt pretty red haired girl makes u a bit uncomfortable and weirdly tense But then u realize that pretty red haired girl is also just trying to gain back control in her life after traumatizing events in her life which is exactly what you've been trying to do and-

.......... so yea i have the delusional talent of convincing my brain that any potential tension between two female characters is just groundwork for ✨️ sexual tension ✨️

‘thoughts on gwynlain? 🤭’

Girl I have so many feelings I don’t want to open this can of worms 🫠🥞

‘OKAY OKAY HEAR ME OUT’

I would never try to silence you on this topic 😌

‘besides the fact that i have the chronic disease that is whenever im presented with popular highly fandom competitive hetero ships i get the irresistible urge to ship the women together just out of lesbian spite.’

Okay, I know almost exactly what you mean but I don’t think it’s a spiteful thing at all? Even in the modern day you don’t get lesbian/gay/queer romance in shows or films as frequently as straight romance (naturally because of heteronormativity so they’ll likely prove to be more appealing to the general public), and that absence was much more obvious in the past? When we would have been growing up too?

Anyway, I think it might just be our way of compensating for the lack of shows that openly show queer relationships through creating our own ships in fanon? So I think it’s a normal thing to think about honestly :)

‘i think their relationship could be pretty interesting 👀👀’

I already liked them before your explanation but now my brain is melting 🫠 I’d already been feeling weirdly sapphic for the past few days and this has just fully launched me into the depths of it 😭 I would love to read a book with those two in but I doubt that’ll happen so I’m holding out for an Emerie book ☹️

And oh my goodness have you seen that gwynlain fanart?? Where they’re baking together??? It makes me so happy (I’m going to try and find it because I know I’ve seen it recently)

‘.......... so yea i have the delusional talent of convincing my brain that any potential tension between two female characters is just groundwork for ✨️ sexual tension ✨️’

I am fully in support of your argument, continue your delusion please 🫠🧡💛

And also I think it’s more productive to have a positive outlook between them rather than a negative one that I think the ship wars have contributed to 🫠

#anons <3 #gwynlain chat

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pinkandpurple360 · 4 months

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Okay, so for some reason when I started reading your post about octavia and Fizz being opposite but similar 'n' all, I instantly thought about Blitzø and Fizz adopting her, and quickly scrolling down it appeared that it was ALSO the point you were getting at!

And, like, gay dads adopts late-teenage girls from unknowing, bad, families, is a Trope that sound awesome.

And then you got one of those girls becoming hitman while the other becomes librarian/writer or something, and they're besties and spend lots of time together excepted when one got a contract or the other has a tense moment with her publisher or something, but sometime having a hitman bestie is quite useful, and sometime having a decent writer that looks like an ordinary person too.

And you got big sister hitman always here to help, with little sister writer/librarian always here to listen.

And two sad dads that could not believe their girls will end up their lives with another girl. (I don't know enough of octavia to ship her, so I make her aro, but not ace.)

I’ve created this semi dysfunctional half goth half clown family in my head and now I’m so attached to them I can’t undo what is done.

Gay clown dads with unresolved “something” between them adopt sardonic goth girls who have a friendship? Sign me up.

Octavia is sooo writer-coded, she has so many opinions, and I also love the idea that she does digital art on her tablet. If you ever annoy her she draws you really ugly and posts it on her blog, then if you try take it down she threatens to sue and serve you with a subpoena, cites her right to artistic expression (guess where she learned that from)

Via having tension with her publisher could be such an interesting avenue, it reminds me of the scenes in Little Women between Jo and the book publisher Mr Dashwood. Her book is only released on the condition that it end in the main character having a romance, because it was seen as improper for her to be a “spinster” —- it’s misogyny but also, something else called amatonormativity

This way of thinking values romantic, monogamous pairings above all else, and elevates sexual relationships as higher in value than platonic ones when this is rarely the case. It makes people feel they have to endure even toxic relationships just for the ‘normalcy’ of having a monogamous nuclear family. It also encourages attitudes of running off with some romantic interest and leaving platonic relationships behind. Since to some, romance and sexual relationships can save you from your troubles and is the ultimate goal.

Sound familiar?

It’s because this is the crutch of what happened to Stolas, the attitude of what made him maintain the lie, force the toxic relationship to stay together, and seek out sexuality as a way to escape it all. Because he thinks it’s the answer to his unhappiness.

Funny enough actually, Frozen is one of the most famous animated films to criticise this idea and stomp it out. Anna realises her love for her own flesh and blood Elsa is worth much more to her than any romance either with Hans or Kristoff. And this is incidentally where they based much of the Goetia themes (allegedly) especially with Andre being a walking Frozen reference…

Soooo yeah Octavia is now a massive Greta Gerwig stan because I said so, her favourite actresses are Winona Ryder and Fiona Shaw, she is scathingly critical of amatonormativity. Fizz had told her about the Barbie movie and how it “changed” his entire worldview and is deeply personal to him for some reason that he won’t say. Something to do with the dolls theme. She didn’t believe it at first, and was repulsed by saturated feminine colours, but then it awakened something in her as well. Feminism, and more critique of romance obsession.

She is someone who is now valuing friendship honesty, consent, and trust above all else. She and Loona are finally exploring social events together. Making friends. At a party she’s the one she goes to when she’d like to get home, and Loona always does even if she’s having fun.

I don’t want to imply that she became aromantic because of the trauma, so maybe she has always been on the aroace spectrum, which was why she could see through the rose coloured glasses from the start. She doesnt centre her life goals and self esteem on any type of love or male approval anymore, and it would take a significant amount of trust and mutual independence between her and a partner before she’d enter that type of relationship. She might not ever want to marry, and I don’t blame her.

Also she’s a lesbian because. I say so. This show has no lesbians yet and if she’s basically Janis from Mean Girls, that makes her gay. Don’t tell anyone but she has a massive celebrity crush on Glitz from the Twin Glam sisters and can you blame her. Fizz isn’t very happy about that poster in her room but he doesn’t comment.

To be fair I don’t think it was a surprise to anyone that she likes women it was a kindve “that’s great sweetie do you want pancakes or sliders for breakfast?”

So so so cute 🥺 and who knows, maybe there are times where Loona and Via break stereotypes and it’s Via who keeps Loona protected as the “muscle” while Loona becomes more interested in education

Text exchange:

Loona: it’s kinda funny how nobody expects you to be the muscle of the two of us.

Via: well, you know the most powerful muscle is the brain. And I make sure to exercise mine daily.

Loona: “The most powerful muscle is the brain” 🤓

Via: HEY! Well it’s true!!

#helluva boss #Octavia

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sleepychailatte-blog · 3 months

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When I was in school, there seem to be a camp of two types of girls when it came to literary choices. You had the Twilight/vampire romance girlies and the Hunger Games/dystopian gals, and you would have thought these two groups were the two families from Romeo and Juliet. Yours truly was part of the Hunger Games camp, and middle-school me was obsessed. I’m talking book and movie premieres, Team Peeta shirts from Hot Topic, wearing a mocking jay pin publicly, the whole gambit. God forbid if you read Twilight, that poorly written, low-brow, dumb, vampire romance. We were the readers of dystopian fiction, which was superior because it made you FEEL things about capitalism, broken societies, being true to yourself, etc. etc. etc.

It’s been over a decade since 2008. To all my Twilight girlies, I would like to offer you my most sincere apologies. I should not have judged you so harshly.

Recently I watched Twilight for the very first time as an adult. A friend of mine came over for a painting/movie night, and Twilight was our featured film. I knew the memes, I knew roughly what the plot was, but I wasn’t ready for the experience that was to come.

So without further ado, I’d like to offer my thoughts and review on the 2008 masterpiece, Twilight. If you aren’t familiar with the Twilight story, go read a quick synopsis and then come back.

🌘So, did you like it?

I had an absolute blast watching this movie. Would I say it’s a good movie? Probably not. Did it age well? Nope. But it was delightfully cringey, as you had to suspend all believe of realism. You couldn’t take this movie too seriously, because this movie took ITSELF way too seriously. It’s like they cranked the drama/teen angst meter up to 100 and everything seems so life-or-death…even though the main characters, Bella and Edward, are 17 year old juniors (ok so Edward actually isn’t 17 because he’s an old vampire but you get what I’m saying). It was very much that kind of relationship where “they can’t even bear to be apart or they will DIE” oh no how tragic (I think we now call that co-dependency).

When I was 17, I sure as heck didn’t know what love was. But again, this story is based in absolute fantasy, not realism, and that’s the fun part. Oh to be swept off your feet by a mysterious, handsome, brooding vampire that you met in your biology class!

🌓Favorite part of the film?

The script for this movie is pretty bad, I’m not gonna lie, and that’s part of the charm. It’s so bad, that it’s kinda good. Here’s some of my favorite quotes:

“You better hold on tight, spider monkey." -Edward to Bella because he can jump really high and run really fast. I about peed my pants from laughing when Edward said this.

“This is the skin of a killer, Bella." -Edward to Bella because vampire skin *literally sparkles* in direct sunlight. Again, almost peed my pants.

I will say that I love Edward’s family, the Cullens, as a whole. This vampire family tries to cook a regular meal for Bella, Edward’s human girlfriend, and oh my heart. Vampires don’t cook because they don’t eat normal food; the Cullen family had never used the kitchen in their house. The fact that they would go out of their way and attempt to do something so foreign to them in order to make the human girlfriend feel comfortable? Um, wow that’s actually really sweet.

Also, shout out to Bella‘s dad, Charlie for actually trying to connect with his daughter. Bella and Charlie have a bit of an awkward and tense relationship but this doesn’t stop Charlie from trying to be a good dad. I will say that one of my other favorite scenes was when Bella asked her dad if he wanted to meet her boyfriend Edward… while he was cleaning his shotgun. When he said, “sure, send (your boyfriend) in” and loudly snapped his shotgun shut, I about lost it. What a dad move! A national treasure.

🌒Would you watch it again?

Under the right circumstances. I would need either anesthesia or a large sangria. If I ever showed this film to my children, it would be for a study of what not to do in a relationship. If your significant other says “I can’t live without you” when you’re 17…that’s some big creepy co-decency energy.

🌑Team Edward or Team Jacob?

Um Team Charlie all the way. Hands down the best and most sane character in this whole film. We love to see a dad do his best and love his daughter…even when she starts dating a super weird pale dude.

🌘Conclusion

Watching this film made me think about guilty pleasures. We all have them, and they all look different at unique stages of our life. One of my favorite guilty pleasures is watching Judge Judy. My 70 year-old grandmother used to watch the Bachelor. For a friend of mine, it’s those cheesy Hallmark Channel movies. Others enjoy vampire romance novels. Are these things high-quality and sophisticated? No. Are they of good taste? Meh. But they are meant to be enjoyed, and that’s the whole point.

Twilight is the same way. Is it good? Not really. But that doesn’t matter, because it’s a cringey/angsty teen fantasy that’s meant to be enjoyed.

You can be both a Twilight girlie and a Hunger Games gal, and still have a pretty darn good time 🖤

#twilight saga #twilight meme #edward cullen #bella swan #movie review #twilight movies #spider monkey

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sapphic-luthor · 1 year

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different anon here but does your gf have any good lesbian media/book recs (since she read so many lesbian books in such a short amount of time lol)!!

gf said, and i quote,

“i’m going to take the rest of the day off to work on this list”

so without further ado, here is her short list of recs copied straight from her (and with my own comments in italics for the ones i know):

Okay! So here’s my book recommendations.

- Fingersmith by Sarah Waters. Loved this book, love all Sarah’s books (haven’t read the non-gay one though, sorry not sorry). Sarah is a great one for the twists and I enjoyed this one so much that I actually recommended the book to my mam and she also loved it. The story is gay + set in the 19th century + lady/handmaiden trope so what’s not to like. Also really recommend. For related media, there’s a BBC miniseries based off of it, and a film by Park Chan-wook called The Handmaiden, which is honest to god one of the best films ever made. It is harrowing, but it is brilliant.

- Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters. Again, gay + set in the 19th century. Explores the queer scene in Victorian London to its full extent. A real page turner. GREAT fun, a little dark at points, but good and raunchy.

- The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters. Gay + 1920s + yearning + tense + murder + dramatic. My recommendation when it comes to Sarah’s books is to give them time. Do not put them down because I promise you they will get GOOD. Slowburn of slowburns. Gorgeous.

- Affinity by Sarah Waters. Gay + Victorian prison + disgraced spiritualist. Compared to the other three this one is actually a little bit… boring? You’re kinda waiting for something to happen for a long time but WHEN IT DOES boy is it worth it. And that part that’s worth waiting for actually made me want to read it again.

- The Night Watch by Sarah Waters. This was a bit like Affinity for me in that I was waiting for it to pick up a bit but once again, Sarah did not disappoint and I finished it wanting to read it again. The story is told backwards through third-person narrative, takes place in 1940s London during and after WWII and follows ‘Kay, Helen and Julia, three lesbians; Viv, a straight woman; and Duncan, her brother, whose sexuality is ambiguous.’

- One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston. This was my favourite book of 2021 because I read it as a baby gay and it’s set in modern times and is so full of life and found family and fun but also considers life for gay people in the 1970s and things that they didn’t often get to experience (loudly, at least). It tugged at my heart this one. For the “sort by top kudos” “filter for fluff” fanfic reader. Not really my style.

- This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone. This is the most beautiful book I’ve ever read. As Madeline Miller said, ‘this book has it all: treachery and love, lyricism and gritty action, existential crisis and space-opera scope, not to mention time travelling superagents.’ This story is truly gorgeous. Unbelievable. Not even words to describe how good this one in. Possibly my favourite read of all time.

- Afterlove by Tanya Byrne. This book made me cry! In…a good way? I’m not sure. But I enjoyed it. Set in modern day when MC dies and joins ‘a clan of fierce girl reapers who take the souls of the city’s dead to await their fate’ but can’t forget her first love who she’ll do anything to see again. This one just tugged at my heart a lot.

- Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon. Epic fantasy. Dragons. Follows many characters in GoT style so it requires A LOT of focus. This isn’t a light read but it’s very good (and a prequel is coming out in 2023). IF YOU LIKE FANTASY AT ALL READ THIS ONE IMMEDIATELY.

- Annie on my Mind by Nancy Garden. Okay this one will definitely not be the most well-written book you’ve ever read buuuuut there’s something VERY precious about it. It follows the relationship between two 17-year-old girls, Annie and Liza, in New York. As far as I know, when this book was published in 1982, it became the first YA novel ever to depict a main character’s same-sex relationship in a positive light. (In the 90s copies of this book were burned on the steps of a school in Kansas and there was a whole court case about it).

- Gideon the Ninth, Harrow the Ninth and Nona the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir. Oh these are great. I was about 100 pages in to the first two before I could grasp what was going on but the story is intriguing, the characters are great, there’s good humour, and the world is fascinating. The first one, Gideon, is almost like Hunger Games meets Cluedo. I’d highly recommend these and I can’t wait until my gf reads them so I can talk to her about them.

- Everything Leads to You by Nina LaCour. This one is a nice, light read. MC is interning as a set designer so I found this aspect of it really interesting actually. Has some mystery, some gay love, so like why not read it.

- Matrix by Lauren Groff. ‘Born from a long line of female warriors and crusaders, and cast out from the royal court, Marie is sent to become the prioress of an abbey.’ This is a bit of a dreary, grey read (probably due to the setting and period, think Wuthering Heights), but there was something about it that fascinated me and kept drawing me back in.

- The Falling in Love Montage by Ciara Smyth. Lesbian rom-com set in modern Ireland. Very light, easy read (with some serious topics too).

- Not my Problem by Ciara Smyth. Again, a very light and easy read for the most part, with a touch on some heavier issues. Quite funny too!

- Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo. Set in 1950s America and tells the story of Lily Hu, a teenage daughter of Chinese immigrants as she begins to explore her sexuality. This time period was really interesting and the incorporation of Chinese culture into the story was something I hadn’t read before.

#mine #book recommendations #personal #answered #anonymous

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thundercrack · 1 year

Text

ok joining the club... February reading report! I'm mostly just mouthing off... Read at your own risk!

Dune by Frank Herbert

The Friend by Sigrid Nunez

Look, I'm a sucker for a classic. I'd been vaguely meaning to read this since I saw the Timmy Chalemet movie...and I generally have a tolerance for fairly long scifi/fantasy. I enjoyed the first maybe third of this book...and then I got bored (needless to say I will not be reading the next four Dune books although I did finish). Don't get me wrong -- I'm glad I read it. In many ways, Dune still culturally relevant, both within the world of genre fiction, and (especially because of the new film) in debates about orientalism, the Cold War, humanity, etc, etc. I found Herbert's explorations on this future version of Islam and future version of Arabic pretty interesting, but by the end of the book, I was really annoyed by the main character. There's a lot of really interesting discussion and criticism around this book, so I'm glad to be able to understand a little more of those conversations as well. Also, now I retrospectively sort of know what was happening in the movie!

I was too young to read this book. It was good; it was not for me. Revisit in thirty-five years.

Utopia Avenue by David Mitchell

Lincoln In The Bardo by George Saunders

Why did I read this? I've never read any other David Mitchell. This book was an exercise in 1960s musical fantasy, where nothing goes wrong and the truest joy is from celebrity encounters, powered by the author's love for the era, rather than having anything to say. This was a book about a rock band going straight to the top, without any real interrogation into the cultural forces and pitfalls of the 1960s, weak characterization, random tie-ins with his larger universe, and next to no tension. I'll probably still read Cloud Atlas at some point, but this one is a hard pass.

This was one of my old roommates favorite books that I gave another go after DNFing in maybe, 2018? Again, I think this might be a book I'd like more if I were older. I thought the structure and format was well-done (I especially liked the history excerpts, of course); the story itself, I was maybe luke-warm on. I thought the prose was good (especially the dialogue) and the characters were interesting. I'm not entirely sure what's making me luke-warm on it, but I liked it enough to be glad I read it.

Human Acts by Han Kang (trans. Deborah Smith)

This was the best book I read this month, hands down. Maybe this year as well. Kang masterfully weaves together a number of stories around the Gwangju massacre of pro-democracy demonstrators. This book was at times, extremely brutal to read (and I would say I have a fairly high tolerance in text). It was clearly well-researched, well-lived, and well-considered. The topics it tackled were both grains of sand and the meaning of humanity itself. I really, really, enjoyed this book; I highly recommend it, and I definitely look forward to reading The Vegetarian in the future. Bonus reading: Han Kang and the Complexity of Translation

All The President's Men by Woodward and Bernstein

I constantly get this one mixed up with All The Kings Men by Robert Penn Warren (also good). One of my college friends had just read this and sent me a number of random updates throughout their reading, mostly focused on Woodward and Bernstein's....tense relationship. Like most Americans, I've been vaguely aware of Watergate my whole life (I even saw that movie The Post!), and I think this book really did a good job laying out the reveal of the story as well as sort of the in-house tensions that were going on. My copy (from the library) was the original 1974 edition, and I sort of wish that I had a more recent version with a little bit more distance on the events, but it's kind of fun to have been "right in there." I generally do like this style of expanded-reportage book (see Ronan Farrow's books, or in another genre, Jon Krakauer), and Watergate still looms so large in the American political imagination, so I'm glad I read this one too.

Beyond Babylon by Igiaba Scego (trans. Aaron Robertson)

This is a book I would have really liked to enjoy. I didn't. I kept saying to myself -- well, maybe it's just the translation that didn't work for me (the whole book was a bit clunky to read). There are a lot of really interesting themes in this novel (fluid identity, colonization, language, coincidence, politics, choice and nature, etc), interesting characters, play with language, a sweep of history that could have been fascinating. However, in practice, it didn't work for me. The different storylines sometimes were confusing, the plot at times eluding me, seemingly unnecessary tangents taking me nowhere. It was a slow read. There was just a lot here (and maybe it's just through my background that I was missing pieces)...and none of it quite fit together.

Murder by the Book by Claire Harman

Totally random book I picked up at the library. It's not really a topic or like...an era (the metropolitan center of Victorian Britain??) that I care about, but I was like, hey, cool cover, I want an easy read this week, etc. I thought it was well written and well researched, and I definitely learned some stuff about the literary scene of the era. It was also amusing how some of the debates around "base literature" are...pretty much the same today as they were in the 1830s.

Beasts of a Little Land by Juhea Kim

Look, you ever read a book and you can just tell it was written by a Harvard/Yale/Princeton grad? Well, this was one. This book was extremely readable. It's got decent characters who are fairly easy to get invested in and a structure that pulls you through the text, all while set across a complex, divided, and rapidly changing backdrop of early 20th-c Korea. However, the narrative itself rung flat, and the book's promised complexity disappeared before I got through the second chapter -- it's almost a completely sanitized view of two very complex worlds: that of high-class courtesans, and that of orphans/gangs who become politically involved. Narratively things go wrong, but it's almost never because the characters make bad decisions -- except perhaps in love -- which collapses the once-promising characters. Also, it jumps from 1945 to 1964 at the end...not very successfully (the opening/closing of the book was extremely trite and not terribly well-done). This book was almost disappointing because it promised more than it could deliver, falling straight into the chasm of mediocre novels by diverse graduates of elite institutions. I didn't do it any favors by reading it so soon after Human Acts either, although they're very different novels.

The Thousand Crimes of Ming by Tsu Tom Lin

The advertising around this book does it poorly (do not go in expecting anything Cormac McCarthy-like LOL). Don't get me wrong, I liked this book -- I do enjoy a modern Western and I think Lin does a great job highlighting the role of Chinese workers on the expansion of the railroad, as well as the curiosities of the era through a fantastical magic troupe. The NPR review of this book highlights how each character plays with genre, which was true and definitely one interesting part of the novel. Thematically, I thought this book was interesting if a bit restrained, and the characters were neat. Unfortunately, though I enjoyed giving this one a read, at the end of the day, it's all a bit forgettable.

Dumb Luck by Vu Trong Phung (trans. Nyuyen Nguyet Cam and Peter Zinoman)

Tumblr bookclub read! Like I said to A and Rhu, I found the introduction "Vu Trong Phung's Dumb Luck and the Nature of Vietnamese Modernism" by Peter Zinoman more interesting than the text itself, but overall, I'm glad I read the book. It's always really interesting to read these sort of big, foundational texts -- even in fairly recent translation. I haven't read a lot of satire and really don't know that much about Vietnam before American involvement, but the thrust of the text was definitely quite interesting (and brutal -- one review described all the characters as antagonists) even if I didn't fully understand all the conversations, it was taking part in.

Heart of Darkness (3rd Norton Critical Edition) by Joseph Conrad (ed. Robert Kimbrough)

Confession: I think I'd read this before and almost entirely forgotten it. I didn't particularly enjoy the book and literarily, I'm not sure that I got what quality elevates it to a "great novel." I especially enjoyed the back-and-forth among several scholars (especially around Achebe) about its relationship to colonialism, inclusion in the canon, and European self-definition against Africa as a "primitive other." I'm glad I read it mostly because I feel like it gives me a better sense of the larger conversation around Leopold in the Congo and the literary/related discourses around the scramble for Africa. So, thematically, glad I read it; literarily, whatever.

The Last King of Scotland by Giles Foden

The end :) maybe I'll do this again someday!

Another confession: I pick a lot of books by wandering around the library and just grabbing one that looked interesting. I did read Heart of Darkness before this for a reason. I quite liked reading this one -- I thought the narration was really interesting and the narrator's complicity in the brutality of Idi Amin's rule was neat. Certain scenes were very brutal (and the book was certainly well-researched). I felt like at times, the time-skips didn't quite work, but the general disconnect between Garrigan, his identity, and what was happening around him was interesting. I think I had to watch the film that was a loose adaptation of the book in class in high school. I think I could probably have some more interesting thematic and political comments on this one if I sat on it a little longer, but I'm kind of getting tired of writing this and also I finished it like, twelve and a half hours ago or something.

#Monthly book round-up #<- look a tag #On reading #I'm realizing now I didn't put my like... Number reviews... Oh well

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julietasgf · 2 months

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BOA TARDE/ NOITE / DIA 😈 Your approval of Ma Plinth and Mrs. Everdeen's analysis has given me the delulu power of Coriolanus

I'm no longer afraid to throw up my headcanons and I'm making my notes for an upcoming post about Sejanus and the academy kids I think he might have an interesting platonic relationship with (my victims are Lysistrata, Io Jasper, Persephone Price, and Plup Harrington hahaha don't freaked out about that last one. I swear I can explain; it's a complicated issue and I don't think they are friends but I can perfectly see their parents forcing them to talk and them having a terribly tense relationship😭 but well that's for another day). Before I ramble on let me just say that I love talking to you Juli 💖 How was your first day of school? -if you want to talk about it-. I hope everything went well and I want to reminder that you are amazing

Once we've cleared that up LET'S GET STARTED!!!

I think after many posts we've come to something of a coherent conclusion about the flaws and virtues affecting the film adaptation of TBOSAS (The Plinths, the academy students, the tributes and the games, etc). Conclusion that is good to remember is based solely on our opinions, conclusion born of our perspectives - in case anyone other than us reads this. I have seen the reblogs…

There are only a few loose ends left because your explanation of the importance of the space of enunciation from which Suzanne published TBOSAS and why she chose a character like Coriolanus to star in that book was chef kiss. You put very well in words how context cuts across media - and I think it's well intuited why it's not surprising then that TBOSAS movie in the current landscape is so apolitical.

I also agree that the stories Suzanne tells depend on small details that give the reader a broader perspective and nuance of the actions/emotions/circumstances of her characters and that when the film undoes or modifies these the story is severely affected and is one of the many factors that lead to the storytelling of Coriolanus and Sejanus for example being so different in intent and message than their book namesakes

The one thing I did want to say before I go talking about fics is that one advantage the movie had over the book when it came to humanizing the tributes is that it happens outside of Coriolanus' head. It makes a lot of sense that in the book excluding Lucy Gray -and that on occasion. Not to forget how LGB admits at one point that during the day even in front of Coryo she ACTS and at night she finds it almost impossible to hide her fear so we don't really see much of her real vulnerability-we know so little of the tributes on a personal level and they feel like flat characters since Coriolanus doesn't really see them as people.

Sometimes he sees flashes of their humanidad but stops himself from trying to humanize them -and when he has those flashes he himself says he's acting like Sejanus to stop himself, which I think has very strong implications, Snow actually killed his humanity when he killed Sejanus 😭-but the main point is that in the movie the tributes are freed from Snow's perspective and can be their own people.

And yes Coral I think was one of the best changes. And I'll continue the eternal campaign of please people. Read the book if you want to say something about LGB or Sejanus.

(Oh boi. Your comment about fandom proving THG-TBOSAS critics, I won't discuss it because its a lurid subject but I'll just say you are so right and sadly there are many examples cof cof rue cof cof cof).

About the fics:

Well. The BairdPlinth series was GREAT AND SO SAD, LGB and Sejanus are awesome but have the worst taste in men 🥺 although yay for fics centered around platonic relationships 🙏🙏🙏💖💖💖

With "And they called it puppy love" I discovered a couple of very curious things:

I had already read that fic but the curious thing is not that. But apparently THAT was the FIRST TBOSAS FIC I kept in my BOOKMARKS!!!!

Ma, it was a cruel recommendation /j not joke but im not complaining 🥺🥺🥺🥺 I enjoyed it but my heart is broke, I can't say anything else cry.

And we come to: Paralell lines.

I read the first chapter. I haven't read the second one yet. Partly due to lack of time, partly because I don't want to finish it. I've been rereading the first chapter every chance I get with absolute devotion.

My brain chemistry was also forever changed and when I finish it I know it will go on my list of tbosas fanfics that changed my LIFE

Speaking of that list… I've look for 3 fic of my list for you <3

I have to say that in TBOSAS I've read fics with very varied themes, more varied than I usually read -and when you see you end up writing an omegaverse because something in your head clicks with Dr. Gaul and ah- but I have a thing for stories that fill in gaps (pre canon, post canon and divergences from canon my beloved) so that's what you'll mostly find in the 3 chosen ones

Btw I hadn't thought about it before but I think I also have a love for fics where a character study is done over other things hahaha so you'll find that too.

1. out, damned spot

Summary:

You’re not real, he thought – thought it hard, and hoped that it would be enough to send Sejanus packing. You’re a morphling hallucination.

And Sejanus crossed his arms, one hip canted at an insolent angle, as if to say: afraid not, soldier. - Okey. Buddie you don't know how much this fic ALTERED THE CHEMISTRY OF MY BRAIN. 99% of my fanfics are inspired in one way or another by this one, and I consider it canon in my head.

2. odi et amo

Summary:

He knows Coryo would never admit to remembering the rose garden. - This one is narrated by Sejanus!!!! And it's pre canon TBOSAS, <3 it centers around a little school project that Coriolanus, Sejanus and Livia are assigned to do together and I won't say more because it would be spoiler only that it has a brilliant and shocking ending. I screamed when I read it

3. The Haunting of Coriolanus Snow

Summary:

He would act, as he always did, as if this were the only time he had ever dreamed of Lucy Gray Baird and Sejanus Plinth.

The flowers, though — those were new. And despite his best efforts to exorcise this night from his memory, he spent more nights afterward than he cared to admit thinking about what to make of them. -

SNOWBAIRDPLINTH FOR WIN!!! THE SYMBOLISM IN THIS ONE IS WONDERFUL, THERE ARE SO MANY DETAILS THAT ADD TO THE STORYTELLING and I love it.

But well there are the recommendations, hope you like them. Tell me what you think pls 👉👈

Now serious mode.

I have a little rant to do and I need to hear your thoughts but concerning that post about the department… let's please talk about how the Plinth's influence and power in the Capitol is overestimated. LOOK I'm not saying they don't have any but it's not as much as people think 😭.

I blame -as usual- Coriolanus' narrative for this confusion. I think it's obvious that Coriolanus grants an all powerful ability (they are able to buy their way out of any problem) to the Plinth for two issues: 1. At the end of the day he is also a dumb 18 year old teenager who was overprotected by Tigris, and doesn't have a very clear vision of the adult world and how it works (in fact that's a detail that I love and obsess about his conversation with Strabo; it makes very clear that Coriolanus despite all his manipulation shit, is still an inexperienced kid)

The boy is projecting very badly on the Plinth. What I'm getting at is that Coriolanus in the book firmly believes that the Plinths "stole" the life of the Snows, (specifically that Sejanus "stole" the life that should be his); his parents are alive and in the munitions business, they have a lot of money, they have luxuries and influence, but this obsession with what the Snows should be, along with his contempt for the people of the district is what prevents him from being really objective about the true influence the Plinth's have, he only sees what in his head should be the Snow's all powerful position, epically ignoring that the Plinth are district and realistically have very limited influence within the Capitol (Crassus Snow alive and with money, could do MORE than Strabo will ever do with all the money in the world).

Just the area they live in tells you a lot, the Plinth's didn't make it to the Capitol and immediately moved to the Corso. They couldn't, they didn't have the social prestige that was needed, they literally have to wait for PEOPLE to BE THROWN OUT, for taxes to try and see if they get a chance to live among THE ELITE OF THE ELITE, and it even shows a lot in Strabo's investments; the man is helping to rebuild the Capitol not for love of the Capitol perse, but to get a quarter of the prestige that someone like Coriolanus Snow, born in the Capitol from an old family possesses just by existing. Literally when Sejanus gets in trouble Strabo's response is disproportionate, not because he wants to brag that he has money, but because his family would lost everything if he dont compensates exceedingly well.

Which I think brings up the big question: Strabo could have really saved Sejanus if he had found out in time?, Coriolanus thinks yes, I have my doubts but well… let's talk about something cooler

LIKE LATAM AU 😈

OK. UNOFFICIAL LATAM AU PLOT ( unless…).

Coriolanus Snow, too Argentinian to exist. His mother is alive?, who knows but his father I'm sure is dead. The boy has been stuck all his life with his classist grandmother who has convinced him that his family is more European than Latino, and living in a small town in the USA, Coriolanus has made the decision to pretend to have a European heritage over a Latino one. The Snows continue to have financial problems

Her cousin Tigris (whose father is Uruguayan), wants to be a fashion designer, and has decided to move to New York, she ends up living in a Latino neighborhood (btw YOU MENTIONED IN THE HEIGHTS AND SCREAM, BECAUSE IT MAKES SO MUCH SENSE, I'm sorry, I have to tell you Juli; I'm kind of a theatre kid; I already knew the actor from Sejanus from being in Hamilton and from being with the LGB actress in west side story). OK THE THING IS THAT CORIOLANUS, HER COUSIN, WHO IS ALMOST LIKE HER LITTLE BROTHER, HAS MANAGED AFTER YEARS OF EFFORT TO GET INTO STANFORD on a scholarship, and he needs a place to stay… his family tells him he can move in with Tigris, and Coryo accepts because Tigris is his favorite cousin and because the rent was so cheap. He has no idea what Tigris's neighborhood looks like but it must be great because IT IS CHEAP, but the fool doesn't know what is coming MUAHAHAHA Because in that beautiful neighborhood live two very special people: LGB Colombian girl and romani <3, who wants to be a singer and has her own band formed by Covey. I can imagine covey in a situation of orphans who maybe were in many foster homes and orphanages and bonded in those traumatic experiences, until the older ones grew up and could get the guardianships of the others and are a big family that takes care of each other (What do you think of Billy Taupe because that's a character we can explore uh?), and LGB has several jobs and a lot of pressure on her shoulders -she is practically raising Maude Ivory- but she doesn't give up and is very proud of who she is. Then there is Sejanus, who is Strabo PLINTH's son. I suppose it is possible Strabo is still involved in the arms industry (which will one day cause his son to make a protest in front of the family business LMAO), Strabo I am sure wants to move to another more dignified neighborhood but Vesta has been preventing him from doing so for over 3 decades, lmao, her family lives there. They are NOT GOING ANYWHERE and since Strabo doesn't want Vesta to ask him for a divorce he has reluctantly given in but has done all the bragging things he can like having the biggest house the block, etc.

Sejanus may or may not also study at Stanford (? but the most important thing is that our boy is 1000% an anarchist left-wing hippie liberal activist with no respect for the government or the elders -as his father calls him-, the boy has been involved in debates since he was 8 years old and arrived in the USA without knowing how to speak english well and his father made the decision to put him in a school for rich kids :)))) WORST CHOICE EVER (actually baby sejanus tried to assimilate but in his teens he realized that no matter what he did people were going to hate him so he SAID FUCK ALL and rebelled and Strabo hasn't recovered from that, because at the same time his little boy stopped believing that he was a very wise man. STRABO MISSES BABY SEJANUS, HE WAS GOOD AND HE DIDN'T GET IN TROUBLE OR CONTRADICT HIM drunk strabo cries in Vesta's arms and yes, this assimilation story is what will keep Sejanus from cancelling Coriolanus when he finally talks to him and he denies being Argentinian AND TIGRIS COUSIN)

OK. So Coriolanus finally moves in and of course he's going to scream when he sees that they're in a Latino neighborhood, the guy wants to die but he doesn't have the money to move, and maybe he'll do a weird and elaborate tour so that no one in Stanford will find out where he lives. The people in the neighborhood meanwhile know he is Tigris's cousin but he acts so gringo they genuinely believe he is, and I can see how everyone keeps criticizing Coryo 24/7 for his weird attitudes and ass in Spanish thinking he doesn't understand them but he does because he knows Spanish but he has decided to keep hiding that so he has to get angry in silence AJHSJHSJHSJHS

BUT EVERYTHING CHANGES WHEN LGB AND SEJANUS DISCOVER HIM, I haven't thought about how that would happen yet but hehehehe

Marcus is canon cuban now (YOU AND I WE HAD A SAME BIG BRAIN MOMENT, I DON'T KNOW HOW TO EXPLAIN EITHER BUT HIM BEING CUBAN MAKES SO MUCH SENSE) and well I'm happy with Tigris x LGB, but as you like coralbaird, don't you think it would be cool Coral as a Chilean? PLS or she could be the only decent American WHO KNOWS

Music?

I don't think I have recommended LA SNOWJANUS song so: Estrechez de corazón -los prisioneros

BOA TARDEEE (bc it's the moment I'm answering this ☝️

KSLSKLSKLS I'm actually so happy you're planning on posting more!!! 😭 I loved that post abt mrs everdeen and katniss so much, it made me think abt stuff I haven't noticed before, and I would LOVE to hear your thoughts abt sejanus and the academy kids (AND YESSSS PERSEPHONE PRINCE MENTIONED!!!! also, you got me hooked on pup harrington, I rlly want to know your thoughts abt them bc I never rlly thought abt it before)

and aaaaaaaaaaaaa I love talking to you so much, I genuinely get so happy seeing you in my inbox, get me kicking my feet and all 🥹 thank you for asking!!! it went okay, even tho I actually got lost lmao 😭 I got the wrong bus and stopped by the wrong campus (it's a big university, so there are plentyyy of campus on different neighbourhoods on the town and each one is for different courses, and I stopped at the med school, which is... very far away from my campus ☠️). but since I left home earlier, it was no problem and everything went alright (and on the second day I was able to find the right way, A WIN IS A WIN) !!! this first week is more to welcome the new students, so not a lot is going on and these first classes are more introductory + some events like games and stuff. also, thank you so much for your kind words, srsly, thank you so so so so much <3

BUT OKAY, LET'S GO

yesssss (it's always worth mentioning all of the stuff we talked abt is our opinion and only our opinion skslsklsk bc fandom spaces in general seem to have a problem with dealing with different opinions I guess)!! abt suzanne collins choosing coriolanus to being the main character of the book, it's worth saying that when the book was announced, I was so irked by the fact that coriolanus was going to be the main character. at first, I got 0 interest in reading the book because I thought it was going to be a cash grab. because why the hell would you choose CORIOLANUS SNOW, from all the characters???

but then I read the book and it just makes so much sense. SO much sense. it's kinda scary how suzanne made very clear what she wanted to pass with this story and still people are out there saying the stupidest things (such as reproducing some of coriolanus' discourses). really disappointing and sad the movie shies away from showing some of the strongest lines.

yesssss and I guess it's not only a problem regarding this specific adaptation, it serves as well for the other thg adaptations. don't get me wrong, these movies are genuinely some of the best book adaptation that exist (after all, it's an adaptation, it's not going to be just like the book... and that's okay!!), but for example, the fact that peeta doesn't lose his leg in the first movie (besides him being a disabled character in a big book franchise, which is something rlly important, in the book this was so important for the second book plot), or that they straight up made katniss white (I've talked before abt how you can read tbosas through racial and ethnic lens and this adds another impact to the story, but this applies to thg as well), or that they removed most of her important relationships and friendships with the girl characters (which led to some people who only watched the movie calling her a pick me, which makes me so mad). all of these small details impact how these characters are perceived and some of the most important messages the story wants to get through.

and about the tributes and the movie: YESSS!!! seeing them from outside of coriolanus' head really tells us a lot abt their personalities and gives them much more humanity!! the scene with pup harrington and lamina talking during the meeting is such a good example, it's heartbreaking seeing her crying like this. or then how we see the tributes interacting with each other on the arena. (coriolanus stopping himself from humanizing the tributes bc he would be thinking like sejanus was really something else 😭 but I absolutely agree!! tbosas has this twisted fairy-tale like sense to me, so some stuff I read more literally, and sejanus to me is like that angel on your shoulder trying to tell you to do the right thing; he's good, and that's the core of his character, being good, and when coriolanus kills him, he kills the only thing that kept him from being 100% evil; it's only after sejanus' death that he goes crazy and hunts lucy gray on the forest).

(the way the fandom treated rue back then (and still treats her nowadays, even though I see it much less) is CRAZY, and there are so many examples I could go on for days, starting by how some people literally REPRODUCE coriolanus' discourse and thoughts about some characters, like MY LORD-)

AAAAAA I'M SO GLAD YOU ENJOYED THE FICS (even tho most of them are more angst stuff, sorry for that 😭)!!!! and abt parallel lines, I remember that when it was being posted, I started reading from the first chapter, and until the second one was posted, I kept coming back and reading and reading over and over again because I needed MOREEEE bc of how good it was. AND TYSM FOR THE RECOMMENDATIONS!!! I've read all of three in the same day, and they are so. well. written. it's genuinely insane, like, people will really post some of the most amazing stuff I've read for FREE and it's SO GOOD, TYSM, SRSLY. now, abt each fanfic in particular:

out, damned spot: this one. jesus, this one is just- it really has this feeling of being so canon compliant, I can SEE it happening. it's just so so so good, so sinister, love the slight horror undertones. got me looking at the corner of my room afraid I would see a ghost 😭

odi et amo: THIS JUST MADE ME FEEL SO MANY THINGS, ALL AT ONCE. it was sweet, it was sad at times, it made me smile warmly at how sejanus talked about coriolanus so fondly... and then the ending, OH MY FUCKING GOD, I don't know exactly what I was expecting, but it was genuinely so shocking, the story had a rythm that just kep building and building and then it just explodes in your face, and just. I really have no words. I was speechless. got my hand to my mouth and everything bc of how shocked I was. I felt like playing one of these games who are all cute in the start, but... well. suddenly the mood shifts.

the haunting of coriolanus snow: THIS WAS SUCH A WILD RIDE. I love goold ol' snowbairdplinth, SPECIALLY when we're talking abt haunting coriolanus snow. this whole work is just so good aaaaaaa it's not as sinister as the first one, but it's just so well written (and tbh, I LOVE having coriolanus haunted, that's what he deserves, and actually he deserves much worse). and that last line???? SO COULD, COULD ACTUALLY BE THE ENDING OF A REAL BOOK, nah this will haunt me for a good time.

it's worth saying I bookmarked ALL of these because OH MY GOD, THEY'RE SO GOOD, again, tysm for the recs, they are all such good fanfics <33

look: I absolutely agree with you. I think it's worth saying that coriolanus is surrounded by rich and influent capitol kids (felix is literally the great-nephew of the president, ffs). why the hell coriolanus is so fixated on the fact that strabo plinth can buy sejanus' way out of things, when probably most of his academy colleagues can do so much more, actually? besides him being angry and jealous about the plinths having a life that should've been his in his head, it's exactly what you said: he's projecting so hard on the plinths.

(also, yes, coriolanus' is just a stupid kid who thinks of himself so above of his colleagues, when he's sometimes even dumber than them 😭 when we see him having actual conversations with actual adults, this is really noticeable)

okay, so, imo, coriolanus as a narrator tries to make us (as readers) to think that sejanus' position in relation to him is soooo unfair. look!!! this D I S T R I C T kid have money, and privilege, and a father who can buy him out of stuff and buy his way into MY prestigious school and so many more things!!! while I'm here struggling, this D I S T R I C T kid is so privileged!!! don't get me wrong, I'm not saying the plinths or sejanus don't have privilege in the capitol specially regarding money, because they do, but not any more than coriolanus' friends and colleagues. I just find interesting and a bit annoying how coriolanus decides to 100% ignore the fact that the plinths are district, but he only does that when it's regarding their financial privilege (because when it's to be a dick about ma plinth and sejanus, he perfectly remembers and recognizes that they are district, how funny is that? 🤠)

(ALSO, since you mentioned crassus snow, yeah, I think so many things would be different if that man was alive, and if anything, I think the plinths' lives would be so much harder if he was around, to be very, very honest)

coriolanus is so detached to this that when sejanus gets the D2 boy, coriolanus says he got the best one of the litter, and sejanus says he's one of the litter. coriolanus, in his words, let that sink in.

and talking abt the plinths and the corso, it's worth saying the plinths are living in the capitol for around 10 years. it's enough time for them to prove their finantial power, and still, they aren't living among the most inluential and powerful families in the capitol, because they simply aren't. it's worth saying coriolanus studies at the academy, one of the most prestigious schools in the capitol, simply because he is a snow, while strabo had to buy sejanus' way into it (and mind you, much more money than any other of his colleagues).

(now, this is my personal interpretation: when reading stuff, I usually think about how some things would work in our universe and in our rules. I don't know if that was suzanne collins' intentions, but while reading, I could only think abt how sejanus and coriolanus are pretty much a race/ethnicity x class conversation and how these two things intersect. coriolanus, to me, sounded like a white working class boy who can't stand the fact that a poc have more money and more privilege than him. he thinks it's so unfair he disregards absolutely any kind of bigotry that person faces (and, mind you, HE actually reproduces a lot of this bigotry), which leads him to thinking that people like sejanus have much more privilege than they actually have. it's not that coriolanus thinks that ppl shouldn't be rich or rich ppl shouldn't exist, it's that coriolanus thinks that PEOPLE LIKE SEJANUS shouldn't be rich, and that's another different convo)

and answering (imo) the big question: considering everything we talked about until now, I don't think sejanus could've been saved. he was doomed. and this proves a point: while sejanus is rich, he's still district, and in the end, being district is what weighs the most.

and also, this leads me to the discourse I see some people saying, that if sejanus was alive, he could've made a difference, like plutarch heavensbee. what they don't take into account is that plutarch heavensbee is capitol. do they really think that the capitol, that coriolanus, would let a district-born person get into politics? really? do they think they would let him make a change? that they wouldn't watch each step he takes, because he's district?

anyway. LATAM AU <3333

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALSKSLSJLSLKSLKS I LOVE THIS SO MUCHHHHHHHHHH I'M SCREAMING BC I WANT SO BAD TO SEE THIS PLOT COMING TO LIFE 😭😭😭😭😭

your brain!!!!! YOUR BRAINNNN I LOVE THIS SO MUCH.

(I'm holding your hand and screaming right now because, I'M ALSO A THEATRE KID LMAOOOOOO I've spent my entire middle school listening to hamilton 😭 it was the first one I got contact with, but then I got into other musicals, like spring awakening and wicked. I love in the heights sooooooo much, I actually like it better than hamilton!!! and the movie adaptation is SO good, it's insane; also, after we talked abt the latam au on the last ask, I went almost immediately to youtube to listen to blackout bc I kept imagining the characters on this scenarioKSLSKSLS).

I love your ideas for the covey!!! maybe the one to get older first was barb azure; she left their foster home and find a small place for them to stay. it's nothing fancy, but it's still better than the foster care system. (and hMMMM billy taupe can be an interesting character here; maybe when coriolanus arrived, there was already gossip circling on the neighbourhood because just recently, lucy gray and billy taupe had a NASTY break up, and she threw his things out of the window. at the start of the story, she's already single, but he keeps bothering her each time she goes to a club to make a show with the covey). lucy gray works so hard, and at the same time, she has to raise maude ivory, and take care of the house, and seek her dreams... and all while being sort of an important figure around the neighbourhood. everyone knows lucy gray, so if there's something wrong going on, they seek her to talk to fix things (but who lucy gray seeks when she needs to talk? when she needs someone to help her and solve her problems?).

vesta threatning strabo with a divorce is just such a funny thought 😭 also, imagine that the plinths weren't rich when they arrived in the usa, and that neighbourhood was the first one they've lived. one of her sisters lived there and vesta was so happy when they got to the block and almost everyone knew how to speak spanish, because she was so homesick and scared, it was comforting. sejanus grew up there, they built a whole life there, she REFUSES to let strabo move their family. that's their home. period.

(I rlly like the thought of sejanus attending stanford, but I'll talk abt it a bit later) sejanus had this phase when he was a pre-teen where he started getting into politics and started to read revolutionary thinkers from cold war latam, started reading about imperialism and just reading a lot in general, and he got radicalized. it was strabo's biggest nightmare, that man was fighting for his life, because at dinner sejanus would start "ACTUALLY-" and strabo knew it was so over, he couldn't win sejanus on arguments and they just end screaming insults at each other. bby sejanus did well on their neighbourhood, he even made some friends, like marcus, and some kids helped him with english (and a lot of kids speak spanish like him, so he feels much safer). but when his father got rich, he pushed sejanus into a very prestigious school, and it was very traumatic. he wanted so bad to fit in, but these kids were mean as fuck. they mocked him whenever he made a mistake in english, and mocked when he forgot a word, and mocked his accent, and mocked the things his mom would send him for lunch. he came home crying after the first week begging his dad to please let him go to the neighbourhood's school with marcus and the other kids, but his dad was relentless. and he tried SO hard to assimilate, but his breaking point was when his ma went to pick him up at school, and her english is much more broken than his. when the kids started to make fun of his ma, and she wasn't even understand exactly what they were saying, sejanus broke. he can deal with people hating and hurting him, but NOT his ma. and that's pretty much a turning point for him.

(when sejanus talks to coryo and understands what coryo is doing, he's not really angry, he's sad, because he knows how that feels, except that he stopped doing it much earlier.)

((also, strabo missing bby sejanus is so goodKSJLSKLSK he'll turn to vesta and be like WHEN DID IT GO WROOOOONG it seems like yesterday that sejanus was a little boy who thought strabo was the smartest person in the world, but now he seems like he hates strabo so much, it's so frustrating; strabo kinda regrets getting sejanus into that school, bc if sejanus went to the local school, then he wouldn't be so radicalized (he would tho lmao just for different reasons)))

CORIOLANUS IS STRUGGLING, the moments he sets foot on the neighbourhood he gets his phone to try to call his mom to know if he can come back or try to find an apartment, but it's useless, and until he finds a job or something, he has to stay with tigris for now bc that's what his mom can afford 😭 coriolanus now is even called gringo by everyone around lmao every single time they refer to him, he wants to die but he CAN'T SAY ANYTHING. and sometimes, even lucy gray and sejanus are talking in front of him in spanish, because they don't think he understands, and coriolanus is there with a straight face because he can't let them know if he wants to keep up his lie

ALSO, WHAT I TALKED EARLIER ABT SEJANUS GOING TO STANFORD: alright, so, sejanus and coriolanus have a class together, and this is before coriolanus discovers sejanus lives in the same neighbourhood as tigris. and in that class, coriolanus says some stupid shit, and him and sejanus get in a debate about it. so, much later, coriolanus is coming back to where him and tigris live, and who he finds around? oh, yeah. the same guy from his class. GREAT. and now coriolanus is in such a complicated position because he's pretending to not be from around but sejanus, who's from his class, LITERALLY LIVES THERE (and to his nightmare, sejanus is besties with lucy gray, who's that person on the neighborhood who knows pretty much anyone and everyone goes after for help)

CUBAN MARCUS YESSSSSS ☝️ (also, marcus having a beef with coriolanus bc he knows coriolanus is from stanford, and he thinks coriolanus is too much like the kids from the prestigious school sejanus attended when he was a kid). and about coral: listen, what do you think abt coral being irish? she isn't from the neighbourhood, but she works around, and her little brother, mizzen, goes to the same school as maude ivory (it's worth saying that before coriolanus, she was the gringa of the neighbourhood, now that title passes to him and she's a honorary prima 😭)

(also, imagine lucy gray teaching her some spanish like nina does to benny in in the heights AAAA)

LOS PRISIONEROS AND SNOWJANUS YESSSSSSS YOU'RE SO RIGHT, IT'S THEMMMM LITERALLY THEM!!!! (estás llorando y no haces nada por perdonar a nadie, excepto a ti AAAAAAAAAAAAAA

(take care, buddie!!! hope you're doing well <3)

#tbosas #tbosas movie #coriolanus snow #president snow #sejanus plinth #ask #analysis #au

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astrovian · 2 years

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Interview with Richard Armitage for The Telegraph (30/10/22)

Transcript under cut

If anyone had asked Richard Armitage 10 years ago whether he’d ever thought about writing a book, he’d have laughed. “I’d have said, ‘I’m not clever enough’,” he tells me. “I always feel a bit of an underdog when it comes to intellectual pursuits. I didn’t graduate from Oxbridge, like so many of my peers at Lamda [the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art].”

Yet here he is, the author of an atmospheric, icily tense audio-thriller, Geneva, about a Nobel prize-winning neuroscientist, Sarah, who is slowly losing her memory. The story, released earlier this month on the online audiobook and podcast service Audible as an “Audible Original”, takes in dementia, Big Pharma and biotech; Armitage narrates alongside Nicola Walker, his voice as soothing as melted chocolate.

“Audible asked me if I wanted to write something,” he explains. “I’ve narrated quite a few books for them and I think they checked the algorithm and realised I score quite highly with crime thrillers. They’ve seen I have an audience.”

Armitage, 51, says this in a self-effacing way. He’s been a fixture on the small screen since 2004, when he emerged as the brooding mill-owner John Thornton in the BBC’s adaptation of Elizabeth Gaskell’s North & South, delighting a generation of (let’s face it) female viewers. He has worked with exhausting regularity since then, notching up credits as the imperious dwarf king Thorin Oakenshield in The Hobbit film trilogy; inscrutable MI5 spy Lucas in the TV series Spooks; the deliciously villainous Sir Guy of Gisborne in the BBC’s Robin Hood; and the special-forces hard-man John Porter in Chris Ryan’s Strike Back. Most recently, he starred in two Netflix adaptations of the Harlan Coben novels The Stranger and Stay Close.

He is a consistently reliable screen presence: he often plays macho heroes with an interesting, sensitive side and was particularly excellent on stage as tormented visionary Astrov in Ian Rickson’s 2020 West End revival of Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya. But with grey hair now at his temples, Armitage is wary of taking all this for granted. Hence the branching into other mediums: he’s developing a TV show (which he can’t yet discuss) and, of course, there’s the new book.

“I don’t want to retire when I get to 60, but I don’t necessarily want to still be an actor-for-hire, either,” he says. “It’s quite a whimsical position to be in: one day you’re flavour of the month; next day, no one wants you.

“You can’t force your own relevance. As far as I’m concerned, I’ve never been relevant, I’ve just been lucky. I’m easy to work with, but I don’t think I’ve ever been hot.”

Some might disagree. Still, I don’t think I have ever met an actor who has such a complicated relationship with his own career. Armitage is a curious mix of self-deprecating, pragmatic and quietly anguished. He approaches each role with the dedication of a scholar, penning preparatory biographies for his character and immersing himself in research (he famously endured waterboarding to prepare for his spy character undergoing the torture in Spooks).

Yet he worries he is sometimes cast because of his looks. “A couple of times I’ve been hired for something and I go, ‘Oh, I thought I was here because of my brain, but actually it’s because you want totty on screen. I’ve done all this character analysis and you just want me to take my shirt off.’ People talk about the power of the male gaze. But the female gaze is just as interesting to talk about. It’s a marketing tool like any other.”

One wonders whether Armitage is actually perfectly happy taking his shirt off. He says he told himself that when he got to 50, from that point onwards, he’d keep his clothes on – but he’s at it again in Damage, Netflix’s forthcoming remake of the 1992 steamy thriller featuring Jeremy Irons and Juliette Binoche, in which he stars opposite Peaky Blinders’s Charlie Murphy.

Still, he says that it took him a while to understand why directors would cast him in a particular type of role. “For long stretches of my career, I would take what I was offered. Yet I wouldn’t understand why I was being asked to inflict violence all the time. Why am I firing guns and throwing punches? Why am I not playing gentle, fragile, broken little people?

“But then you watch yourself and you think, ‘Well, I’m pretty tall. And I seem to have this hyper-masculine energy that I was unaware of.’ Then I realised that was quite useful, because maybe the hard shell of a man often harbours a more fragile person that I could occasionally reveal. Because the world doesn’t really allow men to be fragile.”

Armitage grew up in a working-class family in Leicester and only attended the performing arts boarding school Pattison College thanks to a local-authority grant. He worked first in musical theatre, including stints in 42nd Street and Cats, before taking a three-year course at Lamda then joining the Royal Shakespeare Company. He has always worked hard, an ethic he puts down to both an insecurity about money (linked to his roots) and a gnawing anxiety about his ability.

He admits that the character of Daniel in Geneva – Sarah’s husband and also a scientist – contains a fair bit of himself. “Daniel’s wife has all the glory. He has to accept that he’s pretty average. I relate to that. I know there are people out there who are far better at all this than I am, and I feel my only forte is that I have the discipline to put my head down and work. I’ve always felt like this – in dance, music and acting. I’ve never had that natural, God-given genius, for instance, but when I was younger I knew I could become a fairly average cello player if I worked hard enough.”

Armitage came out at the age of 19, although it’s not something he’s talked about much. “It’s not a big deal. It’s not very interesting. I suppose if I were to stop being hired because of it, that would be something else. But we’ve moved on since those days, haven’t we?”

He genially bats away further questions about his personal life. “When I was younger, the actors I found the most intriguing, such as Gary Oldman, were the ones I knew the least about. I’ve always wanted to be that type of actor; I’ve never wanted to get in my own way. Otherwise it’s a bit like painting a picture then standing in front of it waving your hands.”

These days, he spends half the year in New York: he was advised to move to the US after The Hobbit to expand his career, but couldn’t stomach Los Angeles, so settled for the Big Apple instead. “Although I can’t say living there has brought me any extra work.” That professional angst never goes away. “In fact, it gets worse as I get older.”

He is aware of the absurdities of his profession. “I look at award ceremonies and premieres, in which we’re all swanning around in $400 suits, most of them borrowed, drinking champagne, and I think, ‘What is this illusion we’re all peddling? I’m from a working-class background: I should be on the other side of the barrier!’ ”

Then he laughs. “I say all this, but I’ll probably be seen at yet another film premiere next week.”

#richard armitage

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learnthisphrase · 4 months

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Best books of 2023

The best books I read in 2023

Knock Knock, Open Wide by Neil Sharpson (Tor Nightfire, 2023)

Imagine Tana French writing a folklore-infused horror novel, and you have Knock Knock, Open Wide. The always-thrilling plot takes in a life-changing accident, a love affair, and a sinister TV series; the storylines overlap and entwine perfectly, and there’s a lot of beautifully crafted character work. It’s a dark and eerie book, but full of life and love, too.

Black Mountain by Simon Bestwick (Independent Legions, 2021)

A mixed-media horror novel disguised as non-fiction about the many strange incidents surrounding a cursed/haunted mountain. Unputdownable and genuinely unnerving at points – I had the time of my life reading this. I’m amazed it isn’t better-known among horror fans!

The Last Language by Jennifer duBois (Milkweed Editions, 2023)

A riveting, disturbing book about a language therapist’s relationship with the autistic man she’s helping to ‘speak’ using the controversial method of facilitated communication. I read it in one fevered session, completely in the grip of the dizzying, queasy moral maze duBois creates.

Hydra by Adriane Howell (Transit Lounge, 2022)

Just when you think the ‘unhinged woman’ trend has had its day, this excellent Australian debut offers a fresh spin on the whole idea. Anja’s dry, idiosyncratic voice rings out from the page, and the plot is never far away from intimations of something dark and weird. Read if you love Ottessa Moshfegh and Tár.

My Death by Lisa Tuttle (2004, reissued by NYRB Classics 2023)

A perfect novella about a widowed writer who becomes obsessed with her latest project, a biography of a little-known artist’s muse. Astonishingly clever, convincing and absorbing, it’s a revelation and turned me into an instant fan of Tuttle’s writing.

Grasshopper by Barbara Vine (Penguin, 2000)

A beautiful and eloquent coming-of-age tale dressed up as a crime novel. The plot has so many different strands that it’s difficult to describe concisely, but this is essentially a character-focused story about identity, aspiration and love. The rare book that actually made me cry.

How Can I Help You by Laura Sims (Putnam, 2023; UK ebook out in January 2024)

Explores the tense relationship between two women with secrets (some more dangerous than others) who both work at a public library. A sharp, nuanced character study that is also utterly propulsive. If you loved Death of a Bookseller, this should be next on your wishlist.

Novel with Cocaine by M. Ageyev, translated by Michael Henry Heim (Picador, 1985)

1930s cult classic about a dissolute Russian teenager, his friendships, affairs and drug addiction. Think No Longer Human, but (in my opinion) way better. It’s philosophical, funny and stuffed with remarkable descriptive writing.

Where the Dead Wait by Ally Wilkes (Titan, January 2024)

Years after an infamous failed expedition, a captain with a sullied reputation must return to the Arctic in search of his former lieutenant. Immersive and enthralling at every level, this is a blood-soaked, frostbitten treat – I’ve been describing it as The Terror meets Heart of Darkness.

The Devil’s Playground by Craig Russell (Doubleday, 2023)

An elaborately plotted historical mystery about a legendary silent horror movie. Come for the lost film and its ghosts; stay for the well-researched portrait of old Hollywood, the world-weary heroine, and the fascinating detective story.

We Were Never Friends by Margaret Bearman (Brio Books, 2020)

A woman looks back at a strange period of her youth when her family became entangled with Kyla, a hated classmate of hers. Dazzling at the sentence level – Bearman illuminates Lotti and Kyla’s world with startling colour, vividly portraying the emotional landscape of adolescence.

Honour Thy Father by Lesley Glaister (Bloomsbury, 1991)

Four elderly – yet naive – siblings live in self-imposed imprisonment amid the squalid remains of their family home. How did they end up like this? We Have Always Lived in the Castle meets Come Join Our Disease in a dark tale that perfectly balances tender nostalgia, black humour and sinister threat.

Angel by Elizabeth Taylor (Virago, 1957)

We meet Angel as an impetuous 15-year-old convinced she will become a great novelist, and follow throughout her life as she first fails upwards, then eventually loses everything. It’s a tragic story that centres on a pathetic character, yet Taylor writes with a compassion that makes it almost romantic.

The Night Ocean by Paul La Farge (Penguin, 2017)

A labyrinthine series of stories within stories inspired by H.P. Lovecraft – but you definitely don’t need to like (or have read) Lovecraft to enjoy it. Deceptively complex, it excavates the lives of its characters while maintaining a subtle sense that the whole narrative is haunted.

Looking Glass Sound by Catriona Ward (Viper, 2023)

My favourite of Ward’s books since her debut Rawblood, this is a story about murder that deals with the long shadow it casts. It’s also about writing and witchcraft, unrequited love, and the death of the author, and is unexpectedly heartbreaking.

Brainwyrms by Alison Rumfitt (Cipher Press, 2023)

This book takes the ‘trauma as horror’ trope and eats it from the inside out. It’s full of fearless writing about fetishes, transness, transphobia, dysphoria, and what – if anything – it means to be virtuous. While often disgusting (be warned), I wanted to reread it straight away.

Where Furnaces Burn by Joel Lane (2012, reissued by Influx Press 2023)

A sprawling map of linked stories; layered, moody and strange. Not the easiest book to recommend – Lane, one of my favourite writers, invariably creates very bleak worlds – but an incredibly rewarding reading experience.

Notable reread: Kiss Me First by Lottie Moggach (Picador, 2013)

A grieving, lonely young woman finds solace on an online debate forum and ends up immersed in someone else’s life. Just as fast-paced, gripping and brilliantly voice-driven as it was when I first read it a decade ago.

Honourable mentions

So many good books came out in 2023 that I have to mention a few more. The Book of Ayn by Lexi Freiman was the funniest, sharpest, most quotable novel I read this year. I loved the intriguing layers of Ben Tufnell’s The North Shore and Viola Di Grado’s poignant Blue Hunger, translated by Jamie Richards. Verity M. Holloway’s romantic, atmospheric The Others of Edenwell deserved way more attention. And this may be an unpopular opinion, but I enjoyed Elizabeth Hand’s A Haunting on the Hill more than The Haunting of Hill House.

For thought-provoking plots: Service by Sarah Gilmartin and Kids Run the Show by Delphine de Vigan, translated by Alison Anderson. For pure thrills: Nicholas Binge’s mind-bending Ascension and Jinwoo Chong’s dazzling Flux. For both, and great suspense: A Flaw in the Design by Nathan Oates.

And not forgetting the brilliant 2023 books I read as review copies last year: Nina Allan’s masterpiece Conquest, Alice Slater’s ultra-compelling Death of a Bookseller, and Maria Dong’s loveable Liar, Dreamer, Thief.

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highaver · 4 months

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anyway here's a quick run down of some things you might have seen actor bal in! aside from some bit parts in a number of long-running tv shows and movies & etc, these are some of his bigger projects.

The River Dragon (2006, film) - He's thirteen/fourteen in this movie and I do in fact need you to bully him about him being a baby. Balfour plays Halfdan, a young boy from the Danelaw who befriends a dragon in the River Ouse. There was a period of time where they played this yearly in that weird between-Christmas-and-end-of-year period, and it's based on a beloved children's book.

Other Lives (2007-9, tv) - A recurring role in this drama, Balfour played Jamie Wilson, the troubled son of one of the main characters. His character got killed off after three years of variously stupid plots because he was the designated Cautionary Tale Character and, honestly, he was glad to see the back of this one. It was not good. But he did get to go to Newcastle to film it, and he enjoyed that.

The Veil of Time (2012, film) - Balfour played the supporting role of Gregory, a young man from 18th century Derbyshire who was killed in mysterious circumstances. His story becomes the obsession of the main character of the film, Eva, while she's visiting the stately home in which he was killed. He got some recognition for this one on the back of a very solid performance.

The Prizefighter (2013, tv) - This is about the time when he was like "oh, I'm a period drama guy, I do period dramas". Set in the 1920s, he plays Adam Flynn, the brother of main character Amelia, who is in love with the titular prizefighter. He's a horrible, awful dude in this one and the feedback he receives the most is "wow, I was so glad when you died!" It wasn't great but it did get multiple seasons after he was written out, so whatever.

The Dead Water (2015, tv) - Balfour plays Ned Braithwaite in this tense murder mystery about a late-nineteenth century merchant ship crew. Notable for: how cosy he looks in the costumes, his curls, one particularly intense interrogation scene and the fact that the final scene of the first season leaves his character's fate entirely ambiguous. Is he dead? Does he get back home? Who knows, this show got cancelled after one season because nobody watched it and now you're going to stumble across it years later and be desperate to know what was meant to happen in season two.

Run Wild (2019, film) - His comeback project! Balfour plays Scott Miller, a Mancunian country musician in a band trying to hold itself together while the relationship at its centre falls apart. He was required to sing and play music for this film, which led to him learning how to play both the harmonica and banjo. It's his finest film yet, and he was praised for a strong start to his return to what had previously been a very, very mixed career. There was also a lot of speculation around the bts of this film as to whether he had a fling with Alfie Hoult, who was one of the duo of musicians who worked on the music, on social media. I personally would not blame you for falling in love with him a little bit in this movie.

The Highwayman (2020, film) - Uh oh, they've realised he can sing! In this R.obin H.ood retelling, set in the 18th century, Balfour plays A.lan-a-Dale and, boy, they sure do make him sing. He's playing someone from Lancashire and his accent has been perfected, thank you. This film isn't his best but was pretty decent. It's not the worst adaptation out there. The bar is low, but a solid character-first plot can get you a long way.

The G.reat B.ritish B.ake Off (2020, tv) - A charity episode that will go down in history. Balfour burned everything he tried to make except for some brownies, broke his oven, burned his hand and spent half of his time getting bleeped for swearing. There is more than one supercut of his disaster episode online. He spent most of it with his head in his hands going "why did I do this, why did any of you let me do this" but, don't worry, it was for the bit.

Wild Hunt (2021, film) - Balfour plays William, a 15th century farmer from Yorkshire who is haunted by spectral hounds. Full-on folk horror, came out in October and got a whole lot of attention, least of all for the fact that he's in every single shot and is pretty much carrying the whole thing himself. He's spoken a lot about how emotionally exhausting it was to film, but he's very proud of it. It's definitely not a film for the squeamish.

Peaked (2022, tv) - A limited series romcom. Balfour plays Joe, a handsome baker who falls for a thief, Marcus, who just pulled off the heist of the century and has decided to lay low in the Peak District until it all blows over. It's modern, for once, and a role where he actually just gets to be goofy and cute. You probably heard about it on social media because it's gay and he takes his shirt off a lot.

Herald (2023-, tv) - A drama/thriller about an investigative journalist, Alyssa Roydon, who uncovers a political scandal. Balfour plays Lucas Niven, a rival journalist with whom Roydon develops a toxic romantic relationship. Season one was highly regarded and one of the most watched programmes on television that year. Season two is set to begin in mid-2024 and is more organised crime-oriented.

Hare Spell (2024, film) - A folk horror/thriller about an accusation of witchcraft that tears an isolated village apart in 17th century Scotland. Balfour plays Thomas Kerr, the husband of Janet, the accused woman. It releases in early 2024 and reviews very well. He is very much back to breaking hearts and performing at his best in this one.

#hc.#hc. modern.

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aimlessgeology · 5 months

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Speculative Othering Final

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Lost (2004-2010) is remembered for being a sometimes confusing but almost always sexy adventure show. The show follows the aftermath of a plane crash on a mysterious Pacific island, when a group of strangers must figure out how to survive in the face of no rescue and a sinister group that already inhabits the tropical rock. Lost is unique for its time in that it featured many characters of color from a variety of backgrounds and identities. Its inclusion of diverse characters was a conscious break from norms in TV. Unfortunately, a lot of the screen time was taken up by white characters, but the characters of color are not passive tokens signaling diversity.

In their critical media book Unthinking Eurocentrism (Shohat and Stam, 1994), Ella Shohat and Robert Stam include a chapter titled “Stereotype Realism and the Struggle Over Representation”. In this chapter, they state: “Filmic fictions inevitably bring into play real-life assumptions not only about space and time but also about social and cultural relationships” (178). This applies doubly to television, because TV is more flexible in its production: you can see cultural changes play out over time through one TV series in a way you can’t do with one film because TV is produced is produced continuously, sometimes for decades at a time (The Simpsons, General Hospital, Sesame Street). They continue, “film is [representation], [but] it is also an act of contextualized interlocution between socially situated producers and receivers. [To say art is constructed] is not enough...We have to ask: Constructed for whom? [W]ith which ideologies and discourses' in mind? (180). I think that Lost was made with a wide range of audiences in mind. It has action, mystery, and romance. It has moments of levity and extreme anxiety. It arrived at a tense time; the pilot came out in 2004, a mere three years after the 9/11 tragedy, when America was waging war in Afghanistan and Iraq. Ultimately it was a show about community and teamwork, and sought to unite those through their differences instead of dividing them. Lost was set in the present at the time of its release and its universe mimicked our own in many ways, including with the U.S.-led wars in the Middle East. Sayid (Naveen Andrews), a supporting protagonist, is an Iraqi national and former soldier. Sayid has a complicated and sorrowful backstory, like most of the characters on the show, but his position is unique in that his character embodies a personality that America, writ-large, was extremely suspicious of; an Arab man aligned with the government of his home country.

The character Sawyer (Josh Holloway) is a country bad-boy who represents this suspicion. In the second part of a two-part pilot, he accuses Sayid of being a terrorist and being responsible for the plane going down. This leads to an altercation between the two men, shown in the clip below. (S01E1-2, LOST clip - Sayid and Sawyer Fight).

The accusation is blatantly racially motivated and it is only the first of many aggressions Sawyer inflicts on Sayid because of his ethnicity. With his love of guns, sex, booze and cigarettes, Sawyer is a specific American stereotype–the hypermasculine, violent, and bigoted man. Surely there were people watching Lost whose identities at least partially aligned with these qualities; through Sawyer, they see themselves represented, perhaps in an exaggerated light, or maybe turned down a notch. Despite Sawyer’s bias and bouts of cruelty, he is an important character who grows and learns to treat people better. As Shohat and Stam write, “spectators… can accept, question, or even subvert” a work of media. Further, “the cultural preparation of a particular audience can generate counter-pressure to a racist or prejudicial discourse” (182). Lost offers a critique of Sawyer-like ideology without totally alienating those who share it, as well as giving voice to the group which they vilify.

Since Sayid is not a one-dimensional token character, his reaction to Sawyer’s racism towards him gets its due. In the clip above, Sayid is shown to be the instigator of the fight, but he is not represented as acting unreasonably. A common racist stereotype about Arab men is that they are hot-tempered and aggressive. Lost does not try to fight this false notion by making sure Sayid is non-violent. Instead, his anger and aggression is represented with more nuance than a simple ‘Violent Arab Man’ trope. He’s responding to an attack on his character and nationality, and in the circumstances of the show, his violent response is understandable. It represents both identities in a forgiving light.

Though Sayid’s character is an important part in the progression of Arab representation on screen, it’s not perfect. Naveen Andrews is a British man with Indian heritage, but he plays an Iraqi. This relates to Shohat and Stam’s points about representation. Those authors are concerned with white actors performing in roles meant for people of color, and they reference the satirical work How to Make an Indian Movie: ”Import a Greek to be an Indian princess. Introduce a white man to become an ‘Indian’ hero. Make the white man compassionate, brave and understanding ... Pocket the profits in Hollywood” (181). There is another layer to this that has emerged in the modern age where people of color are made into a generalized ‘other’ where they play nationalities that are not their own. I don’t think it should be taboo for people to play across national lines; an American should be able to play a Brit, so why should a Brit not be able to play an Iraqi? But there is a line where it becomes racially offensive, or at least controversial. For many producers of media at this time, it comes down to looks; few are interested in making sure the actor who plays a guy from Iraq is actually from Iraq, as long as he ‘looks like’ he could be from Iraq. For white audiences, there is not always a lot that distinguishes one brown person from another.

There are other times in Lost where white audiences are not the sole focus of the show. There are detailed storylines that don’t involve white characters. The first example of Lost de-centering white voices is when there is tension between two men of the group of survivors, Jin (Daniel Dae Kim) and Michael (Harold Perrineu). S01E06, “House of the Rising Sun” the opening scene is Jin brutally attacking Michael at the water in front of Michael’s son, Walt. Jin seems to intend to kill him, or at least injure him severely. Walt cries for help and Sawyer and Sayid sprint to Michael’s rescue. The following clip is the conversation that occurs after the attack. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-fS679Ui1U

Sayid becomes the mediator of the disagreement with Sawyer playing a secondary role, mostly as a taunt (did you catch the ‘Omar’ comment he made to Sayid?). Jin does not speak English, but is obviously very angry. Michael is wounded and angry as well. Sayid demands to know what happened and Michael insists that the reason Jin attacked him was because he’s black. Michael says to Sayid that he ‘doesn’t know what it’s like in Iraq, but in America, Korean people don’t like Black people’. Jin does not have the language to defend his actions. Not that they were really defensible; he tackled this guy and tried to drown him because a misunderstanding over a lost watch. The racial component was self-evident and then mentioned explicitly. The conversation is almost entirely between people of color, except for Sawyer making snide remarks.

This is something remarkable, especially for a show at this time. That the white characters, identities and narratives are not the core of this scene is unfortunately kind of surprising. If there are white people around, why aren’t they getting centered? Because Lost is making a conscious attempt here to show experiences that are not normative to white americans. It is also making an attempt to show intricacies, contradictions, and irony in racial conversation. As far as a TV show like this can reasonably be, it’s realistic. Sayid would not necessarily know the background of racial tension in the US between black and asian people (Lee, 2023). Jin also would not necessarily be aware of this, because he himself is a Korean national, and also has the language barrier keeping him from understanding this particular point of tension. Lastly, Michael has reason to accuse him of racism, because as an American Black man, he’s no doubt experienced it in his life, from multiple sources. Lost presents context for the characters’ actions (it’s known for flashbacks, too) and also is understanding of multiple perspectives and not adhering to a binary view of race or experience. Despite its imperfections, Lost gave screen time and narrative depth to people who have not been historically represented in television, specifically in the action genre. Lost’s setting lends itself well to this breakdown of tradition, because once your plane crashes, the old world doesn’t really exist anymore.

References:

Lee, Carolyn. 2023. “Media Misrepresentation of the LA Race Riots from a Korean American Perspective.” 2023. https://www.dartmouth.edu/~hist32/History/S21%20-%20Media%20Misrepresentations%20of%20the%20LA%20Riot.htm.

Shohat, Ella, and Robert Stam. 1994. “Stereotype Realism and the Struggle Over Representation.” In Unthinking Eurocentrism. https://moodle.oxy.edu/pluginfile.php/1045121/mod_page/content/6/Shohat%20and%20Stam_Stereotype%20Realism%20and%20the%20Struggle%20Over%20Representation.pdf.

@theuncannyprofessoro

#oxyspeculativetv #speculativetvanalysis #Youtube

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