Did you see this picture yet? The first thing I realized was Michael's hand on David's back and their lovely smiles.
Hello! Yes, I did certainly see this group picture that was posted this morning, after every other picture had been posted. This is from Georgia's Insta, so for those who haven't seen the original post, here is a screenshot, along with a close-up of Michael and David, so we can see a little better:
It seems that Georgia's hashtag has been causing some confusion due to her use of an idiomatic expression, so for non-native speakers, the word "tits" has multiple meanings--colloquially, it's another word for breasts, but in British slang, a "tit" also refers to someone who is a fool or an idiot. So Georgia is saying here that she has tits, Anna has tits, and Michael and David are a pair of "tits" (idiots), which gives us the number three.
I did notice and enjoy that there is a "beading" theme to this picture, between David's suit and Anna's dress. I actually very much like her dress and how flattering it is, and it's something I would wear myself, although probably in a different color than white. I also love the way David's jacket sparkles, and there is something about him wearing it while standing next to Michael (who looks one box of bleach away from Aziraphale) that makes it have even more of a "the angel and the Starmaker" vibe to it. Because it's them. You know?
That was a large part of the impression I had of this picture, as it were. Of there being two distinct couples here, but perhaps not the couples you'd assume. It actually reminds me a lot of the picture that the four of them took in Lapland last year, which also looked like two gay couples rather than two straight ones. They all seem to look very comfortable in this arrangement as well, in a way that I felt was somewhat absent from a few of the pictures that were posted yesterday.
To your point, though, I did notice Michael's hand on David, and the warmth that radiated out just from that single touch. His hand is also noticeably low on David's waist, which echoes how we've seen Michael with his arm around David in the past, and is a lovely complement to David's hand being near Michael's neck. Michael's hair is also a bit disheveled compared to the red carpet photos, and I love the idea of it being messed up from a snogging session he and David were having in a coat closet before the girls pulled them out for a pic. Actually possible? Maybe, maybe not. But it's still a delicious thought.
Another thing I noticed is that there is something to the way Michael and David draw the eye in this picture. Georgia and AL are posing/smiling in the same exact way they do in every group picture...although unlike the others, this one wasn't a selfie, and so I wonder if that could be why they seem to be giving off a sense of discomfort to the camera. With Michael and David, the feeling is more one of hesitation. The warmth and crackliness and connection is still there, of course, but it's also almost as if they're holding back, somehow. Which doesn't seem very much like them, at least from what we've all see over the years.
It is a nice picture overall, though, which makes it unfortunate that Georgia's caption sort of takes away from the moment a bit. And given that she's been in the habit of adding these types of cutting comments/tags to a lot of her recent posts, it feels less like "British humor" and more like knowingly taking a dig at Michael and David. She could have just as easily posted the group pic without the hashtag, so at least for me, that's what makes her using it feel so deliberate.
So those are my thoughts on the Oliviers group picture. I am glad that we actually did get one of Michael and David, and to know that they did have the chance to interact at the event. I'd love to hear what other folks think as well, so feel free to add your perspective in the comments. Thanks for writing in! x
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Ride 769: Danchiku's “escape”
Pag 1
1: Sohoku's number 5 jumped ahead! And he kept attacking!!
2: Number 4, Kaburagi, caught up to Doubashi who has been left behind!!
4: This is bad!! Pedal!!
Let's raise our pace!!
Pag 2
2: I won't let you get away, Chicken!!
Pag 3
2: No.... they're so fast!!
It's no use anymore, senpai!!
3: Get away Danchikuu!!
Pag 4
1: Yeah, Issa!!
Pag 5
1: 4km left until the sprint line!!
2: Don't underestimate him, San-na*!!
(*NdT.: Kaburagi is calling him that because when earlier he called him “Doubashi” with no honorifics, Doubashi corrected him saying “it's san, na” the 'na' is just and ending particle, but I decided to leave it in the nickname Kabu is using now)
3: Danchiku is strong!!
He's the kind of guy who once he makes a decision, he sticks to it!!
4: Buah!!
I'm not underestimating him
5: With that attack earlier I got that his “running” is no chicken!!
6: Haha, I told you from the start!! I told you “that's not true”!!
Pag 6
1: But “mentality” is another story!!
3: “Running” and “mentality”are different things, but two sides of the same coin!!
4: I'm chasing him like this!! I'm getting closer!!
That's the reality!! The situation!!
I'll swallow him
5: And even if I don't do anything, he'll make a mistake!!
6: Tch, this guy hit a nerve
7: Look
8: My pressure
Pag 7
1: Is rising!!
3: What's this
From behind me
4: It's the feeling of something dark and hug approaching!!
This is that guy's....!!
Seriously!?
Pag 8
1: But!!
Gaa
2: But I also came here fully prepared!!
ruaaagh
3: “Take care of that idiot”
4: Bamboo
6: Hop Shot!!
Pag 9
1: I'll leave him behind!!
2: Switch to a
3: higher gear!!
6: Dammit, instead of switching to a higher gear I switched to a lower!?
Such a stupid mistake!! In a moment like this!!
I'll switch to a higher gear now!!
8: Stupid mistake...? That's not it
Pag 10
1: Is my body reacting to Doubashi's pressure!?
Pag 11
1: Dammit!!
Don't turn around
2: San-na is going to move to pin Nagoya down, you go with him
This is the chance that
And then keep going like that!!
3: Issa managed to get for me!!
4: Don't turn around
He's getting closer, I can feel it on my skin!!
5: If I turn around his pressure will swallow me!!
Gaaagh
6: Dammit... so this is the Inter High?
Pag 12
1: This is Hakone Academy's Doubashi Masakiyo!!
2: Chicken.... your pedaling got all messy
Pag 13
1: He's coming closer!!
2: I'm gonna get swallowed!!
4: It's over
After all you really are a chicken
Pag 15
2: A white pressure... Issa!!
3: Danchiku, since it's you, you can do it!!
I'm sure of it, so run without hesitation
4: After all you're
Pag 16
1: Team SS..... Special Strong!!
Higaruaaagh!!
Pag 17
1: I'll take it, Issa!!
2: Higaruaagh!!
Dammit, what happened, he came back to life!!
3: What did you do, Orange
4: I raised it too
Pag 18
1: My pressure, to tell him “if it's you, you can do it”!!
2: I am “team SS”!!
3: I can do it!!
Garuaagh!!
4: Hahaha, if you don't hurry he'll get away, San-na!!
That's called Panda Shout!! That acceleration is terrific!!
5: Talking like that is your strategy to get me to use up my legs, Orange!!
Hahaha of course, you've finally noticed!!
Pag 19
2: I've noticed from the start, though
Is-is that so!?
Well, can't be helped. My plan to defeat him by using pressure alone was a failure
This time I'll use my legs
3: I'll show you my running that I've tempered thoroughly this past year!!
4: The sprint is now down to us three
As expected, there's no one who can catch up to us from there!!
Pag 20
1: In that group behind us!!
2: Pedal more
Let's catch up to them before they get out of sight!!
Gallop!!
Mokkosu!!
4: From behind us, another.... two people!?
Are catching up!?
5: It's two guys from the selected team!!
Pag 21
1: I'm so glad, we caught up with the lead!!
We were pulled by Doubashi-san but we got tore off a little later
You worked hard, you two!
Yeah, somehow!!
2: The leader of our team, Sugimoto-san, negotiated with Doubashi-san fro us
3: Our number has increased so we still have a chance!!
We'll chase Sohoku and Hakogaku that are ahead
Yeah!!
And we'll fight for the green number bib!!
4: Alright, senpai, I'll pull
“Two people” who caught up?
No
5: There's one more person!!
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'So @corsairspade's post about Celegorm and Orome and luck sent me down a tangent, because--
Okay. Part of the silmarillion that rubs me wrong is that the Valar never seem to experience any actual consequences for their failures and missteps. Their choice to trust Morgoth has disastrous consequences--everywhere outside of Aman*. Their mismanagement of Noldorin politics leads to the kinslaying at Alqualonde and the Doom of the Noldor (and arguably the knock-on dooming of beleriand) while the valar sit tight at home. Sauron gets loose and spends millenia wrecking shit, but that shit is all conveniently far away from Aman. The only time he gets close to Aman, it ends in a genocide--of people that the Valar wouldn't let into Aman in the first place. They stay high and dry and unchanging through the literal re-shaping of Arda.
So. Consequences! I want them. So what if the apparent waning of the Valar's strength across the Ages is actually a direct consequence of their isolationism?
After all, why are the valar in arda? They're there to build it, and then maintain it. They're there to embody their domains. My conception of them (and I know this isn't universal but this is my personal working baseline) is that each ainu's domain of power is their calling. Their reason for existance. It's the lens they perceive the world through, and they derive their strength of existence in the world by perpetually embodying and enacting that calling. Ulmo is defined by the restless motion of the waves. Varda is defined by the light of the heavens and the shining of the stars. Orome is defined by the hunt.
But then they restrict themselves to Aman. They functionally took themselves out of Arda well before the third age. They made a deliberate and conscious choice to restrict the scope of their activity/influence. What if that choice also restricted the scope of their power?
I keep coming back to Orome because. Look. His case of obedience to authority vs obedience to one's own nature/calling feels so egregious. If any valar should have spent the first age in beleriand, it should have been Orome and Tulkas. Orome's calling is The Hunting of Evil. Tulkas only showed up in Arda to fight Melkor! The act of sitting out the fight reduces both of them from forces of active good to... what? Courtly vestigial remnants of their own true natures? You don't stay the best at what you do by avoiding doing it. Maybe the valar don't retain their primordial powers if they don't exercise them. Maybe limiting the scope of their direct influence (to the place it was arguably least needed ) likewise limited the scope of their strengths.
Which leads to a situation where the valar cannot, in fact, defend Aman against Numenor, because they thought that isolation was enough. So they sat out two ages of the world, and when the world came to find them at home they realized too late that their choices would have consequences for themselves, not just others.
*If you try to argue that the loss of the Trees is equivalent to the destruction of a fucking landmass and the actual enslavement of unspecified numbers of people, save your energy. Just take my disappointed look as a given and go find some other post to comment on.
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