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hallowpen · 3 months

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Last Twilight has me conflicted...

I've had some time to sit with the ending for a while and I just cannot find myself definitively deciding whether or not I'm okay with it. And I think the reason for that is because there are valid opinions for both sides of the argument.

From a narrative standpoint, Last Twilight should have been given the room to fully flesh out its story. After episode 10, things began to feel a little rushed and overlooked. This tends to happen too often in Thai QL dramas, that are limited by their amount of episodes, when the meat of their stories are left toward the end of the series.

This is all meant to say that Last Twilight could have benefited from some breathing room: (I'm only touching on three story points because these seem to be the biggest cause for contention among watchers...and I don't want this post to ramble on forever)

The Breakup - I remain firmly in the camp that the breakup was inevitable and not 'unnecessary'. Had it been executed properly and given the deeper conversation it warranted between the two involved characters, it would have absolutely landed a lot better. Mhok and Day are incredibly young and both are still on their journey to find/accept themselves. When your self discovery becomes intertwined in someone else's, stuff can become misconstrued and messy. Mhok and Day each had to stand on their own two feet and realize that they did not need to have the other in their life in order to do so. It was important for the characters to SAY that they did not want to be an anchor in each other's lives. (I personally don't think a solution as simple as 'long distance relationship' would have worked here. LDR's are hard work and it would have detracted from the focus they needed to have on themselves as individuals). After time apart, they could always come back together and re-evaluate. (Blocking someone's number and completely writing them out of your life after one bump in the road may not have been the way to go about this either). In a healthy adult relationship, Mhok and Day would TALK about what each of them want out of a reconciliation and take culpability for what went wrong in the past. IT'S NOT ALL JUST ON MHOK...

Mhok - Which brings me to my next point... I've come to the conclusion that I have to accept Last Twilight as Day's story and Day's point of view. Mhok was, unfortunately, left by the wayside. There was so much to unpack there and the writers really could have delved deeper into Mhok's background and trauma...but they chose not to. Mhok's characterization felt as if it were an untapped well with incredible narrative potential. The added bonus of seeing Jimmy truly bringing this character to full realization would have been glorious, but alas... I digress. Mhok's journey exists only in the land of time jumps.

Day's Vision - The ending is what I struggle the most to find peace with. I think I remain somewhere in the middle where I can see the series working in either direction had the narrative been aligned properly. Whether or not Day's vision was restored does not take away from his journey, yet it still feels like its 'message' got lost in the crossfire. Without getting too personal, how the ending was presented just felt so ableist. There were uses of the word "normal" that I did not like and it felt like a scramble to wrap everything up in a nice, neat, little bow. I think there needed to be a deeper conversation woven within the story as to why Day chose to have the surgery and how, while that choice was available to and worked for him, it is not a universally shared experience/reality amongst the disabled community. Maybe I just selfishly expect too much from these kinds of series, I don't know.

All in all, time skips can be a useful tool... but what happens in the in between is sometimes too important to overlook, especially in a show that is so character driven. I will end this by saying that JimmySea absolutely acted their butts off, and as someone who had never seen them act together before, I consider myself to be a newly instated fan. I look forward to whatever other projects they should have together.

#last twilight #mhokday #jimmysea #i absolutely loved the series #and what it tried to do #but i think it's a one watch only kind of show for me #would for sure recommend #just keep a *very* open mind #that's it #i'm ready to move on #koda watches bl

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carefulfears · 7 months

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omg rm9 was kinda fun To Me. i enjoyed mulder and scully going on a sushi date, scully being SOOOOO embarrassingly down bad for a man she’s known over 20 years, and of course the restaurant attacking them because mulder is a bad tipper. it’s also just nice to see them living life, you know??

i had a blast with rm9 tbh, a classic s11 well! have no idea what happened there! but i enjoyed myself! episode. just talked about it a bit but yes!! just seeing them living life!! literally the majority of s11 isn't even them going on cases they're just like. existing. and falling into Situations. in rm9 all they wanted to do was go to this sushi place. scully is of course always embarrassing as hell but what i loved loved loved loved about her in rm9 (and consequently throughout s11) is that last moment at the diner when they're both on their phones, and she puts hers away and just kinda leans over to his shoulder and takes his hand, and he puts his phone down.

i was so floored to see her do that, to ask for his attention like that. so much of the original series is scully...almost quietly suffocating, sometimes? being on the edge of his myopia and focus? wanting him to see her so bad, and then lashing out (READ: fucking serial killers) to either rebel, or get him to notice? but it's been a long time and he has been many more things to her since and now she just grabs his hand and makes him turn to her. in forehead sweat when she whines that he needs to feed her or she's leaving!! and then she does leave!!! in plus one when they aren't even "back together" yet, and she sneaks into his motel room and asks him to hold her.

scully in the revival has left him. she has struck out on her own, had her own career, lived on her own, been a doctor. and she's back and they're back because there's work to be done, and because, as james wong says: "She’s in love with him that way. She had a different career as a doctor, but she came back, because this is so important to him—she’s coming back to be there for him."

she's back, and they're back, because they're always choosing each other, and they've proven it, and they've done the work. she complains about his stakeouts. she cracks jokes about being sure he's on his meds!! she knows that their son is "guiding" them both, somehow. she doesn't question it.

she's embarrassingly down bad even after 25 years because she's never anything but adored him, but there's so much more availability now. she can openly check him out and invite him back into her room and giggle at him and sleep on his jacket in bars. she used to cry, every single time that he was present with her. she used to be so overwhelmed that she couldn't speak, when he was focused on her. this is the inverse reaction of the stability and peace that mulder has found, there's a steady foundation for scully to grow on.

#i know i have an ask from one of you somewhere to do a post on revival scully. thinking it over i promise #but this is like The Main Thing to me by far #kisses #asks #rm9sbg93zxjz #tbh there's this shift in them after the baby was born that kind of gutpunches me...something is very different and solid #'what are you thinking about?' 'about my son. about his mother.'#she will forever be his son's mother. he will forever be her son's father.#and it's not that this binds them because they've always been bound to each other but it shifts them into a new familiarity and dynamic #something very dependent and primal and solid #but for so fucking long that new dynamic was so drowned in grief and loss that they didn't get to have each other any other way #what do you do when someone is your child's mother but you only got 3 days #when someone is your child's father but you spent your one and ONLY year of parenthood alone #hmph! many epiphanies.#anyway the point is that by the revival they're eating jello and watching twilight zone (or whatever it was) in the same house where #for a decade they could barely speak to each other. they were just haunted.#they're healing and it's bringing them closer to each other in orbits and it's lovely!

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moonscape · 2 months

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okay i'm going to be nicer to totk for real now *deletes most of my drafts*

#bwark #god i'm fucking trying to have some kind of epiphany here where i can have it all click and be like ''even if i have my problems i can still #get enjoyment out of it'' but this game makes it so damn difficult #''i can discuss the story'' wait nope can't. story sucks ass and butt #''what about the exploration? that was the best part of botw'' uh no can't do that when the surface is practically the same and there's no #substance to the sky or the depths #''gameplay?'' i don't like ultrahand. which sucks when that's 90% of the gameplay #i respect the work that must've gone into it and the creativity it's drawn from fans but making one gameplay aspect literally ALL YOU DO #runs the risk of alienating people who can't get behind #and sure other zelda games have their gimmicks but it's different #like take tp for example. i get that the wolf mechanic isn't for everyone. but aside from the early game twilight sections and a few sparse #puzzles in the later game you're never really forced to play as wolf so it doesn't overstay its welcome #god i just remembered that totk turned wolf link into meat chunks. another thing they took from us 😔#actually on that genuinely why couldn't they just bring him back?#like you're reusing a ton of shit from botw anyway??#which brings me back to my main point is that anything that isn't new is just. botw again #shrines are back but they're uglier. dungeons are the divine beasts but in a new coat of paint #why did they add more shrines to the game anyway? like you'd think they'd at least lower the number because fans didn't want them to return #the SINGULAR leg up i can think of id the bosses. yeah i love botw and i'll hold my hands up and say that a lot of the common complaints for #it don't bother me personally but yeah the blights absolutely sucked #divebombing colgera with the dragon roost theme playing was the closest thing that this game came to giving me an experience #okay i'll shut up now I'M GOING TO BE NICE EVEN IF IT KILLS ME

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dragonknightofsummerset · 1 year

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wdym besties don't normally give you butterflies in your stomach when their hand is wrapped around your waist? -MC probably

Absolutely love this piece I commissioned from the talented @arystocrat (check out their work, it's amazing)

My hunter OC, Emina Bautista, & Arion Devereux from @evertidings IF: When Twilight Strikes

#when twilight strikes #arion devereux #arion x mc #hunter oc: emina bautista #okay. i know they look like bffs here (& they are) but theyre also in love with each other #they just dont understand their confusing feelings for each other yet #i am a sucker for best friends to lovers and these 2 have a chokehold on me with the whole 'we're just friends right?'#please. going the route where mc isnt sure why theyre glad A has rejected everyone is just so hnnnnn #also. yeah. i think theyd be the kind of couple to do cheesy poses non ironically haha

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anagebeforethat · 1 year

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I’ve been on a Zelda kick this whole year and there’s so many feelings in my chest I can’t hold back anymore, I need to post some art XD. Minish Cap was my childhood Zelda and I always wondered who the Hero of Men was. What’d he do? Which dungeons did he explore? What story arc did he go through? In the end I caved in and had to draw some ideas of my own.

Nintendo, give us a game about this man, I beg you!

#legend of zelda #loz #hero of men #minish cap #link #loz mc #i have so many feelings #Im doing a marathon in timeline order #currently at Twilight Princess #and god I wish the handhelds could get that kind of love #that awesomeness #and attention to lore

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aroaessidhe · 1 year

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2022 reads // twitter thread

The Whispering Dark

supernatural YA

a girl is accepted into a prestigious university that trains students to slip between parallel worlds

but previous students’ mysterious deaths start to make her think her fear of the dark is something more tangible

Deaf MC

necromancy

#The Whispering Dark #aroaessidhe 2022 reads #do you want dark academia? spooky horror? mystery? parallel universe stuff? pick up literally any other book #this is just a creepy romance. none of that potentially interesting stuff.#there’s very little academia or like. going into the parallel worlds thing. it’s mostly about the weird relationship between them #i think it’s also just kind of…….boring? maybe not boring. I just never felt too interested in it #there was one of two bits that were kinda spooky and i was like oh? but thats it.#why is the love interest such a piece of shit. like he’s horrible to her and then suddenly he’s nice I guess? but then the entire time he’s #he’s lying about the fact that they know each other?#like i genuinely mistook him for the other dude she was hanging out with for a few chapters because suddenly they were just fine with each o #actually when she met nate i was like wait is HE the love interest. and the other guy is legit a creep. but no.#also he’s like obsessed with her #why are we pretending “I am deeply sickeningly alarmingly obsessed with you” is romantic. is this twilight.#‘what did i do why are you avoiding me’ YOU MURDERED SOMEONE IN FRONT OF HER?#wait also these was this bit where it was like “he pronounced wednesday a syllabul at a time. wed nes day” sdjjfgsdjgfsjd that doesn’t…..#anyway. the deaf MC was cool.#there’s the hint of things that could be really interesting on the edges.#but it’s just all about their weird toxic relationship. like barely any exploration of the parallel worlds. or academia. or the side charact #her ‘friends’ are only in plot relevant scenes #lol

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medicinemane · 7 months

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Everyone's against cringe culture and shit like that, but pretty much everyone seems to have an arbitrary line they draw in the sand

I'm not talking concrete lines where like you have some quantifiable metric for it. You think I don't have lines? Of course I do, there's stuff that's blatantly stuff that causes direct harm to people, though at that point it's not about someone being weird, it's about someone doing actual bona fide harm

But that's the thing, a lot of people it's just they'll be like "no, we shouldn't make fun of people... but this person's being weird"

And it's like... you can say anyone's being weird. If that's where we draw the line then literally there's no reason for people not to make fun of you for innocent but slightly weird shit, and we're right back where we started

"Yeah, but this person's being weird", yeah, not shit, I think they're weird too but like... that's not the point, that's irrelevant. The point is that you can't just shift the rules. If it's wrong to shit on some people for being weird, it's wrong to shit on any people for being weird. You need to produce some quantifiable bad they're doing like say... going in to strangers in boxes to say stuff that makes them uncomfortable, now we've got a clear reason why what they're doing isn't ok

Though to be clear here, they're still not bad for being weird, they're bad for their other actions

Like... I don't want to give an actual examples, cause it honestly doesn't matter, but do you think I don't browse the internet and find all kinds of stuff where I think "could you fucking not"?

...but then I move on cause it's honestly not worth my fucking time. Either there's an actionable offense that needs reporting or I can just move on (or a need to change things so certain destructive or dangerous behaviors can be reported, though that requires being able to say why this needs to be a thing in concrete terms)

Just... I don't know... drives me nuts how people, including people I like, will talk a big game about cringe culture needing to die, but then do the exact same shit

"But you don't get it, this time they we're being too weird, it was creepy", yeah, but they weren't actually hurting anyone, and guess what? There's someone out there who'd be happy to use that excuse to shit on you

So there it is

#spent far too long with people shitting on stuff I like; fuck; happens to this day randomly #can't fucking get away with it; twists stuff I love in to being a sore point for me that I recoil if people mention #but you know something? fucking stopped making fun of people who like Twilight after that started happening #might still laugh at the book itself cause fun if there isn't some bad writing there #but honestly even that isn't worth it most of the time #but like the fans... unless they're harassing the cast for the movies or something... whatever #have fun with it even I don't like it #it's either actionable harm or you need to not be a dick to people #not even cause like... 'everyone has their own story or something'#nah; they could legit just be a nasty toxic little weirdo #it's just... being an awful person with fucked up thoughts in your head shouldn't be a crime; I'm serious about that too #so long as you don't do anything actionable and concretely wrong; you should be left to it #and it's not for their sake either #it's because I bet I could come up with a reason to twist any one of you in to being 'an awful person with fucked up thoughts in your head'#I can smear; and lie; and twist; or just kind of be an asshole thing thinks it's wrong that... you like 80s pop; whatever #doesn't have to be something actually wrong; anything can be twisted if the only bar for it is being weird #behavior and actions trump everything else #if you can't show me bad behavior or a direct link to intent to cause harm in the future #then sorry but I think you should just leave it #...then again maybe I'm just a monstrously awful person myself; you don't know what might be running through my head #why the fuck should you listen to me?#think for yourself; but that's why I think what I think on this

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vampacidic · 2 years

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actually i LIED in my au tweet i WILL make content for my aus. mayoi poto is my first victim btw. some rough sketches for some silly shenanigans in my brain

#i used markers i was supposed to use for note taking btw BAHAHAA #this was very therapeutic. i love creating content for myself #ok. some notes #all of these (give or take) are events that happen in the novel #no twilight sparkle is not there (the horse's name is caesar) but other than that. most of it is leroux accurate #my handwriting is also messy. apologies #ABSOLUTELY HAVE FUN WITH THIS IF ANY OF YOU GUYS WANT!!!!!#draw me stuff write me stuff etc etc i'll have an autism moment and explode if you do #no id #enstars #ensemble stars #mayoi ayase #my art #HiMERU #tatsumi kazehaya #does this count as tatsumayo..?#like the point of the novel is that christine pities erik but ultimately realizes it's not her responsibility to fix him #but she still shows him kindness. like that's the point. the point is that kindness brings out the best in people #i mean yeah mayoi MIGHT kidnap tatsumi a couple times but like. shrugs. we all do some fucked up stuff sometimes #ugh. i'll tag it #tatsumayo #sage au's #OH NOTE ON THE 'no touching cloak'#that's a plot point in the novel. yeah #erik does just wander around in a cloak that says 'DONT TOUCH' for a bit of the novel

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squeeb100 · 11 months

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Oops i accidentally played totk until midnight again

#' why am i so tired ' it's the damn game #it is SO fun #off the charts levels of ' ooh what's over there??? holy fuck im allowed to do this??? '#not a traditional zelda game and one of the two dungeons I've done was horrendously frustrating and a little stupid #but the other was incredible and so fun toget to #excited to see the others. I'm talking my time #spent TWO HOURS exploring a cave system the other dsy #i love it #i JUST replayed botw. just in the last few months. and this still feels so exciting #lost my train of thought anyway it is not a traditional zelda game but it's kind of the best #this feels like what zelda games were meant to be like from the get-go and deveover 35 years #listen i am a twilight princess stan. i GET IT #but this is just incredibly fun #also the genuine fear and apprehension this game has made me feel makes me feel like im 13 playing tp again #squeeb #totk #the legend of zelda

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a9saga · 1 year

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tbt - alice nine - subete e

I’m still in love with everything... Apparently, I just cant hate this world dyed in your colors

happy new year!!

#me posting this song has been waiting a long time but i'm glad i saved it till now #this is actually my favorite alice nine song and is probably my favorite vocal performance from shou #his voice from 2008-2012 really was at its all time best he could really stretch it out in a bowie kind of way and it was gorgeous #i dont know if he damaged his vocal chords over the years. make no mistake he can still really siiing #12 minutes of singing gemini seems impossible but he can still do it no problem it seems #theyre all so cool and hot here i love it lol #this is a real homage to mcr and i say that as a compliment #i think those two bands had some very 70s influences and they wear it on their sleeves when they make anthemic operatic shit #love them both for it #and love saga from alice nine my namesake #happy new year i will be watching the twilight zone marathon w/o my dog and i will be very sad about it #tbt #song rec #j rock #alice nine #a9 #visual kei #neo visual kei #new year #shut up kaily #q'd 12/19/2022

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disgruntleddemon · 2 years

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The basic premise of Severance (what if ur brain was split between work and ur outside life) definitely feels like it could be a Twilight zone episode. Lately I've been trying to think of how that episode would go. There's a lot of fun stuff you can do with it ngl

#I tend to compare things to Twilight zone too much lol #I just like that show a lot and i enjoy similar media y'know?#Boy do i love sci-fi and supernatural stuff #I specify supernatural cause I'm typically too much of a wimp for horror #I can watch something like Carrie or reanimator #But i can't do like Slashers n stuff #I also can't do a lot of more modern horror #I'm kind of particular with what i can handle #Also when it comes to sci-fi i like x files Twilight zone kind of sci-fi #I'm not big on the star wars type. I generally find it boring

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spacejunkgalaxies · 2 years

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Say what you will about Twilight Princess’s artstyle the twilight aesthetic kind of went hard

#particularly in twilight palace #something’s about the hard contrast between the bright colors of the twili realm vs the muted browny shades of the world of light #* something #it kind of saves the game from being entirely too dull to look at #and the SHAPES??? HELLO???#geometric designs in fantasy world building especially for darker more arcane locations… chef’s kiss #I know everything to do with the twili realm prevented a lot of people from really liking the game #but I personally think it’s the game’s biggest draw #(aside from Midna. who I really fucking love.)#anyway yeah welcome to May shills the fuck out of twilight Princess

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mollyrealized · 2 months

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How Michael Met Neil

original direct link [MP3]

(Neil, if you see this, please feel free to grab the transcript and store on your site; I had no easy way of contacting you.)

DAVID TENNANT: Tell me about @neil-gaiman then, because he's in that category [previously: “such a profound effect on my life”] as well.

MICHAEL SHEEN: So this is what has brought us together.

DAVID: Yes.

MICHAEL: To the new love story for the 21st century.

DAVID: Exactly.

MICHAEL: So when I went to drama school, there was a guy called Gary Turner in my year. And within the first few weeks, we were doing something, having a drink or whatever. And he said to me, “Do you read comic books?”

And I said, “No.” I mean, this is … what … '88? '88, '89. So it was … now I know that it was a period of time that was a big change, transformation going through comic books. Rather than it being thought of as just superheroes and Batman and Superman, there was this whole new era of a generation of writers like Grant Morrison.

DAVID: The kids who'd grown up reading comic books were now making comic books

MICHAEL: Yeah, yeah, and starting to address different kinds of subjects through the comic book medium. So it wasn't about just superheroes, it was all kinds of stuff going on – really fascinating stuff. And I was totally unaware of this.

And so this guy Gary said to me, "Do you read them?" And I said, "No." And he went, "Right, okay, here's The Watchman [sic] by Alan Moore. Here's Swamp Thing. Here's Hellblazer. And here's Sandman.”

And Sandman was Neil Gaiman's big series that put his name on the map. And I read all those, and, just – I was blown away by all of them, but particularly the Sandman stories, because he was drawing on mythology, which was something I was really interested in, and fairy tales, folklore, and philosophy, and Shakespeare, and all kinds of stuff were being mixed up in this story. And I absolutely loved it.

So I became a big fan of Neil's, and started reading everything by him. And then fairly shortly after that, within six months to a year, Good Omens the book came out, which Neil wrote with Terry Pratchett. And so I got the book – because I was obviously a big fan of Neil's by this point – read it, loved it, then started reading Terry Pratchett’s stuff as well, because I didn't know his stuff before then – and then spent years and years and years just being a huge fan of both of them.

And then eventually when – I'd done films like the Underworld films and doing Twilight films. And I think it was one of the Twilight films, there was a lot of very snooty interviews that happened where people who considered themselves well above talking about things like Twilight were having to interview me … and, weirdly, coming at it from the attitude of 'clearly this is below you as well' … weirdly thinking I'm gonna go, 'Yeah, fucking Twilight.”

And I just used to go, "You know what? Some of the greatest writing of the last 50-100 years has happened in science fiction or fantasy." Philip K Dick is one of my favorite writers of all time. In fact, the production of Hamlet I did was mainly influenced by Philip K Dick. Ursula K. Le Guin and Asimov, and all these amazing people. And I talked about Neil as well. And so I went off on a bit of a rant in this interview.

Anyway, the interview came out about six months later, maybe. Knock on the door, open the door, delivery of a big box. That’s interesting. Open the box, there's a card at the top of the box. I open the card.

It says, From one fan to another, Neil Gaiman. And inside the box are first editions of Neil's stuff, and all kinds of interesting things by Neil. And he just sent this stuff.

DAVID: You'd never met him?

MICHAEL: Never met him. He'd read the interview, or someone had let him know about this interview where I'd sung his praises and stood up for him and the people who work within that sort of genre as being like …

And he just got in touch. We met up for the first time when he came to – I was in Los Angeles at the time, and he came to LA. And he said, "I'll take you for a meal."

I said, “All right.”

He said, "Do you want to go somewhere posh, or somewhere interesting?”

I said, "Let's go somewhere interesting."

He said, "Right, I'm going to take you to this restaurant called The Hump." And it's at Santa Monica Airport. And it's a sushi restaurant.

I was like, “Right, okay.” So I had a Mini at the time. And we get in my Mini and we drive off to Santa Monica Airport. And this restaurant was right on the tarmac, like, you could sit in the restaurant (there's nobody else there when we got there, we got there quite early) and you're watching the planes landing on Santa Monica Airport. It's extraordinary.

And the chef comes out and Neil says, "Just bring us whatever you want. Chef's choice."

So, I'd never really eaten sushi before. So we sit there; we had this incredible meal where they keep bringing these dishes out and they say, “This is [blah, blah, blah]. Just use a little bit of soy sauce or whatever.” You know, “This is eel. This is [blah].”

And then there was this one dish where they brought out and they didn't say what it was. It was like “mystery dish”, we had it ... delicious. Anyway, a few more people started coming into the restaurant as time went on.

And we're sort of getting near the end, and I said, "Neil, I can't eat anymore. I'm gonna have to stop now. This is great, but I can't eat–"

"Right, okay. We'll ask for the bill in a minute."

And then the door opens and some very official people come in. And it was the Feds. And the Feds came in, and we knew they were because they had jackets on that said they were part of the Federal Bureau of Whatever. And about six of them come in. Two of them go … one goes behind the counter, two go into the kitchen, one goes to the back. They've all got like guns on and stuff.

And me and Neil are like, "What on Earth is going on?"

And then eventually one guy goes, "Ladies and gentlemen, if you haven't ordered already, please leave. If you're still eating your meal, please finish up, pay your bill, leave."*

[* - delivered in a perfect American ‘serious law agent’ accent/impression]

And we were like, "Oh my God, are we poisoned? Is there some terrible thing that's happened?"

We'd finished, so we pay our bill. And then all the kitchen staff are brought out. And the head chef is there. The guy who's been bringing us this food. And he's in tears. And he says to Neil, "I'm so sorry." He apologizes to Neil. And we leave. We have no idea what happened.

DAVID: But you're assuming it's the mystery dish.

MICHAEL: Well, we're assuming that we can't be going to – we can't be – it can't be poisonous. You know what I mean? It can't be that there's terrible, terrible things.

So the next day was the Oscars, which is why Neil was in town. Because Coraline had been nominated for an Oscar. Best documentary that year was won by The Cove, which was by a team of people who had come across dolphins being killed, I think.

Turns out, what was happening at this restaurant was that they were having illegal endangered species flown in to the airport, and then being brought around the back of the restaurant into the kitchen.

We had eaten whale – endangered species whale. That was the mystery dish that they didn't say what it was.

And the team behind The Cove were behind this sting, and they took them down that night whilst we were there.

DAVID: That’s extraordinary.

MICHAEL: And we didn't find this out for months. So for months, me and Neil were like, "Have you worked anything out yet? Have you heard anything?"

"No, I haven't heard anything."

And then we heard that it was something to do with The Cove, and then we eventually found out that that restaurant, they were all arrested. The restaurant was shut down. And it was because of that. And we'd eaten whale that night.

DAVID: And that was your first meeting with Neil Gaiman.

MICHAEL: That was my first meeting. And also in the drive home that night from that restaurant, he said, and we were in my Mini, he said, "Have you found the secret compartment?"

I said, "What are you talking about?" It's such a Neil Gaiman thing to say.

DAVID: Isn't it?

MICHAEL: The secret compartment? Yeah. Each Mini has got a secret compartment. I said, "I had no idea." It's secret. And he pressed a little button and a thing opened up. And it was a secret compartment in my own car that Neil Gaiman showed me.

DAVID: Was there anything inside it?

MICHAEL: Yeah, there was a little man. And he jumped out and went, "Hello!" No, there was nothing in there. There was afterwards because I started putting...

DAVID: Sure. That's a very Neil Gaiman story. All of that is such a Neil Gaiman story.

MICHAEL: That's how it began. Yeah.

DAVID: And then he came to offer you the part in Good Omens.

MICHAEL: Yeah. Well, we became friends and we would whenever he was in town, we would meet up and yeah, and then eventually he started, he said, "You know, I'm working on an adaptation of Good Omens." And I can remember at one point Terry Gilliam was going to maybe make a film of it. And I remember being there with Neil and Terry when they were talking about it. And...

DAVID: Were you involved at that point?

MICHAEL: No, no, I wasn't involved. I just happened to have met up with Neil that day.

DAVID: Right.

MICHAEL: And then Terry Gilliam came along and they were chatting, that was the day they were talking about that or whatever.

And then eventually he sent me one of the scripts for an early draft of like the first episode of Good Omens. And he said – and we started talking about me being involved in it, doing it – he said, “Would you be interested?” I was like, "Yeah, of course." I went, "Oh my God." And he said, "Well, I'll send you the scripts when they come," and I would read them, and we'd talk about them a little bit. And so I was involved.

But it was always at that point with the idea, because he'd always said about playing Crowley in it. And so, as time went on, as I was reading the scripts, I was thinking, "I don't think I can play Crowley. I don't think I'm going to be able to do it." And I started to get a bit nervous because I thought, “I don't want to tell Neil that I don't think I can do this.” But I just felt like I don't think I can play Crowley.

DAVID: Of course you can [play Crowley?].

MICHAEL: Well, I just on a sort of, on a gut level, sometimes you have it on a gut level.

DAVID: Sure, sure.

MICHAEL: I can do this.

DAVID: Yeah.

MICHAEL: Or I can't do this. And I just thought, “You know what, this is not the part for me. The other part is better for me, I think. I think I can do that, I don't think I could do that.”

But I was scared to tell Neil because I thought, "Well, he wants me to play Crowley" – and then it turned out he had been feeling the same way as well. And he hadn't wanted to mention it to me, but he was like, "I think Michael should really play Aziraphale."

And neither of us would bring it up. And then eventually we did. And it was one of those things where you go, "Oh, thank God you said that. I feel exactly the same way." And then I think within a fairly short space of time, he said, “I think we've got … David Tennant … for Crowley.” And we both got very excited about that.

And then all these extraordinary people started to join in. And then, and then off we went.

DAVID: That's the other thing about Neil, he collects people, doesn't he? So he'll just go, “Oh, yeah, I've phoned up Frances McDormand, she's up for it.” Yeah. You're, what?

MICHAEL: “I emailed Jon Hamm.”

DAVID: Yeah.

MICHAEL: And yeah, and you realize how beloved he is and how beloved his work is. And I think we would both recognise that Good Omens is one of the most beloved of all of Neil's stuff.

DAVID: Yes.

MICHAEL: And had never been turned into anything.

DAVID: Yeah.

MICHAEL: And so the kind of responsibility of that, I mean, for me, for someone who has been a fan of him and a fan of the book for so long, I can empathize with all the fans out there who are like, “Oh, they better not fuck this up.”

DAVID: Yes.

MICHAEL: “And this had better be good.” And I have that part of me. But then, of course, the other part of me is like, “But I'm the one who might be fucking it up.”

DAVID: Yeah.

MICHAEL: So I feel that responsibility as well.

DAVID: But we have Neil on site.

MICHAEL: Yes. Well, Neil being the showrunner …

DAVID: Yeah. I think it takes the curse off.

MICHAEL: … I think it made a massive difference, didn't it? Yeah. You feel like you're in safe hands.

DAVID: Well, we think. Not that the world has seen it yet.

MICHAEL (grimly): No, I know.

DAVID: But it was a -- it's been a -- it's been a joy to work with you on it. I can't wait for the world to see it.

MICHAEL: Oh my God. Oh, well, I mean, it's the only, I've done a few things where there are two people, it's a bit of a double act, like Frost-Nixon and The Queen, I suppose, in some ways. But, and I've done it, Amadeus or whatever.

This is the only thing I've done where I really don't think of it as “my character” or “my performance as that character”. I think of it totally as us.

DAVID: Yeah.

MICHAEL: The two of us.

DAVID: Yes.

MICHAEL: Like they, what I do is defined by what you do.

DAVID: Yeah.

MICHAEL: And that was such a joy to have that experience. And it made it so much easier in a way as well, I found, because you don't feel like you're on your own in it. Like it's totally us together doing this and the two characters totally complement each other. And the experience of doing it was just a real joy.

DAVID: Yeah. Well, I hope the world is as excited to see it as we are to talk about it, frankly.

MICHAEL: You know, there's, having talked about T.S. Eliot earlier, there's another bit from The Wasteland where there's a line which goes, These fragments I have shored against my ruin.

And this is how I think about life now. There is so much in life, no matter what your circumstances, no matter what, where you've got, what you've done, how much money you got, all that. Life's hard. I mean, you can, it can take you down at any point.

You have to find this stuff. You have to like find things that will, these fragments that you hold to yourself, they become like a liferaft, and especially as time goes on, I think, as I've got older, I've realized it is a thin line between surviving this life and going under.

And the things that keep you afloat are these fragments, these things that are meaningful to you and what's meaningful to you will be not-meaningful to someone else, you know. But whatever it is that matters to you, it doesn't matter what it was you were into when you were a teenager, a kid, it doesn't matter what it is. Go and find them, and find some way to hold them close to you.

Make it, go and get it. Because those are the things that keep you afloat. They really are. Like doing that with him or whatever it is, these are the fragments that have shored against my ruin. Absolutely.

DAVID: That's lovely. Michael, thank you so much.

MICHAEL: Thank you.

DAVID: For talking today and for being here.

MICHAEL: Oh, it's a pleasure. Thank you.

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