#moore’s mid-century | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

writingwithcolor · 5 months

Text

Non-offensive Historical terms for Black people in historical fiction

@pleasespellchimerical asked:

So writing historical fiction, with a white POV character. I'm not sure how to address race in the narration. I do have a Black main character, and I feel like it'd feel out of place to have the narrator refer to her as 'Black', that being a more modern term. Not sure how to do this without dipping into common historical terms that are considered racist today. Thoughts on how to handle this delicately, not pull readers out of the narrative? (fwiw, the POV character has a lot of respect for the Black character. The narration should show this)

There are non-offensive terms you can use, even in historical fiction. We can absolutely refer to Black people without slurs, and if slurs is all one can come up with, it’s time to go back to the drawing board. I cannot say which terms are best for your piece without knowing the time period, but hopefully the list below helps.

Historical terms to use for Black people (non-offensive)

African American documented as early as 1782 (documented in an ad in the Pennsylvania Journal). Note the identity isn’t accurate for non-American Black people.

African could refer to African people or “from 1722 as ‘of or pertaining to black Americans.’”

The place of origin could also be used. For example, “a Nigerian woman”

Africo-American documented as early as 1788.

People of Color documented as early as 1796 (with specific contexts, usually mixed people)

Afro American documented as early as 1817, 1831 (depending on source)

Black American documented as early as 1831

Black was used in Old English to refer to dark-skinned people. Black was not capitalized until recent years, so “She was a young black woman.” would make sense to say, though “She was a young Black woman.” is the better standard today, although not universally adopted. I personally prefer it capitalized.

Moor was used as early as the late 1400s for North African people, but had a somewhat flexible use where anyone visibly Black / Of African descent or the Afro Diaspora might be referred to or assumed as a Moor. Note, it has other meanings too, such as referring to Muslim people, but that doesn’t mean the person using it is going by the dictionary definition. Not really the way to go today, but okay in a historical setting (in my opinion).

Biracial (1860s), mixed race (1872), multiracial (1903) and multicultural (1940s) are also terms to refer to people of two or more races.

Occupation + description. Throughout history, many people have been referred to as their occupation. For example, the Carpenter, The Baker, the Blacksmith. Here’s an example of how you might go about using occupation and traits to identify a Black character in history. Here’s an example I came up with on the fly.

“You should go by Jerry’s. He’s the best blacksmith this town’s ever seen. Ya know, the real tall, dark-skinned, curly haired fellow. Family’s come here from Liberia.”

Offensive and less-sensitive terms for Black people

Blacks was used in plural more, but this is generally offensive today (Even writing it gives me **Thee ick*)

Colored was mostly used post-civil war until the mid 20th century, when it became unacceptable. This is not to be conflated with the South African Coloured ethnic group.

Negro/Negroes were also used as early as the 1550s. Capitalization became common in the early 20th century. I'm sure you know it is offensive today, though, admittedly, was not generally seen as such until around the 1960s, when Black replaced it. It does have its contexts, such as the trope “The Magical Negro” but going around using the term or calling someone that today is a lot different.

Mulatto referred to mixed people, generally Black and white, and is offensive today.

The N-word, in all its forms, is explicitly a slur, and there is absolutely no need to use it, especially in a casual manner, in your story. We’ve written about handling the N-word and alluding to it “if need be” but there are other ways to show racism and tension without dropping the word willy-nilly.

Deciding what to use, a modern perspective

I’m in favor of authors relying on the less offensive, more acceptable terms. Particularly, authors outside of the race. Seldom use the offensive terms except from actual direct quotes.

You do not have to use those offensive terms or could at least avoid using them in excess. I know quite famous stories do, but that doesn’t mean we have to so eagerly go that route today. Honestly, from teachers to school, and fellow non-Black students, it’s the modern day glee that people seem to get when they “get a chance to say it” that makes it worse and also makes me not want to give people the chance.

It goes back to historical accuracy only counting the most for an “authentic experience” when it means being able to use offensive terms or exclude BIPOC from stories. We’ve got to ask ourselves why we want to plaster certain words everywhere for the sake of accuracy when there are other just as accurate, acceptable words to use that hurt less people.

Disclaimer: Opinions may vary on these matters. But just because someone from the group cosigns something by stating they’re not offended by it, doesn’t mean a whole lot of others are okay with it and their perspectives are now invalid! Also, of course, how one handles the use of these words as a Black person has a different connotation and freedom on how they use them.

~Mod Colette

The colonial context

Since no country was mentioned, I’m going to add a bit about the vocabulary surrounding Black people during slavery, especially in the Caribbean. Although, Colette adds, if your Black characters are slaves, this begs the question why we always gotta be slaves.

At the time, there were words used to describe people based on the percentage of Black blood they had. Those are words you may find during your searches but I advise you not to use them. As you will realize if you dive a bit into this system, it looks like a classifying table. At the time, people were trying to lighten their descent and those words were used for some as a sort of rank. Louisiana being French for a time, those expressions were also seen there until the end of the 19th century.

The fractions I use were the number of Black ancestors someone had to have to be called accordingly.

Short-list here :

½ : mûlatre or mulatto

¼ or ⅛ : quarteron or métis (depending on the island, I’m thinking about Saint-Domingue, Martinique and Guadeloupe)

1/16 : mamelouk

¾ : griffe or capre

⅞ : sacatra

In Saint-Domingue, it could go down to 1/64, where people were considered sang-mêlé (mixed blood for literal translation, but “HP and the Half-Blood Prince” is translated “HP et le Prince de Sang-Mêlé” in French, so I guess this is another translation possibility).

-Lydie

Use the 3rd person narrative to your advantage

If you are intent on illustrating historical changes in terminology consider something as simple as showing the contrast between using “black” for first person character narration, but “Black” for 3rd person narrator omniscient.

-Marika

Add a disclaimer

I liked how this was addressed in the new American Girl books it’s set in Harlem in the 1920’s and there’s a paragraph at the beginning that says “this book uses the common language of the time period and it’s not appropriate to use now”

-SK

More reading:

NYT: Use of ‘African-American’ Dates to Nation’s Early Days

The Etymology dictionary - great resource for historical fiction

Wikipedia: Person of Color

#Black #terms #words #historical fiction #Black history #Creator Responsibility #racial slurs #slurs #asks

2K notes · View notes

spnscripthunt · 4 months

Text

Deadline’s Read the Screenplay series spotlighting the year’s most talked-about scripts continues with Nimona, Netflix‘s animated feature based on ND Stevenson’s 2015 National Book Award-nominated graphic novel about finding friendship in the most surprising situations and accepting yourself and others for who they are.

Nick Bruno and Troy Quane (co-directors of Spies In Disguise) directed the film, which was adapted by Big Hero 6 scribe Robert L. Baird and Spies co-writer Lloyd Taylor and features the voices of Riz Ahmed and Chloë Grace Moretz in the lead roles. Frances Conroy, Lorraine Toussaint, RuPaul Charles, Eugene Lee Yang, Indya Moore, Sarah Sherman and Beck Bennett also have voice roles.

A family-focused film with authentic queer themes set in a vibrant techno-medieval world (credit to teams at Blue Sky Studios and DNEG Animation), the plot centers on Ballister Boldheart (Ahmed), a knight in a futuristic medieval world, who is framed for a crime he didn’t commit. The only one who can help him prove his innocence is Nimona (Moretz), a mischievous teen with a taste for mayhem — who also happens to be a shapeshifting creature Ballister has been trained to destroy.

Baird and Taylor said their main challenge in the adaptation was to stay true to Stevenson’s story while morphing it from the episodic form of the novel to a feature-length narrative – in itself a process of shapeshifting that mirrors one of the novel’s core themes.

Nimona, which was just nominated for Best Animated Film at the Critics Choice Awards, had a long path to travel to get to its world premiere at the Annecy Animation Festival in June, followed by a theatrical run ahead of its release on Netflix on June 30.

Then-20th Century Fox’s Blue Sky originally optioned Stevenson’s novel the year it was published, and the project moved forward despite the Disney-Fox merger and then the pandemic. But it almost didn’t survive a third blow: Disney shuttered Blue Sky in April 2021, halting Nimona mid-production.

Blue Sky principals Baird and Andrew Millstein kept pushing on the the project however and eventually found a partner in Annapurna’s Megan Ellison, who sparked to its themes. Baird and Millstein became EPs and created Shapeshifter Films to complete the movie, which then landed at Netflix. The pair have since joined Ellison at her company, forming Annapurna Animation.

Click here to read the script.

#nd stevenson #nimona #fyc scripts #scripts #screenplays #admin: lets-steal-an-archive

219 notes · View notes

thisisnotthenerd · 6 months

Text

ok, i know i put a poll up and that relationship tracking won the poll for what came next on the stats series.

but consider this: relationship tracking takes so goddamn long. i had already started it by the time that i put the poll up, and as of now i'm still not done. granted the list is comprehensive: romantic, platonic, familial, and adversarial relationships, separated by pc-npc and pc-pc. for every season.

anyway, i started tracking character ages in the meantime while i build up the motivation to finish the relationship tracking.

without further ado:

d20 character ages

some of these are listed in the wiki. some of these are based on vibes and more vague indications from the seasons in question. all of them have some element of my commentary. if there isn't an age given i will explain why. it's in the seating chart because that compacts the format into an understandable block and not an infinitely long list.

to be clear, some of these are confirmed with actual numbers, but some aren't, and i'm listing them as unknown and offering my opinion in place of a confirmed number.

fantasy high freshman year: i am convinced that the ages the cast give are vibes based. as someone who did not fit the normal age range of high school, i can tell you that in the US, freshmen are typically 14-15, sophomores 15-16, juniors 16-17, and seniors 17-18. that's not to say that someone can't fall out of those ranges. i did. anyway:

fig faeth: ~15. this is a rough estimate--she'd be born just after fall cutoff for her year to start at 15.

gorgug thistlespring: 14-15. he was confirmed 14 at the start of the season, and presumably turns 15 at some point during the year.

adaine abernant: 14-15. this is based on the fact that she turns 16 before the events of sophomore year

fabian seacaster: 16. a bit older than your average freshman, but i knew people who were 16 freshman year, so it's not that weird.

kristen applebees: 15-16. again a bit older than your average freshman, but younger than fabian.

riz gukgak: 14. this was confirmed in episode 13 iirc. riz is the youngest of the party

escape from the bloodkeep: this party has some major age differences that are very unclear. no real confirmed ages.

maggie: unknown. she and zaul'nazh had been in a relationship for ~100 years, so she's probably got a good couple of centuries under her belt

leiland: unknown. similar deal to maggie--he spent centuries serving zaul'nazh. how many? who knows

efink murderdeath: unknown. she's a tolkienesque high elf. if we go full lotr comparison to arwen, she's over 2000 by the time she marries percival.

sokhbarr: unknown. again, we don't really get confirmation of an age for him--he's just kind of an ageless bog-lord.

lilith: old as time. she ate the stars. definitely the oldest of the party.

markus st. vincent: unknown. human, so he has a human lifespan. i'd pin him in his 30s. given that his closest comparison is probably faramir, who's 35 at the start of the war of the ring, i think 30s tracks.

the unsleeping city: here we have a mix of confirmed ages and some straight up vibes.

ricky matsui: late 20s early 30s. more specifically around 26-31. this is vibes-based. i based this on his career progression.

sofia lee: early-mid 30s. another vibes-based one. again based on career progression. she feels a little older than ricky and pete, but not by much. married to dale for 5 years, so if they got married when she was in her late 20s, this tracks.

kingston brown: 55. thank god a confirmed number.

misty moore: ~400. at least that's how long she's been on earth. this actually comes from tucii. i'd put her misty form in late 70s early 80s, and her rowan form in her mid 20s.

kugrash: ~60, based on his 30 years as a rat druid.

pete conlan: younger than 31. this is based on a reference ally makes in tucii to big business (1988), so i aged him back three years. i would guess mid-late 20s during tuc; he mentions not having seen his dad in 6 years. assuming pete fully transitioned during college/around college age, it would make sense for him to be around 25-28 during the first unsleeping city.

tiny heist: some of these characters just straight up don't age, so they don't really count when evaluating age.

rick diggins: unknown. he's a clicko man. he cannot age except in spirit.

boomer coleoptera: unknown. vaguely middle-aged, though that might just be clint mcelroy's general dad energy

agnes: elderly. no confirmed number, though she's old enough to have a grandma schtick, a reputation, and a terminal illness prognosis of 2 months

ti-83: a teen. and that's all we know. probably younger than bean.

bean: late teens early 20s. a vague range, but at least it's something.

car-go jones: another ageless toy. at least a decade in human years, if we estimate that max got him at a similar age that he gives him to dylan.

a crown of candy: finally some goddamn numbers.

liam wilhelmina: 17-18. he starts at 17 and turns 18 in ep 15 iirc.

theobald gumbar: ~50. this tracks for him assisting lazuli and being amethar's friend during the war

jet rocks: 18. and she never lived past 18.

saccharina frostwhip: 23-24. this tracks for her being born around the ravening war, before the rocks sisters were killed.

ruby rocks: 18. and she keeps living.

amethar rocks: 48. reasonable. he'd have been in his mid 20s during the ravening war.

lapin cadbury: old man. yes that is the actual entry. i'd say he's probably 10-15 years older than amethar to really be considered old.

cumulous rocks: late 30s early 40s. tracks for being created by lazuli while theo was starting his knighthood under her.

fantasy high sophomore year: i'm halfway convinced that the intrepid heroes just don't know how old high schoolers are. granted, they may be going for general teen, i.e. 13+1d6, so the more batshit stuff they do comes across as a little more normal. it's like having actors in their 20s play teens. except they're actually dnd characters. and they're in their 30s.

fig faeth: 16-17. another rough estimate for fig.

gorgug thistlespring: 17. a little funky, since he was 14 at the start of fhfy. the principle of 13+1d6 comes across here

adaine abernant: 16. her age range for the year is 15-16, which is normal for a high school sophomore.

fabian seacaster: 18. definitely stretching it a bit. the listed current age is 18-19, which i'm assuming is using boy's night as reference.

kristen applebees: 16-17, which tracks with her progression from freshman year

riz gukgak: 16. confirmed in ep 14 iirc. since he was 14 in feb of freshman year, and assuming spring break is ~april, he has a spring birthday.

pirates of leviathan: there's a pretty clear split of age groups in this season--the first to introduce adults in spyre.

sunny biscotto: 18. her first adventure as an independent person, even though it was technically her running away from home.

barbarella sarsaparilla gainglynn: 22. it tracks; she grew up isolated on leviathan and isn't super far into her career, though she has a pretty strong base

cheese stormcrank: 16. the youngest of the party, even though he's his family breadwinner. the left table is the young people in this party.

myrtle: 30. aabria calls her a 'dirty thirty'. so that may not be exact.

jack brakkow: late 50s equivalent. granted he's a ratkin, and middle age starts at 25 for them, with old landing at 40. so he may actually be younger, probably closer to myrtle's age if not a little older.

marcid the typhoon: unknown. he's never given a specific age. given that he's known myrtle for a long time, and at some point was nearly drowned in a shipwreck, i'm going to put him in his 30s as well.

the unsleeping city chapter ii: again, a mix of confirmed ages and vibes.

ricky matsui: early 30s. 29-34. this is just three years aged up from the first unsleeping city.

sofia lee: mid 30s. another age-up from

kingston brown: 58. thank god a confirmed number.

iga lisowski: 45. it feels like she kind of plays up the old lady schtick for her job, bc 45 isn't that old.

rowan berry: ~400. at least that's how long she's been on earth. rowan form in her mid 20s.

cody walsh: 26. this is a 26 year old hot topic manager with 12 swords and extreme mediocrity. truly a character designed to cause chaos.

pete conlan: younger than 34. again based on the reference ally makes in tucii to big business (1988). i'd put him at around 28-31. definitely around cody's age, a little older, but not much.

mice & murder: they are animals using variant human stats, so they're using human ages.

gangie green: 55. he definitely acts younger in certain circumstances.

buckster $ boyd: unknown. probably younger than gangie--late 40s perhaps? we know he's a gemini.

daisy d'umpstaire: almost 60. she's past her prime and wondering if she really wants to do this for the rest of her life

ian prescott: unknown. definitely middle aged, probably around buckster's age.

lars vandenchomp: 18, supposedly in dog years. also a cancer. i don't know how, given that they served in the schnauzer war and supposedly have a business degree.

sylvester cross: 55. another person past his prime, and wondering what's he's doing with the rest of his life.

misfits & magic: the first school season to actually have consistent ages, assuming they're entering as sixth years who were in their junior year in the us.

whitney jammer: 16. born around 2005.

k | dream: 17. born around 2004

sam black: 16. another 2005 baby

evan kelmp: 17. born around 2003. this tracks for him not having formal education-- a little old for the grade.

the seven: the first spyre school season to have the ages be consistent. the ladies know teenagerhood well.

the fact they lost a year or so in the palimpsests makes placing their grades a little fuzzier: we know sam, ostentatia, and zelda get taken during the school year. penny goes missing just before the start of the year, and antiope, katja, and danielle get taken beforehand.

antiope jones: 18. she lost a year in the palimpsest, so she's technically a super senior, making her a junior during fhfy.

katja cleaver: 18. another technical super senior, who was a junior during fhfy.

penny luckstone: 18. again, she lost her junior year during fhfy.

danielle barkstock: 16-17. i'd say 17, because that makes her a sophomore during fhfy--she'd have repeated the year to be a junior during the seven.

ostentatia wallace: 16-17. leaning toward 17 again, but younger than danielle. we don't get full confirmation of how old she is/what grade she's in during fhfy, but given the fact that she's established enough to host a party at her house during fhfy, i'd say she's a sophomore, and that's the year she repeats.

sam nightingale: 18. i'd say close to 19, because she's definitely in penelope's age group if not grade, and i'm pretty sure i recall penelope being a senior during fhfy. she may have been young for her grade initially, but came out on the other end after fhfy.

zelda donovan: 16-17. leaning towards 16 for zelda; she's a freshman with the bad kids during fhfy, and is the last maiden to be captured, at some point during the second semester. she could conceivably retake classes over the summer and catch up in order to be a sophomore the same year as the bad kids.

shriek week: this is a college season, so they're college aged. i don't have that much to say--we know exactly how old they are.

terry talbo: 22

megan mirror: 23

tuti iv: 21

seven: 22

a starstruck odyssey: there's a mix here--some vagueness, some numbers. in-universe their ages would be counted differently anyway, since they work off of 6-month cycles and not 12-month years.

gunnie miggles-rashbax: mid 30s. he's got two PhDs and a master's as well as a cyborg body and years of trying to pay off debt.

riva: unknown. it's reasonable to assume that they're on the younger side, given that they are on their galavant. i'd assume around early-mid 20s for their species.

norman takamori: unknown. based on the art and his general timeline, i'd say ~40s. maybe 50s.

skip | valdrinor: unknown. he's a cerebroslug who was presumably raised somewhere, tried to escape, ended up in space and then in a crate of powdered egg substitute.

margaret encino: 24. a savant who began working at 18. truly a girlboss on a quarter life crisis.

sundry sidney: n/a. she's an android--aging doesn't really apply to her. i think it's only been a year or so since the line was shut down, since it's been revamped as the warfare whitneys.

big barry syx: 38. this also carries over to barry nyne. we know barry bohunk created the barry battalion before anarchera 200 (current=220), but they were born as 25 year old beautiful big boys. in short, barry's age is a little questionable.

coffin run: another age split season, since half of the party is immortal.

aleksandr astrovsky: 41. young to be florina's zayde. also 15 sons? especially when he and marina had not been in contact for ~7 years? insane.

squing: old as time. younger than dracula, but only just. just a squishy headed vampire who eats letters.

wetzel: 26. has not even lived a majority of his lifetime and already wants to be a vampire.

may wong: 24. granted that's because she was turned at 24 so as to be eternally young and hot, so she's a bit older than that probably.

a court of fey and flowers: they are archfey that don't die. blooms are centuries apart. assume these age ranges are going to be like the bloodkeep ranges.

andhera: unknown. younger than most of the fae--he's the current heir to the unseelie, but has had many siblings who died previously in pursuit of the throne. most of the others knew them when they were younger; hob unhorsing him on the field of battle is only one example. so definitely like just of age for this prince.

k.p. hob: unknown. definitely older than andhera and likely binx, he's in the prime of his military career. getting closer to middle age, but still a relatively eligible bachelor, given that the goblin court sought to make a marriage alliance with lady sylmenar.

chirp featherfowl: unknown. i'd put her at the archfey equivalent of late 20s early 30s just based on vibes. she's still getting down at the bloom but has a 4 year old at home on the material plane.

squak airavis: unknown. i'd say slightly younger than chirp, but they've been cousins for so long that the difference is irrelevant. late 20s, getting down and breaking hearts at the bloom. considering marriage but shopping around.

delloso de la rue: unknown. rue is a little tricky--they were brought to the court of wonder as a child and presumably aged normally to that point, but they've been an archfey ever since. closer to hob's age than the lords of the wing.

binx choppley: unknown. the crisis of the court of craft happened relatively recently in fey terms and she was an adult by that point, though not truly the leader at the time. i'd say she's older than andhera, younger than the lords of the wing.

neverafter: some weird age splits in this party; kids, adults, inexplicable trickster spirits.

rosamund du prix: 18. technically 118, but that doesn't really matter.

timothy goose: unknown. he's old enough to have greying hair and an adult son--late 40s-early 50s maybe?

pinocchio: 12. this is based on both him and ylfa being 21 during the epilogue, so i'm assuming they're the same/a similar age.

puss in boots/pib: unknown. we meet him when he's on the older side for a cat, but also he's an eternally reincarnating trickster spirit, so that doesn't really matter.

gerard of greenleigh: 32. the other adult in the party, even though he doesn't have everything figured out.

ylfa snorgelsson: 12. this is confirmed in story, and she and pinocchio are the same age.

the ravening war: this season is a little weird because of the time skip and the fact that some ages are unconfirmed.

delissandro katzon: starts at 19, 21 after the first timeskip, 26 after the second. a young man.

raphaniel charlock: unknown. i'd say he starts in his late 60s and ends the season in his mid-70s. old enough to be deteriorating and have specific signs of age, but still spry enough to pull off a cunning action dash.

karna solara: 14 to start, 16 post-timeskip 1, 21 post-timeskip 2. rotting from a young age.

colin provolone: unknown. i'd place him in his late 20s to start, mid 30s by the end, based on his art and the start of cheese pattern baldness.

amangeaux epiceé du peche: unknown. mid 20s to start, early 30s by the end. she and her husband had been trying for heirs for a while--assuming she married young, she's not past her prime, but not having a kid in her position would be a little sus. also the fact that she must have had a relatively healthy uncomplicated pregnancy points to her still being pretty young to start.

dungeons & drag queens: a lot of variance here as well. mostly vibes-based.

troyánn: 242. she's got a combination of elf and immortal mermaid queen--this is reasonable.

princess foehammer: unknown. probably in her 20-30s.

gertrude: unknown. explicitly immortal--the only sign of age is her hair. she's been around for a while.

twyla: unknown. she's another fairy of unknown age.

mentopolis: some of these characters have stated ages. they are also concepts in a brain.

conrad schintz: 10. his growth has been stunted for years.

anastasia tension: 24. an up and coming journalist running form her rich family? say no more.

hunch curio: unknown. he's a concept in a brain. on vibes? 40s.

imelda pulse: unknown. i'd say she's probably around anastasia's age, given that they demonstrably grew up together.

dan fucks: unknown. another concept in a brain. 20-30s on the vibes alone.

the fix: unknown. concept in a brain. old enough to be a father and a contract killer is all i'll say.

burrow's end: this follows stoat aging--some of these are confirmed, some are guesses.

tula: 1-2 years old, leaning towards 2. old enough to have kids of a reasonable age, if the 1 year mark is adulthood (male stoats achieve sexual maturity at 10-11 months)

jaysohn: somewhere between 6 and 8 months old. growing up fast.

viola: 1-2 years old, same litter as tula. i looked up stoat reproduction against recommendation.

thorn vale: 1-2 years old. in the vague adult range with tula and viola.

ava: 4 years old. potentially could live for 15 more winters. unbelievable.

lila: somewhere between 6 and 8 months old. same litter as jaysohn, but is the elder of the two of them.

and that's all for this time! despite being this long, this is still going to be shorter than the relationship tracking. as always the spreadsheet is available for perusal.

116 notes · View notes

scotianostra · 4 months

Text

15th of December 1900 is the most likely date that the three lighthouse keepers of the year old Flannan Isles Lighthouse disappeared.

The building of Flannan Lighthouse was plagued with accidents, several workers died or vanished while working on the lighthouse, it took about 4 years to complete. Legend has it the island was said to be inhabited by mysterious “little people.” Large birds also were said to live there, too, and have contact with these little people.

Na h-Eileanan Flannach is the Scottish Gaelic name of the small group of islands known in English as the Flannan Isles. They are a bird sanctuary and at times a place of beauty. At others these remote islands bear the brunt of severe Atlantic storms, which whip the seas into frenzy and force even the hardy gulls to stay sheltered in the cliff face crags. For many years they have remained uninhabited, the last residents of any length being the lighthouse keepers, who between 1899 and its automation in 1971, kept the light burning on the highest point of the island group, Eilean Mòr.

On the island of Eilean Mòr is the ruin of an old chapel dedicated to St Flannan. However, over many centuries for many of the Gaelic Hebridean community the islands have been viewed as a place of superstition and bad luck. A view that was reinforced by the tragic and mysterious events that befell the lighthouse keepers on Eilean Mòr in mid-December 1900.

It is the fate of the lighthouse keepers, James Ducat, Thomas Marshall, and Donald McArthur, in 1900; just over one year after the island’s lighthouse came into operation that is the cause of much mystery and speculation. For all three keepers disappeared without trace. It was on 15th December 1900 that the ship Archtor which was sailing for Scotland from Philadelphia had reported that as they passed the islands the lighthouse was not in operation. In those days there was no radio communication between the keepers on Eilean Mòr and the shore station of Breasclete on Lewis.

When the lighthouse tender arrived on 26th December 1900 having been delayed due to adverse conditions.

There was no welcome from the lighthouse keepers, no flag on the flagstaff and no provision boxes left for them as was customary.

The relief keeper Joseph Moore was sent to investigate further and found the main door and gate to the compound closed, the beds unmade and the clock stopped. They also found a set of oilskins, suggesting one of the keepers to have left without them – unusual and worrying considering the poor weather conditions that had been recorded in the log.

The island was scoured for clues, or any sign of the keepers, but nothing was found. The west landing had received considerable damage, with turf ripped up and a box of supplies destroyed, with its contents strewn about. The keepers log proved that this damage had occurred before the disappearance.

The log leading up to the men’s disappearance included some strange entries, with descriptions of an awful storm, high winds, and low spirits amongst the keepers. There were however no reports of storms in the area in the days leading up to the disappearance, meaning that the poor weather conditions recorded in the log were either made up, or localised.

To this day no one knows what took place in the lighthouse that night, but many theories have developed over the years.

The more far-fetched of these theories suggest they had been carried away by a giant seabird, had been abducted by spies or had simply escaped to start new lives. The perhaps more plausible theories suggest that the keepers had been swept away when trying to secure a box in a crevice above sea level. Other theories suggest the psychology of the lighthouse keepers played a part. MacArthur had a reputation for brawling and was known to be violent. It is suggested by some that a fight broke out on the cliff edge, causing the men to fall to their deaths.

It was only after 1912, when English poet Wilfrid Wilson Gibson published his epic, Flannan Isle, that the story began to assume such an air of mystery, speculation, even intrigue. In general for lighthouse keepers themselves, there is no mystery and never has been, my uncle worked for the Lighthouse Board, and he says it was a freak wave that swept the men to their deaths, this is the assumption of many who worked the Islands around Scotland, but in truth we will never know what happened.

Flannan Lighthouse Memorial at Breasclete, Isle of Lewis , as seen in the pics, was unveiled in 2017.

#scotland #scottish #history #Mystery #disappearance #LIGHTHOUSE #Western Isles

32 notes · View notes

homomenhommes · 4 months

Text

THIS DAY IN GAY HISTORY

based on: The White Crane Institute's 'Gay Wisdom', Gay Birthdays, Gay For Today, Famous GLBT, glbt-Gay Encylopedia, Today in Gay History, Wikipedia, and more … December 14

c.530 – Venantius Fortunatus (d.circa 600/609) was a Latin poet and hymnodist in the Merovingian Court, and a Bishop of the early Catholic Church. He was never canonised but was venerated as Saint Venantius Fortunatus during the Middle Ages.

Born in Treviso, near Ravenna in Italy, he spent his time as court poet to the Merovingians. After visiting the tomb of St. Martin of Tours at St. Hilary at Poitiers, he decided to enter a monastery.

He continued to write poetry, some of which have a permanent place in Catholic hymnody, for instance the Easter season hymns "Vexilla Regis" and the "Pange Lingua" (Sing, O my tongue, of the battle). Three or four years before he died he was made bishop of Poitiers. Although never canonized, he was venerated as a saint in the medieval church, and his feast day is still recognized on 14th December each year.

Like Paulinus of Nola, St Venantius's poetry also includes some decidedly secular verse of the romantic sort. That this celebrates male love is clear from its inclusion in the Penguin Book of Homosexual Verse.

"Written on an Island off the Breton Coast" You at God's altar stand, His minister And Paris lies about you and the Seine: Around this Breton isle the Ocean swells, Deep water and one love between us twain. Wild is the wind, but still thy name is spoken; Rough is the sea: it sweeps not o'er they face. Still runs my lover for shelter to its dwelling, Hither, O heart, to thine abiding place. Swift as the waves beneath an east wind breaking Dark as beneath a winter sky the sea, So to my heart crowd memories awaking, So dark, O love, my spirit without thee.

Fortunatus died in the early 600s. He was called a saint after his death, but was never formally canonized.

1791 – Today is the birthday of the Irish poet Charles Wolfe (d.1823). Born at Blackhall, County Kildare, Wolfe attended Trinity College, Dublin between 1809 and 1814 and was ordained as a Church of Ireland priest in 1817. He is remembered for his poem "The Burial of Sir John Moore after Corunna", written in 1816 and much collected in 19th and early 20th century anthologies.

Wolfe's sexuality is often disputed, many believe he was homosexual. He certainly had an extremely intense friendship with the Rev. Thomas Meredith for whom he wrote two gushing epithets. Wolfe died from tuberculosis caught from a cow at the age of 32. Yes. A cow. Even into the mid-20th century tuberculosis was commonly transferred via milk.

1901 – King Paul of Greece (d.1964) reigned as king of Greece from 1947 to 1964. He may have been bi-sexual.

Paul was born in Athens, the third son of King Constantine I of Greece and his wife, Princess Sophia of Prussia. He was trained as a naval officer. On 9 January 1938, Paul married Frederika of Hanover at Athens. They had three children.

Before his marriage he is alleged to have invited the homosexual literary muse, Denham Fouts, on a cruise of the Aegean Sea, perhaps because they were lovers. However, Fouts's friend John B. L. Goodwin said Fouts often made up stories about his life, and literary critic Katherine Bucknell thought many of the tales about him were myth.

During most of World War II, when Greece was under German occupation, he was with the Greek government-in-exile in London and Cairo. From Cairo, he broadcast messages to the Greek people.

Paul returned to Greece in 1946. He succeeded to the throne in 1947, on the death of his childless elder brother, King George II.

1951 – Today's the birthday of American actor and puppetteer Paul Zaloom. He's best known for his role as the character Beakman on the television show Beakman's World, based on the Universal Press Syndicate syndicated comic strip You Can With Beakman and Jax created by Jok Church.

Paul Zaloom was educated at The Choate School (now Choate Rosemary Hall) in Wallingford, Connecticut, and began his entertainment career at Goddard College with artists in residence the Bread and Puppet Theater, a troupe specializing in self-invented, home-made theater. One of their performance locations was Coney Island, where Zaloom is said to have given advice to the "unofficial Mayor of Coney Island", Dick Zigun, on how to bring in the crowds. In his solo work he utilizes found-object animation, in which he takes objects as varied as coffee pots and humidifiers and turns them into elements of political satire. His personal politics are liberal; he has referred to Elizabeth Dole and Margaret Thatcher as "right wing nut jobs." He has also been a fierce critic of U.S. foreign policy since the early 1980s, having helped to lead a disarmament march during the Cold War.

In 1992 Zaloom starred in the cable TV children's science program Beakman's World. The show moved to CBS in 1993 and aired for four seasons. Zaloom has also written, designed and performed eleven full length one-man shows, including Fruit of Zaloom, Sick But True, Mighty Nice, and The Mother of All Enemies, the latter a shadow-puppet show featuring traditional Middle-Eastern comic puppet character Karagoz. His latest effort tackles social issues such as privacy, the war on terrorism, and discrimination based on sexual orientation and ethnicity. Aside from shadow puppetry, Zaloom's idiosyncratic work utilizes techniques such as overhead projection, government document expose, cantastoria picture performance, toy theater, as well as hand, rod, found object, and dummy puppets.

Zaloom has described himself as "a Gay, Buddhist, agnostic, quaker, secular humanist knucklehead."

1955 – Hervé Guibert (d.1991) was a French writer and photographer. The author of numerous novels and autobiographical studies, he played a considerable role in changing French public attitudes to AIDS. He was a close friend and lover of Michel Foucault.

Guibert was born in Saint-Cloud, Hauts-de-Seine, to a middle-class family and spent his early years in Paris, moving to La Rochelle from 1970 to 1973. In his teens Hervé Guibert lied about his age to work at the magazine 20 ans eventually leading to a job with Le Monde. After working as a filmmaker and actor, he turned to photography and journalism. In 1978, he successfully applied for a job at France's prestigious evening paper Le Monde and published his second book, Les aventures singulières (published by Éditions de minuit). In 1984, Guibert shared a César Award for best screenplay with Patrice Chéreau for L'homme blessé. Guibert had met Chéreau in the 1970s during his theatrical years.

Guibert's writing style was inspired by the French writer Jean Genet. Three of his lovers occupied an important place in his life and work: Thierry Jouno, director of an institute for the blind whom he met in 1976, and which led to his novel Des aveugles; Michel Foucault, whom he met in 1977; and Vincent Marmousez, a teenager of fifteen who inspired his novel Fou de Vincent.

In January 1988 Guibert was diagnosed with AIDS. From then on, he worked at recording what was left of his life. In June the following year, he married Christine, the partner of the late Thierry Jouno, so that his royalty income would eventually pass to her and her two children. In 1990, Guibert publicly revealed his HIV status in his roman à clef "À l'ami qui ne m'a pas sauvé la vie" (published in English as To the Friend Who Did Not Save My Life). Guibert immediately found himself the focus of media attention, featured in newspapers and appearing on several television talk shows.

Two more books also detailing the progress of his illness followed: Le Protocole compassionnel (published in English as The Compassionate Protocol) and L'Homme au chapeau rouge (published in English as The Man In The Red Hat), which was released posthumously in January 1992, the same month French television screened La Pudeur ou l'impudeur, a home-made film by Guibert of his last year as he lost his battle against AIDS. Almost blind as a result of disease, he attempted to end his life just before his 36th birthday, and died two weeks later.

1960 – Bob Paris, American bodybuilder and Gay rights advocate, born; The former Mr. Universe, and International Federation of BodyBuilders professional bodybuilder, Bob Paris is a writer, public speaker and civil rights activist. He acknowledged his sexuality in the July 1989 issue of Ironman magazine and has graced the covers of scores of magazines worldwide. After Paris officially came out as a Gay man in the media, he and his then-partner, Rod Jackson, became involved in marriage equality advocacy, started successful non-profits, lectured on a wide variety of Gay civil rights issues, and made many television, radio, newspaper and magazine appearances. The two separated in 1995. Today, Paris lives with his spouse of eleven years, Brian, on an island near Vancouver, British Columbia. Bob and Brian were legally married after Canada equalized the marriage laws in 2003.

In addition to his writing career, Bob Paris remains a committed civil rights advocate as well as a motivational speaker, model and actor. In 1998, he made his New York stage debut, starring at Carnegie Hall opposite Bea Arthur, Sandy Duncan and Tyne Daly in the Broadway musical, Jubilee as the character Mowgli. He is one of the subject of photographer Herb Ritts' gorgeous book, Duo. His official website is: http://www.bobparis.com/

1968 – Yotam Ottolenghi is an Israeli-English chef, restaurateur, and food writer. He is the co-owner of six delis and restaurants in London, as well as the author of several bestselling cookbooks, including Ottolenghi (2008), Plenty (2010), Jerusalem (2012) and Ottolenghi Simple (2018).

Ottolenghi was conscripted into the Israeli Defense Forces in 1989, serving three years in IDF intelligence headquarters. He then studied at the Adi Lautman Interdisciplinary Program for Outstanding Students of Tel Aviv University, where in 1997, he completed a combined bachelor's and master's degree in comparative literature; his thesis being on the philosophy of the photographic image. While working on his thesis, Ottolenghi served as a night copy editor for Haaretz.

In 1997, Ottolenghi and his then-partner Noam Bar moved to Amsterdam, where he edited the Hebrew section of the Dutch-Jewish weekly NIW and considered getting his doctorate in comparative literature. Instead, he moved to London to study French cooking at Le Cordon Bleu.

Ottolenghi met his partner Karl Allen in 2000; they married in 2012 and live in Camden with their two sons, Max and Flynn. In 2013, Ottolenghi "came out as a gay father" in a Guardian essay that detailed the lengthy process of conceiving Max via gestational surrogacy, an option that he believes should be more widely available to those who cannot conceive naturally.

Ottolenghi served as a pastry chef at three London restaurants: the Michelin-starred Capital Restaurant, Kensington Place, and Launceston Place in Kensington New Town. In 1999, he became head pastry chef at the artisanal pastry shop Baker and Spice, where he met the Palestinian chef Sami Tamimi, who grew up in Jerusalem's Old City. Ottolenghi and Tamimi bonded over a shared language—Hebrew—and a joint "incomprehension of traditional English food".

His debut cookbook Ottolenghi was published in 2008 and has sold over 100,000 copies. Six volumes have followed: the all-vegetable cookbooks Plenty (2010) and Plenty More (2014); Jerusalem (2012); Nopi (2015); the dessert cookbook Sweet (2017); and Ottolenghi Simple (2018).

Ottolenghi's bestselling cookbooks have proven influential, with The New York Times noting that they are "widely knocked-off for their plain-spoken instructions, puffy covers, and photographs [that Ottolenghi] oversees himself, eschewing a food stylist". In 2014, the London Evening Standard remarked that Ottolenghi had "radically rewritten the way Londoners cook and eat", and Bon Appetit wrote that he had "made the world love vegetables".

1989 – Amini Fonua is a Tongan competitive swimmer.

Fonua was born and raised in Ponsonby, Auckland, New Zealand to Tongan lawyer Sione Fonua and British-born mother Julie. He holds dual Tongan and New Zealand citizenship. His family includes two other sisters.

Fonua's swimming career began at the Roskill Swimming Club based at Cameron Pool in Auckland, coached by Sandra Burrow from 1999–2007. He broke numerous Auckland and New Zealand Age Group Records under Burrow's tenure. He then moved to West Auckland Aquatics in 2007, and was coached by Donna Bouzaid. In the Fall of 2008, Fonua enrolled at Texas A&M on a swimming scholarship. While at Texas A&M he was a peer voted Team Captain, Big XII Conference Champion, NCAA All-American, and recipient of The Aggie Heart Award. He graduated with a Telecommunication and Multi-Media degree, with a Minor in Creative Writing in May 2013.

He was the first Tongan swimmer to win a gold medal in international competition, when he took gold in the 50 metre breaststroke at the 2010 Oceania Swimming Championships.

In preparation for the 2012 London Olympics Fonua was trained by New Zealander and designated head coach for Tonga, Jon Winter. He served as his nation's flag-bearer in the 2012 Summer Olympics Parade of Nations. As a swimmer at the 2012 Summer Olympics, he competed in the Men's 100 metre breaststroke, failing to reach the semifinals.

Fonua made an international comeback at the 2015 Pacific Games in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. He created history by becoming the first ever Tongan athlete to ever win 3 Gold medals at a Pacific Games by sweeping the Breaststroke events, setting 2 Games Records in the process (50 m and 100 m Breaststroke). He is the only Tongan athlete in history to ever hold dual Oceania and Pacific Games titles.

Fonua is openly gay and an advocate for LGBT rights.

13 notes · View notes

annas-hair-donut · 3 months

Text

This comes from the next (last) chapter of Head Over Feet. Honestly not sure when I'll post this chapter, but not before Smut Week. Anyway, have some Kristanna cuteness til then!

🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻

Anna jumped at the ding of her email, just Olaf letting the office know the men’s restroom on the 4th floor would be out of order for the next three hours.

She took a deep breath and wiped her damp hands on her non-absorbent chiffon skirt. It wasn’t the right material for work, especially on a stressful day, but Anna was feeling particularly rebellious. And prepared.

She reached for the single strand of pearls hanging from her neck and twisted it around her fingers while she remembered how they got there.

She had been running late that morning because everything she tried on looked even more Laura Petrie than the one before, and Kristoff’s knock took her off guard.

“You’re not supposed to be here,” she whispered with her hands on her hips.

“I just need a second,” he said, and he looked her up and down as he shut the door behind him.

His smirk looked smug because Anna had smiled when she caught his eyes lingering.

Anna raked her eyes over every surface of his body, the crisp cleanness of his stiff collar, the sharp, symmetrical knot of his tie, the smooth chisel of his jaw, and the still wet helmet of blond hair protecting his head. He was dependable like a statue, but there was only so much he could withstand before a smile cracked through his lips and his eyes sparkled warm with devotion.

Anna lifted her hands to his cheeks so he wouldn’t crumble.

“I wanted to give this to you personally.” He handed her a box that must have barely fit in his jacket pocket.

Anna opened the white, unmarked box, flashing her eyes at him repeatedly as she did so. Inside was a magenta colored leather envelope, folded over with a snap.

Anna’s heart pounded when she looked at him with widened eyes.

His eyebrows shifted while half of his mouth curved a little more.

The bottom of the box fell to the floor as Anna opened the snap. Her fingers traced the strand of pearls, shiny with hints of pink and blue.

“Kristoff,” she said, her voice choking unexpectedly, “this is too much!”

He took the strand from the envelope and held the ends apart. Anna held her hair up as she turned around. He kissed the back of her neck before wrapping the pearls around it.

“You can’t be a real mid-century housewife without pearls.”

Anna snorted as she dropped her hair.

“Did you know that Mary Tyler Moore fought the network to wear pants for one scene in every episode of the Dick van Dyke Show?”

Anna smiled and he said, “You’re more powerful than you know.”

“You know a lot about classic tv!”

“Mary Tyler Moore was my first crush.” Then he whispered, “She still does it for me.”

Anna giggled and said, “Thank you, Kristoff. I love it.”

She wrapped her arms around his neck and whispered, “Almost as much as the strawberries.”

He pulled away and she said, “Olaf told me.”

She was pulled back to the present by another Outlook ding, a calendar appointment, followed by a knock on her door.

#wip wednesday #frozen #kristanna #frozen fanfic #kristanna fanfic #head over feet

8 notes · View notes

atomic-raunch · 5 months

Text

Cleo Moore

#cleo moore #pinup #vintage cheesecake #50’s pinup #40’s pinup #vintage sleaze #mid century pinup #old hollywood

180 notes · View notes

jabbage · 2 years

Text

Return to Hurlstone - the filming location of the 1986 Granada Sherlock Holmes 'Musgrave Ritual'

Ok, hold on tight everyone, this is about to get excruciatingly nerdy. On my watch-through of the excellent 1980s Granada Sherlock Holmes series I was really intrigued by the filming location for the fourth episode of the third series, The Musgrave Ritual - an eccentric moated manor house, which forms the setting for a treasure hunt in the show.

After some googling I worked out that the episode was filmed at Baddesley Clinton, which happens to be close to where I live. I had to go on my own little adventure to see what's there today, 36 years after filming! I think it gave me some fun insights into a few of the decisions the filmmakers made.

A little bit about Baddesley Clinton

Baddesley Clinton is a National Trust property in Warwickshire. Pay the (...fairly pricy imo) entrance fee and you can walk around the house and grounds, and enjoy amenities like a cafe, second hand bookshop in the stables and plant shop.

The house is incredibly interesting in its own right and has been inhabited by a colourful cast of characters over the years, mostly members of the Ferrers family. Perhaps most important for the setting of the Musgrave Ritual is the 'Victorian Quartet', two artistically-minded couples who lived at the house together in the mid 19th century and made extensive repairs and restorations. Their mediaevalesque tastes are responsible for its unique look, full of dark Tudor panelling, intricate carvings and paintings by Rebecca, a member of the Quartet.

The house was given to the National Trust in 1980 by the last member of the Ferrers family to inherit it, just six years before filming on The Musgrave Ritual took place.

The House Exterior

Because the Musgrave Ritual is a treasure hunt complete with pacing out steps and trees as landmarks, getting a real-world location which matches the description in Arthur Conan Doyle's story would be impossible. The writer for the episode Jeremy Paul notes in the script book for the episode that Baddesly Clinton itself helped to shape the story and direction.

For example, while the original short story involves the shadow of an oak tree and an elm tree, the filmmakers realised they could add an additional twist in the tale...

There was also an 'oak and sun' problem, solved, as if by an act of God, by the fortuitous presence of a weather vane with an ornamental oak on its top.

I was really hopeful that the oak tree weather vane would still be there since it apparently belonged to the house, but alas, the top of the weather vane seems to have been replaced at some point.

I was able to match up various shots in the approach to the house though, and consider how the filmmakers had cleverly used zoom and lens focal length to make things seem closer or further away than they are in reality.

The Water Door

One element which is also thankfully still intact is the water door, which is responsible for one of the most enjoyably goofy shots of the episode as Holmes seems to glide across the water before we cut to a side shot to see that Watson is actually rowing him across. Again, this isn't an element which is present in the original story but which Jeremy Paul suggests was inspired by the filming location:

We had fun with the notion that Holmes' steps led him to the edge of the moat, forcing him to cross to the house by rowing boat. Such visual conceits cannot be claimed as part of the dramatist's skills, but this one in particular offered me some reflected glory.

The only real change I could see is that there is now a small wooden jetty in front of the door, and no stone platform beneath it. There was also a weird little pedalo moored there. Some googling shows that it's been there over ten years, and I'd love to know where it came from!

If you're wondering what's BEHIND that door, then... look, if anyone from the National Trust is reading this then er... I just peeked in the keyhole, ok?

Ooh. Box files. Spooky.

The Great Hall

This room appears throughout the episode. Much of the furniture is different (most notably the chairs) but the layout of the room remains pretty much the same.

Note that for the episode the electric lights have been removed and little pictures hung up in front of the holes where they came from! Sneaky ;D

(Gasp, Holmes no! Don't put your feet on the furniture!)

I was really excited by the tapestry hanging on the wall as it is the backdrop for a memorable scene where Watson is trying desperately to keep the conversation with their host together while Holmes is high as a kite.

Please feel free to use the image below as a Zoom background so that you can cackle wildly at your friends, family or work colleagues in a way which will make them think you've been at the seven percent solution.

The Kitchen

The kitchen appears briefly as the butler Brunton cleans his piccolo (...not an innuendo), and as far as I can tell all of the furniture is still the same as it was in 1986.

There is also a scene with Branston in the stables cleaning his piccolo (... that is an innuendo this time). There are stables at the house, but I couldn't pick out any distinguishing features to know if they were used for filming.

The Dining Room

The dining room makes an appearance for a breakfast scene where poor Watson gets hot coffee spilt on him by a hysterical maid. I wasn't able to wander freely through this room so I couldn't get any shots matching angles from the show, but you can clearly see the ornate cabinet that Holmes is sat in front of:

The Grounds

Tumblr only allows ten images per post so I won't post a lot of the grounds which are lovely - perhaps I'll do a follow up post sometime!

There are lakes a-plenty where someone could find the crown of England and/or a dead body. I did spend a while trying to match some of the shots where Holmes is sat on a bench wrapped on a blanket looking grumpy, but I think that the benches have all been replaced and are in different places.

So, that's about it! If you're ever in Warwickshire, I definitely recommend paying Baddesley Clinton a visit.

Just don't go down into any cellars with heavy doors over them, ok?

#granada holmes #granada sherlock holmes #musgrave ritual #sherlock holmes #jeremy brett #edward hardwicke

381 notes · View notes

ploppythespaceship · 10 months

Text

The New Prime Timeline - A Star Trek Theory

This week's episode of Strange New Worlds, "Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow," did something that I cannot stop thinking about. This episode changed the date of the Eugenics Wars -- and not accidentally. It was clearly done very deliberately, with the writers directly referencing the original date to make it clear that they knew what they were doing. After another rewatch, I just kept asking myself -- why? Why would the writers change this?

And after much pondering and a bit of research into the franchise's history, I think I have an answer. Something that explains not only why the writers would do this, but why it's actually a smart decision -- and some of the interesting implications. It's also led me to a theory about the new batch of Trek shows, which is probably reading too far into it, but is fun to think about regardless.

TL;DR -- most of the modern Trek shows are actually set in a very slightly alternate timeline from the rest of the franchise, created by Romulans interfering with Earth's history, which follows the same general course of events but has subtle alterations.

(After poking around in the tags a bit, it seems I am not the only person who came to a similar conclusion, but I spent several hours on this post and want to share it anyway.)

Join me under the cut for far too deep of a dive into fictional history.

Defining the Events

First, I have to define what events we're even talking about.

The Eugenics Wars were a series of conflicts on Earth after a group of genetically engineered Augments seized power -- the most famous of these being Khan Noonien Singh. The Augments were eventually overthrown, with Khan and his followers escaping to the sleeper ship Botany Bay. The result of these wars was a deep-seated fear and distrust of all genetic engineering within the Federation, leading to the practice being outlawed.

World War III, comparatively, we don't know as much about. It was a devastating worldwide conflict that killed hundreds of millions, and it's intrinsically connected to the Eugenics Wars.

First Contact happened in the aftermath of World War III. When Zefram Cochrane constructed Earth's first warp-capable ship, a passing Vulcan ship caught it on their sensors and chose to make contact with the planet. This ushered in a new age for humanity, leading to world peace and the formation of Earth's socialist utopia. It was a pivotal step towards the ultimate foundation of the Federation.

Dating the Events

So when did these events take place? For the most part, this is fairly easy to pin down.

The Eugenics Wars are consistently dated to the 1990s -- specifically 1992 to 1996. This is established in the TOS episode "Space Seed" and later confirmed by the ENT episode "Borderland."

(The DS9 episode "Doctor Bashir, I Presume?" seems to contradict this, with Bashir stating that the Eugenics Wars were two centuries prior -- placing them in the 22nd century. However, writer Ronald D. Moore has said this was an error on his part -- he borrowed the line from "Space Seed" without accounting for the setting difference. Therefore, I feel pretty comfortable ignoring this one discrepancy outright.)

World War III is dated to the mid 21st century, with the rough dates of 2026 to 2053. The 2026 date comes from a production resource image used in the ENT episode "In a Mirror, Darkly" -- though I do think it should be taken with a grain of salt, considering it gets the First Contact date wrong. The 2053 date, on the other hand, is more certain -- both First Contact and the ENT episode "Terra Prime" state that First Contact occurred ten years after the end of the war, and First Contact has a definitive date of April 5, 2063.

The Problem

So those are the established dates -- Eugenics Wars in the 90s, World War III in the mid 21st century, and First Contact in 2063. However, a few episodes from the 90s and 2000s seem to clash with these dates.

First, we have the VOY episode "Future's End," a time-travel two-parter set in 1996. This would put it either during or directly after the Eugenics Wars, but the episode has absolutely no mention of this. This was intentional -- producer Jeri Taylor stated, "I think those of us who entered into the Nineties realize that the Eugenics Wars simply aren't happening and we chose not to falsify our present, which is a very weird thing to do and be true to it." They also didn't want to alienate casual viewers by having to explain the Eugenics Wars to them.

Second, we have the ENT episode "Carpenter Street," another time-travel episode, this time set in 2004. This is still close enough to the Eugenics Wars to expect seeing some of the fallout, yet there is none visible.

These two are easy enough to shrug off, however. It's possible that the wars just weren't relevant to the story, as humanity was trying to get back to normal. It's also possible that America wasn't involved in the Eugenics Wars -- Khan ruled over Asia and the Middle East, after all, while these episodes take place in San Francisco and Detroit, respectively.

(The DS9 episode "Past Tense" may also come to mind, as it's another time travel story, but I think it actually fits in pretty well. It's set in 2024, and shows the United States on the brink of a massive sociopolitical conflict -- it isn't hard to imagine that they're just a few years away from a worldwide war.)

The thing is, these episodes are running into the same problem -- the dates for these events were settled on decades ago, by writers who never conceived that the franchise would continue for this long. What was once a hypothetical future is now an alternate present. Writers are looking to tell stories that reference and relate to and even directly show our modern day, but they can't do that when they're beholden to these events. And they're put in an awkward spot. Do they lean into these established events, and keep showing modern day Earth as a battleground, and risk losing that direct relatability by not showing the world as we know it?

The answer for a lot of these writers is clearly no. These older shows all managed to just dance around the issue. But it seems like the writers of the current Trek shows have a different strategy in mind.

The Theory

Prior to "Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow," there are two moments in modern (post-Discovery) Trek that contradict the established dates for these events pretty hard. Ironically, both episodes were released on the same day.

In the PIC season 2 finale, "Farewell," Adam Soong pulls out a file folder labeled Project Khan -- this is happening in the year 2024, which is obviously not right. Khan would have been created prior to the 90s. However, in a vacuum this could be excused -- the folder doesn't necessarily mean that Khan has yet to be created. Soong could just be looking at an older file. But it is an odd moment.

Then, in the SNW premiere, "Strange New Worlds," Pike is showing images of Earth's history to the people of Kiley 279, while stating, "This is Earth in our 21st century. Before everything went wrong. [...] Our conflict also started with a fight for freedoms. We called it the Second Civil War, then the Eugenics Wars, and finally just World War III." This statement contradicts the dating of the Eugenics Wars in the 90s, and it heavily implies that the Eugenics Wars and World War III are simply different names for the same conflict.

Which finally brings us back to "Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow," which tackles this entire mess head-on. La'an and an alternate universe Kirk are sent back in time, to around the year 2022, knowing that they must prevent a change to the timeline. They learn that Romulans from the future have been manipulating Earth's history to slow its progress -- but this isn't what's causing the timeline change they must prevent. The actual change is the death of Khan, who is now still a child in the 2020s due to the Romulan meddling.

As Sera, the undercover Romulan, explains, "It's almost as if time itself is pushing back, and events reinsert themselves. And all this was supposed to happen back in 1992." It sounds as though minor timeline changes don't matter to the overall trajectory of history -- details may change, but as long as the big picture remains more or less the same, the outcome will be the same. Only a massive change, like the absolute prevention of the Eugenics War, causes enough of a ripple to fundamentally alter Federation history. Which is of course what Sera plans to do, and what La'an ultimately prevents, preserving the timeline.

The thing is, the timeline she preserved... I still don't think it's the original timeline. The Romulans have still slowed Earth's progress, and delayed the Eugenics Wars -- if Khan is a child in the 2020s, then the wars likely wouldn't happen til perhaps the 2040s or 50s. This would cause them to run into World War III, and likely alter that conflict as well. It might even delay First Contact -- who knows? I think these changes are enough to cause a slightly altered timeline. The Federation still exists, the same characters still inhabit the same roles, and so on, but it's now a world with a slightly different history. And I think that a lot of the newer Trek shows -- Discovery, Picard, Strange New Worlds, and really any others that they want to include -- are intended to take place in this timeline. This would explain Pike's speech to Kiley 279, as well as the Project Khan folder -- Khan really hadn't been created yet.

More importantly, this slightly altered timeline officially undoes the problem that Trek writers have been running into with time travel stories for decades. The hypothetical future of the Eugenics Wars and World War III is once again a hypothetical future -- it doesn't need to interfere with any stories set in or referencing our modern day.

And if you lean even further into this alternate timeline idea -- which I will call the New Prime Timeline -- things start to make even more sense. For one thing, it could explain why the technology of the new shows looks so different when compared to the older shows it's meant to be similar to. Out-of-universe, this was done because sticking to the 1960s designs would seem cheesy and dated to a modern audience, who have a quite different view of the future -- updating the design just makes sense. But this could offer an in-universe solution, as well. If Romulans were affecting Earth history, and these massive wars that devastated the planet happened decades later, then the development of Earth's technology would be quite different. Future technology would then have a more modern look and feel.

It could even explain minor mismatches between The Original Series and its modern prequels, Discovery and Strange New Worlds. Whenever a character isn't quite acting like themselves, or an event doesn't quite line up, it could simply be a result of this New Prime Timeline.

Now, I honestly don't think the writers would ever go that far with it. I think they fully intend for their shows to be in the same universe and timeline as the older ones. But I also think they intend to stick to this altered Eugenics Wars date going forward, and the ripple effects of that decision are really interesting to think about.

#personal #star trek #strange new worlds #snw spoilers #idk what to even tag this as but i've been working on this all day

31 notes · View notes

metmuseum · 7 months

Photo

Glass amphoriskos (perfume bottle). 2nd–mid-1st century BCE. Credit line: Edward C. Moore Collection, Bequest of Edward C. Moore, 1891 https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/245633

#aesthetic #art #abstract art #art museum #art history #The Metropolitan Museum of Art #museum #museum photography #museum aesthetic #dark academia

11 notes · View notes

figureofdismay · 3 months

Text

WIP meme stolen from @stripedroseandsketchpads and other on my dash ;)

rules: post the names of all the files in your WIP folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. let people send you an ask with the title that most intrigues them, and then post a little snippet or tell them something about it!

Then tag as many people as you have WIPs <- (i'm not doing that, I've got an Unreasonable number of WIPs, if you have WIPs and want asks about them consider yourself tagged! and consider tagging me so i can send an ask!)

2010 RG yours for a song (romangerri, succession)

Ineluctable (buffy/giles, BTVS)

what kind of day has it been (red/liz, the blacklist s2 AU)

lizzington fake married (red/liz, the blacklist, nonspecific s2ish era)

blame me i will wear it / yearlong (red/liz, the blacklist, s3 on the run AU)

the gods are not kind (red/liz, the blacklist, hades/persephone magical realism AU)

life will lay you down (red/liz, the blacklist, s1, now badly jossed extreme AU)

a swift decline (red/liz, the blacklist extreme S1 AU)

JMJ RG exchange fic S4 speculation (romangerri, succession, bailed on the exchange for health reasons and then s4 wasn't like that at all but I did like some of what i did here)

soulbates / sick joy, (norma/norman, bates motel, S1 AU with a rearranged timeline and a high school production of Hamlet)

prodigy roman / Fugue For 3 Voices (romangerri extreme AU with aging piano prodigy Roman and music coach Gerri, set 2003ish)

selki gerri / by the fountain of thirst (romangerri extreme AU set in fantasy 15th century un-europe)

last visible dog (romangerri extreme AU where gerri was the school doctor at roman's boarding school who he befriended and kept in touch with)

Bow Like The Field (morse/thursday, endeavour itv, s3 and s4 affair AU)

Do I Run Rare (morse/thursday, endeavour itv, S6 AU, shading into a reimagined s7)

Steady The Wheel (linden/holder, the killing, picks up immediately after S3 and heading AU right away)

What Happens In Japan... (romangerri, succession, positing a japan fling pre-s2)

Go West, deleted AO3 revison (red/liz, the blacklist, a post s2 on the run AU that does more with the memory revision than Blame Me, finished, deleted to revise and expand)

All Our Running Is Ahead / profiler Liz (red/liz, the blacklist, Full AU where Liz's profiling isn't forgotten in 20 minutes and she agrees to be his messenger if she can do a psychological study/write a book about him)

ride it all the way down (like buster keaton) (james/jezza, top gear rpf, 'the unhappy one'/'unrequited feelings edition' starting from when they met in 1998 and skimming through to an "AU" s17/s18ish era and a fictional Mediterranean trip special instead of the India special) (i came up with my title in 2019 before knowing about the Lowden Wainright song!)

Wishverse (buffy/giles, BTVS, Wishverse 'more of them lived' AU)

J x P post canon AU / Younger Than We've Ever Been (Janeway/Paris, Star Trek Voyager, Post canon and Investigations era, 'retina burn' vibes)

Strong Poison AU / Forced Blooms (romangerri AU inspired by harriet and peter in Strong Poison by Dorothy Sayers, vague timeline)

Post Home AU (Morse/Thursday post s1 AU with injured and grieving Morse)

Starman AU (Michael/Eleanor, the Good Place, Michael as the an alien somewhat like the Jeff Bridges character and Eleanor as the Jenny Hayden type character)

Lou's Novel (Mary/Lou, The Mary Tyler Moor Show, Lou wrote a novel and awkwardly gives it to Mary to read, and she realizes that the fictional Lou-insert is in love with the fictional Mary-insert)

We'll Have Trouble All Our Days, (michael/eleanor, the goodplace immediately post s2 AU)

Nothing to Pack (Mulder/Scully, the x-files, S1 thru s5 AU with a "secret" affair from mid s1 til Scully's abduction and all of the fallout)

Resonance Frequency (Psychic!Scully MSR AU kicking off from Beyond the Sea, but following & veering off from canon for a while)

Cuckoo's Children (MSR, a "diana as Ooonagh" and "CGB-CSM as Gabriel" posit with a cloned Mulder child -- Only one though! No chess game! No switch the babies! -- that Mulder and Scully have to chase down and cure Pawn In Frankincense style)

dharma and gregging it (MSR. the x-files, light satire-surrealist style full AU where instead of being assigned together, Mulder and Scully got impulsively married after a long weekend and then have to combine their lives)

post bad blood recovery (Foyle/Sam, Foyle's War, S4 AU where Sam stays with Foyle after being released from the hospital, recovering from her anthrax infection)

There are more, but I don't remember them well enough to talk about them. And this is..... already quite the list, oof 🙃😆.

anything look interesting?? 👀

#fic writing #about #my fics #ask game

5 notes · View notes