#plus Debbie Harry

[redgoldsparks]

I wrote a 12 page epilogue to my 2019 comic "Harry Potter and The Problematic Author" because I found, in 2023, that I had more to say. You can also find this comic on my website, and I have PDF copies available on etsy. I may sell print copies at some point in the future.

instagram / patreon / portfolio / etsy / my book / redbubble

Full transcript below the cut.

PAGE 1

Part one: Ruddy Owls!

I was in fourth grade when the first Harry Potter Book was released in the US.

Panel 1: Sometimes our teacher would read it aloud in class. “Mr and Mrs Dursley of number 4 Privat Drive were proud to say they were perfectly normal, thank you very much…”

Panel 2: I was 11 years old when Harry Potter finally broke through my dyslexia and turned me into a reader.

Panel 3: Every night in the summer before sixth grade I waited for the owl carrying my Hogwarts Letter. I cried when it didn’t come. “I have to go to Muggle school!”

PAGE 2

Part Two: Hats

I dedicated myself to being a fan.

Panel 1: I began collecting Harry Potter News article.

Panel 2: I asked my relatives to mail me ones from their local papers. I filled a thick binder with clippings.

Panel 3: I wrote my own trivia quiz

Panel 4: and participated in the one held annually at the county fair. “Next contestant!”

Panel 5: I usually got into one of. the top five spots. I won boxes of candy, posters, stationary, and once a baseball cap. (Hat reads: I survived the battle of Hogwarts).

Panel 6: In high school I sewed a black velvet cape and knitted many stripped scarves.

PAGE 3

Part Three: Double Trouble

Watching the last film in 2011 felt like the final note of my childhood. 

Panel 1: I remember driving home from the midnight showing thinking about the end of 13 years of waiting; wondering what would define the next chapter of my life. 

Panel 2: That same month I heard of something called Pottermore. “Okay, so there’s a sorting quiz… I already know my house! Patronus assignment? Mine’s a barn owl. Duh!" 

Panel 3: You can read the books again but with GIFs? Why? 

Panel 4: I lived in a place with very slow and limited internet at the time. Pottermore sounded inaccessible, but also boring. I never joined. 

Panel 5: "I’ll just read the actual books again, thanks." 

PAGE 4

Part Four: Sweets

In 2016, a series of short stories titled "History of Magic in North America” were released on Pottermore to pave the way for the first Fantastic Beasts Film. These stories display an extreme ignorance of American history, culture, and geography, but the worst parts are the casual misuse of indigenous beliefs and stories. Fans and critics immediately spoke up against this appropriation. Some of the most quoted voices included Nambe Pueblo scholar Dr. Debbie Reese who runs the site “American Indians In Children’s Literature”; Navajo writer Brian Young; Johnnie Jae (Otoe-Missouria and Choctaw), founder of A Tribe Called Geek; Dr Adrienne Keene (Cherokee Nation), a Professor at Brown University who runs the blog “Native Appropriations”, and writers N.K. Jemison and Paula Young Lee.

PAGE 5

Rowling is famous for responding to fans directly on twitter, yet she did not respond to anyone calling out the damaging aspects of “Magic in North America.” Her representatives refused to comment for March 9 2016 article in the Guardian. She has never apologized. All of this, plus the casting of Johnny Depp and the specific declarations of support by JKR, Warner Brothers, and director David Yates left a sour taste in my mouth.

For further thoughts on the new films read The Crimes of Grindelwald is a Mess by Alanna Bennett for Buzzfeed News, November 16, 2018.

PAGE 6

Excerpt from Colonialism in Wizarding American: JK Rowling’s History of Magic in North America Through an Indigenous Lens by Allison Mills, MFA, MAS/MLIS (Cree and Settler French Canadian)

Although Rowling is certainly not the first white author to misstep in her treatment of Indigenous cultures, she has an unprecedented level of visibility and fame, […] One of the most glaring problems with Rowling’s story is her treatment of the many Indigenous nations in North America as one monolithic group. […It] flattens out the diversity of languages, belief systems, and cultures that exist in Indigenous communities, allowing stereotyping to persist. […] It continues a long history of colonial texts which ignore that Indigenous peoples still exist. […] In the Wizarding world, as in the real world, Indigenous histories have been over-written and our cultures erased.

from The Looking Glass: New Perspectives in Children’s Literature Volumn 19, Issue 1

PAGE 7

Part 5: Music

Panel 1: Also in 2016 I discovered two podcasts which radically altered my experience of being an HP fan. The first was Witch Please created by two Canadian feminist literary scholars Hannah McGregor and Marcelle Kosman.

Panel 2: “If it’s not in the text it doesn’t count!” “Close reading ONLY!”

Panel 3: They talk about Harry Potter at the level you’d expect in a college class with particular focus on gender, race, class, and the troubling fatphobia, fear of othered and queer coded bodies, violence against women, white feminism, gaslighting and failed pedagogy in the books. They bring up these issues not because they hate the series, but because they LOVE it.

PAGE 8

These passionate, joyful conversations went off like fireworks in my mind. I had never taken a feminist class before. I gained a whole new vocabulary to talk about the books- and the world.

PAGE 9

Panel 1: The second podcast I started that year was Harry Potter and the Sacred Text, created by two graduates of the Harvard Divinity School, Vanessa Zoltan and Casper Ter Kuile.

Panel 2: They read one chapter per episode through a theme such as love, control, curiosity, shame, responsibility, hospitality, destruction, or mystery. Like Witch Please, they are interested only in the information on the page, not thoughts from the author. The delights and failures of the text are examined in the context of the present day, and new meanings constantly arise.

PAGE 10

What does it mean to treat a text as sacred?

Trusting that the more time we give to it, the more blessings it has to give us.

Reading the text repeatedly with concentrated attention. Our effort is part of what makes it sacred. The text is not in and of itself sacred, but is made so by rigorously engaging in the ritual of reading.

Experiencing it in community.

“To me, the goal of treating the text as sacred is that we learn to treat each other as sacred.” -Vanessa Zoltan

PAGE 11

Part 6: Tooth and Claw

In October 2017, Rowling liked a tweet linking to an article arguing that trans women should be kept out of women’s bathrooms because of cisgender women’s fears. In March 2018, she liked a tweet about the problem of misogyny in the UK Labour Party which included the line “Men in dresses get brosocialist solidarity I never had.” The author of the tweet had previously posted many blatantly anti-trans statements.

Rowlings publicist claimed she had liked the posted by accident in a “clumsy and middle-aged moment.” Yet, in September 2018 she liked a link posted by Janice Turner to her column in the Times UK titled “Trans Rapists Are A Danger In Women’s Jails.”

Screencaps of these tweets can be found in the article “The Mysterious Case of JK Rowling and her Transphobic Twitter History”, January 10 2019 by Gwendolyn Smith (a trans journalist), LGBTQNation.com

PAGE 12

Excerpt from: Is JK Rowling Transphobic? A Trans Woman Investigates by Katelyn Burns

Ultimately, the answer is yes, she is transphobic […] I think it’s fair that she receives criticism from trans people, especially given her advocacy on behalf of queer people in general, but also because she has a huge platform. Many people look up to her for creating a singular piece of popular culture that holds deep meaning for fans from different walks of life, and she has a responsibility to handle that platform wisely. (Published on them.us March 28, 2018)

PAGE 13

Part 7: Home

At age 30, I’m still not over Harry Potter.

Panel 1: I’ve recently found a local bar that does HP trivia nights. “Poppy or Pomona?” “Poppy!”

Panel 2: I currently own an annual pass to Universal Studios so I can visit Hogsmeade.

Panel 3: I love talking to kids who are reading the books for the first time. “Who’s your favorite character?” “Ginny!”

Panel 4: And I’m planning a relisten to the audio books to next year to help me get through the election cycle. “Jim Dale, I’m going to need you more than ever…”

Spoiler from 2023: I did not do this. By mid-2020 JKR had posted her transphobic essay; we were in covid; I never visited Universal Studios again.

PAGE 14

But I do want to learn from her mistakes. I never want to repeat “Magic in North America.” As I write, I will do my research. I will consult experts and compensate them. If a reader from a different culture/background than me speaks up about my work, I will listen and apologize. I KNOW I WILL MAKE MISTAKES. But I will own up to them and I will do better.

PAGE 15

Excerpt from Diversity Is Not Enough: Race, Power and Publishing by Daniel José Older

We can love a thing and still critique it. In fact, that’s the only way to really love a thing. Let’s be critical lovers and loving critics and open ourselves to the truth about where we are and where we’ve been. Instead of holding tight to the same old, failed patriarchies, let’s walk a new road, speak new languages. Today, let’s imagine a literature, a literary world, that carries this struggle for equity in its very essence, so that tomorrow it can cease to be necessary, and disappear. (Buzzfeed, April 14, 2017) 

PAGE 16

Harry Potter is flawed, & JK Rowling is problematic. But the books helped me learn a lot: 

*One of the greatest dangers facing the modern world is the rise of fascism 

*The government cannot be trusted 

*Read and think critically

*Question the news: who paid the journalist? Who owns the paper? 

*Trust and support your friends through good times and bad

*Organize for resistance

*Educate and share resources with peers

*The revolution must be diverse and intersectional

* We are only as strong as we are united

*The weapon we have is love 

MK 2019

PAGE 17

PART 8: EPILOGUE

In 2021 I removed a Harry Potter patch I sewed to my book bag over a decade ago. I took 15 pieces of Harry Potter fanart off my walls. I got rid of my paperback book set, 2 board games, and 8 t-shirt. [images: a Hogwarts a patch with loose threads, a pair of scissors and a seam ripper]

Panel 1: Maia holding up a shirt with the Deathly Hallows logo on it. Maia thinks: “Damn, this really used to be my entire personality.”

Panel 2: The t-shirt gets thrown into the Goodwill box.

PAGE 18

I wrote my zine wrestling with JKR’s legacy in 2019, after her dismissive and racist reaction to indigenous fans and critics of “Magic in North America” and after she had liked a couple transphobic tweets. Since then, she has gotten so much worse.

A Brief Timeline (mostly from this Vox article)

June 2020- JKR posts a 3600 word essay making her anti-trans position clear

August 2020- The Robert F Kennedy Human Rights Org issues a statement about her transphobia, JKR doubles down on her position and returns an award they gave her

December 2020- JKR claims 90% of HP fans secretly agree with her anti-trans views

December 2021- JKR mocks Scottish Police for recognizing transgender identities

March 2022- JKR criticizes gender-inclusive language and legislation

December 2022- JKR retweets trans youtuber Jessie Earl’s critical review of Hogwarts Legacy, starting an onslaught of transphobic harassment towards Earl

December 2022- JKR removes her support from an Edinburgh center for survivors of sexual violence with a trans-inclusive policy and funds her own center which explicitly excludes trans sexual assault survivors

January 2023- JKR tweets “Deeply amused by those telling me I’ve lost their admiration due to disrespect I show violent, duplicitous rapists.” It got nearly 300K likes

March 2023- One the podcast “The Witch Trials of JK Rowling”, hosted by a former Westboro Baptist Church Member, JKR compares the trans rights movement to Death Eaters.

PAGE 19

What are The Witch Trials of JK Rowling?

Panel 1: Maia speaking. “It’s a 7 episode documentary style podcast hosted by Megan Phelps-Roper. Nearly every episode contains interviews with JKR as well as critics, journalists, historians, protestors and fans.

Panel 2: Maia speaking. “In episode 1, JKR speaks more candidly than she has previously about being in an abusive marriage. Her ex-husband hit her, stalked her, broke into her house overlapping with the time she was writing the first three HP books.”

Panel 3: Maia speaking. “What she went through genuinely sounds horrific. I have a lot of sympathy for the kind of life-long traumas those experiences leave.”

PAGE 20

HOWEVER.

It is clear from reading the June 2020 essay on her blog and listening to the podcast, that JKR still to this day feels unsafe. Despite her wealth and privilege she moves through the world with the mindset of a victim. And the group of people she finds most threatening are trans women.

Or rather, she is afraid that allowing trans women in women’s spaces invites the possibility of male predators entering those spaces.

Here’s a direct quote: The problem is male violence. All a predator wants is access and to open the doors of changing rooms, rape centers, domestic violence centers [...] to any male who says “I’m a woman and I have a right to be here” will constitute a risk to women and girls. - from The Witch Trials episode 4 as transcribed by therowlinglibrary.com, March 2023

Image: A stem of Belladonna with flowers and berries.

PAGE 21

Let me introduce here the term: TRANSMISOGYNY. The intersection of transphobia and misogyny, this term was coined by Julia Serano in 2007. Scout Tran, on tiktok as Queersneverdie said: “Transmisogyny occurs in people who have been previously hurt by traditional misogyny. Who have been driven to hate men or at the very least to be scared of men. They will sometimes take out that rage on trans women. (March 2023)

JKR claims to care for trans women and understand they are extremely vulnerable to assault and violence. In her 2020 Essay she wrote: “I want trans women to be safe. At the same time, I do not want to make natal girls and women less safe.”

So she cares about trans women… just less than cis women, and she’s willing to throw all trans women under the bus because of her unfounded, prejudice fears.

PAGE 22

Panel 1: Maia speaking. “JKR claims to have seen data that proves trans women have presented physical threats to other women in intimate spaces, but never cites sources. She also uses “producer of the large gametes” as a definition of “woman”.

What about transmen and nonbinary folks?

Panel 2: Maia leaning on a stack of all seven HP books, the first four Cormorant Strike books and The Casual Vacancy, gesturing to a series of quotes with a tired and disgusted expression.

I’m concerned about the huge explosion of young women wishing to transition and also about the increasing numbers who seem to be detransitioning. * [...] If I’d been born 30 years later, I too might have tried to transition. The allure of escaping womanhood would have been huge. -June 10 2020 essay

I don’t believe a 14 year old can truly understand what the loss of their fertility is.

-Witch Trials episode 4

I haven’t yet found a study that hasn’t found that the majority of young people experiencing gender dysphoria grow out of it*. -Witch Trials episode 7

*No sources cited

PAGE 23

It’s hard to over emphasize how fixated JKR has become on these topics. As of the date I’m writing this, 14 out of her 20 most recent tweets (70%) are in some way anti-trans. She tweets against Mermaids (a UK based trans youth charity), against trans athletes, against gender neutral bathrooms, and in support of LBG Alliance- a UK org that denies trans rights while upholding gay rights. Here are some gems from her archive:

“People who menstruate.” I’m sure there used to be a word for those people. Someone help me out. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud? -June 2020

War is Peace. Freedom is Slavery. Ignorance is Strength. The Penised Individual Who Raped You Is a Woman. - December 2021

And in response to someone asking “How do you sleep at night knowing you lost a whole audience?”

I read my most recent royalty cheques and find the pain goes away pretty quickly. -October 2022

PAGE 24

Hashtag Ruthless Productions a queer nerd podcast company created a great guide on ethical engagement with HP. Image: the two hosts of Hashtag Ruthless productions, Jessie (They/she) and Lark (he/him).

Stop buying all official HP Products: books, movies, games, toys, etc, Universal Studios tickets, food, merch.* Boycott any new TV series or movies. Instead: buy the books and DVDs used. If you still want to wear HP merch, buy fan-made. Engage only with fan content: fic, podcasts, fanart, wizard rock, etc. Show transphobia is bad for business. None of this will change JKR’s mind. But the Fantastic Beast series was canceled and after record Pottermore sales in 2020, they fell in 2022 by 40%.

*She gets a portion of ALL tickets. In 2019, this was her largest income source. Read the full guide: hashtagruthless.com/resourceguide

PAGE 25

As late as 2019, I was still reading JKR’s murder mystery series. But by the fourth book my experience began to sour.

Panel 1: Maia holding a copy of Lethal White. “The only gay character in this book is a government official who gropes his staff?”

Panel 2: “The only genderqueer character is misgendered and portrayed as a whiny faker?”

Panel 3: “The only Muslim character is disowned by his family over gay rumors?”

Panel 4: “Even the women aren’t portrayed very well…”

Panel 5: “Why is the main female character defined by the rape in her past?”

Panel 6: “Wait, what happens in the rest of this series…?” Maia scrolls on eir phone.

Panel 7: “Is the series heading towards an employee/boss relationship?”

Panel 8: “And has a man wearing women’s clothes to commit assault?”

Panel 9: “Yeah, I’m done. I’m never reading a new JKR book ever again.”

PAGE 26

And as for JKR herself?

As tempting as it might be to tweet your frustrations at her, I don’t recommend it. In 2021, she tweeted, “Hundreds of trans activists have threatened to beat, rape, assassinate and bomb me.” Getting hate online feeds her sense of victimhood and she waves it as proof of her moral high ground. Instead I suggest you block her on twitter, then delete twitter, go to the library and try to find a new book that feels magical.

Stack of books: In Other Lands by Sarah Rees Brennan, The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater, Gifts by Ursula K Le Guin, Deep Wizardry by Diane Duane, A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik and Gideon the Ninth by Tamsin Muir.

PAGE 27

In “Emergent Strategy” adrienne maree brown writes: You do not have the right to traumatize abusive people, to attack them, personally or publicly, or to sabotage anyone else’s health. The behaviors of abuse are also survival-based, learned behaviors rooted in pain. If you can look through the lens of compassion, you will find hurt and trauma there. If you are the abused party, healing that hurt is not your responsibility and exacerbating that pain is not your justified right.

PAGE 28

Seeing anyone over age 12 wearing HP merch now makes me uncomfortable. Are they ignorant or actively a TERF? I hate wondering how much money JKR has probably poured into anti-trans legislation… This zine is a culmination of my slow breakup with a story that once brought me joy. Now it just makes me angry, tired and sad.

Image: Candle in a fancy holder burned down to less than an inch.

Maia Kobabe, 2023

#harry potter #harry potter and the problematic author #jk rowling #transphobia #jk rowling transphobic

[couldtransitionsaveher]

MAX RENN from VIDEODROME

JUSTIFICATION:

"Thematically, this admittedly shallow person is targeted as an influencer among the sociopolitically undesirable by corporate puritans who think Canada is soft (within the text itself, feminine) on pornography and violence and needs to get tough (textually masculine). Max is exposed to a signal that causes her to grow (hallucinate?) an enormous vagina in her torso, which is then forcibly and violently penetrated in order to control her. Absent any choice in the matter, she is induced to kill first the enemies of corporate puritans, then inverted to kill those same puritans, again with no volition of her own.

This fits with the traumatic dehumanization of trans women, as well as the hegemonic demand that we be the agents to purify the freaks. It also fits with the degendering of undesirables who defy hegemony.

Textually, Max Renn's friends are all women, but the most notable friend is Nikki Brand (bisexual icon Debbie Harry of Blondie). She is a victim of Videodrome too, ultimately, but she draws him away from watching kinky shit into doing it. Ultimately, her image (her ghost in the machine, depending on your read) is used to convince Max to take the next step and transition from this physical body into an existence purely within the video world, a violent and traumatic transition that is presented as a death of the old self and total surrender to the seedy subculture she originally profited from without being part of.

Max is due for a transition no matter what. Choosing womanhood, following Nikki Brand across the void between what is and what could be, may have given her a chance at retaining some volition.

Plus, Max Renn was played by James Woods, who is a transphobe, and transing one of his two actually memorable characters would make him Big Mad." - Anonymous

Reminder: Submissions are always open! Submit here!

#could transition have saved her #cw body horror #max renn #videodrome #transgender #trans hc #anonymous submission #night of frights

[marya-blackbone]

sleepover redux

A/N: max and el do espionage and learn something about steve

One of the first things Eleven does after moving back to Hawkins is to invite Max to a sleepover. Max is really glad – after that first sleepover last summer, she hoped it would become a recurring thing for her and El (minus the uncovering of a horrifying body-snatching conspiracy, of course) but they never got the chance. Now that El’s back, Max is secretly pleased neither of them made any new friends this past year and finds it surprisingly easy for them both to slot back into each other’s lives once the UD dust settles, and accepts the invite with zero hesitation.

Eleven asks if it would be alright if she invited some other people too, to which Max nods, of course, feeling warm and fuzzy about the fact that El asked her first and checked if she would mind – Max hasn’t had a best friend since kindergarten and El’s earnestness has turned her into such a sap. She doesn’t mind, but she is curious as to who else El wants to invite given there are only a handful of people who even know El exists.

The guest list currently includes Nancy, Robin, and Erica. It will be a girls' night, El says. Max hasn’t spent too much time with any of them but it doesn’t sound like a bad idea – El should get to have more friends who are girls, but she can’t exactly meet new people at the moment, so it makes sense that she would want to get closer with the ones already part of their monster-hunting club.

Max comes over early to help El set things up. Hopper and Mrs Byers have been especially indulgent of El this evening, leaving the table laden with plenty of drinks and a mountain of snacks before heading off to Enzo’s. Will helps them gather all the pillows and cushions and blankets they need from around the house, and when he admits Eddie has cancelled D&D for tonight, both Max and El agree that he should stay. And so it becomes girls’ night plus Will – none of the girls even bat an eyelid at his inclusion when they arrive, it’s just smiles and laughter.

It goes really well, despite the spread of ages. Erica is really mature for eleven, and Robin and Nancy seem to enjoy getting to act silly and giggly again. They paint each other’s nails, braid each other’s hair, and make it through one and a half John Hughes movies before they have to press pause because suddenly everyone needs to pee, and then forget to resume because they’re too caught up in gossiping.

It’s Eleven who tentatively proposes the finding game. Max didn’t think she would want to play again given how badly things ended last time, but all that stuff is gone now – and gone for good this time. Eleven says that she can feel so in the Void and going there actually helps her to remember it’s over. She promises she doesn’t mind – she already has a sheet of poster paper and marker pens ready for writing names and everything.

They shuffle into a circle while Max explains how the game works, and they each add a name to the sheet of paper. Max puts Lucas, El puts Hopper, Will puts Mike, Robin puts Steve, Erica puts Suzie (because apparently, she needs to verify the hotter-than-Phoebe-Cates claim), and Nancy goes for Debbie Harry, after which everyone complains that they didn’t know celebrities were an option, so they fill the gaps with an eclectic mix of actors and pop stars, and then they’re ready to spin.

It stops on Steve first. Max reminds her to get out of there if he’s with a girl or doing something gross, and Eleven nods her understanding before putting on the blindfold and filling the air with TV static. It doesn’t take long for her to find Steve.

“I can see him. He is smiling and I think he is talking to someone but I can not see who it is,” says Eleven. “He is holding a black guitar,” she observes.

When Steve starts to play, she pushes the sound through the radio so everyone can hear the soft strumming. It isn’t until he starts singing that Max recognises the song – it’s on the mix-tape Lucas made for her the last time he was trying to win her back; it’s a love song. Steve plays it surprisingly well. If Max didn’t know any better, she might think Steve has fallen in love – real love, reciprocated love; the kind that Steve deserves. But if Steve were in love, they’d all know by now. He’s all grand gestures and public affection and boom-boxing outside bedroom windows, not secret late-night serenading.

The lyrics taper off, and Steve asks, “Why are you looking at me like that? Not metal enough for you? I know it’s no Master of Puppets, but I thought it wasn’t hal-mphh!”

Max hears something over the radio that could be mouth noises and moans at the same time Eleven says, “I think they are kissing.”

That’s their cue to dip, Max realises, and is about to say as much to Eleven just as the radio crackles for a damning and breathy, “Because I loved it, big boy.”

A/N: i have ideas for a part 2 soonish

#stranger things #steddie #steve harrington #eddie munson #max mayfield #eleven

[hangon-silvergirl]

Both Hollywood Celebrities AU for hc game?

Ooh, I had to have a good think about this one, and I've written so much here that I may actually have to write this story because it sort of took over my brain for a spell there:

Chrissy gets her start in a teen drama show where she played a stereotype--popular girl with a heart of gold, probably a cheerleader--and has struggled against it somewhat for typecasting in her career; she's been able to move on successfully from TV to film, but it's been mostly to romantic comedies. Romcoms are a ton of fun, and Chrissy honestly really enjoys making them (she's actually really great with the physical comedy bit as well), and does well with them as a leading lady in that space, very America's Sweetheart; the media reports that getting cast opposite her is like a rite of passage for actors. She really doesn't feel like the industry takes her seriously, and wants a role that she can sink her teeth into; an opportunity to shake things up, and show the world exactly what she's capable of.

Eddie's career kicked off with him playing an iconic serial killer in a teen slasher that ended up with a massive cult-following, and he reprised the role in a couple of sequels. He ends up carving out a bit of a niche in the horror world, plus becomes a staple in comic book/video game movies, almost an inevitability like, "Oh yeah, that guy is in everything, and he always dies in like, the first 30 minutes." Eddie loves the gore and the themes and the costumes and the horror and what not, but like Chrissy he keeps putting out feelers for something more challenging, and a real leading role, where he gets real-time in the spotlight.

After delivering stellar auditions, they end up getting cast opposite one another in a Blondie biopic playing Debbie Harry and Chris Stein. There are OPINIONS about the casting, because most people don't think they're up for it, think that they don't have the chops, and think that they're gonna botch it. The widespread belief is that the movie's gonna be garbage. The director is a relatively unknown woman, and the screenplay was also written by unknown women, adapted from Harry's biography Face It; Harry herself has a writing credit and ends consulting on set. When asked about how things are going she says that she thinks 'these kids are gonna blow you all outta the water.'

Eddie and Chrissy both insist on recording their own performances for the film/soundtrack. Eddie lays the guitar tracks; Chrissy takes voice lessons to help her get the sound right.

The end result is that they both kill it. The movie is a huge commercial and critical success. It sweeps every award ceremony; takes home Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Picture nearly across the board. Eddie and Chrissy become media darlings, especially with their flirty, physical interviews. Everyone loves them, raves, etc.

And everyone asks if they're dating. There's tons of speculation, and the questions are constant. And the paps catch them out for lunch and out and about, but there's never PDA or anything physical that couldn't be attributed to them having 'developed a close friendship' on set. And neither of them ever give a straight answer about anything.

And no one really gets one until Eddie and Chrissy show up on the red carpet for the Oscars together, wearing wedding rings, and with Chrissy in a super form-fitting gown that shows off her sweet little baby bump. In their Oscar acceptance speeches they express how thankful they both are to have gotten this opportunity, not only the wonderful recognition for their roles and the film, but also for having met one another and fallen in love. Chrissy proclaims: "No more rites of passage, sorry!" and Eddie says, "Maybe they'll stop killing me in everything now, heh."

Thanks for the ask, anon! Request comes from this post: Send Me an AU & I'll Give You 5+ Headcanons About It.

#dash games #ask alie #hellcheer #hellcheer fanfic #hellcheer au #anonymous #alie's hellcheer headcanons

[understandableparadox]

We are rapidly heading into a media era of "Follow the leader or Follow the Chart". one of these is far more common place, the follow the leader strategy has always been somewhat a thing in terms of media and content creation, for every blockbuster their are fifty plus Block Ticklers, some of which can become cult classics.

but we are now seeing both an acceleration of that plus an addition of fill by number plot lines that follow threads. that lack of originality is of company origin, committee driven decisions to continue plot lines that clearly should have died or creating movies with safe plots that can be sold on international markets with pretty faces, big actions and maybe a decent enough scene a director managed to sneak in between the board directors cocaine lines.

for example let's look at the HBO show for harry potter, a vary clear follow the leader. the percy jackson disney show came out, had great word of mouth, had everything a stockholder creams their overly expensive suit pants over.

oh and would you look at that, hbo had their own critically acclaimed children's book series that could be translated into an episodic book series where each book becomes one season. Ain't That A Coinkydink.

now here is where shit gets interesting, despite the by committee factor, there is still a cultural factor. People Get Sick of things. I love little debbie banana marshmallow pies but if i eat a goddamn box of those little yellow fuckers, i'm going to throw up neon yellow. people are wiped out on by the numbers hero movies. people are wiped on the fucking musician biopics.

and it doesn't stop there, David zaslav is notoriously Bad at making cultural decisions, the number of movies he has shelved has already made him enemy numero fucking uno and killing his own company slowly through a nerd hate that's slowly becoming a Mainstream Hate.

companies should be able to balance out the hatred they get with the product they put out, creating a more cynical dramatic persona, for every slop movie that's there to suck money, you let out a few Art Pieces to make sure people at the vary least assume that its not Your fault movies are bad but instead the movie makers themselves.

though companies seemed to have forgotten that. this show is a blatant show of whatever icarus esque confidence and barely coherent risk analysis they managed to do. the harry potter show banks on the idea that we don't care enough about hbo, we don't care that they killed off so many cool looking movies, that they are detrimentally money hungry, that we don't mind giving out money to a noted transphobic shit wagon and that we don't care that they are trying to shove another fucking movie down our throat from a series that has had 11 installments including the spin offs, 18 games, multiple theme park attractions, a fucking Baffling Stage play on route to become a movie and a partridge that refuses to stop spewing hate on twitter roosting on a pear tree.

it is a badly calculated business decision attempting to ride the coat tails of another series when all we have had since the start of the 20 20s are by the number films that swarm and suck the blood out of the actually good shit that manages to Squirm its way out of the morass.

#txt

[scatcrccio]

Who is Nat's idol? Celebrity or otherwise.

Now accepting curious anons.

DEBBIE HARRY & PAT BENATAR have been her biggest idols since childhood. The one fond memory she has with her mother being the introduction of Blondie specifically; a female vocalist who seemed to control the world through words and voice alone. Plus, a killer fashion sense that honestly inspired Natalie's entire persona while growing up. Her mom took her to a Pat Benatar concert once in New York and it's the fondest memory she has with the woman. The happiest one that she has, in fact. It's really the only thing that connects their mutual interests together and the best thing her mother could have ever offered her.

#anonymous #「messages.」 #「meme responses.」 #this I know (head canon) #out of whiskey (ooc)

[twopoppies]

I don’t mean to be a Debbie downer, but I keep seeing people celebrate DWD being “a flop” and Olivia not getting paid that much, and I feel the need to correct this notion bc people are gonna be disappointed when this sort of thing keeps happening (her getting hired, Harry used to stunt). Because the truth is the controversy and the stunt paid off big time.

35m is the extended budget for production. Including marketing costs worldwide, AT MOST the movie doubled its budget. WB is virtually broke and the promo for this movie was extremely lean. We are all very embedded into every single thing that’s happening so I understand thinking the promotion was big, but it really really wasn’t. There were some ads scattered around on TV, which weren’t on prime time so they’re not that costly, some social media ads, some billboards. Obviously marketing includes trailers and everything they involve, plus the first line of actors involved in promotion often get paid for their presence (unless stipulated in their initial contract but unless it’s a tent pole that’s rare, acting is a flat rate and then promo goes above it, cause it can fluctuate according to context). Flo had minimal involvement and aside from Harry, she was the highest profile. Harry probably got paid good bucks for flying all the way to Venice and stuff but he also did very little. Chris and Gemma did less than Harry. The only actors who did a little bit more promo were Nick Kroll and Kate Berlant, and their budget was probably minimal. Olivia handled the heavy load so she either got a huge check for that or she didn’t because she’s waiting for her payday on another front, either way she wins in that regard.

You don’t pay for showing in festivals, and other than that you have the NYC premiere which was very lean, and a couple of q&a which were also very lean and required minimal organization. You also don’t pay shows and magazines for interviews (it’s against regulations), though the studio can be charged for the cost of the person being interviewed traveling + accommodations + team to get them ready and whatever they have to wear, etc. But in the grand scheme of things, of millions, this amounts to very little.

I’d be super surprised if the entire budget for production WW crossed 20m. I’m leaning more towards 15, but since it’s harder for me to estimate costs in Europe and Australia, I’ll stretch it to 20.

That leaves the entire budget at 55m. You can even round it up to 60m and the profit of this movie is still above 20m, which is A LOT for a thriller released in September, especially one that’s not an IP. That’s MAJOR. Not only are we seeing a lot of movies absolutely flop at the box office (Woman King is faring a lot worse, for instance, Amsterdam has got to be one of the biggest miscalculations I’ve seen in recent years), but also, in general, marketing costs are so high that the profit is truly minimal. DWD is a rare beast that coasted on its controversy, most movies get A TON more promo.

Take Dunkirk for example. Its budget is presented as 100-150m, that’s a big gap, lol, but let’s go with it. Box office was 527m it sounds like a resounding success – and it is! But it’s not as big as those isolated numbers would make it look. Dunkirk is one of those movies that truly doubled its budget in promo. It had 3 premieres (one of them shutting down Leicester Square), long winded press junkets (you have to hire catering and staff plus the venue). It had a stellar cast that fully participated in its promo. It had A TON of ads that ran in prime time worldwide (including China!). It had whole ass buildings painted. On the low end, the movie cost 200m and on the high end it cost 300m, which dwarves the profit from a perceived $427m to a much more modest $327m or even $227m, and the truth most likely lies somewhere in the middle.

From what I heard, Harry got paid a flat fee + a % from box office and it’s likely the whole cast of big names had the same deal, which is a lot of % to shave off profit as well. All in all, the movie probs ended making about 85% to 90% of its budget. And this is a Christopher Nolan high profile movie released in the summer with a stellar cast and PG-13. DWD made around 40-45% (so far), for a fall movie with a small budget, a second time director and R rated… that’s FANTASTIC. I truly can’t imagine anyone expected more money from this movie. And I’m not saying this with glee, I truly hate that woman, but as many hits as she took in terms of her reputation and personal life, she didn’t take a financial one, and maybe for someone like her that’s enough.

(For the record I work in this specific area and I’m not talking out of my ass).

Also, you have to remember that they’re now selling and renting the movie on VOD, that it’ll go on streaming soon, that they sold vinyls, and there’ll likely be DVDs and Blu-Rays. The studio is probably foaming at the mouth at the amount of money they made, truly the only winners (and they needed the win after the year they had).

Hi love. Thank you for sharing all of your insight. This is super interesting.

There are a couple of things I have a question about. I get what you’re saying about about the promo being “lean”, but while they may not have bought the most expensive ad space, did you not feel that the amount of promo was excessive? Multiple trailers, posters all over the place, Social media ads, bus ads, the endless paparazzi, etc. It felt like such overkill and that so many people were sick of hearing about it before it opened. In contrast, I barely heard or saw a thing about WB’s other movie, Black Adam.

And what people had said previously on this subject is that theaters take 50% of the box office, so if the movie cost $60M including promo, the box office would have to be $120M in order to break even. Is that not actually true?

I think there are many people saying it’s a flop, and from my POV there are different angles to look at. For me, it’s a flop because it was initially expected to do huge numbers, there was talk of it getting Oscar nominations, her reputation as a director seemed to be riding on this film doing well—not just financially, but critically, as well. Absolutely none of that happened.

But I do totally get what you’re saying about the genre, the initial budget, the amount it’s made so far etc. all being very big wins in terms of how the movie studio views it.

#DWD box office #don’t worry darling promo #Movie marketing anon #I don’t know what your job is #I don’t know how to tag this #😆😆😆

[ya-world-challenge]

New Releases in September 2022 for the YA World Challenge

Wow, it’s nearly September! Crazy. 

So this month I decided to dig deeper and get some indie and non-US published titles on the list. I also displayed all the covers (except a few late additions*). Too much information or is it good like that?

(*oops, the late additions became more than a few! I wonder if the post is too long.)

What’s your favorite cover? Personally, I can’t help loving Last of the Talons, plus The Sacrifice cover is kind of awesome, and Rust in the Root has a great kind of elegance to it.

[P.S. Links support Bookshop.org and independent bookshops!]

🇦🇶  Antarctica

It Looks Like Us - Alison Ames

🇦🇺  Australia

The Bookseller’s Apprentice - Amelia Mellor

Beyond all Boundaries book 3: Interdimensional Worlds - Lyn Willmott

🇨🇦  Canada

This House is not a Home - Katłıà

🇨🇳  China

Foul Lady Fortune - Chloe Gong

🇨🇴  Columbia

Meet Me Halfway - Anika Fajardo

🇨🇺 Cuba

The Bluest Sky - Christina Diaz Gonzalez

🇩🇪  Germany

The Gingerbread Witch - Alexandra Overy

🇬🇭 Ghana

Serwa Boateng's Guide to Vampire Hunting - Roseanne A. Brown

🇬🇷 Greece

Blood of Troy - Claire M. Andrews

God’s Grace by Katie Cherry

Ithaca by Claire North

🇮🇳 India

Starlet Rivals - Puneet Bhandal

🇮🇩  Indonesia

Well, That Was Unexpected - Jesse Q. Sutanto

🇮🇪  Ireland

The Lost Girl King - Catherine Doyle

🇮🇹  Italy

Kingdom of the Feared - Kerri Maniscalco

🇯🇵  Japan

Ichiro and the Great Mountain - W. Nikola-Lisa

🇯🇵 🇺🇸 Japanese-American

Sweet and Sour - Debbi Michiko Florence

🇰🇷  Korea

Last of the Talons - Sophie Kim

🇰🇷🇺🇸 Korean-American

Seoulmates - Susan Lee

🇲🇽  Mexico

The Sunbearer Trials - Aiden Thomas

🇵🇸 Palestine

They Called Me a Lioness: A Palestinian Girl’s Fight for Freedom - Ahed Tamimi, Dena Takruri

🇵🇭  Philippines

The Sacrifice - Rin Chupeco

Adrift - Tanya Guerrero

🇷🇺  Russia

Bone Weaver - Aden Polydoros

Black Bird, Blue Road - Sofia Pasternack  (Kazakhstan?)

🇬🇧 Scotland

Dìlseachd - A Stolen Crown - Cheyenne can Langevelde

🌏  Southeast Asia

Monsters Born and Made - Tanvi Berwah

Fall of the Iron Gods - Olivia Chadha

🇸🇾  Syria

As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow - Zoulfa Katouh

🇺🇦 Ukraine

Dogs of the Deadlands - Anthony McGowan

🇬🇧  United Kingdom

Felix Silver, Teaspoons & Witches - Harry Cook

The Secret in the Tower - Andrew Beattie

🇺🇸  United States

Self-Made Boys: A Great Gatsby Remix - Anna-Marie McLemore

Rust in the Root by Justina Ireland

Destination Unknown - Bill Konigsberg

🌍 West Africa

Soul of the Deep - Natasha Bowen

#book list #new releases #bookblr #booklr #reading #tbr #diversity in books #book recommendations #book rec list #diverse ya #poc authors #reading challenge #reading books #bookish #ya books #fantasy books #antarctica #australia #canada #china #columbia #cuba #germany #greece #india #indonesia #ireland #italy #japan #korea

[diorgirl444]

🎶✨when u get this, list 5 songs u like to listen to, publish. then, send this ask to 10 of your favorite followers (positivity is cool)🎶✨

omg stop this is so cute!!!

ok so in no particular order

cemetery gates by the smiths. this more of an underrated smiths songs but i really don’t know why because the dead poets society fandom would literally adore. like the poetry references, the idea of running through a graveyard, the feeling that this is the only person who gets you!!! like why isn’t it more popular???

tv in black and white by lana del rey. (yes this is technically unreleased but i still love it) such a gorgeous song it’s more sad than a lot of other ldr songs but for me that’s what makes it so perfect. plus i saw an edit of pleasantville to it and it’s only one of the most beautiful edits i’ve ever seen!!!

vienna by billy joel. do i even need to explain this one??? basically i have severe gifted kid syndrome and when ever i’m feeling like i’m not good enough i just listen to vienna and the soothing, melancholic nature of it becomes such a comfort to me.

sunday girl by blondie. unlike the other ones i don’t really have a proper reason for this one other than that it makes me smile. i love the tongue in cheek lyrics plus you can’t beat debbie harry when it comes to vocals.

don’t worry baby by the beach boys. truly the most breathtaking song on the planet. the simplicity of the tune paired with the sweet lyrics this song is first love summed up. to me it brings to mind hazy summer evenings spent with your beloved after a day filled with fun beach activities. he’s driving you home, you’re wearing his jacket and he’s telling you how much he loves you. it couldn’t get much better and if i use this song to imagine myself with neil perry that’s simply my business not yours….

but i’m always open to recommendations or if someone just wants to talk about music <333

#diorgirl444 #flo answers #mutuals <3

[songtwo]

Hello! I’m also a big fan of books about 60s/70s nyc. I just finished reading Factory Made: Warhol and the 60s by Steven Watson. Do you have any books you’d recommend?

ohhhh I've been meaning to read that one do u recommend it????

I think the ultimate 70s nyc book is please kill me by legs mcneil. loved the oral history and the way it's written just makes u feel like u were there.

just kids by patti smith is a mustttt. she has such a way with words that every sentence feels like a velvet dream, it's gorgeous.

there is also i dreamt i was a very clean tramp by richard hell that also immerses you completely into that scene and a big plus is his relationship w tom verlaine.

I'm currently reading face it by debbie harry and I'm only on page 100 but I'm loving it so much. I'm not even in the part where she forms Blondie and yet I'm completely enamoured by it.

there is also american girl which is the oral history of edie sedgwick which I haven't read but she played such a big role in 60s nyc so it's gotta be a must as well. i think there's also books written on people like candy darling and jackie curtis and though i have not heard anything about them most of that culture exists because of them so they gotta be good too!!!

[bloodbunni777]

no one prepared me for watching Videdrome,,,it was actually so relevant and smart. plus Debbie harry.  the relevancy of talking about violent porns destruction to the mind,,, in the classic ‘cheesy’ cronenberg style,,,in love. also the relevancy of ‘media shifting and becoming our primary reality’,,, he was talking about TV (lol) but I've pretty much said that verbatim bout TikTok (and everything else). Recommend if you can stomach images of violence against woman in service of the story (not senseless)

#videodrome #david cronenberg #film #v good

[tenaciouspostfun]

Storiestheater review

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In what is one of the best shows I have seen this season, "A Sign of The Times" at The New World Stages is a rapid fire, feel great musical! Set in Centerville, Ohio, the year is 1965 and on this New Years Eve Matt has asked Cindy to marry him. She questions her life, her parents life and where marriage will take her.

The premise here is that change and courage invites Cindy (Chilina Kennedy) to New York City to pursue her career. She ends up living with a budding singer named Tanya, (Crystal Lucas-Perry) on 149th street. It is rough going for the first three months until she is serendipitous in landing a job at Paulson & Co, an advertising company in which she aspires to be a photographer.

What makes this musical so great is the many reasons that make a wonderful musical. The first is the acting: Chilina Kennedy puts in a performance for the ages! Her facial features and the" business" that she gives us reminds me of Mary Tyler Moore, particularly on the Mary Tyler Moore show... corky and spunky, she suffers no fools and is mentally strong. She is also a talented singer and had full command of the audience whenever she belted out a song. Her grace and charm were matched by her dance prowess.

Lucas- Perry too was as brilliant in her acting as well as her singing; sometimes pop, sometimes soulful, her songs came from the heart and resonated throughout the theater. The two actors fed off of each other brilliantly all performance, we believed that they were great friends because their timing was flawless.

Under the glam lighting (Ken Billington), the warm set design (Evan Adamson), the brilliant projection (Brad Peterson) and the deft choreography (JoAnn M. Hunter), the musical moves in tandem, like silk and Gabriel Barre's direction has the show in top form. Under Joseph Church, the arrangements, the choice of each and every song , the placement of the songs hit the show perfectly.

In the turbulent times that faced America, the show touches on the vast protests that were hitting our country at the time: the Vietnam War, racial tension and equality for women, however, the show thankfully only scratches at it and never makes it the main focus. Richard J. Robin, Lindsey Hope Pearlman and music director Britt Bonney keep the show lite and pure making the two plus hours joyful. Even before the start of the show we are treated to old commercials from that era as well as some of the shows that were on television at that time.

"A Sign of The Times" was well thought out, well created. From the casting to the costumes (Joanna Pan), everything works beautifully. Pan takes us back in time from the chiffon dresses, to the short skirts and go-go boots we get a sense and a feel of 1965. In the book we see what the thinking of the people was back then, what was acceptable and what was not in both mores and attitude. Ryan Silverman as Brian had the opinion that it is a man's world, woman were in the background and never given the credit for anything in the work place. How he conducted himself is quite different way than what would be accepted today in the business world.

In the songs and dance we see the many popular dance styles of the mid 60's. In "These Boots Are Made For Walkin" we get a dance that "Austin Powers" made popular with the hips swinging and the arms flailing. In "Call Me" we get a Gene Kelly and Debbie Reynolds "Singing In The Rain" type dance movement.

"A Sign of The Times" should not be missed! I cannot say enough good things about this brilliant musical; the attention to every song choice will have you singing the songs leaving the theater as I did.

Broadway Bob, www.vocal.com, Medium, www.nimbusmagazine.org, www.broadwayworld.com, www.triviscompany.com, Tony Awards, Broadway, Obie Awards, A Sign of The Times, Rock and Roll Man, Aladdin, The Lion King, Harry Potter, Neil Diamond, Tommy.

Words: 683

[lonesomemao]

POUTINE C'EST LE MONDE PERDU

Dana Hamm

Belle jeune

American woman

Elle en bikini un string

De grandes bottes noires

Elle capte le poète

Afrika Korps nazie

Selon les connards

Un Sud global

Trop amoureux

Des filles du Sud

Ne faisant plus d'histoires

Debbie Harry mise en prison

Par un art psychédélique

De schizos cons

dimanche 3 mars 2024

[yes-bernie-stuff]

Rien n’est intéressant si je ne suis pas intéressé(e). DIMANCHE 4 FÉVRIER

TOUJOURS APPRENDRE ET GRANDIR (2) « LA SAGESSE VAUT MIEUX QUE LES PERLES, AUCUN OBJET PRÉCIEUX N'A SA VALEUR » PROVERBES 8.11

Pour ce faire, il faut reconnaître les points suivants. 1) Les gens qui réussissent ont une approche positive de l'apprentissage. Josué a appris de Moïse. Timothée a appris de Paul. De qui ai-je choisi d’apprendre ? Sydney J. Harris a écrit : « Un gagnant sait combien il lui reste encore à apprendre, même lorsqu'il est considéré comme un expert. Un perdant veut être un expert avant d’avoir appris assez pour savoir à quel point il en sait peu. » Tout est une question d’attitude. Oui, il faut apprendre beaucoup avant de se rendre compte de son ignorance. 2) Rien n’est intéressant si je ne suis pas intéressé(e). Un auteur écrit : « On constate que les gens freinent inconsciemment leur croissance intellectuelle. Ils en viennent à s’appuyer sur des clichés et des habitudes. Une fois qu’ils atteignent la réussite sociale, ils arrêtent d’apprendre et leur esprit reste à jamais inactif. Ils peuvent mieux s’organiser, être ambitieux et enthousiastes, et même travailler nuit et jour. Mais ils n’en apprennent pas davantage. » La Bible dit : « Jésus croissait en sagesse, en stature et en grâce » (Lu 2.52). C’était plus qu’une croissance physique. Elle était spirituelle, mentale et émotionnelle. Se laisser entraîner dans une ornière et ne jamais en sortir est dramatique. On manque le meilleur de ce que Dieu peut offrir. En revanche, les gens enseignables sont complètement engagés dans la vie. Un rien les enthousiasme. Ils sont curieux de tout et ont soif de progrès. Alors ne cessez jamais d’apprendre et de grandir !

B365 — Plan de lecture Job 18-19

Prière du jour Seigneur, aide-moi à toujours être enseignable.

The Word for Today écrit par Bob et Debby Gass © UCB UK 2024 Publication Parole du jour © PHARE MEDIA 2024

[sofiaflorina2021]

I Thought I Was The Only One Here Who is A Fan of Debbie Harry

I've been thinking about Debbie Harry for the past few days, I thought I was the only one here who is a fan of Debbie Harry, it turns out there is a friend of mine who is also a fan of her and what's even funnier is that my friend is blonde. Plus I seem to be obsessed with blondes since the beginning of this year. I FEEL FANTASTIC, HEY, HEY, HEY.

#debbie harry #deborah harry #blondie #blondes #i love blondes #i like blondes #blonde woman #blonde women #i feel fantastic

[gold2558]

Conservative targeting hit list for REMOVAL

AG Letitia James

Judge Engoran

Alvin Brag

GA AG Fani Willis

Joe Biden

AG Merrick Garland

Chris Wray

Jack Smith

William J. Burns

Antony Blinken

Chuck SCHUMER

Eric Swalwell

Sen. Menéndez

Gov. SHITMER (mich)

Gov. Pritzger (ILL)

Mayor Brandon Johnson (ILL)

Mich AG NESSEL

NY GOV KATHY HOCUL

NY MAYOR ERIC ADAMS

Cal Rep. Adam Shiff

Marylands rep Jamie Raskin

NY Hakeem Jeffries

KY MITCH MCCONNEL

TX JOHN CORYN

RI Sheldon WhiteHouse

MI Gary peters

MI Debbie Stab me now

CA LAPHONZA BUTLER

GAVIN NEWSOM

KAMALA HARRIS

JOE BIDEN

ALEJANDRO MAYORKIS

PLUS ADDITIONS

ALL TO BE REMOVED

AND PROSECUTED