#talking about season 2 in the year of our lord 2023

[cutemothman]

Thinking about Peggy Blumquist. Her being the catalyst for all the events that happened in season 2. In the last episode, when she's in cuffs in the back of Lou's car, her husband just died, her life is over and she's just trying to explain herself to Lou. Why she did what she did.

It's a lie, okay-- that you can do it all-- be a wife and a mother and this self-made career woman, like there's 37 hours in a day. And then, when you can't, they say it's you. "You're faulty," like-- like-- like you're inferior somehow.

Every man in this series monologues about their time in the war and goes on long tangents, speaking in riddles about some story that loosely relates to the situation at hand. Lou just told Peggy a story about his time in Saigon.

But when Peggy tries to talk about how fucking hard it is for her, Lou interrupts her to say "People are dead, Peggy". He interrupts her.

And he's right. It doesn't matter that she didn't mean for any of this to happen. It happened. But he was talking about Ed protecting his family, as if Ed wasn't just as complicit as Peggy. As if Peggy wasn't also protecting her family.

He says, "It’s the rock we all push. Men. And we call it our burden. But It’s really our privilege."

It's clear that all they see when they look at Peggy is a crazy woman. She obviously suffers from some form of mental illness and is very much a product of her time. With all her magazines stacked in the basement and obsession with self help seminars. She just wants to be able to choose the life that she wants, but she feels trapped.

I'm not defending her actions, but the way that she takes the blame for inciting this war that she had no part in is super interesting. The police see Peggy as the reason that all those men are dead. Why didn't she just drive to the hospital? Why didn't she go to the police? It's so simple to them. When the sheriff is asking her why she didn't drive to the hospital and she says, "You say it like these things happen in a vacuum."

She made a choice. And then another choice and then another until things had spiraled far out of her control. But she didn't make those choices in a vacuum. All of her choices were a result of the place that she was in. Staring down the rest of her life in a small town in Minnesota. Knowing that the second Ed buys the butcher shop, she'll be stuck there forever.

Rye also made a choice, when he decided to shoot all those people. Didn't he start the war, not Peggy? What about the people actually fighting the war? The Gerhardt's and Kansas City. Lou calls Rye the victim. And Rye is a victim, but not in the same way that Peggy is.

No. That’s not fair. Cause I’m a victim too. Was a victim first. Before him.

#talking about season 2 in the year of our lord 2023 #sorry but i can't stop thinking about it #fargo fx #fargo season 2 #peggy blumquist #chrissy.txt

[biceratops7]

Here's a neat detail:

Not to talk about season 1 Good Omens in the year of our Lord and Season 3 announcement 2023, but I kind of just realized another little moment that's very sweet and true to real life.

I really like that Crowley isn't just fine again after he learns Aziraphale survived the bookshop burning after all. Normally in stories when there's a "surprise, I'm alive!" moment, the characters just kind of celebrate for a minute and then move on business as usual. But Crowley doesn't. He continues to be visibly be shaken and a little unfocused throughout his conversation with Aziraphale, and when he has to explain what happened, he starts crying again.

I don't know I just thought that was a really nice detail because anyone who's experienced similar whiplash in real life knows about that... residual grief period I guess? I think this was a core memory that informed a lot of Crowley's behavior in season 2, you don't ever really forget that moment you lost them no matter how brief. There's just something very loving and vulnerable in him being like "I thought you were gone, and even though I know now you're ok, I want you to know just thinking about it upsets me deeply."

#don’t just let male presenting characters cry when they’re at rock bottom #let them cry because ‘’whoo boy! that was really scary and I still have a lot of feelings ☹️’’ #good omens #ineffable husbands #season 1 #Aziraphale #crowley #aziracrow #meta #analysis #biceratops

[weirdly-specific-but-ok]

Hello my maggots (especially the tumblr maggots whom I haven't seen on Discord recently), I've missed you so much and I'm sorry I haven't been posting the past few days.

It appears I used up all my XP in being a Funny Little Guy and left none for health (I'm not a gamer. I don't know why I tried that joke. The most experience I have with XP is learning Italian on Duolingo).

And I'll probably be taking a break for a few days more. Why?

Well, no, unfortunately, not love.

It's that stupid motherfucker, Tommy the Haematoma of my ankle.

But Asmi, you ask, didn't you fall down the stairs more than a month ago?

Why yes, yes I did. And out of that, two weeks were spent in bedrest/floorrest/whatever you call not being allowed to walk at all.

But thanks to the wonders of our Lord and Saviour Bildaddy, I am now resigned to two more weeks of bedrest.

WELL FUCK YOU TOO, BILDADDY. TO THINK I USED TO HAVE FAITH IN YOU.

But yes. A bloody fracture would have healed sooner than this. But no no no not Tommy and his buddies called weakened and swollen ligaments and heightened nerve sensation (not as catchy as Tommy, are they?) who are here to overstay their welcome like a couple of Indian aunties dropping in during festival time to gossip.

Now, I'm not someone who exercises, okay. Au contraire. I'm more sedentary than the coins that Crowley superglues to pavements.

But I did like being able to at least walk around my room to pick up my art supplies. Or go to the kitchen for a snack without maneuvering a cane (Kaz Brekker era coming up for realsies) (but less sexy and more legless chicken style). I also now can't really go outside unless I'm staying in the car. The car hurts, too. So I have only attempted that once. All hail.

So that is how I have come to be resigned to spending two more weeks (after already spending two) in bedrest and pain during the month before my birthday in the year 2024 of our Lord and Saviour Bastard and Damner Bildaddy.

It does tend to lower morale a bit. And I'm kind of active on the Discord server (I need to be, because otherwise my social interaction comes to a grand net total of 0) (just like the number of times Crowley and Aziraphale talked after Season 2) (ahaha sorry).

But being on Tumblr I feel like I should be making posts and I start getting stressy about notes even though I know I shouldn't. And thus my absence the past few days, and probably for a few days more.

C'est la vie. So it is farewell for now (I say dramatically about a few days break).

But don't worry my maggoty loves, I shall return with chaos. As usual. And I'll still be on Discord unless the pain gets really bad. I love love love love love you so much.

At the end of 2023 I wished so bad that I wouldn't be alone anymore and now I'm not. And so neither are any of you. Like that meme said, we're not a fandom, we're a deeply unwell family. Applies both to the Good Omens fandom and to my own. My fans are rather more incestuous, but that's part of our, er, charm.

Sending you all the hugs and forehead kisses and love that you're okay with. I'll see you soon.

Meanwhile, I want you to promise to cause chaos on my behalf. Keep the Good Omens tag trending. Make cursed headcanons. Try not to murder anyone. Byebye, my little maggoty fly larvae.

#good omens #good omens fandom #good omens mascot #weirdly specific but ok #asmi #maggots #crowley #bildaddy #the little fuck #life update #taking a break #fuck you tommy #i love you maggots #why? love. #neil gaiman

[maskyish]

Re:vale LIVE 2023 WINTER FESTIVAL!! - 1st Intermission Talk (Part 1)

PART 1 | PART 2 | PART 3

Please note: I am NOT a professional and my level of JP is very, very basic. I do this for practice and to share with other fans for fun. Please take my translations with a grain of salt as there may be mistakes. If you see any, please let me know and I can correct them. If anyone else has this card and wants to translate this at any time then please feel free to do so!

Re:vale: Happy New Year, everyone! 

Momo: I’m Momo! 

Yuki: And I’m Yuki! 

Momo: And together—! 

Yuki: We’re Re:vale! 

Audience: Kyaaaaa!!

Momo: Thank you for coming to the “Re:vale LIVE 2023 WINTER FESTIVAL!!” today!! 

Momo: I’m ultra happy to be able to start the New Year off by seeing everyone! Let’s all make it the best year ever together! 

Yuki: Our juniors have brought us through the spring, summer, and fall seasonal lives, so shall we tie it off? 

Yuki: We’ll have to make it a worthy live to finish on. Can you all get excited with us? 

Audience: Kyaaaaa!!

Momo: WHOA, so lively! It seems like you’re all ready to go! 

Momo: Then to start us off, let’s show off our outfits! 

Yuki: I’m sure everyone's curious about them, too.  

Momo: If that’s the case, then here’s Momo-chan reporting from the scene! 

Momo: Yuki-san, what are your thoughts on your new outfit? The word on the street is since it’s New Year's, it has a kimono design! 

Yuki: That’s right. I quite like the feel of the fur. And best of all, the cloth covers everything but the face, so it’s a good way to keep from the cold. 

Momo: Ahaha! I see! Then the new outfits are perfect against cold weather too! 

Yuki: Yeah. It’s also perfect for stuffing warmers in the clothing.

Momo: That’s…. Shhh! That’s something secretive! It’s embarrassing to sing with such a cool face while having body warmers stuck everywhere! 

Yuki: Then just scratch that. 

Momo: You’re posing as if we can cut it out (1), but isn't this a live broadcast– or rather, a live concert?! 

Yuki: ….. Momo, do you think I’m uncool with my warmers? 

Momo: Never! Even with warmers covering your whole body, or if you're curled up into a tiny ball in front of a heater, Yuki is the most handsome man in the entire world! 

Yuki: Fufu. It’s fine then. 

Yuki: Next up, please tell us the points of your outfit you recommend, Momo. 

Momo: Let’s seeee… I guess it’d be the mix of Japanese and Western clothing! 

Momo: It’s hakama-style (2), but there’s a fur jacket on the top, plus the belt and chain and stuff is super fashionable right? 

Momo: Although, it makes it a bit difficult to put on! 

Yuki: Oh yeah. It took you quite some time to take off the gloves. 

Momo: Exactly! During the fitting, I couldn’t even take them off by myself! 

Momo: We really pulled and struggled to help each other undress! 

Yuki: We had to get changed really quickly today so we had to get the staff to help us out.  

Momo: It would’ve taken us way longer if we did it on our own!

Momo: But also, isn’t this stage amazing? Re:vale finally built a castle! 

Yuki: It really is amazing.

Momo: So, this may be sudden, but here’s Momo-chan’s Quiz for Yuki! 

Yuki: That really was sudden. What is it? 

Momo: What’s my favorite thing about this stage? 

Yuki: For this stage…? 

Yuki: …. Isn’t it our castle? During our rehearsals, you looked really happy and took a lot of pictures. 

Yuki: You were happy like you were lord of the castle. 

Momo: You remembered me in so much detail, Yuki…. The points are through the roof…! 

Momo: But… not quite! 

Yuki: It's something else? 

Momo: Of course I like the castle too, but… I like the snow (3) the most! 

Yuki: Snow…? 

Momo: I’m so happy I get to start the year singing on a snow-covered stage with Yuki!

Yuki: Fufu…. What a cute thing to say.

Yuki: In that case, the next time we do an outdoor concert we'll have to have some peach blossoms planted. 

Yuki: Since I also want to sing on a peach-covered stage with Momo. (4) 

Momo: Yuki……! 

Yuki: Let’s have another live when the peach blossoms bloom. It should be a bit warmer than it is now. 

Momo: You have a point! But, it’s still cold…… So for now, let us warm you up with our songs!

Momo: Next up will be a song that will slowly warm your hearts.

Yuki: “t(w)o…”

~End of Part 1.~

TL Notes: 

This card has little chibi versions of the characters talking so their facial expressions and poses change, so during this part Chibi!Yuki is crossing his arms into an X, as if to say “Cut!” 

Hakama is a traditional type of Japanese clothing that is worn over kimonos. You can find out more information about them here. 

This is a play on words off of Yuki’s name since 雪 (yuki) means snow so there's a double meaning here.

Just like the previous note, this is a play on words off of Momo’s name now since 桃 (momo) means peach. The literal translation for this line would be something like “I also want to sing on a stage surrounded by Momo/peaches.” but I worded it to pair with Momo’s line before it so it would sound a little more natural while still keeping the double meaning. 

And thank you @hunieday for helping me reword some of the lines~

#idolish7 translation #i7 #idolish7 #re:vale #revale momo #revale yuki

[seal-berry]

the fionna and cake ending reminds me of this article

sorry but u show golbetty being capable of so much and simon literally was gonna thank her for eating him but nooo we have to get a "emotionally well adjusted grounded" end about taking your lumps and not having a chaos god wife. god forbid women do anything. also the double standard with marshall and gary's romance i was not fond of-- u are telling me in all possible universes marshall and gary are healthy enough to have a happy ending and simon and betty arent? Because thats what youre saying when you frame all of this in a multiverse story.

the plot selectively gives easy outs like golbetty being happy to pop fionna and cakes world out of his head miraculously but we cant have petrigrof because one time simon didnt get on a bus. golbetty shows fionna a dream that sets her straight-- oh yeah, magic WOULD suck! this example world that is much worse than the original f&c world has shown me the light!! dont worry fionna, the threat of losing the world you took for granted and up until now it was implied you were barely making ends meet in will show you that your fantasy and dream were Bad. But cake can stay magic, because thats a metaphor for self identity and not a metaphor for telling a 20-something to grow up! simon stands there and explains what he learned to the audience just in case u didnt Get the Message about Toxic Codependency tm. it was the perfect setup for a dramatic universe breaking love story but instead we get simon being put basically back where we thought he was before the first eps of fionna and cake revealed he wasnt doing well. and that whole show they didnt budget a single scene for simon and our marceline to like. talk. 10 20-plus-minute AT episodes-- what we have been asking for for years-- and in the whole set we get the convo in ep 2 and thats all.

anyways i didnt like the ending because a message that boils down to "suck it up, reality is good enough, dont throw it all away for your god gf again thats the best ending we prommy" is a real swing and a miss in year of our lord 2023. personally throwing it all away for a hot god gf is probably the most self care thing one could do.

thats the line the world of adventure time winds up drawing, that so many things are possible, but this isnt. idk it feels like a slap in the face to have a quick tropey gay romance threaded between a romance that has such a rich setup and history from season 5 get ripped apart from the second there was a "mistake" in their meet cute moment.

anyways sorry i just felt like it was a cheap ending that was very much up on its high horse when the issue that breaks up simon and betty was only really deliberately written in the past 4 episodes. of a romance arc that has lasted since season 5. if u really wanted to go there they couldve made different choices from episode 1 that wouldve left me agreeing that this is a good end, but right now it feels very unsatisfying.

the conclusion is just that betty had infinite power and decided she did not want simon by her side. sad and boring, just like real life!

#sorry this is so bitter lol no disrespect to folks who liked the end #fionna and cake #simon petrikov #the article is pretty harsh but i think it emotionally rings true in the important ways #there are ways to make an ending unsatisfying and this wasnt one of them #this is like if the madoka movie ended before homura went apeshit

[suchagallabitch]

🫵weekly wednesday tag 🫵

omg I (simple old me?) have been bestowed upon the honour of coming up with these questions??? i would like to thank the academy for this most sacred honour 😋

1. if you could switch bodies with anybody for only one hour who would it be and what would you do? I think I gotta say taylor swift OBVI. first off im gonna dropping ME! acoustic version. Then I’m gonna hope lover deluxe is already recorded, drop that. If not i will make sure to text Jack and tell him that we need to record it so that i get it either way 😼. Then I would find out the definite truth of what happened between her and Karlie Kloss. I’d wire myself (as in me- me) a few million dollars, pet the cats and then post something really random on her instagram story. Literally want to make the public go absolutely bananas trying to figure out why taylor posted a random twitter meme. I have a lot of faith to believe this could all happen in an hour but I would try. SO hard.

2. whats your most trivial / dumbest hot take?I don’t think we should still be discovering animals. like what do you mean in the year of our lord 2023 we are STILL finding animals?? no they should all be discovered and if they havent been then i think they should stay undiscovered.

3. if you had to teach a college course what would it be in? I feel like we’re all expecting me to say something Taylor related but honestly I could teach a masterclass on the psychology of Ryan Murphy. I hate that man and i have so much to say about him and his productions

4. season 12 of shameless is suddenly happen and youve been put in charge! what plot point(s) are you gonna make happen? I cant think of anything substantial to actually contribute but i want Carl Gallagher to have a fruity little vape. I also want to see him quit the force and flourish in a new job!

5. who would be your godly parent? (can be any mythology). I’m gonna go with greeks as a Percy Jackson stan. I asked my bsf who is an expert in greek mythology. She said: “you’re a Aphrodite child cuz you’re a hopeless romantic and you appreciate beauty. You’re very particular in how you’re viewed and how everything you produce is viewed (what you write, how your feed looks like, etc.)” - I’m gonna have to agree with her on Aphrodite

6. what’s something you love about yourself? I think i’m so very very funny

7. describe your day in 5 emojis: 😴👁️👩‍💻✈️☕️

8. what shameless character do you think you could beat in a fight? Realistically i think the ONLY person i could beat in a fight is Liam and honest to god im not even sure i could.

9. tell us 2 truths and a lie, we’ll try to guess the lie!

- I’m double jointed

- I sleep on the left side of the bed

- I’ve never had pumpkin pie

10. do you have a pet(s). if so how did they get their name? I do! my son (cat) is named Chidi after the good place!

11. show us a meme (or picture) that captures your essence

self explanatory.

12. whats your typical coffee / tea / beverage order? see i gotta have a special lil drinky drink everyday and i mean my little drinky drinks are free so i am likw 80% gingerbread chai at any given time. Alternatively, an iced chestnut praline latte w/ praline cold foam.

13. use a song to describe the last 5 years of your life?

2019- its nice to have a friend- taylor swift

2020- ribs - lorde

2021- nothing new - taylor swift

2022- first love / late spring- mitski OR orlando- leith ross

2023- true blue - boygenuis OR now that we don’t talk - taylor swift.

Thank you friends thats all i got :)

I Tag: @deedala @darlingian @michellemisfit @mybrainismelted @too-schoolforcool @gallawitchxx @gardenerian @sam-loves-seb @thisdivorce @xninetiestrendx @scarcrosseduntouched @juliakayyy @y0itsbri @grumble-fish @grumpymickmilk @transmickey @surviving-maybe @metalheadmickey @heymrspatel @auds-and-evens @deathclassic @flamingbluepanda @crossmydna @sleepyfacetoughguy @vintagelacerosette @depressedstressedlemonzest @thepupperino @squidyyy23 @energievie 🫶🫶

#im on a plane rn #zoom zoom in the sky #elle does tags

[nellasbookplanet]

I'm so sorry but I'm going to talk about supernatural in the year of our lord 2023, because I just finished good omens season 2 and the way these shows occupy a very similar space in fandom attitudes is driving me insane.

In so many ways, good omens feels like what supernatural could have been, had they actually committed and not flailed around with like 15 seasons of queerbaiting and the most unintentionally funny ending imaginable. You have the demons and the angels, armageddon, team free will vs god's master plan, years of pining and repression and no personal space and small declarations of love. But good omens does it with genuine vulnerability and comittment, not as bait or comic relief or last minute bury you gays. But, because it’s big and well-known and allows itself time and nuance to get where it’s going, so many people really treated it horribly before the drop of season 2 for not immediatelyand explicitly giving them what they wanted.

Like, after the end of season 1 you could really feel the way spn damaged viewers treated them as the same thing. It’s like people were so prepared to be tricked that they came in highly on guard and defensive. Thing is, this manifested as taking anything other than the most bland, on the nose and immediate gay rep as the creators queerbaiting and trying to worm their way out of committing to 'real' queer rep. Gaiman refuses to confirm your 'they are gay men' headcanons? Clearly him being a coward and not the characters, explicitly, being neither gay nor men. Characters have a very close relationship but no kiss? Clearly queerbaiting and not an affirmation of ace/aro relationships, queerplatonic relationships, or even plain old platonic relationships.

There is so much hurt from years of stereotypes and queerbaiting and bury your gays that any attempt to tell a complex queer story - one where relationships take time, or where they don’t always happen, or where horror or tragedy strikes, become nigh on impossible. It becomes hard to distinguish subtext used to be genuine and subtle and queer-friendly from subtext used to queerbait and make fun, and rather than making the effort to tell them apart and giving stories a chance (and taking the risk of getting hurt) all rep must be distilled into the epitome of 'gay' before it’s accepted as good, because that way you cannot be tricked. Hell, just the way it’s referred to as 'rep' rather than 'characters' is telling.

This is noticeable in the way spn fan spaces talk about Cas, too; he’s always 'the gay angel', never the bisexual angel (despite having had female love interests) or the asexual angel (despite being largely uninterested in sex) or the nonbinary angel (despite not being human and on occassion using female vessels as well as male). Does Meg Masters mean nothing to you. Just. Please allow stories their nuance and their time and their right to not always cater to your ship in the exact way you want (or at all) without declaring them bait. It makes you look very silly when you come crawling back the moment a kiss happens.

#anyway i saw someone refer to goomens s2 as 'intentionally queer' and it made me want to claw the walls #is s1 a joke to you?? (judging by the disdainful way they talk of gaiman‚ yes it is) #good omens #supernatural #idk. there's just this way people approach queer rep and media as 'homophobic until proven otherwise' #that's deeply harmful to storytelling #maybe you shouldn’t treat every story as if it’s coming out of disney and marvel #if you come crawling back to good omens just bc they kissed maybe you should take that as a learning experience #in how 'on-screen kiss' isn't a valid metric on whether a story is good or not #and start actually watching and analyse them for what they are instead #(i also have so many thoughts on how this same attitude is prevalent in critrole fandom it’s not even funny) #(please stop it with the biphobia/erasure and the acephobia and the putting of romantic relationships above platonic ones im begging) #(please allow relationships to be more complicated than 'best friends to lovers' and 'married with kids forever') #anyway. I'm done talking now i need to make breakfast before i faint #nella talks #long post

[farcillesbian]

wanted to share my experience with local activists today because it was really like. heartening

for context, I live in a pretty small town (like 6000 people, and many of those are just here for university). it's somewhat rural, and over 200 km/a 2 hour drive from an actual decent sized city.

a local anglican priest organized a Pilgrimage4Gaza event today and again next weekend, as a way to express solidarity with the Palestinian people and to meditate on just a fraction of what Palestinians have been experiencing. it's an international movement (with more information here), and I believe part of the intent is to be part of the way Christians around the world can use the Lent season to engage in activism and raise awareness for the Palestinian cause. not all the people in the walk I was at were Christian, myself included, though it was kicked off with the reading of some prayers centered around Palestine and we spent a minute listening to the lord's prayer in arabic as well. that was about the extent of the Christian specific experience during the walk though!

the goal is to walk the distance from Gaza to Rafah, 36 km (22.4 miles) in total, to put into perspective how far that is to go on foot while fleeing for your life, but also to map that distance onto our own cities and realize how small of an area 2 million displaced people have been forced into. the pilgrimage organized in my town has been split into 2 days, today and next Saturday, 18 km (11.1 miles) each day so as to allow the greatest number of people to participate in at least some of it.

today we spent 4 hours covering those 18 km. we walked over 23,000 steps, representing approximately one step for every Palestinian life that has been brutally taken by Israel since October 7th 2023. there were 22 of us at the start and almost all of us completed the first 9 km loop. many participants were older people with some mobility limitations, but they still came out. one participant I talked to was telling me about how she's doing as much as she can despite dealing with either long COVID or ME/CFS. there were people who were driving alongside us so that anyone who needed to stop walking would be able to step into a car, and they also kept extra water on hand. these measures were taken to keep the activism as accessible as possible. we also reflected on the knowledge that people who walked this distance in Gaza did not have these resources, not even clean water access along the way.

some people finished their walk after the first loop, but about 10 of us kept going to complete the second loop. we also were able to stop by the rally being held in front of town hall, where another 20 or so people were chanting and holding signs and flags - a great alternative for those who were unable to participate in the walking today. there were some children (around 9-10 years old it seemed) leading chants with the megaphone.

throughout the walk, people honked to show support, they nodded and waved and gave a thumbs up. some people on the streets stopped to acknowledge what we were doing. cars full of young university students rolled their windows down and chanted in support of Palestine!

even in small places like my town, there are people working hard to make sure that others are still noticing, thinking about, and talking about Palestine. even if for just the moment they passed us on the street, they could not forget about Palestine. we will not let them forget about all the martyred people.

#petchyposting

[bringinghometherain]

This new OFMD season has me wondering more about how Hollywood treats actors' bodies, because just within this cast it's already striking me as inconsistent. CW for talking about body types, weight, body image, stuff like that y'all.

Just to start us off, we here at BringingHometheRain Blogging Inc. believe no body type is inherently good or bad. Fat, skinny, doughy, jacked, whatever. Bodies are bodies. I believe that, but obviously the people who make movies and tv shows don't believe that, or movies and tv shows would look a lot different in the year of our lord 2023.

OFMD started off, like, actually pretty progressive for a romcom in 2022. Your romantic leads are skinny/doughy guys in their late 40s! A fat Black man is also portrayed as a romantic interest, with no derogatory fat jokes! The other pairing is two gay guys who are not jacked dudes, they're just dudes! One of them has a speech impediment and it's never played for laughs! We're doing great!

And coming into this I had already noticed a divide between actors based mainly in the UK and actors based mainly in the US. My experience of British television is that the actors tend to look more like average people, and US-based actors tend to be skinnier and more muscular. Especially over the last decade-ish, actors in US films and tv have gotten noticeably more muscular, to a level that "normal" people don't tend to reach unless their main hobby is Gym (and even then). I haven't spent sufficient time watching NZ/Aussie tv and movies to really have a feel for what the general expectations for actors' bodies seem to be in that region of the biz. Also this is not, like, a hard-and-fast set of rules I'm proposing here, it's just a trend I've noticed from watching a lot of tv and movies.

So last year with season 1 we had our Stiddies moment and all that stuff I mentioned above and that was great for everyone. And I imagined to myself around the start of season 2 when Con started posting workout stuff on insta that they were making a good portion of the cast work out for season 2. I pictured it as some some beginning of the shoot all-cast meeting where they were like "yeah so uh, several of you are now sex symbols? In light of this we've written in more nudity and the following cast members now have workout plans:" and so on and so forth.

(Not really, but not not really)

And I didn't think much else of it until Con's birthday post on instagram and the trailer came out with Con shirtless, and then I thought as far as "ah, yes, Con sure did work out. He looks good!" (Note: That's a lie, I thought "OMG WHAT A BABE.")

And starting the new season yesterday, it looks like Nathan's lost some weight and/or put on some muscle. And again, that lined up with about what I was expecting. Vico and Madeline's arms are hella muscular, which makes sense given what the body norm is for AFAB people in tv right now. Most of the rest of the cast looks pretty similar to how they looked last season, which did not surprise me. Taika looks like he might've upped his workout routine a little, but he's a Real Hollywood Celebrity so he probably actually has a personal trainer and shit, he left average working actor/screenwriter life behind a long time ago.

But then!

We got our merStede fever dream come true, and Rhys's body type is almost exactly the same as it was last season. Which is fine! I'm not pointing this out to be like "how dare this man not make his muscles bigger for us." The man CLEARLY already has buckets of sex appeal without needing to work his pecs 4 days a week. He's doing just fine for himself, the proof is in the fan art.

So, because I am a person who loves thinking about process and logistics and all of the little moving pieces that go into something like OFMD, I am now wondering: why did Con have to build muscle if Rhys didn't? Or did he not have to, was he just told he would have some shirtless scenes and he was offered the personal training if he wanted it? How does this decision-making process work? Are there differences between UK/US/NZ studios on this? Is this all settled during contract negotiations? Do actors push back on this kind of thing ever? Is any of this being covered under the SAG-AFTRA contract negotiations? Should it be?

I understand why it's not really talked about, but given how extreme Hollywood likes to take their actors' body types I do wonder about the behind-the-scenes aspects, especially on smaller shows like OFMD where a lot of the cast are closer to middle class than the cast of Marvel movies.

#ofmd season 2 spoilers #ofmd spoilers #if you are a person who knows about these things please hit me up i am very curious #and again NO BODY SHAMING #BODIES ARE BODIES THEY ARE NOT A REFLECTION OF MORALITY OR CHARACTER #THEY JUST ARE

[deadcactuswalking]

REVIEWING THE CHARTS: 11/11/2023 (Olivia Rodrigo, Jax Jones/D.O.D/Ina Wroldsen, The Kid LAROI)

Welp, with a ton of sales and some actually good streaming traction, the Beatles have done it. With their supposedly final single, they now have 18 #1s, the second most of anybody charting only second to Elvis. It’s their first #1 since 1969, “Now and Then” surging up to the top spot this week. So what about the rest? Well, welcome back to REVIEWING THE CHARTS!

Rundown

It should be no surprise that “Now and Then” hit #1. They sold 78,000 units - a lot of it being physical copies - which naturally stomps on the usual sales figures we get nowadays. They set all kinds of chart-span records, including gap between #1 singles, and whilst it’s far from the only story this week, it is pretty great to have a genuine chart moment much like the Christmas #1 where the average person may actually give a damn about the chart. Now that you’re interested, here’s what’s on the chart, our notable dropouts - songs exiting from the UK Top 75 after five weeks in the region or a peak in the top 40. This week, we say farewell to all the Halloween-related re-entries and debuts - probably not worth listening here, just make five guesses and check last week’s episode, you’re probably correct - and then it’s just “ONE MORE TIME” by blink-182, “bad idea right?” by Olivia Rodrigo, “Bittersweet Goodbye” by Issey Cross and “Kill Bill” by SZA, it’s not exactly a week for big losses.

This is also one of those weeks where we do see resurgences of old songs, with “Bad Habits” by Ed Sheeran back at #74, as well as the return for “Iris” by the Goo Goo Dolls at #67. This is its first time in the top 75 since 2014, and it has a bit of a bizarre run in general. It charted at #50 on release, died almost immediately, came back the next year at #26 before soon drifting back away. With the introduction of digital sales and eventually streaming, however, “Iris” has won out, going in and out of the charts for 100+ weeks since 2006. It peaked at #3 after a performance on The X Factor in 2011 pushed its sales up, which meant it was competing with Sak Noel’s “Loca People” and Maroon 5’s “Moves Like Jagger”. Elsewhere, we see gains for “Everywhere” by Fleetwood Mac at #61, “Someone You Loved” by Lewis Capaldi at #58, “As it Was” by Harry Styles at #57, “Another Love” by Tom Odell at #51 and the earliest defrosting of the Christmas hits ever, with “All I Want for Christmas is You” by Mariah Carey at #40 and “Last Christmas” by Wham! at #37. Therefore, Christmas rules need a reminder: I will not discuss Christmas gains past the top five unless they are entering the top 75 for the first time that year in that week. It means the rundowns get a lot less tedious during the holiday season.

To be fair, we have some more contemporary gains, like “MONEY ON THE DASH” by Elley Duhé and Whethan at #63, “Black Friday” by Tom Odell at #54, “Dance the Night” by Dua Lipa, “Would You (go to bed with me?)” by Campbell and Alcemist at #29, and “On My Love” by Zara Larsson and David Guetta at #22. Additionally, Jung Kook’s solo debut album GOLDEN debuts at #3 on the albums chart, thus we see gains for “3D” featuring Jack Harlow at #45 and a re-entry for “Seven” featuring Latto at #35, alongside a new single in the top 10 which we’ll talk about later, standing right next to Taylor Swift swapping out “Slut!” for “Cruel Summer” returning at #7, and speaking of the top 10…

The top five this week consists of “Water” by Tyla back up to #5 with Tate McRae’s “greedy” at #4, Taylor Swift’s “Is it Over Now?” holding on at #3, “Prada” by casso, RAYE and D-Block Europe at #2 and of course the Fab Four at the very top. Now for our pretty scarce but vaguely interesting batch of new songs, though I say the term “new” a bit loosely.

NEW ARRIVALS

#75 - “The Night We Met” - Lord Huron

Produced by Ben Schneider

Okay, so we have another weird chart run here. This song by California indie rock band Lord Huron was originally released in 2015 - which is soon, terrifyingly, near a decade ago - and did not make much noise until it was featured on the soundtrack to Selena Gomez-backed polarising Netflix show 13 Reasons Why in 2017, the year in which this song actually charted below the top 75 for a brief couple weeks. The year after, a remix featuring Phoebe Bridgers of boygenius was featured in the soundtrack for the show’s second season, and gave the song a bit of a third wind… and now it’s back for a fourth because God knows why, probably TikTok because the show is long cancelled. Thankfully this constant slow-burn of a chart run is for a song that is genuinely very good, going for a slightly retro-sounding guitar lick with the haunting doo-wop vocal lead-in, for a song about losing the spark and connection of a relationship and just desperately wanting to recapture - or honestly, escape - the initial moments. I wish the lead vocalist would really get into it a bit more as whilst his fried devastation is effective, I’d like to hear a real belt considering the desperate melodrama of these lyrics. It’s also not the bets co-ordinated-sounding chorus in the world, isn’t really that impactful, and the mix can feel a bit compressed, but as a song, the qualities are there, and I think it lacking a bridge or real climax is by design. It’s the closer of the album after all, and I’m not about to complain about something that could be corrected by listening to the full record. I prefer the Bridgers version, primarily because of how a female perspective in the second verse just touches a better note for me, I don’t exactly know why. It doesn’t make any major differences to the composition so either will work, and if it ends up sticking around, it’s far from the worst indie pop track to have lying around at the bottom of the charts. Isn’t that right, Vance Joy?

#66 - “Brilliant Mind” - Blanco

Produced by Jensmuller

We’ve seen UK rapper Blanco, specifically accompanied by Central Cee, and he didn’t make much of an impression then, though the song wasn’t bad. Here he is backed with what may be one of the best drill beats I’ve heard this year, if it counts as one, applying the rhythms to a club bounce and some African-influenced blocky percussion, as Zelda-sounding flutes ring off in the background and as soon as Blanco starts rapping, a warm sax joins the mix, adding a lot of richer potency to otherwise standard flexing and violence, though the rhyme schemes and flows are on point, and Blanco has a fantastic delivery to sell all of this. I find the lack of ad-libs for the most part really interesting too, it makes the song feel a lot more self-interested, inward-looking rather than flexing on the audience, where each thing he’s grateful for in his life has the added caveat of what should have happened or what eventually does happen to defy the purpose and meaning of it, like when his old gang friends hop the gated fence he has up. It’s a shame that the name of the song comes from a corny sex pun in the hook because there really is a lot to this one, and I think a better outro would seal it for me, but as this there’s still a lot of quality here, especially in the production and that frankly fantastic second verse, for me to call this a pretty excellent example of where British hip hop could be going. Check this out.

#41 - “BLEED” - The Kid LAROI

Produced by Billy Walsh, Omer Fedi, Blake Slatkin and The Kid LAROI

So The Mid LAROI has slowly been drip-feeding songs from the new album he just released this week, and whilst rap is still an influence, LAROI is moving further into the pop rock direction Post Malone kind of took, which makes complete sense for LAROI considering he is some kind of amalgamation of Posty, Bieber and Juice WRLD, with the only thing that really makes him all too recognisable being his hate-it-or-love-it voice. Now I love “WHAT JUST HAPPENED”, but that’s not the single that charted this week. Instead, we have “BLEED”, which just goes for a similar indie pop-influenced acoustic rock sound, except more familiar and laidback than what the other single went for. It’s not bad at all, even if LAROI’s rawer lead vocal take seems a tad detached from the backing harmonies. I do quite actually like that interplay - or more accurately counterplay - on the chorus, where LAROI’s vocal inflections seem particularly dejected when he’s not going for a half-rap angst. The soaring backdrop makes this a pretty solid track, even if perhaps a one-note one that doesn’t go for much more than the one cool trick it saves for the second verse, that being the fast-pace build-up with the distorted guitar and synth flutters sliding in, but it doesn’t lead up to all that great of a final chorus, especially since some of the extra layers are stuck in the back of the mix or only in the left channel. There’s a good song here, but it’s not really fully realised and I don’t think it’ll ever be a great one.

#28 - “Won’t Forget You” - Jax Jones, D.O.D and Ina Wroldsen featuring The Blackout Crew

Produced by Jax Jones, D.O.D and Mitch Jones

Part of me perhaps optimistically hopes that D.O.D will offset some of Jax Jones’ copy-and-paste house-pop genericism by a lot trying a little, and we have Ina Wroldsen - who you probably heard on Jones’ older hit “Breathe” - on the meaningless vocals, so it’s not exactly a good sign, but hey, it’s not awful. Wroldsen sounds frankly terrible but the Euro-trance revival is still in full effect and that slightly jerkier take on the beeping trance synths is actually a bit of a cool, different touch amidst the rest of the oddly drowned-out atmospherics that Wroldsen is mixed way over. It was probably D.O.D’s idea but that’s not important, it’s still there… but it loses its novelty past the first drop. It’s an earworm for sure, though and for whatever reason, the Official Charts Company credits “The Blackout Crew” here for the less-streamed “donk edit”, which is basically the song sped-up and with comical rapping over the drop. Welcome back, Blackout Crew, you haven’t charted since you “Put a Donk on It” in 2008, and you haven’t gotten any better in those 15 years, but it’s still… just delightful. In fact their style of comical EDM-rap they introduced with that classic novelty single is probably more influential than I’d like to admit nowadays. I’d like to see them collaborate with some of the people that clearly take influence from them, like Kak Hatt or, uh, the “give me some time, I’ll have that Rover” guy. Yeah, that would work.

#18 - “Can’t Catch Me Now” (from The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes) - Olivia Rodrigo

Produced by Dan Nigro

Welp, there’s a new Hunger Games, and Lorde isn’t hip with the young-adult demographic anymore so guess who’s back? This seems to act as a semi-motivational semi-revenge track that makes many direct references - albeit through metaphors and imagery you could absolutely apply to, say, a breakup - to the film’s plot, or at least seems to. Rodrigo plays a powerful woman responding to mistreatment by just being everywhere and having whoever wronged her constantly reminded me of O-Rod, without them being able to “catch” her. It’s a cool idea for a song, but perhaps not an acoustic ballad? Rodrigo doesn’t feel like she’s signifying much power here, even if the acoustic guitars sound a lot richer this time around and the harmonies are pretty gorgeous as one would expect. For an acoustic Olivia Rodrigo ballad, it’s actually up there quality-wise, even if just for the swell and for the lack of annoying wordiness that is a bit of an O-Rod trademark at this point. The haunting strings do a pretty good job at feeling surrounding and particularly enclosing, giving a ghostly essence to the reverb and echo on Rodrigo’s “oohs” in the post-chorus. In fact, the bridge kind of seals it: her performance is fantastic, the initial hit is great, but then it repeats as a mantra, gaining swell but losing most of its steam. Unlike LAROI’s ballad from earlier, there IS a great song here, somewhere, but the structure of it - and perhaps my lack of connection of the franchise - doesn’t do it as many favours for me. I can see it growing on me or really being a fan favourite but for now, I just think it’s pretty good.

#6 - “Standing Next to You” - Jung Kook

Produced by watt and Cirkut

I’m still yet to be impressed by BTS solo work and whilst Jung Kook is somewhat close - he definitely has the charisma of a pop star - I feel like he ends up losing me just in the songs department, as they really end up being a competent version of a mostly competently-written song with a fun performance, and nothing more. They’re so fine-tuned and well-done it makes me forget that he was at some point a K-pop singer, and that’s definitely true for this one that just throws 80s synth funk grooves, harmonies and disjointed blasts of horns and bass at you, to convince that there’s some kind of bombast. But I’m honestly not convinced: it’s trying a lot, trying to make some kind of epic, but it doesn’t have a lot of the guts. One of the big lines in the chorus is “it’s deep like DNA” and the wham line it drops on is just a stuttered, kind of weakly-sold “take off”. There’s also just not a lot lyrically here at all, and I mean that in quite literal terms of how many unique words there are. It’s not bad, it’s just a nothing burger.

Conclusion

And sadly, on a decent week, that’s enough to get Worst of the Week. I probably have to clarify given it’s Jung Kook that I have absolutely nothing against the boys, just I’m not a fan of the song. I can’t sincerely give out a Dishonourable Mention so I’ll tie the Honourable Mention between “The Night We Met” by Lord Huron, specifically the version featuring Phoebe Bridgers, and Olivia Rodrigo for “Can’t Catch Me Now”, whilst Best of the Week goes to, surprisingly enough, Blanco for “Brilliant Mind”. I guess, keep it up, man. As for what’s on the horizon, we’ll be in festive season soon enough, but maybe PinkPantheress will give us something less confectionery to chew on in the interim? I don’t know. Regardless, thank you for reading and I’ll see you next week!

#uk singles chart #song review #pop music #jung kook #olivia rodrigo #the kid laroi #blanco #lord huron #phoebe bridgers #jax jones #ina wroldsen #d.o.d #blackout crew

[twwpress]

Weekly Press Briefing #28 - January 1st - January 7th

Happy New Year and welcome back to the Weekly Press Briefing, where we bring you highlights from The West Wing fandom each week, including new fics, ongoing challenges, and more! This briefing covers all things posted from January 1 - January 7, 2023! Did we miss something? Let us know; you can find our contact info at the bottom of this briefing!

Challenges/Prompts:

The following is a roundup of open challenges/prompts. Do you have a challenge or event you’d like us to promote? Be sure to get in touch with us! Contact info is at the bottom of this briefing.

@thefinestmuffin and @JessBakesCakes are hosting a casual Josh/Donna Rom Com Fest that will reveal on February 14. Prompts and claims are open; details here. 

Photos/Videos:

Here’s what was posted from January 1 - January 7th.

Amy Landecker posted a video of Brad in the rain with New Year wishes. 

Bradley Whitford posted a photo of his dog along with New Year wishes.

Bradley Whitford posted a photo of his cat.

Bradley Whitford posted a photo of himself cuddling his dogs on a bed. 

Marlee Matlin posted a video recap of her year for 2022.

Rob Lowe posted a trailer for new episodes of 911 Lonestar.

Donna Moss Daily: January 1 | January 2 | January 3 | January 4 | January 5 | January 6 | January 7

Daily Josh Lyman: January 1 | January 2 | January 3 | January 4 | January 5 | January 6 | January 7

No Context BWhit: January 1 | January 2 | January 3 | January 4 | January 5 | January 6 | January 7

@down_brad_: January 4 | January 5 | January 6

@janelmilfoney: January 5

Edits/Artwork:

#JOSHDONNA: FOOL by sinistercherubs [VIDEO EDIT]

#JOSHDONNA: hits different ‘cause it’s you by treaherous [VIDEO EDIT]

#THEWESTWING: i miss those days by jcshualyman [VIDEO EDIT]

#ABBEYANDJED: i would never fall unless it’s you by livsbenson [VIDEO EDIT]

Creator Spotlight:

Each week, we will talk to a fandom creator and interview them about their work and their process. We’ll also give you the opportunity to ask them questions, too! Want to be a featured creator? Find us via one of the methods listed at the end of the briefing!

This week’s creator is @thingswithpaper on twitter and on stillattherestaurant on ao3. You can find the spotlight on tumblr or on twitter.

 This Week in Canon:

Welcome to This Week in Canon, where we revisit moments in The West Wing that occurred on these dates during the show’s run.

Season 1, Episode 11: Lord John Marbury aired on January 5, 2000.

Season 5, Episode 10: The Stormy Present aired on January 7, 2004.

Season 6, Episode 10: Faith Based Initiative aired on January 5, 2005.

Editor’s Choice:

This week in 2000, the world met Lord John Marbury, Marquess of Needham and Dolby, Earl of Croy, Baronet of Brycey, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the United States from the Court of St. James's for the first time. Here are some Lord John-centered fics, including some silly and funny ones! 

War Criminals by FabulaRasa | Rated E | John Marbury/Leo McGarry | Complete | Turns out, Marbury always did know his name.

Birthday by emma_ockham | Rated G | John Marbury | Complete | Lord John Marbury birthday drabble

Ms Summers Goes To Washington by beer_good (Buffy crossover) | Rated T | Josh Lyman/Donna Moss, Rupert Giles/Lord John Marbury | Complete | It's Big Block Of Cheese Day at the White House, and Josh Lyman finds himself in a meeting with three odd persons who want government funding to slay... vampires?

Three Ambassadors Walk Into a Bar ... by KMDWriterGrl for apollinav | Rated G | C. J. Cregg, Toby Ziegler, John Marbury | Complete | The White House is on the verge of an international incident ... and CJ finds Toby dealing with it by eating peanut butter. An answer to the prompt: "International incident. Finland. Peanut butter."

Celestial Bodies Free for Exploration by Perpetual Motion (perpetfic) | Rated G | Josh Lyman/John Marbury | Complete | Josh is Deputy Chief of Staff to the President of the Western Hemisphere of United Earth, and John's their ambassador to Jupiter. And he might be a bit space-drunk. And horny. (AKA a very pretty title for a pretty ridiculous story)

Fics:

Presenting your weekly roundup of fics posted in the tag for The West Wing on Archive of Our Own. If you are so inclined, please be sure to leave the authors some love in the form of kudos or comments. Be mindful of posted warnings/tags for each story.

Josh/Donna

This Place We’re In by GoneScribbling | Rated G | Josh Lyman/Donna Moss | Complete

The Theory of Entropy by Jane_3yr3 | Rated M | Josh Lyman/Donna Moss | In Progress

I Love You and That’s All I Really Know by BimadaBomily | Rated G | Josh Lyman/Donna Moss | In Progress

Things We Don’t Say In The Light by KindaTea | Rated E | Josh Lyman/Donna Moss | Complete

The Shovel Dialogues by Kajos | Rated G | Josh Lyman/Donna Moss | Complete

wearing blue by thistleandthorn | Not Rated | Josh Lyman/Donna Moss | Complete

How Will He Find Me by Shinyrosa | Rated T | Josh Lyman/Donna Moss | Complete

Breathe, Just Breathe by WitchyPrentiss | Not Rated | Josh Lyman/Donna Moss | Complete

your braids like a pattern (love you to the moon and to saturn) by pumpkinpatch95 | Rated G | Josh Lyman/Donna Moss | Complete

An Oval One by Caedmon | Rated G | Josh Lyman/Donna Moss | Complete

The Obligatory Sickfic by pipisafoat | Rated T | Josh Lyman/Donna Moss | Complete

Would You Turn Me Away Again by ViaLethe | Rated G | Josh Lyman/Donna Moss | Complete

nothing that i wouldn’t do (to make you feel my love) by joshatella (shuuuliet) | Rated T | Josh Lyman/Donna Moss | Complete

A Day of Infamy by mlea7675 | Rated T | Josh Lyman/Donna Moss | Complete

 Danny/CJ 

haunted by the notion somewhere there's a love in flames by Luppiters | Rated G | Danny Concannon/C. J. Cregg | Complete

Surfacing by krazykitkat | Rated T | Danny Concannon/C. J. Cregg | Complete

The Fall by onekisstotakewithme for daylight_angel, miabicicletta | Rated T | Danny Concannon/C. J. Cregg | Complete

 Other Pairings/Gen Fic

sadness or euphoria by jazzjo | Rated G | C. J. Cregg/Kate Harper | Complete

Where The Hell…? by dumbchemist | Rated T | No pairings listed | In Progress 

walk it for you anytime (thin, thin line) by jazzjo | Rated G | C.J. Cregg/Andrea Wyatt | In Progress

bartlet for president! by buddyhollybenhur | Rated T | Josh Lyman & Sam Seaborn, Josh Lyman & Leo McGarry, Sam Seaborn & Toby Ziegler, C.J. Cregg & Josh Lyman

After the Women by TWWingingit | Rated G | C.J. Cregg, Toby Ziegler, Carol Fitzpatrick, Danny Concannon (no pairings listed) | Complete

Figures of Speech by Darsynia | Rated T | Toby Ziegler/Original Female Character | In progress 

So Many Dreams on the Shelf by ViaLethe | Rated G | Josh Lyman/Sam Seaborn | Complete

 Multiple Pairings

Referendum by Theobule (Saathi1013) for midnightlover | Rated E | Josh Lyman/Helen Santos/Matt Santos, Josh Lyman/Donna Moss, Donna Moss/Helen Santos, Helen Santos/Matt Santos | Complete

And now more than ever, it can only get better by miabicicletta | Rated T | Danny Concannon/C.J. Cregg, Josh Lyman/Donna Moss | Complete

THE WEEKLY PRESS BRIEFING TEAM CAN BE REACHED VIA THE FOLLOWING METHODS:

Twitter: @TWWPress

Email: [email protected]

Feel free to let us know if we missed something, if you have an event you’d like us to promote, or if you have an item that you’d like included in the next briefing!

xx, What’s next?

#the west wing #west wing #tww #tww fandom #tww fic #tww fic rec #weekly press briefing #josh lyman #donna moss #joshdonna #cj cregg #danny concanon #toby ziegler #cj x danny #tww rare pairs #lord john marbury #tww gen fic

[broodpeas]

random thoughts on RHOBH

I'm watching Real Housewives of Beverly Hills again, in between watching other tv shows I didn't wanna watch until I knew I had the time to do so (watched Moon Knight, the best of two worlds: indiana jones and the mummy!). It has been, as usual, an experience to watch a pseudo-reality tv show about wealthy yt women who seem to enjoy tackling each other in the harshest way.

Because I jumped late on this ship, I'm sure later seasons the show tries to mend some of the things they have done so far that they consider to be bad (for example, highlighting in the worst possible way, how an addiction affects not only a personbut that person's family and make everyone a judge of the situation). With each season I wonder...well, basically, I wonder why. And, are people really like this in real life? Because, even if this is a heavily scripted tv show, we still are talking about people and I can't help but wonder if people are really doing things like doubting someone's disease (season 6), domestic abuse (season 1 and season 2), divorce (season 2 and season 3), and the privacy of minor and their right to exist without having a camera shoved in their faces. I wonder why presenting this on television? why making of this entertainment? and how this specific entertainment differentiates from the other ways we consume in pop culture? Ultimately, tv and movies -but especially tv- exploits this and we take it all, even when we think and believe it's done carefully, gracefully, or whatever (always good to ask ourselves what this implies). I think in the past I had writenn about this, but it's still nice to know that I enjoy watching it. I really do. I don't know what witchery this tv show has but it is good, it's so good. And with every season, aware of the "degradation", I still think they can't go far -and then, they do! So far, season 6 started with a man peeping a woman's underskirt and his wife saying it's her fault because she wasn't wearing any underwear! Ah, makes perfect sense!

At the same time, I think too this show is very telling of the upper class of entitled gringas that sometimes do come to this part of the continent and are amazed we have wifi. Which by the way, reminds me to tell to whomever reads this, please let's not find this shocking anymore. It's the year 2023 of our lord Beyoncé who's on tour currently -and giving you so many fashion references I don't think an academic paper will ever be enough-, and we know the condescending ways the gringos exist in the world. RHOBH simply let's you go a little deeper into this, to wonder how in hell did we let things go this far and how great it is because we find amusement. I have always wondered, when the cameras are gone, and they're just them, people living on earth, do they look at themselves and think "this is just a job"? Instead of a version of squid game that violently murders people, maybe this is the real squid game. A very nice one, because I will not stop watching it- must be said, it really doesn't make you a better person to put yourself in the position of judge here.

In any case, it will always be interesting to disssect the Real Housewives franchise from the ethics point of view, and especially from a feminist point of view. Because one could say that yes, tv shows like this makes us abandon all feminist flagpoles and shit, I honestly think this is a too hurried on position. There's a reason why this specific part of television and pop culture is viewed and appreciated by us. For so long gossip and cattiness has been understood as negative and even here, I understand them as negative values. RH has given permission to turn around this, to pose the question why are they bad? if you think carefully, ethics wasn't really built by so-called marginal groups, it was built by men. I mean, what's the first book of ethics I read on my philosophy BA? Aristotle! and Socrates was well, he was difficult, I don't think he'll ever admit how catty and dramatic he was (girl, you died drinking poison instead of escaping, do you think LVP would've done that hell no, she would've made dorit drink the poison!!!). And we all know this, and this isn't the exact place to discuss the implications or consequences this has, but it really does let you think with more attention and detail why these tv shows are considered "trash tv" instead of....culture. I don't think RH is bad tv, I think it's an specific form of entertainment that is so specific to our contemporary times we really have no way to compare it with anything else. This also lets us come close to what it means when a scripted television show starts to meddle with serious stuff, such as addiction, domestic abuse, harassment, and so on and on, and does so with not much care or tact. They just do it, they give it you raw.

But anyway, this was very random, like almost everything I write. Time to get back to work.

[binch-i-might-be]

ok so not to bbc sherlock post in the year of our lord 2023 but I've been rewatching lately, and in my procrastination as to avoid burdening myself with season 2 episode 3 The Reichenbach Fall, I rewatched the unaired pilot.

objectively speaking it's overall not as well executed as the actual Study In Pink, the acting, scoring, editing, cinematography, sets-

but I gotta say, I do prefer the overall flow of the plot? it's half an hour shorter of course, so maybe I just simply didn't have the time to get bored, but I feel like the whole Mycroft thing not being present helps SO MUCH.

can't help but feel like they could have pushed Mycroft's introduction into The Blind Banker which overall isn't a very strong episode anyway.

I also kinda liked the whole confrontation with the cabbie better in the unaired version just because Sherlock was drugged and as such at an obvious disadvantage.

I never really liked the way the cabbie's whole spiel was presented, claiming he talked the victims into willingly taking poison only to reveal he threatened them with certain death instead of a 50/50 chance, and the omission of the (fake) gun and introduction of the drugging of the victims actually makes. more sense to me?

something about him saying he'd just force the poison down Sherlock's throat if he refused to choose a pill is much more effective to me personally than just having him point a fake gun.

ok that's all for now bye✨

#the unaired pilot does have some diamonds in the rough! some parts are just plain cringe tho lol #for a great part because you could tell the actors didn't have thr characters entirely nailed down yet #also that one shot of sherlock on the roof for some reason with john gazing up at him gayly??? WHAT did we need that for #don't get me wrong 16 year old me went insane at that but 23 year old me actually winced out loud. like that was Bad 😭 #bbc sherlock #rayrambles

[mykingdommusic]

ETERNAL WHITE TREES debut album "The Summer That Will Not Come" will be released on April 21, 2023 and for sure it is a mandatory listening for you who have your musical background in the most melancholic dynamics of Metal and Post Rock of KATATONIA, SWALLOW THE SUN and NOVEMBRE. Let's know the protagonists of this work, starting from Gerassimos Evangelou, already LORD AGHEROS' mind, soul and body who is here the singer behind ETERNAL WHITE TREES' decadent, nostalgic and beautifully painful universe.

1.   Give us a short presentation of ETERNAL WHITE TREES and let us know more about the choice of this suggestive moniker.

The Eternal White Trees are 3 friends who, outside of their personal musical projects, get together as kids on the weekend to put their experiences, grown over the years, into music. Between a glass of wine, a laugh and a melody born on the keys of a guitar or a piano, they decide to bring this creature to life. The comparison of these three figures with immortal trees is a must. Resistant and fearless to the changing of the seasons, over the days, over the years, always there, always together.

2.   ETERNAL WHITE TREES represent a new name in the Italian Metal scene but the three members of the bands are part of the scene since a long time. What did you push to give shape and soul to this new creature?

Everything was born naturally, without any pretense. The more time passed, the more we realized that the composed material was the offspring of every single personal, musical and life experience and that, united with those of the other members, it took shape in a completely spontaneous way, without forcing. An indissoluble bond even in music, a unique empathy and feeling.

3.   How are ETERNAL WHITE TREES different from the previous projects where you are involved?

If we talk about musical styles, we notice that the lack, or almost so, of a singing in screaming, blastbeat and convulsive riffs that can lead you back to some musical stereotypes is completely absent. But that melancholy and devastating vein is always present, softened by clear singing and double voices to create even more effect. Putting feelings and emotions into music is something that characterizes us individually in our personal projects, if you combine them, imagine what comes out.

4.   What does it represent to you personally?

Doing what we do, without forcing it, completely spontaneously and naturally, without anyone prevailing over the other but rather putting each one's own ideas is something unique nowadays. The fact that you get to make it happen with your closest friends, both in music and in life is priceless.

5.   The sound of ETERNAL WHITE TREES can be represented like a bridge between old school of Gothic Metal (Novembre, October Tide) and actual vision of Post Dark Rock (Katatonia, Swallow The Sun). In which way these bands have been part of your musical pantheon?

Personally, Katatonia is a band that has accompanied me a lot over the decades, with its style changes, certainly not easy listening, but among all those mentioned, I can safely say that they have an important place in the tracklist of my emotions.

6.   "The Summer That Will Not Come" is the title of your debut album. Can you describe it in a few words?

It's a mental journey that I took during one of our sessions, I imagined an expanse of snow and trees everywhere, covered with snow, but in this cold context there was always the warmth of a fireplace in your home, where you lacked nothing. Where any harbinger of spring was all but extinguished, so what would it be like to prepare for all of this? If you compare it to everyday life, you will notice that change is almost an expectation, an obligation, losing the beauty of the moment, the moment that will never come back.

7.   Behind ETERNAL WHILE TREES: - 5 favorite bands: Katatonia, Soen, Empyrium, Ulver, Agalloch - 5 essentials albums: Katatonia "Dead End Kings"; Ulver "The Assassination of Julius Caesar"; Empyrium "Where at Night the Wood Grouse Plays"; Archive "Lights"; Aphrodite’s Child "666" - 3 essentials movies: "Interstellar", "Lord of the Rings Trilogy", "The Gladiator" - the song you wish you had written: "Interstellar" theme!

[carlacachu]

Wild, but God.

Probably in the most exhausting seasons of my life. What started in October 2023 extends to this day; and I don't know until when this is all going to last. What I presumed to be getting better, improving, is actually getting worse. Clearly, God is teaching me to wait on His timing, to trust in His purpose, and to grow my faith. However, there are far more things He also led me to realize and I'd like to share them with whoever is reading.

I realized that He also wants me to grow closer to Him; build a relationship with Him. You see, I've been a lukewarm Christian all my life. And while this present circumstance has only led me to hold on to Him for dear life, the lack of visible improvement is also throwing me off my "game". It's making me feel miserable and disappointed. While there are other aspects of my life that are considerably okay, the biggest part of my life, which is my marriage, is just all over the place. And what this current state is revealing to me is where all my faith and hope rests -- it's not really on God, it's on my husband's. Still. That God isn't my top priority still, but my husband. He's still my world and not the Lord...which is exactly why I'm in this situation (Read Hosea 2:13-20 for context).

Aside from that, He is also teaching me to be patient in my waiting season. It's so easy to get off track with all the existing dating apps and all the friends I made through the years. Once they become aware of my current relationship status, I immediately receive blind date offers. And while it is all so flattering, a constantly nudging voice keeps on telling you how it is not right at all; that if I get too involved or go past talking stage, it's never going to work out so well; that my stay in the "wilderness" will only be prolonged, that it will only get worse from here. That I'm controlling the story God is writing.

Also, in my waiting season, He has helped me realize a few more things: focus on working on yourself. God knows me well enough that once He returns my husband, that I will no longer be able to invest as much as I could today towards myself. I will be more restless and divided (for the right reasons). That I will no longer be able to pursue the graduate school degree I'm currently pursuing since I will be all about being a 100% wife mode. That my priorities will shift away from taking care of myself to taking care of the entire household as it has been that way for the first two years of our marriage. I don't even have a hobby for crying out loud.

Ultimately, God is teaching me to surrender. It's a word common to everyone, but not easy to do.

[blessedbellatrix]

Season of preparation

2023 was my year and season of preparation. I felt that God was preparing me for something big--the big plan.

At the start of 2023, the Lord impressed to me that this year is my year and season of preparation. He was preparing me for something big that I was to undertake soon, very soon. He has a big plan for me and my husband and He will slowly reveal it to us.

2023 was a year of big revelations that neither me nor my husband expected. While it was a year of preparation, the Lord was not short of blessings as it just kept on coming and we kept on receiving.

The first quarter of the year was about breakthroughs and celebrations. In our church we have a 9-day long prayer and fasting where we prayed all kinds of prayer for the church, God's people, and God's will to be done here on earth. We prayed to have a fruitful and faithful year, declaring our fruitful and faithful theme for 2023. On the third night of our prayer and fasting (7 January), the Lord spoke to me about His grand plan

Leviticus 25:2 - Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘When you enter the land I am going to give you, the land itself must observe a sabbath to the LORD.

This is one of the many confirmations of the Lord that He will bring me to a nation for my lifelong mission. This was first revealed to me when I attended the Kairos course, and details were slowly being revealed to me as the days go by. This day I also submitted my draft thesis to my adviser for review. The day after, we (my boyfriend then and I) were already talking about buying a property.

In February, the Young Adult sector of our church surprised me with a birthday celebration at our house. They planned it along with my boyfriend, but I caught onto it before they were able to say Surprise! Earlier that day (19 February), the Young Adults had a discipleship session at church and we had Soaking before ending our program. It was my first time doing Soaking, which is soaking in the presence of God through music and prayer. That time I prayed that the Lord would talk to me about His big plan and how I would be able to go to that specific nation that He called us to. In 2022 I already got God's Yes and Go, but as to how, there was nothing yet. Meanwhile, my boyfriend already had a laid out plan from God how he would Go. I asked and cried to the Lord during that Soaking and it was my first time hearing His voice, so loud and clear that I really cried of joy. He specifically told me, "Wait, I will give the instructions." That was very clear, and instantly, while still crying, I felt relief. I remember I heard God's voice when I leaned my head on my boyfriend's shoulder. I also started crying then because I know that I will be left alone when my boyfriend leaves. But it was crystal, my God told me to wait. And so I would wait.

In April I joined a mission trip to Palawan with my brothers and sisters in Christ. It was my very first mission trip and was also my first hosting gig in a crowd of more than a hundred. After our mission activities, I got a surprise marriage proposal and got engaged. In May, we took our pre-nuptial photos, and had a surprise bridal shower and groom's bachelor's party in June. Three months after being engaged and after two months of preparation, we got married in July. While preparing for my marriage, I also juggled my time as a student, and I was able to finish my thesis and graduate also in July. And in this month I also got another position at work, which is as a Team Lead of a newly created team. How amazing is this God who poured His strength, wisdom, and provision to enable me to achieve all these things? How great is He?

Just when I thought the blessings are waning down, my husband and I had a chance to speak at our Wednesday Soaking sessions. We both wanted to speak and share during our Soakings but only my husband was vocal about it. He taught during the August 9 soaking and me in September. On August 9, my husband was also anointed by our Pastor as a Preacher. It was the Lord who spoke to our Pastor that my husband was called to be a preacher. On this month he also received a good news about his work visa and in November, he left the country to go to the nation God called us to be. I was not there to be with him when he left because I had a different travel in the UAE for work, which God also called me to be. We were called to different places that time, and was quite sad that we didn't get to see each other until my husband's last day in the country, but the reason was later revealed to me in the UAE. The Lord really has humor.

When His plans were being revealed to me one by one, I was always amazed but couldn't help to smile by the unexpected turn of events. While I was away and my husband was sad that we won't get to see each other one last time before he leaves, the Lord showed me situations, allowed me to talk to people, and made me realize why things were happening the way they were. From the first day until my last day of attending the conference in UAE, the Lord revealed the instructions that I had been waiting for. I couldn't help but cry and smile at the same time because of the Lord's humor. He didn't allow me and my husband to meet because if I didn't push through with my travel, I won't be able to get to know His instructions for me to be with my husband in that nation He called us to be. We were called to obey and that's what we did. Because of this obedience we now know what next to do and wait for the specific instructions and actions to take. It is really true, and happens to me all the time, that when God calls you to something, He would never leave you to do it alone. He called you but He will be with you. And even if you don't understand the calling, just do it, obey, and later you will see why. Because God knows the bigger picture and we don't, so we just obey. And praise be to Him, that my husband and I was able to obey.

With all that happened this year, I go back to to the first month when God impressed to me that this was my season of preparation. While I think I was just receiving the blessing, everything that happened (the marriage, the graduation, my husband leaving, me travelling), these were all preparations for what was to come--the bigger thing that will come. Our big and lifetime mission that will happen in a different nation. I still don't know how God will use me, us, specifically. He was revealing bits of pieces of information through dreams, prayers, and visions, and all these I am keeping in my heart for me to be ready when God would call me for it. Right now I just wait, we wait… again… wait some more… and obey.

#christianity #christian blog