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newagesispage · 3 years

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OCTOBER 2021

THE RIB PAGE

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We miss U Charlie Watts!!

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The Stones performed at a private party for Patriots owner Robert Kraft of all people. The test run looked like just that. Shark jumped. I am becoming disillusioned.

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SNL is back with Owen Wilson as first host of season 47. Kacey Musgraves is the musical guest. Episode 2 will have a ridic choice for host. Halsey will sing. I suppose $ is power with the Kardashians. I could think of about 10 million other people to host but more and more Lorne goes for the shiny object , what he THINKS people want instead of taking risk. Beck Bennett is out.

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Is everybody watching the Amber Ruffin Show?? I loved her before but now… I learn so much from her show. Sometimes it takes a comic to get to the real serious shit. For example: Have you heard of drowning towns? Towns like Oscarville, Kowaliga, York hill, Seneca Village, Prentiss and countless other black towns that were drowned out to make lakes for the local whites. Central Park was also made after a black community was erased from history. Development displacement? Alleyway dwelling authority? Even those rabid for history can find out new things everyday. Thanks Amber!!

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Bob Woodward and Robert Costa are finally giving us Peril !!!!!! I’ve been waiting!!** I was in political nerd heaven on Sept. 24 when Yamiche hosted Robert, Bob and Weijia Jang on Washington Week. All of my favorite pundits all together at one table, my dream team!!

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Iman looked great at the Met Gala!! Other great looks belonged to AOC, Tessa Thompson, Maluma, Helen Lasichanb and Pharrell Williams. Gigi Hadid, Kiki Layne, Ashton Sanders, Hailee Steinfeld, Kehlani, Zoe Kravitz, Michaela Cole, Lili Reinhart, Kate Hudson and Shai Gilgeous- Alexander were great. Whoopi Goldberg seemed a bit off.

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Jason Isbell is back with his latest offering, Georgia Blue.

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I see a lot of Title Max type establishment are closing down. Are they a thing of the past? Let’s hope.

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Law and Order is coming back to NBC for season 21. Dick Wolf will own 2 entire nights of television. Some of the old cast is reported to be returning.

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Britney Spears Father was suspended as her conservator.

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Timothy Chalamet, Rowan Atkinson, Sally Hawkins and Olivia Coleman will star in Wonka.

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The 2022 Super Bowl halftime show will bring us Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Mary J. Blige, Dr. Dre and Kendrick Lamar.

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People are doing test runs for school board positions to see if their political ideas will play well for the big leagues. If they don’t seem to work, at least they can sometimes change the rules in their own area.

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Joe Rogan got Covid.

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Lake Michigan beaches were closed down thanks to a US Steel plant chemical leak.

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Is this country the master of endless administrative work? None of us should have been surprised at the red tape that the slowed down the end of the war in Afghanistan.** Uber donated 50k for rides and meals to the Afghans when they arrive.**And why do so many waste taxpayer $ on useless recounts and recalls when people need real help with food and healthcare? They must really hate humanity.

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R. Kelly was found guilty of 8 counts of sex trafficking and 1 count of racketeering.

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Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. – Dwight D. Eisenhower

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Texas has put a law into effect to allow most Texans to carry open without permit or training.

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Texas has banned abortion at about 6 weeks. Uber and Lyft will pay drivers legal fees if sued under Texas abortion law. Lyft donated $1mil to Planned Parenthood. ** Look for the ruling in the Mississippi law over Roe V. Wade in June 2022.**Hear us roar!** BTW.. Go Jen Psaki!!!!!!!

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They seriously banned plastic straws and abortion before assault rifles? – Eden Dranger

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Please stop banning abortions, the last thing the world needs is more Americans. –Sarah Beattie

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Women don’t inseminate themselves. Vasectomies are reversible. Should every man have one until he’s deemed financially and emotionally fit to be a Father? – Bradley Whitford

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90 year old William Shatner will go to space for Blue Origin.

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The Q Anon Shaman pled guilty to a felony for obstructing the Electoral College proceedings. I say 20 years and a $250K fine.** 600 others have been indicted.

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Days Alert: The Beyond Salem thing was ridic but it was so great to see some old characters. Days is so great at visiting old family. Who can resist Shane, Austin and Carrie, Billie and the old Kristen? I do wish that Peacock would get their kinks out!! Back to the real Days: Are we smelling an Emmy for Susan Seaforth Hayes and Bill?? ** Good to have Abigail back. It is always fun to wonder which actress and or personality it will be. ** Deidre Hall got her star on the walk of fame.**And just in time for Halloween, the Devil is making a comeback. The end of the year in Salem is always the best!! It is so brave to give the 96 year old man the old switcheroo into the Dark Lord. It was fun to see the grandkids discover Grandma Marlena’s story. Delicious!! Hail Satan!!** It is past time for Tate and Teresa to come back to town. Brady needs to be put in his place. And thanks for the Philip and Chloe flashbacks!!

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The breakdown of the vaccinated: 90% of Atheists, 86% Hispanic Catholic, 84% Agnostic, 79% White Catholic, 73% White mainline protestant, 70% Black mainline protestant, 57% white evangelical. 1 in 500 Americans have died of Covid.

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So Mike Lindell and Jim Baker have teamed up to sell children’s Bible pillows.** Piers Morgan has returned to the Murdoch organization by joining Fox. That sounds about right.

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Please stop saying the vaccine does not have severe side effects, I took my shots and now I’m alive and have to keep working. –Mohand Eishieky

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In theatres Oct. 22: The French Dispatch.** October also brings us a new season of Curb your enthusiasm and Oct. 17 will catch us up on Succession. Whew!!!

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So people under conservatorship are not free to marry who they want? What?

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46% of Americans believe in ghosts.

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Simone Biles, Mckayla Maroney and Aly Rasiman testified at the Senate judiciary hearing about the FBI’s handling of accusations against Larry Nassar and it was eye opening!

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We wanted a no -nonsense Dem who pushes on and does not puss out. I am a bit surprised to see we have it. There are so many pressing issues that I hope Biden works a bit more on Haiti though.

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The National Police Act was passed to celebrate cops. Still no police reform.

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John Mulaney and Olivia Munn are going to have a baby.

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The Emmy’s were a little different this year with more of a Golden Globe look. Cedric the Entertainer hosted with Reggie Watts as DJ. Lots of minority noms but barely a win. It was a white people night. Ted Lasso had a great night. Mare of Eastown took home a few with Evan Peters, Julianne Nicholson and Kate Winslet. Now, Kate is great but how did Anya Taylor- Joy not walk away with that? Queens Gambit did win a couple and gave the longest speech with the seemingly arrogant director Scott Frank who opened up 2 page acceptance. Categories were tough but I was routing for Renee Elise Goldberry and Bowen Yang but perhaps next year. The people in England who had their own party for all the statues that the Crown won seemed to be having more fun! Hacks won for writing and directing and Jean Smart!! It was nice to see the Norm Macdonald love which was barely mentioned by Lorne but celebrated by John Oliver. Colbert ‘s election night special won as did JB Smoove. Hamilton won and Debbie Allen got the big one. I do not understand why real singers and or musicians have to be there for the in Memoriam. It takes me out of it a bit and concentrates the focus on them. Do they think that people will pay attention more? Do they want to keep the home audience or live audience from the bathroom? My best dressed were Anya Taylor-Joy, Michaela Cole who won for I may destroy you, Jean Smart, Josh O’Connor, Kathryn Hahn, Billy Porter, MJ Rodriguez, Keenan Thonpson, Leslie Odom Jr., Catherine O’Hara, Trevor Noah, Eugene Levy, Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys, Bowen Yang, Anthony Anderson, Leslie Grossman, Amber Ruffin, Allyson Felix, Renee Elise Goldberry, Samira Wiley and Rege- Jean Page. My worst were Sarah Paulson, Gillian Anderson, Beanie Feldstein, Elizabeth Olsen and Aidy Bryant. To me the best part of the show was the enthusiasm of Conan and the way he injected himself into much of the evening .He was the show. Go Conan!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Next year there must be some Emmys for Sarah Paulson and Cobie Smulders in Impeachment!!!!!

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Oh Boy!! The Eyes of Tammy Faye!!

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Looking forward to the Electric Life of Louis Wain with Benedict Cumberbatch and Claire Foy.

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Abba has a new album!!

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Shang Chi is the biggest Labor Day opening with a $71.4 mil opening.

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Sen. Amy Klobuchar has announced she has breast cancer.

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Is it the 70’s? A streaker ran past the studio of the Today show.

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Rascal Flatts Joe Don Rooney was arrested for DUI.** Nicholas Cage was thrown out of a prime rib pace in Vegas after being drunk and disorderly.

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Jennifer Eckhart has filed a lawsuit against former Fox news anchor Ed Henry for rape and retaliation after allegedly being handcuffed and beaten.

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Scarlett Johansson has settled her Disney lawsuit.

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Pete Buttigieg and Chasten had twins they named Penelope Rose and Joseph August.

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I noticed a commercial for Dancing with the Stars. Are we onto the E list because I have heard of hardly any of these people. ‘Stars’is really stretching it. And as I post this I see there are some covid issues there as well.

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Virgin River was renewed for 2 more seasons.

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Trevor Noah is right? Why do they stop giving lollipops to adults at the doctor?

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Jon Stewart is back on Apple tv with ‘The problem with Jon Stewart.

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Brooklyn 99 had about the best finale (other than Newhart) that I can recall. I had my fingers crossed that Chelsea would be back. Will they honor us like they did in the show and come back for a special about once a year? That would be fucking awesome!!

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Don’t expect compliments from an insecure person.- Mr. Pickles

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Thousands and thousands of people are in need. Haitian refugees and other immigrants have seen nothing like this what with assassination, a hurricane and earthquake. The Southern border is a mess.** Why does Fox news keep telling refugees the border is open as they sit back and laugh at Biden’s predicament. Spreading false info to intentionally hurt poor, distressed people has no end for them.

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Do companies know how fucked up their employment websites are? It is true that some people do not want to work. It is true that people schedule interviews and don’t show up. It is also true that companies have made it so hard to apply that many can’t. I suppose it is easier for them but the poor who may really want to work have a hard time. Paper applications are almost completely gone. The old fashioned way of walking into low paying job sites and finding a connection with a manager rarely exist. Some places only accept texts or have long ridiculous psych tests that a working Mother may not have time for. A Father working many hours already, may not be able to go to the library to get online if they cannot afford a computer. Many websites tell you that there no positions available in your area while there is a huge sign in front of the establishment. Can’t find people to work.. Gee I wonder why?? And treat people with respect once you find them, how about that?

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Keep your head up in failure, and your head down in success. –Jerry Seinfeld

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Hey.. There was a van air B’n B biz going that got busted. Hey.. The poor need vaca’s too. It is wrong but If they are willing to sleep in a van, why not. I truly think that many do not understand how much people are struggling.

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Free coffee day came and went but only a few places really gave you free coffee without rules to govern the promo. Some places wanted to sell you something else and some made you belong to their club. Starbucks held that customers had to come inside for the free cup of Joe, handicapped or not.

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One would think the Republicans would run out of $ for recounts but they have deep pockets. Just think how much good they could do for the huddled masses with that scratch.

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Sad to lose Mick Brigden, protégé of Bill Graham who managed The Stones and worked with Frampton, Dylan and Santana.** And the comics were very vocal about the loss of Norm Macdonald. He was one of a kind and he will be missed!

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R.I.P. Ruth Marx, Lee Scratch Perry, Willard Scott, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Isadore Bleckman, George Wein, Michael K. William,George Holliday, Anthony Johnson, Basil Hoffman, Al Harrington,Willie Garson, Mick Brigden, Tommy Kirk and Norm Macdonald.

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happymeishappylife · 4 years

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Big Finish Audio Adventure Review: Death’s Deal

In a continuation of the Destiny of the Doctor collection, we join Donna and the Doctor doing what they do best: Helping people. The problem gets to be who exactly are they trying to help? They land on an odd planet after intercepting an SOS transmission from a starcruiser, but just as they are about to track it down a freighter arrives and transmat an odd group of people who turn out to be tourists. But these aren’t your sweet travelling parents on a cruise ship excursion. This is for thrill seekers only because the planet they all are on, is called Death’s Deal for a reason.

The planet itself is a sanding place that based on the way its described, is like walking the ocean floor without being underwater. Creatures of large oceanic type beings hide and shift beneath it, trapping their prey and causing havoc to all who are stupid enough to land here. After a short introduction the entire landing party of the tourists gets stripped down to just four people. The tour guide, a friendly coral like creature named Krux, a teenaged punked out pirate with a gun and his supposed girlfriend, Lyric. Once they establish they are alive, they soon have to part ways to survive because the TARDIS goes missing and the Doctor gets excited by a Morse code message aimed directly at him because it says: ALLONSY! Then thanks to a message from his future self, he learns the planet is even deadlier than he assumed because the planet is filled with crystals that are compounds in bomb makings.

The story than takes a twist as he rushes to find Donna, where we learn that Lyric isn’t just some girlfriend dragged along by her boyfriend. She’s actually on a hunt to find her dad who supposedly crashed on the planet a long time ago. They find him and he’s gone crazy, but his powerful dedication to environmental protection is stronger than ever which is how the Doctor discovers why the planet is as hostile as it first appears. He tries to help save Lyric’s dad and in turn gets thrust right into the deadliest danger.

It’s a great adventure and a typical story I would expect to hear from the Tenth Doctor and Donna and because Catherine Tate gets to narrate it, we get her amazing sass throughout the novel. And since she has spent so much time with David, she captures his one speech quirk really well. “Well-” It’s funny. As to the story itself, the only small complaint is it takes a while to set up and at the beginning I felt like it introduced way too many characters just to then show off how deadly the planet really was by immediately killing them off. Once that was over, than focusing on whose left was much easier and easily the interesting and heartbreaking story revolved around Lyric and her Dad. At least his intentions started out good, but what a terrible way to ruin a man for caring about the environment.

Overall Rating: 8/10

#big finish audios #destiny of the doctor #death's deal #tenth doctor #donna noble #catherine tate

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emeraldbirdcollector · 5 years

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Why David Tennant and Catherine Tate are the BEST Benedick and Beatrice EVER.

I have just seen this version of Much Ado About Nothing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OS1wo_8L3Yc&feature=youtu.be

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBEyNB5pFhI&feature=youtu.be

It is STUNNING. Not just for the physical comedy, though Tennant is an absoilute master of physical comedy, especially that involving hips, and Tate is right up there with him. (Tennant chews the scenery just as much as Branagh did in the same part, but Branagh appears to be doing it to call attention to himself, while Tennant manages to convince you that the scenery is Tasty and he’s enjoying his meal thoroughly.) Not just for the kid who shows up at random bits and gets laughs by Being A Kid.

But Tennant’s Benedick and Tate’s Beatrice get some things right that I’ve never seen a Benedick and Beatrice get right before.

(This is going to get long, so I’m going to put the rest of this under a tag. Please excuse me while I geek out in geeky fashion. This is my favorite play and now this one is my favorite version of it.)

They get the seriousness of what Claudio does to Hero. Both of them do. It’s a hard thing to grasp in our modern age, where an accusation like that and a rejection might break a young woman’s heart and leave her the subject of unpleasant gossip for a little while. but no worse. In the context of the play, though, Claudio would have been kinder to run Hero through with his sword. He has effectively and completely ruined her life for good, denied her marriage of any sort, denied her any chance at a healthy adult life and family, left her a lonely pariah outcast and rejected by even her dearest family members (or at least she’s supposed to be, but while Leonato goes along with it, Beatrice, bless her, refuses utterly). Which is why when she is proven innocent, he needs to make a Very Public confession of how wrong he was and how innocent she was, to undo the damage he did to her (and even then, there’s probably some remaining).

Leonato is bitterly shamed and furious - first at Hero, but then when he’s finally persuaded that she’s innocent, at Claudio and Don Pedro. But his fury is for the shame brought on him and his family name. Hero is a symbol to him, his Sweet Obedient Daughter who has been a Good Girl so far and made him proud, and he is perfectly willing to turn on her the moment she doesn’t fit that image any more.

Only two people immediately and completely believe Hero innocent and stand by her. The Friar, who as a Man of God is pure of heart enough to see Hero’s purity - and Beatrice, who loves Hero as her sister, who sees her as a human being who has been bitterly betrayed and wronged, who reaches out to embrace and protect her, who is utterly furious on her behalf. Hero is a person to Beatrice as she is to no one else, not just a role being played or a mobile piece of decorative household furniture that has suddenly developed an unexpected and not-previously-visible flaw. And maybe Beatrice also feels a bit of guilt there, because she wasn’t sharing a bed with Hero that night and can’t prove her innocent, likely because she was busy mooning over Benedick.

Benedick - and Tennant does this masterfully - is stunned and in shock, and has no idea which way to turn. His loyalties are ripped nearly in two by the wedding scene - he trusts and is fond of Claudio and the Prince, but here they’re doing something really shockingly awful to a woman beloved of his own darling Beatrice, and Beatrice is as convinced of her innocence as he is of Claudio and Don Pedro’s honorable natures. He’s sure there’s got to be some misunderstanding. He wants to blame Don John, whom he does not like or trust, instead of his friends. He wants to restore sanity, find the solution, fix things. He’s the one who keeps pulling Leonato away, preventing him from hurting Hero physically, who joins with the Friar in urging everyone to calm down and think rationally, who wants to hear everybody out and find a sensible explanation for all this.

And then he’s alone with Beatrice, and her grief visibly hurts him, to the point where he blurts out his love for her just because he wants to comfort her. And for a while, she does cheer up, and she confesses her feelings too, and for a moment he forgets the situation and rejoices in her love - and then she tells him to “Kill Claudio,” and he’s shocked back into the moment.

What Catherine Tate gets right here is Beatrice’s RAGE. She is furious at what has been done to her innocent cousin (whom, given the difference in their temperaments, she has probably looked out for and been protective of all their lives). She is absolutely merciless as she outlines, piece by piece, just how badly Hero has been wronged, belied, betrayed - and how brutal Claudio has been, and how vital it is to stand up for Hero now. She is frustrated almost to the point of madness because she can’t do it this time, she can’t fight Claudio, she hasn’t the training or the physical strength, But she will damned well make sure someone does, even if it means sending the man she loves out to either die or kill his best friend. Claudio. Must. Die.

Most Benedicks here retain a sense of torn loyalty, and go off to fight Claudio reluctantly because Beatrice demands it and it is an essential task to win her heart. Tennant’s Benedick listens to Beatrice, hears what she has to say, genuinely respects her judgement - and he is persuaded. His loyalties rip completely, and he willingly chooses his side, not just because Beatrice is on that side, but because Beatrice’s side is the right side. He challenges Claudio because he firmly believes Claudio has behaved badly and should be called out on it, and he resigns from the army because he has been persuaded that Don Pedro is no longer a fit leader to serve. He loves Beatrice not just enough to fight for her cousin, but enough to listen to her, to trust her, to respect her, to be convinced by her. And that is why he is worthy of her - and why Don John could not get him, ever, the way he got Claudio, because Benedick would have talked to Beatrice, one lover to another, and worked out what was going on, rather than throwing her aside like a piece of artwork he bought that turned out to be a forgery.

And in the end, most Benedicks are relieved to be able to pin everything on Don John and cheerfully, completely reconcile with Claudio. Tennant’s Benedick doesn’t, quite. He gets, as other Benedicks have not, the significance of the line being “An you are like to be my kinsman, live unbruised,” instead of “an you are innocent, let us be friends again.” There’s a bit of menace in his delivery of that line, even a warning slap in the face on the “live unbruised” - what he’s really saying is not the usual, relieved, “Oh, good, you’re innocent and it’s all that bastard John’s fault, so we’re friends again,” but “I saw what you were willing to do to my kinswoman, my wife’s best friend and sister. She’s forgiven you, and she’s in your power now, so I’ll make peace with you for the family’s sake. But try that again, and I will END you.” (To his credit, Claudio accepts that as deserved, which it is.)

Tennant and Tate also do an absolutely brilliant job of convincing the audience from the beginning that they’re really crazy in love with each other, letting their love for each other show through their sparring, making it clear that the sparring is just a protective shield to keep the other from breaking their heart again (and it’s quite clear that they’ve had some sort of relationship, and it broke - probably because Benedick was afraid of commitment - and now they’re each convinced the other hates them, but they’re still unable to stop thinking about each other, so they cover it up by constant bickering and insults). Beatrice can’t help asking the messenger if Benedick is back safely from the wars - she frames it as insults, but she’s clearly been worried. Benedick is genuinely hurt by Beatrice insulting him to his disguised face at the ball (and oh, that disguise, and the way Tennant wears it, it’s gorgeous- those HIPS omg) - unlike Branagh’s Benedick, who seems more resentful of the blow to his ego and the insult to the wit of which he is so proud, Tennant’s Benedick is brokenhearted because he’s just heard the woman he really loves dismiss him with apparent contempt and dislike. Beatrice, when questioned by Don Pedro, makes it quite clear that she’s lonely, but that she’s not prepared to marry for anything but real love - and pretty much confesses outright, in that quiet and vulnerable moment with someone who cares and won’t mock her, that her heart is still Benedick’s. And just before the eavesdropping scene, in Benedick’s monologue, he adds just a little tweak to the description of the Ideal Woman Who Could Convince Him To Marry that makes it quite clear he’s thinking of Beatrice and her alone. The palpable relief they show when they can finally admit their feelings, and when they realize the other still loves them, is glorious. They can’t keep themselves from bursting into laughter at inappropriate moments, not just because the situation is funny, but because they’ve just got so many FEELINGS and they’re finally able to be let out and it’s such a relief that they’re both downright giddy. It’s adorable.

I would also comment here that it’s not just Tennant and Tate, though they steal the show - the other actors in this are brilliant, too. Elliott Levey as Don John is masterfully insinuating and sneaky, a talented gaslighter, while Tom Bateman’s Claudio is just innocent and gullible enough to be readily deceived, and manages to show a level of remorse and repentance once Hero’s innocence is revealed that make me feel less sorry for Hero having to marry him in the end than I usually am. You get the feeling he might genuinely have learned from his mistake and might be a better person in future. Jonathan Coy, as Leonato, plays him as a comfortable, genial sort of squire whose world has been turned upside down, and who is furious and out of his depth and passionately determined to get his honor back, whether that means throwing away his cherished daughter or killing his former potential son-in-law. Someone is going to pay for publicly humiliating him (not Hero, him).

Adam James’s Don Pedro has an easy air of authority - until Don John’s treachery is revealed, at which point he seems genuinely shaken. And he makes his proposal to Beatrice seem genuine - he’s charmed by her and attracted to her, and while he’s not yet as much in love with her as Benedick is, you get the feeling he might be, had he been given time and encouragement. I didn’t believe that either Denzel Washington’s Don Pedro - though I loved him - or Reed Diamond’s had a thing for Beatrice, but I get that loud and clear from this one. Her rejection hurts him - but he’s an honorable enough man that his next move is to get her fixed up with the man she is obviously pining for, a man she considers worth rejecting a wealthy prince for. (And rejecting him is a big deal. When Leonato thinks Don Pedro is wooing Hero as himself for himself, he gives her quite clear orders that she WILL be wooed, because after all, he’s the PRINCE. Beatrice literally turns down Prince Charming for a man of far less wealth and status, and he realizes why, given that she’s practically confessed to him a few minutes before that she’s still got feelings for Benedick - “I gave him use for it, a double heart for his single one...”) During the eavesdropping scene, he quite clearly says, “Would she had bestowed this dotage on me - I’d have doffed all other concerns and made her half myself,” and he’s only partly mugging for Benedick’s benefit, part of that is genuine, I think. And at the end, when he sees her happy with Benedick, he’s happy for her - but there’s some pining on his own behalf, too. Which makes Benedick’s “Get thee a wife!” a bit of a barbed phrase, and you can see the barb go home.

I can’t find the name of the woman who played Margaret, but she was a delight, too, as playful and witty as Beatrice and clearly an old and cherished friend of both hers and Hero’s, as well as a servant. Certainly not afraid of talking back to her employers, well aware that Beatrice and Benedick have it bad for each other and quite willing to tease both of them mercilessly about it, but genuinely fond of both of her ladies and wishing both of them well (Borachio makes it quite clear that her seeming betrayal of Hero was innocent and unknowing, and that he was the schemer, not her). When Benedick tells the Friar and Leonato that he wants to marry Beatrice, she gives the most adorable happy squeal. I hope she continues as Hero’s lady’s maid - Hero needs someone tough and witty in her corner, though of course she’ll always have Beatrice (and now Benedick, in a brotherly sort of way) on her side as well.

John Ramm’s Dogberry and Mike Grady’s Verges get their parts thoroughly right, too - they are delightfully dim, but full of self-importance, trying SO HARD to be witty like the aristocratic characters, and they have NO IDEA what they are getting wrong. They overact like crazy, but they’re supposed to.

Alex Beckett’s Borachio is first casually flip about his villainy and proud of his cleverness in getting so much money out of Don John and fooling the noble Don Pedro and Claudio - but then he hears that Hero died of it, and you can see the seriousness of that hitting home. He’s not as much a villain as Don John. It shakes him, that he killed an innocent woman, and you get the feeling that his confession to Leonato was not drawn from him by the constables, incompetent as they are, but came straight from him. And he takes all the blame himself and makes sure to exonerate Margaret. There’s some honor left in him.

All in all, this is the best version of my favorite Shakespeare play that I have ever seen. You should see it too.

#much ado about nothing #david tennant #catherine tate

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tartareus · 4 years

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Do you condone/ship incest? I was reading your rules and got confused about your sentence where you said if people are uncomfortable with fictional consensual incest this isn’t the blog for you. Except Incest is incest regardless of if it’s fiction

hi there, friend, how do you do?

while i'm not particularly fond of anons (nex time you'd like to discuss something regarding my rules and/or character portrayal, i strongly encourage you to do so via ims - i don't bite, and if our points of view don't quite match? that's alright, i promise i'll leave you in peace :) ) for various reasons, i'm so glad you've read my rules (that probably makes you one of the few who follow me - at least i presume you do, idk - who has done so, so thank you so much!), i cannot stress enough how important they are to me. if i happen to follow you, rest assured that i have read yours (unless, ofc, i couldn't find one in your blog - in any case, if i happen to accidentally break one of yours, just hmu or gimme a nudge).

considering that you've asked more than one question, i'll answer to you in separate sections - needless to say that while i break it down your questions, the answer might become a little longer than usual (again, i'm sorry). i'll keep this tagged, in case any of my followers don't feel like reading about this. without further ado, let’s dive in.´

“do you condone/ship incest?”

short answer? nope. but that is not a black or white question i’m afraid. no, i – nox, the human behind this blog of fictional characters – personally do not condone incest , never have and never will, and don’t ship it. i do, however, ship consanguinamory on rare occasions, and when i do happen to write it i never do it in a good light.

for those who are not familiar with the term, here’s a little bit of info about it x && x. in short, the key difference between them is: incest is usually linked abuse (a fictional example that can be used, taking in consideration one of my very own muses, in this case is margot verger – who was sadly abused by her brother in the hannibal books) while consanguinamory (the lannisters, for example, or even the sharpe siblings from crimson peak are examples of consanguineous relationships) is the consensual romantic and/or sexual relationship between members of the same family who are of consenting age.

[ personally, i find both of them gross as fuuck irl but when it comes to fictional works i may get over this first disgust and ponder more on that && take in consideration the characters arch, plot, thoughts and the whole world they are set in. ]

i suppose the turning point here is the consent. i never, never, condone any sort of abuse – not in fiction and neither in real life – and while it’s a subject that bothers me to no end in real life, when it comes to fiction i am less inclined to project into them. i may write dark and toxic relationships, but i obviously do not condone them. that’s the point here – people on this hellsite usually mix the two together (condoning something and shipping/writing it, that is) when in fact they shouldn’t even be in the same box to begin with.

let’s say you write a fictional serial killer – norman bates, tate langdon, hannibal lecter, catherine tramell (that chick from basic instinct), patrick bateman, mrs lovett and sweeney todd, kai anderson, bellatrix, grindelwald and voldemort (the list of plausible examples could go on forever…) – here and ship with them; does it mean that you, the writer, condone every single action and choice your muse does? if writing something purely fictional equals to condoning it in real life, well… the world is even more fucked up than i first thought.

you see, in this little exercise in imagination, you could’ve easily picked a good guy or gal to write, the hero; the goody two shoes. why didn’t you? well, it’s complicated to pin point why some are drawn to darker works of fiction and characters while others are not, i suppose each individual has their own reasons && i can only speak for myself when i say that i am drawn to these sort of fictional works because they the safest way to explore dark topics that pertain to human society. on my side, it’s nothing but raw curiosity.

there’s also the issue of how different cultures see these relationships. in case you haven’t noticed, i am not from the states but actually from brazil. especially in the rural area, it’s not uncommon for second cousins to date or even marry (ew, i know, pretty gross). that’s something that is luckily falling out of practice, but you can easily find it, more so in the poor rural areas that are really far from the cities.

you may have noticed that most of the sources for the terms come from a blog that advocates real life consanguinamory – but make no mistake, i don’t support it. these were the only places i’ve found as sources in a quick look online. i don’t support it irl, but whatever consenting adults are doing amongst themselves is no concern of mine – i have no say on the matter and all in all, i don’t give a damn. i just don’t like it. everything i’ve discussed here is related to fiction, consent and is only ever related to people of consenting age.

“i was reading your rules and got confused about your sentence where you said if people are uncomfortable with fictional consensual incest this isn’t the blog for you. except incest is incest regardless of if it’s fiction”

to be honest with you, anon, i couldn’t possibly see how you’ve got confused with this. i thought i was pretty clear with that, but perhaps not. sorry, my english is not perfect. however, with the risk of sounding like a meme, i said what i said. if you personally feel uncomfortable or even triggered with fictional consensual incest otherwise known as consanguinamory, maybe my blog isn’t for you. not because i – as the mun – condone it, but because i might mention it or even allude to it when i write certain characters. again, consent is the main thing here – you won’t ever see me writing that awful part of margot’s past, but i might mention it on some threads as it is part of her trauma but i will write jaime’s feelings regarding cersei and joanna’s love for tywin – and that should not be overlooked.

“except incest is incest regardless of if it’s fiction”

so far so good, am i to assume that you also believe that “murder is murder, regardless of if it is fiction or not”? should we call the police on, idk, george rr martin for killing....hell knows how many characters...at this point i’m sure not even he knows. leaving my petty comment aside (it’s the arthritis, i’m always annoyed when in pain), i see where you’re coming from; fair enough. but you missed a big point here – consensual. i do not write abuse, even to the muses who – in the canon source material – have done so ( like jaime lannister himself – who’s in a consanguinamorous [therefore, falling under the category of fictional consensual incest] relationship with cersei – who abused his sister next to their son’s dead body [ yeah, jaime apologists, i’m out to get y’all...jokes aside, i do not acknowledge people claiming that cersei manipulated him into going to bed with her, while they are both shitty and toxic as fuck people, their relationship is mutually messed up – gag if you must but jaime lannister is far from innocent angel ] ) in the past. i. don’t. write. it. but i do write jaime’s feelings for cersei because they are canon and are also a big part of the character he became.

all of that, of course, has to do with my own position on the “war” between the people who believe fiction has a great power and influence over reality vs the ones who do not believe in that. personally, i find it hard to believe that fiction is a brainwashing tool rewiring people’s brains - i find the idea itself ludicrous, the ones who strongly stand for that aren’t that different from flat-earthers and people who believe in reverse racism tbh – but i do acknowledge the influence media has on society. its not nearly enough to turn someone to the “dark side” alone by itself – those who claim that videogames, for example, made them violent most likely already had something different and perhaps wrong with them before the games triggered something. i don’t believe that media creates things on people, but brings buried things (fears, feelings, emotions, hopes) back to the surface. it’s all about the stimulus.

if you wanna be scared, watch an horror movie; if you wanna be happy, a comedy video. wanna feel warm inside and live unrealistic romantic expectations vicariously through fictional characters? read a 50.000 words slow burn fluffy happy fanfic of your otp at 3 am even though you gotta wake up early in the following morning....

point is, they are not creating things, they are bringing forth responses from you that were already there in your brain (everybody has laughed before and felt fear, it’s part of human development). and how you react to certain content is entirely to you and your past. say, if you drowned as a kid on the sea - and had trauma from that - the idea of watching titanic is not so fun, is it?

it’s not my place to decide what you should do, that is entirely your own choice to make, just be aware that, as i’ve stated before countless times, i may write dark topics that may or may not be triggering to some. i do so because it is my blog, and i don’t react so harshly to this content (in fact, i love horror, thriller and dark fictional stuff – meanwhile i dread the thought of rom coms, hell knows why??) for i am lucky to be able to separate fiction from reality. basically, whilst writing a villain, i myself do not become one in real life – that part remains in fiction only and doesn’t affect me.

that is not a constant, sure. i don’t just write dark shady stuff – there’s plenty of fluffy shit on my blog, but i like to warn people beforehand to make sure we are all on the same page. it’s for your own comfort, i suppose, because i may not understand certain points of view on fiction but i will always defend your right to be comfortable and safe.

so yes, if you aren’t feeling well at that notion, please unfollow and block me if you must – i never wish to cause any discomfort to anyone – however, before you do so (that is, if you do so) i beg you to just send me an im warning me beforehand, please? that way i can block you – and your other blogs as well – so the chances of me running into you again and causing you discomfort will be minimal. that way we’ll both be on own respective lanes and happy about it. i mass follow very often and don’t usually know which blogs belong to whom (uh, did that make sense? my latina ass is not used to using whom in a sentence....), i may follow another blog (or the revamped blog) of someone who has blocked me and never even realise it – that’s not me following you around and stalking like a total creep, that’s probably me not even remembering who you are. again, sorry – i don’t mean for this to come off rude or anything but???? its the truth? you know the drill, big following list, big followers list (well, big for me tbh, i cannot remember the name or alias of 600 people for the life of me, excuse me if my memory doesn’t serve me right), hard to keep track. there will be no witch hunts, at least on my part, because i deem them to be childish and way too dramatic for my taste. if you’d like to speak in private, adult to adult, i’m always game – i dread vague posting, i personally see it as a pathetic and weak trait.

as long as you’re civil, so am i.

either way, do whatever makes you feel comfortable and safe on your blog – your mental health is far more important (to me, and hopefully to you as well) than a hobby, than tumblr, rp or whatever fictional stuff someone’s writing or reading; you are responsible for your own online experience, and i am responsible for mine. that’s an empowering thing that should be reminded more often.

i truly hope i’ve managed to answer whatever doubts or questions you had in mind, if not my ims are always open and so is my discord. once again, thank you for reading my rules and stay safe!

edit; my dumb ass forgot to drop my disco handle, since i change often. it currently is DOCTOR BITCHCRAFT !!! | 𝒏𝒐𝒙#1398

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pervocracy · 5 years

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One opinion about almost every episode of Doctor Who that I’ve watched

spoilers, although they’re mostly from like 2005

An Unearthly Child: Whoa, they nailed the theme song right from the get-go!

Rose: The Doctor’s speech about feeling the Earth turning under his feet was chilling, and I think about it a lot in moments later in the series when he’s being goofy and casual.

The End of the World: They spent a lot of money on this one--costumes, effects, even licensed music--to prove to everyone that This Ain’t Your Daddy’s Doctor Who.

The Unquiet Dead: I realize saying “every myth is actually aliens” is kind of the Brand, but this one came off particularly strongly “we wrote a Victorian ghost story but then the boss said it had to be aliens so okay, fine, they’re fuckin’... alien ghosts.”

Aliens of London: “Being the Doctor’s companion will completely destroy your life” is a surprisingly grim running theme in the series. Every companion eventually brings grief to their friends and families, in one way or another.

World War Three: Rose returning to the TARDIS as a conscious decision, bags packed and ready for adventure, is adorable. The show implies that certain people are just made to be companions to the Doctor, and Rose is one of them.

Dalek: It was an interesting choice to introduce the Dalek as sympathetic and pitiful, and at the same time one of the most brutal killers on the show. And at the same time, it’s still a ridiculous-looking thing with a toilet plunger for an arm.

The Long Game: Hey! That’s Simon Pegg! He looks weird with blond hair! Hi Simon Pegg! I’m waving at the TV!

Father’s Day: I only watched this one once. Couldn’t deal with the feelings.

The Empty Child: Stephen Moffat was so good when he wasn’t allowed to take over the whole show so he actually had to write stories with endings!

The Doctor Dances: And what a glorious ending it is! Everybody lives, Rose! Just this once, EVERYBODY LIVES!

Boom Town: The Doctor’s dinner with the Slitheen, and their cold deconstruction of each other’s brutality, is one hell of a scene considering the silliness of the setup.

Bad Wolf: Today on Shit You Did Not Expect: a... The Weakest Link crossover? Really? Really. They play The Weakest Link with a penis-headed robot who blasts people with her laser eyes. And then they’re on Big Brother! Hey! My dad worked on that! I don’t think he was actually part of this episode though.

The Parting of the Ways: Rose doesn’t look or act like she’d make a fearsome demigod. Which makes it much more powerful when she does.

The Christmas Invasion: “Who is this weird new guy? I’ll never get used to him being the Doctor!” -me, for about 5 seconds before falling completely and permanently in love with Ten

New Earth: This one is so much fun! Rose and the Doctor are so adorably playful with each other, and then they get to do some incredibly goofy bodyswap acting, and then even Cassandra gets to have a sweet, humanity-affirming ending.

Tooth and Claw: So you’ve got a Scottish actor who normally fakes an English accent, pretending to be faking a Scottish accent, then pretending to forget to fake a Scottish accent and “slipping” into an English accent again. Meanwhile I can’t even speak with a Massachusetts accent and I was born here.

School Reunion: “I couldn’t bear to watch you grow old and die” is a bullshit excuse for ditching a companion, coming from a guy whose entire personality essentially-dies every time he has a contract dispute or “creative differences.”

The Girl in the Fireplace: “Every time I travel through the time portals, several years pass for Reinette. Too bad I have no pattern recognition abilities!”

Rise of the Cybermen: I’m glad Mickey finally gets an episode where he’s not just a barely-wanted tagalong. He was on the verge of becoming the Xander Harris of this show.

The Age of Steel: Noel Clarke’s “I’m two people” acting is so good! You can see whether he’s Mickey or Ricky in each shot with a glance, just from his facial expression.

The Idiot’s Lantern: ahahaha look at their hair in this episode

The Impossible Planet: I’m glad they came back to the Ood later, because it’s rather unpleasant how the Doctor in this one kinda shrugs off “so these people are keeping slaves, what’re you gonna do, cultural differences and all that.”

The Satan Pit: Making literal Satan the bad guy here is adorable. It’s like something you’d see on 60s Star Trek, but no, it’s happening in our modern CGI-enhanced post-irony Golden Age Of TV world. A man in a spacesuit is yelling at a giant red devil that just growls back at him and it’s all very serious drama. I love this show.

Love & Monsters: This is the one where a girl gets turned into a paving slab but then her boyfriend announces that it’s okay because they’re still having sex. Yeah. That happened.

Fear Her: I think this one’s mostly filler

Army of Ghosts: There’s just way too much going on here. We’ve got ghosts and Cybermen and Torchwood and Daleks and a parallel universe and... anyway I think the concept of using those flimsy paper 3D glasses as a magical item is kind of adorable.

Doomsday: ROSE! ROSE NO! COME BACK! ROOOSE!!!

The Runaway Bride: Catherine Tate is so good! I’m so glad they brought her back!

Smith and Jones: I love that Martha immediately distinguishes herself as a potential companion by being excited instead of terrified that they’ve been teleported to the moon. She doesn’t even know how they have air, but she’s already like “sweet! an Adventure!”

The Shakespeare Code: By theater nerds, for theater nerds, probably insufferable to everyone else, but theater nerds have long been comfortable with that.

Gridlock: It feels a little too Socially Responsible how the Doctor and Martha are immediately and violently anti-drug. This world has patches that bring you magical joy with no apparent side effects, and instead of being curious about it the way they usually are about future technology, they just go straight to “SAY NOPE TO DOPE, KIDS!!!”

Daleks in Manhattan: Having Daleks use the old-school pepperpot design and robot-screamy-voices in the modern series is like putting nipples and a codpiece on the Batsuit in The Dark Knight. Which is to say, it’s brilliant and I love it.

Evolution of the Daleks: too much plot, I’m sleepy

The Lazarus Experiment: I cannot believe multiple adults saw the wig Mark Gatiss wears in this episode and agreed that would be okay.

42: I really like these self-contained episodes that don’t set up any big arcs or prophesies or personal dramas. There’s just a ticking clock, a mystery, a spaceship, and a whole lot of running up and down hallways whilst shouting.

Human Nature: Hey, it’s Jojen Reed as an uncanny psychic child! And Viserys Targaryen as a sadistic upper-class brat!

The Family of Blood: Man, the Doctor really dicked Martha over with this one. “You’re going to be a domestic servant, because you’re black! And I’m going to turn myself into an old-timey racist who doesn’t know who you are! And yet somehow you’re supposed to be in charge of making sure I carry out all my plans!”

Blink: This is a perfect episode of television.

Utopia:💖😍🥰😘 jack harkness i love you 😘🥰😍💖

The Sound of Drums: “Menacing goofiness” is a strange place for an actor to aim, but damn if John Simm doesn’t hit it.

Last of the Time Lords: “I’ve been traveling around the world, fomenting resistance and spreading hope... in the idea that the Doctor is magic and can fix everything by himself. That’s what resistance to fascism is, right? Just throwing all your resources in with a different all-powerful authority-father-savior figure?”

Voyage of the Damned: Giving the Doctor a one-off temporary companion, and expecting people to care about her as much as Rose or Martha, doesn’t really work. “Oh no, she’s dying. Not whatserface. Oh no.”

Partners in Crime: I love that they’re giving the Doctor a companion who doesn’t have any kind of psychosexuromantic entanglement with him, but is really just a friend. I love that they’re giving the Doctor a companion who’s (by actors’ ages, at least) older than him. ...Oh shit, is it bad that these are the same one?

The Fires of Pompeii: “I wish we could save the people of Pompeii, but I am powerless to change this part of history... oh wait, no, I’ll save this one random family on a whim. Guess I could change history after all! Sorry, other 20,000 people who are still getting volcanoed to death!”

Planet of the Ood: “The companion is the Doctor’s conscience” is always true, but Donna really owns it. She spares no time for pretending that “oh but what if the Ood are supposed to be slaves” is an interesting argument.

The Sontaren Strategem: Another one of those “too much plot for me” episodes. I’m a simple man; just give me a monster and a hallway to run down.

The Poison Sky: ditto

The Doctor’s Daughter: It’s weird that they got married in real life. Like, their actual age difference is within the half-plus-seven rule, and she wasn’t even really his daughter daughter on the show, but, like, it’s still a little tiny bit weird.

The Unicorn and the Wasp: I guess if I read Agatha Christie books I would understand some of these references?

Silence in the Library: Holy shit, this one is scary. I don’t hide behind the couch often watching Doctor Who, but... “Hey, who turned out the lights?”

Forest of the Dead: River’s speech about “when the wind stands fair and the Doctor comes to call, everybody lives” is self-indulgent Stephen Moffat hooey and a blatant repeat from “The Doctor Dances” but I’ve got goosebumps anyway.

Midnight: Wow. You don’t really expect to be using the phrase “a gut-punch of an episode” about the same series that was just playing Detective Funtimes With Agatha Christie, but this was a gut-punch of an episode.

Turn Left: I’ve rewatched a lot of these, but I couldn’t watch this one more than once because I felt so sad about Wilfred. Something in his performance is just wrenching.

The Stolen Earth: I couldn’t watch this one more than once because it’s hard to summon up the energy to follow the “let’s throw everything that’s ever happened onto the show into this stew” plotline.

Journey’s End: HOW DARE YOU DO DONNA LIKE THAT. HOW DARE YOU.

The Next Doctor: Hey! That’s not Matt Smith! I thought it was gonna be Matt Smith.

Planet of the Dead: The Doctor without a permanent companion is always an uncomfortable dynamic. Both because he needs a conscience/foil/audience-surrogate, and because otherwise we have to go through the “the Doctor is the perfect boyfriend who always breaks your heart” narrative all over again every damn episode.

The Waters of Mars: I like when the Doctor isn’t a good person. When he gets all arrogant and inhuman and at moments even sinister, that’s far more interesting than when he’s a straightforward hero.

The End of Time: Look, I loved David Tennant’s run on this show. He’s my favorite Doctor and my imaginary boyfriend. If there’s anyone I don’t mind watching get a bit self-indulgent, it’s Ten. But even from this perspective, I think it was not a good idea to let him spend a half hour dying while crying piteously and also somehow touring his entire history on the show. It really was not.

The Eleventh Hour: This feels like the first episode of an entirely new show. There’s very little in characters or plotlines (or writers or producers) connecting it to anything that happened before. The sense of a fresh start is nice, but this literally is not the same show I enjoyed before.

The Beast Below: Oh. It’s a space whale. That’s cool I guess. This show is okay and everything, but there’s no way I would have really gotten into it if I’d started watching here.

Victory of the Daleks: Upon reading the Wikipedia summary of this episode, I realized that I had, in fact, watched it.

The Time of Angels: “Blink” was, as I said, perfect. But not because the Angels are the greatest enemy ever devised; they’re creepy and all, but most of the fun in “Blink” comes from the meticulously satisfying construction of the time loops. Taking that element out, and just making the Angels into generic boogeymen, was a terrible idea.

Flesh and Stone: Oh god, there’s so many mediocre Eleven episodes. Don’t get me wrong, Matt Smith is great. I don’t blame him. But I’m just not feeling the energy to go through every one of these damn things anymore.

[...]

Let’s Kill Hitler: This is the one that finally defeated me. I wasn’t really offended, just... tired. Things had gotten so wrapped up in complicated portentous chosen-savior-of-everything plots and we couldn’t have even one episode anymore that was just a normal time travel adventure. I think about halfway through here, I gave up on Doctor Who.

Oh well. There’s still time to come back to it if I want. And we’ll always have “Blink.”

#doctor who #long post #looooooong post #longest post

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dangcommaannie · 5 years

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Okay, so I've been thinking a lot about how a second season of Good Omens would play out and I obviously don't have everything right now, but I have some ideas. I may need to read the book first because there could be things there that contradict my ideas and there will be holes in this plan, but let's just focus on the show for now and roll with it because I could be onto something here.

So at the end of the first and only season so far, it's hinted that in the future instead of it being Heaven vs. Hell, it'll be Heaven and Hell vs. Humanity. But then that got me thinking about why both Heaven and Hell were so bent on trying to start the Apocalypse. They both talked about this grand plan, but we don't even know what that plan is. All they knew was that the higher ups wanted this war to happen.

So then that got me thinking about how Heaven and Hell are portrayed. Hell is a work in progress here, but if we look at Heaven, it's up in this high rise, all fancy and clean and sterile. It doesn't look like what one would normally associate with Heaven and looks more like a business. It looks more like a fancy office building filled with billionaire executives than the cloud mumbo jumbo we all think of it, and that's when it clicked for me.

In both Heaven vs. Hell, and Heaven and Hell vs. Humanity, the main victim is Humanity. There's no way for humans to withstand the sort of powers that angels and demons are throwing around. So why would Heaven put so much into a grand plan that ends with so much death?

If Heaven and Hell are like businesses, then their goal is profit, which in this case, would be souls, human souls.

The reason why the Apocalypse had to happen was to generate a mass influx of souls. The grand plan is a get rich quick scheme.

When humans die, their souls go to Heaven, Hell, or Purgatory (and yes, I'm aware that Purgatory may or may not exist, depending on which Christians you ask, but we're going to say that it does here.) The majority of people aren't all good or all bad, which means they would end up in Purgatory indefinitely before moving on to Heaven, which means Hell gets nothing, but also, it means a waiting period for Heaven too. Not only that, with more modern medical advances, people's lifespans are getting longer, so death takes longer to occur. Plus with people reproducing less due to shitty future conditions, like climate change making the Earth uninhabitable, there are less people to even try to kill off. So basically, while all humans will, of course, eventually die, the steady income that both Heaven and Hell have gotten used to is slowing down and they want to expedite the process.

So what if this is what got Crowley cast out? If we go with the idea that he was originally Raphael, as the archangel of healing, he would heavily oppose these ideas. They're supposed to be saving people, not killing them. He would question this constantly, try to convince other's that this isn't what they were meant to do, but they just cast him aside because archangel or not, no one's going to listen to a demon now.

And that's what season two would be about. Aziraphale figures out what was really going on with the whole Apocalypse and grand plan, and wants to try and show Heaven that what they're doing is wrong, that if they really loved Humanity, they wouldn't be doing this. He talks to Crowley about it, but oddly enough, Crowley doesn't want to push and go through with it. Aziraphale tries to find others that are like them, like him and Crowley who are willing to see past Heaven and Hell, and he manages to find another angel and demon duo that's like him and Crowley, but more like the opposite. (Catherine Tate would be the sassy angel that seems to be a bit more like a demon, while I'm not sure who yet is a demon that's not quite demonic and is struggling to fit in and find their place, which leads to angst and plot stuff later.) Aziraphale finding out what really happened to Crowley and understanding why Crowley was so unwillingly to help, even though he did try to stop the Apocalypse. Now, Aziraphale grows even further away from Heaven, but as with many in abusive relationships, he tries to find ways to convince himself that Heaven can be fixed and that it's not too bad. More stuff happens that I haven't figured out yet, but it all ends with Aziraphale and Crowley realizing that ultimately, they're on Humanity's side.

#good omens #good omens season 2 #personal post #about me

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dream-beyond-the-fantasy · 5 years

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Saturday at GalaxyCon Raleigh

I was too exhausted to post on Saturday, so I will try to recount everything now.

My cousin Alexis and I left out at a little after 7 am, making a few stops (atm, gas, Starbucks). We took back roads instead of taking the interstate. Still a roughly two hour drive, but it was scenic and low traffic. We talked about favorite Tim Curry movies and horror movies (good vs. bad, remakes) and listened to some of her favorite podcasts during the long drive. Parking wasn’t a problem and we ended up arriving like fifteen minutes before the doors were meant to open. There was a huge line that we had to wait in because there were so many attending on Saturday and they weren’t opening doors for anyone unless you were con staff or a vendor. The waiting in line wasn’t too bad; it was mostly the people with VIP or 4 Day badges who were whining that they couldn’t get in yet. As our line got closer to the building, I spotted @boxofficequeen2416 and said hello. Thankfully, it wasn’t too hard to find the pre-registration desk or a bathroom.

Our first stop was the Exhibition Room. We decided to walk the outside first and work our way in before trying to find the celebrities and Tim Curry photo op line. God, it was so fucking crowded and suffocating. We saw how long Curry’s line was and decided to wait a few hours, checking out out other celebrities.

Our first stop was Chris Sarandon, as he was on the end and was a main draw for my cousin. She had planned to do just an autograph, but decided to do the combo. Alexis got her Jack Skellington Funko Pop figure signed. When he asked her name, Chris mentioned that he has a daughter named Alexis. He also asked if he could put his arm around her in the table photo.

My first stop was Barry Bostwick, as he had hardly anyone in his line. I did the autograph/table photo combo. I brought something to be signed by him. It was an oversized movie postcard that came with my Cult Films textbook from college. Barry hadn’t seen anything like it and had to take a picture of it with his phone. He signed it “Dammit Kristi, I llove you!” He took two selfies with me. He was super sweet. He had asked me what I went to college for (Media Studies). When I told him that I didn’t get a job in that field mostly because I didn’t know what I wanted to do, he was very kind and told me that it was okay and that I would find something that I was suited for.

My next stop was Daphne Zuniga. Out of all the photos for her to sign, there was only one for Melrose Place. Can you believe that? One of the two roles she is most famous for and only one photo for it! Naturally, I had to get that autographed. I also told her that I was currently watching the show and had just watched an episode that morning. She asked what season I was on. I told her that it was the third season and I think it was maybe the nineteenth episode of the season. Daphne couldn’t even remember what had happened in that season. That struck me as a bit odd, since she was only in the first four seasons. I told her that Jo was pregnant that season.

Next up was selfies with Kristy Swanson. She was really sweet and patient while I tried to get my phone ready. She took four pictures with me. I told her that we shared the same name, but one letter different.

After the panel was over, I met boxofficequeen2416 again. I really wanted to join her for the Anthony Michael Hall Q&A. But I knew my cousin was waiting for me. We were going to try and get into the Tim Curry line. No go, the staffer said try again at 2:45. So, I got in line to get an autograph from Jonathan Frakes. It didn’t look so bad, compared to how it was earlier in the day. OMG, I was in line for a fucking hour! My cousin tried calling me three times and texted twice while I was in line and I was worried that con staff would freak out because I had a phone out. It honestly wouldn’t have been so bad if it wasn’t for VIPs and their “fast lane”. Damn line jumpers, ugh. But Frakes is such a sweetie who loves to talk to everyone getting an autograph and/or selfie. Sadly, that also makes things take longer. I got my DVD cover of Star Trek: First Contact signed by Frakes. He starred in and directed that film. He told me that it was is favorite movie.

I went over to Anthony Michael Hall’s booth, as there was hardly anyone there. I had my DVD cover for The Breakfast Club signed. He was really nice. He shook my hand and thanked me for coming. When he was about to sign, he asked how I spell my name, as there are about twenty different ways. I got compliments on my shirt, which I told him I wore just because I found out he was coming and that it has been my favorite movie for years.

We walked around a little more. Alexis bought some things for herself and a Bucky print for a friend. I found the Bard’s Tower booth and immediately spotted Timothy Zahn. They did free signings! I had Heir to the Empire signed by him. I also had a promotional Decipher card depicting him as Talon Karrde, Michael A. Stackpole as Corran Horn, and Shannon McRandle as Mara Jade signed. I received that card eight years ago at StellarCon 36 after I told Mike Stackpole that Tim Zahn was my favorite author. Stackpole signed it and hand it to me, telling me to hold onto it until I had the chance to get Tim to sign it. About 11:45 or so, we headed over to buy food. I got a pepperoni pizza from Papa John’s. She got some macaroni and pork, as well as a bottle of tea. The food was so good, but she felt hers wasn’t worth the $14 she paid.

Nearly four o’clock, we decided we were exhausted and ready to start our two hour journey home. There were several people that I missed out on seeing, but we had a great time. I hope to be back next year.

Then we decided to take a break from the Exhibition Room. I unfortunately missed out on Catherine Tate’s Q&A. But I knew Jason David Frank’s would start soon. Alexis went out to the video gaming section and watched a few games being played. JDF was nearly twenty minutes late to his own panel. When he finally showed up, he apologized. That man looked damn good in a suit. I wish I could have gotten a clearer picture of him. He is such a nice, down-to-earth guy. He even stated that it is perfectly okay for fans to try and take a picture of him, despite the con rules. He told us how he got into acting, how he received his role on Power Rangers, his cameo in the 2017 movie, and showed us the trailer for The Legend of the White Dragon, a Power Rangers fan film that he and Johnny Yong Bosch are trying to film with other ranger actors for the fans. OMG! We need this so badly! I’ve never donated money online or done anything with Kickstarter, but I am so tempted to do it for this.

After that, I think I went to see Christopher Daniel Barnes. I was originally just going to get an autograph, but his handler talked me into the combo since his prices were so cheap ($40 for both). Poor guy barely had anyone at his table, compared to his costar (Barnes voiced Prince Eric in The Little Mermaid and the mermaid herself Jodi Benson was always swarmed by fans). Of the potential photos to be signed were mostly Prince Eric, at least four different 1994 Spider-Man: The Animated Series prints, one which I didn’t recognize but also had Robert Hays (which I have since learned is Starman), and only one Greg Brady from The Brady Bunch Movie/A Very Brady Sequel. Naturally, I chose Greg Brady. Barnes is definitely a nice guy.

I believe our final venture was the Tim Curry photo op. The line was considerably shorter, thankfully. I knew that Curry had a stroke a while back and was in a wheelchair. But as soon as we went behind the curtain, I wanted to cry when I laid eyes on him. I am aware that he is in his 70s, but it appears that his stroke has definitely taken a toll. And the hours of exhausting photo ops probably hadn’t helped (he started at 11 am and was supposed to go until 5 pm).

#galaxycon raleigh 2019 #galaxycon raleigh #my weekend #jonathan frakes #anthony michael hall #barry bostwick #christopher daniel barnes #kristy swanson #daphne zuniga #jason david frank #timothy zahn #tim curry #chris sarandon

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aion-rsa · 4 years

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The Best Online Serial Fiction

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If there was a golden age of serial fiction, it might have been the era when Charles Dickens, Arthur Conan Doyle, and Mark Twain were publishing their stories-in-installments in print periodicals, with their readers desperately waiting for the next part of the tale. But if that’s true, right now might just be the platinum age of serial fiction. The digital medium is perfect for publishing stories as episodes, and modern readers who are used to receiving stories in an episodic format, thanks to television, may appreciate the medium in a more nuanced way than their historical predecessors.

Modern serials make use of both styles of writing. Some rely on a single author who publishes their novel bit by bit, keeping readers hooked. Others are developed in a television-style writer’s room. Some feature added features like music or illustrations, making use of transmedia opportunities made possible in the digital world. These stories span genres, including near futuristic sci fi (The Vela or Machina), urban fantasy (Ilona Andrews’s “Innkeeper Chronicles”), heart-pounding stories that will keep you guessing (C. D. Miller’s Dark Heights, Ray N. Kuili’s Eden Can Wait, or Casey Lucas’s Into the Mire), your favorite comics or television characters in prose (Black Panther: Sins of the King and Doctor Who), and illustrated (Twice) or audio only (Hope and Red) fantasies. Whatever you enjoy reading, there’s a serial for you to enjoy.

Find out more about where you can read online serial fiction here.

Ongoing Serial Fiction

While the science fiction and fantasy genres have the lead as far as the number of individual serials available for purchase, the serial format has always included realistic fiction and intrigue, as well as expanding into erotic novels. Take a peek at what’s new and what’s ongoing!

Hope and Red

Jon Skovoron’s Hope and Red was originally published in 2016, but the author is back with a serialized version—delivered straight to your podcasting app, narrated by the author. As the story that launched Skovoron’s “Empire of Storms” series, the novel introduces warrior Hope and thief Red, who must team up to take down a corrupt empire. This fast-paced fantasy has all the right cliff-hangers to keep you waiting for the next episode.

The Vela

One of my favorite recent space operas is The Vela, a Serial Box original written by powerhouse team Yoon Ha Lee, Becky Chambers, Rivers Solomon, and SL Huang. The story centers on soldier-for-hire Asala Sikou, who’s more worried about taking care of number one than she is about the imminent death of her star system. But when she takes a job to find a missing rescue ship, The Vela, she and her teammate, Niko, the child of the inner planet’s president, find themselves embroiled in endgames that will decide the fate of the universe. The season one conclusion had me sobbing at the end. (Check out my review of The Vela here.) Season two, The Vela: Salvation, is posting episodes right now, and I will be hanging onto my seat for each week’s new episode.

Doctor Who

This summer, Serial Box partnered with The Big Finish to release their full-cast audio dramas of Doctor Who to the serial audience. Two collections of stories, The Tenth Doctor Adventures and The Tenth Doctor Chronicles, feature the adventures of the Tenth Doctor and his companion Donna Noble, voiced by David Tennant and Catherine Tate in one and narrated by Jacob Dudman in the other. Four other offerings focus on earlier Doctors, crossovers with multiple Doctors, and the enigmatic Lady Christina. Fans of the television series are sure to find something to enjoy in these companion tales to the program, and listeners who have never watched the show (as rare as those may be!) have the opportunity to dip their toes into a very complex and well-loved world.

Marvel’s Jessica Jones: Playing with Fire

In Marvel’s Jessica Jones: Playing with Fire, Jessica transitions from comics and small screen to a prose serial—written by Lauren Beukes, Vita Ayala, Sam Beckbessinger, Zoe Quinn, and Elsa Sjunneson. She’s focusing on developing some healthier coping mechanisms (not drinking so much) and trying to take some cases less likely to kill her. But when a simple, cut-and-dry case has more lurking beneath the surface, Jessica can’t let it go, even when the stakes get dangerous. This is sure to be a hit with fans of the Netflix series, and it’s great to see a frequently underused Marvel superhero get more air time.

The 18th Century Man

While the conceit for The 18th Century Man, a serial on Medium by Dan Morrison, seems simple enough—a young man, conceived during a power outage, negates electricity—the first chapters indulge in a hefty dose of social and political commentary that let readers know they’re in for something that aims deeper. James grows up on his grandmother’s farm in Woodstock, Vermont, as the focus of speculation. Everyone wants to know how he became the way he is—including James himself. Reading on Medium requires either using a limited number of stories for free or becoming a subscriber; to help his readers, Morrison posts chapters into the same story, with email alerts that let them know when the next one is added. Readers just picking up this serial can easily binge the first seventeen chapters—and then keep a watch on Morrison’s email list or Facebook group for the next installment.

The Innkeeper Chronicles (and others) by Ilona Andrews

Husband-and-wife team Ilona and Gordon Andrews have been releasing a series of free novellas on their website as a reward to loyal readers. They’re fantastic at providing new content, some in the serial specific world of The Innkeeper Chronicles, which has now produced several novellas. Each weekly installment is a partial chapter, typically readable inside of fifteen minutes, and enough of a bite sized chunk to whet your appetite for whatever comes next.

They’re currently posting a new novel, Blood Heir, set in the world of Kate Daniels, featuring an adult Julie—Kate’s adopted daughter—in an Atlanta eight years after the original series concluded. For readers who weren’t ready to let the series go with Magic Triumphs, this brilliant relaunch is just the reward we needed for surviving a pandemic.

“The Innkeeper Chronicles,” the more frequent ongoing serial series, revolve around Dina, an Innkeeper, host for interstellar travelers that include familiar mythological figures like werewolves and vampires, as well as more outlandish aliens. Her inn feeds magic into her, so she can change reality on her inn’s grounds to better accommodate–and defend against–her guests. In Clean Sweep, the first novella, a supernatural danger threatens Dina’s non-magical neighbors. Dina isn’t supposed to get involved, but she’s not the type to let what she’s supposed to do stop her from doing what’s right. While most of the stories center on Dina, one focuses on Maud, Dina’s sister, navigating the intergalactic politics of space faring vampire civilization while keeping her half-vampire daughter, Helen, safe. Meanwhile on Earth, a holiday celebration at the inn is complicated when a cosmically powerful being needs a safe place to meet her amoral human uncle. The series is a fantastic hybrid of space action, swordplay, and romance, and shows that the series has plenty of room to grow.

Team Andrews creates a very cool world mixing fantasy and science fiction tropes and populates it with a fully realized cast, including not only Dina and her sister, but also the local (hunky) werewolf, a temperamental Quillonian chef, and Dina’s struggling inn’s only regular guest, a vampire noble claiming asylum on earth due to her previous ruthless acts. Can’t wait for the next installment? Andrews is updating the main blog with chapters of a new project in the world of Kate Daniels, which should tide you over!

Into the Mire

In this dark fantasy in a post-war world, a badass mercenary captain leads her crew on a hunt for the missing heir of a baron—who happens to be her old commanding officer. Unfortunately, the marsh into which they must travel is populated by carnivorous trees—and human enemies who may be even more dangerous.

Riss Chou, the head merc, is appealingly snarky; her second-in-command is a posh bisexual sorcerer who, on first read, reminded me of one of my favorite characters from Kill the Queen; and another team member is a blood sorcerer hiding his talent (because it’s illegal). While the first few chapters hint at the much larger world, the narrative never overwhelms, keeping the main quest story line at the forefront, and building the world in the background.

Launched April, 2018, the serial has completed its first full novel and is deep into book two. In 2020, the serial was nominated for New Zealand’s top literary prize in SFF: the Sir Julius Vogel Award. Author Casey Lucas updates the serial weekly on Wednesdays, New Zealand Time.

Twice

Matthew Rhymer is not what he seems—even those who know him best don’t really know his story. When his estranged friends receive a letter intended to be delivered to him, they become privy to an unbelievable story, which has to do with the Lady, her rule, and the hungers of a mysterious enemy. The newly launched illustrated serial “Twice” parcels out the mystery a tiny bit at a time, each episode giving a little more for readers to piece together. Each episode features a gorgeous painting from author/illustrator Mark J. Ferrari. While Ferrari has a tip jar on the site, subscriptions to the ongoing serial are free, and each episode can be read on the website, or delivered directly to your email. Season one concluded earlier this summer, but season two promises to bring readers even deeper into Rhymer’s world.

Dark Heights

If the audio experience is important to you and you’re looking for something for a mature audience, you might be interested in checking out music-enhanced serial Dark Heights by C. D. Miller, with music composed and performed by C. D.’s brother, Chris Miller. The music and prose are developed in tandem, so that they are intentionally intertwined. This indie serial is available at its original website but Part One was picked up by Serial Box, and is available through their app.

The story is of a town, Park Heights, where supernatural forces in a war of shadows converge. Caught in the chaos are town native Tess Bellamy and drifter Gabriel Majeaux. The series features an HBO-level of graphic content (so it’s not for young readers) and bends genres and genre expectations. If you’re a fan of psychological horror, this unique music and prose blend might be right up your alley. Just… be careful of those shadows.

Lady Victoria Howard

One of the reasons some readers may prefer a serial subscription to a paperback is that they can read bite-sized fiction discreetly on their phones. That’s one of the goals of the Lady Victoria Howard web app, an erotic serial written for women, by women. Billed as the world’s first serialized erotic novel, the web app has subscriptions available for the first three seasons (39 episodes), which are delivered weekly depending on when you start your subscription. The story follows Lady Victoria Howard, sister to a modern duke, whose past heartbreak has led her to a sexual awakening, that allows her to explore her sensuality—and live her life to the fullest.

Amazon Original Stories

Amazon Original Stories produces one-sitting fiction reads, such as their premiere releases Joyce Carol Oates’s novel The Sign of the Beast and nonfiction book Crown Heights by Colin Warner and Carl King. Their most recent collection, “Hush,” is a series of contemporary thrillers from authors like Oyinkan Braithwaite and Jeffrey Deaver. Other recent releases include the “Disorder” series of short stories, designed to keep you awake at night, and the “Inventions” series, which explores the true stories from the age of innovation. The imprint has also published “The Real Thing Collection,” six nonfiction essays about relationships including pieces by Fresh off the Boat author Eddie Huang and Pretty Little World coauthors Elizabeth LaBan and Melissa DePino; and the recent “Inheritance” collection, with stories from Alice Hoffman, Julie Orringer, Alexander Chee, and others. Other authors who have written for the imprint include Jennifer McMahon, Lisa Unger, Edgar Cantero, Emily Raboteau, Adam Haslett, Brandi Reeds, Dean Koontz, Nick McDonell, Susan Straight, Jeffrey Deaver, and Janice Y. K. Lee.

The stories are available for free to Prime and Kindle Unlimited subscribers; other readers can purchase the books for $1.99.

Ninth Step Station

In Ninth Step Station, a future Tokyo is torn, divided between the invading Chinese and the supposedly peacekeeping Americans. Disaster after disaster have kept Japan from recovering, and their police are short handed and short supplied.

When Metropolitan Police Detective Miyako Koreda is paired with US Peacekeeper Emma Higashi as her new partner, neither of them is pleased with the arrangement. But despite their hesitations, they solve a series of crimes that feature espionage, rebellion, and humanity at its worst, many of which revolve around the war.

Created by Malka Older, Ninth Step Station feels at once like great near-future sci-fi and a modern police drama in which both of the main detectives are, refreshingly, women. The second season, with writing team Older, Fran Wilde, Jacqueline Koyanagi, and Curtis C. Chen, just wrapped—but the cliffhanger indicates the solid possibility of a third season in the works.

Coming Soon

The Haunting of Beatrix Greene

What happens when a medium and a scientist are at odds in Victorian England—and a vengeful spirit enters the mix? That’s the premise of this forthcoming serial: scientist James Walker hires spiritual medium Beatrix Greene to host a seance. She’s worried he intends to prove that she’s a fraud, and she’s determined not to let that happen. Neither of them expect to have to banish a ghost—or to be so attracted to each other. The first episode is live (and free) at Serial Box, and the second releases just in time for Halloween chills and thrills.

The Co-Founder

One of two Serial Box titles in development for television, The Co-founder is a contemporary drama set to launch later in 2020. When two women, Val and Jules, create what could become the next big thing in gaming, they face a hurdle: they’re women. In order to fit in with the Silicon Valley tech-bro culture, they hire barista and failed actor Toby to act as their third co-founder. It’s a plan that might just work—until Toby tries to steal their gaming platform out from under them. The season, written by Alexis Wilkinson, is available for preorder.

Marvel’s Black Panther: Sins of the Father

It’s difficult waiting for news about the MCU’s Black Panther 2, but fear not: there’s a serial to tide you over! With a sneak peek released in August 2020, the full serial won’t release until January 2021, but I’m already ready to keep hitting refresh until it launches. Led by Ira Madison III, the writing team (Geoff Thorne, Mohale Mashigo, Steven Barnes, and Tananarive Due) take readers to a Wakanda plagued by undead. T’Challa, striving to be both a good king and an Avenger, must turn to his long-lost father to find out how to stop the supernatural onslaught—and face the demons of Wakanda’s past. With Emmy-nominated William Jackson Harper announced as the narrator, this one is going to be a fantastic read—or listen—when it releases.

Serials You Can Binge

These serials, which are not currently updating, are worth checking out, especially as some of them may later get a second season.

Marvel’s Black Widow: Bad Blood

We might not yet have a fully official release date for the Black Widow movie, but fans who can’t get enough of the Russian assassin/Avenger can get a fix with this recently released serial, which just wrapped its first season in July. As the second collaboration between Marvel and Serial Box, Black Widow follows Natasha Romanov as she tries to track down whoever stole her blood—because they also stole the blood of Bucky Barnes. There’s no good reason for someone to take the blood of two secret operatives, especially when there’s a possibility that the someone responsible is trying to develop their own brand of super soldier serum. A Barnes/Romanov team-up is something we’ll never really get to see in the MCU, but pairing these two is sure to hit all the right spy movie tropes. Serial Box veterans Lindsay Smith (lead writer for The Witch Who Came in from the Cold) and Margaret Dunlap (Bookburners) are joined on the writing team by feminist writer Mikki Kendall, urban fantastist L.L. McKinney, and thriller writer Taylor Stevens.

Knox

This recently completed serial is set in 1930s Manhattan, where a serial killer is on the loose, and Knox is the PI on the job. Both she and the murderer, John Craddock, served in World War I; the experience left Knox with the unenviable ability to see the paranormal. And the case with Craddock is anything but what it seems. Elements of Lovecraftian horror infuse this story of a badass Afro-Latina detective, and New York noir combines with queer romance to give the story a while different flavor from anything else in this genre. Let K Arsenault Rivera, Brooke Bolander, Gabino Iglesias, and Sunny Moraine take you on a trip of horrors beyond space and time—and try to hold onto your sanity while you’re reading.

Machina

The world is a mess, and the future lies off-planet if humanity is to survive at all. Machina is set after a climate apocalypse ravages Earth. In the first episode, readers meet a group of dreamers—best friends Trey, Stephanie, and Smits—who intend to save humanity from their crumbling planet, ravaged by earthquakes and worse, by creating AI that will terraform Mars. Skip forward a few years, and those Trey and Stephanie are feuding, running rival tech companies both striving toward the same goal. Although Trey’s company focuses on a more traditional style of programming—where the AI is guided at every step by humans at the helm—Trey is innovating with the help of AI anthropologist Noor Venable, whose understanding of AI may change the way everyone thinks. Stephanie’s group, determined to give their AI more independence, is led in part by ace-programmer Cameron—who finds themself as charmed by Noor as Trey’s AI. The competition is being covered by intrepid “kid-reporter” Hiro Watanabe, who steals every scene he’s in. With the writing team of Malka Older, Fran Wilde, Curtis Chen, and Martha Wells, all of whom have followings beyond their serials, this is one tech corporate drama that readers will be happy to binge—and hope for a second season.

Thor: Metal Gods

One of my favorite bits in the MCU is when Thor and Loki team up in some old-school “Road Movie” style comedy. This prose serial, the audio version of which is narrated by Daniel Gillies of The Vampire Diaries, doubles down on the fun of the Loki-Thor duo. Here, the at-odds brothers voyage through the galaxy to track down a dangerous artifact. But the cast doesn’t stop with familiar faces: new characters include a Korean tiger-goddess, Frost giant mercenaries, and a charismatic, gender-fluid space pirate.This is the first prose serial collaboration between Serial Box and one of the big comic publishers, featuring the writing team of Aaron Stewart-Ahn, Jay Edidin, Brian Keene, and Yoon Ha Lee. If you love it (or prefer a different hero), keep an eye out for Serial Box’s other Marvel titles!

Orphan Black: The Next Chapter

If you were among the fans who lamented the end of the Canadian SF show Orphan Black, celebrate the return of the Clone Club—eight years after the conclusion of the show! (Den of Geek chatted with Tatiana Maslany about continuing the series as the audio book narrator.) The first Serial Box season has concluded, but fans can keep hoping for more time with the Clone Club.

Other Half of the Grave

This may not be the vampire romance POV swap that everyone’s been talking about, but The Other Half of the Grave has some of the same appeal! Fans of Jeanine Frost’s “Night Huntress” series encouraged her to write scenes from the male lead of her first “Night Huntress” novel, One Foot in the Grave, for behind the scenes goodies. It’s not an entire book—readers would do best to read the original novel first—but the bite sized installments are a huge reader perk.

Foreshadow

After a hugely successful IndieGogo campaign, editors in chief Emily X.R. Pan and Nova Ren Suma have launched what they term a YA Serial anthology. Contributors include Dhonielle Clayton (in Issue 0), Malinda Lo (in Issue 1), Justine Larbalesteir (issue 10), and more. A print edition of some of the stories is due out in fall, 2020, but the original 12 issues remain available online.

Born to the Blade

High fantasy meets political intrigue in Born to the Blade, a serial that combines elements from Game of Thrones, Avatar the Last Airbender, and The West Wing. Duelist-diplomats fight for the fate of not only the neutral Twaa-Fei islands, but the world. Rumor has it there’s no second season yet in the plans, but if you’re like me and can’t handle the cliff-hanger from season one, spread the word!

Gods and Lies

Billed as American Gods meets The Maltese Falcon, Gods & Lies follows investigator Justix Iris Tharro, a human agent of the goddess of Justice. In order to solve the bizarre murder in the Temple of Wind, she has to team up with Andy, a disgraced demigod, trying to win back the favor of his divine parent.

First Street

First Street delves into contemporary events by focusing on four young clerks working in the Supreme Court. Recommended for fans of The West Wing and Shondaland series, who are sure to get drawn into the intrigue.

The Understudy

A dance school is the unlikely setting for this social thriller, where a group of moms must team together to protect their daughters from a series of brutal attacks—all of which began when new dancer, Imogen, started attending the same dance academy.

Alternis

In a not-too-distant future, the world’s governments have agreed to allow their standings in an MMORPG to determine their share of the world’s resources. A game designer has a choice: join Team USA or have her life’s project taken away. (We chatted with the writing team for Alternis in an exclusive cover reveal and with Summer Glau, who narrated the audio book.)

The Triangle

A covert group travels to the Bermuda Triangle to investigate disappearances, only to be stranded on an uncharted island… where they discover they aren’t alone. Secrets are slowly revealed in Michael Crichton style suspense, with a healthy dose of television’s Lost.

False Idols

FBI crime thriller False Idols pits Layla el-Deeb against a terrorist network operating via Ciaro’s art scene. Her entry into the world of Cairo’s financial elite is complicated by her impoverished childhood in Cairo’s slums, and going undercover in her home city comes with greater challenges than she expected.

Tensorate

JY Yang’s Tensorate novellas tell a technology-vs.-tradition tale of two twin siblings, Mokoya and Akeha, drawn to opposite sides of a rebellion. A prequel reveals the history of the Protector’s rise, and a continuation of the original duology, The Descent of Monsters, features a female inspector trying to solve a mystery that involves a cover up, an escaped experiment, and strange dreams she can’t define.

The Witch Who Came in From the Cold

This Cold War with witches spy saga had two seasons—and ended on a cliffhanger. If you like a good KGB vs. CIA story, definitely let Serial Box know you’d love to see a third season!

Silverwood: The Door

Continuing on from stories originally introduced in the Black Box TV series Silverwood by Tony E. Valenzuela, this serial offers a Lovecraftian creature driving people to madness, and nods to splatterpunk and slashers. (Check out our interview with the writers.)

Bullet Catcher

Imma Moreno’s dead-end life changes directions when she decides to apprentice herself to a bullet catcher—mythical warriors whose heroics are told in hushed voices, but who were supposed to have been slaughtered by the gunslingers long ago. Tales of Jedi and the series Avatar: The Last Airbender inspired this weird western by Joaquin Lowe.

The Fisher of Bones

Sarah Gailey’s The Fisher of Bones is a fantasy novelette in twelve parts released by Fireside Fiction, with an audio version produced by Serial Box. It’s a beautiful and desolate fantasy story filled with trials of faith, and the short chapters make it a quick read–but the chapters will linger in a reader’s thoughts much longer.

Dead Air

College senior Macy Walker is obsessed with death, and in her on-air show, “Dead Air,” she airs out the old case of horsewoman Peg Graham’s murder. But though she starts reporting her own findings—and realizing that plenty of people would like Graham’s case to stay buried.

ReMade

Twenty three teenagers, all of whom died in the same minute, become the last hope for humanity when they awaken in a brand new world. Here, there are robots that hunt humans, a dangerous jungle, and the ruins of an ancient civilization.

Geek Actually

This contemporary fiction piece focuses on a circle of female friends whose careers revolve around their geeky passions. The focus on powerful and healthy female friendships is a delight, and the diversity of the cast is wonderful.

Bookburners

Bookburners, the flagship series for Serial Box (and one of my personal favorites on this list), is the story of a team of Vatican-employed agents trapping demons in books—until they realize that magic is too big to be contained. The story finished its fifth and final season, and the collected episodes are too good to miss.

Tremontaine

This completed serial is a prequel to Ellen Kushner’s Riverside fantasy series, and the the swashbuckling and political intrigue kept readers hooked through the serial’s ultimate conclusion. Series creator Ellen Kushner has posted a guide to the Riverside novels and the order in which they occur chronologically for readers wanting to delve more deeply into that world.

1776

The Associated Press series 1776: The World Turned Upside Down was originally published for the bicentennial of the United States in a hardcover, large format book for news organizations. The serial features dramatized audio narration with voice work by Clint McElroy as Alexander Hamilton, Bob Garfield as Thomas Paine, Chris Jackson as Washington, Nicholas Christopher as John Adams, and Robin Miles as the narrator. (We talked with CEO Molly Barton about the project.)

A Most Dangerous Woman

Brenda Clough takes up the mantle of Wilkie Collins in creating a sequel to what many critics consider the first and finest example of the modern mystery genre, The Woman in White.

Exquisite Corpse and Embodied

You’ve heard of the game: several authors create a story together, writing a chapter at a time and then handing it off to the next, so that none of the authors really know where it’s going to end up until the last moment. Serial Box took the concept and turned it into a serial format, with two event serials: Exquisite Corpse and Embodied.

Royally Yours

Looking for something a little lighthearted for your bite-sized reads? In honor of the real royal wedding in May, Serial Box released a short, mini-series of love stories, not about the bride and groom, but about couples involved in the day’s events.

Whitehall

In the mood for courtly drama, full of machinations, intrigue, and fantastic clothing? Settle in for the turmoil of the romance of Queen Catherine of Braganza, her husband, King Charles II of England, and his mistress, Barbara. This is captivating historical fiction, vividly set in the 17th century.

Belgravia

Fans of Downtown Abbey will gravitate to this story, written by Julian Fellowes, of the Trenchant family. Belgravia integrates real historical details into the text through hyperlinking; the setting is viscerally described, and the characters presented with an open eye to their flaws as equally as their virtues.

Conclusion

The best part about serials is that they’re happening live — and if enough people are reading them, they make great Internet water-cooler conversation. So if you’re catching up on the latest episode of The Vela, or the most recent installment of whatever Team Andrews is writing, and need to gush — or just want to make sure I know about the hot new serial you’re reading — come on over and find me on Facebook.

The post The Best Online Serial Fiction appeared first on Den of Geek.

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denimbex1986 · 5 months

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'When it was first announced that David Tennant and Catherine Tate would be returning to Doctor Who for its 60th anniversary, fans' minds started racing - when were these new episodes going to be set? How did they fit into the timeline? How could the Doctor and Donna be back together?

Many of those questions were answered for certain during Jodie Whittaker's swan song, The Power of the Doctor, in which her Thirteenth Doctor regenerated into David Tennant, confirming he was playing the Fourteenth Doctor, rather than the Tenth.

However, it seems this wasn't always going to be the case, as Tennant has now revealed to Radio Times magazine that returning showrunner Russell T Davies originally planned for a flashback episode starring Tennant and Tate, set during season 4.

Tennant explained: "It would have been an unseen adventure from years before. Russell immediately had an idea for a story, which I’m not going to mention because I don’t think it’s yet seen the light of day.

"It certainly wouldn’t have been part of an ongoing story. But I hope one day he does use it, because it sounded great."

Instead of a flashback episode, what fans will be getting is three new episodes set after The Power of the Doctor - The Star Beast, Wild Blue Yonder and The Giggle.

The Giggle is set to mark the end of David Tennant's new tenure and the start of Ncuti Gatwa's as the Fifteenth Doctor - but that doesn't mean we will definitely never see Tennant as The Doctor again.

Speaking with SFX recently, Tennant admitted it would be "disingenuous to imagine that I might never be asked again, because history would indicate that it was always a possibility".

He continued, on the potential of another return: "I’m not going to say never, because I don’t think anyone would believe me. That doesn’t mean I know that I ever will.

"But I suppose until I can’t run down a corridor, it’s always a possibility. But I promise to have no plans."'

#Doctor Who #David Tennant #The Star Beast #Wild Blue Yonder #The Giggle #Catherine Tate #60th Anniversary #The Power of the Doctor #Ncuti Gatwa #Donna Noble

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meadowstoneuk · 4 years

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What’s top of the pops on the giggle box

The staff of AG discuss their favourite TV comedies and comedians

Picture: Alamy

Garry Coward-Williams, editor

I prefer situation comedy to watching a comic tell ‘jokes’ and the finest for me is Steptoe and Son, written by Ray Galton & Alan Simpson.

It focussed on the dead-end lives of a father and son who ran a rag and bone business in Shepherd’s Bush. Like chalk and cheese, the son’s aspirations and pretentions were dashed against the father’s worldly cunning and desire to keep him from achieving them. It had considerably more depth than normal sitcoms and often dipped into bleak realist drama with some episodes genuinely sad.

Like Steptoe and Son, Garry grew up in Acton and knew people like them Picture: Alamy

The roles were played by accomplished actors not comedians and prior to taking the part of the son Harold, Harry H Corbett had been cited as Britain’s Marlon Brando.

However, it is Wilfred Bramble as Albert, the erasable ‘dirty old man’ that always got my attention. He is gorgeously awful and cunning, yet at times sad and wistful.

amateurgardening.com/blog

Some scenes stick in the mind forever: the one where he’s sitting in a tin bath is the living room eating pickled onions from a jar, which falls into the bathwater. Without a moments hesitation he fishes around in the water, dangerously close to similar-shaped objects and then places the errant onions back in the jar. Later, unknowing of their recent whereabouts, Harold is seen eating them.

Growing up in the Acton/Shepherds Bush area of West London, where the characters were based, gave an extra edge for me.

I knew people like that, who talked like that. There was a rag and bone yard like theirs in the next street and I had to bathe in a tin bath. Luckily I didn’t like picked onions.

Janey Goulding, assistant editor

Speaking as someone who has spent a massive chunk of my life in questionable flat shares, Peep Show is my touchstone: a TV show that explores the pressures of life wedged in dysfunctional alliances.

Deploying a POV camera to convey the excruciatingly intimate reactions of sparring chums Mark (David Mitchell) and Jeremy (Robert Webb), every last drop of darkly amusing embarrassment is wrung from the comedy sponge of their symbiotic pact.

Peep Show got to some ‘very depraved places’, but Janey is happy with that! Picture: Alamy

Deftly delivered by two real-life friends who know each other well enough to go to some very depraved places together, Peep Show tackles some of the big questions posed by stumbling through life in mutually assured destruction.

Questions like: How do I get someone sectioned? Can a snake be safely left in a bucket at a house party? Is it OK to flirt with someone in front of their coma- induced partner? And how does one wind up eating a dead dog’s leg?

amateurgardening.com/blog

What sets it apart is the writing, setting up fist- chewing faux pas with devastating call and response that ricochets wildly between the mundane and the surreal.

As the ‘El Dude’ brothers grapple with demons in a doomed quest for improbable domestic one-upmanship, Webb’s ability to convey bravado, boredom, tears and hysteria inside a minute is a revelation, while Mitchell’s misanthropic uber-nerd can make us all delight in our own dodgy life choices.

This grimly observed study in friendships is such a good friend to me – like an icky, chewed-up comfort blanket that somehow keeps me strangely snuggly in these wonky, kooky times.

Kathryn Wilson, features coordinator

At a time when all the trendy teens were into political satire and The Young Ones, my tastes leaned towards comedy in a more gentle, observational and mocking vein. And few did it better than Victoria Wood.

Whether with long-term collaborator Julie Walters and the likes of Celia Imrie and Susie Blake in the BAFTA-winning As Seen on TV, doing stand-up or, later, in sit-com Dinnerladies, she delivered some of the most memorable laughs of my early adolescence, teens and 20s.

Kathryn loves Victoria Wood’s gentle, observational comedy Picture: Alamy

I still find myself quoting the elderly waitress in the classic ‘Two Soups’ sketch, and searching for Acorn Antiques clips on Youtube to show my 13-year-old daughter. Not to mention the unforgettable genius of The Ballad of Barry and Freda –’Be mighty, be flighty, come and melt the buttons on me flame-proof nightie’.

I’m certainly not alone in my admiration for her. Victoria Wood has inspired a generation of female comedians, everyone from Catherine Tate to Sarah Millican, as well as fellow northerner Peter Kay. Her death in 2016 aged just 62 was a tragic loss to British TV and writing this makes me wanted to watch her all over again.

Ruth Hayes, gardening editor

This was a tricky one as I seem to have spent most of my life laughing like a drain at ridiculously silly stuff on the box. Morcambe and Wise, Flay Otters – sorry, Fawlty Towers – Some Mothers Do Have ‘Em, Acorn Antiques, The Good Life (my dad was the spitting image of Richard Briers), The Young Ones and Are You Being Served, I grew up through a golden (and sometimes dubious) age of TV comedy.

At the moment I’m breaking ribs watching Ricky Gervaise’s profane and profound After Life and the laugh-out-loud genius of Modern Family, the award-winning ‘mockumentary’ about a dysfunctional but loving Californian clan.

Ruth loves Blackadder – Ben Elton and Rowan Atkinson at the peak of their power

But top of the pile? Blackadder. From the Middle Ages to the hard-hitting and moving denouement at The Somme, it never puts a foot wrong.

amateurgardening.com/blog

The best of the four series? It has to be The Elizabethan One, with career-defining turns from Miranda Richadson as imperious (bonkers) Queenie, Rik Mayall as dashingly rampant (or rampantly dashing) Lord Flashheart (‘Woof!’) Stephen Fry’s oleaginous Melchett, Tony Robinson as pestilential Baldrick and Tim McInnerny as the thick-as-mince Percy: “The eyes are open, the mouth moves, but Mr. Brain has long since departed, hasn’t he, Percy?”

Endlessly quotable, faultlessly stupid, with a wit as sharp as a Renaissance assassin’s stiletto, it was Ben Elton and Rowan Atkinson at the peak of their powers.

Now if someone could just explain the appeal of Mrs Brown’s Boys to me I’d be extremely grateful.

Lesley Upton, features editor

One of the few TV shows that has made me laugh in the past year is The Goes Wrong Show. I really didn’t think I’d like this kind of humour, but it’s done so well that I have laughed out loud during all the episodes.

Lesley loves the chaos of The Goes Wrong Show Picture: BBC

The basic idea of the series is that an amateur dramatic society performs a series of half-hour plays that go horribly wrong each time. The characters are hilarious and the plots are great. The show may seem chaotic at times, but the jokes that are delivered are great and the timing of the disasters is brilliant.

The theatrical disasters in the six-part series are certainly diverse. My favourite is The Spirit of Christmas, in which Santa is supposed to bring joy to a sad little girl whose parents are always arguing, but he drinks too much sherry and ruins everything.

amateurgardening.com/blog

My second favourite is 90 Degrees, which is set in the American Deep South. Unfortunately, a designer error means that a set has been built at 90° to vertical so the cameras are turned sideways and the actors pretend everything’s normal.

This is British slapstick comedy at its best and I’m delighted that a second season has been commissioned.

Wendy Humphries, letters editor

I am a fan of Miranda, played and written by the amazingly funny Miranda Hart. Her BBC sitcom ran from 2009 to 20-15 and is based on hilariously accident-prone character whose life is somewhat chaotic and at the same time deeply human.

Miranda gets her happy ending with Gary, much to Wendy’s relief Photo: Alamy

Miranda owns a joke shop that she runs with her childhood friend Stevie, played by Sarah Hadland. You can’t help but sympathise with her dilemmas and predicaments; always finding herself in awkward situations and balking at the ‘suitable’ men her friends and mother (played by Patricia Hodge) try to set up for her.

In series three there was a chance for love for Miranda. And we all wanted a happy ending, whether that was with Gary Barlow, or her old friend Gary the chef. As we’d hoped, Miranda was swept off her feet and married Gary, played by Tom Ellis.

amateurgardening.com/blog

Everything about Miranda is funny; her mannerisms and expressions and her funny quotes… ‘isn’t this absolutely fabilosibisibos’. The old-fashioned humour and silliness is heightened when she intermittently speaks directly to the audience.

I also think we can all relate to her embarrassing moments too… that we all have.

Since the show ended in 2015, we’ve been treated to a 10-year reunion show My Such Fun Celebration that aired on New Year’s Day. Is this goodbye forever? I hope not, but if it is, thanks Miranda, it’s been “Such fun!”

We are here for you

Although lockdown is easing, many people are still confined to their homes or concerned about going out because they are vulnerable to catching C19.

Here at AG we appreciate that and are doing our best to keep connected with our readers though the magazine, this website and also through social media.

Our gardening ‘agony uncle’John Negus is also still working hard. Send him your problems and questions, with pictures if you can, and he will get back to you with an answer withing 24 hours, as he has been doing for decades. Contact him using the AG email address at: [email protected]

amateurgardening.com/blog

We already have thriving Facebook page but are also on Twitter and Instagram. These sites are a brilliant way of chatting to people, sharing news, information, pictures and just saying hello –we will get back to you as soon as we can.

Best of all, as gardeners are generally lovely folk, more interested in plants, hedgehogs, tea and cake than political shenanigans and point-scoring, so the chat is friendly and welcoming.

You can find us at:

Facebook: Facebook.com/AmateurGardeningMagazine

Twitter: Twitter.com/TheAGTeam

Instagram: instagram.com/amgardening_mag

So please drop by, follow us, ‘like’our posts and say hello –we will reply as soon as we can. Happy gardening!

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nofomoartworld · 7 years

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Hyperallergic: Required Reading

Magazines have been having a ball with Trump. These four covers from around the world ‘have dominated chatter about cover design all week. (via the internet)

That time Trump turned down Warhol prints of Trump Tower:

This could explain why he missed out on what would have been a great art deal in 1981, when he rejected Andy Warhol’s series of Trump Tower screen-prints the artist had made for him on spec (Warhol said: “Mr Trump was very upset that it wasn’t colour coordinated.”)

A Turkish mayor banned a Turkish movie directed by Kurdish cultural figure Mahsun Kırmızıgül, Vezir Parmağı (The Finger of the Vizier), claiming that the comedy runs against the national and spiritual values of the country and mocked their ancestor, the Ottoman Empire.

The New York Times‘ Lens blog looks at the history of women in American photojournalism:

Over the last five years, women have consistently accounted for about 15 percent of the entries to the prestigious World Press Photo awards, according to statistics provided by the organization. And the vast majority of photos in many major publications’ collections of the most significant images of 2016 overwhelmingly carried male photographer’s credits — ranging between 80 and 100 percent, a Times review shows.

Christopher Knight reviews Jimmie Durham at the Hammer Museum:

Durham essentially did what any traditional sculptor does, chipping away to give specific form to an existing mass. That he took aim at a household appliance designed to keep perishables from going bad is at once an artistically poetic act and a socially furious encounter. And throwing stones suggests desperation, employed when one has little else for self-defense against hostility or indifference.

Much of Durham’s work is like that, using found objects and simple actions to operate on multiple levels.

Martyrdom as a surprising theological undercurrent is played out in a video, “Stoning the Refrigerator,” which records the making of “St. Frigo.” The Gospel of John tells of Jesus exhorting the mob in defense of a prostitute who is about to be stoned to death: “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.”

Durham does. We’ve got it on tape. He humbly accepts the risk of hypocrisy.

President Barack Obama’s chief photographer Pete Souza has been posting some powerful images on Instagram to mark the end of the Obama presidency. This image was arguably the most powerful (it made me cry):

Remember Alex, the six-year-old boy who wrote President Obama a letter about the Syrian boy photographed in the ambulance. Alex visited the Oval Office with his family the day after the election. “Dear President Obama, Remember the boy who was picked up by the ambulance in Syria? Can you please go get him and bring him to [my home]? Park in the driveway or on the street and we will be waiting for you guys with flags, flowers, and balloons. We will give him a family and he will be our brother. Catherine, my little sister, will be collecting butterflies and fireflies for him. In my school, I have a friend from Syria, Omar, and I will introduce him to Omar. We can all play together. We can invite him to birthday parties and he will teach us another language. We can teach him English too, just like my friend Aoto from Japan. Please tell him that his brother will be Alex who is a very kind boy, just like him. Since he won’t bring toys and doesn’t have toys Catherine will share her big blue stripy white bunny. And I will share my bike and I will teach him how to ride it. I will teach him additions and subtractions in math. And he [can] smell Catherine’s lip gloss penguin which is green. She doesn’t let anyone touch it. Thank you very much! I can’t wait for you to come! Alex 6 years old “

A photo posted by Pete Souza (@petesouza) on Jan 30, 2017 at 2:37pm PST

T.J. Clark writes about artist Paul Nash at Tate Britain:

I came away from the Tate retrospective, as I often do from shows of English 20th-century art, thinking it sad that for so long – for most of the period between the wars – Nash’s gifts as a colourist were kept in a chokehold. I think I see why. The gifts, when the artist gave into them, were essentially for showmanship, for garish, acidic, factitious effects: impossible pinks, sinister yellows, Blake-type battles of sun and moon, the edges of everything sizzling with phosphorescence. But this wasn’t serious – that was its glory, when it came. It was a rush of vulgar desperation, with something of Bonnard’s or Nolde’s turning their backs on reality.

The full text of Bad Feminist author Roxane Gay’s WI12 speech:

Publishing has a diversity problem. This problem extends to absolutely every area of the industry. I mean, look at this room, where I can literally count the number of people of color among some 700 booksellers. There are not enough writers of color being published. When our books are published, we fight, even more than white writers, for publicity and reviews. People of color are underrepresented editorially, in book marketing, publicity, and as literary agents. People of color are underrepresented in bookselling. On and on it goes.

And, of course, it’s not as if there are no people of color who are eminently capable of participating in publishing. We are many but somehow, publishing can’t seem to find us unless we do the work of three or four writers and catch a few lucky breaks. This inability for publishing to find people of color is one of the great unsolved mysteries of our time, I suppose.

The state of digital in the world, 2017:

From Hootsuite’s digital presentation in Singapore (via LinkedIn)

The @BeyonceFan666 fan Twitter account seems to have a really good record predicting the future. It has so far predicted:

Brexit would pass

Trump would win

Beyoncé would be pregnant in Februrary 2017

A fascinating thread looking at the size of cities in ancient Roman empire:

'Ancient cities are TINY' – @gregwoolf on Wilson & Hansen @Clah_Mcr http://pic.twitter.com/U1mh90Bd1B

— Kate Cooper (@kateantiquity) February 1, 2017

McSweeney’s published Trump’s Black History Month transcript verbatim as a column in its humor section, and it works really well:

Last month, we celebrated the life of Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., whose incredible example is unique in American history. You read all about Dr. Martin Luther King a week ago when somebody said I took the statue out of my office. It turned out that that was fake news. Fake news. The statue is cherished, it’s one of the favorite things in the — and we have some good ones. We have Lincoln, and we have Jefferson, and we have Dr. Martin Luther King. But they said the statue, the bust of Martin Luther King, was taken out of the office. And it was never even touched. So I think it was a disgrace, but that’s the way the press is. Very unfortunate.

Required Reading is published every Sunday morning ET, and is comprised of a short list of art-related links to long-form articles, videos, blog posts, or photo essays worth a second look.

The post Required Reading appeared first on Hyperallergic.

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