hey Les Mis fandom
I just feel like y’all should know that as their run comes to an end the current West End Enjolras has taken to kissing his Grantaire’s hand before he runs off up the barricade for the final time and I cannot think of a more perfect, awful, wonderful gesture and I want everyone to know about this (and this perfect, lovely one hundred percent deliberate
e/R dynamic)
Did I have time to go see Coriolanus performed in the park across the street? No, no I absolutely did not, I have a presentation to put together about concussed juvenile rats.
Do I regret going to see Coriolanus performed in the park across the street? Not even slightly. Guys, it was GREAT, Sicinia was vicious and funny and sparkling, and Volumina was a wrathful goddess every step of the way, and the actor who played Coriolanus absolutely CRUSHED it, totally made up for the fact that the two senators were a little flat. Aufidius and Coriolanus were played with this gorgeous level of tension somewhere between genuine loathing and lust (c’mon, y’all, Shakespeare would be proud that the two of them are being played with homoerotic tension, Shakespeare would live for homoerotic tension in his plays, read Sonnet 18), and the speech after Aufidius broke Coriolanus’ neck was beautifully delivered, remarkably moving.
Also there was a guy behind me who really didn’t realize what he was getting into, because he was talking during intermission about looking forward to seeing how Coriolanus would be reconciled with Rome. Sweetheart. Darling. It’s a tragedy. This isn’t even spoilers, this play is 400 years old, Coriolanus dies.
Also-also, I will never stop being amused by Shakespeare’s No Fucks Given attitude to historical accuracy. Coriolanus is set in ancient Rome, with patricians and senators and tribunes and the whole nine, and the characters are running around talking about the country of Italy and clocks and shit, it’s hilarious. And like if you tell your average non-educated-in-Shakespeare person this, they’ll assume that ancient Rome actually had those things, because they haven’t fully appreciated that the Bard was sort of making it up as he went. Like I’m pretty sure there are historical errors in the Histories, and not just of the “Well, I personally dislike this historical figure so I’m going to make them an asshole” variety.
guys, you know how in the brick grantaire falls at enjolras’s feet?
grantaire is standing next to him; they’re facing the guns, though enjolras, at the moment the report resounds, has his face turned to grantaire and is smiling.
grantaire would have to fall across and in front of enjolras to be ‘at his feet.’
when someone is shot, they either go straight down, fall straight forwards, or straight to the side. enjolras himself is pinned to the wall, after all.
guys
guys
i think grantaire may have made one last desperate effort to save enjolras’s life, even subconsciously, by falling across him instead, trying to block the bullets.
For those of you who think there’s no way Trump could get into power:
My country just voted to leave the European union. An idiotic decision which is already seeing the currency fall and a country divided by fear, lies and racism.
For the first time ever, I am ashamed of my country. I am so tired of old, angry, white people deciding my future. I already didnt have much of one! I already was sure I was never going to own a house. I am already sure that I was never going to have a lifelong career or a golden pension or anything like that. I’m already aware that things are worse and the more I type, the angrier I become.
I cannot believe we let the Brexiters win. The Brexiters who literally evoked NAZI PROPAGANDA in their campaign. I cannot belive what we’ve done. I am physically ill.
I am ill, I am tired, and I am moving. Fuck this shit. I’m out. Let this country burn with its ignorance. I’m done.
Never underestimate angry, old racists. They voted for the Nazis and now they’ve voted away the rights of a generation.
This is important - read what the ‘regret voters’ are saying. They believed the status quo would hold and that their votes wouldn’t matter anyway - they literally never thought it was possible that Leave would win. They were just sticking it to The Man with their protest votes. Yeah man, fuck Europe, right? That’ll show em.
Man. I feel so thirsty lately. I can’t drink enough water. I feel like the senator guy in that X-Men movie after getting exposed to Magneto’s mutant machine, and he keeps drinking drinking drinking water uncontrollably until he dives into the ocean and becomes a terrifying jellyfish creature and explodes. Freaking Magneto. I was already sympathetic to the mutant cause. Why you gotta hate?
You’re not a mutant, honey, you’re a mermaid. It’s all right. Once your scales start coming in, you won’t be as thirsty.
You know, being a diagnostician in a world with more public magical creatures must be a trip and a half.
“Extreme thirst has a lot of causes. Let’s check your blood sugar, and let’s take a skin sample to see if you’re developing scales.”
“Joint pain is pretty common when someone’s pushing themself that way with training, and I’d definitely recommend some rest, but it sounds like it’s been coming on with the moon so we might want to do a blood test to check for lycanthropy.”
“I’m going to give you this journal. Keep track of how often you’re near bodies of water and copses of trees – not single trees, there needs to be a cluster.”
“Bear with me, I know you’re lactose intolerant, but buy a pint of milk and keep it in your kitchen. If it spoils faster than expected, we’ll have a better idea of what’s going on here.”
“Have you considered that you may not, in fact, actually be a mammal?”
“Okay, I’m going to have to refer you to a specialist. It looks like your tertiary dentition is coming in.”
“I think we need to check for allergic reactions to silver, iron, a few types of wood, garlic, and holy water. That’ll help us rule out some possible causes for this rash. In the mean time I think you should avoid Italian food and holy ground.”
“Have you noticed clusters of birds following you? Were they corvids? Hm, interesting. You ought to come in to the office so we can discuss this further.”
“That itching sensation might be a rash, but I think we ought to give you an MRI and see if you’re about to grow horns.”
“I can’t tell from this ultrasound if you are pregnant with 1 centaur or 2 satyr twins. There’s definitely 4 hooves though. We’ll need to do some more tests.”
We may have to run some tests as it might be adhd but the way you’re describing it you might just be taking the energy from your electronics
*Makes grabby hands*
A series about a doctor in a modern magical community.
Being an American today is like watching your house slowly catch on fire and not being able to do anything about it and freaking out, when suddenly you hear a “BOOM!” behind you and it’s Britain, their house just exploded and is REALLY on fire and you, helpless, just wave hello from across the street.
my grandparents have to lock their car doors when they go to sunday mass because people have been breaking in to unlocked cars and leaving entire piles of zucchini
i feel like i should’ve added more context when i posted this. my grandparents live in a rural area where farmers and casual gardeners alike are, at this point in the year, suddenly being hit with unexpectedly abundant zucchini crops. there aren’t just some random vandals leaving zucchinis in people’s cars for the hell of it, this is the work of some very exasperated, probably very elderly, folks who have more zucchini than they know what to do with
Yep. You can also expect to find a bag of zucchini on your porch.
My grandfather once found his neighbor stealing his tomatoes out of his garden at three in the morning. Red-handed, with a basket of the nearly-ripened ones. He thought he was going to find gophers or something, but no, here’s Henry, taking his tomatoes. The best ones.
There was a long pause between them.
My grandfather (allegedly) said, “Henry… it’s OK. You can take some tomatoes if you want them.”
Henry sighed in relief.
“But,” my grandfather said, “you have to take two zucchini for every tomato.”
There was another long silence. “That’s a harsh bargain, John,” said Henry. “But I accept. I’ll tell Joe up the street, too.”
My grandfather said, “Tell Joe he needs to take three.”
a friend of my dad’s came by in the middle of the night, he seemed very nervous when my dad answered the door. he wouldn’t come inside but he leaned in and whispered to my dad in spanish, “i have some fresh grapes for you.” and then this happened:
the melon was a special bonus.
MY DREAM
A friend of mine lives in a rural area and he has been surrounded by zucchini for most of May, June, and July.
At one point he was so done with the whole zucchini madness that he came to classes actively begging people to “Please please please!! Take some my family’s damned zucchini!! I’ve been eating zucchini for weeks!! I’m going insane!!!”
Having grown up in a rural area and having come home to zucchini on the front step or in the mailbox, i find it highly amusing the OP had to clarify. I’m sitting here nodding “yup.”
the fact that 20-year-old lin-manuel miranda once broke down crying in a back specialist’s office due to stress is honestly one of the most inspiring things i’ve ever heard
that, and the fact that he wrote his upenn commencement speech the night before
I literally WEPT when he shared this. It was so honest and I so related. I hope @linmanuel knows what his speech meant to me and so many.
“I spend the summer in therapy” hit. me. so. deep. i mean, you know it’s good and brave and sensible and just a normal, positive part of life. but the world doesn’t really know that, and part of you internalizes the stigma, the “you shouldn’t need this,“ the fear of “admitting” it. the same part that shares our endemic fear of having and showing feelings. so. when i heard him just say all these things on that high-fucking-profile stage it felt amazing. i instantly felt more competent and understood and more a worthy part of things and i don’t agree with grading but hey A+++ good commencement speech Mr. Miranda
So. Much. This.
I still can’t articulate everything he said that made me feel normal. I hope he knows how much everything he said meant to so many people. @linmanuel is a gift.
Exactly!!!! this post got a lot more popular than i had expected (probably thanks to @purelintrash tbh) so i feel the need to elaborate, esp since most of the people seeing this post didn’t see my original tags
the thing is that lmm is so inspiring to me because he is both the person i want to be AND a lot like i actually am, sometimes in ways that i often feel like keep me from being the person i want to be, if that makes any sense
like, sometimes i feel like i’ll never be successful/important/what have you because i procrastinate, because i have anxiety, because i’m An Emotional Mess, etc., but!!! lin-manuel miranda exists!!! and is amazing and talented and successful and called a genius!!!! but he also burst into tears in a back doctor’s office once and went to therapy and wrote an entire commencement speech the night before he gave it!!!! that means there’s hope for me!!!! (similar to how broadway stars who can’t dance/didn’t learn how to dance until after college gives me hope as a shitty dancer with Broadway Dreams™)
basically, the fact the lmm exists lets me know that being the kind of kid who does their entire research paper (which they had the entire semester to work) the night before it’s due (i was actually doing this WHILE lmm was writing his commencement speech) or the kind of kid who maybe occasionally breaks down sobbing in a high school bathroom stall (guilty) is not an inherently bad thing and does not preclude success or becoming a happy, functional adult. which just. makes me really happy.
the uk has voted to leave the european union for a lot of reasons but the main being xenophobia and immigration laws against refuges
the uk has been governed by the european union up until now – because they don’t have their own constitution or bill of rights or anything of the sort, they’ve been dependent on the EU for guidance
by leaving, the uk is no longer under any trade laws, union agreements, any sort of legislation or statue or agreement which is just…yikes
okay but think of this: would Jacob Stone be Eliott's alias? or result of an artifact :3
Like an artifact turned him into Jacob? I AM INTRIGUED.
I also like the idea that they’re twins. And at some point the Leverage team is stealing something and Eliot’s like oh my god don’t touch it, Parker, seriously leave it the hell alone and then makes a call. Twenty minutes later Jacob ROLLS UP with his team and everyone stares at each other for a while and then everyone, as a single unit, turns to Eliot and Jacob and they’re like “What?”
Meanwhile Flynn is David-Tennanting his way around the artifact in the background and literally nobody is paying any attention until he sets off a bomb countdown. Even then they barely focus on it while they’re fixing it.
(”So, how do people tell the two of you apart?” “Well, Jacob can’t cook.” “And Eliot can’t speak Greek.” “I speak Greek fine, just not your crazy mystical ancient dialects that literally nobody uses!” “He can’t speak much Latin either.” “Do you want me to tell them about the acquacotta soup incident?”)
I don’t know the rules of Miraculous at all outside of what
I’ve gathered from tumblr, so maybe this is illegal in canon but
I’m highly entertained by the idea that like, the class
takes a trip to somewhere high-security that requires passing through a metal
detector. So they tell the kids that all jewelry needs to be removed. Which is
like, cue small amount of panic from Adrien/Marinette as they remove their ring
and earrings. Some other patrons see their anxiousness and assume it must be
because those earrings/ring are highly valuable.
And this includes the akumized person in line who’s here to
rob the place.
Kids head inside. Akumized person overpowers the guard,
grabs the jewelry basket, rushes inside to steal whatever else. In their hurry,
Adrien’s ring drops out of the basket.
Marinette notices the person first. Hands shoot to her ears, but
nothing’s there. So she races back to the security desk to retrieve her
earrings. Lo and behold, they’re not there. There’s only a dropped ring on the
floor and…Chat Noir’s miraculous? Plagg sees her, and all rules-of-hiding be
damned pretty much tells her “Yeah I have no idea where Chat is. And that
person in there is akumized. And you already seem to be aware of this so just
put on this ring I’ll walk you through what’s about to happen.”
Very confused, she puts the ring on her finger. And (to
Plagg’s confusion now) Marinette activates it entirely on her own, and becomes
Mari-chat Noir (this is weird). But there’s not much time to think about
it. Plagg just gives her the speed-course in Chat’s powers and she rushes back
inside to fight.
The fight, of course, gets Adrien’s attention. Who now sees
the rather clumsy battle between akumized person and “Hey that’s not me”!Chat
Noir. Mari-chat Noir lands a kick on the person, which sends the jewelry basket
flying. People start running from the scene. The basket lands next to Adrien. He
drops to his knees and starts sifting through it frantically for his ring. It’s
not there. What is there is Ladybug’s
miraculous.
Tiki’s response is more or less. “You have to go help
Ladybug up there. Are your ears pierced? Never mind. Just take these earrings
and clip them to your shirt I’ll walk you through what to do.” So
Adrien does, and (to Tiki’s surprise) he knows how to activate the earrings, and becomes
Adri-bug.
Adrien joins the fight. The first 30 seconds are taken up by
mutual “Hey that’s my miraculous!”/”Where did you get that?”/”If you’re Ladybug, and I’m Ladybug, then who’s flying the plane?” exchanges. But
hell, at least they’re used to working together. Except now they have to coordinate
by giving each other commands for the best Ladybug/Chat Noir technique, now as
Adri-bug and Mari-chat Noir, to use in this situation.
The students watching the fight are downright baffled
because it’s definitely Ladybug and
Chat Noir up there. Except…Ladybug is Chat Noir. And Chat is Ladybug. And
describing the fight becomes downright impossible because it boils down to, “Then
Ladybug whacked the guy in the face. Well I mean it was Chat Noir. But Chat
Noir was Ladybug. Okay I mean Chat Noir the person
was Ladybug the superhero and he whacked
the guy in the face. No wait, let me rephrase.”
After the fight’s over, both of them agree to shut their
eyes, remove the jewelry, and drop the earrings/ring back into each other’s
hands, and turn away. It wouldnt be right to out each other over this. Both Tiki and Plagg go home with their proper owner. And
both of them are quiet in the realization of what happened. Because yes, that
was both Ladybug and Chat Noir fighting just now, and both Tiki and Plagg know
exactly which classmate they flagged down to take on the opposite miraculous role.
FYI there's a really good fic based off of that "adrien loses a bet and has to model underwear and marinette fucking loses it" fanart and it is really good! Smoulder by midnightstarlightwrites, check it out :D
as much as its fun to laugh at these brexit memes i don’t want anyone to forget how serious this actually is. i have one of my housemates crying in my room bc her career relied on the uk being a part of the eu (she wanted to go into foreign diplomacy). my mum is freaking out because the uk basically just put xenophobia and racism ahead of its own interests and she doesn’t know what that means for her immigrant self, or her british born foreign children. my brother-in-law who works for a french company is terrified that his job won’t be there tomorrow. i’m living in the netherlands rn and the pound has plummeted so much that the money i budgeted at the start of this month is no longer enough for me to make rent and eat. this is just the beginning and this is only how brexit is effecting one singular person (me). i can’t even imagine the wider damage this is gonna cause.
I would just like to say fuck you to everyone who made me feel inadequate growing up and ruining my self esteem for years. You all suck and I’m glad I don’t talk to any of you any more.
I wonder if, in superhero universes, the villains ever get contacted by those “Make a Wish Foundation” and similar people.
I mean, the heroes do, of course they do, kids who want to meet Spiderman or Superman or get to be carried by the Flash as he runs through Central City for just thirty seconds.
But surely there are also the kids, who - because they are kids and sometimes kids are just weird - decide that what they really, really want is to meet a supervillain. Because he’s scary or she’s awesome or that freeze ray is just really, really cool, you know?
Oh, man, that would absolutely be a thing. The heroes would be so weirded out by it. The villains with codes of ethics would totally band together to force the villains without one (should they be the one requested) to do their part for the cause.
But imagine the person who has to track down the villains and organise everything?
Like, the first time it happens, no one actually thinks it’s possible, but one of the newbies volunteers to at least try. They get lucky, the kid wants to meet one of the villains who is well known to have a personal code of ethics (eg one of the rogues), and it takes them weeks to track the villain down to this one bar they’ve been seen at a few times, plus a week of staking out said bar, but they finally find them.
So they approach the villain, very politely introduce themselves and explain the situation, finishing with an assurance that, should the villain agree, no law enforcement or heroes will be informed of the meeting.
The villain, assuming it’s a joke, laughs in their face.
At this point, the poor volunteer, who has giving up weeks of their time and no small amount of effort to track down this villain, all so a sweet little girl can meet the person who somehow inspired them, well, at this point the employee sees red.
They explode, yelling at this villain about the little girl who, for some unknown reason, absolutely loved them, had a hand-made stuffed toy of them and was inspired by their struggle to keeping fighting her own and wasn’t the villain supposed to have ethics? The entire bar is witness to this big bad villain getting scolded by some bookish nobody a foot shorter than them.
When the volunteer is done, the villain calmly knocks back their drink, grips the volunteers shoulder and drags them outside. The bar’s patrons assume that person will never be seen again, the volunteer included. But once they’re outside, the villain apologises for their assumption, asks for the kid’s details so they can drop by in the near future, not saying when for obvious reasons. They also give the very relieved volunteer a phone number to call if someone asks for them again.
A week later, the little girl’s room is covered in villain merchandise, several expensive and clearly stolen gifts and she is happily clutching a stack of signed polaroids of her and the villain.
The next time a kid asks to meet a villain, guess who gets that assignment?
Turns out, the first villain was quite touched by the experience of meeting their little fan, and word has gotten around. The second villain happily agrees when they realise it’s the same volunteer who asked the other guy. Unfortunately, one of the heroes sees the villain entering the kid’s hospital and obviously assumes the worst. They rush in, ready to drag the villain out, but the volunteer stands in their way. The hero spends five minutes getting scolded for trying to stop the villain from actually doing a good thing and almost ruining the kid’s wish. The volunteer gets a reputation among villains as someone who can not only be trusted with personal contact numbers but who will do everything they can to keep law enforcement away during their visits.
The volunteer has a phonebook written in cypher of all the villain’s phone numbers, with asterixes next to the ones to call if any other villains give them trouble.
Around the office, they gain the unofficial job title of The Villain Wrangler.
The heroes are genuinely flabbergasted by The Villain Wrangler. At first, some of the heroes try to reason with them.
Heroes: “Can’t you, just, give us their contact details? They’ll never even have to know it was you.”
The Villain Wrangler: “Yeah sure, <rollseyes> because all these evil geniuses could never possibly figure out that it’s me who happens to be the common thread in the sudden mass arrests. Look man, even if it wouldn’t get me killed, it would disappoint the kids. You wouldn’t want to disappoint the kids would you?”
Heroes: “… no~ but…”
The Villain Wrangler: “Exactly.”
Eventually, one of the anti-hero types gets frustrated, and decides to take a stand. They kidnap the Villain Wrangler and demand that they give up the contents of the little black book of Villains, or suffer the consequences. It’s For the Greater Good, the anti-hero insists as they tie the Villain Wrangler to a pillar.
The Villain Wrangler: “You complete idiot, put me back before someone figures out that I’m missing.”
Anti-hero: “…excuse me?”
The Villain Wrangler: “Ugh, do I have to spell this out for you? Do you actually want your secret base to be wiped off the map? With us in it? Sugarsticks, how long has it been? If they get suspicious, they check in, and then if I miss a check-in, they tend to come barging into wherever I am just to prove that they can, even if they figure out that they’re not being threatened by proxy. Suffice to say, Auntie Muriel really regretted throwing my phone into the pool when she strenuously objected to me answering it during family time. If they think for even one moment that I’ve given them up, they won’t hesitate to obliterate both of us from their potential misery. You do know some of the people in my book have like missiles and djinni and elemental forces at their disposal, right?”
Anti-hero: “Wait, what? I thought they trusted you?!”
The Villain Wrangler: “Trust is such a strong word!”
Villain: “Indeed.”
Anti-hero: “Wait, wha-” <slumps over, dart sticking out of neck>
The Villain Wrangler: “Thanks. I thought they were going to hurt me.”
Villain: “You did well. You kept them distracted, and gave us time to follow your signal.” <cuts Villain Wrangler free>
The Villain Wrangler: <rubbing circulation back into limbs> “Yeah well, you know me, I do whatever I have to. So I’ll see you Wednesday at four at St Martha’s? I’ve got an 8yo burns unit patient recovering from her latest batch of skin grafts who could really use a pep talk.”
Villain: “… of course. Yes… I… yes.”
The Villain Wrangler: “I just think you could really reach her, you know?”
Villain: <unconsciously runs fingers over mask> “I… yes, but, what should I say?”
The Villain Wrangler: “Whatever advice you think you could have used the most just after.”
Villain: <hoists Anti-hero over shoulder almost absently> “….yes.”
The Villain Wrangler wasn’t lying to the Anti-hero. They know that the more ruthless villains would not hesitate if they thought for one second that the Anti-hero would betray them.
But this is not the first time the Villain Wrangler has gone to extreme lengths to protect their identities.
Trust is a strong word. The Villain Wrangler earned it, and is terrified by what it could mean.
My first official deadpool headcanon is this. This this this.
Okay but this whole concept actually makes a lot of sense, because villains are a lot more likely to be disfigured/disabled/use adaptive devices (bc ableist tropes), so of course, say, a child amputee is going to be more interested in the villain with a robot arm who almost destroyed New York than the heroes that took him down.
Also, imagine one of the kids gets better, and a few years down the line becomes a villain themself, except their crimes are things like smuggling chemo drugs across the border for families that can’t afford treatment, or stealing from corrupt businessmen to make donations to underfunded hospitals (idk this turned into a Leverage AU or something) and every time the heroes encounter her, they’re like “oh no. she’s getting away. curses. welp, nothing we can do.” Though it isn’t that she can’t take them on; bc of course once the villain from way back when found out what she was up to, he started helping/training her.
“I thought they just hired someone to dress up and pretend to be you,” she says, amazed, when he reveals himself. “I didn’t think they actually got the real you!”
Every year the Villain Wrangler gets a very expensive gift basket from the pair.
and for the kids who don’t get better the villains are there too, they show up to every funeral, they bear too small coffins on their shoulders and the heroes stand aside
they are fierce with grieving families assuring them that their child will not be forgotten, and they don’t balk at negative emotions, they don’t tell people to be strong or “celebrate their child’s life,” because these parents have every right to their grief and anger
and the lost children are never forgotten. flowers appear on graves during birthdays and anniversaries, heroes find pictures of those kids and they carefully take them down and ensure they’re delivered to the villain’s cell, and a few villains can be seen with friendship bracelets wrapped around their wrists the cops have learned not to try and take them off
The thing about emo (as a musical genre and a cultural phenomenon) is, I think, that it was a response to the September 11, 2001 terror attacks and the Bush administration’s painful mishandling thereof.
No, I’m serious. My Chemical Romance was formed as a direct result of Gerard Way witnessing the towers fall. Green Day’s ‘American Idiot’ (an album that, at least as far as I can tell from having been a teenager in Canada at the time, was seminal in influencing the look and sound of emo) is all about the Bush administration - all the lyrics are about life under a democratic dystopia and many reference current events from the time - and it came out in 2004, halfway through the Bush presidency. A bunch of Linkin Park’s stuff makes reference to it also, especially their album ‘Minutes to Midnight’, where they first started moving out of the nu-metal/rap sound they’d been working with before and into a more mainstream emo-rock sound. That album came out in 2007. All of the really big bands with that kind of sound - and most of the smaller ones with more of a punk/hardcore sound but similar themes - were active in the mainstream from around 2001-2010. Many of them didn’t survive past 2009, and those that did either totally reinvented themselves (Fall Out Boy, Panic! At The Disco, MCR for the five minutes it took to produce Danger Days, Linkin Park) or became near-totally irrelevant (Paramore dropped an album sometime in the last two years; did any of you know that? And Green Day haven’t mattered since 21st Century Breakdown, which was released in 2009).
Why? Well, many of you are probably too young to remember this, but the 2001 terror attacks were what really made ‘Islamic terrorism’ a real threat in the minds of most Westerners. We’d never experienced an attack of that scale on American soil, and it was just as the internet was really becoming a mainstay in every house and my generation was getting online. As a result, it was not only a major political event, but it was hugely personal - the coverage was everywhere, in everybody’s home, all the time, and there were a lot of kids being exposed to the coverage in such a way that they often had no good way to process it. I’m not exaggerating when I say it changed the way we live. I’m Canadian and I felt this shit. Before, we could fly to America domestic, without a passport. Now? Half the draconian, ridiculous rules that hold you up at the TSA today were initiated in September and October of 2001. It was the only thing anyone could think of to do - lock down, protect your own. People were scared, on a continental scale.
And to make matters worse, George W. Bush’s government, which had to somehow respond to and take point in the response to this unprecedented event, didn’t seem to have the first foggiest clue what they were doing. This was a government that not only didn’t seem to listen to its people, not only lied blatantly to its people, but did it badly. They made hugely unpopular decisions, including starting a war in the Middle East that dragged in multiple countries and completely failed to achieve its stated goal of catching Osama bin Laden or proving that he had in his control weapons of mass destruction (the whole war was predicated on the fact that these so-called weapons of mass destruction existed, that the Bush administration had good reason to believe that they existed, were under the control of the Taliban, and were going to be used against Western targets, none of which was ever proven to be true).
So, from 2001-2009, the two (TWO) full terms of the Bush presidency, there were a whole lot of people who couldn’t vote (be they under the age of majority, like most of the emo kids I knew, or Canadians unhappily dragged along with the US’ boneheaded foreign policy decisions because we’re allies, also like most of the emo kids I knew) and therefore felt, not only scared of basically the impending end of their world in a way that they hadn’t previously had to feel, and not only angry about being clearly lied to and clumsily manipulated when the truth was obvious to anyone with eyes, but also powerless to do anything to change anything about that. And meanwhile, people kept dying in this pointless war and the president kept trying to hold together the illusion that everything was hunky-dory.
And what was popular with teenagers from about 2001-2009? Yep. Emo.
Emo as a genre was very personal, very focused on the individual (with the exception of the albums I noted above), but lyrically and musically, it fit right with the cultural atmosphere of the time. People were scared of the impending end of their world/their lives? Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge and The Black Parade. People were angry about things they felt powerless to change? From Under The Cork Tree and Decemberunderground. Emo captured what kids were feeling about trying to fit into a world that was so clearly fucked up and broken and pretending to be okay, putting on a strong face to Show The Terrorists They Didn’t Win. Emo was about stripping away the mask, exposing the messy, angry, frightened, sad, true underbelly of American society at the time, and exposing hypocrisy - in individuals as much as in politicians. The hatred of ‘preps’ and ‘posers’? Totally not just a My Immortal thing. Emo was about wearing your heart on your sleeve, about it being okay to mourn, to rage, to be afraid for your life beyond this - and to keep moving forward regardless, step by slow step.
So what changed in 2009 that made the phenomenon fade without so much as a whimper? Simple. Hope. The Audacity of Hope, to be exact.
Barack Obama won his presidency largely because young people supported him. Those were the young people who suffered through feeling helpless and powerless under Bush, who wanted things to change but felt they had no chance of making it so. Barack Obama was a chance. One of his first campaign promises was to end the Iraq war, a promise he followed through on. And even if his presidency hasn’t been perfect, it has never been the Bush administration, with the feeling that the will of the people was being entirely and quietly ignored by those in power to further their own agendas.
What I am saying, then, I guess, is that it’s time to buy stocks in Hot Topic, because whatever happens in the upcoming US presidential election, there are a lot of young people who may soon be needing black, white, and red graphic band tees and Manic Panic hair dye.
From someone who was in American high school in 2001, we were also incredibly terrified for at least the early Bush years. We were all pretty sure that the draft could possibly be reinstated and we could get sucked into the war. Some of my friends and I had plans on how best to get Don’t Ask, Don’t Telled out of the draft. We were all absolutely terrified of the prospect.
Hey! I have a story. When I was in 8th grade they filmed Grown Ups 2 in my town. I watched them film all summer. It was really cool. They needed local middle school kids for a classroom scene, and I was picked to be in it. The day before I was supposed to be on set, I decided (for some unknown reason) to call my mom a "cum guzzling thundercunt". She got super mad, and called the casting director, and had me taken out of the movie. I had a meltdown, and kicked a hole through our kitchen wall.
Holy God, you are hardcore, I’m so fucking entertained. I can’t even judge you for the housing damage, I’ve done some housing damage, but still. Damn, buddy, I tip my hat to, if nothing else, your fucking creativity.
So here's a story of when i was a wee lass. Me, my mom, and older brother were out shopping and i was probably like 5 at the time and my brother was 7. So we were shopping and my bro was glued to my moms side while I was interested in my career as a
Mannequin. Weird ik, so I’m at the front of the store standing in the window, posing with all the other mannequins, standing completely still. And being the dedicated person i am, i did not break my role fot anything, not even to use the potty. Thats
Right, I completely wet myself to keep my mannequin charade up. So my mom came to check on my and sees the little piddle by my feet and drops everything. She grabs me andy brother and just bolts out the store. And thats the end of story time today:)
Holy shit this is beautiful, I need this in my epic tales tag, this is getting posted just because I NEED IT IN MY TAG.
Everyone should feel totally free to tell me crazy stories from their past.
Here’s a video by John Oliver explaining with witty humour why leaving the EU was a bad idea (the video is from Sunday, so it’s asking people to vote remain, but I think it’ll help some people understand a bit better what the downsides are and what the vote means):
hello yes i heard about book suggestions and. novel of the dresden files, by jim butcher. a wonderful mix of fantastic, fantasy and noir novel. the humor is spot on, the characters believable. it is not perfect by any means, but it is highly enjoyable and i recommend it to everyone.
BABE, The Dresden Files are the shit, I haven’t had time to blow through the whole series but I fucking LOVE the urban-fantasy-noir vibe of them, I aspire to that vibe in my life and in my writing. Harry Dresden is the patron saint of Being Fucking Done, I adore him, and Murphy is so small and fighty and lawful, I just. I fucking LOVE The Dresden Files, like, hell fucking yes, I need to acquire ALL OF THEM and read them obsessively. Everyone, if you’re in the mood for weird dark cities full of intricate magic and secrets, and characters who just want to take a nap but are going to save the world anyway so that they CAN take a nap, Harry Dresden is here for you. Like, no, it’s not perfect, no book is, but it’s a great fucking ride.
Also if anyone has any good recommendations for fic of “Harry Dresden gets sucked into another magic user’s debacle and just wants to be left alone,” hit me the fuck up. Like there’s this one particular one where Sarah Williams’ stepmother (of Labyrinth) comes to him and asks for help because Sarah, the newly-crowned Goblin Queen, keeps visiting and is getting increasingly inhuman and the stepmother is afraid, it’s both deeply unnerving and FUCKING GLORIOUS, I believe the series is called “Children’s Voices Should Be Dear” and y’all should go read it.
I’m gonna fucking post this publicly because DRESDEN FILES.
ALSO-ALSO, oh my God, guys, make this a thing, send me book recs or requests for book recs, oh my god do it, I’ve read too many books in my life.
Go to your nearest target. Buy a two pack of pushup bras(24$ for 2), and target’s bra inserts (12$). Then go to your nearest Walmart and buy the Vasserette Control Shapewear Panties (2.50 each), they do wonders for helping your tuck. There you go! You just saved yourself a lot of money, you can afford to buy enough to wear every day, and best of all you look fabulous. -@twidx
recs for trans women are so rare on tumblr!! spread this, people.
Please reblog this, in total it’s about $38.50 to make a huge difference for a trans woman/trans feminine person.
if you ever feel like a fuckup, just think you will never in your life fuck up as badly as david cameron, the prime minister of the united kingdom, whose political gamble in calling this referendum has completely backfired and britain has not only voted to leave the eu but it might also cause scotland and northern ireland to break up from the union. so if you ever feel like a fuckup, just think of dave and how he, the prime minister of the united kingdom, has single-handedly put at risk the economic prosperity, political stability and unity of his country for the advancement of his own political career and that he will now probably have to resign knowing that this will be his legacy
Cornelius Fudge is shaking his head right now saying “Man, at least I didn’t fuck up quite this badly”
look, if you said to me a year ago that Britain would leave the EU and that the Philippines - my country - would vote a misogynistic foul-mouthed fucktard into power, I would’ve laughed at you.
but both these things have happened this year.
you know what else I would’ve laughed about a year ago?
the possibility that Donald Trump might win the U.S. presidential elections.
considering that the two other things I was laughing about before have now come true, I think it’s time now that the U.S. gets serious, bc look at Britain and how the referendum alone has impacted its economy. look at the Philippines’ president-elect and how he treats women, how cheaply he sees people’s lives.
look at those examples.
please, you guys. vote for your democratic candidate, no matter who it is. please.
The UK has left Europe. Which means we’ve also left behind all the laws Europe put in place for the protection of LGBT people and a shit ton of other good laws as well. The pound is at its lowest worth since 1985 meaning that thousands will loose their jobs as major companies try to save money by cutting the number of staff they employ, and a loaf of bread will probs cost more than fixing the teeth of everyone who’s ever been on Jezza Kyle ever. So no, we’re not really alright but it’s our own fault tbh.
What the shit
2016 is truly a nightmare for everyone. Sorry to hear it.
There is a petition to try and call another referendum about the EU, with a rule asking for a 60% majority before a decision is made. Yes this is a shitty time, but hopefully there’s still a chance to fix things. The Leave campaign have already gone back on some of their promises before the referendum, so please, if you can, can you sign this? If we get 100 000 signatures parliament have to debate it, so please. Even if you’re not in the UK if you can share this to try and get it out there, that would be fantastic. Here’s the link:
Dear everyone who says “Oh it doesn’t matter who I vote for, Trump will never win”… it does matter. It absolutely does matter.
Britain gave in to the racist and xenophobic rhetoric. And the consequences to the EU - and to the world at large - will be catastrophic.
I don’t care if you hate Hillary. I don’t care if you think Hillary killed your cat and stole your yogurt. I don’t care. You have to vote for her. You HAVE to vote for her. You cannot allow a megalomaniac racist piece of shit like Donald Trump become the President of the United States of America.
Do not give in to fear and hatred. Do not allow xenophobia and bigotry to run this nation. Do not. Do not. Do not.
I never thought I’d see the day where a nation like Great Britain allowed hatred and fear to rule. Don’t let that happen here.
Also, because I’m seeing this suggestion in the comments, DO NOT write in Bernie. As much as it sucks (and boy does it suck), in order to ensure Trump doesn’t end up in the White House, we have to unite together and vote for Hillary. Writing in Bernie’s name (or Gary Johnson’s) will do nothing but split the vote.
It’s the lesser of two evils here kids. I always knew I’d vote Bernie in the primaries but that I’d have to vote Clinton in November. If you write in Bernie, you are basically voting for Trump.
