I Love It, It’s Like They’re All Harry Potter Newspapers! Actually I Bet The Editors Of The Gotham

I just remembered that I submitted things to this page years ago, long before I had a tumblr, and a couple of them got published. Now that I do have a tumblr I thought I might as well share a thing to which I contributed :) 

I should note that I did write this one back before I saw the 50th anniversary special, though that was still not quite aaaall the epic Time War drama I was hoping for. Also, someone in the notes has pointed out that the Big Finish audios go more into it, and I have really been wanting to get into those more for a while. I should put them on my Christmas list. 

Actually, now I’d say it’s not specifically that I want more about the Time War anymore. I just want more Gallifrey in general. Like, I know the Doctor left because he found it stuffy and boring and whatnot (or because he was afraid, according to 12, but I imagine it was some combination thereof), but I want more backstory on his childhood and his school days, and more emotional drama with his family (who are apparently no longer disapparated from existence, so he should have to deal with them) and old friends (especially the Master, but other ones, too). There’s just so much emotional tension for the Doctor to deal with on Gallifrey! 

I should really go back to those Doctor’s childhood fics I was writing. I even came up with my own longform version of the Doctor’s original Gallifreyan name--his real one, not his school nickname. Remind me to tell you about it some time; I was starting to write it here but then I realized this post was long enough and my naming of the Doctor is going to take a whole long post of its own to explain. 

I am realizing that I’ve been obsessed with Buffy the Vampire Slayer for more than a month now but I haven’t put anything on my main blog from it yet, so it’s time to remedy that :) 

There is something so tragic and darkly beautiful about Spike and Drusilla’s relationship... I quite like the light this quote casts on Spike’s turning, how he was a poet out looking for his ideal of love, and in her own way, Drusilla was looking for her ideal of love too, but neither of them got quite what they expected--and yet they also sort of did, oddly? In a twisted sense, Drusilla got her knight, brave and true, inasmuch as a vampire can be one; from a vampire’s point of view, killing a slayer could indeed be akin to slaying a great beast, except for the part where they themselves are the beasts to be slain (from a human perspective, at least). And Spike really did get a grand romance with Dru (until it ended), though it involved perhaps more pain and death than he had anticipated. They are in many ways a dark, grim old fairy tale couple. 

528: First time I’ve ever wished for a disney version.

These gorgeous space pictures are so pretty and poetic on their own, and the Van Gogh connection just makes this all the more lovely. What a strange, beautiful, mysterious, fantastical universe God has crafted!

I love imagining what it would be like to stand on the surface of a planet like that, if one could--to just stand there and gaze up at the sky, all swirling colors and wonder above you. 

I actually started a series of short ‘stories’ a couple of years ago I called “Scenes from Planets”. They didn’t really have any plot to them; they were just my self-indulgent, descriptive speculations on what it would be like to stand on various planets, moons, and other celestial bodies in our universe, to wander around on them and chew the scenery. Perhaps I’ll have to go back and write more of those some time...

NASA has released new images of Jupiter, taken by the Juno Spacecraft.

I love when a gifset is epic and powerful, and then you look up the song that it’s set to and it just gets that much more epic and powerful with the music sweeping behind it. I’ve found some darn good songs from gifsets, too. This set is just wonderfully done. 

I can’t decide if I want El to get her powers back in season 4, or if it would be better for her to be free of them... I mean it’d be nice to have them back, but maybe she’s safer without them... 

carry your flame, carry it higher // torches - x ambassadors

So I started watching Wandavision tonight, and I do already know some spoilers just from being around on tumblr when it first came out, but we just got through episode 3 and it's hitting me. Basically, this is Storybrooke and Wanda is Regina.

Except instead of taking away everyone else's happy endings, she's just trying to give herself her own. But really, that was what Regina was trying to do too, and it's definitely seeming like Wanda has also taken away the happy endings of others, intentionally or not. So in its essence, this is like Once Upon a Time for comic book characters (but without everyone turning up being related somehow ;) lol).

I’m feeling such secondhand bittersweetness right now; 100 episodes of an awesome show is a great accomplishment, and I’m happy we got this far. All the same, I can’t help that endings are always sad--like, I’ve heard that whole “don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened” quote, and I often think about it, but still. But at the same time, the end hasn’t even properly started for us yet; it’s just over for the actors and camera people and such. I imagine the editors have a fair amount of work ahead still (shoutout to my editing peeps ;) (I work as a video editor for a local historical society)). Still, I’m glad I found Gotham when I did, and it’s been a fun ride. 

I mean, it’s crazy because I just started watching this summer, but it’s cool to be here now to go through the end as part of the fandom. It’s rare that I’m caught up and active in a fandom, especially at such a climactic time. I mean this was a couple of days ago now, but still. In the broader span of fandom history... I was here, watching as Gotham ended. I feel like I’m standing with my fandom dramatically perched on a rooftop gazing into the sunset as chaotic explosions bloom around us in the encroaching night. 

@tvline

Happy 100th episode, @GothamOnFox! 🦇 .

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#Gotham #BenMcKenzie #JamesGordon #DonalLogue #HarveyBullock #DavidMazouz #BruceWayne #Batman #CamrenBicondova #SelinaKyle #Catwoman #RobinLordTaylor #OswaldCobblepot #ThePenguin #CoryMichaelSmith #EdwardNygma #TheRiddler

Via: Instagram

Honestly I learned most of what I know from youtube roller skate channels like Indy Jamma Jones and Queer Girl Straight Skates! They have a lot of really helpful videos for beginners. This video from Indy was like my very first starting point; she talks about focusing on shifting your weight with your feet in a V rather than just pushing off, and thinking about it that way really helped me start to move forward without falling over.

Also, PSA, one of the first things a friend on discord told me was to always wear your wrist guards because you're most likely to break your wrist trying to catch yourself if you fall skating. Knee pads are really good too and you can use them for emergency stopping when you're starting out as well. All pads and helmets are useful in their own ways, but even now when I'm pretty comfortable and I sometimes skate without a helmet or knee pads, I still always wear the wrist guards.

Best of luck and I hope you have a fun time! :)

https://youtu.be/P5h0Kv0IJMU

I want to start learning how to roller skate... anyone have any tips for beginners?

Putting on eyeliner this morning for the My Chemical Romance concert and thinking about how many other fans might also be doing this at the same time; thinking about how many fans have done their eyeliner for a show over the years in the past. Thinking about Gerard doing his own eyeliner. Achieving spiritual union with the MCR fandom through slightly messy eyeliner.

Picton Castle also has a ship cat! I got to meet her at the Green Bay Tall Ships Fest this summer. Her name is Fiji and when I found her she was chilling at the pet booth in the ‘Maritime Marketplace’–the lady working at the booth said Fiji just waltzed right up and started nuzzling in her catnip toys, haha. 

Very friendly, very smart, allowed me to pet her–10/10 would run away to sea for her :)

Hi! I have a bunch of sailing questions if you don't mind. What's the usual minimum time commitment for someone with no experience? What if you get a job on a ship but can't take it? You recommended the sail training international website - was that to find a paid job or just to take part in the training voyages? I'd swear I've seen someone on tumblr talk about working on cargo tall ships, but I can't for the life of me remember who, do you have any info? Also, are ships cats a thing? Thanks!!

Hi!

Usually the minimum is two or three months - just the maintenance period, or summer break while in university, or because you’re working on a boat that has a three-month contract, or because you’re only free the first half of the season, discussed it in advance, and the company is willing to half you for just half.

It’s not uncommon for at least one crew member to head out unexpectedly over the course of the seasom. Sometimes it’s because sailing’s not their jam after all; sometimes it’s disputes within the other crew, or because something in their personal lives demands immediate attendance. My first season only myself and the first mate made it through the entire season; conversely this year out of about 16 crew only two people quit that I can remember. Obviously if you’re able to give the captain some warning to find a new deckhand that’s best, but people do leave. (Also why it’s worth checking in with captains even in the summer - someone might have a position just opened up).

If I remember right, I mentioned sail training international mostly as a list of ships that operate internationally, and a resource for finding the names and whereabouts of more tall ships, since I’m best informed on New England and only shakily beyond that. At least some of the ships on there will offer paid positions, so it’s worth contacting interesting vessels to ask (might be limited to crew who already have experience/certain certifications/nationality of the vessel, but I couldn’t say for certain).

I’m afraid I have no idea about cargo tall ships; I know of Tres Hombres, which is frankly The Dream (at least one shipmate of mine would kill to work on her!) but off the top of my head, no others.

Ship’s cats are a thing! I believe it’s the Adventuress out west that has one, and I know the Mary Day had one for several years before she passed away of old age. Not as common as I personally wish, but they’re around!