Fontainebleau

Incapable of learning

[fontainebleau22]

Yesterday we went to see My Chemical Romance play at the summer sessions in Glasgow! Here we are waiting to get in, probably the oldest fans there.

The show was amazing, but here are the biggest impressions I was left with:

We paid for VIP tickets, and it was so worth it! I went for it because at our age we needed somewhere to sit down, but it was a really great experience and it gave us access to the front section so we were close to the stage. 100% would do again.

I am now six for six with other fans complimenting me on my super-cool Pencey Prep hoodie!

We also got a bag of free merch with the VIP tickets, and I wasn't sure I'd like it, but the main item was an MCR messenger bag, which is excellent:

4. The band are working hard - two separate sets from 8.30 to 11.

5. Although I've been following the Long Live tour religiously and am conversant with all the scenario and lore, the show was totally incomprehensible - the elexecution, Marianne, the Clerk, the man on fire - it all seemed to be intense Gerard psychodrama which was impossible to follow.

6. And the best thing about the show? I get to go again, on Friday!

[fontainebleau22]

I went to low impact aerobics last night, which is entirely populated by ladies of a certain age (60) like me, and one woman was obviously bursting to talk about what she'd been doing that week, which was going to see Take That three times (twice in Glasgow and once in Sunderland), and she was just thrilled by it, she told me how great the shows were and how she'd been right at the front, and I said that I was going to see My Chem three times very soon in Glasgow and London, and obviously ladies like us are now the backbone of fandom.

[eroscestlavie]

What do you guys do for work. Job share time. I want to know

[fontainebleau22]

I am suffering in the name of art. As a Welshwoman, it fills me with rage when foreigners refer to Britain/the UK as 'England'. England is not Britain. But one of the characters in my story is an American who knows little about the UK and cares less, so I had to grind my teeth and write down his claim that he had visited 'England'.

[fontainebleau22]

I'm going on holiday at the end of July, for the first time in many years (illness and work commitments have stopped me in the past), and everyone in my family keep telling me, you must be really looking forward to it, but in fact I have tickets to see My Chemical Romance play on the 4th, 10th and 11th of July, and the holiday is, frankly, an afterthought.

[antlered-vixen]

I am so tired of short-attention-span, trim-the-fat culture. All writing advice these days is for how to write like Chuck Palahniuk. "Cut 'think', cut 'feel', cut 'wonder' - only action, only pushing forward, show and move and move and move." What if I could emulate this style, and still don't want to? What if I want to write like Henry James, with three paragraphs of introspective musings between each dialogue line? The music advice is, "make it shortform, make it Tik-Tok compatible, make it punchy, hit the refrain as soon as possible." What if I want that 10-minute prog rock piece? What if I want that symphony? What if I want it slow and luxurious and lazy? Movies. Series. Poetry. Bodies. Everything is "trimmed trimmed trimmed trimmed, stripped bare, you have three seconds to win me over, make it airport chic." I don't want to win you over, then, I guess. I want the fat left it. I want the pleasure and the indolence and the indulgence. Fuck this art-advice that's always "your art needs Ozempic."

[absolutemag7trash]

One day I’ll get into the magnificent seven tv show too and I think I’ll have collected them all

[absolutemag7trash]

So who was gonna tell me about this

[ulibeanzz]

if ur lgbt+ im curious: if u can remember, what was your first major Gay Ship?

[fontainebleau22]

I am turning 60 this year, in a few months time, and it feels like a distinct new season. I need to start thinking properly about when I will retire; when I start classes again in the autumn I'll know that because they cycle over two years I'll only be teaching them three more times at most. I'll have to start deciding if I want to start a new big research project, or whether I'm done with big projects. It's a whole new world to navigate.

[michameinmicha]

There are posts for explaining your url but i want one for blog title, so ill just make one myself:

Reblog this and tell us in the tags what your blog title means!

[vivacias]

What's a book written by a woman that changed your life or that you consider a classic? Any genre, any language.

[thegeekstressart]

I’ve been slowly working on illustrating my own Tarot deck about black cats.

I have a long way to go, but I’m nearly done with the major arcana.

Here are some of my favorites:

I set myself a design challenge (as I often do). I wanted to limit the color palette and the brush styles to create a very consistent look.

And since each card focuses on black cats, it forces me to think deeply about symbolism and design to make sure the meaning of each card is clear and each design is unique.

But there’s still a lot of variety coming through. It’s not all class, or all silliness - just like cats

I have a forearm tattoo of the cats in this one ☝️

I’m so happy with how both of these two managed to feel dark, but adorable at the same time.

And then there’s this one absolute diva:

Most of these used my own feline friends for reference.

There are more but I don’t know yet how many I want to share online. If I can actually complete the entire deck I would love to have it made. But I have a ways to go, so for now I continue to chip away, one card at a time.

[fontainebleau22]

I wrote a story about MCR (But The Past Ain't Through With You) which was a time travel story, in which past versions of the band appeared in the present; and then I wrote another story about MCR (Story of My Life) in which alternate-universe versions of band members appear in the present; and then I wrote another story about MCR (In Another Life) in which the past plays out in a different way; and now I'm writing another story about MCR (Why Can't I Be You) in which band members swap timelines. And obviously I can write whatever I like, but I did wonder why every MCR story I write is a time travel story.

So it got me thinking about the experience of being a fan of a band which became successful in the age of social media. The past of MCR is documented in immense detail - there are photos and footage of almost every show they've played, copies of every interview and photoshoot, archives that trace every appearance and set list right back to their formation. And all of this material is still churning over and over on the internet - my tumblr feed has 2001 MCR beside 2006 MCR, beside 2010 MCR and current MCR, all the band eras present at the same time. Not only does the band have an enormous past, it's a past that lives on in the present: the band members are everything they've ever been, all the time.

And I think that leaks over into what I write, the difficulty of being confronted with all your past selves in a way which means you can never leave them behind, because I'm old too, older than the band, and I have forty years' worth of past which for me is something I don't have to think about unless I make an effort to reminisce or get out the few photos than exist. I can't imagine how difficult it would be to be swimming in pictures and footage of my 20, 30 and 40-year old selves, and to have those selves be more real to people than my present self.

[sosaysdean]

this crazy ass shot (x)

[what-even-is-thiss]

I think a lot of writers might benefit from giving themselves permission to get weird with format.

Use second person, drop classic rising action and climax format, write backwards, just sit in a moment, tell all you want and refuse to show, make an entire book that’s just one run on sentence, reject tropes, use all tropes, cliche yourself to death, produce something that’s completely gibberish. Break all the rules of marketability. Become ungovernable.

[what-even-is-thiss]

Write a story that just takes place inside one pathetic little person’s head. Do it. It’s enrichment in your enclosure.

[what-even-is-thiss]

Do the writer’s equivalent of playing with finger paints. Do it do it do it do it do it do it do it do it do it do it do it do it

[what-even-is-thiss]

It’s the middle of the night and I should be sleeping but listen. Listen. Just get weird with it. Open your soul up a little bit. Like actually don’t worry about it being palatable. I’m serious. Get weirder. Get weirder right now. I’m demanding that you get weirder right now. It’s not your responsibility to make your reader feel good. It’s your job to make art, goddamnit. Make art. Make weird art. Open up your third eye and eat an entire cheesecake.

[andoutofharm]

videos to reawaken every emotion that exists within you and make you fall in love with my chemical romance like it’s the first time you’re hearing them, even if you’ve been a fan for a decade or more.

famous last words recorded from outside the venue at mcr mk night 2 on 5/21/22, posted on tiktok 5/24/22 by alanpierre71

[fontainebleau22]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

 He turns himself over gingerly, hard boards under his back to tell him where he is and lies looking up into the rafters. He’s done it. His greatest trick yet – Josh Faraday, the man who blew himself up and lived. Ain’t been pretty, but here he is out the other side.

What happened to Faraday and Vasquez? A story beginning in November 1879, overlapping with the events of Winter’s Lease for several months, and continuing to December the following year.

Chapter 1

[fontainebleau22]

Chapter 2

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Chapter 3

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Chapter 4

[fontainebleau22]

Chapter 5

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Chapter 6

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Chapter 7

[fontainebleau22]

Chapter 8

We got there in the end.