Hi there.
I'd like to start with a warning first: Beware!
I'm rather new to tumblr, so if what will come next turns out to be total bs, I hope you all get out of this unscathed, forget we ever crossed paths and will be able to go on with your beautiful lives.
If you're still here, you'll about to hear the nice and accurate story of a guy that stumbled naively into a Good Omens binge watching weekend and came out forever changed.
Roughly 4 weeks ago I was asking friends what they were watching currently. I needed new material to turn to.
That's when it happened.
One of them casually brought up Good Omens on Prime.
I should give it a try.
Angels, demons. Terry Pratchett. Neil Gaiman.
Ok. I like fantasy. I like good story telling. I have an odd sense of bad humour.
I decided to give it a try.
To my eternal shame I have to confess, that until lately I hadn't read a single line written by both Pratchett and Gaiman.
I've read thousands of books. My love for them is so widely spread over all genres, that it simply did never happen. There was always some other book and author that came next.
Oh, how blind and ignorant I have been. I now clearly see the grave error of my ways.
If you can't forgive me, that's ok. I'm having a hard time myself doing so.
Be that as it may, I'm currently reading Good Omens and won't stop there. I promise.
So, where was I?
Right.
Binge watch session of Good Omens season 1.
Saturday evening. Around 9:30pm.
Episode 1 wasn't even running for 5 minutes and I was already sucked right into it.
Frances McDormand's God intro and the garden eden scenes.
I was instantly in love.
Michael Sheen had already been one of my favorites. His first minutes as Aziraphale directly hit home.
David Tennant was familiar but I also hadn't been into Doctor Who, so it took another 5 minutes to also fall for Crowley...
The path was set and I started to deep dive in.
6 hours, 6 episodes, 1 Antichrist and 1 almost Armageddon later I crawled into bed on early Sunday morning to get at least a few hours of sleep. I fell asleep with an almost idiotic grin on my face and a feeling of deep content.
Only 5 hours later, technically still Sunday morning, I woke up, prepared a coffee infusion and switched the TV back on.
There were important deeds to be done. Episodes to be watched.
I could sleep later.
Narrator: No, he would NOT sleep later...
I again immediately fell for the 2 celestials.
The slightly different arc, no dramatic catastrophe on the horizon, instead beautifully written side characters and wonderful new details on the two main protagonists...an evolving love story that had already been clearly visible in season 1...
And god, or Satan, HOW I LOVED JON HAMM as Jimbriel...
I again ended up binge watching the whole season, only interrupted by a few coffee and bathroom breaks.
6 hours later. The end credits were already over for like an eternity and I hadn't moved. Just sitting there, all goosebumps and teared-up.
I ate something. Had to. Don't really remember tasting anything or remembering what I actually had.
I was dumbstruck.
The friend that had suggested to start watching GOs, hadn't let out much more detail, so I hadn't been prepared in the least, for the emotional train wrecked state it had pushed me into.
Hours later I finally fell into an uneasy sleep.
The next morning before work I just sent Tori Amos' Nightingale in Berkeley Park to my GOs friend followed by a ❤️, as a signal that I had watched it all and let her know that there was no need anymore to hold back with talking out of fear to spoiler me.
We had lunch together and spent the whole time rambling on our GOs induced emergency emotional state and the whole beauty of especially Gaiman's season 2.
The next days we kept randomly talking about GO before she pinpointed me to tumblr, in case I wanted to dare a real deep dive into GO fandom.
So here I am now. A week's passed. I've spent hours of reading so many amazing posts around here. So many eye-opening moments.
I'm not only speaking of all those perfect interpretations of GO and it's characters.
What impressed me so much more is the fabulous energy especially radiating from the queer community.
Only having a few queer friends, I hadn't really realized, just how big a thing GO in general and season 2 in particular was for you.
I was raised to walk earth open-minded and to respect everyone, no matter of their religion, gender, nationality, and sexual orientation. This is so deep a part of my DNA and personality that GO for me was just a beautiful story about the blind following of religion, the meaning of life, and, most of all, love. I didn't see it as particularly queer.
Both protagonists are played by male actors and apparently being in an ages long repressed gay relationship? I didn't even consider this unusual or anything else than normal.
2 immortals fall deeply in love, first into humanity, life on earth and then finally into one another, while trying to overcome all the madness of belonging to two opposing sides of the same medal.
A great parable on the pursuit of happiness. Skillfully written for the screen and perfectly casted and played.
Well that was then.
Now I see you and I have to thank you, for opening my mind even further.
For giving so much joy so generously, although every day is still a fight for your rights.
For giving me a space here among you and the chance to delve some more in beautiful minds and fanfiction.
So, if you're still here and reading this, maybe it was not all bs. Maybe it gave you some minutes of entertainment and distraction from every day's stress and problems.
It sure was for me.
I'll end this with some favorite Shakespeare quotes, although now I'm not so sure any more, if not some red haired demon might have actually written this...
"If we shadows have offended, Think but this, and all is mended, That you have but slumber’d here While these visions did appear. And this weak and idle theme, No more yielding but a dream, Gentles, do not reprehend: if you pardon, we will mend: And, as I am an honest Puck, If we have unearned luck Now to ‘scape the serpent’s tongue, We will make amends ere long; Else the Puck a liar call; So, good night unto you all. Give me your hands, if we be friends, And Robin shall restore amends."
☘️
A Midsummer Night's Dream - William Shakespeare
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Update notice - 2024/04/10
Attention! This installation of base module "Sexuality" is currently being updated to a more flexible one...work in progress...
Update notice 2024-06-03 I am now 6 books into Neil Gaimans works, last one was this...
Update notice - 2024/07/03
At an age where my eyeglasses turned bifocal, I finally came to the realization, that not only my eyes celebrate the duality of life. In fact my whole being did it for as long as I can think back. It is astonishing, how efficiently one can get used to ignore feelings, that society considers unseemly. So, finally, this is me here, bi and queer🌈.
Update notice 2024-08-02
It's been now a few weeks since the allegations on sexual abuse by Neil Gaiman came to light. As a fan of his work I am devastated. As a decent human being I absolutely stand with the victims. Will I continue reading or watching his work? Well, I still have some books on my to-do shelf stack that I already bought and would not want to waste them. So I will read them at some point. Won't buy new ones, however.
As for shows he's involved with, I will continue watching them, if with the given circumstances anything new comes out at all... Too many good people are involved and invested in the works, that don't deserve punishment for his doings.
Good Omens was nothing short than life changing for me. I will never stop cherishing it and the person who brought it into my life (and I certainly don't mean Gaiman by this).
More personal middle aged ramblings:
👉🏻 birthday meldown 2024 🔥
👉🏻 2024 in books 📚
👉🏻 2025 in books 📚
👉🏻 1 year anniversary of Good Omens 😇😈
👉🏻 Good Omens Finale
