odds & not ends

You will love again the stranger who was your self

[polarcell]

*deep breath* so I have to say… I would really want… for people to be more thoughtful and do more research and some soul searching when writing about how joe and nicky met because i gotta say I’ve seen a lot of stuff already that ranges from um & yikes to like super incredibly obviously racist and I truly truly wish I hadn’t. Like. it’s a very profound backstory and you can write stuff about it but do not treat it like any old fandom playground and like.. hey other white people can we not fucking.. do all of this bs. can we  n o t

[igotnothingclever]

Agreed, OP. Their backstory is complex and nuanced so getting it right absolutely matters. There’s a brilliant post on this with helpful reading resources by siriaeve on dreamwidth: see below. I know it’s also posted to Tumblr but I can’t for the life of me find it.

In a nutshell: loving all the 💞 for Joe and Nicky but let’s not fall into the pit of racist and ideological stereotypes, please.

[igotnothingclever]

Found it:

The Old Guard: A Joe/Nicky Historical Primer

If you're like me, you've just recently fallen ass-over-teakettle for The Old Guard, a newly released Netflix movie which takes some of my b

[lazaefair]

Andromache’s Seven The gang infiltrate the Met Gala to steal priceless jewels and artifacts to return to their home countries.

“Who the hell is this?”

“The woman who’s robbing you.”

[sheafrotherdon]

I would watch the hell out of this.

[igotnothingclever]

I'd watch this sooo hard.

[dailydwgifs]

2x08 | The Impossible Planet

[kastors]

JOE&NICKY + text posts

[fashion-runways]

LENA BERISHA Spring/Summer RTW 2021 if you want to support this blog consider donating to: ko-fi.com/fashionrunways

[igotnothingclever]

This looks so painful. Looking at this pic made my boobs hurt + a pulled groin muscle. So much freaking ouch.

[inneffablehusbands]

Immortal Husbands ~ dressed in black 

[mjalti]

sometimes im like “tone down the Self to fit in” and other times, the voice of God comes to me in a dream and says “I didn’t make you crazy for no reason”

[igotnothingclever]

Dusty and muddy but gloriously happy from my recent beach camping trip. With sunsets like this...life is sweet.

[igotnothingclever]

I have discovered k-drama.

Life is changed. Forevermore.

[igotnothingclever]

Who else LOVED and yelled YAAS! every single time Jo Yi-seo delivered a blistering comment in Itaewon Class?

[wickedpact]

ill never b over joe and nicky being horny on main 24/7 ok

-nicky keeping himself warm thinking about the Malta Sex Vacation™ while being fucking tortured

-nicky, thirteen seconds after being tortured, turning to joe like ‘so i was thinking about our Malta Sex Vacation™’ without any prompting

-joe looking at nicky like this

-joe looking at nicky like This

-joe in the comic whipping out this line with approximately 0% shame or remorse

like. oof

[igotnothingclever]

As I rewatched the old guard, again (yes, yet again!), I was struck by the lab scene when Andy and Booker are brought in. I really really empathise with Yusuf. He's been tortured, his love has been tortured, his worst fears are being realised when all of a sudden...it becomes so much worse. His family, his brother, betrayed him. And Andy, a constant of their universe is mortal. So not only is he reeling from physical and emotional torture, he now has to contend with betrayal, heartbreak, and an insidious voice that asks: could I have done something to prevent this? Is this my fault?

It's no wonder then that he starts shouting. He's spiralling emotionally. I totally and completely understand. Even though my reaction would be similar to Nicky's.

His saying "Joe please," is not a rejection of Yusuf's feelings. Nor is he minimising them. He's in the same pain, the same turmoil but he processes it slightly differently. His reaction is to focus on what can be fixed now i.e. Andy's fugue-like state. The rest of it can be dealt with later. There will be a reckoning and how.

It got me thinking about how as a brown woman, I've trained myself to manage the expression of my anger, my fears, my emotional rhythms because I don't want to be the hysterical brown woman in a predominantly white work and living space. The harm we do to ourselves by internalising racism.

Yusuf, my friend, I envy you expressing your emotions at the pitch, volume, and fervour of your choice.

[nizarnizarblr-deactivated202012]

Thank you! 

I am getting so sick of people indicating that Joe expressing emotion is portraying him as the “aggressive Arab man”. He IS passionate, he IS emotional. To take that away is to take away the wonderful representation he offers. He is allowed to be angry and “spiral”. He is allowed to feel fury, betrayal, hurt, and more.  

I was so excited watching him. Finally, a character in mainstream media that I can seriously relate to. It was like a breath of fresh air.  

[myrioll]

I think this since the very first day, but my english is crappy and I don’t think I was actually able to express what I was menat to say.

Thank you for saying that with more language skills.

[igotnothingclever]

I see we've reached that stage where I'll be aggressively filtering the old guard tags.

Thought 1: that didn't take long.

Thought 2: thanks for the filter option Ao3.

[of-scythia]

Nicky uses a 17-in-1 hair-and-body wash on his hair. Meanwhile, he will go to the ends of the earth to find Joe the perfect non-stripping shampoo, leave-in conditioner and hydrating styling product, and always has them stocked in their safehouses and/or go kits. Curls need moisture. If Nicky used Joe's products his hair would look flat af and if Joe used Nicky's product his hair would be dry af (yes, I said product singular). Nicky respects and adores the Curls™ and is king of the scalp massage

this is very very very sweet but i am so FUCKING distracted by the 17-in-1 please tell me you made that up

[polaris-and-ink]

[of-scythia]

i pulled up this rb and the app crashed which is also how my brain feels contemplating using this anywhere on my body

[anonymousrobinhoodqueer]

I realize it seems insane. But.. this soap. It literally is one of the only brands, possibly the only brand that does not kill my skin.

I mix that large bottle into a smaller one with water, for hand washing some, but they also make a hand soap that literally saved my skin. Like. At the beginning of the lockdown we were using Seventh generation free and clear hand soap, which is supposed to be super good. But there was a clear line on my wrist where the soap dried out my skin. It was painful. I switched to the dr bronners 4-1 hand soap and after like two uses it healed me. I realize that I sound crazy. But I go home from the dorms and use the 7thG stuff and my hands die.

Weirdly the 7thG dish soap does not hurt me this way. But the hand soap was terrible. I thought that I was developing eczema, but lotion barely helped. In fact all but one hurt worse than having none.

I have used the dr bronners on my hair when I run out of my baby shampoo, but I do use other products with it, and I only wash my hair like 2 times a month so.

The 18-1 dr bronners can also be used in cleaning supplies and in garden sprays, I used to use it to kill aphids on my roses.

[hazelnutrosewaterpomegranate]

Nicky "acts of service" Di Genova would always have the perfect products for maximum curl care to hand and would definitely love Dr. Bronner's

[igotnothingclever]

As I rewatched the old guard, again (yes, yet again!), I was struck by the lab scene when Andy and Booker are brought in. I really really empathise with Yusuf. He's been tortured, his love has been tortured, his worst fears are being realised when all of a sudden...it becomes so much worse. His family, his brother, betrayed him. And Andy, a constant of their universe is mortal. So not only is he reeling from physical and emotional torture, he now has to contend with betrayal, heartbreak, and an insidious voice that asks: could I have done something to prevent this? Is this my fault?

It's no wonder then that he starts shouting. He's spiralling emotionally. I totally and completely understand. Even though my reaction would be similar to Nicky's.

His saying "Joe please," is not a rejection of Yusuf's feelings. Nor is he minimising them. He's in the same pain, the same turmoil but he processes it slightly differently. His reaction is to focus on what can be fixed now i.e. Andy's fugue-like state. The rest of it can be dealt with later. There will be a reckoning and how.

It got me thinking about how as a brown woman, I've trained myself to manage the expression of my anger, my fears, my emotional rhythms because I don't want to be the hysterical brown woman in a predominantly white work and living space. The harm we do to ourselves by internalising racism.

Yusuf, my friend, I envy you expressing your emotions at the pitch, volume, and fervour of your choice.

[aphroditestummyrolls]

It’s Loving Yusuf al-Kaysani™️ hours 24/7 but especially right now today

[lazaefair]

Loving him as a whole, well-rounded, fully-realized character with his own backstory and his own psychology and his own millennia-old cultural heritage and his own importance as representation. Not loving him as just a two-dimensional sexual fantasy or romantic fantasy. Not loving him as a QPOC Barbie doll to excuse yourself from examining your internal biases. Not loving him as a prop who’s only there to make your white fave look good and feel good. Loving him as himself and for himself. It takes work and effort and sometimes facing uncomfortable feelings in yourself, but that’s what love requires.

[hargreevesdiegos]

ri jeong hyeok & yoon se-ri ➝ favourite tropes

[igotnothingclever]

Ahahahahha! ALL THE ROMANTIC TROPES.