Easy on the Discourse...!

And other unheeded advice. Fantine_Black on Ao3. Fic, fandom and other follies. Thirtysomething. Loving it.

[blumineck]

Archery x flower arranging

This was actually really fun!

Anyway, don’t forget I’m still raising money to test a bunch of things in a suit of armour:

The Bluminarmour Project

Blumineck is trying to fun a video series doing fun and serious historical and fantasy testing in fitted plate armour.

[msfbgraves]

Daniel was so CHEEKY calling Terry Sir the first time they met. What a brat, no wonder Terry fell for him in 5 seconds lmao, man was WHIPPED by the sheer sass of a 5’4 tall 18 year old who weighed 100lbs soaking wet

I don’t think any other Alpha would tolerate and love (and encourage) the bratty behavior. TBF Terry encourages it and loves it…to a point. for an Alpha that is a lot! Terry’s such a freak lmao.

Freak 4 freak pair!!

Maybe few other mobsters would tolerate it. I don't know about other people. The Mob is very, very macho/traditional. And Terry simply loves Daniel sassing him, it's so cute. It's not like he has anything to prove - he is already top dog. Daniel originally did it because he was angry at his Dad and wanted to scare Terry off, but then Terry touched him - took his hands from behind his back and held them, the sheer Audacity!! A strange Alpha! - and then he was pissed at Terry too. And it only made Terry like him more.

It ebbs and flows a little bit between them, but it's never gone. They both love it too much, and that is canon. Daniel enjoys sassing Terry, always has. And it's ultimately a sign of trust. Daniel very rarely sasses Michael.

[msfbgraves]

I adore Spielberg’s West Side Story! And yes, I much prefer it over the original. This is one of those rare times I feel like the remake nailed it much better than the original. It’s just an excellent movie, and perfectly cast. I have a few small nitpicks, but again—I love it regardless and think it’s great. I also love that it is a very close adaptation of the original play.

The 1960s movie is iconic, but it always felt wooden to me. I also didn’t think the main two actors had any chemistry. And the dubbed in singing!! NO!! I do prefer ‘America’ from the original movie however. There is just something about that version that can never be topped for me.

Another movie where I feel the remake was above and beyond the original in every way is True Grit, 2010. Highly recommended, what a beautiful film.

Can I please bitch about what a lucky bastard I am. I love musical theatre enough to have tried to become a performer of it and I got pretty far. So I know the genre.

But this music is so layered. And I mean, those bloody chords! What do you mean, three flats in one of them? And everything just after the beat? And they're dissonants but they're not, not really? I am so happy I get to do this plus I am more than a little terrified. Plus all my concert outfits have something wrong with them. I am singing María's parts in the bathroom, which, huzzah, I can still do, because it's easier. God almighty. I get to do the melody of 'America' only that it is really fast, and you can always hear xylophone over the strings. Always. FFS. "Oh I wish for once I would have gotten to play anything but silly notes." Now I get to do both. Very silly notes for the whole thing. Plus weird rhythms. BTW these lyrics are great. Did you eat today? What's my name again. Of course I can play a bflat dflat a flat and cflat sight-reading. Like it's hard. (I am not a professional percussionist, Christ almighty). I want to do scales. (That's worrying).

Ok as for the films. I do understand the original is of the sixties, and thereby truer to the time. But the time also always needed a draw card, like casting Audrey Hepburn when Julie Andrews was right there. That explains Natalie Wood to me, but... It's racist. And the love they share is beautiful but even the modern version, they have met once. When it comes to Juliet, she's both very young and being pressured to marry. Maria is a little older and though I appreciate how they flesh her out in the Spielberg version to make her less of a damsel, she knows Tony for like a day before he kills, not her cousin, but her brother. And she's still like: "nope. My love for him is all that matters." A day, sweetheart, and they weren't trying to marry you off that badly. Even Spielberg couldn't sell me on that. But if you go with the chorus of I Feel Pretty - yes, maybe she's objectively insane. As is he. It happens.

I find it interesting that the original speaks to people from that time in a way it doesn't speak to me. Certain codes don't seem to translate anymore. I needed boomers to explain the original film to me at some points. Given that, I don't know if this will age well in three generations, but it is beautifully filmed, well acted and sung (especially Anita, but so was the original Anita!), and markedly less racist. I am surprised though that they censored Diesel's line about domestic violence. Why is that no longer acceptable? I believe that his parents were violent, that normalises using force to solve your problems outside as well. And I also understand how you could become flippant about it.

I'll think about that after I do my scales, though...

[rosie-tyler]

[msfbgraves]

Daniel calling himself a “kitty” during sexytimes roleplay…Terry definitely eats that shit up lmao. he prob dies of happiness if Daniel calls him “Alpha, Sir…” hahahah

The last two things Daniel calls Terry all the time because it gets him weak (and going) like nothing else. "Kitty" would really only be during roleplay and then probably to protest that he is not one, no Sir, no him! I truly think he doesn't like it, other than maybe in the utter throws of things because it is so very taboo to him. He does not. Like to see omegas disrespected. That is one thing his schooling did instill: that he and others like him were to be treated, not just with respect, but maybe something like reverence. And he would never go that far himself, but this is the polar opposite and it makes him bristle with indignation. He's not blind to how limiting society can be for omegas who need to work for a living, or the minority that wants to; he doesn't need dehumanising language in his life on top of that.

[msfbgraves]

So in Mobverse, Terry is very jealous and insecure of Kumiko, and (hilariously) jealous of Johnny as well. Interestingly, he is not any of the above with Anoush, despite him and Daniel being fairly close.

My question is: is Daniel ever jealous or insecure if Terry shows some interest in another? (Obviously when Terry strayed with the other omega who looked like a female Daniel, Daniel felt very hurt and betrayed about that.) But was he insecure or jealous?

He is, in a different way. If you look at the chapter where they talk about the cheating on their wedding anniversary, Daniel is afraid Terry may have "three different families"; he's very scared that his family life, which is really his life's work that he has given everything to, may be made into something Terry can brush off. That thought hurts him like nothing else, for it to be treated as small, inconsequential, mundane. He's put too much into it, gave too much to it, suffered too much for it. That is more important to him than Terry bedding another - if that hurts an awful lot, too. He doesn't have a career, or any great deeds - he has his mate and his pups that he has poured everything into. Yes, there's his extended family and also Terry's people, but this is Daniel's entire life. That's what he's insecure about.

He's slightly jealous of Sensei Wolf ☺️

And no, Terry is not jealous of Daniel and Anoush, because Anoush is so besotted with Louie, and Louie with him. Anoush is a very traditional omega, he wouldn't even entertain the thought. (Moreover, neither would Terry. He's just too fond, too protective of that one.) He's also not jealous of Daniel with Apollonia, since Apollonia thinks 'Daniel' is too American! He doesn't even speak Sicilian! But she is protective of him as well. It's not his fault Terry came and snapped him up before he could be properly married into another Sicilian family and learn how things ought to work in life.

[questcequecestqueca]

She played bass on 10,000 songs, including the most-played track of the twentieth century. She was paid $55 per session. Her name never appeared on the albums.

Gold Star Studios, Los Angeles, 1964. A woman in a cardigan walks past the receptionist, a Fender Precision bass in her hand like a briefcase. She doesn’t sign autographs. She signs a timesheet.

Her name is Carol Kaye. In three hours, she will record what will become the most-played track of the twentieth century. She’ll pocket fifty-five dollars and head to another studio, on the other side of town, for the next session.

The record label will never put her name on the album.

Between 1957 and 1973, Carol Kaye took part in roughly 10,000 recording sessions. Not as the featured artist, not as a guest, but as a hired hand. She was part of an anonymous collective nicknamed The Wrecking Crew—elite studio musicians who actually played the instruments on your favorite records while the famous bands posed for promotional photos.

The work was relentless. Three albums before the day was over. Stale coffee in paper cups. No rehearsal. The charts arrived minutes before the tape rolled. If you couldn’t read a chart and nail the take in two tries, you didn’t get called for the next session.

Carol could do it on the first try.

She started playing guitar in grimy bars at fourteen because her family couldn’t pay the electric bill. Music wasn’t a romantic dream for her. It was survival. It was a job—factory work with better acoustics and lower pay.

But she was faster and sharper than almost everyone else. She corrected charts in pencil while the producer was still explaining what he wanted. In one session in 1968, she told a famous producer his arrangement sounded like a dying dog. She chose her own line. They kept her version.

That descending bass line that drives the Beach Boys’ “Wouldn’t It Be Nice”? Carol Kaye. The propulsive groove of “These Boots Are Made for Walkin’”? Carol Kaye. The acoustic-guitar intro to “La Bamba”? Carol Kaye. The iconic theme from Mission: Impossible? Carol Kaye.

She invented techniques on the spot, out of sheer necessity. When the bass sound was too muddy for AM radio, she stuck felt under the strings and used a hard pick instead of her fingers. The tone cut through the static like a blade. It became the sonic signature that defined 1960s pop.

Bassists spent years—decades—trying to crack the secret of the Beach Boys’ gear to get that sound. They were studying the wrong people. They should have been studying Carol.

She received no royalties. No residuals. No gold-record ceremony. No credit on the album sleeves. When “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’” hit number one, Carol was already back in a studio cutting a soap jingle.

The biggest bands mimed her bass lines on TV variety shows. New York marketing departments decided a mom in classic clothes didn’t fit the rebellious-youth image they were selling. So they simply left her name off the album credits.

For thirty years, almost no one cared. The truth only began to surface in the late 1990s, when music researchers found the same union contract numbers on thousands of hit records. The very documents meant to preserve studio musicians’ anonymity betrayed them.

Think about it. Every time you heard “Good Vibrations,” “River Deep – Mountain High,” the Righteous Brothers, Nancy Sinatra, or Sonny and Cher, you were hearing Carol Kaye. She composed the soundtrack of an entire generation’s youth.

And yet the records still say nothing. She’s now over eighty. She wrote instructional books. She trained countless bassists. She is finally starting to be recognized by music historians who uncovered the truth about The Wrecking Crew.

But she never got what she deserved: her name on those albums. Credit for the music that defined an era. Recognition that those bass lines everyone associates with the “Beach Boys” were, in fact, Carol Kaye’s.

Fifty-five dollars a session. Ten thousand sessions. The most-played track of the twentieth century.

And the world didn’t know her name.

[clevermanka]

She was admitted to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2025 but refused, fuck yeah, Carol. Her official website is incredible.

[the-succubus-lilith]

@demilypyro

[joleneghoul]

i think censoring subtitles is actually ableism

[depsidase]

[msfbgraves]

Yeah, they did. The weird thing is that people are buying it.

You don't have to do that.

OK so they built the Torment Nexus from the book "Don't build the torment nexus, that would be very bad, aight?"

We don't have to then all say: "Whelp, into the Torment Nexus it is for us, then. Can't stop progress." That last bit you actually still have a say in!

[creatingblackcharacters]

👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀 nonblack America might lose their shit... But me personally... I would like to see the vision 👀👀👀👀👀

[msfbgraves]

cherik is basically Martin Luther King and Malcolm X reimagined as white guys so...

[anythings-a-sweet-if-you-eat-it]

boring take from real 21st century idiots: bdsm is bad because it's basically torture

interesting take from a fictional 14th century monk: torture is bad because it's basically sex

[ohholydyke]

Shoutout to the nun who had other nuns tie her up and pour hot wax on her as she confessed her sins

[amorphousgenderlesscryptid]

I'm sure that's true, but something tells me googling "nun tied up by other nuns" "hot wax" "confessing sins" will likely get what you might call rather un-academic results

[msfbgraves]

We are used to seeing "intimacy" as an synonym for sex but it isn't. Intimacy is a situation full of very close, personal feelings, and there is physicality involved. So if it gets physical and there are a lot of feelings on both sides, yeah, that's intimate. So sex can be intimate, and if the perpetrator is really into it as well, torture is too, sadly. Also we all know the trope of "I want to put my hands on them one way or another". Violence can be really intimate, just like sex. Platonic hugging is also intimate, by the way. It's physical and there are a lot of feelings involved... That covers a lot of ground and has a lot of overlap and most people don't want to think about that too hard.

[msfbgraves]

I feel like somebody saw West Side Story and decided to write a fic about the Jets and call it The Outsiders

Update: I know that didn't happen. But I feel it might as well have happened that way!

[msfbgraves]

[msfbgraves]

It's so strange that in Holland, when talking about making music, the question is so often asked why anyone would do it if they didn't wish to become professionals at it. The underlying question being, of course, why anyone would fund it if no professionals are to result from it (after 25). That is asking why anyone would play sports if there was no chance of becoming a gold medalist. When it comes to sports, anyone would automatically say: because it is a healthy and joyful thing to do! I mean, duh? It helps with emotional regulation like almost nothing else. But when it comes to music, that thought escapes people entirely.

I keep being surprised this is understood about football teams or tennis or basketball playing or swimming for people over 30. But music having the exact same effect when practised is somehow not on mainstream media's radar here.

You don't want to listen to it? Don't. I don't watch football. I am not doubting that people like doing it, though.

[msfbgraves]

You are a wonderful writer, truly!

That fill about Eli and Gianni discussing the newest drama between their parents and the “beard” issue was absolutely hilarious. Their voices were so accurate I could hear them in my head and see their expressions.

Terry is so Extra. Playing the piano and pouring his sorrows out with entire complex movements had me rolling. Listen: I didn’t like the beard phase either, and I just know that no one in this family did! What on earth possessed Daniel to do that? Boredom? Mid life crisis? Trolling his husband?

Daniel getting out of his “twink phase” (hilarious that he even KNEW that term and applied it to Daniel lmao!!) was the only lie. We all know Daniel is the eternal twink and remains boyishly cute forever haha!

Terry will probably cry with happiness when Daniel shaves it off (sooner the better Daniel!)!

Loved this, thank you for writing!

Maybe he was trolling a little! When he was young it was always important to be a desirable omega and honestly, I do not think he'd grown enough to even grow a proper beard before 30! But he's in his mid forties, thinking "I have 9 pups, I have absolutely nothing to prove, and I always wanted to know what I'd look like with a beard, so why not?" You have to give it to Ralph too, he was likely being a little rebellious after CK wrapped, no more requirements for his looks. I think that Sara threw a bit of a tantrum too, "no kisses, Mama, you prickle!" and when Daniel saw it was making his little pups genuinely unhappy, he shaved it. He did have the time of his life seeing everyone reacting to it in between, though.

And an Alpha would know what twink death is, because it happens to many omegas on their second litter and they hate it. It's usually a few years before they morph into the sweetest grandparents but do Alphas make a fuss!

Then again, this is Daniel, and he's still the absolute cutest pushing 60. But Terry always has Very Big Feelings.

Thank you so much for this sweet ask! Really made my day.

[msfbgraves]

Why is calling an omega a kitty a negative thing? I thought it was teasing/flirty/cute. Terry called and thought of Daniel by that term early on, but he continues to refer to other omegas as kitties like that shop omega when Terry buys jewelry for Daniel. But then he corrects Yasmine when she uses the term at Daniel’s party and seems to not like the word there.

So clearly it’s some sort of slang/not a polite word?

Does Terry ever actually call Daniel “kitty” to his face or later on? Do omegas call other omegas kitties? Do omegas have a term for Alphas in turn?

Such fascinating world building! I love the care and detail you have added to the story.

"Kitty" is a derogatory term, in essence. A "kitty" is an omega you see purely through a sexist lens, if there is fondness in there, too. There's no such term for Alphas, because they are at the top. And when you are a young Alpha it feels powerful to talk about 'what you would do to that kitty', but once it's said about a person you love, that is different. If you see the world in terms of kitties in heat, it's easy to forget that these are people. And when you love these people, you don't want them to be purely objects to be lusted over. It suddenly hits Terry like a brick that the only thing that keeps people seeing his son as anything more than a kitty to bed is, frankly, money. But he loves his son. He wants people to respect his son. And yet Yasmin is in the same environment he created and suddenly, she's becoming like the people who would hurt his son simply because they don't respect him for being omega. Now of course Yasmin wouldn't hurt her brother, but she might look upon other omegas that way, which means that Yasmin's friends may look at Luna and Anthony that way; not to mention Daniel. It's ugly. He loves them. That "kitty" in the shop he was endeared by he didn't love. And if he could look at an omega that way, anyone could look at his loved ones that way, and it's a chilling thought to him.

Daniel wouldn't refer to himself as a "kitty", ever, only in roleplaying. He knows omegas are people. It's not a nice thing to say and it is a word that can be used to make all omegas feel small. Essentially, a kitty is an omega who is cute, and sexy, but ultimately less-than.

[msfbgraves]

Fool me twice, I guess.

There was something about the beginning of both The Handmaid's Tale and the Testaments that resonated with me: how strict it was, and how very dangerous if you broke those rules even a little bit, and how much poise it took to live under those rules. I was very impressed with how Chase Infinity played Agnes - she doesn't lose that poise even with Daisy, and what an enormous risk Daisy would be taking telling Becka "It's OK to feel this way" in a world that despises anything to do with gay people.

But then they always want to tell a story of rebellion, so the girls break the rules and.... nothing happens. And sure, maybe Agnes is protected by her match, and maybe, so is Hulda, but the same Aunts who sent a girl off to the Colonies to be married for spilling tea are like "Sure Daisy, go accuse a man of sexual assault we are totally behind you." They would not be. The whole premise of Gilead is that the worth of the women is solely tied to the men that want them and the children they can bear. So Daisy, with no protection, would be a prime candidate for becoming a Handmaid. She can relatively easily, get in and out of Gilead. Why? Because the plot needs her to incite rebellion. Also they wouldn't let Agnes back in, they would match her with another Commander, perhaps the old creep that couldn't get a match before (because now she is known to have been 'tainted'.) Again they did that to a girl for spilling tea, while being very obviously set up. None of this world is in the girls' interest.

The setup, of these girls having to navigate all these rules 'or else' is riveting but only if 'or else' means more than 'Ooh, well, we'll let you get away with it."