no deal, that 1950s sh*t

Lauren (she/her), 31, USA. laurensmidnights on tiktok. friend of dorothea. 🌼 70% Taylor Swift, including lyric analysis. 30% Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and anything else I like.

[plainsimpletaylor]

Taylor Swift fan favorite fictional album challenge (#tsfanfavealbum)

In December 2023, I took my top 13 favorite songs (according to the @jesseepinkman song sorter) and rearranged them into a fictional concept album. It was so much fun that I’m making it a yearly tradition for me, and wanted to share the steps here so others can participate.

You can do this challenge at any time of the year! Here’s how it works:

1. Complete jesseepinkman’s full song sorter to get your top 13 favorite tracks.

2. Pretend your top 13 ranked songs are on a new TS album. Put them in a sensible order.

Some guiding questions:

What makes the most sense for a track 5?

What would be a strong opening or closing track?

How does the album flow from one song to the next?

3. Consider the themes in these songs and determine an album title!

4. Write a prologue if you like. (I had the most fun doing this part.)

5. Go a step further and create a deluxe edition. Look at your top 20 ranked songs and pick three others outside of your top 13 to be bonus tracks.

6. Create album art, playlists, or both and post it! Please be sure to tag me (@plainsimpletaylor) or the challenge hashtag (#tsfanfavealbum) so I can see and share your creations!!

Here’s mine from December 2023. Introducing: Almost.

Listen here on Spotify 

[catboybashirs-deactivated202406]

am i going insane. ive NEVER seen anyone talk abt how in second part of the search at the beginning of s3, that fake garak from the founder's simulation DIES IN JULIANS ARMS? ? ??? and the show never adresses it ever again it just happens.

i cant get a screenshot because google drive hates me and i cant find the video but hes cradling garak so so gently here

[wanderingwriter87]

we do talk about it but in fairness their whole thing is so insane that it kind of gets lost in the shuffle of everything else. but you'll actually notice references to it popping up in fics from the last several months a lot, often as a catalyst for them getting together, bc it was being discussed in meta a lot and everyone kind of had the same brain worms for a while

[ectogeo-rebubbles]

Normal ways to hold your dying friend (grip him so hard your fingers dig into him and lean in close as though for a kiss)

[Image ID: Trekcore screencap from “The Search, Part 2” showing Julian Bashir holding Garak.]

[spocksocksrock]

allow me to contribute:

“right into the path of cross fire” okay

and then we have sisko dragging him away and comparing it mentally to how he felt leaving jennifer? wild

[fashionlizard]

I'm chewing glass over this last bit jfc

[godblessthisship]

It's not just the novelization. Some of it's on the script level:

[shoreleave]

"When I was younger, I was terrified of [doctors]."

[wobblycompetencies]

“Garak, I gave you this to read, not…annotate!”

“I improved it.”

“Claudius is not the protagonist of the play.”

“Well, Hamlet certainly isn’t.”

“He’s the quintessential tragic hero!”

“There’s nothing heroic about terminal indecisiveness, Doctor. His death wasn’t a tragedy, it was a mercy killing.”

—-

Mostly an excuse for colour experimention, but also because, having seen other artists’ renditions of tailed Cardassians, I am infatuated with the idea of Garak with a tail.

also I was looking at images of Garak’s tailoring tools from the show and they are such utterly ridiculous pieces of plastic  (“okay so just sort of run it over the fabric like you’re vacuuming it” “what is it?” “it’s a…uh…sonic seam ripper. Yeah. It rips seams. Sonically.”)

[sebastianmercier]

Found-on-Pinterest Garashir fanart Pride Month post #9

[plainsimpletaylor]

As someone who loves Hamlet I would have had zero chill hearing him say that hahaha

[sigynpenniman]

This morning I’m thinkin about how Miles dislocated his shoulder on the Enterprise and Crusher was like Ugh Okay I’ll go get the Osteotractor™️ and then Miles dislocated his shoulder on DS9 and Julian just fucking cracked it back into place then and there

[sigynpenniman]

distinctive medical strategies

[cardassian-tails]

i like that he has a special dislocated shoulder shirt

[lunar-lord]

When Bashir said he was excited to practice frontier medicine he meant on O’Brien

[boppinbobby-moved-deactivated20]

severance once again proving that a twist is still good even after everyone already called it and that changing something just because the audience figured it out is the dumbest thing they started doing on television

[plainsimpletaylor]

It’s called foreshadowing and set up and pay off. Reward the fans for picking up on your great writing! And to other shows, if the only thing interesting about your show was the reveal, you’re doing it wrong.

[plainsimpletaylor]

Because like I’m very happy to have figured out that it wasn’t Helly but that’s just the beginning. Like how is Mark going to react?? How does Dylan feel? Will Lumon erase their memory of this? Is Irv actually going to be fired? What does Milchick think about this? What does Helena think about it and what is she going to do? We don’t even know why she wanted to do this in the first place. There’s so many consequences to this revelation for all the characters.

[boppinbobby-moved-deactivated20]

severance once again proving that a twist is still good even after everyone already called it and that changing something just because the audience figured it out is the dumbest thing they started doing on television

[plainsimpletaylor]

It’s called foreshadowing and set up and pay off. Reward the fans for picking up on your great writing! And to other shows, if the only thing interesting about your show was the reveal, you’re doing it wrong.

[linusbenjamin]

my fantastic four

[carolsturka]

For Helena, her relationship with her father is so challenging that the kind of dynamic she has with Irving, I think, is triggering for her because it kind of rhymes a little bit with a father figure, but it’s a way more nurturing one than she’s ever experienced.

SEVERANCE (2022 -)

[jone-slugger]

Before I started watching DS9, I had read several bad things about Keiko, and I wondered what might make her character so disliked. Turns out it was just being a woman in a misogynistic world xddd

If you ask me, the problem with Keiko is we don't get enough Keiko.

[plainsimpletaylor]

We need waaaaaay more Keiko. Her main function in the plot is to make marriage hard for Miles. I want to see her being smart and amazing on her own. She’s the only minor character on DS9 that lacks development.

[nugulover69]

Can you talk to men in a non-sexually charged way for a single second

[rubbishraven]

𓆝 𓆟 𓆞

post/artist

[oddeyelesbian]

so i know that people don't want to soften garaks edges just bc hes a popular character but i do think that people tend to somewhat over correct when it comes to garaks actual beliefs. because yes obviously he was in the space KGB and is a nationalist and was shitty about the occupation at that conference he went to, but there is also evidence that he is not actually for a fascist cardassia or even the obsidian order.

right away in profit and loss in season 2, he at first goes to take the opportunity to turn in the political dissidents to curry favor with central command but eventually chooses instead to help free them, citing his love for cardassia as the reason why. i don't know why people label that as him just saying "for cardassia" with no actual meaning behind it because the meaning there is very clear. he does actually think the military should not have as much power as it does and thinks natima lang's escaping is worth the risk to himself of him being caught by the federation or central command letting her escape.

then there's also the wire. we obviously don't know exactly what he did. but we know that he hates himself for his work in the order. he spits the story about killing the escapees out at bashir because he wants bashir to let him die. he thinks it means he deserves to die. feeling guilty doesn't absolve him of like. killing people. but he does see the violence he commited as actually wrong, unlike dukat who sees the violence of the occupation as good and righteous.

then theres "second skin" where his contacts inform him that the obsidian order has kira and he just. tells bashir. without asking for anything in return and exposing himself to be forced to help by sisko. he has no reason to do that other than. to help kira. even though it put him in danger and in direct opposition to the order.

I also think of that scene where rusot pulls a phaser on kira and garak defends her and rusot is like "you wouldn't kill one of you own people for a bajoran woman" and garak replies "how little you understand me"

then of course you have the scene with kira and damar where she says "yeah damar, what kind of people give those orders?" and he tells her that she was right to say it because "if damar is the man to lead a new cardassia... if he is the man we hope him to be then his pain will make him more receptive." like this says a lot about what garak wants to see cardassia become

and garak will argue his aggressively nationalist perspective to bashir and mock his federation optimism... but that's also what he likes about bashir. he wants to hear bashir push back against the official state sanctioned narrative and argue that there is reason for hope.

to me garak is someone who can conceive in the abstract that he would want a different kind of cardassia but he has been so smothered by tain and the order at every step of his life that he can't believe a non-fascist cardassia is feasible... but he wants to be convinced and he does have an idealist side that he gives into

[plainsimpletaylor]

Yes! There’s a reason Garak enjoys Bashir’s company so much. Garak even in the final season is working to decode Cardassian messages for the Federation. No way would Garak just rebuild the Obsidian Order. Garak wants a better world for his people but has no way to imagine it given his life experience.

[magicianarcana]

hi! i’m having financial trouble and could use some help! i’m hoping to be able to pay my bills + groceries + transportation!! please help a black lesbian out 🥹🥹🥹 this is my:

cashapp | venmo | paypal

reblogs are appreciated, thank you! i’m hoping to raise $200!

0/$200

[magicianarcana]

i haven’t gotten anything so far so do please keep sharing 🥹🥹🥹🥹

[vikingfunerals]

the commodification of friendship is the most annoying thing to come out of the internet in ages. like actually i love to break this to you but you're supposed to help your friends move even if it's hard work. or stay up with them when they're sad even if you're gonna lose sleep. you're supposed to listen to their fears and sorrows even if it means your own mind takes on a little bit of that weight. that's how you know that you care. they will drive you to the airport and then you will make them soup when they're sick. you're supposed to make small sacrifices for them and they are supposed to do that for you. and there's actually gonna be rough patches for both of you where the balance will be uneven and you will still be friends and it will not be unhealthy and they will not be abusive. life is not meant to be an endless prioritization of our own comfort if it was we would literally never get anywhere ever. jesus.

[plainsimpletaylor]

yep. Just watch to make sure it’s an equal exchange. If you’re always the one sacrificing for someone else, that’s not a good friendship

[hollis-art]

kukalaka, i love you

[cardassiangoodreads]

It’s suggested that this Garak’s universe has its own Julian, which obviously means he can’t be left without a Garak of his own. How do we make that happen? Discuss

[idonotbitemythumbatyou]

Ok I’ve already thought too much about this because I haven’t thought about anything else all day. I’m almost embarrassed but I’ll just power through and share my thoughts.

Since the rift refugees are not only from alternate universes, but also different times, and holo-Bashir mentioned “reading about” the original Dr Bashir, I think holo-Bashir is from the future and his original Bashir is either really old or died of old age. I’m just going to say that the original Bashir of holo-Bashir’s universe also married his Garak.

As for Starfleet Medical Garak, he clearly knew and worked with his universe’s Bashir because he mentions avoiding playing racquetball with him. I think it would be fun (because I love to be sad) if his universe’s Bashir tragically died before their relationship could really become serious.

So holo-Bashir is interested in his original, and is wistfully learning about the full and interesting life he lived with his Cardassian husband, and Dr. Garak is mourning this beautiful young man he once knew and wondering what might have happened between them had he lived. And then they meet in these insane circumstances and it’s like “Oh. Holy shit it’s you!”