#candlesandpretense

[alwaysalreadyangry]

"Hats and Heads" by queenklu on AO3 will change your life

HATS & HEADS IS ONE OF MY TOP FICS EVER I LOVE IT SO MUCH. might be time to reread, thank u for reminding me. THE MOMENT WHEN RAY TAKES FRASER’S HAT OFF............................................................... I DIE

[missionlameturtle]

For Frannie: "This Old Heart of Mine" by Cynthia Erivo, "Eastside" by Halsey, "Ain't No Man" by The Avett Brothers and "Never Going Back Again" by Fleetwood Mac - she's a romantic who wants that happy ending, though it's hidden under all that attitude, and she's not going to settle for anyone less than exactly what she wants.

aaahhh, these are great!! thank you! <3

[queenklu]

"AND LEE PACE IS ALSO NUDE" - I saw Part 2 on Sunday and I got the shock of my life when he took his clothes off. That image will stay with me forever! (I am not complaining!)

laksdflasd

I just keep thinking of this bonus feature/behind the scenes moment from Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day, where someone was trying to talk to Amy Adams while she had completely zoned out staring at Lee Pace, and when called out on it all she could offer as an excuse was, “He’s a whole lotta man.” 

[markcampbells]

Okay so I finally started watching Tales of the City on Netflix, I'm two episodes in, and Mary Ann is such a mess. Like girl you ditched your found family to hawk blanket clothing and marry some business jerk, what did you expect?

(Grain of salt because I watched the series last year, though I definitely want to go back and rewatch it!) I do feel like the revival series paints Mary Anne as a bit more flighty than she is in the books? I absolutely love Laura* so I think this is more of a writing thing. One of my favorite scenes in the whole book series is that scene in Book 6 where before she leaves Mary Ann sits with Shawna and shows her the old suitcase where she kept everything about Connie. It was such a human, emotional scene that showed that Mary Ann did feel the responsibility that was given to her by Connie, but that she also felt like there was more for her out there and Shawna was much better off with Brian and Michael than with her.

I feel like the Mary Ann of the revival show doesn’t quite have the same level of awareness and that bummed me out a TINY bit, but I think at the same time it was probably a better choice since I know a lot of people really dislike her for making that choice to leave. So I feel like making it less... coldblooded, in a way? and having her sort of expect forgiveness instead of the audience being like what a bitch! like the reviewers of Sure of You seem to be.

I think the oneeeeeeeee thing that bugged me a little about the revival series having read the books was like, I think I was actually the most taken with Books 4 through 6 because of the somber, more realistic tone. Less crazy crime plots and just straight realism, a lot of the time. I love how tightly plotted those books were, that Book 4 really just boils down to Michael grieving Jon and finding his feet after that loss and Mary Anne and Brian dealing with the fertility issues, Book 5 being largely about the camping trip for Michael and Brian, etc. Because I was so taken with the way the series was able to really capture life changes in real time, with the way it was originally written, it did feel like a loss that the original TV series stopped just short of all those huge changes for the characters and that the revival series just had to pick up knowing that if you’ve read the books, you know what you’re missing, but if you haven’t, they have to fill you in in the least confusing way possible (and I keep wondering how batshit the Connie/Shawna situation must seem to viewers who haven’t read the books...). I think in particular I wished the revival series had touched on Michael losing Jon a bit more, because that’s such a rich part of his character. But overall I really appreciate that the revival series was able to find such a good middle ground between honoring the spirit of the story the books told but also making it into something new. I know the cast and crew have all said they’d be willing to do more in time if the opportunity presents itself and I do hope they get to do it at least one more time!

( * I got to meet Laura Linney at the My Name is Lucy Barton stagedoor in February and my god that woman is human sunshine. She was so kind to everyone waiting and I did string words together to tell her how much I love her in Tales, and she said it’s one of her very favorite roles.)

[markcampbells]

TV Show Ask Game: 1, 6, 19, 23

1) if you could reboot one TV show, which one would it be? -- So I was never a hugely devoted fan of Rocko's Modern Life, but I loved Static Cling and the way it was made largely to tell Rachel's transition storyline, and I really enjoyed the Spongebob musical and the recent run of Rugrats comics that bring the babies into the modern day. I don't want reboots of my childhood shows that bank fully on nostalgia; I want ones that grapple with modern issues using old characters. I loved that the Spongebob musical dealt seriously with the racism and xenophobia Sandy was facing, and Spongebob wanting to be a manager, and that it really took a hard look at conflicts all the characters were facing. If I had to pick a show to come back that hasn't yet, it would probably be As Told by Ginger. I would love to see what her writing looks like now, and as someone whose widowed mom remarried, I always want more representation like that in media for kids.

6) which shows do you think are underrated and need more love? -- I talked about The Other Two in my previous ask and that's definitely one. Another is Black Monday! I started watching it because I like Don Cheadle well enough and one of my friends is a huge Andrew Rannells fan I wanted to talk about it with, and I was shocked how much I loved it. I got my mom started on it and she loved it, too! Doom Patrol is fortunately starting to get more mainstream attention now (and I've... gotten like ten or fifteen people interested in watching it by not shutting up about it so... there's that) but that's a show even people who don't love superhero stuff can get into, as it's much more of a character study and an exploration of trauma (that also has plenty of humor!). I also would love more people to watch the Netflix Tales of the City revival since it has a lot of representation that isn't commonly seen, and I think it handles a lot of issues with tact and elegance that other shows would have bungled.

19) are there any shows on your “to watch” list right now? -- I'm working my way through Mr. Robot after years of hearing about it because I wanted to see why Rami Malek's performance is so lauded, and I really enjoy it. I also have to finish Why Women Kill. Other than that: The Expanse, A Discovery of Witches, Black Lady Sketch Show, Insecure, Schitt's Creek,  Watchmen, Catherine the Great, Modern Love, Smallville, Sex and the City, Masters of Sex, and Desperate Housewives.

23) are you a fan of will-they-won’t-they plots? -- I mentioned in a previous ask that these days I tend to hope shows don't go that way, but two of my all-time favorite ships are Niles and Daphne (Frasier) and Mulder and Scully (The X-Files). I can understand feeling that both shows lost a bit when they got together (though that logic is still down to writers not knowing how to compellingly write happy couples), but I really like those examples because of what they represent. Niles and Daphne does have some undertones that make people uncomfortable and I respect that, but I appreciate how the show doesn't ever say his feelings for Daphne are necessarily appropriate (Martin even wants to be left out of it when Niles wants to confess when Daphne is with Donnie) and takes its time to show that Maris is emotionally abusive, instead of asking us to sympathize with someone who's lusting just because. Daphne also comes to recognize that a man like Niles can be interested in her, and I like how the show deals with her feelings about being "the other woman" and their fantasies about each other that they need to break down and move past. With Mulder and Scully, the thing I feel many of the imitators miss is that they, yes, have flirty moments from the beginning, but that the backbone of their relationship is friendship and, most importantly, respect. They make plenty of jokes about Mulder having a poem collection, but he's never lewd to or harassing Scully, and most things today lean too hard on OMG THEY WANT TO RIP EACH OTHER'S CLOTHES OFF ON DAY ONE in a way that TXF never did. These are the sorts of WTOWTs that I can buy into; it has to be written well and thoroughly.

[missionlameturtle]

"Almost (Sweet Music)" and "Like Real People Do" are my current favorite Hozier songs.

ooohhh, Almost is a good driving song, isn’t it? it’s got a nice pop-y beat and drive to it and seems like it’d be fun to sing along to, but it’s got more of a folk instrumentation that I really appreciate! The lyrics aren’t quite as striking as, say, Angel Of Small Death, but if I had to choose only one of the Hozier songs you guys have sent me to ever listen to again I would probably pick this one!!

Like Real People Do was good! Another decent driving song, imo, although in this case probably one I’d want to listen to early in the morning at the start of my day. It has some similarities in the vocal style to Wasteland Baby, but, I dunno, I think it works better for me here?

Thank you for the recs!!

[markcampbells]

(not to get too political on you but re: "the past isn't dead" - I'm a Pete Buttigieg supporter and that's how I view his candidacy. ten years ago he couldn't serve in the military openly, five years ago his marriage wasn't legal in his home state, and those things are possible now but the long impossibilities of living as an out LGBTQ person in America still matter a great deal. anyway. just a thought.)

(Hope you don't mind if I answer this publicly--I've thought about it a lot lately!)

Within the past six months or so I've talked a lot with a lot of people about how I really forget how much has changed within my lifetime. I'm 28 and when I was in high school I won an essay contest with one in favor of gay marriage, when Prop 8 was going on and there was still a lot of pushback surrounding me on that issue. (I lived and still do in New York and ftmp things were liberal, but the climate in town was such that plenty of kids didn't really feel safe to be out.) And there's a Season 4 episode of Grey's Anatomy that partially concerns DADT that made me remember oh yeah, shit, I remember when that got repealed.

It's really something I have to give some thought sometimes and it feels weird. I created my first gay POV character back when gay marriage hadn't been legalized and when I started full-on writing him in 2017, I realized I could shift his motivations to include that it had been legalized, and reflect that he'd grown up thinking marriage wasn't a possibility for him. I try to remind myself not to take these things for granted (sadly these fucking abortion bills are a pretty good example why) and that I lived through a lot of these changes, because I forget that people even seven or eight years younger than me might not remember, and kids and teens now? A dear friend and I were just recently talking about Falsettos and she told me that the adults in the cast had to teach Anthony Rosenthal about homophobia and just how different it used to be. It's really great that kids today have no concept of that kind of thing at first, but at the same time when I think about how easy it is for me to forget I lived through some of these things, it worries me.

Especially with all the sorting out I've done recently about my own identity, I don't know what it would have been like for me if I'd been at this point in high school. The good thing is the world has changed--a lot of the queer kids I knew are doing fantastic; a bunch of them are married or soon to be, and that feels so great when I think back on how I literally had to argue why same sex marriage should be legal in that essay. But I still remember how insular it felt in high school--how little interest there was in queer issues and how easily a (toxic, former) friend of mine dropped the f-slur despite my telling her repeatedly I hated it. Things have changed a hell of a lot, but I think the past few days have shown us how easily they can slide right back, and it's scary.

[markcampbells]

The thing I find so striking about Brian and Michael's friendships is that they meet on equal terms and they never forget that. In the show they first interact when they're sunning themselves on the lawn, and later they meet up to smoke weed and talk about cruising together. One is gay and one is straight but they're both young, they want sex and romance and fun, they're trying to enjoy life. The enduring friendship comes from that.

(Chelsea seriously thank you for having my back and already having read this series because I am reasonably sure my loved ones have no idea why I keep periodically yelling about it.)

I’ve watched the first two series by now (third probably this weekend) and yes! I loved how their friendship was adapted as well as how it’s written in general. That scene where they talk about going cruising together really stands out to me because in particular, Michael’s just taken as he is. When I think of modern day queer portrayals, I keep thinking of the influence the series had on things like Will & Grace and Sex and the City, and I think a lot about how there’s none of the weird sexual jealousy in Tales that pops up in those things sometimes. Like, Will & Grace began addressing this better this season, but Mary Ann and Mona are never oh-poor-me about Michael being gay, and Mary Ann looks back on being resentful about San Francisco being full of gay men with shame. And Brian’s totally at ease with the idea of going out with Michael and Michael picking up a guy while he picks up a woman. I keep realizing I really can’t call to mind a friendship where the orientations differ in other pieces that’s so equitable.