Oh.

Em, she/her. Temporary return to the newsie blog roots. Currently doing anything other than what I'm supposed to. Also sometimes I write stuff https://archiveofourown.org/users/Whoops_Im_Obsessed/pseuds/Whoops_Im_Obsessed

[whoops-im-obsessed]

Thought I'd finally make a pinned after 7 years!

Hi, I'm Em 👋 I use she/her pronouns and I'm bi af

My interests change a lot so if you don't remember why you followed me it was probably for newsies, mika, or ghostbusters (or mash maybe??)

I love asks and messages!! Even if we've never spoken please say hi I'll be thrilled!!

You can find my fics here :)

[translatingpostsinfrench]

pourquoi du pain est masculin mais la baguette est féminine....... la baguette est transgenre ?

je vais laisser la communauté parler:

la baguette, icône trans?

oui

non

Voting ended onOct 12, 2025

[translatingpostsinfrench]

eh bah

[translatingpostsinfrench]

10k notes pour un post francophone sur tumblr macron où est mon poste de ministre de la culture

[meanbuddhist]

*turns my attention inwards* mmmmm. no *turns my attention back outwards* oh god

[jennelikejennay]

turn your attention to The Character

[3scythes]

saw this on Pinterest and had to make it about Chase immediately

[clowninacollar]

a message from mr mika himself to you, the reader

[greenares]

[bees-with-swords]

"Do you ever dream of land?" The whale asks the tuna.

"No." Says the tuna, "Do you?"

"I have never seen it." Says the whale, "but deep in my body, I remember it."

"Why do you care," says the tuna, "if you will never see it."

"There are bones in my body built to walk through the forests and the mountains." Says the whale.

"They will disappear." Says the tuna, "one day, your body will forget the forests and the mountains."

"Maybe I don't want to forget," Says the whale, "The forests were once my home."

"I have seen the forests." Whispers the salmon, almost to itself.

"Tell me what you have seen," says the whale.

"The forests spawned me." Says the salmon. "They sent me to the ocean to grow. When I am fat with the bounty of the ocean, I will bring it home."

"Why would the forests seek the bounty of the oceans?" Asks the whale. "They have bounty of their own."

"You forget," says the salmon, "That the oceans were once their home."

[hearnoweevil]

Last year I finally had an excuse to illustrate this simple little Tumblr story I've had bookmarked forever for class.

I hope you like it :]

[higgsbison]

happy glorious 25th of may

[lobotomy-jpeg]

My darling boys decided to visit me today :')

Thank you my beloved riverhag for that lovely caption ;; @riverhag2

[ID: Digital illustration of a modern era Izzy and Roach standing in the rain, under Roach's umbrella. Roach is in a brown coat, multicolor knit scarf and a mustard yellow knight beanie. Izzy's in a grey flat cap, blue knit jumper and a leather jacket with patches on it. Izzy's holding onto a handkerchief patterned like Roach's mama's sash and Roach's umbrella patterned like a yellow smiley face. The illustration is captioned "I think it's time for that cup of tea, duck." /end ID]

[userdramasworld]

this is that hope shit everyone’s talking about?? i have it now.

[deathstars]

HELLO ! have you thought about Van Gogh’s First Steps today ?

[deathstars]

Here you go. This world is beautiful. Humans are beautiful. I love you

[apocalypse-calypso]

we are golden is literally the song of all time to me and whenever i forget this fact i just have to watch 1 live performance of it and im like ohh yeah now i remember this is the song of all time

[peterfromtexas-deactivated20250]

Reenactor throws a spear at a drone

[supapoopa]

What a time to be alive.

[tenthcorner]

“The medieval warrior, realizing the consequences of his impulsive act, immediately approached the owner of the drone and offered to pay for the damage.

The owner of the drone was so impressed by the brilliant attack that he suggested organizing a competition for bringing down “dragons” with short spears next year.

Drone owners have another year to develop a unique “dragon-like” design for their flying machines.” (x)

[kineticpenguin]

I am 100% cooler with this knowing that the spear-thrower realized “oops maybe I shouldn’t have done that” and tried to make it right, and that the guy who the drone belonged to was cool with it

[brunhiddensmusings]

just so everyone knows, this has already been memorialized in a runestone

[stephendann]

Everything about this post blesses those involved with a +4 on their next Today is Good Day roll

[fromaliminalspace]

a rough translation of inscription on the runestone:

On the seventh day of May in the year of 2016 on hither spot the mighty warrior Ulf hath slain a dragon with his spear.

so yeah, happy birthday to this dragon-slaying event and to it only

[nonlinear-nonsubjective]

Happy Ulf Hath Slain A Dragon With His Spear!

[clowninacollar]

mum: we have Heated Rivalry at home

the Heated Rivalry at home:

[stormagedondarklordofall]

[treewizarded]

a BRILLIANT read, and even more incentive for me to make my own wizards trope-defying and excellent.

[roachpatrol]

God it’s fascinating to look at the timestamp on this one and then realize that Pratchett went on to write his Witches Series and Granny Weatherwax, who’s strong and fierce and brilliant and austere and so achingly, bitterly, intensely good. I think Granny Weatherwax would give Gandalf a hard look and Gandalf would remember he had a very urgent appointment three shires away and stroll off really fast. 

[ceruleancynic]

Holy fuck, everybody go read this right now. 

Pratchett is one of the people whose work is not only hilarious, but legitimately brilliant. I learned so much from reading his books. Even this talk is peppered with the kind of thing that makes you snort out loud and get stared at by coworkers: 

No wonder witches were always portrayed as toothless — it was living in a 90,000 calorie house that did it. You’d hear a noise in the night and it’d be the local kids, eating the doorknob.

And he fucking nails the witch/wizard dichotomy. Wizards = wise, powerful, organized, educated; witches = crones who give you warts. The Tiffany Aching series addresses this directly, as do the regular Discworld books focusing on the Lancre witches. Like Roach says, Granny Weatherwax is achingly, bitterly, intensely good, and that’s partly because she’s constantly aware of how easy it would be to be bad. How someone has to do the mucky jobs and help the obnoxious and stupid and never, ever take credit for anything you didn’t do; how the hardest thing is to stay balanced just on the edge between extremes, maintain that equilibrium, do what needs to be done no matter how awful or difficult it may be. Wizards never have to think about this. They just forge straight ahead, eating big dinners and squabbling amongst themselves and taking their power for granted.

[roachpatrol]

Come to think of it, that’s one of the most significant divisions of power in Discworld: the men all gang up into this big elitist mob and loll around indolently, specifically not doing magic. Their magic is so powerful and dangerous that it’s a better use of their time to all keep each other down, all the wizard books basically revolve around ‘Oh no, someone’s doing magic, we’d better stomp them flat and then go home for second breakfast’. They keep the world from turning inside out but not much more than that, and they’re kind of a bunch of assholes about it too. Meanwhile the witches are just grimly slogging along, delivering babies and rousting out vampires and changing compresses, like, they stake out territories and then take care of everyone in it… while everyone still thinks that wizards are respectable and witches are shady. 

[oldmanyellsatcloud]

The line about equal rites killed me, though. The insightful commentary (on the internet no less) here helped buffer that.

[discworld-heritage-posts]

Discworld Heritage Post

[kyraneko]

It’s the difference between status and value. Who does the necessary work, and who takes the credit. Who the world would actually fall apart without, and who reaps the rewards of being considered important.

There’s gender in it, but shades of poor-and-rich as well.

[singlecrow]

What’s marvellous I think here is that Pratchett’s criticism of Le Guin, on Earthsea, was made in 1985 - and in 1990, she wrote Tehanu, which is a fantastic indictment of the sexism and misogyny of the earlier Earthsea books. Doesn’t meant she saw this, she probably didn’t - her own unease with the earlier Earthsea books was evident in other places - but it’s what Pratchett himself is saying, reality creates fantasy creates reality.

[mific]

Terry being brilliant, and read the comments.

[whoops-im-obsessed]

Pride: the musical - Sherman Theatre, Cardiff, 11/4/26.

If you were unaware, the iconic film 'Pride' (2014) has been adapted for the stage, I was lucky enough to see it in previews and it was such a heartfelt, soulful, honest piece. I cannot overstate how incredible it was. Here's my run down of everything I can remember (spoilers!! Also I won't describe the whole plot, only cool things or differences)

The story is told from the perspective of the real surviving members of Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners (LGSM): Mike, Gethin, Jonathan, Reggie and Steph with Mike mostly guiding the story. From the start, they make it clear that this is a true story and they set the tone and context of the show perfectly

The show begins with a tongue in cheek song where the audience are given a 'gay induction', explaining what it was like to be queer in the 1980s, there are police hats and mini roleplays and its funny whilst still giving context to those who need it

Following this song, they start to talk about Mark Ashton and he enters the stage, moving in his own space and obeying the 4th wall in a way the others aren't. There is a brief introduction and it's made clear that Mark is somehow special in all this

Sidenote: the staging is super cool in this show, its simplistic and prop-heavy, Mark's 'council flat balcony' is a metal barrier that will be used for the picket line later in the show.

The show sometimes borrows dialogue and scene sequences from the film and Mark's introduction is one of those times, which makes sense as the show was developed by the film's director. I think they were more reserved than they could have been with this, it makes for a fun reference and you keep the quotable lines such as 'they're sending a police man!' - 'oh I do hope so!'

Mark's date tries to chase after him wearing only a sheet and shouting 'you're still wearing my pants!!'

Cut to pride and the storytellers enter the story fully, we get the classic Mike on his own and 'give it to the lesbians they love a banner' + introduction of Bromley (Joe)

Somewhere in all this there is a cool song about how 'queers are the canaries in the coal mine' - a rock-ish number about how bad things always seem to happen to us first before everything else goes to shit. If I remember right, this is merged with scenes of London pride and the ensemble sings about how it's a protest not a party

Bromley has a little motif throughout the show where he's singing the things he wishes he could say to his mum, immediately followed by what he actually says. It's sweet and kinda funny

Ooh yeah and when the pride protesters are chanting they are actively staring and pointing at the audience

We have the party after pride and people gradually leave, one of these people is Cliff's actor dressed in very youthful gay clothes its brilliant

Steph describes Jonathan and Gethin as 'being together since the middle ages' and says Jonathan was in 'Colditz' (not mentioning the acting bit). Joe fully believes her and responds 'he doesn't seem old enough'

Somewhere around here, they introduce the bookshop and Reggie complains that he doesn't think 'gay's the word' is a good name and he doesn't get the reference. Jonathan says 'I'm sorry to do this Mike,' and interrupts the show, stepping through the 4th wall and starting a rant about this is what's wrong with young gays nowadays

Anyway they agree to help in a scene much like the film's, Mark sparks a song about solidarity to convince everyone ('solidarityyyy, its solidarityyyy, he [something, works? Hurts?] the same as meee')

Split scene where everybody is collecting money outside the shop while Mike and Mark try calling mine unions

There are also several allusions to Jonathan's health through act one and its slightly heart wrenching

'He's supposed to be taking it easy!' 'I'm literally shaking a bucket'

They finally get through to Onllwyn and Gwen's shuffle across the stage was drawn out for the perfect amount of time to raucous laughter

Side note #2: this audience man, I'm pretty sure everyone there was either gay or Welsh and you could feel it in the room, they were so responsive, so so into it, it gave such a warm, community feel to the show and I'm sure the actors fed on it

Again, my memory is not the best but somewhere around here we get a little intro song to Onllwyn, they sing about life and death in the valley how a man's resolve is as strong as stone. Hefina proudly sings about how she looks after her community, citing how she made sure a family got food, and how another time she punched a lady's unfaithful husband in an asda car park

They skip Dai coming down to London and the bus ride to Dulais takes place on a bunch of chairs with Jonathan holding a steering wheel, gcse drama at its finest but it works

The other lesbians are broadly cut from the show but dw we still get Steph belting 'every woman is a lesbian' and some of the audience were joining in

During Mark's speech to the miners his 1/5 people are gay bit is tacked on the end by Jonathan, who is quickly told to shut up. Before hand he had reassured Mark he would step in if he choked

Maureen's actress has an uncanny likeness to her film counterpart, I swear her voice is identical

We have the miners and the gays on separate sides of the hall, and Reggie starts to suggest maybe they should 'tone it down a bit'

Jonathan's speech that follows is slightly epic, he starts to describe all sorts of outlandish things he would do 'put a baby grand piano in the bookshop... sing my life story' and shouts that he would do all that but he will never Tone. It. Down. I may not remember the whole message, but I will carry the sentiment for a long time

The disco scene is, of course, its own song with 'I miss disco' being the repeated idea, Jonathan dances and eventually Reggie joins in, soon everyone is up and grooving in a mass dance dumber that references 'D.I.S.C.O' by Ottawan

Siân has a little moment and a song to herself in the night where she sings about her 'little infidelity' aka her dream to be more than a wife and a mum, its beautiful and there must have a been a friend in the audience because this one lady went crazy wooping afterwards lmao

They return home all happy and Bromley has a few more things he wishes he could say to his mum. His parents greet him and his dad calls down that 'squirting cream on things is no job for a man'

When they get back to the bookshop, Gethin is very stressed as his stock has been seized - a real event not mentioned in the film. He stalks down to the police station with Jonathan rushing after him. I'm sure there was another allusion to Jonathan's health around here but I can't quite remember

More fundraising and a bit of a time skip and I believe there's a scene of the miners at the picket, they bring out flaming barrels and paper snow rains from the ceiling

LGSM are stopped by police on their way to Onllwyn and warned against going, kudos to the two ensemble who play the police officers bc they were bouncing around playing everyone I swear

and they're back in Onllwyn, we have the bingo scene followed by Mark's rousing speech

Bread and roses is one of my favourite parts of the show and one of the bits that made me cry. Beforehand, the group is having another little tiff bc Dai just told them people are worried about the public image, there's thoughts that maybe they should back off or not be so visible. The women of Dulais seem to sing to the group, who are on the opposite side of the stage to Mark, and one by one, they cross over to hug and join him. Bread and roses becomes mixed with another song with a solidarity theme which is sung by LGSM and its so, so beautiful

Mixed into it is a scene of Maureen calling the press. What a bitch, right?

Side note #3: everyone in this show is so damn tactile, there is always one person hanging off another or holding hands its v cute

END OF ACT 1

Act 2 begins with Jonathan coming out on stage in a dressing gown, a headwrap and slippers and holding a water bottle. he starts to apologise - at this point I really thought something had gone wrong and they were cancelling the show

Nope he's in character and apologising about how he acted towards Reggie, he starts to tell the story of his HIV diagnosis and how he was given the number L-1 (London 1) and an unknown amount of time to live (all true)

Makes a couple of jokes about it

'How long do I have? - Don't buy green bananas' (laughter) 'thank you I'm here all week... Or am I?'

Tells about how he nearly slit his wrists but he was a good Jewish boy who couldn't stand a mess (this got more laughter than I expected tbh)

Then jokes about singing his life story

'No I couldn't' (does it anyway)

What follows is a vaudeville style number of Jonathan describing how he nearly killed himself but then decided he might as well live. The other LGSM members are in sequined leotards with feather fans and Jonathan strips his dressing gown to reveal a sparkly costume, blonde bob wig and tap shoes

Ofc there's a tap number. I didn't know Samuel Barnett could dance lol

Mike comes out at the end of the song with his clip board looking very confused and concerned and promptly shuts it all down, directing our attention back to the picket line, where the miners have discovered the 'perverts support the pits' paper. There is a song where they talk about how they've been called 'the enemy within' which I enjoyed greatly

After a short scene we cut back to the bookshop where they get the message in a more violent way - cue pyro, there is literally a firecracker on stage. Everyone just screams until Steph puts it out with a fire extiguisher and says 'why are lesbians the only ones who know how to do shit'

The 'you take it and own it' speech is approved by Gethin, not Jonathan

Mark gets the pits and perverts idea and everyone is mostly just mad at him for not helping clean

'What do gays do best?' 'Bitch'

Song and montage of everything getting ready for pits and perverts, Mark and Mike go to the record label

'Elton John is happily married, to a woman!! And I hardly think George Michael is gay - he's greek!'

The Dulais ladies arrive and have a moment with Gethin - Gwen says a long sentence to him in Welsh that I really wish I could understand

Gethin and Mike pass out posters for the concert, Gethin is getting very into it and ends up just chucking them into the audience, Mike is somewhat more controlled

The song ends with the cast throwing T-shirts into the audience and the band come on stage for a minute, I'm thinking it may have been the actual show band who have been on a platform above the stage until now but this is unconfirmed

Joe snogs a guy to much applause and wold whistles

Mark dubs Mike 'the keeper of the flame' and tells him its his job to carry the story and the message of the group

The Dulais ladies get their night out and a song to go with it - for some reason it sticks in my head more than the other songs

'We're on a mission ladies, a bloody good night out!'

There is confusion about the proper term for rimming and Gwen learns she is into rubber

Mark bumps into his ex and the story-tellers come forward once more - Mike tries to rush past it but the others, especially Steph insist on a few minutes 'for them'

What follows is a tribute to the AIDS crisis, an explanation of how it developed, how people were treated, the blood sisters get a mention, and everybody holds candles in a vigil while Steph leads a song - 'a light perpetual'

During the song the ensemble come on stage and they are occasionally interrupted by a nurse calling out names. One by one, the ensemble blow their candles out and move off stage

Mark arrives and sits on a chair on stage but leaves before his name is called, when it is called and he's not there, the nurse swiftly moves on to the next person, who blows out his candle and leaves the stage

Again, Mark moves in his own space here, he is a part of the story, but not a part of telling it

So many people were crying during this scene, it hit very deeply

We move on to the bus returning to Onllwyn to see the failed meeting, we get a brief scene of Cliff and Martin trying to defend LGSM but shouts and heckles seem to overwhelm the situation

Everybody gets a bit heated after that, and Mike and Mark get into a shouting match - Mike referencing that he was supposed to keep the flame. Mark responds by shoving Mike so hard he literally slides scross the stage, everyone scrambles to keep them apart before Mark stalks off

This is followed by a song where Dai, Siân, Cliff, and eventually Mark (I think) sing about what they would tell their younger selves, Dai would tell himself to calm down, Siân wants to save some life for herself, Cliff would tell himself not to be afraid.

Hefina drives the LGSM donated bus (again, couple of boxes and a steering wheel) and says her iconic lez off line

The story-tellers come together once more to explain how this story doesn't have a happy ending, the strike failed and the miners went back to work

Bromley, who's been absent for a little bit comes on stage and explains where he's been, he has a song recreating how he was found out and came out to his family ('I'm into blokes, mum, I'm into guys) the whole thing is slightly silly and unserious and the story-tellers listen joyfully and sing along in the background. Eventually, the song transforms into a vessel for telling Gethin's story and he joins in singing, he has a quick aside where he meets his mum again and they share a tearful hug before the climax of the song. Joe has found a leather jacket very similar to Mark's and he puts it on, a symbol of him finding his place amoungst them

We timeskip after that, to the pride immediately after the strike, Mark comes down through the audience with his megaphone and is forgiven and Joe gives everyone some sass

'For the record, my name is Joe' 'yes it's very important you're always called by your proper name, Bromley'

Everyone is, of course, joined by the miners and 'where are my lesbians' is of course featured

As they all march, Mike - 'keeper of the flame' - with his clipboard explains what happens next, he's joined by everyone at the front of the stage one by one, we learn what happened to them

Dai tells Siân that she now has a degree

'Fuck off'

And that she became an MP

'Bugger me!'

They tell of how the miner's union helped bring gay rights onto the manifesto, and debate how they will be remembered. Siân says she bets the people of Dulais will remember, and someone in the audience (presumably from Dulais) whooped really loud followed applause.

Mike tells everyone how 30 years later, they are asked to be in the pride march again

Jonathan remarks that 30 years is a long time in the future and curls into Gethin with the most heartwrenching relief when Mike confirms he's still alive (true)

Reggie asks if he's still the pin-up of Dulais valley - 'no you're 56' 'fuck!'

And Mark, breaking the 4th wall for the 1st time states 'I'm not there, am I?'

Mike confirms that he's not there and Mark immediately asks when he dies. Nobody wants to say, but eventually the date is given

'Is that it? How old?'

When Mike eventually says 26, Mark stammers in disbelief for a little while, Dai explains how his funeral was well attended and that they laid a red flag over his coffin. Mark then retreats back into the story, saying 'come on we've got a march to do' and carries on with the show as if nothing has happened.

The show ends with a song about, of course, pride with nobody saying the actual word until right at the end, when everyone sings 'is there a better word?'

Mark has a solo then eventually sings 'pride' and everybody echos.

And the show ends with Mark (real Mark)'s picture on a banner and everyone (pretty sure cast included) in tears. An absolute masterpiece and the most soulful, honest, expressive show I think I've ever seen.

[gaylilsherlock]

they’re the same btw. if you even care

[kijimha]

just because you havent seen me post about The Character in a while doesn't mean i'm any less insane about them in private