Have You Ever Thought About The Fact That Skulls All Look Like They’re Smiling?

Reblogging because it’s just as true today as it was before. 

you know it’s really hard to obsess about just one fandom. just really freaking hard, it’s like you look at people who can be into Harry Potter for ten years of their life and I’m just over here thinking HOW DO YOU STAY IN ONE FANDOM FOR 10 FREAKING YEARS I DON’T HAVE THAT KIND OF TIME

My favorite ladies: Fandom edition

1) Mara Jade Skywalker. I will admit it: I LOVE Star Wars, and I’ve loved it since I was four. As an eleven year old I got into the Expanded Universe, and I immediately loved Mara. She’s brave, intelligent, independent, she kicks ass like no other, and she’s more than just a pretty face. Raised as a child by Emperor Palpatine to be one of his Hands (top assassins), she was entirely obedient to him to the point of trying to kill Luke Skywalker when he commanded her to; until, of course, she started to realize that Palpatine was nothing but a manipulative bastard, and then she ended up marrying said Skywalker later on down the road. (Luke and Mara are absolutely amazing together, and they’ve been one of my OTPs for over a decade now.)

2) Martha Jones. Seriously, though, I think the question to ask is what is there not to love about Doctor Martha Jones? She’s treated less-than-stellar by the Tenth Doctor, yes, but she adapts to this crazy life of time-travel so well (too well maybe), not to mention that she helps him out of the fire several times throughout her run. Have people really already forgotten the fact that Martha is the Woman Who Walked the Earth, stayed alive an entire year avoiding the Master’s efforts to capture her, and was the entire reason why the Doctor’s plan to end the Year That Never Was worked? (Also, she’s the only modern-day companion to have voluntarily left the Doctor, which I admire A LOT.)

3) Mary Watson. I seem to have a thing for the lesser-liked ladies in fandoms. Granted, I’m not normally a Johnlock shipper by any means, so I never had to feel like my favorite pairing was being threatened; but Mary was so much more than what she appeared on the surface. She’s multifaceted, she’s secretive, and I wouldn’t even necessarily label her as a Good Person-- but she is Good where it counts, she’s genuinely kind and caring to others, she tries her best to protect John and Rosie, and she and Sherlock have this amazing understanding of each other which I find absolutely brilliant.

4) Peggy Carter. Her name alone conveys how much of a BAMF Peggy is. ‘Nuff said.

(Seriously, though, I’ll have to do a full-depth analysis on Peggy at a later date, because usually all I can do when I think of her is incoherently flail, and I’ll need more than a paragraph to explain why I love her so much.)

5) Ellie Miller. I had a hard time deciding who I was going to put down on this list, Ellie or Beth Latimer. I decided on Ellie because I’ve made it no secret Beth is my absolute favorite character in Broadchurch, and I’ve talked about her a lot on previous posts. So here’s Ellie, the Detective Sergeant of Broadchurch who is the one who helped close three major cases, loves her sons more than chocolate, builds her life back up after it comes to pieces around her, and gives some truly amazing tellings-off when she needs to. And she threatens to piss in a cup and throw it at Hardy when he’s being particularly difficult, and if that isn’t legendary I don’t know what is. She’s all-around brilliant, and honestly one of the main reasons why the tv show works as well as it does.

These are just a few of my favorites, but this list is already a bit long, so part 2 is going to have to come later.

Being an adult means first reading Sam's "Well, I'm back." quote at the end of LOTR as a ten year old and thinking it's a weird stupid ending, and then reading it again as a 24 year old and crying because it's the most beautiful perfect ending ever written in the history of literature.

‘Rosa’ is by far my favorite episode of the new season of Doctor Who, and I want to thank Chris Chibnall and Malorie Blackman for writing it like they did. History wasn’t all glamorous or beautiful- it was harsh and unforgiving, and this episode didn’t shy away from that. They couldn’t help Rosa on that bus even though they wanted to because she needed to be arrested. She had to inspire Martin Luther King to announce the boycotting of the Montgomery Buses, because it was her not giving up her seat that started the Civil Rights Movement in the US.

That is history written right. It made me so angry watching the blatant racism on screen but that was the way it was back then. And it just made me want to cry with relief when Rosa didn’t move from her seat, because that was one step closer to equality for everyone.

“As long as you are proud, you cannot know God. A proud man is always looking down on things and people; and, of course, as long as you are looking down, you cannot see anything that is above you.”

— C. S. Lewis

This has been knocking around in my head for a few months now, and it hasn't left me alone yet, so you know what? Imma share it.

You know who would be an excellent Minerva McGonagall if they ever remade the Harry Potter films?

Suranne Jones. That's who.

What’s the best time of day to write?

I’m a night-writer myself. What about you?

I loved Jodie's send-off as the Doctor. The writing has definitely been rocky the past three seasons but as dear old Nine put it, she was absolutely fantastic.

Thank you, Jodie, for bringing us such a beautiful, fun, and brilliant Doctor.

Rereading SW legends!verse for the first time in fifteen years, and having just finished with LotF: Inferno I HAVE THOUGHTS (specifically about Luke):

His and Jacen’s duel at the end of the book is freaking epic and it makes me so mad to know we’ll never have that realized on screen or in comic book. They’re both supremely talented in lightsaber dueling so it was interesting to see uncle and nephew going head to head-- I would have loved to have seen who would have won if not for Ben’s stabbing Jacen in the back.

(Maybe not really loved, because of the implications if Luke had been the one to win, which brings me to my next round of holy s***.)

Luke’s toeing the line this novel. Losing Mara, killing Lumyia, his grief, it’s all festering and you just get the feeling the entirety of the book that he’s not really in the best headspace. (Really, though, who would be?) I’m thinking specifically of his confrontation with Jacen/Caedus, when the former threatens the younglings:

“I'm sure you’re not threatening the younglings.” {Luke} pointed at the base of Jacen’s meditation chair and made a tapping motion with his finger. the pedestal gave a loud whumph, and the seat dropped a quarter meter. 

“Because you really don’t want to see me angry.” Luke made the tapping motion again. The pedestal emitted a metallic shriek, and the seat dropped another quarter meter. “And I think you’re smart enough to know that.”

Luke tapped a last time, and the pedestal collapsed with a loud crump, depositing Caedus on the floor with his feet sticking out in front of him like a child.

“But if you want to try me, go ahead and make that threat.”

Luke’s actions here reminds me a little of my paternal grandfather, who has never once my twenty eight years of life raised his voice in a shout. My parents have been married for forty years and my mother has never seen him angry. My dad can count on one hand the times he’s ever seen my grandpa angry or shouting. Apparently, when my grandpa gets angry it’s terrifying-- precisely because he so rarely gets to that point.

At this point in Luke’s EU arch, he’s still performing awesome feats with the Force, still proving that he’s the son of the Chosen One. But this moment with Jacen/Caedus hits harder, because he’s using the Force so casually. Such casual use of the Force on Luke’s part has been something he’s eased up on in the last few series of the EU, and to find him using it now so blatantly is terrifying in its implications.

Which leads us to his discovering Caedus torturing Ben in the Embrace of Pain:

...He started to accept that the horrible scene was real. He was, in fact, standing in the doorway of a secret cabin filled with Yuuzhan Vong torture devices, watching his twisted nephew taunt his captive son.

Luke didn’t give Jacen a chance to surrender. He just sprang.

Definitely not the Luke we’re used to in this moment, and it gets even worse as the fight continues, as he’s injured and draws on the pain to give himself strength; he lands some serious blows on Jacen and relishes in the pain he inflicts. Dark Side traits, anyone? He snaps out of it when Ben asks to be the one to kill Jacen, but it’s a near thing, and it’s an interesting plot point that’s only compounded in LotF: Invincible, when Luke looks at possible futures and sees that if he’s the one who kills Jacen the galaxy is plunged into a darkness worse than even Palpatine’s Empire. 

More thoughts to come, but this post is long enough already. Feel free to debate or share your own thoughts if you want!

Wish Jodie the absolute best as the Thirteenth Doctor! You’ve shown us what you can do as Beth Latimer in Broadchurch with Chris Chibnall as the writer-- give us more of your brilliance now!