But like, what if instead of that, we start off with the 5000 people in suspended animation and one wakes up 90 years before the rest like in the original premise. And they guy does enjoy the ship for awhile before the whole “I’m going to die alone in a metal box in space” thing comes up. And he’s alone and the robo bartender is can only provide so much company, regardless of how well they make a space mojito.
And he finds himself back in the room where all the people are in suspended animation. But he doesn’t see a beautiful woman. Or rather, he doesn’t just see a beautiful woman, he sees many people. A child holding a favorite toy. A man with a prosthetic leg. A pair of twins. So many people. And he watches the video profiles of all the other 4999 passengers and tries to find out as much information about ALL of them as possible. Because he has 4999 people for his neighbors and right now he just wants to feel like he’s not alone.
He starts talking to them, knowing they’ll never answer him, but it helps a little bit. He knows all of them by name and he cares about all of them very much. Because that’s as close to human contact that he’s ever going to get, because gods forbid him waking any of the 4999 other passengers up and damning them to a live in a metal box in space that’d be fucking cruel.
And then something happens and the ship’s in danger and it can’t be fixed without a human. He tells the robo bartender that if he doesn’t come back, to tell the others that he’s sorry. And he goes to fix it and succeeds and saves everyone, but he ends up being unable to get back inside the ship. But he can still access the intercom and says good bye to everyone he knows before he runs out of air.
And then when everyone wakes up and there’s a headcount, they’re confused as to why they’re one short. And they find out via security recordings and the robo bartender about the man who woke up early. The man who considered everyone of them a friend even though they had never met. The man who sacrificed himself without hesitation to save all of them. And all 4999 passengers are really touched by this and even after the colony is established and it prospers and becomes a fully civilized planet, the man who loved and saved them all is never forgotten.
And I came up with that about 10 seconds after reading the article, checkmate screenwriters.
See I would go see this movie in a HEARTBEAT. This actually sounds like a good film on its own, and tbh I feel cheated that instead of this, we got gross male entitlement and overall lack of consent. I’m just going to pretend that this is the real movie, because there’s no way I’m going to Passengers and it’s a shame because I was actually looking forward to it.
I have these Native American reenactments in the summer, okay. We dress in authentic Native garb and go teach about our culture and whatnot at historical events. There’s this one on a weekend that housed all reenactors from Ancient Greece to World War II–you can walk through a timeline of living history. It’s cool.
So there are these guys in a tent on the far hill called the Scottish Highlanders. They bring about two to five people to their thing per year. They do all the good medieval Scottish jazz. Kilts, weapons, challenging you to fights.
But theres this one guy that is there every time. I always go visit to hear him give in depth talks about Scottish Reavers and their malitia and weaponry and stuff. He’s fun, so I go talk to him and he’s asking about what school I’m going to, what I want to do, etc.
So I tell him I want to be a history teacher and I like to write. He asks me if I have anything published, and I say no, thinking he means an actual book. But he waves me off and asks, “No, online. Have you ever heard of Fanfiction.net?”
Let me explain a thing. This guy. Is well over six feet. His biceps are bigger than my head, he’s about 45 years old, he has the thickest Scottish accent you’ve ever witnessed, he can wave two axes around like nobody’s business, he usually resolves friendly arguments with full on battle in armor with real weaponry with the scars to prove it, and he kind of has a biker gang.
And this guy starts telling me about the 700 page Doctor Who fanfiction that he’s been writing for six years and still running.
Shamelessly continues to explain how he gets together with his badass biker buddies and they ride to his house with bottles of Jack Daniels and talk about the next fanfiction that they’re going to write together. (More Doctor Who, Xena Warrior Princess, Agents of Shield, Lord of the Rings…) They dare each other to write crossovers for interesting character interaction. This guy raves with excitement over character development and analysis.
I cried.
By the way
Here he is. Mike. In his Scottish glory.
Here he is with his buddy, Bear.
Here he is with his buddy Bear and me.
And here he is holding an ax to my throat.
I LOVE THIS. The perils of a site like Tumblr which is dominated by people under 30 (not on my dash, though, but that’s what demographics insist is true) is they genuinely don’t think anyone older has any interests in common with them. I feel like Livejournal was more varied in this regard, though again, my flist on LJ had all ages on it, so maybe it was just me. The only over 40s they know are the adults in positions of authority like parents and teachers, and surely Mom and Mr. W the Chem teacher have never heard of fan fiction or have the least interest in anything on the interwebs. A kid at work (I work at a university) who I jokingly called a meme lord once told me I needed to stop learning such things from my kid – who is 11 and basically uses the internet to watch Minecraft videos on YouTube, but of course she must be the one teaching me all these modernfangled intertoob things!
I admit though that I have fallen into the stereotype that fandom is all women, because that’s been my experience by far; I think the number of male-identified people I’ve come across in my various fandoms wouldn’t pass the single digits. But that’s probably due to the nature of my reading and the way I curate my dash. Where’s a big ol’ 40 something biker dude who writes Stucky?? Point him out to me and I’ll add him to my dash!
Mike the Doctor Who Scottish badass fills me with hope and love. ❤
okay but what’s his username I want to read a 700 page Doctor Who fan fiction
A few years ago, I came out to my mom the morning after my senior prom. She was surprised, then quiet, then asked what my real orientation was. I said, “I have no idea, but I like this one girl.” She was a little confused, but she kissed me and said, “As long as she makes you happy.” For the next few weeks, she asked a lot of questions: when did I realize? What was my new girlfriend’s orientation? What was the word for this or that? I WAS happy, right?
Fast forward about two years. My mom sits me down and tells me that she needs my help with her next book. She’s been writing middle-grade girls’ books (like, 9-14 range) since I was eight, and she says she has an idea that she really, really wants to get right. It follows the plot of Romeo and Juliet, she says, and the main character is a twelve-year-old girl realizing she has a crush on another girl when they put on the play for English class.
Fast forward another year to now. STAR-CROSSED is about to come out, and it is absolutely amazing.
My mom has poured her heart and soul into making sure this is a positive thing for kids to read.
I’ve been reading and editing and helping with this book since its first draft and I’ve been, metaphorically and sometimes literally bouncing up and down on my heels, waiting to be able to tell people about it. It’s beyond sweet, and there’s a ton of Shakespeare and humor and goofy preteen drama and twelve-year-old girls flirting and Star Wars jokes and a glossary of Shakespearean insults in the back (yes, really), and it’s just so fun and positive and smart and I want to show it to every kid I know.
This book is for LGBT kids, written by a mom who has asked questions and done her research and tried as hard as she possibly could to make her own queer kid feel safe and loved and valid, and it REALLY shows. Mattie (the cutie on the left) and Gemma (the cutie on the right) are given space to learn about themselves, and ultimately they don’t have to figure themselves out right away or come out to everyone at once or choose a label. They’re kids. It’s okay to still be figuring things out. It’s okay.
Fun facts:
My mom said from the beginning she wanted both girls on the cover to make it clear what the book was about; then when they got the final artwork and Mattie’s hair was short, my mom wrote back and asked the artist to do the hair over to make it as obvious as possible that Mattie is a girl.
When a few people started buzzing about Mattie being the youngest bisexual protagonist they’ve seen, she went back and changed passages to confirm that Mattie likes boys and girls.
When I asked for a happier and less ambiguous ending scene, she set Mattie and Gemma up on a frigging date.
It comes out on March 14, 2017. Please join me in GETTING HYPE FOR STAR-CROSSED ❤
SO EXCITED FOR THIS YOU HAVE NO IDEA
The is only ONE other middle grade (ages 8-12) fiction book I know of with a bisexual protagonist and that is Trials of Apollo by Rick Riordan. The field of bi characters in childrens lit will DOUBLE with this book.
Anish Kapoor has long been known for his large-scale, intensely colored artworks, but his penchant for being proprietary has long irked others in the art world.
Earlier this year, Kapoor sparked outrage from artists all over the world with the announcement that he had made a deal to become the only person in the world allowed to use the blackest pigment of black paint ever developed. Known as Vantablack, the unique carbon nanotube-based pigment is produced solely by a British company called NanoSystem, and was originally developed for military technologies. However, Kapoor made an agreement with the company that he is the only person allowed to use it for artistic purposes.
Needless to say, that made plenty of other artists furious.
“When I first heard that Anish had the exclusive rights to the blackest black I was really disappointed,” artist Stuart Semple tells Kevin Holmes for The Creators Project. “I was desperate to have a play with it in my own work and I knew lots of other artists who wanted to use it too. It just seemed really mean-spirited and against the spirit of generosity that most artists who make and share their work are driven by.”
Like Kapoor, Semple’s work often uses vivid shades of color, and for years he had worked with scientists to develop increasingly intense pigments to use in his artwork. So as a response to Kapoor’s exclusive deal with Vantablack, Semple decided to release his own special pigment, known simply as “Pink,” the Irish Examiner reports.
While “Pink” isn’t based on nanotechnology, like Vantablack, Semple says it is the pinkest pink pigment ever created. Now, in an effort to thumb his nose at Kapoor, Semple is making it for sale to everyone in the world—except Kapoor, Tom Power reports for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s Q.
i am living have you ever been this petty
😂😂😂
i am sobbing
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To the best of your knowledge, information and belief this paint will not make it’s way into that hands of Anish Kapoor.
I want to do those ghost sleepover event things at a haunted location, but I can pretty much guarantee you that all that sort of paranormal tourism is kept afloat by the hosts setting up hoax sounds and lights and effects.
Still would be fun tho… in a sort of “this is probably a trick, so lets figure out how it works” kind of way. Uncover the secrets, break the illusion, etc. lol
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