#meta adjacent

but regardless of any real or perceived banality of the reference i'm still sitting here on a tuesday evening thinking about dean and jack and how much jack models himself on dean, and dean's deep, crushing guilt over that, and the song's final lamentation that he'd grown up just like me, my boy was just like me, and--

it's a lot, man. it's just a lot.

Especially because it seems to flow naturally from them both, and Tohru just goes with the current and I swear there are moments when I see Shirayuki doubling down on this impulse.

Tohru is sweet and wise but written as Not Smart; whereas Shirayuki is written as sweet, wise, smart and impulsive. And it’s fun to watch the intelligence shining out of Shirayuki when she mindfully decides that she is going to Start From Scratch with this person. I’m always waiting for the moment when Shirayuki decides to not turn over a new leaf with someone. What would it take? What could push her to ignoring her impulse of kindness?

And Tohru I don’t think could. I think the pull toward being a comfort to even people who are actively a danger to her (looking at you, Akito with the knife) is too strong. Tohru is able to look into people and see their pain and their struggles and empathizes full with them. And she’s unable to look away. So a lot of the tension for her story is whether or not her unconditional love and acceptance will break through whatever that person is struggling with.

And it’s a cool space to play with - these two girls (I call them girls because they start off as literal teenagers) who are so kind and caring, who demonstrate that kindness and love so wholly they change their worlds. And yet are such different people at the end of the day.

So I eagerly got my hands on @jocarthage's pro-fic Nuclear Sunrise and zoomed through reading it (need to read it again! and I do recommend checking it out if you're able). It's set at the end of 1951 and involves a project where they are developing plutonium. And a whole bunch of other intriguing stuff is going on *no spoilers!* but like the hot springs tubs? so neat! Once I re-read, I'll try to do a proper spoilery gush :)

And then I started watching Fellow Travelers. And I was so happy for the historical context that Nuclear Sunrise provided into the blue envelopes people were getting when they were under suspicion and investigation on Fellow Travelers. I found it to be kismet that one sort of led into the other, 'forgotten' queer history-wise. (and Matt Bomer and Jonathan Bailey were perfection)

And then I started the Cat Sebastian audiobook We Could Be So Good. This is set at end of the 50's/early 60's, so the previous book and show provided context as the situation was really not any better. And then in the book they bring up the historic 1963 March on Washington - at least I think that was what was being referred to - like I said, audiobook. One of the characters attends as a reporter and comes back and mentions Rustin and his queerness being an open secret. So then, of course, I had to go and watch Rustin on Netflix last night to gain all of that context.

Isn't it so neat how all these different avenues of media end up being connected?

It also just all makes me want to rewatch Project Blue Book (set in '52/'53), to tie it all back to UFOs. (PS, has anyone written a Malex project bluebook AU?)

Louie, "Country Drive" (aired July 21, 2011) featured the whole song 'Who Are You' by The Who:

So we went to MCA or whoever has it and they said, "Well, we have the master rights and Pete Townshend's publishing company has the publishing, and it's a favored-nations deal." In other words, whatever we negotiated with them, we would then also have to pay Pete and the publishing. So their first offer was, I think, $150,000. [Laughs.] Because it was the whole song! So we'd have to pay $300,000 total. That's a whole episode for us. That's the whole budget for the entire episode. But we didn't give up. That's the way it worked. And either the company or someone else told Blair, "The other way to work it is to go to Pete Townshend first." Because it's the same in the other direction: Whatever deal he makes, they have to honor his deal, too. They have to take whatever offer he gives. They have to match it. But try to go get Pete Townshend on the phone. That's even harder. So it just took a lot of fuckin' time. And occasionally, we’d be on the set shooting "Blueberries" or "Moving" or whatever it is, and I say to Blair, "How's it going with The Who?" and she’d either say, "Dead" or, "I just talked to a guy today" or, "A guy I talked to today is looking into something." And it went on and on. And finally, she said, "Well, Pete Townshend wants to know exactly how it"s being used, and he wants to see the show. He wants to see some episodes." So I wrote him a synopsis of how it would be. I described it very carefully, and we sent him the DVD of five episodes from last season. And then, I don't know, three or four months later, it felt like, he came back to us and said, "Can you send me 7,500 bucks?" [Laughs.] Yeah! And so the whole thing cost $15,000, which is fucking nothing!

—Jensen Ackles on portraying Dean Winchester, Cheat Sheet