undertalevariations
163 posts
Latest Posts by undertalevariations
🌸 From One Mother’s Heart – Please Read 🌸
My name is Saja. I’m a wife, a mother, and a woman who once believed her story would be simple. I thought my days would be filled with watching my daughter grow — from her first smile to her first steps — surrounded by the small joys of everyday life.
But life had other plans.
War has returned to our home. Again. And once again, we find ourselves living under skies that never seem to rest.
There was a moment — a fragile, breathless moment — when the bombs paused and the world seemed to remember us. It gave us hope. We thought maybe, just maybe, we could start to rebuild. But now, we are back in the dark — hiding, holding on, praying.
I’m writing this not as someone seeking pity, but as a mother who has no other choice but to speak.
Imagine holding your baby in the middle of the night, not because she cried, but because the world outside roared too loud for either of you to sleep. Imagine whispering bedtime stories not to lull her into dreams, but to keep the fear from settling into her tiny bones.
This is my life.
This is my daughter’s life.
And even now — especially now — I believe in softness. I believe in kindness. Because when everything else is taken from you, hope becomes the most valuable thing you have.
Why I’m Reaching Out Our home has been damaged. Our lives changed. But through it all, my daughter wakes up every morning with a smile. She reaches for me with trust, with love, with faith that I will keep her safe.
That’s why I keep going.
I’ve launched a campaign to ask for help — not because it’s easy, but because silence is no longer an option. I am asking for support not just for me, but for my baby, and for the quiet strength of so many mothers like me who are fighting, every single day, to hold their families together.
How You Can Help: 🤍 Help us restore parts of our home so we can live with dignity 🤍 Support women and mothers in Gaza with access to care and resources 🤍 Keep the light of hope alive for a generation born in the shadows of war
💛 If you can, please support our journey here:
If you can’t give, please consider sharing. Your voice might be the reason someone else hears ours.
From My Heart to Yours Maybe our lives are worlds apart. Maybe you’ve never lived through war. But if you’ve ever held a child and wished the world could be better for them — then you understand more than you know.
I don’t want my daughter to grow up thinking the world turned away.
Please, if you’ve read this far — thank you. Thank you for seeing us. Thank you for caring. We are still here. Still hoping. Still holding on to every kind act like it’s a lifeline.
With love and endless gratitude
Part 4 Day 1
Wow 🤍
Everyone here on Tumblr you know that the war in Gaza is over but for me the war is not over because when you see yourself living in a tent that does not protect you from the rain and cold or you see yourself unable to provide food for yourself and your family and you see your memories become a dream and you cannot do anything and you are confused this is the real war your donation makes a difference in my life
🚨 We Need Your Kindness to Survive 🚨
Hello, My name is Mosab, and I live in Gaza with my family. Life here has become harder than I ever imagined, and I’m writing this with hope in my heart that you might hear our story.
The ongoing war has devastated my family. We’ve lost 25 family members—each one a beloved part of our lives, taken too soon. I miss them deeply—their laughter, their presence, their love. Every day is a reminder of this unimaginable loss.
We are now facing daily challenges to survive—things that most people take for granted, like food, clean water, and a safe place to sleep. The harsh realities of life here have replaced our dreams with the constant fight for survival.
Our Current Situation:
💔 Lost Stability: The war has left us without work or a stable source of income.
📚 Dreams on Hold: Like so many here, my family’s dreams have been replaced by the need to simply survive.
😢 Unimaginable Loss: Losing 25 loved ones has left a void that can never be filled.
How You Can Help:
I’m sharing our story with the hope that someone out there might care. Even $10 can make a big difference for us, and if you’re unable to donate, just reblogging this post can help spread the word.
Your kindness, no matter how small, is something we’ll never forget.
What This Means to Us:
Your support is not about changing our entire situation—it’s about giving us a little relief, a little hope, and a way to keep going. We are not asking for much, and we understand if you can’t donate. Sharing our story is just as valuable to us as a donation.
Thank you for reading this far. It means the world to us to know that someone is listening. Your kindness gives us strength and helps us believe in a better tomorrow.
With all our gratitude,
Mosab and Family ❤️
🌟 A Cry for Help: My Family’s Struggle to Survive in Gaza 🌟
Hello, my name is Areej Kassab. I’m a 27-year-old English teacher and writer from Gaza, and I’m reaching out to you with a heavy heart and a desperate plea for support. My family and I are enduring unimaginable hardships as relentless bombings devastate our home and our dreams.
We are a family of 15—10 adults and 5 children. Every day is a battle for survival. Food is scarce, humanitarian aid is not reaching us, and my little nieces and nephews go to bed hungry. Among them is my sister, who is deaf, and another sister who has a newborn baby. They, too, are suffering in this crisis, and I’m doing everything I can to protect and provide for them.
💔 A Life in Ruins The war has robbed us of everything: safety, peace, and even the hope of a future here. My family’s needs are basic yet critical—food, clean water, diapers for the babies, gas for cooking, and other essentials to make it through each day.
With rising prices and limited access to necessities, we are struggling to provide even the most basic items. My sister’s home has been destroyed, and we are working together to ensure everyone has shelter, food, and warmth.
✨ My Plea for Your Support ✨ I’m a writer, and I’ve been documenting the harsh realities faced by my community under siege. But words can only do so much. We need action, and we need help. Your kindness can save us.
🙏 How You Can Help
Donate: Every contribution, no matter how small, brings us closer to securing the essentials we desperately need.
Share Our Story: If you can’t donate, please share this post to help us reach others who can.
Your support will help provide food for the children, clean water for my family, and basic supplies to help us survive this unimaginable crisis.
Thank you for reading, for caring, and for standing in solidarity with us. Together, we can create a lifeline for my family—a chance to live, to dream, and to hope again.
With love and gratitude, Areej Kassab ❤️
[2022.11.01] Prologue Official Guidebook - Warm up Routine
![[2022.11.01] Prologue Official Guidebook - Warm Up Routine](https://64.media.tumblr.com/1c237416dc6a5e5d6fe13b07cd59adf3/8c9459d6c9d3803e-33/s500x750/47ed6de027b8db7b529a4c3422bc4b5f00956c21.jpg)
Yuzuru Hanyu has showcased countless amazing performances over the years. What makes these performances possible is his daily practice. This time, we focus on his warm-up routine off the ice before he steps onto the rink. Among the various movements and exercises in his warm-up, each with its own meaning and purpose, we highlight four routines.
ROUTINE 01 - He designs his own menu and changes it gradually.
Hanyu says, "I come up with all the different movements and routines myself." "Of course, I reference concepts and theories I’ve studied or been taught. From there, I combine and remove things to make them more suited to skating and to my own needs. The routine changes depending on my condition and the points to watch out for in my jumps, so the menu itself gradually changes over the course of about two weeks. I’ve been building my own warm-up routine since I was about 14. Looking back, there were probably many things that were unnecessary, but I did it in my own way." He also decides his on-ice practice routine. "I originally wanted to do that kind of practice (like SharePractice), but I couldn't play music frequently unless I was alone, so after I came back from Toronto, I started to do this kind of practice."
ROUTINE 02 - Assessing the day's condition and focusing on rhythm and imagery.
Before and during warm-up, Hanyu checks his own videos several times. "Basically, I focus on entering the right imagery and confirming my rhythm. The feeling of timing changes depending on the day, so I try to match it to the rhythm of my body when it's at its best." During his isolation exercises where he moves his shoulders intensely while looking at himself in the mirror, he says, "I try to move to the limit of my range of motion. Also, I use this to check my body condition for the day." He also does quick, repetitive movements such as tightening his right arm in a way similar to the take-off motion for jumps, about 10 times in a row. "When I move quickly, my body tends to wobble, so I try to counter that by tightening my body, with the image of activating a switch to ensure I can jump from any position."
ROUTINE 03 - Checking the ankle position before putting on the skates.
After finishing his off-ice warm-up, he prepares for on-ice practice by putting on his skates. Just before inserting his feet into the boots, Hanyu rotates and twists his ankles. "My ankles are quite unstable, so I reposition them to make sure they're in the right place before putting the skates on." This practice began around the time of the Beijing Olympics. "I used to do this as part of my care routine, but I decided to start doing it right before I put my skates on too."
After inserting his feet into the boots, he carefully touches his foot on the top of the skates before tying the laces. "I do this to make sure they fit properly. The fit of the boots and the feet is crucial to prevent injuries."
ROUTINE 04 - Touching the ice when entering and leaving the rink.
Once everything is ready, he steps onto the ice. The first thing he does is touch the ice. "It's my greeting to the rink. I express the feeling of 'Thank you for allowing me to skate.' And it’s also a way of saying, 'Please be gentle with me, ' so I don’t get hurt. " This is how he begins his ice practice. When he finishes, he always touches the ice again before leaving the rink. This time, it's to say, "Thank you for letting me skate today without injury." Incidentally, after the free skate at the Beijing Olympics, Hanyu placed both hands firmly on the ice as he was leaving the rink. "I had the feeling that the Olympics had come to an end for me and that I wouldn't be skating on that rink again, so I wanted to say, 'Thank you for everything during the Olympics.' It was sad (a way of saying goodbye to the Olympics), but it happened."
Source: Prologue Official Guidebook, pg 32-33
Yuzuru Hanyu @ Echoes of Life 2025
Final shows in Tokyo
Photos by Hochi News
It’s affection, always / you’re gonna see it someday
To me, the craziest thing about this panel isn't the extremely charged handshake, nor the intense eye contact, but rather the perspective.
Furudate is really good at toying with perspective to convey the story's motifs and themes. Here, thanks to the perspective, it looks like the net is above Hinata and Kageyama, when in fact it isn't that tall. In fact, I know it's right between them. But with the way this panel was drawn, it looks like they're facing each other with an unobstructed view.
The imagery here is clear: it doesn't matter that they're on opposite sides of the net now, there's nothing keeping them apart anymore. They stand on even ground, on equal footing, face to face.
lonk gojo
If anyone out there can draw with a stylus on the phone
Please teach me
Oh, I love it and I hate it at the same time...
...you and I drink the poison from the same vine.
No joke this clip is making me consider Kuroshou
akaashi x bokuto ♥
insta: @windsaor
Rationing Insulin.
I have been rationing my insulin at the expense of my health because I simply do not have the funds to replace pens. As a result my blood sugar has been spiking and staying stagnant at dangerously high levels.
Venmo: EnyaSaint
CA: $Enyasaint
I do not know or want to know what possessed me to ration my medication knowing I could possibly die from it. I haven’t been in my right state of mind in a while.
Currently I am on the medication Toujeo and I am uninsured so I have to pay out of pocket. So I am utilizing GoodRx to get me the cheapest option. I would be so immensly grateful to anyone who could spare towards my medication. I am running dangerously low and I don’t want to die from DKA.
Goal: $365
Venmo: Enyasaint
CA: Enyasaint
sakusa kiyoomi
Urgent update my little brother is dying 😭
Today we took our little brother to the hospital because he suffers from an infection that affects his breathing and causes him pain. I hope that every living conscience will help us save our young son’s life and donate any amount you can.
Unfortunately, there is no treatment in the hospital for my little. Help us before it is too late.
🍉 Queer Palestinian Books for Pride Month 🏳️🌈
🍉 Want to add a bit more diversity to your TBR? Consider reading one of these queer books by Palestinian authors for Pride Month!
🏳️🌈 Fiction 🍉 The Skin and Its Girl - Sarah Cypher 🍉 You Exist Too Much - Zaina Arafat 🍉 Belladonna - Anbara Salam 🍉 A Map of Home - Randa Jarrar 🍉 Muneera and the Moon - 🍉 Guapa - Saleem Haddad 🍉 The Ordeal of Being Known - Malia Rose 🍉 The Philistine - Leila Marshy 🍉 Hazardous Spirits - Anbara Salam 🍉 From Whole Cloth - Sonia Sulaiman
🏳️🌈 Graphic Novels 🍉 Mis(h)adra - Iasmin Omar Ata 🍉 Where Black Stars Rise - Nadia Shammas & Marie Enger 🍉 Confetti Realms - Nadia Shammas 🍉 Nayra and the Djinn - Iasmin Omar Ata 🍉 My Mama's Magic - Amina Awad 🍉 Squire - Nadia Shammas & Sara Alfageeh
🏳️🌈 Non-Fiction/Memoirs 🍉 Are You This? Or Are You This? - Madian Al Jazerah 🍉 Love is an Ex-Country - Randa Jarrar 🍉 This Arab is Queer - (ed) Elias Jahshan 🍉 Decolonial Queering in Palestine - Walaa Alqaisiya 🍉 Queer Palestine and the Empire of Critique - Sa'ed Atshan 🍉 Between Banat - Mejdulene Bernard Shomali
🏳️🌈 Poetry 🍉 To All the Yellow Flowers - Raya Tuffaha 🍉 The Specimen's Apology - George Abraham & Leila Abdelrazaq 🍉 Birthright - George Abraham 🍉 The Twenty-Ninth Year - Hala Alyan 🍉 Blood Orange - Yaffa AS 🍉 Who is Owed Springtime - Rasha Abdulhadi 🍉 Shell Houses - Rasha Abdulhadi 🍉 Halal If You Hear Me - (ed) Fatimah Asghar & Safia Elhillo
🍉 None of us are free until all of us are free. 🏳️🌈
ok so hear me out
"Report: 2.5 millions Sudanese could die from starvation by September."
The RSF -a genocial militia- is mass starving Sudanese people. They are cutting off or denying food access to many through inflation of necessities and it's beyond horrific to see.
This is 5% of the population, and extends to interrelated issues. It has also been reported that roughly 80% of Sudanese people are not able to farm their lands adequately. So please continue to keep eyes on Sudan. Educate yourself, stay informed, and continue to share and donate to GFM's of Sudanese families. I post them on my page as I see them here, as well as when I come across them elsewhere. And as always, free Sudan.
Phone Wallpapers | (Request) | Yuzu & Shoma
how you can help palestine
*i regularly update this post with any new info i find so please always reblog the original post*
Donations
donations currently reaching gaza:
‼️ help buy e-sims for people in gaza
donate to get food packages to gaza - care for gaza
donate direct aid to gaza - ehab rida (longtime activist and volunteer, has been carrying out donations and humanitarian projects in gaza since 2021)
palestine children's relief fund
world food programme
aid to gaza - taawon/bank of palestine
help gaza’s children
female hygiene kits for gaza - pious project
donate to UNRWA
urgent humanitarian aid to palestinians - anera
medical aid for palestinians
urgent support for medical professionals in gaza
donate to ahmed (@/90-ghost on tumblr)
he is born, raised and based in gaza. please help him reach his goal of $50K to get his family to safety across the rafah border into egypt. as of right now… it’s $7.5K per person to evacuate gaza.
help journalist yousef escape gaza to treat his cancer
help mohamed evacuate gaza to get treatment for himself and his daughter
support palestinians: buy a keffiyeh from the last and only factory in palestine - hirbawi
secondary donations:
click to donate - arab.org
emergency relief for gaza - pious projects
palestine red crescent society
save palestine - islamic relief canada
send medical supplies to gaza - palestinian american medical association
help bring down israel's weapon trade - palaction
donate for the recovery of hisham awartani
one of the three palestinian students shot by a racist in vermont for wearing kufiyas and speaking arabic. hisham’s injuries have left him paralysed from below the chest.
Petitions
‼️ urge icj to invite gazan journalists to testify
international cultural workers to strike from german cultural institutions for their complicity in oppressing palestinians and promoting genocide - strike germany
petition to investigate war crimes committed by israeli military
demand ceasefire - amnesty international
open call for immediate ceasefire
american government call for immediate ceasefire
american government to stop funding israeli military
ceasefire and increase humanitarian assistance - oxfam au
petition to get canva to address their pro-israel stance
invoke the genocide convention to call for ceasefire in gaza - world beyond war
suspend israel from international sports - diem25
UK to expel israeli ambassador - change.org
gaza healthcare workers for nobel peace prize - change.org
teachers around the world demand ceasefire - teachers for palestine
president whitten: reinstate samia halaby retrospective NOW - action network
demand the immediate release of mansour shouman
location specific petitions
gaza call for lasting ceasefire - oxfam (UK)
end israeli occupation - parliament uk (UK)
email your MP - medical aid for palestine (UK)
protect gaza civilians - islamic relief (UK)
stop fuelling genocide - action network (USA)
@ biden: call for ceasefire now - move on (USA)
ceasefirenow.com - jewishvoiceofpeace (USA)
call congress and demand a ceasefire - uscpr (USA - they provide a script of what you should say, so don't worry about it)
note: you can call everyday. they tally the number of calls per issue. so more calls = higher chance for them to take action. p.s. you mainly go to voicemail so don’t worry about phone call anxiety. fight through it just this once please.
no forced displacement! - action network
australia call on israel to stop attacking palestinians - apan (AUS)
immediate ceasefire and increase in humanitarian aid in gaza - actionaid (AUS)
email your MPs - stand with palestine (AUS)
‼️ australian senate to investigate australian citizens in the IDF for war crimes allegations - fpm (AUS)
‼️ arms embargo on israel - cjpme (CANADA)
sign to send letter to MP for ceasefire - nccm (CANADA)
ceasefire now! - ijv (CANADA)
call on your local mayor and council to demand ceasefire - LeadNow (CANADA)
cessez-le-feu et un couloir humanitaire - le mouvement (FRANCE)
écrivez aux député-es et sénateurs-trices - association france palestine solidarité (FRANCE)
write to your député - assemblée nationale (FRANCE)
skydda civilbefolkningen i gaza! - mittskifte (SWEDEN)
singaporeans call for immediate ceasefire (SIN)
contact your elected reps and demand a ceasefire (GERMANY)
write to the EU demanding a ceasefire (EUROPE)
template of letters you can send (EU)
guide on how to contact your MPs in EU
p.s. if the template is outdated, just use it as a guide and add a few sentences here and there that reflect the current situation. i can’t find any recent templates so :/ at least this is something
multiple actions you can take to help palestine - plant een olifbloom (NETHERLANDS)
includes: links for donations, emails to MP, emails to media, links to petitions and demonstrations
den haag, maak nú werk van vrede in israël/Palestina - the right forum (NETHERLANDS)
māori call for palestine - ourActionStation (NZ)
deem israeli actions as war crimes - NZ parliament/pāremata aotearoa (NZ)
basta ao genocídio em Gaza! - awaaz (BRAZIL)
globo e grande mídia, parem de desumanizar civis palestinos - the intercept (BRAZIL)
Campaigns
‼️ justice for palestine
reach out to countries to back up south africa’s invoke genocide convention at the ICJ
‼️ international criminal court
submit evidences of israeli war crimes
friends of al-aqsa
❥ UK-specific
urge your MP to speak up for palestine
hands off al-aqsa
stop administrative detention
petition for UK to stop arming israel
❥ International
boycott puma — email them to end their partnership with israel
boycott coca-cola
islamic relief canada
urge your MP to rally for ceasefire
decolonise palestine
poster campaign to raise awareness on the war crimes being committed against palestinians
text/call campaign for people living in USA
text RESIST @ 50409 to send a letter to your representatives to pass HR3103–a bill that prohibits tax dollars from going to israel
download 5Calls app to contact members of your congress | (more info)
fax campaign for people in the USA
go on this website to send 5 free faxes per day
here’s a link to a pre-written fax copy you can download to send (the first link on the linktree)
here’s a video that explains how to fax your senator (it’s very easy and all you need is a valid email address)
‼️ BDS movement
get involved in boycotting companies associated with israel
palestine diaspora network
global strike guide - join the global strike!
please let me know if you have any more links. i will add them in. and please reblog the original post!!
UPCOMING PROTESTS
PALESTINIAN LITERATURE READING LIST
PALESTINIAN BUSINESSES
Just because we aren't seeing more posts about Palestine, doesn't mean the genocide has stopped. Let's keep Praying and speaking up for Gaza, Palestine.
SFX Magazine Issue 372 - Designing Good Omens ❤ 😊
PRODUCTION DESIGNER MICHAEL RALPH REVEALS HOW THE SHOW’S CENTREPIECE SET, WHICKBER STREET, WAS GIVEN A DEVILISHLY CLEVER UPGRADE FOR THE SECOND SEASON
WORDS: DAVE GOLDER
Invisible Columns And Thin Walls “The new studio is Pyramid Studios in Bathgate – it used to be a furniture warehouse. And unfortunately – or fortunately, because I accept these things as not challenges but gifts – right down the middle of that studio are a series of upright columns. But you’ll never spot them on screen. I had to build them in and integrate them into the walls and still get the streets between them. And it worked.
“There’s all sorts of cheeky design values to those sets. Normally a set like this is double-skin. In other words, you do an interior wall and an exterior wall, with an airspace in between. But really, the only time a viewer notices that there’s that width is at the doors and the windows. So I cheated all that. I ended up with single walls everywhere. So the exterior wall is the interior wall, just painted. All I did was make the sash windows and entrances wider to give it some depth as you walked in.”
GOOD OMENS HAD A CHANGE of location for its second season, but hopefully you didn’t notice. Because Whickber Street in Soho upped sticks from an airfield in Hertfordshire to a furniture warehouse in Bathgate, Edinburgh. It’s the kind of nonsensical geographical shenanigans that could only make sense in the crazy world of film and TV, and production designer Michael Ralph was the man in charge of rebuilding and expanding the show’s vast central set. “I wish we could have built more in season one than we did,” says Ralph, whose previous work has included Primeval and Dickensian. “We built the ground floor of everything and the facades of all the shops. But we didn’t build anything higher than that, because we were out on an airfield in a very, very difficult terrain and weather conditions, so we really couldn’t go much higher. Visual effects created the upper levels.”
But with season two the set has gone to a whole other level… literally. “What happened was that the rest of the street became integrated into the series’s storyline,” explains Ralph. “So we needed a record shop, we needed a coffee shop that actually had an inside, we needed a magic shop, we needed the pub. To introduce those meant we had to change the street with a layout that works from a storylines point of view. In other words, things like someone standing at the counter in the record shop had to be able to eyeball somebody standing at the counter in the coffee shop. They had to be able to eyeball Aziraphale sitting in his office in the window of the bookshop. But the rest of it was a pleasure to do inside, because we could expand it and I could go up two storeys.”
For most of the set, which is around 80 metres long and 60 metres wide, the two storeys only applied to the shop frontages, but in the case of Aziraphale’s bookshop, it allowed Ralph to build the mezzanine level for real this time. According to Ralph it became one of the cast and crews’ favourite places to hang out during down time.
But while AZ Fell & Co has grown in height, it actually has a slightly smaller footprint because of the logistics of adapting it to the new studio.
“Everybody swore to me that no one would notice,” says Ralph wryly. “I walked onto it and instinctively knew there was a difference immediately, and they hated me for that. I have this innate sense about spatial awareness and an eye like a spirit level.
“It’s not a lot, though – I think we’ve lost maybe two and a half feet on the front wall internally. I think that there’s a couple of other smaller areas, but only I’d notice. So I can be really annoying to my guys, but only on those levels. Not on any other. They actually quite like me…”
Populating The Bookshop “The props in the new bookshop set were a flawless reproduction from the set decorator Bronwyn Franklin [who is also Ralph’s wife]. It was really the worst-case scenario after season one. She works off the concept art that I produce, but what she does is she adds so much more to the character of the set. She doesn’t buy anything she doesn’t love, or doesn’t fit the character.
“But the things she put a lot of work into finding for season one, they were pretty much one-offs. When we burnt the set down in the sixth episode, we lost a lot of props, many of which had been spotted and appreciated by the fans. So Bronwyn had to discover a new set decorating technique: forensic buying.
“She found it all – duplicates and replicas. It took ages. In that respect, the Covid delay was very helpful for Bron. There’s 7,000 books in there and there’s not one fake book. That’s mainly because… it’s a weird thing to say, but we wanted it to smell and feel like a bookshop to everybody that was in it, all the time.
“It affects everybody subliminally; it affects everybody’s performance – actors and crew – it raises the bar 15 to 20%. And the detail, you know… We love a lot of detail.”
(look at the description under this, they called him 'Azi' hehehehe :D <3)
Aziraphale’s Inspirational Correspondence “There’s not one single scrap of paper on Aziraphale’s desk that isn’t written specifically for Aziraphale. Every single piece is not just fodder that’s been shoved there, it has a purpose; it’s a letter of thanks, or an enquiry about a book or something.
“Michael Sheen is so submerged in his character he would get lost sitting at his own desk, reading his own correspondence between takes. I believe wholeheartedly that if you put that much care into every single piece of detail, on that desk and in that room, that everybody feels it, including the crew, and then they give that set the same respect it deserves.
“They also lift their game because they believe that they’re doing something of so much care and value. Really, it’s a domino effect of passion and care for what you’re producing.”
Alternative Music “My daughter Mickey is lead graphic designer [two of Ralph’s sons worked on the series too, one as a concept artist, the other in props]. They’re the ones that produced all of that handwritten work on the desk. She’s the one that took on the record shop and made up 80 band names so that we didn’t have to get copyright clearance from real bands. Then she produced records and sleeves that spanned 50, 60 years of their recordings, and all of the graphics on the walls.
“I remember Michael and Neil [Gaiman] getting lost following one band’s history on the wall, looking at their posters and albums desperately trying to find out whether they survived that emo period.”
It’s A Kind Of Magic One of the new shops in Whickber Street for season two was Will Goldstone’s Magic Shop, which is full of as many Easter eggs as off-the-shelf conjuring tricks, including a Matt Smith Doctor Who-style fez and a toy orang-utan that’s a nod to Discworld’s The Librarian. Ralph says that while the series is full of references to Gaiman, Pratchett and Doctor Who, Michael Sheen never complained about a lack of Masters Of Sex in-jokes. “He’d be the last person to make that sort of comment!”
Ralph also reveals that the magic shop counter was another one of his wife’s purchases, bought at a Glasgow reclamation yard.
The Anansi Boys Connection Ralph reveals that Good Omens season two used the state-of-the-art special effects tech Volume (famous for its use in The Mandalorian to create virtual backdrops) for just one sequence, but he will be using it extensively elsewhere on another Gaiman TV series being made for Prime Video.
“We used Volume on the opening sequence to create the creation of the universe. I was designing Anansi Boys in duality with this project, which seems an outrageously suicidal thing to do. But it was fantastic and Anansi Boys was all on Volume. So I designed for Volume on one show and not Volume on the other. The complexities and the psychology of both is different.”
glad that im not popular enough to have an evil shadow version of my blog that exists just to make contradictions on my posts
Katniss is like Lucy Gray this, Katniss is like Sejanus that, and yes find that's all good and true and lovely but Katniss Everdeen is also a direct parallel to Coriolanus Snow and people NEED to start talking about this because it's driving me crazy.
Think about it: they both grew up poor and deeply vulnerable, losing parents at a very young age, with a matriarchal adult (Katniss' mother and Coriolanus' Grandma'am) who fails to provide for them emotionally and physically. They intimately understand the threat of starvation, even developing with stunted growth because of it, and their narrations in the books share a fixation on food. Throughout their childhoods, both experienced constant fear and suffered a fundamental lack of control over their circumstances. Because of this, they're inherently suspicious of the people around them. They resent feeling indebted to others, especially those who have saved their lives. They're motivated almost entirely by family and deeply connected to their communities. Both are used and manipulated by the Capitol, both are forced to perform to survive and despise every inch of it, both are thrown into the Arena and made to kill. Both have a self-sacrificial, genuinely sweet sister figure acting as their conscience. Peeta and Lucy Gray - performers and love interests with a fundamental kindness and sense of hope about them - fulfill markedly similar roles in their narrative. Both contribute to the development of the future Hunger Games, Snow throughout tbosas and Katniss towards the end of Mockingjay.
It's easy to ignore these similarities because, as mirrors of each other, they are exact opposites. Katniss is from District 12, viewed and treated as less than human; Snow is the cream of the Capitol crop, given the privilege of a name with social weight, an ancestral home, and the opportunity of the Academy despite having no more money than a miner from 12. Katniss has no agency over her life, and responds by being kind whenever she's able, while Snow justifies horrendous evils in order to continue his quest for complete control. Katniss does everything she can to protect her family; Snow does everything he can to protect his family's image as an extension of his own ego. Katniss loves her District and connects with its inhabitants on a meaningful level, but Snow is indifferent at best to his peers - the apparent "superior people" - and only engages with his community for personal gain. Katniss emerges from the Arena horrified at herself and the system, but Snow takes his trauma and turns it into an excuse to perpetuate the violence with himself at the top. Katniss cares for Prim until her death and then snaps at the loss of her little sister, while Snow survives on Tigris' blood, sweat, and tears and then torments and abandons her, presumably because she calls him out on his insanity. Snow actively adds to and popularizes the Hunger Games because of his vendetta against the Districts following his childhood wartime trauma - Katniss briefly agrees to a new Hunger Games in the pursuit of vengeance, but later stops them from happening by killing Coin and choosing a life of peace and privacy. Snow is obsessed with revenge, but Katniss empathizes with the Capitolites and does what she can to keep them from suffering. He exists in a cruel system and selfishly upholds it; she exists in a cruel system and works to dismantle it for the good of her family and community, at great personal cost. And Peeta and Lucy Gray are incredibly similar, but Katniss and Peeta forge a relationship of genuine love and understanding that shines in comparison to Coriolanus' obsessive projection onto Lucy Gray.
So, yeah, Katniss is Lucy Gray haunting Coriolanus. But I bet you anything that eighty-something year old President Snow looks at her, the girl on fire, bright and young and brilliant, emerging from a childhood of starvation with a relentless hunger for success, a talented and charming performer helping her win the Games, and he sees the ghost of his own past. And that's why he's so afraid of her! Because if he sees himself in her, then he's up against his own cunning, his own talent for manipulation, his own charisma, his own genius. He's up against the version of himself that he once wished to be, with the nightmare army of his childhood at her back and her star-crossed lover at her side, spewing Sejanus' truths in his own voice. This isn't to say that Katniss ever achieved the level of power and agency that Coriolanus did during her time with the rebellion, but it is to say that Snow was taken down by what truly terrified him - his own morality, come to finish the job.
Words cannot express this picture’s perfection
"Two Minutes to Run" -Neil Gaiman
“I am thinking about the fragility of civilization. Look around you, at the building you are in, the road you travel on. What you see was made by people who agreed that they would get up in the morning and go to work and nobody would shoot at them or fire mortars at them; there would not be checkpoints at which they could be taken out and never seen again; that there would be food in the shops, and water in the taps, and shoes to buy and to wear. People who believed that the place you go to sleep tonight will be here tomorrow. I have started to think of humanity as family.
There are now fifty million refugees in the world today, more than at any time since the end of the Second World War. And at some point, for each one of those people, the world shifted. Their world, solid and predictable, erupted or dissolved into chaos or danger or pain. They realized that they had to run.
You have two minutes to pack. You can only take what you can carry easily. You are going to have to walk a long way. You hope that somewhere, someone is going to take you in. I have started to think of humanity as family: a family that quarrels, but which must, when things get hard, put aside old arguments and divisions, and care for each other. Sometimes someone needs somebody to take them in, and that’s the function of family. It’s time to care.
You have two minutes to run. What will you take with you?”
Have y'all ever noticed how Crowley & Aziraphale's homes are the opposite styles to Heaven & Hell?
Heaven - very white & empty, modern, futuristic
Aziraphale's bookshop - cosy, colourful, stacked with books and trinkets, old things
Hell - stuffed with paperwork and super messy, run down
Crowley's flat - neat, tidy, everything in it's place, minimalistic, modern
poor babies were never going to fit in with their lot