long story short... (adios, Tumblr)

Last weekend my church did its semi-annual worldwide broadcast in lieu of the usual Sunday meetings. ( brief thinky religious thoughts )

I need to figure out exactly what "not using Tumblr" looks like for me. I know there are a few things I want to keep for later; for example, I signed up to write a gift exchange fanfic for The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (2015) again, and I have some posts about characterization for the leads of the film that I would hate to lose forever. So I'll probably put those over here sometime soon-ish. Maybe a few other posts as well.

After that, I guess the question is: delete my tumblr account and never look back? Delete it and re-create one with the same username (but now empty) so that the porn bots and other scammers can't claim my username? Leave everything there and just sign out for good?

things I've said because of Star Wars

I looked up my top original posts on tumblr, and a fair number of them are connected to Star Wars. So, let's start importing tumblr posts!

( even back in 2017, we knew that an incoherent narrative was the fate of the sequel trilogy--Rian Johnson told us so )

This next imported post: ( Star Wars fandom and the less-than-subtle racism in its treatment of Finn )

Most of the time fandom (any fandom, not just Star Wars fans) is more subtle in its racism. It's a collective 'effort' of ignoring and / or denigrating the characters of color, rather than literally calling one inferior. So... there's that? Ugh?

( bridal carries, damsel carries, and monster carries )

TMFU stuff: the imports begin

I shouldn't have started looking at my tumblr reblogs for The Man from U.N.C.L.E. this close to bedtime, but here we are. So:

1) I like this behind-the-scenes glimpse at the score for the movie.

"The Man from U.N.C.L.E. Featurette - Behind the Music (2015) - Guy Ritchie Spy Movie HD" (Watch on YouTube)

2) Tumblr-ite canardroublard has an incredibly detailed reblog about how Illya Kuryakin is not clueless when it comes to men's fashion. That's one of those fannish beliefs that got passed around: the idea that Kuryakin is good with women's fashion--witness the flattering mod clothes he chose for Gaby--but he's hopelessly outmatched when it comes to men's fashion. Given what the reblog says, it's more about how our views on men's fashion have changed; Illya dressed in trendy clothes for men in the early 60s, but Harrington jackets and turtlenecks don't scream "mod" anymore, unlike Gaby's color-blocked mini-shift dresses.

(Canardroublard goes on to explain that Solo's fashion sense is much more about enduring style than fleeting fashion: he picked Chanel-inspired women's suits for Gaby, and wears well-fitting* men's suits with small nods to then-current trends with his understated plaid.)

*Seriously, all the awards to whoever fitted that blue plaid suit to Henry Cavill's tush.

3) When I had the fourth chapter of Birthday Girl finished, I made a moodboard to go with it:

(click on the image to see a larger version)
With her childhood in Germany, she would almost certainly have had a birthday wreath used on her birthday; it's a wooden candle-holder that goes up to age 10 or 12. The chocolates are a reference to a specific moment in the story. The young ballet dancers reflect Gaby's canon ballet experience; and finally, the young girl in the top left picture is meant to represent young Gaby. I chose a photo of actress Natalie Wood; she was born the same year as fictional Gaby, and we have lots of images of her as a child actress in the US.

(This is one of the stories that I would like to continue; I have more ideas for birthday-centered vignettes. Too bad I'm not feeling the writing inspiration... no new material makes it hard to keep a fannish focus on something.

4) A photo found on tumblr of Armie Hammer in character and costume as Illya Kuryakin:

(thumbnail again, click for large version)
The repressed hair! Very important. (For real, though: Armie Hammer has gorgeous, bouncy, fluffy hair in real life. I can only guess at the industrial-strength hair gel they used for him during this film.)