You know, the final day of the 2011/2012 season is not something I’ve really talked about. I can remember most of the details, I just choose not to. As the whistle went for full-time at the Stadium of Light where we’d just beaten Sunderland 1-0, I went and sat down at my kitchen table, listened to my iPod and read Gary Neville’s autobiography. I sat there for a few minutes on my own. I had a vague idea of what had been going on at the Etihad. I knew that Joey Barton had been sent off and QPR had somehow gone 2-1 up, but I didn’t want to sit in front of the TV with my dad and torture myself. I didn’t want to think about anyone else. I wanted to immerse myself in United, for those last few minutes of the season. Champions or not, they’d all be going away for weeks on end and I wouldn’t be able to see them. I hate not being able to see them.
After what felt like an eternity, but what was in reality just several minutes, my dad popped his head round the kitchen door and I looked up. He smiled a sad smile and shook his head. I closed the book, got up and gave him a hug and I remember him whispering, “Next year.” He didn’t sound defeated. He sounded ready for August. He was ready to get that trophy back. And I whispered back, “Next year.”
I didn’t cry. I wasn’t angry. I’d prepared myself. City deserved to win it last season. The league table doesn’t lie. They did what we’ve been doing for decades: scoring late goals and breaking hearts. I still haven’t seen a single photo or video from that day. I don’t know what the celebrations looked like. I still don’t even know who scored City’s other goals.
Some things for you to have a think about:
- Conceding six goals at home to our city rivals in the manner that we did.
- The image of those Sunderland fans doing the Poznan.
- That time that ill-informed QPR fan said none of them celebrated Aguero’s winner.
- The “RIP Fergie” sign and Tévez’s delight as he held it aloft during their parade through Manchester.
- Hearing commentators refer to “the champions”, and realising they’re not talking about United.
- The City fans who sang Munich chants and made aeroplane gestures towards our players and fans during the last derby.
- Having to hear “Aguerooooooooo…” week in, week out.
- Having to hear that United are “in decline” and that this is “Ferguson’s worst ever team”.
- The thug who threw the coin at Rio.
- When Mancini said we were “lucky” and undeserving of being 15 points ahead.
- The ABUs who devalue the Prem just because of the gap at the top of the league.
- Vincent Kompany and his “moral victories” and “champions of Manchester”.
- Mancini: “They bought RVP…that’s why they won this title; not because they’re better than us.”
Think about how all of that makes you feel. Remember how all of that makes you feel. Bottle it. And let it all out, one lung-busting yell at a time, when Nemanja Vidić lifts that Premier League trophy, the red ribbons back in their rightful place.
“It isn’t about not failing, everybody fails; it’s about how you react to failure.” - Roy Keane.
I think sometimes as Jily shippers and authors we forget the social implications of James marrying Lily. Like, he mixes his ancient pure blood in a war of blood-purity and you can bet they both had to deal with a lot more in the Order because of that. And this speaks bounds upon both Lily and James’ characters.
so the sansa tyrion wedding is actually one of my favorite plot lines because i love both of their characters and they are such telling moments for both of their characters- i didn’t like that sansa knelled to him that actually really bothered me- but i’m willing to wager that they didn’t want peter dinklage to have to struggle on camera because it is humiliating for tyrion but it’s not sansa’s fault- sansa stark kneels for no lannister.
which is why i really love their wedding in the book even though it hurts my soul and i’m upset that they did that in the show but i liked everything else that they did for the most part. i mean…. they could have fucked it up way worse.
also i did not want the gendry fake out sex like for real ugh did they need to put the leech on his penis? this show really likes overally sexualized violence.
but yay leech scene.
I have such mixed feelings about this episode.
It’s probably because the fandom hyped the SHIT out of it, but IDK, I wasn’t too impressed.
Alright, let’s just look at this episode.
Rachel and Blaine can’t play Maria and Tony because they haven’t had sex yet? That’s just such a horrible reason for people to seriously decide to have sex. Honestly, I think a better storyline would’ve been for them to decide not to have sex. This episode made it seem like everyone in high school is having sex, and that if you’re not, you’re the exception. It’s actually the opposite. …Right? I mean, most people don’t have sex in high school, right? …Or was that just me?
I liked the Blaine/Kurt storyline…for the most part. I loved seeing them hanging out just the two of them and Blaine just dancing in his room was adorable. BUT what was that gay bar scene? No one acts like that after only one beer. So either the writer are stupid and don’t know how to write a characteristically drunk person, or Blaine was faking and being super aggressive. I’m not really sure how I feel about that.
Why even bother bringing Karofsky in? That scene was just so pointless. Is he comfortable with his sexuality or not? I REALLY don’t think someone as far in the closet as Karofsky would be comfortable enough to hang out at a gay bar so soon.
I thought the way they dealt with the actual sex was pretty good. Obviously they couldn’t show a whole lot, but the editing and Darren and Chris’ chemistry through the whole episode really saved it.
The entire Rachel/Finn story. I find it really hard to believe that the same Rachel Berry who was so set in her decision to wait until she was 25 to have sex would be so eager to have sex just because Artie, another high school student, told her she should because it would make her role in a high school production better. Also, WHY THE HELL DID FINN THINK THAT HE WAS GOING TO BE RECRUITED BY OHIO STATE? Ohio State is one of the best and most popular college football programs. They recruit the best athletes from all over the country. I think we’ve seen McKinely win two games, both of which Finn had absolutely nothing to do with. So, yeah, you’re not a good football player, you can’t dance, you’re an idiot, and you’re only an alright singer. I’m glad you finally figured out that you’re not good enough. (I might be a bit biased in this since I hate Finn) Honestly, I just found absolutely zero chemistry between Cory and Lea. That was the biggest issue.
I really loved Mercedes’ role in this episode. Seriously, this needs to happen every week.
Finally, can we just address the fact that Brittany was…raped? She lost her virginity at cheerleading camp when someone snuck into her tent and she was “probed by aliens.” Okay, I get that it’s Brittany and she says stuff like this all the time, but I feel like this took it a little too far. I don’t know if the writers just wanted to make a joke and thought this was funny, but it wasn’t. It was just really awkward.
So, yeah, kinda disappointing. Can we just fast forward to the next couple episodes and have Santana take over from here? I mean, even tonight, the best scene was America.
Sorry, I know you guys don’t follow me for this crap but this pertains to some people that follow my personal blog and it’s been pissing me off all day. I’m about to get analytical on you but this has a point so just bear with me. We were discussing Translations in class this morning, and a girl stood up to express the opinion that the character Maire was selfish and ungrateful. Many in the class agreed.
For those who don’t know the play: Maire is the oldest daughter of a large family in a tiny village in 1830s Ireland, who the protagonist - Manus - wants to marry. Maire tells Manus to get a job and property and maybe she’ll consider it. Manus chooses not to do this because it’ll put him in competition with his father. Maire then decides her best option is to go to America. Then, completely out of left field, comes Yolland, a dashing young Englishman who, for all that they can’t understand a word the other is saying, forms a beautifully intimate bond with Maire within days.
So you can imagine my chagrin when Maire gets called selfish for choosing Yolland over Manus. Let’s break this down, shall we?
Item One: Maire has to get out of her house. She’s a poor Irish peasant. She’s never been able to choose anything for herself in her life. Her family can’t feed all their kids. As the oldest daughter, she has to get out of the house.
Item Two: Getting married at this time and place in the world is not about love. It’s about security.
Item Three: Going to America would be absolutely terrifying. She’d probably be going as an indentured servant. It would not be fun. But she has to get out of the house and she’s not going to marry Manus if he’s got no security to offer her, so this is the best option left to her.
Item Four: By not applying for the job that his father has applied for, Manus has chosen to put his father before Maire. His actions have very blatantly told her, “You come last.”
Item Five: Maire and Yolland fall in love. Real, deep, language-transcending love, not a convenience born out of being the only twenty-somethings in town with an equally high level of intelligence. Maire loves Yolland, and this is the first thing in her life she’s ever been able to really have for herself.
Now here’s my problem. Taking all of the above items into consideration, the logic presented behind the “Maire is selfish for choosing Yolland over Manus” argument essentially boils down to, “But Manus likes her and he was there first.” What does this remind us of? The friendzone. Manus had been friendzoned, and the class didn’t like it. I suppose it’s fitting in a play that’s completely about entitlement, but still it grinds my gears to know how many people are blinded by what they feel Manus deserves for being ‘a nice guy.’ Maire doesn’t owe him shit. He didn’t even do the one thing she told him would get her to consider marriage.
And here’s the kicker: The fact that she and Yolland fell in love at all is fucking revolutionary. 1830s Irish peasants don’t get married to well-off English lieutenants. You don’t marry outside the tribe. This is some Romeo and Juliet shit right here. If people could have stopped blaming Maire for her ungrateful bitch ways, maybe they could have seen the subversive love story for the ages unfolding.
(There’s a reason I’m so good at meta. Drama school, kids.)
I wonder what it's like to speak a language where there are different versions of "you" for different people.
I mean, I’m sure it’s just normal for people whose first language does that, but ever since I started taking Spanish this year, I’ve been thinking about how I’d probably make a fool out of myself and use the informal version for, like, a teacher or something. But people who really know the language probably don’t a problem with that.
And in Les Mis they’ve mentioned how Marius and Cosette always talk to each other using “tu” (which I’m assuming is informal since it’s similar to that in Spanish) and how much excitement they get out of it.
And it just made me think. I’m sure it’s just one of those things to people who actually know the language, but for someone who speaks English, it’s just an interesting concept.
