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 Our Flag Means Death is a comedy created by David Jenkins starring Rhys Darby and Taika Waititi. It is loosely based on the lives of actual pirates Stede Bonnet (the Gentleman Pirate) and Edward Teach (Blackbeard). There are some very important things this OP is going to intentionally leave out. Here’s why: SPOILERS FOR THE ENTIRE SHOW: This is intentional and is not meant in any way to erase the queerness of the show. One thing that I’ve heard multiple times from people who watched the show after it aired is that they feel they would have enjoyed it more had they not been aware that it slowly turns into a love story between the main characters, Ed and Stede. Since this show is FINALLY about to be aired in the UK, the country where a large number of the cast are actually from, I chose to spoiler this for at least the OP. I’m not expecting people to spoiler Season 1 stuff from now on as this OP is an introduction & overview. CREW OF THE REVENGE  Stede Bonnet aka The Gentleman Pirate (Rhys Darby) A wealthy landowner who is so deeply unhappy with his life and his arranged marriage that he leaves his family and fucks off to become a pirate. He has no experience as a pirate captain but this doesn’t stop him. He is plagued by feelings of inadequacy and disliked by his crew who rightly sees him as a fancy man who doesn’t know what the gently caress he’s doing to the point where several characters tell him that maybe he isn’t cut out for the pirate life. He is often completely oblivious to the fact that his privileged life has led him to experience things very differently from the people around him.  Oluwande Boodhari (Samson Kayo) Probably the most grounded and sensible person on the entire ship, Oluwande comes to the Revenge with Jim. He has great conflict management skills and leadership potential but lacks the desire to lead. He is one of the few people on The Revenge sympathetic to Stede despite his cluelessness.  Jim Jimenez (Vico Ortiz) A mute who comes to the Revenge accompanied by Oluwande. Has fantastic combat skills. Is not a mute but is actually an assassin raised by some kind of murder nun to avenge their slain family and has a bounty on their head . Jim is the most deadly person on the entire ship.  Nathaniel Buttons (Ewen Bremner) Buttons is the navigator of the ship and the most seasoned pirate in the crew. He has been sailing for a long time and is friends with a seagull named Karl who he can communicate with and enjoys activities like bathing naked in the moonglow.  Lucius Spriggs (Nathan Foad) Lucius is the scribe of the ship and shirks physical labor at every available opportunity (“I’ve got this thing with my back”). He initially dislikes Stede but comes around to feeling sorry for him/helping him (and other crew members) out with their interpersonal issues. He enjoys flirting and sketching the other crew members naked.  Roach (Samba Schutte) Roach is the ship’s chef/surgeon who really likes knives and openly dislikes Stede’s less bloodthirsty form of piracy. He is a skilled chef and is aghast at Stede’s unconcern for extremely important aspects of ship management like not using the entire stock of citrus fruits to make one cake (Recipe here!)  The Swede (Nat Faxon) Not much is known about The Swede except that he’s Swedish and kind of dopey and naive. He enjoys singing.  Black Pete (Matthew Maher) Black Pete is a Blackbeard fanboy who insists that he was on Blackbeard’s crew and was his right-hand man. Nobody but Stede believes him. He is boastful and openly tries to get the crew to mutiny against Stede. Despite his brash nature, however, he has a soft side.  Wee John (Kristian Nairn) Wee John also prefers the more traditional form of piracy and really enjoys setting things on fire. He also likes sewing and owns a doll.  Frenchie (Joel Fry) Frenchie is the ship’s musician and is skilled at sewing. He is also terrified of cats and believes in things like mermaids and demons. He uses his knowledge of how upper class society works to scam the gently caress out of them. CREW OF THE QUEEN ANNE’S REVENGE  Edward Teach aka Blackbeard (Taika Waititi) The infamous and fearsome Blackbeard is now middle-aged and bored as gently caress with everything about his life now that he doesn’t even have to try anymore. While occasionally erratic, he is still an excellent pirate and commands awe and respect from those around him. Struggles with childhood memories of growing up in a household where spousal abuse was common and grew to believe that that fine things (and kindness) aren’t for him because “we’re just not those kind of people”. This becomes more apparent when he meets Stede, who he is fascinated by.  Ivan, Izzy, and Fang. Posted together because this picture rules Izzy Hands (Con O’Neill} Blackbeard’s first mate. Has apparently been sailing with Blackbeard for a very long time and is concerned and angry that Ed no longer fits the idealized persona of Blackbeard that he once knew. Is devoted to Blackbeard and has “exasperated spouse” energy. Fang (David Fane) One of Blackbeard’s crew members who seems intimidating at first but is actually a huge softie who ends up taking to members of the crew of the Revenge. Loves dogs. Ivan (Guz Khan) The other member of Blackbeard’s crew who we meet. He enjoys traditional pirate activities such as murder and teaches the crew of the Revenge important piracy skills. Is close to Fang and comforts him. ALSO VERY IMPORTANT!  Mary Bonnet (Claudia O’Doherty) A talented artist, Mary is similarly unhappy with her arranged marriage to Stede and his disinterest in her as a person. However, unlike Stede, she tries to make the best of things and puts far more effort into the marriage than Stede does. Once Stede fucks off to be a pirate, Mary flourishes and has a fulfilling life as an artist and encourages other widows to find happiness in their new lives.   Nigel/Chauncey Badminton (Rory Kinnear) The Badminton twins terrorized Stede in childhood and continue to do so in adulthood. Now in the British Navy, they continue to be childish bullies intent on ruining Stede’s life and are really good at dying in freak accidents.  Spanish Jackie (Leslie Jones) The owner of the worst bar in the Republic of Pirates, Spanish Jackie has a wooden hand and 20 husbands. She is intent on avenging the murder of one of her husbands, perpetrated by Jim. She is feared and respected and has more business sense than those around her. About the show David Jenkins created Our Flag Means Death after learning about the real Blackbeard’s association with Stede Bonnet and wondering what went on with them. While the show features fictionalized versions of real people, Jenkins acknowledges that the actual people (WARNING: Linked article contains major spoilers for the entire show) were loving terrible and not people you’d want to meet. The show has a diverse cast and writer’s room and features multiple queer relationships which are directly acknowledged, a major reason for the show’s popularity. After the restructuring of Time Warner and Discovery in 2022, Our Flag Means Death and many other shows hung in the balance, waiting to hear if they were renewed or canceled. In typical corporate fashion, the show was renewed on the first day of Pride Month, and many of us were just relieved that it was renewed at all. Season 2 finished filming in December 2022. While a premiere date has not been announced yet, it is possible that it will be sometime in Spring 2023 in order to make the cutoff for the Emmys. Spoilers: I don’t know if there’s an official spoiler policy for TVIV (I’ve usually heard that it’s fair game when it’s aired in its place of origin), so after this post there will likely be Season 1 spoilers. However, for the love of god PLEASE spoiler things about Season 2 since it hasn’t aired yet! This includes casting, rumors, plot points, and things that the cast and crew posted when drunk and had to immediately take down. Where can I watch this? In the US it’s streaming on HBO Max. The show is also available elsewhere (I’d just Google it, it’s faster), but I’ve heard reports that parts of it have been censored in some countries. Hilariously enough, it’s finally airing in the UK on BBC Two starting Jan 4th. EDIT: added pictures, please let me know if i forgot other things (very possible) HOLY FUCK fucked around with this message at 01:14 on Jan 10, 2023 |
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Jan 1, 2023 01:19
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Can’t wait. I love this show so much!
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Jan 2, 2023 23:16
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I’m especially looking forward to possibly learning more about the other characters. We got to learn a lot about Jim and while I’m not expecting a full episode of backstory for each character or anything, I think it’d be fun. When I was writing the character descriptions in the OP I kind of agonized over the briefness of some of them and then realized we haven’t really had time to get to know them yet. As far as I know s2 is also going to be 10 episodes so we’ll see!
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Jan 2, 2023 23:34
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I see what you're going for with that spoiler in the OP, but you might want to exclude a word in the first sentence. Just call it a comedy.
cant cook creole bream fucked around with this message at 20:21 on Jan 3, 2023 |
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Jan 3, 2023 14:56
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 thanks for letting me know, fixed!
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Jan 3, 2023 19:03
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I’d like to know more about Lucius, Olu, and Frenchie.
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Jan 3, 2023 19:09
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The_Doctor posted:I’d like to know more about Lucius, Olu, and Frenchie. i get “ran away from a religious (or somewhat well-off but not rich) family” vibes from Lucius. He’s educated and mentions that he pickpocketed a lot so I’m thinking he might’ve left to avoid being married off, maybe?
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Jan 3, 2023 20:12
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Posted on Kristian Nairn’s Instagram. (This is on Jan 4th at 10pm UK time, I got the premiere date wrong in the OP 💀): 
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Jan 3, 2023 21:45
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Jan 4, 2023 22:10
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This was by far my favorite show of the last year. It's got so much weird heart (and I love a late in life queer story  + have fallen HEAD OVER HEELS for the weird little force of nature that is Rhys Darby).I saw someone on twitter talking about how they hope the first few episodes of season 2 focus on Ed since the first few of season 1 were Stede-centric, I think that'd be fun! (Is that something I should spoiler if it's purely speculative and has no basis in anything cast/crew have said? I'm sorry, I rarely ever post, I just couldn't resist a thread for my current favorite thing!) Also -- no Calico Jack special mention??? Will Arnett showing up to be Will Arnett and also say he's banged a main character is totally worth a shout out lmfao.
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Jan 5, 2023 00:12
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Absolutely agreed on Rhys Darby. David Jenkins has said that he was the only person who could’ve played the role of Stede and have him be a sympathetic character instead of like… awful, haha. I think on your spoiler question speculation is probably okay as long as it isn’t based on s2 leaks and yours looks fine. “i hope” or “i’d like to see” is good vs “i heard” which is likely not. Plus i think that specific one makes sense given how they left off and i’d like to see that as well! edit: OH, and also about Calico Jack (“CALICO JAAAACK!”), i didn’t put him in since he was only in one episode but i might later. i actually love him now lmfao
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Jan 5, 2023 01:20
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HOLY gently caress posted:Absolutely agreed on Rhys Darby. David Jenkins has said that he was the only person who could’ve played the role of Stede and have him be a sympathetic character instead of like… awful, haha. 10000% I've been watching other stuff just because Rhys is in it since I finished OFMD and even his rockier projects (Short Poppies is so far exclusively unpleasant and abrasive characters) he brings so much charm and warmth to. Reprising his role from WWDITS in Wellington Paranormal was lovely! Idk if We're Wolves is still even in production talks but I'd watch the heck out of it. Honestly all the cast has grown on me so much. Con fully embracing being called ~Daddy after that weird improv bit and Samba posting constant insta stories of his frolicking in the NZ wilderness are a joy. Idk how kosher it is to mention shipping (even if it's canon?) but have you seen/are you at all interested in the fan art for this series? I'm not big into fandoms usually because seeing people so rabid about screen time and endgame makes me feel old af but I'm *so* impressed with the depth of stunning and weird artwork this has inspired 
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Jan 5, 2023 01:40
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Giga Pet giveaway posted:10000% I've been watching other stuff just because Rhys is in it since I finished OFMD and even his rockier projects (Short Poppies is so far exclusively unpleasant and abrasive characters) he brings so much charm and warmth to. Reprising his role from WWDITS in Wellington Paranormal was lovely! Idk if We're Wolves is still even in production talks but I'd watch the heck out of it. I can’t speak to fanart, but there’s a frankly insane amount of fan fiction out there too- my wife’s constantly either writing it or giving me breathless updates about all these weird alternate-universe stories on twitter (‘So this one is set in the eighties, and in this one Stede is a beekeeper who’s allergic to bees, and in this one they’re lumberjacks in Canada and and and…’). Is this a thing in other fandoms? I’ve not been in any fandom space for probably 20 years but the alternate universe stuff is something completely new to me.
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Jan 5, 2023 01:46
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Camrath posted:I can’t speak to fanart, but there’s a frankly insane amount of fan fiction out there too- my wife’s constantly either writing it or giving me breathless updates about all these weird alternate-universe stories on twitter (‘So this one is set in the eighties, and in this one Stede is a beekeeper who’s allergic to bees, and in this one they’re lumberjacks in Canada and and and…’). Your wife sounds cool as hell. There are a TON of cool alternative universe things out there. I've never been on twitter during a fandom craze before (and I don't read fanfic enough to have looked at ao3 where she probably is) but it's interesting to me how many of the fanfictions that pop up are mixed media and include graphics for little bits and pieces that tie into the story like faxes/personal notebooks the characters use. They play out in these huge long threads like an epistolary novel almost? Definitely never seen that for any show before!
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Jan 5, 2023 02:19
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There is so much incredible fan art for this show, i see people post things like “oh here’s a quick warmup i did” and it’s like… a masterpiece. The series has inspired a lot of people to start creating again (or for the first time!) which is wonderful. Taika also really likes the fan art and has a collection of it on his phone, hahaha. And Con shares it on Instagram constantly. Personally I don’t mind if we talk about shipping as long as it doesn’t break the rules or anything (not that you would, but in general). There are fandoms that have done AUs like this before but i’ve never seen as many of them as i have for this show. They’re called SMAUs (social media alternate universes) and personally i’m not a huge fan of them since reading things on Twitter is kind of awkward, especially when they get really long. They can be really cool though and I’ve seen some “analogue” ones too where instead of screenshots of posts and text messages people have handwritten letters and things like that.
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Jan 5, 2023 02:34
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Giga Pet giveaway posted:Your wife sounds cool as hell. Lol, I literally made the ‘SMAUs are basically an epistolary novel for the 2020s’ point to her the other day. It is kind of fascinating.
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Jan 5, 2023 21:33
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Ok, so Stede is the manager of the coffeeshop, and Blackbeard runs the knife store next door…
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Jan 5, 2023 21:39
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Samba Schutte is a home baker and created a recipe for the 40 Orange (Plus another 10 for the glaze!) Cake that Stede forces Roach to make. He also saved every picture that fans sent him of the cakes that they made and made a huge 100+ picture collage of them . Here's a transcription of the recipe that he posted on Instagram (it was in image format so The Dreamstress posted a version that's easier to read): Roach's 40 Orange Glaze Cake. I've also added a link to the recipe in Roach's character description in the OP.
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Jan 10, 2023 01:43
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HOLY gently caress posted:Samba Schutte is a home baker and created a recipe for the 40 Orange (Plus another 10 for the glaze!) Cake that Stede forces Roach to make. He also saved every picture that fans sent him of the cakes that they made and made a huge 100+ picture collage of them https://www.instagram.com/p/CeXFMRWoENH/ That's a whole lotta cakes and a whoooooole lotta oranges 
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Jan 10, 2023 03:34
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The fandom for this show is off the charts. They had a convention in the UK a few months ago with people in costume and everything, and the show wasn’t technically even available there. The episode with the aristocrats where they run a literal pyramid scheme is one of my favorites. Taika’s magnificent beard gets fancy ribbons! (How did they not win any costuming awards last year. That beard is impressive.)
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Jan 13, 2023 07:38
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Jet Jaguar posted:The fandom for this show is off the charts. They had a convention in the UK a few months ago with people in costume and everything, and the show wasn’t technically even available there. Yeah, it really exploded via word of mouth and HBO Max did like no promotion of it. they didn’t even make an official Twitter account for it until after the season finale had already aired. I love that episode so much, Frenchie and Olu’s pyramid scheme is fantastic! “What does a viceroy do?” “Whatever the gently caress he wants, babe” also iirc in a deleted scene Ed made Izzy tie all the ribbons in his beard  and of course, “You wear fine things well” 🥹 It really is amazing how much emotion Taika can convey even with the giant beard covering most of his face, his eye acting (not sure how else to put that) in that scene alone is really something
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Jan 13, 2023 08:13
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If you love Rhys Darby, you should maybe check out Wrecked. It was on TBS and had some really, really funny bits. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_Re0sc85zo
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Jan 30, 2023 16:58
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I usually miss these but I’m going to try EXTRA hard to make this one: https://twitter.com/kristiannairn/status/1620479015072178177 (that’s 10.30 PM UK time, btw) HOLY FUCK fucked around with this message at 07:11 on Feb 1, 2023 |
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Feb 1, 2023 06:40
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HOLY gently caress posted:I usually miss these but I’m going to try EXTRA hard to make this one: This was so much fun, Nathan looks like he’s about to explode with joy any second. Here it is on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEyxA4W5yWg
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Feb 2, 2023 14:45
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Huge panel with Rhys Darby, Samba Shrutte, and Vico Ortiz at Emerald City Comic Con over the weekend. I think it will still be steaming for the next week or so? https://twitter.com/PopverseSays/status/1632122038352756743?s=20
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Mar 7, 2023 09:04
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Holy poo poo that's a big crowd, and there's even a whole lot of OFMD cosplayers. The guys must be absolutely over the moon at all the love 
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Mar 7, 2023 12:46
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I was there! There were so many cosplayers it was like half the room stood up and they couldn’t fit us all on stagei was double-masked but when i realized how many people had come into the room since i did and the main stage ballroom hit capacity i was like gently caress https://twitter.com/ofmooshd/status/1632558794738896896
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Mar 9, 2023 04:11
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My gf described Izzy Hands as the one human character in a Muppets movie, and I can't unsee it. He's just so loving tired of all these Muppets.
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Mar 10, 2023 22:00
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So very cool! That is a HUGE crowd. Like an MCU-size crowd!
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Mar 10, 2023 22:35
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ConfusedUs posted:My gf described Izzy Hands as the one human character in a Muppets movie, and I can't unsee it. He's just so loving tired of all these Muppets. This is extremely accurate (also Izzy is who i cosplayed as!) Jet Jaguar posted:So very cool! I think that this is especially impressive given that the show’s only been out for a year and isn’t based on any existing IPs. Sure, Taika Waititi is in it but everyone involved clearly didn’t expect this kind of response. The autograph lines for Rhys, Samba, and Vico were insane and they spent two extra hours signing on Saturday (and probably Sunday too). The last Kristian Nairn Instagram Live was earlier this week and him and David Jenkins were amazed at the crowd for the panel. Alas, no dates for a trailer or Season 2 yet.  Hopefully soon!
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Mar 11, 2023 00:01
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The show does have Muppet Treasure Island vibes to a certain degree. Might be that they actually built the ships but greenscreened everything else giving it a similar sound-stage-y feel? There's just enough magical realism in the show that I could honestly see a muppet showing up in an episode and it wouldn't be that distracting.
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Mar 11, 2023 04:06
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Yeah I love that aspect to the show! They did indeed build the ship and had these massive LED screens that were so realistic that they made some of the cast and crew seasick Here’s showrunner David Jenkins with the Revenge:  Here is a great twitter thread with set design & production stuff: https://twitter.com/queeraspirates/status/1612239016694366208
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Mar 11, 2023 05:06
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( POSSIBLY NSFW account?! It is not marked NSFW but there's one image in there that I literally can't tell if it's NSFW or just like... an actual canyon. Maybe don't click it just in case. )https://twitter.com/bttrgaythndead/status/1582830830673571840
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Mar 11, 2023 22:20
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Thread of BTS stuff from Episode 8’s sequence with The Chain, which i think is one of the coolest loving scenes ever: https://twitter.com/queeraspirates/status/1636593428887752704 One of my favorite facts about it is that it was filmed in double-time and the second tweet has a short clip of it where you can hear the song played sped-up in the background
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Mar 17, 2023 21:33
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HOLY gently caress posted:Thread of BTS stuff from Episode 8’s sequence with The Chain, which i think is one of the coolest loving scenes ever: That storyboard looks wicked, I'd love to see all of it! Did you see Rhys did a stand up set this week in LA working out new material? I just saw the clip of him making Ken Jeong corpse a bunch of times in a row improvising in outtakes from a movie and I'm even more excited for more of his comedy Also unrelatedly reading his book right now and woof, what a childhood.
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Mar 18, 2023 00:10
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Giga Pet giveaway posted:That storyboard looks wicked, I'd love to see all of it! I'd heard that he did that show! I remember reading that before OFMD he was kind of feeling that his standup was "irrelevant" but he's excited about doing it again which is really I haven't read his book yet, it seems like I might have to make sure I'm in the right headspace first
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Mar 19, 2023 20:02
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HOLY gently caress posted:I'd heard that he did that show! I remember reading that before OFMD he was kind of feeling that his standup was "irrelevant" but he's excited about doing it again which is really Yes! I saw that too! I was in LA on vacation a week to the day before the set he just did, looking for comedy shows because it was rainy and our plans to go to the observatory got cancelled. RIP me. I hope he gets a positive enough response to tour again because I'd make everyone I know come along! To his massive credit, he made me *laugh* on a page about his father leaving because he was done raising kids and didn't want to bother with a mistake baby 9 years after the last one! I'm not far in yet but it's great.
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Mar 20, 2023 05:17
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I'm finally reading On Stranger Tides and boy howdy it's weird reading the descriptions of Bonnet and Thatch while having this show's versions in my mind. Stede is an older pudgy guy who is getting hornt up by takling to a lady. Blackbeard is repeatedly referred to as a giant.
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Mar 29, 2023 17:09
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Announcing: Our Flag Means Chef with Samba Schutte https://bemoment.us/blogs/news/announcing-our-flag-means-chef-with-samba-schutte
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Mar 31, 2023 20:02
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Fartington Butts posted:I'm finally reading On Stranger Tides and boy howdy it's weird reading the descriptions of Bonnet and Thatch while having this show's versions in my mind. Stede is an older pudgy guy who is getting hornt up by takling to a lady. Blackbeard is repeatedly referred to as a giant. But did he have glowing red eyes and a head made of smoke? That'd make anyone look taller.
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Apr 1, 2023 00:00
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