The List held the promise of a really cool premise. I’m a sucker for dystopians, and the loss of language in this way was one I haven’t heard before. My only complaint is that I wish the author took the time to build out the world and characters a bit more, and in more of a unique way. This felt very “The Giver” - which could be a really cool thing if it was just stood on its own a bit more. I’d read more stories that take place in this post-apocalyptic world, though. It may be a touch unpolished, but it was a fun, quick read.
I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
okay, i just reread the list!! and why do i kinda hate it?? i’d redo the whole thing but i’m not sure if that’d be too much or if people would even like it?
This episode of 6teen is, hands down, the funniest episode of 6teen I have watched. Everything that happens in this episode is just so ridiculous & funny, I mean
“What is all this about?” John grumbled, taking the pen and clipboard that Greg handed over. There was a single piece of lined paper attached to it. He glanced around at Sherlock (standing, aloof) Donovan (seated, scowling) and Anderson (slouching, worried).
They were crowded into Greg’s office at the yard. Greg had sent a vague message about needing John to come in, immediately, and John had needed to do some grovelling to get his regular babysitter to watch Rosie. He hadn’t known that Sherlock had been called in as well.
Things had been strained between them ever since that debacle with Eurus. John had tried to put in the effort, but it seemed that Sherlock got colder and more distant with every passing day. Even cases didn’t seem to get him going anymore, leaving John to wonder what might…
“It’s that stuff, isn’t it?” Anderson said, clearly anxious. “That lemon-smelling stuff. I knew it was lethal, I just knew it!”
“It wasn’t lethal,” Donovan said, rolling her eyes. “You’re still alive.”
John thought back to the incident a month prior. At the end of a long case he, Sherlock, Greg, Donovan and Anderson had all ended up in an industrial warehouse. There was a gunfight, and one of the bullets hit a canister full of some unknown new compound, spraying all of them.
His favorite jacket still smelled like lemon toilet cleaner even now but as none of them had gotten sick, he’d eventually put it out of his mind.
“It wasn’t lethal,” Greg confirmed. “But still dangerous. Long-term it can cause damage internally, but we have the antidote ready.”
Relieved, John noted the reduction in tension, but then Sherlock spoke for the first time.
“If we were merely here to receive the antidote, then what are the pen and paper for?”
Greg again appeared very uncomfortable.
“Well… Turns out this stuff can be passed along…”
“Passed along?”
“Yeah. Um… Through contact. Bodily fluids.” Greg was obviously trying to remain professional but struggling with embarrassment.
“What?”
“He means sex, Anderson,” Sherlock said with a long suffering sigh. “We might have infected people through having sex.”
“Yes, um, that,” Greg agreed, beet red. He rallied, “So I just need you all to write down the names and contact information of anyone you had…er…contact with, in the past month. It’ll remain confidential, but we need to tell them to come get the antidote.”
“Fantastic,” Donovan groaned, but she did immediately start writing.
John swallowed, feeling foolish, though he had no real reason to. He decided to brazen it out.
“Well mine’s easy,” he said, handing the clipboard back to Greg. “Been a slow month.”
Greg smiled awkwardly.
The DI wrote something on his own clipboard, and John wondered if he could go. Anderson handed in a blank sheet and Donovan was looking something up on her phone, and Sherlock…
Sherlock was writing.
Sherlock was writing quite a lot.
John tried not to stare as the man reached the halfway point, but then he kept going and it was like John couldn’t tear his eyes away.
“Um, Sherlock,” Greg spoke up. “We don’t need info on everyone you talked to or anything-”
“Just those I had sex with, yes I know,” he drawled.
“Uh… Ok then.” Greg caught John’s eye, eyebrows raised. John felt like he’d been punched in the gut, though he told himself he had no right to feel that way.
Donovan turned in her paper then looked with shrewd interest at Sherlock, going as far as to peek over his shoulder.
“Blonde from Bradford?” She asked. “What’s her name?”
“I didn’t ask,” Sherlock said, not looking up, but then he paused and wrote something else.
“Blonde MAN from Bradford,” Sally read aloud. “Still not that helpful you know.”
“I’ll find him on the security cameras.”
John watched Donovan scan the rest of the paper as Sherlock kept writing. He didn’t seem at all concerned at her interest, but he did pause after he turned the paper over to write on the back and Greg produced an audible gasp.
“Problem?”
Greg shook his head frantically.
A minute later and it seemed Sherlock was finished. He turned in his clipboard to Greg, who scanned it with what looked like a great effort at composure.
“I’ll need your help tracking some of these down,” he said after a moment, and Sherlock merely nodded.
Greg led them all to another room marked ‘Clinic’, and one by one they went in to get a shot of the antidote. While Sherlock was inside out of earshot, Anderson said,
“Always knew he was gay.”
“Hardly a brilliant deduction,” snorted Sally. Greg scowled at them both.
“Didn’t know he was a bit of a slapper though,” Anderson continued, voice mean, and both Donovan and Greg looked like they were going to angrily retort.
John beat them to it.
“You shut your mouth!” He snarled, getting into the man’s personal space.
“It’s a free country and he can do what he likes, and if I hear a word of it has got out then so help me-”
“Alright alright!” Anderson cried, cowering away.
“John?”
“You’ll regret the day you met me!” John growled.
“John!”
The voice finally registered. Sherlock.
John flushed, suddenly embarrassed.
“Are we done?” He asked Greg, eyes down.
“Yes,” Greg confirmed, and John didn’t wait for more. He pushed his way out of the clinic, hurrying away down the hallway, trying to outrun his feelings of awkwardness and disappointment.
It was only when he got outside that he realized Sherlock had been right behind him.
“Look, I’m sorry for making a scene,” he mumbled, wishing a cab would magically turn up like it always did for his friend. “I just couldn’t let that stand.”
“Couldn’t let what stand?”
Sherlock sounded a bit bewildered, which was more emotion than John had heard from him for weeks.
“He called you a 'slapper’. You know, like, promiscuous.”
“Not really an unfair assessment, given the evidence,” said Sherlock. John risked a look at him. Now he looked…amused?
“It’s a derogatory term,” John insisted, and Sherlock nodded in apparent acceptance.
“So…it doesn’t bother you?” Sherlock asked.
“What? No!” John said. He didn’t add that he was bothered that his own name wasn’t on the list. “I don’t care how many people you sleep with.”
“Oh.”
Was that… Was Sherlock disappointed?
“You might want to learn their names from now on though,” John said, trying to lighten the mood. Thankfully, Sherlock chuckled.
“Never seemed very important. Not like we keep in touch or anything.”
“So none of them are…”
“No, John” Sherlock answered, and his face softened. “None of them, are.”
“Oh…well…”
John thought of all the things he could say. Be supportive of Sherlock’s right to see who he pleased, do as he liked. But instead what he said was,
“Good.”
“Good?”
“Yeah. Good,” John repeated, falling into parade rest. “I’m glad none of them are anything special. I’m glad you don’t know their names.”
Sherlock was obviously nonplussed. John continued.
“I don’t care how long your list of names is. I only care about one thing.”
Amazed at his own daring, he took two steps closer to Sherlock - and took encouragement from the way the man’s breath hitched.
“I only care,” said John, “about whose name is going to be last on that list.”
Sherlock’s pupils blew abruptly wide.
“Have…have you got any suggestions?” Sherlock asked, barely seeming able to get the words out. John stepped closer again, head spinning but determined. He stretched up so he could whisper;
“Captain John Hamish Watson of the Fifth Northumberland Fusiliers. Blonde, from London.”
All the warning John had was an anguished sort of keen from Sherlock, before he was being kissed like the world was ending. Sherlock had hold of his shoulder and jaw and John pulled him closer by the waist, tilting his head so he could give as good as he got.
After a moment he did his best to gentle the kiss, feeling Sherlock tremble against him. His lips were so soft, John knew he would happily go on kissing him forever if given the chance.
“Alright?”
Sherlock hummed, nuzzling into his neck. John was undone with relief.
Having Sherlock there where he belonged was worth everything. It was worth getting doused with mysterious chemicals and fraught police text messages and childcare and embarrassment and lists. Those were all irrelevant as long as he could have his detective in his arms at last.
As if reading his mind, Sherlock murmured,
“They didn’t mean anything, John.” John squeezed him in reassurance.
“I know, Sherlock. But…”
“But?” Sherlock leaned back, looking a bit anxious.
“But you must have learned a thing or two from them, hmm?”
Sherlock laughed in surprise, eyes twinkling with mischief.
“I might have. Just showed you some, with that kiss… want to see some more?”
“God, yes,” sighed John.
Sherlock raised his hand and a cab of course appeared, whisking them off towards Baker Street, and the future.
Like I know it’s kinda a funny joke, but I think there is honestly some truth to it. If you can’t get your own house in order, I can’t take your political opinions seriously.
Oh yes, that’s great way to maintain your bias and make sure you are fully correct in everything you do. Do whatever you need to warp reality to make sure you are a good boy.
I love this. A man admits that instead of finding objective truth in the universe, ensuring his mind isn’t warped or manipulated by propaganda, lies, bullshit, he just goes full in.
Truth, logic, reason? Yeah fuck that shit. I need to be right, even if the universe doesn’t agree with me.
If anything this proves that post-modernist don’t just live on the left wing, they festered in the right. Pull the trigger.
That’s a lot of words to just say you’re a liftlet
Bold words from a guy who decided to do the good ol’e com and block. Ironic, since you take pride in being blocked by 109 people because they rather not listen to what you have to say.
But hey, whatever strokes your confirmation bias. The world is a scary place, you can’t be wrong about it, can you?
The IMVU List. Only post for it will be here. To submit someone to the list, there must be more than 3 different reasons with proof for them to be placed on the list. To be removed from the list? There must be 10 different reasons all including proof to remove them from the list. You can send submissions to this blog, you can send anon asks. You can direct this blog to another blog(s) that have information on said user you are trying to have placed on the list or off. No user is on the list mistakenly. List is updated frequently.
Anthonyroberts6(Anthonyroberts1, Anth666&others) (Homepage ID Number 303644597) - Anthony is 27 years old.(He lied about his DOB when signing up.) He’s not only on here for cheating and getting women pregnant but he’s legitimately dangerous for 13-17 aged. There are numerous submissions that I can’t even post because of Tumblr Guidelines. Anthony got 2 FOURTEEN year old girls pregnant and left them all alone. Some people take IMVU RP serious and for a 14 year old, they don’t know the difference. He took advantage of them and as an adult man using IMVU, he knew it was wrong and he did it anyway. He has no remorse and he’s made no intentions of stopping. He does have more than one account.
iCrissy(Homepage ID Number 40402866) - Transphobic on and off of IMVU. Rather paranoid about other men that aren’t her boyfriend and other women, even if they’re in relationships themselves. Crissy very much dislikes new users, and is selectively nice to longtime users. She’s paranoid new users are old users in hiding.
Choccymilk9(Homepage ID number 330996966) - EXTREME TRANSPHOBE. She said and quote “choccymilk9: Well if it was born with a penis, it’s a boy! Congratulations! If it was born with a vagina, it’s a girl!!”. She WILL NOT respect your pronouns, and if you’re enby or they/them, then you’re not even a real person, in her eyes, you’re an “it/it’s”. She has a group of friends who NEVER say anything about the cruel thoughts she has in her head that she openly publicly speaks about. They encourage her behavior. (Babeboo15, Chippy9113, UnrulyRoyale, XlFADEDlX2, and IIDvstyII) Nobody knows Choccymilk9′s real name, she has remained anonymous for the time being. She will call you catfish/fake if you’re transgender or don’t identify with what you were born with between your legs at birth. Avoid her and all her hate-filled blogs/friends to truly feel some kind of security using IMVU/tumblr.
MassHeal/iHeartWaifu - LoneliestBrat (Homepage ID number 326160781) - She thinks everyone is out to get her or after her or transphobic. She’s threatened to end her life by showing photos of a camping knife she bought multiple times, along with sharing self-harm photos. It doesn’t matter if you’re a transgender yourself, she will accuse you of being transgenderphobic (Transphobic) &fake if you comment or speak to someone SHE doesn’t like.
Queen998810(Homepage ID Number 304236816) - She’s making profits off stolen textures & stolen artwork in her IMVU shop. It’s theft everywhere and if you call her out about it, she becomes extremely dramatic. Her entire shop screams ‘DMCA ME’.
Updated the list. Continuing updates and back from hiatus!
Scully would have an encyclopedic list of exquisitely minute retributions to deliver, and neither rain nor sleet nor gloom of night would distract her, if she turned her mind to it.
The List is out, if you haven’t heard. Dan and Monica are chatting live starting at 2 p.m., and you can submit questions, comments and jeremiads right now!
Illustration by Dongyun Lee and page design by Vicky Fogg for The Washington Post
J-Law photo by Jason Szenes (EPA). Woodley photo by Monica Schipper (Getty). Sprouts photo by Matthew Lloyd (Getty). Cauliflower photo by Deb Lindsey (The Washington Post).
“Key & Peele” photo courtesy of Comedy Central. “Broady City” photo by Lane Savage. Deep-frying photo by Paul Sancya (AP). Spatchcocking photo by Bill O'Leary (The Washington Post).
Daft Punk photo by Jamie McCarthy (Getty). Terje photo courtesy of Backroom Entertainment. Tesla photo by Justin Sullivan (Getty). GM photo by David Goldman.
Color run photo by Amin M. Jamali (Getty for Activelife by Daman). Stroller derby photo by Petra Malukas (AFP/Getty). Lorde photo by Victoria Will (Invision/AP). Betty Who photo by Shervin Lainez (AP).
Denzel photo by Gus Ruelas (AP). Chiwetel photo by Facundo Arrizabalaga (EPA). Kombucha photo by Larry Crowe (AP). Drinking vinegars photo by Toby Talbot (AP).
Bryan Cranston photo by Ursula Coyote (AP/AMC). Taylor Schilling photo by Barbara Nitke (AP/Netflix). Cronut photo by Richard Drew (AP). Egg cream photo by Teddy Wolff (The Express).
Clickhere to see the full list, take our polls, peruse a photo gallery, and unleash your anger in the comments. Tweet your additions and reactions using #TheList2014.
Hillary Clinton photo by Susan Walsh (AP). Kirsten Gillibrand photo by Jim Lo Scalzo (EPA).
The List for 2014 is out tomorrow in a matter of hours, or minutes, really. Til then (and after), tweet your OUTs and INs for next year using the hash tag #TheList2014.
