1 [Report This]Date: January 25, 2021 11:08 am Title: willow
I've really enjoyed this and the previous installment. Loving London Pam and Jim and booing at London Karen :o)
Thanks!
Author's Response: Thank you, Sam! I’m thrilled you enjoyed it.
1 [Report This]Date: January 21, 2021 09:06 am Title: gold rush
"Someone asked you to marry them when you walked through that crowd. You have options!” Can I just say that Isabel is my FAV
"He developed a slightly different personality that he put on as soon as he got to work every day." WOW, I mean...I hate and love this Jim equally. I can totally see this happening! He puts on a facade every day with his feelings for Pam, but now it's for the show too? This was such a great little trail.
"Instead, the summer was a blur of drinks on patios and men whose names Pam couldn’t remember." HELL YA GIRL GET YOURSELF SOME
“Why would I watch it?” she told the camera in a talking head. “Who wants to watch people work?” I'm going to gush about this entire idea later but I can ABSOLUTELY see Karen hating the entire idea of a doc about a paper company! Too high and mighty to see the interest. LOVE this. Even if she did use Jim for personal gain.
"but clearly Corporate liked him, and she needed to have a good handle on the competition." EXCUSE ME--
"He cut his eyes at Pam, so quickly she almost missed it." UGH. This wounded me. Poor Jim. Caught up in feelings and also fame. Sigh.
"And that meant that the man she had feelings for...the man she was in love with...was just a figment of her imagination, a distant memory." Again. Lady. You're KILLING me with this.
I just LOVED this concept as a whole. The fact that Jim could lose himself in the doc? Having them watch it in real time? Pam seeing not only her own faults, but then getting to watch Jim and not have him? It adds a whole extra layer to their communication issues, like an "I didn't call because I saw that you were better off without me."
Listen, I wouldn't be mad if you made this an entire saga. It was excellent!
Author's Response: Aw AG - what a great review! Thank you for this. Yeah, this could become a whole saga, like those fics where someone wrote about each episode. It was a bit of a mind f**k to write, but it was fun. Thank you for the kind words. It means a lot coming from the author who enticed me to join MTT in the first place with a little fic called Wake Me Up.
1 [Report This]Date: January 20, 2021 01:00 pm Title: gold rush
This is SUCH a perfect concept for this song! I can’t get over how well it works.
I loved your use of the secondary characters: Mark as a bit of a dick, Isabel as an awesome bestie & mostly Karen as totally self-serving.
This is so, so great!
Author's Response: thank you JB! I didn't know that Karen was going to come out that way, but in the end it made sense, given that she and Jim never really clicked. Thank you for the kind words - I'm glad you enjoyed it.
1 [Report This]Date: January 20, 2021 12:23 pm Title: gold rush
Sprinkles, the concept of this is just so brilliant and clever! And with this song? Perfection.
The visual of women throwing bras at Jim is just delightful, I must say. Thank you for that. I love them hiding from fans, escaping to some empty room, and confessing it all. Such a beautiful job with this!
Author's Response:
Thank you! Given your extreme writing skills, I'm taking this review as a huge compliment.
And yes, as Dwight says, some of the more simple-minded fans just couldn't resist throwing their bras at Jim.
Thank you for your kind words.
1 [Report This]Date: January 19, 2021 11:47 pm Title: gold rush
That awkward moment when you hate yourself a little for being a JAM fan :)
But I love this AU very much, and you wrote their turmoils with fans, cameras and watching themselves on the screen so very well! It feels so real, like a missing piece of a puzzle from the canon, and I like it.
Oh, and I, probably, in love with angry Pam. She's awesome.
Thank you very much for your story!
Author's Response: Thanks Dernhelm! Yeah, I've written angry Pam a lot - maybe I'm projecting! I just think that although I love Jim, he has some personality quirks that would drive me insane. Thank you for your kind words, I'm glad you enjoyed it.
1 [Report This]Date: January 19, 2021 09:23 pm Title: gold rush
First off, I love the concept here - there are a lot of stories to tell about the impact of the documentary airing on their lives, and the idea of how they would have had to react to it in real time is very intriguing.
I think it's very plausible that Jim might have leaned into a particular sort of public persona - he likes to be liked, he likes attention, you can see him at least appearing to thrive with this in a way that might well have driven the hurt and lonely Season 3 Pam off the wall.
I also like the choice to have Pam get beaten up a bit here. It does seem like the fandom, especially at this pre-Phyllis' Wedding juncture in the story, would have been very much Team Jim and that would have taken a toll in addition to what she was already dealing with.
Nice job with this!
Author's Response: Thank you! What a kind review! I think the stories are endless with this perspective of everyone knowing everything right away. I thought about taking it all the way to Phyllis's wedding, but it was easier to get rid of Roy early on. I could only twist my brain around the concept to a certain point! Thanks for your words.
1 [Report This]Date: January 19, 2021 07:06 pm Title: gold rush
Lady, this is my favorite thing of yours that I’ve ever read. You have such a skill and a gift when it comes to putting them in their emotions in real time; I felt like I was going through it all with them. And you did SUCH a great job with this song! I was blown away with how you interpreted it so perfectly. I really loved the premise and seeing these different points from each of their perspectives and the addition of Karen was genius. And I think you nailed exactly how they would all act had the show been airing in real time, down to the confrontation at the table. Well, outside the bathroom.
Amazing. Loved every word.
Author's Response: Aw BT, thank you! That's a very sweet thing to read. This song took a bit of thinking to interpret. Thank you for the kind words.
1 [Report This]Date: January 19, 2021 06:40 pm Title: gold rush
This was so good. I lovedddd the concept of this, with the episodes airing shortly after being filmed. That definitely would have made the relationships within the show way different. You would think that the episodes airing so close to the events would have Jim and Pam realize that they both love each other a little sooner, but Jim really did put on a good act, so I get how they were still misunderstanding. Our little idiots, never seeing what's right in front of them. Such a good chapter, though! I loved it and how you incorporated the song!
Author's Response: Yeah, I felt like this idea of the episodes airing right away opened up a whole bunch of possible scenarios. Pretty hard to keep secrets with those cameras around. Thanks for the review! I'm glad you liked it.
1 [Report This]Date: January 19, 2021 06:29 pm Title: gold rush
I LOVE the premise for this! And how even seeing it played back so soon, they struggle to tell each other how they feel right away. There aren’t many fics that explore what it would be like for them once the doc aired so I love the idea of them having fans and avoiding people in public, especially with the idea of it airing as it happens. Loved this, Sprinkles!!
Author's Response: Thank you! It was fun to write.
Date: January 19, 2021 06:12 pm Title: gold rush
This was such a great look into what would have happened had the doc aired like this. The whirlwind of everything was just very real. There's no hiding things now since it's all there on camera. It leaves it so there's a ton of more insight they can get on each other because of what they've seen, yet at the same time since they're not talking, a lot of assumptions about things get blown out too.
Jim wearing a mask for TV fits really well. Especially after Casino Night his guard is up and it translates to TV Jim. However Pam can see right through it, even if she's still upset with him. Shows that even when they're emotionally distant they know each other.
Then of course it all falls away there at the dinner. Almost as if there was a big gigantic pause button pushed on their hearts after The Kiss and neither one of them really moved past that. So Pam's reuse of the words of that night are so wonderful a way to get their hearts beating again.
Then the descriptions of what they get up to when they're finally together make this whole thing worthwhile. Now that they're together they can't not be together. Beautiful.
The vending machine kiss being the thing that outs them is delightful as well. Just a cute simple moment but it's perfect. Outstanding job.
Author's Response: Thanks warrior! I'm glad you enjoyed it. It was a fun concept to write.
Date: January 18, 2021 10:41 pm Title: willow
wow. we are truly being blessed by “evermore” (which quite frankly i love more than folklore :0) and i was elated to find that willow was a continuation of everything has changed! the ending twist of karen coming to visit and pam running out has me itching for more. i cannot wait to keep reading! you’re all brilliant and deserve a hot slice of pizza from alfredo’s pizza cafe right now! haha!
Author's Response: Thank you so much! I'm so glad you are enjoying it and I would absolutely take that pizza. ;)
1 [Report This]Date: January 18, 2021 01:59 am Title: champagne problems
I want to hate it, but I can't, and I'm just very weepy at the moment. It was a heartbreakingly incredible journey, and, reading this, I had to remind myself that there will be better times for Pam (since every 'bottle' hit so hard that I need some time to compose myself).
Two moments that shot me right through my heart: 'even evergreen things die eventually' and Midas allusion (I love myths and that suits depressed Pam so, so well).
Thank you so much!
P.S. I feel I made the right choice of not reading all of your updates at once. Safe the new chapter of MiS for a dessert :)
1 [Report This]Date: January 17, 2021 09:55 pm Title: champagne problems
This is a glorious Pam's eye journey through Season 3. It really does feel accurate to Pam, in all of her certainty about assessments she's not quite accurate about and her unhappiness about her choices and her anxiety and fear. You really tapped into her soul here. Like Pam's June 10th, a moment where none of the good that's come of her choice is remotely accessible to her, that's just... what happened that day.
I think the Roy bits might have been my favorite here, because that relationship is so complex and not often given the respect it deserves (because, you know, we ain't here for Pam and Roy). The DUI scene in particular, seeing Pam both feeling that level of guilt and also just kind of being fed up with this person she does. not. want. anymore and having to wrestle with both of those things. Again, feels very right.
"She worried for a moment that she’d forget what he sounded like when he cracked his chest open and handed her his heart and if she did that she’d never forgive herself, so she squeezed her hands over her ears and screwed her eyes shut and made herself remember." That's our self-punishing girl right there, for sure.
Again, the glimpse into Pam and Roy 2.0 was really well handled, and I feel like I have a better sense of how the denial Pam applied to that relationship worked. "In either case, she convinced herself it was the feeling of coming back to something you knew really well, even if it didn’t feel like coming home" is a hard line to read. Poor Pam.
Her using the ice bucket for the champagne for her feet is a REALLY nice touch. And her being willing to open her symbol of change in the name of actual change and having something to toast to again is lovely circularity.
1 [Report This]Date: January 17, 2021 08:17 pm Title: champagne problems
"On June 10th, she had one canceled wedding, zero best friends, and twenty-four nonreturnable bottles of champagne." On January 17th I have zero words to describe at how much of a punch of an opening sentence this is. Fuck, BT. This is going to hurt, isn't it?
"It was weird, kind of, to drink champagne without something celebratory happening, but it was cheap and available and it helped her relax and she liked the way it felt fizzy on her tongue, so really what was the problem? There wasn’t one. No problem at all, not here, not even as she finished one bottle and reached for the next." Yeah, this is definitely going to hurt. I'm not mad about it though... not really.
" and her only reaction was to take a swig right from the bottle." Roy has that effect on me too.
Hey speaking of Roy and this whole scene with him. Ma'am? How dare you. I don't at all want to feel bad about him but what else am I supposed to feel when he has to give this ring back to his mom?
From that scene on, I really love the way you write the countdown of the bottles; and also Pam's progress in buying first the flutes and then the ice bucket. Those are things that you absolutely didn't need to include in the story, but they really say So Much about her and her state of mind and how she's doing and I'm really glad that your brain works the way it does and you felt it necessary to throw these details in.
"She told herself it was the champagne, as it so often made her weepy. Or maybe she just mostly drank it when she was sad. In either case, she convinced herself it was the feeling of coming back to something you knew really well, even if it didn’t feel like coming home." I...no really, just how dare you come at me like this with all these feelings?
"“A toast to us. Unless you were saving this for something. Do you mind?”" Do you mind? Do YOU mind, BT? Honestly.
I love this, I really, really do but now I feel like I need my own bottle of champagne.
1 [Report This]Date: January 17, 2021 07:55 pm Title: willow
"He thought about a shower but dismissed the idea, not quite ready to let go of the fingerprints she had left all over him." So you're not even easing us into this story, you're just taking direct shots to the heart right from the start. Cool.
I know we've been preparing for Paris Jim since we met London Jim but the thing is that I still wasn't ready. Bored, he's absolutely perfect.
I'm not letting this go: "Flashes came back occasionally of things he would rather forget like a particular evening of intemperance with a friend of Danny’s in her apartment off the Rue de Rivoli; the blurred vision of Danny sandwiched between two half-dressed women and a third nameless face unbuttoning his own pants caused him to shift in his uncomfortably in his chair." Hey, never stop sneaking these little moments in, okay? Okay.
Back to Paris Jim. "I can definitely imagine." "and the city around them sighed in relief at another love story reaching its natural end." "She sighed at him exasperatedly, but her smile told him he still got to go home with her." This last one in particular - I just need you to know that the relationship you've built between these two in this universe is maybe one of my favorites; it's so efffortless and romantic and real and you could probably show them grocery shopping and I'd have the same reaction but let's keep them here in London and Paris for a bit still.
"But he settled for just holding her as she fell asleep." How dare you.
"Weekend getaways to Paris and amazing shower sex before work were not things she would have ever imagined for herself even a year ago, and sometimes she felt like she was holding her breath, waiting for the other shoe to drop." Is it your goal to get me to copy and paste the entire chapter into this review? Because I'm fine with that but come on. Perfect line is perfect.
"You saw me put it on, don't act surprised." Okay, I laughed.
The crazy guy at the laundromat. Jim casually asking her to move in and her not saying no. Listen, I just really love and am in awe of how you managed to portray the timeline of this relationship in under 10,000 words.
Was I expecting Karen? I was not. Was I expecting to feel a little bit of sympathy toward Karen once she realized she'd wasted her time? I most certainly was not, but I am and I guess that's on you for writing three dimensional characters.
"She knew she would find him on the other side, the same way she knew she would have returned those missed calls before she went to bed." I just really love this.
They love each other! This ending...
You did good, Bored. You did really, really good.
Author's Response:
Haha, yes, I adore London Jim too and I just want to keep putting him delightful circumstances. Also, I'm glad you felt sympathy towards Karen too. I wanted there to be some complexities in the ending of it for her (and him) and, as those things usually are, not very black and white emotions.
Thanks, friend, for all the lovely compliments! ;)
1 [Report This]Date: January 17, 2021 07:41 pm Title: champagne problems
Okay, ow. This was such a *genius* way to write about the song, but it still hurt. There's literally no other word for this other than perfection. I could feel Pam's hurting throughout all of this, and then her happiness right there at the end. "She couldn’t help but to confess to herself (only in her mind, never aloud) that the most honest she’d been in a long time was when the backs of her thighs were pressed against his desk and she was kissing him (it hurt too much to even think his name, so she tried not to)." This really just hit me. Amazing job, BT.
1 [Report This]Date: January 17, 2021 06:01 pm Title: champagne problems
“zero best friends” fuck me up right out of the gate why don’t you, BT.
“a double serving” kind of respect that she’s not just straight out drinking from the bottle - way to ease into the self-destructive behavior.
...and there we go... The progression is just perfect. I hate that she goes to pick up Roy & I hate that I understand exactly why she does it.
“she squeezed her hands over her ears and screwed her eyes shut and made herself remember” Oh. Your mind, BT. This is absolutely perfect and of course this is where she’d be at. I love this image, if it hurts then it’s real.
Why is it bottle fifteen that’s destroying me the most?
“the feeling of coming back to something you knew really well, even if it didn’t feel like coming home” Just capture Roy & Pam’s S3 reunion perfectly in one sentence why don’t you...
Pam buying the ice bucket is just such a brilliant metaphor with how she’s finally getting it all together with the boldness & courage & coal walk. It’s very Fancy New Beesly & I am living.
I swear to god that ending has me halfway to my fridge to crack open the bottle of champagne I’ve been saving for a special occasion so I can toast to your genius. I’m not kidding.
The way you wove the lyrics through the whole thing. Are you Taylor?! Please confirm.
Author's Response: Hello it’s me, Taylor Swift
Date: January 17, 2021 05:45 pm Title: champagne problems
That was a bit of a heartbreaking journey through S3. To read about her internal thoughts through all the highs but especially the lows makes it even more poinant (sp). Really love that there's still one bottle left there at the end. One last bottle to be used for a celebrations a year and a new person in the making. She's come through so much and now with Jim there it's one last toast to the old before starting out on the new. Really well done.
And yes bored and ava did a great job with the cover art.
Date: January 17, 2021 05:40 pm Title: willow
OH EM SQUEE. First, I was hoping you guys would do a series for Evermore but THEN TO SEE THIS??? Truly feels like Christmas morning and Santa read my fic letter. I’m obsessed with the first part of this story. And, like that, I had to read this multiple times to get all of the beautiful nuances.
I love how deep the love is here. There’s something so romantic about it. The certainty and intensity.
Karen making an appearance was perfect, especially how he handled it. I was kinda hoping we would see Danny and Jim at the restaurant opening (or if the “friend” was someone from his man whore days but maybe another time.
I didn’t totally get the ending. Or who he was talking to. I’m guessing that’s intentional but I’m curious. Maybe I missed something.
Anyhow, thank you for this delicious gift. I can only hope we get a bit more another time.
Author's Response:
I'm so thrilled you are as excited to see London Jim as I was to write it! I really do love this universe as well. There are several things left open ended, like the restaurant opening, for later as I hope to get an opportunity to write some follow up chapters.
I'm sorry the ending wasn't clear. It was my rather poorly executed attempt to preview what was to come without giving away too many details and spoilers. It is supposed to be Jim beginning to propose to Pam. There were several internal and external things in both chapters that hinted that this was his eventual intention (visualizing them married, witnessing the proposal at the Trocadéro, etc.)
I apologize that wasn't as clear as it was in my head.
Thank you for your review!
1 [Report This]Date: January 17, 2021 05:33 pm Title: champagne problems
exCUSE ME MA'AM.
Let's just have a rundown of the times I *clutched my heart*
-"the most honest she’d been in a long time was when the backs of her thighs were pressed against his desk and she was kissing him" ow
-"the night she heard his voice for the first time in months. Well, heard it for real, anyway. She didn’t count the loop of I’m in love with you I’m in love with you I’m in love with you that was the background noise to every move she made." my HEART
-"She wasn’t sure which was worse, the noise or the quiet." exCUSE ME
Here is where hope soared: "Bottle fifteen was opened the day she found out he was coming back. It was the first time she opened one in celebration."
and here is where my heart shattered: "Bottle seventeen was opened the day he came back. So was bottle eighteen."
"She would do anything she could to get the image of another woman scratching his back out of her head." BT. This broke. My. Soul. Karen "fixing him." Fixing what she broke. Her heart is realizing and mind is breaking and you did SO WELL with this what the--
"By the time she got to twenty-three, she’d acquired an ice bucket." This is easily the most soul shattering piece of "Pam handling Jim coming back from Stamford." The fact that she's openly marking each event with a bottle. My heart.
1 [Report This]Date: January 17, 2021 04:08 pm Title: champagne problems
This is such a perfect way to use this song to tell a JAM story. Seriously, I was wondering what you would do with it and this is perfection. There are so many lines to love.
"She felt like she didn’t deserve the effervescence that a glass of champagne would provide. And she wasn’t feeling very effervescent, anyway."
"Maybe she was just fucked in the head."
 "She’d already broken his heart in half, she couldn’t be responsible for killing him, too."
There are many more but you get the point. You weaved the lyrics so well in to this story.
1 [Report This]Date: January 17, 2021 01:31 pm Title: champagne problems
This was so good. All of it - angst-ridden, yes but in that gets you right there way.
Kind of feel bad for Roy for like a half a second - you brilliantly portrayed this to give sympathy to him while still on her side.
She wasn’t sure which was worse, the noise or the quiet. Ughh rip out my heart why don't you.
Fancy New Old Relationship - cause who doesn't go back from one last taste when you've lost what you left for.
That last paragraph was so beautiful - as was this all. Loved it.
1 [Report This]Date: January 17, 2021 12:54 pm Title: champagne problems
This is definitely one of my very favorite evermore songs and you did NOT disappoint. You weaved in the lyrics so beautifully and made me want to go cry with Pam on her second-hand couch. You write her sadness so real and so well and I LOVED this, lady!
1 [Report This]Date: January 17, 2021 11:37 am Title: champagne problems
Okay so, I knew this was going to be good. I just didn't know exactly *how* good. BT, this song is all sorts of pain and you conveyed that beautifully. I can't imagine it being done any better than this.
"Karen had fixed him. She’d picked up the shredded pieces that Pam had left in the parking lot and put them back together." I- this is just perfect.
"It was like she was King Midas, except everything she touched turned to shit." - You are like the queen of taking lyrics and turning them so perfectly into prose.
Then the ending. THE ENDING.
I just love this so much. I love this Pam. I feel her in my bones and thank you for writing this.
1 [Report This]Date: January 17, 2021 04:16 am Title: willow
Sometimes it takes me a day or two before I’m really ready to read something that you’ve written because I know even before I open it that it’s going to haunt my soul in all the best ways. I know that I’m going to need a moment to properly process it & let the beauty of it sink in & that I can’t just do that on the fly. This is one of those moments...
“all of them bypassing his higher brain and settling themselves in his soul” This. For the love of all things holy, this is already killing me dead.
Oh. He’s not going to shower because of the fingerprints SHE left ALL over him. Are you kidding me? Look. I’m just going to copy the whole thing into here because it’s all already so damn good.
“it passed for a moderately priced knock-off” How is this Jim’s whole I have no future here, but it the most spectacular prose?!
Ugh. You are making me long for travel. I want to be in Europe, or at the very least planning my next trip to Europe...
“I can definitely imagine.” Oh yeah, that’s right in the feels.
A Parisian terrace. The perfection.
“the city around them sighed in relief at another love story reaching its natural end.” Okay, but this is a little bit a love letter to Paris & I am 100% on board.
“It was the first time since the Gala that he hadn’t kissed her goodbye.” This sentence hits hard.
The paragraph where Jim notes the subtle differences in Karen is so, so good. It’s so true too, how attractive a person is is all so relative to how fondly you feel about them. I adore that Pam is the standard for Jim now.
Oh good. A “hey” “hi” I can be totally chill about that. I’m not losing all my shit over how good it is and that it leads into a declaration of love at all. I’m fine. So fine.
Bored. Girl. What a way to kick us off. You really do come back stronger than a 90s trend.
Author's Response:
Oh, Jenna.
Jenna, Jenna, Jenna.
Your first paragraph is going to be printed and framed, as we like to say. ;) So beautiful. I can't begin to tell you what your encouragement and support means to me. Thank you so much!