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theliterateape · 4 years ago

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I Like to Watch | Zack Snyder’s Justice League

by Don Hall

Mythology is fun.

As a kid I loved reading Edith Hamilton’s book on the Greek gods and the myths. Hercules, Perseus, Apollo, and Hera—this fell completely in line with my love for superhero comics. The strangely petty human traits of envy, greed, and lust combined with the power to level cities make for some great storytelling.

Zeus was basically Harvey Weinstein in the retroactive revision we’re mired in today. If Harvey could’ve changed into a golden animal and boned unsuspecting ladies looking for careers in Hollywood I’m pretty certain he would. The gods and demi-gods of the Greeks dealt with daddy issues, mommy issues, bad relationships, and fighting. Lots of fighting. Sometimes for the good of humanity but more often for the glory of winning.

Zach Snyder is in the business of tackling myths and reframing them with a style all his own. His career has become its own myth.

From Dawn of the Dead (not so much a reboot of Romero's zombie mythology but a philosophical reimagining of the genre that arguably jumpstarted The Hollywood fascination with it), 300 (a borderline homoerotic take on the myth of the Greek underdog), and Watchmen (a ridiculously ambitious attempt to put one of the most iconic takedowns on the potential fascism of the superhero legend machine ever written) to his nearly single-handed hack at answering the Marvel juggernaut with Man of Steel and Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice, Snyder is in the artistic business of subverting and re-envisioning the mythologies we embrace without even seeing them as such.

Snyder's style is operatic. It is on a grand scale even in the most mundane moments. The guy loves slow motion like Scorcese loves mobsters and Italian food. When you're tackling big themes with larger than life stories, the epic nature of his vision makes sense and has alienated a good number of audience members. With such excess, there are bound to be missteps but I'd argue that his massive take on these characters he molds from common understanding and popular nomenclature elevates them to god-like stature.

Fans of Moore's Watchmen have much to complain about Snyder's adaptation. The titular graphic novel is almost impossible to put in any other form than the one Moore intended and yet, Snyder jumped in feet-first and created a living, breathing representation of most, if not all, of the source material's intent. Whether you dig on it or not, it's hard to avoid acknowledging that the first five minutes of Watchmen is a mini-masterpiece of style, storytelling, and epic tragedy wrapped up in a music video.

Despite a host of critical backlash for his one fully original take, Sucker Punch is an amazing thing to see. More a commentary on video game enthusiasm with its lust for hot animated chicks and over-the-top violence that a celebration of cleavage and guns, the film is crazily entertaining. For those who hated the ending, he told you in the title what his plan was all along.

The first movie I saw in the theaters that tried to take a superhero mythology and treat it seriously (for the most part) was Richard Donner's Superman: The Movie. Never as big a fan of the DC characters as I have been of Marvel, it was still extraordinary to see a character I had only really known in pages to be so fully realized. Then came Burton's Batman movies. The superhero film was still an anomaly but steam was gaining. Things changed with Bryan Singer's X-Men in 2000, then Raimi's Spiderman, and those of us who grew up with our pulpy versions of Athena, Hermes, and Hades were rewarded with Nolan's Batman Begins. A far cry from the tongue-in-cheek camp of the 1966 TV Batman, Christian Bale's Bruce Wayne was a serious character and his tale over three films is a tragic commentary filled with the kind of death and betrayal and triumph befitting the grand narrative he deserved.

I loved Singer's Superman Returns in 2006 because it was such a love letter to the 1978 film (down to the opening credits) but by then, the MCU was taking over the world.

Snyder's first of what turns out to be an epic storyline involving perhaps seven or eight movies was Man of Steel. It was fun and, while I had my issues with the broodiness of Kal El, the odd take on Jonathan Kent, and a redheaded Lois Lane, I had no issue with Superman snapping Zod's neck. Darker and more tragic than any other version of the Kryptonian, it was still super entertaining.

Then came Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. By 2016, Marvel had codified their formula of serious characters wrestling with serious issues of power and responsibility peppered with lots of good humor and bright colors. Snyder's desaturated pallete and angst-filled demi-gods was not the obvious road to financial competition.

I'll confess, I hated it. BvS felt half-rendered. Lex Luthor was kind of superficial and played as a kind of Joker. The whole Bruce Wayne wants to kill Superman thing felt undeveloped and the "Martha" moment was just stupid.

When Joss Whedon's version of Snyder's Justice League came out in 2017, I was primed for it to be a turd and I wasn't surprised. So much of it didn't work on any level. I dismissed it as DC trying and failing miserably and was comforted by the coming of Thanos.

Following Thanos and the time heist was COVID. Suddenly, we were internationally sidelined and the movie theater industry caved in. Streaming services started popping up like knock-off smartphones and Hollywood was reeling, doing anything and everything to find a way back. Since Whedon's disastrous helming of Snyder's third act, fans online had been demanding to #ReleasetheSnyderCut but no one was ever really taking them seriously until all movie production was shut down for a year.

The stage was set to remedy a mistake (or at least make some bucks on a do-over of a huge box office failure). Snyder had left the production in part because of the suicide of his daughter and in part due to the constant artistic fights over executives looking for the quippy fun of the MCU but he still had all the original footage. Add to that the broiling accusations that Joss Whedon was "abusive" during the reshoots, the path seemed destined. For an additional $70 million and complete control, Snyder delivered a four hour mega-movie streamed on HBOMax.

Of course, I was going to watch the thing as soon as I could.

The Whedon version opens with an homage to the now dead Superman (including the much maligned digitally erased mustache on Henry Cavill). The SynderCut opens with the death of Superman and the agony of his death scream as it travels across the planet. It's a simple change but exemplifies the very different visions of how this thing is gonna play out.

Snyder doesn't want us to be OK with the power of these beings unleashed. He wants us to feel the damage and pain of death. He wants the results of violence to be as real as he can. When Marvel's Steve Rogers kicks a thug across the room and the thug hits a wall, he crumples and it is effectively over. When Batman does the same thing, we see the broken bones (often in slow motion) and the blood smear on the wall as the thug slides to the ground.

The longer SnyderCut is bloated in some places (like the extended Celtic choir singing Aquaman off to sea or the extended narrations by Wonder Woman which sound slightly like someone trying to explain the plot to Siri). On the other hand, the scene with Barry Allen saving Iris West is both endearing and extraordinary, giving insight to the power of the Flash as well as some essential character-building in contrast to Whedon's comic foil version.

One thing I noticed in this variant is that Zach wants the audience to experience the sequence of every moment as the characters do. An example comes when Diana Prince goes to the crypt to see the very plot she belabors over later. The sequence is simple. She gets a torch and goes down. Most directors which jump cut to the torch. Snyder gives us five beats as she grabs the timber, wraps cloth around the end, soaks it with kerosene, pulls out a box of matches, and lights the torch. Then she goes down the dark passageway.

The gigantic, lush diversity of Snyder’s vision of the DC superhero universe—from the long shots of the sea life in the world of Atlantis to the ancient structures and equipment of Themyscira— is almost painterly. Snyder isn't taking our time; he's taking his time. We are rewarded our patience with a far better backstory for the villain, a beautifully rendered historic battle thwarting Darkseid's initial invasion (including a fucking Green Lantern), and answers to a score of questions set up in both previous films.

Whedon's Bruce Wayne was more Ben Affleck; Snyder's is full-on Frank Miller Batman, the smartest, most brutal fucker in the room. Cyborg, instead of Whedon's sidelined non-character, is now a Frankenstein's monster, grappling with the trade-off between acceptance and enormous power. Wonder Woman is now more in line with the Patty Jenkins version and instead of being told about the loss of Superman, we are forced to live with the anguish of both his mother and Lois Lane in quiet moments of incredible grief.

To be fair to Whedon (something few are willing to do as he is now being castigated not for racism or sexism but for being mean to people) having him come in to throw in some levity and Marvel-esque color to Snyder's Wagnerian pomposity is like hiring Huey Lewis to lighten up Pink Floyd's The Wall or getting Douglas Adams to rewrite Cormac McCarthy's The Road.

I loved Snyder's self-indulgent, mythologic DC universe.

So much so that I then re-watched Man of Steel and then watched the director's version of BvS (which Snyder added approximately 32 minutes). The second film is far better at three hours and Eisenberg's Lex Luthor now makes sense. Then I watched Zach Snyder's Justice League a second time.

After nineteen hours of Snyder's re-imagining of these DC heroes and villains, I saw details that, upon first viewing, are ignored or dismissed, but after seeing them in order and complete, are suddenly consistent and relevant. Like Nolan or Fincher, Snyder defies anyone to eliminate even one piece of his narrative no matter how long. With all the pieces, this is an epic story and the pieces left at the extended epilogue play into a grander narrative we will never see.

Or maybe we will. Who knows these days?

#I Like to Watch #Zach Snyder's Justice League

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randomvarious · 4 years ago

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Moby - “Bodyrock” Crossing All Over! Volume 10 1999 Big Beat

You all know who Moby is. He’s one of the most successful, talented, and eclectic electronic music producers of his generation. He’s the American who made big beat and sample-laden dance tracks achieve popularity in the US at the turn of the century. He’s an electronic music chameleon; he’s techno, he’s downtempo, he’s big beat, he’s ambient, and he’s even punk and alternative rock. He’s had a long, storied career, with plenty of hits and questionable decisions that have resulted in some really high highs and equally really low lows.

By the time Moby released his fifth album, Play, which ended up becoming considered by many critics to be one of the greatest albums ever recorded in the history of music, he thought it was his final album. Just four years prior, he had released the critically acclaimed Everything Is Wrong, which Spin named its album of the year. He ended up selling a respectable 250,000 copies of the record worldwide, but for the amount of praise it received, and for being on a major label (Elektra), it was a mediocre showing. From jump, that appeared to be Moby’s curse, as it was for most electronic talents: good music, but bad sales; a niche market conquered, but little else beyond that.

Whatever likability Moby had accrued since the UK success of his 1991 techno track, “Go,” which sampled music from Twin Peaks, nearly disintegrated into thin air with the release of his fourth album, 1996′s Animal Rights, which saw him ditching dance music for a blend of alternative rock, hardcore punk, and ambient music. Fans and critics both hated this turn and washed their hands of him almost entirely. It appeared that everyone was just about done with Moby, and that Moby was just about done with himself. Animal Rights turned out to be an album that brought him within an inch of career suicide.

But by 1999, he had decided to go back to dance and electronic music and the result was Play. However, no one seemed to want to give Play any play at all. Moby shopped it to a number of big record labels, but at that point he was regarded as a has-been; a guy who’d run out of good fortune because of his uncompromising strong will and his insufferable need to be an artist. But Richard Branson’s V2 label, which was only three years old at the time, decided to take a chance on it.

From a quote in Rolling Stone:

First show that I did on the tour for Play was in the basement of the Virgin Megastore in Union Square. Literally playing music while people were waiting in line buying CDs. Maybe forty people came.

Most of the critics adored Play and saw it as a work of contemporary creative genius; a real mover-of-the-sticks kind of album. No one, at least no American, had ever made an album quite like it before. It was uptempo, it was downtempo, it had blues samples, it had breakbeats, it was more than danceable, and it was also quite emotional and vulnerable. It was an amalgamation of a lot of different things, and it was a beautiful representative mess of the post-modern, recently-formed digital age, which, at the time, appeared to be bringing the world closer together than it had ever been before, at least from a cultural standpoint. It was music that had a little something for just about everyone. But that was what initially appeared to have ben its fatal flaw, too. See, Play didn’t fit into any pre-defined, carefully crafted, easily marketable categories; It wasn’t rock, it wasn’t pop, it wasn’t hip hop, and it wasn’t R&B. So radio and MTV passed on every song. The album certainly had no home in America, and it didn’t sell all that well in the UK either.

So Moby decided to sell the album out, literally. He licensed every single song off of Play for commercials, TV, movies, and video games, which were all industries that were more receptive to the varied sounds of the album. People would be exposed to Play through other indirect and less conventional means. And with every track licensed and songs appearing in nearly every medium that had audio, except for radio and MTV, Play, almost a year after its release, started to finally gain some commercial traction.

Here’s an illuminating Moby quote from that same Rolling Stone article:

Almost a year after it came out in 2000 I was opening up for Bush on an MTV Campus Invasion Tour. It was degrading for the most part. Their audience had less than no interest in me. February in 2000, I was in Minnesota, I was depressed and my manager called me to tell me that Play was number one in the UK, and had beat out Santana's Supernatural. I was like, :But the record came out 10 months ago.” That's when I knew, all of a sudden, that things were different. Then it was number one in France, in Australia, in Germany—it just kept piling on. [...] The week Play was released, it sold, worldwide around 6,000 copies. Eleven months after Play was released, it was selling 150,000 copies a week. I was on tour constantly, drunk pretty much the entire time and it was just a blur. And then all of a sudden movie stars started coming to my concerts and I started getting invited to fancy parties and suddenly the journalists who wouldn't return my publicist's calls were talking about doing cover stories. It was a really odd phenomenon.

Play only peaked at #38 on the Billboard 200, but it sold two million copies in the States alone. It was on charts across the world for several fucking years. And it finally brought dance music to the American mainstream.

There were two songs that almost didn’t make it onto Play though: “Porcelain,” which Moby hated, and “Bodyrock,” which Moby’s two managers hated. His managers complained that “Bodyrock” was a total ripoff of Fatboy Slim, which...fair..., and that it was tacky. But Moby wanted to keep it on there. He had sampled a classic hip hop song by Spoonie Gee and the Treacherous Three for it called “Love Rap,” which held sentimental value for him, and is the only vocal sample on the song (”Non-stop y’all, to the beat y’all, the body rock y’all...”).

At the top of this post, I called Moby an electronic music chameleon, and “Bodyrock” is the song that saw him almost seamlessly morphing into a god of the big beat sound, somehow briefly placing himself among the ranks of The Prodigy, The Chemical Brothers, and of course, the aforementioned Fatboy Slim. And he managed to do it with just one fucking song. For “Bodyrock,” Moby basically took all the things that got those three big beat acts constantly lumped into the same category, as well as all the things that made them stand apart from each other, and then he mortared-and-pestled it all to death, reducing it all into a fine powder that he could re-arrange and re-apply into his own stunning creation.

“Bodyrock” is a song that’s layered wonderfully and fuses sounds from many different instruments and genres to make something that’s intense as hell, especially for a mainstream audience, but still highly enjoyable. It’s a perfect fusion of rock, hip hop, and dance music, all packaged together into one, solidly cranking song.

Moby starts with the drum-and-vocal sample from Spoonie Gee and The Treacherous Three and then adds two layers of guitars, one with an acidified, throttling, crunchy funkiness, a la Fatboy Slim, that’s inspired by Gang of Four’s 1981 track, “What We All Want,” and one with a thin and whining kind of wah that’s also a bit funky, and which later on becomes an integral part of the chorus. Then Moby infuses the track with some hardness, with heavy drums and bass, as well as hand-claps. Rapper Nikki D, who released an album on Def Jam in 1991, then proceeds to appear out of nowhere for the chorus, pretty clearly trying to sound like MC Lyte’s nearly-forgotten 1996 jam, “Cold Rock a Party”. And along with Ms. D comes the most important piece of the recipe, the bow and ribbon that ties the whole song together, the streaming and high-pitched cinematic strings, which replace the Gang of Four-styled guitar, and are underlaid with a rumbling, motoring, thick bassline that also plays along to the string melody itself.

Two unique and brief pieces then come later on, one that sounds like a combination of clean and dirty aquatics, with a brief, pleasant keyboard melody that sounds submerged in water, but still near the surface, and a swampy and swishy, mud-in-your-galoshes type of rhythm beneath it. Then, before the song’s final push, the other brief piece appears, which sounds like those frequencies you might hear from a hearing test machine, laced with Nikki D’s vocals, the drum break from Spoonie Gee and The Treacherous Three, and some bounding bass.

To close out the masterpiece, Moby lets the chorus ride, and then adds the “Love Rap” vocal back in. You’d think playing two vocals concurrently would clash and make the song unlistenable at that point, but somehow, they don’t. They happen to work really well, and when played together along with everything else, they yield the most intense and enjoyable part of the song.

Play ended up having a total of twelve music videos and a quarter of them were for “Bodyrock”. The first two have a similar theme of British guys, all of whom except for one are white, dancing terribly, but also passionately:

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The second one features a car explosion at the end!:

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And the third one, which has a Run-D.M.C. cameo (!), shows Moby donning special sunglasses that allow him to see talented dancers everywhere:

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Even almost a year after Play was released, it appeared that it was going to be Moby’s swan song and the death of his career. But the decision to license changed all of that, and if ever there was some kind of universal music award for “comeback artist of the year,” Moby would have absolutely won that thing. But in the immortal words of LL Cool J, “don’t call it a comeback,” because while the original best hope for Play was to return to the similar sales and critical appeal of Everything Is Wrong, it managed to far exceed that wishful and shortsighted forecast. Moby was comeback artist of the year and damn near MVP also. It was a wild, totally unexpected, and fantastic turn of events for his career and wellbeing. He almost stopped making music, but now he can’t stop making music. He released an album just this year.

I wholeheartedly agree with the critics who list Play as one of the greatest albums ever made. Not only is it fucking tremendous on its own, but It marked a much-needed turning point for Moby’s career, which undoubtedly kept him going, and still keeps him going today. And one of the many amazing songs on that album that makes Play what it is, is that consummate, brief bit of big beat greatness, that banger of a cut that almost didn’t make it onto the album, the one and only “Bodyrock”; a song that still manages to bop as hard as it did when it originally came out 20-plus years ago.

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detroitwhatitmeanstobehuman · 5 years ago

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Chapter 3 - Similar Minds

Part 3/17 of What it Means to be Human

Word Count: 8526

Warnings: Swearing, mild suggestive banter, implied character death, traumatic car accident related flashback/panic attack.

Genre: Self-insert/Angst

Pairing: OC (Detective Rachel) X Connor

Rating: Mature

Summary: Arriving in Camden, Lieutenant Hank Anderson, Detective Rachel, and Connor began investigating the AX400 case. Rachel is determined to show off her skills and impress Connor. However, things begin to go awry when the AX400 flees from the scene and the pair has to pursue it and the child in its care.

First Chapter | Previous Chapter

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I think it’s pretty safe to say that I’m not a fan of car rides.

Driving, or at least before self-driving cars became the norm, I was more comfortable with. Hell, I actually really enjoyed car rides before.

But now that I was more acutely and painfully aware of my own mortality? It was like sitting in a tin can of death and impending doom for me. It’s why I always tried to take public transit. Which is strange because for the longest time, I did not trust public transit until I had no choice but to use it.

I watched the first episode of BBC’s Sherlock way back when, and since then, I did not trust public transit, especially taxis.

Granted, it’s not like I panic. I used to. I wasn’t able to ride in cars for a good long while, but after putting in the effort as well as doing the steps to overcome my fear that my psychologist recommended I take, I’m now able to at least tolerate car rides.

Do I like them? No. Do they give me anxiety and perhaps trigger me? Yes. But can I deal with them? Yes, depending on the circumstances. I’m not perfect and I have off days like everyone else.

But I’d like to think I was pretty good at hiding my anxiety. That was until I had both the pleasure and misfortune of being temporarily partnered with Connor, the android sent by Cyberlife, as he introduced himself as. “Are you alright, Rachel?” He asked me. “I’ve detected a large spike in your heart rate as well as a drop in temperature and signs of hyperventilation.” If I had remembered that he could literally do a scan of my vitals and know what’s wrong with me, I would’ve avoided this altogether. I wasn’t exactly a fan of feeling vulnerable in the police environment, but there was something so sincere about Connor’s queries. Which was strange, since he was an android and couldn’t really portray truth or lies differently. But maybe that was why he came off as sincere as he did.

I looked up at him, clutching tightly to my left arm. He was seated in the front beside Hank, since they were the ones that were actually partners and I was just their backup. Although, I knew I was more than that to Hank. As sour as he was, he liked my company, as much as I enjoyed pissing him off. I wasn’t like Gavin, though. I just mildly annoyed people with dumb or lewd jokes or my weird quirks and random thoughts.

Gavin was, well, an insufferable asshole.

I always had a feeling that Hank had a bit of a soft spot for me, and not in the creepy “old man coming onto a young vulnerable woman” sort of way. I think he recognized that I did some really good work despite my oddities. Hell, he even admitted that I was a better detective than a lot of them on the force (always glaring at Gavin when he said that). If I wasn’t working on a case, he’d get me to tag along on whatever case he was working on. Or he’d recommend the better cases to me, usually the harder ones that he didn’t want to deal with but couldn’t trust the others to take on either.

That last part kind of annoyed me, but the pride I felt after solving them every time sort of kept me from stopping him. Especially if it came with a jealous glare from Gavin. That was sheer nirvana on the spectrum of my “smug bastard” metre.

“Rachel?”

Connor calling me by name snapped me out of my thoughts. “Oh, sorry. I zoned out.” I quickly apologized, nervously adjusting my short hair and pushing my glasses up my nose. “What was the question?”

“I was just asking if you were alright.” Connor repeated.

“Oh, yeah! I’m fine.” I said, shuffling in my seat, trying somehow not to focus on the outside and inside of the self-driving car at the same time. “I just...don’t like car rides.”

“Yeah, don’t worry about it. We’ll get there in about a minute.” Hank assured me, glancing back at me with a gruff smile. “And on the way back, you can play your music and tune out.”

I smiled appreciatively. He knew that playing and humming and singing to my music helped me stay calm and relax. “Thanks, Hank.”

The greying man gave me a nod and turned back around, however Connor’s gaze was glued to me. As he stared at me, I stared back at him. It wasn’t really threatening as it was odd, and I wasn’t really sure what he was thinking of. I noticed his LED was spinning yellow for a brief moment before it settled back to its pristine blue hue. “What profession usually shares the best gossip?” He suddenly asked me.

I squinted my eyes at him skeptically. Is this a test? A trick question? I tried to think about what a real answer to his question would be. “Uhhhh, I guess NSA agent?” I answered.

“Landscape development.” I tilted my head at him curiously. Huh? “After all, they’ve got dirt on just about everyone.”

My eyes immediately snapped shut as I took in a deep and sharp inhale and let it back out when I realized that Connor was actually telling me a joke. And a really bad one.

“Ah, Jesus fucking Christ. Not you, too.” Hank complained with a groan.

As much as I wanted to agree with him, I was trying really hard to fight a smile and a laugh as I sort of blinked my eyes at my shoes. As hard as I tried, I could feel the involuntary grin start spreading across my face and the urges of a snicker erupting in my belly. Eventually, I gave in and conceded defeat, bursting into a fit of begrudging giggles. “That was so bad, Connor.”

He seemed to blink in confusion. “You didn’t like it?” I could’ve sworn you saw wounded pride in his deep brown eyes. But not the brazen kind, the kind that made me want to wrap my arms around him and apologize.

“No no! I love it, unfortunately.” I said, still giggling and trying to play it off. “That was so bad, but it was also really clever.”

“I have more, if you’d like to hear them.” Connor offered.

“Please don’t encourage her.” Hank grumbled.

I then gave the android, whom I had already decided was a dork, a confident smirk. “How about I tell you one, first?” I suggested. “And you’re not allowed to look up the answer for it. That’s cheating.”

“Oh Jesus, here we go.” Hank sighed.

“I won’t.” Connor assured me, his facial expression not changing very much, but the corner of his mouth was ever so slightly upturned.

I tried to rack my brain for some of my favourite jokes, and I quickly remembered one that was always fun to tell. “What do you get when you mix a dyslexic, an insomniac, and an agnostic?” I asked him, my right eyebrow raised expectantly, my hands folded in my lap.

Connor paused for a moment before he answered. “I’m not sure.” He replied. “What do you get when you mix a dyslexic, an insomniac, and an agnostic?”

I found it sort of endearing that he repeated the whole question even though he didn’t have to. I put on my biggest and smuggest grin before I delivered the punchline. “Someone who lies awake at two in the morning wondering whether or not there’s a Dog.” I said with a small dramatic gesture of my hands as I leaned back in my seat.

From beside Connor, I heard Hank snicker. I couldn’t hold back my swollen sense of pride. “Okay, fine, that one was pretty clever.”

“See? You like my jokes, Hank.” I pressed insistently.

He scoffed. “Yeah, when they’re good.”

I raised both my eyebrows at him. “So, all of them, then.”

I could practically hear him rolling his eyes. “Alright, listen here, smartass.”

But he didn’t really have a response to my joke as I felt the car start slowing down and I realized that I actually forgot about my anxiety for the remainder of the trip. “We’re here.”

As Hank got out of the car, Connor remained there for a moment. “I thought it was clever, and I enjoyed it. I appreciate your sense of humour.”

Connor then got up after Hank, and I sat there briefly for a moment before getting out of the car to follow them. There was one thought that was swirling in my head at that moment. Did he do that on purpose? To distract me from the car ride?

I pulled my hood up as we approached, as I was not a fan of the rain, but didn’t feel like bringing an umbrella. It wasn’t raining hard enough to need one, I figured.

I saw a familiar face. Hank’s buddy, Ben Collins. I didn’t know him that well, personally, but we were on a first name basis and in all the interactions I’ve had with him, he was pretty friendly. “Mornin’, Hank.” He greeted, eyeing Connor and then myself. “I see you’ve got that with you.” I couldn’t help but feel a twinge of displeasure. I knew he wasn’t hostile, more just neutral. But it still stung somewhere in me to refer to Connor that way. “And Rachel, your favourite detective.”

I rolled my eyes at him. “Ha ha, he asked me to come along and since I had nothing else to do and didn’t wanna miss out on this action, I decided to tag along.” I said coolly.

“Alright, no need to be jumpy. I was just askin’.” Ben said, not trying to start a fight.

I knew he meant nothing by it, but I didn’t want to be known as just “Hank’s favourite.” I had my own merits I was pretty damn proud of.

“She’s one of the best detectives there is in this city, so count yourself lucky I brought her along.” I smiled a brief smile at Hank. It was nice knowing that he always had my back.

“Not denying that, Hank.” Ben replied with a nonchalant shrug.

I folded my arms and regarded him patiently. “So, what have we got, Ben?”

The stocky white-haired man flipped open a notepad and I took mine own to start jotting down notes. “Well, it was seen in the convenience store down that way.” He gestured to the place, and I took note of it. “The cashier said that it was with a young girl and it asked for some cash for a place to spend.”

I looked up at him. “And?” I asked.

“It left, taking the girl with it.” Ben replied.

“So, nothing was taken.” I conjectured.

“Nope.” He affirmed. “It just left.”

I quickly took note of that. “Where else was it seen?”

“The only other place it was seen was the laundromat just over there.” I looked over at it and took note of it. “And hanging around the motel that way.” I looked over in that direction and took another note.

My notepad looked a lot like this:

Model AX400

Took off with a little girl

Belonged to Todd Williams (scumbag, I don’t believe him for a second)

Was seen in the convenience store asking for spare cash, but didn’t take anything

Was also seen in the laundromat and around the motel

Given all this information, I had a pretty clear idea of what happened. But it still wasn’t completely conclusive. Not until I fully immersed myself and started doing what I did best.

“Alright, thanks Ben.” Hank said, turning around to look at the street.

Ben turned in the same direction as I eyed him. “We’ve got officers sweeping the neighbourhood, in case anyone saw anything.”

Hank nodded. “Okay. Well, let me know if they turn anything up.”

Ben looked over across Hank. “What are you gonna do with that?”

I followed his gaze and found Connor idling by away from us. He was sort of just standing there in the rain looking at nothing. It made me sort of chuckle a bit, seeing him just kind of there. “I’ve no idea.” Hank said.

I scoffed. “Why not use him?” I suggested as I started making my way towards the android. “Or, better yet,” I turned around to face Hank with a smug grin, “wait until I do my thing. I wanna see the look on his face.”

Hank rolled his eyes. “I doubt you’ll be able to show him up, but I’d love to see you try.” He agreed. “It’ll at least be interesting whether or not you do.”

“And isn’t that the best kind of rivalry?” I said somewhat jokingly. As fun as it would be to be able to rival a prototype detective android, I did actually want to work with him. I just couldn’t help the smug bastard in me that wanted to impress him.

I approached Connor, noticing him staring off, his LED spinning a pensive yellow. “So, robo-cop.” I started off. “What’cha gettin?”

“It took the first bus that came along,” he started, turning towards me, “and stayed at the end of the line. Its decision wasn’t planned, it was driven by fear.”

I pulled out my notepad and I took note of that. I felt Hank approach behind me, scoffing. “Androids don’t feel fear.” He contested.

“Deviants do.” Connor corrected. “They get overwhelmed by their emotions and make irrational decisions.”

“I wouldn’t call it irrational.” I chimed in. “They may be rash and impulsive, but they’re not irrational. They’re not mindless. They’re still driven by rational thought processes unless under specific circumstances of extreme and persistent abuse of various sorts.” Hank raised a skeptical eyebrow at me. “It’s reasonable to assume. Besides, on the way here, I pulled out my phone and did a search on the AX400 and found an interview with its owner, Todd Williams, on channel 16 news. He claimed that the android attacked him unprovoked, but immediately he struck me as not being truthful. First, I find it extremely hard to believe that it attacked him ‘for no reason.’ No one just does shit like that for no reason, so he’s hiding something. He also didn’t mention anything about having a daughter.”

Hank shrugged. “So?”

“The AX400 model is designed to be a caretaker of the home.” I continued on. “Take care of chores around the house, take care of cleaning, preparing dinner, all of that. That also includes child care. So, the android was already looking after a little girl when it was living with Todd in his home. The fact that he didn’t mention anything about his daughter is really setting off my alarm bells that he shouldn’t be trusted. So, if the android felt that it had to look after the young girl, that also means protecting her. And if it recognized Todd as a threat to her, it stands to reason that it broke through its programming and became deviant in order to protect the girl and save her, escaping Todd and fighting him off.”

Connor’s LED was spinning a frantic yellow. “I don’t understand.” He said, and I could recognize vocal frustration. “What makes you so sure about this conclusion? Conjecture?”

“A very strong gut instinct.” I replied. “And when it’s mattered, mine haven’t been wrong.”

“You can’t make conclusions based on a ‘gut feeling,’ detective.” Connor shook his head, his brows furrowed. “Not without enough evidence to support it.”

I scoffed at him. “You think that humans are less advanced than machines like you just because we call processes and programs things like ‘feelings’ and ‘instincts?’” I challenged him. “The human brain is like a computer, constantly taking in, recalling, collecting, and retaining information. Hell, instincts are just your brain recalling similar scenarios and examples and patterns from several different situations in only a fraction of a second. So when someone has ‘a bad feeling’ about someone, it’s not just an irrational feeling. It’s their brain analyzing a bunch of different patterns they’ve seen or experienced and telling that person that ‘this person fits this pattern, do not trust them.’

“And that’s the feeling I get about Todd.” I let out a sigh. “Because he’s not the first ‘Todd’ I’ve had to meet, unfortunately. And people like him aren’t particularly original. And humans are very good at detecting when something is wrong with something or someone. And as much as I wish more cops were more unbiased and logical like you are, I’m gonna go with Occam’s Razor on this one.”

“Alright, alright. I get it.” Hank shut it down. He knew I had a tendency to ramble on, and tended to stop me before I got too carried away. On the one hand, I really didn’t like being interrupted like that, especially because I knew I was going to forget that tangent later. But on the other, it was nice having someone who could keep you on-track. “That still doesn’t tell us where it went.”

“It didn’t have a plan. And it had nowhere to go.” Connor said, his LED returning to a calm blue. “Maybe it didn’t go far.”

“Maybe.” Hank agreed.

“Well, you said that it got off at a bus stop at the end of the line.” I reminded Connor. “Which one would that be?”

He pointed at it, across the street. “That one over there.”

I nodded and closed my notebook. “Then that’s where we start.” I began making my way over, Hank and Connor following closely.

As I approached the bus stop across the street, I sat down and let out a long sigh. I closed my eyes and placed my hands on either side of my face. On each hand, my index and middle fingers were situated on my forehead just above my eyebrows while the other two were folded, and my thumbs were pressing into my cheeks. I was taking a few deep breaths, trying to clear my mind and get into the right frame.

“What is she doing, Lieutenant?” I heard Connor whisper.

“You don’t have to whisper, I’m right here.” I said, not with hostility. “And I’m just getting into the zone.”

Connor paused for a moment. “To do what?” I could practically see his LED flickering yellow in my mind as I pictured him.

“You’ll understand in a moment.” I assured him. Hank and Connor were both silent as I found my centre. And after a few moments, I got up from my seat, clasped my hands behind my back and opened my eyes. “Alright, I’m a deviant android who has just escaped the home of an unstable and dangerous man who has proven himself to be a serious threat to his daughter, the child whom I was tasked to look after and whose safety is now my top priority.” I said, all the information we’ve gathered clear and at the forefront of my consciousness. “We’ve reached the end of the line, and now we have nowhere to go. It’s late, it’s raining, and - Connor, what was the temperature last night?”

“2° Celsius.” He responded immediately.

I turned to him. “You used Celsius instead of Farenheit, I’m surprised.”

“You’ve lived on the Canadian west coast for most of your life.” Connor said bluntly. “I figured you’d prefer it that way.”

“Well, you figured correctly.” I agreed. “Imperial is stupid and dumb and makes no sense. Imperial is for losers.”

“Hey!” Hank protested. I raised my eyebrow quizzically at him. He then shuffled in place before he shrugged. “Whatever.”

Getting back into my mindspace, I took another breath. “Anyways, it’s late, it’s cold, and it’s raining. I have a child with me who is very susceptible to the elements, and traveling any further from this street would be unwise, so my priority is find a place to spend the night that’s warm, sheltered, safe, and/or comfortable. So, I take the little girl’s hand and I start walking, walking, walking, walking,” I repeated going down the street and looking around, “walking, and walking until I see a motel across the street. A motel would be ideal for the girl. It’s comfortable, safe, warm, and dry, and sheltered. However, it is not discreet and we could potentially be discovered or turned in by the staff. I start crossing the street so I can get a closer look and I can evaluate my options. And as I get closer, I also notice the convenience store further ahead, so potentially I could get money or supplies since given the panic and desperation a few hours ago, it can be reasonably assumed we left with nothing but the clothes on our backs.

“And as I approach the motel, I see that you need $40 up-front and that androids weren’t allowed in. Seeing as I have no money and I can be very easily identified as an android because,” I then turned to Connor who was following close behind me, “correct me if I’m wrong, but all working androids are required to wear something similar to what you’re wearing to be easily recognizable, correct?”

“Correct.” He said with a nod. “It’s in accordance with the American Androids Act of 2029 that all androids must be clearly identified and distinguishable from humans.”

I got back on track. “Right, troubling implications of that aside, I would need money and a change of clothes, both things I do not have. So, I disregard the motel for now and go into the convenience store. Now, we know for a fact that the android did not take anything from the store, and I do not think that there is another realistically feasible way to scrounge up $40 for a room, so I think it’s safe to say that we can eliminate the motel from our potential hiding places.”

“What about the laundromat?” Hank asked. Connor was uncharacteristically quiet. “It may not have taken money, but it could’ve stolen some clothes.”

“In terms of whether or not we stayed in the motel, that doesn’t matter if we don’t have the money for a room.” I pointed out. “Stealing clothes could both be to disguise the android and keep the little girl warm and dry. Stealing money would only help with getting a motel room. So while the laundromat is a considering factor, it is not a determining factor. So, because we know that it did not steal from the convenience store, we can rule out the motel.”

Hank nodded. “Makes sense.” He agreed. “So what does that leave us with, then?”

“Working on that.” I assured him. I took another deep breath and resumed my role. “Okay, so motel is off the table. So, what other options do I potentially have? So, I cross the street again. And I’m walking, and walking, and walking, and walking, and I see a parking lot!” I pointed at the sign that said “parking.” I continued. “So, I go to check it out.”

I made my way towards it and peaked in. There was a car inside, but it looked abandoned. I opened the gate and stepped inside, getting a better look at the place. My gaze was fixed on the car. “I notice that the car is abandoned. It would safe, more comfortable than would honestly be expected, but not ideal, warm, and sheltered. But, it’s kind of open and exposed.” I glanced behind me at the gaps in the tarps surrounding the chain link fencing. “And the car has not been touched. Nothing. If they were here, they didn’t stay. So, what’s the next option?”

I turned around and saw the towering abandoned structure just on the other side of the inner fence. “A creepy, decrepit, abandoned house to squat in. Definitely not ideal. It’s sheltered, and it’s definitely hidden. Nobody would look for us in there. But I’m not sure if it would be safe or warm or comfortable. But, seeing as they didn’t stay in the motel and they clearly left the car undisturbed, looks like by process of elimination, we’re left with,” I groaned in defeated disappointment. “The creepy, decrepit, abandoned house. Great, one of every woman’s worst fucking nightmares.”

Hank nodded, standing beside me. “Well, that all makes sense to me.”

“There’s blue blood on the fence. Another android was definitely here.” I snapped my head in his direction. “That was incredible!” Connor exclaimed, to my complete surprise. Damn, that’s some high praise! But he then did something that was unexpected, but honestly, it was fucking adorable. He pretended to straighten his tie and cleared his throat as if he were embarrassed. And if I didn’t know him any better, I’d say he was. “Very impressive, Rachel.”

I smiled wide and beaming, soaking up the android’s praise. “Why thank you, Connor. That is quite the compliment, coming from you.”

“Your mental process as you were analyzing the different outcomes and evidence and possibilities piecing together the previous night,” he went on. “It seems to be a lot like reconstruction.”

I tilted my head at him, intrigued. “Reconstruction?” I echoed.

He nodded. “It’s one of my programs. By analyzing evidence and samples and compiling them, I’m able to create a theoretical reconstruction of the scenario that I can play back that can show more literally to me what took place.”

“Oh!” I said, taking in his explanation. “Interesting!”

“I am curious, though.” He interjected. “Why did you say all of your thoughts out loud like that? Is it necessary?”

“Well, it’d be pretty weird if I just walked off without saying anything, now wouldn’t it?” I said with a scoff. “But it also helps me remain focused and on-track. See, in my head, I’m holding so many ideas, clusters, thoughts, and pieces all at once. So, depending on the circumstances and the subject, information and details tend to get lost very easily. Saying it all out loud means I have to think about and focus on what I’m saying, which helps it stick. It keeps me in a rhythm and when I say my thoughts out loud, it helps me not only process it, but retain it. Because otherwise, I can potentially forget important details as soon as I turn around, as I know I often tend to do.”

Connor nodded, seeming to understand. “Ah, I see.”

“If you two are done sucking each other off, we have a deviant to find and a case to solve.” Hank interrupted.

I groaned at him. “Did you have to phrase it like that?” I asked.

“If it means you’ll stop talking, yeah.” Hank responded.

I let out an exasperated sigh. “Yeah, point taken.” I conceded. “Let’s go into the creepy home that definitely won’t house my impending doom.”

Connor approached the fencing and looked up at the house. “Anybody home?” He called. He got no response, so he quickly knelt down and crawled through the fencing on the bottom, which I realized had been cut with fence cutters.

I grimaced up at the house. “Why did it have to be a creepy house straight out of a horror movie?” I complained.

Hank scoffed at me. “Well, if you don’t like it, you can just stay out here and I’ll go in after him.”

I did not like that idea. “Oh, Hell no! That’s worse!” I refused. “How about you stay here and I go in with Connor?”

I didn’t even wait for an answer from Hank before I crawled through the fencing on the bottom. “Well, that was easy.”

I glared at him from behind me. “Oh, shut up, Hank.”

“Yeah, speak for yourself.” I rolled my eyes at him. “Now hurry up, he’s already way ahead of you.”

Taking up a brisk pace, I quickly caught up with Connor, who quickly regarded me with confusion. “This could be dangerous.” He said. “You should’ve stayed behind with Lieutenant Anderson.”

I looked up into his eyes. “I didn’t like the idea of you going in alone, and I also didn’t like the idea of being by myself.” I answered. “At least this way, we can watch each other’s backs.”

Connor nodded, seeming to accept my justification. Dutifully, I followed in behind him, acutely aware of the gun in my holster. He seemed to be rounding the perimeter of the house before he found boards he could peek through. I sneakily peeked in from the corner and found what looked like a person just standing in the middle of the room. I didn’t get a good enough look at them, but I felt my gut tighten and my jaw clench. Connor, however, remained calm as usual, and walked on ahead whilst I followed him. Across from the boards was a green door with a silver knob. I saw that it had a little paw print on it, and I thought it was cute. This must’ve been a pretty nice place before it fell in shambles. I thought, briefly.

Connor wrapped his hand around the knob and twisted it, and the door gave way without much resistance. Connor and I stepped through and the green door closed behind us under its own weight.

When I saw him in the middle of the room, I felt my heart stop and my blood turn to ice. “Oh my God...” I whispered. He was unmistakably an android, but the left side of his face had been torn and his hands were weathered and he looked as though he was wearing only what he could manage to scrounge out of the garbage. Upon seeing his face, I instinctively grabbed my left arm. He was twitching uncontrollably, out of fear, no doubt. It took all of my will to keep my eyes from watering at the horrid sight.

Connor approached the disfigured android slowly. In a quiet voice, Connor began speaking to him. “Don’t be afraid.” He reassured the android, as he began making his way around the room, inspecting it. “I’m not gonna hurt you.”

I couldn’t tear my eyes from the android, and I was quickly failing to keep my tears from welling. “What happened to you?” I asked in a hushed whisper. “Who did this to you?”

The android looked up at me and locked eyes with me, and I noticed that the eye on his left where his wounds were was damaged and had gone dark blue. “Humans.” He responded quickly. “Humans...” He answered. “Humans hurt Ralph...humans did this to Ralph.”

I felt my heart break into a million pieces and I couldn’t stop myself from crying. “I’m so sorry.” I said, quickly wiping away the tears from my eyes and taking a moist breath in through my nose as I tried to recompose myself.

Connor took notice of me as he continued to search, and I felt a twinge of embarrassment. “I’m looking for an AX400. Have you seen it?” He asked.

“Ralph’s seen nobody...” The android replied hastily.

Connor continued analyzing various details of the room. “Are there any other androids here?” He asked.

“Other androids?” Ralph asked, looking up at Connor before looking back down at the ground. “No...Ralph is alone...”

Anytime he spoke, I just felt my heart break even more. I looked away and started to walk towards the stairs. “There’s blue blood on the fence.” Connor pointed out. “I know another android was here.”

“Ralph scratched himself coming through...” He answered immediately. “That’s Ralph’s blood...”

But as I approached the stairs, I noticed an odd, but unmistakable smell. Another aspect of my atypicalities was that aside from my eyesight, my senses were particularly sensitive. Although, I also had auditory processing issues and was hard of hearing, so my hearing was not always reliable.

But one of those senses was my sense of smell. I could pick up smells very easily and a lot quicker than other people could. Particular smells also tended to trigger sensory overload or just generally set me off. It’s one of the reasons I can’t fucking stand chewing gum in any capacity.

But this was a smell I’d experienced enough times to know it when I smelled it. And it was not pleasant. It was the smell of a human cadaver. At least a week old, it had to be. But from what I could tell, it was not on this floor with us. It smelled like it was coming from up the stairs

Connor noticed my attention on the stairs and walked towards me. My eyes kept going to Ralph and the scars on his face, and I could hardly find it in myself to blame him. After what he’d been through, what reason did he have to not lash out out of fear? What reason did he have not to think that any human would just hurt him more? Humans probably would hurt him again or did. And as much as I was not comfortable with the fact that Ralph was probably a murderer, I didn’t want him destroyed. I wanted him helped, and I wanted him not to have suffered through what he had suffered to make him this way. He didn’t deserve this. I thought, with a fury flowing through my veins. None of them do.

As Connor was slowly going up the stairs, I noticed movement in the corner of my eye. When my eyes found it, I realized what was happening. Below the stairs was the barest movement of a crouching shape. The AX400 and the girl were hiding down there below the stairs. And Ralph was protecting them.

“Is anyone upstairs?” Connor asked, already up half the flight and peering up to the second floor.

“No.” Ralph replied. “Nobody.”

Connor looked over at Ralph, his gaze lingering for a moment on the disfigured android. But then his gaze locked onto me. I knew he was no fool. He knew I noticed something was amiss and he took that as his cue to investigate. Either the smell wasn’t strong enough for Connor to notice, or he just couldn’t smell at all. Honestly, I wasn’t even sure if androids could smell.

I had a choice to make. If I gave Connor the idea that there was something up there to investigate, he would arrest Ralph and have him destroyed. Which, perhaps he did deserve. But I didn’t feel like it was my right to decide his fate. Not when we had something else more important to deal with at the moment.

Deciding to keep Ralph’s secret, I shook my head at Connor, telling him that there was nothing upstairs.

Connor’s yellow LED spun back to blue as he quickly made his way back onto the ground floor.

The android detective was making his way to check where I saw the fugitives hiding. I felt my heart start beating faster, until I heard Hank’s voice from behind us. “Connor, Rachel, what the hell are you doin’ in there?!”

“Coming, Lieutenant!” Connor called, kneeling down.

As soon as he did, Ralph wrapped his arms around Connor faster than I could react and I pulled my gun on him. “RUN! QUICK! KARA!” Ralph was yanking Connor backwards, and I quickly realized he wasn’t trying to hurt him.

He was allowing the others space to get away. From under the stairs, two people burst out and bolted around through the door on the left of the room, and Hank quickly came in the way we did as Ralph threw Connor onto the ground weakly.

The moment Hank entered the room, I saw my chance and took it, giving chase after them. From behind me, I heard Connor shouting. “It’s here! Call it in!”

I didn’t slow down for a moment as I was laser focused on catching up to Kara and the girl before Connor got to them. I didn’t want them dead, but I’d rather be the first to reach them than anyone else.

I rushed past an officer in pursuit, the pair still in my sights. It didn’t take much to keep pace with them. They were within arm’s length, but I obviously wasn’t going to just grab them. “Wait!” I cried.

But they didn’t stop. They kept running. I couldn’t blame them. When I almost had them in my reach, they quickly turned a sharp corner into an alley. When they reached a fence blocking their path, I pulled my gun on them. “Freeze! Don’t move or I’ll shoot!” A complete fucking lie, but I couldn’t let them leave.

They both turned around slowly, their hands in the air. As I approached them, stepping closer, I took notice of what the android looked like. Her hair was short and blonde. It looked as though it had just been cut. But most remarkably, I noticed her LED.

Or lack thereof. She didn’t have one. Which means she must have removed it. And without it, along with her human clothes, she looked nearly indistinguishable from a human.

The android known as Kara began to speak directly to me. “You care about androids, I know you do! I saw it! When you looked at Ralph! When you talked to him!” She pleaded. “We can’t stay here, you have to let us go!”

I wanted to. So badly, I wanted to let them be free and run away. But...I had to know the truth. “What happened between you and Todd?” I asked her. “Why did you run away?”

“He was going to hurt Alice!” Kara answered without any hesitation. So, Alice is her name. “She was in danger. I couldn’t let him hurt her. I had no choice! I had to protect her!”

As if being pulled down by a weight, my arms began lowering. “I knew it.” I said, more to myself than them, but they heard it anyways. “I was right.”

But a familiar voice quickly divided my attention. “Don’t shoot, Rachel!” Connor’s voice echoed from behind me. “We need it alive!”

Taking this opportunity, I mouthed one thing to them. Run! I then turned to Connor and glared at him. “Oh, wow! Thank you Captain Obvious!” I started, chewing him out. “It’s not like anyone in their right mind could tell that the android who’s responsible for the life of a young child needed to be kept alive!”

“They’re getting away!” Connor cried as he rushed past me.

Looking back to the fence, I felt relief that they were already pretty much over the fence and out of our reach. I quickly put the gun back into my holster and rushed to join Connor at the fence.

Kara locked eyes with Connor and then myself before she and Alice slid down the muddy slope. But then I looked ahead of them and I realized what they were facing.

The highway. They were going to cross the highway.

Immediately, I felt the worst kind of lightning pierce my veins. My heart was pounding out of my chest and I felt like I was choking on air itself. Feelings of helplessness, pressure on my chest and head, and sensations like shards in my skin began overwhelming my senses.

But there was only one thing going through my mind.

I couldn’t let them cross.

I grabbed the fence and started to climb up it, but I suddenly felt hands clutching onto my wrist and pulling me back down. “What are you doing?” Connor asked.

“They’re not gonna make it across the highway!” I cried, trying to scramble up the fence, but Connor kept holding me and then pulling me down with impossible strength. “If I don’t save them, they won’t make it! I can’t let them die out there!”

“If you go after them, there’s almost no chance of you succeeding!” Connor said, holding me down. “If you die on that road, there’s no coming back for you! Don’t you understand, Rachel?!”

“I don’t care!” I practically screamed, trying to fight my way out of his grip, feeling my breath grow rapid and frantic. “I can’t let them die out there! I can’t let them die!”

“I can’t let you take that risk!” Connor insisted, grabbing my face and forcing me to stare at him. “If you die, you don’t get a second chance. Do you hear me?”

“Don’t you dare, Rachel!” Hank’s husky voice called from behind us. He sauntered up and leaned against the fence, catching his breath. “Oh, fuck...that’s insane.”

He let go of me, and I couldn’t control the streams of tears that poured down my face as my limbs began to tremble violently. I hated that he was right, but every fibre of my body was screaming at me to stop them before it was too late. The sounds of the cars were practically deafening even though they were so far away, and the sounds of sirens only made it worse.

Suddenly, I felt Connor shift, and looked over to see Hank yanking him down. “Hey! Where you goin’?”

“I can’t let them get away!” Connor retorted.

I stared at Connor straight in the face. “Don’t you fucking dare!” I practically screamed at him.

“They won’t.” Hank said. “They’ll never make it to the other side.”

“I can’t take that chance!” This time, both Hank and I had to pull Connor down to stop him from jumping the fence.

“Hey, you will get yourself killed!” Hank shouted at him. “Do NOT go after ‘em, Connor. That’s an order!”

But Connor didn’t listen, and I felt my heart constrict so tightly I could hear my rapid heartbeat in my ears and pounding in my head. “CONNOR! God damn it!” Hank growled as Connor slipped out of our grasps and jumped the fence.

As I watched Connor slide down the slope, I lost all control. “IF YOU DIE OUT THERE, I SWEAR I WILL DRAG YOUR ASS BACK HERE AND KILL YOU AGAIN MYSELF, GOD DAMN IT!” I screeched at full volume.

But as soon as I did that, I collapsed against the fence, and as I saw Kara and Alice desperately dodge the oncoming vehicles, I completely shut down.

Images of being trapped in a flipped car at night began racing through my head. I couldn’t bear to watch anymore. I slumped against the fence, my back to the highway, and I started rocking back and forth involuntarily mumbling incomprehensibly as horrible bloody memories began to thump and pound and bang on my brain and every nerve and vein in my body felt like it was doing to burst. Numbness in my left arm. Shards of glass embedded in my skin everywhere. Horrible pain in my whole body. The feeling of the rough pavement as I managed to crawl out of the flipped vehicle. The sounds of sirens and the flashing of red and blue emergency lights. A slumped figure against the pavement as I tried desperately to reach out and call for them.

Only to reach them, hold them, and watch my whole life slip from my fingers, my heart and soul dying with the light in their eyes as I clutched onto them, screaming and desperately willing them to come back to me. For all of this to be a horrible nightmare. That I would wake up in a second and I could confide in the love of my life about what I dreamed about that night in their arms as we slept.

Only to be pulled away and be forced under as I watched everything fall apart around me.

“Rachel!” I heard a voice breaking through my visions. “Rachel, it’s okay! I’m right here, just breathe!” I recognized that it was Hank’s voice, and I felt him clutching at my arms. I snapped my eyes open as the horrible echoes of my visions swirled in my tired and wounded head. “Breathe, kiddo. It’s okay. They made it. You don’t have to worry about them.”

They did? I thought. So it was all a bad dream? But then I realized what Hank meant, and I was quickly dragged back to reality. Oh. Right. Kara, Alice, and Connor.

Forcing myself to breathe deeply, the sounds and visions started to dull. “That’s it, kiddo. That’s it. Just breathe.” Hank said softly, gently holding onto me and kneeling in front of me. “I’ve got you, it’s gonna be alright. Just look at me, listen to me, and just breathe.”

I did as he asked, and I started to remember my surroundings and why I was here. The case. This morning. The street. The house. The chase. As I kept breathing, my muscles began to relax, and I realized that I was clutching my left arm really tightly, and let go, putting both my hands on the ground on either side of me. My heart was still racing and my eyes felt sore, but I was beginning to come back from that horrible low place. I swallowed and I knew my voice had become hoarse. “There you go, kiddo.” Hank said, gently shaking me. I gently grabbed his arms with my hands and looked him in the eyes. “It’s okay, everything’s fine. Connor’s coming back right now. No one died. Everyone made it.”

Connor. His name repeated in my head. That’s right. Connor. My brows furrowed in complete anger. That fucking asshole!

“Looks like you’ve caught your breath, now.” Hank said, reassuring me. “Can you stand up?”

Letting out a long sigh, I nodded. “Yeah...I think so.” I croaked.

Without waiting, Hank hooked an arm around my back under my arms and started helping me to my feet. As soon as I was standing, he pulled me aside so I was leaning against the corner between the alley wall and the fence. I clutched my chest, taking in several deep breaths. My heartbeat had slowed, but it was still beating so fast.

As soon as Connor climbed back over the fence, my attention was completely focused on him. Unbridled rage began to boil in my veins as I glared at this selfish plastic moron. “You!” I snarled, lacing my broken voice with as much venom as I could bring myself to inject. “WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU?! YOU COULD HAVE DIED OUT THERE!”

Connor looked taken aback for a brief moment, but for the most part, his face was relatively reserved. “I couldn’t let them -”

“Quiet!” I shouted, shoving him harshly. “Watching ONE person die in a road accident was one too many! I don’t want you adding to that list just because you wanna recklessly and selfishly risk your own life without any regard for anyone else!”

“If I get destroyed, my memory will simply be transferred to the next-”

“I DON’T CARE!” I shouted at him. Everything went quiet as I stared at him. But I felt so tired, and exhausted, and broken that I couldn’t keep up the tough love act for long and broke into quiet sobs.

Hank gently grabbed my shoulders, angling me away from Connor. Nothing was said for a long long moment. If not for what just preceded this, I would’ve considered this a moment of respite.

“I’m sorry.” Connor said, softly and meekly.

Taking a few breaths between my weak and stifled sobs, I turned to face him, but did not walk towards him. “The important thing...is that no one died today...that everyone made it.” I managed to get out between breaths and sobs.

Hank started gently walking me out of the alley. “Let’s just head back to the car.” He suggested. “We did what we could. There’s nothing more for us to do, here.”

I nodded, leaning on Hank, occasionally stealing a glance back at Connor. Even after yelling at him, I couldn’t help but feel a sharp stab of guilt when he looked at me like that. Like a wounded puppy.

We eventually made our way to the car, and I was able to walk without Hank supporting me. “You wanna sit in the front this time, Rachel?” He asked me.

I looked at him and gave him a weak smile, but it was as much of one as I could muster. “That would be nice.” I answered quietly.

“Yeah, just go on in and have a seat. I’ll just let Ben know what happened.” Hank assured me, giving me a reassuring pat on the shoulder. He walked off to find his colleague, and Connor came up behind me. He didn’t really say anything, and we just sort of looked at each other for a long moment before I opened the door and sat in the passenger’s seat.

As soon as I closed the door, I let out a long sigh and wiped my eyes. I leaned back into my chair and felt my eyes well up again. I wasn’t going to fall apart again, but I clearly wasn’t done feeling all the horrible things. “Fuck...” I breathed as I slumped into my chair.

I felt Connor lean forward and I knew he was going to try to talk to me. Despite my outburst earlier, I didn’t hate him. Hell, I chewed him out because I was so scared I was going to watch him die because of his own stupid reckless bullshit. But...I definitely did not have the energy or patience to talk to him right now. “I’m sorry.” He said, and I hated the twinge I felt because he sounded so sincere. “I should’ve considered how you and Hank would feel if -”

I couldn’t do it. “Connor, I don’t wanna talk right now!” I cut him off. He snapped his mouth shut and gave me that injured puppy dog look again. I let out another sigh as I sunk further and further into my seat. “Just...please. Not right now. Maybe later, but...just let me wind down, please.” I begged him.

I couldn’t even look at him in the rear view window. I couldn’t bear to see his dark eyes boring into my soul. He was quiet for a good while until he spoke up. “Alright.” He agreed. “I’m sorry.”

I closed my eyes and let out another breath through my nose. As soon as I heard the driver’s side door open, I knew Hank was back. “Sorry it took so long.” He apologized. I quickly fastened my seatbelt as he started the car. “You can put on whatever tunes you want and just relax the whole way back, okay?”

I looked weakly up at Hank. “Thank you.” Was all I could muster. I pulled out my phone and connected it to his radio, scrolling through my playlists. I thought of playing an album full of easy-listening piano songs, but I decided that would be too quiet and sombre for a fifteen minute car ride. So instead, I scrolled to my usual ‘happy music’ that I played when I needed a good auditory pick-me-up. I put on an old Owl City album and let it play. As Hank started the car, it began driving, and very quickly, I managed to drift off to sleep, hoping to get at least some rest before the day was over.

---------------------------------

Next Chapter

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irinapaleolog · 5 years ago

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Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker had raised the hopes of Reylos, fans who longed for Rey and Kylo Ren to end up together in the end, healing the wound inflicted on the galaxy two generations earlier by Emperor Palpatine and Anakin Skywalker. The marketing certainly hinted at such and, at least for less-invested viewers, the film delivered on its promise of romance: Reylo (and Bendemption) did occur, and Rey and the redeemed Ben Solo shared a passionate kiss, which is why it may be so perplexing for the general audience that Reylos hated the ending. Two weeks after the release, they're still mourning on social media, and demanding for Disney to #RealeaseTheJJCut, a reference to an edit that would have delivered the conclusion they wanted, and purportedly what director J.J. Abrams intended. So, what happened, exactly?

While romance is certainly not a new concept to Star Wars, it was never depicted from the perspective of a woman. However, The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi made moves to remedy that: The camera stays with Rey when she interacts with Kylo; the lighting, music and the chemistry between the actors drew in many women. The trope being trapped was "enemies to lovers," a classic of romance literature. In The Force Awakens, Kylo is infatuated with a "lowly scavenger," despite himself and his training. In The Last Jedi, the two characters establish a connection that goes deeper than their pasts, ripe with wedding imagery from around the world, before separating again.

The comparisons with the doomed romance of Anakin and Padmé popped up. If the tragic lovers of the prequel trilogy married in the second movie and died in the third, surely the sequel would turn it around, allowing the last descendant of Anakin Skywalker to fix what he had broken and to triumph where he had failed.

It's easy for a certain segment of the audience to dismiss the power of romance, but it remains most lucrative literary genre in the world. Romance writers master the art of the promise and the delivery, which is a happy ending for the main couple. There are tragic romantic novels in which one or both of the lovers die, but that's not what Disney was promising with Episode IX. From that perspective, The Rise of Skywalker punishes the male lead by killing him the moment he chooses to save the love of his life. Abrams and his co-writer Chris Terrio were going for a parallel with Return of the Jedi, but that movie was never promoted as having romance at its core, and Darth Vader didn't have his entire life in front of him.

The Rise of Skywalker then goes out of its way to show how little Rey really cared for Ben, to the point where, after watching the final scenes, it's difficult to assess what impact he had in the plot. The film also does that to Hux and Rose, but in the case of Ben Solo it's particularly egregious because he's the last of the Skywalker bloodline. If they were going for Return of the Jedi parallels, they could have included either a funeral or a Force ghost, but the audience is denied that, which is a strange and cruel narrative choice.

Even worse, the ending broke the promise made in the promotional material. Yes, there was a kiss, but it's swiftly punished: The heroine ends up alone in a barren planet; the Byronic hero is never mentioned again. The other side of fandom might argue that Star Wars should have never catered to romance, but they would be the first to complain if a film advertised like Fast & Furious turned out to be a family comedy; false advertising elicits the same kinds of reactions in everyone.

Ben Solo's death, isolated from the romance, is also problematic because he was coded as a conflicted, groomed, abused, abandoned and brainwashed child soldier fighting to break from his programming. The ancillary material supports this, and in Marvel's The Rise of Kylo Ren, it's shown he never attempted to kill Luke Skywalker, he didn't burn the Jedi temple, and he didn't attack his fellow students. It was a set-up designed to turn his family against him and place him within the First Order. Han, Leia and Rey work for two entire movies to try and bring him back. By killing every single character that even attempts to turn around, the film confirms their worst fear -- that the only way out is death.

There'ss another horrifying message lurking in The Rise of Skywalker, however, if you are coming to the film from this perspective: that your family will disown you and forget you the moment you misbehave, replacing you with a "good child." That's exactly what happens to Kylo Ren; despite his efforts to come back as Ben Solo, neither Luke nor Leia nor Anakin help him. Ben has to imagine a conversation with his father to move forward, and in the end, his mother and his uncle replace him with Rey, who becomes their "found child" and assumes the Skywalker name.

But Kylo was filling a different role too -- the monster boyfriend, whose most famous example is Beauty and the Beast. While the original purpose of tales like Beauty and the Beast was to prepare girls for marriages in which they would be under the authority of their (potentially monstrous) husband, the tale evolved, and the monster became a focus for those that society had misunderstood or repressed. It's the grown-up version of little children, who feel powerless most of the time, preferring the Hulk over any other superhero, only with romance, darkness and danger thrown in; it's a way to explore a problematic aspect of reality through fiction. Unfortunately, instead of allowing fiction to play its role for women, the monster boyfriend trope is incredibly policed ("it's toxic!"), a criticism that doesn't extend to monster girlfriends (see Mara Jade's murderous origins and her eventual marriage to Luke Skywalker in Legends).

Many women in Star Wars fandom identified with Kylo Ren for those reasons, and the more the character was attacked on social media ("he killed his father!" "he's ugly, unworthy of being a hero!"), and the more stories about what really happened to him were published, the more affection he drew.

And while we are talking about ancillary material, The Rise of Skywalker contradicts almost every single narrative thread about Kylo published to date, which were hinting at redemption as far back as 2017. Most Reylos engaged with that material wholeheartedly. Despite the amazing talent involved in its creation, those fans view the ending of Episode IX as a slap in the face, and many women feel like they have wasted their time buying into a franchise that ultimately never cared about fulfilling its own promises about happy endings, telling a complete story, or even offering hope and compassion to the characters that needed it the most.

However, all of that might have been better received had the film been generous with the heroine, the first woman to be the primary protagonist in the Skywalker Saga. For two and a half movies, it even looked to be a story in the fairy-tale tradition, with a poor orphan discovering her inner power, defeating an unspeakable evil, forging friendships and, ultimately, finding the love of her life and becoming the leader of her people.

Instead, The Rise of Skywalker leaves Rey effectively where she started, on desert planet, taking with her someone else's droid and someone else's name. She doesn't grow, and she doesn't even confront or integrate her inner darkness. Rey, who had been wonderfully feral up to that point, becomes a creepy Stepford smiler.

That, in a nutshell, is why Reylos are angry, despite getting their space kiss. For many, The Rise of Skywalker felt like a bad punchline after a long con from Disney, and Star Wars has the bitter taste of a franchise that accidentally tapped into women's interests but had little interest in them as intelligent viewers engaging with the material.

#the rise of skywalker #reylo #kylo ren #rey

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paulodebargelove · 5 years ago

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Michael Joseph Jackson (29 August 1958 - 25 June 2009) was a singer-songwriter, music producer, dancer and actor. Called the King of Pop, his contributions to music and dance, along with his publicized personal life, have made him a world figure in popular culture for more than four decades.

The eighth child of the Jackson family, he debuted on the professional music scene, along with his older brothers Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, Marlon and as a member of Jackson 5 in 1964, and began his solo career in 1971. In the early 1980s, Jackson has become a dominant figure in popular music. Music videos for his songs, including those for "Beat It", "Billie Jean" and "Thriller", have been credited with breaking racial barriers and transforming the medium into an art form and promotional tool. The popularity of these videos helped to bring the then relatively new MTV television channel to fame. With videos like "Black or White" and "Scream", he continued to innovate the form in the 1990s, as well as forging a reputation as a touring solo artist. Through stage and video performances, Jackson popularized a series of complicated dance techniques, such as the robot and the moonwalk, which he named. Its distinctive sound and style has influenced many artists from various musical genres.

1982 Michael Jackson's Thriller album is the best-selling album of all time. His other albums, including Off the Wall (1979), Bad (1987), Dangerous (1991) and HIStory (1995), are also among the world's best-selling albums. Jackson is one of the few artists to have been introduced to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice. He was also inducted into the Hall of Fame Songwriters and the dance hall of fame as the first and only dancer in pop and rock music. His other accomplishments include multiple Guinness World Records, 13 Grammy Awards, the Grammy Legend Award, the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, 26 American Music Awards, more than any other artist, including "Artist of the Century" and "Artist of the 1980s ", 13 number one singles in the United States during his solo career, - more than any other male artist in the Hot 100 of the era - and estimated sales of more than 400 million records worldwide. Jackson has won hundreds of awards, making him the most awarded artist in the history of popular music. He became the first artist in history to have a single top ten on the Billboard Hot 100 in five different decades when "Love Never Felt So Good" reached number nine on May 21, 2014. Jackson traveled the world attending events in honor of to his humanitarianism and, in 2000, Guinness World Records recognized him for supporting 39 charities, more than any other artist.

Aspects of Michael Jackson's personal life, including his changing appearance, personal relationships and behavior, the controversy generated. In the mid-1990s, he was accused of child sexual abuse, but the civil case was settled out of court for an undisclosed sum and no formal charges were brought. In 2005, he was tried and acquitted of another child allegations of sexual abuse and several other charges after the jury found him innocent of all charges. While preparing for his comeback show entitled This Is It, Jackson died of acute propofol and benzodiazepine poisoning on June 25, 2009, after suffering cardiac arrest. The Los Angeles County Coroner ruled his death a homicide, and his personal physician, Conrad Murray, was convicted of involuntary manslaughter. Jackson's death sparked a global abundance of sadness, and a live broadcast of his public memorial service was seen around the world. Forbes currently occupies Jackson as the top-earning dead celebrity, a title held for the fifth consecutive year, with $ 140 million in earnings.

Life and career

1958-1975: Early life and Jackson 5

Michael Joseph Jackson was born on August 29, 1958. He was the eighth of ten children in an African-American working class family who lived in a two-bedroom house in Gary, Indiana, an industrial city and a part of the metropolitan Chicago area . His mother, Katherine Esther Scruse, was a devout Witness. She once aspired to be a country-and-clarinet and piano artist, but worked part-time at Sears to help support her family. Her father, Joseph Walter "Joe" Jackson, a former boxer, was a metallurgist at US Steel. Joe also performed on guitar with a local rhythm and blues band called the Falcons to supplement the family's family income. Michael grew up with three sisters (Rebbie, La Toya and Janet) and five brothers (Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, Marlon and Randy). A sixth brother, from Marlon elder double Brandon, died shortly after birth.

Jackson had a troubled relationship with his father, Joe. In 2003, Joe acknowledged that he regularly beat Jackson as a boy. Joe was also said to have verbally abused his son, often saying that he had a "fat nose". Jackson stated that he was physically and emotionally abused during incessant rehearsals, although he credited his father's strict discipline with playing an important role in his success. Speaking openly about his childhood in an interview with Oprah Winfrey, broadcast in February 1993, Jackson acknowledged that his youth had been lonely and isolated. Jackson's deep dissatisfaction with his appearance, his nightmares and chronic sleep problems, his tendency to remain hyper-compliant, especially with his father, and to remain childish throughout his adult life, are consistent with the effects of the bad treatment he suffered as a child.

In an interview with Martin Bashir, later included in the broadcast of being with Michael Jackson in 2003, Jackson acknowledged that his father hurt him when he was a child, recalling that Joseph often sat in a chair with a belt in his hand as he and his brothers rehearsed, and that "if you don't do it the right way, it would tear you up, really you." Both of Jackson's parents, at odds with long-standing allegations of abuse, with Katherine stating that while lashes are considered abuse today, that action was a common way of disciplining children at the time. Jackie, Tito, Jermaine and Marlon also said that their father is not abusive, but misunderstood.

In 1965, Michael and Marlon joined the Jackson Brothers, a band formed by their father and which included brother musicians Jackie, Tito, Jermaine and backup singers who play congas and tambourines. In 1966, Jackson began to share vocals with his older brother Jermaine, and the group's name was changed to Jackson 5. That next year, the group won a great local talent show with Jackson performing the dance to Robert's 1965 hit Parker "Barefootin '". From 1966 to 1968, the band toured the Midwest, often performing in a series of black clubs known as the "chitlin" circuit "as the opening act for artists like Sam & Dave, the O'Jays, Gladys Knight, and Etta James The Jackson 5 also performed in clubs and bars, where striptease shows and other adult acts were performed, and local audiences and high school dances.In August 1967, while outings on the east coast, the group won a weekly amateur night concert at the Apollo Theater in Harlem.

The Jackson 5 recorded several songs, including "Big Boy" (1968), his first single, for Steeltown Records, a Gary, Indiana label, before signing with Motown in 1969. The Jackson 5 left Gary in 1969 and moved to the Los Angeles area, where they continued to record music for Motown. Rolling Stone magazine later described the young Michael as "a prodigy" with "overwhelming musical gifts", writing that he "quickly emerged as the main draw and vocalist." The group set a chart record when their first four singles "I Want You Back" (1969), "ABC" (1970), "What Would You Save Love" (1970), and "I Will Be There" (1970) - peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100. in May 1971, the Jackson family moved into a large two-acre home in Encino, California, where Michael evolved from a child performer to a teen idol. As Jackson began to emerge as a solo artist in the early 1970s, he continued to maintain ties with Jackson 5 and Motown. Between 1972, when he began his solo career, and 1975, Michael released four studio solo albums with Motown: Got to Be There (1972), Ben (1972), Música & Me (1973), and forever, Michael (1975) . "Got to Be There" and "Ben", the title tracks of their first two solo albums, both became successful singles, as did a remake of Bobby's day "Rockin 'Robin".

The Jackson 5 were later described as "an avant-garde example of black crossover artists." Although the group's sales began to decline in 1973, and the band members angered under Motown's refusal to allow them creative or input control, they continued to score several top 40 hits, including the first five single "Dancing" Machine "(1974), before the group left Motown in 1975.

1975-1981: Move to Epic and Off the Wall

In June 1975, Jackson 5 signed with Epic Records, a subsidiary of CBS Records, and was renamed the Jacksons. Younger brother Randy formally joined the band around this time, while Jermaine chose to stay with Motown and pursue a solo career. The Jacksons continued their international tour, and released six more albums between 1976 and 1984. Michael, the group's main songwriter during this time, wrote hits like "Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground)" (1979), "This Place Hotel" (1980), and "Can You Feel It" (1980). Jackson's film work began in 1978, when he starred as the scarecrow in The Wiz, a musical directed by Sidney Lumet, who also starred Diana Ross, Nipsey Russell, and Ted Ross. The film was a box office disaster. While working on the film Jackson met Quincy Jones, who was organizing the film's soundtrack, and Jones agreed to produce Jackson's next solo album, Off the Wall. In 1979, Jackson broke his nose during a complex dance routine. His subsequent rhinoplasty was not a complete success; he complained of breathing difficulties that affect his career. He was referred to Dr. Steven Hoefflin, who performed Jackson's second rhinoplasty and subsequent operations.

Off the Wall (1979), which Jones and Jackson co-produced, based Jackson as a solo artist. The album helped Jackson transition from the "bubble gum" of his youth to the more complex sounds he would create as an adult. Composers for the album included Jackson, Rod Temperton, Stevie Wonder, and Paul McCartney. Off the Wall was the first solo album to generate four top 10 hits in the United States: "Off the Wall", "She's Out of My Life", and the singles on the "Do not Stop 'Til You Get Enough" and " rock With You ". The album reached number three on the Billboard 200 and sold more than 20 million copies worldwide. In 1980, Jackson won three awards at the American Music Awards for his individual efforts: Favorite Soul / R & B album, Favorite Soul / R & B Male Artist, and single Favorite / R & B soul for "Do not Stop 'Til You Get Enough ". He also won year-end Billboard awards for Top Black Artist and Top Black Album, and a Grammy for Best Male R & B Vocal Performance Artist from 1979, with "Do not Stop 'Til You Get Enough". In 1981, Jackson was the winner of the American Music Awards for Best Soul / Favorite R & B Album and Soul / Male R & B Artist. Despite his commercial success, Jackson felt Off the Wall should have made a much bigger impact, and was determined to exceed expectations with his next release. In 1980, he obtained the highest royalty rate in the music industry: 37 percent of the wholesale album profit.

1982-1983: Suspense and Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, forever

In 1982, Jackson combined his interests in composition and film, when he contributed the song "Someone in the Dark" to the storybook for the film ET The Extraterrestrial. The song, with Quincy Jones as producer, won a Grammy for Best Recording for Children for even more 1983. success came after the release of Thriller in late 1982. The album won Jackson plus seven Grammys and eight American Music Awards, including the Merit award, the youngest artist to win.

"Thriller" was the best-selling album worldwide in 1983. It became the best-selling album of all time in the United States, and the best-selling album of all time worldwide, selling an estimated 65 million copies. The album topped the Billboard 200 charts for 37 weeks and was in the top 10 of the 200 for 80 consecutive weeks. It was the first album to have seven Billboard Hot 100 top 10 singles, including "Billie Jean", "Beat It" and "Wanna Be Startin 'Somethin'". In March 2009 Suspense was certified for 29 million shipments by the RIAA, giving it Double Diamond status in the United States. Suspense won Jackson and Quincy Jones the Grammy Award for Producer of the Year (Non-Classical) for 1983. He also won the album of the year, with Jackson as the artist on the album and Jones as his co-producer, and Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male , Jackson award. "Beat It" won Record of the Year, with Jackson as an artist and Jones as a co-producer, and Best Rock Vocal Performance, Male, a Jackson award. "Billie Jean" won Jackson two Grammy awards, Best R & B Song, with Jackson as his composer, and Best R & B Vocal Performance, Man, as the artist himself. Suspense also won another Grammy for Best Engineered Recording - Non-Classical in 1984, the grant from Bruce Swedien for his work on the album. The AMA Awards for 1984 provided Jackson with an AMA and Merit Award for Male Artist, Soul / R & B and Best Male Artist, Pop / Rock. "Beat It" won Jackson AMAs for Favorite Video, Soul / R & B, Favorite Video, Pop / Rock, and Single Favorite, Pop / Rock. Suspense he won AMAs for Favorite Album, Soul / R & B, and Favorite Album, Pop / Rock.

In addition to the award-winning album, Jackson released "Thriller," a fourteen-minute short music video directed by John Landis, in 1983. "defined music videos and broke racial barriers" on the Music Television Channel (MTV), an incipient entertainment television channel in season. In December 2009, the Library of Congress selected the music video "Thriller" for inclusion in the National Film Registry. It was one of twenty-five films nominated that year as "works of lasting importance to American culture", which would be "preserved forever." The zombie-themed "Thriller" is the first and, as of 2009, the only music video to be introduced on the record.

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intransigent-boy · 5 years ago

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My Top Ten Films of The Decade.

10. Her

Okay, so whether you like it or not, this movie is about the present. This movie tells a very powerful story with an embarrasingly personal narrative. You feel sorry for the main character, it makes you so uncomfortable. And the reason is, because we are all in some sense are like this guy, Theodore. We have better relationships online, and with our advices, than with real people. It’s a really bizarre conception, but we should face it, and ask ourselves: Where is the limit? The script is just brilliant, but also has very controversial scenes. Joaquin Phoenix is simply the perfect choice for a lonely man, like Theodore. Melancholy everywhere, and great visuals. Arcade Fire made the music for this, and it was pure melancholy. Very interesting film.

9. The Place Beyond The Pines

Derek Cianfrance is an exceptional director. He can wonderfully create an atmosphere with great lighting techiques, unique musics, and of course with talented actors. This movie has a linear, but quite unusual story-structure. The main theme haunts you after you watched this. Legacy!

8. Nightcrawler

Louis Bloom is something of a loner who is unemployed and ekes out a living stealing and then reselling copper wire, fencing and most anything else he can get his hands on. When late one night he comes across an accident being filmed by independent news photographer Joe Loder, he thinks he may have found something he would be good at. He acquires an inexpensive video camera and a police scanner and is soon spending his nights racing to accidents, robberies and fire scenes. He develops a working relationship with Nina Romina, news director for a local LA TV station. As the quality of his video footage improves so does his remuneration and he hires Rick, young and unemployed, to work with him. The more successful he becomes however, the more apparent it becomes that Louis will do anything - anything - to get visuals from crime scenes. The conception is just brilliant, and screams to your face, what kind of society are we living in. I think Psychopathy is going to be one of the biggest issue in our generation asides with mental illneses. And this movie reflects perfectly. You understand the character, which is geniusly performed by Jake Gyllenhaal.

7. Inside Llewyn Davis

The Coen brothers' exquisitely sad and funny new comedy is set in a world of music that somehow combines childlike innocence with an aged and exhausted acceptance of the world. It is a beguilingly studied period piece from America's early-60s Greenwich Village folk scene. Every frame looks like a classic album cover, or at the very least a great inner gatefold – these are screen images that look as if they should have lyrics and sleeve notes superimposed. This film was notably passed over for Oscar nominations. Perhaps there's something in its unfashionable melancholy that didn't hook the attention of Academy award voters. But it is as pungent and powerfully distinctive as a cup of hot black coffee. This movie is about sacrificing everything for your art, directionlessness (is there such a word?) , and finding the right path. Existential theme, with surpisingly good acting from Oscar Isaac, Adam Driver, and Justin Timberlake. This is an Odyssey-story from the 1960′s America. What more you could ask for?

6. Dunkirk

Reinventing a genre is quite exceptional. And Nolan did it. The best war movies of the last 20 years, including Saving Private Ryan and Hacksaw Ridge, have also placed viewers in the centre of battle. Nolan has not reinvented that immersive approach, but he comes close to perfecting it. The story structure is-again- brilliant. There’s no main character in the movie-just like in a war-but only scared people. They want to go home. But they can’t. We’re with them with their struggle, and fears. We’re in the air, land, or water, it’s just a haunting terror. And the soundtrack from Hans Zimmer is really remarkable. You hear it, and you recognize the movie. That’s what I call a score. Reflects perfectly, and holds the attention throughout the whole movie.

5. Hell or High Water

Another genre-twister masterpiece. This Neo-Western is just pure art. Hell or High Water is a film about a criminal who commits the ultimate offence of putting his gorgeous and much nicer brother in a ski mask for several minutes of this film. Okay actually it’s about a career criminal brother and his he-wasn’t-but-he-is-now criminal brother who team up to commit a series of small-scale bank robberies across Texas, with the aim, finally – after several generations – of lifting the family out of seemingly inescapable grinding poverty. The part of Texas they live in is dying on its feet so career criminal is pretty much the only career left open that doesn’t involve serving in a diner or herding the few remaining cattle. It would’ve been easy for Hell or High Water to to turn out a cliche-ridden double bromance as there are quite a few movie tropes in this love story / revenge thriller, so it’s a tribute to director David Mackenzie that it’s actually a very touching, at times funny, at times quite brutal story. With a bit of grudge-bearing thrown in at the end to stop it being too redemptive. Memorable scenes, great acting, and a deromanticized western-feeling. After this film, you want to live in Texas, where everything’s slower, but sometimes you can chase criminals. It’s nice, isn’t it?

4. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Martin McDonagh’s fiercely written, stabbingly pleasurable tragicomedy stars a magnificent Frances McDormand; watching it is like having your funny bone struck repeatedly, expertly and very much too hard by a karate super-black-belt capable of bringing a rhino to its knees with a single punch behind the ear. He’s a scriptwriter genius, it was shocking, how perfectly the dialouges and the actions were constructed. It is a film about vengeance, violence and the acceptance of death, combining subtlety and unsubtlety, and moreover wrongfooting you as to what and whom it is centrally about. The drama happens in a town with an insidiously pessimistic name – Ebbing, Missouri, a remote and fictional community in the southern United States, where the joy of life does seem to be receding. There is a recurrent keynote of elegiac sadness established by the Irish ballad The Last Rose of Summer and Townes Van Zandt’s country hit Buckskin Stallion Blues, a musical combination which bridges the Ireland which McDonagh has written about before and the America he conjures up here, an America which has something of the Coen Brothers. The resemblance is not simply down to McDormand, though she does give her best performance since her starring role as the pregnant Minnesota police chief in the Coens’ Fargo in 1996. It was brutal, controversial, and violent.

3. Midnight in Paris

The definitive poem in English on the subject of cultural nostalgia may be a short verse by Robert Browning called “Memorabilia.” The past seems so much more vivid, more substantial, than the present, and then it evaporates with the cold touch of reality. The good old days are so alluring because we were not around, however much we wish we were. “Midnight in Paris,” Woody Allen’s charming film, imagines what would happen if that wish came true. It is marvelously romantic, even though — or precisely because — it acknowledges the disappointment that shadows every genuine expression of romanticism. The film has the inspired silliness of some of Mr. Allen’s classic comic sketches (most obviously, “A Twenties Memory,” in which the narrator’s nose is repeatedly broken by Ernest Hemingway), spiked with the rueful fatalism that has characterized so much of his later work. Nothing here is exactly new, but why would you expect otherwise in a film so pointedly suspicious of novelty? Very little is stale, either, and Mr. Allen has gracefully evaded the trap built by his grouchy admirers and unkind critics — I’m not alone in fitting both descriptions — who complain when he repeats himself and also when he experiments. Not for the first time, but for the first time in a while, he has found a credible blend of whimsy and wisdom.

2. Beautiful Boy

This supersensitive and tasteful movie is all but insufferable, suppressing a sob at the tragedy of drug addiction afflicting someone so young and “beautiful”. It is based on what is effectively a matching set of memoirs: Beautiful Boy, by author and journalist David Sheff, his harrowing account of trying to help his son Nic battle crystal meth addiction, and Tweak – by Nic Sheff himself, about these same experiences, the author now, thankfully, eight years clean. Steve Carell does an honest, well-meaning job in the role of David and the egregiously beautiful Timothée Chalamet is earnest in the part of Nic, David’s son from his first marriage. This is like a modern-day Basketball Diaries. Honest, and Raw. Most underrated movie of the 2010′s, with an unquestionably important topic.

1. The Social Network

Before Sorkin wrote the screenplay, Ben Mezrich wrote the book based on Mark Zuckerberg and the founding of Facebook titled: The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook, A Tale of Sex, Money, Genius, and Betrayal. It was published in July 2009, and most of the information came from Facebook “co-founder” Eduardo Saverin, who in the film is played by Andrew Garfield. The screenplay that Sorkin wrote was blazing, he wrote the characters like they were in a William Shakespeare play, with a story full of lies, jealousy, and betrayal. I especially love how Sorkin balanced the story between 2003, 2004, and then 2010. It goes back and forth between the past when Facebook was just an idea for Mark, and in the current day when he is being sued by Cameron & Tyler Winklevoss for, in their minds, having stolen their original idea, and by his former best friend Eduardo for having him pushed out of the company. In fact, some of the very best dialogue (and the film is full of great quotes) happens during the deposition scenes. Well-recognizable, rapid-fire dialouges, wonderful directing, with Trent Reznor’s greatest soundtrack. The movie’s probably going to outlive the Facebook itself, and that’s just great.

#oscars #films #academyawards #2010s #best #movies #cinema #art #top ten #movies of the decade #soundtrack #cinematography

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theav0cadobaby · 6 years ago

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Podcast Recs cause I'm listening to too many of them. I listened to most of these in a month.

WOLF 359:

I literally couldn't recommend this podcast enough it's a ride of excitement and stress; twists and turns that is a rollercoaster of an experience. Basically it's about this crew of three plus a friendly AI orbiting the dwarf star Wolf 359, it seems like a fun comedy until shit gets real.

This podcast has frequent stressful situations, a lot of violence, and a lot of near death experiences. It's hard to tag everything.

WE FIX SPACE JUNK:

This podcast so far is really interesting in world building and characters. It's about these two mechanics held in debt by this intergalactic corporation that go around and fix space junk.

This podcast has violence, body horror in one episode, and alien plagues.

KING FALLS AM:

This is kinda like a mix of Gravity Falls and Welcome to Night Vale. The show is told completely through radio broadcasts of the Sammy and Ben show. Though mysterious things (more mysterious than all of the other paranormal shenanigans) start happening and it's just... Great. All of the characters are wonderful and honestly hilarious, I really recommend this one it's sooooo good.

There are depictions of Gaslighting, violence, alien abductions, intense racism from one character though it's very clear that that character is a bad person and it is comedic, homophobia in later episodes, violence against sugar gliders specifically (no I'm not kidding), and one murderous elf on the shelf.

THE INFINITE NOW:

I honestly don't know what the hell goes on in this podcast but like it's pretty cool time stuff so like yeah. Its two hours tops to get through it.

This story is a bit trippy and I honestly barely remember it so I don't have much in the way of trigger warnings

JANUS DESCENDING:

This podcast is good technically I'd say but it's kinda thick if that makes sense. It feels like a chore to watch cause I don't care that much for the characters and they don't talk like normal people which is annoying. But it's still something I think is good. It's about these two scientists going to an alien planet and getting their shit fucked up thoroughly. It's genuinely terrifying at times.

There are trigger warnings in the show notes but this podcast has a lot body horror, violence, and is kinda fucked up sometimes.

TIDES:

Honestly this podcast is the next big thing in my opinion. I really liked the first season it's so interesting and it's like Janus Descending but a lot cooler and more interesting and funny. I'm really looking forward to it's next season! Basically this Xenobiologist (space animal scientist) is stranded on alien planet with intense tidal activity and the podcast is a mix of her complaining about her co-workers, surviving, and talking about the ecosystem. It's super interesting.

This podcast is kinda icky but I love it. There are depictions of small spaces and people who don't like water might not like this podcast.

EOS 10:

This is one of the big ones. It's about doctors, a cook, and an alleged space terrorist on this space station. It's really funny and I love the characters to death. The third season got a bit tricky though cause they kinda had to retcon a character out of the story cause they apparently fired his voice actor. And it gets like.... Super confusing. But still please watch it it's so good.

This story deals with alcoholism and drug addiction, along with violence, terrorism, grief, sexual interactions (though these are brief.) And medical stuff in general.

STAR TRIPPER!!!:

It's like We Fix Space Junk but 100x more positive (not saying that WFSJ is inferior, that's not true at all) and honestly it's like so sweet to watch. Things can get a bit unclear but that's okay. Also apparently the main character is nonbinary so that's great. It's about this fellow Feston who decides "fuck it" and fucks off away from their office job and goes to explore the universe with their ship (who I love btw, she's really nice)

There are occasional moments of violence and implications of sexual situations but overall it's pretty safe I think.

THE PENUMBRA PODCAST:

I haven't listened to the other storyline yet but basically it's about this private detective on mars. It's really gay like... REALLY GAY. This is the epitome of the "podcasts are really gay" posts. This podcast is what they're talking about. Aside from that is has a really interesting plot, stellar voice acting and great characters!

This podcast has depictions of violence, body horror at some point, guns (laser guns though) and abuse (there is a warning before those episodes however.

WELCOME TO NIGHTVALE

This is a genre defining podcast. All of the podcasts I just listed proably wouldn't exist without this and it's actually so good. It's fucking trippy, and it's so much fun. You can tell the creators put so much love and thought into the podcast and it's just amazing. Basically it's a radio show about this incredibly weird town. And if I have to explain it to you, that means you need to listen to it.

This podcast is very existential, and since it's just so weird and all over the place in what's weird it's hard to really tag anything, I apologise, plus it's been a while since I've listened to it.

THE ADVENTURE ZONE:

This podcast is so fucking good, you've probably already heard of it, and definitely of the producers, the McElroy family. It's these three brothers and their dad playing DnD (initially) together and I can't even describe it. But it literally made me cry so hard that I got a sinus infection.

There are depictions of violence, torture during the suffering game arc, there's an instance of bury your gays which I'm not gonna elaborate on cause of spoilers but don't worry about it. And sometimes some innuendos and sexual stuff ("hey thug what's your name I'm about to tentacle your dick" is an iconic line and a good example of that)

UNDER PRESSURE:

This podcast is about a philosophy student going to live in a underwater station and it's a lot of fun and the atmosphere of wet and uncomfortable is really excellently communicated. It's another really diverse podcast (which seems to be a trend with Procyon podcasts)

This podcast is not for people who like small spaces and deep ocean.

THE STRANGE CASE OF STARSHIP IRIS:

Maybe I'm just stupid or this one's hard to keep up on. Nevertheless I really liked the characters and it's just really fun. It's about this crew of ragtag smugglers trying to find out what's up with the former ship of their new crewmate. Featuring a lot of diversity (This is a Procyon podcast) and good voice acting.

BEAR BROOK

This is actually a true crime / nonfiction podcast about the Bear Brook murders. It's rather gory and disgusting at times but really interesting.

This podcast is not for the faint of heart though, it is a true crime podcast, and it does talk about the horrible things that a serial killer can do.

THE BRIGHT SESSIONS:

Basically therapy sessions for those with abnormal abilities. It's really good and the characters are actually so amazing. This podcast does a lot of interesting stuff that really interests me. I haven't finished it but I'm currently pretty far in. I think this podcast has the potential to actually help people with their problems.

This podcast has depictions of gaslighting, manipulation, panic attacks, mentions of torture and isolation, attempted kidnapping, actual kidnappings, depictions of war (this has trigger warnings though), and violence

TIME:BOMBS:

I'm actually sad that this is just a three part series. It's so much fun, and so good. It's by the same people who made Wolf 359 and it follows a bomb squad on New Year's Eve. Highly recommend it cause it's a really quick listen.

This podcast has bombs.

LORE:

This podcast deals with true crime and supernatural stuff and is presented in the classic podcast way. It's also really triggering cause of the true crime aspect but I seriously recommend this. It's genuinely really informative.

This podcast like Bear Brook is not for the faint of heart.

MYTHS AND LEGENDS:

This is a really interesting take on various legends it's a mix of storytelling in a very nonfictional sense that slips into dialogue that's rather interesting. I haven't listened to a lot of the episodes but it's good.

This podcast does discuss myths that were a product of their times so there are depictions and mentions of misogyny, rape and violence, even if I haven't listened to all of it.

MYTHUNDERSTOOD:

Has that same kinda switches in storytelling as Myths and Legends but a lot less coordinated and a lot funnier. Its a lot of fun to listen to the podcast and the hosts are really funny.

These also have the same tw as the podcast before this.

ALICE ISNT DEAD:

This is by one of the co-creators of WTNV it's about a trucker trying to find her lost wife. Ive only listened to the first part but it's really good and I highly recommend it. It's actually like amazing and really captivating. Also terrifying.

This podcast has depictions of intense violence, existentialism, and body horror. And probably more I haven't even finished it.

I'm sorry if I didn't include something in the trigger warnings about these podcasts, but I hope it helps. I've been listening to a lot of them and it's so much fun!

#podcasts #ella rambles #podcast recommendations #im not tagging all of them

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sunflowerstrays · 6 years ago

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you make me laugh // mark tuan

anon requested this: Can I request a scenario where YN is got7s mark gf, and the member tease her because she is from England and has a British accent. If possible can you make YN like famous too, maybe like the lead singer of a British band, idk but yeah

mark tuan x reader.

words: 2k.

genre: fluff, crack.

---

Mark and you had been dating for two years now, but had known each other for the majority of your lives

And two say you two were inseparable was an odd phrase because you definitely spent most of your time apart from each other

but when you were together you were joined at the hip, refusing to spend time apart

and because of this you spent a lot of time with the other got7 members

who all loved you to death because you definitely brought the best out of Mark

but your adorable British accent also humoured them to their death beds

the worst case that has ever happened with your voice was when you had all gone out for a meal to celebrate the success of got7′s new album

and you had tried to reply to a savage comment from Yugyeom about your new music style

but your voice had cracked as you had turned slightly shrill and this meant that the British accent messed up all the Korean pronunciations

and you’d never seen seven boys laugh quite so much in your life

to the point that even Jaebum, who could often keep a stone facade and remain stoic in these situations couldn’t control himself and was red in the face

you had just hidden your face in Mark’s arm as he patted your thigh and laughed hard with his friends

that incident aside

the boys mostly loved your accent

they thought it was absolutely adorable and wouldn’t change it for the world

even if it meant that when they arrived in England they would do their best to butcher the accent

just like they were doing now as the met you at the airport

because you were the lead singer of the British band, The Sun

and were kicking off of a week of stadium performances tomorrow night

and somehow this lined up perfect with some of the boys holiday time, so they had decided to come and visit you on some of your tour nights

and experience “British culture, the very best of it” ~ Youngjae, 2018

little did they know that British culture mostly consisted of rain, awkward smiles with strangers on the subway and an unhealthy amount of tea

yet as you stood at the arrival entrance for international flights you were beginning to think this whole plan was shambolic

because Jackson was pointing out a million things to Yugyeom and Youngjae, speaking the English name for it, but doing so in the worst accent possible

and you could here the old couple beside you muttering about how annoying today’s youth were

“y/n!”

Mark practically leapt from the other side of the room to your side, embracing you in the biggest hug and swallowing you in the smells of air-planes

you were too happy to see him to care that he was messing up your hair you had made such an effort on today

and hugged him back so tightly, wishing that in another universe, the two of you would have all the time in the world to spend together

because it had been almost two months since the two of you had last seen each other in person and you weren’t sure how long the next length of time would be

but for now you were just happy to see him back

following Mark was Jinyoung and Bambam, both of them screaming hello at you from the place were Mark had taken off

running at you at the speed of light before barrelling into you with the biggest hug

the couple beside you just anxiously shuffled backwards as they saw how big the group were, giving you the dirtiest looks

“British culture,” you introduced to the boys in Korean, making the three of them laugh hysterically

Youngjae and Jaebum appeared next, testing their English skills by making as much conversation in their adorably broken English as possible

which involved something along the lines of “Mark very excited to see you” and “how is this accent?”

you couldn’t help but tear at up how adorable Youngjae’s accent was, it was clear he was trying his best

then the three evil kids showed up, hugging you tightly and literally carrying you through the airport until Mark sulked that he wanted to hold your hand, and they dropped you before staring around at them

“so much British!” Youngjae had squealed as you walked past an over priced souvenir store that was drowning in cheesy British souvenirs

Mark had just rolled his eyes as the boys all wandered inside, asking you how to say a multitude of different things

ranging from bus to telephone box to Big Ben

and everytime you said something they would start giggling because of the accent, before trying to say it themselves

and you best believe Jackson and Bambam were having the time of their lives

eventually Mark and you manoeuvred the boys out of the store and towards the mini-bus you had had to order because the seven boys were a large number as it was, and with them came countless amounts of luggage

you sat in the aisle seat with Mark at the window as you drove through London to the hotel the eight of you were staying at with the rest of your group

who were all fairly excited to meet the boys

despite none of them knowing a word of Korean

the boys were trying to read as many signs as possible as you drove past, giggling to themselves like the children they were

but Mark and you were lost in your own little world

catching up on two months of not seeing each other by somehow cuddling in the cramped mini-bus and sharing inside jokes

or blushing deeply when ever one of the boys would call you two out for sharing a kiss

eventually the bus arrived at the hotel and this meant that the boys were all super hyped for a day touring London

the seven of them, as usual, were dressed to impress

meaning that amongst the young in their track suits and the professionals in their suits, they stuck out like a sore thumb with their heavily influenced fashion sense

but you didn’t really mind because hanging out with got7 was destined to make you stand out anyway

the underground was quite the interesting experience

with you holding both Mark and Youngjae’s hand at the same time, whilst Mark kept his eyes on Bambam and Yugyeom who were sat at the window waving at the strangers on the platform

and you almost left Jackson on a train into the heart of the city

but you showed them the classic tourist spots

and took them to your favourite small restaurant in the city where you had taken Mark the first time he came home with you

the whole time you were attached to Mark

and no matter how much Youngjae would tug you to look at the big bridges dotted along the Thames, Mark refused to let go

not that you were complaining because time spent with Mark was the most important thing in the world to you

eventually the day came to a close and you were heading back to the hotel

the six younger boys were deciding to find somewhere to eat after you giving them a long list of recommendations all day

but Mark and you opted for your hotel room and room service instead

once the two of you got there it involved changing into lazy clothes and cuddling on the bed

looking out of the open hotel window and just watching the world go by

and chatting about nothing

with the occasional make out sessions here and there

and honestly it was the best thing

because it made the endless months apart worth waiting out

because then these stolen moments in time were even more special to you

the second day of the trip was spent travelling around the city still, but you had to leave the boys early to go and practise for your show tonight

you were so terrified for performing not only because it was a stadium tour

but it was the first time you were performing in front of Mark live and the thought of disappointing him was what urged you to push harder

the girl group you were in weren’t the initially thought pop group that had been assumed of you when you had started

but rather you wrote all of your songs yourselves, and produced them, chose the music video design and created the dances

and had a much more chill and laid back vibe to your music

which is why Mark had loved your group even more because it was totally his style of music

and your voice sent shivers down his spine every time he heard it

tonight the boys were sitting VIP for you, but in a separate sections to save the risk of any fans spotting them

you could just see the seven of them chatting from the side of the stage before you were going to perform

and this made you even more terrified than you thought possible

but here you were and there was no sending them back to Korea now

the tour kicked off amazingly well

and somehow you managed to get through the first half of the show without messing up any lyrics or choreography, and none of your members had started their usual rants which was a huge bonus

during the half time break fans were given a chance to grab drinks and such whilst you changed backstage

but before you could run back on stage Mark had tackled you in a huge hug and was kissing your cheeks with watery eyes

“I love my talented queen of a girlfriend”

“Mark stop you’ll make me cry on stage”

eventually the security guards had to lead Mark back to where he was supposed to be sitting because you had like thirty seconds to run back on stage

the second half of the concert as well was incredible

and the group finished on a high note with fans cheering for you incessantly

and to say that the concert went well would be an understatement

Mark and the boys somehow snuck backstage to meet you and were wrestling verbally with the security guards to let them stay

and you just rolled your eyes and asked if they could stay

so they were all cramped into your dressing room whilst you had your makeup removed, chatting excitedly about the performance

and whilst you had to go next door to change they were still heard through thick walls

and when you were finally released into the night Mark refused to leave your side all night

even more so than usual

keeping you on his lap in the hotel room and kissing your head softly as you were falling asleep, knowing that you’d now have a whole week of this tiredness

not that you minded because you would do anything for Mark

and his wild band members

even if they were nuisances most of the time and dedicated all their spare moments to mocking you for your accent and girl group performances

---

oof idk if this is what you really wanted butttt it felt better to write it as a bullet list bc i could write a lot more if you know what i mean. however i hope you enjoy and i realise that i write so much for mark that it looks like he’s my actual bias rather than my biggest bias wrecker :)))))

requests are open <3

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thefilmsnob · 4 years ago

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Glen Coco’s Top 10 Films of 2020

This has been the weirdest damn year for film--and basically everything else--we’ve ever witnessed. Theatres closed, re-opened, then closed again; dozens of films were postponed, and no one knew where to watch the ones that weren’t. I didn’t see nearly as many films as I usually do and, even so, the selection was relatively underwhelming. Nevertheless, there were still some good pictures released, so, as always, I’m sharing my top ten films of 2020 plus a bonus track...there’s always a bonus track.

#10b. (Bonus Track) Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan

Director: Jason Woliner

Starring: Sacha Baron Cohen, Maria Bakalova

On the surface, Sacha Baron Cohen’s characters may seem utterly absurd and childish--and maybe they are--but, the genius behind them is their ability to reveal the ignorance of the people he encounters and make you question where the true absurdity lies. Cohen accomplishes this yet again, even if this sequel isn’t quite as fresh as its 2006 predecessor. Yet, in the United States of 2020, ravaged as much by asinine politicians, disgraceful racism and dangerous conspiracy theories as by the actual Covid pandemic, Borat is an entirely welcome presence. He makes all the right people look as wrong as they should, especially former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani who’s caught red-handed in a compromising position opposite a very young girl, thus exacerbating his epic fall from grace while reaffirming Cohen’s brilliance.

#10. Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom

Director: George C. Wolfe

Starring: Viola Davis, Chadwick Boseman

Despite my initial ambivalence, this movie has lingered in my mind for months and that’s always a good sign. Set almost entirely in one location, a 1920s Chicago recording studio, and focusing heavily on a group of musicians shooting the breeze in its basement while their demanding singer talks business with the big wigs upstairs, seemingly nothing much happens and, yet, everything happens; dreams are envisioned, pain is recalled, ideas are shared and, of course, music is made. Those elements are enhanced by the film’s stellar technical features from the production design, to the costumes to the hair & makeup. Yet, it’s the performers who steal the show, which is expected from Viola Davis but a pleasant surprise from Chadwick Boseman who, sadly, gives his final performance. The late actor saved his best for last playing a young trumpeter whose ambitions are constantly hindered by his inability to let go of his tragic past.

#9. The Way Back

Director: Gavin O’Connor

Starring: Ben Affleck

For those of you with the misconception that Ben Affleck is a bad actor, you might want to watch The Way Back in which he plays a former high school basketball star and current alcoholic who’s dealing with the death of his child and separation from his wife when he’s asked to coach his former team. Sure, this covers familiar ground, but it does so better than similar films, finessing the more predictable aspects, adding some welcome touches and treating the subject matter with the respect and seriousness it deserves. The basketball takes a backseat to the character drama here, so the film’s quality relies heavily on the performance of Affleck which might be his best to date; he makes his character’s inebriation so convincing you can practically smell the beer on his breath. And you hope to God he gets the help he so desperately needs.

Full Review: https://thefilmsnob.tumblr.com/post/613090953214001152/the-way-back-12-out-of-5

#8. News of the World

Director: Paul Greengrass

Starring: Tom Hanks, Helena Zengel

This is a film we need right now for several reasons, not least of which being we get to spend two hours with ‘America’s Dad’ Tom Hanks, a decent, honourable man playing another decent, honourable man in 1870 who encounters a strange young girl on the road near an overturned wagon and promises to return her to her remaining family. With Hanks’s character Jefferson Kidd traveling from town to town reading the newspaper for its citizens, this is also a timely film, stressing the importance of a free and fair press as opposed to the propaganda that saturated the Trump administration and his favourite news outlet. An unusually--yet refreshingly--straightforward and old-fashioned Western for 2020, its highlights include a climactic exchange between adult and child, made so effectively tender with such minimal effort by Hanks, as well as a meticulously crafted chase and shootout sequence at the halfway point, directed with optimal tension and clarity by the great Paul Greengrass.

#7. Nomadland

Director: Chloe Zhao

Starring: Frances McDormand

It’s about time we start including Frances McDormand in lists of greatest actors. In Nomadland, in which she plays a wanderer of sorts who’s lost her husband to cancer and her company town to a poor economy, her performance transcends labels like ‘realistic’ or ‘natural’ and arrives at a place that doesn’t feel like performance at all. She blends in seamlessly with a cast of real nomads playing themselves, living out of vans in the western US, as unconstrained by societal norms as the film itself is by conventional story arcs. We want to see this minimalist lifestyle, which includes seasonal Amazon warehouse gigs and long nights in a freezing cold van, as depressing or unfulfilling, but writer/director/producer/editor (Jesus!) Chloe Zhao dares us to admire both the freedom and sense of community formed among this nomadic subculture. Cinematographer Joshua James Richards also plays with our expectations, bathing the screen in soothing blues and purples, transforming the unremarkable landscape into a thing of beauty.

#6. Da 5 Bloods

Director: Spike Lee

Starring: Delroy Lindo, Clarke Peters, Isiah Whitlock Jr., Norm Lewis

In Da 5 Bloods, writer/director Spike Lee deviates from his usual urban American setting to explore the tropical forests of Vietnam, but his focus remains fixed on the African American experience, their plight and search for justice. His subjects are a group of Vietnam War vets who reunite in present day Ho Chin Minh City to retrieve a cache of gold bars left behind some 50 years prior, originally part of a political transaction, as we see in appropriately grainy 4:3 full screen flashbacks. The reason for this mission is more righteous than a simple payday, but Lee refuses to paint these complex characters with the same brush--there’s even a MAGA in the bunch!--nor does he oversimplify the film’s profound issues. A genre-defying work, Da 5 Bloods is a character study, social commentary, war picture and action/adventure flick all rolled into one with some truly shocking developments and one of the finest casts of the year. How Delroy Lindo was denied an Oscar nomination for his volatile performance is beyond me.

#5. Promising Young Woman

Director: Emerald Fennell

Starring: Carey Mulligan, Bo Burnham, Alison Brie

In one of the most unique films of the year, Carey Mulligan delivers a brave, bold and beautiful performance as Cassie, a woman with a tragic past who spends her weekends at the club pretending to be blackout drunk, only to shame and humiliate the sleazy men who try to take advantage. Writer/director Emerald Fennell does a masterful job at peeling back the layers of this dark revenge tale ever so gradually to reveal Cassie’s true motives while rebuking, not just society’s abhorrent offenders, but those enablers and silent bystanders who try to hide behind a flimsy shroud of innocence. Benefiting from one of the sharpest screenplays of the year and a fitting score, Promising Young Woman never ceases to ramp up the tension, a strategy that culminates in a shocking final sequence which is at once disturbing and satisfying. It’ll all leave you guessing until the final, brilliant shot.

#4. The Invisible Man

Director: Leigh Whannell

Starring: Elisabeth Moss, Aldis Hodge, Storm Reid

Originally conceived as part of the ill-fated ‘Dark Universe’--Universal Pictures’ planned movie franchise featuring its classic monsters--and starring Johnny Depp, The Invisible Man was drastically retooled and produced as a stand-alone film with a modernized story. And like so many horror projects of the last decade, it’s refreshingly inspired and well-crafted with a deeper purpose than merely spooking its audience, though it succeeds at that as well. Writer/director Leigh Whannell uses this movie and the fearless performance of the great Elisabeth Moss to examine abusive partners and their persistent hold on their lovers-turned-victims long after the relationship has collapsed. Moss is stunning as usual, portraying an already traumatized woman trying desperately to convince everyone she’s not going crazy as well, even though that’s exactly how it looks. Equally impressive is the restraint by the filmmakers who use the ‘invisible’ effects sparingly yet strategically, creatively and, ultimately, very effectively, making every scare plausible and entirely earned.

#3. Sound of Metal

Director: Darius Marder

Starring: Riz Ahmed, Olivia Cooke, Paul Raci

In a world in which people are complaining about losing their freedom because they have to wear a simple mask to save lives, it’s good to see a film that shows what real loss looks like. If you can’t imagine being a heavy metal drummer who suddenly goes deaf, writer/director Darius Marder spells it out for you in big, bold, sorrow-inducing letters. He’s aided by Riz Ahmed giving possibly the best performance of the year as a man who, on the surface, tries desperately to hold on to his life and passion while, deep down, he knows that’s impossible. Sound of Metal is a tender and heartbreaking yet hopeful story, but what’s even more effective than the film’s dramatic presentation is its remarkable sound design. At times, characters sign to each other amidst ambient noise. Other times, the sound is muffled as if we’re putting our ears up to a wall and hearing a fraction of the dialogue from the other side. And, less frequently, when Ruben’s condition is at its worst, we hear nothing at all. Just complete and terrifying silence…which speaks volumes.

Full Review: https://thefilmsnob.tumblr.com/post/647329085467574272/sound-of-metal-out-of-5

#2. The Trial of the Chicago 7

Director: Aaron Sorkin

Starring: Mark Rylance, Eddie Redmayne, Sacha Baron Cohen, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Jeremy Strong, John Carroll Lynch, Frank Langella, Michael Keaton, etc, etc, etc...

Aaron Sorkin could write about two accountants conducting a routine audit and make it absolutely absorbing. So, imagine what he does with a courtroom drama about the volatile situation surrounding the 1968 Democratic National Convention and the group of anti-Vietnam War protestors accused of inciting riots at the event. Now an accomplished director too, Sorkin organizes all the moving pieces involved with style and grace while deploying his famously kinetic dialogue. With those lines coming from the mouths of his stellar cast, it’s hard not to hang on their every word and be invested completely in their struggle. I could listen to Mark Rylance’s showstopping line-reading of the simple phrase, “No, he doesn’t!”, all day and never get tired of it. Among its many achievements, The Trial of the Chicago 7 deftly navigates heavy topics like police brutality, unpopular wars and a corrupt justice system, showing just how little things have changed in the last 50 years.

#1. Palm Springs

Director: Max Barbakow

Starring: Cristin Milioti, Andy Samberg, J.K. Simmons

Anyone who knows me may be surprised by this pick, but here we are. Nothing makes sense these days. We’re all as confused and anxious about life as Sarah and Nyles are at a wedding in Palm Springs. Despite what the title suggests, the film doesn’t follow a group of horny teens getting up to shenanigans in the famous resort town, but if I describe the actual plot in depth, I may spoil the fun. I will say these characters seem to be reliving the same events over and over again. What’s so impressive about this film is that, although it repeats itself, it never feels repetitive. The twists and turns, the absurd hilarity blended with bracing poignancy, ensure our unwavering focus on this briskly paced little gem. Yet, it’s the irresistible chemistry between the two leads, played by the equally irresistible Cristin Milioti and Andy Samberg, that forms the glue that holds it all together, whether they’re pulling off childish pranks, discussing their unusual sex lives or debating the very meaning of life. I’m telling you, this movie has everything: comedy, drama, romance, science-fiction (?!), J.K. Simmons, several weddings, an inflatable pizza slice, dinosaurs, a crossbow and colourful beer cans and summer wear that seem destined to become iconic.

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